To some, climate change proponents are little more than modern-day soothsayers that media continues to legitimize, even when their dire predictions of global catastrophe turn out to be not so dire.

He’s the Olympic badminton competition after a WWE match; he’s elevator music after a heavy metal concert; he’s the sparkler after a fireworks display.

Biden’s presidency is, in this sense, practically premodern, almost hearkening back to the pre-mass-media days when presidents were neither seen nor heard.

Early on, I referred to the summer of 2020 as the summer of COVID-19. In places where vaccination rates are low, this is another summer of COVID-19. Where I am, it’s not, certainly not like last year. But it’s still a summer of weird weather, political instability and rising violent crime.

We’re still in the early stages of this new normal in the workplace. It’s not just whether white-collar folks go back to the office — I’m betting most will — but the opportunities to choose one’s work, the nature of the work itself, the pay for work, the relationships between boss and employee. All appear to be changing.

Some of us are vexed with the CDC over its shifting guidelines, but you won’t get an amen from this corner. Scientists have to follow science, and if this is where the science leads, so be it. No, if you’re looking to apportion blame, blame the Delta variant. And blame, too, those people who refused to wear masks or be vaccinated, and the public officials who seconded them. Blame the ones who said these were matters of “personal choice.” As if personal choice supersedes public interest.