March, 2020 archive
Crisis Response, Florida Man Style 0
Brendan Kuty is–er–somewhat taken aback at the doings in the Florida Man state.
Crisis Response 0
At The American Scholar, Philip Alcabes argues that the coronavirus presents us with a crisis, but not as it is being portrayed. He suggests that actual crisis is manifest in three ways. Here’s one; follow the link for the other two.
Second, we face a crisis of leadership. The playbook for a public health approach to contagion is clear and well known, and it has been practiced often: test widely for infection, trace contacts of the infected to locate further cases, isolate cases so they don’t infect others, refer the sick for treatment. But that has not happened yet in the United States. It should have, but it didn’t.
(snip)
Why this kind of stewardship didn’t happen is hard to know. Perhaps there’s no hope for such stewardship in an administration that has not so much created a vacuum of leadership as actively attacked it. For instance, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has often tried to take on the role of communicator, only to be undermined by the president. We are left with the present siege situation.
Epidemiology, Opening the Door Dept. 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Herb Janick, makes the case that the Republican Party paved the way for the coronavirus through its failure to consider and protect the common good. He gives three examples of how it did so; follow the link for his discussion of each one:
First, rather than recognize that the federal government has a critical role, the Republican Party has spent years denigrating and demonizing the government and its important role in society.
Second, the Republican Party has sought to diminish the role of experts and science and replace them with ideology.
Third, the Republican Party has supported a president who manifestly is not fit to lead.
Fly the Fiendly Skies . . . 0
. . . unless you have allergies.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness goes viral.
The story goes on to report that he didn’t think the shotgun was loaded.
Senatorial Privilege 0
At Above the Law, Joe Patrice comments on what he calls the “COVID Four,” the four (so far) Senators who have been revealed to have sold shares of stocks coincident with receiving secret briefings about the coronavirus. A nugget (emphasis added):
The Trumpling Goes Viral 0
This is your–our–country on Trump.
(snip)
But as a bus rolled past, the man again yelled out, this time screaming at the driver to “run them all over,” Zhu said.
He turned to her and she knew it was coming.
“Please don’t,” she said.
“Right after I said that, he spit on me,” Zhu said. “I didn’t really know what to do.”
The story goes on to describe a web site being created to track such hate-full incidents.
Words fail me.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another responsible gun owner discharges his–er–responsibility.
