Radicalism
One of the lingering after-effects of Trump Universe has been an increased radicalism of public discourse, extending even to judges. I surmise that the recent decision of a California federal Bush appointee, throwing out a 30-year old semi-automatic weapons ban as a failed "experiment", is likely an example.
Masks and Liberty
Because Covid-19 has merely been normalized like the 1918 flu, not beaten, I plan to continue wearing my mask in public for a long time to come. I have not personally encountered, but am aware of, right wing people who take that personally, as if mask-wearing were an offense against them. These folk have very confused values, because they claim to be the last bastion of Americans who understand liberty, but they completely fail to understand that wearing a mask is in fact a personal choice of a citizen of a free country.
Trump Fading Away
I was very cheered to hear that Trump closed his penny-ante blog, which had no readership. Although my making of checklists of things which may happen was not notoriously successful during the Trump years, I did more recently predict that to stay relevant Trump would have to enlist a new Twitter-like platform, or spend mega-millions (not the $2000 he actually spent) building one. Trump's cheapness and laziness prevailed. That said, he has retained more influence, and continues to frighten Republicans more (due to his ability to inspire primary candidates from the Trumpian fringe) than I had hoped.
Eclipse
It is June 10, and this morning starting at 5:20 a.m. I watched a partial solar eclipse. The sun rose shaped like a new moon. I have eclipse glasses which bear the date of the 1994 total eclipse for which I bought them (which I watched from Lubbock, Texas). I observed for more than an hour as the moon receded until the sun was whole again. That is at least my third solar eclipse (I have likely observed other partials I don't remember). Whatever crazy sick shit is going on down here on Earth, the cosmic clockwork just keeps clicking, which is somehow reassuring.