Donald Trump is an egocentric person. Of that, there is no doubt. He is constantly looking for appreciation for the things he’s done to fulfill the promises he made to get elected.

We often hear him declare, ” I did this.” or “I did that.” This upsets democrats. They are quick to point out, “There is no “I” in SOLIDARITY!”

shhh…I know, but don’t tell them. they’ll just get upset.

CNN reporter, Kaitlan Collins, was seated in the front row at a recent White House press conference. She was told to exchange seats with Chris Johnson of “the Washington Blade”, who was seated in the sixth out of the seven rows. She, Kaitlan, had gotten into a little sparring with The Donald at a previous news conference; and we know the president is a little sensitive when it comes to that sort of thing. Note: Verbally sparring with the President (any President) is unprofessional, arrogant and disrespectful of the office of the President. Save that for an Op-Ed. Anyway, both reporters refused to move (even when told the Secret Service would become involved…it didn’t become involved. Empty threat.). The press conference went on without further discussion regarding seating arrangements. If anyone stuck pout  their tongue or raised a middle finger in defiance, it wasn’t noted or reported.

The White House Correspondents’ Association determines the seating arrangements. This association is separate from the White House (as well it should be). Supposedly, the WHCA determines seating locations according to the particular news agency’s audience size or readership, how cooperative the agency has been with other agencies when being tasked as a news pool member and the frequency the reporter travels with the President. We know, of course, that is a load of crap.

The reason a reporter is given preferential seating is for more TV face time and a better chance of having the President address their questions. It helps the reporter become more famous and boosts his network’s ratings. The reasons a reporter isn’t afforded better seating are: 1) Wearing a face mask as an athletic supporter. 2) Not wearing shoes. 3) A history of attempting to swat away invisible birds. 4) If they are prone to verbally spar with the President This system is clearly unfair. It needs to be revised.

There is no reason to believe an unfamiliar, cross-eyed, flatulent (oh yeah, two more reasons to not be seated up front) reporter is incapable of asking a more intelligent, more pressing, more relevant question than a reporter who has just spent hours getting his/her/whatever’s makeup and hair done. In fact, it’s probably more likely.

I think there are a couple of ways to address this problem. One would be to seat reporters “first come-first served”. The other would to be to rotate reporters’ seating assignments so that the ones farthest back move to the front at the next press briefing. In doing so, perhaps a reporter could be assigned to sit upon the President’s lectern with the responsibility of waving to the parents of the other reporters in attendance who might be watching, hoping to see their offspring on TV.

Does this seem a bit too childish? I ask you, what about Trump’s and the media’s behavior isn’t?

In my last post of a week ago I mentioned that society will, at some time, begin to rebel against the social distancing rules the government has imposed if those rules remain in place for a long time. Since then, protests have begun in Michigan and Ohio. The democrat mayor of Las Vegas has called for the release of the lockdown on “sin city”. The feelings seem to be that the virus mitigation policy (fear of death) is trumped by the need for freedom to socialize and that money in Las Vegas takes priority over loss of life ( not a big surprise in a city founded by the mob) . Anyway, this happened quicker than I imagined.

Also, at the time of my last post, I had gone into a supermarket to find all the workers wearing surgical gloves and a couple wearing masks. Most of the shoppers were wearing both. I went to the same supermarket yesterday and found all of the employees wearing both gloves and masks. One shopper was wearing a mask. The rest of the shoppers weren’t wearing any protective equipment. I must assume the employees were following a newer, more stringent store policy and the shoppers were fed up with the governmentally imposed restrictions (which are still in force).

Trump has said he has the power to unilaterally open the country. The liberal media and others started calling him King Trump. Apparently they don’t know that when one refers to a king, it’s by first name. England doesn’t call her  Queen Mountbatten-Windsor.  King “the” Donald is providing guidelines, but is leaving the actual lifting of restrictions to state governors.

I actually believe Trump would love to be considered royalty. He even named his youngest son “Barron”. Using the first name rule, his son’s full name would be rather long, “Barron Barron bo-Barren mo-Marron Marren mo-Marron fee-fi-fo-Farron… Barron… Trump. But, allow me to digress.

The country has been watching Dr. Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) during daily White House COVID-19 briefings. At one point, the good doctor said  had restrictions been put in place earlier, many lives would have been saved. The media immediately blamed Trump for not following health experts’ recommendations. Fauci later clarified his remark as a general comment on logic and noted that Trump had instituted health experts’ recommendations immediately each time he received them. Maybe we will learn in the future whether or not that was wise on Trump’s part. Either way, the original, liberal reports were partisan and spurious.

CNN reported California governor Gavin Newsom’s complaint that Elon Musk’s promise to provide a large number of ventilators to hospitals in California had gone completely unfulfilled. No ventilators had arrived. Musk, in return, provided proof (in numbers) of deliveries of ventilators to hospitals all over the country (including California) with letters of appreciation from hospital staffs. He also noted Tesla is manufacturing high-tech valves for some devices.  There is a question of definition of the word  ventilator and if it only describes  “invasive type” forced O2 ventilators or increased pressure “CPAP style” BIPAP equipment. In any case, Musk was ungratefully demeaned in the report. CNN countered by saying it only reported the information it was given by Newsom’s office and was therefore  blameless for the false report. After all, reporters shouldn’t be required to check the veracity of the information they deliver. That’s hard. I’m left wondering how well CNN checks the accuracy of reports coming from the White House before twisting a partisan skew to them.

Weather: It will be dry this afternoon, unless it rains. And now for sports.

…um…oh yeah, according to Bob Sims (KFBK Radio), the Sacramento River is still open to anglers, if they maintain a minimum, arbitrary distance of 6 feet from other people. Striped Bass are in season.

    In the midst of this current pandemic, I think it’s possible there are a certain number of liberal/progressives who are saying to each other, “I told you so!. I told you the general public’s behavior can be manipulated.”

    So many proposed policies of the left will only work if the public’s behaviors can be manipulated. Much of this has already been accomplished for the time being. People have put aside the views they and their forebearers have held…many times for the better. As long as the new views don’t clash with human nature, these things are workable.

An entire nation (and world) has changed its normal behaviors in the attempt to stem the ravages of COVID-19. This is the fear of death at work. But it can’t last.

History has proven that the fear of death will eventually be trumped by the individual’s need to be free of governmental manipulation. It has never failed. If this pandemic continues long enough, I expect to see the public rebel against social distancing and the fear of shaking another’s hand, etc. to the demise of many and the silent acquiescence of human nature and the benefit of public sanity.

When COVID-19 first made its appearance in China, much about the disease was held from public knowledge. Maybe China didn’t want to admit  yet another virus began within its borders. Well, as we know, viruses don’t understand borders. They understand “hosts”. They climb on board and wherever the host travels, the virus is sure to go (kind’a like “Mary”s little lamb.)

COVID-19 is a new virus, and just like youthful cruise ship passengers, it likes to jump ship and wreak havoc in every port it can find. But, unlike Mary having only one little lamb, or a cruise ship having a number of  youthful passengers, these virus “critters” (and I use the term very loosely), are of a number beyond imagination.

I don’t pretend to know much about medicine or viruses beyond what I learned in high school, but I think I have common sense (which I didn’t learn in high school.) I know viruses, when you catch them, make you sick, and it is a sickness no medicine can cure. The sick person’s body must create antibodies to fight off the illness. Once you’ve been sick and have the antibodies, you become immune to the virus and are unlikely to catch it again. The virus can’t hurt you anymore. It’s a little like A.O.C.’s chances of being reelected (I hope.)

There are a few other things that I think I know due to common sense. When the government tells us, on one hand,  that wearing protective masks in public isn’t helpful in protecting us from catching the virus; and,  on the other hand, says healthcare workers need them, I know someone’s either not telling the truth or they’re just plain stupid.

When the government tells us that staying 6 feet away from others,  as we are trying to socially distance ourselves, will protect us from catching the virus; common sense tells me that isn’t necessarily the truth, either. I don’t think viruses carry tape measures, (I may be wrong. As I said, I’m no expert.) It’s strange how, now, the government is telling us that masks actually could help us stay healthy. I’m not stupid. I get it. Doctors’ and other health care professionals’, as well as first responders’ health is more important than the average Joe’s because they are expected to do the life saving during this crisis. Hmm….that actually makes sense.

The parts of this that distress me are that the government doesn’t trust the average Joe to selflessly deny himself/herself/whateverself the protection when supplies of masks are low… and that the government is right! God, I hate to admit that. Hey, look at the toilet paper hoarding if you don’t believe me. Just think of how many folks who really needed bathroom stationary, but couldn’t find any, had to rely on squares of newsprint, pillow cases or sandpaper. Doctors have fewer choices when it comes to masks (except maybe the pillow cases…but that scares the patients and when worn while driving to the hospital, can lead to traffic accidents)

Yes, I think the government is probably justified in lying to the public in its manipulation of common sense. This is because common sense is so astoundingly uncommon. Again, I’ll refer to electing A.O.C..