COMMENTARY By Dave Samuel MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- During this crazy time, I’ve tried to get out every day for a walk. You can only spend so much time in your house before you need to get outside. Even on rainy days (and we’ve had our fill of those of late), my dog Cali and I find a ...
A friend tweeted from Ireland (in time for St. Patrick’s Day), blaming President Trump for the major decline in the value of stocks. This same friend credited Barack Obama’s economic policies when the Dow Jones Industrial Averages approached 30,000. This — and more — is part of our political, economic and medical divide with mixed messages coming from supposed professionals, amateurs and people who don’t know what they are talking about. According to Dictionary.com, “panic” is “a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or ...
Dr. Steven Pergam is like a Miss Manners for the age of coronavirus. His job title, after all, is “Infection Preventionist.” His Twitter avatar is a drawing of him with virus microbes floating in the air around his head. He’s been practicing the disease-avoidance strategy called “social distancing” for years, long before the arrival of the coronavirus thrust this new etiquette on the rest of us. “When I see a railing, I do think, ‘how many people have touched that?’ ” said Pergam, an infectious disease specialist at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. ...
There’s an old song by The O’Jays that seems especially apropos to this moment. The refrain goes: “Those lies done caught up with you this time.” The song was about a faithless lover getting her comeuppance. But it also works as a verdict on so-called conservatives in an age of looming pandemic. At this writing, there have been, according to a New York Times database, 747 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 — caused by the novel coronavirus — in the United States; 26 of the afflicted have died. Meantime, the stock market has dropped like a boulder from a cliff, colleges are ...
Thousands of former Boy Scouts and their parents are now wondering how an organization with nearly $1 billion in net assets and over $200 million in annual revenues can go bankrupt. Was it financial mismanagement that led to this bankruptcy filing? No, the Boy Scouts of America has done a very good job of managing its assets. Another kind of malfeasance led us to this place. Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has been targeted by criminal pedophiles seeking access to boys. For the same reason that Scouting is popular with boys, it is popular with criminals who want ...
And now we know, really know, why government is important. Even why politicians are (gulp) vital. Our lives, our families, our jobs, our recreation, our vacations, our schools, our religious observances — and our investments – are turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, and the worst hasn’t occurred yet. Experts are saying if no quick action is taken, hospitals could be “slammed” in two weeks. There aren’t enough nurses, doctors, lab technicians, beds or ventilators to handle what may be just around the corner. And what about the people who must go to the hospitals ...
