December 14, 2020

81-year-old woman contracted COVID at assisted living facility & died on Dec 6th. From her obit...

[Identifying info removed.]

She contracted COVID19 at her residence, [ ] Assisted Living in [ ] County, NY, and passed away at [ ] Hospital. She died scared and alone, surrounded by strangers concealed within protective equipment for their own safety, within a mercifully short time, less than 24 hours after hospital admission. She is preceded in death by more than 300,000 (and counting) Americans infected with COVID-19. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

December 9, 2020

CNY bluesman and musical mentor's death from Covid-19 brings grief - and a warning

https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/12/cny-bluesman-and-musical-mentors-death-from-covid-19-brings-grief-and-a-warning.html

Gibson, who worked in music shops and sang and played the blues across Central New York for 40 years, died Tuesday of the coronavirus. He was 69. He was one of more than 27 people who died from the virus since Dec. 1 in Onondaga County and 270 who died here since the pandemic began.

The virus has forced thousands to make choices between what they love and what will keep them safe. Gibson’s choice led to his death, his family said.

It’s hard to separate Gibson from the music; they were always together. So it was a struggle when the pandemic came and the bar stages that were home to him and so many others went dark.

Gibson still played and watched where and when he could, friends and family said. Sometimes, it was safe. Other times, it was not, said his son, Mike Gibson, who fronts his own band, “The Action!”

The last gig Mark Gibson played is the one that killed him, his son said. It was the Friday before Thanksgiving at a bar that was not following the state’s restrictions.

Mike Gibson does not want his dad’s choice to overshadow his legacy, but he wants other musicians to know the risk.

Mike Gibson and his sister, Katharine Gibson, asked their dad not to play. The bar was too small. It wouldn’t be safe. It was against the rules. But Mark Gibson wasn’t worried, his son said. He wanted to play. Maybe, he needed to play.

“I think it is important to know that he should not have been playing. I think it’s important that other musicians who are doing this know that it’s the cost. This why the restrictions are in place,” Mike Gibson said.

Mark Gibson became ill shortly after, along with others who played the gig outside Onondaga County. He was hospitalized Nov. 29.

Full article at link above.

December 2, 2020

Healthy habits to strengthen your immune system and fight off cold, flu and coronavirus (video)

From the Syracuse.com website:

&ab_channel=syracuse.com

Only 3.5 minutes long, but packed with easy to understand info from a registered dietician.

November 26, 2020

This guy's experience with Covid-19 should make anyone think twice about attending social gatherings

even with a mask on. Note: The type of large event he and his wife attended prior to him getting sick is not mentioned, but it sounds like a wedding reception so I wonder if he had his mask off to eat & drink?

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/11/the-miracles-of-6k-an-upstate-medical-team-gave-him-back-his-breath-and-hope.html

Syracuse, N.Y. — Joanna Jenkins pulled the van up to the emergency entrance at Upstate Medical University.

You are such a blessing in my life, her husband, Greg, told her. “I love you,” he said.

Then he got out and walked himself into the emergency room, alone.

It was Oct. 23. Greg Jenkins, 58, had been battling the coronavirus for more than two weeks. He had gone to the hospital in Utica, near where the couple live, twice already. They sent him home, where he got worse.

His fever was 103 for 11 days. It became harder and harder to breathe. By the time they decided to drive to Syracuse, Greg would stop breathing every time he dozed off. He could not stand up long enough to brush his teeth. He stopped eating.

The man who climbed trees every fall to hunt and spent his days singing to seniors in nursing homes could not get enough air to utter a whole sentence.

Jenkins was at Upstate for two weeks. His lung collapsed days after he arrived. He had around-the-clock care and a cocktail of drugs: Remdesivir, plasma, steroids and antibiotics.

Jenkins is a coronavirus survivor, counted in the “win” column among the 9,970 in Oneida and Onondaga counties who have battled the virus and are considered recovered.

But weeks after he left the hospital, he still cannot take a full breath. Just walking up the stairs or having a conversation is exhausting. He has no idea when, or if, he’ll be able to sing again.

[Read the full, long article at link above.]


Moral of the story: Stay the hell away from people who do not mask up! NO EXCEPTIONS.

November 19, 2020

"Combative Cuomo shouts at reporters during tense press conference."

That's the headline on Syracuse.com. I thought it must be from a presser today because I watched yesterday's presser and there was no "combative" and "shouting" Cuomo. One reporter asked a stupid question and Cuomo gave him the exact response he deserved. Cuomo is trying his damnedest to keep New York from going back to the hell scape that was March and beyond.

So many idiots intent on making the 2nd wave worse than the 1st!

Edited to add the clip some RWNJ twitter account posted to prove Cuomo's so called combativeness and shouting. What a joke! Cuomo was exasperated with the twit of a reporter. That is all.

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1329141205519785992

November 8, 2020

Slate.com Goodbye, Trump World

https://slate.com/tag/goodbye-trump-admin

Goodbye!

Come Jan. 20, Donald Trump will not be president. In the coming weeks, there will be plenty of opportunities to think about what lies ahead, but for now, we want to bid farewell to the Trump officials and family members who have made the past four years so difficult for so many people. We know they’re not just going to go away, but their power is dwindling, and soon they will not matter. Goodbye!

Click on the link to read the Goodbye! (and good riddance) "letters" to members of the Trump Administration.

November 5, 2020

I love watching this Reaction channel on YouTube and here's Mr. Video's take on Twisted Sister's

"We're Not Gonna Take It" in honor of all of us standing up to "the bullies, the jerkoffs and the assholes:"

Mr. Video (real name Leo) is very real and funny (and obviously a fan of Bob Marley)!

November 5, 2020

Youtube.com video in which Elvis Presley sings the part of a mail-in ballot

November 1, 2020

The Final Countdown! Biden/Harris 2020!

&list=PLd9auH4JIHvupoMgW5YfOjqtj6Lih0MKw&index=10&ab_channel=EuropeVEVO

Farewell to the Dumpster Dive administration!

October 31, 2020

Advance Media New York/Syracuse.com Editorial Board endorses Biden

https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2020/10/editorial-endorsement-joe-biden-for-president.html

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump surveyed the nation he was about to lead for the next four years and saw a dystopian landscape of “American carnage.” It was an exaggeration then. It is our reality now.

In one of those defining twists of history presidents never see coming, the global coronavirus pandemic struck in February, sickening Americans and halting the economy. It was the only crisis Trump faced in his four years that was not a crisis of his own making. Now, more than 220,000 here are dead of the virus and nearly 9 million more are infected, thanks in large part to Trump’s incompetent response to it.

When it counted, when the American people needed their government to protect them from the coronavirus, our outsider, anti-government, anti-science president booted the job.

That’s not the only rubble on the Trumpian landscape. It is strewn with Americans distrustful of their government and of each other. Heaps of lies and broken norms of governing and diplomacy. Local manufacturers and farmers hurt by trade wars. Tea party-shaming budget deficits. The president’s own family and businesses enriched by White House connections. An international stage absent a leader. Alliances trashed. Dictators befriended. Muslims banned. Families separated. Dissent crushed. A free press undermined. Charlottesville. Mueller. Impeachment. Covid.

Yes, Trump delivered a tax cut, a slightly above-average stock market and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. He failed to deliver a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, and in fact, is suing to dismantle it in the midst of the pandemic.

Never has an American president squandered so much American goodwill and economic might in service of so little. After four exhausting years, we’re ready for the Trump show to end.

We’re counting on Joe Biden to restore decency, empathy and normalcy to the White House.

Biden is the anti-Trump: long in legislative and foreign policy experience, rooted in working-class values, still connected to hardscrabble places like Scranton and Syracuse decades after he left them, his youthful arrogance tempered by grief. Biden is not without faults and controversy, not uncommon to anyone who has dedicated decades to public service. Still, given the choice between Trump and Biden, we’ll take Biden’s competence and heart for the job any day.

Biden, who will be 78 in a few weeks, has a long list of tasks ahead should he prevail. He must get the coronavirus pandemic under control, kick-start the economy, fix or replace Obamacare, tackle the climate crisis, restore key environmental protections, address systemic racism, repair international alliances and be prepared to meet the next crisis.

Oh, and one more thing: “We’ll act to restore our faith in democracy and our faith in one another,” Biden promised in a speech at Warm Springs, Georgia. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt “came looking for a cure," Biden continued, "but it was the lessons he learned here that he used to lift a nation. Humility, empathy, courage, optimism.”

It is a high bar Biden has set, given the partisanship, mistrust and rancor of the past four, eight, even 12 years. After four decades in government and politics, Biden is hardly naïve. He simply refuses to believe the heart of this nation has “turned to stone.”

“I know this country. I know our people. And I know that we can unite and heal this nation,” he said.

After four years of alternative facts and constant tumult, Biden is the steady, institutionalist leader America needs.

Why we endorse
The purpose of an editorial endorsement is to provide a thoughtful assessment of the choices voters face in an election. We offer editorial endorsements to stimulate the public conversation and promote civic engagement. Voting is a right and an obligation of citizenship. That part is up to you. Sunday, Nov. 1, is the last day for early voting. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

About Syracuse.com editorials
Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board.