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     Seems to me that if a man or woman, dressed in a long, possibly tattered, white caftan, with raggedy hair and smears of ash on the sackcloth, appeared in our streets and proclaimed the wrath of the Lord, well,I believe many of us would now give this person a second and third look and listen to the words spoken very carefully.
     The showcase of the world, the nation to emulate, the country that made mistakes, but knew that it had to improve, this same country now has become the repository of examples par excellence of the wrong way to go, the worst things to do, the path towards inhumanity.
     Worst of all is that there appears to be no end to this blight, no ceasing of the murderous, yes, murderous, plans that come out of DC from that now blackened White House, blackened with the guilty soul and henchmen that reside and/or work within. Some might even smell the rank odor and reek of sulphorous fumes.
     Think we can say that we are immune from this, for we have railed against this from the beginning and ever afterwards? The answer is no, a most emphatic no, and the images that this regime has promulgated are eating into all our souls, hence the now believable former 'nutjob' that we would have dismissed!
     This regime, and yes, regime, for administration implies a rule of law and order, a moral rule, with care for others, with attempts to better the lot of the citizen, with reachouts to the rest of the world, with an appreciation of and an willingness to accept its role in this world.
     Instead, we have a cruel and hateful regime, a would be dictator who loves to promulgate one executive order after another, each and every one with homicidal results. Yes, homicidal, for each and every one leads to further weakening and pollution of the earth's atmosphere, now methane being the latest one to be allowed no holds barred, and people are dying from these polluted waters and air. Children are developing cancers where there should be none.
     Children and families, adults, are going hungry, huge food insecurity hitting the population, with concurrent homeless populations that are growing exponentially. These are the ignored, the losers in an economy and world view, an American view of the times, that denigrates people, that marks them of no value and disposable. These are the images that should eat away at any repose we have, at our dreams at night and in our eyesight in daylight. These are images that had been improving but here we are again.
     And there are worse images, and here we are certainly all culpable, accessories before and after the fact. We are killing people and ICE and BP are our designated representatives as they chase down fearful, frightened, traumatized people, no never mind if they are new to the quest for asylum, for safety, for hope, or have been living here for years, raising American children, working, contributing, filling needs of our economy, but now, well go ask that Demented One, that conspirer of murder! Why is he doing this? Why? Worse and more horrifying than that is the fact that there are so many who applaud these cruel acts, feel these lives are of no value, are subhuman in value, and that there are so many willing to be the chasers, the prey hunters, the captors and guards of these oh so dangerous people and fearsome children, for so dangerous are these children that they must be separated and watched over as they lay moldering and dying, yes, dying, in cold and cruel cells and cages. These images should be etched with acid in our minds and in our very souls.
     If that is not enough to make the bile rise in your throat, then think of this. Countries often make exceptions for medical needs, healing and helping and in turn, being helped by these medically impaired people as they participate in clinical trials, lead the way for others, for 'Americans', along a healing path and simply for the sake of doing the right thing. The arch enemies  of Israel are allowed into their top hospitals. Palestinians are welcomed into Israeli hospitals all the time. They receive tranplants, medication, equipment, but today, today we are told that there is no room for these needy people here in America. Nope, for they now have 33 days in which to get the hell out of here,and never mind the fact of their contributions, nor the fact that they will die. Die. Period. And we are allowing this. We are allowing the death of so many. Those images should eat away at any peace we have.
     And all the while the seemingly crazed self proclaimed prophet of the Lord is warning us, telling us off, drawing a vivid and heartrending, frightening set of images of where we have gone wrong and where that will lead. The prophet stands among the Naked Cowboy, the character impersonators, the crowds of Times Square, and we forget that at times the truth appears in weird ways and we must be open to it. Can you not see the ridiculous blustery figure of Trump right here among the residents of Times Square, his bubble busted? But if one cannot accept prophets and messengers of the Lord in these times, and I fully understand that, then heed the proof of your eyes and ears. Hear the sickening sounds emanating from your soul. Heed the warnings and pleas of a right thinking mind. Feel the images and even get out there and see the result of the murderous, imposed upon us heartbreaking and homicidal rules and changes. Stand by the border bridges and watch the pitiful parade sent back, to doom, to eternal waiting, and it is on us, folks. Imagine where you would be - if anywhere at all -if your ancestors had been turned away at the gate or residency disallowed? Think, for legality means nothing here today as people are stripped of legitimate rights, due process ignored, just trashed, like yesterday's supper remnants.
     Images of hate and horror. Images of things to come, worse things. Images of a land which eats its inhabitants. Images that should not be. And images of giant scales and mini scales, weighing mankind and individuals, and found wanting. I, for one, do not want to be included in that image. Do you?

SO...............

     So what the heck is going on in this mad, mad world of ours. Truly, it spins more and more frenetically and as another title goes - Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. But...... not possible, is it, unless one is an astronaut, so we need to pay more attention to our surroundings.
     So, what is going on? A whole lot, as I see it, a great deal of scary stuff, aggravating stuff, but also some good things, though in today's world the good is often covered over by the muck of the bad. 
      So, Sasha Barak is attending University of Michigan, a boost to the college, chosen over Ivies, and we wish her well. Now let her alone so she can be a college student, not a celebrity.
     So, football is undergoing another examination of its soul and values and how to proceed safely and responsibly, yet be profitable as well. Helmets, mouthpieces, concussions, body pain, crowd pleasing tactics and lots of money for colleges. What will prevail? If up to me, I would cancel it out as too dangerous and too much certainty of bodily harm. Not worth it. There are other versions and other sports.
     So, Selma Blair added more to her heroic battle with MS, bad disease. Part of me hangs in there with her, for I know the battles faced with a body that has turned renegade on one. I wish her well. But, with the next so.... we see hope for a future.
     So......some students, - students - have developed an experimental drug which crosses the blood-brain barrier and can hopefully cure one of the worst of brain cancers - glioblastoma. Wow! What is even better, is that this would open the pathways for more drugs for other neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, PD, so many. And by students! But....many years of testing to go. Hurry it up, please! 
     So, it seems that only some of our service people in our armed forces are worthy of having contributions recognized and appreciated as their children are accorded citizenship. Nope, evidently not good enough for the Demented One so filled with hatred that he cannot see past his nose, or rather, his bloated self. Hmmm, wonder if that new drug would be of any use here? Just sayin', just askin', only good intentions in mind. So we are told that it will affect not so many, but who can believe this administration and its spokespeople, their intentions and the virulence of their hatred of 'the other'. Who the hell will want to serve if we screw them royal? There are so many who have worked for the forces or governmental agencies, but why will they now? Yet another way to brain drain our country. Good going there, Donald.
     So, oh yeah, not to worry if you commit crimes, for a pardon is awaiting  you from that good old boy, the Donald, that is, if you are doing his bidding. Hmmm, wonder what the charge is for recruiting people to break the law? Conspiracy? RICO? A girl can dream, can she not? Ahhhhhhh
     So, O'Donnell makes a booboo and accused Trump of having his Deutsch Bank loans co- signed by Russian oligarchs. Believeable, but evidently, not two times or two sources corroborated. So O'Donnell apologizes for mentioning them, but notice - not for the truth of them and it is quite clear he believes the accusation is true, but does not have the two source verification. Hey, here is an idea that might work. Tell the apoplectic Trump to open his financial books, documents and records and definitively prove the falsehood - or can he not do that because...... Well, you fill in the blanks; I already have - long ago at that!
     So, same old, same old. It seems that the fatcats and bigshots of the UAW have taken the hard earned funds of the workers and lived jolly old lives with them. Nothing ever changes, does it? Will it ever? Certainly not in this amoral world of ours. Not when our ostensible leader is a morally deficient one himself with so much financial gray shadows over him that he is a walking rain storm himself! Such lovely role models we are providing for our children. Oh, be proud, so proud!!
     So, but then again, if one has money one can then spend lots of it on twisted ads that oppose someone you are angry with. Of course, great thinking, forgetting where else that $500,000 could have been spent, what conditions it might have ameliorated but nope, much better to drop more poison into the mix. Yup! At least it pumps some money into the economy! Huh!
     So, so, at least it seems there are rats deserting the Republican ship, figuring out that if they are so cowardly that they cannot oppose this illegitimate president of ours, or rather, theirs, then they will just leave and fix that personal mess. Good for the Democrats, for that leaves open the possibility of regaining the Senate. Wow!!! But, be careful about the Democrats chosen to run, for we need no more of the extreme end, the ones who also chatter with hatred and enmity and doing that from the left does not make it any more palatable to the targets of that hatred.
     So, what to do now? Go prepare for the scariest hurricane ever, about to hit Florida over the weekend and into Monday. Hmmmm, Wall vs. All takes on an even more frighening relevance now, does it not?
      So......., so......... go figure it out. I cannot.
   

WALL VS. ALL

     There you have it. It is the wall vs. all in the weird and upside down Trumpian world. There in dystopia nothing matters other than the dictats of the strange dude at the top of the pyramid and all else bows before it. All and everyone.
     It is hurricane season once again and it appears that a bad one, lots of flooding rain, is approaching American territory. Puerto Rico, which for some reason did not think that paper towel rolls were sufficient aid and poor and even illegal contracts for disaster repair just fine, is in the path again. So is south Florida and let me tell you, the aftermath of hurricanes are awful, no matter how many generators are around. The mess, the outages, the losses, the fear, the damage, the fright down to the bone - nothing ameliorates this. Nothing.
     Of course, knowing that aid, responsible and useful aid will be forthcoming, should help somewhat. But, the big but, is it coming? There is apparently another demanding event happening and that seems to be taking precedence - in manpower and in funding and attention. What is it, you might ask, curious as to what takes precedence over a disaster to American citizens right here in America? Why the Wall of course. That accursed Wall that stands for everything that is wrong and has gone wrong in this, our country.
     Once there was a Berlin Wall, imprisoning the people of East Berlin, and the night it fell, literally being pulled apart by the hands of the crowds demanding open land, democracy, union of their country, was truly amazing. It was a monumental event in the history of mankind and a signal to all would be dictators that there is always a seed of hope ,even in the most downtrodden, always that grasping for hope, for life. The inmates of Auschwitz blew up the crematoria. The inmates of Sobibor had a breakout. The Warsaw Ghetto held off the Nazis longer than countries had manged to do. Slaves rebelled time and time again for centuries, wherever they were. And the frightened, yet hopeful and determined refugees from Central America, from Cuba, from countries in South America and Asia and Africa that are in pieces, to other countries on the borders - they will not be denied other. Denying them is denying one of mankind's most basic needs and hopes. The simple wish to live free and safe,to raise a family, to have a future and one for the children. 
     Yet today, in America, there is something very wrong. FEMA money that should be waiting to be spent on aid in this dangerous season is being transferred over to ICE and to building more cells and buildings to incarcerate more refugees, more would be contributors to our country, more labor that our industries are begging for, that our rocky economy needs. More room to separate and hold families, to doom children to damaged presents and futures. More chances to prove that we here in this country have lost our way.
     Builders have been told to seize the land. Administration people have been told not to worry about any crimes they commit in this frenzied and immoral campaign for they will be pardoned. Okaying lawlessness, a terrible standard that we are setting, or have already set. Private land - taken, robbed. Black walls surrounding us, actually imprisoning us, ruining more of our environment, but nothing else matters. Build that damned Wall. Build and destroy America. That is it in four words - build and destroy America.
     Oh, and let us not forget the importance of crowd size, for the ego needs feeding. Let us not forget the necessity to bring out the schoolyard bully to demonstrate his dementia, his incompetence and his hateful nature that he inspires in others as well.  A Wall conceived in the depths of muck and mire of prejudice and madness, raised to encircle us with Blackness of the soul reflected off that Black Wall and a loss of America, of us. And yup, those of us in the path of the hurricanes, well, maybe we should build our own walls, blocking that madman and his minions out of our land before he seizes that too! And spend our funds on true needs- FEMA, voting rights, social safety needs, defense , infrastructure, education, environmental protection and repair. Sounds familiar, so why does that Demented One not do the right thing - do what is needed or resign!! Take down the walls that have divided our country, that have ruined our unity, that has created a dangerous situation for us and for the world. Why the hell not?!
     

TIPPED YET?

     Okay, so the other nite we received a bill for the meal, high,but worth it, but what struck us was the suggested tip. Good service means a good tip, or it should, but this was a bit high, unless somewhere along the line things changed and no one told me. Used to be double the tax. Then suggestions of from 10 to 15 or 18 percent. Then upped again, but 1/3? Really?  So on a bill of $150 one should leave a tip of $50? Sorry, guys, way too much, I believe. Yes, most of your earnings are tips, but our earnings will soon enough tell us no more eating out if the tip rate keeps climbing like that. Tipping has tipped.
     Sadly enough, I believe that the world already has or is in the midst of a full tip. Years ago I read a book called The HAB Theory. It has stayed with me ever since as the theory was that every so many millennia, the world turned, the poles shifting. Treasures of the world were rushed to Africa, for other continents would be mostly underwater. Catastrophic events took place, and as ususal, there were deniers of the truth.
     Now I read that at least one pole has moved. We know they are melting. We know the oceans and great bodies of water are washing our lands and on the other hand there are huge areas of drought and increasing desertification. The weather is nuts, to put it bluntly and meanwhile, even as scientists shout about what is happening, the pet scientists, such as those found by Trump and other perpetually selfish and blind people, are fighting the facts. Water and food shortages are growing, but just ignore it is the policy, evidently.
     The air and the oceans are polluted. We have managed to set about on a successful path, unfortunately, to even ruin what should be the vast and permanent resort of final necessity. We have dug up the earth for its minerals, even as  these same minerals pollute it further. We ignore the damage that old and unnecessary infrastructure has done and continues to do. We have been warned over and over again that within the next two decades we will be quite sorry for our misdeeds lo these many a century. And for the piece de resisance, our lungs, the very precious gift we have had and been taking advantage of, the glorious rainforest of the Amazon, that which helps our tortured and abused air renew itself, helps the earth breathe so we the humans on it and the animals on it, can breathe - well, screw that, it seems. We have been burning it for decades, for centuries. We have ignored its still unknown and unplumbed depths of possibilities. We have abused it, and now - it is burning!! And nothing has stopped it and it seems no one cares to take the necessary steps to stop it, enmeshedand mired in politics.
     Well, screw politics. Scientists around the world are telling us that we may have just achieved a dubious goal. We might just have reached the tipping point. No, I do not think the world will turn upside down or shift like that, but it will be destroyed, a lesson for any surviving generations, blasted back into the Stone Age and certainly for explorers of this and other universes.
      And what do we do? We nip at each other. We curse and challenge each other. We bicker and do not achieve anything other than say, increasing the radiation in the world as Putin has a nuclear energy center blow up and we test more nuclear missiles. We achieve nothing other than to move up the date of the tipping point.
     This same idiotic willful blindness and stupidity, this deafness, this refusal to heed the warnings, echo in the political world as well, particularly right here in the good old USA. How much more absolute and outright lies and weird statements must we endure until someone, somebody, some political body, takes care of this problem. We have the means, but we have not the will, certainly, it seems, not the moral courage that the Senate needs to convict in an impeachment.
     As people willfully and stupidly turn away from the truth about Trump, his glaring deficiencies, his growing dementia and the rage that comes along with it, we grow ever deeper in the hole, to drowning in that swamp or - closer to the tipping point. As we head ever closer to the tipping point here in the country, as we watch it dissolve into a group of warring factions, as the rest of the world begins to ignore us, as we eat away at our own economic and political foundations - many of us hear and fear the tipping point. Will we indeed fall into a Civil War II even as the fight would be about ever decreasing chances of a good future for us and for all mankind or will we do something? What? Above my pay grade, but not above my thinking and realization grade and where the hell are the rest of us? I do know one thing for sure though - the first step is to clean sweep the government, get back the professionals who know the world. Get rid of the cheaters, the liars, the fatcats, the spoilers, the greedy, the thieves of the present administration and especially Trump himself. Just as the owners of apartments in the present Trump Hotel and Tower want his name off the Tower part as it is not his, we, too, want his name off the list of Presidents, marked as an aberration of the United States that almost destroyed itself and the world. 
     We have the political means wherein to follow the process. But do we have the moral means to do it? Sooner or later it will need to be done or truly, yet another tipping point will have been reached. We already are hanging on to the railing as the world tilts erratically beneath our feet. Time, folks, time to tip the scales of life and justice and normality. A good tipping point if done properly and soon.

HIT WITH A BANG!!

          And so it hits, the conclusions and/or events that cannot be denied, even if one tries to do so. There is only so much that one can fool oneself and after that comes pure denial, as futile as that might be. Better to accept, think and plan.But hard, so hard to do, especially when the road ahead is filled with ruts and cracks, floodwaters and fright. It demands a level of courage and determination that is not so easy to attain and retain.
     Right now I am not addressing the existential realpolitik threat that we face here; that will come a bit later on, for right now I am referring to a realization that hate it as much as I do, I must accept the fact that my level of physcal ability and carefreeness has deteriorated and hateful as it is, I must accept and attack and approach properly.
     I fell again. Again I am filled with additional aches and pains, cuts and bruises and there was no one at fault other than me and my ignoring certain new facts of life. Though I desire to run at times, even slowly, I cannot, or rather, I should not. I did so yesterday and fell. Wham!!! The feet simply do not lift as high as they need to, an action of their own will, I might say, and that is what I must accept. Exercise, work, exercise and determination - yes, - but understanding that there are things that must be moderated, certainly if I am to avoid serious injury. Not an easy concept to internalize.
     I hope yesterday also hit many others with a bang. Nope, not PD. Do not wish that on anyone. I am referring to the political hits that just came merrily along, all attached to the corpulent bloated body of Trump and his bewildered mess of a demented brain, something that happens to some, but this man and his minions refuse to accept and deal accordingly.
     Yes, tariffs on china.
     No, I regret it.
     The US and China are talking, on good terms.
     I regret that tariffs were not made higher.
     The press is at fault for the faltering economy.
     The Fed and its head are at fault on the economy. The head is a worse enemy of the US than Xi.
     The media is ruining the free press.
     A new announced campaign to attack all opposition reporters, journalists of all categories and their families and any person working for opposition ( as he feels it rates the title) in any capacity. Horrible!!!!!
     Big Brother is now digging in your lives.
     Nuke hurricanes!!!!!! I guess  screw the people of the many islands out there and Florida, since many a hurricane is poised over our skies. What's a little radiation between friends, right?
     Weinstein, Steve King, and the list goes on, but the chief pervert of the nation who openly boasted of his perversions and his perverse attitude towards women - nope, still free.
     The Chosen One proclaims his attachment toward Israel even as he throws it under the bus with age old canards of disloyalty and calls Israel the home of American Jews. Really?
      Embraces the "fine people" in the white supremacy movement.
      Declares war on frightened, poverty stricken, running for their lives, not giving up hope, refugees, fighting oh so bravely against these terifying people and their awesomely scary children!!!!!
     Encouraging the inhumanity of the guards, of BP and of ICE, and praising them for it. Scary!!!!
     Openly declares wish and "need" of the country to have him lead it into the future, as his term should be lengthened and term limits abnegated.
Oy vey at that thought.
     The most frightening of all - the power of self delusion, of self denial, of refusing to accept the facts, of Americans still supporting this man, the laughing stock of the world and the terror of the world as our existential threats are increasing , very nicely, I must say, with his help.
     The cowardice of the Republican Party in their acceptance of him, of their refusal to do the right thing, the only consistency of their current lives being the moral vacuum they now espouse.
     Refusal to implement better gun control and bowing to the NRA. Remember, we once had these controls, but they lapsed because ....you can fill in that blank!!
     The turmoil in the world, the backbiting, the fighting amongst the leaders, the threats, the renewed nuclear competition and testing, the rise of a virulent pustule of anti Semitism, risen from the miasma of the swamp - on left and right, for on that they agree!!! Lucky us!
     The apparent abandonment of the brave people of Hong Kong and the threat of violence and armed forces entering the fray.
     All this and more, from your favorite Trump channel. All this tieing back to him and his nefarious plans, his dementia, his nasty character and his sheer inability to govern or even think normally in a straight line!! Up with the hate. Up with the dissension. Up with the fault of others. Up with the oppression of those who oppose. 
     On the converse - down with the  USA. Down with our democracy. Down with a cooperative world as we battle our same problems. Down with any sense at all and I guess hooray for us as the lungs of the world, the Amazon, burns.
     All this and more, brought to you by the Trump Campaign and approved by the head honcho himself. Are we lucky or what?
       Hit with a bang yet? Need another? Just wait two minutes and there should be a few more coming down the pike. More bangs for the buck, I guess.   
                  BANG!!!!!!! 
     

WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO?

     Why is Romeo so named? Not that name, actually, but his last name - Montague - which warns of the feud with the family of Juliet -Capulet. So why is Romeo a Montague? Because we cannot pick our families. We are who we are, and the point is, can we remain proud of who we are, loyal to who we are, or do we give in to other determinants, ugly ones, and become, as we heard yesterday, yet another sobriquet for the Demented One, a figurative kin of "the Mad King George", he who lost the American colonies for England in an unprecedented successful rebellion of a colony against the mother country. Yeah, that was us if you can recall our history, but is that who we are right now? Have we lost our name and status, an example to the hopeful, in the process of accepting another, becoming a colony again, ruled by the man with many names and none of them good at that! Who are we and better yet, who is the one who has placed us in a perilous existential threat?

Are we to go up in ashes, along with our lungs, the Amazon forest?
     Cindy McCain calls for a return to civility in American life, particularly politics, which has indeed devolved into a pack of snarling curs on the one side - just look at the faces and the words of Republican figures in public forums - and a Democratic Party on the other that has also seemingly lost  some of its moral strength and courage as it appears to defend haters in their own party as they condemn their racism in a weak and watered down resolution. Can we do this, a return to civility, a combination of past and future ideals? Can we fix ourselves as the Romeo who does not care about one's last name, the Juliet who sees the goodness in all, rather than judging and limiting by name? The doubts and the hopes weigh equally heavy in the air.
     Don Diego or Zorro? Or a combination of both? The courage of the Freedom Riders or the weakness and nastiness of our present day politicians, and yes, I know there are some who are good, but like Diogenes, one must search long and carefully in the intimidating dark. Will we tolerate a self proclaimed "Chosen One", return to the days of yesteryear which were really not so good in all, but yes, in some, or will we become the alchemists of the world, taking the best of what we have, mixing it with the hopes and yearnings we have, spicing it with the courage we need to go forth in this not so brave world, turning all into gold, a bright and shining gold which is pure, no dross, no lead to sour the shining mix. Only goodness and a willingness to try once again, to welcome all who feel the same way, no matter the name, no matter the color, no matter the orientation, no matter the ethnicity, no matter anything, other than the recognition that we are ONE. We live or die together on this planet, whether we like it or not.
     I am real tired of a world where we have the government!!! arguing in court that sex discrimination is not protected against under the Constitution, and by the way, that also means that the deputy who said he cannot train a female deputy because it is against his religion - well, follow the broken yellow brick road on that one!
     I am tired of a world, a country, a people, who feel that it is not only okay, but preferential, that we throw children in cages, that we abuse their parents, that we cause huge shivers in industries of agriculture, of food production, of hospitality, of small stores, of fresh blood in the professions, and revel as present day Nazi like guards do this job, hunt people down in the night, creating our own nacht und nebel, much to our shame, who claim they are only taking orders, doing their jobs, - uh huh! I am tired of the lies, of the hopelessness, of the grayness which is beginning to engulf the world.
     I am tired of a world where once again we all are testing and showing off new nuclear missiles and weapons, taunting others with them, watching nervously, dreading the finger of whichever madman uses it to push the button, and trust me, we have many madmen in power across the globe, including our own home grown one! I am tired of a country which allows its leader, its illegitimate one at that, to co -opt the armed forces, against our Constitution by the way, and, in his own way, aided by other awful people, take apart our government, flush the good down the toilet, and make a farce of our three branch checks and balances system. 
     A character in a novel wrote such:
"What I have to do now is that which is not easy. That which I most fear. If I keep accommodating my fears, I can only move in reverse....the past is a fortress that cannot be stormed."
     Hence, my friends, we need to take that which still exists in the present, the good of the past, not return to the past, and move on to build the future. And just as an aside, the best way to do that is to get an experienced person in office, as President, to move us along to where we need to be, and not rely on old and faltering, perhaps even mad, old men , like Trump, or failing men, like Biden. The world is too precarious a place to trust in such men, though I must admit, I would rather have a leaky memory of a Biden way over the choice of a demented and mean man, one who is selfish, a destroyer, rather than a builder.
     And just as an addendum, if one reads David's personal blog, right here in CV, one sees the same machinations. A blog purporting to be private but used as a semiofficial outlet for Village news and doings, edited to protect its blogmeister, censored in who is allowed to post, particularly opponents or those who think otherwise, is once again pushing for his reelection for a sixth term, an outcome possible only after he changed the rules for term limits, and wrapped the reins tightly around his hands. Our finances are shot, our financial outlooks with reserves fall short of covering what will need to be done, the hired Treasurer turns out to be a sweet young man but woefully inexperienced or professional enough to aid us, and appears to be under the thumb of David and Ed Black, who both just about bankrupted us several years ago. At that time we had Dorothy Tetro who pulled the nuts out of the fire, but she is gone now. It is time for new blood here, for 'younger' people, for new ideas, for fresh air, to enter into the administration of UCO and do what must be done before we are subjected to another horrocious duplicate of the present Millenium Agreement. We do not need to bend over once again to Levy et al. We should have done this long ago, but this UCO is overwhelmed and undermanned.
     Sweeping the offices across the country and right here in theVillage. That needs to be done. Past work should be recognized but the time to go also needs to be recognized. We are sadly negligent in that area. Much to our detriment.
     Wherefore are we anything? We are that which we make of ourselves. Mirror time, folks, and choices. It is time.

MEMORIES

     There are times when one must put aside the woes and troubles that beset us and turn to memories, happy, sad, and mixed. It is what keeps our connections firm and strong to our history and to our sanity. And at times these memories seem to conspire to melt one altogether in a perfect storm of their own kind.
     Yesterday and today seem to be the days of memories in a perfect storm in my case. In Parkinsons there is often a time called "off". It is when, through no wish of the person at all, there can be a cloud which seems to hang around. Moods are grayed and there is often an accompanying physical side as well. No one's fault - just happens. So one tries to work through it and hopefully, the mood begins to lighten.
     Just as I thought I could see light at the end of the tunnel, I get 25 photos of a house in the midst of destruction. Alarmed at first, I thought something had happened near my daughter, but after perusing them all, I realized that this was the home of my parents, my childhood and much of my life as a grownup. The same for the grandchildren who used to visit there often, able to walk there without a problem.
     The house had been sold by my brother, but there in the destroyed rooms I grew up in, in the remnants of my memories, I grew sad again. I imagined my parens watching from above, my mom crying, my dad contemplative. They were young when they bought this house and I can remember my dad taking me to see the house and another one and voice my opinion. I was honored. And they were so happy and proud of their signal achievement.
     We all built memories there, adults and children. Funny, sad, musings, whatever, but were they now gone along with the physical plant? My  parents have been gone since 2005 and 2012 but yet they are still here, in my heart and mind, in the minds of my children and their children as they were lucky enough to have known and loved them and been loved by them. These memories will remain in the family lore.
     Then today. I realized the date and here we go again. Aug. 23. My parents' wedding anniversary, a union of souls, hearts and minds. A true match made in heaven and their love was clear to all.  Then another anniversary on this date. Gerry and I got engaged on this day in honor of their anniversary and I can still see their faces as we surprised them, along with Gerry's parents who were also there. Another beautiful couple. The memories were wonderful, added to by the next day's office celebration. I was working there for the summer, and then half time for the year.  
     Good memories. Happy ones, sometimes tinged with sadness. Memories that tie us to the past, to the chain of family ancestors, to our history as a Jewish chain which has kept its identity throughout the ages. Memories to keep us strong in times of need and unhappiness.
     So today I put aside the woes of the world, the woes of our country and just keep smiling and thinking and loving all that has gone on in my life and all that it has engendered, good, bad, sad - all, for that is the family treasury of memories.
     May all your memories be good ones, warm ones, and may you always build new ones. Share them with your kids and keep the family chain an ongoing process, a good one.
      

RENDER UNTO CAESAR? HELL, NOO!!!!!!!

     Well, folks, good morning from another time zone and what feels like an apple turnover of a world, where nothing is as it should be any longer. Do you feel the crunch of those damned wheels? Do you feel the growing anger of the masses of Americans as the most preposterous and dangerous statements come out of that demented mouth? Are you frightened? Well, you damn sure should be!
     I wrote of this before, how this Demented One was turning into a Caligula, insane, mad for power and  a steamroller over anything and everything in its path. I have screamed loud, long and strong, how this man's end goal is the same as that of Hitler and any other demented strongman . His insanity, the same kind and level as that of Hitler, he imagines himself as a genius, while he is actually a geni-ass and believes that his whims, his thoughts, his desires and his plans ought to be immediately recognized as the words of genius and immediately implemented.
    We need to stop laughing at this dictator wannabe. We need to understand his end goals. They are beginning to come out from behind his wizard curtain, as his membership in the wicked wizards' world becomes clearer and clearer.
      The lies. The lies. My head and your heads should be reeling from them and the importance of them. They expose his megalomania and his impacted narrowed vision. He says to a gathering of vets that he thought of granting himself the Medal of Honor?! For what? For having bone spurs? For being a physical coward and bully? For braving the dangers of a fast food diet? Any day now I expect him to come out to the Rose Garden or the Lawn wearing a dedecked and bedazzled uniform of a general in the US Army. Think not?
      Okay. The man wants to buy a country. Insane at the very outset, but even more, he misunderstands their political alliance with Denmark and demands that Denmark sell Greenland to him, and when they do not, of course, he cancels a meeting with them, a long and sturdy ally of us. Even at the same moment he is pushing for the reinclusion of Putin's Russia into G7 to become G8. Damn!! Why do people not open their eyes to the danger of this man? Why?
     Not there yet? Take yesterday's flight when someone was listening to a compilation of Trump's speeches. Their nonsensical content and remarks contained within, well, I just had to turn around and ask if they actually believed those words and they burst out laughing, as did others. Yes, the man is an idiot, we laugh at him, but if we do not step up to the plate, we will be the ones hearing his mad laugh. A triumphal laugh at that.
     Still think not? Still think he is a good person with our best interests at heart. Oh, for sure, as long as our interests coincide with his, for as long as the minute he holds his statements and if not, well, there is always that bus going round and round for the rest of us. His best one is when he denies knowing those whom he tosses out from his administration, claiming he has no idea who they are or how they got there in the first place!! In the meanwhile, the apparatus and staffing of the federal departments have been hijacked as professional career people are thrown out, to be eaten by wolves or hit by a bus, whatever. As long as it serves his purpose. The courts have been quietly stuffed with his nominees, aided by  MoscowMitch, the quisling and enabler of Trump and right along with him go all the weaklings of the Senate, selling themselves down the river even as they wimp along, lose all moral values and demand the contempt of all. Everyone!!
     Worse, yesterday we had a serious game changer event. A judge ruled that Electors can vote as they wish, not having to vote the way the voters of the state indicate. Thus one person can change the destiny of our country and the world, our very existence! Our lives can be impacted so strongly that we will be the subjects of the dictator and his apparatus before we blink the proverbial eye. The insane and valueless, clueless Electors who bow before Trump, who go along with his immorality and viciousness, can negate our votes. Yes, folks, it has come to that and if further proof is needed, check the news of the decision.
     So the Chosen One and yes, he called and designated himself as such, has revealed himself to be an ultimate anti Semitic bastard, finally coming out in the open, his masquerade as the champion of Israel coming undone. The Chosen One? Like whom? A religious Chosen One? A political Chosen One? An insane Chosen One? All this as he condemns Jews to the dual loyalty trope, as he damns them, questions their loyalty, raises doubts and feelings of hatred in others, supports the white supremacists who shout crap about replacement. Yes, this man has entangled Israel and pressured Netanyahu to the point of serious danger. He has placed the Jews all around the globe in serious existential danger. All this while the busy man has managed to fire up the farmers into violence as the truth comes to light, as jobs are DOWN over a half million, as the market lurches along, moving to the tune of a tuneless economy and we, what do we do? 
     That is the question and it might have to be decided even before the election. The fear I have of a bloody Civil War II is growing and not just in me, but in reputable people, statesmen, politicians, analysts, think tanks, and plain old Americans. 
     Render unto this newly born Caesar?
                    Hell, NO!!
    

TRAVEL DAY

Travel day today. Will try to post later in the day or on Thursday

WHO DID IT?

         When we were kids there was an ad on TV which portrayed some poor little brother as the one who either had to try all the new foods first, or else was blamed for whatever went wrong - Mikey did it. So easy, so convenient and evidently it made such an impact upon Trump that he also has his go to scapegoat and thinks it just as cute. Who did it? Why the fake press of course!
     First they lied about him during the campaign. Then they lied about him and his numbers at the Inauguration. Then they lied about how many women marched opposing him and his policies. Then he lied about everything and anything else - from who was to blame for the messes of his administration, to conditions in the world, to actually ever having known any of those people whom he tossed under the bus, the latest being Scaramucci, and of course, the fake news created all this. Now, that powerful press has topped it off with the fake creation of a possible recession and bad economic news. 
     Thus the planned layoffs of U.S. Steel in Michigan due to decreased demands for their product, due, in fact to the slowdown of the world economy, due to the weird gyrating policies of Trump but all fake news from the fake press! Of course. Who would think otherwise and is it not so lucky for us that we have such a kind leader who remembers to remind us of that fact!! Huh!! Wonder if it is the fake press with fake news that has imploded my retirement account. Wow, shoulda' thought of that long ago. Of course!
     Another planned attack at another Jewish institution. Fake news? Or perhaps actually another manifestation of the hatred that has come crawling out ofits muck and mire as Trump has okayed it. And are we not so lucky, so impressesd with the fact that Planned Parenthood had to turn down funds from Title X due to the fact that it would come with a gag order - no information to women about abortion. Really? What, are women unable to understand options or is it perhaps the misogyny of Trump et al who simply need to put women 'back in their place'? 
     And is it also the manifestation of the new health policies of this country wherein the government will dictate the parameters of health care and talk of death panels - they are already here. Just check the new rulings coming out about care under Medicare and what is now not allowed or drasticaslly cut back. Ah, just more fake news from the terrible media but it seems the doctors and their staffs believe all this fake news. Wow, what a powerful fake press.
     Everything from the treatment of immigrants, the barbaric treatment of so many, the Nazi like raids at off hours, the rending of families, and the absurd new work rules for those admitted under emergency conditions, all, I guess, fake news. Otherwise how to make sense of executive orders which say that work permits are to be drastically cut, thus insuring no income for those who wish to work and then, gasp, they will have to apply for aid to feed their children and then, uh - oh! illegal working, application and use of governmental funds, a drag on the country - or so they say - and out they must go, proof of their laziness and dastardly plans to raid the national Treasury. Yup, but all fake news. All fake tracing of cause and effect. All fake news telling the damned truth! Weren't we so lucky that Melania was granted a work permit for the essential work of modeling? Wow, close call there.
     I propose a fake news headline. Trump Resigns, it should read, and the sub headings should include mental impairment due to dementia, physical deterioration due to overeating of fast food, and enmity of the entire world now on strike against this country. Wow, but would that not be great 'fake news'? 
     In the meantime, just ignore the threats from North Korea, Iran, the ongoing eternal mess in Afghanistan, the horrifying pictures of the buildup of Chinese armed forces outside Hong Kong and the oncoming slaughter there - while we say nothing! Ignore the rise of supremacists, the rise in violence and mass attacks, the increasing alienation of populations, budding genocidal plans, prejudice rearing its ugly heads all over the world and hey, Alfred E. Neuman always said, "What, me worry?" so do as he always advised us. All fake news anyway - right? Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it will work. Probably not.

THE GRINDING OF THE WHEELS

     Hear the noise? Hear the sounds of the song getting louderand louder? "The wheels of the bus...." Yes, folks, we are the ones now being thrown under the bus. That action has been getting closer and closer, with other people going in first, but now, well, now it is apparently our turn.
      That stupid and dangerous mouth just keeps on going like a perverted energy rabbit. It never seems to run out of the fuel of supremacy, of hatred, of nationalism, of contempt for all those who do not concur with him, even as he changes his story erratically.
     Over and over again I have warned that he was no friend to Israel and under the bus they would go when it suited him, not if, but when. Apparently, that time has been reached. Force Israel and Netanyahu to ban two idiot legislators from America and wow, what a reaction. Why the ban? Stupidity. Tlaib's grandmother lives in a prosperous neighborhood so why not showcase it and the rest of the city there. Why not have opposing viewpoints being shown on TV as they spew their lies Why not show them every courtesy and thus highlight their rudeness, their arrogance and the hatred behind which they hide the true purpose of their plans  But no, it suited Trump to drive another wedge between Jews as a group, beween Israel and American Jews, and between Jews and the Democratic Party which has wimped out already in dealing with their garbage.
     Israel is the only true and lasting ally of America in the Midde  East. The others are not reliable and waft to constantly changing winds. Why not take them on, show the benefits of Israel, its goodness, the Arabs in universities, as doctors, pharmacists, shop owners, Knesset members free to speak and vote, Arab citizens free to vote, the medical aid provided for Arabs from inside and outside Israel, including, mind you, the upper groupings from the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the PA.
     But Trump cannot deal with the truth and must cause trouble and all is secondary to his numbers, his insane drive towards ruling America forever. He has thrown numerous aides under the wheels, the press, the people of America, denied his responsibility in raising the profile of haters, so much so that we now have it appearing in formerly innocuous places such as farmers' markets. The wheels grind away, eating our country up, even as so many fall willingly under that damned bus, too blind to see what is happening.
     The administration that is supposed to work for us, the people, now works for the President. 'Disloyal"employees are let go, abused and disrespected, hounded till they resign. New immigrants, the lifeblood of our country, are deemed invaders, criminals, even those little ones, for who knows how dangerous those five year olds are!! Our economy is tanking big time even as the Demented One shouts to the air how it is not his fault.
     Apparently nothing is his fault. Perhaps we should indulge his insane plan to buy Greenland and let us get on with the job of cleaning house, right down to the bone and starting with fresh hope, trust, brotherhood, as Americans!!

PURLOINED

     Poe wrote a famous short story called The Purloined Letter wherein a stolen letter was hidden in the open, amongst like objects. I believe it was Oscar Wilde who wrote "Where does a man hide a leaf? In the forest. Where does a man hide a body? On the battlefield." I humbly add to these hiding suggestions by asking, "Where does a man hide an egregious outrage? In the midst of so many other egregious outrages."
     And that, my friends, is exactly what Trump has done. One after the other, a slew of outrages that would have brought down any other politician, and one begins to have difficulty in separating the one from the other as the cascade is seemingly endlesss, and becomes the new norm.
     So we miss the appointments of enemies of a concept or idea as the watcher, the one who is supposed to keep watch and guard over the varied areas in the name of the people. Thus we have coal industry people watching the EPA. We have polluters guarding the waters and the air. We have exploiters watching the land. We have thieves and greedy individuals guarding our money. We have a moral pervert at the head of government who is supposed to stand as a role model for our young. And we have people who know not what justice is, watching the Department of Justice.
     The very name of the Department is now a glaring misnomer, an evil twist on it, as the people who are supposed to represent justice, instead argue that no, children held in detention do not need nor have to have a minimum standard of hygiene, of sleeping provisions, of food, clothing, heat and cooling and even breathing space. Nope, for they are subhumans according to the thinking of this administration, headed by the chief despiser of humanity, Trump. As for their parents, from whom they were ripped, well, they can also be shortchanged in food and minimum standards and in addddition, can have all their rights to due process ignored, simply pushed aside. Justice indeed!! Constitution? Say what?
     The ugliness of all this hate has now come out of hiding, for there is no more need to hide the ugliness in the minds of the formerly secret haters. Nope, now they can come out in full 'glory' and strut their nastiness, their nativism, their white supremacy hateful themes and do so openly. Look at Portland!! And yet, there are so many still blinded by the profusion of these hatreds that they stil make excuses and refuse to recognize that all have a place in the line of victims of hatred, one by one, until only the supposed elite are left!
     There is a children's book - though not childlike at all - perfect for explaining the Holocaust and other genocides in human history, written by Eva Bunting. In it, there is a shadow which falls over the forest, and every time it appears, another animal grouping or individual is gone. No one speaks up, no one organizes defense, for all make excuses. I am too small. I am too large. They do not want me. I am too afraid. I will hide. Finally, there is no one left but the little bunny and when the shadow falls again over the forest, there is no one left to help, to heed his plaintive call.
    Folks, this is us today. We all hide from the truth or are afraid to speak it anymore due to consequences, arguments, violence as tempers flare and unfortunately, because some people, too many people, actually approve of this open hatred, open destruction of the world, the land, the country that we hold dear. Realistic predictions of climate destruction, followed by food and water shortage, lack of trade and watch the human race go downhill fast!! There is a reason why more and more media and literature are themed about post apocalypse, concentrating on the aftermath, as people who survived try to somehow rebuild, even as others are reveling in the chaos. And to top it all, the fat cats are developing their survival units, complete with luxuries as they plan to survive the mess they have made. Sounds extreme? Not if you speak to the movers and shakers of the world today. And their minions and flunkies.
     Where are we hiding our equivalents of crimes? Among all the other crimes that are being committed, among all the sins against humanity that are happening, among all the egregious actions, the cascade of them that seems to be growing exponentially. We do not even know where to start anymore!
      Let us dig deeper, think better, and find all those purloined and hidden sins against humanity. Let us turn our minds to saving this planet, this country and let us make sure that we speak of it, that our media is not censored as Trump seems to be doing. If we do not do this, then we will be that little bunny rabbit, cowering and shivering under the shadow of the hunter. 

NO CHOICE, HE SAYS

     And miracle, behold, I actually agree with those two words. We have no choice in our election. We cannot vote for a man who thinks, even as he is withdrawing from the world, endangering the world, that he is the only answer to the problems we now have thanks to him.
     Tank the economy. Ruin the recovery that began under Obama and then blame everyone other than the one who caused this - him!!! Alienate the world and blame all the leaders other than his BFFs Putin, Xi, Orban and Kim. Exchange vows of love with each other and then, come out with the stupidest idea yet - to buy Greenland. He said it, not me. Buying things does not solve an issue, contrary to his private dealings and even there, subject to tax revelations, I believe the man is leveraged to the wazoo!!! Just what he is doing to us with his tax cuts and windfalls for the fat cat and a shocking increase in the national debt and more to come.
     No, we have no choice. None at all. To vote for him is to vote for racism, for ignorance, for prejudice, for a starkly divided society of haves and have nots. To vote for him or his buddies like King, we are saying that we turn on all that America is or at least should strive to be. We turn on our heritage. We become the cause of what? Another war which will engulf the globe and literally shut it down? Or an apocolypse of dramatic proportions of environmental disasters leaving us with an uninhabitabe land? Whatever the choices are not really choices, are they?
     For those Jewish and evangelical people who vote for him because he is "good for Israel" - oh no, he is not, most certainly not. He has begun to treat Israel as a subservient state, chained to him or there they go, under the bus. Why ban these two women? They will simply out themselves, but not under Trump and his orders to Bibi. Tlaib is being allowed in to see her grandmother. Wonder if Arab countries  will free their imprisoned and exiled and allow them to reunite with families. That is what needs to be stressed. No choice!! The will reveal themselves as the haters they are as they incite violence and hatred, as they turn against a country which is a true ally and friend to the United States, as their hatred boils over and the world will see the truth and the integrity of Israel as it allows foes in. Possibly dangerous, yes, but so much to gain.
       There actually is a choice for us, the voters of America. Recognize that hatred and prejudice always, always, expands to encompass the Jews. Recognize that it does not stop there and the monster actually will turn on itself and self consume as its foes are destroyed. Recognize that we must choose America, our America, dry up the tears of the Lady of the Harbor, welcome those who are simply us and our ancestors in different guise. So what! Practically speaking, how do the industries of agriculture, construction, hotels, to name a few, continue to thrive and prosper if we take away all their workers. Ain't no "American" workers stepping in.
     No choice. Exactly. We have no choice but to reject him, his minions, his women haters, his defilers of humanity, the dangers to the world, and begin down the hard road towards recovery and the reunification of America. No choice.

IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

     Except where it is not. The economy is actually the linchpin upon which Trump planned to stage his second term election. Unfortunately for us all, the market has gone into the toilet and does not appear to have any chances to get the hell out of there! Not with this guy in charge. Not with this demented one who screamed, literally screamed at his aides to do something, screamed at Powell of the Fed to do something. Well, the something has already been done, and as I and many much, much brighter economists and experts predicted, the economy tanked.
     It is simple logic. One cannot tinker wih the trade relations with the entire rest of the world, threaten over and over again, send shivers through the world and the American markets as they grew to realize they are dealing with a madman, a man of no knowledge about anything worth knowing, and so here we are. 
     The market, stocks and bonds, have been screaming recession warnings and alerts for months already. The Fed has been in a dither, not really able to figure out the final decision as to what to do. It is indeed very difficult to plan approaches when the rules change hour by hour!
     What is also very difficult now is the ability to teach children the right path to follow, the one that emphasizes brotherhood, unity, aid to those who need it, altruism, honesty, humanity, for what they see now is the President of the United States of America, their country, turning on all that we used to value, appearing to go soft on gunslingers, murderers, and harshly on those who need our help. He backs people of the ilk of King, who says that rape and incest have allowed the population to grow and fill the earth and without these actions, would the world even be populated? Ergo, rape and incest are perfetly acceptable policies!!!!!
     What to do is to accept the signs and accept what they mean. The man is losing it. NO, has already lost it, and in another world, in his private world, that would mean one thing, but in the public role he is supposed to play, uh-uh. Nope. No way. When the truth is openly presented to the public, what will his power seeker minions say when that immoral man and their own actions, his dementia and their selfish denials will be exposed? What will they say, how will they defend a crook as nasty as he is, and their own actions and culpability in the harm done to the country, the world and the very existence of this planet as they traded right for money, for power, justice for prejudice, endordsed hatred.
     Never before has there been such a huge onslaught of legal battles. It seems as if every action that this man takes causes a legal problem even as it also exacerbates human problems. Never before has the President been faced with so many personal lawsuits and he well deserves them, but what have we done by allowing him into office and to stay in office, even to run for a second term? What has the Republican Party, McComnnell allowed, backing Russia over his country, refusing to insure that they do not tamper with the 2020 elections? Is this what we now have, a Quisling Brigade right here in our very own counry?
     It is disheartening, to say the least. So what to do? Many, tired of the tension, tired of the hassle, tired of the very sad and perilous situation, turn away from it all. They think blindness is a good policy. NO, it is not, for blindness can be helped, either by new miraculous devices or by training in the use of compensatory devices. We need to do that here, but, I will say, that back on the ranch, so to speak, take joy in the family, in the grandchildren.
     Personally, yesterday was a riot. One of my visiting granddaughters has a penchant for order, has a great talent and energy and can make order out of disorder in any closet or household. When she got a look at my closet, uh oh, I knew we were in for a day of work, of laughter and of discoveries.
     So that's where it went echoed many times. Laughter as we tried to figure out what things were. Twinkle in the eye as retro clothing was plucked and stowed away in their luggage. Darn, for there goes my chance to be hip!! 
     Four huge black bags later, the shoes and the sneakers and the shirts, and the pants, the vests and sweaters were taken over to Goodwill and rated a greeting from the manager!! My pleasure. Two bags to the garbage and planned for today - the rest of the closet! Help!! I am trapped in a reordered household and cannot get out!!! But seriously, this was a godsend and I actually have some room for more clothes! And perhaps, I can muster up the energy later on, but soon, to attack the huge built in closet. Uhhh, think I would rather go to the movies, but then again, the reminder phone calls will never end until I do it, so....
     During these hard times when we cannot figue out our exit strategy, we need to take our fun where we can get it, turn to the family as a strong wall in our homes, talk to friends and laugh, laugh, laugh, for the alternative is not really a good one.
     Yes, it is the economy, but it is more than that. We need to find a balance in this unbalanced world, difficult to do, but try we must. Meanwhile, I need to buy some more big black bags!!

TEARS OF THE LADY

     She is crying, that lovely lady in the harbor. She has been disrespected, maligned, her whole purpose turned inside out and in so doing, the country has been shamed in front of the world. Given to us by France, many expenses paid by money raised from our common folks, a standard bearer of the ethos and heart of this country for way over a century, etched upon the hearts of not only Americans but also on the hearts of the millions looking for refuge, for haven, for hope, for a future.
     What have we done? In essence, we have turned our back on all those who need to come here and all those who came here before, poor, but willing to struggle and build new lives here, to raise an American family. We have said NO to much of our past, and certainly shut the door on our future, for no new blood means a stagnation and eventually, perhaps much sooner than that, an authoritarian government imposed upon us as situations grow critical. No new workers. No new ideas. No diversity. No inspiration for the creative arts. Not enough food and water. Just a deadly dull and gray world. No America any more.
     The would be dictator, who spoke once again of his going on for another term, and by the way, just doing it! No election, just an assumption of four more years and then another and then another and then..... When this man goes off script, does not stick to the speech written for him by his accomplices, then the truth comes out and hits hard at our very foundations.
     When Cuccinelli speaks openly that the poem of Emma Lazarus, herself a descendant of immigrants, the one welcoming all, "the wretched, the poor" to our shores, to our country, to a future as Americans, this very poem actually refers only to white Europeans, he says, and only those who come with money. Wonder what that means for rich murderers like the Prince who delights in ripping apart people, or former dictators thrown out by another one? Does that mean if they come with money it is okay? What about drug lords, for they literally have money to burn. Will that overcome the fact that they are not white Europeans? Or perhaps they can trace their ancestry back to a Spanish grandee, a French explorer, or some European figure that would qualify them. But the hate, the prejudice the so very unAmerican attitude and behavior will remain.
     When the chief attorney of the nation, Barr, who actually seems to be Trump's personal lawyer rather than the lawyer of the nation, states that social justice reformers need to be stopped, that the primary rule in law enforcement is now that the police must be obeyed. Period. Only after that, can they complain. So okay!!!! Hurrah for the fascist. Hurrah for the supremacists. Hurrah for the haters of democracy, who masquerade as Americans, but in fact, are totally the opposite. Welcome to the land of the dictator, of suppression, of oppression of women, of LGBTQ, of any kind of demonstrators, of lovers of democracy, of lovers of our country!! Goodbye to all that and welcome to the draconian world of Trump, where hatred and madness reign and justice is no longer.
     Truth will actually be lies. Supposed identity cards will be needed to vote, but if one cannot get one due to the fact that there are purposely none nearby, and the hours they are open are not conducive to allowing poor people to get them, then really - there is no democracy, there is no America.
      And meanwhile our Lady of the Harbor, our first welcome to thousands upon thousands, stands there with bedimmed torch and tears running down her copper green face. What have we done? What have we allowed? Racism openly rife in the nation. A demented racist at the head of it all. Eager accomplices and power seekers who seek to maintain their world, get richer and step on all who oppose. A nation where the innocent are jailed and the brutality of others is rewarded.
     These issues are not abstract, for each one has consequences and even when the rules are right, prejudice and ignorance can still rear its ugly head. And the stories are personal.
     Why does this rich only policy so eat at me? When my grandfather finally managed to save enough money to bring my great grandmother over here, from her dangerous supposed civilized country of Austria, she came, old, and going blind. My Zaidy signed many papers swearing he would support her, live with them, his wife, my Bubby, being her daughter and she would never be a charge on the public. He was there to affirm that. But even so, the immigration officer did not like the idea of a little old Jewish lady with a funny accent entering into the country. Nope, her progressive blindness made that impossible he said and he could not believe my Zaidy, a man who never lied. And so this little old Jewish lady who would never harm a soul, who had made the perilous and hard journey over, eager to reunite with her daughter, well, back she went, and last seen being thrown into a cattle car on its way to Belzec, an extermination camp. And hence, my name, after her.
     I hope that official rots in Hell for the remainder of eternity. I hope the image of my great grandmother haunted him to the very moment of his death.
     And in the meanwhile, the tears continue.
     

IN THE DARK

     Said by a character:
     "I have lived twice as fully, loved a hundred times too much. Gulped the beauty from the world like an oyster. Just to prove I am worth more than the worst thing I ever did. But at night, in the relentless dark, when I am completely alone, that worst thing is still the only thing."
     Think about that statement. Think about what it means to us as we evaluate our lives as we lie there in the dark contemplating the day, the week, the month and the lifetime worth and value of it all. And then we know the truth of that statement, for the nightime, the dark, are the times when the bottom line is drawn and evaluated.
     Thus one can say that the dark actually sheds light upon us all, and it is something one cannot avoid, particularly as we age or as we come upon special moments or times in our lives and the life of the world. I know it is in the dark on those sleepless nights when past misdeeds or recriminations come to mind, race through the mind, and often become bigger than they really are. How badly did I hurt those feelings? How mean was I? Did I raise the kids right? Did I get through to all my students and if not, why? Should I have made different decisions on key issues? Did I value things properly? (Sorry, no juicy stuff as the theft of a comic book in third grade and a forced return and confession is the closest I come to criminal activity!)
     But one need not be a criminal to judge oneself harshly. The language we use, the beliefs we supported, the people we backed, the impact our decisions made on others - all these can keep one up at night.
     So I wonder. I think and imagine all those people staring into the night, with unblinking owlish eyes, wondering about what it is they have done? What have they wrought? What will it take for them to admit their concerns and regrets in public or at least fix it as best they can or will false pride continue to hamper them?
     A prime principle of the Jewish belief is that we are supposed to leave this world all the better somehow for our having been in it, for however long or short time that we are. We are to "fix, repair, the world" or Tikkun Olam in the original Hebrew. It is an awesome responsibility and directive and one not always met to complete satisfaction, but one is bound to  make that effort. It is during those night time periods of darkness that we wonder if we have indeed done that.
     Imagine now that same  man who walks around or stands there with his arms crossed over his chest, challenging all to defy him, with his chin uplifted in that same oh, yeah, attitude, eyes squinting, and small mouth pursed with the effort of coming out with another barbed comment, another negative statement meant to hurt someone, to poke fun at someone.
    I wonder how he sleeps at night. What does he think about? What is revolving in that tiny, barbaric, hostile, limited mind? Does he even realize what he has done - to others and to this country and the world in general? Does he even care?
      I already feel the waves of hostility being beamed at me by his defenders. So just listen, or rather, read and think. Evangelicals are finally beginning to wake up and realize that this man should not be their chosen candidate. They are particularly enraged by his use of "goddamn" in his speeches and comments. Whoa!! To most of us that is quite mild, not a true expletive, but okay, give them their due. Yet, I wonder. This is their concern? His misogynism. His treatment of his various wives and his extramarital affairs while wedded. His nasty comments re others - rapist, murderers, agreeing to shoot them as a possibility, turning the tables on regulations meant to fix the world, his reignition of the Cold War with a hot trigger, his brutality and nastiness to other leaders of the world, his ignorance, and his sheer arrogance in thinking he has the answers, such as his making party girl Ivanka into a major diplomatic emissary and policy maker! Goddamn? Is this what keeps their eyes open in the dark? I will accept that if they then take steps to fix the world. Face the truth and act upon it. 
     Fat cats have benefitted greatly from his economic policies, ones that are meant to benefit them and their companies and screw the regular people. Do they lie awake at night thinking about the people they have stepped on as they climbed the ladder and to exactly where and what have they climbed? Do they think of the cancer cluster fo children where environmental safeguards have been cancelled? Do they think of the food insecurity of the workers whose wages have not changed in years, their buying power diminished? In particular, what do they think about now, these past few weeks, as the market has tanked, has ridden a wild bucking horse, and the bond market screaming about a recession, as the bears march in triumph down Wall Street. Do they feel any guilt? Do they feel an inner urge to fix the world they have cheated and wronged? I wonder.
     The worst, for me, is the thought about those who join in on the raids, on the mistreatment, on the abuse and contempt for illegal immigrants, as they are hunted like prey, dragged from their homes and places of work, from their businesses. From their children. And the abuse of these very children, the ones taken into custody and imprisoned - for that is what happens to them - how do these people sleep at night. Even as a poll shows that 72% of Americans want these people left alone, given a path to citizenship, accept their roles in our society, accept these new Americans to be and their American children. How do these people sleep? How? Do they imagine themselves outfitted in spanking brand new uniforms of brown or black, cross belts gleaming, golden brass insignia twinkling in the lights, their big brave actions as they drag people away? How do they sleep? How do they close their eyes at night, in the dark, alone, with the truth of their actions hitting them right on and in the head?
     I wonder if one can shut down the guilty feelings, learn to close eyes and minds against the accusations of their souls? I wonder how they do it? I really do. And if they do think of them, then how do they turn it off, continue in their crooked and harmful ways, paths which deconstruct the world rather than fix it.
     "The worst thing is the only thing." How bad does the 'worst' thing have to be before it truly hits hard in that lonely dark? How bad does it have to be before it breaks one's heart and forces rethinking of one's life? Wish I knew, for there are so many that need to be awake in the dark, pondering their 'worst thing' and wondering how to fix it all.

FEATHERS AND TENTACLES

     No, this is neither a new alien creature in the movies nor a newly discovered species of dinosaurs. It is the comparison made between hope and hate.
 Emily Dickinson wrote that "hope is the thing with feathers."
     Think abut that. The softness of the feathers, the silky feel of them, the beauty of them. Now think of the opposite, of a harsh and cruel material, a material that does not caress one's face or soul, but rather abrades all that it touches, ruins all that is good and hopeful. That harsh material, that cruel material, is hate.
     Frank Bruni, in the NYTimes, wrote that hate has tentacles. They grab one, burrow into the skin, into the very soul of the victim of these tentacles, of the ugliness of hate, of the awful monster that hate is.
      Both emotions can be found anywhere. Both have an effect on their recipients, but what a difference. Hope allows one to breathe, to whisper to others that there is yet something good in the future,that things will get better, that people will find their courage and humanity once more.
     Hate, on the other hand, stinks of cruelty, of despair and hopelessness, of a lack of any kind of possibility that there is a good future ahead, that things can get better, for hate only makes things worse, exacerbates bad situations into worse ones.
     Neither of these emotions, or rather, states of being, has any limit, neither spiritual, emotionally or physically. They can be found within anyone and anyplace. The one must be sought after and the other must be extirpated, roots and all, for if not, it poisons its environment. And it spreads, with almost no opposition as fear begins to eat into people, fear of being targeted by that hate, fear for themselves, and in the end, fall victim to that hate by either being hated or becoming the hater. Neither is a good situation for us, for humanity.
     There is something seriously wrong with our country today. It seems that we have lost, or spurned the feathers of hope, turned away the kindness that we need, the haven that people need and have turned to the ugly state of hate. We have published screeds of hatred, encouraged hatred, and the outcomes are ugly, people slaughtered at innocent pursuits of life by haters, people who gain access to assault weapons and huge magazines and who are encouraged by the spewers of hate. Unfortunately, these spewers of hate are the supposed leders of this country. How is a country to be good, to be hopeful, to provide hope for those in desperate need of it, if the rotteness drips and drips in an ever increasing flow from the top.
     At the Pan Am Games, two athletes at present have shown their anguish with the present state of their country. They have openly professed their love for this country, but also the sadness of all that is wrong with it, getting worse by the day, all that we are ignoring as old ugliness, old hates crawl back out of the muck and mire in which they thrive and hide. They were honored to represent their country, love their country, but no longer feel they can be silent. As we should all feel. "Racism, Gun Control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate." These athletes have used their excellence as their platform to plead for their country, to plead for the feathers of hope and to put aside the tentacles of hate, to rip these tentacles out, now!
     The tentacles of hate extend further and further out from Trump and his minions. Even as the entire world recognizes the straight line from the tweets and the words of Trump to the violence and increasing divisiveness of this country, Scalise refuses to admit it and denies it. Booker says that "this is a very dnagerous president we now have" and he is correct and even as all the candidates differ to one degree or policy or another, they all agree on that one point. 
     "He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he therby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee."  Friedrich Nietzsche
     We here in this country have a choice. We can go after the haters, the owners of tentacles, of sharp claws, of nasty words, and we can give as good as we get. But the chances of succumbing to tentacles of hate are there and we must avoid them. We must fight with the knowledge that right is on our side, that hope is that which mankind cannot live without and it will triumph in the end. Let the others turn into monsters of the abyss while we aid their demisse and proffer hope towards the world. Let our words have the touch of the feather and not the claws of the tentacles. Be strong, yet be aware that we are winning over people. Hope and hate. There is a darkness in the soul of man, yes, but man also has the choice to choose that darkness or to go for the light. Our choice; Your choice.
     Let us join in with the rest of the brave souls who protest for freedom. Hong Kong, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and right here in the USA. Williamson has called for a moral uprising and Trump is denying he is a racist, does not want to be called that. Where are the feathers of hope and where are the tentacles of hate and darkness? Look, see and think - then decide.

WORDS

     "In the beginning was the Word." One man said to another, "Word."  "I give you my word" has been a sign of honoring one's commitments and statements throughout the ages. Words are the pathways through life, be they spoken, written or signed. The first word is awaited with bated breath by parents. We express love through words - and hate. Today, a day of mourning by the Jewish people for the destruction of their Temples, is when they remember that words, words of hate, words of falsehood, words that divided the nation, was one of the main causes of the destruction itself.
     Throughout  history we have passed down the wisdom of the ages via words. These words were of even greater value when they told the honest and open truth about the people of these histories, for then we learned from them and hopefully, did not repeat these same errors. Words transmit the truth of society and a truly advanced society will have and defend the freedom of that speech, the use of words. Speech, in all its forms, words, in their various formats, are what can make us great or take us down. The Book of Revelations equated lying to idolatry and murder. Pretty heavy stuff. The value of truth in words plays a formative role in the trials and justice of mankind.
    So what do we do, then, when words are challenged or when they are used in a damaging and harmful way. Fact: Trump and his minions lie as easily and naturally as taking a breath. Fact: Their corrosive words eat through the fabric of our society, leaving great damage behind. Fact: Trump acts to demean and suppress free speech whenever and wherever possible. Fact: He has taken the next step of suppression of speech, of words, in his filing to revoke the certification of the National Association of Immigration Judges.
     Where does all this leave us? It leaves us in a tense and dangerous situation. That occurs when words are used to hide, to incite, to obfuscate, rather than to tell the truth. It changes our behavior and not for the good. Speech, articulation, is one of the blessings that elevates man, but at times we forget and must remember what Montaigne said. "Here we sit upon the highest throne in the world, yet here we sit upon our own tails."
     The choice is clear. It is a choice of our own making. What do we do with the privilege of words and what do we not do, for omission and commission are equally guilty. All this is within our power. We are either going to reach for the stars, use those words to be worthy of our high position in this world, or we are going to use the very same power of words to fall, to devolve, to imitate the cruelest beings in Nature - us.
     Words can be protective as well. We can learn from them as we study them, as we internalize the words of those who preceded us or those who maintain that they are the leaders of our times. They determine what we make of the history revealed by these words. Eduardo Galeano, a famous journalist and poet reminds us,  "History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later." . We forget that at our own peril. He also reminded us what is most important to us at these perilous times. To be

" grateful to journalism for waking (me) up to the realities of the world."

  Forget that truth, as some people are trying to do  now, and we forget too much of our past,  endanger our present and shut down our future. Remember that truth and its corollary, that which speaks to the power of words, and we will give ourselves a chance to correct our mistakes and work for a better world for all.
      Words give us great wisdom, understanding and even humor, much of it self deprecating. It has been said wistfully, that, "If youth knew. If age could." We humans need to get together, to combine the power and strength, the idealism of youth with the wisdom of the ages. If we could infuse some of that strength in the old, and some of that wisdom of life in the young, then what words of power they would have. What glories we could achieve.   We all need to use our words carefully, with more wisdom and positive thought and goals. We can be so wonderful, the human race, but then again, we allow other aspects to come through too often and those nasty aspects often come via the misuse of words and the power of words. Isaac Newton said, "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
     Those are words of wisdom, of hope and despair. We can figure ourselves out if we use our words properly. We can also destroy ourselves with misused and violence inciting words. Our choice - and our Fate. Word!
     

MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE

     I am given to understand that some people did not  understand when I said I cannot pledge to this country at this point. I also said that I love this country. I have always said that. What is the fact, is that this government, this administration is NOT America. I do not pledge loyalty to a government that cares nought for anyone that the chief hater does not like.  When person after person walks away from jobs because they cannot work for that man, this is not the country of which I sing. When political loyalty to Trump is the guiding law and demand made of workers, rather than to the country, this is not the land of which I sing.
     What I get from Trump's people is what Clinton or Obama or whomever did. I do not care about them. They are not running now, are they? If they made errors in judgement, and there were some errors, of course, then hopefully, when we come back to our senses we will fix any issues.
     However, right now we have an illegitimate president who is planning the same thing for 2020. He apparently sees no problem in accepting help from an enemy, and in fact, is making it easier for them by crashing the cyber security we have in place, as weak as it already is, and he and his pathetic, wimpy, cowardly Republican Party members are allowing this, refusing to recognize that they are actually rewriting the Constitution and cutting off the power of Congress, giving the Executive Branch - Trump, at this point - just about dictatorial powers. 
     It is the fact that I cannot pledge to a government headed by a man who is a dictator at heart, and action, who jokes, not jokingly at all, about remaining in office for more than two terms, or even extending a term to six years. That, dear ones, is horrifying and even if one supports him,  how could you agree to so easily shred the Constitution?
     I cannot pledge to a country headed by people who think nothing of ripping people from loved ones, or sending a man who lived here his whole life, a Chaldean Christian to Iraq, a diabetic, who then died, miserably, on the streets for lack of insulin and lack of food. How do people sleep after doing this? I cannot pledge loyalty to an administration that claims to represent America when they hire people who think nothing of being cruel to crying little ones, to starve them, hold medical care from them, stuff them in cages, lose them!! I cannot support the brutal treatment of the adults either. 600 agents a day ago to rip over 600 working tax paying immigrants away from their families, away from contributing to the country, away from the American dream.This is not America!!!
     I cannot support or pledge to a country whose presumed leader has a mouth and heart and soul putrefying with hate, vicious hate. It just spews out of his mouth, onto Twitter, and this is NOT America. Never!! This government is rife with corruption, hatred and prejudice, greed, nepotism, cronyism, incompetence, and contempt for government guided by the Constitution and certainly for the people of America.
     Give me back my America. Give me back my America that supported working to improve the environment . Give me back my country that believed in working with allies, in working to lessen tension, rather than setting about igniting another Cold War, by wrecking the economy with insane trade wars and tariff impositions. Give me back my country that knows that there is child hunger and food insecurity in this country, yet could care less, and even lessens the aid given to families and those in need due to our once great social safety net.
     Give me back my country that recognized the rights of ALL members of society and did not discriminate for gender or race or orientation or any other division this evil man could think of. He has wiped out progress we had made, wiped it out in a short span of time. He has destroyed the victory of women to decide what they wish to do with their health and their bodies. But what can one expect from a misogynist such as he. He is poisonous to this country, with his praise of white supremacists, his refusasl to move forward on assault weapons and gun safety, who used victims of mass shootings for his own political benefit, even as victims say they are not interested in seeing him.
     Give me back my country that was working to achieve a better society, a more diverse society, an acceptance of all, a country which wished to continue the dream, a country that accepted those in need of refuge, of a haven, of safety, a country which realized that we were and are part of the global community.
     Give me back my country with the heart and soul and I will stand up there and shout out the pledge with glee and joy, with respect and love. Give me back my country. My country tis of thee - yes, always and forever, when it is my country, not a nasty imitation of it that means and brings harm to all and everything that should be held dear in this country, as this country. I pledge allegiance - oh, yes, I do and to that country of which I used to sing. Not its very poor imitation.