Our school district asked us to confirm our plan for the start of the year so we officially decided to start with online-only and watch what happens when the 6,000 college kids return to our zip code.

Our oldest started doing Peloton yoga workouts and we agreed to get her a set of bike shoes. She also downloaded Duolingo and started with Spanish. Our two youngest started with Spanish School Bus.

A family friend has been using this site to find tutors: https://www.wyzant.com/ => we’re going to roll a few weeks of online school and try to fill gaps with local teachers.

Another family friend was threatened with termination if they didn’t return to full-time teaching => private school, not our public district.

Tying Federal funding to reopening schools creates the opposite incentive to what our nation needs. It’s a similar screw up to the delay with Federal guidelines for wearing a mask. We should leave decisions to local authorities with guidance from state health departments.

The last week has let us see the domestic consequences of the Global War on Terror => two decades of the militarization of our society.

Bush 43 set up the DHS to protect us from foreign threats. ~18 years later, Trump is using the DHS as his personal militia (the words of Tom Ridge, hardly a snowflake).

The Federal goon squad was filmed using pepper spray and breaking the hand of a Navy Vet, Chris David, who was exercising his constitutional right to verbally remind the goons of their oath to protect the constitution. The video pissed me off – military-style uniforms, kicking the crap out of citizens.

I doubt Colorado has much to worry about – we have a Republican senator up for re-election and I have a hunch we will see a Blue-State bias wherever the goons appear.

Good news at our state level, hospitalizations ticked downwards. Positives still rolling at a similar level.

Less good news was this quote paraphrasing what my Medical Mentor told me back in March => there are places that have had their cases and places that will have their cases.

In other words, local communities don’t respond until they have experienced local pain. The story of my own life, for sure. No lesson is truly learned until I experience negative feedback, myself.

Our State health authority has been promoting DVD – distance ventilation duration – to help us consider risk.

Our Governor made last call for alcohol 10pm for 30 days – read a quip this was because the virus was nocturnal. My view is this change gives an incentive to stock up and head back to a private residence.

Saw another observation => we are arguing about reopening bars/restaurants/etc… at a time when we can’t open all our schools. This rang true.

There is a lack of national leadership on setting priorities for reopening and using red/green zones. I heard this week that our military is using red/green zones internally. It would be straightforward for the Feds to make the system public. I did start to see some Federal guidance on this yesterday with our President standing in front of a hotspot map of the country.

Masks are swinging into national favor – Red State hotspots, Republican business interests, swing state polls, a return to record death rates… have had an impact on public opinion. We still have a ways to go on public action.

A lot of the negative commentary, nationwide, implies the governors are enjoying placing restrictions on people. Folks should think through that point of view – no politician wants to make voters unhappy. They’re each doing their best. They’re doing it differently but that’s OK. We should pay attention to what works, we probably have enough evidence for what doesn’t work.

A friend tried to rope me into a discussion at the edge. I didn’t fall for it. Speak to the middle.

The middle is going to lead us out of this mess.

Best quote of the week => denial is more expensive than facing reality. Prof G used it to point out our university systems are engaged in magical thinking.

Like I said yesterday, trust that people can handle the truth.

Here’s another one – when you’re unsure, bias error towards safety. It’s what we’re doing with our kids and our personal choices.

Final one via John Mauldin – whenever possible choose small, and local => it’s the large entities that are getting the support right now.

Final thought, my brain doesn’t seem to notice that all my bike pals are behind a screen. I do a lot of riding with imaginary friends and feel close to them.

Weird, but comforting at this time.