We can all agree (meaning all Americans, including the Heritage Foundation) that attention to the bits of fluff and beefcake that populate Hollywood is a waste of time.  Outside their job of entertaining us, there's no reason to observe what they do with their copious amounts of free time, vast piles of cash, or cavernously uninformed opinions about matters of political, social, or environmental import.  As Americans, having no royal family, we tend to group non-head-of-state royals in the gossip-magazine category with movie stars.

Then there's Harry and Meghan, residing where many neighbors are actors or otherwise in show business.  As much as I wish it weren't so, their opinions and actions have the potential to affect all of our lives, and they show determination to do so.

The fact that the U.S. fought two wars not to have to take British royalty seriously is lost on the man.  He happily called our First Amendment "bonkers."  Nice behavior from a guest.  An opponent of dangerous internet content, he's on the commission of the Aspen Institute.  Known as "the mountain retreat for the liberal elite," it hosted a 2020 (pre-Musk era) event where the head of Twitter's Trust & Safety Council, Facebook's head of security policy, and reporters from big outlets engaged in a hypothetical exercise to undermine documents showing Hunter Biden engaging in slimy and lucrative dealings with Burisma.  Basically, they were fleshing out a game to turn Biden crimes into Russian disinformation before the news had a chance to put its boots on.

In 2021, the foreign national, Harry, was made chief impact officer of Better Up.  This tech company provides job-focused life coaching to their employees, including a program for the U.S. Air Force (what? superior officers don't provide enough training?).  Coaches, who aren't licensed mental health professionals, have no obligation for privacy.  The company has been criticized by employees and ex-employees as a toxic workplace, full of secrets and burnout, followed with uniform salary reductions.

Since returning to her home state of California, Meghan's done some troubling things.  Using personal cell phone numbers helpfully provided by N.Y. senator Kirsten Gillibrand, she called  every female Republican member of the U.S. Senate, informing them of the urgent need for paid child care.  This American citizen was not only bypassing office numbers to cold-call elected officials to influence federal action, but trying to up her prestige by deploying a foreign courtesy title (loaned to her as the spouse of a titled royal, not given to her in her own right), announcing herself by saying, "This is the  Duchess of Sussex."

Meghan sued a photo agency, Splash, into bankruptcy over photos of her smiling and walking her dogs with a child-holder strapped to her chest.  She didn't sue the creator of the (now defunct) Meghan Markle for President website, or the creator of the Queen Meghan image, available for purchase since her engagement.  Meghan claims that her statement, before they left the U.K., that "[w]e're one plane crash away from the throne" was in jest.  I'm sure William and Catherine, Charles and Elizabeth were so amused.

Harry lost his lawsuit requesting the right to pay for the services of armed, currently employed officers of the Metropolitan Police (AKA Scotland Yard) — normally provided to actively working members of the royal family on an as-needed basis.  But he still has an active suit to receive those services at the public's expense.  Winning the latter suit means any country Harry and his family set foot in would be required to provide and finance armed security (I've heard estimates of $6 million to $20 million a year).  If they continue to reside in the U.S., that would be us paying for armed security employees (the category of employees this pair, while in Canada, sent to fetch coffee and groceries).

If he wins the clearly unnecessary tax-funded security, Harry and Meghan would have Internationally Protected Person status, which means the person "is entitled pursuant to international law to special protection against attack upon his person, freedom, or dignity, and any member of his family[.]"  Imagine it being illegal to call this pair of maroons  pinhead grifters.  If Britain bestowed IPP status, it would also include access to integrated intelligence from the U.K.'s security services.  By accepting an advance from a publisher for his memoir, Spare, Harry made a deal in which he sold secrets, some embarrassing, about his family members, as well as a claim, infuriating to several nations, that he'd personally killed 25 Taliban fighters.  How could he be trusted with secrets about actual strangers — secrets  worth big money to people who would use such information for nefarious purposes?

During one of few public appearances as a working royal, a state dinner in Fiji, Meghan wore spectacular diamond earrings — a wedding gift to her from Mohammed bin Salman.  This was within weeks of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, approved by bin Salman.  Meghan had been warned by staff against wearing those earrings.  She wore them again at Prince Charles's birthday party.

What's the harm in wearing a handful of blood diamonds?

Harry and Meghan have a relationship with an online group calling itself the Sussex Squad, which they provide public thanks and cash payments.  This group, which maintains a website and a YouTube channel, widely posts vicious things about William and Catherine.  Harry's and Meghan's vision for a "safer" internet doesn't include shielding their own family members.

Harry and Meghan's unsupported claims of royal and U.K. racism, amplified by their Squaddies, have had real-world consequences, sparking friction between the U.K. and other member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, to the extent of nations considering withdrawing from the organization.

If it were my choice, I'd be ignoring those harmless airheads frolicking in southern California's most lavish locations, without a care in the world.  But all signs are that they are dangerous, power-mad lunatics, whose misuse of information and connections have already been too extensive for any sane person's comfort.

Image: Matt Brown via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.