Thoughts on New Yorkers Applauding Essential Workers

Every night at 7 p.m. for nearly two weeks New Yorkers have been applauding health care workers, grocery clerks, delivery people and other essential workers who are on the front lines against COVID-19. By going to work these people are risking their lives being infected with COVID-19.

Yet there is also something else at work. Whil New Yorkers are applauding in appreciation of the service of others, it is also an acknowledgement that we got through another day.

There are still darker days ahead. Some of us who applauded tonight but not might be around to clap tomorrow night. But as long as there are New Yorkers around then you know what will be doing every night at 7 o'clock.

Montreal's Hasidic Jewish Community Facing Anti-Semitism Because of COVID-19

Tonight marks the first night of Passover. Because of the Coronavirus this Passover is not like other Passovers for Jews all over the world.

When I awoke today, an old friend alerted me to the treatment received by Montreal's Hasidic Jewish community which has been hard hit by COVID-19 as members of that community in Boisbriand on Montreal's North Shore have been quarantined. From the Montreal Gazette:

The Montreal Gazette has learned that Boisbriand police are barring healthy members of the community from taking walks outside their homes even though those individuals have not tested positive for COVID-19 and are keeping their distance from others on the street.

What’s more, some food trucks are refusing to make deliveries into the neighbourhood north of Laval, while Canada Post carriers are balking at delivering the mail, a Tosh member said.

“My friend took a stroll yesterday with his baby outside his home following the guidelines set forth by the health ministry and was forced by police to get back home because he’s a ‘Jew’ and there’s ‘a problem with all Jews,'” said Tosh member Ezra Kahan.“These are words we have to hear from law enforcement.”

While other neighborhoods in Montreal have had higher concentrations of COVID-19 those neighborhoods have not been subject to quarantine. Why is Montreal's Jewish community being singled out?

It's bad enough when Orthodox Jews are subject to violence by ordinary citizens as has been the case here in New York. But when Orthodox Jews are singled out for collective punishment by law enforcement then anti-Semitism becomes state sanctioned.

As we observe Passover let us hope members of one of Canada's oldest Jewish communities don't feel the need to start another Exodus. Next year in Montreal.


 

How Biden Could Beat Trump

Now that Joe Biden is for all intents and purposes the Democratic nominee the question is how can he defeat President Trump in November.

Obviously we are in extraordinary times as the United States is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst of it isn't behind us. President Trump doesn't help matters by boasting about his ratings, ranting about Democratic Governors and the media, firing inspector generals for doing their job while boasting about potential cures of which he has a financial stake. Under the circumstances, it would appear Biden doesn't need to do a whole lot but act like a reasonable and compassionate human being.

Yet one must never underestimate Trump. He has an extremely loyal base that will run through a wall for him, rebuild that wall and run through it again. And then are Republicans willing to do nefarious things at the polls as was the case yesterday in Wisconsin. Who can say Trump wouldn't try to delay the election even though only Congress has that authority under the Constitution? And if that doesn't work Trump could try to pull an Orban suspend the Constitution under the guise of a public health crisis.

Of course, if Trump tries to do those things it would tell me that he can't beat Biden. Although Trump has a loyal base it has reached its ceiling. There are no other states which Trump can hope to wrest from Democrats. In order to be re-elected Trump has to retain every single state he won in 2016 including the six he wrested from Democrats (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Florida). This is a tall order under the best of circumstances. But with the COVID-19 pandemic and the double digit unemployment which will be soon to follow Team Trump should be very, very scared. Especially because there's nothing scary about Joe Biden.

The former VP walks into the race with 232 electoral college votes and would need 38 more. Truth be told, Biden will have 252 electoral college votes in his pocket because Pennsylvania is in his backyard. This would leave Biden needing only18 electoral college votes. Well, there are exactly 18 electoral college votes in Ohio. Yes, I know Ohio has a very popular Republican Governor in Mike DeWine. But DeWine has been doing everything Trump hasn't done where it concerns COVID-19. DeWine has shown independence from Trump regarding reopening the country for Easter and wearing a protective mask. DeWine might not keep his distance from Trump in the fall, but if there's daylight between DeWine and Trump then Biden has a chance in Ohio.

If Trump retained Ohio, Michigan's 16 electoral votes would make him two electoral college votes short of the White House. Given Trump's war of words with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and his belligerence to GM CEO Mary Barra (and the possibility Whitmer could be Biden's running mate) leads me to believe the Wolverine state might put its claws to Trump.

Biden could win the White House if he prevails in a) Pennsylvania and Ohio b) Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin c) Pennsylvania, Michigan and Iowa or d) Pennsylvania, Michigan and capturing a red state like Arizona or Georgia. Biden has consistently outpolled Trump in Arizona which has 11 electoral college votes. I'm sure John McCain would smile from Heaven if he knew Trump were beaten in the state he represented in the Senate for more than three decades. While Trump has outpolled Biden in Georgia thus far that could change if Biden puts Stacey Abrams on the ticket. I wonder how many Georgians are embarrassed Republican Governor Brian Kemp didn't know asymptomatic people could transmit COVID-19. Despite this newfound knowledge Kemp saw fit to re-open Georgia's beaches. Georgia's 16 electoral votes could loom quite large in November.

Of course, who knows what America will look like in seven months from now. By that time there might not be a single family who hasn't lost a loved one because of COVID-19. Couple that with an unemployment rate of 15-20%. In the face of all that Trump will persist making himself the victim. Under these conditions, a large enough segment of Republicans stays home and Biden wins a Bill Clinton like landslide recapturing states like Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Louisiana. The vote won't be so much for Biden as it would be against Trump. Whatever the motivation there is a plausible scenario where Joe Biden could defeat Donald Trump by a little or by a lot.

Bernie Sanders Should Have Dropped Out Last Month

Bernie Sanders finally came to the conclusion everyone else under the sun came to more than a month ago - Joe Biden will be the Democratic Party's nominee in November.

Today, Sanders finally dropped out of the race after last night's chaotic Wisconsin primary. No results have been released (and won't be until next week by court order). But I'm sure Sanders saw his internal polls and finally realized his candidacy had no viability.

But in all honesty his candidacy had no viability after Democrats began coalescing around Biden on Super Tuesday (save for Elizabeth Warren). That was March 3rd. But Bernie kept going. A week later, Biden won 5 out of 6 states including Michigan where Bernie had triumphed four years earlier. Still Bernie kept going. Yet another week later Biden swept Bernie in Arizona, Georgia and Florida only 48 hours after the two debated in an empty studio. One would have added Ohio to the list had Governor DeWine hadn't postponed proceedings because of a little thing called the Coronavirus. That was March 17th. Bernie's campaign was over.

And yet he did not drop out for another 3 weeks. Meanwhile more than 14,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. While fewer than 100 people have died in Wisconsin I suspect those numbers will go up because people went out to vote yesterday. No doubt a lot of blame belongs to Democratic Governor Tony Evers who hedged in delaying the vote. Even more of the blame goes to the GOP controlled state Senate which countermanded Evers' order and the GOP controlled state Supreme Court who upheld the Senate's decision. Yet had Bernie dropped out of the race 3 weeks ago there's a good chance this doesn't come to pass. If Bernie Sanders wasn't still running for President would so many people have risked their lives to vote?

Bernie supporters will argue that campaign resources were directed towards health care organizations fighting COVID-19. The simple response to that Bernie doesn't have to run for President to fight COVID-19. Now that Sanders is out of the race it will be interesting to see if fighting COVID-19 remains a priority.

John Prine Succumbs to COVID-19

Singer-songwriter John Prine has succumbed of complications of COVID-19. He was 73.

Prine's wife and manager Fiona had contracted COVID-19 following a European tour last month. Despite isolating from his wife, Prine would become infected and hospitalized. It certainly didn't help matters that Prine had two bouts with cancer in 1998 and in 2013.

It was an awful end to a musical career which spanned half a century. Although Prine never had any hit singles he didn't need any. When your music catches the attention of Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan the people will eventually follow. Over the years, Prine became a popular concert attraction the world over. I can personally attest to this having seen him perform at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 1999. As the years passed, Prine's popularity only grew. His 2018 album The Tree of Forgiveness proved to be both his best selling and highest charting reaching #5 on the Billboard charts. Earlier this year, Prine received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

My former roommate Christopher Kain was one of Prine's biggest fans. In fact, I learned of Prine's passing on his Facebook page. Christopher said, "Well, coronavirus, this sh*t just got personal."

I'm sure Christopher is far from alone. But the best we can do for now is to remember Prine's music and find some happiness. With this in mind, I leave you with "Illegal Smile". R.I.P.

A Thought for Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved into intensive care a day after being hospitalized when his Coronavirus symptoms worsened. Due to Johnson's condition, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has been deputized to act in his stead.

Johnson led the Tories to a massive majority government in December 2019 and promptly took steps to remove Britain from the EU. However, Johnson's government has been heavily criticized for its COVID-19 response. While it would not be accurate to characterize Johnson's approach as one that would deliberately sicken the populace to attain a "herd immunity" it is clear the Tory government was slow in implementing social distancing and effectively communicating the policy. More than 52,000 Britons have tested positive for COVID-19 with 5,385 deaths - a fatality rate of more than 10%. Could the the Coronavirus death toll in the UK eclipse that of Italy or Spain?

At the very least Johnson himself behaved carelessly by continuing to shake hands with everyone under the sun including people infected with COVID-19. To make matters worse, Johnson's pregnant girlfriend Carrie Symonds has been bed ridden with COVID-19 symptoms though she has not been tested as of this writing.

Sometimes one has to learn the hard way. In Boris Johnson's case, I hope those hard lessons don't involve the loss of his life.

Al Kaline, R.I.P.

Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline has passed away at the age of 85. No cause of death has been released.


Outside of Ty Cobb, Kaline was the greatest player to wear a Detroit Tigers uniform spending his entire 22 year big league career playing at the corner of Michigan & Trumbull. A native of Baltimore (like Babe Ruth), Kaline was signed by the Tigers right out of high school. In fact, Kaline made his big league debut with the Tigers a week after his graduation in June 1953. Kaline finished third in AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 1954. The following year Kaline won his only AL batting title at the age of 20 with a .340 mark. Kaline finished runner up in AL MVP balloting to Yogi Berra.
Eight years later, Kaline would finish runner up in AL MVP balloting to yet another Yankees catcher Elston Howard.

Kaline was named to 18 AL All-Star Teams, won 10 Gold Gloves for his play in right field and earned his only World Series ring in 1968 despite missing two months that season with a broken arm. He would finish his big league career in 1974 with a lifetime batting average of .297 with 3007 hits and 399 career home runs. Amazingly only 4,671 Tigers fans attended Kaline's final game. Kaline was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 with 88.3% of the vote by the BBWAA.

Kaline remained with the Tigers' organization for the rest of his life. In 1975, he joined the Tigers TV broadcast booth where he remained until 2002. For the bulk of his tenure in the broadcast booth, Kaline partnered with fellow Hall of Famer George Kell. On a personal note, I saw Kaline and Kell many a Tiger game on WDIV-TV between 1986 and 1991. After his broadcasting career, Kaline joined the Tigers' front office as a special assistant to team president Dave Dombrowski and would retain this role when Dombrowski was replaced by Al Avila in 2015.

In all, he spent 67 years with the team. Al Kaline truly was Mr. Tiger. R.I.P.