Just when you thought the USA had abandoned Ukraine, President Donald Trump today indicated that he will resume aid, both military and intelligence, to Ukraine. What did President Volodmyr Zelenskyy have to do? He showed openness to a 30-day ceasefire. However, in talks that began in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that Ukraine had to give up land won by Russia in this war. What a way to start discussions. Note that Ukraine was not invited to this meeting.
It was exactly five years, on 11March2020, that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a pandemic.
- Before that day, this disease was called coronavirus, novel coronavirus, Wuhan coronavirus or Wuhan pneumonia.
WHO officially named it 2019-nCoV in January 2020, and shortened it to COVID-19 on 11February2020, with CO from COronavirus, VI from VIrus and D from Disease, while 19 came from the year it was first detected, 2019.
During this period, then president, Donald Trump, named it the Chinese virus, and continued using that term into 2021. Trump's pandemic policies and his refusal to wear a mask were reported to be responsible for 40% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths. By the time he left office, he was blamed for 400,000 American deaths, more than the number of U.S. servicemen killed during World War II. Lancet said: (this is the weekly peer-reviewed medical journal founded in England in 1823, considered to perhaps be the highest-impact academic journal in the world):
Trump publicly downplayed the threat of COVID-19 and habitually dismissed policy recommendations from top experts, including some from his White House coronavirus task force. In June, his campaign hosted a rally inside an arena in Oklahoma that could seat 19,000 people. He "repudiated science, leaving the US unprepared and exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic."
- Further from Lancet:
Fauci criticized Trump's frequent refusal to wear a mask — in a recent interview with The Atlantic, he attributed that to Trump's "macho" attitude. "To him, a mask was a sign of weakness," Fauci told The Atlantic, adding that "the unfortunate aspect of this is that a lot of people in the country took that on as a mantra." For his "terrible" attitude, Trump on re-taking office in January, removed Fauci's federal security detail.
- According to Worldometer, the USA had by far the most COVID-19 deaths.
- #1 USA 1,219,487
- #2 Brazil 711,380
- #3 India 533,570
- #91 China 5,272
Of course, India and China never reported all their deaths.- According to the World Health Organization, more than 4.7 million died in India from this disease.
- China! China! China lies. According to most sources, just from December 2022 when the country ended its strict zero-COVID policy, 1.41 million people died over just 35 days!!! The Journal of American Medical Association Network Open suggested 1.87 million deaths over a two month period. China itself reported 60,000 deaths in December of 2022, which already is more than ten times more than they reported to Worldometer.
- So at worst, the USA was #3 to India and China.
Two weeks ago I reported on Pearl's Ashes #15 in Bangkok in 2011. For those new to this blog site, here is some background info on Pearl's Ashes. I now continue with Pearl's Ashes #16-#24 in Japan.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is visited by more than a million people annually. It is free. I dropped off her ashes, #16, at the foot of this fountain on 30March2011. Her ancestors came from this city. Was Day 20 since the Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Catastrophe, and deaths had exceeded 11,000 with 240,000 in 2000 shelters.
My 12April2013 posting indicates that Pearl's Ashes #18 occurred at Matsumoto Castle. Not easy to get there, for you need to find your way to Shinjuku Station. Then catch a train to Matsumoto. There is then a 20-minute walk to the castle.
On the way out, I noticed one yellow carp, so I thought, how perfect. I had a gel cap of Pearl's ashes, so I tossed it into the water, and, this one ate it:
I now return to Matsumoto Castle as much as I can when I visit Japan, for that gold koi has Pearl's DNA. Pearl's Ashes #18 occurred on 26March2011 at Kumamoto Castle.
I few days later I went to the Peace Park in Hiroshima on 30March2011, #20, from where her ancestors came.
#21 was placed at the foot of the oldest Sakura in Kyoto located at Murayama Park, which is also the first Kyoto park. Located next to Yasaka-jinja Shrine.
#22 was placed on 8April2011 outside the Park Hyatt, Tokyo, her favorite hotel.
In April of 2009, Fumio Ito (he is on the left), Tokyo Electric Power chief engineer, insisted that he had to take Pearl and me to his favorite Sakura site, Jindai Botanical Park. The temple here was founded in 733 AD. There are 100,000 trees of 4500 varieties, and widest assortment of cherry blossom trees as I've ever seen anywhere.
Thus I had to re-visit Jindaiji to drop Pearl's ashes. This second time, looking for an ideal site, I suddenly came upon this statue:
It was shocking. Stunned, I stood for minutes just staring at her. Here before me was what looked like a statue of Pearl. There is a German term:
The word doppelganger is German and literally means double walker — as in a ghost or shadow of yourself. An easy way to remember it is that doppelgangersounds like double, as in "That movie star is my double. We look so much alike." These days, most people don't refer to the ghost meaning when talking about doppelgangers: they just mean someone who looks a lot like you or could be your twin. Still, that is pretty spooky.
Of course, this is where I dropped Pearl's Ashes #24. The person responsible for the statue was Y. Busshi in 1961. I talked to the office staff, and they had no file on the artist, except that his first name was Yasuo.
- from Shinjuku Station
- take the Keio line to Chofu
- go to stop #14 and board bus #34 to Jindaiji Botanical Park
- when you enter the park, make an immediate right turn and walk to the rose garden, where there are 5,000 rose plants.
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