Pandemic mask information and failed management

Two informed readers from Kansas wrote these commentaries

To the editor of the Leavenworth Times a Kansas newspaper:

I listen, read and watch reports in reference to the virus. Persons argue that it is their right to come and go as they please. They are in their own world.

A lot of these people declare it is their personal right. Have they fought, got wounded or have a loved one die for them? If they have, then go ahead make your day yet remember you could be a Typhoid Mary to someone or a group of people.

This attitude reminds me of a state governor some time ago who condemned gay people over and over again. Later in that year one of his children declared that they were gay. It was not a day later that he changed his attitude to gay people and vocalized support for them.

I believe some of these righteous people will change their attitude when someone they love comes down with the virus due to someone’s selfish attitude. Words like “sorry” will not mean anything because they chose themselves over the people in their family, neighborhood and country.

The government has lacked the leadership to get this problem under control. The quick answer to recovering both medically and economically is testing.

We can develop a reliable, free test. Then we can open businesses and get the economy to slowly return to the new normal. We waited too long and had a shotgun approach to the problem. A leader who is worth their salt would rely on medical doctors for the procedures to get us back to the new normal.

We can develop a vaccine but not overnight. It is a long procedure to ensure its safety. The Salk vaccine took years. Beginning in 1948, it took until 1957 to get it safely out in the public. Then later, researcher Albert Sabin developed an oral vaccine. We could cut that time in half because of the knowledge base and equipment we have.

Are there any quick answers? No, but if you follow the procedures set forth by the CDC – social distancing, washing your hands – until a reliable vaccine is developed, we can suffer together and conquer this dreaded disease. From Roger Harrison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Why I wear a mask - opinion letter published in The Wichita Eagle, a Kansas newspaper

WEAR A MASK- Let me be clear: I do not like wearing a mask when I go into buildings and public spaces, but I do.

Some see wearing a mask as a sign of weakness — fear that I’ll get the virus. That can be a valid reason to wear it. Or perhaps I’ll be shamed by other mask-wearers.

There’s another reason. If I were carrying the virus — which I don’t believe I am — it would be cruel of me to risk spreading the virus to you.   So on the off-off-chance that I may carry the virus, I will wear the mask. Wearing it is my gift to you. From Ron Nibbelink, Augusta, Kansas

Double speak in "Trump speak"- An echo opinion from Kansas

An echo opinion letter written by Pat Davidson, published in the Leavenworth Times, a Kansas newspaper.  

Used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth

Dear Editor:  Donald Trump is such a weirdly interesting fellow. A couple of weeks ago, he declared a national emergency and used his executive powers to override congressional budget authority so that he can build his wall. 

Later at a press conference, he stated that “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

OK, he doesn’t need to declare a national emergency, but does it anyway because he wants to build a wall faster.

Then, in acknowledging that he was unable to work a deal with North Korea, he stated that “I’d much rather do it right than do it fast.” I can appreciate that. I would want any treaty with a nuclear-armed dictator done right. But what is right about declaring a national emergency that wasn’t needed, using executive powers that the president has earlier stated shouldn’t be used and may actually be unconstitutional in its assumption of congressional budget authority?

I have already sent emails to all three of my national representatives, all Republican, about doing something to reassert congressional authority over the use of taxpayer funds. 

In fact, I sent them after the president declared his national emergency. To date, I have had no response other than the automatic responses from both senators’ email. 

Rep. Steve Watkins has not responded personally, but he did vote against the House action to end the national emergency, so I guess I’ve got my response. (MaineWriter- Watkins is a whimp!)

Trump-Putin duo lie leaders - echo opinion from Kansas

Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shake hand at the beginning of a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, Monday, July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Echo letter from Leavenworth Kansas published in the Leavenworth Times newspaper, from Pat Davidson in Leavenworth.

Two liars in Helsinki

(At the Helsinki news conference) two of the most powerful liars on planet Earth each complemented one another.

One lies because he can. Any disagrees with Russia's Vladimir Putin and you will have an accident or die of some type of bizarre exposure to chemicals or radiation.

The other is our President Donald J. Trump. I don’t know why he lies. He is very successful, very wealthy, has a beautiful wife and is the president of the United States.

That being said, they are both liars, and you have to be some kind of ignorant to continue to believe what a known liar says.

Donald Trump was born wealthy, never had to worry about a roof over his head or where his next meal came from, yet those who work paycheck to paycheck seem to think that he knows what they need.

Donald Trump managed to avoid the draft with college deferments and “bone spurs” yet he is now the commander in chief of our military. Donald Trump has done very little in his life that did not benefit him. When he says that the new tax system will cost him money, he’s lying.

I should get a bigger refund on my taxes, but if I want to buy a car or another product that uses overseas materials, it’ll cost me more due to his trade policies.

He has already attacked my paycheck as a federal retiree by expressing a desire to stop my cost of living raises. He lies so much, I don’t know what I can believe.

Some point to the campaign promises he’s made, and the attempts to fulfill them. Some are being completed to some degree, but there are some that are not.

He appears to need attention to an extent that borders on mania, doing anything or saying anything to get time on television or in newspapers.

I just hope whoever has the football keeps a tight grip on it. As I’m typing this, the news is carrying a story that he is saying that he misspoke yesterday.

Somebody must have broken through his ego shield and convinced him that he made a big mistake with his comments, but again, I’m sorry, I can’t believe this statement either.

Kris Kobach is a Nazi

In my opinion:

Nazis are bad (!) and Kris Kobach presents himself as a Nazi. 

The good people of Kansas will not give Kobach the time of day, because he's evil.

Echo letter the editor of the Leavenworth Times, a Kansas newspaper: 

By Bob Burns / from Leavenworth, Kansas

Where does one start when evaluating (IMO - the Nazi) Kris Kobach?

Is it when he claims non-citizens are voting (? OMG!) by the millions in U.S. elections?

Why does he think that people from Central and South America are willing to travel through Mexico, where they risk being beaten, robbed, raped or killed to get to the U.S. border, where the risks come from dehydration, heat stroke and rattlesnakes just so they can vote in some election?

If they survived all that danger, the last thing they want is to attract attention.

Is it when he claims that 2.5 million non-citizens voted illegally in the last presidential election? By proportion, Kansas would have had more than 22,000 non-citizens voting in that election, but Kobach has prosecuted only a scant handful of illegal voters and nearly all were citizens. Kobach is either wildly in error with that 2.5 million claim or else he is a very feeble and lazy prosecutor.

Is it when he just finished demonstrating his poor preparation and incompetence defending the voter registration law he dumped on Kansas a few years ago? Is it when his expert witnesses were anything but and the judge (who was appointed by George W. Bush) had to continually take him to task and order him to take some remedial law classes? But he did prove the old saying about a lawyer representing himself has a fool for a client is true.

Is it when Kobach wants to stiff Kansas taxpayers with the fines and court costs he ran up with his embarrassing performance?

And now Kobach wants to be governor of Kansas!

Kansas just suffered seven years of one of the worst governors ever and now Kobach wants to lower the bar even further.

Letter submitted by Bob Burns