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Sunday, July 5, 2020

Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask

Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greate...

Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask

Goodfellows52: Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greate...

Demonstrate your patriotism and wear a mask

“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”


AUBURN, Maine — I wear the mask for the greater good — and to satisfy a fantasy of robbing a train with two of my favorite outlaws — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Every time, I wear my designer cloth mask, it makes me feel empowered and positive knowing that I am a putting a dent in the spread of COVID-19.

Butch’s Wild Bunch gang never complained about donning a mask, especially when they were intimidating railroad engineers with six-shooters. Butch and Sundance understood that masks were tools of the trade to knocking over the 5 p.m. Evening Express and absconding with payroll money. 

It was part of their job description and it explains why they thrived as outlaws.

But here in America, some citizens foolishly believe it his or her constitutional right to refuse to wear face coverings. You want to demonstrate your patriotism: Wear a mask.

In the Pine Tree State, no mask means no shopping or being served at a restaurant. Businesses are just following the governor’s guidelines. The other day I nearly stiffed armed another shopper who ignored the six-foot, distance marker and tried to stand right next to me as I paid for my items.

I am not a germaphobe, but I don’t want to visit an ER, so backoff while I am in line. Let’s say you survive a serious bout of the coronavirus, but then there are the after-effects of the pathogen like lung transplants, losing a leg or taking months just to get back to normal.

All it took was a bit a research on the internet to prove that we should all wear the DAMN mask without bitching about our constitutional rights — because those rights don’t exist. It is a worldwide outbreak and it continues to kill. The federal government has done a poor job protecting its citizens. Science has the final say in this matter and we should all be listening to the sage advice of Dr. Fauci and the CDC.

According to the American Constitution Society, and I am quoting its Web site:

“In the face of that devastating pandemic, the judicial branch seemed to adopt a non-justiciable, political question-type approach to local health measures in an emergency. Typical is the Supreme Court of Arizona’s pronouncement, “Necessity is the law of time and place, and the emergency calls into life the necessity … to exercise the power to protect the public health.” In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court had called for just such deference in Jacobson v. Massachusetts. In the midst of a small-pox outbreak, local authorities could mandate vaccination on penalty of a fine for refusal: “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.” 

“But In South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, the Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed the central position of Jacobson v. Massachusetts:

“Our Constitution principally entrusts “[t]he safety and the health of the people” to the politically accountable officials of the States “to guard and protect.” Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11, 38 (1905). When those officials “undertake to act in areas fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties,” their latitude “must be especially broad.” Marshall v. United States, 414 U. S. 417, 427 (1974). Where those broad limits are not exceeded, they should not be subject to second-guessing by an “unelected federal judiciary,” which lacks the background, competence, and expertise to assess public health and is not accountable to the people.”

The judges are pretty smart guys who know it would be foolish to pass themselves off as experts in epidemiology — although that hasn’t stopped many of our leaders in D.C.

So when someone makes this claim, I cringe knowing you really don’t have al legal leg to stand on when you try to make this futile case.

We are still riding the first wave of a deadly pandemic because leaders at the federal level dangerously dismissed the coronavirus like the common cold.

The mask interrupts the spread of COVID-19 and we all should be wearing it for the other guy, who should be wearing it for you.

So please wear the mask or we will continue to pay the consequences in this life-and-death struggle with a pathogen that doesn’t give a damn about your politics.

Think of yourself as the Lone Ranger. People will shout in the grocery store, ”Who was that masked man?”

It was you doing the right thing for all of mankind.



Thursday, April 2, 2020

Goodfellows52: Taking cover from a deadly pathogen

Goodfellows52: Taking cover from a deadly pathogen: My wife and I walk down the church isle in Westbrook, Maine 30 years ago. AUBURN, Maine — A deadly pathogen known as Covid-19 is kno...

Taking cover from a deadly pathogen


My wife and I walk down the church isle in Westbrook, Maine 30 years ago.
AUBURN, Maine — A deadly pathogen known as Covid-19 is knocking the hell out of humanity — and no nation is immune to this unrelenting scourge.

The United States, like many nations, is in the midst of a health crisis, which is an understatement.  Yeah, this is the big one and this worldwide pandemic has been in the making for 100 years, and now it has come to a theater near you. 

The Blasi family has been hunkering down at home, where we now both work. My wife is a teacher and I am sports journalist for several publications. It is has been a dark, cold spring, but it is difficult to look forward to the summer when people of all ages are dying around the planet.

We are lucky and safe — for the moment — and I don’t take that for granted.

There are 376 cases of Covid-19 in Maine and a handful of Pine Tree State residents have died. 

The sports world no longer exists and most of my stories have become Coronavirus-related. Read the column I wrote l about a sportswriter who longs to be back on the road covering high-school baseball, lacrosse and track. But my world has disappeared for a moment as fans across the planet mourn the loss of pro sports.


People in the U.S. are dying at an alarming rate, first responders are crying for relief and supplies, and millions of Americans are out of work as the world’s economy takes a nosedive into oblivion.

There is plenty of blame to go around after the U.S. appeared to ignore the warning sighs and got behind the eight ball. The people in charge should have understood the horrifying implications of what was transpiring in Wuhan, China. Other nations should have also mobilized instead of brushing off this deadly, infectious germ as a fluke. Back here, some leaders have called it hoax and have refused to order shelter in place.

Turn on the news in America and and your eyes will well up as nurses and doctors, who are also being infected, plead for masks and respirators as the body count continues to soar.

Everybody should understand to keep their distance and remain at home to stop this pathogen’s from jumping from host to host. This isn’t the common cold and the life you save may be your own — if you remain at home.

The three of us are going stir crazy and a trip to the gas station or grocery store is like a mini vacation. My heart goes out to all human beings around the globe.

Five days ago, Terri and I celebrated 30 years of a good, strong and health marriage.

I am still looking forward to another 30 years with my wife and son. So do the right thing and remain at home for the sake of all of humanity.

American writer and humorist Mark Twain had it right when he said: “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

It is OK to smile after reading Twain’s sage advice.

Out and about

Take a walk on the wild side around New England's outdoors. Come walk with my son and I as we explore state parks, historic sites, and creepy cemeteries. This is the good stuff in life, and there is nothing worth watching on television, anyway. Join us as we take advantage of Maine's beaches and pristine forests. In between our sojourns through the Pine Tree State, look for political insight and a few well-written opinion pieces as well.