July 14, 2019, Joyeux Jour de Bastille
Happy July the 14th everyone! Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite! These are the values of an actual first world country where everyone gets like five weeks vacation and working more than 37 1/2 hours a week is against the law! Sure, the Germans overran them in the Big One back in '43, but then, they and the Germans both live better than we do, and we think we won the damned war! .
This is but one of many premises of the upcoming "Donald J. Putin on American Exceptionalism: It's Not YOU, It's Just America Being America," which, if it works out right, I will self-publish at least on kindle form (and hopefully on print on demand format as well) before this month is out. This was but one of my planned literary projects for the year, but hey, getting anything done will be considered a victory! And my good friend Donald J. Putin himself continues to crush it in twitter land.
Last year's ankle injury never really healed, so I continue hobbling around gingerly, but will surely finish my New York Road Runners "9 plus 1" sequence for the 19th straight year and God willing will finish my 18th consecutive NYC marathon in November. Will we get an age group world record in rowing or anything else? We will see, but it will take a lot of developments that I don't see right now.
Meanwhile, in the marathon department, some tragedy in the 70-plus category in that department.
The garden looks like a bumper crop for weeds this year; a few other things along the way (our first year of blueberries looks like I may have missed the main harvest... sigh). Not looking good for that literary project.
I continue to visit my friend who remains detained in an ICE contract facility in New Jersey. I and some of my fellow visitors attended the "Lights for Liberty" vigil and protest in NYC's Foley Square on Friday night (preceded by a moving Friday night "Kabbalat Shabbat" service in City Hall Park). For whatever reason, it remains good politics for the Trump Administration to engage in the imprisonment of children and to threaten thousands of families (many of which include citizens and legal residents). Former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now scheduled to testify before Congress on July 24th.
For those of you who haven't already done so, adjust your expectations downward. Mr. Mueller never disappoints in disappointing.
And so we are now about 18 months and 6 days from what we hope will be the day Mr. Trump leaves the White House voluntarily after a sound thrashing in the election. Or the day he is handed four more years to finish the job of finishing off the United States. Either way, the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives seem to have no interest besides helping him destroy the nation, whether out of fear, political miscalculation, or something more sinister.
Alrighty then. A lovely warm day here in Brooklyn at Stately Dog Manor; Familia TD is enjoying our Sunday here. I hope you all are having a lovely 14 July as well.