Perspective comes in many forms. As we near the end of a momentous year, many are overjoyed with the possibilities filling the empty cylinder of 2025; others see nothing but shapeless demons waiting to pounce.

Today, I want to suggest a different kind of perspective, one whose center is grounded in humility.

Memorial Day weekend of 1977 arrived with an intergalactic big bang as the first of George Lucas’s blockbuster Star Wars movies landed in American theaters. On that weekend, space travel at the speed of light, Jedi Knights and the “dark force” captivated moviegoers.

However, a little more than three months later, a mission of real intergalactic importance began. On 5 September 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1, a ship devoted to cosmic curiosity. Nineteen months later, after traveling 3.7 billion miles, the planetary pathfinder neared Jupiter. But before beginning its exploration of the gas giant and its moons, the little rover turned its camera back to where it all began and made an historic photo of what came to be known as “the pale blue dot,” tiny in the cosmic void. A photo that should inspire nothing but humility.

Here is that photo.

To mark the appearance of that amazing image, the astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan wrote the following:

Look again at this dot. This is here. This is home. This is us. Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you have ever heard of, every human being who has ever existed, lived out their lives on it. The multitude of our joys and sufferings, a thousand self-righteous religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and gatherer, every hero and coward, every builder and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every couple in love, every mother and father, every bright child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of ethics, every lying politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived here – on a speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage on a vast cosmic stage. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all the generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they might become the short-term masters of a fraction of a grain of sand. Think of the endless cruelties inflicted by the inhabitants of one corner of this dot on the barely distinguishable inhabitants of another corner. How often they disagree, how eager they are to kill each other, how hot their hatreds are.

Our posturing, our imagined importance, the illusion of our privileged status in the universe – all of them are worthless before this point of pale light. Our planet is but a lonely speck in the surrounding cosmic darkness. In this vast emptiness there is no hint that anyone will come to our aid, to save us from our ignorance.

“A fraction of a grain of sand,…a lonely speck in the surrounding cosmic darkness.” We’re on our own here. Now, 45 years later, Voyager 1 has left the solar system we call home and has soared through interstellar space more the 15.5 billion miles. A long way. It only has to keep going for about another 5.8 trillion miles to reach one light year away from us. That’s 5.8 with eleven zeroes after it.

Think about that and our tiny, pale blue dot when the crystal ball comes down in Times Square a little more than a week from now. Think about that when whatever happens in 2025 brings you either joy or despair. Think about that whenever you look into the eyes of a smiling child.

Despite our infinite smallness, our aloneness, despite all the harm we have done to each other since first walking the earth upright, I am filled with hope for our next trip around the Sun. In the vast void of space, we cosmic Lilliputians have survived, even prevailed, against astronomically fearful odds. We have proven capable of great goodness. I believe that whatever evil may lurk around the next corner, that spirit of goodness, our better angels, will see us through.

Can you believe that, too?

However you celebrate these holidays, may they be filled with happiness, good health, and a fervent desire that all of us will do whatever it takes to make this pale blue dot a better speck in the universe for ourselves and our progeny.

Happy Holidays!

Since 1980, there have been ten government shutdowns, and they all have led to federal employees being furloughed.

Shutdowns can be extremely disruptive — for citizens who depend on government services, for the nation, as a whole, and for the furloughed workers.

Most of the shutdowns have ended quickly after rational thought intersected with insanity. But some have been worse than others. The most significant include the 21-day shutdown of 1995–1996, during President Bill Clinton’s administration, over opposition to major spending cuts; the 16-day shutdown in 2013, during the Barack Obama administration, caused by a dispute over implementation of the Affordable Care Act; and the longest, the 35-day shutdown of 2018–2019, during the Donald Trump administration, caused by a dispute over funding Donald Trump’s ego-driven wall on the Mexican border.

We are now staring into the maw of more insanity, but this time things are different. For Continuing Resolution after Continuing Resolution, the nation has limped along. But this week, House Republicans and Democrats crafted an actual appropriations bill for the fiscal year. At 1,547 pages, it’s hefty. And it’s a compromise. No one got everything they wanted, but everyone said they could live with what they got.

Until, that is, about a half hour after they announced the deal, an unelected, mega-rich, very smart, but crazy, person killed the done deal with five words — on social media, no less: “This bill must not pass.”

Elon Musk, who the media now always refers to as, “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man,”  like the ready-to-spray skunk who turns up at the victory party, later expanded his demand with the promise to fund a “primary” against any Republican who dared vote for the bill. Because Musk had just spent $277 million helping Donald Trump and other Republicans get elected, he got the Party’s attention, and the live bill of a done deal was suddenly as dead as the nail on Marley’s door.

This, understandably, infuriated the Democrats who had thought they had agreement only to find themselves kneecapped. Richard Neal (D-MA), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, who was a chief negotiator, was apoplectic. “Around here, currency is your word,” he fumed, adding, “You’ve never won a shutdown, and you won’t win this one,” referring to his Republican colleagues.

Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson, now running for his political life, bowed down to the pressure from Olympus and cobbled together a quickie bill he thought would satisfy Musk and Trump. That bill, now down to 178 pages, was immediately thrown back in his face by the dysfunctional Republicans he purports to lead. This morning, he told NPR he “had a plan” for how to satisfy everyone. Swell.

All of which brings us to right now — eight hours from someone turning off all the lights. A few minutes ago, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters the House had agreed to — something. As the AP reported:

Veering toward a midnight Friday government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson is proposing a new plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, but punts President-elect Donald Trump demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

If Johnson can actually herd his cats to approving whatever it is he has in his pocket, we’ll be back to doing this all over again in March. Double swell.

Regardless of what happens today, I would like to make three points.

First, this horrendoma should make every American over-the-moon angry, regardless of voting preference. To me, it does all that is necessary to show the extraordinarily corrupting influence money now has in our allegedly democratic process. That one man could toss nearly $300 million into any election, thereby turning those he supported into instant puppets, would be incomprehensible, if it weren’t actually true. Money has always played a big role in elections, but we appear we have reached, and passed, the tipping point for democracy.

And who elected Elon Musk to anything? I didn’t, and neither did you, regardless of who you voted for. In the blink of an eye, he now seems more powerful than Donald Trump, who did not take to social media to demand the first bill be killed until hours after Musk had done.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is a situation up with which we should no longer put.

Second, the Founders and Framers of our Constitution brilliantly designed three co-equal branches of government — Congress, the Judiciary, and the Executive. John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison wrote 85 Federalist Papers between October, 1787, and August, 1788, to persuade the new nation that the carefully crafted Constitution was infinitely better than the Articles of Confederation, because, among other things, each branch would be a check on the others.

I ask you: Does that beautiful construct still inure when five words on social media can stop one of those branches — the Congress — in its tracks and bend it to the will of its allegedly co-equal Executive branch?

Third, I cannot resist once again calling attention to the harm a shutdown will do to the men and women of our armed forces, who have done nothing to deserve it.

The military ranks of E-4, E-5, and E-6, (Specialist [or Corporal], Sergeant, and Staff Sergeant, respectively), make up the backbone of the U.S. armed forces. As of 1 January 2024, the men and women of these three ranks, after accumulating four years experience, earn annual gross income ranging from $36,795 (E-4) to $45,011 (E6). They can make a bit more if they are married with dependents and live off-base. Our E-6 can jump to about $67,000 in that situation.

It should be clear that the members of our armed forces live paycheck to paycheck.

In 2019, in its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020, Congress directed the Secretary of Defense to report on food insecurity among members of the armed forces and their dependents. The Department of Defense (DOD) contracted with the Rand Corporation to conduct a study to fulfill Congress’s directive. After an exhaustive analysis, Rand concluded the level of food insecurity was 25.8% in the armed forces, which is nearly double the level in the civilian population. The DOD then published a report citing Rand’s work and outlining steps it would begin taking to address such a high level of need.

The  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, (WIC) are both available to members of the armed forces who qualify for them, but take-up of these programs is tiny (6%), compared to the civilian population, as the Rand study pointed out. No study has yet been done to learn why this is so, but Rand theorized the culture of the military with its “Can do” attitudes, as well as feared stigma—both social and career— attached to asking for aid have a lot to do with it. That’s probably true.

With all of that in mind, earlier this week, in true bi-partisan fashion, the Senate passed, and President Biden has promised to sign, a new National Defense Authorization Act for 2025. The legislation provides for a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others. The bill takes effect 1 January 2025. It’s a big raise, and it will help a lot, but, remember, the junior ranks are starting from a low rung on the economic ladder.

Regardless, tonight, at 12:01 AM to be precise, pay, at the current rates, will stop for the armed forces if Republicans force a government shutdown, and lower and middle rank soldiers, who don’t have much money to begin with, which is shameful, will have none.¹ Of course, they’ll all still be on the job defending America.

As has happened after every shutdown, federal workers, whose pay is stopped, will likely receive retractive back pay following the shutdown, but this will not happen for the armed forces. Under current law, only those deemed “essential” would receive backpay once a shutdown ends and new federal funding is approved.

In 2018, at the last possible minute, Congress approved legislation allowing DOD service members to be paid for the duration of what was to become a 35-day shutdown. The legislation excluded the Coast Guard, because it comes under the Department of Homeland Security, not the DOD.

I’m guessing (but I wouldn’t bet on it) that tonight at about 11:59 PM Congress will do something to ensure our men and women in uniform, all of whom have volunteered to defend the country—and to die if necessary—continue to receive their paychecks. Failure to do so will bring even more ignominy on the fools driving the clown car over the cliff.

Maybe this time they’ll include the 57,000 members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

_______________

¹ The Rand study found that middle and lower ranks had average savings of less than $3,000.

Imagine for a moment your name is Anthony Fauci. You are a physician and an immunologist and were the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, from 1984 to 2022. You were also the face of the medical profession throughout the Covid pandemic, which took more than a million American lives. You repeatedly advised citizens to avoid close contact with others, to mask when in public, and to wash hands often. You once quipped to a journalist that you washed yours “about fifty times a day.” A long time ago, decades really, you saved the life of a friend of mine who had contracted a disease that was always fatal, but you discovered a cure, and today he still walks among us doing good for others.

Somehow, your integrity, professionalism, and loyalty to medicine and your Hippocratic Oath did not sit well with many in the MAGA galaxy, including Donald Trump. Mask mandates, and requirements to stay home away from contagion, and, most of all, your popularity with the general public, got severely under his skin. Now, they’re calling for your head with loose cannon Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) telling you in a June House Hearing that you should be “prosecuted for crimes against humanity” and don’t deserve to have a medical license.

Or, imagine for a moment your name is Liz Cheney. You were the third ranking House Republican until you co-chaired the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, a horrific attack in which lives were lost. The Capital had not been attacked, breached, and ransacked since the War of 1812. The Committee you co-led concluded that Donald Trump had instigated the insurrection, failed to prevent it, and refused to take immediate action to end it.  For this, the Republican Party tossed you from leadership and  primaried you in the last election, which you lost by a lot.

Trump has been saying you and your fellow Committee members “belong in jail.” On Sunday, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, he repeated that. What’s more, on social media, some Republicans have even called your service on the Committee “treasonous,” a charge Trump reposted, apparently agreeing with it. Treason is punishable by death.

Or, your name could be retired General Mark Milley, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs, who told Bob Woodward for his new book, War, that Trump is a “fascist to the core” and that, “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country.”

Milley angered Trump repeatedly over his refusal of the President’s orders to have the Army “crack skulls” and shoot protesters during the George Floyd protests of May 2020. “Just shoot them,” the president reportedly said. Trump could never understand Milley, or the Armed Forces, for that matter.

Now, Milley has warned former colleagues he believes he may be called back to active duty to be court-martialed. And, yes, Trump could do that.

Fauci, Cheney, Milley, and many, many others now sit smack dab in the cross hairs of a MAGA movement for retribution against the perceived enemies of Donald Trump. And to this point, neither Trump nor his inner circle minions have taken the trouble to disabuse anyone of that notion. His nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, a true believer if there ever was one, has gone so far as to amplify the rhetoric and has publicly vowed to pursue Trump’s critics.

And if that’s not enough, an October NPR investigation found that Trump, himself, has made more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, imprison or otherwise punish his perceived opponents.

No one knows if this is anything more than talk, a symbolic bread and circuses, a little red meat for the faithful. But is it responsible to ignore the possibility? Should the Biden Administration sit back all the way to the 20th of January insulated in the White House running out the clock. Should the President and his team stand by and do nothing while Trump’s “enemies” in what he considers the “deep state” wait for a knock on the door?

MAGA seems to have a collective itch it needs to scratch, and the itch is revenge.

Time for some anti-itch medicine.

There are credible accounts, first reported by Politico, that the Biden Administration is considering pre-emptive pardons for those unfortunate enough to have run afoul of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, although no one in that weird world can come up with anything illegal done by any of Trump’s enemies targeted for vengeance.

“It is both legal and probably prudent for President Biden to consider pardoning people who could be hit with bogus charges or harassed with the elements of law enforcement just because he doesn’t like what they say or what they’ve said,” Norman Ornstein, senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative public policy think tank in Washington, told ABC News.

Anyone charged by an incoming administration bent on destructive retribution would incur legal costs mounting a defense, and that may be the whole point of the exercise if it ever happens — to make enemies squirm and pay where it really hurts, reputationally and economically.

End-of-term pardons have become common, but they are generally done after someone has been convicted of a crime. In this case, pardons would be given before anyone has been charged with anything.

There is precedent for this. In 1972, Gerald Ford pre-emptively granted a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon, his predecessor, for any crimes he might have committed against the United States. Many people were not happy with this, and it could be why Ford lost the next election, but the nation got over it, and Ford’s magnanimity is now viewed as the right thing to have done.

This time, things are different. Biden would not be pardoning a former, disgraced President, but, conceivably, a host of people, from government staff, to senators, to representatives, to journalists, and others.

But would Fauci, Cheney, Milley, and the rest accept the pardons if offered to them?

Accepting a pre-emptive pardon would come not long after Biden’s highly controversial, and hypocrisy loaded — “I never would,” but “I just did” — pardon of his son Hunter. The men and women who may have to wrestle with this conundrum may prefer to stand and fight the revenge-laden charges of MAGA extremists. They might do that just out of concern of being forever glued to Hunter Biden’s free pass.

My own opinion is that Biden should offer the pre-emptive pardons, and that those to whom they are offered should accept them. Then, everyone can concentrate on the future, dire though it may be, without having to worry about legal costs and precious time out of their lives dealing with MAGA nonsense.

One final point. Trump has already vowed to pardon all of the people convicted or charged with any crimes during the 6 January insurrection (he doesn’t call it that). That includes those convicted of assaulting and injuring police. During Sunday’s Meet the Press interview, he repeated that pledge. That’s a lot of people — 749, to be precise, according to the Department of Justice.

It might soon be raining pardons in Washington, DC.