On May 21, 1702, Daniel Defoe, yes, *that* Daniel Dafoe, was arrested and imprisoned for his recently published pamphlet which, in keeping with Poe�s Law, failed to please the new Queen of England. This was not ancient history to the Framers of the Constitution, and they made sure that no one person could wield so much power that free expression of religion would become a punishable offense.

Over the years the idea of free expression was tested. Before incorporation the Courts were content to allow laws that limited the idea. After incorporation it became much more difficult for governments to limit the practice.

Now, in the time of the Constitution and the COVID, new stress is being placed on the 1st Amendments interpretation of free expression. Multiple States have found themselves embroiled in arguments over whether or not religious services can be held in person and in violation of Governor�s Executive Orders? Even here in the PACNORWEST, the Governor (and failed Presidential Candidate with 0% of the Polls) canceled a scheduled presser to announce some Phase II reopening plans because of recent Court cases over the issue of religious services.

We will focus on one in North Carolina, where a District Court Judge has given many people a rallying cry with his ruling in favor of a temporary restraining order on that Governor�s order about religious gatherings. And we ask the question: if incorporation came about because of the abuses of the States once before, will it happen again?

In the 17th Century, one man had to make a choice. Should he stick to his religious dogma and ignore his own observations and computation, or accept a new reality. As a scientist, he realized that he could not ignore reality. Because of his discoveries, because he was willing to accept that his precious dogma was incorrect, the world changed.

As we begin a new voyage into the universe of the US Constitution, we would be wise to keep in mind that much like Scripture, and two people can look at the identical words on a page and come to a polar opposite understanding. We must steel ourselves to study with a willingness to understand that a different point of view does not mean that another person is our enemy. it means that they have a different experience in life, a different culture or environment. It means that we have an opportunity to learn something new.

And, like Kepler, we must use that new data to see if our dogmas are in line with what we observe. If they are, we strengthen our understanding. if they are not, then we have the opportunity to make a change. One based not on passions or emotions, but on truths.

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Step into the Wayback Machine and travel back to  1945. Listen to the radio as the War in Europe comes to an end. Every time I listen to this I imagine my Grandmother sitting in her living room listening and weeping with joy as she knows her brother, Bill, will be home soon...

Look, it doesn't really matter if you are pro or anti lockdown to me. What matters to me is that of which I was most afraid, is coming to pass. And no, it isn't the virus.

From Day One of this that I had one question: When will the "emergency" be over? Today, after a lawsuit was filed asking exactly that question, the answer we got was not measured, calm, or even logical. It was, as I feared, hysterical, rambling, and based one hundred percent in fear and in the mongering of fear.

And if you think that he is the exception to the rule, you're not paying attention to what has just happened to our nation.

SHOW LINKS

Corona Virus Patient found in December in France

Mutation Study in LA Times Story Not Peer Reviewed and Discussion

Washington State Law 43.06.220 (Emergency Powers)

Down in Bakersfield a couple of Emergency Room Doctors held a press conference (BTW, that should have been the first red flag), at which they announced to the world that everything about  COVID-19 is wrong and that we should definitely, no doubt about it, not be shutting down our economy. On the Conservative Right, these two have become pure gold and celebrated with the typical fanfare and pomp reserved for those who dare to challenge the groupthink.

Youtube stepped in, and to the  howling of Conservative outrage, removed the video for violating their  mysterious and notably ethereal "community standards."

Cue Political Right outrage and virtue signaling.

The problem is that just because somebody says something that we like and that fits our agenda doesn't make them absolutely right or accurate. Like Sheldon's element, or Bloomberg's millions, or even my own error, the overall point might be correct. But you don't win converts or debates by using faulty logic or math. so while we might like what the good Doctors said, and in the end, they may even be correct, the single unarguable point is that hey goofed the math. Badly.

But if we refuse to question them and their conclusion because we like their position, flawed though it might be, how are we any better than those who simply accept the other sides' absolute mindset?

In December of 1981, I reported to Basic Enlisted Submarine School (BESS) in New London, CT. Winter in New England is amazing. That said, the next few months were filled with intense learning of information and practice. Including the Submarine Escape System, as it existed then.

The idea here is that if your boat should sink and not be able to surface, there was a way to escape from the boat and to then be rescued. Through the years the system had been perfected, and at one point was it successfully demonstrated to work from as deep as 600 feet. We actually did a practice run (I did it twice) from a simulated 100-foot depth in the Submarine Escape Training Tower, which, like so much of my life, no longer exists.

�Ho, ho, ho,� we would say to keep our lungs from exploding as we ascended from the depths wearing the famed �Steinke Hood.� Upon reaching the surface, a Navy diver would meet us and we had to say, �I FEEL FINE!� If we didn�t say exactly that, then all hell would break loose and medical treatments would be inflicted. I felt fine, and I had no problem saying so. In fact, the only problem I had in escape training was having to remove my glasses � which, in a real escape, I would not have done � so I couldn�t see much of anything, which is probably why I wasn�t scared.

Why do I bring this up?

Two reasons. Okay� three.

(1) The man most responsible for the system, the training, and for the 600-foot test escape died last week at the age of 97.

(2) The whole system was mostly useless. While a 600′ (182 meters) limit for a successful escape seems reasonable, the average depth of the Pacific Ocean is 4000 meters (2.3 miles). The reality of any disastrous sinking situation would almost certainly mean that no escape was realistically possible. So why spend a bunch of money on equipment and training? So that the Navy can tell our mothers that there is an escape route if there is a problem.

(3) Pretty much everybody is now wearing cloth masks. For the sole reason of making a few people feel better.

Ho, ho, ho. I feel fine.

SHOW NOTES

LCDR Matty Todd Obituary

Submarine Escape Trainer Film

In September of 1914, the French Army had been pressed as far back as it could possibly go. South of Paris, the Germans had crossed the Marne River, and to all the world appeared just a few kilometers from victory on the Western Front. The French rallied their Army, and with the help of a few hundred Taxi Cabs, won the 1st Battle of the Marne, saving Paris and in all probability, the entire war.

To this day, there are still reenactments of the great �Taxis to the Marne� event. Hailed as heroes the Taxis are revered and remembered for their actions that day. There even exists an actual film of the event.

But most historians and military experts agree about one thing, which is that the heroes of that day were not the Taxis. And unlike the lessons of the 1918 Pandemic, maybe there are some lessons to be learned here?

Post Show Notes

The Lessons of the 1918 Pandemic

Copper Is a Known Virus Killer

5G Is NOT Linked to Coronavirus

Man Sets 5G Tower On Fire

They say that being a CO of a warship is the loneliest job in the world. My own observations of my own two Captains are that is probably true. It doesn�t mean that you have to be a delusional hardass, but it does mean that you have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the ship first. Believe me, the ship�s best interest was not always my own. Long years have taught me that I could and I did trust my CO�s to get it right. If Captain Conway called me tomorrow and asked me to do something, I would do it without question. The same applied to my Division Officer, Lt. Fritsch and my Master Chief, Joe Adamson. Why? Because that is the kind of leadership that those men gave me. Not mindless obedience, but trust. I was a part of a ship, and what was best for the ship, was ultimately best for me.

A few days ago, the news was abuzz with the word that a US Navy Captain had begged to get his crew off of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Pacific, which was being ravaged by the COVID-19 disease. The Navy reacted swiftly and relieved the Commanding Officer, and video soon surfaced of his crew chanting his name and cheering him as he left the ship.

Depending on your political views, this was either a gross overreaction by the �bad orange man� who �doesn�t care about the sailors,� or it�s a call for a Congressional investigation into the Navy�s decision which is clearly bad because �sailors are dying.�

There�s an old saw that says that �hard cases make for bad law.� Navy Regulations are harsh because, at the end of the day, the Navy isn�t a Yacht Club, filled with weekend sailors and retired Judges who play bad golf. It is a fighting force designed to break things and maintain control of the Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) in defense of our freedom and liberty. Anything � anything � that distracts from that mission is a problem. And problems have to be addressed quickly and directly.

And like a Tiger King Documentary, don�t believe everything that you�re shown as the entirety of the story. First off, we will never know the whole story. Secondly, the Navy Regulations are designed to deal with these things.

Navy Regulations 0802. A commanding officer who departs from orders or instructions, or takes official action which is not in accordance with such orders or instructions, does so upon his or her own responsibility and shall report immediately the circumstances the officer from whom the prior orders or instructions were received. Of particular importance is the commanding officer�s duty to take all necessary and appropriate action in self-defense of the command.

A couple of weeks back I predicted it. You know� the people who will say that �Geezuzzz will protect us from the Corona� types who would continue to flaunt Social Distancing and whatever other rules came into effect. I don�t make any comment on their belief. But I am appalled by their behavior.

And I am pretty sure that the Deity that I worship isn�t the same one that they worship.

I was pretty angry about the whole thing. From Mt. Vernon, WA where two people are dead, to Tampa, FL, where a Pastor was arrested, to the vilest anti-Semitic words spewing forth from a so-called �pastor,� I was, not to understate this, seriously pissed off. And I was fully prepared to tell you that I was pissed off.

Then I went for a drive�

Like so many of us, I find myself vacillating between the emotions that seem to define us these days.

There are moments of despair, while not hopeless, there is a feeling of uncertainty. A few minutes later there�s a feeling of confidence and knowing that everything will be all right. There�s a feeling that all of this is a vast overreaction, coupled with the nagging doubt that it might not be enough.

After more than a week of Social Distancing and kids being out of school, there are stresses and strains that are to be expected, but no less easy to bear. Tempers are short and nerves are on edge. In so many ways, it reminds me of the long strain of a Submarine patrol.

That said, one of my greatest frustrations while on the submarine was something that I would lose each time we dove. I missed something that I had a once in a lifetime chance to see because of a patrol in 1986. for all my life, my greatest comfort comes from the stars. It�s weird, but I consider Orion, the constellation, to be my oldest friend. So when I can�t see my best and oldest friends, it strains my ability to deal with things.

As I wrapped up another emergency shift the other night, I was gassing the truck. I stepped out of the lights and looked up. The sky was as dark as I can ever remember it being. Not a single star to be seen. Given the whole situation, it caused a feeling of despair.

Back in the truck, driving down an empty road my history brain took over and reminded me of another very dark night, long ago�