Fifty years ago today we had 13 seconds that changed the world. America was being ripped apart by growing anti war protests and then the unthinkable. Armed National Guard troops were called out to Kent Stae University in Ohio and faced off with a growing group of college kids, many the same age as their 'opponents' facing off with them. And in 13 seconds we had the first true crack in the foundation of our country. 9 students shot, one permanently paralyzed, and 4 dead. The iconic photo of a presumed student screaming to the heavens over the body of another student shook the world. It shook the government. It shook America. And it shook the family housholds that made up America.
We do not have 13 seconds here. Instead, we have six months and ongoing. Since December we knew that something was going on in China, despite their attempts to play it down. Why we scream about that I do not know, for our government did the same thing, with that idiot Trump ignoring it, or tossing out numbers of possible dead, increasing the numbers nonchalantly as the crisis grew. In January he already had briefings but truly, nothing was done, nothing said to the public of the looming monster poised to devour the country's citizens. And here we are, six months later and the crack begun in Kent fifty years ago has now enlarged into a deep, apparently bottomless abyss as citizens face off other citizens, as their very lives are placed in jeopardy.
The absolute silence of the shooting's immediate aftermath was echoed all those years later by the first moments of silence, of shock, on 9/11, of disbelief that such a thing could happen. We mourned, for a while, as a nation united, headed by a man who grew into his job at that point.
Juxtapose that man with what we now have, a crass man who dared to have a 'Town Hall' at the Lincoln Memorial, comparing himself to that President who truly ws a wartime President and who accepted, dealt with, and mourned the consequences of all decisions made. He took upon himself the responsibility of making those decisions, owning up to them, as opposed to this one who refuses, openly, to take any responsibility. Lincoln honored the nation's dead even as the Demented One throws out evergrowing figures of the projected virus dead and never mind those damaged for life from its aftereffects. All with no end in sight. And does he mourn? Oh no he does not, for these mean nothing to him, only calculations in his desperate race for a continued stay in office where he can continue his dismantling and ruination of our country. So what's another 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 or 100,000 between friends, right!!!
Over and over he contradicts his own mouth, his own words. Over and over again he lies. "We're building supply lines, we have the final vaccine". No we do not. We are not even close and has anyone even dared to mention or remark that we might never have that vaccine, only find some medicines that alleviate some of the virus effects. Remdesivir is no cure; it only alleviates the symptoms in mild to moderate cases, shortening recovery times, but does not prevent it nor save those severe cases. When, when, are we going to demand the truth? When, when, are we going to finally develop citizens who refuse to be led by the nose by this liar, this dangerous life opposing man? Who could care less about anyone or anything other than himself and possibly some of his children.
"I've never seen death like this," he states. Well, let the blame fall where it may, for it is on his shoulders that it will fall and has fallen. He casually perverts and twists a supposed informational town hall into a political rally and plea, almost threat, to re-elect him, G-d forbid.
His own officials contradict his dangerously foolish lies and one by one they are silenced, pushed to the side, forbidden to testify, challenging the powers of the legislative branch of government, the checks it is supposed to perform on a power crazed President. Worse, we allow it, even welcome it in some households, ignoring the facts, blind to the truth, that this man, in four years, has eroded the civil rights of Americans more than any other person in our history. He has come the closest of any President of bringing this country to its knees, of encouraging prejudice even as he blames it on others. But the hate, the filth, comes directly from him, his actions, and his words.
Our help now comes from the state levels where the governors have the guts, the moral strength to take on this man and face him down for the benefit of their citizens, but even then, some back down at times from his threats to cut them off or worse. He encourages open rebellion against the state governments, encouraging protests. He pushes visits to beaches, 'cause there is evidently nothing wrong. "They can go some of the time and not all the time." Does this geni-ass understand that all it takes is one second, one droplet, and now we have community spread again? That there are no healthy times to go stand around in a crowd, to wade and swim in waters that have been polluted by the sputum of others?
Birx is worried. Fauci warns. Trump lies. What does he care, for he is in a cocoon, tested several times a week as are all his buddies and sycophants, any visitors to him. Easy to be bold behind the front lines, right? And no, Jared is not the be all and end all as I have yet to see one thing he has truly accomplished and carried out to a final and positive constructive conclusion.
As our dead grow in numbers by leaps and bounds, as the bodies pile up like trash in a garbage strike, as we wait with bated breath for new growth of dead and ill as areas open up too early and too much, as we watch this man and his ilk shove blame onto others, as they refuse to acknowledge their own criminal negligence, we wait. We wait for death to come knocking on our doors, or worse, G-d forbid, on the doors of loved ones. We wait as the ass Pompeo says at one and the same time, that no, it was made in a Chinese lab, but no, it is too complex for that. As if he has any scientific knowledge nor any integrity left!
Yet we are not done. Trump uses federal funds to enrich fatcats and big business. The rules are broken and/or manifestly unfair, unclear.We threaten Chinese trade lines even as the majority of our electronics, medicines and ingredients, PPE, all come from there. So, of course, let us just antagonize them more and more, forget about your former love affair with Xi, for now he needs to be your sacrificial goat, all the better to shift blame onto anyone and anything, other than himself.
We need to avoid our own 13 second equivalent. We need to save our country. We need to dig deep down and find our unity and pride as Americans. We need to focus on the important and not the trivial. We need to be well, stay safe. Under this man? Difficult, if not impossible. Remember that as you vote.
Be well. Stay safe.
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