https://www.axios.com/trump-firing-wray-haspel-esper-088cbd70-3524-4625-91f1-dbc985767c71.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=twitter

This election may be our last chance to stop Trump from becoming President-for-life. As a reminder, these people were chosen by Trump for these very important roles but have failed to prove that their loyalty to him personally Trumps their loyalty to the country and to the Constitution.

https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/october-surprise-virus

Trump’s many months of listening to “experts” such as Scott Atlas and pretending the pandemic would end “as if by magic” is delivering the coup de grâce to his failed Presidency.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-debate-swine-flu-biden-h1n1-coronavirus.html

The very “lucky” author is one of the 99.996% of American’s who survived Joe Biden’s bungled management of the H1N1 epidemic.

The wrap-up . . .

“The president’s critics tend to get hung up on the lethality, as if this excuses Biden. The point is, if H1N1 had been as lethal as COVID-19, then Biden’s decision to respond as if the disease wasn’t lethal would have been lethal. And that is truly unforgivable.”

https://www.c-span.org/video/?477092-1/president-obama-campaigns-philadelphia-joe-biden&live

Cold hard truth from our last real President. If Trump were 1/10th the man that Obama is, he might not have totally screwed up his ONE shot at a Presidency. But he is not. And he did. VOTE!

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-the-times-editorial-board-recommends-joe-biden-for-president/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-excess-deaths/2020/10/20/1e1d77c6-12e1-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2ZDMyMjRhZTdlOGE0NGU3MDE4YTQwIiwidGFnIjoiNWY4ZjUxNjk5ZDJmZGEwZWZiNGZhMWMwIiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL2hlYWx0aC9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1leGNlc3MtZGVhdGhzLzIwMjAvMTAvMjAvMWUxZDc3YzYtMTJlMS0xMWViLWJhNDItZWM2YTU4MDgzNmVkX3N0b3J5Lmh0bWw_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPXdwX3RvX3lvdXJfaGVhbHRoJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJndwaXNyYz1ubF90eWgmd3Btaz0xIn0.MkGb1e93r1MdExTYmaS8NKkCQK76rsbgYwPBL0w_Lrw

So far this year there have been 300,000 more deaths than should have occurred. About 220,000 of those are directly attributed to the virus. The rest are thought to be undiagnosed virus deaths and avoidable deaths that occurred because people feared seeking help or because hospitals were stretched too thin to help. Notably, younger people suffered the greatest increase over expected deaths.

Yesterday, Sunday, my wife and I drove over to Northwest River Park to go for a walk. Coming and going we passed by Hickory Ridge Farm which was having a seasonal pumpkin event. The parking lot was overflowing and the grounds were packed with families enjoying an outing. The hay rides were literally stuffed with people. Several hundred people – at least – were in attendance. A very large percentage of the people in this crowd were not wearing masks and there was zero sign of social distancing. This, IMHO, is a manifestation of the pernicious influence of Republican wishful thinking about the pandemic. It would only take a few people with the virus to turn a gathering like this into a super spreader event with dire consequences for everyone in the community. It is no wonder that the pandemic is back with a vengeance. Wishful thinking or social distancing fatigue will not make it stop.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/black-americans-rush-to-polls-in-surge-of-emotion/

Building a political movement on Birtherism, race-baiting, White Supremacy and voter suppression comes with a price. The Democrats have always struggled with turnout and supporter apathy. This year, not so much. I am put in mind of Admiral Yamamoto’s remark after Pearl Harbor . . . “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” So, Thanks Trump!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/17/1987265/-There-s-nothing-sacred-about-nine-Supreme-Court-seats-and-nothing-original-about-that-number?detail=emaildkre

Next-President Biden has promised to say more about the future of the Supreme Court before November 3. In this essay, the author puts the question into historical context and offers some alternatives.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-begs-suburban-women-will-you-please-like-me

My oh my. How did he do that? Easy peasy. He issued an EO that made it marginally more difficult for developers to create “low income housing” in those lovely suburbs. As he pleaded with these suburban women he went on to add that he won 52% of women in 2016. Whoops. That would be 52% of white women. Counting ALL women he was down by about 15 points.

No race-baiting by the Birther-in-chief here. Move along. Move along.