President Donald Trump finally got something right about COVID-19: We have turned the corner.
Unfortunately it’s the wrong corner; the corner to more illness, to more deaths. But, there is hope. America finally has a leader who actually cares and is doing something about COVID-19. Of course, it’s not Trump, it’s the president-elect, Joe Biden.
In one day, Biden, in appointing a real task force of real experts that a real leader will listen to, has shown more real effort to protect the health of America than Trump has done since he learned about our peril in January.
Biden was finally declared as the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election on Nov. 7 and, two days later, began attacking the coronavirus problem.
And what was Trump doing over the weekend? He was playing golf. Like Nero playing while Rome was burning, Trump was playing while Americans are still getting ill and still dying.
Allen Edelstein, Highland Park
Pundits can’t hack this ballot-count issue
I completely agree with the Star-Ledger’s Nov. 9 editorial, “The lesson of 2020: Make voting a breeze”, but not necessarily for the same reasons cited in the editorial.
Nationally, same-day votes diverged considerably from pre-election surveys, in which Biden almost universally enjoyed substantial margins. Although Biden’s advantage was subsequently belied by the machine tallies, virtually all of the absentee/mail-in ballots corroborated Biden’s lead in the surveys. Princeton University computer science Professor Andrew Appel has shown how easy some machines are to hack undetectably.
President Donald Trump called Hispanic immigrants murders and rapists, yet managed to garner a considerable number of votes from that community in Florida, in spite of contrary earlier polling. He disparaged Black people and the entire Black Lives Matter movement. Nevertheless, he seemed to achieve surprisingly high levels of support there — except in the mailed-in ballots.
There’s a danger in treating any group monolithically, but the differences between the hackable electronic machine tallies from in-person voting and the non-hackable, by-mail results are astonishing, not to mention worrisome.
Pundits are trying to explain the inconsistencies: Who didn’t do enough to court which group? Who ignored which bloc? It would be almost laughable, if they weren’t all ignoring the 800-pound elephant in the room.
I wonder who the president-elect would be if it were not for the absentee ballots?
Nathaniel Silber, Verona
Where is the social justice in the pot referendum?
Let me make sure I understand.
The recreational marijuana amendment was approved by voters, and was promoted by the Gov. Phil Murphy as a way of addressing social injustice. There are indistinct plans to address this social injustice by expunging the records of those convicted of past pot use or possession.
But, once the state executes its plan to sell recreational pot legally, it’s my understanding that one could still be arrested and convicted for use/possession if the marijuana was not obtained from a State of New Jersey-licensed vendor.
Such newly convicted pot users will be highly skewed to racial minorities.
Where, exactly, is the social justice in this pot referendum?
Mike Lyon, Boonton
Wearing a mask not much of a sacrifice to make
To see the whining and complaining about the simple thing of wearing a mask in public to save lives makes me think about the sacrifices people had to make during World War II. If the Americans of today were around at that time, we would probably be speaking German.
Back then, you had to have ration coupons to buy essential items like sugar because supplying the troops came first. Also, you had to cover your windows at night to keep the light in. If you didn’t, someone would blow a whistle to remind you.
Just imagine if the World War II generation had reacted the way people do now. They would be complaining that their freedom to put their town in danger was being taken away, and they should be allowed to buy all the sugar they want because the government can’t tell them what to do.
Back then, people made sacrifices for the common good. Not today. It’s “Me first.” I saw a fool with a mask reading “The Government Made Me Wear This.”
How about this? If you get COVID-19, you’re not allowed to 911 and, if you bring it home to your family, it’s their problem. Health-care workers are putting their lives on the line and we owe it to them and the rest of the country to make some sacrifices. That’s what America used to be.
Joseph Marra, Seaside Park
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.