‘Tis the Season
“And we don’t know what all they have on us.”
Maxine Waters referring to DOGE investigations
It happens every year about this time. To borrow from John Ward, “It’s [flu] time in Tennessee.” In the southern hemisphere, it’s late summer, but it’s wintery February in Knoxville and in such northern climes people are huddling indoors and spreading respiratory viruses. I have little use for February, even 28 days is too many. We need an executive order to abolish this wretched month.
I often roll my eyes when officials close schools for weather issues. But temporarily closing schools to separate kids during a flu outbreak is a common-sense quarantine measure that stifles the spread of respiratory viruses. Remember 2020 and the Covid pandemic when the government asked us to shut down for two weeks to “bend the curve?” If we had done that and no more, we would have been fine.
There are numerous respiratory viruses that cause the common cold, including coronavirus – not the weaponized Covid coronavirus which was man-made by the Chinese Wuhan lab and paid for by Tony Fauci with taxpayer’s money.
We often loosely use the term “flu” to describe respiratory illnesses like the common cold. Colds are not influenza. While the common cold may be an unpleasant ordeal, it is not life-threatening like influenza A or B which denotes sub-types of this scourge. Influenza can be deadly, especially to people with chronic illnesses, the elderly and the very young.
I’m not in a high-risk group, but I get a flu shot every fall even though it is an imperfect vaccine. Each season’s vaccine for the US is determined by analyzing influenza infection elsewhere in the world. Experts suggest that people over 65 take a “high-dose” influenza vaccine which is said to be 24% more effective than the standard-dose vaccine. I had influenza once and never want to experience that agony again. So hopefully the vaccination will prevent infection or lessen the severity of influenza. Interestingly (at least to me), it is thought that migratory waterfowl are a reservoir and a vector for influenza virus.
Years ago, I had a patient report that he had influenza while in another town. I asked him, “How did you know you had influenza?” He replied, “I had a temperature of 104, a splitting headache, I could barely drag myself to the toilet and muscle aches were so severe I was afraid I wouldn’t die.” Hyperbole yes, but that’s influenza in a nutshell. I know this from personal and professional experience. Additionally, patients often experience fatigue that lasts for weeks after influenza.
I’m just getting over a bad cold. My symptoms were barely one degree of temperature, fatigue, sneezing and head congestion. Not influenza, but certainly not pleasant. And unfortunately, I transmitted the infection to my sweet wife. I should have been in quarantine, but it’s hard to do so when you share the same household. We have managed to stay away from everyone else.
My cold and February have some things in common; namely, my desire that both are soon gone. I am on the other side of my cold and metaphorically, I can see light at the other end of the tunnel. The one positive aspect of being ill is you rejoice when you feel well again. It is human nature to take your health for granted. When you go to sleep at night, you expect to wake up in the morning. But the 18th-century child’s prayer (“Now I lay me down to sleep…”) suggests another possibility.
As I put the finishing touches on this essay, the media is reporting the Polar Vortex descending over the country, as if this is news. It happens every winter despite the harangues of the global warming cabal. Actually, we should be thankful we live within the interglacial Holocene epoch. Scientists report periods in our planet’s past known as “snowball earth.” For millions of years, ice covered the entire earth.
I much prefer a warmer climate than a colder one. In fact, cold weather kills far more than hot weather. And if I haven’t torqued some Al Gore types, rising CO2 promotes more plant growth and fodder for animals. Think of Jurassic Park.
Becky has a T-shirt that reads “Feeling Great Again.” This captures my relief as America exits the disastrous Dark Brandon presidency. ‘Tis the season that things are turning around. DOGE is finding fraud, waste and abuse everywhere they look. And unlike prior presidents who promised reform and did nothing about government corruption, President Trump is serious and is using DOGE findings to hold people accountable and reform Washington. And Democrats like Maxine Waters are worried.
The two most unique and influential people of our time are President Trump and Elon Musk. Many would argue that they know Trump because of his businesses in NY, his television notoriety and his presidencies. Unfortunately, much of the “common” knowledge was through the dishonest and now discredited legacy media.
We know less about Musk, although his ownership of SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, X and now his work with DOGE as directed by the president is making him a household name. Having read Walter Isaacson’s insightful biography “Elon Musk,” I thought I had a good working knowledge of Musk, but he continues to surprise me. Perhaps it is a mistake to think I really “know” Musk or even the president.
In a recent television interview, Musk showed me other aspects of his complex personality, observing that, “If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have? We have bureaucracy, not democracy.” Unelected bureaucrats have been running our country into the ground. This fourth branch of the government is a true threat to our representative republic and democracy rather than the delusional allegations of Democrats that Trump is a threat to our democracy.
Tax season is just around the corner and Trump has tasked Musk and his DOGE team to audit the government to help restore trust. This may alarm Mad Maxine and the Democrats, but it gives me hope.
