Doug's Darkworld

I’ve got a science post coming up, and more on Q-Anon, but today Biden and more bad news. They are not related. I found a reason to vote for Biden. And no, “He’s not Trump” isn’t the reason. Honestly, the lesser of two evils voting hasn’t really worked out well for America. My theory is try and find a reason to vote for a candidate, positive thinking and all that. And imaged above, the reason I’m voting for Biden. This was 2018, when he wasn’t running for anything. After taking his granddaughter to a movie, he chatted with a homeless fellow, gave him some money, then went back into the movie theatre to get a pen and paper so he could give the man the phone number of someone to call to help with an issue the man was having with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As far as I can tell this was a spontaneous and unscripted encounter.

Yeah, it’s not much of a reason. No need to tell me all the reasons not to vote for Biden, I’m quite familiar with them. This incident just says to me that somewhere inside Biden has good impulses and can act on them. So who knows, maybe Biden when elected will actually try and be a good president. IE he will work for the betterment of poor and working Americans. Especially if the Dems win by a landslide and he has a mandate. A thin hope, but those are all we get these days. I had the same hope for Trump, though granted that was just wishful thinking, Trump University tells one all one needs to know about Trump’s character. Or lack thereof.

In today’s bad news, the first apparent Covid-19 reinfection has been confirmed. There have been anecdotal reports before, and some where there may have been testing errors. This Chinese fellow recovered in March, but was reinfected while travelling in Europe recently. Four months after his initial illness. Wouldn’t be terribly surprising unfortunately, acquired immunity to other coronaviruses only lasts months in many cases. That’s why people can catch colds all the time. Let’s just hope that this is a fluke or a mistake. If it turns out acquired immunity from Covid-19 only lasts for a few months, it’s a very bad thing. It would mean that people who’ve gotten over the disease are only protected for a short time. Worse, it could well mean that a vaccine won’t do much better. We could be heading into a world where along with the annual flu shot, one gets a biannual Covid-19 shot. Fun times ahead.

And in more Covid-19 news, Rwanda is doing better than the USA when it comes to Covid-19. Much better, orders of magnitude better. 1500 cases, total. Most American states have more cases than that every day. So in other words Mr Trump, one of the “****hole” countries you so eloquently referred to, is kicking your pathetic ass when it comes to fighting Covid-19. I doubt this will be playing on Fox News though. And even if brought to the attention of Trump supporters, I’m sure the rationalizations to explain it away would be painful to hear.

And Republicans must be doing a lot of rationalizing these days. A reader yesterday alerted me to this: 3 in 4 Republicans say US is in better shape than four years ago: poll OK then. The economy is in free fall, tens of thousands are dead with a pandemic still spreading essentially unchecked, our international standing has plummeted, life expectancy in the US has been dropping since 2015, states are going bankrupt, with no sign any of this is going to get better anytime soon … and that’s an improvement over Obama’s term? And even if one takes Covid-19 out of the picture, Trump’s claim that the economy did fantastic under him compared to Obama, is, well, what the old folks call a lie.

Lastly, a sad story about a couple who believed Rush “It’s just a cold folks” Limbaugh and Trump and all the others who spent so much time telling Americans that Covid-19 was a hoax or no big deal. So the couple ignored masking and social distancing. It ended badly:  Man who believed virus was hoax loses wife to Covid-19 Yerp, he survived, his wife didn’t. He’s changed his tune now. In a just world the people who sabotaged America’s fight against Covid-19 would be brought to justice. It’s not a just world though, and even should Trump not be re-elected, I would be shocked if he or anyone else suffered any serious repercussions for their failures.

Still, a man can dream. Happy Tuesday everyone, stay safe and have a great week.  #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #UtMelioremPeiusAnteTempora

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Joe Biden talking to a homeless vet. Credit: Unknown, used without permission, claimed as Fair Use under US Copyright Law.)