Easter

Tomorrow is Easter, the day the Great Pretender vowed to make great again by "opening" America. That absurd goal was announced on national television on March 24, just 19 days ago. From that date to April 10 the number of new cases worldwide more than doubled, growing from 39,792 to 85,054 daily.*

During the week leading up to Easter, which most Christians call Holy Week, the number of new cases in the United States has grown by an estimated average of 30,821 per day, reaching a total number of 502,876 cases on April 11.** Not a propitious time to be exposing thousands more Americans to the virus.

The closure of houses of worship has understandably been controversial. We are guaranteed the right of free worship by the Constitution, and it is not something easily interrupted.

It must be noted that not all churches in all states are closed. Where closures have been declared, not all have been by government fiat. In the case of larger denominations the decision has been made by their governing body, and is therefore more likely to be respected by their parishioners than any order from a temporal governing power.

There has been a groundswell of pressure in some areas to open churches for Easter, and we understand that. Going to church on Sunday, and celebrating the great holy days in company with fellow believers has been a lifelong ritual for many of us. Yet even for the most devout, bricks and mortar and crowds, even clergy, are unnecessary: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."***

True believers in Jesus understand and believe this: that they themselves are the church, and wherever just a few of them get together, be it in a forest or barn or living room, there Jesus is also.

The demands of some clergy to open churches indicate that they either do not know or do not understand Scripture. Or they don't care. Opening churches in the face of disease would be a vanity: a worldly desire to be seen as a leader and a person in touch with God.

The Latin word pastor means shepherd. Many Christian denominations use the term pastor for their clergy because those people are supposed to lead, guide, protect, and shelter us, and to provide us with (spiritual) sustenance.

We have seen a number of claims from clergy that worshipers who attend their church on Easter will be in some way divinely protected from, or even cured of, COVID-19.

Anyone who claims to hear, to understand, or to act directly on the word of God is delusional, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."****

Those who make these claims are not pastors. They are tempters, liars, deceivers and frauds, and they are flouting the third Commandment. If any one such succeeds in gathering people to them on Easter, and if any one of that congregation sickens or dies from COVID-19 as a result, they should have serious criminal charges brought against them.

So find a pleasant place where your family and maybe a few friends can join you, and have a safe, joyous, and blessed Easter,

-- Diogenes


*Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103046/new-coronavirus-covid19-cases-number-worldwide-by-day/

**Evaluate: https://www.evaluate.com/covid-19-daily-update

***Matthew 18:20, KJV

****Isaiah 55:8, KJV

Bye-bye, Bernie

Bernie has left the building, and that's a sad thing.

I am a Vermonter, albeit in exile, and I've been a Bernie admirer for many years. While he was still in the House I once had the privilege of sitting on a panel with him regarding poverty in southern Vermont, and I was impressed with his understanding of the issues and his concern for the people.

I strongly supported both his presidential campaigns, and I remain convinced that he is the only electable Democrat in the race. But he was sabotaged by the DNC in 2016,* and now has been pushed aside by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has all but obliterated political discourse in this country.

I don't dislike Joe Biden. He may have more impressive executive credentials than Bernie, but he lacks chutzpah.

Bernie's greatest asset is his passion and his ability to deliver his message cogently and with great energy. Bernie's chutzpah could not only counter Trump's bluster; it would come from a man deeply committed to the truth and to the welfare of the American people, two qualities the Great Pretender wouldn't understand if he was slapped in the face with them.

Biden is now the candidate, and I will support him and urge others to do so. I can only suggest he spend some time with Bernie, or watch videos of his speeches. He's going to need every trick he can find to go up against the most corrupt politician since Boss Tweed, and one who will stop at nothing to be re-elected.

--Richard Brown

*See the archives for Diogenes' Nov. 3, 2018 post, "Out With The Yobs!"

Still Trying To Cure Stupidity

This post was originally published on April 7. In light of the attention recently given to masks and Americans' responses to using them, we have updated it.

In his 1982 novel "The White Plague" Frank Herbert writes about a mad scientist who develops a pathogen that kills women. Men are asymptomatic carriers. His intended target is Ireland, because his wife and children were killed by an IRA bomb. But viruses don't observe borders, and the virus spreads rapidly and easily, passing through filters with ease. The result is global gendercide.

COVID-19 is far less selective. Its victims include the rich and the poor, the intelligent and the moronic, the religious and the atheistic, the royal and the commoner. It is an equal opportunity pathogen, making no distinction of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. No one is immune.

But there is one class of Americans who choose to put themselves at increased risk by willfully and deliberately ignoring the best medical advice: There is no word for such behavior other than stupid.

In a White House press briefing on April 3, the Great Pretender discussed the CDC advisory that all Americans wear face masks when around others to help stop the spread of the virus.

That was when a true leader would have pulled out a mask and put it on.

But after repeatedly assuring Americans that wearing a mask is voluntary because he doesn't want us to think the CDC has any authority, he went on to say that he would not be wearing a mask because "I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself."¹

Excuse me? There hasn't been a state visit to the White House since before COVID-19 appeared. His excuses range from silly to petty, like saying he "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it"² during a visit to a Ford plant in Michigan.

As Biden aide TJ Ducklo noted, "Presidents lead by example, and wearing a mask helps protect others, . . . Donald Trump should try it, because his failure to act early on producing [personal protective equipment], on ramping up testing, and implementing a coherent national response to this crisis has cost thousands of Americans their lives."As if the Unspeakable Unmasked cared.

Unfortunately, the Chucklehead-in-Chief's "do as I say, not as I do" attitude will no doubt be adopted by those who accept him as a role model, needlessly increasing the death toll. His followers, who seem to tend to blind allegiance, either to the GOP or to Trump, as opposed to independent thought and decision making, may well be hit the hardest.

With COVID-19 we might finally have a cure for stupidity--dare we hope it begins at the top?


---Diogenes, 4/7/20; republished 5/28/20


¹https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-briefing-transcript-april-3-new-cdc-face-mask-recommendation
²https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mocks-joe-biden-wear-face-mask-public/
³https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mocks-joe-biden-wear-face-mask-public/