We have been through a lot together in this strange year of rounded numbers and masks. I appreciate your sticking around for it all. I am already off a step- I had assumed things would be quiet this week except for the anguished pleas from a variety of podiums, buried scandals and breathless polling.

Not so. The BLM and Antifa folks were in low visibility mode, or at least the components of those organizations who listen to the people who contribute to their support. The riot genie is out of the bottle, though, un-commanded by anything except the desire to loot in protest of two incidents in Philadelphia and New York, echoed by similar angst on the streets of Washington, DC.

So, there is that activity that suggests more trouble regardless of who is elected. We have run the dates of possible activity to come over the next 78 days, some of it dictated by the Constitution and some dictated by people who seem to wish to be dictators.

At least it will be a little different than the endless summer of misery. I am inclined to support the view of the Wall Street Journal on what is to come. They say there will be a couple weeks of unrest, followed by a return to a “V-shaped Recovery” from the pandemic shut-downs. There are, of course, other views of what is to come, including continued violence until the President concedes his defeat in the election. The America I knew would generally follow the WSJ and the economy, regardless of who wins, or appears to have won. But there is something new in the air, I think you would agree.

Schools are teaching a new sort of American history, our own people teaching, who insist the nation was built on something abominable from its very start, is evil by intent, and hence should be destroyed.

For the perspective of a descendent of Scots and Irish people ejected from their homelands who had no connection to the institution in question, I am a bit befuddled by the inversion of things I know to be true to this wild new view. I am not surprised that people want to overthrow the most powerful government on the planet. I am mildly surprised that they include the children of those who sacrificed so much to make it all work.

Enjoy this weekend- despite the tension, it may be the last one that works sort of like the ones we were used to. When we rejoin next week, things will be at another, legal and illegal phase in this endless dragging election chaos. It will be interesting!

Then it is on to the next big thing. It has been gray and rainy of late, and a bit chill for this early in the new season. We are down to the wire on the election, but as they say after a storm, if you see a wire, don’t touch it. But despite it all, I have to say: “Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!”

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com