Covid-19 cases are on the rise in a number of states. Shouldn’t be a surprise. Between necessity and stupidity, it was inevitable. Between needing to go to work and protesting, and just not wanting to be told what to do and not do, it was bound to happen.

So we’re going to deal with a rate of infection that never really subsides. The burden on health care providers and facilities will continue largely unabated, and by the fall we’re gonna be in big trouble, perhaps worse than the first wave.

What a piece of shit.

Thanks, Donald. Thanks for knowing this was coming and burying your head in the sand. Did you really believe this was just gonna go away? Washing your hands of it won’t absolve you.

Twenty-twenty might be remembered as the lost year. And a year of awakenings.

The other night, Trevor Noah offered a thoughtful assessment of the current post-George Floyd moment. But I’m not convinced the looting protesters are approaching things with the same level of introspection. I have trouble believing that they’re thinking in terms of a violated social contract, as they break windows and help themselves at the local Target.

From all appearances, it looks more like, “Hey! Free stuff! And no cops anywhere in sight!”

There’s something insincere about the disgust and indignity voiced by many who are critiquing the actions and behavior of the police.

This is not a defense, by any means, of the actions of those who took George Floyd’s life. And don’t get me started on the disaster that is Donald Trump and his wildly inept leadership since day one. This is more a reaction to what’s happened since Floyd’s death, especially in the media, in the late night monologues, and in general conversation.

There seems to be a prominent voice proclaiming that the police have over-reacted to the protests. Brought a nuclear bomb to a fist fight. The inference seems to be that these numerous descents into chaos and violence we’ve seen on TV have happened in no small part because the police are instigators, or at least exhibiting short fuses, and showing up in force with more gear than the protesters.

It just seems too easy to take pot shots from the sidelines while law enforcement personnel are the ones encountering these dangerous situations. Of course they’re going to come prepared. Their lives are on the line on a daily basis. Why would they enter a fray with one hand tied behind their back? Their first thought may not be, “How do we exhibit nuanced, kinder and gentler, law enforcement here?”

What’s often rattling around in my brain is the thought that we hold law enforcement personnel to an unrealistic standard of bravery and restraint. None of them are invincible superheroes with special powers. They’re trained to not take shit from anyone, yet are also expected to be diplomatic and patient, to make split-second, situational fight-or-flight decisions. Seems like a lot to expect from anyone in the heat of a volatile moment.

The unfortunate part, or one of them, is that peaceful protesters don’t get special dispensation. They don’t wear passes or possess some magic immunity that keeps them from being lumped together with those who apparently show up to incite violence and in general take a more “proactive” stance against injustice. Law enforcement appears not to want to take the time to distinguish between the two groups. Maybe they should.

Major league baseball should just pack it in this year. Look to 2021 and hope for a vaccine. There’s just too much whining and astonishing, though predictable, selfishness right now. The multi-millionaire primadonnas can’t handle making a few million less in 2020, even though you’d have to figure they’ll be appropriately compensated in the end. It’s really difficult to identify with their “plight.”

No one asked for this pandemic, and no one seems to realize that its presence necessarily changes the way we look at everything for the rest of the year. Let’s just go there: without a vaccine, without an effective defense that doesn’t involve all the precautions we’ve been taking since early March, there’s no way anything approaching normalcy can return.

So play in empty stadiums, if you must play. Play for the love of the game, learn to live with the reduced though still more-than-adequate compensation you’ll receive. Otherwise, just call it a day and hope for better times in 2021. We have bigger issues than whether or not baseball, or any sport, happens this year.

The rioting in Minneapolis is stupid and growing more pointless by the minute, but also most likely indicative of frustration over police brutality and covid-19 fatigue. Seems there might be multiple factors in play here- people at the end of their rope for a variety of reasons.

And we have a president who can’t help at all. He’s incapable of feeling anything but self-pity, motivated mostly by outrage over any perceived slight. While he pays lip service as South Minneapolis burns, Trump has a bigger bone to pick with Twitter.

He’s a big, fat, tiny little man.

So once we get a vaccine or other treatments, what then?

Will we be good for a while, or will we just be facing a series of pandemics from here on out? What’s to keep this from happening with a different strain next year? How do we recover from this, and make sure it’s a rare occurrence?

How did this get so out of hand?

A pandemic and campaign advertising. These two things alone are gonna make for a long hot summer.

And the ones who are all bent out of shape over masks? It can’t really be about constitutional rights. It’s more about contrived indignation, ignorance, selfishness, and people reaching their breaking points. Hints of an inability to cope. It’s so lame how these statistically insignificant brats are the ones we hear the most about. They’re the “news makers.”

Might as well turn off the TV, shut down the computer, find a cave, and just wile away the hours staring at a wall.

It’s hard to find a trustworthy source of information. Everyone has a slant, a stake, an opinion. In the rush for the scoop, truth has taken a back seat to being first, or loudest. The power of words, the power of getting there first, wherever “there” is. Then again, would anybody really appreciate an unbiased news source anymore? That sounds… boring.

Trump gets his soapbox by default, spewing nothingness, with the help of Fox News and the likes of Rush Limbaugh. It’s difficult to imagine him having any peers when it comes to the level of insincerity and disinterest displayed. And despite everything he’s said and done, he still has his adoring minions, and millions. Too much damage control, too little integrity.

Information comes at us relentlessly. Some of it resonates, most of it doesn’t.

We search until we find what we want to hear. We have trouble understanding the value of listening to conflicting opinions, don’t want to take the time to do that, because we always come out in the same place: disagreement, often vehement disagreement. We’ve been there many times, heard the same things many times. One says “up,” the other automatically says “down.”

No progress made, just two camps, miles apart, marching to different beats, convinced of their own legitimacy and righteousness, each finding it hard to believe that the other can think the way they do.

My Christian faith, such as it is, lacks real substance. In fact, I doubt that it can be called “faith” at all, because whatever I have resides more in my head than in my heart. I don’t know what the proper ratio should be- 50/50, 40/60… 1/99, head to heart? Believing without seeing might be a leap of faith, but it also feels like weakness and foolishness, an act of desperation and last resort. A reluctant embrace of the much-maligned “God of the gaps,” the God we turn to when no other explanations are available.

God being God, why can’t Jesus still be walking among us today? You know— swooping in and saving the day, spending a few weeks stateside, then moving on to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Down Under. He could probably handle being in multiple places at the same time. Oh, that’s right! According to the Bible, that’s already the case.

And why did he have to ascend? Why couldn’t he just stick around? Ascension cheapens the whole thing, makes it seem even more like a fantastic fairy tale. It’d make for an awesome visual at Sight and Sound, though.

Barack Obama may have stepped over some line when he made a thinly-veiled foray into Trump-bashing during a commencement address over the weekend. Fox News went predictably ballistic and got all indignant, but nothing new there.

Yes, #44 probably could have shown restraint and taken a different tact, but let’s take a step back from jumping on that bandwagon and consider the larger moment. As a matter of course, #45 uses his lofty bully pulpit for all manner of self-promotion and character assassination. He routinely hides behind incendiary Tweets he may or may not create on his own. He eggs people on, goading them into retaliation or expecting no response, and counts on them being the ones who end up looking bad.

Mr. Obama has been biting his tongue for a long time. But perhaps because of covid fatigue or an election that grows ever closer, he’s giving some indication that the gloves are coming off. This is risky and I hope he knows what he’s doing, because Trump is well-versed in this mode of give and take (he and his ever-faithful base will probably take that as a compliment).

It’s just that Trump has an infuriating knack for landing on his feet. And those around him are mystifyingly loyal, no matter what he says or does. If someone decides it’s time to go toe-to-toe with him, they better be all in.

Godspeed, Barack. Here’s hoping you are a worthy opponent, and that it’s soon time for the other shoe to drop in this agonizingly long game of West Wing charades.