To Support and Defend: Article III, Section II

The Judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

It is the Judiciary’s responsibility to interpret the Constitution and all laws passed by Congress.  It will also interpret treaties made with other nations.  When there are disputes between states, people who reside in different states, or any disagreements between states and the Federal government, it shall be the responsibility of the Judicial branch to handle that.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

So, when some official from another country is here and has something happen that needs the Law to sort it out, the Supreme Court is the original jurisdiction.  Otherwise, any Federal case will start in the local Federal court and will only go to the Supreme Court if there is an appeal.  Congress has the power to make changes to this in law.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

All criminal trials in Federal cases will be by jury and in the jurisdiction in which the crime was said to have been committed.  If a crime was not committed within a state (such as in a US territory), Congress can say where the trial shall be held.

The Shocking Reason Why The Pandemic Isn’t Being Contained

Alabama ICUs are being overrun as Covid-19 tears through the state.

I know I appear to be on the liberal end of the spectrum.  I’m not by any sane standard.  I am merely not right-wing.

But to someone whose thinking is even more binary than mine (and that’s quite a feat), I oughta be punching the air and saying, “Hey, there, dummies!  I TOLD you so!  Didn’t I tell you so?  This is what you GET when you’re STUPID.”

I don’t feel that way about it. 

I feel sorry.

I am frustrated at the needless suffering.

No-one wants to do the tedious, boring, endless grind of work that is required to make this better.  It’s not as exciting as being Captain America bulleting through a factory to save a friend.  It’s not as inspiring as Patrick Swayze fighting for freedom with a pack of hot-looking teenager. (Sorry about the current gut, Jed.  I’m there with ya! Getting’ old sucks.)

This is the sort of challenge that America isn’t really very good at, and it’s kind of embarrassing.  We’re great a short-term extraordinary effort.  We really are, and it’s awesome.  I’m glad of that.

Where we’re falling down, and fellow Americans this is getting embarrassing, is at the patient, undramatic work required to build or fix the really big problems, or (when possible) engineer them out of existence.

We’re acting like adolescents with our first car and our first beer shouting, “You can’t tell me what to do!” 

We need to learn to tell ourselves it’s bedtime, friends.  If we don’t, we’re going to have other nations having a meeting to decide what to do with us, because a virus doesn’t stay within national borders.

World Covid-19 Cases 5/24/2020

I want the problem (inso much as is possible) to be fixed.

We need to grow up as a nation.

You’re Not Taking Your OWN Chances

Surgical mask - Wikipedia

In spending far too much time on Internet forums and such, I saw a comment from someone I knew to be a sweet lady, kindly, and generous.

In talking about the Covid-19 crisis, she did not agree with the social distancing, mask-wearing, and changes in her routine, saying that this took away a great deal of what made life living for her and she would “take her own chances.”

My heart sank.

I would never have pegged this woman as mind-bendingly selfish. I would never have said that she was callous about other people, but that statement pulled me up short.

Up until then, I had in my mind the people who objected to the Covid-19 virus as callous, selfish and hostile to other people

I don’t think that was what was going on. I think what was going on was a misunderstanding of how disease works.

If you used the expression R0 to someone (pronounced “R-naught”) pre-Covid-19, you probably would have gotten a blank look. Many of us now know that the R0 factor is how many people will most likely catch a disease if you catch it. For those of you who are not yet familiar with the concept, it means that if you catch a particular disease, you can pretty much bet on a certain number of people also catching that disease. The R0 of ebola, for instance, is 1.5-1.9. If you get ebola, chances are good that you’ll pass it on to at least one person before you die, maybe two.

The R0 for Covid-19 is somewhere between 3.8 and 8.9. This is higher than smallpox, friends. Yes, it’s not quite the killer smallpox was, but that’s not the point.*

If you do not take appropriate precautions about Covid-19 (personal distancing, hand-washing, avoiding contact with people outside your direct household, and wearing masks when you do have to do so) you are not taking your OWN chances.

If you do not take precautions, you are taking risks for other people.

You know how your freedom to swing your fist ends at someone else’s nose?

Wear a mask in public, friends. That’s the OTHER person’s nose.

*For what it is worth, I am grateful down to my bones to everyone who got a smallpox vaccine. I can’t get one, but HURRAH! it’s a non-issue now, isn’t it?