The Finger March 2, 2021

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these.  Work has been busy.  So has helping the 13 year old prepare for auditions to some pubic high schools with more arts and less stress.
I enjoyed the week 50 post on https://www.matthewgallaway.com He made some excellent points about the onerous ties of ownership
I wholeheartedly share his concern about lower-income people and the need for another lockdown, not a Texas-style open-house to compensate for lousy planning for winter. The coronavirus statistics are better, but they are still bad and hitting a plateau. But I do not want to get pessimistic about these two years of Democratic control, which is razor-thin. His post only amplifies how important it is that we keep working, campaigning, calling, and donating to get more progressives and liberals and socialists in the Senate and the House.  And if the need for better senators and representatives is not enough to get you motivated, watch this report from Samantha Bee.  It shows the disparity of power and privilege in our nation in a way that made me want to share it with everyone:
https://youtu.be/RLlPJRg5S7I


I hope you’ll share it and remember it every day between now and the November 2022 general election.
30 years ago, I learned the difference between government chilling free speech and a government employer punishing an employee for speech.  Details are here: https://neosoul.com/blog/ with a link to the published letter.  Someone suggested my address got me published, but how does that explain my letter in the US edition of Time using my Kingston, Pennsylvania address or my two letters published in the NY Times.
On a positive note, I saw flowers starting to poke out of the ground near Yankee stadium on Monday.
And here are some good jokes from the Sheekey Read.
“Tomorrow night, Donald Trump will give the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference. For a preview of Trump’s speech, give your grandpa cocaine.”
— Colin Jost
On President Biden’s first meeting with a foreign leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

“Trudeau and Biden had a typical video chat between a 49-year-old and a 78-year-old. Trudeau spent the first 20 minutes trying to tell Biden he was on mute.”
— Jimmy Fallon
On Texas Senator Ted Cruz going on vacation to Mexico during a winter storm crisis in his home state, then jetting back the very next day:

“Ted Cruz — who wants to be president — told the world he was bullied into international travel by tweens, then got cyberbullied into coming home by the internet, leaving his wife to solo parent two kids on vacation in another country while trying to figure out who in her mom-group doxxed her.”
— John Oliver