Some experiences don't stand the failings of memory

What's almost as bad as not experiencing something?

How about experiencing it and not remembering?

From the time I was a little kid, I knew that Halley's Comet would pass within view of Earth exactly once in my lifetime. The comet gets close enough to see with the naked eye once every 75 or 76 years.

Naivete of Americans becoming a frightening thing.

Being optimistic is nice.

Being naive is less nice.

Being delusional is not nice at all.

A Washington Post-Ipsos poll released today said that 77 percent of Americans surveyed who have been furloughed or laid off during the current pandemic believe they will be rehired by their former employers once the stay-at-home order ends.

Donald Trump: Egg or Plant?

In other results, 62 percent of the same group said they believe in the Easter Bunny and 54 percent believe Donald Trump's tan is real.

Something like 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance the last six weeks, and it's expected that when unemployment figures are released Friday, they will be the highest since the Great Depression.

So how will the end of the stay-at-home order change that?

Something like two-thirds of American workers have been employed in what is known as the "service industry," meaning that these are people who one way or another wait on customers.

Trump looking worse and worse as pandemic spreads

"LIBERATE MICHIGAN!"

-- Donald Trump

Gretchen Whitmer is trying to save the people of Michigan whether they want her to or not.

And Donald Trump is going to cause trouble no matter what the Michigan governor does.

With the number of Americans dead from the Coronavirus heading toward six figures and beyond, Trump is trying desperately to keep people from blaming him.

As of today, more than 72,000 of Trump's constituents have died, and more than 30 million have filed for unemployment.

Many companies have been reporting that their business is off as much as 90 percent. When unemployment numbers for April are announced Friday, they may be as high as 20 or 30 percent of the workforce.

Eulogy for a great guy who will be sorely missed

Marty Malin

Real geniuses don't need to tell people how smart they are.

Generally the folks who brag about their intellect -- as the "very stable genius" does -- are trying to make you believe they're something they're not.

I first met Marty Malin at Christmas 1994 when my sister Hilary brought him to Virginia to meet the family.

Before the decade was out, I had a brother-in-law and two nephews.

My sister is one of the smartest people I know, so it didn't surprise me when her two sons turned out to be gifted. Actually, incredibly gifted.

Unbridgeable differences push U.S. to the brink

Right about now, a lot of Republican senators who refused to convict Donald Trump and remove him from office ought to be very worried.

Why?

Because yes, he really did suggest at his press briefing Friday that an instant cure for COVID-19 might be ingesting some sort of home disinfectants.

Of course he swears he was being sarcastic, but no one who saw him saw any trace of sarcasm. As he floundered for an excuse, he even said it was a prank and that he said it just to see how people would react.

Fake news?

No, fake president.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Pandemic might force meaningful change in U.S.

Bernie Sanders dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday.

If that unifies the Democratic Party and makes it easier to defeat Donald Trump in November, it's all for the best. To primary voters this year, Sanders was just a bridge too far. I always felt his proud use of the word "socialist" was a mistake. I'd have gone with Social Democrat.

I feel like Sanders saw this election as one for revolutionary change, while most Democrats -- myself included -- wanted more than anything just to get rid of Trump.

The great irony is that the Coronavirus pandemic may have transformed circumstances enough that it ought to be a true change election. Particularly in the area of health insurance.

Americans dying due to Trump's horrific priorities

NYC

"I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps ..."

The last time I visited New York City was a little less than two and a half years ago.

It was the first time I had been in Manhattan since the mid 1990s, when my middle sister got married.

In October 2017, Nicole and I stayed in a hotel near the Empire State Building. We only had two days and three nights, and it was raining hard one of those days.

Mostly, we visited Ground Zero and the museum that honored the events of Sept. 11, 2001. It was sort of overwhelming, but as I look at pictures of present-day New York, I find myself thinking that not even Osama bin Laden could shut New York down the way the Coronavirus has.

I imagine we'll go back at some point. I know my wife wants to. NYC is one of my three favorite American cities I have visited numerous times but never lived there. The other two are on the West Coast, San Francisco and Seattle.

When we visited NYC in the fall of 2017, the streets were as crowded -- even on the rainy night -- as anywhere I've ever been. I cannot even comprehend streets as empty as in the picture above.