Dr. Eyra Ruíz, from her Twitter feed.

What Nito ought to tell Eyra

Dr. Eyra Ruíz, the obstetrician and gynecologist who is President Cortizo’s minister without administrative portfolio and special health adviser, has a lot of people calling for her scalp today. There are a lot of unsaid reasons, some scurrilous and some not, that apply to mainly to other people and ought to be unsaid. The two things that we should consider are her attendance at the Santa Ana funeral of a fellow PRD member and her announcement the day before that not only politically connected people who attend illegal gatherings but also those who come out to protest or document those events will be penalized.

Dr. Ruíz, the Catholic Church and those who went inside the Santa Ana parish church for the funeral didn’t violate the health decrees then in effect. After so many people died with health regulations barring church funerals in effect, the number of infections began to go down and the president eased the restrictions on houses of worship. No full houses as before, but with social distancing restrictions the churches, temples, synagogues and mosques can now reopen.

After the service in the church, there was a big crowd the slain activist’s friends, family, neighbors and fellow PRD members that carried the coffin in a pedestrian funeral procession. THAT violated the decree against public gatherings.

The president should not tell Ruíz that she’s fired. Strictly speaking, she hasn’t broken the rules. However, he should talk to her and other key members of his team and talk about what’s happening to his administration. Perhaps it would be a good idea to invite the new national ombudsman, who pleads that curfew and quarantine violations should be treated as civil infractions rather than crimes. The discussion should be about how toxic the reality and appearance of double standards for PRD members and the rest of Panamanians look

A warning and admonishment about the funeral procession? A good idea. The same should go out to protesters and journalists who flock to the scene when the connected flaunt their privileges. The wise use of discretion to restore calm, order, and solidarity against the epidemic is a better approach that the hard hand or strict legality. We are not going to end this crisis by throwing away all the health restrictions, but we also can’t punish our way out of it.

One of the more than 600 fully functioning high speed mail sorting machines that Donald Trump had destroyed as part of his election theft scheme. Photo by an anonymous union worker near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Not just murder 1

For the first time in living memory a president of the United States has lent his political support to someone charged with first degree murder before a US court. The killer was one of the goons who have taken up neofascist calls to arms on Donald Trump’s behalf. There is no distancing here, only an argument that the militias are needed to defend property.

But of course Donald Trump is the biggest vandal of them all. He has destroyed millions of dollars worth of US Postal Service equipment in order to prevent people from voting. If people now die because the medicines that have been coming to them by mail no longer arrive on time, it’s not a problem for Donald Trump. Those would be somebodies else, just like the more than 180,000 who have died of COVID-19 on Trump’s shift. They aren’t him, and to him anyone who is not him doesn’t matter.

Do not let armed criminals silence you, or prevent you from voting.

We’re dealing with a deranged wimp who has levers of power, but he’s messing with The Home of the Brave.

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