THE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION?

We know what you are thinking when you read the headline....a post on Covid-19. Well, you're semi-correct. We have some tips below, but first...

We are well known Anglophiles. England formed western civilization, and then saved it in 1939-1941 when she stood  alone against tyranny. We take our legal principles from England, as well as part of our original ancestry (white Americans came from England seeking religious freedom; black Americans were brought from Africa and sold into slavery). 

England is culture- tea and cucumber sandwiches before an evening at the theater with Shakespeare; refinement- there is nothing like a fine English tailored suit, especially when your tailor has a liberal supply of gin for the fitting; and democracy- there is nothing comparable to the PM questioning by Parliament. 

But now England is Brexit, which we disagree with, but can live with. Brexit was engineered by the current occupant of 10 Downing Street, and this is where our story begins. Boris Johnson (55) is the current PM.  Before Harry and Megan upset the Queen by resigning from Royalty, the PM committed a worse faux paus by bringing one Carrie Symonds (31) into 10 Downing as the PM's consort. Not married, the couple cohabitated in the Prime Minister's Residence. It's as if Cory Booker won the Presidency and brought his boo in to the White House Residence. 

But now, we are shaken even further as Mr. Johnson and Ms. Symonds have announced they are affianced and ...expecting!  A child conceived out of wedlock in the same home occupied by Disraeli and Churchill (but not at the same time). As if her Majesty doesn't have enough troubling her with Prince Andrew's contretemps, and Harry and Megan selling coffee mugs. It's enough to take our minds off of Covid-19.

COVID-19 isn't coming. It's here. We are seeing community infections now (which means people who are infected did not travel to China or Italy. Instead they have been infected through community contact with someone else). By the end of March there will between 150,000- 1 Million cases in the US. 
What should you do? We have the answers. 

FIRST BEFORE ANY NUMBERED SUGGESTIONS: LET THIS EMERGENCY END THE BARBARIC TRADITION OF SHAKING HANDS OR EVEN WORSE-  KISSING ON THE CHEEK WHEN MEETING.  There is no reason to exchange germs when meeting people. A simple "hi, nice to see/meet you" is sufficient. 

1. Get a flu shot. You don't want to get sick. It lowers your immunity.
2- Take a lot of vitamin C- 3000mg a day or more. 
3. Limit your community exposure. Movies? Netflix only. Stay home.
 4. Eat out? Nope. And this means no more Uber Eats or any other delivery service like Dominos. Learn to boil water to make pasta and butter bread to make grilled cheese. 
5. Exercise at home. Go for a run. No more gyms. 
6. Here is a list of other don'ts and no-mores: travel/planes; cruises; Disneyworld; Hialeah; Costco and Trader Joes; happy hours after work and  any other  place people gather (Marlin's games are fine- you can sit by yourself). If you're a Judge, the legal library is OK- you probably haven't been there before.  But- and this is a hard one- NO MORE STARBUCKS until we say so. Basically you do not want people you do not know making your food and drinks until the risk of infection is gone. 

7. Do I need a mask? No, not if you're not sick. But you should plan for supply chain disruptions. Stock up on these items: 
Tylenol and decongestants; toilet paper; dry and canned goods (remember about not eating out); get a good thermometer; hand disinfectant is best, but a good antibacterial soap for the home also works; Clorox wipes. 
8. A family of five should have: 100 boxes of pasta; 200 cans of beans/legumes; 100 cans/jars of sauce; 50 cans of vegetables; 50 pounds of rice; 200 12 oz bottles of Gatorade for hydration- or you can buy cans of powdered Gatorade; 10 cans of powdered milk (which can be used for baking); 100 pounds of flour; 200 tablets of Tylenol. Fill your freezer with bags of processed proteins. We would not normally recommend this, but those products have preservatives which will allow them to keep better then just freezing meats and chickens unless you have a food storage system. 

Here is the good news: we are protected here in South Florida, because warm temperatures kill the virus. You can expect to see infections in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle and Portland); Chicago and Milwaukee; New York and Boston. Places in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and the South should have lower rates of infections. 
Furthermore, many people infected with Covid-19 report mild flu symptoms, with a recovery in less than a month. By the summer, this will be a fading memory (remember the almost-war with Iran last month?) and by this time next year we should be seeing the widespread use of vaccinations and anti-viral treatments...AND most significantly...
A new Baby at 10 Downing Street.  

THE HEART OF DEMOCRACY

Date line: London: 

Rumpole is in the heart of democracy today. The United Kingdom. It is a country that does not put immigrant children in cages and it is a country where its prime minister does not threaten nuclear annihilation to other countries, as our own president did on Monday to Afghanistan (news coverage here)  in the same oval office occupied by giants like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt,  Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt,Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Wilson Reagan.  

Just moments ago, around 7:10 a.m. Miami time, 10 past noon here in London,  as Rumpole downed a pint at the Dog and Duck, came the news that Boris Johnson will be the next PM of England. 

A long history of tradition will now go into motion and it will end with the new PM taking residence at 10 Downing Street by tonight. No interregnum here. 

The current PM will soon be making her way to Buckingham Palace where Theresa May will meet with Queen Elizabeth and tender her resignation. May will recommend to  her Majesty that Boris Johnson he invited to meet with the Queen and that the Queen should ask him to become PM. 

Soon thereafter, Mr. Johnson will receive an invitation to meet with the Queen and in a private meeting she will ask him to be her next Prime Minister and to form a government. Based on what we know of this extraordinary transfer of power, Queen Elizabeth will talk about all the PMs she has known and worked with, Winston Spencer Churchill being her first. 

Johnson will accept the invitation from his Queen to form a government,  and Britain, who once again is standing almost alone in a world of darkness, no help from the United States, will show the world how a true democracy acts. There will be no chants of "lock her up" for former PM Theresa May. Mr. Johnson will not denigrate his political opponents by threatening to send them from whence they came. 

And England, and not the United States, is once again a shining beacon of democracy in a world where the United States has forfeited any pretense of a right to lead.

Democracies do not put foreign infants and children in cages. 

Democracies do not threaten nuclear annihiliation of other countries. 

Deomcracies do not threaten to prosecute and jail members of the opposition party. 

Democracies welcome those who come to them seeking freedom and a better life. 

England, this small island, once again stands almost alone, proud, resolute, indefatigable, and free.