June 18

It has been a quiet few days here though not so much in the wider country or the world. We evidently had some demonstrations here but none in any places we usually go. We did visit the summer market but didn't find anything we wanted. It is still too early for local tomatoes. I did find three little cherry tomatoes on my single plant so we have some hopes for a few of our own. Most people wore masks and the venders had to make sure to limit how many customers were allowed under their tents at any given time. The supermarkets, which we visited Monday for our usual shopping, had opened up both doors for both entry and exit, and were no longer counting customers to ensure they were adhering to the capacity limitations. Somewhat more than half of the customers in both stores were wearing masks and the signs designating the direction of travel along the aisles had been removed. The new cases of COVID-19 in my state have been at a steady level for a couple of weeks, neither increasing nor decreasing. At least as of my last visit to the site giving the statistics.

Tom Englehardt has a good post. He usually says things I am thinking but far more eloquently. In this case he provides a comprehensive obituary on the American Century.

I love this--the second rebuff of the #45 Administration this week. It wasn't as big a victory as it might have been since it only ruled that the Administration had not given sufficient justification for ending DACA.

Well, #45's (in)Justice Department has asked the courts to stop publication of John Bolton's book after it has already been shipped to news outlets and bookstores worldwide. I won't link because it is all over the news. The move seems "a day late and a dollar short" like so much else with this worthless excuse for a government. Our pale imitation of the Sun King believes that anything he says to advisors is a state secret. L'estate c'est moi. No, I won't buy it or read it. The media is giving enough excerpts and it only confirms what I concluded a long time ago: the alleged man is a complete waste of allegedly human flesh.

Jan in San Fran at Can it Happen Here  uses an interesting term taken from a writer she follows: omni-crisis. Articles she quotes note that construction, though coming back from abysmal levels, is still only 58% of the pre-pandemic levels. while residential rental properties are sprouting "For Rent" signs and small businesses haven't seen business pick up and may not be able to hang on for the end of the pandemic, and the protests over the recent police murders of blacks have all combined to create an environment unlike any we have seen before. And, as she points out, we have elections coming. Omni-crisis seems a good description.

Ives Smith has a good article that should throw some ice water on #45's notions that the economy will come roaring back. It won't. The only reason that the economists will declare the depression we entered in March (or maybe February) over is that the numbers will show an increase from a very low level. It won't be normal in any way, shape, or form.