Thursday, December 9, 2021:  Has America Improved In This Past Year?
So here we are in the last month of 2021 and the questions is, "are we better off now than at the start of the year?" I believe the answer is "yes we are", but I can understand how the vast majority of American's don't feel like things are better and I think it is because the issues that have divided our country are as prominent as ever – maybe even more prominent.

Let's go down the list of the things in the news that might cause us some concern:

Corona Virus: The Corona virus has crippled the world for the last two years. We have made significant progress in understanding the virus and finding ways to prevent and treat it. But I think that we (many folks anyway) see our battle against this virus as the new reality. It will likely not go away entirely and mutations will continue to plague us for the foreseeable future. As this realization sinks in, I think it creates a pall over every aspect of our lives – diminishing the positive impact of other accomplishments.

Gun Control - more specifically our march toward mutual self-destruction. The only use for semi-automatic handguns and assault rifles is to kill other human beings. I have said before that human silhouette paper targets used for target practice says it all. Each time there is another mass shooting, guns sales go up. The gun manufacturers love a good massacre. They are making money as we kill each other off. It is just a matter of time before there is open civil warfare in our streets. Our only answer seems to be that we militarize our police. So each escalation in armament is met with more escalation. Maybe this year's Christmas present for your family should be flak vests for all.

Abortion. Once again the Christian Taliban have pushed their agenda to the highest court in the land, but this time they have a number of their Taliban cronies sitting on the court. For anyone who is watching, you can expect this court will from now on, support any state law restricting abortion. After that, there will be a whole bevy of things they will rule on that will further advance the agenda of the religious minority. Freedom from religion should be a right under out constitution. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the United States has now six political hacks (Catholics BTW), who are just another arm of the bible thumping, right wing, racist, gun nuts.

China and Russia. So China is flexing its military muscle, building up its nuclear arsenal and under its current leadership moving back toward communism and away from the capitalism that made its economy a competitor to ours. They have designs on Taiwan, are threatening Manila, the Philippines, and Japan, and are royally fucking up Hong Kong. And then there is their Russian neighbor who is currently building up a military presence on the Ukrainian border and appears to be planning an invasion. Putin obviously wants to expand his empire and after nothing was done when he annexed Crimea, what's stopping him? Every day you hear about another cyber attack by the Russians on some business or government agency here in the U.S. Let's face it, we are on the brink of a major confrontation with one or both of two super powers and the outcome will not be pretty.

The Republican Party. There are not enough words in the world describe the depth to which the members of the Republican party have sunk. I never considered that in my lifetime I would see a party of American fascists who are hell bent on destroying our democracy. Republicans have morphed into the American Nazis part and they don't even try to hide it.

Free and Fair Elections. Each election more votes are cast for democrats and yet there are 30 states with republican controlled state legislatures. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and lost the election to Donald Trump. This election travesty is only going to get worse. It is clear that there is a base of Americans who are behind the assault on our election process with the goal of overthrowing valid election results. They will gerrymander, threaten, place undue restrictions on voters, use poll watchers to intimidate, change state laws to allow legislatures to overthrow valid election results and replace duly elected officials with their cronies. Cheating is the only way they can maintain their power.

The Supreme Court of The United States. On the conservative side, they are nothing more than a group of unqualified political hacks whose sole job is to rule in favor of the Republican party – so much for the balance of power. Adding to the judicial farce is the Federalist Society that has managed to make sure the Federal Circuit Courts are populated with their hand picked jackass conservatives.

The Inflation Boogie Man. There is a shortage of goods and there is an abundance of income and unsecured credit. Too few goods for the demand, and yes folks, prices will rise – that is Economics 101. Maybe the real question is do we really need the all the shit we buy. Land fills and storage units are filled with all the crap we don't need or can't use. American's now owe almost $15 Trillion to credit card companies. Maybe it is time we go back to the savings rates of past generations instead of running up our credit card debt on the purchase of the latest iPhone or large screen TV.