America’s Choice: Human Lives or the Economy?

RF Schatten
10 min readJul 24, 2020

Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes! ~~~ Leonardo da Vinci

Why would someone blatantly try to stop any type of progress in fighting a deadly virus …the deadliest global pandemic & the worst public health crisis in our lifetime …and do it, at all cost?!?!

Corrupting the public health system by withholding vital information from the scientists at the Center for Disease Control. Why would someone do something like that? What’s the purpose?

All the COVID-19 information and all Hospital Data has been ordered by the White House to be re-routed to the more political “Dept. of Health & Human Services” …run by political cronies, to deceive the public of the real amount of Cases & the number of Deaths.

Why deceive the public with a disinformation campaign that may very likely cause millions of more to get infected and thousands of more deaths?

From the very beginning …with a faux “hoax” which he really did know all about it for at least 3 years …to an obscene national response.

And now, his interest to open everything-up …and against the medical advice of the entire world.

He wants everything to go back the way it was before the Pandemic …he just wants to make-believe, he magically got rid of the Virus.

Why would someone keep medical records and Data Information from the Medical Professionals who are fighting the disease? …and keeping it from the public?

Keeping deaths records from the Public, and in some cases, even from the Family! How a human being becomes a non-identity, just an official number, or a non-existent number that once existed in the records of history.

Where’s the victim’s dignity? Where’s the Family’s dignity? How can anyone be so indecent, not allowing family Closure? …and all, just to stick to his plan to open everything up; schools, shopping centers, restaurants, bars, amusement parks …everything!

Why risk the lives of innocent children?

An example of the cruelty by the leader of this country, look at his true love of schadenfreude, enjoys seeing others hurt, and enjoys seeing people suffer …whether Monetarily, Socially, or especially, Medically.

He tried to “order”(with absolutely no power to do so) Children to go back to school…and taking funds away from schools that defy his orders, which he can’t do either!

31% of the school children in Floridan has come down positive with COVID virus, as of this writing…31% and not counting all the other kids not tested yet!

The dangers of opening schools at this time are now twofold …for both the Teachers & the Students.

1) Keeping the kids safe and teaching them how to stay safe with the probable return of school shootings.

2) And now …add keeping yourself safe from getting infected, while keeping as many kids safe as possible …and watch so many more get infected?

It’s part of a master plan from a stable genius on how to rebuild the economy, make everything else disappear, and get re-elected.

But, he does use his “Pulpit” well…like a strong man. Pressuring red states Governors & Mayors in fear of retribution …open up or else, your political career like Jeff Sessions’ …will be over!

This is the same man who keeps children in cages and let them sleep on the floor!

After a judge ordered …in the middle of this pandemic…for the reunification of the children with their parents, they’re still trying to take them away!

Why? what does he accomplish by having kids locked up in dog cages?

Why does he do it? It’s obvious!…why does he always try to hurt kids?

Especially during a killer pandemic! and knowing that a high percentage of the kids have tested positive! Where're his moral values and any human decency?

At times like this…when people are getting out of prison because of the Pandemic …some, a particular few, are even exonerated for their crimes!

But they still want to keep these kids in dog cages?!?! WHY?

Where are the morals of this administration? Playing politics with children’s lives!! These actions by far, are the most vulgar, disgusting, and immoral thing ever done by this incompetent man!

Dog Cages! It’s amazing! …where’s morality in keeping kids in cages?

Like him or hate him…everyone knows he’s an indecent & immoral man, an inhumane man that has absolutely no remorse, no empathy, and no values in life whatsoever, except for thyself.

Instead of showing leadership and being a calming voice for the people during the rising pandemic (which he constantly boasts as having it “completely under control”) …because his polls are headed way down south of the border…he decided to run down south and apparently run his campaign platform fully supporting 100% his very last bastion of support!

Jim Acosta nailed it; “The only support left are the Kool-Aid drinkers and the next of kin”

In honor of his Dad, he’s going full racist. Gaslighting & Race-baiting his way through Dixie …insinuating certain people have the right to entice others into race confrontations in the streets, with visions of another war for the glory of the “Southern Cross”. Anything to keep the attraction away from Covit-19 and his historically disastrous and embarrassing job ratings!

And now, becoming the Faux “Law & Order” President who’ll patrol the streets to keep the town safe from Antifa, “who just come into towns to loot and rape ‘our’ women”! He also has his eyes on Black Lives Matter as a subversive group and compares them to Anarchists & Terrorist Organizations.

And with all the Protests in the streets…you also have people, risking their lives in the middle of this health crisis for a just cause. The time is now, cause tomorrow might never come!

Now forming goon squads, the president’s own storm troopers to patrol the streets and stop crime? More like, stopping people from their legal right to demonstrate cause it looks bad for the president, but keeping them in the streets to intimidate and show his power to his ignorant base. All one big show to avoid the Virus discussion, and win as the Law & Order candidate.

The problem with a national discourse on Coronavirus, are the People! You have 5 types.

1) Those who obey the rules…wear gloves, face masks, carry sanitizers, use social distancing, and stays at home as much as possible.

2) Those who knowingly risk their lives marching and protesting for their god-given rights.

3) Those who try to obey all the rules but need to financially open up and go back to work.

4) The Young, who think they’re all invincible and nothing will ever hurt them!

5) The Kool-Aid drinkers who believe in their constitutional rights, freedom of speech & expression, and believe they have the right to never ever wear a mask …until it’s their turn on a Ventilator!

With all this going on, the spread of infection has already proven astronomical …especially with indoor rallies.

The number of infections is expected triple or go even higher with all these congregations of people, both inside & outside!

And all this, just adds to the list of those infected or those that died …whether the numbers are real or changed at the White House’s request, depending on who you want to hear and who do you believe & trust!

Meanwhile, the epidemic is skyrocketing out of proportion throughout the Country…most hospitals reaching 100% capacity, some operating at 110% or 120%…even 130% capacity by putting patients in the halls. Some hospitals converting their entire facilities into all Coronavirus patients.

There’s a vital shortage of Nurses and Respiratory Care Practitioners, a shortage of Doctors…the burn-out rate and the suicide rate of Medical Professionals is staggering!

And like the first spikes that began months ago, supplies for Ventilators, masks, and medical supplies …and especially Medicine, throughout the country is at a severe shortage.

Even there’s a wait for Refrigerated Morgue Trucks, as hospital morgues and local Funeral Homes are full to capacity. Some hospitals are renting refrigerated food trucks to store the cadavers …there’s even a shortage on hospitals!

As our totals pass more than 4.1 million people Infected and almost 144,000 Deaths, as more and more people get infected….the rise of infections will reach 100,00/day by September, as Anthony Fauci said it would. It’s 70,000/day now. And don’t forget! the thousands more that would die …now, expected to reach 200,000 …at least!

We’re quickly getting down to that time …where hospitals and Doctors may have to make the “tough choice”. The one in medicine no one ever wants to have to make …who lives? and who dies?

America! If you really want to get back into some type of normal, you really have to listen to medical professionals …stop listening to politicians who have their own agenda …and their agenda, doesn’t include you!

Martin Luther King Jr. said; “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”.

We’re at that point …we’ve had Institutionalized Racial Ignorance and injustice for over 200 years, and things appear to finally be changing…and changing fast.

It’s also 200 years of institutionalized sheer uneducated inbred ignorance, and all the misunderstandings throughout the years about our multi-cultural society’s myriad of cultural values.

Wake up and open your eyes, America!

Wearing a mask is in respect of others not catching whatever you have …the same reason others wear a mask…to protect you!

Covid-19 attacks your Respiratory System, your Cardiovascular System, your Neurological & Neuromuscular System and now, your Urinary System…oh! and it’s Airborne after all!

You need to follow the directives from the CDC…do not ever for Christ’s sake! follow the directives of the White House. Open your eyes …listen to real Doctors, and real Medical Scientists!

Use a Face Mask, keep your distance, wash your hands as often as possible, and carry your own hand sanitizer.

No matter how much you want to go outside and be yourself, no matter how much you want to hang out with your friends, no matter how much you need getting back to work, and believing it’s really going to be over soon!

The inconvenient truth is this country will not recover economically till the virus is totally under control.

We’re fortunate to live 102 years later …the opportunities and the technology to find a vaccine today is a lot easier than during the Spanish Influenza.

People desperately need to realize that the development of a vaccine, does take time. Patients, my friends …they say hopefully in the first quarter of 2021, others say by the end of 2021, and yet others say at least not until 2022.

Patience and positive thinking…you can’t have one without the other. The Power of Positive Thinking …works!

It took Poliovirus 59 years (1894–1953) before Jonas Salk found the vaccine …hopefully this time around, it won’t be that long.

Everyone in the United States has to make some sacrifices in our way of life if things are ever to return the way we were.

Sacrifices don’t necessarily mean losing your life for the glory of an economy …like Texas Lt Gov. Dan Patrick’s message, along with other GOP officials to seniors citizens; Go out to work and sacrifice yourself for the US economy?!?!

Right now, our Nation is experiencing a continuous genocide by public policy. People that shouldn’t be dying are dying because of the poor preparedness, an even poorer response, and the poorest leadership ever by the US Federal Government!

Our president will sacrifice as many lives as it takes, as many children getting sick from the Virus as it takes, and how many of them die! As long as he can keep making his usual fast buck and kickbacks out of these crises …while he continues his campaign of Fear, Terror, & Division to his thersitical, but increasingly lonelier base.

This is the biggest crisis in the lifetime of more than 99% of the World’s population …it’s not easy to understand a nation that’s never gone through such severe health crises in 102 years…in 1918, between 600–700,000 died, and who knows how many more got infected.

All that, in a much smaller America without the advanced technology, and the discoveries there’s around today in Medical Science. There’s better preparedness, better organizations & coordination. There’s no reason to have that many deaths! …till the fate of 2016, when an autocrat came in to claim his throne.

You can remove him in 103 days or you can keep him for another four years, or longer …but the pandemic, either way, will continue to raise its ugly head, way into the winter …then the cycle starts all over again. Will it go away by the next summer? Show me the vaccine!

This virus affects everybody, it’s 100% bi-partisan, it attacks everyone!

1st, they said it attacks the Elderly only? …then they said also attacks middle age? Now sending kids back to school?

Covid-19 is not just bi-partisan, it’s also blind …it doesn’t distinguish color or age, or males or females? it attacks everybody. From infants, where 85 of them, all under 1-year-old, tested positive for the virus in Corpus Cristi, Texas, and around Nueces County …up to people in their 80s, their 90s, up to 117 years old!

A 117 years old Japanese Lady, known as the Goddess in Japan! She was 17 years old when she survived & lived through the Spanish Influenza Pandemic …to die 102 years later from another Pandemic. Sorry, that’s no way to die after 117 years.

If this Country really wants to get rid of this virus, first, we need real leadership.

A leader that will not lie about the ups and the downs of the virus…be straight with the people and tell the truth.

Meanwhile, as I’ve said before; don’t listen to Politicos…Listen to Doctors!

Don’t inject yourself with disinfectants cause idiots tell you to! Listen to Doctors!

Don’t read Medical Books that you cannot understand, to see if a Malaria drug will work on Coronavirus! Listen to Doctors!

As Mark Twain said; “Be careful about reading Health Books. You may die of a misprint”!

Let’s not have to die, cause an incompetent president is committing mass medical malpractice and genocide by public policy …it really doesn’t have to be that way!

But, only We, the People are the ones that can do something about it!

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RF Schatten

Ret. Respiratory Therapist, Beatnik by birth & still living a Bohemian life, Thinker, Essayist, Blogger, & Lifelong Pragmatic Progressive/Liberal Activist