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Hits and Misses

3 min read
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By continually making unfounded claims about fraud after losing the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump inflicted grievous damage on our democracy. It’s also cost taxpayers a pretty penny. A report in The Washington Post found that it’s cost $519 million, split among federal, state and local governments, and that number could keep going up and up. That amount includes legal fees after Trump’s campaign filed frivolous lawsuits, the cost of cleaning up and repairing the Capitol following the deadly Jan. 6 riot, and the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. It’s sobering to think what else that money could have gone toward, particularly in the midst of a pandemic when so many people are out of work and some business owners are struggling to stay afloat.

Abraham Lincoln was born 212 years ago today, and no one would dispute that he is one of the greatest Americans who has ever lived. Well, almost no one. A couple of weeks ago, the San Francisco Board of Education voted 6-1 to change the names of 44 schools in the city, and one of those schools bears Lincoln’s name. The school board said it would no longer honor anyone who owned slaves, oppressed women, and “significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Granted, Lincoln’s treatment of Native Americans was not perfect, and he said things that we now would consider racist, but how about judging Lincoln on the entirety of his accomplishments? And how about not using 21st century standards to judge people who lived a couple hundred years ago? This is like a bad parody of far-left, politically correct activism.

As we approach the first anniversary of the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s easy to feel pessimistic as deaths and illness continue, and necessary restrictions stay in place. But there is room for some optimism that things will gradually get better. On NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” last weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explained that he believed the amount of vaccine available “will increase substantially” as winter turns to spring. The supply of vaccines is already growing, Moderna and Pfizer are increasing production of their product, and there’s a likelihood that a one-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson will be approved later this month. Before too long, we could be at the point where the supply actually meets the demand.

Coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March last year, in the middle of Lent. This brought the curtain down on fish fries that are ubiquitous throughout the region. Few could have foreseen then that we would still be in the grips of the pandemic almost a year later. Nevertheless, organizers are proceeding with some fish fries this year, keeping the safety of customers and volunteers in mind. Most are offering only take-out service, and trying to pare down the number of volunteers so social distancing can be maintained. Pat McKinney, who leads the fish fry efforts for the St. John XXIII Parish, told us that she hoped the fish fry would help bring parishioners together after a long, hard year. We hope so, too.

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