One For The Books

Memorial Day, 2020.

If you are like us, you have spent a bit more (or a lot more) time on social media since early March. You've sampled, and maybe contributed to, the discourse and sometimes the discord. People are (insert your invective here), government is (insert totalitarian slur of choice here) and things will never be the same because we are (be the futurist here). Fair enough. We've had our share of pity parties, too.


We've also had our share of triumphs. As spring has taken hold, we've set up chairs on the front lawn along our property line, poured ourselves a little restorative and, maintaining the appropriate social distance visited with our great neighbors next door. The sessions go on so long we've begun ordering appetizers. Others from our little burb walk by, enjoying the fresh air. We've met people who've lived half a block away for years, simply by being on the front lawn, not the enclosed back porch.

We've read great books, taken the dogs for walks. We've determined that, in fact, we actually have married our best friend. We've cooked some great recipes, thrown together some imaginative "Q-rats" and ordered out using a door-delivery bulls eye (it's as effective AF) designed by our daughter, who owns a crafting business. We've engaged in the great debate of the year, maybe of the 21st Century - was all of this necessary, or proper? And, we're watching Americans demonstrating the usual tenacity, imagination and grit. Amid the great cacophony of competing voices and interests, we're reemerging as the nation we've always been - three hundred million opinionated, clamorous, divergent, freedom-loving people trying to make all of this work.

It was bought and paid for by American men and women who are buried in cemeteries all over the world. They are in lavish, tenderly cared-for fields. In unmarked, hastily-dug graves. They were wrapped in canvas, tendered to the depths thousands of miles out to sea. They departed in boats, ships, airplanes - and were never seen again. They fought, and they died knowing they had been deprived of their own future, so that we could have ours.

My father didn't talk much about his experience as a Marine. Oh, he was proud as hell of his service. He told wonderful stories of peripheral times - the laughter, the camaraderie. It's just that, at the end, he would remember that the guys with whom he'd shared drinks, brawls and bawdy times had been killed on this remote Pacific island, or that...

I was a Lieutenant (jg) in the US Naval Reserve when talk turned to Iwo Jima. The assault waves were bottled up on the beaches, men lying in heaps in the black, volcanic sands, trying to find cover from machine gun fire raking the landing areas. "You'd hear this boom from the direction of Suribachi," my dad said, referring to the extinct volcanic peak that was a fortress of artillery pieces. "There'd be an explosion and a bunch of kids would get killed." I asked how long that went on. "All day." He was eighteen years old on that day in February, 1945.

Those kids, and hundreds of thousands like them, are why we are free to determine how we emerge in 2020. It certainly isn't pretty, and we all have different opinions about what we're doing, and why we're doing it. We don't all agree, and may never agree. We've seen loss, and death, and misery.

We've also seen heroism in the most unlikely of places, from the most unlikely of people. Our president says optimistically that what we had built - what we saw devastated in an effort to save lives - we can build again. This is the United States.

We are a free people. Because of the "kids" who fought and died all over the world. Remember them on Memorial Day.         

The Tail Still Wags

In the ongoing COVID-19 battle, one thing has surfaced. Everyone has an opinion, most opinion-writers have no idea what "Stay in your lane" means and I'm damn glad to be sitting on my back porch, drinking coffee and trying to keep my dog from barking at the terriers behind us. 

While I'm thinking about it... The dog is no longer in the fight, but the tail still wags. One of the many opinion pieces cast upon the shoal waters of the internet was one by a (possibly soon to be ex) cop presuming to tell other cops how do their jobs. It's been taken down, put back up, taken down... 

In the world of ideas as it presents, the best way to get noticed is to be taken down by YouTube, or get grayed out by Facebook. Since there is little chance of this regarding Bikecopblog, I write to a more select audience. For you, not what you should do, but what you might think about: 

Had I not retired (It's fabulous, by the way. Thanks for asking.) what would I be telling other cops about the realities of COVID-19 and how we should comport ourselves.

1. Be safe. Goes without saying. I said it, anyway.

2. The people you trusted in January 2020 are the people to trust now. If there is one thing a veteran cop knows, that some of the newer folks are learning, it is the value of an opinion one can trust. The sergeant you could always talk to, the lieutenant who still remembered what it was like to work the street. The old salt who doesn't talk a lot, but was worth listening to whenever he/she had something to say. If you are worried about doing the right thing, keep the lines of communication open. Ask, listen, think. The resources you accessed pre-'rona are still valid.

3. Whoa, Turbo. Not every minor violation of a law, regulation or sign is a call to arms. Slow down and ask yourself - "What is my exit strategy?" Citizens didn't much care to be lectured when I was working patrol. I'll bet it's even worse, now. How far are you willing to go to enforce a health department pronouncement against two people standing five feet from each other? It wouldn't be a bad idea to know that before you get out of the car, rather than after the yelling has commenced and someone has given you "The Deuce."

4. Are you sure? Several Brighton cops had to apologize after they misunderstood a sign. Do you know what you're talking about?

5. Empathy. This long-term shelter-in-place is a new experience for everyone. I was in high school the last time this many people died of "the flu" or anything like it. This is the first time a wholesale shutdown (as opposed to the targeted quarantines my folks talked about) has been attempted in our collective memories. People are reacting emotionally  - they are angry, afraid, puzzled, confused. Just like you.

6. Finally, social media is like gin. It's fun for a while, but the hangover sucks. All except Bikecopblog.

You're in our prayers. When this is over, I owe you a marg on my back porch.

Principle? Who You Lookin' At?

I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. US Senator Everitt Dirksen

It's amazing, what a pandemic will spawn. The student of law and government in me has been stunned at how flexible so many people's principles have become in this time of dread. Aside from the surprising cascade of epidemiologists, virologists and public health experts lurking among the celebrity memes, pictures of pets and beach vistas on the internet, there are any number of legal scholars who are sure - SURE - that the state and local edicts resulting in, inter alia: handcuffed moms on playgrounds, paddleboarders arrested on maritime law violations and the "Essential AF" syndrome, are unconstitutional. Clearly, so much so that some cop sitting in his patrol car wearing tactical body armor, hat turned backward, assures his fellow cops that following the directives of their chain of command doesn't matter - what they are doing is illegal. I was having a spirited conversation on Facebook with a couple of friends - a discussion of some of these very issues requiring, on my part, a restorative to grease the wheels - when someone I do not know posted:

"Okay, folks, let's break out the law degrees." He named his school (a mostly on-line operation specializing in scholarship short of juris doctor) and proceeded to provide a seminar on his version of US law. I offered a condensed version of my CV (on telling the story to my wife she uttered "That's a hell of a place to be coming from"). He deleted his comment shortly thereafter.

So, let's talk.

When we talk about state police powers, we're not talking about someone wearing a Smokey Bear (or, Smokey the Bear... We operate an inclusive publication here) hat, aviator sunglasses and showing you how fast you were going on their radar. When the Constitution was ratified, the powers given to the Federal government were limited, the States reserving the rest. One of the reserved powers is called the "Police Power" - the ability to write laws within a state regulating the activities of the citizens of that state.

So far, so good?

It's why the FBI doesn't come to your house when some asshole breaks into your Camry and steals the bottle of rum you were hiding from your wife. But - and this is where shit gets real - The States (and their political subdivisions, usually described as "City Hall" or "That Idiot Mayor") also reserved the right to boss you around almost any time they want. This is especially true when something truly scary, like tornadoes, floods, snowstorms and pandemics occur. When the governor of some state, standing in three feet of The Gulf running down what was once Main Street, is breathlessly declaring an emergency, it isn't because he/she is summoning FEMA like Moses at the Red Sea. It's because then, he/she can tell you to take you dumb ass the hell off the streets. If you don't, the nice officer will help you. Or, the National Guard will run you over with a Humvee.

There is a court case out there where Chief Justice Melvin Fuller and the Supremes (circa 1905) talk about all of this as it relates to diseases. Lest you think that's so...1905, HA! A court as recently as April cited it as controlling and talked about the Jacobson "Framework" which, we all know, means that this is the settled rule, since there is a cute and official-sounding name for it. Plus, they also said it is a settled rule. And then, the 5th Circuit wrote:

That settled rule allows the state to restrict, for example, one’s right to peaceably assemble, to publicly worship, to travel, and even to leave one’s home.

Now, at least someone out there is saying "That's bullshit!" And, in normal times, you might be right and the tacked-up cop with his hat on backwards certainly is on your side. There is one very technical problem here.

When there is a Supreme Court case that says stuff like that... I axe ya. If some dude with his hat turned backward tells you to ignore your chain of command because you swore an oath to the Constitution, isn't it probably better to know what the Constitution actually says about it? 

We certainly can argue at the margins that States, localities or districts are exceeding the limits of reasonableness that one would apply to even the Jacobson Framework. In fact, I've done a bit of that myself. One can also discuss police discretion, how non-emergent things have to get before it's not an emergency any more, and not doing stupid shit just because someone calls you a Nazi. Also, plaintiff's attorneys are going to be paying cash for trips to The Maldives on the fees they get suing states for forgetting that the reserved police powers aren't a blank check to be a dick. 

I mean, someone ought to write a book.

 

Morally Adrift

"Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'" Mary McCarthy

After the improbable election of Donald Trump to the presidency, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn was named National Security Advisor. He was eminently qualified, having served as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Obama.

In January 2017, prior to President-elect Trump being sworn in, Gen. Flynn received a phone call, while on vacation, from the Russian ambassador concerning an action taken by the Obama Administration. That phone call was intercepted by US intelligence assets, and a recording made.

After the Inauguration, FBI Director James Comey authorized two agents to go to the White House to interview NSA Flynn about the phone call. In public comments made later, Comey boasted that he wanted to catch the new administration unaware, before it had a chance to "organize." During the interview an FBI agent took notes, and later prepared an FBI form called a "302." The agents reported that they believed NSA Flynn was being truthful with them.

The FBI later accused NSA Flynn of making material misstatements to them during the interview. Flynn was fired from his position as NSA and subsequently charged with multiple felonies. He plead guilty to one felony, and was awaiting sentencing when - having hired a new and more aggressive attorney - shit got real.

In the last week, based on an internal probe by the Justice Department, the following has been disclosed:

The entire investigation, indictment and prosecution of NSA Flynn was based on lies perpetrated by senior members of the FBI.

These lies included falsification of documents (the original 302 hidden, and a fraudulent one released in its place), withholding potentially exculpatory evidence from Flynn's defense team (including the transcript of the original phone conversation), hiding documents that outline the plot to frame NSA Flynn (hand-written notes by participants and their supervisors). You don't have to believe me - copies of the documents are available on line. Read them for yourself. The FBI concocted a case, and the DOJ exacted a guilty plea and recommended prison for, an innocent man.

Why did he plead guilty? In exchange for a DOJ promise not to also prosecute his son, a promise that the DOJ did not report to the court, despite legal requirements to do so.

The May 7th motion to dismiss this case made by the DOJ should make me extremely happy. Nothing - I do mean nothing - angers me more than a government official knowingly prosecuting an innocent person. It offends every notion of honor in a profession in which I gave thirty five years of service. 

I am extremely happy for General Flynn and his family. It remains to be seen what efforts the government makes to atone for the shameful actions of a few. As someone who has advocated for this outcome from almost the beginning, I should be celebrating that, for once, I was right.

I am not celebrating. I'm ashamed, and I'm worried.

Over the years I had the honor of working with FBI agents in a variety of investigations. Early in my detective career an FBI agent taught me how to construct a blue collar investigation. A close friend's son is an agent. One of my daughter's closest friends is an FBI analyst. A man who I worked with as a police officer retired from the FBI, having served on the security detail of three Attorneys General. These are good people.

The FBI works every day to protect our country from harm wished upon it by evil people. They investigate armed robbers, cartel members, murderers, human traffickers. They were able to identify the perpetrators of the Oklahoma City Bombing quickly enough to charge it's main participant while he was in custody of local law enforcement for a weapons charge.

The FBI has significant worldwide reach fighting international crime and terrorism. Thousands of plots against US citizens have been uncovered and prevented since the 9/11 attacks (which two agents had discovered - too late to intervene). Anything that weakens the FBI, that makes it harder for the agents, analysts and staff members to function in their law enforcement endangers Americans.

By all means, there needs to be a reckoning. The FBI has never been perfect, and has made many high-profile mistakes. This is one of them.

The release from legal jeopardy of an innocent man is cause for celebration. Every American should applaud the outcome and wish General Flynn and his family well. It is my hope he can return to public life and contribute in the areas in which his talents have been obvious for his entire career.

Celebrating the demise of an honorable institution upon which we rely so heavily for our safety and security? No. In fact, it is time to support the rank and file, many of whom put their lives on the line every day and tell them that rebuilding the trust in their organization isn't only a they thing.

It's an us thing. 

Too-Social Media

Governments have a tendency not to solve problems, only to rearrange them. 

Ronald Reagan

My wife and I have spent the better part of our adult lives engaged in service of local government. She, in particular, dealt closely with municipal officials of one stripe or another for several decades. Both of us worked on local election campaigns. While there is much we don't know, there are some things we know all too well.

Mug of coffee in hand, most of the morning news digested, I set about to see if there was anything on social media worth exploring. My wife signed me up for the "Album Cover" challenge (today - Tapestry), I think I'm caught up on pictures of the grandkids and the Global Cycling Network workout wouldn't start until ten thirty. So far, so good.

I happened across a live feed of a virtual Ft. Myers Beach city council meeting. Why I enabled the speaker to listen in, I'll never know. One of the talking heads - I'm going to assume the City Clerk - was reading an email from a constituent, a restaurant owner. The writer was explaining that they derive little enough from their establishment as it is, but what with the shutdown and all...

The email's author went on to wonder out loud what the benefit was for the shelter-in-place, close the beaches and breathe through a bandana orders? He wondered why he/she was being pushed to (over?) the brink of bankruptcy when things didn't appear as dire as they'd once been represented. He/she went on... Well, they did go on. Finally, in what had all of the appearances of a remake of Hollywood Squares, a guy in the lower left square, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Charley Weaver, signaled for a time out - literally forming his hands into a T. Or, he was calling a technical - I suppose that is open to interpretation.

At that moment, a well dress, impeccably groomed older gent with a pure white goatee evidenced assent and called a halt to the reading. I assume this is the mayor. They'd all gotten this email, and read it themselves, right? They all got the gist of it, right? Moving along...

Some hours later, this august and important deliberative body issued their latest missive on battling the 'Rona. People could return to the beach between 7AM and 10AM. They must be residents of Ft. Myers Beach, and carry proof thereof. They must enter and exit the beach area via the public ingress/egress points. No beach parking was available. No tarrying, no congregating, tread no higher than the high water mark. Etc.

It is axiomatic, to the point of near unanimity among scholars, that Americans voluntarily follow the law because that makes sense to the stunning majority of them. This can be further broken up into a subset of notions, all of which are subject to some discussion and dissent. For example, someone who believes a law idiotic and arbitrary may nevertheless obey it because the penalty for obedience is small. Others - there's a video of a man testifying before a city council who says "I'm a law-abiding citizen" with an authority that caused most of America to take notice.

Here, we come to a conundrum. If the beach is safe for individuals residing within the city limits of Ft. Myers Beach, why is it not safe for others? Have the residents on Estero Island acquired some form of immunity? Are they uniquely qualified to judge social distance? What is magic about the permitted timeframe - is COVID-19 asleep? Can the locals view the beach, instantly assess the numbers present per square meter and resign themselves to heading home? Do they buy their grits from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?

Sorry.

Most - one would hope all - of the Q-rules that brought a stunning number of businesses to their knees and threatened otherwise solid citizens with arrest are based on known threats and unknown, but potentially substantial outcomes. Clogged ERs, overflowing ICUs, bodies stacked like cordwood; all reasonably foreseeable outcomes based on what was known seven weeks ago. Flattening the curve seemed prudent, even imperative. Most people recognized the need for drastic action.

That was then. The balance of information has shifted, the curve well and truly flattened and now... The legal justification - a dire emergency requiring sweeping governmental powers - has passed, to be replaced with vigilance involving enhanced PPE, a greater role of cleanliness and continued social distancing strategies. 

That's not the present justification used by government, who have shifted their focus to present (and less deadly) vulnerabilities. Now we hear about target rates. Contact-mapping. Herd mentalities...er, immunity. Insufficient bureaucratic structure. These governmental agencies have supplanted the urgency of life and death exigencies with an array of arbitrary rules and restrictions carrying the weight of law totally unteathered to objective data or solid medical evidence. Because five elected officials in a city raised their hands, their citizens (only) may tread the sands of their community three hours a day, in a manner prescribed by law, without bothering to justify the laws they enacted as objectively necessary, or even suggest they are authorized by the statutes and caselaw pertaining to emergencies.

The interesting thing, from a governmental standpoint, is that there is no one, even their own citizens, who can tell them no.

The Permissions

The Saudi Colonel, who looked like a cross between Omar Sharif and Mr. Potato Head, had a group of soldiers line up and level their rifles at us. "YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PERMISSIONS! HOW CAN YOU BE COMING HERE WITHOUT THE PERMISSIONS WHEN I AM THE PERSON MAKING THE PERMISSIONS FOR YOU TO COME HERE!? YOU MUST GO BACK TO DHAHRAN  AND GET THE PERMISSIONS FROM ME THERE TO COME HERE AND GIVE ME PERMISSIONS!!!" shouted the Colonel.

In vain it was explained to the colonel that this was an official British military convoy, the British were Saudi allies [and] this was Kuwait, not Saudi Arabia.

In the end it turned out what the Saudi colonel wanted was a sufficiently abject and humiliating apology from the British officers for, I guess, failing to fill out, in triplicate, the Request for Permission to Help Keep the King of Saudi Arabia from Getting the Holy Kaaba Stuffed up his Butt by Saddam Hussein Form or something.

PJ O'Rourke, Give War a Chance, 1992.

"You may not have done what you were asked, but you will do what you are told."

Cool Runnings

Who hasn't had an occasional opportunity to happen upon a person who, invested with some petty authority, will not let you accomplish a simple, innocuous task without getting "the permissions?" It doesn't have to be the usual suspect - DMV - it can be almost anyone who has something you want, and holds it hostage until you've admitted that only they can say yes.

Life is currently sort of like a scene in the movie Twister, where the storm has passed and everyone who made it through tentatively open cellar doors, push aside debris and marvel at their good fortune. There is clean up to be done, there are the injured to care for, the departed to mourn. But, the sun's out and we all made it.

Governor Jared Polis, at the helm in Colorado, has done well. His pressers are designed to keep his citizens in the loop, let us know why the rules are the rules and give us hope that he will trust us to be adults about the transition back to "normal." He recently announced a lifting of the "Shelter at Home" edict in favor of "Don't be a Moron" guidelines allowing some relaxation of the rules causing our favorite Mexican restaurant to have to leave the margaritas on our porch and run.

Halla-frickin'-lewya. It isn't that the virus is gone. One can still get very sick and die, especially if you are over 60 (me) and have some other malady (also me). The coast isn't entirely clear, but with rational behavior and reasonable precautions the risks are manageable.

But, wait!! Jefferson County, Boulder County and others have issued a "Not So Fast" order. Hear, again, Governor Polis:

“What Denver has done, in a very thoughtful way, is they said ‘we need a little more time to operationalize, to figure out how we’re going to enforce these health requirements,’” Polis said. “It’s completely understandable that somebody is saying, ‘Look, May 1 we’re not ready to have the inspections of the retail to make sure they are safer and all of these things. We need another week.’”

Jefferson County, where I live, jumped on the bandwagon the very next day. It isn't that the emergency is still with us. The proper bureaucracy isn't yet in place.

You have read on these pages (What to Believe) that we were, and are, on board with the measures taken at the outset. We did what we were told, in our interest and in the interest of those around us. We'll keep to the Code as it relates to safety precautions. Okay, maybe we fudged a little so we could see the grandkids. But, for the most part, we'll continue to do our part. We even have some awesome masks for when we venture out.

But... Until there are enough inspectors to give us the permissions so that we can go into a store and give them the permissions to shop, we're stuck? It's still illegal for us to drive up north to see our grandkids?

Not a fan, Jared, buddy. At all.

What to Believe

Ten Bears (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman): [in Lakota; subtitled] It's easy to become confused by these questions. Before we take action we need to talk about this some more at another time. That is all I have to say. This council is dismissed. Dances with Wolves (1990).

We left for a cruise vacation on February 20th. When we arrived back in port on March 1st, the world had changed.

Most of us are not scientists or trained medical experts. One of my friends ticked off the prerequisites necessary to have an opinion about the Corona virus (or, COVID-19, or any of the other labels attached), mostly classes in microbiology, epidemiology or medicine. Me - I've taken a ton of law classes, so I guess that leaves me out.

Or, does it? Isn't it part of being a grown up, of seeing something happening to your neighborhood, your state, your country and trying to be informed? So...

I'm a fan of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's notion that one begins an inquiry by asking: What are the known-knowns, the known-unknowns and the unknown-unknowns? It comes from a substantially technical decision-making model, which I looked up and decided to ignore. This is easier for me to understand.

So, what did we know we knew?

The first known cluster of cases in the US was in a nursing home in Washington State. The facility wasn't really ready for something like this, and it blew through like a freight train. Some early news reports (circa March 8) had 70% of the staff infected. They really didn't have the appropriate gear, or training, and people who got it went downhill fast. The demographic of a care facility seemed to speak for who the disease's most vulnerable victims would be - 80s and 90s, with something else wrong with them. But, holy crap it seemed to get out of control quickly.

Then, Italy happened. One day, it was business as usual. The next, there weren't enough ventilators or hospital bed space, people were being triaged like it was a battle zone (if you were over 60, you were basically on your own) and ten percent of the folks who tested positive died. The numbers were scary for how contagious and how dangerous it seemed to be.

About this time, a cruise ship called Diamond Princess came onto the radar. It had been at sea for a while, made port calls on the "Pacific Rim" and looked like a great place to run some numbers. People were relieved that "only" twenty-something percent of the folks tested positive - meaning they were actively infectious (the final number was about 19%). Except, not all of them were sick. Whuuuuut? Only about 1.5% of those who tested positive died, and most of them were fairly old. Wait...only?

Let's see. The CDC says that between three and twenty percent of people in the US get the flu-flu each season. That's crazy, right? Don't they know?

Of course not. How many of you loyal readers got sick, stayed home, felt horrible and then got over it without going to the doctor? So, the stats are elastic. But, we have the numbers from the cruise ship, they seem reasonably related to a higher-end flu season, so let's play with them.

There are (officially) about 330 million of us living in the US. So, applying the modest numbers available from the Princess cruise ship (mumble, mumble, mumble) - holy fuck! A million people are going to die. A million people!?

Running the Italy numbers - no, I don't think I will.

So, sick people should stay home, or go to the hospital, right? That way, we can slow down the spread of... But some people, especially kids, can be asymptomatic - a fancy way of saying they look fine, they feel fine and they are little roving germ-sickles. In fact (as my daughter, who works in the international health field, suggests) 25% of people who are contagious as hell don't even know it. That doesn't count (I know, right? Common sense?) those of us with seasonal allergies saying to each other "You don't think...?" with the answer being maybe yes.

But, come on. This is America. We'll do all that doctor shit, and everything will be fine. We'll do like...World War Two. Boeing will build ventilators. Isn't that what everyone is saying? Build us some ventilators, most riki tik!

Sure. To quote the irrepressible Mark Steyn, seven out of ten ventilator patients get "carried out by the handles." That number doesn't have to be precise to be spooky as hell.

But, we have more experience with this, right? Doesn't the CDC (or, somebody) gin up a vaccine (that half of us don't take, anyway) every year? Well, what are you waiting for? Treatment - yeah, that's the ticket. Didn't President Trump say something about...well, I can't pronounce it. Doesn't that work? Let's all take that!

Where does a person turn for advice? Medical people can't agree on anything, it seems. One doctor says we're all fucked, another says "It's like chicken pox. The sooner we all get it, the sooner it will go away. This 'flatten the curve' nonsense is just delaying the inevitable." A dude who is a constitutional scholar (which should be the first clue he's clueless) said "Five hundred deaths. Six, tops," about fifty thousand deaths ago - then had the balls to write a second column explaining why his numbers were wrong, but...not his fault. 

Whew. An anesthesiologist (colloquially called a gas-passer) says it's all good, we can come out, now...but, if you actually read his essay he cherry-picks the hell out of the known data. A "former" epidemiology professor (ask my PhD wife her opinion of pure academics) says "Point zero-one percent death rate, I feel." You feel? Another guy from Stanford, who sounds like he knows what he's talking about, says antibody tests suggest maybe 50 people have been exposed and have antibodies for every 1 who has tested positive. That's great news, right? Except - "The debate is raging about whether that means a person is immune if they are positive for antibodies."

Then there is the guy who is a suspense novelist who has made all of the interview shows criticizing the CDC for being wrong about the numbers. Hey... I'm a suspense novelist! How many of you would want my opinion. And I have a doctoral degree.

Okay, it's in law.

What are Pat and I doing? Minimizing our time in the social media swamp. Wearing masks, following the rules, keeping our distance. Spending money we really don't have supporting local businesses. Trying to apply common sense and some simple rules to a complex situation. Beginning with the premise of "Assume Positive Intent" when we look at our fallible government officials and holding them to the standard of reasonableness, not perfection and certainly not clairvoyance.

And, praying. That's right. This is the first one of these she and I have sat out after four decades of public service. But, our son is a police officer. Both of our daughters work in health care - one in a hospital. All of them have young children. We pray for their safety, and look forward to the day we can hug them again.

We pray for our friends, the ones not sitting this out. Cops, firefighters, doctors and nurses. We know what you are facing. It sucks. You are in our thoughts every waking moment.

When we go to the store, when we intercept the mailman, UPS, FedEx... "Thank you for being here, for keeping it all going."

And, we pray for humanity, both the verb and the noun. Maybe, just maybe, the lesson we learn is, like the passengers on Diamond Princess, we're stuck here on this beautiful planet, together. Maybe we should start acting like that matters.