…but did you know the Queen of England is dead?
A day after the Queen of England died, the President of the United States traveled to Ohio. Joe Biden announced a manufacturing revitalization plan for the rustiest of the rust belt states. With the federal government’s help, the Intel corporation is building a 20-billion-dollar chip fabrication plant outside Columbus, Ohio. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is not only losing the war in Ukraine, but his comrades are also calling for his resignation. The workforce in the teaching profession has reached three hundred thousand vacancies. One of America’s most essential goods and transportation services—Amtrak/Rail—is threatening a work stoppage at midnight Friday—but did you know the Queen died?
About a third of Pakistan is under water, and inflation woes sent the stock market into a tizzy for fear the Federal Reserve will again raise interest rates on borrowers- which is practically all of us. In the interim, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has introduced a bill [to] protect pain-capable unborn children, and for other purposes. Graham set an arbitrary time of 15 weeks despite scientific consensus that a fetus does not feel pain until 28-30 weeks after conception… but did you know the Queen died? The death of the leader of a historical monarchy, America so reviled 240 years ago that we fought and won a war over, has sent the American media into a call for repatriation to the UK. For nearly two weeks and extending into Monday, America’s redux of Weekend at Bernie’s continues to enthrall and dominate the media.
I can understand the sorrow and reverence for the subjects of the Queen; she has been an institution in their lives for seventy years. I have to admit the hours of breathless dedication the American media has devoted to covering the late monarch’s flights to Scotland and Ireland and then back to England to the near exclusion of all other news is baffling. Fifty former members of Donald Trump’s circle being subpoenaed—in an investigation of the crime of attempting to destroy American democracy while feting the vestiges of an anti-democratic dynasty is the height of irony.
A few days ago, CNN’s Don Lemon, whom I am waiting to come on the air sharing tea with Jake Tapper, interrupted his on-the-spot coverage and repeatedly asked his audience to pardon the noise because the band for the Queen’s procession was rehearsing in the background. The biggest tide turn in the Ukraine/Russian war, the rights of women and families under further attack, and what would be a devastating interruption in supply lines with a rail strike are all on the horizon…but did you know the Queen died?
I was a small child when the late President John Kennedy was murdered, and I was mad that the three days of non-stop coverage interrupted my afternoon cartoons. Of course, the historical shock of an assassinated President was news. The death of Camelot seemed to be the death of a new future to many Americans. In the sixties, most African American homes had three pictures on the wall, Jesus, Dr. King, and President Kennedy. Maybe the longevity of her reign made her seem otherworldly, but as with Kennedy and King’s death(s), the time comes for the living, even for a Queen.
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