January 4, 2021

Hello Everybody,

This will be somewhat of a rant. Apologies.

I think I've gone over a political edge to becoming masochistic. I need help. Last night before bed I listened to the entire hour long call that Mr Trump, the motormouth bully, made to the nice, polite, competent Secretary of State in Georgia.

As I listened I wished that Raffensperger would have simply said:

With all due respect to your office, you need to SHUT THE F**K UP.
You are a danger to the nation and should RESIGN.

And then he should have hung up.

I'm old enough to have vague memories of the Watergate scandal. At least in that chaotic time the members of Nixon's party stepped up and told him it was over. And Nixon resigned. It is much worse today.

With the rallies tonight in Georgia (Trump and Biden), with the Senate runoffs on Tuesday, with the expected circus in the joint session of Congress on Wednesday to simply try to count the certified electoral votes, AND with The Virus out of control I am feeling like a tornado is raging outside and I need to go in the basement for the next 3 or 4 days and pray.

Yesterday I got the idea that I would call friends and relatives (including many of you) to say hello and have a chat. No text beforehand asking when it would be a convenient time to call, no email, no Facebook message ... JUST CALL. You know ... like in the old days even before answering machines. JUST CALL. And I have begun to do that. And I recommend it to you. It doesn't need to be a long call. Hearing your voice and hearing directly how you are doing would be healing and nice.

With The Virus raging dangerously (especially now in Southern California) I have been having a thought about it... Let's look into the future. On February 28th there will be someone (many someones) who will die in the hospital from COVID-19. That person today is not infected and is probably feeling just fine. But in two months they will be in the last hours of their life. What did that person do in the intervening two months? How did they contract the virus? Their family will be grieving the loss of their loved one and will be wondering what happened? If the public health authorities do not or cannot do 'contact tracing' the family will want to, yes? The Virus does not "come to get you". You are not an innocent victim of the evil virus. Wear the damn mask. Do not attend maskless gatherings outside your home. Do not view the White House holiday parties (or the celebration of a new Supreme Court justice or Republican election rallies) as a model for your own behavior. This is a marathon not a sprint. The vaccinations have been approved and are starting to be administered. Have patience.

To finish on a positive note ... remember my Georgia Senate Vegan Project? I sent out cards with a $50 check to 15 restaurants. Two of them were returned - undeliverable.

As of today only 8 of the checks have been deposited. I called the remaining 5 and encouraged them to please accept my simple gift.

I got a call from a nice lady named Princess who runs the Healthful Essence restaurant. She just wanted to hear my voice. :)

One high end vegan restaurant (Herban Fix) sent me a gift certificate of $100 for when I visit Georgia - but they have not deposited my check yet! :)

Another vegan pizza place sent me an email saying that they would be sending me two frozen pizzas. I emailed back to say:

I understand that you want to "show the same love in return" but rather than using the $50 to send me the frozen pizzas it would please me more if you could spend the money *locally*. Perhaps give free meals to a homeless person, perhaps give a bonus to an employee, perhaps donate it to an animal shelter ... Whatever you think best.

Another place (Fox and Fig) sent me a T-shirt, some decals, and a very nice cup:

Be well,
Stay safe,
Jon

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