Like, perhaps, many of you in the past week or so, I’ve been able to finally turn away from the antics of the totally unhinged occupant of the White House and his reality-denying enablers in the Republican establishment. (Except for reading headlines about his countless courtroom defeats).

With rains now tamping down our local fire season, attention might be turned to, what, new coronavirus shutdown, and the largest number of cases in the USA to date? What’s a person to do… besides take refuge in that novel sitting for weeks on the table beside the bed, or enjoy a chuckle from tuning in to the late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers? [I learned that at least for Colbert, the majority of his clever writers are women.]

I’ve been only half hearing how P-elect Biden is retreading the Obama administration personnel for cabinet posts (ignoring Bernie and Elizabeth to his peril). I don’t see the merit of “diversity” via skin color only in the cabinet; what about diversity of ideas?

What about choosing (maybe younger) people with progressive policy plans, rather than “back to the future” tip toeing when boldness is required?  And when that is exactly what the majority (yes, majority!) of our country’s people demand? George Bush chose Condoleezza Rice and the now-ashamed Colin Powell as his secretaries of state. How did that work out?

There may be a place, however, for those who exhibit good old-fashioned decency and a desperately needed sense of public service. Here’s an idea that cheered me up when I opened my daily Press Democrat to the Letters and Op Ed pages (often the first place I look after the weather). Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. makes the case for Merrick Garland as the next attorney general.

It would be the one “revenge” the Democrats could take in the face of Mitch McConnell’s shameful and disgusting scuttling of even a hearing for Judge Garland, President Obama’s most diplomatic choice for the Supreme Court.

I remember at the time that I was dumfounded when the lily-livered Democrats didn’t raise a big stink. I guess those clueless corporatists had so much confidence in Hillary Clinton’s  ascendance to the presidency that they didn’t want to make a fuss. I suppose I could say the same about the Brett Cavanaugh hearings, but by that time, the Dems were already pretty weak and still afraid to fight dirty. Young women had to verbally (and tearfully) upbraid their representatives in Capitol Hill elevators not to let another Supreme Court outrage happen…to no avail.

It was the first of many outrages in the Trump years to follow, and somehow the decrepit Mitch was involved in all of them (except when it was William Barr undermining the Justice Department).  McConnell knew that if Garland had a hearing, he would surely be confirmed. Many Republicans had spoken of Garland as a wise choice; it would be hard to make a case against him on his record.

From the article: “…one of Biden’s essential tasks in the wake of President Trump’s self-aggrandizing, self-referential presidency is to make clear that the Justice Department works for every American. It should never be reduced to being a mere tool of a president’s will.”

I urge you to read Dionne’s argument for Garland as the next A.G, maybe even write to the president elect and suggest it. I wonder if Biden and his team read the Washington Post?