Freedom From Want

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In 1933 when FDR first took office, the country was in the depths of the Great Depression. Thus, from the start of his first administration, President Roosevelt placed a high priority on securing “freedom from want,” seeing it as essential to the nation’s long-term strength and future.

In 2020 when COVID-19 first swept through the country people hoarded toilet paper, clearing grocery shelves. Fights broke out over what was considered a precious commodity in the lock down.

The bleak scenes at the big-box stores may be making a comeback, thanks to the COVID delta variant sweeping the U.S. Most shoppers also say they’re planning to do some hoarding because of the delta surge. Stores could respond by slapping new limits of purchases of basic items, like toilet paper.

People on Twitter say they’re seeing evidence that another round of COVID-related hoarding may be underway.

One twitter user reported, “Saw a parked car stacked with Toilet Paper in the passenger seat. I sense this is more fear mongering than actually a shortage.” A man in Las Vegas wrote, “What is wrong with people? Did we not learn from last year at all? I pulled up to Costco and they are out of toilet paper and water. These people never learn.”

Inmar Intelligence, a research and data firm, released date on August 12, 2021 that is telling retailers they need to be ready for new shortages and hoarding. It based its warning on a survey it commissioned of 1,000 U.S. adults. Nearly 7 out of 10 consumers (69%) say they’re planning to buy toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer and similar items, to replenish pandemic stockpiles of that kind of stuff that they started keeping last year.

“This behavior has created a new shopper segment dubbed ‘The Squirrels”, those who will always have an established stockpile in their homes. Of course in Florida the hurricane season has started as well which adds to the hoarding of supplies.

Freedom of Worship

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Pope Francis dubbed the COVID-19 vaccine an “act of love.” He encouraging people around the world to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a new public service advertisement. “Thanks to God and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19.” In an August 18, 2021 tweet he said, “Vaccination is a simple way of promoting the common good and caring for each other, especially the most vulnerable.” He continued, “They grant us the hope of ending the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we work together.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted religion in various ways, including the cancellation of the worship services of various faiths and the closure of Sunday schools, as well as the cancellation of pilgrimages, ceremonies and festivals. Many churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have offered worship through live stream as an alternative to in person worship during the pandemic.

Gallup says that the halting of in-person worship “is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of religion in U.S. history. Some pastors defied CDC health guidelines that restrict indoor gatherings. On July 26, 2020 Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church had his flock gather indoors in Sun Valley to sing hymns, defying California regulations that aim to limit the spread of COVID-19. This is only one of many examples of pastors defying health guidelines.

On February 26, 2021 the Supreme Court of the United States issued a  decision that could foretell sweeping limitations for public health measures related to the free exercise of religion. The Court’s ruling in the case, Gateway City Church v. Newsom, blocked a county-level ban on church services, despite the fact that the ban applied across the board to all indoor gatherings. This religious exceptionalism is emerging as a key trend in recent Supreme Court decisions, particularly those related to COVID-19 restrictions. This ruling could become a serious health threat as the highly contagious, deadly Delta variant continues to be a public health disaster.

A pastor in Riverside County, California, told his congregation in the spring that the vaccine was “unclean” and directed them to a downloadable form Christians could use to claim religious exemptions. Some Catholic clergy and groups have made such resources available, despite the pope’s very clear opposing position on the matter. Greg Locke, a right-wing evangelical head pastor of Tennessee’s Baptist Global Vision Bible Church, told a cheering congregation that “elites” were trying to push an unsafe vaccine on the public while injecting themselves with sugar water. It is sad that some houses of worship have become conduits for misinformation that can spread sickness and death.

Daniel Darling, senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters, was fired on August 27, 2021 after refusing to say his pro-vaccine statements on Morning Joe were mistaken. Darling, an evangelical pastor and author, told host Joe Scarborough about how his faith motivated him to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Darling described the vaccines as an amazing feat of discovery by scientists, some of whom share his Christian faith.

Darling said he was proud to be vaccinated.

“I believe in this vaccine because I don’t want to see anyone else die of COVID. Our family has lost too many close friends and relatives to COVID, including an uncle, a beloved church member and our piano teacher,” Darling told Scarborough.

Freedom From Fear

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With the full FDA approve of the Pfizer vaccine now called Comirnaty, there is a faint hope that more Americans will step forward to get vaccinated to stop the horrible spread of the virus now ravaging the country. With K-12 students reentering schools this also raised the possibility of soon vaccinating children.

Once a drug or vaccine has been FDA-approved, doctors have the leeway to prescribe it “off label” — that is, for a use for which it wasn’t specifically approved. After rigorous clinical trials, the FDA authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in people 16 and up in December 2020 and in adolescents ages 12 to 15 in May 2021. Significant data does not yet exist for children under the age of 12 yet.

Trials in children between the ages of 5 and 11 should be completed in September 2021, Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla told NBC News anchor Lester Holt. Trial data for even younger children should be landing soon after that. That however leaves children unvaccinated as the Delta variant spreads through the school systems.

The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged that August 23rd’s regulatory action “means it is legally permissible for physicians to administer the vaccine off-label for children aged 11 and younger, who currently have no available vaccine.” But the organization said in a statement that it “strongly discourages that practice.” FDA officials were also quick to discourage prescribing of the vaccine for younger children.

This is a deeply stressful time for parents of younger children, given that COVID-19 has largely now become a scourge of the unvaccinated. And it’s nerve-wracking to send those unvaccinated children out into school where they’ll be exposed to other people indoors for long periods of time. The best advice for parents is to wait for the FDA give a definite green light.

Freedom of Speech

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The Guardian reported, School board meetings have become the front line in the culture war battle over wearing masks to keep children safe. These meeting have the energy of a Trump rally or January 6th insurrection. The few are by far the loudest.

I spend the day as I painted watching videos of school board meeting about the issue of children wearing masks in school. The level of anger and disrespect shown by many parents who do not want their children wearing masks was amazing. Some meetings devolved into out of control shouting matches.

Many meetings have been disrupted or even cancelled. In Bend, Oregon, proceedings had to be put on hold twice in two weeks, as angry parents shouted at school board members and heckled a Spanish-language translator. “School boards are a uniquely vulnerable spot in the culture war landscape, because they’re open to everyone and they’re not really prepared for it,” said Adam Laats, a Binghamton University professor who studies the history of education in the US.

In Texas, one parent assaulted a teacher by tearing a mask off her face, Eanes Independent School District Superintendent Tom Leonard said in a statement August 24, 2021. “A parent physically assaulted a teacher by ripping a mask off her face, others yelling at a teacher to take off her mask because they could not understand what the teacher was saying while her face was covered,” he said.

A California teacher was hospitalized after a parent physically assaulted her when a discussion about the use of face masks heated up. The teacher suffered “lacerations on his face, some bruising on his a face and a pretty good knot on the back of his head,” KCRA reported.

In a parking lot after a school board meeting in Franklin, Tennessee, parents harassed medical professionals who had spoken in favor of masks in schools. “We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you.”

Freedom

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Americans are dying in the name of Freedom. They fear the virus will control them or that it is an unproven poison. God rather than science is the only form of salvation from the pandemic in their minds.

Being in the deep south of Florida, I get to see this play out in real time as half of Floridians refuse to get the vaccine and who fight tooth and nail to send students back to school with no masks and no vaccine. Some honestly believe that a piece of cloth over a students mouth and nose is a greater threat than COVID-19.

More than 90% of patients in Central Florida ICU wards are Unvaccinated. Individual freedoms has become more important than personal health. These individual rights and freedoms result in a wide variety of excuses to refuse to get vaccinated. Rare breakthrough cases have resulted in people believing that the vaccine does not work. Unfounded online rumors circulate that the vaccinated are spreading the virus. Some actually believe that the shot is an excuse to inject a micro chip which is magnetized. Politicians actively ban mask mandates and vaccine passports. Political ambitions trump public health.

75 doctors from South Florida hospitals staged a walk out to protest the deluge of unvaccinated patients they must watch die. The walk out was staged to urge people to get the vaccine. One doctor now refuse to treat any patient who has not been vaccinated. Florida is now dealing with the highest number of new COVID-19 infections in the country. On August 23, 2021 Florida reported 21,329 new cases and the state has 17,215 people hospitalized, which is an increase of 24% over the previous 14 days. 228 people died on this day, an 86% increase over the past 14 days. To keep the public in the dark, the state no longer reports the numbers daily, only reporting once a week.

The state of Alabama finds itself overrun with COVID-19 patients.  Patients are left on ambulance stretchers until a bed opens up. 2743 patients have filled every available hospital bed. The University of Alabama predicted that the state may see over 5000 people hospitalized a month from today. Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo called that scenario “potentially apocalyptic.”

People still go about everyday life believing they are invincible, going mask less and unvaccinated. Their personal freedom may result unknowingly in someone else’s death. Freedom today is about dying alone gasping for breath in a hospital bed. Those hospital beds however are becoming a scarce commodity.

Belief Dependent Realism

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Michael Shermer said, “What we believe determines our reality, not the other way around.” These belief systems can be quite irrational. COVID-19 is something that is invisible and therefor unless a person is themselves sick they can choose to not believe it exists.

We are a country of narcissists who only believe in “ME” not in the greater good, the “WE.” We have become a country with no empathy. When people express concerns of weakness they are attacked online.

I find myself researching various scientific papers and news sources to come up with my illustration concepts each day. However most people only look at sources that support what they already believe to be true. That is why misinformation is so widely consumed without question. That is how the Q Anon cult has been allowed to sweep the nation, creating a death cult.

Regardless of weather information is scientifically proven, a person will defend, justify and rationalize even the strangest and irrational ideas. If questioned, most will defend, deny, deflect, and double down. Truth is not as important as being right.

I get to see this play out over and over again as people react to my art online. They want me to site my sources but I am fully aware that they will not read the research if it is provided. If the source is a major news outlet, they will cry “Fake News.” mirroring the repetitive talking point of the former president of the United States.

Early in the pandemic most Americans were willing to make the sacrifice to lock down to control the spread of the virus. However after it became known that more African Americans were dying of the virus, white Americans began to invade state capitols demanding that the lock downs cease. A wave of white supremacy  continues to sweep the country fueled by the virus.

Parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place having to sent their children back to school knowing that they are not safe from the Delta variant of COVID-19. Thousands of children are already in quarantine over COVID-19 exposures. In Mississippi, 20,000 students from 800 schools are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus, and 4,500 students have been diagnosed with COVID-19. More than 10,000 students and staff in Florida’s Hillsborough County Public Schools district are in quarantine or isolation, just a week into the school year. There have been 2,640 COVID-19 cases in students and staff, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard on Friday.

Politics around masks could hinder the nation’s fight against Covid-19. When schools follow the science: classes can go on without disruption as long staff and students wear masks. But when staff and students do not wear masks, Covid-19 can spread, forcing people to stay home to quarantine and classes returning to virtual learning. When we are young, we are taught not to look directly at a solar eclipse. When we learn to drive we wear seat belts. Yet this simple piece of fabric has become a political football. Some conservative parents are willing to sacrifice their children’s health to prove their politics are correct.

Texas Governor Abbot Tests Positive

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On August 17, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbot who has been fighting mask mandates in his state tested positive for COVID-19. Abbot was vaccinated for the virus and he is asymptomatic. The day before he tested positive he was a t a large mask less fundraiser event where he could spread the virus to anyone in the room. I would wonder how many people in the room were unvaccinated and therefor could have a much worse outcome if they were infected by the governor. In particular I have to wonder how the young woman is doing who leaned in close to the Governor to have her photo taken with him on a video.

The Governor is getting Regeneron‘s monoclonal antibody treatment. The first lady, Cecilia Abbott, tested negative. The COVID-19 pandemic is ripping through Texas again, with daily new cases and hospitalizations reaching levels not seen since the last wave in January. Julián Castro, the former presidential candidate, U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, tweeted, “Governor Abbott has put his own Republican primary politics before the public health since day one,” He followed with, “I hope he recovers quickly. I also hope he will act more responsibly on behalf of Texas children and families.”

Four days after the positive test, Abbot tested negative for COVID-19. The governor credited his vaccination for keeping his infection “brief and mild” and encouraged others to consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

 

Unvaccinated

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Dr. Fauci said, that with 90 million Americans still not vaccinated, and even the vaccinated passing the virus to others, an alarming fact has arisen: You could unwittingly pass the COVID Delta variant on to an unvaccinated kid. Because more and more of them are getting sick.

The fact is however that many Americans could not give a damn about anyone but themselves. The days of personal sacrifice for the greater good of the country are long gone. All that remains seems to be a bullying mob mentality. Alexander the Great said, “Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”

The nightmare of the former presidents mishandling of the pandemic did not end when he was voted out of office. Others hoping to fill his shoes follow his lead by listening to rumors instead of science based fact. America has developed a Neo Fascist Death Cult. Governors in Texas and Florida are literally blocking basic safety measures. Their anti mask mandate stances sicken school children in the name of parental freedom. People are willingly choosing to die and then begging for the vaccine when it is too late. Vaccines are free and readily available to all who want them.

The threat of home grown domestic terrorism continues to grow. The failure of the January 6 insurrection and the realization that the former president will not be reinstated as president is causing confusion and anger among the Q Anon fueled insane. The one thing they can do is to refuse to get vaccinated to assert their power and sense of freedom.

A new poll from the Economist and YouGov shows that some 30 percent of Republicans actually believe that the government put microchips inside the coronavirus vaccines to presumably track and otherwise control the American people.

Due to the Delta variant, the U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge. The Delta wave may the the worst so far.

As the situation grows more dire, conservatives continue to sow disinformation along with mockery and distrust of proven methods of combating the disease, from masks to vaccines to social distancing. It is easy to see the results as their states become cesspools of disease and death. The world is in a free fall. Protect yourselves, this is far from over.

Vaccine Inequality

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How many people in the world could be vaccinated? Enough vaccine doses have been purchased to cover more than 80% of the adult population of the world, high-income countries own enough doses to vaccinate more than twice their populations while low and middle income countries can only cover one-third of their population.

In the United States about half of the country has not been vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available but they are being turned down by skeptics and anti-vaxers.

A month ago, a joint statement by the CDC and FDA had said that fully vaccinated Americans did not need a booster dose. Vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infections wanes over time, but the protection they offer against hospitalizations continues to remain high.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that a third booster dose of the vaccine will be available to people 8 months after their last dose. That means I will be eligible for a third dose this coming December 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that third doses of the vaccines should not be administered. The WHO called on countries with high vaccination rates to donate surplus vaccines to poorer countries rather than administering third doses. The reasoning is that the pandemic will not end until the entire world is vaccinated. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) had called a moratorium on booster doses at least till the end of September 2021. “We’re planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket,” WHO’s emergency director Mike Ryan told reporters on Aug. 18, 2021. A COVID infection anywhere is a COVID infection everywhere.

Slaughter House

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Florida is the epicenter of the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. School boards in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties voted on August 18, 2021 to join Broward and Alachua in requiring students to wear facial coverings unless they get a doctor’s note. Orange County still allows an easy parental opt-out, but essentially four of Florida’s five largest districts are now defying Governor Ron DeathSantis’ ban on strict mask mandates.

The state board on August 17, 2021 voted to “investigate” the actions of Alachua and Broward school officials. The board could pursue financial and other penalties against school officials who require face mask mandates to keep children safe, even floating the idea of removing them from office.

Children under the age of 12 who can not yet get vaccinated are quite good at transmitting the virus. The highly contagious delta variant makes it absolutely necessary to wear masks indoors and avoid large group gatherings, so if unprotected students sit for hours in classrooms every day, it could rapidly spread infection in the community at large.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden said his administration is prepared to take possible legal action against governors who try to prevent local school officials from imposing universal mask mandates, throwing yet another wrench into Governir Ron DeathSantis’ plans to sanction Florida school districts that require students to wear masks. “We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” Biden said at the news conference. “If a governor wants to cut the pay of a hard-working education leader who requires masks in the classroom, the money from the American Rescue Plan can be used to pay that person’s salary,” Biden said. “One hundred percent.”

“Some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — that is, children wearing masks in school — into political disputes for their own political gain,” Biden said. “Some are even trying to take power away from local educators. They’re setting a dangerous tone.”