Is it not a natural longing of our species to want to be able to express what’s on our minds and in our hearts without fear of censure and reprisal and bodily harm? Why do people like Putin and Lukashenko and Trump keep showing up? Why are there always those who would prefer to silence peoples’ voices, look down on the masses?

From a strongman’s point of view, I assume things are easier that way, at least for a time. The current rumblings in Russia, in response to the detaining and arrest of Alexei Navalny, are evidence that such oppression has a shelf life. According to the NY Times, people are tired of the “stagnant, corruption-plagued political order that Vladimir Putin has presided over for more than two decades.” People grow angry and frustrated and reach a point, I imagine, where they decide things just aren’t working. And they won’t take it anymore.

The tragedy lies in a government’s response to such unrest. There are north of 3000 arrests so far, all across Russia, probably many more to come. Putin will do his utter best to quash the uprising before it gains too much traction. The prospect, though, of him continuing in power until 2036 probably doesn’t appeal to many. Maybe there is a sense of urgency, along with a more basic revulsion directed toward any one person daring to lay claim to such control for so long.

Maybe this is what happens when corruption is so widespread that it is viewed at some level as “normal.” It’s not nor ever will be normal. It is always about a power grab, a power hoard, and money changing hands and greasing palms, all under the guise of some misplaced appeal to stability and preservation, to patriotism and nationalism, to “the way things need to be.” Perhaps it is commentary on a whole system of governance that needs to be more responsive to the needs of the citizenry, that needs to look and function in markedly different ways than it does now.

There is pain involved in such transformation.

As much as anyone, I want to bask in the glow of a new day and a seemingly competent group of people in the Biden-Harris administration. But turning the corner on the Trump show is going to be more difficult than perhaps hoped for. He’s gone from office, and this is a great thing. But before he left– and really all along the way–he did his best to sabotage the next administration, hamstring it.

Turns out that, to probably no one’s surprise, there was no vaccine distribution plan to speak of. No Covid-19 plan, overall. Other than a travel ban early on.

Robert Redfield took exception yesterday to news outlet claims that next to nothing had been done with regard to the vaccine roll-out. He pointed to the fact that there were a couple recent days where over a million people had received the vaccine, which I suppose says something. But it still doesn’t get at the larger issue of there being millions of doses not being where they need to be, and not nearly enough doses currently being produced to sustain Biden’s ambitious plan of one million vaccinations a day for a hundred days.

What continues to bother me, as we exhale now and sift through the wreckage, is why the Trump administration decided to take the hands-off approach to dealing with the worst public health crisis in over a century. Was it pure ideology—the classic Republican talking point in support of minimal Fed involvement in the lives of everyday Americans? As in “leave it to the states?”

Unlikely. It seems more likely that there was simply a lack of will to act. Ineptitude, laziness, a dearth of expertise when it came to the development of a plan in the first place. That and the fact that the pandemic was viewed as a political liability that had to be downplayed and treated as if it wasn’t happening.

Anyone who had a bad feeling about the outcome of the election held November 8, 2016, should know now that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, their feelings were entirely justified.

Ford Motor Company has a lot of nerve—claiming under cover of a slick commercial that they are not afraid of change, and offering up the rather laughable boast of moving totally away from fossil fuels by… 2035.

2035? That’s 14 years from now!

You can boast all you want about a number that, for all we know, you pulled out of a hat, that allows you to ease into the “changes,” allows you to diminish and downplay the real urgency we as a nation and planet need to be feeling right now.

You have to do better than 2035. You need to go back to your ad agency and come up with a number that isn’t so obviously convenient– still far enough off that you don’t feel compelled to do anything yet.

We don’t have fourteen years. Get serious and try setting a more ambitious goal, and example.

How about 2025?

If inciting insurrection directed at the seat of power in Washington D.C., with the intention of disrupting Congress, planning violence directed at its members, and overturning election results– and where lives were lost– is not an impeachable offense, then what is?

The Senate will soon get a single Article of Impeachment that passed in the House with a modicum of bipartisan support, unlike the one from only a year ago… But once again it is likely to die there.

Why bother holding onto this provision? If Trump survives this, surely everyone in Congress and probably on earth will assume, going forward, that there are no consequences to be suffered for such blatant anarchy. And impeachment by the House amounts to a mere slap on the wrist, viewed as little more than a partisan gripe and waste of everyone’s time.

Fox News, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy and the rest can argue till the cows come home that pursuing this article will poke holes in Joe Biden’s appeal to unity, but unity has nothing to do with this entirely warranted pursuit of justice and consequences.

Not only should the Senate vote to convict. In addition, they should ban Donald Trump from ever again being able to run for federal office.

And on a different but related note, can there be any doubt that there would be next to zero Republican “concern” about election fraud if Trump had won the election?

I watched more of the Inauguration ceremonies than I ever had on any previous occasion. More than once I was moved to gesture at the TV with two thumbs up and arms raised in the air. I was moved to tears when it became clear that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden had survived the numerous attempts to delegitimize their victory, and that Donald Trump no longer occupied the White House.

It really did feel like a nightmare had finally ended. A page had been turned, an oppressive weight had been removed.

There was and remains something off about Trump, something aberrant, something inherently troubling and menacing. It will always puzzle me that so many were feeling something akin to joy and euphoria when Trump took office four years ago. I will always wonder how that could have been. What were they celebrating? What were they hoping he would do during his four years that seemed like forty?

Turns out he wanted to tear the country apart. For no reason other than his own enrichment and lust for power. Good riddance, indeed.

Donald Trump probably thought, at some point, that he could handle the job of POTUS. Piece of cake.

But it is an impossible job for someone prepared only to perpetuate the lies we keep telling ourselves, someone so willing to say only what others tell him to say, or what he thinks people want to hear. Impossible for someone with no backbone, no moral compass, no appreciation of history and sacrifice, no moorings in reality. Trump was doomed from the outset by his own motives, even before his silly entrance on that damned escalator. His supporters were misled, fed false hope and a line of bullshit that sounded like promises, or threats.

Joe Biden is there now, and it feels good. He’s no spring chicken, though, and I hope he has the stamina to tackle what lies ahead. There are multiple “first things.” Let’s start with stamping out this god-awful virus.

About 6 hours left in Trump’s presidency, even though he really has never been a President. Especially recently, since the election. How can we forget the daily schedule summaries of late: “The President will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

You can almost hear Kaley McEnany as she delivers this to a press corps awaiting its daily dose of condescension and snark.

One thing about Donald is that he certainly rewards loyalty. He’s treated the office like he apparently has run his businesses. Lately Trump is passing out pardons willy nilly, like candy. It’s been like the earthquake in Acts 16 that busts open the prison and presents an opportunity to escape, except Trump just gives the word and people like Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and now Steve Bannon fly out. Just like that. A veritable Who’s Who of rogues and fringe lunatics, Trump’s kind of people once again loosed upon society, able to act and speak and once again spread their cancerous brand of politics. They probably figured all along that their “vindication” would come.

About 30 hours to go in Trump’s presidency. Sounds like he’s skipping town around 8am tomorrow, to what deservedly should be a modicum of underwhelming fanfare. He doesn’t want to be around for the festivities. First time in 150 years. He probably can’t stomach it. Fine. Don’t let the door hit you.

Only thing is, what’s up with the last-minute changes in NSA personnel? And why on earth does the My Pillow guy get a mention here? As Rachel M. wondered last night, what does Trump think is going to happen? Why the last-minute shake-up? To what end?

D.C. is looking like an armed camp, maybe like Baghdad looked, or other far-away places we’ve only heard about or seen on the news. Twenty-five thousand National Guard troops have been vetted by the FBI, on concerns over an inside job.

On one hand, maybe we’re overreacting to Trump’s attempts at overturning the election. It’s been nothing but failure so far. On the other hand, January 6 happened. It was surreal, but it happened. So we’re not out of the woods yet, I guess.

And there are those who still defend Trump. No consequences necessary. Right, Lindsey? You lily-livered, two-faced waffle factory.

American football is legalized mayhem, a license to hurt people. An outlet for pent-up aggression. Played in modern day Roman Colosseums. And let’s go there… it should be called something other than “football.”

So many appear to love to play it. Is it just boys being boys, the testosterone flowing, the thrill of competition, the need to survive and emerge as the top dog ruling the day? Strategy, gladiatorial inferences, battles in the trenches, trash talk and bragging rights and dramatic intro music… the whole presentation is way over the top.

Still, I enjoy watching a good contest and admit to not being able to turn away from seeing someone deliver and take a good clean hit. Not a leading-with-the-helmet hit– those perpetrators should be banned from the game and fined a billion dollars.

Anyway, what does this say about us? Is it just who we are? Do we have a naturally occurring lust for violence? As long as the subject is being raised, why is boxing such an attraction? Why hasn’t it gone the way of dog or cock fighting? I know some consider it an art form, but that seems like a stretch to me. Helluva way to make a living. And don’t get me started on MMA.

I guess if you need an outlet for pent-up rage, have a chip on your shoulder and an insatiable need to prove yourself, along with wanting to put food on the table, there’s a line of work for you. And if you can emerge with all your faculties when you retire, if you don’t have a career-ending injury or brain damage or you die, you can probably live a pretty nice life afterwards.

Actual football is another story. I guess there are lingering effects from too many headers, but… the beautiful game, indeed.

One has to figure that much of the talk in far-right chat rooms is just that– talk. It won’t go any further. Still, it’s likely that somewhere, in some fashion, someone will find a way to act on the threats between now and Wednesday. And someone will get hurt, or die. And in no small part because…?

We all know the answer. Because of Donald Trump and his penchant for incendiary language. Say it, Republicans. Admit it. Don’t bury your heads anymore. Own it. Chart a different course. Stop riding the coattails of a pretender and habitual liar. Stop swallowing the swill and embracing whatever he keeps telling you! Stop defending him.

God help us.