News Cycle Without End

There's no sense asking "What's new?" Bad news is the answer. More bad news.

I've always been the guy who picks up other's spirits. Normally, I see the humor in things.

These days, it is a struggle to see anything funny about this.

But maybe it's a phase -- I've had  couple setbacks lately so hopefully one day soon I'll return to a more optimistic mood.  For now, it's pretty much gloom and doom.


* WATCHDOG CALLS FOR PROBE OF POSTAL SERVICE 'VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS' A watchdog organization is calling for an investigation and hearings amid concerns about mail-in ballot “voter suppression tactics” by the Trump administration through the United States Postal Service. “Recent actions” taken by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by Donald Trump in May, “will delay prioritizing mail delivery,” which threatens voting by mail, warned a letter from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. [HuffPost]

* TRUMP WRITES A NEW CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL REPRESSION In his quest for reelection, Trump has gone hunting for demons. Federal law enforcement officers entered cities including Portland, Oregon; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; and Albuquerque at Trump’s direction, clearly meant to gin up clashes and disorder between federal officers and the groups disfavored by his core supporters in pursuit of “viral online content.” These conflicts are the reason Trump’s most fervent supporters elected him. These voters, most of them white, wanted him to erase the legacy of the first Black president and wage war against the unfavored groups haunting their minds. [HuffPost]

* San Francisco flattened the curve early. Now, coronavirus cases are surging. The Bay Area’s progressive residents generally have been inclined to follow the rules. But more than four months after the region put some of the nation’s first shelter-in-place orders in effect, it has become a cautionary tale for government and health officials (Washington Post)

* Meanwhile, in Downtown San Francisco, towers are closed,cafes are struggling and streets are eerily quiet. Will the district ever boom again? [The San Francisco Chronicle]

* More and more schools are abandoning plans for in-person classes. [The New York Times]

* Trump campaign fighting to make it harder for Democrats to vote by mail. (CNN)

* Trump’s attacks on mail voting prompt alarm over GOP turnout

State and local Republicans across the country fear they are falling dramatically behind in a practice that is expected to be key to voter turnout this year. (Washington Post)

* Manhattan prosecutors on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss President Donald Trump's lawsuit challenging a subpoena for his financial records, emphasizing that their investigation extends beyond hush-money payments and pointing to public reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct" at the Trump Organization. (CNN)

* Trump criticizes Birx for the first time after she issues coronavirus warnings (CNN) 

* When Covid Subsided, Israel Reopened Its Schools. It Didn’t Go Well. (New York Times)

* With Jobless Aid Expired, Trump Sidelines Himself in Stimulus Talks.(New York Times)

***

So much for the news.

Only a few days into the baseball season, some teams are having too many Covid cause to continue games. Two teams in particular, the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals, have cancelled games for a while. It's not clear whether the season will continue. The two best teams appear to be the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

If it can't continue, that will be a ,major disappointment to sports fans, hungry for some action. The NBA plans to complete the basketball playoffs and has all the players living in a bubble in Florida for the duration.

Even though the team I root for, the San Francisco Giants, is struggling, watching their games has been a welcome respite from the news. My own experience with sports as an athlete is limited. A sickly childhood cut short my little league play.

I competed in pickup games in college and later played 29 years for the Michigan Mafia, a coed softball team in the Bay Area Media Softball League. That was by far the highlight of my athletic career.

But I was a sportswriter in college and for a while after. And from time to time I wrote about sports, especially the Giants for California Magazine, 7x7 and KQED.

These days, watching games played before empty stadiums, with the TV announcers not in attendance for road games but watching monitors back home, is surreal.

Then again all of life now is surreal. Is any of this actually happening?

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby, I
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
Clouds high over the rainbow, makes all your dreams come true

Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me 
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That's where you'll find me, oh

Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Oh why, oh why can't I? 
I see trees of green and red roses too 
I'll watch then bloom just for me and you 
And I think to myself
Oh, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, clouds of white
The brightness of day, the dark, say goodnight
And I think to myself
Oh, what a wonderful world

-- Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg

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