Jan's Posts - Page 8 of 10

Seven Other Things You Can Do to Hedge Your Bets Against Any Illness

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Such as COVID19, the Flu, and the Common Cold

There’s been an overwhelming amount of commercials and PSA’s on radio and TV all focusing on hand washing and social distancing to stay healthy. But there are quite a few other things that you can all do to ensure a better outcome if you do happen to pick up a nasty bug.

Don't get me wrong, washing hands is very good advice when it comes to preventing the spread of a virus, or any other germs for that matter. But I think we all need to remember that being healthy is not just about avoiding an illness; it’s about your body being able to fight it when you do catch something. I mean, Heart disease, COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, gum disease are all indicators of being unhealthy overall. Throw in a cold, the flu, or now the novel corona virus and, according to all reports, your chances of fighting it off drop exponentially.

How do We Fight the Good Fight?

Well, l’d like to throw out a few more options for hedging your bets for a good recovery if this novel virus does land at your door step.

If you’re reading this on my website, please, feel free to add your suggestions in the comments: I’m sure everyone will appreciate them.

Note: I am not in any way, shape, or form any part of the medical profession or community. I’m merely a fairly healthy mom with 60+ years of living under my belt who has never had the flu, has gone over five years without a head cold, and takes no meds for any health conditions. All of the actions I suggest below are based on my own experience in the workforce, reading books & newspapers, tv watching, radio listening, and observations of people around me in general. I strongly suggest you consult with a real doctor before changing any of your personal lifestyle habits.

1. Add an Extra Shower or Two Per Week

Germs can gather anywhere on your body (like a little party, hahaha!) not just on your hands. And I know a lot of you don’t do a lot of exercise in a day – especially me – or run around a lot when working, so it’s pretty common to only shower a few days a week. But maybe during this time of uncertainty with this crazy novel corona virus going around, you may want to take more precautions by adding to your daily routines. So, in addition to washing hands a gazillion times a day I would encourage everyone to consider bathing or showering every day and even washing your hair more often. couple showering

These two activities can definitely help you to wash away a multitude of bacteria and other germs...which brings this to mind:

2. Brush, Floss and Gargle Twice a Day

Do you know your mouth collects and carries tons of germs and bacteria? Click here to learn more.

Janet M. Nast brushing her teeth In that case just think about all the stuff that comes flying out of your mouth when you sneeze – YUK!!! And then what you can breathe in when someone else sneezes – double YUK!!! My dental hygienist used to tell me this (aka, scare the heck out of me) all the freeking time! She said my biggest defense against this bacteria growing into a huge problem (cavities and gum disease – which can weaken your immune system) was to brush, floss and gargle twice a day, every day.

Here’s a good way to remember:

Brush (floss & gargle) every night to keep your teeth,

Brush (floss & gargle) every morning to keep your friends

3. Make Simple Adjustments to Your Diet

drinking water I just learned a few days ago that my bad cholesterol just went up 50 points in the last year! OMG!!! So you can bet I'll be changing my diet ASAP because it's a well known fact that high cholesterol leads to heart disease... and I kinda wanna live! So I've switched from white rice to brown rice, added quinoa to my diet as well as a daily handful of almonds; YUM!

Here are a couple other options.

Increase your daily water intake: Six to eight 8-oz cups of water per day is ideal but anything is better than nothing.

I've not been hearing of any shortages in the stores for fresh fruits and vegetables, so...

Make sure your diet includes 1-3 servings of vegetables per day (fresh or frozen, they're all good)

Make sure your diet includes 1-3 servings of fruit per day (fresh, frozen, or canned w/out sugar, they're all good)

Click here to see how much is considered a serving.

It's not as much as you might think so this could be pretty easy.

One other thing I recently learned is a great source of vitamin C is lemon water. One article said the juice from half a lemon provides all kinds of good health benefits in addition to the vitamin C. So now I buy a bag of lemons and juice them every two weeks. Add 3 tablespoons juice (Bonus - that's one serving of fruit!) to 8-oz of room-temp water with a teaspoon of honey and you are good to go! (Gotta sweeten it otherwise it's way too sour for me!)

Click her to see more about the benefits of lemon water.

And even more!

Click here to see more simple suggestions for updating your diet!

4. Get Your Big Old Heart Muscle Pumping a Bit More

Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest you all of a sudden join a gym or start doing 30 minutes of calisthenics every day day. Heck, I wouldn’t do that myself especially knowing that my picture is right next to the word, “lazy” in the dictionary!

Middle age simple exercise Nope, I’m simply suggesting you just add a few minutes of extra movement to your life every day. Think of it this way, if you already do nothing, then adding 2 minutes a day is a substantial increase, right?

Some easy ways to do this might be;

Do a few push-ups against the bathroom counter after you get out of the shower . You can also do this in the kitchen while waiting for your morning coffee to brew or dinner to cook.

Do a few toe-touches as soon as you get out of bed. Or before you sit down in front of the tv every evening.

Put your hands on your hips and twist at the waist as far as you can, from left to right, for a few minutes while watching tv. Yeah, that's just a stretch, but it sure feels good!)

If you have kids you could even have them join you with some jumping jacks or slight knee-bends at every commercial break.

Click here for a few more easy-to-do ideas!

5. Let’s Talk About Smoking

Yeah, I know I may be pointing out the obvious here, but if I’m not, let me be the first to tell you: Smoking wreaks all kinds of havoc on your lungs and your heart! This puts you at such high risk for sooo many things, but especially the corona virus right now.

That said, I know how hard it is to quit: I used to smoke.

But I’d still say try to make even a little change. I mean, maybe if you start slow by cutting back even one cigarette a day for a week at a time, this may increase your odds of eventually quitting all together and giving your lungs a chance to survive any virus that chooses to attack. To help this along talk to your doc about some patches or picking up some Nicorette instead of a case of TP the next time you hit the grocery store. (Yes, I’m being a wiseass there, but you get the point, right?)

The other up-side to probably living longer? Think of all the money you’d save! Cigarettes are crazy expensive! And speaking of expensive...

6. Let’s Talk About Drinking

I’m not sure how it all works, but I know that not only does drinking affect your kidneys, I hear it affects blood pressure, your cholesterol and weakens on your heart. Crap, it scares the heck out of me just talking about it!

social drinking So just like smoking, save some money and raise your odds of surviving the corona virus but cutting back a little bit every day until you’re down to that one-glass of wine – or whatever it is they recommend now – each day.

7. Don’t Forget to Sleep

When your body is sleeping it is repairing and rejuvenating. Every “body” needs to do this so they/it (how do I say that?) can get up and get through the next day.

Click here to read more.

Now that many of us are working from home it’s real easy to lose track of time as we type away on the computer till all hours of the night. Not only do we need to get up and move around every hour just to get the kinks out, we might have to set an alarm to remind us to just quit! And it’s not enough to quit to go to bed because, just like getting home from work, you need to quit a few hours beforehand so you can wind down from the day and relax. So maybe set an alarm to remind you that it IS the end of the work day and it’s time to go “home.” Just sayin’!

One Last Word...

Change is never easy for any of us – says the lady who has always hated computers but did PC training and tech support for almost 40 years now – so don’t feel you need to do everything on this list all at once. Remember that old adage, “everything in moderation?” Do that...in moderation.

It’d be great to hear other suggestions on what you think we can all do to stay healthy so please, leave a comment on this post. I’ll keep my eyes peeled!

Y’all take care now, ya hear?

Jan

Note: I am not in any way, shape or form, any part of the medical profession or community. I’m merely a pretty healthy mom with 60+ years of living under my belt who’s never had the flu, has gone at least four years without a head cold, and takes no meds for any health conditions. All of the actions I suggest in this article are based on my own experience in the workforce, reading books & newspapers, tv watching, radio listening, and observations of people around me in general. I strongly suggest you consult with a real doctor before changing any of your personal lifestyle habits.

7 Reasons Most Diets Don’t Succeed

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1. The Crazy Big, Bold Announcements

Don’t, just don't tell anyone you’re on a diet. That way you don’t get the pressure that comes from everyone’s unsolicited advice and daily check-ins like this:

"How’re you doing? I’ve lost x number of pounds, how about you?"

"Don’t eat that. Are you sure you want to eat that? Remember, you’re on a diet. Gotta cut carbs." Blah blah blah.

After while if we don't keep up with everyone else's expectations, it's really easy to get discouraged and give up.

So, yeah, this is one of those things where you usually get better, long-term results by keeping it to yourself. And that's the ultimate goal, right?

2. Y'all Expect Super-Fast Results

I’m just as guilty as everyone else on this one. Every time I attempt to lose even just five lousy pounds, I expect to see some amazing results in a few days or, at the least, within a week or two. And just like me, most people give up too soon.

This year I finally realized that I didn’t gain that weight in a week, a month, or even six months. (It actually crept up over a period of 15 years.) So we shouldn't expect to lose it any faster.

3. You Might Believe the BS About “Water Weight”

How many times has someone told you that the first few pounds you want to lose is just "water weight?" ARGH! What does that even mean?

The only resulting behavior I've seen because of this belief is that dieters want to stop drinking water. Bad idea!

Ok, here are two reasons I can think of that this is a bad idea:

First, your body is made up of 70% water. When you cut it out you get dehydrated and then get to learn about all kinds of things that that causes like headaches, dizziness, nauseousness, low energy and a real fun one, constipation.

Second, water is your body’s natural laxative. It’s what it needs to flush out waste, toxins, and germs.

A few bonuses though:

Drinking 4-6 ounces before each meal gives you a very full feeling so you don’t overeat.

Since it flushes out waste, toxins & germs, it helps you prevent or recover from most illnesses much faster than if you're dehydrated.

4. You Don't Keep Track of Anything

Think of controlling your food intake and output like controlling your money intake and output.

I mean, have you ever put say, $50 in your wallet and two days later found it gone? And you have no idea how that happened?

The only way to really keep your spending (and your weight loss and maintenance program) under control is to always be aware of what's going in and what's going out. When you watch your food intake as well as your weight and measurement numbers daily you can see within 24 hours what's having a positive or negative effect. With that information in the forefront of your mind you can make positive adjustments immediately.

Personally I can gain 2 pounds in one meal, in one day, and it can take up two weeks for me to lose it! So, imagine if you don't check your weight for a week; you can put on 5-10 pounds and not even realize it until your "weekly weigh-in." Oh my gosh, and have you ever noticed how popular that practice is with most overweight doctors or nurses? (You can see how well that's working for them.)

The other thing is that most people can’t always rely on their memory. In today's fast paced world, we can hardly remember what we had for breakfast let alone what we ate the day before. (Seriously, how often do you lose your keys or cell phone?)
Besides, all you have to do to see if relying on your memory is working for you is look in the mirror...naked.

So, bottom line, if you want good, long-term weight-loss results, keep a weight & food diary. Yes, that's mine in the picture. And nope, it doesn't have to be complicated.

This practice alone will really open your eyes to which foods cause you to put on weight, but more importantly, which foods cause you to lose weight. This way you can see, on a daily basis, which of your eating habits should be changed asap.

For example, one thing that I noticed is that even though I'm loving my lasagna, if I have a cup of broccoli (with butter of course) with it, I will lose 2 tenths of a pound. If I just fill up on lasagna, I will gain 2 tenths of a pound. I also noticed that when I have chicken instead of a burger I will either lose a little or at least maintain my weight.

Can you tell I'm not starving here? Starving is so not a long-term solution to any weight loss. You just need to make small changes such as adding vegetables to your biggest meal of the day, and you will see progress; maintainable progress.

Check out my New Year's Resolutions Busting Diet to learn more about how that can all work for you.

Jan's Easy Peasy New Year's Resolution Busting Diet

5. You Might Believe that Extreme Exercise is a Requirement for Weight Loss.

Eating Less is Far More Important than Exercising More

There's this huge misconception that one must do extreme exercise along with a diet in order to lose weight. Membership gyms really like to promote this fallacy because it's really good for their businesses.

But think about it: how many healthy, slender 60-year-olds do you see hanging out in a gym? Generally, you won't see many people over the age of 40 or 50 in one of those places.

The point is that what usually happens is that because of the constant hype about joining a gym or buying expensive equipment, most people don’t feel they have the time or money for exercise. So they give up pretty darn quick.

Well here’s a news flash for ya:

90% of successful weight loss is accomplished by making simple changes in your diet.

Yes, exercise is very good for your health in many ways: i.e., builds a strong heart, keeps your muscles strong and flexible thereby avoiding many back and knee problems. However, unless you are a professional athlete, most exercise only contributes to less than 5% to a weight loss effort. Don't take my word for it: Do some research or ask your own doctor.

So do what you need to do to stay toned and healthy.
Check out some of the exercises I do to stay toned, but not kill myself.

Jan's 5 -10 Minute New Year's Resolution Busting Exercise Routine

6. Cutting Out Entire Food Groups Sounds Like a Good Idea

A lot of people feel they need to cut out entire food groups or all of one ingredient. For instance, anything containing fat and sugar, and all carbs are the most popular. That’s all fine and good for a temporary loss. But all natural foods (things that are grown) contain one of those ingredients.

For example, many vegetables contain carbohydrates, most meats contain fat, all berries and fruits contain sugars and so do some vegetables such as beets. These are the foods on which one should be filling up on a daily basis for the simple reason that every human body is designed to glean all nutrients from them and burn off the waste.

The only "food group" I'd recommend cutting out completely is anything "born" in a box. Think about it...that stuff is all man-made and full of weird ingredients that most of us can't even pronounce. Imagine how our body is going to react to all that weirdness?

7. You May Be Wanting a Short-Term Commitment to Fix a Long-Term Problem

This goes hand-in-hand with wanting instant results. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for the long term, as in years, you must choose a diet that you can live with for that long. Period.

Yes, there is HOPE!

Losing weight and keeping it off doesn't have to be a ton of work. The trick is to make a few simple changes in your daily routine. Not drastic, extreme changes; but easy changes. That's the key right there. Things you can realistically see yourself doing every day for the next 30 or so.

Over a short period of time, you'll start noticing that you're getting results that are lasting and so easy to maintain. And that's the ultimate goal, right?

Check out some examples of the simple routines that I've been doing for the last...hmmm 30 years! And never give up!

Jan's Easy Peasy New Year's Resolution Busting Diet
Jan's 5 -10 Minute New Year's Resolution Busting Exercise Routine

Disclaimer

I am not in any way, shape or form, any part of the medical profession or community. I’m merely a fairly healthy mom (and grandmother) with 60+ years of living under my belt who’s never had the flu, has gone at least five years now without a head cold, and takes no meds for any health conditions. All the actions I suggest in this article are based on my own experience in the workforce, reading books & newspapers, tv watching, radio listening, and observations of people around me in general. I strongly suggest you consult with a real doctor before changing any of your personal lifestyle habits.

Surprise: The US Has Two “Socialized Medicine” Programs!

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This article contains information about the socialized and/or universal health care programs in the US, Canada, France, England and China (just for good measure).
This document was born...
This document was born based on frequent comments and posts I see on social media. The common train of thought is that free health care is wonderful and it’s available in many countries other than the US. The countries I hear the most accolades about are Canada, England, and France, so I’ve gathered together some information on those countries, as well as China, to share with you.
Personal Observation
Besides my family issues with Canadian universal health care (that resulted in the death of a family member) I recently chatted with an elderly friend (74) who was born and raised in Canada. He was kind enough to share his personal experiences regarding the universal health care system in his former home country.

The first point made is that many good doctors and most specialty doctors usually move to the US because the option to make more money is here. That action alone results in a shortage of good health care professionals in Canada. This not only results in longer waiting times for any care that might be out of the ordinary, the quality of doctors left behind, well, let’s just say you may be dealing with the newer, less experienced doctors or even the “C” students.

My friend shared that when his brother experienced extreme discomfort after being sent home after his gall bladder surgery, he immediately called to make an appointment to have it checked out. The brother was then told that the wait time for the next appointment was 6 months out: He died a week later. My friend moved to the US shortly after and is now a US citizen.

Now, I am not saying that health care in the US is perfect. Personally, I think between the cost of doctor’s visits, hospitals, medications, medical expenses in the US have gotten way out of hand and I agree that something has got to change. But to make a blanket statement that all of these countries have free medical care for all, well, that’s just not true as you’ll learn if you chose to read my research in the attached document.

And to address the other blanket statement that “the US should (wave a magic wand and) implement free health care for all,” is, well, that’s just silly because it’s unrealistic to think we can convert our entire health care system for 331 million people over night. Not only that, I say that because while doing some research on the topic I found that the US does have a variety of heath care programs of which all citizens can partake at no cost to them. (Still not 100% free though because there are very few doctors and nurses that actually work for free.) They are the VA and Medicaid programs. Both are truly “socialized medicine” in every sense of the word: The doctors and nurses are hired and paid by the government; all facilities, medicine, and equipment are also paid by the government. But remember, the government does get its money from taxes…so someone is still footing the bill.

As a matter of fact, what all these programs in all countries have in common is that none of them are free: They are all paid for by taxes that come out of a working person’s paycheck. The only difference is how much that tax is. Something my Canadian cohort emphasized is that the more you make, the more you pay into the Canadian universal health care system. And if you chose to get personal insurance because the “free” health care system doesn’t cover what you need, well, that’s even a higher cost to you.

Either way, I hope that in the very near future our politicians – who’s salaries we also pay – can actually come up with something more affordable for everyone. Honestly, it seems to me that France might be on to something.

I also hope you chose to peruse the attached document and adjust your way of addressing this issue.

Sincerely,

Jan

2020: Do You Think Our Presidents Should Be Dictators?

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We Can’t Have it Both Ways
Some of the most common posts I see on social media these last few months hover around a handful of conflicting statements regarding the COVID numbers and ending with, “the President is a dictator,” or “the President should have done more.”

So, I’ve done some research on all three topics, as well as what the US Constitution actually says, just to get some information out there and to hopefully clear up all the confusion over all the conflicting information. My intent is to help you to decide what makes more sense to you.

Let’s first take a closer look at,

All the COVID19 Numbers
First, regarding the topic of the numbers of people who have caught the corona virus (aka, China Virus, COVID19) in the US, and the number of people who have died from it.

I think its pretty common knowledge that a lot of hospitals were incentivized to mark the COVID as cause of death. There have been a lot of numbers floating around as to how much more a hospital would be reimbursed for each case. Here is the latest information I could find on the topic:

Medicare Hospitals Paid More for COVID19 Patients)

Regardless of the amount, it was still an incentive. Which stands to reason, some of the numbers might have been inflated.

The other interesting thing to note, is that there were no actual tests way back in the beginning because this was a new, “novel” virus. So again, one would have to question the accuracy. I mean, a lot of people have horrendous symptoms when they catch the flu especially if they are obese or have a weak heart. So yeah, it would have been real easy to slap a new label on such a patient if the doctors just weren’t really sure what they were looking at when all of a sudden a ton people came in with similar symptoms.

So, keeping all those variables in mind, here are some numbers I pulled from the CDC website on Sunday, September 20, 2020.

Actual numbers & percentage of mortality:

CDC 2019 Coronavirus Numbers)

Out of 48 million tests, around 4 million people have contracted the coronavirus, and nearly 100,000 have died. When I did the math with the exact numbers show on this page on that date, the mortality rate is still less .029% ...less than 1%. That is not to say that the numbers are any less devastating than they are though. But keep in mind that as of January this year, the US population rings in at a little over 331 million people. I think this number helps to keep things in perspective especially when comparing to other countries that are a fraction of the size and population of the US.

Interesting thing about this site and page, the data seems to disappear and come back with days in between.

The other interesting thing is that they use this phrase a lot throughout the page:
Pneumonia, influenza, or COVID-19
The CDC appears to be mixing these three different illnesses into their text regarding the coronavirus. That tells me that testing still isn’t what it should be, and it makes me wonder, what do the CDC numbers really represent? Oh, and why are the news outlets not really sharing all of this information? I would think they have just as much access to the CDC site as I do in order to validate their news story data before broadcasting it.

But you know, it seems to me that these numbers would be a lot more helpful to everyone if we had an idea of whether or not we’re in a high risk group, or at the very least, if we could do something to either prevent catching it, or, better yet, avoid dying from it. Doesn’t that sound reasonable to you?

So let’s take a look at some of the demographics, starting with race and age.

Race

According to the first chart on the page (link below), it looks like white folks have the highest death rate followed by Hispanics, then Black people. So why do I hear commercials on the radio saying that Blacks have 48% higher chance of dying from COVID19 if they catch it?

CDC COVID Data Tracker

Age
Then check out the age groupings shown in the next table on the same CDC site page (link below).

CDC COVID Data Tracker

It looks like the kids in the 18 – 20 age bracket are just as likely to catch this as someone in the 50 – 64 year age bracket. Interesting that the folks over 65 are less likely to catch anything. I’m guessing because they don’t get out much anymore. But I’m not sure how that works for the kids in school (under 17). My guess is a stronger immune system in those younger years.

But then look at those who are more likely to die. Hmm I wonder if that is because when people get to be over 50, they slow down, i.e., are less active and don’t watch their diet. Well let’s look at the next section and find out.

Underlying medical conditions
CDC COVID Underlying Medical Conditions

The map on this site page allows you to select your state and then your county to see what your health demographics look like as well as how many people are dying with those comorbidities.

In the county I captured above (as well as all the other counties I clicked on) it looks like obesity is going to be your number one high risk condition, followed by diabetes.

I understand that many people are born with certain conditions such as a bad kidney, a weak heart condition, type 1 diabetes, or a misfiring thyroid that could cause weight issues. But I don’t believe that is true for 100% of the people.

Which brings me to my next two questions:

How many of these chronic conditions can be prevented or, at the very least, controlled with minor changes in diet and lifestyle habits?

And how many doctors know this?

I’d feel safe in saying that unless they are the “I barely made it through medical school doctors,” at least 99.9% know this. If anything, one could watch tv, talk with friends, or read the label on the pack of cigarettes! Preventative actions for all but maybe kidney disease, is pretty common knowledge.

Then that brings up my next two questions:

Why have all the COVID medical “experts” only focused on things like washing our hands, wearing a mask and staying at home whether we’re healthy or sick?

Doesn’t it stand to reason that if one took some simple steps to build their immune systems, this social isolation of everyone wouldn’t have been required for as long?

Instead, this has been going on for months and now the fall-out is much more worse to many people than getting the virus.

I’m talking about people losing jobs, businesses, an all around tanked economy, a rise in homelessness, obesity (which throws more people in the highest risk category), alcoholism, domestic violence, anxiety, depression and suicide.

Seems to me that if more doctors (and the media) pushed things like adding a little exercise to our morning routine, perhaps adding some lemon juice to our breakfast meal, cutting back on the cigarette smoking, cutting back on our portion sized or fried foods, and limiting our alcohol intake, it could have made a tremendous difference in America’s immune systems, thus decreasing everyone's likelihood of even getting sick.

There were so few (of us) promoting things like that with zero support from anyone. Click here to learn more:

7 Things You Can Do to Hedged Your Bets Against Any Illness

But no, instead there was a huge push for ordering all meals – especially fast food – from delivery services, sitting inside all day and just watching TV while consuming every snack and dessert available and washing it down with all the beer and wine the TV could sell to us. And we were all encouraged to just shop from our couches in our pajamas:

We all helped the Amazon and Walmart owners become billionaires!

Not a word about improving diets or any exercise you could do in five minutes in the morning or in front of the TV.

It’s too bad the mainstream media didn’t think of that.

And all newscasters insisted all of this was the President’s fault.
We Can’t Have it Both Ways!
I’m not going to do hours of work to find a list of all the things that were going well for this country before the corona virus was officially recognized in this country sometime in Feb of 2020. I think we all know it’s been 3.5 years of the media pushing the “I hate President Trump” agenda and many people going along with it.

When stuff hit the fan around Feb of 2020 it seems to me that the POTUS was doing his best to make sense of things and listening to the ever-changing opinions of Dr. Fauci: “It’s no worse than a severe flu” the doctor said in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 20th. Two days later the same doctor said “200,000 million people will die in the next few months,” OMG! And panic set in!

Then the President acted quickly and decisively by shutting down all incoming travel from China because word was that the virus came from Wuhan, China. Then he did the same for the UK. As a result the media, and many others, labeled the POTUS a racist. And Nancy Pelosi was leading her own parade on that topic in San Francisco’s China Town.

Since then the stories and science have changed on a daily basis! President Trump seems to make recommendations based on the information of the day.
Here are the few things on which a lot of angry people have agreed:

We really don’t know anything about this virus.

Trump is a racist for shutting down incoming travel from China and the UK.

Trump is a dictator!

Trump didn’t do enough: He should have dictated & enforced a plan for all 50 states.

Trump knows nothing about the constitution.

Trump is responsible for all of this mess.

Ok, the first statement is probably the only real truth that’s been pounded into our heads over the last six months. After that, I'd say the minute one begins a sentence with the name “Trump,” I’m going to have to do some research.

But to keep things as simple as possible. First, I’m going to address the conflict in two of these statements as well as the role the constitution plays in them:

Trump is a dictator!

Trump didn’t do enough: He should have dictated & enforced a plan for all 50 states.

Am I the Only One Who Sees the Conflict Here?
Am I the only one who sees what’s wrong with these two statements as they are being used simultaneously? Just in case, let me see if I can make it clear:

If President Trump was a dictator (loosely defined as one who rules all the land/states with no input from anyone else and no questions asked, i.e., Fidel Castro) then he would have dictated a plan for all 50 states to follow and brought in the military to enforce said plan.

That said, according to the constitution, a President can only pass a federal law (one that is enforceable across all state lines) after it has been written up by the House of Representatives, passed through and approved by the Senate, and then dropped on his desk for a signature. He can make suggestions, but it still has to go through this very same process. (See US Constitution, Article I, link below.)

So when it comes to creating and enforcing laws and rules for all 50 states, I’m sorry but that really does take an act of Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) but, one first has to have all governors in all states to discuss and agree on said law. And that’s because what might be a good idea for one state with, say, mostly farming interests, would not work well in New York City. (See US Constitution, Articles I and IV as well as the Tenth Amendment, aka, State’s Rights in the US Constitution links below.)

If you do not understand how this all works, or want to question what I say, please, check out the links below first: they take you directly to the site containing the text of the US Constitution.

To Summarize:

President Trump does know the constitution, and, We cannot have it both ways.

By the way, if you can find anything in the US Constitution that says the three branches of the government are responsible for your personal health, please let me know.

Reference Links for the US Constitution

Article I: Legislative Branch (Senate and House of Representatives)

Article II: Executive Branch (The President)

Article III: Judicial Branch (Supreme Court)

Article IV: Relationship Between the States

Tenth Amendment: Rights Reserved to the States and to the People
So who is really responsible for how decisions are made in our 50 individual states and the fall-out, good or bad?
Well let’s start by taking a look at the Preamble to the Constitution, Article IV, Section 4, and the Tenth Amendment, Relationships between the states. (See links above.)
Preamble
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article IV, Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against Domestic Violence.
Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Apparently, Each State Decides for Itself
Hmmm, it looks to me like each state gets to make, and is responsible for, their own decisions.

So, when Governor Sisolak (D-Nevada) decided to declare a state of emergency in Nevada in order to collect federal funds for the pandemic, as well as requested the national guard to come in, thereby shutting down the only industry in Nevada and destroying the entire economy without a second thought, yep, that was on him alone, not the President.

So, do you think our President should be a dictator? Or stick with his or her role as outlined in the US Constitution?

I hope you find this article informative and and thought provoking. If you have any questions or comments, please do us both a favor and site your references so that I may be more efficient in my replies.

Sincerely,
Jan

The Sad, Unspoken Fallout from the US Shutdown

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I think the media needs to get on board with these United States. It appears that most of the major television stations are driven by their owner’s personal political agendas which is a giant failure to these United States.

Here are some of the way’s they and our politicians have failed us:
Businesses Lost

Between February and April this year, at least 3.3million businesses have had to shut their doors. Most will not ever open again because, as all small business owners know, it takes money to start a business. And there is none left.

And what do you suppose happened to not only the owners of those businesses, but the employees? Theoretically, the employees can file for unemployment, but that’s not a bottomless well if businesses are no longer around to pay into that fund.

Also know that business owners, in most cases, generally cannot collect unemployment.

The domino effect here is that many of these owners were probably paying for office space…which means the owners of those buildings are also SOL…as well as for electricity, phone lines, internet service and probably a multitude of supplies used in said business. All of those people are out of luck now too. No more money for them or the business owner.

Here are two articles that validate these numbers:

Small Businesses Used to Define America's Economy. The Pandemic Could End That Forever.

More Businesses were lost in the last 3 months than all of the Great Recession

Unemployment
Unemployment claims passed 40 million by May 28. I read and heard on the news that the actual number of unemployed hit 50,000,000 at it’s peak but many of those could not file because the online benefits system bit the dust. That number is a combination of the people whose businesses took a huge loss and had to close, as well as those gimping along with minimal staff, such as Disneyland. (Although they just laid off 28,000 people the first of October.)

My former employer alone had to lay off a third of their staff on the first of June: that was 125 people trying to file for unemployment in San Diego.

Source:

US Jobless Claims Pass 40 Million: Live Business Updates

Learn exact stats by exploring the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics site:

Supplemental data measuring the effects of COVID19 pandemic on the labor market.

Homelessness
When businesses close and layoff people, those people no longer have money with which to pay their rent or mortgage. Thus, they get evicted. Yes, there was a freeze on that, but here in Nevada that freeze ended on September 1st. That doesn’t mean all those businesses magically reopened or if they did, had enough money in the bank to bring back every single employee right away. So naturally, there are a lot of people still not working and therefore still not able to pay rent and are being evicted.

The numbers are different in different cities across the United States, but it’s still a huge and growing problem that cannot be ignored.

Here’s some recent news for Las Vegas Nevada:

Las Vegas Shelters Prepare for Possible Wave of Homelessness; Eviction Moratorium Expires Sept. 1

And from Los Angeles:

Signs of Homelessness in Los Angeles Growing Worse During Cornavirus Pandemic
Transfer of America's Wealth to a Select Few Large Corporations

I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that the handful of giant corporations that could still do business from the get-go of the shutdown have done just fine. Here is the shortlist:

Amazon

Walmart

Target

Home Depot

Lowes

In the meantime, all the small businesses that were ordered to shut down and have everyone “shelter in place,” haven’t fared so well. Most did not have an online presence, let alone an online “shopping cart,” and if they did, it didn’t include a door-to-door delivery service. To add insult to injury, their lost customers were forced to turn to the bigger corporations that were already providing all those “convenience” services.

Once the economy is so-called “reopened,” these small businesses are still going to be fighting two battles:

First, we have social distancing. That means fewer paying customers allowed into a store or restaurant.

Second, with 50 million less people employed, there are 50 million less people spending money with small businesses in their local communities anyway.

And lastly, quite frankly, people are complacent and very slow to change. Shoppers have had 6 months to get used to running up credit cards by pointing and clicking online and having a product show up on their doorstep in 2-3 days without having to get dressed and drive anywhere let alone walking through a parking lot, mall, or store. Yeah, maybe we can call that lazy but it still won’t revert back to the “old way” any time soon in order to save all the lost small businesses.

Source:

Jim Cramer: The Pandemic Led to "One of the Greatest Wealth Transfers in History"

“… in the end, the stimulus package probably won’t be enough, for one simple reason,” he said. “It’s not going to work because of social distancing.”

Physical Health / Immune Systems
The numbers provided by the CDC indicate that the highest number of deaths from the Corona Virus is amongst the obese at 38%.

The most interesting, and horrifically ironic thing about this is that the things that will cause obesity to increase at an astronomical rate and our immune systems to fail at the same rate, are the things that the local state governments had all the control over and chose to shut down:

All public parks (and national parks) were closed down thus discouraging any exercise or fresh air.

All schools were shut down, so no more playground recess for our kids to get exercise.

All places of public gathering where people could interact, catch, and power through even a common cold.

All shopping malls where a lot of people walk at least 2 miles each time they visit. That is called cardiac exercise.

A few grocery stores stayed open but we were all discouraged even to do our own grocery shopping: Self–quarantine, stay at home, stay safe. So, guess what, no more walking through the store. It may not have been a lot of cardio, but it would be better than nothing at all.

Instead, these types of activities were encouraged by all media outlets through intense advertising as well as our local governments:

Sit at home and order fast-food for delivery.

Sit at home and order all your groceries on-line…Walmart has been the most popular place to do this out of the gate because they had this system already in place.

Sit at home and watch all kinds of TV to stay occupied.

Sit at home and order all your alcohol on-line: there were so many liquor stores that offered on-line order and delivery incredibly fast it made my head spin!

It came down to this:

Sit at home, eat, get drunk, and watch TV to alleviate boredom.
Cost of Food
Now that all these businesses are losing money hand over fist, they needed a way to make enough money to pay the rent on their buildings, buy inventory, and to pay workers. The only way to do that was to raise prices.

Am I the only one who noticed that our cost of groceries have doubled in the last 6 months? My weekly grocery bill used to be just under $50 for just my husband and me. Now it’s around $100 every stinking week!

Oh, and this isn’t the only way they’re picking up a little more revenue. Our local grocery store here in Southern Nevada (Smith’s) decided they are no longer giving you back change from your dollar if you pay cash: they are stealing our change! I was stunned when they first pulled this one on me.

And fast food, OMG! We would go to McDonalds, Der Wienerschnitzel, or Taco Bell about once or maybe twice a month when we had to go into town for various errands. Not anymore. Our last bill at McDonalds (around May or so) was around $18 for both of us when it used to be just under $10. And Wienerschnitzel was about the same. Taco Bell used to be a good deal at around $6, now it’s around $12 - $14. We finally decided we’d adjust our schedules on errand day and make sure we make it home for lunch.

Again, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one seeing this and adjusting our spending habits. In addition to not eating out, we cut out everything extra such as snacks, a cute new t-shirt, a new book…anything we deem we can live without just so we can afford the higher cost of groceries. On the upside, we might lose some weight since we cut out snacks.
Nursing Home and Assisted Living Residents

Has anyone talked with any of these residents? My 87-year-old Mom happens to live in a memory care facility, and this is what she thinks:

“This is all a crock of sh**! I know that I’m dying pretty soon anyway so why am I a prisoner in this place because of a stupid virus? I’d rather be outside or visiting with you, Janet, and the kids, than being stuck inside here with a bunch of strangers who don’t give one damn hoot about me.”

I’ve been told by one of the med-techs there that the depression rate has gone through the roof and prescriptions for anti-anxiety and depression have doubled.

How can anyone believe that jailing our elderly in the last years of their lives and keeping them from any social interaction with their family and friends is a good thing? My mom, for one, would rather die surrounded by family and friends than be socially isolated for the rest of her life.

And yes, Mom’s facility is now treating the residents like prisoners (for their own good regardless of the increase in medications) but perhaps worse because they are not allowed to have face-to-face visitors, and there is no end date to this rule other than death. (I can’t wait to hear what they’re gonna say about visiting with our family members throughout the holidays!)

Oh wait, yes, you can visit, but it’s a “jail-house” type visit where you get to talk with each other over a phone in the main office, looking through a window, with three employees listening and watching over y’all.

Mental Illness
How can anyone not acknowledge this?

Over 50 million people have been forced into unemployment; many cannot collect unemployment because the online filing system got jammed up right out of the gate; there are very few, if no other jobs out there now so there is little to no hope of ever going back to work; victims of abuse are stuck inside (shelter in place) with their abusers, money and employer insurance that would normally cover the cost of medications to keep some mental illnesses under control are gone; and the state politicians have given their citizen NO ENDGAME PLAN OR REALISTIC GOAL, so there is NO END IN SIGHT and, worst of all, NO HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE.

As a result, there are huge up-tics in all things that fall under the “mental illness” umbrella: depression, anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem all of which are known to contribute to an increase in substance abuse and suicide. These mental illnesses are also known to contribute to a decline in physical health and therefore our immune systems. And we all know what that means, right? You will now be even more susceptible to catching and not being able to get over a common cold let alone the coronavirus.

Source:

The Implications of COVID19 for Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Alcoholism / Substance Abuse
These behaviors are the two most common band-aids for most people who are dealing with depression and anxiety. An increase in the number of people turning to these self-destructive behaviors should not come as any great surprise since more people are dealing with one of the biggest, life-changing events ever: losing their jobs.

What makes this more lethal is that many people have little to no hope of finding another job any time soon because so many companies went out of business. With no end in sight, many have just lost hope.

Ironically, have you noticed how the cost of alcohol hasn’t gone up? But why would it? This is the one category of consumption that has not only not been discouraged, but encouraged: Have you noticed the increase in radio and TV ads for drinking? Next to Amazon and Netflix, the alcohol industry is the number one consumable that has increased in sales rather than decrease.
Suicide
And with an increase in depression, we may see an increase in suicides when those actual numbers start being gathered. So luckily there is a rise in Suicide Awareness and Prevention programs throughout the States.

Source:

Are Suicides on the Rise During the COVID19 Pandemic?

Domestic Violence
An interesting outcome of the “shelter in place” orders is that calls for domestic violence have actually gone down. But don’t get too excited; it’s not because all of these violent people decided to play nice for a while. No, it’s because the victims no longer have a safe way of calling for help when trapped in the home with their abuser. I have been a victim of domestic violence; I know how this helplessness feels: it’s very real and very dangerous.
Here is a direct quote from the article linked below:

“The added stress of balancing work, childcare, and children’s education has led to a rise in child abuse. Mandated reporters, such as teachers, child care providers, and clinicians, also have fewer interactions with children and families and fewer opportunities to assess, recognize, and report signs of abuse than they did before the pandemic.”

Source:

A Pandemic Within a Pandemic: Intimate Partner Violence During COVID19
Education

As an educator myself, I know how hard it was to get adults to embrace on-line meetings let alone online learning. No, this technology is not new. Zoom is fairly new, but WebEx has been around almost 20 years. The company I worked for was already hosting online “webinars” back in the year 2000 for employees located in Canada, the UK, and Singapore. I started hosting onboarding meetings shortly after that and the entire company started selling online courseware full-time around 2008. My point being on-line courseware is not new. BUT, even then, the adults were still pushing back.

Here are a couple of articles that support my opinion:

As the school year begins online, thousands of Texax students are being left out of virtual learning.

The Results Are In for Remote Learning: It Didn't Work

So, how can everyone possibly think every single five-year-old, or ten-year-old, or even a 15-year-old is going to embrace the technology? And the parents who used to work for a living but weren’t all trained to teach? Or to use a computer?

Well, guess what? Failure rate numbers are starting to show up in obscure news feeds all over the internet. And it’s not looking good.

Here’s one from Houston:

Two Texas School Districts Cancel Remote Learning Options. Will Others Follow Suit?

Then there are those who are left out altogether due to finances or simply that there is no internet access in their locations.

Source:

Two Texas School Districts Cancel Remote Learning Options. Will Others Follow Suit?

Education in American Has Become a Giant Fail!
So what does that say for the future generations who we normally would rely on to go to work, pay taxes and put money into the government services on which many people rely? You know, like Medicare and Social Security, our schoolteachers, our public roads and parks, our police and firemen, etc.

These kids may or may not have any skills in 10 – 18 years for which they can be hired for anything other than minimum wage jobs because of a lack of basic education.

None of the state leaders gave this idea any serious, long-term thought before shutting down the schools and making at home, on-line learning, a “mandate.” Zero, Zip, None! As a result, the majority of American children are failing. It’s for this reason I feel that the state politicians have completely failed our future generations and therefore have failed America.
When Has Virus Ever Caused Entire Businesses & Cities to Shut Down Forever?

The US has experienced several dangerous virus outbreaks that obviously turned into epidemics. There is a ton of information available that talks about each and every one of these viruses but for some reason, the one that most people like to throw around and compare the coronavirus with is the 1918 Spanish Flu. So, I’ll run with that one.

You can see how many people died from this one. But the 75 thousand dollar question is:

Was the United States shut down while this ran rampant for a year?

“Schools, theaters, churches, and dance halls in cities across the country were closed. Kansas City banned weddings and funerals if more than 20 people were to be in attendance. New York mandated staggered shifts at factories to reduce rush-hour commuter traffic. Seattle’s mayor ordered his constituents to wear face masks. The first study found a clear correlation between the number of interventions applied and the resulting peak death rate seen. Perhaps more importantly, both studies showed that while interventions effectively mitigated the transmission of influenza virus in 1918, a critical factor in how much death rates were reduced was how soon the measures were put in place.”

This article, published in 2007 with comments by Dr. Fauci, tells the entire story:

Rapid Response was Crucial to Containing the 1918 Flu Pandemic

As I read through it though, I didn’t see anything about forcing all “less than million-dollar” businesses to shut their doors. Perhaps that is because some of the politicians of that day saw that putting half the country out of work would be an economic disaster. But I’m only guessing.

Then we can also take a look at a more recent outbreak, the Swine Flu. That’s the one that hit my family, more specifically my daughter. She lived, but sadly, tens of thousands of people didn’t. Did President Obama shut down the country? He declared it a pandemic and a national emergency, but there were no “shelter in place” directives or suggestions. Even when, surprisingly enough VP Biden tried to push all that…nope, nothing And I remember when that flu hit Southern California because I was still driving back and forth to work and hearing about it on the radio so I know there were no such directives.

So yeah, I’d say the answer to my original question is a solid No.

Here are some interesting comparisons between the Swine Flu and the Coronavirus as well as the CDC reactions and handling of it:

How Does the COVID19 Pandemic Compare to the Last Pandemic?

The Blame Game

Many Americans were quick to start pointing blame, and of course, since we now have a President that they hate (not dislike, but hate), that’s exactly where the blame fell. Never mind that (I don’t believe) any president in US history has ever been a medical doctor nor has been expected to be one in order to become President. But, what it looks like to me is that this is an election year and the haters failed at the “Russian Conspiracy,” then the attempted impeachment, so hey, why not see if we can point the finger at that guy and, with the help of the media, make it stick?

An interesting thing to note:

"Another difference (between the handling of the Swine Flu vs. the Corona Virus) is that this is the first pandemic in the era of social media," Strathdee said. The wealth of misinformation about the disease has spread faster than the virus, she said, as has blame for the virus. "We need to stop thinking like this. We need to unite against the virus."

Source:

How Does the COVID19 Pandemic Compare to the Last Pandemic?

The blame game then became the most important thing in this entire country: Each governor has been so caught up in their hate for the president that they completely ignored anything he might have said seriously, and publicly. Ultimately they all decided to handle things their own way rather than actually meet with each other along with medical professionals that work with viruses every day, come up with a comprehensive plan, and then, get this, SHOW A UNITED FRONT. Ha!!!

NOPE, they stuck with their “state’s rights” and just started winging it.

And we see how well that worked out, now didn’t we?

Over two hundred thousand US residents have died.

Our economy is in ruins.

As Americans, we now are left with all the other problems (I’ve listed) that are eroding away at our beautiful country and the media continues to sweep them under the carpet to focus on their own political agendas.

Why a Complete Economic Shutdown?
We’ve never done it before, so why did we do it this time? My thoughts?

Hate and,

Politics.

That’s it.
How Can We Become the United States of America?

First, I believe that all of our state’s governors, senators, representatives, and even down to city mayors, all need to stop focusing on using their position power to push their hate-filled agenda.

Second, these same politicians need to think about Americans and what is good for America as a whole…not just their personal, little fiefdoms. Right now it seems to me like they are all making decisions that might either make them look good or popular and make the President look bad in their political eyes.

Instead, it would be better if these folks who are in a position of such power would get their heads out of their selfish clouds and start making decisions that will help everyone and therefore keep the economy humming along.

Third, get the media on board with these United States. It appears that most of the major television stations are driven by their owner’s personal political agendas…again, a giant failure to America. The only people that have any influence over those station owners are the wealthy and politically powerful politicians. Which is why cleaning up the mess they have made, starts with them.

Fourth, as Americans, we can do our own duty to show a united front. We all don’t need to agree on everything, we only need to agree that America is still the best country in the world. (If you don’t believe that, feel free to leave any time. I’m sure you’ll find some volunteers to help you pack.) We know that to be true or so many people wouldn’t be trying to get in illegally, right? So, our goal is to ensure that this country stays great.

We can begin with our own personal behavior: the simplest one being, if someone doesn’t agree with your opinion, shut up and LET IT GO! That’s called acting like an adult. Do not call names, do not bully, do not get violent. None of those behaviors will change anyone’s mind…whoever told you it would?

Instead, find a compromise, or at least, refocus on what we all have in common:

We love America! It is the greatest country in the world.

We all want to earn an honest living so we can have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.

We all want the freedom to go to any church we want to…or even not at all. It doesn’t matter as long as we all have the freedom to decide.

We all want access to decent education and health care.

And we all want to come and go as we like while visiting with family and friends along the way.

We may disagree with how each politician helps us to maintain these freedoms, but that is the beauty of voting.

In the meantime, getting caught up in their catfights is useless: they don’t care that you had a fight with your neighbor and were calling names and throwing punches. Your governor will still be going on about his or her day and not even give it a thought. BUT you and your neighbors will continue to fight and accomplish absolutely nothing!

The only way we can accomplish anything positive is to act like grownups: Put aside our differences of opinion and work together toward our common interests.

Perhaps then we as a nation can start addressing the issues in this list and make some positive changes for those who are suffering with something other than the virus. Their lives matter too.

If one person reads this and makes a change, I will be happy. And I’ll be sure to spread that happiness to another person. Who knows… being nice to each other and working together toward our common goals could catch on and make a difference!

Sincerely,

Jan

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