Category Archives: Wuhan Virus

Rip Van Winkle?

Published / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on Rip Van Winkle?

I don’t know whether the President is a 21st Century Rip Van Winkle, or what? Listening to him address the nation last week–promising us that if we behave ourselves, and “follow the science,”we may be able to have a few folks over for the 4th of July in our back yards–I felt I was watching Theater of the Absurd.

Doesn’t anyone at the White House or on his staff remember that last month we had a Super Bowl? THE NFL HAD A SUPERBOWL. I know, because it was in my town, my team, and we won. AND THERE WERE 25000 PEOPLE IN THE STANDS!!! It was all done safely, and there were no adverse virus effects that I am aware of upon the population–either in the arena, or at their homes when they returned.

And we even had fireworks all along Tampa Bay. Kind of like an early 4th of July!

We cannot change what has happened to friends, family members, and our countrymen this past year. It is now history. We can mourn the dead. But we must live for the living. That means setting high expectations, not low ones. We have learned a great deal in the last 12 months, and many of us are applying it toward greater freedom and success.

So, please, Mr. President, don’t lecture me empathetically to achieve something we have already accomplished. We have moved way past having a few folks over–4 months from now. It makes you look foolish. You used war references (appropriately) related to conquering this situation. Well, sir, this is a “hill we have already taken.” Don’t squander more lives retaking the same hill.

To pretend otherwise makes you look out of touch with more than half of the great country you serve. Or is it your scientific advisors who are out of touch? Regardless, somebody over there at the White House needs to wake up Rip Van Winkle, and get into present time.

Easy In, Hard Out

Published / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on Easy In, Hard Out

Years ago, a business mentor of mine gave me some great leadership advice. He reminded me that, as leaders, we are often in a position to insert something into the organization, or to change something with the team. The temptation to put something into a group is nearly irresistible.

So, he cautioned me, that before I would put anything into the business team, to ask myself, “was this something I wanted to have in there permanently, duplicated over and over by others, until it became a permanent part of the culture? He explained to me that it is very easy to put something into a group, or activity, but that it is very hard–if not impossible–to take it out once it takes root.

When you try to take it out, he coached me, you will meet resistance, emotionality, push-back, anger, and mutiny even. People do not like to let go of something they have embraced. They will cling to it even if it is no longer a relevant issue.

And that, my friends, is precisely the danger we face today with the China Virus lockdowns, and restraints. Our government has a tendency at all levels to put in controls, restraints, even repression in order to control some situation that appears out of control to the bureacrats.

Take for example the TSA screenings mandated at all airports, and forced upon all citizens following 9/11. I am not debating whether or not that invasion of privacy, and massive inconvenience, is public policy you agree with or don’t agree with. What I am pointing out is that they started this even before 9/11. Airports put in severe restrictions on going to the gates following the Atlanta Olympics bombing. That was in the 90’s, and that is still in effect today.

Post 9/11, the TSA check-ins were put in, to protect us from terror attack. It has been almost 20 years since then, and much more sophisticated ways have been developed to ensure our safety. Requiring every person to go through the machines is not necessary today, yet those machines remain in place. They were easy in, and hard out.

If you doubt what I just said, ask yourself, what is it that allows you to get a TSA Pre-check? You pay money, and somehow you are “checked” and allowed to board with not much more than identification. What tools did they use to satisfy themselves that you are OK to travel? Hmmm?

Which brings me to lockdowns, “home-arrests,” destruction of small businesses–all done initially to protect us from a new virus that spreads, and can kill. Easy in.

That was 10 months ago, when everything was unknown. Yet 10 months later–when we know its origin now, know its DNA, have developed very successful and multiple therapeutics to treat anyone who gets it and gets quite ill, and have developed and released two and soon-to-be three vaccines to protect the whole world from even getting it–you are being pressured, and threatened, and coerced into sheltering in place. You are being told it is noble for you to stand by as your fellow citizens lose their businesses. You are told it is just unavoidable collateral damage that millions of Americans have now sunk into despair and depression. You are pummeled if you even raise the certain truth that locking children out of school may cost us an entire generation, and destroy the lives of tens of millions.

All that done purportedly to save you! And God help you if you even dare to ask the questions, “Do we really need all this just to keep me safe? Can’t I be responsible for myself, and my family? Does everyone need to suffer now? What exactly is the current mortality rate of this disease? Is it true that the death rate is now down to between 1.5 and 1.8 %? Doesn’t that mean all the great work that we put “in” has worked?

Is it not time for us to take some of this “out?”

Watch what happens to you when you even ask any of the questions I just asked. It went “in” easy–this thing called complete power and control over a population. It is going to go “out” hard. You are going to have to work hard to free yourself–if you ever do.

You may ask why people make it hard to take something out that is no longer needed, or not needed in its harshest and most draconian form. Follow the money, my friends. It will always come down to the money. Those who love power and control also love money.

They may care about you, but it is on a much lesser priority than their caring about money.

Easy in, hard out. So be it. Let’s get it done though, lest we end up 20 years from now still living with masks, fear, social distance circles, hostile looks and comments, rubber gloves, and isolation from those we care about.FacebookTwitterEmailRedditLinkedInShareEditSearch for: 

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Lee Kessler is an author, television actress, screenwriter, playwright, and stage director. Read more

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How You Know You’ve Been Conned

Published / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on How You Know You’ve Been Conned

Pfizer applied for Emergency Use Authorization for their Covid-19 vaccine immediately upon completing the trials successfully. Great Britain’s health organization met immediately and approved it for use. People in Great Britain started receiving the vaccine. Even Bahrain embraced it.

Not here, though. Despite the fact the President had authorized millions of doses to be manufactured in advance, and ready the second the drug was approved–and tasked a General to handle logistics and distribution–the United States did not launch quickly.

Why? The FDA. Despite the urgency of getting the vaccine out–with the whole world waiting for it, and the threat of more Americans becoming infected and possibly dying, the FDA set their hearing almost three weeks after the application was made.

Geez, I hope this didn’t interrupt your golf game, FDA!! They were in no rush. They set a December hearing, held it, and then waited another two days to approve it.

And that is how you know you have been conned.

Is the virus real? Yes. Is it deadly? For some, yes. For those who are very sick, are the therapeutics essential? You bet. For those who are afraid of getting it, whose lives have turned into a virtual house arrest, should the vaccine arrive “yesterday,” as the saying goes? Yes.

If our officials were truly concerned about all the “news” about rising infections and the spread of new cases–and the ensuing percentage of deaths that could occur each day the virus is spreading–why would they not hold their hearing immediately, even in the middle of the night if necessary? After all, by their logic, each day that goes by, more people are getting this virus. And if more people are getting it, more people will die, right? So, why would you wait even one day to authorize the release of a preventative vaccine? Why would you risk even one more American life?

After all, we have been told and told and told and told that we have to stay locked down until a vaccine arrives. We have been told we are killers to even want to try to work, or save our businesses, or even take a walk–that we must shrink and restrain ourselves from all normal activities until the vaccine arrives.

So, why the three week delay in even reviewing the request? Is it that they don’t care that more Americans in that three weeks would be exposed to and contract the disease, possibly die from it? Are those unsuspecting Americans unimportant? How many did contract it from Nov. 20-Dec.11?

Apparently this virus is not really that great a concern to them. It’s the lack of sense of urgency at the FDA that tells you, you have been conned! It is a real threat, but not one that should have stopped you cold for 10 months. The President and his team moved heaven and earth to get a vaccine created, only to have a mysterious hold interposed. Friends, if they had started the review on Nov. 20 when the request first came in–after all it wasn’t like the whole world hasn’t been waiting for this, and they knew it was coming–and if the review took 20 days, we might accept it as “procedural” and “cautionary.” But to not even start the review until Dec. 9 is a glaring oddity.

Either this virus is not as threatening as you have been led to believe, or our FDA is incompetent and tone deaf. If this is a reflection of their “professionalism,” I certainly don’t want any form of government control of my health care.

Someone took this virus and used it for other purposes, for other agendas. And the sooner, my friends, you realize that, the better. As the saying goes–Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Keep Everybody Safe. Is that the Goal? Really?

Published / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on Keep Everybody Safe. Is that the Goal? Really?

No matter where you turn these days you find people–including government officials, and all media– piling on the Covid bandwagon, using the mantra of, “the goal is to keep everybody safe.”

Better stop here for a moment. Examine this. Don’t swallow the marketing button–otherwise known as propaganda–without at least a common sense look.

Is it the responsibility of government to keep everybody safe? Is that our goal as individuals? To be safe our whole lives?

Are you making choices in all areas of life based upon what’s safe? Or are you stretching, risking, winning and losing? This country was conceived and created by people who did not play it safe. We built a great nation, not by staying safe, but by pioneering, dreaming, trying, failing, and trying again. There is nothing “safe” in the American character. We are a bold people.

Now before you get your underwear in a twist, I know what you are thinking. We are talking about physical safety and health when we look at this virus, or overall ill-health, etc. etc.

I’d like to suggest to you though that the goal is not to stay safe–especially if it means hiding from the virus. The goal is to defeat this virus. And that means head-on!

Like it or not, we all die at some point. Did we live our lives staying “safe?” Or did we take chances, challenge ourselves, put ourselves at risk?

If the goal is to be safe, what are you going to say when that day comes in the future that you are on your deathbed? “Well, here I am dying. But, by golly, I got to death safely!!”

What do you say we all stop trying to hide from this virus, and all work together to kill it, without killing our neighbors’ livelihoods and well-being? We can do both. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

The Ultimate “October Surprise”

Published / by Lee Kessler / 2 Comments on The Ultimate “October Surprise”

While I write this, there is another story playing out that almost NO media is covering. That story is one I have been chasing and writing about periodically–for you–for two years. And the documents were just declassified and released–after months and years of demands by the Congress.

No agency has the right to stonewall and withhold information from the American people. NO AGENCY or AGENCIES. I am a writer of political fiction, fiction so plausible it became the truth. My antennae have been up on this, and my “swinish suspicion” as the writer of investigative fiction is working overtime. Who knows, it may become another book.

But, I have said to Director John Brennan and others to “stay tuned.” Well, this weekend, the information that members of Congress have begged for was released. Look it up. You won’t find it on CNN or MSNBC. You will need to search for it. DNI Radcliffe just released it, with the full motherload still classified. The data is factual. It will, in my opinion, become evidence in a court of law. It is not fictional “conspiracy theory.” The names are there. The incidents are there. The dots are connected.

Having said that, the diversion that is distracting all Americans today–and logically so–is the President of the United States and his battle with the China virus. He will win that battle. All of us will win that battle.

But, I can not take off my “hat” of writer of political fiction that turns out to be true. You will be directed to–like Pavlov’s dogs–salivate over the idea that if the President had not been out in public and treated mask wearing more seriously, he would not have gotten sick. You will be discouraged from realizing that the Gov. of Virginia–who wears masks religiously–also contracted the disease. Instead of being encouraged to learn something about virology, you will be directed to rote political rhetoric and condemnation.

If you have taken the bait, you are already finger-pointing, and you may not see something I see. The reason I mentioned the release of those documents has to do with the fact they PROVE a political dirty trick, conspiracy, and coordinated attack, the likes of which the United States has never experienced. If you were to accept them as true, you will be in a state of shock, and true righteous indignation–determined to never allow people like this to get power again. This story is like a major Hollywood political thriller. Regrettably, it is true.

The distraction, to keep you away from even looking? The “October Surprise” of the President’s illness, and the illness of others. The coverage of it gives you something to be self-righteous about. Be careful, my friends. You are being played.

Interesting to me, and hopefully to you, is the fact that not only did the President come down with this, but also his closest advisor Hope Hicks. Also, the First Lady. But–PAY ATTENTION HERE NOW–also the head of the Republican National Committee. Her job is monumental. She is responsible for the election of every Republican House Member and Senator, as well as the President.

To have her sidelined too is to potentially wipe out an entire Party’s ability to campaign in the final weeks of an election vital to the interest of all Americans.

Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee who will determine the next Supreme Court Justice also fell ill.

The President’s debate coach also fell ill.

And the Chinese Press officially endorsed the other candidate, while the President of the United States could have been mortally wounded.

Stupidity you say? That’s the pat, propaganda line. Coincidence you say? I doubt it.

Granted, I am just a lowly fiction writer. Who am I to challenge conventional wisdom? I connect dots differently. And, as I connect the dots here, they do connect–the top story in this Blog, and the President’s story.

And if you will take the time to ferret out what that top story is, I think you can see why this “October Surprise” is such a brilliant and bold diversion to keep American citizens from seeing what their government has done to them in the last 5 years.

There is always a “who.” I would like someone to help me identify the man standing directly to the right of Hope Hicks at the most recent rally. I will recognize him, but I do not know his name.

There is something I want to check. And, perhaps I can connect an important “dot.”