This morning I received an email from Amazon telling me that my order of the 4K UHD Blu-ray set of West Side Story (2021) will ship soon – probably on Monday or Tuesday of next week – and should arrive by Thursday, March 17. So, at least with that order, I have some idea about when I will receive one of the three variants that Buena Vista Home Entertainment has made for various retailers.
I can’t say the same about the Best Buy-exclusive steelbook edition; on BestBuy.com, my order status reads as follows:
Pre-ordered, we’ll let you know when your pre-order ships.
I’ve pre-ordered at least one Best Buy exclusive release before – the pricey 2020 Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga box set with all nine of the “main story” Episodes – from The Phantom Menace all the way to The Rise of Skywalker – in both 4K UHD and 2K HD Blu-ray discs. If memory serves, Best Buy prepared my order to ship on the Friday before the box set’s drop date and shipped it to Lithia the next day.
Obviously, I can’t say that history will repeat itself with West Side Story, but I’m sure that this order, too, will arrive between the 15th and the 17th.
Over on Target.com, where I ordered the Art Edition version, the information is clearer. This is what the retailer says about my order:
Preparing to Ship: Scheduled to arrive Mon, Mar 21
Well, that’s a later ETA than Amazon’s, but with everything – mostly bad – that is going on in the world, I’ll take it.
Speaking of bad things that are going on in the world….
Have you noticed how Republican politicians and social media trolls are mostly ignoring the war in Ukraine and focusing like a laser on the rising prices of fuel in the U.S. – and blaming President Joe Biden for it?
I have, and as with everything else the modern Republican Party says or does these days, it just disgusts me. Seriously disgusts me.
It’s bad enough when Fox News’ Tucker Carlson publicly sides with Russia and states, point-blank, that the U.S. has no strategic interests in Ukraine and that Putin is not a villain in this crisis. But it is worse when Republican lawmakers, knowing that they can’t really attack Biden for his efforts to impose stiff sanctions on Putin’s government and his fat cat oligarch friends and supporters, try to score political points with conservative voters by focusing on “it affects your wallet” wedge issues, such as (of course) rising gas prices.
Here’s what Tennessee’s Republican Senator, Marsha Blackburn, tweeted last night about rising fuel prices:
Sen. Marsha Blackburn @MarshaBlackburn
Joe Biden is directly responsible for record-breaking gas prices. That’s what happens when you ban new leases to produce American oil and halt the Keystone XL.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn@MarshaBlackburn ·22h
Biden’s Energy agenda:
❌ Halted the Keystone pipeline
❌ Froze new leases to produce American oil
❌ Rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement
❌ Turned to authoritarian regimes for oil production
Blackburn is obsessed with blaming Biden for the rising cost of fossil fuels and “Democrat policies” for inflation. Every so often she mentions the war, but the Senator’s Twitter feed is dedicated to the GOP’s “American energy independence” mantra, which is heavily slanted toward the petroleum and coal industries and ignores alternative energy sources and technologies – wind, solar, and electric cars.
It’s a disgusting and oh-so-obvious strategy, but a damn effective one that has a good chance of paying off for Republicans in the November midterm elections.
I wish I could overcome the deep funk that I am in now, but the social, cultural, and political divisions here in the United States make it difficult to do so. I don’t read as much as I used to, and I don’t have a circle of local friends that I can hang out with in the Tampa Bay area. At least in Miami I had more options and freedom to explore them. Here? Not so much.
Well, I need to go take my shower, change into fresh clothes, and eat something for lunch, so I will close here. Until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Imagine if Democratic leaders had acted the way Republicans do now after 9/11? It’s all George Bush’s fault; Osama bin Laden is a victim; stay out of Afghanistan; leave the terrorists alone. We have become so divided that common sense has died.
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There was, of course, some lunacy from the left regarding 9/11. Rosie O’Donnell lost a lot of fans (including me) when she spouted off some conspiracies about the CIA, Mossad, or a combination of both blowing up the World Trade Center. I don’t recall too many politicians from the Democratic Party who went along with this weirdness, but I’m sure there might have been a few.
The problem, though, is that while we’ve always been a divided nation (regionally, politically, culturally, and religiously), social media, cable news networks, and firebrand politicians and talking heads magnify and exacerbate the divisions. And, of course, the Internet makes it far easier for hostile nations to exploit America’s weak spots.
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