I was nineteen the summer the river rose, young enough to believe that work was something you simply endured until something better came along. The job didn’t look like much from the road—a short paved spur off Sheldon Road, cracked asphalt leading into a clearing of pipe racks, dust, and the sweet chemical tang of tar warmed by the sun. It was the kind of place that didn’t bother with a sign. If you knew about it, you already knew enough.

The men said the work was hard, but I never thought of it that way. We had no air conditioning at home; heat was just another thing that lived with us, like the mosquitoes and the sound of the box fan rattling in the window.

When I ignited a propane torch and hung it on the end of a tar-wrapped pipe, I didn’t flinch. The blast of heat rolled over me like a familiar greeting. I took it because that’s what you do when you don’t have many choices.

The pipe lay in a row on steel racks, stretching out like the ribs of some rusted metal creature. We would heat one end of a pipe until the tar softened and ran like molasses, then split it open with long-handled scrapers. The real machine—the one that mattered—was farther down the line, a humming cylinder with blades that rattled and sang whenever a pipe passed through. The whole place vibrated with noise: the hiss of torches, the clatter of metal, the low voices of men who’d forgotten, or never learned, how to complain.

By each afternoon, the sun turned the yard into a kiln. I worked bare-armed, sweat streaming into my eyes, the tar smell clinging to my clothes. At nineteen, I could do it all day and still feel restless by nightfall. That kind of endurance only happens once in a lifetime, and only if you grew up without an escape from the heat.

Then came the storm.

The forecasts said a hurricane, Fern, was wandering in from the Gulf, nothing big, nothing historic. Folks said it might bring rain, but everyone had heard that before. The yard stayed open until the very edge of the sky went strange—green and heavy, as if the world were holding its breath. None of us knew the river had already decided what it meant to do.

By morning, the paved road off Sheldon was a shallow canal. The clearing was gone beneath the brown water, the racks half visible like shipwrecks. The blade machine sat in the middle of the yard, silent, water lapping against its housing. Strips of tar floated like black ribbons, carried wherever the current felt like sending them.

No one said the yard was finished, but everyone understood it. That kind of place didn’t survive floods. It barely survived profits.

I never went back, not even to look. Sometimes endings don’t announce themselves—they happen, and you move with them. Three months later, I enlisted. Not because of the storm, not because of the job, but because both had shown me a truth I hadn’t seen clearly before: the world could wash away whatever thin plans you thought you had, and sometimes the only way forward was to start over somewhere entirely different.

Years passed. The clearing grew back into trees, or was scraped flat again, or parceled off—who knows? The spur road might still be there, or maybe it’s nothing more than a faint line in the dirt. But whenever I think of that summer, I remember the bright sting of the torch flame, the black smell of tar, the sound of men working as if the heat were nothing, because for us it was nothing.

We had been trained for it long before we ever stepped into the yard.

And maybe that’s why it all feels distant now, like a memory from someone else’s life—a life that ended when the river rose, and another one that began when the water finally went down.

A Balanced View

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The government is open again, but the restart is uneven. Federal buildings that sat half-lit through most of October now have full parking lots, and ID badges flash at turnstiles that were quiet during the shutdown. Inside, desks are stacked with envelopes that have not been opened, paper files parked in carts along hallways, and email inboxes full of automated reminders that no one could act on while appropriations were frozen. Staff log in, scroll through weeks of messages, and start sorting what can still be done from what has already gone stale.

At the Internal Revenue Service, call centers come back up with longer wait times than before. People who left voicemails in October are now in a single queue with those who started calling in November. Some taxpayers are trying to resolve audits that were paused midstream; others are chasing refunds or payment-plan approvals that disappeared into the shutdown gap. Notices that went out just before October 1 are now out of step with the systems that generated them. Revenue agents and support staff are told to prioritize cases that risk statute expirations and serious hardship, but the practical reality is that whoever gets through on the phone first has the best chance of being heard.

In agencies that manage benefits, the reopening is more visible. Housing authorities that rely on federal transfers have been sending partial payments and promises to landlords. Now they pass along updated guidance from Washington: the money is coming, but not all at once. Small property owners check bank accounts daily to see if the subsidy portion has arrived; tenants try to keep up their share while knowing the assistance that was supposed to cover the rest is still in transit. In some offices, staff are working overtime to reconcile October and early November with the remaining weeks of the year so they can close the books without losing funds that must be obligated by December.

The agencies that gather and publish economic data are running on adjusted calendars. Bureau statisticians post new release dates for reports that would normally shape decisions on interest rates, budgets, and hiring. Analysts and journalists mark the changes on their schedules and warn that some of the numbers landing now are already partially out of date. Behind every press release is a compressed workflow: survey responses collected, cleaned, and processed in a shorter window than usual, with less time to follow up on anomalies. Federal Reserve staff and private forecasters treat the new data as necessary but weathered, noting in their internal memos that the shutdown has added noise they cannot fully remove.

The end of the shutdown does not erase its cost. Federal workers whose paychecks stopped in October are starting to see back pay, but not always on the same cycle. Some receive a lump sum that covers the missed weeks. Others see partial adjustments in consecutive pay periods as payroll systems work through different categories of employment. Contractors and hourly workers who were simply not scheduled during the shutdown are often not covered by any back-pay provision at all. For them, November’s reopening means income again, but it does not make up for rent that slipped late or credit-card balances that climbed.

Household budgets reflect those differences. In federal suburbs and towns anchored by military bases, labs, or regional offices, grocery carts are fuller than they were during the shutdown, but there is still more attention to price tags and more store-brand substitutions. Families that had to tap savings accounts or lines of credit are making minimum payments and hoping no major expense appears before the new year. In parts of the country that rely less directly on federal payrolls, the effects show up through other channels: small businesses that lost sales in October and early November are trying to catch some of it back through holiday traffic, even as they know some meals, trips, and purchases are simply gone.

Congress is in recess for Thanksgiving, but the shutdown’s echo follows members home. Town halls, parade appearances, and visits to food banks and veterans’ organizations come with questions about why the standoff lasted as long as it did and whether it will happen again when the current funding patch expires. Staff traveling with House and Senate members keep talking points at hand about the length of the shutdown, the terms of the continuing resolution, and the status of the longer-term spending bills. At informal events in church basements and school gyms, local officials press visiting lawmakers for clarity on education grants, infrastructure funds, and healthcare programs that depend on federal shares.

The foreign-policy machinery is busy at the same time. In Geneva, American officials meet with Ukrainian counterparts to discuss a U.S. proposal aimed at halting the war with Russia. The images that reach American screens show a familiar scene: delegates around a long table, glasses of water, flags in the background. The specifics of the plan stay mostly behind closed doors, but it is clear that Washington is pushing some kind of ceasefire framework that would freeze lines of control while tying long-term reconstruction and security commitments to certain conditions. Ukrainians insist in public statements that they will not accept any language that recognizes Russian sovereignty over occupied territory. The U.S. delegation says the talks are productive and focused on getting to a point where killing stops and rebuilding can begin.

Immigration policy moves forward in parallel. Early in the week, word spreads of a memo ordering a review of refugees admitted in the prior administration. The instruction is not aimed at any single country; it is framed as a broad reassessment of vetting, documentation, and eligibility for those who entered between early 2021 and early 2025. In practical terms, it means files that people thought were settled are pulled back from shelves and screens. Lawyers who work with refugees explain that a review may not mean revocation, but it does mean uncertainty. Families who thought they were moving steadily toward permanent residence face another round of waiting and new reasons to worry that an error or a change in criteria might undo years of effort.

At almost the same time, the administration formally ends Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar. Notices published in the federal record and on agency websites lay out the effective date and the justification. Legal descriptions speak of improved conditions and the expiration of prior findings. Advocacy groups that have been tracking the situation point to military rule, conflict, and human rights abuses that they say make return unsafe. Community organizations that serve Burmese nationals in the United States start walking people through timelines: when current documents expire, what other forms of relief might be available, and what happens if none are. For those with school-age children who are U.S. citizens, the policy change inserts long-term decisions into what had been ordinary planning for classes, jobs, and housing.

Diplomats receive new instructions related to migration as well. Cables sent to embassies and consulates direct U.S. missions to raise concerns about what the government describes as push factors for “mass migration” and to encourage policies abroad that discourage people from leaving for the United States. In meetings with foreign ministries, U.S. envoys fold those talking points into conversations that already cover trade, investment, security assistance, and human rights. Some host governments, especially those that rely on remittances from overseas workers, are cautious in their response. They want to maintain good relations with Washington without adopting measures that could be unpopular at home.

The president’s own language reinforces the shift. In an interview clip that circulates widely, he says he wants to “permanently pause” migration from poorer countries in the wake of the recent attack on National Guard soldiers near the White House. Supporters hear a commitment to prioritize security and stricter controls. Critics hear a wealth-based filter applied to immigration, with entire categories of people excluded based on the economic status of their countries of origin. For communities made up of diversity visa winners, resettled refugees, and family-sponsored immigrants from such countries, the statement lands as a direct threat to future migration chains and, potentially, to their relatives still waiting abroad.

On the streets, immigration enforcement and resistance are visible. In New York City, activists gather near a federal building and a garage used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement vans, blocking driveways and parts of nearby streets to protest a rumored raid. Some protesters link arms; others hold banners and chant. The goal is to prevent or slow vehicles that might be used in detentions. New York police and federal officers move in to clear the access points. There are scuffles, arrests, and images of people being pushed or carried away. City officials and some elected leaders criticize the way law enforcement handled the protest and question the coordination between local police and federal agencies. Federal officials stress that they will not allow operations to be physically obstructed and frame the protest as a risk to public safety and officer security.

Travel for Thanksgiving is heavy throughout the week. Forecasts from highway and aviation authorities project that more than eighty million Americans will travel at least fifty miles from home, most of them by car and several million by plane. The Federal Aviation Administration expects the busiest Thanksgiving air period in about fifteen years, with hundreds of thousands of flights scheduled over the extended holiday window and a peak day in the middle. Airlines build their staffing plans around those numbers while still dealing with the lingering effects of the shutdown on controller schedules and administrative oversight.

Flight schedules hold reasonably steady early in the week. Planes depart crowded but on time from many hubs on Monday and Tuesday, with typical seasonal delays at the margins. Wednesday brings more strain as airports fill with travelers who cannot take the earlier days off. Security lines at large terminals bend around stanchions, and gate areas are packed with families, college students, and workers carrying laptops and work they could not leave behind. Apps and screens carry simultaneous layers of information: boarding times, weather updates, and messages from relatives about pickup plans.

On Thanksgiving Day itself, air traffic dips, but roads remain busy. Many travelers choose to drive to save money or to avoid the possibility of cancellations. Gas prices are lower than they were a year earlier, but still high enough in some regions to affect choices about how far to go and how many trips to make. Families planning multiple gatherings sometimes combine them into one or rely on video calls for those who cannot afford the journey. Rest stops along major interstates see steady business throughout the day as people eat in fast-food dining rooms rather than around home tables or pick up coffee and snacks on the way to extended family.

Black Friday begins before sunrise for many workers and shoppers. At big-box stores that decided to open early, parking lots start filling in the dark. Lines form outside as employees inside stock shelves, set up displays, and review crowd-control plans. Security staff and managers talk through how to handle surges at electronics counters and returns desks. In the back of the store, pallets of televisions, gaming consoles, and small appliances are broken down and moved into aisles. At the register, new hires who came on for the holiday season log in for their first or second shift, learning how to process price overrides and membership discounts under a steady flow of customers.

Behind the storefronts, logistics networks run at full capacity. Warehouse workers in regional fulfillment centers move through narrow aisles scanning items, lifting boxes, and sending orders down conveyors. Some are temporary hires brought in for the season, others are year-round employees who know that November and December will bring mandatory overtime and irregular schedules. Truck drivers pull trailers loaded with packages and inventory, timing their departures around weather forecasts and delivery windows. In some cities, vans from multiple carriers stack up at building loading zones as drivers race to drop off parcels before the end of the day.

The winter storm that develops near the end of the week adds another layer of stress. Snow and strong winds move across the Midwest and Great Lakes, dropping a foot or more in some areas, including around Chicago. At O’Hare and other major airports in the storm’s path, crews work to deice aircraft and keep runways clear. Departure boards shift as flights are delayed or canceled. Travelers who had planned to return home on Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving find themselves rebooking or sleeping in terminals. Rental-car lots fill with vehicles covered in snow, some returned late after slow drives on icy highways. In smaller cities and towns, school districts and churches cancel weekend events, and local authorities warn residents to avoid unnecessary travel.

On the roads, conditions vary. Parts of major interstates remain passable at reduced speeds, while stretches in the hardest-hit areas slow to a crawl or briefly close after accidents. State police report collisions, stranded vehicles, and jackknifed trucks. Plows run through the day and into the night. Motorists pull into gas stations, roadside motels, and rest areas when visibility drops, adjusting plans on the fly. For households already operating with thin margins, an extra night in a hotel or unexpected fuel costs are not trivial inconveniences; they are new entries on a budget that has already absorbed a shutdown and a holiday.

Schools navigate this week as a bridge between disrupted fall and the final push to winter break. Many K–12 districts are closed for at least part of the week, but administrators and teachers use the surrounding days to catch up on schedules that slipped during the shutdown. Some districts had to adjust testing windows and curriculum pacing in October; now they compress units or rearrange assignments so students can be evaluated before the semester ends. Letters sent home to parents describe bus-route changes, reminders about free and reduced-price lunch applications, and timelines for winter activities.

On college and university campuses, the Thanksgiving break comes during a term already marked by protests over Gaza, policing, and immigration policy. Some students use the week to travel home and step away from campus tensions. Others remain in dorms, either because travel is too expensive or because home is abroad and the trip cannot be made for a short holiday. University dining halls adjust operations, offering limited services for those who stay. Administrators, campus security, and faculty committees use the quieter period to revise guidelines and procedures for rallies and teach-ins that they expect to resume when students return.

Science and technology policy surface briefly in headlines with the announcement of a new executive order authorizing a NASA mission known as Genesis. The order outlines objectives and responsibilities for agencies and contractors. For engineers, technicians, and support staff at NASA centers and private aerospace firms, it provides a measure of reassurance that their projects will continue through the current budget environment. Contracts, staffing plans, and equipment purchases tied to the mission move forward. For most people outside those circles, the news is a passing item, noticed if at all between stories on travel, weather, and domestic policy.

Across the country, nonprofit organizations, churches, and mutual-aid networks are active throughout the week. Food banks that faced strain during the shutdown run special holiday distributions, offering turkeys, shelf-stable sides, and produce. Volunteers deliver meals to seniors and to households that do not have reliable transportation. Legal clinics hold walk-in hours for people worried about their immigration status under the new policies. Tenant groups host meetings where renters talk through how to handle late payments and repairs delayed by landlords waiting on government funds. In conversations in parking lots, pews, break rooms, and living rooms, people compare notes on how they managed the shutdown period and how they are planning for the months ahead.

By the end of the weekend, travelers are still returning from visits, storm systems are shifting eastward, and airports are working through backlogs of delayed flights. Federal offices are preparing for a full workweek under the reopened government, with backlogs still visible in every inbox and processing queue. Families look at their bank balances, credit-card statements, and calendars, measuring what the combination of shutdown, holiday, and policy shifts has done to their sense of stability. The week ends with the systems of government, economy, and daily life running again, but not yet caught up with where they were expected to be when autumn began.

Events of the Week

November 23–29, 2025

U.S. Politics & Governance

• U.S. naval and troop presence in the Caribbean expands under Operation Southern Spear, framed as a national-security response to Venezuelan-linked trafficking and foreign-influence networks. Carrier groups and support vessels remain forward-positioned, with Puerto Rico infrastructure reactivated to support deployments.
• Pentagon leadership threatens to recall Sen. Mark Kelly to active duty over a video warning troops not to obey illegal orders — a moment without modern precedent, escalating tension between elected officials and military command.
• Federal investigators seek interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who stood alongside Kelly in the video, signaling a willingness to apply law-enforcement pressure against members of Congress over statements tied to military legality.
• Ukraine peace negotiations advance through U.S., European, and Russian channels, with a proposed framework emerging but unresolved on territorial status and NATO alignment — the core questions pushed up to heads of state.
• National polling shows presidential approval sliding into the mid-30s, driven by frustration over prices and uncertainty in foreign operations. Economic perception, not policy specificity, appears to be the dominant driver of sentiment.

Public Health

• Respiratory-season indicators rise heading into winter. Flu admissions accelerate particularly in the South, pediatric cases leading the curve. RSV maintains a steady climb, and COVID-19 remains present though regionally variable.
• A second U.S. avian-influenza death of the year is recorded. Contact tracing finds no signs of sustained human-to-human spread, but public-health surveillance intensifies nationwide.
• Whooping cough remains elevated above pre-pandemic baseline. Infant cases continue to be the highest-risk demographic, driving renewed calls for vaccination reinforcement.
• Hospital systems warn that simultaneous flu-RSV-COVID waves could strain capacity if acceleration continues — a compounded burden rather than a single-pathogen crisis.
• European health systems brace for a particularly severe flu wave driven by a newly emerged strain — an early signal that winter may test capacity across continents.

Economy & Labor

• Markets rise as investors anticipate a possible Federal Reserve rate cut in December. Yields fall, and equities gain on expectations of slowed tightening.
• Economic optimism is tempered by weak consumer sentiment, with many households focused on food and energy prices going into the holiday season.
• Polling suggests responsibility for inflation has shifted politically — more Americans now associate cost pressures with the current administration than with the one before.
• Early retail indicators show consumers adjusting behavior rather than pulling back entirely: substitutions, brand-switching, and quantity reduction appear more common than abstention.

Climate & Environment

• COP30 concludes with modest agreement on finance and nature protections but no binding global commitment on fossil-fuel reduction.
• Environmental coalitions and scientific bodies respond sharply, warning that progress remains too incremental for the emissions pathway required to limit warming.
• Governments begin messaging around adaptation investment rather than solely emissions mitigation — a subtle shift with long-term implications for strategy and climate budgeting.

Courts, Justice & Accountability

• Federal charges against James Comey and Letitia James are dismissed on grounds that the prosecutor who filed them lacked lawful authority to do so.
• Justice Department officials begin preparing to re-file charges through a legally confirmed appointment, signaling that dismissal may not halt prosecutorial effort, only delay it.
• The Pentagon labels the Kelly-video group “seditious,” but legal analysis suggests prosecution under military authority — especially for a sitting Senator — would face significant constitutional barriers.

Education

• The Department of Education opens a formal investigation into UC Berkeley over incident-response and reporting protocols relating to a Turning Point USA event earlier in the month.
• The inquiry adds to a growing pattern of federal scrutiny over campus management of political speech and large-scale protest environments.

Society & Public Life

• Schools in Tacoma, Washington lock down after a nearby shooting leaves one resident wounded — a familiar American pattern in which off-campus gunfire triggers district-wide security actions.
• National data and reporting highlight a reality now structurally embedded in U.S. childhood: school lockdowns are not rare events but routine experiences with generational psychological weight.

International Affairs & Security

• Peace talks centered on Ukraine continue through multilateral channels. A 19-point framework emerges but remains unresolved where it matters most: borders and the future of NATO.
• Latin American governments monitor U.S. military movements closely, concerned that a Venezuela confrontation could destabilize the region.
• European health authorities warn that a pending flu wave may become severe without rapid vaccination uptake — mirroring U.S. early-season concern.

Media, Information & Culture

• A newly released HBO documentary on the school-security industry draws national attention, reframing lockdown drills and active-shooter economies as a commercial landscape rather than a public-safety given.
• Media analysis across the week repeatedly circles back to two themes — militarization of foreign policy and domestic struggle over authority — suggesting a narrative convergence where external conflict and internal legal stress are no longer separable domains.

Desert Scene from a photo

based on Georgia O’Keeffe’s desert modernism

A look back at our reality as it was five years ago

The final full week of November 2020 opened in a state of unresolved uncertainty. Several states were approaching certification deadlines, the General Services Administration still had not issued its ascertainment letter, and legal challenges continued to circulate through courts at multiple levels. People entered the week knowing that routine processes were underway, but the national interpretation of those processes remained fractured. Every procedural step, no matter how familiar to election officials, carried heightened political meaning for the public.

Sunday, November 22, brought a wave of attention to Michigan, where state legislators had met with the president at the White House late the previous week. Public reaction centered less on the specifics of the meeting—which remained largely opaque—and more on the idea that such a meeting was happening at all. Many Americans viewed the invitation as an attempt to influence certification. Others believed it was an appropriate part of addressing concerns about the election. These contrasting interpretations continued the pattern that had defined November: identical events generating incompatible narratives depending on the observer’s underlying assumptions.

Meanwhile, certification in some states moved forward with fewer complications. In Minnesota, Vermont, and Colorado, the process proceeded as expected, receiving only modest public attention. The relative quiet in these states offered a contrast to the intense focus on places where margins were narrow or where challenges were ongoing. This uneven distribution of attention created a national map where certain states carried symbolic weight far beyond their electoral totals.

On Monday, November 23, a significant development occurred when the administrator of the General Services Administration issued the ascertainment letter, permitting the formal transition process to begin. The decision did not resolve political disputes, but it changed the administrative landscape. The projected incoming transition team gained access to federal agencies, briefings, and coordination channels. Career officials, who had been operating in uncertainty, could now engage in the work that normally occurs earlier in November.

The release of the letter drew different interpretations across the country. Some people saw it as an acknowledgment of the projected results. Others framed it as a procedural necessity with no bearing on the outcome of ongoing legal challenges. Still others viewed the timing as evidence that political pressure had finally outweighed resistance. The letter itself was straightforward, but the meanings attached to it were not.

Despite the administrative shift, legal efforts from the president’s team continued. Press conferences reiterated claims of widespread fraud, although many of the allegations had already been dismissed by courts or contradicted by local election officials from both parties. Public reactions remained polarized. Some Americans viewed the legal defeats as confirmation that the allegations lacked merit. Others believed the defeats reflected institutional bias rather than substantive findings. The divide was no longer simply political; it had become epistemological.

In Georgia, attention returned to the Senate runoff elections scheduled for January. The outcomes would determine control of the U.S. Senate, and both parties began intensifying campaign efforts. Voters in the state found themselves at the intersection of two national storylines: the unresolved tension surrounding the presidential election and the impending fight over Senate control. Messaging from campaigns and national figures blended discussions of future policy with disputes about the integrity of the recent vote.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania prepared to certify its results. Election officials emphasized that certification was not optional and that the deadlines were set by state law. County-level updates varied from routine to contentious, depending on local conditions. Some counties completed their work with little pushback. Others became focal points of political attention. The unevenness contributed to a sense that routine civic processes had become entangled in broader national conflict.

Throughout the week, the pandemic worsened significantly. Case numbers rose across the country, and hospital systems reported increasing strain ahead of Thanksgiving. Public-health officials urged people to limit gatherings, avoid travel, and maintain precautions. Despite the warnings, airports saw higher volumes than previous weeks. Many Americans were torn between caution and a desire for normalcy after a year of extraordinary disruption.

State and local governments issued new restrictions. California announced a curfew targeting nonessential activity in several counties. Ohio implemented mask mandates and limits on gatherings. Other states introduced targeted measures intended to reduce transmission without closing large sectors of their economies. The patchwork nature of these policies reflected uneven public tolerance for restrictions, as well as varying political approaches to pandemic management.

Tuesday and Wednesday brought increased attention to the president’s public statements, which continued to assert that the election had been stolen. These statements shaped public expectations in communities where trust in the electoral process had eroded. People interpreted routine actions—such as certification votes, recount results, and court filings—through the lens of these assertions. The effect was cumulative, reinforcing the belief among many that the political system itself had become unreliable.

Certification deadlines in several states arrived midweek. Michigan certified its results on Monday, Georgia on Tuesday, and Pennsylvania continued through its county-level processes. Each certification generated immediate reactions online, with supporters and critics attaching political meaning to procedures that election administrators treated as legal obligations. The factual content of the certifications did not resolve broader disputes. Instead, they contributed to an expanding record of developments that people interpreted through conflicting frameworks.

On Wednesday, November 25, the projected incoming administration held briefings on pandemic response and potential cabinet nominees. These briefings were notable not for their content—which focused on public health, economic recovery, and transition planning—but for the fact that they occurred alongside ongoing disputes over the legitimacy of the election. The coexistence of transition preparation and rejection of the election outcome created a sense of dual political realities operating in parallel.

Thanksgiving arrived on Thursday under circumstances unlike previous years. Many families scaled down or canceled gatherings due to pandemic concerns. Others proceeded with traditions, sometimes modifying them with distancing or outdoor arrangements. Travel numbers remained below typical holiday levels but higher than many public-health officials had hoped. The day highlighted the degree to which personal decisions were influenced not only by health guidance but by months of accumulated stress, fatigue, and competing narratives.

Friday brought renewed attention to Wisconsin, where a partial recount was underway at the request of the president’s campaign. The recount focused on specific counties and was funded by a payment from the campaign to the state. Observers reported that the recount was proceeding normally, though disputes arose over whether certain ballots should be included. These disputes were not unusual for recounts, but their presence fed into national debates already in motion. In this environment, even routine administrative disagreements were interpreted as evidence of deeper systemic problems.

Meanwhile, Black Friday shopping patterns revealed another layer of the national mood. Retailers saw significant shifts toward online sales, driven by both pandemic precautions and changes in consumer behavior. In-person shopping occurred at reduced levels, with some malls and stores seeing modest crowds and others remaining quiet. The economic implications of the holiday season were a point of concern for small businesses already strained by months of uncertainty.

On Saturday, November 28, local governments across several states issued warnings about potential post-Thanksgiving case spikes. Hospitals in the Midwest, Mountain West, and parts of the South reported severe capacity challenges. Some communities prepared for the possibility of field hospitals or redirected patient flows. Yet even as the pandemic intensified, national attention remained divided between health concerns and ongoing political conflict.

Throughout the week, people struggled to navigate a national landscape where familiar markers of certainty were compromised. Certification deadlines came and went, but they did not settle the political conflict for large portions of the public. Administrative progress in the transition process occurred, but it did not create a shared understanding of legitimacy. Public-health warnings intensified, but they competed with holiday traditions and political disputes for attention. Americans were not simply disagreeing about what was happening; they were interpreting the same developments through fundamentally different lenses.

By the end of November 28, several states had certified their results, transition planning had formally begun, and the pandemic had entered its most dangerous phase to date. Yet public perception remained fractured. People were living through complex, overlapping crises without a shared interpretive framework to anchor them. The country moved forward procedurally while remaining divided conceptually.

The conditions of this week reflected a deeper shift in national life—one in which events no longer carried inherent meaning but instead were assigned meaning through separate, incompatible realities. The legal filings, the certifications, the recounts, the transition steps, and the public-health warnings all unfolded in plain view. What differed were the interpretations that people used to understand them.

The country was continuing through November with no consensus about the trajectory of the moment or the stability of the institutions guiding it.

Events of the Week — November 22 to November 28, 2020

U.S. Politics, Law & Governance

• November 22 — President-elect Biden receives additional calls from foreign leaders as the U.S. transition delay continues.
• November 23 — The General Services Administration finally authorizes the formal presidential transition, allowing the Biden team access to federal resources and briefings.
• November 24 — The Trump administration permits Biden to begin receiving the President’s Daily Brief.
• November 25 — States continue certifying election results ahead of the Electoral College deadline.
• November 26 — Thanksgiving Day: Public-health officials urge Americans to avoid travel; millions still travel despite warnings.
• November 27 — The U.S. reports its highest single-day case totals to date, with hospitalizations also breaking records.
• November 28 — Local governments impose new restrictions as winter surge intensifies nationwide.

Global Politics & Geopolitics

• November 22 — Ethiopia’s government intensifies military operations toward Mekelle in the Tigray region.
• November 23 — European nations debate easing restrictions ahead of the December holidays.
• November 24 — Armenia continues political shakeups following the ceasefire agreement.
• November 25 — China identifies new small clusters prompting targeted testing campaigns.
• November 26 — France announces plans for a phased reopening after weeks of lockdown.
• November 27 — Germany extends restrictions into December as infections remain high.
• November 28 — The U.K. outlines a new tiered restriction system set to begin in early December.

Economy, Trade & Markets

• November 22 — Retailers prepare for a predominantly online Black Friday season.
• November 23 — Markets rise on the news that the formal transition has begun.
• November 24 — Consumer confidence shows slight improvement before holiday shopping begins.
• November 25 — Weekly jobless claims surpass 72 million since March.
• November 26 — Holiday spending patterns shift heavily toward e-commerce.
• November 27 — Retailers report strong online sales but limited in-store traffic.
• November 28 — Economists warn that December could bring major job losses without new federal relief.

Science, Technology & Space

• November 22 — Public-health officials warn that holiday gatherings may create “super-spreader” conditions.
• November 23 — Federal agencies begin sharing pandemic data with the Biden transition team.
• November 24 — AstraZeneca announces interim vaccine results showing varied efficacy depending on dosage.
• November 25 — CDC urges Americans to limit travel and indoor gatherings through winter.
• November 26 — Researchers warn that Thanksgiving travel may produce case spikes in mid-December.
• November 27 — Hospitals report rising numbers of younger patients among new admissions.
• November 28 — Climate researchers note persistent drought conditions across much of the West.

Environment, Climate & Natural Disasters

• November 22 — Remnants of Iota continue to affect Central America.
• November 23 — Heavy rain falls across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
• November 24 — Snowstorms hit parts of the northern Rockies and Great Plains.
• November 25 — Thanksgiving travel is disrupted in several states by weather systems.
• November 26 — Flooding affects coastal areas from heavy rain and high tides.
• November 27 — Wildfire season winds down across the West.
• November 28 — Temperature fluctuations bring mixed precipitation across the Midwest.

Military, Conflict & Security

• November 22 — Ethiopia issues a 72-hour ultimatum for Tigrayan forces in Mekelle to surrender.
• November 23 — Russia continues establishing peacekeeping operations in Nagorno-Karabakh.
• November 24 — Taliban attacks escalate across southern Afghanistan.
• November 25 — NATO jets intercept Russian aircraft near alliance airspace.
• November 26 — Iraq reports new ISIS activity in rural provinces.
• November 27 — Nigerian forces continue operations against Boko Haram.
• November 28 — Somalia expands counterterror operations in response to recent attacks.

Courts, Crime & Justice

• November 22 — Courts across the U.S. process ongoing election-related legal challenges.
• November 23 — Mexico reports new arrests tied to cartel activity.
• November 24 — Belarus intensifies detentions of opposition activists.
• November 25 — Hong Kong authorities make additional national-security arrests.
• November 26 — U.S. prosecutors highlight widespread unemployment-benefits fraud.
• November 27 — European agencies coordinate cybercrime crackdowns.
• November 28 — Brazil expands pandemic-related corruption investigations.

Culture, Media & Society

• November 22 — Media highlight widespread anxiety over holiday travel risks.
• November 23 — Public attention shifts to the beginning of the formal transition process.
• November 24 — Coverage focuses on Thanksgiving preparations and safety warnings.
• November 25 — Airlines report heavy travel despite public-health messaging.
• November 26 — Pandemic-altered Thanksgiving events take place across the country.
• November 27 — Black Friday shopping adapts to distanced, mostly online formats.
• November 28 — Communities prepare for a December defined by restrictions and uncertainty.

The Maytag dryer didn’t quit — it just began complaining. A quiet little squeal at startup, the kind you ignore because things still work. For a while, anyway.

We figured it was only going to get worse. So I ordered a repair kit. Well — I thought I did. I added it to the Amazon cart and walked away feeling accomplished… only to later discover nothing had been purchased.

Then, after a good while of doing that, the squeal turned into a scream — and Karen, wisely, shut it down before something burned, snapped, or caught fire.

Checking Returns & Orders on Amazon, I didn’t see anything about the package… noticed there was one item in the cart… realized what I had not done… got the kit ordered.

The real fix didn’t begin until the kit finally arrived.

By then, I’d watched half a dozen YouTube videos, none matching our dryer exactly. Different years, different layouts, different internal bones. Still, they all agreed: the noise was coming from the belt, the idler pulley, or the drum support rollers. Solid theory — vague map.

I turned to ChatGPT.

It told me the problem was “totally fixable,” which was technically true. But it also gave me diagrams and screw locations that didn’t exist, belt paths drawn by someone who thinks in four dimensions, and confidently contradictory answers about which end of the drum should face front. At one point, it declared the 11½-inch wear stripe went to the back. Later it declared it went to the front. Reliable, as long as you don’t ask twice.

But — and this matters — the AI still delivered real help in fragments. Correct terminology. Likely failure points. Standard belt routing logic. It never handed me the answer, but it handed me enough pieces to reason my way to one. Not a guide — more like a coworker who gives good ideas but bad directions.

Eventually, the drum was sitting on the floor like a stripped-down steel oil barrel — felt worn, belt track polished smooth by years of heat. The tensioner arm was yellowed with time, spring stretched like it had watched presidencies come and go. Lint caked places lint had no business being. Four rollers, two front, two rear, just like the machine remembered being young once.

I replaced everything: belt, rollers, tensioner/pulley assembly. Wrestling those triangular retaining clips into their grooves required more strength, reach, and profanity than the instructional videos ever mentioned. The drum went back in, the belt slipped around the motor and under the idler the way muscle memory wanted — not the way AI diagrams pretended.

Front panel on. Connections clicked. Screws found homes I’m still not sure they originally belonged to.

Plugged it in.

Pressed start.

It spun — smooth, quiet, ordinary. Like the noise had been a rumor.

And that’s the thing:
It works.
Not because the AI knew everything — but because it knew just enough, and I was stubborn enough to make up the difference.

In the end, a man, a machine, a drum with scars, and an AI that learned belt routing the same day I did.

The dryer runs.
The comedy was everything before that.

On Thanksgiving, just in time to get everything back in place and off the dining room table.

Full revolutions are rare. Partial ones are far more common and far more lasting. The New Deal wasn’t fully realized — but Social Security endured. Reagan didn’t dismantle the welfare state — but he rewired economic expectations for decades. PATRIOT Act provisions were trimmed, challenged, debated — yet surveillance became normalized, not reversed. In the United States, half-success often outlives total victory.

So the useful question isn’t whether Project 2025 wins everything.
It’s what the country looks like if it wins just enough.

A partial success means selective reform: the civil service weakened, not erased; agency independence trimmed, not annihilated; executive power expanded, but still contested by courts, states, and resistance within the bureaucracy — the institutional antibodies that activate when pushed too far.

Picture it. Future administrations inherit a government with fewer guardrails, greater consolidation of authority, and a precedent that the executive has the authority to remake agencies like furniture. Presidents come and go, but norms rarely grow back like they were. Once the Overton window shifts, even moderate successors operate inside the new room.

If Project 2025 sets the template, no one has to finish it.
Persistence does the work.

A half-realized framework could normalize politically aligned hiring, faster regulatory swings, and executive direction of what used to be professional discretion. Agencies would still exist. Courts would still rule. But the internal culture shifts: more caution, less independence, more obedience to political interpretation over institutional memory. Erosion isn’t theatrical. It’s procedural.

The real impact isn’t the blueprint — it’s the precedent.

If the civil service becomes more replaceable, future presidents — any party, any impulse — will face fewer restraints when ambition calls. Restraints abandoned by one leader are rarely reclaimed by the next. Power is something executives inherit, not something they voluntarily reduce. The danger isn’t ideological takeover. It is stability being traded for speed.

Half-success means a nation that still recognizes itself, but behaves differently.
A government that functions, but doesn’t question.
A democracy that still votes, but has fewer buffers between vote and command.

History shows that the middle outcome — not the triumph, not the failure — is what reshapes republics. Not overnight. Not loudly. But steadily.

If Project 2025 achieves even half its goals, the American state that emerges won’t collapse. It will continue. It will govern. But it will govern under a new assumption: that the executive is not merely one branch, but the engine. And engines are built for acceleration, not hesitation.

The risk isn’t that they complete the plan.
The risk is that they don’t need to.

There’s something uncanny about watching a government attempt to rebuild itself while standing on top of the old one. Project 2025 isn’t subtle, and subtlety isn’t the point. The people behind it believe institutions should answer to ideology first and democracy second — if at all. They call it restoration. In practice, it looks like consolidation. Not policymaking. Power-making.

The scale is staggering. Replace civil servants with loyalists. Rewrite regulations from scratch. Strip agency autonomy. Turn the executive branch into a single, responsive unit rather than a distributed system designed to resist bad ideas long enough for sanity to catch up. It’s efficiency by design — but stability rarely comes from speed.

Every generation produces a group convinced they can finally “fix” America if only no one slows them down. Reconstruction. The Business Plot. The CIA overthrows of the 1950s. The PATCO firings. The post-9/11 reorganization of homeland security. Power never arrives quietly, and it never holds forever. Every revolution assumes permanence. None have achieved it.

Project 2025 reads like it believes it can.

The weak seam in the plan isn’t moral — it’s mechanical.
Government isn’t a machine, it’s an ecosystem. You can remove career expertise, but you can’t replace it instantly. You can rewrite rules, but implementation is the battlefield. You can centralize authority, but courts, states, press, financial markets, federal employees, and public resistance each have veto points. History shows that even strong administrations bend before bureaucracy more often than bureaucracy bends before will.

Those pushing Project 2025 may succeed in reshaping the executive branch, maybe for years. But a total restructuring of constitutional power? That requires alignment across every lever — courts, Congress, military leadership, public consent, and institutional compliance. The plan demands more than authority. It demands frictionless America. Nothing in American history has ever been frictionless.

That’s the quiet irony:
The more aggressively a government tries to simplify a democracy, the more complicated the results become.

Project 2025 will leave a mark — maybe deep, maybe shallow, but not uniform. It might accelerate shifts already underway. It might fracture under its own ambition. It might spark something entirely unintended, the way reforms often do when the designers forget that 330 million people don’t move in one direction just because a blueprint says they should.

States remember. Courts remember. Citizens remember. Bureaucracies remember.

And history especially remembers when someone tries to redesign the country all at once.

AI systems should not be judged by “trust.”

AI systems should not be judged by “trust.”

AI is not a person you can trust or mistrust. It’s a tool built from code and huge amounts of data. It may sound confident, fair, or neutral, but that does not mean it’s always right. AI can give answers that look accurate but are completely wrong — these are called hallucinations. It can also stall, skip steps, or produce confusing or incomplete answers. And it can repeat hidden biases from the data it was trained on, even when the response sounds objective.

The problem is simple: AI sounds believable, and that makes it easy for people to assume it’s telling the truth when it might not be.

However, it can be constrained through protocols — clear rules and checks that guide how it works.

One example is an Explicit Honesty Protocol between ChatGPT and me. Developed through trial and error, it forces the AI to give direct, factual answers, admit errors quickly, and avoid hiding uncertainty.

These kinds of protocols don’t make AI “trustworthy,” but they help reduce mistakes, prevent stalling, and increase transparency.

So instead of asking, “Can we trust it?” we should ask better questions:
Has it been tested?
Is it accurate?
Does it show bias?
Does it hallucinate?
How does it handle mistakes?

AI shouldn’t be judged by trust at all. What we need is verification and evidence — not gut feelings.

Bayfield, Wisconsin, harbor.

In the style of Edward Hopper.