Today’s “New York Times” has a story about the death of a Minnesota state senator:

“In Minnesota, a G.O.P. Lawmaker’s Death Brings Home the Reality of Covid – Minnesota Republicans celebrated election victories with a gala party. A state senator’s death from Covid-19 underlined the consequences of the G.O.P.’s rejection of health experts’ guidance.: https://nyti.ms/3bXmnmx

Even worse is what has happened in Congress. 62 members have been infected with Covid: https://nyti.ms/2LKfKsT But isn’t it interesting that 44 are Republicans and 18 are Democrats?

And for those doubting the efficacy of the vaccine, I point you to today’s story “Underselling the Vaccine”: https://nyti.ms/3qqVo6C Read this article and you will be hopeful. As I am now that Biden is taking office. His statements re attacking the Covid problem are so inspiring. After hearing for decades that government is the enemy, it’s good to have someone in office attempting to harness the power of government to solve our pandemic, and endemic, problems. This is the turning point. However, tens of millions of people still need to be convinced. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but people have a hard time arguing with success. Then again, there’s a whole industry painting anything the Democrats do as inadequate/bogus/a failure, even when this is untrue. We’re fighting for the soul of America, for democracy itself. And while we’re on the topic of democracy, I urge you to listen to “Gaslit Nation,” “Clear Intent”: https://bit.ly/2M3sBq0 You can read a transcript here:   https://bit.ly/39IMqLd Sarah Kendzior has been right about everything this election cycle, that the Trumps are a Mafia family, part of a transnational crime syndicate. We thought it could never happen here, but it has.

Kendzior posits so much that seems unbelievable, but is probably true. That Cruz and Hawley were kissing Trump’s butt in order to gain his approval and inherit his base so they could run for president. But Trump had no intention of endorsing them, he was always planning to run Ivanka.

And while we’re pushing boundaries, Kendzior talks about the collapse of the United States and “it being partitioned into little fiefdoms that will be ruled by oligarchs and plutocrats, with some sort of state apparatus put in charge.” I know that sounds fantastical, but so did Trump trying to steal the election and inciting an insurrection two weeks ago. I know, I know, we’ve had enough of the insanity, but once again, Kendzior’s doctorate is in totalitarian regimes, which is the way the world has been going recently if you haven’t realized.

The myopia of America has come back to bite it in the ass. We’ve been told forever that the rest of the world does not compare, so we know little about the rest of the world, never mind having been there. So there are lessons to be learned that we don’t know. Authoritarianism has happened all over the globe, and it can happen here.

This is just opinion. But seemingly only the Republicans can organize and look to the future. The Democrats are disorganized until one day they wake up and realize their country has changed, to the point of barely being recognizable. By today’s standards, so many of yesteryear’s Republicans were Democrats. As for bipartisan legislation…that went out with the last century, before that in fact.

Kendzior’s solution is accountability. Unless we hold the perpetrators accountable, the heart of duplicity will still beat and ultimately grow louder and stronger.

And one more thing Kendzior points out references those who are calling for unity…

“You helped do this. You helped kill this country, you helped kill people through Coronavirus. You helped bring this down if you’re shocked right now. So never forget, people use shock – they feign shock – to dodge accountability. That’s what many elected officials are doing right now, many journalist are doing right now, and it’s disgusting…”

We’ve got to put a stake through the heart of this creeping authoritarianism.

And Kendzior points out how Putin destabilized the European Union via Brexit. Yes, the first vote was close. And Putin influenced it, never mind the lies of the leaders of the Brexiteers. And just like in America, it was the rural, those who worked with their hands, who had never been anywhere, who wanted to jet back to a theoretical past, who in the case  of Brexit voted to secede, those who didn’t even understand how economics work. And now the U.K. is suffering the consequences. Have you been following the insanity re touring?

“Musicians have been betrayed by this Brexit deal – we need answers and we are not going away – Without visa-free tours of Europe, it will be economically impossible for many artists starting out – now we risk losing the next Adele or Ed Sheeran to red tape and bureaucracy”: https://bit.ly/2XYRhCt

And from the BBC: “EU blames UK after outcry over end to visa-free touring for musicians”: https://bbc.in/2M043ya

The government sold out the musicians, the financial sector, traders… Every day there’s news about the negative effects of Brexit, things that those who voted for it didn’t know, if they could even comprehend them. But it felt right to secede, just like it feels right not to wear a mask, but that’s modern life, where no one can contemplate the consequences. Meanwhile, the American government allows food companies to fatten our society while pinning obesity on personal responsibility and Trump and his cronies freaked out when California wanted clean air and certain auto companies endorsed the program!

As for Trump’s trade battle with China…

“How China Won Trump’s Trade War and Got Americans to Foot the Bill”: https://bloom.bg/3nW3u5M

The “New York Times,” “Bloomberg,” they’re reporting facts, meanwhile Fox News just added another hour of opinion. And Fox and MSNBC usually start their discourse with what’s been reported in the “New York Times” and “Washington Post,” but then the right is told to ignore what is said. Where is the concomitant reporting on the right? It doesn’t exist, except in the “Wall Street Journal,” which almost always aligns with the “Times,” “Bloomberg” and the “Washington Post” when it comes to facts, never mind the “Journal”‘s opinions, which are off the wall.

And speaking of off the wall, you’ve got to read this article from yesterday’s “Times”: 

“How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack – Loyalists to President Trump are increasingly relying on conspiracy theories and misinformation, drawing false equivalence with last summer’s racial protests and blaming outside agitators.”: https://nyti.ms/3oWsGtX

Yes, it was Black Lives Matter and antifa that stormed the Capitol, I kid you not.

And then there’s the words of Rudy Giuliani: 

“‘The riot was preplanned,’ said Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. ‘This was an attempt to slander Trump.’ He added, ‘The evidence is coming out.'”

What evidence? The same evidence of fraud in the election, the same evidence that someone other than O.J. did the killing?

Rust never sleeps, nor do the falsehoods on the right. Stay awake.