Thanksgiving and yet Another Vaccine

 A different kind of Thanksgiving and Vaccine

This year Thanksgiving, particularly in America, will be a lot different in several ways.

Firstly if any American is serious about getting life back to normal they can do so by wearing masks and distancing at all times until they are vaccinated. No other way. The Thanks here is that at least some of the superior thinking and less emotional ones are doing so and will continue their efforts.

Secondly those who are not yet part of a positive COVID statistic can give Thanks for escaping to date. These people will probably see the importance of following guidelines as well.

Thirdly I include the traditional Thanks for the three good things - food, shelter, and good health, that some but far fewer have this year. This occupies the third place because a large number of Americans - more than ever before - are without some or all of them.

In fourth I include the progress that has been made on vaccines and the increasing likelihood that they will be protecting the country and its inhabitants some time next year. After that on Thanksgiving 2021 people can give Thanks for all of the missing items in 2020.

In the fifth spot and it could have been first, a lot of Americans and world citizens can give Thanks that the depravity of the last four years, including the run-up to the election in 2016 will finally be over. Just like most natural disasters, there will be a lot of cleanup. Included in this Thanks is Joe Biden and a new team of professionals who should be able to meet the challenges.

Finally let's include the survival so far, of the unique American experiment in Democracy. It still appears to be in tact. Like all experiments, there have been failures and unanticipated outcomes.

I don't recall ever having to give Thanks with so many preconditions.

The new Vaccine in the title? Hopefully Joe and Co. will also see fit to make changes - even constitutionally - to prevent the abuse we have witnessed from happening again - just like a vaccine. As with the development of real vaccines, some tweaking of laws and institutions will be required to make the American system even more robust. One shot. One time.

Build Back Better.

#thebrewsterblock

The New version of "High Hopes"

 Big Thanks to Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen, and Frank Sinatra!

Before the days of electronic entertainment on your phone or PC, many people listened to radio. A song made very popular by Old Blue Eyes was "High Hopes" - lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by James Van Heusen. It was enjoyed by all ages and it won an Oscar.

You can search for the tune and lyrics.

I have created a few more verses that might be more appropriate for America's problems today. Might as well have a little fun. Be sure to listen to the original first. It always makes you feel better when you hear the kids in the background. I had no idea how many great songs were created by the team of Cahn and Van Heusen. Look them up. We the older gen, will recognize many.

Here is my version - turn up your sound. Best heard on a PC. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5TnmkOL0Zk&feature=youtu.be

Intro 1...

Goes like this ...
daa-da-da-dee, daa-da-daa-da-da-dee, daa-da-daa-da-da-da, daa-da-da-dee!


Next time you see, Donald Trump on the tee, No more whining today, Soon we'll be free...

1. Just what makes that President think, That he'll win by raising a stink? Everyone knows you are gone, Don - Watch your legacy sink!

But we've got, HI-I-I-IGH HOPES, he is, o-o-o-n the ropes. He's got - a snow-ball's cha-a-a-nces in, H-e-e-ell Hopes

So with his puppet Ru-u-dy, sitting on his knee, crying his latest scams, OOPS there goes an-other big-black drop, OOPS there goes an-other big-black drop, OOPS there goes some more hair co-lor Kerplop!

Intro 2...

Mitch and his bunch, we should have you for lunch, we will never forget, I have a hunch...

2. Counting's done and Donald you're toast. You and Joe are well past the post. There's nothing there you can stir, Sir - Time to be a good host.

But he's got, no-o-o-o class, He is so-o-o- crass. He needs, a General's, bo-o-ot marks on 

hi-i-i-s ass.

So let the Upper-Chamber speak, why are they so weak? Why have they lost their spine?

OOPS there goes, Mitch-McConnel's bunch, OOPS no seat and no more fre-e-e lunch, OOPS there goes their sound of silence Kerplop.

Intro 3...

Joseph and Jill, Have now moved to The Hill, DJT had to leave. Oh what a thrill!

3. Joe and Ka-ma-la can now fix. Every thing that Trump tried to nix. Hopefully they'll make amends, friends. But they'll need some new tricks.

But we've got HI-I-I-IGH HOPES, we've got, HI-I-I-IGH HOPES. We've got, look up on high in the, sky-y-y-y hopes.

Let's reach ac-ross the aisle, wear our warmest smile, once again com-pro-mise! OOPS there goes a major bigotry, help someone get up and off their knee, She still stands - The Statue of Lib-er-ty. So-FREE!

#thebrewsterblock

Kristi Noem Joins the Republican Ostrich Club

South Dakota Governor Pandering to the Brass with her Head in the Sand 

Another one bites the dust - literally. It appears that the Governor of South Dakota is going out of her way to bury her head in the sand to ignore obvious facts.

While her state's statistics with this virus are now becoming some of the worst she still spews the party line about masks and lock downs not working. I guess dozens of countries throughout rest of the world are also just spreading the hoax especially the one everybody likes to blame, China.

Ask yourselves this: People in the medical profession but especially surgeons, nurses, and dentists have been wearing masks for decades to protect both themselves and their patients. This was the case long before COVID 19. Have Republican doctors and dentists not followed this practice? Have they been woefully unaware of some special knowledge into which the Governor and her party have tapped? Why do these professionals not consider this practice to be an infringement on their personal liberty? I don't recall ever seeing them protest.

Let me repeat a previous post. The people who protest "Never! You will never make me wear a mask!" - are they all draft dodgers? If they still claim to love America, and if some foreign power were to kill 250,000 Americans would they run when the government brought back conscription? Would they go and fight possibly losing their lives or receiving life altering injuries as hundreds of thousands of American Armed Forces people have done?

If the answer is "YES" they would go off to war then what the hell is the big deal? It is the same government who would command you to go. So it's OK for it to order you to serve and fight but not to wear a frickin' mask?

This Governor says mandates are not the American way. Does she hide draft dodgers from her state in her basement? There are times when governments do indeed mandate their citizens to follow procedures that are best for the country. Maybe she did not live through that.

Give yourselves a shake people. Seat belts save lives. So do motorcycle and bicycle helmets; life jackets; stop signs and traffic signals; and that yellow line in subway stations.

So do masks. Grow up.

#thebrewsterblock

Trump: A modern day Jim Jones?

 Is Trump the new Pandemic?

I have compared Donald J. Trump to other figures in history such as Hitler, Mussolini, and Joe McCarthy to name a few. The common element was an attempt to understand how normal thinking and free Americans could be so persuaded by one man's fabrications. Trump has exceeded all of the others' lies in sheer volume.

It seems to me that there has been another pandemic at work these past few years and that is Donald himself. Belief in his lies has been spreading like a virus to millions of Americans - look at the popular vote. That number however includes many people who will always vote for the GOP and will never vote for the Democratic Party, regardless of Trump. That is actually good news. Hopefully they are not blinded like the others.

When you hear those yelling, screaming red cappers however, convinced against all odds, truth, events, and logic that if DJT says it then it must be true, another analogy comes to mind.

In 1978 the self-proclaimed leader and preacher of a cult convinced over 900 believers to follow him to the Promised Land after committing mass suicide by drinking a cyanide laced drink. Some who did not were shot. It happened in Guyana in a commune known as Jonestown.

When I hear Trump red cappers yelling "fake news" and "stolen election" - because Donald said so - I have to wonder if they would drink the poison "Kool Aid" as it became known (it did not actually involve that well known brand) if DJT told them to do so.

Jim Jones died with his followers. Donald would never have the courage.

Follow him if you must but take your own refreshment to the rallies and dare I say it - please wear a mask for your relatives and loved ones. Finally, if you receive any invitations to move to Trumpsville, Trumpland, or the like especially overseas, stay put.

#thebrewsterblock

Presidential Thinking

Thoughts of a Man who Graduated from his own University

When you have them listening, and eating from your hand,

When the networks have your face on screens across the land,

When you see a shadow of a doubt in every eye,

Pull a joker from the deck and simply tell a lie.

If the point you want to make has not quite hit the mark,

If you have two strikes but you must hit it from the park,

If the journalists are raising hands and asking why,

Make the most of your last pitch and simply tell a lie.

Because the world is watching you, and every move you make,

Because you think your critics and the things they say are fake,

Because some facts get in the way no matter how you try,

Do the thing that you do best and simply tell a lie.

You're a bunch of losers and your brains are getting smaller.

You're the problem so I made my tales a little taller,

You should know I'm chosen by the Big Man in the sky.

So I have divine consent each time I tell a lie.

There is just one problem with the lessons that I teach.

There's a place where I am now and some day you will reach.

There's a puzzle and it is a fact I can't deny,

I no longer know it when I tell myself a lie.

#thebrewsterblock