This is August, the month in which the rich steamy temperatures are supposed to cloak us in moisture here north of the Tidewater of Virginia. Just last week were informed this is the warmest it has been in a couple hundred thousand years and there is something really troubling coming down the pike.

This morning it is cool- mid-sixties- and almost has a little fall feeling. There is nothing that shouts out “news” despite all the news shouting. There is more than a year of shouting to come. We have an idea of what is to come. There are two people authorized to use the honorific “Mr. President” in their names, and the polling has them ranked about even in what should be a quiet week except for a heavily amplified legal microphone. We could ramble on about that, since today one of the Presidents is supposed to appear for something formal in terms of charges leveled against him. The other fellow is suffering from a public response not experienced since The Administration of Mr. Jimmy Carter.

We have been advised by the Socotra House Legal Section that he is the last Chief Executive whose activities we can publicly discuss.

We took a side poll out on the Patio. We are in an awkward position out there. We were raised in the “Good Government” wing of one of the political parties. That was the one that hoped for roads without potholes, good public schools and a strong national defense. Those are quite reasonable to sustainable enterprises, but we see none of them under discussion at the moment, nor any indication they will return.

Instead we see hysterical rhetoric about extraordinary social goals. There is a parallel and rising storm of emotion that was unthinkable just a month or so ago. One party appears to be in the process of jettisoning the top of a ticket, while the other appears on a track to re-nominate a candidate who has been under a series of partly manufactured scandal for five grating years. There will be more to come on that with several newer candidates of varying auras. We expect some of that will start to get clearer, at least to some degree, as we see whether any discussion rises about the policies that could bring back something that looks like a better government. Something that works.

Maybe not “good.” But slightly less unsightly would be a start, you know? We have a few weeks of shouting to accompany this next month. There is already some news breaking today about who did what business with whom, and who is being charged with ending Democracy as we have come to know it. We anticipate the process will be interesting.

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