Public Health

Florida An Outlier, Likely To Continue To Defy Common Decency By Government Leaders

Ronald Leave a comment

This author and blogger lives in the “Sunshine” State, Florida, and has lived in South Florida since the summer of 1989.

Sadly, Florida has some of the most horrendous political leaders imaginable, with the state legislature heavily Republican, and promoting right wing extremism in every way they can.

The Governor, Ron DeSantis, has no concern about public health in the midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

The former Governor, now a US Senator, Rick Scott, has a record of Medicare fraud, but was allowed to run for public office after paying a fine, rather than serve time in prison, and he has a steel heart.

The other Senator, Marco Rubio, is a mediocre Senator and not very bright, although less harmful than DeSantis and Scott.

Only in South Florida do Democrats have much impact, other than in selected Congressional districts in the central part of the state.

And Florida is the home of the disgraced former President, Donald Trump, who continues to divide the nation, and perpetrate a big lie that he won the Presidential Election Of 2020, and he has blood on his hands by having incited the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021.

Florida desperately needs a renaissance in state government and in national representation, as it is an outlier defying common decency, and is likely to see all three statewide officials competing for President in 2024, unless Trump is somehow able to poison the nation again.

In any case, right now, all three Florida leaders are competing with many others for Trump’s endorsement and support, so common decency is not present in Florida Government in 2021.

Dr. Anthony Fauci A True Hero, And Should Be Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year For Upholding Science And Health!

Ronald 8 Comments

Dr, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, is being mostly sidelined and ignored by President Donald Trump, who does not want to hear his insights and expertise on the infectious disease which has killed nearly 140,000 Americans in less than five months.

The CoronaVirus Pandemic is the greatest health crisis in the sense of deaths that we have seen in a century. While Fauci does not claim to have no imperfections, which we all do, he is certainly someone to be relied upon and respected, although many Americans who ignore science think he is a threat to Donald Trump’s reelection.

Fauci has served American public health in various capacities for more than a half century, and still has total energy as he nears 80 years of age this coming December. He has been an adviser to every President in the past forty years, and played a major role in dealing with the AIDS crisis, when it arose in the 1980s and after.

Fauci has been one of the most cited scientists in scientific journals for much of his career. He graduated first in his class at Cornell University Medical School in the mid 1960s. He has received over 30 honorary doctorates at universities in the United States and foreign nations. He has been the author, coauthor or editor of more than one thousand scientific publications, including several textbooks.

Sadly, he has had the need for a security detail, due to death threats and strong criticism from extremist right wing critics, including many on Fox News Channel. They do not have a clue on science or health, but promote the Trump agenda of ignoring the pandemic, as their only goal is to reelect Trump, despite his incompetence and lack of concern about the pandemic!

Dr. Fauci is a truly inspirational figure, and should be chosen as the Person of the Year by Time Magazine in December, and Joe Biden should utilize him in 2021 in a more respectful way than Donald Trump has displayed!

Donald Trump More Concerned About Reelection Than Public Health Or National Security

Ronald 14 Comments

Donald Trump, the ultimate narcissist in American Presidential history, is making it very clear that he is more concerned about reelection than he is in public health or national security.

This is evidenced by his ignoring the growing rate of COVID-19 in many states, stating the stupid, inane idea that if there was less testing, there would be fewer cases!

Also, from John Bolton’s book, just out, we learn he was working to gain Chinese government support for his reelection, and therefore was willing to overlook Chinese government crackdown on human rights.

Never has any President had such a mentality to put his own advancement ahead of his own nation’s interests.

There will be plenty of reasons to pursue Donald Trump legally once he leaves office, and that will be in the hands of Joe Biden’s Attorney General, arguably the single most important appointment the new President will make, in order to work toward the undoing of all of the damage wrought by Donald Trump and his corrupt underlings in his cabinet and elsewhere!

Donald Trump Has Finally Gone Too Far: A Sense That Trump Has Endangered Public Health And His Own Presidency’s Ability To Survive

Ronald 55 Comments

Through all of the outrages and obscene words and actions of Donald Trump, even through his impeachment trial, the sense is there that Donald Trump has now endangered public health and his own disgraceful Presidency’s ability to survive.

His acting like a Medical Doctor, and giving his stupid, cult like followers advice on medications and now on ingesting or injecting disinfectant into their bodies has led to some hospitalizations and likely deaths. Others are not understanding that the President is totally unhinged and dangerous, and that they should ignore his ranting and raving in his daily, disgraceful displays of insanity!

Trump is now being given advice to stop participating in the daily updates, and on Friday, he took no questions and ended the press conference within a few minutes.

If he has not lost all credibility now, and if he continues to have a “Jim Jones” type effect on his lunatic followers, then those morons will deserve to die, and at least clean our nation of people who support his racism, nativism, and misogyny. The danger he presents to our domestic progress represented by the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ, and to a stable foreign policy in support of our allies in NATO and in East Asia is massive.

And now, he threatens to destroy the Postal Service; stop all immigration when it is an essential part of the American success story and necessary for economic growth; eliminate all environmental laws on the books; and to bomb Iran. The latter is a ploy to gain an image as a wartime President, making it possible for him to be reelected, but he must be prevented from any such action.

The pressure to resign, and let Vice President Mike Pence finish the term, will start to grow to prevent a total destruction of the Republican Party, and the sense that he might finally have reached the point, where the nation’s safety and security is at stake.

Clearly, anyone who still will take the view that Trump should be reelected, as Joe Biden and his potential female running mate have this or that fault or shortcoming, is a sign that such person has severe mental illness, and cannot see what is essential for the nation!

That is the resignation of Donald Trump, far more dangerous now, than Richard Nixon was, when he resigned on August 9, 1974!

Crazy Religious Lunatics Are Undermining National Security And Health!

Ronald 24 Comments

In the midst of the most dangerous moment for national security and health in our lifetimes, we are witnessing crazy religious lunatics insisting they have the right to conduct Easter and other weekly services, and Orthodox Jews saying the same for Passover services!

They argue freedom of religion, ignoring the dangers they are presenting to their congregants, who in many cases, seem to think that if a clergyman speaks, it is God personified!

Sorry, but the right to worship is not primary over safety, security, and public health, and it will lead to a massive number of unnecessary deaths!

It has already occurred in the South, where the hold of evangelical Christianity is strongest, and also occurred in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, New York, as well as in Israel.

When will common sense finally come to the minds of these congregants and their clergymen? Only when many have died out of pure cultish behavior?

The answer is to shut down all churches and synagogues for worship, and lock the buildings, and arrest anyone who defies this emergency!

Your right to worship exists only as long as it does not affect the public safety and health, as worshiping in large numbers at this time is “a clear and present danger to others”, quoting a Supreme Court decision of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in Schenck V US (1919)!

Donald Trump’s Government Shutdown Creating Psychological Torture On Millions Of Americans, And Endangering Public Health And National Security: A Criminal Act Which Should Lead To Immediate Removal From Office

Ronald 6 Comments

Donald Trump’s Government Shutdown. now in its 34th day, is creating psychological torture on millions of Americans, and endangering public health and national security.

It is a criminal act, unsurpassed by any President in American history, a grab for absolute power by a tyrant who wishes to destroy our Constitution and system of checks and balances.

It should lead to immediate removal from office, not even wait until an impeachment trial, as it is endangering

a great economic depression;

a danger of nuclear war;

a public health and safety crisis regarding our food and drug supply;

the likelihood of a massive terrorist incident as horrible as September 11;

the danger of a disaster in air traffic;

the eviction from homes and apartments of millions of Americans, making them homeless; causing massive hunger and starvation;

the undermining of the health of the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and those with serious diseases;

the worsening of morale of such crucial government agencies as the Secret Service, Immigration and Custom Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and innumerable other agencies;

the likelihood that many dedicated federal government agencies will see many of their work force permanently leave government service, creating a massive shortage of qualified people to take care of government services for 325 million Americans;

and causing America to become the laughing stock of the world, as the nation goes from one crisis to another every day, and every area of government policy getting worse by the days and weeks and months.

We have had two years now of crisis and anarchy, and it is just fortunate that there has been no major foreign policy crisis, but one can sense it is coming, and we have an incompetent, demented, unstable, ill tempered collaborator with the major enemy of the United States, Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, who wishes our nation ill!

Vaccinations And Republican Doctors: Total Quackery Views Of Dr. Benjamin Carson And Dr. Rand Paul!

Ronald 53 Comments

One of the worst aspects of the CNN Republican debate on Thursday night was the discussion about the supposed dangers of vaccinations for children, which many uninformed people and conspiracy theorists think causes autism.

Nothing could be further from the truth, but when Donald Trump, a non doctor, makes it an issue in the debate, gullible people tend to take it as gospel!

And when Dr. Benjamin Carson, a pediatric neurologist, and Dr. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, say that vaccinations could be dangerous and are unwise to some extent, that is alarming, as the spread of serious diseases that were once overcome by vaccinations in the past 50 years, now become a danger to public health!

If some children are not vaccinated properly and on a schedule, that can lead to an epidemic, as happened with measles in California, recently.

What is it about the Republican Party that they reject medical knowledge widely accepted, with even medical doctors who are candidates for the Presidency, acting like quacks?

And then add the rejection of science—refusal to believe in evolution, and denial of global warming and climate change—and we are back to medieval views of medicine and science in the 21st century!

The Republican War On America Since Obama Became President

Ronald Leave a comment

In the three years since Barack Obama became President in January 2009, the Republican Party has done everything possible to make Barack Obama “a one term President”, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared in 2009.

They have been proud of their efforts, so it is time to show how they have worked against the interests of the American people as they have fought against Obama and his initiatives.

MoveOn.org has made up a list of the “wars” waged by the GOP, and they are worthy to note.

The Republicans have waged war against the reproductive rights of women.They have declared war on child labor laws, unions and collective bargaining rights; war against marriage equality for gay men and women; war on science, the environment, and public health; war on education; war on historical truth, promoting mythological revisionism; war on immigrants; war on the Islamic world; war on the right to vote; war on racial desegregation; war on National Public Radio and PBS; and finally, war on Barack Obama, claiming he is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, is a Socialist, is a Fascist, and other lies and deceptions to vilify a President worse than anyone since Abraham Lincoln, including even a much vilified President, Richard Nixon.

With this record, they want us to give them power to go backwards on so many social areas, economic policy, and foreign policy. Forward looking people cannot allow this to happen!

Pathbreaking Supreme Court Case: US Government Vs. Tobacco

Ronald Leave a comment

The Obama Administration is pursuing a case against the Tobacco industry in the Supreme Court, a battle that began in the administration of Bill Clinton.

The government is seeking $300 billion from the tobacco companies as payment for a half century of deception on the dangers of smoking. The industry concealed evidence on the addictability of Nicotine and the health effects of smoking, which the government declared was the cause of bad health and deaths in the millions over the past half century.

The industry is complaining that their First Amendment rights are under attack, as they try to defend against government arguments. This tack is worrisome, as the Supreme Court last month declared that corporations were persons who had First Amendment rights including unlimited political campaign spending. One wonders if the Court will rule in favor of the tobacco companies, which would be a horrible message to send the nation.

Many different health groups are supporting the government’s lawsuit, with the hope that the tobacco industry will be required to pay for an education campaign to prevent people from deciding to smoke, and helping others quit smoking.

This is a case to watch, one of the most important in recent memory in the field of public health!