Louisiana Voice

“We’re not looking to shoot the messenger here.”

–Admiral Michael Gilday, after Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced that apt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was relieved of command after writing a letter pleading with Navy brass to address concerns over the coronavirus outbreak aboard his ship. Modly assured the media that Donald Trump had nothing to do with the decision. [of course not. Why would we think that? So, just who are you trying to shoot, then?].

“I knew it could be horrible, and I knew it could be, maybe, good … I want to give people a feeling of hope.”

–Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump, trying once again to spin his way out of a web of lies spun over a period of weeks in which he denied the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.”

–Idiot Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, in finally issuing a shelter in-place order. [Isn’t Atlanta, Georgia the headquarters for the CDC? This goes far beyond stupidity; it’s arrogance and reckless disregard. It’s malfeasance.]

EDITOR’S NOTE: I am re-posting here, with only minor editing, a comment made yesterday by one of our readers in response to another reader’s criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. I found his thoughts particularly important not because of any defense of Cuomo, but because the reader so accurately pointed out the tactic of Trump supporters, repeated over and over, of deflection and misdirection of all criticism of Trump by pointing to others’ shortcomings and failings, a ploy I consider to be the underlying characteristic of failure.

This will doubtless prompt the usual outcry from the handful of Trump apologists who regularly comment on this site. That is their right as Americans and as long as their comments are not racist or vulgar, they are invited to share their views in accordance with the First Amendment, which I wholeheartedly support.

Here is yesterday’s comment by Keep the Faith:

“Why not distract from the death and destruction Trump has created all on his own? No, let’s attack Gov Cuomo and his family and friends.

“Can you provide the conviction rate of Trump’s previous administration members? Can you fathom those on his transition team who are now serving in prison?  Don’t remember the past 3 years of this presidency? His children’s wealth and how they got it? How Trump inherited his and lost $450 million in 1985? The single highest bankruptcy in this nation?

“Don’t go after Gov Cuomo. There are criminals surrounding Trump’s past and present. The here and now is what’s important – people are dying. Your president declared this COVID-19 a Democratic hoax. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

“His leadership in this pandemic is less than stellar. In case you have forgotten, this is the United States of America, the richest, most powerful, most influential country in the WORLD. This is an emergency! This Pandemic which Trump knew back in January and refused to prepare his country saying instead that a miracle will transform the country in 14 days to zero.

“His doing little to nothing in helping the survival of our citizens who are DYING. How unconscionable are you to refer to Gov. Cuomo as whinny, Gov. Lamont of Connecticut, Governor Whitmer of Michigan asking for help, but instead, being accused by Trump of stockpiling? Accusing Doctors and nurses on national TV of selling the much-needed medical equipment out the back door of hospitals – even as they’re putting their lives on the line to help others.

“Those same hospital personnel, overwhelmed, facing possible death, working long hours desperately trying to save those in their care while hooked up to ventilators, dying. Don’t complain about Trump’s politics for a moment. Let’s bring up the impeachment, Pelosi, Schumer, anything but the realization of today, The Pandemic is life or death here and now, not the Trump train to re-election months down the road. A bridge too far to cross, with its crumbling infrastructure which he promised to replace and repair in 2016.

“They are asking for beds, PPE, ventilators to help save their sick and dying citizens, front line responders – Doctors, nurses during this pandemic. While Trump has chosen to ignore them and us and only worry about his re-election campaign? I guess when it finally hits home, when family members or close friends test positive and die, maybe you will begin to FEEL something, but I doubt it.”

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In watching the daily briefings and updates on the coronavirus, I am struck by the contrast in styles, knowledge, character and priorities between Donald Trump and the various governors, including our own, and the experts who know what they’re doing—and saying.

On the one hand, we have Trump who after weeks of declaring that coronavirus was a Democratic hoax created to destroy his presidency, that only one person was infected, that the virus would disappear, yada-yada-yada, finally conceding it was a problem, then saying he knew it was a pandemic before anyone else, then wanting to get the country’s business back up and running by Easter (because his approval rating and the stock market were taking a hit), and finally reversing himself again, saying things are really bad and that we’re in for a rough two weeks.

That, folks, is not leadership.

Trump has done more flip-flops than an Olympic gymnastics team, more inconsistencies than an Iowa Democratic caucus. No one knows from one minute to the next what to believe what comes out of his mouth. The safest bet is to not believe anything, but to wait until Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Deborah Birx get a chance to get the facts out there.

And now we learn that they’ve had to beef up security for Dr. Fauci because of threats on his life. Have Trump’s supporters gone so bat-guano crazy that they have to threaten a 79-year-old man because his knowledge in his field of expertise (allergy and infectious diseases) clashes with the knee-jerk mouthing to their hero? That he has infinitely more credibility than the big Cheeto-head?

We have real heroes who continue to go to work each day to keep this country going. Grocery store stockers, checkout employees and baggers see to it we don’t go hungry—without thanks. We have truck drivers who make sure perishable goods make it from the farm to wholesalers and from wholesalers to the retail grocers so that they may remain open.

We have law enforcement officers who must continue to maintain order and to protect us from those who would do us harm.

For those who have lost their jobs, there are the overworked, stressed-out civil servants who are striving to keep up with the applications for unemployment benefits. They deserve our heartfelt appreciation.

There are the first responders who, while exposing themselves to infection, still transport the sick and hurt to hospitals where exhausted nurses and doctors try in vain to keep up with the COVID-19 victims who keep pouring in. Many of those same law enforcement officers, first responders, nurses and doctors have themselves contracted the virus and those who haven’t keep working with the prospect of not seeing their own families for weeks on end. Nursing home employees are particularly under the gun as they care for the most vulnerable among us.

And yet, there are those who refuse to heed the desperate pleas to stay at home and to not expose others or become exposed themselves. Preachers who mistakenly think they are doing God’s work are satisfying only their own egos while placing their congregations and their communities in peril. That is not the work of God—it’s the very epitome of greed and pride, two of the seven deadly sins.

Watch Trump as he reads—and at a sixth-grade level—from a prepared script, rarely looking up. He’s totally unprepared as he stumbles over the words of his text, not pausing at the appropriate intervals, and with no inflection in his voice. It’s so mechanical and detached—much like his detachment from reality.

Then watch our own Gov. John Bel Edwards. You can feel the despair in his delivery. He is tired, bone-tired, because he so obviously cares. His pleas for citizens to comply with his stay-at-home directive rings with sincerity that reveals his sadness for the havoc that has beset our state. At the same time that he has been the voice of reason, he has also been the voice of restraint, refusing to let himself be drawn into some kind of ideological dispute with Trump. He is truly the adult in the room.

Much the same can be said for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who, like other governors, has issued a desperate plea for ventilators which are in short supply all around. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, however, have shown a little less patience.

Cuomo, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate (and should there be a brokered convention, he could yet slip into the race) has been more outspoken in his criticism of Trump and of those who continue to ignore social distancing pleas.

While Drs. Birx and Fauci rely on cold, hard statistics and scientific data, Trump continues to shoot from the lip, even accusing (without any evidence) nurses of theft of masks and gloves, thus “creating” the personal protection equipment shortages.

Such petty rhetoric is not productive, but then that has never held Trump back from petty rhetoric. In fact, that’s about all we’ve heard from him in three-plus years in office while aides scramble to repair the damage done by him.

Despite the lack of leadership from the White House, I’ve not seen this country this united behind a common cause since 9/11.

It’s just a sad commentary to acknowledge that it takes something like an attack on the World Trade Center or a pandemic like COVID-19 to bring this country together, however briefly.

Now, if only Trump could grasp that concept and reflect more on the problem at hand rather than the TV ratings for his daily briefings. That would show some needed maturity.

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“When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” Trump said at the time. “We have it so well under control. I mean, we really have done a very good job.”

–Donald Trump, Feb. 26, 2020

“If we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, that’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000 — so we have between 100- and 200,000 — we altogether have done a very good job,”

–Donald Trump, March 29, 2020.

“You can’t spin a pandemic. People are sick. People are dying. The media is covering the grim reality of the pandemic and the government’s response, which was laggard. This enrages him.”

–David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s former senior adviser, on Trump, Sunday, March 26.

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A Baton Rouge-area minister has been arrested for violating the stay-at-home order of Gov. John Bel Edwards by continuing to hold services at his church but he has several options open to him to circumvent the governor’s order.

Pastor Howe Dewey Connem of the Church of the Living Waters in Plunkerville says his First Amendment rights are being violated by the prohibition of gatherings of more than 50 people. He normally attracts upwards of a thousand or more (many more, if Donald Trump is counting heads) to his performances sermons.

Rev. Connem said if the governor is successful in lowering his attendance figures, there’s a good chance that he might not have ample opportunity to get members to pledge their $1200 federal stimulus payments (plus $500 per child—and a lot of members have kids) to his church before they spend the money on frivolous things like food, utilities, rent, etc.

“I find it ironic that they are trying to nail me to the cross right here at Easter,” he added.

On Tuesday, a similar incident occurred when Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran CITED Pastor Tony Spell of Central’s Life Tabernacle Church on six counts, saying Rev. Spell “will be held responsible for his reckless and irresponsible decisions that endangered the health of his congregation and our community.”

We don’t know about Rev. Spell but don’t count Rev. Connem out too quickly. He’s got several aces up his sleeve—not that he’s a gambling man, mind you, though he doesn’t seem to mind gambling with the health of his parishioners or his community.

First of all, he’s going go have U.S. Rep. CLAY HIGGINS file a bill in Congress to exempt Living Waters from the governor’s order because—well, because Higgins is such a stand-up man of faith and paragon of virtue so, why not? The bill will have as co-authors Rep. Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, and Lindsey Graham and in the Senate, John Kennedy and Mitch McConnell will lead the fight for passage.

Once the bill is passed and signed by Trump, the Great Orange himself will fly into Ryan Airport and take the short drive to Living Waters where he will take his place on the front pew. “Religion is a big part of my life,” Trump said, adding that he will brush up bigly on Two Corinthians before visiting with Brother Dewey. “Religion is, like, a big, really big…I don’t know if you know this, not many people do know, but church is a part of religion and evangelicals helped me win the popular vote and I’m very popular with religious people, the polls show it, bigger numbers than any president in history. Religious people like to play golf at my resorts, the religious people who can afford it, that is, and I love to play bingo at the Baptist churches. Obama was a Muslim, everyone knows, but I’m probably the most tolerant person in the world,” the President said.

The second tactic to be employed will be bringing in students from BETHEL CHURCH in Redding, California to lay hands on all those Mardi Gras revelers who have come down with COVID-19 so that they may be healed.

It is anticipated that a large number of the Bethel members will converge on Baton Rouge to do the work of Living Waters since Bethel itself has suspended its faith healing rituals at local hospitals in California. No reason has been given for the suspension but heaven forbid that it’s over concern that the faith healers themselves might become infected.

Third on Preacher Howe Dewey Connem’s to-do list is to bring televangelist KENNETH COPELAND to Living Waters to do his thing, which is to repeat his demand that the coronavirus pandemic is officially over. [Actually, what Copeland did was to “execute judgment” on COVID-19 and to (gasp!) call the virus “doggone!” Copeland also said, “It is finished!” (where have we heard that before?)]

And just for good measure, students from Jerry Falwell Jr.’s LIBERTY UNIVERSITY are coming down here on a special mission. Pastor Connem will deploy his two dozen or so buses to transport the students throughout the Baton Rouge area recruiting anyone with the sniffles, sneezes, fever, or a cough to bring them back to Living Waters to demonstrate the healing powers of defiance of authority and common sense.

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