The 2022 Roller Coaster!

 

Better buckle up! Looks like 2022 is going to be a wild ride. Wacky far right conservatives and Republicans  are hellbent on killing as many of their constituents as possible. The Supreme Court striking down Biden's mandate might be cool in the land of legal theorizing but out here in the world of flesh and blood human beings, it is a death sentence. Yes, in a perfect world there should be no need for mandates, I get it. But we live in a world that thinks a TV "reality" star makes a good president, a world that thinks a casual google search is as good as lifetimes of scientific study and a world that allows social media companies too silo us into self-reenforcing echo-chambers filled with anger and hate. Smart companies will still require employees to be vaccinated. We still have weeks to go in the omicron wave. But it will end sooner or later or become endemic permanent background noise. We can still make better choices unless one political party get's it's way.

I doubt the Democrats will pass voting rights protections- surprise, surprise! In a normal time this may have cost us the republic but these are not normal times. Between now and the mid-terms there will be 24-7 coverage of the 1/6/2020 Panel revelations. The party of law and order is no more. I'm interested to see where the money in politics goes over the next few months. Will big business complete their takeover of the Democratic Party or go all in on a fascist USA ran by incompetent Republicans only interested in more tax cuts and further deregulation? The short-term answer is with Republicans but the buyer's remorse will be a bitch. We may not get a do-over... So get it right this time. And the rest of the world keeps turning.

We will know very soon about Russia and Ukraine. Sanctions seldom (if ever?) are a deterrent to aggression.  But Vladi and company do like their money. Russia would do well to remember what the United States always forgets: wars are easy to start, are unpredictable and difficult to end. China looks on with hungry eyes toward Twain but here the deterrent is more tangible. The US 6th Fleet, the Japanese and Australian Navies are not forces to trifle with. Still, any war involving nuclear armed powers is... never a good idea. Never ending tensions in the Middle East are another minefield to navigate this year. Let's hope we can avoid any more military adventures anytime soon. There are many more conflicts going on around the world.                  

And there is always the wildcard, the big events we don't know of yet. Yes, 2022 is going to be wild. Even if things go bad, future better decisions can turn it around. Keep your sense of hope, a strong sense of humor and work for positive outcomes. Please don't be a Debbie downer hitting the rest of us with negative waves. Remember despair is the best weapon of your enemy!