COVID-19: Reopening the Country

Source: Libertarian Party of Kentucky.

This Venn diagram illustrates the challenge we face reopening the country during the COVID-19 epidemic. Many of us are in the middle of this Venn diagram. We support the stay-at-home and social distancing orders because we are in the upper left circle of the Venn diagram: "People taking COVID-19 seriously." We supported the $2 trillion relief package passed by Congress because we are also in the bottom circle: "People concerned with economic devastation." And we supported strong oversight in the distribution of that relief because we are also in the upper right circle, which I'll paraphrase as: "People worried about government accountability." In balance, we are in the bulls-eye of the Venn diagram.

But the people who are nearer the outside edges of the circles are getting restless. The cries that the cure is worse than the disease are growing louder from those firmly in the bottom circle. People on Facebook wring their hands and say, "People die every day. Life has to go on." (Maybe they aren't even wringing their hands. It's hard to tell sometimes.) Such people are being joined by people who fit snugly in the upper right circle, those who distrust government, which is most of us, although some go farther than others. "You shut down people's businesses and lives and civil war is the next step."

How do we return to normal in an environment like we're in?

POTD: Back in the Saddle

From 2019 10 10 State Fair of Texas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the State Fair of Texas. It's time for more photos-of-the-day.

COVID-19 Response: Who's in Charge?

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a flurry of government orders in an effort to stem the pandemic. I don't claim to be an expert on any of them. They seem to change every few day, so don't rely on anything written today to be accurate tomorrow. But here's what I think I know, and here's what I think about what I think I know.

Review: Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming

Amazon

From Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming, by László Krasznahorkai


he could hardly even remember that he had a daughter at all, who, as people tended to put it, was 'from the wrong side of the blanket,' he'd forgotten about her, or, to put it more precisely, he'd learned not to think about her, at least when he was able to do so, there were periods — even if transitory — when he was left in peace, sometimes even for years, just as now, he’d been left unperturbed "from that direction," he'd washed his hands of the entire matter, as in general he did with his entire past, he'd washed it away, and as for a good few years now nobody had been pestering him, he'd already reached the conclusion that he was free of all this, free, that is, until yesterday afternoon when out of the blue, unexpectedly, this daughter had just suddenly shown up here, and grabbing a megaphone, yelled out to him 'I'm your daughter, you basest of skunks,'"

This Hungarian novel by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet, won the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Ozark - Season 3 (TV 2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ozark - Season 3 (TV 2020): Same dark story of dealing with a drug cartel. No more breathers for the audience. All characters are in danger, all subplots are life-threatening. Wendy shows she's as badass as Marty. Ruth steals every scene she's in. Emmy noms for both. B+

2020: When Sh#t Got Real for RISD

Source: AwTeez.

It's only early April, but it seems like 2020 has already been the longest year of our lives. America has experienced other bad years: 1952 (57,628 victims paralyzed by polio in that disease's peak year); 1968 (16,889 US deaths in the Vietnam War's peak year); 2001 (2,996 deaths on one day alone, 9/11). Queen Elizabeth II had a term for such years. She anointed 1992 her family's personal annus horribilis: divorce or separation of three of her children and a disastrous fire at her royal residence Windsor Castle. For children today, too young to remember any of those other tragic years, they now have their own. 2020 is on track to be worse than any other. How quickly COVID-19 turned this year from one of innocence and joy to an annus horribilis when sh#t got real.

COVID-19: A Follow-On Crisis is Brewing

While we have all been preoccupied with matters of life and death (rightly so), a follow-on crisis is brewing. As unemployment skyrockets, the ability to pay mortgages and rents craters. We need to direct some of our efforts from quarantining to preparing for the follow-on disaster that quarantining brings in its wake. 40% of the housing units in Richardson are occupied by renters. What is the City doing to prevent the disaster that comes when renters miss their rent payments?