Politics

COVID-19 crisis exposes fault-lines

Published

5 years ago

May 1, 2020

When Gary Fowler developed breathing problems in late March, he went to three Detroit hospitals seeking treatment for COVID-19. But they turned him away, his stepson Keith Gambrell said, telling the 56-year-old security company supervisor to take care of himself at home. Mr. Fowler’s condition ultimately got so bad that he could not lie down, and took to sleeping in an armchair in his bedroom. He died there on the morning of April 7.

“He couldn’t breathe and they barely looked at him,” Mr. Gambrell said in an interview. “They’re sending people to go home to die.”

Coronavirus is hitting Michigan hard: Its 3,800 deaths are the third-most in the country, behind only New York and New Jersey, and the crisis is casting a harsh glare on the state’s racial and class divides. African-Americans, including Mr. Fowler, account for 40 per cent of deaths but only 14 per cent of the population. The outbreak is centred on Detroit, the country’s largest city with a black-majority population, and one of its poorest.

The pandemic’s politics are also particularly caustic in the state. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has faced opposition to her stay-at-home order from the Republican-controlled legislature and the local business lobby. Right-wing groups, including some connected to President Donald Trump’s circle, have organized furious protests at the state capitol in Lansing, at which demonstrators have waved Confederate battle flags and carried semi-automatic rifles.

This week, legislators voted to roll back Ms. Whitmer’s authority to fight the pandemic, a move the Governor vowed to veto. Anti-shutdown protesters tried to storm the floor of the House chamber, and were held back by police. Several brought guns into the public gallery overlooking the Senate. On the lawn of the building, demonstrators held signs reading “tyrants get the rope” and describing Ms. Whitmer as a “witch.”

Senator Dayna Polehanki, a Democrat, said the protests were a deliberate effort to tarnish the Governor for Mr. Trump’s benefit. Ms. Whitmer is a vice-presidential prospect, and Michigan a must-win swing state in November; the President’s 11,000-vote victory there was key to his 2016 election.

“It’s coming from the top. I think people see that she’s extremely popular, and most people are following her orders,” Ms. Polehanki said.

One group opposing the stay-at-home order, the Michigan Freedom Fund, is partly financed by the family of Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s Secretary of Education. Another, the Michigan Conservative Coalition, is run by Meshawn Maddock, an adviser to the President’s re-election campaign.

A Navigator poll this week found 65 per cent of respondents approved of Ms. Whitmer’s handling of the pandemic, compared with just 43 per cent who said the same for Mr. Trump.

Ashley Phibbs of Michigan United for Liberty, one of the organizers of this week’s protest, said she believed that ordering people to stay home would cause more problems than the pandemic.

“A lot of people are still scared right now. They don’t even want to leave their house at all, they don’t want to go outside for a walk, and that hurts your immune system,” she said.

Asked if her group believed it was appropriate for protesters to brandish Confederate flags and reference hanging, Ms. Phibbs said, “No, we do not,” but that “we do, however, support their right to exercise their inherent rights.”

Mr. Gambrell said such symbolism was not coincidental.

“As soon as the news said the coronavirus is mostly hitting black and brown people, everyone else wanted to open the country back up,” he said. “What does the Confederate flag have to do with you not being able to go golfing or go to the store? What does the AR-15 [rifle] have anything to do with the economy?”

Jamon Jordan said his 66-year-old mother, Jacquelynne Jordan, couldn’t get a coronavirus test in March, despite having diabetes and high blood pressure. When she called the hospital, he said, they advised her to self-quarantine at home. She died four days later.

“This is a failure all over the country, but a more severe failure in large, predominantly black cities like Detroit,” said Mr. Jordan, who runs African-American history tours of the city. “There is almost an acceptance of black sickness.”

Despite this dire picture, some business groups are lobbying for physical-distancing measures to be lifted or loosened.

Rich Studley, chief executive officer of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, argued that Ms. Whitmer’s stay-at-home order should exempt factories and construction sites that can put physical-distancing measures in place. Michigan residents, he said, could be trusted to take precautions voluntarily.

“The Governor’s onerous statewide lockdown order has thrown hundreds of thousands of Michiganders out of work unnecessarily,” he said. “Do you have confidence in Michigan residents to exercise good judgment … or do you lack confidence in everyday folks?”

Some of the state’s iconic manufacturers, meanwhile, are biding their time by transforming assembly lines to produce medical equipment. General Motors, for instance, has made nearly a million surgical masks at a transmission plant north of Detroit. About 120 GM employees are working on the project.

Monte Duran, a GM spokesman, said the company has no firm idea of when normal production could return.

“On one hand, you want to resume production, and we all would like to get back to work,” he said. “On the other hand, we absolutely do not want to do it too soon.”

Also an open question is how all of this will play out politically.

Jenna Bednar, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, said Ms. Whitmer’s refusal to bend to the protests could help her standing by making her look decisive. But voters outside of the Detroit area could look negatively on her party if they believe she overreacted to the crisis.

“In South-East Michigan, people are questioning where the federal government is at in all of this,” Prof. Bednar said. “In the rest of the state, they’re waiting for the economy to reopen.”

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Edited By Harry Miller

News

Justin Trudeau’s Announcing Cuts to Immigration Could Facilitate a Trump Win

Published

4 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Nick Kossovan

Outside of sports and a “Cold front coming down from Canada,” American news media only report on Canadian events that they believe are, or will be, influential to the US. Therefore, when Justin Trudeau’s announcement, having finally read the room, that Canada will be reducing the number of permanent residents admitted by more than 20 percent and temporary residents like skilled workers and college students will be cut by more than half made news south of the border, I knew the American media felt Trudeau’s about-face on immigration was newsworthy because many Americans would relate to Trudeau realizing Canada was accepting more immigrants than it could manage and are hoping their next POTUS will follow Trudeau’s playbook.

Canada, with lots of space and lacking convenient geographical ways for illegal immigrants to enter the country, though still many do, has a global reputation for being incredibly accepting of immigrants. On the surface, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver appear to be multicultural havens. However, as the saying goes, “Too much of a good thing is never good,” resulting in a sharp rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, which you can almost taste in the air. A growing number of Canadians, regardless of their political affiliation, are blaming recent immigrants for causing the housing affordability crises, inflation, rise in crime and unemployment/stagnant wages.

Throughout history, populations have engulfed themselves in a tribal frenzy, a psychological state where people identify strongly with their own group, often leading to a ‘us versus them’ mentality. This has led to quick shifts from complacency to panic and finger-pointing at groups outside their tribe, a phenomenon that is not unique to any particular culture or time period.

My take on why the American news media found Trudeau’s blatantly obvious attempt to save his political career, balancing appeasement between the pitchfork crowd, who want a halt to immigration until Canada gets its house in order, and immigrant voters, who traditionally vote Liberal, newsworthy; the American news media, as do I, believe immigration fatigue is why Kamala Harris is going to lose on November 5^th.

Because they frequently get the outcome wrong, I don’t take polls seriously. According to polls in 2014, Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals were in a dead heat in Ontario, yet Wynne won with more than twice as many seats. In the 2018 Quebec election, most polls had the Coalition Avenir Québec with a 1-to-5-point lead over the governing Liberals. The result: The Coalition Avenir Québec enjoyed a landslide victory, winning 74 of 125 seats. Then there’s how the 2016 US election polls showing Donald Trump didn’t have a chance of winning against Hillary Clinton were ridiculously way off, highlighting the importance of the election day poll and, applicable in this election as it was in 2016, not to discount ‘shy Trump supporters;’ voters who support Trump but are hesitant to express their views publicly due to social or political pressure.

My distrust in polls aside, polls indicate Harris is leading by a few points. One would think that Trump’s many over-the-top shenanigans, which would be entertaining were he not the POTUS or again seeking the Oval Office, would have him far down in the polls. Trump is toe-to-toe with Harris in the polls because his approach to the economy—middle-class Americans are nostalgic for the relatively strong economic performance during Trump’s first three years in office—and immigration, which Americans are hyper-focused on right now, appeals to many Americans. In his quest to win votes, Trump is doing what anyone seeking political office needs to do: telling the people what they want to hear, strategically using populism—populism that serves your best interests is good populism—to evoke emotional responses. Harris isn’t doing herself any favours, nor moving voters, by going the “But, but… the orange man is bad!” route, while Trump cultivates support from “weird” marginal voting groups.

To Harris’s credit, things could have fallen apart when Biden abruptly stepped aside. Instead, Harris quickly clinched the nomination and had a strong first few weeks, erasing the deficit Biden had given her. The Democratic convention was a success, as was her acceptance speech. Her performance at the September 10th debate with Donald Trump was first-rate.

Harris’ Achilles heel is she’s now making promises she could have made and implemented while VP, making immigration and the economy Harris’ liabilities, especially since she’s been sitting next to Biden, watching the US turn into the circus it has become. These liabilities, basically her only liabilities, negate her stance on abortion, democracy, healthcare, a long-winning issue for Democrats, and Trump’s character. All Harris has offered voters is “feel-good vibes” over substance. In contrast, Trump offers the tangible political tornado (read: steamroll the problems Americans are facing) many Americans seek. With Trump, there’s no doubt that change, admittedly in a messy fashion, will happen. If enough Americans believe the changes he’ll implement will benefit them and their country…

The case against Harris on immigration, at a time when there’s a huge global backlash to immigration, even as the American news media are pointing out, in famously immigrant-friendly Canada, is relatively straightforward: During the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, illegal Southern border crossings increased significantly.

The words illegal immigration, to put it mildly, irks most Americans. On the legal immigration front, according to Forbes, most billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants. Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, to name three, have immigrants as CEOs. Immigrants, with tech skills and an entrepreneurial thirst, have kept America leading the world. I like to think that Americans and Canadians understand the best immigration policy is to strategically let enough of these immigrants in who’ll increase GDP and tax base and not rely on social programs. In other words, Americans and Canadians, and arguably citizens of European countries, expect their governments to be more strategic about immigration.

The days of the words on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty pedestal’s lower level, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” are no longer tolerated. Americans only want immigrants who’ll benefit America.

Does Trump demagogue the immigration issue with xenophobic and racist tropes, many of which are outright lies, such as claiming Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets? Absolutely. However, such unhinged talk signals to Americans who are worried about the steady influx of illegal immigrants into their country that Trump can handle immigration so that it’s beneficial to the country as opposed to being an issue of economic stress.

In many ways, if polls are to be believed, Harris is paying the price for Biden and her lax policies early in their term. Yes, stimulus spending quickly rebuilt the job market, but at the cost of higher inflation. Loosen border policies at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was increasing was a gross miscalculation, much like Trudeau’s immigration quota increase, and Biden indulging himself in running for re-election should never have happened.

If Trump wins, Democrats will proclaim that everyone is sexist, racist and misogynous, not to mention a likely White Supremacist, and for good measure, they’ll beat the “voter suppression” button. If Harris wins, Trump supporters will repeat voter fraud—since July, Elon Musk has tweeted on Twitter at least 22 times about voters being “imported” from abroad—being widespread.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow, Americans need to cool down; and give the divisive rhetoric a long overdue break. The right to an opinion belongs to everyone. Someone whose opinion differs from yours is not by default sexist, racist, a fascist or anything else; they simply disagree with you. Americans adopting the respectful mindset to agree to disagree would be the best thing they could do for the United States of America.

______________________________________________________________

Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

Politics

RFK Jr. says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water. ‘It’s possible,’ Trump says

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.

Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”

The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”

Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”

The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.

“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.

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