Today is Tuesday, November 29, 2022. Two great things happened today: the first, the Senate passed legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriage, called the Respect for Marriage Act, in a landmark bipartisan vote. This is a historic moment, given how divided our politics are at this moment. The final vote was 61-36. The bill was supported by all members of the Democratic caucus and 12 Republicans, the same dozen GOP members who backed the bill for a procedural vote earlier this month. The House will now need to approve the legislation before sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

The second good thing that happened today was the conviction in Washington, D.C., of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and one of his associates of multiple charges in a seditious conspiracy case. They were convicted for their role around the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was fomented by the Orange Blob.

In this case, the Justice Department alleged that the Oath Keepers members conspired to forcibly stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from then-President Donald Dumpf to Joe Biden and plotted to seize the U.S. Capitol. A jury believed the case against these defendants and possibly gave Rhodes, 57, and one of his associates, Kelly Meggs, 53, a 20-year maximum prison charge on the charge, effectively ridding the despicable organization of its loathsome leader. This development now bolsters the Justice Department’s contention that the assault on the Capitol was not a walk in the park, and maybe, just maybe, it could buoy the case against another possible defendant in the near future, Donald Dumpf. The various people on trial were also convicted of obstructing an official proceeding.

I’m not writing much more, other to say that Elliot and I had left our domicile still thinking our cleaning lady was coming, but she called us around 9 to say that she wasn’t feeling well. So we still went out around 10:30 and came home about 9 tonight. We traversed three boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We went to Williamsburg for brunch at Juliette and then took the L train to 14th Street to walk to the Angelika Theater, where we saw a new film, The Inspection, at 4:20. More about this tomorrow. Then we drove to Astoria where we dined at Michael’s.

Initially, we went to Rego Park, Queens, to seek information about getting some money back before the spring of 2023 at the Social Security Administration (SSA), where we sat for about 45 minutes to speak to an agent. We first had bagels and coffee at a bagel shop on 63rd Drive. After finishing up at SSA, I entered a local barbershop to get a beard trim before driving to Brooklyn.

Before traveling to Manhattan, we went into two bookstores in Williamsburg, where I paid $1 for American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins at Book Thug Nation, on North 3rd Street. This was the 2020 novel by an American author that received mixed reviews about its depiction of the ordeal of a Mexican woman who had to leave behind her life and escape as an undocumented immigrant to the United States with her son. Despite initial positive reviews and its status as one of the best-selling books of 2020, it has also been widely criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of Mexico and Mexicans. Critics panned the book because it was written by a European-born woman in the United Staes without ties to the Mexican migrant experience. So I’ll find out how supposedly bad it is when I read it – but not before I finish a long line of books in front of it.

Stay safe and be well.