After a brief stay in hospital this week, I returned to isolation in the Meath countryside. My first walk in the lashing rain was almost a spiritual experience. I count myself lucky that I have the opportunity to get close to nature and occasionally see deer in the distance and birds of prey in the sky. Such an experience distracts one’s mind from the pandemic. Talking of nature one item of news did make me laugh. The Spanish authorities have banned boats from sailing off from the country’s North Western tip, the reason was the series of attacks by Orca whales, who have been ramming boats. One theory being that after the peace they had enjoyed during Spain’s lockdown, they were annoyed by the return of noisy motors. I’m on side with the Orcas.
In hospital I was deprived of CNN, so on my return home on Wednesday I sat down for some late viewing. I was gob-smacked by the odious Trump. If he lost the election he would not agree to the orderly transition of power. He said “ There won’t be a transfer frankly. There will be a continuation”. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. Had I left hospital after taking some mind-altering drugs ? This is absolutely horrendous. The President is setting about distorting and discrediting the electoral process. Postal sorting machines get discarded, postal voting is challenged, and then most unsettling of all, he is making moves to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court caused by the death of the legendary Justice Ginsburg with somebody he thinks will do his bidding. Trump will do anything to retain the Presidency, because if the truth be told should be lose office he might well end up behind bars. There is nothing that would give me more pleasure than to see him in an orange suit to match his orange hair. However, the really scary thing is the length to which he will go to retain the Presidency. One of the keys to this strategy is producing a vaccine. To this effect he has a new Covid advisor called Dr. Scott Atlas. He is highly controversial, to such an extent that 98 of his colleagues recently published an open letter in which they said they have “ both a moral and ethical responsibility to call attention to the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered” by him. This is very worrying stuff because Trump and Atlas were suggesting that the White House was the final authority for approving a vaccine. This made me shudder. It would be the kind of thing that could happen in Putin’s Russia. After all, he did try their vaccine on his daughter. Maybe Ivanka will volunteer ? With over 200,000 Americans dead he now desperately needs a vaccine to rescue his Presidency. The danger for America is that he will cut corners to get it and in the process imperil the lives of many thousands more.
How about here ? Donegal in lockdown. Why ? It was summed up beautifully by a lady on RTE News. The people of Donegal were into “going mixing”. Now if we as a nation would cease the practice of “going mixing” this killer virus would be stopped in its tracks.