Thomas Coughlan

Joe reported driving to Fenway Park in Boston on Easter weekend with his sons to see the Red Sox season opener. He concluded from his trip that schools, businesses and buildings were all closed, and that this was the fault of Governor Charlie Baker, whom he placed at the opposite end of the spectrum from Governor Ron DeSantis of wide-open Florida. Joe suggested that perhaps Charlie Baker was afraid of teachers' unions, and that the easy path to reopening schools and businesses was N95 masks and six feet of distancing. It is ironic that Joe made these remarks on April 5, the day that Governor Baker, against considerable resistance, reopened in-person education for most elementary pupils (N95 masks, of course, are in short supply, and CDC has recently lowered in-school social distancing to three feet). Although indoor gatherings are still modestly limited, Massachusetts has largely been up and running. Whether because of willful ignorance, or eagerness to support his point, Joe has caused this Democrat to give him a little extra distance.