Arrgghh!!!!!

More and more I find myself wanting to scream! Mostly it's at people. I hesitate to ask, "Can they really be that stupid?" Do these people representing us in Congress ever stop to think? Do they realize what $3.5 trillion is? I recall not too many decades ago Sen Everett Dirksen of Illinois once admitting, "A million dollars here and a million there and pretty soon we're talking real money." Yes, he said, "million," not trillion or even billion. And this is on top of how many hundreds of billions of dollars, if not more, spend on CoVid funding. Joe Biden has made the idiotic claim that this bill will "cost zero dollars." Maybe he uses the "different math" the school district where I used to work used. His explanation sounded like this to me. I can go to the grocery store and buy my goods, putting the cost on my credit card. But I have no intention of making any payments to the credit card company. Do I have that right? Senotor Joe Manchin has been hailed as a hero of sorts by standing up to the Democrat leadership, refusing to agree to a bill more than $1.5 trillion. Yeah, some compromise, huh? Yet I see he's changed his numbers. Now he might be agreeable to only $1.9 to $2.2 trillion. Yep, only. And for how long afer a few billion bucks are tossed his state's (West Virginia) way? I hope he holds the line, but I'm not convinced he will. Don't these Bozos in DC yet know that corporations don't pay taxes. No, they don't. They pass along the increased taxes in the form of higher prices. Like other costs of doing business, taxes determine consumer prices. So if companies pay higher taxes, in reality, it's you and I who are paying the taxes. Oh, but didn't Biden say he wouldn't raise taxes on those making less than $400K a year? Either he was just kidding or he has no clue about economics. Apparently it is true that the Attorney General has asked the FBI to crack down on "domestic terrorists." No No, not the ones you may be thinking of. These are worse. These domestic terrorists are parents who are starting to attend school board meetings to protest mask mandates and critical race theory creeping into their children's curriculum. Now, I haven't heard of any violence at any of these meetings. Nobody has been attacked, not even my Viking Helmet Man. No school buildings have been burned down. All I've noticed is a lot more parents attending meetings to express their anger at what adminstrators and their rubber stamp school boards are doing. Now, I would think having parents involved would be a good thing. But, having spend 51 years in education, I know having parents involved in school matters is only a good thing if they completely agree with administrators and school boards. Opposing views, regardless of how well-thought and factual, are not allowed. Oh no..... Hey, the current Secretary of Education has said that parents should not be "the primary stakeholders" in their children's education. This guy had already established himself as a loon in my book and now confirms it. Speaking of "domestic terrorism," I'm really glad the Justice Department cracked down on all those BLM and Anti-fa rioters, er, "peaceful protesters." Oh, they didn't? How many businesses and government office buildings were looted and set on fire? How many private citizens' homes were attacked and damaged? Where is the Attorney General on all this, which is still ongoing? The followers of Viking Helmet Man have been charged, with Justice Department investigations, criminal charges, etc. So, where are all the trials for the BLM and Anti-fa thugs who destroyed people's businesses, jobs, and income? I forget which DC loon said this, some woman last week. I don't remember if she is in Congress or the Administration. She noted the difference between the January 6 mob (although the overwhelming majority of the people where were not at all violent, didn't enter the Capitol, and did nothing illegal) and the violent/destructive BLM and Anti-Fa thugs. One (Viking Helmet Man's people) were trying to overthrow the government while the "peaceful protesters" were working to advance civil rights. And all this CoVid stuff!!!!! Our "15 days" of masks to "flatten the curve" has turned into about 20 months, with no sign of ending. Oh, there was a hiatus of sorts, but then the "experts," whose recommendations obviously didn't work, jumped back on the mask bandwagon. There are mandates out there, in cities and states and even some businesses. So, far I'd say a sizable majority are not complying, but for how long? I noted that many schools are mandating masks, in disregard of "the science" they hold so dear. Kids 18 and under are of extrememly low risk of contracting the virus. But to "save" them from this thing not at all likely to happen, schools and parents are damaging, in big ways, kids psychologically, socially, academically, physically, emotionally, and more. I read of one mother who drove her kids three hours in a car to attend a mask-mandated school. She was protecting her children, apparently not concerned what all that time in a car five days a week is doing to her kids. I know this will generate a lot of disagreement, but I'm still not sold on the vax. Initially, we were told by people who were wrong before about masks, distancing, shutdowns, etc. or even lied about them that the vax would offer "absolute immunity." Absolute, to me, means 100%. I wasn't foolish enough to believe the "absolute" part. Then the rate of effectiveness dipped to 95%, then 80%, and now 30% of the people who are hospitalized with CoVid have had the vax. I don't think Massachusetts is an outlier, but a recent study there showed that almost 3/4 of the Covid deaths occurred in people with underlying conditions/co-morbidities and that the median, yes, the median, age for Covid deaths in the state is 82! I have read analyses of the effectiveness of the vax that continue to show it's not what it was promoted to be. That is, the numbers presented to the public are skewed. Without going into specifics, we are presented with linear interpretations of the effectiveness of the vax. Yet the reality is not at all linear. Not all of us are the same. Those 45 and under are not at all likely to get sick, especially seriously so, or die. Healthy people who are fit, like me, are also extremely unlikely to get the virus. So, how much good is the vax really doing those who probably are not going to contract it anyway? Yet, those people skew the effectiveness upward. I'm not necessarily blaming the "experts" or the medical community they inform. CoVid was and is a new breed. There was and is a lot we don't yet know. But I wish they wouldn't issue opinions from on high, like there is no alternative except to die. That just isn't so. My beef with the medical community is they are people of science. The essence of science is to question, to challenge. They should know the science is never "settled." They seem to have forgotten that. I'm too busy and tired to proofread; forgive me.

Something to Think About

In November 1923, Adolf Hitler led an aborted attempt to overthrow the Bavarian/German government in Munich. The Beer Hall Putsch was almost comical; I liken it to The Three Stooges staging a revolt. Except, some people were wounded and died. I won't go into the details, but Hitler was captured after fleein--pretty much following the first shot. He was found hiding in the cellar of one of his follower's sister a day or two later. For staging the putsch, a revolt against the democratically elected Weimar government, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in Landsberg Prison. He was released after about nine months. Nine months for treason. And again, I won't go into details, but his term was one of those "country club" settings. Several weeks back, I read an article that likened the January 6th events at the Capitol to Hitler's putsch. The warning was, no doubt, that Hitler later succeeded in a more "peaceful" takeover, starting at the end of January 1933. (If nothing else, the failure of his 1923 debacle convinced him any such success would depend on legal efforts.) My initial reaction was to chuckle at this analogy. Could January 6th, led by Viking Helmet Man, be a warning, as the Beer Hall Putsch was? I thought that preposterous--at first. I know my views on Hitler's successful revolution in 1933 (and the next couple of years) are a bit unorthodox. No, I don't think the weaknesses of the Versailles Treaty were the causes and played little role other than as propaganda. More important, far more important were the devastating effects of the Great Depression. Simply put, no Depression no Hitler. Again, I won't go into details. But that caused me to rethink my initial chuckle at the analogy. Hmmm. With the handling of the economy, the enormous federal spending and subsequent inflation on the way, could a coming economic catastrophe spark some far more dire than the January 6th debacle? I don't know, but I'm not chuckling any more. This country seems to be getting more and more divided by the day. I thought of that at the grocery store this afternoon. Last weekend, maybe 55 of the people, customers and employees, wore masks. Today it was far closer to 50-50, probably 60-40 without. The maskless will not be able to convince the masked that masks are not particularly effective. The masked will not convince the maskless that masks work. Biden's speech the other night did nothing to help breech the divide. In fact, it drove a wedge further between groups. His unconstitional actions requiring the vax for employers with 100 or more workers (From what I've read, I think I have that right.) has already created wider divisions. And his language was inflammatory. Calling people "selfish" was an adolescence expected out of Trump. Telling the unvaxxed they will be made to "pay a price" and that he'll use his executive powers to get state's governors who don't comply with his orders "out of the way." Someone somewhere needs to tell this guy this is a democratic republic, not a dictatorship. (Of course, Obama and others have flouted the Constitution, too.) We are citizens, not subjects. He has no "executive powers" to force governors "out of the way" or to make people "pay a price." I guess he's counting on the cowardly compliance of corporate America. Look how quickly US companies/businesses have caved in to the wokesters. After all, when will these companies making inferior products come begging for taxpayer bailouts because they are "too big to fail?" If this division doesn't heal and heal pretty quickly, are we going to see history repeat itself?

History

I enjoy reading different perspectives from historians. I learned this as an undergrad at Amherst. Oddly, in grad school, I came across several instructors who refused to consider alternative viewpoints regarding historical events. In my own teaching I still hold and teach some views that fly in the face of what textbooks and even other instructors at my college(s) teach. I tell students that I might be wrong, but I do present the evidence in my favor and let them decide for themselves--if they even care. Yet, different perspectives does not mean distorting, lying, or even just making up things. I've been thinking about this for some time and the past few weeks have illuminated this. That's what seems to be happening today. People make up history, distort it, or just plain tell lies. How do they get away with this, often without challenges? I know the old adage, "The winners of the war write the history." Adolf Hitler, among others, knew it, too. Upon the September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland that began The Second World War, Hitler ordered German prisoners to be taken from their jail cells out to the Polish frontier, just inside German territory. These prisoners were dressed in Polish military uniforms and then shot. Photographs were taken of these faux Polish soldiers, in Germany, to prove Hitler/Germany didn't start the war--Poland did by invading Germany. He fully intended to win the war and write its history, with the photos proof that he didn't start it. If not quite as dramatic, today we face similar attempts to manipulate history with distortion, lies, and even ignorance. Faux history is utilized to justify/rationalize agendas and policies, to convince people to support them. I suppose these users (abusers) of history are ignorant of it, but I much more strongly suspect they are dishonest, deliberately trying to deceive through lies. Equally disturbing is that so many Americans are so ignorant that they are easily manipulated by the deception and that the deceivers are not called out by, say, the main stream media. Although there are many examples, two current ones come to mind. President Biden has repeated incredible, as in unbelievable, statements, especially regarding states' voter reform laws and the January 6th events. I don't know if he's that ignorant or is deliberate in spreading history that isn't so. Perhaps it's both. Biden likened those proposed state laws regarding election reform to "21st Century Jim Crow," those proposals being the greatest threat to American democracy "since the Civil War." With full discount for political hyperbole, he and those who echo such hogwash demonstrate either remarkable ignorance (I really want to start using the word "stupidity.") or deliberate dishonesty. That the fiasco of January 6th at the Capitol was a greater threat to the existence of the United States than the Confederacy is just plain idiotic. "The Confederates never breached the Capitol," he noted. But, he added, "the insurrectionists did on January 6th." These "insurrectionists" were led by Viking Helmet Man, not Robert E. Lee with his almost 100,000 strong Army of Northern Virginia. Does Biden even know what Jim Crow Laws were? I suspect not. If he did, he could never equate them with proposals to prevent ballot harvesting, to require voter identification, or to remove ineligible voters from election rolls. But if he (and others who echo this foolishness) does know, that means he (and they) is (are) deliberately lying, using the Big Lie to frighten/alarm people when there is little reason to be frightened/alarmed. A few columnists and even a member or two of the DC press corps have been challenging Biden about some of his outrageous comments. But not enugh people are. Can you imagine the front-page or "breaking news" outrage had President Trump made the same claims? Similarly, an article in the Wall Street Journal was sent to me by a college buddy. He knows how much I enjoy history and reading other historians' views of it, especially alternative explanations and interpretations. Just coincidentally, the article was based on an interview of Walter McDougall, a historian who was three years ahead of me at Amherst. I am pretty sure we didn't cross paths, but the interview suggests to me that we had many of the same history professors and their teaching of historical analysis. The article was titled, "The 'Hustlers' Who Started America." It looked at the Founders, their achievements and motives. I enjoyed the interview and will perhaps later explore its main thrust. McDougall sounds like a wonderful historian and I have put a couple of his books on my reading list. But what also caught my attention was his view of the wokesters, how they are manipulating history like Biden and his ilk. Perhaps I am wrong, but I took him to mean the 1619 Project and its New York Times advocates, Black Lives Matter and its supporters, and even college professors who should know better. Their motives are clear, even if their means are obfuscated. Regarding intellectual honesty/responsibility, something we were taught at Amherst, McDougall asked, more of a statement than a question, "How can anyone believe this country does not have any ideals or at least any ideals worth striving for?" He adds, critically, "The woke either don't know how to think historically or they don't want to think historically." I think this aligns with my views of Biden and his fellow Democrats. The "either/or" is damning. That there are so many people who seem to have been taken in by Biden, the Democrats, the lame stream media, and even college professors, who've joined the woke crowd, is frightening. The distortion and manipulation of history continues. And yet, in our schools, the study of history more and more has been relegated to a back seat.

This Memorial Day, I read a number of articles, heard a couple of podcasts, and listened to several songs that were sent to me. All focused on one thing, the sacrifices many have made to protect our freedom, our liberty. I was struck by two emotions, quite different. One was a great deal of pride in the US. It remains the only nation founded on a set of political principles, "that all men are created equal." That was a very radical concept in the late 18th Century, as was the idea that people could rule themselves. I know, I know..... We have had flaws, some major ones. And perhaps we don't move quickly enough in some areas. But the US and Americans continue to grow, to expand the meaning of "all people are created equal." Can anyone reasonably argue that the US doesn't lead the world in freedom and liberties? Note my qualifier, "reasonably." That so many Americans gave their lives for this radical idea, that we could govern ourselves, is to be celebrated and commemorated. I genuinely feel terrible about those Americans who died for the political ambitions and egos of politicians, not to protect our freedom. The other emotion was sadness, that those liberties and freedoms we should be holding most dear, for which many gave their lives, are eroding, gradually being taken from us. Look at the last 15 months of the CoVid fascism. Yes, I said it, "fascism." Political leaders took our freedoms all in the name of "following the science," when in reality many of them didn't and, in fact, the science was never settled, never clear. Oh, some people can and still believe it was. But it never was. Look how many times Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, and other "experts" changed their minds on what to do. I'm not blaming them for not knowing what to do. I am blaming them for issuing autocratic orders that harmed so many people. I'm also asking why so many of "them" were able to ignore their own orders when they found such orders inconvenient. Why were so many Michigan business owners, especially those in the restaurant and bar businesses, fined and even jailed for failing to follow the arbitrary orders, yet the governor ignored them when she found they got in her way? And yet many bobble heads refer to standing up for our rights, for fighting for our liberties, as "rebellious." Is this what so many Americans in the military died for, so we could so easily cede our freedom? I wonder if these same people refer to the riots, er "peaceful protests," in many of our major cities, the take-over of neighborhoods, and the epidemic of urban shootings and murders as "rebellious." It's not just the CoVid orders. The Democrats are throwing around several trillion dollar budget proposals like they were wedding confetti. And the Establishment Republicans don't seem willing to stand up and say, "NO!" Nope, they are preparing their own budget proposals, ones that include only a trillion dollars or so. You know, that new kind of money, "only dollars." Such will also steal our freedoms and liberties. We can tax corporations and the billionaires at a tax rate of 100% and still not bring in enough revenue to pay for such outlandish spending. So, who's next? We are, "great unwashed." With less money, that is, after the government legally steals it from us, our freedom will be further diminished. We won't be able to go where we might want. We won't be able to buy what we might want. We won't have enough money to be free to do many things. That, as much as the authoritarian CoVid orders, steals our liberty from us. So very distressing is that, at least in my view, the majority of Americans either favor what has been and is being done or are willing to let it happen with nary a peep. After all, who wants to be identified as having "a rebellious attitude?"

A New Political Party?

The words have been blaring at me for the past few weeks. "What happened to our country?" "Our increasingly unrecognizable civilization." "Where has my country gone?" And more. The past few years have made an incredible (and I don't toss around that term as loosely as most) transformation of the United States. It may be hyperbole, but much of US society might well be "unrecognizable" just a few short decades ago. We all know about the government response to CoVid, it's often arbitrary, contradictory, and even ridiculous orders. I don't know if the politicians and bureaucrats have "saved lives" or even brought the virus to a quicker end. More recent revelations, often ignored by the mainstream media, strongly indicate thinking people don't either. ("Believing" is not "knowing.") There's no need to recount in detail what we do know, that the government and bureaucratic orders have caused irreparable damage to the US--economically, socially, psychologically, and more. Only the willfully blind can deny that. Businesses, jobs, and income lost. Increases in suicides, spousal violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. The harm, educationally, socially, and psychologically, to our youths. All this in the guise of something that we don't know, "saving lives." For whatever reasons, too, Americans have shifted their attitudes, being increasingly acquiescent to government, well, dictates. A recent article describing oppostion to government mandates decried it as "rebellious attitude." Hmmm. "Rebellious" for trying to stand up for rights and liberty? Americans are far more tolerant of dishonesty and other formerly bad behaviors, especially if it comes from their guy/side. We have accepted inequality before the law. Our government has become decidedly unrepresenative. I, for one, have become convinced of the bankruptcy of the philosophies, principles, and policies by which we've been governed. There is a gigantic chasm between the reality of my life and the thoughts and actions of our elected representatives, those chosen to govern us. It may be arguable, but many Americans believe they have been deprived of a place in the present political system. (I acknowledge that much of American history shows that many groups have also been deprived. That was wrong. But it's also wrong to deprive others while tryng to "fix" that.) For people in this new group which feels deprived, the "representative" part of representative government doesn't exist for them. American democracy has developed an unrepresentative character. Are the only viable alternatives for this large mass of people to either retreat further into a state of apathy, accepting the modern verson of the Roman "bread and circuses" (government handouts, television and movies, sports, etc.), or assaulting the system, perhaps violently? This has been done by the rioters, er "peaceful protesters," in many of our cities. There have been assaults on government properties and even officials, well, if they are members of the wrong political party. But perhaps there is another option. To me, the Democrats and Establishment Republicans do not conform to the traditional two-party system employed by the US from the late 1700s and early 1800s. As noted, they have become bankrupt in their philosophies and principles. The Democrats submit to the craziest, looniest members of their party. To justify their undemocratic, authoritarian, etc. policies (and goals), they often redefine terms to suit themselves. The Republicans have lost their soul. For instance, where the Democrats urge the spending of trillions of federal dollars, the Establishment GOP counters with spending only a lesser amount of trillions of dollars. If we are not too far gone, the answer might lie in a new political party, one that represents more of the people than either the Democrats or the Republicans. I'm not talking about a splinter party (The Bull Moose Progressives, the American Independents) as we've seen in the past nor a third/minor party (The Libertarians, the Green Party). Sometimes they have been sigificant, but usually only in helping to determine the outcomes of Presidential elections, for instance in 1848, 1912, 1948, and 1992. (We might even argue that in regard to Lincoln's election in 1860.) It's apparent the Green Party candidacies of Ralph Nader in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016 affected the results. No, a real major party. We haven't had one since the current Republican Party was founded in 1854. In its own way, the early Republican Party satisfied, at least in part, old Whigs, the Freesoilers, and unhappy Democrats (over slavery). The Republicans offered new philosophies and principles. It was remarkably successful almost from the start. In 1856, its candidate John C. Fremont (The Pathfinder, what a cool nickname!) narrowly lost the Presidential election to Democrat James Buchanan. And of course, the Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected four years later. This will not be easy and, frankly, I don't see it happening for many reasons. Roadblocks include the vast infusion of money into the political system, a lapdog media, and, well, the apathy of American citizens. Additionally, can we find men and women who are willing and courageous enough to search for and promote alternatives to the obsolete and bankrupt policies of the current two major parties? Unless they embrace "wokeism," people with new ideas or ideas that return us to more traditional American princples are attacked, even dishonestly. They are assaulted by the two current parties and by the media, often dishonestly. Donald Trump did this with a number of possible hopes, destroying their futures with lies. We'll see and I can hope. More later.

It seems to me that, in our complacency, we are letting the loons run the show. Oh, the loons are a very distinct minority, what maybe one or two percent of the people? And most of them don't think, but merely follow what sounds good to their feeble minds. The latest idiocy is criticism of the word "mother." No, we aren't supposed to use "mother," nope. It's "birthing person." I don't watch television so I don't know for certain, but I read some networks have bought in to this. This is textbook for those seeking radical changes. Redefine words to mean what they really don't mean. Perhaps we need to start teaching Animal Farm, 1984, etc. in the schools again. They'd better get thinking (ha ha ah). "Father's" Day is only four or five weeks away. We even redefine people. "When is Willie Mays not Willie Mays? When he's Willie McCovey." At least according to the Speaker of the House. I wonder if she knows when a door is not a door or a car is not a car. Despite still high unemployment rates, many businesses can't find enough employees. I've seen signs all over the place, "Help Wanted." I think I've never seen so many. Fast food. Other restaurants. Machine shops. Grocery stores. Golf courses. Even Starbucks! (No, I don't do Starbucks.) Ask employers and they will say, "I can't find workers." And why is that? Hmmm. Let's see. If the federal government is giving money for people not to work, maybe that's something to consider. The unemployed don't even have to show they are actively seeking work; the money still comes and has been extended, I believe, until at least September. What we hear from the loons is that businesses should increase pay; workers will come back then. Could this be an artificial and nefarious way to raise the miniumum wage to $15 or more an hour? But it still doesn't employ market forces. It's a sneaky, dishonest way to use government to get what is likely not going to happen legitimately (well, at least through legislation). Use taxpayer money to force employers to raise income. That's very dishonest, but what's a little dishonesty among political friends? I've noticed prices going up on practically everything. Gasoline costs a dollar more per gallon than it did a year ago, both nationally and around here. Food prices at the grocery store have shot up; I know since I do the majority of shopping. Many sale prices are higher than the regular pre-Biden prices. And consumer costs will continue to increase. Corn commodities have gone up 50%. Lumber prices have increased four-fold. Used cars cost 30% than just a few months ago. I'm sure the influx of all that federal money is driving the inflation (demand-pull; more dollars chasing fewer goods). But it appears the loons in DC don't know much about economics. "Economics? Is that still around?" Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. Credit to Mark Twain. The CDC released figures on outdoor gatherings during CoVid. The risk of transmission is "less than 10%." Yes, it is. But it's a lot "less." The actual figure on outdoor transmission is "less than one-tenth of one percent." I suppose it might be argued that .001 is less than 10. But that is very, very misleading, by a factor of 100. And we still follow what these loons tell us to do?

"The New Normal"

Like so many of the terms that have turned our world topsy-turvy, I dislike "the new normal." It joins "social justice," "social distancing," and you can imagine others. So, are the following episodes examples of "the new normal?" If so, count me out--way out! In Texas, BLM thugs were blocking streets/roads in a suburb of Dallas. When motorists called the police, squad cars arrived. The thugs weren't arrested. They weren't even told to leave the streets, to leave the motorists alone. Nope. The drivers were told if they didn't shape up, they would be arrested. "I was just following orders." Hmmm..... Where and when have we heard that before? In Canada, a pastor was arrested by a SWAT team for, get this, "inciting" his parishoners to come to Sunday services. Yep, a SWAT team and church services. "I was just following orders....." At UMass in Amherst (not "The Fairest College," down a road a few miles to the south), three students were suspended, given only remote classes, for attending a party, off-campus, without masks, and then having pictures of them show up on some site. The university officials then took action. Oh, then the students were denied the remote classes and told they had to re-apply for admission for fall classes, but it was too late to get university housing. Oh, they won't get their tuition or room and board refunded from this semester/year. As for the snitch who turned in the photos to the administration..... I suppose it could be their version of "I was just following orders....." The students' parents have sued, citing a few weeks ago a campus celebration of the UMass national hockey championship. The celebration, widely photographed, showed students without masks, not "social distancing," etc. Nothing was done to any of those students or staff members. Oh, and in violation of the Mass gov's orders, the university held a parade. Why aren't the administrators summarily fired for breaking the law??? And some guy took to the Sunday newspaper to advocate "shaming" those who opt not to get the vax. That the Free Press actually chose to run this nut's op-ed speaks for itself. Right off the bat the author shows himself to be a bit off. He cites "Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor....." First, there are a lot of people who would dispute that, with ample evidence to back them up. Fauci, the writer claims, said "if 75% to 85%...got vaccinated we could reach herd immunity by June." Who would believe this? Early on, Fauci said wearing masks wasn't needed. What about the "15 days" to allow us to catch up with the virus? Now it's double masks. Masks until 2022. I would think the "top infectious disease doctor" would be changing his mind so often. Besides, how can we trust a guy who couldn't throw a baseball 20 feet?!?!?! The writer also claims that "a quarter of the country," those who don't want to get the vax, "is ruining it for all of us." Hmmm..... What about the far, far greater percentages of politicians, bureaucrats, and policy-changing "experts" who are "ruining it" for so many people? Start with the businesses and companies that have faild. Many people have lost their jobs or, at the least, income. Look how closing the schools has has such a negative effect in so many ways on students. Suicides. Spousal abuse. Drug use and deaths. This guy doesn't seem to care about "ruining" these people's lives. This part was hilarious. "Biden's wildly successful vaccine rollout....." What a fool and tool! Does this guy not remember Biden's and Harris's skepticism (Harris' own word) about the vaccine when Trump was President? He obviously doesn't know that Biden and his crew received their vax while Trump was still President and that 1,000,000 Americans were getting the vax each day before Biden was inaugurated. I wonder if this author wants to "shame" people who text and talk on their cell phones while driving? There are many other instances, too, that we could ask the same. But I know, I know..... "That's different." Yep, it always is.