THE JOURNEY…aftershocks

This week has taken on proportions of The Rocky Horror Show, without the makeup…

My last dose of CHEMO was on Wednesday, the 21st.

Things were proceeding along reasonably well, I felt, until the early evening of Christmas Day.

It was then that my very existence was flipped upside down in the most grotesque manners: muscle and joint pain; ‘delicate’ issues of the stomach; inability to sleep; and, NOT wanting to eat.

As I’ve mentioned before, part of the bargain when one agrees to submit to Chemotherapy, for the hope of more time amongst loved ones, is realizing the loss of digesting nourishment properly, inability to sleep, application of simple concentration becoming a variant, and the taking on of feeling you’re losing productivity of your basic muscle mass.

But…

We fight on!!!!!!!!!

Due to the wonderous negotiating skills of my better half, she was able to have ALL my blood panels/lab work conducted at our family doctor’s office [less than 5 minutes from our home], rather than traveling to the Cancer Center.

To many of you, the above seems absurd; but, that adjustment in my schedule was/is massive; especially when one feels as I do and have – just getting in and out of a car can be a task one does NOT want to contend with, let alone think about…when your body seems to NOT work like it used to.

It is wonderful to have your “better angels” within ALL four corners of your L-I-F-E.

THE ESSENCE of SALVATION

Few, with pen to paper, have captured the true depth and significance of our celebration today as well as the words within The House of Christmas by G.K. Chesterton…

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honor and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam,
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

HEE-HAW…

It usually takes me about an hour to stop laughing…

SO…NOW WHAT??!

Put your reading glasses in a safe place!

The 1/6 House Committee’s 845-page final report is chock-full of new details about the Orange Despot’s effort to overturn the ’20 election.

As of late yesterday afternoon, it is being reported and indicates how Donald John Trump and his sycophants tried at least 200 times to convince state or local officials to throw out!!! Biden’s victory; revealing that Trump did, in fact, push for the National Guard to be present on the Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021 – but to protect his supporters as they marched on Congress, NOT lawmakers.

Boy Orange: America’s sweetheart.

But…

Even as the committee continues to reveal damning evidence about the attack on the Capitol and what led to it, it has reached the end of its run.

The publication of the report, the result of an exhaustive monthslong effort, has created a permanent record intended at a minimum to hold Trump accountable in history. Criminal referrals have been issued.

To be sure, there is still some final work to do. 

Prison with Bruno, Bogdan, Bruce, and Bennie in a 9×11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A second BUT…

With Re’Trump’licans still having gained enough seats that they are set to take over the House in January, there is every indication and a strong likelihood of the undermining of the 1/6 panel’s legacy in many, many other areas of their investigation.

What do I mean?

It’s the old Lobsterman’s guess that, as an example, the committee’s recommendation that Congress consider barring!!! Trump and his ‘fellow travelers’ from holding office under the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists, will, as a proposal, likely to go NOWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

And, based on the constant howling from cretins within the GOP, a band of gutless Re’Trump’licans are likely to try to turn the tables on the committee, beginning an investigation into the investigators.

Merrick Garland, ‘The time has come,’ the walrus said, ‘to talk of many things: of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings.’ ~ Lewis Carroll.

THE JOURNEY…ho, ho, uh, oh

The microcosm of life…

Christmas week 2022, accompanied by Mother Nature, and numerous “others.”

A roller coaster ride does NOT begin to touch on the events, thus far, of this week.

The start of the week was layered with anticipated joy over the arrival of our youngest son, our daughter-in-law and our grandson for the holiday.

But…

It was then that Mother Nature decided to take charge of events with her unruly behavior/conditions ALL over the country; delaying our son’s flight out of LA; cancelling his connection out of Dallas/Ft. Worth for the better part of 12-plus hours…well, you get the picture!

The weather became horrific!!!

Sub-artic blasts [on-going as I type]; wind gusts of 25mph to 40 mph, pushing temps from 6 above to 20 below; intermittent snow; and power outages.

Interspersed with ALL of the aforementioned pleasantries were my three scheduled treatments at the Cancer Center – Tuesday through Thursday – for blood panels, infusions for hydration and CHEMO and my protective injections to decrease the incidence of infection.

So, as NOT to make this ALREADY tale any longer, let me cut to the chase. As my better half and I were on our way for my final appointment on Thursday, and the family resting back at the house, we were smashed into at an intersection by a woman deciding to spread some ‘holiday spirit’ of her own by running a red light.

The difference of 5 feet was the only thing that separated my wife from taking a direct hit on the passenger side, where she was seated! God is good.

Over the next 2-plus hours, in minus four degrees, the old Lobsterman dealt with talking to 911; co-operating with the police in the filling out an incident report at the scene [the lady officer was terrific – one of hundreds of accidents being reported that day throughout the metroplex]; attempting to track down our insurance agent [ever notice how effective agents are at disappearing at such moments??!]; and, re-scheduling my Cancer Center treatment, for after I had resolved matters surrounding the accident, for later in the afternoon, with staff at the center, who were in a frame mind, and attitude, comparable to a 17th century penal colony.

But, we ALL got through it…even with my mental state bordering on becoming leading candidate to play the part of “destroyer of all worlds!!!“

That said…just remember…

“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.” ~  Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Family memories…RIGHT??!

Tap, tap, tap your little fingers…

Ring, ring, ring the Christmas bells…

MORE QUESTIONS to a MOUNTING PILE

As the 1/6 House Committee wraps up their work, over the past 18 months, on the Insurrection on the Capitol, additional details are surfacing as regards the Orange Despot.

Late Tuesday, a House committee revealed that the IRS failed to audit Boy Orange during his first two years in office despite a rule that states that “the individual tax returns for the president and the vice president are subject to mandatory review.”

But…

Its report left unclear whether that lapse reflected general dysfunction or whether Trump received special treatment, according to the New York Times.

The IRS subjected BOTH Trump’s predecessor and his successor to annual audits of their tax returns once they took office.

Reports issued by the Ways and Means Committee, which obtained Trump’s tax data last month after a yearslong legal battle, said the IRS had initiated its first audit of one of his filings as president in April 2019, the same day that Representative Richard Neal D-MA) and the committee’s chairman, had inquired about the matter.

The committee’s discovery that the IRS flouted its rules is bringing new scrutiny to concerns about potential politicization! at the IRS during the Trump administration and spurring calls for the inspector general that oversees the agency to investigate what went wrong.

It has also raised questions about why the IRS devoted so few resources to auditing Trump, who, as a business mogul, had far more complicated tax filings than any previous president.

As Captain Louis Renault would put it, “I’m shocked!”

AN HISTORIC VISIT MEANS WHAT?

President Zelensky is returning to Ukraine today after a high-profile visit to Washington that was greeted at home with mostly pride and hope that his impassioned, in-person appeals would keep American weapons and financial support flowing.

In an emotional wartime appeal to a joint meeting of Congress last night, telling Americans that “your money is not charity” and vowing that his people would eventually secure an improbable victory against Russia on behalf of ALL free nations.

But…

NOT all free nations are picking up the tab like the good old USA!!!

In blunt terms, Zelensky pleaded for more military assistance from the lawmakers, who are poised to approve $45 billion in additional aid by the end of the week, bringing the total over a year to nearly $100 billion. His ‘real’ message: Your support has kept Putin of Russia from overrunning our country.

Translation: Now keep it coming.

Ukraine has become “up for grabs” as a consolation prize of the new global capitalism…all WHILE Mother Russia and Vlad “the Bad” have undergone ‘shock therapy’ knowing little of how deep the economic shock would be and has been with/during this conflict.

The only question that the old Lobsterman wants to surface – again – is this a tale of true patriotism, or just another road to perdition, like moments in the past: Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq [none of which ended well, and were extremely unpleasant!!!]

1/6 COMMITTEE’S REFERRALS

The 1/6 House Committee will hold its last public meeting this afternoon, ending an 18-month investigation with the approval of its final report and a vote on issuing criminal and ethics referrals against “the former guy” and his top toadies.

The panel is also expected to vote on referring Donald John Trump to the Justice Department on charges of Insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to the New York Times.

Lock him up, lock him up, lock him up…

Referrals against the Orange Despot, as I understand it, would NOT carry any legal weight or compel the Justice Department to take any action, but they would send a powerful signal that a congressional committee believes the former president committed certain crimes.

The Justice Department will make its own decision on indictment.

And…

The courts will judge Trump’s fate.

But…

If this panel was able to successfully make its case in the court of public opinion, then the hard work of those good and decent public servants will NOT have been for naught.

Yea, yea…that’s big “if!!!“

Yet again, we’re in uncharted territory with this cretin!

It’s only the rule of law at stake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALWAYS BE COBBLING

One of the great classic bloopers at the 2:16 mark…

The old Lobsterman hopes everyone still believes in Santa!!!!!!!!!