I am flying early this morning and will post by this afternoon
Thank you
Thursday, January 31, 2019
A LEAP OF HOPE
Sorry for the delay, but I have been battling some sort of viral whatever, and it appeared to be the victor in last night's battle.
Elie Wiesel, a man who lived through the worst of mankind's deeds, was certainly no stranger to despair. Yet when asked how he could talk of change when even in the twenty first century there was still genocide and mass slaughter, he gave a brilliant answer. " We must hope in spite of despair, because of our despair; we must not give despair the victory.....People speak of a leap in faith. I believe in a leap of hope."
I take that to mean that even in the darkest of times we must continue to have hope. There is a true story of a well known person being found and arrested, taken away by the Germans for placement into a concentration camp, a place that is hopeless and certainly a place of the devil. He said to his wife that he will be okay, for until now he lived in fear of being captured and now that it has happened, he can now live in hope.
Mankind is capable of the highest kinds of behavior, just as they are capable of becoming the worst of mankind. To live in hope that we will struggle through, that right will eventually win, that all this is for something, anything, well, that is the highest level of humanity When one can find humanity within oneself in a place of monsters and inhumanity, there is hope, there is room for the leap of hope, that things will get better.
One of the greatest opponents of hope is the misuse of language, the twisting and turning of words into something other than they are. Mass murder becomes a Final Solution. Genocide becomes a civil war. Lies become the transactional words of the day and the time, and the truth becomes buried under a storm of lies, a flood of lies. Such is the tool of the dictator and such is the tool we are seeing today, right here in America.
I do not believe that Trump has ever uttered a word of truth if he can find a lie to replace it. He lies about his lies and he twists things around so badly that one just knows, truly knows that this man is demented at the very least and evil, pure evil, at the height of the horror he perpetrates.
But certainly what occurred now is truly beyond all things. It is the standard sign of dictators who presume to speak for G-d, to claim they know, they just know, that God is on their side and wants the situation to be exactly the way it is. They know. Evidently Sarah Sanders can state with confidence that she knows that G-d wants Donald Trump to be President and do the great job he is doing, a protector of the faith. GAG!. She knows, and now are you reassured?!
Hope and despair. Two sides of the same coin, just as love and hate are. Passion for giving people hope battles the passion inside people with a hunger for power. The time we are living in is a true example of this conflict. It is a time when it is easier to look away rather than to look towards and try to do something about it. Those who have chosen the wrong passion fall further and further into darkness. How dare anyone throw bleach on a person and wrap a noose around his neck. Are we to turn to lynching again? Have we learned nothing through all the years? Are we to feel despair rather than hope because we cannot even expect to walk safely down our streets?
This hatred, this acting on hatred comes from one source - the man at the top- who has accepted the support of extremist bigots and haters and who himself speaks words of hate rather than reason, logic and humanity. Garbage slides downward, yes, but the responsibility for that garbage slide starts at the top and there he is in all his orange glory. He knows his purposes on earth and it is not good. On the other hand, there are those who are always seeking, learning and who ask the wise people of the earth for advice as to what they are supposed to do with all they have been given. The wise men answer that they have been seeking that answer, and that is the answer. To seek, to learn, to ask questions and find answers or try to find those answers, to add to the humanness within oneself.
There is a mystical belief that when one dies he must remember his name if his soul is to ascend. Think how many of us could not answer that question for even in life we do not truly know our name, who we are. But if one does the right thing strives for the right things, and lives in hope for humanity despite all the nastiness and cruelty, then one will remember one's name.
I hope that this posting today give a little hope at least to those out there in countries struggling with dictators, with cruel and nasty people, with executioners and torturers. It is easy to give in to despair. I know, for I have fallen into its grip at times, but we must pull ourselves out by our own collars and remember the hope, the hope that allows even people who have suffered the unthinkable, the unimaginable, to pursue life, rebuild and live. So we too must do.
This hatred, this acting on hatred comes from one source - the man at the top- who has accepted the support of extremist bigots and haters and who himself speaks words of hate rather than reason, logic and humanity. Garbage slides downward, yes, but the responsibility for that garbage slide starts at the top and there he is in all his orange glory. He knows his purposes on earth and it is not good. On the other hand, there are those who are always seeking, learning and who ask the wise people of the earth for advice as to what they are supposed to do with all they have been given. The wise men answer that they have been seeking that answer, and that is the answer. To seek, to learn, to ask questions and find answers or try to find those answers, to add to the humanness within oneself.
There is a mystical belief that when one dies he must remember his name if his soul is to ascend. Think how many of us could not answer that question for even in life we do not truly know our name, who we are. But if one does the right thing strives for the right things, and lives in hope for humanity despite all the nastiness and cruelty, then one will remember one's name.
I hope that this posting today give a little hope at least to those out there in countries struggling with dictators, with cruel and nasty people, with executioners and torturers. It is easy to give in to despair. I know, for I have fallen into its grip at times, but we must pull ourselves out by our own collars and remember the hope, the hope that allows even people who have suffered the unthinkable, the unimaginable, to pursue life, rebuild and live. So we too must do.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
PLOP PLOP FIZZ FIZZ
While much of the country is suffering from Antarctica temperatures, you can breathe a sigh of relief. The Demented One will be nice and warm as he flies down to Mar a Lago to watch the game in the sunshine of Florida. Wonder if the plane will make a pickup stop at O'Hare to collect some poor freezing souls, like perhaps some of the homeless, or some of the federal workers who cannot afford to turn up the heat due to the shutdown and missed paychecks! Now that would be a heartwarming gesture. Or perhaps he can stop in some other city up there in the freezing zone and watch the game with them in a warming shelter. But, not to worry, for this will never happen.
Another big load off one's shoulders. Eric Trump, whose main accomplishment in life seems to have been being born the son of the Demented One, has reassured us that he wants his father to declare a national emergency and use the military to build that damned wall and he knows, he really knows, that this is what the people of the country want! He knows. Wow.
Top that heartwarming bit of news with the understanding that he is not alone there with Daddy. Sister Ivanka is doing her best, especially as she has more time now to meddle in national affairs since her business is tanking. And for extra help, or the cherry On top, do not forget Jared, the son in law, who at such a young age has almost overnight developed a sense of history, a talent for political maneuvering and a potpourri of knowledge so wide and deep that he can cover at least six or seven major roles and responsibilities! And all of these plus not to forget, Junior, all of them, so blessed to be Daddy's children and we are so lucky that they deign to help us, the people of this country. Are you puking your guts out yet?
Meanwhile, those of us who are Jewish now have to worry that we are living in a retro time wherein the prejudice, the hatred, the bias, are there, as usual, more outspoken again than for many years, but now we have also returned to the time when Jews are freely hunted and shot down. Plans to kill as many worshippers as he could on a Shabbat, especially aiming for the Rabbi, and at least the dude is arrested. But how many more of these are out there? How many more are out there on the other end of the spectrum with plans to bomb Muslim towns or places of worship? Where has all this hatred, this vicious hatred, come from and why is it seemingly ever more increasing in acceptance and defended with excuses? Me? It all comes from the top, from a Demented One who has made it okay to spew hatred, to speak nasty stuff, to boast about wrongdoing, to brag about misdeeds and how one has gotten away with it all.
And while much of the population of this country does not trust the Republicans or Trump any more - and about time - there are many of those, particularly among the millennials and younger, who turn away from the news, trying to keep the nastiness out of their lives. They do not understand that if one is silent, well, the flood will reach them too. Indifference, willful blindness, is not the answer and indeed, is part of the problem.
And what do we say to those of the older generation who also turn their heads and noses away from some unpleasant situations. Here in CV we have an increasingly dead from the neck up population who manage to live in a dream world where the Village will function without any input from them, without their fulfilling their parts in the script. It must be added, though, that they are also weary of the Sisyphean task of trying to get some input into the administration here. What we have is an increasingly tighter and tighter circle of those who control the spending of our funds, what does and does not happen within the Village, and are now heavily into changing by laws so that their power play will be enforced and the law of the land.
People have tired of banging their heads against that locked door. They have been insulted, called names, accused of being like 'the German people' or the population of enemy countries. They have been shut out of offices and volunteer positions. One has to suck up to the 'leader' if one is to get anywhere. Sound familiar. So people have just about created a shutdown of their own not coming to the delegate assembly, to such a degree that the quorum needed to proceed was lowered! Cannot even get 144 or so people once a month to show up for an hour or an hour and a half and behave like humans, talk and debate. Nope, perhaps they are out on the pickle ball court, or whining about the tennis courts, or trying to take over pools, but they are certainly not at the meetings!
There is a forum to get to know the officers running this year. It used to be held in the theater in order to accommodate those who came to hear them speak. but this year? Nope. It is being held in a small room, with not many chairs, and the candidates themselves will take up much of the space inside so why the hell would anyone think they were welcomed to this. In any case, for the most part, it is the same old, same old, recycled names and people, so what is the use!!! But the use is simple. Use it or lose it! Use the power of one's vote in order to return the situation to its proper place. Instead of lowering the bar, ask why is there so little interest, growing in direct proportion to the number of years that someone has hijacked the seat as president, cancelling the term limits, and bringing his best buddies along with him for the ride. This is a ride which is hurting us, badly. Hmmm, wonder if Mueller will open an investigation here once he is finally finished exposing the muck of the Trump administration? Would certainly be interesting.
In any case, the situation all over seems to be crappy. Is there, can there be, a solution to it?Certainly, it would require at the very least level, for people to wake up what is between their ears, open their willfully blind eyes, and do something. Speak up. Stop being nasty to an opponent at the assembly. Open one's ears to truly hear what is being said and wow, magic! There is wisdom is much of what is being said. There is much to be gained by debate and compromise.
So while our country is freezing, another direct consequence of the global warming, let us unfreeze our brains, our minds, and try to return all of us to a democracy, not wishful dictatorships, not the nastiness of politics as they are today. Let us all be Americans. Period. And would it not be great if there was such simple answer - just plop in the political version of Alka Seltzer and there ya' go. "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is." But it is not so simple. We must, MUST, act to save our democracies, wherever they are under attack and trust me, they are under attack.
Another big load off one's shoulders. Eric Trump, whose main accomplishment in life seems to have been being born the son of the Demented One, has reassured us that he wants his father to declare a national emergency and use the military to build that damned wall and he knows, he really knows, that this is what the people of the country want! He knows. Wow.
Top that heartwarming bit of news with the understanding that he is not alone there with Daddy. Sister Ivanka is doing her best, especially as she has more time now to meddle in national affairs since her business is tanking. And for extra help, or the cherry On top, do not forget Jared, the son in law, who at such a young age has almost overnight developed a sense of history, a talent for political maneuvering and a potpourri of knowledge so wide and deep that he can cover at least six or seven major roles and responsibilities! And all of these plus not to forget, Junior, all of them, so blessed to be Daddy's children and we are so lucky that they deign to help us, the people of this country. Are you puking your guts out yet?
Meanwhile, those of us who are Jewish now have to worry that we are living in a retro time wherein the prejudice, the hatred, the bias, are there, as usual, more outspoken again than for many years, but now we have also returned to the time when Jews are freely hunted and shot down. Plans to kill as many worshippers as he could on a Shabbat, especially aiming for the Rabbi, and at least the dude is arrested. But how many more of these are out there? How many more are out there on the other end of the spectrum with plans to bomb Muslim towns or places of worship? Where has all this hatred, this vicious hatred, come from and why is it seemingly ever more increasing in acceptance and defended with excuses? Me? It all comes from the top, from a Demented One who has made it okay to spew hatred, to speak nasty stuff, to boast about wrongdoing, to brag about misdeeds and how one has gotten away with it all.
And while much of the population of this country does not trust the Republicans or Trump any more - and about time - there are many of those, particularly among the millennials and younger, who turn away from the news, trying to keep the nastiness out of their lives. They do not understand that if one is silent, well, the flood will reach them too. Indifference, willful blindness, is not the answer and indeed, is part of the problem.
And what do we say to those of the older generation who also turn their heads and noses away from some unpleasant situations. Here in CV we have an increasingly dead from the neck up population who manage to live in a dream world where the Village will function without any input from them, without their fulfilling their parts in the script. It must be added, though, that they are also weary of the Sisyphean task of trying to get some input into the administration here. What we have is an increasingly tighter and tighter circle of those who control the spending of our funds, what does and does not happen within the Village, and are now heavily into changing by laws so that their power play will be enforced and the law of the land.
People have tired of banging their heads against that locked door. They have been insulted, called names, accused of being like 'the German people' or the population of enemy countries. They have been shut out of offices and volunteer positions. One has to suck up to the 'leader' if one is to get anywhere. Sound familiar. So people have just about created a shutdown of their own not coming to the delegate assembly, to such a degree that the quorum needed to proceed was lowered! Cannot even get 144 or so people once a month to show up for an hour or an hour and a half and behave like humans, talk and debate. Nope, perhaps they are out on the pickle ball court, or whining about the tennis courts, or trying to take over pools, but they are certainly not at the meetings!
There is a forum to get to know the officers running this year. It used to be held in the theater in order to accommodate those who came to hear them speak. but this year? Nope. It is being held in a small room, with not many chairs, and the candidates themselves will take up much of the space inside so why the hell would anyone think they were welcomed to this. In any case, for the most part, it is the same old, same old, recycled names and people, so what is the use!!! But the use is simple. Use it or lose it! Use the power of one's vote in order to return the situation to its proper place. Instead of lowering the bar, ask why is there so little interest, growing in direct proportion to the number of years that someone has hijacked the seat as president, cancelling the term limits, and bringing his best buddies along with him for the ride. This is a ride which is hurting us, badly. Hmmm, wonder if Mueller will open an investigation here once he is finally finished exposing the muck of the Trump administration? Would certainly be interesting.
In any case, the situation all over seems to be crappy. Is there, can there be, a solution to it?Certainly, it would require at the very least level, for people to wake up what is between their ears, open their willfully blind eyes, and do something. Speak up. Stop being nasty to an opponent at the assembly. Open one's ears to truly hear what is being said and wow, magic! There is wisdom is much of what is being said. There is much to be gained by debate and compromise.
So while our country is freezing, another direct consequence of the global warming, let us unfreeze our brains, our minds, and try to return all of us to a democracy, not wishful dictatorships, not the nastiness of politics as they are today. Let us all be Americans. Period. And would it not be great if there was such simple answer - just plop in the political version of Alka Seltzer and there ya' go. "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is." But it is not so simple. We must, MUST, act to save our democracies, wherever they are under attack and trust me, they are under attack.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
OUMUAMUA
If you are like me, you will first spend time trying to figure out how to pronounce the word, never mind what the hell it is! What it is, though, is of significance, for scientists seem to feel that its trajectory says it came from another solar system, the first thing ever to do so, and perhaps it is even a space craft due to its very unusual shape.
Huh! Think so? The universe is enormous and it is not so hard to imagine that G-d was bored one day or annoyed by us one day, and created another living being in another solar system. If so, why now and what does it mean?
Me, I think they even heard over there, so many billions of miles away, about the political farce taking place in the first nation of the Earth. They have heard that there is a weird orange skinned man with extremely strange hair who is a real sourpuss and a very, very unusual speaker, what with his over the top hand and mouth gestures.
In addition to his physical weirdness, they are interested in examining the mating habits of leaders of a nation to see if it differs any from theirs and they would do so, but they are still searching for Melania, the wife, as she seemingly has disappeared into the woodwork and who could blame her!!
Interestingly enough, it seems, they have found, that it is a required act to finalize one's resignation or firing with a tell all book, the more revealing than ever. At first these Oumuamua beings felt the whole situation was possibly a bit exaggerated, but as book after book came out, the assigned readers all felt that there was so much truth in these books that it required a close look, and in person. So...… think any Oumuamuaians are inside the White House? Or perhaps outside as McConnell is truly weird, Graham had that very frightening face during the Kavanaugh hearings, another source of concern and puzzlement to the visitors from another solar system, for in their system, no one, neither man nor woman is allowed to touch another without permission - a very strict rule amongst them.
What truly gets their goat though, is the ignorance, the nastiness, that seems to emanate without end from this orange haired creature. He ignores scientific facts, confusing weather with climate, does not know how to spell at all, nor how to punctuate and construct proper sentences and paragraphs, and just seems to deteriorate ever further every day.
Perhaps the most frightening thing to the Oumuamuaians is the hatred they see from one group towards another and the nasty and dangerous actions taken to implement this hatred. Such things were long ago over and done with on Oumuamua. They recoil with horror from scenes of families taken into custody for the simple reason that they wished to share in the American dream and the separation of children from parents was just horrendous, and they could barely tolerate the sight of it.
So what do you think? Think we will continue to be the subject of study by living beings from outer space, from other solar systems, or will they give up on us, and even worse, will G-d give up on us? Will WE give up on ourselves?
It could turn out that Oumuamua is simply an anomaly, a strange meteoroid or whatever, but just think about the first impression others would get about us. Troops fighting all over the place and now what? To Columbia to attack Venezuela? People living in rubble. Children schlepping guns that weigh more than they do? People going hungry in the richest nation of the planet. The destruction, the downfall, of the greatest governmental experiment ever on the face of this earth. Simply put - the loss of humanity.
Hmph! wonder if they take applications for asylum? Wonder if Musk is going to fly out to meet them? Wonder what a seat cost. Hey! Here's an idea. Let us just send them Trump. Aahhhh. What a thought. What a dream.
FYI/ - The thing called Oumuamua is real and actually has that trajectory. As for the rest, just a bunch of thoughts and what ifs. But what if...…..
Huh! Think so? The universe is enormous and it is not so hard to imagine that G-d was bored one day or annoyed by us one day, and created another living being in another solar system. If so, why now and what does it mean?
Me, I think they even heard over there, so many billions of miles away, about the political farce taking place in the first nation of the Earth. They have heard that there is a weird orange skinned man with extremely strange hair who is a real sourpuss and a very, very unusual speaker, what with his over the top hand and mouth gestures.
In addition to his physical weirdness, they are interested in examining the mating habits of leaders of a nation to see if it differs any from theirs and they would do so, but they are still searching for Melania, the wife, as she seemingly has disappeared into the woodwork and who could blame her!!
Interestingly enough, it seems, they have found, that it is a required act to finalize one's resignation or firing with a tell all book, the more revealing than ever. At first these Oumuamua beings felt the whole situation was possibly a bit exaggerated, but as book after book came out, the assigned readers all felt that there was so much truth in these books that it required a close look, and in person. So...… think any Oumuamuaians are inside the White House? Or perhaps outside as McConnell is truly weird, Graham had that very frightening face during the Kavanaugh hearings, another source of concern and puzzlement to the visitors from another solar system, for in their system, no one, neither man nor woman is allowed to touch another without permission - a very strict rule amongst them.
What truly gets their goat though, is the ignorance, the nastiness, that seems to emanate without end from this orange haired creature. He ignores scientific facts, confusing weather with climate, does not know how to spell at all, nor how to punctuate and construct proper sentences and paragraphs, and just seems to deteriorate ever further every day.
Perhaps the most frightening thing to the Oumuamuaians is the hatred they see from one group towards another and the nasty and dangerous actions taken to implement this hatred. Such things were long ago over and done with on Oumuamua. They recoil with horror from scenes of families taken into custody for the simple reason that they wished to share in the American dream and the separation of children from parents was just horrendous, and they could barely tolerate the sight of it.
So what do you think? Think we will continue to be the subject of study by living beings from outer space, from other solar systems, or will they give up on us, and even worse, will G-d give up on us? Will WE give up on ourselves?
It could turn out that Oumuamua is simply an anomaly, a strange meteoroid or whatever, but just think about the first impression others would get about us. Troops fighting all over the place and now what? To Columbia to attack Venezuela? People living in rubble. Children schlepping guns that weigh more than they do? People going hungry in the richest nation of the planet. The destruction, the downfall, of the greatest governmental experiment ever on the face of this earth. Simply put - the loss of humanity.
Hmph! wonder if they take applications for asylum? Wonder if Musk is going to fly out to meet them? Wonder what a seat cost. Hey! Here's an idea. Let us just send them Trump. Aahhhh. What a thought. What a dream.
FYI/ - The thing called Oumuamua is real and actually has that trajectory. As for the rest, just a bunch of thoughts and what ifs. But what if...…..
Monday, January 28, 2019
NUMBERS
Lately there have been many numbers thrown about, many contradicting other numbers released about the same thing. The only way I can figure it out is that the pollsters have a target audience, the go to people for them to question and they choose carefully. For example, the Marist poll states that Hispanic approval of Trump went up 19% to 50% approval. Huh! Wonder where they have stashed these Hispanic people for almost every one I speak to does not, most emphatically does not, like nor approve of Trump. Seriously, why would people of Latino background approve of one who speaks of them in derogatory and accusatory terms, and now chants a new one - "Build the Wall Crime Will Fall" for evidently the wall will keep all those murdering raping drug running brown people out of America. Especially those shifty eyed babies and toddlers.Never mind the thousands who are applying for asylum, for relief from violence, for safety for their kids, for a chance at a new life and hope for the future of their kids. And most important, do not pay attention to the truthtellers behind the curtain, reminding one and all that most illegal drugs come in through legal ports of entry, in legal shipments of other goods, and that a native born citizen is more likely to commit a crime than these "awful" people!! But why pay attention to facts and real numbers when they foul up one's story.
When nasty men get involved in comparing whose is bigger, the people trying to hide their eyes from this are the ones who get stuck with the results, like it or not. So small hands, big hands, small brains, whatever - the level of politics today has sunk to depths beyond all belief. Anything goes, and when and if caught, just lie and keep lying and things will get better, especially if you find other things to lie about.
The statement that follows is telling, very telling, especially when one puts the proper interpretation on it. "....how we can solve this in a way that the president gets what he needs, but the American people fundamentally get the government that they deserve," What Trump needs is a swift kick in the ass as he is shown the door, and the government that the people deserve? Well, think about that. Do they deserve one that cares for them, that treats citizens and residents as equal before the law, who respect human rights, who place a huge stress on sanity and decency or do they deserve what they now have as they allowed this situation to unfold into this disaster?
All around Trump lie and lie again and lie about their lies. As one person put it: “In Trump world, everybody lies. Everybody doesn’t tell the truth. At the end of the day, they are all lying." So where do we go from here? Many answers, but we must choose and do so quickly before even more incompetents remain or are placed in judgeships, or elected to office, or plan more extreme activities. What we need is reason, sanity, logic, decency and bipartisanship. Extreme statements about groups of people or demanding an end to an Immigration office are not the answer. We obviously need an office for immigration, but before that we need a sensible and fair immigration policy! What we need to do is cut the extreme and ridiculous and antagonistic statements coming from both sides, inject some cement into the spines of the wimpy and nasty Republicans, remind them of the origin of their party and for heaven's sake - hell too - get rid of that man. Why have we not turned the best legal minds we have to figuring out the best legal way to rid ourselves of him, of removing the tumor on the soul of America?
I see a country turning into a dictatorial one, with people being stopped on buses and asked for papers. How many of you carry around proof of who you are and your citizenship? How many of you can figure out what to do when your truths are deemed lies and you are taken away and never mind your family or kids or needs - out you go, come along, hands behind your back. Click!! As for me - I carry little or nothing. Certainly not my birth certificate or my parent's birth certificate, marriage license, passport or whatever. Papieren bitte? NO!! Not here!!
And what makes for even more nastiness and disappointment is when I read a treatise from a President of an organization, one who has overstayed in office, who has played games with the rules in order to remain in that office, who writes in an article just about equating those who oppose some of his ideas or plans with the "enemy" for just as we had to understand the psychology of the people of the enemy, so we have to understand the makeup of the opposition to him!! Really? How about the right to have and express one's ideas? How about the fact that yes, such a man can be wrong!! Unthinkable, huh!!! NO!!
One can oppose a ruling class or a ruler or an elected officer without being deemed a traitor. One can exercise one's rights as an American without being called or compared to the enemy. One can even agree with some of what the man proposes but is not required to approve of it all. Such is the right, or at least was always the right here in America and yes, even here in Century Village. It is frightening to me when the strategies and plans and tactics of the outside world are brought into play in our little version of a great place to live.
It is also interesting to note that when nominations were closed at a delegate assembly, there were fewer than the number required to fill all seats in the Executive Board. Suddenly, quietly, we find out that almost double the number supposedly were nominated or threw their hats in the ring after the assembly. Ooh, stinky, stinky, folks.
Please, could we all just try to hear each other, to watch our souls as we sell them - or not - to the highest bidder or the most frightening person? Could we all just try to do the right thing? Could we try to remember back to the not so distant time that we were identified as Americans and not as Republican or Democrat? Could we all remember that we can twist numbers any which way we wish them to go, but we need to untwist our hearts and minds and souls and seeds of courage and greatness. And soon!
When nasty men get involved in comparing whose is bigger, the people trying to hide their eyes from this are the ones who get stuck with the results, like it or not. So small hands, big hands, small brains, whatever - the level of politics today has sunk to depths beyond all belief. Anything goes, and when and if caught, just lie and keep lying and things will get better, especially if you find other things to lie about.
The statement that follows is telling, very telling, especially when one puts the proper interpretation on it. "....how we can solve this in a way that the president gets what he needs, but the American people fundamentally get the government that they deserve," What Trump needs is a swift kick in the ass as he is shown the door, and the government that the people deserve? Well, think about that. Do they deserve one that cares for them, that treats citizens and residents as equal before the law, who respect human rights, who place a huge stress on sanity and decency or do they deserve what they now have as they allowed this situation to unfold into this disaster?
All around Trump lie and lie again and lie about their lies. As one person put it: “In Trump world, everybody lies. Everybody doesn’t tell the truth. At the end of the day, they are all lying." So where do we go from here? Many answers, but we must choose and do so quickly before even more incompetents remain or are placed in judgeships, or elected to office, or plan more extreme activities. What we need is reason, sanity, logic, decency and bipartisanship. Extreme statements about groups of people or demanding an end to an Immigration office are not the answer. We obviously need an office for immigration, but before that we need a sensible and fair immigration policy! What we need to do is cut the extreme and ridiculous and antagonistic statements coming from both sides, inject some cement into the spines of the wimpy and nasty Republicans, remind them of the origin of their party and for heaven's sake - hell too - get rid of that man. Why have we not turned the best legal minds we have to figuring out the best legal way to rid ourselves of him, of removing the tumor on the soul of America?
I see a country turning into a dictatorial one, with people being stopped on buses and asked for papers. How many of you carry around proof of who you are and your citizenship? How many of you can figure out what to do when your truths are deemed lies and you are taken away and never mind your family or kids or needs - out you go, come along, hands behind your back. Click!! As for me - I carry little or nothing. Certainly not my birth certificate or my parent's birth certificate, marriage license, passport or whatever. Papieren bitte? NO!! Not here!!
And what makes for even more nastiness and disappointment is when I read a treatise from a President of an organization, one who has overstayed in office, who has played games with the rules in order to remain in that office, who writes in an article just about equating those who oppose some of his ideas or plans with the "enemy" for just as we had to understand the psychology of the people of the enemy, so we have to understand the makeup of the opposition to him!! Really? How about the right to have and express one's ideas? How about the fact that yes, such a man can be wrong!! Unthinkable, huh!!! NO!!
One can oppose a ruling class or a ruler or an elected officer without being deemed a traitor. One can exercise one's rights as an American without being called or compared to the enemy. One can even agree with some of what the man proposes but is not required to approve of it all. Such is the right, or at least was always the right here in America and yes, even here in Century Village. It is frightening to me when the strategies and plans and tactics of the outside world are brought into play in our little version of a great place to live.
It is also interesting to note that when nominations were closed at a delegate assembly, there were fewer than the number required to fill all seats in the Executive Board. Suddenly, quietly, we find out that almost double the number supposedly were nominated or threw their hats in the ring after the assembly. Ooh, stinky, stinky, folks.
Please, could we all just try to hear each other, to watch our souls as we sell them - or not - to the highest bidder or the most frightening person? Could we all just try to do the right thing? Could we try to remember back to the not so distant time that we were identified as Americans and not as Republican or Democrat? Could we all remember that we can twist numbers any which way we wish them to go, but we need to untwist our hearts and minds and souls and seeds of courage and greatness. And soon!
Sunday, January 27, 2019
NOSES AND FACES
We all know the expression that reminds us that at times we are so bent on one thing, one direction, that we disregard all else and end up cutting off our noses to spite our faces. It is acting in a blind manner, out of anger, and meanwhile the object of that anger comes off bearing the lesser part of the burden.
So why are we beginning - no, cancel that - so deep into this harmful behavior? Why have our supposed leaders forgotten how to deal and talk, to compromise and to put the benefits of bipartisanship before personal desires? Perhaps it is because we have become a nation of selfish toddlers, forgotten what it means to be an 'adult', and concentrated only on whatever 'baba' we wanted and just had to have, never mind the consequences.
So for two years the biggest toddler ever controlled the whole entire government. He had two years during which he could have passed funding for that stupid and needless wall, but did not take advantage of that time. Nope, instead he and his minions, dashed the hopes and dreams of so many, adding to the nation's debt, as he cut taxes for the wealthy and that money, for the most part, did not return to the economy, to the States, but remained in the coffers of companies. He tried to totally take down the ACA and thankfully did not succeed, though he did damage this health hope for so many.
The worst offenders in the noses and faces games are those who strangely enough fought against the very programs they needed, the very programs which helped fight opioid addiction in rural areas - white areas! - that helped small time farmers, small businessmen, provided free and reduced fee lunches and not only in the inner cities as many would like you to believe and we could go on and list many more programs, including food stamps, unemployment benefits, retraining programs, but the point is made. Those who were led mindlessly down the 'smaller government' road, well, there went those noses, piling up on the sides of the road, on this long path to self destruction. It seems that some people never learn.
So the Demented One threatens that he can shut down the government again.. He already owns the first one which, by the way, got him nowhere other than lower in the polls, and the originator of panic and desperation into the homes of so many - and by the way, this persists, for deadlines have passed and they could not be met due to lack of government. We were this close to shutting down the entire economy of the country and think of the global consequences if this had happened. And I do not blame the traffic controllers or anyone other than that orange man sitting there watching TV with a gaping mouth and hands crossed against his chest, his go to pose of antagonism, a constant antagonism.
And what are we teaching our young when the contempt so many hold for this man spills over into everyday life? What do you think these kids will grow up to believe? Will they even trust anyone ever again and have we just begun to raise kids even more selfish and shortsighted than the Me generation? Noses and faces, and we never seem to learn a lesson, do we?
Allies are arguing, enemies are buzzing each other, playing chicken on the high seas, playing chess with the lives of people they claim as 'spies' and hold them hostage against the return of some of their arrested for truly spying. There is no safety anymore, and the American passport which once meant so much and provided protection for the traveler, well, that was the past, when our noses were still attached to our faces!
The Middle East is in the midst of the hottest time ever, and I do not mean the weather, though that is another whole story, another whole group of noses that have been cutoff round the world for the temporary benefit of the few, the oligarchs of society, while the rest of us suffer, even unto the point of existence. But the bullets and the rockets and the missiles go on in that heated up territory, the mouths open and spew hatred, and people's lives are worth nothing on both sides of the issue. Why anyone would expect the situation to improve is beyond me, for without those very same noses that we have sliced off we cannot smell the coffee, smell the rising stench of death and bloodshed and instead see only the damaged visions of hatred and selfishness, the calculated use of the little people by their selfish leaders.
Instead of banging our noses into the walls we are banging our heads and concussing them endlessly, over and over again. We have to stop being stupid!! We have allowed this situation to devolve more and more. We have allowed those who wield the sabers to slice off the nose of humanity to spite its face. Not good, not good at all. So whatcha' gonna do about this? Hell, I am trying to keep mine attached and perhaps if we all tried to do that, perhaps, just perhaps, we might save the face and the future of humanity.
So why are we beginning - no, cancel that - so deep into this harmful behavior? Why have our supposed leaders forgotten how to deal and talk, to compromise and to put the benefits of bipartisanship before personal desires? Perhaps it is because we have become a nation of selfish toddlers, forgotten what it means to be an 'adult', and concentrated only on whatever 'baba' we wanted and just had to have, never mind the consequences.
So for two years the biggest toddler ever controlled the whole entire government. He had two years during which he could have passed funding for that stupid and needless wall, but did not take advantage of that time. Nope, instead he and his minions, dashed the hopes and dreams of so many, adding to the nation's debt, as he cut taxes for the wealthy and that money, for the most part, did not return to the economy, to the States, but remained in the coffers of companies. He tried to totally take down the ACA and thankfully did not succeed, though he did damage this health hope for so many.
The worst offenders in the noses and faces games are those who strangely enough fought against the very programs they needed, the very programs which helped fight opioid addiction in rural areas - white areas! - that helped small time farmers, small businessmen, provided free and reduced fee lunches and not only in the inner cities as many would like you to believe and we could go on and list many more programs, including food stamps, unemployment benefits, retraining programs, but the point is made. Those who were led mindlessly down the 'smaller government' road, well, there went those noses, piling up on the sides of the road, on this long path to self destruction. It seems that some people never learn.
So the Demented One threatens that he can shut down the government again.. He already owns the first one which, by the way, got him nowhere other than lower in the polls, and the originator of panic and desperation into the homes of so many - and by the way, this persists, for deadlines have passed and they could not be met due to lack of government. We were this close to shutting down the entire economy of the country and think of the global consequences if this had happened. And I do not blame the traffic controllers or anyone other than that orange man sitting there watching TV with a gaping mouth and hands crossed against his chest, his go to pose of antagonism, a constant antagonism.
And what are we teaching our young when the contempt so many hold for this man spills over into everyday life? What do you think these kids will grow up to believe? Will they even trust anyone ever again and have we just begun to raise kids even more selfish and shortsighted than the Me generation? Noses and faces, and we never seem to learn a lesson, do we?
Allies are arguing, enemies are buzzing each other, playing chicken on the high seas, playing chess with the lives of people they claim as 'spies' and hold them hostage against the return of some of their arrested for truly spying. There is no safety anymore, and the American passport which once meant so much and provided protection for the traveler, well, that was the past, when our noses were still attached to our faces!
The Middle East is in the midst of the hottest time ever, and I do not mean the weather, though that is another whole story, another whole group of noses that have been cutoff round the world for the temporary benefit of the few, the oligarchs of society, while the rest of us suffer, even unto the point of existence. But the bullets and the rockets and the missiles go on in that heated up territory, the mouths open and spew hatred, and people's lives are worth nothing on both sides of the issue. Why anyone would expect the situation to improve is beyond me, for without those very same noses that we have sliced off we cannot smell the coffee, smell the rising stench of death and bloodshed and instead see only the damaged visions of hatred and selfishness, the calculated use of the little people by their selfish leaders.
Instead of banging our noses into the walls we are banging our heads and concussing them endlessly, over and over again. We have to stop being stupid!! We have allowed this situation to devolve more and more. We have allowed those who wield the sabers to slice off the nose of humanity to spite its face. Not good, not good at all. So whatcha' gonna do about this? Hell, I am trying to keep mine attached and perhaps if we all tried to do that, perhaps, just perhaps, we might save the face and the future of humanity.
Friday, January 25, 2019
AS THE HEART GROWS DARKER
Or should the title be a version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness? Whichever way one chooses, the darkness is there, ever growing, shutting out the light and where are we? We are apparently standing there hopeless and helpless. Last night I took a last minute look at the latest news and read of that damned man's plans for a National Emergency plan. This, for an emergency that was never there until forced upon us, foisted upon us due to cruel and prejudiced actions and now the plan is to just about cut out the heart of the country.
There is NO national emergency other than the one over a million people are facing. 800,000 federal employees, add to that the number of their dependents, and then add to that the concentric circles forming as their money fails to enter the economy as stores go broke for lack of customers, as people with heart look for ways to help those going without pay.
So the heart of the nation is being blackened by the behavior and the rants of one Demented toddler stuffed into an overgrown body and an undergrown brain in a soulless being. Is that sounding harsh to one's ears? Well, it should and Pelosi has it right when she said that as a mother of five and a grandmother of nine, she recognizes a tantrum when she sees one. Oh yes, she is 100% correct and that is a shame, a growing blot on our nation's heart. This is not a sane man.
The national emergency would have the President allowed to circumvent Congress, or in other words, make one branch of our government totally powerless, useless, and cutting out the heart of our democracy. A democracy is a state of being, a political state, wherein all are free to voice an opinion that does not advocate hatred or violence, thus allowing for a constantly changing shape. It allows for people to work together, to compromise, to find pathways to agreement and acceptance, but a national emergency says NO to all that. There are no other voices other than the President's and when that one voice is demented and heartless, soulless, then this is the heart of it all. This is the heart of darkness which is growing apace and eclipsing the true heart of democracy.
And all this leaves my heart sobbing, crying, wondering, in despair, if we are seeing the end of democracy in this country. When we have government officials, wealthy with money and fortune they have gained, many with dirty hands and hearts, when they state they can "feel" with the people but not understand why they are going to food pantries, well, where does one go from here? How much lower can this country's administration fall? De Vos broke some bones and she is in a wheelchair for a few months. Wonder if she had any trouble getting medical help? But I guess not for she is now covered forever under the gold plated plan of Congress. Forever!! How the hell can any one of these people, so concerned with their perks, made up or real, so concerned with their own needs and inflated egos, so far away from the reality of life for 99% of the population of the country, how can they understand a damn thing!!! And the answer is - they cannot and worse, they could care less.
The whole heart of our country is tainted, growing diseased tissue even as it continues to shut down. Nasty stuff going on. How is it that over 30 people, including Kushner, were denied clearance for security reasons and yet they were all overruled by guess who? How is that possible? It sends the worst message ever as we now work with a government of overinflated egos, less than normal understanding of humanity, and incompetent administrators.
I shudder to think of the ever growing possibility of this country making real the sounds of battle rumbling just over the horizon, even as the doomsday clock is moved up to two minutes before midnight. I shudder to think of the smell of smoke, of the deafening cries and screams of the wounded, the beyond repair abyss that rips through the heart of this nation and we become what, several ministates?! What are we doing? What are we allowing to happen? Why are we allowing this man with full blown dementia and overgrown ego to ruin our country, to take it down, to literally destroy the heart of it all. And make no mistake about it - that is his aim, to control the country, to shut down any opposition, to rule as the dictators he so admires.
I have never been more frightened than I am now for the future of this country, of the world, of the future for our kids. The heart grows darker, the visions seen by the mind's eye grow darker, more corrupted, and we must ask ourselves what we have wrought here, what have we allowed and continue to allow? We will be the generation who destroyed the best hope for the world.
The heart is truly growing darker, dimmer, by almost every hour that passes by. Even the Dammit doll will not help here. Time, perhaps, for the people to rise up and shout out their opposition to this destruction of our democracy. Time for true democracy to work and if the people in office cannot understand this, then throw them out. Recall, indict, impeach, expel from office, remove for cause, for incompetence, for inability to carry out the job, for treason to the country and its people. Make them fear for their seats if they do not get to the true heart of it all and do the right things. Only then will we have a possibility of a future. Only then will we be able to restore the heart of it all. Only then will we be able to stave off the growing rot at the heart of it all.
There is NO national emergency other than the one over a million people are facing. 800,000 federal employees, add to that the number of their dependents, and then add to that the concentric circles forming as their money fails to enter the economy as stores go broke for lack of customers, as people with heart look for ways to help those going without pay.
So the heart of the nation is being blackened by the behavior and the rants of one Demented toddler stuffed into an overgrown body and an undergrown brain in a soulless being. Is that sounding harsh to one's ears? Well, it should and Pelosi has it right when she said that as a mother of five and a grandmother of nine, she recognizes a tantrum when she sees one. Oh yes, she is 100% correct and that is a shame, a growing blot on our nation's heart. This is not a sane man.
The national emergency would have the President allowed to circumvent Congress, or in other words, make one branch of our government totally powerless, useless, and cutting out the heart of our democracy. A democracy is a state of being, a political state, wherein all are free to voice an opinion that does not advocate hatred or violence, thus allowing for a constantly changing shape. It allows for people to work together, to compromise, to find pathways to agreement and acceptance, but a national emergency says NO to all that. There are no other voices other than the President's and when that one voice is demented and heartless, soulless, then this is the heart of it all. This is the heart of darkness which is growing apace and eclipsing the true heart of democracy.
And all this leaves my heart sobbing, crying, wondering, in despair, if we are seeing the end of democracy in this country. When we have government officials, wealthy with money and fortune they have gained, many with dirty hands and hearts, when they state they can "feel" with the people but not understand why they are going to food pantries, well, where does one go from here? How much lower can this country's administration fall? De Vos broke some bones and she is in a wheelchair for a few months. Wonder if she had any trouble getting medical help? But I guess not for she is now covered forever under the gold plated plan of Congress. Forever!! How the hell can any one of these people, so concerned with their perks, made up or real, so concerned with their own needs and inflated egos, so far away from the reality of life for 99% of the population of the country, how can they understand a damn thing!!! And the answer is - they cannot and worse, they could care less.
The whole heart of our country is tainted, growing diseased tissue even as it continues to shut down. Nasty stuff going on. How is it that over 30 people, including Kushner, were denied clearance for security reasons and yet they were all overruled by guess who? How is that possible? It sends the worst message ever as we now work with a government of overinflated egos, less than normal understanding of humanity, and incompetent administrators.
I shudder to think of the ever growing possibility of this country making real the sounds of battle rumbling just over the horizon, even as the doomsday clock is moved up to two minutes before midnight. I shudder to think of the smell of smoke, of the deafening cries and screams of the wounded, the beyond repair abyss that rips through the heart of this nation and we become what, several ministates?! What are we doing? What are we allowing to happen? Why are we allowing this man with full blown dementia and overgrown ego to ruin our country, to take it down, to literally destroy the heart of it all. And make no mistake about it - that is his aim, to control the country, to shut down any opposition, to rule as the dictators he so admires.
I have never been more frightened than I am now for the future of this country, of the world, of the future for our kids. The heart grows darker, the visions seen by the mind's eye grow darker, more corrupted, and we must ask ourselves what we have wrought here, what have we allowed and continue to allow? We will be the generation who destroyed the best hope for the world.
The heart is truly growing darker, dimmer, by almost every hour that passes by. Even the Dammit doll will not help here. Time, perhaps, for the people to rise up and shout out their opposition to this destruction of our democracy. Time for true democracy to work and if the people in office cannot understand this, then throw them out. Recall, indict, impeach, expel from office, remove for cause, for incompetence, for inability to carry out the job, for treason to the country and its people. Make them fear for their seats if they do not get to the true heart of it all and do the right things. Only then will we have a possibility of a future. Only then will we be able to restore the heart of it all. Only then will we be able to stave off the growing rot at the heart of it all.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
OUR COUNTRY
A popular singer sang plaintively about the damage and hurt that words do and cause. It seems that we have not yet learned or internalized that lesson. It is also particularly ironic when a purveyor of Trumpian version of hate now admits that he is somewhat outspoken and now turns to Bush and Obama to do something about the mess in this country. "It's a mess, and we need help." One cannot help but wonder what would have been if all these big mouth Trumpers would have kept their mouths shut, not spoken their words of hate or words of support for Trump. Easy to speak and not so easy to fix the damage.
The chief person here who violates all rules of civility is Trump himself. Perhaps he cannot help himself, in the throes of dementia. Perhaps he needs to listen to Prince William who speaks frankly about the need for mental help counsel and we need to be more open about it. Hear that, Donny boy? Hear it and listen.
But it seems that the country has grown big mouths of all types here. They boast of their misdeeds and poor traits. Kavanaugh boasts that he "likes beer". Trump violates all rules of civility and right every time he opens his mouth or puts his twitter finger into motion. Graham, who put forth the literally ugliest face I have ever seen during that Kavanaugh hearing, now emits further hate nonsense with his statement re Pelosi and her fixed and permanent position re the State of the Union Address.“She seems unreasonable, she seems to have a dislike for the president that is hurting the country, and this idea of not letting the president speak is really overplaying your hand.” She needs to invite Trump before he can speak and she refuses to. Well, good for her. Finally, someone who speaks up and stands up against his threats and words. I am with her all the way for it is time that we put an end to this terrible shutdown and stop our speeding path along the road to a horror beyond words. Revolution? Rioting in the streets? Parents and others breaking into stores and taking bread and food for their kids? People refusing to allow foreclosures as they guard their homes with rifles? Think, people, think. Trump calls Pelosi's stand a "horrible part of history", but the truth is that he is the horrible part of history, a giant misstep taken due to bad thinking and bad procedures and the help of Trump's best buddies - the Russians.
And there are others involved as well. Ocasio-Cortez voted no on the bill to reopen the government because it continued to fund ICE. It did not really affect anything because Trump would never sign it, but the point is clear. ICE has become increasingly hostile and aggressive in their everyday policies and overall policies. We do need a form of ICE, but it must be tamed, called back from its present stormtrooper mode and into a civilized and compassionate force. So how to end this conundrum? Get some normal people in there who are willing to compromise and who are not worried about their seat but about the country, whose very existential situation is being threatened.
And yet there are simple lights of hope. A gay man with a husband is running for President. Long shot, but in this atmosphere, who knows. Who ever thought an illiterate tax fraud, bankrupt, morally deficient person would get to be President? We have more women than ever running for that same office and I like Kamala Harris and Amy Globuchar. Think the country is ready for a female double ticket? Why not, for the rest of the world's countries have long ago had women leaders. Only here do we seem to have that problem. We have people who speak out , like Cher, who has a transgender son who refuses to allow the degenerate terms and decisions of Trump to stand unopposed. We even have a man who has an alligator for an emotional support animal. One born every day!
Seriously, time to take back our country. From Trump and his minions. From the violent. From the haters. From the greedy and the corrupt. From the unqualified. From the pit into which it has fallen, dragging us all along with it.
This is OUR country and not the country of extremists and liars and selfish people. OUR country. Let us all examine our hearts and souls and find the proper path. If we do not.....
The chief person here who violates all rules of civility is Trump himself. Perhaps he cannot help himself, in the throes of dementia. Perhaps he needs to listen to Prince William who speaks frankly about the need for mental help counsel and we need to be more open about it. Hear that, Donny boy? Hear it and listen.
But it seems that the country has grown big mouths of all types here. They boast of their misdeeds and poor traits. Kavanaugh boasts that he "likes beer". Trump violates all rules of civility and right every time he opens his mouth or puts his twitter finger into motion. Graham, who put forth the literally ugliest face I have ever seen during that Kavanaugh hearing, now emits further hate nonsense with his statement re Pelosi and her fixed and permanent position re the State of the Union Address.“She seems unreasonable, she seems to have a dislike for the president that is hurting the country, and this idea of not letting the president speak is really overplaying your hand.” She needs to invite Trump before he can speak and she refuses to. Well, good for her. Finally, someone who speaks up and stands up against his threats and words. I am with her all the way for it is time that we put an end to this terrible shutdown and stop our speeding path along the road to a horror beyond words. Revolution? Rioting in the streets? Parents and others breaking into stores and taking bread and food for their kids? People refusing to allow foreclosures as they guard their homes with rifles? Think, people, think. Trump calls Pelosi's stand a "horrible part of history", but the truth is that he is the horrible part of history, a giant misstep taken due to bad thinking and bad procedures and the help of Trump's best buddies - the Russians.
And there are others involved as well. Ocasio-Cortez voted no on the bill to reopen the government because it continued to fund ICE. It did not really affect anything because Trump would never sign it, but the point is clear. ICE has become increasingly hostile and aggressive in their everyday policies and overall policies. We do need a form of ICE, but it must be tamed, called back from its present stormtrooper mode and into a civilized and compassionate force. So how to end this conundrum? Get some normal people in there who are willing to compromise and who are not worried about their seat but about the country, whose very existential situation is being threatened.
And yet there are simple lights of hope. A gay man with a husband is running for President. Long shot, but in this atmosphere, who knows. Who ever thought an illiterate tax fraud, bankrupt, morally deficient person would get to be President? We have more women than ever running for that same office and I like Kamala Harris and Amy Globuchar. Think the country is ready for a female double ticket? Why not, for the rest of the world's countries have long ago had women leaders. Only here do we seem to have that problem. We have people who speak out , like Cher, who has a transgender son who refuses to allow the degenerate terms and decisions of Trump to stand unopposed. We even have a man who has an alligator for an emotional support animal. One born every day!
Seriously, time to take back our country. From Trump and his minions. From the violent. From the haters. From the greedy and the corrupt. From the unqualified. From the pit into which it has fallen, dragging us all along with it.
This is OUR country and not the country of extremists and liars and selfish people. OUR country. Let us all examine our hearts and souls and find the proper path. If we do not.....
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
AS THE COOKIE CRUMBLES
Well, this particular cookie is crumbling fast and the chips and bits and pieces are pretty damn stale. It feels as if there is not one cook in the kitchen ready, able and willing to do the right thing and follow the recipes for achievement and success. Rather, it seems as if we have a person or persons who like to screw up recipes and then stand by watching, with not an ounce of understanding of the trouble they have caused and will continue to cause. And this goes for both sides in the current atmosphere of politics.
One child of 29 claims to know the date of the end of the world - in 12 years. Yes, if we continue on this road then we are doomed in many ways, the UN had a report which spoke or warned of dire world disasters by 2030 if we continue on the present path, but no, while the world as we know it will be drastically different it will not blow up or disappear or even end. Sometimes things are better left to more experienced tongues rather than allowing the enthusiasm of youth to make dumb and rather irritating comments and pronouncements.
However, that does not change the fact that, as Kerry stated, "People will die because of the President's decision, and billions of dollars of damage will be done to property." . That is a much better statement, more compatible for people to accept and understand and perhaps move them to do something about it. and in the meanwhile, the cookie continues to crumble.
Parley, bargaining, mutual recognition that they are serving the people of the country and NOT, most emphatically NOT serving the President - such as he is - of the country - this is not happening. The cookie continues to crumble as people help the crumbling along, accusing each side of damages. In the meanwhile, the cookie of government in daily aspects of life crumbles apace as the federal workers on furlough or working without pay in their apparently indentured servitude call in sick more and more. It is anyone's guess as to how long this can continue.
According to one who knows, this is the Trumpian mode of negotiation: “It’s a Trumpian way of negotiating,” longtime friend Larry Kudlow told a radio interviewer last year before joining the White House. “You knock them in the teeth and get their attention. And then you kind of work out a deal.” . But this does not work here as the Democrats call this hostage taking. One does not create a crisis, a fake one, then blackmail the opposing interests into agreeing to one's demands on another issue before tackling the manmade crisis. It does not work here and truly, it did not work for the Demented One in business as he went broke or bankrupt time and time again, welched on contracts and stiffed contractors. Sound familiar? This is exactly what he is doing now, even as that cookie continues to crumble and as the larger pieces themselves crumble further.
Once honored and respected figures, even heroic figures, have themselves crumbled as they are mixed into the recipes. Giuliani apparently has lost his mind and now has more feet in his mouth than one ever thought possible, Sanders continues to lie apace, McConnell follows his weak chin into backrooms and hideaways, refusing to acknowledge that the cookie known as the United States of America is crumbling, fast, and ever faster. Lord help us!
Our own intelligence warns us that Russia and China are taking advantage of the vacuum we have left - a truly duh! piece, for anyone with any brains realized that would happen and thus, that leaves our Demented One out of the loop!
Groups of our citizens rail against each other and the young are empowered by the adults behaving in such a crude manner and they themselves opt for the crude, the nasty, the rude and their behavior only helps that crumbling along.
What to do? Fire the chef, the incompetent one, teach the new one the proper ways and manners of life, bring back the cookie in the shape of the United States of America as it once was, and have us all remember that bites of the cookie must be thoughtful, careful and mindful that they will need to be replaced somewhere along the line. See, with care, there will be enough of the cookie to go around, be sufficient for all, but hell, we do need better kitchen help! Now!
One child of 29 claims to know the date of the end of the world - in 12 years. Yes, if we continue on this road then we are doomed in many ways, the UN had a report which spoke or warned of dire world disasters by 2030 if we continue on the present path, but no, while the world as we know it will be drastically different it will not blow up or disappear or even end. Sometimes things are better left to more experienced tongues rather than allowing the enthusiasm of youth to make dumb and rather irritating comments and pronouncements.
However, that does not change the fact that, as Kerry stated, "People will die because of the President's decision, and billions of dollars of damage will be done to property." . That is a much better statement, more compatible for people to accept and understand and perhaps move them to do something about it. and in the meanwhile, the cookie continues to crumble.
Parley, bargaining, mutual recognition that they are serving the people of the country and NOT, most emphatically NOT serving the President - such as he is - of the country - this is not happening. The cookie continues to crumble as people help the crumbling along, accusing each side of damages. In the meanwhile, the cookie of government in daily aspects of life crumbles apace as the federal workers on furlough or working without pay in their apparently indentured servitude call in sick more and more. It is anyone's guess as to how long this can continue.
According to one who knows, this is the Trumpian mode of negotiation: “It’s a Trumpian way of negotiating,” longtime friend Larry Kudlow told a radio interviewer last year before joining the White House. “You knock them in the teeth and get their attention. And then you kind of work out a deal.” . But this does not work here as the Democrats call this hostage taking. One does not create a crisis, a fake one, then blackmail the opposing interests into agreeing to one's demands on another issue before tackling the manmade crisis. It does not work here and truly, it did not work for the Demented One in business as he went broke or bankrupt time and time again, welched on contracts and stiffed contractors. Sound familiar? This is exactly what he is doing now, even as that cookie continues to crumble and as the larger pieces themselves crumble further.
Once honored and respected figures, even heroic figures, have themselves crumbled as they are mixed into the recipes. Giuliani apparently has lost his mind and now has more feet in his mouth than one ever thought possible, Sanders continues to lie apace, McConnell follows his weak chin into backrooms and hideaways, refusing to acknowledge that the cookie known as the United States of America is crumbling, fast, and ever faster. Lord help us!
Our own intelligence warns us that Russia and China are taking advantage of the vacuum we have left - a truly duh! piece, for anyone with any brains realized that would happen and thus, that leaves our Demented One out of the loop!
Groups of our citizens rail against each other and the young are empowered by the adults behaving in such a crude manner and they themselves opt for the crude, the nasty, the rude and their behavior only helps that crumbling along.
What to do? Fire the chef, the incompetent one, teach the new one the proper ways and manners of life, bring back the cookie in the shape of the United States of America as it once was, and have us all remember that bites of the cookie must be thoughtful, careful and mindful that they will need to be replaced somewhere along the line. See, with care, there will be enough of the cookie to go around, be sufficient for all, but hell, we do need better kitchen help! Now!
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF ........
G-d? Civil service? Living in America? Luck of the draw? Take your choice, but there for the grace of anything you wish to count, I am covered for much of my medical costs. Yet the part that is not covered amounts to quite a large amount, staggering when added up for taxes or simply for the satisfaction of one's soul and mind!
One of the worst things the Republicans have done is to sabotage the ACA. It covered people who had never been covered before, who never had the treatment needed to prevent even worse things and taught the young that bodies can turn on a dime, suddenly destroying one's life and plans and certainly bank account! A simple overnite in a hospital can run to thousands of dollars and that is only the beginning.
So why the anger from the Trumpers? Simple. They screamed about big government costs, never thinking ahead with their tiny warped minds that an ounce of prevention - well you know the rest. In addition, the costs are horrendous for the uninsured and guess who has to pay through the nose for that? So that whole argument is a crock!
Besides, these congressmen voting for no ACA are pretty damn selfish and smug because they have a gold plated health care plan that covers them for life even as they get their huge pensions for life along with myriad other 'blessings'. And as for the rest of us, the rest of their constituents out there in flyover country, the small time farmers losing grants, losing workers to harvest their crops, who are physically strained and aching, who could not get insurance as they and many others with a pre existing condition were denied coverage - well, who screwed them royal now!!
Truth time. If not for Medicare and the insurance coverage we had and have, it is simple indeed. I. Would. Be. Dead. Yes, we all eventually reach that point, but perhaps with proper medical care people would live longer, share joys of family life longer, have a possibility of contributing to society longer, simply be allowed to function longer despite the fact that they might not have the money for private rip off plans that cost a lot and cover basically nothing but perhaps the tenth sneeze in a row on the second Tuesday of the sixth week of the thirteenth month of the year. And that is only if you have full documentation!
Again, so why this shrieking and groaning and putting on of sackcloth when ACA is mentioned. Yes, perhaps some policies will cost a bit more but think of what is covered and then sign the damn check. Think of those who will benefit from increased and better health care as well as the increased benefit to the country as long term care costs will be cut and productivity will rise.
Perhaps if we concentrated on this, we would be less focused on the lies of Trump, of Giuliani, of the entire administration as we would have other things to be concerned about, such as the climate, the environment, the needs of people throughout the world and right here in America, better neighbor policies, inter global trading and commerce, knowledge sharing, a future for our kids and maybe just maybe, a finish to this rippling bigotry that is taking over the world again. Perhaps. But in the meanwhile, I have to figure out how a medicine I have been using suddenly was dropped from a formulary, never mind the fact that it was working better than any other prior medicine - and how am I to pay for it now? I have to add up the costs of physical rehab that will keep me going, the costs of peripheral treatments such as massage for muscles now quivering and refusing to obey orders due to the effects of PD? I have to try to understand the thinking of bureaucrats with golden plans who decide that my chronic condition which needs chronic help is simply not worth being covered. I do not mind having to watch the pennies and the dollars and be careful in my spending so I will have those pennies and dollars to pay for it myself. I will sacrifice meals out and new clothes and discretionary free spending but dang it all, a little more understanding of the needs of people with chronic conditions that will never be cured - at least not yet - but can be managed or somewhat delayed with proper and continuous treatment.
And remember, I am only one of millions who are in this situation or even worse. It is easy to say tsk tsk and tell people to suck it up - particularly if you or a loved one is lucky enough to be covered with your gold plan, but when it strikes you or yours, or coverage is removed due to the situation, well, then you might sing to another tune and do a different dance.
We have a humanitarian crisis, oh yes we do, but it is not the one that was ginned up by the orange man at the border even as the numbers were falling. If the people responsible for the planning and policies were actually to grow up and talk as adults should talk, we could find the energy and the ways to fix our health crisis, our education crisis, our ugly prejudice problem and become a healthier world in every aspect.
Wishful thinking? Unrealistic thinking? Perhaps. But necessary thinking? Oh, yes, indeed. This country has been a miracle from its Revolutionary War though the centuries and has stood for the right, for the constant march towards progress and justice. Why have we forsaken that now? Dammit - where is that doll now? Who was smacking it last? Got it! SLAM!!!!!
Could we not try to slam through a home run with proper legislation and mature Congressmen and women and a whole lot of growing up?
Sigh! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!
One of the worst things the Republicans have done is to sabotage the ACA. It covered people who had never been covered before, who never had the treatment needed to prevent even worse things and taught the young that bodies can turn on a dime, suddenly destroying one's life and plans and certainly bank account! A simple overnite in a hospital can run to thousands of dollars and that is only the beginning.
So why the anger from the Trumpers? Simple. They screamed about big government costs, never thinking ahead with their tiny warped minds that an ounce of prevention - well you know the rest. In addition, the costs are horrendous for the uninsured and guess who has to pay through the nose for that? So that whole argument is a crock!
Besides, these congressmen voting for no ACA are pretty damn selfish and smug because they have a gold plated health care plan that covers them for life even as they get their huge pensions for life along with myriad other 'blessings'. And as for the rest of us, the rest of their constituents out there in flyover country, the small time farmers losing grants, losing workers to harvest their crops, who are physically strained and aching, who could not get insurance as they and many others with a pre existing condition were denied coverage - well, who screwed them royal now!!
Truth time. If not for Medicare and the insurance coverage we had and have, it is simple indeed. I. Would. Be. Dead. Yes, we all eventually reach that point, but perhaps with proper medical care people would live longer, share joys of family life longer, have a possibility of contributing to society longer, simply be allowed to function longer despite the fact that they might not have the money for private rip off plans that cost a lot and cover basically nothing but perhaps the tenth sneeze in a row on the second Tuesday of the sixth week of the thirteenth month of the year. And that is only if you have full documentation!
Again, so why this shrieking and groaning and putting on of sackcloth when ACA is mentioned. Yes, perhaps some policies will cost a bit more but think of what is covered and then sign the damn check. Think of those who will benefit from increased and better health care as well as the increased benefit to the country as long term care costs will be cut and productivity will rise.
Perhaps if we concentrated on this, we would be less focused on the lies of Trump, of Giuliani, of the entire administration as we would have other things to be concerned about, such as the climate, the environment, the needs of people throughout the world and right here in America, better neighbor policies, inter global trading and commerce, knowledge sharing, a future for our kids and maybe just maybe, a finish to this rippling bigotry that is taking over the world again. Perhaps. But in the meanwhile, I have to figure out how a medicine I have been using suddenly was dropped from a formulary, never mind the fact that it was working better than any other prior medicine - and how am I to pay for it now? I have to add up the costs of physical rehab that will keep me going, the costs of peripheral treatments such as massage for muscles now quivering and refusing to obey orders due to the effects of PD? I have to try to understand the thinking of bureaucrats with golden plans who decide that my chronic condition which needs chronic help is simply not worth being covered. I do not mind having to watch the pennies and the dollars and be careful in my spending so I will have those pennies and dollars to pay for it myself. I will sacrifice meals out and new clothes and discretionary free spending but dang it all, a little more understanding of the needs of people with chronic conditions that will never be cured - at least not yet - but can be managed or somewhat delayed with proper and continuous treatment.
And remember, I am only one of millions who are in this situation or even worse. It is easy to say tsk tsk and tell people to suck it up - particularly if you or a loved one is lucky enough to be covered with your gold plan, but when it strikes you or yours, or coverage is removed due to the situation, well, then you might sing to another tune and do a different dance.
We have a humanitarian crisis, oh yes we do, but it is not the one that was ginned up by the orange man at the border even as the numbers were falling. If the people responsible for the planning and policies were actually to grow up and talk as adults should talk, we could find the energy and the ways to fix our health crisis, our education crisis, our ugly prejudice problem and become a healthier world in every aspect.
Wishful thinking? Unrealistic thinking? Perhaps. But necessary thinking? Oh, yes, indeed. This country has been a miracle from its Revolutionary War though the centuries and has stood for the right, for the constant march towards progress and justice. Why have we forsaken that now? Dammit - where is that doll now? Who was smacking it last? Got it! SLAM!!!!!
Could we not try to slam through a home run with proper legislation and mature Congressmen and women and a whole lot of growing up?
Sigh! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!
Monday, January 21, 2019
KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS
Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of State at the time, spoke about the "known unknowns and the unknown unknowns" and was keelhauled for it, but think about it.How much do we not know about the whole Trump mess and how much do we not even know we do not know. How much more garbage has this man created and just how low did he go in his dealings and behavior during his Presidency and the run up to it? For sure, there are so many things we do not know we do not know yet and the burning question is what will happen when these unknowns become knowns or at least revealed to us as something we had better find out more about? Confusing, yes, but in relationship to the confusions and chaos of this administration - not at all!
Yet another former Trumper writes of the 'chaos' of the White House. More information is revealed about the awful language and the disgusting insults the man uses. More information is revealed about Individual 1- Trump himself - and we continue to ask what we know and do not know and what do we not yet know what we still have to find? How much more dirt is there to this man and his accomplices. And make no mistake about it, they are accomplices, as much as any getaway car driver is complicit in the robbery or any one who aided and abetted a murderer in his godawful actions.
The current theory of government is chaos, increasing chaos, increasing lies and more mulish behavior than we have seen in a long time. And the lies! We evidently are "proving' that a smaller Federal government work force is what we need. Truly? What we have is slavery for all intents and purposes, even as the man calls more and more workers back from furlough to have them work for nothing - no pay and no clue as to when this will
end. Yet the man calls them great American patriots!! Insults to injury. They simply want to do a day's work for a day's pay and be able to keep the roof over their heads and food on the table for their kids. Honorable and righteous.
Those who go along with him are just as guilty of his crimes and misdemeanors and McConnell should be up there on the hot seat right along with his master, as he acts the dog to this man. Where has the honesty and pride in honor gone? Where has the morality gone? Where has the need to work together gone or at least the recognition that we need to do that. Instead we have public outings of hatred and bigotry and ridiculous threats and statements. We have the power of the original Women's March diluted due to rampant anti Semitism and lies. Why? It seems that to work cooperatively, to shame all bigotry, is not in the picture. Perhaps a few sessions watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers might teach them a few things that our kids learned at two!
And the hateful and dangerous drum of anti Semitism has sounded off more and more. A hateful op - ed piece in the Sunday Times took a walk down the new road. Proclaim one's support for the State of Israel and then go to war on it. Repeat every one sided argument ever heard on the matter. Refuse to write of the issue from the Israeli's side. Recognize that this is the one state in the world that will not toss out Jews, will not discriminate against them. Remind them that these supposed horrible lives of the Arab citizens are not true. Look at the houses they build, the cars they drive, how they shop freely in all centers of commerce in the country, how the hospitals and pharmacies, stores and offices are filled with Arab citizens and no one makes a difference or cares.
Why is it that the world plays dumb to the fact, the historical fact, that anti Semitism is used as a blind to all that is wrong and going on, that it is the prelude to hatred of other groups deemed weaker or less worthy of being called humans?Why? I cannot give an answer to that any more than I can give an answer to the question of why we allowed an ignorant, hateful and illiterate demented soul to take the White House from the people of this country.
These knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns will take us down an ugly trail. We need to take a different path and close off that miserable trail for good. Slamming that Dammit doll can only do so much, relieve only so much anger. The man who says now that the Democrats asked for a see through steel wall - can that actually be - and yet who refuse security - again not so - this man has got to go. Choose any of a number of legal pathways towards that goal or we will face a battle for this, and I do not mean one in court! We laugh at this man, but he is dangerous. That is a known fact. Let us work to get him gone and soon and insure that Pence understands the temperature of the country and indeed, even the world.
Yet another former Trumper writes of the 'chaos' of the White House. More information is revealed about the awful language and the disgusting insults the man uses. More information is revealed about Individual 1- Trump himself - and we continue to ask what we know and do not know and what do we not yet know what we still have to find? How much more dirt is there to this man and his accomplices. And make no mistake about it, they are accomplices, as much as any getaway car driver is complicit in the robbery or any one who aided and abetted a murderer in his godawful actions.
The current theory of government is chaos, increasing chaos, increasing lies and more mulish behavior than we have seen in a long time. And the lies! We evidently are "proving' that a smaller Federal government work force is what we need. Truly? What we have is slavery for all intents and purposes, even as the man calls more and more workers back from furlough to have them work for nothing - no pay and no clue as to when this will
end. Yet the man calls them great American patriots!! Insults to injury. They simply want to do a day's work for a day's pay and be able to keep the roof over their heads and food on the table for their kids. Honorable and righteous.
Those who go along with him are just as guilty of his crimes and misdemeanors and McConnell should be up there on the hot seat right along with his master, as he acts the dog to this man. Where has the honesty and pride in honor gone? Where has the morality gone? Where has the need to work together gone or at least the recognition that we need to do that. Instead we have public outings of hatred and bigotry and ridiculous threats and statements. We have the power of the original Women's March diluted due to rampant anti Semitism and lies. Why? It seems that to work cooperatively, to shame all bigotry, is not in the picture. Perhaps a few sessions watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers might teach them a few things that our kids learned at two!
And the hateful and dangerous drum of anti Semitism has sounded off more and more. A hateful op - ed piece in the Sunday Times took a walk down the new road. Proclaim one's support for the State of Israel and then go to war on it. Repeat every one sided argument ever heard on the matter. Refuse to write of the issue from the Israeli's side. Recognize that this is the one state in the world that will not toss out Jews, will not discriminate against them. Remind them that these supposed horrible lives of the Arab citizens are not true. Look at the houses they build, the cars they drive, how they shop freely in all centers of commerce in the country, how the hospitals and pharmacies, stores and offices are filled with Arab citizens and no one makes a difference or cares.
Why is it that the world plays dumb to the fact, the historical fact, that anti Semitism is used as a blind to all that is wrong and going on, that it is the prelude to hatred of other groups deemed weaker or less worthy of being called humans?Why? I cannot give an answer to that any more than I can give an answer to the question of why we allowed an ignorant, hateful and illiterate demented soul to take the White House from the people of this country.
These knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns will take us down an ugly trail. We need to take a different path and close off that miserable trail for good. Slamming that Dammit doll can only do so much, relieve only so much anger. The man who says now that the Democrats asked for a see through steel wall - can that actually be - and yet who refuse security - again not so - this man has got to go. Choose any of a number of legal pathways towards that goal or we will face a battle for this, and I do not mean one in court! We laugh at this man, but he is dangerous. That is a known fact. Let us work to get him gone and soon and insure that Pence understands the temperature of the country and indeed, even the world.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
I JUST DON'T GET IT
I just do not understand. I do not get it. When did it become not only accepted, but approved to diss someone in the most nasty way possible? When did it become okay to endanger others, to make them feel endangered, to disregard the rules of society as we should have been taught about how to behave? When was it declared okay to threaten, to physically challenge, to beat up, to do just about anything negative one can do in dealing with another? Where did polite and beneficial discourse go?
Last night we attended a super tribute show to Donna Summer done by her sister. Wow!!! It shined with love, with admiration, and with appreciation of Donna's talent and the challenges she faced and overcame during her life. Compare that to the six siblings of a candidate for office who begged others not to vote for him due to his racism and bigotry. Siblings all, drawn to do the right thing, but one would not lead to peace and harmony, though correct in their urgings.
In a truly ironic and dangerous and significant event, Catholic school students who were at a rally anti choice, teenage boys in MAGA hats and one especially nasty kid who stood there with a smirk on his face right in the space of the Native American elder playing a traditional instrument and singing a song of peace. Huh!!! Is this what our religious schools are teaching us? Where was the protest from church officials? Why did these kids think this was okay? It is this behavior which puzzles me about the extremists in this movement. Protect a fetus against the needs of the pregnant woman, kill a doctor who performs abortions when necessary and also dispenses health aid and advice not connected to abortion but to women's health - so where is the right to life here? Where?
We have allowed the poison of hatred to go mainstream. It began with the racist objections to Obama. I could care less if one were opposed to him for that is an American right, but, a great big but, when did it become okay to challenge a person on his birth, on his supposed religion, on anything other than moral standards and political viewpoints? And this hatred continued with the stamp of approval of the President of the United States who himself was, or rather is, a pervert, a misogynist, a bigot, an incompetent and a person well on the way to total dementia. When did it become okay to run a government based on fear and intimidation? When?
The man creates a humanitarian crisis on the border and then demands blackmail funds to fix what he created and caused? His minions and accomplices go along with him and pretend that they are reasonable people? Truly? Why would the Congress allow that additional $5.7 billion for the same old garbage - a temporary stay on DACA expulsions, on protected immigrants and then what, after three years they get tossed to the wolves, families rent asunder, and lives destroyed along with the moral fiber and basis of our country? Why would any sane person accept this and why would any sane person advance this as a compromise. It is the same old crap. Only a demented one would advance it along with frightened and immoral cowardly accomplices.
Border agents are claiming they are only doing their jobs and following orders. Anyone get the chills on that one? Anyone get the chills when bigots and racists grab control of a women's movement and use it to push their hateful and awful anti Semitism, approving of the godawful statements of Farrakhan? When two women use their Palestinian and Moslem ties to push an anti Israel agenda in the Congress? When it took decades for the Republicans to accept the nastiness of Steve King but still, no censure, no shutting him out of his position and why not? Why not? What are they waiting for?
Perhaps they wish to join those boys intimidating elders and ironically enough, chanting that hateful and racially driven chant of "Build that wall!" Against whom - these Native Americans were here first, you idiots!! Building a wall should and would have kept you out!!!!! You and the poison you were taught by people who should have known better, you who also came from immigrants and so where would you be now if they had not been allowed in?
I just do not get it. When and why has it turned out to be okay with this nastiness? When did liars use fraud and lies to win office? Why do we allow an antiquated electoral system to have a lesser of the popular votes win office? And why are we allowing further acceptance and growth of this poison within our society?
You know what? I am getting that Dammit doll and doing what makes me release a tad of steam.
SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!
Would that it was as easy as that. If only.....
Last night we attended a super tribute show to Donna Summer done by her sister. Wow!!! It shined with love, with admiration, and with appreciation of Donna's talent and the challenges she faced and overcame during her life. Compare that to the six siblings of a candidate for office who begged others not to vote for him due to his racism and bigotry. Siblings all, drawn to do the right thing, but one would not lead to peace and harmony, though correct in their urgings.
In a truly ironic and dangerous and significant event, Catholic school students who were at a rally anti choice, teenage boys in MAGA hats and one especially nasty kid who stood there with a smirk on his face right in the space of the Native American elder playing a traditional instrument and singing a song of peace. Huh!!! Is this what our religious schools are teaching us? Where was the protest from church officials? Why did these kids think this was okay? It is this behavior which puzzles me about the extremists in this movement. Protect a fetus against the needs of the pregnant woman, kill a doctor who performs abortions when necessary and also dispenses health aid and advice not connected to abortion but to women's health - so where is the right to life here? Where?
We have allowed the poison of hatred to go mainstream. It began with the racist objections to Obama. I could care less if one were opposed to him for that is an American right, but, a great big but, when did it become okay to challenge a person on his birth, on his supposed religion, on anything other than moral standards and political viewpoints? And this hatred continued with the stamp of approval of the President of the United States who himself was, or rather is, a pervert, a misogynist, a bigot, an incompetent and a person well on the way to total dementia. When did it become okay to run a government based on fear and intimidation? When?
The man creates a humanitarian crisis on the border and then demands blackmail funds to fix what he created and caused? His minions and accomplices go along with him and pretend that they are reasonable people? Truly? Why would the Congress allow that additional $5.7 billion for the same old garbage - a temporary stay on DACA expulsions, on protected immigrants and then what, after three years they get tossed to the wolves, families rent asunder, and lives destroyed along with the moral fiber and basis of our country? Why would any sane person accept this and why would any sane person advance this as a compromise. It is the same old crap. Only a demented one would advance it along with frightened and immoral cowardly accomplices.
Border agents are claiming they are only doing their jobs and following orders. Anyone get the chills on that one? Anyone get the chills when bigots and racists grab control of a women's movement and use it to push their hateful and awful anti Semitism, approving of the godawful statements of Farrakhan? When two women use their Palestinian and Moslem ties to push an anti Israel agenda in the Congress? When it took decades for the Republicans to accept the nastiness of Steve King but still, no censure, no shutting him out of his position and why not? Why not? What are they waiting for?
Perhaps they wish to join those boys intimidating elders and ironically enough, chanting that hateful and racially driven chant of "Build that wall!" Against whom - these Native Americans were here first, you idiots!! Building a wall should and would have kept you out!!!!! You and the poison you were taught by people who should have known better, you who also came from immigrants and so where would you be now if they had not been allowed in?
I just do not get it. When and why has it turned out to be okay with this nastiness? When did liars use fraud and lies to win office? Why do we allow an antiquated electoral system to have a lesser of the popular votes win office? And why are we allowing further acceptance and growth of this poison within our society?
You know what? I am getting that Dammit doll and doing what makes me release a tad of steam.
SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!
Would that it was as easy as that. If only.....
Friday, January 18, 2019
WONDERING, AMAZED, AND WHAT?
I truly do not know whether I should laugh or cry or maybe just take up that dammit doll - and what a hit it made when I took it with me. The women each took it in turn and whacked it good! Aaaaahhhhh.
Yes, it was fun, but truly, I am in awe at the depth of the mesh entangled about this man and his accomplices, and yes, no cronies now, but accomplices, for they all got themselves caught up in it too. Could have walked away, could have said no, but nope, the temptation of that low hanging apple was just too much - power so close by and imagine what they could do with it.
So, an accounting of what took place yesterday. Trump roused the anger of both parties as he unilaterally canceled a flight for Pelosi, taking away a shared perk of Congressmen. Uh uh, Donny boy - this does not fly, will not fly, with them. But it is okay to fly Melania down here on Air Force One while workers and their families are going hungry? Bad move, dude. Giuliani went on TV with Cuomo and made a total ass of himself, worse than ever and admitted there, that all knew about the collusion except for Trump. Uh huh - believe that all knew, but so did Trump and it awaits another interview with poor old Rudy before he blurts out that truth and gives up trying to shield the rot at the very core of it all. Mnuchin refuses to testify, leaving yet another taste of wonder at this administration as they cling to lifeboats in their desperate times. And as for McConnell, he just continues to refuse to pass any bill in the Senate unless he knows for a fact that Trump, his lord and master, will sign it. Yup, totally ceding control of the legislative branch to the executive branch and we all know how he has made great strides in power grabbing of the judiciary. So one man, one Demented and Power Crazed Man, has singlehandedly begun the destruction of our country and worse, has conscripted willing draftees to help him in this goal. Wow!! Amazed at the lack of spines and minds in so many.
But all of the above is small stuff when compared to the report that there is PROOF that Trump suborned perjury by Cohen, ordered him to lie in the investigations. Wow indeed. This is obstruction; this is a crime and it is time to remind the man, charge him with a crime, that he is NOT above the law. He is not King in a monarchy and is subject to the laws of the country. Period. STOP. And return to beginning and then do what must be done.
The rats are turning on each other, as is normal. The excuses are being shot down. The alleged criminals here are feeling the hot breath of the law on their necks and Trump is wondering if his appointee, Barr, will fall under his spell or not. I know what he said in the hearings, but Trump's appointees have all lied through their teeth with their forked tongues so what will this one do? Your guess is as good as mine.
If all the above is not enough, now we find that there were thousands more kids separated from parents as announced before and now they are moving the remaining kids - and there are plenty - to another rotten facility with no state oversight, so no checks on welfare, on medical conditions, on proper housing and food, on education. Nope, just army barracks and straight lines like convicts and armed and guarded gates. But what the hey, huh? These are all brown kids so who really cares is the thinking of their putrid minds. Well, I do, and so do many others, all those who realize that this behavior does not have an ending, its tentacles oozing the hate and the nastiness to all.
And now what? What do we do with this amazing and filthy and disturbing saga? Will we ever see the light of day or will the sky over our country continue to darken? What we need to do is prosecute and go all the way, right through all the nasty layers until we clean up this corrupted government and then make sure this cannot happen again. Ever. At least here, in our country. If we back away from the hard choices, well, it will not be pleasant. Neither will the right way, either, but at least it will have accomplished something good at the end of it all. Hey, I can only slam that Dammit Doll so many times before the arm gives out. Slam and slam and slam - yes, but we need action now from all those moral cowards. Will we get it? Only the Shadow knows for sure.
Yes, it was fun, but truly, I am in awe at the depth of the mesh entangled about this man and his accomplices, and yes, no cronies now, but accomplices, for they all got themselves caught up in it too. Could have walked away, could have said no, but nope, the temptation of that low hanging apple was just too much - power so close by and imagine what they could do with it.
So, an accounting of what took place yesterday. Trump roused the anger of both parties as he unilaterally canceled a flight for Pelosi, taking away a shared perk of Congressmen. Uh uh, Donny boy - this does not fly, will not fly, with them. But it is okay to fly Melania down here on Air Force One while workers and their families are going hungry? Bad move, dude. Giuliani went on TV with Cuomo and made a total ass of himself, worse than ever and admitted there, that all knew about the collusion except for Trump. Uh huh - believe that all knew, but so did Trump and it awaits another interview with poor old Rudy before he blurts out that truth and gives up trying to shield the rot at the very core of it all. Mnuchin refuses to testify, leaving yet another taste of wonder at this administration as they cling to lifeboats in their desperate times. And as for McConnell, he just continues to refuse to pass any bill in the Senate unless he knows for a fact that Trump, his lord and master, will sign it. Yup, totally ceding control of the legislative branch to the executive branch and we all know how he has made great strides in power grabbing of the judiciary. So one man, one Demented and Power Crazed Man, has singlehandedly begun the destruction of our country and worse, has conscripted willing draftees to help him in this goal. Wow!! Amazed at the lack of spines and minds in so many.
But all of the above is small stuff when compared to the report that there is PROOF that Trump suborned perjury by Cohen, ordered him to lie in the investigations. Wow indeed. This is obstruction; this is a crime and it is time to remind the man, charge him with a crime, that he is NOT above the law. He is not King in a monarchy and is subject to the laws of the country. Period. STOP. And return to beginning and then do what must be done.
The rats are turning on each other, as is normal. The excuses are being shot down. The alleged criminals here are feeling the hot breath of the law on their necks and Trump is wondering if his appointee, Barr, will fall under his spell or not. I know what he said in the hearings, but Trump's appointees have all lied through their teeth with their forked tongues so what will this one do? Your guess is as good as mine.
If all the above is not enough, now we find that there were thousands more kids separated from parents as announced before and now they are moving the remaining kids - and there are plenty - to another rotten facility with no state oversight, so no checks on welfare, on medical conditions, on proper housing and food, on education. Nope, just army barracks and straight lines like convicts and armed and guarded gates. But what the hey, huh? These are all brown kids so who really cares is the thinking of their putrid minds. Well, I do, and so do many others, all those who realize that this behavior does not have an ending, its tentacles oozing the hate and the nastiness to all.
And now what? What do we do with this amazing and filthy and disturbing saga? Will we ever see the light of day or will the sky over our country continue to darken? What we need to do is prosecute and go all the way, right through all the nasty layers until we clean up this corrupted government and then make sure this cannot happen again. Ever. At least here, in our country. If we back away from the hard choices, well, it will not be pleasant. Neither will the right way, either, but at least it will have accomplished something good at the end of it all. Hey, I can only slam that Dammit Doll so many times before the arm gives out. Slam and slam and slam - yes, but we need action now from all those moral cowards. Will we get it? Only the Shadow knows for sure.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
DAMMIT DOLLS
Just received a great gift from family visitors - a dammit doll, a great substitute for frustration and upset. It has orange skin, weird hair, wears a dark suit and a red tie, so...… Uh huh it is exactly that and so much fun when one is frustrated at yet another idiocy foisted upon us by the Chief Idiot. Pick up the doll, shout dammit and slam it down. Repeat as needed. Ahhhhhhh.
Would that it truly is that easy to get rid of all this frustration, anger, despair and concern. The man is obviously - hopefully - melting down in private even as he continues his war on the country as he throws his dangerous tantrum for his ridiculous wall. Dammit! Slam! Slam again.
His ridiculous party, once known as the Republican Party, the distinguished party of Lincoln and now the stooge party, is trying, at least some of them, to regain some sanity and some spine, but they are still a long way away from where we need them to be. Now we have the Simon Legree of the government ordering workers back to work, but no pay. So.....slavery. Never mind that now they are told they will be getting backpay. They need the money now. So does the economy. So do their kids. Promises, promises, but in the meanwhile we have reality.
I truly hate extremism on any side, but it behooves us to listen to words of truth when they are stated forthrightly. I disagree with much of what Ocasio - Rodriguez puts forth, but out of the mouth of babes: "It is actually not about a wall, it is not about the border, and it is certainly not about the well-being of everyday Americans," the congresswoman said. "The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms."
The man is a dammit magnet. Slam!!! And while it is a lot of fun watching the Dark Force meltdown, as we watch them turn to books and blame everyone else but themselves, as they try to relieve Trump of responsibility, the poor man, so put upon by all his lousy folks that he handpicks!
"President Donald Trump employs a "revolving door of deeply flawed individuals — amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons — who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia," Christie, who was a senior adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, says" . Slam!!!!!
We have soldiers being killed by bombs in a land where we have supposedly beaten ISIS. Uh huh. So says Trump. So says the Devil's Spawn, Pence. Hey, anyone have a doll that resembles him? Could be useful. If the Pinocchio nose were true to its supposed words, all in this administration and all who support him would be walking around with noses double the size of Cyrano! Think of that sight!
Meanwhile, the world and our country go careening down the path of fate, of stupidity, of danger. And not looking forward to the speech of the Demented One on Jan. 29, as he uses yet another opportunity- which should not be - to push his asinine program and his dangerous goals, even as he continues to push into the role of the judiciary with appointments of racists and bigots, of incompetent and unprincipled people and how he is gloating about Ruth Bader Ginsburg! Dang it. I would carry her around myself for that woman is our last hope for any sanity to prevail over the next four decades. Pray for her health, her stamina, her determination and let us hope she outlasts that man. Slam!!!
People, we are living in a dangerous time, a time of true existential danger to our country, to our democracy. It behooves all of us to push the truth and condemn the lies and the liars, the moral cowards. Over a decade for the Republicans to finally mention Steve King and his ugliness of the soul. But for the recent election, they supported him whole hog. Go ask McConnell why he did that. As for me, I know the answer. They are soulless and cruel people, selling all and everything down the river all so as to maintain power - which they cede anyway to the Demented One. These are not great stewards for the country, for the people. Not at all.
DAMMIT! SLAM!!! SLAM!!!!! SLAM!!!!
Would that it truly is that easy to get rid of all this frustration, anger, despair and concern. The man is obviously - hopefully - melting down in private even as he continues his war on the country as he throws his dangerous tantrum for his ridiculous wall. Dammit! Slam! Slam again.
His ridiculous party, once known as the Republican Party, the distinguished party of Lincoln and now the stooge party, is trying, at least some of them, to regain some sanity and some spine, but they are still a long way away from where we need them to be. Now we have the Simon Legree of the government ordering workers back to work, but no pay. So.....slavery. Never mind that now they are told they will be getting backpay. They need the money now. So does the economy. So do their kids. Promises, promises, but in the meanwhile we have reality.
I truly hate extremism on any side, but it behooves us to listen to words of truth when they are stated forthrightly. I disagree with much of what Ocasio - Rodriguez puts forth, but out of the mouth of babes: "It is actually not about a wall, it is not about the border, and it is certainly not about the well-being of everyday Americans," the congresswoman said. "The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms."
The man is a dammit magnet. Slam!!! And while it is a lot of fun watching the Dark Force meltdown, as we watch them turn to books and blame everyone else but themselves, as they try to relieve Trump of responsibility, the poor man, so put upon by all his lousy folks that he handpicks!
"President Donald Trump employs a "revolving door of deeply flawed individuals — amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons — who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia," Christie, who was a senior adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, says" . Slam!!!!!
We have soldiers being killed by bombs in a land where we have supposedly beaten ISIS. Uh huh. So says Trump. So says the Devil's Spawn, Pence. Hey, anyone have a doll that resembles him? Could be useful. If the Pinocchio nose were true to its supposed words, all in this administration and all who support him would be walking around with noses double the size of Cyrano! Think of that sight!
Meanwhile, the world and our country go careening down the path of fate, of stupidity, of danger. And not looking forward to the speech of the Demented One on Jan. 29, as he uses yet another opportunity- which should not be - to push his asinine program and his dangerous goals, even as he continues to push into the role of the judiciary with appointments of racists and bigots, of incompetent and unprincipled people and how he is gloating about Ruth Bader Ginsburg! Dang it. I would carry her around myself for that woman is our last hope for any sanity to prevail over the next four decades. Pray for her health, her stamina, her determination and let us hope she outlasts that man. Slam!!!
People, we are living in a dangerous time, a time of true existential danger to our country, to our democracy. It behooves all of us to push the truth and condemn the lies and the liars, the moral cowards. Over a decade for the Republicans to finally mention Steve King and his ugliness of the soul. But for the recent election, they supported him whole hog. Go ask McConnell why he did that. As for me, I know the answer. They are soulless and cruel people, selling all and everything down the river all so as to maintain power - which they cede anyway to the Demented One. These are not great stewards for the country, for the people. Not at all.
DAMMIT! SLAM!!! SLAM!!!!! SLAM!!!!
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
SNIFF, SNIFF ANYONE SMELL THAT?
The odor is beginning to overwhelm the people. Corruption, greed, selfishness, cronyism, nepotism, incompetence - all have happened before with administrations being afflicted with one or more of these issues. So what, then, is the big deal with all these things being present in the administration or whatever that passes for in DC? Well, first of all, it is that ALL these negative issues are present at one and the same time. Second, the intensity of these issues is to such a degree that nothing has come close to it.
Finally, or at least third, in today's blog posting, is the act that NEVER before in our history has the President , the sitting president, of the country, ever been accused of being a knowing or unknowing stooge for the Russians, selling out his ostensible homeland. The questions that arise are myriad in number, but chief among them is why? Why would someone so obviously sell out his country or allow it to be pulled right out from under him as he mimes being a leader?
But the odors come from other issues as well. How have we arrived at the point where we are inducing or supporting or allowing modern day slavery to a gross degree, never before seen in modern times, at least in this country. Yes, Orbach of Hungary wished to have employees forced to work 400 hours overtime with no compensatory pay. And here we are, right here in the good old USA, we have our own version. This nasty soul called Trump sits there with his typical pose of hands crossed over his chest, a pouting mouth and a dull face, and states that he can force federal employees to return to work - unpaid of course! Wow, his cake and eating it too. Keep the 'shutdown' even as staff is forced to return in a modern day slavery system. I would not fault these people if they all called in sick!
The question is why can they not sit down and work out a deal. Simple. There is no one to talk to there. McConnell has removed himself from the situation, wiping his hands clean of it, even as he and other would be negotiators, refuse to talk, or cannot find people with whom to talk, even as they get their pay. No worries for them!
So, yes, the fast food king of DC has asked them to lunch at the WH. Guess he is feeling lonely what with no one there. But the Democrats back out, refusing to sit down and break bread together and I do not blame them. This is on the ledge politics and if given in to, will be the go to method for the next two years - unless we get rid of the destructive moron first! So Dems have to stand pat, certainly so if the Republicans steadfastly refuse to pass anything that Trump will not sign. So who is ruling the roost? Who has given up on the Constitution and our system of government? Look for the elephant in the room, my friends. It is sitting right there.
How to deal with a possible traitor, demented, anti social, prejudiced person even as he is rending the country? Give him a CAT scan and prove his dementia and then remove him for cause. Prove in open court that he is a criminal, force him out via resignation, impeachment or Article 25. Prove he is a traitor, willingly or not, for if not willingly, he has just proven his lack of ability to perform his duties, the main one of which is to protect the country and its Constitution. If he cannot do that or does not want to do that, he must go. Now. And if it is indeed willingly then OMG!!!!!!!!!
If the Republicans would develop some backbone, some courage, some sense of morality, some sense of responsibility to their constituents, this crisis would be over. We could work together to solve this created immigration crisis. We could work on truth being the relevant part of conversations and not made up 'facts'. Sure, the late night hosts would have to find another topic, but I am sure they would happily do so, for the situation is becoming untenable.
So sniff away and realize the growing stench. Realize that this stench is corrupting the whole country, encouraging the wrong side of issues and the growth and outing of hatemongers. Words lead to daring to test those words and the opportunities that arise. That leads to worse and worse actions and deeds, and that leads to the burning of all things that espouse a differing opinion. And that leads to, as the saying goes, to burning people and unfortunately we have seen much of that already in violent deaths inflicted upon people that some consider to be 'others' and hence, worthy of being killed - no, in fact, deserve to be killed.
The overwhelming stink is that of the decomposition of our country, our honor, our principles, our very souls and minds. Are we willing to go along with this? Are you willing to go along with this? I hope not, but then the next question - where does that leave the country and its citizens? The stench of gunpowder is awfully evil in large doses and I prefer we avoid it. Can we? Can we avoid the civil war that so many are concerned about? We must. We must. We must.
Finally, or at least third, in today's blog posting, is the act that NEVER before in our history has the President , the sitting president, of the country, ever been accused of being a knowing or unknowing stooge for the Russians, selling out his ostensible homeland. The questions that arise are myriad in number, but chief among them is why? Why would someone so obviously sell out his country or allow it to be pulled right out from under him as he mimes being a leader?
But the odors come from other issues as well. How have we arrived at the point where we are inducing or supporting or allowing modern day slavery to a gross degree, never before seen in modern times, at least in this country. Yes, Orbach of Hungary wished to have employees forced to work 400 hours overtime with no compensatory pay. And here we are, right here in the good old USA, we have our own version. This nasty soul called Trump sits there with his typical pose of hands crossed over his chest, a pouting mouth and a dull face, and states that he can force federal employees to return to work - unpaid of course! Wow, his cake and eating it too. Keep the 'shutdown' even as staff is forced to return in a modern day slavery system. I would not fault these people if they all called in sick!
The question is why can they not sit down and work out a deal. Simple. There is no one to talk to there. McConnell has removed himself from the situation, wiping his hands clean of it, even as he and other would be negotiators, refuse to talk, or cannot find people with whom to talk, even as they get their pay. No worries for them!
So, yes, the fast food king of DC has asked them to lunch at the WH. Guess he is feeling lonely what with no one there. But the Democrats back out, refusing to sit down and break bread together and I do not blame them. This is on the ledge politics and if given in to, will be the go to method for the next two years - unless we get rid of the destructive moron first! So Dems have to stand pat, certainly so if the Republicans steadfastly refuse to pass anything that Trump will not sign. So who is ruling the roost? Who has given up on the Constitution and our system of government? Look for the elephant in the room, my friends. It is sitting right there.
How to deal with a possible traitor, demented, anti social, prejudiced person even as he is rending the country? Give him a CAT scan and prove his dementia and then remove him for cause. Prove in open court that he is a criminal, force him out via resignation, impeachment or Article 25. Prove he is a traitor, willingly or not, for if not willingly, he has just proven his lack of ability to perform his duties, the main one of which is to protect the country and its Constitution. If he cannot do that or does not want to do that, he must go. Now. And if it is indeed willingly then OMG!!!!!!!!!
If the Republicans would develop some backbone, some courage, some sense of morality, some sense of responsibility to their constituents, this crisis would be over. We could work together to solve this created immigration crisis. We could work on truth being the relevant part of conversations and not made up 'facts'. Sure, the late night hosts would have to find another topic, but I am sure they would happily do so, for the situation is becoming untenable.
So sniff away and realize the growing stench. Realize that this stench is corrupting the whole country, encouraging the wrong side of issues and the growth and outing of hatemongers. Words lead to daring to test those words and the opportunities that arise. That leads to worse and worse actions and deeds, and that leads to the burning of all things that espouse a differing opinion. And that leads to, as the saying goes, to burning people and unfortunately we have seen much of that already in violent deaths inflicted upon people that some consider to be 'others' and hence, worthy of being killed - no, in fact, deserve to be killed.
The overwhelming stink is that of the decomposition of our country, our honor, our principles, our very souls and minds. Are we willing to go along with this? Are you willing to go along with this? I hope not, but then the next question - where does that leave the country and its citizens? The stench of gunpowder is awfully evil in large doses and I prefer we avoid it. Can we? Can we avoid the civil war that so many are concerned about? We must. We must. We must.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
THE PRIMERO HOSTAGE TAKER
Now you wonder just who that might be, but do not wonder for long. Primero hostage taker lives right there in the White House. That is, when he is not reveling in his posh quarters at his privately owned clubs that receive pay from the government when he stays there. Emoluments, anyone? Did I just hear that word? That word, should in fact be ringing from the rafters, echoing through the airwaves of the country.
It all began, or at least openly began, when Trump International Hotel sent through a bill of 1.5 million dollars for his Inauguration. You know, the 'biggest' one ever! And this pattern continues until this very day every time he steps foot into one of his hotels or golf clubs, the gathering place of the fatcats who support this hostage taker.
So now the question - and the answer. He is holding the entire population of this country hostage to his insanity. You see it is not only - only - the 800,000 federal employees who have been affected. It is the ever growing set of ripples that grow from that stone thrown into the water. They cannot pay bills, hence leaving other people short of money to pay their bills. Merchants, utilities, banks, food stores, clothing vendors, entertainment arenas and you pick out any more you can think of. All of us right here in this country are hostage to the slime of this man, to his shameful behavior.
And it does not end there. We have affected overseas markets and countries. We have not followed the rules of our own making about the right to hear asylum requests and so we have added to the suffering of would be immigrants, you know, just like the grandfather of the greatest slime ever!
And the hostage taking does not stop with the bodies. Nope, for he has taken control of the very souls of members of the Trump party nee Republican Party. These people, once representatives for the people, now have lost their collective voice and most, their individual voice. Their tongues have apparently been put on hold as well as their morality. They worry about their reelection? Well, as the song goes, "Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait." Payback's a b****, or so they say. Six polls revealed that the majority of Americans blame Trump et al for the shutdown - and the number is growing - and the majority of Americans do NOT want that damned wall.
We are now being held hostage to people who endorse immoral and dishonest behavior, who put their wallets and egos way before the needs and the rights of their constituents. Fancy cars and furniture, bedecked security people, profit taking from their supposed areas of responsibility, and the dregs of their past lives that come to the surface, the most recent one being that of Mulvaney and his court battle over money he has not paid back. Great financial adviser that one!
We can know the path of the hostage taker simply by following the sludge and the slime left behind. Prejudice deemed acceptable and not, the recent denunciation of Steve King, the proponent of white supremacism, is not the answer to it all. The question remains why he was even allowed to represent the Party and why it took so long for the condemnations and ,in fact, why not condemn the white supremacist who has encouraged and allowed this filth to flourish - Trump - who finds "nice" people on that side too!!
The rise of violence and hatred on one side only encourages intransigence on the other. I do not believe in the right of anyone to claim superiority over another. Not a white supremacist. Not a black supremacist. Not a Moslem supremacist. No one! Hey, when the climate goes haywire beyond any point of return, all are affected, even the fatcats, for there will be no running. The results from this unbelievable question that should never ever have arisen - is the President of the United States a puppet, knowingly or unwittingly (especially as the man has few remaining grey cells ) a stooge for the Russians? Circumstances and facts seem to say yes, as when we now hear of his idea to drop out of NATO!! Putin must have been dancing bare chested celebrating that idea!
We are all held hostage to the uncertainty of life, the hazards of life that we are now exposed to, the cruelty to life, the growing hatred and the growing loss of morality in public life. And the head of the kidnappers is the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Cesspool of DC.
What is worse than ever and over all, is the amount of trash, hateful and hate filled trash, that is going around on the Net. It is the willful blindness of people who cannot see the approaching fog, the type that kills, the type that stifles humanity. I am truly sorry, but I cannot understand how anyone can still back that man, can ignore all the evidence, all the filth, his bad company of followers and tagalongs. For how long can one resist the truth, refuse to admit a grievous error? Evidently for a long time, unfortunately, and so we remain tightly bound as captives of the hostage taker and his minions.
Well, I, for one, and many others I know, want to go home, long for our home, wish to return to it and fix it up, repair the damages caused by this hostage taker. When will that be? When? Mueller - work faster. Uncover it all, expose it to the air and the sunlight, and let us replace this damaged country and ideals with the real one, the true principles, to our true position and role of responsibility in and for the world. May it happen soon. The sooner the better, and please, G-d, with no bloodshed or violence - an ever growing possibility.
It all began, or at least openly began, when Trump International Hotel sent through a bill of 1.5 million dollars for his Inauguration. You know, the 'biggest' one ever! And this pattern continues until this very day every time he steps foot into one of his hotels or golf clubs, the gathering place of the fatcats who support this hostage taker.
So now the question - and the answer. He is holding the entire population of this country hostage to his insanity. You see it is not only - only - the 800,000 federal employees who have been affected. It is the ever growing set of ripples that grow from that stone thrown into the water. They cannot pay bills, hence leaving other people short of money to pay their bills. Merchants, utilities, banks, food stores, clothing vendors, entertainment arenas and you pick out any more you can think of. All of us right here in this country are hostage to the slime of this man, to his shameful behavior.
And it does not end there. We have affected overseas markets and countries. We have not followed the rules of our own making about the right to hear asylum requests and so we have added to the suffering of would be immigrants, you know, just like the grandfather of the greatest slime ever!
And the hostage taking does not stop with the bodies. Nope, for he has taken control of the very souls of members of the Trump party nee Republican Party. These people, once representatives for the people, now have lost their collective voice and most, their individual voice. Their tongues have apparently been put on hold as well as their morality. They worry about their reelection? Well, as the song goes, "Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait." Payback's a b****, or so they say. Six polls revealed that the majority of Americans blame Trump et al for the shutdown - and the number is growing - and the majority of Americans do NOT want that damned wall.
We are now being held hostage to people who endorse immoral and dishonest behavior, who put their wallets and egos way before the needs and the rights of their constituents. Fancy cars and furniture, bedecked security people, profit taking from their supposed areas of responsibility, and the dregs of their past lives that come to the surface, the most recent one being that of Mulvaney and his court battle over money he has not paid back. Great financial adviser that one!
We can know the path of the hostage taker simply by following the sludge and the slime left behind. Prejudice deemed acceptable and not, the recent denunciation of Steve King, the proponent of white supremacism, is not the answer to it all. The question remains why he was even allowed to represent the Party and why it took so long for the condemnations and ,in fact, why not condemn the white supremacist who has encouraged and allowed this filth to flourish - Trump - who finds "nice" people on that side too!!
The rise of violence and hatred on one side only encourages intransigence on the other. I do not believe in the right of anyone to claim superiority over another. Not a white supremacist. Not a black supremacist. Not a Moslem supremacist. No one! Hey, when the climate goes haywire beyond any point of return, all are affected, even the fatcats, for there will be no running. The results from this unbelievable question that should never ever have arisen - is the President of the United States a puppet, knowingly or unwittingly (especially as the man has few remaining grey cells ) a stooge for the Russians? Circumstances and facts seem to say yes, as when we now hear of his idea to drop out of NATO!! Putin must have been dancing bare chested celebrating that idea!
We are all held hostage to the uncertainty of life, the hazards of life that we are now exposed to, the cruelty to life, the growing hatred and the growing loss of morality in public life. And the head of the kidnappers is the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Cesspool of DC.
What is worse than ever and over all, is the amount of trash, hateful and hate filled trash, that is going around on the Net. It is the willful blindness of people who cannot see the approaching fog, the type that kills, the type that stifles humanity. I am truly sorry, but I cannot understand how anyone can still back that man, can ignore all the evidence, all the filth, his bad company of followers and tagalongs. For how long can one resist the truth, refuse to admit a grievous error? Evidently for a long time, unfortunately, and so we remain tightly bound as captives of the hostage taker and his minions.
Well, I, for one, and many others I know, want to go home, long for our home, wish to return to it and fix it up, repair the damages caused by this hostage taker. When will that be? When? Mueller - work faster. Uncover it all, expose it to the air and the sunlight, and let us replace this damaged country and ideals with the real one, the true principles, to our true position and role of responsibility in and for the world. May it happen soon. The sooner the better, and please, G-d, with no bloodshed or violence - an ever growing possibility.
Monday, January 14, 2019
INCOMPETENCE? TREACHERY AND TREASON? NASTINESS? STUPIDITY?
One? The other? A combination? Whatever one thinks it is, it is definitely disgusting, an embarrassment to the country, to its people and in front of the world. When an investigation actually brings up a deepening concern that the president of the USA might actually be a traitor, a turncoat, a player for Russia, well, what is there left to say?
From the beginning there was a weird vibe between the two, Trump and Putin. It set off shivers down the backs of many knowledgeable people who wondered at this phenomenon. It sent shivers down the back of Pentagon officials who could not figure out this man and the moves he was making, so many that we are now in mutual threats with Russia, China, Korea, Iran and in ragged relationships with all our former allies. We are alone. We, the USA, now stands alone, in its deplorable state of the union. Folks, that is so dangerous a position that simply putting us there should constitute treason.
That is, unless the entire mess has come about due to incompetence and corruption. Then it is stupidity, cupidity, selfishness, nastiness, cronyism, nepotism, all the negatives one can think of, all personified in the beings known as Trump and his minions. This is not a good situation either, is it?
Or should we say instead that we have an evil and foul smelling mixture, a revolting mess, consisting of all the above? One cannot be so blindingly stupid, not realizing that we have enabled our enemies to step all over us, to turn the world upside down, freezing out our allies, allowing a foul mouthed weirdo to run off that mouth and tweet away at the very basis of our country.
When so many, at last count at least 16, of the campaign workers have ties to and with Russians during and after the campaign, that is a shrieking red alert siren. When the supposed top public servant can have one of his minions state that the furloughed and unpaid federal workers are better off because they are on a vacation! WOW!! When the man can say there is no chaos in the White House because there is almost no one there anymore save him, well, duh! So who is running the show???? No one, evidently.
When the chief whine is that the poor man cannot get back to his posh private club, Mar a Lago, well maybe he should go on Ebay or to a plethora of yard sales and to the tables of flea markets as public servants sell their belongings to pay at least some bills and put food on the table. Perhaps he might hire a few of the hundreds of thousands who are now looking for tideover jobs, or help the contractors not getting paid or the rolling and roiling consequences of all this money staying out of our economy and the secondary and tertiary rings of losses in this nasty spitting contest!!
The man who lives in the glass house has no qualms about throwing stones. He who had multiple extramarital affairs, is nasty to Bezos in his mess? He praises the National Enquirer for that news story, the same paper, if it can be called that, that played dirty with his payments and the story of them with his 'lovers'? The whole thing is sickening, filthy and just awful and there appears to be no end of this whole disaster in sight.
That is, unless the Republican Senators, the highest representatives of the people in our government save the President and VP - Lord help us on that one - unless they grow several pairs. Unless they can find their spines. Unless they can understand morality once more. Unless they can truly understand and undertake their responsibilities. Until they can stop the schoolyard bully in his tracks. And if they do not, well, then the Democrats will have to continue to play hardball, push for impeachment, push for Article 25, call for impeachment of Senators who refuse to do their job. Or something, because if not, well, there it is again, the sound of battle, the sounds of death, the sounds of the ripping apart of the best thing we have given to the world - a working democracy, not perfect, but striving, always, for improvement.
I am not a member of government. I am only a citizen of this country and hence bear witness and responsibility for its path, just as all of you out there do as well. It behooves us to think very carefully about our options here, to wake up and smell not the coffee, but the disaster awaiting us just over the horizon and in fact, already peeking over that very same horizon. Time is running out. Options are being cut off. Delay is not helping, and indeed is exacerbating the situation.
Nasty? Yes. Incompetent? Yes. Stupidity? Yes. Treason and treachery? It is truly becoming clearer and clearer in our sights that this is so. Yes? By accident or not, by aim or not, the result is the same. Folks, time to push for action. Time to demand change, even if only to wake those Senators up to the disasters they are foisting upon this country, upon their constituents.
Put this posting together with the posting of yesterday and see what we have got! The math is not good! Nor is the reality of it all.
From the beginning there was a weird vibe between the two, Trump and Putin. It set off shivers down the backs of many knowledgeable people who wondered at this phenomenon. It sent shivers down the back of Pentagon officials who could not figure out this man and the moves he was making, so many that we are now in mutual threats with Russia, China, Korea, Iran and in ragged relationships with all our former allies. We are alone. We, the USA, now stands alone, in its deplorable state of the union. Folks, that is so dangerous a position that simply putting us there should constitute treason.
That is, unless the entire mess has come about due to incompetence and corruption. Then it is stupidity, cupidity, selfishness, nastiness, cronyism, nepotism, all the negatives one can think of, all personified in the beings known as Trump and his minions. This is not a good situation either, is it?
Or should we say instead that we have an evil and foul smelling mixture, a revolting mess, consisting of all the above? One cannot be so blindingly stupid, not realizing that we have enabled our enemies to step all over us, to turn the world upside down, freezing out our allies, allowing a foul mouthed weirdo to run off that mouth and tweet away at the very basis of our country.
When so many, at last count at least 16, of the campaign workers have ties to and with Russians during and after the campaign, that is a shrieking red alert siren. When the supposed top public servant can have one of his minions state that the furloughed and unpaid federal workers are better off because they are on a vacation! WOW!! When the man can say there is no chaos in the White House because there is almost no one there anymore save him, well, duh! So who is running the show???? No one, evidently.
When the chief whine is that the poor man cannot get back to his posh private club, Mar a Lago, well maybe he should go on Ebay or to a plethora of yard sales and to the tables of flea markets as public servants sell their belongings to pay at least some bills and put food on the table. Perhaps he might hire a few of the hundreds of thousands who are now looking for tideover jobs, or help the contractors not getting paid or the rolling and roiling consequences of all this money staying out of our economy and the secondary and tertiary rings of losses in this nasty spitting contest!!
The man who lives in the glass house has no qualms about throwing stones. He who had multiple extramarital affairs, is nasty to Bezos in his mess? He praises the National Enquirer for that news story, the same paper, if it can be called that, that played dirty with his payments and the story of them with his 'lovers'? The whole thing is sickening, filthy and just awful and there appears to be no end of this whole disaster in sight.
That is, unless the Republican Senators, the highest representatives of the people in our government save the President and VP - Lord help us on that one - unless they grow several pairs. Unless they can find their spines. Unless they can understand morality once more. Unless they can truly understand and undertake their responsibilities. Until they can stop the schoolyard bully in his tracks. And if they do not, well, then the Democrats will have to continue to play hardball, push for impeachment, push for Article 25, call for impeachment of Senators who refuse to do their job. Or something, because if not, well, there it is again, the sound of battle, the sounds of death, the sounds of the ripping apart of the best thing we have given to the world - a working democracy, not perfect, but striving, always, for improvement.
I am not a member of government. I am only a citizen of this country and hence bear witness and responsibility for its path, just as all of you out there do as well. It behooves us to think very carefully about our options here, to wake up and smell not the coffee, but the disaster awaiting us just over the horizon and in fact, already peeking over that very same horizon. Time is running out. Options are being cut off. Delay is not helping, and indeed is exacerbating the situation.
Nasty? Yes. Incompetent? Yes. Stupidity? Yes. Treason and treachery? It is truly becoming clearer and clearer in our sights that this is so. Yes? By accident or not, by aim or not, the result is the same. Folks, time to push for action. Time to demand change, even if only to wake those Senators up to the disasters they are foisting upon this country, upon their constituents.
Put this posting together with the posting of yesterday and see what we have got! The math is not good! Nor is the reality of it all.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
EVIL
Those who deny the concept of evil, its presence in our world, are playing a dangerous game. Evil exists. Period. Denying that truth will only lead to more tragedies of deeper and more intense consequences. The denial of it lends even more power to the evil within and without.
Lately, I have been reading a wonderful book, Witness: Lessons From Elie Wiesel's Classroom. It is a most thoughtful and demanding book, highly recommended and to be read carefully and slowly. It is thought provoking and intense, often putting forth difficult ideas that need to be chewed upon and internalized.
Wiesel was an amazing man. He lived through a consuming fire and emerged whole, intact, yet definitely formed by that fire. It behooves us to think about what he has written and said. The concept that has most made an impression upon me is his discussion about evil. To him, it is alive, unfortunately. It must be watched, guarded against and defied and defended against. We must know about the madness it causes, and surprisingly, where that madness is, what it means.
There is no being neutral about this. "Listening to a witness makes you a witness." Yes, it does, and from that simple statement we understand that there is no being neutral in this world and if one is quiet, if one ignores, one is then actively complicit in the evil that is happening.
Everyone knows the adage re fire in a crowded theater. Yet here is the other side of the question. What if there truly is a fire in a crowded theater? Does one sit still, or sneak quietly out, allowing the rest to burn? Most emphatically no, but when we do shout, we must remember that we might be deemed mad, for sometimes the "fires" in the theater of mankind are so evil that they demand suspension of reality in order to accept its true dimensions. "...seventy years ago, the world did nothing while six million innocent people were slaughtered. How can this not affect us?" Wiesel believes that evil, all that is bad in this world, the movements that sweep a country and its citizens in huge tidal waves of murder and destruction, all emanate from this evil of the Holocaust, all roads leading back to it. Ignoring evil, no matter the dimension, allows that evil to grow and take on other proportions and other forms and emanations.
One madness he speaks of is political madness. The leaders, a la Hitler and Stalin, are filled with "delusion and paranoia". They killed or otherwise rid themselves of their supposed supporters and allies. Their "personal demons" led to a kind of hypnosis, Wiesel states, driven by "fervor and hatred". It took over all else, even to the point of self destruction in the madness generated , in the determination, to achieve the insane goal.
Unfortunately, those who call down on these madmen are often called mad themselves, deemed insane, not worthy of being heard, and in fact, almost dangerous to the world and its functioning. But these "madmen" must continue to speak up, to study madness, to have their own morality be so strong so as to impel them to speak up, despite the rantings of the world against them. It perhaps might even be called a form of madness indeed, but, Wiesel says, this "Madness holds the key to protest, to rebellion. Without it.....we can be carried along with the world's madness."
Those who are evil in this world will do anything they can to impel their evilness forward. They will run over anything in their tracks. They will demean the "madmen" of good, those who will persist in the calling out of the truth, of baring the souls or lack of souls in these evil people and their evil plans. They will be exposed to ridicule, called names, even threatened with bodily harm, even unto death, but we need these people and we need to learn to listen to them, to pay attention to their words and cries.
So, am I, and all the others, who insist on crying out against the evil presented to the world by Trump, are we "mad"? People tell us to ignore, to keep quiet, to keep our heads down, to wait for the years to pass and his term be over, but we cannot. To stay quiet is to allow him to continue to inflict damage upon the world, to cut deep wounds within the soul of mankind.
We witness and speak up. We listen and speak out. We call attention to the evil in the world and yes, people, I truly believe that this man, this Trump, is evil. Should he have his way, get it entirely, we will be doomed. He despairs of the "others" and their "otherness". He hates them. He encourages hatred and prejudice and that includes all, for differences can always be found and magnified, forced to dance to whatever tune the evil wish to play. Hatred feeds upon itself, grows all by itself with the aid of silence and acquiescence by those who stay silent and by those who take part in it. They are the same thing.
And yes, fighting evil sometimes is dangerous. Those who stood by the trains tracks and tried to give water and food to those crammed inside, those who stood by the tracks as they wound through the countryside and picked up the babies thrown out from those cars, rescued them, raised them - they fought evil. They were not complacent. But those who covered their eyes and followed the examples of the three monkeys, well, think about it. And in today's world, those who keep quiet re the "crisis on the border", the one that is real, not the fake one, well, put yourself there and think how you would like others to react then. See, there is no real difference among people save the outer characteristics. All want to live in peace, to raise a family, to contribute to the world, to have a future and it makes no never mind if one comes from the highlands of Guatemala or the cities of Ireland or the war torn countries of Africa. Blood spilled is all red. The bones are the same and so are the hearts and the souls.
Evil is a difficult concept and we are kind of trained to erase this concept, treat it as a childish illusion as we age up, but this is wrong. Simply look around at the world today and I defy you, anyone, to say that evil has not surged forward in a bloody state of power. Evil exists and we are needed to fight it, to defy it, to banish it from our lives and the lives of others. A huge responsibility and one that will certainly not be completed in our time, or indeed in the time of anyone, possibly, probably, but we cannot stand by the side of the road and play deaf, dumb and blind. Evil has a strong bite, huge and jagged teeth and they do not miss anyone when the time is right - or wrong. Remember that. Feel that. And then get mad. And grow our own teeth.
Lately, I have been reading a wonderful book, Witness: Lessons From Elie Wiesel's Classroom. It is a most thoughtful and demanding book, highly recommended and to be read carefully and slowly. It is thought provoking and intense, often putting forth difficult ideas that need to be chewed upon and internalized.
Wiesel was an amazing man. He lived through a consuming fire and emerged whole, intact, yet definitely formed by that fire. It behooves us to think about what he has written and said. The concept that has most made an impression upon me is his discussion about evil. To him, it is alive, unfortunately. It must be watched, guarded against and defied and defended against. We must know about the madness it causes, and surprisingly, where that madness is, what it means.
There is no being neutral about this. "Listening to a witness makes you a witness." Yes, it does, and from that simple statement we understand that there is no being neutral in this world and if one is quiet, if one ignores, one is then actively complicit in the evil that is happening.
Everyone knows the adage re fire in a crowded theater. Yet here is the other side of the question. What if there truly is a fire in a crowded theater? Does one sit still, or sneak quietly out, allowing the rest to burn? Most emphatically no, but when we do shout, we must remember that we might be deemed mad, for sometimes the "fires" in the theater of mankind are so evil that they demand suspension of reality in order to accept its true dimensions. "...seventy years ago, the world did nothing while six million innocent people were slaughtered. How can this not affect us?" Wiesel believes that evil, all that is bad in this world, the movements that sweep a country and its citizens in huge tidal waves of murder and destruction, all emanate from this evil of the Holocaust, all roads leading back to it. Ignoring evil, no matter the dimension, allows that evil to grow and take on other proportions and other forms and emanations.
One madness he speaks of is political madness. The leaders, a la Hitler and Stalin, are filled with "delusion and paranoia". They killed or otherwise rid themselves of their supposed supporters and allies. Their "personal demons" led to a kind of hypnosis, Wiesel states, driven by "fervor and hatred". It took over all else, even to the point of self destruction in the madness generated , in the determination, to achieve the insane goal.
Unfortunately, those who call down on these madmen are often called mad themselves, deemed insane, not worthy of being heard, and in fact, almost dangerous to the world and its functioning. But these "madmen" must continue to speak up, to study madness, to have their own morality be so strong so as to impel them to speak up, despite the rantings of the world against them. It perhaps might even be called a form of madness indeed, but, Wiesel says, this "Madness holds the key to protest, to rebellion. Without it.....we can be carried along with the world's madness."
Those who are evil in this world will do anything they can to impel their evilness forward. They will run over anything in their tracks. They will demean the "madmen" of good, those who will persist in the calling out of the truth, of baring the souls or lack of souls in these evil people and their evil plans. They will be exposed to ridicule, called names, even threatened with bodily harm, even unto death, but we need these people and we need to learn to listen to them, to pay attention to their words and cries.
So, am I, and all the others, who insist on crying out against the evil presented to the world by Trump, are we "mad"? People tell us to ignore, to keep quiet, to keep our heads down, to wait for the years to pass and his term be over, but we cannot. To stay quiet is to allow him to continue to inflict damage upon the world, to cut deep wounds within the soul of mankind.
We witness and speak up. We listen and speak out. We call attention to the evil in the world and yes, people, I truly believe that this man, this Trump, is evil. Should he have his way, get it entirely, we will be doomed. He despairs of the "others" and their "otherness". He hates them. He encourages hatred and prejudice and that includes all, for differences can always be found and magnified, forced to dance to whatever tune the evil wish to play. Hatred feeds upon itself, grows all by itself with the aid of silence and acquiescence by those who stay silent and by those who take part in it. They are the same thing.
And yes, fighting evil sometimes is dangerous. Those who stood by the trains tracks and tried to give water and food to those crammed inside, those who stood by the tracks as they wound through the countryside and picked up the babies thrown out from those cars, rescued them, raised them - they fought evil. They were not complacent. But those who covered their eyes and followed the examples of the three monkeys, well, think about it. And in today's world, those who keep quiet re the "crisis on the border", the one that is real, not the fake one, well, put yourself there and think how you would like others to react then. See, there is no real difference among people save the outer characteristics. All want to live in peace, to raise a family, to contribute to the world, to have a future and it makes no never mind if one comes from the highlands of Guatemala or the cities of Ireland or the war torn countries of Africa. Blood spilled is all red. The bones are the same and so are the hearts and the souls.
Evil is a difficult concept and we are kind of trained to erase this concept, treat it as a childish illusion as we age up, but this is wrong. Simply look around at the world today and I defy you, anyone, to say that evil has not surged forward in a bloody state of power. Evil exists and we are needed to fight it, to defy it, to banish it from our lives and the lives of others. A huge responsibility and one that will certainly not be completed in our time, or indeed in the time of anyone, possibly, probably, but we cannot stand by the side of the road and play deaf, dumb and blind. Evil has a strong bite, huge and jagged teeth and they do not miss anyone when the time is right - or wrong. Remember that. Feel that. And then get mad. And grow our own teeth.
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