Today marks the fourth anniversary of the Coronavirus being formally declared a national emergency here in the United States and to be frank, time surely flew by!
The picture below, replete with yours truly sporting a mask that a doctor friend said was upside down when he saw it on Facebook, was taken in my old office right before I and my staff conducted our first jail video conference after the courts, jails, and prisons in Florida all shut down to limit the spread of the disease.
Thinking back, the world instantly changed in so many ways that we could not have possibly imagined two months earlier on New Year's Day 2020; four years later, I admit that I am still shaken by the death and despair that loomed like a horror that year, the next two, and in some ways, even to this very moment.
In fact, I am secure enough to admit that I was totally scared because I was isolated from almost my entire family and concerned that if I contracted the disease— being hypertensive with a history of asthma dating back to 1974—that my days were surely numbered! 😢
Making matters worse (in my mind) were early reports that those suffering in hospital units and hallways (due to overcrowding) with Covid-19 were seriously struggling to breathe due to heavy phlegm build up on their lungs; I surely KNEW what that felt like because I spent a week in Walter Reed Hospital on my eighth birthday due to a severe asthma attack, and I spent 18 days in Tallahassee Memorial Hospital after my lung collapsed late in my junior season of high school football. So trust, I didn't want to experience ANY of that again, especially considering that Covid patients were unable to see even their closest relatives and friends as they lay dying 😢.
But in the midst of despair, there was hope; the chats with close kin and friends who are just as close (if not closer) than kin via telephone, Zoom, What'sApp, or social media, literally helped me to survive.
But not all was a net negative; the introverted part of me kinda dug the anonymity that mask wearing gave when I was out in public to buy essential items, and the days of almost nothing to do due to the courts grinding to a halt allowed me to rest and enjoy social media events like the “Club Quarantine” sets thrown by legendary DJ D-Nice—and the daily lunchtime music sets by my Morehouse/Kappa Brother, the legendary “DJ Tron” Roberts.
I also expanded my political punditry during the quarantine, starting with a July 2020 interview of U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), and an October discussion with U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) for the Christian Recorder, the official news organ for the AME Church. That same year, I worked out my own stress and anxieties each week by creating the Hobbservation Point show that at its height, had nearly 40k viewers during our virtual election watch party on Facebook!
Lest I forget the Steel Sharpens Steel Facebook show—the brainchild of my Kappa Brother Tom Cunningham—one that only got better once we added Sharon Lettman-Hicks and Joy Stephens to the lineup (below)!
So while the pandemic remains an unforgettable reminder of the vicissitudes that define each of our Earthly experiences, I remain grateful for coming out of it alive—wiser, humbler, and hopeful that we will never see another medical scourge that leads to the deaths of millions worldwide!
Ol’ Hobbs and Lil’ Hobbs were all masked up for an August 2020 trip to her pediatrician…
Further, my prayers remain with the souls of all who died from this wretched disease—and I continue to pray for all of us who struggled (or still struggle) due to the mental strain that the quarantine and everything associated with it, from deaths and familial/job losses, to skyrocketing prices and everything else in between!
And I pray, fervently and sincerely, that perhaps those of us who remember what is was like before the pandemic will return to some level of normalcy before we close our own eyes for the very last time on this Earth…
SIX TRUMP COUNTS DISMISSED—DOZENS REMAIN
Earlier today, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six counts against former President Donald Trump et alia in the Georgia based case alleging that the current Republican presidential nominee and 19 co-defendants illegally sought to overturn the election results in that state back in 2020.
In his ruling, Judge McAfee held:
“These six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail…They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitution and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.” Judge McAfee
Duly noted, your Honor…
Per usual, I noticed a number of headlines and/or comments on social media suggesting that Judge McAfee’s ruling is a bad sign for the Atlanta District Attorney’s office, one led by DA Fani Willis (the embattled prosecutor who awaits the Court's ruling on defense motions to disqualify her from the case due to a conflict of interest).
Court observers like Ol’ Hobbs are anxiously waiting to see whether DA Fani Willis (above) will continue to lead the Trump Election RICO case…
But premature conclusions that the Atlanta case will be won by Trump fail to consider that four of Trump's co-defendants have already plead guilty—a fact that informs me that those ones will likely testify for the prosecution to save their own necks in a RICO case that is intact and maintains dozens of counts against Trump and the remaining defendants.
As I always caution, Mr. Trump is presumed innocent—as are his co-defendants, the Constitution deems such to be true. But with regards to what we already know about this matter, my opinion is that the worst evidence against Trump is his very own recorded telephone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger encouraging him to “find the votes”—long after the votes were already lawfully counted in favor of then Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Ergo, if this case remains in the hands of DA Willis—and the venue remains in heavily Black Fulton County—Trump will find the legal hill that he must climb to be extremely steep—if not impossible to scale, due to his own big mouth.
Stay tuned…
"Due to his own big mouth." 😆 Nice ending. Yes, I'm still finding it hard to believe that people don't understand the severity of covid, especially in the early weeks of figuring out how to treat it. As the local German populace was made to walk through the concentration camps so they could not claim denial, maybe we needed the same with covid. Let us hope more intelligent days are ahead.
Those images of deceased Covid victims stacked up inside refrigerated trucks in NYC and on the streets and sidewalks, are forever burned in my mind. The uncertainty and fear was palpable. I did experience kindness from friends who shopped for me when I was temporarily immunocompromised.