The Day Everything Stopped.2

[This is the second part of a serialized memoir of life during the pandemic.]

As my son-in-law drove me away from the assisted living complex in Millbrae in March 2020, ours was one of the only cars on an eerily empty highway 101. It was rush hour but no one was rushing. The governor had declared that everyone should "shelter in place" -- were we even allowed to be on this road?

Loic mumbled something about an exclusion for transporting elderly relatives in danger from the novel coronavirus. He said that Laila -- his wife and my daughter -- wanted me out of the facility, because it might soon turn into a "death trap." He was wearing a mask; I didn't have one yet.

We drove along in virtual silence wearing grim expressions. I noticed that there were no highway patrol cars anywhere to be seen.

I thought back over the previous year and my long, twisted journey through the United States Healthcare System, which had ended at that assisted living place. When I'd arrived there, I'd known nobody save the marketing director who'd come to meet me at a skilled nursing facility in Pacifica where I'd been rehabilitating after a stroke, among other problems. 

She sang the blues in clubs on the side, so she definitely was my kind of marketing executive.

The place she worked was where I chose to go post-Pacifica, where I'd been attended night and day by medical personnel.

There were doctors, nurses, CNAs, PTs, OTs, psychiatrists, social workers, ministers, medical students, volunteers, and uniformed staff members who took care of our bodily needs. They brought us meals, answered our calls when we pushed the red button, changed the diapers of those who needed that, walked the rest of us to the bathroom, bathed those who needed that and watched over the rest of us as we showered, brought us our medications three, four, five times a day in little Dixie cups, measured us, weighed us, took our BP, checked our heart rate, monitored our breathing rate and most importantly engaged those of us who were sentient in non-medical conversations. 

They all carried clipboards with notes. They'd glance at the clipboard before looking up at me. "Hello Mr. Weir," or (from the staff members), "Hello Mister David." Practically everyone spoke with an accent, usually Filipino.

They also brought sleeping medicine at bedtime, but I would never swallow that.

Perhaps for that reason, I didn't sleep much. Or maybe it was the call-and-response cadence of the dementia patients, screaming deep into the night, conducting long-distance conversations with each other even though they'd never met and never would meet.

And if they did meet they wouldn't remember it afterward.

We were all mixed in together, the population recovering from heart attacks and strokes and accidents with the people who were gradually, inexorably losing their minds.

I was fairly certain which group I was in, but due to the hallucinations and delusional spells when I was semi-conscious, I couldn't be completely sure. Seeing a little man in the window for three days only to discover he was actually a reflection of a nightlight will introduce doubt into your mind and the minds of those caring for you.

A single terrifying thought kept me awake at night: "If I'm going insane, nobody's going to tell me that."

In any event, the night nurses tended to take their breaks in my room since I was always awake and I endeavored to appear extra specially normal in the way I talked to them. I was strapped to the bed, not literally, but the blankets were so tight I couldn't move my body without their help.

They told me abut their dreams, their stresses and their frustrations. To me they were angels, doing whatever God's work might be. I fell in immediate love with all of them, including the men, there in my dark hospital room.

In case you've never been, and I hope you never are, a skilled nursing facility is a transitional kind of place, like an airport. Everyone is coming or going except those who work there. But unlike airports, it feels like most every patient who leaves will never be coming back on a return flight.

Whenever someone leaves, there is a sudden flurry of activity involving lots of people with hushed voices. The curtains are drawn around the bed; if the patient is conscious, they may be frightened. "Where are you taking me?"

Once they are gone, the curtains are all opened; the bed is completely stripped down, waiting for its next occupant. Nobody ever mentions the one who is gone.

As I said, it was a transitional place and in my case, I was demonstrably getting better, which I told anyone who would listen, so the day presumably was coming when I would be transitioning right out of there, once it was determined that I was well enough to leave.

That day arrived quite suddenly on a Thursday when at the end of her night shift my pretty nurse informed me, "It says here that today is your last day, David. The doctor has authorized us to release you but you need somewhere to go."

At first I panicked and asked to call my son. Where was I to go? Back to my flat in San Francisco, where I'd kept falling and calling 9-1-1 for ambulances to transport me back to hospitals? Or on to somewhere new, one of those nursing homes or independent living centers everyone kept recommending to me. 

After some hasty research, I found a couple places right nearby on the peninsula that sounded okay. I didn't feel confident enough to go back home on my own, so within hours, two marketing teams had shown up, eager to recruit me as a new resident able to pay my own way into their facilities.

I picked the blues singer's place and that's how I landed in Millbrae, where I met a small band of other survivors who'd escaped from the Land of the Young.

(To be continued...)

***

* From India, Brazil and Beyond: Pandemic Refugees at the Border -- Fleeing virus-devastated economies, migrants are traveling long distances to reach the United States and then walking through gaps in the border wall. The Arizona desert has become a favorite crossing point. (NYT)

* Israel-Hamas conflict hurtles into its second week with more airstrikes on Gaza (WP)

* The Biden administration reportedly blocked the U.N. Security Council from calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas. Biden has stayed vocally supportive of Israel despite growing opposition from within his party over the Israeli army's daily barrage of attacks on Palestinian civilians. [HuffPost]

* Aerial assaults, casualties derail any hopes for Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks -- Israel has so far declined entreaties from outside mediators that it agree to a halt, according to two officials. Hamas has vowed to continue retaliatory rocket attacks for an Israeli strike that killed 42 people. (WP)

* When Fighting Erupts Between Israel and Hamas, the Question of War Crimes Follows -- Civilian deaths on both sides raise urgent questions about which military actions are legal, what war crimes are being committed and who, if anyone, will be held to account. (NYT)

* Days before conflict, Congress learned U.S. approved $735 million weapons sale to Israel, raising red flags for some Democrats (WP)

* Trump’s comments on Maricopa County election recount are ‘unhinged,’ Arizona GOP official says (WP)

* Changes to make voting safer during the 2020 elections made casting ballots easier for people with disabilities, a population that has struggled for decades with polling site access. But a wave of voting restrictions proposed or already passed in Republican-led states is threatening to not just halt the progress, but significantly reverse it. (HuffPost)

* U.S. Supreme Court takes up major challenge to abortion rights (Reuters)

* Long Before Divorce, Bill Gates Had Reputation for Questionable Behavior -- Melinda French Gates voiced concerns about her husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and a harassment claim against his money manager. He also had an affair with an employee. (NYT)

* Board members for Microsoft determined in 2020 that the company’s co-founder, Bill Gates, needed to step down from his own role on the board amid an investigation into a past affair with a female Microsoft employee, according to the Wall Street Journal. A Gates spokeswoman confirmed there was an affair but said Gates stepped down of his own accord. [HuffPost] 

* Chinese businessman with links to Steve Bannon is driving force for a sprawling disinformation network, researchers say (WP)

* Pandemic Hit Less-Educated Workers Hardest, Fed Survey Shows (WSJ)

* Underfunded And Overworked, Secret Service Fears They're 'Relying On Luck' -- Carol Leonnig spoke to a number of Secret Service agents for her new book, Zero Fail. "They strongly believed that it was a matter of time before a president was shot on their watch," she says. (NPR)

* U.S. tiptoes through sanctions minefield toward Iran nuclear deal (Reuters)

* When it comes to lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento, California’s main teachers union is king: The California Teachers Association outspent other interest groups in the first quarter of this year. The teachers union pursued political influence amid the pandemic to the tune of $2.85 million. (Bay Area News Group)

* A Scratched Hint of Ancient Ties Stirs National Furies in Europe -- Czech archaeologists say marks found on a cattle bone are sixth-century Germanic runes, in a Slavic settlement. The find has provoked an academic and nationalist brawl. (NYT)

* Scientists unravel a mystery about a naked giant carved into an English hill (WP)

* The Golden Gate Bridge has been humming loudly and driving commuters and neighbors crazy. A team of engineers has been working on the problem, which began following a retrofit of a sidewalk safety railing. (SFC)

* U.S. awaits chorus of huge, 17-year cicada hatch (Reuters)

* Deep Throat’s identity (FBI agent Mark Felt) was a mystery for decades because no one believed writer Nora Ephron, who figured it out while married to reporter Carl Bernstein (WP)

* Why We Speak More Weirdly at Home -- When people share a space, their collective experience can sprout its own vocabulary, known as a familect. (Atlantic)

* Family Can Trace Ancestry Back To Whatever The Hell Grandma Was Talking About (The Onion)

***

"Where Am I Now?" (excerpt)

Patti Murin, Lewis Flinn

How am I here?
Which way do I turn
When it's all so unclear?
I'm standing alone
With nothing but fear.
Where am I now Now that I'm here?

-30-

The Day Everything Stopped

Sunday I was going to return to Contra Costa, which is my official residence now, when I suddenly extended my visit in the City instead. It occurred to me that 2021 is the first time in 50 years that San Francisco is not my legal home base, and I'm still getting used to that. 

Maybe I just need to extend my stay for a few more days, I told myself.

These kinds of insights, like the reality of retirement itself, sink in only gradually over time. This is the twentieth month since I earned a paycheck of any kind, and only now is the meaning of that becoming clear. 

I probably have the pandemic to thank for this suspended state of confusion. That day in March 2020 that I sat in the lobby of the assisted care facility on the peninsula waiting for my son-in-law to pick me up for a short visit away is in some ways clearer in my memory than any day since. 

I had two bags stuffed with my clothes, plus my computer bag, two extension cords for my phone, a baseball hat, my cane, some rolls of toilet paper, cans of soup and a giant box of brown paper coffee filters #9.

I sat alone and still on the couch in the lobby while around me, a frantic urgency filled the air. The facility was in the process of locking itself down, though nobody knew quite yet what that meant. New procedures had been decreed but no one seemed to know how exactly they were to be enforced. 

Nobody in, nobody out. That was one of the rules. But over 100 of us elderly residents lived there and we received constant shipments of things, including toilet paper, cans of soup, and coffee filters.

Plus visitors, including our physical therapists, social workers, in-home care personnel and so on. Some of us lucky ones counted on that one weekly visit from a child, grandchild or friend  as the highlight of our isolated lives.

Everyone knew something supposedly bad was on the way, a super virus, but nobody knew its name yet. I'm not going to say we were panicking, because that suggests rapid, fast movements or feelings -- neither of which are typical among old people.

Nope, not us. We'd seen it all before -- polio, AIDS, SARS, whatever -- plus we usually do everything slowly, methodically, pondering every step. After all, even getting up from the couch is an accomplishment worthy of note.

The lady at the front desk wore an exasperated expression. The phone just kept ringing and ringing, as did that damn doorbell buzzer.

Trucks from FedEx, UPS, AmazonPrime, DoorDash, InstaCart, USPS, and other more obscure courier services pulled up into the little roundabout outside and drivers unloaded their boxes. They heaved them onto a growing pile next to the front door, punched a few digits into their phones or tablets, and slipped a paper recipe under the door.

There were signs everywhere about "Wear Your Mask," and "Return to Your Room," and Dining Room Closed Until Further Notice."

Some of the delivery men insisted on remaining at the door with their cargo, because they needed a signature. They buzzed incessantly, demanding the poor receptionist's attention. Not wanting to feel useless, I sprang up (relatively speaking) to accommodate them, not fully realizing this was not really sanctioned behavior.

"You know you don't really have to do that," she spoke softly to me, but she smiled nonetheless.

Certain residents had passes allowing them to exit the facility. They had medical appointments or such, and their rides were waiting outside. Some used canes, like I did. Others were pushing themselves in electric carts that they controlled by pushing buttons. A handful could walk unaided.

I rose to escort the weaker ones on their way.

Outside in the sunlight, S from Kenya, was minding to the flowers and bushes that lined the sidewalks greeting our visitors. He was 78, a kindly, soft-spoken fellow who told me it wasn't part of his job to do this work; he just liked to do it. In fact he was a resident like me, and cared for his younger brother who had dementia.

They had two rooms upstairs in the facility. His brother napped frequently and always had his TV playing in the background, though he couldn't understand anything the talking heads were saying.

Downstairs, nobody spoke except for the receptionist when answering the phone or the door buzzer. The tension that hung over all of us was like that scene in Casablanca when Rick and Sam are waiting to board the last train out of Paris before the Germans arrive.

But it wasn't raining and the invaders were tiny invisible creatures flowing toward us from the Far East.

Finally Loic appeared outside the door trying to locate the buzzer or the outside phone; normally he could just walk in through the unlocked door. I could see him but he couldn't see me in the darkened interior.

All kinds of signs had been hastily pasted on the glass doors; it felt like we were inside some sort of contaminated facility, when of course we were at that time the pristine, virus-free, perfect ones...the contamination was out there among all of them.

I got up to let Loic in. The receptionist helped him sign me out on the electronic signature pad. She nodded over at me and whispered: "He keeps getting up to help everybody. He doesn't know..." She thought I couldn't hear very well but that particular day I was hearing every sound, feeling every nerve ending.

As we loaded my paltry possessions into the car, Loic said cheerily "Is that it?" and I settled in for the drive north. Ours was the only car leaving, every other vehicle had labels on its side. As we exited the parking lot, I looked back and saw S standing up and peering at us as we disappeared.

We locked eyes.

I never saw him or that place, my home, again.

[ To be continued...]

***

The heds: 

* Searching for Love -- the pandemic hasn't helped (New Yorker)

* Israel kills 42 in Gaza as Netanyahu warns war will go on (AP)

* Tensions Among Democrats Grow Over Israel as the Left Defends Palestinians -- Divisions within the party have burst into public view, with the party’s ascendant left viewing the Mideast conflict as a searing racial justice issue that carries echoes of U.S. politics. (NYT)

* Central Banks Jump Into Climate-Change Policy Fray (WSJ)

* Cheney continues her lonely ‘battle for the soul of the Republican Party’ (WP)

* Palestinians Commemorate Annual Day of Grievance Amid Conflict -- People gathered in the West Bank on Saturday to honor Nakba Day, the anniversary of the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel’s creation. The demonstration is one of several that took place globally. (AP)

* Violence Shakes Trump’s Boast of ‘New Middle East’ -- Trump officials said the Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab states would transform the region, but new Israeli-Palestinian clashes lay bare the limits of that change. (NYT)

* AT&T, Discovery in talks to combine content assets  (Bloomberg News)

* Hundreds of bodies found buried along Indian riverbanks (AP)

* Netflix Movies Turn Up in a Surprising Place: Theaters (WSJ)

* Houses Of Worship Grapple With The Vaxxed And Unvaxxed Divide (NPR)

* The meat industry is doing exactly what Big Oil does to fight climate action (WP)

* Afghan cease-fire ends amid calls for fresh peace talks (AP)

* Herd community? Elephants show us how to coexist (Reuters)

* Sharks Use Earth's Magnetic Field as GPS to Navigate (Current Biology)

* Paris Bookstores Are Designated Essential — But These Landmarks Struggle To Survive (NPR)

* A surprising pandemic side effect: It has improved health care (WP)

* Steph Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors final regular season win over the Grizzlies, capturing the NBA scoring title and leading his team into the playoffs. (S.J. Mercury News)

* Area Man's Knee Making Weird Sound (The Onion)

***

"The News"

Songwriters: Andre Carnell Robertson / Jahron Brathwaite / Jonathan Joseph Hoskins

What's news to you, it ain't news to me
What's news to you
What's news to you, it ain't news to me
And what's blue to you, it ain't blue to me
(Blue to you) it ain't blue to me
It ain't new to me

-30-

Call It What It Is

Okay, I've had it. 

Benjamin Netanyahu's absurd excuse for blowing up the headquarters of the AP and Al Jazeera is a bald-faced lie. The alleged existence of "military assets" of Hamas in the same building is a cover story for deliberately disrupting media coverage of the war against the Palestinian people.

Any attack on one reporter is an attack on all of us. There are no exceptions to this rule.

What is also patently obvious is this entire "war" is a desperate attempt by Netanyahu to retain power. He was on the verge of finally being expelled from office and perhaps even jailed for corruption when this conflict somehow magically materialized.

A sad corollary is Hamas is all too willing to play into Netanyahu's hands. If ever there were antagonists who deserve each other, it is these jokers.

The big question is where is Joe Biden? Where is the U.S.? Do we believe in human rights and the freedom of the press or does Israel somehow get a pass?

No passes. Principles are principles; you don't bend them because of entrenched political alliances reinforce by massive financial interests. That is also corruption and it is far beyond time to root out this problem right here in America.

Like the singer says "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything."

Don't fall for smokescreens by corrupt politicians -- that is a cardinal rule for journalists and citizens. Call it the way it is.

 ***

I actually had a real visit with a journalist friend at his apartment Saturday; he cooked us a meal and we watched an old journalism movie I'd never heard of, "Call Northside 777" with Jimmy Stewart (1948).

The plot is based on the true story of a Chicago reporter who investigated whether a man imprisoned for killing a cop was innocent or guilty. Of course it reminded me of why I love journalism and the kinds of stories that, once you start on them, you just can't let go of until you reach some sort of resolution.

You don't always get that resolution, but unless and until you do, you just keep digging. We're a certain breed, not unlike homicide inspectors and any other type of investigator who is driven by figuring out what actually happened in a given situation.

Once that sort of work is in your blood, you're hooked for life. That's true of my friend and it's true of me.

***

As my visit to San Francisco continues, this is one of my first real chances to connect with my youngest granddaughter, Bettina, who is two-and-a-half. A precocious, energetic child who looks almost exactly like her Dad did at this age, she seems to understand everything you say to her and chatters away in complete sentences.

"Okay, Grandpa, read me this book now."

If the book she chooses is one of her favorites, she reads right along with you and will finish each sentence as you start it and stop, like, "She has..."

"...one, two three balls, wow!"

I'm used to young kids before they can actually read memorizing phrases like this, though usually they are more like four when this happens. What I've never encountered before is a toddler who points out each succeeding word in the sentence individually with her finger as she "reads" it.

In general young children dazzle me with their innate brilliance, their determination to learn, and their infectious joy of expression.

But this one is doing that earlier and faster than anyone I've known previously.

The headlines:

* Israel pounded Gaza on Saturday, destroying a tower block that housed news media organizations, while Palestinian rocket salvoes hit Tel Aviv with no sign of an end to almost a week of fighting. Israel’s military brought down a 12-story block in Gaza City that housed the Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations, as well as other offices and apartments. Israel gave advance warning of the strike so it could be evacuated. The Israeli military said later the building was a legitimate military target because it contained military assets of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza. The strike was condemned by the AP and Al Jazeera. The United States told Israel "that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility." (Reuters)

* Statement: AP ‘horrified’ by Israeli attack on its office (AP)

* Israeli-Palestinian Strife Widens as Frantic Calls for Calm Go Unheeded -- While Israel and Hamas signaled willingness to consider a cease-fire, worries grew about further fracturing in one of the Middle East’s most intractable struggles (NYT)

* Unrest grips Israel and West Bank ahead of large scale demonstrations -- Palestinians readied for protests to commemorate the loss of homes when Israel was founded more than 70 years ago, raising the specter of more unrest on Saturday as violence between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel continued overnight. (WP)

* The fighting between Israel and Hamas comes at a politically opportune moment for Prime Minister , as the threat to unseat Israel’s longest-serving leader appears to be collapsing. (WSJ)

* Arab and Jewish Israelis are increasingly clashing with one another in an escalation of communal conflict that hasn’t been seen for decades. In many ways, the strife represents a more complicated challenge than the country’s external enemies. (WSJ)

* Less than 3% of U.S. small businesses could face tax hikes under Biden plan -White House (Reuters)

* A fading coronavirus crisis and an astounding windfall of tax dollars have reshuffled California’s emerging recall election, allowing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newscom to talk about an end to most COVID-19 restrictions and propose billions in new spending as he looks to fend off Republicans who depict him as a foppish failure. (AP)

* An advocacy group that successfully challenged the use of algorithms in U.K. immigration and education policy is preparing to take on Facebook and Uber Technologies over tech workers’ rights. (WSJ)

* Tesla is like an ‘iPhone on wheels.’ And consumers are locked into its ecosystem. (WP)

* Beneath Joe Biden’s Folksy Demeanor, a Short Fuse and an Obsession With Details (NYT)

*  John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, met privately with Pope Francis on Saturday, afterward calling the pope a “compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis” who has been “ahead of the curve.” (AP)

* Americans spend hours and hours preparing their taxes. We shouldn’t have to. (WP)

* Spy Agencies Seek New Afghan Allies as U.S. Withdraws -- The move signals an acknowledgment by Western intelligence agencies that they are preparing for the likely collapse of the central government and a return to civil war. (NYT)

* When Your Company Is Named Covid, You've Heard All The Jokes -- Covid Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., has been selling audiovisual equipment for decades, but in the past year, some visitors stop by for an altogether different reason: They're looking for a COVID-19 test. (NPR)

* Heart study: Low- and regular-dose aspirin safe, effective (AP)

* Why can’t more straight men say ‘I love you’ to each other? (WP Magazine)

* Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be (The Onion)

***

"You've Got to Stand for Something"

Song by Aaron Tippin

Songwriters: Aaron Tippin / William Calhoun Jr. Brock

Now Daddy didn't like trouble, but if it came along 
Everyone that knew him knew which side that he'd be on 
He never was a hero, or this county's shinin' light 
But you could always find him standing up 
For what he thought was right 
He'd say you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 
You've got to be your own man not a puppet on a string 
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name 
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 

Now we might have been better off or owned a bigger house 
If Daddy had done more givin' in or a little more backing down 
But we always had plenty just living his advice 
Whatever you do today you'll have to sleep with tonight 

He'd say you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 
You've got to be your own man not a puppet on a string 
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name 
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 

Now I know that things are different than they were in Daddy's days 
But I still believe what makes a man really hasn't changed 

You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 
You've got to be your own man not a puppet on a string 
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name 
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything 

You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.

-30-

How to Stop Pandemics (and Wars)

Now that the long-awaited moment is upon us, and we can declare at least a temporary end to the pandemic, it's time to take stock of what we've learned and what we don't yet know.

First, we don't know much about the origin of the virus that causes Covid-19. There is a very good chance that the reason Trump blamed it on China is that he received classified briefings from U.S. intelligence officials indicating that human error at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the possible cause.

Chinese officials have suppressed the records of the earliest cases of the virus, preventing international experts from access to the data they need to determine whether this is true. A growing number of scientists are now calling for a "proper" probe into the virus's origins, as Post is reporting in our top headline below.

So I am going to make a prediction, as an investigator, since I've learned where there is smoke there is fire. Trust me on this one -- there's plenty of smoke. The first case or cases were probably among workers or relatives of workers at that lab.

Meanwhile, one of the *positive* learnings we can take away from the pandemic is how preventative measures can halt the spread of even the most contagious virus. Case in point: The past winter's flu season.

There were hardly any cases of flu at all, and that is certainly because so many of us did the following things:

* We got a flu shot.

* We wore masks.

* We kept our distance from each other.

* We worked from home.

These lessons should be applied to workplaces and workforces uniformly going forward. Various flu and Covid variants will be with us permanently. If someone feels symptoms, they should mask up and get permission to stay home!

Stopping the spread should be the hallmark of our policies nationwide, but it all starts with us. Personal responsibility is the key.

When we adopt the right pubic health practices we can limit the damage.

We are an intelligent species, so we can do this. Now let's move on to tackle climate change. 

***

So I need to apologize in advance for today's song lyrics, the sickly sweet "What the World Needs Now," but here's the context.

What the world most definitely does *not* need now is what Israel is doing in Gaza. Oh, I get the pretense -- rockets fired by Hamas and shame on them! -- but I'm not buying it. Our closest "ally" is in fact not acting like one. The unacceptable suppression of Palestinian rights and murder of Palestinian civilians has to end.

Only the U.S., with its massive foreign aid to Israel can stop this nonsense. It's time -- it's beyond time. President Biden?

***

The news:

* Scientists call for ‘proper investigation’ into virus origins including the possibility of a laboratory incident triggering the global health crisis. (WP)

* Pandemic’s end looks to be in sight, though virus will persist (WP)

* Fully vaccinated people do not have to wear masks or maintain social distance indoors or outdoors, with some exceptions, the C.D.C. advised. (NYT)

* Just 12 People Are Behind Most Vaccine Hoaxes On Social Media, Research Shows (NPR)

* India 'on war footing' as coronavirus infections pass 24 million (Reuters)

* Facebook Loses Bid to Block Ruling on EU-U.S. Data Flows -- The social-media company lost a bid to block a European Union privacy decision that could suspend its ability to send information about Europeans to the U.S., opening a pathway toward a precedent-setting interruption of its data flows. (WSJ)

* Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), along with several other progressive Democrats, spoke out about Palestinians "being killed as the world watches" and the lack of recognition by U.S. leaders of the Palestinians' suffering at the hands of Israel. Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, said she was "a reminder to Congress that Palestinians do indeed exist, that we are human.” [HuffPost]

* Israeli forces hit Hamas tunnels in Gaza as all-out war looms; more rockets rain down (WP)

* Israel Ground Forces Shell Gaza as Fighting Intensifies (NYT)

* In Mixed Israel Cities Proud of Good Relations, a Sudden, Explosive Division (NYT)

* Some banks are reducing credit-score requirements and offering more generous loan terms, eager to lend after tightening up when the pandemic hit. (WSJ)

* Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers that unaccompanied minors are moving more quickly out of custody and into facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. (NPR)

* Deleted video shows Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's office during 2019 Capitol visit. She did so again this week. (CNN)

* In a private meeting last month with big-money donors, the head of a top conservative group boasted that her outfit had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia and was doing the same with similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” she said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.” (Mother Jones)

* Spain logged hottest year on record in 2020 (Reuters)

* Ignoring climate change hasn’t made it go away (WP)

* California's coastal trail, which would run 1,230 miles from Mexico to Oregon, is now about 70 percent complete. (San Jose Mercury News)

* Marine Corps officer is first known active-duty service member charged in Capitol riot (WP)

* The recall effort against San Francisco's newly elected progressive D.A., Chesa Boudin is, "far from qualifying for the ballot." (48 Hills)

* California’s recall law is broken and doesn’t work in our age of hyperpartisan politics. (Atlantic)

* Push Notification Informs Man Of Human Rights Violation (The Onion)

***

What the World Needs Now Is Love

Song by Jackie DeShannon

Songwriters: David Hal / Bacharach Burt F

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some, but for everyone

-30-

Let the Planet Die?

Urban heat waves, melting icecaps, forest fires, rising sea levels, coral reef damage, deforested kelp fields, endangered species of many kinds, the increased threat of pandemics -- the era when we could debate whether global climate change was real is long past.

It's now our daily reality. Joe Biden, for one, seems to get that.

For policy makers, mitigation is the only option left, since prevention is no longer possible. A rapid transition to carbon-neutral infrastructure systems therefore is vital. That renders the current debate over the cost of Biden's proposed initiatives almost irrelevant.

Whatever price tag lawmakers eventually place on it simply won't be enough to address the underlying issues. So it feels like a waste of time to compare the Democratic version v. the Republican version because for both parties this issue is just another political football.

They are arguing for short passes or quarterback sneaks, when what they should be doing is looking downfield for a "Hail Mary."

Besides, what they actually care about is which party will win control of the House of Representatives next year; that's their motivation, not getting serious about climate change.

Meanwhile, the ship of state is heading straight for an iceberg, and even though it's melting, that iceberg will certainly swamp the ship.

Which is why as much as I loved the recent SNL riff on the iceberg that sank the Titanic <https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-the-iceberg-on-the-sinking-of-the-titanic/4342375>, my tears of laughter were mixed with the other kind while watching it.

Environmentalists -- much maligned as a group by way too many people for way too long -- have been raising the warnings about what we're doing to the earth since the 1950s. For decades, nobody in power listened. Now, as the UN and various political leaders including Biden begin to act, it must be difficult for environmental activists to remain patient.

Because there no longer is any time to lose. What's at stake, straight up, is whether we will leave a viably habitable planet to our descendants.

Our grandchildren's children will not judge as for being Republicans or Democrats, or socialists or capitalists or being good debaters or bad ones. 

They will judge us for despoiling their planet.

***

Even as I contemplate these dire circumstances, on a personal level I am happy, because for a few days I am back in the city I love. Such are the contradictions of life in the short term. San Francisco's air always has a certain freshness to it, even when it leaves you shivering when everywhere it's hot.

When the fog rolls in here, depending which microclimate you're located in, it can feel like rain.

The city is kicking itself back to life after the long pandemic hibernation. The signs are everywhere. When it comes to climate change, this city has been at the forefront of mitigation measures for decades.

And now, in late spring, before the fire season has started, the hills are green and the sky is blue. Hope is riding in on that moist breeze from the Pacific. 

I'm getting to hang out with my two youngest grandchildren, Bettina (2.5) and Oscar (0.25). Believe me, like all people, they are way more than numbers. There is nothing like being with babies to refresh the soul.

Maybe, just maybe, we're going to find a way to be alright after all.

***

The news:

* Climate Change Is Making Big Problems Bigger -- New data compiled by the E.P.A. shows how global warming is making life harder for Americans in myriad ways that threaten their health, safety and homes. (NYT)

* "To want to solve a problem, you first have to know there is one... most Americans don’t know how much of a crisis we truly face, nor how little time we have left to solve it." -- Joe Biden (The Hill/Twitter)

* Mass shooting insurance in high demand as U.S. emerges from lockdown (Reuters)

* Hamas launches more rockets, Israeli jets strike Gaza as casualties mount (WP)

* As Gaza War Escalates, New Front Opens in Israeli Cities -- Rioting and mob violence between Arabs and Jews tore through towns and cities across Israel. Rockets from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes continued to kill civilians. (NYT)

* Global airlines cancel flights to Israel as violence escalates (CNN)

* Newly released footage of the Capitol riot shows a mob descending on D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone. They beat him with a flagpole and attacked him with a stun gun. The riot resulted in five deaths and more than 100 injured police officers. [HuffPost]

* A sprawling investigation: What we know so far about the hundreds of Capitol riot suspects (WP)

* Car makers have cut production of 1.2 million vehicles in North America because of a shortage of computer chips, losing sales amid high demand. (WSJ)

* Amazon to hire 75,000 workers, offers $100 extra for vaccination proof (Reuters)

* Rep. Greene accosts Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, prompting N.Y. lawmaker to raise security concerns (WP)

* University Of South Carolina President Resigns After Plagiarizing Commencement Speech (NPR)

* Gaetz associate signals he will plead guilty in federal case, a worrisome development for the congressman (WP)

* Mysterious Ailments Are Said to Be More Widespread Among U.S. Personnel -- The Biden administration has begun more aggressively investigating episodes that left spies, diplomats, soldiers and others with brain injuries. (NYT)

* McDonald's-owned U.S. restaurants boost pay to lure new workers (Reuters)

* White supremacy is the greatest domestic terrorism threat facing the U.S., Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee rejected Garland's argument. [HuffPost]

* Chief of teachers union is ‘all in’ on full fall reopening (AP)

* Amateur sleuths traced stolen Cortés papers to U.S. auctions. Mexico wants them back (Reuters)

* Biden unveiled his latest batch of judicial nominees, and it included Lauren J. King, who would be one of the nation's few Native American federal judges. If confirmed, King would be one of just three Native American judges out of nearly 900 federal judgeships. Biden is moving fast to fill federal judgeships and is making diversity a driving factor. [HuffPost]

* The Joy of Black Hair -- At the end of the last century, advances in weaves, wigs and other innovations allowed for a new degree of autonomy — and fun. (NYT)

* Elon Musk Unveils New Clean Energy Luxury Car Pulled By 8 Tesla Employees (The Onion)

***

"Song for a Dying Planet"

by Joe Walsh

Is anyone out there? 
Does anybody listen or care anymore? 
We are living on a dying planet, 
We're killing everything that's alive, 
And anyone who tries to deny it 
Wears a tie 
And gets paid to lie 
So I wrote these songs for a dying planet, 
I'm sorry but I'm telling the truth, 
And for everybody trying to save it 
These songs are for you, too. 
Is anyone out there?

-30-

Imagine That

"I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem." -- Richard Feynman

One of the most confusing things about our imagination is when it takes us to a place we can't go to, yet it feels so real it hurts. We may well be able to reach that place one day, but progress toward getting there remains agonizingly slow.

Case in point: space travel.

We know the universe is vast and that the odds of other inhabitable worlds are extremely good. We also know that the sun will ultimately explode and die, rendering life on this planet impossible. So for our species to survive we will have to travel.

While we believe these things to be true, our ability to do anything about them is apparently limited by the laws of physics.  On the other hand, a relatively new law, quantum mechanics, suggests none of those constraints are immutable -- that space and time and consciousness are all figments, so to speak, of our imagination.

Thinking too hard about all this will take us around the circle Feynman so eloquently described. Intellectually, there is no escape.

But some of us yearn to break away from the constraints that bind us to current reality. Perhaps none more than journalists, who are stuck covering reality in detail every day. We are perpetually unsatisfied. That is where some combination of art and fiction come in, as our most imaginative impulses take the form of music, dance, painting, sculpture, novels, short stories, poems and more.

These help deliver the future to us. Meanwhile, predicting it is, at best, a crap shoot. 

One of the books I'm reading is "Super Forecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction," by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner. The book describes a massive effort by an army of volunteers to forecast global events. According to this research, once they given the best evidence, about two percent of those involved prove to be "super forecasters," able with uncanny accuracy to figure out what is going to happen next about almost anything.

Evidence-based forecasting is in vogue in journalism and other fields; data scientists have come to the fore. I've got nothing against data scientists (we have a special one in our family), or "data journalists," who've worked with me in the past, but there are limits to what they can contribute as well.

And it's precisely where the data-based approach hits a wall that fiction via our collective imagination takes over.

This is how I explain my own preoccupation with novels and movies. "You had me from 'Hello,'" says Dorothy Boyd to 'Jerry McGuire' in that film's climactic scene.

That fits me & fiction perfectly. "You had me from hello." 

***

The news:

* Man Who Is Paralyzed Communicates By Imagining Handwriting -- By decoding the brain signals involved in handwriting, researchers have allowed a man who is paralyzed to transform his thoughts into words on a computer screen. (NPR)

* The new CNN is more opinionated and emotional. Can it still be ‘the most trusted name in news’? (WP)

* Gas stations in the Southeast run out of gas as people panic buy fuel (CNN)

 * To Vaccinate Younger Teens, States and Cities Look to Schools, Camps, Even Beaches (NYT)

* Indian coronavirus variant has now spread to almost 50 countries, says WHO (WP)

* House GOP ousts Trump critic Liz Cheney from top post (AP)

* On the eve of her ouster as House Republican Conference chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) took to the House floor Tuesday and doubled down on her condemnation of former President Donald Trump and his lies about a “stolen” election. (HuffPost)

* Though Cheney is now standing up to Trump's lies, she long stood with his outrages ranging from flirting with birthers to pushing anti-Muslim rhetoric. [HuffPost]

* Israel Airstrikes Leave Widespread Damage in Gaza (AP)

* Senior Hamas commander killed as Israel strikes Gaza, Palestinians fire rockets (Reuters)

* Death toll climbs, protests intensify as Israel and Gaza slip toward war (WP)

* More Than 30 Dead in Gaza and Israel as Fighting Quickly Escalates (NYT)

* Violence upends Biden’s Israel-Palestinian outlook (AP)

* UN warns conflict could turn into 'full-scale war' (CNN)

* In Iraq, powerful militias assassinate protesters with impunity (WP)

* Wall St drops as strong inflation data fuels rate hike bets (Reuters)

* As World Runs Short of Workers, a Boost for Wages—and Inflation (WSJ)

* Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa and several other GOP-run states have said they'll drop federal jobless benefits, which Republican governors blame for worker shortages. Congress intended for the extra benefits to stay in place until early September. [HuffPost]

* While the country suffers another bloody weekend, gun safety legislation languishes in the Senate (WP)

* Why a Lifelong Republican Views Arizona’s Recount as Wrong -- Bill Gates (another one), who's an election supervisor in Maricopa County, says the audit of votes in his state is based on the lie of election fraud, and is “tearing at the foundations of our democracy.” (NYT)

* ‘A hell out here’: COVID-19 ravages rural India (Reuters)

* Mysterious, devastating brain disorder afflicts dozens in Canadian province of New Brunswick (WP)

* According to a new poll, 49% of voters in California say they intend to vote against replacing recalled Gov. Gavin Newson (D), an increase from three months ago. He will need only a plurality of the vote, which has yet to be scheduled, to keep his job -- not an absolute majority. [HuffPost]

* Police shootings of children spark new outcry, calls for training to deal with adolescents in crisis (WP)

* German government agrees on tougher climate targets (Reuters)

* Urban heat waves, loss of Alaskan permafrost signal intensifying climate change, EPA finds in report delayed by Trump officials (WP)

* The Hitter Who Bats Like Ty Cobb -- The Washington Nationals’ Josh Harrison defies modern convention by how he holds a baseball bat: he keeps his hands several inches apart (WSJ)

* Manchester City Clinches Premier League Title (WSJ)

* Palestinian Family Who Lost Home In Airstrike Takes Comfort In Knowing This All Very Complicated (The Onion)

***

"You Had Me From Hello"

Sung by Kenny Chesney

Written by Donald R Ewing Ii / Kenneth A. Chesney

One word, that's all was said,
Something in your voice called me, caused me to turn my head.
Your smile just captured me, you were in my future as far as I could see.
And I don't know how it happened, but it happens still.
You ask me if I love you, if I always will

Well, you had me from "Hello"
I felt love start to grow the moment I looked into your eyes,
You won me, it was over from the start.
You completely stole my heart, and now you won't let go.
I never even had a chance you know?
You had me from "Hello"

Inside I built a wall so high around my heart, I thought I'd never fall.
One touch, you brought it down
Bricks of my defenses scattered on the ground
And I swore to me that I wasn't going to love again
The last time was the last time I'd let someone in

Well, you had me from "Hello"
I felt love start to grow the moment I looked into your eyes,
You won me, it was over from the start.
You completely stole my heart, and now you won't let go.
I never even had a chance you know?
You had me from "Hello"

That's all you said
Something in your voice calls me, caused me to turn my head
You had me from "Hello"
You had me from "Hello"
Girl, I've loved you from "Hello"

-30-