Leadership to Prevent COVID-19 in the United States and Two Other Countries

I'm guessing someone's going want to react to this politically. Please don't do that. Look at this from the perspective of leadership, not politics. 

Here is a fact-checked timeline of the first 6 months of the U.S. response to COVID-19 spread in the United States. Some references are made to several countries who made different choices and how they fared. "Leader" refers to a U.S. national leader. When you connect the dots, how do you evaluate the U.S. leadership? Remember, focus on leadership choices, not personalities.

2018: Leader eliminates Pandemic Unit of the National Security Council in the Spring of 2018, not liking the report from its director the day before that the U.S. is not prepared for a pandemic. (see former directors and/or homeland security advisors Timothy Ziemer. Tom Basset, Luciana Borio)

2019: U.S. Leader fires the epidemiologists Bao-Ping Zhu and Dr. Linda Quick, assigned overseas to follow possible pandemics in China, delaying America's response to COVOD-19 by two months or more. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-axed-cdc-expert-job-in-china-months-before-virus-outbreak-idUSKBN21910S

In early November 2019, Intelligence officials warn  Leader that a virus spreading in China could have "cataclysmic" impact on the U.S. Leader ignores.

In early January, 2020, Leader begins getting daily briefings on the spreading virus and was urged to take action before it was too late. Leader continues to be non-responsive. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/i-feel-anguished-stephen-morrison-warned-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic-threat/

Jan 21, 2020. First known case in U.S. World Health Organization (WHO), reports virus risk globally is high. South Korea also reports first case

Jan 22, 2020. After 3 months of warnings without any action taken, Leader reports: "We have it under control. It's going to be just fine." 

January 30th: WHO declares virus a global health emergency. Leader holds a campaign rally in IA.  Leader blocks travel from China, not realizing the virus already has a foothold in the US.

Feb 2nd: Leader comments on Fox News: "We've pretty much shut it down."

Feb 3: New Zealand begins restrictions to slow virus they know is coming, the first case of which doesn't actually appear for another 25 days.

Feb 4th. Leader: "We have a very small number in the country right now with it...we're in very good shape."

Feb 5th. Two weeks after the first infection, South Korea flattens the curve. Even though the US and South Korea reported their first case the same day, South Korea responded immediately. Now 4 months behind South Korea, on May 18, the U.S.has still not implemented the successful strategies of South Korea.  

February 14, 2020:  Leader fights to reduce CDC budget by $693 million including funding to "emerging infectious disease," and "public health preparedness and response". http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/50/2/1.2

Feb 24. Leader comments: "the Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. The stock market is starting to look very good to me."

Feb 25th: CDC warns Leader that the "virus was not contained and would grow into a pandemic." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/where-is-the-cdc-trump-covid-19-pandemic

Feb 26th: Contrary to the warnings of his medical advisors, Leader comments "Cases in the US is going to be down, close to zero."

Feb 27: Leader: "One day, like a miracle, it's going to disappear."

Feb 28th. Leader calls the threat of the virus an expanded "democratic hoax."

Feb 28th. New Zealand reports first COVID-19 case.

March 4th. Leader blames predecessor for the crisis, not mentioning it was he himself who shut down many of predecessor's initiatives to prevent and prepare for this event.

On March 6th, Leader proclaims "Anybody that wants a test can get a test." (On May 18th, the date of this writing, there are still not tests available for the average citizen unless they have COIV-19 symptoms. Note: most new cases cases are spread by those without symptoms.)

March 9th: After many epidemiologists in the US, as well as his Intelligence resources that gave Leader 4 months warning, (and being briefed daily for two months), Leader still states, "This blindsided the world."

March 13th: Now, 6 -8 weeks behind in responding to dally warnings, when asked about his slow response, Leader says "I don't take responsibility at all."  That week, the number of new cases was doubling every 3 days.

March 14: 2,826 cases

March 25. Four weeks after the 1st case, New Zealand goes on national lockdown. four days before it has it's first death.

April 5th. After 2 weeks of national lockdown, New Zealand peaks, and curve not only flattens, but declines rapidly. Due measures taken, South Korea has flattened curve in two weeks; New Zealand in 6 weeks. Fifteen weeks after 1st case, still no lockdown in U.S., starting to level at 22,000 new cases a day.

April 14, 2020, Much to the concern of international leaders and American scientists, Leader pulls out of major funding of the W.H.O., the organization depended on world-wide for pandemic control.

April 14: 609,240 cases

April 14: Leader shown to be connected with promoting Protests against CDC guidelines through Michigan Free Fund (Devos Funded), Operation Gridlock, Freedom Works (Koch Bros). Stephen Moore, one of the major organizers of Protests nation-wide, appointed to Leader's 'Reopen America' Council. (NYT, The Daily, Apr, 22, 2020).

April 17: Desparate for economic recovery, and Ignoring his own criteria (and that of medical professionals), Leader promotes "opening" of three States on twitter. https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/

April 22: The CDC, confirms again that Leader has repeatedly stopped them from accurately reporting vital pandemic information, as well as the recommendations they felt responsible to share with the public.

May 15 - 18: Forty eight states relax stay-at-home orders with national nation-wide infectious finally starting to flatten. Although 18 states have flattened the curve, only in 9 are cases falling: MN, IA, IL, TN, FL AK, AL. States with the fastest rising cases remain South Dakota, Arkansas, Maine, North Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming. (IHME).

May 18: 1,549,359 cases

****

In the graph below (click to enlarge), it can be seen South Korea, the first nation to react quickly, flattened the curve in two weeks.  It increased a bit after "opening the country", but they have regained control and cases are falling significantly.  New Zealand responded the most quickly, engaging a national shutdown before they had the first death. This gave them one of the best turnouts of any country in the world. By contrast, and disappointingly, the U.S. is doing by far the worst of any country in managing the virus.

The Special Challenge of Accountability

This is for leaders and those interested in ethics.  The temptation will be to turn this into something political.  Don’t.  It’s a non-partisan question that has nothing to do with either Republicans or Democrats.  It’s about personal conduct and abdication of responsibility as a human being and an honored national leader.

What do we say about a president, any president, no matter what the party, who, briefed by the WHO of a cataclysmic virus spreading in China in November, which became a daily briefing in January, and who, even two months after that, muzzles publically the nation’s leading expert on viruses from sharing the truth, along the way telling us “We’re very close to a vaccine” (Feb 25),  “It will disappear like a miracle” (Feb 27), “It will go away” (Mar 10), and who, in addition, delayed social distancing for weeks, role models how not to follow the CDC advice of wearing masks in public, and in the same week the surgeon general proclaims is our “pearl harbor” week, (and the same day we experienced the most deaths in the United States to date), continues to tell us we are “seeing a light at the end of the tunnel” ?

You, who are supervisors of others, how would you hold such an employee accountable, knowing his negligence was responsible for thousands of current and future deaths, more, in fact, than we lost in the terrorist attack in the U.S. on 911, and far more than just “shooting someone on Fifth Avenue.”?

I want to emphasize, I do not want to hear any blaming of Mr. Trump, who is doing the best he can with the ability he has.  And, I am still interested in hearing how such a person with these behaviors, no matter who he worked for, should be held accountable?

This is a sticky situation, and perhaps difficult to answer objectively, in light of current social pressures to politicize.  Yet, at the same time, we remember in the past we have sanctioned both a Democratic president for trying to conceal having sex with a subordinate near the oval office (and his honoring of a request by Congress to appear and explain it), and a Republican president for breaking and entering the Watergate Building (also in which no one died). 

So, let’s focus.  I am posing two questions:

(1)  Is it appropriate a person who exhibits such actions described, be held accountable for them?  

(2)  How could this be done given his political position, and immunity granted by the United States Senate to do anything he wants?

Insights, please?

Understanding Our Differences from a Quantum Perspective

Have you ever wondered why someone gets caught up in beliefs that have no bearing or relationship to reality? Why they can’t see the obvious? Why they are so averse to considering facts?

Remembering this may help. We cannot make leaps in vibrational level. And, we can only be open to that which approximates our vibration. David Hawkin’s (see Power vs. Force) vibrational scale is helpful here. If you are vibrating as a level, say, of 350, and the person you’re talking to is vibrating at 200, the other person will not have the capacity to understand the concepts you see. It’s out of their vibrational range.

Similarly, views that they hold may make no sense to you because they are not a vibrational match to where you are.

Those focused on compassion, honesty and integrity are seen, by those who fear reality, as crazy. Those focused on fear, dishonesty, and needing to be right, not only cannot relate to concepts of caring, reason, or being their ‘brother’s keeper’; it is beyond their comprehension. They see people as separate, and divide individuals/groups into categories of folks worth caring about or not caring about.

If you can see we are all one, all equal in value, and that love is our source, our destiny, and our way of life, the idea of taking from the poor and giving to the rich, taking food supplies away from hungry people, or ignoring the needs of the homeless or desperate, is abhorrent to you, but seems perfectly normal to folks vibrating at a level of separateness.

So when you are frustrated that someone does not see how they are hurting others or seem to lack caring of the vulnerable, know they are not bad people, they are simply not capable of seeing what you see.

Many Young People Looking for Integrity in Religion

E. Jean Carroll recently revealed her story (with corroboration) of being raped by President Trump.  There are at least 15 others who have the same experience, namely, Jessica Leeds, Kristin Anderson, Jill Harth, Cathy Heller, Temple Taggart McDowell, Karena Virginia, Melinda McGillivray, Rachel Crooks, Natasha Stoynoff, Jessica Drake, Ninni Laaksonen, Summer Zervos, Juliet Huddy, Alva Johnson, and Cassandra Searles, plus another 22 reporting being sexually harassed by him, in keeping with how he describes his own behavior of preying on women.

Carroll’s account is not pretty, and has been classified in the legal system as “rape.” 

“He lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips. I am so shocked I shove him back... He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.  The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.” 

The support of the Christian right for this behavior, along with general disrespect, abuse, and cover-up in so many other areas, is a example of why religion is being abandoned by our young people. Tessa Landrum reports in a recent article in Kentucky Today, that many of her generation (Gen Z) are finding they want no part of the hypocrisy and lack of integrity demonstrated by many religious positions that promote assaults on women, blacks, LGBTQs, immigrants, those of other faiths, and the poor.  

This gives me hope that the newer generations will not put up with ‘good old boys’ mentality, but rather seek honest and genuine relationships, both personally and professionally, supported by a recognition that true spirituality means we treat each other with respect as equals.

An Opportunity to Make a Difference

After inheriting an un-stoppable accelerating economy, Mr. Trump, in his first 2 1/2 years, has managed to slow job growth by 25%, and slowed    S & P 500 growth by 2/3. 

Pretending China is paying for his tariffs (they aren't - Americans companies pay China to buy the more expensive items), the tariffs are now costing Americans (through the purchasing of price-inflated products) about $3.4 billion a month.

A record number of farmers are going out of business. After some taking as much as a 50% hit on their products, and the elimination of many world markets, tens of Billions of dollars are being paid to farmers from our Treasury to try to keep them afloat from our leader-created mess.

Violence has increase by 226% on average in the communities Trump has held his rallies inciting hate. American terrorists quote Trump as their inspiration for mass murders.

We continue to experience and encourage 270 times the number of shooting deaths by Americans each week as our soldiers experience on battlefields worldwide. Our conservative leaders in Washington do nothing to stop this (although they often offer 'thoughts and prayers' - actually, do you think they really pray?)

Seven Million Americans lost their health coverage since Mr. Trump started issuing his "executive orders."

Inheriting a national deficit that had been cut in half by the previous administration ($1.2 Trillion --> $487 Billion), Trump doubled it back to the Great Recession levels in less than one year.

While 222 countries around the world are taking responsibility to address climate change, the leader of our country denies and accelerates climate change with policies to restrict funding to green energy and increasing investments into green-house-gas-producing energy sources headed by his donors.

He has successfully encouraged policies all over the country to enslave more women to life-long unwanted child-rearing and condemn them to poverty by restricting family planning resources.

Under the guise of protecting our country, he has caged and tortured thousands of refugees seeking protection from life threatening conditions for their families (allowing some to die), and kidnapped hundreds of children from foreign families who will never again have the chance to be reunited with their parents.

I know this is a free country, and we get to support this type of treatment of human beings and of the planet if we choose to, but in my mind, this is not what freedom is for.

Freedom is for helping others get free, for protecting people from many types of attacks and assaults, and nurturing human beings through compassion, respect, and through financial assistance from the haves to the have-nots.

With privilege comes responsibility. I urge all of us to take responsibility to foster the values we hold dear and are at the foundation of our country. We do not have to become the monsters of the world and participate in destroying both it and human dignity.

The answer is a return to love. We are capable of it. We can work for it. We can choose it. 

Let's do it! :-)

A Better World is Coming

I’ve been reading David Hawkins’ book, Power Vs. Force for the fourth time this summer.  It is filled with encouragement and hope for those that are afraid our world is headed permanently into the abyss.   He uses energy frequencies to determine how dangerous or helpful certain attitudes, people, and practices are. 

For example, he has found that a few positive thoughts can balance out dozens of negative ones, and much of the world’s negativity does not stand a chance against the healing power of love. 

Eighty five percent of the world does not have the capacity to move the world forward, but the other 15% have enough power to overcome the negativity of the others.  There are fewer wars now than any time in human history.  The damages of climate change, though critical, will be reversed by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of higher energies that exceed those of the uninformed and ill-intentioned. 

A 150 years ago, blacks were still slaves in the United States.  A 100 years ago, women couldn’t vote.  Fifty years ago, black children couldn’t go to school with white children.  Ten years ago, homosexuals couldn’t legally love each other without judgment, or commit to each other in marriage.  Although it would be difficult to determine by watching today’s media, it is clear to those who really see our progress, the world is getting better.  (If you need more confirmation the world is getting better, read Factfulness, by Hans Roseling.)

Our current president, who vibrates at a level of 191, will leave our country in a greater mess than where he found it (any vibration below 200 cannot make the world a better place).  Someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, vibrates at a level of 496, and has the capacity to mitigate the impact of 750,000 negative energies.  This is remarkable power.

The efforts of Gandhi and Lincoln, both vibrating at around 700, could not be stopped, because of the overwhelming integrity with which they provided leadership.  (Most people vibrating at 700 make contributions that last for generations to come and affect millions of people in positive ways.)

Since the overall energies of the world now exceed 207, those who would destroy the world cannot prevail.  The slow, positive progress of humanity is certain.  There are currently 12 people on the planet that vibrate at 700 or above.  Love, freedom, and peace will win in the long run.  The vibrations demand it.

No matter how bad the world looks now, rest in the knowledge that evil cannot stop good, and we’re headed for better things.

Experiencing Medical Care Overseas: An Inspiring Medical Reality

I recently returned from the Greek Isles on a cruise vacation that started in Venice.  My wife and I sat down next to a couple at dinner from Canada, and we began to swap stories.  The conversation gradually turned to health care, and then it got very interesting.

Our new Canadian friends Ashley and Chris pay 18% income tax a year, plus another 13% sales tax for public services including their health care – a total of 31%.  (Actually it’s a little less than 31% because they don’t spend everything they make, and hence are not taxed the full 13% sales tax on all their income). In fact, they’ve never spent a dime on sickness or wellness.  Everything’s covered from congestion to cancer.  They wanted to know what it was like in the United States.

I started by letting them know our federal and state taxes (combined) are usually around 25% .  We do pay a sales tax of an additional 7% for a combined tax rate of about 32% (or a little less, because we don’t spend everything we make either). 

For roughly the same amount of tax, they get free health care coverage, and we do not.  In fact, I informed them that my wife and I have spent more than ¾ of a million dollars in out of pocket costs on health insurance and an occasional visit to the doctor.

They were shocked.  “That would bankrupt us,” they said.  (They actually turned white at the realization.)  We told them we were lucky, and had good enough jobs to pay the nearly $20,000 a year in health premiums and deductibles, and still live a nice life. Many in the U.S., we informed them, DO go bankrupt as a result of medical costs. (More than 10,000 Americans each month file bankruptcy due to medical bills, or an inability to work because they can’t get care.)  “Well, that’s something we’ll never have to worry about,” Ashley and Chris agreed with relief. 

“But what about getting services when you need them?” we asked.  “We’ve heard you sometimes have to wait a long time to get what you need.”  They looked at us with puzzled faces.

“If you’re condition is not of an immediate need, like a future knee replacement that is not acute, then you will have to wait your turn. But if your need is reasonable, like you have broken arm or a fever, or a sore throat, you can get seen immediately by one of many clinics near your home.  It’s same-day service, really.” 

Oh, by the way, Canadian free medical services include pregnancy and delivery coverages, all hospital charges, eye care, chiropractic services, and even massages if you want them.  

“Diseases are often discovered earlier here too.  Instead of holding out on going to a doctor because of the cost, we can go with any concern and get it dealt with early on.”

We also learned everyone receives 1 year of maternity or paternity leave at 55% salary, or at their option, can have 100% child care services covered for one year if they choose to go back to work.

I asked, “How do the doctors like your system?”

“They’re happy,” said Chris.  They can spend a lot more time with you.  They’re paid to care, not make money.”

***

The next day I sprained my ankle on a hike on the island of Crete.  When I got back to the ship, I sought out the medic on board, and hoping to get an ankle support band to contain the swelling, along with ice and ibuprofen.  “We better take X-rays to rule out any break,” said the doctor. 

The woman ahead of me was after some medication for a condition she did not share with me.  She was informed her doctor’s visit would be $40.  “I’m not used to paying for this, you know.  I’ve never paid for any medical services.”

“Where are you from?” the attending nurse asked.  “Canada,” she responded.  She was a bit shocked that her medical need would cost her a whole $40.

 “I suppose you’re used to this,” she said, now talking to me.  I replied, “Yes, we’d pay 4 - 5 times that just to see the doctor, without the medication.  Her jaw dropped.  “Thank God I live in Canada!” she said.

Before walking out the door, the woman said, “They scare you there, don’t they, telling you they can’t afford to provide medical care for all of you.  But they’re wrong.  Yes, we pay a little more in taxes for it, but it’s worth it.  I don’t see why your government doesn’t allow it.”

I did the math and figured out if I had the chance to pay a sales tax of 13% instead of 7% over my working life, I would have saved more than $550,000 in medical costs.

My three new friends were dumbfounded, trying to grasp the draconian practices of delivering health care in the United States.  And they were delighted that their country, at least where health care was concerned, was one of compassion, caring, and sensibility.