It struck me recently that I didn’t really have a strong view one way or the other about whether Elon Musk should acquire Twitter. Mostly because I didn’t really know what Twitter had become. But, one thing I do know is that Twitter really is not anything like what I envision when I see the term, “town square.”

Traveling in Italy, one has the chance to view town squares – called piazzas – that matter to a community. They are places where people visit regularly to see friends over a meal, perhaps even a bit of Italian wine. Trust is built among people who find themselves discussing issues that matter in their lives. Those of us who come as tourists are tolerated as consumers of food and beverages; and, in some cases, we probably provide a form of entertainment to the locals who willingly strike up a conversation.

Historians suggest this centuries-old approach to exchanging views and enjoying the company of others found its way early into America when William Penn commissioned Thomas Holme in  1682 to design the city of Philadelphia. The rectangular grid pattern contained four small public squares, a concept designed by Penn and Holme to ensure citizens would have open places to walk, gather and engage with one another.

What caught my attention most in the current discussion about Elon Musk’s appetite for acquiring Twitter was his description of what he thinks it is:  “Twitter is the digital town square, where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated” says Mr. Musk.

Sorry, I just don’t think the designers of Italian cities or the team of Penn and Holme could embrace such a notion if they came back to see what Twitter is today. You just do not come to know and trust people with short bursts of phrases. You do not build personal relationships; in fact, Twitter seems one of the most impersonal of social media.

So, that brings me to the question of what is Twitter?

It was only 16 years ago, on March 21, 2006 that Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sent his first tweet. Today, Twitter claims around 400 million users around the globe. We in the United States continue to be the country with the largest group of users. But, of the 206 million global users who reportedly engage with Twitter daily, only 25% of those are in the US.

Another metric for Twitter relates to “monetizable daily active users.” These are users who login in a manner where Twitter can send them ads; or, in other words Twitter knows who they are. There are 187 million of these folks on the planet with 37 million here in the US, or just over 10% of the nation’s population.

 If a thoughtful individual were to sit with someone and visit about their lives and, as Elon Musk says, debate “the future of humanity,” would not that individual want to know how much they had in common with those engaged in the debate? I answer yes to this question!

Here are a few interesting and recent compilations about who is engaged with Twitter…

 With regard to gender, 68% are thought to be men…leaving less than 1/3^rd women.

In terms of age, 59.2% using Twitter are reported to be between 25 and 49 years old.  Twitter users over 50 years old account for just over 17% of users.

When asked to check off reasons for using Twitter, the most often checked reasons were to get the news (48%) and entertainment (48%). From these two top reasons, it dropped to 34% who use Twitter to stay in touch with friends and family.

As an aside, these numbers validate the concern a lot of us have about the propensity for younger people to get their news on Twitter and other social media platforms…but, that is another story.

However, if going to Twitter for the news is one of the highest priorities users have, you would expect news organizations to have secured a great number of followers. On the list of the highest Twitter users ranked by number of followers, CNN has 61 million. That earns them a 15^th place.

Here is what those who study these things recently found when it comes to worldwide followers (numbers in millions):

Barack Obama	129.9
Justin Bieber	113.9
Katy Perry	108.7
Rihanna	102.8
Christian Ronaldo	93.5
Taylor Swift	88.6
Ariana Grande	84
Lady Gaga	83.6
Ellen DeGeneres	77.9
YouTube	73.1
Narendra Modi	70.6
Kim Kardashian West	70
Selena Gomez	65
Justin Timberlake	63.4
CNN Breaking News	61.2
Twitter	59.5
Elon Musk	59.3
Britney Spears	55.5
Bill Gates	55.3
Demi Lovato	54.6

All I can suggest is that if Twitter really is the place “…where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” I am just not sure Twitter brings to the table the key players in the debate who I would wish to see selected for the task.

I still am a bit ambivalent about Musk’s acquisition of a company that has built a global platform for exchanging ideas. It has been a public company now with shareholders willing to sell. It is not a public utility.  Acknowledging that the numbers are large when you look at millions of people engaged on a national and global basis through Twitter, still other social media platforms have greater engagement.

What now seems most troubling is the intent of the new owner and how he hopes to raise the bar on Twitter, regardless of its limitations, connecting millions of willing information consumers who have relinquished many of the elements that have traditionally been part of trusted face to face conversation about news, weather and sports, not to mention the future of humanity.

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

Turns out, January brought a health care challenge….let me start with the conclusion: I feel and am just fine!

After an enjoyable trip in early January through Austin for a meeting with my Redbird Flight Simulations colleagues and a visit to the California wine country, I returned home to Easton. The day after returning, a Thursday, a bad head cold was enough to take suggest a Rapid COVID test would be in order.

It was positive. So was the PCR test the next day recommended by my physician.

I realize for way too many people the experience is not as favorable as mine. However, my head cold symptoms disappeared as fast as they came upon me over the course of the weekend.

No one I know of and was in contact with tested positive. Where did I get this? I really don’t know. And, while it’s easy to say commercial flying or a big airport were likely locations for exposure, my symptoms came only a day after I returned.

What I found most interesting in going through this was discovering the very professional approach my physician and his staff took as they efficiently addressed the situation. They explained they have a protocol and that likely my symptoms would be not much more than a bad head cold BECAUSE I had both vaccinations and a booster.

While talking informally with a doctor outside my house one day, he asked how I was doing and I explained I was in day 5 and really had no symptoms. His response: “…that’s pretty typical.”

I thought a lot about that. For two years, we’ve been collectively traumatized about the risk of contracting COVID. Now, for those of us who are vaccinated it is “typical” to experience no more than cold symptoms if the virus finds us.

As I said at the beginning, many people including those who have been vaccinated, have had more challenging experiences than I. But, to face this pandemic with the medical science now available makes the experience far more survivable with only modest effects.

The truth is, “typical” is a whole lot better than “traumatic.”

If this sounds like a message to make sure you’ve been vaccinated, it is!

Be well!

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

Suddenly, things are different.

It’s not just that life is being lived for many without the mask. People are increasingly enjoying social engagements in face to face settings again. And, this is happening with considerably less risk, at least for many of us.

In a quest for normalcy, we need to remember that many still are without the protection provided by being fully vaccinated. Whether for lack of opportunity or by personal choice, more than half of the U.S. population is not fully vaccinated.

The protection of a vaccination varies by state. In Massachusetts over half are fully vaccinated, but in other states, 60% are not.

More discouraging, recent data shows that worldwide, only about 6% are fully vaccinated.

And, there are new variants of the COVID-19 virus appearing in Great Britain where they are now considering tightening restrictions.

So, this is not over.

While there is very good news about the wide availability regarding the supply of vaccine, it is discouraging that the demand for vaccinations has fallen.

I know people are exercising their rights when they elect not to be fully vaccinated. However, I think it is wrong to just shrug our shoulders and say, well it’s their choice.

Consider the diseases for which vaccinations are recommended today by the Centers for Disease Control:

Chickenpox (Varicella)
Diphtheria
Flu (Influenza)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)
HPV (Human Papillomavirus)
Measles
Meningococcal
Mumps
Pneumococcal
Polio (Poliomyelitis)
Rotavirus
Rubella (German Measles)
Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
Tetanus (Lockjaw)
Whooping Cough (Pertussis )

Would we shrug and suggest it’s just too bad if some elect not to get vaccinated to avoid these ailments?

Imagine if we were to read that over half the population was not vaccinated against Polio.

I for one look forward to enjoying a summer different and more social than the one past. But, I also will seek to find the best ways to encourage friends to look favorably at a vaccine for COVID-19 since it has not gone away and poses well known risks.

Like the decision makers who chose to act either without knowing the facts or with a disregard for the facts, we all can know the truth around COVID-19 and the vaccines that are fighting it. We all need to make wise, fact-based decisions.

This summer, live life a lot…but, get the shot!

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

Here’s more from a recent NYT report

Today’s media reports that Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ousted from her leadership post by fellow House Republicans. I suspect this is anything but career-ending. In truth, her colleagues probably provided a proverbial booster rocket to her remarkable career.

Many also reported that this was about two different views of how the Republican Party should engage former president Trump. It is really about two very different views of one’s role as a leader in Congress stemming from two very different paths.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy from Bakersfield, California and Congresswoman Liz Cheney from Casper, Wyoming are about the same age. One has a well-developed world view while the other’s life experience has been centered on the U.S. Capital. One has few personal options, although he is clearly seeking to rise to the Speaker’s chair one day. The other is suddenly free to pursue many different options, certainly including but not limited to even higher office.

Consider these paths.

Kevin McCarthy was born in 1965 in Bakersfield, California. Twenty-two years later, he found himself on the staff of then Congressman Bill Thomas, running the Congressman’s district office in Bakersfield. He ran for office first in 2000, winning a seat as a trustee of the Kern County College District. From there, it was onto an immediate campaign, winning a seat in the California Assembly, representing the citizens of Bakersfield in 2002. That soon lead to a successful campaign sending McCarthy to House of Representatives in 2006.

Liz Cheney, born in 1966, began life in Madison, Wisconsin. She attended grade school in Casper, Wyoming while her father campaigned for Congress. She attended high school in McLean, Virginia. She went to Colorado College graduating in 1988 having completed a thesis on the “Evolution of Presidential War Powers.” She was involved with the US Agency for International Development from 1989-93. Then, in 1996 graduated from Chicago Law School; after which, she entered the White & Case law firm to practice international law.  She went on to become a Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State for Assistance to the Former Soviet Union. During her career, she served as a USAID officer in embassies located in Budapest and Warsaw. In 2002, she was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. She entered a US Senate race in Wyoming in 2014 but withdrew. Then, came back to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 2016 with 60% of the general election vote. In 2020, she won her primary contest for her House seat with 73% of the vote and 69% of the general election vote.

One of my long-held concerns about congressional staffers seeking the office of a retiring Member of Congress for whom they served is that they lack much of a world view. While knowing several to be good people, still their life experience revolves around the political maneuvering in the nation’s Capital and so judgements on policy and principal tend to be more self-directed.

Today, as the Kevin McCarthy has managed to push Liz Cheney from the leadership position she held, he must believe he has addressed a problem about which he had grown weary. Namely, Liz Cheney refused to let the truth about the recent election be denied. And, if you listen to her short but thoughtful address on the floor of the House, you hear how her world view, shaped by personal involvement in countries around the world seeking freedom contributed to her thinking. To view her remarks, click this link.  For Kevin McCarthy, forcing her out of this #3 leadership position represents a huge penalty, because his life experience is a long climb up a political ladder since being a young district staffer for a Congressman in Bakersfield. 

The reality is quite different. Liz Cheney is now, in fact, free to do and say pretty much what she wishes to do and say. Her career which has been known to many in Washington, is now something that has her on a national stage. If her past engagement suggests anything, it is that she will rise from this experience to even greater leadership positions. Maybe this means a greater role in government. Maybe she will find a role in a nonprofit organization with an important global mission. Maybe she will discover opportunities in the legal field or business. Certainly, what she will not do is waiver from her principled views and the courage behind her effective expression of those views.

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

Could a mid-air collision involving two commercial aircraft provide insights into what really needs to happen to improve the performance of law enforcement officers throughout the country?

I think so. In fact, I’m pretty sure if we fail to embrace a successful model, efforts to reduce difficult choices and bad decisions by police officers in the name of “reform” will accomplish little and the stories of the past few months will be repeated. Those who seek to improve police decision making could learn a great deal from what followed a tragic plane crash 65 years ago.

That crash led to the creation of what became the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the National Transportation Safety Board. Today, we should consider a Federal Law Enforcement Administration and a National Law Enforcement Incident Evaluation Board.

Let’s start with the story taken from an excellent article in Time magazine that appeared last September (to read the article click here).

In the late morning hours of June 30, 1956, a TWA aircraft and a United aircraft collided over the Grand Canyon while flying at 21,000 feet. Seriously damaged, both aircraft crashed with all 128 people aboard the two planes perishing. It took days to recover the remains and produced horrific news stories for weeks.

Shocking as this crash of modern commercial aircraft was at the time, the aviation safety record then was far from what it is today. While we experienced a recent decade free of a single commercial airline crash in the US, in the seven years between 1948 and 1955 there were 30 mid-air collisions involving commercial aircraft.

In many ways, the 1956 collision above the Grand Canyon changed everything. Congress passed legislation in 1957 leading to the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board. Interestingly, Dwight Eisenhower was President. Sam Rayburn was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And, Lyndon Johnson was the Majority Leader of the US Senate. Working together, these leaders created two new organizations and, with a very committed group of stakeholders, changed the way accidents were tracked, information was shared, pilots were trained, and aircraft manufacturing was conducted.

These agencies had worked for a decade before I began flying aircraft in 1967, and a safety culture was well in place and growing stronger throughout aviation. Central to this culture is the investigation of every accident to determine not only the cause, but to better understand how a similar situation could be prevented. Determined to improve – and needing to improve to attract people to commercial flight – all stakeholders had a role in the process from improving training to making airports and aircraft safer to operate.

No single action by Congress or mandate by leaders in The White House could have made flying safer. It took a strong commitment at the Federal and local levels to change the way the entire air transportation system functioned where safety requirements protected those who chose to fly. Today, the commitment remains and 7,500 commercial aircraft, over 20,000 business aircraft and another 150,000 general aviation aircraft operate at over 5,000 public use airports while maintaining the best safety records in decades.

So, just how should this inform discussions about policing?

Growing up in the Los Angeles area, I saw on every LAPD police car the phrase, “To Protect and Serve.” There is an interesting story about the creation of this motto that dates to a contest held at the Los Angeles Police Academy in 1955. The winning entry became a mantra for the Police Academy and eventually became the motto appearing on the LAPD seal placed on every vehicle.

Protecting the safety and property of the people served by a police department is certainly as worthy as improving safe flight operations. Indeed, failing to make good decisions in either category puts people at serious risk. However, while a national commitment to air safety brought remarkable improvement and a safer air transportation system, it is difficult to find a parallel commitment in law enforcement. In fact, the training and practices in law enforcement rest with nearly 18,000 individual agencies overseeing some 697,000 fulltime law enforcement officers.

Now, we are at a place where nothing less than a full realignment of how we certify, train and share incident information aimed at continuous improvement can build back the respect and trust in law enforcement that communities so desperately need. And, by the way, working to rebuild trust is as critical for the police as for the citizens they are there to protect.

I should say that I come to this conclusion as one who has great respect for law enforcement and many friends who are in or have worked in the law enforcement field. The individuals I’ve come to know while in government or in my community are some of the best people around. But, consider this, if only 1% are not making proper decisions, that amounts to nearly 7,000 people. Imagine, if just 1% of around 50,000 flight operations a day involved an aircraft that failed to land safely. That would amount to a tragic 500 flights day.

Just where do we start?

As we sought the safest air transportation system in the world, so too, we must seek the most effective law enforcement operations in world by meeting the highest standards of protecting and serving the people within every jurisdiction.

Perhaps the best news is that we do not have to research what works because there are outstanding examples across the land. What does need to happen is that those examples must become standards which are clearly defined in ways that allow law enforcement agencies and individual law enforcement officers to be certified as meeting national requirements.

There will always be the need for training locally with sensitivities to local and community situations. However, just as with flight training that occurs in places around the country, a national set of standards should require every law enforcement training program to meet specific requirements. And, as events occur which identify shortcomings, the training requirements must evolve.

What must happen is that the best practices for protecting and serving need to be the norm. This requires thoroughly understanding those best practices and sharing information throughout the law enforcement community about what those practices are, and finally training to achieve those practices.

I also think that just as we certify over 660,000 active pilots in the US, every law enforcement officer should be certified in a national system. We train, test and check the physical and mental condition of aircraft pilots because failure by a pilot puts lives at risk. Should we have less of a requirement for the men and women in law enforcement? Bad judgements put citizens lives at risk and fellow law enforcement officers at risk as well. We should be testing, certifying and tracking these nearly 700,000 individuals for their benefit and for the benefit of the people they serve.

About tracking. This is at the heart of safe aircraft operations. Aircraft operations are continuously tracked. Any anomaly is reported and investigated. This is not to find fault; it is to learn what exactly happened and then correct an issue not just with one aircraft or one pilot but throughout the entire air transportation system. And, if the anomaly involves pilot training, then the entire training community learns about it.

Again, as with safe and effective air transportation, an examination of anomalies in policing is critically important. The need to thoroughly understand how to make better decisions, properly use equipment and to recognize patterns of behavior are all as critical to effective police work as they are to safety in aviation.

Finally, just like the leaders in 1957 who moved so rapidly to put in place an approach to air safety that changed things for the better, we need that leadership now at the federal and local levels to recognize we are putting far too many people at risk today both in and out of uniform unless we commit to approaching the way we police the nation in a whole new manner. And, why not make that a way that has proven to work and delivered to the United States the safest, most efficient, while also the most complex, air transportation system in the world?

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

Curiosity got the better of me a few years ago as I kept noticing signs for “Chesapeake Country” on roads I traveled in the Easton area. Usually, these signs were affixed to a Scenic Byway sign.

Learning that advisors to the State of Maryland had suggested our region seek a stronger, more unified identity by channeling the famed book CHESAPEAKE by James A. Michener, I decided to travel the Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway. Now, I did not cover the entire 419 land miles that makeup the Byway. I did stop and visit the furthest point north, Chesapeake City; and, I traveled to the southernmost point, Crisfield. And, there were lots of interesting destinations in between.

Many of the storied places along Chesapeake Bay are quiet today, belying their bustling past and commercial centers. Still, they are attractive locations for boating and recreation; and, I found their history as enjoyable to learn as relaxing in their historic sites.

While we’ve enjoyed our Byway for over two decades, it was the Federal government that recognized the northern portion. Turns out the U.S. Department of Transportation ended the national recognition effort some years ago. So, the southern roads had just the state designation. And, while much is described online, not even some of the Visitor Centers I stopped at were all that clear about just what Chesapeake Country was all about.

Well, it is a new day. Not only is the Federal government now in the business again of recognizing special areas and special routes, recently they designated our Chesapeake Country Byway an All-American Road. This is the highest designation a road can receive from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

As one who traveled most of the route, I can attest to the special nature of this now All-American Road on the Eastern Shore. If the urge for safe and local travel exists in your household, you might just enjoy charting a course for yourself on the Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway. 

Thanks to the Spy and a series done a few years ago, you can even get a sense of just what awaits you:

Chesapeake City
Crisfield
Easton to Blackwater Refuge
Chestertown to Eastern Neck Refuge
Cambridge to Taylors Island

It was reported a few days ago that about 14% of us have received a COVID vaccination and just over 7% of the U.S. population have received two COVID vaccine shots. Clearly, there is a long way to go.

Just imagine if in this nation we right now had around 88,000 locations and 300,000 or more people trained to deliver medication to individuals. How much better might it be if these well trained and experienced people in these places were already delivering nearly 200 million doses of regular influenza vaccine to patients every year.

If this kind of system existed in the nation, wouldn’t you want to see it better utilized for the COVID vaccine?

Well, it does exist. We call the places pharmacies and the people pharmacists. Yes, in addition to the flu vaccines they administer, they fill almost 4.5 billion prescriptions every year. And, doing this requires a network of suppliers and distributors that call on pharmacies once, sometimes twice, a day to supply them with medicines of all kinds.

As stories are told about trying to get appointments, of long lines, of waiting lists too long to even accept more people, I keep wondering: why are governments building parallel systems to administer the COVID vaccine?

One of the strangest approaches I heard about is occurring in the nation’s Capital. The District of Columbia officials actually distribute the vaccine according to zip codes of their choosing. Friday is an “open” day for all zip codes so citizens can log in and play a lottery-like challenge to get a vaccination.

Imagine if this odd plan applied to asthma medication or heart medications…..sorry, we only fill prescriptions for this medication if you live in certain zip codes…strange, isn’t it!

Then, there are the positive – sort of – stories of how so many people don’t show up for a government run scheduled appointment that pharmacists have been known to come out into their store and ask people if they want a vaccination because the unused vaccine for the day would have to be destroyed.

Here, where I live in Maryland, I am getting invited with some frequency to travel for a couple of hours to an amusement park where I could wait in a long line for my vaccination.

Perhaps the policy makers had it right when they initially spoke of using retail pharmacies to provide vaccinations. Most people live near a pharmacy. The pharmacy receives medical products everyday through a proven system involving thousands of trucks and many thousands of trained people.

Do we really need to use stadiums, amusement parks and the nation’s military for distribution?

With many millions more doses of the vaccine delivered than there have been shots administered, we really should take a new look at how best to get the other 93% of the population their second shot, not to mention getting people their first shot. I think having the government in the middle of the distribution business is not helping. We have an incredible structure in place to receive medications from manufacturers and deliver those medications to the nation’s local pharmacies. Let’s use the system built over decades and allow the government focus on the distribution system they own and operate so well: the Postal Service.

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

 

Today, we are on the verge of seeing Congress pass legislation providing economic assistance for individuals and companies. The debate continued so long that the close observer most likely suffered from viewer fatigue.

But, there is something different going on. A bipartisan group of Senators worked at working together. And, by doing so, they achieved something many had forgotten possible. Namely, the number of Senators backing a relief package exceeded 51 and that meant the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, faced the possibility of having any one Senator call for a vote on the measure, something allowed by the Senate rules.

None of this just happened by accident. David Brooks tweeted that he was on a conference call discussing these developments with the the No Labels group (www.NoLabels.org) where negotiations on the $900 billion stimulus legislation were being discussed. He described a level of bipartisan enthusiasm not recently witnessed.

The measure does not provide liability limiting elements that Senate Leader McConnell said any bill must have before he brought it to a vote. But, the power of 51+ Senators caused a rare retreat by Leader McConnell. Bipartisanship and process finally worked to favor action over inaction.

It is being suggested that Leader McConnell moved off his objection because Senators in Georgia facing reelection are being hammered by voters for no stimulus package. This is surely true, but it had been true for some time. None the less, the political realities along with the vote count provided a path for McConnell’s endorsement.

Doing the big things that need to be done will require more not less of this. But, as the stimulus package moves to final passage, there is a sign of hope in the governing process.

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.