Today is Saturday, February 4, 2023. The continuing story is the record cold experienced all over the Northeast. Here the cold was not as bad as yesterday, in my opinion. I did go out once: after eating breakfast at home, I went out to run the car’s engine since I parked the Nissan on the street yesterday instead of putting it in our garage, which would have been the wiser choice. I then walked to our trusted French patisserie, La Boulangerie, for a bite of lunch. Walking past the Kennedy House this time was not as bad as yesterday when I felt I was being blown up in the air like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and when I continued walking to the patisserie, I thought the weather was almost balmy compared to yesterday’s ferocious wind. I went out after I baked my second cake for the New Year, an almond cake. The range in temperature today was, supposedly, from 4 degrees to 26 degrees, which was the day’s high. Tomorrow a heat wave is forecasted: temperatures in the mid-40s.

Not much to write about except for that shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the water off the coast of South Carolina today by American fighter aircraft. However, the response from loony Republicans just demonstrates how ridiculous these far-right “lawmakers” really are. The President was mocked and ridiculed by this far-right GOP fringe for not taking down the balloon sooner. Biden did admit that he first approved the plan to shoot it down as early as Wednesday, but waited to carry out the operation until the balloon was safely over water, which actually did happen.

The GOP reaction to the existence of the balloon ranged from advocating that American citizens take arms against the ballon which was discovered floating over Montana first to ridiculing Biden for his supposed “inaction,” which was totally insane. There was no way that regular firearms would have taken out this spy device since it was so far up in the sky. The only thing this would have done was to injure anyone who took these GOPers at their word. I believe that the blonde bimbo known as Marjorie Taylor Greene advocated this batshit idea. As well as the three-time loser known as Donald Trump’s coke-addicted son, Donald, Jr. His tweet should have been immediately been taken down for advocating such a dangerous path of action. Would this idiot have taken such a move himself? Hell, no. As long as some other gullible Second Amendment nut tried it him- or herself. Thank God, this wasn’t done in actuality. It was executed more professionally by American fighter aircraft, which should have been the vehicle for the balloon’s collapse in the first place.

Before I forget, I wanted to speak out about the backlash heaped on an HBO series called The Last of Us, which last week debuted a third episode that aroused the ire of homophobes out there because the episode had a sixty-minute-long interregnum where no action is indulged in since this is a dystopian sci-fi series involving the almost-extinction of mankind in 2023 and is based on a video game, which I have never played. The episode dealt with the tender, touching love between two men, Bill and Frank, who carve out a life together for 23 years in a section of Boston that is devoid of inhabitants. I started the series myself three weeks ago and first watched this episode last Sunday. I watched it twice, not because I needed to watch it again, but I had to watch certain threads of it due to my nodding off since I didn’t catch it in real time, which is 9 p.m. I wanted to see how both men came together in this oasis in an abandoned part of the city, except for the house that Bill, a survivalist, lived in by himself until he meets Frank, played by Murray Bartlett, of The White Lotus. His reluctant lover was played by Nick Offerman, who is better known for his role on Parks and Recreation, a series I have not watched. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode for its frankness and tenderness in showing the two men’s love journey through time. The ending would have softened the hardened viewer among us, I feel.

However, many viewers of the series and players of the original game came out and criticized the episode for interrupting the action of the series, which deals with the introduction of a fungal infection that almost brings humanity to the brink of destruction except for certain uninfected persons who fight to live another day. The episode has gained widespread praise, with TV Guide saying it’s “on track to be one of the best episodes of 2023.”

In light of those viewers’ criticism of the gay storyline, the actor himself, Nick Offerman, recently tweeted a great response to the homophobes who took exception with the episode. His reply was tweeted yesterday and he basically writes, . . . “your brand of ignorance and hate is exactly why we make stories like this.” It’s so sad that the actor had to even go on Twitter to defend the show’s episode.

This strong reaction, even in 2023, reflects, to me, the GOP current culture war against the LGBTQ+ community. I think it’s disgusting. Many states, I’m hearing, are adopting anti-drag amendments in the sham excuse of “protecting the children.” Shit, if Republicans wanted to really protect children, they’d endorse strong assault rifle bans and other laws meant to protect children from the damage inflicted upon them by serial killers with guns. But, no, this they would never do – those cowards. They’d rather wear tiny assault rifle pins on their lapels instead!

That’s enough of my haranguing you here. I will be on leave from the blog, starting tomorrow, when Elliot and I motor up to Highland, New York, to visit our friends, “Ted” and “Peter.” We will be staying until Tuesday morning. I hope to be back then Tuesday evening if everything is all right.

So enjoy tomorrow’s balmier weather and the days afterward.

Stay safe and be well.

Here is my second cake creation: an almond cake. I hope it’s good.