The many faces of Joe Biden

by | Jul 9, 2020 | Letters to the Editor

To those who have professed interest in my scribblings but who may not receive the Sequim Gazette, here follows my latest LTE submission which was printed today, 7/8/20.   The Gazette editor has historically published my letters without any changes despite the Gazette’s tendency to “lean left” as do many other Washington State newspapers.  I do, however, provide footnotes reflecting my sources thereby sparing the editors the chore of further corroboration and/or verification.    

LTE follows…

Some people say that presumed presidential nominee Joe Biden is two-faced but, really, that’s just not fair. Like, he has way more than just two …

For instance, there is the face presented when pandering to pro-lifers by supporting the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federally funded abortions but, later, a different one when appealing to abortion rights activists when he dropped his Hyde support (washingtonpost.com). Did he flip?

And, of course, there is the face he wore when condemning statues memorializing Confederate war heroes – “they don’t belong in public places” (ajc.com) – which was quite different from the one that he donned when publicly praising KKK member Senator Robert Byrd as a “mentor” and “friend” (donaldtrump.com). Another flip?

Not to forget Joe’s previous face on Social Security where, for 40 years he advocated cutting social security (theintercept.com) but, recently, he about-faced and claimed “I’ve been fighting to protect – and expand – Social Security for my whole career” (forbes.com). Flipped again?

Lastly, Joe’s previous position on gun control – “I never believed that gun control would reduce crime”(nbc.com) – is now moving toward a ticket that, per Lawrence G. Keane, National Shooting Sports Foundation VP, may be “the most anti-gun ever” (washingtonexaminer.com). Flipped once more?

Looks like ol’ Joe has a problem with his position on a number of issues. Or maybe all of them. Of course, he could possibly work with his advisors and, perhaps, make choices by a game of “rock, paper, scissors.”

Or he could simply flip a coin because, when it comes to flipping, he is well-practiced.

Dick Pilling

Port Angeles

Do as I say

by | Jun 1, 2020 | Letters to the Editor

Have you noticed that some of our political leaders are of the “Do as I say not as I do” crowd whereby they officiously pontificate on what we should do in a given situation but, frequently, fail to follow their own edicts.

This has become quite apparent during the COVID-19 crisis which has closed certain establishments such as barber shops as “non-essential” because, well, you just don’t need haircuts. (more…)

Predictions fair poorly

by | May 20, 2020 | Letters to the Editor

For those who follow my scribblings but do not subscribe to Sequim Gazette, this was printed in their 5/20/20 edition…

How can pundits be so spectacularly wrong in their predictions and yet continue to be published?

Surprisingly enough, they don’t need to be accurate to be published, just sensational. For pundits, this is a good thing.

You see, successful pundits rely upon a public “relief factor” which ensures that the community soon forgets a stunningly inaccurate prediction. For pundits, a good thing.

This “relief factor” is illustrated in, say, weather forecasting whereby a predicted hurricane that ultimately peters out produces sighs of relief and no one remembers that the weather forecast was staggeringly wrong. For pundits, a good thing.

These days pundits are falling all over themselves to predict how many people will die due to Coronavirus and, as usual, are hedging their bets to ensure that they overemphasize its severity. For pundits, a good thing.

Accordingly, they appear to be vying to have the highest possible death count … University of Washington estimated 60,308 deaths, only to quickly revise this estimate to 147,000.Whitehouse coordinators Drs. Birx’s and Fauci estimate between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths. But they are pikers compared to the Imperial College of London that envisions 2.2 million.

Because if massive death does occur, the pundit loudly demands credit for an accurate prediction and if deaths are less than forecast, the public rejoice, and the prediction is soon forgotten. For pundits, a good thing.

Accordingly, the pundits’ secret of success is to never be wrong unless being wrong is a good thing …

Then But Later…

by | Apr 19, 2020 | Letters to the Editor

Sometimes our democrat leaders and/or their appointees forget their past positions, leaving them vulnerable to a game of “Then but Later” outlined as follows:

Then: Speaker Pelosi said that there was no reason to stay away from Chinatown due to coronavirus concerns, assuring us that “everything is fine here”  (1) but, later, claimed that President Trump’s response to the virus was “deadly” and we must “take every precaution”. (2)

Then: Mayor de Blasio said “there’s very little threat here… (it) acts like a common cold or flu.  And transmission is not that easy” (3) but later, lamented a death toll of “100,200 people per day…”and “There’s no question the coronavirus is driving it.” (4)

Then, Health Commissioner Barbot tweeted  “no reason to change (Lunar New Year) holiday plans because of the coronavirus” (5) yet later,  suggests that we “stay away from crowds” and “try to change your hours of commute or work from home”. (6)

Then, Councilman Mark Levine urged constituents to attend the Lunar Parade, saying “if you’re are staying away, you are missing out” (7)  but later, called for “temporary interments” for coronavirus victims due to morgues exceeding capacity. (7a)

Then, immunologist Dr Fauci assured us that Coronavirus “was not a major threat” (8) but, later, says US “could have saved lives” had we acted more precipitously. (9)

Then and later is such a fun game!  And I look forward to playing it in November when “then” was when the democrats held the house and, “later” was when they didn’t…

  1. Pelosi then..

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/nancy-pelosi-visits-san-franciscos-chinatown/2240247/

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi toured San Francisco’s Chinatown Monday to send a message. She said there’s no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns.

“That’s what we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here,” Pelosi said. “Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation.”

  1. Pelosi now..

https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/pelosi-trumps-downplaying-of-covid-19-cost-american-lives/

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has characterized President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as “deadly.”  “As the president fiddles, people are dying,” Pelosi said. “We just have to take every precaution.”

  1. De Blasio then …

https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/03/30/de-blasio-nyc-officials-downplayed-covid-19-threat-after-trump-restricted-travel-to-china-here-are-5-examples/

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his top health official were telling citizens to take the subway and attend parades months after President Donald Trump restricted travel to coronavirus-plagued China.     De Blasio was telling citizens in February and March that the virus was not as widespread as people thought..

  1. De Blasio now….

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/de-blasio-real-death-toll-coronavirus-nyc-higher-home

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned on Wednesday that the city’s actual death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak is much higher than official numbers show because many people die from the illness at home rather than the hospital.

“We’re talking about something like 100, 200 people per day,” he told CNN anchor John Berman. “Think of what this means for the families, think of the pain they’re going through. There’s no question the coronavirus is driving it (the death toll).”

  1. Barbot then…

https://nypost.com/2020/04/04/nyc-pols-urge-de-blasio-to-oust-health-commissioner-over-coronavirus-response/

As the global outbreak heated up in January, Barbot repeatedly assured New Yorkers their risk was “low,” and to resume normal activities with only basic precautions such as washing hands.

On Feb. 2, with the city’s first suspected coronavirus case under investigation and China’s death toll skyrocketing, Barbot touted upcoming Chinese New Year events where crowds gather shoulder-to-shoulder in city streets.

“As we gear up to celebrate the #LunarNewYear in NYC, I want to assure New Yorkers that there is no reason for anyone to change their holiday plans, avoid the subway, or certain parts of the city because of #coronavirus,” she tweeted.

  1. Bardot now…

https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/03/12/coronavirus-will-overwhelm-us-unless-new-yorkers-help-government-fight-it-de-blasio-says/

Dr. Barbot offered these tips:  Stay away from crowds. Try to change your hours of commute or work from home.

  1. Levine then…

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/new-york-city-officials-were-slow-to-take-coronavirus-seriously/

Then, Councilman Mark Levine urged his constituents to attend the Lunar Parade, saying “ if you’re are staying away, you are missing out”.

City councilman Mark Levine, head of the City Council health committee, attended the Lunar New Year parade on February 9 and urged his constituents to join him.

  1. (A)  Levine now…

With the city under virtual lockdown, hospitals became overloaded with coronavirus patients and healthcare workers were pleading for additional protective gear. In early April, Levine, who had earlier warned of a hyped “coronavirus scare,” wrote on Twitter that the city was preparing to temporarily bury coronavirus victims in city parks if morgues would fill to capacity.

The councilman subsequently attempted to clarify that the measure was considered a “contingency plan,” and that any “temporary interments” would take place on Hart Island in the Bronx.

  1. Fauci then..

https://saraacarter.com/jan-flashback-dr-fauci-said-coronavirus-is-not-a-major-threat-to-the-people-of-the-united-states/

“This is not a major threat to the people of the United States and this is not something that the citizens of the United States should be worried about right now,” Dr. Fauci told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly on January 21.

  1. Fauci now…

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52264860

The US “could have saved lives” if it had introduced measures to stop Covid-19 earlier, a top health official says.

“If we had, right from the beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different,” Dr Anthony Fauci told CNN, but added that making that decision had been complicated.

Media Usually Wrong…

by | Apr 9, 2020 | Letters to the Editor

I wonder if our lefty media ever notice that subsequent events often prove that President Trump was right all along.  And they were wrong.

For instance, back in January, he initiated restrictions for travelers coming from China and was excoriated as a racist (1) dupe because, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) assumptions, “there was no evidence that humans could transmit the coronavirus”. (2)

Fast forward to March when WHO reversed itself and acknowledged that the COVID-19 was a “pandemic” (3) and when most other developed countries had also instituted Trump-like travel restrictions. (4)  Looks like Trump was right.  Again…

And for years President Trump has railed against  economic dependence on China’s totalitarian regime – much to the dismay of liberals who feared his criticisms would start a ruinous trade war – but it took a global crisis – known affectionately as the “Wuhan Whoopsie” –  to highlight this danger (5) (6) .  The “Whoopsie” further underscored China’s blatant and callous duplicity in both initially hiding the problem (7) and, later, attempting to place the blame on the United States. (8)  Hmm… right again…

It’s as if media simply refuses to notice public opinion as reflected in a recent Gallup poll indicating a 60% approval of Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 situation.  Even some 27% of polled democrats agree. (9)

So, the press – myopically mired in attempted “gotcha sessions” – may think that they lead President Trump in the race for public acceptance, it is only because he has lapped the field.  Several times…

  1. https://www.texaspolicy.com/left-hates-travel-bans-except-when-they-keep-americans-from-work-and-school/
    1. The Trump administration on Jan. 31 announced travel restrictions aimed at reducing the number of people coming to the United States from China to flatten the infection curve of the novel coronavirus that emerged out of Wuhan. The reaction from the People’s Republic of China and the American left was immediate: harsh criticism that President Donald Trump was overreacting and that his actions to protect the American public were racist.
  2. https://www.foxnews.com/world/world-health-organization-january-tweet-china-human-transmission-coronavirus
    1. The World Health Organization (WHO) is now haunted by a tweet it sent earlier this year (January 14)when it cited Chinese health officials who claimed there had been no human transmissions of the novel coronavirus within the country yet.
  3. .https://www.foxnews.com/health/who-declares-coronavirus-global-pandemic
    1. “We have therefore made the assessment that #COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic”-@DrTedros #coronavirus
  4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/07/trumps-claim-that-he-imposed-first-china-ban/
    1. The United States, however, does stand out among its peer nations in the Group of 20, the world’s financial powers. (The G-20 is composed of 19 countries, including China, and the European Union.)
    2. Only Italy and Australia preceded the United States in imposing travel restrictions — though they were announced the same day — while India and Indonesia also imposed restrictions effective Feb. 2. Saudi Arabia and Turkey followed within days, as well as South Korea with a ban on travel from Hubei province. Russia imposed a rolling series of bans by Feb. 20 and, as noted, Japan took smaller steps early on but did not have a full ban on foreign nationals until April 3. South Africa on March 18 imposed a ban on foreigners who had visited high-risk countries such as China. Seven G-20 members, including the United Kingdom, Canada and France, took no steps to block travel from China.
  5. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/486671-coronavirus-shows-donald-trump-was-right-all-this-time-about-chi
    1. Donald Trump has been insisting for years that our country has been too economically dependent on China, so it is sad that it took a global public health crisis to prove he was right all this time. When he began imposing strategic tariffs on China in response to its long history of abusive trade practices, the liberals all of a sudden became free trade fundamentalists, predicting that this new “trade war” would harm the American economy
  6. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/consider-possibility-trump-right-china/609493/
    1. And yet even as the current emergency has proved him right in fundamental ways—about China specifically and foreign policy more generally—many respectable people in the United States are letting their disdain for the president blind them to what is really going on in the world. Far from discrediting Trump’s point of view, the COVID-19 crisis reveals what his strategy asserted: that the world is a competitive arena in which great power rivals like China seek advantage, that the state remains the irreplaceable agent of international power and effective action, that international institutions have limited capacity to transform the behavior and preferences of states.
  7. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/china-trolling-world-and-avoiding-blame/608332/
    1. The evidence of China’s deliberate cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan is a matter of public record. In suppressing information about the virus, doing little to contain it, and allowing it to spread unchecked in the crucial early days and weeks, the regime imperiled not only its own country and its own citizens but also the more than 100 nations now facing their own potentially devastating outbreaks. More perniciously, the Chinese government censored and detained those brave doctors and whistleblowers who attempted to sound the alarm and warn their fellow citizens when they understood the gravity of what was to come.
    2. Some American commentators and Democratic politicians are aghast at Donald Trump and Republicans for referring to the pandemic as the “Wuhan virus” and repeatedly pointing to China as the source of the pandemic. In naming the disease COVID-19, the World Health Organization specifically avoided mentioning Wuhan. Yet in de-emphasizing where the epidemic began (something China has been aggressively pushing for), we run the risk of obscuring Beijing’s role in letting the disease spread beyond its borders.
  8. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/inside-chinas-campaign-to-blame-the-us-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-03-15
    1. As coronavirus cases dwindle in China, and explode across the rest of the world, Beijing is undertaking a campaign to shift blame for the emergence of the disease to a familiar foe — the United States.
    2. The seemingly coordinated effort to, at minimum, sow doubts about the virus’s origin, and, at its most extreme, to directly accuse the U.S. military of creating and spreading the pathogen, has come from Chinese medical leaders, ambassadors and Foreign Ministry spokespersons — not to mention the hundreds of thousands of comments on Chinese social media echoing the conspiracy theories.
  9. https://news.gallup.com/poll/298313/president-trump-job-approval-rating.aspx
    1. Trump’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic may be behind his higher overall approval rating. Americans give the president generally positive reviews for his handling of the situation, with 60% approving and 38% disapproving. Ninety-four percent of Republicans, 60% of independents and 27% of Democrats approve of his response.

Retire Politicians Not Land…

by | Nov 26, 2019 | Letters to the Editor

Did you ever notice that those politicians that are publicly wringing their hands over a lack of affordable housing are the same politicians whose actions created this lack in the first place.

And their creativity continues unabated with their very latest ploy called a “Conservations Futures Fund”(1) whereby they purchase land which is then forever classified as “farmland”, and which cannot ever be used for residential purposes.  This action effectively “retires” the land and further exacerbates the housing shortage.

Furthermore, to add insult to injury, they then raise our taxes to obtain the necessary funding since, as we all know – or should know – politicians have no money save what they extort from us taxpayers,

They’re hitting us with a double whammy… they make houses more expensive and they use our money to do it.  And we let them, for gosh sakes!

But this is nothing new as our politicians, through intent or ignorance, have been systematically raising housing costs for quite some time.

Yet another one of their favorites is “discovering”  a slightly soggy area that, in past, was considered merely a large puddle left over from a rainstorm but is suddenly determined to be an official wetland – replete with boundaries and set-backs – and is now sacrosanct and forever placed in a non-developable status.  Bingo, another “retirement”.

Obviously, these politician-driven “retirements” contribute to a scarcity of land and, consequently, housing.  Since land “retirements” create these scarcities, maybe we should stop retiring land.  Maybe, instead, we should retire some politicians.

  1. http://websrv7.clallam.net/forms/uploads/2019-11-05_082109_Nov_4_DRAFT_Conservation_Futures_Ordinance.pdf