The darkened skies and hot red-shaded sun of our debris-filled atmosphere here in California could not help but darken our mood. Our confinement in our homes to prevent breathing noxious particles bodes ill for an apocalyptic new normal marked by climate change.

We have been spit out of a roiling two years of politics marked by ignorance, corruption, nepotism, increased debt, lack of support for the military and federal law enforcement, and dangerous national and international policies that have stunned even our most conservative thinkers. Each day we receive our news alerts and grit our teeth for another day.