I Had A Chat At The Gas Station Today

Coming back from a trip to town, I stopped at the local (U.S) gas station. While the juice was filling my tank, a little USPS truck pulled up at the other side of my pump. After the postal worker had started his side of the pump I said to him: "Does the US-Post still have money for gas?" He turned around and started telling me that if I had read the news he needed to tell me that all the bad news about USPS being sabotaged was BS and that I should not believe it. All the Postmaster General was doing was streamlining the post and making it more competitive. It was only a ploy of the Democrats who wanted to siphon more money and that there was no postal delays whatsoever. And the blue mail boxes had only been removed when located in places where there wasn't at least 25 pieces of mail in it daily. 

I just grinned at the fellow and finished off my filling.

I had just met a Trumpian and I knew that no reason could sway the man's opinion. He was right and the entire mainstream media in the US was wrong along with every democrat and even a good portion of republicans.

It is mind-boggling being confronted with so much stupidity. And he was even proud of it.

US election: Military officials in extraordinary Trump letter

7 minutes to read

CNN
news.com.au
By: Jamie Seidel



President Trump's top military man has just been delivered an extraordinary request by two senior military staffers in a worst case scenario following the upcoming US election.

An open letter, published by online US military news site Defense One, is addressed to General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and paints a stark picture of what the authors believe could emerge following the upcoming US election.

"As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you are well aware of your duties in ordinary times: to serve as principal military advisor to the president of the United States, and to transmit the lawful orders of the president and Secretary of Defense to combatant commanders," the letter reads.


"In ordinary times, these duties are entirely consistent with your oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…'


"We do not live in ordinary times. The president of the United States is actively subverting our electoral system, threatening to remain in office in defiance of our Constitution. In a few months' time, you may have to choose between defying a lawless president or betraying your Constitutional oath. We write to assist you in thinking clearly about that choice.

"If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order."

Written by, John Nagl, a retired army officer and veteran of both Iraq wars and Paul Yingling, a retired lieutenant colonel who served three tours in Iraq, another in Bosnia, and a fifth in Operation Desert Storm, the letter gives voice to concerns that the next presidential election will become its most contentious in history.

The authors claim Trump is facing defeat in the November election and has engaged in a "systemic disinformation" campaign, along with other actions, that could see him throw doubt on results or refuse to leave office on 20 January 2021.

It comes amid allegations of foreign interference in the electoral process from Russia, China and Iran. Trump has previously been dismissive of claims of continued meddlings by Moscow. The White House, however, says it has serious concerns about Beijing.

Meanwhile, Trump has been actively campaigning against the postal vote system, calling it easily manipulated and a risk to the validity of the nation's choice.

AMERICAN CARNAGE
The coronavirus pandemic, ensuing recession and Black Lives Matter protests have created a unique cocktail of anger and disenfranchisement that exploded across the US earlier this year following the death of George Floyd.

A recent report from Politico highlighted a "perfect storm" of eight factors including dislocated voters, foreign intereference and the situation in the White House that could be explosive in the upcoming vote.

Amid these fears, 67 experts have "war gamed" how a deeply divisive election campaign could play out.

They followed established patterns of behaviour and used campaign tactics that are already being deployed.

"Out of this war game, we witnessed role-players exercise power nakedly," retired Major General Paul Eaton observed. The resulting report was equally grim.

"We assess with a high degree of likelihood that November's elections will be marked by a chaotic legal and political landscape," says the Georgetown University's Transition Integrity Project, which organised the "war games".

"The winner may not, and we assess likely will not, be known on 'election night' as officials count mail-in ballots," the report says.

"This period of uncertainty provides opportunities for an unscrupulous candidate to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the process and to set up an unprecedented assault on the outcome."

One study found nearly one out of four voters – 22 per cent of Democrats and 21 per cent of Republicans – said some amount of "violence" would be justified if the candidate they oppose wins the White House. Some 29 per cent said violence would be justified if Trump loses the election but refused to leave.

Under such circumstances, the fate of the world's most powerful democracy would be at stake.

Trump's social media has been filled with claims about the election being 'rigged' leading some to suggest he could dispute the validity of the vote. Photo / AP

"Throughout our history, Americans have laid down their lives so that this form of government may endure," the open letter to General Milley reads.

"Continuing the unfinished work for which these heroes fell now falls to you.

"In the Constitutional crisis described above, your duty is to give unambiguous orders directing US military forces to support the constitutional transfer of power. Should you remain silent, you will be complicit in a coup d'état."

You Still Don't Believe It?

This posting is for you, who still don't believe the seriousness of the ongoing pandemic.

Bea has a relative in Denver, CO. The lady lives in a nursing home. It is a home owned and run by the church. There has been no deaths cases due to the coronavirus in that home. It is well run and they are cautious. 

Once in a while the old lady calls us to have a chat. Weeks ago we talked about the virus epidemic and she said she thought it was the flu or flu-like. Nothing much to worry about. We didn't argue with her - we never do.

Yesterday, she called again.

And she told us how refrigerated trucks had been placed around Denver to store the dead bodies. Outside, they had a 100F so the trucks were running their cooling units for full power. Crematories could not keep up with the need. Infected bodies cannot be buried but must be cremated. Hence the need for the storage.

I think the old lady is scared.

2 days ago, I spoke to a couple from Ontario. Their province and the province of Quebec have been hardest hit by the virus. The couple lives in Ottawa. Not far from where they live, they have a nursing home. The capacity of the home is 160 seniors. Of those, 95 had been hit with the virus. Of those being infected 50 died.

A terrible death toll.  

Also in Canada, we have privately run nursing homes. Their management must turn out a profit. A pandemic is serious business and for the management it means they will lose their profit when emergencies need to be met with heightened attention to detail and increased staffing, and more often than not, it will not be done. Negligent nursing homes are now facing lawsuits from their patient's families.

Of course, there are thousands of terrible Covid cases and Covid stories out there. Yet, there are still many people who believe the Covid-19 is a hoax helping the government to control the population.

How blind and ignorant must a person be to maintain this attitude? 

What The World Will Be Like

This Sunday morning I got to read a new report of the WHO. It is warning about that the world population would have to prepare for a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. The reason for this seems adequate. 
There is no vaccine in sight yet, and if a vaccine is found and been tested, it has to be produced for the world population of 7 billion people. Given the fact that many will refuse the vaccine for personal reasons and many people live in remote and hard to reach areas of the world, it will take years until a vaccine will be efficient.
Next to that, scientists expect re-infections to happen and that vaccines will have to be applied with regular booster shots like we already know from the common flu.

So what does this tell us and what does it mean for life as we knew it before Covid-19?

Travel and transportation: Closed borders have been a measure to contain the spread of the virus. If closed borders will be our new reality for years to come, it will stop most travel and tourism. Bus and tour companies will fold all over the country. Cruise ships will be a thing of the past and will disappear from the oceans. Air travel will be regulated even more and fares will sky-rock. Private travel will meet harsh control measures even within the country. For years environmentalists have told us to use public transportation. But being on a train, on a bus or in an airplane together with many people will pose a danger for infection.  How are we gonna deal with our transportation needs?

Health and well being: The work load on health professionals will increase and capacities for ICUs may have to be doubled. Social distancing will mean loneliness and isolation for many. 

Sports: Best scenario will be that gatherings of thousands of people in a stadium will have to be regulated with stadium capacities being reduced. Worst case, sport games will have to cease.

Economy: The economy will have to adjust to all of the above. Millions of people will have to go unemployed for a long time. This will put a huge strain on government spending which will have to re-plan for a different way of existence of our society. Increased social costs will meet reduced tax income for the country.

How this can be done is anybody's guess at this time. 

And what happens if we will get a mutation of the coronavirus before we even get a handle on novCovid-19? Too scary a thought for most of us!

There will be one winner though - the environment! It is easy to imagine that the environment will recover from human abuse when world traffic will be reduced substantially. We have already seen clearing skies in some otherwise heavily polluted areas. Maybe this will be the new hope for human survival.