She Is Listening

Never previously has the lame-duck transition period between presidents seemed so interminable! Why do we have this tradition anyway? It seems like Trump is intent on doing so much harm in his two months left in office that the Biden administration will basically come into office in full disaster mode, focused only on cleaning up the devastation.

Our wounded democratic system is very much like a patient in the ICU when you just can't tell whether he's going to make it.

I was there myself, in a coma, yet I could hear the nurses talking about my chances when they assumed I couldn't hear them. "There's nothing more we can do for him," they said. That may have been the case but there was something I could do about the matter.

In the same manner, I'm certain democracy can hear us talking about her. And talk we must, on whatever platform is available to us. She's listening.

The rights we've taken for granted are both fragile and strong -- they flicker like Tinkerbell's these days but they are in fact as resilient as our will to fight for them.

Consider the dying patient. Talk to her. Is there anything more we can do for her? Again, she is listening.

***

Yesterday I reviewed the advice I'd given recently to a friend recovering from a stroke, and to a friend who is broken-hearted, and to a friend waiting for a phone call that will probably never come.

During the night, with its inevitable tossing and turning, a truth revisited me -- I have been/am all of those people. I'm recovering from a stroke, I'm chronically heart-broken, I'm awaiting a call that won't come. So those words of advice for others were also words of self-comfort.

Maybe the best advice I've given anyone lately is to not underestimate the effect you may have on others. We all influence each other whether we realize it in the moment or not.

Just since writing these essays here on Facebook, I've heard from people who have not been in touch with me in years. Several have told me I was their "mentor," and that surprised me. I didn't know they felt that way.

Maybe that's another lesson. Tell people what they mean to you; don't assume they know how you feel. 

I underestimated the effect I was having; they didn't tell me. Together we conspired to preserve a secret. But as you age, particularly after a brush with death, you learn that there is no time left for secrets.

***

Okay, it's time for the overnight news. 

* President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the Department of Homeland Security official who had rejected Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud. Trump announced on Twitter he was firing Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and directly tied it to Krebs' statement that said there "is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." (CNN)

* New Virus, Old Enemy -- The U.S. military’s past battles with Infectious disease have helped it fight off coronavirus. (NYT)

* Trump digs in on baseless election claims even as legal options dwindle (WashPo)

* Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told The Washington Post that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked him if he could toss out mail-in ballots in counties with higher rates of signature-matching issues.  (HuffPo)

*  North Dakota had the highest virus mortality rate of any state or even any other country in the world last week, with South Dakota ranked third-worst in the world. Both states also have the lowest rates of face mask use in the U.S. [Reuters]

* Trump will have to pay $7.9 million if he wants a statewide recount of unofficial results in Wisconsin showing him losing to Democrat Joe Biden by about 20,500 votes. That is four times higher than what the recount cost four years ago, a cost increase that elections officials said was driven by expenses related to conducting a recount during the coronavirus pandemic. [AP]

* Over the weekend, reports of empty shelves prompted grocers to reinstate limits on buying items like hand soap and toilet paper. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

* Five people were charged in the toppling of a Junipero Serra statue in San Rafael amid protests over the colonization of California and the displacement and killings of Native Americans. San Francisco’s archbishop applauded the charges. [Religion News Service]

* Hate Crimes in U.S. Rose to Highest Level in More Than a Decade in 2019 (NYT)

* Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest serving Republican on the Senate, has tested positive for Covid-19 (WSJ)

* Medical groups urge Trump to cooperate with Biden and ‘save countless lives’ (WashPo)

* Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) has declined an invitation to debate Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff ahead of January runoff elections for both of the state’s Senate seats. The Atlanta Press Club said Perdue, who is seeking a second term, will be “represented by an empty podium” at the Dec. 6 debate. [HuffPost]

* The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter hailed their companies’ efforts to fend off election interference, but skeptical senators warned them that tougher regulation of social media may be coming. (WSJ)

* Peru Chooses 3rd President in a Week Amid Street Protests (NYT)

* Dolly Parton partly funded Moderna Covid vaccine research (The Guardian)

* The Indiana Hoosiers football team is at the top of the Big Ten after decades of cellar dwelling in its fourth year under hyper-enthusiastic coach Tom Allen (WSJ)

* Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Tuesday that he predicts over 50 percent of business travel and over 30 percent of days in the office will go away in the pandemic’s aftermath. (CNBC)

*  President-elect Joe Biden reiterated his support for erasing some student debt "immediately." (NPR)

* NASA Scientists Confirm Earth Dating The Moon (The Onion)

***

Glad to learn Mother Earth has finally noticed the Man in the Moon. After all, a guy can only hang around so long...

[Verse 1]
"There must be some way out of here"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth"

[Verse 2]
"No reason to get excited"
The thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late"

[Verse 3]
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside, in the distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
The wind began to howl

-- Bob Dylan

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