Community Roundtable

My immediate personal experience is better than most.  I’m retired, collecting pension and social security.  My husband works for DMV, which had closed mid-March.  That closure has now been extended through April 30th, like our Illinois Stay-at-Home order.  I expect those directives to be extended again, as this plague will not soon disappear from our land.  Hubby & I are in good health, and only need periodically to buy supplies.  We have innate hermit-proclivity, have each other, black cat, guard-dog, four egg-laying hens, plans to order some guinea-hen chicks and fruit/vegetable seeds soon.  My addictions: chocolate, Pepsi, worry, MSNBC; so I consume far more news than most folks.  I have hobbies and keep in touch with loved ones, but  I’m grieving daily for all those who are stricken, dying, dying alone, dying too soon, terrified, homeless, hopeless, incarcerated, disabled, unsound, and for the essential, courageous, inspiring first-responders everywhere, risking their lives on this battleground, to save others.   Please, Stay home to Save lives!

Trish Forsyth Voss

President Trump wants to make Easter GREAT again!  He wants to give it “another reason to be important” …. getting us nervous-Nellies off our duffs and back to work!  He’s worried about the “dire consequences” of a depressed economy; that a crashed-economy and loss of sports events will cause “thousands of suicides”.  The global economy-crash was super-induced by the global-pandemic.  Trump is swayed by the Captains of Industry over the doctors & scientists who fiercely urge stricter measures to mitigate contagion, that we haven’t given the restrictions enough time to work to avert the potential deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.   As of 3/24/20, the U.S. has 51,552 test-proven-infected & 682 dead; this number will double in days.  The whole purpose of the massive stimulus packages approved were to give our nation time to Shelter-in-Place to halt the aggressive spread of Covid-19 pandemic.  Hospitals will be overwhelmed, doctors & nurses will succumb; the wave is coming!   Our focus should be on saving lives, then getting our economy back on-track.

Trish Forsyth Voss

I applaud Pritzker’s push to hold our constitutional Illinois elections as planned; the remaining states need to convert their elections to all vote-by-mail.  Illinois was helped by holding extensive early voting.  The Covid-19 pandemic is evolving daily and hourly, with endeavors and policies implemented to slow or halt the spread of this highly-contagious disease.  I wholeheartedly agree with the closure of Illinois schools, which I’m betting won’t reopen for remainder of this school year.  To impress upon our citizenry & for our own protections, the closure of pubs and dining-in was absolutely necessary;  gyms & theatres will follow.  Sport events, concerts, rallies, community gatherings and many church services have suspended or cancelled.   Many businesses are reducing hours; many moving to providing online-services.  In doubt, call first.   We need to get serious about social-distancing, self-care and self-quarantine.  We should be ‘sheltering-in-place’ to avoid viral-transmission, before we’re faced with forced lock-downs.  Things will get worse before this disappears.  NOT A HOAX!

Trish Forsyth Voss

We need truthful information from our government, not the Infodemic of Sharpie-maps & fake facts.   We need a leader who doesn’t fire scientists, but listens carefully and plans accordingly.  Our anti-science president, Trump, scuttled the Pandemic Defense team in May 2018 and vastly-cut CDC funding, hence our national response has been sabotaged already.  The outbreak of respiratory virus Covid-19 has jumped continents;  we’re facing a global pandemic.  The number of cases is now over 81,000, nearly 3,000 have died.    We need a coordinated-response team of trusted healthcare experts to help prepare us; America has already reported some 60 cases here.  Trump has stated, “everything is under control”, then he asked Congress for $2.5 billion; Schumer says we need $8.5 billion.   Global markets have been sliding downward.  We may need to somewhat restrict global travel, postpone the cruise-ship vacation, avoid stadiums & concerts for awhile.  Try not to panic, but compile an emergency home-kit: a month-supply of your prescription meds, Vitamin-C, canned soup, water, toilet paper.  Google: CDC.gov

Trish Forsyth Voss

This ‘clemency spree’ by Trump is a face-spike-ploy to flaunt his executive powers and a signal to his jailed cohorts to stay strong, he will pardon them.  Trump granted full legal forgiveness to 7 people on Tuesday and shortened sentences of 4 others.  Trump declared he is the “chief law-enforcement officer of the country”.  Since he’s commandeering the judicial department, with William Barr’s help, I guess that’s true enough.  For a president who has claimed to be “very concerned” about corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere, he has pardoned or commuted sentences for a range of despicable characters guilty of serious public corruption, extortion, tax evasion, gambling fraud, perjury, witness tampering, drug charges, and war-criminals; he’s granted 25 pardons & issued 10 commutations thus far.  More troubling than his controversial pardons are his attempted legal-attacks and threats against his perceived enemies.  Trump will definitely pardon Stone, Manafort & Flynn; I fully expect him to pardon Harvey Weinstein, if convicted.

Trish Forsyth Voss

In this situation I feel the issue of Eminent Doman gives more than it takes.  In our continuing efforts to beautify Galesburg, demolishing several dilapidated properties and building a beautiful, 21st century library will serve our public good with a community-space for all ages, far more than keeping those degraded properties on the Main thoroughfare would.   The Don Moffitt overpass on W. Main St was a wonderful improvement, as was the E. Main St underpass and the Kellogg/Seminary St overpass.  The property owners would assumably receive assessed value plus ten percent, giving them a fair value, and the library project would not be unnecessarily held-up further due to greed or animus.  The project already in the planning since 2012, will likely receive the state funding from Illinois’ 2019 Capital Infrastructure Bill; funding would not be forthcoming until late 2020, and the properties need to be razed, for the development to begin in earnest for ‘Our Town’.

Trish Forsyth Voss

A Trumpian record-setting president, definitely set a record for number of erroneous statements spewed in any State of the Union address; this in the context of the Senate narrowly acquitting him of ‘Abuses of the Public Trust’, Trump strode in as a pugilist, swinging in his fists ….  lies and extreme exaggerations of so-called facts,  amid his slurs and attacks on Democrats.   The ‘reality-television-spectacle’ was crowned by “the magnificent first-lady, Melania”, bestowing the Presidential Medal of Honor on Rush Limbaugh for Donald John Trump.  The deluge of ‘fantasy-facts’ are too numerous to rectify here.   Trump is NOT strengthening our healthcare system, much less protecting pre-existing-conditions coverage!  Republicans will NOT protect Social Security or Medicare!  ISIS has NOT been 100 percent destroyed!  Trump has NOT created more jobs (in his 36 months) than President Obama did (in his last 36 months); the economy is NOT the best ever!  There is NO blue-collar boom!   FINALE:  Speaker Pelosi coolly ripped asunder the lie-laden pages.

Trish Forsyth Voss

The House managers did an exemplary job of presenting overwhelming evidence, clips of validated testimonies from exceptional U.S. diplomats, and the few documents the House was able to procure, despite Trump’s absolute obstruction of Congress …. in their role to check a corrupted executive branch.  The defense presented their ludicrous arguments on how ‘Abuse of Power’ is not impeachable, and doesn’t reach the threshold of presidential removal.  The defense rested, two days of Senator’s questions & answers followed; Friday a vote is scheduled for calling witnesses.  Former national security advisor, John Bolton, should be called to testify, as he alleges in his pre-published book, ‘The Room Where It Happened’, that Ukriane-aid was definitely-conditioned on Zelensky announcing investigations into Trump’s top political rival, as first-hand-witnesses, Gordon Sondland testified to, and Mick Mulvaney conceded.  First-hand-witness, Lev Parnas, has significant evidence; he’s volunteered to testify.  On 1/29/20, the Senate chaplain prayed, “It is never wrong to do right”.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Previous to the one wintry evening that Iowans caucus, candidates stump there for nearly a year, building and strengthening their campaigns or bowing out.  They engage interested voters and interact in smaller settings, answering questions and becoming better known.  Iowa holds a caucus-process, which are party events, electing delegates to the county convention, and eventually to district and state conventions.  “Caucuses build a party from the ground up, whereas in primary states, the party is often run from the top down.”  Caucus-goers are more activist, more involved, less likely to be moderates.  Maybe such vigorously-engaged citizens should lead the nominating process.  “For 2020 caucus, Iowa Democratic Party, allows registered Iowan Democrats to participate through 6 ‘virtual caucuses’ via phone or smart device, ranking up to 5 choices for president, the total result accounting for 10 percent of Iowa’s caucus delegates.  The GOP caucus is different; they simply cast a vote for president, and delegates are divided proportionally to the RNC.”

Trish Forsyth Voss

The House of Representatives and the Articles of Impeachment can be likened to a high-visibility prosecution team delivering momentous charges against an important defendant, who has made a trial necessary, (like the case of Rod Blagojevich).  Any such prosecutor would ensure their charges are valid, based on available evidence and testimony, and their duty is to protect the common good.  At trial, facts are presented and witnesses called; the majority of WE THE PEOPLE want to hear John Bolton and Lev Parnas testify.  Senators will take an oath to do impartial justice.; I pray they will honor their oaths to protect and defend our Constitution and seek truth for the American people.  Trump betrayed this country by misusing his power, against a fellow American citizen, for partisan interests.  Trump impeached himself the day after Robt Mueller’s full testimony to the House judiciary committee.  Regardless of the Senate trial, Donald John Trump has been impeached forever!

Trish Forsyth Voss