I had plans to get several timely posts out; I had made some progress on clearing out the drafts folder, cluttered with ideas dating back to last summer, for Pete's sake. And then life happened.
Instead of Wondering on Wednesday about politics, current events, and a couple of things that absolutely drive me to distraction, I was distracted by a frightening medical situation with my elderly mother, which ground writing - and pretty much everything else for the past several days - to a halt. She's on the mend, thankfully, and while things aren't yet back to normal, I've got time to share the posts that did go out, in case you missed anything.
For your Sunday School, I recapped two conversations from CNN's State of the Union. Jake Tapper had Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the incoming Chair and Raking Member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
On the Biden and Trump document handling issues, the Congressmen had distinct points to get across. For Comer?
the key issue - because at the end of the day, as he puts it, there's only one issue...
...this is the same type of investigation that the Democrats...launched and demanded happened to President Trump... And we just want equal treatment here with respect to how both former President Trump and current President Biden are being treated with the document issue.
And Raskin?
He didn't answer Tapper's question on why Biden's personal lawyers - with no security clearance - were searching in DC and Delaware for records, instead of the FBI or DOJ handling that. His understanding is that Biden's folks did the right thing. As to what the official procedure is, but he doesn't want this "turned into just a political football."
... So, when my friend Mr. Comer says, we're just looking for equal treatment, that's all we're looking for. I think it's good that this is in the hands of special counsels on both sides...
My take on all of this?
I was frustrated, of course... And, I'm not at all confident that we'll see anything other than politically motivated attacks for the next couple of years out of this Committee.
For your Extra Credit, I went to the Meet the Press classroom to hear from Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, which was the more interesting of the two interviews.
Rosenstein, who previously said he wouldn't have appointed a special counsel for Trump's document problem, said
...Garland didn't really have a choice, unless the preliminary inquiry established that "there was no chance a crime had been committed." He said "that wasn't the case," based on what we know so far.
Jack Smith and Rob Hur, he said.
... are two professionals who spent extended amounts of time in the Department of Justice. They understand that their goal is to focus on the facts, and law, and apply department policy. And both of these men are not going to be influenced by political pressure.
They won't be influenced, but they will be attacked.
It's certainly true of these gentlemen, as it was with people like Ken Starr and Bob Mueller, that you pick people with sterling reputations who are known for being nonpartisan. But you're in the political arena where it's inevitable you're going to be attacked.
Of that, we can be certain.
Back to distractions, for a moment.
My mother's health scare coincides, almost to the day, with my father's passing sixteen years ago. I shared a couple of old posts about him last week.
Distractions of Dad tells of two unexpected events that in wonderful, fun ways reminded me of him. One came as I observed a couple in the grocery store.
... I saw a man start to toss something across a low display case to his wife, who was on the other side with their cart. He was gesturing with his hands, making a tossing motion, and she was gesturing right back at him, clearly indicating with both her facial expression and her hands that she wanted no part of his pitch and catch game.
And just like that, I was back in elementary school, on any Saturday morning, with Dad, getting groceries. Let's just say that if anyone today did what we did back in the 60s and 70s they'd probably end up on the store's "Instacart Only" poster.
The second distraction occurred when someone brought snickerdoodles - his favorite cookies - to work. It immediately reminded me of how my brothers and cousins responded to his annual gift from my aunt: a coffee can full of her delicious homemade snickerdoodles.
The second post was an early Wondering on Wednesday, and how my grandfather, my dad, and I are all victims of our own self-doubt, self-criticism, and our epic lack of patience. I had misplaced some papers - including some of Dad's writing from college, which
frustrates me, and in fact brings out the Dad in me. Patience with himself not being one of his virtues, he had a litany of mostly under-his-breath mutterings that I find myself repeating when I'm kicking myself for some minor failing or another...
I didn't find Dad's papers that day (I did, eventually), but I did find some of his dad's writing.
So - my grandfather. My dad. And now, there's me: a third generation 'keep-the-day-job, try-to-be-a-writer' person, full of self-doubt, a mutterer and sputterer, apparently from way back. I'm wondering, this Wednesday, what Dad would tell me about his father, and his father's writing, and his own writing, and mine.
And I'm wondering, is this nature or nurture? Writer begat writer begat writer?
I still don't know the answer, and neither of them can tell me. Similarly, I don't know how many posts I'll get out this week; I hope you check back to find out.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!