Day 331…
The sound that the boiling water from the electric kettle makes when it pours into one of the chrome coffee-presses that I bought on sale in London for Michael for his birthday one year, is the sound that, for me, heralds the beginning of a new day.
Michael’s and my gifts to each other tend to completely hit or miss, but those two coffee presses were definitely a hit. I found them one day when I was walking to work.
Just down the street from where I usually stay near Covent Garden is a strange little shop that sells a lot of sailing supplies. I have no idea what it’s doing on Shaftsbury Avenue hidden in a small row of little places or how it’s been able to survive, but it always makes me happy when I see that it’s still there.
That day, as I was walking by on my way to some auditions, I saw the coffee presses in the window at about 10% of their usual price. Not 10% off, 90% off.
The only problem with them is that one had a baby blue handle and the other one had a baby pink one - not our colors. Regardless, we love them, and we’ve used them most every day since for a least a decade.
Several times over the years, Michael and I have walked past the shop and I never fail to say, “That’s where I got the coffee presses.” We always stop for a moment to look in the window at the weird collection of yachting cleats and ropes just in case there’s another treasure waiting in there.
Thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve been in London, made me worried that the shutdown might have closed down the shop. From what I can see online, though, it’s still there. I hope that enough people are still walking by to keep it afloat.
Yesterday, the Republicans formerly chose the direction that they are going to head in for the coming years.
While the motion in the House passed to strip Marjorie Taylor Green of her committee assignments, 199 Republican Representatives voted against it. 199 Republican lawmakers wholeheartedly threw their support behind antisemitism, QAnon conspiracy theories, 9/11 denial, school shooting denial, and the Big Lie of election fraud.
Only 11 Republican lawmakers stood up against Marjorie Taylor Green and what she stands for. Three of those were convinced to do so by survivors of the Parkland shooting. From the same district in Southern Florida that includes the school, and has been devastated by that tragedy, those three found the humanity within them to do the right thing.
Before the vote, Greene addressed the House. Rather than an apology for her past comments she provided excuses. She blamed the government for “allowing” her to believe what she claims were opinions from her past.
She said that she believed that 9/11 happened but did not contradict any of her past statements in which she claimed that it had been staged. She said the same about school shootings. She said that she acknowledged that they happened but did not recant her belief that they, too, had been purposefully staged. She said nothing at all about the threats of physical violence that she made against her fellow lawmakers.
With the support of 199 of her fellow Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Green has now become a celebrity and a symbol of victim-hood by oppression from the left.
As a result of all of this, she has been catapulted into the national spotlight. She claims to have raised $1.6 million from her followers over the last week or so.
Far from being chastised by this move, she is elated. “How stupid they are. They don’t even realize they’re helping me. I’m pretty amazed at how dumb they are,” she said of the Democrats in an interview a couple of days ago.
Congressional Representative Hakeem Jeffries from New York, who is also the Democratic House Caucus Chairman, said of her yesterday, "The party of Lincoln is gone. The party of Reagan is gone. The party of John McCain is gone. This is now the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene."
What happened yesterday was not the end of Marjorie Taylor Greene, not by a long shot. It was just the beginning. She completed her spectacular and completely successful debut yesterday with the near-total support of the GOP.
She has announced that she believes that the GOP is the party of the ex-President and his alone, and her fellow Republicans have, except for 11 of them, joined with her in agreeing on that.
Whatever happens in the future, yesterday was the moment that she and the ex-President could have been stopped. And they weren’t. Republicans were given the very clear opportunity to separate themselves from the past four years and they did not take it.
Oh well.
She is already giving interviews congratulating herself. The press can’t get enough of her. There is power in words and even more so in names, so from here on in I will not be referring to her by her name. Instead, she will be the QAnon-supporting Representative from Georgia. We have given her more than enough strength as it is.
At 5:30 this morning, the Senate passed a bill that opens the path forward to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID Relief package.
In an all-night session, Senators engaged in what is actually called a “vote-a-rama” wherein each of the separate amendments to the bill had to be voted on. The votes were evenly divided along party lines, the 50 Democratic Senators voted for it and the 50 Republican Senators voted against it. Vice-President Harris cast the deciding vote to break the tie.
The House will likely act on this budget resolution bill within the next day or so that the actual legislation can be drafted and enacted. The aim is to pass this into law by the middle of next month before the pandemic assistance extension passed just before the election expires on March 13.
The Biden Administration hoped that this package would get bipartisan support, but they do not plan to halt their forward momentum if they don’t get it. Last night, it was clear that they won’t get it so, indeed, they are moving forward anyway.
Oh well.
The Democrats believe that the danger lies in passing a bill that is too small, not one that is too big. The Republicans were fine with spending while they held the reigns, predictably, now that they don’t, they’re balking.
Again, oh well.
We only added 49,000 jobs to the nation’s workforce in January. That is not enough to signal our return to a robust economy, not even close. We all need this stimulus package to deal with the immediate problem. We will then need to deal with the fallout from getting further into debt once we’ve solved our first issue.
There is now a whole symphony of sounds coming from the kitchen.
Michael’s cracking an egg into a small enamel bowl that I found somewhere in Provence. The plates that we were given as a Christmas present one year by Michael’s family clatter together as he takes them out of the cupboard. The high notes of the cutlery in their drawer sing in counterpoint to the glass lids of the big pots Michael’s cooking in, in theirs.
In traditional Japanese meals, a multitude of food is served in small, mismatched bowls and plates - all beautifully designed and crafted. Over the years I have picked up so many bowls and plates from so many different places that we end up doing the same. Michael had several of his own that he got long before he met me. None of them match, but each one has its own story, and they all go together in their own eccentric ways.
Every one of those bowls and each dish, makes a different sound when Michael sets them down on the table, brimming with the days food he’s made.
My husband conducts a mean symphony in the kitchen. It’s the sound of our lives and however it goes that day, it begins every morning with some variation of the same thing.
Where this morning’s music will take us over the course of today remains to be seen.
Will we get a dirge or a stirring anthem?
We’ll see.
May there be a swelling crescendo. My rep, Republican Fred Upton in SW Michigan was one of those with backbone. He also voted for impeachment. I am Democrat in a Red community, but he gets thank you notes from me. Sending one today. He is up for re-election in ‘22. The ultra conservative charge for his seat is already happening. I hope the music stays strong enough to accompany him back into office.
❤️I hear music.... 💕