Memory as Story

 

The Giuliani/Trump legal team is racking up quite a losing streak in their quixotic quest to overturn the results of the election. At this rate, they may approach the Cal Tech basketball team's legendary string of conference losses, which reached 310 games over 26 years before the Beavers beat Occidental by one point in 2011.

I'm not aware of any poll of journalists' private opinions of Trump but I'd wager something like 95 percent think it is a positive development that he will soon be banished from power. And no, this is not because journalists are liberals or Democrats or "Never-Trumpers."

It's because we have devoted our lives to gathering, analyzing and interpreting the cold hard facts, and the facts say Trump was and is a disaster for this country. 

That doesn't mean every one of his policies and initiatives was awful; some have merit, and it also doesn't mean that journalists or the electorate rejects Republicanism or conservative ideas. It was a pretty good election overall or the G.O.P. and I think the description of the U.S. as a moderately conservative society is accurate, with a strong liberal streak when it comes to social values.

Yep, the country is just fine now that we dumped Trump. 

***

Lately, as the pandemic rages on and the year limps toward its inevitable close, I've been obsessed with  topics like identity, time, voice, memory, connection, reality and truth. It's not a minor agenda, I know. 

But it's the big questions that reflect themselves into the little moments of life day after day that attract me when, as an example, I watch my two-year-old granddaughter open a children's storybook, and turn it slowly page by page repeating all of the words on each page.

Of course she can't read yet, but she is so involved in the stories when they are read to her that she easily memorizes them for later use. Memory is indeed a magical commodity, as several of you have noted in the comments section trailing behind these essays.

How the connections in our brains light up when storing and recalling memories in neurological  experiments is awe-inspiring.

What blows my mind is that the people with extraordinary memories for numbers say they create characters and stories to memorize those vast sequences of numbers most of us wouldn't even try to memorize and repeat.

That connection between memory and narrative is stunning, and to me it suggests that perhaps story-telling is central to human evolution and the development of a more civilized human society.

If so, we'll need to be telling the story of this pandemic/ election year for a long time coming. we can hope it is a one and done. Because nobody wants a rerun of this one.

***

The news:

* Prominent Iranian nuclear scientist killed in attack -- Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was seen as a key figure in Iran’s former covert pursuit of an atomic weapon. There was no claim of responsibility for the apparent targeted killing outside Tehran, but Iran accused Israel and the United States in similar attacks. (WashPo)

* Midnight Ruling Exposes Rifts at a Supreme Court Transformed by Trump -- The justices issued six opinions, several of them unusually bitter, in upholding challenges from churches and synagogues to state pandemic restrictions on religious services. (NYT)

* Los Angeles County announced a new stay-home order Friday as coronavirus cases surged out of control in the nation’s most populous county, banning most gatherings but stopping short of a full shutdown on retail stores and other non-essential businesses. (AP)

* Remote school is leaving children sad and angry (WashPo)

* Market volatility is collapsing to levels not seen since February, the latest sign of optimism about a stock rally that lifted major indexes to fresh records this week. (WSJ)

* ‘Loser’: How a Lifelong Fear Bookended Trump’s Presidency -- The president’s inability to concede the election is the latest reality-denying moment in a career preoccupied with an epithet. (NYT)

* Horse-race political analysis is important — and flawed. We need more moral journalism. (WashPo)    

* Type O blood linked to lower COVID risk, taking Vitamin D unlikely to help (WSJ)

* Covid Combat Fatigue: ‘I Would Come Home With Tears in My Eyes’ -- Doctors and nurses on the front lines are running on empty, under increasing duress as the pandemic surges and hospitals are overrun with patients. (NYT)

* Russia’s Putin still hasn’t congratulated Biden, referring to the president-elect as a ‘candidate’ (WashPo)

* Brexit Is Nipping at London’s Role as a Financial Powerhouse (NYT)

* South Dakota Unveils New ‘Come Die Here’ Tourism Campaign (The Onion)

***

I'm so tired but I can't sleep
Standin' on the edge of something much too deep
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word
We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard

I will remember you, will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories

-- Sarah McLachlan

-30-

As Our Narratives Merge

In San Francisco this Thanksgiving, surrounded by grandchildren, I was again struck by the uniqueness of each person on this planet. Our DNA is ours and ours only, even identical twins present variabilities, and we all have unique fingerprints, among other identifiers.

Where this leads me is to our individual stories -- I believe those do not duplicate themselves either. Having gathered and sorted thousands of stories over the decades, each stands out in detail from every other.

There are patterns, of course, as we go through the stages of life and adapt to our environments amidst the predictably random occurrences that populate each person's narrative. By sharing my ever-evolving narrative here on Facebook, I'm conscious that I'm not only creating my story with you, you are sharing bits of your narratives with me.

Our stories are mixing and affecting the next chapters as they unfold mutually. At least along one track, we are conjoined. We take this journey together.

Most of my writing career, I've worked with partners, co-authors. We not only gathered the information together, we blended our voices in the telling of the story. Sometimes it got better in the process; sometimes both of our voices got lost.

Sort of like relationships. They don't all work out in the end but when they do the harmony is beautiful.

Over the years, I've grown more particular about which writers I can pair with to execute a writing project. Part of it is instinct; somehow I can tell our voices will blend, or at least there's a good chance that will happen. Part is luck.

But it is increasingly rare to find such a potential collaborator so almost all of the time nowadays, I try just to make it on my own.

***

On to the news...

* Biden Calls for Unity in Thanksgiving Address -- President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. stressed the importance of unity and encouraged Americans to be careful with Thanksgiving celebrations this year to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (AP)

* Friendsgiving is an epidemiologist’s nightmare. But its absence hits some young people hard. (WashPo)

* Coronavirus deaths reach ominous levels unseen since early in the pandemic (WashPo)

* U.S. Economy Stumbles as the Coronavirus Spreads Widely -- Claims for new unemployment benefits and other data suggest that the recent increase in infections is threatening the economic recovery. (NYT)

* Baseless Trump claims turn Ga. Senate runoffs into a ‘high-wire act’ for GOP (WashPo)

* Offices and Malls Will Look Different After Covid-19 (WSJ)

* Mexican feminists occupy federal building, create shelter, demand officials end violence against women (WashPo)

* Disney is laying off 32,000 employees (CNN)

* Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn is a parting disgrace (WashPo)

* Social Media’s Liability Shield Is Under Assault -- Section 230 is facing threats unlike anything in its 24-year history, with potentially significant consequences for websites that host user content (WSJ)

* Food banks across the Bay Area are racing to keep up with increased demand for food and volunteers this holiday season. (KQED)

* “The Drudge Report once cycled through 40-50 links in a single five-hour period. The page is now updated only once or twice a day and almost never reacts to breaking news, as if it’s being run by someone who simply doesn’t care anymore.” (Nieman Lab)

* Macron’s Rightward Tilt, Seen in New Laws, Sows Wider Alarm in France -- One bill would reach into Muslim life, and another would place new restrictions on filming of police. Critics say they’re part of a drift toward repressive government policies. (NYT)

***

'Til I Can Make It On My Own

I'll need time
To get you off my mind.
And I may sometimes bother you;
Try to be in touch with you;
Even ask too much of you from time to time. 

Now and then,
Lord, you know I'll need a friend
Till I get used to losing you.
Let me keep on using you
Till I can make it on my own.

I'll get by,
But no matter how I try
There'll be times you know I'll call.
Chances are my tears will fall,
And I'll have no pride at all from time to time. 

But they say,
Oh, there'll be a brighter day,
But till then I'll lean on you.
That's all I mean to do
Til I can make it on my own.

-- Billy Sherrill / George Richey / Tammy Wynette

-30-

That's A Blessing

The holidays are a loaded time emotionally anyway, and this year's additional issues due to the pandemic may overwhelm some as a result.

Thanksgiving is the favorite meal of the year for many not only because of all the yummy food but the warmth of family when the chill of winter is upon us.

Of course, the chilly weather is relative depending where you are -- snow and freezing temperatures in parts of the country; balmy conditions elsewhere.

As a Bay Area person who grew up in cold, cold Michigan, I need to smack myself sometimes for complaining about a drop of a few degrees out here, but the longer nights are part of the issue as well.

But this particular year, the lower temperatures and a touch of rain we've been getting should be welcome after that disastrous fire season and extended periods of extreme heat.

That's how it goes for me -- back and forth as I try to talk myself into some ideal state of how to be.  Mood swings, always an issue, rocket all over the place this time of the year. Meanwhile, the calendar turns, time though slowed way down inches along, and now the actual Thanksgiving Day is upon us.

One way for me to look at this Thanksgiving is that it is the first of my adult life where I don't have my own home, car, job, or any but the barest number of possessions. When I move place to place, I take a computer bag and two small tote bags filled with clothes and toiletries.

Like a small kid.

But another way to view Thanksgiving is my family members have stepped in to rescue me from a slow decline physically and mentally when I was locked down on my own.

I'm blessed also that so many people have connected with me here on Facebook as I grind out these daily essays. You have pushed me to become a better writer and inspired me to take my role as a story-teller seriously.

I used to be funnier -- truthfully -- but the joke in the end was on me. Now I am more serious; the humor is still there but these are very serious times.

Over a quarter million of our fellow citizens have perished from this epidemic. Millions are unemployed; millions are hungry. This is not the 1930s and the Great Depression. This is 2020 and homelessness is a chronic feature of our society. Every time I ride in a car around the Bay Area, I pass the encampments, the piles of trash, the makeshift shelters.

While those of us with the resources to do so cope with isolation, masks and loneliness, others are losing their will to live at all. For them there will be no punchline.

This Thanksgiving is a time to share with each other, virtually, the warmth of connections that we have. If you are reading these words, you are connected to me and I am connected to you. I love you and may God bless you.

***

The headlines:

* Jobless claims rose for the second straight week in a sign the surge in virus cases was starting to weigh on the labor-market recovery. (WSJ) 

* Biden’s National Security Team Offers a Sharp Turn. But in Which Direction? -- The picks are a repudiation of President Trump’s isolationism, but they will have to resolve tensions between an Obama-era approach and the “fresh thinking” the president-elect says he wants. (NYT)

* Trump’s assault on the election could leave a lasting mark on American democracy (WashPo)

* Trump Stress-Tested the Election System, and the Cracks Showed -- Even in the absence of a questionable outcome or any evidence of fraud, President Trump managed to freeze the passage of power for most of a month. (NYT)

* A new survey found widespread concern among Americans about government tracking of their whereabouts through their digital devices, with an overwhelming majority saying that a warrant should be required to obtain such data. (WSJ)

* A growing number of Americans are going hungry (WashPo)

* Biden made climate a cornerstone of his campaign this year, with his campaign promising a “whole of government approach” to slashing planet-heating emissions and adapting to a hotter world. The Treasury post could prove one of the most active in that new approach. If the Senate confirms her nomination, Janet Yellen would become the nation’s chief financial regulator amid a period of new upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic. And if Congress approves new stimulus funding, she would be in charge of distributing it. [HuffPost]

* Can you repeat that? Hearing trouble more obvious with masks (AP)

* Haight Ashbury T-Shirts plans to shutter at the end of December, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lack of tourism in the area as the reason for the closure. (SFGate)

* The health-care system has failed Black Americans. No wonder many are hesitant about a vaccine. (WashPo)

* Evidence Builds That an Early Mutation Made the Pandemic Harder to Stop -- Scientists were initially skeptical that a mutation made the coronavirus more contagious. But new research has changed many of their minds. (NYT)

* Wild turkeys thrive across much of California — the divisive birds moved into cities and suburbs when water was scarce. Now, as the climate warms, their habitat may be shifting. [CapRadio]

* Jeff Bezos Tables Latest Breakthrough Cost-Cutting Idea After Realizing It’s Just Slaves (The Onion)

***

I'll see you in my dreams
And then I'll hold you in my dreams
Someone took you right out of my arms
Still I feel the thrill of your charms

Lips that once were mine
Tender eyes that shine
They will light my way tonight
I'll see you in my dreams

-- Joe Brown

-30-

Connecting Like This

Whenever we interview someone, most journalists prefer doing it in person rather than by phone for all kinds of reasons. There are the facial expressions, the hand gestures, the nervous ticks, the way they dress, the hairstyle, jewelry, makeup, and generally just how comfortable they seem in their own skin.

Their eyes.

There also is what their office or room looks like, what kinds of pictures are on the wall, etc.

But despite these advantages, when I was a young reporter I noticed some of my colleagues preferred phone interviews and I'll tell you why. Some of the men adopted a lower voice over the phone, trying (I suppose) to sound older, tougher or more authoritative than they might otherwise seem in person..

Also, God forbid, if a reporter considered himself baby-faced, he certainly didn't want his appearance to undermine the impression that he was a super-serious journalist.

All of these factors were equally true of my female colleagues, who additionally had to contend with the inevitable extra factor of how men would react to them as women. Every female friend had stories of being ridiculed, flirted with, dismissed as (pick your adjective) bossy, angry, controlling, cute -- anything that gave the male subject an excuse to try and avoid answering their questions.

This remains true -- all of it -- today in the time of the pandemic as colleagues continue to try and do their work as reporters.  

In a larger context, these journalistic dilemmas pervade everyone's life, since hardly any of us can get together with anybody else these days. By not getting physical with each other, we're lacking a lot of the information our brains and hearts are used to absorbing.

But everything is remote now. So I can't help wondering whether connecting virtually is in some ways deepening the connections humans feel with each other. Not able to be in each other's presence,  or to touch, hug, kiss and show other gestures of affection, we have to fall back on our words and perhaps on our pictures.

It may be that our story-telling skills are becoming more important, as we share with each other how we are enduring in this time of deprivation. If all we can do is tell each other our stories, maybe that is rendering all the other stuff -- physical appearances, clothes, tattoos, piercings, age lines, hair color, on and on -- less relevant.

For me, getting to know a person whether it's professional or personal is one of the true pleasures of life. I straight-out love hearing people tell their own stories when they trust me enough to do so. And I have found myself having deeper conversations over the phone lately with friends than I used to.

Of course, we are finding ways to use social media to connect with each other in wonderful ways, too.

Maybe that is an unexpected benefit of Covid-19. Since this is Thanksgiving time, you'll forgive me for looking for silver linings that reflect on our predicament. We may have to shelter-in-place but we can still let each other feel closer with the tools at hand.

***

The news, it don't stop...

* Dow Surges Past 30,000 Points For 1st Time In Historic Milestone (NPR)

* China Says It Remains Open to the World, but Wants to Dictate Terms -- China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is pursuing a strategy to make the country’s economy more self-sufficient, while making other places more dependent on it than ever. (NYT)

* Study: Coronavirus vaccines face trust gap in Black and Latino communities (WashPo)

* “It’s always tempting to do other things.” Distractions and lack of motivation while learning at home might be hurting boys more than girls—and researchers say that could widen the gender achievement gap. (WSJ)

* As Customers Move Online, So Does the Holiday Shopping Season -- Empty stores are turning into fulfillment centers and the market for warehouse space is booming, as the pandemic rockets the retail industry into its e-commerce future. (NYT)

* Judge orders Trump appointee "hands off" Voice of America journalism (NPR)

* ‘We’re in the foxhole together’: House Democrats reckon with a diminished majority (WashPo)

* Biden shared a tweet showing off a new website for his transition. And his supporters are excited by just three letters in the URL: .gov. The new site, BuildBackBetter.gov, is one of the first visible signs that the formal transition to the new administration is underway, hours after the General Services Administration finally signed off on giving Biden’s team access to the resources to begin the process. [HuffPost]

* A ‘trend of more failing’: Online school has sent F’s spiking by 83% in Virginia’s largest school system (WashPo)

* General Motors says it will no longer support the Trump administration in legal efforts to end California’s right to set its own clean-air standards. CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to environmental groups that GM will pull out of the lawsuit, and it urges other automakers to do so. She said the company agrees with Biden’s plan to expand electric vehicle use. [AP]

* Coronavirus is roaring back in parts of Asia, capitalizing on pandemic fatigue (WashPo)

***

The guilty undertaker sighs
The lonesome organ grinder cries
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn, but it's
Not that way, I wasn't born to lose you

I want you
I want you
I want you, so bad
Honey, I want you

The drunken politician leaps
Upon the street where mothers weep
And the saviors who are fast asleep, they wait for you
And I wait for them to interrupt
Me drinkin' from my broken cup
And ask me to open up the gate for you

I want you
I want you
Yes I want you, so bad
Honey, I want you

How all my fathers, they've gone down
True love they've been without it
But all their daughters put me down
'Cause I don't think about it

Well, I return to the Queen of Spades
And talk with my chambermaid
She knows that I'm not afraid to look at her
She is good to me and there's
Nothing she doesn't see
She knows where I'd like to be but it doesn't
Matter

I want you
I want you
Yes I want you, so bad
Honey, I want you

Now your dancing child with his Chinese suit he
Spoke to me, I took his flute
No, I wasn't very cute to him, was I?
But I did it, because he lied and
Because he took you for a ride
And because time was on his side and
Because I

Want you
I want you
Yes I want you, so bad
Honey, I want you

-- Bob Dylan

-30-

Thanking My Heroes

Well fellow Covid-19 survivors, we've made it to Thanksgiving week. It's time to think about the people we are grateful for. 

My own lists starts with the journalists I've worked with my whole adult life. I love these guys even when they piss me off. And I need to explain why.

First, no less an icon than Carl Bernstein decided to name the Republican senators who privately hold Trump and his actions in contempt but will never speak out publicly against him. Obviously, this was an extreme step for a journalist to take, and I'm not sure what to make of it, because it's not entirely clear whether Carl broke a promise of confidentiality by doing this. 

My kind of journalists don't break a promise like that.

But this is an example of how Trump's actions have strained journalistic ethics like no previous president ever has. He has forced prominent journalists into calling him a liar among other things. We've not witnessed this before.

And it's not like Trump is the only victim, ultimately, of Trumpism.

Before his rise, the public approval ratings for journalists were already at a low ebb. Now a massive slice of the population openly rejects what we do as "fake news" while they embrace baseless conspiracy theories that contaminate their minds like brain cancer. 

Trump has successfully exploited these deep suspicions of the press, some of which, honestly, are legitimate reactions to perceived biases and self-righteous attitudes.

That's why I've frequently criticized the national television commentators who by exercising their First Amendment rights nevertheless confuse the viewing public about whether they are real journalists or just opinionated members of the elite.

You can't be both.

The journalists I represent are very different people from those folks. My kind of reporters dig out and publish stories that reveal injustice, unfairness and abuses of power. They often doubt themselves and question their own motives as they do this work.

Their types of stories require patience, persistence, courage, empathy, a commitment to get at the truth of complex matters and the will to take on entrenched interests that otherwise would prevent these facts from seeing the light of day.

The reporters who do these stories are my heroes, the people I defend fiercely when writing about journalism as I know it. They are the women and men who ask hard questions to seek the answers we all need to know.

They don't earn the big bucks, they are rarely famous, and they may or may not look pretty on TV. But they do the hard work and they all look just fine to me.

This Thanksgiving, please think about them and all that they do. When a would-be tyrant rises in our midst, they are our last line of defense, in little ways and big, here and there across the land, speaking truth to power.

When it comes to authoritarianism, they are most definitely standing in the way. 

So please give thanks for the journalists in your life.

***

On to the news parade.

* GSA Says Biden Transition Can Proceed Formally (CNN)

* 164 business leaders urge Trump to begin presidential transition for the sake of the country (WashPo)

* GOP national security experts call on Trump to concede (WashPo)

 * President-elect Joe Biden has selected Antony Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, for the position. Biden is also planning to announce Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. (WashPo)

* John Kerry will lead the incoming administration’s effort to combat climate change. (AP)

* G.M. Drops Its Support for Trump Climate Rollbacks and Aligns With Biden -- General Motors said it would no longer back President Trump’s effort to strip California of the power to set fuel economy standards. (NYT)

* Trump soon will be unable to hide from the women accusing him of sexual assault. (Mother Jones)

* The US economy is about to shrink, JPMorgan warns. (CNN)

* The epidemic situation has rebounded again, and the Hong Kong goverment is actively preparing for another war. (尖沙咀寸头仔)

* Now the U.S. Has Lots of Ventilators, but Too Few Specialists to Operate Them -- A burst of production solved the dire shortage that defined the first wave of the coronavirus. But the surplus may not be enough to prevent large numbers of deaths. (NYT)

* In First for SF, District Attorney Chesa Boudin Charges Former Police Officer With Homicide (KQED)

* AstraZeneca vaccine up to 90% effective and easily transportable, says company (WashPo)

* Journalist Carl Bernstein called out Republicans in the Senate for remaining silent as Trump attempts to overthrow the results of the election via lawsuits based on false claims. Bernstein identified 21 lawmakers who he said have “expressed extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness to be POTUS” behind the scenes. (HuffPost)

* The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: Portman, Alexander, Sasse, Blunt, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Thune, Romney, Braun, Young, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rubio, Grassley, Burr, Toomey, McSally, Moran, Roberts, Shelby. (Carl Bernstein/Twitter)

* California’s unemployment debacle has been fueled by the Bank of America, through an exclusive contract. Since 2010, the bank has delivered benefits through prepaid debit cards. Now, recipients say their payments have been entangled in big errors and security lapses. [CalMatters]

* A survey of 2,445 American men has revealed the impact of social distancing on men’s health since the start of the pandemic. While men are often stereotyped as less inclined to discuss their feelings (with 1 in 10 having experienced feelings of depression and anxiety on a daily basis, yet less than half (41%) have sought help from a mental health professional), it appears that the absence of meet-ups with their friends has had a significant impact on their general well-being. Over half of those polled in California (53%) revealed they have often felt depressed as a result of having limited contact with friends since the start of the pandemic. (cherrydigitalcontent.com)

* BREAKING: In a last ditch effort to win the election, Donald Trump has announced he is changing his name to Joe Biden. (Alex Cole/Twitter)

***

"If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything." -- (author disputed)

And then there's the country music version...

Now Daddy didn't like trouble, but if it came along 
Everyone that knew him knew which side that he'd be on 
He never was a hero, or this county's shinin' light 
But you could always find him standing up 
For what he thought was right 
He'd say you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 
You've got to be your own man not a puppet on a string 
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name 
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 

Now we might have been better off or owned a bigger house 
If Daddy had done more givin' in or a little more backing down 
But we always had plenty just living his advice 
Whatever you do today you'll have to sleep with tonight

-- Aaron Tippin

-30-

Let the Real World Sing

Assuming the whole world is watching the U.S. during this transition of power, what is it the world is seeing?

Well, the star of the show is a bad loser who rants and raves, striking out at the system that got him into his position of power in the first place but has now rejected him. It's like a two-game set in sports. You win one, you lose one. Except he never plays a sport he could lose.

It's not like folks around the world don't have similarly flawed people occupying the power positions in their societies. In fact, many leaders worse than Trump remain in power, including those he admires the most.

By contrast, Trump's only remaining scintilla of power is to wreak havoc, light fires, create new problems here and around the world. As bad as that is, our society is capable of cleaning the mess up and that is the destiny of the Biden administration.

They will be the clean-up crew and they are on their way.

Meanwhile, the current spectacle has devolved into a bad TV show, which come to think of it is what Trump's career has been about all along.

I know many people who happily watch trashy TV; many of them feel a bit guilty about it but they continue to do so anyway. We all have our ways of finding distractions.

After all, pulling ourselves back into real life means confronting the messy details that we'd rather escape from in the first place. For me, the main vehicle is country music.

One song that captures a bit of the spirit of celebrating the present and future is Martina McBride's patriotic "Independence Day."

(Before somebody protests, I know Bruce Springsteen's song with the same title, and despite similarities about what we've lost from the old days in small-town America, I prefer Martina's.)

Give it a listen. Daddy's drinking again and Mom burns the house down. That's the gist. Sounds like patriotism to me.

The show's gotta go on. So let's get on with it. 

"Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing. Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning. Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong. Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay. It's Independence Day."

When I go to sleep at night, I sing poems like this one to myself. But then again I'm just a journalist. You know, one of those guys who brings you "fake news."

Even so, I do have a new motto:

Let the real world sing. 

I like the sound of that.

***

The real news can sing too, but it's usually out of tune.

* Trump Using Last Days to Lock In Policies and Make Biden’s Task More Difficult -- At a wide range of departments and agencies, Mr. Trump’s political appointees are going to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent Mr. Biden from rolling back the president’s legacy. (NYT)

* Trump’s attempt at unprecedented power grab runs into resistance from local and state Republicans. (WashPo)

* Along Russia’s ‘Road of Bones,’ Relics of Suffering and Despair -- The Kolyma Highway in the Russian Far East once delivered tens of thousands of prisoners to the work camps of Stalin’s gulag. The ruins of that cruel era are still visible today.(NYT)

* Startups around the country are finding Bay Area workers more open than ever to living and working outside tech’s largest hubs. (WSJ)

* As U.S. coronavirus cases soar toward 200,000 a day, holiday travel is surging. (WashPo)

* China Moon Mission Will Try To Bring Back The First Lunar Rocks In Decades (NPR)

* Protesters in Guatemala Set Fire to Congress Building Over Spending Cuts (NYT)

* Chris Christie calls the conduct of Trump’s legal team a ‘national embarrassment’ (WashPo)

* After a ‘Covid Semester,’ the University of Michigan Gets Tougher on the Virus -- Like many big state universities, it tried to open with some semblance of normalcy. Outbreaks ensued. (NYT)

* Trump administration exits Open Skies treaty meant to deter war (WashPo)

* Earth Hopes Weird Burning Sensation Nothing Serious. (The Onion)

***

Well she seemed all right by dawn's early light
Though she looked a little worried and weak.
She tried to pretend he wasn't drinkin' again
But daddy'd left the proof on her cheek.
And I was only eight years old that summer
And I always seemed to be in the way
So I took myself down to the fair in town
On Independence Day.

Well, word gets around in a small, small town
They said he was a dangerous man
But mama was proud and she stood her ground
But she knew she was on the losin' end.
Some folks whispered and some folks talked
But everybody looked the other way
And when time ran out there was no one about
On Independence Day.

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning.
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day.

Well, she lit up the sky that fourth of July
By the time that the firemen come
They just put out the flames
And took down some names
And send me to the county home.
Now I ain't sayin' it's right or it's wrong
But maybe it's the only way.
Talk about your revolution
It's Independence Day.

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning.
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day.

-- Martina McBride

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