Displaying items by tag: Coronavirus

So, here we are.

Four years ago, the MAGA train powered across the nation. Farmer, coalminers, former-Obama backers jumped on at every stop. The battle cry, shrieking through Donald Trump's "Maga Phone" demanded major disruptions and destruction of our nation's institutions, far and wide.

Instead of backing our traditional allies in Europe who, for seventy-years, we courted as indispensable partners, the candidate Trump gave notice they were no longer needed. Our new best buddy would be Putin' and Russia.  Candidate Trump told us that our leading the world through cooperation in the sciences, trade, human rights were not going to be his goal.  He warned us that he, if President, would leave those tracks of which the world valued our incredible contributions.  

 
Despite almost unanimous scientific evidence of global warming, he promised to turn on the spigot for old coal and dirty energy sources. Instead of working with the strengths of our past, the world became all about us—America First. Always.

His loyalists and later his voters saw all of this as a way to tell the world they have had enough!! It was time to disrupt the status quo.

Could we possibly have a worse leader during the greatest national crises in modern American history than we do right now with President Donald Trump?

I’m serious. I only wish he would take the Coronavirus seriously, more than he takes his own political campaign and personal future.

For one, the economy is in complete shambles.

Republicans just a few weeks ago were scouring major cities across the country to find a new location for their national convention, scheduled for mid-August. The GOP had originally planned to congregate in Charlotte North Carolina, but the governor set extremely strict standards for any type of large gathering.  President Trump seems dead set on going to a more friendly environment.  New Orleans was   initially in the running.

There is a huge financial stake involved, with some 40,000 conventioneers projected to be attendance at wherever the location may be. The economic impact is estimated to be well over $200 million. Such conventions prove to be a huge financial generator for hotels, restaurants, cab drivers, bars and a whole host of local of entertainment options the fuel the local economy of any convention city.

I believe Donald Trump is the most selfish President in my lifetime. He's the most selfish person I have ever known. Selfishness is acceptable when it does not involve others. That possibility does not exist for the President of the United States.

In the 1992 presidential campaign, candidate Bill Clinton referred to himself as the “comeback kid” after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary. Only a slick candidate with the skill of Bill Clinton would be able to turn a loss by 8% into a victory. However, his characterization, supported by the media, gave his campaign momentum and he eventually won the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination and the White House.

In this campaign, the real “comeback kid” is President Donald Trump. Of course, unlike Clinton, he has had to endure constant negative media coverage and unrelenting abuse from Democrats, the Deep State and anti-Trump elements in the Republican Party. This President never received a honeymoon and was subjected to the Russia hoax, the Stormy Daniels investigation, a two-year Special Counsel witch hunt, the Ukraine hoax, impeachment and constant leaks and backstabbing from his own administration.

A big dividing line in our country today is whether to wear a face mask or not. For Memorial Day services, former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill wore masks. In contrast, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid their respects on Memorial Day without masks.  

In many cities and states across the nation, the number of Covid-19 cases is going down, yet the masking requirements are becoming more stringent. In New Orleans, residents are always supposed to wear a mask, even when outdoors. For businesses, both employees and customers must wear masks. These are more stringent requirements than the State of Louisiana which just recommends mask-wearing.

Today, if the weather prevails, America will hit two milestones.  The first is our return to space with the first launch in nearly ten years of a US man-occupied spacecraft.  The second did not take a decade. Nor did it take ten months.  Within less than three months, this country has witnessed the most destructive population genocide in American history, thanks to Covid-19.  On leap year day, the first corona-virus death was recorded. The virus which we were told would suddenly disappear has resulted in the morbid and jaw-dropping disappearance of 100,000 loved ones.

The coronavirus epidemic has raised a troubling apprehension in Louisiana and in many other states across the country. There seems to be a devaluation of older citizens. I’m in that number of older folks, and there appears to be ample evidence that older citizens are often the victims of an entrenched epidemic-the too often lack of concern for our older population.

The coronavirus epidemic has raised a troubling apprehension in Louisiana and in many other states across the country. There seems to be a devaluation of older citizens. I’m in that number of older folks, and there appears to be ample evidence that older citizens are often the victims of an entrenched epidemic-the too often lack of concern for our older population.

Is the New Orleans area and Louisiana, as a state, entering a new phase of coronavirus protections and risks, too quickly?  Are we emphasizing our health and safety needs more than we should?  Are we abandoning the very real risks of the aged, the unhealthy and those prone to get sick or worse, die? Or, shouldn’t we recognize the irreparable harm to our institutions, our economy and our way of life?

A few days ago, I discussed these general issues with Arnie Fielkow during a Facebook Live event. I looked forward to the interview because it is not everybody who has held the positions of President of the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans City Council, the National Basketball Retired Players Association and now, the Greater New Orleans Jewish Federation. I thought he would bring an articulate, divergent and interesting perspective to the controversy.  After all, looking at the issue from the vantage point of an NFL team executive would be different from the perspective of a top public servant or a head of a major not-profit organization.