On the Move Again

Labor Day Weekend represents the end of summer and the beginning of the election cycle. Like millions of Americans, I'm on the move this weekend.

For me, it started out with two "firsts" since the lockdown in March, a Lyft ride to San Francisco, and then a night out -- a birthday dinner for my son, his 26th.

We met at one of our favorite places, on the waterfront, outside on the patio, everyone masked and gloved serving us. The tables were set well apart.

There was a harvest moon hovering over the Bay. It was delightful, a throwback experience to the way it used to be.

Afterward, my daughter drove up from San Jose to pick me up and transport me down here, where I'll spend a few days with her and her three sons. I don't believe I've ever stayed in this city before.

***

The news cycle is relentless:

* Justice Dept. Plans to File Antitrust Charges Against Google in Coming Weeks -- The attorney general is said to have set a deadline over the objections of career lawyers who say they need more time to build the case. (New York Times)

* Medical journal editor: Trump "simply wrong" that vaccine will be available to public by October (CNN)

* Two members of the 417 Second Amendment Militia group from Missouri traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin, were arrested Thursday by federal officials and charged with illegally possessing a cache of weapons. FBI agents found in their hotel room an Armory AR-15 rifle, a Mossberg 500 AB 12-Gauge shotgun, two handguns, a silencer, ammunition, body armor, a drone, a twisted cable survival saw, a dagger and other materials, prosecutors said. (CNN)

* Pandemic Drives Millions from Latin America’s Universities -- They were the first in their families to make it to college. But how do you study when you can’t afford to eat? (New York Times)

* As Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his efforts to exert his personal influence around the globe and meddle in American democracy and is accused of using a nerve agent to poison one of his main political opponents, President Donald Trump broke his recent silence on Russia and the attack on Alexey Navalny, calling it "tragic" but emphasizing that he has a good relationship with the Russian leader. (CNN)

* A retired Army general on Thursday night went viral for his scathing response to a report that President Trump made disparaging remarks about dead U.S. service members, telling Trump he’s “no patriot.”Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton posted a video responding to a new report in The Atlantic which detailed Trump allegedly calling the U.S. service members who were buried in a French cemetery during World War I “losers.” (The Hill)

* Veterans scorn Trump following bombshell report that president and aides have denied -- Military veterans and their families erupted in anger against Trump, following the Atlantic's bombshell report that he had derided fallen U.S. soldiers as “losers" and “suckers.” (Washington Post)

* Even for those who are all too wearily familiar with Trump’s disdain for journalists, his administration’s latest attack on the free press is a bit of a jaw-dropper.In a heretofore unpublicized recent memo, the Pentagon delivered an order to shutter Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that has been a lifeline and a voice for American troops since the Civil War. The memo orders the publisher of the news organization (which now publishes online as well as in print) to present a plan that “dissolves the Stars and Stripes” by Sept. 15  including "specific timeline for vacating government owned/leased space worldwide.” (USA Today)

* Trump's privately built border wall will fail, engineering report says (Texas Tribune)

* Trump's latest attack on mask-wearing may be his worst yet (CNN)

* The US coronavirus death toll is projected to reach 410,000 in the next 4 months if mask use wanes (CNN)

* DHS warns that Russia is spreading false claims about mail-in ballots -- Many of the claims are identical to previous statements from the president and the attorney general. (Washington Post)

***

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again

Here we go, on the road again
Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turnin' our way

-- Willie Nelson

Too Bad to be True

Something that sounds too good to be true isn't.  So what about something that sounds too bad to be true? 

How does that logic work?

This is not an idle thought. We have a President who has advised his supporters to break the law and vote twice. He's said that twice.

If you put yourself in a journalist's shoes and imagine how you would cover this story, you might drive yourself crazy. Because this is a time, no matter how hard you might try to remain neutral, you simply cannot.

There's no way to remain objective when we see democracy being destroyed.

There have always been ugly undertones to our democracy, including racism, hate, and prejudice of all kinds. And there always have been people willing to exploit those ugly things for personal or political gain.

But never before have we had a President who signals to his followers that shooting people who hold different opinions from his is okay.

According to him, it's okay to cheat and steal the election, and it's okay to shoot those who oppose what he is trying to do, which essentially is to end democracy.

Fictionists composed thrillers with scenarios like this in the past, but few people thought they would ever actually happen.

Because they sounded too bad to be true. 

* 7 Officers Suspended as a Black Man’s Suffocation Roils Rochester -- Daniel Prude, who was having a psychotic episode, died after police officers placed a mesh hood over his head in March. (New York Times)

* Trump said U.S. soldiers injured and killed in war were ‘losers,’ magazine reports --The report by the Atlantic cites four unnamed people with firsthand knowledge of the president’s comments. (Washington Post)

* Disdain for the Less Educated Is the Last Acceptable Prejudice  -- It’s having a corrosive effect on American life — and hurting the Democratic Party. (New York Times)

* This Is Democrats’ Doomsday Scenario for Election Night -- What if early results in swing states on Nov. 3 show President Trump ahead, and he declares victory before heavily Democratic mail-in votes, which he has falsely linked with fraud, are fully counted? (New York Times)

* Heat ‘rarely ever seen’ is forecast to roast West by weekend, with wildfires still burning -- The National Weather Service is using strong language to describe the potential for conditions that could cause deadly heat illness, an increased likelihood of large fires and temperatures that could set records for any day on record. (Washington Post)

* The Commission on Presidential Debates announced its lineup of moderators on Wednesday for the upcoming debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and their running mates. Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate the first Biden-Trump matchup in Cleveland on Sept. 29, followed by C-SPAN’s Steve Scully in Miami on Oct. 15. NBC News’ Kristen Welker will moderate the final one on Oct. 22 in Nashville. Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief of USA Today, will moderate the vice presidential debate between Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence on Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City. [HuffPost]

* Former supporters of Trump say they’re not going to be voting for him again and they were pretty blunt about why they’re now backing Biden. “I think it’s one of if not the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” Ann Kupitz told CNN of her 2016 vote as she slammed the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “I feel like voting for him helped kill over 100,000 Americans.” Kupitz was part of a CNN panel of six suburban white women who voted for Trump in 2016, a demographic he has recently tried to win over with overtly racist appeals. [HuffPost]

* The pandemic is ruining our sleep. Experts say that could imperil public health -- “Coronasomnia” could be creating a population of insomniacs, experts say, along with risks around productivity, hypertension and depression. (Washington Post)

* Election Update: Biden Gets Good Polls In Arizona And Wisconsin — And A Bad One In Pennsylvania -- Biden still likely to win all three states. (538)

* Jane Fonda, Intergalactic Eco-Warrior in a Red Coat (New York Times) ... This is a great read by Maureen Dowd.

***

"Hurt me with the truth. But never comfort me with a lie."

-- Jim Carrey

-30-

One Pail of Water

 

The importance of stories at a time like this may not be obvious but we badly need them to understand what is happening in this pandemic.

When you were young, did you read L. Frank Baum's Oz books, or did someone read them to you? If not, at least you know the movie version of the Wizard of Oz.

Please bear with me as I re-tell and interpret that story. First the setup --  a young girl, very curious, bored to tears on her family's farm, itches for adventure. Her essential quest starts with a blow to her head. Those of us who have fallen a lot know something about what happens when you take a knock to the head.

The girl, whose name is Dorothy, goes into a dream state and awakens to a rude shock, as she finds herself in a land of exceptionally short people. I'm not sure what the politically correct term is now but they used to be called midgets and dwarves.

After a great deal of singing, dancing and ceremonial functions, she begins a long journey toward the mythical Emerald City. You could call that New York if you are so inclined but any metropolis will do.

Along the way, she meets three lovable fellows who wish to be helpful though they appear to be rather  down on their luck. One of them cries easily, for example. And there's a cowardly guy who has performance issues. They all fall in love with her and join in her quest.

Their journey is a long and complicated one, made more complicated by the incessant harassment by a wicked witch. Picture a fat guy, orange hair, who spouts evil thoughts and rides a bloated broom called Air Force One, and you'll get the picture.

This terrible witch is determined to get the magical shoes off of Dorothy's feet, but she stays tight inside them much like a three-ply mask. No one ever changes their clothes or gets a haircut in this movie (pandemic), though one guy does get squirted with an oil can now and then. You know, some people are into that kind of thing.

Well, despite the notable fact they do not maintain social distance, they do make it to the city gates by the end of the second act, but much danger remains. Without giving away the ending, all you really need to know, if we are update this tale, is where the hell can we get a bucket of water?

Yes,  these days we are all traveling the yellow brick road. But as much as we skip and dance we never seem to get closer to the Emerald City.

That reminds me that the other day, awaiting eye surgery, I was attended by a very nice nurse who told me she is worried about her three-and-a-half-year-old son. She doesn't know where he heard about the pandemic but recently she heard him singing, "Corona, corona, when will you go away?" 

That sounds a lot like a Bob Dylan song. Who knows where he heard of Dylan, either.

Anyway, in an attempt to comfort or at least divert her, I told her about the polio pandemic. I explained that *that* one was especially bad because it frequently struck children, and rendered them paralyzed.

The nurse disappeared for a while, but when she returned she said, "Thank you so much for telling me about the polio pandemic. It gives me some hope."

Back to Dorothy. One thing I don't like is the end to that movie. Dorthy concludes after all her adventures that she would have been better off just staying home on the farm. I'm not buying that one.

***

* In his latest assault on the integrity of November's vote, Trump denigrated mail-in voting and in a staggering moment, appeared to suggest North Carolinians should try to vote twice -- a potential crime -- to test its security. (CNN)

* Sen. Ed Markey won Massachusetts’ Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, defeating a member of one of the most powerful families in Democratic politics. Progressives, led by the Sunrise Movement, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), rallied behind Markey in his race against Rep. Joe Kennedy III, spurring a come-from-behind victory. The left hopes its decision to go all in to defend Markey could push other Democratic senators to venture into more progressive waters. [HuffPost]

* The Portland, Oregon, fire department has refuted President Trump’s claim that the “entire city is ablaze all the time.” “WE ARE NOT ABLAZE IN PORTLAND,” Lt. Rich Chatman, the public information officer for Portland Fire & Rescue, wrote in a text message to CNN reporter Daniel Dale after the president made the remarks at a Monday press conference. “There is a very isolated pocket of demonstrations that have involved fire, none of which have been substantial enough to need more than one fire engine.” Undeterred, Trump has continued to make more bananas claims on Fox News. [HuffPost]

* California and other Western states have been warned to brace for another record-breaking heat wave this weekend. [NBC News]

* The public's view of relations between white and black Americans has soured since 2018 and is now the most negative of any year in Gallup's polling since 2001. The majority of U.S. adults say relations between white and black Americans are very (24%) or somewhat bad (31%), while less than half call them very (7%) or somewhat (37%) good. (Gallup)

* Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told "Varney & Co." on Thursday that Pelosi would automatically assume the role of acting president if the 2020 election is delayed. "It might be right," Napolitano told host Stuart Varney. "President Trump's term ends at precisely noon on Jan. 20, 2021. If the Electoral College has not yet named a successor, presumably either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, then whoever is the Speaker of the House would become the acting president of the United States." (Fox)

* Ten percent of American households say they haven't had enough to eat during pandemic (The Week)

* After two political conventions unlike any the United States had seen before, Joe Biden maintains an advantage over Donald Trump in the race for the presidency, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.Among registered voters, 51% back Biden, 43% Trump. The difference in each candidate's support when compared with a CNN poll conducted pre-conventions is within the poll's margin of sampling error. (CNN)

* U.S. government debt will nearly equal the size of the entire economy for first time since World War II -- The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the deficit will be the biggest this year as a share of the economy since 1945 as the nation’s fiscal imbalance surges in response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Washington Post)

***

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then?
I bet they'll shoot down your plane
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

-- Elton John

-30-

Rocket Man?

This will be a short post. Surgery apparently successful; now recovering. Will try to write longer entries again soon. 

Here's some curated news:

** ‘Here We Go Again’: A Second Virus Wave Grips Spain -- The coronavirus is spreading much faster in Spain than anywhere else in Europe. After a relative lull during the summer, experts fear it signals a new surge across the continent. (New York Times) * Cornered, Trump tries to foment a race war (Washington Post) * Trump isn’t calling for unity. He’s stoking rage. (Washington Post) * Trump spouted numerous baseless conspiracy theories and attacked Black Lives Matter protesters while claiming his own supporters are peaceful demonstrators during a lengthy interview with Fox News. [HuffPost] * Upper Midwest emerges as most crucial Biden-Trump battleground--Both candidates are escalating their attention on an area seen as the most important region of the country in deciding November’s election. (Washington Post) * San Francisco’s Chinatown has been hit hard by the pandemic, but there’s hope in seeing how it has weathered a shrinking economy and xenophobia in the past. [San Francisco Chronicle] * in a decidedly non-baseball-type score, the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 23-5 last night. (DW) * A man flying a jetpack was reported by pilots 3,000 feet above Los Angeles (CNN) She packed my bags last night pre-flight Zero hour nine AM And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then I miss the earth so much I miss my wife It's lonely out in space On such a timeless flight And I think it's gonna be a long long time 'Till touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home Oh no no no I'm a rocket man Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone -- Elton John

I'll Be Seeing You

  

Yesterday my latest royalty check arrived; it netted out at $8.80. My kids and I used to call it "McDonald's Money" because that was all it was ever much good for.

Still, it seems remarkable that I still get royalties from a movie that came out about 40 years ago, when I was still a very young man.

Forty years. Twenty years. Ten years. These markers of time acquire different significance with age. What used to sound like a long, long time turns out to have evaporated just like that -- whoosh!

On the other hand, when you are waiting for something important, or special or scary to happen, time inches forward as if it were pushed back by a strong head wind.

I suppose I was waiting for something to happen when I was a boy but I didn't know it. Then stuff started to happen over and over again. Good stuff, bad stuff; happy stuff, sad stuff.

Over many decades I just lived life as it came to me or as I found it; barely conscious that time was passing. My time was passing.

Now that time has really slowed down, and it is clear that only a finite amount is left, I wait. But for what? That's another of those questions that has no answer. 

***

Overnight, a few news items caught my eye:

* College football is a treasured fall tradition for millions of Americans, but the decision by some schools to press ahead with games — even as classrooms are closed to students and teachers amid the pandemic — is “misguided and dangerous,” according to a NYT opinion piece. Unpaid student athletes do not fit into the category of essential workers for merely entertaining fans. Schools, coaches, and television networks arguing games should irrepressibly continue as scheduled are placing their hunger for lucrative profits ahead of the consideration of their volunteer players' health and safety, the paper’s editorial contends. (LinkedIn)

* As confrontations between armed groups and protesters turn deadly, police face complaints of tolerating vigilantes--At times, police have appeared to offer support to conservative groups that take up arms against protests that have occasionally spawned violence, vandalism and looting. (Washington Post)

* Over 100,000 seniors have died from Covid-19. Over half of all fatalities are among older Americans. (CDC)

* Minnesota Could Be The Next Midwestern State To Go Red -- Republicans continue to gain among white voters without college educations. (538)

* Trump refuses to denounce violent actions by right-wing agitators (CNN)

* Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that she’s worried about America “descending into a race war.” (Daily Caller)

* Vice President Mike Pence was put on standby to temporarily assume the powers of the presidency during President Donald Trump's unannounced visit to Walter Reed hospital in November 2019, according to a copy of New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt's forthcoming book obtained by CNN.

* People Line Up In Record Numbers At Alameda Co. Food Bank In COVID-19 Economy (CBS)

* Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Tuesday blasted the "failure of leadership" in America's coronavirus response and warned of more hardship to come unless dramatic steps are taken to crush the virus. "People have died unnecessarily because government was slow to react to common and simple things like mask wearing and social distancing," Schmidt said during a podcast. (CNN)

***

In personal news, my Covid test results came back negative so we are going ahead with eye surgery later this morning.

I'll be seeing you
In all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day and through
In that small cafe
The park across the way
The children's carousel
The chestnut trees
The wishing well

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day
In everything that's light and gay
I'll always think of you that way

I'll find you in the morning sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you

-- Billie Holliday

-30-

Collision Course

 

Yesterday, I had my first Covid-19 test in preparation for eye surgery. It was at a facility in Berkeley where everyone was masked and at a distance. They have you give the test to yourself -- sticking a swab up your nostrils -- while an attendant watches.

When I re-emerged to the parking lot, one of my younger grandchildren ran up excitedly: "Grandpa, do you have it?"

He meant Covid-19.

Afterwards, we drove a ways to where we could walk onto the U-C, Berkeley campus, where we encountered this beautiful Black Lives Matter tribute pictured above.

It is in a peaceful spot by a fountain, just some flowers and words drawn in chalk.

Under these circumstances, there's no individual place I'd rather celebrate than the great university at Berkeley. A leading center of research and thought, it also is the venerated  home for freedom of expression in this country.

Generations of student activists have marched peacefully to demand an end to wars, racism, injustices of all kinds. This campus truly is a national shrine, which should serve as a beacon for all of us.

I taught there as an adjunct professor for over 14 years. Many of my students are still friends of mine, years later, and many have gone on to wonderful careers in journalism.

The reason it felt so good to be at Berkeley was I fear this is a dark week in American history.

Halfway across the country, a dangerously sick man is leading the charge of armed right-wing militias into Kenosha, Wisconsin, hoping to incite violence. He wants chaos because he thinks that will galvanize his base and help him win re-election.

His only hope of winning, actually, is to incite fear and anger among the under-educated and ignorant who are rebelling against the nationwide calls for equality and justice. These unfortunate souls ride their big trucks, waving their flags, flaunting their guns, as if they were some kind of patriotic force.

In fact, they are nothing but misguided thugs.

Be absolutely clear: There are not two "rights" in this matter; there is one right and one wrong.

The "law and order" thugs are in the wrong. They seek to undermine much-needed social change.

Activists in Berkeley have been leading the movements for that change for generations. In the Bay Area, they have helped establish a region where the ideals of equality and justice prevail., not perfectly but better than in other places. Now the battle has shifted to the parts pf the country where out-dated attitudes still hold some sway.    

I have confidence that the good people of the Midwest, my home region, will reject Trump's manipulative rhetoric to soundly denounce him at the polls and rid our nation of the scourge of his reign. It is up to them. Californians want nothing further to do with this evil man.

We are at the crisis point, the tipping point in this battle.

May calmer and sounder minds prevail back in the heartland. so that the tyrant can be vanquished.

***

The news headlines portend trouble on Tuesday. I fervently hope no more people lose their lives over this.

* White House says Trump still planning to visit Kenosha after governor urges him to reconsider (CNN)

* Trump unleashes barrage of tweets in response to Portland shooting, says ‘big backlash’ to protests ‘cannot be unexpected--The president let loose roughly 90 tweets and retweets attacking Democratic officials and defending aggressive actions by his supporters in Portland. (Washington Post)

* Trump Embraces Fringe Theories on Protests and the Coronavirus -- In a Twitter barrage, the president advanced conspiracy theories claiming that protests are an organized coup and that the virus death toll is inflated. He also reposted a call to imprison New York’s governor. (New York Times)

* Portland mayor excoriates Trump: 'It's you who have created the hate' (CNN)

* Trump, Vicar of Fear and Violence -- He continues the old practice of stoking white victimhood for votes.(New York Times)

* Trump's favorability and perceptions of COVID-19 response stagnate post-convention (ABC)

* Biden condemns violence in Portland and calls on Trump to do the same (CNN)

* Big Oil Is in Trouble. Its Plan: Flood Africa With Plastic.  -- Faced with plunging profits and a climate crisis that threatens fossil fuels, the industry is demanding a trade deal that weakens Kenya’s rules on plastics and on imports of American trash. (New York Times) 

* * With a Wary Eye on China, Taiwan Moves to Revamp Its Military -- The self-governing democracy is taking steps to bolster its armed forces in order to deter or defeat an invasion from China — with or without American help. (New York Times) * The pandemic is poised to leave a lasting impact in more ways than one. Signs point to a pandemic-induced U.S. baby bust, with Brookings Institution estimating we may welcome 300,000 to 500,000 fewer babies in 2021. Birth declines could have longstanding economic effects. (LinkedIn)

***

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's s time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

-- Buffalo Springfield

-30-

Bending Reality

After weeks of remote learning and months of little contact with their friends, six of my grandchildren got together yesterday. And the noise from their frivolity grew deafening at times. They ran, they jumped, they screamed, they wrestled each other to the ground.

It is so nice to see children just being children as if our lives had gone back to normal. But of course there is no normal any longer.

So we just have to make our own pretend normal out of the abject abnormal that engulfs us..

New cases of Covid-19 pop up after every public gathering of any size, yet we have a President who is crusading for re-election by encouraging his followers to gather without masks in close quarters to cheer him on.

And at Kenosha, Wisconsin, the latest site of unrest following a police shooting of yet another black man, the local authorities shudder because of who plans to visit there on Tuesday. To him, it represents a political prop like that church across Lafayette Park as he tries to weaponize protest to make it conform to his law and order message.

Sadly, millions of Americans cannot -- or don't choose to -- see through this. They see violence and accept his B.S. that only a police crackdown will restore order. Such crackdowns will only increase the violence, as any informed person or student of history knows. 

Shamelessly, this man blames the opposing political party for the rioting.

Hi's vision is dystopian, disconnected from fact, and self-serving in the way only an extreme narcissist could conjure.

There is no Democratic America or Republican America when it comes to attitudes about rioting. There is no party encouraging violence or mayhem. The violence is borne of many decades of frustration by citizens fed up with racism and social inequality.

Theirs is a plea for justice not for chaos. The overwhelming number of protestors eschew violence. 

Those breaking windows and setting fires are not partisans to any cause espoused by any potential leader. They act on their own, against everyone's interest.

As I contemplate all of this, I feel like Alice gazing at the looking glass. All reality is bent as if we're collectively on a dangerous hallucinatory drug. That a sitting President seeks to exploit this for his own gain is reprehensible.

But out in this neck of the woods, where diversity and freedom of expression are valued, not feared, by the overwhelming majority of people, my grandchildren play on, oblivious to the threat to our democracy from a tyrant whose name they barely know.

The young ones cannot vote -- yet. But we can.  And we must.

***

The news marches on.

* One person shot dead in Portland following clashes between BLM activists, pro-Trump supporters -- The groups had earlier faced off along a highway on-ramp and on downtown city streets. (Washington Post)

* The national political conventions over the last two weeks set the battle lines for the election’s remaining weeks. Joe Biden is focusing on President Trump’s virus management, while the president is hammering a law-and-order message. (New York Times)

* Secret Service copes with coronavirus cases in aftermath of Trump appearances -- The president’s insistence on traveling and addressing crowds has increased the strain on the agency. (Washington Post)

* ‘End of the Line’: School Bus Industry in Crisis Because of the Coronavirus (New York Times)

* 2 Russian aircraft make 'unsafe' intercept of US Air Force B-52 bomber (CNN)

* College towns growing alarmed over outbreaks among students (AP)

* CDC Projects Official U.S. Death Toll Will Top 200,000 in September (Democracy Now)

* Intel community will cease in-person election security briefings to Congress (ABC)

* Yellowstone National Park said the Giantess Geyser erupted after 6 1/2 years of dormancy on Aug. 25. Historically, it erupted 2-6 times a year. (USA Today)

* Humans Take a Step Closer to ‘Flying Cars’ -- A Japanese company said it had completed a manned flight of its electrical vertical takeoff and landing machine. Experts say the technology needs work and that it will be expensive. (New York Times)

***

It's time for some Marvin Gaye:

My love is alive
Way down in my heart
Although we are miles apart
If you ever need a helping hand
I'll be there on the double
Just as fast as I can
Don't you know that there

Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you babe

   -- Valerie Simpson / Nickolas Ashford