MORE TO COME ...BUT FIRST A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS

  At present, you must be wondering who are my sponsors? We never knew there were sponsors. Be assured there are none, at least in current terms. They have greatly influenced me, but cannot influence me now other than what has already been planted within my head and heart.  Well internalized and absorbed, part of the molecules of myself.   

You might be asking yourself, well, why not? There's a pretty penny to be made these days in social media. Everyone can use some more money to pay bills, extend help. But I am me - my thoughts, my words are mine. They're not to be influenced by any other than my own thoughts based upon research, internal feelings, knowledge and whatever else I can put into the stew resultant     as my blog. 

These views and thoughts can change quickly or over time, depending on what our reality is, and my take on it, but at least I try to maintain a straight path, open and above board. Nothing being available for others to override me. to censor on my own blog. This blog has developed in an earnest desire to do something, anything, even an iota which would fall on the correct path of    life, possibly helping someone - someday, somehow, sometime. To be honest, it also gave me a place where I can vent my frustrations, my disillusionments, and my ideals and dreams still, hanging around despite all that life has rained down upon them.

So here are my sponsors, and I hope your sponsors as well. Read them today. Pay attention to them today, to the words, to the concepts, to the thoughts, to the advice, to the history. Understand where we came from. Where we are at present. Where we will face the fork in the road, three choices awaiting. Our choices of the future. For the future.

 Remember when and where you came across our sponsors and then contemplate the three choices. To go straight ahead and fix the mess, at least make a start, blaze a clear path through the brush and weeds now hiding its rightfulness and positivity, hopes for humanity. Discard that which has attached to it, pulling it hither and thither. We must work hard and adapt the path and ourselves. The other two choices are voices of the past and present Trying to lead us astray again. These are the two paths veering extremely to the right and to the left Frankly, they lead us astray and we must see past its initial ease of path to the horrors and difficulties awaiting the traveler, just round the bend. Reversal of direction impeded from all sides. Truly, there's not much difference between them, just a matter of words which are basically the same. Here lies the danger we have been warned about. Nothing good awaiting us down those paths   

But that straight path, no turns, no roundabouts will demand hard, concentrated attention. Slowly making way and progress through trash that has become attached to us, harming us, diminishing us. It is not an easy undertaking. It does not encourage mindless shouting and threats and violence but rather hard work, understanding and a will to do what must be done productively, within the guiding words and principles of our sponsors. Frankly soon, STAT, ASAP. for I do not believe we have much time left.

So again, you will find that you are quite familiar   with the sponsors. But, whether you are familiar or not, read them, slowly, pause, ponder and understand and be motivated to be one of the white hats. Not the others. Then read them again. Know that there are other such inspirational speeches.  FDR in his policy and declaration of war. Churchill and his speech upon the Battle of Britain. JFK - over and over again. Find them and read them over the weekend.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The truth is the truth.

Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863.

The next one is long, but so prescient to the time of today. Read and think,

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers..© Copyright www.GeorgeWashington.org All Rights Reserved

IT HAS GOT TO BE SAID

   Well, no matter how long one is able to push off the unpleasant words and thoughts, eventually there are no more delays possible. I am not the only one who has said much of the same words, along the same vein to be posted today. However, these words come from a different place. It comes from one who has been shouting out, pointing out, celebrating and mourning the events and themes relevant to today, to the time of our times. 

It comes from broken heart. It comes from reaching a point of overflow of the shattered remnants of two nations. And in fact, of the world itself, with no one and nothing following and adhering to rules of conduct which are integral parts of the makeup of these nations These words come from a plain old citizen of neither power nor influence of statistical importance. This is simply one voicing opinion mirrored by many others round the world, readers of my blog (for which I am amazed and thankful). and their content points out a terrible shame and a curse that we have brought upon ourselves. 

We have seeded the clouds above with all that is necessary to send down the hail and the fire and the torrents of water, literally and figuratively now destroying at ever faster pace with ever more frequency and power. We have enabled it all. Through the years some have stood by the side, so engrossed in their personal lives and careers, they paid no attention to what they thought was not relevant for them. Some of us spoke up but the voices were weak, drowned out by the raucous cheers of those who bought into the lies presented to them, as if handed to the world at Sinai from the Lord Above. Some jumped enthusiastically onto the bandwagon of new government principles - or lack thereof. Crooked rules and negativity of the government as in days gone by. 

 Corruption, bribery cabalistic planning, plots to quest and conquest. Making money was the goal. The sole driving motivation as caring for others, asking from those to whom much was given, is dying, due to a new selfishness raging through the nations. The pleas were ignored and principles of Honor and care were pushed aside, neglected and derided, shoved into dark, dusty corners of dank and dark closets. Excessive lifestyles for some while the majority of the nation struggled to pay their bills. To put food on the table and clothes on the backs. A roof overhead. Trying to ensure a future positive for themselves and for their children.

 Food pantries ran out of food. Foundation money went elsewhere, perhaps into the 16th house of some of these nabobs of industry, throwbacks and emulators of the thoughts and behavior of those of bygone times. Another Gilded Age but only for some. All the corruption, all that we had worked to eliminate returned with a bang.  Quests and conquests bought and paid for with “donations" to a man and his followers, intent upon wrecking the cultural background, historical sites and the truth of history, and the ethical background of this nation. 

Talking heads of government puppets, and those of the media, falling down on the job, reporting news as they thought their particular audience would like to hear rather than the truth of the reality. Integrity fell into the lexicon of old-fashioned and dead terms. In their refusal to speak the truth, to present it io the public to hear and understand, they chose to forget the once noble occupation and purpose of those who transmitted and explained the news to the public. The noble, honest, and encouraging voices of Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow faded into echoes of the past, dying, forgotten and thrust aside as useless. 

These words come from the little girl earnestly reciting the words of the Pledge and singing patriotic songs. It is the voice of the older child inspired by the words of JFK. It comes from the older teen, the young adult, so disappointed and disillusioned by the antics and lies of following administrations, even as progress was beclouded by the wrongs that remained. Governments which grew steadily more corrupt and more at ease with the presenting of lies as facts. An adult willing to work with those compatible souls who continued the search for realization of the Impossible Dream, becoming more impossible by the hour. Gradually so many of us became disheartened, so disappointed, but never gave up hope until the decade of Trumpian interference, dealing great blows to what was left of the once great America. 

Too little, too late became the reality of this nation. A weakened America, one which had taken steps backward, stomped upon the ethics and principles of its founding. The world was and remains in woeful times. Government leaders neglecting their task to serve their constituents. There is greed and corruption rampant throughout. It is a terrible thing and even more terrible when all this effects my two beloved nations, my two homelands, America and Israel.

So, it seems I have written some of what I need to say but yet have managed to avoid some of the worst, some of it will be the hardest. 

Yesterday, today and tomorrow as we insist on consistence and remain in the ugly muck. Or will we regain ourselves, stand up straight and make a way out and into a better world for all. 

PASSIONS

 Passion is an extremely strong emotion. It can drive people to heights or depths. To despair or elation. For many onlookers these strong passions are a puzzle, for one can feel it deep within the soul. An onlooker can stand alongside, can even understand or feel the righteousness of that passion, yet remain impervious to its depth and intensity. 

Passion at high speed and great intensity can even drive one to an insanity overwhelming, all else, particularly if the fulfillment of that passion is frustrated, not allowed to blossom or bloom as one might wish. The strength of that emotion elicits praise or condemnation, depending upon the viewpoint of the others standing outside that circle, looking in, shrugging shoulders in amazement and not feeling it, or smiling in agreement, or aghast at the thought of what that passion can cause.  

These passions can induce an oxymoronic mixture of love and hate. One might not desire to be caught by it but cannot help it. It bores itself within and can wage an internal war upon the resistance of the believer. 

But those with strong passions and beliefs have moved humankind through the millennia, both positive and negative in manner. Perhaps it is not even a choice that they can make, but at some time there must be a choice, for nothing happens, good or bad, unless someone makes a choice, moves on with that choice, driven, willingly or not to scratch the itch of that all-encompassing passion, at times blocking out the reality of others not so involved.

 Oftentimes, there arises a split, a breakoff, a new sect, giving rise to change and adjustment, welcomed by some and resisted by others. Variations of the original document or theory or set of rules and expectations, new passions, arise, welcomed by some but not all. Some might feel a glow, happy with the changes, but within others, it can begin to rot, inevitably leading to a split. The split can be peaceful, but it often is not as passions remain, though not on the same channel and focused on different realities. 

The cracks grow into chasms which cannot be bridged and combat arises. Discussion, compromise, understanding, tolerance and wisdom fall by the wayside, the passions now become bitter, and opposing words turn into opposing laws and blows. War raises its ugly head, drawing others into the fray and all new thought and change become criminalized. The passion has gone sour as the sects, the old and the new, wage civil war upon each other, criminalize differing views, imprisoning, even executing some.

That which was good, that which induced the passion, can fall on either side of the line. The impassioned ones can work for humanity with noble ideas. They can lead people to the creation of inventions, to brave schools of philosophy, pathways for humanity to move forward. However, it can change quickly, swerve or hang a Uey, and disillusioned or tired or even originally tainted, they can and will bring back the old status quo or even worse. 

Passions, like most emotions, can have two sides, one beneficial and the other not. What is a positive moment of history can quickly turn rancid. Too often, the societies affected stand silently by and even encourage the fruits of the good tree to wither on the vine, on the branches, to fall down and rot on the ground. It is up to those who know and understand to guard society against that which would harm it, which will harm it unless we all stand guard against it

As usual, it falls to us and only us. We can determine our own path, the path for the world. In fact, if we do so, champion the path which moves forward, not the one of selfishness and anger and Hate so high that one feels as if drowning in it, if we persevere and hold strong against those who wish us harm, take a look in your mind at what could be. Should be.

Take a look at your nation today. See where it is. Think where and what it should be. Think how we can improve it. Think how much better our reality could be. Think too of what could be if we stand aside and do nothing or even advocate for the bad, the selfish. Is that what we wish for us and far more important for our children?

It does not matter the time, be it yesterday, today or tomorrow. Responsibility is the same. The danger is the same. The blessings and the curses remain as well. It is our choices that will move humanity forward or backward. 

Which do you choose?

More tomorrow.

ONE MUST ALWAYS LOOK IN THE MIRROR

 Many people, in fact, probably most people in the world do not like to look into that mirror. Be it real or virtual and in one's head or on one's face when looking deep into that mirror within that mirror we see truths that are not necessarily appetizing to our own selves. Certainly, many of them incite nausea along with panic and fear. How was this most unpleasant point reached and moreover, how do we fix it, or at least deal with it in some productive manner, to lessen its import and prevent reoccurrence?  

This is the point where I am today. I am quite sure that there are many who have reached the same point and while we have been partially successful at avoiding it or walking willfully blind past it, the time has come to deal with the elephant in the room and all the little elephants which follow along. Until finally we reach the last elephant in line with the graduate cap over his head and the spectacles carrying wisdom and truth to all who would see it and know the truth.

The truth is that, in justified and justifiable thinking and recognition of reality there is much in the world that is ugly. It must be extirpated out, roots and all, to inches below to ensure we got it all, prevented its return, perhaps, possibly, in even more virulent manner. 

What is this truth? It should be clear to all who have read my blog over the years that there is a very real ugly, poisonous growth of JewHatred within our world. Not that somewhat more genteel antisemitism to be found in upper classes of society, spoken of sotto voce, in sly whispers with a snidely blinking eye. Hateful, with limiting and limited factors, it is wrong to the bone. But it can be managed and certainly with no activation of the fear hackles on one's neck being raised. 

No, this is the Anti Semitism that has morphed back again, once again, to a violent hatred which seems to encourage activation from the holder of that ugly sentiment, to turn words into action. The more frightening, the more out there, the better it seems. Though certainly the worse, approaching the worst, for the target and recipient of that malicious emotion and related action, is particularly more frightening to those of us who have mostly grown up in a world free of that sentiment. Of related violence to be seen only in outliers of society and spewers of hate with a few pathetic followers.

These times, in our today times, we have horrifyingly allowed much of society to turn back into the yesterdays, into its horror, into its bloodlust and into the mad desire to hurt as many as possible, particularly our children. To disappear our tomorrows before they have a chance to begin. This evil plan, these homicidal urges and activations are to be found in every persecutor of Jewry through the ages, back to the beginning. As bad as it sounds, it is within our genetic composiion, as we pass the trauma down through the generations to be alert, aware and at the ready to deal with it. Only these days we have the knowledge, the ability, the will, and the material necessary to face off with the evil troglodytes. Not so easily will Jewish blood be shed any longer. 

NO More. Not Ever Again.

That being said, there is an offshoot of this current heightened awareness, and it is that which we must have the courage to look into its eyes, its reflections in the mirror and understand what has happened. We might not like it, but we must acknowledge it and we must deal with it. Not a simple matter, along with so many related issues that go into the whole messy ball of yarn that now wraps around this issue. Some of it is a necessary evil, for things happen in battles, in war waged verbally and/or physically. But some, quite a bit, can be ameliorated and lessened albeit without harm to us.   We do not have to give it air and breath to live. We do not need to cede our souls as we defend the body. We can do what we must but must not become our enemy, for what then is the difference?

Along with the questioning of military plans and combat, readiness, expectations, and conscription     we have also, unfortunately, 'graced' ourselves the wrong way when it comes to the politics of this nation. It is a strange politic. Though, while Israel is an independent, legitimate stand on its own two feet state, it must incorporate within, the souls and bodies of Jews around the world. Take into account those Jews who have mistakenly thought they can shout to the world that they are Jewish even as they curse their own brethren and endanger them even more, even as these apostates deny their Jewishness.

It is a state which is constantly boiling with religious clashes, not so much Islam and Judaism, but clashes within the body of the state and the faith.  Every Jew around the world has his or her opinion of what the Jewish way is. How one should worship in the faith. Is the faith temporary with no change possible or can change be included? Our history itself speaks to this issue, but we are so embroiled in shouting and denying each other that we forget that a Jew is a Jew is a Jew. 

 No matter what he feels or thinks or observes religiously, if we forget that reality, believe me there are many out there who will gladly remind us. They, and we, by our stubbornness, dig at the cracks and crevices we have allowed to grow within us. We are falling into gaping chasms, and bottomless abysses. If we do not attend this, if we do not manage to repair them in a permanent fix, or a culture of acceptance of each other, then we are simply harming ourselves and empowering the enemy, the foes of Israel, harming ourselves with quick and deep cuts extremely difficult to heal.

 I hate to think of such a future.

We must not have such a future, for that is no future at all.

We must temper ourselves and not become our own worst enemies. 

Can we remember that?

Hopefully more on this in other postings.

HYPOCRISY IS AS HYPOCRISY DOES

  We all have a bit of the hypocrite inside of us. It is necessary to keep peace within a household or any situation where there is a cadre of people working together. Certainly, when we all say, to our children, "Maybe" or We'll see" there is the hypocrite within us, for we know darn well what will take place and what not. That hypocrisy is sanctioned, especially as the children wise up to us and our half promises of unscheduled events at some unknown time and the reality of their reality!

However, hypocrisy can reach up or down as the case might be when it involves huge numbers, millions, billions of people. There must be a condemnation of that hypocrisy, particularly as much of it is blatant, right out there in front of your face even as one huffs and puffs and rages. Too often little to next to nothing is done too much of the time. The result is often an unbelievable acceptance of the lies spewed forth by the hypocrites encouraging the hypocrisy to be ramped up at devilish speed into plans causing people to suffer. What results is a more intense hatred of that which should not be hated; that which there is no reason to hate. It is above the table in plain sight and below the table, hidden where so many people will feel and/or follow its evil winds even as it is not hidden at all, clearly visible in the emotions induced by its presence.

Most frightening most demoralizing is when heads to government, people in positions of influence, religious figures pontificate from their podia, buying into the falsehoods, the double talk and double standards inherent in the support and sanctification of lies as truth, of Hate as the topmost emotion, and the approval of negative misshapen consequences inevitably resulting from the misaligned loyalties of the deluded. 

Personally, I find it particularly outrageous and enraging when government leaders and heads of government stand out front and center and criticize another nation about whom false propaganda is dispensed round the world, heavily supported and echoed by other nations buying into the Hate. It takes place even as they know that their nations are the ones who have done the evil acts now laid upon the shoulders of those who have not, certainly not as an obscene policy supported by the political echelons and citizens of that nation.

Double standards is the name of the game, a game which these days have seen a revival of its blatant ugliness as nation after nation indulges in an age old hate and jump on the bandwagon to shout it out loud and clear. Putting forth lies and exaggerations and yes, mistakes and mishaps, as purposeful and ingrained perversions within the nation. 

Those who are gullible. Those who buy willfully into these hypocritical words and those who know nothing, ought other than what they read in prejudiced one-sided harangues about the "evil nation" will fall in line and do their best to be part of the crowd. One of the many, one of the "hip and the cool". Most people find it easier to join the crowd, to avoid standing out in opposition and take themselves out of the fray within. Thus, ensuring their own safety and possible ambitions at great cost to those within this circle of danger.

A flotilla of 'activists' otherwise known as supporters of terror, even terrorists themselves, set sail for the umpteenth time. Their goal is clear: to break through and render useless the lines of defense round its water boundaries, to defend its territorial integrity, its independence and most important protect the citizens on the other side of those boundaries. 

These are the very same citizens and small towns and villages, farms and ports, places of vibrant life who were so brutally massacred, tortured, burned alive in one of the most evil inhumane successful plans to emulate the horrors of the Holocaust, to perpetrate them on the soil of those who dared to survive, who had dared to be there and to come there, to build and rebuild, to develop, to live, to raise children, to grow bountiful produce from the sands of the desert and prosperity where before they had been poverty.

There is not a nation in the world that would allow for forces of the enemy with arms aboard, the questionable 'aid' to invade their shorelines, to cross into areas of population unopposed, and unsheathe their swords of war. Lay about them with deadly intent, craving lakes of bloodshed and victory against their 'enemy' who wanted only to live in peace, to be left alone. To improve the world. To do as their hearts and souls and faith told them to do.

Not another nation would meet with and given such unreasonable suicidal demands of other nations. Only of Israel is such demanded. Only of Israel do the nations of the world call upon to bare their throats to the knife and put aside their own weapons of defense in order to please those who continue to wallow in the fields of JewHatred. Those who blatantly declare in loud, ugly, braying, demented voices of their intention, their tenet of faith to destroy the nation of Israel. In fact, the same goal for the people of the Jewish nation round the world. In the case of others such demands would be deemed as intent of genocide, but in this case the target of that planned genocide is accused instead of that crime against humanity. The very people who had suffered the most of such genocidal ambitions and actions.

But hypocrisy wins the day yet again.

The nations of France, of Italy, of Spain, join in the fray, even leading it. Along with the other passengers who have jumped aboard this train of malevolent Hate, they merge into a cavalcade of blood crazed salivating hounds chasing the same prey of old times, of all time. The same forked tongues passed down through the generations spewing forth the same lines, perhaps dressed in new words and newly created claims of violations that never were. Always enthused and liberated by the hypocrites and the know nothings, so joyous, liberated from the bonds of civility and humanity as they enjoy their leap into the fetid waters of this ugliness.  And the number of passengers on that train of enthused Jew haters grows ever larger, whooping and cheering at their luck. More crowded, ever more vicious.

The spokesmen for the nations condemn the treatment of their citizens, their citizens who have the evil intent of illegally invading a nation, to set upon, have at, a people for whom they planned only death and loss and horror. Their being fed and whole, released into freedom, free to replay this scenario over and over again, repeat offenders, so to speak, with yes, some name calling, perhaps even a shouldn't be there shove, counts for naught. Even as the shove was roundly condemned by the vast majority of Israel. 

But where, where indeed were these oh so holy voices when their citizens were caught by the animals of Hamas, by those oh so definitely not innocent civilians. Held as tortured prisoners of old, in dark, dank, dismal dungeons, away from light, from air, from contact. Beaten, battered, raped, chained, starved, killed, butchered and held hostage. Starved. To death. Murdered. By fanged creatures of the night.  No, no one cried for their citizens then. For these citizens had been tainted by one fact. They were Jews, they were in Israel, thus these citizens of those nations were deemed as dross, tainted. Their rightful demand to be set free deemed as less concerning, even of no concern, than other beings on this earth. Not even a word of real protest, few and sparse, and any memorial put in place in those nations after the loss of their citizens meant nothing at all. Too late. But who cared other than the Jewish people and their few supporters. All the rest of the world bought into the oh so pitiful false story of the bruised, put upon Hamas and their evil cohorts. Condemned were those who needed help, left to death in an ugly brutal hopeless life.  

 In fact, they continued this perverse plan as they did not support the citizens of Jewish faith who lived within their own borders. Be these nations of the East, the West, the modern, the old, all have allowed Jews to become the targets of the day.

 Once again. Ever again.

Countries once seen as havens from the millennia of horror which chased Jews from pillar to post, which did not allow them to settle anywhere, not even in their own country, their G-d given and G-d Promised ancestral homeland.

And the hypocrisy continues till this day and most probably, unfortunately, into the foreseeable tomorrow.

From yesterday to today till tomorrow.

So many instances of eyes and hands and souls corrupt and blackened voting, practicing only Evil. Once more for Jews to be chased down in the streets. Once more, to be set afire in their gatherings. Once more to fear for the lives of their children.

And yet we continue. There is no hypocrisy there. The biggest, most powerful Defender in the universe, in whatever universe appears, has vowed to defend us. Yes, there are times when we wonder where is that Power? Where are those hands strong and warm and welcoming and rescuing? But we continue to have faith, and we have continued to see that the faith is right. Even as nations have disappeared. Great and powerful nations over the millennia have withered and died. We, the people of Israel, deemed the underdogs, weak and pitiful, have remained alive and for the most part well, particularly in more modern times. It is terrifying to see some of this erode. Yes. But we will be here.

Always. 

Forever.

Am Yisroel Chai. 

The nation of Israel is alive and well.

La'netzach.

Forever.

Amen. Selah.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON - OR DOES IT?

  Or are we so possibly used to it always there in the background, relentlessly, that we truly do not hear it anymore. Certainly not in any meaningful, productive manner, for in fact it is oppositional to positive outcomes. I have no clue how to stop this relentless beat that drives us, that drives the world, into ever higher speeds and approach to disaster, other than to find some brilliant community minded genius who can create a vaccine ready for mass instant inoculation of the inhabitants of this world.

Then there would be a thunderous silence. Only the sounds of trees and leaves rustling in a mild breeze. The whoosh of the calm waves of the ocean and the pleasurable sounds of birds warbling to each other. All the forces of nature wonder at this miracle. No more frightening booms. No more cries of the crazed champions of war. No more gathering up the parts of humans that other humans blew up. 

No more evil thoughts, nor evil looks, nor evil anywhere, as we all, together, enjoy that new silence that allows us to slow down the constant pounding on our brains. This will allow for one to look at another, a former foe on the incessant battlefields, and recognize the shared humanity of all. In turn, humanity will wonder how they were so dumb, as to which point and when they heard nothing, felt nothing other than a crazed wrath crying for revenge and insane plans to blow up the world. Rattling on how they would rule the world without an understanding that their actions had led to the point where there would be no more world left.

I sit here at the keyboard wondering how it is possible to type and throw up one's hands up into the air at the same time. Wondering all the time re the fathomless stupidity of mankind who take all the wonders of this universe of ours and turn it into dross. Ruins populate the territories of nations of the world, some from wars of recent occurrence with no time nor energy, no funds, nor willingness to repair, only to continue on, to further the backwards movement of the populations of the world. All the gifts of this world so amply and clearly there, and the talents that humankind contains within their minds and souls, all ignored for the good possibilities. Instead, they are used to amp and ramp up the taste and deep need for bloodshed, to heighten the Hate along with the growing deafness to all, other than that driving beat.

Yes, can I, we, look around and say there are just wars raging right now? Absolutely. For such is the way of the world. We hear nothing, see nothing, talk no words of peace and conciliation, of compromise and adjustment, of sharing and cooperation. We allow the anger, justified or not, to build up until we reach that red hot atmosphere that allows for nothing else other than the worst traits of humanity to be blown out of proportion and consume the world yet again. Only as time goes on the dangers of these wars, large or small, for they all intersect at some point, only increase in peril, known and yet to be displayed. 

The forces of nature, its rules and regulations, along with the laws and regulations of mankind, specific and general, are violated and in turn these violations reap their inevitable results and the safety and security of a sane and safe and prosperous and permanent habitation of the world as was meant and desired to be, flows rapidly, in torrents of raging rivers, into the sewers and there we are. Back to where we started and returned, over and over again. Doing the same thing with the same harmful and negative results, even as we wonder as to how that happened. The definition of insanity. And sheer stupidity.

Can we ever get ourselves up from the sewers, halting the rising rivers of hate and blood, and fix the world? This is a job not easy to plan, to put into action, and to carry into fruition, even if not entirely so. But for that to happen, that beat of war, that beat of vengeance, that beat of greed and fear and ugliness, of Hate of all that we deem other than 'we', must be silenced if we are to hear what lies behind and beneath that drumbeat of negativity and build upon it, the resources and strengths it give us. 

Until and unless we do that, if we continue to indulge in the worst motivations and traits of humanity, there will be no future. Certainly not a good one and most probably not for very long. There are those among the most stupid of all within humanity who push for the drilling into the core of the Earth for it is iron and nickel and the minerals are useful. But tell me, when the core of the Earth is gone what is there left to hold it together. This is the same if the core of humanity is beaten into uselessness and the absence of the decency of humanity, of its recognized needs and dreams, are glaring in their absence, if we do not have that core   then we can speak of naught helpful for our world. 

We have lost that privilege, weakened our core and certainly the raging hypocrisy which saturates this world is part of the core that is overgrown, a weed which has spread its ugly roots and infections into the remaining core. Hopefully, tomorrow I will address that thought and its extremely harmful role it plays in the ugliness that now consumes us.  

In the meanwhile, think of yesterday. Think of today. Think of tomorrow. How do we use the one to live in the other and to build for the last? In positive manner and outcome. Questions that our brightest minds must address. 

So where are they?

DOES ANYONE HAVE A CLUE?

  I have lost count. No more fingers and toes to use, as there are too many out there who are saying the same thing. More and more forcefully, commentators on all sides of the game give voice re their concern about the resemblance of our history to times past. Cosmic changes await us unless and until, and very soon, we make the proper turn in the road and leave the dangerous path behind. If we do not, we are warned that the cataclysmic changes which took place in and to great empires will be replicated in the modern world.

If this is too hard for one to figure out, peruse the pages in the plethora of tomes of history. Within those pages the names of crazed leaders who were so intent on occupying a seat and a name which would carry them through their times and way into the future. So much so that they indeed got what they wished for. But surrounding that name and their history was a great dark cloud, for in that search, in that crazed ambition, they got their name and their history though in manifestly negative manner.

I cannot speak for sure as to their thoughts, as to what their reactions would be, should they find a wormhole in space via which they could see exactly what they had left behind and put forth for the scholars of the future to dissect. Is that what they would have wished? Caligula. Nero. Henry VIII. Hitler. Mussolini. Stalin. Orban. Macron. Khoumani. Mamdani. Starmer. Trump. Netanyahu. Abbas. Extremists of all kinds. 

The list never stops for all these men and more, wanted and continue to chase fame and too often found infamy instead. Too often they indeed got what they had pursued so intently and in their undignified and even crazed behavior, their faults overcame the good they might have done or initiated. Their names have left and threaten to leave a bad taste in the annals of humankind. 

When the shakers and movers of the world are more likely and inclined to shout at and threaten other leaders rather than carry on a sane conversation, the world is in trouble. When the Great Empires and alliances of the Times begin to eat themselves from within, pieces of the agreements flaking off, then the world is in trouble. And when those who are supposed to guide us need guides themselves, the world is in trouble And when grandiose actions and threats are spewed out in an endless stream, the world is in trouble

The crazed and wild competition; who is the best, who is the richest, who has the best and most dangerous weapons? Who will come out on top?   And then the concern, the fear, as now, whether the rivalry and overblown egos will cause one to go off, irrevocably, and in the heat and fury press a button which will burn the world in flames which cannot be overcome and for sure, once we emerge from yet another dark period wherein mankind struggles to emerge from more caves, the names of the leaders will be known, with dirt and anger, with bloodstains that cannot be washed out and away.  

Today, there are no more 'little wars'. A conflict which might have begun between two tribes spreads to their allies. These allies have bigger allies, more powerful allies, and they join in, creating proxy wars and convenient places to test out in real terms all sorts of new inventions, much better at killing and destroying. New weapons     traditional or new, as in biologic and nothing stays small anymore. 

The leaders of the world blind themselves to the severe consequences of their hubris. Consequences worldwide and harsh. It is especially aggravating when all one has to do is look back in history, ancient and modern, and see that these wars answer no real questions, solve no matter in any permanent manner. More wars are fought over the same issues, wars which could have been prevented. With the right reactions and the right words at the right time. 

Unfortunately, we do not see our way through, and we are stuck time and time again in yet another eddy. It carries us nowhere other than into larger and larger circles of faster speeds and deeper waters where too many of us will find we cannot swim. Certainly not for long. And there we are again. Fighting wars which could have been avoided, competing where we should have been cooperating, and the Hate and Insanity continue apace and well, here we are again. 

Mankind, tasked with the responsibilities of tending to the world has failed abysmally. We refuse to allow wisdom into our actions and decisions. We allow emotions of the worst kind to invade our hearts and souls. The compassion and care and love which should be within have been cast out. We've become weaker and weaker, morality almost forgotten. False words fly through the air and negative results abound. And on we continue, choosing and worshipping false gods which gives us no hope, no goodness and, I fear, along with many others, that the nuclear threat has gone viral.

We who were meant to be the rulers of the world, the brightest, most comprehending of this duty, of the responsibilities to and for all inhabitants of the world have gone rogue. Our leaders and us, ourselves, have no one to blame other than ourselves. We have painted over the true reflection of the mirror and have used faulty versions which please our egos but destroy our souls.

Yesterday and today and Dear G-d, I hope not tomorrow.

The most dangerous self-inflicted wounds and aren't we proud.

Please note that there will be no new posting until Sunday due to a holiday.

See you then.

Be safe. Be careful. Be kind. 

TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS,

  ...especially and always even in the daylight. These times it feels as if one has to be on guard not only for the usual creeps who make their living over your peril, loss and aggravation, but also regarding those who could care less re your items but actually covet your blood and body. The bloodier, the more painful, the more involved, the more they are satisfied with their evil thoughts, actions and results. Worst of all is that these creeps ae becoming more plentiful and have gained in support by the haters within humankind. 

Even more aggravating is that when these attacks occur, whether attack on body or infrastructure, on one or more than one, the report is always hedged with the word "suspected" in designating its origin and motivation. Here is one such headline, quite annoying and aggravating, to say the least.

"Jewish Man Beaten By Gang in Suspected Antisemitic Attack in Golders Green" - the area for a large Jewish population and a frequent hunting ground for two-legged animals who prey on humans. Why are these brutal attacks aways depicted as "suspected" when it is quite clear to all but the willfully blind, that there is no doubt nor suspicion as to the cause and desire of the attackers?

"It is a dark time in Europe, like in the Holocaust." So stated the victim of the attack and he is correct, only did not go far enough. It is getting to be almost as bad right here in America, in the land, the "goldeneh medina", the land which welcomed its immigrants, gave them room to grow and prosper, to contribute to their new homeland, even with the antisemitism which had come across the ocean with that filth and found ready place within evil hearts open for it.

While we have not yet ascended to the same height of hate we are witnessing in Europe, we are climbing that ragged splintered ladder at ever increasing pace. The same lust for bloodshed is increasing, and we have had Jews beaten and even killed, so we know through bitter experience that we are neither immune nor shielded from this wave of toxicity sweeping the lands of the planet.

What is definitely the rotting reeking cherry on top of this malformed cake is that official government proclamations and announcements are growing.  Even if one ventures so far as to express a sense of sympathy or upset, it is always diluted with the addition of 'excuses' for the attacker and suggestions for the Jews to change their ways, to walk away from Israel, or for Israel to cede its land, their history, their legacy, their legitimacy and right to exist in a safe environment. To be able to defend themselves without criticism when they appear to be winning.

Will this ever change for the better? Perhaps after some time along with a change of thought and understanding, of a return to tolerance of all within the body of the nation, any nation. However, when government leaders, political soothsayers of the nations turn to open condemnation of the Jewish people, make them #1 on the list, the favorite target of hate and violence, we are in a frightening time of return to the deepest darkest traits of humanity.

The whole matter is complicated, difficult to understand, difficult to extirpate the roots from the souls of nations and individuals. Some deny its dark growth in modern times. Some continue to deny that it could ever happen here. But this nation, any nation, is not immune to the selfish needs and desires, the evil plans drawn up by those who see benefit within, for themselves.

However, there are deniers, these dreamers immersed for their own sanity in a cloud of not understanding of the power of hate and its inevitable victories. It is very difficult to resist, particularly when resistance is dangerous to the resister. So history has taught us and so history has always shown us the cracks within society which enables rise of dictatorships, of fascism, communism, even a purported deranged democracy which provide enriched soil for the wrong side of humanity to flourish. 

There is that within humans which cleaves to ugliness, and resists true forward nations of true progressive nature, not the twisted version of today so prevalent within the governments and residents of the world. The struggle to return to sanity and true humanity is long and hard with many pitfalls in the way of this return, how long the struggle is to return to some modicum of sanity and grace.

Frankly, I am frightened. Not so much for me, but for the younger generations, those who will live in this ugly nasty bonfire of a world whose burns will be large and weeping, with deep resultant pain. Not unless we turn away and out the ugly and corrupt politicians who encourage the worst of humanity to rise to the surface. Not unless we turn our backs to them, remove them from positions of influence and control. At present, we are finding ourselves favoring them rather than expelling them.

Such a one within America is Mamdani, the outspoken mayor of NYC who categorially condemns Israel, opposes its survival and refuses to support, even openly denies the protection that Jews and their infrastructure need so blatantly in the city. There are caucuses in every level of government who spout the filth of Hate, of JewHatred, who have sold their souls, allowed them to blacken and  tar, in the name of votes, and retention of power and influence, and the amassing of dirty money. Morality, sanity, all the better aspects of humanity fall by the wayside and well, here we are, and there we are going.

It seems to never change throughout the history of mankind. 

Yesterday, today and possibly, even probably, tomorrow, unless we shake ourselves with a good hard shake and realize the truth of where we are and how we got here and how to get out of this murky swamp.

All on us. Always and forever on us.