Ken's Comments

I got my shots.  I recommend everyone get a Covid-19 vaccination unless their personal physician says there is a reason they shouldn't.  I think most arguments I've seen against getting shots are silly.  Now that we've got that out of the way:  I am 100% opposed to penalizing the innocent (i.e. those of us who got shots) by making us wear masks to protect the "guilty" (i.e. those who did not get shots). The CDC released data today on Covid-19 cases.  According to CNN, more than 99.99% of people who are fully vaccinated have been safe from "breakthrough" cases resulting in hospitalization or death.*  ABC7, a local ABC station in Southern California, read the same report and puts the number at 99.999%.**  I got my shot so by the CDC's own numbers, I'm not at risk.   I am 100% opposed to Vaccine IDs or Passports.  It's ironic that many in favor of Vaccine IDs also oppose requiring IDs to vote.  But I'm opposed to Government issued iden...

The late Gov. George Wallace said "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties."  That may have been true in the 1960s but it's not true today.  Let's look at some of the differences. On stimulating the economy - Democrats believe they know best how to spend my money.  Example: the $900 billion stimulus package enacted by Democrats in 2009 and the proposed $3 trillion stimulus offered by President Joe Biden now. Republicans believe I know best how to spend my money.  Example: tax cuts by President Reagan, President George W. Bush, President Donald Trump, all resulting in booming economies rebounding us out of recessionary periods. On racism - When Republicans heard the racist comments by US Representative Steve King (R-Iowa), they urged him to resign and stripped him of his committee assignments.**   Democrats?  Recently a Texas party leader made a racist comment about Sen. Tim Scott.  He offered to resign,...

 For the past four years, the media has downplayed, denied, or ignored the accomplishments of the Trump Administration.  Record economy - just a continuation of what President Obama started.  Record low unemployment for all minorities - same.  First President since Jimmy Carter not to start a war or get into a military conflict - ignored.  And now the latest, crediting Biden before he's in office for accomplishments Trump achieved. It started with the media falsely claiming Joe Biden will have the first female senior communications team.  Not true.  President Trump staffed his senior communications team with females.   Then there is the appointment of a gay person to a cabinet position.  The media claims Joe Biden has appointed the first openly gay person to a Cabinet position.  Not true.  Donald Trump appointed Rick Grenell, who is gay, to be Acting Director of National Intelligence.   When called out for their false...

 Prediction: In 2021, I predict President-Elect Biden is going to take steps that will make things worse, implementing his "national strategy," mandating masks across the country, and generally issuing edicts that negatively impacting the economy and make things worse.  All the while Biden will be saying, and the media will be agreeing, that the suffering is President Trump's fault.   After a few months, about May when experts are even now predicting vaccines will be distributed widely enough to create significant immunity, Biden will take credit for the vaccines being distributed and declare victory.  At that point, the media will be praising President Biden for saving us.   Before that happens, let's look back on 2020 at what really did happen, both bad and good. Bad - The Obama Administration depleted the US Govt. supplies needed in the event of a pandemic and the Trump Administration did not replace these in their first three years. Good - Presiden...

 President Trump grabbed one opportunity but missed another during last night's Town Hall on NBC.  The opportunity he grabbed was related to the Coronavirus relief plan.  The opportunity Trump missed was questions about dreamers and DACA.  Both could have been tied together to point out a consistent theme that I think could label the Democrat party for a number of decades - that the Party leadership cares more about power than people. During the Town Hall, President Trump was asked about passing another Coronavirus stimulus package.  He expressed a willingness to approve a bigger package than his negotiating team has offered in the past.  Then President Trump told the American people the obstacle was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying "...she doesn't want to do it because she thinks it is bad for her election..."   The President seized that opportunity by delivering a message to viewers that Speaker Pelosi "couldn't care less about the American wo...

Recently a relative forwarded a post from Douglas G. Frank - Dr. Frank Models.  A person asked Dr. Frank "What would it take for you to support a [coronavirus] vaccine Dr. Frank?" Dr. Frank posted a long response that I won't copy here.*  But I'll summarize and then respond.  Two key premises of his position: 1. The reward has to be worth the risk 2. Polio is not Covid and the reward [for taking the polio vaccine] was worth the risk (and the price). Of course that led into a long dissertation on why the reward for taking the Covid vaccine is not worth the risk, with a lot of mathematical equations on what percent of the US population has been infected and what percent has died and speculating on what value the vaccine will be.  And he also tossed in a suggestion that Covid will just fade away if we don't vaccinate. Let's make one obvious point first.  He's commenting about a vaccine or vaccines that have not yet been approved and for which no side-effects ...

At least that's what many in the media will have you believe - that the most dangerous thing to do to our children is to send them to school this Fall. The fear is hitting social media too.  There was a meme on Facebook, allegedly quoting US Education Secretary DeVos, who appeared on all the Sunday morning talk shows last weekend, as saying 0.02% of kids might be at risk of dying due to Coronavirus if schools re-open.  The posting suggested that would be over 14,000 kids. That's scary. A single child's death is tragic.  14,000 even more so.  However, I'd like to suggest there is another side to this issue. It is estimated there are 22 million or 30 million children* for whom school meals are the only nutritious meals of the day.  If 0.02% of those kids die of starvation, that would be 440,000 children (if we use the lower figure).  I don't know if that is a correct calculation but you have to come up with a much smaller percentage to go from 440,000 k...

I am not a fan of the organization that goes by the name "Black Lives Matter" but I am in complete agreement with the concept that Black Lives Matter.  There are three events in recent months that should be rallying points for all people to come together and recognize it is time to not just protest but offer ideas on how to do more to end the inequality that still exists in America. The events I refer to are: The killing of Ahmaud Arbery - in Georgia a young man killed for no apparent reason while he was jogging and then the local police and local DA find no reason to charge the perpetrators The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis  Learning of the higher impact of the Coronavirus on black communities All Americans, regardless of color, deserve to be viewed as individuals and not by skin color, religion, or any other grouping.  All Americans deserve the same opportunity, the same treatment and respect, the same justice.  Unfortunately, the three events I ...

I believe in fixing the problem, not fixing the blame.  I also believe that when something goes wrong you look at the process not the people because if the process is right the people usually can't go wrong.  A fair review of what happened during the Coronavirus spread will find process breakdowns and many lessons learned that can help prevent a future occurrence like this. But the Democrats and their media mouthpieces don't want a fair review.  They want to put all 80,000+ Coronavirus deaths at the doorstep of President Donald Trump.  They best watch out if they start that game because it may backfire. Now if there is one thing we know, it is that nursing homes are incubators for Coronavirus and a huge number of the Coronavirus deaths are occurring in nursing homes.  So let's look at what is happening in some states across the US. New York - Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Administration early on adopted a rule mandating that NY nursing homes must accept patients wi...

Classic example of the Democrate partisan media at work.  The Trump Administration publishes good news that a drug called remdesivir shows promise in treating the Coronavirsu.  To pour cold water on this, the Washington Post published an article titled "Researchers changed metric to measure remdesivir during clinical trial."*1 I have to give the authors of the article a bit of credit for intellectual honesty and integrity.  The headline suggests something really bad happened.  The article tries to support the headline but the writers, and this is the credit I give them, posted views on both sides of the issue.  Unfortunately for them, any reasonable reader would conclude the Trump Administration was right to do what it did. The original goal of the trial was to see if remdesivir could reduce the rate of deaths.  The new goal was to measure whether remdesivir helps people recover faster.  Under the new criteria, it was shown that remdesivir reduces ...

Second guessing is the order of the day and it's time for me to join in.  This is a look back to what happened wrong and right, and what could have been done better.  To do this, let's use the standards set forth by NY Governor Mario Cuomo during some of his press conferences.  When asked why he was looking for 40,000 ventilators earlier this year when NY needed less than 10,000, Gov. Cuomo said, and I paraphrase you act based on what you know at the time, and a related point would be did you act based on what you knew at the time.  In another press conference Gov. Cuomo speculated on what he might have done differently if he knew then what he knew now.  A fair analysis of the actions of the Trump Administration can be made using those standards. 1. Acting based on what you know. The Administration has a standard cast of characters who are called on when there are epidemics.  This includes the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Contr...

The same media that howled when the Trump Administration terminated daily briefings and said it restricting Freedom of the Press is now calling for terminating coverage of the President's daily briefings on the Coronavirus.  The clamor for this is ironic, partisan, and also with precedent in history.  Furthermore, there is a much better solution available that the media can implement by themselves. The clamor is ironic because of the media's previous complaints when the Trump Administration cancelled the daily briefings.  Furthermore, instead of the circus like nonsense that occurred during the Administration's previous daily briefings, which were more about the media members scoring points and trying to promote their careers, the current briefings actually are important to all Americans.  Instead, the media is trying to tell us there is nothing important coming out of these briefings.  Oh really?  The Trump Administration is providing information about...

1. Opening the country by Easter - President Trump said he'd like to open the country by Easter.  The media responded that President Trump was planning on ignoring medical advice and open the country too soon, putting American lives at risk. Bazinga - The President today announced that the medical advisers recommend to keep the country shut down to the end of April and he agreed.  All the media's speculation was typical of those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. 2. Aid to Europe from China - Today a reporter asked cited the aid given to Europe by China and asked if the US would match that.   If I were President Trump, I would have responded, "Well if you mean sending defective PPE that are being returned en mass and tests that produce 80% false results, then no the United States will not match that level of support." 3. Navy Hospital ships - A couple of weeks ago, President Trump announced Navy Hospital ships would be going to New York and ei...

Sitting here watching President Trump run down a list of what is being done for the average Americans and small businesses to help weather the current Corona virus situation.  Anyone who thinks President Trump cares only about big business is a moron or is just so partisan they don't want to listen. Free medical services - Today, the President announced that Humana and Cigna announced they will cover medical services related to Corona virus without copayment, coinsurance or deductible.  These services will covered 100% with no financial payment due from the individual.  That means no possibility of medical bankruptcy due to Corona virus.  I believe Aetna has previously done the same thing.  That was done at the Trump team's request.  These multi-billion dollar companies will take a significant financial hit and they are doing at the President's request to help average people who may be unfortunate enough to get this virus. Bringing back tax deductions f...

It's abundantly clear that the majority of the media is seeking to use the Coronavirus situation to try to create panic and despair in order to damage President Trump's chances for re-election.  When President Trump tries to promote hope and optimism, the media says it's all lies.  When Governor Cuomo says the same thing, it's all true.  I wanted to review some of the criticisms made and offer a contrary point of view on President Trump and his team's handling of the Coronavirus situation. 1. Hospitals lack personal protection equipment, like masks - In business when there is a problem that can't be fixed with a snap of your fingers you try to find an immediate solution, then a short term solution and a long term solution.  That's what the Trump team did. Immediate solutions: Recommend ways to conserve what you have and identify alternative masks (e.g. bandannas). Short term solution: get the law changed very fast to allow use of construction masks and...