No one I know is sorry to see 2020 depart. I’m certainly not!
I want to wish all of you who visit here–those who comment and those who “lurk”–a much, much better 2021! We will soon have a sane occupant in the Oval Office, and a government managed by people who actually understand what a government is and how it is supposed to function.
Thanks to that new administration, those of us wanting protection against COVID-19 should have access to a vaccine by late spring–meaning we will once again be able to hug our family members, meet and mingle with our friends, and resume at least a semblance of our former activities.
Tonight–probably not at midnight, as I rarely stay up that late anymore!–I will raise a glass and wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. A year very different from the year we are completing.
See you tomorrow for my usual rant…..
Happy New Year to you, Sheila, your family and out family here on the blog. May 2021 also become a safe year for all.
I am still finding it a bit of a shock to see calm and rational Joe Biden appear with news of his administration appointees and messages of hope.
To paraphrase parts from beginning and end of Yeats’ “Second Coming”:
“…Things fell apart, their centre did not hold;
Mere anarchy was loosed upon our world,”
“And what rough beast, its end come round at last,
Slouches from Bethlehem to die out?”
“No one I know is sorry to see 2020 depart. I’m certainly not!”
Sorry to begin my 2021 comments with a “mea culpa” but that should of course read “our family on the blog”, not “out” Well; it’s been a really long year!
Yes. Happy New Year. Let’s hope the whining, mewling, corrupt, morally bankrupt Republican party disappears and a rational, pro-democracy, pro-American worker, pro-decency, pro-truth, pro-cooperation party emerges from the fetid slime that the current iteration became during the last four years.
I’m still trying to get literary agents to read my manuscripts before rejecting them. So far, since 2010, I’ve made exactly 1,578 queries for 11 projects without a single agent requesting to read a manuscript. Fiction? Non-fiction? Doesn’t matter. Fortunately, I found two publishers in 2020 who published 4 novels. There are two more novels ready for 2021. Maybe the Earth will shift on its axis and an agent will deign to read one of them.
Speaking of not holding one’s breath: I envision Biden’s first 100 days being much like a house renovation where huge dumpsters are filled with the gutting of the dwelling. His people will be so busy fixing and rebuilding the disaster left behind, that instituting new policy will be a kind of “oh, by the way”, situation. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell will continue to stack the courts and consolidate power over the budget; I don’t have all that much confidence that Warnock and Ossoff will be elected to the Senate. Too much institutionalized “conservative” redneck-ism in Georgia. I hope I’m wrong.
So, today we watch some football and take a break. Here in Colorado, us old farts have become of Phase I-B for vaccinations. Those of us over 70 are due shots in the next couple of weeks. Where and how they will be administered remains a mystery to us. Nonetheless, Colorado has a progressive governor and a Democratic-lead legislature. Other that idiots like Boebert from the western slope, my fair state is moving in the correct direction.
Happy New Year!!
I am one of the “lurkers”. Thank you Dr Kennedy and contributors for helping me through 2020.
Happy New Year to all. I won’t say it can’t get any worse than 2020, because we all know how close we came to having the bottom drop out. It will be nice to have a saner government out there, but that is just a start. We have a lot of work ahead of us, so relax and enjoy today. The battle begins again tomorrow.
Only “people” sorry to see 2020 depart are Trump and his vile band of villains. Twice during this past year I had dental procedures that caused me to think, as I left home for the final step in the process, “Today I’m getting what the Dumpster wants – a permanent crown.”
Happy new year all. The 2022 election cycle will begin in the next few months with the looming possibility of more Senate and House seats going to Trumpians. That could lead to “game over” for our democracy in 2024. We must not let either happen. The work begins tomorrow (ok, Monday)….
Another lurker here. Thank you for your blog. You have provided much needed sanity, clarity, and solid information in the past year.
Sheila-
We wish you and yours a SAFE and HEALTHY New Year. In addition to the SANITY that we anticipate being restored to the White House and DC, add the understanding of the US CONSTITUTION, with all of its limitations. A magnificent document that has stood a very trying test of time.
Ranting is a gift from you I cherish. Rant away.
After the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 when the Axis suffered a crushing defeat which turned the tide of the war in North Africa, Winston Churchill said:
“Now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The Trumpet and the Right Wing Reactionaries in the Republican Party hatched their “Birther” conspiracy theory, along with Obama is a Radical Muslim.
The same tune is being played today, now the words are Vote Fraud. Even though one report after another and one court defeat after another has proven no Fraud on the scale The Trumpet and his chief stooge Rudy alleges.
===========================
As an article in The Guardian states: “The impulse to throw facts at these problems is really strong, and it’s understandable,” she said “But simply saying what the facts are is not going to convince minds that aren’t already open.”
Conspiracy theories are the connective tissue between outgroup-directed enmity and denial of the obvious. Those who embrace them are more likely to hate others unlike themselves and believe the ludicrous.
=================
It is with total clarity you can say, a large section of our population believes the most fantastic fantasies. Science Fiction does have some basis in fact: Mysticism requires no facts just a belief in an alternative universe. There is no reasoning with the willfully ignorant who have constructed their own Universe.
Some elected GOP Officials now see the need to validate the willfully ignorant, not necessarily because they believe any of the Conspiracy-Mystical constructs – they know their Voting Base believes it.
I only wish I could rant so eloquently!
Happy New Year to all!
Happy 2021 to you, Sheila, and to our family. And to all the other readers of your blog and their families. May we all find health and some semblance of normal democracy in our Govrnment in the new year.
Only 19 days left for Trump to take down America, to be beatified by his deplorables, to award himself a Nobel Peace Prize, to enrich his IRA by transferring funds from the U.S. Treasury, and to pardon all the criminals whose company he finds so delightful. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem up to the challenge.
Thanks for helping us get through 2020 and for sharing your insights, Sheila. Your blog will continue to be a beacon of sensibility in 2021.
Happy New Year! Thank you for helping me keep my sanity during the previous unimaginably horrible year.
Happy 2020 in the rear view mirror everyone. We can do better.
Happy new year wishes to you, Sheila…and your family and the extended ”family” here. Sorry I didn’t discover you sooner but I’m glad I know you all now! You helped me get through this awful messuva’ year and I thank you for that!
I prefer to think of myself as a learner not a lurker. Thank you Dr Kennedy for helping me through this dreadful year. Happy New Year and Happy Retirement
Happy New Year Sheila and all you other nice participants. Together you all enlighten my day! Thank you. Irvin
I add my appreciation, Sheila, for your insightful blog and for the people who offer comment.
Here’s hoping for a more peaceful year free of trump and his Twitter rants.
Happy new year everyone! Enjoy retirement Sheila!
Indeed, a “learner”, not a lurker. Calm, good health, peace and security to all. May the New Year be more hopeful and engaging than the last.
I qualify as a faithful lurker. Insights, knowledge and chuckles at your turn of wit thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you for all you give us, and Happy New Year!
So glad Professor Kennedy that you share your insights in the structure of what’s going on. Many times you have clarified issues, and set the platform for an enriching exchange of ideas & experiences. You’ve all made this awful year more bearable. Thanks & Happy New Year!
Happy New Years! It will be so wonderful to have a grown up back in the White House! January 20th can’t come fast enough!
If anyone wants a New Year pick me up movie I recommend ‘Soul’ by Pixar. Funny, thought provoking and as always laughs for adults, teenagers and the kids!
My thoughts keep turning to 2024 and will Mark Cuban run for president? Would a tech savvy businessman (a successful one) be a good or great president? If he ran as a Republican I think he is the only candidate that could derail Trump train. Would he get fed up with Congress and use the power of the Presidency like Trump?
Oh well one year at a time! Lets get the USA vaccinated so we can get back to the new normal. With the virus mutating I am not sure what that will entail. Lets pray and hope for we can put covid behind us by the early summer.
A Happy New Year to all!
Please do not let your guard down, even if you get the inoculation(s). Hugging, kissing and the like will still be risky for some time .
The new year, the holiday season, LOL!
Why the emphasis?
The new year is Astronomical, it’s science-based and a study of everything outside of our earthly atmosphere. Astrological, is mystic, it is based on man’s philosophical ideas, not unlike what’s happening now inside of global politics.
Astronomical science gave us cosmology, to try and discover the origins of the universe, and, to search for other civilizations out there in the vastness of the cosmos.
Astrological mysticism has given us the earth sitting on the backs of giant turtles that are standing on the backs of giant elephants! It’s completely made up garbage that has permeated every aspect of society. Ronald Reagan ran his White House on the advice of his wife and her leanings towards astrology. And I would venture to say, many in the political realm lean on astrological advice.
So, we begin a new phase of politics, we claim it’s something unprecedented but it is happened in our history, our human history, many times before. And, in that history are the answers on how to deal with what’s happening right now. Unfortunately, all of the intellectuals do the same thing over and over again, it’s like the current Democratic Party emulates Neville Chamberlain! But you can’t combat insane bullies with pacifism!
It’s best to be Proactive rather than Reactive! Lighting up the Lincoln Memorial and having bells ring on January 5 and 6th, is only going to make those bullies, those ambitious power seekers more emboldened because it just denotes fear and not hope!
Will a better life change minds? Probably some, but the ones that are left are so entrenched in their hatred against everyone who is not them, their cowardice against change will motivate them to blow themselves up along with everyone else! You can’t reason with that sort of mentality. History shows it!
And, in the next few weeks, we are getting ready to repeat history again! Will this time be different? Will the pendulum swing with force and conviction in the opposite direction? I doubt it, and Neville Chamberlain is smiling! Positioning of stars and mystical convictions only confuse and mislead the many.
Happy New Year to all! ❤️?
May 2021 be better for all of us. Try to be hopeful. ?❤️?
Looking forward to retirement, I had an excellent year with managing my own stocks but with the end if year Im hoping investors keep up the pace and continue to keep us afloat as government races to get out the vaccine. With deaths in my own family due to Covid-19 and others spending time in locked away in nursing homes Im glad I live in this state as even our Governor has decided to lockdown and when the virus did finally hit the nursing home where my own mother stays it appeared to be less deadly as only one died from it last month.
Under Obama I did lose my cadillac healthcare plan so Im hoping like Robert Reich says we dont want Biden to be like Obama as their will be another Trump waiting to be elected. However our country moves forward I’m hoping it proves to contain better balanced regulations. The media is already saying it wont be vetting Biden like it vetted Trump according to Jim aCosta. Interesting when behind the scenes Ukraine has testimony out on his dealings abroad. No one will ever be concerned about his family receiving a billion dollars from China .
So its Washington with a career politician with financial backings all around. Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.
When will we find another JFK with his policies that will move our countries business forward and keep the demands of big government chronies at bay. Im hoping Biden will be that man and we can have four years of building back better instead of four years Obamas first term.
Happy new Year to everyone on this blog, i love to see your comments.
Union yes