471 Comments

Hooray for the Arkansas parents suing the state over the law against wearing masks! May many other parents in other states follow suit.

Expand full comment

'As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world, democracy’s defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny.' (Freedom House).

Yes, that's heavy, and I believe it. Writing down the number of the people in the USA who died, so far, as a result of covid, abetted by the negligence of the former presidents, malfeasance by a number of governors and the spread of misinformation by Fox News, social media, particularly on Facebook feels like another form of cruelty , which I do not want to participate in this morning.

We need to remember and defeat the anti-democracy and anti-public health perpetrators: DeSantis, Abbott, Ron Johnson, Bannon, Stephen Miller, Tucker Carlson. Rupert Murdoch, Mark Zuckerberg, et al.

We also cannot forget those who objected to the presidential election results,: Senators: Ted Cruz (TX)Josh Hawley (MO)Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS)Cynthia Lummis (WY) John Kennedy (LA)Roger Marshall (KS)Rick Scott (FL)Tommy Tuberville (AL).

Members of the House: Robert Aderholt (AL)Rick Allen (GA)Jodey Arrington (TX)Brian Babin (TX)Jim Baird (IN)Jim Banks (IN)Cliff Bentz (OR)Jack Bergman (MI)Stephanie Bice (OK)Andy Biggs (AZ)Dan Bishop (NC)Lauren Boebert (CO)Mike Bost (IL)Mo Brooks (AL)Ted Budd (NC)Tim Burchett (TN)Michael Burgess (TX)Ken Calvert (CA)Kat Cammack (FL)Jerry Carl (AL)Buddy Carter (GA)John Carter (TX)Madison Cawthorn (NC)Steve Chabot (OH)Ben Cline (VA)Michael Cloud (TX)Andrew Clyde (GA)Tom Cole (OK)Rick Crawford (AR)Warren Davidson (OH)Scott DesJarlais (TN)Mario Diaz-Balart (FL)Byron Donalds (FL)Jeff Duncan (SC)Neal Dunn (FL)Ron Estes (KS)Pat Fallon (TX)

Michelle Fischbach (MN)Scott Fitzgerald (WI)Chuck Fleischmann (TN)Virginia Foxx (NC)Scott Franklin (FL)Russ Fulcher (ID)Matt Gaetz (FL)Mike Garcia (CA)Bob Gibbs (OH)Carlos Gimenez (FL)

Louie Gohmert (TX)Bob Good (VA)Lance Gooden (TX)Paul Gosar (AZ)Garret Graves (LA)Sam Graves (MO)Mark Green (TN)Marjorie Greene (GA)Morgan Griffith (VA)Michael Guest (MS)

Jim Hagedorn (MN)Andy Harris (MD)Diana Harshbarger (TN)Vicky Hartzler (MO)Kevin Hern (OK)

Yvette Herrell (NM)Jody Hice (GA)Clay Higgins (LA)Richard Hudson (NC)Darrell Issa (CA)

Ronny Jackson (TX)Chris Jacobs (NY)Mike Johnson (LA)Bill Johnson (OH)Jim Jordan (OH)John Joyce (PA)Fred Keller (PA)Trent Kelly (MS)Mike Kelly (PA)David Kustoff (TN)Doug LaMalfa (CA)

Doug Lamborn (CO)Jacob LaTurner (KS)Debbie Lesko (AZ)Billy Long (MO)Barry Loudermilk (GA)

Frank Lucas (OK)Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO)Nicole Malliotakis (NY)Tracey Mann (KS)Brian Mast (FL)

Kevin McCarthy (CA)Lisa McClain (MI)Daniel Meuser (PA)Mary Miller (IL)Carol Miller (WV)Alex Mooney (WV)Barry Moore (AL)Markwayne Mullin (OK)Gregory Murphy (NC)Troy Nehls (TX)

Ralph Norman (SC)Devin Nunes (CA)Jay Obernolte (CA)Burgess Owens (UT)Steven Palazzo (MS)

Gary Palmer (AL)Greg Pence (IN)Scott Perry (PA)August Pfluger (TX)Bill Posey (FL)Guy Reschenthaler (PA)Tom Rice (SC)Mike Rogers (AL)Hal Rogers (KY)John Rose (TN)Matt Rosendale (MT)David Rouzer (NC)John Rutherford (FL)Steve Scalise (LA)David Schweikert (AZ)Pete Sessions (TX)Jason Smith (MO)Adrian Smith (NE)Lloyd Smucker (PA)Elise Stefanik (NY)Greg Steube (FL)

Chris Stewart (UT)Glenn Thompson (PA)Tom Tiffany (WI)William Timmons (SC)Jefferson Van Drew (NJ)Beth Van Duyne (TX)Tim Walberg (MI)Jackie Walorski (IN)Randy Weber (TX)Daniel Webster (FL)Roger Williams (TX)Joe Wilson (SC)Rob Wittman (VA)Ron Wright (TX)Lee Zeldin (NY).

Blinding isn't it, and there are a lot more where they came from.

To know a bit more about Tucker Carlson the propagandist voice of the White right and a master anti-critical race theory, here is link to a portrayal of him in the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tucker-carlson/2021/07/13/398fa720-dd9f-11eb-a501-0e69b5d012e5_story.html?

Now to the sunning side of the street.

'With Capitol Sit-In, Cori Bush who has Galvanized a Progressive Revolt Over Evictions'

'Refusing to move from the Capitol steps, the first-term congresswoman from St. Louis intensified pressure on the Biden administration and showed her tactics could yield results'. (New York Times)

Meet an entirely different Bush, unrelated to the Bushes we've come to know pretty well. She's been evicted three times in her life. She was an activist in Ferguson, Mo., after a white police officer shot and killed a Black teenager named Michael Brown. 'Ms. Bush — now 45 and a first-term Democratic congresswoman from St. Louis'.

Many of us are understandably weary and worried. Sometimes we don't want to do anything but stay in bed, or have a drink -- better yet, party with family and friends -- really party. Cori Bush is one of those people -- a shining star -- who makes us happy, feel stronger and more determined to make democracy come true -- smiling and taking action. Here is more about congresswoman, Cori Bush:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/us/politics/cori-bush-eviction-moratorium.html

Expand full comment

Watching the citizens of AR debate, without reason, without facts, without common sense Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his plea to become vaccinated was astounding. That rude, angry bunch demonstrated, to a person, their ignorance and intolerance of anything that’s not ‘my, me, mine’. How is it that 600k people in the US have died in approximately 18 months from the virus, and yet these Darwin Award nominees refuse to protect themselves? Beyond unreal.

Expand full comment

I live in Florida, most of the time. I am hearing from friends that the situation is dire there right now. I actually thought of going to the local Italian immigration office to apply for asylum. I’m afraid to come home.

How has it come to this, when I feel safer in a foreign country?

Expand full comment

I had an aha moment yesterday when someone mentioned smoking in the context of vaccine resistance. As a former smoker I remember well my complete resistance to anyone telling me I was slowly killing myself by smoking. Basically liberal and compassionate on most things I was completely stubborn about my smoking and my right to keep doing it no matter the harm to myself and others. Vaccine resistance is like smoking. “No one can tell me what to do” was my mantra while a smoker. But smokers came to accept that they couldn’t smoke on planes or in buildings that prohibited it. That’s why I believe mandatory vaccination would work for all but the most hard core. While personally stubborn, when rules are set and enforced there can be a sense of relief in being forced to follow them - having one’s stubbornness over ridden when secretly you know it’s the right thing.

Years ago after quitting smoking I was walking through an airport in Germany and there was a glassed in smoking area. I remember looking at all the smokers puffing away and being hardly able to believe I was once one of them. While requiring quarantine for the vaccine resistant seems impossible, we need to think of something to protect ourselves. Mandating the vaccine seems like the only answer. Like smokers, they will never get the vaccine voluntarily.

Expand full comment

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” - Samuel Johnson

Expand full comment

And now we can look forward to the bully motorcyclists proclaiming their maskless, helmetless freedom in Sturgis South Dakota this weekend for ten superspreading days. And the press will be there to make them heroes. If you don’t want to wear a helmet in a state that has no requirement, that is a personal choice that affects only you and the ER staff who have to treat you. Wearing a mask, like not smoking in public, is a public health issue and shows respect for others in your community. It’s way past time to stop the spread.

Don’t trust the vaccine? Talk to the compulsive liar idjt who pushed warp speed on us, had the vaccine secretly in January and told us not to vaccinate our children.

❤️NJ Governor Murphy described them perfectly—ultimate knuckleheads.

Expand full comment

The covid19 Delta variant isn't spreading among the unvaccinated just in southern states with potential immigrants coming in. Nor is it only caught and passed on by the unvaccinated. It's spreading everywhere that people are unvaccinated.

My sister in Vermont reported that two of her vaccinated friends went to Cape Cod on vacation where they spent time in Province Town, a covid19 hotspot. Crowds can be thick both outdoors and inside restaurants and shops. Her friends returned to Vermont with covid19 and a week of feeling quick sick. They of course exposed many people both home and away.

Yesterday, a friend in Maine learned that a young OR nurse who refused the vaccination came down with covid19. The nurse helped with a community event days before testing positive. She has exposed many people at work, at home and at the events she has attended without the vaccine or making. Our friend will be testing for covid19 and fearful of those in the community that haven't vaccinated, don't wear masks and don't share that they are vaccinated.

In many ways, conditions are worse because we have the assumption that vaccinated people will not catch covid19 and won't pass it on. While we are significantly more protected, we aren't free from this pandemic.

At Walgreens yesterday, all the staff were masked. I spoke with an older staff manager asking about her experience with covid19. She expressed her aggravation with those who aren't vaccinated. She was vaccinated in December 2020 when she and her staff helped with a clinic. The extra shot in each bottle enabled her and her staff to get vaccinated ahead of schedule. Walgreens now tests for covid19. The manager said there has been enough vaccine and time to vaccinate everyone and put this behind us. Instead, we need to go back to masks, cannot trust those around us and risk the health, safety and long term well being of our children who cannot be vaccinated yet.

The politicians who have used covid19 and masking for their extremist FOX politics and campaigning are criminals. This is not free speech. This is manslaughter at best and premeditated murder at worse. Anyone who cast anthrax around in public would be taken into custody, prosecuted and imprisoned for a very long time. This should be done with the anti covid19 health measures.

Expand full comment

Thank you Heather Cox Richardson for all of your efforts. You are a bedrock of sanity in this ever increasing chaos of information. I am a subscriber but oftentimes that does not seem enough.

Expand full comment

TODAY'S PARABLE FROM THE BACKWARD SOUTH

A farmer was enormously proud of his mule and constantly bragged to his neighbors how obedient it was. "All you have do is ask politely, and it will do whatever you want."

Having heard this before, one of his neighbors was having nothing of it this time. "All mules are stubborn," he said, " and I don't believe yours is any different."

"But my mule is different," said the farmer. "It's well-behaved, and all you have to do is ask nicely and it will do whatever you want."

"I still don't believe you," the neighbor retorted. "Show me."

So the farmer took him out to the barn, and there in a stall at the back was the mule. Just as they walked up to it, the farmer leaned down, picked up a two-by-four, and smacked the mule over the head.

Stunned, his neighbor asked, "What are you doing? I thought you said your mule was obedient and would do whatever you asked?"

"Ah, yes," the farmer answered, "but you've got to get its attention first.

I suppose even the most stubborn, mule-headed, anti-vax, science denier finally gets it when certain death hits him in the head.

Expand full comment

I’m not surprised that FL Governor Ron DeSantis is deferring to the border crisis, when confronted about his deadly negligence. He is using the same failed strategy against the virus as Republicans have been using against immigrants along the Southern border. It like building a twelve foot wall against the virus, but then the virus builds a thirteen foot ladder and crawls over it. Yesterday, with his state idling at a 49.1% vaccination rate, Governor DeSantis said, "I think it's very important that we understand that the best defenses we have are the combination of the natural immunity that's been built up, and our seniors-first vaccination efforts," yet his state needs to vaccinate at least 85-90% of its population in order to achieve herd immunity with this new variant. With every new level of variant reached by the Coronavirus, Republicans reach a new level of negligence and criminality. They think they’re smarter than immigrants and the Coronavirus, but they’re obviously not.

Expand full comment

The idea that Governor DeSantis is using the playbook of Orban, DT and other autocrats when he tries to throw the blame on immigrants is quite disturbing. Thank you, HCR, for connecting those dots for me. Having a people to hate is an important key to an autocrat's power and a way to divert the attention away from who is really taking people's rights away from them. Masks is another diversion away from the autocrat's intentions. The ploy that one's freedom is being forcibly taken away works on the ignorant. Freedom without responsibility is the signature of anarchy not democracy. With freedom and its rights comes the responsibility to protect those same rights in others most certainly including the right to life. What Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott are doing is calling for the genocide of their constituents. It is even more frightening that in doing so, they are making sure all of us have to live with COVID variants for decades rather than stomp it out now before it has a chance to become something worse. Maybe unwittingly this is their climate crisis plan to significantly reduce populations of humans in order to cut down on CO2 emissions.

Expand full comment

I am continuously struck by the irony of how the "Party of Life" seems to wallow in death "My body, my choice!".................unless it comes to the subject of abortion.

Expand full comment

Thank you Heather.

Whenever I read the dismissive remarks from the QOP Governors regarding C-19, I always think I'm reading old news until I realize these are current statements. They are pushing this narrative with the same gusto as the Big Lie. Are the people in those States that ignorant to accept this bullshit or are they that far into the rabbit hole that they have nowhere to turn around? Maybe both.

If ignorance is bliss, these must be very happy people.

Be safe, be well.

Expand full comment

“DeSantis blamed Florida’s devastating virus numbers on immigrants coming over the nation’s border with Mexico into Texas.”

I guess I will need to take a closer look at the map to find out where Texas and Florida share a border … hmmmmm

Expand full comment

DeSantis spouts dangerous ignorance solely to appeal to Trump’s belligerently ignorant voter base. Obviously, everything DeSantis says is carefully crafted to gain the support of that idiotic “you’re not the boss of me” demographic. No matter, to either DeSantis or the MAGA crowd, that thousands will die because he denies medical science (science that we all know he understands). Floridians need to sue DeSantis for wrongful death. He’s no different from the tobacco companies who continued to push cigarettes despite knowing they caused cancer and heart disease. To protect the people of Florida, DeSantis needs to be prosecuted and put behind bars.

Expand full comment