Krugman Column Reveals the Truth about Coronavirus, Phone Banks, the CDC and Freedom of Religion?

Krugman

THE GOVERNMENT REACTS TO THE THREAT OF A PANDEMIC

Strip away all of the Administration' BS and the inadequacies of its response to the Coronavirus threat become evident.  Paul Krugman, in a recent New York Times column, lays out the facts.  Read them and weep by CLICKING HERE.

JL

Another Great Column

Religious freedom in the United States is based on the first sixteen words of the First Amendment to the Constitution: (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”).

But please note, however, that while it prevents the establishment of a religion in our country, it allows the “free exercise” of religion.  And this goes beyond usual limits of what traditionally qualifies as “religion” and includes a fuzzy area, claiming to be “religion,” which is offensive to many Americans.

When the President of the United States and his administration gets involved in this  fuzzy area of the “free exercise” of religion, it is time for Americans to worry. 

I would be happier if the First Amendment’s language were more specific and prohibited Congress from making laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion by a religion’s adherents and clergy.  Then Congress might be able to pass a law guaranteeing Americans the right to be free from any branch of government’s getting involved with religion in any way, shape or form, and that includes encouraging school prayer and limits to subsidies paid to private religious schools which also teach tradional subjects.  Americans deserve "freedom FROM the excesses of the free exercise of religion with government support, tacit or otherwise ." 

Read Frank Cerebino’s always humorous column from the Palm Beach Post (Feb. 28) to understand the problem and to see how Donald Trump has crossed that line.  JUST CLICK HERE TO READ HIS BRILLIANT COLUMN.

JL

Why You Should Never Ever Vote Republican

The Administration’s 2021 budget, not yet acted upon by Congress, included cuts in the amount allocated for the Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention.  Also, key personnel in the CDC were let go in 2018 and have not yet been replaced.  

These two factors alone, in the face of the current threat posed by the Coronavirus,  to which the Administration's response has been disjointed and confusing at best, make it clear that the country should never ever again permit the Republican Party to control the Executive branch or either House of Congress.  Lives are at stake!  Republicans cannot be trusted in this area, ever!    Contrast this with the thorough, planned, response previous administrations have demonstrated in, for example, the Ebola threat.  If you value human life, never vote Republican!  Ever! (All they're really interested in is tax reduction for the wealthy, who are their major source of campaign finance.)  Now go back and read Paul Krugman's column if you haven't already.  CLICK HERE to do so.

JL

Phone Banks ... Phooey!

In past elections, I’ve worked with phone banks, but generally, I considered them a wasted effort.  Three out of four people called do not pick up, leaving the worker the choice of leaving a message or just hanging up and going on to the next number.  One can ask an unpaid volunteer to do this but if scarce resources must be directed to such an effort, there are clearly better uses for those resources.

In the “old days,” the party provided the phones to make calls from “phone banks,” but lately, it has been requested that volunteers bring their own mobile phones to use.  I was foolish enough to do this last year and as a result, was besieged for days afterwards by returned calls from some of the numbers I had called which either did not pick up, or where I had left a brief message.  This was discouraging.

A 2020 presidential candidate whom I support, and to whose campaign I have donated, recently asked me to join in a phone bank devoted to “text messaging” which they would manage.  As soon as they asked for my mobile phone number, I left the site, choosing not to participate, fearing a deluge of unwanted responses to texts promoting that candidate which would be sent from my phone number. 

A far better use of resources than phone banks is participating in voter registration activities.

Except for very wealthy candidates like Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, the field of candidates for President are hungry for grass-roots contributions to their campaigns.  I have contributed to my choice.  Please consider contributing to yours.

JL