These are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.

TWO DOCTORS SHARE MY VIEW – Although I am not a doctor, I only played one in a made for television movie, I was happy to read that two doctors, who own seven urgent care facilities in Kern County, California give credence to the opinion of this lay person that lockdowns must end.

Doctors Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, with their own Covid-19 data, that gathered nationwide, and from colleagues, recently presented a compelling case regarding sheltering in place, writes Stacey Lennox in PJ Media.

They assert that the data is telling them that the disease pattern of Covid-19 is more like the flu. “Millions of cases, a small number of deaths,” said Dr. Erickson.

He cited a statistically insignificant difference in the number of deaths between Sweden, with limited restrictions, and Norway, which locked down.

Interestingly, the pair were clear on how self-isolation can actually compromise the immune system in otherwise healthy people, explaining that the immune system is actually built by exposure to pathogens. Coming in contact with viruses and bacteria n the environment fires the body’s system for fighting infection, Lennox reported.

The doctors believe that people should be spending more time outside.  Staying inside, Dr. Massihi says, can cause Vitamin D deficiencies which further impact immune function and can cause a depressed mood.

Reflecting on the pre-existing illnesses that may actually be the cause of a person’s death, Dr. Erickson explains that the majority of people were dying with Covid-19, not from Covid-19.

IN MY WILDEST THOUGHTS, I would never have thought I would ever agree with, or praise the writing of Bret Stephens, who left the Wall Street Journal to join the New York Times in April 2017.

On September 13, 2016, I devoted my entire blog to “Bret Stephens for Dummies.” It was in response to his Wall Street Journal column, “Never Trump for Dummies.”

I recalled how Stephens would sacrifice his integrity and “live with” four years of Hillary rather than see Trump in the White House, and quoted his line, “If by now you don’t find Donald Trump appalling, you’re appalling,” an obvious slam at WSJ readers and Trump supporters.

In my “Bret Stephens for Dummies, Part Two,” on October 26, 2016, I was critical of him for his taking swipes at Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich and William Bennett, who were supporters of Trump.

Stephens wrote of his Republican Party that had “drifted away,” as he recalled the good ole days of 1947 and 1980.

Then, on October 6, 2017, after Stephens wrote a piece against the Second Amendment, I poked fun of his wondering what “Madison would have to say about it today, when more than twice as many Americans perished last year at the hands of their fellow citizens as died in battle during the entire Revolutionary War.”

As if that wasn’t enough to reveal his idiocy, there’s more.  “Repealing the Amendment may seem like the political Mission Impossible today,” he wrote, “but in the era of same-sex marriage it’s worth recalling that most great causes begin as impossible ones.”

A COMMON SENSE STEPHENS surfaced in his Times column, “America Shouldn’t Have to Play by New York Rules,” giving me this opportunity to recognize that he has a brain after all.

After reviewing the effect Covid-19 has had on New York City, he said, “Americans are being told they must still play by New York rules – with all the hardships they entail – despite neither New York’s living conditions nor New York’s health outcomes.  This is bad medicine, misguided public policy, and horrible politics.”

He wrote of a conversation he had with Tomislav Mihaljevic, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, who stated that we need to use “tailored and discriminating solutions” that recognize regional differences.

While acknowledging the initial necessity for the lockdowns, Mihaljevic added, “we cannot hold our breath forever.”

“The U.S. will not soon be able to test 330 million people,” Mihaljevic declares. “Effective therapies or vaccines may be long in coming.  Covid-19 will be “a disease we have to learn to live with.  The public conversation needs to be about the value of human life in its totality.”

Stephens writes about the media talking heads spewing the danger of lifting lockdowns in places like Tennessee.  “Tennesseeans are within their rights to return to a semblence of normal life with demanding longer restrictions on New Yorkers.

“I don’t see why people living in a Nashville suburb should not be allowed to return to their jobs because people like me choose to live, travel and work in urban sardine cans,” Stephens added.

I’m probably giving Stephens more credit than he deserves.  He may have derived his opinion merely based on Mihaljevic’s theory.  However, he did write it, and I appreciate it, coming from him.

The real Stephens is detected in his concluding line: “The rest of America needs to get back to life.  We New Yorkers prefer our own company anyway.”

MAYBE NOT NASHVILLE, BUT KNOXVILLE has announced it will begin a gradual phased-in reopening of businesses on Friday, May 1, 2020.  While recommending strict adherence to distancing and hygiene measures, the list of businesses include day cares, restaurants, salons, spas, retail stopres, gyms and places of worship.

REALCLEAR POLITICS’ Tom Bevan poked fun of Ezekiel Emanuel, of ObamaCare infamy, in his tweet @TomBevanRCP:  “On March 27, Ezekiel Emanuel said it the number of cases ‘is doubling every 3 to 4 days, that means that we’ll have 100 million people with  Covid-19 in about 4 weeks.

“He was off by 99,111,291.  Are there any consequences for being this wrong?” especially when you the chair of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania?

PONDER THIS – “Between 2012 and 2018, 28.3 million mail-in ballots remain unaccounted for,” writes Mark Hemingway, quoting data from the Federal Election Asssistance Commission. The missing ballots amount to nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and ballots mailed to voters in states that do elections exclusively by mail.

“Although there is no evidence that the millions of missing ballots were used fraudulently, the sheer volume of them raises serious doubts about election security,” he writes.

I must continue to inform you that Democrats are pressing for all mail-in ballots, which gives them an opportunity to do ballot harvesting.  Taking advantage of the pandemic, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have proposed the National Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020, a bill that would allow every eligible voter the opportunity to vote by mail, regardless of state laws governing mail-in ballots.  Such a bill must be stopped.

SPEAKING OF AMY KLOBUCHAR – If there was any doubt that she’s a progressive with globalist aims, her appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday gives more evidence.  “America would not lead the world as long as Donald Trump is president,” she said.  That’s great, because we elected him to be president of the United States and support his America First motto.

She said she was supporting Joe Biden and is “excited abut his candidacy,” indicating that he’s “going to have that long-term vision.”  The vision we understand will include joining hands again with Iran on the nuclear deal, the job-killing Green New Deal and pouring more bucks into the Paris Accord, open borders, and free college tuition.  This will make him a global leader, according to Klobuchar.

INCIDENTALY, three potential picks to be Biden’s running mate – Klobuchar, Gretchen Whitmer and Stacey Abrams – all made appearances on Sunday news shows, but none were asked about the sexual assault charges that have been leveled at him by a former aide.  The old double standard.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.