Sunday Stealing

 ONE DIRECTION ASKS

1. Are you a Jeopardy fan?  Who do you want to replace Alex Trebek? Clearly the correct answer is Jonathan Lawson. He's already replaced Alex on the Colonial Penn commercials.

 
2. What’s your favorite horror film? Psycho. It's a beautifully made film on just about every level. So many horror movies are slapdash, or depend on blood and gore while Psycho is all about the suspense.

3. Are you a possessive person? In my own way.

4. Who’s your idol? JBKO. She was a very strong woman who endured more than anyone should -- an alcoholic father, 5 difficult pregnancies in 10 years (but she only brought 2 babies home), wiping her husband's brains off her face and then mourning for the nation on the world stage, her baby sister's cancer, her mother's Alzheimer's, her own battle with cancer -- and she did much of it in the public eye, with people judging her. She never explained and she never complained. She lived her life on her own terms and at the time of her death, she was a grandmother and a successful book editor and loyal companion to a man who loved her. She was triumphant.

5. List five things you can’t live without. Coca cola, chocolate, TV, the internet, air conditioning

6. Where do you feel home? Anyplace with Coca cola, chocolate, TV, the internet, air conditioning.

7. What are your three best qualities? I'm loyal, honest and funny.

8. Name three things that make you happy. My cats, my books, old movies on TV

9. What helps you when you’re feeling down? My cats, my books, old movies on TV

10. Which big cities have you been to? Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Tampa, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris, Munich, Honolulu, Las Vegas ...

11. What’s your favorite lovestory? (Book, film, etc. ) Holiday. It takes Cary Grant an awful long time to realize he should be with Katharine Hepburn. It's an achingly romantic movie about finding that person who really gets you, and this sweet kiss on the cheek is all that happens between my favorite lovers until the final frame. If it wasn't for my pesky job, I'd watch it every day.

 
12. Talk about the best concert you ever attended. Paul McCartney at Wrigley Field. My favorite person, my favorite music, my favorite place.

13. What’s one thing you don’t ever want to change? My cat Reynaldo. He's 17 now, entering the end of his life. I wish I could make him young again.

14. What scares you? People who are horrified -- HORRIFIED, I TELL YOU! -- by the 13 service members who died in Kabul but don't want to talk about the 6 who died during the Trump-incited riot on January 6. A sitting American President encouraged citizens to take over the Capitol. Think about that. The death of our troops is always tragic and I do not diminish what happened in Kabul. Not in any way. But a terror attack led by a sitting President, Americans killing Americans, that's some scary shit. I'm glad Trump's gone and only wish he would stay gone. I hear he was on Fox this week, ripping on President Biden for the airport attack (and Biden accepts responsibility). Did Fox ask him about Officer Brian Sicknick? Yeah, tell me again how Blue Lives Matter. So yes, the MAGA crowd scares me. There's no reason, no logic, no patriotism. Just grievance and hate. And they wrap themselves in my Christian faith. Shudder. (Hey! You asked!)

15. What are three things you want to do before you die? I don't do these questions. Sorry. It's like a bucket list. 

 

He said this. All of this.

Here's the transcript of what our President said to the rally just before his supporters marched up the street to the Capitol. It's filled with personal attacks, spite and animus. It's really jaw dropping. At the 31:50 mark, even Justice Kavanaugh gets special attention.

And, oh, the baseless conspiracy theories he keeps perpetuating! There is no evidence that any of these things happened. None. Or if there is, President Donald J. Trump has the worst legal team ever, because of the 62 individual lawsuits, filed in both state and federal courts, 61 failed.

So he lied, slandered and incited. He whipped up this crowd and encouraged them to walk up the street to the Capitol, because, in his own words, "You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to be strong." 

And this really bugs me. While the President exhorts the angry crowd to "demand Congress do the right thing," he promises, "We're going to walk down and I'll be there with you." The coward did not go with them. He knew it was going to be ugly and he didn't want to get hurt. Cadet Bonespurs to the end.

Here he is, the man some of your neighbors still admire. Many of those who still embrace and support this man love to quote Scripture. Well, let me take my turn:

The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Psalm 11

Deliver me, Lord, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men. Psalm 13

Yes, just because I'm patriotic enough to celebrate the separation of Church and State doesn't mean I don't pray. If you're still supporting this dishonest, cowardly, violent President, perhaps in addition to listening to his words, you should look at your own faith.

SUNDAY STEALING

JANUARY

1. What are your plans for January? I don't know that I have any! I was sick throughout December and while I'm on the mend, it's not unusual for me to be in my jammies and under the covers by 5:00.
 

2. What do you want to see happen in 2021? I want my cat to stay well. I'm taking Reynaldo to the vet tomorrow afternoon. I'm worried because he's old (17 in April, or 84 in human years) and he's shown a tendency toward kidney trouble. He's beside me as I write this. He's beside me all the time! Still very lively and sociable. But I'm seeing signs that remind me we're coming to the end of our time together. I want him to feel good and to know he's loved for as long as possible. (PS I also love my girl cat, Connie, too, but she's 8 and so her health is not an immediate concern.)
 
3. What would you give a 5 star rating? These two! So far they have been focused on healing and action. How will we get vaccines distributed and administered? How will we help businesses recover from the devastating effects of the mismanaged pandemic? How do we restore our reputation among our allies? How can we address domestic terrorism? (The display Trump supporters put on in the Capitol reminds me that, before 9/11, the most deadly terrorist act on these shores was committed by Timothy McVeigh. Angry, entitled white boys who don't get their way scare the shit out of me.) After four years of Trump's petty name-calling, self-absorption and incompetence, it's a delight to hear Joe and Kamala talk about us for a change. 

 

 
4. Do you have writing goals for 2021? I write for a living, so my goal is to just keep on keeping on for another year.
 
5. How do you feel about memoirs? Depends on whose they are.
 
6. If you could join any musical group who would you choose? I wouldn't. I can't carry a note in a bucket.
 
7. What are your favorite genres across all media? I enjoy all manner of entertainment. I like biographies, romance, comedy, mystery ... I just don't like sci-fi or fantasy. I also don't like epics.
 
8. What candle scents are your favorite? I don't have candles around here. But I do enjoy cinnamon, apple and lavender air freshener.
 
9. How well can you mimic other accents or voices? No.
 
10. What books are on your TBR list in 2021? There are two books I'm thinking of rereading: The Great Gatsby and David Nasaw's biography of Joseph Kennedy.

 
11. When do you decide it’s time to upgrade/buy something new? When I'm forced to.
 
12. Why is your favorite color your favorite color? I love Cubbie blue. It's the color of my team.

 
13. Who understands you the best? My oldest friend.
 
14. Do you write letters? Yes. My Cousin Rose and I exchange old-school, handwritten letters, and I have a prison penpal through a church program.
 
15. How do you keep going when times are hard? Faith. Faith in God, faith that it will all get better. January 20 is just 10 days away. We just have to hang on!

 

 

Looking somehow less arrogant

President Donald Trump has never hidden his misogyny. Remember when Megyn Kelly asked him why he publicly dismissed women as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals?" He complained that her question -- not his behavior -- wasn't appropriate, not from a woman who had "blood coming out of her eyes and blood coming out of her wherever."* He was not yet President. Somehow, as a nation, we decided that this attitude was acceptable in our Commander in Chief.

It's no surprise that his supporters have been emboldened. After all, if Donald Trump, holding those views, could run for the highest office in the land and win, why shouldn't they say what they're thinking? Women in power are uppity emasculating bitches. They deserve to be brought down a peg, and in the most vulgar way possible.

So I don't know why it wounded me so to see this man, Richard Barnett, bragging about how he violated a successful woman's space. During the Capitol riot, he broke into Nancy Pelosi's office and, he told us, sat at her desk and proudly "scratched his balls." Then he left her a "nasty note," in which he referred to her as "Nancy, you bitch." He left a quarter on her desk, "even though she ain't fucking worth it."

Richard Barnett is one of those Donald Trump referred to as "very special" and said, "We love you." 

I would not have recognized him in his mug shot. Apparently, being in FBI custody is something of a buzz kill.

*I heard that live. I was scrolling through my DVR, deleting things, with Don Lemon's CNN show on in the background. I thought, "Did I just hear that? Did he just say that?"

What he said

As I've always and often said on this blog, "Mitt Romney is a gentleman with whom I disagree on everything." But he is a gentleman, a patriot, and a Christian. I've seen no credible evidence that the current resident of the White House can claim any of those titles.

Today, when his nation needed him, Sen. Mitt Romney said this:

 

I don't pretend to know how Trump supporters or conspiracy theorists think, but I hope he speaks their language and that they hear him. 

 

Heartsick and disgusted

First, my President told his supporters that, "We will stop the steal!" He said, "After this [rally], we're going to walk down there, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down ... to the Capitol and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong."

He did not walk with them, of course. He is not strong or brave. 

His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told the same crowd that Wednesday was their opportunity settle their election "dispute" with "trial by combat."

Then this happened.

If these people were foreigners, we'd be calling them terrorists. If these people were Black, they'd be dead.

Later in the day, Donald Trump posted a video aimed at the mob he incited that says: "We love you."

No, Mr. President, "we" don't love them.