--------------------------------*%$#@******!!

     No idea, none at all. What does one say when the ostensible leader of a country, one's own country, is demonstrably insane, racked with hubris of more than a Greek tragedy level, more off balance than any Shakespearian character, and holding the keys, or rather the button that could send this world, this spinning orb, into disintegration, along with the billions upon billions of people who inhabit it.
     What makes matters worse, is that the man is a hater, a virulent and vicious one, who brings out the worst in people, who encourages the haters of the world and who apparently has decided that he no longer need hide this part of himself. So on with the vicious lying videos from British hate groups, on with the nasty retorts to criticism by Teresa May of Britain, and there is no more dissemblance as to the truth of this man and his impossibly distorted mind.
     We need to assume blame for allowing him to run and then get elected into office. He was not a joke to ignore, though many looked at  him that way. We needed to institute proceedings to remove him as soon as he began to reveal his further plans once he was elected. His bizarre statements, his insertion of himself into every story or news line, his over 1.600 brazen lies, his contorted conspiracies that oh, yeah, Obama is once again not a USA born citizen, and Trump's inauguration had the most people, and on it goes.
     Tax welfare for the obscene Fat Cats. Hatred for all those who are other than WASP. Back to the old memes of prejudice and people, do not think it begins and ends with Moslems. David Duke had a paroxysm of glee and gratitude toward Trump for showing those hateful videos purporting to show Moslems perpetrating misdeeds upon Christians. They are as relevant and related to truth as the old canards of the Elders of Zion, of the blood libels upon Jews, of the huge hooknosed man chasing little blond girls and stomping on the poor as he runs after her.
     The world is exploding with the rotten news of sexual misdeeds. The pressure of these actions proved finally to be too much to keep hidden any longer and WHAM!!! Out came the truth, but the truth about Trump seemingly does not matter. Now he indulges once more in bizarre twistings and denials as he claims that the tape is not of him, the voice is not him and he is as pure as the driven snow.
     We are 8 Senators away from getting the most disastrous tax bill foisted upon us. The disciplinarian of the administration, Kelly, who has proven to be just as flawed as the rest of them, has allowed Trump free rein, we are ruled over by an administration composed of haters, of disloyal Americans who are loyal only to their pocketbooks and wallets, true to their hatred of all others , are almost at the point where in that benighted state of Alabama they will elect a true and massive pervert into Senatorial office and folks, where the hell do we go from here.
     Trump has gone off the rails, over the side, deep into the crap of hatred and folks, along with himself and his crooked teammates, he is dragging us, right into the muck and mire, into the danger and the truth seems to be that many people have not changed. They still hate. They still wish to pick on and destroy the 'other'. They disregard truth. And the country stands on the brink of destruction, if not physical - and that remains to be seen, depending upon and if, someone pushes the button, but certainly, those virtues of which Teresa May spoke - of decency, virtue and tolerance, will certainly be lost here. We will have lost our raison d'etre, our very heart and soul and will be no longer other than just the remains of a name and the memory of what once was. Think it will never happen? Well, look back at history and  check on all the haters, the visibly insane men who came into office and remained there, killed millions, destroyed the world as it was, and whose spiritual descendants continue to be heads of state to this day. I do not know whether to hunker and bunker down, cry, or run through the streets like a Cassandra of Troy, warning of the impending doom and destruction. Folks, we are in a bad way, a very bad way.

GOING, GOING, GONE

     What is it that is gone? It is truth. It is reality. It is honesty. And it is all our rights as guaranteed by our Constitution. Where is it that they have gone? Into the ether of Trumpworld, a very bad place to be. In that ether are the disappearing terms of free speech, of equality, of safety, of separation of church and state, of free and equal access to the internet, of the right to be free of threats and harm, of the expectation of protection by our government. All these and more are gone because so Trump has willed and so all the Republicans have fallen in line, lost all their spines and all their shall we say, "manly" organs. Even the women who stood up to Trump on the medical care bill are melting away and we, the people, where are we? Why we are waiting as lambs to the slaughter to shoulder $1.4 trillion dollars added to the debt, watching the obscenely wealthy have yet more money to spend even as we, the plain old people who struggle to pay our debts, put food on the table and keep a roof over our head are gong to be forced to absorb a tax increase - yes, increase. And what are the Republicans doing now? They are crowing like idiots, seemingly thrilled by the fact that they actually might get something passed and screw the people if that is what it takes.
     And screw their safety too. We now have their basic rights and needs threatened and what else? Why their very survival. Why is that? Because that idiotic and moronic Donald has opened that fat mouth and engaged in threat exchanges with the other screwball in North Korea and now that country has achieved a goal - it can not only reach mainland USA, but has Hawaii practicing bomb drills and now even the East Coast can be reached! Never mind the airheads, the dangerous airheads of D. C. for what I am concerned about is the population of the cities and the countryside, in danger because we have a despotic, unthinking, selfish administration, a degenerating leader in place and a hopelessness which has gripped the country.
     Do we have any hope? Well, we have the brave people who are standing up to him, taking him to court, suing him, protecting those unable to protect themselves. We have the Budget Office who might possibly shock some people into their senses when they come out with the cost of this tax bill. We have the people who are speaking out and quite frankly, I am concerned that this opposition might actually progress further if the situation worsens and hope fades. Are we doomed to have another Civil War? Are we doomed to see our country split into smaller independent and separate nation states? Will America be a dream whose time has come and gone? Do you think that I am talking out of my hat? Not really, for with others, including an essay in the Times yesterday, re the horrific fact that our President is NOT a loyalist patriot, we should all be scared, frightfully so.
     With this man at the helm we are being steered into stormy waters. He denies facts that are in evidence. He encourages and supports perverts - as he is one himself - and the plaintive plea of a victim of Moore rends the heart for is this what we are to expect in Trumpworld?   "What you did to me when I was 14-years old should be revolting to every person of good morals. But now you are attacking my honesty and integrity. Where does your immorality end?" 
      Cry for her, people, cry for her, for she is not alone and will certainly not be the last. And with the Democrats and the Republicans now not even talking to each other and with the small minded Ryan and McConnell running around so happy because their boss now seems to love them - where will this all end?
     Why do people even believe the promises this man , this excuse of a man, makes? I do not think he has kept any promise or kept his word on anything, other than to twist and lie, to force reality to change to his image and version and to leave us in a precarious and dangerous state.
     "Mene,, mene, tekel oopharsin" So it was written on the wall of the palace of the Babylonian king. He was warned that he has been evaluated, found wanting and his days are numbered. In our situation the question is - whose days are numbered? The days of Trump and his cohorts or the days of us and our Republic? Our choice? Maybe. But we had better make that choice soon or have it taken out of our hands. 
     

HERE HE IS.....MR. PRESIDENT

     It seems to be the start of the pageant and award season so it behooves us to take a look at the contestant for being Mr. President. And what can I say other than boy, do we have a lousy candidate in place.
     A president should be inclusive, inviting, encouraging. What we have is one who makes racial slurs as easily as ABC. While supposed to be complimenting the Navajo talkers, brave warriors of the WWII campaign, he needed once again to bring in a slur based on his own stupidity and nasty attitude towards a political opponent and  boast how wonderful his speech, which he decided not to give but rather speak extemporaneously - bad move - and as usual, was his usual crass self.
     He slurs gender as well at every moment he can find the time or opportunity. Caught on Access Hollywood boasting of his piglike behavior and attitudes towards and with women, he has now decided to forgo his excuse of 'locker talk" and just deny it ever happened and the tape of it? Why that was a fake of course. Any news that comes out that he decides was not such a good idea after he has spoken or tweeted, why just call it fake news, go after the media and shame, shame on him as he is now caught out as having given $10,000 to Project Veritas - a misnomer if ever there were one - an organization which tries to spread mis and dis information aimed at trapping the liberal media or personalities. Filthy stuff at best! And here he is donating to them. Pig!!
     A President is supposed to talk truth, to represent all that makes our country great and work, yes, to make it greater, to use his own term, but not for just a small group of Americans. He roars about how he is for the working people, but yet we know the truth. He claims to be against special visas for foreign workers yet guess who has had all his requests for them satisfied. The secret settlement he made in reference to his building with undocumented, non union Polish workers who worked without safety practices has come out and when, oh when, will the "base" realize that he is using them as a stepstool rather than as a representation of benefits for them.
     A President is supposed to pick aides and advisers who will serve the country with loyalty and who have done so before, yet what we have is a conglomeration of mostly old, white men who have ripped off the country and the world and  amassed obscene fortunes and their goals now? Why to insure that fortune grows and how? Why by taking down any and all regulations that would prevent that and/or watch out for the little man.
     His people, unfortunately, have also colluded, many of them, with Russia and why? Who truly knows what happened in their boss's twisted mind or theirs, but there they were emailing, chatting, meeting and who were these people - why generals, captains of industry and commerce and loyalty to the country, to its people, to its benefit - simply not in the picture.
     Hopefully all these sins and inappropriate and possibly criminal behavior will come home to roost as people turn witness and informant to save their own hides. Perhaps we can hope for some Republicans with spine who will refuse this awful and dangerous tax bill, and perhaps we will convince our friends and foes alike that America has regained its sanity, its powers, its proper leadership so we will be worthy of a leadership role within the world's community, our enemies will stop harassing our planes and ships and our allies will once again join with us to improve the world, fix the environment, stop picking on the weak, the desperate and instead defend them, protect them, rather than find those who take joy in chasing them down.
     Perhaps then we will have worthy people representing us in Washington, serving the needs of the people rather than their own egos, and will prove loyal to the country rather than to a Party.
     I, for one, would declare this pageant for the right to claim the title of Mr. President as null and void as the remaining contestant was not worthy of the title and it was time to start all over again, time to regain our sanity, time to truly honor a true and loyal and unselfish Mr. - or Mrs. - President!
And hey, false Mr. President, yes  a Merry Christmas to you, a Happy Holidays greeting to you but please remember that there are other citizens of this country and they would like to see a reminder of that in perhaps a menorah somewhere within that vast forest you have moved into the White House!! Happy Chanukah to your family, including the Jewish branch. No Happy Kwanza to you as I see no African American branches. Too bad.
     People, wake up. Storm the walls. Demand satisfaction. Tie up the phone lines, the snail mail, email, twitter and whatever. Just fill it all with complaints and demands for an honorable president and government. If we don't who will?
     So - Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanza. Happy Chanukah. And if I have missed the New Year holidays of others, I am sorry. May we all share in the joy of holidays and in their true meaning.
    Happy Holidays!!

HARD WORKER

     Such a hard worker, he is. It is not easy to play golf four days in a row and then find the energy to tweet those vital statements and also appoint a man to head the office of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Such a thoughtful appointment, negating the customary process and appointing a man who has openly criticized this bureau and its duties. 
     But this is not the first time that Trump has appointed people to positions that are diametrically opposed to the welfare of the Americans. They have rolled back regulations that protected the consumer, that helped clean up the environment or at least get started on it. Regulations and rules to prevent another Great Recession such as we had in 2008 and continued for years until the Obama administration pulled us out via its rules and regulations. 
    The misnomered tax 'reform' which is actually a tax plan for the benefit of the wealthy is beloved by no one, even including many businessmen but Trump will push this thru for as usual, he supports anything that will benefit HIM and his estate and bank accounts.
     The Obamacare that took care of so many, that allowed more widespread healthcare, was attacked and attacked yet again even as Trump has tried to disembowel it to the detriment of those who need it. Its registration numbers are up, by many of his own base as well. The problem is the lack of understanding and recognition that his policies do not help his base at all, and are, in fact poised to hurt them badly, in their health, in the air they breathe, in the water they drink, in the cars they ride. The future of their children is in jeopardy.
     And yet this farce of a President continues on, further embarrassing us as we present ourselves to the world. His delusions of grandeur are sick, very sick, and indicative of a blown mind, a mind that has degenerated and continues to do so. All is seen thru the mirror of his ego and his twisting of reality. There appears to be no end to this.
     Trump already has a fake Time cover of himself as Man of the Year, just as so many kids do when they take a picture of this with themselves as the topic. It is a standard photo op but only this man convinces himself it is so. This year he has decided to preempt Time which will announce of Dec. 6 and has tweeted that he turned it down because Time said it was a maybe choice and he would have to sit for photos an interview. What an ego!!! Time never announces in advance and G-d forbid he be that man on the cover for though it would be meant in black humor and in concern, he would take it as a compliment, so dense is he.
     He fights as a child with CNN and any and all others who displease him and tries to interfere with a business merger that involves CNN. Why CNN? Because they report the news as it is and is editorial policy is out to set the facts straight and they make no bones about it. He praises Fox, but even they are beginning to show the strain of supporting him and finding a positive spin on his craziness. What will he do then?
     His job is to be the representative of America to the world. His job is to fight for the benefit of the American, not the fat cat American. His job was to cut all ties to all possible conflicts of interest and yet he has not and yet his businesses continue to gain from his position as President. His job was to appoint people to positions where they would be watchdogs and thinkers for the American people. Instead, he has done the opposite. His job was to insure a safe world because of the involvement of the United States in it and its affairs, with its allies, with moral leadership. His job was to unite a badly divided and angry country and instead he has done the opposite, causing even more polarization. His job was to be loyal to his country, to appoint people to be by his side who were true Americans, loyal, true blue and yet the stink of collusion with our enemy, Russia, hangs like a pall over him.
     In other words, he has not done his job. He has done more to harm this country than any other man or President. He needs to go and the American people need to make it clear that we will not stand for this anymore, that one who follows after him had better realize this and act accordingly, with the benefit of the people in mind, a truly beneficial behavior rather than lies and more lies. And we need Americans serving in Congress once more, not Republicans or Democrats,but Americans. We must all be Americans. We must.

THE DAY AFTER

     There is always the day after, after the buildup and the expectations, after the preparation. And then what? Does it match the dreams of the day or was it a big letdown and where and how do we move on? For me, the best thing about Thanksgiving Day is not the meal, for trust me, there is always a reason for a meal in the Jewish religion; in fact, every Friday nite will do the trick!! So what was it?
     It was the watching of all the cousins testing out the relationships again. It was watching them bond and make plans together. It was watching the parents turn into kids again, old family jokes, and seeing the aunt and uncle parts come into play. It is hard when families are scattered so seeing them together is a treat beyond words.
     So I am thankful for having this opportunity once again and look forward to the next time, but what about those for whom the day after is just as bland or dangerous as the day before and the day before and all the days after? We need to keep them in mind not just the day after but for all time until the problem is resolved.
     The Dreamers. Those poor souls who stand to get evicted from what for all intents and purposes is their country, the one where they grew up, where they live, study, work and yes, are beginning to raise families of their own. Olivia Wilde took advantage of her follower, Ivanka, and sent her a message. “I see you’re following me on Instagram. This Thanksgiving I would be grateful if you use the influence you have to advocate for a CLEAN Dream Act by December,” she began. “Every day that passes without a clean Dream Act means anxiety and deportation for immigrant youth.”
      Will it be heard? Probably not, for so hardhearted is the administration under which we live. More and more it behaves like a growing demagogic family, with family members butting in, tweeting and shouting and participating in areas where they do not belong. Junior shouts just like his father, daring people to provide justice as they investigate him. The Trump family thinks it is immune but perhaps, on the day after, we can manage to shake that up, at least a bit.
     There are signs of hope. Flynn's lawyers have informed Trump's lawyers that there is no more sharing of info and plans. Simply put, that means that Flynn is going to co-operate with Mueller. Another nail in the coffin, hopefully. Trump shouts his alternative reality - lies - as he rails against Obamacare even as the enrollment continues apace, more than ever, even as he tries his hardest to sabotage it, he and the members of Congress who have their own gold plated medical care plan!!
     Even more encouraging is the fact that Billy Baldwin has come out against Trump and his sexual behavior, telling all how Trump hit on his wife who showed him the door, uninvited as he was!! We must remember that Trump is just as guilty, if not more, as those perverts caught up in the wave of disclosures and as much as they deserve to be punished - even more so does he. It appears that being outed shames them, but that man just boasts and boasts.
     Finally, we have the words of Colin Kaepernick who has certainly put his money where his mouth is. He has had repercussions for his actions but continues, no violence, positive actions and here is his message from yesterday - and for the day after and for all the days and years after until America comes back to the right path, to her proper historical and moral roles. May it be soon.
     

"I realize that our fight is the same fight. We're all fighting for our justice, for our freedom, and realizing that we're in this fight together makes it all the more powerful.

If there's one thing that I take away from today and seeing the beauty of everybody out here, it's that we're only getting stronger every day, we're only getting larger and larger every day. I see the strength in everybody.

The dancing, the rituals – that is our resistance. We continue to fight. We continue to fight for justice. We fight for our freedom, and we continue on that path."

     
     

GIVING THANKS

     It is hard for people to say thank you. It is awkward at times. Sometimes the other person does not want to hear the thank you for it embarrasses them. Other times we do not realize that we owe a thank you to somebody. Thus it is a good thing that we have such a day as today where we can give both general and specific thank yous, but I must caution those who stand ready to greet the adulation they think is coming their way - forced thank yous mean nothing, as little and as worthless as forced apologies.
     The best thing to do? Think and review. What are you truly grateful for, that you can thank your stars every day that it has come your way? Most of us think of family, the partner, the children and those blessed grandchildren who come with unconditional love.
     We can say thanks for the friends, old and new, and reach deeper to strengthen friendships and renew those that somehow lapsed over the years. And we must recognize those in our lives who are not 'friends' but who have given much to us in terms of quality of life - the health care personnel, the service providers in the various aspects of life, and simply the person on the street who greets you with a smile and a friendly greeting, for that does add a touch to the day.
     It used to be that we could say a hearty thank you for the privilege of living in our country, but today we have some issues do we not? And yet, we are still lucky to live here in the USA even though there is much to be fixed and for my overseas and international readers, you, too, must think of your country and ask what you owe it in gratitude and what needs to be fixed for there is no perfect Eden on this planet.
     For those of us lucky and blessed enough to be able to not worry about food on the table, a roof over our head, clothes on our back, and even some comforts in life, we must remember that there are others out there who do not have theses necessities of life and most often thru no fault of their own. There are many causes of this be it from political reasons to catastrophes of nature. We must share our bounty with those who have need of it.
     This last bit is worrisome, for in times of the world such as we are presently living, sometimes we are short in what we feel we need. We are angry at the status quo and we descend into hatred and blame. We are bombarded by people who promise the world if only they get the power! And when they do get it, suddenly they are the demagogue who replaces the old one. These demagogues come in all sorts of sizes, disguises and genders and frankly, the extremes on all sides are no good.
     To me, what is most frightening is the ease at which people shift gears into that hatred, blaming others for situations that have nothing to do with them, or falling for the lies of politicians and we here in America have one such person in place. So what to be thankful for here? Well, one year down and we have survived though we have received some bad wounds. We can be thankful for a stronger resistance, a defiance. We can be grateful to those who have decided not to stand on the sidelines any longer.
     As for the elephant in the room, the ever growing scandal of sexual harassment and worse by men towards and with women- let us be thankful that at least the wounds of the victims will be assuaged somehow by talking, getting it out there and hopefully forcing people to look deeply at themselves and no, this does not matter if you are Democrat or Republican, for it affects all, though I must say that the Democrats are quicker to admit it and take responsibility while the Republicans tend to bluster and deny - a la Trump!
     So I am thankful for much in my life and even have seen the hits come with a silver lining, difficult as it might be to see at times. I am certainly grateful for the ability to run this blog and  for my loyal readers. Thank you. And thank you, dear Lord, for the blessings You have bestowed upon me and my family over the years and hope there will be many more good and bountiful years to come.
     So Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone. Enjoy!!

GO FORTH AND BE A JOKE UNTO THE NATIONS

     Maybe it is best not to be designated a role model for other nations. The prognosis does not turn out well at all. In biblical times the people of Israel were to be a light unto the nations, to set an example, to lead the way onto the correct path and look what happened. Destruction and exile and today, an unfair expectation that holds Israel above other nations and their actions. Tough going.
     And what about that other nation, not Biblically appointed, but  historically appointed- the United States of America. I believe that for many a year we held that position, took it seriously and even as we stumbled, fell, bled, we picked ourselves up again and used the law to make things right. But what a change now. No more do we stand as an example of the right thing to do. Nope, for instead we stand as an example of a nation gone wrong and have become an isolated nation among other nations as the world looks at us as a growing joke.
     Wise nations choose wise leaders and if they disappoint they are replaced by others. Sometimes there are errors but usually we have found our way back though it seems that today we are lost, hopelessly lost and we are the ones crying out to be rescued from the desert.
     We have a leader at whom people look askance. Just what is he doing now, people wonder. His obsessive behavior, his nasty tweets, his lack of morals, his backing of Roy Moore, his own confession of molesting women, deny it though he now does, his outlandish policy statements and the erratic behavior of his aides- all combine to make him and us a joke unto the nations.
     We have lost our way. We have developed a corps of cruel people, people willing to chase after immigrants, legal or not, after special categories of immigrants, adults and children alike, families be damned. Just substitute the uniforms and the dates and the nationality of the people and we have the gendarmes of France, the police of the Netherlands, the informers of Poland as they turned on Jewish people in their town and country, people who had lived there for centuries and people who had come more recently. It did not matter, for the point was to get rid of them just as the point here seems to get rid of them and while all were focused on a physical wall, it seems that Trump et al have built a legal wall that is restricting immigration, and all are "just doing their jobs". Frightening. Here we are not a joke unto the world but an example again, an example of what not to do, of what is wrong and hateful.
     But other nations of the world follow in our footsteps for if we are so busy persecuting our own people, turning on our history, our very essence, then why cannot they do the same thing. So the wars in the African states continue and the Rohingya are killed and raped and chased in the hundreds of thousands, we ignore our 'allies' use of child soldiers, all the better to fit our policies and we are now a dangerous joke unto the nations.
     We have Richard Spence holding one of his awful events in secret, in disguise and too bad for him that the farmer cancelled him, chased him out, when he was found out!! We have that certifiable spokewoman, Kellyanne Conway, all the aides and the President himself who are under deep and dark gray clouds of suspicion of collusion with the enemy and what, people, do we tell our children, our grandchildren? What do we tell them to explain how we have lost our way, how we have allowed nasty and cruel people to rise to the top, like scum on water, but we have neglected to skim them off!
     So we have military officers with the President who behave disreputably with women, and Senators and Representatives who think they have the right of droit de seigneur, and Hollywood figures who think they are in different categories, and minor little men who think their little power is sufficient to oppress the women under their control.
     And it seems that no matter who speaks up, be it the ex RNC head, or newcasters with disgust, or people on the street, the nation itself has inverted, with vices and lacks and deficiencies rising forth and all we seem to worry about is if one is standing or kneeling during the anthem. Why not worry what that anthem represents and when it once more comes back to the path of nations that light the way, then perhaps all will stand once more. No more horrific joke unto the nations of the world. Please.

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN

      We have all heard or even have the poster which states that all I have learned I learned in kindergarten. There is some truth to this for the elements of basic society living are taught and hopefully caught while in kindergarten. However, and  a big however at that, it seems that many have not learned these lessons and unfortunately many are now in positions of power over us. Terrific!!
     Whether these lessons are learned beginning in the dynamics of the home and/or reinforced in the classroom and continued, it seems that many men have learned the lessons of crude and cruel power. It seems they have become inordinately proud of and focused on one part of their anatomy almost to the exclusion of all else and demand that women worship it, whether they like it or not. Bullying par excellence and it seems to make no difference the level or profession or even the amount of power wielded - they just do it.
     What makes it worse is that like kindergartners, when caught, these offenders take to denying, to lying, and there are those who back them up, the latest being the statements that it does not make a difference what Roy Moore did, for his vote is needed in the Senate for the tax bill and whatever other nefarious plans the chief molester in residence, Trump, has lined up.
     So what is one to do? How does a woman continue when the eating away of her soul is at the very end of living with. When there is a limit to pushing the horror down anymore. So first one woman breaks forth with the truth and then another and another and yet another and they seems to come in tidal waves. So bad is the problem and so much have we behaved as dangerous kindergartners who have not yet learned the lessons of private and personal space and the limits on one's lesser impulses.
     But these immature and impulsive behaviors do not end with molestation. They continue in to other spheres of life. It is particularly hard to teach our young to behave better, to think better, when the very President needs to have picking up behind him, like the elephants and horses in the parade. But it is not for society to pick up the crap that he or anyone else dishes out. So, no, it is not acceptable for Kellyanne Conway to try to excuse her monster of a boss for his statement or tweet that he should have left those basketball players in prison - in Communist China - where the rights of all, particularly prisoners are not exactly respected!! Yes, they did wrong, but it was a  stupid misdeed and certainly not deserving of ten years of hard labor in the Chinese gulag!!! And for Trump to sulk and then wish undone what was done - unacceptable!!!
     It is also unacceptable for Trump to get into these shouting matches with families of athletes and who knows where and when that will end. It apparently makes no difference to Trump whether one is an athlete, a family member, a politician, or with whomever he has a bone to pick. On he rants and raves, shouting metaphorically and the worst thing about this is the excuse making of others for him when all the time the truth is that he and his need to go - far away!!
         There are some victories such as the decision made by the judge that permanently blocks the threats of Trump against sanctuary cities. There are moments when someone proves that kindergarten has been successful to a degree and the student has been able to move on. But how many others have not and how many others are going to tread all over us, trample on the rights of all those who are not them and remember, this applies to all races and ethnicities and religions, shamefully so, so please, do not pat yourself on the back, thinking that because one is African American or Jewish or Catholic or a Protestant pastor, that one is immune from the base kindergarten impulses.
     We all need to go back to school and this time, when we don the little fake graduation robes and hats for kindergarten graduation, please make sure that we have learned all that we were supposed to and that we have learned that book and class learning must translate to societal action - all on the positive side. Most important, we hopefully will learn that impulses need to be controlled and that all classmates are to be respected.
     Think this will ever happen? Great doubts assail me, but perhaps I am being too pessimistic. Whatever, we do not truly have much time to turn this around, do we? Kindergarten education cannot be a lifetime - or can it?





     

OVER THE TOP

     First let me apologize for the lateness of the posting, but we traveled early this morning to join our kids for the holiday. There was no time to even turn on the computer! And I must tell you that it was so pleasant not to hear about that man for close to three hours as I only read on the plane and do not listen to the news or talk shows of the morning. So peace was upon us.
     What was interesting was watching the other passengers as they looked at papers or talked among themselves. There were great big sighs after a news article was read, shrugs when one questioned the other about "what now" and just an atmosphere of anguish and concern as to what could be done.
     So Thursday when we are thankful for so much - for health - if we have it - or for help if we need it- for family, for the ability to live in a good retirement, to be able to help family members, for friends - no one with any sense will be thankful for that man. Instead we will be wondering again how this came about.
    But it is not difficult to indeed figure out. When one looks at the Moore campaign in that dim state of Alabama, and read that pastors are afraid to mention his name, to outright condemn him and his actions, or worse - make excuses and call those poor women liars - well, what could we have expected in the presidential election when people say such things, and elected a self confessed molester.
     Charles Blow, in an op-ed piece today wrote superbly about the epidemic of women and men and the molesting of the former by the latter. Basically, it is a culture that must be eradicated and it is seemingly ingrained in most, if not all men. I do know some good men who would never ever do such things, never cross their mind but let's face it folks, the majority do use power, as little as it might be, to frighten and demand of women what should not be. I remember when I was 13 or 14 and I walked into a darkened room, empty as far as I knew, and suddenly the lights were switched on and two boys or young men really about 5 or 6 years older than me stood there with their things hanging out. I ran out, not really sure what had just happened and did not tell a soul for I thought I had done something wrong or else why would they have done that? I still cringe today at the memory. There are more stories and harassment out there than we could ever imagine.
     Meanwhile this is a world wide problem and needs to be addressed but with men in positions of power, who knows and when a molester is openly elected, then what are we to expect. In fact, we right now have an infant with very few brakes, if any, on his ego and his id for that matter. He lies thru his teeth , talks of himself in third person - not a good thing, and expects gratitude to be given in flowery terms and for a long period of time. This is his thinking as an infant and the lack of realization that he is president not only of his supposed base but of all Americans.
     But actually, he seems to be unable to do this. He perseverates. He whines. He lies. He thinks only of his own fortune and that of his family. He does not do the work of a president. He golfs! and golfs! He gets into arguments over twitter with members of his own party let alone all the rest of the people. He takes it all personally and cannot deal with it and cannot let go of any opposition, be it Jeff Flake or Hillary Clinton.
      This man, his mode of thinking, his level of thinking, his mental deterioration - it all must go. And so must his followers who would remain behind and continue his path for they are all just as guilty as he is for pressing on with their interests and to hell with the interests of America. they have truly gone over the top.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

     Hamlet was not sure of the answer and neither am I - but we are not asking the same thing. He is choosing life or death and I am talking of pride, of hope, of faith, of philosophy of life.
     So let me ask a few questions and answer honestly. As compared to two years ago, are you as sure of a good future. Same comparison for the rest. How do you feel about pride in America? Do you still feel a shiver down your back when you recite the pledge or sing the anthem? Do you have more or less faith in our politicians and supposed leaders? Have you now finally begun to question your choice at the polls? Do you yearn for a change? Are you bewildered by the deep divisions revealing themselves in our society? And do you wonder how we will fix this?
     There is no question that society is changing, evolving, but to what? Will we have a return to past mores, an evilness, that allow men to do whatever they want, to indulge sophomoric dreams, to treat women as chattels, or will we change and learn to respect each other. As I watch and read and listen to the latest in this issue I am not sure of a good result for it has become embroiled in nasty politics. What is all the indignation on the side of the Republicans when it is the Great Molester that they follow as their presumed head? Why are they shouting for an investigation of Franken but willing to back Roy Moore for office as another Senator, as the Republican Party in Alabama supports him in his run? Why are we picking and  choosing between objects worthy of further investigation and those not? Please, tell me the difference and again, why does Trump get off scot free even as he indulges in major hypocrisy as he condemns Franken and not himself nor Moore. The truth is that all these men are pigs, indulging themselves, forgetting that they too have or had mothers and sisters and daughters. Once the line is crossed there is no right to condemn others for the same deeds and yet, are these politicians not doing this and is it not worse than anything when a pastor comes out and says women are the predators - "they are chasing young boys down the road"!!!!!
     Where are the heroes who know how to stand up to the dirt and filth we have in our presumed leaders? Jeff Flake warns his friend that they, the Republicans are doomed if they become the party of Trump and Moore and I hate to break it to him, but they are already there. When Republicans of Palm Beach, a group of Republican Attorneys General and a made up group called the Trumpettes decide to hold galas at Mar a Lago to make up for those who rightfully pulled out, then we know that we have gone wrong, made a wrong turn somewhere as a nation.
     Where is our hope to build a good future for our families, for the world, when the man at the top is obsessed with his former opponent, as if the campaign is still on, still tweeting away, still lying, still threatening, like a tin-pot dictator to haul his former opponent into court!!! For that matter, between tweeting his nasty remarks, adding to his lies which amount to an average of five per day since elected!!! - how and when does he find time to do anything other than wander off to one of his golf courses or another and then golf away the hours of days and weeks?
     We have an army whose nuclear connected general has raised doubts as to action when the president asks for it, raising issues of legality, trust. We have a government that is focused to the point of obsession on immigrants, attacking one of the foundation principles of our nation, trying to set up an algorithm that will recognize the "terrorists" applying for entry into the country and so what if innocents are caught up in this, so what if Americans are by the dozens and hundreds are caught up in this as social media is raked through to see who has criticized the government.
     To be or not to be? Are we to be the United States of America, a proud nation of the world, a nation which is true to itself, a nation which looks to better itself, to weed out the bad, the evil, those who would harm rather than help? Or are we to be the nation of Trump and Moore and McConnell and Nazis and more? Do you not wish to feel pride in our country once more, to recite the pledge with patriotic pride? I do, so very strongly do I desire that. But am I optimistic? Not in any way. There is too much out there that we have to deal with and still too much hypocrisy and blindness and misplaced fear. To be or not to be? To be the United States of America or not? Your choice. Our choice. What will it be?
     

AND THEN?

     The calls for impeachment grow. The women who were molested by him call out in stronger voices that he too needs to face the consequences. The growing concern that the man is deranged in addition to having a simply awful personality, never having grown up. He and his administration, his appointees, all seem to be lacking the ethics gene and the reek of dollar rule is high. The fetid smell of the swamp grows ever stronger.
     So let us say that he is impeached, convicted, charged with obstruction of justice, replaced via the 25th Amendment, whatever the cause - then what? Apres Trump - what? 
     Trump and Trumpism is not one figure. As in The Walking Dead, all the followers of Negan, a human monster, call themselves Negan and it appears that all of Trump's followers call themselves Trump by any other name. That means that even if he were not physically in office, his philosophy would continue and perhaps get even worse. The lack of ethics, the conflict of interests, the sheer incompetence and inexperience, the total lack of honesty, the ever growing return to nepotism, the overwhelming disregard for the majority of Americans all in  the name of "helping" the wealthy - all this would continue - and more.
     The hatred and prejudice that were unleashed with his candidacy will continue and emerge even more, grow into mainstream America and woe upon us. Should his VP, Pence, take over, it will be much worse as this man has the self discipline to put forth and carry out his sinister plans and beliefs without enraging everyone every day. He will go quietly and do his thing and we will find ourselves in a Pence - Bannon world, a world composed of hatred, of nastiness, of a nativist culture that is malignant and destroys all that it touches.
     What is hanging over the country and the world is the very real fear that Americans will not stand for this, will not go down quietly, without protest. Sure, there will be those in government such as those in the House who voted for this horrific tax bill, and people who will follow anyone who empowers them, but there are others who will find a backbone and who will go down fighting - and I mean that in the true and full physical sense of the word. Rioting in the street will be nothing as compared to Americans fighting Americans. The country and the nation will break into parts and pieces. Texas will go it alone, always nuts. Alabama will truly recede into the benighted mores of 17th century society, the empty states will band together for population and power and the Unite States of America will be no more.
     Think I am nuts, going to the extreme? Well, there are many who are beginning to fear this possible scenario. There are those who warn us re impeachment and insist that there must be plans for afterwards. Apres Trump must have delineated plans or else the battle is lost and the war lost for sure.
     Never before , at least since the Civil War, has there been such hatred, such animosity, such division among the people of our country. Never before have we become so vicious towards our immigrants. Yes, we had prejudicial attitudes before, but this violence, this determination to 'rid' the country of those who actually help build the nation, this eagerness of people willing to sign up and be legally vicious - well, if that does not send  a chill down your spine then I know not what to say to you other than to go back in history and see how ordinary people became the killers and executioners of Nazi Germany, of Turkey with the Armenians, of Bosnia, of the Tutsi, the Rohingya and the list never ends, does it?
     We must insist on transparency, on honesty, on full compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law. The Russian ambassador sys there is a huge list of Trump officials with whom he spoke.  Kushner keeps lying thru his teeth. Mueller is rapidly gearing up for his climax and findings and in the meanwhile the rot underneath, our own moral failings are being exposed hour by hour.
     Why do and did so many men think it okay to paw at women, to force themselves on women and children and boys. Why is it okay for a man to say one thing, be extreme in outspokenness re LGBT and then have it disclosed that he himself is gay. It should not make a difference re a person's orientation and yet there it is. We hide the truth from ourselves and others and then wonder why all is going to hell in a handbasket.
    And then? A scary thought. A vison of the stuff of nightmares - unless we wake up and prepare and plan and change the path. It can be done, but time is running out, the sands of time do not stop and wait for us to catch up. And then? You go figure it out.
 

THE HEALTH OF MENTAL HEALTH

     Wow!! It is certainly a moment. I actually agree with Trump on one statement that he has made and that is that the status of mental health care here in the country is not good, is, in fact, problematic. It is after that, that Donald and I disagree.
     We do indeed neglect mental health here. It is always being fought over by insurance. It is limited in coverage and scope and treatment is usually hidden by the one getting the treatment due to still backward thinking. And it is bad enough when this happens, but what happens when the President of the United States is suffering from some kind of mental derangement and/or disease?
     Trump is ill. There is no doubt about it. Many have come out and stated this be it with a name such as narcissism or megalomania and/ or with the addition of a degenerative illness, one that is the cause of his bizarre statements and actions.
     Take a minor action, one that he himself chided Rubio about, the taking of a sip of water during time at the podium. Yet there is a difference. Trump was awkward to a point beyond reason. I am not even sure that with his actions that he actually got any water in his mouth and his actions and movements trying to open the bottle, almost trying to hide the bottle - weird indeed.
     But there are more serious moments of mental health questions. His very obsessive behavior in tweeting, particularly in aggressive or nasty language, one after the other, his seeming inability to let things go as he perseverates, and his last misstep, when he tweeted the same text to the people in California re the shooting there as he did to the horrific church massacre in Texas.
     Or take his weird behavior in group situations. There was the time he actually pushed a head of government out of his way so he could be front and center. Now, on his most recent trip, he once again positioned himself in the center, all the better to tower over the shorter Asian figures and then had difficulty crossing his hands to conform to the rest of the group. Strange. Very much so.
     Many of his actions make no sense and we are lucky if there is no harm because of them, but at other times there is great harm. Here is one. We all know that elephants, among other species, are being hunted, poached, out of existence due to greed and selfishness. Major efforts have been mounted to save this intelligent species and yet, what does this madman do? He is going to allow the importation of the heads of these elephants "because it will enhance their survival." I kid you not. Hunting, in this bizzaro world is now considered good for them, as if they were a bunch of overgrazing and overpopulated deer.
     So what do we do? It is not a healthy situation when a mentally ill man is head of government and can exercise so much power. The disaster risk is epic. And while we can sympathize or even empathize with him, personal must be separated from public due to his position in life. Yes, he will be feeling separate, sometimes fuzzy in the understanding of what is happening. He will deny, deny, deny. But the gaps in reasonable behavior are growing. The possibility of disaster grows every day, increasing to dangerous levels.
     If we had an enlightened approach to mental health and mental disease, be it of physical or other cause, then perhaps we could be sure that this ill man would be relieved of office and at the very least undergo a public health evaluation, public in the sense that the results would be aired. As President he has no right to hide this from the country. It only bodes no good for us and for the world.
     How will he deal with the radioactive cloud that is now drifting over Europe, very dangerous, and suspected by experts of coming from Russia. Will he call on his imagined great friendship with Putin? Or will he ignore it because so he has been told to? How will he handle the possibility of he himself coming under criminal charges due to  his own record of molestation and sexual harassment of women? Prosecute them all as far as I am concerned, from Bill Clinton to the lowliest, but there is no reason to allow Trump to skip out on his behavior!!
     Mental health? A major issue here in the country. But it becomes even larger and looms menacingly when one suffering from illness of the mind is the President. And yet, the Republicans follow him blindly, like the children after the Pied Piper. Only this time, will there be a time when we can regret our actions in "hiring" him and fix the mess? Who the hell knows and the time for that is running short, especially with his big stupid mouth and itchy bomb finger.

RECYCLING? GREAT IDEA!

        Today, Wednesday, is America Recycle Day. Great idea, and one long past due, long past the time we should be doing this automatically. However, there are things that should not be recycled and unfortunately inertia, apathy, and sheer laziness allow for it.
     One of the worst things we do is recycle people. We keep them in positions of power and influence long after their sell by date. Simply due to inertia, they remain in office and we get stuck with a Congress that does not function, a Presidency which is broken and a country and in fact, a world, divided in two, with the top 1% owning half the world's wealth.
      So how do we recycle? Simple. For the things we throw out such as aluminum or plastic or papers there are bins and yet some people find it difficult or too annoying to do so, so for their laziness our kids will suffer. Fines ought to do the trick, stiff fines. Money talks, as they say. Invading the pocket hurts.
     But what about the other things that are being recycled? Today we have old ideas of hatred and prejudice being recycled, some in partially new wrappers, but not enough in disguise that we do not recognize them. We see the inability of people to turn away from recycled ideas about gender, about the relationships between men and women and who must take responsibility for it.
     We see recycling of the idea of greed and that the government should serve the office holder rather than the office holder serve the people. So greed blooms and blossoms, but with rank roots and poisonous buds. We see progress rebuffed and our old mistakes come back  to haunt us as outmoded ideas, programs that did not work, come back from the graveyard of such things and there we are, stuck in the non recyclable yard.
     What happens when we do not recycle people? Well, here in the Village we have a man and his coterie who  think they are to be there forever and a day. Their ideas are old, their thoughts are withered, and the Village pays the price in financial instability, purposeful blindness, and a shaky future as bills and errors come home to roost. Not a great situation.
    But in the world at large it is even a worse idea. There are no more public servants. Statesmen of dignity, enriched with the idea of public service, of paying it forward, are few and far between. We see demagogues begin to repopulate the ranks of so called leaders of countries. We see genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place and no one does a thing so hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are chased out, killed, tortured, mutilated, and their plight just simply ignored. It makes me frightened for what if another group is chosen? What if there is an anti Catholic witch hunt? What if there is a country which decides once more to kill the Jewish people of their country? Where does it end, all this recycling of old and hateful ideas? And when? Not soon enough.
     And now we have one who is quite possibly the worst individual to ever be President of this country. How we were stupid enough, lazy enough, non thinking enough to allow this to happen is another example of selfish thinking and inertia. This is a man whom most Americans do not want to rerun in 2020. This is a man who has the lowest polls ever for people do not trust him, do not feel he is qualified to be President and yet here we are.
     This is a man who surrounds himself with lackeys and true yesmen with no independent thoughts of their own. These people even have the same type of faulty  memories as they appear in front of committees and lie, do not recall, and when pushed up against the wall suddenly do recall what happened and thank the media for reminding them of it. So we had collusion with Russia all thru the campaign and only G-d knows what Putin and Trump are talking about in their very private meetings. Perhaps they talk of plans to get together with the other demagogues of the world and split the countries up? Perhaps Putin reminds Trump  how much he now owes Putin and the day will come to pay that bill! Recycling of human trash and trashy ideas is not a good idea, not at all.
     So what happens when we allow old canards to be recycled? What happens when we do not sort out all the trash? We keep a pig such as Roy Moore in office despite the fact that people concede that rumors and talk and knowledge of his misdeeds were known for years, and even approved of by some. YUCK!!! And when we dig further we find all the gut ugly mess of so many men and their misdeeds. All their apologies do not amount to much when compared to the anguish they have caused, the trust they have spurned and held in contempt thru their actions.
     And finally we have the recycling of the idea that Americans are in the right to carry around assault rifles and just shoot 'em up wherever they  are so moved. So yesterday once again we had a shooting in a school, an elementary school, and only thru the quick reactions of the supervisory adults and teachers that more deaths were averted. How many more times? How many more deaths? How many more bouquets of flowers? How many more teddy bears? Time to trash this idea, no recycling for it.
    So today, we must choose carefully and recycle what we must and should and trash the rest deep within the no return pile.

ABNORMAL AND THE NEW NORMAL

      Lately people have been referring to the new normal, particularly if something is a tad, or more than a tad, off from the usual, the expected - yes, the norm. With such craziness going on now, people have given up those norms and called the weird, the unexpected, and yes, the wrong - the new normal, as if that makes it right.
     In late 1992, over 1,700 scientists gave a warning to the people of earth of the dire outlook for humanity if it kept up its ways - the warming of the earth, the pollution, etc. Now scientists have given us another warning, a second warning, and it is not good. But, a big but, those who claim that these awful changes in the environment, the climate, the weather, the droughts and the floods are simply 'normal', the new normal - well, pack your bags and hope that there will be shuttles to Mars!! We have accepted falsehoods to cover over truths, truths that are hard to accept.
     Unfortunately, these new normals are not limited to 'only' the environment, but are also found in the morality or lack of it in our societies of the day. Up till now there have been gaps in truth, there has been violence and greed, but always there were those who tried to reform, labor activists, new political demands, but today, all the rules and regulations have been tossed by the roadside. Conflict of interest? Nah, never mind that. Collusion with the enemy? That's okay, for the President loves the guy. Evil dictators, murderers in fancy clothing? Nope, no problem for they are beloved by our esteemed president.
     Greed is the new normal. There have always been those , particularly in the financial world, who forgot that money is there to serve a purpose and is not meant to be stored up in some miserly condition, to be gloated over. Money is a wonderful tool for philanthropy and even the old robber barons of yesteryear realized that and set up organizations to funnel aid to where it was needed. Though that did not excuse their greed, it did allay it to a degree. However, today, people serve the corporation alone, shove the money into overseas accounts and the people are neglected.
     There is no more loyalty to country. Those who yell the loudest about patriotism are those very ones who have turned on their country, claimed a new loyalty to whatever will enhance their fortunes, their power, their family. So the President's own son, Junior, exchanges email with WikiLeaks before and after the election and then tries to hide it. More and more garbage is coming out re the Trumps et al and now they are going to try to obfuscate with smoke machines calling for new investigations of Hillary. Third country banana republics - we, once the nation that set the ideal, are now emulating you. We persecute our political opponents, go after them , try to lock them up - all in the name of power and as a device to pull attention away from their own misdeeds.
   There is a nastiness in the air. There is grossness in our behavior. The rot of sexual molestation, of undignified behavior with and towards women, the attempts to take control over their own health away from women, - where have we gone? Is this the new normal? Back to the fifties and worse? Do we allow ugly relationships between adult men and children, girls in their teens, and do we okay that in the name of religion? Pucchhhh!!!!! Time to shake out religion and find the purity within and not the ugly dross that has shackled  and covered it over the centuries.
     The new normal seems to be a perversion of the old normal. We have taken the worst of it and turned it into something holy, something that we are supposed to praise, to worship, to follow down its twisted trails. The new normal is ugly. It is selfish. It is contraindicated and will lead the world to destruction. We are already well down that path. Just take a look around.
     Let us make a new, new normal, one that encourages care and concern for our planet, care and concern for our fellow beings, care and concern for true morality, use of money as a means to a good end rather than for its own sake.
Is this all a pipe dream? Perhaps, but humankind has been trying to improve over the millenniums so why have we decide to okay it, to allow, a backwards regression? Why? "Riddle me not," says the Joker. Well, riddle me not, says I. Just find me an answer, a proper path, a proper inducement to shake up the world and bring it to its senses.

JUST A BIT OF HISTORY

    Condemned. That is what we are according to the sentiments of historians.  We  have, in our hour of need in today's times, forgotten the warning that if we forget about history, disregard it, we will be condemned to repeat it. And so here we are. Again.
     WWI was a time of strong men rulers, demagogues, emperors and kings, and unruly times for the world. Recent past had scores of wars, small and large, proxy wars in some cases. The streets were rife with warring sectors of citizens with great unrest among the lower classes of society even as the upper classes reveled in their excesses. 
      And the various 'prophets' called out warnings but no one was listening. Thus a shot against an heir to a crumbling throne caromed through the tangled lines of alliance and off the world was to war and off marched the millions of men, off to slaughter in the poppy fields of Flanders, in the bloody trenches that took as much as 60,000 men in one day of fighting at the Battle of Somme.
     The fields were soaked with the blood of the population of Europe. Britain never recovered before she was entangled in yet another World War which was actually an extension of the first war as no lessons had been learned and the situations were the same. Once again we had demagogues who ruled with iron fists. Once again we had men who refused to listen to history, refused to hear the ominous notes of the martial music. Once again the streets were filled with marauding hordes.
      Fast forward into the future and watch the era of dictators take hold. Watch the lessons of two world wars go down the drain. Watch the growing class hatred, the growing difference between the classes, the inequalities of society and the ever present hatred of the 'other' as defined by various hate groups. And follow this repetition of history into present times.
     Today the world is once again rife with demagogues, including one right here in what is supposed to be the bastion of freedom, of democracy. Worse yet, this demagogue has inspired the haters and the hatemongers to crawl out of the woodwork, into the open. The lines of hatred extend through the world and cross borders.
     So we find groups of haters marching through the street. We find opponents meeting them and  crash!! We find the hatred of others strong once again and its stink fills the earth. So all Moslems are bad, and Jews are hated once more with people taking selfies with a statue of Hitler in front of a background of the gates to Auschwitz. Even the adherents of supposed peaceful religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, are killing with a mighty sword. And above all we have the demagogues and the uber wealthy and the growing distance between the haves and the have - nots, the lack of care for the poorer classes and the crushing of the middle classes and soon it will be even worse if Trump's tax plan goes forth. Much worse.
     So where are we now? Here in the country of supposed impartial justice, we have judges who are bigoted and ignorant being appointed for lifetime positions. We have sheriffs who adhere to rough justice, who believe in rough justice, if we can even use that term, that word, justice and it seems at times that we have gone backwards, so far that the past is now meeting the present and designing the future in ways of which we should be very wary.
     We have states which seem never to have emerged from Reconstruction times, where benighted people are supporting an alleged sexual pervert, a child molester, a person for whom the White House is asking for more time, tsk, tsk, so unfair is the accusation! The rot among men who were mistakenly thinking they were living in the Middle Ages and ruled over all below them in terms of power and influence was exposed and its ugliness keeps growing.
     Political rot is evident in the return of nepotism, of violated ethics, of the political dirty business of gerrymandering, and now the interference in our political sovereignty and our most valued rite of free elections by an enemy of ours - who has the President of the United States vowing for him and dissing his own people.
     So where are we now in terms of history? Unfortunately not at a good point. Alliances have been trashed, countries have taken huge steps in the violation of other countries, people talk of hate and killing, guns in this country, assault rifles, are amassed at a growing, obscene rate, and we kill more people in mass killings then any other country, especially if they are not at war. Supposedly we are not at war and yet, and yet, perhaps we need to rethink that thought. And we had better rethink the position of a man who has isolated us among the countries of the world.
     "He who does not learn from history is condemned to repeat it." So we have been told many times over in so many words. Why have we not learned that lesson? Where do we go from here? Your nightmare is my nightmare. Can we not wake up from it? Had we better do so and quickly? Think about it.  

THE CASE OF THE ROTTING BALANCE BEAM

     We have all seen those women on the gymnastics teams balance themselves as they jump and twist on the balance beam. We all gasp as they do their routines. But there are more people also trying to balance and their beams are rotting, from within and without.
     Prominent among those rotting beams are those used by men to allow themselves the "right" to attack and mistreat women, up to and including rape. It has allowed them to okay attacks on children for their sexual glee and joy and then shift the blame to the "tempting" woman. What is even worse, is that this is endemic to men all around the globe, no matter the religion or belief and all this despite the supposed advances that women have made in recent years. There IS NO advancement under these conditions. NONE. That balance beam is too rotten to continue in use.
     "She has no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to trace out her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might."  The Brothers Grimm, "The Seven Ravens"
     Out of supposed stories for children we hear the truth of the world. We all need to go out there and find our 'brothers', wherever and whomever they might be. Until we recognize that, we are in lots of trouble. Most of the ancient cultures of the world have the world balanced on something, be it a turtle, an elephant or the shoulders of Atlas. When the world goes off on a wrong tangent, that balance is endangered. And that is a truth even today for just look around and ask yourself if we are in balance and what is the consequence.
     Our pollution and attack on the earth, the skies, the seas are sending the planet into gasps as it searches for ways to compensate. Our countries and tribes are at war with each other, no sooner ending one conflict than starting in on another.
     And one of the biggest threats to the proper condition of the balance beam of the country and the world, one of the biggest contributors to its rot is that man in the Oval Office, Trump. He gleefully holds out a clenched fist along with the murderer Duterte. He praises Putin, yet another demagogue, as he touts belief in him rather than in his own countrymen. He calls Comey and other dignified public servants hacks, worthless beings, and Comey had two beautiful tweets right back at him, one praising the power of truth and the other from Amos telling of the rolling of justice as the waters of a waterfall and a stream. No nastiness but the point was made, emphatically so. No matter how Trump tries now to take back his words, they stick to him like glue.
     It would go a long way to removing that rot from the beams of the world if Mueller is successful at building the obstruction of justice case against Trump and possibly others. Perhaps a lesson would be learned or at least people would think several times before they added to the rot within the beam.
     And make no mistake about it - that rot does spread. Now Trump and Kushner, two most unqualified people, liars both, are promising the world that they will solve the Middle East crisis, first  between Israel and the Palestinians and then everybody else. Great trick if they can pull it off but smell the  air, smell the wood rot? Oh, yes, it is there. How can any country trust the members of another country who have been shown to be liars, who leave out huge segments of truth for convenience sake?
     It appears that there are few and far between if we try to find those who will fix the rot. The elements of courage, of righteousness, of unselfishness seem to be in short supply what with everyone, or most everyone, hedging their bets, waiting to see what shakes out. So Moore gets a pass, again, and some molesters think Hollywood and the world will continue on, but wait - here is Gal Gadot, a Wonder Woman indeed. She has had the best break of her career, portraying a hero for the empowerment of women, and yet she puts it all on the line, for she will not be in the sequel unless Ratner is gone. Yay for her!!! Would that there were other courageous people out there who literally put their money where their mouth - and  their conscience  are. 
     But still hanging around are the brazen attempts of Trump to grow that rot as he nominates and his lackeys in the Senate approve, people for federal courts who have no experience, have been deemed as unqualified by legal associations, and yet here they are, people who think it is okay to have armed revolt against the government, people who pander to the NRA a month after the Sandy Hook shooting horror but here they come as Trump tries to add more rot to the beam for years into the future.
     So where do we stand? Where do you stand? Time to dig hard, dig deep, and rid ourselves of the rot within our balance beam and very soon, for we are at the tipping point. Rot spreads. Rot ruins plans. Rot will upset the balance of the world as it treads on that rotten balance beam. Time to become inspired gymnasts.
     

NOW JESUS!!!!

     Well, this takes the cake. Instead of condemning disgusting behavior, instead of admitting that many men have a problem controlling their id, particularly men in  a position of power, large or small, over a woman, now some of the Republican conservatives have brought Jesus into the fray.
     Roy Moore, a disgusting human being from the get go, who should never have been allowed to run for his known violations of ethics and his twisted values, now is a Senate candidate for Alabama. And lo and behold, we hear that when he was in his thirties, he decided that a 14 year old girl was a proper sexual partner. But instead of apologizing, we get the excuse that Mary, the mother of Jesus was 14 and Joseph was an adult carpenter and together they raised Jesus. Dear Lord!! Will these perverts stop at nothing? Are there to be no boundaries any more? Are we to turn back the clock to more benighted times where not one of these revelations of sexual misconduct would have raised an eyebrow?!
     This whole boiling controversy just keeps getting better with Bannon, that misfit for humanity, equating this incident or disclosure with the release of the Access Hollywood tape of Trump, yet another pervert, and blames it on a conspiracy. I kid you not.
     We have indeed lost all sense of morality, of shame at our behavior, at the greed so rampant among the people of the higher economic classes. It seems the more money one has, the less one has to obey rules of morality, principles of society, care for the less privileged. It makes one sick to the stomach to realize this and take in all the revelations.
     People have lied, as for example, calling Papadopoulos a low level person even while he represented the Trump campaign at meetings with foreign officials - right up till the Inauguration. The appointees to the highest offices of the country all have lied and protected their wealth. We find that all the biggest companies and the universities have protected their funds in offshore accounts.Our officials have sold us down the river to Russia and it now looks as if Trump is developing another bromance with Xi of China and screw the people of America.
     And now for the piece de resistance - the tax "reform" bill. This bill will certainly enhance the lives of the uber wealthy. Trump tells people that it will make him "less rich' and the urge to upchuck is intense. What this supposed plan will do is crush the middle class, drain them of funds, of the wherewithal to live a life, and turn the applecart so far over that there will be no chance of righting it. And as for the other economic classes, they are royally screwed as well and  G-d forbid one in any bracket other than the ubers, has problems especially within the deduction issue. G-d help one who has medical expenses, heretofore allowed as a deduction after a certain point. Now - forget it - so to hell with chronic disease and condition expenses. To hell with rare disease. To hell with a family with a sick member. To hell with all, other than Trump and his buddies.
     It is time to pressure representatives and senators to vote against this bill should it come to the floor. The damage it will do is mammoth and do not think this is only in the domestic area. Our State Department is being decimated, with offices allowed to go unfilled, people laid off or quitting, important State affairs going begging, EPA going to the opposite of what it should be doing even as officials are awaiting appointments and the only thing that looks good for employment is ICE and Border Patrol!
     The ethical and moral values of the country, the very fabric of life, is rotting from within and there appears to be no end to it. Revelations come down the pipe at a dizzying rate and yet nothing really changes. Are we that blasé over all this rot? Do we not care? Are we not embarrassed in front of the world?
     Must we all become hopeless cynics and allow our future generations to become that as well as they too suffer the consequences of terrible decisions made in the times of today? Is it truly a new world, one without hope of change and progress but rather one of degeneration, of moral filth? I hope not but nothing will happen unless we all speak out, vote out the trash, and insist on proper behavior, disclosure and transparency from the new. This is the only way.

ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH

     Whither the way now? Do we regroup as a country or do we further divide, splitting into more and more outsider parties, forgetting that Republican, Democrat or whatever,  we are all supposed to be Americans and define our loyalty that way. Those who speak of the flag, who flaunt their supposed patriotism, well, here is the chance. But it does not seem that we will find that path and instead will go round the mulberry bush yet one more time and where we will stop? Who knows? And when? Who knows again.
     Bannon is shouting, ranting and raving, proclaiming a movement of revenge, of destruction of those who do not embrace his supposed republicanism and death to the defyers of his words. Sean Spicer, yes, that very same nitwit, speaks at a dinner saying that between the worst Republican and the Democrats, there is a huge difference. Really? Here is that dichotomy again, even from what is supposed to be a more mainstream Republican event. We are a country now split into groupings of parties, of political thought, rather than Americans having different thoughts on issues facing all of us.
     And Trump, he who took yet another self praise picture yesterday and then tweeted it out of China, where is he? Deserting his country yet again, as he praises the Chinese for their trade practices, the very practices he had condemned and ranted against. "I don't blame China," Trump said during remarks to business leaders inside the Great Hall of the People. "After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit."
     So what do we do with such a man whose paths are circular or agonized twistings along cliff edges, all the while damaging his supposed country, the country of which he is the man at the helm. Are we yet to continue the mulberry way for another three years?
What will be left of our country as we knew and still know it after another three years?
     We have now come up with a DACA case, a kid deported and caught trying to get back in, a crime according to the rules of ICE.We are punishing our own people for wanting to be in their home, for America is what they knew, where they lived their lives. Instead we welcome foreigners intent on destroying us and our economy, welcome our own people who only wish to destroy any and all regulations that will impede their path and those they owe loyalty to, to make even more obscene wealth, steal more money from the people. Pruitt proudly and defiantly says he will continue to negate and repeal more regulations that shield our natural resources, our very health and lives.
     This is what we have come to. Tuesday nite was a note of hope, a ray of light. 2018 might actually give a way to shut this man down, he and his co conspirators. Perhaps Trump and Trumpism will collapse of their own weight as the Russian inquiry keeps growing and those charged number many more, but what we do need to do is work the elections, work and work and get our people in.
     As those who mistakenly voted for Trump realize their grievous error and turn to the right candidate, the true party of Americans, as perhaps the moderate Republicans, such as they are realize that they should not be resigning but instead should be standing there and saying why they will stay, why they will remain in the fray, as they hopefully realize the true path - then 2018 will work out and 2020 will be a triumph.
     But dreams can pop, can they not? And paths often have unseen twists and curves. We must be alert and vigilant and we must work to let the people of the world know that America as they knew it is still here, working hard, and we will rejoin the countries of the world and take our rightful place among them. Together we will work to right the wrongs, the problems and insure a brighter future. This is what we need to do in order to pass on a proper legacy to the future generations.