Today 4/5/20

Can't ignore what happened this week. 
Masks are now being recommended for everyone everywhere all the time when we are outdoors.  It's nothing to wear a mask or a scarf around our mouth and nose.  The CDC recommends it. 
While our President reminds everyone of that he tells us it is voluntary and he won't wear one.
Bravado, machismo, toughness can get you through the desert, to the top of Mt. Everest, through a war and even through a pandemic, but only if you follow the rules.  You want to take water to the desert, Oxygen to Mt. Everest and armaments and leadership to a war.
Even more disturbing than our president's grand-standing was Jared Kushner's announcement that not the States as the President said but they themselves are hoarding ventilators.  He said they're not for the states but for the government.  Government?  The Kushners, Trumps, McConnells?  Is that what he thinks is the government?

There are lot of people on Television talking about drinking, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Ina Garten, Martha Stewart.  Lessons in how to escape? 
Our leadership is a disappointment but they're not the only ones.

I remember having a win in Las Vegas and being invited to dinner by the manager.  He had learned that I was an occupational Therapist and wanted to talk about his wife who had M.S.  He confided to me that after working many years it was difficult to pay the medical bills so at 72 he was back at work.  It hadn't always been like that.  The casinos had been good places to work with good salaries and support but Howard Hughes had put an end to that, he said.  At one time when you came to the casino many things could be comped.  If you were at a table you could get drinks, cigarettes and even a sandwich.  Shows were comped regularly, but Howard Hughes determined there was more money to be made if every department made a profit.  Shows, cigar shop, and kitchens had to make a profit.

Pay for play.

In the early 1960's Chairman William Paley told news reporters they shouldn't be concerned about costs or being profitable.  They were providing a public service.  Walter Cronkite could say what he thought about the VietNam War.  He said: 'I have Jack Benny to make money'.
Then in 1977 Roone Arledge became President of ABC news.  He turned ABC sports into a money maker so why not the news?

Pay for play.
 
How do you get them to sit in front of their TVs today?  Watch people drink?  Teach them how to make cocktails?
& reboot the premise of 'Queen for a Day' [1956-1964]. 
One of the most popular TV shows ever.  Where Jack Bailey would have people tell a live audience about their disadvantaged life and why they needed a refrigerator.
'Would you like to be Queen for a day?' was the promo.

Today TV anchors interview people about a horrible event in their life while we watch and feel their pain.
CBS news has a recurring ad where each anchors tells us that they care about us.
Aldous Huxley called it the feelies in 'Brave New World'.

Trump has proven there are enough maybe 25% to 40% of the population that will believe him irregardless. 
And the rest are mixing cocktails?

Or exhausted!