I spent many years walking beaches seeking little slivers of polished seaggass. White, green, blue, bluegreen, brown, amber, even red, they are the remainders of bottles and other glass objects left by the tides after salt, sun, sand, waves and time have transformed castaways into art objects.
My collection, which ultimately contained thousands of pieces, filled several large jars and bottles. Eventually, I started giving them away to my grandchildren and a few friends. Like everything else you collect in life, you can't take it with you.
Walking next to the surf for hours at a time was also for me a time to think, mostly about problems that have no solutions. But walk I did all over beaches in the U.S., Mexico, South America, Asia, the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Australia, on islands and the edges of continents of almost every ocean on the planet.
I collected more than seaglass at beaches -- driftwood, shells, stones, bobbers -- anything that drifted in from the sea. I once found a note in a bottle. Another time, bags of marijuana. On a few occasions, coins, some quite old.
All of the collections are mostly gone now, like all of my possessions. Only the memories of finding such treasures remain.
***
But the news must go on.
* U.N. Says Virus Causing ‘Largest Disruption of Education Ever’ -- The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the “Save the Future” campaign to address the educational inequities caused by the pandemic. (New York Times)
* With Census Count Finishing Early, Fears of a Skewed Tally Rise -- With 60 million households still uncounted, the bureau said it would wrap up the survey a month early. Critics called it a bald move to politicize the count in favor of Republicans. (New York Times)
* Mississippi governor orders statewide mask mandate (CNN)
* From Outsider to Insider: Karen Bass’s Unexpected Journey to Power -- At every step in her political career, the California congresswoman had to be coaxed to run for a higher office. Now she’s a top contender to be Joe Biden’s running mate. (New York Times)
* Virgin Atlantic files for bankruptcy in the U..S. (CNN)
* Three US Defense Department officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication that the massive explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday were an "attack," contradicting an earlier claim from President Donald Trump. (CNN)
* White House, Democrats agree to try to reach deal on unemployment, evictions by end of week (Washington Post)
* The Federal Clampdown On Portland Shows Just How Fragile Our Democracy Is (FiveThirtyEight)
***
Okay, let's take this straight on. There are worries among Democrats, some Republicans and neutral observers that Trump is trying to rig the election. If so, it wouldn't be the first time in American history that this has happened.
From everything I've read, the ballots, mail-in or otherwise, cannot really be affected by a nefarious scheme to lodge fake votes, falsified ballots, or foreign interference.
The danger is more profound. It is possible that a combination of real or perceived grievances by a large minority of citizens could lead to a replication of the 2016 result, i.e., Trump losing the popular vote again but winning the Electoral College.
This is not, of course, the scenario that worries the President. This is what he hopes will happen. If it does, you can't really call that a rigged election because that is how our system works.
In summary, there is virtually no chance the election will be rigged in favor of Biden; it is far more likely that the candidate with fewer votes prevails. I don't care which party wins in that way; it's an insult to democracy.
It's one of the ways this is an "imperfect union" that needs all of us who truly care about America to marshall the will to change. A minority should never rule.
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