Salem Political Snark

Republicans should support Rep. Kinzinger's Country First movement

Are you a Republican or a conservative-leaning independent?

If so, are you fed up with how the GOP has become so closely tied to Trump, it has lost its way to such an extent it now embraces crazy conspiracy theories such as that Biden's victory didn't happen via a free and fair election?

A "yes" answer, or even a "maybe," should cause you to check out Representative Adam Kinzinger's newly unveiled web site, Country First. 

Kinzinger is an Illinois Congressman who was one of ten Republicans to vote for Trump's impeachment in the House of Representatives. I've seen him several times on TV, including his appearance today on Meet The Press.

I like his style. Kinzinger comes across as straightforward, honest, and committed to traditional Republican principles.

He's deeply disturbed by what the Republican Party has become in its seemingly never-ending quest to kiss up to Donald Trump, no matter how far this misplaced affection causes the GOP to stray from the values it used to hold.

There's a six-minute video on Country First that explains why Kinzinger is starting this counterweight to Trumpism. Time will tell whether many conservatives jump on board the Country First movement.

I suspect most Republicans will stick with Trump, but I admire Kinzinger for trying to get the GOP back on track.

My mother was a fervent lifelong Republican who would be aghast at how deep the party has sunk into the muck of lies, sedition, and loyalty to an ex-president who richly deserves his two impeachments.

I haven't leaned Republican since I went to college and left behind the conservatism that my highly political mother imbued in me. However, I'm supporting what Kinzinger is doing because it isn't healthy for our country to have a major political party dominated by, to put it bluntly, crazy people. 

The United States is the only advanced democracy where one party has become so extreme, basically there is no way for the Democratic Party to engage with it on pressing policy issues like Covid relief, voting rights, and climate change. That's an unhealthy state of affairs.

Here's excerpts from a Washington Post story, "GOP Rep. Kinzinger starts PAC to challenge party's embrace of Trump." 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Donald Trump earlier this month, has launched a new political action committee that is designed to become a financial engine to challenge the former president’s wing of the GOP caucus and stand up against a leadership team still aligned with him.

Kinzinger, 42, a former star of the 2010 tea party class, said the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol served as a final breaking point for the direction of the Republican Party, providing a stark divide between those who want to continue a path toward autocracy and those who want to return to traditional conservative values.

In an interview Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Kinzinger formally unveiled his Country 1st PAC and a six-minute campaign-style video launching what he hopes will become a movement.

“The reality is this: This is a time to choose. . . . And my goal in launching Country1st.com. . . is just to say, ‘Look, let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way, how backwards-looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division,’ ” Kinzinger said on the program. “And that’s not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”

...Kinzinger said he does not want to play any leading role in the GOP and has no ambition to run for higher office, but said too many Republicans were remaining quiet and just hoping Trumpism would fade away without being fully confronted.

He said that his push is not really about ideology so much as driving conspiracy theorists and racists out of the GOP.

“We don’t embrace conspiracy theories to win anymore,” he said. “Would we lose the Proud Boys? Maybe. I’m fine with that.”

Freedom Celebration won't include Salem Police Department

KSLM's right-wing radio talk show host Jeff Kropf has been plugging a Freedom Celebration to be held this Sunday, January 31. I've heard that Trevor Womack, the Salem Police Department chief, won't be attending even though he was invited. 

UPDATE: I've heard that 400 people have registered for this event. Oregon's COVID rules for an Extreme Risk area (where this event will be held) say that a maximum of 50 people can attend an outdoor entertainment event. So it looks like the Freedom Celebration will be in violation of that rule. And it could be a super spreader event, given that most of the right-wingers who attend won't be wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

FURTHER UPDATE: A commenter reminded me that this event is to be held in an airplane hanger, so it is indoors. That means six is the maximum number of people who could attend under current Covid rules. I stand corrected. However, that rule seems a bit unfair if everyone is wearing masks, which admittedly almost certainly won't happen. Grocery stores can let in people to the extent of 50% of capacity, I believe it is, if everyone has a mask on. The problem is that most of those going to the Freedom Celebration wrongly think "freedom" means going maskless.

Wise decision, Chief Womack. 

While your officers are free to attend on their own time, it would have been a bad idea to give credibility to this event -- given that it was Biden-hating Republican extremists like Kropf who sowed the seed of the insurrection at the nation's Capitol that cost the lives of three police officers (one was murdered by the Trump rioters and two have committed suicide following the attack).

If you want to endure a You Tube video where Kropf speaks his mind at a January 1, 2021 rally at the state Capitol in opposition to Governor Brown's Covid "tyranny," here it is.

I watched enough of the video to learn that, among other things, Kropf is against wearing masks to fight the pandemic and that he believes a wacko accusation of Brown having ties to the Chinese Communist Party needs to be investigated.  

Someone sent me a recording of Kropf claiming on his radio show that the Salem Police Department would be attending the Freedom Celebration along with the National Guard, Marion County Sheriff's Office, and other groups. Hopefully none of them will show up in an official capacity.

Jeff Kropf obviously doesn't understand that freedom is defended by many others than the sorts of people invited to the Freedom Celebration: law enforcement, military, first responders. 

Trump's failed attempt to overthrown our democracy by having the results of the free and fair 2020 presidential election overturned shows that judges, election officials, Secretaries of State, advocates for voting rights, lawyers, journalists, and many others who don't carry a gun deserve to be praised at their own Freedom Celebration. 

Those people also have been "fighting the good fight for our freedom," as the Freedom Celebration puts it. But right-wingers like Kropf don't acknowledge this, which is why I'm a proud progressive.

We on the left side of the political spectrum have a much more expansive view of freedom than conservatives do these days, even though genuine conservatives also believe that democracy is protected by assuring that as many people are able to vote as possible, which means making it as easy to vote as possible.

Rep. Mike Nearman and Oregon GOP are dangerous crazies

Feel sorry for me.

My wife and I have the unfortunate distinction of living in the Oregon House District held by Republican Mike Nearman -- the guy who held a door open at the state Capitol on December 21, allowing 50 militant protesters to stream into the building, setting off a battle with police that led to a dozen officers being pepper-sprayed by the intruders.

Oregon, of course, was a rehearsal of sorts for the January 6 insurrection at the nation's Capitol in Washington D.C..

It's fortunate that Nearman isn't a member of Congress, or he would have been helping the Trump mob break into the Senate and House chambers, perhaps with murderous results far greater than the single police officer killed by the insurrectionists. 

Pleasingly, the Statesman Journal reports that a coalition of state leaders is calling on the Oregon Legislature to expel Nearman. 

A coalition of local and regional leaders, business owners and organization directors are calling on the Oregon Legislature to expel Republican Rep. Mike Nearman for allowing violent demonstrators into the Capitol building in December.

The growing group includes three Salem city councilors; the executive director of the Eugene/Springfield NAACP; the executive director of the Northwest Accountability Project; union leaders; and environmental activists.

The Salem city councilors are Chris Hoy, Vanessa Nordyke, and Trevor Phillips. Hopefully the three other progressive councilors will join them.

Laurel, my wife, reads the constituent newsletters emailed to us by Nearman. So far I've held off on reading them out of a fear that my head would explode from the craziness they contain. {Laurel tells me about some of the lies in the newsletter, which are astounding to those of us who embrace reality rather than conspiracy theories.)

Speaking of conspiracy theories, the Oregon GOP has covered itself in lying grime after its executive committee issued a resolution calling the January 6 insurrection a "false flag" event. Meaning, supposedly the thousands of demonstrators carrying Trump flags and wearing Trumpian clothing actually were antifa masquerading as Trump supporters.

Of course, there is no evidence of this, but little details like facts don't stop today's Republican Party from spewing out the latest QAnon bullshit. 

It's embarrassing that news of Oregon's GOP craziness made its way to Great Britain, where The Guardian ran a story, "Oregon Republican party falsely suggests Capitol attack was a 'false flag.'"

The Oregon Republican party has falsely claimed in a resolution that there is “growing evidence” that the 6 January attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob was “a ‘false flag’ operation”.

The resolution, which was published on 19 January and was endorsed by the executive committee of the state Republican party, suggested that the storming of the capitol by Trump supporters was an orchestrated conspiracy “designed to discredit President Trump, his supporters and all conservative Republicans” and to create a “sham motivation” to impeach the former president.

To back up these false claims, the resolution cited links to rightwing websites, including the Epoch Times, a pro-Trump outlet that has frequently published rightwing misinformation, as well as the Wikipedia entry for “Reichstag Fire.”

On the plus side, the craziness of the Oregon Republican Party isn't going to win over the voters they need to become competitive in statewide races. So says an Oregonian story about the GOP conspiracy theory resolution. 

“It is a really curious strategy for a political party that is so weak in the state right now to try to find a way back,” said John Horvick, a pollster with DHM Research. “Republicans haven’t won the governor’s mansion since Vic Atiyeh. They’ve won two statewide races in the last two decades. They’re in the wilderness in the Legislature and they spent the summer trying to recall Kate Brown.

“Maybe this represents their base to some extent, but it doesn’t make any sense to me as a short-, medium-, or long-term strategy.”

Do away with the filibuster, or democracy will crumble

I'm happy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated three days ago. I'm pleased that Biden is signing a bunch of executive orders that undo the crap Trump inflicted on our nation.

But a big loud flashing warning signal is going off in my brain:

"Alert! Alert! Code Red! If the Democrats don't do away with the Senate filibuster, not only will Biden's presidency be severely hobbled, the foundation of our democracy will crumble into ruins."

In no way is this an original idea. 

Progressive political analysts who are much more knowledgeable than I am about goings-on in Congress have clued me in to the urgent need to ditch the filibuster -- that outmoded rule requiring 60 votes in the 100 person Senate to pass legislation.

Not to confirm judges, though. Senate Republicans took advantage of that giant loophole to ram through the confirmation of Supreme Court and other federal judges during Trump's four years. 

Yet now that Democrats narrowly control the Senate, with Vice-President Harris breaking ties in the current 50-50 makeup of that body, Republicans are crying that, boo-hoo, eliminating the filibuster would be too disruptive, too revolutionary, too bold.

They don't mention that our Founding Fathers didn't envision the filibuster. They don't mention that for many years the filibuster was used to support Jim Crow laws in southern states that kept Blacks downtrodden. They don't mention that it is undemocratic to allow a minority to thwart the will of a majority.

Right now red states are busily plotting to change their election laws to make it much more difficult for Democrats to win elections. They want to restrict mail-in and absentee voting, solidlfy gerrymandering, require burdensome IDs to vote, and other nasty measures.

There's a Voting Rights Act ready to go that would go a long way toward protecting our democracy. Here's key provisions of what's being called the For The People Act.

* Automatic voter registration at an array of state agencies

* Same-day voter registration

* Online voter registration

* Allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register so they’ll be on the rolls when they turn 18

* Allowing state colleges and universities to serve as registration agencies

* Banning states from purging eligible voters’ registration simply for infrequent voting

* Two weeks of in-person early voting, including availability on Sundays and outside of normal business hours

* Standardized hours within states for opening and closing polling places on Election Day, with exceptions to let cities set longer hours in municipal races

* Prepaid postage on mail ballots

* Allowing voters to turn in their mail ballot in person if they choose

* Requiring states to establish nonpartisan redistricting commissions for congressional redistricting

* Ending prison gerrymandering by counting prisoners at their last address (rather than where they’re incarcerated) for the purposes of redistricting

* Ending felony disenfranchisement for those on parole, probation, or post-sentence, and requiring such citizens to be supplied with registration forms and informed their voting rights have been restored

* Expressing support for D.C. statehood (which is the subject of a separate bill)

* Public financing for House campaigns in the form of matching small donations at a six-for-one rate

* Expanded campaign finance disclosure requirements to mitigate Citizens United

* Banning corporations from spending on campaign purposes unless the corporation has established a process for determining the political will of its shareholders

* Making it a crime to mislead voters with the intention of preventing them from voting

But the chance of this bill getting 60 votes in the Senate is essentially zero. As is the chance of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico achieving statehood, or Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid relief package becoming law, or a host of other laws being passed that would improve the lives of Americans immensely.

All because of the filibuster. Well, not quite "all," because Senate Democrats still would need to find 50 votes. But 50 votes are a lot easier to come by than 60 votes. 

So if every Senate Democrat were to get on board with abolishing the filibuster, that would open the door to tremendous legislative accomplishments in the next two years. 

Ezra Klein makes a great case for doing away with the filibuster in his New York Times opinion piece, "Democrats, Here's How to Lose in 2022. And Deserve It." It's well worth a read. Here's some excerpts.

President Biden takes office with a ticking clock. The Democrats’ margin in the House and Senate couldn’t be thinner, and midterms typically raze the governing party. That gives Democrats two years to govern. Two years to prove that the American political system can work. Two years to show Trumpism was an experiment that need not be repeated.

Two years.

This is the responsibility the Democratic majority must bear: If they fail or falter, they will open the door for Trumpism or something like it to return, and there is every reason to believe it will be far worse next time. To stop it, Democrats need to reimagine their role. They cannot merely defend the political system. They must rebuild it.

...The “For the People Act,” which House Democrats passed in 2019 and Senate Democrats have said will be their first bill in the new session, would do more to protect and expand the right to vote than any legislation passed since the Great Society, and it would go a long way toward building a fairer and more transparent campaign financing system.

In June, House Democrats passed a bill to grant statehood to Washington, D.C., which would end one of the most appalling cases of systematic disenfranchisement in the country.

But none of these bills will pass a Senate in which the filibuster forces 60-vote supermajorities on routine legislation. And that clarifies the real question Democrats face.

They have plenty of ideas that could improve people’s lives and strengthen democracy. But they have, repeatedly, proved themselves more committed to preserving the status quo of the political system than fulfilling their promises to voters.

They have preferred the false peace of decorum to the true progress of democracy. If they choose that path again, they will lose their majority in 2022, and they will deserve it.

Vaccinating Oregon teachers before seniors widely criticized

Governor Kate Brown's ill-considered order to give teachers the Covid vaccine before seniors is getting well-deserved media criticism. I'm no fan of this policy, having written my own critical blog post back on January 16, "Outrage: Oregon seniors  to get Covid vaccine after teachers."

Here's news stories that came to my attention, along with an excerpt from each.

Portland Oregonian
"Watchdog: Why Oregon senior citizens have one of longest waits in country for COVID-19 vaccinations," by Aimee Green

Seniors in Oregon will wait longer than almost anywhere else in the country to be eligible fo coronavirus vaccinations, a review by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found, undercutting claims that the federal government is to blame.

And that has shifted focus back to Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to prioritize teachers over the elderly.

...Yet when the prospect of extra vaccines fell apart, Brown said she had no choice but to make elderly Oregonians wait.

“I remain committed to vaccinating our seniors quickly,” Brown proclaimed Jan. 15. “But this failure by the Trump administration will unfortunately cause a two-week delay in beginning vaccinations for seniors.”

Not mentioned as part of Brown’s blame-shifting: 45 states dealing with the same vaccine limitations already have or within days will begin inoculating at least some of their oldest and most vulnerable residents based on age groups.

How? Decisions about who to vaccinate first are decided by governors and state health officials, and, among other things, Oregon is one of only two states to buck federal guidance by allowing teachers to go ahead of the elderly.

Salem Statesman Journal
"Anger, confusion grow over Oregon's COVID-19 vaccine rollout," by Tracy Loew

Oregon’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, charged with deciding who should get scarce COVID-19 vaccines first, is questioning its role after Gov. Kate Brown overrode its priorities last week.

The committee has received hundreds of comments from the public, much of which center on Brown’s recent decision to prioritize educators over older residents.

That decision came the day after the committee made its own recommendation, which focused on the state’s most vulnerable residents.

...Brown’s decision to prioritize educators, announced Jan. 15, is contrary to federal recommendations and differs from what most other states are doing.

It’s prompted a huge outcry from the public.

“You are effectively giving many of us our death sentence,” Charles Eggerstedt, an 81-year-old doctor in Clackamas, wrote the committee.

“The vaccine should be given to the most susceptible and in danger of dying from an infection,” wrote William Snow, of Dundee.  

Oregon Public Broadcasting 
"With limited doses, many question Oregon's plans to send teachers to the  fromt of the vaccine line," by Erin Ross

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown wants as many schools as possible to resume in-person learning by Feb. 15 while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. To make that happen, she plans to vaccinate all of Oregon’s 100,000 or so school employees in the next few weeks — in the process putting them at the front of the line ahead of the elderly, people with pre-existing health conditions and other groups of non-medical frontline workers.

That decision has sparked controversy in Oregon. After other states seeking to prioritize teacher vaccinations reversed or altered those plans following public backlash, Oregon remains the sole holdout.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccinating older people, people with pre-existing health conditions, and people at a very high risk of exposure first. Brown’s decision directly contradicts those guidelines. Some critics argue that vaccinating teachers ahead of more vulnerable groups violates principles of medical ethics. Others — including teachers — say that vaccinating teachers is not enough by itself to open schools safely.

Willamette Week
"Gov. Kate Brown Reversed Herself Twice Last Week on the Date Elderly Oregonians Could Get the Coronavirus Vaccine," by Rachel Monahan

On Jan. 15, Gov. Kate Brown took a parting shot at the outgoing Trump administration: She blamed a decision to move up COVID-19 vaccines for elderly Oregonians and then move them back again on the federal government's failure to deliver promised vaccine reserves.

Three days earlier, the governor had moved seniors to the front of the line for vaccines. When she learned more vaccines weren't coming, she changed the plan again: Older Oregonians would have to wait another three weeks.

...The reversal comes with high stakes attached, even as other states have already begun vaccinating seniors. People over 80 account for more than half of Oregon's deaths from COVID-19, and people over 60 account for 90% of the deaths.

As of now, Oregonians over 80 will be eligible for vaccines beginning Feb. 8—after medical workers, firefighters and school teachers get the shots. The state will then lower the age bracket each week until everyone over 65 is eligible.

It's Brown's last chance to blame Trump—and keep the public's faith in Oregon's choppy vaccine rollout.

Brown's double reversal shows the immense pressure the governor faces to return life to normal from COVID-19 as soon as possible. But it also exposes the holes in Brown's plan to get vaccines into the arms of Oregonians.

Her decisions on which groups get priority for vaccines are last minute, placing sudden demand on hospitals and threatening to undermine public patience in seemingly arbitrary choices.

Most notably, Brown is pressing to return students to school classrooms by Feb. 15—and assuaging the concerns of teachers unions about that plan by giving them early priority for vaccines.

That's an approach that few other states have tried.

"Oregon is in a fairly unique standing throughout the nation in saying that teachers would be part of the Phase 1 rollout," says Courtney Campbell, director of Oregon State University's Program for Ethics, Science, and the Environment.

Campbell said "health equity" has been a primary consideration for vaccine rollout both in Oregon and nationally—but teachers didn't seem to fit that standard. Instead, Brown and Oregon's vaccine advisory committee could include additional considerations, such as saving "the most lives" and "giving primacy to fairness and transparency" to justify the choice.

"If you're going to work only with health equity, then it seems to me it's hard to justify prioritizing K-12 personnel," says Campbell.

Today Gov. Brown held a press conference where she tried to defend her decision to vaccinate teachers before seniors, then took only three questions even though the Oregonian says that thirteen reporters had their hands virtually raised during what I assume was a Zoom call.

Here's some Twiter tweets about this.

After a Trump headache, Biden's inauguration was my aspirin

I feel so much better today. My (metaphorical) four-year Trump headache has gone away, thanks to the healing power of watching Joe Biden being inaugurated. 

It's such a relief to see truth and decency return to the White House. Also, normalcy. 

Biden is going to be a great president, I'm confident of that. But even if he turns out to be only an average president, that's hugely better than the sorry excuse of a president Donald Trump was.

Most Americans are going to find it easy to admire Biden's warmth, empathy, and concern for both our country and the world at large. I suspect he will be akin to Roaald Reagan. Those on the other side of the political divide won't like Biden's policies, but in general they will like the man.

One thing that impressed me was how, at 7 pm Eastern time, a press conference was held at the White House briefing room. Shock! The Trump administration held very few press conferences, because truthfulness wasn't valued and Trump wanted to be able to lie directly to reporters.

It was hugely refreshing to watch Biden's press secretary promise to be truthful, then respond to questions in an open, honest, straightforward manner. Plus, she said that they'd be holding daily press conferences. White House reporters must be overjoyed.

There will, of course, be many bumps in the road ahead for the Biden administration.

However, they will be genuine bumps over important domestic and foreign policy issues, not self-inflicted bumps caused by the massive ego and moral failings of the previous president -- whose name I'm going to try to use infrequently, because his memory deserves to be erased from history to the greatest degree possible.

I'm encouraged by how Biden and his team seem to be set on taking on several tough issues early in his presidency: voting rights and immigration reform.

Some knowledgeable political analysts see this as a sign that doing away with the Senate filibuster will be seriously considered, because almost certainly there won't be enough Republicans willing to overturn a filibuster of bills addressing those issues.

Voting rights should be Job 1, or close to it, for the Biden administration. 

It seems clear that in most states controlled by Republicans, there will be efforts to make it harder for people to vote, especially by mail. This is the core approach Republicans have been taking to winning elections. Not by appealing to more voters, by making it more difficult for non-Republican voters to cast a ballot.

So the most important thing Congress needs to do to protect our fragile democracy is make it easier to vote. Otherwise it is only a matter of time before various techniques of voter suppression lead to an election of someone just as authoritarian as the previous president, yet more adept at seizing power.

Those sorts of concerns weren't foremost in my mind today, though. 

Mostly I rejoiced at seeing Joe and Jill Biden express the obvious love they have for each other, hugging, holding hands, smiling widely. Walking in the middle of the street back to the White House, Biden would dash over to greet a reporter, then jog back to catch up with his wife and other relatives.

In four years I never saw the former president jog once, or even walk fast. Likely he is incapable of this, given his weird forward lean both standing and walking, perhaps caused by his prodigious gut. 

Thus I thrilled to seeing a older president break into a jog, albeit a slow one. This seemed to mirror the eagerness Biden has to healing our country from the past four divisive years. 

Biden made a great start today. The inauguration ceremony was filled with memorable moments. One of the best was the poem read by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. If you haven't seen Gorman do her poetry thing, here's your chance.

Lastly, I can't resist sharing a piece in the London Daily News provocatively titled, "British Writer Pens The Best Description of Trump I've Read." I agree. It is indeed the best. Nate White answers the question, Why do some British people not like Donald Trump? Here's some right-on excerpts.

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

...Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

...He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

Outrage: Oregon seniors to get Covid vaccine after teachers

If Oregon seniors weren't so justifiably afraid of coming down with COVID-19, they should be marching in the streets after Governor Brown announced yesterday that those 65+ would have to wait in line behind teachers to get vaccinated.

This is a hugely irresponsible decision that is going to cause many old people to die. 

According to the Oregon Health Authority, those 60 and over comprise 17% of Covid cases in the state and a whopping 91% of the Covid deaths.

Yet Brown said at a press conference that I watched via You Tube that children are suffering from distance learning and need to get back into in-person instruction as soon as possible.

Hey, Governor, you know who else has been suffering?

The 1,600 Oregon seniors who have died from Covid, many of them isolated from loved ones in a hospital bed, unable to say goodbye other than, maybe, via an iPad held up by an ICU nurse.

Children have their lives ahead of them. Seniors are nearing the end of their lives. Children can recover from learning problems during this pandemic. Seniors who die from Covid are gone forever, no second chances.

Currently the plan is to start vaccinating most day care, preschool, and K-12 school employees on January 25. Seniors have to wait two weeks, with Oregonians ages 80+ starting to get the vaccine on February 8, followed by ages 75+ on February 15, 70+ on February 22, and 65+ on March 1.

This likely is an optimistic schedule. But even if it holds up, every senior who wants the Covid vaccine won't be able to get both doses until well into April, around three months from now.

Today 41 Oregonians died from Covid. Let's look on the bright side and say that only 20 die on average each day during the next three months, 90 days. That's 1,800 additional deaths. If 91% are seniors 60+, over 1,600 old people will die.

Sure, some seniors will be immunized in time to prevent getting the disease. So let's cut that number in half: 800. Or maybe you think I'm being too pessimistic. OK, cut the number in half again: 400.

Is it worth 400 senior deaths to give Oregon children a few months of in-person instruction?

That's my guess, given that it seems unlikely all school personnel could get their first shot before February 8, with the second shot being given three or four weeks later, which gets us to March 1-8. Full immunity takes a few weeks after the second shot.

So it would be the end of March before school personnel are 95% safe from Covid. Will schools reopen before this happens? I doubt it. Teachers would resist entering classrooms before their second dose has taken effect. 

Thus if summer vacation starts in June, Governor Brown is saying that it is worth hundreds of senior deaths to give children eight weeks or so of in-person instruction this school year.

Here's a not-so-crazy idea.

Ask teachers, parents, and students if they are OK with this? Have a statewide discussion about the morality of condemning the grandparents of school children to die so their grandchildren can sit in a classroom for a few months.

Consider what a learning experience it would be for educators to talk about how putting off in-person instruction until the fall of 2021 is a sacrifice being made so many old people can live.

My wife and I are 71 and 72, respectively. We were fortunate to be able to get a first dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine last Thursday, though a bit unfairly. 

I'm happy about that. But I'm sad whenever I think about the seniors we know who, like us, have been living in fear for almost a year of coming down with COVID-19.

The Oregon Health Authority statistics show that a bit over 7% of those 60+ with COVID-19 die. That's 1 out of 14. Many or most of the other 13 suffer a lot, since seniors are affected much more than younger people by the Covid virus.

So it isn't irrational for many seniors to stay sheltered at home, unwilling to go out except for groceries, which often are picked up because those old people are wary of going into stores. Governor Brown spoke of the despair of students who can't be in the classroom.

Brown needs to spend more time talking with seniors who have been isolating to a much greater degree than students about their despair, their loneliness, their fear of getting sick and dying alone.

There's still time for Governor Brown and the Oregon Health Authority to rethink their plan to make seniors wait to get the Covid vaccine until school personnel have been immunized. I hope they do.

 

I get a Salem Health Covid shot, a bit unfairly

NEXT DAY UPDATE: BAD NEWS. My wife just spoke with an over 65 friend who, along with her husband, were hoping to get a Covid shot at the Fairgrounds today, Friday. She was told that they were turned away, likely because of what Governor Brown announced this morning about the state not getting additional vaccine doses from the federal government as promised. Looks like another screw-up from the Trump administration, among many others.

It's been an interesting 24 hours, Covid-wise. 

Last night I wrote a blog post, Salem Health is allowing people to get "extra doses" of Covid vaccine, where I argued that it was unfair of Salem Health to say on their Covid vaccine web page that only people in the initial 1a group (health care providers and nursing home residents/staff, basically) could be immunized at their Fairgrounds clinic, while allowing people to get shots on a drop-in basis if they showed up at the clinic.

This afternoon my wife and I got our first shot, Pfizer variety, at the clinic. So am I a hypocrite?

Not really. In the morning I perused my Facebook feed and saw that more people were talking about getting immunized at the Salem Health clinic even though they weren't in the 1a group. A few said that appointments can be scheduled through Salem Health's MyChart.

So that got me to thinking that given our age, early 70s, and health status, my wife has asthma and I have a bladder problem that would be tough to deal with if I got a bad case of Covid, it made sense to try to get immunized regardless of how fair it would be. Here's how today went for us. As you can read below, others have had a different experience when they went to the clinic to get the vaccine.

We got to the Fairgrounds site at about 1:50 pm. You enter via Silverton Road. There was a long line of cars in front of us. But the line moved along at a steady slow pace. It took us about half an hour to get to the place where someone talks to you while you're in the car. 

Laurel was driving. The person asked us if we were health care workers. Laurel said, "No, but we have appointments through MyChart; we're over 70 and have pre-existing conditions." Those words earned us an "OK, you're good to go; turn left up ahead." Turning right meant you were leaving the Fairgrounds because you weren't accepted for an immunization.

Now, what's rather strange is that a friend texted me later in the day.

They said that they'd also gone to the clinic in the afternoon today. The couple told the screener that they had MyChart appointments and were over 65. They were turned away. This points to a certain unfairness, since seemingly the only difference between them and us was that we'd mentioned pre-existing conditions.

At any rate, after getting the go-ahead to be immunized we parked and walked into the Jackman Long building housing the clinic after having our temperature checked via a forehead thermometer. 

I was instantly impressed with how efficient, friendly, and professional everybody working there was. 

We were pointed down a MyChart path, since we didn't need to fill out any paperwork, having handled that online. So if you have a MyChart account, click on the Menu with the three bars in the upper left corner, choosing "Covid Vaccination Clinic." The next steps are straightforward.

Laurel and I were given a card that said we got the first Pfizer dose on January 14 and needed to return to get the second dose on February 4. Card in hand, we then joined a line of people waiting to be immunized. Photos were taken to mark the happy occasion.

Laurel Hines

Brian Hines

It didn't take long to reach the end of the line. A staffer apologized for a short delay in the immunization process which lasted less than five minutes. Dr. Ralph Yates, the Chief Medical Officer of Salem Health, was at the head of the line checking cards. Yates saw me a few times early in 2020 about my sciatica problem. 

I told him that I was his sciatica success story, being much improved now. I thanked him for assuring me that I was going to get better, which meant a lot to me when I was despairing that the pain wouldn't go away, Then I thanked him for the marvelous immunization clinic Salem Health was putting on. Yates said that no other county is doing something like this (many more should), and that he was proud no vaccine doses have gone to waste.

We then were directed to tables with an open shot-giver.

Here's a photo of Laurel finishing up with the person who immunized her. The shot was virtually painless, though the needle has to remain in your arm for 10 seconds, which was no big deal.

We then waited in another area for 15 minutes to make sure we didn't have an allergic reaction to the shot. I spent the time texting my daughter and a friend about how we'd just gotten our first Covid immunization. The whole process took shout 90 minutes, including the time in our car.

In case anybody is worried about contacting Covid by going to this immunization clinic, rest assured that the Fairgrounds building is so large, there's plenty of room to socially distance. Naturally everybody wore a mask. 

After we were done, my overwhelming feeling was gratitude for everybody who is working hard to keep the Salem Health clinic going until everybody in Marion County who wants the vaccine can be immunized. This includes the National Guard troops who were much in evidence at the clinic.

I also have been feeling a huge relief that my wife and I got our first shots.

For about eleven months Covid has been an oppressive weight on everybody's mind. There's no escaping the reality of the pandemic, though unfortunately some people try to deny the truth of it. I knew I'd feel good after getting immunized. What I didn't know was how good. 

So I have very little to criticize about the immunization clinic.

As noted in my first post, I still hope that Salem Health will be more transparent about who, exactly, can get a shot. There's clearly a difference between the overt policy on the Salem Health Covid Vaccine web page that says only people who live in Marion County and are part of the 1a group can be immunized, and the actual policy of allowing people in the 1b group to get the vaccine.

Maybe there is a good reason for this. Sometimes rules deserve to be broken, because the rule is too rigid. That could be at play in this case.

However, on January 23 the 1b group will join 1a as officially eligible to be immunized in Oregon -- seniors 65+, teachers, other school staff. Will Salem Health then allow people in the next highest priority group, like store clerks or younger people with underlying conditions, to be immunized? I'm worried that this will create confusion and perhaps even some reluctance to be immunized if the process is viewed as unfair.

Unfair or not, I'm really happy that Laurel and I went to the clinic today. 

Salem Health is allowing people to get "extra doses" of Covid vaccine

Salem Health is allowing people to get the Covid vaccine who aren't part of the 1a group that supposedly comprises the only Oregonians eligible to be immunized currently.

This seems unfair to me, though I'm not criticizing those who took advantage of the extra doses that Salem Health has been doling out to those in the know who have shown up at the Fairgrounds vaccination site.

Yes, it is well known that often it is possible to get more shots out of a vial of vaccine than the usual number. That vaccine shouldn't go to waste. However, I don't understand why those extra doses are being given on a first-come, first-served basis to otherwise ineligible people when this opportunity hasn't been communicated to the general public. 

I learned about this from a Facebook post by Tom Andersen, a member of the Salem City Council who was able to be vaccinated today even though he isn't a health care provider or a resident/staff member of a long term care facility. Those are the basic 1a groups; a detailed list of who is currently eligible to get a Covid vaccine is here.

Andersen said: "I got my first COVID shot today. The local hospital has extra doses so opened up at the state fairgrounds on a first come basis. While not one of the first, I was one of around 1000 or more who got shot."

I'm bothered by what Salem Health is doing. Public confidence in what will be a lengthy Covid vaccination process will be undermined if there appears to be favoritism in who gets a shot, whether intentional or unintentional.

Yesterday Governor Brown announced that as of January 23, seniors 65+ will be eligible to get vaccinated, along with teachers and some others . Here's the three tweets from Brown. Note that this next group, which I gather will be 1b, isn't supposed to be vaccinated until January 23, not January 13.

So Governor Brown told Oregonians to be patient "if you are newly eligible."

Hey, I'm 72. I'm newly eligible. 

I'm also a Salem Health member, as my family physician works at their Edgewater Clinic. I didn't call my doctor's office, because Brown said I shouldn't. I figured that when seniors aged 65+ are able to be vaccinated, information about how to get a shot will be widely available.

But obviously a bunch of people learned that if you show up at the Salem Health vaccination site at the Fairgrounds, and there are extra doses available, it's possible to get vaccinated even though you aren't eligible to get a shot.

I went to the Salem Health Covid vaccination web page to see if there was any indication that someone not in the 1a group could be vaccinated. Answer: no, there is nothing about this. In fact, the message is the opposite. 

If you aren't part of the current 1a group, you aren't supposed to go to the Fairgrounds site. This is boldfaced. Here's screenshots.

So anyone who went to the Salem Health Covid Vaccine web page would be met with the words: "You must live or work in Marion County to be vaccinated at this site AND you must fall into Phase 1a (see below)." 

That "below" says that Phase 1a includes health care workers, residents and employees of nursing homes, and first responders. Also, "Anyone who arrives to be vaccinated will be asked to attest to their eligibility as a member of OHA's Phase 1a groups living or working in Marion County."

Yet other people who show up at the Fairgrounds site have gotten vaccinated even though they aren't in the Phase 1a groups. Hopefully Salem Health can explain why this is happening.

It would be understandable that those administering the vaccines would grab anyone within reach if some doses were going to expire for lack of refrigeration, or whatever, and otherwise would need to be thrown away.

But this comment by Tom Andersen says that "extra doses" have been used by Salem Health several times in the past week. How does someone learn that these extra doses are available? Salem Health should be more transparent about why and how they are administering vaccinations to people who aren't currently eligible to get a shot.

Again, I couldn't find any indication on the Salem Health Covid Vaccine web page that it is possible for someone to wait in line for extra doses being given on a first-come first-served basis, yet this is happening.

Jesse Lippold, a school board member, ignores Covid rules

We're used to elected officials doing outrageous stuff, but shouldn't a Salem-Keizer school board member -- Jesse Lippold -- understand that breaking Covid rules Oregonians need to follow so schools can safely reopen isn't a smart thing to do?

Sure seems so. Thus let's give Lippold a "F" for failing to act like a responsible school board member. Hopefully voters will keep this in mind, since Lippold is one of four school board members up for re-election in May 2021.

The image above is from Lippold's Facebook account. It's been shared widely on social media by people who object to Lippold attending a New Year's Eve party where masks weren't worn and social distancing wasn't practiced. 

The Oregon Health Authority has been saying that private parties like the one Lippold attended with his girlfriend are a big reason Covid cases have been markedly increasing in our state. 

A Salem Reporter story, "Salem-Keizer board member criticized for violating state Covid rules with maskless New Year's party," lays out the cluelessness of what Lippold did. Here's how the story starts out.

A Salem-Keizer School Board Director is facing criticism after attending a maskless New Year’s party with about a dozen friends.

Jesse Lippold posted photos on his Instagram page over the weekend showing him, his girlfriend and other friends at a party.

Gov. Kate Brown and public health officials have frowned upon these types of gatherings and said that holding them would delay the reopening of schools and local businesses. Since November, social gatherings of more than six people who do not live together have been prohibited in Marion County under the state's Covid restrictions.

Lippold's post described the event as a “modern speakeasy” and said the group didn’t social distance but “were still less packed than every mall, Walmart or Costco.”

Screenshots of the post have been shared by Salem parents and teachers on Facebook, with many criticizing Lippold’s choice to ignore state rules.

Health officials in Marion County and at Oregon Health Authority have said for months informal social gatherings are a driver of the virus’ spread.

“It’s unacceptable that a public schools official is doing this while the rest of us are desperately abiding by rules in an effort to try and get our kids an opportunity to attend school,” wrote Stephanie Koski, a parent with an 8th grader in the district who has advocated for school reopening.

“While so many cry out for leadership, this isn’t it. Our kids are literally suffering, our community is hurting, and businesses are closing. You have officially lost my respect and vote,” wrote Reid Sund, a former candidate for Salem City Council, on his Facebook page.