Kansas Foster Care, Evictions and Foreclosures During Pandemic, KKFI Volunteers for Election Coverage, and COVID testing.

LUBOW INTERVIEWS HENTZLER OF KANSAS APPLESEED

Joey Hentzler, Director of Advocacy at Kansas Appleseed, joins host Craig Lubow to discuss housing issues during the pandemic and foster care oversight.

VOLUNTEERING TO IMPROVE KKFI’S ELECTION COVERAGE: 

1. Complete and “Submit” the “Volunteer Application” at “https://kkfi.org/volunteer/volunteer-application/“.  Please check “News & Public Affairs” while you are doing that.
2. Email [email protected], explaining your interests.  The regular meeting of the News & Public Affairs Committee (“NewsPA”) is the second Wednesday of each month.  We are currently meeting virtually, and to get the invitation, you should email Spencer (or someone else on the committee).
3. Talk with other members of NewsPA about whom you’d like to survey or get in a virtual candidate forum and the questions you’d like to ask.  Develop and implement a plan.

Example:  On April 14, Missouri Governor Parsons said that Fear of spreading or contracting COVID-19, or abiding by a stay-at-home order, are not legally permissible reasons for Missourians to cast an absentee ballot.”  On May 8, Spencer Graves wrote the Governor, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Attorney General Schmitt as follows:

Am I correct that you still oppose people claiming COVID-19 as a “disability” in requesting an absentee ballot? And an otherwise able-bodied Missouri voter might be prosecuted for fraud or perjury for applying to vote absentee this year on such a claim?

Could you please help me understand your rationale for your opposition to making voting easier?

Is it because, as TheBeacon.media claimed recently, that it would favor Democrats? <If so, how do you respond to those who claim that this is a vicious, unprincipled attack on democracy?>

Or are you claiming that there are serious concerns about the potential for vote fraud? <If that’s true, what is your evidence? Fox and other Conservative outlets have disseminated many such claims. However, the rules of evidence in the court of public opinion are whatever will maximize the power of those who control media funding and governance. The best serious review I know of the available evidence on that issue is the “Findings of Fact and Ruling of Law” by Judge Robinson, who was appointed to the bench by President G. W. Bush, a Republican, in “Fish v. Kobach”. Judge Robinson noted that the Election Voter Information System (ELVIS) maintained by then-Kansas Secretary of State Kobach, included “400 individuals [with] birth dates after their date of registration, indicating they registered to vote before they were born. … The voting rate among purported noncitizen registrations … is around 1%, whereas the voting rate … in Kansas more generally is around 70%. [Defendant Kobach] insisted that [published numbers of noncitizens voting] are just ‘the tip of the iceberg.’ … Instead, [Judge Robinson concluded] that there is no iceberg; only an icicle, largely created by confusion and administrative error.”>

Governor Parsons replied to my email, saying he “is committed to moving Missouri forward by bringing transparency and a listening ear to all Missourians’ needs.” [I could be mistaken, but I don’t think he answered my question.  This sounds like I could be prosecuted for fraud or perjury for asking for an absentee ballot, claiming fear of COVID-19 as a disability.  It reminds me of “The System” by Eduardo Galeano, which includes, “Politicians speak but say nothing.”  This poem also includes the comment that, “The information media disinform.” I volunteer with KKFI to help fight the routine disinformation disseminated by the mainstream media.]

If more people ask more candidates questions like this, and we can get more responses on the record, we can help voters make more informed decisions when they vote.  You can help, as noted above.

COVID testing

Spencer Graves is a statistician, among other things.  He says that in his professional opinion, the vast majority of the deaths and economic destruction worldwide in the current COVID-19 pandemic could have been avoided with better testing. We do not have it, because political decisions dating back to the 1990s have not provided adequate funding for better methods for developing and deploying better tests for all kinds of problems, including a new pandemic.

However, these faulty political decisions are not the fault of the politicians, because the mainstream media create the stage upon which politicians read their lines. And it is not the fault of the media, because everyone everywhere prefers information and sources consistent with preconceptions.

This psychological phenomenon is called “confirmation bias”, and the mainstream media everywhere exploit it to benefit those who control media funding and governance. A Wikiversity article on “Confirmation bias and conflict” describes what you can do about it.

Share This Episode