I’ve purposely steered clear from political commentary in my Vail Daily column during the COVID-19 crisis because I thought some lighter commentary was in order.  But my blog is a different animal and here are a few random thoughts.

• During the Kavanaugh hearings Joe Biden said, “For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real.” I wonder why this doesn’t apply to Biden’s accuser Tara Reade, even though unlike Christine Blasey Ford, whose every claim has been debunked, Reade actually has witnesses who validate her allegations.
• It’s not xenophobic or racist to openly admit what everyone already knows; that any discussion about the Corona virus begins with China.
• Can anyone logically explain why New York City experienced far more infections and deaths than did either Beijing or Shanghai?
• What’s more important, re-opening the economy or protecting the health of the population? The answer is both! – The reality is that countries with poor economies are countries with poor health care—you do the math.
• Has anyone else watched the Tiger King? We did—once!  Admittedly the first 1/2 hour of episode #1 piqued our curiosity, but then found absolutely nothing that was noble in any way, shape or form.
• It will be interesting to see if the left continues to decry the border wall post COVID-19.
• Yes, COVID-19 actually stands for COronaVirus Disease of 2019 – but a far more accurate description might be, Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease of 2019. 
• When Schumer and Nancy talk about including “aid to states and cities” in the spending bills meant to bolster the economy it’s really code for bailing out the democrat governors and mayors who way over spent and now don’t have the revenue to cover their excessive union contracts, pensions, and other wasteful spending.
• Socialized medicine anyone?  If you compare the USA to Britain, you see a much higher death ratio over there for the Corona virus.  The same is true for government run medical care in Italy, Spain, and France, death from the pandemic much higher per million citizens than in the U.S.  The only European nation with a lower death ratio than the United States is Germany.  But Berlin does not compile the contagion data, that’s done by each of Germany’s 16 states where there is no national standard of virus reporting, so no one really knows what’s going on there.
• The political divide is as great as it’s ever been in this country and there’s no doubt as to why. The media has demonized Donald Trump to such an extent that reasoned discussion about him is impossible.  The press’ message is clear: you must not only oppose the President, you must HATE him.  If you doubt that and if you’re a Trump-hater be honest with yourself and explain your visceral feelings about him in rational terms and predicated on his actual policies not his personality.
• The higher COVID-19 death rate of blacks is bringing to light something medical professionals have known for years, i.e., that black Americans have more health issues than whites. Statistically speaking blacks do not take care of themselves as well through diet, exercise and healthcare as do whites and Asians.  But post COVID-19 expect this to be an issue in November as the left will try to blame Trump for what has been a growing problem for years.  But the president didn’t cause the 77% out of wedlock birthrate among blacks, which no matter how one slices it, is the basis for most of the problems within the black community.
• If we have learned any policy lesson over the past 25 years, it is that for children living in single-parent homes, the odds of living in poverty are very high.
• According to Gallup, only 77% of democrats would be willing to elect an evangelical Christian for president, but 88% of democrats would vote for a Muslim to serve as chief executive – I won’t speculate about what they says about democrats, but I find that factoid rather disturbing.
• I defy anyone to compare the “anti-fascist” of today with Hitler’s brown shirts of 1930’s Germany and tell me where’s there’s a difference – as a wise man once opined, antifa actually stands for “Anti-First Amendment.”
• I’ve heard (anecdotally of course) that Chicago Cubs fans do far better than most in self imposed quarantine, i.e., waiting, and waiting and waiting for the government to open up the country again. With but one World Series title during the last 112 years Cub fans were taught from an early age to never lose hope and always look forward with confidence, in fact, “wait until next year ”was the unofficial Cubs motto when I was growing up.

Quote of the day: “Just because you’re not paranoid, that doesn’t mean they’re not all out to get you”—Unknown