Omg. My cousin—whose parents and sister all had COVID a month or two ago, though they ended up ok—just posted a photo of her son at a wrestling tournament. What the fuck??? Like, sure, let the kids play soccer or baseball, but wrestling?!? And none of them were wearing masks. So annoyed.

ETA: oh and my sister just informed me our other cousin (who is also cousin to the wrestler mom) is in the hospital. Her husband the pilot just had COVID and she is like 37 weeks pregnant with twins. Jesus.

Bit of a meara (hi meara!)

What I now know is that he tased himself in the balls while trying to steal Thomas Paine's portrait.

Democracy may be a failed experiment, but at least we still have irony on our side.

I think the real irony is the protestor who died from being trampled in the melee had been photographed previously holding a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag.

I guess you have leveled up to the fancy ironing sheets, shrift! I did not know that was a thing.

Yes, it’s a thing. I’ve stayed at my friend’s house and she irons her sheets (or her housekeeper does). It feels lovely, but not enough for me to care. I have another friend who loves ironing so much that his favorite present this year was the new ironing board cover his husband bought him. He also owns a professional quality iron that allows him to iron the sheets on the bed. And before you ask, I have inquired and he is not taking in ironing.

And before you ask, I have inquired and he is not taking in ironing.

I'm just saying, though, can he really profess to love it, then? How can we be sure?

Ironing is weirdly satisfying, but not enough that I actually do it much ever. And I mean, right now? Yeah, no. I've never ironed sheets before. That could be an experiment. Also a way to avoid shit I actually need to do.

Matilda is eating curry for breakfast, and chai tea. Then she and JZ will be off to church.

I posted a couple things on FB I wanted to share here.

Here's a WaPo article which delineates the timeline of the Capitol riot. This makes clear that the mob came very very close to capturing Senators and Representatives. Like...seconds away: [link]

Here's a GQ article by a researcher who monitors Trump supporting right wing websites. He makes clear that this was indeed an attempted coup, and that they were expecting to execute Congress members: [link]

I'm glad you're feeling better. You should definitely not have covid, if you want my opinion. I'm against it.

Seconded.

Shrift, I hope you have something dumb and inconsequential, OR the wimpiest-ass case of COVID that feels no worse than a cold, but can still confer immunity. If I were King of the Forest, these would be your only choices.

Mr. S woke up at 7 and has had a couple of meltdowns today.(One was because he wanted to stay with Daddy, who was going to go to the supermarket. Ended up going after lunch so he could take Mr. S out to run around a bit.)

Here is to Mr. S running off his little bottom, Sheryl.

The distinction between deluded and fascist is mattering less and less.

I agree, Trudy. I suppose delusional followers are necessary to a fascist success.

I am so deeply upset by and at the Republicans who know better or should, who are helping Trump spread his election lies. It goes deeper than anger. I'm not surprised, just so deeply upset.

A friend of mine in Sarajevo tells me the joke there is "It's too bad there isn't an American Embassy in Washington DC."

I'm interested in the structure of what we're going to do about it. The FBI is finding participants and making arrests, and "no charge is off the table at this point." That is a good first step, but then the cases hit the courts, which McConnell has been working diligently to staff with friendly judges.

Also, the people who participated in the attempted coup and who hold positions of public trust, such as police, fire department, and military...how are they going to be dealt with? How are the organizations they are part of going to be addressed? I know that a certain type of person tends to gravitate toward those jobs, but how can we change the culture from toxic+conspiracy to responsible?

How are we going to deal with the senators and representatives who either supported and encouraged the lies about the election right up until the vote and coup, or actually voted on record to overturn our democratic process? Who is able to judge and sentence them?

It's almost like we need a new Committee on Un-American Activities, but hopefully one that uses actual evidence rather than hearsay and gossip. We could even call it McCarthyism, for the poster child for sedition.

This is chilling to me.

Yeah, I don’t know. Something needs to happen, doing nothing is very clearly no good, but there are some very wrong choices it would be easy to fall into as well.

I also vote for no COVID for shrift.

I like ironing too. but I also did it for a job for many years, and I am super fast. I actually prefer steaming as more satisfying, but also, the steamer always spits. I almost carried home an good old fashioned Harvey metal ironing board I saw in the garbage on my walk today, but it was too heavy. Later, I did see someone else had picked it up, so I am glad it has a home.

My Friend Maria’s mother, who is 10 years older than mine, seems to be succumbing to congestive heart failure. I will be sitting with her Thursday afternoons to give them a break, and looking into a home health care aid for Maria. Any thoughts on how to do this? She has mostly been working with the pulmonologist,not the PCP. Maria has medical power of attorney. I just love Maria’s mom, and their family generally lives to over 100, so I didn’t see this coming before my mom. She has been so good to me, even though I am a weird best friend that just became family. I described it to my boss that I am an honorary daughter in law. M was amused that her mom was really happy to have me come, but not one of her actual daughter in laws, who is super annoying. I asked my boss for flex time soI can help as much as possible, because Maria is a classroom teacher, and Philip (her brother who I work with) is hourly, and she was so accepting of our oddball relationship too, so it is nice.

Timelies all!

Mr. S is wearing his cat costume from Halloween over his pajamas.(He did wear regular clothes and went outside for a while earlier)

I’m glad your boss was reasonable about things, Sophia. But I am sorry about your friends’ mom.

The number of dangerously delusional people in the US—many with guns—is terrifying.

I used my nervous energy today to get my filing cabinet ready for 2021 records. Shredding old utility bills is satisfying.