Let us consider why the Donald Trump White House is currently considering detonating a nuclear weapon. It would be the first “test” of a nuke since 1992 and is clearly intended to send a message that those weapons sitting around in storage will be available for use. The testing is in response to alleged development of low-yield tactical nuclear devices by Beijing and Moscow, a claim that is unsupported by any evidence and which is likely a contrivance designed to suggest that there is strong leadership coming out of Washington at a time when the Administration has been faulted for its multiple failures in combatting the coronavirus.

Just when we were ready to move on to the next step in “Tips and Tools,” we have a public health pandemic with politicians and pundits predicting the whole world of work and popular activity will change. Social distancing will mean the end of meetings. Work will be remote or at home, rather than office based. Fewer will travel and the whole world will zoom into the future as masked marauders six feet apart. No one can doorknock. People won’t open their doors.

Trust me on this: not in our neighborhoods.

Drive into almost any low-moderate-income community, and I challenge you to count the masks and make a note where you happen to see social distancing. It’s just not happening in the same way. There is a real racial, age, and class divide here that is starkly visible.

Bus service for example in many cities require masks now to ride public transit. In fact, talking to the head of a regional transit authority yesterday, he said maybe half of the riders in his majority African-American city was wearing masks. Talking to the bus drivers’ union leadership, they were clear that their drivers were in no position to enforce the decree. They are drivers, not police.

This summer, WCRS FM will celebrate ten years of broadcasting from the Free Press Carriage House in Olde Towne East. While the physical WCRS Studios have been closed for the last two months, there is reason to celebrate how far WCRS has come from its humble beginnings.

WCRS FM began broadcasting in 2007 at 102.1 FM, a low-power frequency which was accessible in the East and Northeast Parts of the Columbus Metropolitan area, and translated on 98.3 FM, a translator frequency reaching the Central parts of Columbus.

When describing what the programming that WCRS has to offer, then-Simply Living Director Marilyn Welker said in a 2008 Short North Gazette article on the purpose of WCRS, “There is such a lack of voices of different perspectives relative to community service and ethnic issues and cultural celebration. It’s not on the Columbus radio stations.”

One of the most important political metrics is the approval-disapproval ratings of public officials.

The greater the approval percentage the more likely an officeholder will get re-elected.  

The greater the approval percentage of a non-officeholder the more likely that person will get elected to public office.

Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has earned skyrocketing approval ratings for his swift and decisive actions to protect the public during the pandemic caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Call him Mr. Popularity.

Public opinion surveys have put DeWine's approval rating in the 80-89 percent range, the highest in the country among governors and double the approval rating of Republican President Donald Trump. Interestingly, every governor in the country has an approval rating in their state higher than the President's.

DeWine looks like a lock for re-election in 2022 if he seeks a second term. If he chooses to "go political" in the fall and campaign for other Republicans in Ohio, even Trump,  he will be a powerful influential force because of his popularity.