2022 Archives

Welcome to the racist, misogynous, anti-democracy faction that has seized control of today’s GOP and their media cheerleaders: How long will they hold onto their power over the entire party? The Republican Party has lost all its legitimacy because, in the past few decades, it has become a white supremacist version of what Father of the Constitution James Madison called a “faction.” Loosely, a “faction“ is a “special interest” group of people who are willing to damage the interests of other people just to gain their own benefit. And, as Madison warned us, factions destroy democracies.

After four years of America having a professional, lifelong criminal as our president, is it any wonder crime is up? Years ago when Nextdoor.com rolled out, Louise signed up to see what was happening in our neighborhood; back then it was mostly people offering kittens, trying to find their lost dogs, or begging neighbors to take piles of zucchini. Today, in many parts of the country, it’s become a running list of assaults and burglaries. Crime is up and people are noticing. Which means it’ll get political, and fast. Republicans are planning to make crime a big issue this fall for the elections: Newt Gingrich just pointed out on Fox how well it worked for Glen Youngkin in Virginia and they see it as a template for November.

Lives are at stake, and the next person needing help could easily be you, a member of your family, or, like me, an old friend’s husband. Lives are at stake, and the next person needing help could easily be you, a member of your family, or, like me, an old friend's husband. O. Henry died over a hundred years ago, but his story The Gift of the Magi about a poor woman who sold her long hair to buy a gift for her husband on the same day he bought her a hard-sought gift of combs for her long hair still echoes through our culture. In a modern-day variation on the story, my friend of many decades, Elizabeth Barlow Montes, donated one of her kidneys to a friend's sister back in 2004. Now her husband, whose lifelong diabetes finally destroyed his own kidneys, needs a kidney to save his life but Elizabeth can't be that donor as she only has one left.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Are we on the verge of a third major European war? — The Plot to End America: — The Plot to Change America. — Covid didn't cause the hospital crisis. — Crazy Alert: fascists demand groveling. — In Good News: Republican voter suppression notwithstanding, Stacey Abrams has a good shot at becoming Georgia's governor, helping to turn that purple state blue. — Video of the week with Dr. Jason Box: Is the Jet Stream Collapsing? And what about all that frozen methane?