As Manners Go Extinct

One legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic will almost certainly be the increased use of robots in our society. Among their advantages: They don't need masks and don't take sick days.

They also don't easily take offense when treated badly.

As robotized services like Alexa and Siri become more embedded in our offices and households, a question that occurs to me is what long-term impact are they having on the way we communicate to those who serve us?

It will start with children. Kids quickly learn to ask Siri or Aleza to do something in a commanding voice, which then becomes anger if the robot cannot comply with their wishes.

How will a child growing up in such circumstances treat a human servant, should they happen to have one in the future?

When voice commands first became a thing, I found myself speaking in a respectful voice and often thanking Siri for her help. Siri never answered. The engineers who developed her hadn't bothered to work "you're welcome" into her vocabulary.

Thus, my politeness fell on deaf ears.

And although this type of software is supposed to be "intelligent," i.e., it learns from interacting with us, in my experience our robotic friends are in no way learning to be more polite.

As for humans, when we are never rewarded for being polite, we tend to become less polite over time. Nowadays, for example, I just issue simple straight-out commands to my voiced units. There is no point in engaging in social niceties with a robot, so why waste the effort?

But what I am conditioning myself to become?

Come to think of it, the adjective "well-mannered" isn't the first to pop to mind when describing many of the software engineers I've known working on such projects. I don't mean to be critical, but social skills simply are not at a premium for anyone during an intense Agile development cycle.

As our society populates our environment with robots, maybe the ultimate effect will be that nobody will have much reason to be nice anymore.

This would, of course, resemble our political culture, where it seems politeness and respect for others went fully extinct some time ago. Maybe what makes Joe Biden such an easy target for Republicans is he seems like a genuinely nice guy. How quaint.

What is it they say? Nice guys finish last.

Being NOT nice is a virtue in modern America. And those who cheer on the misogynist, racist demagogues? They resemble nothing so much as......robots. 

The news summaries in an age like this might as well be compiled by robots, I suppose, but I did these ones.

* On Friday the March on Washington kicked off with emphatic calls for police reform, justice reform and voter action, 57 years to the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech echoed from the same spot on the National Mall. (CNN)

* U.S. political divide becomes increasingly violent, rattling activists and police--A fatal shooting amid unrest in Wisconsin and recent spates of violence in Texas are among the signs that firearms and fists are overshadowing political dialogue. (Washington Post)

* Facebook deliberately took no action against a group on its platform as members plotted an armed takeover of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and encouraged each other to "shoot and kill." Civil rights organization Muslim Advocates repeatedly highlighted the danger until Facebook took down the page. [HuffPost]

* A robocall from Donald Trump Jr. is urging thousands of Republicans to vote by mail, despite his father's false ragings that voting by mail is "fraudulent." [HuffPost]

* Trump’s convention speech was selling a fantasy version of himself--The president’s speech and its setting provided a view into the mind of a vainglorious man who believes that he is the Constitution and his is the righteous party of God. (Washington Post)

* In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Some Cracks Emerge in the Pro-Trump Wall (New York Times)

* A well-known coronavirus model previously cited by the White House forecasts more than 317,000 US deaths from Covid-19 by December. (CNN)

* Secretly recorded audio prompts call for probe into Trump’s Penn admission--Maryanne Trump Barry, a former federal judge, says in tapes that the president got into the University of Pennsylvania “because he had somebody take the exams.” (Washington Post)

* Biden hits Trump where it hurts: in the convention speech ratings (CNN).

Allow me, at least, the old-fashioned indulgence of my preferred way to end this essay. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. My intention is to be a considerate host, to serve you the best possible content I can assemble in these troubled times. I respect your opinions whether they are like mine or not. We can continue a civil dialogue in the comments section.

I hope you have a pleasant day, safe and healthy. We'll look forward to seeing you again soon. And always vote based on your conscience, not based on your fear.

The alternative is unthinkable. Bless all of us.

-30-

Homeward

One of the vexing issues with posting daily essays to Facebook is it can be difficult for me to update various threads from previous essays without a search function to locate those previous mentions.

Be that as it may, I've posted occasionally about my grandchildren's domestic quail and the surprising development that one adult female gathered her eggs and those of her companions, built a nest, and has been sitting on that nest for the past month.

This strain of quail is known to abandon its eggs, but this female apparently didn't get that memo.

One of her babies hatched last week -- a cute, tiny fluffy creature with a high-pitched squeak.

It had stayed close to its mother's side (literally under her wing) until Wednesday, when a visitor left the gate to the quail run open and the baby escaped to the yard, under a fence, and into the neighbor's lot.

All of the other adult quail escaped too, except for the mother bird, who stayed close to her nest and issued repeated calls for the baby to return.

Discovering  what was happening, my six- and nine-year-old granddaughters recognized the baby's squeals from the neighbor's yard and alerted their father, who retrieved the chick even as a hungry blue jay circled overhead.

Reunited with its mother, along with the other adults, who had not strayed far from home, the baby returned to safety from life out in a perilous world.

That incident reminded me of so many things about raising human children -- their inate curiosity and urge to explore, our parental instinct to try and protect them, and the need sometimes for the help of strangers to aid a lost soul find his or her way back home.

***

There are no known helpful strangers for our news cycle. It rolls on, like a hamster wheel, churning out bad news after bad news. Brace yourselves.

* U.S. Flood Strategy Shifts to ‘Unavoidable’ Relocation of Entire Neighborhoods --Using tax dollars to move whole communities out of flood zones, an idea long dismissed as radical, is swiftly becoming policy, marking a new and more disruptive phase of climate change. (New York Times)

* Dozens of Christian leaders have signed a statement defending science and calling on fellow believers to follow the advice of public health experts during the coronavirus pandemic. The list of 76 leaders includes Christian writers, pastors, theologians, scientists, doctors and seminary leaders. They say they are deeply concerned about the “polarization and politicization of science” that is emerging in some Christian communities during the COVID-19 crisis. (HuffPost)

* Six feet may not be enough to protect against coronavirus, experts warn -- Factors such as crowd density, ventilation, face masks and whether people are silent, speaking, shouting or singing should all be considered. (Washington Post)

^ Northern California firefighters are making some progress containing record-breaking blazes. Tens of thousands of people remain under orders to evacuate across the region. Gov. Gavin Newsom said a monster of a fire near Santa Cruz is "another demonstratable example of the reality of climate change." [HuffPost]

* California Gov. Gavin Newsom on wildfires:“If you don’t believe in climate change, please come to the state of California,” he said. “We will educate you.” (New York Times)

* A Big Sur sanctuary for California condors was destroyed by fire. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

* The 17-year-old Kenosha shooting suspect is a fan go guns, police and Trump (CNN) 

* More than 100 Bush-McCain-Romney alums go for Biden (Politico)

* Amazon unveils Halo to battle Apple Watch and Fitbit — tracks activity, body fat, and emotions (CNBC) The emotion tracking is the latest in a long line of attempts to quantify our emotional lives.

* "Powell’s Books, the venerable independent bookstore in Portland, has had enough with Amazon and will no longer sell books through the tech giant’s marketplace. In a letter to the store’s community of customers on Wednesday, Powell’s owner and CEO Emily Powell said that she was taking the standto mark Independent Bookstore Day, which falls on Saturday..." (GeekWire)

* Trump’s company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000 -- New receipts obtained by The Post show the Trump Organization charged for rooms at Mar-a-Lago even when the president wasn’t there. (Washington Post)

***

Did anything else happen last night? Let me think hard, so hard that my head starts to ache. It's the kind of headache you can only feel when your soul is being sucked out of your brain, blowing a hole that can never be repaired. You might call it is a stroke, I call it an invasion by evil incarnate.

Yes, let me think hard. 

Oh, it just came to me like a violent earthquake deep in your belly that makes you retch every sweet taste you've ever savored in your time on earth. It tastes like fire and vomit.

The Dark Lord, Voldemort, gave a speech last night. He was surrounded by his Death-Eaters.

The sad thing is this ain't fiction and it ain't a children's story.

***

Homeward bound
I wish I was homeward bound
Home, where my thought's escapin'
Home, where my music's playin'
Home, where my love lies waitin' silently for me

-- Simon & Garfinkel

-30-

Just Keep Dreaming

 

So, under the circumstances, it almost feels like too much for a person to wish for one of our big dreams to come true these days. I don't know about you, but I'll settle for a few little ones at this point.

Luckily, there are a few of those in the pipeline.

My 12-year-old grandson is dealing with the normal angst of being his age as he starts middle school, but he has to do so from his bedroom. No making new friends, playing on the sports teams, feeling more grown up -- none of that.

Just stuck at home with his family, plus his aged grandfather, and a big yawning hole where life used to happen. Like all of us in the western states, he is doubly oppressed by the ring of fire that envelops us, forces the windows to stay shut, even as the heat rises.

Into that suffocating void, the baseball season hestintantly proceeds. His favorite team is the A's; mine the Giants -- both local teams. If you do not know baseball, you can be forgiven for not realizing it is an intellectual's sport, with many strategic moves, a sign language, and statistical variables that appeal to those who like math and those who like romantic stories to tell.

At the heart of the romance of baseball is the comeback. The game is long, nine innings normally, which stretches to some three hours in length. When you could attend in person, there were the smells and sounds of a stadium packed with fans munching on hot dogs and peanuts and swallowing beer, wearing their favorite player's uniform and chanting, and (sometimes) keeping score on a sheet of paper.

(The teams sell the scoresheets and small pencils for a buck or so outside the gate.)

My grandson's team, the A's, are going great. They are in first place in their division and in their league, which is called the American League.

By contrast, the Giants have had a horrible start, spending most of the attenuated season in last place in their division in the National League.

Tuesday night, he and I watched the Giants play their traditional rival, the Dodgers, which have the best overall record in baseball and are a powerhouse team.

The Dodgers led 3-0 after the top of the first inning; the Giants tied the score.

The Dodgers led 6-3 after the top of the third inning; the Giants eventually tied that scores in the bottom of the 9th inning.

So, extra innings ensued.

The Dodgers went ahead 7-6 in the top of the 10th; the Giants matched that in the bottom of the 10th.

But the Dodgers went ahead again, 8-7 in the top of the 11th. By now, the game had stretched late into the night here in the Bay Area and my grandson really belonged in bed.

It seemed quite unlikely that the Giants would be able to come back again, but they did, tying the game 8-8. Then something extraordinary happened. They had one man on base when one of their players who rarely hits the long ball belted a mighty home run.

The Giants won the game, 10-8.

In the great scheme of the baseball season, and in the even greater scheme of life, this was a tiny moment, one that we both probably will forget in time. 

Or maybe not. After all, even small dreams coming true are memorable moments in times like these.

***

Another small dream, maybe more of a middle-sized one, is the hope that my 21-year-old daughter can find a place to live back east for her senior year of college.

She and her friend are looking for a house to rent near the Jersey shore, not far from where her friend has a job and her family lives. My daughter lives with her mother in San Francisco.

The girls are being helped by a real estate agent, but so far, the places they've identified insist on an eight-month lease, and the rental prices are pretty steep in that area.

I'll back up my daughter's commitment if we can find a suitable place. I want her to have some semblance of a normal senior year. The reason she needs to live in the Eastern time zone is her college is located in Maryland, and it is too difficult being out here, three hours behind the daily class schedule.

She is a Peace Stduies major. God, we could certainly use more Peace Stduies majors in charge of our public affairs these days!

Anyway, since Covid has closed her campus, she needs to retrieve her possessions soon and move them to a new location, preferably on the afore-mentioned Jersey shore. She doesn't drive herself, so someone needs to go back there with her to help her collect her stuff and drive her to her new home, once it is found.

Yesterday, my doctor cleared me to be able to fly with her if it comes with that. Within two weeks or so, I ought to be able to see again courtesy of very expensive eye surgeries, so that means I can start driving again, after years of not doing so.

Another small dream, I know, but from a father's perspective, kind of a big one, and one worth holding on to.

Meanwhile, maybe somewhere along the Jersey shore there is a landlord who has a heart...

***

Let's move on to a most decidedly heartless world and its news.

* Hurricane Laura slammed into Louisiana with 150 mph winds. (CNN)

* Heat, Smoke and Covid Are Battering the Workers Who Feed America -- Climate change is piling on to the hazards already faced by California farm laborers, some of the country's poorest, most neglected workers. (New York Times)

* Even after four years as our first lady, Melania Trump remains an enigma (Washington Post)

* Good weather is helping firefighters make progress in containing the staggering wildfires in California, but rising temperatures later in the week may complicate things. [HuffPost]

* Before Euro-American settlement in California in the 1800s, about 1.5 million acres of forest burned each year on average — roughly the same amount that has burned so far this year. (New York Times)

* A teen was charged in the shooting that left wo people dead and a third injured in Kenosha, police say. this is the latest uprising in yet another controversial police shooting of a black man. (CNN) (Washington Post)

* The NBA announced Wednesday it will postpone Game 5 of three different series in response to the Milwaukee Bucks decision to boycott their playoff game following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the team's home state of Wisconsin. (CNN) 

* The Giants-Dodgers game was postponed for the same reason. (KRON)

* More than 70,000 new Covid-19 cases in children have been reported across the US since early August, new data shows. (CNN)

* Wall Street and business groups are bracing for the possibility of a blue sweep in Washington that would leave Democrats in charge of the White House and both chambers of Congress. (The Hill)

* Kellyanne Conway undermined the truth. Journalists enabled her. (Washington Post)

***

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me

Say "Night-ie night" and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me
While I'm alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear
Just saying this

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me

-- Songwriters: Fabian Andre / Gus Kahn / Wilbur Schwandt

Another Kind of Love

Despite the pandemic, the economic dislocation, the political instability and the pure fear that engulf us, my thoughts continue to turn to love.

It is clear that there are a lot of angry people out there. The Republican convention is showcasing much of that anger, especially the kind felt by millions of Americans who resent the way our society is changing.

I understand nostalgia for the past. And the bitterness that hard work doesn't necessarily mean you'll get ahead any longer. Plus the special type of alienation that this just  doesn't feel like the country it once seemed to be.

If you don't pay close attention, it can seem that some of the newcomers to our land are leapfrogging the stages our ancestors endured from poverty to a better way of life. These days, there are examples of newcomers almost instantly moving to the head of the line, especially in the technology industry.

But appearances are often deceiving. The people "making it" in tech have put in their time, often in a distant land, rising from poverty to get educated and acquire the skills to push the technologies sweeping our world to new levels of convenience and efficiency.

if it seems as if everything around us has transformed into one giant software project, launching at beta and iterating based on user feedback, it has. Everything, that is, except us.

Indeed, there are efforts to improve our bodies with technology as well. Daily news stories tell of new ways to grow livers inside human bodies, and Elon Musk even has some sort of new chip to implant in humans, for what purpose I am not quite sure.

But you get the feeling that soon we will simply be scanned by devices that categorize us according to pre-set metrics and channel our desires accordingly.

The actual experience of being a living human being is somewhat different. We are not robots, nor will we ever be. I prefer love to fear or hate because love is very messy. It doesn't fit into neat packages and it comes in all shapes and sizes, colors and ages. It feels good and it hurts at the same time.

The problem with the anger and fear expressed by so many under-educated Americans is it can crate political circumstances that ultimately hold back progress. 

So the Republican problem is the anger of the party's base at technological change and the demographics that accompany it is that this progress is not rooted in liberal ideology any more than it is rooted in conservative ideology.

Allow me to offer a concrete example.

Soon after the web emerged in the 1990s as a tool to navigate the amazing new world of digital information, one faction of the evangelical Christian movement became deeply concerned that new forms of pornography were becoming far more available to the general population.

This, in turn led in 1996 to an attempt to restrict web-based content with an initiative called the Community Decency Act (CDA). I was working at HotWired at the time and was aware both of the astonishing new volume of information being unleashed (including pornography) and the policy attempts to squash it.

Thanks to some conservative leaders in Congress and non-profit organizations like the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), resistance to the CDA emerged and ultimately the issue went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in essence that information wants to be free.

The Court struck down the provisions of the act meant to restrict free speech, including pornography, and upheld a little-notice provision known as section 230, which states "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."  As EFF explains, "In other words, online intermediaries that host or republish speech are protected against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do."

Naturally, this may seem overly wonkish to many people, but it remains a fundamental reason we have been able to develop a much richer, more complex information-based economy on a global basis over the past quarter century.

At one stage in the legal struggle, I submitted a written argument on behalf of the freedom of speech. It is probably buried in some obscure brief somewhere; perhaps it was never even published, I don't know.

But even with all of the mess that comes with it, including pornography and even hate speech, that right to create and consume whatever kind of information we want to create and consume is a fundamental building block of our modern world.

The Democrats have a problem with the "cancel culture" faction that seeks to erase history because some of the heroes of the past said or did objectionable things by today's standards; or in the case of slavery, did unconscionable things.

No matter how hard one might try, you cannot erase history. You have to acknowledge the good with the bad, and strive to not repeat the bad parts.

The Republicans have a problem because history will not be returning; it's time to step into the future, whether we entirely like it or not.

That's why I write about love. Love is about what we can create together; not what we can accomplish by ripping ourselves apart. Love understands Section 230.

***

The best moment of the RNC so far, by a long shot, was Melania Trump's speech last night. She departed from the theme of attack attack attack to instead take the high road and highlight her work with children, veterans, victims of drug addiction and disaster survivors.

Her message was one of unity and compassion. Just as Jill Biden gave the best speech of the Democratic convention, IMHO, Melania's will stand as the best of the Republican convention.

* Many of the Republican Party's biggest household names won't be involved in the convention this week. George W. Bush and his family, John McCain's family, Paul Ryan and Ted Cruz are among the Republican stalwarts not present at Trump's RNC. [HuffPost]

* The GOP’s dubious calculus on Democrats and the suburbs -- Republicans’ overarching strategy to scare Americans from a diverse nation, specifically a diverse suburbia, is years out of touch with reality in much of the country. (Washington Post)

* "Panic attack" searches reach all-time high during pandemic. (HuffPost)

* So far this year 1.4 million acres of California have burned in wildfires, 25 times the amount this time last year. (DW)

* Yes, the historic headquarters of the Big Basin Redwoods State Park are gone. The redwoods themselves may be scarred, but most of them still stand. Among the survivors is one called Mother of the Forest. [The Associated Press]

* Smoke from California wildfires is now visible in Kansas (SFGate)

* More than half of all storefronts in San Francisco are no longer in business due to COVID-19, according to the survey by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. (CBS)

* New Swing State Georgia Could Decide Control of the Senate (Bloomberg)

* If You Wait Until Your State’s Deadline To Mail Your Ballot, You May Be Too Late (FiveThirtyEight)

-30-

Questions Without Answers

It starts with a look. You see her and you know, you just know. Even if you deny it at the time, that initial feeling will stick with you until you do something about it.

It may not be convenient or even wanted when it first happens, but it is real.

This is part of what I know about love from a man's point of view. I don't know much from a woman's point of view. It may be different. And though I'm talking about heterosexual love, I feel sure that the feelings are similar for same-sex lovers and any kind of gender mix.

Love is love. It's a human condition. And it frequently is disruptive. 

If you don't act, that feeling will come around again anyway, even years later, when perhaps your mutual circumstances have changed, even subtly. Suddenly you know it is time to tell her. What you do next matters.

I once wrote a line in a screenplay for a movie that did not get produced: "There are two types of regret. regret for what you did and regret for what you didn't do." That line was either stolen by various writers in Hollywood or it was not original to begin with.

Either way I've heard it used a number of times in films. It's too good to be mine anyway, because it is a universal truth.

In my particular life, which is not a movie, I tended to act on love's impulse. The consequences turned out to be momentous. So which type of regret is mine?

That is a question without an answer.

***

Donald Trump's Republican convention is under way. On the first night, Nikki Haley's measured delivery  was impressive and effective, but the harangues by Kimberly Guilfoyle and Don Jr. were laughably ineffective.

Beyond the TV show, which I grade as a C (can't anyone properly mic a guest anymore?), here is what else is moving this overnight:

* More than 500,000 mail ballots were rejected in the primaries. That could make the difference in battleground states this fall.-- The record use of voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic has increased the possibility of voter error or delayed delivery. (Washington Post)

* Wisconsin Reels After Police Shooting and Second Night of Protests -- Jacob Blake, a Black resident of Kenosha, was shot in the back, setting off condemnations from Wisconsin’s governor and Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presidential nominee. *New York Times)

* Millions fall back into crisis as stimulus and safety nets disappear -- Without federal aid, households on the margins are being pushed to the brink of financial ruin. (Washington Post)

* We’re doing our best with Zoom. But we’ll still need offices — and each other. (Washington Post)

* The litany of people who know and have worked alongside President Donald Trump -- but who now question his fitness for the job -- seems ever-expanding, a roster that now includes a member of his immediate family as well as an unusually large number of national security officials who departed the administration in its first three years. (CNN)

* Sanders on Trump: This is a major effort to undermine election (CNN)

* Former chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele is joining the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans working to prevent President Donald Trump's re-election. (CNN)

* 4 Years of Catastrophic Fires in California: ‘I’m Numb’ -- For the eight million residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, a ring of fire across Northern California feels inescapable. (New York Times)

* Long before there was such a thing as California, the old-growth giants of Big Basin Redwoods State Park towered over the coast. They burned last week, and the state park, California’s oldest, was closed. [The New York Times]

***

I do swear that I'll always be there
I'd give anything and everything and I will always care
Through weakness and strength
Happiness and sorrow
For better, for worse
I will love you with every beat of my heart

From this moment, life has begun
From this moment, you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on

From this moment, I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love, I'd give my last breath
From this moment on

I give my hand to you with all my heart
I can't wait to live my life with you, I can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment on, oh… 

(Written by Shania Twain at a soccer game in Italy.)

-30-

 

Love Over Politics?

Late Sunday evening, Trump's long-time counselor Kellyanne Conway announced  that she will leave her post at the end of the month while her husband, George Conway, said he was withdrawing from The Lincoln Project, both citing a need to focus on their family.

These startling developments come after one of the couple's four teenaged children caused an uproar over the weekend with her statement that she will be "divorcing" her parents. Many media outlets carried that story with long, detailed quotes.

I chose to not report those salacious details when they broke overnight Friday because this appears to be a family matter, and I believe their privacy should be respected. The child made her comments over social media.

Th dual resignations will apparently end, for now, the public spectacle of one of the most divided political couples since the days of James Carville and Mary Matalin. Given how polarized our politics seem to be these days, I say hurray to them both for choosing family over the circus.

To me, love is much more important than politics, as any casual reader of mine already knows. After all, what kind of political junkie would constantly post corny country music lyrics rather than political diatribes?

Sure, I care about politics and yes I am a news junkie, but 54 years in the business taught me that the last place I'd want to be during my dying days would be a random office somewhere.

I'd rather "roll in my sweet baby's arms." Unfortunately I do not have a sweet baby but you get the idea. (Sigh)

On to the headlines, which I'm afraid will bring none of us any relief or cheer:

* TRUMP ACTING DHS CHIEF: ‘NO AUTHORITY’ TO GUARD POLLING STATIONS (HuffPost)

 * Biden enjoys post-convention bump in favorability. (ABC)

* Trump ‘Has No Principles’ And ‘You Can’t Trust Him,’ His Sister Reportedly Said On Tape (HuffPost)

* Trump has no idea how to run for reelection as an incumbent--He insists on the outsider’s posture, even though that means attacking the institution he leads.*Washington Post)

* We'll be stuck in this recession for years, economists say (CNN)

* Tennessee adopts new law that could strip some protesters of voting rights (Washington Post)

* Protesters Gather At USPS Locations Nationwide To ‘Save The Post Office’ (HuffPost)

* Infections are trending upward in the Midwest--Spikes in cases across the Midwest come as other regions of the country have reported gains against the virus after seeing infections surge over the summer. (Washington Post)

* Trump obliterates lines between governing and campaigning in service of his reelection--Presidents of both parties have mixed a measure of campaigning with official White House business, but President Trump has trampled over norms once respected by both parties and challenged legal boundaries that limit political activity by federal officials. (Washington Post)

* As California fires rage, lightning-sparked blazes forecast into Monday--Another dry lightning event could spark dozens of new fires, further stretching state resources. (Washington Post)

* Trump is ‘Fox’s Frankenstein,’ insiders told CNN’s Brian Stelter — and here’s the toll it’s taken--One surprise Stelter says he found while reporting his new book, “Hoax,” was the number of Fox News staffers who acknowledge the harm it has done and its frequent failure to meet basic standards for truth-telling — and who struggle with whether to remain at the network. (CNN)

***

Whether you love politics or hate politics, you gotta love bluegrass music

I ain't gonna work on the railroad
I ain't gonna work on the farm
Lay around the shack till the mail train comes back
And roll in my sweet baby's arms


Roll in my sweet baby's arms
Roll in my sweet baby's arms
Lay around the shack till the mail train comes back
And roll in my sweet baby's arms

-- Flatt & Scruggs

-30-

Flatt & Scruggs

Flatt & Scruggs

Is That You?

Starting sometime last year, I became aware of a strange new sensation that recurs periodically, no matter where I am or what I am doing.

When in this state, I find myself questioning whether this is really me..

It is as if one part of myself is doing the questioning and another part struggles to answer. 

Most of the time, there is no question what is going on and I can prove it to myself. I can recite my name, DoB, social security number, current address and voter registration. I've even memorized my driver's license number, to cite one random piece of data retained by my brain that rarely serves any useful purpose.

On the rare occasion that it is useful to know my driver's license number, an alternative option is to reach into my pocket, pull out my wallet, and confirm that it is right next to my photograph.

"Is that really you?" According to Wikipedia, out of the body experiences can be induced by traumatic brain injuries, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep disorders and dreaming and electrical stimulation of the brain, among others.

I've never been a fan of this sort of thing, though I have read the recollections of some of my fellow survivors of near-death experiences. And I'm starting to alter my point of view.

I just had another one of these sensations today, so I'll file it away and concentrate instead on the news. *That* will surely pull me back toward reality!

* Immigrant ‘Dreamers’ in Search of a Job Are Being Turned Away -- President Trump hopes to end DACA, which has granted employment authorization to thousands of young immigrants. Already, some large employers are refusing to hire them. (New York Times)

* In raising the idea of law enforcement at polls, Trump invokes tactics of voter intimidation -- Civil rights advocates said even the threat of encountering law enforcement officials at the polls could be frightening to some voters, particularly in communities of color where residents distrust the police. Washington Post)

* Heat is turbocharging fires, drought and tropical storms this summer--At least 140 western weather stations notched record highs in the last 10 days. More than 35 wildfires are raging in California. Parts of the country are suffering drought conditions. And in the Atlantic Ocean, a marine heat wave is fueling what is becoming an unusually active storm season (Washington Post)

* Young voters prefer Biden by a large margin, but they may not vote (CNN)

* Oh, great: NASA says an asteroid is headed our way right before Election Day. Good news is there's little chance it will hit us. (CNN)

* Three Calif. fires are now the state’s largest ever, and they keep growing--More than 100,000 evacuations have taken place, and more lightning is on the way as officials seek help from other states, as well as Canada and Australia. (Washington Post)

* Maryanne Trump Barry bitterly criticized her brother, President Donald Trump, saying, "Donald's out for Donald," and appeared to confirm her niece Mary Trump's previous allegations that he had a friend take his SATs to get into college, according to audio excerpts obtained by CNN.

* Biden is favored to win the election--We simulate the election 40,000 times to see who wins most often. Biden wins 73 percent of the time; Trump 27. (FiveThirtyEight)

***

Somewhere I heard this story: A hungry bear was chasing a priest. When he came to the edge of a cliff, the priest jumped over. There was no chance of survival, but partway down his fall was broken by a branch sticking out of the cliff. The priest grabbed the branch, which started to loosen. As he was hanging there, he noticed a flower growing out of the side of the cliff.

"What a beautiful flower," he thought.

***

Smile.

A polar bear walks into a bar and gets up on a barstool. The bartender comes over and asks "What'll it be?"

"I'll have a gin..........and...........tonic," said the bear.

The bartender answered, "Why the big pause?"

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