Pat Taub
SNOW!
My city of Portland, Maine was on track to receive 6” of snow but we got 17!” This morning I took one look at my buried car and went back inside. Once it warms up, I will tackle all the snow covering it. My heart goes out to all the unhoused in this bitter weather. I learned of two unhoused who died this week. It makes my heart heavy. We desperately need more shelters in Portland.
Park Street, Portland, Maine
Deb Haaland
Yesterday delivered good news for progressives and climate activists when Biden announced his selection of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to serve as the first Native American Cabinet secretary to head the Interior Department. Haaland tweeted Thursday night. “ … I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. . . . A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,”
Rep. Deb Haaland
Christmas Memories
For years now I’ve been decorating my mantle in the same way, featuring a cut-out Santa my youngest son, Jonathan made in first grade, which resembles a Saul Steinberg image, along with two antique silver reindeers that belonged to my mother. The antique-looking trees were a Target purchase awhile back. The candlesticks were wedding presents.
Stalled Stimulus Checks
It’s confounding that Congress is unwilling to provide even a basic stimulus for families kicked into unemployment by Covid and now facing eviction. However, there was no Congressional delay when it came to passing another record-setting defense budget. Does Congress drag its feet because it worries that providing assistance during a pandemic will lead to a demand for Medicare for all, housing subsidies and the like? The implication being that providing basics services will lead to “socialism,” threatening the primacy of Wall Street and the Defense Department.
Covid has seen a record number of families who can’t afford food, resulting in lines everywhere for donated food
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
I can’t wait to see “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” shown on Netflix. It’s an adaptation of August William’s play about a Black blues band in Chicago during the 1920’s. The leads are the amazing Viola Davis and the brilliant young actor, Chadwick Boseman, who sadly died of colon cancer this past summer.
Chadwick Boseman, far left and Viola Davis in a scene from “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
HAPPY (SAFE) HOLIDAYS TO ALL!
