What I Learned Last Night

In 1879, Fyodor Dostoevsky, gave us "The Grand Inquisitor"-- a poem within The Brothers Karamazov-- widely considered one of the greatest pieces of literature in history. This week, James Inman wrote "If Jesus came back today and saw Notre Dame he'd say, 'Fuck your church. What is this stained glass bullshit? Back in my day we worshipped God out in a field. Oh you saved my crown of thorns? Whoop-de-fucking-do!' Then you'd plot to kill him again for speaking the truth." Same-same-- just a shorter and less ambiguous version.

An out-of-town friend asked me to meet him at Crossroads (on Melrose), my favorite vegan restaurant. There was no traffic so I got there really early. Across the street is a small office building and the pot shop I used when I needed CBD oil after chemo is-- or was-- in that building. But I didn't know about the "was." So I figured I'd stop there and get some CBD balm for my neuropathy. But there'll gone. So how to kill half an hour at 8pm?

Three blocks away my former favorite non-vegan restaurant, Ink, had closed down but was replaced with a lovely-looking shop called Cookies. Hmmm... maybe they have sugar-free cookies, I thought. I decided to walk over there and take a look. But gee, there was a helluva lot of security in from of the store. Maybe it was a grand opening. I'll just make like I belong-- the way Paul Kantner taught me to-- and slide right in. It seemed to work; I got right through the door. It was bright and shiny and modern and kind of nice. "Can I see your ID?" asked the lady inside the front door. I took out my driver's license and she did some kind of high tech picture of it. And then I noticed the smell. It was a nice smell, but very strong. Pot? Was I actually in a pot store? I was. She asked me to wait til as associate could come over and show me around. I said I could show myself around. "Nope," she said. The associate was fantastic. He showed me around a really large cannabis emporium with more products than I could have imagined. I bought some of the balm. They charged a huge tax for this stuff. I was shocked. I complained. They said, "Oh, we have a senior discount." It was 10% and I was happy-- happy to pay less and happy to know that seniors pay less for cannabis in the 21st Century.

So, I can't say who my out-of-town friend was. Because he (or she) told me something in strict confidence. "Please don't put this on your blog." I asked if I could but without his (or her) name on it. A role of the eyes was immediately accepted by me as an OK. Here's what I learned: After the GOP started their jihad against Ilhan Omar, senior Democrats by and large refused to publicly back her. Jerry Nadler was a conspicuous exception. Eventually someone pulled a very half-assed defense out of Pelosi. But... and here it comes... while this was raging in the media-- including death threats against Ilhan-- the #2 Dem in the House, Steny Hoyer was workin' it hard behind the scenes. Workin' what? Oh, yeah... working to get Ilhan kicked off the House Foreign Affairs Committee. After all, no one is supposed to be on there without being pro-Likud anyway. right? By the way, a progressive woman named Mckayla Wilkes is primarying Hoyer. We'll be talking about her more, of course, but meanwhile... please consider giving Ilhan a hand by tapping that thermometer on the right.





And one more thing! The folks at Now This who put this clip together should all get a Pulitzer for something. Remember when we had a real president and when Fox News was the disloyal opposition, instead of the state propaganda arm? Well this clip is meant to show you what Fox would sound like if they were covering Señor Trumpanzee the same way-- the exact same way in fact-- they used to cover President Obama. In their own words: