INFAMY? INFAMY

     December 7th. A date we still remember though it seems to be fading as the years go by. But we need to remember that day when our country was attacked and quite frankly, we came near to losing who and what we were as a result. We lost not only much of our fleet of battleships, but we also lost our heads and minds as we chased decent and loyal citizens and residents, accusing them without proof of infamy, of treachery planned and our American values were lost.
     Lest one think that we have learned our lesson, I refer you to the third ban out of Trump's dictatorial and xenophobic mind and administration and I ask you - have we learned how to deal with infamy or are we still lost in hatred and mass accusations.
     I will make no bones about it. I am not particularly fond of Arabs or Moslems. I see many things wrong in the attitudes that are taught by many of their imams. I think the religion has been hijacked and certainly, as a Jew supporting Israel and the rights of the Jewish people to have one little Jewish state, I have qualms about them. But! A big but. The concern and worry over some does not mean the worry and hatred for all. I have long spoken about the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, a Moslem group facing death. Right is right and hatred is hatred, especially hatred of the mass group without distinction.
     That is what we now have coming out of the works of Trump's perverted and twisted mind and that of his administration. He has enabled haters, extremists, anti Semites, xenophobic critters to crawl out of the woodwork and sow more seeds of evil and disaster. This is infamy. No denying it.
     When we talk casually of nuclear war, or hear the majority of the country reject the President in strong terms, turning down invitations to visit him, when Lindsey Vonn, a gold medalist in skiing says she is skating for America, the country and not its president, and that she will refuse a White House visit should she win again - here again is infamy. Not her actions, but those of the administration that have led her and us to this point. Infamy indeed.
     While Pearl Harbor was ringed by fire and ash, by the deaths of thousands, today our infamy is not from without but from within. We have supposed patriots, or so they claim, who have allegedly sold our country downriver to Russia for financial gain and political advantage. We have a president whose financial dealings with Deutsche Bank are now under investigation and we now have the Republicans not supporting the investigation, not supporting wherever the truth will take us, but instead are trying to shut it down, shut down perfidy and wrong, ignore evil and immorality.
     We have more present day infamy with the filthy and horrific entitlement behavior of men towards those in their power, towards those they can threaten and intimidate. But no longer! Time magazine has recognized the courage it takes to finally speak out, speak up and we must recognize that there is something lacking in our gestalt in America today and for decades. We have let personal greed overcome and overtake the benefits for the whole, the goodness that America, the word and the state implied. We have gone wrong, and are just as much under bombardment in a different way as was Pearl Harbor so many years ago.
     We must ask ourselves if we are willing to allow this man and his henchmen to hijack us with deeds of infamy. So now we go to court to enforce bans of hatred. We use supposed law to justify rending families. And yet we do not ban Russians, those who allegedly colluded with the present administration from before election and afterwards, or do we now allow our enemies to be chosen by who will benefit us financially and who will not. Be sure that I have no wish to ban anyone other than the particular enemies we do have but it seems that we are careless with our branding today.
     It behooves us to think and choose carefully. It seems that we are our worst enemies. We refuse to recognize how our former allies - be it France or England or Australia, etc. - are now in the process of rejecting us and our warped actions and dealings, with our degenerated 'leader'.
    Infamy comes in different forms at different times. We need to recognize it in all its manifestations and be prepared to deal with it, acknowledge it and act accordingly but with attention to our American founding values. If not - we will have committed infamy and the question now is - will we recover? Yes, remember December 7, 1941, but also remember today and what has been happening. Infamy is as infamy does.