{"id":46414,"date":"2020-08-03T09:18:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T13:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=46414"},"modified":"2020-08-03T09:18:56","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T13:18:56","slug":"lets-be-blunt-about-it-russ-diamond-is-a-jerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=46414","title":{"rendered":"Let’s be blunt about it: Russ Diamond is a jerk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are good people (lots, actually) and then \u2014 well, and unfortunately there\u2019s no better way to put it \u2014 some people are reprehensible jerks (and yes, I wanted to use a more succinct expletive, but it seemed immature).<\/p>\n

One of the biggest in Pennsylvania is a State Representative from Lebanon County, Russ Diamond.<\/p>\n

After State Health Secretary Rachel Levine, who is transgender, put out a statement this condemning those harassing her and others in LGBTQ community, Diamond put out a juvenile \u201cparody\u201d defending those people who refuse to wear masks.<\/p>\n

Levine has been targeted with such abuse repeatedly by small-brained opponents as part of their temper tantrums about Gov. Tom Wolf\u2019s pandemic management. <\/p>\n

While I have, at times disagreed with some of Levine\u2019s decisions and her communications strategy \u2014 and said so in this space \u2014 the majority of her decisions have proven sound. By lowering themselves to such petty, thoughtless and discriminatory comments, some of Levine\u2019s intolerant GOP critics, have shown themselves to be ignorant, transphobic twits. As Levine points out, these public comments can be hurtful to the greater LGBTQ community, especially young people, which was the point of her comments this week.<\/p>\n

But in a \u201chold my beer\u201d moment, Diamond decided to both mock those comments and dispute the need to wear a mask during a pandemic that has literally killed more than 150,000 Americans. I won\u2019t quote his missive, released on Wednesday, because frankly, it is so juvenile and pathetic that it does not deserve inadvertent amplification.<\/p>\n

Gov. Wolf replied on social media, Thursday: \u201cVirtually no thinking person disputes mask-wearing as an effective means to stop the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Proud non-mask-wearers such as Rep. Diamond are not displaying their freedom, but rather their ignorance and lack of respect for themselves and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pretty much sums it up.<\/p>\n

People who refuse to wear masks are selfish jerks.<\/p>\n

Period.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t deserve special consideration or praise \u2014 they deserve wide condemnation and shunning. They are willing to make people sick and die to prove some wrongheaded, ignorant, non-scientific argument.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the vast majority of Pennsylvanians get it \u2014 new polling out this week shows large majorities supporting masks and the limited closures to fight COVID-19. Most people get it: wear a mask, keep socially distant and wash your hands. Avoid indoor gatherings, indoor bars and restaurants. No one likes it, but it is what responsible adults do to fight a pandemic.<\/p>\n

Diamond\u2019s missive represents conduct unbecoming a state legislator.<\/p>\n

Although I don\u2019t have confidence in the voters of Lebanon County, one would hope they would see this embarrassment and make a change.<\/p>\n

In the near term, I would stress how important for your safety it is to avoid visiting or conducting business in Lebanon County \u2014 as its county government and local leaders do not take COVID-19 seriously. By visiting, you put yourself and your family at risk by having any interaction with its businesses and citizens who in the main ignore science and pander to people like Diamond. I wish it wasn\u2019t true, but you need to protect yourself.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Republicans are spending a lot of time and effort to brand the Democrats as the party of #defundthepolice.<\/p>\n

While there are arguments to redirect some police funding away from things like tanks toward community policing, Democrats have yet to take a single dollar away from police \u2014 unlike their Republican colleagues.<\/p>\n

Yup, it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

By failing to offer funding to states and municipalities hard hit by the tax impact of COVID-19, Republicans in Congress are effectively cutting funding to police. And firefighters. And teachers.<\/p>\n

As states like Pennsylvania \u2014 which saw a $3.2 billion shortfall in the last fiscal year, ending June 30 \u2014 are looking at fiscal holes across the budget. It\u2019s hard to imagine that the State Police \u2014 which is the only police in much of Chester County \u2014 won\u2019t see budget cuts and manpower reductions. The same is true for the larger communities in the county with their own police departments, especially those that depend on Earned Income Taxes \u2014 they can\u2019t spend money they don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

If maintaining police funding were a priority, Republicans in Congress would have pushed for aid to states and municipalities. Instead, they oppose it. By their actions, the GOP is supporting police cuts.<\/p>\n

You may want to ask them to explain that.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

As a resident of Pennsylvania, you get to vote by mail, which in this year of the pandemic, is a really important thing.<\/p>\n

Despite claims by President Donald Trump, mail-in voting fraud is extremely rare (rarer than that of in-person fraud, which is also rare). He and his GOP pals are lying because they know a big voter turnout will doom them.<\/p>\n

Between bungling the COVID\u201419 response and the subsequent destruction of the economy, Republicans deserve to get wrecked at the polls \u2014 that\u2019s how democracy works. Do a lousy job, lose it. But Trump \u2014 who floated the non-starter idea of delaying the election \u2014 wants to find a way to cheat the system, again.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t fall for it. Mail-in voting is safe and has worked effectively since the 1860s.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to request your mail in ballot. When you get it, make sure you mail it in well in advance of election day, as postal service is being intentionally slowed (how corporate America, which depends heavily on the U.S. Mail, is putting up with this mystifies me). Allow at least 10 days, if not more, for your vote to reach Voter Services.<\/p>\n

You may or may not \u2014 depending on the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Trump and Republicans \u2014 also be able to drop your ballot off at Voter Services in Westtown. Don\u2019t assume you will be able to do so \u2014 get your ballot as early as possible and return it as early as possible. We\u2019ll keep you updated on the status of the drop boxes.<\/p>\n

In a directly related matter, The Inquirer<\/em> is reporting mail delays of up to two weeks thanks to the \u201ccost cutting\u201d moves of new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (a major Trump fundraiser).<\/p>\n

Just a reminder, the USPS is only losing money because Congress forced it to set aside pension funds for 75 years \u2014 literally for employees who are not yet born \u2014 something no other federal agency is required to do. The USPS uses no taxpayer money and operates entirely on its own revenue \u2014 but it is now struggling financially because of these burdens (it would be profitable, otherwise).<\/p>\n

So now, DeJoy ordered all sorts of cuts, slowdowns and such to \u201csave money.\u201d Coincidently, it will make voting by mail harder during a pandemic. Why this isn\u2019t being challenged in court \u2014 it would seem to violate Federal law regarding slowing the mails \u2014 is beyond me.<\/p>\n

You may want to reach out to your U.S. Senator, Pat Toomey (U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan are aware and fighting against it already) to see why your mail isn\u2019t showing up and why he\u2019s not doing anything about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor The Times @mikemcgannpa There are good people (lots, actually) and then \u2014 well, and unfortunately there\u2019s no better way to put it \u2014 some people are reprehensible jerks (and yes, I wanted to use a more succinct expletive, but it seemed immature). One of the biggest in Pennsylvania is a State […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7426,13238,6754,13237,13044,13236,13235,5318,13239],"class_list":["post-46414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","tag-gop-defunds-the-police","tag-gov-tom-wolf","tag-jerks","tag-masks","tag-rachel-levine","tag-russ-diamond","tag-sen-pat-toomey","tag-u-s-mail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46415,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46414\/revisions\/46415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}