Friday Potpourri: 20 December 2024
From the theater of the absurd, or more accurately, a jurist not thinking things through. Remember Svetlana Dali? She was the woman arrested for stowing away on a plane from NY to Paris. After they brought her back to the US, Judge Joseph Marutollo let her out on bail. Talk about being a literal flight risk. Unsurprisingly, she cut off her ankle bracelet and made a run for the Canadian border. She was arrested at the border and is due back in court for another bail hearing next Tuesday. The world is actually so upside down that I have no idea whether or not she will get bail a second time.
Do you know Victoria Spartz? She is a member of the House - she’s Ukrainian-American and represents an Indiana district. She was first elected in 2020, decided not to run in 2022, then DID run, and again earlier this year dithered about running but ran anyway.
She was the first Congressperson to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine - but then, she dissed President Zelenskyy, and voted AGAINST aid to Ukraine. (I am not making this up.)
Her latest bit of nonsense is that she announced that she is leaving the Republican conference, and will not sit on any committees until she sees that the conference is “governing”. What’s she going to spend her time on? DOGE. Again, not making this up.
I am furious with John Fetterman. I supported him in his run for Lt. Governor and his run for Senate. I gave money. I worked for him. I KNOW him (although I have not spoken with him since his stroke.) Below is the resistbot I sent him on Tuesday, and I have followed up daily with phone calls, emails through his official website, and more resistbot. I will continue to do this, rotating my communication methods daily.
If you live in PA, I hope you will reach out to John.
And now for something really nice. Today, we are one month out from the start of the fascist regime. It just so happens that Martin Luther King Day/Day of Service, which falls on the third Monday in January, overlaps with the inauguration.
This is your opportunity to put “Hope over Hate”. Indivisible is encouraging their groups to schedule events for the weekend before, and the day of, MLK Day. You can find events near you on Mobilize.
Our local Indivisible group is partnering with the local food bank to collect food and monetary donations. If you live in the Chester County area, I hope you’ll consider dropping by one of our locations to “meet the group” and donate some food. Of course, we’ll have a site where you can donate money directly (yes, tax deductible). As we get closer, I’ll let you know more details.
If you don’t live around here - please consider participating in a local Indivisible Hope over Hate event.
As a complete non sequitur, I have read, although I seriously doubt the veracity, that the “National Association of Tuba Players” is planning on taking busloads of people to the inauguration, so that every time Von Shitzenpants speaks, they’ll drown him out.
I doubt this for two reasons. First, there is no “National Association of Tuba Players1”. Second, they’d never get the tubas through security. But it’s fun to think about.
In addition to service, there will be other things to do on 20 January. Such as, if you have a television, turn it on in the morning, and have it stay connected all day to something like HGTV, the Cartoon Channel, or even a shopping network - this will drive down the Neilsens for all the news channels. I’ll have more helpful hints as we get closer.
Finally, starting tomorrow, I am officially on vacation until early January. I’ll be posting intermittently. I am very excited about this. While I still have political planning meetings scheduled, as well as some medical appointments (BUT NO SURGERY!!) I foresee spending a lot of time NOT on the computer, NOT arising at zero dark thirty, and NOT having overscheduled days. I see the opportunity to read the book I’ve been trying to read for the past month. I see hot bubble baths. I see being able to sit quietly, think things through, and plan. Above all, I see cookies in my future!
There is an International Tuba Euphonium Association, but they don’t seem the type of group to do this.
Enjoy the vacation! We'll be baking one more batch of cookies for Sunday Cookie Day at my sister's, plan an hors d'oeuvre for Christmas Eve, and make a Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake for Christmas Dinner!
It's major family time - fortunately, we actually like one another.
I had my 3-week follow-up on the hip replacement, yesterday. Naturally, I'm doing fabulous - a perfect gait! He added a couple of millimeters to the length of my bone to make me perfectly even on both sides! Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE the VA?!?
And loving the shit-show President Musk is creating. Also love watching the Orange Menace take a back seat. It's going to be a really ugly divorce.
Enjoy a well earned respite and the cookies before they crumble. The rest of us will be entertained by the new clown show in D.C. led by EEEE-Muskrat.