I was away most of last week with my lady friend, also known as my “wife” to you traditionalists. And it was good to be away. Out of earshot of the cable yappers. Out of eyeshot of the doomscroll. About the worst news that reached me was that they didn’t have draft beer at one of my seaside lunch spots. What is this, North Korea? What kind of monsters expect you to drink bottled beer on vacation?
I’ve never been to AA. Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s a wonderful program that has helped millions of people, and I support it. But I’m told they don’t serve alcohol at the meetings, which is a real deal-killer for me. I do, however, try to live the Serenity Prayer, popularized by the 12-step program:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Even though my version usually comes out a little less……..serene. More like the variation uttered by George Costanza’s dad, played by the late, great Jerry Stiller.
It was a prayer I found myself repeating, over and over again upon reentry, after catching up and finding out how President Stable Genius had played the usual one-man wrecking ball during my time away from the bad news (do they make any other kind?) There were all the usual bits about him letting the air out of the economy’s tires, feeding the inflation beast, lying about lousy jobs reports, all while uglifying the White House, offering Diet Coke toasts on his new shock-white limestone patio that now sits over what used to be the Rose Garden. Making it a lot more Mar-a-Lagoish — now the kind of slab of soulless pavement where a Jeffrey Epstein can scout his next underage masseuse. I suppose Trump’s entitled to his garish decorating touches — someone who I can’t recall recently observed that he’s made the now gold-accented Oval Office look like Siegfried & Roy’s living room — since he does plan to live there for the next 3 ½ to 20 years, or whenever the statute of limitations expires for all the laws he’s breaking as America’s first dictator.
But I think the development that most struck me is that the guy who keeps openly campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize decided to declare war. On Chicago.