THE STINK OF DESPERATION

     Oh yeah! Uh huh! One can smell that stink of desperation, of deep fear, right through the invisible waves of the Internet, through the print of the media. It appears to be that the investigation has drawn to a focus on Individual -1, a name for guess who? Just as the President's office can be a source of inspiration and progress, it also can be a source of rot, a rottenness that does not drip, but floods downwards and corrupts all in its path.
     When that rot, that nastiness, that illegality, that contempt for the laws, rules and regulations, the very traditions and underpinnings of society, is exposed, when the corruption that has been eating away at us since 2016 is opened to the glare of the light, then someone's fear glands begin to work overtime. 
     The lies, the constant lies, are exposed as such in a way that cannot be denied. The lies are denied via other lies, everyone else becomes a liar in this drama, and all the while the central character, the one who has driven all this, instigated it with his open corruption, begins to truly sweat, to shake and shiver in his boots. He takes desperate steps, mouths off with inane and almost insane comments, obsesses into the night and early in the morning, sends out insulting and demeaning tweets re his opponents, and yet the massive avalanche of the power of the law, of the consequences of his actions are rolling downhill, catching up to him, too late for him to stop it.
     Cohen is a liar. Manafort is a liar. Stone is a liar. Sessions is a liar - and a wimp. And the list can go on for almost 200 indictments. I can just see the man cowering under his covers as he realizes the danger that is coming his way. Right now he is truly beginning to realize the political and yes, thank the Lord, legal, trouble that he is in, right up to his orange hair, and perhaps Melania is signaling that she understands this, with trees the color of blood overwhelming the WH!
     The Republicans, or rather the Trump Party, is desperate as well and they continue their desperate attempts to create more trouble, get more incompetents into our justice system. Thank G-d Scott finally had the moral backbone and the mindset to indicate he would not support Farr, the bigot, but what and who else is coming down the track? Another problematic suggestion for Attorney General. Another pathway to leak corrosive and out of context statements as they pursue a last minute demand for Comey to testify behind closed doors. 
     And so dangerous to us all, to the very breath of life for our democracy is the condoned violation of voting rights. Now in North Carolina there is a race that cannot be called, that will need a major investigation, due to the rampant and open violations, the destruction of absentee ballots and the solicitation of others. This is only different in methodology from the other cases of denial of voter rights in other states and the shadows of the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws, overwhelm, and darken our country. Are we truly going to go so backwards in time? Are we truly going to allow this and again, I say, I remind, I shout from the hilltops - there is no end to this behavior.
     As proof of this, just look at the rule just told to Federal employees....  "bars federal employees from taking part in partisan political campaigns at work or in an official capacity, warned that making or displaying statements at work about impeaching or resisting Mr. Trump is likely to amount to illegal political activity."
     This is pertaining to simple round the water cooler conversation, not open organization or 'resistance'. I wonder if one is allowed to praise the man and not be considered illegal!? This is tampering with free speech, with the suppression of freedom of speech. This is dangerous, so very dangerous. And this will only grow and more and more will be suppressed, and more and more groups will be oppressed.
     The smell of fear is here. It is rank, reeks of the devil. But we must make sure that the use of fear does not intimidate us, those who are truth seekers, who wish to restore our country to its proper pathways. To live the words of the Pledge - "with liberty and justice for all".

UGH!!!

      What is that? That is my reaction after skimming through the daily news feed. Is there nothing that can make this all go away? Is there nothing that can make the words of a song stop running through my head on an unending cycle. "Lies, tell me Lies" is like the crawl on the screen of the TV. It never actually goes away. And it is a terrible comment on life today in these United States.
     The biggest lie, of course, is the one which maintains that the Demented One is eligible to remain in office. Actually, change that. The biggest lie is that he was even elected legitimately and he is still fighting that idea tooth and nail as he comes forth with his new threat to release documents purportedly supporting his claims of bias in the FBI investigations of the Russian election interference.. Oh, yuch!!!
     He thinks he is a three year old with the cuteness of one, as he singsongs maybe he will and maybe he won't pardon Manafort. The fact that he is dangling this in front of Manafort, possibly influencing his testimony, is a crime, that seems not to bother him. 
     The fact that he claims the oldest excuse in the book - "the best of his recollection" - as he plays games with his answers to Mueller's questions, is just sickening. Lies, tell more lies and then more lies seems to be his entire defense policy. Lies are all around him. There is no environmental and climate crisis. There is no moral crisis in governments all around the world. There is no return to extreme right wing thoughts and memes all around the world. He has not encouraged hatred and prejudice and violence here in the country with his stupid mouth.
      Lies, all lies.
      Listen to the Barbra Streisand song on her new album about lies. It is heartbreaking as we realize that this is what we are fed every damn day and what is worse, is that there are so many, too many, who still believe them despite all evidence to the contrary. Oh, no, the man never sexually assaulted anyone. Oh, no, the man is not a racist. Oh, no, the man has not destroyed our alliance with old friends. Oh, no, the man has not buddied up with the dictators of the world. Oh, no, it is a lie that claims the Prince ordered the shredding of Kashoggi. Oh, no, there are no lies re his tax returns and his business dealings. Oh, no, there was no fraud. Oh, no, Jr. and his siblings are not involved in these shenanigans.
     So for how much more will we sit and wait, sitting on our thumbs and rotating. On Facebook yesterday was a reminder that the Constitution itself reminds us, calls to us to remember, that corrupt and tyrannical governments that deny the rights of the people can and indeed even should be overthrown. Ring any bells? The colonies? Remember back to history class?
    We need to remember that and remind those who maintain they are strict Constitutionalists that the power and the impetus are there. I wholeheartedly suggest that we do this within peaceful and legal means. Use the courts - especially urgent as Trump et al try to rig the game with partisan and incompetent judges. Use the ballot box. Use civil disobedience. Use protest and marches. Send letters warning your reps that you will not vote for them should they continue in their selfish and corrupt ways. Remind them that they need to remember their moral spines.
     If we do not do this and now, I fear for peaceful means. The country is loaded with weapons. The country has already seen the standing army being used within our borders, loaded for war even as they target dangerous 'criminals' of the advanced age of 3 and 10 and 15 and the mothers of these criminals and their fathers and uncles and friends. If they were to run the process properly, any criminals would be discovered, but it seems better this way as they can generate more headlines and pictures. But all these guns will and can clash if we do not get our act together.
     We talk today of isolated tribes. Well, folks, we are breeding our own isolated tribes right here in the country. That ain't good!!! And that is not a lie! Not a lie. Nor a good forecast for the future. 
     How to totally solve all this is way above my pay grade. But there has to be someone out there who can do it, someone brave and bold and wise and charismatic. And that is no lie either.
     So perhaps we need to establish a Truth Seeker Party, but whatever the way is, we had better do it soon for I believe that the clock is ever closer to midnight. So much so that there is almost no space between the hands of the clock and the numeral 12. As for me - I am frightened. And that is no lie either.





















     

MIKIE DID IT!!! OR DID HE?

     Remember Mikie, the little guinea pig and scapegoat of his older brothers? He had to try everything new first and had to take the blame for all disasters. Convenient to have one of those around, but the truth is that we must take the blame for things gone wrong and take the first steps into new endeavors or back onto a proper path. There is no one but ourselves and we understand this from this verse. "If I am not for myself, then who will be, but if I am for myself only then what am I?"
     We need to interweave that verse, those sentiments and guidelines into our lives. We have lost the interconnections between us, between the citizens and residents of America and confined ourselves to tribal areas with Do Not Enter signs prominently posted.
     We have lost honesty. Our own presumed President is a liar, a denier of truths, a denier of all that is obvious and he sends us cheerfully to perdition as the environment collapses in front of our eyes as he calls it a lie. He denies all that he wants to, all the inconvenient truths and is desperately paddling now in all directions as he seeks to deny the truths about himself and his actions from being revealed out in the open.
    Manafort's lawyers have been trying to sit at two tables at the same time. Trump's lawyers are desperate to stop any face to face questioning of Trump, the Demented One, for they know his insanity, his arrogance, his incompetence, his corruption will be easily revealed, uncovered in so many ways.
     We have fallen deep into the chasm of inhumanity. We use force on children in diapers. We use force on incarcerated migrants asking for asylums, and today we find out that a transgender woman who died in captivity did not only not get medical treatment, but indeed, was beaten to death as an independent autopsy proved. Why independent? Because the apparatus of the government can no longer be trusted due to its corruption, to its growing immorality. And, like it or not, we attacked Mexico by shooting gas grenades into their country, right over the border. Hmm, so what would be now if they reciprocate? What the hell are we doing?
     We have power plays in the White House as Kushner tries to increase his power and influence and for what purpose? To help get more of his loans forgiven or laid off? To increase his real estate holdings? To sell Ivanka's dying fashion lines? Certainly we do not need a crazed man and his son in law wreaking dual and combined havoc upon us. This is not a dynasty nor a line of royalty. This is a line of power hungry individuals who have sold their souls and will sell all of our souls in their search for permanent power.
     We are electing and appointing backwards thinking individuals to positions of power, be it the Senate or the courts. We are setting up a dangerous future and remember, again, and always, that hatred meets no boundaries for it crosses over them and will engulf all in its path. All of us included, and that means me and you and yours. No escape. No trust and no humanity.
     No, Mikie did not do it. We did. And trying to blame others, trying to turn a blind eye so often that our heads and brains are now twisted, is not the answer either. Let us look in the mirror, folks, and look deeply into it, and perhaps we can find the grains of honesty, the grains of humanity, the grains of being a true American and  citizen of the world, all the grains that are washing out in the floods of hate and bigotry and nastiness. Do not depend on Mikie. He has had it! He wants no more part in this.

RISE UP

     What is this? Am I encouraging rebellion in these here United States? Am I encouraging civil disobedience? Or am I talking of another rising, one which scares the dickens out of me.
     But full disclosure first. Yes, I believe that Civil Disobedience is a marvelous tool to making sure that the words get heard in the right quarters. It calls attention to the issues under discussion and forces the deadheads out there in DC to actually pay some attention to the people.
     However, this is not the rise up I am talking about. It is the rise up sung by the raspy and powerful tones of Audra Day. It is the rise up one feels when listening to Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. It is the rise up one feels when reading an article re the murdered Pittsburgh Jews in their synagogue and the chants of the hateful. It is the rise up when one reads that 20% of Europeans say Jews have "too much influence in the world" and any day now I expect to hear the claims of blood libel again! It is the rise up one feels when reading of an absolute bigot, one with murderous and bloody tastes who thinks being in the first row of a lynching is that absolute!! And will probably be the Senator from Mississippi after an election. For shame!! Or of yet another racist being appointed a federal judge by the chief racist himself, Trump and the Senators of the Republican Party not rising up but rather selling their souls once again, if another bill is past, then they will vote these incompetent, corrupted, racist know nothing judges into office. For a lifetime!! Rise up, folks. Rise up!
     So what is to rise up from the broken down America today? Will it be the country who rises to shut its borders, who deny asylum without hearings, that gasses children in diapers and desperate people seeking refuge - our ethos from day one!! Will it be the country that allows the Old South to rise up, standing on the corpse of the true America or will it be the people who rise up and shut this down in its tracks.
     The lies that sink us ever further and deeper into the muck of yesterday's lies and errors, the blatant denial of his own government's finding on the environment and the disaster that is well upon us, the defiance in the face of all logic and truth about the murderous Prince of Saudi Arabia, the everyday lies, the corrupt and wishful despotic family, the fawners, the corruption - will this rise up or will we rise up and meet the challenge.
     So for the symbolism of red - RED? trees as Christmas decorations in the White House, for the so called anti cyber bullying by the wife of the biggest cyber bully ever, by the hypocritical BeBest program and for the whole damned shebang - rise up, folks. Demand justice, the right, knowledgeable and non partisan judges, hope for the future, a return to the founding ethos of our country, a return to the traditions of America. In other words, BE AMERICANS. Be the best, the true best, not the made up best, the forked tongue best. BE AMERICAN.














 matzoh!

TRAVEL - AGAIN

     Traveling again - this time home to Florida and out of the freezing cold! Yay! Will write a new posting tomorrow afternoon if all goes well and in the meantime catch up on any you might have missed.
    See ya' tomorrow.

A NEW A-TEAM?!

     One might be very confused between the two T's. Do we have a Mr. T and a President T? Two heroes? Oy vey!!! Indeed. Just about the worst and most dangerous President ever, a man who is a threat to the American democracy and literally to the survival of the world in its current environmental path, has decided to buddy up with us. Double oy vey. I prefer to pick my own friends, certainly people with morals, with backbone, with honesty and with honest care and compassion for their fellow man - and woman and who hopefully have a functioning brain.
     "President T" fails on all accounts, but what is even worse is the fact that "President T" has involved his own flesh and blood in his trials and tribulations, in his machinations of the economic system, in his overblown and exaggerated opinion of himself and his own intelligence (where is that exactly?) and in the growing ever closer realization that time to pay the price  is here. 
     As usual, the spineless and hypocritical Republicans come out now with two of them who are now questioning some of these dealings that stink to the high heavens. One is out as of Jan.,  But where was he during the Kavanaugh hearings and through all the rest of the dirty 500 days or so that we have suffered?
      But perhaps the tide has turned and perhaps we are even in for a tsunami of rats leaving the fold, of deserting their sinking ship of state as we hear of more ex aides talking of vast conspiracies of conservatives against the Clintons - fessed up by one who was part of it. We hear of the chaos of the White House. We sicken as we look upon the corruption and incompetence of the high up appointees. We read - and see - the destruction of our country in every which way - emotionally, physically, internationally, morally, as we turn helplessly, spinning away on a madman's turntable. President T indeed! But even Alan Dershowitz, a defender of President T and who should be ashamed of himself, remarks on the dark and gloomy days ahead for Trump as the Mueller report comes out.
     But will it, for appointed as Acting Attorney General is a man who took over a million dollars to find issues for the extreme right, who has a definite and pronounced and announced opinion re Mueller and this is the man who could shut it down. It would lead to what? I am afraid that the 500 desperate migrants who stormed an entry point would be nothing as compared to the storming of offices and people as the two sides of America harden into points of no return and here comes our Apocalypse, our final destruction of our past - and our future, never mind the present.
     We have lost our way, lost our guidelines, allowed filth and corruption, hatred and bigotry to overtake us once more. 500 migrants gassed, children included, and why? As they ran to the entry point, despondent at the closed gateway to a better life for their kids and frustrated by a "President T" who has told them over and over again that the borders are shut to them, that they are reprehensible people, that their children's lives and futures are of no account. So of course they charge, but seriously, with their bundles and their kids what could they have done. So a few would have gotten over the barrier fence, for nothing is impermeable and then what? Take a few prisoners and the rest will stop and think, but to gas, to introduce the violence which we all knew was right there, inches beneath the surface, mixing with the hate of 'others'? NO! We cannot go down that road. Open up the damned borders in a realistic and smooth manner. Allow asylum where true - and domestic violence, gang violence is real and deserving of asylum. Stop whining about MS-13 as we here in the USA were actually the founders of the gang and then we exported the members back to their country where they grew nd grew and  grew in a lawless and hopelessly chaotic country. The bill has come due for us and we need to pay, but cannot we find a better way than gassing? They are not armed, certainly not with anything that is terribly threatening. They are exhausted, hungry, tired, ill, worried and hopeless so truly - what can they do?
     True reform of the immigration policy created by thoughtful and caring humans, realistic acceptance of the role new immigrants play in building our culture and our economy and true economic aid for these countries, proper environmental laws that will prevent more countries from disaster will go a long way towards correcting the situation - worldwide.
     President T, Trumperson, Demented One, first king of America, whatever name he goes by, whatever he is, it is not good. Perhaps we really do need the A Team, the one that fought for the country and its ideals, to keep it safe, not the A Team of this T! 
     We must band together to insure that 2020 is a year of victory for America, for its people and for the world. We must act together to insure that we restore balance to the environment, to the economy, stop these terrible trade wars and exaggerated tariffs, hold Russia in its place and stop them from grabbing naval ships and other things from Ukraine, return the countries of the world to a democratic tilt rather than the slant of ultra nationalists, haters, and worse.
      Not just SOC - Save Our Country, but SOW - Save Our World, the world of our children.
     Desperate times a'comin' and the need for good people grows.


     

C R A C K ! THE ICE!!!!!!!

     Thin ice. How many times were we told to not skate on thin ice, real and figurative, and how many times did we do so, despite all warnings? We always thought we knew better and those who warned us had a lack of vision, a lack of courage, while we, of course, did and knew better. Well, today the entire earth is skating on thin ice and the cracking of that ice is audible already; we have seen consequences and there are far more consequential ones in the pipeline.
     Have we crossed the point of no return? Many scientists seem to feel that is the case, but can we give in, should we give in? NO! A resounding no. Mankind has always been faced with planetary disasters, be they of natural or manmade causes and we have overcome them, sometimes better than at other times. So what is the difference now?
     We used to have a nation, many nations, that prided itself on its progress via science, via the knowledge that it gave us. We advanced through science even if there were mishaps along the way. At times we recognized we were on that wrong way and changed directions, but consistently, as things grew worse, we turned a deaf ear to real and consequential climate change, blaming the increased storms, the flooding, the droughts, the raging fires, the earthquakes, on natural cycles, but folks, it ain't so. Time, no, past time to wake up and try to ameliorate at least some of the damage, stop some in its tracks and apply brainpower to learning how we will be able to live in a much changed world.
     But the doubts are there. We have raging lunatics , selfish people, who only see the now represented in their bank accounts, in their insane accumulation of mansions, of their constant desecration of the land for economic resources, particularly those that fill their pockets. As for the rest of the unprotected masses - screw them is the foremost policy it seems.
     Do we have a leader who can lead not only us but the rest of the world? Will America lead the way as it has done so many times before? We could, if, a great big if, we had the leader, but instead we have a Demented One, a flyer in the face of truth. No Solomon this man, but instead a madman who is dangerous, who has the qualities and apparent aims of dictatorship by fiat and dictat- his - and the rest be damned. He has no respect for the law, for its boundaries, particularly as they refer to him, his, and his desires, and believes the government is there for his, and only his, desires and needs. And should he commit a crime while doing this - as it appears he perhaps has done many a time - why he then claims immunity due to his position in government. Sorry, but NO ONE is above the law, not national or international.
     The man has cowardly traits, goes through life scared of raindrops - might he melt? He speaks nonsense over phones, dangerous nonsense, entangles the rest of the world in his web, including Putin, Duterte, Saudi Arabia and the list goes on, with country after country beginning to fall into the hands of right wing ultra nationalists and as for humanists, where the heck have they gone? Gone to prisons. Been killed. Disappeared. Executed. Frightened and threatened into silence. Where will it end is anybody's guess, but be sure it is not a good area to guess within. Not at all.
     There is a book written by his buddies who claim that there are enemies of Trump embedded within the White House itself and various organs of government. True? Not so? Partially so? But so what, for every leader has opponents, but we need not and do not call them enemies and the problem here, is that this man is not normal and cannot live with normality. Period. Paranoia. Physical cowardice. Mental incapacity Lack of morals. Lack of forward, or indeed any kind of positive thoughts and contributions and most certainly not to be trusted, for his opinions and deeds change from one minute to the next. Literally. From one sentence to the next.
     How do we break this cycle that is destroying us, literally and figuratively? Shake our heads, clean out our ears, open our eyes, use our brains in a much better way, and do the right thing. Believe in both science and humanity, in the goodness that we have within our souls if we only would allow it to flourish. Follow the example of people who give of themselves, who see the wrongs and try to right them. Otherwise...….
         C      R      A     C     K    !!!!!

THE DAY AFTER

     So, done with the groaning and stuffed stomachs, the laughter, the family issues that always arise, the noise of a huge table, done with that and now what? Have we solved all the problems of the world yet, resolved the issues, begun a clear and new path towards an improved Thanksgiving Day next year? Probably the answer is both yes and no and for the most part, we will never be able to resolve anything unless we look reality squarely in the face and make some hard decisions.
     Who are we? What are we made of? Have we progressed at all? Have we thought out of the box frequently and powerfully much in order to solve our problems? Have we chosen our leaders wisely and well?
     Most of those questions have a resounding NO for an answer and that is a shame, even, perhaps, a deadly shame. We have not fought Mexico for lo these many a years and yet what is the Demented One thinking. First, he sends out a message that the world is a nasty place and then commends himself, patting himself on the back, claiming the country is so great and wonderful and all due to him. Barf! And then he calls the armed forces branches as a substitute for visiting those who are in war areas. What a wimp! What a fool! And then he raises political issues with his phone partners.
     Yes, he certainly is a different kind of President. First, we have never had a more virulent and poisonous leader than Trump. We have never had a President who relished being an iconoclast in the worst possible ways. He wishes to and is succeeding to a degree to turn our Constitution upside down. He has broken or challenged the separation of the three branches of government. He has ruthlessly violated so many of the ethics laws in place. He has brought back nepotism, cronyism to a terrible degree, along with incompetence, corruption and a glaring lack of care and concern for the people of this country.
     Immigration, the heart blood of this country, as well as those all over the world, has now become a destabilizing factor as countries are swamped with numbers and numbers of immigrants. Their original homelands have basically become unlivable, tormented and tortured by the environment gone crazy, mostly due to human factors, the land unable to produce sustenance, and the people within are being reduced to desperation as their children starve and the adults fight ruthlessly and yet hopelessly. And thus they take crazy chances, dangerous choices, in order to save themselves, turn away from the violence.
     But threatening to shoot them at the border, to close the border with Mexico and for European countries to shove boats back into the water for the immigrants to drown, making shivers of history run down one's back and rend the soul of memory is not the way to go. War and slaughter. Why not take the money we spend on armaments for the ragtag armies of those desperate countries, the money we give to the corrupt, the money stolen away from the people for agricultural aid, for food and water, for training - take all that and insure that it goes to the right place, that we teach for the long term rather than the short and desperate terms.
     We need to turn back the clock on all these bad decisions, on the growing hatred, on the rise of populism and nativism, on the horrific echoes of the past. And then, and only then, when we have made some progress, can we know that we are on the road to a better world's Thanksgiving Day.
     It is a bitter pill to swallow, one that might lodge at times in our throats, one that will take sacrifice and much changing of hearts and minds, but if we are to survive, if the Earth will continue to provide safety and food and shelter, then we have no choice other than to bite the bullet, throw away the bullets and do what we are certainly most capable of. Certainly we have rebuilt after planet disasters both of nature and human driven, and we can do it again and certainly, for sure, we should give thanks for that ability and not waste it on the negative answers which are actually no answers at all.
     

THANKS?

     Ornery even as a child, I used to ask the teacher and parents why we had to confine thanks to one day and what if it was a bad day and one felt there were no thanks to be given? What if there was a great day on another day in the year? Does one hold thanks till the official day or does one acknowledge it that day and does not double play it on Thanksgiving Day? Smart alecky, but then again, I always liked to bust chops with questions for which I did not like the previous answers. Kinda' fun and gets the blood flowing at times when one is so tired that it appears there is no electric left with which to charge. So...… I am thankful for that trait? Ability? Tendency?
     Seriously, though, as we look around this year on this day of thanks, at times we need to look deep and hard, especially when trying to add to the list of family and friends. Well, what if someone unfortunately has no family or friends? That is a bad one indeed. And in looking past that line, what about the rest of the world? Is it selfish for us to give thanks, sometimes smugly, for the house we live in or the car we drive or the fact that there is some spare mad money? I believe no, unless we refuse to share that luck and those blessings with others who do not have them, when we realize that to demonize or discount or discard people because they are poor or have not had the opportunities we have had. Shaking your head? In denial?
     Well, answer me these questions. When was the last time you gave of yourself to others, from the easy method of writing a check or pressing a button? When did you donate time or items badly needed to a pantry or donation center? When did you stop thinking of the caravan members as people and instead as dangerous dudes and dudettes who are "invading" your country, out to get you, out to take your job and use up all the public social resource funding? Hmm...
     We have allowed ourselves to fall into a torpor, one in which we allow bad people, selfish people, to set the tone and the standards - or lack of them. We have turned away from reality as we are vexed with current events and think we can ignore it all, live in our own bubble, but nope, it will not work for every single one of us is and will be impacted by a society of selfishness and nastiness, incompetence and corruption.
     A President who lies constantly, never recognizing a truth, any truth. Congressmen and women who check their morals at the door, ramp up the hypocrisy within their souls, sell those souls for deals or out of fear of a Demented One and a lack of funds for the next run at power. People who shout like the mobs of ancient Rome at the violent killings going on in the arena, salivating at the blood and gore. An atmosphere where a man doing his job has to be ready for insults and racial slurs and then violence and find himself in an altercation where the other guy, the one who started it, dies. Bad day at work for that one? So what are the thanks - that he lived or that it was considered self defense and not charged? But what about the fact that in this day and age the haters feel safe in saying it all aloud, shouting it to the skies, getting guns and shooting their "enemies"? No answers there, are there?
      A world where human shredding by a financially important country is excused. Dictators are given a leg up. Right? Forget about that concept! Acting highest law enforcement officer of the land - now being investigated by an independent federal agency for violations of the Hatch Act and why not, as his ultimate boss also has alleged violations of that Act as well.
     So, thanks? Yes, for my wonderful kids who grew up into caring adults, contributing to society, who have raised great kids in that same theme and who give us great joy, love and affection. Thanks that there are still people out there who are willing to do the good fight and take on those who would slay this country, crumble the foundations of it, and demean all those who are not of them, are 'others'. Thanks that there are still those who believe in a merciful and kind G-d, not the one who demands hatred to evince faith and loyalty. Thanks that growing up I lived in the United States of America that gave us hope, that was willing to sacrifice in order to do the right thing, to learn what the right thing was, that was welcoming to those who shared that willingness, to live the sentiments of the Statue of Liberty.
     So today is a day of thanks but also a day of close quarters examinations. We need to look inwards and change what needs to be changed, to be honest with ourselves, to make outward changes in behavior, to simply do the right thing and fight against the ease of blaming others for bad stuff. Thanks that we still have that ability and freedom to do so, to act upon these thoughts and convictions, change our ways from the wrong path and choose the other one, the path not taken before, waiting for you to imprint your footsteps on its clean and beautiful snowfall. Let us all find beauty in our lives, be thankful for it and try to make more of that in the lives of us all.
      Happy Thanksgiving Day to one and all.

F A L L I N G...........

     And so it continues as we freefall into that ever growing abyss that is ripping the country apart. One would think that adults clever or tricky or savvy enough to get themselves into positions of power might have learned a thing or two about life and ethics, but it seems not in any way! And it seem their ignorance runs through both parties and the more extreme, the more we see a lack of education and knowledge. And so - we fall.
     So here come the geese, wondering how they ever got so involved in all this, but goose and gander..... For years now the Demented One has been hollering about Hillary, calling her a crook, ignorant, unable to run a government, and encouraging the persistent chant of "Lock her up" roared with glee by the basest of his base. Well, here comes the gander. Ivanka, that darling of his, has done the same damn thing - governmental emails on her private email and worse, it was shared with Jared. Oh, dear, oh dearie me. Shall we change the chant to 'Lock Ivanka up'? Maybe we need to check into her ability to do anything for the government other than to try to use it to sell her merchandise. She had so much warning over that action of sharing emails on private addresses that she has no excuse, certainly not to claim ignorance of its wrongdoing! Where the hell was she all this time? Living in a cave in Mar a Lago? Along with the lying father of hers?
     But ethics and morals and morality itself seem to mean nothing to this man. He tosses away facts and information, twists others, creates his own "factoids" and changes the words and the statements whenever it is deemed necessary. "Maybe maybe he did and maybe he didn't." Such is the pronounced lack of morality within the soul of this man, valuing only money and it seems the closer the money gets to him and his, the better it is. So forget about human shredding and bring on the Saudis!
     Not only is he a morally defective person, but he is also a coward. General Bonespurs as he is called by many in the military, is a physical coward. He does not go to our soldiers in war torn areas. He claims that the Secret Service ordered him not to go to the laying of the wreath in France because of the rain! Truly!!! All other representatives and heads of government managed just fine and by the way, Secret Service cannot order the president. Works the other way around!
     He called for hecklers to be removed - lest they reach him? He hoards his umbrella space, even leaving out his wife to walk in the rain. Afraid of catching a cold should he get wet? He did not go to Arlington on Veteran's Day. Why? Afraid of protesters? He is like a child playing soldier with his tin soldiers or plastic ones, even as the real ones are never ever getting close to him!! Every President since FDR except for JFK has gone to visit our people so where the hell is he? Cowering in his bedroom watching TV and tweeting filth!
     He is afraid to personally answer questions raised by Mueller. Interesting, that.  He claims executive privilege but somehow in all my readings of the Constitution I could not find anywhere any clause that says that it is okay for the President to be a crook and not to pay the price. You know the old adage about doing a crime and doing time? Well...… But wait, now that no one is going to roast him at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the coward 'might' attend. Feh!!!
     His continued effort to ban asylum seekers declared unconstitutional again, his hatred and bias held up for the moment, what is next? And what do we do with the other ignorant people who have reached positions of authority in Washington? When the darling of the Progressives cannot even state the three branches of the government correctly then tell me - you do not have that falling feeling, that hopelessness that the bottom has not yet been reached?
     Obama spoke the other day. Read what he said and think about it. He states his thoughts as to why we have not made progress on important issues.
    "The reason we don't do it because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with  hate, anger, racism, and mommy issues...We are fraught with stuff, but the thing we really have to invest in, is people."
     Think about those words as we continue to freefall. Think about reaching out to friends, to neighbors, to strangers, help each other, bind to each other in the quest to stop this freefall and 
SOC  Save Our Country and ourselves.
     
      

FALLING

     Falling. Lately, I have been taking a fall more than I care for. I know it is part of Parkinson's but really, couldn't I skip that particular part of it? It is most disconcerting when you are going over because your leg does not get up and over as high as it once did. Thanks to my rehab, Movement, I have learned how to fall and prevent, as much as I can, injures that could occur. But falling off a bed, particularly with force is harder, much. One is usually in the throes of a very active interactive dream and part of it is some physical movement that causes the fall. Suddenly one is flying through the air, rudely woken up, and then soaking aching and bruised areas with ice, with cushioning and whatever needs to be done. Not pleasant. But while it cannot be totally prevented or lessened, I am doing my best to lessen the impact and the frequency where and when I can.
     The other day I watched a video of a baby elephant caught in a deep hole from which he could not extricate himself. Fallen and no button to call for help! But his mama saw him and came to his aid, pushing and lifting and shifting positions until he was out and off they and the herd went together. The herd had patiently waited and given support to the mother. How I wish we humans would do that more often instead of looking at each other as enemies and some babies as future 'terrorists'.
     And we, as humans, as Americans, have fallen into a desperate, yes, desperate, situation, for we are in a deep, deep hole and we seemingly cannot find our way out of it. We have a president who is truly demented, and certainly intellectually challenged. He cannot write nor read on an adult level and when he does write it is with the puerile language and affect of an immature young child of bad character and manners. Such is one of the steps right into our hole into which we have fallen.
     We have a man and the people who mindlessly follow him chanting about locking up Hillary and yet where are these same people, where is Papa, when Ivanka has been doing the same thing only more so. And doing it on an email address that she shares with Jared. Tsk, tsk! Goose and gander, folks, so perhaps we all need to learn that chant another way, huh?
     We have a national leader who has taken us falling deep into a chasm, an abyss which is in the land of no morals, only the value of money. So it is okay for a person to be shredded like discarded paper for Trump thinks that the money supposedly promised to us will be more than enough compensation and motive to ignore morality, to be blind to the vicious murder of a journalist, but what does Trump care about that, for he himself has been oppressing and denigrating journalists every single day!!!  What is next in this particular hole into which we have fallen?
     We have fallen into a miasma of hate and horror.  One moment we hear that the armed forces are going to be home for Christmas, and the next we hear that the rules are being twisted so as to allow standing army soldiers to fight within our borders, to shoot migrants who approach border personnel, and who is to determine who or what is the danger moment but what could spark the first shot I dread imagining. And what can we expect when these migrants, these potential new citizens for our country, are told they are basically worthless and their claims for asylum are denied without even a hearing or maybe a pretense of hearing. Evidently the value of their lives is not worth very much and thank all those volunteers who are pouring into the area to help and advise and the judge who knew what to do.
     So, now that we have thrown the law of posse comitatus down the chute, we had better watch the other hole of this Demented One, taking credit for clairvoyance and predicting bin Laden, dissing the soldiers who bravely went in at risk of their lives and captured him and intel. This is a man who demeans his own intel forces and the hole he digs deeper everyday with his infantile and dangerous behavior has us falling deeper and deeper as well, so deep that I wonder how we will ever dig our way up and out.
     So, can we use the ideals of the Democratic Party? Can we use some of the forward action from these midterm elections? I really do not know as they have already begun to tear themselves apart, try to topple thrones, to threaten to run spoilers in the elections of 2020, one of the reasons why Adams lost in Georgia as the spoiler pulled out too late for her voters to change to vote for Adams. 
     Too little too late but we cannot have that here in the country or the fallen moments will become permanent. So let us all go to rehab, learn to think and see clearly again, and get out of this dangerous national hole into which we have fallen. It is the only path left to us that gives hope for and to a better future, for us and the world, for us and our kids.
    SOC Save Our Country and save ourselves.

GRINDELWOLD AND THANKSGIVING

     Huh? you might be saying that at the title. What could a  movie of fantasy have to do with this American holiday? It is great for the kids with its fantasy. It is great for those who read Harry Potter and love seeing movies of pre those times. And it is great for thinking, especially in these times. Full service movie, one might say.
     We live in troubled times. There are wars all over the globe, guerilla wars and full frontal wars, cyberwars and games of chicken on the high seas with China and the US. There are internal wars in countries which embraced freedom and democracy after the fall of the Iron Curtain and which now appear to be embracing fascism and dictatorship. And folks, read this carefully, there is already a full fledged war  going on within the borders of our own country, a war that will determine what kind of country and what kind of future we will have right here in America.
    So, Grindelwold?  Well, he is not a monster per se, simply a man who wishes for power, who wishes for his ideals to be the favored theme and backbone of society. He is a clever man who starts out with soft words professing his love of all, just with a recognition, seemingly minor, that there are differences between people. There are the wizards and the others, the Muggles, who are demonized, more and more forcefully, with more and more venom and he talks of a different disposition for them. Sound familiar anyone? Bright people are confused and fall prey to his words and the horrific hoax he wishes to foist upon society and we see the long leather coats a la the Nazis on the secret police of the time. We see the huge and heavy architecture. We see the eagle. We see the mass assemblies, the fires and flame, and the contagious hysteria of the mobs. And one sits and watches and stirs uncomfortably in one's seat, wondering if we are watching a great fantasy movie or perhaps a great warning to all of us.
     All throughout the movie there are people taking sides while the hero of the movie resists doing so. He believes he can immerse himself in the world of fantastic beasts and animals and stay out of the fray. He can remain neutral. But he cannot. No one can. He is in a world where good is battling evil and one must choose sides. The same world we are living in today.
     Note that the temporary winners of the film are those who cling to good, who finally stand together as one and use their powers to chase Grindelwold off, But it is only temporary as we watch a scene where the future is being addressed by the grooming of an inheritor of the evil. And at that point we see our hero say to his brother that he has taken a side, his side, the side of good, the side where all live together in peace and the future will be a long and hard slog, but we hope, we certainly hope, that good will prevail. 
     Today we here in America must also take a side. It is a terrible point that we have reached where we have to choose. The Civil War, the Vietnam War and now what, the Trumpian War? Are we going to remain a nation together or are we going to have white supremacists and racists all over again. Are we going to be able to live here as Jews or do we worry for our very lives, again? Are Moslems, and  Buddhists, and Mexicans and Hondurans, and whomever, welcome here, or are we going to have to engage in a monumental struggle to define our identity?
     Think I am kidding? Unfortunately not. Just read the columns, the analysis, the actions that go on every day, and listen to the voice of another demented man unable to cope, unable to remember, unable to empathize or sympathize or understand the meanings of things. There have been demented and dangerous leaders before in the world - are we going to accept the rule of another and the world of evil and meanness and bad that comes along with him or are we going to realize that we cannot remain neutral in this and must choose  a side. Take stock and decide.
    It is Thanksgiving time and we need to decide what we are going to be thankful for and what will remain in the future, the soon to be future. Think about it long and hard.
     SOC Save Our Country and save ourselves as well.

TRAVEL DAY

     Thanksgiving weekend. Family get togethers. So that is where we are off to before the crack of dawn. Will do my best to write by early this afternoon so please tune in a bit later on. Thanks and have a wonderful holiday.

SNAPSHOTS

     Once we called them snapshots. Today we call them pictures and a whole bunch of selfies. So I decided to do a snapshot on us, on our country, a huge selfie in words and try to decide which pic is telling the most.
      "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know."
                                Diane Arbus
    So states one of the world's best photographers ever, so what is the secret and what are we not seeing though we be looking straight at it.
     Think of the snapshots of America today. On the one hand, we see the hate, the ugliness of that hate, the ugly looks on the faces of people shouting out insults, threats, and defiant against the truth of America. 
     On the other hand, we have the snapshots of Americans standing in lines to donate time and goods to those fellow Americans, or even - gasp - immigrants who are caught up in a natural disaster. "Jews will not take our place" against the love and citizenry standing with candles, crying, holding hands at so many vigils for the dead, the murdered.
     The homeless. They are allover the place now and 'such' a nuisance'. Just step over them and hope they will go away, right? NO! Wrong. Why not take the picture of the little 4 year old boy who wanted to understand the word homeless and was taken by his dad to see what it means, to see the hunger, the shelters and now this little hero used his allowance to buy a burger everyday for a homeless man. And uh-oh, sorry, Trump and fellow haters, this little one and his dad are people of color. Dearie me!
     And what about the pictures of the recent elections? What secrets are they revealing and what secrets are we missing. When Orange County goes blue in California and here in Florida we almost turn blue by such a razor's edge and over in Georgia, despite all the fiddling with voter's rights, the suppression of it, Abrams almost pulled it off. So what are the secrets? One - our country is changing and in a good and positive way, but two - there are many opposed to those changes, who wish to live in the past, keep the old status quo, not even the ones of today! Pictures tell a lot, by omission as well.
     Some people are mean, and we get that meanness blasted at us as the country sends photos of itself in verbal snapshots, those mean or dangerously inane tweets. We get the nastiness and the determination almost to see that we never heal and that also comes from within the Democratic Party. One would have thought that this fight that geared up the whole country would teach us that we need to stick together, to recognize new ideas and people, but also recognize those who have brought us to this point of victory and good for the country. The snapshot of the opposed to Pelosi who has done so much, raising money, keeping the Democrats in Congress organized, hanging in over the dark years and helping to bring them closer to an end - these people need to recognize and appreciate what she has done and learn to work together. Together!! A House divided and all that, so let us keep that house together unlike the house of the country which is divided at present.
     We also see the pictures that tell us that there is still so much goodness and caring out there. In the Camp Fire in California so many were caught and died, so many missing, but one elderly citizen was picked up by her garbageman who knew he had elderly on his route and needed to check on them for himself and found her in the road, scooped her up, and five and a half hours later, they were physically safe.
     So pose the pictures together and what truths do we see? What secrets are revealed and which ones remain undercover? I see a picture of a country in the throes of great change. I see snaps of those who would demand a wholesale change in our very founding principles, who would put an end to our democracy. But I also see selfies of good and caring people who give of themselves and their possessions and time to others. I see the teachers who buy supplies and winter clothes for their students. I see the restaurant owner who makes sure that his leftovers are not trashed but instead are given to the hungry. I see people of hate, of murderous intent, who store hatred inside themselves and their kids as easily as they store guns and ammo nd explosives. But I also see love as well in other pictures.
     So who are we? Who are we as people? Who are we as a nation? Are we still evolving in a positive manner or have we slipped backwards? What will be our future and the future for our kids? So here is an idea - look within and take your own selfie. Walk around and take pictures of the people and the neighborhood around you. These can be physical or mental images, but they must initiate thought and evaluation, open secrets to the air and reveal the goodness and the evil within, all that makes us who we are. And then choose which pictures we need to keep and which we need to airbrush with a fury. The secrets of snaps. The open and the hidden. Take the pics and make a choice. The right choice. The only choice that allows for a future. SOC - Save Our Country and even more, save ourselves, save yourself.
      

DISCARDED

     Most American households discard items and food that would, in other countries, be used and valued. We forget here, most of us, that there are the people here in this country, who could use those items, that food, and we need to make a better effort to get things where they need to be. Sometimes it is not easy - make the decisions, even maybe purchase extra to give away, find a pantry or a kitchen, get the items there, volunteer perhaps, but the feeling that goes along with this is good, truly good.
     I think so many of us have forgotten the feeling of 'good' in the poisonous mixture that has become the daily atmosphere of the day. We have forgotten that together, we are the people, the citizens and residents of the United States. We forget the United part. We forget in the growing hate filled miasma that passes for political life these days, that people are just that - people. When we continue to forget, people become things, objects and are shorn of their human attributes. They become targets of rage and hate and I gotta say folks, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves and I include myself in that as well.
     It is hard to resist that pull, easier to dehumanize and thus rundown people whom one opposes, but truly, it is not a good thing. Yes, we need to fight the poison, to push towards the better instincts, but somehow the paths have become entangled. I just read a beautifully written piece by a woman who said she "came out as poor". It reminds us that people are poor at times through no fault of their own and even if one made a mistake, so what? So many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, one check away from disaster, but when we look at others in the same or worse conditions ….Why is that? Do we think that poor and struggling people are just bad, sinful, deserving of their fate, deserving to be hungry, to be forced to watch their children go to bed hungry. To live with despair?
     And along with this attitude comes the vicious hatred, the dangerous words and folks, words lead to deeds and words destroy. They truly do. That nursery rhyme of sticks and stones is the worst ever. Words can hurt and cut deep and influence for decades even as a black eye heals - and no, I am not advocating physical violence. Never! But we truly need to watch oru tongues as well. We need to be careful how we influence and teach the young. Somewhere, somehow, we must stop this cycle of hatred, especially the cycle that is growing apace these days, right in our own backyard too.
     A judge ruled that neo Nazi harassment is not protected by the First Amendment. Amen! Amen to that! A Jewish real estate agent was horribly harassed by Richard Spencer, the white supremacist leader. He trumpeted words of hate and shouts daily Hail Trump! Hail our people!Words, words have encouraged this behavior, have encouraged these people to crawl out from the dirt where they belong and shout their invective to the world and worse, have it heard and listened to! And acted upon.
    The man presently serving as president of the country has encouraged this with his own  violent words. He calls ballots "infected" - want to explain that to me? He claims unfairness even as a tally seems to be coming out in favor of his candidates so now what? He will take back his words and trumpet a victory, as razor close as it is, instead of taking away the meaning of it all - people are repudiating him and his hate. People are tired of him and most of all - democracy works, especially if one shuts up and lets it do its job.
     Discarded are the means of government. We have forgotten how to be constructive rather than destructive. We have forgotten that the parties of politics are meant to be friendly adversaries working in such a way as to benefit the people and the country, the whole country and not just the super wealthy. We were past that for the most part so what are we doing returning to the faults of yesteryear.
     And we need to stop disparaging science. The flames of California, the loss of over 60 people already and the over 600 who are still missing, the losses, the horror - climate change plays a huge part in this and so do we, as we ignored it and still try to deny it in some circles. When will we learn?
     More and more I have heard people of my age, people who have raised their families, and from people who have yet to start a family express great doubt and fear. The older ones are concerned for their children and grandchildren, while the younger ones fret whether even to have them and introduce them to such a world as we live in today. People of color are still facing things which should not be faced at this time already and Jews are once more afraid, frightened that this country which allowed their families in, is now unfriendly and even downright dangerous. 11 slaughtered Jews in Pittsburgh tell us that. The hate crimes that have dramatically increased tell us that. The rise once more of "globalism and globalists" - code words for a supposed Jewish conspiracy - tell us that. The accusations against George Soros, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust of so many conspiracies that it is difficult to keep count - all this is dangerous and growing. And remember, hate does not stop at boundaries; it grows apace in a horrific garden of evil and many fall under the onslaught of hatred, murderous hatred.
     So we need to pick up and dust off that which we have discarded, that which made us humans in the image of our Creator, that which makes life worth living, that which helps us help the world and the individuals within that world. It is the only way.

THE HEART OF IT ALL

     Every day. All day. It never stops. The disorder of the Trumpian world and its demented leader seems to overtake and overwhelm all, from citizens of this country to citizens of the world. But what is it that drives so many of us to continue the fight, to be determined to stop this man and his minions in their tracks? What is at the heart of it all?
     The heart? Rights. Simple. The rights that belong to every human being on this earth. The right to exist with an expectation of respect, of care from and towards others, of humanity, of rights that we have already termed as "inalienable".
     You see, it is not a battle between an America of Trump versus the world. It is a battle of the right against the wrong, and like it or not, that is the heart of it all. It is the battle of the future - will we continue to have an America as it should be or will we lose it in a mudslide and avalanche of hatred and fascistic behavior and rules?
   Take stock. We now have our armed and trained combat soldiers in the thousands stationed at the border to take on exhausted migrants, coming to America, yes, just like Neil Diamond sings in the iconic song and just as our ancestors did. And yes, some of our ancestors were illegals and we damn well know that, too, do we not? These same soldiers can be reinforced by thousands more even as Trump shouts and rants that we need to increase the military budget, that we need to stop the expensive placement of troops where he thinks they do not belong. So the answer is to place them within our borders on active duty - against the
 Constitution itself?!
     It is the heart of the matter when the right to vote, a vote that has taken hundreds of years to work its way to all members of the nation is endangered. First it was expanded to most men, then all men, and then finally women. It was a precious right and still is. And yet, it stands in great peril as the Trump Party and the stump of the Republican party attack this right on all sides, invalidating this right, violating the very principle at the heart of this country - equality under the law and equality of rights.
     The heart of the country continues to beat but the warning signs are there. We now have out in the open the privileged immigrant to our country who was able to cut the line for her parents who have no particular skill that would have allowed them in under the route they took - other than  their daughter having married the supposed president. We have a handbag designer who sells merchandise for hundreds of thousands of dollars for the vanity of those one percenters appointed ambassador even as the poverty in our country deepens its holds on families and indeed, whole sections of the nation. Bet Melania has her handbags!!
     And the immigrant continues to uncover the true personality within. She truly believes in that infamous jacket of hers - "I do not care" and is swinging her weight now, is she not? Heads are rolling for the capital crime of 'disrespect' to the office of the First Lady. Truly!!So who wears the pants here in actuality? Could be an interesting path to untangle.
     We have a frantic man trying to keep his peccadillos undercover, trying to get out from under, not to pay the penalties for his misdeeds. He attempts to bring down and stop the Mueller investigation especially as it gets closer and closer to his own personal involvement. He tries to pack the courts so should it go there, his appointees of major incompetence and prejudice and pre trial beliefs will save him from the justice so rightly deserved. He refuses to allow a bill to protect Mueller from the new attack dog, Whitaker. And there is Jeff Flake again, the liar and the moral hypocrite who says he will not allow the appointment of more judiciaries unless there is a protection set up for Mueller. And just watch this man cave again. It is tiresome, boring - and dangerous.
     So the heart of the matter is simple, It is our heart, the heart which makes our country, our nation, tick. It is rights. It is justice. It is honesty. It is good and transparent government. It is concern for its citizens. It is for caring and capable public servants. And the list could go on but remember, people. The beat is not permanent unless we make it so. 
       SOC   Save Our Country

DREAMS

     Dreams. Hopes. Longings. Futures. America.
Once those words were all synonymous of each other. Once there were truly dreams and visions of a future and for many that dream, that vision, was all that sustained them as they struggled and made their way first to America and then to the hard and long slog to achieving goals and a future for their children. Once. Once upon a time.
     To dream in America is not a foreign concept. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to FDR to Martin Luther King, Jr., to Obama and to all who stand today in the fight for dreaming and hoping, where is that dream today?
     Let us begin right here with those living in poverty and despair. Oh, you say, the job market has improved. Has it really? The higher paying jobs have disappeared and are not coming back, no matter the lies one tells about that, and these jobs have been replaced on the whole with low wage service sector jobs or stagnant wage jobs wherein the miserly companies hoard their monies rather than sharing. Social safety net provisions have been torn asunder under the hate filled words and deeds of the Republican dominated Congress. Telling these people to wait for January is not acceptable. Tell a hungry four year old to be patient! Tell a parent suffering from deprivation that her kids have to wait for school till January because they do not have shoes or jackets for the cold. Where are their dreams? Locked in the vaults of Big Business, Big Pharma, and crooked pols.
     Dreams are shattered when the words and emotions emanating from the White House, the home of our ostensible leader, are acrimonious, hateful, rude and crude. Destroyed by his own deeds and mouth, he is now in a petulant fury, the fury truly of a demented one, one caught in the throes of emotions uncontrollable in the blackness of a dementia. Fire people. Sulk. Lie. Change stories. Invent tales out of nowhere with neither rhyme nor reason nor even possibility and attack, attack, attack all those who "defy" you. That is our 'leader' today. Where all the dreams? 
     Where do we, the citizens of America, turn? Who will actually help us in these dangerous times? Who will aid us in restoring the dreams to America, the dream that was and still should be America? Who? Ourselves and hard work.
     Last night I had the privilege of seeing and hearing Judy Collins. Stephen Stills was there as well but he was kind of blah. But Collins was in top form. Her voice still soared and rang with power. Her heart is still in the right place as she stepped forward and with no accompaniment, on an empty stage, to a dead silent audience, Judy Collins sang of Maria, she with the dreams and the hopes and a daughter, one who was deported, their only child ripped from within the bosom of the family. She sang of the struggles of this family. She sang of their dreams, of the dream that was America. She sang of their hope. And now, no more dreams and all that was left is hope. Hope.
     As she ended the song, there was silence, and then there were cheers and many, including myself, jumped up and roared for her, with her and with all the Marias, all the denied dreams that America has become.     
     Do we dare to dream anymore? Do we dare ourselves to reinvent America, the true country, the way it was meant to be, the country that made mistakes but that corrected them over time? Do we dare to try and overcome this country of blackened and deadened souls, where the people of color are targeted and singled out, where Jews once more have fear in their daily lives, where a company will not think that giving all employees a handgun is a wonderful present!
     Do we dare? Do we dare! Do YOU dare?
     

CHECK THE SIGNPOST

     "When in the course of human events...." Nope. Outmoded, it seems.  Ah! Got it! "We, the people..." Nope. Outmoded as well.
     So then what and where are the pithy statements that once guided our lives and the life of the country?  In fact, do we actually have any statements that now reflect upon our past, our ethos, our hopes and dreams? In fact, we do not. For now, it seems that the words of the day all 
emanate from the negative and hate filled throat of ...uh huh - you know who!! Horrible. Fantastic. Fake News. Fraud. Murderer, rapists and terrorists. Nationalism. Nativism. This is where it begins today and the question is - where does it end or even, if it ever ends for it seems we are on a long and twisting evil road of hatred, the hatred that kills, that grows and that endlessly needs more fuel to power its flames.
     When was the last time anyone heard a beautiful sentiment expressed by the Trump Party? When was the last time anyone heard words of true comfort and concern stated after the horrendous mass shootings we , as a country, have undergone? Where have we seen any bipartisanship lately, even as the country crumbles around our ears and our hearts as well? The answers are all the same  - too long ago to even remember and certainly not within the past two years.
     The news today? He is firing his Homeland Secretary and why? She apparently is not nasty enough for Trump and not fast enough in carrying out his cruel aspirations towards the immigrants. Uh huh. Oh, and her supporter, Kelly, is himself balancing on a very thin line and there goes another sane - at least as sane a voice as one can be in this administration. He shouts and screams and postures, ranting and raving that all recounts need to be shut down, spouting falsehoods, threatening, tearing even more at the very fabric of the soul of our country. Standard practices of allowing for the late arrival of military and overseas ballots are called into question as the man tries to enforce the already egregious violations of voter rights here in the USA. Fake accusations, madness is what it all is and the man and his supporters must go, must be disempowered as quickly as possible, neuter their nefarious plans for us over the next two years until we can finish throwing them out, clean house and reconstruct our country the way it should be. Or do you wish the country to be as the male seniors of a high school right here in America all gave the Nazi salute and proudly too!! 
     If we do not do this. If we do not get rid of the spineless and ever more evil and uncaring Republicans, then we will be lost for we will have lost our humanity, our very core of being an American. Look at Lindsey Graham, he of the demented face at the Kavanaugh hearings, he who threatened to break open hell if Sessions were fired and now see how meekly and even actively he supports it. Not that Sessions is a great loss, but he is certainly better than Whitaker as we move ever more down this degenerate road engendered by the Demented One and his amoral and immoral followers.
     So we watch in horror as we burn the country around ourselves. We have symbolically and actively begun to destroy the Constitution and its principles, the Declaration of Independence with its world changing statements of the rights of people, and have allowed the physical self of our country to burn as well. Environmental disasters growing ever more frequent and ever more powerful and  our history burns along with it.
     Here is something I read just yesterday which I believe will shed some light on which signpost to heed, which path to choose and to recognize that WE have the power and the might and the right to choose the destiny of our country, a country that we can take pride in as it works to better the conditions of humanity and to save the planet. Read it and then choose the sign post for you and yours.
     "Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."
                           C.S. Lewis

SUPERNATURAL?

          Hands down - pictures were powerful this week, more so than words could be. First were the shots in France. Trump walked alone. Literally and figuratively. He walked alone with his umbrella. He walked alone among the leaders of the nations of the world. He walked alone as he sat there in his seat while everyone around him clapped and supported Macron who warned the world of the dangers of nationalism, of fake patriotism, of the "demons" that were reappearing once more in the world 100 years after the end of WWI, which actually never truly ended as the demons remained and grew into WWII and still remain today and are indeed growing still. And there sat Trump, alone, not clapping for Macron's statements and warnings as all around him did so.
     And there are more demons around us. Just look at the nonsense that ill informed idiots believe when they hear nonsense coming out of the mouths of anti democracy advocates and yes, I do mean those opposed to recounts, those opposed to the practice of democracy, those opposed to actually having a true count of votes and making sure that EVERYONE has his/her vote counted. That is America. That is democracy. That is diversity. But these American values are precisely what these Republicans are instigating against, pushing, ever pushing towards their goal of a very limited American democracy. 
     So - nonsense. A box of provisional ballots was found in a closet. NO! A box was found but it contained office supplies for the election such as pens, note paper, tape, etc. More. Oh dearie me! A poll worker used a personal car to deliver ballots to the center. And that is exactly how ALL ballots are delivered, with two people riding in the car of one of them, one a Democrat and one a Republican, thus ensuring no hanky panky. And there is more, so much more garbage that it sickens one. The devil is in the details? In this case the devil is in the lies and misstatements that are purposefully made to induce panic, attacks, hatred, and more divisiveness in our country.
     From Kris Kobach and his campaign where logic was supposed to check itself outside the door, to the ballot counting in Arizona, the war against democracy continues. The Republicans shout interference where there is none and I wonder what they will shout should a recount point to a Republican candidate winning. Oops! That would be foot in mouth, would it not?! Where there was definite interference, in the 2016 campaign and election, the Republicans, who benefitted from it and even allegedly welcomed it, did not complain other than to lie once more and say it was for Clinton! Huh!!Weird, they are!
     And now to nature, reflecting the devils and demons in man's world and one has to wonder. One truly does. I am for sure not a fundamentalist of religion. I do not believe in many superstitions. I do not spit, or throw salt, or knock wood or avoid ladders - and yes, avoid cats but that is because I am allergic to their dander! But when one views pictures of the fires in California that were taken from space, one sees an opening into the fires of hell. The smoke and the flying ashes. The roaring of the fires. The flames, the flames. Truly it is the mouth of hell and we, the people, are allowing these openings. We are inducing conditions that lead to these fires. We are ignoring earthquakes and tsunamis and powerful and intense hurricanes and typhoons. We are ignoring the rising waters of the oceans. We are ignoring the disappearing island nations and the coasts of countries throughout the world. We are playing blind to the desertification of so much land and the consequential increase in refugees fleeing the unlivable lands to places of food and water and safety as people war over the dwindling resources for life.
     Get the feeling that someone is sending a message to us? Or get the feeling that this is a real life dress rehearsal for the world of Mad Max, for apocalyptic worlds? And yet here we are. Continuing to destroy ourselves, allow the rainforests, the lungs of the world to be cut down, allow the overdevelopment of our own countries and neighborhoods as we infringe on our nature reserves, on our watersheds and why? Why? For profit for the fatcats, for the 1%, for the Trumps and their minions. Who are the devils and demons? Who are the representatives from a hell which is of, in many instances, of our own making? Take your choice, folks. Spaceship Earth is dying at a rate which we will soon not be able to stop. We are destroying ourselves along with it and in so many ways. We have lost our way, physically and emotionally and for sure morally.
     Supernatural? Natural causation? A mixture of the two? I can just imagine G-d and His angels sitting up there with tears rolling down their faces, such as they are, mourning the errors of mankind and the dangers they are in and in fact, the dangers they themselves have wrought in so many cases. So which way will we choose? Where will we go? Do we have a chance to correct the errors and save ourselves? Do we have the courage, physical and moral courage, to take the steps needed? I, for one, recognize that we need help and from whence will that help come? Well, continuing on the supernatural theme, there is that verse, that Psalm's verse which states that "I will lift mine eyes to the mountains from whence will come my help." Take your choice. Make your choice. But understand the consequences.

MISMANAGEMENT? INDEED!!!

     The man from the new Know Nothing Party, a blast from the past of American history, the man who has rebirthed the Republican party into this horrendous joke of politics, this man has decided that the catastrophic fires in California are the result of gross mismanagement by California itself. It supposedly has wasted and diverted "massive" amounts of water, hence these fires. The climate changes, the increase in temperatures, the long lasting droughts, all seemingly have nothing to do with this. Huh! The mismanagement seems to be all on the side of Trump and minions as they deny the evidence of their own eyes and claim there is no environmental crisis. Ahem.
     Mismanagement of the once honorable party by its supposed leader, by the man who claims patriotism but really means nationalism, nativism, who cheats and lies, so much so that there is even a whole album (Walls by Barbra Streisand) dedicated to his lies and his egregious behavior, by the man who spouts hatred as easily as opening his mouth to breathe and talk, this man has destroyed his former party, turned it into the right wing, filled with spineless minions, Trump Party.
     This "patriot" could not even find it within himself to fulfill his responsibilities towards our veterans, our honored dead, and our allies of WWI for a bit of inclement weather frightened this man off. He cancelled the traditional placing of a wreath and paying honor to these heroes because of 'inclement weather'. Wonder if his 'bone spurs' were hurting him? Wonder if the heroes of the "Lost Battalion" of the Meuse-Argonne offensive of the last months of the war which had more than 26,000 dead, wonder if these actual heroes had the opportunity to beg off the fighting because there was a bit of rain in the forecast. It seems that Trump would prefer the forecast of meatballs and spaghetti from the kids' book! Shame on him and shame on him for his damned tweets wherein he miscommunicates his inner thoughts - if thinking is even possible - and radiates hate and incompetence with every click of a keyboard letter.
     And the minions of hatred continue to grow as they dare to crawl out of the primeval slime where they have lived lo these many a year. Ask Steven King about "dirt" - his term for immigrants now painfully walking, trekking, up from Central America towards a land that is supposed to be one of hope and dreams. He denied his statement and dared the reporter to play his 'supposed' audio recording and guess what? Hoist by his own petard and his hateful mouth as there it was!!
     Folks, we have got to get through the next two years in one piece. We have to deal with a Demented One who only wishes to push through more incompetent and unqualified and biased judges to the federal bench, all the better to cripple us for decades, all the better to encourage class warfare, a deep and divisive chasm among our citizens. We have to somehow negate the damage that the Senate can inflict upon us and we must somehow awaken some remnant of justice, of humanity, of moral courage among the spineless and hate filled Republican members of the actually newly born Trump Party.
     The call to bipartisanship was revealed as false and as two faced as its caller. His nefarious plans, his gross incompetence, will still be there for two years. We need to find and maintain our own inner and outer courage and keep our country, wobbly though it might be, on the right and American track. SOC - Save Our Country - is the theme for the next two years. Let us be Americans and America once more. Candle vigils are heartwarming, but we must stop the causes of those vigils in their tracks with education, gun control, humanity. Two years and counting. As the saying goes - we should all live so long!

AMERICA, AMERICA

     Another shooting, another mass murder, this time at a place called Borderline, ironically enough. Why? We are on the borderline and this most recent election has us perched right on that thin line between sanity and righteousness  and on the other side madness, dictatorship, fascism and hatred, a virulent hatred which runs rampant over all who oppose it and its upholders.
     I have long maintained that this is where we were headed and throughout these past two horrific years that opinion has solidified, just as it has done with many others, many distinguished thinkers. Unfortunately so many are still deaf and dumb to the truth, still believe the outrageous lies of Trumpers, and worse, uphold the opinions of haters, of murderers, of people so anti humanity that one cannot believe their presence here in America - and yet here they are.
     Gun control. Nonsense about keeping guns out of the law abiding citizen. Such nonsense, for the law abiding citizen will go through the steps and receive a permit. The mentally unstable, the killers, will not and even the criminals will find it harder to find a black market one as guns become scarcer.
     But guns are not the only issue as countries and people can be killed with words as well. That is where it starts and that is where it goes. Albert Einstein wrote about his fears for Germany in 1922. Today is the anniversary of a most infamous and hideous pogrom, sponsored by the government of Germany - Kristallnacht, wherein synagogues, Jewish institutions, places of business were destroyed, burned to the ground and thousands upon thousands of Jewish men were hauled off to Dachau or killed right on the spot. Does one think that we are so far away from such a deed? I do not and I fear for my children and grandchildren. My heart already breaks for them as the specter of violent anti Semitism right here in America broke over their heads two Saturdays ago. Hell, NO, NO MORE of this. My head and heart shout and I wonder, where is my America, my America of the home sweet home, of beautiful vistas and friendly people? 
     But Tuesday showed us there is still hope. But is that enough with a President who is bringing us closer and closer to a constitutional crisis of mammoth proportions. Revoking the press credentials of a reporter who displeases the wishful would be dictator. The tampering with videos and talk of fake news!!! The last minute step of Sessions, the weasel, to limit the ability of the Federal government to take on corrupt and abusive police departments. The threats to derail our democracy at its very roots - the right to vote and they have started on that already. And the appointment of a fox to guard the hens right inside the henhouse and then we wonder why we are seeing feathers already at the mouth of the fox?!!!!
     America, America, where are we now and where will we be in the future. Michelle Obama has it right in her new book when she states that the message of Trump is "I can hurt you and get away with it." But it is more than that. Hurt can sometimes be erased or healed, soothed, but the destruction of a country, of a way of life, of decency and humanity? Not so easy.  Now the voting is over and the recounting continues. We must fight to make it upright and transparent. We must fight for our rights and we must fight for America, our America. SOC - Save Our Country.

SILLY, SILLY ME

     Evidently I am still a fool at times, and being optimistic about the possibilities for our country were hopelessly too optimistic for reality. Not even a day before the Demented One began his ranting and raving. Not even a day before he revved the engine up on Twitter, along with his misplaced capitals, of course. Not even a full 24 hours before he began his threats and tantrums, his personal attacks on those who dared to use their rights and began his fight with the throwing out of the weasel, Sessions. 
     Even more egregious than that are the threats he has made to the Democrats. He sits or stands there with folded arms across his ever growing girth and threatens to go tit for tat as he puts it. If they investigate him, why then he will investigate them. On what, he does not say and perhaps that is because there is nothing for him to investigate while he has oh so many things - tax fraud and deception, medical conditions that would make him ineligible to hold office, collusion with the Russians and can you imagine it - the president of the United States and his staff colluding with an enemy of the state. That is called treason, folks, eminently disqualifying one for office! No wonder he does not want to be investigated.
     But wait! There is more. Acosta, from CNN, asked some hard hitting questions of Trump re his use of nationalism and racism. Trump did not like that as it evidently hit right on target with this racist white power man, and he sends a female intern to take away the mic from Acosta. She reaches to grab it  and Acosta, rightfully so, holds a hand out in normal reflex, to stop the attack. I am not even clear if he even touched her arm with his after looking several times at the video, but in any case, he did not place his hand upon her as the chief molester claims. And now his credentials are cancelled. Uh huh. Freedom of the press - x'ed out. Separation of press from political campaigning - x'ed out. Staffers mix with crowds at rallies - a major no-no - x'ed out.Talk of kettles and pots!
     North Korea is now "very mad" with us. The rest of the world watches as the cleavage of the country grows ever deeper and divisive and almost beyond the point of fixing it. When a person states that she voted for DeSantis rather than Gillum because she thought that there would be more tension if there were a black governor - well, I am struck mute. This is logic? NO! This is racism in another form or wording. Period.
     And meanwhile, Junior is awaiting indictment. Trump is shaking and shivering at the fact that he is now going to be tasked with the responsibility and demands of the House committees to release tax returns, to speak of his business dealings, including while he is in the White House, to delve deeper into his collusion, to answer for all that he has done or indeed not done. The bell is tolling, Donald, for all of you racists and tormentors of people, for those who see  the terrorists in the faces of exhausted toddlers and their parents who want to give them a better life. And what is this nonsense that all past immigrants came into this country legally. Nonsense! How many jumped ship? How many crossed borders? How many were smuggled in? Riddle me that one.
     Democrats now have to do their jobs. They must see that Trump does not destroy the country in the next two months and then do their job as of January. Get rid of judges like the loser in Harris County, Texas, who released his juvenile cases as a sore loser move because he lost the election, the same man who incarcerated juveniles at a crazy rate while on the bench. What have we allowed to grow in this country?
     So sic 'em, Democrats. Shut the man and his minions down. Get that suppressed truth out there so that even those who still believe in terrorists in the caravan, as deeply as their children believe in Santa Claus - and with the same amount of reality -will finally see the truth. SOC - Save Our Country. That is now the job. Get on with the proper rules and regulations. Keep the economy on a steady keel. Yes, the job market is good - but the pay stinks. Reintroduce civility and justice, law and order in the right way. SOC.