Nature Abhors A Vacuum

Tonight across many networks the high school graduates of 2020 are being celebrated by members of the entertainment industry culminating in a speech from former President Barack Obama.  First proposed on Twitter a few weeks ago this came together because of the work of Lebron James and many others.  The show spoke to the class who for the last few weeks had to give up what is likely the most fun of anyone's high school years.  The celebration gives hope to a group of students whose plans for their immediate future were blown away by Covid-19 and the uncertain nature it brings.  So entertainers and others came together to give a special moment to these students.  That is a remarkable thing.  But it should have never had to happen. 

I am not saying that it should have happened.  I am watching it and listening to the former President give great advice and a pep talk to kids who I know are struggling to fully grasp what is going on.  I am saying that if we had a real leader in this country this could have been organized by our leaders. 

Imagine if the current President has said to his team to create a program like this.  Imagine if this President had the empathy to see just how devastating the last few months has been for these kids and made an effort to sooth their fear and celebrate their accomplishments.  Imagine if we could trust this President not to make a speech like this about him, playing the victim, pointing a finger and lying to the youth of America. We can't because the leader of this country does not seem to care about the average American.  But even worse, his team doesn't seem to have the ability to fill in for him. 

His entire vision of America seems to be "what can you do for me" more than what he can do to make the country better.  Just the other day he said something to the effect that testing is bad because it helps us discover cases and we don't want our case numbers to go up.  Why?  Because it makes him look bad.  He has said as much. 

The lack of leadership in this country created a vacuum that had to be filled by a former President and a basketball star.  It is sick.  While I am glad the the former President is willing to put himself out there, besides what some in the GOP are telling him, and challenge the failure of the current administration.  I am more proud that he realized that the countries future is hurting and he offered to help them feel a little better.  We may look back at our own senior year and think how trivial our thoughts were, but in the moment everything was huge.  In the moment, everything was the most important thing that ever happened.  President Obama knows that, President Trump doesn't even care to find out.  

Tonight we were treated to a celebration and I am happy that it happened, but it reminded me the current President is a failure as a leader and a sympathetic human being.  That is depressing.  

  

Lebensunwertes Leben: The Call of the Right Wing

Life Unworthy of Life was a slogan used by the Nazi regime to identify those who them deemed not suited to live and use up resources in the new society they were building.  Far more sinister than even the Untermensch appellation which deemed some as subhuman, it did not even see those they classified ad Lebensunwertes Leben as useful as slaves to their war machine.  In what may be the most evil propaganda efforts in history, the German government convinced many people to kill or have killed loved ones who were mentally ill, had debilitating diseases or just were considered inferior.  There is even a film made of a great pianist who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis who commits suicide for the good of the state.  Later the killings became compulsory and as the country became more comfortable with death for the greater good of the country we see the Shoah (Holocaust) as the last step.  It started with the idea that some people need to be sacrificed in order for the state to survive and thrive.  

This bone-chilling idea took hold in the modern country of Germany in the middle of the 20th century because it made sense to many who felt they were betrayed by previous government actions after World War I and the notion that outside forces were driving Germany into a perpetual depression and using its systems to support people who were not adding to greatness of the nation.  Terms like useless eaters were used to describe large numbers of human beings.  Sometimes this notion even stretched to include people who were elderly and frail.  People who could no longer work or fight for the country.  Germany created a vision that made some people should not be saved, and in fact should be gotten rid of to allow the country to grow.  

That idea seems to have returned in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Not in Germany, not in a developing nation, but right here in the United States.  Several members of the political right have stated publicly either through their own media outlets or through social media that they think the elderly and by extension anyone with a condition that could be exacerbated by the virus should be willing to die to protect the economy.  Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas said that he and those in his age bracket would be willing to die to avoid passing on debt to their grandchildren.  I have heard others say such things.  I haven't seen the polling data but everyone I know over 65 is willing to stay at home and not risk death because.......they love their grandchildren and want to spend as much time with them as they can.  

Ben Shapiro, a person who voices a lot of the right wing talking points in smug podcasts and through fringe media said this:  "If somebody who is 81 dies of COVID-19, that is not the same thing as somebody who is 30 dying of COVID-19...If grandma dies in a nursing home at age 81, that's tragic and it's terrible, also the life expectancy in the United States is 80".  For Ben it appears that it fine for an 81 year old to die of this terrible and painful disease for a chance to go out to eat or get a haircut.  They say it is to keep the economy intact and I already pointed out the hypocrisy of this position while maintaining women shouldn't be allow to get abortions to protect their economic security.  But this hypocrisy goes even further.  When the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, had a provision for end of life therapy being covered the right wing noise machine and their noise makers in Congress called these death panels.  Ben was always on right wing shows saying it was an attempt to ration care for the elderly and the infirm and called it evil.  Now they say things like an 81 year old should be thankful for the years, one more than expected, and should just leave the stage. 

Then there is Jacob Wohl, a young man who is going to prison for securities fraud and who has paid people to lie about affairs with many people including Dr. Fauci was talking about the Corona virus death toll being about 1 percent.  "So what if we lose 400,000 people?  That 200,000 elderly and the other 200,000 are the bottom of society.  You have to clean out the barn. If it's real it is a good thing, for God's sake."  This is the spirit of Lebensunwertes Leben.  The Nazi idea that some must be killed for greater good of the nation.  He says it is a good thing that 400,000 people die.  

 If only they were the only voices, but more and more we hear it on radio, the internet and on at least one major television news station.  People are dying because of the incompetence of the President, and now voices are saying that is it a good thing that they are.  Covid-19 will kill people, lots of them.  Staying home and physical distancing will lower the number of deaths because we won't overwhelm the healthcare system.  We will buy time to find a real treatment and save lives.  We will eventually get to a time when it can be dealt with by treatment and/or vaccine.  But until then we shouldn't have to choose to kill people because someone can't get their hair colored or a massage or enough beef.  That is not just nonsense, it is a call we have heard before, it creates the idea that some human beings are not worthy to fight for them to live.  That is not a direction as a culture we should feel comfortable going.  That is not something we should give voice.  

 

Covid-19 May 1

So I watched 1984 last night in part thinking about dystopian societies can be really much worse that what we have today.  Watching Winston Smith's rewriting history in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth makes you think of the press office in our current White House and the President.  It seems like many times in the last week we have heard things from the podium and on TV shows that contradict things we have on film.  It is hard to not see the comparison.  Today the new Press Secretary who is so unqualified for this job in a real administration when asked if she would lie to the press, stated emphatically she wouldn't and less than two minutes later lied.  It was this kind of news this week that made me want to write something funny to get our minds off of the complete and utter cluster that is the Executive Branch of this government.  You know like describing your Zoom (Room) 101.   But then I saw this. 








These were taken at a anti-lockdown rally in Illinois.  They should not be confused with the fake posters circulating from a Pittsburgh rally earlier.  Every indication is that these are real.  IN fact I believe a news agency spoke with the woman with the Arbeit Macht Frei one who explained "I am not racist, I have Jewish friends".  So here we are.  One person using a slogan that was meant to taunt so many as they marched to their deaths at the hands of a tyrannical government and the other protester likening a Jewish Governor to Hitler.  Both of which are disgusting on many many levels. 

First, a rule of thumb.  Being asked to stay home, to slow the spread of a disease which is literally killing people at an alarming rate, does not equate with being dragged from your home, your property seized, your clothes, shoes and gold fillings in your teeth surrendered and then put into a gas chamber to be killed, or made to dig a ditch that would become your grave.  In fact the government is providing resources to help all who are struggling during this time. 

 Secondly, carrying Nazi symbols and slogans will not win most people to your cause.  Most Americans are in favor of the measures directed at keeping people safer from the virus and if you want to convince people to change their minds you might want to use for your model something that isn't so hated. 

Now, the point of the shutdowns was to slow the spread of the virus, in part, to not overwhelm the healthcare system.  This is a highly virulent, and for a percentage of those that get it, a disease that is highly destructive, requiring intensive care and a great deal of equipment that could not handle the numbers.  Staying at home, limiting contact between people and of course making large crowds forbidden has done its job in many places.  But we aren't over the hump in those places and every rally will make it less likely that we can loosen up the restrictions.  Many people who are going to these rallies say that the models were wrong and it is not that contagious.  But it was the very things they are arguing to end that made the numbers smaller in many places.  Think of it this way. 

Imagine you are living on street that for a long time was fairly quiet but started to get busier.  At the corner there are a series of near miss accidents and then a big one that kills a family.  A four-way stop is added.  It backs up traffic, it makes people have to leave earlier for work or be late.  It slows you down getting home.  It is a nuances.  It makes life more difficult and when there is extra traffic it is infuriating by reason.  But no more accident occur.  So people start to protest the stop signs.  Instead of asking for a round-about or a traffic light they want to be free to go back like it was.  They argue that there was only one deadly accident and they are adults and work it out on their own.  This is a good analogy to what these people are asking.  They aren't looking for a way to balance safety and freedom, they just seem angry that their vision of freedom is being curtailed.  Science, facts and danger to anyone and everyone is not relevant because they don't believe them.  That is the scary thing and the President of the United States appears to have their backs.

I think this pandemic sucks on many levels.  I go out rarely,  I can't get all the things I want, I have less money for fun things, my vacation is on hold.  There are days I am scared for myself and Dianne and for so many other people.   But the alternative to staying home, missing out on fun and even some things that we might have thought essential, is not nearly as bad as being a Jew in the 1930s and 40s in large parts of Europe.  That is just privileged ignorance at the highest level. Knock it off. 

April 26--Covid 19 It is getting ridiculous

This has been a crazy week with people protesting the stay-at-home orders so they can get haircuts and coloring and of course a President who had a thought experiment about drinking Lysol or bringing UV Light into the lungs.  (Just so you know neither would work even if possible but that is for another time).  There are governors trying to open their states up, some following careful recommendation, others like Brian Kemp of Georgia who can't seem to understand disease spread.   

But what is amazing is how many people defend and spread all kinds of nonsense and fight hard against reality.  Here are a few things I am hearing that really we need to stop.

1.  People who say they had Covid-19 last fall:  Not likely at all for many reasons.  While I don't trust the Chinese government to accurate information what we do know is that the first death recorded was December 10, 2019 at a hospital in Wuhan, China.  We know that because someone broke protocol and told the world and was punished for it.  If you think you had this disease which seems to have come from Wuhan in late November before then I would have to ask is the world is wrong.  Did it originate in your area?  Also where are the hospitalizations and deaths that would have been noticed?  This is a highly contagious disease and has about a 1-1.5% fatality rate.  While I assume that there were cases before the January 24th date in Washington state, I can't believe that we had people walking around all over the country before we had even heard of it from China.

2.  The Flu kills more people than Covid-19 and we don't isolate for that. There current numbers show that  yes,  Covid-19 has killed fewer people than the average year of flu.  But it has only been for 3 months and we have had massive social distancing to slow the spread.  By next week we will blow past the average of flu deaths.  This is more virulent than the flu, it kills more people who get it, it has no medicines to mitigate it, and no vaccine.  

3.  Only people who are near death already will die.  I have heard this from elected officials and from social media.  That some how being young, healthy and active you will be fine.  While most people who die from this virus are old or have complications that is not universal.  Anyone can die from this, anyone, and even if you recover, there are lasting issues that may make you more vulnerable to death in the future.  This goes along with the idea that elderly people are willing to die for the future of their children.  I know a lot of old people, they aren't looking to die of this horrible disease.  

4.  The cure is worse than the disease. This has become the mantra of many who want to re-open the states.  The idea being that the crashing economy and or continued stimulus money will in the long run kill more people than the virus.  The math here is that those that die are a necessary sacrifice to save the financial stability of the country.  This argument is difficult coming from so many who claim to be Pro-life.  One of the arguments against abortion is that a woman's life and economic well-being does not over-ride the life of the fetus.  Funny how those people are now saying people must die for their own well-being.  

5.  The death toll is elevated because all deaths now are considered Covid-19.  This is an amazing conspiracy theory because it suggests that doctors all over the country are violating the law by lying on death certificates.  Somehow this is supposed to be designed to make the President look bad.  One person even argued that no one had died of a heart attack since February.  (I know of someone who did so......)  When I asked for proof I was told to go look for it myself.  

These are but a few of the nonsense that keeps being spread, from government officials, social media posts and repeated in the right wing noise machine.  They are dangerous because they destroy trust in the very agencies that are giving us the information that we need.  They aren't perfect but they aren't part of some deep state attack on the President.  Surviving this will not be easy, our country will suffer, 

many people will suffer in personal ways and a lot of our lives will change.  But we can work together.  Listen to experts, read beyond headlines, investigate claims, and continue to talk to people you trust.  Stay safe and stay home, even if your governor can't seem to understand what you know.  

Sunday, April 19

And so it begins.  Protests sprung up all over the country since Friday, including one here in Indianapolis, attacking state governments and especially governors who have stay-at-home orders.  Many of the protesters seem driven by the Fox News screamers who are calling for the governments to drop these orders, and the President who last week said that he has the authority to override the states (he doesn't) and later said he is allowing states to make the decision.  Claiming he is allowing people to do something he doesn't have the authority over is simply insane.   But what is truly troubling is the number of people who have turned out for these protests who are so wildly misinformed and that that misinformation is being promoted on Fox and other right-wing noise machine outlets and of course the White House.  There is everything from the idea that this is some kind of plot to institute one-world government to it is caused or made worse by 5-G towers the cacophony of crazy conspiracies are coupled with White Supremacist ideology and pro-Trump campaigning.  It is a real toxic bouillabaisse. 

Seriously there were all kinds of things that made no sense, or more precisely made perfect sense in the era we are in.  Some protesters carried Swastika Flags with Trump 2020 on them.  I would comment but what could I actually say about this that doesn't already create scream at you from this.  To promote your candidate you attend a rally that is protesting what you think is an authoritarian over-reach of government, but use the short-hand symbol for governmental over-reach and tyranny linked to your guy.  I think that if you think too much about the level of stupid this is you fall through a wormhole. 

More impressive however were the marchers in Michigan, a state the borders Canada, carrying Confederate flags.  Again carrying a symbol of rebellion over the right to own other people, by law, while protesting laws that limit your activity.  Logic is just not taught well enough these days.

But there were two shining things that came out of these protests that can't be ignored for the sheer privilege and arrogance of many of the protesters.   The first was the number of them who were calling for bars, restaurants and hair salons to be open.  They are basically saying that what they want is the people who normally serve them to come back to work, against scientific advice, because they may have to cook their own meals and let their hair grown or return to its natural color.  I really heard few and saw few signs from people who were calling to go back to work, they were screaming for others to go back to work.  To serve them.  I have little idea how to respond to that beyond telling them to suck it up. 

The other message seemed to be signs that said things like "My Body, My Choice".  Ironic I know.  But setting that aside, their idea was that we should all be able to choose what chances we want to take and that they are willing to risk going out during the pandemic. They remind me of a story, several people escaped a sinking ship only to be strained on a life boat.  One guy, for not reason, started to drill a hole in the bottom of the boat in front of where he was sitting.  The others protested that the boat will flood and sink.  His reply was, "This is where I am sitting, the water will only come in here".   Several people who have challenged the idea that they should be able to take a chance and defied government suggestions and orders have died of Covid 19.  But how many people did they infect?  How many people did they put in danger because they were spreading the virus or using up much needed medical supplies?  The water runs everywhere not just where you are sitting.

These protests are ginned up by a segment of the far right of this country that has replaced science and reality with feelings and anger.  They attack anything that does fit their world view as bad.  They are selfish and arrogant and seem to find comfort in ignorance.  And they have a champion in the White House who has been one of them for his entire life. 

We will remember this time as a time when science stood firm against willful ignorance and down right arrogance.  We will remember this time when some people found a way to work around the necessary restrictions while others complained that someone might know they dye their hair.  (Trust me we know).  We will remember this time when local governmental officials stood against their own party to provide safety for their states while national politicians sat in their mansions and joined the protests through Skype.  The question is will we learn. 

The Crucible tells the story of how one town in colonial America lost its collective mind and killed 20 people for fear of witches, magic and the devil.  How many are we willing to sacrifice this time and will 200 years from now some school children read the play of our time and wonder, just how stupid were they in the 21st century.   

April 12

There is a scene in Mathew Lopez's The Whipping Man, where freed slaves, in the ruins of their former master's home, make a seder in April of 1865.  The slaves, converted to Judaism by the family, used hardtack for Matza and a horse bone for the shank.  These substitutions, while not kosher, express the essence of the ritual and thus what truly is important in expressing ones faith.  There intention was not to destroy that ritual but to celebrate the ancient freedom of the Israelites and the newly found freedom they now enjoyed as the Civil War had ended and slavery abolished. 

Today, the entire world is faced with a danger that is hard to track down and avoid.  We find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic that requires us to remain in physical distance from others and not gather in groups.  This as we too celebrate Passover and the Christian community celebrates Holy Week and Easter.  Over the last several weeks houses of worship have had to modify how they minister to their congregations.  For Jews, a minyan of 10 adults is the standard to do a full service and over the centuries those people must all be in the same space.  Not so long ago the idea of a virtual minyan was considered a horror by many in the Jewish world, but for the last month it has not only been the standard but has elevated people's connection to their faith in many occasions.  Virtual seders have been the norm and we have been invited to come to several.  Faced with the threat this virus we are living with can bring upon us we forgo the normal and create a new way to meet the intention.

For Christians they too have modified their approach to this time.  Catholics have as part of their tradition an obligation to attend church on every Sunday and on many days during the year.  Yet Catholic Church pews were empty today as worshipers sat at their kitchen tables or comfortable chairs and prayed along with their priest on a computer screen.  Protestant churches did the same.  Except for a few outliers.

There is a growing voice led by some on the political right who are using religion as a cudgel to attack Stay-at-Home orders arguing that it is unconstitutional.     Some have even violated the orders and called their congregations together in services.  One such pastor who called Covid-19 a hoax and not dangerous has already died due to complications of the infection.  But more are pushing forward and this morning there were several services held with crowds.  I don't understand and I am not sure someone can explain it to me to the point where I will.  In Judaism one can violate almost any religious law if the results may save a life.  I am not sure about Christianity, but I am sure that that Christians I know believe that putting one's life in danger unnecessarily is an affront to God. 

I find it a little odd that there is an attempt to argue that the closing of houses of worship is a violation of the Constitution.  Every right outlined in the Bill of Rights has limits.  Since the early days of the republic, the rights laid out there were subject to interpretation.   The main argument is that government can't interfere in religious practice.  But the courts have ruled they can, banning polygamy as far back as the 19th century is a prime example.  Here in Indiana some of the same people who are calling out our governor for his stay-at-home order because they think he can't close churches were opposed when a local man started the Church of Cannabis, where smoking pot is considered sacramental.   If the state is allowed to stop adults from choosing to engage in a behavior that harms no one but themselves in a religious context, then they are clearly able to close churches for the sake of the entire population.  But I would argue religion is not the issue here.

For weeks, the President has been more worried about the stay-at-home orders around the country hurting the economy.  As jobless claims rise, as stimulus leads to debt and the realignment of the entire world economic picture is taking place he is saying he wants the country to open up again.  The problem is that he doesn't have the power to do it.  He could order federal workers back to their jobs but he can't tell a governor to lift order.  I think many of the people arguing for the churches to open up have no intention of attending, they just want to force state officials to end our confinement in order to help the President get what he wants. There are enough people whose views of the virus are skewed by the misinformation on some networks and even from the White House that some churches will have full houses.  Last week, when asked if she cared about the virus as she exited a church service one woman said she wasn't because she was "washed in the blood of Jesus" but also that she thinks it is a media hype and not as serious.   Most health officials think that if we went back to normal daily routines it could be devastating to population.  One thing we are seeing in New York, California, and parts of the Midwest is that physical distancing is working.  We are flattening the curve, while we may still see a large number of cases the time it takes to reach those numbers will be longer.  That way our health system is not overwhelmed and over time we will find a workable treatment and eventually a vaccine. When I hear people suggest things like it is okay for older people to die to save the economy or that we are over doing it because those that die were already on their last legs I am not sure how to react.  In both of those cases, the first the Lt. Governor of Texas Dan Patrick and the second disgraced former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claim a pro-life stance.  To me that is Pro-death if I ever heard it. 

So as we sit in a virtual pew on Facebook live, raise a kiddush cup on a Ipad screen and pray the rosary in a ZOOM chat we are still doing God's work and performing the highest of our religious tasks as human beings, saving God's creatures.  We will see a new way to form our religious communities when this is over.  Perhaps we will find that more people connect more strongly, both online and in real life moving forward.  I don't know, what I do know is that if we stay home, connect using the gift of technology and the power of family we can save lives.  That is the greatest prayer we can offer.  

Covid Diary April 7

Things continue to be weird.  I miss going to work and seeing people.  I miss the simple run to the grocery.  I wonder when I can get my haircut, something I do usually right before Pesach.  Speaking of Pesach, no big seder means that when we started taking the things out we need for the holiday we didn't need to take out much.  No need for 15 place settings for two people.  Everything about this time is strange. 

Things I have discovered however is interesting:

1.  I can go over a week and a half without shaving and well, still can't grow a beard or mustache.  So that answers that.

2.  Watching myself on ZOOM let me know I stick my tongue out and lick my lips a lot.  I apologize.

3.  I would normally watch and read tons of news and sports and since there is little sports news and I am avoiding the news I realize how much time I can wasted each day.

4.  We are social animals and watching the need for connections do work arounds is amazing.  My favorite is the guy who rented a cherry picker to visit his grandmother through the window of her 3rd floor room in a nursing home. 

I am not sure what the future holds.  What I do know is that as a people we are strong and there are many stories of heroes.  After Passover, I will share some.

March 29th Covid 19

So one more week.  It has been 21 days since I have been in a large crowd so I think that the worry of having been around a few hundred strangers over the course of a weekend has abated.   I don't personally know anyone that I know has contracted the virus but several friends and family of friends are fighting and a few have lost the battle.  I hear of people at various levels of fame who have it or in some cases survived it.  It still feels more like a stalker than something that is close to me. 

But I wanted to list some of the things I discovered over the last few days.

1.  When you haven't left the house since Wednesday and it rained all day Saturday, even a windy Sunday morning becomes a pleasure to be outside cleaning things. 

2.  Working on ZOOM from your home office will motivated you to clean things up and move a painting that may be, let's say distracting from behind you.  So we rehung a large painting in the stairway.  Now my background will be monkeys.

3.  When we bought the house and the kid moved out I thought this place would feel really big.  Guess what? 

4.  Time can be a real trickster.  Oh you got up at 7 a.m. to start your morning....whoops it is 10:30 and you haven't even brushed your teeth. 

5.  I have a whole different understanding of how people view toilet paper.  (enough with the photos).

6.  Some people are leaning on comfort food, today I found some comfort music.  Is that a thing?

7.  While social media can be a fever swamp and I do contribute to the negativity, at times, it can also be a place where we find fun in reliving old memories, checking in with people, sharing important information (as some of us can't watch the news) and of course provide a distraction. 

8.  Many artist friends who make their living traveling to make music have found ways to share their talent with others through virtual concerts for free.  We should remember them in the future.   

9.  I realized that over the last several years I have become a home body and that was good training.  I am not sure when I might start to feel differently.   

So we are still weeks away from this being over enough to go back to a normal routine.  We have airline tickets to visit Dianne's sister in the middle of June.  I still have hope that we can do so.  In the mean time, stay home when you can, wash your hands often and remember, we can do this.  Together, through science and compassion, through information and love, and through patience and supportive action we will get through. 

My Covid-19 diary March 22, 2020

Things are not great.  I have tried to keep a positive attitude but watching the news makes it difficult.  I have been not consuming it as much I would normally in an election year.  It does keep me up at night sometimes, I feel tired a lot.  But I am carrying on.  I feel like I want to do something, not sure what that could be.

Unlike many people I have been going into my office.  We are isolated in the building, few staff and I keep mostly in my office.  I think I am ready to just work from home, but I am not sure how it will work.   I think I have talked on the phone more this week than any other.  I have to hand it to our maintenance staff for keeping the building clean.  They are amazing.  The place smells like a hospital at times and that is not a bad thing.   

But life is still life.  On Friday I needed something checked out on my furnace. so I had a service guy come over.  He didn't seem to take social distancing that seriously but I managed to make that happen.  Anyway it was weird, usually I like to watch them take apart the furnace to clean etc but I left him alone and sanitized the area when he was gone.  New normal.

Shopping has become a bit of an adventure.  Popped into Market District the other day and well, that was a mistake.  I did see a friend who owns a restaurant that really can't do take out tell me about his plight (from across two parking spaces).  He is worried about his staff, and trying to help.  Inside however people were acting weird.  While stock was in place in many areas, there were some things out.  Eggs were gone except for the organic kind that cost $4 a carton.  I didn't need eggs but thought it was interesting.  We did our main shopping for the week this a.m. at the local Kroger, we were looking for staples more than anything else.  I was struck by the people who came in in their pajamas and once gain just bought toilet paper.  I was also struck by the number of limits the stores are putting on things.  The only thing we were hoping to get we couldn't were latex gloves and maybe hand sanitizer.  We have some and I hate using it but have lately.  The one thing is how much the people at the store appreciate us for saying good morning, smiling.  I hear stories of people being mean to workers in the stores.  I hope I never see that. 

Work has me playing lots of Hebrew Aps to see what I can share with the students, becoming a Zoom master (or maybe a Padawan) and thinking about how we stay connected.  My synagogue is doing a great job moving programming online.  By tomorrow night we have done some kind of connection to every age group as well as a form of online Torah study, services and havdalah.  While many congregations around the country are doing the same thing I feel truly proud of the staff and clergy of my shul for stepping into this with vigor.  As we start to do Hebrew online this week I hope my teachers are as successful.  We continue to move into this new and somewhat uncharted territory. 

Shabbat was a good break from the world.  I came home mid-afternoon and got ready to have our Shabbat together.  We have talked in the past about inviting more people over for Shabbat but there are times I am required at services and then I don't think about it when we are free.  I started thinking when this is over we have to make more of an effort to share our table.

In recent years I have become a home body.  I don't like going to the movies, we do go out to eat and see friends but even that is not the norm anymore.  But now there is no option.  Over the course of this weekend we have spent a total of 45 minutes outside the house going shopping.  So among the things I have done is cook.  We bought a lot of protein when I was in St. Louis from the Kosher butcher but since we won't be doing a big Pesach we have dug into what we were saving in the freezer.  I can't remember everything I have cooked in the last week but for Friday night I roasted a duck, rendering the fat for later, then finished it with a spicy fig glaze.  With a big salad and roasted asparagus we had a good Shabbat dinner.  Since a duck is too much for one meal I took one of the half breasts and made a Duck Pot Pie for dinner on Saturday.  Dianne loves pot pies so this was a little more decadent than usual.  Today the back and bones and left over meat become a stock for a Duck Barley soup.  I also had some ground lamb so I made some duck ravioli to eat later in the week.  I think I will use my friend Aaron's hot sauce to make a spicy tomato sauce for it.  Oh yeah, that was another weird thing, cans of vegetables were plentiful at the store but most of the canned tomatoes were gone.  With Red-Gold being an Indiana company I truly thought there would be more on the shelf. 

The other thing that has hooked me in has been YouTube.  I have watched/listened to dozens of videos about Game of Thrones as well as videos about those videos.  I just turn them on and they are like the background noise when I need a distraction.  We also have checked into nature shows that we haven't seen from the BBC.  I saw an orangutan sawing branches, a wild one who found a saw.  it learned quickly and seemed to enjoy it. 

I have many friends who make a living traveling and making music.  They are stuck at home as well, I am happy they are going online to do music for an online audience.  I too want to add my voice so I am doing some storytelling online tomorrow night on my story page on Facebook.  I hope I can get it right. 

This is quite a situation and no one has a playbook for it.  But we can make it through.  My friend reminded of the Jewish phrase  Gam Ze Ya'avor this too shall pass.  When it does I hope that we will remember all those who kept our society moving and honor them in appropriately. 

Living the Nightmare

Four years ago, as Donald Trump started to secure the GOP nomination.  One of the things I said, and have said several times since, is that the nightmare of a Trump presidency is that in a crisis we can't trust the information coming from the executive branch of the government.  Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis we have seen the President saying things that are almost immediately debunked by scientists, sometimes at the same table or podium.  The President is calling the virus a hoax, or the reporting on the virus a hoax, or the numbers a hoax, but the message is out there and news agencies and individuals are saying that this is being over-hyped to hurt the President.  Executive branch officials are going on news programs and are saying they don't know basic information that can mitigate the spread of the virus and members of Congress were making fun of the virus, one of whom is now in self-quarantine. 

It is easy for us to lose our minds over this.  I think there are people over reacting to the spread of the virus and I think the fear may be a little over-blown.  However, this is when we need leadership and clear science-based information.  But it seems like the information is being run through the political shop of the party and not the public health community.  In fact the leadership seems to be clueless about the process of testing and tracking the virus.  Maybe because the numbers will look bad for the President.  A cruise ship with a number of staff testing positive was held off-shore because, as the President said, he didn't want the numbers of infections added to the national total because it wasn't his fault.  His fault?  Like he sees this as a mandate on his Presidency and since he can't control the spread he is trying to avoid the reporting of the facts.  This could be devastating.  He has already begun polluting the stream of information by calling the reporting of facts in the media all fake.   So we are now in a place where we can't trust the government information and the government is telling us not to trust the media. 

So I hope people will take simple precautions and think about how we move through life.   Hand-washing, avoiding shaking hands, and thinking about large gatherings are all good moves to mitigate spread.  Thinking about the how we interact with the elderly or those immuno-compromised could actually save lives.  But again the President fails us.  He is continuing his campaign rallies, which skew older and often have very close contact.  Yesterday he got off Air Force One and went right to a rope line and shook hands with strangers.  It would be helpful if he had used that as a teaching moment. 

Fear and confusion is dangerous.  It is also feeding the financial collapse that we are struggling with as well.  We need a President that looks at this with a level-headed vision, not worry about his political future, and let the science run the policy.  Too bad we don't have one.  

There's an Iowa kind of special Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.

Oh Iowa, you failed again.  I think it is time to reconsider your role in the selection of the leader of the free world.  Look, I know, you want to have a voice.  You are a small state with a chip on your shoulder and Presidential elections are a cottage industry for you but come on.  How many times to you have to screw it up before it is enough.  You should be embarrassed.  I mean I know you declared three different winners over the course of a couple weeks in 2012 Republican contest, but frankly after the first declaration very few people cared.  Last night you created the weirdest of scenarios that is perfect for the 21st century.  Precinct captains who tallied up in public, on paper, results in their gyms and churches, had to send in results with an AP that didn't work.  For some, they don't normally live in the digital world so it was difficult to troubleshoot.  So here we sit, almost 24 hours later with no clear results, and a host of conspiracy theories that are now driving the discussion.  What the actual?  Your system stinks because running around the gyms like a bar sponsored speed dating event to get the right number of people to support your candidate may not be the best way to do it.  Also it leads such ideological gear-stripping as an Amy Klobuchar voter saying their second choice is Bernie.  That is like going from a fancy cocktail as your first choice but if you don't have it I will take Bud Light.  It stings I tell you to know they have the power to choose who my party will nominate and because of geography I never will. 

But the caucuses are more inherently unrepresentative of the party and the country as well.  Iowa is 93% white, and the huge pockets of rural precincts have more voting power than the urban areas.  Caucuses require an large investment of free time in the evenings so it favors the retired crowd and college students.  In fact if you are a snowbird (someone who is a resident of one state but spend the winters in a southern state) you could have voted in the caucus in your own state during the day.  People who winter in Arizona and Florida (read retirees with money) were given access to the process.  Left out are people who can't afford to take off from work to spend upwards of 4 hours in the caucus, people with disabilities who can't sit on gym floors for that time, public safety and hospital employees, hourly workers in factories and retail spaces open during caucus time and anyone who cares for someone else (a child, a parent, a spouse etc.) who couldn't get respite to go for that long.  The caucuses have always been a problem and while they won by the eventual nominee about 1/2 the time they do sometimes eliminate candidates who might be more viable in states with a more diverse and fair process. 

It is time for the Iowa caucuses to go away.  They don't work.  They favor candidates that don't have other obligations (like sitting Senators).  The vote tends to not match the party as a whole.  They can't seem to count the tallies well nor fast.  And finally, it hurts many of the people who are at the heart of the party. 

I never liked the primary process as a whole.  But caucuses seem to be the worst way to choose a candidate.  I propose a series of regional primaries.  Use the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regions or some other linked form.

New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont
Mideast: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Plains: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
Rocky Mountain: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming
Far West: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington

Eight primary days, starting February every two weeks. 

Start with the Plains if you want those voters to have a say for fear of more densely populated regions.  Then do New England, Southeast, etc. until there is a nominee or we go to convention.  All primary elections, all should have early voting or some accessibility to voting outside of the one day affair.  One set of rules for the party across all regions.  It can work if we want it to. 

Iowa, time to bury your quaint and ridiculous approach to the elections, so let's blow the whole thing up (figuratively) and make the system actually work.  That is always an option.