Sundays

The sound of wind

Winter solitude—

a world of one color

the sound of wind.

—Matsuo Bashō, (tr. Robert Haas)

We’re having a bit of a Nor’easter here on Cape Cod with a mix of snow and freezing rain being blown about by sustained winds of 35 m.p.h. and gusts up to 60. It’s cold So, it’s a perfect day to stay inside with a fire going, read some books, and do some writing. Sebastian is hanging out with me; the cats, as usual, are nowhere to be seen. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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From time to time, I record a Quick Hit video in which I take a lighter look at some of the more absurd goings on in these often overwhelming times. I never know quite what’s going to push me over the edge but last week it was Merrick Garland’s press conference, gas stoves (oy), and gendered M&Ms. Well, if we can’t laugh . . .

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[Transcript]

Every once in a while, Merrick Garland breaks his silence to remind me why I hate him so much. He called a press conference yesterday afternoon, and no, it was not about the massive amounts of treason committed by Donald Trump and his allies. It wasn't about the thousands of stolen top secret and highly sensitive documents that Donald lied about having and refused to turn over to the Justice Department. It wasn't about Donald's role in inciting an insurrection against our government. Nope. It was about a few dozen documents that somebody found on one of Joe Biden's properties, which were immediately turned over to the National Archives. That shouldn't have happened, of course. But as far as we can tell, there was no criminal intent and there was actually no knowledge that these documents were there.

As President Obama said, "If these are records from the time Joe Biden was Vice President, then they couldn't really have been that important." But Merrick Garland in all his wisdom decided that a special counsel needed to be appointed immediately. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it took almost two years for him to do the same for the egregious and obvious crimes that Donald Trump committed. But this is what happens when Democrats continue to appoint or nominate what they consider consensus candidates to appeal to a moderate wing of the Republican Party that does not exist. Thanks Merrick Garland. Have I mentioned I hate him?

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Recently, a US consumer product safety commissioner warned about the potential dangers of gas stoves, particularly to the brain development of young children and the fact that they may increase the risk of developing childhood asthma. Now, if you don't give a shit about children's brain development or whether or not they get asthma, then yes, as Ronny Jackson suggests, we will have to pry the gas stoves out of your cold dead hands. But here's the thing—nobody is trying to do that. It is just another way for the Republicans to get people angry and to get people to think that Democrats are coming for yet another one of their freedoms to destroy the environment and hurt other human beings.

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In related news, Nick Adams, self-described alpha male. . . just for a second, I have to concede that I don't actually think this is a real person. Part of me is convinced that this must be a parody account. I mean, who calls themselves an alpha male? Well, oh, wait a second. Yeah, sometimes people do things like describe themselves in ways that nobody who actually has those characteristics ever would, like self-described “smart person” Donald Trump.

But Nick, who claims to be Donald Trump's favorite author, is on the war path against the Mars company, which makes M&M's because, and I don't know if this is true or not, but because M&M's have packaged female M&M's. And Nick only wants them to package male M&M's. So he literally tweeted, "Not one M&M will pass my lips until Mars issues a formal apology and releases an all-male package of M&M's to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality." So what this alpha male is saying is that he only wants males in his mouth. I don't know, Nick, you might want to rethink that one.

[End transcript]

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I’m thinking of starting a new feature called “Essential Voices/Hidden Depths” which will appear on Sundays. I’ll be interviewing people who’ve done yeoman’s work over the last seven years to keep us informed, motivated, sane, and, at the worst and loneliest of times, have helped us stayed connected and feel seen. It’s not their work per se that I’ll be talking to them about; rather it’ll be the unexpected, sometimes counterintuitive things they do to decompress and keep themselves sane. I hope you’ll enjoy watching/reading/listening to the conversations as much as I’m going to enjoy having them.