The nature of the government's surveillance on me and my family is forensically proven and not subject to legitimate question.
If you've read my New York Times bestseller 'Stonewalled', you know that I'm a fan of an intellectual exercise I call the Substitution Game. It involves comparing how the press treats similar events or people depending on how the reporter or news organization feels about the issue or the newsmaker.
Everyone would like to believe that anyone possibly exposed to a serious contagious disease would comply with self-quarantine requirements. But history teaches a different lesson.
I think very few of us have a thick bold line on every given topic that falls neatly into the box of a chosen political party or figure.
Early coronavirus fatality rates as often cited may appear worse than they actually are for a majority of the public because they do not include the many undiagnosed, asymptomatic cases; and because they do not reflect the dramatically elevated risk for the elderly compared to the rest of the population.
Obviously, if I cared about what people said about my reporting, I wouldn't be a good journalist.
When analysis and opinion are invited, various viewpoints should be represented. Allegations of political blame, when they occur, should be reasonably challenged on all sides, as good journalism requires.
Formerly well-respected news organizations and experienced national journalists are making the sorts of mistakes that aren't tolerated in journalism schools. When their mistakes are corrected at all, it's with little seeming regret.
We Americans like to believe we live in a free country with the right to use the justice system to ensure that government abuses are stopped or redressed. That's far from the truth, and it's an awful thing to experience first-hand.
As reporters set aside their traditional role as fact seekers and veer into advocacy, they find themselves on a slippery journalistic slope.
Many workplaces that never before offered telecommuting have had to do so in the face of the coronavirus. Once systems are established and practiced, both government and private employers will institute more telecommuting options.
With soap and hand sanitizer in high demand, many Americans will continue with their germ-fighting habits after coronavirus. They will wash their hands more frequently and implement 'social distancing' on a regular basis, particularly during flu and cold season.
In fact, by Democrats pursuing the strategy of attacking everything President Trump does as the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it stuff, their criticism has just become white noise to many Americans.
A wiretap allows government agents to collect, listen to, read, rifle through and store emails, snail mail, phone calls, text messages, photographs, bank records - you name it.
There's a tendency in the news media, on the part of some managers, to censor or block stories that don't fall in line with the message they want sent to the viewers.
I'm not a conservative. I'm not a liberal.
I really am one of those people who are mixed on many issues and can see many legitimate sides.
There's nothing like getting caught flat-footed in an emergency to convince us to better prepare for the next one.
One death is too many - and with careful management and a lot of luck, the coronavirus sweeping the globe will be curbed, in terms of illness and loss of life.
Unless you believe that politicians and agencies are above a money grab, especially if it can be justified under the auspices of a public health emergency, then you should favor prudent, careful allocation of resources with accountability on the front end and follow-up after the fact.
