Lockdown Day 290: As the Calendar Turns
Today is December 31. Tonight is New Year's Eve. And I... don't care. I will not be "ringing in the new year" tonight. Partly that's because social gatherings are on hiatus, as they have been for now 290 days. And partly that's because there's nothing new after tonight other than a new page in the calendar.
"But 2021 will bring political change!" some people gush. Maybe.
We'll have a new president in the US on January 20, but the administration of President Joe Biden will be hamstrung for at least 2 years by the proven intransigence of the likely Republican majority in the Senate. And even if laws promoting equity in society do get past "Moscow Mitch" they might be shut down by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority anchored by conspiracy-theory-peddling party loyalists who value corporate profit over human rights and members of the religious majority over everyone else.
"2021 will be when we defeat Coronavirus!" some argue. I sure hope it is. I would like nothing more than to get to The After Times, similar to The Before Times, aka The Long-Long Ago. But January 1 is no red-letter today. Distribution of the vaccine began 3½ weeks ago. While that might have been a red-letter day my enthusiasm for it has been tempered by the US's utterly fumbled rollout of vaccine distribution. Seriously, news today is that we have 40 million doses, which were targeted to be distributed to 20 million people by 12/31, yet only 2 million people have gotten doses so far. Nobody in a position of leadership is able to articulate a clear, credible statement for where, how, and to whom the other 90% of the currently available vaccine is supposed to be distributed. I'm optimistic we'll get there eventually, but right now is no time for celebration.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/14709.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]
"But 2021 will bring political change!" some people gush. Maybe.
We'll have a new president in the US on January 20, but the administration of President Joe Biden will be hamstrung for at least 2 years by the proven intransigence of the likely Republican majority in the Senate. And even if laws promoting equity in society do get past "Moscow Mitch" they might be shut down by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority anchored by conspiracy-theory-peddling party loyalists who value corporate profit over human rights and members of the religious majority over everyone else.
"2021 will be when we defeat Coronavirus!" some argue. I sure hope it is. I would like nothing more than to get to The After Times, similar to The Before Times, aka The Long-Long Ago. But January 1 is no red-letter today. Distribution of the vaccine began 3½ weeks ago. While that might have been a red-letter day my enthusiasm for it has been tempered by the US's utterly fumbled rollout of vaccine distribution. Seriously, news today is that we have 40 million doses, which were targeted to be distributed to 20 million people by 12/31, yet only 2 million people have gotten doses so far. Nobody in a position of leadership is able to articulate a clear, credible statement for where, how, and to whom the other 90% of the currently available vaccine is supposed to be distributed. I'm optimistic we'll get there eventually, but right now is no time for celebration.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/14709.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]