Civil Service Under Attack!

 

The president has long complained that established Federal Civil Service employees were out to get him.  He has stated that they have formed a “deep state opposition” to his government, so this week he announced his revenge.  He is establishing another hiring level which will be under political control in the Federal work force. The president is known for holding grudges, but even with his history, this seems to be an excessive attack to me (which I will discuss after some background).

The Federal and State Civil Service was created in 1883 by the Pendleton Commission under President Ulysses Grant.  It moved to create a professional and technical employee base which would be selected on the basis of expertise and standardized exams. Criteria were created for different areas and salaries and benefits were established for skill levels. Around 1920, a retirement annuity was established based on the years worked; later a retirement age was set. The impetus for these actions was the desire to have an ongoing work force which was free from partisanship, politics and patronage. Eventually, the work force was provided benefits such as leave, insurance, and workers compensation; unions were also incorporated into the workplace. These bureaucracies were established to be an apolitical workplace whose workers were the managers from administration to administration and provided the institutional memory so necessary to keep departments and agencies functioning. To that end, regulations such as the Hatch Act were enacted to prevent active partisan campaign work by Federal employees. These employees were also not allowed to run for partisan offices while employed, but could run for school board, for example, if that position was non-partisan.

After an election, each administration is permitted to place so-called political employees in policy or administrative positions in Federal Departments or agencies, often under a Cabinet Secretary or bureau head. Currently there are about 4,000 positions under that allocation across government. These employees are selected by and serve, as installed, at the pleasure of the president The total Federal workforce today has about 2.1 million employees and although concentrated in the Washington area, they are currently working all across the country and in government installations across the world. I have read books by Michael Lewis (The Fifth Risk) and Ronan Farrow (War on  Peace) who wrote about the damage being done to the federal workforce with the loss of expertise in certain areas and at the State Department as the new administration did not even try to fill vacated positions. Lack of continuity in foreign diplomacy is a significant issue. In most cases Obama employees were not allowed to stay on for a meaningful transition in many sections.

The efforts this week are not the only ones made against a Federal work force; there have been other steps taken in the last couple of years. Certain Departments under this administration (Agriculture and Interior) have tried to reduce the Washington DC workforce by requiring the workers to move to areas in the Midwest or elsewhere or be fired. And in a move, back in 2018, negative actions were taken as employees who had been working part-time from home were told by the Agriculture Department that they had to again work in person in the office; (another environmental practice of the Obama administration that was changed.) Prior to the pandemic, this policy was being expanded across the Federal Civil Service.

This week, the final plans to curtail the rights and privileges of the Federal work force were announced by the administration in the Federal Register with implementation to take place on January 19, 2021 (the day before the next Presidential Inauguration). The Executive Order from the president would create a new subset of the Civil Service called Schedule F and could move tens of thousands of administrative employees out from their current merit status into this new category which could, if enacted, strip them of all civil service protections. Jobs would not be competitive, not be listed on the federal jobs site, not be subject to set criteria, or allow veterans preference.  Workers would be employed in an “at will” category. Ability to have union membership, if allowed at all, would be severely curtailed. These jobs would apply to many who currently hold positions of policy making, confidentiality, or support those departments; professional positions such as attorneys or physicians probably, which require a certain expertise, would not be affected. There is no expectation or guarantee that this employment would be carried over to each new administration. 

The administration indicated the inability to fire poorly performing employees was one of the reasons to create this new work force and claimed that a quarter of the employees were chronically underperforming. The president and conservatives have long railed against a set work force which they felt was allied against this administration. Some have indicated, that as the president was the head of the Executive branch, effectively all employees of the government should serve the president, not necessarily the people. The president has, indeed, spoken about ‘his’ judges, ‘his’ military, ‘his’ departments. The president recently spoke out bitterly against those government employees who testified under subpoena at his impeachment hearings. Part of the effort to create this order was started from several people at the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank, also quite involved in choosing right wing judges) who had written memos to this issue; some former employees from Heritage were employed by the White House as part of the executive order effort which was carried out in secrecy, without even notice to Cabinet members.

According to the Federal News Network, both the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) representatives haves decried these proposals. The NTEU issued the following statement: “Americans should ask themselves why this White House is so determined to override, undermine and get rid of veteran public servants who have dedicated their careers to serving the American people,” Tony Reardon, NTEU national president, said in a statement to Federal News Network. “These are employees who have served admirably under presidents of both political parties, and they deserve the protections afforded by our civil service laws.”

This order can be overturned by either legislation or executive order if VP Joe Biden is elected.  It will be in force if the president is re-elected. Some have said that if it is in force for the next four years it would be very hard to over- turn. In the mean-time it would decimate an effective middle-class employment option which has provided decent employment with benefits and job security for millions of workers and efficiency and effectiveness to the American people for more than 100 years. Can improvements be made in the American bureaucracy - of course – that can always happen, especially when one is looking at large agencies. Is that a reason to try to undermine the efforts of more than a century of governmental workers? I think it is not. Many of us know people who work for “us” – the American populace - and know them to be a dedicated, hard-working group of people. These vindictive efforts are just another example of the pettiness of this unqualified president. I guess the election will let us know what next steps might be in these matters.

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COVID stats – NY Times

This last week was, sadly, the week with the highest numbers of cases since the pandemic began. More than 20 states had record high levels of cases as the virus spread more widely in the Midwest as the case numbers showed an increase of 32% over recent counts. The highest ever number of cases (more than 82,000) happened one day this week as colder weather settled in at several places, including Alaska, which has a severe outbreak.

US cases totals: 8,700,100. New cases: (10/24) - 78,702. Total deaths: 225,100. Total new deaths: 871.

Maryland cases: Totals: 139,487. New cases: (10/23) 796. Total deaths 4,091. Total new deaths: 13.

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This week we learned that more than 500 immigrant minor children, forcibly taken from their parents at the Mexican border over the last two years, have not been reunited with their parents as the parents cannot be found. The ACLU and other volunteer organizations (not the government – despite court orders) - have been searching for the parents back in their home countries, but this search has been made even more difficult due to the coronovirus. This country used to be better than this. I hope it is again, soon and I hope it is possible for these children to have loving homes, hopefully with their parents, someday.

In conclusion, early voting and absentee balloting has broken all records despite obstacles and court by the Republicans about ballot counting. Hours long lines have been seen in multiple states, due in part, to reduced polling places and also to increased turnout. So far, to this point, more than 54,345,000 votes have already been cast ten days before election day – more than the totals for early voting in 2016. Some are predicting that there will be a record final vote, although it is not known how many of these early votes would, without the virus, have been in-person votes. Due to the large numbers of absentee ballots in some states which do not advance count – such as Pennsylvania – final totals may be delayed after election day. Most Republicans, it is expected, will wait and vote in person on election day. In Maryland early voting begins on Monday 10/26/20 and continues to 11/2/20. Early voting centers can be found here.

And in conclusion - The panda gets a check-up – he did not seem to be very happy about it!

‘Til next week – Peace.

The US Census – Who Shall Be Counted?

 

The decennial census is one of the oldest and most accepted duties of our government. Starting in 1790, the entire population of the country has been engaged in a census or actual counting of the real population every ten years.  And, as is noted in the constitution, it then presents the numbers for representational apportionment – or actual members of the House of Representatives who shall represent any given district. Federal funding for each region and local governments are also tabulated from the final census numbers. Currently about 900 Billion dollars is budgeted annually for these allocations. The Administration has wanted the count to end early so that it could be reported to the president by December 31^st some say, when he would be certain to still be able to manipulate the numbers.

(Article I, Section 2, Clause 3: Enumeration clause US Constitution

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.)

For 230 years the count has been conducted without interruption. This year there was more controversary as the administration early on tried to add a citizenship question to the census. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was confronted by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in 2019 concerning lying to Congress about the need for a Citizenship question. He had indicated that the question was added as requested by the Department of Justice in order to correctly enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It actually turned out that was not the case and the impetus for the question had come from the Commerce Department as requested by others in government, (possibly White House staff) – documents which might have clarified this were withheld from the Committee. The Census Bureau, in protest, had indicated that the addition of such a question would result in a significant undercount of about 9 million people or around 8 %.

After litigation which went to the Supreme Court with a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Roberts, it was decided that the actions by the Commerce Secretary violated the Constitution. The facts as produced, also did not fit the case presented by the Administration, leading some to think it could have been appealed again with better arguments.  However, there were time constraints involving the time line for printing of the forms, so the alternative arguments were never submitted. (It is quite possible, that a better argument might have resulted in a different outcome -scary thought!) The Brennan Center for Justice discussed the case and indicated that careful oversight must be continued as other threats against this count remain, including loss of privacy, issues with cybersecurity and eventual misuses of the protected data. The very suggestion about the citizenship question led many, even legal immigrants, to indicate that they felt that it was not safe to fill out the form. The fact that most residents were encouraged to complete the census online also brought the digital divide into question as many who are undocumented or who are poor or elderly are not computer savvy. Personally, I did not fill out the form immediately after I received it; subsequently I received several reminders, I assume that this was the usual follow-up as experienced by most people.

The latest actions had the Commerce Department trying to end the Census early – these moves were stayed by a lower court but the Administration appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency override which was upheld. Technically, there are still other cases about the census to be decided, but this is like turning a battleship around, these cannot be resolved easily or quickly, so most likely each will be done in by the calendar. These moves against a constitutionally mandated process seems to have created a rift in the relationship between a government and its people and may be one which will take a generation to repair.

Most recently, the president has asked the Court to decide on his plan to remove undocumented persons from the census count – he wanted the Census to carry a dual track of numbers and use an estimate to determine the numbers of unauthorized immigrants and remove them. This was denied by a Federal District Court in September. According to the New York Times – “Excluding noncitizens from reapportionment totals has long been a cause among many Republicans, who traditionally have been seen as the political winners under such a change.”  Many non-citizens have a legal right to be in this country and contribute to society as do thousands of undocumented residents. The Administration also appealed this decision to the Supreme Court which has said it will hear the case on November 30^th. Some have said that the Court often defers to bureaucracies on issues of process, so it is uncertain how this decision may come down. Assuming that Judge Amy Comey Barrett will be seated by then (unfortunately) she may also get to weigh in on this issue. (I have not chosen to discuss the hearings on her nomination as little was revealed during the several days of the hearings and she was steadfast in refusing to answer most questions.)

My thoughts on these actions by the Commerce Department (which is in charge of the Census Bureau) are that this was another attempt at assaulting urban America; you know – those cities which are often Democrat enclaves with progressives in charge and give homes to many immigrants and undocumented residents. Some of these cities are sanctuary cities and will not support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on their raids. Other urban centers subsequently were deemed unlawful and Federal paramilitary forces were put in place with deleterious results, such as in Portland. Several cities have been under verbal attacks by this administration for urban violence since the Black Lives Matter demonstrations happened earlier this year and the president threatened to put federal forces in place to maintain order, despite mostly peaceful protests.

The calls for “Law and Order” and complaints about lawless cities are essentially stock campaign fodder for the president.  He continues to pretend he is unaware of lawless groups such as Proud Boys, Boogaloo and the right-wing militias who hatched a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan; he said in Michigan on Saturday that she should be locked up for not opening up her state and led his crowd in chanting “lock her up”! Where is the law and order here? At least the FBI and State Police are doing their jobs and not listening to such nonsense.

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COVID news: The news has not been good this week as counts have been between 50 -60,000 each day this week with virtually the entire nation showing increases. (Map is shown in stats link below.)  According to an article in the Washington Post, the annual Sturgis motorcycle meeting in South Dakota has been found to be a super-spreader event, much as health authorities warned that it might be. Almost half a million persons attended the rally and then returned home to several midwestern states and elsewhere. For example, South Dakota alone had 84 cases reported just before the mid-August rally and 434 cases reported the first week in October. (Obviously not all of these are due to Sturgis; however, SD does not have a mandatory mask order in effect.)

Latest COVID -19 Stats from the New York Times as of Sunday 10/18/20:

Total US Cases: 8,188,700. New cases: 52,774.  Total deaths: 219,500.  Total new deaths: 679.

These numbers are a 28% increase from 2 weeks ago.

Maryland - Total cases: 135,127.  Total new cases 798.  Total deaths: 4,036.  Total new deaths 4.

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According to news reports on NPR more than 26 million Americans have already voted in early voting for the November 3^rd election.  That is approximately 20% of the total number who voted in 2016, the last Presidential year. (138 million people voted in 2016, about 58.1% of the number of eligible voters.) As expected, more Democrats and elderly voters, as well as African American voters, are among these early totals, so this is not an accurate picture of the final results.  Republicans, following the lead of the president, generally plan to vote on election day. There have been some glitches across the country and long lines in many states when early voting started. Polling places have changed and practices or machines may be different – all of which can restrict or delay voting, but to my knowledge there have been no wide-spread instances of problems. Some are still concerned that the militias encouraged by the president might still show up for intimidation on election day or for ballot counts.

In conclusion - As a sad aside, the Post reported that an elderly man nearing death so wanted to vote for Biden, that his family made sure he could get an absentee ballot as soon as they were available. And, on the first day ballots were accepted in Michigan, he personally placed his ballot in a county drop box. He died a few days later; however, his family later learned his ballot will not count as Michigan ballots are counted on election day and not before and one must be alive on that day to have a vote counted. Somehow this just seems so wrong.

If you have not yet voted – please make a plan to vote and vote early if you can. 15 days to go!

‘Til next week – Peace.

Is it Halloween Yet?

This last week hasn’t quite seen witches on broomsticks but there were plenty of eerie happenings. 

First the president deemed himself cured of the coronovirus and was discharged from the Walter Reed Military Hospital, helicoptered back to the White House where he did his best impression of Benito Mussolini – or was it Juan Peron – where he appeared on the Truman balcony, short of breath and unsteady as he snatched off his mask and saluted the helicopter, I guess. Shortly thereafter, he gave a speech from that same balcony touting his wellbeing, again without a mask possibly endangering staff who managed the filming. This week brought the announcement that several more members of the White House staff, both political and career, have tested positive for the coronovirus bringing the totals to more than 30 members as I write. Television showed the White House Press Room being decontaminated by someone in a haz-mat suit while staff entering the Oval Office to see the president were supposed to be wearing full protective gear. All of this in a White House which has long spurned the use of even masks!

The president has been treated with strong steroid medications which are known to cause feelings of euphoria and mania, among other side effects. Later in the week he appeared on the White House lawn channeling his inner pumpkin as he appeared in badly applied orange makeup and spoke in a disorganized manner. Later in the week he ranted bizarrely for an hour or so on both cable TV and the Rush Limbaugh show demanding that his so - called enemies defined as Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and others be arrested. He moaned that the report ordered by AG Barr by from prosecutor Durham would not be ready before the election. He canceled the stimulus talks, which were looking at a second funding, until after the election, sending the stock market into a deep dive. Finally, on Saturday he made brief remarks again from the balcony about law and order to a youthful conservative audience of black and brown attendees who were intermittently masked and who did not socially distance. It is good that the week brought no international conflicts or situations which required reasoned national security decisions.

Following that conference, the White House medical team issued an all clear statement, indicating that the president was no longer “considered a transmission risk “ and his viral load was no longer shedding contagion. The wording was convoluted enough to again leave the impression of continued obfuscation by the medical team which has refused to indicate when he last tested negative. Many believe that he traveled to Minnesota and New Jersey, knowing he was positive, but without test data results, have been unable to prove that. While the president was bragging about the medical regimen he has received, he did not address the reality that these treatments – some of which were given as a compassionate use – are not readily available to the ordinary victim of the coronavirus.  In fact, the Washington Post today carried a letter to the editor from a woman whose father became ill with Covid and, when she requested Remdesivir to help him recover, she was told that it was not available. Her father subsequently died of the illness. Remdesivir was one of the medications that the president received. As the president recovers, he does not speak to the concerns of many patients who indicate that they cannot receive the same medications as he was given. Currently Health and Human Services (HHS) controls all uses of the drug Remdesivir from the manufacturer Gilead; it is allocated to some hospitals for in house use only as determined by HHS. The president stated that he will start a week of campaign rallies beginning Monday in Florida.

On Wednesday the vice-presidential candidate debate was held in Salt Lake City. A plexiglass screen was installed between the debaters despite objections by VP Pence. Neither candidate made any gaffes, which seems to be what viewers look for, but many questions were not answered as each candidate frequently answered instead the question they wanted to address. Kamala Harris started out with a strong opening noting that she considered the administration had demonstrated that it was incapable of handling of the coronovirus that has so devastated the country. Pence retorted that right away  they had closed the borders to visitors from China, even though it has been proven that many thousands of visitors from China came in through other countries. Many times, Pence interrupted Harris and went over his allotted times despite attempts by the moderator to keep the order of the evening as had been settled in debate rules. Several times Harris had to state – “I am speaking here.” However, there was a fly in the ointment, so to speak – (or rather a fly on the head) - which settled on the crown of Pence’s snow-white hair and sat there for more than two minutes – bringing great hilarity to the television audience. So, as the debate was determined to be a draw, the administration was the loser, since Pence lost the chance to win and close. 

The president proclaimed after the event that Kamala was a communist and a monster. Communist – where did that come from? Monster? Absurd – perhaps he was stuck on Halloween again!

The next really strange occurrence of the week, happened in Michigan as the FBI held a press conference and indicated that 13 militia members had been arrested for plotting to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and try her for treason. Others were plotting to storm police facilities and perhaps start a race war or civil war whereby they could separate Michigan from the union. Apparently, postings on line had been noted by the FBI and the team was infiltrated by undercover agents who wore a wire and captured the planning on tape. Some of these men had been among the armed militias who stormed the State Capitol in the spring, demanding that the Governor open the state which was then under coronovirus quarantine. The president also chimed in at the time, supporting the protest and saying “Liberate Michigan”. When the Governor indicated that she had reached out to the President for help earlier, she had been rebuffed; the president again this week refused to condemn these militias, just as he had in the recent debate with VP Biden. The Governor replied in a strong op-ed in the Washington Post. As I said, a really strange week!

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Covid stats from the NY Times:

Total United States Cases: 7,792,000. Total new cases: 51,094. Total deaths 214,500. 

Total new deaths: 592 (as of 10/10)

Maryland Stats: Total cases: 130,159. Total new cases:734. Total deaths: 3,990.  Total new deaths: 11.

This week has seen a 12% uptick in daily case statistics from across the country with North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin reporting the highest new tallies. As we approach the fall flu season, the country is getting into perilous territory if we cannot decrease this incidence of new cases. 

Now this is scary!

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In conclusion, this week the debate commission was to have hosted a Town Hall between the two presidential candidates in Florida. Due to the president’s infection, the commission changed the format to a virtual event with both candidates being remote. The president refused to participate, most likely because he could be silenced, with his mike turned off if he would not respect the rules of the debate as he had done previously. There still is one more scheduled debate on the 22^nd of October, which both candidates have said they would attend. The president wanted to set one for the 29^th, but Biden refused, stating that the schedule had been set since the summer. Some political pundits think that since the president is trailing in many polls nationally, and in some key states, that missing the town hall is a bad call. According to some recent polls, he is even with white men with Biden, twenty points behind with suburban women and more than ten points down with seniors in the national data. The election is in 23 days and millions of voters have already cast their ballots, so many minds have already been made up.

So – if you have a chance to vote early, mail in or deliver a ballot in person, please do so asap. The more votes that can be determined by election night, the less chance the Republicans can have to charge election fraud. I cast my vote this week and delivered it to a drop box!

“Til next week – peace.

A Wild and Woolly Week!

 

In the City of Rockville, just outside of Washington DC, last week the local police shot and killed a coyote which had attacked and bitten several residents; it was later found to have been rabid. That is kind of symbolic of the week we have all just experienced in the DC area. Some of sorta feel we are surrounded by unknowns.

The week start.ed on Sunday with the New York Times dropping news that the president had paid no taxes at all in several of the last 20 years, paid $750 twice in the years when he did pay income taxes and was in debt for more than 400 million dollars. The article did not answer the question of to whom he owed money. The president cried foul, but indicated that he did nothing illegal. Apparently, there is a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service for deductions of over 100 million dollars and some questions about his claimed losses and depreciations. The Biden campaign answered these revelations with ads which showed what Nurses, EMT’s Teachers and other workers paid last year in income taxes; they each turned out to be paying considerably more than $750.

Tuesday brought us all the first Presidential Debate for 2020. I watched the debacle and ended up asking what it was that I just watched? Americans have a sixty-year tradition of Presidential debates and although some have been heated, others have been boring and some have been uneven, none remotely approached the incivility of this event this week. The two candidates worked out the protocols with the Debate Commission and agreed to two-minute discussions of the issues by each candidate followed by one-minute follow-ups.  That just did not happen. The president came in prepared to aggressively dominate the discussion, but he did more than that – he rudely interrupted VP Biden and ignored the moderator Chris Wallace. He spoke wildly, frequently going off topic. He answered few questions and allowed Biden to complete few responses. He dunned Biden because President Obama did not appoint judges as he has been doing, completely fudging the facts that Speaker McConnell slow walked many of Obamas’ selections. He kept bringing up claims about Biden’s son Hunters finances which have been disproven, disparaged the military service of Biden’s deceased son Beau and misstated Biden’s environmental policies. 

When asked by the moderator if he would disavow white supremacists, the president seemed confused and asked for names.  He raged instead against the “Antifa” which Biden indicated is a philosophy of antifascism more than any particular organized group, which the president scoffed at.  When he was asked to disown the group “Proud Boys” he pretended to not know of them but advised them to stand back and stand by.  Many interpreted this to mean that he wanted them at the ready for Election Day. (The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified them as anti-Semitic, white male centric, participants who act out as armed urban thugs and were part of the alt-right riot at Charlottesville.)  The president declined to say if he would accept the result of the election and spoke darkly about fraudulent absentee ballots and the need for supporters to watch polls.  He also indicated that he expected the Supreme Court to settle the election. Biden tried to address voters directly from his lectern and noted that the way to combat claims of fraud was to get out and vote – whether in person, early voting or by absentee voting. He indicated that he would accept the outcome of the election and he expected that president would do so as well. His performance was uneven but at least it was coherent most of the time.

The majority of American voters found that Biden overwhelmingly “won” the debate in post-debate polls. International viewers were basically horrified and some even were saddened for the United States; the international press however, was generally negative.  All saw the leader of the free world acting like a middle school bully and were most dismayed.  Comments after the debate have suggested use of a mute button in the future, by the moderator if the debaters do not follow the determined protocols. However, this change would have to be allowed by both sides and the president’s team has said they would not agree. The next debate is scheduled to be the VP candidates event coming up this week.

Although the debate site at the Cleveland Clinic required that the restricted audience wear masks, those on the presidents’ side declined prior testing by arriving late and refused offers to don masks. The vice president’s team wore masks and the vice-president was mocked for his mask use. This would turn out to be even more important as the week continued.  On the weekend before the debate, the president held a reception in the Rose Garden at the White House to welcome his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.  She attended with her family.  They were not masked and the majority of the several hundred seated without social distancing in attendance also were not masked. This event out of doors also included a special reception inside. Dignitaries including Senators, Chief Justice Roberts, administration officials; Republican Party and campaign officials were part of the audience. The day after this event the president was involved with aide Hope Hicks, other staff and advisors including former governor Chris Christie for debate prep. On Thursday, it was announced that Hope Hicks was feeling ill and had tested positive for the Coronavirus. By early Friday morning, after the president returned from a fund-raiser in New Jersey, it was reported that he and the First Lady had both been confirmed as COVID-19 positive and would quarantine.  Both were described as symptomatic.  By Friday afternoon the president was helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center with significant symptoms.  So far, a total of 14 people who had attended the Rose Garden event have tested positive for COVID-19.

As I write he is still hospitalized and receiving Remdesivir, Steroids and many other medications. He has denied science, fought against shut-downs, defied CDC guidelines (and actively counter-manded them often) promoted quack remedies and false prophets, and rarely wore masks; he played the corona virus roulette wheel and lost and Americans who followed his lead lost also. On this topic he was not only an irresponsible leader, he stood in the way of talented scientists, physicians, statisticians and co-opted the leaders of the CDC, FDA and other Federal agencies sometimes claiming that they were working against him.  He had supported the “open it up movement” in blue states maligning Democratic governors who did not follow his demands to open up their states while they still had high levels of the virus. Now as is said – what goes around, has come around. I certainly wish, for the sake of the country, that the president has an uneventful recovery. But he has been an uncooperative patient, demanding that his physicians speak only happy talk and give positive prognoses. His condition has not been transparently shared with the American people who have the right to know. I doubt that in the future that he will change much or become a willing mask wearer.  However, I am angered that he would place his staff, his followers, and other administration officials in jeopardy by his active disparaging of mask wearing and his claiming that the virus was a hoax, which many accepted. Tonight, at his insistence he drove out of the hospital in a closed car so that he could wave at his followers who were demonstrating outside.  His staff insisted that his medical team was okay with this action. Since when does a patient in quarantine get to set their routine or get permission for a drive-by, no matter who they are? Again, he placed his wants against the safety of his teams. (As one commentator noted a narcissist must have his admiring audience.)

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The world has passed a significant statistic for the Corona virus this week: (According to the New York Times)

According to the CDC the 1918 pandemic final results showed a total of 500 million infected victims with 50 million deaths worldwide with 625,00 deaths in the United States alone.  It also should be noted that there were no vaccines, antibody treatments or antibiotics available to those patients.

Today - Total world-wide cases = 35,069,200.  Total world-wide deaths = 1,034,900.

The United States has 1/5^th of the world’s total in cases and 1/5^th of the deaths: 

Total US cases: 7,443,500 Total number of deaths: 209,592.  

Total new cases: 47,697.  Total new deaths: 708.

Maryland Stats: Total cases: 126,222.  Total deaths: 3,950.  Total new cases: 712.  Total new deaths: 1.

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In closing, I want to share some other statistics reported by NPR which have been noted recently which are also a result of the effect of the virus on women and working mothers and which will have long term effects on women in the work force.  In September alone, it was reported that 865,000 women left the US work force. Mothers have had to bear a heavy burden with home schooling, distance learning and child care, often while trying to maintain their own job as a virtual assignment. Others had to return to on-site jobs but could not find child care. About one-fourth the number of men (216,000) have left the work force during this same time period. Women currently make up about one-half of the nation’s work force.

As I said earlier – this has been a wild and woolly week – let’s end with a look at the panda cam as the panda has fur, is now crawling and weighs about 3.5 pounds – enjoy - it is totally adorable!

‘Til next week – Peace.