Former Barack Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel, during a recent interview, reminded us of his famous 2008 quotation, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.”
I’m glad the FBI was able to crack the iPhones of the Pensacola naval air base shooter, which confirmed that radicalized Royal Saudi Air Force 2 Lt.Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani had communicated with al-Qaida to carry out a “special operation.” Three young American patriots died in Alshamrani’s December 2019 attack. The more information we have to prevent the needless slaughter of U.S. military members on U.S. soil the better.
What happens to a government when the consent of the governed breaks down? History has many instances of this -- some ending with peaceful transformation, others with successful revolution as in our own history and still others with military crackdowns as we currently see in Hong Kong.
We the people” is the phrase that comes trippingly to mind.
On Mother’s Day weekend, my family defied government pandemania. We drove out east from Colorado Springs to the tiny town of Calhan for a lovely little hike in the purple-and-gold-hued Paint Mines archeological district. Unmasked, we basked in the sunshine, fresh air and freedom. The park was teeming with moms like me who put family bonding over “social distancing.”
So. A Texas day care center can open now. I said “right now.” Come Friday, May 22, Texas bars and bowling alleys, by gubernatorial writ, are allowed to pry their doors partly -- and, yes, cautiously -- open. On the same day, and under the same dispensation, Texas restaurant owners can beckon inside their premises a larger contingent of customers: up to 50% capacity. By the end of the month, Texas sports camps have gubernatorial permission to resume operations -- c-a-a-a-a-r-r-r-efully -- to see how things go. No Texan is obligated to take advantage of these opportunities. They’re there if you want them.
I have followed with some interest recent discussions in the news, as well as on social media, which deal with the city of Lampasas providing a venue for an unofficial graduation ceremony as well as whether or not city swimming pools will be open during the summer.
Schools remain shuttered across the country, 30 million Americans are out of work, and food banks are running low, but the edutech sector is booming. Silicon Valley companies are feasting on an exploding client base of quarantined students held hostage to “online learning.” Big Google is leading the way -- and that is not OK.
The Department of Education just released results of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in U.S. history, civics and geography given in 2018 to thousands of American eighth-graders: “Grade 8 Students’ NAEP Scores Decline in Geography and U.S. History; Results in Civics Unchanged Since 2014.”
Something is very, very wrong! America has never in its history quarantined healthy people. Quarantines were designed to separate those with diseases/illnesses from individuals without those conditions.