New treatment for pancreatic cancer – COVID and Californian Latinos – Biden and Harris take the offensive – Well-meant but mistaken advice from Nancy Pelosi – Hurricane Laura – Evening statistics
A study has come out suggesting a methodology for detection of pancreatic cancer in its early stages, when it is much more treatable. I am glad to hear of this development. It is a cruel disease. I lost one close friend four years ago who was afflicted by it. He actually did get it detected early, quite by accident (he had had a blood sample taken for diagnosing a much less severe ailment, and when it was noted that the white blood cell count was high, the examiners probed further to find the root cause). The tumor was removed successful and eventually, after intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatment, he went into remission. These treatments left him very weak, but he led a normal life for the next nine years. Then cancerous cells returned to his pancreas and this time they proved to be untreatable. There is a melancholy pleasure in the reflection that I was able to get away to visit him in Chicago, when he was still strong enough to walk, and we spent a day together in the Chicago Botanical Garden. It was mid-May and the weather up to this point had been rather cool and damp, as it often is in Chicago at that time of the year; but the day we came to the gardens it was sunny and warm, and we could stroll about the paths at our leisure. Three months later he was gone.
Latinos in California have been particularly afflicted by the coronavirus. Of the deaths attributed to the virus in the state (well over 12,000), over half of them are Latino. They are especially susceptible because the majority of them are working in jobs that cannot be performed from their homes: farm workers, landscape workers, construction workers, truck drivers, bus drivers, shelf stockers for grocery stores, checkout clerks, automobile mechanics, office cleaners, nursing home attendants – all of the occupations, in short, that keep the social machinery operative and that in normal times are taken for granted.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not waiting for the Republican Convention to end before going into attack mode on Donald Trump. They have each delivered speeches condemning Trump’s response, or lack thereof, to the COVID virus and Harris, in addition, has spoken rather disrespectfully of the Convention itself, stating that its purpose has been to “soothe Donald Trump’s ego.” I applaud the timing of this maneuver. Over the past several weeks they have been content to allow Trump to blunder continually and appear increasingly inept without commenting on his record directly; but now that they are formally nominated they are taking a much more active role. And what better moment to choose than the present one, when Trump and Pence are distracted with trying to wind up the Convention? I hope that they do not slacken in their efforts over the next two months. The mistake of the campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton was too great a reliance on the polls. The polls are certainly favorable, but Biden must not mistake them for a guarantee of victory.
Biden, unfortunately, is saddled with some bad advisors. Nancy Pelosi has stated that she doesn’t think that Biden should agree to debate with Trump, on the grounds that Trump will “probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency.” While she is perfectly justified in predicting that Trump will behave improperly, she doesn’t seem to understand that if Biden makes an effort to avoid debating Trump, the latter will appear victorious. No one wins a battle by quitting the field and leaving the enemy in possession. Biden has said in a subsequent interview that he intends to move forward with the debates despite Pelosi’s counsel; I hope he has the resolution to adhere to this decision.
Hurricane Laura has made landfall in Louisiana, the most intense storm to hit the state in 164 years. A large portion of southwest Louisiana is under water, with entire communities flooded. It is now moving north and east, having downgraded to a tropical storm in the process but still striking Arkansas with sufficient force as to make major highways unusable. The combination of the damage inflicted by the hurricane, the wildfires in California, and a derecho that struck Iowa a couple of weeks earlier, will probably deplete the money available for emergency unemployment aid.
The number of catastrophes that have been occurring this year seems infinite. Every time one exclaims “how can matters get worse?” they promptly deteriorate even more.
“Who is’t can say ‘I am at the worst’? I am worse than e’er I was. . . . “And worse I may be yet. The worst is not “So long as we can say, ‘This is the worst.’”
(Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene 1)
A gloomy entry today! And I have not even mentioned Jacob Blake, the latest victim of over-zealous law enforcement officers, propelling yet another round of urban violence and sowing mistrust even among the most patriotic African-Americans. When will this vicious cycle end? It is even more destructive than the virus in the long run.
But perhaps the Republican Convention, scheduled to end tonight, will terminate in an aura of hope or, failing that, will at any rate provide some comic relief.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 24,604,235; # of deaths worldwide: 834,758; # of cases U.S.: 6,045,068; # of deaths U.S.: 184,764.