The More Things Change...

From the "More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same" file. As it says, this was created around 1930 during the smallpox virus of the day.

Get vaccinated. Get the vaccine, folks. It's for yourself, your family, friends and all of us out here.

Kansans! Your State Legislature Last Week!

Once again, Davis Hammet of Loud Light gives a fantastic and even important, if also brief summary of what your legislators did in Topeka last week. God help us all.

We Need to Tax the Rich -- Here's Why

Yes, we need to tax the rich. Robert Reich spells out why and then how, too. This would be an excellent way to support and fix our infrastructure. Just look around the city, at, say, Ward Parkway, Wornall Road, 63rd Street, all across town and you can see how and where we need this. Let's do this, America.

Week 10 of This Presidency

Week 10 at the White House:

--Launched the American Jobs Plan! --20m Syringes in 7 days: a record! --11 judicial noms w/in 1st 100 days: most ever! --Offshore Wind Plan: powering 10m homes by 2030! --900K new jobs in March: first admin Heavy plus signover 1m jobs in first two months! --Ronald Klain @WHCOS

Never Forget Who Voted Against COVID Relief, Missouri

Yes, Missourians, let's never, never forget just who, exactly voted against the COVID Relief Plan.

During the worst, most killing, deadly international pandemic in the last more than 100 years, when Americans supported this relief package, they didn't and voted against. Remember in 2022. And 2024. And forever.

Entertainment Overnight -- Mr Biden, Bring My Vaccine

From--who else? Randy Rainbow!

Good night, y'all! Sleep well. And if you haven't already, get that vaccine soon as possible!

The Incredible Republican Party Year -- So Far

Think about it. In about 2 months this year, it's nearly unimagninable what the Republican Party has done---has gotten away with, really. First, on Janurary 6, of course, the Republican Party President lead an insurrection, an attack on our nation's Capitol and our government resulting in death and harming fellow citizens.This from the supposed "law and order" party. Then, more recently, they followed that up just last week with voting down, every one of their members in Congress voting down a financial relief plan for the nation, for Americans during the worst, most killing, deadly international pandemic in the last more than 100 years. Incredible. Loet's hope, hope, they have now, with this last one, done their worst. For the rest of the entire year. Hey, we can hope.

Quote of the Day -- Republican Party Hypocrisy Edition

"While Trump was president, EVERY Democrat voted for the $2 trillion CARES Act, even though doing so helped Trump. While Biden is president, ZERO Republicans voted for the $1.9 trillion American Relief Plan, because hurting Biden is more important than helping Americans." -- Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen "The disconnect and hypocrisy of elected officials honoring front line, healthcare, daycare, grocery store workers, etc who many don’t make a living wage/$15 an hour, while simultaneously voting against a increase in the minimum wage is absolutely appalling." --Matthew Dowd @matthewjdowd

BREAKING: US Senate Just Passed Biden 's COVID Relief Plan!!!

Fantastic!! It just broke! Our US Senate just passed President Biden's COVID relief plan for Americans and America 50-49!! Fantastic!! Yahooooo!!

The only thing better than this is that NOT ONE Republican voted for it. America, you're getting help. And Republicans didn't support it in any way! Have a great day and weekend!!!

Quote of the Day -- Conservatives and Coronavirus Edition

"Mask refusers appeal to liberty. But even staunch libertarians know that checking the spread of disease is a legitimate government function. The hostility to masks isn't libertarian. It's nihilistic. Nihilism has come to characterize a significant part of today's 'conservatism.'" --Bill Kristol @BillKristol

Missouri Is Celebrating Its COVID Rollout

This is stunning to me. It was only a few days ago that Jackson County, finally, finally flipped from getting the vaccine for Phase 1B, Tier 1 for "First Responders, Emergency Services and Public Health Infrastructure" to now, Phase 1B, Tier 2--"High Risk Individuals (18-64) and Individuals 65>." Whoop-tee-doo. Now, check out this little celebration going on today on social media.

On March 15--TWO WEEKS FROM NOW, of course--we'll switch to "Criical Infrastructure" citizens of Missouri. Just that. That's all. And keep in mind, there are still FIVE, count them, 5 more levels until the get down to all the rest of us average citizens out here in the state. How does this remotely make sense? How is this not insane? How is this not the most pitifully slow rollout of a very needed vaccine the world has needed in the last more than 100 years? Thanks, Mr. Trump! Thanks, Republicans! Y'all are just terrific. Really.

Republicans in Topeka Continue to Weaken Kansas

From Davis Hammet at Loud Light. Listen and weep, Kansans.

Kansas Senator Mark Steffen is a real piece of work, this brief video makes clear. He and his efforts are nothing if not tunning. I say again, no other source in the area, no other news source, covers the statehouse in Topeka more or better than Mr. Hammet. No one.If you don't watch and keep up with him already and you live in Kansas, you would do well to do so. Just saying.

Claire McCaskill Asks a Great Question This Morning

Yes, now former Senator Claire McCaskill asks an excellent question and makes a great challenge to local, regional and state media.

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc "Let me say it again. 24 MASS VACCINATION SITES OVER THE NEXT WEEK. ONLY 1!!!! in Jackson County, St Louis County, St Louis City and Boone County. COMBINED! This is a scandal. Where are our journalists? Where are our elected officials? @GovParsonMO" This was her response to this post on Twitter. Mo Health & Sr Srvcs @HealthyLivingMo · Feb 23 Mass vaccination events for this week have been announced. Find more at: https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/events/ #MOStopsCOVID | #ShowMeStrong Again, excellent question. We, here in Jackson County, Kansas City, only just came off Phase 1B, tier 1 in the last few days for these vaccinations which are for 1st responders, emergency services and public heath infastructure citizens only. Now, we're finally but only on high risk individuals 18-64 and individuals, citizens 65 and over. We only just got there very recently, in the last few days. So... Local news stations? KCPT? KCUR? KCTV5? KMBC? WDAF? Fox 4? We have a story for you. And we need to hear about this and badly.For that matter, Governor Parson? Do you have answers for us? Information? Solutions? Any good news? Anything encouraging?

Humanity Needs to All Start Working Together

Nothing shows any better how humanity needs to start and then keep working together for all our benefit than this killing, international pandemic, worst of the last more than 100 years.  Coincidentally, I wrote this on social media, again, a week ago. Also coincidentally, an article in The Atlantic rather makes this same point now.

Credit: Getty Images

Bhutan Is the World's Unlikeliest Pandemic Success Story

On january 7, a 34-year-old man who had been admitted to a hospital in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, with preexisting liver and kidney problems died of COVID-19. His was the country’s first death from the coronavirus. Not the first death that day, that week, or that month: the very first coronavirus death since the pandemic began.

How is this possible? Since the novel coronavirus was first identified more than a year ago, health systems in rich and poor countries have approached collapse, economies worldwide have been devastated, millions of lives have been lost. How has Bhutan—a tiny, poor nation best known for its guiding policy of Gross National Happiness, which balances economic development with environmental conservation and cultural values—managed such a feat? And what can we in the United States, which has so tragically mismanaged the crisis, learn from its success?

In fact, what can the U.S. and other wealthy countries learn from the array of resource-starved counterparts that have better weathered the coronavirus pandemic, even if those nations haven’t achieved Bhutan’s impressive statistics? Countries such as Vietnam, which has so far logged only 35 deaths, Rwanda, with 226, Senegal, with 700, and plenty of others have negotiated the crisis far more smoothly than have Europe and North America.

These nations offer plenty of lessons, from the importance of attentive leadership, the need to ensure that people have enough provisions and financial means to follow public-health guidance, and the shared understanding that individuals and communities must sacrifice to protect the well-being of all: elements that have been sorely lacking in the U.S.

America has “the world’s best medical-rescue system—we have unbelievable ICUs,” Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs, a Boston-based center for health-systems innovation, told me. But, he said, we have neglected a public-health focus on prevention, which socially cohesive low- and middle-income countries have no choice but to adopt, because a runaway epidemic would quickly overwhelm them.

“People say the COVID disaster in America has been about a denial of science. But what we couldn’t agree on is the social compact we would need to make painful choices together in unity, for the collective good,” Bitton added. “I don’t know whether, right now in the U.S., we can have easy or effective conversations about a common good. But we need to start.”

But then, beyond this killing pandemic? Other things we need to all come together to work on and against.

Climate change. Global warming.  Pollution.

What Humanity Must Do to Prevent Catastrophic Climate

More.

Poverty.   Yes, poverty. Everyone, the world over, needs to recognize that poverty is a human construct.

Poverty is a social construct

3 Ways Humans Create Poverty

Poverty as a Social Problem its Causes and Solutions

And we need to start soon.

Now.

Quote of the Day -- On the Rich and Poor

 

Robert Reich @RBReich

I will never accept a system that enables billionaires to add $1,100,000,000,000 to their wealth during a pandemic but doesn’t raise the $7.25 minimum wage for over a decade.

Tax the rich. Raise the wage. Now.

Important, Helfpul, Very Indicative Polls Today

Yes, 3 polls out today that are just that---very indicative of where we, the American people are, what we want and need and where we want to go.

Poll: 61 percent approve of Biden actions in first days

Quinnipiac Poll Finds 7-in-10 Americans Support Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus; 8 In 10 Like The $1,400 Check

Poll: 64 percent support increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025

Let's do this, Joe. Let's do this, Congress. Let's do this, America.

Additionally, even Fox recognizes this, thank goodness.

Fox Hosts Admit Polls Show Vast Support For Biden's COVID Package

The Atlantic Magazine Gets This So Right

 Yes, it's heartening to see the truth spelled out so big and so bold.

Trump Is the Worst President in History - The Atlantic

I like it so much I'm going to post it twice.

Worst President Ever - The Atlantic

Just a bit from the article:

Three particular failures secure Trump’s status as the worst chief executive ever to hold the office.

President Donald Trump has long exulted in superlatives. The first. The best. The most. The greatest. “No president has ever done what I’ve done,” he boasts. “No president has ever even come close,” he says. But as his four years in office draw to an end, there’s only one title to which he can lay claim: Donald Trump is the worst president America has ever had.

In December 2019, he became the third president to be impeached. Last week, Trump entered a category all his own, becoming the first president to be impeached twice. But impeachment, which depends in part on the makeup of Congress, is not the most objective standard. What does being the worst president actually mean? And is there even any value, at the bitter end of a bad presidency, in spending energy on judging a pageant of failed presidencies?

It is helpful to think of the responsibilities of a president in terms of the two elements of the oath of office set forth in the Constitution. In the first part, presidents swear to “faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States.” This is a pledge to properly perform the three jobs the presidency combines into one: head of state, head of government, and commander in chief. In the second part, they promise to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States....”

As Trump prepares to leave Washington, the capital is more agitated than during any previous presidential transition since 1861, with thousands of National Guard troops deployed around the city. There have been serious threats to previous inaugurations. But for the first time in the modern era, those threats are internal. An incumbent president is being asked to discourage terrorism by supporters acting in his name.

...There are many verdicts on Donald Trump still to come, from the Senate, from juries of private citizens, from scholars and historians. But as a result of his subversion of national security, his reckless endangerment of every American in the pandemic, and his failed insurrection on January 6, one thing seems abundantly clear: Trump is the worst president in the 232-year history of the United States.

It's an excellent, not surprisingly well-documented article. Here's hoping lots and lots of Americans read it so they both know more of our nation's history but also so they can and do put this soon to be former President Trump in the correct light and category, perspective.

Not done there, however, Trump and his administration did this on their way out.

Trump's 1776 Commission Report Roundly Condemned

Trump Administration’s '1776 Report' Justifies Slavery

Because I guess there's just not enough lies or stupidity to go around for this guy and his people.

Fortunately, there is, rightly, yet more good news, too.

Support for convicting Trump grows among Republicans

Yet more goodness.

Trump Approval Plunges Again To Record Low In Final Poll

GOP in bind over Trump as corporate donations freeze

Opinion: Trump is destroying his own party on the way out 

Have heart, America.  In 24 hours, we'll have intelligent, adult, informed, rational leadership again.

Bring On the New Year!!

 

2021 will have to be an improvement, a big improvement.

We're going to lose Donald Trump as President and a killing, international pandemic, both.

Happy new year, indeed!!

May it be a happy, healthy, prosperous one for us all!!

The Republican Party Insanity Today, Christmas Eve, on COVID Assistance

So here it is. Christmas Eve. Here we are. At long last. And now, this is where we all are with this Republican Party Congress, Republican Party President and the possibility of COVID assistance.

House Republicans To Block $2,000 Stimulus Checks On Christmas Eve

So Congress, at long last, came up with a bill they could all agree one, months in the making, for COVID pandemic assistance to and for America and Americans. After all that negotiating, this Republican Party President Trump concludes they assistance should be $2000, not the paltry $600 at the last minute or he'll veto it all. Yahoo! Right?

Except this is where we are now. On Christmas Eve. The Republicans in Congress are all going to collectively be Scrooges. They say they are voting it all down. It's their President but they want no part of it.

So what, pray tell, do these Republicans in Congress do now with their President? Go to the White House and implore him to see it, to see things their way? If that's even possible?

Merry Christmas indeed, America. 

Happy holidays?

Happy new year?

More:

Trump gives Congress chaos for Christmas, with aid to millions up in the air

Update. Breaking in the last two hours:

GOP senator warns $2K checks can't pass, urges Trump to sign COVID deal

It seems our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt did the right thing and reached out to the President.

Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) a member of the GOP leadership, warned Thursday that President Trump's demand for $2000 stimulus checks can't pass the Senate and urged him to sign a massive year-end agreement.

Some semblance of sanity seems to be coming about, anyway. It's nice that it's coming from our own Senator and state.

Sidney Powell: Senior Aides Are Blocking Trump From Giving Me White House…

Bill Barr's Quote APresidential Pardons Resurfaces on His Last Day…

GOP senator warns $2K checks can't pass, urges Trump to sign COVID dea

Quotes of the Day -- On Health Care

Universal health care is such a complex beast that only 32 of the world's 33 nations have been able to make it work.

--Duke @Maxonsdad 

If you think Covid treatment should be free (of course it should), why do you think insulin shouldn’t be? 

Or cancer treatment? 

Or mental health?

Health care should not be run for profit. Period.

--Robert Reich @RBReich