Infectious Diseases Are Rising in America

(Close up macro of small sand fly gnat on green leaf - Getty Images/Ezumelmages)

While no one was looking after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic a host of other infectious diseases have been spreading through the states.

Especially in Florida and Texas.

A new report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described an endemic in Texas where parasitic flesh-eating sand flies are spreading a disease - leishmaniasis - in the state.

Although relatively common in other parts of the world it didn't show up in the United States until the last few years. A form of the disease is now "native" or endemic to parts of Texas.

According to the World Health Organization, there are three forms of leishmaniases: "visceral (the most serious form because it is almost always fatal without treatment); cutaneous (the most common, usually causing skin ulcers); and mucocutaneous (affecting mouth, nose, and throat)."

Next.

For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. has recorded homegrown malaria cases.

Cases have been discovered in Florida, Texas, and Maryland. There's a concern that if malaria and other diseases are re-emerging, or emerging in places where they haven't previously been it's going to become a larger health issue in the future.

With the climatic changes the conditions are becoming more favorable for malaria transmission.

Reemerging diseases include malaria, tuberculous, cholera, pertussis, influenza, pneumococcal disease, and gonorrhea.

New strains of known disease-causing organisms are also appearing. For example, the overuse of antibiotics has led to disease causing organisms that are resistant to medicines.

Researchers say the increased number of global travelers is contributing to recent renewal of many infectious diseases in America. 

The CDC has made it clear there are a number of factors causing these outbreaks. The challenge now is to stay ahead of the curve by educating the public on safety measures and developing new vaccines. 

As it stands, we can't do anything about the bad effects of climate change, or travelers bringing diseases, but we can stay informed on them, especially where we live in order to protect ourselves.

Revenge of the Rhinos, 2 US Hostages Released, and Chesebro Flips on Trump

       What a day!

     Good News!

Two US hostages have been released by Hamas Friday. 

A mother and daughter are now in safely in Israel. 

Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natali Raanan from the Chicago area had been visiting relatives when Hamas stuck, and they were captured.

Next.

House Republicans have failed for the third straight time to elect Jim Jordan for speaker of the house with more members voting against him on every round.

Worse yet, there doesn't appear to be a way out of the clusterfuck the GOP has created for themselves. 

They're reduced to name calling, threatening lives of wives of some members, canceling each other on social media platforms, finger-pointing at the Democrats for not saving their silly asses, and other unproductive pursuits.

Day 17 - Congress in chaos. With no leader before November 17th, the entire government will shut down with serious consequences.

Next

Another Trump crony flipped on him Friday in the Fulton County election subversion trial.

His campaign legal advisor Kenneth Chesebro (photo above) struck a deal with the prosecution to save his ass and testify against Trump.

This surprising turn of events may harken a stampede among other co-defendants to make similar deals.

Thursday it was Sidney Powell who flipped a day before her jury trial was to take place. Now Chesebro has done the same thing the day before his trial. 

That makes three defendants - Scott Hall, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro, who have flipped on Trump. Let's hope it's a trend.

As it stands, there's certainly been some BIG NEWS lately. These are just my three picks among many to select from.

Surprise! Kraken Lawyer Sideny Powell Pleads Guilty to Election Subversion

After threatening Trump opponents with "releasing the Kraken" in court cases defending Trump, Sidney Powell suddenly admitted her guilt today in a move that surprised everyone.

Her trial was set to start tomorrow. After confessing to her role in the breach of election systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia, Powell has agreed to cooperate with AG Fani Willis and testify under oath.

Keeping count. That's two defendants who admitted guilt in the Fulton County election subversion trial. Scott Hall, and Sidney Powell.

Trump's craziest lawyer, Powell, is still facing legal problems beyond the Georgia case. She is an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal election subversion case that Jack Smith filed against Trump.

It doesn't end there. She is facing massive defamation lawsuits from two voting technology companies who sued her for falsely accusing them of rigging the 2020 election.

At this point it looks like Powell will be releasing the Kraken against Donald Trump. There's no such thing as halfway cooperation.

She will be expected to truthfully expose Trump's part in the criminal conspiracy, and other bad actors like Misty Hampton the Coffee County election supervisor that she worked with in the nefarious scheme to disenfranchise Georgia voters.

There's no doubt this development came as a happy surprise to prosecutors who face numerous challenges bringing all the perpetrators to justice.

We may witness a domino effect as the other defendants decide to take Powell's example and try to save themself from prison time. I wouldn't count on it, but today's news is going to make them all think twice.

As it stands, my guess is Trump took a bigly dump in his diapers after this news came out this morning.

The Wages of Trumpism: Bully Jim Jorden Loses 2 Bids for House Speakership - Enough is Enough

By now you'd think the GOP members of the House have learned their lesson trying to promote Trumpism via Gym Jordan.

Jordan is a loser. Just like his idol the orange guy who lives in Florida and still thinks he's the president of the United States, he's a thug that found out he can't get away with threatening his peers if they didn't vote for him.

For example, Jordan and cronies carried out a threat campaign on the 20 members who didn't vote for him during the first round in the Game of Political Thrones. 

Republican Rep. Don Bacon's wife received numerous emails and texts saying, "your husband better support Jim Jordan."

Pure Trumpism. Jordan has adopted Trump's scorched earth tactic of intimidation in order to obtain power. He just lost his second attempt today with more Republicans voting against him than in the first round.

He should take that as a hint, although it's not clear if he will. He may try one more time to pull a rabbit out of his tight-fitting MAGA hat, but it'll be a losing effort. Something Republicans are getting use to when enabling Trump's stooges in Congress.

The scary part of this whole breakdown in the House is someone like Jordan could have emerged the new Speaker. It would have been like giving the nuclear codes to a domestic terrorist. His first act would have been to shut the government down if his MAGA agenda wasn't accepted by the Senate. 

No doubt Trump would have been proud of his bad boy. Americans would suffer while Jordan held the government hostage.

That didn't happen. But where do we go from here? The GOP has proven they can't govern, and it appears no one will be able to get the necessary votes to be the speaker. I suspect a short-term solution will come up at some point.

Frankly, it has to. 

As it stands, I hope Americans remember this hot mess in the House next year when it comes time to vote and make the Republicans pay the price for their ineptitude.

'Dark Brandon' Looks for Converts by Joining Trump's Truth Social Platform

"Dark Brandon" mocked Trump by joining his social media platform on Monday.

President Biden's 2024 presential campaign created a Truth Social account to troll for hidden traitors ready to move on to someone else. 

Biden's account posted this; "Well. Let's see how this goes. Converts welcome!" The account, which is found under the handle @BidenHQ, features a profile image of Biden with red glowing eyes, a meme known online as "Dark Brandon."

By the way this is no rumor. Fox News Digital verified that it's a real account. Straight from the mouth of MAGA.

Why would President Biden even want to post on Trump's failing social media platform? After all it only has 600,000 monthly active users compared to the 528 million at X, and over 3 billion at Facebook.

The answer is simple. Truth Social is the only platform the former twice-impeached president consistently posts his personal thoughts on. The Dark Brandon meme is meant to infuriate Trump.

The origin of the Dark Brandon meme started after NASCAR racer Brandon Brown gave an interview where Trump supporters were shouting "f**K-Joe Biden" in the background and the interviewer apparently misheard the chant, thinking they were shouting "Let's go Brandon," to cheer on the driver.

To be clear, the "Let's go Brandon" meme was a convoluted misunderstanding that Trump supporters adopted in 2021. It became a coded word for saying curse words at Biden. No surprise, Trump made it a money-making grift and sold, "Let's Go Brandon" merchandise.

It didn't take long for Biden supporters to flip the meme on its head, trolling conservative Trump voters with memes like "Brandon Sends His Regards," before using images of Biden with glowing red eyes and naming him Dark Brandon.

Meanwhile Biden is showing strength and resolve over the war in the Middle East despite only having one functioning house in Congress, the Senate. 

The House of Representatives, mostly spawn of Trump, kicked out their own Speaker of the House two weeks ago and still can't find a replacement, effectively paralyzing much-needed legislative packages to Israel and Ukraine.

As it stands, I'm wishing Dark Brandon happy hunting on Truth Social.

The 'Pied Piper of COVID' Exposed as a Loser!

The court came after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, aka the Pied Piper of COVID, and made him produce documents containing COVID-19 data that he previously lied about and said didn't exist.

A judge ordered the health department to immediately produce documents containing COVID-19 information previously denied to the public.

As a staunch defender against scientific methods of battling COVID, the Pied Piper pushed his anti-democratic agenda denying face masks and vaccinations saved lives during the pandemic through the halls of state government offices that he controlled like a dictator.

2 Facts:

- Florida was among the top three states to have the MOST COVID-related deaths in America.

- COVID's current comeback in Florida is worse than any other state in the union with thousands of cases cropping up.

By creating political polarization on health measures DeSantis sowed confusion among the public and even physicians. It was a pure MAGA agenda designed to appeal to lunatics who followed Trump. 

He issued an executive order during the height of the pandemic prohibiting masks in schools and granted himself veto power over municipal coronavirus mandates.

But that's yesterday's example of his corrupt dealings. Today he's struggling to find a message that resonates with his chaos electorate because his record on managing the pandemic failed to gain traction among Republican voters.

By necessity big political grifts have to keep adapting narratives.  The Pied Piper of COVID is having trouble finding his voice. The COVID thing has slipped out of public discourse especially with DeSantis's recent focus on cultural wars.

It appears DeSantis's run for the presidency has turned into a walk with no future. There are numerous polls showing his steady decline as a candidate after the first two GOP primary debates. One of his opponents, Nikki Haley, has passed him in the New Hampshire primary predictions.

Once considered Trump's biggest challenger, DeSantis is showing all the signs of a loser as he struggles to get the Republican nomination for president. 

As it stands, I'm always amused when someone like DeSantis uses stupid political memes like "Woke" when they are in fact asleep at the wheel.

Wars Are Popping Up Like Toxic Pimples Across the Planet

I was born in 1950, the year America went to War in Korea.

As a teenager I fought in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Since then, I've followed wars springing up around the globe over the decades. Regardless of how small or big wars have one thing in common; innocent civilians are mercilessly slaughtered, and no one really wins.

There are ruthless civil wars in countries such as Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. 

There are conflicts in Nagorno Karabakh, Iran, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Sahel, Algeria, Colombia, Chad, and Benin, according to the International Crisis Group.

At this moment there's two hot wars going on. In Israel and Ukraine. 

The Top-Tier Risks of War in 2023 are, according to the Center for Preventive Action:

1. An escalation of coercive pressure by China toward Taiwan, including heightened military activity involving the US and other countries in the region.

2. A highly disruptive cyberattack targeting US critical infrastructure.

3. An acute security crisis in Northeast Asia triggered by Noth Korea's development and testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles.

What I find most difficult to deal with is that every minute, every hour, and every day innocent people are being murdered across the planet in senseless wars.

As it stands, one of my favorite authors, John Steinbeck, has one of the best quotes I've heard regarding wars, "All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal."

House GOP Game Show 'Who Will Our Leader Be?' Looks to be a Long Running Series

Welcome to the National and International gameshow, "Who Will Our Leader Be?" sponsored by the Republicans in the US House of Representatives.

Since ousting their leader, a couple of weeks ago the People's House has become the scene of a highly watched television show featuring how dysfunctional the Republican party is.

Talk about drama. Let's set the stage.

America cannot help it's two allies Israel and Ukraine because the House has ceased to function thanks to MAGA morons.

On top of that America is facing a government shutdown on November 17th unless a miracle happens, and the GOP get their shit together enough to elect a leader and pass a budget bill by then.

Throw in a former twice-impeached president with 91 felony charges in four jurisdictions, convicted of business fraud on a massive scale, actively interfering with the house speaker process by hinting at taking the job "just to help them out," and you've set the stage for this realty series.

The world is watching and getting nervous as countries see our democracy in danger. It must be a terrible sight for our allies to see the effects of a disabled Congress.

As for the American people... it's a horror show watching the government being held hostage by a Republican party that can't govern in a time of multiple crises.

No one subscribed to this Chaos Channel but we're all unwilling viewers on events that unfold daily that are going to negatively affect our lives.

Recent developments.

The GOP members huddled together in a basement somewhere and voted for a new speaker. It was between Scalise and Jordan and Scalise won. But he didn't come anywhere near reaching the threshold of 217 votes.

So Scalise stepped down and Jordan stepped up again but with a new challenger named Austin Scott who no one had ever heard of. 

I'm not even sure they checked to see that he was a real member of the House. I get the impression he was nominated to make it easy for Jordan to beat. Wouldn't it be a laugh if Scott won?

What likely happened is the more moderate majority of Republicans got together to back Scott who is saying the right things about leading a functional House that is in the best interest of the American people.

He also doesn't wear a MAGA hat or plead fealty to Trump. He voted in the House to certify Biden's victory in 2020. Unlike the 139 GOP members (including Jordan and Scalise) who voted against certifying Biden's win.

What are the odds that Scott will get the nomination? I guess it's safe to say 50-50. But what will happen if Scott's name is brought to the floor?

No one knows. It's the ultimate game show that is affecting the lives of millions of people in America and abroad.

---------------------------------------------

UPDATE: Jordan nominated, but will he pass House floor vote?

-------------------------------------------- 

As it stands, I'm at the point that I don't care if they elect Yosemite Sam as long as it reopens the House for business.

Whatever is Wrong in the World Blame President Biden... Just Because

Hamas attacked Israel. 

Blame Biden.

There's an outbreak of bedbugs in Paris.

Blame Biden.

Republicans are banning books.

Blame Biden.

Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker.

Blame Biden.

The Republicans can't find a replacement for McCarthy and have paralyzed Congress.

Blame Biden.

Disneyland is raising its admissions fees.

Blame Biden.

Harvard student groups issue anti-Israel statements.

Blame Biden.

Retail outlets are closing because of chronic shoplifting.

Blame Biden.

It's going to be a really harsh winter.

Blame Biden.

It's almost time to turn your clocks back.

Blame Biden.

And on, and on, and on...

For a president who has passed as many major bills as President Biden has, he still doesn't get any respect. He's accomplished more in his third year than any modern two-term president has done in eight years.

He guided the country through the COVID challenge by passing bills to help all Americans financially through the crisis. He revived the economy, and the nation as well by putting us on the path for recovery despite Republican efforts to hinder his efforts.

So yeah... just keep blaming Biden for all that is wrong in the world. It's so much easier than facing the truth.

As it stands, Joe Biden has always been underestimated, but if you follow his career, you'll see that he's done a lot of good things for all Americans in his decades of service to the country. 

Trump's Cult is a Cancer on America Society

A deadly disease has spread through the country since Trump was elected in 2016. Cult cancer.

It's spread from the basements and caves of extremists who were liberated by a fact-free grifter whose venom has been infecting our society since then.

Hate and fear drives the cult members into a frenzy that eventually embraces an authoritarian rule and Trump as dictator for life.

Because the cult cancer spread to Congress, we're seeing more and more dysfunction in the government. 

The only place the GOP has a majority is in the House... and the House is crumbling without a leader. And it's their own fault. The Republicans can't govern. Their proving that right now at a crucial time in our history.

We desperately need to fund the government and to give help to both of our allies, Israel and Ukraine.

But we have to cut the cancer out of Congress, and state governing bodies where the cult is taking our freedoms away and disenfranchising voters.

Getting the MAGA menace out of federal and state governments is a matter of paramount importance. Much like using chemo while it's still earlier enough to make a difference.

The way to do that is to vote. Vote in special state elections. Vote during the general election next year. Vote. Vote. Vote. 

As it stands, it's not too late to cure this country of the cancer that Trump has been spreading. Calling out the MAGA lies daily, and voting are the best medicines.

What's Plan B? What are GOP House Members Going to Do if Jordan and Scalise Aren't Elected?

When you look at the two GOP members running for Speaker of the House it's apparent there's going to be two problems.

One - Both are unelectable. There's just no way the so-called moderate Republicans are going to boost extremists like Gym Jordan and Steve Scalise.

Two - There's no Plan B. No name has surfaced as a possible alternative to Trump's two henchmen.

Last night, the chaotic remnants of the Republican party were supposed to come up with a leader. Who really believed that was going to happen? It would have been a miracle if they did.

Instead, it's a fool's errand. Spokespersons for the GOP claimed they'd pick a leader behind closed doors and will come out and announce the person's name today for a House vote.

That didn't happen.

Realistically, the GOP needs to have to find someone that can govern in a crisis. Someone smart enough to realize they must compromise in order to get any legislation passed needs to emerge from the swampy morass.

A strange rumor is circulating in the halls of Congress that the party may ask Kevin McCarthy to come back. That's hard for me to believe.

One thing is evident, most members want to get rid of the rule where one member can take down the House Speaker. That's a sticking point. Right now, they're in neutral trying to figure out what to do. 

Meanwhile, America waits and watches wondering when the GOP majority is going to elect a new leader and allow the House to go back to doing its job.

As it stands, the Republicans temper tantrum couldn't have happened at a worse time as we face another shutdown and the need to immediately help our longtime ally, Israel.