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As the New Year asserts itself — a year that begins in global lockdown and political shock-and-awe — an extraordinary question emerges: Are we on the brink of real change?

Are we moving, politically speaking, beyond the small and stupid? Is the era of Trump really over? Assuming that to be the case is far too easy. Trump, after all, was and is part of the change, the breakdown of the status quo. You might say he’s been the coronavirus of American politics — he certainly has been infectious.

But simply “going back to normal” — swearing Biden in, returning to the political clichés we’re used to, appropriating another trillion dollars for national defense and corporate militarism, feigning concern over climate change but essentially ignoring it, yada, yada — leaves us wide open to the looming collapse.

n his infamous one-hour shakedown of Georgia’s Secretary of State, wise-guy Donald Trump TWICE calls himself a “schmuck.” It’s a gross undershot.

You may be hearing clips of that conversation. But no American should miss the whole mobster rant that Trump has clearly aimed at us all.

Sounding like a Godfather hit man, Trump verbally derides himself for having supported Brian Kemp, the KKK-style governor who stripped the state’s voter rolls in 2018 to defeat Stacy Kemp. (Trump trashes her too.)

But Kemp won’t hand Trump Georgia’s electoral votes. Nor will Secretary of State Ken Raffensperger, himself a bigly vote purger.

Kemp and Raffensperger did all they could to prevent Georgians of youth and color from voting this fall. The huge lines marring the January 5 runoffs for US Senate have underscored their strategy of making it as hard as possible for “undesirables” to cast a ballot in Georgia.

But the Prez needs about 12,000 votes to steal the Peach State’s Electoral College delegation. He treats them all like cheap chips from the Don’s bankrupt casinos.

The threat of fascism will hardly disappear when Donald Trump moves out of the White House in two weeks. On Capitol Hill, the Republicans who’ve made clear their utter contempt for democracy will retain powerful leverage over the U.S. government. And they’re securely entrenched because Trumpism continues to thrive in much of the country.

Yet, in 2021, progressives should mostly concentrate on challenging the neoliberalism of Democratic Party leaders. Why? Because the neoliberal governing model runs directly counter to the overarching responsibilities of the left -- to defeat right-wing forces and to effectively fight for a decent, life-affirming society.

I appreciate Congresswoman Joyce Beatty's annual commemoration of Rosa Parks on December 1. At the time of Ms. Parks' death on October 24, 2005, Ohio's 3rd District Congresswoman Beatty acted to declare December 1, Rosa Parks Day in honor of her actions on that day in 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

We must continue to speak up for the voiceless in Black History and current events. Claudette Colvin is another one of those unsung (s)heroes. At age fifteen Ms. Colvin preceded Parks' action by nine months when she refused to give up her seat on the bus on her way home from Montgomery, Alabama High School. When asked why she did not give up her seat, she referred to Black History and answered: "it felt as though Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing me down on the other shoulder. https://www.southernliving.com/culture/claudette-colvin

By now, most people are aware of the US obesity statistics. In 2016, almost 70 percent of US adults were obese of overweight says the CDC. That means normal sized people are in the minority. (Some are even considered "anorexics.")

On December 21, the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package, as part of a larger $2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year. As usual, US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel. 

From ancient religious figures to poets to today’s self-improvement gurus, observing the New Year has conveyed a forward-thinking sense of optimism and possibility. Of wiping the proverbial slate clean and starting over, leaving the past behind in order to go on to bigger, better things. Buddha extolled followers to believe, “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” T.S. Eliot noted: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” While motivational speaker Tony Robbins proclaims: “New Year = A New Life! Decide today who you will become, what you will give how you will live.”

Dr. Seuss wrote about “How the Grinch stole Christmas” – but is President Trump the Orange Ogre who will steal New Year’s? Since coming into office Trump has been the ultimate annual buzzkill, casting a pall and ominous shadow over January’s glad tidings, as if he’s determined to ruin the sensibility of hopefulness that usually accompanies the passage of the old year into the new.

he whole world is watching Georgia’s US Senate runoff elections. Set to finish January 5th, the elections will decide who controls the balance of power in the pivotal next US Congress.

With them comes a “hidden” down-ballot Georgia Public Service Commission race that hovers over America’s last two big nuke reactors … and that could upend the whole Senatorial outcome.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into the state. Every nanosecond of radio/TV time has been bought and overpaid for.

The preliminary battles have raged over voter registration and turnout, precinct closures, misinformation about where people can vote, intimidation of citizens waiting in line during early voting, rejection of “flawed” ballots, and much more.

But they all pale before one issue: will there be a fair and accurate vote count?

The answer depends on whether grassroots citizen groups can muster the expertise, the staff, and the clout to make sure ballots are correctly marked, properly scanned, and accurately counted — and then rightly recounted.

It’s a decisive undertaking.

Before Antony Blinken can become Secretary of State, Senators must approve. And before that, they must ask questions. Here are some suggestions for what they should ask.

1. Second to the war on Iraq, which of the disasters you’ve helped facilitate do you most regret, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, or something else? And what have you learned that would improve your record going forward?

2. You once supported dividing Iraq into three nations. I’ve asked an Iraqi friend to draw up a plan to divide the United States up into three nations. Without yet seeing the plan, what is your initial reaction, and which state do you most hope to not end up with?

3. The trend from the Bush years to the Obama years to the Trump years is now one of moving away from ground wars in favor of air wars. This often means more killing, more injuring, more making people homeless, but an even higher percentage of that suffering on the non-U.S. side. How would you defend this trend if you were teaching children about morality?