Round 2 And A New Project

In his closing remarks of Trump's 2nd impeachment trial today before turning the stage over to Trump's defense, lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin remarked: "In the history of humanity, democracy is an extremely rare and fragile and transitory thing." Many of us have grown to take for granted our democracy and the guardrails that our founders put in place to prevent our grand experiment from coming undone. I have a new appreciation for their insight all those years ago. I'm not sure there are many Republicans who appreciate Raskin's words, for if they did, there would be little hesitation on their part to find Trump guilty of inciting the failed coup on our nation's Capitol a little more than a month ago in his last-ditch attempt to retain power. So far, they're showing little appetite for doing the right thing.

I'm no longer much of a patriotic person, but damn, even I understand that insurrection matters, especially an insurrection incited by the President of the United States. The videos put together by the impeachment managers were powerful and at times, difficult to comprehend or even watch. For me, the entire ugly scene boils down to the fact that Trump, through months of priming his base that the election was going to be rigged and stolen, gaslit his supporters into believing the "big lie" before turning them loose on the Capitol. It's no coincidence that he rallied them there on the 6th at a time when the electoral college votes were being tallied to certify his election loss. No, he didn't actually instruct them to do what they did but he had to have anticipated what was about to unfold. 

"Stand back and standby!"

The part that's most troubling to me is the way in which Republicans are prepared to ignore Trump's actions in the hours during the insurrection when Trump went back to the White House and watched it unfold on TV. Those in the room with him said he was excited and delighted at what was happening while doing absolutely nothing to stop it. That, to me is telling. People's lives were in danger. His own Vice President was being hunted down to be hung and yet Trump did nothing. Not a fucking thing! There can be no explanation other than him wanting the insurrection to succeed. And there can be no reasonable defense. As 3rd ranking Republican in the House, Liz Cheney said: "We just had a violent mob assault the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent us from carrying out our constitutional duty. There's no question the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob. He lit the flame." And yet, Republican Senators will no doubt give him a pass. 

But if I listen to my conservative friends, it's Democrats who are trying to destroy our country. 

I've spent the past couple of days working on a larger stained glass panel for our home to replace one that I sold last summer. It will be nearly identical to this panel I did three years ago. The larger panels work really well at keeping birds from attempting to fly through our sun-porch and right now, one of those windows is in need of some help. If I can keep at it, I hope to have it done sometime this weekend. 

We're in the midst of a polar vortex with daytime temperatures struggling to get above 0ºf (-17ºc). That sounds cold for outdoor riding but it's actually not too bad once you've figured out how to dress for those conditions. The main thing to be mindful of is that if you're comfortably warm to begin the ride, you're overdressed. You want to be somewhat chilled to start, knowing you'll warm into the conditions as you ride. The main concern is in having some sort of mechanical issue out on the trail which requires you to stop for an extended amount of time. What little I'm wearing out there isn't enough protection if I'm standing still for very long, especially in these conditions. 

That's all I've got.