The Unending Toll

No matter how bad the pandemic gets, it is critical that we maintain a sense of proportion in the context of other health crises. For example, as of Friday, October 9, 121 people had died of Covid-19 in the city of San Francisco so far this year. 

Meanwhile, according to the medical examiner, over 450 people had died of drug overdoses during the same period.

Of course the long-term effects of Covid among the 11,611 in the city who have been infected are currently unknown, and may be severe, but it is instructive that drug abuse is killing almost four times as many people as is the virus.

My point is not to downplay the pandemic, but to remind us all of the enormity of the drug addiction crisis. As some sort of vaccine or more effective treatment for Covid becomes more likely, the silent scourge of drug abuse will no doubt continue unabated.

Because we do not have a vaccine or a cure for that.

Today is World Mental Health Day.

***

* Trump appeared before a small crowd of primarily black and Latino young people paid to go to a rally at the White House, endangering their health. He did not wear a mask. (CNN)

* Accused leader of plot to kidnap Mich. governor was struggling financially, living in basement storage space (WashPo)

* Las Vegas Strip Empty Without Conventions -- Nevada’s public-health restrictions and a weakened travel industry have kept conventions and meetings from returning to Las Vegas, a continuing setback for the city’s battered casino industry and the state’s overall economy. (WSJ)

* Biden is favored to win the election -- We simulate the election 40,000 times to see who wins most often. The sample of 100 outcomes below gives you a good idea of the range of scenarios our model thinks is possible. Biden 85%, Trump 14%. (538)

* Survey: 43% of Economists Don’t See U.S. Gaining Back Lost Jobs Until 2023 (WSJ )

* A North Bay retreat center on the site of California's oldest resort was devoured by flames in the Glass Fire, with only three of the original 20 buildings remaining, according to multiple news reports. At the White Sulphur Springs Resort outside St. Helena, an inn and a carriage house are still standing but many other cottages and structures were chewed up in the blaze. (SFGate)

***

Reasons to quit
They have no rhyme or reason when you're high
And the reasons to quit
Don't outnumber all the reasons why

-- Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson

Don't Yell Fire

The potential for violence is already casting a pall over the election, mainly because Trump fumes that the results will be invalid if he loses, which seems increasingly likely.

Do his supporters buy this nonsense?

Apparently they do. And almost the entire Republican establishment cowers in fear of his wrath, as gangs of his supporters train for civil war and spread conspiracy theories.

Many people have asked me if I ever dreamed our country would come to this.

I did not. Political apocalypse is not in my DNA. Plus, having grown up in a family that was equally Republican and Democrat, in the state where the GOP was founded, I've never identified with the extreme left's disdain for conservative thought.

Many conservative ideas appeal to me, including eliminating government waste, free markets, and free trade, but I also believe in strict environmental regulation to temper the excesses of the free market.

To me, environmental concerns are not externalities but essentialities.

And since we live in an age when giant monopolies control our economy, we need a big government to counter big corporations.

I've always been liberal on social issues.

The biggest quandary facing people like me are the threats to our unwavering faith in free speech. That belief means we have a difficult time justifying the suppression of the ugly hate speech voiced by right-wing extremists, because free speech means free speech.

Our only feasible excuse is we agree that people are not allowed to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater and our public sphere is one such crowded space. 

But, as a result, bit by bit our freedoms may be eroded.

It pains me to write these words.

***

It pains me to aggregate the news too.

* Trump’s Taxes Show He Engineered a Sudden Windfall in 2016 -- Over $21 million in highly unusual payments from the Las Vegas hotel Donald Trump owns with Phil Ruffin were routed through other Trump companies, then directed to Mr. Trump. (NYT)

* White House hosted Covid 'superspreader' event, says Dr Fauci (BBC)

* Trump Won’t Travel Over Weekend, Ending Florida Rally Plan (Bloomberg)

* Trump invites thousands to hear him speak from White House balcony on Saturday (CNN)

* Democrats surge past Republicans in early voting (The Hill)

* Trump steel tariffs bring job losses to swing state Michigan (Reuters)

* Azerbaijan and Armenia Agree to Cease-Fire in Nagorno-Karabakh (NYT)

* Watchdog GAO urges more action to protect planes from hackers (AP)

* The U.S. debt is now projected to be larger than the U.S. economy (CNN)

* Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. Attorney General William Barr for not doing more to prosecute his political enemies, including arresting Obama-era officials who the president accuses — without evidence — of illegally spying on his 2016 campaign. (TNS)

* Trump's law-and-order mantra goes missing in wake of domestic terror plot against Democratic governor (CNN)

* Wolverine Watchmen, extremist group implicated in Michigan kidnapping plot, trained for ‘civil war’ (WashPo)

* Doomsday Camps Set To “Activate” Due To Risk Of Election Violence (Drudge)

* From Hiding, Kyrgyzstan’s Leader Declares State of Emergency (NYT)

* South Carolina U.S. Senate debate changes format after Lindsey Graham refuses to take Covid-19 test (CNN)

* Trump got a $21 million tax break for preserving the forest outside his N.Y. mansion. Now the deal is under investigation. (WashPo)

***

“America will never be destroyed from the outside." -- Abraham Lincoln

-30-

The Madman Speaks

The chilling prospect of armed right-wing "militias" (AKA gangs) training for a post-election apocalypse in the upper midwest is being raised by law enforcement informants and anti-terrorism experts. If true, that would make Michigan's kidnapping plot just the opening salvo of what could be an extended period of unrest.

Until recently, the murmurs  that a new civil war was coming seemed like the ranting of conspiracy theorists who confuse fantasy with reality to a clinical degree. But with the President stoking their fears, the poorly informed but heavily armed members of his base appear unwilling to accept the decision of the majority when and if Joe Biden wins the election in November.

The polls are clear and unmistakeable; Trump is losing the popular vote by a huge margin and is behind in the key battleground states like Michigan, where the militias are based.

Unless the political dynamics change in a profound way in the next 25 days, the Biden-Harris ticket will prevail. Democrats will also control the House -- that is not in doubt -- and very possibly the Senate as well.

This prospect has freaked Trump out. Perhaps jacked up of steroids administered to battle his serious case of Covid-19, he is increasingly striking out at anyone standing in his way. Perhaps the most pathetic report has him roaming the nearly empty White House, asking why his political opponents Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are not in jail.

He seems unaware that they are not in jail because they have committed no crimes, were charged with no crimes, and are decent law-abiding citizens like the great majority of Americans. No one apparently has told Trump that in a democracy you can't just throw those who oppose your ideas in jail. That would be called a dictatorship.

But of course Trump is the one who in his 2016 campaign repeatedly led angry crowd in chants of "Lock Her Up," referring to Clinton and the baseless charge that she had used her private email account for illegal purposes.

Of course she did no such thing, that was simply another conspiracy theory peddled by the fringe right-wing in this country.

And it is precisely that fringe right-wing that is the main criminal element endangering all of our security and safety now.

So now more than ever, it is time for clear-thinking Republican voters to come to grips with a central truth: Donald Trump is a madman. His regime must be eliminated and the lawful way to do that is at the polls. His administration will end, as all previous administrations have ended -- at the polls.

Vote, America!

***

* Trump was hoarse throughout an extended telephone interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, yet insisted he was feeling great. The president lost his voice while accusing Democratic challenger Joe Biden of “choking like a dog” during their debate last week. He also struggled and coughed while discussing absentee ballots. Although Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 1, he ducked a question about his testing and virus levels, claimed he was in “great shape” and talked up his medication. He said he wants to hold a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday. [HuffPost] 

* Trump Lashes Out at His Cabinet With Calls to Indict Political Rivals -- The pressure on his top administration officials to take action came as President Trump bristled at the restraints of his illness. (NYT)

* Both parties prepare for chance of contested election as chaotic race hurtles to a close (WashPo)

* In Michigan, authorities charged 13 men, some of whom were accused of plotting to storm the State Capitol building and planning to start a civil war. (NYT)

* On the same day that federal and state officials announced charges in an alleged domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Trump accused the Democrat of "complaining" and again attacked her over her handling of the pandemic, accusing her of having "locked down" her state. (CNN)

* Michigan kidnapping plot, like so many other extremist crimes, foreshadowed on social media (WashPo)

* President Trump's increasing political desperation is raising concerns about his judgment following his aggressive Covid-19 treatment and as suspicion mounts that the White House is not telling the truth about his health.In a day of chaos Thursday, Trump repeatedly shifted his position on a new plan for a virtual second presidential debate and suddenly decided to back negotiations over a coronavirus economic rescue package he had killed off earlier in the week. His actions suggested a campaign in disarray as he trails Democratic nominee Joe Biden by double digits only 26 days from Election Day. Trump's erratic conduct only emphasized an alarming leadership vacuum in a White House hollowed out by sickness as the pandemic takes an ominous turn amid fresh signs that a fragile economic rebound is slowing. (CNN)

* Protests Spread Across Indonesia Over Jobs Law -- The government hopes the measure will draw investment. Labor leaders say that workers’ protections will be slashed, particularly for women. (NYT)

* Trump’s frantic desperation will only get worse (WashPo)

* In recent days, including in a manic Fox Business interview Thursday, Trump has wondered aloud why his foes --namely Hillary Clinton, Biden and former President Barack Obama -- are not in jail. The President incredibly raised the possibility that the relatives of fallen US service members infected him at the White House, absolving his team of responsibility for their negligent measures to keep staff and visitors safe from the virus. (CNN)

* Trump’s Covid Treatments Were Tested in Cells Derived From Fetal Tissue -- The “cell lines” used to develop monoclonal antibodies, as well as remdesivir and vaccines, began with fetal tissue decades ago. (NYT)

* Broadway to Stay Dark Through May (WSJ)

***

And I say to you today my friends, let freedom ring. From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the mighty Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! 

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado! 

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! 

But not only there; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! 

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee! 

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill in Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. 

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we're free at last!

-- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

-30-

Drama or Comedy?

 

If the days of this long, long year were the pages of a book, we all would have grown tired of flipping them half a lifetime ago. Will this painful story ever crawl to an end?

Who's the author of this book anyway?

A group of alienated, confused men in Michigan plotted to overthrow the government? Kidnap the Governor? Blow up bridges? Rush the Capitol building as an armed force?

As of this writing, we don't know enough about these deluded characters to say whether it's just that they never outgrew video games, or that they unwittingly fell into a network of meth addicts, or perhaps they are part of some weird cult. All we know is it was one of their ilk who carried out the worst incident of domestic terrorism in U.S. history, by blowing up the Oklahoma City federal building.

And that they represent more of the same.

C'mon dudes! You're giving my home state a bad name.

Of course that we just happen to have as President the man who has launched baseless claims that the upcoming election is a fraud, and said that his supporters should invade the polling places, that they should arm themselves and "liberate" Michigan. 

It's highly possible that he is in fact their inspiration. if so, expect them at trial to claim they were only "joking." 

If so, the joke is on them.

For the person who inspired them is the Enemy of the People.

***

If you've not read Ibsen's play recently, the news simply won't make sense.

* Coronavirus Hit the U.S. Long Before We Knew -- Months before travel bans and lockdowns, Americans were transmitting the virus across the country. (WSJ)

* Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issues scathing rebuke to Trump -- She issues a powerful statement following the news that six men were charged in an alleged plot to kidnap her, according to a federal criminal complaint. (CNN)

* Facebook Removes Network Tied to Conservative Group Over Fake Accounts -- The social-media giant pulled 200 accounts and other content linked to Turning Point USA, a conservative political youth group, for posing as fake users to praise President Trump and criticize Joe Biden. (WSJ)

* WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases amid European outbreak (Reuters)

* Military blindsided by Trump’s new Afghan troop withdrawal (AP)

* A look at the polls reveals that Biden has a clear advantage in Arizona. While some polls are even better for him, the average of all the polls has him up about five points. (CNN)

* Latest Swing State Polls: MI - Biden +7.4, PA - Biden +7.0, WI - Biden +7.0 (538)

* Walter Reed staff were required to sign nondisclosure agreements during Trump’s November 2019 medical visit (WashPo) We still don't know what that was about. (DW)

* Federal and state law enforcement officials have begun expanded preparations for the possibility of widespread unrest at the polls on Election Day, a response to extraordinarily high tensions among voters and anxieties about safety stoked in part by President Trump. (AP)

* McConnell avoids White House, citing laxity on masks, COVID-19 precautions (Reuters)

***

 "I am still uncertain as to whether I should call [An Enemy of the People] a comedy or a straight drama. It may [have] many traits of comedy, but it also is based on a serious idea." -- Henrik Ibsen (1882)

-30-

Winging It

 

Luckily, serendipity often seems to intervene to relieve our boredom at pompous events, reminding us that life is, after all, pretty random.

The fly on Pence's well-coifed head at the V-P debate was one such event. A positive way to view it is that unlike Trump's joyride outside Walter Reed, the debate environment must not have been hermetically sealed without natural ventilation.

Either that, or somebody left a food scrap somewhere and the fly was pausing on a snowy peak on its way to or from that delicacy.

I'm not aware whether Pence has commented on the fly or whether he considers it is the latest evidence that Biden would ban fracking.

Harris, meanwhile, was too polite to note the creature on her opponent's head, or maybe her vision is lacking.

Had I not recently benefited from cataract surgery, I no doubt would have mistaken the fly for a melanoma on Pence's head.

One good (or unfortunate) thing about white hair is that others can see anything out of the ordinary going on up there. For example, recently one of my daughters plucked an errant ant out of my long white locks.

***

It's a bit odd to be back on the job market, after a brief hiatus. Naturally, I am aware of the problem of age discrimination. What those job listing services fail to disclose is they often set age parameters on the algorithms that search applicant resumes, thereby sorting out older candidates.

In this way, older people are disqualified before they are even considered.

Recruiters handle this by advising older people to only list their more recent jobs and accomplishments in order to avoid tripping those algorithmic flags. Thus, a 60-year-old may appear to be more like a 35-year-old, based on experience, and in that way, make the first cut.

BTW, it is illegal to ask an applicant what his or her age is. And job applicants are under no obligation to disclose their age.

Of course, older workers can be especially valuable when it comes to having had experience handling the types of issues that commonly come up in jobs, plus many of them have outgrown personality defects that might have made them less attractive when they were younger and ambitious.

Most older people have learned to set personal ambition aside, unless, of course, they happen to be running for president.

Many of us cringe at old politicians duking it out with younger combatants. Why give us a bad name? As a group, we tend to be sweet, lovable, generous old guys, with plenty of quaint stories featuring self-deprecating humor.

No, we don't really take ourselves all that seriously...

***

The news, sadly, takes itself *very* seriously...

* Six men were charged Thursday in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to a federal criminal complaint. (CNN)

* New England’s Forests Are Sick. They Need More Tree Doctors. -- Climate change is taking a toll on woodlands in the Northeast. (NYT)

* Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie remained hospitalized Wednesday, four days after he revealed that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Christie is one of at least five people who helped prepare Trump for last week’s presidential debate and have now tested positive for the virus, including former White House aide Kellyanne Conway and Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller. Christie said last week that no one wore face masks during the prep sessions. Christie, who has asthma, may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. [HuffPost]

* Vulnerable Republicans are beginning to distance themselves from Trump (WashPo)

* For the sixth time in the Atlantic hurricane season, people in Louisiana are once more fleeing the state’s barrier islands and sailing boats to safe harbor while emergency officials ramp up command centers and consider ordering evacuations. Most of Louisiana is in the path of Hurricane Delta, the 25th named storm of the Atlantic’s unprecedented hurricane season, with the latest National Hurricane Center estimating landfall in the state on Friday. The center’s forecasters warned of winds that could gust well above 100 mph and up to 11 feet of ocean water potentially rushing onshore when the storm’s center hits land. [AP]

* Venezuela, Once an Oil Giant, Reaches the End of an Era -- Venezuela’s oil reserves, the world’s largest, transformed the country and the global energy market. Now its oil sector is grinding to a halt. Will it ever recover? (NYT)

* Avoiding election interference is the overarching principle of Department of Justice policy on voting-related crimes. The policy generally bars prosecutors not only from making any announcement about ongoing investigations close to an election, but also from taking public steps before the end of voting because the publicity could tip the balance of a race. But now, if a U.S. attorney’s office suspects election fraud that involves postal workers or military employees, federal investigators may take public investigative steps before the polls close, even if those actions risk affecting the outcome of the election. [ProPublica]

* Protesters want to defund police. Homicides and violence are spiking. In Oakland, ideology and practicality collide. (WashPo)

* Putin, Long the Sower of Instability, Is Now Surrounded by It -- Fueled by the pandemic, uprisings in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan and a war in the Caucasus region are undermining the influence of the Russian leader. (NYT)

* Trump says remaining troops should be home from Afghanistan by Christmas (WashPo)

* Facebook Widens Ban on Political Ads as Alarm Rises Over Election -- Political ads will be banned indefinitely after polls close on Nov. 3 and the company plans new steps to limit misinformation about the results. (NYT)

* Biden is favored to win the election -- We simulate the election 40,000 times to see who wins most often. The sample of 100 outcomes below gives you a good idea of the range of scenarios our model thinks is possible. Biden 85%, Trump 15%. (538)

***

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

-- Pete Seeger

-30-

Debate Night America

 

It seems like it happened more than a year ago but the Trump-Biden "debate" was just last week. Now it's time for the V-P debate between Harris and Pence.

My plan is the same as it was last week. I'll plan to watch it and post an essay here right afterward, based on what I see. That way, I can convey my own reaction free from the influence of any other media commentators. 

The most mind-boggling development today is that the venerable New England Journal of Medicine has called for the leaders of the Trump administration to be removed from office for incompetence in handling the pandemic. This is unprecedented, but then again we are living in unprecedented times

SALT LAKE CITY Oct. 7 (6 p.m. PT) The candidates are separated by plexiglass and are 12 feet, 3 inches apart.

There are to be nine questions:

(1) Covid-19: Harris called Trump's handling of the pandemic "the greatest failure in history." Pence defended the administration's actions and claimed they have saved lives.

(2) The release of personal health information: Harris claimed transparency. Pence avoided the question.

(3) The economy: Harris attacked the Trump tax cut; Pence defended it.

(4) Climate Change: Pence attacked the Green New Deal and red-baited Biden. Harris  said "they don't believe in science."

(5) China. Pence said China is to blame for Covid-19. Harris pivoted to Trump's words calling our troops "suckers and losers."

(6) Supreme Court. They both avoided the topic but restated their talking points on abortion. Pence supported the Barrett nomination and defended her from the (non-existing) attacks on her "Christian faith."

(7) Pre-existing conditions. They avoided answering the question. By this point, they had both run off the tracks. But earlier, Harris said "if you have pre-existing conditions, they are coming for you."

(8) Race. Harris defended peaceful protest and supported progressive concerns. Pence launched into his law and order talking point.

(9) Peaceful transfer of power. Pence avoided answering.

(10) An extra question from a schoolchild about politicians always fighting. Both, blessedly, argued for unity.

In summary, this was a battle of talking points. Modern candidates are so schooled in media training that they rarely depart from script. There were no surprises and no gaffes. 

It was a more peaceful exercise than last week's circus, although both candidates droned on beyond the time limits, especially Pence.

In my view, nobody won the debate. In terms of body language, Pence wore an emotional mask when she attacked him; Harris smiled and shook her head when he interrupted and attacked her. And in all likelihood, few minds were changed.

***

And on to the news:

* Dying in a Leadership Vacuum: "Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy...our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs." (New England Journal of Medicine)

* "Trump is not masculine by his own definition. He doesn't protect people." (SE Cupp, conservative commentator)

* Santa Claus may still appear at malls this holiday season but children will not sit on his lap. "It will be a touchless experience." (CNN)

* How Russia Today Skirts High-Tech Blockade to Reach U.S. Readers -- After 2016, social-media companies tried to limit the reach of RT, as it is now known. Instead, the outlet has been boosted by a news aggregator dominated by conservative publishers, including National Review, The Daily Caller and Newsmax. (WSJ)

* Putin Criticizes Biden’s ‘Sharp Anti-Russian Rhetoric’ -- In Vladimir Putin’s first substantive comments on the U.S. election, the Russian president praised President Trump. (WSJ)

* Psychiatrist says Trump's behavior “meets criteria for a locked psychiatric facility" -- It "would not be an exaggeration" to say that Trump "delights in putting people in danger," Dr. Bandy X. Lee says (Salon)

* Trump still seemingly struggling to breathe after hospital return, White House aides say (The Week)

* There has been no more surprising race on the Senate map than South Carolina. Even early this year, it looked like Sen. Lindsey Graham would cruise to re-election. Instead, the Republican incumbent finds himself in a tied race in both public and private surveys with challenger Jaime Harrison, who has proven to be perhaps Democrats’ best recruit and a fundraising behemoth. (Cook Political Report)

* Today FiveThirtyEight released its third and final forecast of the 2020 election: our forecast for the House. And while Democrats are slight favorites to flip the Senate and Joe Biden is a solid-but-not-overwhelming front-runner for the presidency it gives Democrats a 93 in 100 chance of winning the House. On average, it projects Democrats to win 237 seats and Republicans to win 198 seats — a four-seat gain for Democrats. (538)

* Hurricane watch posted for coastal Louisiana as "Delta" pulls away from Mexico (WashPo)

* While humans have been adjusting to an altered state of reality over the last few months, we are certainly not the only living organisms that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the CDC, there have been reports of increased rodent activity during this time as pests adapt to decreased public activity and search for new food sources. With social distancing measures in place and many restaurants, cafes and food suppliers having limited business, there is less availability of food scraps in public spaces. (Cherry Digital Content)

* A 70 percent majority believes our democracy is “in danger” in this election, including about 8 in 10 Biden supporters and 6 in 10 Trump supporters. (Fox News)

The Night Watchman

Listening to my grandchildren during their "chat" sessions on Zoom school calls -- when kids can bring up whatever they wish to talk about -- it is fascinating to hear how often California kids want to talk about cataclysmic events -- earthquakes and fires.

This puts their teachers in a difficult position. The teachers, meanwhile, who are primarily young women, often tell about their memories of relatively big earthquakes, of which there have been few in the past few decades, or fire zones they have witnessed.

As an older person, I can hear the youthfulness in their voices. They are in their twenties, when the human voice still vibrates in a youthful kind of way.

They are sincere, trying to allay the fears of their students, to reassure them, and fulfill their responsibility as important adults in the children's lives. But I can sense their relief when it is time for that part of the lesson to end. "It's time to turn off 'chat' now, everybody."

***

My lifestyle at present, partly out of necessity, partly out of choice, is somewhat itinerant. I hope it becomes more so in the future. Over recent weeks and months, I have slept in San Jose, San Francisco, and El Cerrito; these are all communities that border different parts of San Francisco Bay.

Although the differences in these communities are subtle, they appeal to me. That is the differences. When I am present, typically I am on the only one in the household who is up at 3 a.m.

That's because I wake up around that time, filled with ideas about what I want to write. It's become apparent over recent years that no matter how hard I might try to go back to sleep, that effort is pointless unless I first set the words yearning to be spoken down on paper, or rather on screen.

As this reality, what some people would call a problem but I call a blessing, became obvious over the past few years, various friends have recommended that I take melatonin, which is described as a natural sleep medication.

Last year, in one hospital, the doctors actually prescribed a clinical dose of melatonin to help me go to sleep at night. Their theory was if I went to sleep earlier, I might wake up later, or at least better-rested.

The medication failed to have any impact.

At this point, you couldn't force me to take it. When I get up in the dark, alone, blinking to see without light, a warm feeling comes over me. "Silence, my old friend..."

In the house where I am staying, I become the night watchman. Looking out the windows, I might see wild turkeys or deer, or the fog drifting, or sometimes the smoke from distant fires. There are no birdsongs at that hour. And no coffee brewing in the kitchen.

I can't play some music; I can't go out for a walk.

But I *can* write.

After all, it's always 3 a.m. somewhere.

***

* I Won’t Be Used as a Guinea Pig for White People’ -- Mistrust of vaccines runs deep in African-American communities. (NYT)

* The CDC says it did not consider Vice President Mike Pence a “close contact” of Trump so he could safely participate in Wednesday’s vice presidential debate. (HuffPost)

* Coronavirus  dominates campaign as Trump struggles to regain ground -- The president and Democrat Joe Biden promoted their very different approaches to battling the virus — and handling the presidency. (WashPo)

* Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work on Black Holes -- The prize was awarded half to Roger Penrose for showing how black holes could form and half to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for discovering a supermassive object at the Milky Way’s center. (NYT)

* Face Masks Don't Work Very Well in the Rain (HuffPost)

* Amy Coney Barrett served as a ‘handmaid’ in Christian group People of Praise (WashPo)

* Trump Took $70,000 in Tax Deductions for Hair Care. Experts Say That’s Illegal. -- It’s a small but telling detail in The Times’s exposé on the president’s taxes. (NYT) That's more than most people's income. -- DW

* Oscar Grant: California officials reopen inquiry into 2009 police killing (The Guardian)

* Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA under President George W. Bush, is warning about the toll of four more years of Trump. “If there is another term for President Trump, I don’t know what will happen to America,” Hayden said in a video released by Republican Voters Against Trump. (HuffPost)

***

"Long before California was California, Native Americans used fire to keep the lands where they lived healthy. That meant intentionally burning excess vegetation at regular intervals, during times of the year when the weather would keep blazes smaller and cooler than the destructive wildfires burning today.

"The work requires a deep understanding of how winds would spread flames down a particular hillside or when lighting a fire in a forest would foster the growth of certain plants, and that knowledge has been passed down through ceremony and practice. But until recently, it has been mostly dismissed as unscientific.

"Now, as more Americans are being forced to confront the realities of climate change, firefighting experts and policymakers are increasingly turning to fundamental ecological principles that have long guided Indigenous communities." -- NYT -- -30-