The Trouble With Adapting Is

 

Since journalists like me are so fond of throwing around words like "truth," I figure that now and then we should delve a bit deeper into what we are talking about.

First of all, we are almost always only considering particular slices of a problem, i.e. pieces of truth. We rarely can get to the big picture.

So when it comes to writing about the pandemic, for example, or climate change, we're following the immediate day-to-day developments as opposed to the longer term impacts, or the historical aspects that could help place current events in a broader context.

With that said, two of the recent news headlines raise (for me at least) fascinating aspects of those two topics that may prove enduring. 

One is the recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle that sparrows in the Bay Area are singing in tones — including in a “more seductive trill” — that researchers haven’t heard in decades. Could this be in response to climate change? To Covid-19?

The other is a report in the New York Times that as the crowds have disappeared from Times Square, there are fears that it will return to its former state, with pawn shops and porn shops and sleepy bars. So this would be another impact of Covid-19, right?

It may be harder to connect this directly to climate change, but perhaps in a larger sense, since humans are animals, it may be at work here as well.

One of my earliest thoughts as Covid struck was that it will probably turn out to be related to the rising temperatures that are part of the climate degradation that is the major issue of our time. So, if that theory is correct, both of these stories -- sparrows and the human microcosm that is Times Square -- are adaptations, or early warning signs of adaptations.

Of course, I'm just a one-man operation here and I can't parse every news development that tracks with this hypothesis but there are additional hints day after day, involving animals, cities and the planet.

Point is we are all adapting whether we realize it or not. And that has immediate, medium, and long-term consequences.

***

And the trouble with news is...

* The Justice Department is investigating a potential crime related to funneling money to the White House or related political committee in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to court records unsealed Tuesday in federal court. The case is the latest legal twist in the waning days of President Donald Trump's administration after several of his top advisers have been convicted of federal criminal charges and as the possibility rises of Trump giving pardons to those who've been loyal to him. (CNN)

* Trump says he will veto the annual national defense funding bill unless Section 230 is terminated. (AP, WSJ and WashPo)

* Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. His comments come despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede his loss to President-Elect Joe Biden. (AP)

* The Long Darkness Before Dawn -- With vaccines and a new administration, the pandemic will be tamed. But experts say the coming months “are going to be just horrible. (NYT)

* Trump raises more than $150 million appealing to false election claims (WashPo)

* As coronavirus cases continue to spike, and as a number of economic relief provisions expire in the coming weeks, congressional leaders are hard at work assuring voters that a stimulus deal is right around the corner ― any day now, maybe, hopefully, probably not. Without congressional action, nearly 12 million people will lose federal unemployment benefits the day after Christmas. [HuffPost]

* Coronavirus Was In U.S. Weeks Earlier Than Previously Known, Study Says -- The discovery, uncovered after analyzing blood donations from nine states, strengthens evidence that the coronavirus was quietly spreading around the world before health officials were aware. (NPR)

* Google, Facebook and Amazon Gain as Pandemic Reshapes Ad Spending -- For the first time, more than half of U.S. advertising spending is set to go to digital platforms, the world’s largest ad buyer said, a reflection of marketers’ strategy shift as the pandemic pummeled the industry this year. (WSJ)

* Without Crowds, Is Times Square Really Times Square?  -- The throngs of visitors have disappeared from New York City’s famous neighborhood, stirring fears that it could return to its 1970s self. (NYT)

* Country's oldest Chinatown fights for its life in San Francisco (WashPo / SFGate)

* Salesforce will buy Slack for $27.7 billion, the biggest bet this year by a tech company looking to capitalize on the shift to remote work. (NYT)

* A disproportionately large number of poor and minority students were not in schools for assessments this fall, complicating efforts to measure the pandemic’s effects on some of the most vulnerable students, a not-for-profit company that administers standardized testing said Tuesday. Overall, NWEA’s fall assessments showed elementary and middle school students have fallen measurably behind in math, while most appear to be progressing at a normal pace in reading since schools were forced to abruptly close in March and pickup online.  (AP)

* Two promising vaccines head to FDA review, setting scientific speed records (WashPo)

* More Americans Pay Rent On Credit Cards As Lawmakers Fail To Pass Relief Bill -- Many Americans who've lost income in the pandemic are falling deeper into debt — forced to pay bills or even their rent on credit cards. It's a sign of trouble ahead for the economy. (NPR)

* Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales disappoint, another sign the economic recovery is stumbling(WashPo)

* 1918 Germany Has a Warning for America -- Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign recalls one of the most disastrous political lies of the 20th century. (NYT)

* At the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court, Trump goes on a spree of sabotage (WashPo)

* China Lands a Probe on the Moon as It Pursues Space Ambitions (WSJ)

* Angry Farmers Choke India’s Capital in Giant Demonstrations -- Tens of thousands have arrived in tractors and trailers, many traveling hundreds of miles, to block roads into New Delhi and protest recently passed pro-market agricultural policies. (NYT)

* Teaching in the Pandemic: ‘This Is Not Sustainable’ -- Teacher burnout could erode instructional quality, stymie working parents and hinder the reopening of the economy. (NYT)

* Most Republicans Say They Doubt the Election. How Many Really Mean It? -- Survey research tries to sort out the typical partisan reactions to a loss from an erosion of trust that may be more lasting. (NYT)

* In Siberian coal country, signs of Russia’s shrinking population are everywhere, despite Putin’s efforts (WashPo)

* A new telescope in Australia discovered a million new galaxies, opening the way to new findings. (Reuters) https:

* NORAD launched its Santa-tracking website on Dec. 1, giving kids access to games, music, videos and a countdown. (KTVU)

* Trump Reduced To Filing Lawsuit To Overturn Single Ballot In Placerville, Idaho (The Onion)https:/

***

Love can be a many splendored thing
Can't deny the joy it brings
A dozen roses, diamond rings
Dreams for sale and fairy tales
It'll make you hear a symphony
And you just want the world to see
But like a drug that makes you blind
It'll fool ya every time

The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See you've got no say at all

Now I was once a fool it's true
I played the game by all the rules
But now my world's a deeper blue
I'm sadder but I'm wiser too
I swore I'd never love again
I swore my heart would never mend
Said love wasn't worth the pain
But then I hear it call my name

The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See you've got no say at all

Every time I turn around
I think I've got it all figured out
My heart keeps callin'
And I keep on fallin'
Over and over again
The sad story always ends the same
Me standin' in the pourin' rain
It seems no matter what I do
It tears my heart in two

The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See you've got no say at all

-- Evan A. Rogers / Carl Allen Sturken / Kelly Briannne Clarkson

-30-

Truth To Tell

You can truly tell that every last statistical angle has been squeezed out of the election cycle when Nate Silver's "538" site turns to analyzing "Love Actually," the film that always dominated Christmas in my San Francisco apartment. It came out in 2003, the year I moved there, and my kids were 9, 7 and 5.

I never hesitated in letting them watch it, though there was simulated sex on a porn set, lots of nudity, drinking, and all sorts of language issues.

After all, how can a single dad who is an ex-Rolling Stone staffer prevent his kids from learning about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll? Not this one. It was violent movies that I eschewed in our household.

Now the kids are all grown up, they seem to mostly have avoided the excesses of youth. So it mildly surprised me when my youngest son, now 24, was musing about what to do this pandemic Christmas, and he said, "I guess we'll watch 'Love Actually'.

That brought the movie back to life for me. One of its oddest lines, I think, is when one of the characters says "at Christmas you tell the truth."

I'd never heard that before; in fact, my memory of Christmas is we were told Santa Claus was real, which has to be one of the all-time great myths along with the Easter Bunny in the religious hall of history.

Whatever, I've always been a sucker for romantic movies, and I just hope things worked out for those mythical couples. After all, imaginary love is the next best thing to the real deal. At least that's what I imagine.

***

Naturally, any mention of telling the truth in the news sites I scan is going to catch my attention; thus "538" woke me up. Our journalism profession is reeling in the wake of the Trump years. Not that we are particularly thin-skinned people, but journalists did not appreciate being labeled as "enemies of the people" by the president. 

And rarely has one of us been murdered and sawed up in pieces by a foreign government whose leader is embraced by that same president.

Or rarely have our peers from other countries been poisoned abroad by the KGB, sent by another good buddy of said president.

No, we will not be missing Donald J. Trump. Wanna know some truth? This bastard did more to poison the relationship between the press and the people than anyone in the history of our republic.

As he slinks away to the swamp where he belongs, all we can mutter is a cliche: "good riddance of bad rubbish."

But we know we have much work to do to repair the damage he caused. A steady flow of conspiracy theories -- the opposite of journalism -- are flourishing. It appears they will outlive Trump.

***

The news, actually...

* Los Angeles County -- the biggest county in the US -- is under a stay-at-home order (CNN)

* Trump lawyer says public official who said election was secure should be shot (CNN)

* Trump’s lawyers vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, even though a federal appeals judge in Philadelphia declared that the “campaign’s claims have no merit.” “Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Third Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote for the three-judge panel, all appointed by Republican presidents. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously tossed another Trump lawsuit that sought to disqualify mail-in votes. [AP]

* Brazen Killings Expose Iran’s Vulnerabilities as It Struggles to Respond -- After suffering a string of audacious attacks, Tehran faces an agonizing choice: embracing hard-liner demands for swift retaliation or trying to make a fresh start with the Biden administration. (NYT)

* Inside a hospital as the coronavirus surges: Where will all the patients go? (WashPo)

* Fox News host Eric Shawn debunked election disinformation that President Donald Trump disgorged hours earlier on the same network in his first live interview since the election. Shawn pointed out that Trump’s campaign has failed to prove any of his accusations in court, and invited Axios political reporter Hans Nichols to help dismantle many of Trump’s bogus claims, including that ballots counted after the initial tallies on election night were somehow fraudulent. [HuffPost]

* Dr. Scott Atlas, a highly controversial member of the White House's coronavirus task force, has resigned from his post in the Trump administration, according to a person who works with the task force. (CNN)

* One challenge for remote teaching: how to assign grades. A surge in D’s and F’s in San Diego County schools is raising questions. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

* One Seat, Competing Pressures as Newsom Considers Senate Pick -- Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, has emerged as the front-runner to succeed Kamala Harris. But Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be in no rush to make his choice. (NYT)

* Sparrows in the Bay Area are singing in tones — including in a “more seductive trill” — that researchers haven’t heard in decades. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

* The Winding Journey Of Avril Haines, Biden's Pick To Lead U.S. Intelligence -- Avril Haines, the first women nominated to the top intelligence post, took a strange path to this job. She studied judo in Japan, physics in college, and rebuilt a plane that she later crash-landed. (NPR)

* The coronavirus has turned the NFL into a joke, and nobody should be laughing (WashPo)

* Trump’s maskless campaign rallies may have boosted the spread of COVID-19, but they didn’t serve Trump well at the polls, according to a ballot analysis by NBC News. In an overwhelming number of cases, Trump came up short of his 2016 victory margins in the counties where he held rallies in the two weeks before the election. In a significant number of cases, he either increased his negative margins or lost the counties to Biden that he won the last time around. [HuffPost]

* Conservative Newsmax TV has enjoyed a sharp burst in ratings as President Trump has urged his fans to turn away from Fox News. (NPR)

* ‘I Have Never Seen So Many Toadstools.’ A Bumper Crop of Mushrooms in Ukraine. -- Hunting for mushrooms deep in the forest is the ideal socially distanced pastime (NYT)

* Trump pushes an unprecedented and unjust wave of executions (WashPo)

* Merriam-Webster’s top word of 2020 not a shocker: pandemic (AP)

* Plan to Hold Corporations Liable for Violations Abroad Fails in Switzerland -- The proposal would have exposed multinational companies to greater scrutiny over human rights and environmental abuses. (NYT)

* “Love Actually,” the 2003 film that launched a generation of cinematic hottakes, is the story of nine interconnected relationships in the weeks ahead of Christmas in the United Kingdom. They’re united not just in their relationships but also by Heathrow Airport, a third space that bookends the film and is used by lowly tourists and prime ministers alike. It has a plotline for every moment in your relationship, from first crush to the grave, and the story covers all the holiday season staples: the Christmas party, the school pageant, the holiday songs. Plus, the cast is great, and the performances are solid — there’s a lot to like, actually. Yet by the time the credits roll, you may not have learned much about the titular emotion. (538)

***

I didn't hear you leave 
I wonder how am I still here
And I don't want to move a thing 
It might change my memory

Oh I am what I am 
I'll do what I want 
But I can't hide
And I won't go, I won't sleep
I can't breathe 
Until you're resting here with me
And I won't leave, and I can't hide
I cannot be until you're resting here with me

I don't want to call my friends 
They might wake me from this dream
And I can't leave this bed,
Risk forgetting all that's been

Oh I am what I am 
I'll do what I want 
But I can't hide
And I won't go
I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me
And I won't leave
And I can't hide
I cannot be until you're resting here 

And I won't go
And I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me
And I won't leave
And I can't hide
I cannot be until you're resting here with me

--  Dido Armstrong / Pascal Gabriel / Paul Statham

-30-

This One's For You

 

One of the earliest thrills of the Internet Age for many of us was the simple joy of discovering things, new and old. As we learned how to use the early websites like Yahoo to sift through structured information, we also encountered unexpected and unsought items by serendipity.

Among with facts came people -- friends old and new, as gradually everybody showed up at the online party.

The pre-Internet (and pre-cellphone) world kept us so constrained that only the most adventurous among us were good at discovering things or finding people. This elevated the role of journalists, because we tried to excel at exactly those things.

When teaching journalism, I would assign the task of finding somebody who was trying to maintain a low profile. In the old days, reporters became accustomed to checking reverse phone directories, voter registration rolls, property records and court files to locate the basic details about people we were interested in finding.

All of that became exponentially simpler with the web, as did the surprises we collected along the way. As it emerged as the most powerful search engine, Google rapidly expanded the information universe to the point where today, reporters or anyone else need not ever leave the comfort of their easy chair to locate virtually anybody or anything they wish.

One of the curiosities of Google's pre-eminence is how purpose has replaced serendipity, but from its origin, the search giant has provided a correction to that excess. You can either enter a search term or click "I'm feeling lucky."

I had never tried that option until just last night but when I did, Google informed me that besides starring in many of my favorite silent movies, Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and produced over 80 films, scored many of them and at least once served as the on-set hairdresser.

This random entry was created in 2011; when I reloaded I was greeted with other content surprises.

All of this reminded me that the world once reserved for explorers, scientists and sufis is now just a mouse click away for the rest of us. 

Virtually the only limitations left are those we impose on our ourselves. Go ahead, click on "I'm feeling lucky" and tell somebody (me?) what you find.

***

Here's some self-limited news:

* Assassination in Iran Could Limit Biden’s Options. Was That the Goal? -- The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist is likely to impede the country’s military ambitions. Its real purpose may have been to prevent the president-elect from resuming diplomacy with Tehran. (NYT)

* Biden Aides’ Ties to Consulting and Investment Firms Pose Ethics Test -- Some of the president-elect’s choices for top posts have done work for undisclosed corporate clients and aided a fund that invests in government contractors. (NYT)

* Analysis: With urgent problems facing him, Biden cannot afford early missteps (WashPo)

* New York City public schools will reopen on Dec. 7 for younger students, but middle-school and high-school students will remain fully remote, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The nation’s largest school district will require weekly Covid tests (WSJ)

* Plastic Dividers and Masks All Day: What Teaching in a Pandemic Looks Like -- As school districts diverge on handling the pandemic, Baltimore City Public Schools are slowly trying to get students back in the classroom. It has not been easy, but neither has remote learning. (NYT)

* Analysis: Awaiting Georgia runoffs, U.S. Senate and its committees have been plunged into uncertainty (WashPo)

* This Year’s Hurricane Season Smashes All Kinds of Records (WSJ)

* Wildfire Smoke Is Poisoning California’s Kids. Some Pay a Higher Price. -- Fires are making the state’s air more dangerous. How much that hurts depends largely on where you live and how much money your family has. (NYT)

* The price progressives paid for getting rid of Trump: A moderate president (WashPo)

* A Boeing Exec’s $20 Million Bet on Teaching College Students to Think -- Not enough workers can see the big picture beyond the screen in front of them. A new program at Virginia Tech aims to teach students that problem-solving requires both sides of the brain. (WSJ)

* Job Interviews Without Interviewers, Products of the Pandemic -- Video responses to set questions, online games that measure a person’s traits and skills: The future of interviews is coming to a wider variety of professions in the pandemic. (NYT)

* In first post-election TV interview, Trump renews baseless claims of fraud (WashPo) This has reached SNL territory. (DW)

***

Today, the last day of November, is special because it is the birthday of my "friend without baggage." Happy Birthday!

***

It's a little bit funny, this feelin' inside 
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money, but girl, if I did 
I'd buy a big house where we both could live 

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no 
Or a man who makes potions in a travelin' show 
Oh, I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do 
My gift is my song and this one's for you 

And you can tell everybody this is your song 
It may be quite simple but now that it's done 
I hope you don't mind 
I hope you don't mind 
That I put down in words 
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

Songwriters: Elton John / Bernard J. P. Taupin

-30-

Macro/Micro

                                            Photo by Sarah Tiglao.

There is every reason to be hopeful in the larger sense, with vaccines apparently coming, a wiser hand at the helm of the ship of state, and an economy so large and diverse it is almost guaranteed to prove resilient. None of that necessarily translates down to the individual level, where it's the little day-to-day events that make us more hopeful or less.

If you listen to the meta-messaging that never lets up targeting us, there are but two important things we can do in our role as citizens and consumers. We can vote and we can buy.

Well, we voted. Now we are expected to buy.

There is a third thing -- wear a mask -- but the messaging has been decidedly mixed until recently. 

The problem with paying too much attention to the macro is we live in the micro. Yesterday we trouped to a beach on the Pacific shore where the air was fresh and clear. in the photo above, I am framed in the diamond formed by two of my grandsons.

What I've been musing about recently is to what degree each day we live in these times is a microcosm of the whole. It's so difficult to remove ourselves from the context -- McLuhan said "the medium is the message" -- by analogy "you are the times you live in."

Yet when I go to a place like that beach, which is called Limantour, part of the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, its rhythms take me back 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. In other word, back over many "times." The long perfect waves crash just as they did back then, the strands of kelp wash up on the beach, as do pieces of lumber lost at sea, chunks of old sunken boats, crab shells and the occasional whale bone.

It's exactly the same whether Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Obama or Trump is in the White House. And whether I'm buying or living like a monk.

I walked down to the water's edge and stared out to the west, at the lovely endlessness. I've flown over that ocean many times, and I can taste and smell the places out there -- Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and many other places.

Since Pt. Reyes is a protected zone, it has a timelessness to it that the built-out places lack. The city of San Francisco always feels like the same city, but the pieces of it change all the time.

That is the rather tortured analogy I am seeking about our lives-- we are here, for a while, but the system that contains us, like the physical world, goes on and on with or without us.

What was terrifying to everyone paying attention about Trump's reign was not so much his impact on our little lives but on our system of laws and conventions. Even his unwillingness to concede means we have no closure on the election. Biden won but the election remains unfinished.

That is Trump's poisonous legacy.

***

It's my sister Carole's birthday -- Happy Birthday, Carole!

The other headlines:

*Pushed by Pandemic, Amazon Goes on a Hiring Spree Without Equal -- The company has added 427,300 employees in 10 months, bringing its global work force to more than 1.2 million. (NYT)

* Trump moves to strip job protections from White House budget analysts as he races to transform civil service (WashPo)

* The Virus Won’t Stop Evolving When the Vaccine Arrives -- The coronavirus is not a shape shifter like the flu virus, but it could become vaccine resistant over time. That prompts researchers to urge vigilance. (NYT)

* Joe Biden won rapidly diversifying Georgia partly because Asian Americans mobilized to an unprecedented degree. With two critical Senate runoffs approaching, these voters could also boost Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. (WashPo)

* Jailed, Exiled and Silenced: Smothering East Africa’s Political Opposition -- In several countries, entrenched leaders are taking advantage of coronavirus restrictions and a world distracted by the pandemic to clamp down hard on prominent political opponents. (NYT)

* Covid Overload: U.S. Hospitals Are Running Out of Beds for Patients -- As the coronavirus pandemic surges across the country, hospitals are facing a crisis-level shortage of beds and staff to provide adequate care for patients. (NYT)

* Iran’s president blames Israel for nuclear scientist’s killing, vows response at the ‘right time’ (WashPo)

* Severe fire danger for Australia as temperatures smash records (Reuters)

* E.P.A.’s Final Deregulatory Rush Runs Into Open Staff Resistance -- As President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency rushes to complete its regulatory rollbacks, agency staff, emboldened by the Biden victory, moves to stand in the way. (NYT)

***

Back to the seashore:

Why are you so far away from me?
I need help
And you're way across the sea
I could never touch you
I think it would be wrong
I've got your letter
You've got my song

-- Weezer

-30-

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-