How different would things be at this point if the Trump administration had taken the bull by the horns from the very beginning?

I’ve been told by a trusted medical professional that if we all had taken precautions– masked up and socially distanced and the rest– from early on, we could have effectively neutered the virus in a month or six weeks. Logistically, that was probably impossible, but still… we could be in a very different place today if the Trump administration had taken this menace seriously from the time they were first made aware of it.

Instead, it was turned into a political hot potato.

While it will be difficult to attach a number to Trump’s cold-hearted, intentional denial of Covid-19, can there be any doubt that, without his unconscionable choice to downplay the virus’s existence, many thousands would still be alive?

Donald Trump should be tried not just for impeachment, but also for crimes against humanity.

Chicago teachers are being forced to return to the classroom. I hope things go well. If they lose one teacher, or student, it will be one too many.  Apparently there are those who think this is an acceptable risk. Would it be, though? A small price to pay? And for what cause?

Why isn’t virtual learning working? Is it partly because hardly any kids have an attention span longer than 5 seconds anymore? I can see that there are built-in challenges, that in-person learning of course is preferable. I understand why parents who might prefer working and generating income must stay home instead and play a role in their children remaining on task.

I obviously don’t have a complete understanding of the situation. No “skin in the game” anymore. Mine is more a reaction, reflective of less patience with parents who are too quick to fly off the handle and just yell. They aren’t the ones being asked to expose themselves and their loved ones to kids coming from all sorts of situations. And it appears there is still no standard, effective protocol for keeping teachers and students safe.

Nobody trained for life in a pandemic, to some extent probably not even doctors and nurses and other related fields. But of course life can’t come to a standstill– we still need to eat, still need to have access to medicine and medical care, still need to work. Even though, ideally, we’d want to minimize activity and exposure, shut down as much as possible in order to starve the virus and limit its tendency to mutate. We didn’t do that when we had the chance, so now we pay– for what looks like two years or longer, when all is said and done.

I hope folks have been taking notes. They’ll come in handy when the next pandemic arrives. Trusting the science– and not a self-interested, delusional dictator wannabe and the inept sycophants and coattail riders with whom he surrounded himself– will be a huge step in the right direction.

I think Congressional Republicans who are bringing their weapons to work simply enjoy making Democrats squirm.

They couch everything in their 2^nd Amendment rights, yada, yada, yada, and maybe it makes them feel tough. But I think what they really like is getting a rise out of Nancy Pelosi and former “fake news” outlets, who play into their hands, get all panicky and talk about the latest assault on decency and decorum and their long list of grievances. The whole time, though, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others are laughing their asses off because they were able to spook the Dems again.

No doubt, bringing your firearm to work in the halls of Congress is a terrible idea. But once again, the Republicans just don’t give a shit.

Who are these people?

I’m beyond weary of the Republican Party, or whatever party shelters the likes of Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Kevin McCarthy, the wacko lady from Georgia, and who can forget Governor Ron Desantis?

January 6 has now dropped off their radar, and we’re back to everyone waxing nostalgic for T****. I’m glad the Democrats have control of everything, but there’s such a lack of goodwill that the future does not look bright for us as a nation that debates ideas rather than wanting to kill people over them. Yes, it’s been this way before, but 620,000 people died over those differences of opinion. And it’s obvious that, since the Civl War, a gaping wound has been weeping all along the way.

When a House rep can very publicly sympathize with violent, homicidal language directed at Democrats and suffer no consequences, this is an indication of a descent into a bad place. Sure, there are cries for her removal, but nothing will come of it! There is little outrage from her Republican colleagues, and the Democrats have better things to do than spend their time censuring and policing supposed adults.

When have we seen so many people so willing to drink the Kool-Aid? How can our views of what is right and proper and helpful be so polarized in a time of such obvious and overwhelming need? Is this really how things go when enough angry, fearful white people feel threatened by a changing complexion? 

We have to find a way to be OK with sharing power. And we can’t frame this nastiness in terms of liberal and conservative. These are tired, over-used labels anymore. We have monumental problems crying out for solutions, yet only one party seems willing to address them at the moment.

Meanwhile, the other is trying to devour itself.

Wow.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican House rep from Georgia, is taking a page out of Trump’s “shoot-someone-in-the-middle-of-Fifth-Avenue” playbook, making no attempt at self-restraint while proclaiming boldly, in what clearly includes homicidal imagery and language, her disdain for Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic figures.

Media outlets other than Fox News, etc. are taking exception to such language, though I have to wonder if Greene isn’t just pushing the boundaries of what is tasteful and proper because she knows it gets the mainstream media in a dither, and nothing will come of it, anyway. Like everything else lately, there will be no consequences for her language or her ugly demeanor.

It appears to be an increasingly prevalent character trait of the party formerly know as Republican.

There is no long-term way forward if only one of the two current political parties in this country has a sincere interest in rational, real world governance. Unfortunately, if only one party has its heart in the right place and wants to pass legislation that will ease peoples’ burdens and address legitimate need, then the effort must be made to do so unilaterally, as often as possible. It sounds like Chuck Schumer and his caucus are ready to do that.

As much as I’ve tried to understand the Republican ethos, it remains difficult to do. Not because it is a mystery, but because it seems so wrong-headed, tone deaf, and in some ways evil. If 90% of the current Republican membership in the Senate is still unsure about election results or Trump’s complicity in the events of January 6, then there is probably little chance of bipartisan goodwill developing anytime soon.

How did past landmark legislation make it to passage and signing? Has it always been a slog, or are we currently looking at something anomalous and genuinely sinister? 

There was never going to be just a switch we could flip. Nothing as simple as a turn of the page to a new chapter. Of course the Trump travesty is going to linger!

What makes things worse is that the five minutes of goodwill that might have existed on January 20 is long dissipated, and now we’re back to the reality of a tooth and nail fight over everything. It’s not like no one could predict this. It’s just that there was a glimmer of hope that, without Trump physically looming over the proceedings, there might be a shift away from the ugly rhetoric and lemming-like buy-in by so many Senators we might assume would possess at least a smidge of keen judgment and moral uprightness.

Too much to expect, as it turns out. It’s looking like a sizeable majority of Republican Senators are willing to forget everything that happened on January 6, sweep it under the rug, at least with regard to Trump’s role. Whatever revulsion or condemnation existed three weeks ago is now confined to four or five people. Forty-five are apparently ready to defend Trump and say, basically, “It really wasn’t as bad as it’s been made out to be. It’s ancient history now. Time to move on. The guy’s not even in office anymore!”

The Republican Party is all in on a deal with the devil. The rudderless, irrational, and misinformed Base rules. And most of Mitch’s minions are ok with that.

The Democrats have the slightest of majorities in the Senate. They should use it for all it’s worth whenever they can. The Republicans have stonewalled and ignored needs for long enough. From all appearances, they don’t stand for anything except obstruction, and trying to keep things white. They’ve been hijacked by a debilitating self-interest and heartlessness, and just plain lunacy, which apparently includes an openness to violence.

You gotta have a heart. It’s not all about fiscal conservatism and small government and tax breaks for the influence peddlers, and whatever else they’re into now.

There is a role for government to play. Especially lately. Especially now.

One can sum up the post-election, post-POTUS Donald Trump in two familiar words: double down. He’s never admitted to anything, he’ll deny every accusation. And when he floats an idea that most reasonable people would poke holes in, he instead runs with it.

For example, he’s started talking about a Patriot Party (which apparently exists already? No matter.) to compete with the elephants and donkeys.

It’s too easy to suggest a jackass as its symbol. How about a sparrow? They invade the nests of other birds and push their eggs out in an effort to claim an abode they had no hand in making. They just come in and take over. Sounds like the kind of behavior Trump could relate to.

So TB v. KC.

I think the magic will run out, the team playing in its home stadium will lose, and the G.O.A.T. is going to end up looking more like an old goat against Mahomes and Co.

KC handled Buffalo pretty easily, and they have two weeks to prepare now. I’d say the chances of a repeat are good.

And I’ll probably be totally wrong.