It’s been a big two weeks. The process of moving halfway across the nation and joining the faster paced world of San Francisco has been tiring, to say the least. Starting today, Barataria will resume its regular schedule.

So much has happened in the last two weeks, but then again little has changed. More specific analysis of the current economic and political situation will come later, but the larger trends are still simply moving ahead.

That remains the main point.

This is the season for worry.

One of the biggest problems of a time of turmoil is that there is simply too much news to digest. Some of this is by design, at least among those who are in a position to influence the daily diet of news. Much of what we see going on is one huge distraction after another, various items designed to keep people from being able to focus on what is important.

Take, for example, the flurry of anti-abortion measures passed in many different states. There is indeed an assault on women’s reproductive rights taking place, and it is serious. But will it matter in the long run? Almost certainly not. In all cases, the laws being passed are so extreme that they will be set aside by courts and never enforced. They are not real attempts at passing actual laws.

Much of what’s happening is actually a cartoon.

What are they, then? Each of these laws will re-invigorate the base ahead of the 2020 election and present the contest as a moral war of some kind. On the one side, we have a Republican party that is actually doing something, or so they want it to seem. On the other are those liberal judges who strike down everything. Pay no attention to the trade war, obstruction of justice, or any of that other stuff. This is war!

And so it goes. The Trump administration hops from one distraction to another to keep focus away from its own obvious legal issues, too. Politics by distraction is extremely important when those holding titular power are in fact losing control rapidly and need to maintain some kind of show. It will only get worse for the next 17 months.

What is important, then? In daily life, all that really counts is the ability of anyone to pay the rent and keep eating. That is indeed being threatened in many parts of the nation by gradual economic changes in the nature of work. Where government policy might ease this pain, it is actually making things worse in many important ways.

That is what needs to be talked about. The rest of the noise? Tune in to CNN or Fox.

It’s really all about work.

And so, before we get back into the cycle of Barataria please keep in mind that much of what passes for “news” is simply unimportant in the long run. Bigger things are happening which are much more likely to affect the daily lives of Americans – perhaps not now, but soon. Our daily life is indeed changing and will continue to change. How we all make a living in a few years is likely to be very different from how we do it today.

That should sound scary as all Hell. Going into it blind, pretending we can figure it out when we get there, is scary. The only way to deal with it is to understand what’s coming and prepare.

Over the next few weeks, it may look like Barataria is drifting off away from everyday life. Quite the opposite will take place, I assure you.