Bangor, Maine Town Hall
Yesterday, I went downtown to attend a Town Hall at the Bangor Public Library. I went over an hour early so I could park close by and off I hobbled with my driftwood cane, into the building. I met a Facebook friend there, that I had communicated with but never met in person. She is absolutely lovely. Over 400 people from all reaches of northern and eastern Maine came to this meeting. The guest of honor was Representative Jared Golden, D, of Maine. He did not show up, so the sponsors of this inspiring meeting filmed the entire almost 2 hours of 2 minute speeches from his very own constituents. and will forard the meeting to him, so he can view in at his leisure without the discomfort of being physically present. I found it both rude and cowardly of the Representative to snub his own constituents.
I didn’t speak, but if I had stayed on top of local events and known about this meeting earlier, I would have. Since the meeting, I have pondered what I might have said. Here is my speech.
I am inspired by this warm passionate intelligent group of people. Just 4 years ago, we would all have been at home or in our vehicles staying away from each other. Do you all know why we can be here today, in this big powerful group? VACCINES, and SCIENCE, and PROGRESS. That is all being taken away from us. I am a retired RN, and for the past dozen or so years, I have dedicated and volunteered my time to Patient Safety issues. We are facing the biggest threat to patient safety and public health in recent history right now. Our Congress confirmed the dumbest dipshit in history to run the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He is a castor oil selling, brain worm hosting, anti vaxxer. Centuries of science and advances are coming to a screeching halt. We currently have the biggest measles outbreak in recent history, with at least 1 possibly 2 deaths so far. Women are being harmed and or dying because they are not getting needed reproductive care as well. That’s another whole deadly subject. Thank you TEXAS and Bobby K. There is a TB outbreak in Kansas city. HIV is on the rise right here in Maine. Pray that we don’t have another full fledged pandemic..because Castor Oil and a healthy diet will not stop it.
Do you all remember standing in line for your first polio vaccination. I do…I was in elementary school and I was scared to death. But my parents were absolutely gleeful, because several kids in my small mill town of MIllinocket already had been affected by polio. NOBODY was ever affected by polio in my own kids schools…that is because of vaccinations.
The dipshit is fudging the history and success of vaccines. DOGE stopped funding for research in cancer, thus halting the treatment of people on trials. History and science is being removed from the databases or altered to fit a narrative. Long term experts are leaving in droves. I know a few of them personally, because of my work on Hospital Acquired infections. Dr Nirav Shah has returned to Maine after resigning his prestigious job at the CDC, so good for us, bad for the nation.
What is happening at breakneck speed, is the destruction of science and history. The monster in the White House is formulating his own dis and misinformation history and science. He can barely form a full sentence because of his own ignorance, and he is running this country with his big fat black pen, rather than strategically governing and planning for our country….. This will not stand.
During Ts first round at destroying our country, he gave out ignorant horrible advice about COVID. Anti vaxxers grew in number and it became a Republican political tattoo to be an antivaxxer. A Christian conservative young friend of mine lost his Dad to COVID. That entire family refused to get vaccinated and his sister found their Dad collapsed in the bathtub at home. He spent a few days in the ICU and then died. My friend has expressed regret about that and wishes now that he had encouraged his father to get vaccinated. My friend did get the vaccines, but he doesn’t want anyone to tell his sister, that he did. That is just how crazy that kind of thinking is. Always, follow the science.
When Barack Obama was president, he funded patient safety work and I became active in that work, as a patient’s voice. A little known department of the DHHS, called the AHRQ has dedicated itself to healthcare safety. Trump/DOGE has targeted AHRQ for 80 to 90% cuts , so essentially he plans to eliminate it. Our safety is not their concern. We are all on our own, but there are more non worm infested brains in this room today than there are at the top, and we will survive and prevail.
