The Coronavirus Seven Weeks Later - Some Religious and Political Issues

The numbers. I am starting this post with the unemployment numbers. As another 3,839,000 new claims for unemployment were filed, we have now reached a disturbingly high 30.2 million unemployed in six weeks time. The New York City metropolitan area is the most populated metropolitan area in the country. In the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut there are nearly 32 million people. It is as if nearly every person in those states were out of work. (I know, children and babies are not working. I am looking at the sheer numbers, which are frightening.)

The U.S. currently has 1.17 million cases of Covid-19, with 68,173 people having died. New York State still leads the way with 323,883 cases and 24,648 deaths. New Jersey is next with 127,438 cases and 7,886 deaths, then Massachusetts with 66,263 cases and 3,846 deaths, Illinois with 58,505 cases and 2,559 deaths and California with 53,732 cases and 2,192 deaths. Michigan is seventh on the list, but third in the number of deaths with 4,020.

A Gallup poll from 4/14 through 4/28 put Trump's approval rating back at 49%, with 47% disapproving of his job. That approval rating is up from 43% two weeks prior. Broken down by party, 93% of Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing, but only 8% of Democrats do. However, 47% of Independents approve of Trump's job.

Is the virus a conspiracy? One tenured professor at the Rutgers University Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, thought so. She does not think well of Trump voters: "F*ck each and every Trump supporter." And she Tweeted this: "Not only do white conservatives not care about Black life, but my most cynical negative read of the white supremacists among them is that they welcome this mass winnowing of Black folks in order to slow demographic shifts and shore up political power." This Tweet also: "But the depths of white depravity - the adamant refusal to be swayed by facts, reason or the value of life itself, especially when those lives are Black - it staggers me." White depravity? Sure there are neo-Nazi white supremacists. But they are small in number. And they pretty much hate everybody else - Jews, Hispanics, etc. This virus is affecting every segment of society. I do not get her point. Are whites devastated by this illness okay with dying because Blacks are dying in greater numbers? Need it always be about race? And NJ taxpayers get to pay this professor's salary.

With large gatherings being barred, the result has been that religious services cannot take place other than online, such as through Zoom. Of course, there are legal and First Amendment issues regarding religious practice. One left-wing "progressive" site, the American Constitution Society, claims no issue is involved in shutting down religious services. In citing deceased Justice Scalia, they wrote: "Americans do not have a Constitutional right to disobey generally applicable laws that were enacted without an intent to discriminate against religion." But in a case out of Virginia, one pastor was threatened with jail time and a fine of $2500 for holding a religious service for 16 people who, apparently, were able to practice social distancing in a church that is able to hold 293 people. The DOJ is siding with the pastor, as religious freedom should perhaps prevail over the Governor's order, when safety was being practiced.

From the religious viewpoint, One Christian friend and reader wrote this: "The Christian tradition recognizes that one should not "tempt G-d," or commit the sin of presumption, by unnecessarily engaging in a dangerous activity in anticipation that G-d will provide protection." One Rabbi and Jewish scholar discussed it this way: "We are taught that the protection and guarding of human life takes precedence over all...I frame it in the positive...It is a Mitzvah to safeguard ourselves...We are doing a Mitzvah staying home." (A Mitzvah is a good deed, but one which our religion commands us to do.)

On the political front, the allegations of sexual assault against Joe Biden are getting greater coverage in the news. Unlike the allegations against Republicans, the media is mostly coming to the defense of Biden, as are Democratic politicians and rank and file Democrats. Commenting on the allegations of Tara Reade, one letter writer to the New York Times wrote this: "This is a species of vainglorious righteousness run amok, and does no honor to the principles the #MeToo movement has embraced...This is the moment to stand united for the greater good of the nation." The greater good being to defeat Trump, even if it means ignoring serious charges against Biden. Here's another letter writer: "For those of you who have been all-in to the #MeToo Movement but are now having trouble supporting Mr. Biden in light of Tara Reade's allegation of sexual assault (which Mr. Biden denies), can you handle being a hypocrite if it means getting Mr. Trump out of the White House? I say, yes, I am happy to be a hypocrite. Please join me." I appreciate the honesty. And the writer reflects what I have said in the blog about many on the left for years - the ends justify the means. The end is getting Trump out of office, even if the means is ignoring a woman's voice and justice for her (should the allegations be true).

The New York Times faced a dilemma with regards to the allegations. They hate Trump and are desperate to have a Democratic victory in November, and Biden is the likely Democratic nominee. But they have also been in the forefront of the #MeToo movement. In the paper's 5/1/20 editorial, they wrote this: "Americans deserve to know more about a sexual assault accusation against the likely Democratic nominee." Sounds good. But then this: "The Democratic National Committee should move to investigate the matter swiftly and thoroughly, with the full cooperation of the Biden campaign." So, have the Dems investigate their own presidential candidate? With the candidate's help? Hmmm. But DNC Chair Tom Perez made it clear that such an investigation will never happen: "Barack Obama trusted Joe Biden. I trust Joe Biden." Investigation over.

Bret Stephens, the former conservative Op-Ed writer in the Wall Street Journal, who switched to the New York Times after becoming a "never-Trumper," had an Op-Ed on the Tara Reade allegations the same day as the editorial. Stephens: "Being 'heard' is not, and should never be, the same as being believed. The entire difference between hearsay and proof, rumor and reason, mob rule and justice, lies in the distinction." Of course, he is correct; although Judge Kavanaugh got no such benefit of the doubt from the media and the left. Then, the Democrats were on the side of the Queen of Hearts (from Alice in Wonderland): "Sentence first - verdict afterwards." When Alice objected, the Queen shouted "Off with her head!" Indeed.