We hear the voices of reason and experience imploring us not to spike the ball on the 5-yard line– an apt analogy and visual for describing the current familiar situation in which we find ourselves.

We’ve been here several times in the last year. We see the cases rising in Europe, which has been a bellwether for the U.S. throughout this whole long endurance test. But of course, practically on cue, Texas, Arizona, and others aren’t buying it. The caseloads are retreating, after all. Deaths are dropping, though now plateauing. So they’re lifting all restrictions- masks, distancing, the whole ball of wax.

Apparently nearly half of all men who identify as Republican– never mind everyone else among the foil hatters– say they aren’t going to get the vaccine. Dr. Fauci is imploring Trump to talk to his groupies and get them to change their minds. That should go well.

The madness never ends. There’s a boatload of “if onlys.” We’ll succeed in spite of ourselves, though not without more unnecessary suffering and loss.

Bill Maher had a good New Rules segment on Friday, about China and the U.S., and how the U.S is really a “silly people.” I couldn’t agree more. Especially lately.

Chinese culture has been evolving for, what, 40 or 50 centuries or longer? We’ve been intermittently a factor on the world stage arguably since the Industrial Revolution or maybe since the close of WW II.

And at the moment we’re a textbook example of democracy run amok, democracy mismanaged, or maybe democracy coming to the end of its run? Maybe human beings aren’t built for democracy, because enough people feel they have the right to be brash and ignorant, that every opinion matters and needs to be heard. We turn into a bunch of silly, pathetic drama queens and kings who shout at each other and somehow, on occasion, accomplish great things.

Chinese leadership somehow keeps its eye on the prize, in terms of remaining a player on the world stage. They are disciplined, intent on continuity, on keeping Chinese culture intact, to the point of oppression and heavy-handedness. But they have also learned to keep the people somewhat content and placated by expanding opportunities to enjoy economic prosperity, by floating as many boats as possible. My impression is that Chinese people are more serious, patient, and driven—more mature—than much of the U.S. population.

Sometimes it seems like Americans are too quick to rest on non-existent laurels, i.e. “we’re Americans, and no one tells us what to do or how to live our lives. We are, simply by virtue of being Americans, better than everyone else.” I hope that’s not true, but sometimes it seems like it is.

The harsh truth is that many Americans are just drifting. America isn’t as great as many think it is. There are vast socio-economic inequities that get in the way. There are centuries-old grudges and suspicions and hatred that continue to drag us down. There are wildly disparate views of what kind of country we should be—welcoming or walled? Melting pot America or fortress America with moats and alligators?

We’re a mess most of the time, and it seems as though many are ok with that. But this means we can’t get mad at China if they prefer to act differently, to behave with a clearer sense of vision and purpose. I hope they and we can learn to coexist. If we can’t, America in its current iteration doesn’t stand much of a chance.

Since we feel something, it must be valid. Does this make sense? Are our feelings always valid? If we act on our feelings, are we responsible for those actions, or not?

The Republican Party really is the party of “no.” Like a toddler who puts up a stink and refuses to eat their peas.

Why the almost mystical reverence for Ronald Reagan? People seem to forget that he was an actor for a good part of his life.

The older I get, the more ridiculous it seems that actors are accorded the reverence and attention they receive for dressing up and playing make believe. Just plain silly, though it is impressive that they can memorize sometimes long pieces of script. Nice gig if you can get it.

When I consider the weight of the poor decisions and ineptness and the sheer volume of wreckage strewn in his wake, sometimes I marvel at the fact that Donald Trump is still standing. Does he possess even a remnant of a conscience?

Harry and Meghan to the rescue, to interject a bit of faux angst into the midst of a whole host of more pressing concerns.

Forgive me for not feeling their pain. It predictably made for some must-see TV, and Oprah got kudos for being the interviewer par excellence. Her questions didn’t sound that tough to me, what I heard of them on the news. It all feels more like relentless prying, a pursuit of dirt and a juicy story. Like contrived emotion, and manipulation, an attempt at creating some existential battle against oppression. For all to see. And of course it has many Brits in a dither.

I will never understand the gravity here. Harry was born into it, but Meghan had to have a pretty good sense of what she was getting into. These are people who crave the notoriety despite what they say to the contrary, who want their cake and want to eat it, too, who are used to being fawned over and may even have come to expect the attention as some sort of entitlement. It’s really hard to imagine them wanting to walk away from their fish bowl life.

It’s difficult to see them as persecuted heroes and trailblazers of some sort. And yet they can come on national television and offer up a sob story that somehow and inevitably involves “poor” Diana. Millions tune in, and walk away feeling sorry for the young, anchorless couple cast as wronged, put-upon figures and pariahs at the same time. They and the rest of the “royal” family have served as nothing more than distractions for as long as I can remember.

John Oliver’s name may be mud in England, but he summed things up perfectly in 2018 when he said the royal family is a collection of “fundamentally flawed people doing a pseudo job.” It’s a 1200-year old, fossilized Anglo-Saxon institution that has no real-world relevance, except to serve as spectacle and soap opera.

And a way for people to vicariously live their dreams of a privileged life.

I wouldn’t make a good reporter. Only certain things excite me. I’m not interested in a lot of what ends up getting covered in your average newspaper. I’m motivated more by what triggers an emotional response, often anger, or parsing what is fair and unfair. For the past four years it’s been Donald Trump and his idiocy. It’s been easy to be critical of and mad at him and the stellar cast of jokers around him. There has been an endless supply of material.

Now that Joe Biden is President, I’m somewhat less stressed but continue to be motivated by the Republican stonewalling and their infuriating predictability, their unshakable allegiance to Trump, and how this continues to exact a toll of some sort.

For members of Congress, it really appears to be as straightforward as whose coattails they can ride so they can keep their jobs, who they can schmooze, with little consideration given to character or competence. This ongoing dissonance continues to stir things up for me.

The pushback in Texas and elsewhere regarding the lifting of the mask mandate is heartening. Gov. Abbott reasons that the decision to wear or not wear will be left up to the wise and discerning citizens of the Lonestar State.

I’ve heard someone on the late night crew liken this to removing the stop signs or traffic signals at a busy intersection and leaving the navigation to wise and discerning motorists who will figure things out for themselves, one way or another.

This is really the whole past year in microcosm. There has always been someone who feels obligated to swim against the current for no other reason than they just don’t like being told what to do. And this sentiment is magnified in Texas, because, well… it’s Texas.

The latest antic by Republicans has been employed on previous occasions, namely in 2009 during the debate over the ACA, I believe. At that time, in order to stall and delay the inevitable, the GOP decided that the entirety of the bill would have to be read aloud in the chamber, before any action could be taken. In the spirit of trolling and turnabout being fair play, the Dems hired a speed reader.

They’re doing the same thing with the COVID recovery bill, wrangling the poor Senate clerks into reading the entire bill out loud (while most of the Senators got to go home?). No speed reader this time. In the old days of filibustering, the dissenting Senators would have to stand up and offer rebukes and rebuttals themselves, sometimes for hours on end, but not anymore.

I understand that the tools at the disposal of the Senate minority are limited, but in this instance the delay seems more cold-hearted and unnecessary than usual, given the sense of urgency that exists. This time around, it’s more a predictable formality implemented by a group of Republicans who serve in the shadow of Ebenezer Trump, and who are only too ready to say “down” when the Dems say “up.”  

Politics aside, the “optics” of this tactic are not casting the elephant party in the most flattering light. Ron Johnson and company are on a mission from God, apparently. Still, when all is said and done, the bill is going to pass. So, other than wasting everyone’s time, what will have been accomplished, besides drawing attention to legislation that is popular even among Republican voters?

Often enough, I find myself still trying to capture how I feel about the Trump years. There is a visceral anger that continues to simmer, along with frustration at still not being able to find the words that adequately capture the depth and breadth of my disdain for him and, with few exceptions, everyone else who “served” in his administration.

There are no kind words. None. Only smoldering anger bordering on hatred for him and the fact that he never honored the trust inherent in the office. He never appreciated the office he fell into. He simply and unabashedly used it.

He was unprepared, unqualified, visionless, impressionable, unreasonable, immature, more ignorant than maliciously evil. Power-hungry, attention-starved, provincial, racist, cold-hearted, magnificently unsuited to handle what the job demands of anyone who attains it. He seemed intent on tearing this country and the world apart– withdrawing from agreements, fixated on deregulation, possessive of a blinding self-interest that thrust us headlong into the darkness of a pandemic.

Yet he is still the star of the Republican Party. How is that possible?

The inference, subtext, theme is a disdain for public opinion. Because, really, is the general public all that well informed? Or are they just parroting someone else’s words and opinions? Jumping on one bandwagon or another, not all that interested in digging deeper or having opinions challenged by contrary evidence.

It’s not a bad thing that our elected leaders aren’t always swayed by public opinion. Because how many people actually take the time to weigh both sides of an issue or do any research whatsoever before saying something out loud? Some do, I’m sure. It seems often enough, though, to be less an informed public, than just a reactive one.

It’s gratifying to see the pushback Gov. Abbott is getting for lifting the mask mandate in TX. Good for Texans. I wonder how widespread the sentiment is. Made it as far as some of the big papers in the state.

This is what has been at the root of our year-long misery, though– safety vs. money, reason vs. pride and stubbornness. Science vs. whatever hard-headed ignorance is the opposite of that.