By J.B. Lester
Well, 2026 has gotten off to a rocky start. Flu is spreading across the country. Measles is back. Trump is attacking Venezuela and commandeering their oil. ICE agents are clashing with protesters across the country. There is no vaccine for stupidity, ignorance, and totalitarian behavior. In fact, there are now fewer vaccines for all that ails us. Lives are at stake.
You can certainly debate taking out a bad guy like Nicolas Maduro. He has been instrumental in drug and weapons trafficking for years. There is evil around the world that needs to be dealt with. Whatever happened to clandestine operations? Is violence out in the open a better solution just so it makes the 6 o’clock news? Maybe I am just getting old, but some of those old secret missions seemed a more viable option using behind the scenes diplomacy. We certainly need to fight the drug cartels and keep Americans from dying or getting hopelessly addicted. Why not form a coalition of nations to wage a global war on drugs? Lives are at stake.
We are making it more dangerous for our children and seniors by dumping CDC guidelines for inoculations — vaccines that have been proven to save lives. All because RFK Jr. and President Trump have a “hunch” that vaccines might be the cause of autism – a conspiracy theory that has been debunked by all the top researchers around the globe. How long are we going to listen to these leaders who do not have a clue about how to run the healthcare of the country? On a positive note, most pediatricians are not listening to RFK Jr. and his dangerous and nonsensical advice. Lives are at stake.
While our president is busy putting his name on buildings and tearing down part of the White House, Russia continues to bomb Ukraine, even though Trump has told Putin not to do that anymore. Peace in the Middle East is tenuous at best as some of the ceasefire conditions are not being met, and people are still starving and homeless. Trump said he would accept the Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado who was awarded the prize this past year. The Nobel Prize committee had to make a statement saying the Peace Prize could not be transferred or gifted no matter how much someone feels they deserve it. Does anyone see a problem here? This behavior would be something to laugh at if it were not so pitiful. Real leaders care more about people than prizes. Lives are at stake.
While Americans struggle to pay for childcare, groceries, healthcare and housing, Trump is putting more gold leaf in the Oval Office. There is more grist for Saturday Night Live than they could ever use. Brave Americans like veteran Mark Kelly are being harassed by ex-Fox talking head now Secretary of Defense (War), Pete Hegseth. Healthcare premiums for Obamacare are doubling as subsidies have been allowed to expire. We are still waiting for the Republican PLAN to lowering healthcare costs and covering those without health insurance. If this administration cares about the healthcare of Americans, they will put together a plan that is more affordable and covers more people with pre-existing conditions. And most of all, give RFK Jr. his pink slip and put someone in the CDC that understands science and respects “facts” over “hunches”. Lives are at stake.
Every day there is another NEWS UPDATE that proves we need changes in the oval office and congress. This is a complex world with complex problems that need to be dealt with by compassionate, intelligent, and patriotic leaders who put the Constitution and the country before themselves. Instead, we currently have a narcissistic egomaniacal leader with a chip on his shoulder the size of Greenland. Lives are at stake.