Ground Zero: After leaving Washington D.C. on Monday, I made my way to New York in 2007. The World Trade Center site in Manhatten is a construction zone and the subject of controversy, but the Freedom Tower will go up in it’s place: Photo by Michael Braunstein

The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Like the wise man said, there is some good news, and some bad news, and lots of uncertainty.

Which would you like to hear first?

Even though Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, I’ll start with the good news.

Democrats got their wishes in the hellscape year of 2020, and the levers of power over the federal government are back in the hands of responsible public officials who are at least trying to tackle the top real problems facing the nation.

Compare the Joe Biden White House website to Trump using it corruptly as his personal platform for the Republican National Convention and to challenge the election results and incite a traitorous, seditious insurrection.

Oh how we longed to end the Trump tweet storm dominance of the public agenda, and we got what we wished for: Boring, normal political speeches again. This is not driving traffic to news sites. Trump got exactly two things right: The press would not be able to take their eyes off of him, and when he left the scene, the ratings and circulation would drop.

I had an interesting conversation with another van camper from Baltimore in the Cunningham Falls State Park campground this week, and the bad news is, Biden can’t compete with Trump’s dominance of media and social media attention. Fake, crazy quotes will trump responsible truth every time, and we’ve known this since Mark Twain wrote about lies traveling around the world before truth could put on its shoes.

Tracking Insurrectionists

Then in contradiction to something The Washington Post claimed in its reporting a few months back, the Biden Justice Department and FBI are continuing to go after the insurrectionists one by one.

FBI Seeks Public Assistance in Identifying Massachusetts Man Involved in Assault of Federal Officers During U.S. Capitol Insurrection

Capitol Insurrectionist Known as the QAnon Shaman Pleads Guilty to One Felony Count – Jacob Chansley Could Face Two Years in the Federal Pen, and Some Say That’s Not Nearly Enough

Meanwhile over in the House of Representatives, the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is quietly signaling that former President Donald Trump and other Republicans involved in inciting the seditious assault may not escape scrutiny afterall.

Capitol Insurrection Investigative Committee Seeks Records That Could Implicate President Trump and Other Republicans in Planning the Assault

The bad news is the remnants of the tea party, which became the Trump party, are working to create havoc in the states, led by none other than Trump adviser and far-right nationalist Steve Bannon, one of the loudest voices urging Trump’s supporters to push for overturning the presidential election results leading up to Jan. 6.

Heeding Steve Bannon’s Call, Election Deniers Organize to Seize Control of the GOP — and Reshape America’s Elections

Climate Change

While we have a President and White House willing to make fighting global warming and climate change one of its top priorities, with the cascading series of climate disasters this summer it all seems like too little too late.

Summer 2021 Was Hottest on Record in the United States

It certainly won’t be much consolation for the thousands of homeless people in Louisiana, and those still without power in New Orleans.

No More Hurricanes Named Ida: New Orleans Evacuates People in No Power Zones

The other good news is that summer is now fading into fall, and the blazing hot weather is starting to ease up a bit.

The RV boom is also easing up since the Fourth of July, making it easier to find available campsites, although this is more true in the East than the West, according to sources out here in Nomadland East.

Vaccine/Mask Mandates

While the president is now onboard with vaccine and mask mandates for federal employees, the move is proving controversial.

What you may not have seen reported is a move by the Department of Homeland Security to increase the range of civil penalties that may be imposed on individuals who violate the federal mask mandate at airports, on commercial aircraft, and in various modes of surface transportation, including passenger railroads, intercity bus services and other public transportation.

The federal mask mandate for transportation, which was implemented by TSA on February 2, 2021, will remain in effect until January 18, 2022, according to a press release we received by email.

The new range of penalties, which take effect Friday, September 10, 2021, will be $500-$1000 for first offenders and $1000-$3000 for second offenders.

“Wearing a mask protects the traveling public and all of the personnel who make the travel experience safe, secure, and comfortable,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “We will continue to enforce the mask mandate as long as necessary to protect public health and safety.”

“We appreciate the majority of travelers each day who voluntarily follow the requirement, but find this action necessary to maximize the protections for those who use and work within the transportation system, and to contain COVID-19,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “By doubling the range of penalties, we seek to reinforce the importance of voluntary adherence.”

These federal mask mandate-related civil penalties are separate from the civil penalties the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues for individuals who engage in unruly and unsafe behavior, penalties that were put into place by the Bush administration 20 years ago after the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.

Full Circle

So we come full circle. The press reported that the world changed irreparably 20 years ago. We were right.

While we got a bit of a reprieve with some improvements for eight years with Obama in the White House, the war in Afghanistan was allowed to fester, and the recent withdrawal looked like a clusterfuck disaster on cable TeeVee.

After four years of Trump, however, and a failed year and a half to stamp out the coronavirus and Covid, according to Politico, “The narrow window to wipe the coronavirus completely off the face of the globe has slipped through our unvaccinated fingers.”

All of this has left the American public anxious, perplexed and to some extent Paralyzed by Existential Threats.

Without the centralized source of information the mass circulation daily newspaper provided for much of the 20th century, or a credible television news network to turn to like CBS News was for much of the last half of the 20th century, much of the public is now left bouncing around on the chaotic sensational tabloid social media platform Facebook, where fake videos of Bigfoot are as likely to show up as the top news as anything else.

Something needs to be developed to replace it, but our offer to do exactly that has gone unheeded and unfunded.

So it’s hard to predict whether there is any hope for saving democracy or keeping the planet livable for humans for much longer. If I had to play oddsmaker on the question, I would have to say the odds are less than 50/50.

If anyone out there has a more rosy scenario to share, I would love to see it. We are still waiting on that new “Age of Aquarius” that was supposed to come about now.

But please spare me any more goofy videos from Mark Zuckerberg, the dick who could have made a trillion dollars and saved the world, but skipped classes and dropped out of Harvard to smoke meth and type code instead.

The fate of the world is now in the hands of zombie hackers.

Dog help us all.

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