I worked on Bazan Library again today but It’s still not finished. It’s coming along though and will probably be done with another sitting. There is a large wall that is not getting any direct sunlight nor is it in shadow, but the value shifts as it gets closer to a perpendicular wall. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull off the subtlety but I think it’s going to work. When I work on it again I’ll make some minor adjustments and then add the foliage, which is usually the last thing I add.
This is number nine in the series which leaves twenty more library branches to paint. I’ll have to finish 2.5 paintings to meet my April deadline. So far I’ve averaged 3 a month so I should be ok. One thing I do not like are deadlines. I like to be prepared, on time, with my ‘i’s’ dotted and my ’t’s’ crossed and deadlines are too stressful. I start cutting corners. Hopefully I won’t have to worry.
Yesterday I sat down at noon for a riveting two hours of Hearings. I kept thinking of my grandmother, who died earlier this year at the age of 97. She was a life-long republican, until Trump. She read the newspaper every single day of the week and she always knew what was going on in the world. I wonder what she would think of her country now.
I can remember growing up having to watch a political debate for school and being impressed by how knowledgable and articulate the candidates were. I thought it was only our best and brightest who could rise to the top and either be elected to office or be part of an administration. What I heard yesterday made me ashamed and disappointed beyond words.
Donald Trump knew the crowd was armed and insisted they be allowed past the metal detectors. He wanted it to look like his rally was well attended. “They’re not going to hurt me,” he screamed. “Let my people in!” Secret Service scanned the crowed and spotted numerous people with glocks and AR-15’s and still no back-up was deemed necessary. They weren’t scared of that crowed.
The young woman who testified, who apparently was being threatened, described a scene, not only on January 6th, but regularly at the White House, as volatile - an environment where people walk on egg shells. According to her, Donald Trump occasionally ripped the table cloth off tables, sending plates, and dishes flying, when he was angry, or when he didn’t get his way. On January 6th he threw a plate, and ketchup landed on a TV, and he casually left his mess for a valet to clean up.
He tried to grab the steering wheel of The Beast when the Secret Service agent wouldn’t take him to the Capital (on orders from his staff so he didn’t break ‘every law in the book’) and then, when that didn’t work, he lunged for another Secret Service member’s throat. All day Donald Trump refused to call off the insurrectionists, despite all the people in his immediate orbit advising him to. When he did release a video, he ensured the rioters, ‘We love you.’
And the worst part is that in order to stay in power Republicans have covered up his behavior. The entire republican party has either joined him in acting like spoiled, violent toddlers, or they pretend it’s not happening so they can get reelected.
So yeah, I’ve been thinking about my grandmother, wondering what she would think, wondering what it was like for her to watch her government turn into a dark and crooked version of Romper Room. I know cheating and lying have always been part of politics. I know there have always been people who care more about having power than doing the right thing, but this has gone beyond that. This is the majority of people. A fraction of republicans have left the party over the past six years in protest, but most have stayed and played to new, uglier game of politics/warfare.
And where have all these people been since the January 6th insurrection? All these people who have testified in the past few weeks have only done so because of the investigation. It’s like an abusive household: everyone suffers in silence and anyone who speaks out gets blackballed and discredited. The atmosphere our elected leaders work in, most likely in the States as well, has turned into a toxic dump.