A misbegotten, warped freedom obsession is killing us.

And before @FoxNews and its junkies come after me, let me preempt the response I know you're preparing.

No, your ancestors didn't fight in wars for the freedom to cough on people.

You embarrass your ancestors.

Now I've delayed your snappy comeback by three hours. Go back to thinking!

These are end-of-empire videos. If we somehow save ourselves and come back, they will be forgotten eventually. But if we continue to decay and fall, these will be studied in history classes in some society saner than ours.

Freedom is wasted on people who think coughing on people is freedom. I had a conversation with @hari on @PBS @AmanpourCoPBS. Check it out.