Now that the Supreme Court has refused to intervene and halt the Texas abortion law from going into effect, we can safely assume that other Republican-controlled states will likely follow suit with similar laws.  It is disgusting that the legislators and the governor feel like they have the right to dictate the terms of an individual woman’s right to be responsible for her own reproductive health, but the scariest part of this law is the provision that allows any citizen to bring a law suit against anyone they suspect of violating the provisions of this law.  That includes, for example, anyone driving a woman to an abortion provider.  And these ordinary citizens are promised a payout of at least $10,000 if they win their case.

One can just imagine a whole new legal specialty cropping up where lawyers will file these suits right and left just to get a piece of the action.  Even if someone was actually driving another person to the grocery store and some zealous vigilante pro-life citizen accuses of them of going to an abortion clinic, the person will have to potentially defend themselves in court.  How many ordinary citizens have money just sitting around to pay for legal expenses due to some frivolous accusation?  This smacks a lot like the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 in which 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were actually executed.   With a $10,000 payday (or perhaps ‘bounty’ is a better word) out there, how many people do you believe will be falsely accused in Texas?  Or now that any Tom, Dick or Harry can carry a weapon in Texas, perhaps the vigilantes will just shoot those that they believe are breaking their interpretation of the law.

This is very dangerous ground we are on.  Now that the Supreme Court has refused to weigh in on this Texas abortion law, what is to keep Texas or other states from using this novel legal approach to enact other laws designed to skirt Federal statutes and use implicitly deputized citizens to enforce those laws.  Is it possible that some zealous state attorney general, in concert with a Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor, could try to enact laws discriminating against members of the LGBTQ community, people of color or followers of religions other than Christianity, and use citizens to enforce these new laws?  Of course, most of us, would respond that isn’t possible because all of those groups are protected by Federal statutes.  Access to abortion is protected under Federal statute – and they found a way around that, with the help of our Supreme Court.

The part of this law that concerns me the most is the empowerment of ordinary, and now armed, citizens to ‘enforce’ this law.  Is this the beginning of the Republican’s version of the infamous Brown Shirts made famous in the leadup to World War II in Nazi Germany?  Imagine for a second what is likely to occur in the 2022 elections in Texas.  Under the new election law partisan poll watchers will be able to have virtually unimpeded access to polling places.  It is a sure bet that many of these individuals will be armed.  Do you really think there will be no instances of voter intimidation – or worse under the guise that these armed, partisan citizens are simply enforcing the law.

And since under the new law, even if there are allegations of voting irregularity, the legislature can intervene and assume control of the election from the officials normally charged with administering elections and counting the votes.   Given that the Republicans control Texas, what do you think will happen if it appears a Democratic candidate is going to win a critical election?  There will no doubt be allegations of voting irregularities which will allow the Republicans to force the outcome they want.  And if there are protests against such action, one can only imagine that the already emboldened and well-armed citizens that are being asked to enforce the abortion law, would be called upon to back such a Republican decision to overturn an election.  It is a recipe for violence and we have seen it before.

To make matters even worse, while we are squandering resources and tying up the court system with issues like abortion and voting restrictions, the infrastructure in this country continues to crumble, the country is getting ravaged by extreme weather events due to climate change and thousands of Americans are dying needlessly due to a pandemic fraught with misinformation and politics.  I think there is a saying that is quite fitting for what is going on in Texas and most other Republican-controlled states, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.”

Texas just passed a law which outlaws almost all abortions and worse yet, has essentially deputized the citizenry to enforce the law.   It caused me to think more about this whole ‘rights’ issue and I find it very confusing.  I would guess that there is a very large overlap between the people who are very anti-mask and the people who are anti-abortion.  Both of these issues seem to be hallmarks of most conservatives/Republicans.  In many of the anti-mask rallies across the United States you see signs that say “My body, my right”.  However, these same people refuse to extend the same right to a woman to make decisions about her own reproductive health.  How the hell does that make any sense at all?  If people insist that they have the ‘right’ to wear a mask or not, or they have the right to get a vaccination or not, because it is their body and then turn around and dictate to all women how they will manage their own bodies with respect to their reproductive health, that is the height of hypocrisy.   And hypocrisy seems to be becoming the hallmark of the Republican party.

Last year I responded to a letter in the Bozeman Chronicle about this issue.  The points I brought up then are still as relevant now.  It’s easy to throw up your arms and say that you are against abortion.  It is a completely different issue to come up with a realistic and workable solution to the very real problem of what to do with all of the babies that the pro-life crowd are insisting being carried to term.  Perhaps all of the people who are so adamantly pro-life and insist the almost all abortions should be outlawed would be willing to sign up to adopt enough children to close the gap.   There are about 600,000 abortions in this country every year.  There are about 140,000 adoptions a year.  Do the friggin’ math!!

I can’t believe there is anyone who would be naïve enough to believe that if abortion is made illegal, people will stop having sex and there will not continue to be thousands upon thousands of unplanned pregnancies.   Abstinence has not worked for thousands of years.  To make matters even worse, many of the same people who want to outlaw abortions are the same people who want to cut social services and have no universal healthcare.  How the hell is this supposed to work?   

The other fact that seems to be totally overlooked is the fact that 2/3 of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned and want to continue to allow women access to abortions.  So, you have a very vocal minority forcing an unpopular policy onto a population that does not support it.  This was tried once before during Prohibition.  That turned out to be a disaster and these continued efforts to restrict abortions and/or overturn Roe v. Wade will suffer the same fate.  It will be a disaster unless someone can construct an endgame solution that takes into account the very real gap between the number of abortions and the number of adoptions.  If that doesn’t exist – disaster is inevitable. 

It doesn’t matter whether you personally believe in abortions or not.  The simple fact is we have to enact policies based upon the real world and real facts.  Policies implemented based upon emotion that have no clear answer to real world issues will inevitably cause more problems than they purport to solve.

Texas also joined Montana in passing a law to allow virtually anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.  They have also enacted the most restrictive voting rights act in the country.  Perhaps we should have allowed Texas to secede after all.  And then Governor Abbott can build a wall around the whole damned state and all Texans can exercise their ‘rights’ to their hearts content – of course, only those rights that the Republican politicians and Governor Abbott wish to bestow upon the serfs in their kingdom.

My letter to the Chronicle follows.

“Mr. Arnone states in his most recent letter, “Denying life to a newborn is not a Montana value.”   It should read, “Denying life to a newborn is not MY value.”  I am a resident of Montana and I resent the fact that Mr. Arnone believes he speaks for me – he doesn’t.  Furthermore, in previous letters, Mr. Arnone has talked about the need for “less government.”  And yet, he wants the government to be able to intrude on these types of personal decisions.  If less government is better – then let’s be consistent.  It’s easy to throw up your arms and state that you’re ‘personally’ against abortion.  So, let’s look at the data.  Every year there are about 600,000¹ (plus or minus) abortions in this country.  Historically there are, on average, 140,000²  adoptions per year.   So, what happens to the roughly 450,000 babies that Mr. Arnone and others insist be carried to term?  It is unrealistic to think there will be 450,000 more adoptions/year.  The data since 1940 do not support that.  Or, shall we have the US Dept of Babies?  Less government?  Oh, yeah, that won’t work.   People will not stop having sex – hasn’t happened in thousands of years.  Wealthy and upper middle-class women will simply go out of the country.  So, you are left with a whole population of women, who can’t afford to have babies, who will either go further into poverty or get back-alley abortions (which will result in some women dying and apparently Mr. Arnone doesn’t care about them!).  So, until Mr. Arnone can offer a REALISTIC solution, I suggest that he not attempt to speak for me about such personal decisions.   It is not a ‘Montana’ value.  A real ‘Montana’ value is to respect everyone’s right to live their life and make their own decisions – period!”

1. Data & Statistics – Reproductive Health | CDC
2. US Adoption Statistics | Adoption Network | Adoption Network

I admit that I’m confused.  I’m confused because I read all of these stories about school board meetings filled with screaming and yelling and sometimes physical threats all because of this whole mask issue.  I just don’t understand it.  Our lives are filled with ‘requirements’ every single day of our lives and most are just accepted with no controversy and we go about our lives.  Most of these requirements are designed to protect ourselves and those around us.

If a parent allows their child to play football, the children are required to wear pads and a football helmet.  It’s not optional.  I can’t imagine any parent in their right mind arguing that they have a constitutional right to object to their child wearing a football helmet and pads.  Why are helmets and pads required?  They are required to help ensure the safety of everyone on the football field, particularly for the child wearing them.  The same is true for kids playing hockey.  Pads are required to help ensure the safety of the participants.  There is really no controversy around these requirements. The fact is, about a dozen kids die from football related issues annually. Contrast that with the hundreds of pediatric deaths attributed to COVID.

The parents who drive their kids to school and the school bus drivers they entrust their kids are required to drive on the right side of the road (at least in this country).  Why?  Because it ensures the safety of everyone.  No one has a constitutional right to drive on whichever side of the road they feel like a any given moment.  Requiring everyone to drive on the right side of the road is a way to ensure the safety of the general public as we all move around. 

We are required to be sober when we operate motor vehicles.  Why?  To ensure the safety and well being of the general public.  Almost all would agree that drunk drivers impose a risk on society that we don’t want.  The laws against drunk driving are make in the interest of public safety.  I don’t recall any instant when someone was claiming they have a constitutional right to drive drunk.

Many states have passed comprehensive anti-smoking laws that prohibit smoking in most indoor areas.  Why?  The data clearly show that second hand smoke is detrimental to everyone, whether or not they smoke or not.  The anti-smoking laws are made in the interest of public health.  There have been a few legal challenges to these laws but in almost all cases, the courts have ruled that public health concerns override an individual’s constitutional right to smoke wherever they choose.  

Here in Montana, Governor Gianforte has stated that parents should have the final decision on whether or not their children should wear masks.  Perhaps while we’re at it, we should allow parents to have the final decision on homework.  Perhaps before a teacher gives students their final grades for the semester, we should give parents the final say on what grade their students get.   Since so many of these parents want the final say in their child’s academic environment, we should just go back to homeschooling and remote learning.  Oh yeah, we tried that.

Once again, I’m confused.  All of these very vocal anti-mask parents are also very vocal about wanting their kids to go back to school and are tired of remote learning.  Pediatric cases of COVID are skyrocketing across the country as kids return to school and yet these same parents who want their kids back in school are unwilling to do anything to ensure the schools can operate safely for all students and teachers.  As more and more kids get infected with this Delta virus, you can expect more and more teachers to also get infected.  No doubt there will be a lot of teachers who decide the risk is just not worth it, just like what is going on in the healthcare profession with nurses, and leave for another career.  How is any of this helping kids return to school?

Our lives are filled with requirements which are designed to make our society safer for everyone and under which we all operate everyday without much controversy.  And yet, this whole mask issue has taken on a whole different dimension.  The only explanation is that the controversy is being stoked by a torrent of misinformation by individuals who have no credible scientific or medical credentials, and politicians whose sole goal is to score political points regardless of the number of lives they put at risk. 

It is probably only a matter of time before some parent who was adamantly against mask mandates for their children in school, sues a school district after their child contracts and dies from COVID, for failing to provide a safe learning environment for the children.  Think it won’t happen – of course it will.  [This is along the same vein as those who ask for the COVID vaccine after they are admitted to the ICU in the hospital.]   The only real question is how many children’s lives will be unnecessarily sacrificed on the altar of ‘individual freedom’ because of this ridiculous debate?

1. CDC: 335 Children Ages 17 and Under Have Died of COVID in U.S. During Pandemic | CNSNews

My travel plans for spending October in Portugal have all been cancelled – unfortunately.  The European Union recommended that all 27 member countries restrict travel for people from the United States given the soaring number of cases here.  The recommendation is not mandatory for all of the member states and they are free to make their own individual decisions with respect to US residents on non-essential travel.  However, even if Portugal doesn’t immediately follow this recommendation, I decided it was not worth the risk of getting caught up in rapidly changing rules and possible quarantine laws.  Tourist season will essentially be over in October so I think there is a much higher probability that more onerous restrictions will be put in place as cases continue to rise in the fall and winter.  I will regroup and start planning another trip for next spring when things will hopefully be a bit better.  It’s so frustrating because it didn’t have to be this way.

What is even more astounding is the complete and utter denial of how serious and how deadly this virus is.  Three prominent conservative radio hosts who were constantly spewing anti-vaccine rhetoric are now dead from COVID.  The most recent is Marc Bernier who had been a presence in the Daytona Beach media world for 30 years.  He billed himself as “Mr. Anti-Vax,” and now he is dead – needlessly.  The other prominent conservative radio hosts who spewed anti-vaccine rhetoric and who also recently died of COVID are Phil Valentine (61) and Dick Farrel (65).   After contracting COVID, both Valentine and Farrel encouraged people to get the vaccine – no shit!  One has to wonder how many people died needlessly because they listened to and believed the anti-vaccine nonsense these men spouted before their unfortunate and unnecessary deaths.

If I were cynical and prone to conspiracy theories, I might be tempted to believe that the conservative media and prominent Republican politicians actually want to ensure the COVID pandemic continues well into next year so they can use that as a political weapon in the 2022 elections.   Would politicians really be willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of American lives to further their ‘cause’ of regaining control of the House, the Senate and eventually the White House?  It’s hard to believe that could be true but it’s becoming harder and harder to understand any other rational explanation for the virulent anti-mask and anti-vaccine rhetoric being spewed.  Getting this pandemic under control is so within reach if people would do two simple things – wear masks in accordance with CDC guidelines and get vaccinated as soon as possible.   It must be that some segment of the population just wants this misery to continue.  It’s hard to reach any other conclusion.

If the rhetoric surrounding masks and vaccines isn’t bad enough, there are more and more conservative media personnel and Republican politicians who are actually talking about a violent overthrow of the government.   I have included an excerpt from the most recent blog of Heather Cox Richardson² about this very issue.  I would encourage everyone to read the entire blog post.  It is really quite frightening.

“Last week, Peter Wehner, who served in the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, pointed out in The Atlantic that the right wing has moved to such extremism that former president Trump, whose behavior seemed so shocking in 2015 and 2016, is now being sidelined by lawmakers and pundits who are even more extreme.

Yesterday, in an event hosted by the Macon County Republican Party, Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) insisted that the January 6 rioters are “political hostages” and said he wanted to “bust them out.” When someone in the audience asked “When are you going to call us to Washington again?” he said, “We are actively working on that one…. We have a few plans in motion that I can’t make public right now.” He called for removing Biden from office under the 25th Amendment and added, “when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down, one at a time.” He concluded by saying: “The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays…. The Second Amendment was written so that we can fight against tyranny.””

In the series Game of Thrones there was a line many people used throughout the entire 9 season run, “Winter is coming.”  I think we are in our own Game of Thrones and ‘Winter is coming.’

1. He was ‘Mr. Anti Vax.’ Now, another Florida conservative radio host is dead of COVID (msn.com)
2. Heather Cox Richardson

I have been teetering on the edge about taking my trip to Portugal in a month.  Well, thanks to all of the people in this country who have refused to help get this COVID pandemic under control by getting vaccinated and wearing masks, the EU is apparently going to recommend once again shutting its borders to US citizens given the exponential rise in cases in this country, so the decision will be made for me!¹ I guess I should be thankful on the one hand that postponing this trip will save me a bunch of money – at least in the short term.  On the other hand, it really pisses me off that all of these people who are screaming ‘freedom’ seem to think their rights are more important than the rights of all of the rest of us.

While thinking about this whole issue, I think I’ve come up with a solution that should appeal, in some respects, to both sides.  Many years ago in Hawaii, when people came down with leprosy, they were sent to the colony at Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai.  Since there was no treatment for leprosy at the time, these people were sent there to basically live out their days.  My guess, had there been a vaccine for leprosy at the time, most people would have taken it, but that’s another discussion.  I digress.

In the current situation, there is a way to prevent and contain this disease and since people are refusing to take those steps, I would propose the following.  If people refuse to get vaccinated and they contract COVID, I believe they should be shipped to a special COVID colony.  Right now, since Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, I nominate Alabama to be the COVID colony.  I would further propose that the Federal government build a wall around Alabama (we know how much Republicans like building walls at borders!) to ensure that COVID-positive patients could not ‘escape.’  Kalaupapa was isolated because of a high cliff so there was only one way in and one way out.

The hospitals in the Alabama COVID colony could be staffed by those health care workers who object to being vaccinated.  The police force could be staffed by those individuals who object to being vaccinated.  And the schools could be staffed by those teachers who object to the COVID vaccines and they would never have to worry about mask mandates again.

We would, of course, make sure the Alabama COVID colony is supplied with sufficient supplies of hydro chloroquine, bleach, and Ivermectin.  As you may or may not know, Ivermectin is the latest treatment for COVID being ballyhooed by the likes of Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham and others in the Conservative media.  It is a medicine that is normally used for livestock, i.e., to treat horses and cattle for things like worms.  There is no sense sending any COVID vaccines to the Alabama COVID colony because they won’t be used.   We should also make sure that the Colony is supplied with a sufficient supply of body bags, coffins and back hoes needed to dig graves.  

Unlike leprosy, some people will recover from COVID and when they appear to have recovered, we could set up something like a halfway house to quarantine them for 14 days to make sure they are no longer contagious.  For this, perhaps we could annex part of Mississippi for this effort.  We would have to build another wall but, like I said, Republicans like to build walls so this shouldn’t be an issue.  If people survived their stay in the Alabama COVID colony and they successfully quarantined in the Mississippi annex, they could be released back into society.  However, as a condition for their release they would have to get vaccinated.  If they failed to get fully vaccinated within thirty days of their release, they would be subject to a $20,000 fine (average cost of treating a COVID patient) and sent back to the Alabama COVID colony.

If you think this is a ridiculous proposal, think about the fact that people with large audiences are actively promoting the use of expensive medicines normally used for livestock to treat COVID versus a proven, effective and free vaccine that is specifically designed for humans.  I think this is a case of horses’ asses with no horse sense promoting horseshit.  Mr. Ed would be so proud!  It’s going to be a long winter!

Well, as much fun as this has been, I need to excuse myself so I can go start cancelling all of my travel arrangements. 

1. EU to recommend reinstating Covid-related travel restrictions on US, reports say | CNN Travel  

I, for one, am getting very tired of hearing about people’s ‘constitutional rights’ to refuse to get vaccinated and wear masks in order to help stop the spread of this pandemic that is affecting each and every one of us.  The fact is, these selfish decisions are not only putting the health of others at risk but they are costing all of us real dollars.  According to a recent report¹, unvaccinated Americans who were hospitalized, cost the U.S. health care system $2.3 billion (yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘b’) for just this past June and July (that’s only for two months!).  And who do you think is going to pay that bill?²  That’s right – you and I.

Insurance companies, generally not known for their altruism, are not going to eat the costs of treating COVID patients.  They are going to, one way or another, pass those costs along to all of their customers.  If your response is simply that they will get reimbursed by ‘the government,’ that is nonsense.  Who is ‘the government’ and where does the government get their money – from all of us taxpayers!  Whether the insurance companies and hospitals start billing all of us directly for these increased costs, or they get reimbursed through some government program, we are all paying the costs of these stupid, selfish decisions.

Not only are these people costing all of the rest of us real dollars but they are having a huge negative impact on the ability of the healthcare system to respond to non-COVID medical issues.  The news is replete with accounts of hospitals stopping all elective surgeries because they are so overwhelmed with COVID patients, almost all of whom are unvaccinated.  Emergency rooms are flooded with COVID patients so if your normal heart attack or car crash victim comes through the door, their chances of survival are reduced because resources are strained and staff are exhausted and stretched way to thin.  Do the people refusing to get vaccinated and follow public health measures really have a constitutional right to overwhelm the healthcare system and put the rest of us at risk?

Ironically, many of the same people who wrap themselves in their Conservative beliefs about freedom to make these decisions, scream bloody murder about the cost of illegal immigration to the US taxpayers.  Just look at any Conservative website like that of the Heritage Foundation and you will see articles decrying the cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer.  And yet, these same people are making decisions that are costing all of us real taxpayer dollars and real dollars out of our pockets from the higher insurance premiums that will inevitably come. 

Some companies, such as Delta Airlines, have enacted policies that will result in staff members who refuse to get vaccinated, a monthly insurance premium increase of $200 per month.  That’s the way it should be.  All of these people who are costing us money should start having to pay their share of the bill that they have created.  People who smoke pay higher insurance premiums.  People who refuse to get vaccinated should be in the same category.  Society as a whole should not have to pay the cost incurred by people making stupid selfish decisions.

Most state and local governments have enacted laws prohibiting smoking inside buildings and in certain other designated areas.  Why? Because the science found that exposure to second hand smoke was jeopardizing the health of other people!  So, now these same government entities have enacted laws to prohibit such things as mask mandates when it has been proven that mask wearing helps stop the spread of this disease and jeopardizing the health of other people!  How does that make any sense whatsoever?

Given the current availability of COVID vaccines and the fact that they are free, there is absolutely no excuse for people not to get vaccinated except for some misguided notion of ‘freedom’.  Unfortunately, these people crying ‘freedom’ are really saying a big ‘Fuck You!’ to the rest of us and it is adversely impacting all of our lives and our wallets.  It is way past time for all of these people to start bearing the cost of their selfish decisions. 

The fact is, the biggest threat to the security of all Americans today does not come from illegal immigrants, potential terrorists that might have slipped into the United States via the evacuation of Afghan refugees, or from Democratic ‘socialists.  The biggest threat to the security and safety of all Americans today is the collective stupidity of all of the people who refuse to take basic public health measures by wrapping themselves in some misguided understanding of ‘Constitutional rights.’ 

1. Unvaccinated Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 cost the U.S. health care system $2.3 billion in June and July: report (msn.com)
2. Unvaccinated Covid Patients Cost U.S. Health System Billions — And They’re Not The Ones Paying For It (forbes.com)

In the wake of the tragic bombing at the Kabul airport, a number of Republicans have called for President Biden to resign for ‘lack of leadership.’  The audacity to make such statements is staggering in light of the actions of the previous administration.  One of the signs of a true leader is a willingness to accept responsibility for the decisions they make and for the personnel under their direction, even if those decisions are controversial.  I defy anyone to point to one controversial decision that Trump made for which he took full responsibility.   His gross mishandling of the COVID pandemic from the beginning resulted in tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of American lives lost.  Did he take any responsibility for any of that?  Of course not. 

Imagine if you will, if Trump had won a second term and he was in charge now.  First of all, the deal he negotiated with the Taliban, without inclusion of the Afghan government, called for the American withdrawal to have been completed by May of this year.  What do you think would have happened if Trump had been in charge?  You just have to reflect back to what happened in Syria when Trump abruptly pulled American troops out of the region and abandoned our Kurdish allies.  Do you think that Trump would have embarked on the massive airlift of personnel that you now see going on?  Hell no.

Trump would have pulled out the American troops and basically said, ‘Screw you,’ to the thousands of Afghans who are now safe due to the airlift undertaken by this administration.  We know this is true because of Trump’s well-known distaste for immigrants and refugees.  If you really think this would have been handled any better under a Trump administration, you have not been paying attention. 

These calls for Biden to resign ring especially hollow because as you recall, the previous president was impeached – twice.  He fomented an insurrection at the United States capitol when, for the first time in American history, he refused to concede in an election he clearly lost by 7 million votes.  And these idiot Republicans have the audacity to call for Biden to resign.  Once again, the hypocrisy is staggering.

As I stated yesterday, these same people who are calling for Biden to resign are some of the same people who are directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of American lives because of a complete disregard of scientific and medical data to promote proven public health measures.  If anyone should resign, it should be these people who have shown that they value politics, greed and power over trying to save American lives.

As the war in Afghanistan is coming to a close, the war on voting rights here in this country is just heating up.  One would have thought that after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s that this issue would have been settled 50 years ago.  However, we are again.  Today, there are going to be a number of Protect Voting Rights marches across the country to protest the voter suppression laws being enacted in most Republican-controlled states.

One would think, if the Republican platform and policies were widely popular, they would want to do everything in their power to encourage more and more people to vote.  Given that they are doing the exact opposite of that and are trying to limit the number of people who can vote, with a focus primarily on laws that will have a large impact on people of color, it is easy to understand why they are doing what they are doing.  The Republican platform and policies are not widely popular across the majority of America and, in fact, the ‘base’ of the Republican Party is shrinking. 

Rather than adjust their policies and platform to better reflect the constantly evolving demographics and ideologies that make up this country, they have chosen instead to try to freeze time, not recognize that the country is a living, breathing and evolving entity, and create and live in an alternate reality.  Following this path will just contribute to the ongoing tension, polarization and divisiveness in this country.  It is unsustainable in the long run.  History is replete with examples of empires and societies that tried to do exactly the same thing – they all eventually rupture.  We should all brace ourselves for what is coming, “Civil Rights Movement – Act 2”! 

I can see it now, the current Republican leadership and all of the ‘Dark Money’ behind them are probably sitting up in their plush offices, looking down on the masses with an air of entitlement like they know, better than anyone else, what is good for the country (and their wallet) and, in the infamous words attributed (rightly or wrongly) to Marie Antoinette, saying “Let them eat cake.”  And we know how well that worked out for her! 

It was almost inevitable that a terrorist attack would occur in Kabul during this effort to extricate Americans and allies.  The fact is, it is very difficult to stop suicide bombers and they have been around a while.¹ Of course, that will not stop the finger pointing and blaming that will likely follow.  At the last count I am aware of, 13 US soldiers died and 18 were injured.  In addition, a significant number of Afghans were also killed or injured.  It is an absolute tragedy.  There is no way to sugar coat it, particularly for the families of those involved.

I want to make it very clear that I am not minimizing in any way the tragic loss of life and injuries of those involved.  However, I would like to add some context.  We would all agree that this significant loss of life is tragic and everything should have been done to prevent it.  I do find some irony, however, in the fact that the people who are screaming the loudest and are the quickest to place blame are the same individuals who are directly or indirectly contributing to deaths of Americans by the thousands here at home.

With the Delta variant of COVID-19 raging across the United States, there is now an average of more than 1,000 deaths per day due to this virus.³   Current predictions estimate another 100,000 people will die between now and December 1^st unless behavior changes in this country.² One would think that every politician would want to do everything in their power to mitigate this plague – but we see that is not true.  Over 100 people die in the United States every single day due to firearms.⁴ One would think that every politician and citizen would want to do everything in their power to solve this problem – but we see that is not true.  Over 100 people die in the United States every single day due to automobile accidents.⁵ That hardly even makes a headline any more.

In the United States 350,000 premature deaths are due to the continued use of fossil fuels.⁶ One would think that all of the politicians and citizens would be willing to do everything possible to solve that problem – but we see that is not true.  We see extreme weather events such as droughts, hurricanes, and heat waves that most credible scientists agree are the direct result of climate change.  It is widely viewed as the most existential crisis facing the planet today.  One would think that every politician and citizen would want to do everything in their power to address this issue – but we see that is not true.

There will no doubt be many headlines, news stories and Congressional investigations into the tragedy in Kabul.  Regardless of all of the hype, solving the problem of suicide bombers is extremely difficult and almost impossible to prevent.  Whereas, all of the problems that result in far more American deaths as outlined above and for which there are solutions – remain unsolved due to nothing but politics, greed and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for power at any cost.

Right now, on average, one thousand Americans are dying every single day from COVID and yet we have talking heads on TV spewing misinformation about masks and vaccines.  We have governors and Republican-controlled legislatures doing everything they can to ensure this pandemic continues and more American lives are lost over and above the more than 640,000 that have already been lost because of politically motivated, anti-science decisions.   Parents are filing lawsuits as school districts try to implement mask mandates to protect all of the students under their care. ⁷

So, in the coming weeks and months as the events in Kabul take on the same look as the infamous Benghazi hearings, particularly if the Republicans retake the House and/or the Senate in 2022, just remember the people who are screaming the loudest trying to fix blame for political gains are the same people who have failed to address issues at home that have killed and will continue to kill orders of magnitude more Americans.  The roar of the hypocrisy is deafening.

1. The Human Use of Human Beings: A Brief History of Suicide Bombing | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective (osu.edu)
2. Page A4 | E-Edition | bozemandailychronicle.com
3. US COVID-19 cases and deaths by state | USAFacts
4. Firearm Violence Prevention |Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC
5. Car Accident Statistics — Lawcore.com
6. Fossil fuel air pollution responsible for 1 in 5 deaths worldwide – C-CHANGE | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
7. Parents file lawsuit over MCPS mask requirement | ABC Fox Missoula | montanarightnow.com

Yesterday I argued that people do not have an unlimited constitutional right to take actions when those actions can cause harm to others.  Imagine my surprise when I read an opinion piece later in the day that made the same argument – certainly much more eloquent than I did.  I have included that entire opinion piece below because I think it is well worth reading.  The piece focuses on vaccinations but it seems to me that the same argument is valid for mask mandates as well.

You do not have the ‘constitutional right’ to refuse the Covid-19 vaccine.

   Opinion by Marci Hamilton and Paul Offit

Marci Hamilton is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and CEO of CHILD USA, a nonprofit think tank working to end child abuse and neglect in the US. Dr. Paul Offit is director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  

(CNN)Now that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer/ BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, it’s time for all governments across the country to mandate the vaccine for people taking part in indoor activities. There are no more valid excuses for not being vaccinated other than health reasons.

One frequently heard pushback against vaccine mandates is that there is a “constitutional right” to choose whether to be vaccinated or not for adults and a right to determine whether children can be vaccinated. That is a non-starter in the midst of a pandemic.

The Constitution is not a suicide pact guaranteeing a right to harm others. The government has latitude to protect citizens from deadly conditions, especially when the science supporting vaccination is so clear.

The bioethicist, professor Arthur Caplan of New York University, has made a compelling case for the moral mandate to require vaccination. Appearing with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a news briefing last month to address the city mandating vaccines for all municipal workers, he argued that the new policy “makes good, ethical and public health sense” and that “it will help all of us by keeping the COVID outbreak controlled.”

We agree, but also believe that the public needs to better understand that there is no constitutional right to avoid vaccine mandates against a deadly disease.

With respect to children, parents do not have carte blanche. At one time, children were the property of their fathers, but that is no longer the case. Children are “persons” under the Constitution, and as the ruling in Prince v. Massachusetts held, parents do not have a constitutional right to make martyrs of their children. Parents have an obligation to protect their children’s health and life, which means that the school district mandates that reduce the risk of death to children should be enforceable, period.

Now there’s no excuse for not requiring vaccinations

Those challenging the government mandates are likely to invoke their rights under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, which protect speech, religion, and a right not to “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Their view ends up as a snapshot of themselves; nonetheless, rights can be limited if a person is endangering another.

It’s a sentiment that came up in the 1905 Supreme Court decision in the case Jacobson v. Massachusetts. The court ruled against a man who had refused to be vaccinated against smallpox, stating: “Real liberty for all could not exist under the operation of a principle which recognizes the right of each individual person to use his own (liberty), whether in respect of his person or his property, regardless of the injury that may be done to others.” That same principle was apparent when Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is thought to be a strong rights-advocate, left standing Indiana University’s vaccine mandate.

The government may prohibit otherwise constitutionally protected conduct to save the lives of others.

For example, it is well-settled that governments can ban yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater, because such speech can lead to death as attendees race to the exits. True, the First Amendment’s Speech Clause protects the “freedom of speech,” but there is no requirement that the government can’t prevent scenarios likely leading to death.

The same reasoning applies to vaccine mandates. The Supreme Court explicitly upheld vaccine mandates against deadly diseases in Jacobson, where it explained: “the rights of the individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.” We live in a country of ordered liberty, not individual autonomy that paves the way to the deaths of others. In short, it is not the right of every American citizen to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection

We would posit, further, that governments that don’t mandate vaccination against Covid-19 are skating very close to violating the standard for a constitutional right to “life” without due process. If a government does not take reasonable action to prevent the likely deaths of so many people, there will be more lawsuits. Already, we’ve seen schools filing lawsuits against former Trump administration officials and individuals suing the World Health Organization contending that they mishandled the Covid-19 response.

The depth of the science and the worldwide experience show plainly that vaccination is the best protection from this pandemic, and that the faster we reach herd immunity the more likely it will be that people won’t die from this virus, hospitals won’t be overburdened, and the economy will fully recover.

It is reckless at this point for the government not to mandate vaccination. Some politicians have falsely told Americans that they have a constitutional right to refuse vaccination. This is a license to potentially infect others with a deadly disease when the Supreme Court has consistently held otherwise.

Children and adults have a constitutional right to “life” that can only be protected if there is mass vaccination. It’s time for state and local governments to issue vaccine mandates and fines — as New York and San Francisco have — before this virus mutates into an even more elusive killer than it already is.

I must say I’m still on the fence about my upcoming trip to Portugal.  Now that booster shots are being recommended, I’m debating if I’d be smarter to wait until spring to make the trip (I don’t think Portugal is going anywhere).  I would be due for a booster shot in December and, presumably, the world might look a little more ‘COVID-friendly’ by next spring.  My biggest concern is getting stuck somewhere or having to quarantine overseas due to either a positive COVID test or a change in rules while I’m on the road.  I guess if I was 30 years old as opposed to 70 (when I take the trip) I wouldn’t be quite so concerned.    I’ll keep flipping my coin and see what happens.  I purposely made all of my arrangements to be refundable or cancellable.

As an example of how fast things can change with respect to COVID, New Zealand, which has been living a fairly normal life for the last few months, announced a strict lockdown for the entire country due to an outbreak that started just last week.  Last week, New Zealand announced its first community COVID-19 cases since February.  In the past week, that has grown to 210 total cases with 62 of those being reported on Wednesday – and that is the highest daily total since last year.  Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, immediately issued a lockdown order to try to get this under control.  One week – that’s how fast the landscape can change.¹

 As cases continue to go up here in Montana and elsewhere across the nation, the debate over masks continues unabated.   On the local news this morning, they announced that the Bozeman school district will mandate masks initially.  Of course, there are protests and parents loudly decrying this decision.  In one interview, the father said that he simply wanted the choice as to whether or not his child wore a mask.  He claimed he had the constitutional right to make that choice.  And that is where this whole issue is getting twisted around into some type of false choice.

The simple fact is, there are many areas of our lives where we don’t get a choice.  And, up until this whole politicized mask issue, those situations were rarely questioned.  Back when I used to run triathlons (and it is certainly true today) all participants had to wear swim caps during the swim and wear bicycle helmets while on the bike.  If you chose not to comply with those rules, the course marshals would pull you from the race and you would be disqualified.  If you wanted to participate in the event, you relinquished your choice as to whether or not to wear a bicycle helmet – period.

When you buy a ticket to a ski resort, you agree, as part of that ticket to abide by certain rules governing how and where you can ski.  If you start skiing recklessly, you can be forced off of the mountain and your ability to ski at that resort suspended.  You do not have a choice to ski any way you choose.  If you choose to go skiing, you relinquish your right to ski in a manner that jeopardizes the safety of other people.

Schools often have dress codes.  If you choose to send your child to those schools, you relinquish your right to have your child dress any way they choose.  And while there are occasional conflicts involving dress codes, they are few and far between compared to this ongoing nonsense about masks.

The simple fact is, there are many, many areas of our lives where our individual rights are not absolute – particularly when it comes to ensuring the safety of other people.  As has been said before, “Your right to swing your arms ends at the start of my nose.”  Unfortunately, the people who are so virulently anti-mask, seem to thing they have the absolute right to swing their arms as wildly as they like, regardless of who they harm in the process. That is not a ‘constitutional right’, it is simply a very selfish, ‘screw everyone else’ attitude.

1. New Zealand battles worst Covid-19 outbreak since last year as Delta cases rise – CNN