What’s Next? For the First Time in 4 Years, Someone Is Actually in Charge; Most Americans Now See a Light at the End of the Tunnel

              We finally had real snow in DC after 2 years without it, not a whole lot, not as much as farther north, but enough! Very exciting in these quarantined times.   [Apologies for all alinement failures; I've tried to no avail.]

                                  

A further comment here on my pot banging when Biden was taking the oath of office. While most of the time, collective pot banging is used as a protest, sometimes it’s just used to call attention to an event, as I was trying to do on inauguration day.

Who needs fiction when real life is so much more interesting? Sometimes, I conjure up a novel in my imagination and try out different plot twists and turns. But nothing compares to actual life as we are living it in the here and now. How could we ever have anticipated having a buffoon like Donald Trump in the presidency? (On this blog, I’ve never actually paired his name with the word “President.”) It would be the stuff of TV comedy if it weren’t so tragic. Nor could we have predicted the worldwide rise of the pandemic, probably after a wild animal was slaughtered in Hunan, China, a daily occurrence there, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths in our country in just one year and a plunge into recession. (Talk about the flap of a butterfly’s wing triggering a tsunami across the sea!)

All the time, Trump had been asserting that the virus was no big deal, even after he got sick. And while vaccines are now on a fast track, the virus seems to be mutating even faster. I did finally get my first Pfizer shot after missing out right after the Capitol invasion.

Yet, too many Americans still actually believe Mr. Trump when he insists that he actually won the last election, which was “stolen” by a top-secret cabal that even he, as our nation’s commander-in-chief, could not fathom or control. Zero evidence has been presented to support such a claim. It’s just Trump’s word and his words have so very often been false. Worse yet, millions still believe him. Folks is my son’s small West Va. town are still angry about the “stolen” election.

Trump’s rise was based on lies from the start, never on anything substantive. In his official capacity, though it’s hard to keep track, he told more than 30,000 lies, including a whopping 504 the day before the election. He seems unable to tell the truth. Even his initial impeachment defense team resigned after he insisted on arguing that he had won the election. 
According to the Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president. Nearly half came in his final year.
Analysis: The longer Trump was president the more frequently he made false or misleading claim

If Mr. Trump actually ever spoke the truth, we wouldn’t believe him. With his twitter account now silenced, the news cycle has been mercifully free of his voice. It’s amazing to again have a president whose words we largely can trust, very refreshing.

Trump did enjoy unprecedented support in terms of sheer voter turnout for a losing candidate, over 74 million votes. But unfortunately for him, Biden voters were even more fervent and more numerous, totaling over 81 million. Was there never a wayward or ambiguous vote? There may have been a handful, but not 7 million.

Never before has a presidential winner enjoyed a 7-million-vote plurality, truly astounding. Even Hillary Clinton, though losing in the Electoral College, had a record-breaking 3-million-vote advantage. Those millions represent the degree of reprehension that Donald Trump has aroused in so many citizens. He will become a major threat to the survival of the Republican Party going forward unless the party disassociates from him, even if Republicans endure some losses in the short term. It’s important to both Republicans and Democrats that Trump be barred from ever running for office again.

Unfortunately, whether or not Trump heads up a new Patriot Party, as he has threatened to do, he can run primary challengers against those he feels have thwarted him. Trump has vowed retribution on turncoat Republicans. His followers may not be buying any pillows from the pillow guy, but they’ll still be buying MAGA hats. And poor Melania is trapped. Trump cannot allow her to go free, except maybe via a face-saving return with her son to NYC and his former school. Or maybe she really enjoys being tethered to a guy like Trump?

If you were a faithful Trump supporter and he, as president, told you to go to the Capitol and “stop the steal,” you’d eagerly heed his call. While Donald Trump may now disavow his role in the Capitol invasion, a lawyer for one of the marauders argued, “[O]n Jan. 6 my client, who had been fueled by an ongoing dialogue with other like-minded individuals, appeared to heed the call of the president to help him save our country.” Many of Trump’s followers still expect him to take office again on March 4, so the conspiracy lives on. That is why it’s important to muzzle Trump now, as some media and communication outlets have done. Because of his cult-like hold on so many of his followers, as has been amply demonstrated, he needs to be prevented for inciting further harm. Freedom of speech deserves wide latitude, but not if Donald Trump is yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.

So many problems occur naturally; it’s not as though life was ever a breeze before the advent of Trump and the pandemic. His rise only showed the importance of every vote, since his margin was so narrow in states he won in 2016. This time around, many voters knew they had to completely overwhelm him to get him out.

It’s a further travesty that the Trump administration, after deliberately inflicting harm and suffering for 4 long years, is continuing to make trouble. Most Americans and citizens of other nations are now breathing easier, but knowing we’re not out of the woods yet. We must remain vigilant. Trump’s star may be fading, at least with some Republican office holders, but his grip on his base is as firm as ever. Yet once again, he won’t deliver on March 4. What the Republican Party needs now is a competing charismatic spokesperson expressing less extreme views, though no-one has emerged.

The Guardian, ‘This path is untenable’: can the Republican party split with Trumpism? https://www.yahoo.com/news/path-untenable-republican-party-split-080001928.html

            

            Virginia Senator Tim Kaine has made a bipartisan suggestion: just                     censure Trump instead of impeaching him. But that may not prevent him             from running for office again, which is crucial. It is in the interests of both             Democrats and Republicans that he be barred from future office. If enough          Republicans would dare join this effort, they would curb his future power.

President Joe Biden is not wasting any time during his honeymoon period, issuing executive orders right and left, also making changes in White House decor. Glad to see that Cesar Chavez’s bust now adorns the Oval Office. I knew him back in the day and joined some of his California marches with my late ex-husband. His sidekick, Dolores Huerta, is still with us. She used to sleep on our living room couch when lobbying in Sacramento. 

Janet Yellen was put on a fast track and confirmed as Treasury Secretary after being dismissed unceremoniously from the Federal Reserve by Mr. Trump. There is even a rap song out extolling her virtues. Likewise, Senator Bernie Sanders has become a media sensation because of mittens he wore to the inauguration. And inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, with her red headband and bright yellow jacket, may soon inspire a look-alike doll. A Bernie doll and sweatshirt are already selling. Such is the power of the internet.

However, ever faithful Mike Pence seems to have faded into the woodwork back in his home state of Indiana, now needing secret service protection more than ever after failing to overturn the election certification of Biden’s electoral victory.

A few items of interest appear below.

AP, Strikes, violence overwhelm Haiti's crumbling judiciary, https://www.yahoo.com/news/strikes-violence-overwhelm-haitis-crumbling-135610148.html

[Miami Herald] In rare move, Haiti president acknowledges uptick in kidnappings, asks for help, https://www.yahoo.com/news/rare-move-haiti-president-acknowledges-005204488.html

         Why isn’t Rubio helping confirm the first Cuban American to lead             Homeland Security? | Opinion, https://news.yahoo.com/

Cuba detects South African COVID-19 variant amid virus uptick,                 https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuba-detects-south-african-                                covid-011122174.html

[Reuters] After caravan blocked, Honduran migrants turn anger on president, https://www.yahoo.com/news/caravan-blocked-honduran-migrants-turn-003157282.html

 

Fauci: Trump Admin’s Handling of COVID-19 ‘Likely Did’ Cause Deaths, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fauci-trump-admin-handling-covid-142618175.html

 

From Peace Corp volunteer to Capitol insurrectionist: How Thomas Baranyi went from being a quiet, troubled kid to a man who felt betrayed by politics, https://www.yahoo.com/news/peace-corp-volunteer-capitol-insurrectionist-144256869.html

Baranyi was sent to Albania by the Peace Corps and reportedly left in 2020 when all volunteers worldwide were called home because of the pandemic. He had joined the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

 

Another recent article in the NY Times highlighting risks to deep-dive fishermen (For Nicaragua’s Lobstermen, Deadly Dives Are All Too Common) reminded me of my work as a Peace Corps health volunteer with Honduran divers paralyzed after similar dives. These were “free divers” who plunged down without any equipment to bring up seafood to sell. A young man’s daily plunges would suddenly be interrupted when, one fateful day, he experienced paralysis after coming up, usually affecting his legs and lower body. Efforts to regain mobility in such cases proved fruitless and we had to help him adapt to life using a wheelchair (if we could even get one) and to the abrupt end of his diving life. One former diver told me he had completely lost his taste for seafood. (Because of the wheelchair shortage in Honduras, I always take at least one with me on my annual return visits.)

 

From the Washington Post, Feb. 1, 2021 In Myanmar coup, Suu Kyi’s ouster heralds a return to military rule

As members of Amnesty Int’l, we were pleased when Aung San Suu Kyi was accepted into Myanmar’s (Burma’s) leadership, though she didn’t seem to make a difference when the Rohingya were being deported.  Now she has apparently been ousted altogether.

 

        Here is the most recent school photo for my great-grandson living with his            mother in Florida. I last saw him in Oct. at his 13^th birthday; he’s growing            up so fast! 

 

Just heard from a friend in California that his 91-year-old neighbor, who had stopped over for coffee the day before, had died, perhaps in her sleep. Although she had mild Alzheimer’s, she lived alone, refusing to enter congregate living. She lived and died on her own terms.

A shout-out here to William (Bill) D’Antonio, PhD, on celebrating his 95^th birthday. Bill is a longtime DC resident, professor emeritus of sociology at Catholic University, prolific author, husband and father, and just all-around good guy. I first met him at Communitas, a progressive Catholic community that used to meet regularly in my neighborhood. He has lived a productive, full, and generous life and still continues to do so.

I was not wrong in my previous statement that Roe is not the last word on abortion, in that most Americans still support some restrictions, especially after the first 3 months.

New Poll: Most Americans Support Abortion Restrictions, https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-most-americans-support-abortion-183744024.html

 

Although I’m a fan of NPR, I find their use of the term “anti-prochoice” awkward and annoying. What is really meant is “anti-abortion.” The term “prochoice” infers helping a woman make a choice about whether or not to continue with a pregnancy when, in fact, prochoice advocates only offer her help to terminate it. Would we label gun rights advocates “anti-pro-gun control”?

 

So why do I continue to write this blog? Partly to communicate with others, who sometimes respond via email, also to clarify my own thinking and get things “off my chest.” It allows me to look back on aspects of our collective and my own life, as well as offer something for my kids to review after I’m gone. It’s the modern-day equivalent of a diary, not with daily entries, not with what I ate for lunch or my household chores, but just one person’s expression of the world and our times. Perhaps future historians will discover it and find it informative.