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With all due respect to Dr. Birx, she blew a lot of her credibility early on by being a bobble head for Trump. She demurred and sat hunched over in her chair as Trump extolled the virtues hydroxychloroquine, disinfectant injections and internal light cures. At no time has she, (or anyone else on the WH Coronavirus Task Force), displayed the mettle necessary to stand up to Trump and his staff and lay down the law with regards to effective pandemic mitigation; increased testing, contact tracing, masks, social distancing, stay at home, etc. And now she is ringing her hands trying to raise the alarm and the "I have my rights people" are not listening.

I understand that dealing with Trump and his band of liars and thieves is nigh on impossible but federal public health officials did the country a great disservice by placating Trump from the outset. And, for the most part, they continue to do so today. The best thing anyone in an impacted area can do is follow the protocols that decrease the risk of contracting the disease and keep one's family safe.

The burgeoning virus combined with the deadlocked relief negotiations, increased evictions, foreclosures, unemployment, hunger and more is setting up an explosive dynamic where violence will increase simply because desperate people do desperate things. We are falling in a deep hole. Climbing out is going to be a test of courage, endurance and resilience. I hope we make it.

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I have family in Ontario who need my help to get them back to their phase 3 reopenings, both are essential workers. My daughter has been working clinics thruout and papa has been working from home partitme. Child-center closed in March. Schools are on the verge of resopening with very specific options for limited cohort size, more outside learning, use of masks in certain settings, and no parents allowed in the buildings. And they will shut down as needed it outbreaks occur.

Once the government decided to let me in, and that was an incredibly serious process that kept me near the border for 24 hours, i was sworn to strict quarantine and self-isolation. I am on day 5 now. I have received clear and serious instructions from the ministry of health at the border and by email. My phone is tracked to this location, I was called Saturday to see how it was going and did if I have questions. In other words, there is a clear and cohesive policy here.

It makes such a difference to take this seriously and offer one set of guidance for everyone. Such a missed opportunity saying to each other that we are all in this together and have each other’s backs. The first 2 months in my state of NC went this way with our Dem Gov Cooper. It wasn’t until the REopen NC protests began that incivil disobedience became popular and the anti-maxxers began deliberate gatherings. In NC it was like watching Trmp rallies. Then the churches sued for exemptions. We went from successfully flattening the curve to watching numbers rise again. And the young and frustrated seem to turn to each other for guidance as they ignore the mask-mandates and turn restaurants into saloons.

Up here looking in, our “independent” streak looks like fatal folly. Our government looks like self-serving crazy-making. My car is in the garage so I won’t make the neighbors nervous with my American tag. Some Americans who have gotten in to reunite with family are getting huge fines for treating the rules cavalierly before their isolation is up. They don’t want us spreading it, or causing a burden on their health system. But if I do get sick, they will care for me.

Just an illustration of how this looks elsewhere. These are our worst instincts, and I think the Fake-POTUS has debased us all by insisting on primal fear as the state of the union.

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The use of the Census Bureau data to dictate distribution of funds and political representation is dictated by laws that can be changed and not the Constitution. The Census can be annulled by the incoming administration for the irregularities that Trump has imposed if they control both Houses and the exercise repeated to establish true population characteristics, levels and distribution. In the meantime the 2010 data can still be used untill credible results are obtained. It would be better than setting in stone the politically biased data for the next 10 years.

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He is actively working to screw up everything intentionally. This is what he has been doing since he was installed. He is a TRAITOR as are all who work for him and who support him in congress.

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Just returned from a week on an island and no internet. Holy cow!

We are in a world of pain, but it feels like everyone is essentially in this alone. Government fails at nearly every point that matters, so one is left to their own resources, wit, skill or capacity, to get through this horror.

The thing that is most upsetting to me, is it appears the worse is yet to come. Tell me I'm wrong - please.

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What in the heck does Russia have on Trump? It must be something huge. Gigantic. Big. Big like no one has ever seen before.

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In all the gloom and doom their are nonetheless a glimpse of some coming "Good News". NYT is reporting that Deutsche Bank is now seriously investigating the activities of their Trump/Kushner personal account executive. There is question of bribery by the "First Son-in-Law" over the "purchase" by the bank employee of an apartment in 2013. Their time will come!

In the short term, every little that we can all do will help and contribute to getting rid of these idiots and to creating a positive atmosphere thereafter in which we can rethink the system to ensure it doesn't happen again<;

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Trump is vocally the chief opponent of anarchy yet his willingness to just do what he pleases despite precident and law makes him America's number one anarachist.

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I read an interesting comment recently that stated that part of the reason for the Federal law enforcement in Portland was to intentionally push the edge of what Federal law enforcement could do. The way to do that is through the courts. If the current lawsuits in the courts against the feds for targeting legal observers, journalists, use of tear gas, and more, are decided in favor of the feds, then precedent will be set to expand what Federal law enforcement can do in the future.

Any thoughts on this? I do find it interesting that now that there are multiple lawsuits working their way through the courts, Federal law enforcement is being withdrawn.

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As bad as what is reported based on Dr. Birx's comments seems... it is still likely an understatement. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to look at the infection and mortality rates and do the math. The US will almost certainly be at 200,000 deaths by early September. It isn't impossible we will hit 300,000 in November. If the schools reopen broadly, then numbers could easily reach 500,000 by the end of the year.

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With the increasing death toll, the end of the unemployment subsidy (which only applied if you were actually getting unemployment; if you never did, or if yours had run out, you are SOL), the end of the eviction prohibitions and utility cut-off prohibitions, capped by the total inability of the Senate to act like responsible adults, let alone responsible leaders, one consequence I fear on the horizon is a tsunami of homelessness.

Someone in the comments made reference to desperate people doing desperate things. Well, I think we're about to see that played out in real time. And lest we forget, many of them are armed.

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Regarding COVID-19, as we enter the fall and winter and air pollution increases, it is likely that morbidity and mortality will increase. Equally, the protection from increased levels of vitamin D that normal exposure to sunlight has afforded over the summer months, will wane. We discuss these two issues in an open access (free) peer reviewed article in Frontiers in Public Health here https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00232/full

Short posts for lay audience (also freely available) can be found here http://www.bodymindscience.info/2020/05/30/innate-immunity-the-bodys-first-response-to-microbial-challenges/

http://www.bodymindscience.info/2020/05/26/vitamin-d-whats-all-the-fuss/

In addition, social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands and keeping as many interactions outdoors, are all needed to flatten the curves both for cases and deaths. Please share these links.

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Is the Republican Party disintegrating? Are we going to see a Lincoln Party emerge? Perhaps a Tea Party as well? Will 45 be left standing alone in the middle of his golf course?

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Thank you for these terrific letters.

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This is absolutely worth reading, for so many reasons.

My takeaway, in a nutshell, is that this administration is the overwhelming worst ever, combining flaming incompetence with sheer malevolence and chaotic willfulness. It's terrifying, and I really do wonder if the GOP is floating the idea of nominating someone other than OOO-45 at the convention. Maybe Cheney?

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Assuming we survive all this, I think in the (hopefully) post-Trump period, it will undoubtedly take perhaps a full dozen years or so, at least, to wade through all the revelations of improprieties committed in just the past 3.5 years. The sheer volume will be staggering. We will more than likely be alarmed anew about how close we came to collapse. Historians of the future will be gobsmacked that all of this was allowed to happen. A "perfect storm" of so many factors. (Notice I'm TRYING to be optimistic that we can eventually right the ship of our government!) There'll be enough fodder here for countless books and exposés from various people in the middle of all this. However, I think it's safe to say the next 6 months for us (in the present) will be extremely turbulent. I wish I could go to sleep and wake up on the other side of it, but I AM trying to look beyond to a better day! For now: get ready and hunker down.

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