As the Summer of 2020 continues, we remain in a state of disorientation.  I mean, if it wasn’t 90 degrees, we wouldn’t even know it was Summer.  As my daughter recently put it, since the world locked down in March, we really haven’t had different months, just cold March, warmer March, and now hot March.  Adding to the disorientation is the fact that America has lost its collective mind.  Insanity reigns.  Paddy Chayefsky’s masterpiece, Network, was written as satire, but we’re living it.  I keep hearing the words of Chayefsky’s Howard Beale: “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad – worse than bad, they’re crazy.”  Amen to that.  The problem lies in the fact that we no longer can even agree as to what is good and what is bad.  For instance, there used to be a consensus that law enforcement was good, and law breakers were bad.  Not anymore.  The entire world has been turned upside down.  It’s so bad, in fact, that it reminded me of a 1992 speech by Al Gore no less (and there is no less).  During the 1992 campaign, Gore made his famous “up and down” speech. “Unemployment has gone up, the number of jobs has gone down.  The trade deficit has gone up, personal income has gone down.  The budget deficit has gone up, consumer confidence has gone down.  Poverty has gone up, the number of jobs has gone down.  Fear up, hope down.  Everything that should be down is up, everything that should be up is down.  They turned it upside down, and we’re gonna turn it right side up.”  Right now, we have anarchists rioting in the streets of our cities, committing assault, theft and arson.  We have avowed Marxists, who call themselves Black Lives Matter, whose stated purpose is the overthrow of our system of government.  And we have State governors who back the rioters and Marxists.  These same State governors ordered businesses closed, eliminating all tax revenue, and then complained to the federal government that they need money.  We have teachers who refuse to teach.  We have athletes who refuse to compete.  And on top of all this, we have a media that keeps telling us that if we oppose a Marxist takeover of our country, we must be racist.  Up is down, and down is up.  Any wonder we’re disoriented?  Protection of public health and safety is the duty of State governments.  In March, when they were unable to perform this duty, they insisted that the federal government step in and fix the problem.  It did.  In June, July and August, as riots destroyed parts of major cities, perhaps permanently, some States were unable or unwilling to stop the violence.  President Trump offered federal help, and they indignantly refused.  Trump had to send federal law enforcement to Portland to protect the federal courthouse, which was being attacked every night by rioters.  The Feds put up a fence and barriers that prevented rioters from burning  down the courthouse.  Did the State and local officials say, “Thank you?”  Far from it.  Portland cited Homeland Security for erecting a fence on city property without a permit, and obstructing a bike lane “creating a hazard to the public,” and has fined them $48,000 a day, to the tune of more than $672,000.  Apparently, the city doesn’t consider nightly riots a hazard to the public.  Up is down.  Portland’s mayor has changed his tune, though, now conceding that torching buildings is a crime.  He’s not concerned about his citizens, however.  He’s worried that continued rioting will help Trump get reelected.  Ah, a kernel of truth slips out.  The city of Chicago is equally insane.  Every week, scores of people are shot and killed.  On top of that, this week, police dared to shoot back at a man who was shooting at them.  Shocking.  This triggered a riot, which laid waste to Chicago’s Miracle Mile shopping district, dozens of businesses looted and destroyed, while police looked on.  It’s OK though, because Black Lives Matter says the looting was “reparation.”  “I don’t care if somebody decides to loot a Gucci’s or a Macy’s or a Nike because that makes sure that that person eats.  That makes sure that that person has clothes.”  Chicago’s mayor won’t prosecute looters, but she has a “zero tolerance” policy for those who dare to violate Wuhan virus restrictions, threatening to close beaches because a group of men dared to enjoy the sunshine, lecturing, “It’s called a pandemic, people.”  As she said this, 40 people were shot and 4 were killed in Chicago.  There were no Covid deaths in the city that day, and only one death in all of Illinois, a woman in her 90’s.  Up is down and down is up, and not only in Chicago.  Millionaires and billionaires support BLM, an organization dedicated to ending capitalism.  Alleged journalists support BLM and Antifa, which are dedicated to canceling first amendment rights.  The first duty of government is to ensure public safety, but public officials support abolishing the police.  We release criminals from jails for fear of Wuhan virus, and then threaten people with jail for not wearing masks.  In New Jersey, we prosecuted and tried to imprison public officials who impeded traffic on the George Washington Bridge.  Black Lives Matter blocks bridges and Interstate highways with impunity.  Governmental swamp creatures, who’ve run the local, State and federal governments for decades, and who are “the system,” now decry systemic racism.  Elected officials protect looters and rioters, and prosecute homeowners who defend themselves.  They release criminals, and prosecute the police.  You can paint “Black Lives Matter” on the blacktop in big yellow letters, but if you paint over it, making the blacktop black again, you’ll be arrested.  You’re required to chant, “Black lives matter,” but you dare not say that all lives matter.  You also will be immediately arrested if you dare to chalk on a sidewalk, “Unborn Black Lives Matter.”  We’re told that looting and rioting is a response to unarmed black men  being “hunted” by police.  But that’s as crazy as all the rest.  The odds of an unarmed black man being killed by the police are about 1.3 million to one.  You’re much more likely to be struck by lightening, but no one’s protesting the weather.  Up is down, and down is up.  In their zeal to destroy Trump, the Left has turned things upside down.  Hopefully, in November, we’re gonna turn it right side up.