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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez drops out of Republican presidential race

More need to drop out:

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is ending his long-shot 2024 presidential campaign less than three months after he launched it.
“While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains,” Suarez said in a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.


Keeping up with politics is easy with The 5-Minute Fix Newsletter, in your inbox weekdays.

Suarez, the only Hispanic candidate in the GOP nominating contest, launched his campaign in mid-June, later than most of his now-former rivals. Last week, he failed to qualify for the first Republican debate after falling short of the necessary polling requirements.
In a lengthy post on X, Suarez said it was “a privilege to come so close to appearing on stage with the other candidates at last week’s first debate.”

“I had looked forward to sharing the story of Miami, America’s most successful city, especially at a time when so many cities are plagued with poverty, unemployment, high taxes, violent crime, and homelessness,” he said. “I know what we have achieved during my tenure leading the City of Miami can be replicated in every community in our great country.”


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Suarez said his brief run for the presidency “has been one of the greatest honors of my life.” During his time on the campaign trail, he cast himself as a traditional conservative and said his campaign was designed to help create a brand of GOP politics that could triumph in general elections.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announces GOP presidential bid
Suarez, 45, is a lawyer and former Miami city commissioner. He was elected mayor of Miami in 2017 and won reelection to his second term in 2021. He touts himself as the city’s first “Miami-born” mayor and the second Cuban American one — the first was his father, Xavier Suarez.

In his statement, he said he would “continue to amplify the voices of the Hispanic community.”

“The Left has taken Hispanics for granted for far too long, and it is no surprise that so many are finding a home in America’s conservative movement,” he said.


He also urged the Republican Party to work harder to attract not only Hispanic voters, but also younger Americans, urban voters and suburban women.
“I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans’ trust in our institutions and in each other, and win,” he said.

While Suarez vowed to continue working with the GOP to ensure that the party’s candidate wins in 2024, he made no reference to the Republican front-runner in the race, former president Donald Trump. Suarez has previously said he did not vote for Trump for reelection in 2020.
The mayor has been critical of another GOP presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is polling a distant second in the race. Suarez accused DeSantis of waging a “personal vendetta” against the Walt Disney Co. that has cost the state jobs. In January, he acknowledged that he and DeSantis had not spoken to one another in several years, although he brushed it off as nothing out of the ordinary.

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Before beating the Lions the 49ers received puppy therapy.

Cool story about 49ers such as George Kittle and Chase Young receiving a little puppy therapy two days before Sunday's win over the Lions. It seems like a good stress reliever, and great for the dogs, too. Great to raise awareness.
As a side note, when my son was at Minnesota they would frequently hold sessions like this in the student union. He participated several times, including during finals week his freshman year. It was also a great way for students who are a little homesick for the family pet to get some quality time with a dog/cat.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39402784/san-francisco-49ers-puppy-therapy-nfc-championship-game

Department of Justice Conducting Criminal Investigation of 'Squad' Congresswoman Cori Bush: Report

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, one of the members of the so-called far-left "squad” of House Democrats, is the target of a Department of Justice criminal investigation.

According to multiple reports, the St. Louis Democrat is accused of misspending funds that were allocated for security.

Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman broke the news on the social media platform X on Tuesday morning.

“BREAKING NEWS -- THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation,” Sherman posted.

🚨BREAKING NEWS -- THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation.

The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money.…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 30, 2024

“The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money,” Sherman added.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, Bush has spent over $750,000 of government funds on security in less than two full terms as a congresswoman.

Bush’s husband Cortney Merritts, who she married last year, worked as a security guard for her and was paid more than $60,000 of those funds while working for her re-election campaign in 2022, the New York Post reported last February.

Merritts reportedly had no background in private security, nor any apparent training or licensures.

The DOJ has not yet commented on the scope of its investigation, but the Mail reported a nonprofit group called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate Bush.

Merritts was paid a total of $62,000 to provide Bush with security.

Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen reported after the news of the investigation broke that he had asked Bush in person about the criminal probe Monday evening.

Cohen said Bush “reprimanded” him for asking her about it and complained she was suffering a toothache.

I asked Cori Bush about the investigation directly last night. She repeatedly declined to comment and reprimanded me for approaching her as she had a toothache. https://t.co/Vskods0WYE

— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) January 30, 2024

“I asked Cori Bush about the investigation directly last night,” Cohen stated. “She repeatedly declined to comment and reprimanded me for approaching her as she had a toothache.”

Bush was first elected to the House in 2020 and quickly aligned herself with “squad" Reps. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...S&cvid=a02c5749756a472dbfc2f01008bb2d06&ei=12

It's all those damn whores

Florence Museum Director Says Tourism Has Turned the City Into a ‘Prostitute,' Drawing Pushback​


The director of Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia, the famed museum that houses Michelangelo's David, compared the Italian city to a sex worker, suggesting that excessive tourism had ruined the popular tourist destination.

"Once a city becomes a prostitute, it is difficult for it to become a virgin again," Cecilie Hollberg, the museum's leader since 2015, told reporters recently, according to Rome-based newspaper La Reppublica. She added, "Florence is very beautiful and I would like it to return to its citizens and not be crushed by tourism."

Moreover, she said, "it is already too late" for the city, which experiences a mass influx of tourists each year. In 2020, the Guardian reported that Florence brought in 14 million tourists the year prior-a striking amount when one considers that just 328,000 people lived there at the time.

Some Italian cities have attempted to institute measures that would keep tourism at bay. Venice, for example, recently said it wanted to ban loudspeakers and limit tour groups to less than 25 people, all in an effort to clamp down on the crowds that flock to the city regularly.

But even with all that as a backdrop, Hollberg's remarks did not sit well with Italian politicians, who claimed that her words had denigrated Florence.

Alessia Bettini, Florence's deputy mayor, questioned Hollberg's metaphor, saying, "Are then Florentines the children of a prostitute, and tourists clients of a prostitute?" Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's culture minister, said Hollberg's remarks were "serious and offensive." Matteo Renzi, Italy's former prime minister, said that Hollberg had two choices: "apologize or resign."

As the pushback has continued to mount, Hollberg apologized and tried to explain her position more clearly. She said she had "used the wrong words," and added, "What I meant to say is that Florence must be a witness for all of Italy of an increasingly conscious tourism, not hit-and-run tourism."

The employment of Hollberg, who is German, has previously become a political football for the Italian government under Giorgia Meloni, the country's right-wing prime minister. Amid what some have labeled a "neofascist revival," there have been attempts to oust institutional leaders who were not born Italy. Hollberg, whose contract is up in June, has previously expressed fears that the current government may soon place her museum under the umbrella of another Florentine museum, the Bargello National Museum.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...S&cvid=5396a10384b14101bf2b8a3c3d08d7ec&ei=26

WBB Top 25 Polls & NET (1/29)

Women's AP Top 25 (1/29)
1. South Carolina (35) (19-0)
2. Kansas State (20-1)
3. Iowa (19-2)
4. Stanford (19-2)
5. North Carolina State (18-2)
6. Colorado (17-3)
7. UCLA (16-3)
8. Ohio State (17-3)
9. LSU (18-3)
10. Indiana (17-2)
11. Connecticut (17-4)
12. Texas (19-3)
13. Baylor (16-3)
14. Notre Dame (15-4)
15. USC (14-4)
16. Louisville (18-3)
17. Virginia Tech (16-4)
18. Oregon State (17-3)
19. Gonzaga (20-2)
20. Utah (15-6)
21. Syracuse (17-3)
22. Creighton (16-3)
23. West Virginia (17-2)
24. North Carolina (15-6)
25. Princeton (15-3)

Others Receiving Votes
UNLV, Washington State, Fairfield, Marquette, Oklahoma, Florida State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Washington, Penn State
Dropped Out

Florida State (#23)

===============================

Women's Coaches Top 25 (1/30)
1. South Carolina (32) (19-0)
2. Kansas State (20-1)
3. Stanford (19-2)
4. Iowa (19-2)
5. North Carolina State (18-2)
6. Colorado (17-3)
7. Ohio State (17-3)
8. UCLA (16-3)
9. Indiana (17-2)
10. Connecticut (17-4)
11. LSU (18-4)
12. Louisville (18-3)
13. Baylor (16-3)
14. Texas (19-3)
15. USC (14-4)
16. Notre Dame (15-4)
17. Gonzaga (20-2)
18. Virginia Tech (16-4)
19. Oregon State (17-3)
20. Utah (15-6)
21. Creighton (16-3)
22. West Virginia (17-2)
23. Syracuse (17-3)
24. North Carolina (15-6)
25. Princeton (15-3)

Others Receiving Votes
UNLV, Ball State, Florida State, Fairfield, Michigan State, Mississippi State, St. Joseph's, Miami (FL), Marquette, Mississippi, Washington State, TCU, Auburn

Dropped Out
Florida State (#24)

===============================

NCAA NET Rankings (1/29)
1. South Carolina
2. Stanford
3. Connecticut
4. Texas
5. Iowa
6. Utah
7. UCLA
8. Kansas State
9. North Carolina State
10. Notre Dame
11. LSU
12. Indiana
13. Gonzaga
14. Baylor
15. Ohio State
16. Virginia Tech
17. Colorado
18. USC
19. Oregon State
20. Michigan State
21. Washington State
22. Louisville
23. Duke
24. West Virginia
25. Creighton
------------------------------
26. Penn State
27. Nebraska
33. Maryland
36. Minnesota
46. Michigan
55. Illinois
78. Purdue
120. Wisconsin
160. Rutgers
222. Northwestern
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Ethics Complaint Rocks Capitol: Pelosi, AOC, and Dems Accused of Misusing Funds

An ethics watchdog has filed a complaint against 10 Democratic lawmakers, accusing them of using public resources for partisan political purposes.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) claims that the legislators repeatedly used official resources for political gain, including government buildings, official websites, and social media accounts.

The complaint includes examples such as using House video on a campaign website and re-posting official social media posts for political purposes.

“The law at issue is simple,” the release noted, adding that federal resources are not to be utilized for “campaign or political purposes.”

“The rules additionally reiterate that campaign social media accounts cannot contain any official content or resources and cannot re-post official social media posts,” the release said.

“These violations are rampant and obvious, and clearly the OCE’s failure to act has encouraged continued violations. This failure has also incentivized these Members to use House proceedings for political campaigning rather than doing what is in the best interest of the country,” FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold said.

“Likewise, it is also clear why these Members are doing this, it’s for a political advantage and one that is paid for by the taxpayers. The OCE has both the authority and a clear responsibility to ensure each ethics violation is dealt with swiftly. Not doing so both permits clear violations to continue and erodes the public’s trust in the OCE itself,” she said.

FACT alleges that the Office of Congressional Ethics has failed to address these violations, allowing lawmakers to continue without punishment, thereby eroding public trust.

“Currently, numerous Members are using official House resources for political purposes and are doing so both repeatedly and publicly,” FACT wrote.

“The law quite clearly forbids this, yet a handful of Members continue to do so. The most obvious violations are Members using official government resources to campaign on their political social media accounts or using official government platforms to campaign,” the letter read.

“The failure to address this egregious practice has permitted these Members to continue committing violations to this day with impunity. Though to some it may seem like a simple thing on the surface, the Members choosing to break this law do it for a reason — it advantages them politically,” the letter added.


“Not acting upon obvious violations not only permits them to continue but it erodes the public’s trust,” the complaint read.

“In fact, these Members’ campaign social media accounts demonstrate that they consistently use official resources for political purposes and have used numerous different types of taxpayer-funded resources for their political campaigns,” it said.

“For instance, the examples previously provided to the OCE and the attached examples include every type of official resource identified above: use of official House photographs, official House floor and committee proceeding videos, official House work product and press releases, government buildings, and re-posts of official House social media accounts for political purposes,” the letter read.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...S&cvid=3b6e568348284ee8ba3d3c5cb26a9fcc&ei=19

Athletic Mid-Season AA WBB

Saw this on the Boneyard (UConn site) this morning:

1st Team:
  • Caitlin Clark, Iowa, 40 votes
  • JuJu Watkins, USC,32 votes
  • Cameron Brink, Stanford, 30 votes
  • Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame, 28 votes
  • Aneesah Morrow, LSU, 21 votes
2nd Team:
  • Paige Bueckers, UConn, 20 votes
  • Alissa Pili, Utah Utes, 17 votes
  • Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina, 13 votes
  • Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech, 10 votes
  • Ayoka Lee, Kansas State, 7 votes

Other receiving Votes:
Receiving votes: Charisma Osborne, UCLA; Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana




Surprised by Watkins over Bueckers. Not sure actual AP and USBWA voters will see it that way.
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Republicans now say it might be okay to ignore the Supreme Court

A consequential development of the Trump era is what increasingly looks like the Republicans’ acrimonious divorce from the rule of law.
The party that once prided itself as the law-and-order side has leaped headlong into highly speculative theories about the “weaponization” of the justice system, spurred by former president Donald Trump. Both Trump and his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently flouted civil defamation verdicts against them by continuing to defame their victims — cheered on by many on the right. Republican voters increasingly want a president who is willing to break both rules and laws to get things done.


But some members of the party have in recent days crossed a new threshold: by suggesting that it’s okay to disregard the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court ruled last week that federal authorities can remove razor wire that Texas put on the U.S.-Mexico border, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “Texas should ignore it.”


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“It’s like, if someone’s breaking into your house, and the court says, ‘Oh, sorry. You can’t defend yourself.’ What do you tell the court?” Roy separately told Fox News. “You tell the court to go to hell, you defend yourself and then figure it out later.”
By Friday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) had gone on CNN and indicated that it would be okay to disregard the Supreme Court in certain circumstances.
“We all agree that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land,” Stitt said. “And if the Supreme Court gets something wrong — for example, if they tried to ban and say that we didn’t have a Second Amendment right to bear arms — I think the Constitution supersedes somebody in Washington, D.C., telling us, you know.”

Stitt didn’t seem to finish the thought (and his office hasn’t responded to a request for comment), but the thrust of what he was saying is pretty clear. Host Jake Tapper’s question was about “whether elected officials should just ignore rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court with which they disagree,” and Stitt’s response was decidedly not “no.”


Stitt’s comments also came after he had spent a day repeatedly floating a scenario in which members of the National Guard might disobey orders from their commander in chief, the president of the United States. Stitt repeatedly cited the difficult decisions those Guard members would face if President Biden tried to federalize them. (Biden has the authority to do so, though such authority has rarely been invoked, and the White House has not signaled it’s in the works.) Stitt suggested they might be standing on principle by refusing Biden’s orders.

It’s important to note that, despite the claims of some on the left, what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is doing right now doesn’t violate what the Supreme Court ruled.

The court overturned a ruling that said the federal government couldn’t remove the razor wire, effectively allowing it to do so; Abbott has signaled he’ll continue to have the National Guard lay the wire, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has rejected the Biden administration’s request for full access to the area.


Provocative? Yes. Interfering with federal authority? Quite possibly. But directly violating the Supreme Court’s decision? No.
Roy’s and Stitt’s comments, then, take this debate quite a bit further.
In some ways, it’s a logical extension of the emerging Republican argument about state sovereignty. Anticipating a federal-vs.-state clash, Republicans have taken to arguing that Texas has the authority to defend itself from those crossing the border illegally.

But you can also see how we’re getting into dicey territory here. The Supreme Court is the institution we charge with interpreting our Constitution; we now have a sitting U.S. governor and a congressman suggesting it’s okay to ignore what the court says if you have a different interpretation. (Tapper noted to Stitt that Democratic governors could seemingly do the same in restricting gun rights beyond what the court says is constitutional — by arguing that it’s just that important to protect their citizens.)


The Roy and Stitt comments come after Alabama Republicans last year flouted a Supreme Court order regarding the state’s congressional map. The court had upheld a lower-court ruling that required a second district “in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.” The resulting district was just 40 percent Black. The lower court again rejected it, saying it was “not aware of any other case in which a state legislature” declined to abide by such an order. The Supreme Court again upheld that ruling.
It’s quite possible we’ll never have a situation in which Texas officials or the National Guard actually have to decide between what they argue is their duty and what the Supreme Court says.
But these kinds of comments certainly lay the rhetorical groundwork for a pretty unthinkable future clash — especially given they come from a party that has demonstrated increasingly little regard for the current application of the rule of law.

“A Hard Days Night”....

I watched this movie the other day for the first time in years...The last 15 minutes I found really took me back to my HS days....60 years ago!
At the love....end of the movie, the Boys sing 6 songs pretty much unabridged and unedited...and 6 songs that really were a signature of when they burst upon the American music scene...
Can’t Buy Me Love.....Tell Me Why....If I Fell in Love...I Should Have Known Better...She Loves You... and Hard Days Night...Great songs! Made me remember my youth!
I slept well afterwards.

Thought it would be a dem when I read: "Man Charged With Threat To Kill Texas House Speaker"

But, of course, I was wrong... when you're more extreme than the Texas legislators... well, you might be pretty extreme.

Beaumont’s CBS affiliate reports:

Daniel Troy Leblanc, 44, is held on a $500,000 bond set by Justice of the Peace Ben Collins Sr. The judge has ordered that if Leblanc posts bond, he avoid all contact with House Speaker Dade Phelan and wear a GPS ankle monitor.
According to the DPS, on Monday, January 15, Special Agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Division arrested Leblanc in Orange County following an investigation into threats made against Phelan on multiple social media platforms.
He’s charged with Terroristic Threat, a 3rd Degree Felony. If convicted, he could face 2-10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. He was extradited to the Jefferson County Jail. The charge was elevated to a 3rd Degree Felony because of Phelan’s position as a pubic servant.

Senator Joe Manchin says Biden's White House is dominated by 'far-left liberals' and admits he could 'absolutely' see himself as president

  • Outgoing West Virginia senator says he could 'absolutely' see himself as president amid speculation over third-party 2024 bid
  • Democratic lawmaker says he is worried a second Biden term would have White House staff dominated by far-left groups
  • Manchin warns a Trump return to the White House should be 'very much concerning' to every human who loves America
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin slammed the Biden administration for being pulled to the extreme left amid speculation he will launch his own presidential bid for the the White House.

In an interview with CNN, Manchin said he worries about a second Biden term with a White House staff who he believes is dominated by a group of 'far, far-left liberals.'

Despite criticism of the Biden administration, the West Virginia lawmaker called President Biden a 'good, decent man' and warned a Trump return to the White House would be 'very much concerning to every human being.'

The 76-year-old said in his announcement most Americans are 'just plain worn out' with Washington, and he would work to find 'middle ground.'

The outgoing West Virginia lawmaker has launched his own tour to hear from Americans across the country.

Manchin has said there is no timeline for making a decision amid speculation that he will launch his own bid for the White House.

He argued the United States does not work from extremes and has been widely touted as a potential presidential candidate for the third-party moderate group No Labels.

If he runs, CNN reported Manchin would want to take the spots on state ballots being secured by the group.

Critics have said running as a third party candidate could play spoiler and help Trump win a second term.

Manchin has argued voters have never been as 'displeased' with the likely candidates as they are now. But according to CNN, Manchin is worried about polls that make him doubt whether Biden will get a second term.

A series of recent polls out in January show Trump winning in a head-to-head match up against President Biden.

Manchin has blasted the former president, suggesting democracy is on the line, should Trump return to the White House.

He told CNN the prospect should be 'very much concerning to every human being and every person who basically loves the country that we have, and the life that we have, and trying to have a future for our children and future generations.'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...S&cvid=2a25d8d4a5d04b81b82e47786b0c2f3e&ei=14
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Manhattan FISH chowder today, folks!

I've posted it on here a few times and know a few of you make it but fornthe noobs I'll put it up again.

Of course, clam chowder is best New England style but when you get a nice firm fish that ca hold up to the acid in the tomatoes and saltiness of the stock, Manhatran fish chowder is great...and always better on Day 2. Today, I'm using Talapia. It's usually the best fish for it.

I will post the exact steps and times. St a timer for each step so it's easy to do as you go.

Here's exactly what I do:

*Finely chop onion, carrot and celery.
* cut 6-8 red potatoes with skin on into 3/4 inch pieces and set aside

* start onion, celery and carrot sweating in some olive oil over medium heat. *Add salt and pepper and stir with wooden spoon. (5 minutes). *Add garlic (2 minutes)

*Add a 28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes. Re season by adding a bit of Old Bay and ITALIAN seasonings and 3 Bay Leaves and stir and let simmer for (3-4 minutes)

*Add two tablespoons of Tomato Paste and stir well to break up lumps.

*Add 64 ounces of Seafood Stock (two Swanson boxes). You can make your own with fish heads and bones or shrimp shells and freeze it in ice cube trays but the box stuff is fine. If you can't find seafood stock, Bar Harbor makes Clam Juice which works pretty good in a pinch. *Fill a box with water and add 32 ounces of water to the pot. *ADD THE POTATOES * Cover and bring to a boil.

*After its boiling stir and reduce heat to low and put cover back on (45 minutes).

*Add a can of corn with the water. (10 minutes)

* Add some dashes of hot sauce of your preference. I use Sriachi.

TASTE AND CHECK YOUR SEASONINGS


* Season 2 POUNDS of fish with Old Bay and cut into 1.5 inch pieces and add to pot. Turn up heat with over off and stir a little. (5 minutes)

Cover and turn off. Soup is done.

Enjoy!

This doctor admitted COVID pandemic mistakes. Then his critics attacked him again.

For all of the rending of our social fabric over the past eight years in the United States, nothing has been more bitterly polarizing than our public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with a fast-spreading virus and the potential of millions of American deaths, public health officials and politicians accelerated the development of vaccines and implemented lockdowns on businesses, schools and communities in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease and to save lives.

Now, Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health, has been publicly reflecting on the mistakes made by the public health establishment during the pandemic. In doing so, he has unintentionally highlighted a challenge for those who seek to rebuild trust among the American people and between the American people and their leaders: the penalty we pay for humility.


I have a professional connection to this story as national ambassador for Braver Angels, America’s largest cross-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to the work of bridging political depolarization. (That’s a fancy way of saying we are liberals, conservatives and others working toward rebuilding trust among the American people and the people and their institutions.)

In 2022, Braver Angels was put in touch with Collins because of his desire to engage constructively with critics of our public health response to the pandemic. Collins wanted to get to know ordinary Americans to better understand why so much of the public had lost faith in our public health institutions.

Braver Angels has a program dedicated to uplifting the voices of working-class Americans in our democratic discourse called the We The People’s Project, led in part by political podcaster Adam “Wilk” Wilkinson, a logistics and transportation manager in Clearwater, Minnesota.

Wilkinson, who was a supporter of former President Donald Trump and a critic of the pandemic lockdown policies, also is a passionate believer in healing our divides. My colleagues approached Wilkinson about serving as a bridge between Dr. Collins and the many Braver Angels members who felt that the former NIH director had perpetrated a vast injustice against the American people.

Wilkinson and Collins then began working together to produce online and in-person events that culminated with the doctor's appearance at Braver Angels' national convention last year.

While Collins was met with intense criticism at the convention, his willingness to step forward and hear the voices of dissenters was well received, even by those who disagreed with him.

Francis Collins' admission about COVID mistakes triggered critics​

Recently, however, a clip from the doctor's conversation with Wilkinson at the convention has led to a new avalanche of contempt for Collins.

Here are some of Collins' now viral comments: “As a guy living inside the Beltway, feeling the sense of crisis, trying to decide what to do in some situation room in the White House … we weren’t really thinking about what that would mean to Wilk and his family in Minnesota, a thousand miles away from where the virus was hitting so hard. We weren’t really considering the consequences in communities that were not New York City or some other big city.

"If you’re a public health person and you’re trying to make a decision, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision is, and that is something that will save a life. Doesn’t matter what else happens. … You attach zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people’s lives, ruins the economy, and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never quite recover from.”

Some of Collins' critics took that admission as an opportunity to pile on. A new wave of criticism crested on social media, and National Review and The Wall Street Journal published critical commentary.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote: “This was precisely the argument we made on March 20, 2020 … for politicians not to accept the lockdown advice of public-health officials as gospel. They think too narrowly, and political leaders have to consider the larger consequences of policies for the public good.”

I have no problem with such criticism, and in fact, agree with it. I was among the many Americans who, as the lockdowns continued for months, became frustrated at the inattention paid to the secondary effects of such policies. Put aside concerns for civil liberties. What would it mean for public health itself for millions of Americans to find themselves unemployed, socially isolated, fearful and stuck at home for extended periods of time?


But if Collins and his peers can be criticized for having thought too narrowly about the consequences of our public response to the pandemic, the doctor's critics also can be criticized for thinking too narrowly about the consequences of brushing aside his act of contrition.

US is turning its back on long COVID. We'll pay the price if we don't act.

Humility from leading public officials is the rarest of commodities, but it is needed more than ever in our current political culture.

Former President Donald Trump more than any politician in recent memory has built a brand out of never apologizing or conceding mistakes. But many other elected officials and public authorities tend not to reflect on their shortcomings.

Our culture tells leaders to never admit they were wrong​

Neither, for that matter, do many activists and pundits. Certainty is the currency of the realm, it seems. To admit fault is to betray weakness that people in public life feel they can’t afford.

Yet, if we can't admit mistakes, then there can be no culture of reflection in our politics. And without a culture of reflection, it means we won't learn from our mistakes. Nor can we trust one another (or our leaders) to do so.


That approach locks us into the pattern we find ourselves in now. When politicians and public figures from each end of our political duopoly do and say things that are destructive, they feel compelled to double down on the same course out of fear of the consequences of admitting they were wrong.


Media outlets that played up the racial sensitivities of the American people can't acknowledge their role in fomenting the outrage that led to riots in 2020. Other outlets trafficking in rage and conspiracy can't own their perpetuation of false claims that the election was stolen.

Universities are too slow to admit that inconsistencies in their free speech protections have made it possible for certain groups to be made to feel vulnerable on campus.


Politicians who now decry the threat of Russia pretend as if they didn't laugh at the notion that Russia was a threat to global security only a few years ago. The list goes on and on.

Francis Collins took a meaningful step with public reflection on the consequences of his leadership during one of the most difficult periods of recent American history. His willingness to do so should not exempt him from criticism or accountability. But critics must at least be willing to applaud the precedent that Collins set in offering such statements if we are to hope that more public figures will not only acknowledge their mistakes, but also help us all learn how we can do better in the future.

As a nation, we need humility and graciousness to replace arrogance and stubbornness so that that we can begin to make progress together again.

John Wood Jr. is a columnist for USA TODAY Opinion. He is national ambassador for Braver Angels, a former nominee for Congress, former vice chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, musical artist, and a noted writer and speaker on subjects including racial and political reconciliation. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @JohnRWoodJr

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