Donald Trump and incompetent RFKjr are enabling anti-vax propaganda and now preventable measles is spreading

Echo reported published in The New York Times by Teddy Ronsenbluth:

Measles Cases Hit New Record in U.S., as Vaccination Rates Wane

More measles cases have been reported in the United States in the last two years than in all the years from 2000, through 2024 combined.

A patient with measles symptoms was assessed in South Carolina, where an outbreak sickened nearly 1,000 people in 2025 and 2026.

Frankly, the opening paragraph in this New York Times article should set your brain on fire.🔥💢

Measles Cases Hit New Record in U.S., as Vaccination Rates Wane
More measles cases have been reported in the United States in the last two years than in all the years from 2000 through 2024 combined.

The United States has now recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000, a grim sign that the country may be headed toward a new era in which the disease regularly sickens thousands every year.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that there have been 2,318 confirmed cases of measles so far this year.

In fact, the case count toppled the record set last year, when measles infected more than 2,200 Americans and killed two unvaccinated children. More measles cases have been reported in the United States in the last two years than in all the years from 2000 through 2024 combined.

Reversing course on measles would require a nationwide push to improve vaccination rates, a prospect that experts said seemed unlikely under the leadership of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Instead, the incompetent RFKjr halted funding for vaccine hesitancy research, downplayed the risks of measles and spearheaded a hunt for evidence that vaccines are unsafe.

In November, (right around election time❗) a panel of international experts will meet to determine whether the United States has lost its elimination status, which has long been viewed as one of the country’s crowning public health achievements.

“This is just going to keep happening,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s going to mean living in a perpetual state of vulnerability and risk until we get vaccination levels up.”

Many of the cases reported this year were tied to a large outbreak in South Carolina that took root last October in a close-knit, evangelical Slavic community and quickly became the largest outbreak in the United States since 2000. The outbreak, which ultimately sickened nearly 1,000 people, was declared over by state health officials in April.

Still, the virus is far from contained. Utah is fighting an outbreak that began along its border with Arizona last summer and has led to more than 700 cases, spread across every jurisdiction in the state. Virginia health officials have reported more than 170 cases from an outbreak that began in mid-May. Pennsylvania is grappling with an outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people this year.

In total, the C.D.C. has reported 35 new measles outbreaks this year. A vast majority of cases have been in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccine status was unknown.

The string of outbreaks is no surprise to public health experts, who have watched vaccination rates tick down in recent years. Nationally, the measles vaccination rate fell during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not rebounded to the 95 percent required to stem the spread of the measles virus in a community. While the latest national data shows that about 93 percent of kindergartners have received the measles, mumps and rubella shot, that protection is uneven: Some communities have vaccination rates approaching 100 percent, while others have rates below 80 percent.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is exceptionally good at exploiting those pockets with weak immunity.

“It’s going to find people who aren’t immune,” said Dr. David Kimberlin, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “It’s like a heat-seeking missile.”

Children have borne the brunt of the infections, making up more than 70 percent of confirmed cases. More than 80 children and adolescents have been hospitalized this year for complications like pneumonia, which leaves patients gasping for air, and brain swelling, which can cause lasting damage, including blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities. (There are no treatments for measles, though researchers are trying to develop them.)

While many of the children who became ill were vulnerable to the virus because their parents opted them out of the measles vaccine, local health departments have also reported several cases in babies too young for the shot and people with health conditions that make them ineligible for the vaccine.

The outbreaks have taken a steep economic toll, as state and local public health departments strained to track down everyone exposed to the virus, start vaccination campaigns and analyze tests. Researchers have estimated that in 2025, each measles case cost the United States more than $100,000, when factoring in health care spending and the days of missed work for sick people or caretakers.

Of course, the United States is not the only country grappling with a measles resurgence. Canada, which lost its elimination status last year, has reported more than a thousand cases this year. Health officials in Bangladesh confirmed more than 8,000 infections since March.

Still, several experts said the Trump administration’s response — which has not included any national push to increase vaccination rates — has done the United States no favors.

Courtney Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the department has mounted an “aggressive outbreak response,” and pointed to the $8.5 million it has given states to help contain outbreaks and the technical assistance that the C.D.C. has provided to those areas.

She added that the department has said, referring to the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, that “M.M.R. vaccination remains the best protection against measles.”

Dr. Jonathan Temte, a former chairman of the C.D.C.’s vaccine advisory committee, said: “We have seen virtually no national messaging. We’ve seen no ad campaigns.” He added, “I think that really tells us something about their priorities.”

Donald Trump was double cruel about Iran casualties minimized importance of veterans killed and created unrealistic correlations with other wars

As a Vietnam era draftee, I will always be focused on the avoidance by our country of unnecessary war. Donald Trump’s campaign included a commitment to avoid future wars. Well and good. 

Echo opinion letter published in the Las Vegas Journal-Review by Thomas B. Petersen in St George, Utah.

But, during Donald Trump's disaster on Sunday's (June 7th,  “Meet The Press” interview with journalist Kristen Welker, it was (justifiably) pointed out that he had not made good on his campaign promise to avoid future wars, and that there seemed to be no end in sight to the U.S. attacks on Iran. 

Donald Trump's response was to draw comparisons to our involvement in World War II, Korea and Vietnam in regard to durations and casualties, making the specific case that 😕😢only 13 U.S. casualties in the current war and the current two-month duration to date paled compared to our losses in previous wars.

His justification for the Iran war as having cost us only 13 casualties versus more than 50,000 in Vietnam was especially offensive to me. His campaign promise to avoid future wars was not kept, and our war with Iran is not justified. 😡😒😞😧😠😭😢

Donald Trump and maga Republicans are AGAIN creating a false narrative about how horrible political violence is an American epedemic

With appreciation to the opinion writer Benamin Wallace-Wells, I must say some of the graphics described are difficult to read but important nonetheless.  

Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Crisis of Political Violence
After a shooting with obvious political resonance, news about the perpetrator’s motives rarely brings clarity.  Opinion published in The New Yorker by Benjamin Wallace-Wells.  

Full disclosre, I knew nothing about Charlie Kirk until after his brutal assassinaation in Utah, in broad daylight, while hewas speaking to a group of students.  His short bio: Charles James Kirk (October 14, 1993 – September 10, 2025) was an American right-wing political activist, entrepreneur, and media personality. He co-founded the conservative organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012 and was its executive director. He published a range of books and hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, a talk radio program. Kirk was a prominent voice of the MAGA movement within the Republican Party, and was considered to have become an icon of modern American conservatism. Kirk was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs of Arlington Heights and Prospect Heights, briefly attending Harper College before dropping out after one semester to pursue political activism full-time.

UTAH- Three thousand people attended the conservative Turning Point USA event at which Charlie Kirk spoke on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, on an outdoor green at Utah Valley University. The sheer size of that crowd—in the morning, at a school in a suburb of Provo, and even if some were there to protest—is just another piece of evidence that Kirk, in his years-long campaign to inspire a hard-right turn among people in their teens and twenties, had built a formidable movement. There was a Q&A portion, and someone asked how many transgender Americans had been mass shooters in the past decade, to which Kirk replied, “Too many.” The person next asked, “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last ten years?” Kirk said, “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Then, in videos, there is a single, audible crack, and Kirk’s body jerks and then goes limp. In the audience, heads turn: someone had shot him, apparently from an elevated position about a hundred and fifty yards away. Soon, Kirk’s spokesman announced that he had been killed. He was thirty-one, and left behind a wife and two young children. Donald Trump, a close ally, ordered all flags flown at half-staff until Sunday evening.

Kirk’s death was brutal, and tragic. It also had the effect that terrorists aim for, of spreading political panic. In the immediate aftermath of a killing with obvious political resonance, there is a period of nervous foreboding, as the public waits for news of the perpetrator’s identity and for any hints of what might have motivated the terrible act, and braces for the recriminations to come. But, as often as not, information brings no clarity. 

We have a fairly good sense of the politics that motivated Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O., and James Fields, who sped his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, killing a young woman.

But attempts to define the political motives of Thomas Crooks (who tried to kill Trump last summer, in Butler, Pennsylvania), or of Cody Balmer (who has been charged with firebombing Governor Josh Shapiro’s official residence, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in April), or even of Vance Boelter (the longtime anti-abortion activist who, in June, allegedly killed one Minnesota state lawmaker, along with her husband, and tried to kill another) quickly become ensnared in the problems of their apparent mental illness or a more basic incoherence. Robin Westman, who stands accused of shooting and killing two children at a Catholic church in Minneapolis last month (and whose transgender identity was the focus of many right-wing media reports), had written “Kill Donald Trump” on some weapons, and neo-Nazi slogans (“Jew gas” and “6 million wasn’t enough”) on others, and expressed alignment with the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza. The motives were strange and idiosyncratic enough that they couldn’t easily be blamed on any one partisan side.

The effect of these violent acts on politics has been easier to track. Shortly after the news of Kirk’s shooting, the former Obama Administration official and liberal pundit Tommy Vietor echoed a common sentiment when he wrote on social media, “Political violence is evil and indefensible. It’s a cancer that will feed off itself and spread.” If that is right—if violence is contagious—then that is because each act generates its own responsive pattern of fear. The news itself in recent years has been a catalogue of the ubiquity of political aggression and anticipatory dread. In 2022, a man arrived at Brett Kavanaugh’s home with a Glock and padded boots; later that year, a man broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home and tried to murder her husband with a hammer. 

Unfortunately, the threats against members of Congress have also escalated significantly in the past decade. The Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, said at a conference this summer, “I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real.” After the shootings of lawmakers in Minnesota, the Democratic congressman Greg Landsman told the Times that every time he went out on the campaign trail he was haunted by a vision of himself lying murdered. “It’s still in my head. I don’t think it will go away,” he said.

What politicians can control is how they respond. Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, Trump denounced his perceived enemies. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said, and vowed to find those he deemed responsible for “political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.” Unlike Barack Obama, who sang “Amazing Grace” at a funeral after the mass shooting at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel church, Trump made no gesture toward common national feeling; he limited his litany of victims to those with whom he is aligned. The man sitting at the Resolute desk and blaming his enemies for political demonization—for acting “in the most hateful and despicable way”—had earlier in the week promoted a new campaign of ICE raids in Chicago with a social-media post featuring himself as Robert Duvall’s character in “Apocalypse Now” and the tag line “ ‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning . . .’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” That aggression, combined with Kirk’s shooting, seemed to be literalizing the culture war, in real time.

The footage of Kirk’s murder is horrifying. His head flops; blood gushes from his neck. At a press conference afterward, the university’s police chief, who had just six officers to protect the crowd of three thousand, said, “You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately, today, we didn’t.” It is hard to blame him. The ubiquity of weapons and the ease with which just about anyone can get them has made the protection of human lives increasingly difficult. That the threat of political violence is so endemic is one reason that what was once true of Trump’s movement is increasingly true of the country: it is distrustful, and feeling imperilled. In Utah, the people closest to the stage threw themselves to the ground quickly, and then so did hundreds of others, as they realized what was happening, in a wave that moved outward from Kirk. It was a visual manifestation of fear, spreading. ♦

Americans who remember when life was once upon a time politically "normal" must push back against extremism- GOP Alert!

Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe:

Utah Governor Spencer Cox: said he is sad and angered after the killing of Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University. But it was Kirk's own words who helped him."When people stop talking, that's when you get violence," Cox said, quoting the conservative activist, known for visiting college campuses and inviting people to debate him. Cox read several of Kirk's quotes about forgiveness and having human connections, telling the younger generation to build a culture that is different than today's political climate. https://cbsn.ws/46oOENl

Dear Editor of the Boston Globe:  About the only thing I’ve heard in the two weeks since Charlie Kirk’s sad and tragic assassination that has made much sense to me was Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s encouragement to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, and go out and do good in your community.” Wise words. So much of the rest of what passes for public discourse in America today assaults our senses.

Out here in normie-land, we do not want a civil war. 

Instead we vigorously renounce political violence and its encouragement — period. We wish that political leaders of all stripes — but honestly, especially the hard right and all the “near-right” leaders who have been sucked into that vortex — would just put down their swords and work together to solve the grave problems we face. Those of us on the left are not members of a cabal of child-eating America-haters; those of us on the right are not fascist Hitler wannabes. 💥😡

Who are we❓ We are (the normal people❗) most of the country, and by a very wide margin. 

But you would never know that from a glance at social media or even the pages of this newspaper. What would happen if we all took Cox’s advice❓ What if we turned off social media and worked together to solve our common challenges❓ What if we elected leaders who genuinely felt the same way and acted on that impulse❓

From Andy Calkins in Gloucester, Massachusettes

Republicans trying to wake up from anti-immigration coma

Dear Republicans: This echo essay published in The Washington Post reminds me of the frustrating cliché, "Where have you been? Where are you going?"

In fact, Democrats have been making the argument expressed by two Republican governors that wrote this opinion. Now, low and behold, the Republicans have suddenly discovered this message.  

Eric Holcomb, a Republican, is governor of Indiana. Spencer Cox, a Republican, is governor of Utah wrote:

Indiana has about 220,000 open jobs right now and Utah has 107,000, according to the most recent federal data — more than 6 percent of all jobs in both states. With strong business and tax environments, we like our chances in the competition for job-seekers moving from other states. But they won’t be enough to fill all of those vacancies. We also need immigrants who are ready to work and help build strong communities.

To help us do our jobs as governors, we call on Congress to end its two-decade standoff on setting immigration policy — one of its most basic duties. And, as leaders of states, we pledge to share the accountability. Though border security is a national concern, and a nonnegotiable requirement of national security in a world with drug cartels and terrorists, we believe that states should be able to sponsor whatever immigrants serve the needs of their communities. As it is, the standstill on immigration hobbles both parties and, more seriously, endangers America’s long-term well-being.

A growing, bipartisan group of senators appears to share our sense of urgency. But voices on one side call for an overly liberal national immigration policy that overlooks the toll on border states and encourages too many people to take dangerous journeys that can end in legal limbo. Meanwhile, voices on the other side call immigrants a burden, against all the evidence from economics and history.

The United States became prosperous because many immigrants saw our beacon and seized the freedoms and opportunities offered here. That formula has not changed. As of 2021, for example, nearly half of America’s Fortune 500 companies had been founded by an immigrant or the child of one.

At home, we see more ordinary stories of immigrants contributing to our state economies. Julian Diaz entered the United States in search of work in the 1990s. His son Juan now employs four other Hoosiers in a successful landscaping business, while Juan’s son studies computer science in college. Bassam Salem, born in Egypt, came to the United States more than 30 years ago with his parents and grew up in Utah. He eventually secured permanent residency, became a U.S. citizen and founded two successful technology start-ups that have contributed millions to the economy.

Rapidly declining birthrates and accelerating retirements across the United States mean that our states’ already wide job gaps will grow to crisis proportions without more families such as these — causing our growth engines to sputter. Many of these jobs require high-level skills and entrepreneurship. But states are also awash in unfilled entry-level, low-skill roles — essential in agriculture, health care and the service industries.

So, count us as supporters of immigration sponsorship by the states. Under such authority, similar to what employers and universities have already, each state could make its own decisions. They could sponsor no visas or many visas each year, up to a limit set by Congress, for the specific sorts of jobs they need to fill.

Immigration sponsorship would give states a dynamic means to attract new residents, both from a pool of new applicants from abroad and from the ranks of current asylum seekers. The policy would also expand the states’ responsibility for the contributions and success of these folks in American life.

Washington will need to grant such authority. And, of course, that’s not the only task on Washington’s list after two decades of punting. There is no way to approach immigration without three basic components: rules to determine who can come in and how, and who can stay; unflinching enforcement of such rules; and some kind of review-and-repeat process to assure that the United States offers paths to citizenship based on our evolving needs. The rules must include a practical approach to illegal immigrants who came to this country as children. And enforcement must include firm control of all entry points.

Perhaps it will help our representatives in Washington to know that governors and many other people back home in the states have their backs. The two of us are not unicorns, and last week’s National Governors Association meeting encouraged us to believe that others will soon step up, as well.


Our southwestern states bear the brunt of today’s immigration catastrophe, which forces those states to house, clothe and feed an unrelenting stream of people. But in meaningful ways, every U.S. state shares a border with the rest of the world, and all of them need investment, markets and workers from abroad. That border can remain an embarrassment, or it can become a big asset to us once again.

Trump violates the Espionage Act

Echo opinion letter published in The Washington Post;

Rudy Giuliani said recently breaking into the home of a former president is a (#FakeNews!)  “political act.” 

#BackTheBlue!

Those defending the current President Joe Biden administration answer that it is a warranted judicial act, not a party attack.

In this case, the Mar-a-Lago FBI search certainly is a brazenly political act, but with #probablecause of the good kind. 

It is part of the process of prosecuting an alleged incident of espionage. It is not the wimpy, pretend politics that the Republican and Democratic party organizations regularly engage in.

It is constitutional and federal “politics” carried out by duly authorized government officials who are sworn to protect the people and the laws. It is the kind of law-enforcement politics that the country needs more of to stop all the tyranny, terrorism and anarchy gripping the country today.

FBI searches Trump safe at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents

From Kimball Shinkoskey, in Woods Cross, Utah

*Espionage Act:  The Espionage Act was passed in 1917, a few months after the U.S. entered World War I. The original law made it illegal for people to obtain or disclose information relating to national defense that could be used to harm the U.S. or benefit another country.

Everyone deserves access to free health care!

Opinion echo letter published in The Times-Independent, in Moab, Utah:

My lungs were clear, my throat felt fine, my nose was just a little runny, and I attributed achy muscles to a yoga Zoom class I had just done. I felt a little feverish, but my handy infrared thermometer said that I was actually below 98.6. I felt bolstered that I was OK because I’d been vaccinated with the first two Moderna shots.

The United States is the only major country without universal health care. 

But what niggled at me while I wondered if I was getting sick, was that I hadn’t had the fall booster. 

Yes, I had wanted it, and even pleaded for it while I took my husband to get his third jab in October. But the pharmacist at that time denied one to me because I was too young (58) and didn’t have any pre-existing conditions. Never mind that I am a primary caregiver in our household. That fact fell on deaf ears.

So, when mild flu- and cold-like symptoms continued to annoy me, I wondered where I could get a COVID-19 test in Moab, Utah. 

But then a friend urged me to contact the Moab Free Health Clinic and see if they might have the supplies and willingness to swab my nose and run the sample through their machine. (It should be noted that while the drive-through clinic is now closed at Moab Regional Hospital, one can still wait to be seen at the Urgent Care clinic, but uninsured folks could pay at least $170 for a visit (!). The health department is conducting tests by appointment, according to the MRH website.)

Within 20 minutes of stopping by the Free Clinic, I received a text confirmation: “Unfortunately, you are positive!” I also received an exposure notification verification link I could access, followed by a phone call from a contact tracing official.

Right away, I canceled our Thanksgiving plans. I reviewed where I had been the prior week (the store, the dentist). And to the best of my abilities, alerted the folks who had been in my company during that time. Within an hour my daughter got a test, as did my husband. Thankfully, both were negative.

Admittedly, I should have been wearing a mask over the past several weeks as the efficacy of my first shots wore off. But I was lazy. 

However, I do believe those initial inoculations reduced the severity of my COVID case. I lost my sense of smell six days after my first sniffle, and now I’m simply wondering how long these mild symptoms will drag on. I call myself a “high-functioning covidite.” Thankfully, the CDC this week said anyone over 18 should get the booster. I’ll get mine as soon as I can.

"As I was assembling provisions for our annual Thanksgiving brunch last week, I brushed off concerns that I might be coming down with a little bug," Sena Hauer.

My thanks goes out to the Moab Free Health Clinic for testing me! Their prompt actions likely kept me from infecting a whole bunch of other people. As we continue to hear about new variants and high case counts, people need access to easy and reliable testing facilities. Without services and without proof of infections, this pandemic might drag on for a fearfully long time.

Sena Hauer writes from Professor Valley, Utah.

Veteran echoes he is grateful for vaccines!

This opinion letter was published in The Times-Independent in Moab, Utah:

A short military career pushed me into an invaluable 12-year advanced medical-history education, making me a true believer in modern medical science.

There isn’t a known veteran who has not received multiple vaccines. Mandatory vaccines of government property are only avoidable at the expense of a less than honorable discharge. 

I’m resigned to engaging with anti-vaxxers; we should always love our friends and family. It’s our right not to get vaccinated. I can judge and accept this misunderstanding of medical science history; the norm is to be much more careful in mutual social contacts.

There were trials and many errors made during 6,000 years of human medical history. This world is full of young people who want to be great scientists and doctors; they live to study medical science advancements. 

Two hundred years of vaccine science increased a 45-year life span, to 70, by eradicating viruses and other disease-causing pathogens — polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, and tetanus viruses and protecting against rabies, yellow fever, bubonic plague and whooping cough. The list is long. Humankind’s understanding of medicine in all of its forms is at its pinnacle, with an abundance of great minds working the checks and balances of medical science.

There isn’t a single person who has ever had the shingles not get the vaccine as soon as possible to avoid another outbreak. 

The current COVID-19 death rate is 1,000 American residents a day, and there isn’t any one of us who doesn’t know someone who has succumbed, mostly the unvaccinated. Currently, I know more than a dozen associates sick and don’t know if it’s COVID, flu, chest, or head colds. It’s the season. And if a vaccine against possible death is an option, then we’re just part of the numbers, and the numbers don’t lie. COVID is a crapshoot; no one knows their case until it strikes.

I’m an old vet with underlying conditions who volunteered to protect the rights of Americans. 

Moreover, I’m thankful and gratefully relieved that I have multiple vaccinations and understand how vaccination history works. 

I’m waiting on my COVID booster from my assigned government healthcare.

Stay as healthy as you can in this trying winter 2022, season.

Gary Hazen writes from Moab, Utah

COVID etiquette: Be kind!

Echo opinion letter published in the Herald Journal newspaper in Logan Utah:

To the editor:

It is selfish and wrong for people in this country to expect medical workers to continue to carry the heavy load of COVID patients and to put hospitals in the position where they have to turn people with other medical needs away. 

It is selfish and wrong for parents to expect their children’s teachers to keep school open when they are unwilling to do what it takes to keep everyone well by having their children wear masks to school.

Our children can learn a great lesson about sacrifice and caring for others when they wear a mask. Our children and their teachers are more vulnerable this fall than they were last school year. Salt Lake City School District with its mask mandate has the lowest case count of any large district in the state.It is irresponsible for legislators to tie the hands of schools, colleges, and businesses from implementing the proven measures that will save lives! Where is the sense of personal sacrifice for the good of the whole? 

Look at what our firefighters have been going through in the west this summer for the good of others. Look at what our military personnel go through for the good of others. Look at the work our National Guardsmen and many volunteers do to help after national disasters like the recent hurricanes and storms. Look at the sacrifices made by the first responders twenty years ago during 9/11. Why do we ignore disaster until it hits us directly? Why can’t the rest of us do our small part during this difficult time? I can understand vaccine hesitancy to a degree. But, I do not understand refusing to wear a mask, especially for reasons around personal rights. I have asthma, and I have survived 18 months wearing one. It is one of the most important things I can do to keep myself and those around me safe, along with being vaccinated. My daughter, a teacher in Utah, just told me tonight that SIX teachers in her school are now out with COVID, some vaccinated but none of them wore a mask. At this same time last year when everyone was masked up, no teachers were out sick with COVID. The high school in their town is having to go to weekly testing of students, a much more expensive measure than simply masking everyone up. 

What a price to pay. It disgusts me how politicized this whole pandemic has become when it is plain and simply a matter of just caring for each other. For once, let’s just each do our part and stop getting so hung up on our personal rights. Wear the mask! 

And be kind!

From Elizabeth Dennison
Mendon, Utah

Republicans must wake up and smell the odor of corruption

An echo opinion letter published in the Utah newspaper The Septrum, located in Saint George, Utah.

Trump is Unfit for Office

Republicans must wake up and smell the odor of Trumpzi corruption

All roads lead to Putin. Everything that Donald Trump does benefits Vladimir Putin of Russia. Consider the situation in Ukraine. Trump withheld aid to Ukraine until they agreed to dig up dirt on his leading political opponent, Joe Biden. Not only was he encouraging a foreign country to interfere in our 2020, elections, what he did ultimately benefits Russia because he withheld aid from a weak and needy ally at war with Russia.

It is past time for elected Republicans to wake up and smell the odor of Trumpzi corruption! 

From Scott Florence, in Dammeron Valley, Utah

Utah echo - Donald Trump invents a fake news border crises

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: There is no crisis at the border

You want fake news? Here’s some fake news about fake news.

William Randolph Hearst, impresario of yellow journalism around the end of the 19th century, was described as such a powerful press baron that, it was said, he basically started the Spanish-American War as a stunt to boost newspaper sales.

The story goes that when he was told by Frederick Remington, the already-famous illustrator he had sent to Cuba to document supposed battles there, that there were no battles to record, Hearst famously replied, “You furnish the pictures. I’ll furnish the war.”

That story is now thought to be apocryphal at best. But it was too good not to mimic in Orson Welles’ version of Hearst’s life, “Citizen Kane,” and not to otherwise be brought out in appropriate moments.

This is such a moment.

"Citizen Kane" let his pride get the best of him

There is no crisis on the U.S-Mexico border. Fox News can’t even provide the pictures. But the president of the United States has declared a formal national emergency, an excuse for an unconstitutional power grab so he can build, or plan to build, or pretend to build, a multi-billion-dollar wall along that frontier.

First he tried shutting down the government for more than a month — an economically disastrous month for both innocent government employees and the whole of the nation — in an attempt to get $5 billion for his foolish wall project.

When that didn’t work, the president capitulated to a new spending bill Friday, only to immediately announce that, Congress and the Constitution be damned, he was going to scare up $3.6 billion that had been allocated for military construction projects and add another $3 billion from accounts that are, arguably at least, within the president’s power to reallocate.

He did so repeating his phony, scaremongering claims that an invasion of disease-ridden, murderous drug dealers is pouring across our southern border, requiring extraordinary steps to protect innocent Americans.

Drugs, often carried by highly unsavory people, do come across the border. Through legal ports of entry. Because there is an insatiable appetite for them here.

But the real crisis, to the extent there is one, is felt not by Americans, even in border towns such as El Paso, but by desperate, downtrodden and dirt-poor refugees who have every treaty, legal and human right to seek asylum in this land of asylum-seekers. The president’s repeated abuse of real pain felt by real people, including Americans who have really been victimized by drug gangs, is a disgrace.

It is also disgraceful that he raises these false flags on the day after the first anniversary of the shootings at the high school in Parkland, Fla.. Such violence is a symptom of a real crisis that has and continues to threaten the safety of Americans, but that doesn’t serve the purpose of the president or his right-wing media allies because such atrocities are generally committed by white, American-born criminals.

One glimmer of hope this week is that some of the president’s fellow Republicans, notably Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. Chris Stewart, are at least furrowing their brows in response to this phony national emergency and that they and other Republicans might — just might — stand up to the president and reassert their constitutional powers.

If not them, who? If not now, when?

America needs news, data and informed decisions - opinion echo

Echo opinion by Gene Policinski published in the Utah newspaper the Standard Examiner: Policinski, a founding editor of USA Today, oversees all programs of the Freedom Forum Institute and also is a longtime proponent of diversity in journalism as an essential characteristic of a free press.

Gene Policcinski opinion published in the Utah Standard Examiner newspaper

The power of the press rests in the ability of journalists to hold government accountable, to mobilize public opinion on matters that are important to individuals, communities or the nation, and to provide necessary information of value.

Notice in those words not a mention of celebrity content, mobile devices nor “aspirational” reportage that feels good without doing any good.

But also notice in those words the key to the future for newsrooms across the nation: A visible role in the daily life of the nation rooted in real benefit and sustained credibility.

Newsprint may not be the medium-of-choice today for many readers, and perhaps certainly not the one for the desired next generation of readers. 

Yet, the news organizations behind what certainly will be a blend of printed and electronic pages must be again the mediums-of-choice for that group, whether they be thought-leaders in society, officeholders in government or voters.

The nation – our audience – needs facts, presented clearly, accurately and completely. For those who are help rapt by the comings and goings of the Kardashians and turn away from discussion of policy in the Keystone Pipeline System debate: Well, perhaps it’s time to say “goodbye” and leave them to vacuous talking heads, unreal “reality” shows and the assortment of cable TV geek-fests that offer a chance to feel superior just by sitting on a sofa.

“Targeted circulation” indeed. Let’s leave behind the prideful ignorant who proclaim little faith and demonstrate even less actual consumption of news, and target those readers and users who want news and data and informed decisions – and who will pay a reasonable fee to get it.

Ok, not as easy to gather in and report out as feature items and single-interview chats. It means bucking the system to place journalists in seats where daily decisions are made and social issues discussed – from City Hall to church pews. It means bringing the news of the day in new ways, but with the same old standards that separated opinion from fact, news pages from editorials and commentary from reporting.

The Newseum Institute’s latest State of the First Amendment national survey, published on July 4, showed that 70% of respondents disagreed with the statement that “overall, the news media tries to report the news without bias.”

To be sure, the change of bias has been leveled at journalists since the nation began – and was, in fact, welcomed by many in the first “journals of opinion” and later by media moguls making no pretence at publishing anything but “news” filtered through their own views.

But over time, and by dint of the hard work and credible reporting by tens of thousands of journalists – in newspapers, and later in radio, television and now online – readers, listeners, views and users gave their loyalty to news operations that brought them what they needed.

As emotional as one can be when waxing about ink-on-newsprint, it was the information that was printed with that ink, on those pages, that made newspapers strong and powerful – and that information was the stuff – not the fluff – of life.

Of course there is room for entertaining, uplifting stories and reports on that part of the day that makes us chuckle, smile or simply shake a head. But editorial decisions ought not to start and end there. “Click-bait” ought not to squeeze out real debate. “Metrics” ought not to rule over meaning. And the challenge in thorough reporting on the county’s budget next year ought to mean finding a new way – perhaps through the new studies of gaming technology as applied to news reporting – of telling a complex story. 

Decades ago, USA TODAY showed us how color weather maps and national sports rankings could be fun while still bringing needed information to commuters, gardeners and golfers – and while also reporting on AIDS, national security issues and unsafe military vehicles.

Consider that most news today still originates with mainstream media – and that the value for those aggregators was simply in finding a new way to package and deliver the content. A simple text-and-photo site called Craig’s List wreaked havoc on the financial underpinnings of a massive industry just by finding an easier way to post and peruse the same information. Cannot we collectively continue to find such innovation within newsrooms as well?

Journalists have learned many hard lessons over the last two decades: Nobody really loved us because of our nameplates, innovation was not just a good idea but a daily consideration on survival, and we no longer are the gatekeepers anymore between news makers and news consumers.

But in those tough, even brutal, decades, we’ve also discovered how to make our pages come alive – literally, via the Web – and found new ways to know about and be in contact with those interested in news and information. To the old axiom about being “Clear, concise and accurate” those who have survived have added “responsive.”

The power of the press was, is now, and will be in the future, bringing consumers the news they need – and having the fortitude to seek and report the news they don’t even yet know they need, but will.

Ignorance and apathy is the challenge. Credibility and necessity are the means to overcome those challenges.

Oct. 7-13, 2018 is National Newspaper Week. 

Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. A veteran multimedia journalist, he also writes, lectures and is interviewed regularly on First Amendment issues.

Amerca needs a peace leader - make Trump Drumpf again

"A handful of protesters were pepper-sprayed and some were arrested... Protesters carried signs with messages such as #CrushTrump and shouted, "Hey, hey / ho, ho / Donald Trump has got to go".

Americans can't be bullied by stormtrooper politics. Nevertheless, the US news media is recording the chilling Trump imagry like World War II Naziism.  

Violence is now horribly routine at Donald Trump "stormtrooper" political rallies

As right wing Republicans begin to stir up specters of poliical muckkraking, the facts point to the Donald Trump domestic terrorists as being much more dangerous than any myth about the Democrats. In fact, if the 2016 presidential campaign were a political fiction thriller, I suspect the plot would be preceived as inplausible. Yet, as scary as it is, we're living in a potential political horror movie, and the plot is not fiction. Donald Trump is real and his stormtrooper followers are scary.

About thirty percent of the Maine Writer readers are international. To those who are reading afar and to Americans who need a political reality check about how to select a president, this blog is for you. America need a peace maker. Our presidential leader must be a person with politiccal skills, vision, patriotism and experience. In other words, America must reject Trumponian leadership because Donald Trump's regressive politics are destroying our confidence, demoralizing our "melting pot" population and degrading our morality with name calling and stereotyping rhetoric.

Especially frightful is the growing violence increasingtly evident at Donald Trump campaign rallies. In other words, Donald Trump is not calling back his stormtroppers because they are his overt threat to the Republican establishment, who want to deny him the Republican nomination.

CNN Reports on Donald Trump rallies:
Protesters block road outside Trump Arizona event, march in NYC-  By Eugene Scott, CNN

Dozens of protesters blocked traffic near a Donald Trump event in Arizona on Saturday, while demonstrators marched in New York City to protest the GOP front-runner.

The protesters in Arizona parked vehicles sideways on Shea Boulevard, blocking both lanes of traffic into Fountain Hills, Arizona, where Trump held a rally Saturday afternoon, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Deputy Joaquin Enriquez told CNN.

Enriquez described Shea Boulevard as the main artery into the area and the protesters' actions were causing motorists to drive into oncoming traffic as they tried to get around them. Traffic was backed up for miles due to the blockage.

"This is causing huge issues for us," Enriquez told CNN. He added, "We obviously have to get this road open."

Enriquez later told CNN that three protesters were arrested and two cars were towed from the boulevard. The deputy emphasized that the arrests were due to protesters blocking the roadway, not because of the protest itself.

Protests at Trump rallies increasingly have become more contentious in recent days. Friday night, protesters outside a Trump rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, tried to breach the venue's doors, causing police officers and Secret Service officers to abruptly shut them as Trump was speaking. 

And last week, scuffles between protesters and supporters in Chicago led Trump to cancel a rally there.

Trump on Saturday appeared with former Arizona Gov. Jan (the former governor) Brewer and Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who endorsed the GOP front-runner in January. Arpaio (a bigot) rose to conservative fame with his aggressive roundups of undocumented immigrants and attention-grabbing tactics like clothing inmates in pink underwear.  (We couldn't possibly make this stuff up for a fictional script...it's too unbelievable, except it is true.)

Speaking to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield earlier in the day, Arpaio said authorities are "going to do everything we can to continue to have this rally," adding that authorities are "ready for any problems."

"We'll do everything possible to make sure we have free speech in this country. Donald Trump has a right to speak out and the people have a right to go in there and hear him speak," Arpaio said. "If certain groups don't like it, that's OK. They have freedom of speech, but they're not going to violate any laws. They're going to have to pay the consequences."

At the rally, Trump touched upon many of the themes that are familiar in his stump speeches -- including bringing jobs back to the U.S. from overseas, tariffs on products made in Mexico and criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy -- but particularly focused on illegal immigration, a major issue in Arizona.

"So much crime. Drugs pouring though the border. People are now seeing it. And you know what? We're going to build the wall and we're going to stop it. It's going to end," Trump said.

He added, "Unless you have a border, you don't have a country. Remember that."

Trump also criticized Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, his main GOP opponent, once again calling him "Lyin' Ted." And the GOP front-runner kept up his attacks on 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney -- who has led the charge to deny Trump the delegates he needs to win the nomination -- saying "he choked like a dog" in the last presidential cycle.

Speaking in Tucson later Saturday, dozens of protesters crowded outside the Tucson Convention Center, chanting, "No more hate" and "Trump the racist."

As he made his remarks, Trump was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, some of whom engaged in physical altercations with supporters. Behind Trump, a standoff between security and about two dozen demonstrators in the bleachers took place.

At one point, Trump turned around at the podium as he watched protesters escorted out of the venue.

"These are not good people folks," Trump said, adding, "They're not really protesters, they're agitators."

When the Tucson rally concluded, a public address announcement told supporters to exit via the back of arena due to the protests out front that were still ongoing. One night earlier in Salt Lake City, supporters had been given a similar directive due to crowds of protesters outside the arena.

While the protest in Fountain Hills was underway, crowds of demonstrators gathered in Manhattan to march from Columbus Circle near Central Park to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

A small skirmish erupted when protesters started throwing water bottles at police, who were trying to keep them from impeding traffic. A handful of protesters were pepper-sprayed and some were arrested.

Protesters carried signs with messages such as #CrushTrump and shouted, "Hey, hey / ho, ho / Donald Trump has got to go".

The march was organized by groups that included immigrant-rights activists and the "Cosmopolitan Antifascists." A Facebook page for the group said it stands for "inclusion, diversity and human rights."

One protester, Malu Huacuja, who is Mexican, said she was protesting Trump's rhetoric on immigration.

"I am not a drug dealer," she said. "I am not a criminal. I am not a rapist ... Hatred is a very dangerous poison in the soul of humanity."

CNN's Linh Tran, Ray Sanchez, Keith Allen, Noah Gray and Sara Sidner contributed to this report.