Interesting controversy going around now. Allegedly, the Pope was asked where "bad souls went" and his response was that those who repent will be forgiven and those who do not will simply disappear. Apparently many then interpreted this as stating that hell does not exist. Hmmm. What does that do to people and their thoughts and behavior? Is Hell the place of nothingness, the absence of all life, no afterlife?
What about those who seemingly have no soul here on this earth, this life? Or is it that some are simply ignoring the soul they were given and the responsibility it entails? Whew, feel as if I am back in one of those talk sessions of college days when we were going to solve all the woes of the world.
Seriously, no one has come back to tell us whether there is or isn't anything after physical death? Yes, there are stories, and yes, there are dreams and even visions, but who knows.When I dreamed of a grandparent telling me that all would be well, was that wishful thinking or real? Does it even matter?
Aren't we just supposed to recognize the humanity within us and act accordingly? Are we not to impose cruelty on others? And no, we do not have to love all others. I think that is an insanity to think that could happen, but surely we can appreciate the humanity in all of us? Surely this malicious push against immigrants is wrong, is divisive and proper behavior and thinking and actions should not depend upon an afterlife but upon living life properly, here, in this world. And, I guess, thinking that if one is "bad" that there would be nothing afterwards, while others go on - well, perhaps that would do it.
I do not know who is right or wrong. I am hoping there is an afterlife, hoping that I will see friends, loved ones, my parents and grandparents once again and it gives me an amusing strength to think of my father so passionately arguing with G-d about the wrongs of the world and how something need be done!!
In any case, believing or not, it is incumbent upon us to be good people. Not angels, but good people. Leave maliciousness out of the mix. Treat all with respect if they have earned it and teach those who have not how to do so. Just be decent! Why not? Bottom line - has anyone gained any thing positive and long lasting by being nasty and cruel? I think not, for even while in power there is always fear of being overthrown, of being assassinated, and then it always comes to an end.
Bottom line. If there is no feeling of self pride, of doing the right thing, of feeling a sense of comraderie with others, then why the hell do it? I am selfish, for I like to feel good about my deeds, about my words, about what I am. Therefore, I bottom line life. Is it a good thing, something which will hopefully lead to something positive or not? If not, then bottom line - do not do it. If words are at times harsh, let them have a purpose in the harshness. Bottom line - something has to come from something and it had better be the right thing. The only way to go.
And as for hell and is existence - there are many versions of hell. Hopefully, the good in me will outweigh the bad. Do we not all hope so? Thus don't get too excited about the alleged words of the Pope and the interpretation given them. Just be good, as best you can and let the rest take care of itself. Enjoy the holidays. Love your family. Laugh with your friends. Life can be good.
Due to the holiday, I will not be posting new on Saturday or Sunday, so please, take the time to go back and read some postings you might have missed.
Friday, March 30, 2018
Thursday, March 29, 2018
NEVER ENOUGH
It seems that in this world there are two conditions. One is a condition of not having enough in the physical sense of the word. Never enough safety. Never enough freedom. Never enough food or clean water. Never enough hope for their children's future or even survival. Never knowing where one will be able to lay one's head down at the end of the day.
That is a terrible world of never enough and one which we must attack. There are ways - distribute birth control, better agriculture, better planning and care for the environment, the ending of tribal and religious wars that tear nations apart and so much more. But we do not do this, or rather when we get a good start, there is always some hater, some know it all who comes along and puts a wrench into the middle of it all. This is the other world of never enough.
It seems that for some people there is never enough hatred to go around. There is never enough time to plan and carry out the plans for the destruction of others. There is never enough time to look around and see the mistakes that have been done and try to rectify them. Never enough. Never enough.
Here in our country we are in a truly awful period of time of the never enough variety. We have a so called President who seems to think that he will never have enough power. He will never understand that there is not going to be enough, never going to be enough power for him to wreak the total destruction he wishes for. Combined with his lack of morals and soul, is the lack of intelligence and the behavior of a three year old. He seemingly cannot understand that the money of the budget does not belong to a huge slush fund for him to spend as he wishes and thus he orders the military to build his damned wall! An idiot, yes, but this is dangerous for we are already on a slippery slope here of watching our rights and our protections disappear so what else is next on his nefarious planning bulletin board?
And it seems as if there is never enough of a block in the minds of those who follow him, who add on to his nastiness with their own. They get a great joy at shaming others, in public, at least in their own minds. Yet there is never enough of them and their poison to stop the investigations, to stop the determined kids, to stop the righting of the wrongs - but I do wonder if there is enough time before the structure collapses and then.... You fill in the blanks.
In the movie The Greatest Showman on Earth there is a song Never Enough. It is staged and choreographed beautifully and points out how there will never be enough of the goodness that is needed to overcome barriers of hatred. But I refuse to believe that. Call me stupid, or naïve or whatever, but there must be a way, there must be a way forward and even though it might appear to be impossible - the horror can end and something better come along.
The other day I watched in awe as two dancers danced the most elegant interpretation of that song, Never Enough. No one watching that performance could have not believed that there is beauty and hope within this world of ours and maybe one day we will be able to say, never enough, but in a good way, that there is never enough of an end to the stream of ideas, of the help we give one another, of the love that perhaps one day might suffuse the world.
In the meanwhile let us enjoy the upcoming holidays and their true meanings. Let us hope that one day all the horrors and woes of this world will have disappeared under the seemingly endless flow of goodness and caring of one for another. I can dream. We all can.
That is a terrible world of never enough and one which we must attack. There are ways - distribute birth control, better agriculture, better planning and care for the environment, the ending of tribal and religious wars that tear nations apart and so much more. But we do not do this, or rather when we get a good start, there is always some hater, some know it all who comes along and puts a wrench into the middle of it all. This is the other world of never enough.
It seems that for some people there is never enough hatred to go around. There is never enough time to plan and carry out the plans for the destruction of others. There is never enough time to look around and see the mistakes that have been done and try to rectify them. Never enough. Never enough.
Here in our country we are in a truly awful period of time of the never enough variety. We have a so called President who seems to think that he will never have enough power. He will never understand that there is not going to be enough, never going to be enough power for him to wreak the total destruction he wishes for. Combined with his lack of morals and soul, is the lack of intelligence and the behavior of a three year old. He seemingly cannot understand that the money of the budget does not belong to a huge slush fund for him to spend as he wishes and thus he orders the military to build his damned wall! An idiot, yes, but this is dangerous for we are already on a slippery slope here of watching our rights and our protections disappear so what else is next on his nefarious planning bulletin board?
And it seems as if there is never enough of a block in the minds of those who follow him, who add on to his nastiness with their own. They get a great joy at shaming others, in public, at least in their own minds. Yet there is never enough of them and their poison to stop the investigations, to stop the determined kids, to stop the righting of the wrongs - but I do wonder if there is enough time before the structure collapses and then.... You fill in the blanks.
In the movie The Greatest Showman on Earth there is a song Never Enough. It is staged and choreographed beautifully and points out how there will never be enough of the goodness that is needed to overcome barriers of hatred. But I refuse to believe that. Call me stupid, or naïve or whatever, but there must be a way, there must be a way forward and even though it might appear to be impossible - the horror can end and something better come along.
The other day I watched in awe as two dancers danced the most elegant interpretation of that song, Never Enough. No one watching that performance could have not believed that there is beauty and hope within this world of ours and maybe one day we will be able to say, never enough, but in a good way, that there is never enough of an end to the stream of ideas, of the help we give one another, of the love that perhaps one day might suffuse the world.
In the meanwhile let us enjoy the upcoming holidays and their true meanings. Let us hope that one day all the horrors and woes of this world will have disappeared under the seemingly endless flow of goodness and caring of one for another. I can dream. We all can.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
ACCEPTANCE
Cackle, cackle. Peck, peck. Those are the chickens of yesterday who came home to roost. Their return must be accepted as so many other things in life. But there is a difference in acceptance depending upon the item or the event or the decision or the knowledge.
So the voters of Trump all pointed out that they could not vote for Hillary because she stuck it out with Bill. Uh huh. Ok. People's choice, but, a major big but - what now? Why has Melania stuck it out with this a-hole who so publicly and blatantly was so unfaithful to her and to his vows? Over this they say nothing. But, my friends, it is the same difference, except that Trump is ever so much worse!!
So how do we know that it is not good to accept something but then turn around and accept it in another? Hypocrisy does answer that question. Wrongful acceptance describes the situation. Willful blindness says it all.
I am of two minds about the new All in the Family return. I watched the original and loved the brashness but must admit that I am a bit leery of having Roseanne spout off about Trump support on national TV. It just goes against the grain - but, it does show the split that this has engendered amongst families and friends. So do we accept that split? Do we talk about it? Or do we meet it with silence and suddenly the personal discussion of politics is verboten? Confusing, is it not?
I am personally frustrated beyond belief when once smart and thinking people continue to state that Trump is just different and needs to be accepted. NO! Not so! He is different in that he has no morals, no values other than himself and his needs and his money. Period. He speaks of his daughter in sexual terms and times, nauseating, to say the least, and majorly degenerate and twisted, and totally ignores his other daughter, Tiffany, and she is the lucky one.
The same situation in differing degrees elsewhere. Do we accept David Israel here in CV as entrenched for Life? He certainly thinks so and gets very upset when he is questioned. What about when we have an abusive boss, or an abusive board, or nasty neighbors? Do we just accept that too as one of life's tribulations and shut up? I think not. We just need to defend ourselves and speak up for ourselves carefully and in that way win the battle. When we let things go too far, we have the present situation in the world today with Russia and Putin thinking they can do anything and everything without consequence and even with cheering and the nasties on the right thinking their time has come again and was it not oh so clever of them to stab to death yet another aged Jewish woman in France, a Holocaust survivor who succumbed to yet another act of anti Semitism. This, this horrendous movement and act cannot ever be accepted. Never ever!
And what about health. What about a diagnosis that truly upsets life, upends it beyond all chance of total return. Do we just accept that and lay down to die, to give up the fight? I understand when the pain is too much, the air totally lacking in any hope for improvement or life of any consequence and that should then be the person's private wish. But what about when there is time between sentence and execution of said sentence? What then?
What then is to fight with all one's might. Yes, one is allowed to fight what one was told, disbelieve, feel depressed, totally anxious beyond words, engage in a massive state of disbelief but then one has to accept and find another path of life. Yes, it is different from the previous one. Yes, it is a blow. But yes, it is also a doorway into other experiences, some of them so blessed and so good that it restores one's faith in humanity and the future. Fight, fight even as one accepts the situation. I can state this because I know whereof I speak. I can state this because I am living this. And if this helps even one person to move along in this new path, then I have indeed paid it forward and I can accept that.
So, no. I will never accept that Trump is my president or that he needs to remain in office. I will never accept the new wave of fascism that threatens the world and that has crept into our own blessed country. And I will accept a diagnosis, with sadness, but will accept and then find a way of dealing with it. For such is life. Sometimes the acceptances are hard and sometimes not. Anyone for a piece of chocolate? For that I can accept anytime, anywhere! Seriously, in the midst of all this agony, personal and worldwide, we can always find something to celebrate and we should for otherwise life is just not what we are making of it.
So the voters of Trump all pointed out that they could not vote for Hillary because she stuck it out with Bill. Uh huh. Ok. People's choice, but, a major big but - what now? Why has Melania stuck it out with this a-hole who so publicly and blatantly was so unfaithful to her and to his vows? Over this they say nothing. But, my friends, it is the same difference, except that Trump is ever so much worse!!
So how do we know that it is not good to accept something but then turn around and accept it in another? Hypocrisy does answer that question. Wrongful acceptance describes the situation. Willful blindness says it all.
I am of two minds about the new All in the Family return. I watched the original and loved the brashness but must admit that I am a bit leery of having Roseanne spout off about Trump support on national TV. It just goes against the grain - but, it does show the split that this has engendered amongst families and friends. So do we accept that split? Do we talk about it? Or do we meet it with silence and suddenly the personal discussion of politics is verboten? Confusing, is it not?
I am personally frustrated beyond belief when once smart and thinking people continue to state that Trump is just different and needs to be accepted. NO! Not so! He is different in that he has no morals, no values other than himself and his needs and his money. Period. He speaks of his daughter in sexual terms and times, nauseating, to say the least, and majorly degenerate and twisted, and totally ignores his other daughter, Tiffany, and she is the lucky one.
The same situation in differing degrees elsewhere. Do we accept David Israel here in CV as entrenched for Life? He certainly thinks so and gets very upset when he is questioned. What about when we have an abusive boss, or an abusive board, or nasty neighbors? Do we just accept that too as one of life's tribulations and shut up? I think not. We just need to defend ourselves and speak up for ourselves carefully and in that way win the battle. When we let things go too far, we have the present situation in the world today with Russia and Putin thinking they can do anything and everything without consequence and even with cheering and the nasties on the right thinking their time has come again and was it not oh so clever of them to stab to death yet another aged Jewish woman in France, a Holocaust survivor who succumbed to yet another act of anti Semitism. This, this horrendous movement and act cannot ever be accepted. Never ever!
And what about health. What about a diagnosis that truly upsets life, upends it beyond all chance of total return. Do we just accept that and lay down to die, to give up the fight? I understand when the pain is too much, the air totally lacking in any hope for improvement or life of any consequence and that should then be the person's private wish. But what about when there is time between sentence and execution of said sentence? What then?
What then is to fight with all one's might. Yes, one is allowed to fight what one was told, disbelieve, feel depressed, totally anxious beyond words, engage in a massive state of disbelief but then one has to accept and find another path of life. Yes, it is different from the previous one. Yes, it is a blow. But yes, it is also a doorway into other experiences, some of them so blessed and so good that it restores one's faith in humanity and the future. Fight, fight even as one accepts the situation. I can state this because I know whereof I speak. I can state this because I am living this. And if this helps even one person to move along in this new path, then I have indeed paid it forward and I can accept that.
So, no. I will never accept that Trump is my president or that he needs to remain in office. I will never accept the new wave of fascism that threatens the world and that has crept into our own blessed country. And I will accept a diagnosis, with sadness, but will accept and then find a way of dealing with it. For such is life. Sometimes the acceptances are hard and sometimes not. Anyone for a piece of chocolate? For that I can accept anytime, anywhere! Seriously, in the midst of all this agony, personal and worldwide, we can always find something to celebrate and we should for otherwise life is just not what we are making of it.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
WHEN CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST
First, my apologies. I cannot stop laughing and it is a mean one, I confess, taking pleasure in the confusion and the fear of the Republican Party, of the weakness of their backbones as they withdraw from running, one after the other lest they be required to answer questions re Trump and his filthy behavior. Love it!! Chickens and roosting. Did they think that none of this garbage would rub off on them? Did they think there would be no price to pay for their prior cowardice and boot licking? "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
Shakespeare wrote that long ago but it certainly holds true. People are waking up and realizing that this is not the 'change' they were looking for. The only change that this man brought about is the change of hatred, of chaos and confusion, of filth covering the White House, of upsetting the world order, of giving the really extreme alt right the go ahead to write garbage, insult all for that is what their leader does, does he not?
So incumbents are pulling out. Even lawyers are turning down Trump and his troubles. Can you imagine!! Suburban voters are no Trumping about right now and that includes those who supported him and as for me, Brian Mast, one who said that he is a Trump believer 100%, who took money from the NRA and lots of it, who voted the wrong way on so many bills - suddenly he is saying he is for bans on assault rifles? Puh-lease!!! We are not all the fools that Shakespeare wrote about.
So the alt right continues to think they are home free as they denigrate Gonzales and Hogg and all the student activists, even as they mourn their dead and as they galvanize the nation. Yes. The children have led this time, folks, and shame on us that it took a massacre and survivors to pave the way.
Just as an aside, will it take the kids of Russia to force Putin and company to fix the deteriorating infrastructure, the shoddy construction, the negligence all of which led to a class of kids in a mall to burn to death. Even as they posted goodbyes. Even as they burned to death. Even as the firemen took their own good time to get there. Even as the fire exits were locked and alarms did not work. So these kids died and the parents are grieving. Will it be the final straw? Will we have people finally waking up there as we are having here? Time will tell.
So the polls do not break for Trump. The tide is changing. The chickens are roosting. And I am so happy for now maybe we can get back to the true business of America - being great in all the right ways. In all the wise ways. In all the decent ways.
Out with Trump and a great big notice to Pence et al - never mind you do not talk to a woman without your wife approving or being there. We are here and will talk even if you do not. We are demanding a good and just government, equality for all, decency, honesty no more insane tweets of a man sunk in the mists of his mind.
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.
Shakespeare wrote that long ago but it certainly holds true. People are waking up and realizing that this is not the 'change' they were looking for. The only change that this man brought about is the change of hatred, of chaos and confusion, of filth covering the White House, of upsetting the world order, of giving the really extreme alt right the go ahead to write garbage, insult all for that is what their leader does, does he not?
So incumbents are pulling out. Even lawyers are turning down Trump and his troubles. Can you imagine!! Suburban voters are no Trumping about right now and that includes those who supported him and as for me, Brian Mast, one who said that he is a Trump believer 100%, who took money from the NRA and lots of it, who voted the wrong way on so many bills - suddenly he is saying he is for bans on assault rifles? Puh-lease!!! We are not all the fools that Shakespeare wrote about.
So the alt right continues to think they are home free as they denigrate Gonzales and Hogg and all the student activists, even as they mourn their dead and as they galvanize the nation. Yes. The children have led this time, folks, and shame on us that it took a massacre and survivors to pave the way.
Just as an aside, will it take the kids of Russia to force Putin and company to fix the deteriorating infrastructure, the shoddy construction, the negligence all of which led to a class of kids in a mall to burn to death. Even as they posted goodbyes. Even as they burned to death. Even as the firemen took their own good time to get there. Even as the fire exits were locked and alarms did not work. So these kids died and the parents are grieving. Will it be the final straw? Will we have people finally waking up there as we are having here? Time will tell.
So the polls do not break for Trump. The tide is changing. The chickens are roosting. And I am so happy for now maybe we can get back to the true business of America - being great in all the right ways. In all the wise ways. In all the decent ways.
Out with Trump and a great big notice to Pence et al - never mind you do not talk to a woman without your wife approving or being there. We are here and will talk even if you do not. We are demanding a good and just government, equality for all, decency, honesty no more insane tweets of a man sunk in the mists of his mind.
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.
Monday, March 26, 2018
THE MEASURE OF A MAN
"I love the man that can smile in trouble,
that can gather strength from distress,
and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the
business of little minds to shrink; but
he whose heart is firm, and whose
conscience approves his conduct, will
pursue his principles unto death."
Thomas Paine
that can gather strength from distress,
and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the
business of little minds to shrink; but
he whose heart is firm, and whose
conscience approves his conduct, will
pursue his principles unto death."
Thomas Paine
I came across this while reading yesterday and it struck me how apropos it is to the roiling times of today, just as much as it was befitting the revolutionary times of America. A person who can gather his wits, organize one's thoughts, grow with the times and the demands of the times, and who deep in his heart can approve of one's own conduct - that is the person to admire.
Unfortunately there are few of these people around. Most people lose their heads in times of trouble, panic, and grow only in despair to the elimination of all else. Yes, there are horrific times that demand that total loss of hope and optimism - the Holocaust, the bombed out country that was once Syria, the starving people of the Sudan - but in many cases, no matter how dire, there is room for at least a tad of hope, a teeny ray of light.
Our esteemed leader - so not - known as Trump is the exact opposite of the person to admire. This is a man who leads us into dark and troubled waters, who panics and rises up in panic and nastiness to all who criticize him, who truly has a total lack of morals and who views life through the prism of selfishness and self centeredness. Not good at all for a leader to have that trait. Yes, to be a leader means to believe in oneself to a strong degree, but it also means the ability and the knowledge that there are others who also have wise words and advice, perhaps even better than one's own. This man, this Trump, hears nothing but the refrain of his own nastiness and incompetence.
An important principle or truth of life is to acknowledge that the truth will out. It always does, even if delayed. But what if a person is so demented, so twisted, so degenerate that he cannot recognize the truth any longer and worse, drags along with him the people who so desperately wanted to believe in him. Now they cannot give him up for to do so means to admit their error and what it means to the country - a difficult burden.
These people need to hear the ring of truth of Paine's words. They need to hear and absorb the words of today, of James McCauley, a writer for The Washington Post who wrote yesterday against those who would "play with the truth of the past so as to alter the norms of the present." Read that again and truly feel and understand what that means, the frightfulness of it. This is our current President - though as I state, not mine, never was, never will be.
Those who act as if the past is theirs to play with are the ones who doctor a photo of Emma Gonzalez ripping up what is supposed to be a copy of the US Constitution and the horror it evokes. Well, sorry, folks, but what she was ripping up was a gun target!!! But the truth is always being played by this man and the worst of his supporters and as for the rest - well, they fall in line for the previously stated reasons. This man does not make the economy swell as it tanks badly. This man does not make America great for it always was until he came along and dragged it in the mud.
This is a man who wallows in the filth and revels in it. This is the man who wanted to be spanked, pulled down his pants to get just that. He is the man who perched there on the bed, awaiting his next delight! This is the man who after having sex with a woman outside of his marriage says that she reminds him of his daughter! Oh Yich!!!
My skin crawls almost every time this man opens his mouth or puts his Twitter finger to work. But the interesting thing is , is that he does not tweet back on this topic. He, the big mouthed tweeter is quiet about this. The truth, you see, the truth is coming out, and there is nothing he can do about it. His threats to her did not work and good for her. And perhaps he will even have to testify under oath - as if that matters to him - in a defamation suit. Ahh, the pleasures of the future.
So we can see a sliver of hope here in our terrible situation. Perhaps we can look forward to climbing down from our economic ledge. Perhaps we can look forward to a better Congress after November elections and certainly after the 2020 elections should we last that long!!! And we should certainly hope for much more from these brave kids, their seriousness and determination. Their elders should learn from them.
And by the way, just a word to the Democratic Party. Enough with the old dudes and dudettes. Put up a true contrast to the demented Trump. Not a 79 year old Sanders or a reshuffled Biden or even Elizabeth Warren. Time to find a breath of fresh air, a younger and more vibrant person, one with experience in the political world, one with a good reputation and one who understands what America is all about. Who? Perhaps the next generation of Ted Kennedy? Perhaps someone else? I am not the kingmaker here nor the one with the knowledge of all the possible hats in the arena but there are those who do know. Hope they use their brains. And soon. Let us find the true measure of a man or woman. Soon. Sooner than that!!
Sunday, March 25, 2018
AND NOW.........
It is a fine mess we have gotten ourselves into, is it not? Locally here in CV we are in the process of having various areas dug up, left with pipes or conduits of some kind sticking up out of the ground, exposed with an open end open to the elements, we have had broken pipes due to this installation of something that most did and still do not want and the important items of life here are neglected - still.
We have a car that sits parked all day long outside the fence on Haverhill, real tight up against the fence, not a very high one either, more like what is in your front yard, easy to hop. Much of the fence along that street is not in very good shape either. Why is that car there? Where does the owner go all day? Why is the owner not going into the Village with the car - if the owner is legitimate? All this and more but dig we must is the theme of David Israel.
The foliage along Haverhill has been so trimmed and "cleaned" up that there is no privacy anymore to the buildings along that sightline nor is it a protection against entry to the Village. In fact, the Village is becoming a sieve what with the entry ease along Southampton and the lovely - not - golf course and our broken fences along that boundary. The County evidently feels no need to impose repair conditions on Waldman and he is his usual nasty self and screws us all. Where is David in all this? Who the hell knows. He boasts of his care and concern for the Village and the residents. He boasts of how many people he knows - so where are the practical outcomes? Let me know when you find them. And in the meanwhile, there are people, many people, who said that once they felt they would live here forever - until the time came - but are now contemplating moving due to security concerns, lax associations, and so on. So, Mr. President Israel - do something. Fix our home. Now.
And this critical situation continues on into the larger world, the world of our country. Having a demented and angry immoral man at the helm is not conducive to good health and atmosphere in the country. We have a situation where this so called leader is pandering to the lowest common denominator of our society - the haters, the uninformed and the unknowing. Those who do not think or think incorrectly that this man is shaking things up in a good way are powerfully mistaken.
It is not a good way when our allies are treated as enemies and our enemies as friends, great buds with this man. It is not a good way when our national debt has skyrocketed - this from a man and a party which used to swear on budgetary conservatism. It is not a great situation when our kids - OUR KIDS - are pushing reform. At age 11 we had speakers in DC yesterday who showed more maturity and courage than most adults. We had Emma Gonzalez and her dramatic moment of silence that stunned the nation. We have kids who are thinking ahead to their voting power and good for them!!! Registration at these huge marches is skyrocketing and I hope this holds for the midterms and the 2020 elections.
In the meanwhile, though, what do we do, how do we cope with this insane personality at the wheel - or maybe not at the wheel. His aides are screwed daily by him, they too know not what to do or what they actually do! and that is until they leave or are fired and we now have a set of men at the helm who are aggressive and war mongering. We have had an awful week at the market and note that Trump is no longer boasting about his oh so great market is he now? No wonder, as accounts and savings have plummeted, as we await the disasters of a trade war, as people lose their jobs as business cannot sustain their increased costs for materials and products, as people cannot afford to buy said items, especially as they are laid off and welcome to the street apple sales!!
Think I am exaggerating? NO, I am not. I predicted all the disasters we now have, the frightening situations we are in, the insanity of this man, his dangerous thinking combined with his and his administration's incompetence. We have hatred rife in the land and people dying due to lack of control of guns. What the hell have we done?!
Dear Lord, help us help those others to find their way back to sanity. Help us keep our country safe. Help us learn to welcome our fellow citizens of the world rather than curse them and round them up in a most cruel manner. Help us to find our common sense, our common causes and our common humanity. Help us remember that we owe concern and care for the weaker elements of society and need not punish people for the "crime" of being poor or needy. I have met so many wonderful people just in the last six months and know that there is goodness out there. Let us dig deeper and bring it to the fore and yes - you adults- learn from the kids.
The answer or continuation of the title - and now - is up to us. What will it be.
We have a car that sits parked all day long outside the fence on Haverhill, real tight up against the fence, not a very high one either, more like what is in your front yard, easy to hop. Much of the fence along that street is not in very good shape either. Why is that car there? Where does the owner go all day? Why is the owner not going into the Village with the car - if the owner is legitimate? All this and more but dig we must is the theme of David Israel.
The foliage along Haverhill has been so trimmed and "cleaned" up that there is no privacy anymore to the buildings along that sightline nor is it a protection against entry to the Village. In fact, the Village is becoming a sieve what with the entry ease along Southampton and the lovely - not - golf course and our broken fences along that boundary. The County evidently feels no need to impose repair conditions on Waldman and he is his usual nasty self and screws us all. Where is David in all this? Who the hell knows. He boasts of his care and concern for the Village and the residents. He boasts of how many people he knows - so where are the practical outcomes? Let me know when you find them. And in the meanwhile, there are people, many people, who said that once they felt they would live here forever - until the time came - but are now contemplating moving due to security concerns, lax associations, and so on. So, Mr. President Israel - do something. Fix our home. Now.
And this critical situation continues on into the larger world, the world of our country. Having a demented and angry immoral man at the helm is not conducive to good health and atmosphere in the country. We have a situation where this so called leader is pandering to the lowest common denominator of our society - the haters, the uninformed and the unknowing. Those who do not think or think incorrectly that this man is shaking things up in a good way are powerfully mistaken.
It is not a good way when our allies are treated as enemies and our enemies as friends, great buds with this man. It is not a good way when our national debt has skyrocketed - this from a man and a party which used to swear on budgetary conservatism. It is not a great situation when our kids - OUR KIDS - are pushing reform. At age 11 we had speakers in DC yesterday who showed more maturity and courage than most adults. We had Emma Gonzalez and her dramatic moment of silence that stunned the nation. We have kids who are thinking ahead to their voting power and good for them!!! Registration at these huge marches is skyrocketing and I hope this holds for the midterms and the 2020 elections.
In the meanwhile, though, what do we do, how do we cope with this insane personality at the wheel - or maybe not at the wheel. His aides are screwed daily by him, they too know not what to do or what they actually do! and that is until they leave or are fired and we now have a set of men at the helm who are aggressive and war mongering. We have had an awful week at the market and note that Trump is no longer boasting about his oh so great market is he now? No wonder, as accounts and savings have plummeted, as we await the disasters of a trade war, as people lose their jobs as business cannot sustain their increased costs for materials and products, as people cannot afford to buy said items, especially as they are laid off and welcome to the street apple sales!!
Think I am exaggerating? NO, I am not. I predicted all the disasters we now have, the frightening situations we are in, the insanity of this man, his dangerous thinking combined with his and his administration's incompetence. We have hatred rife in the land and people dying due to lack of control of guns. What the hell have we done?!
Dear Lord, help us help those others to find their way back to sanity. Help us keep our country safe. Help us learn to welcome our fellow citizens of the world rather than curse them and round them up in a most cruel manner. Help us to find our common sense, our common causes and our common humanity. Help us remember that we owe concern and care for the weaker elements of society and need not punish people for the "crime" of being poor or needy. I have met so many wonderful people just in the last six months and know that there is goodness out there. Let us dig deeper and bring it to the fore and yes - you adults- learn from the kids.
The answer or continuation of the title - and now - is up to us. What will it be.
Friday, March 23, 2018
GAM ZOO L"TOVAH
Correct. This is not English. It is Hebrew and is a statement in Judaism that expresses much. Its literal meaning is "this too is for the good". When something happens, when an event that is awful occurs, this is what the faithful say. It is probably one of the hardest statements one ever makes and many times it goes along with another statement of faith. Baruch Dayan Emet. Blessed be the True Judge. Said upon hearing of the death of someone.
Yesterday, hard as it was to actually say it to myself, I was able to state the first statement and hopefully the second will not be necessary for quite some time! I spent much of the late afternoon and early evening in a special event with special people. These are the people who now affirm my life, my continued part in life, tell me that I am still of value, that much remains for me and mine.
I was at a fund raising program for Parkinson's Disease and other related neuro degenerative and motor disorders. Sad, right? Seeing people walk in with difficulty, very slowly, with hesitant steps, or being pushed in a chair or holding on to someone. Some had difficulty speaking for this is how they were affected. Others had stiff facial muscles which did not allow for emotions to come through clearly. But all had a sense of belonging, of hope, of sharing.
A dance competition was held, though believe me, it was not about the competition but about the joy of dance, the freedom of movement it gave one, the sharing of the moment with an audience that was 100% cheering on the participants and the members of the audience. From the sounds of laughter and the roar of the applause, one would think there was nothing wrong here - and yet there was. But watching a Rabbi afflicted with PD dance with a woman who has given so much to so many, given us hope, freedom of movement, an ability to continue to take joy in dance, Judith Simon, - to watch this was to tear up and admire the courage of the rabbi.
Both before and after the program there was a mingling of people who knew and did not know each other and yet did we not for all had a connection to this awful syndrome, all were looking for camaraderie, for advise, for sharing of feelings.
And it was then that I understood that this too is for the good. I have entered a new world, a world composed of people who are among the bravest I have ever known. A world filled with people who care so much, who have the patience to work with those who need building up, who need to be appreciated for their inner selves and not their damaged workings, a place where one strives to reach ever higher and higher.
I have met so many wonderful and blessed people. Jody and Ed who run the Movement Therapy clinics that have given so much to so many and who give of their time to raise funds for the Parkinson fighting efforts. Savannah, Kaitlyn, Lillian, Amber, and I could continue to list the names of people who have become members of my world, G-d help them, and I love them for what they have given me, allowed - no, encouraged - me to feel, to have faith in myself, to laugh again, to crack jokes and to be my annoying self. And a major thank you and recognition of their generosity is the Jupiter Fred Astaire Studio and Dancers who gave of themselves for this event.
In short, I have discovered a new world of new friends, of new hopes, of new partners and this world has allowed entry for my friends from before. I thank my friend, Olga, for coming to this event. She is a woman I admire and her attendance was very meaningful to me. Thank you. And most of all, I realize that I am blessed with Gerry, who understands that this is my life now and it must be incorporated into our old one and so he does as all the other partners I see. These partners in life to PD sufferers have changed their lives, making time to drive, to observe, to encourage and to simply love.
How could this be bad? Would I have preferred perhaps not learning of this other world? Of course, for to say otherwise is to lie, but remember the silver linings? Well, there is one here and I owe a tremendous Hakarat HaTov - a recognition of all the good they have done for me and so many others - so bless you all.
Yesterday, hard as it was to actually say it to myself, I was able to state the first statement and hopefully the second will not be necessary for quite some time! I spent much of the late afternoon and early evening in a special event with special people. These are the people who now affirm my life, my continued part in life, tell me that I am still of value, that much remains for me and mine.
I was at a fund raising program for Parkinson's Disease and other related neuro degenerative and motor disorders. Sad, right? Seeing people walk in with difficulty, very slowly, with hesitant steps, or being pushed in a chair or holding on to someone. Some had difficulty speaking for this is how they were affected. Others had stiff facial muscles which did not allow for emotions to come through clearly. But all had a sense of belonging, of hope, of sharing.
A dance competition was held, though believe me, it was not about the competition but about the joy of dance, the freedom of movement it gave one, the sharing of the moment with an audience that was 100% cheering on the participants and the members of the audience. From the sounds of laughter and the roar of the applause, one would think there was nothing wrong here - and yet there was. But watching a Rabbi afflicted with PD dance with a woman who has given so much to so many, given us hope, freedom of movement, an ability to continue to take joy in dance, Judith Simon, - to watch this was to tear up and admire the courage of the rabbi.
Both before and after the program there was a mingling of people who knew and did not know each other and yet did we not for all had a connection to this awful syndrome, all were looking for camaraderie, for advise, for sharing of feelings.
And it was then that I understood that this too is for the good. I have entered a new world, a world composed of people who are among the bravest I have ever known. A world filled with people who care so much, who have the patience to work with those who need building up, who need to be appreciated for their inner selves and not their damaged workings, a place where one strives to reach ever higher and higher.
I have met so many wonderful and blessed people. Jody and Ed who run the Movement Therapy clinics that have given so much to so many and who give of their time to raise funds for the Parkinson fighting efforts. Savannah, Kaitlyn, Lillian, Amber, and I could continue to list the names of people who have become members of my world, G-d help them, and I love them for what they have given me, allowed - no, encouraged - me to feel, to have faith in myself, to laugh again, to crack jokes and to be my annoying self. And a major thank you and recognition of their generosity is the Jupiter Fred Astaire Studio and Dancers who gave of themselves for this event.
In short, I have discovered a new world of new friends, of new hopes, of new partners and this world has allowed entry for my friends from before. I thank my friend, Olga, for coming to this event. She is a woman I admire and her attendance was very meaningful to me. Thank you. And most of all, I realize that I am blessed with Gerry, who understands that this is my life now and it must be incorporated into our old one and so he does as all the other partners I see. These partners in life to PD sufferers have changed their lives, making time to drive, to observe, to encourage and to simply love.
How could this be bad? Would I have preferred perhaps not learning of this other world? Of course, for to say otherwise is to lie, but remember the silver linings? Well, there is one here and I owe a tremendous Hakarat HaTov - a recognition of all the good they have done for me and so many others - so bless you all.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
SO, WHAT'S GOING ON?
Used to be able to ask that question in an unconcerned manner and simply as a conversation starter. Today, one never knows what the response will be, not even what to answer as the news changes so quickly that one sometimes does not truly know what is going on.
How to keep one's sanity in this insane world? Look for the high spots, the good news, the bits and items that give hope that this mad world has not gone totally off the tracks. And you know what - laugh at some of the bad news for perhaps it is not such bad news in the long run and could actually teach a lesson for the future.
So, let's see. Celine Dion is having some minor ear surgery that will correct a painful situation and has apologized for her cancellation of some shows. Nice. Clear and honest and no fights about refunds. Decent. Something we do not always get these days.
Crazy stuff going on in the sports world with football having some messes that I cannot begin to follow and nor do I care. It is a dangerous sport, rife with situations of bribery and violence and such damage to young men, damage that ruins their lives for the near and forever future. I just skip that stuff, shaking my head, wondering why this sport has not been banned or cancelled or somehow modified but it is scary how fiercely the owners and the doctors in their pay refused to admit the truth about the brain damage. Nasty stuff. Feh!!
Here's a good one. Remember K-B Toys? Well, they are planning a comeback, going to rescue the toy industry. I wish them luck. Some of the sweetest moments of the past are the faces on the kids when we took them to Toys R Us or K-B to pick out a present or reward or gift. They learned to think, to compare and the smile when they walked out was priceless. So welcome back - if you can and by the way, crazy sales now at Toys R Us. Just put on your fighting clothes, headgear and all as you challenge the mobs.
Now for some hehehehe moments. The Director of ICE has to testify in court for as long as four hours if needed. So ordered the judge as the federal government sues California over the immigrants sanctuary issue. Good for the judge. These appointees of Trump feel they are just super duper people who can march to the beat of their own drums, using tax payer money, keeping security guards on in private vacations and again, we are paying that, and just thinking and acting as if they are above the law,
Guess what? They are not and I await the day, may it come soon, please, please, that Trump will be forced to interview and answer questions, to give depositions, to being answerable in many courts of law for his behavior, his actions, his defamation of other characters. Cannot happen soon enough for me. The law is the law and all are responsible to it. Being a president, G-d help us, does not make one immune to the law - nor even to the unspoken laws of social behavior.
How to keep one's sanity in this insane world? Look for the high spots, the good news, the bits and items that give hope that this mad world has not gone totally off the tracks. And you know what - laugh at some of the bad news for perhaps it is not such bad news in the long run and could actually teach a lesson for the future.
So, let's see. Celine Dion is having some minor ear surgery that will correct a painful situation and has apologized for her cancellation of some shows. Nice. Clear and honest and no fights about refunds. Decent. Something we do not always get these days.
Crazy stuff going on in the sports world with football having some messes that I cannot begin to follow and nor do I care. It is a dangerous sport, rife with situations of bribery and violence and such damage to young men, damage that ruins their lives for the near and forever future. I just skip that stuff, shaking my head, wondering why this sport has not been banned or cancelled or somehow modified but it is scary how fiercely the owners and the doctors in their pay refused to admit the truth about the brain damage. Nasty stuff. Feh!!
Here's a good one. Remember K-B Toys? Well, they are planning a comeback, going to rescue the toy industry. I wish them luck. Some of the sweetest moments of the past are the faces on the kids when we took them to Toys R Us or K-B to pick out a present or reward or gift. They learned to think, to compare and the smile when they walked out was priceless. So welcome back - if you can and by the way, crazy sales now at Toys R Us. Just put on your fighting clothes, headgear and all as you challenge the mobs.
Now for some hehehehe moments. The Director of ICE has to testify in court for as long as four hours if needed. So ordered the judge as the federal government sues California over the immigrants sanctuary issue. Good for the judge. These appointees of Trump feel they are just super duper people who can march to the beat of their own drums, using tax payer money, keeping security guards on in private vacations and again, we are paying that, and just thinking and acting as if they are above the law,
Guess what? They are not and I await the day, may it come soon, please, please, that Trump will be forced to interview and answer questions, to give depositions, to being answerable in many courts of law for his behavior, his actions, his defamation of other characters. Cannot happen soon enough for me. The law is the law and all are responsible to it. Being a president, G-d help us, does not make one immune to the law - nor even to the unspoken laws of social behavior.
There is a wearable brain scanner in the works and ain't that great. It would simplify the diagnosis of so many issues, syndromes, tumors and other problems. It would ease the expense, the fright and the fear, and would be just a great improvement for us all. Hey, think how easily we could scan Trump's brain and find out how little is left intact?Now that is good news and here is another interesting tidbit. There are still 6 Blockbuster stores - 4 in Alaska and 2 in Oregon and they are serving people who cannot get their movies on the Internet. Wow!! Remember those days?
And finally, today there is hope, a hope that has arisen out of tragedy. We are to appreciate the hard work, the leadership, the cooperation of all our young when they march in DC this Saturday and all the adults who worked with them. The incidents of violence, of shootings, with many or few victims, the forgetting of those so damaged that they remain in hospital for so long or have struggles to recover - if they can. It is time. It is enough. And if we, the adults, cannot bring this about, cannot shut down all the hypocritical politicians and the crazed people who just LOVE their guns, then these kids will. Kudos to them and we owe them all our help and goodwill.
So what's going on? Lots of stuff, simple and complex, meaningful or humorous or frightening. What will be in the future? Will we be a country such as we are supposed to be? Will the tariff war with China just destroy both countries and what about the rest of the world? Questions for another day. But for today, have a good one. Do something good. Help a neighbor. Make a donation. Come support the fight against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease today at 4 PM at Palm Beach Gardens Community High School Performing Arts Center. 4245 Holly Drive, palm Beach Gardens. Cheer for your favorite dance competitor. Support a good politician. Call your kids. Give someone a hug. And laugh at the troubles of Trump. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. Hey, what goes around....
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
POINT FOR MELANIA
And there we have it. The wife of the President of the United States has decided to be more active in her campaign against cyberbullying and more specific on the dangers of social media. Oh, yes, she must know this first hand and even acknowledges that many feel this is hypocritical considering who her husband is!!
But we must remember that other than their shared son, Barron, there appears to be no sign of any contact between the two - neither physical nor emotional nor even approval of the situation as is. Even Hillary at the lowest moment of the relationship with her husband still continued to share a life. Perhaps one can say that she ignored the rotten in order to accentuate the positive and felt that Bill would continue to do good work despite his lack of common sense and self control. And it worked for the most part.
However, what we have here is a psycho who uses the social media, particularly Twitter where he does not have to string together more than 140 symbols for he is truly incapable of that! He uses it to bully, to demean, to belittle and always, ever and always, to show off his true lack of any soul, of any interest other than himself and his needs as perceived by himself no matter the cost to others.
Look at his associates. Creepy indeed. Bannon, his once guru of life and I doubt that he is gone from Trump's life, set up the firm which gathered our private info and used it to play one and all for the sake of Trump. This was and is a long term plan but hopefully will be smashed to smithereens in the wake of the publicity and outrage.
So this creep now has three suits going against him, all based on his lack of morals and truly crude and even allegedly criminal behavior with these women and his intense efforts to block them. Uh uh. No way. These are determined ladies and good for them! And this fervor of denial, of trying to hide the truth continues on in his life in other areas - collusion, nasty plans, weird stuff, lack of any sense whatsoever as he congratulates his bud Putin on winning a tainted election!! Yuch!! This man is sickening and is he the modern day Manchurian candidate? Think about it. Read the book. Find the old movie and then think. Hard.
Nor should you think that he is the only dude in administration that behaves this way. More and more dirt on nasty behavior is coming out of UCO. The nastiness, the lack of humanity that David allegedly has or is guilty of is leaking. The sheer lunacy of singing Mikado. The sheer egotism as he makes references using quotes in his attempt to show off his supposed intelligence as he presumes that no one else will know their source. His constant, ever constant, use of insulting nicknames - sound familiar - his constant lies, denial of his own actions and words even as he puts them on line and then removes then when he is told to for they are truly nasty and full of lies and insults meant to hurt people and retain his presumed power. And his purported oh so many hours in UCO behind closed doors, when no one else is there, with no evident life, no friends to share life with, no mingling with the folks - he is posting, when he feels like it, the videos and whatever other crud he wishes to post or not as the case may be. Not impressed.
And now, before the Executive Board meeting, here is a chance to find an answer. The schedule for Atlantic that was posted has installation work going on till the end of 2018 and then there will need to be meetings with individual buildings , all what, 309 of them, some with no boards, mostly absentee owners, have fun with that and then the installation in private units will be taken on and how long will that take, David? What will happen with and to our cable as this is supposed to be happening? Will we end up paying Comcast thru the nose with no bulk contract due to your egotism and determination to get your way? I asked you several times to have this concern in the contract and extract a promise in writing that if this happens, that AB will pay the bills. But no, never put in the contract. You know, one of your best skills is in getting us lousy contracts no matter what the area of concern is. Interesting. So now you have many days to come up with an answer. See how nice I can be. But I and many others will be listening hard, very hard.
Why does it seem that the supposed leaders we allow in office seem to be selfish and incompetent. Why are they mostly seemingly nasty or lacking moral courage? One upon a time there were role models and no, I am not a Pollyanna and do not think that there were never corrupt politicians, far from it, but there were public servants, people who valued public service and were role models for our children growing up. Now what? Our children are marching in DC this Saturday to save their lives and the lives of others because our politicians have failed them. There will be marches all over the country and you know what - Trump will be nowhere or else driven to mouth some platitude of control which he will renege upon in the next day or send his "prayers and thoughts". No need for that for it means nothing Action. Action.
What a situation. Perhaps there is hope in the Trump situation. Perhaps he will resign and claim victory. Perhaps he will be impeached. Perhaps he will be removed. Perhaps he will be brought to court, guilty of multitudinous crimes and misdeeds. Such a pleasant thought!
And David? As long as there is no reform, and proper reform, of our bylaws, and nothing instead that will insure his position till death do part us all, we will have him in office, much to our detriment. So we will continue to press hard, to demand answers, and call all who oppose you your ridiculous names, for who cares! You see, not all of the people in the Village are children or childlike in their behavior. Think about that. Mull it over as you sit there in your closed office or venture forth to sing the Mikado. For pete's sake!!
But we must remember that other than their shared son, Barron, there appears to be no sign of any contact between the two - neither physical nor emotional nor even approval of the situation as is. Even Hillary at the lowest moment of the relationship with her husband still continued to share a life. Perhaps one can say that she ignored the rotten in order to accentuate the positive and felt that Bill would continue to do good work despite his lack of common sense and self control. And it worked for the most part.
However, what we have here is a psycho who uses the social media, particularly Twitter where he does not have to string together more than 140 symbols for he is truly incapable of that! He uses it to bully, to demean, to belittle and always, ever and always, to show off his true lack of any soul, of any interest other than himself and his needs as perceived by himself no matter the cost to others.
Look at his associates. Creepy indeed. Bannon, his once guru of life and I doubt that he is gone from Trump's life, set up the firm which gathered our private info and used it to play one and all for the sake of Trump. This was and is a long term plan but hopefully will be smashed to smithereens in the wake of the publicity and outrage.
So this creep now has three suits going against him, all based on his lack of morals and truly crude and even allegedly criminal behavior with these women and his intense efforts to block them. Uh uh. No way. These are determined ladies and good for them! And this fervor of denial, of trying to hide the truth continues on in his life in other areas - collusion, nasty plans, weird stuff, lack of any sense whatsoever as he congratulates his bud Putin on winning a tainted election!! Yuch!! This man is sickening and is he the modern day Manchurian candidate? Think about it. Read the book. Find the old movie and then think. Hard.
Nor should you think that he is the only dude in administration that behaves this way. More and more dirt on nasty behavior is coming out of UCO. The nastiness, the lack of humanity that David allegedly has or is guilty of is leaking. The sheer lunacy of singing Mikado. The sheer egotism as he makes references using quotes in his attempt to show off his supposed intelligence as he presumes that no one else will know their source. His constant, ever constant, use of insulting nicknames - sound familiar - his constant lies, denial of his own actions and words even as he puts them on line and then removes then when he is told to for they are truly nasty and full of lies and insults meant to hurt people and retain his presumed power. And his purported oh so many hours in UCO behind closed doors, when no one else is there, with no evident life, no friends to share life with, no mingling with the folks - he is posting, when he feels like it, the videos and whatever other crud he wishes to post or not as the case may be. Not impressed.
And now, before the Executive Board meeting, here is a chance to find an answer. The schedule for Atlantic that was posted has installation work going on till the end of 2018 and then there will need to be meetings with individual buildings , all what, 309 of them, some with no boards, mostly absentee owners, have fun with that and then the installation in private units will be taken on and how long will that take, David? What will happen with and to our cable as this is supposed to be happening? Will we end up paying Comcast thru the nose with no bulk contract due to your egotism and determination to get your way? I asked you several times to have this concern in the contract and extract a promise in writing that if this happens, that AB will pay the bills. But no, never put in the contract. You know, one of your best skills is in getting us lousy contracts no matter what the area of concern is. Interesting. So now you have many days to come up with an answer. See how nice I can be. But I and many others will be listening hard, very hard.
Why does it seem that the supposed leaders we allow in office seem to be selfish and incompetent. Why are they mostly seemingly nasty or lacking moral courage? One upon a time there were role models and no, I am not a Pollyanna and do not think that there were never corrupt politicians, far from it, but there were public servants, people who valued public service and were role models for our children growing up. Now what? Our children are marching in DC this Saturday to save their lives and the lives of others because our politicians have failed them. There will be marches all over the country and you know what - Trump will be nowhere or else driven to mouth some platitude of control which he will renege upon in the next day or send his "prayers and thoughts". No need for that for it means nothing Action. Action.
What a situation. Perhaps there is hope in the Trump situation. Perhaps he will resign and claim victory. Perhaps he will be impeached. Perhaps he will be removed. Perhaps he will be brought to court, guilty of multitudinous crimes and misdeeds. Such a pleasant thought!
And David? As long as there is no reform, and proper reform, of our bylaws, and nothing instead that will insure his position till death do part us all, we will have him in office, much to our detriment. So we will continue to press hard, to demand answers, and call all who oppose you your ridiculous names, for who cares! You see, not all of the people in the Village are children or childlike in their behavior. Think about that. Mull it over as you sit there in your closed office or venture forth to sing the Mikado. For pete's sake!!
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
MONEY AND MOUTHS
Put your money where your mouth is. Talk to the issue (crude translation from Yiddish). And I am sure there are many other maxims that say the same thing. It matters not what one supposedly says unless there is also action taken.
So might that not apply to Trump as well? After all, he tweets up a storm on a regular basis and is quite often the threat maker of the year yet still, he does not always follow through. Correct? Nope. While he has not, for example, fired Mueller or had him fired by another, one of his underlings, he has done so in many other cases so the man does put his money where his mouth is. The problem is that his mouth is so often all over the place and never seemingly in the same place on the same matter, that confuses some. But no bones about it, this man is out to remake the world, remake the presidency, in his own image and he could care less who goes down as he continues on in this perverted quest - even the entire country.
So who needs to put money and mouths together? Our oh so esteemed Republican representatives. Oh, now some seem to be coming out openly on the issue and stating that he has gone a step too far in his personal war on Mueller. And yet, and yet, while there are two bipartisan bills waiting there to protect Mueller - and by the way, protect our democracy - there they sit , the bills and the people. Money and mouths, people. Money and mouths.
I just have this delicious dream that there will be a flying squad of agents sent to the White House to arrest and confine this man. The world cheers as we do this. Pence is forewarned that any similar behavior on his part will result in replacement as well. People begin to regain their morals, their souls and their independent mouths. Cooperation is once again a positive tool. The immigration issue is spoken about in a rational manner and a plan is laid down, a fair one, a hopeful one. We restore our relationships with our allies and put our enemies back on notice. Sweet dream - but then I awaken to reality and it is the same old same old. Rats!!
But there is hope and it comes from the strangest place - a former porn star who has gathered her courage to the sticking point and continuing to pursue justice for herself, to point out the inequities of the treatment meted out to other sexual harassers and molesters and why not Trump? Why not!!! The latest analysis of this whole case points out that this could be a major point for Mueller and a disaster for Trump. Justice is as justice does and I await it with bated breath.
Ahhhh.
In the meanwhile, the madman in the White House, our so not national pride, continues to pursue his irrational ways, firing lawyers, bringing on others, including one weirdo who pushes conspiracies on TV and in the media, and hopefully, will not be emboldened enough to fire Mueller for then there truly is a crisis and for that crisis to be understood, just read yesterday's blog.
And in the meanwhile, this whole thing is proving to have more and more hidden away and all is coming up, not so much in roses, but in rank smelling weeds. The market tanked ! Majorly, or should I say bigly. Facebook is caught in a mess tied up with Trump and his campaign and more of their dirty tricks, violations of privacy and never mind their shouts of no collusion and witch hunt. The man doth protest too much, methinks! And so does the world and so does the market. And forthcoming trade war, should this ridiculous and dangerous tariff go into operation, will truly kill the economy and then what? Then a , not a recession, but a Depression, one to rival the Great Depression and the stories of my mother and father, of history books, of films, brings horror to my mind. Not again. Please. We must act before that happens.
There is an expression in Hebrew that one can be "off the derech", or path, meaning the proper path thru life. It might be debated as to exact and correct meaning and application, but in this instance in the secular world, we are certainly far off that derech and we must get back on track, the moral one, the democratic one, the caring and humane one, the world of talk and diplomacy, the world of justice or attempts to reach justice. A world we can live in and make better for our kids.
The man's got plenty of mouth and plenty of money. Can we align them properly? Please? Oh, where is that sweet dream of mine?
So might that not apply to Trump as well? After all, he tweets up a storm on a regular basis and is quite often the threat maker of the year yet still, he does not always follow through. Correct? Nope. While he has not, for example, fired Mueller or had him fired by another, one of his underlings, he has done so in many other cases so the man does put his money where his mouth is. The problem is that his mouth is so often all over the place and never seemingly in the same place on the same matter, that confuses some. But no bones about it, this man is out to remake the world, remake the presidency, in his own image and he could care less who goes down as he continues on in this perverted quest - even the entire country.
So who needs to put money and mouths together? Our oh so esteemed Republican representatives. Oh, now some seem to be coming out openly on the issue and stating that he has gone a step too far in his personal war on Mueller. And yet, and yet, while there are two bipartisan bills waiting there to protect Mueller - and by the way, protect our democracy - there they sit , the bills and the people. Money and mouths, people. Money and mouths.
I just have this delicious dream that there will be a flying squad of agents sent to the White House to arrest and confine this man. The world cheers as we do this. Pence is forewarned that any similar behavior on his part will result in replacement as well. People begin to regain their morals, their souls and their independent mouths. Cooperation is once again a positive tool. The immigration issue is spoken about in a rational manner and a plan is laid down, a fair one, a hopeful one. We restore our relationships with our allies and put our enemies back on notice. Sweet dream - but then I awaken to reality and it is the same old same old. Rats!!
But there is hope and it comes from the strangest place - a former porn star who has gathered her courage to the sticking point and continuing to pursue justice for herself, to point out the inequities of the treatment meted out to other sexual harassers and molesters and why not Trump? Why not!!! The latest analysis of this whole case points out that this could be a major point for Mueller and a disaster for Trump. Justice is as justice does and I await it with bated breath.
Ahhhh.
In the meanwhile, the madman in the White House, our so not national pride, continues to pursue his irrational ways, firing lawyers, bringing on others, including one weirdo who pushes conspiracies on TV and in the media, and hopefully, will not be emboldened enough to fire Mueller for then there truly is a crisis and for that crisis to be understood, just read yesterday's blog.
And in the meanwhile, this whole thing is proving to have more and more hidden away and all is coming up, not so much in roses, but in rank smelling weeds. The market tanked ! Majorly, or should I say bigly. Facebook is caught in a mess tied up with Trump and his campaign and more of their dirty tricks, violations of privacy and never mind their shouts of no collusion and witch hunt. The man doth protest too much, methinks! And so does the world and so does the market. And forthcoming trade war, should this ridiculous and dangerous tariff go into operation, will truly kill the economy and then what? Then a , not a recession, but a Depression, one to rival the Great Depression and the stories of my mother and father, of history books, of films, brings horror to my mind. Not again. Please. We must act before that happens.
There is an expression in Hebrew that one can be "off the derech", or path, meaning the proper path thru life. It might be debated as to exact and correct meaning and application, but in this instance in the secular world, we are certainly far off that derech and we must get back on track, the moral one, the democratic one, the caring and humane one, the world of talk and diplomacy, the world of justice or attempts to reach justice. A world we can live in and make better for our kids.
The man's got plenty of mouth and plenty of money. Can we align them properly? Please? Oh, where is that sweet dream of mine?
Monday, March 19, 2018
ARE WE REALLY THERE?
Yesterday, while driving past a gun range, it slipped out. I, who have long raged against the availability of semi assault weapons, said, "Maybe we should buy one." They are so heavy I do not even think I can lift one, but the important thing was the statement, heretofore anathema to me.
So why say it? Well, folks, I think we are just about at that point. The wood is stacked, the tinder is there and the match is all but lit and ready to apply fire to said woodpile. What wood, you ask? What match? What fire?
Take a look around. We have a President who is clearly accelerated in the pace of his devolvement into some kind of demented hermit, hulked and hunkering down on his couch, tweeting away to Fox & Friends, paranoid about his so called enemies, even tweeting openly in his ever growing personal attacks on Mueller and at times deflecting off to Rosenstein, and yet his aides state that he is growing ever more confident in his role as President. Yikes!! Lord help us!
That confidence is not a good thing since it is not leading towards better decisions, better policies, only more and harsher threats, now even threatening the Senate if they do not break his way, with 79 cloture votes already in the first 14 months of his administration as compared to a total of 17 cloture votes in the first 14 months of previous presidents. (You know, as I sit hear writing this, it occurs to me how similar this behavior is to the behavior of David Israel, who sits there, hunkered down in his office in UCO, all day and into the nite, on Sundays, no life at all it seems, and yet what does he do there? Who the hell knows. He sings for UCO people during the day, evidently a fan of The Mikado, imitates people whom he detests and about whom he has paranoid thoughts, so what? brothers of other mothers? Hmmm. But that is for another blog. Details to follow.)
The world of Trump, his mind and his mouth are rife with lies, fantastical statements of Japanese testing American cars by dropping bowling balls on the hoods, admitting, no, boasting, about telling a lie to Trudeau, so proud of himself, and where are his human sides? No where I could find. His wife cannot stand him, as evident by her behavior and stances with him. There is never a father son photo and remember, other children have lived in the White House and there were family pictures as well. Not here. Poor Barron. Poor kid. Truly, I feel for him, though not for his annoying and perhaps even dangerous brothers.
So why the statement about a weapon. Why? Because I believe we are at a tipping point. We have biased hatemongers who are bold enough to come out with disgusting statements, the last being a Councilman from DC, emboldened and stupid enough to blame the weather on Jews, the Rothschild family in particular. Oh, the power we Jews have! Not! other than giving so much to the world, from the Bible to religion, to inventions and theories, to culture, both content and funding, to humanitarian organizations, to fighting for Civil Rights for all - but oh, for sure, we caused the snow to fall!!
The hatred that is rising to the surface, like the scummy stuff it is, along with the sleazeballs who promulgate it, the divided country with the lines of division growing deeper and deeper, and the impending major constitutional crisis should this maniac fire Mueller and/or Rosenstein, all piled up as wood for the fire with the match and the potential to start a terrible fire being held in the dangerous and maniacal hand of Trump.
So America teeters on the brink of a terrible civil war. The demented demagogue at the heart of it, along with the wimpy and soulless, brainless, cowardly, spineless Republicans who go along with him, who suck up to him, combined with the alt right and its ever growing extremism are positioned against the violent anti-fas, the power and determination of the young and those who cannot stand to read the stories and see the photos of children being ripped from their mothers at the border, little ones, babies, teens - what the hell are we doing? They took the children away in the camps, in Bosnia, in Rohingya, in Nigeria, wherever there is a dictator and hordes of haters along with a faulty leader. We sneak about getting personal info on people, using this to help Trump get elected. We allow a foreign enemy entry into our elections, violating our very foundation and all along we have a President who is growing ever more frantic as Mueller nears the truth.
Trump screams there is no crime, yet people have been indicted, pled guilty. There is no collusion he states, yet that evidence is growing too. The filth of his money dealings, his business with Russia even during his campaign, the wreck of morality, his disgusting behavior with and attitude towards women - all this and more, folks, are piling up. And why so frantic if there is nothing to hide? Where are those tax returns?
So, back to the gun, the rifle. Why? Because I am growing ever more leery, no - frightened - at the thought and the growing possibility of a civil war and not just with civil disobedience. Nope. This will be complete with rioting in the streets, violence, attacks on people and infrastructure and sooner or later the first shot will go off. Will it be a Nation Guardsman shooting at a college kid as at Kent University? Will it be a US Army soldier shooting at a National Guard position? Will it be a civilian who has just about had it? Or will it be a hate filled extremist, on either side, who will light that fire. And once lit, that fire will consume us, the country, our democracy and then, and then.....hence the weapon. Never, ever, did I think I would feel this way. Never - and yet here we are.
So why say it? Well, folks, I think we are just about at that point. The wood is stacked, the tinder is there and the match is all but lit and ready to apply fire to said woodpile. What wood, you ask? What match? What fire?
Take a look around. We have a President who is clearly accelerated in the pace of his devolvement into some kind of demented hermit, hulked and hunkering down on his couch, tweeting away to Fox & Friends, paranoid about his so called enemies, even tweeting openly in his ever growing personal attacks on Mueller and at times deflecting off to Rosenstein, and yet his aides state that he is growing ever more confident in his role as President. Yikes!! Lord help us!
That confidence is not a good thing since it is not leading towards better decisions, better policies, only more and harsher threats, now even threatening the Senate if they do not break his way, with 79 cloture votes already in the first 14 months of his administration as compared to a total of 17 cloture votes in the first 14 months of previous presidents. (You know, as I sit hear writing this, it occurs to me how similar this behavior is to the behavior of David Israel, who sits there, hunkered down in his office in UCO, all day and into the nite, on Sundays, no life at all it seems, and yet what does he do there? Who the hell knows. He sings for UCO people during the day, evidently a fan of The Mikado, imitates people whom he detests and about whom he has paranoid thoughts, so what? brothers of other mothers? Hmmm. But that is for another blog. Details to follow.)
The world of Trump, his mind and his mouth are rife with lies, fantastical statements of Japanese testing American cars by dropping bowling balls on the hoods, admitting, no, boasting, about telling a lie to Trudeau, so proud of himself, and where are his human sides? No where I could find. His wife cannot stand him, as evident by her behavior and stances with him. There is never a father son photo and remember, other children have lived in the White House and there were family pictures as well. Not here. Poor Barron. Poor kid. Truly, I feel for him, though not for his annoying and perhaps even dangerous brothers.
So why the statement about a weapon. Why? Because I believe we are at a tipping point. We have biased hatemongers who are bold enough to come out with disgusting statements, the last being a Councilman from DC, emboldened and stupid enough to blame the weather on Jews, the Rothschild family in particular. Oh, the power we Jews have! Not! other than giving so much to the world, from the Bible to religion, to inventions and theories, to culture, both content and funding, to humanitarian organizations, to fighting for Civil Rights for all - but oh, for sure, we caused the snow to fall!!
The hatred that is rising to the surface, like the scummy stuff it is, along with the sleazeballs who promulgate it, the divided country with the lines of division growing deeper and deeper, and the impending major constitutional crisis should this maniac fire Mueller and/or Rosenstein, all piled up as wood for the fire with the match and the potential to start a terrible fire being held in the dangerous and maniacal hand of Trump.
So America teeters on the brink of a terrible civil war. The demented demagogue at the heart of it, along with the wimpy and soulless, brainless, cowardly, spineless Republicans who go along with him, who suck up to him, combined with the alt right and its ever growing extremism are positioned against the violent anti-fas, the power and determination of the young and those who cannot stand to read the stories and see the photos of children being ripped from their mothers at the border, little ones, babies, teens - what the hell are we doing? They took the children away in the camps, in Bosnia, in Rohingya, in Nigeria, wherever there is a dictator and hordes of haters along with a faulty leader. We sneak about getting personal info on people, using this to help Trump get elected. We allow a foreign enemy entry into our elections, violating our very foundation and all along we have a President who is growing ever more frantic as Mueller nears the truth.
Trump screams there is no crime, yet people have been indicted, pled guilty. There is no collusion he states, yet that evidence is growing too. The filth of his money dealings, his business with Russia even during his campaign, the wreck of morality, his disgusting behavior with and attitude towards women - all this and more, folks, are piling up. And why so frantic if there is nothing to hide? Where are those tax returns?
So, back to the gun, the rifle. Why? Because I am growing ever more leery, no - frightened - at the thought and the growing possibility of a civil war and not just with civil disobedience. Nope. This will be complete with rioting in the streets, violence, attacks on people and infrastructure and sooner or later the first shot will go off. Will it be a Nation Guardsman shooting at a college kid as at Kent University? Will it be a US Army soldier shooting at a National Guard position? Will it be a civilian who has just about had it? Or will it be a hate filled extremist, on either side, who will light that fire. And once lit, that fire will consume us, the country, our democracy and then, and then.....hence the weapon. Never, ever, did I think I would feel this way. Never - and yet here we are.
Sunday, March 18, 2018
THE SLIME OF LIFE
Well, thought I would write something else this morning, but the news tells me that I need to shift gears. So I did.
Here is the topic, the question or the statement. You choose. We, the country, its citizens, its morals, its character, are all going down the chute to extinction and to the land of rejected governments, to join the "once there was a Camelot".
Every day as I read the news, listen to it, think about it, I am more frightened than ever. Where is our democracy headed? You tell me, for perhaps you have a more optimistic state of mind and could convince me that I am wrong, worried for naught. But - any explanation will have to explain away all the doubts, all the terror.
First and foremost is the fact that we have as President a man who was never ever capable of fulfilling such a responsibility. And now? It is even worse as he appears to be in the stage of dementia where one is hostile, oppositional, engaged in illusions and delusions and determined that one gets what one wants and never mind the harm it does in this determination.
We have an administration that is most unstable, to say the least. Close to 30 people have been fired or resigned, and so many have been fired thru Twitter!!! This man thinks like an adolescent, one in the throes of egotism, of self centered behavior and thinking. He is cruel to the max what with his name calling, his trumpeting of those names, the childish habit of inventing cruel nicknames and insisting on using them ad infinitum ad nauseam. Truly the slime of life.
The stability of the country is on a tilt. It is on a path of divisiveness, of anger and civil war. No one hears anymore. No one talks anymore. No one appears to be rational as they are caught in the fervor of the moment. People seem to be picking sides and refusing to move at all, determined to prove that they were right even as they know they were and are and will continue to be wrong - to a dangerous degree.
Our leaders have lost their morals. They have decided to accept a moral degenerate as their Party leader and have behaved with him as one does with an all powerful dictator, but this is America! We are not supposed to have dictators. We are not supposed to tolerate a person who governs by dictat, by issuing one executive order after another, most designed to serve the purposes and goals of big business and screw the people.
And the lies. The lies!! Trump thinks that repeating the lie will make it go away or turn into the truth. Yes, it has worked before in history - Germany 1933, Italy with Il Duce and so many others. But not here!!! We have always had brave journalists who would uncover the truth, who would dig, who would muckrack and defend our country and its principles. But now we have the denigration of media - as long as they are anti Trump, as long as they are seeking the truth. However, those who support the Big Lie, such as Fox News, why their very personnel are welcomed into government and the line between government and media is growing very thin, erased completely in some places. Very dangerous indeed. The slime of life again.
We are governed by a vicious man with vicious underlings, people who lie with filthy hands and mouths. And the truth keeps coming to the top. For how long has Trump been trying to shut down Stormy? Granted, she may not be the virgin princess, but that is not the point and why has he and his been trying for so long, using threats of all kind, including physical threats? Because it is all true!! Why has he been shouting to the heavens that there is a Witch Hunt re Russia and the Trump Organization and perhaps Trump himself? Because as more and more comes out we see that there certainly was and still is a big problem. Our President appears to be a Putin puppet! Slime.
In addition, the man is cruel and vindictive. He fires a man who has stood up to his crazy demands just one day before he was to retire and collect his pension. And then he gloats about it, shouting on media sites. Nasty is as nasty does! Luckily there are others with hearts who will hire this man, McCabe and insure his right to his pension. But that is not the point. The point is that Trump is a creep. First, last and always!
Even as the kids of today shout and demand that they not be targets of assault weapons any more, Trump gives in to the filth of NRA. He reneges on any statements made re control. He overlooks the truth of this issue and instead crows about a raid in San Diego which nets 115 immigrants. And a person on the raid, in a position of responsibility states, "It's just another day in the life of an ICE officer....It's the job. It's what we do. It's the mission."
I do not know about you, but this excuse of just doing a job, of rounding up people, of throwing them away, of mass imprisonments, of equating long term residents and short termers, of equating a business owner and family member with a gangster - it stinks to the heavens with hatred of others, of xenophobia, of all that is rotten in the world of humans and something that we should have eliminated long ago.
Frankly, I am on the edge of calling for civil disobedience. No violence. Just making sure that our voices are heard. Ensuring that the elected personnel realize that Trump and hate cannot and will not save them in the next few elections. Make sure that the Republicans realize that their loyalty at the end must be with the people they are supposed to serve and not to the PARTY or to an immoral and allegedly criminal personality of infinite cruelty, misogyny, nastiness and total immorality. I see no other way and that is what is so frightening. But how else are we to ensure that the American dream lives on? You tell me.
Here is the topic, the question or the statement. You choose. We, the country, its citizens, its morals, its character, are all going down the chute to extinction and to the land of rejected governments, to join the "once there was a Camelot".
Every day as I read the news, listen to it, think about it, I am more frightened than ever. Where is our democracy headed? You tell me, for perhaps you have a more optimistic state of mind and could convince me that I am wrong, worried for naught. But - any explanation will have to explain away all the doubts, all the terror.
First and foremost is the fact that we have as President a man who was never ever capable of fulfilling such a responsibility. And now? It is even worse as he appears to be in the stage of dementia where one is hostile, oppositional, engaged in illusions and delusions and determined that one gets what one wants and never mind the harm it does in this determination.
We have an administration that is most unstable, to say the least. Close to 30 people have been fired or resigned, and so many have been fired thru Twitter!!! This man thinks like an adolescent, one in the throes of egotism, of self centered behavior and thinking. He is cruel to the max what with his name calling, his trumpeting of those names, the childish habit of inventing cruel nicknames and insisting on using them ad infinitum ad nauseam. Truly the slime of life.
The stability of the country is on a tilt. It is on a path of divisiveness, of anger and civil war. No one hears anymore. No one talks anymore. No one appears to be rational as they are caught in the fervor of the moment. People seem to be picking sides and refusing to move at all, determined to prove that they were right even as they know they were and are and will continue to be wrong - to a dangerous degree.
Our leaders have lost their morals. They have decided to accept a moral degenerate as their Party leader and have behaved with him as one does with an all powerful dictator, but this is America! We are not supposed to have dictators. We are not supposed to tolerate a person who governs by dictat, by issuing one executive order after another, most designed to serve the purposes and goals of big business and screw the people.
And the lies. The lies!! Trump thinks that repeating the lie will make it go away or turn into the truth. Yes, it has worked before in history - Germany 1933, Italy with Il Duce and so many others. But not here!!! We have always had brave journalists who would uncover the truth, who would dig, who would muckrack and defend our country and its principles. But now we have the denigration of media - as long as they are anti Trump, as long as they are seeking the truth. However, those who support the Big Lie, such as Fox News, why their very personnel are welcomed into government and the line between government and media is growing very thin, erased completely in some places. Very dangerous indeed. The slime of life again.
We are governed by a vicious man with vicious underlings, people who lie with filthy hands and mouths. And the truth keeps coming to the top. For how long has Trump been trying to shut down Stormy? Granted, she may not be the virgin princess, but that is not the point and why has he and his been trying for so long, using threats of all kind, including physical threats? Because it is all true!! Why has he been shouting to the heavens that there is a Witch Hunt re Russia and the Trump Organization and perhaps Trump himself? Because as more and more comes out we see that there certainly was and still is a big problem. Our President appears to be a Putin puppet! Slime.
In addition, the man is cruel and vindictive. He fires a man who has stood up to his crazy demands just one day before he was to retire and collect his pension. And then he gloats about it, shouting on media sites. Nasty is as nasty does! Luckily there are others with hearts who will hire this man, McCabe and insure his right to his pension. But that is not the point. The point is that Trump is a creep. First, last and always!
Even as the kids of today shout and demand that they not be targets of assault weapons any more, Trump gives in to the filth of NRA. He reneges on any statements made re control. He overlooks the truth of this issue and instead crows about a raid in San Diego which nets 115 immigrants. And a person on the raid, in a position of responsibility states, "It's just another day in the life of an ICE officer....It's the job. It's what we do. It's the mission."
I do not know about you, but this excuse of just doing a job, of rounding up people, of throwing them away, of mass imprisonments, of equating long term residents and short termers, of equating a business owner and family member with a gangster - it stinks to the heavens with hatred of others, of xenophobia, of all that is rotten in the world of humans and something that we should have eliminated long ago.
Frankly, I am on the edge of calling for civil disobedience. No violence. Just making sure that our voices are heard. Ensuring that the elected personnel realize that Trump and hate cannot and will not save them in the next few elections. Make sure that the Republicans realize that their loyalty at the end must be with the people they are supposed to serve and not to the PARTY or to an immoral and allegedly criminal personality of infinite cruelty, misogyny, nastiness and total immorality. I see no other way and that is what is so frightening. But how else are we to ensure that the American dream lives on? You tell me.
Friday, March 16, 2018
IS THERE ANY?
Any what, you ask? Any good news is the answer. It is almost impossible to pick up a paper, turn on the TV or radio or go on line without the bad news just blasting away at one's sensibilities. Someone does something stupid, or mean, or there is a terrible accident, or there is a shooting attack yet again, our presumed leader embarrasses us again and again and again and we all just hunch over, cringe and try to turn our minds to something else.
But there appears to be something within our what - DNA, genes, composite, plain curiosity - that turns us to the shooting report rather than the good deed of another. Why? Beats me.
But this certainly has a consequence. People stop listening or reading about the daily events, here and abroad. They stop paying attention to the news about the grid of activities and happenings that make up the story of our nation. They cede the nation to those who have the patience and the designs to take advantage of the situation and the weariness of the people and they forge ahead with plans to take over or remold the nation in their preferred image. And the outrageous deeds they do seem to fade into the woodwork as there are ever more new misdeeds coming down the chute.
Can anyone other than the assiduous media workers list all the lies and misdeeds of the Trump administration? It is so all encompassing, from private and public, to a constant and dizzying turnover, to a fear of fascistic government growing ever closer to reality, to the fear that this is what we have wrought, this is what we have made of our country, this is what we have practically given away, even yearned for it under the misguided idea of "Change". Our minds are shredded by all this and to save our own sanity, we turn away from it, saying that we cannot do anything, that we have to wait another three years.
Well, I do not think that we have three years left as a safety hedge. When things in so much quantity go wrong, when the leader is a pig, when the leader is immoral, when he can barely string three words together and three sentences together in some form of standard communication that makes sense, when he cannot stop lying or denying facts and the misdeeds of his behavior and actions, when his appointees follow in his footsteps as they indulge their greed at our expense and are so incompetent or venal at their jobs - what does one do - what can one do?
So we turn inward. We look within ourselves and our circle of family and friends for satisfaction, for some joy in life. We subconsciously or consciously cut out the unpleasant news of the day or hour and hence make ourselves purposely blind to reality. Understandable? Yes, but dangerous too.
So, some good news from recent days and the past year? Well, it certainly has brought women together to make the demands for a better life. It has brought people together to fight for those who cannot or who need help in their fight - immigrants, Dreamers, plain old citizens who are rocked by this administration. It has brought together a coalition of those determined to fight for our safety net, our regulatory safety rules over big business, big Pharma, etc. and over those who would remove it all in the name of greed. It has brought more of a realization of the truth and dangers of climate change and the importance of meeting these needs with solid plans and action. And most important of all, it has roused the younger generation who are now determined to see that they remain alive to get to vote and they are promising to use that vote carefully, wisely and with its presumed powers and effects. Good for them!!
So..... Is there any good news? I turn to friends and family. I turn to the actions of those who ran to help those trapped and injured by that bridge collapse. And then I ask - why was this company doing the building when they had problems before. Another misdeed to put it mildly. I look around and see stranger families as they walk and talk and laugh and hug and yup, folks, sorry state of affairs, but this is where the happiness is today - in our private lives. It seems to be a safer place, a saner place but we must pay attention to the other and larger world if we are to survive along with our families. Is there any? Is there any good news? Yes, if one looks for it and then works hard to make more happen.
I promise that I will work as hard as I can in my own limited way to make this a better world, a fairer world, a kinder world. I pledge not to allow - at least most of the time - not to allow myself to totally lose myself in despair and hopelessness because of health issues. I will look to aforementioned friends, new one made because of this very issue and oh yes, keep battering away at that deranged personality who will lead us into major danger unless we block him. I will make my own good news if I have to!
There! My own little statement of resolve and determination and yes, even optimism. This is where we need to be even as we battle those who would wrong us, the nation and the world.
But there appears to be something within our what - DNA, genes, composite, plain curiosity - that turns us to the shooting report rather than the good deed of another. Why? Beats me.
But this certainly has a consequence. People stop listening or reading about the daily events, here and abroad. They stop paying attention to the news about the grid of activities and happenings that make up the story of our nation. They cede the nation to those who have the patience and the designs to take advantage of the situation and the weariness of the people and they forge ahead with plans to take over or remold the nation in their preferred image. And the outrageous deeds they do seem to fade into the woodwork as there are ever more new misdeeds coming down the chute.
Can anyone other than the assiduous media workers list all the lies and misdeeds of the Trump administration? It is so all encompassing, from private and public, to a constant and dizzying turnover, to a fear of fascistic government growing ever closer to reality, to the fear that this is what we have wrought, this is what we have made of our country, this is what we have practically given away, even yearned for it under the misguided idea of "Change". Our minds are shredded by all this and to save our own sanity, we turn away from it, saying that we cannot do anything, that we have to wait another three years.
Well, I do not think that we have three years left as a safety hedge. When things in so much quantity go wrong, when the leader is a pig, when the leader is immoral, when he can barely string three words together and three sentences together in some form of standard communication that makes sense, when he cannot stop lying or denying facts and the misdeeds of his behavior and actions, when his appointees follow in his footsteps as they indulge their greed at our expense and are so incompetent or venal at their jobs - what does one do - what can one do?
So we turn inward. We look within ourselves and our circle of family and friends for satisfaction, for some joy in life. We subconsciously or consciously cut out the unpleasant news of the day or hour and hence make ourselves purposely blind to reality. Understandable? Yes, but dangerous too.
So, some good news from recent days and the past year? Well, it certainly has brought women together to make the demands for a better life. It has brought people together to fight for those who cannot or who need help in their fight - immigrants, Dreamers, plain old citizens who are rocked by this administration. It has brought together a coalition of those determined to fight for our safety net, our regulatory safety rules over big business, big Pharma, etc. and over those who would remove it all in the name of greed. It has brought more of a realization of the truth and dangers of climate change and the importance of meeting these needs with solid plans and action. And most important of all, it has roused the younger generation who are now determined to see that they remain alive to get to vote and they are promising to use that vote carefully, wisely and with its presumed powers and effects. Good for them!!
So..... Is there any good news? I turn to friends and family. I turn to the actions of those who ran to help those trapped and injured by that bridge collapse. And then I ask - why was this company doing the building when they had problems before. Another misdeed to put it mildly. I look around and see stranger families as they walk and talk and laugh and hug and yup, folks, sorry state of affairs, but this is where the happiness is today - in our private lives. It seems to be a safer place, a saner place but we must pay attention to the other and larger world if we are to survive along with our families. Is there any? Is there any good news? Yes, if one looks for it and then works hard to make more happen.
I promise that I will work as hard as I can in my own limited way to make this a better world, a fairer world, a kinder world. I pledge not to allow - at least most of the time - not to allow myself to totally lose myself in despair and hopelessness because of health issues. I will look to aforementioned friends, new one made because of this very issue and oh yes, keep battering away at that deranged personality who will lead us into major danger unless we block him. I will make my own good news if I have to!
There! My own little statement of resolve and determination and yes, even optimism. This is where we need to be even as we battle those who would wrong us, the nation and the world.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
"TEMPEST TOST"
Remember learning the whole poem in grade school? How we all stood there and proudly recited it, excited when we learned of its importance, its meaning and connection to the principles of our country. How we all were reminded that perhaps we were part of that "tempest-tost" multitude, either ourselves, our parents or grandparents or however far back, for all people here were immigrants at one time or another.
But today, if one looks towards a great big green statue, one begins to see holes in the fabric of its meaning. "Send these, the homeless..." Really? We do not even take care of the homeless within our own country and we chase down the new immigrants with a vengeance so where, for heaven's sake, have we gone wrong? When and where have we seemingly made the decision to ignore the Lady, ignore our purpose as a country, and turn instead to hatred, to cold shoulders, to selfishness, to Fascism with America First borrowed straight from the lexicon and philosophy of Fascism.
When and why have we allowed a weird orange maned degenerate to rule the country. And I use that term, rule, with serious intent and purpose. Just as we once had pride in the Lady and her poem, so we once had pride in another Republican's statement in a turbulent time. "....government of the people, by the people, for the people..." Oh, how the Republicans have changed. Oh, how they have turned their backs on a proud history and are now the party of oppression, of suppression, of prejudice, greed and power for power's sake.
When a supposedly safe seat is lost even for a short, almost politically meaningless in a way, what do the Republicans say? First they go all a twitter, worried for their own seats in November elections. They worry they will lose their majorities from cities to states to country and lose their hateful programs. They worry they will not be able to stack the deck on the Supreme Court bench, nor continue to take apart all that the country means, even as they drain it of money with taxpayers paying for the regal lives of the Secretaries!!
And back at the golf course, Trump openly admits he lied, made up facts - ooh, Fake News....in a conversation with Trudeau, a head of state of our northern neighbor, a good friend and to read his statement and his boasting of it is to hear a deranged and functionally illiterate person, one who desperately needs help to return to sanity, if that is even possible. Perhaps now even the still willfully blind will come to accept that this man is so flawed, so morally repugnant, that he has to go.
Even as Trump advances his agenda, shouting America First ever louder, rending his Cabinet until he finds all like minds so that there is no disagreement with his fascistic policies, even as he speeds toward his anti democratic plans, perhaps all is not lost. A safe district goes to a Democrat, who mind you is more of a Republican in Democratic clothing, but the point is made. Perhaps there are those finally seeing the light. They are seeing the crazed power hungry mind at work, the dangers of a selfish and corrupt administration, the deterioration in the reputation and yes, power, of our country, lessening day by day, hour by hour.
And our young, our besieged young, have found leaders, those who are not afraid to speak up, tired of being sitting targets in a crazed carnival booth with them as the ducks and the shooters individuals who are enabled to get the guns that kill them. And why? Because the politicians take the dirty money of the NRA who rant and rave about the Second Amendment but forget the Declaration and the right to LIFE that they are ignoring. I take great pride and hope in these youngsters who have organized a nation wide movement, coordinated it and are planning the next phase of it for March 24. Hopefully, these are the statesmen and women of the future - not politicians, but public service people who wish to serve the people in positive and good ways.
Then once again we will be able to look into NY Harbor and see the Lady, proudly recite the poem, proudly return to our roots, proudly become not the tempest tost country we are now, but into a refuge for those tempest tost to our shores and even for those who do not, for to make America great again, unlike Trump's perverted version, is to find our hearts again, our purpose again, our morals again, our democracy again, to truly believe that all have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" - in a safe and moral and inclusive manner. Would that this time comes soon.
But today, if one looks towards a great big green statue, one begins to see holes in the fabric of its meaning. "Send these, the homeless..." Really? We do not even take care of the homeless within our own country and we chase down the new immigrants with a vengeance so where, for heaven's sake, have we gone wrong? When and where have we seemingly made the decision to ignore the Lady, ignore our purpose as a country, and turn instead to hatred, to cold shoulders, to selfishness, to Fascism with America First borrowed straight from the lexicon and philosophy of Fascism.
When and why have we allowed a weird orange maned degenerate to rule the country. And I use that term, rule, with serious intent and purpose. Just as we once had pride in the Lady and her poem, so we once had pride in another Republican's statement in a turbulent time. "....government of the people, by the people, for the people..." Oh, how the Republicans have changed. Oh, how they have turned their backs on a proud history and are now the party of oppression, of suppression, of prejudice, greed and power for power's sake.
When a supposedly safe seat is lost even for a short, almost politically meaningless in a way, what do the Republicans say? First they go all a twitter, worried for their own seats in November elections. They worry they will lose their majorities from cities to states to country and lose their hateful programs. They worry they will not be able to stack the deck on the Supreme Court bench, nor continue to take apart all that the country means, even as they drain it of money with taxpayers paying for the regal lives of the Secretaries!!
And back at the golf course, Trump openly admits he lied, made up facts - ooh, Fake News....in a conversation with Trudeau, a head of state of our northern neighbor, a good friend and to read his statement and his boasting of it is to hear a deranged and functionally illiterate person, one who desperately needs help to return to sanity, if that is even possible. Perhaps now even the still willfully blind will come to accept that this man is so flawed, so morally repugnant, that he has to go.
Even as Trump advances his agenda, shouting America First ever louder, rending his Cabinet until he finds all like minds so that there is no disagreement with his fascistic policies, even as he speeds toward his anti democratic plans, perhaps all is not lost. A safe district goes to a Democrat, who mind you is more of a Republican in Democratic clothing, but the point is made. Perhaps there are those finally seeing the light. They are seeing the crazed power hungry mind at work, the dangers of a selfish and corrupt administration, the deterioration in the reputation and yes, power, of our country, lessening day by day, hour by hour.
And our young, our besieged young, have found leaders, those who are not afraid to speak up, tired of being sitting targets in a crazed carnival booth with them as the ducks and the shooters individuals who are enabled to get the guns that kill them. And why? Because the politicians take the dirty money of the NRA who rant and rave about the Second Amendment but forget the Declaration and the right to LIFE that they are ignoring. I take great pride and hope in these youngsters who have organized a nation wide movement, coordinated it and are planning the next phase of it for March 24. Hopefully, these are the statesmen and women of the future - not politicians, but public service people who wish to serve the people in positive and good ways.
Then once again we will be able to look into NY Harbor and see the Lady, proudly recite the poem, proudly return to our roots, proudly become not the tempest tost country we are now, but into a refuge for those tempest tost to our shores and even for those who do not, for to make America great again, unlike Trump's perverted version, is to find our hearts again, our purpose again, our morals again, our democracy again, to truly believe that all have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" - in a safe and moral and inclusive manner. Would that this time comes soon.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
I'M SO DIZZY...
....my head is spinning....
Remember the song? Well, it is perfect for the times of today. It is especially so for us poor seniors who sometimes cannot remember where we put our glasses! I am wondering if I can recall the name of any of his appointees....hmmm....Ahhh, DeVos, that fool. So there is still hope for our recall.
But seriously, what a mess in our government and yet a fright too. As the Secretaries and deputies and assistants go down like ten pins, as people are knocked out due to lack of security clearance and why that took over a year to happen is beyond me, except to frighten me, look at the results. More and more the surviving population is beginning to look, no, past beginning, to look like the entry way to a Firster convention, complete with the advocate of torture!
The atmosphere today is vile, poisonous. If one protests then one is put into a special hell of Trumpism - the hell where one stands all alone as in dodgeball and has to take all the name calling, the nastiness, the vindictiveness that Republicans can throw. So two brave and outspoken kids from Stoneham are called names, one deriding a mind and the other the orientation. And this is done by a supposed grown up but it seems that there are no more grownups in the Party, only bullied wimps and nasty mouths, all pandering and fawning before the would be king.
I am dizzy from the turnaround in our country, from one practicing democracy, where human rights are valued, where there is a safety net for society, where there is hope, where the Statue of Liberty's words were still valid to a country of growing fascism, yes, fascism, wherein protest is bad, hatred is good, women are to be kept in their place and men have the right to abuse and hassle. It is becoming a land where there is less hope for the future, a land where brute force and bad mouthing is the way to go, where protests turn violent and where we are truly being ruled by the inmates!
We all semi joked that we needed to move to Canada and hoped they would not put up a wall, but seriously, I have never heard so much talk now of where we - Jews - are to go should the situation worsen. Up 57%, the instances of anti Semitism continue to grow, in both talk and physical violence. And remember, if one should say well, whew, I am not Jewish, it does not really matter. The lies abound, you are what these people make you and hatred does not end, never!!
I'm so dizzy that I am wondering if I am really seeing the children of this man running around mouthing off with their opinions, the entire family gaining on their bottom line even as they put on a face of sacrifice for the country - HA!! I am wondering where all the true patriots, the idealistic, the altruistic, government servants went. Where and when did we lose the idea of public service and when did it become just a step or rung of the ladder to enriching oneself. When did we lose our 'Americanism' and become just a larger behemoth aping the dictatorships of the rest of the world. When did we trade in our pride as First Country for the existence as a western hemisphere example of corruption and falsehood.
So I need to find, we need to find, something to hold on to. Whether Lamb beats Saccone, he till wins, we still win, as Trumpism loses its hold on the people there. It would be a minor win, technically as the district is scheduled to go down, but it is a telling victory actually and gives us hope that there might actually be an end to this crude imitation of true administration.
I'm so dizzy with the possibility!! Hope seems to waft into the room. Hope that we can return to our good roots, to the strides we have made, to the progress we have made and that truly - all are equal in opportunity and rights. My head is spinning with the possibilities. But we must keep up with these chances to fix the mess. The inmates have got to be returned to their asylum and we must resume our position as champion of the world, of liberty, of pride in ourselves and our true achievements. Can we? Will we? Ohhh, I'm so dizzy....
Remember the song? Well, it is perfect for the times of today. It is especially so for us poor seniors who sometimes cannot remember where we put our glasses! I am wondering if I can recall the name of any of his appointees....hmmm....Ahhh, DeVos, that fool. So there is still hope for our recall.
But seriously, what a mess in our government and yet a fright too. As the Secretaries and deputies and assistants go down like ten pins, as people are knocked out due to lack of security clearance and why that took over a year to happen is beyond me, except to frighten me, look at the results. More and more the surviving population is beginning to look, no, past beginning, to look like the entry way to a Firster convention, complete with the advocate of torture!
The atmosphere today is vile, poisonous. If one protests then one is put into a special hell of Trumpism - the hell where one stands all alone as in dodgeball and has to take all the name calling, the nastiness, the vindictiveness that Republicans can throw. So two brave and outspoken kids from Stoneham are called names, one deriding a mind and the other the orientation. And this is done by a supposed grown up but it seems that there are no more grownups in the Party, only bullied wimps and nasty mouths, all pandering and fawning before the would be king.
I am dizzy from the turnaround in our country, from one practicing democracy, where human rights are valued, where there is a safety net for society, where there is hope, where the Statue of Liberty's words were still valid to a country of growing fascism, yes, fascism, wherein protest is bad, hatred is good, women are to be kept in their place and men have the right to abuse and hassle. It is becoming a land where there is less hope for the future, a land where brute force and bad mouthing is the way to go, where protests turn violent and where we are truly being ruled by the inmates!
We all semi joked that we needed to move to Canada and hoped they would not put up a wall, but seriously, I have never heard so much talk now of where we - Jews - are to go should the situation worsen. Up 57%, the instances of anti Semitism continue to grow, in both talk and physical violence. And remember, if one should say well, whew, I am not Jewish, it does not really matter. The lies abound, you are what these people make you and hatred does not end, never!!
I'm so dizzy that I am wondering if I am really seeing the children of this man running around mouthing off with their opinions, the entire family gaining on their bottom line even as they put on a face of sacrifice for the country - HA!! I am wondering where all the true patriots, the idealistic, the altruistic, government servants went. Where and when did we lose the idea of public service and when did it become just a step or rung of the ladder to enriching oneself. When did we lose our 'Americanism' and become just a larger behemoth aping the dictatorships of the rest of the world. When did we trade in our pride as First Country for the existence as a western hemisphere example of corruption and falsehood.
So I need to find, we need to find, something to hold on to. Whether Lamb beats Saccone, he till wins, we still win, as Trumpism loses its hold on the people there. It would be a minor win, technically as the district is scheduled to go down, but it is a telling victory actually and gives us hope that there might actually be an end to this crude imitation of true administration.
I'm so dizzy with the possibility!! Hope seems to waft into the room. Hope that we can return to our good roots, to the strides we have made, to the progress we have made and that truly - all are equal in opportunity and rights. My head is spinning with the possibilities. But we must keep up with these chances to fix the mess. The inmates have got to be returned to their asylum and we must resume our position as champion of the world, of liberty, of pride in ourselves and our true achievements. Can we? Will we? Ohhh, I'm so dizzy....
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
RESIGNATION SYNDROME
It seems that in Sweden there is a 'resignation syndrome' wherein refugees, mired in a hopeless situation, seeing no end in sight, fall off into a coma, some for years already. This is a sad statement about life and where we have all failed in finding a solution, coming up with proposals to solve this issue of countries moving in on other countries, both sides unprepared and in essence, a movement that can not continue as a few countries cannot absorb the rest of the world.
So what to do? Throw them back like fish into the sea? Chase them down, hunt them, create ICE like raids which sends shivers through me and many others, even the ICE official who resigned in San Francisco? Ignore them and let them fade away, fail at life, at living, consign their children to a hopeless and limited life? None of these choices are acceptable so we must find another path. Personally, instead of spending all our funds on walls, people hunts, threats, arming the police like soldiers, creating new enforcement personnel, we should take those funds and work to better their original countries, give them hope to remain, economic hope, liberty hope, the hope of a future for themselves and their children. There are many complications within this plan, many details needed, but for sure, we are now wasting our funds here and in those countries where so much gets siphoned off as bribes, as armaments funding and so on.
And what about here? So, small time - things have got to change here in CVWPB. UCO has become Dictatorship, Inc. and we see a type of resignation syndrome here. While Ed Grossman made a wonderful and close effort for Treasurer, there is still too much of the zombie delegates and too much rushing of voting. There are too many secrets within the administration and too much uncertainty as to what exactly is our reserve, how is it to be divided and safeguarded against needs and emergency happenings, who is watching the funds and presently we are going to have the fox in the henhouse on this!! Perhaps the only way to insure that our funds and our future remain in the positive column is to keep on Sebastian, at yet another cost, but perhaps we must. We do not wish to wake up one morning and find that we are dead broke, the presumed people responsible for this gone or resigned and we are up that proverbial creek at a bad time of life for this.
And in the rest of the world? Resignation syndrome appears to be sputtering as almost the entire Latin America is up in arms. The people are starving in many areas, freedom and rights have been lost, restricted, deaths are often government ordered and the people have had enough. Bad times down thataway but perhaps they will have learned that strongmen governments cannot be allowed at all costs for truly, the costs are too much by far.
Wars are consuming the rest of the world, be they open or terrorist style. Wars are often proxy wars, a Cold War technique that has been revived to a frightening degree and countries have been bombed to rubble, populations decimated, reduced to living in bombed out situations. And we wonder why there is a refugee problem?!
So where is America? Where is the beacon of hope for the world? Well, our presumed leader is too busy symbolically shutting down the torch of liberty held up by the Statue of Liberty and instead contemplating new symbols - walls, walls of desperation, of ugly concrete and fencing, based on an ugly view of life.
Our society is riven, with deep abysses and chasms separating Americans, with politics being a banned topic of discussion in so many homes and gatherings. This is not the way it is supposed to be. But, when people lose their self respect, when they live only to keep their pathetic seats of power, when they sell their souls to the money factors, when the present administration is more corrupt, incompetent, greedier and chaotic than ever before - what are we to do? Do we resign in our own form of resignation syndrome?
The answer must be a resounding NO!! We must gather our forces, join together and repair the damage in any way we can. That ranges from protests and blocking poor legislation to passing proper legislation, to getting rid of the trash now found in the administration and finding a way to remove Trump and corrupt family, immorality and danger to our country from office.
We need to repair the fabric of our country. We need to take steps to do so and impress upon the legislators that we will tolerate nothing less than a return to our roots, our principles, return to the gains and strides we have made and gained and stomp down on the growing acceptance of immorality in our leaders, in the disgusting and dangerous growth of hatred, open and virulent.
Resignation syndrome? Not here!
So what to do? Throw them back like fish into the sea? Chase them down, hunt them, create ICE like raids which sends shivers through me and many others, even the ICE official who resigned in San Francisco? Ignore them and let them fade away, fail at life, at living, consign their children to a hopeless and limited life? None of these choices are acceptable so we must find another path. Personally, instead of spending all our funds on walls, people hunts, threats, arming the police like soldiers, creating new enforcement personnel, we should take those funds and work to better their original countries, give them hope to remain, economic hope, liberty hope, the hope of a future for themselves and their children. There are many complications within this plan, many details needed, but for sure, we are now wasting our funds here and in those countries where so much gets siphoned off as bribes, as armaments funding and so on.
And what about here? So, small time - things have got to change here in CVWPB. UCO has become Dictatorship, Inc. and we see a type of resignation syndrome here. While Ed Grossman made a wonderful and close effort for Treasurer, there is still too much of the zombie delegates and too much rushing of voting. There are too many secrets within the administration and too much uncertainty as to what exactly is our reserve, how is it to be divided and safeguarded against needs and emergency happenings, who is watching the funds and presently we are going to have the fox in the henhouse on this!! Perhaps the only way to insure that our funds and our future remain in the positive column is to keep on Sebastian, at yet another cost, but perhaps we must. We do not wish to wake up one morning and find that we are dead broke, the presumed people responsible for this gone or resigned and we are up that proverbial creek at a bad time of life for this.
And in the rest of the world? Resignation syndrome appears to be sputtering as almost the entire Latin America is up in arms. The people are starving in many areas, freedom and rights have been lost, restricted, deaths are often government ordered and the people have had enough. Bad times down thataway but perhaps they will have learned that strongmen governments cannot be allowed at all costs for truly, the costs are too much by far.
Wars are consuming the rest of the world, be they open or terrorist style. Wars are often proxy wars, a Cold War technique that has been revived to a frightening degree and countries have been bombed to rubble, populations decimated, reduced to living in bombed out situations. And we wonder why there is a refugee problem?!
So where is America? Where is the beacon of hope for the world? Well, our presumed leader is too busy symbolically shutting down the torch of liberty held up by the Statue of Liberty and instead contemplating new symbols - walls, walls of desperation, of ugly concrete and fencing, based on an ugly view of life.
Our society is riven, with deep abysses and chasms separating Americans, with politics being a banned topic of discussion in so many homes and gatherings. This is not the way it is supposed to be. But, when people lose their self respect, when they live only to keep their pathetic seats of power, when they sell their souls to the money factors, when the present administration is more corrupt, incompetent, greedier and chaotic than ever before - what are we to do? Do we resign in our own form of resignation syndrome?
The answer must be a resounding NO!! We must gather our forces, join together and repair the damage in any way we can. That ranges from protests and blocking poor legislation to passing proper legislation, to getting rid of the trash now found in the administration and finding a way to remove Trump and corrupt family, immorality and danger to our country from office.
We need to repair the fabric of our country. We need to take steps to do so and impress upon the legislators that we will tolerate nothing less than a return to our roots, our principles, return to the gains and strides we have made and gained and stomp down on the growing acceptance of immorality in our leaders, in the disgusting and dangerous growth of hatred, open and virulent.
Resignation syndrome? Not here!
Monday, March 12, 2018
MAKE IT STOP!
When does it end? When do we acknowledge that we have a functionally illiterate, mentally deranged man at the head of the free world and that is the best that I can say. When does it stop? When does the mouth of this man get stoppered, controlled? When do the people of these United States realize the danger that he poses, the extreme need to replace him, by impeachment, by forced resignation - after all, every other man accused of sexual sinning and harassment has done so, so why not him - or yes, even by conviction of crimes punishable by both fines and imprisonment - which I would gladly waive if only he were to go - far away and shut his mouth already.
Here are a few of his weird statements, if they can be called that. As an English teacher for so many years of my life, as an educator, I cringe to think that this is what the kids of the country see and hear. Not a prime role model, is it?
"He's a sleeping son of a bitch."
"So here they are, they are outside, these wonderful representatives, very high level from South Korea, are saying all of these things, de-nuke, and all of the things that they can't believe, because it's like five years ahead of schedule."
"Did you see the other day, 96% of what they do, all I do is good stuff, the economy is the best it's ever been."
"... And six months prior to the election in 2020, every one of those guys, we really endorse Donald Trump, we think he has to."
Okay. Had enough of that? There is always more to come, never a shortage out of his flapping mouth. It would actually be funny, almost like when we chuckled at some of the strangely constructed statements of George W., but there was no meanness in those sentences, no constant patting on the back, no gall like this Trump has with his boasting that oh, poor Melania does not have an easy life - and why - he intimated because of his sexual peccadillos! Sick! Sick!
Out of the mouths of babes, babes who have been shot at, chased in school where they are supposed to be safe - David Hogg has said it openly. Good for him!!! Trump is owned by the NRA like other politicians. Oh, yes!! Get the list from the NY Times and see who has accepted monies from the NRA and in what amounts. No wonder we cannot get a gun law passed here! Guess it is more suited to our freedoms that we read of more kids dead. Such a small price to pay for the right to own an assault rifle!! Sick, is what it is. Make it stop!!
Just as I feel and dread the inner jitters of my muscles, the inner and uncomfortable tics, so do I feel the inner spasms of the country. Both things are eating the body corporeal from the inside out and it is depressing and strange and frightening. For one I fight. I exercise, build my body strength and refuse to give in. I know there is an ultimate end but hopefully it can be staved off. For the other disease, our country's problem, I truly am pessimistic. A man who is acknowledged as damaged, and yet people walk in fear of him, praise him like he is the Second Coming, while his sick misdeeds and statements eat away at our country, its history, all that it stands for.
Would that I could shout out loud to make it stop and get a positive response. Would that I could do so. I would do it in a minute. No, in a second, but right now I have delaying tactics in the one area and what? in the other? Certainly not enough.
The only way, folks, to make it stop, is to get out there and protest, shout, scream to the heavens, wake up the country, demand answers and responsibility from your representatives at every level and when the time comes - VOTE!!
Please, everyone, please, Dear Lord Above - make it stop!!
Here are a few of his weird statements, if they can be called that. As an English teacher for so many years of my life, as an educator, I cringe to think that this is what the kids of the country see and hear. Not a prime role model, is it?
"He's a sleeping son of a bitch."
"So here they are, they are outside, these wonderful representatives, very high level from South Korea, are saying all of these things, de-nuke, and all of the things that they can't believe, because it's like five years ahead of schedule."
"Did you see the other day, 96% of what they do, all I do is good stuff, the economy is the best it's ever been."
"... And six months prior to the election in 2020, every one of those guys, we really endorse Donald Trump, we think he has to."
Okay. Had enough of that? There is always more to come, never a shortage out of his flapping mouth. It would actually be funny, almost like when we chuckled at some of the strangely constructed statements of George W., but there was no meanness in those sentences, no constant patting on the back, no gall like this Trump has with his boasting that oh, poor Melania does not have an easy life - and why - he intimated because of his sexual peccadillos! Sick! Sick!
Out of the mouths of babes, babes who have been shot at, chased in school where they are supposed to be safe - David Hogg has said it openly. Good for him!!! Trump is owned by the NRA like other politicians. Oh, yes!! Get the list from the NY Times and see who has accepted monies from the NRA and in what amounts. No wonder we cannot get a gun law passed here! Guess it is more suited to our freedoms that we read of more kids dead. Such a small price to pay for the right to own an assault rifle!! Sick, is what it is. Make it stop!!
Just as I feel and dread the inner jitters of my muscles, the inner and uncomfortable tics, so do I feel the inner spasms of the country. Both things are eating the body corporeal from the inside out and it is depressing and strange and frightening. For one I fight. I exercise, build my body strength and refuse to give in. I know there is an ultimate end but hopefully it can be staved off. For the other disease, our country's problem, I truly am pessimistic. A man who is acknowledged as damaged, and yet people walk in fear of him, praise him like he is the Second Coming, while his sick misdeeds and statements eat away at our country, its history, all that it stands for.
Would that I could shout out loud to make it stop and get a positive response. Would that I could do so. I would do it in a minute. No, in a second, but right now I have delaying tactics in the one area and what? in the other? Certainly not enough.
The only way, folks, to make it stop, is to get out there and protest, shout, scream to the heavens, wake up the country, demand answers and responsibility from your representatives at every level and when the time comes - VOTE!!
Please, everyone, please, Dear Lord Above - make it stop!!
Sunday, March 11, 2018
SO WHAT MAKES UP HATRED?
So what exactly is it that makes us, allows us, to hate others? Is it their skin color? The name of their god? Their ethnic differences? The very air they breathe? Sometimes, no, often times, I wonder why it is exactly that we hate so very much, that words and deeds of hatred are encouraged and valued? What makes us hate?
Today is one of the opening days of a new Holocaust Documentation & Education Center here in south Florida, in Dania Beach. There is to be a lecture and then a tour of the current exhibit, on loan from the National Museum. This hatred is memorialized in so many ways, in buildings, in the remains of the death camps, in markers on buildings and even in the sidewalks. It is seen in the fading numbers on the arms of the ever lessening group of survivors and in the tattoos of these numbers by their grandchildren, honoring their grandparents and great grandparents. It is alive in the filmed stories of the survivors.
And yet, what does it all mean? Has it helped hatred go away? Has hate been devalued? I think not and in fact, the hatred of the times of today is more frightening than ever. One asked why did the Jews of Germany not leave when they saw what was happening, worsening? Well, why do the Jews of America not leave as the incidents of anti Semitism, including violence, grow apace? It is hard to leave one's home, to realize that there are some who think of you as different to a degree that is beyond all terms of acceptance. It is hard to leave - to go where? For neither then nor now are there lands, countries which would open their doors to refugee Jews, for they hate the Jews within their own country!
So what was the first incident of hate killing? Was it the first Neanderthal - Homo sapien meeting and they rushed each other with raised stone axes? Or did it take a bit longer, until mankind could and would fight over the name of their god, over land indistinguishable from another section of land? And how have we allowed it to last so long and worse, allowed it to bloom once more in our own times.
The papers, the media, are filled with stories of hate, filled with incidents of loss of humanity, of tossing kids on fires because they are of another religion, or another tribe, or even another political belief! The hatred here within our own country between Republicans and Democrats has gone beyond the pale and we do not even hear each other anymore as Americans!
And as far as the world is concerned, the hatred of others is growing apace, encouraged by politicians hungry for power. So they cater to their worst instincts, call upon those same instincts in others and come into power and get even worse, more violent, stomp in contempt on the very democracy that allowed them to rise in power and position. Most frightening of all is the very open fact that we here in America, the very beacon of liberty and democracy, of equality, is turning quickly into the copy of Europe.
We have a demented man as president who thinks that we , too, should just kill all the drug dealers - summarily! No due process. We should, no due process, take away all weapons from those we deem mentally ill. Who makes that determination and where is due process? They scream about the Second Amendment, well, due process is also enshrined in the Constitution. We should just kill, wipe out all those we feel are gang members, toss them out like human trash. "grabbed them by the neck and they threw them in the paddy. We're cleaning out. We're doing it." And who will go in the paddy next? Hatred does not stop. Never ever!!!And not to forget those who have a "low IQ" (Maxine Waters) according to that hate filled man, Trump who himself is of low IQ, certainly in intelligence, in humanity, in justice, in anything positive.
There are idiots in our own country who know not what they wish for. Trump stands there talking of his admiration for XI who wants to be President for Life and thank the Lord is facing some vocal opposition for this plan, but Trump wants it here, thinks it might be a good idea here and the idiots at a hate filled rally stand there and cheer!!! Yes, just take away our freedom. Take away our democracy. Take away our votes. Yes, you orange haired mutant, destroy us all!!
John Lennon sang "Imagine", as we swayed thinking, wishing for a time when people lived for today, no religion, no countries. But is that exactly what we wish for. Be careful for we all know the saying. A bunch of people who cannot look beyond their noses? Cannot see past the need to satisfy whatever itch it is that they have? No planning for a better world, a safer world, a cleaner world? No attention paid to the higher needs of mankind? Not for me.
So what makes hatred? Differences? That should not make a difference. Horrific treatment of others? Perhaps, but then again, not if we turn around and do it ourselves if we are the victors. Religion? As long as that religion does not glorify violence and subjugation of others, why should we care if the name is different, if the manners of worship are different? Why? Skin color? Really? Organs can be transplanted from one race to another. The blood is the same color and serves the same purpose. Our bodies are built the same way. What does the skin say about someone? No clue. None at all.
People can be inherently good or bad but that is the choice they make. It should not be the choice foisted upon them. It should not cause us to commit genocide, ethnic cleansing, or turn blind and brutal eyes to a crime against humanity.
What makes hatred? Wish I knew for then, perhaps, we could eradicate it.
Today is one of the opening days of a new Holocaust Documentation & Education Center here in south Florida, in Dania Beach. There is to be a lecture and then a tour of the current exhibit, on loan from the National Museum. This hatred is memorialized in so many ways, in buildings, in the remains of the death camps, in markers on buildings and even in the sidewalks. It is seen in the fading numbers on the arms of the ever lessening group of survivors and in the tattoos of these numbers by their grandchildren, honoring their grandparents and great grandparents. It is alive in the filmed stories of the survivors.
And yet, what does it all mean? Has it helped hatred go away? Has hate been devalued? I think not and in fact, the hatred of the times of today is more frightening than ever. One asked why did the Jews of Germany not leave when they saw what was happening, worsening? Well, why do the Jews of America not leave as the incidents of anti Semitism, including violence, grow apace? It is hard to leave one's home, to realize that there are some who think of you as different to a degree that is beyond all terms of acceptance. It is hard to leave - to go where? For neither then nor now are there lands, countries which would open their doors to refugee Jews, for they hate the Jews within their own country!
So what was the first incident of hate killing? Was it the first Neanderthal - Homo sapien meeting and they rushed each other with raised stone axes? Or did it take a bit longer, until mankind could and would fight over the name of their god, over land indistinguishable from another section of land? And how have we allowed it to last so long and worse, allowed it to bloom once more in our own times.
The papers, the media, are filled with stories of hate, filled with incidents of loss of humanity, of tossing kids on fires because they are of another religion, or another tribe, or even another political belief! The hatred here within our own country between Republicans and Democrats has gone beyond the pale and we do not even hear each other anymore as Americans!
And as far as the world is concerned, the hatred of others is growing apace, encouraged by politicians hungry for power. So they cater to their worst instincts, call upon those same instincts in others and come into power and get even worse, more violent, stomp in contempt on the very democracy that allowed them to rise in power and position. Most frightening of all is the very open fact that we here in America, the very beacon of liberty and democracy, of equality, is turning quickly into the copy of Europe.
We have a demented man as president who thinks that we , too, should just kill all the drug dealers - summarily! No due process. We should, no due process, take away all weapons from those we deem mentally ill. Who makes that determination and where is due process? They scream about the Second Amendment, well, due process is also enshrined in the Constitution. We should just kill, wipe out all those we feel are gang members, toss them out like human trash. "grabbed them by the neck and they threw them in the paddy. We're cleaning out. We're doing it." And who will go in the paddy next? Hatred does not stop. Never ever!!!And not to forget those who have a "low IQ" (Maxine Waters) according to that hate filled man, Trump who himself is of low IQ, certainly in intelligence, in humanity, in justice, in anything positive.
There are idiots in our own country who know not what they wish for. Trump stands there talking of his admiration for XI who wants to be President for Life and thank the Lord is facing some vocal opposition for this plan, but Trump wants it here, thinks it might be a good idea here and the idiots at a hate filled rally stand there and cheer!!! Yes, just take away our freedom. Take away our democracy. Take away our votes. Yes, you orange haired mutant, destroy us all!!
John Lennon sang "Imagine", as we swayed thinking, wishing for a time when people lived for today, no religion, no countries. But is that exactly what we wish for. Be careful for we all know the saying. A bunch of people who cannot look beyond their noses? Cannot see past the need to satisfy whatever itch it is that they have? No planning for a better world, a safer world, a cleaner world? No attention paid to the higher needs of mankind? Not for me.
So what makes hatred? Differences? That should not make a difference. Horrific treatment of others? Perhaps, but then again, not if we turn around and do it ourselves if we are the victors. Religion? As long as that religion does not glorify violence and subjugation of others, why should we care if the name is different, if the manners of worship are different? Why? Skin color? Really? Organs can be transplanted from one race to another. The blood is the same color and serves the same purpose. Our bodies are built the same way. What does the skin say about someone? No clue. None at all.
People can be inherently good or bad but that is the choice they make. It should not be the choice foisted upon them. It should not cause us to commit genocide, ethnic cleansing, or turn blind and brutal eyes to a crime against humanity.
What makes hatred? Wish I knew for then, perhaps, we could eradicate it.
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