Ferri Tales

Donald Trump has been attempting to reduce the reported covid-19 deaths with outright lies. His latest con is that the U.S. deaths are overstated by a factor of 16. He claims that the number of deaths are only 6% of the reported numbers. According to the CDC, covid-19 was listed as the only cause of death in 6% of the cases and that, on average, for the remaining deaths, "there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death." By Trump's logic, if he shot a man in the middle of Fifth Avenue and then the man had a heart attack and died, the cause of death would not be the gun shot.   He conveniently ignores that the 7 day averages for U.S. death rates of approximately 2% from covid-19 is consistent with that of other countries. None report death rates 16 times lower. The CDC also reports that U.S. excess deaths from covid-19 since February 1st range from approximately 202,000 to 263,000. These figures are in direct conflict with Trump's lies and agree with rea

During his first run for president, Donald Trump implied that he could fix what Obama had done. Here are a few of Obama's accomplishments: he fixed the economy that tanked while G.W. Bush was busy fighting a war of choice that killed almost 4500 American soldiers and maimed tens of thousands more; he successfully stopped several potential epidemics by listening to experts; and he passed a well liked health care program that covers per-existing conditions. Trump did "fix" some of Obama's successes: he has repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with nothing, even during a pandemic; he failed to follow the pandemic response playbook Obama created and let a deadly pandemic infect over 6 million Americans, killing 180,000 with more to come; and his choice to ignore the pandemic has destroyed the U.S. economy and his chance for valid re-election. After WWI, Hitler became dictator of a Germany destroyed by a war they started by promising t

In an ongoing attempt to reopen schools before the coronavirus pandemic is under control, Trump claimed that children are "almost immune from the disease…. They just don't have a problem." He also claimed that the reason we have so many cases is because we test so much, and that the virus will "go away like things go away." His comments were removed from Twitter and Facebook because they are factually wrong and ignore all of the evidence that has been collected since the beginning of the pandemic. Children should be able to return to school. It's the best place for learning, and not only of academic subjects. They also learn to socialize and interact with their peers and with teachers. They learn that hard work has benefits. It also allows parents or guardians to work while children are in school. But the reopening of schools should happen only if it is safe to do so. School children have been the most quarantined group in the country because of

Walmart Corporation recently instituted a policy that will mandate facial masks in all of their stores beginning on Monday, July 20. They weren't clear about exceptions or how they will enforce their mandate. I was at Walmart, Sayre, PA for about an hour on Thursday, July 16. Mask compliance was about 75%. I spoke with a manager, Lisa Barnes, and wished her luck for Monday. I asked how they intended to enforce mask compliance. She said that incidents would be reported to managers and they would respond. She didn't elaborate. Walmart should not require their already underpaid workers to be the enforcers. Stores in the Elmira and Horseheads areas of New York including a Walmart and Sam's Club have mandated masks for months. Customers wear them because it is enforced. There are no exceptions. No mask, no service. Also, breaking with Trump, these Republican governors have mandated masks in their states: Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Kay Ivey of Alabama, and Jim Justice of W

At the beginning of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, the number of cases started rising in mid-March and eventually leveled off in early April at around 30,000 cases of covid-19 per day. It stayed at that level through April and started to decrease to approx. 20,000 cases per day until the middle of June when the daily number of cases started rising again. The early cases were from the northeast section of the country. The latest new cases are coming from different areas, primarily the southeast through to the southwest. Daily cases are currently approaching 60,000 per day. The daily rate of infection is twice that of the previous peak. Trump said it's going to disappear, and Pence says things are fine. It's not going to disappear. Things are not fine.  Wishful thinking is not going to solve this growing emergency. The situation is worse than it was before, and the economic consequences we have already paid were wasted because of Trump's gross incomp

George Floyd, a black man, was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for almost 9 minutes, the last two being after Floyd stopped responding. Three other officers at the scene either held Floyd down or prevented any intervention from onlookers. It was a cold-blooded execution -- a modern day equivalent of a lynching. If the murder hadn't been recorded, the false report filed by the officers would have ended the incident as "a black man killed for resisting arrest." All four officers were fired from the police force the next day. A few days later, Chauvin was charged with 3rd degree murder. This was subsequently changed to 2nd degree murder and included charges of being complicit to 2nd degree murder for the other three former officers. As has happened many times in the past, peaceful protests and demonstrations were accompanied by riots, property destruction, and looting. Demonstrations spread acros

Donald Trump is changing from an incompetent response to the coronavirus pandemic to an incompetent response to the economic problems caused by his incompetent response to the pandemic. If he had responded competently rather than ignoring the multiple warnings he received from his own people months ago, he may have been able to save ten of thousands of American lives. But his incompetency has even trumped Trump's self-proclaimed mythical genius. According to experts, accurate and prolific testing is necessary to contain the pandemic and to reopen the country. Available in late February, tests developed by the World Health Organization were shipped to nearly 60 countries. But the United States declined their tests and instead relied on tests developed by our Center for Disease Control. The CDC tests were late and not accurate resulting in widespread infection, currently at 1.53 million cases and over 91 thousand deaths (1). Why Trump declined to use the WHO tests has not been

This is an op-ed from the  Irish Times . It is behind a pay-wall, but worth posting for greater access. It is brutal and puts blame where it is deserved. Donald Trump has destroyed the country he promised to make great again By Fintan O’Toole April 25, 2020 THE WORLD HAS LOVED, HATED AND ENVIED THE U.S. NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE PITY IT Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity. However bad things are for most other rich democracies, it is hard not to feel sorry for Americans. Most of them did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Yet they are locked down with a malignant narcissist who, instead of protecting his people from Covid-19, has amplified its lethality. The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pi

    Donald Trump and Republicans want to prematurely reopen the country during the COVID-19 pandemic while no cure [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] or vaccine yet exists for the disease. Thus far, the virus has infected over 2.2 million worldwide, and 0.7 million in the United States. Worldwide mortality is 6.5%, the U.S. is almost 4.5%. Mortality ranges from slightly under 1% to as high as 13% depending on the capacity and effectiveness of the medical facilities in the affected country, state, or locality.     Before physical distancing measures are relaxed, at least three measures must be in place to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19. First, expansive and rapid testing to identify and quarantine people who are infected and contagious. Second, once an infected person is identified, all contacts with that person must be found and tested, quarantined if infected, and their contacts located and tested. Third, abundant personal protective equipment must be available, not only for medial personnel, but