Fauci Feedback

Yesterday I published a reader contribution summarizing what Dr. Fauci said on a virtual call with some Dartmouth doctors ... see: Reader Contribution. I am not trying to be disrespectful of this doctor ... but I do have some questions about what he said ... the following:

1) Fauci says the the ratio of asymptomatic cases to diagnosed cases in 2:3 (40%). But previous studiies in California, New York and Florida put the ratio at 10:1, 20:1 or even higher. Perhaps our increased testing has changed things ... but this much?

2) Fauci says all ages get infected at the same rate, Take a look at what has happened in California ... see: California Department of Public Heath. No quite the same Anthony!

3) Fauci says that all vaccines were started from virus samples from China. I’m not sure that, if I were a drug company ready to make this huge investment, I would trust China for such a starter sample.


There was some happy news however — Fauci said that a vaccine may be approved by October! Will this be the October surprise by the Republicans? And will the Dems use scare tactics against such a vaccine breakthrough? Watch and see!

STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Waiting Game

Kim Yo-Jong

Is the tyrannical leader of North Korea seriously ill? President Trump suggests no ... but then China is sending in its best doctors to aid in this possibility.

When  President Trump met Kim Jong Un in the Korean demilitarized zone last year, it was apparent to most that Kim was ill. He barely could walk twenty feet without being short of breath. Now we read that Kim is in critical condition after surgery ... see: Breitbart Story. Although South Korea and China deny that he is gravely ill, it is clear that something is afoot.

Maybe Trump’s real strategy was to wait Kim out ... sensing that his lifestyle of Swiss cheese and Swedish hookers did not suggest a good long life? Possibly, this strategy is paying off. But the question remains ... what next, if Lil’ Kim disappears?

Will Kim’s little sister, Kim Yo-Jong take over? And, if so, will she be just as despotic as her older brother? If one follows the thinking of American feminists, she will be the dove of peace ... in the image of the Mothers Earth and Theresa.

Looking closely at her face, I am not so sanguine.

Reader Contribution

Thanks John ...

Thanks

For the sound of children laughing

For all the extra years that I never expected to be given

For all those teachers who led me by the hand to knowledge

To the doctors and medical experts who helped cure my many maladies

To my family and friends who have loved me despite my behavioral flaws

To all the tradespeople who helped keep my living spaces livable

For the bounty of the great country into which I luckily was born

To all those people who gave their lives to keep the rest of us free

To the merchants who endeavor to supply us with great products and services

For all those many pets which gave me unquestioned love and companionship

To all the animals and plants which give us sustenance ... including today's turkey

For still having enough mental faculties to realize all these bestowed benefits

Single Payer Healthcare

Ex-president (I love saying that) Obama's and most Democrat's stated objective with Obamacare was to push this country's healthcare system toward a single-payer one ... much like in the United Kingdom, Canada and the EU. Many Americans gut instinct is to resist this tilt toward Socialism. However, the sinister design of Obamacare makes reversing this track very difficult ... as we are now seeing. For the moment, let us suppose that the Bernie Sanders liberals get their way and America is forced into a single-payer system. What would likely be the consequences of such a development? Let me offer a few:

- The healthcare insurance industry will be devastated. However, it won't disappear. Most countries that have single-payer systems also have private insurance or concierge medical options for those who can afford it to supplement the government-run operations. This is to get faster and higher quality treatment for society's elite. So instead of being progressive, single-payer healthcare is often quite regressive.

- Single-payer healthcare means that the government not only pays for most healthcare ... but it also manages the means of delivery ... with the resulting decline in quality and the increase in treatment delays (witness the VA). Often bureaucrats are making treatment decisions instead of an interplay between doctors and patients. There is good reason why healthcare in the United States costs more than anywhere else. It is of much higher quality. And that is why many from around the world flock to our medical centers when their lives are on the line.

- Single-payer healthcare means that the government will negotiate down drug costs. This will, by definition, reduce the profitability of the pharmaceutical companies and put the squeeze on their research spending. This of course means fewer and slower drug innovations.

- It is quite likely that a single-payer system will make becoming a doctor, nurse, etc. a less lucrative profession ... meaning fewer of our best and brightest will pursue these jobs in the future ... and more existing ones will be retiring early. This is likely to cause stress in the provider community.

- Another reason for high healthcare costs in the United States is the insertion of the insurance company middlemen between the patient and the doctor. Single payer healthcare doesn't eliminate this middleman. It just substitutes the public sector for the private sector ... and when in history has this worked out to be more economically efficient?

- Single-payer healthcare will likely be the grease to propel the United States away from our tradition of individual energy and independence ... toward a more Venezuela-type Socialism. Not a happy consequence for our rosy future.

Can the Republicans in the Senate rescue our healthcare system from the sad fates outlined above? Only if patriotism overcomes politics ... and when was the last time that happened?

Both Ways

Hellary Clinton wants to have it both ways. She claims that her 2012 fall and resulting concussion fogged her memory in 26 key instances in her recent personal e-mail-server testimony to the FBI ... see: Details. Do these infirmities, which helped keep her bacon from the FBI fire, make her now unsuitable to carry the heavy responsibilities of the presidency? She related that she was told by her doctors in her last year as Secretary of State to only work a few hours a day. And we have seen, on her current campaign trail, she carries an extremely light schedule ... disappearing for days on end. Can such an enfeebled woman do a credible job as POTUS under such a workload constraint?

Of course, if she really does not have such health problems, then she should have been compelled to cooperate more fully with the FBI ... or be charged with obstructing justice? Which is it?

However, if she wins in November, we do know one thing she won't be doing with all her possible down time ,,, baking cookies!

Nurses

Right before I recently went into the hospital, Joy Behar (Joyless Blowhard) made some disparaging comments about the nursing (non)profession on "The View" ... see: Breitbart Story. After an understandable outrage, she and her cackling brood had to retract these comments on a following day's show. However, witnesses profess that, even after this small backtracking, these hens continued their smearing during the show's commercial breaks. How very lowlife!

And I can attest by my recent medical experiences that nurses, nurses aides, orderlies, etc. play vital roles in the health-care field. Doctors, like quarterbacks, tend to grab all the headlines. But it is these Florence Nightingale stalwarts who really do the healing ... just like the linemen win or lose football games.

May I suggest that grandstanding on afternoon television with inane banter is the true non-profession?

Hippocratic Oath

“Do no harm” … that is the essence of the Hippocratic Oath that all doctors are supposed to live by. In other words, if a patient arrives with a hang-nail, don’t cut off his finger.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an equivalent motto that politicians were asked to forswear when they entered the public arena?

Clearly, the current administration and the Pilosi-Reid cabal felt few compunctions about breaking some eggs when they cooked up that atrocious omelet of legislation four years ago ... once proudly called Obamacare. But now is being shamelessly retagged by the mainstream media with its official title “Affordable Care Act.”  In fact, it appears that this bunch of miscreants not only broke a zillion eggs in the process, but also killed the chickens and burned down the farm. 

And it is not just the website that is the problem with Obamacare … it is its entire concept and execution (excuse the pun) … see: Breitbart Commentary

Actually I do believe that those bozos responsible might have taken an oath under their breath when they entered public office … the Hypocritic Oath.

Sign of the Times

The President and his wife have sway over much of the American psyche.  They can and do influence things for the better or worse.  This time I believe it was for the worse.  Michelle Obama recently invited a gaggle of Hollywood glitterati to the White House to instruct east-coast teenagers on how to make it in Tinseltown … see: US News Story. 

I guess we have enough doctors, engineers, nurses and accountants.