Here's One Answer to All the Closed Meat Plants

   President Trump signed an order forcing meat plants that closed due to the coronavirus to reopen. Would it have been better if instead of forcing them to reopen, he made it possible? If he did do that, I didn't see it reflected in the news stories I read. I read of the unions and others being concerned that it was not safe for workers who had tested positive to go back to work.
   We have an almost record number of unemployed laborers. Why not place those who are temporarily unemployed into the meat plants on a temporary basis? It would take some logistics, perhaps, but should work. Some cities where the meat plants are might be small, and not have enough of a populace to work with. Perhaps, in some cities, the meat plant is the largest employer in town.
   Bring the temporaries in from out of town, if necessary. Bring them in from towns and cities 60 miles away, if necessary. But, make it work.
   One hitch I see, is that those on unemployment might not want the meat plant job. If they are not having to work while receiving unemployment, why would they ever give that up to drive 60 miles to work?
   So, correct the system -- if that becomes a problem. Usually (I believe) to keep receiving  unemployment, you have to show you've been applying for jobs but not getting them. But, if that is not the case or if they are dodging the rule, then (even if it takes an act of Congress), change it so they cannot receive unemployment as long as the meat plant job is there for them.

Couldn't We Cure All Autoimmune Diseases With These Medicines?

   Autoimmune disease, if you will know it, is much a matter of the body's own attacking the body's own body. In this, is there a wonderful secret to fighting off death and aging?
    Think of it: We know that if you take a heart out of one person, and place it in another, the body of the person getting the heart will reject it. The antibodies -- the body's natural defenses -- will attack the foreign heart.
     Ahh, but we found a way around that didn't we. Way back in 1967 when we had the first successful heart transplant, we discovered that if we use the right drugs, they can convince the body to accept the heart instead of attacking it.
    Should anything be any different with autoimmune diseases? They body's natural defenses attack parts of their own body. Science has probably thought this over, and it doesn't work, but not knowing how to look that up to verify it, I wonder if we could take those same medicines that persuade a person's body to accept a foreign heart, and use them to persuade the body's natural defenses to quit fighting the body.
    Does it seem that no matter how much you sleep, you still become tired and sleepy? I'm told, that is the body's own antibodies attacking energy cells.
    It does seem to me, that if there are medicines that get the body to accept a foreign heart, then we should be able to come up with a medicine to end autoimmune diseases. Think of all the long list of autoimmune diseases  -- lupus, multiple sclerosis, Ankylosing spondylitis, etc. -- what if we could cure them as easy as this?
 

Can Aging be Treated by Restarting the Muscle Motors?

   The doctor has me feel the deltoid muscle on the arm that wasn't injured; It feels solid. Then, he has me feel it on the arm that was dislocated, and my fingers sink into the tissue. The doctor tells me the deltoid motor is out, and gives me an exercise to try to bring it back.
    I think of my legs, and consider whether I can flex them in all spots, or whether the motor is out in places. I take the exercise he gave me for my arm, and decide to use it on my legs, as well.
    Consider the old among us. Is not this common -- flabby muscles, shall we call them? If the motor in my left deltoid can be rejuvenated, is there a hope for all the elderly?

Add This to the Ranks of America's Most-Threatening Problems

  America's distrust of the media threatens as one of the largest of large problems facing our nation. We read of studies and polls in which the better part of Americas don't trust the press. You, my reader at this moment, may well not trust the "mainstream" media.
  Well, one of the bastions of our nation is a free press. Perhaps, as much as anything, our nation was founded on it. If you can get the people to turn from trusting the press, you will be freer to take away the freedoms of that nation. If you silence the voices of criticism, you are freed to maneuver in  your corruption.
   "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets," Napoleon Bonaparte once said.

Of Libel Lawsuits and the Fight Against the Mainstream Media

  Look at the rise of  lawsuits against the press, and wonder at how the right to speak freely is being challenged by those persuaded that the mainstream media is unfair.
  And, since the media is unfair by their way of thinking, they must shut it down when it says things not to their liking, things that they consider libelous.
  Take Sean Hannity and his threat to sue The New York Times. The Times ran an article about one Joe Joyce, who went on an ocean cruise against his children's wishes that he not go. He died of COVID-19, and one of the children reported that the father had watched Fox News and concluded the virus "was under control."
  The writer did bring up a comment in which Hannity called the coronavirus coverage "a new hoax," a comment that took place after the cruise was already underway, but that had been acknowledged in the NYT piece.
   The New York Times responded to Hannity's lawyers by saying, "In response to your request for an apology and retraction, our answer is 'no.' "
   Bless The Times for taking such a firm stand for free speech. Still, the proliferation of such lawsuits makes one wonder. Hannity's is not the first. George Zimmerman came after Pete Buttieg and Elizabeth Warren. Tulsi Gabbard filed suit against Hillary Clinton. Devin Nunez tried to sue Twitter to shut down what he felt were defamatory statements. One America News filed against MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. All though only the suit against MSNBC was against a member of the mainstream media, at least some of the others were surely for things that were printed in the mainstream press.
    And, though all those on that list are lawsuits against the left, there might also be lawsuits against the right that have not come to the attention of this writer.
    If something is printed that truly is false, and not just damaging, then surely it is right to sue. But, of the list of actions above, none have yet been found traction in the courts, which indicates they were frivolous and unwarranted. But, if the pressure grows enough that we start censoring that which shouldn't be censored, that could crumble. And, if that happens, America's free speech will crumble to the same degree.

For the 1st Time in History, Both Candidates have these Accusations

   For the first time in American history, perhaps, both presidential candidates are publicly accused of either rape or something that falls not so far from rape.
   Take it in the words of Tara Reade, one the the women making the accusations against the candidates. "It's sad statement about our own culture that we are having to choose between two men that have allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment and a history of misogyny," Reade told The Associated Press.
   Is it commentary on our times, on the fallen nature of our society? Or should we not let it bother us, as everyone has their faults, and we should judge them on this?
   Reade accuses Joe Biden of an act of serious sexual assault. On the other side, though not receiving near as much attention in the media (at least currently), President Trump is accused of raping E. Jean Carroll and also a 13-year unnamed "Jane Doe."

If Our Food Supply Might be a Problem, Fix it

    Just a day or two after Tyson Foods bought out full-page ads warning of a coming crisis in the food chain, do we have any sign that something is being done?
   Well, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have written the White House asking for an investigation. And, President Trump has suggested he will sign an executive order not allowing the meat plant to close.
   I will tell you what I think should be done: If we need more field laborers because the coronavirus has left us short, then bring in more such laborers. If that means more migrants from Mexico, it means more migrants from Mexico.
   If meat packing plants are being closed because the dominant part of their work forces are testing positive for COVID-19 and therefore can't work, bring in more workers. I would think these jobs pay well enough that we should be able to hire domestically, especially with so many people being unemployed. If you have to bring in short-term workers from out-of-state, do it. Some people in other states have had their jobs put on hold, and only need a fill-in job for a month or two. Pay them reduced wages so you can afford to also keep paying the workers sent home on leave. Bring the short-termers in for a month or so and then everybody goes back to their old jobs.
  As for restaurant sales being down, and since that means farmers' crops are not being bought as much, and they, therefore, are being forced to dump their crops -- what do we do? Reopening the restaurants should be considered. If we don't do that, then have the government buy the farmers' excess crops and store them for the day later this year when the market opens up. We've had a couple massive stimulus bills; Did this somehow not get included?