Outcome highlights injustice in limo case
I find it ironic that the cofounder of NXIVM is sentenced to three and a half years in prison while the owner of the limo that killed 20 people in Schoharie received only probation and community service.
Something is definitely wrong here.
JAMES F. SEFCIK
Rexford
Town right to return to virtual meetings
In 2008, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since 2015, I have been in a wheelchair. I require home health aides. Despite these challenges, I have attended Niskayuna Town Board meetings in the past when the supervisor proposed cuts in recreation programs that would have negatively impacted my young daughter. It was difficult because in-person meetings are very exclusionary to the disabled community, and expensive because in cases like mine, we require an aide to accompany us.
While some want to claim there’s greater openness to in-person public meetings I, and many disabilities advocates, vehemently disagree. Since I am also immune-compromised, I would never dream of attending a meeting now and I know I am not alone. I have been able to stay on top of all the issues and communicate easily with our town officials during the pandemic because all of the meetings have been online with closed captioning for my friends in the deaf community; there are regular emails; and there is a strong social media presence. Those not online watch the meetings on television.
I appreciate the supervisor’s action to curtail the spread of the COVID delta variant by returning to virtual meetings while our infection rates are at troubling levels. The residents condemning her are wrongheaded. I hope the supervisor holds her ground and when she reopens the meetings, she permits only those fully vaccinated to attend in person.
MICHELE DOLLAR
Niskayuna
Mask mandates hurt deaf community
In any kind of crisis (health or any kind of crisis) our government leaders tell citizens to protect themselves and others by using a little common sense. But when our government leaders called for an unnecessary mandate of all citizens to wear face masks/face coverings, that does not benefit anybody but hurts a certain community more than others.
That community is the deaf community. Because the only forms of communication within the deaf community are sign language and reading lips.
That is how this unnecessary mandate of wearing face masks/ face coverings hurts the deaf community.
So you have to ask yourself the question: Just what were you thinking when you mandated all citizens wear face masks/face coverings?
Government leaders!
ANTHONY CAROTA
Schenectady
Biden and Harris sowed vaccine doubt
President Blundering Biden and (Vice President) Chuckles Harris have no one but themselves to blame for 80 million people not taking the vaccine.
They ran around the country last fall before the election telling people you can’t trust the vaccine.
AL ZANGER
Schenectady
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Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
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Regarding “Mask mandates hurt deaf community”
Mr. Carota, saying…“But when our government leaders called for an unnecessary mandate of all citizens to wear face masks/face coverings, that does not benefit anybody”, obviously indicates you are ill informed and uneducated as to the fact that mask wearing saves tens of thousands of lives in the U.S. alone. Apparently science and statistical facts were not considered when you wrote your letter.
Yes, an individual who is deaf and reads lips may be further
inconvenienced in certain circumstances because of mask mandates, that’s obvious.
Consider this pandemic is a catastrophic event that has greater negative impacts to some in comparison others…The elderly, as well as people with underlying health issues. It has been devastating to businesses where close human contact is necessary, restaurants, gyms, beauty salons. The virus doesn’t know what fair is.
Mr. Carota: Please promote mask wearing, getting vaccinated, and by the way, change the channel on your TV.
So only those not invited to Obama, Pelosi or AOC events have to be masked?
Look Annie, regardless of who does or doesn’t wear a mask under various circumstances, be they justifiable or BS reasons to not wear a mask the bottom line, and what I’m saying is we should all wear masks when the situation warrants it. It definitely helps in preventing sickness and death, period. It should, under no circumstances be a political issue.
Got anything to offer of substance, Annie?
Or are you just here for a little attention?
Please provide the quote Mr. Zanger where either of them said that people can’t trust the vaccine. They said they wouldn’t trust President Trump’s word that the vaccines were safe (with his amount of lying, how could you?), but would trust when the scientists and doctors said it was safe. And they scientists and doctors HAVE said it’s safe.
I found a post from a year ago which indicates how Trump’s political appointees promoted doubt and misinformation about the virus. Re-posting as follows from September 15, 2020: I’ve been staying away from political posts lately but, my God, we have a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services claiming that scientists in the government are intentionally working to undermine Trump and accusing them of sedition, who interferes with scientific reports released by HHS about the virus, who claimed that left wing groups were planning an insurrection and who urged Trump supporters to buy ammunition. Now who the hell is plotting insurrection? On the same day, Trump, while visiting California, said that the scientists have no idea what’s causing the fires. I’m sick and tired of an administration that does not respect science, logic, or rational thought.
Matt:
Unfortunately
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/08/kamala-harris-casting-doubt-pre-election-vaccine-is-shameful/?outputType=amp
While Biden did it more gently saying trust in Trump, etc etc – VP harris was more direct where Washington Post called out her behavior. Governor Cuomo, Chuck Schumer all did similar press conferences about vaccines. Is it any wonder why 60% of African Americans remain unvaccinated? Combine that with the conspiracy theorists (mostly in Republican States) that are just ignorant.
The combined fence jumping and plain dummies is why we have a mediocre vaccination rate and variants popping up.
Joe, “Unfortunately” nothing. – – -Perhaps Harris was called out for not backing operation warp speed 100 percent, but how could anyone trust anything the 30,000+ lying other guy and his corrupt administration said about anything? I sure as hell was waiting for Fauci and other reliable sources to put their stamp of approval on the vaccine before I got it. – I didn’t then, and still don’t trust trump any farther than I could throw his fat rump body.
Can we ( you, me, matt, chuck, etc) each make a concerted effort to tell every African American (AA) you know, or run into to get the vaccine. The two of mine that live in NYC now both have theirs. 60% of AA still aren’t vaccinated. This group and the numbskulls & dummys we need to make herd immunity
How about some context, Joe? Presenting half-baked evidence without context is Rightwing Blather 101. Yesterday I suggested maybe “shameless” would be today’s word. Your comment sure is a good example.
Harris’ comments, as well the other Democrats’ questioning Trump’s vaccine came in the Fall of 2020 after 7 MONTHS of him blurting out derogatory statements concerning the virus. I posted a list of them compiled over that time period a couple weeks ago and would be glad to repost them. No one in their right mind would trust ANYTHING he said, especially about whatever more snake oil he might be trying to sell Americans. In fact, in September he said the following:
“Take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system. But [the virus] affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing. By the way, open your schools everybody, open your schools.”
You really stepped into it by suggesting vaccine hesitancy now is somehow due to Democrats. Your fair and balanced, hate-all-parties persona you wish to present here is not holding up well. This is on the Republicans and the Republicans alone. Why do you think most of the COVID patients and deaths filling up ICUs now are in red states? Almost exclusively red states. Do you expect us to believe they’re all under Democratic spells?
BTW, here’s the interview with CNN that you and the Washington Post picked and chose your feelings from:
~~~~~~~~
HARRIS: I think that we have learned since this pandemic started, but really before that, that there’s very little that we can trust that can comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth.
From the beginning of this pandemic, he has called it a hoax. He has muzzled the public health experts. He has minimized the seriousness of it. He has created false expectations for the American people and American families, even though, if he had listened to the scientists and the experts, he would have understood the gravity of it and the power that he, as president of the United States, has to actually save lives.
And none of those were his priorities. His priority was to do whatever he thought was politically expedient. And so, no, I would not trust his word. I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump.
BASH: But do you trust that, in the situation where we’re in now, that the public health experts and the scientists will get the last word on the efficacy of a vaccine?
HARRIS: If past is prologue, that they will not, that will be muzzled, they will be suppressed, they will be sidelined, because he’s looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days, and he’s grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he has been a leader on this issue, when he has not.
BASH: So, let’s just say there is a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election. Would you get it?
HARRIS: Well, I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us.
I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump. And it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about.
I will not take his word for it. He wants us to inject bleach. I — no, I will not take his word.
BASH: Dr. Fauci said a vaccine wouldn’t be approved unless the American people had, really, assurances that it was safe and that he feels that it was safe, and that, if that happens, he would take it.
[09:05:11]
Do you feel more comfortable hearing someone like Dr. Fauci say that?
HARRIS: No, I think Dr. Fauci has proven, for anyone who’s been watching him for years and years, to put the public health of the American people as the highest priority in terms of his work and his reputation and his priority.
Yes, I trust Dr. Fauci.
Chuck – in my comment I called the republicans idiots and dummys? But if I call out a few Democrats by name I’m not fair? Or balanced?
We know trump had 30000 lies! We know he is impossible to believe, but he got the vaccine- so why aren’t his idiot backers also getting vaccines?? They are just idiots!!!
These dummy democrats like schumer, Cuomo, harris were just following the party line questioning if vaccines were safe.
Frankly i could care less if there was a Democrat or Republican in white house I was getting that vaccine because I believe that if pfizer or Moderna was putting it out it was safe! Call me naive!!
Politicians, rap stars, athletes, etc shouldn’t be spouting off on stuff they know nothing about!
Oh puh-leeze!
Your whole comment was a rebuttal showing Dems to be equally culpable for vax hesitancy, AND implied they were responsible for Black hesitancy specifically.
I’m a Sanders Progressive, but I’m not ready to use “dummy” to describe establishment Dems. They (Biden) put Sanders as chair of Senate Finance. That’s gotta say something.
No, you tried to provide cover for the Republicans (or that was the effect) and that’s denial of reality. This fiasco, and the protraction of this pandemic in the US is squarely on the Republicans.
“The top Republican seeking to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in Tuesday’s recall declined before the election to say whether he could accept the results. A website affiliated with his campaign invites visitors to “sign a petition to stop the fraud of the California recall election.” And a previous version of the site — published before the election took place — blamed voter fraud for Newsom being “reinstated” as governor.”
“There is no evidence for these claims, which have nonetheless been amplified repeatedly this week by former president Donald Trump. But their arrival in the country’s largest blue state offered proof of their currency within the Republican Party, where some leaders have increasingly sought to undermine public confidence in Democratic victories by baselessly alleging that elections are vulnerable to manipulation.”
Soooooo, Regardless of; “California’s voting system standards and testing requirements are the strongest in the nation,” said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, noting that the state requires voter-verified paper ballots and post-election audits”… If a Republican looses any election it was “rigged”? These attempts of undermining our American democracy with the insanity of trumpian tactics must be stopped!
Chuck
You are living in a fairy tale if you don’t think African American politician (Harris, Waters, etc), AA sports figures, rappers (niki minaja / just said her partner was impotent), and others have some blame.
I saw Trump being booed for suggesting vaccines, Graham, Mconnell, Cruz telliing these dummys to get it
I have come to the conclusion that we have 40-50% or ppl in this country with IQ’s between 80-90. My guess – the vast majority of these ppl are ultra right wing individuals. If they don’t get vaccinated we are screwed
Yes, 45s playbook of how unfair everyone is to him…poor baby…such a tough life. The pathetic snowflake continues to be completely predictable and plenty of arse kissers are all too happy to play along. This is so dangerous and destructive to our Republic. But supporters like William can’t figure out why we’re so concerned and keep talking about 45.
The Arizona Senate who wanted the Fraud it didn’t want all the records released of who what and $ involved. They lost.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/09/14/arizona-supreme-court-rejects-state-senate-appeal-audit-records/8341092002/
Cyber Ninjas of the infamous Arizona Fraud it office is located at a UPS store po box in Sarasota, Fl
Annie:
Yes we have all seen the photos of hypocrites that wear masks for photo shoots and press conferences, then toss them for fundraisers, weddings and birthday parties.
Both the Republican & Democratic leadership are guilty if you look hard enough – plus remember the leader of the free world up until Jan – refused to wear a mask and infected 16 secret service members along with countless other staff.