There are two large non-denominational #churches in my #SanDiego suburb. One is taking a cautious approach to services, the other is not and adding in political advocacy to that end as well. I am an active member of the former. #covid19
Without adding to the piling on of either side of this debate, the way I think about things on this is pretty clear. People and organizations are not equal partners in #pandemic response. Pandemics are systems of numbers and scale.
Organizations that facilitate large gatherings can have a disproportionate impact on success or failure of pandemic response. And while it's pretty clear we can't stop people from behaving the way they want, and we can't even really stop places like churches from operating...
...without doing things we don't appear to want to do (send in the police to a church) than it's kind of on organizations to do the right thing, even if they can't be forced. Which should be something freedom loving Americans agree with. Free choice means...
...that church can do what it wants, to include hosting indoor, un-masked, non-socially distanced gatherings and posting videos of it on social media during a pandemic. I'm free then to say that's bad for my neighborhood. And I'm not going to ever be a member of that church...
....and I'm going to stay clear of the folks that are for the next few months. And I'll remember how they handled their business when the community needed them to be a little better for as long as I am here and an active member of the community.
But this does nothing at all to solve the health risk this church is causing in my neighborhood though. And the gap left over is where we ought to not have to rely on the government for groups to do the right thing. But we often have to, because they don't. The church is doing...
...the wrong thing. And politicizing it and eroding social cohesion when we need it most. This makes us more reliant on gov to enforce laws we shouldn't need. The road to gov overreach is paved with the bad choices of organizations that couldn't be trusted to do the right thing.
All this is to say that groups that don't do the right thing when it's their choice infringe on our liberties...often in the name of liberty. Churches are pretty good at hypocrisy.
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I guess there's no rules so why not...The nature of what I did as a Naval Officer often put me at the intersection between DOD and other gov agencies of the intelligence community. In my interactions with them I grew to deeply appreciate their service and sacrifices they made.
Wherever I was, they were there too...without the cool gear or the uniform. Without the parades or holidays or parking spaces. But they were there, often giving up years of their lives away from loved ones. Giving up their personal freedom while a constant vetting process....
...let the government into every detail of their personal lives. Y'all have no idea the clean lives most of these folks have to live. And how much they deeply love America. When I was in Iraq I was the liaison to the chief of base for my unit. I ate dinner with them once a week.
Thread 1/12 Here's a short video (sound on) that my wife & I made teaching our special needs son some of the things that he would be learning if in person learning were available for special day classes in r public middle school. #COVID19#specialneeds#schoolsreopening
2/12 We made this video yesterday, because I was off from work and therefore able to help with the lesson. As you can see from the video, teaching Aidan takes more than one person. Most days I can't help. And so this doesn't happen. #SpecialEducation
3/12 When schools are open, he in in a classroom that has a teacher and many aids that help him and the other students. He also has special seats and chairs and desks that make this easier. At home, he has some 10-30 minute video sessions with a teacher. That's all.
@AmyMcGrathKY was two years ahead of me at Annapolis. I didn't know her...but I knew of her. That's how things work at a school with 92% men. Her reputation was as a tough upper class who had high standards and was a 4.0 'er. #Election2020
I don't know if she's ready to be a US Senator...But to be fair, no one is...until they are. I do know a few things worth sharing though. What I know is that at one point in our lives we did the same thing. It was harder for her because it was hard being a woman at Annapolis....
...25 yrs ago. Yet she still did it better. She took it more seriously. And she was more committed. And to be blunt...she was smarter than I was. They don't give trophy grades at Annapolis. And I could have given just about all I had, which I didn't...
Thread: Today is 20 years since the USS Cole was attacked by Al Qaeda in the port of Aden in Yemen. It's really difficult to overstate the change that ensued for those of us that served during that time. #USSCole
2/Most of us think of 9/11. And some point out that the Cole was the canary in the coal mine. But neither are true. The attack was more akin to reminding us that there was a coal mine...and all there were actual dangers. Which means what's really more remarkable...
3/...is the state we were in the years leading up to it. At the time, I had just finished up (or was finishing) ship's engineering school and had received orders to one of the Cole's sister guided missile destroyers. I had a classmate from Annapolis on the ship who survived.
Thread
1-After listening to @tylercowen recent podcast with Hollis Robbins I was motivated to read Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book I was probably supposed to read at some point but never did. subtext...too much of what I read is suggested by Cowen...but that's another thread.
2-At the risk of sounding dramatic, my take away is that it's probably the most important work of American literature ever written. And I would not have said that 10 years ago. That something a 175 years old gains relevance over time is part of the point.
3-What makes it so relevant, beyond the obvious racial tensions of 21s century American politics, is that Stowe writes about more than slavery. It's a tale of immigration too.And federal legislation. And the personal nature of politics and the role agency & power structures play.