The Cruise--Details
I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1) I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2) This trip didn't include much of the normal topics: good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days. We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port. My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music. Rememberi...
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It's maddening, isn't it? They made a big stink about keeping President O'Bama from appointing a Supreme Court Justice because he was in his last eight months of office. Then they pull THIS!
I'm not sure when it could no longer be called a Democracy; my suspicion is it NEVER has been. They just did -- at least until R. Reagan took office -- a sort of half-decent job of making it LOOK like one. Ah, well. I thank my lucky stars I won't be around much longer to endure it. But it's looking more and more like Nazi Germany and I'm seriously thinking about where to run to. I've thought of going to visit my sister in Germany or going to Greece, but no one will let us -- Americans -- in.
I've been reading The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell and noted with interest he spent some time in the '50s (I think) in Taxco, Mexico. It was an artists' colony. I hoped to take advantage of having signal this evening to look it up and see what's become of it. Maybe IT'S the place to go hide.
Forty years later, I'm a lot more cynical, but it's still hard for me to believe that this country has enough voters to re-elect a man with Trump's values. The first time, maybe people were surprised. Now...as a country, we only have ourselves to blame if there is a second term.
The Nazi Germany parallel also weighs heavy on my mind. There is a short list of places elsewhere in the world that I want to spend time in before I'm done on this globe, but I was hoping that it wouldn't be to run from a country disintegrating into fascism. Biden is just an emergency brake; he isn't a solution to the damage that has been done. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238
It's a hype-less account of the loss of our liberties. His citation and brief discussion of The Patriot Act, in itself, solidified my concerns for the country's future. The fact that he's in Russia, of all places, is just incredible.