PHONES CALLED X

     Yesterday I doomed myself. I was eligible for a phone upgrade, and though still yearning for my old flip phone, I agreed to go for the I phone x. Oy vey!! It is a distant cousin of my older I phone and much trickier to get used to. Even a certain techie I know very well is taking lessons off YouTube to figure it out - so what the hell am I supposed to do!? At least it recognizes and appreciates my face to unlock its secrets!
      Sometimes it seems as if the rest of life is also moving away from the easily understood. It used to be that Americans plumped for America and did not do the bidding of other nations, particularly our enemies. Now, it seems that the more the current president obeys the heeds and callings of Putin, the happier his base is. And now, over the top, Trump had his people make a video that is straight out of the North Korean propaganda machine. It has soaring music, idealized pictures of North Korea, conveniently leaving out the sight of hungry people, oppressed people, its inhuman prison camp network. Nope, this one praises Kim, the dictator and juxtaposes Trump right along with him, two dictators. TWO DICTATORS. And his base goes right along with it, straight into the garbage heap of history as the American democracy fades into the setting sun. And the man boasts about it too!
     Now our very being, our very existence as people in this country is being challenged. We were promised drug price reductions within two weeks. Ahem, not happening - and they admit it. But what seems to be happening and we will see as the insurance companies ramp up for next year's offerings, is whether pre existing conditions will be covered at the same cost as everyone else or if Trump et al will continue to push it as 'unconstitutional'. What? How? Is it more constitutional to kill people by neglect, by putting the meds they need to survive out of reach of their pockets? Is it more constitutional to force people to choose between meds or the people using them, to cut the daily use to every other day or even more? And more experienced people resign because they cannot take the stink of this regime any longer.
     But wait! There's more. If your heart and stomach are not yet churning, then hear this. Trump himself is going to Texas to see if Fort Bliss can accommodate a tent camp - a tent camp! - to hold close to 5,000 children, children ripped from their parents' hearts and arms. So right in the middle of the heat, of floods or prejudice or whatever Texas is so good at providing, we will have 5,000 little innocent minors and who will hug them? Who will wipe their noses? Who will watch the little one take first steps? Who will encourage them to grow, to challenge themselves? Who will show them that love and kindness and hope are necessary? 
     But there is hope. Even as certain candidates win Republican primaries, the candidates which flaunt the Confederate flag, honor their heroes, spout modern day prejudice, even as this is happening, on the Democratic side there are advances. Women are winning. Trump has actually done one good deed, albeit unwillingly. This man who manhandles and disrespects women, is now hopefully going to face legislative bodies with more women in them, more people who are unafraid of him and his habits and his mouth.
     And now, folks, back to the mysteries of the universe. Time to go figure out yet another thing my phone does. By the time I get it all figured out, x will have morphed into y. Y for Yikes! Getting too old for this, but not too old to be oblivious to the threats to our way of living, the values of our lives.