Post 105 - June 24, 2020

Day 105…

Every night, for the last few weeks, the sound of fireworks exploding across the city has become ubiquitous. Friends have posted that their dogs are becoming stressed out and asking what other people are doing to comfort theirs. On Sunday, when we were driving back from Albany, a firework ignited on the West Side Highway directly in front of us. It wasn’t just a little pop it was a full-out Macy’s 4th of July firework explosion with bright tendrils of light covering the road.

I’ve been hearing scattered reports of black SUV’s pulling up into neighborhoods and selling professional grade fireworks to locals at a tiny fraction of their usual cost. I have seen pictures of the boxes the fireworks came in stacked next to garbage cans on street corners. There is a video showing NY firefighters setting some off somewhere in the city.

This does not seem to be limited to New York. Complaints have multiplied like wildfire all across the country - Boston, Aurora, California, Ohio. Professional-grade fireworks are being detonated all over the place.

Monday night, protestors drove past Gracie Mansion, Mayor de Blasio’s home on the upper east side of Manhattan, and honked their horns long into the morning. “We don’t sleep, you don’t sleep” was the chant. For his part, de Blasio has just announced that the city is going to sponsor an entire week of “surprise” fireworks leading up to July 4th. They aren’t going to announce where so that crowds don’t form to watch.

I have heard everything from it being a result of increased frustration about the coronavirus shut down to conspiracy theories suggesting that the government is priming us to get used to the sounds of warfare. Our cat, who disappears at the sound of the first raindrop hitting our window air conditioning unit, is thankfully completely unfazed by the explosions.

What’s really going on?

Michael Flynn was the President’s National Security Advisor for just the first three weeks of his term. He was forced to resign when it came to light that he had misled the Vice President about his communications with the Russian Ambassador during the campaign. In December of 2017, he formalized a deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI - a felony offense. He pleaded guilty again a year later, but then in January of this year, he attempted to withdraw it.

In May, the US Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Bill Barr announced that it was dropping all charges against Flynn. A federal judge then stepped in and put the matter on hold.

It was announced last night that an appeals court has ordered the judge to dismiss the Flynn case. To be clear, they did not say that Flynn is not guilty, they just said that the case needs to be decided by the Department of Justice and not by the court. They essentially said that the federal judge did not have the right to intervene.

It looks very likely that, after pleading guilty to a felony twice, that Michael Flynn is going to be exonerated by the US Attorney General. The President has just tweeted that he thinks that this is “Great!”.

Two career federal prosecutors are going in front of Congress today to testify that they believe that United States Attorney General William Barr is politicizing investigations.

Twenty-six states are now showing increases in their coronavirus cases. That’s more states than even just yesterday. 25% of all the people in Miami-Dade county going in for tests are testing positive for the virus. Two weeks ago, only 9% of the people being tested were coming up positive. Miami-Dade, alone, had 5,500 new cases in just one day, yesterday.

Alarmingly, younger people not wearing masks seem to be accounting for a majority of these new cases. While the younger people being hospitalized are experiencing less serious issues than their older counterparts, ICU units in Miami-Dade are, nevertheless, just about at capacity. Hospitalizations are up. And positivity is up.

Arizona is 56% up from where it was last week. Violating the city’s own ordinance, the President rallied a packed auditorium of students in Phoenix yesterday. From the pictures, it is apparent that nobody in the crowd was wearing a mask. He downplayed the virus, even referred to it as the “Kung flu” and railed against safety measures.

The three states that the President needs the most if he is going to win re-election - Florida, Arizona and Texas - are seeing their numbers spike alarmingly. Hospitals in areas of these states have already reached or are reaching capacity. All three states seem to be Thelma and Louise-ing themselves towards the abyss.

What can we do?

We can vote.

We can write letters and we can call our representatives and we can join protests, all of which are effective, but nowhere are we more powerful than when we vote.

We are still awaiting the results of our elections here in New York yesterday. On the ballot was for which Democratic representative we are going to endorse for President, and in our district, which Congressional representative are we going to send to Washington to be our voice.

Beyond that, there is very little that any of us can actually DO. So, take a breath.

The news wants us all to be wound up, anxious and hysterical because we then tune in to watch what is going on. The second that something happens, the newscasters pounce on it. They then continually dissect it over the next few days. Each new development gets announced as BREAKING NEWS! Flashing in bright red across our screens. Then they break for commercial.

I think I’ve summarized pretty much what’s actually happened that’s new over the last 24 hours in about two pages. My daily anxiety is just as high as anybody else’s. Wading through the nonsense and trying to put it into some sort of rational order by writing about it is the thing that keeps the terror at bay for me.

The proliferation of fireworks is interesting/troubling. I am trying to keep aware of it via friends’ posts and what pops up on the news feeds.

The stuff happening with the Department of Justice is definitely worrying, but I am trusting that there are still enough people left in Washington who care about the rule of law that it will get resolved somehow. That two prosecutors are testifying today, I take huge comfort in.

The coronavirus numbers in other places are out of our control. All we can do is take care of OURSELVES. Be smart. Wear masks. We can keep each other safe but there is nothing that we can do about the people who are out there, courting disaster. We can actually protect ourselves quite handily by simply staying away from them.

Just moments ago, Governor Cuomo held a news conference with the Governors of New Jersey and Connecticut and announced that anybody coming in to our three states from the states with high cases will need to quarantine for 14 days. I don’t know how that will be enforced, but I am comforted in knowing that the risk has at least been identified and is being addressed.

The TV is now off, and the windows are open. I can hear the wind through the trees, the tops of which are just under the level of our apartment. It is 82 degrees outside (28C) and the humidity level that was up to 87% yesterday has dropped to 36%. I can hear that there’s a good breeze.

I am going to go for a walk. Or a ride. We are running a bit low on coffee and on wine (the essentials that I am in charge of), so I will do a little shopping as I wander. Maybe Michael and I will take a walk.  We have been in this apartment together for so long now, that I think we occasionally forget that the other one is here too.

I am going to try and do my best not to worry about everything that’s going on around me, out of my control, but do everything in my power to fight for the things I can actually change.

There’s a wonderful movie called Norma Rae about a factory worker named Crystal Lee Sutton who fought to unionize and protect her fellow textile factory workers after they started getting sick because of the working conditions. The song from the movie won the Oscar that year.

Yeah, it goes like it goes like the river flows

And time keeps rolling on

And maybe what’s good gets a little bit better

And maybe what’s bad gets gone.

We, here in the United States are already all part of a union. So, I feel like my immediate mission is clear: chill out, enjoy the weather and my partner, and every single time that I am given the opportunity to do so,

VOTE.