Unrest in America

If things aren't bad enough, now this:

• Understanding unrest in America

Can things get any worse? Actually, yes. Trump could get involve.

• Trump Threatens Protesters

The current spread of riots is being compared to the riots following Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968. That year Nixon won the presidency much on a law and order theme. Will Trump's reaction help him keep the White House?

HoCo Easing Some Restrictions

In case you missed it, Calvin Ball has announced the easing of some restrictions. Here is a quick summary:

Beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, May 29th:

• Retailers in Howard County may open at 50% of maximum occupancy.  Retailers are still encouraged to use curbside pick-up whenever possible.  

• Barbers and hair salons may open at 50% of maximum occupancy including staff. Businesses must continue to operate by appointment only.  Staff and clients must wear masks.  

• Religious institutions may hold outdoor services of up to 250 people, as long as all participants can maintain appropriate physical distancing of 6 feet.  Indoor services are still limited to a maximum of 10 people.   

Please note that individual organizations may still decide to keep their current restrictions in place.

Joe and Stephen

I promised myself that I would not listen to Joe Biden talk because it would be too painful, but I could not resist his interview with Stephen Colbert last night. Yes, there were times that he struggled with the words, but he hit it out of the park. The interview was so powerful that it may put to rest the suspicion that Joe is getting senile.

• Trump Put The Country In A Terrible Spot By Failing To Act - EXTENDED INTERVIEW

There seems to be special connection between Joe and Stephen that allows Joe to express himself. It may have started 4 years ago when Stephen interviewed Joe about a Presidential run in 2016. Joe opened to Stephen about the loss of his son, Beau.

• Joe Biden 2015 Interview, Part 1, Part 2

Four of a Kind

Trump's firings of the IGs should have remained in the headlines, but Trump always finds a way to distract the news away from his scandals.

• Trump Takes Hydroxychloroquine

So we have a president that is unfit for office, but we have a flawed challenger in Joe Biden. Joe's stuttering problem is coming back and it is hard for us to tell if his age is affecting his mental abilities.

This morning, the death of Annie Glen got the attention of the news away from Trump, at least for a moment. She also had a stuttering problem which was made famous in the 1983 movie, The Right Stuff.

• Remembering the Life and Legacy of Annie Glenn

As her obituary revealed, Annie had much accomplishments apart from her famous husband. Her life story can allow us not to be overly concern about Joe's handicap.

Joe Biden is at his best when he talks about how he came back from personal tragedies. He addressed his stuttering problem in this video we showed in one of our meeting three months ago.

• Biden shares vulnerable story on how he overcame stuttering

Biden refers to the movie, The King's Speech, where King George VI learns to overcome his stuttering to rally the UK at there start of WWII.

If elected, Joe will have to undo the damage of both Trump and COVID-19. He will be facing a bigger problem than when Obama took office at the start of the Great Recession. Can a president with a speech handicap do the job?

I am reminded of a fourth stutterer from I Claudius, an old TV mini-series about the early emperors of Rome. Claudius, a member of the royal family, was assumed to be an idiot because of his speech problems. Yet, he was drafted to replace the hated overthrown Emperor Caligula because there was no one else. But Claudius turned out to be a good emperor because of his handicap, not in spite of it.

I have my doubts about Joe, but he is our only alternative to our Caligula, Donald Trump. I have decided to stop listening to Joe for signs of senility. I am going to follow what he writes, not what he says.

For starters here is his NY Times op-ed on the pandemic:

• Joe Biden: My Plan to Safely Reopen America

It is five weeks old and is still relevant.

Watchdogs to Lapdogs

Trump must have been mad at COVID-19 for getting all the attention. So he fired another IG; problem solved.

• Jake Tapper: This is the danger of Trump's war on accountability

And yet, do we need IGs to tell us how incompetent and corrupt the Trump administration is? Whistleblowers can go directly to the media. Last Sunday Dr. Rick Bright was interviewed on 60 Minutes.

• Whistleblower Rick Bright: The 60 Minutes interview

So do you think that Dr. Bright's revelations will make any difference?

Howard County on Limited Reopening

In spite of Howard County not meeting reopening criteria, as explained in Calvin Ball's announcement on the 13th, Ball partially reopened Howard County anyway. His announcement came after my last blog post. The partial reopening, explained HERE.

I do not understand why we are partially reopening if we have not met the criteria for reopening. It might have been difficult to keep Howard County closed while Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Frederick Counties, all with more COVID cases than Howard County, had partial openings. Our county may have a relatively low COVID cases, but we are close to the hotspots, Prince Georges County, Montgomery County and Baltimore City, which remained closed.

Are We Reopening? No

Yesterday, Governor Larry Hogan announced that Maryland will start easing COVID restrictions starting  this Friday, May 15, at 5pm, but allowed each county some discretion. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said that our county has NOT met reopening criteria and have a ways yet to go.

Nearby counties, Prince Georges, Montgomery and Baltimore, were all hard hit by the virus and all three announced that they would not reopen yesterday. Anne Arundel County delayed their decision until just 1 hour ago. They will have a more limited opening that what the Governor allowed.

All this while Dr. Bright was testifying on Capitol Hill:

• Richard Bright: This could be the darkest winter in modern history

Did Larry Hogan do the right thing? How about Calvin Ball?

5/15/20 Correction: Baltimore County will have a limited reopening.

The China Distraction

Trump is trying to blame China for COVID-19. Here is a 60 Minutes video debunking this theory.

• How dishonest politics upended a coronavirus researcher's funding

Thirty-six months?

How long will the pandemic last? Laurie Garrett says that thirty-six months is the best case. See the video below. It should be cued to 24:41 where she explains why it will take at least 36 months. You can scroll back to see the rest of the video. It is long but worth it.

• Reporter Laurie Garrett Warns Pandemic May Last 36+ Months

So what does Laurie Garrett know? Here is a TED Talk she did back in 2007.

• What can we learn from the 1918 flu?

How Is He Doing?

Did you see our Governor, Larry Hogan, on CNN's State of the Union this morning?

• Governor Hogan Discusses COVID-19 Response and Reentry

Note that this video came from Larry Hogan's YouTube channel.

So is it Hogan in 2024?