We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
…but perhaps the dumbest. Impeachment, that is. It is fitting, in a weird way, that the Democrats talked about impeaching President Trump before he was inaugurated, and now have actually impeached him for the second time when he is about to leave office, and the impeachment can have no practical effect. Neither in 2016 nor today did impeachment relate to anything other than the irrational, visceral hatred that Democrats have for Donald Trump.
My only critical response to this good essay, Is Everything Broken?, is to use an historical perspective: When were things perfect? Or when was life better?
Life in the Western world, right now, is better than it has ever been in history anywhere. We live in a Golden Age. Complaining is easy and fun but gratefulness is not as fulfilling...or is it?
The vast majority of Americans are not ideologues. They are people who wish to live in a free country and get along with their neighbors while engaging in profitable work, getting married, raising families, being entertained, and fulfilling their American right to adventure and self-invention. They are also the consumer base for movies, TV, books, and other cultural products. Every time Americans are given the option to ratify progressive dictates through their consumer choices, they vote in the opposite direction. When HBO removed Gone with the Wind from its on-demand library last year, it became the #1 bestselling movie on Amazon. Meanwhile, endless numbers of Hollywood right-think movies and supposed literary masterworks about oppression are dismal failures for studios and publishing houses that would rather sink into debt than face a social-justice firing squad on Twitter.
Oh, did I violate the unwritten rule that crass language is most effectively employed as punctuation for effect rather than, say, an opening statement?
If so, my apologies. Now back to the cussing.
“Fuck you…WAR.” Thousands of you tweeted that old Breitbart clip last week, back when you were still ON Twitter, before rightists were purged en masse as “insurrectionists”…before they migrated to Parler, and Amazon, Google, and Apple crippled the platform.
“Screw your optics; I’m going in.” That was the theme of last week. War!
1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Mr. Trump is a sick, bad man and therefore, as president, a dangerous one. He has grown casually bloody-minded, nattering on about force and denouncing even his own vice president as a coward for not supporting unconstitutional measures. No one seems to be certain how Mr. Trump spends his days. He doesn’t bother to do his job. The White House is in meltdown. The only thing that captures his interest is the fact that he lost, which fills him with thoughts of vengeance.
I don't have the exact date of this Paris recording of Wanda Landowska with Sonata in D Major. This remastered version actually reduced the French anti-aircraft noise but some can be heard around the 2-minute point.
The Germans were coming, but this famous Jewish, lesbian keyboardist played on.
I hate to say it. but there it is. He was never ordinary (which is why he was elected), but now, with just a few days left, people are fleeing his leadership. Heroes have great strengths and great weaknesses.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given hospitals a conundrum. Fail to use all of your COVID-19 vaccines within seven days of receipt? That'll be a $100,000 fine. Vaccinate someone out of the state-designated order? That'll be a $1 million fine.
Old times. It's a tear-jerker. Last time we played Rabbie Burns' tune in our house was the year that both of my parents died with the whole countless family, at Thanksgiving.
Our dear friend played it on our pianny Sat. night for a smallish New Year dinner party. Mrs. BS made that wonderful Italian roast pork with a ton of peppercorns.
All I could think of is of my lost pals, died or moved away. Especially my tennis partners and beer partners. Parents and in-laws too.
Dancing in Bryant Park, NYC, this Thanksgiving weekend. Despite politics, what a great city. Everything interesting no matter what. The show must go on.
COVID lockdowns 
Photo: Some things that were sold out at our fancy shop on New Years Day morning. And the wine shop was closed. So we had to make do. We did.