I thought I'd take a minute to check in, see how folks are doing. I've been laying low for quite a while for lots of reasons, mostly involving bad health. It's been tough, especially given the daily insults we're facing from the Tarheel Taliban. And with the Uncle Tom Robinson shit-storm brewing, there's no telling how much evil is on the way. Add in a toxic stain of gerrymandering and we seem to be in for the very worst.

For the record, I credit Art Pope and his lackeys for every miserable thing that's crushing our state right now. I imagine the old man must be pretty proud of himself: He's single handedly destroyed almost every decent thing in North Carolina, unleashing a plague of bigotry, selfishness, and ugliness never before seen. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel on almost every measure of social progress, from education and safe workplaces to health care, environmental justice, and actual democracy. Helluva job Artie.

Next week I'll pass my 16-year mark as a BlueNC community member. I had hoped our little blog would be able to counter Art Pope's dangerous impact on our institutions, but that didn't happen. Pope's millions trumped our volunteer efforts in almost every way. Specifically, he was able to literally buy the legislature, the courts, and even the university system, all the while feeding the right-wing media machine a steady diet of lies and deception. That's what the Puppetshow was, is, and forever more shall be.

Yet somehow, I doubt Pope could have envisioned the world that is now unfolding. It's hard to think he would condone the kind of insanity spewing from the likes of Madison Cawthorn and Mark Robinson. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he's just like all the other jerks basking in the national spotlight, each hell-bent on making America super-safe for privileged white assholes.

I'm lucky to have made it through 2021. Between a stroke last winter, dangerously high blood pressure, a rough hernia operation, and chronic, debilitating depression, it's been nip and tuck for a good long while now.

At this point, I don't know what we can do to save our democracy in 2022, but if we don't figure it out, millions of people are going to suffer in unimaginable ways. It really is that bad.