I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!

Senators are elected by their constituents, and they "dance whtih them what brung 'em" when it comes to voting on legislation. I can comprehend (not condone) why Manchin voted against a filibuster carve-out for matters of voting rights: he represents an overwhelmingly white state thet voted even more overwhelmingly (twice) for Trump. He doesn't care about equal voting rights because, to put it bluntly, his constituents don't want "those people" (black, brown, college students) to be able to vote to even the same narrowed extent they currently can. (Not gonna use the "R"-word--and I don't mean "Republican" or "red-state"--but you get my drift). The only reason he keeps getting re-elected even with a "D" after his name is...coal. Period.

Sinema, OTOH, was elected over McSalley because she ran on her (previously) liberal-to-progressive-to-Green record and agenda. The voters of AZ wanted her, not a Trumpy Republican. They did not vote for "bipartisanship:" they voted to get things done. AZ has a large Latino/a (I hate "x") constituency and a growing Black population--and she is screwing over her own constituents.

I grew up in Brownsville, an interesting neighborhood in Brooklyn. A generation earlier it was solidly Ashkenazi Jewish, mostly working class except for the scattered neighborhood doctors & lawyers, with a smattering of Catholic Italians & Irish and occasionally Eastern Orthodox Russians & Greeks. By the time I was in grade school, there was a growing Black & Puerto Rican population, over 40%. The public schools were supposedly "integrated," but each grade was separated into two or three classes according to a hierarchy of standardized testing scores and "disciplinary records." The "1" classes (and in jr. high, the SP classes which combined 7th & 8th grade), to which my sister & I were assigned, were almost exclusively lily-white. The closer you got to the border with East Flatbush or Canarsie, the whiter and more Jewish & Italian. The deeper you got into Brownsville--and then the closer to the border with East New York or Ocean Hill, the more predominantly minority. By the time I graduated from jr. high (which went up through 9th grade--only the parochial-school kids were freshmen in high school) and we moved to East Flatbush---less than a mile but half a world away--Brownsville had become nearly 100% minority thanks to white flight. (East Flatbush, too, eventually became majority-Black, mostly Caribbean...and had reggae recording studios frequented by Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert, Johnny Nash & Jimmy Cliff). Our supposedly "integrated" neighborhoods were actually sub-segregated. Boundaries were less rigid than here in Chicago, and majority-minority neighborhoods had Puerto Ricans, African-Americans, and Cubans living on the same block. (No Mexicans yet back then).

By contrast, in Chicago the Puerto Ricans and Mexicans have their own large neighborhoods, with enclaves of Cubans, Dominicans, South & Central Americans. But except for Afro-Latino people, Spanish-speakers and Aftrican-Americans have separate neighborhoods with well-deliniated borders. It's only in the "gentrifying" areas where we see true integration...that is, minority-group members who can afford the jacked-up rents and higher prices. And in Brooklyn, what is and isn't gentrified is upside down from the days of my youth: everything to the south & east of Grand Army Plaza is solidly minority, while Bushwick & Bed-Stuy are almost half-white now (especially hipsters). Trendy Brooklyn is north and west, the closer you get to Manhattan, the hipper and pricier. Brownsville, however, will never gentrify.

Seems to me that Sinema was holding on by a thread but going over and voting Republican was definitely a bridge too far. Manchin will get away with it, but Sinema (billing) herself as Independent was hardly an excuse for her behavior. As you stated Sandy, Manchin is the darling of the owners of the Virginia coal mines. Sinema has no (and never would) such safety net and seems foolish that she saw herself as John McCain's equal. John McCain was a war hero and while often he could be at odds with his fellow Reps., he was able to maintain a level of respect and friendship. She got what she worked for since she turned her back on the wants and needs of her constituents. I believe (little disclaimer) that she only had roughly 8% support from AZ for her stance toward voting/filibuster. That is not sustainable at all.

People only begin to grow when they cease to whine and revile and commence to search for the hidden justice which regulates their lives. And as they adapt their minds to that regulating factor, they cease to accuse others as the cause of their condition and build themselves up in strong and noble thoughts. They cease to kick against circumstances but begin to use them as aids to their more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within themselves. -James Allen

I'm in Arizona on a short January Thaw vacation. I have mostly stayed away from the news, but can tell you that the Arizona Democratic party just censored Sinema and Trump charged one of the Republican candidates for governor $50,000 to hold a fundraiser at Marlago 'with very limited results' according to the paper.

Yikes Sandy, so sorry to hear about your predicament. I'm starting to think we are all going to end up with this version of Covid no matter how careful we are. North Dakota is terrible right now and so is Arizona, but at least we can be outside.

Way to go about the Georgia Grand Jury being seated. I heard several times today that Bill Barr (the fat snake in the grass) is also speaking with the 1/6 commission. He is trying to save himself. He abruptly resigned about the same time he got wind about Trump possibly the work order to send the Nat'l Guard after voting machines and other nebulous activities. Easy for him to figure it was time to get out while the getting was good. He now has to reveal a lot more though if he wants to find a way to not get a set of his very own federal handcuffs.

When we hold onto the negative in ourselves it comes with endless guilt. We hold onto a lifetime of floating visions and regrets about what we should have done or should have become. Conscience recognizes wrong and tries to atone. But guilt turns into resentment. Conscience brings us closer to each other; guilt drives us apart. Create a new feeling. Every time guilt settles in your stomach, write "I forgive" on a piece of paper. Send it up the chimney, tear it up and flush it, put it in the garbage. Don't eat it. -Jennifer James

The soul grows into lovely habits as easily as into ugly ones, and the moment a life begins to blossom into beautiful words and deeds, that moment a new standard of conduct is established, and your eager neighbors look to you for a continuous manifestation of the good cheer, the sympathy, the ready wit, the comradeship, or the inspiration, you once showed yourself capable of. Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles. -Kate Douglas Wiggin

Hope we get a bit more activity here. It is nice though to come to the weekend. I veer between thinking things are not as bad as the news outlets would have you think, but knowing that we are well off the beaten path we all hoped would have borne fruit by now. At least getting to pick and seat a new Supreme Cout justice should help to re-focus to a degree some of the negativism that the news likes to spew. Like Biden's numbers being down etc.

I am concerned that so much gets out and is hammered in by the likes of Fox News, and other rt. wing programs. It is after all a source that some never leave. I've seen my BIL's take a very slight pause (as in the few days after 1/6) and then go right back. That said, I have to admit that while we do switch in between a sm. amt. of local news and CNN, Dh usually puts on MSNBC so we too end up with news that highly favors and flavors a left side viewpoint.

Tucker (the Swanson Pot Pie/TV Dinner heir) has been all over RT lately. Gee, remember when Republicans thought Russia was Satan's instrument? Remember "better dead than Red?" Well, I guess that since red is now the media graphic color to depict GOP states (ever since 2000), now that Russia is no longer Communist the red-state GQP is drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Putin, even though Russia is crony-capitalist, yearns for his old KGB days. I'd originally thought he wanted to reunite the Russian empire, but it seems what he really wants is to re-establish the USSR (with none of the socialism --there's no money in it--or communism but all of the totalitarianism).

Biden's top pick to replace Breyer is a DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge (now in Garland's former seat) who was Breyer's law clerk. Can't imagine a more perfect fit regardless of race or gender. Wonder how Moscow Mitch can pull off a stall with there being no filibuster for judicial appointments (a carve-out he established in 2017), unless he has something juicy on (or worse, for) Manchinema (much less the Repubs. who voted to confirm her for the DC Circuit less than a year ago_

In the good news dept., there is once again a First Kitty: Willow, a 2-yr-old green-eyed gray tabby Pennsylvania farm cat. When he was a kitten, he jumped atop the stage where Jill Biden was giving a campaign speech and charmed her. Her farmer owner finally agreed to give him to the Bidens. The last cat to live in the WH was India, who belonged to Dubya and Laura.

Sorry you are under the weather, Sandy.

Yea, Willow!

We fly back into the frozen tundra tomorrow.

Sorry to hear about your granddaughter, Caryn. Hate seeing kids get sick, even if mildly so.

I'm sorry for grand children being ill. I'm with Ruth -- any distance is far away when it is someone so important to you. Ruth, that is a powerful testament as to why people should not only get the covid vaccinations, but the boosters as well. Glad your uncle and aunt are on the way to a good recovery.

I guess I will never cease to be amazed that there are still people waiting to see if the vaccinations are safe. How could this be??? What more do they need to see when over 8 million people have died (and more every day )? Seems to depend on how to you choose to live dangerously -- not get the vaccine. I'd live dangerously and get it. The odds sound so much better.