Roxanne Tellier – Coming Down from the Sugar High

In the last weeks of January, and into the first two weeks of February, I was floating. I would wake each day, nearly bounding out of bed, and ready to take on the world. We were counting down the days to Biden’s inauguration, and even the horrific attack on the Capitol on the 6^th was but a speed bump, easily acknowledged by both Democrats and Republicans as an obvious and seditious attack on the Constitutionally mandated work of the Congress.

The Dems impeached trump AGAIN. Biden was inaugurated without incident. And with trump silenced by Twitter, life was sweet.

Sadly, however, a few weeks sans trump had left the GOP with a bad case of amnesia, and, just last week, they yawned like teenagers through video evidence of trump’s guilt, and voted to acquit.

Roxanne Tellier – Doomed to Repeat

When I was a kid in Montreal, most of the dads (and some of the moms) were veterans of the World War II, and the Korean War, which had ended just a few short months before I was born.

Roxanne Tellier – The Great Reset

I’m still marveling at how much more relaxed the world has become since January 20^th Feels like a luxury, not being on high alert every minute of every day, and I’m loving it.

As the fog of negativity lifts, there’s time to look around and marvel at how much our lives have changed, and will be forever changed, by our experiences. There’s no discounting that the very framework of our lives has been reworked by the ravages of COVID-19. Nearly everyone has lost someone dear to them to the virus, and many who became ill with the disease may have healthcare issues impacting them for the rest of their lives.

Roxanne Tellier – Post Trump Traumatic Stress Disorder

Eleven days post the Biden Inauguration, and I’m still on a high. It’s not about Joe Biden per se, nor even the wonder of the first black, South Asian-American female vice-president in history in the form of Kamala Harris. It’s not even about the days starting to get a little longer, with the sun coming up a little earlier every day.

No, it’s so much more than that.

Roxanne Tellier – The Wisdom of Our Elders

What a difference a week makes! Since the inauguration, I haven’t had a single communication with another person that didn’t involve a distanced high five, and a recounting of how much better we’re all sleeping and eating since we saw the backend and ignominious departure of the previous resident of the White House.

Peter’s Politics

Although I had considered several topics to write about this week and indeed had started on a column, events on Tuesday dictated what I would write about this week.

Joe Biden has won the presidency. Kamala Harris is the new Vice President. Although there was an expectation of controversy over the election, I don’t think that very many people expected the chaos which the last few months have brought to light.

After a series of fruitless attempts at overturning the election results in the courts, attempts devolved into telephone calls attempting to literally strongarm state officials to disenfranchise many voters.

Pat Blythe – Book report, food porn…..and music

I’m finding more tidbits of material and articles of interest as I go through files, newsfeeds and a rather stocked bookcase in my kitchen. Primarily a home for my many cookbooks, there are odds and sods of non food-related novels, appliance directions, clippings, etc. I find myself, over the years, spending more time dusting them off than actually using them. I confess I am a huge lover of food porn.

Roxanne Tellier – Reeling in the Years

“You wouldn’t know a diamond if you held it in your hand.” Truer words never spake, Messrs Becker and Fagen. Ah, the things Americans have thrown away in fits of pique.

The domestic terrorists that sacked the Capitol on January 6^th  did a gross disservice to themselves, and every other American citizen or visitor to America, that will have impact for the next many decades. If they thought wearing a mask, or being ‘cancelled’ for their QAnon views impinged upon their ‘freedumbs’ before, they’re about to find out the very hard way how much more they lost with that day’s sedition.

Roxanne Tellier – There’s A Riot Going On

Ahead of the mob violence on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, there had been weeks of incendiary rhetoric and planning in plain sight, on Facebook, Twitter, and on far-right websites like Parler, Gab, TheDonald, and MeWe.  There had been a virtual landslide of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and lies about fraudulent voting, often coming directly from the POTUS and his favoured minions.

Prior to the insurrection, Advance Democracy had found more than 1,480 posts on Twitter from QAnon-related accounts, promoting violence. When it became clear that VP Pence was unable to overturn the results of the election, and unwilling to ‘try’ to do so, right-wing extremists began to plan the murder by hanging of Pence, whom they believed to be committing a traitorous refusal to act.

Roxanne Tellier – Cogito, ergo sum I think

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun.”  (John Lennon/Yoko Ono)