Today is Sunday, September 18, 2022. Today there is some optimistic but surprising news on the COVID front. Actually, this statement made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was made on Wednesday, not today. He said, “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic.” Even though he said the pandemic still has a hold over the world, Ghebreyesus believes “the end is in sight.” This welcome news for a pandemic-weary populace is presented in an online article for Audacy written by Lauren Barry entitled “WHO reveals COVID is almost gone.”

As all of us know by now, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020 and the disease has thus far claimed more than 6.5 million lives across the planet. Just in the United States, more than 1 million deaths have been attributed to the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Wednesday, the Director-General of WHO said, “Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from COVID-19 was the lowest since March 2020.”

In order to eradicate the virus from the planet, Ghebreyesus urged that people must keep pushing efforts to end the pandemic, such as vaccination. Around 12.6 billion vaccine doses had been administered worldwide as of Friday, and around 67.7% of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated. I personally think this percentage is still too low.

Comparing the efforts to battle the pandemic with a marathon runner’s strategy to pass the finish line in a race, Ghebreyesus said, “A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view. She runs harder, with all the energy she has left.” He added, “So must we.”

Pursuant to that program designed to bring an end to the pandemic, the WHO also released new policy briefs on Wednesday that outline key actions necessary to spur the eradication of the pandemic. These briefs call on nations, generally, to strengthen their COVID-19 policies and avoid the outbreak of another COVID-19 variant, such as the now-dominant omicron subvariant.

Among the recommendations is a call for all countries to invest in vaccinating 100% of their most at-risk groups, including health care workers and senior citizens. Numbers may be trending down, but health care facilities remain a high risk for transmission, the WHO warned.

WHO’s Director-General commented, “We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities, and individuals step up and seize this opportunity.”

Previously, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Adviser to President Joe Biden, and other experts forecasted that COVID-19 will become endemic, similar to the flu.

In the last week or so, repugnicans have clearly given us a bird’s-eye view of far-right extremism that exposes their poisonous brand of fanaticism to voters undecided in the coming midterm elections. Anyone with a brain, conscience, or a set of ethics would do wisely to avoid repugnicans like COVID-19 when they cast their votes in November. This arc toward fanaticism on the part of the fascist party known as the party of Trump is covered in an opinion piece by Dean Obeidallah for CNN Digital called “Opinion: Republicans just gave the country a master class on extremism.”

Obeidallah pulls no punches when he writes, “Some leading Republicans gave Americans a master class on extremism this past week by repeatedly reminding us about the threat they pose to our freedoms and our democracy.”

The examples he cites run the gamut form two majority-Republican states imposing draconian abortion bans, to voters picking an election denier to be New Hampshire’s GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, to GOP governors treating Latino human beings as anything but, to former Orange Blob’s ominous warning about “big problems” the country will face if he is indicted. To that, I say, “Fuck you!” The Orange Menace has just provided the one-thousandth reason to indict his sorry ass after shamelessly threatening the country with violence if he is so indicted. We can endure any cycle of chaos when we charge him with several felonies, I’m sure of that.

The two odious repugnican states imposing those draconian abortion bans are Indiana and West Virginia, home to Senator Joe Manchin, in which the state is effectively saying that a woman’s uterus becomes the property of the state from the moment of conception – shades of The Handmaid’s Tale here! – except in a few exceptional circumstances.

The next examples of repugnican extremism appear in the shuttling of South American migrants to distant blue state locales like New York, Washington, D.C., and Martha’s Vineyard. Obeidallah uses the phrase the “cruelty Olympics” to describe the disgraceful actions of both Texas’s and Florida’s governors as they flagrantly try to outrace each other with acts of repulsiveness.

The next example of GOP extremism can be found in disgusting comments made by the inflammatory ex-president who predicted violence in the wake of his rationally being prosecuted for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home. Through his depraved comments, he is openly encouraging his unhinged followers to take up the AR-15 mantle once more in defense of his fat ass. How this man could still talk like this – after the violent phenomenon of January 6, 2021 – is beyond all reason! His reckless words here could easily agitate his base to avenge him if he’s prosecuted.

In another example, election denier Dan Bolduc, whom I wrote about before, captured the New Hampshire GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s primary. His views on the 2020 election being “rigged” were so outlandish that GOP New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu called him a conspiracy theorist. Bolduc ridiculously called Sununu “a Chinese Communist sympathizer.” No relation to reality here either.

But after the primary, Bolduc walked back some of those bizarre theories of his by saying that after doing a lot of research (sure he did!), he concluded that “unfortunately, President (Joe) Biden is the legitimate president of this country.” Unfortunately? This guy just proves he’s a jerk and must lose in the general election.

These sorry events happened in just the last week. As Obeidallah writes, “But the GOP has been heading in this direction since the rise of MAGA.” He cites Biden’s impassioned speech this month in which he referred to MAGA Republicans as embracing “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Thank God recent polls are showing that Americans are paying attention to the GOP’s assault on democracy and human decency. A new Fox News poll found Democrats have a three-point lead in which party should control Congress. I hope it will be in the double digits by next month!

Obeidallah concludes his analysis, saying, “These midterm elections are unlike any this country has ever faced. It’s not simply about which political party will win; it’s a question of whether democracy will prevail. Thankfully, voters – at least for now – can still decide our future by way of elections. The stakes couldn’t possibly be any higher.”

With respect to the behavior of our 12-year-old cat, Jocelyn, I can happily report there is some positive news on the health care front. Over the last two days, she is showing a little more oomph and is eating regularly and drinking as well. Drinking lots of water is expected since she’s on a diuretic. What she did early this morning simply amazed us: around 5:20 or so, she came into the bedroom and jumped on the bed. She then walked to my nightstand and sat there, looking at us. She even swatted my glass case off the stand, which is something she used to do. This was extraordinary, we felt, since she hasn’t really slept in the bedroom since we returned from Europe in late July. She hasn’t jumped on the bed in a while either. Until this morning! So she appears to have more spirit these days; we hope this trend continues, of course. We take each day with her as a continued gift. That’s all we can do!

Anyway, it’s another week. Tomorrow is the state funeral for the late queen of England. Billions will probably be watching the event unfold in the United Kingdom. I’m sure I will be watching part of it. You heard that the Brits were waiting of upwards of 12 to 14 hours to view her coffin. The devotion to this remarkable stabilizing presence is extraordinarily palpable with this outpouring of public mourning. Tomorrow Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest; she will be buried next to her husband, Prince Philip, at St. George’s Chapel within the grounds of Windsor Castle. All the pomp and pageantry will be on display during this momentous event. How could anyone avoid watching it?

Have a good week then.

Stay safe and be well.