It's a Friday, and after a long and ugly week of news, there's nothing more that we'd enjoy than focusing exclusively on positive news items. Topics like the announcement by Chelsea Clinton that she her husband Marc Mezvinsky are expecting their first child, or the amazing success of Obamacare are indeed worthy of celebrating.
We still believe in leaving our readers on Friday with a bit of positivity, now more than ever - especially in the face of the kinds of amazingly stupid racism, ignorance, and hatred that were displayed around the world this week. At times like this, we believe it is more critical than ever not to spend our column inches and pixel space solely on lighter news fare.
After all, in the Ukraine right now, people who are Jewish, ethnically or by choice, are now being forced and threatened to register their "status" as a Jew with the government. Even with the newest deal between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by Secretary of State Kerry, many Ukrainians feel as though their government is being undermined from the inside, and threatened from the outside, by their neighbors in Russia.
This is also the same week three Americans were killed in Kansas City by a former member of the KKK, who mistakenly thought his victims were Jews.
In Nigeria, more than 70 people were killed in a terrorist bomb blast. In the Central African Republic, deadly violence is killing dozens daily. Off the coast of South Korea, more than two hundred people - many high school students on a once-in-lifetime trip - are dead, their bodies lost to the ocean, after a ferry capsized this week.
This is also the same week that Fox "News" and the right wing media were inciting violence in Nevada, against American citizens. The supposedly law-and-order right-wing media stood firmly in support of a freeloading cattle rancher who'd been using Federal lands to graze his cattle for 20 years, while refusing to pay the same tiny grazing fee all other ranchers in similar situations already pay. When the Federal government finally decided a million dollars in unpaid back fees was too much to ignore, they got a court order to take the rancher's cattle. When the Federal Bureau of Land Management acted to enforce the law, the right-wing media cheered as domestic anti-government types blocked public interstates, and aimed fully automatic weapons at Federal agents who were merely doing their jobs, enforcing the law.
Thankfully, the Federal agents in the BLM in Nevada take their job of protecting both the land and the Americans who use it very seriously - so the agents temporarily backed down once again, to prevent needless loss of lives.
We've warned for years about people who are "terminally stupid" - that terrible combination of selfishness, arrogance, and ignorance that all too often leaves either the terminally stupid person or someone around them unnecessarily dead. Unfortunately, terminally stupid people come in every shape, size, color, and any other description you can imagine. They don't take holidays, they don't give you a few days to recover, and they will never, ever completely go away, everywhere in the world.
There is good news, though - and while we believe it's crucial you know what's really going on in the world, we also think it's more important than ever that you remember to focus on the positive, even in the face of all the ugly racism, ignorance, and hatred in the world.
Chelsea Clinton's news is worth celebrating, as are the Obamacare enrollment numbers. The continued successful recovery of former Rep. Gabby Giffords - and her continued fight for smart gun safety reforms - are also worthy of celebration. U.S. economic numbers also continue to look up, and President Obama announced another $600 million jobs program this week too.
To top off that brief list of positive items, Passover was this week, Easter is this Sunday, and today is - literally - Good Friday.
As you can see, even with all the stupidity and evil, there are plenty of reasons to remain positive.
Be the master of your future. Stay positive.
