Doesn’t the state holiday prove its systemic?

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Yep, today in Alabama is Confederate Memorial Day. It’s recognized tomorrow in Florida. Mississippi and South Carolina also have official state holidays for it (maybe on different days), while it’s commemorated in Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

In Alabama, several state agencies will be closed today for the holiday. Schools will be open, though, so they could still teach why it’s celebrated and address why that might affect Black people living in the state. Except Alabama has just signed a bill against teaching any “divisive topics” in K-12 schools, yet another vaguely defined bill that will punish teachers found in violation of loose and subjective legal language. So, unlikely most teachers would try to address it.

Maybe it’s just me, but a holiday celebrating a failed, armed rebellion driven largely by the desire to keep people enslaved seems pretty divisive.

Everybody Hates Ted

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Whether it’s inane questioning at a confirmation hearing, checking his Twitter feed while someone responds to his question, jetting off to Cancun to escape a winter storm, or just his general levels of being a jerk, does anyone actually like Ted Cruz?

This week he implied that someone who chooses to be a public defender must like criminals, ignoring that the US has a Constitutional right to a defense attorney.

I have to imagine, after kowtowing to Trump even after Trump insulted his wife and father, that everyone sees through him.

Everybody must hate Ted.

Our Democracy is in Jeopardy

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Our democracy is in jeopardy. It’s fine to criticize the President. It’s your right. Heck, it’s your duty. But this past week we’ve seen many “leaders” and prominent political figures - Trump, MTG, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon - who seem to have better things to say about Putin than their own President.

Let’s be clear: Putin does not wish the US well. He wants to tear down US influence and power globally. He wants to amass power and wealth for himself. And he is the one who invaded Ukraine with no imminent existential threat to Russia or its citizens. He’s a bad guy and people praising him are not helping the US.

It used to be that crisis would bring the majority of Americans together. This is not a good look.

The Cost of “Freedom”?

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Someday, Americans who refused to follow simple preventative steps to slow the spread of COVID and reduce the death toll will be forced to look at the price of their actions.

Currently, the US is seeing over 2,000 people die from COVID each day. The cartoon below does around 2,000 stick figures. Each of those represents an American person who died from COVID yesterday. The vast majority of these deaths would have been prevented with simple and readily available protective measures (vaccines, boosters, and masks).

The share of Americans who have been killed by the coronavirus is at least 63% higher than in any of the other large, wealthy nations. Estimates show that 45% of Americans aged 65 and older have not received a booster shot.