Cheers to the end of the current Congress on Sunday. The next Congress, the 117th, begins at and the beginning of the next one, also on Sunday. There are 45 new Republican members of the House, and 15 new Dems. That the Dems lost so many seats, at a time when they were hoping for a 'blue wave,' is not a good sign, but we'll see how things go. There are also two new Dem Senators and six new Rs, with two seats to be decided in Georgia on Tuesday.
Cheers to the Georgia runoffs. Voter registration was sky high, turnout has been high, and the polls are tight - not that anyone dares pay attention to polls, right? It is fun to look at the push me-pull you aspects of the race, where Trump-supporting extremists are still saying the November election was rigged and so there's no reason to vote in the runoffs, while the at the same time the president, the president-elect, and many others are going to Georgia to drum up voter excitement and drive turnout. I expect we'll see two red wins, but you never know. I think maybe what we all should be rooting for, regardless of our politics, is an early decision, so we can get over our bad selves and move on. It's long past time that we put the 2020 election to bed.
Cheers to progress with vaccines. I don't think we were even close to hitting the promised 20,000,000 vaccines by 12/31/20. And we're hearing horror stories about distribution plans - or the lack thereof, vaccines sitting in warehouse undistributed, and of course there's the by now par-for-the-course finger-painting coming from a certain guy with a really popular Twitter account. And we had a fired hospital pharmacist arrested for purposefully tainting vaccines by leaving them out for too long, and we had some folks who received injections of Regeneron - a treatment, not the vaccine. And even given all of that, I believe that things are going to start falling into place, that we'll get the logistics and the arguing worked out so that folks will get the shot in their arm that we need in the country's arm. I believe it's going to get better sooner than later, and I hope you'll add your optimism to mine.
Cheers to Brexit. I've got no compelling personal interest in the UK's decision to leave the EU; I kind of think it was a bad idea, but I don't know enough to comment intelligently. I do, however, appreciate that they managed to get a deal done, finally, and that things both sides can move forward. This, too, is something we'll have to watch to see what the impact will be on the US and the rest of the world, and whether the folks who voted to leave will be happy with their victory. And, we'll have to wait and see if others (Poland, perhaps?) will be emboldened to have a 'leave' vote of their own.
Cheers to 2021. Rarely have so many, who disagree on so much, shared such an appreciation for the passage of time. The turning of the page on a calendar. The dropping of a crystal ball in Times Square. Fireworks over iconic landmarks around the world. Weird performances by musicians some of those watching have never heard of, or hope to never hear from again.
Our reasons for eagerly awaiting the arrival of 2021 surely include wanting to get past the worst of the pandemic - that one's shared by just about everybody. Others? Wanting to see the end of the Trump administration, or the start of the Biden Administration. The potential end of Mitch McConnell's reign of terror. A return to normalcy. The thrill of having the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs, and the Patriots watching on TV. They are endless, the reasons one wants to see the dawn of the new year - but even in times as divisive as these, most of us will agree we're glad 2020 is over, and we're looking forward to better things in 2021.
Cheers to us, and TGIF, everyone.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!