CALIGULA? TODAY?

         Caligula has become synonymous with craziness and cruelty. People will debate what is true and what is not, but that is not the point. The point is to understand the damage that one person can do to a country and its people and how people become afraid to go counter to the crazy person's dictates.
     Caligula is not the only insane, yet clever, ruler we have had throughout history, and certainly we are 'blessed' with so many in the times we live in. Take a trip over to Venezuela or the Phillipines or North Korea or Russia or former SSRs and do not forget the insanely brilliant Hitler and the grief he caused and of course, do not forget our own version of Caligula - Donald Trump, the Demented One.
     He has not met a dictator he does not like or "fall in love with". He aspires to the position and historical first of becoming the first American dictator in history and looks to such as Putin and Orbin, Kim Jong-un, et al for guidance and inspiration. He has tended more and more to government by Executive Order. He has a cadre of fearful and corrupt, morally bankrupt people who serve him, afraid to provoke him, frightened perhaps for their very lives lest one of his insane and mad rants focus on them.
     He is single handedly destroying the economy, with the stock market tanking more and more as he destroys the world's economy with his insane tariff enactions. He bypasses Congress unless he needs to ask his stooges, the Republican Senators, for surface 'voting', for pushing through his judges who will ruin the system for decades to come. He encourages hatred for the other, is madly trying to rescind any and all progress that has been made with respect to LGBTQ, for women, for minorities and voting rights, for anything good and decent. We are now not on the cusp of backwards thinking re abortion rights but have actually gone right thru the door, right back to threats of jail and the horror of back alley and wire hanger abortions, with women being forced to carry a pregnancy of rape and/or incest to full term. Would that we could inflcit that on him and his supporters!!
     So the Dow is falling, we have broken with all our neighbors and former allies. We allow the deflection of crimes, of insanity, or moral turpitude, of the growth industry of revolving door policy on Congressmen and lobbying jobs after terms are up, try to reverse treason charges onto those who investigated the alleged treason on Trump et al, and no one seems to know what the next turn of events will bring. Will we be selling apples again on the streets? Will we be sending our soldiers off to war, so many that the draft is reinstituted - by the man who could  not go to war because of non existent bone spurs, and the draft will include men and women. Will we be forcing more people out onto the street, more food insecure families, more children without proper education and more people who have had their voting rights pulled from them due to the twisted desires of the Republicans and the gerrymandering they have bought whole heartedly into? Will we have alliances with the dictators of the world as we all join together to kill those we do not like, burn books once more and then, naturally, burn the people who read and support and publish and write these books!!
     What is to be done to get rid of the threat that this modern day Caligula and his henchmen present? All we need to do is rally to apply the laws of the Constitution while it is still available to us. Cannot convict for impeachemnt, due to the Republicans who have ceded all control over Trump to Trump? Go for Amendment 25 but then again, his corrupt Cabinet would have to be willing to admit that he is insane, criminally insane and unfit for office. Ha! Think they will ever do that? Think they will ever want to willingly cede their own morally corrupt and profitable offices? Never!
     So what to do? Anglea Merkel spoke at Harvard and stated thus: “Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness,” “Changes for the better are possible, if we tackle them together. . . . Take joint action in the interests of the multilateral, global world.”  “take a moment to stop, be still, think, pause. Certainly that takes courage,”    We need to hear her words and their import and plan on implementing them. Both here and worldwide. We, the peoples of the planet Earth are on the edge, or perhaps over it already, well on our way to self destruct. What are we waiting for? Military coups right here in America? Invasion by others to get us back to the straight and narrow? Civil War in  the streets? American blood flowing once more on their own native land?  What the hell are we allowing? What the hell are we doing and not doing? What are we to do?
      Wish I had all the answers, but I think at least that I have the right questions. It is a start.
  

WHAT A FEELING.....

     What a day for feelings yesterday. Waking up in a bit of a fog, then writing one's way out of it, waiting on tenterhooks for Mueller to speak, worried about the conclusions to be taken from his remarks, enjoying a few hours with friends, and then back home to more news and more feelings.
     Mueller's little talk can be reduced to simply this - woulda, shoulda, but couldn'ta. Not sure why a president should be above the law, not be prosecuted for crimes committed at some time, before or during his tenancy in the Oval Office, but so a Justice Department memo states. 
     What to do now? Mueller could have stated openly that Trump was guilty of obstruction and other crimes, but left a broad hint, like hitting someone over the head with a ten foot pole to gain one's attention, that Trump should be held to account by other ways allowed - dum de dum dum - meaning impeachment. He also stated that if they could have proven Trump innocent they would have said so, so.... another dum de dum dum as we realize the import of that statement and the dire warning that closed his little speech about the interference in our 2016 elections.
      So folks, are we going to sit on our hands, twirl on our thumbs, sit there with mouths agape and do nothing, just remain stunned at the import of these words and conclusions? I have said from day one that this man was not our legitimate president and others have also so stated, so why the hell is he still there with his potty mouth, imbecilic and dangerous behavior, folded arms across his chest as he tantrums away with the world leaders, as he threatens to topple our state in favor of yet another nationalistic, nativist, hate filled dictatorship? What are we to do? What are we going to do?
     Perhaps we had better heed the words of China - "Don't say we didn't warn you." This is a very ominous statement, especially as China used these very terms before two prior wars of theirs and in the meanwhile our economy via the stock market, via so many store and plant closings and resulting layoffs is going right down the drain, touching right now on a bear market and on inversions. Dangerous territories and what are we going to do? Are we going to allow a man of questionable intellect and maturity to run us down a long and destructive path? A man who is so infantile that on a trip to Japan he wanted the ship and/or the name of that ship - the USS John S. McCain - to be hidden, moved, covered up!!!
     What a feeling to be living through this period of history, perhaps the dying era of our great experiment of democracy. What a feeling to be worrying for the next generation and the ones to follow. What a feeling to be worried as a Jew for Israel and for the safety of my people here and all over the world in their own native countries as the filth of anti Semitism begins to swamp us.
     And what a feeling of disgust as one realizes that even should the House indict the creep in their impeachment activities, the Senate invalidates all the efforts as the Republican majority there has lost all and any semblance of dignity, of morality, of truth and of love of country. Every damn one of them seems to have lost any recognition of right versus wrong and chooses party over country. Perhaps Amash might lead a few to the true New World we now need, but I am pessimistic and then what? Certainly their behavior re all the incompetents that are being pushed through for judgeships, the behavior of then during the creep Kavanugh's hearing, the rabid mouthings of theirs re LGBTQ, women's rights, the ability to choose to control one's own health decisions- considering all this and more, the corruption of the entire Cabinet, the low level of candidates for office, well, the feeling ain't so good.
     I am worried, very much so. I do not like the feelings of dread that I have re our country. I do not like how our administration is not only ignoring climate changes and the causes, but are practically ready to restate that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around us!! Galileo! Galileo!
     Wish I had better and more optimistic feelings to convey over to my readers - to my own self -  but that is not to be, not now anyway. What a feeling!
     

EVER GET THE FEELING....

     Ever get the feeling of exhaustion, that the strength is just not there any longer or the efforts are not worth anything? Well, today is such a day, at least for me, and I know there are many others out there that are beginning to live in a fog of exhaustion, wondering what the hell is going on with this country and this world.
     Doo doo doo doo - an approximation of the Twilight Zone intro music. Ever feel we are living in that world now? Everything seems to be upside down. Our values have been trashed. Our behaviors are beyond acceptance in so many cases. Our bonds as a people, as a nation, and yes, as a world, have broken. The question is - can these broken pieces be mended - and before it is too late?
     So why the Twilight Zone? Well, lately there have been more and more news features and stories about alien life, extraterrestrial visits, UFOs, and hey, we even have the resurgence of Roswell on TV, with aliens living among us. Hmmm. I don't know about you, but there are some characters I know....
     The latest is the exploration in South AFrica which determined that there were ancient extraterrestrials who visited. And then of course we have the upside down theory that aliens came here to earth long, long ago, and killed off the native population and remained as the people of earth so that would make guess who the ETs?
      Now do not get me wrong. I actually do believe there is life out there. What form? What level of development? Friendly? Not so friendly? Could not speak to that, but I cannot believe that in this entire universe, the vast majority we have not yet explored, there is only one form of life, one civilizaton? Hey, G-d is too smart to pin all his chips on one bet and certainly not on the human race!!
      In fact, ever get the feeling that G-d is a tad angry at us? Here we are, given a most beautiful orb in space with food for the taking, arable land to plant more, animals for clothing and food as well, a variety of flora and fauna beyond words, the ability to heal so many if we did it right, used nature's bounty, and what have we done? We have polluted the waters, trashed the oceans - the oceans!! - ruined the lands of the earth, increasing desertification, induced starvation and wars for survival on the lowest level, trashed just about everything. And what have we done with the brains we were given? We use it to deny the truth until it is too late. Trump, the moron, who delights in calling other people names, is appointing a science panel, you should excuse the misomer, who will deny climate change, probably try to convince us the sky is the limit for more oil exploration, for fracking, for clear cutting of rain forests, for lack of conservation and on and on. Pseudo science at its worst under the aegis of the worst president ever!! And we have allowed it all.
     Well, at least this has given me the energy to move on, to get on with the day, but truly, what with tornadoes, monster storms, floods that do not quit, oceans that will swallow us up, trash being shipped back and forth across the ocean with the truth being that we no longer have where to place all our wasteful trash - well, maybe we ought to sit back a bit, reenthuse our connection to the world around us, straighten out our crazy corrupted world of politics and government and just maybe, make apologies to G-d for trashing His works. Can't hurt!

THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

     The truth. Actual facts. What really happened. But is it as simple as that? Do our eyes record the same things at the same event? Do our minds actually interpret and determine what we see or what we think we see? How do we know what the truth is?
     Truth to tell, in today's times who the hell knows what the truth is? Who woulda thunk that we would have an inveterate liar as president? Who would have believed that truth as a value has seemingly gone by the boards no matter how one interprets reality.
     The truth is, that the truth can only be realized and accepted when most agree on it - but even then, there are problems. The truth of the matter was when two feuding children had to agree on a single version of what happened, put it in writing, sign it and hand it over to me. The truth of the matter is that the truth will always out, no matter the efforts put forth to deny it, to hide it - and even then, the accepted 'truth' is not always truth, but is instead a warped version of it, bent and broken till it fits the chosen reality. The truth is - truth is difficult to winnow out from the chaff of life, but we must winnow for if not, all will be lost.
     "Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."  (John 8:32)
     Or in the words I always use - the truth will out. So what are some of the truths we are trying to ignore? What are the truths of today, the plain, unvarnished truths, the ugly truths in some cases.
     Angela Merkel warns her country and the world that there are "dark forces" on the rise and Europe must guard against this."There is to this day not a single Synagogue not a single daycare center for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen," she added.  She is understating the issue a tad, for it is not only in Europe but in Asia and right here in the good old USA. Once again the ugliness of vicious and viral anti Semitism is with us. Once again old canards of outdated histories are being bandied about as truths. Once again Jews are being warned to hide their identity as Jews. Study after study, poll after poll, confirms this as the truth. But to some people the truth appears to be that Jews are menaces, no matter what. The right is vicious; the left wraps a thinly disguised veil around their anti Semitism by calling it anti Zionsim, feelings for the poor Palestinians who are so oppressed. Really? The truth is that Palestinians are going to universities in Israel by the droves. The truth is that Arabs are heads of departments in hospitals, dispense medicines as pharmacists, buy cars, build beautiful homes, and go through checkpoints with ease if they comport themselves as people waiting on security lines as people do all over the world. He who makes a fuss - well, no matter who it is, is asking for trouble. The truth is that Jews do not control the media nor the banking industry nor any industry in particular or anything else. Hell, they do not even control their own synagogue as the members love to argue and chew over everything!
     But that matters not as we know. Yesterday the NYTimes had a large editorial discussing and deploring the rise of anti Semitism, the dangers. Coming from the Times which has a tad of difficulty writing on Israel, one knows it is the truth!
     But the truth is, that hatred is spreading all over the world, from one tribe to another, from one sect to another, from one family to another, all of us forgetting that we all belong to the family of man. It appears to be that the Tower of Babel and its fall did not only separate us by language, but also by a seeming difficulty to interpret languages so as to mesh humanity rather than introduce differences, differences that are not the truth, yet appear to be so.
     Trump and Co. lie through their teeth, distorting truth and reality to make it fit their own version of 'truth'. They change it on a daily,if not hourly basis. And they could care less about what people  think. They brazenly post that they "don't give a s**t' what people think about their violations of truth and law. So what do we do, folks? How do we handle this, for if we do not, if G-d forbid Trump should pull out another illegitimate win, we are doomed. As the saying goes, we will have burned our bridges and man cannot walk on a burned bridge. Think about that. Think about the dire necessity to realize the truth and its importance, the role it plays in the history of mankind. Every damned time we ignored truth, or made up a twisted version of it, disaster followed and the consequences ensued and are still with us.
     The truth is: "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." (unknown) And, I might add, it will bite you in the ass, a painful bite at that! The truth is, one cannot hide from the truth forever. It is supposed to be a truth we learn as children, so what the hell went wrong?

THERE ARE NO WORDS

     Last nite I caught up on a couple of shows and experienced, yes, not just saw or watched, a most powerful episode of Grey's Anatomy from late March.Ostensibly, it was the presentation of one woman's horrific experience of being raped, but it was so much more than that. I have rarely seen such acting, such strong presentations of emotions, of meaning, of messaging. The messages are so direly needed in today's times, a time when we should not be needing them, a time when these primitive expressions of power, for it is not sex, but power, that rape is, albeit expressed in one of the most hurtful ways possibe.
     Rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war. It is used to demonstrate dominance over another, to put women and the groups they belong to "in their place" and worse, to purposely force women to bear the children of rape and herein we have a huge piece of the problem.
     The story of a doctor trying to find her roots, why she was left abandoned at five days old, helpless to avoid an awful and painful life, filled with abuse and danger, and discovering that she was a child of rape. One could only sit there, mouth agape, eyes wet, as two women, one raped, and the other the child of that rape, talked at and finally with each other. We felt the anguish of both, the impossiblity of meshing their emotions, their personal consequences, the inability to provide justice for either of them and for any of the thousands upon thousands of women who face these issues. In fact, they are not issues. They are facts. They are awful and horrible facts. They are played down by men, even by women who cannot fathom the depth of the emotions, the depth and cruelty of the invasion that these women have faced, the damage totheir souls through no fault of their own.
     And that is yet another piece of this horrendous experience. Women, the victims, are blamed for the rape. They "asked" for it, we are told. They are told. Their kits are either not taken or taken with the attitude of yet another rape perpetrated upon their bodies and souls, or taken and placed on some shelf in some back room somewhere, ignored, until the shouting of so many women are finally heard.
     A woman enters the hospital, confused, wounded, in pain, obviously suffering, and in denial as to why she is there. She is in great pain, physical and emotional, yet so worried about how she would be presented as a victim. With her, from beginning to end, is the woman, the doctor, who discovered she is a child of rape.
     The emotions, the fear, generated by the presence of a man, any man, is so powerful that it overwhelms us, the viewers, the intruders upon this scene. We see the hallway lined with women, all sizes, shapes, ages, colors, employment, so that this woman will not have to undergo the fright and terror she presently feels at the sight of a man.
      Power beyond words. Words not necesssary.  And yet, words are necessary, for the rights of women to not undergo this horror, the need for men to understand what it is that they are doing, allowing, yes, allowing this to continue and writing it off as just another thing that cannot be controlled is so very wrong.
     Women are not chattel, though there continues to be many countries of the world where this is indeed the case. And think not that the USA is immune to this, for there are still cases of underage marriage, of sexual and physical abuse of women of all ages and social class, for they are actually almost incidental victims of the crime, of the motivation of the men - to demonstrate power over another; to demonstrate their contempt for others; to demonstrate their 'manliness'. There is a reason why the Handmaid's Tale is so powerful a book and show. There is a reason why the fight for choice is so real and not just for reasons of sex.
     A person's body is that person's body and no other's. There is no more reason to force a woman to carry a fetus till birth, especially if that fetus is a result of rape, of unwelcome sexual congress, unviable and incompatible with life after birth, or simply unwanted, unable to be cared for after completion of the process, especially as society at present makes no real attempt to help these struggling women and these children after birth. 
     That is the hypocrisy of it all, the hypocrisy of the supposed 'pro-life' people. No, they are not pro life, for with their very actions they are encouraging the destruction of the lives of so many, the woman, the fetus, the family of the woman,and the rights of society. Why is it okay to allow a man to father a child upon an unwilling woman, allowed to deny her a choice, deny her birth control, threaten her and the doctor with shame and stigma and even prison terms? Why?
    Why are we now headed back to the times of back alley abortions, of self inflicted wire hanger abortions that lead to death and permanent damage? Why are we once again driving to destroy the independence of women? Why are we still having men, from high school through armed forces through business offices still making up rape lists and sex visons and torment they wish to inflict upon women in their lives - known and unknown? Why? Why?
     I can find no answers. All I know is that this must change. This must be understood for its reality, the truth of what it is, and the importance of teaching girls and women that they do not have to absorb this without words, without help, without protection. Men and boys must understand the truth of rape, what it is and why it is wrong, why any sexual abuse, physical abuse, is verboten!!
      There are three times in my life when I faced improper sexual behavior by men. Once was at fourteen when two boys, older boys, I was working with at a day camp, exposed themselves to me. At first I had no idea what the hell was going on, and when I did, I ran out, not understanding why this hapened, why or what I had done to encourage this. The truth - I had done nothing. This was the arrogant and needy attempt of these two boys to demonstrate their power over another.
     The second was on an almost empty train car, going from work to school as a freshman college student, and a man pulled out his junk , pointed it at me, and began to rub. Thankfully, the next station was right there and I ran out, waited for the next train.
     The third time was when a prominent person of the community displayed improper behavior during times of meetings. The name and the profession are not important, only the fact that it does not matter - age, class, ethnicity - it is simply a demonstration or attempt to demonstrate power over another, over women, and to do so in a most violent and damaging manner. I was lucky that I was able to remove myself from this person's sphere, and thus protect myself, but what of others?
     Until people all over the world recognize this, recognize that it is wrong to control another, to have rights over another's physical being, wrong to use rape as a weapon of war, wrong to force a woman to carry to term any unwanted fetus, but especially one created by vice, not virtue! - a fetus of incest and rape - until that happens, until men can understand the harm, the forever lasting harm, the forever lasting consequences - until that time, there will be the need for more of these TV episodes. Shamefully so, for we have fallen into the wrong place here, so very wrong place.
     May none of us ever know such agony, such desecration and may all of us know that there is a sisterhood of women out there to help, to stand with us, and there are some good men who understand this, or at least approach understanding, but every time one snickers at a crude joke, every time one excuses the disgusting behavior of men, i,e, men such as Trump, every damn time, another soul dies.
     There are no words.

TWAS BRILLIG - OR WAS IT?

      "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
      "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
       "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
       "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
                       Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

     Your choice - the fun nonsense of Jabberwocky, or the more biting conversation between the Cat and Alice? Which? Or is there no difference when one comes to the end of the trail?
     Quite frankly, I believe both lead to the same point, though one appears to be less harmful than the other and that is the tragedy of it all. It is difficult to get people to understand that the clown has serious underpinnings with serious consequences. Under that smile is usually a
bucket of tragedy, of despair and we certainly have that in our oh so esteemed president.
     This is a man who has gone through life messing up. He messed up in school, at all levels. He messed up in business to catastrophic degree. He messed up in personal relationships, having no long lasting familial one nor matrimonia. And is it not telling  that this man who pathologically appears to hate immigrants married not one, not two, but three of them!!! All the better for him to feel superior to them and to others as he wears them on his arm.
      So are we in the land down that hole or is it that we have all developed holes in our head, in our thinking capacity? I cannot begin to count how many books I have read lately that feature an absurd and bombastic president with ties to the extreme haters of society, who suffers from a very small brain and a huge narcissistic personality! Why is that? Because the thinking person is wondering who is mad here, what has happened or has the old movie It's a Mad, Mad, etc. World come back to real life?
     The illegitimate President and his minions all seem to be losing mental stability by the day. Giuliani, once a hero, seems to have lost it all and plays the stooge,and tweeted out some irrational tweet the other day with no sentences, no thought. Kind of like the tweets we get from the ignorant one sitting there in the White House, morosely staring at his Fox & Friends for directions as to what to do, tweeting out infantile tweets, schoolyard memes, and popping his buttons as he stuffs himself with his Big Macs.
     That is the presidential image of a through and down the hole in the tree land. It is the land of the nuts. It is the land where everything has an underlying meaning and nothing is as it appears. It is the land where all go mad as they struggle to understand the world gone mad.
     "Twas brillig"? Maybe - if we can figure out the true meaning of Jabberwocky. Books have been written about it and generations of schoolkids have laughed as they attempted to recite it with an imposed meaning.
     But we live in a real world, and like it or not, we must make sense of it and we turn away from the difficult task of doing that at our own peril. If we do not fight to instill or reinstall sense and justice, liberty and rights, a sense of mankind rather than a world of tribes, warring ones at that, then we will find our way out of this crazy land blocked at every turn. Not a good thought. Not a good future.
     Right now we are facing an uphill battle as we try to fix it all. We are dealing with a government that continues to kill kids, allowing them to die because who the hell cares, right? They are little brown kids, so whatever!! It is a government that builds teen detention camps instead of looking to see how we can reward these kids for their efforts, educate them and integrate them into our society, all sides benefitting. It is a governemnt that allows, even favors, growth of haters. Just look what is happening once again in the Pacific Northwest! Or, hell! Look to your own cities and countries.
     We have fallen prey to our own weaknesses, played to the bottom rather than the top and allowed major and despicable untruths to become truths. Trump lies, his minions swear and fools believe. After all, they saw it on whatever media they name. Pelosi is a drunk - no, not really, but the glee at this doctored video is rampant. Trump is a"stable genius" - just ask him! And the lies are spewed out all day and night. Truth is lost, acccuracy trampled on, and facts ignored - or made up. "If you write it often enough it becomes its own version of truth." (editor character in Wunderland"
     "Twas brillig." Times a wasting and hopes a fleeting. Time to act. Time to stand up and be strong, demand right, return the power of justice to the land. "Twas brillig?" Nope, not really. "Twas brillig" means or carries a warning - this is what happens when we relax and allow the wrong people to take power. Nonsense becomes accepted truth and the truth dies an ugly death.
     Which country and which world do we live in? The one exposed to the sun or the one down under in a confused world with no logic to it, only dictators and smug characters. Great story, right? Wrong. Not such a kid's story after all.

     

OH, ICH ALREADY!!

     It is a well known observaton that adults behave at times more childishly than children. They sink to the lowest common denomination when setting their behavior controls - or no controls at all.  It is most disgraceful when it happens and that, unfortunately, is what we have at the moment at the highest - or should I say, the lowest - levels of our present government.
     Trump has been disgraceful since before his campaign even started and has gone downhill from there. In fact, he manages to find ever lower levels of behavior. Right now I am fighting the nausea that arose over the past two days of critical garbage. 
     Trump threw a major toddler tantrum at a meeting with Democratic leadeship and blew his and our opportunity to work on desperately needed reconstruction on the infrastructure of the country. It would provide for better safety for Americans, a huge infusion of money into the economy, and help provide direct employment or lateral employment at a time when more and more people are being laid off due to the adverse effects of this whole tariff war ginned up by the Demented One. But nope, no go, for Trump has to have his little hissy fit and then storm out because he did not care for Pelosi and  a remark she made. Tough bugs, there Donald, tough bugs.
     Politics is a filthy game of deeds and words. One hopes that a politician could rise above it at times, and usually there are some who do, but today, today one has to look far and wide, seeking, seeking, instituting a search equivalent to the almost hopeless search of Diogenes for an honest man. What do we do when the schoolyard bully pulpit has become the go to device and standard of behavior of Trump and his supporters?
     I think the best and the worst were the following: the doctored videos of Pelosi and Trump's statement evaluating his own stability and mental capacity and Pelosi's reaction. Spliced together, an edited video played at 75% speed and voice doctored to get as close to Pelosi's voice as possible, purports to show her as drunk, slurring, stammering, disgraceful in its attempt to demean this woman. And worst of all, the Demented One sends out yet another of his nauseating tweets with the Pelosi video as a lead! Oh, ich!!!!
     This same idiot, this same disgusting individual, then makes sure that we all know how wonderful he is, a legend in his own mind, as he states that he is an "extremely stable genius". Oh, ich again. Double ich!! Please remeber what is said about self praise, how worthless it is.
     And yet another step along the road to dictatorship, Trump is now contemplating yet another emergency declaration to go around Congress and sell Saudi Arabia yet more arms and ammunition. Yup, in this bizarre wrold of ours it seems that the more you violate human rights, the more support you get from the country that used to champion human rights and chide and warn those countries that did not. Today, though, not so.
     We are a disgrace to ourselves and to the world and perhaps we need to do what Britain is doing - setting up a comedy show that puts Putin in his place, cutting the terror felt about Russian efforts to control elections. Nothing works better than cutting a self important blowhard down to size than making him a laughingstock. That is what is now happening over there and the Russians are holding their breath. Why not a reality show, since Trump seems to like them, wherein we poke much needed and much deserved fun at the moron and demonstrate how far off the track of truth and reality he is by describing himself as a stable genius! Stable maybe, as a well deserved home, but genius? The loser of billions? The liar by the thousands? The terrible father and worse husband? The worst president in modern times and perhaps of all times? Get thee, gone, Trump, in a hurry and let us become America again.
     The movie Aladdin is remade yet again and it is supposed to be good, but in the words of a child we get the best lesson one could take from it, a lesson and a child who gives hope for the future. This little 4 year old said, "... you don't need a boy to take you to see the whole world" and "the princess doesn't need a prince to rescue her, she can rescue herself,". 
    Take the truth from whence it comes. We do not need any outside forces to rescue ourselves. All we need is to take a deep breath, see the needs and the truth and act! Demand!! Deny!!  It is time to stop the ich feeling as we contemplate our government. Time to be America once more.
      

MIND BOGGLING

     One is left standing with mouth agape. Behavior that fits the terrible twos phase of infancy has been displayed by the 'leader' of the free world! Physically bursting at his seams with his fast food diet, his only exercise being golf games which have cost the American taxpayer over $102 milllion already, Trump has now truly busted the bubble of his metal sanity or lack thereof.
     Somewhere along the line the man got the impression that he is the Lord and Master of the country, that rules and limitations do not apply to him, that law and legality mean nothing to him. Thus, when Pelosi made a comment that he, Trump, was covering up something what with his refusal to turn over his financial papers, his breaking point was reached. He blew into a meeting on infrastructure, a meeting which could have led to praise for him, and erupted. A three minute tirade and sulky fit in public then followed and we were off to the races again, this time, even more frightening if one truly contemplated the meaning of all this.
     The entire administration must think: are we to have a functioning government or are we going to let it all slide and we end up with an insane head of government who belongs in a mental institution rather than the Oval Office. History is rife with the stories and consequences of allowing mad creatures to head the government. The cemeteries are filled with the bodies of those whom the despot did not like or feared. Do not repeat that inane mantra that "it can't happen here" for it is already happening. 
     We have allowed this to happen. We have allowed the Republicans to shrug off their responsibilities to the people of America, to the world. We have allowed civil discourse to go the way of the horse and buggy and have instead substituted and allowed rage and hatred to rule the day. We have allowed this man to suborn perjury, attempt to block justice, cavort dangerously with foreign leaders who can and do run circles around him and his limited mental capacity. WE have done this. WE have neglected the powers of the people, the rights of the legislative branch, the powers of oversight that are detailed in the Constitution and in our judicial and legislative history. WE have allowed this man to snub the law and overturn tradition. WE have done this all.
     We now have threats of war all over the globe. He has riled Iran to almost a point of no return. China is rumbling. Russia is flying our air borders. Penny ante despots and dictators are dictating to us or treating us with contempt. And why not? We are a country that has lost its bearings, set free from its moorings to float aimlessly, a wonderful target for such as Trump and Co.
     Two banks have turned over their papers. Two courts have said others must do so also. Tillerson, in a private meeting, spoke words that frighten the thinking person, the American patriot. The caliber of appointees gets worse by the hour and our judicial branch is being ripped apart by the rush to approve all these incompetent and hateful people who have no right to sit on a bench. Not in America! Not here, where the judiciary is supposed to be above the partisan politics. But all this has gone by the boards and the do nothing Republican dominated Senate has done nothing other than turning aside House proposalsand jam the benches of our courts with incompetents who will destroy us for forty years. Who will take away the rights of women to make their own decisions regarding their health. Each and every day the rights of the citizens are abrogated. Each and every day we get more of an intrusion of religion, a perverted religion at that, into the state.
     We are definitely lost at sea, our ship of state foundering badly. Only WE can provide the true rescue but will we? I am increasingly doubtful that this will ever happen. People have turned away from politics, tired of the constant shenanigans of Trump and company and the lack of positive action. But apathy leads to dictatorship and it is too late at that point to avoid the serious consequences and the dangerous paths ahead. I wish I could be a Pollyanna and see only blue skies ahead, but when I look all I see are darkening skies, clouds growing in depth and intensity. Are you worried yet? You should be.

NACHT UND NEBEL

     Night and fog. The term used to describe what happened to people under the Nazis, when they disappeared suddenly, became invisible, when civil rights became a non starter and hatred ruled the land. Nacht und Nebel. A term that easily transfers to other places where human beings are lost, disappearing into the night, disappearing from place of work, from wherever they are grabbed and never reappearing. It matters not the political designation of the country - Fascist, Communist, Socialist or even Democratic. It matters only to the people enmeshed in this homicidal atmosphere.
     Nacht und Nebel does not suddenly appear overnight. It gradually develops, first unseen, unrealized, on whispering feet, like the fog of Sandberg's poem, but gradually even as it is unacknowledged, its consequences grow until finally it becomes a monster impossible to ignore - and just about impossible to oppose, unless, unless, one is willing to risk lives to do so. Most are not willing to take that step and so the policy endures, liberty dies, and people are murdered, disposed of as just so much trash.
     We talk of the interference by the Russians into elections all over the world, even, at times, invited to do so by the country, or certain politicians in a country. And now we have added a new, overwhelmingly frightening aspect to this. There is now "coordinated, transnational far-right information operations.”   There is now expressed fear of a distorting influence by the United States!! Yes, us, the country supposed to be the leader, the protector of the free world has turned into a force of destruction instead. And folks, let me make it clear as glass - there is no one to blame for this other than Trump, his two sons, and his minions, who knowingly and willingly, or blindly follow in his path, unseeing, uncaring, and not realizing that their own lives are now subject to his whims and wants. It is he who has opened the door to right wing crazies who dare to chant murderous slogans. It is he who has allowed the idea of a KKK march right thru the Jewish area in Dayton. It is he who has encouraged the poisonous atmosphere of politics today and the fear of any discussion of it. And for those who insist he is good for Israel, good for the Jews, well, so was Eichmann, when he brought in Jewish leaders, promised them the ability and the help needed to emigrate, to preserve the artifacts of the religion, and then, with the same quiet and polite approach, organized the end of Jewry as we knew it. Think Trump and company will not throw Israel and the Jews under the bus when it suits him? Well, think again!! And again!!
     We have become inured to the harshness of deaths of children under Border Control. Five that we know of and how many deaths have been hidden? How many life damaging conditions, separations, imprisonments have we imposed on children who either brave the journey to a new life and safety by themselves, or follow their parents. You know, my grandmother came here all alone , no family, at the age of 17 in order to build a new life, a life with a future, a life without pogroms and restricted rights. Should  she have been thrown on the garbage heap of humanity? Should all these migrants loking for hope be trashed, allowed to be flown and trucked hither and thither until no one can even state where they are?! Nacht und Nebel.
     We have redefined the idea of citizenship and who can get it. We are telling parents that their children are not citizens, though their parents are. We are telling people that no, they may not see their families ever again because we refuse to allow them in. We sit by for the most part as the anti immigrant viciousness that once plagued our country arises again. Nacht und Nebel awaiting in the wings to 'blossom' into a mushroom cloud of its own.
     Political opponents of the one who wishes to be a lifetime leader and who has expressed such musings and wishes, are demonized, dehumanized, making it easier for his followers to join in, chant hate, literally give away their independence and thinking power. They are accused of actions and thoughts that are unthinkable and never were!! They are faced with a barrage of lies such as we have never seen before outside the lands of Nacht und Nebel. The idea and concept of Truth in this country is fast disappearing. 
     As is the concept of law. We are supposed to be governed by laws. All are to be governed by it. Becoming a sitting president, especially when that achievement can be questioned as to legitimacy, does not give one the ability and the right to be above the law - for the term and for before and for after, for anything that the Demented One wants. Administration officials are not there to serve themselves and their president; they are there to serve the People, a seemingly quaint and outdated concept in these times.
     There are signs of hope, of people resisting, of people waking up. Is it time enough? Or will we face a fullblown Nacht und Nebel here in our own America and watch as it spreads unopposed throughout the world under the aegis of the United States of America. Like it or not, that is becoming a distinct possibility. Just read the papers. Hear the news. Think for yourself. Dig deep for the truth. Defend ideas, yourself, the country and the world. Nacht und Nebel is not what we want.No one survives. Ask any one who has lived under it - if they remain in life or even leave a descendant somewhere! Not so easy. Not so comfortable.

THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

     No, I am not nuts, confusing Roman and American Empires, but one fell, and one is falling, down on one knee already, taking a knee to falsehoods, nastiness, incompetence and sheer insanity. The comparison between the two is frightening to the extreme and it behooves us to take a close look at what the hell we are doing.
    It takes one to know one. An old adage that truly fits the times we are living in. The obsessed and unsteady rulers of Iran recognize a brother in insanity in Trump.
      "Trump is not quite balanced and stable in his decision making, so we are dealing with a confused White House. ........  various signals which show that no one knows who owns the White House."
     This 'confused' and irrational man is actually managing to subvert the entire mechanism of our government into serving his needs, his desires and his opinions of his own level of power and control. Under the Demented One, the legislative branch has willingly - and ain't that a kick! - shrunk its own power, taking the abuse from this insane man and then saying,"ah, again, please!' Even as some Republicans finally begin to awake from their going on three years of coma, they still lack the courage to take the necessary steps to stop that man in his tracks before it is too late.
      Please explain this to me as it is contradictory to the simple and natural desire to maintain one's powers and meaning in a job. Why are they doing this, these Republican cowards? Because they are afraid of being called silly schoolyard names? Because they do not want to have the great unwashed masses who boo on cue from Trump to boo their names, to laugh mean and nasty laughs at them? Because they have forgotten that they serve the people and not the other way around? Because they have lost their way, their morality.
     Even as one judge says that the Trump attempt to deny access to financial information is a none starter, Trump continues to oppose justice and legislative oversight. He openly states that to oppose him, to investigate him is equivalent to treason! He calls out the law enforcement organs of the nation to investigate all his political opponents, like the dictator he thinks he will be and already is. He orders members of his administraton, past and present to stonewall, to ignore Congressional subpoenas, basically, to stick it to the American people.
     The American people count for less and less in this administration. The numbers of deaths are being manipulated in studies of the effects of environmental pollution and disasters, all towards the end goal of further endangering the American people and indeed, the world, all so the 1%ers can fatten their wallets in their gilded worlds even as the world dies around them! 
     And the people asked to serve in this government represent the twisted and corrupt attitudes and behavior of these people, of the twisted goals of this administration. An example? Sure. Kris Kobach has given in his demands if he is to be the new immigration czar. 10 conditions. An available jet 24/7. Weekends off so he can spend time with his family and of course, the jet will fly him there! On our dimes! A staff of seven people that report only to him. Open access to the Oval Office. An office in the West Wing. To be appointed Secretary of Homeland Security by November. A security detail and  a fancy title. Wow! Such an example par excellence of the service to the people belief!!! Such nobility!
   All this as tariffs continue to strangle industries, the latest, Nike, among others. Even as another company, Dressbarn, announces the closing of all 650 stores. Think of the consequences. Thousands laid off. More stores going empty and more ghostlike malls. And the winners - the fatcat billionaire stockholders! Such is the 'booming' economy. Based on air and greed.
     But hey, here is a piece of good news. The great white sharks do not only reside in DC. They exist now in Long Island Sound, a sign that there is abundant food for them. Huh!! Is that us? As the Great White swims close to the shores off Greenwich, Connecticut! Jaws alive!  Dah de da da. Dah de da da!
     Trump believes he is above the law, untouchable in his morass of alleged crimes and misdeeds, not mattering whether they were committed pre presidency or during. Even as more and more filth is laid open to the air, he wraps his own engendered mantle of majesty and Teflon around him, content in his majesty, thriving in his misdeeds, even as the Americn Empire continues to deteriorate, feeding upon the circuses of Trump, even as the sops of bread are diminishing. The only question left is: will we wake up in time to take effective action and save our government, our country, our souls, or is it already past the midnight hour?

AND SO

    And so it is over. The latest obsession of America finished last nite, not with a bang, but with a weak uh huh. It was anti climaxit, disappointing in the beginning or rather at the moment of it happening. Yes. Jon Snow knifed Dany in the heart in the midst of a kiss - an act of heroism and sacrifice or an act of cowardice and treason? And it seemed as if the only ones who mourned were the Unsullied and the last remaining dragon whose grief was deep and dark.
    But think about the endings for there were many. Dany was turning into the worst nightmare for Westeros. She was turning into another version of her father, the Mad King. She would destroy the people of the nation, was treasonous even in her attempts to suborn the entire revolution to her own aims and goals. So Tyrion and Jon Snow took action, hard and heartbreaking action for they loved their Queen, but were not blinded by this love to the danger she posed to all.
     And so the consequences began. The nation was now leaderless. Who would reign - for there was not even any longer an Iron Throne, for the dragon had melted it in its grief and anger. And it seemed even as the old self promotions were to take place, Tyrion put a stop to it with his suggestion of Brandon the Broken, the one who truly did not want the throne but who knew it was coming his way. The Council even laughed off Sam's suggestion that maybe, just maybe, the choice of king, of ruler, should be left to the people. Hmmm. Interesting thought, that.
     And so, Sansa would now reign as the Queen of the North, following in her father's footsteps, the first martyr of the series so many years ago. Jon Snow was relegated to the backwoods of the kingdom, or rather to the frozen northern frontier, to leave civilization and a future behind - no family, no children, no contact with his curent family, just exile - and yet to serve the Kingdom. Once again he was to be sacrificed on the altar of the nation, despite the desires of Grey Worm.
     And so, so it was to be but wait. Do not go yet. Think about it. House Stark ended up on top, making up for Ned's beheading. Sansa Queen. Brandon King. Jon Snow alive and well, especially as his future became brighter when he was received with honor and welcome by all the Wildings, as he rode off with them, away from the wall, (hmmm), away from his heap of the trash of history, celebrated as their ruler, with his Direwolf beside him. The man was in triumph! A smile played on his lips. He had a future and who knows, perhaps a family.
     As for Arya, well, she is the best of the bunch. She was a little girl when she witnessed her father's cruel and treasonous death. She made her way in a cruel world beyond our understanding. She lost herself, only to find her soul again and was able to feel  the awfulness of the burning of King's Landing by Dany and her pet! She came through at the most critical moments of the fight against the Night King and Cersei, but also found herself, cleaned herself up, showed her love and loyalty to Jon Snow, and is setting off on the adventure of her young life, discovering what was there where the maps ended, the constant evolution of mankind and its knowledge, its seeking a new and better way of life, to know what was out there. (Sequel maybe?)
     So House Stark ended up sitting pretty at the end. The villains received their just dues and it seemed as if justice and common sense ruled the day. But did it? Our final scene of the Council was of Tyrion fussing with the chairs and then seeing them messed up by the Council members and then we see them bickering over the same nonsense as they jockeyed for power and prestige. And so what did they learn? Did they benefit from the knowledge so cruelly gained? I doubt it, and their new King just wheeled in and out with no emotion breaking the mask of his face.
    And so, our lessons. First, this was a great series and I "bend the knee" to George R.R. Martin for his talent, to the showrunners, the cast, the crew, and to all of us who recognized the greatness, though imperfect,of this series.
     And so, I hope we were all able to transfer the knowledge into reality, see the corrupt rulers of our day, see the necessity to defend against them and their nefarious plans for society and all mankind, against any one family gaining all the power, holding all the reins in their hot little hands. Hodor died chanting "Hold door!" and we must recognize that heroism. We, too, must hold the door against the onslaught of the dead, of the Night King and his dead cohort. We must fight against those who would keep power from the people, who seek only more power, more money, who encourage hatred for it serves their purposes quite well. We must fight against those who would consign whole segments of society to the trash barrel where they will remain unless someone needs them to serve a selfish purpose. Read this as you will and as you might for such is the power and the skill of literature and art. And so, we come to the end - but did we?

LIARING

     You might be scratching your head around now, wondering what the heck is liaring. It is a term one of my kids used to use when caught telling little fibs and it took some time to help the kid understand the difference between fiction, tales in books and on TV and the confabulations one made up to get out of trouble! I must say, it gave us many laughs even as we undertook one of the most difficult jobs a parent has - to teach a child the difference between the truth and lies, between reality and the 'reality' one made up.
     How to distinguish between Ernie and Bert and real people, even as we spoke of them and other favorite characters as if they were real? How to distinguish between the bedtime stories featuring the child in adventures that never happened and between 'liaring'? Wasn't easy, I can tell you that, but it is one of the most important life skills and traits that a parent can teach and instill in a child.
     Somehow, this trait and distinction was never installed within the Demented One and his own children seem to follow along right behind him. I have never in my life encountered such an egregious amount of liaring. What is most frightening is that these are adults who believe in their own lies, with the Demented One at a count of over 10,000 lies since inauguration!! He and his children seem to depend on a reality that is certainly liaring as they depend on Fox News and other liaring organizations, such as American Heritage Foundation, etc. for their reality.
     So when does liaring turn into something that is a sign of major character trait deficiency and even borders or crosses the borders of sanity and insanity? It it when the liar refuses to distinguish between real and fake, between reality and wishful thinking, or actually, is so deep into liaring that he cannot distinguish the difference at all. At present, there is Donald Trump in a nutshell.
     But what about those who know what he is doing but go along with it, refuse to stand up for the truth, engage in their own newfound depth of liaring, who have lost the moral will and ability to stand up for the truth? Such is the situation with the Republian party. Even as Trump pushes past the envelope, defying law and tradition, even as he pushes his agenda of hate,of government by threat, vengeance taking and punishment, even as this happens, the Republicans go right along with it even selling their own power as Congressmen right down the river, even as they sell their souls to the proverbial devil!
    Only one, Rep. Amash, seems to have the ability to discern the truth.  "the president “engaged in impeachable conduct” based on the Mueller report."  Yes, he has discovered the liaring reality and has taken a stand against it. I wish him luck, but fear for him. I worry, too, about those Party members who ignore the needs of their constituents who need the workers, you know, those migrants who actually come here, have been coming here for decades, and doing the dirty work that 'Americans' spurn - picking the fields, construction scut work, keeping the dairy farms operating, who ignore the problems caused to farmers trying to sell their crops even as the moron does a great deal of liaring in the tariff area. 
     We have the liaring as we discover almost on a daily basis that more children have been 'lost' in the filthy policy of separation of families at the borders and all over the country as parentsare dragged away. We find liaring in full bloom as the government denies this reality, as we discover that there are so many willing to do this disgusting and morally perverted work. Shades of French gendarmes in France under the Nazis,or local collaborators, the Nazis themselves. Liaring allows one to discard moral values and create a new liaring based reality. Liaring allows Pence to state with a straight face that Trump stands for the "sanctity of human life' even as he stands for murder - yes, murder at the borders - as he stands for the ruination of the globe, as he stands for the destruction of the rights of ALL people - women, LGBTQ, immigrants, children, people of color, and yes, Jews, as they face a frightening world of prejudiced and violent liaring.
     The true reality? The true moments of hope? When bikers bring over 30,000 meals to a migrant facility, a place of refuge for them. When plans were being made almost as soon as Trump threatened to punish Palm Beach and Broward Counties for not voting for him, punishing them by dumping humans like trash, within their borders, with no corresponding facilities, food, clothing, funding - nothing.
    So, yes, I would not trade the liaring of my kids and their children after them, even as we taught them the difference between liaring, true reality, and the efforts needed to distinguish between the two and even the necessary efforts to bring true reality up to par. Trump seems to have skipped over this step and his minions have jumped right into the corresponding cesspool with him, calling the reek a scent of ambrosia, denying the truths even as the animals of Animal Farm did until the disaster demanded strong steps. Hopefully, we can avoid reaching that height of liaring damage, but it is truly getting frightening out there, growing ever darker, ever lonelier, and no, Bert and Ernie or even Super Elmo cannot save the day here. We need to do a bit of liaring ourselves and then mesh that liaring with a determined campaign to remake that liaring into the reality, a reality that once was the United States of America.
    
     

BUT IT IS BROKE!

     We all know the saying:If it ain't broke - don't fix it. All fine and good, but it IS broke. The system is broken and all we are doing is extending the break, enlarging and elongating cracks, and building up the banks of anger and hate.
     Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness. So we are told, that these are the rights of all, to pursue and achieve. Yet look around today and see if that is the case. See if we are allowing it to be true or are we actually placing road blocks in the paths of those seeking the nirvana that is supposed to be America. 
     We are told the economy is blooming. Well, maybe the stock market - that is, on the days when it is not plunging due to yet another grave error by Trump. But the average American does not hold stock and if they do, it is in medioca amounts rather than the huge amounts owned by the 1%. Most of the rest of us are struggling, adapting the best we can, trying to hang on to roof, food, clothing and health care while extras have gone into the dream of it category.
     Once America made an effort to help those who needed help without making it a shame, a sin. We set up a social safety net that while it was not perfect, did a pretty good job. Yes, there were cheaters, just as there are in most programs, but the cheaters were of all types, pigmentations, ethnicities, religions- whatever category you could name. So the answer to that cheating should be to fix the system, but instead, today, under Republican domination, the answer is to cut, cut, cut. Cut the food aid. Cut the medical care. Allow drug prices to skyrocket, become out of reach for so many. Fire the cafeteria worker who allows a hungry kid to fill a tray with food and get paid for it the next day. Such a sin! To feed the hungry! Seems to me I heard somewhere that to do that is a highly regarded act in all religions so where are the hypocrites of religion in this area? Well, they are cheering on the growing hunger in growing numbers of people, men, women, children, the old, the young, the able and the disabled. Good job!
     The system is broke. Today government under Trump and Republicans and his inhumane minions is run by principles of revenge and punishment. Disagree with Trump and lose your federal funding for oh, say a high speed train, or aid to help rebuild after a devastating natural disaster, or oh, yeah, the latest one. Interesting one at that, since Florida has many people who voted for Trump, but evidently Palm Beach County and Broward County are to be punished for being too liberal maybe, and are now being told that over 1,000 migrant families are going to be flown here and dumped, yes, DUMPED, with no aid - no funds for food, clothing, shelter, education. Nothing. Every month. That will show us!!
     Our border control inside airports is way out of control, lacking manpower, for where are the people? Chasing down children and mothers with babes in arms, or dads with children on their shoulders. They are busy ripping parents from children as the kids are dropped off at school. They are taken away at courts, in hospitals, stopped on higways and asked for papers! Just look a tad different from the preferred image, just talk a little bit of a foreign language and oops! There ya' go! Wave bye-bye.
     Create a new monstrous immigration policy which settles nothing except for turning its back to our heart and soul. Only people who can pass an English test, a civics test, who have a 'skill', will be allowed in. Forget bringing over the rest of your family. Nope!! No go! And now think of your own family and perhaps even yourself. Did they or you speak English when they came over or did they learn it? Did they all have a 'skill' or did they learn one or did they set up a business, large and small, and contribute to the economy of the country? Could they pass a civics test and for that matter, could most of the current citizenry pass such a test? Nope.
     Get a job, work and pay your bills, have a roof over your head, grow a family. Once it was accepted as a norm, but how many today cannot find a job, or even if they do, cannot afford to pay the skyhigh rents, let alone purchase a house! So the homeless population grows apace and we, we just step over the bodies just lying there on the sidewalks, or sleeping on benches, huddled on heating and vent grates, picking through garbage for discarded food.
     And meanwhile we are all too busy to pay attention to the growing disaster of garbage inundating the world. Of the growth of carbon in the air and the consequences. Of the related growing refugee problem and the growth industry of hate and violence. Allow mentally damged people to control government, cheat and lie and get rewards for that by getting elected or appointed to office. Change the laws so there are people above the law. Destroy what is us!!
     Such is the broken system we now have. Such is what happens when we work with tunnel vision, narrowing the view of those we would accept into our way of life. So instead of treasuring our advances, our refusal to discriminate for orientation, for color, for religion, for gender, for different! we have turned the other way, gone backwards, taken away rights, taken away the very things our Declaration, our Constitution, our heritage state belong to us.
     The system is broke! If it ain't broke don't fix it does not apply here, for the system is broke indeed. We need to fix it and soon. Immediately! Or at least take convincing and growing steps to do so. And the first step is to look deep within our hearts and souls. You claim to be religious? Well, then be so. Remember the principles and admonitions of religion to be good people, not selfish people. Remember the principles of righteous secularism, of humanism.
     Wanted: Good people with minds, hearts, and souls with good ideas to fix us up, to  kiss the booboos and make it better. Before it is too late. Before the only way we can fix the system is by violence and we all know what violence does and leads to. Fix it up NOW!!

REALITIES

     All of us live in various realities. We have the reality of our personal world, the reality of the community we live in, and we have the reality of the worlds of politics and events. They can run separately yet also intertwine at times and we cannot neglect one for the other. That, at times, creates problems that are almost insurmountable.
     An example? The government makes rules about drugs and their costs. These rules are inadequate, to say the least. The greedy companies go crazy, cut loose from all regulations and the prices rise skyhigh, often out of the range of people who need these meds to survive. And yet, the monstrous prices continue, the government pays exorbitant fees through Medicare, productivity is lost due to improper medication, people pay huge copays, and the economy elsewhere is strangled, robbed of funds that must go to the drug companies rather than to other places. Realities colliding - and not for the common good.
     Often we find that the smaller world of community mirrors the larger outer world, and not for the good either most times. An example? We have all encountered dictatorial kinds in our lives, be it at work, in the neighborhood association, the condo board, or the elected official. Power goes to the heads of people, or rather to their lungs, for they begin to believe they are breathing rareified air that only they breathe, which gives them powers of authority beyond what is truly there.
      So today we have in CV a 'ruler' who has gone beyond the limits of power, and not for the general good either. For the past two years or so there has been a battle - keep Comcast or go to Atlantic Broadband. Numerous examples of the poor service record of AB were given. People were concerned with trading off a huge company for an upstart who appeared to be taking on far more than it could chew. Costs were presented, but now that we are in contract, it appears that these costs are escalating and having excuses. They have hired people who apparnetly are untrained and/or lacking a modicum of intelligence in answering questions about grace periods, billing, service calls and fees - supposed to be free- humph! - and now we have a major issue with the phone service connected to AB. Over and over the vote was to keep Comcast, but the petty dictator here insisted on his way, had vote after vote taken, until finally he got the assembly at a time when there were fewer delegates there - a general tactic of his - and here we are! 
     The reality now is that we are living in a world of deteriorated services, deteriorating roads, obsessive concerns with trees and flowers for a new sign, ugly lighting on trees at the entrances, and a general apathy from within, for people feel that the reins of power here are concentrated in his hot little hands and there is simply no use. He has his trained pet lapdogs in a quantity enough to keep dissenters at bay and fends off pleas and attempts at and for reform. That reality impacts on the reality of our personal world.
     Finally, we will skip the realities of local governments, also rife with overly power hungry individuals, no matter the locale, and head to DC where the worst offender is living. That is, when he is not at his posh resorts - though it seems they are facing financial issues and deteriorating in quality and appearance - hey, just like their owner!! This man, this Party, these deluded people, stole the elction and continue to steal from the American people. Yes, they have lived grand lives, many of them, using our funds to support that life. Yes, they have kowtowed to this dude in whatever he wished for or wanted. They have foregone the rule of law, thinking they and their master are above the law. 
     The members of his administration have forsworn their responsibilites, trading in the ones towards the people of the nation and instead have become the paid servants of Trump, the Demented One and they enable his demented plans, his dangerous plans. Now we have yet another situation wherein this theory of ruling by dictat, by fiat, is the way to go. He tried it with immigration. He tried it with sticking people in cages like animals. He tried it by raising the growls of hatred and violence to an audible roar. Now he is trying to do the same with a fake national emergency declaration re energy. This from the man who thinks that the only reason that wind power is no good is because it might interfere with television reception should the winds die down!!! Such is the level of ignorance, stupidity, and vileness of our nation's leader!!!
     This reality, this style of governing, this blatant spitting at the rules of our nation, leak down from the top to the bottom. People get swelled heads. People begin to think they are above the law and can make their own laws. So women once again are becoming chattels of men, with men deciding what is good and right for them and never mind the wishes and the needs of women. So carry that fetus of incest, of rape!! Carry that fetus that is doomed to die hours after birth or live for a few years as a bundle of pain and anomalies. And while we are at it, let us get rid of voting rights that were so hard fought for. Hey, what the hell!!
     We forget, people, that the reality of that desire, of those new rules of life, flow ever on, not stopping at one group. No, for they expand geometrically, everyone becomes an enemy to a paranoid ruler, rights go by the board and fear rules the land.
     All the realities intertwine, even as they attempt to run parallel. It is these realities which we must fix. It is these realities that we must contend with. It is these realities that we must battle. If we do not, if we remain apathetic, or blind to what is happening, if we think that living in our own smallest reality will keep us safe - well, think again. Quickly!! ASAP!!  STAT!! We are dangerously close to a red line which once crossed will not be so easy to erase and start a redo.
     Executive orders. Threats to allies.  Falling in 'love' with another madman. Praising a dictator steadily reducing his country's rights. Raising the tensions of the world with threats and armed forces, putting all of us on the edge of disaster that we will not return from.
     Realities demand realistic thinking. They demand courage and determination. They demand, pardon me, Marines, as I kind of borrow your slogan - "A few good men and women" to start the resistance against all these negative realities. But are they there? If so, where? Come forward, please. Please. Inspire us. Give us courage. Lead us properly. Let us be true Americans, proud Americans, once more, and thus set the world back on its own proper axis of reality.

WHAT IS THE LAW?

     Society cannot exist without a codified law, so stated or so well ingrained that it needs no codification in a formal manner. The law, in every advanced society, seeks to be just, impartial, and contain within it a spirit of the law as well. It is when the law turns dark, unjust and immoral, a conflict of legality and morality, that we come to a critical turnpoint of society. Without a proper law there can be no advancement for that society and in fact, there will be a downturn in the economy, in the living conditions and in the general society at large.
    The law is meant to improve life, yet it can also be twisted so much that it ruins life. yesterday I mentioned the Gulf of Tonkin incident which truly enmeshed us in the disaster of the Vietnam War, a disaster which nearly totally ripped us apart, and today there is mention by a commentator of the similarity between the Gulf "sabotage" and that same incident. Humph!! Too litle, too late? The "law" will be used here to further involve us in a made up situation which so help us all, could very well lead to a WWIII and the end of life as we know it. Can you just imagine the evil configuration of North Korea, Iran, Russia and China as allies against the USA - who will fight without its normal allies and will have to ally itself to Arab countries whose governments and laws are total anathema to the average citizen. Think it hardly likely? Just take a look over to the East Coast, to Washington, DC, to the Oval Office, and tell me again - what is reality, what can happen that once was unthinkable?
     So what do we do with the law. The law can be subverted covertly and overtly. When the Alabama State Legislature votes to effectively ban all abortion save some dramatic risk to the mother's life, and determines it is just oh so proper to demand that a woman carry a baby for nine months, a baby that resulted from rape and/or incest, I wish we could inflict this upon the men who voted for this and upon the women who do so as well, turning traitor to their own. And how many of these holier than thou people actually have had abortions or arranged them for others as they used their funds to make that possible? How many more women are we going to lose to back alley abortions and self attempts at abortion in desperation? How are these unwanted fetuses going to be taken care of, provided for after birth? See, no one ever takes that into account, as the same people cut the funds of the safety net, cut funds for food, for housing even as they demand their cruel and unjust and immoral laws be obeyed. And add the topping of threatening to put the doctors who do the right thing into prison for life!! Yup, just adds to the developing crisis of enough doctors by jailing those who are compassionate and know the difference between legality and morality.
     Covertly, we have a huge developing crisis that will remain with us long after the Demented One and his allies are out of office - may that day come soon! Using the stooges of the Senate, Trump and his minions are pushing through incompetent, biased, hate filled, backward thinking losers as judges, enough so that we have over 130 of these dangerous incompetents who will fill the benches for at least two decades and more are coming down the line.
     The law said we had to return the 'property' of the person of the slave to their owners. The law said that Jews were not human, hence had to be turned in to authorities when found and used as fodder for the maws of Nazi Germany. The law said there are to be no abortions. The law said that birth control was illegal. The law said it was okay to hang a twelve year old for the horrendous crime of stealing a loaf of bread due to ravaging hunger.
     A character stated famously that "the law is an ass". Yes, and no. There are dumb laws that have remained on the books for too long. And there are dangerous laws that are being revived and once again placed on the books. It is now okay to arrest a person for the crime of giving water and food, aid, to an illegal immigrant found in the desert or on the road. It is now legal to rip families apart, to keep people right here in America in secret holding jails, no one allowed to know where they are or what is happening to them. It is now okay to 'lose' children. It is now okay to throw people in makeshift cages under highways, to deny medical care to children, thus allowing them to die.
     What is the law and what is it meant to do and be? What do we do when the law is unjust, is immoral, threatening our physical safety as well as our immortal soul, our sense of decency? It is called civil rebellion. It is called activism. It is called decency. It is called compassion. It is called the right thing to do.
     We are going to have to make a choice very soon, within the next year and a half. Do we get off this road back to barbarity, to cruelty, to unjust laws, dangerous laws, or do we remain cowering in our rooms, afraid to speak out, living in a dark and hateful and hatefilled society?
     The proper answer to the question of 'what is the law' remains in jeopardy. We, the people, have to choose. We, the people, have to decide if we are going to turn 'property' back, be it one race, ethnicity or gender, or are we going to run that Railroad again? Or even better, how can we avert this unjust and immoral yet legal state of being? We had better find the answer to that question and many others real soon. We had better make up our minds and know what we choose carefully, fully understanding the consequences. Once again and as for always, the choice is ours,the decision is ours, the need to act is ours. So......

HERE BE DRAGONS

     Centuries ago people were afraid to sail too far from the coast lest they reach the end of the world and fall off, into the mouths and hands and claws of the monsters and dragons that awaited them. Yet there were brave and intrepid souls who dared the 'wisdom' of the day and who challenged the common thoughts of the time. Through them mankind made progress, opened up lanes of exchange and ever increasing and growing boundaries provided mankind with the resources to advance.
     Today, I think we need to redraw some of our maps, for indeed, here be dragons! We have reached the ends of the world, the cliff edges of the earth, in our mad rush to nowhere or to where exactly? No one seems to know  the answer to that question even as more questions arise.
     George R. R. Martin has been accused of hiding the fact that he has written and completed Books 6 and 7 of the Fire and Ice saga - winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. He vehemently denies that, claiming that he has not even finished Book 6, the story is still mired in Winter and Spring has no hopes nor dreams yet. I believe that that is an accurate description of the state of mankind right now.
     Need a crazy ruler a la Caligula or the Mad King? Simply look around today and take your pick. There are plenty to go around, including the Mad President, otherwise known as the Demented One. Crazy rumors, lies disguised as facts? Hey, no problem, so here a few for you. A la the Bay of Tonkin with North Vietnam where an attack never actually happened, we now have a supposed sabotage on four tankers in the Gulf, yet satellite picutes show no major damage to these ships so...sabotage? Worthy of saber rattling? Worthy of getting us and the world mired in decisons and actions that will lead to death rattles, the death of the world as we know it? Where are we going and what the hell are we doing? 
     We have insane threats and actions being taken, The Demented One is reviewing plans for war with Iran so here we go again? He swore that he would end entanglements and yet we are entangled even more, our soldiers are spread around , including on our border with Mexico where they are not supposed to be. We are welcoming dictators to the White House, a la Orban from Hungary, and all I hear now is the ticking of that Doomsday Clock, the ever growing fear and possiblity of Apocolypse. And no, not the zombies, but us - we will have allowed this to happen. Us. No one else.
     We have leaders of the world, including our own, who refuse to recognize the rule of law, deeming themselves above it all. The laws of the country, of mankind, do not apply to them. Just ask them and they will assure you of that ugly fact! Trump interferes with everything and everyone. The Judge is asked not to fast track the court case involving his tax returns, following his lifelong habit of using the courts to delay his comeuppance. The Supreme Court has begun to overturn precedent, very dnagerous tactic and behavior. Haters and misogynists are screaming how we need to return to the past, they should be able to harass women and minorities and indeed anyone who displeases them, and screw the world!! The very atmosphere reeks of the era of the Nazis but we all do nothing.
    We have protectionists bringing us to that dangerous edge of the seas. We have China holding our Treasury Bonds and these tariff disasters will seem like child's play should the Chinese sell our Treasury Bonds. The world is so crazy that our enemy truly owns us even as Trump screeches out his threats to them from his bloated mouth and sick mind. Even as the Republicans lay down and let him walk all over themselves, having lost any slightest remnant of courage, of morality, of sense, as they allow themselves to be turned into jokes, terrible tragic jokes. And we, the people, are the butt of these jokes, the receiving ends, you might say.
     So where can we find hope? Perhaps in the children, the teens, the toddlers who have the sense to recognize wrong when they see it. They are the ones who are standing up against dangerous lack of gun control. They are the ones who will refuse to turn against humanity and join Trump's own stormtroopers who grab up children, separate families and throw people into cages! They are the ones who have the brains to call 911 when they are left in a broiling car. They are the ones with the knowledge to pull us back from the jaws of those waiting dragons.
     No, people, we do not have to wait till next week to understand the ends of the world. We do not need to think that there is a gap between the reality of the world and the reality of Westeros, for there we see the consequences of mad rulers, a la Caligula, a la Trump, who make the decisions to take revenge for imagined misdeeds, who think they can do whatever they wish, whenever they wish to whomever they target.
     Winter has long been coming here on and to Earth and is now in full bloom. Will we allow the riders of these dragons to turn into monsters that rival these very same dragons or will we have the brains to step forward? Will we continue to swear allegiance to dangerously turned leaders, or will we have the courage to do what we must, to turn away from spoiled loyalties and stand up to protect our own. Will we? Or will we return to the edges of the world, look at those monsters awaiting us with hungry and growling stomaches and refuse to do what we must, turn away from the hopes and dreams of Spring and lose ourselves and the world even as we stand there and do nothing or too little.
     Our own Game of Thrones. Whodda' thunk!!