NO, BUT ANYWAY......

     Double sided tape. Double sided mirrors. And double sided mouths. A defense that is really an offense, and a total obfuscating behavior. Yes, at times crimes are committed with extenuating circumstances, but there are other crimes and behaviors that have no such redeeming excuse, no matter how much one lies or cheats or steals or is corrupted.
     Our oh so dear Mr. President is in this exact position and he is using his go to clown, Giuliani, as the go to guy (now that his former one, Michael Cohen, is planning to skewer Trump) who makes up all sorts of statements and Neverland possibilities and offense becomes defense and  defense become truly offensive in every meaning of the word.
     The latest? First, the beginning. There was no crime. There was no collusion. No. Trump never knew of such meetings or plans. Nope, Trump is an innocent much put upon American hero. Then the changes. Trump dictated a letter with false statements so as to pull Junior's nuts out of the fire. Uh oh, Trump actually knew about the meetings so here it comes. Well, even if he did, he was not there in body so it is not a crime to have denied and lied. 
     Hmmm. What happened to RICO thinking, to accessory both before and after the fact, to conspiracy to defraud - in this case, the entire nation? And besides, collusion is not a crime and my oh my, from Nathan Hale to Mata Hari to modern day spies - here is your get out of jail free card no matter for whom you spied. Collusion to work with others to influence situations in a subterranean manner is not a crime. Aiding and abetting the enemy appears to not be a crime. Don't believe me? Well, just go ask Giuliani and he will tell you.
     From the sublime to the ridiculous. When does it stop? When do the lies stop? The man colluded with the enemy. He sat down and planned the invasion, the hijacking of the American elections so as to get elected and then add to his bottom line. But then again. Is that capitalism in the first degree, making a profit wherever one can? This man took every road and byway, every path through the swamps in order to get his way and then when caught with his pants down, almost literally, hires the mouthpieces to make excuses.
     But truths have a way of surfacing. Such a great economy we have. Not to worry, there will be no trade war and tariffs will only help us and prove our supremacy over the world. He is everyone's favorite president - so he says. And now, look at the truth.
     The layoffs have begun as the prices and cost of raw material have risen dramatically. Smaller companies, the bones of the country, cannot withstand these costs. The big corporations are too greedy to eat some of these costs as the man they elected and voted into office screws them yet again. And why not, for they increase their dividends and wait, for next year Trump is planning a tax cut openly and plainly for the rich. Screw the little guy is the answer it seems for everything!
     There are troubles in the housing market and that will lead to troubles in the construction industry and that will lead to more layoffs and waves of consequences. The spokesmen of Wall Street are beginning to sing another tune about the economy ad the dangers to it. And as the statistics catch up to real time, expect major issues and problems. The safety regulations over the huge banks have been removed, so here we go again, and no, in this case, love is not better the second time around.
     And so everything gets excused and covered up. We begin to lose our very souls. We imitate our new buddies, China and Russia, and oh, do not forget Iran for now the idiot says he will sit down with them, no preconditions and which store will he give away now. So we emulate these charming role models and drug our prisoners. Oops. My bad. No. Not psychotic adults but migrant children who are such a threat to our security that they are give psychotropic medicines or actually drugs, since there is no medicinal purpose for it! We are drugging children without parental or anyone's permission. Perhaps these are kids who will not stop crying or demand to see their parents. What nerve, right!!!
       Or we tar and feather our sports people because they either refuse to go to the White House or demand the  right of freedom of speech and protest peacefully how they choose. They are threatened and now the NFL has come up with the best, the absolute best to shut them down. Yup. Just get rid of the helmets!! No protection for the head so the players will suffer more brain damage much earlier, will thrill the fans looking for excitement - like who will get bashed in the head with no protection - and then will have to shut down protests because they will be unable to think and communicate. Great thinking, folks, Just great.
     So no, no crimes, but even if there were, they were not crimes. Just ask Giuliani. Just ask his master, Trump. And all the rest of the liars and I sincerely hope that soon enough they all get what is coming to them and perhaps we will need to build another prison to hold all of them, all those who colluded with the main traitor and covered his every misstep. The damage they have done to us, to people, to children, to the economy, to every aspect of life in these United States cannot be calculated. Time to chase them out of town. Time to truly drain the swamp in the upcoming elections and via the courts. Do not let those who deal with the devil keep the upper hand. Now where are those two cute and bold brothers from Supernatural? They could handle this just right.

WORD!

     What is in a word? We give our word to promise something. We say there is the Word from Above. Yet today, we are in an era where the word can no longer be believed, not allowed to stand for the truth and honesty and trust.
     "The President is a liar. He lies about matters of the utmost consequence....and about the most trivial. He lies about things you can see with your own eyes. He lies about things he said just moments ago. He lies the way a woodpecker attacks a tree, compulsively, insistently, instinctively. He lies until your temples throb. He lies until you want to submerge your head in a bucket of ice and pray for release."
       Nope, I did not say those words in that order or construct, but I certainly feel with them. So said a reviewer in The Book Review on Sunday for a book about the damage to truth that Trump has done and continues to do. We are now raising children who ask why they cannot lie, why they are punished for telling a lie when the President does the very same thing to the nth degree!
     I have no answer for that, nor for the other issues that are facing us right smack dab in front of us. The man whines that Cohen cannot be telling the truth because he has 'business' interests that conflict. Ha!! Pots and kettles here, folks.Who seems to have all the conflicts of interest, the emoluments violations and has appointed administration people with the same conflicts of interests? Take a guess.
     Worse even then the lies, though they are part and parcel of the building blocks of Trump's final plans, are his threats and behavior as a blossoming autocrat. He threatens to shut down government unless he gets his way. The man thinks he is five and will take away his marbles or the baseball and shut down the game unless the spoiled brat gets his way. Well, we all grow up at some time, yet this man wishes to remain a child with adult privileges and powers kind of like that Star Trek episode with someone who appeared to be a frightening destructive giant, but who turned out to be a kid who escaped his parental supervision for the moment. Almost destroyed the Enterprise and Trump is almost destroying us.
     We need to do something about it. Tempers are rising and crowds are gathering around that destroyed star of Trump in Hollywood, on both sides of the spectrum, and things are getting hot. This man has aroused division and hate. He has encouraged haters, Holocaust deniers, white supremacists, perverts, all to run for office because they now think the atmosphere is ripe for this. What has this man wrought? Nothing but trouble and hate and a cloudy future, if there is to be one at all.
     Well, let him threaten because that will simply help the Democrats in the elections in November. Other good news? Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that courageous woman, says she is hoping and planning for five more years. Yay!!!! Now if we can keep backwards thinking ultra conservatives like Kavanaugh off in the meanwhile, we have a shot of success and taking back the country, reinstating safety regulations, reinstating its heart and soul.
     In the meanwhile, we have a terrorist released from Israel under pressure from Trump, with Turkey reneging on its promise. Why did Israel release a terrorist, something it has sworn not to do any longer? Because Netanyahu is under thrall to Trump. Is this what the moving of the embassy will or has already led to? If so - bad move indeed.
     But wait, people, there is something to consider. Should it happen that we impeach Trump, or he resigns, or is removed from office due to lack of ability and capability and mental insanity, then what next? Pence, the religious zealot, a zealot of an extreme form of Christian belief, a man who is so unsure of his own willpower that he asks 'mother' for permission and for her presence if there is another woman in the picture, be it diplomatic or social needs or whatever.? So who would then rule the roost of America? "Mother"? A la Woodrow Wilson after his stroke?
     Folks, we are in a bad way indeed. Anyone got a clue as to how to proceed? Word!

DELETED FAMILIES

    Unfortunately, I kid you not. The government of the United States of America, not Nazi Germany, not communist China, not Putin's Russia, not any dictatorial country, but us. Yes, US! That is the official designation for the children locked up in cages, maltreated, fed bad food, held by force from their parents, and their parents held G-d knows where, here or elsewhere in the world. Is it any wonder that even when a judge orders the government to restore these heretofore "deleted" units to be reinstated, to be  reunited, the government has no clue where hundreds of these kids and/or their parents are. Your back should have shivers of fear running down it, horror in your mind and  soul and wonder where and what else is coming down the tube from this administration.
      Several days ago I was told that by a person she would never have voted for Trump -  but he was better than Hillary - this after telling me he was there by G-d's desire - but then again, she would never have entered a country illegally. Really. And if circumstances were such that no country wanted her or hers during a time of relentless hatred and physical harm, even unto death, would she then leave and enter another country, legally or not? See, it is not only 'them', the other, who is targeted. The old saying what goes around comes around is true. This, for those who have forgotten, is exactly what happened during the time of Nazi Germany when the Jews of European countries wanted desperately to find new homes outside these countries and guess what! No room at the inn for them. Including the United States of America. And what if it were her child ripped from her arms, torn apart, not knowing how and when or where they would meet again.
     I was told that Trump was good for Israel. Really? Because he moved the embassy? Because he says he will solve the problems in the Mideast? So then tell me why the extreme right, the hatemongers, the Aryan obsessed groups, have had the nerve, the gall, the confidence to set up open shop, to hold rallies, to send  out flyers, for Pete's sake! They admit this is all since Trump for they feel he is one of them.
     We have an administration that has brought back in roaring tide, the corruption of government in our country. The cronyism, the nepotism, the greed, the corruption, the selfishness - all are back and in fashion. Get a wife a job. Pay for your vacation from federal funds. Appoint political loyalists to a little known federal group. Pay for your campaign flags to the company in China. Oh for sure, that is the way to make America great again! Not!
     Interesting story out of CV today. There is a thriving Democratic club here in the Village. It has monthly meetings and often speakers and candidates. A writer for The Rag here, supposedly the Village paper, was told to leave as he was not a member and this was a closed meeting. He eventually did, but complained basically, that this was a violation of free speech, of freedom of the press. Well, let us look into that. First, this was a  closed meeting, the same kind of meeting that UCO often holds, the same type of meeting that is held all over when there are privileges associated with belonging to a group and where the press is not allowed. When a reporter is barred from a press meeting in the White House,  not a closed meeting, then why is there a fuss when someone is barred from a closed meeting? In addition, how does the Reporter - the Rag - have the nerve to complain when they violate freedom of the press every day, in every issue, blocking people, blocking opposing opinions, holding back the truth and yet printing in every edition that they will print all sides of an issue. I deeply respect this reporter, value his friendship, but in this case, I do not believe he has a leg to stand on nor should he use freedom of the press when he represents an entity that violates it every issue it publishes.
     Our society is crumbling. Our fault lines are growing, lengthening. The dirt of past years is rising to the surface where it meets recycled violations of humanity so heavily in favor these days! I remember when I first became interested in politics, back in the Middle Ages, when I was 12, and found a hero to admire, a man who saved his crew, who wished to serve his country yet again. And yes, as an adult, I found out that he had some faults, but then again, no one is perfect. I do not ask that Trump be perfect, a Sisyphean task, but there is no heroism there, only the fault lines, the misogynism, the cowardice, the rages of the demented, the self entitled, the machinations of corruption. So what do we say to the 12 year old kids of today? Keep it up, kids, as they form their own clubs and forces, Facebook pages and groups, write letters, speak up and about and give us oldies hope for the future and for our kids and grandchildren.
    Please G-d there will be no more deleted families, certainly, not have a government that allows for this. Vote out any person who supports Trump. Vote out the ones who back him, like Brian Mast, vote for Bill Nelson and not Rick Scott who lied about his wealth - again! Vote out the hatemongers and supporters. Vote for talented women, for good men, who understand that they serve the people and not the other way around and should they forget that, then vote them out in the next cycle!
     Deleted families! I can't. I just cannot.

THE UNSUNG HERO

     We all know of the hero in the limelight, the one who somehow manages to capture the eye of the public or places himself in that public eye. However, while it is not to take anything away from their heroics, it is the unsung hero who makes the world go round yet stay on its axis.
     How really do we function? What makes everything go tick tock, tick tock? It is that same unsung hero, or a group of them, that take upon themselves the daily chores that keep the lives of others on an even keel. It is the one who comes up with an idea that is great, yet somehow is pushed out of the thank you at the end. It is the one who comes to work everyday and approaches and serves the public with a smile and concern, over and over again. It is the MRI tech who answers the same questions from nervous people yet who has the patience and care to answer kindly and with reassurance. 
    These unsung heroes are the ones who are now battling the raging fire in California, defending the people, getting them out from in front of a fire that is treacherous. They are the convict firefighters who are out there in the face of a scary monster, placing themselves in danger even as people do not know of their work.
     These unsung heroes of the world are the ones who keep the world spinning. They are the moms who suddenly have had enough and form organizations and GoFundMe pages to raise money for detained immigrants, to locate and unify families, to fight cruelty and hatred. They are the kids who survive a firefight, with guns blazing and themselves as the target, an experience with which most adults have not faced, and they come out whole and determined to do something - and  are!
     They are the people who dedicate themselves to working with those who truly need them. They work with those inflicted with disorders of one type or another, who are frightened, unsure of the future - or even the present - who show compassion and determination as they push all to the max.
     The world is filled with unsung heroes and would that we were to notice them more than we do, and sing more of them and about them. They are those that fight the deniers of facts, that there is no climate change, even as we burn up this summer. They are the ones who go out there and clean up the messes on the beaches and in the forests.
     And they are the ones who persist in the face of determined opposition, who are working in the face of threats and insults, who persist in their rightful causes. It is the reporter who knows that he/she must ask the hard questions and must press the President or whomever to answer the question, willing or not.
     And there are those diametrically opposed to these unsung heroes. There are those who refuse to see the truth, who persist in their denial, who live selfish lives, yet who demand and demand and demand. So look around you and seek out those unsung heroes in your life. Seek out those slogging through life on an uphill stretch, yet who keep on going and who somehow manage to come out at the end stronger and better for their travail and so are those for whom they worked and struggled.
     Those who bluster and shout how wonderful they themselves are , are not the heroes we need to recognize. In fact, they are no heroes at all, for the true one needs nothing but his or her own internal motivation, a working heart and soul, a brain that understands right from wrong. But they do deserve some song, do they not? So look around you and sing a song to one who deserves it. Reward the true hero for a change. It can only make the world a better place and we surely need that now, do we not?

BOOT CAMP

    Every Wednesday afternoon I partake of an hour's worth of boot camp. No, I do not aspire to the Marine Corps, nor would they take me! It is a method of building up one's resistance to change in movement disorders and positively building up muscles, cognition, interactions, and confidence. It is hard, really hard, and people who join in who have no movement disorder are stretched to their limit as well - and pushed beyond.
     Boot camp hours challenges oneself. It demands that you actively participate in your own welfare, assurance and demands, that you take responsibility for what you can. It is a measure of defiance and hope. And, best of all, one works so hard that a scoop of ice cream after the hour is perfect!!
     It all got me to wondering if perhaps boot camp for America is what we need now. No, not planks and slam balls and balancing tasks and challenges based on physical demands, but balancing acts that a democracy needs and if it fails at that, well, that is kaput for the democracy. It is a boot camp that demands that we measure our growth, that we face our challenges, that we correctly assess our needs and the manner in which to meet them. It demands that we challenge ourselves and if not, if we think to take the easy way out, or let the other guy do the heavy work, well, then we end up with what we are unfortunately beginning to see clear outlines of right here in the country.
     The direct opposite of a positive boot camp is what we now have with this insane megalomaniac at the head of government. He has come out forcefully, vocally, openly and strongly against free press He has banned reporters who annoy him or demand answers to hard questions, who will not let go of their job - to ask the questions and provide information and a transparent government to the people of the country. But when one is told to specifically, in the very words, to not believe what you are seeing or hearing, only to believe what comes out of that damned mouth of Trump, well, be afraid people and line up for a boot camp of life.
     There is no easy path to fixing this mess we are in. We have fascists in the offing who threaten to impeach Rosenstein for standing up to the President and Congress, who defy their twisted motives. It is simply yet another method of shutting down freedom in our country.
     We have a man who lies with every breath he takes, makes huge announcements and pronouncements and yet it all comes to naught, other than harming us and the country, and indeed, even the world. We have a group at the head of the line who wish to encourage hatred, dissension, a growing abyss within the population of the country for it only strengthens them. They support horrific deeds such as stealing children and yes, stealing, and losing them!! This is kidnapping and every single one who participated in this act, in this process, from ripping them out of a mother's arms, to using false pretenses, to harsh treatment in prison cages and yes, the kids were in prison, no mistake about that - every single one should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That we could have people willing to do this! NO, no order excuse, no I'll lose my job excuse, no it's the law excuse. Laws can be wrong, immoral, and we need to use that measure of evaluation before we act upon them.
     We need boot camp. A boot camp that will stress morality, humanity, honesty, justice and hope. Yes, hope, that maybe, just maybe we can salvage our country, get rid of the scum that has risen to the top and rebuild our country in the image it should have and be.
     I worry, and have so stated many times. If we do not rid ourselves of this man and his twisted followers, using all legal methodology, if we do not do it this way, then the bubble will burst in another way and oh, yes, we will then need a physical boot camp. Do not think that the anger is so deep, too deep to burst, to hit the surface, and if it does, say hello to civil war. This country cannot stand for much more, so much wrong, so much evil, so much diametrically opposed tenets to our tenets of democracy and freedom. When it decides it has had enough - the choice is there. Does one join the boot camp of life, or lay down and give in and let Trump and his cruel and nasty and creepy minions tramp all over you?
    Boot camp anyone?
     

THE LUNATIC AND THE ASYLUM

    Folks, it has to be said. Everyone has been edging around it, circling the truth and the statement that must be made, yet afraid to come out and say it openly and definitively. Yet it must be said and action must be taken.
     The man is insane. Period.
    Never mind the fact that we have allowed for degenerative disease. Never mind the fact that we have assigned it to personality disorders or even quirks, you should pardon the expression. It does not matter the cause, only the result and what we have now is the inmate running the asylum and we, the peoples of the world, are suffering greatly with no end in sight.
     What exactly is the cause or are the causes of this insanity. It almost does not really matter. All that matters is the harm that he is doing, to us and to the world and better believe it - we are tied together with the world and our fates are intertwined. We can no longer allow this insane person to write the script for that future.
     He has the classical symptoms of megalomania, ranting and raving, be it in private or public, makes demands worthy of a dictator, which he would love to be, and cannot make one stable decision or recognize an honest person as he has chosen and continues to choose corrupt and morally weak people, mean people, uncaring and stiff people, to positions that could endanger all the progress we have made in this country for decades to come.
     Never one for great moral values or human decency, he gone over the top with his statements, comparing people to vermin, infestations, using foul language to describe women and his attitude and behavior with and towards them. He has approved the rending of families. He has encouraged nepotism within our government. He has threatened the free press here in our country, a right we have won even before the American Revolution. Why would we allow it to be stripped from us now?
     It is not a pretty sight to see the President raving madly about the fact that CNN was being watched by Melania on Air Force One. It is not a pleasant thing to hear as he plots and plans to bribe and payoff people in re his sexual peccadillos, if we can call them that. It is a terrible
thing to realize that our President has no morality, not one stitch, within his blackened mind and heart.
     He has brought the global economy almost to a perilous standstill with his tariff and trade war and now wants to keep the votes of his farmers being ruined by this by giving them welfare and yes, that is what it is and it should never have come to this. He brought this situation upon us and it can be fixed if we stop this trade war and tariffs dead in their tracks. Now to further the growing debt we have, the debt that arises from his welfare for the rich in his tax cut plans, we are to add to it a debt that had no need to ever exist. 
     The man has no middle, no balance, tells people to ignore what is in front of their eyes, in clear hearing of their ears - the truth and what is worse is that he can actually get more people to buy into this dangerous garbage and we see a Brave New World, a world of 1984, a world of Animal Farm, growing right in front of us and around us and behind us. The man has no respect for history, for anyone other than himself. He is a very sick megalomaniac and it is scary that he is running this place.
     Our Constitution makes it very clear that if a President is incapable of running the government, of fulfilling those responsibilities, then he can be removed for cause. But will it be invoked? With a Republican Party in power and control, a Party of people with no moral balance, a Party that has forgotten that they are Americans first? I doubt it. I am afraid so and put a stress on that afraid.
     The man is insane. His followers are buying into that insanity. And the newest inmates of that asylum will be those of us who see the truth, who know the truth, who speak the truth. Be careful, people, be very careful. Read the news and see the truth. There is no conspiracy of the media other than Fox News to hide the truth. There is no conspiracy when all these fools bare their inner souls on Sasha Baron Cohen's program. Their dirty souls come out thanks to themselves.
    We must accept responsibility for this situation and demand that others take that upon themselves as well. The man is insane. The man is insane. Open eyes and ears, see the Emperor is naked and so are we at this point. The man is insane.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

     There is such division here in the country that I am beginning to doubt it will ever be healed and sealed. Democrat from Republican. Conservative Republican from moderate (if there remains such a thing). Socialist Democrat from Party regular. Men and women. Colors of the nation in disunion rather than living as Americans all. And plain facts from played "facts" or ignored facts.
     So our oh so brilliant demented President has instituted his tariff war on the world, inflicting his playground mentality of "I'll get you" determining his actions. Jobs, present and future, have already been affected as companies struggle to handle the growing shortage of steel and the rising cost of it. Big companies are hoarding the material and little companies are struggling to get the material. Even huge companies like Whirlpool are suffering so what the hell!And yet, somehow, these same blue collar workers are saying that the tariff is right. I do not understand what and where and how they are thinking when the economy was still going strong, building up since 2008 and unemployment was dropping. What will it take to show them the errors of their ways? Will it be when they lose their jobs and there is no safety net to help them put food on the table, pay the rent or mortgage, pay the doctors?
     We have hate running rampant through the veins of America and Americans. We have war declared on children, on their parents for daring to dream and attempt to improve their lives. I am not against regulations, but there has to be  line drawn to separate the allowed from the unthinkable. And let us be honest here. This is not a war on illegal immigration. This is a war directed at people with strange names that do not roll off the tongue easily for us. It is against people of a darker skin tone. Else why are we now targeting LEGAL immigrants, some already citizens? What the hell is happening here?
     The hate pervades our very lives, our daily hours. See, the hatred does not stop at a boundary line. Instead it seems to ooze ever onwards in an environment seemingly friendly to it. Now we have a new category of mass killers, the misogynistic killer who targets women. So what now? Do we arm all women? Do we walk around, all of us with holstered six shooters? Seriously, what have we come to? Why have we allowed it to reach this point?
     And if that is not enough, we now have the alt right planning more rallies in August under the guise of 'white civil rights' to be held in Charlottesville and DC. 'Unite the Right' they are calling it and doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart!
     In the meanwhile we have a message going around that portrays various political figures meeting with Putin and how that was okay, but not Trump with Putin, with the poor, put upon man being called a traitor. Really? Well, how about all these other people did not praise him to the skies. Did not meet in secret with him with no witnesses. Did not trash his own country as compared to Russia. Did not call our enemy our 'friend'. Really and truly, can we get real here? 
     I simply do not get why otherwise intelligent people with active minds look away from the facts, from the truth, from the moral filth of this man, from his oh so apparent incapability, his incompetence and the affects of his mental deterioration on all he does and says. Why can they not see the spin he uses, the Big Lie technique he uses. The neighborhood of his buddies round the world. The nastiness of his mouth and the absence of a soul. The cowardice and complicity of a morally weak and spineless Republican party.
     Russia is our friend, oh yes, even as they build one of the worst nuclear weapons ever, specifically aimed to defeat America's defenses, even as Russia and China collude together against American positions in Asia. With such friends.....
     We ignore the ever growing problem of climate change even as this administration turns back the clock on protective legislation. So we are burning up and flooding and facing destructive and ever more frequent and powerful storms and tornadoes. We have drought and lack of snowfall in the mountains. We have fires in Sweden! In the Arctic! We have the growing desertification of the world. 
     And this man has the gall, the utter nerve, to say that his opponents have monetized their knowledge and opinions?! Shall we check all his Secretaries who have had to resign after slurping at the public trough, dined on the taxpayer's dollars, flown at cost to us, and we can go on. We have a President who is both petty and universal in his hatred and stupidity and  cupidity.
     So no, I do not understand how people can go along in their own destruction, how they can willfully look past the truth into a world of fantasy where this man will solve all their problems, even as he steals their healthcare, their food stamps, their safety net, the schools for the kids and all else that is important in life. 
       Where and how did we get to this point where the man is both a laughingstock to his constituents and to the world and yet, one of the most destructive people ever as his destruction will long echo into the future- if we remain with one. I simply do not understand And I do not understand how we are to get out of this mess.
     

DIZZY, I AM SO DIZZY!

     We are living a song, are we not? Dizzy is what we are. From one hour to the next we are bombarded by statements that swing from one end of the spectrum to another. We are so crazed with the craziness of it all that we forget common decency too much of the time.
     We seem to have forgotten that children are the innocents in the game here. We are not supposed to make war on them, but I think all those pictures of kids , dead or wounded, in the horrific battle scarred countries, seeing kids pushed into becoming child soldiers, sex slaves, work slaves, scrounger for supplies for families, carrying out the demands of the adults who are supposed to be taking care of them, all these pictures have twisted our minds. While minor, the video of two adults conniving together to steal a baseball in a stadium from a little boy waiting for it to fall into his glove is just symptomatic of how low we have fallen and how mean we have become.
     And yet there are the times that we show that we still have some goodness left within us. The duck boat tragedy is one and why they are still allowed is another issue. Since the Boston tragedy years ago, we have known they are unstable, go down like a lead sinker and people are entangled to their death in canopies, while lifejackets go unused. And yet this tragedy brought outpourings of sympathy and help but why does it take a tragedy to do this?
     One can get dizzy from the garbage of life and speaking of garbage, did you see the wave of garbage near Dominica? What are we doing to our home, our planet? Why do we not tackle these major issues instead of creating other issues? Have we gone so far as to be beyond the tipping point, the point of no return? I am afraid to answer that question, I am that dizzy!
     Here is a dizzy episode that might get a laugh. On David's proprietary blog masquerading as an open blog for the Village, one of his sycophants writes purple prose of how wonderful the blog is, that we can write on it and how wonderful Ed is as well. Uh huh. Couple of problems though. One, we are NOT allowed to write on that blog unless we practically sign an oath in blood that we love David, that he is G-d's gift to CV, that we will only praise him and his minions. And as far as Ed is concerned, how many more systems are we going to run through before we finally get one that works for more than a few years?!How many more yards and yards of fencing will we discover as finally we cut back the jungles leaning on the fences, hiding the damage, the holes, the easy climbs?
     We have returned to the years of the past and no, not the times of the heroics of the Lone Ranger, but to the nastiness of deep and dark prejudice. Why are we forever calling the cops on black people who are doing such nasty things as going in and out of a house they rented, or opening their own business, or sleeping in a school lounge, or gasp! even running a lemonade stand at the advanced age of 7 and without a permit!! Guess we were all criminals in our childhood as we all, at one time or another, held our little lemonade sales, or chestnut sales, or toy sales on the stoops of our homes. We need to stop this! Now! It is time.
     We need to face the truth that our new policies on immigration and trade are making our economy dizzy and the more it spins the harder will be the fall. We have turned on our allies, opened our arms to our enemies, lost 365, 000 jobs already due to the tariffs and more to come. Farmers are beginning to realize what they voted for in 2016 and G-d help us, I hope we last till 2020 if that man remains at the helm he has so disrespected already.
     "Dizzy, my head is spinning...." As are the heads of all of us. What makes me even dizzier is that with all the reveals coming out and down the tubes, with the truth of the lack of character, shall we say, of a President though not mine! What with the true memos being revealed. With the obvious deranged behavior, the lack of stability so common with brain degenerative diseases. So why is this man still in office? Why does Putin make it clear that he has made demands on Trump in that secret meeting and that he expects them to be kept? Why does North Korea now demand that the US make some sort of important concession before they do a damn thing about their nuclearization? Why does Rouhani feel free to threaten us?
     Why? Because we are all so dizzy with the out of control spin of our government, of the attacks on its principles, attacks on the free press, the loss of civility and the forgetting that we are supposed to be one nation, not just political parties. That the Republican Party now accept the fact that their almost criminal negligence and cowardice make them complicit in the damage this man has wrought, with their enabling of this.
     We need to take this man, the Republicans who have no spine, the crude alt righters and their godawful nastiness,  take them all down and out of this awful game of life for they have made it a game of chicken in a most deadly manner and degree. Are we not dizzy enough already? Are you? And are we ready to confess the mess we have made, never mind your fake pride and embarrassment at having voted for this creep of all time.
     I am tired of the dizziness of life as it is today. So tired. We need to grasp the railings, hold onto the walls and get ourselves steady once again. Soon. No, now! So vote, VOTE, VOTE!!




   

FIRST DRAFT

     Ever wonder how the world got into this mess we are in? How did everything begin to run downhill and nobody notice? How did progress turn 180 degrees and turn into retrogression and outmoded and dangerous thinking? How?
     It happened because most of us walked through life in a semi coma. As long as we had the job which allowed us to buy our playthings, pay the rent or mortgage and feed and cloth our children, why then all was right in the world. Yes, there were crises that hit us, but for the most part we had insurance and food and clothing and even vacations. Life was good - and for those for whom it was not so good, well....let them try harder was the mantra and again, did we not have  a social safety net for such people and problems?
     And then trouble. We got greedy. We wanted more. It was not enough to have a home; we needed bigger and fancier ones. We needed to not only keep up with the Joneses but overtake them, show them up. We needed fancier, bigger cars with all the tweets and whistles. And for the kids, well, they needed a car too so we had to make more and more money.
     We began to neglect family and family time. Yes, we provided more physical things to the kids, far more than we had growing up. We took them on vacations that we never dreamed of. We programmed their entire days and weekends with all sorts of programs and clubs. But we forgot, many of us, to be parents. We had no time for it; too busy making the bucks, indulging our own needs and fantasies.
     Not everybody did this. We all know who and what we did and are. And yes, no one is perfect, but somewhere along the line the values were not passed on, or at least the values which were truly valuable and the need for money, to make it, to be big and bigger, to have 'stuff' - all this took our attention away from the world and what was going on. And when we did pay attention, it was to shout, to threaten and to go away again. Too busy with life were we.
     So the bad element took over the world. We had crooked politicians. We had a time where no matter what one did, if one had connections, then forget about it. So today it is said, or was said to me, that we punish that which is uncovered. Really? Do you believe that? Sure, some were, for the uproar was simply too loud to ignore, but look what goes unpunished, and sorry, Republicans, it falls on your plate. Why is Jim Jordan still in Congress? Were his sexual misdeeds or the overlooking of such so minor? Ask the many wrestlers who suffered abuse because he looked away. And what about Nunes, he who screams of the innocence of Trump and who pushes to  oust Democrats who veered from the straight and narrow. So what is with his misuse of campaign funds to take himself on really nice vacations? Too minor for some? Truly? Or is it that we now have a society where the people in power are the people who can do wrong freely and without consequence and for the rest of the people - well, look out below!!
     And these moral lapses are eating through society at all levels. We hear of crooked CEOs, of heads of HOAs who are destroying their communities. We hear of power hungry minor figures who need to be 'someone" and to hell with everyone else. And we see the cancerous growth of this type of thinking as the world is taken over by dictators and strongmen who think nothing of purging their societies and no, it is not the make believe of the purge movies. We even, G-d help us, have such a person at the head of our own country, a man accused of misdeeds, of moral proclivities that are unspeakable, of mentally deranged behavior, of a lack of intelligence and care and concern for others. He has colluded, either him or those working for him, with the enemy and is still doing that. And yet, why is he still in office. Never before would this have happened. He would have been out on his keister long ago. But today, today the Republicans are moral wimps and creeps, concerned only with remaining in power, such as it is, even as they give it away to him as they refuse to stand up against this harmful thinking and behavior.
     How did this happen? Because we violated a principle rule of education, of improvement. My students always had to do a first draft which they then would read over, correct, improve and sometimes start over again. We did that in life as well, trying out things that were either good or not, valuable or not, and we hope that we chose wisely. But today, there is no first draft, no second draft. It all is hanging out there and  not in a good way.
     Yet there is hope. There are people out there who do care and who take time out of their lives to protest, to write, to call and email, to donate and to vote - TO VOTE! We need not violence, but participation and good thinking. We need a return to caring. We need a return to a world where kids are not thrown into cages. Where people are recognized for the values they can contribute to society. Where religion is not used as an excuse to cut others out, to send them out of the camp of humanity. We need a second draft and soon. Anyone up for the rewrite?
    

TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME? GOOGLE IDIOT?

     I do not know whether to laugh or cry or do both at the same time. Personally, this has been a tough week for me, what with trouble sleeping and defensive walls thin. When one is so tired, extraordinarily tired, it is hard to beat off the thoughts of a future which is not what one dreamed about. And when one adds to that, the deterioration of a country, the loss of pride in being American, or, in fact, the shame of it right now, then things are tough, harder to handle.
     When I received the call to type in 'google idiot', the caller was laughing. I figured what I would see and it was even bigger than my expectations. Lots of interpretations via pictures of 'idiot' with Trump's picture to illustrate. So yes, I laughed, and so did many others, but how sad is it, that this is how a majority of the world, the thinking world, think of the American President. How sad it is that this is what it has all come to.
     It is also contrary to the seriousness of this issue. Yes, we all laugh at his moronic behavior, his pathetic attempts to walk back his truly bad statements, his obnoxious and even dangerous behavior, when he conducts business in secret and who the hell knows what he has given away to Putin and other dictators. Perhaps another business deal for him a la the deals for Ivanka from China. This is not the way to run a household - let alone the way to run a country!!
     So yes, idiot he is, but a dangerous one at that. He talks of a second term and I have serious doubts whether we can even survive a full first term with him and the spineless Republicans. The only way out is to impeach, convict, imprison, and vote out the Republicans up for election in November. These spineless critters could not even agree on any bill defying Trump and his treasonous behavior with Putin and here this same idiot is planning yet another one in the fall! What for? The better to arrange for comfortable interference by the Russian yet again? Two weeks into his term Trump was shown incontrovertible proof about Russian interference and now a year and a half later he is still bumbling around and Pompeo has to say that  Trump 'understands' about the meddling?!
     So let's look at the new accusation, that all who oppose Trump have something called Trump Derangement Syndrome. That whatever Trump does sets these people off into a dizzy spin. Well, yes, and no. This man is so awful, so anti the American values he is supposed to represent and protect, that he leaves all left behind in his wake to the point of crazed anger and despair. Having children who do even walk yet, let alone speak or think at a defense level, come into immigration court and many without a lawyer?! What the hell is that? Inciting hatred, allowing prejudice to raise its ugly head, to cause people to think and talk of revolution, here, again, in our country.
    I believe that this term, Trump Derangement Syndrome rather reflects more on the deranged man for whom the term is named, the man who has caused this chasm within our country and indeed, even within the world.
     So who is deranged? Look in the mirror and check again. Who goes rabid about people protesting at the crosscurrents between the anthem and the reality? Who goes rabid and accuses the free press of being the enemy of the people!! That in itself is sheer treason. So who is the idiot? Type it in. And who is deranged, and yes, drives most sane people crazy with his ill thought and conceived deeds? You got it in one!!
     Am hoping that next week is a better one and that all does not conspire to make all things worse.
     

ANYONE SEE THE LIGHT?

     Folks, we are in a tunnel and I cannot see the light at its other end. We are in such a mess that I almost doubt the certainty of emerging whole after our journey through it. The Thai boys in the cave had very brave people, divers, volunteers, fighting to find and rescue them, but we, here in America, ain't no one there.
     Nor, I think, do we deserve a hand out of this tunnel either. We have allowed ourselves to be drawn further and further in, electing the creep, then allowing him to display his arrogance, his incompetence, his mentally degenerative and constantly degenerating condition, to allow him to simply ride out the accusations and proof of his disgusting sexual proclivities, his support of creeps like Jim Jordan who is accused of allowing sexual abuse to go on when he was a coach at a university. We have allowed this man who cannot make up his mind about the time of day, who cannot write, speak, nor even, apparently, think, to run the country, replete with hateful memes, hurtful and harmful edicts, smashing regulations of safety, of concern for a viable future, and worst of all - I, and many others, believe that the man is a traitor, has committed treasonous deeds, spoken treasonous words. His pathetic attempts to walk these words and sentences back are pathetic in the extreme and simply increase our danger.
     There was a joke going around yesterday that perhaps we all need to take Russian language courses - RSL - Russian as a second language - but is it truly funny, or is it symptomatic of a most unusual and frightening situation. He rants against the free press, demeans and targets those with whom he disagrees, throws tantrums worthy of a two year old, debases his country - our country - in international arenas and supports Putin, a most cruel and creepy creature, over the words and thoughts and proofs of his own intelligence apparatus. This, from the man supposed to be protecting the very country he is destroying. 
     From the very start he received proof of collusion, of interference by the Russians into our elections and yes, that is a plural word, and he has then been on a seesaw ride, saying yes, then denying yes again, denying it again denying his very acceptance or that he even said that, and when people wonder why he is this way - give him a brain scan and  see the reason. If this were any other person he would have been taken to a neurologist and given a diagnosis of some mentally degenerative condition and told to get his affairs in order! But no, we allow him to remain a president - not my president! - and keep us on a road to perdition.
     So oh, yes, there was collusion and despite the fact that he cannot spell it correctly nor get its facts in order in his very disordered mind, the facts remain and the truth remains the truth. The light that we are not seeing? Well, I am hoping that some of us are prepared survivalists and have matches and flashlights with them, for we will need lots of light to get out unharmed from this tunnel in a timely and safe manner.
     Can it be done? With the idea now being bandied about that we will allow Russian investigators to come here and "help", in the interrogation of some people they do not like, dear Lord in Heaven. What are we doing? What are we allowing? Why and when have all the Republicans turned into such morally and valueless spineless creatures? When have they made that decision to sell their country down the river so they can remain in a position of power? Little do they understand that by doing or not doing, they are pushing the envelope almost beyond repair, creating landslides and crashes and collapses within that tunnel. One day, there will be unraveling of the knots of history of these times and the question that will be first and foremost is - why did the people, the body politic and the country itself, allow this mentally and morally deranged and most emphatically unqualified and harmful man to remain in office or in fact, why did he even get there? Instead of the big fat tome on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, it will be a big fat tome on the rise and fall of the American Age and how it could have been avoided.
     Shame on us!!!!
   

POODLES AND ZOMBIES AND FOOLS, OH MY!

     Putin's poodle. Lovely name for a President of the United States of America. We can just take so much pride in this, can we not? But who exactly are the rest of the poodles and zombies and fools?
     Look around you and think. Who is still supporting Trump? Who is still making excuses for him, even going so far as to say this is a secret way to triumph over the Russians. Uh huh. A secret plan by a functional idiot who cannot speak his own language and then uses his known incompetence to excuse himself. But there is a problem, - and by the way, collusion is how it is spelled. Two 'l's there. Who are the people, you know, those NRA people who pronounce themselves as patriots of the highest order who now found that they were, prosaically speaking, in bed with a Russian agent.
     Zombies, one and all, as they merely follow along, lurching in a drunken manner, after their leader, growling his thoughts and tweets, trying to eat up all foes such as NATO and EU and anyone else who is not a strongman or dictator in ruling style. It is these fools who claim they were fooled by Cohen, the comic, into making statements such as the belief that a 3 year old should be allowed to bear arms and have training in the use of weapons. Uh huh. How can you be fooled into that or any number of moronic statements made in interviews with Sacha Baron Cohen. It sounds like the kid who gives the excuse to the teacher that so and so made me laugh, or made me do it. Nope. Does not work. Nor does trying to claim stupidity work for not knowing how to speak and to try to use incorrect grammar as an excuse. Puh-lease!
     Why are people so willing to overlook and excuse his behavior and harmful actions? Because people do not want to admit that they were fooled by this hoax of a president, that they were taken in by this greedy man of no morals and no values other than to enrich himself and 'make deals' harmful to the country but financially beneficial to his bottom line. The government, for example, just paid his Turnberry Scotland resort over $77,000 for his visit there. What nerve!
     This zombie fool poodle trend is growing all over the world as people forget the virtues of democracy, forget that it takes a whole lot of hard work and responsibility to keep it going, to overcome hatred and prejudice, to pass on the need for war and more and more armaments. But if people are willing to go along with anything a 'leader' says, then what can we do about it? How can we stop harmful practices and programs from being put in place? For example, almost every report by the CAM here reports on yet another breakage or serious error by Atlantic Broadband or their representatives, we find that better deals were made in other developments, and yet David Israel et al go around looking as if they were miracle workers in this deal even as we are going to pay the price. And why? Because there are too many zombie poodles around who walk lockstep with their 'leader'.
     Democracy needs people to step up to the plate, to act, to demand answers, to even ask the questions. We need to reform our voting system, to do away with the electoral system in the first place, use majority voting, in which case we would not have this travesty of a President in office right now, and use the one resident owner one vote rule here in Century Village, though David will never go along with it, no matter what he says, because he would lose his only way to maintain his pathetic perceived power.
     Is there hope left? Yes, I think so, for there are more and more, emboldened to say the words, to tell the truth, to call out the naked emperor. But we need more and we need to get rid of those wimpy Republicans afraid of their own shadow who cannot seem to muster up enough brains and balls to do the right thing! We need the weak Democrats to stop worrying about their paycheck and grasp of power, however pathetic or wrong, and do the right thing, serve the people, not Trump and not themselves.
     Poodles of the world unite. Zombies of the world unite. See your master as he truly is. And fools, please go to that mythical city of Chelm where the residents were all fools, yet fooled and taken in by their own warped 'brilliance'. Oy vey, as the saying goes. Oy vey for all of us unless and until we know the truth, speak the truth and are honest with ourselves.

WHAT? WHO, ME? COULDN'T BE! UH HUH!

        Sorry for the delay, folks, but I was traveling once again and how lucky was that! If I had written immediately after reading the paper and last nite's news, I would have written words that could have got me into deep trouble!

     What do we have here? We have our second major Benedict Arnold, a traitor for the purpose of self aggrandizement, for pride, for egotism, and the difference? Arnold was a smart guy but Trump? The image of the toddler in the diaper and the runaway coward says it all.

     It is not only me anymore shouting to all and sundry that this man, this Trump, is not only a consummate liar, but also and always, a traitor to our country, to its people, to its government and principles. Columnist after columnist, newscaster after newscaster, be it TV or online,are finally calling it as it truly is. This man, who ostensibly swore to protect the Constitution, has shot it in its back. He has made verbal love to Putin whose deepest desire and deepest planning revolve around the takedown of America or the subsuming of it into Russian rule. He has gone to a foreign country, held a long and private meeting with Putin and then came out and sold America down the river. Putin says and he believes. Putin says and he trashes our intelligence services. Putin says and he jumps. Even Republicans, at least those that still have a loyal and  courageous and somewhat principled backbone have spoken out and against Trump's mouth and what came out of it, officers of the government have called for his impeachment - and I wish it had happened already - and he goes on and on, calling the EU our foe while praising Russia, thinks it would be wonderful to allow Russian intelligence officers into the USA and allow them to function - and remember what I said about subsuming us!

     At least Chris Wallace put the hard questions to Putin in his interview though Putin dodged around quite a bit. But as far as Trump goes, there is no Crimea or Ukraine problem, no persecution of opponents in his country, no campaign against free speech, no business in Syria, no nothing!

     So why is Trump like this? That I think is the clue to his behavior. The man has a shriveled and stone cold heart, a blackened soul and a one track mind - how to satisfy his own desires, as perverted as they are, as selfish as they are. All actions are judged accordingly and the Presidency is serving as a great conduit for him to enrich himself on our backs and those of the world, to express his vile racial and misogynistic statements, to make war on  children he deems insects, them and their parents, and finds nothing wrong with cheating and lying all the day long, and then denying his very same lies. He loves to pal with dictators and strongmen as they also have no compunction at all.

     As for the question of what Putin has on him? Is he a Manchurian candidate? Is there a pee tape?I believe there is something to insure his cooperation, but I do not even think he needs that threat to motivate him. He feels no shame in his behavior and I swear, the Republicans are so far up his butt that peeing on women would be the next done thing!

    Folks, I am tired of this man, his shenanigans, his treason, his selfishness, his miserable aides, his clothes hanger wife and his selfish children. I am tired of being represented to the world by this man the antithesis of America. Impeach. Recall. Arrest and charge for treason, for theft of money from charity funds, from whatever - but get him gone before there is no way for us to turn back his miserable and poisonous tide.

CONFUSED BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED

     Yesterday was great. Putting aside the thunderstorm in the early am, it turned out to be a beautiful day, perfect for walking the streets and the byways of the city. It was a family day, three generations out and about, together. All New York born and bred, we played tourist and discovered that Manhattan on a beautiful summer Sunday is filled with tourists from all over the world. And just as an aside, guess what they think of our President? Yup!
     We took a guided tour of the Manhattan subways, its history, and saw how we grew as a city, how we took pride in work with beautiful murals and tile work, how we let the work slip, how crowded it was on a Sunday afternoon - I recall empty trains on Sunday - and yet how people cooperated with each other, helped each other, gave up seats for each other, no rude, shouting, mean people, just people out for a day for whatever reason.
     So why the title? This was just so diametrically opposed to what else is going on in this country. This magnificent country, a nation of immigrants who built the country, who enriched it with their ideas and labor, with their culture, creating great wealth of all sorts, now has people wandering the streets and the subways in a most awful condition, worse than any I have ever seen before here in the city.  We have an underground movement almost with people working to help hunted and hounded immigrants.We have lost our way, lost sight of our values and principles and the results are clear.
     A man sat there on a seat, feet bare, misshapen, bleeding, pants torn open so as to seem more skirt than pants and he sat there talking in a coherent voice and words how he needed help. All he wanted was to buy a pair of shoes so he could heal his feet. Here in America a man was misshapen and wounded because he had no shoes. I am a native New Yorker and yes, I can be a soft touch at the corners where people collect funds but I am not easily hoaxed. This man's feet were for real. His pain for real. His need for real. So yes, I am confused, bothered and bewildered at the contrasts found here in the country.
     Why is there an orange haired, sometimes yellow haired man running around tooting that he is helping all Americans, that he is fixing America all over, even as he has unimaginable wealth and uses his Presidency to enrich himself, his family members and his cronies who toe the line of adulation and 'loyalty' of and to him? Why are we cutting the social safety net just at the time when the need for it is growing? Is it so we can starve these people out of existence, take away healthcare for them, shutter hospitals, overwhelm, the food pantries, further trash our schools, grow more prejudice in a dank and moldy kulture - and yes, I spelled it with a k for a reason.
     Why are we allowing a certain man and his cronies to give away our country. He is going into a meeting alone with a shark, one who certainly has bigger and sharper teeth, who can run circles around Trump before he strikes, and who the hell know what Trump will give away in this meeting. The entire store perhaps?!
     Why are we allowing a man almost certainly going to be convicted at some time in the future of collusion with the enemy, with accepting their help in return for what exactly, allowing him to remain in office? A man who is breaking the law every day with his profit taking from his hotels, touting his hotels as if he is a TV commercial actor hired for the role, with his refusal to openly share his tax and health conditions, with every nasty and cheesy way he misbehaves. With his refusal to answer questions and what is he hiding!!!!!
     I am bewildered how our country can be split asunder, families too, becoming almost rabid in defense of their positions Why are we acting as if we are in a dictatorial country, afraid to speak openly, communicating certain thoughts by physical expressions and gestures, rather than words Why are we allowing the detention of children to continue when the facts are exposed, and they were used as servants in their own detention, scrubbing toilets, being rousted out of and into bed using loud noises and water to get them going? What  have we done? What have we allowed this man and his ilk to turn us into?
     I am bothered when I see the rest of the world knowing the truth and yet so many here have yet to recognize it. He is paraded as a balloon, mocked by names such as The Apricot Toddler, and shamefully, is seen hustling off, running, away from a man who had given notice of his deed to be and yet this oh so brave man, he of the famed bone spur, ran away. We are shamed in the eyes of the world. Thousands upon thousands protest and gather in England, Scotland and yet the man has over 88 million dollars in his next campaign fund.
     Should this man not be impeached, should he not be taught that he is not above the law and will have to pay for his crimes, just like any other citizen - and if he does not like it, why then let him run to his buddies, Kim Jong-un or Vladimir Putin or whomever he pals around with. Should he escape justice and take over the reins of this country on a more permanent basis, then say good bye to the best experiment the world has ever had in the rights for humanity, for its hopes for humanity, for the future of humanity.
     Yes, I am confused, bothered and bewildered as to how we can have such awful contrasts, with people spending $125,000 for a Tesla, yet not afford a pair of shoes for a man. I do not know how far my $10 will go for him, but I did tell him several places to go for help, as I exited the subway car.
      I think more than confusion, or bother or bewilderment, I am heartbroken and frightened. Where will we turn as a nation, as a people? Who will we become? Who have we already become?

LOOP DE LOO

     Circles and more circles. Round and round we go with no end in sight - or so we think. Yet I am getting the feeling that there is an end coming but which end will it be? That is the question.
      Listen to the protests of Trump. More importantly, read the writing beneath the words and take hope. Why is Trump getting so uptight now, shouting his ridiculous fake news bit, trying actively to shut down free press and exchange of ideas, and facing more and more active protests against not his country so much but rather against him as a person, as a despicable human being who has no place within the body politic?
     He has disgusted the world what with his constant golf rounds in the middle of crises that he himself has brought about, with his compadres trying to shut down protests by submitting a bill against anti - fas, but not against KKK, Aryan Brotherhood or similar organizations, his overwhelming hubris and his functional illiteracy, which should not be a component of a President!
     He praises himself, telling all and sundry that he is doing a great job and how does he know this? Why because he tells himself so. Of the mentally ill and deranged category, he demands worship of himself, adoration even and the sickness of other dictators and their bloody insecurities is present within him. 
     He and his administration cannot seem to get together and agree on any policy and the world leaders say that he is not a stable leader. Duh on that! And yet, there is much to fear from this seeming incompetent as he goes bumbling around the world, embarrassing every American and leaving turmoil behind. He uses lies as a matter of policy and causes distrust amongst all.
     Prices have risen already. Jobs have been lost already. Regulations that provide for a better and safer country and globe have been dismantled. Children have become the soldiers on the front line, held and denied to parents, and we need to examine our souls that we have people within law enforcement willing to wage that war.
     We have a President who makes love to the dictators of the world, promises them the world, and asks for nothing in return, other than what more he can give up for them. No return of bodies. No denuclearization. No military exercises. Splits in traditional alliances.
     And yet, and yet, loop de loo. We are going around, and yes, even in circles, but sometimes circles are good things. When trying to zero in on an important point, to emphasize it, it is often begun with a huge and encompassing circle, the better to gather more within it and not lose a single thing. The circle gets drawn tighter and tighter and the cheese in the middle of that 'farmer's field' begins to stink ever more. 
     Well, Trump is that stinking cheese and the rats have deserted in many cases as the circle draws tighter. It is good to have power, one thinks, but not at the cost of possible jail and worse. Trump is getting ever more frantic within his field. It gets tighter and tighter and closer and closer to pointing out with a red pen that he is no innocent babe in the woods here, that he allegedly had nefarious purpose in mind when running for President of our country, that he allegedly colluded with our enemies, has illegally enriched himself, as have others of his administration from Secretaries to his own family members. He is panicking, protesting, and does not like this state of affairs.
     What we must do is watch that as the circle gets closer, as the loops get tighter and tighter, that he does not go for broke and try to shut down the democracy known as the United States of America. Think he is incapable of this? Think again. Think of the damage he has already done Think on his statements. Think of the outrages he has perpetrated upon us, upon the allies, upon the world.
     Worried? You should be. Strong words. Yes, they are, for that is what the situation demands. The quicker we impeach this man, the more we deny him, as in his disastrous Supreme Court choice, the sooner we can get some Republicans to find their moral spines again, the quicker we can get back to restoring our government to what it should be and the better a lesson learned for those who come after.
     America the strong. America the beautiful. Within and without. America the proud and the free. America the role model for other countries. America that welcomes immigrants. America that restores its social safety net and stops this ridiculous statement and accusation that immigrants are taking services denied to 'Americans". No, they are not. And did you know that immigrants pay taxes. Did you know they set up businesses and hire others, helping the economy? Did you know that we are all immigrants at some point? Did you know that we have a Fourteenth Amendment that is under attack? What do you know and what do you want?

IS THIS FOR REAL?

     Basically away from news most of the day yesterday, between flights and wait time and getting settled - and I strictly follow a rule I set for myself - no news on days of travel. It is aggravating enough to hear the excuses of the airlines as to why they are late, why one has to sit and wait for 45 minutes on the tarmac till a gate opens - even when a pilot flying to his job told us that one was open, more than one, but it is a great big bother to move luggage carts, etc. Humph! Lies again! And don't you just love the airlines always claiming they put the customer first!
     Anyway, I did not miss a thing. Yes, there was the awful Strzok hearing, wherein a man tried to hold to his responsibilities and got yelled at and threatened for it with obnoxious behavior ruling the day. We had the chief obnoxious person over there in England, who calls the Queen a "tremendous woman" - quite undignified - to say the least - and then proceeds to undercut May in her own country when  he tells how she ignored his 'advice' about Brexit. Yes, the man who has shafted the American economy with his tariffs, has now become the self appointed economic guru! Lord save us!
     The White House is playing fast and loose with intelligence - probably because they do not understand the word intelligent - and now Trump realizes that maybe the Britons are not as fond of him as he said yesterday. Ya think! Blimps away!!
     We  have a crude man who harasses a woman with a permit for a party at the park, wearing a Puerto Rican color shirt and the cop nearby does nada!!!The young woman held her own politely and finally a female cop came along and did her job. And in the meanwhile, elsewhere in our newly prejudiced and partisan country and law enforcement field, we had the staged and false arrest of Storm Daniels and why? Duh!! The cops who arrested her were known Trump advocates and supporters and is this for real? Partisan police enforcement or false arrests for the publicity and then voided after the harm was done?
     Then again we have the somewhat lacking in intelligence and human civility Republicans who claim to have been 'tricked' into appearing on a show? Were they led by the hand? Were they forced on at gunpoint? How is one tricked onto a show, unless it is one of those shows that reunites family members!
     We seem to be in a cycle wherein we open our mouths, spew out garbage and foul language and think this passes for wisdom. We have a demented man who tends to his ever changing hairstyle and color rather than to politics and policies. We have threats. We make war on babies and on the helpless, the weak. We turn on our principles. We find that we have people within our country who are willing and quite able at doing these nasty jobs, thinking it quite the done thing to threaten little kids with guns, with never seeing parents again, with placing all and sundry in freezing cages. Yes, folks, it can happen here. Evidently the raw materials are in full supply.  We have indeed learned well from the dictators of the world. 
     Is this for real? Unfortunately, yes. Can we 'unreal' it? Yes, with a great deal of hard work, with deep self examinations into our hearts and souls and what makes us tick, and with returning all these semi dictator wannabees and their sadly and dangerously incompetent leader to the garbage heap of history. Make it  a momentary aberration of the American body politic, corrected by impeachment, conviction, criminal charges, recalls and lost elections. It can be done, but will it? What will be our reality of the present and future? Our choice, folks, at least for now. The opportunity for making a difference is narrowing, quickly, so time to make a choice. 

WHO IS THE CRIMINAL HERE?

     So the big stern government is keeping children hostage again. Some they have lost. Terrific. Some they have decided cannot be returned to parents because it has been decided that the parent is a criminal. Really? If not in jail, and  not abusive, any parent has a right to his/her child. And how did some of these people get in jail so their children are denied to them! And since when are the 'older, more mature' kids of 6+ of no concern as evidently they do not miss their parents!!!!!!
     Waiting for luggage this morning, I observed what appeared to be an Indian family with a boy about 7 and a tiny little thing of a girl, teetering and tottering like a  little toy top, just learning to walk. Each time her little adventure ended at a parent's leg. And this is what was taken away? What nerve! And being told that the children would be up for adoption? What the hell is the matter with these people and someone needs to show cause why they should not be fired immediately.
     This criminal behavior, these cruel beyond the pale actions and the continuation as still close to 3,000 kids are still separated, held in abominable situations.  is awful and shameful. And guess who reaps the benefit of this program? Why no less than the buddies of Trump. Just as bad is the behavior of Kushner as he rides around in Air Force One and makes deals with companies who have vested interests in administration doings.
     The filth of this administration, its immorality, its high handedness is almost too much to live with. Shouting in hearings, demanding that an FBI employee answer questions he was told he cannot and then threatening him. Trump machinations to get a new Justice who believes that the President is above the law. Hmmm, why would Trump want that?! Take   a guess.
     We are told the tariffs will protect us - but are not told that when current supplies run out by autumn, watch out America as the prices rise, just as gasoline prices are climbing. Watch as farmers who voted for Trump see their crops rot with no customers. Watch the price of produce rise because there are no pickers.
     Our allies are enraged by this man as he insults them, rips apart the alliances made to keep the world safe. He is going to ask Putin about the interference accusations in 2016 but then gives him an excuse to say no. Britons are planning to fly a huge insulting baby blimp of Trump and the man is oblivious, claiming the Britons love him.
     And notice that there is dead silence from  him or his dastardly crew when it became known that the little kid who is stateless, who knows so many languages, who is brilliant, was the one to speak and interpret and get the show on the road for the rescues. Here, under Trump, he would have been arrested, thrown out, discarded, trashed. And that is what America is throwing away when it refuses immigrants. And the crimes against humanity when it turns away - automatically - threats of gang killings and domestic abuse as reasons for asylum - well what else will be coming down the track. Will women have to register their pregnancy, kept under watch, perhaps fitted with ankle bracelets lest they plan an abortion?
     Look around and decide who is the criminal here? Look around and ask yourself and your neighbor how one could live with this man as head of government, above the law, demented and enraged by any opposition.
     More and more   people are saying, "Not my President".Perhaps we need to listen better.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

     So goes the saying, that it takes a village to raise a child. Overall, the sweet hometown villages where all know all are disappearing, but then again, the boundaries of the globe are disappearing as well. Perhaps this somewhat explains the world's attention glued to Thailand the past two weeks.
     Yesterday morning the phones were busy in my house, friends calling friends to update them on the latest count, the latest queries as to when they would all be out and would they all be okay in the end. But why? Why this interest in kids we never knew or will ever know, in  a country we will never be likely to visit, a country that basically sums up the knowledge we have of it in a few sentences. It has lots of refugees from the wars of the area; it has deep political issues now; it is the kingdom of Yul Brynner and Prince Chulalongkorn,and the names are very, very long.
     So why this intense and ongoing interest, not only from me and my friends but basically the entire world. It is because the world became that village, united in concern for kids who seemed to be made of solid material and souls who cooperated and united with each other for survival and who demanded that the rest of the country and indeed the world do the same.
     And so it did, with divers from many countries, though notice that no dictatorial country sent any. Their concern is wrapped up in themselves so we, Israel, Britain, and other countries sent. And thousands of people were brought together to pump water, to cook and serve food, to comfort parents awaiting news of their sons, to carry and position heavy tanks and pipes and hoses, to do all they could for those brave and tireless divers. It was indeed an effort to bring tears to one's eyes.
     Tears of joy as the rescue progressed, as the boys received medical care in the cave, as three divers and a doctor remained with them, but also tears of regret, of mourning, as we realized that it was so sad, so awful, that we could not unite the world with concern for children all over the globe.
     Seeing and hearing the children crying right here in America as we ripped them away from parents. Seeing the cold cages we stored them in, unwanted packages that our government held as hostage, seeing all this, my soul and heart shriveled in shame and mourning that my country could do that.
     The same thing happens when I watch the children of Gaza taught to throw firebombs and explosives over the border into Israel to start awful and threatening fires, poisoning the very air and making it hard to breathe for all. Why is this what they are taught. Why not be in school, with the funds expended on fuel and drones and time rather than on what it should be spent on? 
     When I see the dazed faraway faces and eyes of kids in Syria, all they have known in their brief lives being war, rubble, explosions and loss, lack of safety, I wonder, what is the matter with the people of Syria that they do not look at their children and make peace? But then again, I realize that there are foreign countries involved in this proxy war and they do not stop. Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Syrian forces and yes, us too - why can we not look at the children and see what we are doing to them and to the world? Israel and Jordan are both expending huge amounts of money and people in aiding the wounded, feeding the hungry, but in Syria they will have to stay for these countries cannot be overwhelmed with refugees.
And so the children continue to suffer, dazed and confused, growing up in a world where there is little love and compassion as people fight to survive.
     Further on, we see the starving children of Africa and their equally starving mothers. We see the children of rape, despised by the families they are born into, doomed to grow up - if they will - in a world where they know nothing of good and caring, grow up to become another generation that will eat its young.
     So why the interest in Thailand? Maybe because here we saw some hope, some determination to rescue these kids and who knows, perhaps one will grow up to do something marvelous for Thailand and the world. Perhaps one of these children will remember how the world came together to help children they did not even know and perhaps he will start a movement that will take over the world, forcing us to look to our children and the children of others and truly see what we are doing and stop, just stop!!!
     So hurrah for these brave kids and their intrepid rescuers. Hurrah for the coach who gave of his own share of water and food to them so they would survive. Shame on us for losing kids right here in our country and shame on those who could live with a job that required them to hear these kids, to see the awfulness of ripping children away, of telling lies to parents, to all those countries who disregard their children. To the Ukraine. To Russia. To China. To us. What are we teaching them? What are they learning? When will we ever learn? Think about that.

19TH CENTURY 21ST CENTURY STYLE

   Well, it appears that Trump et al have managed to change time, to return to the past even as time marches on. For centuries this country has made progress in human rights, civil rights, progressive thinking, attitudes of acceptance to LGBT, the acceptance of women in all areas and professions - still room to work in that area! We have accepted responsibility to clean up the air, the water, the environment in general, not only in this country but throughout the world.
     And along came Trump and all those who would turn back the clock, who now feel safe in expressing hatred and contempt for others, for those in  weaker positions in society. We have horrific stories of harsh treatment in detention centers, with no medical care, statements and actions of hatred and harm. The Border people make war on children, holding them for ransom until - and even if then - parents agree to deport themselves, keeping them filthy and freezing, separating them from parents and all familiar people, even separating siblings. When did we grow people willing and even eager to do these things?
     Since when do we have people who, while  walking with a child! think they are empowered to beat up a 91 year old man because he is Mexican, visiting a son, beating him with a brick and then soliciting the aid of a group of men to kick him when she said he was stealing her child- a 91 year old man!!!In broad daylight. Only the darkness of hate.
     And meanwhile, we have a nominee for the Supreme Court who has stated that the president of the country should be above the law, immune from civil and criminal proceedings. Really? Since when is anybody in this country immune from the consequences of breaking the law? Never, apparently, until the alleged criminal Trump took office in an election tainted by Russian interference, an illegitimate election and president if ever there were one.
     We have prosecuting attorneys who have the filthiest mouth ever, cursing women, Mexicans and just about anyone that bothers him. Who gave him the feeling of safety and entitlement to use this language and spout these attitudes? It all comes from the top! And then again, we have a driver for the man Trump who is now suing for non payment of overtime. As if the Trump guy could not afford it - and barely gave him any raises during his 15 years of employment. And this is the man that labor thinks is for them? Even as his administration has ripped the rights of unions to shreds? Poisoned the air we breathe? Polluted our waters? Given tours on Air Force One to business associates, members of his Mar a Lago at the horrific cost of $200,000  to join? Well blow me down if I ever buy a car from Arrigo as they are the big bosom buddies of Trump, members, business associate and where does the line get drawn? Or is it erased more every day?
     We bully other countries, threatening economic sanctions if they disagree with us, even unto the point of threats to Ecuador and other countries if they support a resolution that breast feeding is the best source of nutrition for the little ones. For this we threaten sanctions? Since when have we returned to that ugly bully pulpit? But for the products for Ivanka's business from China there are no tariffs? Gee, wonder if she knows somebody?!
     We ignore the signs for an impending bear market, Read MarketWatch. Crazy tariffs imposed by us are hurting us already and for what - to allow this man to strut like a pompous peacock? We have more and more fear coming through from this man and his lawyers as Michael Cohen, once the personal lawyer and alleged bag man or delivery service for hush money for Trump, edges closer to finally telling the truth and suddenly we are having a new Justice who says the President is immune from the law?!
     We are overwhelmed by lies, about Russia and Putin, about North Korea which has continued its nuclear program even as Ralph Reed and his "Christian" organization send a thick mailing saying that the North Korean problem is basically solved thanks to Trump and other such lies. I have the mailing in my hands as I write.Ahem? And why are we getting these mailings if we are not Christian, not on a mailing list that tends that way, and why is established religion suddenly so openly entangled with the government? Whatever happened to separation of church and state?
     We are not in a good way here today, folks. Our attitudes have regressed to the 19th century. Voting rights, equality before the law, a protective and fair government, global participation by us, a position of leadership - we are on the wrong side of everything it seems, taking a backwards and retrogressive path, rather than the progressive one, a path we proudly held to for many, many years.
     19th century thinking in a 21st century world is dangerous. Make no bones about that. So which century do you wish to live in and remember, when you condone hatred in one segment of society towards another, it does not stop there. The same ones yelling about Mexicans and gangsters also yell about ignorant black people and Jews taking over the world and set up crazy religions and drag their personal beliefs into the world of law. But then again, we can ask what law? Pick your century, folks, but pick it with a clear view as to what happens because of that choice - and will you be able to live in that world? Think. Think hard.

WHAT ELSE?

     There are black holes in space that swallow up matter and anything it comes into contact with. I am not quite sure of the physics of it all, but there it is and there it is, our own black hole, swallowing all that it meets, one scandal after another, so fast that they are blurred in the public's eyes, so quick that they strain the eye and the mind, not sure of what we have seen or heard or experienced.
     How many of us can recite the first five scandals of the Trump administration? How many can tell the approximate date when Trumpland or Trumpmania or any similar term came into play, announcing thus that we were facing something new. Anyone ever used the term Bushland or Obamaland? Not that I ever heard. So yes, we have acknowledged the fact that this man and his entourage are no, not from TV or the acting arena and yet that is what we have.
     We have fake lovefests with other bullies of the world. We have Putin and Trump. We have Erdogan and Trump. We have Kim Jong-un and Trump. We have all the recent right wingers taking over in Eastern Europe, quashing rights left and right and as for Trump - not a word of condemnation. Nope, what we get are statements that sometimes it is good to be a dictator, to be a strong man and that is what states need many times and gives hints as broad as a slap on the face that he includes our country within that statement.
     I used to laugh at his idiocy. Now I sit and think that maybe all these supposed stupidities of his are simply the manifestation of his contempt for all humans other than himself and his family members that he likes and that these are planned actions, designed to take away attention from whatever recent scandal or act destructive of democracy.
     The man who promised to withdraw our troops is now sending them all over the globe except where they are truly needed. The man who is supposed to protect us and our Constitution and took an oath to that effect, is well on the way to destroying it, and will advance far into that path with his next Supreme Court Justice. I shudder with distaste, with trepidation when I read of his possible nominee. Anti choice, belonging to extreme right wing religious organizations, believing that religion and state belong together, not separate, that increasing the ease and presence of owning and carrying arms is the way to go, that women are okay in their place, that oh yes, force babies to be born but then take away all the safety precautions that will ensure that these unwanted or cannot be cared for babies have no recourse - no SNAP, no housing aid, no care for the mothers, no classes in parenting, no requiring that the father show up and man up, nothing, just nothing. Once more it is all on the woman and it is up to her to find the medical or physical act of abortion again. Again!
     And skipping over all else egregious or not that he has done is the worst thing ever. I love reading how a crowd chased McConnell in a parking lot demanding to know where the babies are. But seriously, is that what we have become? A nation that does its work in crowds, in heckling, in denying the right of free speech, especially if it is anti us, and how do we draw a line. We are being told that our protests are illegal. Really? Since when? We are being told that we endanger the country? Really? How?
     Where will all this end? In civil war? In a defined and definite physical split in the nation into two or three or four separate countries? Think that is not possible? Think again. Take the temperature of the nation. Listen to the words of hate, the trading of insults, the violation of civil rights and worse, the people who support that. Look at the people who think it okay to demean a whole class of people, dehumanizing them and for G-d's sake, did we not have enough of that? We have it going on still with tribal and clans and religious warfare so do we really need it here? In the United States of America? Really?
     My heart breaks with these thoughts. My mind shudders at the possible future we are laying out for ourselves and our kids. My body shakes at the thought of the bloodiness and eternity of a civil war. My eyes pour down tears at the loss of our country and what it has meant to humanity and what its possible loss might mean to the world.
     What else? Is this not enough? Where and when does it end? Or does it ever end? The only end, as I see it, is to dump Trump. Impeach and convict. Trash the rest of the backwards thinking demagogues that follow his nastiness. Impeach and recall. Do not reelect. Do something. But do it. November is fast upon us and August, primary month, is even sooner. Wake up, America. This is no longer the Native American crying at a trashed riverbank. It is the entire nation crying at a trashed country.