The dogs were up early this morning \u2013 about 4:45 am.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m not sure why Louisiana decided that 4:45 was a good time.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s a \u201cSouthern Dog\u201d; he doesn\u2019t even eat breakfast until the sun is high and warm.\u00a0\u00a0He might have heard the neighbor headed to work \u2013 but there\u2019s nothing like a big Lou lick on the lips to get you going in the cold, early, pre-dawn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once Lou was up, the rest of the pack got rolling as well. Unlike Lou, it was breakfast time for them, and snacks, and go out a couple of times. By the time that was all over there was no going back to sleep. So I read the \u201cpapers\u201d (well, I read my phone with \u201cAll the News that\u2019s Fit to Print\u201d and \u201cDemocracy Dies in the Darkness\u201d). And today it struck me: the dichotomy of our \u201cnew normal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lead articles are about what we would have called the \u201cold\u201d normal.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about negotiations for the COVID relief bill.\u00a0\u00a0The House, not surprisingly, maxed out the relief package, including the $15 minimum wage (which I support).\u00a0\u00a0The Senate, evenly divided with several Senators straddling the middle ground, is serving the purpose the Founding Fathers intended.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cheated action\u201d of the House is being \u201ccooled in the saucer\u201d of the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0The $15 minimum wage is off, to be debated another time.\u00a0\u00a0The direct relief, $1400 to each taxpayer, is now restricted to those making less that $80,000\/year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Biden is talking to Senators, both his own Democrats and even some Republicans.\u00a0\u00a0More progressive members of the Senate are outraged, and more regressive Senators are making the staff read aloud over six hundred pages of the bill into the record.\u00a0\u00a0As Aaron Burr\u2019s character sang in\u00a0Hamilton,\u00a0<\/em>this is \u201c\u2026the art of the trade, how the sausage is made\u201d.\u00a0COVID relief will be passed sometime this weekend.\u00a0\u00a0The check is in the mail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Biden is demonstrating the one thing most Americans hoped for:\u00a0\u00a0competence.\u00a0\u00a0Not only is economic COVID relief coming, but the vaccine is coming as well.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of July or August, now we can look forward to every adult having access to \u201cthe shot\u201d by May.\u00a0\u00a0And while Texas, Mississippi, and I\u2019m sure Florida soon, may pay a price of infection and death for jumping the gun, we really might be able to get to a life more like normal this summer.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what \u201cold normal\u201d should look like.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a government that doesn\u2019t require us to watch every move and action.\u00a0\u00a0I can listen to\u00a0Hamilton\u00a0<\/em>as I go about my day (or a lot of\u00a0Steep Canyon Rangers\u00a0<\/em>recently), instead of locking into\u00a0MSNBC<\/em> to find out what tragedy or atrocity happens next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then there\u2019s the \u201cnew normal\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Just yesterday:\u00a0 Elaine Chou\u00a0was accused of direct conflicts of interest and may have committed crimes by favoring her family businesses.\u00a0\u00a0She’s the former Secretary of Transportation and Mitch McConnell’s wife. But the Trump Justice Department gave her a \u201cpass\u201d, in spite of an Inspector General\u2019s recommendation for charges.\u00a0\u00a0Trump is being sued by Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) for inciting the Insurrection of January 6th<\/sup>. And he is under investigation five ways from Sunday in the State of New York.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Representatives stayed up most of last night to finish the Police Reform and the Voting Rights Act.\u00a0\u00a0Why did they pull an \u201call-nighter\u201d in the middle of the week?\u00a0\u00a0Because today is March 4th<\/sup>, the last day for the \u201cfever dream\u201d Insurrectionists to achieve their goal of overthrowing the duly elected government of the United States.\u00a0\u00a0There is enough \u201cintelligence\u201d to raise concerns by Congressional leaders, particularly after January 6th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0And while the Capitol is as highly fortified as it has been since the Civil War, the House leaders didn\u2019t see a need to serve as \u201cbait\u201d for a possible attack.\u00a0\u00a0They worked the late shift and went on home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not to descend too far into the Insurrectionist \u201crabbit hole\u201d, but March 4th<\/sup>\u00a0is the original inauguration date established in the Constitution, and changed in 1933 by the Twentieth Amendment.\u00a0\u00a0Since insurrectionist \u201clore\u201d claims that the United States hasn\u2019t had a \u201cvalid\u201d President since Ulysses S. Grant in 1875, they refuse to acknowledge the January 20th<\/sup> inauguration.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Donald Trump would have been an \u201cillegitimate\u201d President under this theory as well doesn\u2019t seem to bother them.\u00a0\u00a0They just know that the 2020 election was \u201cstolen\u201d, and they want it back.\u00a0\u00a0Today may be their last chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCompetence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cNew\u201d Normal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Rabbit Holes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n