Tuesday, August 11, 2020

On Our Way

There being little major news today, I have an announcement. Having gotten through to my dental insurance customer service agent, I've successfully changed my chosen dental provider to the one who is actually my dentist. 

There is, in fact, only one dental insurance company, a situation that used to be called a monopoly but now is called Medicare. Call it and you will inevitably be placed on hold.

"Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are experiencing a much higher call volume than usual so your wait time may be..." That message plays over and over, punctuating a pleasantly bland music track. (They should try a new one, say "Drilling" by Minus the Bear.)

If you remain patient, however, or as in my case have nothing better to do, one of the dental insurance customer service agents will eventually come on the line. If she sounds familiar, she is. Our in-depth investigation determined that there are only two approved dental insurance customer service representatives, Aesha and Prisha, although they present as many different identities, including Jane, Lisa, Andy, Tom, Bobby, Mel and Jackie. 

Thus the long wait times.

They are invariably polite and thank you repeatedly for the slightest thing like remembering your birthday or accurately answering the ubiquitous 'who do we have the pleasure of speaking with today?'

Ask not for whom the pleasure tolls. It tolls for you.

What they cannot do, however, is tell you how much you owe your dentist, because that depends on the code.
Your dental service provider knows the code, but I don't think your dentist knows. Simply call the billing department, where inevitably you will be placed on hold until...

Wait! This just in! Breaking News! South Dakota Gov. Kristi Sycophantia has offered Trump any mountain in the state he wants to have his face carved in except Mount Rushmore, which unfortunately if full. There is Mount Rushless, for example, the backside of Mount Rushmore.

It resembles two large globes with a crack down the middle. It has a stream emerging from its crack known as Fuga Anal.
***

Our news headline scan for today:

* This summer, after trying and failing to enforce a beach closure, the Santa Cruz County health officer said: “It has become impossible for law enforcement to continue to enforce that closure. People are not willing to be governed anymore.” (New York Times)

* Big Ten presidents vote against fall football season. (USA Today)

* Big cities are taking a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Statistics from employment search giant Indeed show that major U.S. metropolitan areas have lost a larger percentage of jobs, and have experienced greater rises in unemployment, than smaller metros. Especially hard-hit have been so-called superstar cities such as San Francisco, New York and Seattle. (Bloomberg)

* Governors Say Trump’s Order on Pandemic Relief Could Wreck State Budgets -- With Congress at an impasse on stimulus talks, disarray over resuming negotiations bodes poorly for reaching a deal this week. (New York Times)

* A rare heart condition that could be linked with the coronavirus is fueling concern among Power 5 conference administrators about the viability of college sports this fall. Myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, has been found in at least five Big Ten Conference athletes and among several other athletes in other conferences, according to two sources with knowledge of athletes' medical care. (ESPN)

*Chicago Police Arrest More Than 100 People After Looting Batters Downtown -- The city briefly raised most of the bridges to the main shopping and business district. Mayor Lori Lightfoot condemned the crowd’s actions as “abject criminal behavior.” (New York Times)

* Secret Service officer shoots man near the White House --The agency said the man approached the officer and claimed he had a weapon and then ran aggressively toward the officer and withdrew an object from his clothing. President Trump was pulled from a briefing after the incident. (Washington Post)The agency said the man approached the officer and claimed he had a weapon and then ran aggressively toward the officer and withdrew an object from his clothing. President Trump was pulled from a briefing after the incide(NewYork Times)

***

It's been a while since I've posted anything about that memoir I was writing. That's because I stopped writing it.

It's remained suspended in time, like virtually everything else during this pandemic. Somehow it started to feel petty to review the past when the present is startling enough as it is.

Witnessing us all tie on our masks to venture out into the world has chastened me. Of course, we've always put on other masks before we go outside to start our days. We put on our makeup and our lipstick, tame our eyebrows, comb our unruly hair, trim our beards, choose our outfit, gauge the weather (light jacket, thick coat, raincoat?)

In my case, as I checked for my keys and got ready to open the front door, I always shrugged: "Whatever... This is as good as it's going to get."

But the masks we don these days are not so much to hide our insecurities or maximize our assets as to broadcast our fears -- especially our fears of sickness and of death. We are walking advertisements that immortality eludes.

As I watch the little children, including my grandchildren, dance among their friends, all masked, they seem at once abnormally natural and yet absurdly naked. No mask can hide the emotions children feel when they find each other, especially in the strange new reality.

But us adults? The mask is merely an appurtenance, albeit a concession to what we've long known is our essential powerlessness over the forces that control our fate. Nothing else changes; least of all our body language.

Only the most vulnerable among us seem not to be able to mask their emotions. 

No, no memoir writing for me, not now. Not for now. I've hinted from time to time I need a new muse, but it's deeper than that. For now, I can't be the teller of my own story.

"Maybe," my daughter suggested, "you need someone to tell your story for you."

"You mean, 'as told to'?" I replied. "Only famous people do that."

Perhaps that's one reason only famous people's stories  get told. And why most others remain masked from history.

Also, this, courtesy of Dan Noyes, one of my two co-founders of the Center for Investigative Reporting: "There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently."
-- Robert Evans. (2002). "The Kid Stays in the Picture."

Carole Weir, Nancy Ott and 20 others

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Monday, August 10, 2020

Perhaps it's that I'm in foggy San Francisco, but the news is about as visible here as the road ahead when you crest the hill on Clipper Street with your windshield wipers at full speed, your headlights helplessly cross-eyed, and your passengers holding on for dear life.

America seems destined for a political crisis this fall, with nobody willing or able to prevent it. That's bad enough as it is, but the pandemic rages out of control, with large groups of people here and there defying public health experts' advice not to gather in crowds without taking preventive measures.

I'm in no position to judge anyone; if I wren't in a high-risk category myself, I would no doubt be out there, discarding caution for the social contacts I yearn for.

The city I've gotten to know over the past 50 years was always at its best when a party was going on and at its worst when the party was by and for one.

People are still trying to party here. Crowds gathered Friday night along Valencia Street, which has emerged over the years as the main venue for cafes, shops and bike traffic in the Mission District.

Still, most residents are practicing social distancing, wearing masks, and staying close to home.

The long-term contours of a new society are emerging, where most work will be virtual as the disparities in wealth become ever more stark.

Another way to put it is you will only be as good -- and employable -- as the strength of your Internet connection and your mastery of the etiquette for Zoom calls.

Meanwhile, I can't figure out how anyone is going to meet new friends, let alone forge deeper connections. Obviously masks and social distance are going to have to be abandoned if couples are to throw caution to the wind and actually form a relationship.

Maybe the local fog will decide to smother the virus and keep lovers safe, or maybe it will only make everything worse. Long-time San Franciscans know this much -- the fog has its own way and will do with us as it pleases.

Out on the bay, along with the foghorns, the rays of a lighthouse keep turning, trying to light the way. Today's incoming includes the following:

* The Voting Will End Nov. 3. The Legal Battle Probably Won’t. Get ready for a contested election. (New York Times)

* 97,000 children reportedly test positive for coronavirus in two weeks as schools gear up for instruction (CBS News)

* A third of Americans would say 'no' to Covid vaccine -- even if it was free (Fox News)

* Covid-19 May Never Go Away — With Or Without A Vaccine (NPR)

* Chaos coast to coast as plans change and a school year like no other launches

Teachers are threatening strikes, and students are already coming home infected with the coronavirus, which has upended American education. (Washington Post)

* ‘I’d Rather Stay Home and Die’ -- A fear of hospitals is leading many Mexicans to delay treatment for coronavirus until it is too late for doctors to help them. (New York Times)

* Trump attempts to wrest tax and spending powers from Congress with new executive actions. The political parties are at gridlock again. (Washington Posst)

* Trump abruptly ended a Saturday news conference after a reporter challenged him on a lie about veterans health care he has told more than 150 times. Trump had claimed again that he is the one who got the Veterans Choice program passed -- adding, "They've been trying to get that passed for decades and decades and decades and no president's ever been able to do it, and we got it done." In fact, former President Barack Obama signed the Choice program into law in 2014. (CNN)

* Trump's executive action deferring, and possibly forgiving, payroll taxes could leave Social Security and Medicare on even shakier ground.The entitlement programs' finances have long been troubled. And the crush of coronavirus-induced layoffs has only deepened the problem by slashing the amount of payroll tax revenue going into their trust funds. (CNN)

* Trump’s routine after failing to cut deals with Congress: Signing legally dubious executive actions -- He has frequently relied on showmanship and pageantry to try to turn negotiating failures into victories. (Washington Post)

* White House aides reached out to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last year about the process of adding additional presidents to Mount Rushmore. According to a person familiar who spoke with the Times, Noem then greeted Trump when he arrived in the state for his July Fourth celebrations at the monument with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included his face. Noem has noted before Trump's "dream" to have his face on Mount Rushmore, the Coolidge-era sculpture that features the 60-foot-tall faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. (New York Times)

* A president ignored: Trump’s outlandish claims increasingly met with a collective shrug -- More than 3½ years into his term, President Trump often finds himself minimized, as many of his outrageous or groundless statements are briefly considered and then, just as quickly, dismissed. (Washington Post)

* Analyst Chris Cizzilla says the final list of VP candidates on Joe Biden's list are: (1) Kamala Harris, (2) Susan Rice, (3) Gretchen Whitmer, (4) Tammy Duckworth, and (5) Karen Bass. (CNN)

* Boycotted. Criticized. But Fox News Leads the Pack in Prime Time. Led by Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, the channel’s pro-Trump lineup outranked every network from 8 to 11 p.m. in June and July. (New York Times)

* Hong Kong Publisher Jimmy Lai Is Arrested Under National Security Law -- The pro-democracy figure is the most high-profile person detained under the sweeping law imposed by Beijing on the semiautonomous territory. (New York Times)

* Americans insist the atom bomb ended the war in Japan — ignoring its human cost. This part of U.S. history is poorly understood by most Americans. (Washington Post)

***

I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside

I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
I'm gonna study, study, war no more

I ain't gonna study war no more
Ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more

-- Jack Clement, Edwin Howard, Billy Lee Riley

-30-

Saturday, August 08, 2020

Back In My Town Again

For the first time since early December last year, I'm back staying in San Francisco for a while. God, I love this city, partly because it is chock full of memories for me.

For example, here with my oldest son and his family in Glen Park, I'm right about where I used to drive my youngest daughter to nursery school, at Miraloma Co-op a few blocks west.

As we entered this neighborhood, me driving in the front seat, her sitting in her carseat in the back, I'd always ask her, "Do you wanna go there on Monterey Boulevard or Joost?" (Joost is one block north.)

"Joost," was always her answer. So Joost it was.

Almost every corner of the city has memories like that awaiting me. We drove down to the dump today -- man, I like that dump. When you like a city's dump, you definitely like that city.

On Tuesday, my son wants to pick up some chairs on 24th Street.

24th! Lined with memories.

So is every neighborhood in town -- the Mission, Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Bayview, Oceanside, Ingleside, Excelsior, Sunnyside, Glen Park, the Castro, Inner Sunset, Richmond, the Presidio, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, the Theatre District, Civic Center, the Financial District, Candlestick Point, Hunter's Point, the Cliff House, Mount Sutro, Japantown, South Park, Pacific Heights, the Marina, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Buena Vista, Cole Valley, Ashbury Heights, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Soma, Town's End, The Embarcadero, the Haight, Mid-Market, Hayes Valley, the Western Addition, Russian Hill, Polk Gulch, the Tenderloin, Union Square, Saint Francis Wood, Parkside, West Portal, Portola, Alamo Square, Alta Plaza, McCovey Cove, Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake, Hippie Hill, the Barbery Coast, Lombard Street, Treasure Island, Yerba Buena, that little piece of Alameda nobody knows about, Ocean Beach, St. Mary's Park, Mission Rock and all the other secret corners of the city whisper to me as I pass.

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

-- REM

All the street signs talk directly to me: "Hey David, welcome back. Where've you been?"

I answer them back. "I was south of here looking north; then east of here looking west." Always looking for San Francisco, where I too left my heart.

Only the fog knows the rest.

***

We've been remiss in our duty to offer advice to the newly elderly lately, but we do have some today, and it's this:

Don't kick the bucket.

No, we are not being cute here, using a cliche to ask you to stick around a bit longer. Remember, we grew up in the Midwest, where when people say things they mean them literally.

So do not kick that bucket. You'll just hurt your foot, maybe seriously. If you want to move it, pick it up ever so gingerly and carefully move it on down the line.

Think about it. When time comes to kick the bucket metaphorically, you don't want your last thought to be, "Oy, I wish I'd moved that sucker just a little bit further down the line."

So that's our advice, you can take it or you can lay it to rest. Just don't lay yourself to rest.

Our other advice is don't hang around with other old people exclusively. They can be a bad influence. Parents and teachers like to advise young people to not give in to peer pressure, like don't steal a car just because your friends are doing it, or don't drop acid.

Well, peer pressure doesn't evaporate with age; in some ways it grows worse. "We're all gonna die anyway so why not Covid-19," some old folks will say these. days.

No, that's a bad idea. Not from Covid-19. Let's move that leaky bucket down the line and stick around for the next pandemic.

I think the solution to our aging population problem, if it' a problem, is we should sprinkle our elderly generously among the younger persons, who seem to me to be far more numerous than we are. I'll take their kind of peer pressure all day long, except for the car-stealing part.

***

Okay, okay. Here it goes:

* Here's What Extreme Heat Looks Like: Profoundly Unequal -- Earth is overheating. This year is poised to be one of the hottest ever. Millions are already feeling the pain, but the agony of extreme heat is profoundly unequal across the globe. (New York Times)

* Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure -- What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone. (New York Times)

* More than 1,300 of the roughly 1,750 prisoners at FCI Seagoville prison and camp in Texas have tested positive for the virus, according to data from the federal Bureau of Prisons -- a stunning three out of every four inmates. So far, three inmates have died from Covid-19. (CNN)

* A new video shows another black man in custody in North Carolina pleading, 'I can't breathe,' before he died. (CNN)

* Ronnie Goodman, a homeless artist and distance runner who has lived on the streets of San Francisco's Mission District for years, died Saturday morning at his encampment on Capp and 16th Streets. Rescue workers tried to revive the 60-year-old, but those efforts proved unsuccessful, said Paula Tejada, the owner of nearby Chile Lindo. (Mission Local)

* Lebanon protesters storm ministries as violent protests grip Beirut (CNN)

* Insecurity drives China’s Xi to take on the world -- Beijing’s outward aggression reflects domestic unease and a desire to foment nationalist sentiment to counter mounting economic and strategic challenges. (Washington Post)

***

There's Tony Bennett and Scott Mackenzie and many others, but my personal favorite who sang about my city is Jeaneete MacDonald, back in 1936. Thus the video.

"San Francisco"

-- Bronislaw Kaper, Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn (and Jeanette MacDonald).

-30-

One Exception, a Female

The unexpected brought some joy.

In the backyard, my daughter's family have a few quail. There are about three females and one mail. The covey produces two eggs per day, approximately. One of my granddaughters checks daily and brings the tiny eggs inside for us to eat.

This breed of domestic quail is known to not care for their eggs or try to get them to hatch. They just drop an egg and move on.

But over the last few days my granddaughter noticed that one female has moved under a culvert and would't come out. Friday morning when they inspected more closely, they discovered that the quail had made a nest and was sitting on four eggs.

None of us being quail experts, we're not sure what to make of this development. But it would seem that this one female strongly wants her eggs to hatch.

Perhaps the breeding in this case did not succeed in eliminating her motherly instinct? That would be surprising and potentially the beginning of a new population of chicks.

For now, the mom's on the nest and the eggs are too.

To be continued...

***

On to our nightly news summary:

* CANADA'S LAST FULLY INTACT ARCTIC ICE SHELF COLLAPSES

The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July. The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. “Above normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up,” the Canadian Ice Service said. “Entire cities are that size. These are big pieces of ice,“ said Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa. [Reuters]

* TRUMP SAYS HE 'ORDERED' NO DRILLING OFF FLORIDA. THERE'S NO EVIDENCE HE DID. Florida’s coastal waters are safe from any future offshore oil and gas development, Trump boasted in an interview with Spectrum News. “We’re not gonna be drilling, and I’ve already put out that order ― actually quite a while ago,” he said. Aside from the hypocrisy of proposing to open nearly all U.S. waters to fossil fuel development while declaring “not in my backyard” for Florida, the “order” Trump claims to have put out appears to be a figment of his imagination. It’s not the first time he’s touted a seemingly nonexistent decree. [HuffPost]

* UNHINGED TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN OPPOSES GOD Trump billed his trip to Ohio Thursday as a chance to promote economic recovery, but he quickly pivoted to a deeply personal attack on Joe Biden, questioning the Democrat's faith in God. Even for a president known for scathing vitriol, Trump’s remarks stood out, showing how low he is prepared to take his reelection campaign. “He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy, our kind of energy. I don’t think he’s going to do too well in Ohio,” Trump said. [AP]

* 40 million Americans are at risk of eviction without a stimulus bill. A report by the Aspen Institute warns that the United States may be facing the most severe housing crisis in history if conditions do not change, with up to an astonishing 43 percent of renter households facing eviction this year.(CNN)

* Rising alarm as virus spreads deeper into country -- The situation in Mississippi, which is experiencing the country’s highest rate of positive tests, is unfolding in other largely rural areas of the country as well. People who are infected often don’t know it, leading to “inherent community spread.” (CNN)

* 'It's just madness': bikers throng South Dakota town despite Covid threat -- At least 100,000 expected for Sturgis rally in state’s Black Hills (The Guardian)

* China wants Trump defeated and Russia is denigrating Biden, top intelligence official says --

“China has been expanding its influence efforts” and pressuring political figures it sees as opposed to its interest, said William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Russia, which interfered in 2016 election in an attempt to help Donald Trump, according to U.S. intelligence officials, now wants to diminish Joe Biden, Evanina said. (Washington Post)

*Coronavirus has already dealt a blow to Social Security's finances. Trump's payroll tax holiday could make it worse. (CNN)

***

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where I can lay my head.
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said.

Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free;
Take a load off Fanny, And (and) (and) you can put the load right on me.

I picked up my bag, I went lookin' for a place to hide;
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side.
I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on, let's go downtown."
She said, "I gotta go, but m'friend can stick around."

-- J.R. Robertson (The Band)

-30-

David Weir

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

In Other News

On Our Way

Monday, August 10, 2020

News From the Lighthouse

* 97,000 children reportedly test positive for coronavirus in two weeks as schools gear up for instruction (CBS News)

Saturday, August 08, 2020

Back In My Town Again

* Here's What Extreme Heat Looks Like: Profoundly Unequal -- Earth is overheating. This year is poised to be one of the hottest ever. Millions are already feeling the pain, but the agony of extreme heat is profoundly unequal across the globe. (New York Times)

* Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure -- What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone. (New York Times)

* Insecurity drives China’s Xi to take on the world -- Beijing’s outward aggression reflects domestic unease and a desire to foment nationalist sentiment to counter mounting economic and strategic challenges. (Washington Post)

One Exception, a Female

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