Letters: Misinformation proving deadly; Fighter jet proposal triggers memories

Misinformation proving deadly

Recently National Public Radio (NPR) examined COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people in nearly 3,000 counties across the United States, beginning in May 2021 — when vaccines became widely available — to determine which counties were suffering most; counties that voted for Donald Trump or counties that voted for Joe Biden. What NPR found was “people living in counties that voted for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now President Biden”

NPR found that the higher the vote share for Trump, the lower the vaccination rate. Misinformation is a “major factor,” especially the false belief that the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths.

Many Trump supporters have made a series of bad choices, often inspired by xenophobia, racism, resentment and ignorance. They falsely believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that President Obama was born in Kenya, and that an ignorant, racist, serial lying, narcissistic sexual predator con man was fit to be president. But, thanks to this bad choice, they are disproportionately dying from COVID-19, and, sadly, validating Darwin’s theory about survival of the fittest.

Thus, Trump and our local Republicans (Corman, Benninghoff, Thompson, and Keller) are not only fostering the demise of democracy in America through their lies and misinformation, but also, paradoxically, the physical demise of the very people willing to help them.

Fighter jet proposal triggers memories

The article in the Monday CDT triggered some memories about earlier efforts by jet practice groups in northern Pennsylvania. In the early 1990s a group called the Air National Guard put on a concentrated effort to officially use northern Pennsylvania wild lands for its low-level practice flights. There were even Congressional hearings. The Bellefonte artist Rob Fisher organized effective testimony about the work load on the pilots. What finally killed the idea was a near miss of a hang glider pilot who had dropped down from the Hyner Overlook. Northern Pennsylvania is now elk country, and a booming tourist and hunting culture has grown there. See my book “Greate Buffaloe Swamp” page 244 for an overview of the history, in both Schlow library and Centre County Historical Library.

‘60s song applies to current events

Every time I read or see yet another news story about Donald Trump’s bizarre legacy to America, it reminds me of a sad, but popular folk song written by Buffy Sainte-Marie in the 1960s. It’s called “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying.” While it was originally written to address her Native Canadian-American heritage, it still applies, in now broader perspective, today! By all means, do check it out on YouTube.

Speak out on lasting effects of gerrymandering

Don’t care if either of our political parties uses cutthroat, dog-eat-dog tactics? Don’t care if one party tries to use dirty tricks to thwart the will of Pennsylvania voters? Satisfied with “the partisan end justifies the means” in Harrisburg? Then you should have no problem with the redistricting now being hustled through the Pennsylvania legislature by the Republican PA Senate.

Gerrymandering occurs under both Democrat- and Republican-majority legislatures. The PA Supreme Court threw out a 2018, Republican-crafted redistricting map as “an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.” The Republican PA Senate rejected recommendations of Gov. Wolf (D)‘s 2019 PA Redistricting Reform Commission. Seth Grove (R), chair of the House State Government Committee, announced a preliminary Congressional plan on Dec. 8 that, according to an initial analysis by the citizen’s advocate group Fair Districts PA, was politely characterized as follows: “the proposed map rates low on compactness, does little to advance minority representation and locks in a significant advantage for the party that proposed it.”

I’m very concerned about contemporary efforts to degrade our electoral system and representative democracy. Please join me in calling our elected representatives and letting them know that we want fair, representative government. If you “don’t care,” as in the first three sentences of this letter, then let someone else run your government. If you think that this might be an issue worthy of attention, please educate yourself (make sure you consult reputable, reliable sources) on the potential non-representative, lasting effects of gerrymandering.