To the tune of Frere Jacques, with apologies to Allan Sherman

Joe Biden:

Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders
How are you? How are you?
Your numbers are all fading
Your chances are degrading
What to do? What to do?

Bernie Sanders:

Joseph Biden, Joseph Biden
What’s with you? What’s with you?
You romped in Illinois there.
The Jew lost to the goy there.
Nothing new. Nothing new.

Joe Biden:

Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders
Here’s a clue, here’s a clue.
It’s time for you to drop out
Your chances are on lockout
Your fans too few, your fans too few

Bernie Sanders:

Joseph Biden, Joseph Biden
I’ll pursue, I’ll pursue
My fight for nomination
For the country’s highest station
Until I’m blue, until I’m blue.

Joe Biden:

Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders
Tell me true, tell me true.
What do I have to do here?
For you to make support clear.
And join my queue, join my queue.

Bernie Sanders:

Joseph Biden, Joseph Biden
Here me through, here me through
To win all of my voters
Be a socialist promoter
That’s what to do, what to do.

Joe Biden:

Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders
I won’t be cruel, won’t be cruel.
No college day’s tuition
For those who get admission
To a school, to a school.

Bernie Sanders:

Joseph Biden, Joseph Biden
That’s no miscue, no miscue.
Now get them all some healthcare
And end this virus nightmare
That’s my view, that’s my view.

Joe Biden:

Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders
I’ll say anew, say anew.
The thing we’ve got to do, Bern
Is limit Trump to one term.
Tell him adieu, tell him adieu

Bernie Sanders:

Joseph Biden, Joseph Biden
I’m with you, I’m with you
With Amy or Kamala
You’ve got to beat that fella
He’s no Nehru, no Nehru

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders together:

Joseph Biden, Bernie Sanders
Here’s to you. Here’s to you.
If we can work together
We’ll beat this stormy weather
And Trump too, and Trump too.

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Damian is a five-week-old, wiggly but sweet and fun male golden hamster baby looking for a loving guardian.

Damian is learning to appreciate attention from his people, lots of different foods and treats including tofu, unsalted whole peanuts, broccoli, spinning on her wheel and exploring her surroundings.

Golden hamsters live alone in their habitats so it’s important to give daily attention and love.

Since this is a baby, he will need patient daily handling and socialization to tame, so he will be gentle and not afraid of humans.

His adoption fee of $15 benefits the Friends of Petraits Rescue. If you need an entire hamster habitat, 20-gallon long aquarium with lid, bedding, food, exercise wheel, hidey castle and water bottle – everything you need including the hamster – the whole package is available for $75.

To meet and possibly adopt Damian please contact [email protected]

Damian is being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

Joe Biden won all three primaries last night: Illinois, Florida and Arizona. He can thank Donald Trump and the coronavirus for it.

Of course, Joe Biden can also thank Representative Jim Clyburn, who enthusiastically endorsed Biden before the South Carolina primary as well as the black voters of South Carolina, who gave Joe such a decisive win.

Without that win, Democrats might still be running around like chickens with their heads off (look up the reference, non-Boomers)  with no one person to rally behind.

He can also thank Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobucchar, who one by one, dropped out of the race.

But Biden should write the floweriest thank you note to none other than Donald J. Trump. Yes, Joe Biden’s meteoric rise to be the candidate most likely to appear at the top of the Democratic ticket can be attributed to our collective, our united disdain of Donald J. Trump.

By now, I don’t think I have to explain why there’s massive contempt for him if you’re a Democrat or a Republican with a conscience and a brain. As one of my friends said, “I’d vote for a chimpanzee before I’d vote for Donald Trump.”

Some voters are sadly disappointed that their candidate (A woman! A gay man! ) won’t get the nomination. But other Democrats, including yours truly, were undecided as to whom they would cast their ballot before the South Carolina primary.

For me and others in my circle, there was no Obama in the race, no one perfect candidate, no one who didn’t have some baggage. In other words, someone who stood out as the best moderate candidate.

My motivation for whom I would vote for boiled down to one thing: Someone whom I felt could beat Trump. I don’t think I was alone.

The South Carolina primary told me I finally had my man: Joe Biden. He’s an experienced leader, a kind, decent man and is smart enough to surround himself and listen to those who know more than he does.

But today, there’s another reason to get behind Biden and unite against Trump: Trump’s response to the coronavirus situation. If ever there was a clear cut demonstration of Trump’s ineptitude, this is it.

The lies. The missteps.  The  dismissal of science. Until very recently, the cavalier attitude. 

The inappropriate remarks, including the boasting, the blaming of Obama and the bashing of the governor of Washington during a time of unprecedented crisis. The refusal to take responsibility for any of what’s gone wrong.

But Trump’s biggest failure was and is to instill a sense of trust and confidence in his fellow Americans. We don’t expect miracles, but we want a leader who’s credible.

Recently, as I said, he’s been taking a more serious tone with the pandemic, but the bragging, the superlatives about himself and his people flowed during his news conference yesterday. His baseless optimism about how it will all turn out didn’t help either.

By now, if you weren’t convinced the man is unsuitable for the job, you never will be.

It won’t be easy for Biden if he gets the nomination. Bernie, although not my particular cup of java, is genuine and smart and his loyal supporters may not come out to vote for Biden. I sure hope my fears are just that–fears and nothing more.

And if Biden does get the nomination, Trump is sure to do his best (worst?) to destroy Biden. Trump will use every tool in his huckster marketing tool box –name-calling, dirty tricks, distortions and downright lies if repeated often enough will, unfortunately, be bought by many Americans.

On top of it, Trump will take advantage of every vulnerability Biden has– whether it’s his son Hunter and the Ukraine or something else entirely.

I hope, I pray that if Joe Biden is the nominee–and it sure looks like he will be, he is strong enough to hold his own. The stakes are simply too high.

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J.B. Pritzker. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker revealed a lot about himself with his handling of the COVID-19 crisis in Illinois.

While virtually shutting the entire state to stem the spread of the virus, he decided to let the primary election proceed–as if everything was normal.

Pritzker, a man of apparently two minds, turned the primary elections into a joke and jeopardized the lives of uncounted people who turned out to vote and the people–most of them volunteers–who manned the polls.

In it, he caved into the Democratic Machine power brokers, namely House Speaker Mike Madigan who runs the state’s party apparatus. Let the election proceed at all costs, because there’s no reason to put it off; the result will be the same.

In other words, the sheep who put these deplorables into office will do what they’re told, follow the script and fortify the same gang that has sent Illinois into a death dive.

Let’s take the case of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. She beat three challengers, winning a plurality of nearly 50 percent (as of this counting). Put aside how she reversed a grand jury’s indictment of Jussie Smollet, the actor who staged a hate crime. On that score alone, she should have been defeated. But just as important is her spongy approach to prosecuting criminals. By reducing the jail population she has put some dangerous criminals back on the street.

Credit her victory to the Democratic Machine whose luminaries turned a blind eye to her bungling. She was their gal and will do as told. As did the voters who defied the COVO-19 risk and turned out at the polls to vote for her.

Years ago, the Machine was declared dead. A mistake, that. It is as much alive as when Richard J. Daley ran it. Actually, it’s worse. The Machine has expanded its reach well beyond the city. It now runs Cook County and Illinois government. Its tentacles even extend into the collar counties.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H. L. Mencken said, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

What the voters who have are part of the Machine have deserved is a Chicago and Illinois that are so far in debt that they might never recover. But taxpayers will feel the brunt of the failed policies.

And so it goes. Pritzker has virtually shut down Illinois’ economy, a move that won’t strip him of his billions. Jobs will disappear, businesses will go broke. Maybe he’s right that we should cower in place, but keeping the polls open in the middle of a pandemic? No one deserved that.

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Filed under:
Elections, Illinois politics, Uncategorized

Tags:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Gov. J. B. Pritzker, voting

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A few days ago John Kass of the Tribune asked a curious question about election day in Illinois. With all of these closings and the restrictions of no gatherings of 100 or more folks, why on 17 March are the elections in Illinois still taking place? If you’ve ever been to a Chicago polling place (and I have been to dozens working as a Chicago cop) they sometimes are held in cramped basements, storefronts, and schools where scores of people wait in line, use pencils, pens, and touch machines to cast votes. Kass has the answer, because, well, its politics you know. The lower the turnout the better it is for the selected Democratic favorites. Folks who need the machine candidates for such things as jobs, union salaries, and favorable contracts, (you know! the great hidden Machine) WILL make it to the polls come hell or high water.  Those Machine regulars that keep the 89-year tradition of Democratic rule going in Chicago and Pritzker is a member of that Tribe.

Being a Chicago cop for 33 years, I can honestly say, I’m not surprised by second guessers, neither am I sensitive to them. A cop’s life is sometimes challenged to make a split-second life decision that sometimes is scrutinized for years. There are so many agencies and keyboard experts that bubble up after the fact, to list them would take up this entire post. Starting with the press and ending with all the experts on social media it’s a favorite past time for thousands of critics who are weighing in, even before the facts are completely known, most times relying upon a snippet from a video from an I phone cinematographer. So I have put some thought into my curiosity without second-guessing a governor no less.

I agree the Coronavirus is a dangerous killer and steps had to be taken to save lives.  Even if we look back on all the precautions in the future and realize maybe we overreacted to the threat. The Marine Corps teaches that all threats have to be eliminated, to not do so is dangerous and can lead to dire consequences, so the hell with people being inconvenienced. Bars, restaurants, and most gathering places, including all schools in Illinois, and hundreds of more places of close encounters are shut down until further notice, on orders from the Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker, non-affectionately called “Toilets” by his critics for being a billionaire and removing toilets from a property he owned in order to beat paying $300,000 in property taxes, an issue still possibly under scrutiny by the U.S Attorneys office. I insert that because to some people it goes right to character, something Illinois has had trouble with in selecting governors. See Blago, Ryan, Kerner, and Walker all did time in prison.

For the last 6 days, the governor probably has become a bigger star than President Trump. Every newscast and newspaper breathlessly await his every word on the latest edict, whether it be the closing of schools, institutions, bars, and restaurants or a scorecard of every new Coronavirus case that pops up in Illinois. Now all of this Pritzker protection takes a wee bit of a turn. As Kass has reported a week before the election,  the Cook County Board of Elections made a plea to the Governors Office to postpone the election because of obvious concerns of safety for election workers, and voters alike. Election Judges were dropping out because of virus fears and several locations had to be changed at the last minute. Of course, the answer from the Governor was full speed ahead, the election will not be called off. Now here is where my antenna started to buzz around my head. They offered the assistance of the NATIONAL GUARD to help cope with any problems that might arise.

I have no problem with the safety measures in place. The virus is a killer and unless measures are taken, if past history means anything pandemics and epidemics kill massive amounts of people. The Asian Flu in 1957 killed 70,000 Americans;  the Hong Kong Flu in 1968-69 killed 33,000;  and of course, the Spanish Flu killed at least 50 million worldwide. Governor Pritzker has been in office for 14 months and take my word this is not his first epidemic. Chicago and Cook County have been dealing with another epidemic that just keeps rolling along, THE VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC. I will give you the numbers and you decide for yourself. In the last 6 1/2 years over 3,700 souls have been murdered in Chicago and well over 20,000 have been shot. Maybe not pandemic but surely an epidemic. At least from my standards.

As you can see in the above photo it’s continuing virtually unabated and skyrocketing upwards. That headline drew no gubernatorial press conferences or mayoral press conferences for that matter. In fact Mayor Lightfoot seemed so shocked by it she asked the University of Chicago Crime lab if they had an answer. Now their answer holds a curious thought in our minds, I say ours because even the lowest beat cop knew the answer to all the “VIOLENT CRIME IS DOWN” crap the politicians were selling last year.

It was the WEATHER stupid. 2019 was the year of the POLAR VORTEX that lasted through March and April which is prime gang killing season. In fact, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his hand-picked Police Superintendent  Gary McCarthy always maintained that weather had nothing to do with crime.  That is until it did and then the spin started. When McCarthy pushed this theme you can bet any credibility he did have slipped into the abyss. However, it seems that they had to hear it from high academia (University of Chicago) Violent crime was down in 2019 and skyrocketed in 2020 because of weather conditions. All that blather about scientific methods and better cop strategies was all bullshit.

Yea! respect the Pandemic, do everything possible to keep people from harm’s way, but my question is why are we not treating the epidemic of gang killings and wounding our youth with a sense of emergency. So far Illinois has had one death from the Coronavirus and 160 souls infected a number sure to grow rapidly as we move along. In 2 1/2  months, Chicago has had over 95 people murdered,a startling 43% increase from 2019 and over 450 people wounded. Anybody who buys into that crime is down dance is having a heaping gulp of cool-aid. Governor Pritzker are you noticing or am I missing something?  Chicago’s cops have no less than 14 oversight watchdogs, including the press and 1,000s social media experts. Chicago’s gangs who are involved in thousands of shootings and killings have NONE. Chicago even lacks a stand-alone Gang Crimes Investigative Unit. WHY?  Because it’s curious.

PLAN FOR THE DAY ON SELF-ISOLATION, 1.

Day 1.

A new concept in our society, and in my life.

The list of things I am allowed to do grows shorter instead of longer.

I finished breakfast and drank my coffee while looking out the glass balcony door at the sunshine. The squirrels, chipmunks and birds are eating in the sunshine.

I finished a beautiful little book from a friend, “I Wish for You.” It can only make one feel better.

I called a friend who has a chronic medical condition and is now on isolation per her Palliative Care doctor. I am not even allowed to visit but we talk on the phone. Still, we always feel better after we talk. She is like a sister I did not have.

I will do laundry and clean my small apartment. That is a big job in itself.

The sunshine calls me so I will also go for another walk, by myself, then with my dog, and maybe, yes, I will take her for a ride in the car with the windows rolled partway down so she can stick her head out.

Later I will pay a few bills and write a few small checks to my favorite charities. I cannot save the world. It is difficult enough trying to figure out my own spiritual journey, yet I continue trying to make a positive difference in these infinitesimally small ways.

I will be kind to strangers I meet and continue believing that all of us can, are able to, and will discover that we are all kindred spirits, all trying to survive together on this small planet, racing somewhere through the Universe.

March 17, 2020

 The City of Chicago will be temporarily suspending debt collection practices and non-safety related citations and impounds, as well as penalties for late payment

Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot today announced that the City of Chicago will be temporarily suspending debt collection practices and non-safety related citations and impounds, as well as penalties for late payment taking effect immediately today through April 30, 2020.

Residents who owe debt will not face ticket doubling and defaults on payment plans during the health crisis.

Ticket Issuance

• Enforcement will be prioritized for safety-related violations.
• Enforcement on compliance-related violations will be suspended until April 30, 2020

Parking, Red Light, Speed Camera Violation Collections

• Delay assessment of penalty (ticket doubling) until after April 30, 2020 
• Delay driver’s license suspension until after April 30, 2020
• No Booting until after April 30, 2020
• Delay referral of tickets to collection firms until after April 30, 2020
• No defaults of payment plans for until after April 30, 2020 

Utility Bills

• Extend due dates until after April 30, 2020 delaying assessment of penalties
• Delay referrals to collection firms until after April 30, 2020
• No defaults of payment plans until after April 30, 2020

Administrative Hearing Collections

• Extend due dates until after April 30, 2020 (this will delay assessment of interest)
• Delay referrals to collection firms until after April 30, 2020
• No defaults of payment plans until after April 30, 2020

Other Collection Efforts

• Extend deadline for TNP and taxi drivers to pay debt to April 30
• No debt holds on new licenses or permits
• Law firms and collection agencies will cease collection efforts.

For updates and information on City policies related to COVID-19 go to the City of Chicago website.

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I was talking to a friend today when she mentioned two close friends of hers are on blood pressure medication.

Because I, unfortunately, have been attuned to the Novel Coronavirus outbreak for some time I had logged away in my brain something about the possibility —note, the possibility— of those who take certain types of blood pressure medicine may be more at risk from serious complications from the virus.

This is from the medical journal, The Lancet, published online March 11, 2020:

The most distinctive comorbidities of 32 non-survivors from a group of 52 intensive care unit patients with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the study by Xiaobo Yang and colleagues1 were cerebrovascular diseases (22%) and diabetes (22%). Another study2 included 1099 patients with confirmed COVID-19, of whom 173 had severe disease with comorbidities of hypertension (23·7%), diabetes mellitus (16·2%), coronary heart diseases (5·8%), and cerebrovascular disease (2·3%). In a third study,3 of 140 patients who were admitted to hospital with COVID-19, 30% had hypertension and 12% had diabetes. Notably, the most frequent comorbidities reported in these three studies of patients with COVID-19 are often treated with angiotensinconverting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors; however, treatment was not assessed in either study.

And, from the same publication:

Human pathogenic coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus [SARS-CoV] and SARSCoV-2) bind to their target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is expressed by epithelial cells of the lung, intestine, kidney, and blood vessels.4 The expression of ACE2 is substantially increased in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, who are treated with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARBs).4 Hypertension is also treated with ACE inhibitors and ARBs, which results in an upregulation of ACE2.5 ACE2 can also be increased by thiazolidinediones and ibuprofen. These data suggest that ACE2 expression is increased in diabetes and treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs increases ACE2 expression. Consequently, the increased expression of ACE2 would facilitate infection with COVID-19. We therefore hypothesise that diabetes and hypertension treatment with ACE2-stimulating drugs increases the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19. I

The American College of Cardiology released the following March 17, 2020:

The ACC concludes:

Currently there are no experimental or clinical data demonstrating beneficial or adverse outcomes with background use of ACE inhibitors, ARBs or other RAAS antagonists in COVID-19 or among COVID-19 patients with a history of cardiovascular disease treated with such agents. The HFSA, ACC, and AHA recommend continuation of RAAS antagonists for those patients who are currently prescribed such agents for indications for which these agents are known to be beneficial, such as heart failure, hypertension, or ischemic heart disease. In the event patients with cardiovascular disease are diagnosed with COVID-19, individualized treatment decisions should be made according to each patient’s hemodynamic status and clinical presentation. Therefore, be advised not to add or remove any RAAS-related treatments, beyond actions based on standard clinical practice.

Please contact your doctor if you are taking ACE inhibitors or ARBS for blood pressure or diabetes or heart disease.  Reference the above, linked  Lancet article.   Some people on ACE and ARBS have contacted their doctors and made changes in their medications.

Others, like my friend’s friends, concluded that their doctors will let them know if there are increased dangers.

Doctors are busy on any given day.  On the days heading into a tsunami of sickness, they may want to call but can’t.

News GP has a good article explaining the interaction of ACE inhibitors and ARBs

This video interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci from today, March 18, 2020, has a segment on blood pressure medications and Covid-19 at 10:30 into the interview.

Science-based channels focusing on Covid-19:

Dr. John Campbell

MedCram