A brand new day

I'm thinking of calling the White House.

Day One
"Good morning, may I speak with President Trump, please?"
"Mr. Trump is no longer the President."
"That's right, yes, thank you."

Day Two
"Good morning, may I speak with President Trump, please?"
"Mr. Trump is no longer the President."
"That's right, yes, thank you."

Day Three
"Good morning, may I speak with President Trump, please?"
"Mr. Trump is no longer the President."
"That's right, yes, thank you."

. . .

Day Twenty-One
"Good morning, may I speak with President Trump, please?"
"Ma'am, I have to ask, why do you insist on calling? I have told you repeatedly that Mr. Trump is no longer the President of the United States."
"That's right, yes, thank you. I will never tire of hearing that."

Bridge over troubled water

Temperature: -5/23 degrees with snow, finally, but whoever turned on the snow cannon, please turn it off!

Eating: cacio e pepe pasta in a minute.

Drinking: I’d love some crispy white from Tuscany with that, but Protestant Northern Europe tends to frown upon middle-of-the-day-middle-of-the-week imbibing. I’ve become quite the Lutheran.

Watching: The Bureau, not another version of The Office, mind you.

Listening: to Another Sky: Music For Winter Vol. I.

Reading: The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Women’s Empowerment by Linda Scott.

Thinking: about free speech. The right to speak freely. By all means do, but if what you say is against the law, be prepared to suffer the consequences of your utterances. But where do you draw the line? What if what you say is illegal because your government says so? Making a meme out of Putin, mocking Erdogan, or bad-mouthing Xi is out of the question. It's silence or prison in these countries. And there is your line and la différance. Where the majority of people have drawn the line and where the person or party in power decided it lies. Which do you prefer? Rules we have agreed upon or rules dictated from above? No rules at all? A free-for-all? That never ends well. That's the Rudy Giuliani Method of trial by combat. We've tried that over the centuries. And decided we're not doing that again, agreed? So what the hell are you doing salivating over the thought of beating up the press, your perceived opponents and anyone else you feel like messing with in the name of law, order and democratic rule, you misguided fool being used as a tool, you went on the internet, didn't you, and found a tribe and your self-worth and somehow it hinges on tearing down some other tribe and their self-worth because the system is too ambiguous and immutable and there has to be something you can do because you cast your vote and it didn't go your way and now you are mad and this is not right and you've been lied to. Yes, you’ve been had, my friend. By the man who promised to support and defend the Constitution, and who only cared about supporting those loyal to him and defending his personal and business interests. Wanna get mad, get mad at him. And that's what people did. Voted him out. In a free, fair, peaceful election, and there is an abundance of evidence to support that and nothing but hearsay, conspiracy theories and outright lies to the contrary. If you resort to violence to enforce those lies, don't be surprised if you aren't hailed for your patriotism but jailed for terrorism. It’s not about what you want as an individual but what people want as a nation. It’s certainly not about what one man wants. Autocrats elect themselves. After Putin comes Putin, after Erdogan more Erdogan, and after Xi comes more Xi. Democratic societies get to choose. Celebrate that, honor that, because the alternative is a prison and a nightmare for all.

Feeling: Ad-based, revenue-based streaming, it gives the same amount of space and clout to anti-vaxxers and research-based medicine alike, to holocaust deniers and evidence-based history alike, to truths and lies and every manner of distortion in between. Is it any wonder some are lost, dazed and confused? Is it any wonder last week on Capitol Hill looked like a cosplay con gone rogue with the Duck Dynasty and a guy in the Chewbacca bikini breaking through billions worth of national defense, as one Twitter user put it, with people ready to get violent and people with no clue of what was happening, and some amazed they were maced when they were simply taking part in the time-honored tradition of violently overthrowing the government also known as a coup, and yet carnivalizing the scene takes the focus away from the fact that some were and are dead serious and dangerous and should be stopped in their tracks, while giving a mic and a camera to trolls and other rebels without a cause is never a good idea, it just muddies the waters. So that's where we're at. And tech companies have not suddenly developed a conscience and discovered morality, they are scared. Scared of losing revenue, being regulated, sued, of employees walking out or organizing. So it's about money. And what of money and politics? Doesn’t buying your way into power, political donations, funding elections, disenfranchise the poor? Is it any wonder many feel their voice isn’t as audible, their concerns as pressing, as the voice and concerns of those in power and now deciding for them? Equality of opportunity. Is it real? Really real? What about equality of condition? As things stand, can the disenfranchised ever expect to get a fair shake? Trump was not the answer, agreed? More tax cuts for the rich and less regulation across the board is not the answer, it’s just more of the same.