May 2020

“STOP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE: George Floyd’s death sparks protests in Minneapolis”, screamed 5/28/20 headline of USA Today.  “Protesters clashed with police in Minneapolis, they chanted for justice in Memphis, they stopped freeway traffic in Los Angeles.  The death of George Floyd continued to ripple across the U.S.”   Multiple fires burn in Minneapolis, police precinct damaged, several businesses looted, violent protests continue, as people across the nation demand the arrest of the police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, despite the pleas of passersby, murdering him, as several videos definitively show that Floyd did NOT resist the 4 officers who were fired as a result of the 5/25/20 public lynching without a rope.  How many such ‘lynchings’ have occurred across our nation without being videoed?  It’s nearly impossible to get justice even when so documented.  Police were called to a store where Floyd supposedly gave a $20 counterfeit bill for payment; did he even know it was counterfeit?   Talk about priors?  Yes, the police officer had over a dozen complaints filed against him over his tenure, think how many offences probably went unreported.  From all accounts it appears that George Floyd was a decent guy, loved by many, his last cries were for his mother.  STOP KILLING BLACK WOMEN’S CHILDREN!   Police officers must receive more psychological testing & training, learn how to deescalate tensions and apply common-sense.  “The lack of compassion, excessive force or going beyond the scope of the law, doesn’t just tarnish our badge, it tears at the fabric of race-relations in this country”, said L.A. Police Chief, Michel Moore.  Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey, has called for the MN National Guard, “to protect the lives of innocent people.  I’m imploring our city, our community, every one of us to keep the peace; let’s honor George Floyd’s memory.”

An employee’s firing was the correct response in the situation of Amy Cooper, who on 5/25/20, while walking her dog in Central Park, encountered bird-watcher Christian Cooper, no relation.  He asked her to please leash her dog, as the city ordinance requires; she refused and became agitated.  Christian began videoing the encounter.  Amy decided to call 911 and report “an African-American man is threatening myself & my dog, please send the cops immediately!”   Trying to exploit the situation to her advantage was reckless.  Firing the police officer who chose to ‘take a knee’ to George Floyd’s neck for several minutes ‘until dead’ is NOT sufficient justice.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Breaking news on 5/30/20: Far-Right militia groups, anarchists & white supremacists have infiltrated the ‘legitimate protesters of police killings’ in order to hijack the righteous outrage & frustrations to serve their own twisted-agenda of further the confrontation between the police & blacks (& liberal groups), in the provocateur’s calls for ‘Boogaloo’ or the second Civil War, they are hoping to incite.  This will be the subject of my next Letter to the Editor.  To read more on this subject Google: NBC News story by Brandy Zadrozny,  2/19/20:  “What is the Boogaloo; how online calls for a violent uprising are hitting the mainstream”.  In light of this revelation, the recent vandalization of CNN Headquarters in Atlanta, GA, now makes more sense to me.  It was vandalized by protesters, but which ones?  Who has a beef with CNN, who constantly calls them “Fake News”?  Today, President Trump has called for meeting violence with violence, stoking the flames, and convoluting his message with saying that, “MAGA people love blacks, and love their country”.  HELP!  We need Reverend AL & other black leaders NOW to speak with folks and quell the rioting & violence.  There are many actors in today’s passion-play.  Me personally, I’m asking you all: Please, GO HOME!  Don’t play into the hands and plans for more evil-doing!  DON’T BURN OUR COUNTRY DOWN!  EVERYONE, STOP INCITING VIOLENCE!  Find higher ways; VOTE BLUE for Criminal Justice Reform!            TFV

Breonna Taylor, a 26 year-old black, ‘essential’ EMT worker, working for 2 local Kentucky hospitals amid this Coronavirus pandemic, was shot & killed in her own apartment during the early morning hours of March 13, 2020, by 3 LMPD (Louisville Metro Police Department) plainclothes officers, who arrived in unmarked vehicles to execute a ‘no-knock’ search warrant, meaning they did not have to identify themselves as police.  Breonna and her 27 year-old boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep when they heard someone breaking into their home.  They called 911, and Walker, a licensed gunowner, got his gun and shot one ‘intruder’ in the leg, which spurred the officers to spray the apartment with 20 rounds, hitting Breonna 8 times.  Some rounds made their way into the next apartment where a 5 year-old and her pregnant mother were luckily spared being killed in their sleep.  The officers supposedly had a search warrant for Breonna’s address due to an investigation into a ‘drug house’ 10 miles away, for a Jamarcus Glover, who had already been taken into custody the previous day; the warrant didn’t include Taylor or Walker, neither of which had any criminal or drug history.  Taylor had dated Glover a couple years previous to this incident, and there was some allegation in the police report that Glover had intercepted a ‘suspicious’ package delivered by USPS, to Breonna’s address.  (USPS refuted that implication.)  The police report stated that a vehicle registered to Breonna Taylor had been seen in front of the “trap house” for which they had a search warrant.

A petition calling for charges against the 3 officers involved garnered more than 80,000 signatures.  Senator Kamala Harris has called for DOJ to investigate Breonna’s death.  Governor Andy Beshear called for a careful review of the investigation, as had Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, advising the final report be handed over to the commonwealth attorney for further determination of legal recourse.  Others are calling for a complete “truth of facts & circumstances” surrounding this “a very corrupt police department”.  Civil Rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, is part of the legal team representing family members who filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence.  Crump is also attorney for the family of Ahmaud Arbery, murdered 2/23/20 for ‘jogging while black’ in Georgia.    Kenneth Walker was arrested and charged with “Assault & Attempted Murder on a police officer”, for trying to protect himself & Breonna in their home.   The Second Amendment should apply equally to all races & ethnicities.  We need serious criminal justice reform in 21st century America!

Trish Forsyth Voss

Is our society unraveling?  Besides suffering under this incredibly-deadly viral-pandemic, with a death toll exceeding 89,000, with nearly one and a half million people infected by Covid-19, and growing exponentially, there’s a hunger crises in America, we’re close to an economic collapse, we’re in despair.  People are fearful, angry, some acting-out badly, refusing to abide by restrictions imposed to protect the public, our neighbors.  As healthcare workers are endangering their own lives to save others, angry, armed-protesters, turned terrorists, are storming Capitol buildings across the country, some carrying Confederate flags, nooses & swastikas.  Michigan Gov. Grethen Whitmer said, “Some of the outrageousness of what’s happened at our Capitol depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of history in this country”.   In further demonstration of president Trump’s abject failure of leadership, he’s defended these people, who by earlier tweets he’d incited to insurrection, to “liberate” their states.   Trump has completely fallen-down on getting testing & tracing measures underway; he’s disregarded, even fired vaccine-experts & scientists;  he’s invoked the Defense Production Act to order workers (mainly minorities & immigrants) back to jobs at animal-butchering & packing plants, despite increasing infections in those plants, virtually spreading the virus to other community members, causing more deaths.

Reports in several states have people visiting stores, attacking employees who try to enforce mask-requirements; some of those miscreants have spit on employees, licked packages, and spat on police officers called to the scenes.  One woman, upset by a Family Dollar guard’s insistence that her daughter wear a mask, argued and spit on him, returned with her husband, and son, who shot & killed the store-employee.  People who’ve never read any parts of the U.S. Constitution, declare that these measures infringe on their constitutional rights.  Americans murdering fellow-Americans.  Trump IS a war-time president.  The War is ON America, and Trump is presiding and urging it on.  American Carnage!

In 21st century America, an innocent man was murdered in Georgia; his crime: running while being black!  IMAGINE!  The murderers of 25 year-old, Ahmaud Arbery, were known on 2/23/20, when the white, former police detective and his son called 911 to report “a black man running”.   It took 74 days & much pressure for arrests to occur, even though a video had surfaced showing Arbery attacked while jogging.   In Georgia, one cannot claim self-defense if they provoked the altercation.   There is a soul-sickness in our country, and many are terminally-afflicted!

Trish Forsyth Voss

Dr. Rick Bright, a federal vaccine scientist, the former Director of Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority, BARDA, was demoted, sidelined, from working on a vaccine for Covid-19, at a time when we need ALL HANDS ON DECK!  Why?  Dr. Bright, one of the nation’s leading vaccine drug & diagnostic experts,  was pushing back against the widespread promotional use of chloroquine and other anti-malarial drugs, which Trump has touted as potential life-savers for Coronavirus patients.  Dr. Bright is filing a whistleblower complaint alleging retaliation for his resistance to promoting a Coronavirus drug treatment that has not undergone sufficient testing for that disease, and has been found to cause deaths.  Bright’s attorney accused president Trump of “making demonstrably false statements about Bright to deflect attention from the reason for his removal as Director of BARDA”, which is purely political.  “Bright said he was instructed to develop a national program geared to expanding access to the drug hydroxychloroquine after Larry Ellison, campaign fundraiser for Trump, and billionaire chairman & cofounder of software-giant, Oracle, spoke with Trump about the drug.”  Bright insisted that “the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic be invested into safe and scientifically-vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.   Dr. Bright wants his position back;  he stated, “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way”.

The New York Times recently reported, “If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president.  Trump himself has financial interests in Sanofi, the French drug-maker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.  Trump’s three family trusts have investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi.”  Does impeached-Trump use his position to financially benefit himself ?  Constantly!  And I’ve viewed  clips from several Fox & Friends hosts strongly promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine as a miracle-cure for  Coronavirus.  Trump has aggressively pushed the drug, as well as Trump’s inner circle, including Peter Navarro & Rudy Giuliani, obviously attempting to increase the demand for the relatively-inexpensive drug, but we all know that drug companies can ramp-up prices based on demand.  Dodge & Cox international stock fund, besides Sanofi, also includes Astra-Zeneca, Novartis, Bayer, and GlaxoSmithKline.  Some of Sanofi’s largest shareholders are major donors to Donald Trump.

Trish Forsyth Voss