Tuesday, January 31, 2017
THE FIRST "P.S." IN THE BLOG'S HISTORY
P.S. Too pre-occupied with his immigration nastiness. But the marches: here, there, everywhere. More than at his inauguration--so take that. BAM.
Monday, January 30, 2017
I HAVE BECOME INARTICULATE
The words do not exist or, more likely, they are not in my vocabulary. We are barely 10 days in. By my not so great math skills, we now have 1450 more days with the man who shall not be named (the math: 1460-10). How can I sustain my rage, my sadness, and my embarrassment? I know this: I have few if any readers whose relatives either came over on the Mayflower or are Native Americans. That means all of us are descended from immigrant families. I sure am--Russian and German. Remember where you came from way back when.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, he issued his nasty immigration executive order. Very clear message for me. Made me think of the St. Louis being turned away sending its passengers back to a likely death in Europe. Made me think of Ellis Island and remind myself that I am a first generation American. Made me think that my father's family was not welcomed here and ended up in Brazil.
Where to go/What to say:
--Do not normalize one fucking thing he does.
--I do not accept alternative facts--as Chuck Todd of NBC said, such "facts" are really just lies in fancy words. Kelly Anne and Steve Bannon are very dangerous and need to be watched. Closely--neither was elected to anything but seem to be in charge of the flaming orange head.
--Read anything written by Charles Blow in the NY Times. He is another of us Eastern liberals but has a way bigger vocabulary than me. There are other very articulate voices out there--find them.
--Root for Lindsey Graham and/or John McCain to open up their mouths and not just shuffle along behind the emperor. Ditto for Susan Collins.
--Give money and your time to anything and everything but be sure to conserve your energy--1450 days is a long haul.
--The EPA nominee does not believe in climate change and the HHS nominee wants to gut Obamacare. Perfect.
--No sports talk this week in spite of the Super Bowl. However, bless my heart, I do have three disconnected final thoughts.
1. Good on those folks who went to JFK airport over the weekend and the lawyers in NYC
and Boston who went right to court and got temporary stays.
2. The Michigan football coach makes about 7 million a year--his two chief assistants just got raises to 1
million a year.
3. In my ongoing effort to ultimately weigh 400 pounds and eat my way out of this bleak landscape , I have downloaded the Domino's app and the McDonald's app. Yum.
I am with you all in spirit--Shalom.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, he issued his nasty immigration executive order. Very clear message for me. Made me think of the St. Louis being turned away sending its passengers back to a likely death in Europe. Made me think of Ellis Island and remind myself that I am a first generation American. Made me think that my father's family was not welcomed here and ended up in Brazil.
Where to go/What to say:
--Do not normalize one fucking thing he does.
--I do not accept alternative facts--as Chuck Todd of NBC said, such "facts" are really just lies in fancy words. Kelly Anne and Steve Bannon are very dangerous and need to be watched. Closely--neither was elected to anything but seem to be in charge of the flaming orange head.
--Read anything written by Charles Blow in the NY Times. He is another of us Eastern liberals but has a way bigger vocabulary than me. There are other very articulate voices out there--find them.
--Root for Lindsey Graham and/or John McCain to open up their mouths and not just shuffle along behind the emperor. Ditto for Susan Collins.
--Give money and your time to anything and everything but be sure to conserve your energy--1450 days is a long haul.
--The EPA nominee does not believe in climate change and the HHS nominee wants to gut Obamacare. Perfect.
--No sports talk this week in spite of the Super Bowl. However, bless my heart, I do have three disconnected final thoughts.
1. Good on those folks who went to JFK airport over the weekend and the lawyers in NYC
and Boston who went right to court and got temporary stays.
2. The Michigan football coach makes about 7 million a year--his two chief assistants just got raises to 1
million a year.
3. In my ongoing effort to ultimately weigh 400 pounds and eat my way out of this bleak landscape , I have downloaded the Domino's app and the McDonald's app. Yum.
I am with you all in spirit--Shalom.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
THE INCIDENT AT THE FERNANDES BODEGA AND OTHER ITEMS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE
So over the holidays, I ordered an item from LL Bean (before that relative of LL was outed for being a big supporter of the guy whose name will not be mentioned). Now to be fair (and I am nothing if not fair and open minded), most packages get delivered on time and to the correct unit. But sometimes there are problems--like finding packages placed on another unit's doorstep or being told the neighboring Inn has a package of ours. So I go online, track the delivery, and discover it has been delivered--which of course it has not. I call LL and am told it is at the Fernandes bodega--which of course they believe is in my neighborhood. Which of course it is not. LL tells me they will not re-deliver it and I must go to Fernandes and get it. So I head on out and, sure enough, Fernandes is apparently the drop off point for all if not most of JP for undeliverable packages. I am into a full on boycott now especially since it was the wrong item anyhow. Whew--that took longer than getting to Fernandes'.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE:
--Jefferson Beauregard Sessions as in the name of the nominee for Attorney General. Jefferson as in the President of the Confederacy and Beauregard as in one of the Confederate Generals. He will be approved but he will not be safeguarding too many rights or too many people. And no, he does not get a "see how he does pass".
--The Times front page last week had a picture (and accompanying story) of 3 good ole boys from Covington, Louisiana talking about the election and probably sipping bourbon and spitting tobacco (and yup them's my stereotypes.). Anyhow, they love the man whose name will not be mentioned and really do not like the Eastern liberals, the Eastern media, and us Eastern whiners. They probably get both Medicare and Social Security but do not like the Federal government.
--Streep laid him out without mentioning his name and then he tweeted that she was a terrible actress anyhow.
--I could not watch his press conference too long but I have a confession. There was a moment when I really liked his anger at the media. I mean they rolled over (with very few exceptions) during the election run up and even that did not win them his respect. Saw a great line that once he dissed the CNN reporter, the next question should have been: "Could you please answer the question from the CNN reporter?". But nope--they just went ahead and asked their own VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS so he could then respond with a non answer.
--House Republicans are worse than the man whose name will not be mentioned. I believe they genuinely hate poor people and especially poor people of color. Their haste to repeal Obamacare, their desire to support the wall, and their hope to de-fund Planned Parenthood will all impact the poor disproportionately.
--Saw "Fences" and thought the acting was just superb. In my not so fertile imagination, all I could think of was the symbolism of the fence in the back yard in the film at a time when we are going to build a much larger wall and pretend it solves the problem (whatever the problem is). Ask the Israelis how that worked out for them.
--Hope some of those corporations stand up to him though I kid of think they are gutless wonders.
--The timing of his inauguration the same week as the MLK holiday is not lost on me. And probably not lost on Representative Lewis either.
SPORTS TALK
The Pats won ugly last night but did win. The talking heads will be crazed these week and we should probably put them on suicide watch. Curiously, I am not so worried. Brady cannot be that bad again. It is a great day in America when both Nick Saban and Pete Carroll lose--should be a day off from school or work. BTW, if you saw the Bama loss, did you see that kid following Saban around with a cup full of something--all game and you want to guess his color? Ho hum. Isaiah Thomas has the biggest small person chip on his shoulder that I have ever seen--and you know what, he is very good.
Adios
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE:
--Jefferson Beauregard Sessions as in the name of the nominee for Attorney General. Jefferson as in the President of the Confederacy and Beauregard as in one of the Confederate Generals. He will be approved but he will not be safeguarding too many rights or too many people. And no, he does not get a "see how he does pass".
--The Times front page last week had a picture (and accompanying story) of 3 good ole boys from Covington, Louisiana talking about the election and probably sipping bourbon and spitting tobacco (and yup them's my stereotypes.). Anyhow, they love the man whose name will not be mentioned and really do not like the Eastern liberals, the Eastern media, and us Eastern whiners. They probably get both Medicare and Social Security but do not like the Federal government.
--Streep laid him out without mentioning his name and then he tweeted that she was a terrible actress anyhow.
--I could not watch his press conference too long but I have a confession. There was a moment when I really liked his anger at the media. I mean they rolled over (with very few exceptions) during the election run up and even that did not win them his respect. Saw a great line that once he dissed the CNN reporter, the next question should have been: "Could you please answer the question from the CNN reporter?". But nope--they just went ahead and asked their own VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS so he could then respond with a non answer.
--House Republicans are worse than the man whose name will not be mentioned. I believe they genuinely hate poor people and especially poor people of color. Their haste to repeal Obamacare, their desire to support the wall, and their hope to de-fund Planned Parenthood will all impact the poor disproportionately.
--Saw "Fences" and thought the acting was just superb. In my not so fertile imagination, all I could think of was the symbolism of the fence in the back yard in the film at a time when we are going to build a much larger wall and pretend it solves the problem (whatever the problem is). Ask the Israelis how that worked out for them.
--Hope some of those corporations stand up to him though I kid of think they are gutless wonders.
--The timing of his inauguration the same week as the MLK holiday is not lost on me. And probably not lost on Representative Lewis either.
SPORTS TALK
The Pats won ugly last night but did win. The talking heads will be crazed these week and we should probably put them on suicide watch. Curiously, I am not so worried. Brady cannot be that bad again. It is a great day in America when both Nick Saban and Pete Carroll lose--should be a day off from school or work. BTW, if you saw the Bama loss, did you see that kid following Saban around with a cup full of something--all game and you want to guess his color? Ho hum. Isaiah Thomas has the biggest small person chip on his shoulder that I have ever seen--and you know what, he is very good.
Adios
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