Juggling Insanity In Israel And China

JUGGLING: Remember when Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill could laugh together at the end of the day?  This is not the Flying Karamazov Brothers, but gives them a good run for their rubles.

INSANITY: Set your DVR to record The Definition of Insanity tonight on PBS.  Or start — right now — with this one-minute story of a Harvard guy running naked through the streets . . . and how it sparked Miami’s Jail Diversion and Criminal Mental Health programs that are becoming models for the nation.

ISRAEL:  Two minutes on their response to the virus:

And two minutes more on their tele-medicine.  (Thanks, Alan!)

CHINA:  I attended CovidCon yesterday, a virtual two-afternoon conference organized by the Oslo Freedom Forum, focused on the interplay of the virus and authoritarianism.

Particularly enlightening, I thought — and yours free for the watching — were Session 1 Censorship In China: The Pandemic Spark (starts nine-and-a-half minutes in) and Session 3, Communist Party: Savior Or Culprit?

Near the end of that one, presented by a Chinese dissident, his screen went blank (he later rejoined via cell phone) as, apparently, the authorities disabled his computer.

Session 2, was really good, also, as was Session 6: What the Pandemic Has Revealed about Chinese Economic Dominance.  (Spoiler alert: they ain’t won the game just yet.)

The final session, about the potential for purposely designing a virus far more lethal than COVID-19 — though a little off topic — destroyed any chance of my ever sleeping peacefully again.

I don’t know what’s on store for today, but you can watch free starting at noon East Coast time.

Wash your hands.