So What To Expect for 2022?

In the THINGS THAT MATTER Category:

We should expect the COVID pandemic to continue on. The massive upturn in cases due to the Omicron variant means this January we're going to see overwhelmed hospitals and ICUs again with no foreseeable relief for our health care professionals.

The United States is heading into the Congressional Midterms, meaning the damned Beltway obsessions over the horse races between Republicans and Democrats are going to obscure everything else going on. The maddening drum beats of political warfare, with unhinged mudslinging and "gotcha" moments of increasing absurdity, is going to deafen and blind us all (again).

And still voter turnout is a necessity - despite all the storm and fury trying to drive voters away out of fatigue and anxiety - because Gods help us the Republicans are gerrymandering the districts and suppressing the voters like never before... and good old turnout is still the best way to overcome all that.

Our schools are going to be overwhelmed by the Far Right groups pursuing another round of book banning and ideology purging, such as the schools in Oklahoma getting threatened with a law weaponizing the bounty system to gift offended parents $10,000 per book in school libraries that offend them. Just think, an outraged grifter parent can complain about five different titles - hell, one of them can be the DICTIONARY that happens to include curse words like "hell" - in one week and steal earn $50k of easy money from our financially-strapped schools - an amount that's roughly an annual income for most Americans - without breaking a sweat.

Did I mention the ongoing COVID pandemic? Because it feels like this should be big news every night instead of getting overlooked while our HOSPITALS CROWD UP AGAIN.

The House Investigation into trump's January 6 Insurrection is reportedly looking at issuing more subpoenas, starting to look into the financial backing of the war rooms and overall organization that planned the riots. But they need to hurry: The committee needs to get all their criminal charges filed to the Department of Justice before any possibility of the Republicans retaking the House after November...

Speaking of investigations into trump, there are rumors that he's facing tax evasion and even racketeering charges from the New York federal prosecutors digging into trump's business misdeeds. It would be pretty to think so, but I'll believe it when I see trump himself perp-walked with handcuffs into the courtroom for the official charges.

And it would be nice to hear about any results from the criminal investigation in Cobb County regarding trump's effort to interfere with the ballot counting there.

There is little sign of sanity or calm returning to our corner of the universe this coming year.

So strap in kiddos, it's going to be a fight all the way in all day every day.

(Did I forget anything...?)