Between yesterday and this morning I was not quite sure whether I was reading stories about Nature or about Human nature. The words and the statements, the conditions being discussed are so intertwined that at times one can simply substitute one for the other.
The winds of Santa Ana were described as "devil winds". They blow with a strength that is literally helping to burn down California, and while Trump might rejoice about that, most of the rest of us do not. This crisis is a manifestation of problems in the actual world of people that leads and led to this humongous set of fires.
We have ignored climate and environmental changes. We have ignored the fact that both wealthy and poor have moved into forested areas, interacting with Nature, with the animal life within as well. The wealthy because they can, and the poor because they must as housing within the cities and close suburbs of LA and other Californian cities are prohibitively expensive. Thus - homeless on the streets or a trailer in the exurbs? Not good for anyone here.
We have lost control both in that area and in the area of humanity. The fires are out of control, and full disclosure - I must email my poor grandson ten times a day asking if he is safe and to be ready to run if he must - but there is a human factor that we forget when we look at awful pictures of monstrous fires, the fires of hell reconstructed on earth.
We, the people of America, are burning too. We have lost the fire controls in our lives and go at each other as if we were two dogs or roosters or whatever set at each other in a fight. Funny, but telling things arise from this situation. Trump, who calls people dogs and worse, is now to greet Conan, a combat dog from the recent raid. Is it because Conan cannot talk and can be ordered to appear with his soldier handler, even as other heroes, human ones, refuse to come see the "stable genius" who blabs all the secrets of the raids and who almost cost it its demise as he pulled out on the Kurds who were absolutely necessary to the raid and for its success.
Where are we in fighting the fires that rage through our body politic? We have forty nonsensical conservative groups calling out Pelosi for ethics violations? The same violations that actually can be laid at their doors and particularly at the door to 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. and the resident within?! Gaetz, one of the worst representatives in Congress, from Florida, is suing Schiff for ethics violations!!!! What have we come to? Where and when do we meet the bottom of this pit we are digging even as we stand in it?
The best is when yet another incompetent and biased unqualified nominee for an Appeals Court is named and the ABA describes him as such:"Mr. VanDyke’s accomplishments are offset by the assessments of interviewees that Mr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules," it said, explaining why despite his professional and academic experience, they gave him a "Not Qualified" rating. "There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an 'entitlement' temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful." And in addition, he is quite openly prejudiced against the LGBTQ community and please, enough with these crocodile tears. We saw them in Kavanaugh too and there he is, joined in tandem with the other sexual pervert on the Court, Clarence Thomas. Enough with the packing of the benches of justice with ignoramuses who will destroy our America for the next four decades and more.
The vote today in the House is a vote on our future. No, Congress has not appropriated Executive power, but rather the opposite, wherein Trump et al are trying to and have succeeded in many areas to pluck legislative powers and stick them in his pocket. All the better to improve his journey on the path to becoming the first American "Great Leader" - demented as he is, for he has pulled the morally deficient crowds with him.
We need to stop all these devil winds and their causes and consequences if we are to survive as a nation, as a democracy, as a light to the nations of the world, as a haven of safety and refuge for immigrants and benefit from their labor and thoughts, their physical and mental powers.
It is up to us. NO, stating that your brain cells have other jobs to do rather than using them to read about the latest Trump outrage, is not the way to go. Sorry if it makes people uncomfortable, particularly if they voted for Trump, so manifesetly unqualified in so many ways and a clear and present danger to the country, but we need to fess up, to man and woman up and fix it!!!
Nature has shown its anger at us. Humans have shown their animalistic sides in this increasingly non bi partisan nation. What more do we need to push us into action, to full confession and true repentance. The devil himself? Well, just look over there at 1600, at the crowds of sniveling, non law abiding group of liars, and to their cohorts in the Congress. Shame on us all.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
ONE NATION......WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR A LL
We say that pledge almost every day, some with enthusiasm, others with desperation, some with pride, and others, like me, cannot speak the words if it means pledging allegiance to the false and dangerous government of Trump. Yes, allegiance to the United States of America, as a democracy, as a direct descendant of our Founding Fathers and the heroic soldiers of the Revolutionary Army, but not to Trump and his minions who have callously and cynically, with malice aforethought sought to destroy this nation.
They have invited foreign countries into our affairs, made efforts to subvert our most valued privilege and belief - the right to vote in an honest and tamper free election. Today, in states all over the country, particularly in the South, people are being struck off the voting records, all to keep Democratic votes out of the count. Laws to counteract the right of ex felons to vote in Florida are stomach turning and churning. The right to vote. The right to have an input into how our country is run and who are to be our representatives - all tampered with, casting a great big ugly shadow over this right and results.
Witness after witness speaks of the nasty truths in the Ukraine afair. Witness after witness speaks of the moral turpitude of Trump et al and all they can do is shout insults, baby names and rhymes, and call all those who testify liars. Amazing, is it not, how so many 'liars' there are who managed to come up with the same story!!
We have destroyed our legitimate alliances with friends and cuddled up to our enemies. We speak in disrespectful terms of actions against the enemy, no dignity in the announcement just the same infantile terminology and exaggerations. Gloating over having to kill others is not the right way to go. Even Miriam, the sister of Moses, was chided by G-d for rejoicing as the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea. Would that this jerk of ours would understand the need to temper, to wholly change his attitudes and behavior before he sends the whole world crashing into who knows what!!
In the meanwhile, the fiercest Santa Ana winds are blowing into burning California, incluing huge swaths of LA. The stock market is shaky, even as it rose yesterday, for the indicator stocks are very strange indeed. Mass shootings continue on, but gun laws? Fuggedaboudit! Children going hungry. Immigrants living here forever being ripped out by and from their roots and private detention centers creating their own hells on earth even as they profit outrageously. Anger runbles through the country, to the extent of that highly unususal huge booing of a sitting President and urging that he be locked up. Well, it brought a smile to my face as he got a taste of his own nastiness and he certainly belongs in jail. The Presidency is not a license to commit crimes without fear of consequences and convictions!!
What's next? The Democrats have opened the public phase of the inquiry and dang, but I do hope it moves briskly along and we get rid of this dude and if the 'Mother" hobbled Pence gets into office, perhaps we need to read him the riot act or impeach him for his part in this whole mess. Hmmm, President Pelosi. Sounds good to me.
As for me, I am looking forward to the upcoming battle between the folks of Alexandria and the Hilltop, the rebuilders of society, the future of man in a Zombie apocalypse, against the Whisperers who are the symbolic destroyers of society as we know it, who ally themselves with the mindless body chomping Zombies. Even better than that, the prequel House of the Dragons is bought for two seasons. I can just hear that GoT theme song again. See, between that, the upcoming Terminator movie, Star Wars, etc., we have so much to await us in the near future and just think, if we can add to that the removal of Trump from office and then toss his ass in jail, well, what a rosy picture of the future!
" I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America......one nation.....with liberty and justice for all.
They have invited foreign countries into our affairs, made efforts to subvert our most valued privilege and belief - the right to vote in an honest and tamper free election. Today, in states all over the country, particularly in the South, people are being struck off the voting records, all to keep Democratic votes out of the count. Laws to counteract the right of ex felons to vote in Florida are stomach turning and churning. The right to vote. The right to have an input into how our country is run and who are to be our representatives - all tampered with, casting a great big ugly shadow over this right and results.
Witness after witness speaks of the nasty truths in the Ukraine afair. Witness after witness speaks of the moral turpitude of Trump et al and all they can do is shout insults, baby names and rhymes, and call all those who testify liars. Amazing, is it not, how so many 'liars' there are who managed to come up with the same story!!
We have destroyed our legitimate alliances with friends and cuddled up to our enemies. We speak in disrespectful terms of actions against the enemy, no dignity in the announcement just the same infantile terminology and exaggerations. Gloating over having to kill others is not the right way to go. Even Miriam, the sister of Moses, was chided by G-d for rejoicing as the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea. Would that this jerk of ours would understand the need to temper, to wholly change his attitudes and behavior before he sends the whole world crashing into who knows what!!
In the meanwhile, the fiercest Santa Ana winds are blowing into burning California, incluing huge swaths of LA. The stock market is shaky, even as it rose yesterday, for the indicator stocks are very strange indeed. Mass shootings continue on, but gun laws? Fuggedaboudit! Children going hungry. Immigrants living here forever being ripped out by and from their roots and private detention centers creating their own hells on earth even as they profit outrageously. Anger runbles through the country, to the extent of that highly unususal huge booing of a sitting President and urging that he be locked up. Well, it brought a smile to my face as he got a taste of his own nastiness and he certainly belongs in jail. The Presidency is not a license to commit crimes without fear of consequences and convictions!!
What's next? The Democrats have opened the public phase of the inquiry and dang, but I do hope it moves briskly along and we get rid of this dude and if the 'Mother" hobbled Pence gets into office, perhaps we need to read him the riot act or impeach him for his part in this whole mess. Hmmm, President Pelosi. Sounds good to me.
As for me, I am looking forward to the upcoming battle between the folks of Alexandria and the Hilltop, the rebuilders of society, the future of man in a Zombie apocalypse, against the Whisperers who are the symbolic destroyers of society as we know it, who ally themselves with the mindless body chomping Zombies. Even better than that, the prequel House of the Dragons is bought for two seasons. I can just hear that GoT theme song again. See, between that, the upcoming Terminator movie, Star Wars, etc., we have so much to await us in the near future and just think, if we can add to that the removal of Trump from office and then toss his ass in jail, well, what a rosy picture of the future!
" I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America......one nation.....with liberty and justice for all.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
OBSTRUCTIONISM
I believe we need to change the name of the Republican party to the Obstructionist Party for it appears to be the be all and end all of their being.
It seems that they must go home every night and think up more reasons to fight the inquiry even as the proof mounts. It has taken as a motif, the destruction of the country over the Party, openly discarding even any weak disguise of loyalty to country over Party, and worse, to Trump. They have chosen retention of power, even as they give away the store, over morality, loyalty to country, decency and bi partisanship.
Loudly shouting for a vote, racing as a mob to bang on doors and then trying to perform a sit-in, even as they knew damn well that there were the proper Republicans inside and this closed door depositon policy IS the proper policy, one they themselves followed with Clinton. Why did they do this? Because they have internalized the tantrum like behavior of their Leader and I purposely capitalize that word for that is the level that we have reached. We have allowed one hugely - or should I say bigly - unqualified man in the throes of dementia to usurp the country, to suppress its proper history, to give away the store of his own as he buddies up to the enemies and reveals details that should not have been revealed at all. He even shared details of the raid with these very same enemies even as he left out notification of the ranking Democrats of Congress - a major no-no!! but Graham knew!! The toady got his reward.
So now there will be a vote and now they are screaming that is not enough? Would cancelling the whole inquiry do the trick? Probably not, as the filthy truth is out there, as the country begins to reveal its revulsion of Trump in the same manner that he encourages - shouts, group chants, and yes! "lock him up" echoes through a stadium.
There is no way to stop the impeachment process at this point and certainly no reason to do that. What will happen in the Senate, with the soulless Republicans, with their cowardly behavior, with their open disdain for true law and order, with their cravenly cowardice in the face of Trump - well, who knows. But the point is that the truth will be out there, paraded daily on nationally televised hearings and all under the control of Chief Justice Roberts, a man over whom there is no threat of loss of job as or if he displeases Trump. Will and can Roberts be neutral? We must hope so if justice is to be done at all.
But first we will need to see how the House shapes up. Will there be any courageous and righteous Republicans who will vote for the inquiry and will there be some Democrats who are afraid of their constituents if they vote yes? This is not simply a vote yes or no to go on with this, but a true test of morality, of where we, as a country, will be heading, if we have remained true to our values and principles.
Army officers, aides, various ranking people inside the White House, diplomats - all testifying as to the truth of the whole Ukraine mess, a major deviancy from the true and proper path by the president, but there seems to be a need for more. Well, what will they do when the more comes along with the redactions of the Mueller papers forthcoming. More papers are being unsealed in the gross misbehavior of Trump with a woman, in fact, with women in general! Toddler like behavior and meltdowns will occur more frequently as the pressure mounts and tax info becomes more available.
This is whom the base is supposed to support? I certainly hope we are better than that, brighter than that, and closer to our better side than our other side, the one that allows for hatred, for violent acting out of that hatred, for a reversal of American principles that have guided us since even before we became a country, an independent nation. Even as we made great errors, we always had people who fought to correct those errors. We need these people to step up, come forward and do the right thing.
Our national turmoil is a reflection of the environmental turmoil around us. Horrendous mammoth fires, droughts and floods, hurricanes that destroy and kill, freezes and overwhelming heat spells - and that same turmoil is found in the world of man. Shakespeare certainly had it right as he stated in so many plays, in so many ways, that the World of Nature and the World of Man reflect each other. Why can we not recognize that and do something, the right thing? Why do some fight so strongly against the righting of the wrongs of this administration, or even recognize that there is wrongdoing in the first place? And if I had the answer to that, I'd be rich!!
Time we put aside our differences and tend to the dire needs of our country. Time to insure its survival as we are and not as some would have us, in a bad way. Time to gather the remnants of courage that might be lingering there inside some Republicans who are not past their sell by date. Time to recognize wrong and right it! The time is now. Or it will be never.
It seems that they must go home every night and think up more reasons to fight the inquiry even as the proof mounts. It has taken as a motif, the destruction of the country over the Party, openly discarding even any weak disguise of loyalty to country over Party, and worse, to Trump. They have chosen retention of power, even as they give away the store, over morality, loyalty to country, decency and bi partisanship.
Loudly shouting for a vote, racing as a mob to bang on doors and then trying to perform a sit-in, even as they knew damn well that there were the proper Republicans inside and this closed door depositon policy IS the proper policy, one they themselves followed with Clinton. Why did they do this? Because they have internalized the tantrum like behavior of their Leader and I purposely capitalize that word for that is the level that we have reached. We have allowed one hugely - or should I say bigly - unqualified man in the throes of dementia to usurp the country, to suppress its proper history, to give away the store of his own as he buddies up to the enemies and reveals details that should not have been revealed at all. He even shared details of the raid with these very same enemies even as he left out notification of the ranking Democrats of Congress - a major no-no!! but Graham knew!! The toady got his reward.
So now there will be a vote and now they are screaming that is not enough? Would cancelling the whole inquiry do the trick? Probably not, as the filthy truth is out there, as the country begins to reveal its revulsion of Trump in the same manner that he encourages - shouts, group chants, and yes! "lock him up" echoes through a stadium.
There is no way to stop the impeachment process at this point and certainly no reason to do that. What will happen in the Senate, with the soulless Republicans, with their cowardly behavior, with their open disdain for true law and order, with their cravenly cowardice in the face of Trump - well, who knows. But the point is that the truth will be out there, paraded daily on nationally televised hearings and all under the control of Chief Justice Roberts, a man over whom there is no threat of loss of job as or if he displeases Trump. Will and can Roberts be neutral? We must hope so if justice is to be done at all.
But first we will need to see how the House shapes up. Will there be any courageous and righteous Republicans who will vote for the inquiry and will there be some Democrats who are afraid of their constituents if they vote yes? This is not simply a vote yes or no to go on with this, but a true test of morality, of where we, as a country, will be heading, if we have remained true to our values and principles.
Army officers, aides, various ranking people inside the White House, diplomats - all testifying as to the truth of the whole Ukraine mess, a major deviancy from the true and proper path by the president, but there seems to be a need for more. Well, what will they do when the more comes along with the redactions of the Mueller papers forthcoming. More papers are being unsealed in the gross misbehavior of Trump with a woman, in fact, with women in general! Toddler like behavior and meltdowns will occur more frequently as the pressure mounts and tax info becomes more available.
This is whom the base is supposed to support? I certainly hope we are better than that, brighter than that, and closer to our better side than our other side, the one that allows for hatred, for violent acting out of that hatred, for a reversal of American principles that have guided us since even before we became a country, an independent nation. Even as we made great errors, we always had people who fought to correct those errors. We need these people to step up, come forward and do the right thing.
Our national turmoil is a reflection of the environmental turmoil around us. Horrendous mammoth fires, droughts and floods, hurricanes that destroy and kill, freezes and overwhelming heat spells - and that same turmoil is found in the world of man. Shakespeare certainly had it right as he stated in so many plays, in so many ways, that the World of Nature and the World of Man reflect each other. Why can we not recognize that and do something, the right thing? Why do some fight so strongly against the righting of the wrongs of this administration, or even recognize that there is wrongdoing in the first place? And if I had the answer to that, I'd be rich!!
Time we put aside our differences and tend to the dire needs of our country. Time to insure its survival as we are and not as some would have us, in a bad way. Time to gather the remnants of courage that might be lingering there inside some Republicans who are not past their sell by date. Time to recognize wrong and right it! The time is now. Or it will be never.
Monday, October 28, 2019
TOADS !!!!!!!
So Anna sang in The King and I. "Yes, Your Majesty, No, Your Majesty, give us a kick if it please Your Majesty." Such was the behavior of human toads, she felt. The most important question here is, are we, today, the people of the United States, actually a bunch of toads in their behavior? Do we fawn over the idiot in the White House to the extent that soon we will all be walking nude through the streets of America in emulation of his own nakedness!
It appears that we do have a sizeable number of people who are quite toadish in their behavior. Recently, Trump and his blinded followers, or self deluding, or purposely lieing minions, have compared Trump to G-d, described him as one with "unmatched wisdom", or as "a stable genius", and Stephanie Grisham went all out yesterday as she praised his "great wisdom", so great that not everyone is suited or capable of working with it - with Trump.
Our own Great Leader. Our own Wise One. Our own homegrown Stalin, Lenin, Kim, Mussolini, Orban, Putin, Hitler. Our own version of the most twisted beings ever to appear on the surface of the Earth, straight from the nether regions of hell. So are we the toads of today, of true life and not the stages and screens of the nation?
Every day we are told of "the base", that vague group of people who presumably will follow Trump right into the lava of a volcano, drink his Kool-Aid, and all will do so willingly, forever. Well, maybe, but maybe not. Certainly, baseball has long been the game of America. Everyone in society attends games, from the elite and muckety mucks, to the base. And oh, dear, oh dearie me, but Trump was not happy yesterday at Game Five of the World Series. He showed up with some major creeps from Congress, including Graham and Gaetz and tht last one needs to be thrown out of office, so filled with hate is he!! Graham is a dangerous and powerful liar and I do not believe he truly has any feelings other than his lust for power and retention of said power.
In any case, introduced to the crowd after the third inning when a traditional salute to veterans takes place, a resounding BOOOOOOOOO rang through the stadium. Followed by, not silence, but a continuation of the display of antagonism that the people felt towards and about that man - "Lock him up!" rang loud and clear and long. Yes, the base is not so steady and firm any longer, is it? Perhaps we are not the toads of Anna and we will no longer prostrate ourselves in front of Trump et al so that he might contnue to walk over all that we hold dear, all that is America and that should continue to be, but in even greater progress.
So while California burns due to awful weather changes; while we killed an ISIS leader based on intelligence and allies, two ideas which are anathema to Trump; while he shreds yet another safety net treaty with Russia to avoid war; as the corruption within his administration eats and erodes further deep into the body and soul of America, we must remember that there is still greatness here, that there is hope for the future.
We may not agree with all that one candidate or another says, but we must remember that in reality, other than with the Demented One, compromises are made, and thus extremes are never reached - unless a group, like the Republican Party gives up its collective soul. We cannot ignore the determination of each and every one of the candidates, even Gabbard whom I do not trust, to retrun the government to the people, for their benefit, to restrengthen our ties to our allies, to speak out for justice and to get rid of that toxic termite herd known as the Trump administration.
Several days ago we saluted a great man, an inspiration and a true life example of what America has to offer the world, a man who persisted against the odds to do the best for his city and his country.
"There's nothing weak about looking out for others. There's nothing weak about being honorable. You're not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect."
Elijah Cummings was a credit to us all, a promise and a reminder of what we can be and do at our best. He, certainly, was not a toad, not even on his deathbed. That is whom we must emulate and that is what we must stand for. No more toads. No more toadying in front of those who would kill America, make it into another dictatorship, another country run via the poisonous fuels of hatred and bias, a place where freedoms and rights are long forgotten, long ago trampled under rampaging feet.
We are at a crossroads, a dangerous one. Which way do we go? Hear the sounds of the crowds or hear the sounds of the toads, weak and pathetic. Time to make a choice. The time is fast approaching - or actually, is already here. Time to take and make a stand and make it count.
It appears that we do have a sizeable number of people who are quite toadish in their behavior. Recently, Trump and his blinded followers, or self deluding, or purposely lieing minions, have compared Trump to G-d, described him as one with "unmatched wisdom", or as "a stable genius", and Stephanie Grisham went all out yesterday as she praised his "great wisdom", so great that not everyone is suited or capable of working with it - with Trump.
Our own Great Leader. Our own Wise One. Our own homegrown Stalin, Lenin, Kim, Mussolini, Orban, Putin, Hitler. Our own version of the most twisted beings ever to appear on the surface of the Earth, straight from the nether regions of hell. So are we the toads of today, of true life and not the stages and screens of the nation?
Every day we are told of "the base", that vague group of people who presumably will follow Trump right into the lava of a volcano, drink his Kool-Aid, and all will do so willingly, forever. Well, maybe, but maybe not. Certainly, baseball has long been the game of America. Everyone in society attends games, from the elite and muckety mucks, to the base. And oh, dear, oh dearie me, but Trump was not happy yesterday at Game Five of the World Series. He showed up with some major creeps from Congress, including Graham and Gaetz and tht last one needs to be thrown out of office, so filled with hate is he!! Graham is a dangerous and powerful liar and I do not believe he truly has any feelings other than his lust for power and retention of said power.
In any case, introduced to the crowd after the third inning when a traditional salute to veterans takes place, a resounding BOOOOOOOOO rang through the stadium. Followed by, not silence, but a continuation of the display of antagonism that the people felt towards and about that man - "Lock him up!" rang loud and clear and long. Yes, the base is not so steady and firm any longer, is it? Perhaps we are not the toads of Anna and we will no longer prostrate ourselves in front of Trump et al so that he might contnue to walk over all that we hold dear, all that is America and that should continue to be, but in even greater progress.
So while California burns due to awful weather changes; while we killed an ISIS leader based on intelligence and allies, two ideas which are anathema to Trump; while he shreds yet another safety net treaty with Russia to avoid war; as the corruption within his administration eats and erodes further deep into the body and soul of America, we must remember that there is still greatness here, that there is hope for the future.
We may not agree with all that one candidate or another says, but we must remember that in reality, other than with the Demented One, compromises are made, and thus extremes are never reached - unless a group, like the Republican Party gives up its collective soul. We cannot ignore the determination of each and every one of the candidates, even Gabbard whom I do not trust, to retrun the government to the people, for their benefit, to restrengthen our ties to our allies, to speak out for justice and to get rid of that toxic termite herd known as the Trump administration.
Several days ago we saluted a great man, an inspiration and a true life example of what America has to offer the world, a man who persisted against the odds to do the best for his city and his country.
"There's nothing weak about looking out for others. There's nothing weak about being honorable. You're not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect."
Elijah Cummings was a credit to us all, a promise and a reminder of what we can be and do at our best. He, certainly, was not a toad, not even on his deathbed. That is whom we must emulate and that is what we must stand for. No more toads. No more toadying in front of those who would kill America, make it into another dictatorship, another country run via the poisonous fuels of hatred and bias, a place where freedoms and rights are long forgotten, long ago trampled under rampaging feet.
We are at a crossroads, a dangerous one. Which way do we go? Hear the sounds of the crowds or hear the sounds of the toads, weak and pathetic. Time to make a choice. The time is fast approaching - or actually, is already here. Time to take and make a stand and make it count.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
$17 MILLION
I do not know about you, but I have never had the freedom or wherewithal to spend $17 million . Takes some time to think abut where it should go and though money does not go quite as far as it used to - does it ever - well, we can think of some things to spend it on.
So....first, we invent a very simple and clear device for TV and cable and transfers to mobile devices - something we seniors desperately need!! Seriously, some of the money could be used to establish simple classes for the elderly, making them comfortable with the basic uses of computers. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive, maybe even community service volunteers and think how much and how far each dollar would go. Good bang for the buck.
We still have some money so, how about increasing the lunch programs in schools, feeding our children from needy homes. Think of the benefits for us and them. Kids who can pay attention, absorb information, think and create.
How about we use some of the money for rental apartments and job training, socialization skills for the homeless, the damaged 'goods' that society creates and usually leaves behind. The mere thought of having a place to lay one's head, to shower, to think, to read a book, to sit like a human to eat a meal. Think of it.
Or there is the choice to make thousands of micro loans, both here and across the sea, in Asia and Africa, particularly to women who have suffered so much as a result of the constant wars there. We can provide a helping hand to independence, a better life for them and hope for the kids. We can even open small health clinics, especially for women and kids who so desperately need this help.
Hey, we can even advance women's health care right here in the USA, a place where we have gone backwards over the past few years. We can sentence misogynists to work there, to take classes and understand the need for equality and proper attitudes. While we are doing that, we can increase the education in human rights, in combating hatred, in telling the truths of history rather than the lies we are hearing so frequently today.
How about some money going to schools, for improving physical plants or adding educational supplies, adding nurses and guidance counselors, for after and pre school centers, for so many things. Even for adult classes in the evenings.
I am sure we can find so many uses and places where we can productively spend these $17 million. Perhaps we can hire a grammar teacher for Trump. Or we can teach him some polite behaviorisms or the concept, recognition, use and importance of the truth. We can teach all to be civil, to be non partisan when it comes to the welfare of the country. We can even open up more early voting centers on campus, to replace those shut down in order to create difficulties for Democrat leaning students as they attempt to vote.
There are so many, many places where we can spend our funds. These funds are raised by taxes, taxes that weigh heavily on the poor and middle class, even as the uber rich have reaped great big windfalls from the Trump disaster of a tax program. Over a trillion dollars added this year alone to the national debt as the revenue dollars fall, so the nation borrows more. Sad. Dangerous.
Or, we can find one simple place to spend those millions, for 17 million dollars covers the cost of one ugly, in so many ways, mile of a border wall. This mile of border wall cuts off animals in migration paths, ruins the flows of water and flood drainage. It creates ugliness in nature where once there was beauty. It destroys all that America was and is meant to be. It encourages hatred. It throws people off to false pathways through life, as the border wall does nothing good for us. And it draws attention away from the fact that we have a demented government; not just him, who now has changed his mind again and is returning soldiers to Syria, but also Congress, particularly the Senate which has seriously and dangerously lost its way.
We have all lost our way and spend all those millionsof dollars on the wrong things. But there is hope. There are still people remaining on active watch over and for the country, and by extension the world. There is still time, though it is shrinking. "Waneth the watch, but the world holdeth." (Anonymous, "The Seafarer")
Let us make better use of time and money. Life depends on it.
So....first, we invent a very simple and clear device for TV and cable and transfers to mobile devices - something we seniors desperately need!! Seriously, some of the money could be used to establish simple classes for the elderly, making them comfortable with the basic uses of computers. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive, maybe even community service volunteers and think how much and how far each dollar would go. Good bang for the buck.
We still have some money so, how about increasing the lunch programs in schools, feeding our children from needy homes. Think of the benefits for us and them. Kids who can pay attention, absorb information, think and create.
How about we use some of the money for rental apartments and job training, socialization skills for the homeless, the damaged 'goods' that society creates and usually leaves behind. The mere thought of having a place to lay one's head, to shower, to think, to read a book, to sit like a human to eat a meal. Think of it.
Or there is the choice to make thousands of micro loans, both here and across the sea, in Asia and Africa, particularly to women who have suffered so much as a result of the constant wars there. We can provide a helping hand to independence, a better life for them and hope for the kids. We can even open small health clinics, especially for women and kids who so desperately need this help.
Hey, we can even advance women's health care right here in the USA, a place where we have gone backwards over the past few years. We can sentence misogynists to work there, to take classes and understand the need for equality and proper attitudes. While we are doing that, we can increase the education in human rights, in combating hatred, in telling the truths of history rather than the lies we are hearing so frequently today.
How about some money going to schools, for improving physical plants or adding educational supplies, adding nurses and guidance counselors, for after and pre school centers, for so many things. Even for adult classes in the evenings.
I am sure we can find so many uses and places where we can productively spend these $17 million. Perhaps we can hire a grammar teacher for Trump. Or we can teach him some polite behaviorisms or the concept, recognition, use and importance of the truth. We can teach all to be civil, to be non partisan when it comes to the welfare of the country. We can even open up more early voting centers on campus, to replace those shut down in order to create difficulties for Democrat leaning students as they attempt to vote.
There are so many, many places where we can spend our funds. These funds are raised by taxes, taxes that weigh heavily on the poor and middle class, even as the uber rich have reaped great big windfalls from the Trump disaster of a tax program. Over a trillion dollars added this year alone to the national debt as the revenue dollars fall, so the nation borrows more. Sad. Dangerous.
Or, we can find one simple place to spend those millions, for 17 million dollars covers the cost of one ugly, in so many ways, mile of a border wall. This mile of border wall cuts off animals in migration paths, ruins the flows of water and flood drainage. It creates ugliness in nature where once there was beauty. It destroys all that America was and is meant to be. It encourages hatred. It throws people off to false pathways through life, as the border wall does nothing good for us. And it draws attention away from the fact that we have a demented government; not just him, who now has changed his mind again and is returning soldiers to Syria, but also Congress, particularly the Senate which has seriously and dangerously lost its way.
We have all lost our way and spend all those millionsof dollars on the wrong things. But there is hope. There are still people remaining on active watch over and for the country, and by extension the world. There is still time, though it is shrinking. "Waneth the watch, but the world holdeth." (Anonymous, "The Seafarer")
Let us make better use of time and money. Life depends on it.
Friday, October 25, 2019
NO MORE!!!
It is astounding to me that at my age I have become a political follower, not of a particular person but what is happening within it and because of it. It is like following a will o' the wisp, so changeable are the politics and politicians of the day. But worse than anything, it is the lack of stamina, of courage, of 'rightness' within so many involved in our political apparatus that grips and astounds me, much to my regret.
Not an idiot, I know there are no perfect ideals in this world. I even recognize the fact that my first political hero, JFK, was flawed, but the man was a genuine hero, a good person, and while savvy in the ways of the world, did not take off after enemies in the dementeed manner of politicians today, particularly Republicans. It seems as if we have lost the brakes in our behavior and over our mouths. Anything goes it seems.
So we have governmental officials, high up muckety mucks, being censored or fined by courts, a la DeVos, who so humanely is insisting on collecting debts by students for payments to defunct and false colleges or schools. We have the Justice Department, now a tool of Trump, starting an investigation of an investigation, hoping against hope to deflect the impeachment inquiry.
As for the impeachment inquiry, the Republicans, having had their toddler temper tantrum to no avail other than to ridicule themselves, grown men and women standing there going 'wah wah, I want to play too, let me in the club', are now deciding on another tack. Yup, instead of admitting that their leader is a false god, a liar, cheat and scum of the earth, they are not fighting the accusations and the findings, the truths of it all, but are rather fighting the process. Such clever toddlers!
It boggles the mind, at least of any sane, thinking and moral person, how they and others of 'the base' can ignore and deny the facts uncovered, the filth that has risen to the surface. These facts are so clear and so egregious, that instead of the futile resistance to the facts, they argue the lies, argue the process that revealed them!! Great thinking! When the man's lawyers tell the judges that Trump is correct, that he can literally shoot and murder a man in public and get away with it because he is President, say "That is correct. That is correct." in answer to the astounded judge, well, we are beyond help unless we do the almost unthinkable and throw this guy out into the street along with his minions, and imprison and fine whomever, whyever, wherever deserves this. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW AND THAT INCLUDES TRUMP!!!!!!!!
The dizziness of the insane whirls us along with him. Out of Syria, gift to the Erdogan, desert our allies and let them be killed by the thousands, then allow 500 soldiers to stay and send over war equipment, all the better to lose it to the enemy. What the hell are we doing? What the hell are we allowing? It is no wonder that so many Americans are shutting the news, refusing to listen and hear anymore.
But that is not the way to go for though Washington cautioned us so long ago about foreign interference, and Lincoln warned us about a House divided and the short length of its life, we have chosen to ignore, thinking, all of us, like infants, that if we close our eyes to it, it is not there. Well, that magical thinking does not work in the real world, does it?
No more. No more deliberate ignoring of sins and crimes. No more acceptance of liars and moral bankruptees. No more ignoring the truth and no more apathy. Our very lives in every sense of the word are at stake. In the meanwhile, I vow not to give up, not to turn away, and hope against hope that somehow reality in a positive sense will filter in and we elect someone like Klobuchar, a moderate, with head on straight, to the highest office in our land. But again I state, anyone and anything gets my vote against that man if he remains in office till that time. A flea, a gnat, a monkey, - I do not care. Anyone but Trump. The world cannot take any more of him and his. We are already wobbling on the point of the needle.
Not an idiot, I know there are no perfect ideals in this world. I even recognize the fact that my first political hero, JFK, was flawed, but the man was a genuine hero, a good person, and while savvy in the ways of the world, did not take off after enemies in the dementeed manner of politicians today, particularly Republicans. It seems as if we have lost the brakes in our behavior and over our mouths. Anything goes it seems.
So we have governmental officials, high up muckety mucks, being censored or fined by courts, a la DeVos, who so humanely is insisting on collecting debts by students for payments to defunct and false colleges or schools. We have the Justice Department, now a tool of Trump, starting an investigation of an investigation, hoping against hope to deflect the impeachment inquiry.
As for the impeachment inquiry, the Republicans, having had their toddler temper tantrum to no avail other than to ridicule themselves, grown men and women standing there going 'wah wah, I want to play too, let me in the club', are now deciding on another tack. Yup, instead of admitting that their leader is a false god, a liar, cheat and scum of the earth, they are not fighting the accusations and the findings, the truths of it all, but are rather fighting the process. Such clever toddlers!
It boggles the mind, at least of any sane, thinking and moral person, how they and others of 'the base' can ignore and deny the facts uncovered, the filth that has risen to the surface. These facts are so clear and so egregious, that instead of the futile resistance to the facts, they argue the lies, argue the process that revealed them!! Great thinking! When the man's lawyers tell the judges that Trump is correct, that he can literally shoot and murder a man in public and get away with it because he is President, say "That is correct. That is correct." in answer to the astounded judge, well, we are beyond help unless we do the almost unthinkable and throw this guy out into the street along with his minions, and imprison and fine whomever, whyever, wherever deserves this. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW AND THAT INCLUDES TRUMP!!!!!!!!
The dizziness of the insane whirls us along with him. Out of Syria, gift to the Erdogan, desert our allies and let them be killed by the thousands, then allow 500 soldiers to stay and send over war equipment, all the better to lose it to the enemy. What the hell are we doing? What the hell are we allowing? It is no wonder that so many Americans are shutting the news, refusing to listen and hear anymore.
But that is not the way to go for though Washington cautioned us so long ago about foreign interference, and Lincoln warned us about a House divided and the short length of its life, we have chosen to ignore, thinking, all of us, like infants, that if we close our eyes to it, it is not there. Well, that magical thinking does not work in the real world, does it?
No more. No more deliberate ignoring of sins and crimes. No more acceptance of liars and moral bankruptees. No more ignoring the truth and no more apathy. Our very lives in every sense of the word are at stake. In the meanwhile, I vow not to give up, not to turn away, and hope against hope that somehow reality in a positive sense will filter in and we elect someone like Klobuchar, a moderate, with head on straight, to the highest office in our land. But again I state, anyone and anything gets my vote against that man if he remains in office till that time. A flea, a gnat, a monkey, - I do not care. Anyone but Trump. The world cannot take any more of him and his. We are already wobbling on the point of the needle.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE - WHERE ARE WE?
Where the hell are we? How did we get here and do we like it here? Personally, I am not sure of our exact physical location, perhaps somewhere in the circles and levels of Dante's Hell, but for sure, mentally, morally and emotionally, we are getting ever and ever closer to the nadir. I am not sure how much lower we can go other than ramping up roundups, expanding holding centers into their true endings as concentration camps and prisons, and just admit out loud that we have tossed it all away, thrown it all on the garbage heap of history.
I ask, I plead, pay attention to what we are doing. We have a criminal who is a clear and present danger to the Republic, to America, yet he gets to trumpet his lies, to tweet away with his crude and hurtful and ignorant words, yet we strive to terrify a parent by adding to the charges against her for doing something wrong, stupid, but out of love and so what!! If the kid is holding her own, then leave it alone. Evidently there is talent or brains there so why threaten and scare a mother with ridiculous Henry VIII kind of charges?
We have a delegation going to Greenland for what purpose - to quid pro quo them until they sell themselves to us? We had a great "success" in Syria and have removed the moronic sanctions against Turkey, a country which did exactly what we allowed it to do! And the success? I guess it is measured in body counts of Kurds, men, women and childen who were slaughtered when we abandoned them, giving free reign to their murderers. Shame on us! The blood of these people is on our hands, our faces, our souls, for we have allowed this man Trump to have his way when from the beginning he was illegitimate, an election tampered with by his BFFs, our enemies.
Where are we when just about every official appointee of his is corrupt and/or incompetent. DeVos wants to send all to private and/or religious schools at taxpayers cost. This would upend the prized and valued public education of this country which has allowed so many to enter, send their children to free school, and integrate into society. Personally speaking, we sent all our kids to private schools and paid the freight ourselves. We made choices and stuck by them - and out of our own pocket - and not at the public trough.
And do not think that if you oppose this man, either from the beginning or gradually, or suddenly as his cruelty and incompetence and corruption slappedyou in the face, that you are free of all taint. We are all guilty of his crimes. We allow them to deport a Marine Iraqui veteran of multiple tours who suffered a TBI. Instead of helping him, we ignored him as he devolved, was sent to prison and summarily tosssed the hell out of the country he served, even as Old Bone Spurs stands there with his hypocritical salute.
We are all complicit in the harming nad murder of children. We have reduced the SNAP program - food stamps - so the food intake into homes is drastically limited. We have cut lunch subsidies so let them go hungry and then let us blame them for not doing well in school. We then work hard, oh so hard, to cut their medical care, over 400,000 off special children's health programs, and yes, there were many "Americans" on that program, so cut the bitching that we gave this care to illegals. Learn and accept the truth of what we have allowed. Deport, separate, mistreat, destroy, starve and refuse medical treatment - and all this to children, those dangerous enemies at the gate, Yes, they will grow up to be enemies as they think back on what we have done and allowed!
Oh, but wait, here's an idea. Trump boasts, mind you, that we are building all these 'beautiful' walls - even in Colorado!! What an ignorant ass. But, how about we then take New Mexico and dump all of the present and former Trump accomplices into that isolated state, to share the very air and water and land with citizens of Spanish, Mexican, and Native American descent. Huh! That would be a sight. Perhaps we can send Republicans on tours there so they can see what they have wrought with their actions and inaction. And no, storming a deposition room where they ARE NOT allowed, because they are not on committee, but their fellow Republicans who are, are in that room. Recall what I said about mobs and mob conduct in yesterday's posting.
So where are we? Remember fairy tales that we read as children? Well, they are actually not so childlike and here is one message from a well known one - "East of the Sun, West of the Moon".
"Can you tell me the way then, and I will seek you...."
"Yes, you may do that", said he; but there is no way thither. It lies east of the sun and west of the moon, and never would you find your way there."
We are so lost,finding our way to a lost place and cannot figure out how we get out and return to sanity, morality, trust and competence.
I ask, I plead, pay attention to what we are doing. We have a criminal who is a clear and present danger to the Republic, to America, yet he gets to trumpet his lies, to tweet away with his crude and hurtful and ignorant words, yet we strive to terrify a parent by adding to the charges against her for doing something wrong, stupid, but out of love and so what!! If the kid is holding her own, then leave it alone. Evidently there is talent or brains there so why threaten and scare a mother with ridiculous Henry VIII kind of charges?
We have a delegation going to Greenland for what purpose - to quid pro quo them until they sell themselves to us? We had a great "success" in Syria and have removed the moronic sanctions against Turkey, a country which did exactly what we allowed it to do! And the success? I guess it is measured in body counts of Kurds, men, women and childen who were slaughtered when we abandoned them, giving free reign to their murderers. Shame on us! The blood of these people is on our hands, our faces, our souls, for we have allowed this man Trump to have his way when from the beginning he was illegitimate, an election tampered with by his BFFs, our enemies.
Where are we when just about every official appointee of his is corrupt and/or incompetent. DeVos wants to send all to private and/or religious schools at taxpayers cost. This would upend the prized and valued public education of this country which has allowed so many to enter, send their children to free school, and integrate into society. Personally speaking, we sent all our kids to private schools and paid the freight ourselves. We made choices and stuck by them - and out of our own pocket - and not at the public trough.
And do not think that if you oppose this man, either from the beginning or gradually, or suddenly as his cruelty and incompetence and corruption slappedyou in the face, that you are free of all taint. We are all guilty of his crimes. We allow them to deport a Marine Iraqui veteran of multiple tours who suffered a TBI. Instead of helping him, we ignored him as he devolved, was sent to prison and summarily tosssed the hell out of the country he served, even as Old Bone Spurs stands there with his hypocritical salute.
We are all complicit in the harming nad murder of children. We have reduced the SNAP program - food stamps - so the food intake into homes is drastically limited. We have cut lunch subsidies so let them go hungry and then let us blame them for not doing well in school. We then work hard, oh so hard, to cut their medical care, over 400,000 off special children's health programs, and yes, there were many "Americans" on that program, so cut the bitching that we gave this care to illegals. Learn and accept the truth of what we have allowed. Deport, separate, mistreat, destroy, starve and refuse medical treatment - and all this to children, those dangerous enemies at the gate, Yes, they will grow up to be enemies as they think back on what we have done and allowed!
Oh, but wait, here's an idea. Trump boasts, mind you, that we are building all these 'beautiful' walls - even in Colorado!! What an ignorant ass. But, how about we then take New Mexico and dump all of the present and former Trump accomplices into that isolated state, to share the very air and water and land with citizens of Spanish, Mexican, and Native American descent. Huh! That would be a sight. Perhaps we can send Republicans on tours there so they can see what they have wrought with their actions and inaction. And no, storming a deposition room where they ARE NOT allowed, because they are not on committee, but their fellow Republicans who are, are in that room. Recall what I said about mobs and mob conduct in yesterday's posting.
So where are we? Remember fairy tales that we read as children? Well, they are actually not so childlike and here is one message from a well known one - "East of the Sun, West of the Moon".
"Can you tell me the way then, and I will seek you...."
"Yes, you may do that", said he; but there is no way thither. It lies east of the sun and west of the moon, and never would you find your way there."
We are so lost,finding our way to a lost place and cannot figure out how we get out and return to sanity, morality, trust and competence.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
GOETH I ....AND THEE AS WELL
Having had a bit more time to think these past two days, rather than running around with the minutae of life, I contemplated some points. Now I am no Plato or Socrates, so if you expect that , then I refer you to The Republic. Still and all.....
Of late there has been much, and finally, long time awaited, shall we say, throat clearing and after that, conscience clearing, at least to a point. The dam has broken and all the rats are leaving the ship, other than those who cannot seem to be able to thrive anymore in a world based on ethical values, kindness, and progress. Does it sound harsh, too judgemental? Perhaps, but those of us not caught up in the mania, and it is a mania, of Trump and his riotous and yes, evil rallies, can look and say but for the grace of G-d, goeth I.
It is easy to be caught up in the mindless rushing to somewhere that a mob allows and encourages. It allows one to lose oneself , one's identity, one's responsibility, and surrender all to the mob. It is good, one might feel, to let go, to become one with others and let the anger flow, the fear flow, and damn the consequences.
Look at the face of Trump as he speaks at these rallies, these campaign rallies redux, wherein old information is retread, rechewed, and the mob cheers. Yes, a mob, and not an audience. His face is ugly, not an unusual result from words of hate, as the inner ugliness comes forth and once again, watch and say to oneself, there but...goeth I.
It takes moral courage to go against a mob, to go against a ranting madman, particularly one with power, of politics, of money, of fear, of, yes, of evil. It is frightening to stand there in the face of a sludge of ugliness coming one's way, fear of being overwhelmed, lost within its darkness, and somehow, being or getting punished by someone.
This is what has happend all these years with Trump, and yes, most probably in his Trump Organization as well, for the tiger does not change those stripes. And so, along with Trump went the rats, following the tune of the Piper's flute, being caught and lost in the seemingly appealing future he promised, a future where all would be fair, where the "swamp" would be cleared and cleansed. Perhaps some people went along with the promise of hope. Well, we were all misinformed, and badly so, were we not?
And the dam has broken. It was a flimsy one, built of sins, offense, fear, lies, a dirty swamp regenerated and repopulated with lobbyists, with greedy and incompetent people who looked out for themselves and for Trump, and who either entered soulless or exited soulless, for sold them they did for momentary power. They succumbed to the false promises of a false prophet, the green grass on the other side, the grass that was meant and promised to be only for them.
We forgot ourselves and who we were supposed to be, what America and Americans were supposed to be for themselves and for the world. We stood by and allowed the detritus of such a society to pile up. So we began to step over bodies prone on the sidewalks of great cities, for they no longer could afford to put a roof over their heads as the cost of rent, never mind buying, was prohibitive. Apartments went empty for most of the year while their spoiled and self indulgent uber wealthy were elsewhere.
The homeless are not just drunks, or druggies. Some are mentally ill with conditions that can be addressed, but we have cut those funds, tossed people out on the streets, defenseless and hopeless. Others are traveling with their families, for there is apparently no inn for them, never mind a room. There are people who have been walloped by life, by illness, by natural disasters, people for whom help was not there at all or minimal and there we have it. These are the homeless, the living from check to check and the check failed to come or became woefully inadequate.
Now we shout and scream, get them away, hide them somewhere in a back alley, rather than face up to the fact: there but for the grace of G-d goeth I. And thee. And thee. And we, all of us. We blind ourselves to what is here, not coming anymore, but here. Think we have coverage for all who are lucky enough to have reached Medicare? Well, think again. Yes, I bless it every day, for it allows me to live, but, a great big but, I am beginning to find inroads in this coverage. Times for testings are being lengthened. Medical prescriptions are being ignored. Here is a recent one: Told to check my blood sugar two or three times a day, requiring a minimum of 300 test strips for three months, and remember, these testing devices can misfire, so another strip is needed, we were told, nope. You get 100 strips and tough bugs. So says Medicare. Screw you and the doctor. Other medications have to be argued and fought for, tests - ditto, and the situation will only get worse. Medical coverage yes, it is a human right, but for Heaven's sake, let us do it right.
Let us call that minor, for we will fix it somehow, even with private funds, but it is costly at several hundred dollars, repeated ad infinitum until death do us part! Or cannot afford it as the cost of other medications are increasingly not covered or lessened. Screw you is the attitude and will continue to be while soulless people remain in office, as safety regulations are thrown out and more people will be on the streets, literally, as they are destroyed, broken, by medical costs.
We need to think. We need to make this travesty of an administration an example for the future. Instead of threatening poor thinking by parents as they tried to ease a road for their kids, the wrong way, but it was not to the level of racketeering, federal charges of bribery, worthy of 20 years on each charge!! Surely the wrongdoings of the Trump administration are far more foul, far more long range, far more harmful to our sovereignty, to our security and where the hell and why the hell are we persisting with this imbecilic and dangerous mishandling of crimes, ignoring the far more serious while dallying away the lives of so many?!
Yes, there but for the grace of G-d, of fortune and fate, goeth I and thee and we. Is it not time that we do something about this? Time that we demand far more strength of character from our representatives overseas, in Congress, in the West Wing, in the State Department, wherever and however they are meant to be servants of the people, not their destroyers.
Time to take stock, to evaluate, to reevaluate and to plan and act better. We need to remember that we are all people.We need to stop villifying groups of others. We need to return to the road of progress, of caring for our Earth - we have no other home, do we? We need to punish the wrongdoers, the complicit in these misdeeds and teach the kids of today that yes, adults can do the right thing, and pass that lesson along to a future we hope we could and will have.
Of late there has been much, and finally, long time awaited, shall we say, throat clearing and after that, conscience clearing, at least to a point. The dam has broken and all the rats are leaving the ship, other than those who cannot seem to be able to thrive anymore in a world based on ethical values, kindness, and progress. Does it sound harsh, too judgemental? Perhaps, but those of us not caught up in the mania, and it is a mania, of Trump and his riotous and yes, evil rallies, can look and say but for the grace of G-d, goeth I.
It is easy to be caught up in the mindless rushing to somewhere that a mob allows and encourages. It allows one to lose oneself , one's identity, one's responsibility, and surrender all to the mob. It is good, one might feel, to let go, to become one with others and let the anger flow, the fear flow, and damn the consequences.
Look at the face of Trump as he speaks at these rallies, these campaign rallies redux, wherein old information is retread, rechewed, and the mob cheers. Yes, a mob, and not an audience. His face is ugly, not an unusual result from words of hate, as the inner ugliness comes forth and once again, watch and say to oneself, there but...goeth I.
It takes moral courage to go against a mob, to go against a ranting madman, particularly one with power, of politics, of money, of fear, of, yes, of evil. It is frightening to stand there in the face of a sludge of ugliness coming one's way, fear of being overwhelmed, lost within its darkness, and somehow, being or getting punished by someone.
This is what has happend all these years with Trump, and yes, most probably in his Trump Organization as well, for the tiger does not change those stripes. And so, along with Trump went the rats, following the tune of the Piper's flute, being caught and lost in the seemingly appealing future he promised, a future where all would be fair, where the "swamp" would be cleared and cleansed. Perhaps some people went along with the promise of hope. Well, we were all misinformed, and badly so, were we not?
And the dam has broken. It was a flimsy one, built of sins, offense, fear, lies, a dirty swamp regenerated and repopulated with lobbyists, with greedy and incompetent people who looked out for themselves and for Trump, and who either entered soulless or exited soulless, for sold them they did for momentary power. They succumbed to the false promises of a false prophet, the green grass on the other side, the grass that was meant and promised to be only for them.
We forgot ourselves and who we were supposed to be, what America and Americans were supposed to be for themselves and for the world. We stood by and allowed the detritus of such a society to pile up. So we began to step over bodies prone on the sidewalks of great cities, for they no longer could afford to put a roof over their heads as the cost of rent, never mind buying, was prohibitive. Apartments went empty for most of the year while their spoiled and self indulgent uber wealthy were elsewhere.
The homeless are not just drunks, or druggies. Some are mentally ill with conditions that can be addressed, but we have cut those funds, tossed people out on the streets, defenseless and hopeless. Others are traveling with their families, for there is apparently no inn for them, never mind a room. There are people who have been walloped by life, by illness, by natural disasters, people for whom help was not there at all or minimal and there we have it. These are the homeless, the living from check to check and the check failed to come or became woefully inadequate.
Now we shout and scream, get them away, hide them somewhere in a back alley, rather than face up to the fact: there but for the grace of G-d goeth I. And thee. And thee. And we, all of us. We blind ourselves to what is here, not coming anymore, but here. Think we have coverage for all who are lucky enough to have reached Medicare? Well, think again. Yes, I bless it every day, for it allows me to live, but, a great big but, I am beginning to find inroads in this coverage. Times for testings are being lengthened. Medical prescriptions are being ignored. Here is a recent one: Told to check my blood sugar two or three times a day, requiring a minimum of 300 test strips for three months, and remember, these testing devices can misfire, so another strip is needed, we were told, nope. You get 100 strips and tough bugs. So says Medicare. Screw you and the doctor. Other medications have to be argued and fought for, tests - ditto, and the situation will only get worse. Medical coverage yes, it is a human right, but for Heaven's sake, let us do it right.
Let us call that minor, for we will fix it somehow, even with private funds, but it is costly at several hundred dollars, repeated ad infinitum until death do us part! Or cannot afford it as the cost of other medications are increasingly not covered or lessened. Screw you is the attitude and will continue to be while soulless people remain in office, as safety regulations are thrown out and more people will be on the streets, literally, as they are destroyed, broken, by medical costs.
We need to think. We need to make this travesty of an administration an example for the future. Instead of threatening poor thinking by parents as they tried to ease a road for their kids, the wrong way, but it was not to the level of racketeering, federal charges of bribery, worthy of 20 years on each charge!! Surely the wrongdoings of the Trump administration are far more foul, far more long range, far more harmful to our sovereignty, to our security and where the hell and why the hell are we persisting with this imbecilic and dangerous mishandling of crimes, ignoring the far more serious while dallying away the lives of so many?!
Yes, there but for the grace of G-d, of fortune and fate, goeth I and thee and we. Is it not time that we do something about this? Time that we demand far more strength of character from our representatives overseas, in Congress, in the West Wing, in the State Department, wherever and however they are meant to be servants of the people, not their destroyers.
Time to take stock, to evaluate, to reevaluate and to plan and act better. We need to remember that we are all people.We need to stop villifying groups of others. We need to return to the road of progress, of caring for our Earth - we have no other home, do we? We need to punish the wrongdoers, the complicit in these misdeeds and teach the kids of today that yes, adults can do the right thing, and pass that lesson along to a future we hope we could and will have.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
GROWN UPS. WHERE ARE THEY?
Children are protesting all over the world with a young girl from Sweden leading the pack. Youngsters are leading the ever growing and ever more volatile protests in Hong Kong. Young adults here in the USA are turning more and more to the burning socialism of yesteryear, the drive and belief which forced the USA down the right roads and into a social safety net for our citizenry.
Oh, did I forget the adults? Tsk, tsk. But the question is where are they? When even young leaders such as Trudeau of Canada get into trouble, when young leaders speak dangerous idiocy because they do not know better and the examples of their elders lead them to do that, well, where are the true adults, the altruistic ones that we used to pride oursleves on? Where are they? Beats me!!
Such is our situation and because we have no true leaders, we are growing and going into a bad situation, one of danger. While the children rage in Congress, while the Republicans insist on backing an immoral crook, deep in the throes of dementia, the Democrats are pushing spending bills that die in the Senate because the children there are refusing to cooperate. The Leader of those infants, those morally deprived toddlers, is using his power to veto as a blackmail threat, hoping to stop the snow avalanche that is coming down on him. So by Thanksgiving we will be out of money for the government. What happens then? Will anything ever happen, become productive efforts in that madhouse? Only G-d knows and quite frankly, perhaps He is scratching His head in bewilderment as well.
33,000 emails under investigation in a stupid money wasting campaign of our turncoat Attorney General, Barr, and all that were found were 98 that should have been more careful and no systemic problem or plan. In the meanwhile, where oh where is dear Ivanka, and dear Jared as well, as their emails on their private servers that contained government info - well, tsk, tsk, and let us remember goose and gander. Let us remember that same maxim when the creeps Junior and Eric and wife Lara speak as if they are morally white as angels even as they continue to run around the world trading on Daddy's name, working Daddy's business. Get thee gone, Hunter, and make room for the truly black hearted and nasty dudes and dudettes.
What does the country worry about? Well, I am upset that the Yankees blew it. I am fascinated with the whole stupidity of the college entrance scams. Since when is it a surprise that the uber wealthy have traded donations for privileges? How many buildings and fields are endowed with names of families who had a bit of a troublesome child, so the schools were convinced to keep the child with just a bit of a tasty hors d'oeuvres to sweeten the deal? For how long has there been a legacy policy in schools all over the country. As for the less monetarily blessed, well, they work for the school, donating time, effort, raising funds through activities. Trust me, when that PTA President walks in, principal listens to them and their complaints. Or ideas.
This is life and if the crooked people would not have taken the money to help this along, it never would have happened. So who is guilty here, the prostitute and sex worker or the criminals who traffic them, the pimps who take advantage of them, or society which forces them into this career due to a lack of any other opportunity? Think, people, think. And why should anyone be honest, really, if the President gets away with it, over and over again, and his desperate antics and behaviors now are looked at with ennui as we turn to more important things, you know, like where to eat tonight, or how to get our kids into schools, or how to flatter the boss, or why the heck did those Yankees blow it again??!!
Society is deeply troubled and fractured. Labor is speaking up, wanting a share of the wealth of an economy that rests upon their backs even as the wild profits return to the treasuries of the companies and the pockets of the top echelon personnel. Children, more and more, are going hungry, with food pantries running out of food earlier and lunch debt in schools causing schools to actually deny food to a hungrychild.
We do not talk to each other. We have declared political discussion verboten as we chit chat the day away. We think that if we turn off the TV, close the computer, concentrate on Candy Crush, all the bad will go away and life will be good. Think again, folks, and quickly. And while we are at it, while I think Clinton should have brought this up in a better way, the Russian media is plumping for Gabbard, and have we not been there before? She is just another isolationist, another populist, in another color suit and disguised party affiliation. But, a rose is a rose, is it not, and we have so many other issues and she is so unlikely to gain a nomination that we should just take a watchful waiting to see what happens. Time to stop this ugliness amongst ourselves. Time to play adults once again. The kids need us and we need ourselves.
Oh, did I forget the adults? Tsk, tsk. But the question is where are they? When even young leaders such as Trudeau of Canada get into trouble, when young leaders speak dangerous idiocy because they do not know better and the examples of their elders lead them to do that, well, where are the true adults, the altruistic ones that we used to pride oursleves on? Where are they? Beats me!!
Such is our situation and because we have no true leaders, we are growing and going into a bad situation, one of danger. While the children rage in Congress, while the Republicans insist on backing an immoral crook, deep in the throes of dementia, the Democrats are pushing spending bills that die in the Senate because the children there are refusing to cooperate. The Leader of those infants, those morally deprived toddlers, is using his power to veto as a blackmail threat, hoping to stop the snow avalanche that is coming down on him. So by Thanksgiving we will be out of money for the government. What happens then? Will anything ever happen, become productive efforts in that madhouse? Only G-d knows and quite frankly, perhaps He is scratching His head in bewilderment as well.
33,000 emails under investigation in a stupid money wasting campaign of our turncoat Attorney General, Barr, and all that were found were 98 that should have been more careful and no systemic problem or plan. In the meanwhile, where oh where is dear Ivanka, and dear Jared as well, as their emails on their private servers that contained government info - well, tsk, tsk, and let us remember goose and gander. Let us remember that same maxim when the creeps Junior and Eric and wife Lara speak as if they are morally white as angels even as they continue to run around the world trading on Daddy's name, working Daddy's business. Get thee gone, Hunter, and make room for the truly black hearted and nasty dudes and dudettes.
What does the country worry about? Well, I am upset that the Yankees blew it. I am fascinated with the whole stupidity of the college entrance scams. Since when is it a surprise that the uber wealthy have traded donations for privileges? How many buildings and fields are endowed with names of families who had a bit of a troublesome child, so the schools were convinced to keep the child with just a bit of a tasty hors d'oeuvres to sweeten the deal? For how long has there been a legacy policy in schools all over the country. As for the less monetarily blessed, well, they work for the school, donating time, effort, raising funds through activities. Trust me, when that PTA President walks in, principal listens to them and their complaints. Or ideas.
This is life and if the crooked people would not have taken the money to help this along, it never would have happened. So who is guilty here, the prostitute and sex worker or the criminals who traffic them, the pimps who take advantage of them, or society which forces them into this career due to a lack of any other opportunity? Think, people, think. And why should anyone be honest, really, if the President gets away with it, over and over again, and his desperate antics and behaviors now are looked at with ennui as we turn to more important things, you know, like where to eat tonight, or how to get our kids into schools, or how to flatter the boss, or why the heck did those Yankees blow it again??!!
Society is deeply troubled and fractured. Labor is speaking up, wanting a share of the wealth of an economy that rests upon their backs even as the wild profits return to the treasuries of the companies and the pockets of the top echelon personnel. Children, more and more, are going hungry, with food pantries running out of food earlier and lunch debt in schools causing schools to actually deny food to a hungrychild.
We do not talk to each other. We have declared political discussion verboten as we chit chat the day away. We think that if we turn off the TV, close the computer, concentrate on Candy Crush, all the bad will go away and life will be good. Think again, folks, and quickly. And while we are at it, while I think Clinton should have brought this up in a better way, the Russian media is plumping for Gabbard, and have we not been there before? She is just another isolationist, another populist, in another color suit and disguised party affiliation. But, a rose is a rose, is it not, and we have so many other issues and she is so unlikely to gain a nomination that we should just take a watchful waiting to see what happens. Time to stop this ugliness amongst ourselves. Time to play adults once again. The kids need us and we need ourselves.
Friday, October 18, 2019
CALLING MR. SMITH
Mr. Smith went to Washington and surprise, surprise, as he remained true to his principles in the midst of temptation and greed. Where, oh where, is our Mr. Smith today? One thing I know for sure: he is not to be found among the Republican Party, for they have all seemingly sold their souls to the devil in return for.....power? money? greed?
There certainly is no Mr. Smith among the witnesses testifying to Congress and even in closed door hearings we have leaks and the leaks are frightening, hintng at a deluge to come. It is up to us to manage that deluge and make sure that it does not sweep our country and democracy away.
Watching Trump lately is to watch the further devolvement of a man into that long dark night of dementia. The sad and surprising thing about this devolvement is simply this: why and wherefore have so many people blinded themselves to this? How have they managed to ignore the rages of dementia, the constant aggressive behavior, the name calling, the paranoia, the insane decisions that reverse on themselves again and again? How do they not see or not care about his poisonous narcissism,the very same thing that is destroying us and the world as he indulges himself in it up to his miserable neck? And yet, he packed a stadium the other day and yes, I am afraid of that, very much so, for these are the people who turn rabid at his barbed and hateful remarks, the ones meant to dehumaanize his opponents, the ones meant to say that it is okay to indulge in violent prejudiced actions, the ones that say it is okay to cage and mistreat people, even children, even people who cross borders by accident!
And the rats keep coming, doing their dog paddle to the dock in the form of testifying about their boss. Mulvaney does not even see what he did as wrong for he tells us to 'get over it" as if we were making a big deal over a boo boo on the knee rather than over world changing craziness. The great man in all of this? Schiff, who maintains his calm in the midst of slurs and barbs. Elijah Cummings, who in his last hours still thought of the good for others and signed two subpoenas dealing with stopping the repeal of health refuge for sick kids from other countries. Pelosi, who has hung in there with the strength of a lion, standing fast in the face of great pressure, getting legislation passed in the House even as the Senate refuses to do so yet complain that the Democrats are not doing anything.
It is frustrating to see all this and to know, yes, know, what could happen after the elections or even before. And what awaits in the wings? Pence, who just sold us down the river again, along with our former allies as they fight for 'the sands of Syria'. And like the acolytes of the Naked Emperor, those who persist with Trump refuse to see the forest for the trees or the trees for the forest; their thinking powers have been dulled even as their trend toward violence and threatened defiance grows.
How people do not see the violence with which Trump has ripped up our Constitution, how he has sold out our allies and made love with our enemies, how he has grasped the strings of government and pulled them every which way all the better to enrich himself and his buddies, emoluments galore, endangering the security of the nation and shaming us in front of the world. His latest deed is best described by Romney: "a bloodstain on the annals of American history
Mr. Smith, where are you? Where are the Americans who used to be you? Where is our courage to set things right, to do the right thing? Where are we going? Where have we been led in this disgraceful reign of Trump and when, if ever, will we be able to stop it and recover or will it be too late in every existential sense of the word and thought. People, this is a great blot indeed on our history, on our values as a country and its citizenry. We need to be better than this. We need to be better than this. We need, in the ungramatical project of the invisible Melania, to "Be Best". Wish she would start at home!
There certainly is no Mr. Smith among the witnesses testifying to Congress and even in closed door hearings we have leaks and the leaks are frightening, hintng at a deluge to come. It is up to us to manage that deluge and make sure that it does not sweep our country and democracy away.
Watching Trump lately is to watch the further devolvement of a man into that long dark night of dementia. The sad and surprising thing about this devolvement is simply this: why and wherefore have so many people blinded themselves to this? How have they managed to ignore the rages of dementia, the constant aggressive behavior, the name calling, the paranoia, the insane decisions that reverse on themselves again and again? How do they not see or not care about his poisonous narcissism,the very same thing that is destroying us and the world as he indulges himself in it up to his miserable neck? And yet, he packed a stadium the other day and yes, I am afraid of that, very much so, for these are the people who turn rabid at his barbed and hateful remarks, the ones meant to dehumaanize his opponents, the ones meant to say that it is okay to indulge in violent prejudiced actions, the ones that say it is okay to cage and mistreat people, even children, even people who cross borders by accident!
And the rats keep coming, doing their dog paddle to the dock in the form of testifying about their boss. Mulvaney does not even see what he did as wrong for he tells us to 'get over it" as if we were making a big deal over a boo boo on the knee rather than over world changing craziness. The great man in all of this? Schiff, who maintains his calm in the midst of slurs and barbs. Elijah Cummings, who in his last hours still thought of the good for others and signed two subpoenas dealing with stopping the repeal of health refuge for sick kids from other countries. Pelosi, who has hung in there with the strength of a lion, standing fast in the face of great pressure, getting legislation passed in the House even as the Senate refuses to do so yet complain that the Democrats are not doing anything.
It is frustrating to see all this and to know, yes, know, what could happen after the elections or even before. And what awaits in the wings? Pence, who just sold us down the river again, along with our former allies as they fight for 'the sands of Syria'. And like the acolytes of the Naked Emperor, those who persist with Trump refuse to see the forest for the trees or the trees for the forest; their thinking powers have been dulled even as their trend toward violence and threatened defiance grows.
How people do not see the violence with which Trump has ripped up our Constitution, how he has sold out our allies and made love with our enemies, how he has grasped the strings of government and pulled them every which way all the better to enrich himself and his buddies, emoluments galore, endangering the security of the nation and shaming us in front of the world. His latest deed is best described by Romney: "a bloodstain on the annals of American history
Mr. Smith, where are you? Where are the Americans who used to be you? Where is our courage to set things right, to do the right thing? Where are we going? Where have we been led in this disgraceful reign of Trump and when, if ever, will we be able to stop it and recover or will it be too late in every existential sense of the word and thought. People, this is a great blot indeed on our history, on our values as a country and its citizenry. We need to be better than this. We need to be better than this. We need, in the ungramatical project of the invisible Melania, to "Be Best". Wish she would start at home!
Thursday, October 17, 2019
AND NOW WHAT?
Once again we have a controversial meeting of Trump and other governmental officials, and Pelosi, one of two women in a dark suited mens' convocation, stood up and pointed at the President. Good for her!! It is infinitely hard for a woman to speak over the men who speak over her, and for Pelosi to do this- well, wow!! I am proud of her.
Once again Trump has looked at others and seen his faults reflected back at him and then he persists in trying to deflect. So he has the meltdown, behaves in a most unpresidential manner, more like the overgrown toddler brat he most resembles and accuses Pelosi of the meltdown. He rants against her and Mattis, throwing all and sundry under the wheels of that bus which is slowly but surely reaching the end of its run. What must concern us all is whether or rather which or what will run out of power first. Will Trump manage to destroy the world even further, undo more years and decades of progress, or will we be able to toss him out before that happens and then struggle with....... what?
Actually,, the first question is this: will the Republican Senators, who until now have behaved like good little acolytes of the insane and bizarre man, will they finally stand up and admit to the world that they were wrong, that the man is decidedly unqualified, insane and corrupt in every which way possible. See, the question is whether in the legal sense of the word, in the face of the self proclaimed deaf, dumb, and blind Senators, will the Ukrainian issue be enough? Will it be possible to bring up his bizarre mannerisms and behaviors? Will it be possible to bring up his slowly reappearing tax statements, in bits and pieces, proof of his malfeasance and guilt in financial crimes? Will he join Capone and others who go down for tax evasion? Heck! I could not care less what brings him down and finally hits those Senators in their blindfolded heads, but let us get him out before we stand alone in the world, before we become the "sick man" the "paper tiger" of the world.
Say we do this. We impeach the man and a miracle occurs and the Republicans find some courage and convict him. Huh! As if. But then what? Pence? Will "Mother" then rule us a la the wife of Woodrow Wilson when he had his stroke? Will we overlook the complicity of Pence in the same mess? Will we overlook his 'dumbness' too?
Or, or, or, could it be, that for a year or so we would actually have the first woman President in the form of 78 year old Nancy Pelosi, a dynamo if I ever saw one. She has had the patience and the strength to stand up against him, take the punches and the filth, the accusations, the slurs, and patiently wait the insane man out and lordy, but I do hope he gets what's comin', what is way overdue for this man and his egregious acts.
But! A great big but. What if they do not convict? What if they remain spineless and morally vapid? What will be at the end of the year at the elections? Will the "base", hate that word, finally realize that he has indeed shafted them right down to the core? Will they realize he has taken away their health insurance, their right to medical care, created more hungry homes and homeless families, made it almost impossible for a kid to climb the ladder of sucess, even go to college in the first place, and behaved in manners and ways and actions that shame us all. Will we finally have a chance to right all the wrongs and the damage he has done? And now he wants to open the last true forests of Alaska to logging and clear cutting, to development of mining, etc. Dear Lord! When does it stop and what will be left if it ever does?
I still say that Klobuchar would be best but Buttigieg is gaining as well, both with heads on their shoulders. But in the name of full disclosure, if a flea runs against Trump, that flea has my vote. Cannot be any worse, can it! Seriously, I am unhappy with Sanders for several reasons, but accepting the endorsement of anti Semites such as Omar and Tlaib, well, that puts my teeth on edge, but better than Trump! Any day, every day and I seriously doubt that Sanders will be the candidate for President or VP. Wonder what the actual team will be? The dream team? And who is that?
Dickens had it right so long ago. "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times." We have the opportunity to show the world that America has not gone irretrievably and permanently off the track. It has remembered its place and role in the world. It has remembered that it stands there along with Lady Liberty, the grand Lady of the Harbor, to represent humane treatment and acceptance of refugees, to accept the new blood we need to keep America strong, to be America. To be Americans.
So now what? It is up to us. We either toss him out now, along with his rats deserting the sinking ship or we toss him out next November, assuming of course that his BFFS, the dictators of the world, every two bit country with a hacker, does not interfere in our most private and sacrosanct elections. And now what? A frightening question. A more frightening answer? Think.
Once again Trump has looked at others and seen his faults reflected back at him and then he persists in trying to deflect. So he has the meltdown, behaves in a most unpresidential manner, more like the overgrown toddler brat he most resembles and accuses Pelosi of the meltdown. He rants against her and Mattis, throwing all and sundry under the wheels of that bus which is slowly but surely reaching the end of its run. What must concern us all is whether or rather which or what will run out of power first. Will Trump manage to destroy the world even further, undo more years and decades of progress, or will we be able to toss him out before that happens and then struggle with....... what?
Actually,, the first question is this: will the Republican Senators, who until now have behaved like good little acolytes of the insane and bizarre man, will they finally stand up and admit to the world that they were wrong, that the man is decidedly unqualified, insane and corrupt in every which way possible. See, the question is whether in the legal sense of the word, in the face of the self proclaimed deaf, dumb, and blind Senators, will the Ukrainian issue be enough? Will it be possible to bring up his bizarre mannerisms and behaviors? Will it be possible to bring up his slowly reappearing tax statements, in bits and pieces, proof of his malfeasance and guilt in financial crimes? Will he join Capone and others who go down for tax evasion? Heck! I could not care less what brings him down and finally hits those Senators in their blindfolded heads, but let us get him out before we stand alone in the world, before we become the "sick man" the "paper tiger" of the world.
Say we do this. We impeach the man and a miracle occurs and the Republicans find some courage and convict him. Huh! As if. But then what? Pence? Will "Mother" then rule us a la the wife of Woodrow Wilson when he had his stroke? Will we overlook the complicity of Pence in the same mess? Will we overlook his 'dumbness' too?
Or, or, or, could it be, that for a year or so we would actually have the first woman President in the form of 78 year old Nancy Pelosi, a dynamo if I ever saw one. She has had the patience and the strength to stand up against him, take the punches and the filth, the accusations, the slurs, and patiently wait the insane man out and lordy, but I do hope he gets what's comin', what is way overdue for this man and his egregious acts.
But! A great big but. What if they do not convict? What if they remain spineless and morally vapid? What will be at the end of the year at the elections? Will the "base", hate that word, finally realize that he has indeed shafted them right down to the core? Will they realize he has taken away their health insurance, their right to medical care, created more hungry homes and homeless families, made it almost impossible for a kid to climb the ladder of sucess, even go to college in the first place, and behaved in manners and ways and actions that shame us all. Will we finally have a chance to right all the wrongs and the damage he has done? And now he wants to open the last true forests of Alaska to logging and clear cutting, to development of mining, etc. Dear Lord! When does it stop and what will be left if it ever does?
I still say that Klobuchar would be best but Buttigieg is gaining as well, both with heads on their shoulders. But in the name of full disclosure, if a flea runs against Trump, that flea has my vote. Cannot be any worse, can it! Seriously, I am unhappy with Sanders for several reasons, but accepting the endorsement of anti Semites such as Omar and Tlaib, well, that puts my teeth on edge, but better than Trump! Any day, every day and I seriously doubt that Sanders will be the candidate for President or VP. Wonder what the actual team will be? The dream team? And who is that?
Dickens had it right so long ago. "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times." We have the opportunity to show the world that America has not gone irretrievably and permanently off the track. It has remembered its place and role in the world. It has remembered that it stands there along with Lady Liberty, the grand Lady of the Harbor, to represent humane treatment and acceptance of refugees, to accept the new blood we need to keep America strong, to be America. To be Americans.
So now what? It is up to us. We either toss him out now, along with his rats deserting the sinking ship or we toss him out next November, assuming of course that his BFFS, the dictators of the world, every two bit country with a hacker, does not interfere in our most private and sacrosanct elections. And now what? A frightening question. A more frightening answer? Think.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
IF IT AIN'T BROKE............
.......don't fix it. That is the maxim that guides many a decision. However, at present we are in a broken condition, so broken it is almost shattered, so we do need to fix it. What is broken? Everything, basically, from soup to nuts. We are broken here in CV, using a system that badly needs amending. We are broken in so many towns and cities, states too, with corruption, arrests of officials, and a certain level of lawlessness among our law enforcement personnel tht almost negates their good and necessary contributions to society.
And we are broken on a national level. Joe Biden closed out the debate with an impassioned plea that we remember we are the United States of America, what we stand for, and others pleaded that we fight for our soul that has been ripped away by Trump, the most corrupt president ever. That was a definite unifying theme of the debate for all, even Tulsi Gabbard who is not among my most favorite of people.
So we need to fix it. What? Our system. Our points of view. The tragic chasm that is growing every day between segments of our population. The cruel system of immigration wherein we trash our reputation as a refuge of safety and instead treat people as dirt under our feet, caging children, denying medical treatment, denying the humanity of refugees. We need to fix that and not by dreaming up ever crueler systems such as sharpened points on top of a wall that would rip someone apart, or fill moats with snakes and/or crocodiles! Sounds dumb, yet telling, when we remember who stated these oh so wonderful ideas - Trump himself.
The debate last nite was the best yet. It showed a certain unity amongst the candidates and a desire to argue points, but to so so in a civilized manner. To restore grace to the system. Oh yes! I am for that fix. Yet there were differences among them and the primaries allow for picking and choosing, for weighing decisions, but at the end of it all, we mut support the Democratic candidate, whoever it is, if we are to fix our broken state of affairs, if we are to return the world to something of a balance, if we are to properly address the existential threat of climate change.
The rest of the world has possibly reached the point of awareness that they must stand up against what is broken. So we have Hong Kong and notice the dead silence from the White House. We have Hungary where the people delivered a message to Orban. And then, of course, we have the corrupt, inhumane, cruel and cynical politics and behavior of Putin, Xi, Kim and wait for it, wait.... Trump et al. This needs to be fixed. We need, as Lady Macbeth says, "to screw our courage to the sticking point", albeit she was in the wrong in her actions, though to her credit she did recognize the evil of what she had done and suffered for it. Would that Trump would understand his evildoings, but I am afraid that his system is broken, inside and out, with uglinesss being the overwhelming quality of it all.
Yes, our system is broken. It most definitely is. In a land of plenty we have food insecure children and families. We have a growing homeless population and thousands of apartments going empty, waiting for the visit of the owner for a few days a year. And meanwhile the prices go up and up. We have more people employed, yes, but their wages are garbage, cannot be sufficient to the needs of the wage earners and so they work multiple jobs just to maintain the very basics of life. We have grown calloused souls, able to look away from wrong. We have allowed the filth of Trump to drain into society and put hatred and bias back on the okay list. People are being shot simply for being 'there' and open season has been declared on Jews, here and in Europe, For sure, the system is broke!! For sure, it needs fixin'.
It is no wonder that people turn to opiods to drown out the harshness of their lives. The pain they seek to relieve is both physical and emotional. Punitve measures for users instead of rehab and the funding for rehab, for counseling, is the wrong way, and we need to fix that.
We have government officials who refuse to obey the law, refuse to heed subpoenas, refuse to do the right thing, and, in fact, always choose the low road, even the criminal road. We have officials who have turned on our country and our people, looked greed in the face and said that is their goal, their guiding light. That is broken!! We need to fix it.
Going to the other extreme might be tempting out of sheer desperation and desire to create change, a better life, a better world. But we need to fix it carefully. Again, I will say that Klobuchar is the best way to go. She is a moderate with her head screwed on right, with a willingness to hear viewpoints of others, and experience to help guide her in a role as President. But again, whoever it is must fix the system, the right way, the lasting way, the American way.
And we are broken on a national level. Joe Biden closed out the debate with an impassioned plea that we remember we are the United States of America, what we stand for, and others pleaded that we fight for our soul that has been ripped away by Trump, the most corrupt president ever. That was a definite unifying theme of the debate for all, even Tulsi Gabbard who is not among my most favorite of people.
So we need to fix it. What? Our system. Our points of view. The tragic chasm that is growing every day between segments of our population. The cruel system of immigration wherein we trash our reputation as a refuge of safety and instead treat people as dirt under our feet, caging children, denying medical treatment, denying the humanity of refugees. We need to fix that and not by dreaming up ever crueler systems such as sharpened points on top of a wall that would rip someone apart, or fill moats with snakes and/or crocodiles! Sounds dumb, yet telling, when we remember who stated these oh so wonderful ideas - Trump himself.
The debate last nite was the best yet. It showed a certain unity amongst the candidates and a desire to argue points, but to so so in a civilized manner. To restore grace to the system. Oh yes! I am for that fix. Yet there were differences among them and the primaries allow for picking and choosing, for weighing decisions, but at the end of it all, we mut support the Democratic candidate, whoever it is, if we are to fix our broken state of affairs, if we are to return the world to something of a balance, if we are to properly address the existential threat of climate change.
The rest of the world has possibly reached the point of awareness that they must stand up against what is broken. So we have Hong Kong and notice the dead silence from the White House. We have Hungary where the people delivered a message to Orban. And then, of course, we have the corrupt, inhumane, cruel and cynical politics and behavior of Putin, Xi, Kim and wait for it, wait.... Trump et al. This needs to be fixed. We need, as Lady Macbeth says, "to screw our courage to the sticking point", albeit she was in the wrong in her actions, though to her credit she did recognize the evil of what she had done and suffered for it. Would that Trump would understand his evildoings, but I am afraid that his system is broken, inside and out, with uglinesss being the overwhelming quality of it all.
Yes, our system is broken. It most definitely is. In a land of plenty we have food insecure children and families. We have a growing homeless population and thousands of apartments going empty, waiting for the visit of the owner for a few days a year. And meanwhile the prices go up and up. We have more people employed, yes, but their wages are garbage, cannot be sufficient to the needs of the wage earners and so they work multiple jobs just to maintain the very basics of life. We have grown calloused souls, able to look away from wrong. We have allowed the filth of Trump to drain into society and put hatred and bias back on the okay list. People are being shot simply for being 'there' and open season has been declared on Jews, here and in Europe, For sure, the system is broke!! For sure, it needs fixin'.
It is no wonder that people turn to opiods to drown out the harshness of their lives. The pain they seek to relieve is both physical and emotional. Punitve measures for users instead of rehab and the funding for rehab, for counseling, is the wrong way, and we need to fix that.
We have government officials who refuse to obey the law, refuse to heed subpoenas, refuse to do the right thing, and, in fact, always choose the low road, even the criminal road. We have officials who have turned on our country and our people, looked greed in the face and said that is their goal, their guiding light. That is broken!! We need to fix it.
Going to the other extreme might be tempting out of sheer desperation and desire to create change, a better life, a better world. But we need to fix it carefully. Again, I will say that Klobuchar is the best way to go. She is a moderate with her head screwed on right, with a willingness to hear viewpoints of others, and experience to help guide her in a role as President. But again, whoever it is must fix the system, the right way, the lasting way, the American way.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
TWO DAY BREAK
Please not that the next new posting will be on Wednesday. Please take the time to read some that you might have missed. See you then.
SIZE DOES MATTER
Little things in life. They can make life joyful or they can eat away at its peace and serenity. Or, they can induce a person to feel that something really does not matter; it is just a little thing. Thus, the "little" things like an occasional misdeed, a somewhat smelly action on the part of a politician or public figure can actually be smirked about but mainly be allowed to slide by. But, a great big but, when the misdeeds are on an industrial scale, well, then, all bets are off.
These little missteps can add up to that larger scale. Take CV. Sharp little points that add to a person's sense that all is not right. Why, when the most sensible thing to do is to have clear delineations of where money is supposed to go, a budgetary practice that every government does, a transparency technique that must be followed, why was this changed after Dorothy Tetro reset the budget after Black and Israel got us into bankruptcy territory. Why are we back to that amorphous reserve fund, a slush fund, and new regulations that cut the already weak power of delegates to even lesser power. It is no wonder that no one wishses to engage in this ridiculous game that is dangerous to the physical and monetary health of our Village. So despite Felix the Cat, such nonsense, nothing will change until we change the situation, UCO, and that comes about in our next UCO elections and in the boards of your building.
It is even worse than one thinks when one realizes the funds needed to keep us going. Because the last paving job was a ripoff, a disaster from the getgo, sloppy, done with no proper supervision, a cheap coverup for what needed to be done, we now are in the uncomfortable situation of needing a new repaving, right down to its very bedrock, and we need $16 million for that. You read that right and where the hell is that to come from when we add to it all the other needs of the Village and the demands of the parttimers to further 'resortify' their vacation home. Reserve fund specialty lines is what we need to straighten this out and this is what we are not getting. It gets worse with every meeting, every by law change.
This sloppiness and incompetence, and I will give them leeway by saying they want the best for the Village, this inability to accept that the time for them to go is destroying us. Every piece of whatever they say or print, from hard to soft copy, carries the supposed heartrending pleading for more volunteers, telling people they are welcome, wanted. What a crock!!
So all of us who shouted years ago about the paving, who continue to bring up the errors of the David Israel/Ed Black administration are for sure not welcome and indeed, unless one swears away all power of independent thinking, there is no room at the inn of UCO for you. Attend a few meetings and you will see the same faces recycled again and again. Every once in a while another face might be in place, but it is a rare event.
This is incompetence and dangerous inability to do what we need in the Village, to plan properly for a difficult fulfillment of all that must be done to our wonderful but aging Village. I love it here. I love the Village and all that I can get around it - theater, libraries, farmers' markets, festivals, art, sports venues, whatever - it is there. But the piper must be paid, and to do that, one must have a proper maestro for the orchestra. It is time we do that. We are at that industrial size of crisis.
One might think that this is a standout situation, but then one would be wrong. We are at industrial size incompetence, veniality, snarkiness, and downright partisan division of country, so much so that one fears for its future. While I speak of this fracture as a warning, others, particulalry Trump's fans such as Jeffress, a preacher on the side of wrong, use the threat of a "civil war like fracture" should Trump be impeached!! So what? Are we then to overlook, ignore or even welcome that level of crappiness, to be blunt, that we have reached, or rather lowered ourselves to?
Industrial size 'wrongness'. Now we send $50 million to Syria for the protection of minorities, of religious sects, etc. Really!!! That is just about the most cynical thing ever. And along with it we get Turkey!!! challenging us, endangering our troops, with its ever closer and more dangerous bombing. WE have become the 'sick man of Europe', in fact, the sick man of the world and we have become unreliable as allies; thus, we now stand alone - the cheese in an increasingly hostile world.
This, my friends, is an industrial scale, both in foreign and domestic situation. Every day more garbage comes out. The truth will out and now is the time! Trump has given orders to be corrupt in action, in statement, in every aspect - all okayed as long as it goes to protect him and his. So yes, go ahead and vote in the House. Highlight those Republicans who have given up on morality and American values. Highlight their industrial scale corruption and inability to stand up to treason, to lies, to existential danger to our country and all because they are afraid of Trump or actually, sadly, have descended to his level.
Size does matter and the size of it all, here in the Village and out there in the nation, both demand a change. Immediately as possible. Many things hang in the balance and the situation ain't great! As the Bible states, let us "gird our loins" , gather our courage, and do what is right, what is necessary, what is difficult, but what must be done. On an industrial scale.
These little missteps can add up to that larger scale. Take CV. Sharp little points that add to a person's sense that all is not right. Why, when the most sensible thing to do is to have clear delineations of where money is supposed to go, a budgetary practice that every government does, a transparency technique that must be followed, why was this changed after Dorothy Tetro reset the budget after Black and Israel got us into bankruptcy territory. Why are we back to that amorphous reserve fund, a slush fund, and new regulations that cut the already weak power of delegates to even lesser power. It is no wonder that no one wishses to engage in this ridiculous game that is dangerous to the physical and monetary health of our Village. So despite Felix the Cat, such nonsense, nothing will change until we change the situation, UCO, and that comes about in our next UCO elections and in the boards of your building.
It is even worse than one thinks when one realizes the funds needed to keep us going. Because the last paving job was a ripoff, a disaster from the getgo, sloppy, done with no proper supervision, a cheap coverup for what needed to be done, we now are in the uncomfortable situation of needing a new repaving, right down to its very bedrock, and we need $16 million for that. You read that right and where the hell is that to come from when we add to it all the other needs of the Village and the demands of the parttimers to further 'resortify' their vacation home. Reserve fund specialty lines is what we need to straighten this out and this is what we are not getting. It gets worse with every meeting, every by law change.
This sloppiness and incompetence, and I will give them leeway by saying they want the best for the Village, this inability to accept that the time for them to go is destroying us. Every piece of whatever they say or print, from hard to soft copy, carries the supposed heartrending pleading for more volunteers, telling people they are welcome, wanted. What a crock!!
So all of us who shouted years ago about the paving, who continue to bring up the errors of the David Israel/Ed Black administration are for sure not welcome and indeed, unless one swears away all power of independent thinking, there is no room at the inn of UCO for you. Attend a few meetings and you will see the same faces recycled again and again. Every once in a while another face might be in place, but it is a rare event.
This is incompetence and dangerous inability to do what we need in the Village, to plan properly for a difficult fulfillment of all that must be done to our wonderful but aging Village. I love it here. I love the Village and all that I can get around it - theater, libraries, farmers' markets, festivals, art, sports venues, whatever - it is there. But the piper must be paid, and to do that, one must have a proper maestro for the orchestra. It is time we do that. We are at that industrial size of crisis.
One might think that this is a standout situation, but then one would be wrong. We are at industrial size incompetence, veniality, snarkiness, and downright partisan division of country, so much so that one fears for its future. While I speak of this fracture as a warning, others, particulalry Trump's fans such as Jeffress, a preacher on the side of wrong, use the threat of a "civil war like fracture" should Trump be impeached!! So what? Are we then to overlook, ignore or even welcome that level of crappiness, to be blunt, that we have reached, or rather lowered ourselves to?
Industrial size 'wrongness'. Now we send $50 million to Syria for the protection of minorities, of religious sects, etc. Really!!! That is just about the most cynical thing ever. And along with it we get Turkey!!! challenging us, endangering our troops, with its ever closer and more dangerous bombing. WE have become the 'sick man of Europe', in fact, the sick man of the world and we have become unreliable as allies; thus, we now stand alone - the cheese in an increasingly hostile world.
This, my friends, is an industrial scale, both in foreign and domestic situation. Every day more garbage comes out. The truth will out and now is the time! Trump has given orders to be corrupt in action, in statement, in every aspect - all okayed as long as it goes to protect him and his. So yes, go ahead and vote in the House. Highlight those Republicans who have given up on morality and American values. Highlight their industrial scale corruption and inability to stand up to treason, to lies, to existential danger to our country and all because they are afraid of Trump or actually, sadly, have descended to his level.
Size does matter and the size of it all, here in the Village and out there in the nation, both demand a change. Immediately as possible. Many things hang in the balance and the situation ain't great! As the Bible states, let us "gird our loins" , gather our courage, and do what is right, what is necessary, what is difficult, but what must be done. On an industrial scale.
Friday, October 11, 2019
THE PLAY OF THE PEOPLE
Dang, but it never fails. No matter how many stage productions, and even the most recent movie version, I always cry. I cry for the people of the play; I cry for their manifestly hard lives, for the courage of those who dared to speak out despite their more privileged status in society and I cry for myself, personally and for our situation today.
The play? Les Miserables, a versatile play which lends itself to varying stresses and interpretations and never fails to wow the audience. Last nite was no different as the audience sat mesmerized, glued to the stage and the excellent performances of the cast. And yes, I cried, a lot.
It is a play of and for the people. It was a harsh time in France, a time when the elites failed the people, when the Emperor forgot his true role and responsibility, when the arrogance of the law became no law and when the hearts of people were smashed upon the pavement and the harsh realities, the manifestly unfair reality of life.
People are entitled to be able to expect food, clothing, shelter, a life where they can provide for their loved ones, a modicum of justice, a law with a heart. To send Jean Valjean to the slave labor of French prisons for nineteen years because he dared to steal a loaf of bread for his starving nephew, to have his number tatooed upon his chest - ring any bells there, foks - nothing new under the sun, is there - to be hounded through life - this is not justice nor a government which cares for its citizenry. Not at all.
Jauvert, of the harsh name and harsh mien, cannot find himself if he is not to adhere to a law with no exemptions, if people behave out of character according to his way of thinking and at the end needs to remove himself from this life. He stands for a law with no humanity. He stands for a law which accepts no exceptions, the same category of law and law enforcement that chase down the 'enemy' in the middle of the night, that rips apart families, that demeans and dehumanizes the poor, the immigrant, the migrant, the 'other'. We have that version of the law growing apace in our country today.
One Day More, One More Day - the theme, the motif of Victor Hugo's masterpiece, echoes throughout. The people are angry. The people are afraid with a fear for their lives, their families, a real fear, for it has happened. And yet, this fear paralyzes them, cripples them and their need to do something, anything. Thus the students, always an ingredient for change in any society, take it upon themselves to fight the battle for those who fear to do so. And they die for it, bravely, boldy, valiantly and stupidly, in vain, as the people were too downtrodden, too weak, too numb to anything other than a weak grasp on life to even think of fighting.
But the time came and France is no more a monarchy, an absolute monarchy, but a Republic, albeit one with problems, but then again, that appears to be the situational reality of mankind. But at least there is not that crippling fear to act, to react.
Unfortunately, that fear has come to reside within our own borders. We have grown men who are afraid of their own shadows, afraid to take on the immoral and 'criminal' leader of the party and the country. They rail against his decision, his cowardly, lying position re Turkey ad the Kurds, but fail to follow through on the connection between that decision, their behavior and the man's demented self. Only one who thinks he has an "unmatched wisdom", who thinks he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize - and thank the Lord it was given to the Ethiopian Prime Minister who did the undoable in his own country - a man who behaves with a demented toddler's actions and speech, only that man would dare to desert our allies, court our enemies and then justify it all with a perverted speech fostering anger and hatred towards other Americans.
We are headed for those barricades in the streets. Think not, that never here will that happen? Have we forgotten the battles of 1968, the anger that roiled the country? Have we forgotten all those assault weapons out there in the hands of those willing to use them on fellow Americans? Have we forgotten that we have the worst President ever at the top of the pyramid?
The characters of the play are the characters of life drawn with personal affectations and enough story to catch the audienc and make it personal. So yes, I cried at the death of Fontine. I cried at the cruelty of the tavern keeper hidden beneath his bluff exterior, at the level he had to sink to in order to remain alive. I cried at the death of the universally undervalued woman, Eponie, as she sank to the ground, shot, even as the object of her love held her. I cried at the death of Jean Valjean, as he asked G-d to allow him to come home, to be at peace, finally. No more running. A chance to recover from the harshness of life.
And I cried at the scene when Jauvert came to greet him and hug him, when Fontine came to hold his hand, and Eponie the other. I cried at the tears of Cosette and Marius. I cried for the uselessness of it all, for the needless deaths, the needless cruelty of a society which refused to face its sins. And I cried for our country, for MY country, which is no longer mine. I cried because we have that same growing split in our population today. Go watch a video recording of Trump's speech in Minnesota and see his appeal to the worst in and of us, of his demeaning and crowd rabble rousing speech, his negligence to speak of anything other than hate, to speak nothing but lies.
And finally, I cried for myself. When one reaches a certain age, shall we say, we know that the last stage of life is upon us. No one gets out of this life alive, but it does grow closer and one has to rethink one's life, its values, its character, its understanding of what is important and what is not. One has to accept that the final reckoning is approaching and it forces a person to wonder. What have I done that is good? What have I done or NOT done that I should have? It gets particularly more personal if one has one or more conditions that can lead to demise. So I cried for all and I wondered, will my parents be there to greet me, to hold my hands, to take me to the rest of the family, my grandparents, my namesake? Will the afterlife be one of light or........
Cry, people, cry. Cry for the unfairness of life. Cry for the bad things we do, for the negligent behavior of people as they destroy the world, ignore the cries of the people, and concentrate on themselves and their crass need for more, more and yet even more.
Art in whatever form, be it literature of prose, essay, or poetry, of play writing, or painting or the values found in music - all this is a piece of life that must be reckoned with and used properly. It will give us warning, courage and incentive. It will make us people. People who try. People who care. And G-d forbid, people who willingly trample on others, unceasingly and massively indifferent to their woes. We can be better We must be better.
One more day, one day more, as we march together for the right things. I hope. I wish. I cry.
The play? Les Miserables, a versatile play which lends itself to varying stresses and interpretations and never fails to wow the audience. Last nite was no different as the audience sat mesmerized, glued to the stage and the excellent performances of the cast. And yes, I cried, a lot.
It is a play of and for the people. It was a harsh time in France, a time when the elites failed the people, when the Emperor forgot his true role and responsibility, when the arrogance of the law became no law and when the hearts of people were smashed upon the pavement and the harsh realities, the manifestly unfair reality of life.
People are entitled to be able to expect food, clothing, shelter, a life where they can provide for their loved ones, a modicum of justice, a law with a heart. To send Jean Valjean to the slave labor of French prisons for nineteen years because he dared to steal a loaf of bread for his starving nephew, to have his number tatooed upon his chest - ring any bells there, foks - nothing new under the sun, is there - to be hounded through life - this is not justice nor a government which cares for its citizenry. Not at all.
Jauvert, of the harsh name and harsh mien, cannot find himself if he is not to adhere to a law with no exemptions, if people behave out of character according to his way of thinking and at the end needs to remove himself from this life. He stands for a law with no humanity. He stands for a law which accepts no exceptions, the same category of law and law enforcement that chase down the 'enemy' in the middle of the night, that rips apart families, that demeans and dehumanizes the poor, the immigrant, the migrant, the 'other'. We have that version of the law growing apace in our country today.
One Day More, One More Day - the theme, the motif of Victor Hugo's masterpiece, echoes throughout. The people are angry. The people are afraid with a fear for their lives, their families, a real fear, for it has happened. And yet, this fear paralyzes them, cripples them and their need to do something, anything. Thus the students, always an ingredient for change in any society, take it upon themselves to fight the battle for those who fear to do so. And they die for it, bravely, boldy, valiantly and stupidly, in vain, as the people were too downtrodden, too weak, too numb to anything other than a weak grasp on life to even think of fighting.
But the time came and France is no more a monarchy, an absolute monarchy, but a Republic, albeit one with problems, but then again, that appears to be the situational reality of mankind. But at least there is not that crippling fear to act, to react.
Unfortunately, that fear has come to reside within our own borders. We have grown men who are afraid of their own shadows, afraid to take on the immoral and 'criminal' leader of the party and the country. They rail against his decision, his cowardly, lying position re Turkey ad the Kurds, but fail to follow through on the connection between that decision, their behavior and the man's demented self. Only one who thinks he has an "unmatched wisdom", who thinks he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize - and thank the Lord it was given to the Ethiopian Prime Minister who did the undoable in his own country - a man who behaves with a demented toddler's actions and speech, only that man would dare to desert our allies, court our enemies and then justify it all with a perverted speech fostering anger and hatred towards other Americans.
We are headed for those barricades in the streets. Think not, that never here will that happen? Have we forgotten the battles of 1968, the anger that roiled the country? Have we forgotten all those assault weapons out there in the hands of those willing to use them on fellow Americans? Have we forgotten that we have the worst President ever at the top of the pyramid?
The characters of the play are the characters of life drawn with personal affectations and enough story to catch the audienc and make it personal. So yes, I cried at the death of Fontine. I cried at the cruelty of the tavern keeper hidden beneath his bluff exterior, at the level he had to sink to in order to remain alive. I cried at the death of the universally undervalued woman, Eponie, as she sank to the ground, shot, even as the object of her love held her. I cried at the death of Jean Valjean, as he asked G-d to allow him to come home, to be at peace, finally. No more running. A chance to recover from the harshness of life.
And I cried at the scene when Jauvert came to greet him and hug him, when Fontine came to hold his hand, and Eponie the other. I cried at the tears of Cosette and Marius. I cried for the uselessness of it all, for the needless deaths, the needless cruelty of a society which refused to face its sins. And I cried for our country, for MY country, which is no longer mine. I cried because we have that same growing split in our population today. Go watch a video recording of Trump's speech in Minnesota and see his appeal to the worst in and of us, of his demeaning and crowd rabble rousing speech, his negligence to speak of anything other than hate, to speak nothing but lies.
And finally, I cried for myself. When one reaches a certain age, shall we say, we know that the last stage of life is upon us. No one gets out of this life alive, but it does grow closer and one has to rethink one's life, its values, its character, its understanding of what is important and what is not. One has to accept that the final reckoning is approaching and it forces a person to wonder. What have I done that is good? What have I done or NOT done that I should have? It gets particularly more personal if one has one or more conditions that can lead to demise. So I cried for all and I wondered, will my parents be there to greet me, to hold my hands, to take me to the rest of the family, my grandparents, my namesake? Will the afterlife be one of light or........
Cry, people, cry. Cry for the unfairness of life. Cry for the bad things we do, for the negligent behavior of people as they destroy the world, ignore the cries of the people, and concentrate on themselves and their crass need for more, more and yet even more.
Art in whatever form, be it literature of prose, essay, or poetry, of play writing, or painting or the values found in music - all this is a piece of life that must be reckoned with and used properly. It will give us warning, courage and incentive. It will make us people. People who try. People who care. And G-d forbid, people who willingly trample on others, unceasingly and massively indifferent to their woes. We can be better We must be better.
One more day, one day more, as we march together for the right things. I hope. I wish. I cry.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
TIME TO CHOOSE
If one is lucky, one can get through life without making some truly life changing decisions. These decisions go deep into the soul and values of the person and are difficult, with none being perfect. Yet, the decision must be made.
We here in the United States are at that point. Due to a combination of stupidity, naievity, greed, incompetence and yes, malevolent ambitions, we are at a crossroad that will determine not only our future but that of the world as well. We have reached a breaking point and truthfully, if you listen carefully, you can hear the cracks growing.
A British philosopher, John Stuart Mill, said, "There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purpose of human life." Back to our lives. There will never be a 100% certainty for some diehards who refuse to see the truth or admit their errors, but there is enough there such that anyone with a working brain will accept the fact that we have the worst President ever in our history. Worse than Taylor, Buchanan, Grant, Harding, Nixon, Carter and add in as you feel a need. But this Trump, is beyond the pale. Personally, I think he is clinically mentally ill, saddled with a deep and evergrowing dementia and the sad thing about it is that supposedly sane and moral people are refusing to admit this. So the Emperor keeps parading naked through the streets of the nation even as the sycophants persist in out loud admiration for his nonexistent clothing. No, I stand corrected. The worst thing is the shedding of clothing by these people all in the name of power and the corrupt ill gotten gains it affords them.
To this point, much to my despair, I have been proven correct in my statements and predictions. It is unfortunate that it took so long for others to see it and even now, there are those who cannot see the forest for the trees. But now we are in crisis mode, a constitutional crisis upon us that can lead to military intervention and war in the streets of the cities and byways of America. Think that is nuts? Well, think again.
We now have a man sitting in the White House whose evil children roam the world spouting nasty stuff. We have this same man claiming a "great and unmatched wisdom" which makes all his decisions the right ones. Guess every time he reverses himself another bit of 'wisdom' comes into play!! We now have a toddler in an overgrown unhealthy body with a tainted mind who persists in ruling by edict and tweet, all written in ungrammatical language with sentence structure apparently a lost art. The language and threats are all classic schoolyard bully combined with the ego of a toddler, a spoiled one at that, and none too bright, to boot!
We are supposed to be assuaged by the appearance of his wife who generally hides away somewhere and the 'gift of a nation' in the form of a tennis court!! Right smack between the Children's Garden adn the Kitchen Garden established by two other First Ladies. Is this the ugrammatical and nonsensical outcome and example of "Be Best"? Puh-lease!
He is the friend of the little man? Oh, no, he is not, as wages stagnate, expenses and costs rise, unions are attacked and living conditions in the form of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the land we live upon, grow worse every hour and there are plans for more disastrous legislation and dictats.
We have thrown our allies under the wheels of that proverbial bus and are planning to send more in after them. Those who stated and crowed that he was the best thing that ever happened to Israel, well, the "wheels on the bus go round and round" and you are right under them, directly in their path. He deserted our ally, the Kurds, who fought so bravely and well against ISIS. He supports Turkey, no, he doesn't, yes he does, nope, again,until we and the rest of the world cannot rely upon him and his word. But wait! Our enemies can rely on him for their interference in our business grows deeper and deeper and more involved than ever. Yet, these are the leaders he professes to love, to admire, to exchange love notes and remarks.
Mark my words, and I hope to G-d this never comes to reality, but should Iran in all its craziness decide to arm and allow all its proxies in the Middle East to attack Israel in a concerted and massive missile attack, deep into its heart and soul, watch how quickly the rat Trump deserts Israel and watch the resulting disaster unfold, even as the wheels on that damned bus keep rolling right through it all. Trump is the worst thing that has happened to Israel and for that matter, to the USA and the world.
So, if you are finished trying to find one good man or woman in his administration and not succeeding, if you are willing to admit his grievious errors and attacks upon our very spine and basis of our life as a country, as a democracy, then speak out!!! He is not invincible and before the leaders who be, whoever they are, decide that the only way to get him out is to bypass the wimps of the Senate and literally oust him from office, well, we had better do better than that, for follow that road along and one can hear the echoes of explosives and smell the scent of blood in the air and on the streets. We are that desperate and we must not give up doing this the right way.
"Failure is just success that hasn't happened yet" so we must continue in our righteous path, defend our Constitution, protect the future of the world. Just as his "invincible" new barrier on the border can be climbed by an eight year old- so done, and so proven - he and his minions are also not invincible. We must persist in our path. We must succeed. There is no choice.There is no person above the law!!! Being President, albeit illegitimately, does not confer upon one full immunity, free reign to commit any and all crimes. No one can do that. Not him, not De Vos, not Chao, not McConnell, not Carson, not Kavanaugh, not Pence, not Pompeo, not Giuliani - not a one.
We here in the United States are at that point. Due to a combination of stupidity, naievity, greed, incompetence and yes, malevolent ambitions, we are at a crossroad that will determine not only our future but that of the world as well. We have reached a breaking point and truthfully, if you listen carefully, you can hear the cracks growing.
A British philosopher, John Stuart Mill, said, "There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purpose of human life." Back to our lives. There will never be a 100% certainty for some diehards who refuse to see the truth or admit their errors, but there is enough there such that anyone with a working brain will accept the fact that we have the worst President ever in our history. Worse than Taylor, Buchanan, Grant, Harding, Nixon, Carter and add in as you feel a need. But this Trump, is beyond the pale. Personally, I think he is clinically mentally ill, saddled with a deep and evergrowing dementia and the sad thing about it is that supposedly sane and moral people are refusing to admit this. So the Emperor keeps parading naked through the streets of the nation even as the sycophants persist in out loud admiration for his nonexistent clothing. No, I stand corrected. The worst thing is the shedding of clothing by these people all in the name of power and the corrupt ill gotten gains it affords them.
To this point, much to my despair, I have been proven correct in my statements and predictions. It is unfortunate that it took so long for others to see it and even now, there are those who cannot see the forest for the trees. But now we are in crisis mode, a constitutional crisis upon us that can lead to military intervention and war in the streets of the cities and byways of America. Think that is nuts? Well, think again.
We now have a man sitting in the White House whose evil children roam the world spouting nasty stuff. We have this same man claiming a "great and unmatched wisdom" which makes all his decisions the right ones. Guess every time he reverses himself another bit of 'wisdom' comes into play!! We now have a toddler in an overgrown unhealthy body with a tainted mind who persists in ruling by edict and tweet, all written in ungrammatical language with sentence structure apparently a lost art. The language and threats are all classic schoolyard bully combined with the ego of a toddler, a spoiled one at that, and none too bright, to boot!
We are supposed to be assuaged by the appearance of his wife who generally hides away somewhere and the 'gift of a nation' in the form of a tennis court!! Right smack between the Children's Garden adn the Kitchen Garden established by two other First Ladies. Is this the ugrammatical and nonsensical outcome and example of "Be Best"? Puh-lease!
He is the friend of the little man? Oh, no, he is not, as wages stagnate, expenses and costs rise, unions are attacked and living conditions in the form of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the land we live upon, grow worse every hour and there are plans for more disastrous legislation and dictats.
We have thrown our allies under the wheels of that proverbial bus and are planning to send more in after them. Those who stated and crowed that he was the best thing that ever happened to Israel, well, the "wheels on the bus go round and round" and you are right under them, directly in their path. He deserted our ally, the Kurds, who fought so bravely and well against ISIS. He supports Turkey, no, he doesn't, yes he does, nope, again,until we and the rest of the world cannot rely upon him and his word. But wait! Our enemies can rely on him for their interference in our business grows deeper and deeper and more involved than ever. Yet, these are the leaders he professes to love, to admire, to exchange love notes and remarks.
Mark my words, and I hope to G-d this never comes to reality, but should Iran in all its craziness decide to arm and allow all its proxies in the Middle East to attack Israel in a concerted and massive missile attack, deep into its heart and soul, watch how quickly the rat Trump deserts Israel and watch the resulting disaster unfold, even as the wheels on that damned bus keep rolling right through it all. Trump is the worst thing that has happened to Israel and for that matter, to the USA and the world.
So, if you are finished trying to find one good man or woman in his administration and not succeeding, if you are willing to admit his grievious errors and attacks upon our very spine and basis of our life as a country, as a democracy, then speak out!!! He is not invincible and before the leaders who be, whoever they are, decide that the only way to get him out is to bypass the wimps of the Senate and literally oust him from office, well, we had better do better than that, for follow that road along and one can hear the echoes of explosives and smell the scent of blood in the air and on the streets. We are that desperate and we must not give up doing this the right way.
"Failure is just success that hasn't happened yet" so we must continue in our righteous path, defend our Constitution, protect the future of the world. Just as his "invincible" new barrier on the border can be climbed by an eight year old- so done, and so proven - he and his minions are also not invincible. We must persist in our path. We must succeed. There is no choice.There is no person above the law!!! Being President, albeit illegitimately, does not confer upon one full immunity, free reign to commit any and all crimes. No one can do that. Not him, not De Vos, not Chao, not McConnell, not Carson, not Kavanaugh, not Pence, not Pompeo, not Giuliani - not a one.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
ATONEMENT
Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, a day of atonement asnd repentance, a day to forgive others for harm and hurt done to you and to ask for forgiveness from them. It is not an easy thing to do. Most of the day is spent fasting ansd in prayer.
Look around us today and think, know, that we, all of us, Jew and non Jew, Americans and Europeans, Asians ansd Africans, Republicans and Democrats, citizen and non citizen, have much to atone for this year.
Would that we come out of tomorrow with a better sense of the right way of life but somehow, I am not optimistic about that. See you all on Thursday.
Look around us today and think, know, that we, all of us, Jew and non Jew, Americans and Europeans, Asians ansd Africans, Republicans and Democrats, citizen and non citizen, have much to atone for this year.
Would that we come out of tomorrow with a better sense of the right way of life but somehow, I am not optimistic about that. See you all on Thursday.
JOKER? NO JOKE
Let me open by saying that Joaquin Phoenix deserves an Oscar, hands down. No question, no doubt, because whether you liked the movie or not, his acting was superb. Riveting, in fact.
The Joker was not a movie actually to be liked or not as entertainment. It did not entertain in one sense of the word but did indeed hold one's attention and force one to think after the movie, thoughts, questions, all ran through the mind and held the attention of the audience without doubt.
So why are critics split on this movie? Simple. It is not your average superhero or super villain movie. Not at all. No super feats, no FX that slams you into your seat with amazement, but rather action and talk that cause one to delve into society's role in creating, ignoring, worsening the role and life of disturbed people in society. Yet even as one flinches at the casual violence The Joker engages in during his final transformation into something other than human and no, not a monster in form, but in substance, as one sees the violence and the potential for violence in the average human, especially under the influence of a mob situation, one wonders how far are we from all this? How far is our society from the one portrayed on the screen? How many lost souls are out there waiting, desperately needing help and not getting it?
This movie does not excuse The Joker for his crimes. It holds him responsible, yet there are other responsible parties here. The casual cruelty of people who just need to have someone lower than themselves in the scale and ranking of societal layers, of the so called wealthy and powerful who find out too late that this cruelty does have consequences, all form part and parcel of the story and of the theme, but it does not excuse.
In fact, this movie lays the blame squarely where it belongs. It belongs to the individual in many cases and to a large perentage. One might be driven almost mad or indeed mad, particularly if one is already mentally ill and has lived a manifestly hard and miserable life, but that is no excuse for murder. So the movie tells us. But I wonder, is there a line that can be crossed in the 'rules of engagement' here? What if society has turned so bad, gone so far, too far, that anyone could and would be driven past the point of no return and break, snap!! Are the Serbs who were placed in concentration camps by their foes, are the Jews who survived the torments of hell and lost their whole lives, the Tutsi who were chased and murdered by the Hutus - do we hold a person driven mad by this, who suffered, who breaks and goes out there and takes revenge - is that person or society guilty or are both? Where and how do we draw the line? Can we even draw such a line?
What we must never forget though is that society is responsible for these weaker links in the chain of a safe society. When the budget is balanced not on the wide and heavy shoulders of the wealthy, but rather on the neediest, well, we are asking for trouble. When we refuse to take a real look at the problems of society, at the rising anger, the smoldering injustices of the crowds, well, we are asking for it.
As we watched the scenes of the riots, of the outpouring of people and emotions, at the mob turning into a living, breathing 'thing', well, one could not help but think and compare that mob to the ones that I fear will form and erupt if we do not start, and quickly, to assess where we have gone wrong these past few years, so wrong, so off the balance of societal needs, and finally do something, something real, something true, and not a surface layer of blistering paint and rotten wallboard.
When the leaders of society do not care and note that we see no political figures here, only other people in the socalled upper layers, like TV personalities and the power they have to influence others, when the weak and downtrodden have a driving need to find someone lower than they are on that ladder of society, well, something for sure will out and that is not a good thing!
Without going into details that sicken us, as we watch the truth come out day by day, as the hole in the Trumpian dike grows ever larger, as the filthy waters begin to flow through at a faster rate, well, where will we be when it does come to a head? Will the immigrant who married legally, truly married, to a citizen, with a family, is grabbed at the interview and deported or held for deportation,well, what? When a family is ripped apart, when a child dies in incarceration and those two words together in one sentence tell a story in and of itself - what do we expect when they grow up? When a family goes hungry because yes, maybe there are jobs, but no living wages, when a working person is driven to live on the streets because the wealthy have driven up the cost of homes, have gentrified beyond all reasonable points and leave the places empty for most of the year, well, what then? What then as we see families now living on the street, driven from pillar to post, denigrated for no faultof their own. When we see people hungry, with adults not eating so the kids can, when the federal government becomes cruel and sarcastic, uncaring, what can we expect other than the certain outbreak of resentful violence and a civil war between the two sides of society and yes, one will have to take a side.
No, The Joker is not your average movie derived from the comics but rather a simply disguised allegory of society today, of the past and of the future unless we do something. It will only get worse if we do not. The actors were awesome, but what about real life? Who is doing the acting there? Who is driving us all into a wall, a corner, treed us, forced us to the point of no return, the breaking point? Who? You tell me. Whatever the answer, the not so funny joke is on us as we all begin to turn into The Joker in one way or another, foster the growth of many Jokers through omission and commision. The ball is in our court, but already on the way out. We need to act now, right now.
The Joker was not a movie actually to be liked or not as entertainment. It did not entertain in one sense of the word but did indeed hold one's attention and force one to think after the movie, thoughts, questions, all ran through the mind and held the attention of the audience without doubt.
So why are critics split on this movie? Simple. It is not your average superhero or super villain movie. Not at all. No super feats, no FX that slams you into your seat with amazement, but rather action and talk that cause one to delve into society's role in creating, ignoring, worsening the role and life of disturbed people in society. Yet even as one flinches at the casual violence The Joker engages in during his final transformation into something other than human and no, not a monster in form, but in substance, as one sees the violence and the potential for violence in the average human, especially under the influence of a mob situation, one wonders how far are we from all this? How far is our society from the one portrayed on the screen? How many lost souls are out there waiting, desperately needing help and not getting it?
This movie does not excuse The Joker for his crimes. It holds him responsible, yet there are other responsible parties here. The casual cruelty of people who just need to have someone lower than themselves in the scale and ranking of societal layers, of the so called wealthy and powerful who find out too late that this cruelty does have consequences, all form part and parcel of the story and of the theme, but it does not excuse.
In fact, this movie lays the blame squarely where it belongs. It belongs to the individual in many cases and to a large perentage. One might be driven almost mad or indeed mad, particularly if one is already mentally ill and has lived a manifestly hard and miserable life, but that is no excuse for murder. So the movie tells us. But I wonder, is there a line that can be crossed in the 'rules of engagement' here? What if society has turned so bad, gone so far, too far, that anyone could and would be driven past the point of no return and break, snap!! Are the Serbs who were placed in concentration camps by their foes, are the Jews who survived the torments of hell and lost their whole lives, the Tutsi who were chased and murdered by the Hutus - do we hold a person driven mad by this, who suffered, who breaks and goes out there and takes revenge - is that person or society guilty or are both? Where and how do we draw the line? Can we even draw such a line?
What we must never forget though is that society is responsible for these weaker links in the chain of a safe society. When the budget is balanced not on the wide and heavy shoulders of the wealthy, but rather on the neediest, well, we are asking for trouble. When we refuse to take a real look at the problems of society, at the rising anger, the smoldering injustices of the crowds, well, we are asking for it.
As we watched the scenes of the riots, of the outpouring of people and emotions, at the mob turning into a living, breathing 'thing', well, one could not help but think and compare that mob to the ones that I fear will form and erupt if we do not start, and quickly, to assess where we have gone wrong these past few years, so wrong, so off the balance of societal needs, and finally do something, something real, something true, and not a surface layer of blistering paint and rotten wallboard.
When the leaders of society do not care and note that we see no political figures here, only other people in the socalled upper layers, like TV personalities and the power they have to influence others, when the weak and downtrodden have a driving need to find someone lower than they are on that ladder of society, well, something for sure will out and that is not a good thing!
Without going into details that sicken us, as we watch the truth come out day by day, as the hole in the Trumpian dike grows ever larger, as the filthy waters begin to flow through at a faster rate, well, where will we be when it does come to a head? Will the immigrant who married legally, truly married, to a citizen, with a family, is grabbed at the interview and deported or held for deportation,well, what? When a family is ripped apart, when a child dies in incarceration and those two words together in one sentence tell a story in and of itself - what do we expect when they grow up? When a family goes hungry because yes, maybe there are jobs, but no living wages, when a working person is driven to live on the streets because the wealthy have driven up the cost of homes, have gentrified beyond all reasonable points and leave the places empty for most of the year, well, what then? What then as we see families now living on the street, driven from pillar to post, denigrated for no faultof their own. When we see people hungry, with adults not eating so the kids can, when the federal government becomes cruel and sarcastic, uncaring, what can we expect other than the certain outbreak of resentful violence and a civil war between the two sides of society and yes, one will have to take a side.
No, The Joker is not your average movie derived from the comics but rather a simply disguised allegory of society today, of the past and of the future unless we do something. It will only get worse if we do not. The actors were awesome, but what about real life? Who is doing the acting there? Who is driving us all into a wall, a corner, treed us, forced us to the point of no return, the breaking point? Who? You tell me. Whatever the answer, the not so funny joke is on us as we all begin to turn into The Joker in one way or another, foster the growth of many Jokers through omission and commision. The ball is in our court, but already on the way out. We need to act now, right now.
Monday, October 7, 2019
HE WANTS HIS BABA
The overgrown infant wants his baba. He wants it now! And he does not want anyone or anybody to interfere with this want, this need to have all his needs catered to on the instant!! It does not matter whether it is yet another taxpayer funded trip to yet another of his resorts so the poor man can relax with another game of golf, or his desire to have his "accomplishments" recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize. Yep, he wants that golden colored statue. Badly. What peace he has achieved is beyond me, but in the world of the overgrown toddler facts do not matter and if they get in the way, why just invent "alternative facts".
What he wants most of all now is to be left alone. He is becoming paranoid about his "legacy" though I have no clue as to what possible legacy he will leave other than being a disgrace and a danger to the country and the world. He does not want impeachment on his resume, he says. Aww, too bad, for that is precisely what he deserves and hopefully gets, and the best outcome of all would be to see him do the perp walk in an orange jumpsuit.
Are we beginning to see cracks in his turbulent and corrupt world, a world filled with moral cowardice, immorality in every which way one can think of? Lordy, but I hope so. It is way past time for that to have happened and perhaps the Republican cowards will find they still have that little spark of morality left and will vote to convict. The man is certainly guilty of all his alleged violations, in fact, what can be called treasonous deeds.
He rants and raves how all else in his world, all who oppose him are "traitors" and need to be impeached. Yup, no original thoughts there, just his usual deflections of his sins and misdeeds onto his political opponents. You see, anyone who opposes him needs to go, far away and soon! They are in his path as he rushes to get that baba and woe upon he who gets in the way.
But the cracks are beginning to grow and surface. Whistleblower #2 has arrived. There are allegedly more of them waiting in the wings. Guess they needed someone to be first and the dam has broken. Some, albeit very few, pitifully few, are beginning to speak out in hesitant voices at Trump's misdoings. Will they vote in a public vote to convict? Well, sporting supply stores have a great supply of balls in all sizes and they are just waiting for takers. A bargain if one actually buys a pair! A better one if one buys in brass.
The ugliness is getting worse. We now have a convict, a Jewish one, in Texas, who got his death sentence stayed due to the fact that the judge was vehemently and openly anti Semitic. Is there no end to this? Must say, it was unsettling to speak to people after the holiday and hear of how much security was in place at the synagogues, both private and public. What have we become? To what low have we sunk? How have we allowed this? One way, by being apathetic, turning away, refusing to get involved, trying to keep unpleasantry out of one's life, but trust me, it will invade everyone's life if allowed to continue.
The Pentagon is trying to keep its distance from the whole Ukraine mess. Powell tells all who can hear, particularly Republicans, to "get a grip" and oh, dear, but I hope they do - and soon. It is way past time and now we are doing even worse as we stab more allies in the back and further increase our loneliness out there in the world as our enemies chuckle and our friends mourn the death of what was a better world. We have turned our back on Kurdish allies, the very ones who fought like tigers against the Syrian regime, approving and backing Turkey's advances upon them because they threaten Erdogan's dream of his country's future, one that does not allow opposition nor democracy nor minorities.
So let us give the man his baba and I am willing to continue his taxpayer funded lifestyle. Give the man his baba, make the bottle gold and even in the shape of a Nobel Prize, but give it to him behind bars, or as he sits all alone in a room at his hotel, impeached and dishonored, a broken and dirty, no, filthy, legacy left behind and please, please, take his annoying Junior and Eric and Ivanka with him, Jared too! Give them babas too for all I care. Just let us cleanse our government and let us all learn the lessons of history that never change. One must act, fight against tyranny and corruption, or else all is lost. There is no safe hiding place, for all will be sought and found in the neverending quest for scapegoats.
What he wants most of all now is to be left alone. He is becoming paranoid about his "legacy" though I have no clue as to what possible legacy he will leave other than being a disgrace and a danger to the country and the world. He does not want impeachment on his resume, he says. Aww, too bad, for that is precisely what he deserves and hopefully gets, and the best outcome of all would be to see him do the perp walk in an orange jumpsuit.
Are we beginning to see cracks in his turbulent and corrupt world, a world filled with moral cowardice, immorality in every which way one can think of? Lordy, but I hope so. It is way past time for that to have happened and perhaps the Republican cowards will find they still have that little spark of morality left and will vote to convict. The man is certainly guilty of all his alleged violations, in fact, what can be called treasonous deeds.
He rants and raves how all else in his world, all who oppose him are "traitors" and need to be impeached. Yup, no original thoughts there, just his usual deflections of his sins and misdeeds onto his political opponents. You see, anyone who opposes him needs to go, far away and soon! They are in his path as he rushes to get that baba and woe upon he who gets in the way.
But the cracks are beginning to grow and surface. Whistleblower #2 has arrived. There are allegedly more of them waiting in the wings. Guess they needed someone to be first and the dam has broken. Some, albeit very few, pitifully few, are beginning to speak out in hesitant voices at Trump's misdoings. Will they vote in a public vote to convict? Well, sporting supply stores have a great supply of balls in all sizes and they are just waiting for takers. A bargain if one actually buys a pair! A better one if one buys in brass.
The ugliness is getting worse. We now have a convict, a Jewish one, in Texas, who got his death sentence stayed due to the fact that the judge was vehemently and openly anti Semitic. Is there no end to this? Must say, it was unsettling to speak to people after the holiday and hear of how much security was in place at the synagogues, both private and public. What have we become? To what low have we sunk? How have we allowed this? One way, by being apathetic, turning away, refusing to get involved, trying to keep unpleasantry out of one's life, but trust me, it will invade everyone's life if allowed to continue.
The Pentagon is trying to keep its distance from the whole Ukraine mess. Powell tells all who can hear, particularly Republicans, to "get a grip" and oh, dear, but I hope they do - and soon. It is way past time and now we are doing even worse as we stab more allies in the back and further increase our loneliness out there in the world as our enemies chuckle and our friends mourn the death of what was a better world. We have turned our back on Kurdish allies, the very ones who fought like tigers against the Syrian regime, approving and backing Turkey's advances upon them because they threaten Erdogan's dream of his country's future, one that does not allow opposition nor democracy nor minorities.
So let us give the man his baba and I am willing to continue his taxpayer funded lifestyle. Give the man his baba, make the bottle gold and even in the shape of a Nobel Prize, but give it to him behind bars, or as he sits all alone in a room at his hotel, impeached and dishonored, a broken and dirty, no, filthy, legacy left behind and please, please, take his annoying Junior and Eric and Ivanka with him, Jared too! Give them babas too for all I care. Just let us cleanse our government and let us all learn the lessons of history that never change. One must act, fight against tyranny and corruption, or else all is lost. There is no safe hiding place, for all will be sought and found in the neverending quest for scapegoats.
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