Thursday, March 04, 2021

INNAUGURATION DAY

UPDATE: Clear your calendars tomorrow morning. Wake up a bit early and set the coffee maker the night before to automatic brew. It is Markus v. Rumpole, in a battle for the soul of the legal profession. One of us wants to do away with language like "Comes Now" and the other wants to protect all that is holy and good in the law. Each blogger will post precisely at 7 am. Check the other blog first, and after you stop shaking your head, head on over here for the real deal. 

 On March 4, 1861, the greatest President in our history- Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated.  This  inauspicious and self-taught genius was the greatest example of the man meeting the moment in our country's history. In our history we have been blessed with several exceptional people who personify the man(and woman) meeting the moment. George Washington, and his foresight in relinquishing power after two terms as president, and his command of the rag-tag army that set forth upon this earth our great nation.

Lincoln. Dwight D Eisenhower, a mid-level desk-general who never led troops in combat who was picked by General George Marshall and President Roosevelt over many more experienced and higher ranking  generals to lead the allied nations against tyranny. President Franklin Roosevelt, whose on-set of polio kept him out of the 1928 presidential race, which he arguably would have been the Democratic nominee and would not have won the general election which would have cast him aside as the nominee in 1932 which is when the man met the moments of the depression and then WWII. 

There is of course one glaring moment when the man did not meet the moment. When the world was struck with a pandemic and all eyes naturally turned  to the United States, whose President basically  told them to f-off, fend for themselves and withdrew our country from the World Health Organization. In this last instance, the president attacked our own national experts, shunned science, ridiculed the use of masks and turned the white house into a super-spreader location.  Tragically, the "man" did not meet the moment. A half a million Americans died as a result. 

So what does that mean for our Miami Court system? So far our Judges, led by Judge Soto have met the moment. They closed the courthouses a year ago and kept the court system running. And now our new chief judge has a decision to make- when to open up? On the plus side the virus numbers are dropping and the stories we hear are that many of our colleagues are now getting the vaccination. This should only get better. More shots- more protection, less transmission (MS=MP=LT Rumpole's formulae for beating a pandemic, (C) Rumpole, 2021, all rights and wrongs preserved). 

On the downside there are troubling variants popping up. It will take a steady and nuanced hand to guide us through these rocky waters. The feds have delayed reopening with trials until July. A smart move. Not only lawyers, but most court personnel, law enforcement, and jurors will have vaccines by then. State court judges want to start sooner. 

We have a new chief judge. Will the woman meet the moment? 


6 comments:

  1. For what it's worth, it is reasonable to estimate that about 50% of the population of Florida has at least some COVID immunity.

    About 3.3m Floridians have received at least one dose of the vaccine. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/florida

    About 1.9m Floridians have been confirmed to have had COVID. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/florida

    That said, under-reporting of infections has been a consistent issue. The Herald reported that the true number of infections could be EIGHT TIMES higher than the official number. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article247457275.html That could be as many as 15.2m Floridians. But let's be conservative and say that the infection rate is half of that, so, about 7.6m Floridians have had COVID and therefore are likely to have some immunity.

    That's about 10.9 million Floridians that have some level of immunity. The current population of Florida is about 21.5m.

    Wear a mask (for now), wash your hands, and don't panic.

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  2. It is highly unlikely that the Democrats will give up on the virus soon. They have no wsih to end all of this stuff. They are doing everything in their power to undermine the balance of the population getting the shot because with massive inoculation disappears the need to close down the courts, conduct a militarized zone around our nation's capitol, and keep the CORONA- paranoia alive. I am for opening the courts and allowing any potential jurors who are afraid to not participate.

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  3. Wow, 12:56 really has that tinfoil hat vibe going doesn't he.

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  4. 2:13 P.M. has the left wing blinders on him, along with his mask, and sanitizer bottle.

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  5. The potential jurors who are not afraid to participate are not the ones I want on my panels.

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  6. 920 why is that? I'd prefer freedom minded people over those who wish to restrict us. I think you're stuck in a pre covid manner of thinking about politics.

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