Yesterday, the Super Bowl took place in Santa Clara, a few towns south. A bunch of reporters and pundits stayed in #SanFrancisco and my socials were peppered with screen shots of various people from around the USA discovering that that SF is not a knee-deep-in-💩 hellscape, despite Trump's tweets to the contrary. "We were so surprised by what we were told and expected versus when we walked through the streets."

Good. SF ain't perfect, but it's nowhere near as bad as you might think if you believed right-wing pundits.

This morning, I walked downtown. I do that every couple of months, when I donate blood. You're not supposed to exercise for a few hours after donating, so I get my daily exercise by walking to the blood donation place.

Along my route, there are a few blocks on Market near the Tenderloin that normally each have several people suffering: probably unhoused, probably addicted to some bad drugs. This morning was different, though. This morning, there was maybe a handful of such folks, total. I'm pretty sure a bunch of these people were swept under the proverbial rug for the weekend so that we'd present a pretty picture for the influx of visitors, especially influence-y reporter-ish visitors.

Anyhow, don't believe the dystopic tweets. But maybe don't believe your lying eyes, at least not this past weekend. It's not normally like this.