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It's been a challenge to get much done at work this morning, although to be fair that has little to do with my work load itself. Shobhit has had a frustratingly long ordeal with a AAA diagnostic guy they insisted on sending first, and then with the locksmith they sent second, who, it seems so far at least, actually did fix Shobhit's car so he was able to drive it to work today for the first time in over a week—more than an hour late for his shift. And he made his first call to AAA, when what he thought he needed was a tow truck, at 8 a.m. His shift was supposed to start at 10:00, and he probably got there at roughly 11:15.

He also wanted me to come downstairs with him a couple of times, when the first guy as well as the locksmith first arrived. The first time, we thought I might have to rent a Zipcar to drive Shobhit to the mechanic while the car was being towed there, because due to COVID they would not allow Shobhit to ride in the cab of the tow truck with the driver.

And then? The mechanic, a young white guy, never wore a mask of his own, which I found very annoying. I should have spoke up but I stupidly didn't. He even had a mask hanging from his rear view mirror. Granted, neither of us actually got into the car with the guy and we generally kept our distance, but still.

Well, whatever. Shobhit made it to work today and he made it with his car, after the locksmith took some forty minutes or more to dismantle the ignition and steering wheel column, do some sort of sanding of parts in the back of his truck (as reported by Shobhit; I had come back upstairs to get back to work), and then put it all together again. Apparently it's now not locking properly, but that's a far better problem to have than a steering wheel and ignition that won't unlock.

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— चार हजार सात सौ बावन —

Things seemed to be a lot calmer last night, at least in Seattle and particularly here on Capitol Hill—although I saw reports on Twitter that there was a march downtown that was the most-attended yet. There were people on Capitol Hill near the East Precinct Police Station three blocks from my home again, but so far as I can tell the Capitol Hill element was much downgraded in comparison to previous nights.

There's still a lot of horrible stuff being reported from other cities, most of it unprovoked abuse from police. I never really wanted to say "fuck the police" before, but I kind of do now. The police all across this country have shown their true colors this past week in a way the never did before. It was a lot easier to claim "a few bad cops" before now. Now it's irrefutable that they are bad as an institution.

Our mayor finally did something kind of bare-minimum right yesterday by lifting the nightly curfew that had initially been planned to be in effect through Thursday.

I had been sort of expecting the daily protests to dissipate, but now I'm just wondering how long they will go on. A few days of protest is one thing, but we're now at a full week of them. I don't believe I have ever seen anything like this in my lifetime, and it's pretty extraordinary. I have some hope that this will translate to President Fuckwit (now being called "Bunker Bitch" on Twitter, which cracks me up) getting defeated in November, but that hope is kind of uncertain. Now matter what happens, if and when he loses, he will sow even more chaos across the country until he's dragged out of the fucking White House.

We all need to be reminded, however, that changing the president will have no immediate affect on this systemic problem. Some of the worst police brutality is happening in some of the most "liberal" cities, so like so many things, this cannot be seen in strictly binary terms. Police reform is needed regardless of who we have as our local, state or national representation in government.

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[posted 12:34 pm]