Chinese restaurant sign early morning…

2023: A Bad Year for Drag Queen Foes

Interesting look at anti-drag legislation that isn’t succeeding in the courts this year.

This was the year Republican lawmakers went all-in on targeting drag performers–and got a resounding _nope _from federal courts. In all four states where anti-drag laws were challenged this year, federal judges ruled them unconstitutional.

From early in December.

Christmas lights dangling in a shop window at night.

Christmas lights and tropical plant leaves in shop window at night.

R2D2 shaped light fixture in shop window with metallic crinkle paper in background.

Gingerbread house toy in shop window.

Plastic sheet and straps on sidewalk in front of storefront.

Closeup of plastic wrapping.

Concrete sidewalk joints forming a cross with asphalt road at top.

Closeup of graffiti on a green mailbox.

Photograph of women on a pedestal and festive objects in a shop window.

Weird device shrink wrapped for the winter with eyes and mouth drawn on the top and hand and ET phone home drawn on an appendage to the right.

Merry Christmas!

Nothing like an aching wisdom tooth to spoil the holidays…

Trump disqualified from running for President in Colorado. If SCOTUS upholds, he’s toast in all 50 states.

December 17, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

In the United States, that undercurrent has created a movement of people who are willing to overthrow democracy if it means reinforcing their traditional vision. Christian nationalists believe that the secular values of democracy are destroying Christianity and traditional values. They want to get rid of LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, immigration, and the public schools they believe teach such values. And if that means handing power to a dictator who promises to restore their vision of a traditional society, they’re in.

So, I have become the CEO of a cemetery in Westchester. Pay is good and so far only a day or two a week of work. Long story on how it came about.

Trying times. Dog sliced nose open. No clue how. Drove at night through heavy rain to ER. Returned home with stitched up dog, $1200 poorer. Last night dog starts throwing up. Continues all night. Just back from vet, another $700 poorer, with meds & instructions to return if upchucking continues.

December 7, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

I hear a lot these days about how American democracy is doomed and the reactionaries will win. Maybe. But the beauty of our system is that it gives us people like Doris Miller.

… this “maybe” from HCR depresses me… it’s not the first equivocal statement i have read about the outcome of the upcoming election… we cannot let them win… cannot…

It is not the forces of darkness but of shallowness that everywhere threaten the true, and the good, and the beautiful, and that ironically announce themselves as deep and profound.

–Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, p xi

December 1, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

“The storm is coming,” Last warned readers. “The world looks normal right now, but it is not. Forces are in motion that will bring us to a point of national crisis one year from now.”

December 1, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

In the Washington Post yesterday, neoconservative scholar Robert Kagan warned that “a Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable,” and today in The Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last agreed.

Finished reading _The Greatest Invention _ by Silvia Ferrara.

So, I managed tod to get through 3 Thanksgiving feasts in 4 days without gaining a pound! And, I don’t feel deprived!

From this morning’s walk…

Selfie headshot in warm retro black and white.

Entryway to apartment building with mail and packages strewn on the floor and stairs to upper floors in background.

Christmas tree lit up in a restaurant.

Interesting pendant light fixture with circular glass shade/diffuser.

Christmas ornament floating in blackness.

Streetscape with parking area, pricing sign, corner of convenience store building, and gas pump.

Planter with American flag sticking up, Spirit cigarette package lying on pavement in front of planter.

Large tall planter on a patio with manicured shrubs behind it.

Wide angle shot up towards the sky of front entrance of building under construction.

True or false? What do you think?

Without novelty, without the hunt for the new, we wouldn’t be human beings.

–Silvia Ferrara, The Greatest Invention

Frittatas are a great way to use up vegetables. In this case some aging green peppers and cherry tomatoes. Topped with cheddar cheese. Quick and easy to make.

From a couple of days ago…

Large heart shaped leaf in a shop window, chairs, out of focus, in the background.

Old fashioned frilly edged lamp shade with old fashioned filament light bulb in a shop window, background is very dark shadow.

Silhouetted flag pole with American flag mounted on a building also in silhouette and silhouetted mountains in the distance. Dawn sky.

Closeup of edge of circular table made of resin and stone chips.

Oreo bag lying on stone wall cap.

European chocolate cookies tin featured in shop window display.

Tree branch reflections overlaid on a light fixture with purple bulb in a shop window.

From this morning’s walk…

The word Booze inside a directional arrow chalked onto asphalt paving, pointing to the words moonshine, bourbon, whiskey and vodka, also chalked onto the pavement.

End of a picnic table with broken seat.

Christmas snowflake decoration lights attached to utility pole,

Purple shaggy faux sweater with colorful scarf on a bust mannequin in a shop window.

Closeup of succulent plant in a shop window.

Yellow caution tape tangled in leafless vines on a fence.

Wind formed pile of leaves on asphalt pavement.

From a few days ago…

Early morning landscape/streetscape with mountains in the distance, utility poles and streetlights receding into the distance and houses in silhouette to the right.

Crumpled brown paper bag on asphalt pavement illuminated by streetlights.

Low rise residential buildings silhouetted against the sky, Venus hovering above the buildings.

Utility poles and wires against a dawn sky.

Light through a gap between a building corner and a shrub.

Streetscape reflected in a window with a lighted sign with two keys and the words “Key Me” hovering above the buildings of the streetscape. The sign is shining through from behind the window reflecting the streetscape.

Utility pole with wires running from bottom to top of frame and silhouetted against the early morning sky.

Lawn waste bag ripped open and contents exposed lying on the ground, patches of paved surface similar in shape to lawn waste bag looking like stepping stones out from the bag.

Colorful leaves on the ground.

November 20, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

There is one issue on the ballot in 2024, whether the Democratic Republic, imperfect as it may be, survives… it is way better than the alternative…

MIke Davis, one of the men under consideration for attorney general, told a podcast host in September that… “We’re gonna deport a lot of people, 10 million people and growing–anchor babies, their parents, their grandparents,” Davis said. “We’re gonna put kids in cages. It’s gonna be glorious. We’re gonna detain a lot of people in the D.C. gulag and Gitmo.”

November 20, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

That I have to consider this a real possibility brings me to tears…

MIke Davis, one of the men under consideration for attorney general, told a podcast host in September that he would “unleash hell on Washington, D.C.,” getting rid of career politicians, indicting President Joe Biden “and every other scumball, sleazeball Biden,” and helping pardon those found guilty of crimes associated with the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

November 20, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Even the more liberal news outlets are making the mistake of giving oxygen to the fascist fire…

Roberts points out that “both sides” are not extremists, but many Americans have no idea that the Democrats are actually trying to govern, including by reaching across the aisle. Roberts notes that the media focus on the right wing enables the right wing to define our politics. That, in turn, serves the radical right by destroying Americans' faith in our democratic government.