Saturday Photo: Concrete, Not the Rock of Ages...Nor Is the US

The photo was taken last summer in front of a house that was being renovated.  Probably built in the early 1900s, it obviously had a lot of details that were high-end at the time.  This bench--from the backyard, the front garden?--hasn't passed the test of time, however.

I'm posting it today because yesterday I got the publicity package for my next book, Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future.  The task for the weekend will be to look it over to see what the publicists are proposing.

But there's another reason: the terrible suspicion that things we formerly though solid as a rock--like democracy in the US--are rapidly being eroded.  The Covid-19 case numbers just keep spiraling upward, and 45 seems hell-bent to use any means possible to use it as a way to get re-elected.  Just as troubling is the use of Federal forces to "bring order" to Portland OR.  According to the New York Times:

"The arrival of a more aggressive federal presence came after President Trump, who at one point called on states to “dominate” protesters, directed federal agencies to increase their presence to protect federal properties, including statues and monuments that have at times been the target of protesters. Mr. Trump said last week that he had sent personnel to Portland because “the locals couldn’t handle it.”

What's going to happen when he loses the November election?