2020 Election Winds Up Being All About Covid-19???

I have been thinking a lot about what the future holds for this country in the final days leading up to this election.  I find it encouraging that so many Americans have taken it upon themselves to vote early ... 40 million by last count.  Pretty impressive!  That being said, it kind of feels like my vote, living up here in Seattle area, doesn't really count because everyone I meet up here seems to be on the far Left of the political spectrum, such that my lone voice in a crowd --gone made?-- just gets completely drowned out, but I will cast a ballot nonetheless.  

Funny thing is, being an Independent I have voted for many Democrats in other elections/offices. I look at records, policies, platforms, transparency and more importantly ACCOUNTABILITY.  To my way of thinking, if you are going to get my VOTE, you will have to have a detailed plan and record of delivering.  I have not, however, met many people living up here who express a willingness to likewise vote with THOUGHT; the norm up here seems to be mindless voting for any and everything with a liberal tag on it, across the board.  And when I try to engage people in meaningful conversations about the issues facing the state of our local Seattle area/WA State and the nation as whole, I just wind up getting shamed for non-aquiescence or shouted down in a tirade completely absent of any logic, facts or reason.  It's truly exhausting!

So I find myself wondering, what if I could say something to a fellow citizen and they would actually listen to what I have to say, expressing for once an uncharacteristic willingness to consider --just for a moment-- another perspective:  What would I say to them?

If this election boils down to purely to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic --which is what I seem to be hearing up here-- then don't you owe it to yourself and to the nation as a whole to actually KNOW THE DETAILS of Biden plan for national recovery from this rather timely Chinese pandemic?  What, if any, details has Biden given in this respect?  Aside from wrestling control from State and Local authorities to nationalize control by require ongoing lockdowns and a national mask-wearing mandate, I have NOT heard anything meaningful or specific on this front coming from Joe Biden or his running mate, Kamala Harris.  Something, "better" and "different" is NOT a meaningful, condfidence-inspiring plan.

 o Joe Biden is on record for being against the timely travel ban on travel from       China in January 2020.  Per "the Science" --Journal of Science, May 2020-- this move alone saved hundred of thousands of United States citizens lives.  According to the Democrats and those on the Left, "Travel bans are wholly ineffective, xenophobic and purely punative in nature", right? The evidence here alone would strongly suggest otherwise!

o We are a union of United States, where all powers not exclusively granted to the Federal government are retained by the individual member states --this where a basic working knoweledge of U.S. Civics comes in handy.  Big Government, as evidenced by countless examples in our nation's history, seldom does anything in a timely, individualized and cost-effective manner.  That's the beauty of our system.  States are allowed to enact policies that will best benefit their local constituents in many areas, with the support of the Federal Government (e.g., federal funding and laws, law enforcement, emergency aid, National Guard).  

From a Covid-19 perspective, it makes little sense to lockdown cities in remote areas where their is little to no infection outbreak.  Same thing goes for mask-mandates.  One size doesn't fit all, even in a national pandemic.  Decisions are best made, with real-time data on the ground in each locality and bearing in mind the over-arching costs of shut-down (e.g., economic, emotional, social, educational, long-term health consequences, that is to say people not getting the routine medical care and screening they would otherwise be receiving).

Quite frankly, given the suppression of facts and spinning of truth in information that I have wittnessed of late coming from social-media, mainstream media, academia and celebrity pudints/figures with a 'national microphone', the notion of surrendering complete control under to GOVERNMENT under the guise of a pandemic scares the living daylights out of me!  But you have to possess a mind capable of thinking in order to fathom the potential longer-term consequences of such a scenario?

o The Obama-Biden Administration did a terrible job in their handling of the Swine-Flu epidemic in January 2009.  They got lucky, however, because the virus wound up not being as deadly as was anticipated in the United States.  Swine flu is now incorporated into the annual flu vaccine.  What this administration did do, however, was to leave the shelves of the National Emergency supply EMPTY! What little supplies were available when the pandemic hit wound up being expired (.e.g, PPE and meals) and fell woefully short on medical equipment/supplies (e.g., ventilators and other vital medical equipment and medications).

President Trump worked with American manufacturers to quickly restock this depleted national supply, turning out hundreds of thousands of  N95 masks, face sheilds, gloves, gowns, disinfectants and ventilators.  He invoked the "National Defense Clause" in instances where companies fell short in compliance.  Trump even came up with the idea of re-using sanitized masks in the short-term while supplies were generated.  He then found a company that had been working on a patent for a machine that would do just that --sanitizing 20,000 masks daily for re-use--  and worked with the FDA to get their patent processed in a timely manner.

President Trump mobilized National Guard in cites to assist in cities that needed them (e.g., New York City and Javitz Center Hospital).  He sent Navy hospital ships to San Francisco and New York to handle potential hospital overflows. Trump worked with manufacturers to get testing for this novel (meaning NEW!) coronavirus up to speed so as to help curb spread in areas of high outbreak.

o From an information standpoint, President Trum did a rather remarkable job of getting the information as it became available out to the American people (e.g., how long virus remains active on surfaces and in the air, what kills the virus --sunlight in two minutes, alcohol in 30 seconds, Bleach in 5 minutes), with his daily Covid-19 expert-driven briefings.  When the experts called for a nation-wide lockdown in order to help curb the spread of the virus, President Trump made the call to temporarily shut-down, even at the risk of jeopardizing the record-breaking economy his Administration had worked so hard to accomplish.  He did this, because President Trump truly cares for the American people --ALL the people, even those who happen to disagree with him politically.  And the lock-down did help to curb, reducing the projected loss of life from over 2 MILLION DEATHS to just over 200,000 deaths --which was projected level with containment measures taken.  This is where we are now, at just over 200,000 deaths.  While any loss of life is unfortunate and truly heartfelt, from a numbers perspective alone President Trump working in conjucntion with the various State Governors has indisputably been successful in curbing the rampant spread of the covid-19 virus, despite the mainstream media/pundits counter-spin.

I also keep hearing that "numbers of cases are going up!"  This while true needs to be looked at in context.  We are now testing over 1 million a week here in the United States.  So naturally one would expect that the number of cases we are able to identify would also go UP.  What people are missing in all of this is the fact that while the number of cases are going up the corresponding death rate is dropping significantly.  That is to say this virus is not as deadly as we initially thought when we did not yet have widespread testing available for everyone.  In fact a number of people who test positive for the virus are completely asymptomatic or have little to few symptoms.  That's good news.  Those at risk still need to take precautions.  10/23/20 No one is discounting that fact, but we should acknowledge an upside when we find one not continue to wallow in alarm and outright fear, "preparing for a dark winter?"  Seriously? What a way NOT to lead!

Moreover, President Trump has worked tirelessly --w.r.t. to the FDA, CDC/NIH and funding-- to enable the development of new therapuetics and several vaccines which will be available within a matter of weeks, given a 2nd term for the Trump Administration.  In fact, in the aftermath of Trump's own recovery from covid-19 he promised that the monoclonal antibody treatment he received would be made available to senior citizens and others across the nation who are recovering from the virus: And the President delivered!  My mother informed me that the Aunt of her cousin, age 95, living in a nursing home came down with Covid-19 a little over a week ago.  She was given Regeneron@ and within three days later, this woman/mother/aunt/wife/sister was back up and running again, almost as if she'd never been ill in the first place.  Truly remarkable!

o As for wearing masks: 1) CDC and Surgeon General for first several masks of this pandemic said masks were ineffective in stopping spread of the virus. 2) Then in late April/May they changed their tune, indicating that mask-wearing may help to curb spread of the virus.  Which is fine, facts as we know them can change? That's part of the scientific process.

Fluid-dynamic studies suggest, however, that while wearing a mask helps to contain the small particle droplet spread from the mask-wearer, it does little --if anything-- to protect the wearer of the mask from inaling these potentially infectious droplets, as evidenced by infection data currently being compiled on mask-wearers contracting the virus.  Hence, the need for improved air circulation in indoor spaces and extreme physical distancing.

Bottom-line, while mask-wearing and physical distancing may help curb the spread of this deadly virus, they are NOT A LONG-TERM SOULTION!  Science does not operate in a vaccuum and we have to consider the longer-term consequences of ongoing shutdown and social isolation.  The WHO organization even came out recently disclaiming the benefits on ongoing lockdowns in combatting this disease.  What we need is a vaccine --in addition to the remarkable strides that have already made w.r.t. therapeutics--  in order to re-open our society and to get our economy back-on the record-breaking track it was steaming along before this China-virus hit.  Only with a vaccine will their be any return to some form a new normalcy ... For in the absence of the Chinese Government being held accountable for unleashing this virus onto the rest of the world and then to add insult injury, lying about it (!!), life in the age of pandemics may unfortunately become our new normal?

So you have to ask yourself, am I willing to having long-term mask-wearing and going shutdowns be the new normal in our nation at risk of permanently derailing our nation's economy and wreaking havoc on other social/educational institutions and individuals mental-emotional well-being? ["The cure cannot be worse that the disease?!] If not, which candidate's administration is forth-coming in their committment to get a vaccine out to "We the People" in a timely, albeit safe, fashion?  Which candidate is committed to holding the Chinese Government accountable for their part in unleashing this pandemic onto the rest of the world, so as to deter China --or any other nation-- from ever letting this sort of thing happen again?

11/28/2020  We NOW have 3 different Covid-19 vaccines, with over a 90% effectivity, ready to roll out in a matter of a few weeks --pending FDA approval.  Did we get this information BEFORE the election?  Big fat NOPE?  We got it days after in the case of Pfiezer and about  week after the election in the case of Moderna.  Coicindence?  Not a chance!  The announcement that "Operation Warp Speed" has helped to secure a vaccine to combat the rather suspiciously timed China-virus in record shattering time would have been the final death blow to Joe Biden's attempts to stagger across the finish line, so the elite powers-that-be put a hard-STOP on the respective drug companies making their announcements until after the election.  Downright scary, if you ask me!?! But not alltogether suprising given the dark machinations "We the People" have had to bear witness to these past 4 years.  Only thing I can say to that is that KARMA can be a REAL B**** and a BIG THANKYOU TO PRESIDENT TRUMP AND VP MIKE PENCE FOR THEIR TIRELESS DILLIGENCE IN DOING WHAT IT TOOK TO MAKE THESE VACCINES HAPPEN!!!

Wherein lies the true Collusion and Obstruction?

Watching the news and CSPAN these days, I find myself wondering "Wherein lies the true Collusion and Obstruction?"

Okay, I'll be honest I have not yet had time to read the "Mueller Report" in its entirety.  That being said, I have taken in inputs from multiple noteworthy news and information sources.  My take away from what I have come to understand thus far is the following:

1)  Mueller's primary job was to investigate for evidence of "collusion to interfere in a Presidential Election."  He halfway did this, choosing to ignore evidence on the Democratic side of the equation, namely the origins of the Dossier --provided by Fusion GPS, via funding from Hillary Clinton and DNC, and now we are hearing possibly some funding from President Obama's campaign funds-- where this 'Trump Dossier' was improperly used to obtain multiple FISA warrants on Carter Page and other elements of the Trump Campaign.  Hopefully, the DOJ will pull on these threads to see where this information leads.

2) Mueller's conclusion as to the above was "no evidence of collusion" on the Part of President Donald Trump or his election campaign.  Let me repeat this, because the mainstream media isn't accurately reporting this.  They seem to be spinning the narrative that it isn't over yet, because Congress has further investigations to conduct, which is legally inaccurate.  Robert Mueller and his team of lawyers were tasked to put this matter to rest and they found no evidence of collusion on the part of the President of the United States.  Robert Mueller is the Special Counsel 'hired' to make this determination; Mueller made his determinations and now it's over.  Congress has already conducted numerous independent investigations, none of which turned up any material evidence of a crime.  What does this mean?  It means that after years of ongoing investigation it's about TIME the U.S. Congress finally gets back to the business of legislating!  One wonders, has the U.S. Congress completely forgotten that their primary reason for being is to actually LEGISLATE??!!??

3) "Obstruction" was a secondary aspect Mueller chose to investigate.  That is to say, did the President interfere, with malicious intent, into the investigation into "Russion collusion" in any legally indictable manner ---aside from Trump's being angry at having the start of his Presidency mired under investigation, along with suspicions that his campaign had been spied on.*  Keep in mind, the sole job of the Special Counsel is to indict, in the absence of formal indictment our justice system operates under the assumption of "Innocent until proven guilty."  The burden of proof does not rest with the accused, be he/she a sitting President or just an ordinary citizen, contrary to what many sitting members of the U.S. Congress (Democrats) would have us believe.

*[Evidence has recently come to light which appears to support Trump's suspicions of "being spied one" and Attorney General Barr has vowed to investigate further.]

Had Mueller found clear evidence of obstruction, legally speaking he was obligated to have put forth that claim, along with supporting evidence to back it up in his report.  That was his JOB, but Mueller didn't make this claim.  So to claim now, after the fact, that underlying --necessary!-- criminal  evidence does exists for an "obstruction" charge against the President means one of two things:

Either a) Mueller didn't do his job or b) Partisan Politicians are now choosing to abuse their 'oversight' powers in order to continue their spin-narrative toward the end of delegitimizing the duly elected sitting President, thereby openly attempting to negate the outcome of the 2016 Election and subsequently the "will of the people."

These politicians actually think they know what is better for "We the People."  They basically think  that the collective "we" are too stupid to make valid choices for ourselves.   They mistakenly think that we are too inept to hold them accountable for their abuses of power and lack of producing any meaningful legislation (e.g., meaningful immigration reform legislation) that would actually benefit "We the People."  This egregious behavior should enrage voters on both sides of the aisle!  Because at the end of the day our entire country suffers when our elected representatives chose to serve interests other ours, particularly when they fail to attend to their legislative duties.  This current mentality that if Rules, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution, aren't working for you can just work your way around them is BEYOND SCARY!  Operating from this perspective, one is left wondering can the outcome of any election be manipulated in such a manner moving forward?  Biding time with costly, time-consuming bogus investigations until the next election cycle rolls around.

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"We The People?"

4) Attorney General Barr did go up to the Hill and testify before the Senate as requested.  His answers were pretty straightforward and to my way of thinking his responses served to dispel many of the mistruths being put forward by the Democrats and dishonest media outlets.  You would have reached a similar conclusion if you had watched the testimony being carried live on a few networks and CSPAN, while the dishonest networks just showed clips that supported their ongoing propaganda narrative that "Trump must be an agent working on behalf of Russia."  One wonders, where were these same vigilant, hard-hitting investigative journalist when President Obama had his HUGE 'hot mic' moment with Prime Minister Medvedev? Maybe it's me, but I'm not seeing any sort of rational balance in reporting these past few years.

As such, my recommendation to you is that you watch the congressional proceedings on CSPAN for yourself ... DVR them.  That way you can begin to get at a version of truth without the concerted propaganda spin-narrative being presented by the mainstream media.  Because in the absence of accountability for the actions (or lack thereof as the case may be) of our elected representatives and senators --which is underpinned by our access to accurate information, which we used to be able to obtain from our mainstream media-- the "consent of the governed" is basically meaningless.  The job of "We the People" extends beyond merely voting in elections.  We have a duty to remain continually, and moreover accurately, informed such that we can become fully engaged in monitoring the business of government.  Only then can we make meaningful choices, with intentional consequences, when we engage in our political election process.

5) Holding Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress is really rich, given the fact that Barr has made a nearly non-redacted version of the "Mueller Report" available to members of Congress.  The only condition being that the document has to be viewed at the DOJ, and this is for legal reasons surrounding the release of documents containing Grand Jury testimony.  ***As far as I know, to date, not one single Democrat has taken advantage of the opportunity to go and read this near-non redacted report version currently available at DOJ.***  Furthermore, it is the actual LAW that prevents Barr from releasing a non-redacted version of the report --again given the legally binding confidentially of Grand Jury proceedings/information-- and the Democratic members of Congress know this!  ***If AG Barr gives them what they want he will be breaking the law.  The Democrats are just trying to make it appear as if Barr is trying to hide something in an effort to further their dishonest spin-narrative.***  This type of behavior is actually disgraceful and such a wide deviation from what our Founding Father's intended when they established our representative form of democracy.  It's shameful really to see our politics degenerate to this level of open partisanship and hostility.

Also from what I understand, Barr's refusal to testify before House is due to a deviation from standard procedure.  Members of the House Judicial Committee are supposed to present their questions directly to the Attorney General.  Instead they want to bring in 'legal staff' to ask the questions, likely in the hopes catching Barr in some legal entrapment scenario I guess???  As such, AG Barr is well within his legal rights --and quite frankly common sense rights-- to refuse to appear before the committee.


Bottom line:  Whether or not the current Democratic machinations and spin-narratives actually work --that is can they pull one over on "We the People", which ironically winds up proving their current modus operandi that "We the People are basically stupid" -- will ultimately be up to you and me, "We the People."  So now is the time for all good women and men to be truly informed --from multiple news and information sources, especially CSPAN-- and to embrace a willingness to think outside the box in which they would have us 'safely' contained.

This whole two-plus years of one-sided investigation, where little truly meaningful legislation has been put forward and completed by Congressional initiative has truly left a bitter taste in this Independent's mouth.  As much as I would have had an appreciation for some of the Democratic policies aimed at improving the lives of the less fortunate in the past, I am just not seeing these initiatives being carried out anymore with actual policy implementation.  The Democrats are all talk of late, while President Trump is action, followed up by more action.  Moreover, the Democrats seem to have a complete disregard for the hard-working blue/white collar middle class.  The Democrats seem to have lost all perspective from where I am standing.  Quite frankly, like President Trump or not, any honest person has to admit that  he's getting some pretty important policy implemented across the board and the lives of millions of Americans --not just those at the top-- are improving as result of his efforts. When you stop and think of all that the President has had going against him since election day 2016 --and even before as it may turn out-- it's actually rather remarkable that Trump has been able to accomplish so much. But perhaps some of us have yet to pull our heads out the mainstream media's "acceptable narrative" box in order to see it?


5/9/2019  Apparently President Trump has now invoked "Executive Privilege" --and keep in mind he could have done so at any point throughout this entire process.  President Trump has chosen to prevent Robert Mueller testifying any further before Congress --Mueller has already previously testified.  I say, good for the President!  Maybe this is what it takes to hit the "reset" button and to finally get the U.S. Congress back to the business of legislating on behalf of "We the People."  The President has indulged those in Congress eager unseat him for long enough.  If they can't find their own way to an end to their ongoing delusional trip, then I am perfectly fine with letting President Trump find it for them:  Enough is ENOUGH!  No more distractions, innuendo, lies and letting the pressing business of the country slide.  It's time to get back to doing the business of "We the People" U.S. Congress!

5/12/2019  Over the weekend I saw an interview with renowned legal scholar who holds that Robert Mueller's 400 page report, laced with reams of abject speculation, deviates dramatically from what is the legal norm.  Where the legal norm is to put forth only evidence of indictable offenses for subsequent prosecution.  In the absence of formal indictments, the Trump side of "Russian collusion" and obstruction should be a done deal.  The TIME has come to spend our investigative oversight time and money on looking into the origins of the "Trump Dossier" and abuses by the FBI in weaponizing their investigative mandate during the 2016 Presidential Election, neither of which have been looked into thus far.  Objective balance requires we complete these investigations in order to prevent such abuses from happening in future election cycles.  Maybe the Democrats response to the conclusions drawn by the Mueller report -- namely there were no indictable offenses-- amounts to a shell game (i.e., "Keep looking over here; don't look over there") because they are concerned about where an investigation into the other side of collusion and obstruction will lead?