An irony of being retired is that I finally have enough time to sort through the daily news in a thorough manner. I could never have done while employed, because I was always too busy.
Therefore it was difficult in the past to fully appreciate the larger patterns in the news.
But now that I see the patterns more clearly. I'm sure many other ex-journalists are in the same position. Honestly, news outlets should hire us as "pattern consultants," so they could better position their limited reporting assets against the stories that will be making headlines next week, next month and beyond.
For example, probably one of the biggest moments for humanity, if not the news business, is just six weeks away, when global leaders gather in my mother's native country, Scotland, to once again try to forge a consensus on how to fight global climate change.
The leaders will both compete and cooperate at this gathering -- that's how global affairs are conducted in a capitalist system. Given the stakes, we should hope for a new monopoly to emerge, with all of the great powers agreeing on measures to stem climate change and repair the damage.
Even though it may be too late to avoid disaster, it's never too late to try and forge a united front.
***
Quietly, the Covid pandemic has reached the total number of estimated deaths in the great flu epidemic of 1918-19, which is 675,000.
We heard about that pandemic when we were growing up; our grandparents and parents had lived through it, although in my case none of them had arrived in this country yet.
A century after that one swept around the world, this one came. That one probably burned itself out eventually because it was much more difficult to cross geographic barriers and reach new pools of uninfected people than it is now.
By contrast Covid-19 remains a threat, because our world is much more interconnected now. No group of unvaccinated people are so remote that travelers cannot get to them.
Along with the virus.
***
THE HEADLINES:
* World leaders face furious push to act quickly on climate change -- The presidents and prime ministers gathering at the United Nations this week have six weeks to go until a crucial global climate summit in Scotland where they must join forces to slow the warming of the planet — something they have struggled to do in the past. (WP)
* Leaders arrive for General Assembly under shadow of pandemic (WP)
* Officials warned of increased fire danger in much of Northern California. The affected area includes portions of the Sacramento Valley and some of the Bay Area. (Sacramento Bee)
* The world’s largest tree, the General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, was spared direct fire damage as the KNP Complex blaze swept into the park’s beloved Giant Forest over the weekend, while voracious flames from the Windy Fire burned into other sequoia groves on Sierra Nevada slopes to the south (SFC)
* COVID has killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 flu (AP)
* Rich Countries Worry About Booster Shots. They Should Be Worried About Africa. (NYT)
* California has the lowest COVID rate in the nation. (SFC)
* A New Covid Testing Model Aims to Spare Students From Quarantine (NYT)
* U.S. to allow vaccinated international air travelers in November (Reuters)
* How Accounting Giants Craft Favorable Tax Rules From Inside Government -- Lawyers from top accounting firms do brief stints in the Treasury Department, with the expectation of big raises when they return. (NYT)
* A once-in-a-decade chance to overhaul health care gets personal for Democrats (WP)
* The weekend Washington rally to support pro-Trump insurrectionists was a spectacular flop, with fewer than 100 people vastly outnumbered by cops and reporters. Donald Trump Jr. took the opportunity to make fun of undercover officers. Some attendees said many stayed away, thinking the event was a trap. [HuffPost]
* Half of all Americans experiencing homelessness live in California. (Cal Today)
* Beto O’Rourke Draws Closer to Entering Texas Governor’s Race (NYT)
* Donald Trump sent a letter to the Georgia election official he tried to bully into declaring voter fraud, citing a new right-wing website report of — voter fraud! Meanwhile, don't miss this alarming article by Travis Waldron, who says Georgia's elected officials are accomplishing what the Capitol rioters could not: They're passing laws and changing rules to rig the system so Democrats can't win legitimate elections. This is what democracy looks like when it fails. [HuffPost]
* Alabama Begins Removing Racist Language From Its Constitution (NYT)
* Facebook, Google and Twitter are the new ‘oligarchy of speech’ (George F. Will/WP)
* Permission to Dance? BTS sing their way through United Nations (Reuters)
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I'd love to turn you on
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