The Sorensen Monologues

Tips for Social Distancing Outdoors

I thought the dog panel might be slightly controversial, in that opinions differ on the safety of animal petting. Some vets advise against it while others argue that fur is a porous material that traps pathogens better than smooth surfaces like doorknobs. It seems like good etiquette, at least, to resist the urge to give a belly rub.

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Who’s the Tyrant?

As I see these so-called “patriots” resisting stay-at-home orders, I can’t help but wonder: if you’re so concerned about the Constitution and government overreach, why not protest the dictatorship taking shape right in front of your face? I realize this is a rhetorical question. Most of these people are probably unaware of Bill Barr attempting to use the pandemic to suspend habeas corpus and detain people indefinitely, or the White House blockading desperately-needed PPE from some states, forcing them to make clandestine purchases.

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Poetic Justice

As the NYT’s Linda Greenhouse notes, the five Republican judges simply ignored the context of a deadly pandemic, insisting that elections rules should not “ordinarily” be altered close to an election. Never mind that these circumstances were anything but ordinary, and that failing to make a reasonable extension for mail-in ballots would disenfranchise tens of thousands, and possibly lead to more deaths.

The good news is that the Democratic candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court still managed to pull off a victory over the Republican incumbent that the GOP was trying desperately to protect. This makes all those people who stood in line to vote, in face masks, in the rain, pretty darn heroic in my opinion.

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Flattening the Crazy Curve

The Trump administration has taken the extraordinary step of announcing pollution laws will not be enforced during the pandemic. This, at the same time that we’re seeing evidence that air quality has a significant impact on coronavirus survival rates. It’s straight out of Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, which recounts the many times throughout history that disasters have been exploited to advance a right-wing agenda.

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