Last night there was a great show in the Clubhouse with 6 young men and women singing and performing their hearts and voices out and the audience loved it. I sat there singing as they hit so many of my favorites and I began to think how strange it is that while inside I still feel the same age I was when these songs were popular, still think the same about many issues, outside, well, suffice it to say that the outside ain't the way it used to be!! Such a disparity between the two sides but I firmly believe the inside is the side most important.
Time to take stock of the inside. Time to see where my heart and soul are. Of course, the first place they are is with my family and then my friends. The second place they are is with my country and my other homeland, Israel and along with that my religious belief and my faith in G-d. But perhaps the most overwhelming place I am at now is the confused and heartbreaking place we are all in as we wonder what the hell, what has happened and how has so much of the truth become or rather gone missing. Nancy Sinatra sang in her song, chiding her faithless other, that he was "lyin' when he should have been truthin'" and this exactly describes where we are now. So read on and see where and when and how your inside and outside mesh and what we do with the upside downside position we are in at present.
Upside downside is the situation we now have in our government. Truthin' seems to be a radical idea whose time has not come - and will it ever with these people? Here is the latest gem from Kellyanne Conway. “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre" Well, that is because there never was such an incident, no massacre there. Yes, two Iraqi nationals were arrested there but their activities took place in Iraq and not here so puhlease!! And yet I will bet that today the talk will be of the Bowling Green Massacre as invented by Conway and all the Trumpers will swear by it!
Their Holocaust Memorial Day announcement or statement was awful beyond belief. But Elie Wiesel said it far better than I ever could. “No word can contain the solitude, the solitude of the Jewish victim who was more alone and more abandoned and more tragic than all the other victims. Granted, there were other victims as well; we should never forget them either. But the solitude of the Jewish victims remains unparalleled. How many times must we repeat that? Everyone who was not Jewish had family outside. Thus, the non-Jewish prisoner could cling to hope: ‘If I die, my son will live. My parents will have more children. My sister will remarry.’ The Jewish prisoner knew that he or she was alone, maybe the last, for his or her entire family had been condemned to extinction. An entire people was sentenced to death for being.”
Yet despite that, the Trump announcement contained no mention of Jews and it was on purpose as they admit. "Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks acknowledged – indeed affirmed – that the wording was intentional “as we are an incredibly inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered,” with “inclusivity” becoming a gateway for “alternative facts” and revisionist history. As Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt put it, “What we saw from the White House was classic soft-core denial. The Holocaust was de-Judaized.”
And after that came the announcement of Trump over settlements in Israel and dear G-d I have to say it again - told ya' so! Damn it, I told you so!! And after that, the fait accompli of the immigration ban and the focus on Moslems! Racial and religious prejudice raise their ugly heads once again. And yet wait till we hear the excuses.
Upside down again. The screamers and the yellers and the howlers for the wall - are you willing to spend $25 billion for your hysteria and nonsense, a useless wall at that and one that will demand that much land be confiscated from private owners via eminent domain and Texans, that means you! Yup, your land taken by your hero, Trump the liar. Upside downside.
So we now have wonderful new promises and indeed even actions. We have an ethically challenged President who refuses to divest, whose conflicts of interest, whose veniality is bar none one of the worst and most blatant in the world. He is the president who refuses to divest, or show his tax returns for fear of what will be revealed,and who intends to make a personal profit from his position!! Yup - you chose him. And his family follows along with Ivanka seemingly nowhere in her divestment plans and announcements yet Grab Your Wallet has made an impact there as Nordstrom is cutting her line there and other companies are being affected as well in their connection to Trump. You see, pressure works both ways and Trump does not like that. Tough Bugs!!!
And yet, another area of wonderful Trump actions and plans. He will destroy the rule that financial advisers must do so with the benefit of their advisees in mind. That does not sit well with Trumpers so out it goes. As for safety and regulations in the workplace - why who needs them, so off we will send our breadwinners to places where no hard hats, no rules about chemicals, no rules about fair play, no rules about safety in any way, shape, manner or form. But there ya' go. Trump in action!! Oh, and by the way, should you desire to attend the religious service of your choice and take part in a spiritual event, well forget that for the religious leaders will now be allowed to speak from the pulpit - no more separation of church and state and evidently, forget about G-d. Trump is his evidently anointed one on earth, so shut up and listen to the pastor!!
Upside downside inside outside!!! Oh, and for the environment and climate change - bah, humbug!
But never you mind, our security is all in place .We will discriminate and we will "vet hard' the dangerous kids and grandmas and grandpas and students who can help us in the future and doctors with ideas and any other dangerous creatures!! Yes, security, but between 1975 and now no one from those seven countries has done anything here on American soil after they immigrated. But forget about it, for America has lost her way and her founding principles have been perverted, twisted in all ways. And yet, are we safe? I do not think so and in fact, I believe the biggest looming threat we have now is the threat of fascism via the critters of Trump' s administration even as we should feel so safe as his new CIA Deputy Director evidently knows torture so well as he personally supervised it during her career.
Yes, inside/outside upside downside, My beliefs in human rights, in having fair play, in looking to better the life or lives of people - still there from my youth, and at times overcome by the needs and demands of everyday life, but they are back aroaring and demand attention. So yes, go to demonstrate and never mind the big bully's stare and threats and poutings. Do what is right. Always - and perhaps our wimps of representatives will hear our voices and if not - in two years, should the country as is survive that long - well just vote them out. Show them that we have a voice too! In fact, loud voices.
And remember, always remember - “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time where we fail to protest against injustice.”
This is such a time.
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