GOP pouts and virus prompts panic over possible pandemic
As petulant Republicans pouted like partisan putzes during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, pathetically pandering to one pouty person in particular, an outbreak of a new virus prompted possible pandemic panic, and the Doomsday Clock predictably pressed closer to midnight. It all left me hiding under the bed, teeth chattering, mind puzzling over the question: “What the (BLEEP) just happened?”
Impeachment trial and polls shows Fox News/reality rift: With national polls showing upward of 70% of Americans want to hear from witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers scoffed and generally behaved like churlish layabouts as the trial got underway.
Putting party over country and public opinion, the Republican Senators voted again and again to deny Democratic calls for witnesses and documents. Some even walked out during opening arguments Wednesday, in violation of the very trial rules they supported.
At one point, reporters noticed Sen. Rand Paul working on a crossword puzzle. A couple GOP lawmakers left the trial to do interviews on Fox News.
Despite an oath of impartiality, it was clear most if not all Republican senators have decided their loyalty to Trump trumps any desire to hear testimony or see evidence, even if that evidence might be exculpatory.
While the Democratic House impeachment managers presented their case in rich, sober detail, even using clips of some GOP senators that showed how far those senators have drifted from integrity, the Republicans offered little more than eye rolls and long-since-debunked excuses.
And the president? On Wednesday, the first day of the trial, he sent 142 tweets and retweets.
Because that’s what calm, innocent people do, apparently.
Chinese coronavirus arrives in Chicago: If the swift erosion of Democratic norms and the seemingly bottomless corruption of the Trump administration has you down, here’s an unwelcome change of topic.
Following an outbreak of a new and mysterious respiratory virus in China, a number of U.S. airports — including O’Hare International — began screening travelers coming from the city of Wuhan, China.
On Friday, the Chicago Department of Public Health reported that a Chicago woman in her 60s who returned from a visit to China earlier this month is the second person in the United States diagnosed with the coronavirus, which has killed at least 26 people. About 830 have been infected, most in China. The first U.S. case of the virus showed up in Washington after a man in his 30s returned from the Wuhan area. That man is hospitalized in good condition and the Chicago woman is hospitalized in stable condition.
The scope of the outbreak remains unclear, and Chinese officials have tried to contain the virus by locking down three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million people.
The virus can cause fever, coughing, trouble breathing and pneumonia.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump addressed the coronavirus, telling CNBC: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
Given Trump’s track record for honesty, I don’t find that at all comforting.
Well, it’s not like the Doomsday Clock is sending bad signals… I was feeling down about the state of the world Thursday, so I hopped on the internet and read this from a Chicago Tribune article:
“Calling world affairs ‘highly unstable,’ scientists on Thursday moved the fateful minute hand of the Doomsday Clock another 20 seconds closer to midnight, signifying that humanity is more perilously near global catastrophe than any other time in recent history.” Hoo boy.
The article quoted the University of Chicago’s Rachel Bronson, who serves as president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which started the clock in 1947: “We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes. It is the closest to doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock. We now face a true emergency — an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay.”
I’m never coming out from under the bed.
Hold on, hold on … there is actually some positive news: Just to show not all hope is lost, some kind souls sneaked around Millennium Park and various spots along Michigan Avenue and left scarves for people who might need them, along with notes of encouragement.
My colleague Heidi Stevens wrote a column about the random act of kindness, committed by teachers and families at Central Middle School in Evergreen Park. (Column appears in Life+Travel, Page 3.)
Two of the notes fastened to the scarves read: “I was not forgotten here and neither are you. We hope this scarf brings you warmth” and “I am not lost, but I’m happy you found me. If you are cold and you need me, please take me. I hope I keep you warm all winter long. You are loved.”
As Stevens wrote: “Some 80,000 of our residents are homeless, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Does a scarf solve their suffering? Not even close. Does it still hold value? Absolutely.”
Good has a remarkable talent for overcoming bad. Kudos to all behind the scarf project.
Pictures of America’s last real president coming to Chicago: Portraits of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will go on the road from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and stop first in Chicago next June.
Aside from acting as a sort of homecoming for the Obamas, the portraits will remind Art Institute visitors that there used to be a presidents who didn’t tweet constantly and call people names.
The unique portraits have doubled attendance at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery since they were unveiled in 2018 — a fact that undoubtedly drives the current president crazy.