The whole structure of the U.S. Government is fundamentally unstable and incompatible with democracy. It should have collapsed into autocracy long ago, but the peculiarly American politics around race, which operated on an axis orthogonal to normal left/right cleavages, inhibited the formation of strongly sorted political parties. Passage of the Civil Rights act in 1965 dissolved that, the parties sorted and now we have this mess.

Anything short of throwing out the Constitution and starting from scratch only delays the inevitable. We have to abolish the Senate and the Presidency.

Re: Lil Nas X.

I mostly hate country music, and don't like rap much better. But Lil Nas X is hot as fuck, and his music seems kind of tongue in cheek. Like this new video is completely trashy, but kind of light-trashy with an amused smirk. I guess I'm kind of a reluctant convert to Lil Nas X.

1) Terribly sorry to learn of Larry McMurtry's passing. Good writer. He'll be missed. 2) The Georgia voter-suppression laws reek. No one with a conscience, right, left, or center, could or should support trashy legislation like this. Surely there can be evenhanded concerns that voters of all parties be of legal voting age, vote in the district of their residence, and be US citizens---but making it illegal to offer water to someone in a voting line? making it nearly impossible to vote via ballot-drop boxes? systematically using legislative majorities to gerrymander districts in Republicans' favor? and on and on... No, this is not defending American values. This is undermining American values. 3) I might have missed some stories recently, but The Stranger seems to have done very, very little reporting on the crisis---near civil war---in Myanmar. That is a HUGE story, with massive humanitarian and libertarian repercussions. Please: more reporting on the crisis in Myanmar. Hundreds---and probably many thousands---have already been killed, and the situation seems to be worsening. The mainstream media might focus on NFL trades, television pundits trading insults, and television stars' new shows. More reportage on Myanmar would be appreciated.

@5 it seems to me he is taking most of his queues from the Biden admin especially around school reopening and vaccination schedules.

Beverly Cleary was a crucial part of my early-grade education (and that of countless other mid-century kids) as one of the first children's authors who taught moral lessons with nuance and shades of gray rather than stark good-vs-evil dichotomy, suggesting that while those who do real damage should face real consequences, a little disobedience now and then makes life more interesting.

guesty, I generally agree with your point. Yes, broadly, Inslee is doing a far better job than a majority of governors around the country. Not perfect, which is unrealistic, but generally pretty good. Give him a B+, maybe and A-. I also agree that restaurant workers are kind of being screwed, in that they are essentially being told to go back to work in one of the more risky Covid environments without vaccines. This is certainly a wart on what has otherwise been pretty solid Covid policy, especially considering he's had to work against the Federal government for most of the last year (remember when Trump pulled the Navy medical ship and sent it to CA instead because he was pissed at Inslee? Good times!).

But don't hate on teachers. Inslee had initially left them in a lower priority group too, and only moved them up when the Biden admin recommended that teachers get a higher priority. That, and he was probably getting a lot of pressure from the teachers union, one of the more powerful unions in the state. And there's probably a solid argument that there is a greater public benefit to get schools open than get restaurants open (which is why it's stupid to allow restaurants to open before schools are).

This is one of those scenarios where we should not be pitting one group against another. It isn't a matter of who should get next in line: teachers vs. restaurant workers. We should be advocating for both groups to get vaccinated before being required to go back to work. If we can't give restaurant workers a vaccine yet, then we shouldn't be telling them to go back to work yet. You should be able to stay home until you can get a vaccine, and be compensated by unemployment until then.

So we finally hear a peep out of Patty, so we well get a mumble from Maria?

@ 1,

Most people and the worthless, lying corporate media are in total denial about how close we came to collapsing on January 6th, 2021.

If the raging moron Tr666p terrorists had succeeded in killing members of Congress with the goal of installing Prezinazi AntiChrist as dicktator for life, then the world's real democracies would've had no choice but to sanction the United States for a coup d'état, or else they would've green-lit fascist insurrections to overthrow their own governments.

Democratic governors would've had to choose whether to continue sending tax dollars to an illegitimate Republinazi dicktatorship, while the police and military would've imploded into factions fighting each other and unable to agree on a chain of command.

The collective result would've been the total implosion of the US government, financial system, and eCONomy in a bang so loud we wouldn't even hear it.

Now the "law enforcement" and "justice" systems can't even decide whether laws apply to white trash fascists, while the insiders in Congress that sponsored the failed coup are still in power to try again. There's a reason that traitors in functioning countries are either arrested or executed within a day of attempting to overthrow the government. Here we give 'em a cookie and encourage them to succeed next time.

The abject stupidity and oblivious, shameless incompetence of this nation's rulers combined with the insatiable, sociopathic greed of their oligarch puppet masters guarantees that a collapse is inevitable if Republinazis are ever in power again.

Baking and candlestick making? What do you have against butchering?

Horrifically bloody today in Myanmar, with at least 114 killed (and probably many more), including children. The military crackdown is utterly pitiless, and the situation grows more volatile and dangerous by the hour, especially for anyone deemed a protestor or dissenter. The junta will kill anyone to keep power. And, again: the mainstream media needs to focus on this story, not simply the latest rumors about NFL trades and insults exchanged by talk-show co-hosts. How bad does a situation have to become for it to receive significant coverage?

@13: Well, you read about it right? There are links to the story on the news sites.

Ink is rarely proportional to blood, the volume of coverage typically parallels what is relevant and of interest to the readers - whether it be Fox or Slog. A safe plane landing isn't interesting, and repeated violence and horror in a far away country is not as relevant or interesting as a supermarket shooting or the tiresome quest for relevance and respectibilty by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Shorter 14: Mainstream media will always be fickle because that's the human condition.

@13 and 14. Yes, granted: I did read about, so the story is clearly getting some coverage. But not enough, given the extremity of the situation. And this is one situation where I'm okay being a bit redundant to get some more people's attention. This isn't any other story, and the five hundredth story about pundits' prospective Russell Wilson trades--while effective clickbait--don't address this unfolding human tragedy. So, sure: there are some links to the story, and, sure, people want to read about the NFL and movie star scandals, and that's their right. Again, though: this isn't any other story. It's major news and should be treated as such, and the fact that it's a coup after a landslide victory should make Americans recognize more than simply computer links to it.

@7:

More so for us who grew up in Portland during the 1960's: she was literally writing about places we visited on a regular basis; kids we knew in those places; kids like us. Everybody knew a Henry Huggins or a Ramona Quimby - perhaps even their real-life counterparts. There was ambiguity, uncertainty in their stories, just like in our own lives, but we reveled in knowing, even though they were fictional, they were still a very real part of our own worlds.

It makes you wonder if anyone in the Biden Administration is talking to China:

"Are you going to do anything to stop the massacre of innocent civilians? No? Mind if we do? Oh, you DO? But you're not going to lift a finger to even talk to them about maybe not murdering their own citizens? In that case I guess you won't mind if we come to our own conclusions about your ability or desire to exert positive influence over the region?"

In Canada where everyone including young people have health care (and it's cheap), they have an upsurge of infections in the 12-36 year old range.

This is NOT a joke.

Wear your masks. Wash your hands. Stop acting like jerks.

No party for you.