The very last news summary in my curated list today comes not from The Onion but from an interview with the poet Nikki Giovanni, who is 77, in The New York Times Book Review. That's her quote as my headline.
Too often, I think, we all express ambiguous feelings toward the elderly. That they are the object of jokes is so ingrained in our sense of humor that most of the time we don't even know we are doing it.
Dementia is the particular condition that feeds this line of humor, perhaps because it scares us all so profoundly. We've all made fun of the absent-minded oldster, but witnessing somebody you love slip away mentally is actually one of the most deeply painful experiences we will ever go through.
This year, 2020, is a year when the elderly have been dying at elevated rates, since the Covid-19 virus discriminates against those older than 60 like a predator stalking a fleeing herd of antelope. The old ones, weak and frail, are the first to be picked off.
But the herd loses more than its weakest link as the old perish; it loses its collective memory, its hard-earned wisdom, its ultimate compassion for our overall condition.
When you are sad or lonely or doubting of yourself, that might be a time to turn to an aged member of your community. Thankfully, there are many of us still around, and we tend to have more time on our hands than you might expect.
Think we take those naps every day because we need to? Think again -- we are just bored. But when a younger person -- of any age -- asks us a question, most of us will light up, because we might just have an opinion on that subject and we are pleased be asked.
What we say might sometimes surprise you.
The other night, one of my youngest grandchildren was discussing how much she believes in Santa Claus.
"I believe in Santa Claus a lot and I'm pretty sure Oliver (9) does too. I know Sophia (9) does for sure," said Daisy (6).
Overhearing this, their grandfather (~11) piped up: "Well, I believe in Santa Claus too."
"You see," added Daisy. "Grandpa believes in him too. That does it."
***
Crossing a certain age threshold varies person to person, but most of us eventually reach an age when we know, viscerally, that it is time to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Over my lifetime, I've used words at times to tell stories, good and bad. As a journalist, I've used words to rip into powerful people and organizations, slicing them like an onion into bits so small that they cry. And sometimes I cry too.
It's a vicious art, muckraking. Once you've documented your case, you smell blood as you close in on your query, much like a tiger chasing a wounded antelope. You know you shouldn't feel a thrill at this moment, but you do.
If you become a serial investigative reporter, you have chosen a path not unlike that of a serial killer, but luckily there is the First Amendment to the Constitution to reassure you that you have the right, and perhaps even the duty, to take this action. And the ones you take down are not old or weak but the bad ones at the top of their power over the herd. The ones leading the herd in the wrong direction.
But after many "kills" over many decades, as B.B. King would say in another context, you do reach the point where "the thrill is gone." It's time for someone else to take over.
I've loved B.B. King for a long time and I love that song. I also love Nikki Giovanni and her poems. A particularly timely one for all of us who are following what is happening in Georgia is reprinted at the end of this essay.
***
The news:
* Trump on Tuesday said he is asking for changes to the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress, leaving the future of the $900 billion stimulus in doubt. Trump's position could threaten to torpedo the carefully drafted bill and lead to a government shutdown and send the economy into a tailspin if he carried through with a veto. He wants the $600 payment per person increased to $2000. (CNN)
* Alex Padilla will be the next Senator from California. (Gov. Gavin Newsom)
* Trump on Tuesday announced a wave of lame duck pardons, including two for men who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller's investigation, as well as ones for Republican allies who once served in Congress and military contractors involved in a deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians. (CNN)
* Biden to push for more coronavirus relief, setting up a clash with GOP (WashPo)
* Virus Hits Federal Death Row, Prompting Calls for Delays in Executions (NYT)
* Google, Facebook Agreed to Team Up Against Possible Antitrust Action, Draft Lawsuit Says (WSJ)
* Televangelist Pat Robertson says it’s time for Trump to accept Biden’s win and ‘move on’ (WashPo)
* Trump soon will be unable to hide from the women accusing him of sexual assault (MoJo)
* The sparse gatherings around the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree mark the latest New York City tradition upended by the pandemic (WSJ)
* Navalny Says Russian Agent Confessed to Plot to Poison Him (NYT)
* The Israeli government collapsed on Tuesday at midnight (17.00 EST) local time after the country's parliament failed to meet a deadline for passage of the 2020 and 2021 budgets. Israel will now head to its fourth elections in two years, probably on March 23 next year. (CNN)
*Several sources inside and outside the Senate say that 87-year-old Dianne Feinstein’s cognitive ability is in steep decline. “There’s definitely been deterioration in the last year,” one aide to a Democratic senator said. (The New Yorker)
* In confronting climate change, Biden won’t have a day to waste (WashPo)
* Coronavirus reaches end of earth as first outbreak hits Antarctica (Reuters)
* Mexico Misled Citizens About the Severity of Coronavirus in its Capital (NYT)
* The private bankers responsible for lending to President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have resigned from Deutsche Bank, the bank said. (CNN)
* Putin signs bill granting lifetime immunity to former Russian presidents -- Legislation will give former leaders and their families protection from prosecution (The Guardian)
* A Brazen Police Shooting Caught on Video Sparks Anger in the Philippines (NYT)
* The Village Voice, which closed in 2018 after more than half a century of chronicling New York City’s cultural life, will return early next year (WSJ)
* So long, 2020. We won’t miss you. (Eugene Robinson, WashPo)
* California’s overwhelmed hospitals are setting up makeshift extra beds for coronavirus patients, and a handful of facilities in hard-hit Los Angeles County are drawing up emergency plans in case they have to limit how many people receive lifesaving care.The number of people hospitalized across California with confirmed COVID-19 infections is more than double the state’s July peak, and a state model forecasts the total could hit 75,000 patients by mid-January. [AP]
* This is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time — due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic. The United States looks on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, at least 400,000 more than in 2019. U.S. deaths increase most years, so some annual rise in fatalities is expected. But the 2020 numbers amount to a jump of about 15%, and could go higher once all the deaths from this month are counted. [AP]
* Newsmax, a far-right news network that routinely peddles baseless conspiracy theories that favor Trump, began airing a clarification of its bogus coverage of voter fraud in the presidential election. In a nearly two-minute statement that followed lawsuit threats, the channel is walking back its own groundless claims that electronic voting system companies Smartmatic and Dominion were involved in an attempt to steal the election. Fox News has also been reading statements debunking its baseless election fraud coverage.[HuffPost]
* A man dressed as Santa was rescued after he got stuck in some power lines while flying a powered parachute. He was reportedly on his way to deliver candy canes to neighborhood children. He was OK. [KCRA]
* The poet Nikki Giovanni was part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and part of a Biden campaign ad in 2020. During all those years, she has never stopped writing. “I recommend old age,” she tells us. “There’s just nothing as wonderful as knowing you have done your job.” (NYT)
***
VOTE
It’s not a hug
Nor mistletoe at Christmas
It’s not a colored egg
At Easter
Nor a bunny hopping
Across the meadow
It’s a Vote
Saying you are
A citizen
Though it sometimes
Is chocolate
Or sometimes vanilla
It can be a female
Or a male
It is right
Or left
I can agree
Or disagree but
And this is an important but
I am a citizen
I should be able
To vote from prison
I should be able
To vote from the battlefield
I should be able
To vote when I get a driver’s license
I should be able
To vote when I can purchase a gun
I must be able
To vote
If I’m in the hospital
If I’m in the old folks’ home
If I’m needing a ride
To the Polling Place
I am a citizen
I must be able to vote
Folks were lynched
Folks were shot
Folks’ communities were gerrymandered
Folks who believed
In the Constitution were lied to
Burned out
Bought and sold
Because they agreed
All Men Were Created Equal
Folks vote to make us free
-- Nikki Giovanni
-30-
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