Today is Saturday, January 7, 2023. In odious Kevin McCarthy’s case, it’s not the third time that’s a charm, it’s the 15th time as he finally snagged the speakership of the House past midnight this morning. What a ho-hum denouement! McCarthy won with 216 votes with the six holdout “Never Kevin” House members simply voting “present,” which is the same as voting “yes,” it seems. This is not a good moment for the country as pathological liar George Santos can finally be sworn in as he cavorts through Congress dropping lie after lie like so many flower petals. In his delivery speech before Congress, McCarthy mentioned the insurrectionist’s name which already pegs him as a prick.

In contrast to McCarthy’s offensive speech, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delivered a much more stirring speech that more accurately captures the spirit of America that is embraced by the Democratic Party. Jeffries began his speech, saying, “We believe in a country with a peaceful transfer of power,” a rebuke to the Trumpsters in the House.

He offered an olive branch to his repugnican colleagues, asking “to find common ground whenever and wherever possible on behalf of the American people.” He struck an inclusive theme with this remark, “Not as Democrats, not as Republicans, not as independents, but as Americans.”

What ensured afterward was sheer poetry in the rhythm of his sentences primarily noted for its brilliant use of alliteration. While he stated that Democrats would work with Republicans to achieve a common ground, he did underscore that “we will never compromise our principles. House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy. Benevolence over bigotry. The Constitution over the cult. Democracy over demagogues.”

Then Jeffries went on an alliterative tear: “Economic opportunity over extremism. Freedom over fascism. Governing over gaslighting. Hopefulness over hatred. Inclusion over isolation. Justice over judicial overreach. Knowledge over kangaroo courts. Liberty over limitation. [Here is where there were audible groans from those Trumpsters in the audience] Maturity over Mar-a-Lago. Normalcy over negativity. Opportunity over obstruction. People over politics. Quality of life issues over QAnon. Reason over racism. Substance over slander. Triumph over tyranny. Understanding over ugliness. Voting rights over voter suppression. Working families over the well connected. Xenial over xenophobia. ‘Yes We Can’ over ‘You Can’t Do It.’ And zealous presentation over zero-sum confrontation.”

Jeffries then said, “We will always do the right thing by the American people. So let us not grow weary of doing good. For the American people will reap the benefit of the harvest if if we do not give up.”

With this speech, Jeffries clearly demonstrates his facility with the written word and the quite effective rhetorical device. He is very articulate and a fiery speaker. Jeffries can certainly take up the mantle of the previous House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, very successfully, it seems. I even had to look up the word “xenial” in Google since I wasn’t sure what it meant. It is the direct opposite of xenophobia, which in this case means, “hospitable, especially to visiting strangers or foreigners.” It’s not a common adjective, I guess, since most of us are more aware of its antithesis, “xenophobia,” which is the “dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries,” which pretty sums up the founding principles of today’s repugnican party.

Today was a very long day since I woke up at 7:30 to leave my apartment to get to my Astoria friend’s place by 9:45 a.m. Instead of driving or taking the subway, I took an Uber around 9 a.m. The reason for my getting there so early on a Saturday morning was so that we could drive to Collingswood, New Jersey, to see “Seth’s” daughter in a production of The SpongeBob Musical. I committed myself to attending this event weeks ago. Before getting to the Holland Tunnel, we picked up two other friends who live in Long Island City. Three of us scrunched in the back seat for the two-hour drive to New Jersey.

We stopped at a Wawa on the Turnpike in order to grab some coffee and snacks since we were not eating until after the play. I had to hold my small cup of coffee in the car until we arrived at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, which was the venue for this children’s production of a beloved television show. Thankfully, my son was too old to watch this drivel when it was first presented on television. The play, surprisingly, was almost two and a half hours, with an intermission. When we met “Sally” after the performance to applaud her role in the production, she informed us that some heavy hitters contributed to the score – people like David Bowie and Brian Eno, Cyndi Lauper, Sara Bareilles, and Lady Antebellum. I hadn’t known this since I had no intention to see this effort on Broadway when it first came out. Afterward, we drove to Seth’s brother’s diner called the Colonial, located in Woodbury, New Jersey, for an early dinner.

All in all, it was a twelve-hour day for me, and I’m pretty tuckered out.

So have a good Sunday.

Stay safe and be well.