Precious truth

Dear Friends,

 

Good morning. Mark Twain is always refreshing.

With President Trump in mind, I think of one of Twain’s best known quotes: “When in doubt, tell the truth,” he said. “It will confound your enemies and astound your friends!”

 

I thought about this quote when I read James Morano’s recent letter to the editor. “Mark Twain’s statement, ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,’ is often used to describe the increasing egregiousness and potential damage of false statements,” the New Britain Township resident wrote.

 

“Mexico will pay for it.”

“The biggest crowds at any inauguration.”

“There was no obstruction.”

“There are some very good people on both sides.”

“There is no case against Michael Flynn.”

 

“The coronavirus will miraculously disappear.”

 

“I didn’t do it. …I don’t know anything about it.”

 

“I didn’t fire Geoffrey.” (Geoffrey Berman, a federal prosecutor)

 

Friends, are you surprised by this?

 

Turning to other news, our head keeper Alice Agnew always shares interesting facts.

Here’s her take on the virus via Google: the seven countries (and their leaders) with the lowest number of deaths from the Coronavirus 19 are: Denmark (Mette Frederiksen) 609 deaths; Iceland (Katrin Jakobsdottir with 10 deaths); Finland (Sanna Marin with 329 deaths); Germany (Angela Merkel with 9,063 deaths); New Zealand (Jacinda Ardern with 22 deaths); Norway (Erna Solberg with 252 deaths); and Taiwan (Tsai Ing-wen with seven deaths). Total ... 10,292 deaths.

 

And the seven countries with the highest number of deaths: U.S.A. (President Trump with 136,306 deaths); Brazil (Jair Bolsonaro with 70,398 deaths); United Kingdom (Boris Johnson with 44,938 deaths); Italy (Giuseppe Conte with 34,938 deaths); France (Emmanuel Macron with 30,007 deaths); Spain (Pedro Sanchez with 28,403 deaths); and Russia (Vladimir Putin with 11,000 deaths). Total … 355,787 deaths.

 

These stats were assembled on July 11.

 

What stood out to me was this: The lowest number of deaths from the pandemic were found in countries lead by women, and the highest number of deaths in countries were lead by men. The moral of the story? We’d be better off – safer too – if we had a woman at the helm.

 

So, I’m looking carefully at Joe Biden’s pick for his veep nomination. He’s vowed to choose a woman. Should Biden unseat President Trump, we’ll have a female vice president. And that woman would have an excellent chance to become America’s first woman president when Biden’s term concludes – in 2024 or 2028.

 

Here are the 13 women Biden’s considering: Kamala Harris, age 55, African American California senator; Elizabeth Warren, age 70, white Massachusetts senator; Keisha Lance Bottoms, 50, African American mayor of Atlanta; Val Demings, 63, African American, Florida congresswoman; Susan Rice, 55, African American, President Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations; Michelle Lujan Grisham, 60, Latina, New Mexico governor;

 

Also, Tammy Duckworth, 52, Asian American, Illinois senator (if picked, she’d be the first veteran on a national ticket since John McCain. She’s my first choice. Helicopter pilot. Purple Heart. Lost both legs in the Iraq war.); Tammy Baldwin, 58, white, Wisconsin senator; Karen Bass, 66, African American, California congresswoman; Gretchen Whitmer, 48, white, Michigan governor; Stacey Abrams, 46, African American, narrowly lost in Georgia governor race; Gina Raimondo, 49, white, Rhode Island governor; and Maggie Hassan, 62, white, New Hampshire senator.