Impeachment Groundhog Day

 

It's impeachment Groundhog Day. Except this time with ten republicans on board. Nice to see there's some kind of needle move on decency. Sad there's only ten, but I'll take ten over none.

I don't want to write about politics. But I chose to start writing again before January 20th, when Joe Biden is going to be sworn in as the 46th POTUS, and of course, there's still insanity and lunacy going on in the last days of 45's presidency. I feel like I have to say something. I can't just ignore it and write about pies and cakes.

I don't know why I thought things would calm down in the last days. It must have just been wishful thinking. Now we have to worry about about more violence and insurrection. Insurrection, a word I never even thought we'd have to utter in this lifetime, yet, that's where we are. 

Whether I wanted to or not, I listened to almost the whole House of Representatives debate and vote of whether to impeach 45 for a second time. I was watching something, as I was working, and next thing I know, that was interrupted for the debate. I listed to all the speeches, for better or worse. 

I'll say this. I was doing work, so I couldn't just watch, eyes glued to the TV. Weirdly, at least on ABC, while these politicians were speaking, with masks on, at the bottom, they only posted the name of who was speaking for like a hot second, then, it just said, something like "House speeches for impeachment". So I'd hear some complete lie or lunacy, look up, and have no idea who was speaking. So when I say, "some guy from somewhere", it's not because I'm a moron, it's because, I couldn't tell who was speaking. 

I will say- there was one republican from North Carolina, I think, who made the most honest and noteworthy statement of every single word said. He said something like- What the president did was wrong. I am voting against impeachment because I have to go home and appeal to my base. Democrats, you're going to vote for impeachment because you have to go home and appeal to your base. But we all need to start working together. Or something like that. At least he was telling his truth- he was basically saying- we all do what we have to do to stay in office. He didn't just stand up there and make stuff up like some of these other people. I would have respected any of them more if they just even said- Hey, I'm not here to talk about my personal feelings. I'm a representative. I'm representing the people of XYZ. I know what they want and they don't support impeachment. Therefore I'm voting against impeachment.

I was going to quote Tod from Parenthood, when he goes into that whole thing about needing a license for a car, boat, etc. but any asshole could be a father, and just change it to be an elected politician. Which is all true, but the actual quote is now a little politically incorrect, so I'm leaving it out. You can get the gist of what I mean. My point is, listening to some of these representatives speak, it's clear that you don't even have to be particularly bright to be a representative for your state. You don't even have to be truthful. You can just full on stand up and lie.

That's why, here we are, regular people, wondering during the past four years, where are the parents, or just the adults, or the people smarter than the rest of us average Joe's, expecting something of these elected officials that they just....aren't. They are just regular people. Regular people, some of which who don't even know the definition of current buzzwords or phrases like defund the police. One representative, Old White Man, I can't tell you who, masked up and no name I could see, started yelling about how the democrats in there didn't want to defund the police when they were scared on January 6th. Well, duh. Because defund the police NEVER MEANT GET RID OF THE POLICE. If you're going to rail against something, publicly, shouldn't you know what it means? 

The House voted for impeachment, 232 to 197. It's amazing that it wasn't unanimous. The really amazing thing to me were some of the speeches in the debate. I wish I knew who some of these people were. These are supposed to be the adults in charge and they were just making things up. We heard 45 with our own ears and saw him with our own eyes. Not just the day before or the day of the violence on January 6th. We heard Giuliani, Don Jr, and the rest of his cronies. We saw the tweets. We heard the lies. We heard 45 continue to say he won the election when he didn't. We know he didn't call for help when the domestic terrorists infiltrated the Capitol building. We know he didn't say a word to stop it. We know he still hasn't said a word about the death about fallen police officer Brian Sicnick at the hands of those insurrectionists, who happens to have also been a Trump supporter. He did his job that day, to safeguard the representatives in the Capitol building, no matter his personal politics, and he got killed for it. We know 45 hasn't reached out to the family. 

So for all the reTrumpliclowns in the House indignantly crying hypocrisy or the people on social media crying hypocrisy and conspiracy, I haven't heard a word against him for him not acknowledging the officer's death. I thought this was the party of law and order. Of respecting law enforcement. Most of the republicans in the House yelling about the "whataboutness" of BLM vs the disgrace of January 6th, needing a new "whataboutheremails" don't see any difference in comparing protest over murder and oppression vs the violence perpetrated due to the cult mentality for the purpose of supporting false allegations about a stolen election. They were pledging allegiance to a man over country. I don't know how many times I have to say that. THAT, is a huge problem. It's not the what, it's the WHY. No, violence is never a "good" thing. But you can't compare people protesting years murder and oppression to our PRESIDENT, the highest position in all of the world, inciting violence against our OWN COUNTRY. 

Sure, that's what they were debating. Whether his words were the catalyst for the behavior. They were trying to play semantics, being literal, saying that this was planned by the insurrectionists, before 45's speech. Does it need to be explained that it was a cumulative effect? That all the tweets, all the rallies, all the speeches, all the rhetoric, over the past four years, were just inches on a long wick to a bomb, and the words that day, was the actual detonation. He riled, riled, riled, and then set them free with the last words. Yes, it was planned. But he stoked the flamed and then threw the final logs on the fire. Bin Laden DIDN'T ACTUALLY FLY THE PLANES EITHER. Those standing up for him in the House were just being deliberately obtuse, stupid, and/or pandering to their bases. I think it's actually all three. 

I wish I knew exactly who was speaking every time - at least who I was yelling at on the TV. There was one guy from Florida, I just saw on the news it was Matt Gaetz, who definitely doesn't belong representing anything except a number behind bars. Because if he rises up in politics in any real way, he'll be just as horrifying as 45. Maybe worse because he has that beguiling good head of hair and doesn’t look like he eats chicken by the bucket on a daily basis. He can get votes on the superficial. That guy is unhinged, dangerous, and a straight up history rewriter. I loathe that guy. 

GOP Rep Doug LaMalfa just spewed crazy after crazy. He might have been the one where I looked up because I heard him tout the president as pro-life. Like that's really a thing. I mean, if you're going to use made up stuff about him, pick something that's not totally laughable. It's like calling him a Christian and expecting someone to take you seriously. 

There were so many adamant liars up there. I could only tell that most of them were either old and white or young and white guys. You know, the country club, frat boy bystanders in The Accused kind of look. 

It's embarrassing how many representatives were too afraid to stand up for what is right and vote for impeachment. Or just doubled down to pander to their, or 45's base. They'll have to live with that. We all saw it and we'll all remember.

I just don't know how anyone can still defend his doing NOTHING on and since January 6th. Nevermind doing NOTHING about the coronavirus for months, when every single day, on World News Tonight, it's been the deadliest day yet. I don't CARE if you don't BELIEVE it has been. There are FACTS and what you believe. And all 45 has cared about is himself. It's so bizarre to me to still support the guy who clearly only cares about himself. I GET why the elected politicians are afraid to break with him. They have careers to think about. They have death threats to contend with. But the average person, still having to worry about Covid, the economy a mess, and the threat of violence looming all over the country with no one seeming to take the wheel, has absolutely NO REASON whatsoever to still support him besides brainwashing. 

If you're about to excuse 45 at all, keep repeating to yourself: The POTUS did not thing to stop what happened on January 6th. He did nothing to help during it. He did nothing while insurrectionists chanted to HANG his vice president. Can you imagine this having happened between Obama and Biden??? It took him days to lower flags for a fallen officer. He still refuses to concede. He's not sorry for anything he said against the insurrection and the people who committed it. 

That's it. E asked me during dinner- When Biden takes office, are we still going to have to watch the news every night? We have a lot of General Hospital to watch." 

I hope not, E. I hope not. 

And She Baked Us a Pie

 I follow Busy Philipps on Instagram. I like her. She just moved her family from LA to NYC before the holidays. She posted that she had the best pie in all of the land and she got it from the Little Pie Company in NYC. She described this pie as a sour cream apple pie with a walnut crust. I was sold at sour cream.

 Back in my Hoboken hang out days, I used to go to Frozen Monkey on Washington St and they had mini sour cream apple pies that were amazing. They'd put Tasti d'lite on top of it and it was heaven. Then Frozen Monkey went out of business, no more sour cream apple pies, and my heart was broken.

I've been on a sour cream kick lately. I also bought myself a griddle, if you can believe that. All because of sour cream. Because at some point in middle school, Adrienne O'Reilly had a sleepover, and her mom made us sour cream pancakes in the morning for breakfast. They were the best pancakes I've ever had in my life. I'd never had sour cream pancakes again after that, because, well, Rita was not making pancakes. But I'd thought of these pancakes sporadically over the years. 

I found this recipe for sour cream pancakes and I decided I had to make them. Truth be told, if Covid wasn't a thing, and I could just hang with my friend, I'd be begging Alex to make them for me. But alas, Covid IS a thing, so I knew I had to just suck it up and make them myself if I wanted them. 

Well, of course, it was a ginormous mess. I wasn't prepared with the correct accoutrements. I have a griddle pan, but I don't know, it seems like my stove top is not level. So the butter doesn't spread evenly over the pan, there isn't enough room on the pan, there isn't enough counter space, getting the batter on without it getting everywhere is a thing. It's just, a lot. They tasted great, but I never wanted to do it again. The clean-up also blew.

I decided I needed a real griddle. But what to get. I googled "best griddle 2020". I got this Hamilton Beach 3-n-1 Electric Griddle + Grill. It was relatively inexpensive, the plates turn over from griddle to grill and you can use either side or both. Sounded good to me. 

It came so I wanted to try it out. I also got this pancake batter dispenser thing, which I've already used like three times. It's fantastic. I'm so glad I sprung for the metal one instead of another of the crappy plastic one I already had that broke. I used it to do the pancakes but I also used it for cupcake batter to fill the cupcakes tins, AND I used it for this walnut filling for cookies. 

*Don't ask why the F I'm doing all this baking. F'ing winter Covid in NJ. What else am I supposed to be doing? 

The griddle was much easier to use for the pancakes than the stove. I could make like eight or nine pancakes at a time. It went much faster. The griddle also has degrees on it and in the little manual it tells you what degree to put it on to cook certain things. That is helpful to a kitchen disaster such as myself. 

I put it on my kitchen table, I had all my accoutrements, put on Dr. Phil and was all set. Made the pancakes and put them away for New Years Eve morning so I wouldn't have to make anything then. 

As an aside, it figures, we were just the three of us, because, you know, Covid. And we FORGOT, that Howard Stern calls fans on New Years Eve. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT ONE TO TRY TO GET A CALL. 

But back to my pie. So Busy Philipps posted this pie and I had to have it. So some time before New Years Eve I saw I could order it online. The first available delivery date was January 6th. I didn't care. That's what I took. It came Wednesday, as expected, and it's perfection. I expected it to be, but once I told my friend Cohen that I ordered from there and she gave them the seal of approval, I knew it was going to be good. As a foodie, Cohen is a tough customer. I am not a foodie, but I am a dessert connoisseur and it would've sucked if the pie sucked. 

 

I'm going to admit, it was expensive AF to have this pie delivered. It would've been $38 to go get the pie in NYC. I don't know if that's normal for a pie. Seems kind of high, but, NYC. I've paid that for a cake, so that didn't throw me. To have it delivered from Goldbelly, it is $69. But, if I drove there and parked, who says I wouldn't be looking at around the same in gas, tolls, and parking? AND, what else do I have right now? We didn't do anything for New Years Eve. If there wasn't Covid, we would've had the Mays here, possibly the Cunninghams, if they weren't doing something else. I would've had to buy food, alcohol, etc. Instead, I bought myself some Hebrew National pigs in a blanket, a shrimp cocktail platter from Costco, and I ORDERED A SIXTY-NINE DOLLAR PIE. Suck it 2020. 

So if you're into pie, or just want to feel a little decadent for a minute when UPS hands you a pie, then this is where you want it from. I highly recommend. Told you I'd get back to frivolous. 

*Again, ignore spelling issues. Blogger stole the spell check or hid it.

Four Years

 

This is the first day I have felt I have been really able to write in four years. I've written. But I haven't WRITTEN. I've written things, often passionately. But I haven't written in the way this blog was meant to be written. 

Obviously, we're meant to evolve and grow. When I first started writing, E was little, my world was different, my priorities and lifestyle were different, so the things I was writing about were just different. Even my audience was different. However, a lot of what I used to write about were life hacks, reviews of products, places and services, and even I'd say, more frivolous things. Fun, but definitely more frivolous. I still plan to do that. Hell, I WANT to be able to be in a head space where I can think about frivolous things. Which is what I'm basically trying to say. I haven't felt like I could write about...the banal life hacks of frozen pb&j when I felt the world was crashing down around me on a daily basis. 

Now, do I think that a new President, Vice President, and an 50/50 Senate is a cure all for all the world's ills? No. Of course not. But do I think we're going to have some relief from the almost neverending feeling that we're living daily in that nightmare of being chased, not being able to get away, but also not being able to wake up from it? You know that nightmare everyone has- being chased but your legs are like lead and you can't get away... Yes. I feel like I can breathe. I feel like I have finally woken up from a four year nightmare. 

I didn't write the day after the 2020 election, even though it appeared the Dems won. I didn't write when it was finally called "for real". I didn't write yesterday when I heard about Warnock and Ossoff winning in Georgia. Because I still, even though I was being TOLD, by every legit news source, and yes, I consider CNN/MSNBC and my man Bill Ritter on ABC Eyewitness News to be legit, that Trump lost, I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop somehow. I've just become so accustomed to the inmates running the asylum so to speak. I've become accustomed to Trump getting away with everything. To his cronies being pardoned. To Trumps lies being perpetuated. To his Republican enablers in the senate stroking his hair for their own agenda and letting our democracy be hammered away at day by day, lie by lie. 

But today I can write. Because today is a new day. Yesterday, January 6th, 2020, was a bittersweet day, burned into our brains forever. It was a day of victory in Georgia, where a black man, and a Jewish man, democrats, for the first time became senators, over their republican incumbents, in a ruby red state. I got to be happy about that for about a half hour before I got texted, "Did you SEE what's going on in DC??" Um, no. I went to the supermarket after alien turtles took over Mitch McConnell's body and he gave the Senate speech of his life. 

So, on the flip side of Georgia, we have what most will say is the biggest stain on the country's history. Thugs disguised as self-proclaimed patriots stormed the Capitol Building at the President of the United States urging, to protest his loss of a free and fair presidential election. An extremely large, angry mob of minions, desecrated the very flag they hypocritically bitched over people in peaceful protest just taking a quiet knee to, throwing it off scaffolding, to replace it with their narcissistic deluded king's flag emblazoned with his name. All while they broke windows, taking over the Capitol by force, breaking into offices, rifling through drawers, taking selfies, and putting up a noose on a structure they left on the Capitol grounds. The President sat, in the Oval, doing nothing. After he called for this violence, thus committing treason- however someone wants to excuse it for whatever reason. When he finally did speak, his words to the rioters were that he loved them, they're special, and that they should go home. 

We all know what would happen if this was BLM storming the Capitol. There would've been four hundred dead or four thousand dead, not four. By the way- if you're trying to compare BLM protests where oppressed people were expressing anger over innocent people getting murdered by police with no justice to delusional privileged white people rioting and taking over the Capitol Building, pledging allegiance to a man over country, over not liking the outcome of the election- you're also delusional. So, bye girl, bye. You don't have to read here, and not sure why you are.

I saw some people on social media say things like- "we need to all get along". Or "this is on both sides". One person, who, I once loved, I once respected, I saw was actually THERE, at the Trump rally in DC, posted, with photos, saying it was the largest crowd he ever saw. Posting like it was just a normal Wednesday. Someone he knows posted a somewhat disapproving comment on the photos and the words from him or about him from someone else came up - I'm/he's "not political". Same for those with the kumbayah feelings of we should all just play nice. They want to think they're not political. Or that saying that we all need to be kinder isn't political. Guess what folks, IT IS. 

How is telling people to be kinder, that it's both sides, political? It's privilege. You can only say you're not political, you don't talk politics, you don't pay attention to politics, when you don't have anything to lose. When it's a choice for you. When politics doesn't determine any outcomes for your life, for your business, or whether it means the difference between life or death. When you're going to be okay no matter who is making laws. When holocaust is just something in history books to you, 

Sure, you can think it's both sides when you're not on one of the sides feeling the pain. When it's not even a thought in your MIND, to have to tell your child before they leave the house, what they can and can't wear, how to show their hands, how to speak, etc so they don't get shot by police. When it's not a discussion to have to explain to your three year old why his preschool has a constant police presence because someone is throwing Molotov cocktails into windows of schools like his just because of your religion. Why you have to explain the games the gov't plays with peoples lives is why you're on a food line. Why you have to explain to your child why they can't get the medical/school/psychological services or why they can't use a bathroom they desperately need because some lawmakers decided it goes against THEIR religious beliefs. I could go on and on. 

If you really want to be non-political, then be non-political and shut it. Just don't say anything then. Don't sit high upon your horse and tell other people to play nice. Just stay in your lane, show whatever lovely version of your life you want people to see, post about your dinner, possessions, and vacations or whatever on social media and go about your business. Let the rest of the people talk the talk and walk the walk. Otherwise, if you're going to put it out there then, expect those who do walk the walk, or know what it's like to be in the crosshairs of any of the grotesque isms and phobias that Trump emboldened over the past four years- racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, or affected by life loss or business loss due to covid, to push back to your kumbayah. Not everyone has to be an activist, but no one cares about your armchair quarterbacking either. Save it. Or have skin thick enough to take the heat. 

If you really want people to learn how to get along, maybe try to figure out where those are pushing back are coming from. At least educate yourself that the whole "can't we all get along" and "it's both sides" rhetoric is rooted in white supremacy speak. It minimizes the role race plays in society. History tells us that this is a nation that empowers white supremacists and, periodically, groups of white people leverage that power to target, harass, discriminate against, and murder minorities, not the other way around. Trump ushered in a new era of white people leveraging their power to target, harass, discriminate against, and murder minorities. Those same people were allowed to breach the Capitol. Don't just double down, insisting you're right when people are trying to explain from their place of hurt.

So, here are my final thoughts on all the current mishegoss. It was a horrible four years. I've had to face really difficult and ugly truths about people I once really cared about. I've spent days angry and lashing out at people I've known forty years and at strangers online. I've felt rage and sadness I've never felt before in my life. 

However,  I'll try to look it at it this way...Maybe we needed it. The orange clown pulled back the curtain on Oz so to speak. He showed us every loophole, every shady way to deal, every technically legal way to be an outlaw in the highest office of the land with the most power. He exposed every danger when a madman is given the keys to the kingdom. So now we have the power to fix things if we so choose. We almost don't have a choice now that it's all out there. We know who has blood on their hands. We also know that elected officials aren't anything special. Just like celebrities, they put their pants on one leg at a time like anyone else and they can be just as dumb or cuckoo as the next guy. They don't even necessarily have to be educated, and even the educated ones can be dumb. We can do better. Now we know that instead of caring about Kim and Kanye, we can care more about how the Electoral Collage works. Or we can care about both. I guarantee most people didn't even know how the Electoral vote finalizing really worked until yesterday. Clearly, our own president didn't, nor a handful of senators and congressmen. 

We can do better. Today is the start to that hope. I'm going to remain optimistic because that's all I can do. At least today. I deserve today and I'm taking it. Four years was enough misery and anger for me. I just feel like I can finally be on the way to reclaiming part of who I used to be again. I can concurrently teach my kid how to be an activist and, continue to loudly stand up for what's right, walking the walk, while still giving life hacks, tell you I found leggings and pie that I love, and throw in some reality tv for good measure now. I even washed my hair. It's a start. 

I'm looking forward to some time with Sleepy Joe vs stomach churning presidential lunacy taking over the daily news cycle.

*Please excuse any grammar or spelling issues. Blogger took away the spell check or they hid it, I don't know. I tried YouTube for help but I can't sit through videos for that.