The State of New Jersey is doing its utmost to fight off
the ravages of Covid-19. Most of the efforts are being done voluntarily (social
distancing) but other efforts are being done at the direction of the governor.
Governor Philip Murphy, by edict, has closed most of the smaller retail
establishments in the state. It’s obvious that with fixed costs and no revenue
many of these establishments will not reopen. Murphy’s edicts “that you will
close” do not seem to have any weight in law. The proprietors close because of
fear of the local police or county sheriff paying them a visit. Using the
threat of arrest, prosecution, and possibly, incarceration Murphy was wildly
successful in getting the “little people” to toe his line.
U.S. Army Spc. Jabari Ashanti, a Combat Medic with the 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Army National Guard (NJARNG), checks a resident’s blood pressure at the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park in Edison, N.J., April 17, 2020. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Andrew J. Moseley)
Many New Jerseyans in today’s COVID-19 world will have to observe Mother’s Day Sunday without their mother – and not just because of social distancing requirements. Coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on elderly moms (and dads).
The state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities for the elderly have accounted for more than half of New Jersey’s 9,116 coronavirus fatalities. Additionally, through Saturday, 26,031 COVID-19 cases have been reported at 515 long-term care facilities across the state, making it impossible for many thousands of Jerseyans to give thanks to their mothers in person.
“We waited,” Gov. Phil Murphy said, “because we wanted to get it right.”Governor Murphy said that in response to a question about whether he waited too long to call for our state lockdown.
Sometimes hesitating to “get it right” is wise. Other times it’s the hesitation itself that dooms one to failure. Now Governor Murphy faces a similar test of judgment regarding opening our state back up and potentially saving, or killing our economy.
We faced several major health threats in the last century – Spanish Flu of 1918 and Hong Kong flu in ‘68. But if you ask people today to name t… Read the rest of this entry »
The framers of the Constitution saw men like Governor Phil
Murphy coming. They knew that once you
grant government the power to do something you like, you
risk the next person in office using that power to do something you don’t
like. Since power can’t be policed
through generations, constitutions are written to limit government power in the
first place.
Tom Brokaw referred to the generation that went through World War II as the Greatest Generation. He was referring not only to the servicemen, but to those at home who sacrificed and contributed in so many ways to the war effort. The period was marked by Rosie the Riveter, war bonds, rationing, and, in misty memories, a united country working together to defeat a common enemy.
I would like to think of that generation as Tom Brokaw described it. Frankly, it feels a lot better than dissecting what really happened and dwelling on the isolated instances that stained that period.
The Chinese government must be held accountable for the Covid-19 disinformation campaign it has waged against the world. This propaganda operation has ground the global economy to an almost full stop and contributed to the death of tens of thousands. Few places have not felt the impact of the misinformation and purposely incomplete data the Chinese Communist dictatorship released after the pandemic began in its borders. Whether the chatter in global intelligence circles that Covid-19 was engineered pans out or not, we must always bear in mind that this a regime which holds a million Uighar Muslims in concentration camps, arrests Christians and followers of Falun Gong regularly for freely exercising faith, and which not so many months ago, was facing massive protests by Hong Kongers objecting to the erosion of their freedoms enjoyed nowhere else in the Chinese dictatorship. Bottom line, the Chinese Communist dictatorship lied and people around the world died.
Seventy-two years
ago, this week—on April 7, 1948—the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded
to organize global responses to infectious disease pandemics that respect no
national boundaries.
Its effectiveness depends heavily on
the good will of its member states, and the competence and trustworthiness of
its leadership.
The coronavirus pandemic revealed
China’s malign influence on the leadership of WHO, and a glaring accountability
and transparency deficit at WHO centered around Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus.
I always wondered whether the intent of the Great Flood was for Noah to start a new world or whether it was really a test of those already living here − a test that everyone else managed to fail. When confronted with the flood, Noah chose to save the animals and act in a positive manner. Others ignored the warnings, did nothing to protect themselves or the earth, mocked Noah, and perished. Remember that the prime innate characteristic mankind is free will. For good. For bad.
America will get through the Covidviral crisis. With the suspension of many bad regulations, some of which limited the supply of lifesaving medical supplies; the might of American industry producing vital medical equipment; the truckers driving long distances with few rest stops open; the farmers and farmhands keeping their fellow Americans in quarantine fed; and food store and pharmacy employees, forgoing the safety of their homes in heavily hit urban areas high in Covid cases, stocking the stores so that we can keep a bit of normalcy while we fight this unseen enemy; we will prevail. We will never forget and long remember the front-line troops of this war, the EMTs, doctors, and nurses working 12-plus hour shifts in environments none of us would want to.
But if we are to recover financially after we do
so medically, now more than ever it is necessary for New Jersey’s economic
future to reform the punitive system of public pilfering and overspending that even
before the Covid epidemic kept our state’s economy from job generation and
prosperity. America will recover from the onslaught of the Covidvirus, which
has already taken the lives of too many as we flatten the curve, produce more
lifesaving equipment, search for treatments, and heaven willing, develop a
vaccine. But New Jersey will not recover economically, and its residents will
not be able to rebuild financially until massive radical structural and
systemic changes are implemented across the board.
The possibility that coronavirus (Covid-19) or some other new disease could wreak havoc in the United States and overwhelm our public health systems should give us all pause. The status and visibility of public health in America is so diminished that many people probably do not know what the term “public health” means, and most cannot name key public health leaders, for example, who is our surgeon general?While the coronavirus spreads, the public is looking for expert advice and clear plans, but our leaders are failing. President Trump is sharing off the cuff unscientific opin… Read the rest of this entry »
