Reading news from South Korea and Germany feels like seeing career updates from more successful people your age a Tweet by Jess Dweck@TheDweck

We want our politicians transparent, yet we want them powerful as well, and power, even in the best of circumstances, means the management of information and telling the truth is not managing the information. Nathan Heller writing in The New Yorker about Jimmy Carter.

In a way, by doing all this testing, we make ourselves look bad, President Trump said last Thursday, May 7th.

Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time, and then all of the sudden she tested positive … this is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great … today, I guess, for some reason, she tested positive. President Trump in a speech on May 8th.

Today, San Mateo County announced that even as the state eases up it will continue the quarantine and start testing about fifteen hundred people a day with the goal of testing everybody in the county. At that rate, it will take more than a year, but it is a start, at least. In the meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 continue to rise at a rate that will double the current number of 1425 in 32.9 days (neighboring Santa Clara County – the heart of Silicon Valley – has 2307 cases but the growth rate has been cut back to doubling every 127 days). In other words, it is still getting worse. We are constantly told that the only way we are going to cut the infection rate is to test – to find out who is infected so they can be isolated – and it makes sense to me. Trying to irradicate the coronavirus without testing is like trying to fight a war without reconnaissance.

Reading the order? directive? – whatever it is, it is more than a suggestion – in both emails and texts from the County and the Mayor of our little burg gets me thinking about why Donald Trump is so resistant to testing. All politicians want to control the narrative and President Trump more than most, it is what his background as a Developer has taught him. But testing is its own narrative and that is a narrative that is not controllable unless we don’t have testing.

Reported US coronavirus deaths:
Mar. 3: 9 deaths
Apr. 3: 7,152 deaths
May 3: 67,682 deaths
from a Tweet by Ryan Struyk@ryanstruyk

I just found out that the two most powerful people in the country do not drink alcohol.

Today, I received an email with a question on President Trump’s performance, it was multiple choice; great, good, okay. That doesn’t seem to be completely impartial.

For some reason, unknown to me, I get about five emails a day from Trump asking for money, and, so far, I’ve only gotten one email from Battlin’ Joe Biden. Just one email, not just one email asking for money, just one email (although that was asking for money). I thought I’m on every Democratic email list in existence, I get emails from Dr. Arati Kreibich – whom, I’m told, is a progressive Councilwoman running for New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District – I get several emails a day from AOC and Rashida Talib, I get emails from Kara Eastman, candidate for Congress in Nebraska’s 2nd District, I even get emails from Steve Bullock. Hell, I get a couple of emails a day from Nancy Pelosi, but, somehow, I don’t seem to be on Joe’s list.

However, comparing that one email of Joe’s to Trump’s emails is kinda interesting .

From Joe: Hi Steve, The Democratic Primary is at a boiling point. We can take on Donald Trump, unite the country, and win the White House, but I urgently need your help.
Can you rush a donation to my Democratic campaign and Brady PAC today?
Chip in $5 right away >>
Trump and the NRA are tearing our country apart. Every day, 100 people die from gun violence in America. And in the face of constant bloodshed, Trump bows down to the NRA. That’s why I’m so proud to stand with Brady PAC in the fight to end gun violence. We can really beat Trump and end the NRA and gun industry’s stranglehold on Washington. But the NRA is DESPERATE. They’ll spend millions to save Trump. So I need you to dig deep and support Brady PAC and my campaign.
Can you spare $5, $25, or more? Click to donate >>

Now three from the Trump campaign: Steve, I just got off the phone with President Trump. I don’t email you often, so you know this is critical. The President specifically asked me to check in with you because the April End-of-Month Deadline is coming up and we are pacing a little behind our $5,000,000 Goal. It’s going to be Trump vs. Biden on the ballot in November, and we need to make sure every Patriot is stepping up and doing their part to secure FOUR MORE YEARS. President Trump is counting on you to help us CRUSH our goal, and he’s asked me to let him know the moment that you make your contribution. Your support is so important that he’s even agreed to extend your TRIPLE-MATCH offer until 11:59 PM TONIGHT.
Please contribute ANY AMOUNT before 11:59 PM TONIGHT to help us CRUSH our End-of-Month Goal and your gift will be TRIPLE-MATCHED.

CROOKED HILLARY ENDORSES SLEEPY JOE
Did you hear the news Steve? Sleepy Joe Biden just racked up some new endorsements for President of the United States.
First (and shortest), Mini Mike Bloomberg endorsed Biden.
Next, Crazy Bernie was forced to drop out and endorse Biden.
Then, Cheatin’ Obama (after waiting 355 days) endorsed his former VP, Biden.
After that, Nervous Nancy endorsed Biden.
And just yesterday, Crooked Hillary endorsed Biden.
The Liberals are uniting behind their pathetic candidate to try and take me down, and more importantly, to take YOU down.
We have a crucial goal coming up TOMORROW, and now that Sleepy Joe has FIVE key Democrat endorsements, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before…
For the NEXT HOUR, all contributions made to our critical $5,000,000 End-of-Month Goal will be not 3, not 4, but 5X-MATCHED!

Steve, We just pulled your April End-of-Month Deadline Donor File:
Supporter: Steve Stern
End-of-Month Gift: MISSING.
We wanted to reach out because we just got off a call with President Trump to review the most recent list of Patriots who contributed to our critical $5,000,000 April End-of-Month Goal, and he noticed your name was STILL MISSING.
There’s only one more day left to contribute to our End-of-Month Goal, and President Trump is counting on his BEST supporters, like YOU, to step up.
This deadline is too important to sit on the sidelines, so the President has activated a special TRIPLE-MATCH on all donations to help us CRUSH our $5,000,000 goal.
Please contribute ANY AMOUNT IMMEDIATELY to help us CRUSH our April End-of-Month Goal and your gift will be TRIPLE-MATCHED. >>
 

For a palate cleanser, here is an email from AOC – sigh – who is being challenged at the primary level:

Steve, I said this from the start: when you speak truth to power, power fights back.
Did you know that a corporate dark money group is bankrolling one of our opponents? They’re misleadingly named U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and they’re focused on propping up conservative, right-wing candidates. They’re coming for me because I call out corrupt Wall Street bailout schemes. So Steve, if you can afford it, I’m asking you to help show that our fight for working families – and against corruption – is here to stay. Make a contribution to our re-election campaign right now.
If you’ve stored your info with ActBlue Express, we’ll process your contribution instantly:

I’ve been saying that I don’t know anybody who has come down with COVID-19, let alone anybody who has died, but that is a foolish thing to say. I guess what is safe to say is that nobody who I’ve talked to in the last couple of days has had COVID-19 but that leaves a passel of people who might be affected. One of the passel is Heather Amber, an old grammar school friend of my daughter’s, and who pops up on my feed every once in a great while. Yesterday, she said this:

I wanted to call this poem Life After COVID, but I wasn’t tested until a month after coming down with the illness which still leaves me struggling to breathe weeks after the long fever ended, and the test was negative, making me unsure what to call the worst experience of my life. I’m guessing there are countless others with stories similar to mine. If you’re one of them, I hope this poem gives you comfort.⁣
⁣

Life After
Though these heavy lungs,
tight as drums, mean
I can’t do
much of anything,
I can still hear
the birds singing.
I can still see
the lemon tree dancing
outside my window.
I can still feel
the safe embrace
of my bed. And
I can still love
this life completely.

Heather Ambler