THE DAY AFTER

      The day after. The turkey remains are huge, as usual, as everyone seems to prefer the other mains and sides, but what really was the day like. For us it was huge. It was gratifying.
     There sat 21 people, all over the entire house,  the younger generation claiming the basement and  game areas where evidently much was going on in the realm of comedy and fantasy worlds. The adults upstairs melded together, with our newly discovered cousins just fitting in so smoothly that one could never tell who was new to the family and who not. They tolerated the noise beautifully.
     But the meaning was far deeper than that. These cousins were the 'remnants', the descendants of Holocaust survivors, caught behind the Iron Curtain, cut off from the world, thinking they were alone, no other family members to share life. On the other side of the world was my grandmother, with her one area of despair, for she had no one let from her large family and extended members who had remained in Europe. So we grandchildren became her life, being named for disappeared, slaughtered family members, and the reminders of that family, of the times in Europe, would cause a sad cloud to pass over her face. She died never knowing that her cousin lived, along with his wife and two children.
     Well, yesterday was amazing and I could just imagine the glee up there, as reunions took place as my grandmother, my mother, my great grandmother, the whole extended clan ,were there, upstairs, watching as the family rejoined, and meshed so well. 
     In times such as we are living, it is good to spend time with people who love you, who keep you tethered to reality, to what is important, but, always a but, even here, even among all these loving people, we could not talk politics. The home was declared a politics free world, all so as to avoid the dissension and disunity caused by that man. I am still amazed how foolish and blind people are about him and his consequences, but I was certainly cheered up by the kids who could vote or will be able to by 2020, who came to me to reassure me they would be voting for NOT the person of despair but the person, whoever it might be, that would signal another chance for us, for the country. Ahhh, music to my ears. Love those kids!
     Grandstand gestures mean nothing, not in the long run, nor the short run either. The Ukrainian mess is still upon us, tarnishing them and us. The war in Afghanistan rages on, our longest war ever. The globe is a dysfunctional entity as countries tear themselves apart,where formerly they lived together. This partisanship is not only between the Democratic Party and the lost their way Republicans, but also between religions, ethnicities, immigrants - all over the world.
     We must make a choie and not just declare a short truce over Thansgiving Day, for the problems outlast the 24 hours and even the weekend. We must make this day stand for courage, for clearsightedness, for reality checks on all, even those who have shifted so far to the left that they forget they have another direction in which to move. Extremism has never been a good idea, leading to most of the wars and slaughters in history. 
     When will we realize this? When will we stop with the nonsense that is interfering with survival of the species, with goodness, with welcome to new citizens? I wish I knew. I wish I knew why we set up stings on students seeking to study and live here, contributing to society. I can attest to that as I have doctors of foreign origin, proud American citizens, who have saved my life and kept me going. Why can we not take that money and spend it on feeding our hungry, to providing homes for those who cannot afford one even as they work two jobs. Why can we not spend it on improving education, on equalizing the chances for all, and yes, that encompasses every dang race and creed as children are placed in schools which place emphasis on all the wrong things and neglect the three R's and all else needed to survive in this quick changing world.
    Why can we not give thanks every day for every which way in which we are furthering a better world, a safer world, a warmer world where friendsip and love count for more than militaristic bombasity. Why? Who the hell knows, but it certainly makes the glow of the holiday fade a bit too soon and for too long. Maybe we can give thanks for a future improvement of our attitudes and then do exactly that and make next year's Thanksgiving a truly great one. And that, for sure, means no 'Donald I' any more, by removal or by election; I could care less, other than that he and his are out of governemnt and leave us the hell alone. What a day of thanks that would be.

S'OKAY, S'ALLRIGHT - NOT!!

     So all is okay and allright in the mystical world known as Trumpland. Home for the holidays, and why, oh why, does it have to be West Palm, the bizarreness continues. So far, so good, according to his twisted thinking, but wait, here come the sounds of marching feet, the pounding of drums and oh, yes! 
     The March of the Wooden Soldiers brought to life right here in Mar a Lago and so funny that the soldiers all have faces of familiar names - Sondland, Giuliani, Pompeo, Mulvaney, and the list goes on. Guess these soldiers will be as useless in the long run as they are immoral and detestable. However, we must remember that their job here is not so much as to defend Trump, their Lord and Master, but instead, to lay down their lives for him so that nothing sticky will get to him.
     Yet there are leaks in the dike and the water seeping through is getting higher and ever more powerful, and hopefully will rush right over these soldiers and get to the chief culprit himself. The waters of America will hopefully overcome this man and his ever more obvious plans to become sole ruler of the land. 
     More and  more commentators and political analysts are saying exactly what I have been saying all along. The man wants to be King. Period. He may not need the name, but the power - that is what he wants and that, my friends, he is getting as he turns more and more laws and traditions right on their useless heads.
     Every day more and more threads of truth begin to rise from under the muck of Trump's Washington. The truth about phone calls that never were. The truth about those that were, though denied. The truth about motivations. The truth about aims and goals. The truth about the inner nastiness of Trump et al and along with that goes the entire family. Even Melania of the swatting hands went on TV to say how happy she is, how much she loves her husband. Oh, yich!!!!!
     And the world deteriorates at geometric speeds as the poison of his world spreads. To my horror, this morning I woke up the computer andsaw a "lovely" new design for fashion buffs and blow me down, but there it was, in all its shameful glory and disgustingness, evoking awful flashing visions of Holocaust murders, vicious hatred, the world torn apart in war. There it was. A striped suit, vertical black stripes, jacket and pants, and all it needed was a yellow star, or two colored triangle patches sewn together to signify your 'crime' that merited imprisonment and torture in official sites of murder and slavery. What the hell!!!!!!! How quickly one can wipe out memories or perhaps there was a more sinister reason for this. In this world of rising anti Semitism and hatred of the other, who knows?? It ain't good, no matter the reasoning or denials and excuses.
      Then there is also the generosity we should all so admire, for the man does not take a penny of his presidential salary. So altrutistic! But, a great big but, we have spent 115 million dollars on his golf trips, never mind the touring of his children! The disguised political rallies that we pay for as he calls them presidential visits. So, s'okay, s'allright, right? Not!
     But wait. Today is the day when we put it aside. No political talk at the table - and so much for freedom of speech and unity of country, but there it is. Talk of the turkey, talk of the movies. Talk of Star Wars. Talk of the kids, right in front of them  - parental payback and then, if you live near Paramus you will truly know that it is okay and allright. Why? A new brick and mortar Toys R' Us opened up. Take the child in you and live your memories. S'okay, s'allright - at least for the moment.
     Happy Thanksgiving to all.

MORAL TIMES

     I kid you not. The messenger of 'truth' here is Roy Moore, the former Chief Justice of Alabama, twice removed from office, the most recent removal due to, I guess, he would call it a return to the 'moral' times of the 60's and 70's, when he believed that it was moral to mess with women, which he did, including a teenager, but I guess his definition of morality and mine do not mesh. 
     He rants and raves about gay rights, about abortion rights - the right of a woman to have control over her own body. Kids dressed in drag for Halloween - major sin in his book, despite the fact that children and adults have been doing this since the tradition began!! But he belongs to the ilk that see truth tampering, history revision, as absolutely normal and even desired.
     The other chief idiot pardons "brave warriors" found guilty by fellow officers of war crimes. Captain Bone Spur thinks he knows how to handle the armed services and yet he keeps messing up, removing, returning, taking away support personnel, and just lieing about the whole mess.
     He babbles away re holiday names, a problem only in his mind, yet cannot see the truth even as it hits him again and again. However, even worse, are those who hear the truth as the defense works break down and more and more people and knowledge come in from the cold and bare all. We could probably have hearings on his misdeeds, high crimes and misdemeanors, treasonous behavior, for the entire year, but the point is to make it clear that the man is a criminal, a fraud, a danger to the country. For those who refuse to accept this, or worse, know the truth and still support him, well, shame on you and do not come crying to us when he subverts the entire system of democracy here.
     As for the Republicans in the House and Senate, well, what more is there to say. You have made your beds and unfortunately, we are the ones who are going to have to sleep in them!! There is not an ounce of responsibility or honor in your behavior and so help me G-d, a reknowned horror of history, be it Hitler, Musssolini, Vlad the Impaler, Attila the Hun, Lenin or Stalin, would be elected and supported by the Republican Party if he claimed to be just that - a Republican.
    So for sure, let us return to the days of yesteryear, as the Lone Ranger's theme song went, and let us retrun to the days when America woke up and began to pass laws re the right to choose, re voting rights, re poverty issues and had a war on them, on the advanceent of women's rights, though not nearly enough.
     The Justice of the DC court had it right when she said that 250 years of American history and the words of Washington turning down the crown, made it very clear that the President, whomever it might be, is NOT a king. Period.
     Moral times? I am all for it, but the problem is, whose morals? I prefer the morals of honor, of ethics, of human righs, of care for the world, for honesty, for truth, for appropriate behavior. G-d and religious beliefs are not to be imposed on one, nor are choices of orientation or thought.
     First step on that return to a moral path? Strip the administration of all the immoral creeps there right now. Censure them. Impeach them. Fire them. Just get them ut. Clean house so that we truly will have moral times.
     I would like to wish one and all a Happy Thanksgiving, when we need to think and ponder about our lives, marvel at our blessings and know that there are people who have no thanks to give as they freeze or wander the streets with kids, children who are hungry, and people being chased from pillar to post for deportation purposes. Let us all wish, as we look around at friends and family with us, that all people have this opportunity and let us know in our hearts that we must take part in the war on these issues -  and do it the right way.

"A NEW POISON"? OR SAME OLD, SAME OLD?

     "What's happening?" the little boy asked his father on the Tube, as a man ranted and raved at him and others just watched - that is, until a brave Moslem woman challenged the raver and received her own dose of poison as she persisted in her actions. Brave woman, but where was everyone else? And what is happening? And why must this little boy be faced with that acid hatred once more?
   The Chief Rabbi of England stated that "a new poison...has taken root" in the Labour Party under Corbyn. being investigated as to whether it behaved unlawfully discriminating against Jews.. The Rabbi challenges all who vote to wonder about what will happen after December 12 and the election. He implores them to vote with their conscience for the "very soul of the nation is at stake" and so are the souls of all nations. The disgusting and disturbing echoes of these sentiments are resounding right here in America and the rest of the world, while as far as voting with an eye toward the future and the consequences, well, people, vote here as well with your consciences.
     But this is no new poison. It is merely the reappearance and strengthening of an old as time hate, once again pulsing to life with ugly colors and actions, aided and abetted by a new ease of action with an easy ability to spew poison on the Internet and obtain weapons of great damage potential.
     In Europe once again we can walk and hear the squishing of the earth beneath our feet, with the blood of murdered Jews rising to the surface. We can hear the screams of the Jews attacked in government ordered pogroms in Russia, the gulag prisoners of Stalin, the Jews burned at the stake in Spain and Portugal, and yes, right here in the New World under Spain's control.The smoke from the burning of the Jews in York, England, the wounds of the swords of the Crusaders who practiced their religious fervor on the Jews of Europe, the bewilderment of the Jews of France as they were expelled from the country for they were so well interlaced with society. The ashes and bones of the slaughtered Jews of the Holocaust are still there for all to see. Captain Alfred Dreyfus of France sits besides Leo Frank of America, looking down on the country which lynched him and wondering if there will be more. Jewish synagogues are attacked andJews killed once again right here in America, at their services, walking in the streets.
     This is not a new poison, unfortunately, though the Rabbi is correct in his fear and in his plea. The question right now is not why, but rather what can be done to suffocate its growth, to peel the layers of hate out of the haters, the tormentors of others - if it can be done at all.
     Maniacs are shouting aloud all over the world about their hatred of Jews - even if they never met one!! See, rationality has no place in that berserker world. But in this modern day and age, for people to be screaming, chanting, telling Jews to get out of their country, every country, well, where are we to go? We are told that "from the river to the sea" does not belong to the Jews, despite historical and religious proof, but rather to Palestinians, even as the land had never been developed under Arab control, not much more than a religious backwater area. So........if we cannot live there, or there, or there, or here, or anywhere, then where!!!!!!!
     Now you understand the fear and concern of not just the Chief Rabbi of England, but of Jews and their leaders all over the world. New poison? No, unfortunately. Same old, same old, with an added garnishment of ever more angry and ugly possibilities and a despair that grows deeper each and every day.
     

FLESH EATING BACTERIA, AMERICAN STYLE

      I just do not know any other way to fully describe the rot that has been exposed within our government, the ignorance, the viciousness, the dangerous ground upon which we are treading. The more we dig and inquire, the more infected flesh we find and the deeper it goes. What is even worse is the defiance these lawbreakers and moral delinquents demonstrate when caught. Not that they did wrong and need to apologize, but that someone had the nerve to find it out and call them out for it. No shame whatsoever.
     Graham, the nasty toady, admits opposing the bill calling the Armenian slaughter by Turkey genocide. Why? Because the other moral degenerate asked him to and after all, Erdogan was in town and we did not wish to hurt his feelings. Graham thinks it is not such a big deal, but he needs to think again. He and other morally vacant Republicans keep repeating that there are two branches of government and I am wondering where the hell they were in civics class when three branches of government are discussed. And these a proud citizens are wishing to keep others out, away from the gravy pot they slurp from?!!
     More infection. Nunes has been exposed - meeting with Ukrainian officials for the corrupt purposes of Trump. Of course he denies, as do all the others in this mess, and those who go along with it, as Jonson says, are also complicit and implicit in this bacterial infection, confessing they were trying to take care of the mess behind closed doors. Really? Truly? There is a limit to hiding the truth, is there not? The rank odor of falsehood, of disgrace, of rot, deep and dark, will come to the surface. 
     This Republican Party needs a deep cleansing of its collective soul. They need to ask why they are so eager to go along with a crook, with a pervert of the first degree, with a man who wishes to destroy our country, its economy, its morals, its goodness, all to the point of fixing his financial standing. And do not forget his indignation at "the stupid people" who did not allow the G7 conference to take place at his Doral Hotel. So count me in as stupid - and proudly so.
     The names, the rantings, the childish bullying attempts on Twitter, the insane behavior, and this is our President. I have always claimed he is not, for the popular vote was for Clinton, even as the Russians interfered. Who knows by how much he would have lost if the truth had held. But the truth holds no place in his life and the lives of his disgusting minions. AOC is not one of my favorite people, but when accused of doing nothing, accused as a member of a Democratic Party which does nothing - forgetting that the House has passed bills and the Senate does nothing with them - only affirms more ignorant judges, she had the right answer. She detailed all that she had done in 11 months and gave his 'accomplishments' short shrift.  "In 4 years, you've jailed kids & made corruption the cause celebré. Try to keep up."
     In the meanwhile, the homelessness increases in the bitter cold winter weather we are having. 12 million children go hungry, Organizations are hard pressed to keep enough food in their pantries. We are stepping over bodies on the sidewalks, see people sleeping in boxes and on benches. We see children crouched next to their parents as they huddle together for warmth and aid. And he is worrried about his hotels! His paying for crimes and treason he has committed?
     A 12 year old boy was miraculously able to finally see colors in his previously gray, white and black world. He now sees the glory of the world, and its defects and he cried with joy. We need to all get a pair of his glasses and see the truth. Wake up - before it is too late. And that time is right down the road, chugging along at a fast and faster pace.

WHO'S ON FIRST?

     Who the hell knows!? I am not sure these days that anyone knows where anyone is. It is truly an upside down world where the truth becomes falsehood, and where honesty and honor are flipped over to become a source of infinite insult. Who's on first? Well, who the hell is on second, third and playing at home plate? As for the bats, well, they are used to beat up people, just like Negan's horrific bat/girlfriend on The Walking Dead. We have truly deteriorated into a nation of cavemen.
    Mr. Myxzptlk has found a home in modern day America. All is other than it should be, but there is no friendly glee here. Rather there is a nastiness such as we have not seen here since the Civil War and Reconstruction, or the height of anti immigration and immigrants. There is a superficial talk of 'independents' but truly? No one can be independent here. It is an either fer or agin situation and supposed independents are simply too cowardly to join the side of their choice, their beliefs. But one cannot play both sides of the aisle. Bride or groom side, and take your seat.
     To me, it seems to be that Republicans have doubled down on their defense of Trump and all his henchmen. They are ignoring all the witness statements and saying there are gaps. Okay, so if it walk and talks like that proverbial duck - it is the damned duck even if it tries to put on a disguise. If the witnesses who were subpoenaed would have answered to it in court, respecting our system, there would be no gaps, even though it is clear as we hear the quack of the crippled and waddling duck. Or ducks, as it truly is.
     Trump orders, be it in specific language or in clear implications, the way of the dishonest and the murderous and I use that word meaningfully, for Trump and his policies and his abettors are murdering people all over the world with their crazy non policies, with their abandonment of allies and befriending of enemies, with their shocking allegiance to enemies actually. We have killed people in custody, in our care, in so many ways. It is shameful!!!! There can be no independents on these issues. Fer or agin.
     We have descended to the lowest levels, appointing and confirming illiterate judges, biased justices, ruined the system for decades, if we can ever recover from it. We have honored the medioca, giving out the highest civilian medals to creeps, to know nothings, to C class celebrities, demeaning all those who have been honored before. We have no culture other than selfishness and greed in the White House. And most horribly, we have a President who pardons a war crime criminal and refuses to allow the Navy to police its own with the Secretary of the Navy and high up officers threatening to resign. 
     We have allowed all to turn into garbage, rusted out, murderous and cheap in every negative definition of the word. We have the erosion of nastiness, of criminals, eating away at our basis of being. We are being threatened, pardon me, to "release" Biden documents if anything "happens to me", the me being Giuliani!! Gimme a break! I do not fathom the ignorance on display anyway with the whole Biden nonsense.
        First of all, he is a civilian and if he even did trade on his papa's name, well, ahem, shall we not put a few more people in the prisoner's cage along with him! If he even did that. Second, he is private!!! Again and again, it is not the President using his power to look for personal benefit and harm to the country. Why is it so difficult to see the difference, the truth, unless one wishes to keep one's head in that pile of sand.
     The chief defender of the accused criminal is Nunes, who is now being found out to have been involved up to his miserable neck. Same for Johnson and Jordan is just a bastard by nature. Graham is a nasty woose who will go for his bread and butter wherever he finds it and to hell with honor and self dignity. They have conferred with the accused as to how long the farce in the Senate should be allowed to carry on until they vote for the afore chosen verdict of innocence! It is mind boggling and again, all those wishing to harm this country and its population are just chortling away.
      Who's on first? No idea. Nor do we have knowledge of second and third base or the lineup. We are in a shadowy world worthy of a B class thriller movie, but this is real folks, too real! No independents here. One cannot be independent. Be honest and land on the side you have chosen and if it is for the crooked one, well, stop making excuses as to why you have landed there. Better yet, undertake a serious deep dive into your soul and see if you like the result. Keep this up and the home team will be shut out of all future  games and what a different and lousy future we will have.

ARE YOU FRIGGIN' KIDDING?

     Anybody get up lately and feel as if they must have clicked their slippers during the night and been whisked off to a truly weird world? A world where truth has no meaning other than to provoke lies, and rules of civil and honorable behavior are truly wacked!!
     Well. Welcome to that world, the world of the New USA. Yes, we seem to have foregone the old country for this warped new one where a truthseeker slaps one's own face in an effort to determine if this is real or a nightmeare that we will wake up from and discard. Bust your bubble time now, sorry, but the truth is that we are living that nightmare and how we will ever get out of it - beats me.
     The filthy and deceitful, dangerous and selfish deeds of Trump and his aides, his partners in crime, were all laid out in detail, very specific detail. The witnesses spoke clearly and with great dignity. The truth was out there and kept slapping the Republicans in the face, time and time again and yet what do we have? We get a bunch of them denying the facts and then, knowing that will prove difficult to maintain, then claim that the facts and the deeds do not matter! They were wrong but not really! Newspeak at its best - or worst!!
     And how about this? It turns out that the criminal who will be on trial has discovered that it is so easy to confer with the jury and plan the duration of the trial, the witnesses and here it comes - the verdict!!! Dangnabbit! But imagine how fast our criminal justice system would work to clear the backlog if we rigged each and every one of them. Imagine if we were to forgo trials altogether and just arrange the ending before it even begins~!!! It is ludicrous - yet that is exactly what the Republicans have done with their deranged leader, the most dangerous president we have ever had in our history!
     Who is kidding whom in the farce of Junior's book? He went to the best seller's list. Whoopdedoo! Look again, for there is a sign there that it is due to unusual institutional interest - like close to $100,000 purchase by the RNC of the book! And worse, they tried to deny it. How the hell could they think they could get away with it? Oh, hell, they have and the deranged man and his moronic and dangerous son are boasting about it, celebrating yet another egregious infiltration into what, the honor system, the truth? Are we friggin' kidding?
     Cue the music next, for the Great White Shark is on the way again, getting ever closer and closer. The infection that Russia signifies, the disaster it means to provide to all who oppose it, well, it all came out again. Wimpy Mueller refused to call it as it was and yet here it is again. Treasonous collaboration with our enemy. Again and again. Worse, the neglect and abandonment of our allies. Again and again. And there is the niggling piece of Tulsi Gabbard, the weirdest and most unlikely candidate ever. All she does is use her face to push forward on insults to her party, the Democrats, and all its representatives in the race. Is she a "Manchurian candidate" along the lines of Trump? Who the hell knows anymore, but she needs to be asked to leave the race somehow, or come out in her true colors.
     I could go on and on for pages and pages of he disreality of our times, but the main question remains the same. How did we ever get to this point? We allowed, forgave, ignored, laughed, and now are shredding our clothing, putting on sackcloth as we face the demise of our country. It is not too late, but people, we need hard work and determination. If not, well, we will not be kidding, will we, for Newspeak will be here and history will have changed overnight. Much to our detriment. 
     And then, and then.... what, Civil War II? Blood in the streets? Think about it.

ANSWERS? ARE THERE ANY?

  "There  ain't no answer.
    There ain't going to be any answer.
    There never has been any answer.
    THAT'S the answer."
                            Gertrude Stein

     Riding in the car from the airport to my daughter's home I had a wonderful conversation with the driver - and told him he belongs in a clssroom, not in a car. He was intelligent, well spoken and was listening to the hearing, and that impressed me no end.
     We both agreed on the guilt of Trump and the shameful turn and betrayal of all those who took part in his bribery and extortion event, but could not figure out the why of it all. Trump is easy. He is deranged and cannot see past his own bulk, mired as he is in the egocentric world of the toddler. He has no loyalty to anyone other than himself, selling all else down the river, but the diplomats? Their loyalty is to the country and if they could not uphold that then they needed to go, get out or never have taken the position in the first place. 
     But the answer is not clear and there is yet another question right behind. How and why are there so many weak willed, morally deficient, spineless and selfish people in this administration. Where are their ethics? Were they taught this shameful and harmful behavior by their parents? Their schools? Or is it that so many peoople are so lacking in honesty and honor, in service, in responsibility? The answer? Check the opening.
     Most puzzling is the behavior of the Republicans. They speak out of three sides of their mouths. Their loyalty is to Trump, rather than to the country, a severe violation of their oath. They condemned others - Nixon, Clinton, Franken, etc. so why and wherefore does a worse character get a free pass? At one and the same time they state that Trump did nothing wrong and then say that even if we say he did, it is not so bad, not bad enough for conviction and ousting from office. Well, if betraying one's country while the head of that country is not enough for a conviction, then just shoot me!!
     There appears to be no answer that would satisfactorily answer these questions. I admire those witnesses who spoke the truth, even if it took a few times for them to do so. I wonder why they never learned that the truth will always out. Always. I admired the dignity of those willing to tell the truth, honoring their code, their responsibilities. Where are the rest of the people like this? This I can answer. They are gone, have left their careers out of despair at the situation, the filth that is running rampant through the various departments of the country.
      Will we get the truth, the whole truth? Will we force Trump to reveal all, taxes, betrayals, health issues - physical and mental - will we ever get back a government that answers to the people? Remember Lincoln - of and for and by the people. The GOP has strayed so far from this that I wonder if they will ever find their way back. No answer for that either, but here is a comforting thought. We come to our senses. We convict the criminal for all his crimes and off he goes to Club Fed. Pence is sworn in and immediately undergoes inquiry and resigns to stop even worse results and then.........Speaker of the House becomes the next President in the Line of Succession. Hello, President Pelosi!!!!!! A girl can dream, can she not?
     QUESTIONS AND ANWERS. ROUND AND ROUND THEY GO.

     

Travel Day

Thursday is a travel day for me. Will post when I am able to get to my computer-possibly later in the day

RAINBOWS AND OPEN SKIES

     Have you ever had the experience of hearing a song, loving the music, and feeling the words penetrating right into your soul? It seems to speak to one, directly, and is exactly what you needed at that moment and at other similar moments in time. It is the gift and blessing of music, particularly when it is used to soothe, encourage, raise optimism, allow one to share in the knowledge that others feel the same way and have managed to climb out of that deep black hole into which you and they had fallen. It allows the oppressed to vent feelings, hopes and dreams with some of the most iconic songs of all times having come out of that category.
     Listen to the music, the words, and the haunting voice of Kacey Musgraves as she sings Rainbow. So many of us go through life facing hard times, personal and or national. We feel the rain, constant, tormenting us with a battering of sounds, from the pelting of tin roofs to the terrifying sounds of thunder and lightning right outside the window. Often people watch helplessly and hopelessly as the water pours in from a leaky or damaged roof and the waters outside rise and rise, threatening home and hearth, let alone lives.
     In these times, when the environment seems to have lost its moorings, when we seem to have retrogressed, when life, the pursuit of a proper job that allows one to live, not merely survive, we need help. We need relief from crazy life long loans, and from the awful pressure that comes from within and without as the politics of the country roil it so. We glance around the world and wonder just when all things went to hell in that proverbial basket and why did no one notice, place a roadblock, destroy that basket? Why and what are we to do about it now?
     We watch helplessly as the presumed leaders of our country are exposed in ever deeper layers of filth and corruption. Our public servants have transformed into servants for themselves, cooperating with all and sundry in the rush to enrich themselves as they sell their country down the river, betray its citizens. We watch as brave citizens of other countries protest and bring down governments and also with horror as we see the rise of perverted nationalism and a resurrection of old canards and evils. We read and watch with bated breath of the brave kids and people of Hong Kong who are fighting for their very lives, with the last 100 or so protesters being besieged in Polytechnic University. 
     The USA? What does its President say about this? Does he support these fighters for democracy? NO, most emphatically no, for he is too busy buddying up to the dictator rulers and despots of these very countries. That 'water line' is rising but wait, there is hope. The words of the song tell us so, encourage us, pull us out of our down in the blues dumps. We hear that "the sky is finally open", the rain, the wind, the lack of structure, has gone and in its place is the knowledge and encouragement of knowing
     "There's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head
         If you could see what I see, you'd be blinded by the colors
        Yellow, red and orange and green, and at least a million          others"
      We all need to take the advice and the words of this song into our hearts. We are to 'tie up our bows" and come out of the rain. Life is there, in all its glories, its colors. All we need do is reach out for the right, to correct, to wash our souls, to cleanse the government of wrongdoers. Only thus will we be able to understand that the rainbow has always been there, just waiting for us to  know that. Only then can we become the USA as it should be, a proud example for the entire world, a leader for the good and the right, for equality and opportunity, for recognition that we are all mankind and tied to this one little planet.
    See the colors. Hear the hope. Sing it in your souls and hearts and act on it. 

18 YEAR OLD TWERP? OR NOT?

     The other day, an 18 year old hate filled bigot anti Semitic head of an organization called  The Base, was arrested and talked with the FBI. At 18 years of age he has managed to maneuver himself into a position of authority over other bigots, and ordered them - ordered  - to tag the s**t out of two synagogues with more plans to bomb synagogues to follow swiftly on the heels of these actions.
     One wonders. How does one get to be so hate filled, so determined to take actions of hate at the age of 18? How does one gain control over others, even older people, at 18? Who has taught this child, for that is essentially what he is, a child who will willingly kill, to be this way? Did it come from the teachings of the home? Did he read something - if he can read - and allow it to bloom and blosson in the toxic air of  the Trump regime?
Have we allowed these kinds of hate groups to prosper these days, importing the worst of the Old World back into the New World?
     More importantly, is the question of why there is this awful murderous growth of the ancient virus of anti Semitism once more? Or is it always here, just allowed to ferment and boil with toxic fumes, waiting for its perfect moments, its time, shall we say, when the haters are allowed to prosper, when gun use, threats and ugliness is even praised - at times by the highest people of the land? Towards that , we can ask why Stephen Miller, a man so filled with hate, so contrary to the background of his family, is backed by the WH. 
     I wish I had the answers. I wish I knew why this virulent poison is still around. Asked the other day why there is anti Semitism, for if we knew why, we could respond to the causes and cure it, I had to respond that there is no logical answer. We Jews have survived the depredations, the destructions, the exiles, the persecutions, the pogroms, even Hitler, through the millenia. Always there has been a yearning for peace, a return to our land and our Temple, for even in the concentration camp of Terezin there was a secret synagogue, with the words of hope to return to Zion painted on the wall.
     Stubborn. Capitalists. Communists. Leaders of social safety net organizations. Philanthropists. Culture advocates. Doctors. Lawyers. Businessmen. Rabbis. Thinkers. Storeowners. Professors and teachers. Inventors and scientists. Valuers of education and books. Pushed for most of history into crowded areas called Ghettos, derived from an Italian word where the first ghetto was established by Venice. Asked why Jews tend to live with other Jews, I point to all the other nations and peoples of the world who also live with their own people, a natural phenomena, so why should it be bad when it is done by Jews? And how could Jews learn any differently when until Napoleon gave rights to French Jews and allowed them to move out of the ghettos they could not have done that?
      Jean Paul Sartre tried to answer the question. So did Mark Twain and Bari Weiss, There has been tome after tome trying to explain what is unexplainable. It appears that the good Lord left this blemish in the soul of people, left His creations to fight against this evil within and unfortunately, most of the time mankind has failed, with exceptions, though not nearly enough.
     In fact, there is truly no need for hate. Notice that every time there is a conflict for whatever reason - for land, for treasure, for gain - the hatred, the demonization and dehumanization of the "other' - the enemy_ becomes state and nation policy. And we here in America are no exceptions to that rule of history, shameful enough, is it not?
     So. Is this kid an aberration? A genius? A madman in the making? Will he be stopped? How to stop him? How to insure that others like him do not begin in the first place? Dang, but I wish I knew. Deeply wish I had those answers for more than ever before I am worried.
      I look at pictures of groups, of clubs, of families, taken a few years, even weeks, before the Holocaust began for them, smiling, loving each other, happy in their shared interest, in the dreams of the future, in the plans of parents for their children - and then go five years into the future, if that long is necesary, and the percentage of those pictured left alive is miniscule, if any. I look at today's Jewish community magazines, organizations, schools, at the smiling faces and I wonder now, even as we should have worried then, read the signs, and I wonder, what will be  five years from now? 
    It is not for me that I fear. My life is at its tail ending. I have lived. But the young? The unborn? The world itself? My kids. My beautiful grandkids. All the other kids and grandkids out there. So is this an 18 year old twerp to be swatted away, not such a threat, just a simple pimple on the face of mankind, a zit to be popped? No. Definitely no.
      If we do not realize that hate grows apace, that it must be stamped out, fought against, then we are lost. Hate knows no bounds. None at all. All are eventually encompassed by the growing fires of that hatred. Burning books are replaced by the fuel of people. No, not a twerp at all and hopefully, if we do what must be done, not a harbinger of a dreadful future that will arise out of our own aborted original future. It is incumbent upon all of us. Remember, when the haters finish with one group, there is always another and in one group - there shall you be. No exceptions. No survivors.

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

     No, it certainly is not easy being green or anything that resembles green in a social context. Yet so many of us must be green at some point or another in our lives,the condition being of short or long duration. Many  times being green is not our choice, but rather one imposed on us by factors out of our control.
     This weekend I felt green. I felt out of place, or rather I was not quite sure of what my place is anymore in the scheme of things. Those of you cursed by insomnia, whatever the cause or causes, will understand when I say that it all began with a total shutdown due to exhaustion. There is only so much time that a body can go without sleep and I hit that point Friday morning. After dragging myself to a followup surgery appointment I came  home and collapsed. I believe that until around 1 PM on Saturday I dozed and slept to the exclusion of all else, having read perhaps a total of 20 pages during that time and it was a good book too!
     It is difficult to realize and accept that one's place in life has changed. Getting reassured that I will be taken care of as a condition worsens is great, but not really! Being reassured that I look great - well, what does that mean? Should my outside appearance be allowed to show inner changes, the loss of mobility being allowed to come through at all times rather than fight it?
     What does one do when something inevitable is chugging along down the road toward voyage's end and there is nothing that can be done? Oh, one can exercise. One can try to keep an up mood, engage in social life, keep the brain working, take medications and try not to turn pale at the possible side effects, but it is all a slowing down of inevitability, is it not?
      I feel green. Not the color, but the affects and effects of being that different color, that different being, other than I once was. My support is great - family, friends, and Gerry has really stepped up to the plate, but it is all off somehow. I feel different. I know I am different. Some of it is for the good, for I have learned truly, not to sweat the little things. I have learned that a phone conversation several times a day with my kids is truly a wonderful thing to have and not to take it for granted - and thank G-d the kids and the grandkids are great, but I still feel green. I still know what is coming down the pike.
     Many of us at this stage of the game begin to feel green. Take an overall physical or evaluation, be asked to do certain physical tasks, as far as you can do or go, and suddenly it is all there, right on the plate in front of you, all numbered, all put together and the outcome? Well, you know that old song, the one about the mare - well, mare or steed, the effect is the same. We are all beginning to turn green and the next step is to learn how to handle it. Hmmm, wonder how that good old boy in the WH feels as he turns ever more green and sneaks off to secret "annual" physicals, phase one! Sorry, could not stop my fingers from typing that.
     It is not a comfortable feeling, being green. We have all had moments during our lifetimes when we had that same feeling. Walking into a new classroom or social situation. Getting a promotion or taking on  a new and more responsible job. Having different beliefs from friends. Trying to navigate seemingly unsolvable situations. Aging. Dealing with disasters, physical, emotional  whatever. All are 'green' situations.
     The funny thing is, at times I like feeling green. It seems kind of settled and actually is somewhat liberating. No more shows. No more worries about what to do or when or how. Just do it. Just do it. Live for the day, the moment and not to worry anymore about the longer term for that is out of one's hands. To be green could have some not so green good benefits.
     No, it is not so easy being green, especially when one totes up life. One worries about the condition of the world we are leaving for others to follow - if they will be able to. We worry about our legacy. Have we taught the kids the right way. Have they turned out as we wished them to be - happy, healthy, morally sound, knowing what is important - in other words, to be good people at the end of it all. We look at our next two, and even third generation and smile. They are coming along, value family and friends, know what is the right thing to do.
     As for me, the rat race is done. There are only friends and family. There are only good things left to enjoy as the 'greening' continues. I become ever more comfortable being green, despite some down moments. But I know where to go for 'interior decoration' advice, shall we say and  I know now what goes well with green. So to hell with everything else and off we go, to a movie, a short walk, a show we taped, a lecture, a blog, good music, or a good book awaiting me to turn its pages or even just a simple sitting around conversation about everything and anything. And a reassuring hug never hurts.
     No, it is not easy being green. But I also remember that some of the greatest beings, minds, thinkers, were and are also green at times. So I will join the crowd and every day I add my two cents worth via my blog, and every day try to do some good for someone as the day goes on. Even cracking a joke and getting a smile is good - for both sides of that interaction. Being green is not so bad after all. Just ask me and Kermit.

BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED

     Certainly not bewitched, despite so many hollow claims of a "witch hunt"!What bothers me  though, are the strange beliefs and statements that have arisen from this inquiry. To me it is as obvious as the nose on the face statement: Trump is resolutely and decidedly guilty of misdeeds, is a clear and present danger to all that we hold dear and true as a country, as a people. So why then, do nasty faced, harshly voiced Republican members of the committee continue to state, against all facts, all chains of evidence disclosed, more and more governmental employeees and appointees coming forth with ever more damning evidence of Trump's malfeasance, why, oh why, do they continue to back Trump?
     I am bewildered, for I cannot recall any rule of politics or justice or the American system of government that states that primary, above all else, is to back the ostensible leader of your Party rather than defend the country first and foremost. I cannot remember when it became right, accepted, and even encouraged, to back a wrongdoer, yes, an evil person, over all else. Since when is the slogan of America - Party over Country? When, oh when, did we resign from the rolls of democratic nations and decide to accept a remodeling of our country and government into the usual farcial imitative "democracy" in those Democratic Republics of Wherever?!
     We are openly allowing the suborning of our morals, our ethical values. We are now accepting pardons of war crimes, setting up a possibility of all countries turning away from the rules of war, the Geneva Conventions,and despite the fact that there are countries that do not heed these rules, it is our reponsibility to lead the way in encouraging their use. If we absent ourselves from these rules  then what will happen to our soldiers when in a battle or are captured? I shudder at the thought, at the imagery of such things. Yet Captain Bonespur continues to rip apart all civilization in every path, in every topic, in every choice he makes. Worse, by allowing this, we are complicit, implicit, guilty, whatever word you choose.
     While we are seeing signs of a turn against Trump and all he stands for, all his demeaning gestures, deeds and statements, his ignorance, misogyny, his crudeness, we have a long way to go. We also have a long year to go, and we must make sure that the elections between now and then are tamper free, that foreign countries are excluded from partaking of our elections, that hackers and extremeists are blocked.
     We are fast becoming a land which eats its inhabitants, Biblical version. A 20 year Immigration officer is now out of a job and awaiting deportation because it was found that he was born in Mexico and despite a life lived here since infancy, despite his work for the government, we are going to toss him away. We truly show no appreciatio for what people of all backgrounds contribute to us. The voices and the fears of over 800,000 DACA Dreamers can be heard over all the shouting and the ugliness. What the hell are we doing?
     All over the world the ugliness grows. Even as anti Semitism rises worldwide, a German auction house is selling Nazi artifacts, "important" items -bigwig Nazi underwear, or Hitler's pajamas, etc. For so much money it is impossible to believe. What is wrong with us?
     There are those signs that give us hope. Perhaps we will return to the middle, to a bipartisan America. Perhaps the rise of Buttigieg is a sign, as is the rising rate of Klobuchar. Perhaps Americans want a change and are ready to vote for one that will encompass all Americans and only the Democrats can provide this to the American people. The would be demagogues - McConnell, Jordan, Zeldin, Graham, Nunes - need to go. We must appoint decent and knowledgeable judges who are without smears of sexual misbehavior and biased opinions. 
     Trump says he is now undergoing part of his annual physicals. Found to be even heavier, termed obese, stuffed on his fast food burgers as he sits watching TV and tweeting away his hateful and nonsensical and harmful tweets, there is no transparency there. What about his scans? What about the  fat in his non working brain? What about all else with him. A statement from a buddy good old boy doctor is not the way to go. Nor does it encourage any trust to be placed in the results or in Trump.
     Two of the best statements of the week came from Adam Schiff who is doing a marvelous job as Chairman of this present inquiry, and Colin Kaepernick. Read them and think about it, especially as it relates to all the upcoming primaries and elections.
     Schiff said:"The most grave threat to the life and health of our democracy comes from within, from a president without ethical compass, without an understanding of or devotion to our Constitution and the beautiful series of checks and balances it established," 
            "There is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes he is above the law,"
     Kaepernick said: Stop running from the truth, stop running from the people.”
       People, we need to choose wisely and well in these upcoming choices. We need to make a decision. Are we going to try to improve ourselves, to pull ourselves, our country, out of the muck that Trump and buddies have placed us or are we going to continue to allow the most corrupt government of America ever!! to continue to endanger us and the world at large? We need to make a choice and make it not bothered and bewildered, but with firm decision, erect backs, morals and values intact. As Americans!.



    

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    That is what makes the world go round. Travel with a child, and face a barrage of questions, usually beginning with a why or a what, each question built upon the answer of the prior one. It can drive a parent right up the wall, but it is a path of growth and a path of introspection for the adult as the child ages and the questions and answers become more in depth about life and more difficult to anwer.
     The question of the day yesterday, one that actually has no answer or a most depressing one, was asked by a student being led to safety at Saugus High School where there was yet another mass shooting, student on students. The question? "What kind of a world is this?"
     The kid got it in one. Try to answer that question without tripping over your tongue, without trying to cover up the rot from within, the backsliding of mankind. It is nigh onto impossible. What do we tell our adolescents about the growth industry of school, religious institutions, places of work and fun as scenes of mass murders and woundings. Explain it to me, if you can, for I too ask what kind of world are we living in and bequeathing to the younger generation?
     What kind of a world ignores the past horrors of mankind's history and persists in backing traitors, demagogues, awful immoral people who think the world revolves around them and their wants and needs? How do we explain the shameful treatment of two of our most distinguished citizens, who served their country, our country, with honor and dignity in the military and State Department? How do we allow representatives of Captain Bone Spur to denigrate them in public, dismiss their detailed statements, even after their notes were confiscated by the Justice Department in an effort to shut them down.
     How did we allow the crude attacks, the support of lies as truth and truth as lies, by Nunes and Jordan, by Zeldin? The nastiness of their motivations and goals reeked, as their faces became distorted with histrionic statements and emotions. Truly, the ugliness within came pouring through to the outside. Truly, what kind of a world is this?
     There have been mass accusations against supposed public servants  and misuse of funds, pushes for them to be tried, to be censored, to be driven to resign, be fined, punished in some way. Yet the elephant in the room, the most egregious malefactor, is allowed to continue in office, to continue to destroy our moral fiber, our governmental system, rage in deranged rants about judges, about his power, about his desire to run the country by fiat, by desires of his very dark soul.
     What is worse is the fact that we allow this man and his servants, and I use those two words purposely, for that is what they are to him, actually what the entire GOP contingent on the Hill is, to drive a government run by corruption, by phone calls from restaurants, by violations of every rule of safety and security for the country, by the rampant ignorance, the defiance of the proofs of science and the need for safety regulations, even as they are rolled back and the poisons, physical and mental, emotional and political, grow worse.
     Plain, no account citizens shiver in dread of subpoenas, however unlikely, wishing to stay out of any official maws, tremble with horror at the thought of engaging with the IRS, and yet this man, the President, has multiple lawsuits going on as he refuses to honor his pledges, as his frauds are exposed, as his lies about his business skills and fortunes are bared to the air. He is naked, yet his clothing is praised and admired by the willfully blind and unthinking of the nation.
     What kind of world is this? I cannot answer that in any kind of positive spin. We have tossed away achievements, gains that were costly in so many ways, destroyed so much of the good. If we do not watch carefully, we will be giving this man and any of his ilk who follow, the right to be the be all and the end all of it all. No rules, no oversight, no roadblocks to absolute power and most likely, goodbye to elections, goodbye to democracy and hello injustice, oppression, war, mass hunger, eruptions of bias and hate driven attacks. All this as we ignore the rising waters, the contaminated waters, the destruction of our lands in so many ways, as land areas of our nation and the world disappear.
    What kind of a world is this? Despite the efforts of some, even many, it is not enough to make up for the rest, for the evil, yes, evil, to be found in huge dollops all  over the world, and particularly in our own nation's House. Yes, the man sitting in there, stuffing his face, making nice nice to other dictators, who revels in doing the wrong thing, who is deranged in much of his talk and deeds, well, yes, he is evil. What else can he be called when we take a look at what he has caused, brought about in this country.
    What kind of a world is this? You answer that 14 year old boy without destroying his every hope for the future - for the present! I cannot, not at this point. 

" I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT."

     And ain't that the ugly truth, the one that Trump defenders pretend to ignore as they fight a rearguard battle against the truth of the whole Ukrainian mess, never mind all the rest of the garbage that revolves around that man and his supporters. The man who obsessively watches TV, his denials of watching the hearings, thus his ignorance about its contents, rang shrilly against the gong of truth as he had already tweeted 34 tweets early on in the hearings. Mesh that together and come up with the truth of the matters under discussion.
     The truth is that Trump knows nothing about being a president and never had any  business running for the office, capitalizing on the baser impulses of Americans. I guess we got what we asked for, did we not, and now we are stuck trying to clear the crap out of the drain. Not too easy at this point.
     What is at stake is more than what appears on the surface. Yes, it would be great to remove this creep from office. I personally would throw a party! However, the fact is that the future of  democracy in America is at stake. Read that and say it aloud as many times as needed if we are to understand the truth of the matter here. It is not so much about Ukraine and the security misdeed, or his tax frauds - and Congress just got permission - again - to read them. Rather it is about whether our structure of three EQUAL branches of government will remain in place or will Congress, like the morons they appear to be, particularly the Senate, particularly the Republicans, give away the store in their insane and absolutely unable to be understood defense of the alleged criminal in so many ways. 
     George Washington turned down the offer to become King of the United States. Donald Trump is trying to undo that situation and become Donald I in every which way other than perhaps to take the title.
     If America is to survive, we must somehow wake up the GOP Senators before it is too late and they become as extraneous and useless as the versions of Congress that exist in all the dictatorial lands. The judges will be handpicked, opposing judges will be removed and I shudder to think of the raiding gangs of complicit law enforcement personnel as they break into the homes of protesters and opponents of the newly crowned dictator, Ruler for Life, the first in the history of the country.
     Jim Jordan represented the hot air that pervades the GOP. His defense is truly weak as he tries to defend lies, claiming them as truths and playing on an ability to talk fast, to mock the most dignified of witnesses who appeared at the hearings yesterday and who were able to lay out in detail the whole stinking mess of corruption and greed. What boggles the mind is the demand that the whistleblower appear, - his/her statements already confirmed by so many others -  that other people answer subpoenas of Republicans even as Trump et al stonewall, refusing to answer the lawful subpoenas of Congress. Try not answering a subpoena in your life and see if you get away with it, wondering what the hell happened as you breathe the rank air of prison cells and are brought forcefully to court, threatened to answer questions under the threat of imprisonment until you do. Goose and gander here, folks? Guess not.
     Erdogan is here, another oh so lovely example of corruption and power over Trump as he plays Trump like a puppet. Another stinking situation as two sons in law, Erdogan's and Trump's, buddy up with their  business dealings and yet not a whisper of it around the capital or the Capitol. Corruption has infiltrated so deeply into this administration that I, and many others, despair of ever getting rid of it, particularly as the judges of decency are being replaced with ignoramuses and bigots.
     The world is in a mess. The countries of South America are crumbling. The countries of Asia are roiling in their own inner battles as citizens of one religion are taking off after citizens of another religion, even after decades of peace. There is more fighting in Israel as it faces another attempt to destroy it, as it gets blamed for "killing' Palestinians and nary an Israeli killed, 'merely' wounded - blamed for having the defense weaponry to shoot down 350 rockets aimed at civilians!!!!!! Blamed for making sure that its citizens are warned of incoming fire, keeping them home, making sure there are shelters around. My granddaughter in Israel for the year had a shelter drill the other day. Israel wants its citizen - all of them - to be safe and for that they are demonized. It seems as if things never chnge. Jews either need to die or submit, never defy and never fight back. Well, tough s**t! No more.
     And no more here either in this country. It is time to root out the corruption here, for we are looking more and more like a third world banana republic. We have lost our way, seriously, and are lost in a dense jungle of crime and corruption, of hate and ignorance. Over there in the corner one can see the terrified faces of the DACA crowd and in the other corner one can see images, getting clearer by the second, of street fighters waving American flags, of crumbled buildings, of echoes of Syria as America too destroys herself as her citizenry war against each other.
    China said it all yessterday with regard to the awful situation in HongKong. I fear for those brave people even as China warned: "You are on the edge of doom." True for them, apparently, true for the world at large, and apparently, much to our dismay, true for us. There is a diminshing window of time wherein we can turn the situation around, but I am ever more despairing of this happening, especially after watching the hearings of yesterday. We have truly lost our way.

NONONONONONONONONONONONONO

     That title is not a typo, nor have I lost control over my fingers or my mind. What it is, is a plea from the heart, a frightened call of the mind, hoping against hope that what appears imminent does not happen. The consequences of all these things happening at once, the rending of our fabric of state so deep and so irreversible, that there are deeply etched doubts that it could ever be repaired again. When distinguished writers and a leading magazine, Atlantic, echo my statements then I worry.
     It is one thing when I, a nobody with no power, rants against Trump and the current state of the Union. It is one thing when I warn about an increasingly possible, possibly inevitable, Civil War. It is validating when some commentators begin to warn of the same things that I do, that unfortunately, I am not over the top, off the wall, with my beliefs. However, when The Atlantic devotes an entire issue to How to Avoid Civil War then I type nononononono. I kid around that I am always right, but in this case, I hope, pray, that I am not. It is unthinkable that we have truly allowed ourselves to sink into this state of mind, allowed the deepest, darkest secrets, the creepy crawly ones, to escape from their inner cells, and the hatred spews forth in a dirty, reeking mass of the unthinkable.
     When a President can be quoted with this statement: “Can we just get rid of the judges? Let’s get rid of the f---ing judges,” Trump fumed one morning. “There shouldn’t be any at all, really.”  Worry. When it is documented that the administration and its ugly allies supported policies that they KNEW would result in lost and damaged chidren, in major trauma to parents and relatives, then there is nothing to add to that sentence. When the Supreme Court, with its two Trump backwards appointees, two perverts, Kavanaugh and Thomas, and a head up his rear Roberts, support the end of DACA then what does one say. Does a Trump supporter then  wave the flag and chant USA USA as literally hundreds of thousands of Americans - for that is what they are - educated, settled, raising families, working productively and bolstering the economy, are ripped out by their roots, forced into countries that are foreign to them, not knowing the language as they speak English, well, what is there left to stop a Civil War?
    When the President of the country was okaying digital blueprints for 3D printed guns, online, for all to see and use, then what is there to say. Arming for the Civil War? When a chief adviser, Miller, emailed hate mail, 900 of them, in 2015 and 2016 alone, then we certainly know the blackened heart of this administration. And he is still there!! When one reads the language of the impeachment articles, of bribery, of corruption, of high crimes and misdemeanors, and this incorporates not only the President, but also the complicit and implicit people who backed him, who allowed this, who sucked up to his filth, his hatred, his incompetence, his crimes and fraud - a major grifter!! this alleged criminal, this self admitted thief of charitable funds to the tune of 2 million dollars -  then one should be scared out of one's mind and should be typing NONONONONONONO.!!!!!!!!
     The White House plans an "aggressive" fight in defense of the indefensible. The Republican Senators have admitted that what he did is "inappropriate" perhaps but not impeachable. Really? C'mon. Where the hell are your spines, your balls, your morality, your self respect, your care and concern for the country you are supposed to be serving? Gone, all gone. When it is stated that 30 Senators are willing to vote to impeach if it was to be a secret ballot, then what does that say about them and the unholy situation we have allowed to develop here?
     One writer wonders whether the hatred and frayed bonds of the 1850's are the same as now. Personally, I believe so, and even more frightening, is that people are so easily able to access arms and explosives and our enemies are just standing there, drooling from their mouths as they think of the benefits to them of a USA unraveled, perhaps under their thumbs,feet and bodies!! Subservient to them. What have we done? NONONONONONONO
      Could we think of this request, this possibility?
          "Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down."      Isaiah 4 5 :8
   

WHOSE GOT OUR SIX?

     Watch any show or movie featuring soldiers or law enforcement personnel and you will hear that phrase about the 'six'. I've got your six is what one might hear or something akin to it. It is a reassuring statement for it means that no one will get there to stab us in the back when we are not looking. Someone is watching out for us in a vulnerable moment. It speaks of comraderie, of trust, of unity, of sense.
     So whose got our six? The dreaded, but correct answer, is that no one has it. Watching out for others, for a greater idea or principle, putting duty before self preservaton, is a rare thing indeed, especially today, when our leaders, who are supposed to have our six are not there, but are rather too busy enriching themselves, cratering all our safety regulations, both physical and social, doing dirty deals with their  former colleagues in incestuous relationships of government and industry, and here we are, our six left unprotected, wide open to all the dangers we now face, internally and externally.
     Our comrades in the trenches have deserted us, headed for the hills or the lush valleys that come with ignoring the truth and building one's own power and money base. Not a single one of the people in the administrationof the Demented One, the man who is a clear and present danger to our country, managed to either present objections to his crazed policies, or failed to carry it through, trembled and shivered like a dog afraid of punishment from a cruel master, and refused to make their fears known to the public so that the damage we have suffered and inflicted upon others could be fixed or better yet, avoided.
     Tillerson, Secretary of State, and Kelly, Chief of Staff, two of the most powerful positions in the administration, boasted about by Trump, saw right from the start that the man was nuts and solicited or tried to solicit allies in their fight to "save the country".  NO ONE stepped forth! No one. No one cared about the position and policy of watching our six. The six of the American nation, of its people, was left wide open and into that breach stepped so many nefarious and damaged people and minds, that we are now in the worst position ever. We have an extremely partisan government, with one party, the GOP, losing all sight and memory of right, of justice, of honor, of serving the people, and instead stand there with their thumbs up their respective asses, only thinking of ways in which they deny the undeniable, excuse the inexcusable and let us get shot down, or remain dead in the water. Take your pick of the metaphors, but we are alone out there, no one on our six. Terrifying in so many ways.
     So we have Pompeo  savaging his own diplomats, a totally dispirited Department of State, yet perhaps there is a bit of a whiff of a new air, of some new people who have finally decided that the time is ripe to watch the nation's six. Are these people heroes? I do not know for I think they should have come forth so long ago before we reached this almost impassable twist in the road, but maybe they can be given credit for finally conquering their fear and coming forth, telling the truth, whereas there are so many who are still lying through their teeth, speaking with forked tongues, and screwing the nation royally!!
     In Girls on the Run it is stated:
      "We aren't easily intimidated.
        And yet we are always frightened."
This speaks so clearly of our times, of our state of mind, of our paralysis. We were so frightened, so afraid to object, to acknowledge painful truths, that we were intimdated and were frightened. My hope and prayer is that we come to our senses, politicians, diplomats and civilians. We need to come together as a nation once more and put aside our differences, recognize truths, as painful as they might be and join in a united watching of our six. Before it is too late.
     

A HOLE IN ONE

     Yup. Smacked that shot right into the empty hole that poses as an administration of the USA. Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due. There are so many appropriate terms and metaphors or similes to use here that my brain is flooding with them. 
     How about the rats are leaving the sinking ship. Or how about the other way: some are choosing for some strange reason to go down with the ship. Yet more? Okay. Omerta has been broken and the guilt is being spread around right out of all their mouths.
     But the one that I love best is right out of Lindsey Graham's mouth, that crazed man who features in my nightmares with his crazed, insane face of the Kavanaugh hearings. Evidently it does not matter to him whether there is right or justice on one side. It only matters that the GOP and Trump triumph.
     Thus yesterday's comment was that hole in one. So true, and I quote: "I've made up my mind. There's nothing there." Whoops!!! So true. There is literally nothing in his mind that is worth anything, hence there is nothing there. There is apparently no mind there either. There is nothing there when he tries to defend Trump's myriad misdeeds. There is nothing there when he keeps trying, along  with other idiots who persist in standing on that sloping ship of state, to pursue Hunter Biden. There was nothing there at all, but deflect, defect, deflect is the maneuver. Actually, even if Biden had done something wrong, the taint goes right back to Trump - who is the president  who solicited foreign interference against an opponent, a private matter, thus majorly doing a big no-no! High crimes. Oh yes. 
     There appears to be nothing there in the minds of so many of the Trump camp. Junior and Eric tramp aroud the world claiming that Biden used his father's name to make money and it is just so funny that evidently they never look in their own mirrors as they travel the world, lots of times on our dime, making money off the Trump name, the Donald Trump name, remember, Junior, in your Mephistopheles like beard!
     There is nothing there in an evidently contagious disease of the Trump ship of state. The entire hull is rotten. There is nothing there in the supposed investments to be spurred by the awful tax changes of Trump. Oh yes, there are changes, as investment contracts 1% and 3% in the last two quarters, 15 months after its passing. Nothing there!
     Nothing there is the supposedly functioning minds of Republicans who are searching in the dark like blind men seeking a way out of an unknown room. Oh, the actions of Trump might have been illegal, one concedes, but really, impeachment? So harsh. One rambles on that it depends if the request was to investigate corruption or a political rival. Well, that was answered many times over in the testimonies and transcripts released. But there's nothing there in those ossified minds and broken moral systems of the Republicans. 
     Then we see the mental deteriorations of so many of their representatives. Giuliani has gone totally off the tracks. I would suggest a brain scan. Same for Trump, actually. Nikki Haley has also gone nuts claiming she was approached by Tillerson and Kelly to join in their attempt to save the country. She refused. Why? Was she looking ahead? Did she not have the responsibility to evaluate what the hell was going on and reveal to the public the truth of the rotten innards of this Trump et al? 
     But there's nothing there. There is nothing left of morality within the Republicans. There is nothing left of righteous courage. People are flocking to Midway to get a reminder of that once upon a time courageous country that looked for the right, the moral, even if having to retreat on prior errors. But always looking for what should be there. But this one:There's nothing there. Right out ofthe literal horse's mouth or the psterior of an ass. Take your choice or double down!!
     There is soon to be nothing left to anything of our past glory as we seedily redress it in tattered morals, in trashed ideals, in economic policies that do not work other than to enrich the already filthy rich, and dig up all the hatreds and biases and vicious actions and words that come along with it. 
    Oh, there is plenty there, just not what it should consist of. What should be there? You are correct, Graham. There's nothing there of the just and the honorable and the patriotic. There's nothing there!!

SUNNY DAY

     One of the most heartwarming scenes one can observe and actually partake of is the happy voices and smiling faces on both adults, old and young, and children, as they sing Sunny Day. The next minutes are taken up with the old and treasured songs like C is for Cookie, L is for Lollipop, Rubber Ducky,  and even Mr. Rogers and his neigborhood.
      What is the magic behind these songs, these memories? Simple. The biggest unknowns here were why Mr. Rogers always lifted up his shoes and which one of four pictures was different, not like  the others.
      It seemed as if the whole country was able to unite and love these programs. There are great celebrations and memories being planned for Sesame's 50th and a movie with Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers. The kids loved the colors and characters, the letters and numbers of Sesame and were mesmerized by the calm and slow voice of Mr. Rogers. The King, the people from the purple planet, Bob, Marie, Mr. Hooper - both older and younger adults speak of these names and memories with fondness and warmth and kids continue to get the message of Sesame - we are different yet the same. Would that we had a Sesame adult version.
    But it seems as if sunny days are no more. It is not sunny when the days are filled with anger and despair. It is not sunny when loyalty to a man is prized above loyalty to one's country. It is not sunny when words of hate spew forth from all sides and when the evil that was supposed to have been buried, virulent prejudice, racial, ethnic and religious hatred, break through once again and there is death following.
     Yesterday, Timothy Egan wrote his piece in the Times and voiced a matching opinion of mine which simply points out the depth of despair we are in. He wrote of Trump as a creepy crawly person and vindicated my opinion that voting for anyone or anything other than Trump is the way to go. He states that he would vote for a tree stump rather than Trump!!! I agree and so, hopefully, will enough of the voters in 2020.
     What is indeed cloudy these days, are the clouds that arise from the absolute loss of morality on the part of the GOP. There is no more defense based on good, on the denial of evil. Nope, for now it is using the excuse that the evil, the wrongness of it all, is actually not so bad, not so wrong. So foreign interference? Eh! Financial fraud? Blah! Miserable personal traits and misogynistic tendencies and behavior? So what!! Truth being trampled underfoot, its voice calling for help growing weaker and weaker as the slime of lies rises over it? Oh, grow up!!!
     Haters speakof dual loyalties in order to attack others. Well, I too speak of dual loyalties. Either we are loyal to the United States of America or we are loyal to a man who puts forth and represents all that is anathema to that country. I watched Midway on Friday afternoon and  remarked that it was the country I would love to pledge to again, the one where individuals spoke to and for the whole of the country. Where all was not perfect and idiots were still having their roles, but at least there were efforts to overcome, to better ourselves.
     I, and many others, long so deeply for more sunny days.  No, we are not idiots dreaming of a utopian world, though that would be nice if we could ever figure that out, but why must we live in an increasingly dystopian world, a world of hate, a world of guns, a world of death, a world where it is okay, even commendable, to lock children up in freezing cages, where women are abused by captors in private detention facilities, where men are chased for trying to help their families, where we forget and trample over our obligations to our allies, our role in the world.
    Is it naive to look back so that we could look forward again? I truly do not know, but what I do know is this: if we do not change, if we do not admit that wrong is wrong, that it is disgraceful for a President and his lawyers to state that yes, a President could legally get away with all crimes, including murder, then I, and many others, lose hope. We feel the despair creeping ever upwards and we wonder what the hell is going on when people talk of his nastiness, his lies, his bizarre behavior yet say they would vote for him because of his accomplishments. Huh? What are they? The trade balance or imbalance has grown and not in our favor.The national debt has grown horrendously and will continue to do so under the new unfair tax rules. Companies and factories are rewarding their top levels but there is no investment. Wages are pathetic. There are jobs yet it can take months to find a job. More people than ever are going hungry, food insecure, no pillows for aching heads, no blankets to wrap the children up for warmth. And foreign policy - forget it!
     We have lost our way. Lost most of our ways. I and many others, hope the fading echoes of sunny days, where getting that cookie is the biggest problem, where wrongs are acknowledged and apologies given and accepted, when differences are celebrated even as similarities are emphasized, where the culture of others is recognized and cherished just as we cherish our own, will return. Some day. Soon? Please. It could be a beautiful day in the neighborhood, could it not?

IS IT OR ISN'T IT?

          Once upon a time we all divided the world into black and white, meaning a deed, or law or thought, was either one way or the other - good or bad. As we grew up, we realized that there are actually many hues and shades between and we needed to distinguish between them carefully. Certainly a mother stealing food for her starving kids or a blanket to keep them warm is not the same guilty as a person robbing a store, and threatening people. There are differences. There are, what is called, exigent circumstances, which insure that the hues inbetween are taken into account.
     But what does one do, or what does society do, when these hues all run into each other, bleaching out the differences, even as the criminals twist and turn and use every curve of the road as an excuse for their behavior. What does one do, how do we keep ourselves balanced, when the boundaries of right and wrong are so variable and shifting that the ground underneath feels like quaking quicksand? Something cannot be denied, then acknowledged, then determined to be not really quite so bad and hence not a crime - at least in the eyes of the criminals and their supporters.
     These turnarounds happen so quickly that it makes one's head spin. Outrageous denials are shouted from the rooftops and further camoflauge is provided by further misbehavior until it all runs together and what was unacceptable two years ago becomes daily trash to be ignored and disposed of.
     To abuse one's power, the power conferred by a nation on its leader, is wrong, hands down. To solicit foreign interference particularly to do harm to one's political or imagined opponents is wrong. To defy the courts, to call down the wrath of the gods upon them for deciding on issues that are  displeasing to Trump et al is wrong. To deny facts, to create the oxymoronic expression of 'fake news' is wrong. To call the media the "enemy of the people' is not only wrong but downright frightening. To impose rule upon a country by dictat rather than by consensus is wrong. To break down the checks and balances system of our government is wrong. To imagine oneself as a "Great Leader" and muse about remaining in office beyond terms, by talking of becoming a 'leader for life', is so wrong that it should hit all in the head every time this is mentioned. Lest you think this could never be, that Trump would not vacate office, well, look at the Kentucky gubernatorial election and watch Bevin and buddies bloviate as to whether they will vacate and maybe even try to negate the vote results and have the Republican legisature make the decision as to who exactly is governor. Your skin should be crawling at this thought. We should be wearing sackcloth and ashes as we mourn the demise of the wonderful experiment known as America if this were to be allowed. And it is so wrong to defy Congress, to defy investigations lawfully allowed and carried out as per the rules, to issue a categorical blanket order to ignore and defy Congress and subpoenas. Obstruction of justice the size of the Hover Dam!!
     So terms are tossed about and outraged Republican after Republican refuses to acknowledge aloud that Trump is a criminal. They wimp out on votes, forgetting the shades and hues. They deny, then admit, then deny the criminality of it and deny its criminal importance. This cannot continue if we are to continue.
     Even before diagnosed with several nasty things, my belief was that if I could not be, I would not be. Period. The same thing is with our country. If we cannot be who we are supposed to be, a country in search, always, of a better way, a fairer way, a more socially conscious way, then we cannot be who we are and thus will not be - no longer the Untied States of America. No longer the land of the Lady in the Harbor. No longer the goldeneh medinah or the Golden Mountain. No longer the hope of the oppressed peoples of the world. No longer the country that takes care of its neediest and weakest citizens.
     Who will we be? I shudder at the thought for if the worst came to be, then it will be decided not in the courts of law, but in the courts of the street, for this would be nothing less than a civil war, a war of identity, of great bloodshed. I have long maintained that Trump is a clear and present danger to our country. Evidently the author, Anonymous, agrees. Read the book, A Warning, when it is published in a week and a half and then weep, cry, as Alan Paton said about his country, Cry, the Beloved Country.
     How did we ever get here? How do we get out of here and safely, keeping our identity straight? Wish I knew the details. All I do know is that this must be brought to a halt and we must claim or reclaim who we are - and who we are supposed to be. Look to the highest common denominator rather than to the lowest. Distinguish between the hues and I believe that there are many clear distinctions here, either black or white, very little gray in his and his buddies behavior and deeds. Decision lines are very clear,