Yes, another Covid post. I know, if you are like me you are rather tired of Covid. Someone even was so bold as to state that she was done with Covid on national TV. She has gotten some flak about that. Perhaps with good reason.
We are still seeing protests, in multiple countries, against vaccine mandates or mask mandates. I don't presume to know what the path of the virus will be. And that is the gist of this post. I would like to relate to you one story that happened to a Minnesota resident. It is a sad story, to be sure, like so many other Covid stories.
This man contracted Covid in October 2021. He lived in a small town and was admitted to his local hospital where they put him on a ventilator. Eventually he was moved to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, which I presume was a larger facility than the first hospital, otherwise they wouldn't have moved him. He was unvaccinated. I do not know why he chose not to get the vaccine.
He remained on a ventilator until January 2022 at which point Mercy wanted to take him off, making the determination that he was not going to survive. His wife sued to stop the hospital and eventually found a hospital in Texas that admitted him. The doctors there said they had never seen such a malnourished patient. A week after he was moved he died.
There is some speculation that the family will sue Mercy Hospital. As hard as the result of this man's path was I think that this is not the fault of the hospital. This path was the result of his choice. I can't imagine that anyone on a ventilator for 2 ½ months is going to maintain a healthy weight. I know people who have had milder cases of Covid who also lost a lot of weight and they were not in the hospital.
This man had had Covid before. This was his second go around. Perhaps that is why he chose not to get the vaccine. I know people who have had Covid who feel that they have acquired enough immunity to be able to beat it again. That didn't work out for him. The second case ended in his death. It is something to consider if any of you out there are in the same boat.
We hope that the virus is weakening, because omicron appears to be less severe. But we really can't be sure of that. So perhaps it is still too early to let down our guard. Get vaccinated, wear masks and avoid large crowds of unmasked, unvaxxed people.
Stay safe.
28 comments:
"Someone even was so bold as to state that she was done
with Covid on national TV."
Perhaps she should proclaim herself to be slender and beautiful while she's at it, and maybe even younger.
"There is some speculation that the family will sue Mercy
Hospital."
Of course.
By the way, it got lost in the news of the New England snowstorm and the football playoffs, but, over the weekend, Trump promised to pardon the Jan 6ᵗʰ insurrectionists over the weekend, at a Trumpkin rally in Texas.
I saw that. I think even Lindsey Graham was pushing back against that. Of course, easy to do when Trump isn't in office.
Speaking of Lindsey Graham, he made the news lately approving of one of Biden's candidates for Supreme Court Justice. Of course, she is from his state.
Kyrsten Sinema has take in some serious political donations this last quarter from fat-cats who'd previously been deep pocket donors to Donald Trump. CNBC At the same time her grassroots, small-dollar donations have dropped off precipitously. Politico
How many people turn off when they see a political ad?
Also, how many votes contained in multiple small donations as compared to one big donation?
I'm gonna assume those two ↑↑ are rhetorical questions.
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Outside of Minnesota, Mike Lyndell is more well known as the 'MyPillow Guy'. Newsweek And Dominion Voting Systems says there ain't gonna be no settlement. They're gonna be taking him down in public is what's gonna happen. (Or, they'll swing and miss, but either way, there ain't gonna be no settlement of their libel suit against Lydell and his company.)
I particularly liked this morning's Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. It's a little longer than his average Op-Ed, but not enough longer to bitch 'bout, well worth the extra paragraph. I recommend it to all who might stumble across this thread.
I'm gonna assume those two ↑↑ are rhetorical questions.
Yes.
Yeah, I tend to shorten it to The Pillow Guy. And, yes, win or lose, the end game should be public.
I always enjoy reading Tom Friedman. He is so sensible and so Minnesota. And, so, so right.
I'm gonna update an answer from the last thread:
"What are the odds that Russia invades Ukraine?"
Lynnette @ Sun Jan 23, 08:10 pm
I think the odds have dropped significantly in the last couple of weeks. It looks to me like Putin has decided against an 'imminent' invasion and intends to take his time and try to achieve his goals via drawn out negotiations conducted in bad faith and concurrent subterfuge. He may even be prepared to accept, for the time being, another of those 'frozen conflicts' that he's created elsewhere in Europe.
The Republican National Committee has adopted a resolution proclaiming (among other things) that the House Jan 6ᵗʰ Committee amounts to no more than "a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse." That's the official National Trumpkan/Republican Party take on those folks who broke into the Capitol Building, overwhelmed the guards and went looking to "hang Mike Pence" among their other goals; they are officially deemed to be "ordinary citizens…engaged in legitimate political discourse."
That is now the official Trumpkan/Republican Party position. WashingtonPost
In spite of the GOP's surrender to Trump, I still find it staggering that they would actually write that down and make it undeniable later.
It looks to me like Putin has decided against an 'imminent' invasion...
Perhaps he has decided to try to make the United States the bad guy, calling our claims that Russia was going to gin up a fake incident as an excuse to invade all in our heads.
I'm sorry, all of those Russian troops hovering around Ukraine's border aren't all in or heads and I can't imagine they are there for a vacation. I, as expected, would believe that they are up to no good.
"a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse."...
There appear to be quite a few videos of Jan. 6th that show that to be not the case. There might actually be some witnesses as well who can attest that is not the case. The real question is whether or not we can get people to see and hear the truth. No I don't mean the rabid Trump supporters, I mean the average Mom and Pop who was sucked into the delusion that was, and is, Trump.
Yes, you are right, it is rather scary that a supposedly reputable political party would make this lie their truth.
There seem to be some significant, if still limited, protests developing over the police shooting of Amir Locke, for no apparent good reason, while he was at home, sleeping on his own sofa. Reuters
I would guess it's been the serious cold weather that's kept protests suppressed up 'til now.
(Incidental note: I noticed that the job of 'police' has now dropped to 22ⁿᵈ on the list of dangerous occupations, i.e. less dangerous than farmer, fisherman, carpenter, electrician, landscaper/gardener and sixteen others. These other twenty-one occupations also provide considerably fewer opportunities in the normal course of a working day to fatally shoot a young black man sleeping on his own couch in front of the tv.)
There seem to be some significant, if still limited, protests developing over the police shooting of Amir Locke, for no apparent good reason, while he was at home, sleeping on his own sofa.
Another no-knock warrant case. The man probably thought someone was breaking into his house to rob him. Instead it was the police. I did think it a little strange that he was sleeping with a gun, though. In any case, he had the right to self defense and the police could have acted differently.
There exists a coal mining by-product colloquially known as 'waste coal' (burns too 'dirty' to be used in standard coal burning power plants). Senator Joe Manchin has managed to corner the West Virginia market on 'waste coal'; his 'family owned' corporation has an effective monopoly on the stuff. Manchin has managed to have this super-dirty 'waste coal' legally reclassified as an 'alternative energy' source, alongside solar power and windmills and nuclear power and such. His family business thus draws in millions of dollars annually in government 'clean energy' subsidies to add to his personal profits derived from his special protection of his own 'waste coal' product as a fuel for the nation's power plants.
“Everything that he does, everything that he did when he
was governor, everything that he has done while he is a
senator, is going to advance his best interest and the interest
of the people who put money in his pocket, period. That’s all
you need to know about Joe Manchin.”
Politico
I mentioned before that Joe Manchin was not just on an ego trip. He's more complicated than Sinema. She's mostly an ego tripper; Manchin's got more goin' on than just that.
Manchin and Murkowski were on Fareed Zakaria's show talking about how everyone needs to work together to move forward some of the issues being raised in Washington. They both sounded so reasonable. Manchin took the time to endorse Murkowski, although he did misspeak and call her Susan. lol!
Back to the Amir Locke case. Apparently the police were searching 3 apartments in that complex, looking for a murder suspect and evidence. Locke is the cousin of that suspect and he was staying at his apartment. Very bad situation all around. I do fault the no knock warrant. At least if he had warning he wouldn't have been carrying the gun, one hopes.
Manchin's got more goin' on than just that.
Sounds like. Isn't that some kind of ethics violation? Kind of explains why he gets along with some of those Trump Republicans so well.
With everything going on with China I couldn't help but wonder how Jeffrey is doing. I wonder if he got out?
"…everyone needs to work together…. They both sounded so
reasonable."
Zakaria let them get away with spreading that foolishness on his show?
________________________________
"Isn't that some kind of ethics violation?"
I presume you mean to ask if it isn't some sort of illegal ethic violation. The answer to that question is: 'No'
This would be one of the many entirely legal ethical lapses. The Roberts' Court, post 'Citizens United', has pretty much gutted whatever was left of the laws against bribing elected officials. And there wasn't all that much left. The Congress has been steadily lifting restrictions on the open bribery of Congressmen by incremental steps for over 20-30 years now. (The days of the post-Watergate outrage over dark PAC money are long gone.) And it's not just a 'conservative' dereliction. Liberal politicians seem just as eager to cash in as their conservative counterparts.
But, this particular ethical failing has been legal all along. About the only way to get in trouble with one of these conflicts of interest is to forget to fill out the disclosure form identifying it as 'dark money--contributors concealed from the voters'. (The ability to keep the contributors concealed is comparatively new. But the decision that the underlying conflict of interest is entirely legal has a long history, ancient stuff.)
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The Army has just issued a 'report' on the mess that blossomed up in Kabul after the Afghan government abruptly vanished overnight and the Taliban walked into the city unimpeded.
The Army's conclusion--not our fault--the civilians were at fault.
There'll be a lot of back and forth over this still yet to come, but the finger-pointing has now officially begun. And the 'civilians' let the Army get in the first lick. Little early yet for me to know who's got the better story to tell here. But, eventually it'll all come out, the dam has finally broken.
I've not been much excited about the recently developing revelations of Trump's operatives working hand-in-glove with the Jan 6ᵗʰ insurrectionists. I was not surprised that they'd done that, and I'm well aware of Trump's history with the mob boss/King Henry II style of giving illegal orders obliquely ('Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?'). Trump likes to maintain what's come to be known in politics as 'plausible deniability' for his illegal orders.
However, the recent discovery of top secret classified documents in Trump's possession at Mar-a-Lago and the news that there are seemingly substantial material gaps in Trump's call logs for the hours during which the Jan 6ᵗʰ insurrectionists ransacked the Capitol Building may be the harbingers of charges that'll stick to Trump himself, and not dead-end within that small layer of front-line expendables he maintained just a cellphone's distance from his desk.
The cartoonists have been having a field day with the idea that Trump was flushing documents down the toilet at the White House. I certainly hope something sticks to that asshole.
Meanwhile back at that the ranch it seems that the protestors in Canada are doing their best to tank whatever recovery was happening in North America.
"The cartoonists have been having a field day…"
The subject lends itself well to the cartoonists' visuals.
________________________________
"… the protestors in Canada …"
The originator of the idea for that self-styled 'Freedom Convoy' is a QAnon follower and long-time fringe conspiracist, now sharing cheerleading duties with Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. And while the Canadian government is trying its best to ignore the source of the messaging, QAnon, neo-Nazi and Confederate/KKK regalia are getting prominent display among the participating drivers. (I'd also read that early planning, publication, and coördination was conducted through some already suspect foreign web services.)
They're hoping to tank more than just the economic recovery.
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(A Canadian judge ordered the truckers to clear the roads for traffic last night. As of early this morning, they've not complied. In fact they took an impromptu 'vote' on whether to comply with a court order late yesterday and, by acclamation, chose defiance of any coming court order. I think the authorities ought to be looking into confiscating those tractor/trailer rigs as 'contraband' (I think that's the correct term), and selling them off to the highest bidders.)
Putin and Biden are supposed to talk over their dedicated comm lines today. Russia requested the call. They suggested it take place Monday. Biden's people wanted it sooner.
It looks like the Canadians have finally cracked down on the protestors, clearing out most of the trucks.
Yes, confiscation or a $100,000.00 fine would be fine by me.
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