2025 Life Logs, Day 42: Book Club, More Prep, Wheels Turning

by Judy Handley | Feb 11, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs | 0 comments

2025 Life Logs, Day 42: Book Club, More Prep, Wheels Turning
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 31, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett was the book our book club chose for this month and today was the discussion. When I came home, I put the finishing touches on my Voyage of Windbird presentation for tomorrow. Shadow and I walked this morning and played in the snow this afternoon. I am loving that we have had snow on the ground for a few days. It makes the cold weather worth it.

Tonight when I caught up on the news of the day, I felt just a tad of hope on the political front. After showing protests all over the country and outlining what the House Democrats have said they will do to save the Department of Education, Rachel Maddow said the following:

And so you’ve got direct action. You’ve got legislation threats effectively. You’ve got threats in terms of the political system on Capitol Hill. You’ve got the press being alerted to what is going on. You’ve got Democrats doing everything they can including no business as usual to try and stop it. And no, I don’t know if that will save the Department of Education. And now if this lawsuit will stop Trump and Musk from what they are doing. But I do know that they’ve got public opinion against them on this, too. Right? What Trump and Musk are trying to do to the Education Department, they don’t have the people with them on this. A huge majority of voters in this country, more than 60 percent of the people in this country want the Department of Education not to be eliminated. And so I know that the public is going to fight them on this. I know the Democrats are fighting like heck for it. I know that the courts are standing up against what they’re doing here. And I know that the people are out in the streets in Washington, DC, and all over the country, even in places you wouldn’t expect. Not just for protests. They are coming out in huge numbers for organizing events, to organize everything they can to stop what Trump is doing. And no, I do not know if it will work. But I do know if you don’t do it, they will take all the ground they can. And I do know if they are going to get stopped, it is going to take everything all at once. It’s going to take public opinion. It’s going to take Democrats being smart. It’s going to take organizing in the streets. It’s going to take organizing in clever and unexpected ways. It’s going to take people standing up and saying, “No. We’re not doing this.” And I do know that from ‘Sea to Shining Sea’ Americans are looking like they’re willing to do that. That they are willing to do what it takes to say no. (end quote)

It looks like those slow wheels of democracy are starting to turn.

by Judy Handley | Feb 9, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs | 0 comments

2025 Life Logs, Day 40: Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow. Snow and Super Bowl LIX
Date: Sunday, February 9, 2025
Weather: Snow Overnight, Day Mostly Overcast; Temp 32, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The weather forecast was spot on. We got four to five inches of snow overnight and it was absolutely beautiful this morning. As soon as I got up, I headed out to shovel the snow on the walking stones out to the driveway. Then I let Shadow out to romp in the snow. And romp, he did. I took one photo as he was running madly toward me and when I looked at the photo, I laughed out loud. He was running so fast that his floppy ears were flying in the wind.
We went out for a walk a little later, but I spent much of the day trying to put the finishing touches on the Voyage of Winbird presentation I am to give on Wednesday.

Then I changed gears and made nachos to take to a Super Bowl party. It started at 4 pm, but I didn’t get there until after 5. We played Rummikub, which I had not played since Heather and Justin were in grade school. And then we watched the Super Bowl. Until Friday, I could have cared less who won. But when I was in Woods Hole on Friday night, I was told that Trump hates the Philadelphia Eagles. That sealed the deal for me. I became an instant Eagles fan! But like most people I know that watch the Super Bowl, we watch for the commercials and the half time show. I stayed at the party until there were 2 minutes until the halftime when I left to drive to Heather and Jed’s to watch the halftime with them. I knew watching Kendrick Lamar would be much more interesting with teenagers rather than a bunch of people my age who had no idea who he was. And I was right. Sam’s commentary made the performance much more fun. Once the second half started, I headed home to take Shadow out and then watch the last half of the game while riding my exercise bike. I was elated that the Philadelphia Eagles literally trampled the Kansas City Chiefs. I took it as a good omen that a team Trump hates had such a spectacular win!

The commercials … like many people my age, our favorite Super Bowl commercial of all time was during Super Bowl XI in 1977. It was a Xerox commercial featuring Brother Dominic using a Xerox copy machine to produce 500 copies of a handwritten manuscript. Tonight, my favorite was a Stella Artois commercial featuring former soccer superhero from England, David Beckham, who in the commercial discovers he has a secret twin who just happens to be Matt Damon. And then there was the “No Reason for Hate” commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg. After they insult each other for 15 seconds, Snoop ends the commercial by saying, “I hate that things are so bad that we have to do a commercial about it [hate].” And I agree.

So, snow and Super Bowl made for a fun day. But I also kept up with my daily reading of what is happening in our country. The following piece by Robert Reich gave me a little glimmer of hope, so I will share it here in the hope that it brings you hope as well.
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Flooding Trump and Musk’s Zone–How to deal with their tyranny
Robert Reich, Feb 9

Friends,

Before I post my Sunday cartoon, I want to share with you some thoughts about the third hellish week of Trump II.
As of Friday, Trump has signed more than 50 executive orders, covering every aspect of American life and much foreign policy.
It’s not just that this number of executive orders is unprecedented in modern American politics. Many are unlawful, unconstitutional, or both.

In the age of monarchs, kings issued decrees. The tsars of imperial Russia proclaimed ukases. The dictators of the 20th century made diktats.

Trump issues executive orders.

Average people in the age of monarchs, tsars, and dictators were largely powerless. Resistance meant almost certain death.
Many people were resigned to vulnerability. They practiced passivity. They knew no life other than repression. But their deference entrenched and ensured the power of monarchs, tsars, and dictators.

Arbitrary power depends on the acquiescence of everyone subjected to it.

Right now, after three weeks of Trump’s “flooding the zone” (as Trumpers like to say) some of you may be feeling powerless.
Trump wants you to feel powerless. He depends on your passivity in the face of his takeover of American democracy.

He wants to be a strongman who can act unilaterally and arbitrarily — who can issue orders about anything that pops into his head. Purging, firing, prosecuting, or deporting anyone he wants removed. Obliterating, freezing, and pummeling any institution he wants destroyed. Unleashing the richest man in the world to do whatever the hell he wants with the government of the United States.

If you are dumbfounded into inaction, if you don’t even want to hear the news, if you feel as though you’re living through a nightmare over which you have no control, I get it. Every other day I feel the same.

But hear me out.

You and I have no real choice but to stand up to Trump, Musk, and their lapdogs. To allow them to bully us into submission invites more bullying, more lawlessness, more gonzo executive orders.

Last week I suggested a number of actions we can take. It wasn’t an exhaustive list, of course, only some possibilities.

Millions of Americans — including many who have been purged from their positions of responsibility — are standing up to Trump and Musk’s tyranny.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski says the Senate phone system has been receiving around 1,600 calls each minute, compared to the 40 calls per minute it usually gets — thus disrupting the system.

We are beginning to flood Trump and Musk’s zone.

Let’s flood it out.

This coming April 19 will mark the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolution and our war against monarchical power.

Anti-royalist militia in Massachusetts refused to disperse when ordered to by British troops. A shot was fired, and the troops kept firing, killing eight of those American resisters. Later that day, the militiamen returned that fire, killing a number of British soldiers. The revolution had begun.

Please don’t get me wrong. I do not advocate violence. I’m simply reminding you that this nation was founded on resistance to arbitrary authority. We built American democracy in the face of what seemed to be impossible odds.

And we will never, ever give up that fight.

My friend Harold Meyerson suggests that on April 19 we stage massive peaceful protests in every city and town — crowds of Americans celebrating the anti-monarchical uprising of 1775 and pledging their allegiance to that heritage by denouncing Trump’s increasingly autocratic rule: Thereby flooding Trump and Musk’s zone still further.

Sounds like a good idea to me. You?

2025 Life Logs, Day 39: Dining-in at the Baranowski’s

by Judy Handley | Feb 8, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs | 0 comments

2025 Life Logs, Day 39: Dining-in at the Baranowski’s
Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025
Weather: Sunny; Temp 32, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Tonight, my dining-in group gathered at Peter and Karen Baranowski’s. My contribution was a lemony broccoli, white bean, and arugula salad. I had never made it before, so luckily it turned out to be quite tasty. The entrée tonight was a stuffed tiger shrimp dish which was also very tasty. We worked very hard to not talk about what is happening in our country right now as it is just too depressing. It seems like there is no end to the destruction. But, for tonight, I am going to put that out of my mind as those of us in this part of the world are bracing for a winter storm. We could get more snow tonight than we have seen for a while. So, I am going to go read myself to sleep in the hopes of waking up to a snowy world.

2025 Life Logs, Day 37: Taking a Break

by Judy Handley | Feb 6, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs | 0 comments

2025 Life Logs, Day 37: Taking a Break
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2025
Weather: Snow, Turning to Icy Rain; Temp 36, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I am taking a break from writing about politics tonight. But thankfully, thousands of people across the country are not taking a break. They are pushing back. People are protesting, the Congressional phone system has been jammed by thousands of calls, lawsuits are being filed, judges are stopping some actions, and on and on. I am so grateful for everything people are doing. But all of that cannot help those people in need around the world that have been abandoned by USAID due to Trump’s actions. It is sickening and shameful.

But I had some things that I had to do today, so I put all of this on the back burner and forged by way through the day. I had a PT assessment to investigate the source of stiffness in my neck on the left side. It took 30 minutes to drive to the Spaulding Center for the hour-long assessment, and then another 30 minutes to drive home. The physical therapist asked me question after question and finally decided that the stiffness is caused by the way I sit when working on my computer. She is recommending that I get a wireless keyboard and find a way to sit my laptop at eye level with the keyboard located lower. That way I will not be continually leaning down in order to see the screen. I’ll work on that this weekend because when I got home, I rearranged things hoping to avoid buying the new equipment. But I can already tell that my make-shift move is not going to help. I am going to have to buy the keyboard and laptop stand.