A welcome drinking `problem'
My brother Phil's new challenge is a most welcome development. Plus: Democrats squander an opportunity and a personal flashback on the five-year milestone of COVID-19 changing American life forever.
My brother Phil has a drinking problem.
He can't drink water fast enough--the past month, I've been bringing him gallons of filtered water from my home, so much so that it has started to accumulate.
Now, this is an immeasurably better challenge than the drinking problem Phil's grappled with for many years--struggles with alcohol and drug use that have led to extended periods of homelessness.
For nearly four years, he's had stable housing. And for the past six months, ever since his latest near-death experience, he's been sober. Since September, his health—including his mobility, his ability to sleep and his general outlook on life--has gradually improved.
About a month ago, while joining him on a trip to a grocery store, I was surprised when he bought a case of water. “The water at my place is really bad,” he explained. Until then unaware of his h2o quality challenge, I've since added a simple step to my weekly visits: fill empty gallon jugs with filtered water from my home and tote them to his place.
As an obsessive champion of hydration--my own and that of anyone around me--to be able to do this brings me great joy. That emotion is amplified when I consider how vastly different are these interactions from the ones I previously had with my brother.
On my latest visit this past Wednesday, three gallons in tow, I saw that I ought to scale back my zealous water-delivery campaign. Phil had yet to dip into two full gallons from my previous visits. A (non-alcoholic) champagne problem, to be sure.
Senatorial Squander
Between a rock and a hard place.
The lesser of evils.
Damned if you, damned if you don't.
Some variation on these pessimistic sayings is what the Democrats appeared to face this week in D.C., whether to vote "yes" or "no" on a funding bill to keep government going for another six months.
Only trouble is, President Trump, shadow President Elon Musk and the cowering, sycophantic GOP leadership through all their chaotic and dysfunctional actions have already been taking a wrecking ball to government operations since January 20th.
So, in reality, it wasn’t so much a bind for Democrats as a moment of potential leverage. Now, with enough Democrats wilting Friday as a deadline neared, it's an opportunity lost.
On Tuesday night, I urged both Illinois senators, Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin: “Vote NO on the CR.”
"Send a strong message to Trump, Musk and all the GOP minions who are enabling this dysfunctional and destructive reign of shame…Use this pivotal moment to leverage some sane and sensible changes. Thank you for your service."
Duckworth voted no; Durbin was among the 10 Democrats who voted yes.
It was a big blunder. I agree with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, whose comments yesterday I recommend:
Five-Year Flashback
“Five years ago, where were you...?" columns have been abundant lately, marking the moment when COVID-19’s impact really set in across the United States.
On that theme, I will share one reflection:
When I first heard the news of the NBA canceling games and Tom Hanks having COVID-19, among other abrupt and troubling developments, it was on the radio.
I was driving home from one of over a dozen library programs I delivered that year on the topic “Go Figure: Lies, Damn Lies & Navigating the 2020 Presidential Campaign Trail.”
As I wrote at the time, the “Go Figure” program “equips participants to become more vigilant citizens, from the coming Presidential election to a host of other decisions that, over time, can mean the difference between failure or success.”
Turns out, all the lies that Trump brought to that process—the minimization of the health risks, the flaky and dangerous declarations of how to treat COVID-19, and so much more—were instrumental in his 2020 election defeat.
It was the same brand of chaos and confusion that have marked his second reign of error these past two months.
Good for Phil!
I wrote Durbin and Duckworth as well. I think that keeping the ability to sue Trump/Musk is probably more important than shutting down and letting Trump keep shredding the government with no recourse until the shutdown would end. I hope I'm right.
Things seem great with your brother. It seems like he's really done it and made a miraculous turnaround. I get the feeling you are keeping yourself under wraps, however....From the headline, I certainly thought, by the way, that he really had a drinking problem, and you were going to say that was a better than a heroine problem.
I had forgotten that Tom Hanks had one of the first high-profile COVID cases.