Corona Virus vs Swine Flu

Corona Virus vs Swine Flu

There has been a lot of controversy about President Trump’s handling of the corona virus pandemic that we are all stewing in, and President Obama’s handling of the H1H1 swine flu pandemic in 2009-2010.  Neither pandemic had an effective vaccine, and both resulted or are resulting in substantial cases and deaths in the U.S. and the world.

According to the CDC, H1N1, or “swine flu” came from pigs, which are part of our conventional food supply, through reassortment of genes in American and European pig herds. CDC also report that the-mid range estimate of swine flu cases in the U.S. was 60.8 million, and deaths, 12,500, for a mortality rate of 0.02%.  To be noted that even though the total cases of corona virus in the U.S. (the denominator) has not been determined, the mortality rate is orders of magnitude higher than that of the swine flu.  It seems to be between 1 -2 %, depending on mitigating measures.  As repeatedly reported in the world press, the corona virus originated in the filthy live animal “wet markets” in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

President Obama declared a “Public Health Emergency”, (not the stronger “National Emergency”), on April 25, 2009, early in the outbreak of H1N1.  This lesser emergency order was renewed by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius on July 24 and October 1, 2009.  President Obama finally issued a “National Emergency” order on October 24, 2009, after upwards of 10,000 American had died from H1N1.  This latter is the basis for the unfounded claims that Obama did nothing while Americans were dying form the flu.  The CDC, FDA, HHS were all actively addressing the flu under the government’s “Public Health Emergency” orders.  One can argue how effectively.

In trying to find similar factual information about President Trump’s and our current government’s action with respect to this Wuhan sourced corona virus, it was nearly impossible due to the negative “hate Trump” mainstream press, fueled by the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico and others who were reporting their anti-administration opinions as news. Wikipedia at least gave the dates that various things happened.

On January 31, 2020, President Trump and HHS declared a “Public Health Emergency” like those described above during the Obama administration.  More importantly, Trump stopped travel by non-Americans to the U.S. from China, to the screeches and howls of RACIST!, XENOPHOBE! And worse from our ever Trump-hating leftists.  On March 13, 2020 Trump issued a full “National Emergency Order”, substantially increasing the power of the federal government to act in the crisis.  Travel from Europe was curtailed the same day.  On March 20, travel from Canada and Mexico was also shut down.

It is truly sad that there are elements in our congress and in our media that are trying to take political advantage of a medical crisis that has brought the world to its knees.  Now is the time for all Americans to come together as we did after 9/11, rather than continuing this debilitating divisiveness being fostered primarily, it seems, by the unhinged, hate-Trump left.

In trying to objectively review the Obama administration’s action during the 2009 swine flu pandemic versus the Trump administration’s handling, so far, of the corona virus pandemic, it is evident that both administrations acted with the best interests of the American people in mind. It took Obama a lot longer to declare a full “National Emergency”, but this is in context of a less severe disease, and an orders of magnitude lower mortality rate.  Plus, the swine flu did not originate in the filth of China’s live animal markets.  It originated by mixing pig herds.

The references below are mainly related to how the Obama administration handled the swine flu to 2009.  The Wikipedia article gives dates on what Trump is doing. We are all living the Wuhan corona virus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_the_United_States

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/13/coronavirus-national-emergency-questions-answers-trump/5026463002/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-flu-usa/swine-flu-has-killed-up-to-17000-in-u-s-report-idUSN1223579720100212

https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm

This is from Snopes.

“The swine flu pandemic spread quickly across the United States starting in April 2009. There were approximately 60 million cases over the course of the following year, which resulted in nearly 275,000 hospitalizations and more than 12,000 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a detailed timeline of this pandemic on its website. It shows that the CDC first activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on April 22, 2009. At the time, there were only two confirmed cases in the United States. On April 25, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern, and the following day the Obama administration did the same. At that time, there were about 20 confirmed cases.

Despite the CDC’s efforts, the swine flu continued to spread. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, renewed the emergency declaration on July 24, 2009, and then again on Oct. 1, 2009. On Oct. 24, 2009, Obama declared a national emergency that gave officials more resources to fight the pandemic.”

Ray Gruszecki

March 24, 2020

Fevered Musings from the Cabin on the Isolation Crisis

Fevered Musings from the Cabin on the Isolation Crisis

We who have attained a sufficient number of years are cloistered in our comfortable “active” retirement suites with no activities planned or allowed, not even with “social distancing”.  So, we are reduced to watching the daily Trump-Pence-Fauci-Brix-Azar-etc-etc-etc show about the world-wide and national progress of the Chinese Corona Virus, and what is being done to slow it down and eventually stamp it out.  This consists of a lot of medical, technical and political effort and trillions of dollars planned to be expended to this end.

Firstly, I’ve posted these links from the New York Times previously as representing the best source for the numbers, curves and statistics relating to the Corona Virus crisis.  Some people use the data provided by Johns Hopkins as the standard, but I find that the NYT numbers are a little higher at any given point in time than any other source, indicating that the NYT data is more up to the minute.  NYT say they draw from all sources, including Johns Hopkins in preparing their data.  I stand by my choice of the NYT data as the most complete and comprehensive source of Corona Virus data.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR0rpjVmtBNzbGA-13mhwRxlkNvycsYqYNw-7Eawk7seMWUocEIzKJU-JhM

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?fbclid=IwAR1iAbZ8uKrsMVTRDUMvX58LqkNbuHA3dbNqYitiJ-w7o52vkVUSo6_kQcY

One thing I notice from this great NYT data is how few cases and deaths of this virus are being reported in relatively warm climes.  As of March 20, 2020, India, with a population of over 1.3 billion people, has 249 cases of the virus, and 5 deaths.  For Indonesia, population 264 million, there are 369 cases and 32 deaths.  Pakistan, 197 million people, 500 cases, 3 deaths, Philippines, 105 million people, 230 cases, 18 deaths.  What is common for all of these countries is they are mostly warm and tropical.  Apparently, this virus does not like heat, which bodes well as our more northern areas head toward spring and summer.

Another thought I had is about masks.  Before travelling to China in 2015, I bought a dozen 3M N95 industrial face masks, and took several of them to China with me.  As it turned out we had sunny blue skies in Beijing when we arrived, later some mild smog at the great wall outside of Beijing, and rainy, cloudy and again mild smog in Shanghai.  I did not need the masks for smog, although the Chinese in the cities seemed to wear them as a matter of course.  What I used did use the face masks for eventually is to keep myself from spreading a cold to others that I had contracted while on the Yangtze River.  My experience with masks supports the CDC contention that masks are not to protect me from them.  They are to protect them from me.

Another topic.  I’ve been watching President Trump, Vice President Pence, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Brix, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, State Secretary Mike Pompeo and others stand in front of the TV cameras and the press literally for hours every day to keep the people of the country informed of ongoing events with respect to the Chinese virus crisis.  It is evident that some members of the hate Trump mainstream media press just cannot avoid loaded questions and snide remarks aimed at politicizing the crisis.  They do not seem to understand that we all have to pull together to defeat this invisible enemy, republicans and democrats, pro-Trumpers and never-Trumpers.  The disease does not distinguish.  Instead they exacerbate the crisis by denigrating the efforts of the government and health professionals who are trying to contain it.  Politicians of opposing parties are cooperating more and more fully to defeat this thing.  Representatives of the press should take a clue and follow suit.

One last thought.  If you didn’t get in on the great toilet paper buying spree, I can suggest a great use for the paper editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post.  I only have digital access to these to maintain a full view of the news, so that doesn’t help me.  Lends a new meaning to “can you spare a sheet”.

Ray Gruszecki

March 20, 2020

The Chinese Communists and the Wuhan Virus

The Chinese Communists and the Wuhan Virus

I visited China in June of 2015 at a time when our philosopher-king president, Obama, was bowing to the world’s despots, looking the other way as Putin’s Russia attacked Ukraine and annexed the Crimea, and ignoring the Chinese repression of minorities and expansion into the South China Sea by creating  artificial military islands.  So the situation was more than politically stable for Americans visiting China at that time.

After all, our president seemed to be in China’s pocket, by not even making a modest move to counter China’s aggressive military and commercial machinations.  We started our five-day cruise on the Yangtze River in Yichang, in Hubei Province, about 200 miles west of the now infamous Wuhan.  Our tour did not take us to any of the many wet markets that trafficked in live animals for food.

That’s just in way of background for my 2015 visit to China.  Things were calm because things were going pretty much China’s way.  The things that I most remembered about China were the people, people, people, everywhere, and the same with cars, electric and manual bikes and conveyances of every imaginable type.  The other thing that was apparent were the rules and the public’s acceptance and adherence to them.  You did not hear much dissension, and what dissension existed was mild and innocuous.

With the advent of President Trump and the trade wars, where Trump refused to allow China’s unfair trade practices and predatory piracy of our intellectual property to continue, cracks in the demeanor of the Chinese communist government were made evident.  Not only were their unscrupulous trade practices exposed, their treatment of Christians, Tibetans and Muslim Uighurs was also exposed, particularly the million people concentration camps in Western China.  Other issues followed, such as treatment of the press within China, and the massive civil unrest seeking liberty and further autonomy from Beijing, in Hong Kong.

The latest evil perpetrated by the Chinese communists is their obfuscating and withholding critical medical information about the outbreak of the Corona Virus in Wuhan in late 2019, thus allowing this scourge upon humanity to spread unabated for months.  How many lives did this face-saving propaganda move cost the world?  How many Americans?

The Chinese communists will not be brought to task for their role in allowing the Corona Virus to propagate unabated for weeks.  But if you listen to Trump’s responses when asked by identity politics driven reporters as to why he insists on calling it the “Chinese”, or the “Wuhan” virus, you know where his sensibilities are.  I’m sure Trump will remember the actions of the Chinese communists with respect to this virus that is killing thousands world-wide, and resulting in a loss of one third of the world’s treasure, when it comes to negotiating future deals with China.

                                                                               

Ray Gruszecki

March 18, 2020

Corona Virus Disaster

Corona Virus Disaster

The effects of this Corona Virus or Covid-19 worldwide disaster given to the world by the Chinese communists are disruptive, inconvenient, annoying, and in some instances, downright deadly.  As of this writing (March 18, 2020), there are 207,000 cases and over 8,300 deaths in 170 countries worldwide, from this virus.  For the U.S., there are 6538 cases, and 127 deaths  spanning all states and major possessions.

The curves for cases of the virus and deaths from it are still exponential for the world as a whole, and for most individual countries, including the U.S.  The only countries where the curves have flattened, and the virus seems to be abating, are China and South Korea.  The data from China is suspect since we don’t know whether it has been propagandized by the communist government, or the result of forced population lock-downs under the barrels of totalitarian guns.  The data from South Korea holds some hope for civilized countries, but since it is only one country’s result, it is almost anecdotal.

This country seems to be taking appropriate steps to mitigate the spread of the virus and to allay panic.  The effort is driven by the leaders and health professionals in the federal and state governments, with the cooperation of the major players in the health industry.  Big pharma seems to be actually using some of their ”big bucks” for the common good.

It is to be remembered that we do not have a dictator or czar or king sitting at the top of a monolithic country.  We have a president with legislatively and judiciously limited powers sitting on top of a federal republic comprised of 50 separate state governments with their own tri-partite government systems   President Trump or the federal government cannot dictate that a business in New York City or Chicago or Los Angeles close their doors or limit their attendance.  That is the purview of the respective state (and sometimes local) governments.

Similarly, Trump cannot just out of hand order or nationalize an industrial enterprise to mass produce ventilators or other medical equipment.  As we write this, Trump is in the process of activating the Defense Production Act which will allow the federal government to do similar to that.  He has also activated the Stafford act which facilitates federal assistance to the states.

Pelosi, Schumer, the antagonist mainstream media, and particularly the New York Times really need to stop second guessing and criticizing everything the Trump administration and the health and wealth professionals are doing to mitigate this virus, and the severe disruptions to the nation’s well-being.  It really is time for the “hate-Trumpers” to stop the political attacks and join the rest of the country to defeat this insidious and apolitical enemy.  These elements in our society and government have acted as if everything that Trump has done since he came down that escalator in 2015 has been wrong.  While Trump has reversed many of the ultra-left, liberal shibboleths so dear to leftists, even they have to admit that he has done some things right, including most of his response and handling this Wuhan virus disaster.  Being Trump, he is not about to back off from calling it the “Chinese virus”, just because it offends the artificial identity political sensibility of some ultra-liberal reporter.

Ray Gruszecki

March 18, 2020

Coronavirus and the Chinese Wet Markets

Coronavirus and the Chinese Wet Markets

The whole modern world, with all of its technology, electronic connectiveness, internet in every pocket, etc., has been brought to its knees and into virtual quarantine because certain customs in China allow trading of bats, rats, pangolins, snakes, and all manner of protein-based life, including cats and dogs, for food.  Several outbreaks of infectious diseases SARS in 2003, MERS in 2012 and the current Coronavirus or Covid-19 in 2019-20 can be traced to bats or other animals, and transmitted from animals to humans.  Obviously, this is made easier if humans eat the animals in question in their soups. (What’s a pangolin? A scaly Asian anteater that looks like an armadillo).

Governments, including that of China, have tried to outlaw the so-called “wet markets” that traffic in live wild, exotic and domestic animals for food, but this practice is considered cultural in nature, and deeply ingrained in the basic psyche of many, particularly Asian, peoples.  This is a practice that has been in existence for literally thousands of years, so it is not that easy to stop completely.

The dietary mores of much of the world does not follow the Kashrut Hebraic dietary conventions as outlined in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  Most of the world’s dietary conventions derive from the recurring famines in history, and the availability of various forms of nourishment to sustain life.  So, eating cats and dogs and pangolins; and soup made from bats, is perfectly logical in some quarters, no matter how disgusting such practices seem to more finicky Western tastes.

Perhaps this latest gift from the Chinese wet markets which is resulting in a literal halt in human activity, thousands of deaths and trillions of dollars of financial loss, will convince all world governments, including the communist Chinese to finally ban this practice, and to impose rigorous and stringent laws and controls on activities that affect human food supply. 

These debilitating viruses aren’t only sourced in the exotic Asian wet markets.  H1N1, or “swine flu” came from pigs, which are part of our conventional food supply, through reassortment of genes in American and European pig herds.  Would the preventative caveat here be “don’t mix pig herds from different continents?’  Hardly possible in our increasingly connected world.  Perhaps we should have listened to Deuteronomy and Leviticus and the Quran concerning dietary restrictions concerning pigs.

Ray Gruszecki

March 17, 2020

A Closer Look at the Spread of Corona Virus (Covid-19) Throughout the world

A Closer Look at the Spread of Corona Virus (Covid-19) Throughout the world

There are several sources that track and provide statistics on the spread of Corona Virus in the world and the U.S.  A survey shows the statistics provided by the New York Times to be as cogent and timely as any of the data out there.  These links are updated every day, and several times each day to provide nearly “up-to-the-minute” statistics on the spread of the Corona Virus.

For the U.S.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR2uvsuhZsbXJ9Hy6yI-zWE7x3-kjJZsmWvrvUvkYMulX2_qH9eOlDi7FwQ

For the world

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?fbclid=IwAR2ybggyZ9hel8mYGuFcj9sqdEvX7vJ_-FipOHqJcxtAUO1ru4eHDwUz_Vc

These links provide for a more detailed, but necessarily anecdotal, analysis of where each country is in its path with respect to the pandemic.  A cursory look at total cases and total deaths paints too simplistic a picture, and implies that the spread of the virus is somewhat linear in nature.  In fact, the spread is exponential, as can be seen by closer examination of the number of cases occurring in any country over time.  The exponential nature of the spread of the virus is evident from many of the country virus cases versus time graphs.

It is to be noted that the data we are looking at is not exactly pure, since it is subject to political considerations such as accuracy of reports from totalitarian countries, efficacy of testing in some countries and other uncontrollable factors.  However, it is the data in front of us.

The number of cases in the historical model for past pandemics is relatively flat for a few days, then rises rapidly and exponentially, and then flattens again as remedial actions mitigate the spread of the virus. A look at what is happening in individual countries with respect to Corona Virus, allows us to form some opinions and draw some conclusions.

According to the New York Times, China as of March 13, has 80,815 cases of Corona Virus, and 3,177 deaths, for a 3.9% mortality rate.  China is where the Corona Virus started, and the Chinese occurrence curve is classic in the sense that it looks just like it should.  The spread of the virus in China started slowly on January 22 for about 6 days, rose rapidly for about 18 days, then started to “flatten out” on February 15.  It has remained flat to the present time.  Deaths from the virus in China lagged the number of cases by about 10 days, and the death curve began to flatten out on about February 25.

South Korea, as of March 13, has 7,979 cases of Corona Virus, and 71 deaths.  South Korea is the only other country where a relatively massive outbreak of the Corona Virus occurred, and where the exponential case curve has flattened.  The death curve in Korea seems to have not yet caught up with the cases in South Korea, but their low death rate of 71 deaths in 7,979 cases, for a mortality rate of 0.99% is a paragon for the rest of the world.  South Korea’s virus cases were flat for about 6 days starting February 15, increased rapidly for about 18 days, and then “flattened out” on March 8. 

An examination of the curves for most of the remaining major world countries shows that they are in the rising or “exponential” phase of the case curves, which have not yet begun to flatten out.  This includes the U.S.

Italy and the U.S. are quite similar in the shape and timing of their data.  However, Italy has 17,660 cases of Corona Virus, and 1,266 deaths (7.2% mortality rate), as of March 13, and the U.S. has 2.030 cases and 41 deaths (2% mortality rate). 

For both the U.S. and Italy, the case vs time curve was flat until about March 4, when it went exponential.  If we can infer by analogy to China and South Korea, we can expect the case curves for both the U.S. and Italy to start to flatten out after 18-20 days, or about March 22-24 time frame, and the death curve to flatten out about 10-12 days later in early April.

Obviously, there is a lot behind the data we are using, not only in the accuracy of data from China, but also the efficacy of the health measures and competency of the countries involved. But as more information becomes statistically available, it should allow us to spot such general trends as posited in this little study.

The world is certainly aware of the danger of this Corona Virus and is expending considerable resources to mitigate it and keep it contained.  We probably have collectively over-reacted, as is human wont, but this is better than the obverse.  Being cognizant of age susceptibility, avoidance of crowds, social distancing and hygienic measures will help in abating the spread of the virus.  Weather might also be an ally, helping to decrease the effects of this pandemic, particularly in more equatorially proximate climes as the weather gets warmer.

Ray Gruszecki

March 13, 2020

Coronavirus and the 2009 H1N1 Swine flu

Coronavirus and the 2009 H1N1 Swine flu

As of mid-March 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that about 59 million Americans contracted the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, 265,000 were hospitalized as a result, and 12,000 died.

The earliest reported cases of H1N1 in the US began appearing in late March 2009, in California.  Deaths relating to this new strain of influenza began appearing in the US in late April, and by early June 15, states had reported fatalities related to or directly occurring from the virus. These deaths totaled at 4,000 as of November 15, 2009.  On October 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared Swine Flu a national emergency in the United States. On November 12, 2009, the CDC reported an estimated 22 million Americans had been infected with 2009 A H1N1 and 4,000 Americans have died.  On December 10, 2009, the CDC reported an estimated 50 million Americans or 1 in 6 people had been infected with the 2009 A H1N1 Virus and 10,000 Americans had died.  To be noted here is that it took the Obama administration over six months to declare the swine flu a national emergency, and they effectively did nothing for these six months while thousands of Americans died of the H1N1 virus.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_in_the_United_States

Contrast the above with the pro-active steps that the Trump administration has taken with respect to the coronavirus, such as early restriction of travel to the U.S. from affected areas, formation of government and medical industry action groups to mitigate the spread of the virus and continuing news conferences and pressers to inform the public as to the steps being taken.  The Trump administration is attempting to curtail the spread of the virus and take remedial action in active cases.  It is criminal that the Obama administration sat on their hands for over six months while thousands of Americans died from H1N1.

The New York Times wrote a scathing, biased opinion piece by their so-called investigative reporters condemning the Trump administrations response to the outbreak of coronavirus.  The article is fodder for the Trump-hating left, but is so obviously biased to an independent reader.  This is the link.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

We know how biased and unfair most of the media is to Trump and anything his administration does.  This latest coronavirus issue just highlights the positive action the Trump administration is taking concerning the coronavirus, to the do-nothing Obama administration with respect to the H1N1 virus in 2009.

Ray Gruszecki

March 7, 2020

Democrat Primary – Super Tuesday

Democrat Primary – Super Tuesday

After Super Tuesday

It appears after Super Tuesday, that the democrat machine and many democrat primary voters, have chosen poor old floundering party hack Joe Biden to be their ultimate presidential candidate.  Equally important is Bloomberg’s endorsement of Biden with his money and his data.

Not much has changed as far as the Trump campaign is concerned.  They are ready to take on all comers.  Can we just see Trump reminding old Joe on the debate stage, what state he is in, and where his wife and sister are?

Getting a bit more serious, there are several questions that come mind after Super Tuesday.

1.)    Is Bernie Sander’s populist, socialist demagoguery loud and effective enough to counter the establishment democrat machine arrayed against him and backing Biden?

2.)    Just how effective will be the establishment DNC’s and Bloomberg’s backing of Biden?

3.)    Can both parties generate enough voter turnout to effectively support their candidates and political points.  This pertains to not only the president, but also the federal, state and local executives, legislatures and judiciary.  This link refers:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2019/11/20/what-does-high-voter-turnout-tell-us-about-the-2020-elections/

4.)    Getting the truth out to the voters in face of outright lies and an antagonistic left-wing mainstream media.  For example, the numbers show that lower income and minority groups have benefitted proportionally more from the Trump economy than higher income groups, but the democrats and their mainstream media accomplices spread the lie that only rich types benefit.  There are numerous such lies being spread amongst the populace by the left and their media that need to be clarified

Prior to Super Tuesday

Poor old Joe – nowhere near as sharp as old Bernie or even old Mike, and certainly not a match for the “orange giant”.  I think the mainline democrats must have holes in their heads to back pathetic, fumbling, increasingly senile, Joe Biden as their main candidate in the 2020 presidential campaign.  Many voters in the super Tuesday states apparently feel the same way, from early results. 

Biden has never been the brightest bulb in the array anyway, but after 50-odd years in politics, he deserves a comfortable rocking chair and slippers, not the rigors of a brutal and grueling presidential campaign, followed by the worries of the world.

Old Joe’s gaffes elicited some humor at first, like that failing old uncle not quite sure what he was about.  After a while, it was apparent that it wasn’t just Joe being Joe.  It was Joe slipping toward senility.  Rather than humor, his increasing gaffes elicit sadness and sympathy.

Not that Joe (or Bernie for that matter), have much of a chance against the Trump steamroller, but one has to wonder that if by some outside chance Biden did become president, what would the democrats do with him?  Hide him somewhere in the west wing labyrinth while keener Machiavellian minds of the deep state like Comey, Brennan and Clapper ran the country?

There’s a long way to go, and Joe’s bump from the South Carolina primary and the Klobuchar and Buttigieg endorsements may not last.  Bernie is staying even or not far behind on this super Tuesday, and what Bernie has going for him is the enthusiasm of his demagoguery, and of youth.  Too bad that only about 20% of the youth actually vote in the presidential elections.  Also, the mainstream democrats seem arrayed against Bernie, and probably also the super delegates if it comes to a contested convention in Milwaukee. Most likely, Bernie will get screwed out of the nomination again.

I still feel that Bloomberg, with maybe a Klobuchar VP, would be the most competent democrat ticket.  Unfortunately, it may be poor old Joe, or Bernie, the borderline communist. (Oh, excuse me, “democratic socialist”) running against Trump.

After Second Debate

I have watched the democrat debates and primaries.  IMHO democrats have only one rational adult running for president of the four remaining candidates, and that one is Bloomberg.

It seems to me that Klobuchar and Buttigieg throwing their support to poor old befuddled Joe Biden after they dropped out of the race is a monumental mistake.  If any of the remaining four democrats have a chance of countering Bernie Sander’s populist democrat socialism, and giving Trump a good run, it would be Bloomberg, with his unlimited resources and management background, and not Joe Biden, who was always a fumbler, but now who sadly also seems to suffer from age-related issues  It is literally sad to see Biden campaign.

Democrats should be really fearful of a Sander-Warren ticket.  That seems to be why Liz is hanging in there when she has no chance of the top spot.  (Republicans would love to see Sanders-Warren.)  Also, it would seem that a Bloomberg-Klobuchar ticket would be much more formidable in that anti-socialist and anti-Bernie democrat middle lane than say, a Biden-Klobuchar ticket.

It Bernie comes out of super Tuesday a big winner, all of these machinations may be for naught, and Sanders-Warren a real possibility.  The resulting debacle of a Sanders-Warren socialist ticket would ensure republican executive, legislative and judicial hegemony for the foreseeable future.

Ray Gruszecki – March 4, 2020

President Trump’s Accomplishments After Three Years

President Trump’s Accomplishments After Three Years

Here in one place is a list of President Trump’s accomplishment during the first three years of his term.  This was obviously compiled and written by an unabashed Trump supporter.

Sammi D'Ann Williams

February 16 at 9:29 AM

I was asked a few weeks ago, what have PRESIDENT TRUMP and his administration accomplished.

Here you go.

* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

* Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.

* Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences

* Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.

* Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.

* Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

* Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

* Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

* Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.

* Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

* The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.

* Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

* Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.

* Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.

* He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.

* Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.

* When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.

* Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.

* In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

* He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.

* VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.

* Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

* Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% - the largest raise in more than 10 years.

* Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

* Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.

* All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.

* Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price.

* President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

* In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.

* The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.

* The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.

* Over 90% of those benefitting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

* The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

* Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.

* Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

* New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.

* Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

* Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

* The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.

* Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.

* President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

* Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.

* Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all-time high.

* More than 7 million jobs created since election.

* More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.

* More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.

* Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.

* Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

* Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.

* In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.

* Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.

* Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.

* Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.

* The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.

* Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.

* The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.

* President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.

* The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.

* The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.

* Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.

* ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.

* Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

* Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

* Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.

* Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

* President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.

* Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.

* Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.

* Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.

* Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.

* Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.

* Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.

* Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.

* Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.

* Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.

* The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

* Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.

* President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.

* 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.

* Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.

* Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.

* Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.

* Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.

* Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

* Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.

* Stock Market has reached record highs.

* Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded

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* African-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.

* Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.

* We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.

* The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.

* 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.

* As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.

* Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.

* Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.

* Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.

* Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.

* Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.

* Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.

* Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.

* U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.

* The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.

* NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.

* Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.

* Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.

* Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.

* Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

* Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.

* Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.

* Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.

* Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.

* Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.

* The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.

* It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.

* In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.

* The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.

* In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.

* In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.

* Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s thelaw, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.

* US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.

* Because so many people asked for a document with all of this listed in one place, here it is. No links provided to remove bias as Google search is easy. Print this out for family, friends, neighbors, etc. I encourage you to drop this list off to voters before the 2020 election too!

*Trump did all of this while fighting flagrant abuse and impeachment charges.

Please explain to me why you have a problem with OUR president? Because he has misspoke a few times? Tell me when you find a perfect person, please .I’ll wait! I’ll tell you why, because the media has skewed him in such a negative light and unfairly report his accomplishments to undermined those achievements! Why? Because the media is complicit in every single thing this man is trying to undo! Start thinking for yourself!