dealing with trumpistan

the last two months have been surreal, trying to deal with the reality of living in trumpistan --- it is not going well so far --- he remains the lying, narcissistic, thug he was in the campaign, and after yesterday's "press conference," since he already has his personal bodyguards, all he's lacking are epaulettes to be the american mussolini he's clearly destined to be --- again, he made the bald claim that a president cannot have a conflict of interest, which is true in terms of a single statute, but he clearly believes it applies across the board --- director of the office of govt ethics responded:

Common sense dictates that a President can, of course, have very real conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest is anything that creates an incentive to put your own interests before the interests of the people you serve. The Supreme Court has written that a conflict of interest is, and I’m quoting here, 'an evil which endangers the very fabric of a democratic society, for a democracy is effective only if the people have faith in those who govern, and that faith is bound to be shattered when high officials and their appointees engage in activities which arouse suspicions of corruption.

but that all may be the least of it, with bbc now reporting what cnn and buzzfeed reported yesterday about salacious trump sex tapes (that such a thing exists is a horrifying thought in and of itself) that the russians have --- if the fate of the republic did not hang in the balance, i would be joyfully mesmerized by the spectacle

but the fate of the republic does hang in the balance ----

losing an amenity, as it were

today, they moved the scaffold for the balcony rehab to my side of the building --- after tomorrow, i probably won't be able to use the balcony for a month --- dog and i will manage, but it will severely impact the quality of dex's life

coochee!

and today i sent off the penultimate draft of the coochee history --- nearly 120,000 words (lord god, it needs an editor)  in ten chapters ---    will probably get comments and what not which i will endeavor to incorporate into the final draft --- it's been an awesomely fun project for me

catching up

it's been a month since i last posted --- i gotta admit that waking up every morning and remembering that trump "won" the election has put me off my feed, as it were --- i blew off my genetic family this "holiday season" ---- i just couldn't deal with a trumpistanic christmas this year --- small of me, i know, but one does what one has to do --- two months now since the election, and i still think he is a disgrace to our country --- the utter hypocrisy of the christianists and cynicism of the republicans has brought us to a precipice and i'm not sure the republic will survive --- the historian in me is fascinated; the rest of me is terrified of what the low-information folks have brought us

the highlight of my xmas season was my fifth day of xmas soiree, which featured philadelphia fish house punch --- punch and soiree were excellent in every way -- i love having a bunch of people i care about in my house and feeding them and what not

that and eating thai  food with a cousin, actually a first cousin once removed, to be precise --- and her husband and two excellent, slightly squirmy young'uns --- she and hubby met as exchange students in thailand, and we sit down in the restaurant and buck is discussing the menu with the waitress, in thai! she is one of the few relatives with whom i might discuss anything other than the weather and not wind up wanting to strangle them

we should all wish to see the world as isaiah (left) is seeing it right now