Day 91

Three months ago, back in March 2020, my Facebook feed was full of posts about learning how to bake bread and if anyone wanted to share some sourdough starter.

Now it's all about "Let's end systemic racism."

Isn't baking wonderful?

The best news I heard today was rooted in some of the worst news of the day: a noose was found in the Talladega pit for the NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, the only African-American in the premier series and the principal protagonist for having NASCAR ban the confederate flag from its events. That, obviously, is the bad news.  The good news is that at today's Talladega event, the other drivers marched together with Wallace and pushed his car to the start of the race in a display of solidarity.

It hit 100⁰ F in the Arctic Circle today, the first time in recorded history that's ever happened.  So while we're all worried about coronavirus and systemic racism, and rightfully so, climate change is still happening somewhere out there in the background.

But you probably know all this already.  You have your news feeds and sources, and I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know.  

You probably also know the best news from last weekend - the turnout at Trump's Tulsa rally was far less than anticipated.  While his campaign was talking about a potential one million people, only 6,200 showed up.  Our so-called "president," who only knows quantity and not quality, was visibly shaken by the vast sea of empty blue seats across the stadium.  Photographs of him returning that night to Washington show a man dejected and depressed.

Coronavirus obviously was a major part of people's decision not to attend the rally, but it's also a sign that the so-called "president" is out of touch with the current moment, and people, even among his base, are getting tired of his vitriol.  Despite all the flavor-of-the-month Facebook posts denouncing racism, this country still has a long way to go.  But the paltry turnout in Tulsa is one, if small, indication that we're heading in the right direction.