Commentary
On Bill Cosby, Voting Rights, And The Truth
Just remember the Republicans want to deny you a chair and some water while you wait in line to vote in some states. That’s where this country is these days.

After three years in prison, Bill Cosby, the man whose sexual assault conviction was overturned due to a procedural matter, is a free man.
When a district attorney in Pennsylvania made a deal not to prosecute Cosby on criminal charges back in 2005, Cosby couldn’t ‘take the Fifth’ in a civil deposition on the same charges. So, Cosby simply told the truth—that essentially, he used quaaludes and alcohol as his M.O. to have non-consensual sex with women. The deposition should never have been used in 2015 when a new D.A. decided to go after Cosby criminally. But it convicted Cosby, who was in prison until the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided a deal was a deal.
And that is how you get this thing called justice in America. It takes the best attorneys and lots of money. Most of us don’t have that and will never see it. Cosby had it. He did serve three years, but he’s out now.
I feel for all the women who came forward after years of silence. I feel for the plaintiff in the one case, Andrea Constand.
But this is the law. We can change it. Or other Cosby victims—if time hasn’t run out–can come forward and lodge new cases. In the meantime, we should be happy the law works. Because most of the time, the wrongfully accused and jailed are not the Cosbys of the world, but the innocent nobodys who get a raw deal. The law works for us all.
Note that no one is saying Cosby is innocent. But it’s a tough lesson when the truth is revealed and can’t be used because of a D.A.’s blunder.
But it does fit in with where we are in this truth-forsaken country of ours.
When we stood on the Fourth of July among fellow Americans–after looking at the sparkle of peonies and coronavirus shapes shot in the air– did you ask yourself if our democracy was going up in smoke?
We have an ex-president who continues to upset the democratic equation by challenging the very fact that he lost the election fair and square last November. We know that to be as true as there are 50 states in our union.
But here we are in mid-2021, after the twin disaster of an actual pandemic and a political pandemic, that is four years of a president who, though out of office, is still hellbent on destroying our democracy. After all that, what are we left with? Not a sense of unity. Not in an America where no one can seem to agree on anything. Masks? Vaccines? The Constitution? Truth?
And let’s put aside hot buttons like abortion, policing, or race, for now. Let’s just think of practical matters like how do we fund and fix our infrastructure to make sure our country’s roads and bridges are safe for all?
Or how can we balance our priorities and close the income gaps that exist between the very wealthy and the very poor?
And then we have the basis of our democracy itself. How do we make sure that everyone gets heard in our country through the fundamental right of franchise? Not the right to open a Jollibee. a Panda Express, or a Popeye’s Chicken. I mean the right to vote. That kind of franchise.
Just remember the Republicans want to deny you a chair and some water while you wait in line to vote in some states. That’s where this country is these days.
On the other hand, if you maintain that the presidency was stolen last November from Trump, then you believe not only in the “Big Lie,” but in its enabler, the myth of voter fraud.
And then it’s likely you were either part of the insurrection of the capitol or supporting the violent actions to de-certify the election on January 6. Is all that worth investigating—to protect our democracy? But Republicans don’t think so.
They prefer the anti-democracy solution: to exclude people from voting by making the rules tighter and tougher so that even legally cast ballots are disqualified. These are laws that will likely hurt Blacks and other people of color disproportionately.
Last week at the U.S. Supreme Court, in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, six conservative justices (including the three Trump appointees) beat back the three liberal ones to side with voting restrictions. Already 17 states have restrictive laws, and now challenging any of them will be near impossible.
This is another blow to perhaps the single most important civil rights law, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Weakened over the years, last week’s ruling is the alarm for Congress to take action and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in order to restore protections that would preserve our democracy.
As they say, keep your eye on the prize. Bill Cosby? Just a distraction. Let him defend Phylicia Rashad’s Free Speech rights to defend Cosby.
Right now, the fight of the ’60s has been renewed. The threats to our democracy are that real.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025

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Activism
OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same. It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.

By Albert L. Brooks MD
Special to The Post
Presidential administrations significantly impact the health and wellbeing of our patients and communities.
Through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the agencies within it, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health, this new administration will decide how financial resources are allocated, dictate the focus of federal research, and determine how our public health care insurance systems are managed, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Vaccines for Children program, Medicare, and Medicaid.
The decisions made over the next four years will impact all Americans but will be felt more acutely by those most underserved and vulnerable.
As physicians, we are greatly concerned by the nominations announced by President Trump to critical healthcare related positions. Many of their previous statements and positions are rooted in misinformation.
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same.
It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.
Vaccines, in particular, have been a target of disinformation by some HHS nominees. In fact, research continues to confirm that vaccines are safe and effective. Vaccines go through multiple rounds of clinical trials prior to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for administration to the public.
Vaccines protect against life-threateningdiseasessuch as measles, polio, tetanus, and meningococcal disease and, when used effectively, have beenshowntoeliminateorsubstantiallyreducediseaseprevalenceand/orseverity.
Because of vaccine mis- and disinformation, there has been a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, endangering those who are too young or unable to be vaccinated.
Several nominees have spread disinformation alleging that fluoride in public drinking water is harmful. In fact, fluoride in drinking water at the recommended level of 0.7 parts per million, like we have in our EBMUD water, is safe and keeps teeth strong. Because of public health interventions dating back to the 1960s that have resulted in 72.3% of the U.S. population now having access to fluoridated water, there has been a reduction in cavities by about 25% in both children and adults.
We also encourage the next administration to invest in our public health infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of public health agencies in preventing and responding to health crises in our communities.
Health departments at the state and local levels rely on federal funding support and technical assistance to develop public health response plans, implement public health strategies, and work with on the ground organizations to serve hard to reach communities. Public health agencies are critical for protecting everyone in our communities, regardless of income-level, insurance status, or housing status.
Health officials should also work to protect the significant improvements in insurance coverage that have occurred since the passage of theACAin 2010.According to HHS, the numberofuninsuredAmericansfellfrom48millionin2010to25.6millionin2023.
California has led the way by investing in Medi-Cal and expanding eligibility for enrollment. In fact, it reached its lowest uninsured rate ever in 2022 at 6.2%. Voters affirmed this commitment to expanding and protecting access to care in November by passing Proposition 35, which significantly expanded funding for California’s Medi-Cal program. The administration should advance policies that strengthen the ACA, Medicaid, and Medicare and improve access to affordable health care.
Regardless of the president in power, physicians will always put the best interests of our patients and communities at the forefront. We will continue to be a resource to our patients, providing evidence-based and scientifically proven information and striving to better their lives and our community’s health. We urge the new Trump administration to do the same.
Albert L. Brooks MD is the immediate past president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association, which represents 6,000 East Bay physicians.
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Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025
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