Former Socialist, Former Republican, Former Contributor to The American Spectator, Former Resident of Canada, Back in Boston Area After Stints in New York City & Atlanta, Current Mustache Wearer & Aficionado of Baseball, Bowling in All Its Forms, Cats, Music & Healthy Living
Before I attempt to answer these two questions let me preface my comments by stating unequivocally that there is no bigger buffoon in the Trump Administration than President Trump himself. His comments a week ago about injecting ourselves with disinfectant to combat COVID-19 could very well be the defining moment of his presidency.
But when the President of the United States is a buffoon he is bound to surround himself with other buffoons. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice-President Mike Pence have demonstrated buffoonery of their own within the past 24 hours.
Kushner predicted that May would be a transition month, things would be back normal by June and that by July the country would be "really rocking". I do hope his prediction comes to pass, but from where I sit this is based on wishful thinking and delusions of grandeur rather than optimism. In three months time how many more Americans will have become infected? How many more will be dead? If 100,000 Americans are dead by the Fourth of July will this still be a success story? Even if summer sees a respite in infections and deaths, Dr. Fauci just last night warned of "a bad fall and a bad winter" if we remain unprepared. If one answers to the likes of Trump and Kushner then I have a bad feeling we will be woefully unprepared and end up with a second wave deadlier than the first.
Yet I think Vice-President Pence managed to top Kushner when he did not wear a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic yesterday. Pence defended his decision by saying he is regularly tested for COVID-19 as are the people around him. (If only the rest of us could be tested once.) Second Lady Karen Pence managed to make things worse for her husband by claiming he didn't know the Mayo Clinic had a mandatory mask policy until after he left the facility. Did Pence not notice he was the only one not wearing a mask? Anyone with a scintilla of common sense would know a mask at a health care facility, especially one as prestigious as the Mayo Clinic, would be mandatory. By not wearing the mask Pence came across as someone to whom to the rules do not apply. After his wife's intervention, Pence came off like a dumb fuck.
Earlier this month, Bree Newsome Bass (best known for removing the Confederate Flag from the grounds of the South Carolina legislature five years ago) objected to comparing COVID-19 to war:
Why is the pandemic being framed as a war instead of a public health crisis? It’s not a war. It’s a public health crisis that ballooned to disaster due to failures in governance at every level, especially federal.
I had a bit of a debate (albeit a civil one) about Bass' statement with one of my former neighbors. I made the case the analogy wasn't entirely inappropriate given the calls upon President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act (which he has done on a limited and selective basis). My neighbor countered that this country is infatuated with war and are drawing false equivalencies. She is not entirely wrong whether it was LBJ's War on Poverty or Reagan's War on Drugs both of which ought to have been approached in a public health framework. Nor was she wrong with regard to the comparisons to 9/11. As I noted when people talked in the streets about 9/11 in the days that followed the worse was over. But when people talked about the Coronavirus in the street the worse was still to come and still is.
However, in the three plus weeks since we had this discussion, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more Americans than the Vietnam War and we are now approaching 60,000 deaths. Mind you the 58,318 American military deaths in Vietnam came about over nearly 20 years. COVID-19 claimed that many Americans in less than three months. When that many Americans die in less than 90 days we've gone well beyond a public health crisis. A pandemic and a war aren't the same, but both can change the psyche of a people in an irreversible manner. As Jonathan V. Last put it in his The Bulwark article "COVID-19 Is This Generation's Vietnam":
The long Vietnam debacle created tremendous pressure on American society. As people watched the casualty count climb and saw friends and loved ones perish, this pressure built until the old order cracked and was swept away in revolution and counter-revolution. In physics, we measure pressure by calculating force applied over area. Given the same amount of force, but a smaller area, the pressure increases.
I wonder if something like this holds for societal stressors. Take the force of a shock and spread it out over a large time horizon—say, three or four years—and the resulting societal pressures will be smaller than if it happens across a relatively short time frame.
What happens when you compress the time frame? Even aside from the economic impact of the last two months and the months ahead, what is the societal impact of experiencing the death toll of Vietnam—and counting—over a 12 week period?
The answer is: A great deal of societal pressure.
The point is not that the pandemic is worse than Vietnam, or vice versa; historically and morally, they are very different world events. The point, rather, is that, three months into the COVID-19 crisis, most Americans have yet to internalize the magnitude of the change that could come from it.
The effects of the Vietnam war on American society and the American psyche—and on more than a generation of U.S. foreign and domestic politics—were enormous.
The present pandemic could have similarly huge effects. These might be the early days of a wave of change that could reshape everything in America: Our politics. Our economics. Our views of each other and of the world around us.
My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.
Combine de Blasio's unwillingness to do what he demands of others on top of willfully promoting hatred against the NYC's 1.5 million Jews (of which I am one) I believe his immediate resignation is in order.
Baltimore Orioles outfielder and first baseman Trey Mancini announced he has Stage 3 colon cancer and will undergo chemotherapy for the next six months. As such, should there be a MLB season in 2020, Mancini is unlikely to play. The COVID-19 pandemic also complicates matters with Mancini's now compromised immune system. Mancini was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his colon during spring training last month shortly before his 28th birthday.
An eighth round draft pick of the Orioles in 2013 after a distinguished collegiate career at Notre Dame, Mancini made his MLB debut at the tail end of the 2016 season. Mancini made an immediate impression hitting 3 HR in only 15 plate appearances. In 2017, Mancini finished third in AL Rookie of the Year balloting behind Aaron Judge after hitting .293 with 24 HR and 78 RBIs. His batting average would fall more than 50 points in 2018, but he did hit 24 HR albeit with only 58 RBI. However, 2019 proved to be his breakout season hitting a career high 35 HR and 97 RBI along with a .291 average on an Orioles team which lost 108 games.
Now Mancini faces the greatest test of his life. But he is receiving the best possible care. One can only hope the cancer was detected early enough to make a full recovery and a live a long healthy life be it with baseball or without baseball.
Should Mancini be able to suit up for the Orioles in 2021 perhaps the ordeal he is enduring now will give him the strength to be the team's leader both on the diamond and in the clubhouse. In which case, the Orioles could soon be a force with which to be reckoned. Whatever the Orioles' fortune, Mancini will be an inspiration to baseball fans everywhere.
Every night at 7 p.m., New Yorkers applaud for health care professionals who are treating those afflicted with COVID-19 as well as other essential front line workers who cannot remain home.
Dr. Breen had been treating COVID-19 patients before becoming afflicted herself. She briefly returned to work before her family urged her to travel to Virginia.
As her father Phillip Breen, also a doctor, put it, “She tried to do her job, and it killed her.”
The elder Breen indicated his daughter did not have a history of mental illness, but noted a change in her demeanor after seeing numerous patients who had died before they could be treated.
While most doctors and health care workers will not abruptly end their lives there is no doubt that a critical mass will experience PTSD. There are those who will argue that COVID-19 cannot be compared to war. Yet with the sheer amount of death associated with COVID-19, I am sure the experiences of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals have similar experiences to medical personnel who have treated our soldiers in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
COVID-19 has been a profoundly life changing experience for all of us. For doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who have had to treat COVID-19 patients it is infinitely more so because of the loss of life they could not prevent and the risk of contracting COVID-19 themselves. Some health care professionals will be less able to cope with these conditions than others. Simply put, Dr. Breen will not be the last health care worker who will take their life as a result of what they experienced.
As Dr. Breen's father put it, “Make sure she’s praised as a hero, because she was. She’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died.”
We New Yorkers shall see to her praise tonight. R.I.P.
Yes, COVID-19 originated in China and the Chinese government did a great deal to conceal its contagiousness and casualties. But President Trump was perfectly happy to make excuses for the Chinese government and more significantly downplayed the risks it posed to Americans consistently suggesting we had it very much under control. On February 26th, two months and two days ago, Trump stated at a White House briefing, "And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done."
After President Trump attempted to feign sarcasm regarding his medical advice that people get injections of disinfectant to treat COVID-19, I made the following suggestion:
The simple fact of the matter is that President Trump doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about where it concerns COVID-19. As a matter of public safety, no American should disregard anything he has to say about the subject. If President Trump wants to do America a public service then he should get off the lectern and let Drs. Birx and Fauci and other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force do the talking.
But, of course, Trump will do nothing of the sort. After all, he has an election to contest in just over six months. Trump plays for keeps and will continue to do so no matter how many Americans die because of his irresponsible and reckless behavior.
What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!
I don't think he'll stay away from the press conferences for very long. Why would Trump want Drs. Fauci & Birx to get his spotlight? If Trump does fewer press conferences I suspect he will compensate by resuming his rallies in states which ease their stay at home restrictions. Many of those states will be those sympathetic to his message, even if he has nothing to say. Trump would prefer idol worship than reporters asking tough questions.
One way or the other, Trump isn't going into hiding. He craves the spotlight too much. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is biding his time.
Oddly enough I've come to appreciate Reid and The Statler Brothers a lot more over the past year or so as I regularly watch reruns of The Johnny Cash Show on Sunday nights. The Statler Brothers were a part of Cash's musical ensemble before striking out on their own in the mid-1970's and having a string of country hits during the 1980's and their own variety show in the 1990's before retiring in the early 2000's.
One of the songs I've come to appreciate is "Bed of Rose's", a Reid composition which tells the story of a young man rejected by his church congregation finding aid and comfort in the arms of a lady of the evening who was far more holy than the whole flock. Here is their performance of it on The Johnny Cash Show half a century ago. All the Statlers (who were not named Statler) harmonize beautifully, but it is Reid's voice and words which give the song its backbone. R.I.P.
“Bleach and other disinfectants are not suitable for consumption or injection under any circumstances. People should always read the label for proper usage instructions.”
Meanwhile Reckitt Benckiser Group, the British corporation which manufactures Lysol, issued a statement of its own:
“Due to recent speculation and social media activity, RB (the makers of Lysol and Dettol) has been asked whether internal administration of disinfectants may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus. As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).”
The simple fact of the matter is that President Trump doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about where it concerns COVID-19. As a matter of public safety, no American should disregard anything he has to say about the subject.
If President Trump wants to do America a public service then he should get off the lectern and let Drs. Birx and Fauci and other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force do the talking.
But, of course, Trump will do nothing of the sort. After all, he has an election to contest in just over six months. Trump plays for keeps and will continue to do so no matter how many Americans die because of his irresponsible and reckless behavior.
So long as this state of affairs continues it will be left to the Cloroxes and the Lysols of the world to clean up Trump's toxic mess.
After President Trump stunned America and the world by suggesting COVID-19 could be knocked out by injections of disinfectant, his apologists tried to tell us he didn't really make any such suggestion. Case in point is Joel Pollak of Breitbart: Trump used the word “inject,” but what he meant was using a process — which he left “medical doctors” to define — in which patients’ lungs might be cleared of the virus, given new knowledge about its response to light and other factors.
Except that Pollak and Breitbart didn't get the White House talking points. While signing a new COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress, Trump claimed he was being sarcastic:
I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters just like you, just to see what would happen. I was asking a sarcastic and a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside. But it does kill it and it would kill it on the hands, and it would make things much better.
When someone is engaging in sarcasm it is clear to the listener and/or viewer. When I watched the video of Trump's statement I didn't hear a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I don't think Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House Coronavirus Response Task Force thought he was being sarcastic either. The look on her face says it all.
I see disinfectant, where it knocks [coronavirus] out in a minute—one minute—and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that. So you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me.
One wonders if Trump is going to double down his defense of Clorox injections and cry fake news. Or will he simply throw Bill Bryan under the bus? Bryan is head of the Science and Technology Division of the Department of Homeland Security who did tell Trump that disinfectant can be effective in killing COVID-19 on surfaces, not the human body. Bryan made similar remarks about COVID-19 being killed off by sunlight on surfaces, not the human body. But Trump pondered, “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light.”
It must be asked. Is President Trump really this stupid? Or will this just be another one of his lies? It should come as no surprise if in a few days from now Trump will deny he ever made such a claim.
The bottom line here is that we cannot trust anything Trump says about COVID-19 (or anything else for that matter). We could not trust Trump's repeated claims that COVID-19 was under control, that anyone who wanted a test could get a test or that Hydorxychloroquine was a game changer. With this track record, I can only hope that no American will see fit to pour Clorox or Lysol into a syringe. COVID-19 has now claimed more than 50,000 American lives. We don't need foolish advice from President Trump to add to the death toll.
However, it is now known the first COVID-19 death in the United States occurred more than three weeks earlier. According to autopsies conducted by the medical examiner in Santa Clara County in California, the first COVID-19 death occurred on February 6th. A second death occurred 11 days later.
The first person who succumbed died at home and had not been diagnosed with COVID-19. At the time, testing was only being carried out by the CDC and limited to people with a particular travel history (i.e. China) and had specific symptoms.
Of course, this means there are going to be a lot of post-mortems and a great many of those post-mortems will list COVID-19 as the cause of death. Thus it is entirely possible the first COVID-19 death occurred before February 6th. Americans were dying and the Trump Administration fiddled. As of this writing 47,486 Americans have died of COVID-19. Sadly, we can be sure this total will be much higher.
Mind you this is the same Lt. Gov who scarcely two years ago blamed abortion and video games for gun violence claiming, "We live in a violent country where we've devalued life."
Equally guilty of devaluing life is the anti-stay at home protester in Wisconsin who carried the sign "No Tests No Vaccines No Masks". As it stands now we don't have enough masks or tests with no vaccine in sight. This individual wants none of the above. If this declaration doesn't represent a devaluation of life then nothing does.
In the grand scheme of things the views expressed by Texas Lt. Gov Patrick and by the Wisconsin protester more then 1200 miles away are antithetical to conservatism. But most conservatives aren't really conservative. At least not anymore. They gave up their conservative stand to bow down and worship at the altar of Trump. And with it they also gave up any illusion that they give a damn about the sanctity of life evidently including their own lives. I'm sure many of these people would still identify themselves as conservative. But they sure as hell aren't pro-life.
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
It would appear that Trump is now describing COVID-19 as "the Invisible Enemy". However, Trump describes COVID-19 temporarily suspending immigration to the United States will be every bit as useless as the travel restrictions he implemented against China at the end of January. Those would be the travel restrictions which Trump boasted, "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China."
Only it didn't. Indeed, the ban only applied to foreign nationals. An estimated 40,000 people have flown to America from China in the two months after Trump's so-called ban.
As it stands, more than 800,000 Americans have been infected with COVID-19 with nearly 43,000 dead. It is difficult to see how Trump's temporary suspension of immigration to the United States will be anymore useful in preventing the spread of COVID-19 any more than his Chinese travel restrictions were. Nor will it do anything to prevent the loss of American jobs which have already been lost as we have will soon have an unemployment rate in the double digits.
This is nothing more than yet another easy answer to a difficult question. What this measure does is to feed the red meat of a Trump steak to his supporters already motivated by protests against stay at home restrictions in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Minnesota and Virginia and other states and ultimately to secure his re-election. This measure reinforces their blood and soil nativism against foreigners while associating the Democratic Party as the party of foreigners. What makes this different from the "Build the Wall" rallying cry is that the distinction between legal and illegal immigration has been erased. Now all immigrants are bad and equal the destruction of the economy, disease and death.
This measure is also designed to bring about "liberal tears." While decent people should be outraged our outrage should be secondary to Trump's incompetence when it came to disbanding the White House Pandemic Team, his lying about any American who wants a COVID-19 test can have one, his arbitrary allocation of PPE, ventilators and other medical equipment to the states and now his efforts to undermine social distancing. Trump's boorish behavior will make staying focused on those shortcomings very difficult as passion often overcomes reason. Maintaining reason will become even more arduous between now and November.
When discussing Trump's temporary immigration ban the main question must be,"What does this have to do with stopping the spread of COVID-19 when 800,000 Americans are already sick and more than 40,000 Americans are already dead?" Trump's apologists will attempt to obfuscate or cry fake news. But keep asking the question because they have no answer.
When I wrote about the massacre the death toll was 16. As of this writing it is 19 and the RCMP expects this total will rise as at least five homes were burned to the ground by the assailant during his killing spree and more bodies are expected to be recovered. In all, 16 separate crime scenes are being investigated. To give one an idea of the evil wrought the victims of this massacre were both known to the killer as well as those who were complete strangers. This on top of being disguised as a Mountie. Just when you think you've heard it all there is a new strain of evil for which there is no vaccine.
If that wasn't enough questions are being asked to why the Nova Scotia government didn't issue a province wide alert and Premier Stephen McNeil has pointed the finger to the RCMP. No doubt there will be an inquiry as to whether this would have prevented further deaths.
The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in acknowledges Kim underwent a heart procedure, but that nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Perhaps, but how many 36-year old men undergo heart procedures?
Speculation began in earnest after Kim was absent from celebrations on April 15th which commemorated the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il-sung who founded North Korea in 1948 and ruled it until his death in 1994.
Let us assume that South Korea's assessment is correct and Kim recovers from his surgery. What are the chances Kim changes his diet? When someone has absolute power he is unlikely to change his ways. In which case, Kim might not live to 40.
For the people of North Korea this should be a good thing. But chances are his successor (possibly his younger sister Kim Yo-jong) will be every bit as cruel and tyrannical as he, his father Kim Jong-il and his grandfather were.
A regime like North Korea is dangerous and unpredictable in the best of times. But during a global pandemic this current COVID-19 pandemic could mutate into virulent strain altogether.
I miss bowling and bowled as long as I could until it became untenable. If I lived in Georgia I would be sorely tempted to go bowling. And there are the bowling alley proprietors to consider. I don't know how many of them have been able to obtain small business relief loans from the federal government. Those that haven't are in a very tenuous situation and if they don't reopen now they might never reopen.
But to reopen Georgia's bowling alleys will leave people in the gutter. Of the nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases in Georgia more than 1,200 have been diagnosed within the past 24 hours. As of this writing, 775 Georgians have succumbed to COVID-19. By reopening businesses prematurely there's a very good chance the number of cases will skyrocket as will the number of deaths. It does not fill me with confidence when Governor Kemp revealed earlier this month that he did not know COVID-19 could be spared by people who are asymptomatic and saw fit to reopen the state's beaches.
Given Governor Kemp's lack of prudence perhaps Georgians will proceed with caution. But more likely than not his order will results in more Georgians being afflicted with COVID-19 and more Georgians dying of it. There is nothing pro-life about Governor Kemp.
After a year and change along with three elections with the threat of a fourth in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel at long last finally has a unity government as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition Blue and White leader Benny Gantz have come to an agreement.
The unity government is to last three years with Netanyahu remaining as Prime Minister for 18 months with Gantz succeeding him presumably in October 2021. By that time Netanyahu will be nearing his 72nd birthday and have been the country's Prime Minister for 12 1/2 years. It is the longest reign of any Israeli Prime Minister. Bibi also served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999.
The problem here wasn't Israeli democracy. Israelis did their part by voting in successive elections in April 2019, September 2019 and March 2020. The problem was neither Netanyahu or Gantz could cobble together a coalition on their own and were reluctant to form a national unity government, especially Gantz. It appeared Israelis would be heading for a fourth election in August when Gantz was unable to form a coalition government last week. But finally cooler heads have prevailed.
While Israeli politicians, Left or Right, religious or secular, can be reasonably criticized for prolonging this political impasse let us keep this in mind. Mahmoud Abbas has been President of the Palestinian Authority for 15 years. The problem is his four year term expired 11 years ago. Those inclined to single out Israel governance while turning a blind eye to the lack of Palestinian self rule cannot be taken with any degree with seriousness.
Nevertheless, the impasse in Israel went on far too long. Having no government for more than a year does not inspire confidence. Let us hope this new unity government can remedy that state of affairs.
Global pandemic or no global pandemic, we can never underestimate man's inhumanity against man.
Over a 12 hour period last night and this morning, a 51-year old white male denture maker from Dartmouth disguised as a Mountie drove around rural Nova Scotia shooting and killing 16 people including a RCMP constable. The assailant is now dead as well although it is not clear whether he was subdued by the authorities or died by his own hand. However, he died he perpetrated the worst mass shooting and mass murder in Canadian history eclipsing the 14 women murdered at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in December 1989.
The man who perpetrated the Montreal massa re killed because he hated women. At this hour, it is unclear why this man killed while disguised as a Mountie. Perhaps the coming days will bring about a clearer picture. Or perhaps we will never know what drove this man towards homicidal rage as we will never know why all those concert goers in Las Vegas were shot dead by a man in a hotel room a few short years ago.
The only thing we can know for certain is that evil exists and can be unleashed in any place, any place and in any form including disguise.
Let me add Stephen Moore to the fucking idiot list.
Moore, appointed by President Trump a few days ago to the White House Council to Reopen America, expressed his support for stay at home protesters by likening them to Rosa Parks.
Yes, that Rosa Parks.
“I call these people the modern-day Rosa Parks," said Moore, "They are protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties.”
Earlier this week, Moore also invoked the civil rights icon in referring to protesters in Wisconsin. Moore exclaimed, “This is a great time, gentlemen and ladies, for civil disobedience. We
need to be the Rosa Parks here and protest against these government
injustices.”
In 1955, Rosa Parks protested the injustice of African-Americans being forced to give up their seats and move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Well, given these protesters propensity to carry the Confederate flag I very much doubt they would have supported Parks' act of civil disobedience nearly 65 years ago. Those who protest COVID-19 stay at home orders are nothing like Rosa Parks.
Let us also remember that Moore once joked shortly after President Trump's election “By the way, did you see, there’s that great cartoon going along? A New York Times
headline: ‘First Thing Donald Trump Does As President Is Kick a Black
Family Out of Public Housing,’ and it has Obama leaving the White House." Anyone who makes a joke like hasn't a clue about Rosa Parks and thing for which she stood. On in her case remained seated.
The COVID-19 stay at home orders are not directed against a particular segment of the population. They apply equally to all Americans. Because COVID-19 does not care if you are black, white, blue or red.
I know there's a lot of bad news out there and I have no doubt a lot of people have had enough bad news to last a lifetime. But the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over.
I cannot emphasize this enough. Nearly as many people died of COVID-19 this week as died the previous six weeks combined.
During this same period, more than 215,000 people became infected with COVID-19 bringing the overall national total to 737,217. With more than 2.3 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, the U.S. accounts for 31.7% of all the COVID-19 total. More than 160,000 have died of COVID-19. Nearly 25% of world's COVID-19 deaths (24.3%) have taken place in the United States.
Bobby Winkles, best known for leading the Arizona State University Sun Devils to three College World Series titles during the 1960's along with brief big league managerial stints with the California Angels and Oakland A's, passed away yesterday at the age of 90. Winkles had been suffering from dementia.
The Chicago White Sox would sign Winkles as a shortstop in 1951 after discovering him play at nearby Illinois Wesleyan University. Winkles would spend nearly the rest of the decade with the Chisox but never played higher than Triple-AAA. During this period, the White Sox would sign another shortstop Luis Aparicio who would win the 1956 AL Rookie of the Year en route to a Hall of Fame career. In 1958, while playing for the Indianapolis Indians, the team's manager Walker Cooper told Winkles, "There's only one thing keeping you out of the major leagues. Ability."
However, Winkles did have a mind for the game and not long thereafter a new door opened for Winkles. Arizona State University contacted Winkles and asked them to coach their baseball team which had long been the school's laughing stock. Winkles, now 29, heeded Horace Greeley's advice and went west.
In 13 seasons at the helm of ASU's baseball program, the Sun Devils went 524-173 (an astounding winning percentage of .752) and won the College World Series in 1965, 1967 and 1969. Winkles mentored several future big league players like Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Rick Monday, Gary Gentry and Larry Gura.
Had Winkles remained in the collegiate ranks he could have been the most successful college baseball coach ever. But to the shock of all, Winkles left ASU to join the coaching staff of the California Angels in 1972 under the team's new manager Del Rice. After a disappointing 75-80 finish in '72, the Angels fired Rice and promoted Winkles as manager. The Angels got off to a good start in 1973 and were in first place in the AL West in late June, but would swoon in July and finish fourth in the division with a 79-83 record despite having two 20-game winners in Nolan Ryan and Bill Singer. However, their offense was suspect outside of Frank Robinson and Bob Oliver.
The Angels would dismiss Winkles mid-way through the 1974 season amid clashes with Robinson. For his part, Winkles said he thought Robinson should become a big league manager. The following year, Robinson became MLB's first African-American manager when he was hired by the Cleveland Indians. Winkles would be replaced by Dick Williams, fresh off winning back to back World Series with the Oakland A's only to resign in protest of owner Charlie Finley's treatment of infielder Mike Andrews during the '73 Series.
Ironically, Winkles would find himself in Oakland not long after being dismissed by the Angels. New A's manager Alvin Dark named him third base coach reuniting him with his former ASU charges Reggie Jackson and Sal Bando. Winkles would earn a World Series ring as the A's won their third straight Fall Classic although he would only earn half a World Series share. He would remain on the A's coaching staff in 1975 as the team won it's fifth consecutive AL West title. But Finley would fire Dark, Winkles and the entire coaching staff after the A's were swept by the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.
Winkles moved across the Bay and joined the San Francisco Giants coaching staff as the team's third base coach under Bill Rigney. He would remain in the job in 1977 after the Giants replaced Rigney with Joe Altobelli. However, in June Winkles would go back across the Bay and get a second chance as a big league manager by taking over the reigns of the A's as Finley moved Jack McKeon into the front office. By this time, however, the A's were shell of their former selves outside of rookie sensation Mitchell Page. The A's went 37-71 under Winkles and would finish in last place in the AL West even managing to finish a half game behind the expansion Seattle Mariners. The A's weren't expected to be much better in 1978.
While Winkles would never manage again, he would remain in the game for the next 15 years. Shortly after his resignation, Winkles would reunite with the Chicago White Sox and serve as a member of their coaching staff through 1981. White Sox GM would tab Winkles as the team's Director of Player Personnel in 1982 and served in this capacity before the next four seasons. In 1986, Montreal Expos manager Buck Rodgers asked Winkles to join his coaching staff. Winkles became acquainted with Rodgers a decade earlier while on the Giants' coaching staff. He would serve Rodgers as the Expos hitting coach in 1986 before coaching first base for the next two seasons. In his final five seasons with the Expos, Winkles went into the broadcast booth and served as a color commentator on their radio broadcasts before retiring after the 1993 season.
In light of Michigan Congressman Justin Amash's statement earlier this week about a possible White House bid on the Libertarian ticket, I am 99.4% sure that Amash is going to run for President.
The most obvious sign is that Amash has effectively abandoned his bid to be re-elected to Congress having not done any campaigning since the middle of February. This tells me that Amash knows he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of earning a sixth term in Congress. Amash, who turns 40 tomorrow, won't be elected President of the United States. But running for President will raise his profile.
Of course, Amash raised his profile considerably 11 months ago when he became the first Republican Congressman to call for President Trump's impeachment after reading the Mueller Report. At the time, I described Amash as "a profile in courage" as this would prove to make his position in the House Republican Conference untenable. Not long thereafter there was talk of Amash running for President as a Libertarian which prompted me to declare that I would consider casting a ballot for him come November 2020.
Should he run I will still give Amash consideration, but as of now I am giving him far less consideration than I did 11 months ago. The reason for this diminution of enthusiasm for Amash is simple - his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, I find Amash's opposition to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home measures far less defensible. Amash claims Whitmer's measure will make Michigan's residents more restless and more likely to defy her orders. In reality, Amash is encouraging irresponsible and unlawful behavior and is certainly doing nothing to discourage demonstrations which put public health at risk. As of this writing, more than 2,000 Michigan residents have died of COVID-19. Only New York and New Jersey have a higher death toll. Amash is only making matters worse.
Well, I maintain that no one is entitled to my vote and that it must be earned. However, Amash encouraging his constituents and residents throughout Michigan to engage in irresponsible and lawful behavior in the midst of a global pandemic has significantly diminished the chance he will earn my vote to nearly nil.
I respect Justin Amash for standing up to President Trump's lawlessness and willingness to sacrifice his affiliation with the GOP along the way. Few would have done such a thing. While Trump certainly doesn't have the temperament to be President, I don't think Amash does either. Amash might be less uncouth than Trump, but he is no less irresponsible when it comes to COVID-19. Amash also adheres to a libertarian philosophy which is antithetical to a strong federal government.
Let's assume Amash throws his hat in the ring and the Libertarians nominate him. Had there been no COVID-19 global pandemic I would have given Amash a great deal more consideration. But we are now at a time when we need a strong federal government and I am not confident if elected a President Amash would properly maximize its resources to combat COVID-19. As such it is highly unlikely that Justin Amash is going to earn my vote.
I think these people are a bunch of fucking idiots.
When someone claims, “The hospitals are empty. Nobody is sick with COVID. All of these COVID
deaths are being attributed to COVID that aren’t COVID deaths,” then I shall call you a fucking idiot.
These protests might include people who carry AK-47s, wave Confederate flags or Trump-Pence banners, but you will not find any doctors or nurses at these gatherings (at least not ones who are currently working in a hospital setting). But I have a feeling that those who do carry AK-47s, wave Confederate flags or Trump-Pence banners might soon be in need of a doctor, a nurse and perhaps a ventilator.
When I walk
through the hospital doors, the E.R. is a place I no longer recognize.
Intubated patients, of every age, are on ventilators everywhere. It
feels simultaneously electrifying and oppressive. But it’s also eerily
quiet. Family members and friends haven’t been allowed into the E.R. for
more than a week; most of the patients are too sick to talk; the few
without breathing tubes who are able to cough are muffled by their
masks. Oxygen hisses in the background. A couple of hours into my shift,
one of the nurses comes to me. She falls apart, tears streaming down
her inflamed, marked cheeks. She sobs out words of anger and frustration
and sadness. The morning, on top of the last several days, has crushed
her. I want to hug her, but I can’t.
Soon
after that, someone asks, “Doctor, is it OK to take the patient to the
morgue?” The other physician on duty and I look at each other. The
morgue? Who just died? Apparently, a patient who was waiting for an
inpatient bed, whose family had decided against extreme resuscitative
measures, had died, without us even knowing.
Several
days ago, only a few patients had Covid, but suddenly it seems we have
become, like facilities in Italy, a Covid hospital. Every patient seems
to test positive for it. I am shocked by the one or two negative results
I receive during a shift. We have to function as if everyone is
infected.
A co-worker tells me he used
three masks during the course of his shift. Three masks?! I respond.
That’s crazy! Then I realize I am the absurd one. The masks are meant
for single use, one per patient encounter; my colleague had used three
masks over a 12-hour shift, most likely having seen upward of 30
patients who potentially have Covid. It’s idiotic that I was shocked by
his using three masks, especially when many of our co-workers in the
city have fallen ill.
Patients who
test positive for the virus are unintentionally roomed with those who
test negative or whose tests are still pending, because the E.R. is
bursting. Even if we are exposed to a patient without proper personal
protective equipment, we are expected to return to work if we don’t have
symptoms. In Italy, where 61 doctors have already died from Covid (a
number that will grow past 100 in the next couple of weeks), health care
workers believe that they themselves expedited the spread of the virus.
There, the doctors are routinely tested for any exposures, even if they
are asymptomatic.
I have to shut down
thoughts about my own risks and mortality. I recall the words of my old
mentor, but I don’t think I can do this job unless I force myself to
believe in my own invincibility. Otherwise, with every violation of the
protective barrier, every instance of less-than-ideal protection, which
is almost every time, I would be paralyzed by thoughts of having
infected myself. I see a patient around my age intubated, hear about a
hospital colleague getting critically ill. A co-worker texts that her
classmate from residency is now intubated. I read an article about how
health care workers seem to suffer more from serious Covid infections,
even if they’re young, possibly as a result of being exposed to higher
initial doses of the virus. I’m not even sure this is true anymore —
I’ve seen plenty of critically ill patients in their 30s and 40s. I push
these thoughts away, immediately. Better to be lucky than to be good, I
remind myself. It’s the only thing that provides some reassurance. If I
feel like it’s not totally in my control, then I won’t completely lose
my mind over every mistake I make donning and removing my P.P.E. and
recycling single-use equipment.
So please don't tell me that COVID-19 is just the flu. Do not tell me that people aren't getting sick.
Look, I hate being out of work and not knowing when I'll find another job. I hate being stuck in an apartment (albeit a nice one) for 23 hours a day. And when I do go outside to get groceries, I hate having to go outside wearing a mask. But the alternative is much, much worse.
Those who are protesting at state capitols might exclaim, "Don't tread on us." But by gathering you risk infecting and killing others. So in reality the protesters are treading on us.
If it is a choice between listening to a bunch of people carrying AK-47s, Confederate flags and Trump-Pence banners or listening to doctors and nurses I shall listen to doctors and nurses every single time.
Seven years have now passed since Boston experienced the horror of the Boston Marathon Bombing and those events must seem so very far away. Yet I cannot help but think the days following the terrorist attack those who lived in Boston got a taste of what we are experiencing now. The entire MBTA was shutdown as authorities from Boston and surrounding communities killed one of the bombers and subdued the other in nearby Watertown four days after the attack. For more than a week after the attack Boylston Street (one of Boston's busiest streets) was restricted to personnel in Hazmat suits.
However this state of affairs would not last long. In time, the surviving bomber was brought to justice. And there was a determination to make the Boston Marathon a bigger affair than ever (albeit with much tougher security).
The same cannot be said now. Oh, the curfew may be a temporary measure. But even when it is relaxed the social distancing measures won't necessarily follow. There will be no vow to make the Boston Marathon or any other event bigger and better than ever. It is impossible to move ahead if we cannot put things behind us.
"Boston Strong" became the rallying cry after the bombing. But this involved people coming together both spiritually and physically. The latter is not possible under the present circumstances whatever our good intentions. I hope Boston stays strong but it must first stay safe.
Garcia's death comes scarcely two months after the death of his fellow Dominican countryman Tony Fernandez who was his double play partner towards the end of his tenure in Toronto.
Originally signed by the New York Yankees in 1975, Garcia would have cups of coffee with the Bronx Bombers in 1978 and 1979. Following the 1979 season, the Yankees traded Garcia along with Chris Chambliss to the Blue Jays for Rick Cerone and Tom Underwood (Chambliss never played in the Jays uniform and was quickly shipped to the Atlanta Braves).
Garcia proved to be the best part of this trade. He became the Jays' every day second baseman in 1980 finishing fourth in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. In 1982, Garcia earned a Silver Slugger award when he hit a career high .310 along with 20 stolen bases. Garcia would be selected to the AL All-Star Team in both 1984 and 1985. While Garcia did earn a World Series ring with the Yankees in 1978, he never saw any post-season action. That would have to wait until 1985 when the Jays won their first AL East division crown.
Following the 1986 season, the Jays traded Garcia along with pitcher Luis Leal to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Craig McMurtry in a deal which benefited neither team. Garcia would miss the entire 1987 season due to an injury to his left knee. The Braves would release Garcia in May 1988 after he only .117 in 21 games played. Garcia signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers soon after but did not see action for that year's World Series champions. His MLB career would end in 1989 with the Montreal Expos. Garcia finished with 1,108 hits for a lifetime batting average of .283 with 36 HR and 323 RBI along with 203 stolen bases.
Baseball players sometimes do odd things. On May 14, 1986, following a 9-4 loss to the Oakland A's during which Garcia went 0 for 4 and committed a critical error late in the game allowing the A's to rally for five runs, Garcia lit his uniform ablaze much to the consternation of Jays manager Jimy Williams. But Garcia's act sparked his bat as he hit .296 for the remainder of the season.
Yet this might have been Garcia's ticket out of Toronto. Had Garcia been on the Jays roster in 1987 could he have helped stopped the Detroit Tigers from overtaking them for the AL East title? Had he remained in Toronto would Garcia's career have been extended another five years? Had Garcia still been productive would they have felt the need to acquire Roberto Alomar from the San Diego Padres after the 1990 season? We shall never know.
I leave you with Garcia beginning a 9th inning rally for the Jays in Game 4 of the 1985 ALCS against the Kansas City Royals. R.I.P.
Criticize China and the WHO to your heart's content. They didn't force Trump to eliminate the White House Pandemic Response Team in May 2018. When recently confronted with this decision, Trump called the question nasty and denied all knowledge of it having ever happened. But at the time Trump was abundantly clear in his reasoning for disbanding the pandemic team:
We can get money, we can increase staff—we know all the people. This is
a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they
haven’t used for many, many years, and if we have ever need them we can
get them very, very quickly. And rather than spending the money—I’m a
business person. I don’t like having thousands of people around when you
don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.
But even if Trump did see a pandemic coming he would have considered it a waste of money to have people making preparations and undertaking research to prevent something that probably wouldn't happen. Only it did happen and now we are paying the price for his laziness, lies and obfuscation with gaslighting complete with tiki torches. Millions have paid with our jobs and livelihood while more than 25,000 of us have paid with their lives with thousands more soon to follow.
China, of course, has plenty of culpability and the WHO has aided and abetted their conduct. But if we had a normal President of the United States, Democrat or Republican, we would not be leading the world in Coronavirus infections and deaths. But because we don't have a normal President of the United States who believes preparing for a pandemic isn't a priority and is bad for business we are leading the world in Coronavirus infections and deaths and it's going to get worse. This is the one thing in his presidency for which Donald Trump can take full credit.
Former MLB manager Jim Frey, best known for bringing the Kansas City Royals their first AL pennant in 1980 and four years later guiding the Chicago Cubs' to first post-season appearance in nearly 40 years, has passed away. A cause of death has not been announced. Frey was 88.
The Ohio native signed as an outfielder with the Boston Braves at the age of 19 in 1950. Frey spent 14 seasons in the minor leagues with the Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies (twice), St. Louis Cardinals (twice) and Pittsburgh Pirates without reaching the major leagues.
In 1964, Frey joined the Baltimore Orioles organization where he would spend the next 16 years of his life. His tenure with the Orioles began as a manager for the team's Rookie League affiliate in Bluefield, West Virginia. In 1966, Frey was reassigned as a scout. Then in 1970, after 20 seasons in professional baseball, Frey finally made his way to major leagues when Orioles manager Earl Weaver named Frey to his coaching staff. Frey's timing couldn't have been more fortuitous as the Orioles won the World Series dispatching of the Cincinnati Reds in five games. After spending his inaugural season as the bullpen coach, Weaver made Frey the team's hitting coach in 1971 where they won another AL pennant. In 1976, Frey became the O's first base coach and remained with the organization through the end of the decade winning another AL pennant in 1979.
Following the '79 season, the Kansas City Royals hired Frey as their new manager succeeding Whitey Herzog. After capturing three straight AL West titles from 1976-1978, the Royals fell to second place in '79 and Herzog was canned. The pressure was on for Frey to not only win the AL West but to get past the New York Yankees in the ALCS, something the Royals were unable to do from '76-'78. Not only did the Royals win the AL West and get past the Yankees, but they swept the Bronx Bombers in three games earning the Royals' first World Series appearance. Unfortunately for Frey, the Royals fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
As it turned out, Frey would have a short leash. The Royals struggled in 1981 and Frey was fired by late August. To add insult to injury, the Royals replaced Frey with Dick Howser who had been fired by the Yankees after Frey' Royals swept them in the ALCS.
Frey would land on his feet when George Bamberger asked him to join the New York Mets' coaching staff in 1982. The two men were well acquainted as Bamberger was Weaver's longtime pitching coach for the Orioles before becoming manager of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1978.
After two seasons with the Mets, Frey would get a second chance to manage in 1984 with the Chicago Cubs. When Frey joined the Cubs, the team last had a winning record in 1972 and had not played post-season baseball since the 1945 World Series. Unfortunately, the Cubs were unable to hold onto a 2-0 lead in the NLCS and were upset by the San Diego Padres. Nevertheless, Frey earned NL Manager of the Year honors for his historic achievement with the Cubs.
The Cubs were unable to replicate their success in 1985 and Frey would be dismissed as manager in June 1986. Frey spent the 1987 season in the Cubs broadcast booth before being named the team's general manager in 1988. He would hire his high school friend Don Zimmer to be Cubs manager. In 1989, the Cubs would again win the NL East title, but fell to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS in five games. Frey remained as the Cubs' GM through 1991.
Frey's last job in baseball was helping to establish the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League in 1998. He served as the team's Vice-Chairman before serving the team in an advisory capacity. I leave you with a short interview with Frey reflecting on his career as a big league manager. R.I.P.
Now that Trump has given this idea legitimacy it is only matter of time before Fauci is fired (or forced to resign) from the White House Coronavirus Task Force and perhaps his directorship of the NIAID, a position he's held since the Reagan Administration.
If Trump tries to push Fauci out then I would hope Dr. Deborah Birx will gently tell him, 'If he goes then I go.' Perhaps that will be enough to get Trump to back off because if they both departed it would be a public relations fiasco for Trump. But I suspect that will only delay the inevitable.
Trump stands nothing to gain by dispensing with Fauci's experience and knowledge other than getting amens from the Church of MAGA who view Fauci as part of the so-called "Deep State". But it will not inspire confidence in the real world. Fauci resonates with everyday Americans in a way that Tillerson, Mattis and Kelly never could. He is perceived as having independence and integrity. By getting rid of Fauci, Trump demonstrates he cares only about loyalty and betrayal - real or imagined.
In the event Trump pushes Fauci out it would provide an opening for Joe Biden. All Biden need do would be to have Fauci appear on one of his podcasts. Sure, the MAGA crowd would go batshit crazy. But when don't they go batshit crazy? If Biden were to enlist a defrocked Fauci then it would demonstrate to everyday Americans that Biden values common good and competence over the need to be praised and worshiped. That could very well prove to be the nail in the coffin of Trump's presidency as Americans are trying to find a way to bury their loved ones.
It is true that President Trump is fully within his rights to remove Fauci from the White House Coronavirus Task Force and/or NIAID if he sees fit. Trump might feel sore at what he perceives as acts of treason for which Fauci must be banished be it tomorrow or in a month from now. But if Trump does so it will be a self-inflicted wound from which his presidency cannot heal.
Former big league second baseman Glenn Beckert passed away today. No cause of death has been released. Beckert was 79. He played the bulk of his 11-year MLB career with the Chicago Cubs. His former Cubs teammate Ferguson Jenkins announced Beckert's death noting that Beckert was the best man at his wedding.
A native of Pittsburgh, Beckert signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1962. Later that year, the Cubs picked Beckert in the first minor league draft. The Cubs brought Beckert up to the big league club in 1965. Beckert was moved to second base. Ken Hubbs, the NL Rookie of the Year, had been killed in a plane crash prior to the 1964 season and Joey Amalfitano was not up to the task.
But Beckert would excel and find a great double play partner in Don Kessinger. Soon the Cubs would contend under the tutelage of Leo Durocher. While the Cubs would never reach the postseason under Durocher between 1967 and 1972 the team finished in either second or third (notwithstanding their collapse in 1969). This period coincided with the peak of Beckert's career. In 1968, Beckert won a Gold Glove and led the NL with 98 runs scored. Beckert was named to four consecutive NL All-Star Teams between 1969 to 1972. In 1971, Beckert finished third in the NL in batting with a .342 average. Beckert was also extremely tough to strikeout. Five times in his career, Beckert led the NL in this category. After striking out 52 times in his rookie season of 1965, he only struck out more than 30 times in his career once. For his career, Beckert only struck once for every 21.43 at bats. This is 91st on the on all-time MLB list just ahead of Tony Gwynn and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
Prior to the 1974 season, the Cubs traded Beckert to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Jerry Morales. Beckert's tenure in San Diego was spent as a bench player before being released early in the 1975 season. In 11 big league seasons, Beckert collected 1473 hits, had a lifetime batting average of .283 with 22 HR and 360 RBI while striking out only 243 times in 5208 at bats. How many contemporary batters can boast of that level of contact?
I leave you with a short interview with Beckert. R.I.P.
More than half a million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 (522,286). Based on these numbers, that makes for a fatality rate of 3.9%. In early March, the WHO indicated the global fatality rate was 3.4%. But President Trump dismissed that figure claiming it was "a false number" and was "way under one percent." Would you buy hydroxychloroquine from this man?
President Trump didn't cause COVID-19, but his policies helped spread it even as he was being warned of its danger. Speaking of six weeks, it took six weeks from the time the U.S. got its first Coronavirus case until President Trump saw fit to implement social distancing measures. Trump's own HHS Secretary Alex Azar was warning him that a pandemic was coming to the United States in January and Trump dismissed him as alarmist. Between February 26 and March 16, this country went from 15 positive tests for COVID-19 to 4,226. During which time Trump dithered and insisted everything was contained and under control:
The number of infections in the United States started to surge through
February and early March, but the Trump administration did not move to
place large-scale orders for masks and other protective equipment, or
critical hospital equipment, such as ventilators. The Pentagon sat on standby, awaiting any orders to help provide temporary hospitals or other assistance.
This is bad enough, but add the fact Trump spends his time being his usual belligerent self towards the media and his political adversariesand boasting of his ratings while hundreds of Americans are dying every day. A more responsible President couldn't have stopped COVID-19 from reaching the United States, but he or she could have prevented the deaths of 20,000 plus people in a month and a half. The fact President Trump could not do so will be the sad legacy of his presidency.
Every night at 7 p.m. for nearly two weeks New Yorkers have been applauding health care workers, grocery clerks, delivery people and other essential workers who are on the front lines against COVID-19. By going to work these people are risking their lives being infected with COVID-19.
Yet there is also something else at work. Whil New Yorkers are applauding in appreciation of the service of others, it is also an acknowledgement that we got through another day.
There are still darker days ahead. Some of us who applauded tonight but not might be around to clap tomorrow night. But as long as there are New Yorkers around then you know what will be doing every night at 7 o'clock.
