So we have twin crises -- the pandemic that won't go away and the danger that our democracy may go away.
When faced by situations so overwhelming in their totality, the only option is to face them one piece at a time.
Covid-19 continues to surge in parts of Asia and South America. The potential for an outbreak of crisis proportions in Africa remains a ticking time bomb.
In the words of the public health experts who are raising the alarm, the mutated virus will inevitably find a way to "ricochet" back around the world to us.
That roughly half of American adults remain unvaccinated makes us all vulnerable once the mutated variant shows up here.
The solution to this future crisis is within our grasp: Vaccinate everybody. Use incentives like lottery winnings and beer (see below) if necessary, although those are pretty lame ways to get people to do the right thing, IMHO.
I only wish the other crisis could be resolved by simply buying people off.
Responsible conservatives like Max Boot are raising alarms about an emerging conspiracy by right-wing extremists to steal the 2024 election. That they tried and failed on January 6th is no comfort, because they've figured out to how to do it better next time around.
After extended thought, I've come to the conclusion that the best short-term solution to the U.S. political crisis is to encourage loyal Americans who are Republicans to switch parties.
Think it over: Your current party believes in preventing their fellow citizens from voting. That kind of party does not deserve to hold power in a democracy.
A party that manipulates its followers with the lie that the 2020 election was stolen does not deserve to be in power. It was not stolen.
A party that lined up lock-step behind a president who tried to undermine the electoral system by threatening local officials in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere does not deserve to hold power.
A party that labels the pandemic "fake" and holds huge rallies without masks or social distancing while hundred of thousands of fellow citizens are dying does not deserve to hold power.
A party that refuses to expel an incendiary racist like Marjorie Taylor Greene does not deserve to hold power.
The few remaining responsible Republican officials who speak out at the national level -- Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and a handful of others -- invariably face denunciations by the Trump faction that firmly controls their state parties. A party that abandons its true leaders doe not deserve to hold power.
What concerns Boot and other thoughtful conservatives are the moves to install corrupt local officials who will overturn legitimate election results when they do not comport with their wishes.
This, my Republican friends, is not democracy, but neo-fascism. You do not want that kind of blood on your hands.
Do I exaggerate? I'm afraid not.
Do you really want to find out? Please don't.
If enough Republicans refuse to support the direction the party has chosen, we can avoid losing a democracy that has been 245 years in the making.
If you're worried about a temporary period of one-party rule, let me reassure you. We've had that here in California for years now and it's turned out very well for us. I'm no fan of the Democratic Party, but at least its leaders follow the Constitution and the rule of law.
Unlike the despot in exile at Mar-a-Lago.
The choice is yours.
***
The headlines:
* The pandemic is getting worse, even when it seems like it’s getting better. Public health advocates and international organizations recognize the main problem: The global gap in vaccinations. (WP)
* COVID-19 cases rising again, says Americas health agency, but not in North America (Reuters)
* The pandemic fire is still raging. Rich-country leaders must respond. (Editorial Board/WP)
* How the World Ran Out of Everything -- Global shortages of many goods reflect the disruption of the pandemic combined with decades of companies limiting their inventories. (NYT)
* The World Health Organization announced it had authorized the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use. (AP)
* Offering beer, babysitting and barbershop outreach, White House launches initiatives to boost vaccinations (WP)
* More than 100 scholars have warned that Republicans are putting the nation's democracy in danger by restricting access to voting and perpetuating the fiction that the 2020 presidential election wasn't secure. The statement by the New America think tank urged lawmakers to “do whatever is necessary — including suspending the filibuster — in order to pass national voting and election administration standards that both guarantee the vote to all Americans equally." [HuffPost]
* In a culture-war brawl that has spilled into the country’s educational system, Republicans at the local, state and national levels are trying to block curriculums that emphasize systemic racism. (NYT)
* Biden promises to combat GOP efforts to restrict voting rights (WP)
* Conservative Columnist Warns Of GOP Plot To Steal 2024 Election -- “I hope I am being overly alarmist. I really do,” Max Boot wrote. (WP)
* Have Three Children? No Way, Many Chinese Say. -- Intense workplace competition, inadequate child care and widespread job discrimination against pregnant women have made childbearing an unappealing prospect for many. (NYT)
* Arizona plans to execute prisoners with a lethal gas the Nazis used at Auschwitz (WP)
* A drought crisis has erupted in the Klamath Basin along the California-Oregon border, with fish dying en masse and farmers infuriated that they have been cut off from their main water source. (NYT)
* Israel opposition says it’s ready to vote on ousting Netanyahu (WP)
* America Has a Drinking Problem -- A little alcohol can boost creativity and strengthen social ties. But there’s nothing moderate, or convivial, about the way many Americans drink today. ( The Atlantic)
* California saw more active shooters than any other state over the last two decades, new federal data shows. Although California has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, the ranking roughly tracks with population size. (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Dangerously hot conditions are forecast for the Western United States this week. Temperatures could reach as high as 107 degrees in the San Joaquin Valley, and may break daily records in the Fresno area. (California Today)
* Historian Uncovers The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment -- Carol Anderson says the Second Amendment was designed to ensure slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those they'd enslaved. Her new book is The Second. (NPR)
* Handgun sales in California surged 66 percent during the pandemic. (Sacramento Bee)
* The population of Western monarch butterflies that winter in California has been dwindling. So a coalition of conservation groups has hatched a plan: Grow a lot more milkweed. The plant, according to the U.S. Forest Service, is “Nature’s mega food market for insects.” (NYT)
* French Open Fines Tennis Ball For Failing To Answer Media’s Questions (The Onion)
***
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
I saw above me that endless skyway
Saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice come a-chanting and the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
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