Delaware Liberal

Late stage capitalism is hitting the US harder than the rest of industrialized world. There are many reasons for this (disinformation, unwalkable built environment, educational & consumer debt, wages kept low through government intervention,  insurance attached to employment, union-busting, skyrocketing rents, etc)  but a big one is the greedy oldsters keeping all the socialized medicine for themselves.

People in what is by far the poorest, most deprived, and most drug-plagued area of England (Blackpool) now have the same life expectancy as the average American, and vastly better health than people in West Virginia ...The most startling aspect of all this is the extent to which these astonishing gaps are not COVID-driven, but rather a product of an epidemic of drug overdose deaths, gun violence, suicide, and alcohol-abuse related maladies, i.e., what Anne Case and Angus Deaton identified as “deaths of despair” a decade ago. ...These are the symptoms of very serious social breakdown. And it’s hardly a coincidence that the one American age cohort subjected to the horrors of socialized medicine — the elderly — is the only cohort that has health outcomes that are as good as those found in countries that don’t have Freedom ™.

Republicans think that America has gone to shit.  I agree that it has, but not because Mexican drag queens are giving out free abortions & blow job instructions in every elementary school.  America has gone to shit because we've adopted sterile white light as the standard lighting, which is gross and unsettling. While we've always had some paces lit by awful florescent tubes, but these days too bright, and too white lighting is impossible to escape.  We ate a new restaurant last week and when my wife asked me how I liked I said it was horrible.  The lighting ruined it. I may be turning into Jimmy McGill's brother Chuck, or I might be on one side of the bell curve when it comes to lighting but today's lighting bothers the fuck out of me.   There are even rooms in my own home that I don't like going into because the light is awful.  And sadly, it looks like the dial only turns in one direction - toward worse and worse lighting.    

23% of Americans are fucking idiots, and when that 23% says "jump" entire media establishment (and most centrists Democrats) leap out of their chairs, through the ceiling and into low earth orbit.

Most Americans perceive Trump has engaged in improper behavior. A plurality of Americans (46%) think the former president has done something illegal, and an additional 29% consider Trump to have done something unethical but not illegal. Only 23% of Americans say Trump has done nothing wrong.

Trump is being defended in the "legitimate" media in some nonsensical ways. Here are a couple I've heard. There are many more. 1) Trump's crimes aren't really crimes.. For conservatives the only real crimes are street crimes. Crimes are things black people mostly do in cities. If a white person does something that appears to be a crime, they probably just didn't understand the law. 2) "The President" cannot commit crimes by virtue of the fact that he is President. This only applies to Republican presidents of course because they are the real Presidents. Also this immunity from prosecution extend to crimes committed by Republican Presidents that happened prior to becoming President (as in the Stormy Daniels case) because otherwise it would be "political" or something.

OK, I'm confused (said Captain Obvious).  Until it's adjusted, here is today's Senate Agenda.  No bills, but a message reading as follows:  "The Senate will reconvene on Tuesday, March 30,…