Looking for America

As the election cycle winds down to a merciful close, our country seems lost in a sea of confusion. Who are we, really?

We seem to be living in parallel universes, with Democrats living on one side of space and Republicans occupying the other. Where that leaves the rest of us, I'm not sure.

Yesterday I wrote about my dream -- for peace, unity and compassion, at least in the short run. To remain balanced, today I have to write about my nightmare, given our current trajectory.

In this nightmare, the impending election is a distant memory.

It turns out that there is something much more fundamentally wrong with our society than the conflict between the two political parties. We are being severed into two classes -- a small, landed overclass and a large landless underclass.

Land barons and peasants.

This historical reversion to the conditions of the Middle Ages is temporarily masked by the  existence of a "middle class," where home ownership persists and social welfare benefits stave off homelessness and starvation for the many.

But I fear the middle class will fade away as climate change and waves of pandemics reduce the human population and render large parts of the planet uninhabitable.

Advancing such a dystopian vision does not come easily for a congenital optimist, but I cannot ignore the evidence. Among my many personal flaws, disdain for science is not one of them.

After the news summaries below, I've reprinted the now-quaint Simon & Garfinkel lyrics from their iconic song "America." It was written in a simpler age, when we could hit the road and imagine innocent things from whatever we saw along the way. 

Now, if we take a road trip, we have to imagine that what we see along the way may well not be there in the future. Our innocence is gone.

Maybe it's not too late to salvage some kind of future on the planet, though it will almost certainly be vastly more dreary than it has been in our time.

And, as the climate change worsens, I'm concerned that pandemic after pandemic will be released, decimating our grandchildren's generation and those beyond. Young people today have every right to be completely pissed off at us --we have failed to exert proper custody of our common environment.

As the super rich pull away in their Lamborghinis for their second homes, and expand them into secure mansions, the rest of us will stay behind to face disease and pestilence and to compete over dwindling resources in a world where engendered species are disappearing at a frightening rate.

The rich will employ us to build their homes, enforce law and order against the rising unrest in the streets, and to practice the finer arts, as long as those arts avoid controversial topics like class.

As so many animals and plants go extinct, so will the ecological systems that sustain us.

Thus, even the rich will ultimately be doomed, and the age of humans on earth will have passed.

That is my nightmare.

***

So much for the bad news. On to the (relatively) good...

* Voters Prefer Biden Over Trump on Almost All Major Issues, Poll Shows -- Joe Biden leads President Trump, 50 percent to 41 percent, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows, with voters favoring him by wide margins on the coronavirus and law and order. (NYT)

* Retired four-star Adm. William McRaven endorsed Biden in an editorial published on Monday by The Wall Street Journal. “This week I went to the polls in Texas,” wrote McRaven, who oversaw the raid that led to the 2011 death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. “I am a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, small-government, strong-defense and a national-anthem-standing conservative ... But, I also believe that black lives matter, that the Dreamers deserve a path to citizenship, that diversity and inclusion are essential to our national success, that education is the great equalizer, that climate change is real.” [HuffPost] 

* The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct to preserve monopolies in search and search advertising that form the cornerstones of its vast conglomerate. (WSJ)

* Prominent Republican pollster Frank Luntz blasted President Trump and his campaign on Tuesday for focusing on Hunter Biden in the stretch run to Election Day, calling Trump’s campaign the worst he’s ever seen and saying the president’s advisers should be “brought up on charges of political malpractice.”Speaking at a briefing for the British strategic advising company Global Counsel, Luntz said Trump’s advisers have “their heads up their asses” if they think Hunter Biden will be a winning issue for them. (The Hill)

* What Fans of ‘Herd Immunity’ Don’t Tell You -- A proposal to let people with low risk of infection live without constraint could lead to a million or more preventable deaths. (NYT)

* Melania Trump’s return to the campaign trail will have to wait. Her chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday that Mrs. Trump continues to feel better every day following her recent recovery from COVID-19 but has a lingering cough. (AP)

* Kaiser Family Foundation: 68% of Americans trust Dr. Fauci but only 40% trust Trump.

* The mayor of Tucson fired off a letter to Trump pointing out that his campaign still owes her city $80,000 for his last rally four years ago — even as he headed to his next potential superspreader event there on Monday.  Regina Romero also urged Trump to adhere to Tucson’s mask mandate and follow social distance requirements. Few masks and packed crowds are the hallmarks of a Trump rally. [HuffPost]

* Trump portrays the hundreds of people arrested nationwide in protests against racial injustice as violent urban left-wing radicals. But an Associated Press review of thousands of pages of court documents tell a different story.Very few of those charged appear to be affiliated with highly organized extremist groups, and many are young suburban adults from the very neighborhoods Trump vows to protect from the violence in his reelection push to win support from the suburbs. (AP)

* A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have cut food stamp benefits to almost 700,000 unemployed Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge, in a court filing, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been “icily silent” about how many people would have been denied the benefits with the changes. [Reuters]

* Turkey farmers fear that, this year, they’ve bred too many big birds (WashPo)

* Migrant Workers Restricted to Farms Under One Grower’s Virus Lockdown (NYT)

* Trump and Biden will have their microphones cut off in Thursday’s debate while their rival delivers their opening two-minute answer to each of the debate topics. The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate. The open discussion portion of the debate will not feature a mute button, but interruptions by either candidate will count toward their time. [HuffPost]

* U.S. single-family homebuilding raced to a more than 13-year high in September, cementing the housing market's status as the star of the economic recovery amid record-low mortgage rates and a migration to the suburbs and low-density areas in search of more room for home offices and schooling. (Reuters)

* Pfizer to test coronavirus vaccine in Japan (NHK)

* Trump isn’t even trying to slow the virus’s spread (WashPo)

* Peter Wehner is warning evangelical Christians that they made a “bad bargain” with Trump, who does not respect them or their faith. “Trump clearly sees white evangelicals as a means to an end, people to be used, suckers to be played,” Wehner wrote in The Atlantic. Wehner pointed to a series of insider reports, such as Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) revealing last week that Trump “mocks evangelicals behind closed doors,” and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen writing that Trump said “can you believe people believe that bulls**t?” after evangelicals did a laying-of-hands ceremony on him. [HuffPost]

* President Donald Trump's tax records show he has pursued expansive business projects in China for years and even maintains a Chinese bank account, disclosures that deal a blow to the President's efforts to paint Democratic nominee Joe Biden as the presidential candidate who is soft on China. (NYT)

* Fed up with white people calling 911 about people of color selling water bottles, barbecuing or otherwise going about their lives, San Francisco leaders are set to approve hate crime legislation giving the targets of those calls the ability to sue the caller. (AP)

* Oil Industry Turns to Mergers and Acquisitions to Survive -- With the price of a barrel stuck around $40 and no recovery in sight, companies are combining to cut costs and ride out the pandemic. (NYT)

*  An Ohio public school has been giving students extra credit for watching videos from PragerU, a right-wing website that produces clips of talking heads such as Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro discussing conservative viewpoints. The PragerU videos — with titles such as “Build the Wall,” “Why the Right Was Right” and “The Left Ruins Everything” — were assigned to a 10th-grade history class at Maumee High School, along with a series of questions about the videos’ “most important messages.” [HuffPost]

* New homes on the range: Weary city dwellers escape to Montana, creating a property gold rush (WashPo)

* Though book sales have been strong this year, local bookstores are struggling: more than one independent bookstore has closed each week since the pandemic started. As they enter a crucial holiday season, many stores are facing a challenging mix of higher expenses, lower sales and enormous uncertainty. (NYT)

* Democrats have 75% chance of winning control of the Senate. (538)

***

[Verse 1]
"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together"
"I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America

[Verse 2]
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

[Verse 3]
Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

[Verse 4]
"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

[Verse 5]

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

Simon & Garfinkel

-30-

As the Toll Mounts...

"Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead." -- Hillary Clinton, concession speech 2016

"Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely." -- Donald Trump, victory speech 2016

Perhaps some people have forgotten that the exchange of messages between the presidential candidates was quite gracious following the outcome of the 2016 election.

No nasty chants or denunciations.

That's certainly worth remembering as we approach the conclusion to this year's election.  We know based on his character that Joe Biden will be gracious, win or lose. We can hope for the same from Trump, though it seems possible that we may be disappointed in this regard.

The indications at this point are that Biden will win, perhaps by a substantial margin. And that he will win not only the popular vote but the electoral college vote as well. It is still possible, however, that Trump will prevail in the electoral college. If so, Democrats are not likely to accept that as a legitimate result.

Either way, after what has been a brutal political fight, some on the Democratic side will probably call for revenge against Trump. "Lock him up!" would be the logical call. 

But revenge is a self-destructive impulse to be avoided at all costs. It only perpetuates a cycle of attacks and counter-attacks that never ends until there is no one left standing.

Plus, if Trump loses, he will nonetheless have had the backing of perhaps 40+ percent of the electorate. The appropriate emotion for the victors in that case will be compassion. As much as you may hate Trump's incendiary language and baseless threats, he has inspired the loyalty of millions of your fellow citizens. And he won the last election fair and square. He'll probably lose this one, and that also will be fair and square.

If the Democrats win the Senate as well as the White House, it will be by a razor-thin margin, maybe a vote or two. 

That will hardly be an overwhelming mandate to suppress the hopes and dreams of the predominantly rural and less educated segments of the population that support Trump.

My hope is that a Biden administration will make a special effort to address the needs of those Americans for more work opportunities, better education and inclusion in an honest national debate over policies and priorities.

Biden is 78. He won't be president forever. My guess is he will yield to Kamala Harris in 2024 and that a reconstituted GOP will turn to somebody like Nikki Haley.

That would present a remarkable scenario, whereby the white-hot issues of race and national background and gender would be completely neutralized.

Perhaps then a real conversation about ideas -- conservative ideas, liberal ideas, independent ideas -- might come to the forefront. It would be a wonderful development  if the national focus were on ideas, not personalities or fantasies about "deep states," Qanon or civil war.

Am I allowed to have a dream?

If so, that is my dream.

***

Tonight, it is worth remembering that the situation around the world is far worse than here in many respects.

* At Front Lines of a Brutal War: Death and Despair in Nagorno-Karabakh -- Times journalists find civilians huddling in basements as a three-week-old conflict over the disputed Caucasus territory hints of a long and punishing fight. (NYT)

* Hopes are rising that China can pull the globe out of its coronavirus-induced funk, much as it did during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago—but economists offer a long list of reasons to be skeptical. (WSJ)

* Tens of thousands of people brought Lagos, Nigeria, to a standstill on Monday, the biggest protest yet in a two-week campaign against police brutality, escalating a standoff with a government that has pledged to restore order. (WSJ)

* Researchers: Coronavirus stays on skin for 9 hours (NHK)

* Coronavirus: Belgium facing 'tsunami' of new infections (BBC)

* Coronavirus: Top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat in 'critical' condition (BBC)

* Worldwide coronavirus cases crossed 40 million on Monday, as the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere fueled a resurgence in the spread of the disease. Experts believe the true numbers of both cases and deaths are likely much higher. The pace of the pandemic continues to pick up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 to 30 million, the 44 days between 10 and 20 million, and the three months it took to reach 10 million cases from when the first cases were reported in Wuhan in early January. [Reuters]

* Biden’s lead fuels an uncomfortable sense of deja vu -- Democratic voters, party officials and campaign aides are caught between optimism and dread, the residue of seeing Hillary Clinton’s expectations of victory dashed. (WashPo)

* As Local News Dies, a Pay-for-Play Network Rises in Its Place -- A nationwide operation of 1,300 local sites publishes coverage that is ordered up by Republican groups and corporate P.R. firms. (NYT)

* ‘My people fought for the right to vote’: With a surge of emotion, Black Americans rush to the polls (WashPo)

* What Happens if Roe v. Wade Is Overturned? -- Abortion access would decline in large regions of the country, a new data analysis shows. (NYT)

* Trump attacks ‘Fauci and these idiots’ in call with his campaign staff (WashPo). Trump hit out at top government scientist Fauci following the doctor’s appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes programme on Sunday. (BBC)

* Refugees Who Assisted the U.S. Military Find the Door to America Slammed Shut -- President Trump has reduced the flow of refugees into the country to a trickle, and even Iraqis and Afghans who risked their lives for American service members have been cut off. (NYT)

* Wildfires Grow in Colorado -- Evacuations were ordered in Colorado as crews battled new blazes from the Cameron Peak and the CalWood Fire. (NYT)

* Officials in California issued a fire weather watch for mountain areas in the North Bay area to take effect Monday night. [The Press Democrat]

* 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 88%, Trump 12%. (538)

* From Electoral-vote.com: Biden 356, Trump 182. Senate: 51(D), 48(R), 1 (T).

* "Mr. Trump stands without any real rivals as the worst American president in modern history," the editors of the New York Times wrote. "In 2016, his bitter account of the nation's ailments struck a chord with many voters. But the lesson of the last four years is that he cannot solve the nation's pressing problems, because he is the nation's most pressing problem." (Yahoo News)

***

What are riches untold in a life without compassion?
For there's no winter as cold
As a life without compassion
There's no prescription that's sold
That can heal you like compassion

For there is nothing so sad
As a life without compassion
And even love has turned bad
It was love without compassion
And you don't need what you had
'cause you did not have compassion

-- Todd Rundgren

-30-

On Deck: T-14 and Counting

 

As of Tuesday there will be just two weeks left until the election. Millions have already voted, and the great majority of people appear to have made up their minds.

With the polls steady and little likely to change, it now seems that what is most in doubt is the outcome's impact on our electoral system itself. Will the result be broadly accepted or will some sort of chaos ensue?

The rhetoric on both sides has escalated to a point where I suspect (and hope) most sane citizens are tuning it all out. Life, after all, has to go on, no matter who is President or which party controls Congress.

And so does the World Series. (Go Rays!)

No matter what happens on Nov. 3, we are stuck with a terrible pandemic and that will get worse before it gets better. It has distorted our lifestyles and challenged our assumptions. When it comes to adapting, Americans are the least flexible people on the planet.

We are way too used to doing what we want to do.

Meanwhile, we may have a President who is going crazy before our eyes. His rallies are turning into the scariest events in American political history as he rants and raves that his opponents are criminals who should be sent to prison.

I'm no psychiatrist but he may be projecting his own greatest fear, given the plethora of legal problems awaiting him once he surrenders the presidency. Here's a highly educated guess: He is nowhere near as rich as he claims to be, and he owes an ungodly amount of money to unknown parties. He has broken many laws and knows that, once stripped of official protection, the legal system will be waiting for him.

Personally, I hope he just goes quietly, without further dividing the population and scorching the political landscape. Our country needs to heal.

***

The signs in the news are mixed.

* Trump is fighting for his political life campaigning at rallies that are almost the only mass participation events with no social distancing taking place in the US. His attacks are getting more extreme as the election gets closer, as he demands the locking up of his political rivals. He's claiming the election, and Thursday's presidential debate, are rigged against him. (CNN)

* ‘White Supremacy’ Once Meant David Duke and the Klan. Now It Refers to Much More. -- The phrase has poured into the nation’s rhetorical bloodstream. Organizations from the N.F.L. to art museums to colleges requiring the SAT are accused of perpetuating it. (NYT)

* Many young voters in the U.S. said their priorities ahead of the November 3 election reflect those of the wider electorate: the battered U.S. economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice. (WSJ)

* Trump raps Michigan governor amid 'lock her up' chants (NHK)

* Trump aides seek to set aside division and plan for final sprint to Election Day -- The president is behind in polls, but Republicans still see a chance for a repeat of his 2016 come-from-behind victory. (WashPo)

* Fearing a ‘Blood Bath,’ Republican Senators Begin to Edge Away From Trump -- The statements offer an answer to the question of when Republicans might begin to repudiate the president after years of embracing him: the moment they believed he threatened their own political survival. (NYT)

* Colorado wildfire erupts amid deepening drought, forcing evacuations in Boulder County (WashPo) Colorado Wildfire Grows Into Largest in State History -- Left vulnerable by dry conditions, more than 430,000 acres have burned so far in what has been one of the worst years ever for wildfires in the state. (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 87%, TRUMP 12%. (538)

* As pandemic surges and economy stalls, Trump fails to live up to dealmaker image (WashPo)

* People have been diving to the Titanic’s wreck for 35 years. No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights. But the company’s plan to retrieve the ship’s iconic radio equipment has sparked a debate: Could the world’s most famous shipwreck still hold remains of passengers and crew who died a century ago? (AP)

* A Biden opening: Trump falls short on pledges on infrastructure -- The president ran aggressively on a $1 trillion infrastructure package that never materialized once he was in office, and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has tried to exploit the issue. (WashPo)

***

They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless, they need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave"
And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row

-- Bob Dylan

-30-

Free Fallin' 1st Amendment

 

It's fascinating to me that the normally obscure Section 230 of the Community Decency Act is suddenly front and center in the news. That is because Donald Trump, sensing defeat, is weaponizing it against the tech giants for imposing restrictions on the conspiracy theorists who support him politically.

As I wrote many months ago now, this controversy dates back to 1996 when the web was emerging as a content channel with the potential to be as powerful as the traditional radio, television and publishing industries.

Reminder: Section 230 of the CDA states: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." This essentially allows companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook to avoid liability for the material posted by users, and is the bedrock of how they have been able to grow into massively profitable companies.

It also is consistent with the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment. Thus back in 1996, I and other journalists strongly supported Section 230 at the dawn of the Internet Age. Notably, this was before Google, Twitter or Facebook even existed. You could argue that they wouldn't exist today if not for this provision of the law.

The problem now is that everything that could go wrong with a system of unfettered free speech has in fact gone wrong. The technology companies have grown through the magic of capitalism into unimaginable behemoths with far more influence (arguably) than traditional media. 

Also, this new age where "anybody can become a publisher" has attracted the dregs of society who peddle hate speech and encourage alienated individuals to form would-be terrorist cells. The kidnapping conspiracy case centered in Michigan rests largely on the social media behavior of the individuals involved.

At this point, we have no option but to fall back on our favorite monster movies.

Trump himself as a political phenomenon is largely a creation of Twitter. Think Frankenstein. Meanwhile, the traditional media, by adhering to their highest journalistic standards, cannot uncritically circulate his talking points, which royally pisses him off. 

In recent months, the social platforms have felt compelled to impose new warning labels on Trump's misleading and increasingly dangerous Tweets. They fear, legitimately, that the President may incite groups like the Michigan 13 to violence against his political opponents.

They fear he already is.

Thus, he escalates his bluster over Twitter, even with its warning labels, seeking to speak directly to the people. Think King Kong. And the MSM bash him relentlessly. (Imagine the ratings!)

The social media giants try to stop disinformation like the nonsense about Hunter Biden from going viral, but then back off. It's too late. Godzilla is on the march.

Everybody involved in this drama is losing their minds. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared absolutely unhinged last week in an interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN, accusing him of being an "apologist" for Trump. Wolf Blitzer! He's practically the last straight news anchor standing at CNN, much like Chris Wallace at Fox News.

Our real journalists are falling like leaves from dead trees as the winter approaches. And trust me, it is not going to be a mild winter.

Smack into the middle of this mess Congress has subpoenaed the heads of Google, Twitter and Facebook to a hearing where little old Section 230 will no doubt be in the spotlight once again. Get ready for another partisan bloodbath. Where is Hunter S. Thompson when we need him?

Given everything else we all have to cope with at the moment -- Covid-19, polarization, record unemployment, economic distress, social isolation, raising incidence of mental illness, global climate change including heat waves and massive fires, the premature dying off our elders, family members split against each other and on and on and on -- we now face what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the historical evolution of free speech.

I've danced around this issue all year long because I feared it was coming, but now there is no avoiding it any longer. How free will we as a society continue to allow free speech to be?

***

As that question looms over us like a dark buildup approaching from the mainland, poised to strike us on the ever-vulnerable barrier islands out here along the Gulf Coast, today's curated news summaries suggest a people at their wit's end...

* The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation -- How a torrent of propaganda, lies and conspiracy theories has weaponized the First Amendment. (by Emily Bazelon, NYT Mag) ... [NOTE: It's 1:48 AM Sunday here and I'm just seeing this; it looks like Emily Bazelon and I have similar fears.]

* As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue -- Exhaustion and impatience are creating new risks as cases soar in parts of the world. “They have had enough,” one U.S. mayor said of her residents. (NYT)

* Trump starts to articulate a painful reality: He could lose in 2020 (Politico)

* A Regulatory Rush by Federal Agencies to Secure Trump’s Legacy -- With the president’s re-election in doubt, cabinet departments are scrambling to finish dozens of new rules affecting millions of Americans. (NYT)

* ‘Little or no Effect,’ W.H.O. Says of Remdesivir on Coronavirus Deaths (Reuters)

* Supreme Court to review Trump plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from census calculations -- A lower court blocked the plan, which would have the effect of shifting political power and federal funds away from urban states with large immigrant populations. (WashPo)

* The World’s Largest Tropical Wetland Has Become an Inferno -- This year, roughly a quarter of the vast Pantanal wetland in Brazil, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, has burned in wildfires worsened by climate change. (NYT)

* Remote learning is deepening the divide between rich and poor (WashPo)

* Isolation Increases Risk of Dementia by 50% Among Elderly (CNN)

* Chinese government officials are warning their American counterparts they may detain U.S. nationals in China in response to the Justice Department’s prosecution of Chinese military-affiliated scholars, according to people familiar with the matter (WSJ)

* Federal Appeals Courts Emerge as Crucial for Trump in Voting Cases -- Federal district courts have tended to rule for Democrats in litigation over how to run the election, but appeals courts, well stocked with the president’s nominees, are blocking them. (NYT)

* Elon Musk says SpaceX's 1st Starship trip to Mars could fly in 4 years (Space.com)

* Is someone really flying around LAX in a jet pack? Trying to solve an aviation mystery. experts say it may be a drone with a mannequin. (LAT)

*  Sasha Baron Cohen: This Time He’s Serious -- Reviving his Borat character and playing the political activist Abbie Hoffman, the actor feels he “had to ring the alarm bell and say that democracy is in peril this year.” (NYT)

* Women’s March in D.C. draws thousands in protest of Supreme Court nominee, Trump (WashPo)

***

Our poets saw this coming. We thought they were writing about love (Tom Petty) or rock n' roll or other fun stuff. How quaint of them...

I was working in the lab, late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash, he did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
He did the mash, it caught on in a flash
He did the mash, he did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash, they did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They did the mash, it caught on in a flash
They did the mash, they did the monster mash

The zombies were having fun, the party had just begun
The guests included Wolfman, Dracula, and his son

The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, 'The Crypt-Kicker Five'

They played the mash, they played the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash, it caught on in a flash
They played the mash, they played the monster mash

Out from his coffin', Drac's voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist and said
"Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?

It's now the mash, it's now the monster mash
The monster mash, it was graveyard smash
It's now the mash, it caught on in a flash
It's now the mash, it's now the monster mash

Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band
And my Monster Mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

Then you can mash, then you can monster mash
The monster mash and do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash, you'll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash, then you can monster mash

Mash good!
Easy, Igor, you impetuous young boy
Mash good! Grrr!

-- Bobby Pickett

-30-