It's a special weekend when I get to go into San Francisco on both days. God I love that city. Saturday was foggy but Sunday was cloudless, pure summer. At a cafe on Bernal with my two younger sons, we caught up over brunch.
Many more people are out and about these days, most still masked, but there's palpable sense of relief in the city air. We passed a bar with guys tuning up for some bluegrass music and there also were families with kids in the park.
It's all like a dream, this return to the way it used to be. If there is something new it's that we don't take any of it for granted now.
Nope, the post-pandemic phase is here to stay, at least for a while.
***
My sons and I discussed the almost incomprehensible (to us) fact that so many people still think the 2020 election was a fraud, so much so that it appears to be a litmus test for who gets to run for office on the Republican ticket nowadays.
Even in the best of weather, a dark cloud hovers over the next year and a half in the form of the midterm elections. My youngest son believes no Republican will ever concede an election again.
If he is right, we are headed for a different form of government than a democracy. Only Third World-style dictatorships can function in a manner where there is no consensus about who wins an election. That's the basis of representative democracy -- the consent of the governed. Is undermining the oldest functioning democracy in the world what our GOP friends want to do?
Trump strikes me as an addictive drug -- he has seduced people out of their senses so completely that they would apparently give up their rationality as well as their freedom on the word of a madman.
***
A friend asked me recently how I choose what to write about each day. It's a simple question but it doesn't have a simple answer.
Some days the topic is obvious from the news cycle, but those days are relatively rare. Other times, a conversation or an event in my own life takes over. On still others, someone makes a suggestion here on Facebook that gets me going.
Then there are the times that something will trigger a memory and I'll switch into memoir mode.
And then the rarest of days, my very favorite times as a writer, it's the way the sunlight strikes a single hair, or an unexpected note on the breeze that awakens me. Suddenly, I'm in a heightened state of awareness.
It's easy to see why some artists use mind-altering drugs to get themselves into that particular place that allows them to be most creative. But I don't do that.
Thus, for me, occasionally a day arrives when there is nothing at all that comes to mind -- nothing in the news, nothing going on with me, no conversations or sunlight falling on a flower in a vase, no heightened awareness.
It's just me, silence, a screen, a keyboard, and a need.
That need is to reach out, to try and communicate. It's not a cry for help; it's certainly not a desire to lecture. It's far simpler -- a basic urge. This is just who I am.
Not to sound pretentious (which itself is an art form I never expect to master), but I write, therefore I am.
***
The headlines:
* Rejection of 2020 election results becomes defining GOP loyalty test -- Republicans have embraced the baseless claims that President Biden did not defeat Donald Trump, with potential ramifications for the midterms and the 2024 election. (WP)
* G.O.P. Seeks to Empower Poll Watchers, Raising Intimidation Worries --Republicans in several states are pushing bills to give poll watchers more autonomy. Alarmed election officials and voting rights activists say it’s a new attempt to target voters of color. (NYT)
* As U.S. departs Afghanistan, will the old Taliban reemerge-- Officials and experts caution that it’s too soon to know whether the group has moderated the rigid beliefs that made it a global pariah before 9/11. (WP)
* In energy-reliant Canada, banks and investors face dilemma in meeting emissions target (Reuters) GOP lawmaker charged with ‘knowingly’ letting rioters breach the Oregon Capitol (WP)
* Looming showdown as Michigan governor orders Canadian pipeline shut down (WP)
* Americans Can’t Get Enough of Stocks (WSJ)
* New stage in Rome’s Colosseum will restore majestic view (AP)
* Global Virus Cases Reach New Peak, Driven by India and South America -- Led by surges in the two hotspots and Eastern Europe, the average number of new daily cases has exceeded 800,000 for more than a week. (NYT)
* Modi’s pandemic choice: Protect his image or protect India. He chose himself. (WP)
* In Mexico, ancient Maya cave reveals mysterious painted hand prints (Reuters)
* From Apple to Domino’s Pizza, U.S. Companies Scramble to Meet Surge in Demand (WSJ)
* Fierce Foes, Iran and Saudi Arabia Secretly Explore Defusing Tensions -- Talks between the two regional powers, if successful, could start to lower the temperature on several conflicts across the Middle East. (NYT)
* Columbus police may not use tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters, judge rules (WP)
* South Africa will clamp down on captive lion breeding after a review panel concluded the industry risked the conservation of wild lions and harmed tourism, the environment minister said on Sunday. (Reuters)
* Arnold Schwarzenegger Is No Longer the Governor of California. Right?-- Amid a pandemic and a recall, Mr. Schwarzenegger has been in demand at his Los Angeles mansion, embracing his unlikely role as California’s “elderly statesman.” (NYT)
* From the Past, a Chilling Warning About the Extremists of the Present -- Almost four decades after officials dismantled the Order, a violent far-right group, experts see echoes in the far right of today. (NYT)
* Hundreds of boats line up on Lake Geneva in border art project (Reuters)
* Study Finds Newborn Infants Can Tell If Parents Are Losers (The Onion)
***
"False Prophet"
By Bob Dylan
Well I'm the enemy of treason
Enemy of strife
I'm the enemy of the unlived meaningless life
I ain't no false prophet
I just know what I know
I go where only the lonely can go
-30-
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