Donald Trump wasting time spreading "wishfulness": End supidity! Impeach him again!

"dearth of testing, dire shortages of critical medical supplies at hospitals and the absence of a coherent national strategy mean" 

https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/columnists-opinions/marvin-ott/lethal-incompetence/

“I didn’t know people died from the flu," said Donald Trump.Lethal incompetence - echo opinion published in the Maine newspaper The Ellsworth American by Marvin Ott.

Donald Trump is the bumbling example of the saying "stupid is as stupid does".

Every schoolchild in America knew that the flu killed people. But Donald Trump did not know — even though his own grandfather died of the virus. But never mind. The president is a “genius” — “a very stable genius.” He has reminded us of this several times.

The current pandemic is as predictable as it is frightening. Disease is the eternal scourge of humankind — a constant reminder that life is vulnerable and contingent. We live in an era of globalization with ever closer contact at ever higher speeds between nations and continents. In another time a disease outbreak might have remained confined to a particular region or population thanks to their relative isolation. No more. Huge concentrations of people in megacities (like Wuhan) can turn a fire into a conflagration. Countless viruses lie hidden and dormant in natural environments such as permafrost and tropical jungles. As humans and climate change disrupt those redoubts hitherto unknown contagions are set loose. We have had ample recent experience with epidemics featuring new pathogens including HIV/AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola — to name a few. Lest we forget, only a century ago a global flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States.

"the White House pandemic office was effectively disbanded" 

Today we are far better equipped to cope with such a global pandemic. In 1918, medical professionals did not know that viruses existed. Today we can take pictures of a new virus with electron microscopes, identify its key characteristics and sequence its genome all in a matter of days. We have extraordinary research facilities designed to create new vaccines and antiviral drugs. The federal government is home to agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) charged with research and development of therapies and their application. Responding to its experience with the Ebola epidemic, the Obama administration created a White House office of global pandemic preparedness.

The Trump administration has shown a singular disregard for all of this. Administration budget requests have called for deep cuts in funding for the CDC. Meanwhile, the White House pandemic office was effectively disbanded — while scientists and medical experts at all levels of the federal government were dismissed. Just for good measure the administration also moved to decrease nursing home oversight and infection control regulations. These actions tracked closely with the President’s response to reports of a new, dangerous viral outbreak in China. While U.S. intelligence agencies were providing analysis that identified the new virus as a potential global pandemic that could engulf the United States, Trump announced that the virus carried a “very, very low risk” for Americans. A day after the first U.S. case of the virus surfaced, Trump was asked if he was worried. His response: “No, not at all … we have it totally under control.” At a campaign rally on Feb. 10, he dismissed any concerns: “By April— when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” [The pandemic had already spread to tropical climates like Singapore].

As the expert medical community expressed growing alarm in late February and early March, Trump dismissed it all as “another hoax” — a view loudly echoed by Sean Hannity and Fox News. In a Feb. 26 news conference, Trump declared the virus was “like regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we will have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.” Dr. Tony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at NIH, estimated a vaccine was 12 to 18 months away and that the coronavirus was 10 times more lethal than the normal flu. Meanwhile, last week with the disease rapidly spreading in the United States, the White House budget director testified before Congress in support of funding cuts for the CDC. [And in case you missed it, two Republican senators with access to government data reportedly dumped their stock holdings in the travel and hospitality industries just before the markets tanked.]

This history of missed opportunities and self-delusion has consequences. The dearth of testing, dire shortages of critical medical supplies at hospitals and the absence of a coherent national strategy mean that a great many of us will get infected and many of us will die. That is not speculation; that is fact.

The past cannot be rewritten. The focus now has to be on the near future. Important and positive things have happened over the last week or two. The White House has declared a national emergency and states and localities have implemented far-reaching — even draconian — measures to slow “community spread.” People across the country have taken “social distancing” to heart. The broad citizen response has been remarkable and heartening. Even Fox News has discovered the virus. Tony Fauci has emerged as a trusted voice — a national treasure along with infectious disease experts and epidemiologists. Research centers are working flat out to develop entirely new therapies. This will have huge consequences beyond the current pandemic – we will be much better prepared for the next one.

America got through the Great Depression, World War II and the Soviet threat to Europe with steady, even inspired, presidential leadership from FDR to Truman to Eisenhower. We have no such luxury now. Bereft of his political rallies, Trump has discovered the White House news conference as a (horrible) substitute. We are now being treated to a kind of daily reality TV show — with some actual news and a large admixture of bombast, half-truths, exaggerations and insults.

We will have to look to the rest of America — to each other — to pull through this time.

Maine Governor Janet Mills gave a remarkable inauguration speech - informative and positive

By Maine Governor Janet T. Mills

Governor Janet Mills inauguration speech January 3, 2019

"We are connected by the rivers and the land, the forests and the mountains."

"We are connected by love."

This transcript was published in The Ellsworth American

Madam Chief Justice, Mr. President, Madam Speaker, members of the 129th Legislature, members of the state and federal judiciary, former governors, tribal chiefs, members of the military, friends and family, honored guests and those 4,346 friends of mine on Facebook!

I also draw your attention to the empty seat in the military section which honors and recognizes all Maine Service members currently deployed.

It is with humility and gratitude that I stand before you this evening.

I welcome you to a ceremony that represents both a change in the individual who occupies the office of the chief executive and the peaceful passing of the torch of progress.

There are many in this state who are “the unsung,” as poet Wes McNair has called them.

They are the firefighters and teachers, the techies and hotel workers, the farmers and fishermen, the waiters and loggers and the barbers and mill workers of our towns.

They are our friends, our neighbors. They are immigrants. Laborers. Veterans. People with disabilities. People from away. People we rely on every day. And many who rely on us.

This governorship is about them — the men and women of Maine.

This year, for the first time in our state’s 198-year long history, after 74 men from York, Cumberland, Penobscot, finally you have elected a governor … from Franklin County!

I am from the foothills of Maine, which bred Margaret Chase Smith and Carrie Stevens.

And Cornelia Crosby — known as Fly Rod Crosby — who became Maine’s first registered guide in 1897, and who famously said, “I would rather fish any day than go to heaven.”

In recent weeks I have received many letters. Eight-year old Lucy wrote, “Now I feel like I could become governor someday!”

The morning after the election, one mother left a note in her daughter’s lunchbox, “Janet Mills won last night!” it said. “She is the FIRST woman to be the governor in Maine EVER! Think about all the things you can do! Love, Mom.”

I do think about all the things they can do, along with their brilliant brothers, uncles and fathers.

But truly, this year’s milestone will one day be commonplace, like drinking milk or eating toast. When future generations read of this day, they will wonder what the fuss was about.

Sometimes our culture moves slowly in the stream of change.

Streams, like the people of Maine, change direction on occasion to find the best way forward.

Many days I awake to see the mist rising from the Sandy River as it steers its course to the Kennebec, the winter’s breath unveiling a new day in my hometown, a new day in this state.

Then I hear the familiar sounds of chickadees, church chimes and Jake brakes.

This is home in Maine.

The Sandy River pours out of Rangeley Lake, meanders through town and gains momentum on its way to the Kennebec.

There it joins other tributaries to become a powerful waterway, a loud home to eagles and salmon, stripers and sturgeon, on its course to Merrymeeting Bay.

The Sandy River connects my town to those up and downstream.

We become one with the rest of Maine, linked by water, woods and land.

Former Governor Joshua Chamberlain described this link back in 1876:

“This great and wide sea … these beaches and bays and harbors … these things invite the brave, the noble … Thought comes here and dwells … They will love the land, and the land will give back strength.”

The Wabanaki people know this bond. Their wisdom was passed along by people like Joseph Attean, legendary governor of the Penobscot nation, a brave, open-hearted and forbearing individual, who guided Henry David Thoreau in his first moose hunt, through the vast and primitive wilderness to Chesuncook Lake.

The plaque that overlooks Attean Lake — named for him — reads, “Rise free from care, before the dawn, and seek adventure.”

Today we rise, a new day before us, and seek adventure.

But today our connection to the land is endangered.

After 80 years of studies warning that carbon emissions are destroying our environment, the danger is now at our doorstep.

The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost any other saltwater body in the world, driving our lobsters up the coast.

Our coastal waters are growing acidic; temperatures are fluctuating, and sea levels are rising, endangering our shellfish industry.

Our forests are less suitable for spruce and fir and more suitable for ticks.

Climate change is threatening our jobs, damaging our health and attacking our historic relationship to the land and sea.

Tonight I say, enough. Enough with studies, talk, and debate. It is time to act!

Our new administration will embrace clean energy; change our modes of transportation; weatherize homes and businesses, and reach a goal of 50 percent of our electricity coming from Maine renewable resources.

These actions will create good-paying jobs, preserve our environment and welcome young people to build a green future here in Maine.

And, by the way, when you drive by the Blaine House in the next few weeks, look for the new solar panels that we are going to install!

We need a healthy environment. And we need healthy people.

Maine voters agree — which is why they voted to expand Medicaid. Hospitals, nurses, doctors and businesses all agree as well.

Health care is for everyone, not just the well-to-do.

It is for the small businesses struggling to pay high health insurance bills.

It is for the family on the brink of bankruptcy because of one illness, accident or medical mishap.

It is for the community that takes up collections in a jar at the corner store to pay for a neighbor’s medical costs.

It is for people like Patty.

My friend Patty was a vibrant, intelligent and charitable woman, an athlete, a mother of three wise children, loved by all … and uninsured.

She died needlessly from breast cancer, a disease that could have been diagnosed early, treated, and cured.

Patty’s story is not unique. Many of you have friends like Patty. It is unacceptable.

In the memory of Patty and thousands of others, our new administration will expand Medicaid — and pay for it sustainably; work to ensure that every person has primary care; control the cost of health insurance; and rein in the cost of prescription drugs.

A major part of the health care crisis is the opioid epidemic.

History will note that we have abandoned an entire generation of people to this preventable disease.

The allure of opiates can fill a hole in the human heart caused by loneliness, stress and hopelessness.

Even as I speak, there is someone within the sound of my voice about to consume a deadly drug, jeopardizing themselves, their friends, their families and their communities.

If that person is listening, please know that I — and many others — are here for you.

You are not alone.

We will confront this disease together.

We will offer a helping hand, not pass judgment.

We want you to survive, to succeed.

We want to welcome you home again.

It is time for action — Narcan widely available, medication assisted treatment, recovery coaches. These things will be a reality.

And in sad memory of the 418 Maine people who lost their lives to drug overdose in 2017, our administration will create a director of opiate response, a person who will marshal the collective power and resources of state government to stem the tide of this epidemic

Part of that effort will be to fully engage with people in our own communities — to “take it outdoors,” as one of our favorite retailers puts it, renewing a healing bond we have with the land.

In addition to protecting the medical health of our people, we will also advance the economic health of our people.

To employers, entrepreneurs and innovators, with new ideas for forest products, aquaculture, recreation, renewables and everything in between, I say, “You are welcome here!”

We will develop a world-class workforce.

Fewer than half of Maine adults now hold a postsecondary credential — either a college degree or a professional certification. Yet two out of three jobs require such credentials.

This imbalance is why we have — at the same time — employers saying they can’t find workers, and workers saying that they are stuck in dead-end jobs.

Education is the key to helping our people achieve their full potential.

Attracting talented young people to move here and make Maine their home will be a top priority of my administration.

From now on, a sign will greet all those arriving in our state at the Kittery line.

It will say, quite simply: “Welcome Home.”

I will work with the new Legislature to achieve the best education for our people, from preschool through college and beyond, beginning with full and fair funding for schools, including our career and technical centers.

And we will treat our teachers with the respect and dignity they deserve.

There is no higher priority than our children.

And with so many young people at Long Creek, with children waiting for critical mental health services, and some even losing their lives to violence in their own homes, it is high time we put children’s health and safety first.

I will start with one simple step — calling together the Children’s Cabinet for the first time in years, to tackle these issues.

These are the challenges we know about. But we must also be prepared for the unexpected.

We know that a recession is possible in the next few years.

We know that someday, robots, drones, driverless cars, broadband and 3-D printing, will radically alter the way Maine people live, learn and work.

We need to be ready.

I made my own predictions back at the turn of the century.

In the year 1999, I wrote down in a journal a list of what I thought would change and what I thought would stay the same in the new millennium.

I predicted that in 50 years there would no longer be the following things: cash, paper bags, spare tires, lint, dust or panty hose.

But in 50 years I said there would likely still be: Stephen King bestsellers, Baxter State Park, people from away, and … Strom Thurmond.

As you can see, I cannot rely on myself to predict the future.

That’s why I am enlisting help.

I am following the advice of writer Kurt Vonnegut, who said “Every government ought to have a Department of the Future.”

And so my administration will create an Office of Innovation and the Future.

This office will dive into major policy challenges, foster collaboration and propose concrete, workable solutions.

Now here’s how I want to govern.

We are all in this together. We all want Maine to have a beautiful environment; happy people; and prosperous communities.

Though we all agree on the goal, we differ about how to get there.

We are Republicans, Greens, Democrats, Libertarians, independents and many more besides.

This is something I know well myself.

I mean, every Mills family reunion is like a meeting of the United Nations — everyone has an opinion and wants a microphone.

But these differences are what make my family strong. They make every family strong. They make Maine strong.

Our diversity is a virtue — one that we should harness to advance good public debate and good public policy.

We welcome the voices of newcomers to the public conversation — the young, immigrants, people of different cultures, people of color, people of different orientations.

All are important members of the Maine family.

My town has always had a commons, where everybody could graze their sheep and cattle, sell produce and where we would enjoy a concert on a summer evening.

Now our state must find its own common ground, expand our horizons and become one Maine again.

From the tree streets of Lewiston to the rolling fields of the County, from the Bold Coast to the Height of Land, from Cross Rock in Allagash to Portland’s Promenades, our people will once again find unity of purpose.

We will bring back Maine’s tradition of civil discourse, expressed by Governor Israel Washburn, a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, in his 1861 inaugural:

“Waving aside petty schemes and unseemly wrangles … let us rise, if we can, to the height of the great argument which duty and patriotism so eloquently address to us.”

You know, I have fallen in love a few times in my life. And there are those in this audience whom I have loved for long and for years including friends and family and some newly loved.

But it is the bond we all share for our state, for children longing for security, for newcomers seeking to belong, for all of those who feel left behind, who long for respect and dignity.

One thing we all love is our great state.

And when a family, a community, a state believe in each other, help each other, love each other, great things can happen.

Maine people have greatness within them.

Maine is our home.

We are connected by the rivers and the land, the forests and the mountains.
We are connected by love.
We are strengthened by our connections.

We are one Maine, undivided, one family from Calais to Bethel, from York to Fort Kent.

We meet this evening, free from care, the heirs of Joseph Attean, Joshua Chamberlain, Fly Rod Crosby and Israel Washburn.

Tomorrow we rise before the dawn — like the mist over the Sandy River — and seek adventure, with hope in our hearts and love in our souls for the brand-new day.

To all of you, and to the people of Maine, I say, Welcome Home.

Welcome Home.

Thank you.

Senator Angus King calls for a vote on six bills passed in the House to fund 90 percent of government

On Senate Floor, in a speech, Senator King Voices Concern for Maine People Hurt By the Government Shutdown

#stoptheshutdown

Continues his call to immediately reopen the government

Senator Angus King

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) took to the Senate floor to voice his concern for Maine people hurt by the government shutdown. Today marks the first day federal workers will miss their paycheck since the shutdown began 21 days ago. Senator King has repeatedly called to reopen the government to fairly compensate federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay and to ensure businesses, contractors, and people who rely on federal government agencies can access the services they need.

“You can shut down and stop peoples’ checks from coming, but you can’t stop their bills from coming,” Senator King said. “Their mortgage payment, their childcare payment, their automobile insurance, their home insurance, their heating bill, their medication, their food, all of that has to be paid for…

“These people are being used as pawns, as hostages in a policy debate that has nothing to do with them. One of the easiest solutions, Mr. President, would be for us to pass the six bills the House has passed, that we passed, that fund 90 percent of the government. 

Why should the Department of Agriculture be caught in the cross fire of a debate over a wall in Texas? Why should park rangers be caught in that? Why should Coast Guard people be caught in that? And this is having a real effect. Aside from these federal workers, of whom there are about 1,000 in Maine on furlough right now, there are all the contractors that serve these government agencies.”

Citing stories reported in the Portland Press Herald, Bangor Daily News, and The Ellsworth American, Senator King demonstrated the real and immediate impact the government shutdown is having on people throughout the state of Maine. 

Those stories include Sullivan Harbor Farm Smokehouse in Hancock and its problems with licensing from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; concerns from Maine craft breweries that are unable to get new licenses and approve labels for out-of-state beer sales through the federal Tax and Trade Bureau; and troubles for home buyers who are seeing delayed action on loans from the Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

To watch Senator King’s floor speech in full click HERE.

Political history in Maine sprawling Second District

Jared Golden makes history with congressional race victory

Congressman elect from Maine's Second District
Jared Golden

By Maxwell Hauptman in Maine's Ellsworth American newspaper

ELLSWORTH, ME — Maine’s 2nd Congressional District now how its own little etching in the history books.

Democrat Jared Golden was declared the victor in the race over Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin following the nation’s first use of ranked choice voting in a congressional election.

In a final tally of votes released by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, Golden finished with 139,231 votes to Poliquin’s 136,362, giving Golden a slim 53.53 percent majority.

As predicted, Golden ultimately benefited from ranked choice voting far more than Poliquin. A total of 10,232 votes were transferred to Golden from independent candidates Tiffany Bond and William Hoar, while only 4,695 went to Poliquin.

More than 8,000 ballots did not come into play, as they had not designated a second choice.

Poliquin has said he will continue with a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ranked choice voting process.

“It is now officially clear I won the constitutional ‘one person, one vote’ first choice election on Election Day that has been used in Maine for more than 100 years,” said Poliquin in a public statement following the announcement of the results. “We will proceed with our constitutional concerns about the rank vote algorithm.”

Poliquin’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning, sought to suspend the ranked choice tabulation process, calling it unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Lance Walker denied that request Thursday morning. In his ruling, however, Walker did leave open the possibility for further legal challenges.

Golden, a Marine Corps veteran and State House representative from Lewiston, is now the first congressman in to be elected under ranked choice voting. 

Golden is also the first person to defeat an incumbent in Maine’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District since 2016.

Maine echo letter - Senator Collins did not vote with facts

MaineWriter prologue: Senator Susan Collins was wrong to vote in support of appointing Justice Brett Kavanaugh to a life time position on the US Supreme Court, but her irrational criticism of the victim Christine Blasey Ford is truly mystifying and, frankly, indefensible. 

Senator Collins voted wrongly in support of the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court, because she felt strongly about her erroneous position, but her criticism of Christine Blasey Ford was indefensible

An Maine opinion echo was published in The Ellsworth American.

From Pam Person in Orland Maine

Dear Editor: Sen. Collins’ stated on television on Sunday, Oct. 7, that “I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was her assailant. I do believe that she was assaulted. I don’t know by whom and I’m not certain when, but I do not believe he was the assailant.” The reason she only “believes” and “does not know” and is “not certain” what actually happened in the 1980s in Montgomery County, Md., to Professor Blasey-Ford was that the FBI was not allowed to pursue the 20 people Professor Blasey-Ford gave to the FBI or her polygraph test or her counselor’s notes or the other women who had come forward with their sworn accusations against Judge Kavanaugh.

The FBI was reportedly only allowed by the White House and Senate Republican leadership to interview five people and within the shortest time period. The results of the interviews were only able to be seen by senators in a secure room.

I understand that elections have consequences and that conservative justices would be nominated by President Trump. I did not send any comments to Sen. Collins about the nomination of Neil Gorsuch. With the Kavanaugh nomination, however, I did send in two comments to Sen. Collins’ website. The first, after the initial Judiciary Committee hearings on the Kavanaugh nomination, I asked that she vote “no” due to his ultra-conservative anti-environmental, anti –woman, anti-labor, anti-regulation record on the Circuit Court. My second comment, posted after I watched in shock and dismay both the Blasey-Ford testimony as well as the Kavanaugh reply, was to ask Sen. Collins to ask for a full investigation by the FBI of the charges brought by Professor Blasey-Ford so that correct conclusions could be drawn. It was also to ask that Sen. Collins vote against Judge Kavanaugh for his lack of judicial temperament, blatant partisanship and potential problem with alcohol then or now in his testimony replying to Professor Blasey-Ford before the Judiciary Committee and answers to the committee.

Why were the following late developments simply swept under the rug?

• The American Bar Association decision at the end of last week to reopen the Kavanaugh investigation as to his suitability for the Supreme Court.
• The letter from 2,400 law professors opposing Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
• Withdrawal of support from former Justice John Paul Stevens.
• Statements from Kavanaugh’s former Yale roommate at Yale concerning his drinking patterns.

Why did the vote have to take place so quickly before investigations could be thoroughly completed and reconsiderations could be thoughtfully considered?

Why are the Republican President and Republican senators not being condemned for making nasty, demeaning statements against sexual assault survivors? Why are the horrible memories of survivors being questioned? Why are the many survivors who gathered in tears and shouts to ask for representation being called by the President “an angry left-wing mob”?

The 14 members of my church, both women and men, who stood together as sexual violence survivors yesterday, most over 60 years old, many sharing their pain for the first time, are not “mistaken.” They are to be believed and supported. I am grateful to not be a sexual assault survivor.

Please vote to restore balance, fairness and civility to our country by voting for Democrats.

Pam Person, Orland