Our Democracy is in Jeopardy

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.

Done with COVID?

As the Omicron wave winds down, most places are rightfully easing COVID restrictions. That’s a good thing and supported by data. Yet I’m still conflicted as we have a rolling 7-day average of more than 2,500 Americans dying from COVID each day. Yesterday we lost more Americans to COVID (3,261) than people killed in the 9/11 attacks (2,977).

We’ll start to move on, get back to normal or some new normal. But since a sizable post of the US won’t take preventative measures against the virus, it’s not entirely up to us when this is all over. We’ll still be living with COVID for some time.

Maybe not time to throw away all the masks, but time to start getting more things back to life out in the world. Just protect yourself as you do.

“Legitimate Political Discourse””…???

While I get people supporting conservative policies and limited government, I find it increasingly hard to understand how anyone supports the Republican Party.

In a resolution formally censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the Republican National Committee on Friday described the events surrounding the January 6, 2021 insurrection -- which have been at the center of a House probe -- as "legitimate political discourse."

The RNC tried to parse the language after the fact, but their resolution said the two lawmakers were "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse" from their perches on the House select committee.

Sickening that they can characterize January 6 as legitimate political discourse. If they really condemn the violence of that day they’d want an investigation to dig into it more.

Just call the RNC the Trump Party and be done with it.