AS THE STOMACH TURNS

     Anna, in the King and I, sings of how the people act like toads, with their cringing and crawling. Well, for us, today, here in America, I would use the term slugs, moral slugs. What else can we call those who follow the weasel McConnell as he says that all in the Senate wanted to pass this tax plan because it was good for them politically. Yup. There is the crux of the matter. The Republican Party has sold its collective soul to the devil, full speed ahead, never mind the people they are running over, destroying, as they rush to fulfill the wishes and bidding of an insane degenerating madman, as they lose all semblance of a moral spine.
     Now a lawyer for Trump, a personal lawyer, states that he wrote the tweet for Trump which stated that Trump had fired Flynn because he told the FBI a lie. Well, that was proof of obstruction of justice so what lawyer would do this??? Certainly not a competent one, but therein lies the question. Is this yet another one of Trump's minions who gets thrown under the bus, who throw themselves under the bus, all for Lord Donald?
     And the lies do not stop there as Nunes whines that the FBI is hiding things even as for the past few months the Committee has been reviewing, with the FBI, secret documents. So what the hell....... Lies, lies, all of you people are slugs! Feinstein says the case against Trump is being built and we can only hope, try to retain and restrain our roiling stomach under the deluge of nauseating news, hoping that Feinstein is correct.
     The most frightening stomach turning news we keep getting is the growing tension between us and North Korea. Now it is being suggested that families of soldiers and diplomats in South Korea leave the country. We are running drills there and in Hawaii. So tell me, where can one hide from nuclear war and nuclear winter and nuclear wasting of the world? Are we to become true slugs who live underground, raggedy, fighting for lives and crusts of breads with other survivor groups? What are we doing? I understand that it has become quite fashionable to become a "prepper", buy land in the mountains, in far off countries, to build up supplies but really? Truly? C'mon.
     In the meanwhile we have the nauseating stories from the new book re Trump about his binges and his fits. We read of his thwarting of the reins of Kelly as he 'sneaks' in his minions. We know his lies. We know of his sexual predator behavior. And yet - there he is, sitting in the Oval Office. Even his base has begun to realize the harm he is proposing to do to them. What will happen when with the new tax bill, people cannot pay their new assessments. Or they cannot afford the food for the table, they are too weak and tired to work, too cold because they cannot pay the fuel bill or the electric bill for the AC in the days of summer heat. Or when the disasters occur and FEMA has no money to help because the corporations are riding high on their reduced taxes, loopholes for their executives, and the social safety net develops huge and ever growing holes. Will we turn into a third world country where the few elite live high on the hog and the rest are in tatters, with children begging for a morsel of food, and mothers crying over their children, fathers frustrated at their inability to build a future - or even a present - for their family?
     What do we say when a twice removed from office person, known to be a pedophile chasing over young teen girls, is running for office and there are people who support him, claiming these values for Christianity, will protect them against the 'scourge' of LGBTQ  and McConnell, the moral slug now says that they will let the people of Alabama, those benighted people, choose. And you know what, so what? He will join the rest of the molesters whose stories are coming out.
     And every day the stories change and the stories grow. We hear of more dirt being uncovered in the FBI investigations. We hear of more weird behavior on the part of the President. We look into the future and see what? I see a country that is shrinking into itself. I see a country that has turned on its history. Where once we had pictures of old time crowds of immigrants at Ellis Island, where one we had recognition that immigrants were the lifeblood of the country, add- ing to its cultural mix, where once we had pride in that, now we have hatred. When people were trying to find a place of safety from Irma and the Department of Homeland Security said there was a truce on pickups of illegal immigrants, ICE said basically screw you and continued to arrest and raid. I see the mists of night fog and hear the shouts of "Raus, raus. Juden, schweinhunt" and the sounds of the popping of rifles. I see the degeneration of a country and the uncovering of the nastier parts of people.
     Yes, once there was a place known as Camelot, and once there was a place known as America, a place to fulfill dreams, to even dream for the first time of a better life for all. A place where justice reigned and progress was sought. Once there was such a place. Is it doomed to be forgotten in the mists of time? Who will make that decision? Or has it already been made for us.