Newspapers often have the obituary for a famous person all ready to go should and when it be needed with just a few updates. People write their own in advance as well, getting in the literal last word. I happen to like that idea and plan to write my own funeral speech as well. Gotta' have that last word when the kids cannot answer back, right!!
But never before have we had it to this extent. Iowa teachers are taking to writing and sending in their own obituaries to the governor as school opening is being contemplated. And right they are. As a former teacher I prefer the in person mode of teaching, but common sense must take precedence in the fight, the war, to meet the challenges of the pandemic and at the same time educate our children. We can do both, but we cannot ask teachers to step into an unmanageable and dangerous situation, one that could very well lead to not only their own deaths, but the deaths of family and friends and that goes the same for the children and their families.
Nor can teachers be asked to teach a class of the younger grades without being allowed to pat a child, to draw light circles on the back to soothe them in a moment of distress. Nor can teachers be teaching if half their concentration is devoted to checking the masks on the children, their seating, their playing, their washing hands, the whole gamut of A to z. And to their own safety as well. It just will not work and too many tragedies.
Teachers are willing to defend - and have done so already - their students, but not to take death home, for no good reason at all, not to endanger our kids just to prove a point and satisfy ignoramuses such as Trump. One does not make a point over literal dead bodies. We have done too much of that already.
Much more frightening is the fact that we are writing our own national obituary. How dare a fascist dyed in the wool actually put into words the unthinkable idea of postponing elections. How dare this fascist put into words the very idea that even if elections were held, he might not honor the result- of course, that is if he loses, which G-d willing - he will. How dare he actually try to remain in position against all and every provision in the Constitution against this possibility. In fact, should he try to postpone elections, he still has to step down by Constitutional law and then - Pelosi takes over as Speaker of the House. Oh yeah!! Madame President! By his own greed and corruption undone. A good ending and payback to the man singlehandedly composing our desperate ending in time.
Described more and more as a grave and imminent threat to our country, as a danger to its very existence and ethos, I say welcome to the club. I beat ya' to it!! Unleashing armed mystery forces of brutality upon citizens, protesters. Gathering information on journalists!! Praising the rebellion, the treasonous secession of the South, praising extremists, pandering to racial hatred, reviving old canards of immigrant hating society, preparing to throw out millions of Americans. Why? Because their parents brought them here as kids, were raised as Americans, think of themselves as Americans and act accordingly, but they are Mexican or Central American or some other place which Trump does not like and so - throw them out! Denying the very foundation principles of our nation,
To list all the ways in which Trump et al are writing the American obituary would take up much space on the internet. Every day, almost every hour, there is yet another disaster, another denial of America, another attempt to set up a new country wherein he founds a dynasty of rulers. Another day where hate grows. But also another day when people are finally coming together. John Lewis wrote his own essay before his death and asked that it be published on the day of his funeral. Read it. It was in The Times.
It is one of the most impressive pieces I have ever read, beautiful, meaningful, and while sad at times, it contains the hopes, the promise of America. It praises the ongoing efforts to keep our promises, to shine them up, to do our best. To remember who we are - Americans all, America all. The proud inheritors of the dreams of the Founders, imperfect as they were, as we are, but the best thing to come down the pike of history.
We need to ask ourselves if we, as a country, as a people, are beyond redemption, beyond repair, uninterested any more in building America. Yes, it is an ongoing battle, a tedious slog at times, but nothing good comes easy and we must always be on the watch to improve, to shore up, to defend, to repair, to do our best for all, for us and for the world.
If not, well, pull out that Obituary Writing For Dummies and get started!
Otherwise, VOTE. However you choose to vote. The Post Office might be a tad slow, okay more than a tad, but they will get it there. There is no nefarious plot in there to pull ballots, to 'know' which ballots are the ones for them and which not. Just VOTE. VOTE! Let us get back on track, watch the sun rise again, watch the stars twinkle once more. And watch our kneeling people stand tall again as the anthem delivers the promise of America to all. The choice is clear. Let us not fail each other. Let us not fail our families. Let us not fail the future. Let us not fail ourselves.
en.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Thursday, July 30, 2020
"I KNOW NOTHING"
Such was the beginning of a sentence wherein Trump, that dangerous doofus, said that he knew nothing about that "doctor" Immanuel whose bizarre versions and thoughts on many topics apparently appealed to his demented brain as well as to the similarly declining brain of his son, Junior, who tweeted merrily along.
The 'wisdom' of this latest quack? This virus has a cure -- it is called hydroxychloroquine," "tormenting spirits" routinely have "astral sex" with women, which in turn causes "gynecological problems, marital distress, miscarriages" and from a 2015 video, the following - "There are people ruling this nation that are not even human," describing them as "reptilian spirits" who are "half human, half ET."
In the same video she rails against the use of "alien DNA" to treat sick people, which she said had resulted in human beings mixing with demons."
I could care less where and when she received an education or license. She is cracked, badly, and
only serves to be used as yet another tool by Trump who will use and do and say anything to keep himself in office and speed the country along to its end destination - existential doom.
Trump's so inappropriate response, so telling of his mental situation, is thus: "I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her." Well, what the hell is that? If he knows nothing, then his perpetual state of bizarre ignorance and weirder beliefs, are certainly suspect and for sure, do not belong at the head of a nation! So I, and a growing number of millions of people are saying, thinking, and hopefully will act upon, as they vote him and his out! The alternative is frightening beyond belief.
Evident, also, is the fact that we are being led in the wrong direction as we become a world leader of deaths and infections. Over 150,000 dead. Imagine one day walking into Macon, Georgia, or any number of smaller cities, or several towns, and finding a ghost city, haunted by blowing winds and the return of wildlife. That is what those deaths mean. Think of your neighborhood. Think of your friends. Gone. Wiped out. Forever. For a reason that makes no sense. Why?
Because people listen to the likes of 'know nothing' Trump, who campaigns against masks and refuses to wear one. They even follow his bizarre medical advice, to take medication needed by others, does nothing for your own virus illness, or does cardiac harm, or even ingest or inject cleansing agents into your body! Because people listen to his insane plumping for open cities, that which increases the virus and the rates of infection and death. Because we are now a nation adrift and asunder. Because he truly knows nothing other than to feed his enormous ego and trample all and any in his way towards that goal.
Not enough damage yet? How about this, in the country of the free and the brave, of free speech, the right to protest. “We came out here dressed in T-shirts and twirling Hula-Hoops and stuff, and they started gassing us, so we came back with respirators, and they started shooting us, so we came back with vests, and they started aiming for the head, so we started wearing helmets, and now they call us terrorists,” ...“Who’s escalating this? It’s not us.” This, in a country which seeks to deny its past promises, deny immigrants medical care, food aid, because they might then use public funds and then uh oh! Deported they must be! So better we should let them hide and die and infect others because they are afraid to come forth. Such terribly bright thinking from the 'know nothing' man and his worse than know nothing coterie of henchmen.
Barr says he is 'troubled'? Well so the hell am I. I am greatly troubled by a criminal as a President, though I do not recognize him as mine. I am greatly troubled how the Republican Party has lost its soul, turned into a shill for the uber and extreme wealthy and/or bigoted people who are adding to the hate, the confusion and the despair that is now permeating this country.
I am troubled that we, America, rather than being the leader of the environmental healing that we so desperately need, what with wildfires, the Arctic melting at an obscenely rapid pace, the oceans polluted, the waterways of our nation containing ever growing amounts of dangerous chemicals thanks to the revision of regulations designed to protect us. To the air, becoming harder to breathe, to the land sinking beneath those rising waters, to illnesses returning because we encourage ignorance now as it is so much easier to fool those who know nothing than those who know something and are always willing to learn.
A new term in our growing lexicon of Trump related words, is the word and concept of "de-arrest". Grab that person back from the grips of those wishing to throw him/her into a van and take them away. Grab back our rights from those who shoot so much pepper spray in the air that it veritably rains droplets of pepper spray.
Stand there with the kids, with the Wall of Moms, the Wall of Dads, the Wall of Vets. Stand there with America. Stand firm, tall and proud. Stand there defiant of a man and his ilk who wish to change all this, to turn our country into an imitation of all the repressive nations around the world and from the past.
We. Are. America. Be. America.
Protest. Vote. Be Safe.
m.
The 'wisdom' of this latest quack? This virus has a cure -- it is called hydroxychloroquine," "tormenting spirits" routinely have "astral sex" with women, which in turn causes "gynecological problems, marital distress, miscarriages" and from a 2015 video, the following - "There are people ruling this nation that are not even human," describing them as "reptilian spirits" who are "half human, half ET."
In the same video she rails against the use of "alien DNA" to treat sick people, which she said had resulted in human beings mixing with demons."
I could care less where and when she received an education or license. She is cracked, badly, and
only serves to be used as yet another tool by Trump who will use and do and say anything to keep himself in office and speed the country along to its end destination - existential doom.
Trump's so inappropriate response, so telling of his mental situation, is thus: "I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her." Well, what the hell is that? If he knows nothing, then his perpetual state of bizarre ignorance and weirder beliefs, are certainly suspect and for sure, do not belong at the head of a nation! So I, and a growing number of millions of people are saying, thinking, and hopefully will act upon, as they vote him and his out! The alternative is frightening beyond belief.
Evident, also, is the fact that we are being led in the wrong direction as we become a world leader of deaths and infections. Over 150,000 dead. Imagine one day walking into Macon, Georgia, or any number of smaller cities, or several towns, and finding a ghost city, haunted by blowing winds and the return of wildlife. That is what those deaths mean. Think of your neighborhood. Think of your friends. Gone. Wiped out. Forever. For a reason that makes no sense. Why?
Because people listen to the likes of 'know nothing' Trump, who campaigns against masks and refuses to wear one. They even follow his bizarre medical advice, to take medication needed by others, does nothing for your own virus illness, or does cardiac harm, or even ingest or inject cleansing agents into your body! Because people listen to his insane plumping for open cities, that which increases the virus and the rates of infection and death. Because we are now a nation adrift and asunder. Because he truly knows nothing other than to feed his enormous ego and trample all and any in his way towards that goal.
Not enough damage yet? How about this, in the country of the free and the brave, of free speech, the right to protest. “We came out here dressed in T-shirts and twirling Hula-Hoops and stuff, and they started gassing us, so we came back with respirators, and they started shooting us, so we came back with vests, and they started aiming for the head, so we started wearing helmets, and now they call us terrorists,” ...“Who’s escalating this? It’s not us.” This, in a country which seeks to deny its past promises, deny immigrants medical care, food aid, because they might then use public funds and then uh oh! Deported they must be! So better we should let them hide and die and infect others because they are afraid to come forth. Such terribly bright thinking from the 'know nothing' man and his worse than know nothing coterie of henchmen.
Barr says he is 'troubled'? Well so the hell am I. I am greatly troubled by a criminal as a President, though I do not recognize him as mine. I am greatly troubled how the Republican Party has lost its soul, turned into a shill for the uber and extreme wealthy and/or bigoted people who are adding to the hate, the confusion and the despair that is now permeating this country.
I am troubled that we, America, rather than being the leader of the environmental healing that we so desperately need, what with wildfires, the Arctic melting at an obscenely rapid pace, the oceans polluted, the waterways of our nation containing ever growing amounts of dangerous chemicals thanks to the revision of regulations designed to protect us. To the air, becoming harder to breathe, to the land sinking beneath those rising waters, to illnesses returning because we encourage ignorance now as it is so much easier to fool those who know nothing than those who know something and are always willing to learn.
A new term in our growing lexicon of Trump related words, is the word and concept of "de-arrest". Grab that person back from the grips of those wishing to throw him/her into a van and take them away. Grab back our rights from those who shoot so much pepper spray in the air that it veritably rains droplets of pepper spray.
Stand there with the kids, with the Wall of Moms, the Wall of Dads, the Wall of Vets. Stand there with America. Stand firm, tall and proud. Stand there defiant of a man and his ilk who wish to change all this, to turn our country into an imitation of all the repressive nations around the world and from the past.
We. Are. America. Be. America.
Protest. Vote. Be Safe.
m.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
THANK YOU, YOGI BERRA
From this man of the people and talented ballplayer, a glory days Yankee legend, we received this statement: It's Deja vu all over again." Nothing says it better as so many of us feel that we are reliving history, the history of the world and the history of ourselves. We just don't learn. We just keep putting ourselves back into that swirling eddy, that ever repeating circle of missteps, misdeeds, and lack of thought, and add to that formula, the touch of evil.
It was Deja vu all over again yesterday at the Barr hearings. Truly, Pelosi had it right when she called Barr a 'blob", just sitting there, impassively, with fingers twitching, as he lied all over again. Kavanaugh hearings. Russian interference hearings. Lies, again and again. A national Guardsman who was there in DC tells the truth - peaceful protesters, no bricks or objects in the air, no fires, no attacks - that is, until the troops poured in and violently pushed the demonstrators back so the most unbiblical person I know could 'go to church' and hold an upside down Bible!
The most fundamentally irreligious people crudely use religion as their ally, suborning people to their ranks with ages old lies. With ages old ugly pictures and statements. They used the subterfuge of having their own violence inciters enter the protesters, set fires, crash glass, all to excite the shaky people just waiting for an excuse to run riot. Cynical. Aiding and abetting, but Barr, speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, re the truth, is evidently the mantra for them, all the time, every time, every incident. If one does speak, then one speaks lies and only lies. Deja vu all over again.
I found myself shouting at the screen again, something which I have avoided of late in due deference to my blood pressure! I had to shut it off, for it brought me ever so close to despair. I hate lies and liars. I hate people who aid and abet anti democracy activities. People who see nothing wrong in introducing violent unidentified presumably agents from Homeland Security Border Patrol - and Portland is no border city, nor is Seattle or Detroit or any of the other cities being threatened - to crush our own people, fellow Americans. Oh yes, Deja vu all over again and yes, it can happen here and in fact, is well rooted already.
I am not a Jayapal fan, but when she is right, she is right. She laced but good into him, along with others, even as the Republicans seem not to have learned their lesson about backing Trump et al without a crack, and supported the violence against the American people, the stormtrooper behavior, the stuffing of protesters into unmarked vans, the pepper spraying of senior citizens - vets, moms, kids, no matter.
Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries said it best.
"The job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people's lawyer, but during your time as attorney general you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the Constitution and undermined the health, safety and well-being of the American people," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). "All to personally benefit Donald Trump."
So where do we go from here. Do we live in a world defined by native wisdom, Deja vu all over again, or do finally see the light and do something, constructive and positive, better this world, for once in our lives! Right now we are involved in energetically shredding the environment. We are busy denying food stamps to desperate people, so many of whom have never been here before - other than the haunting pictures of bread lines of the Great Depression. They are busy alienating our allies, irritating our enemies when not sucking up to them with declarations of love for the leaders!!! Shocking this country, praising the extremists of hate, the values of Confederacy and slavery.
And make no mistake about it. Deja vu all over again rules ever more so. Wear the masks. Yes, so now one uses it for messages of hate! Swastikas on them. A horrid symbol of hate, smeared on Jewish institutions all over the country, shouts of anti Semitism, blames for the virus - Deja vu all over again. Never before have I seen so much unease and fright, yes, fright, among the Jewish community. Never before have I heard so many asking, musing, "Should we leave? Is it time to go again? Desperate people saying, "But we are Americans, living here for x number of years and generations." But guess what? That did not help the Jews of Germany or France or the Netherlands or anywhere else. Deja vu all over again here. Very shaky grounds for Jews right now.
Here is a remark that says it quite succinctly. We need to remember it, understand it and act on it. “If I were to vote again for Donald Trump in 2020, it would be just as much a failure as an American, but also a failure as a human being.” We need to remember to vote. We need to remember that now, July 29, 2020, we are as helpless against our modern day plague as Europe and the world were against the Black Plague. We are as benighted and prejudiced as they were. We are as ignorant and denying of the right thing to do, as determined to run our lives by greed and power as then. Truly, Deja vu all over again.
So, we have over 149,000 and climbing, deaths. We have 14.3 million infected with more to come. Evidently, sharing this wealth is just fine for Trump et al as they hide out in their swampy hideaways, just as the nobility and royalty hid out from the plague and the people. But it did not help them then, nor will it help them now.
What will help is for all of us to stand up, stand erect, be firm in our opposition to those who back the Deja vu all over again view. We need to return ourselves and our country to where and what it is supposed to be. We need to turf these people out, these unamerican retrogrades who would destroy the hopes and lives of so many, with callous and old time gestures, words and deeds that reek of horror and hatred, of death, literal and figurative.
So turn out and vote. Get your mail in ballot now. Early voting starts in 60 days in most places. Get your ballot in. Pronto!! VOTE for yourself. Vote for others. Vote for America, for hope, goodness, welcome, the right ways of life. Sure, we will continue to make errors, some grievous indeed, but if we continue on the correct paths, clearing out the detriment of the Trump administration and outlook, then we will make progress. Vote Biden. Vote Democratic party. Vote for the people of America, not the would be elitists. Let us forge ahead and not return to a proposed awful future compounded by the return, the open return of evils of the past. Vote that out. VOTE!
It was Deja vu all over again yesterday at the Barr hearings. Truly, Pelosi had it right when she called Barr a 'blob", just sitting there, impassively, with fingers twitching, as he lied all over again. Kavanaugh hearings. Russian interference hearings. Lies, again and again. A national Guardsman who was there in DC tells the truth - peaceful protesters, no bricks or objects in the air, no fires, no attacks - that is, until the troops poured in and violently pushed the demonstrators back so the most unbiblical person I know could 'go to church' and hold an upside down Bible!
The most fundamentally irreligious people crudely use religion as their ally, suborning people to their ranks with ages old lies. With ages old ugly pictures and statements. They used the subterfuge of having their own violence inciters enter the protesters, set fires, crash glass, all to excite the shaky people just waiting for an excuse to run riot. Cynical. Aiding and abetting, but Barr, speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, re the truth, is evidently the mantra for them, all the time, every time, every incident. If one does speak, then one speaks lies and only lies. Deja vu all over again.
I found myself shouting at the screen again, something which I have avoided of late in due deference to my blood pressure! I had to shut it off, for it brought me ever so close to despair. I hate lies and liars. I hate people who aid and abet anti democracy activities. People who see nothing wrong in introducing violent unidentified presumably agents from Homeland Security Border Patrol - and Portland is no border city, nor is Seattle or Detroit or any of the other cities being threatened - to crush our own people, fellow Americans. Oh yes, Deja vu all over again and yes, it can happen here and in fact, is well rooted already.
I am not a Jayapal fan, but when she is right, she is right. She laced but good into him, along with others, even as the Republicans seem not to have learned their lesson about backing Trump et al without a crack, and supported the violence against the American people, the stormtrooper behavior, the stuffing of protesters into unmarked vans, the pepper spraying of senior citizens - vets, moms, kids, no matter.
Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries said it best.
"The job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people's lawyer, but during your time as attorney general you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the Constitution and undermined the health, safety and well-being of the American people," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). "All to personally benefit Donald Trump."
So where do we go from here. Do we live in a world defined by native wisdom, Deja vu all over again, or do finally see the light and do something, constructive and positive, better this world, for once in our lives! Right now we are involved in energetically shredding the environment. We are busy denying food stamps to desperate people, so many of whom have never been here before - other than the haunting pictures of bread lines of the Great Depression. They are busy alienating our allies, irritating our enemies when not sucking up to them with declarations of love for the leaders!!! Shocking this country, praising the extremists of hate, the values of Confederacy and slavery.
And make no mistake about it. Deja vu all over again rules ever more so. Wear the masks. Yes, so now one uses it for messages of hate! Swastikas on them. A horrid symbol of hate, smeared on Jewish institutions all over the country, shouts of anti Semitism, blames for the virus - Deja vu all over again. Never before have I seen so much unease and fright, yes, fright, among the Jewish community. Never before have I heard so many asking, musing, "Should we leave? Is it time to go again? Desperate people saying, "But we are Americans, living here for x number of years and generations." But guess what? That did not help the Jews of Germany or France or the Netherlands or anywhere else. Deja vu all over again here. Very shaky grounds for Jews right now.
Here is a remark that says it quite succinctly. We need to remember it, understand it and act on it. “If I were to vote again for Donald Trump in 2020, it would be just as much a failure as an American, but also a failure as a human being.” We need to remember to vote. We need to remember that now, July 29, 2020, we are as helpless against our modern day plague as Europe and the world were against the Black Plague. We are as benighted and prejudiced as they were. We are as ignorant and denying of the right thing to do, as determined to run our lives by greed and power as then. Truly, Deja vu all over again.
So, we have over 149,000 and climbing, deaths. We have 14.3 million infected with more to come. Evidently, sharing this wealth is just fine for Trump et al as they hide out in their swampy hideaways, just as the nobility and royalty hid out from the plague and the people. But it did not help them then, nor will it help them now.
What will help is for all of us to stand up, stand erect, be firm in our opposition to those who back the Deja vu all over again view. We need to return ourselves and our country to where and what it is supposed to be. We need to turf these people out, these unamerican retrogrades who would destroy the hopes and lives of so many, with callous and old time gestures, words and deeds that reek of horror and hatred, of death, literal and figurative.
So turn out and vote. Get your mail in ballot now. Early voting starts in 60 days in most places. Get your ballot in. Pronto!! VOTE for yourself. Vote for others. Vote for America, for hope, goodness, welcome, the right ways of life. Sure, we will continue to make errors, some grievous indeed, but if we continue on the correct paths, clearing out the detriment of the Trump administration and outlook, then we will make progress. Vote Biden. Vote Democratic party. Vote for the people of America, not the would be elitists. Let us forge ahead and not return to a proposed awful future compounded by the return, the open return of evils of the past. Vote that out. VOTE!
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
SYMPTOMATOLOGY
Big word, right? I do not think I ever heard that word before. But symptoms of what, with whom, and what do they signify? Are there symptoms of more than one thing and do these varied symptoms run over into related areas?
Interesting questions and truthfully, I am not sure that I, nor any other person, have the answers to them. At least not close to 100% surety. The only one I know and trust for 100% validity is the fact that this country is crashing, terribly fast and awfully manifested, all traceable to a weak and malicious administration headed by the worst President ever in the history of this country and an administration noticeably emptier and emptier of those with ideals and morals, and ever more crowded with denizens of the deep and thriving swamp that is DC now and indeed much of the country.
The word made its first appearance in my lexicon while reading Mary Trump's book re her uncle. Talk about family one wishes away!! By the way, this is one sad book. One is tempted to feel sorry for that poor kid who lived in an ice cold emotionless family, but one must remember that others have come from poor or damaged backgrounds and made good, for themselves and for others. This guy chose to go along with his crippled personality, his great faults and chose to stomp all over all else in his mad path to his present job. If one is going to feel sorry for anyone, then feel sorry for his children, who have been raised in such a family, and for this country, doomed all the while he remains in office and certainly on track for total disaster and implosion should he G-d forbid win in November.
The symptoms are there, open to all, ignored by those who need him in office to sustain their life at the public trough, at their chance for riches, at their enjoyment of a morally vacant life. Self aggrandizement is the name of the game. Corruption is rife. The incompetence begins at the WH Oval Office and flows down that 'slippery' ramp to the rest of the Trumpians. The madness, the stench of filth, the plague of cold and uncaring behavior, the shedding at a faster and faster pace, of all the values that America once stood for - well, need any more? We, our country, have lost our way, and Trump never lost any momentum along his corrupt and vile pathways through life.
His symptoms of mental deterioration are loud and clear and growing ever more obvious by the day, even by the hour. Now, despite his oh so remarkable memory of five words - people, woman, man, camera, TV - that were never given to him, he is shedding his gray cells at an increasing rate.
"Twitter's trending topics are "really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair."
Not enough? Well, Twitter evidently is trending the whole world against him, rather than the other way, as the world manifests its trends on Twitter. But that is the way a sociopath thinks. That is the thinking of an aggrieved person in the throes of dementia, even as he tries to attach that name to one far brighter than he is.
More scary symptoms? Okay Barr, the highest officer of the land, meant to protect the rights and lives of all Americans, has now been totally and openly subsumed by his deference to Trump, even unto the point of defending the invasion, yes, invasion, of our cities, and threats of even more, in the name of "protection'!!!! We have reached the point where the division, the divisiveness wrought and encouraged by Trump et al, has reached not the breaking point, but rather the shattering point. It will shatter this country. Already among the shouts of BLM slogans, the Walls of Moms, the demand for equality, there is more. There are shouts of revolution. There are the shouting and the defiance encouraged by the fear the citizens of America feel.
Remember Rome? Remember the great empires of the past? Remember the Empire of Russia, then the huge Soviet Union? Remember the British Empire? Remember the powerful kingdom of Spain? Remember the Thousand Year Reich? Now remember the once upon a time United States of America. Yes, all empires can fall, especially as they forgot their roots, succumbed to corruption and false shows of deference to citizens, scamming them with bread and circus, and we are tilting, ever more, every day, every day that that man is in office, every day that his corrupt supporters work the reins of the country. No one ever promised us any permanence. That depended on us and at present, we have failed, enormously so.
Our civilization is collapsing. We have lost the true meaning of democracy. We have lost sight of our founding values, our dreams, what we represented to the world. We have lost, ceded our position as leader to the world. We have shut our doors and opened windows and cellar doors for low lying enemies of us to take over. We have ignored the symptoms. We have allowed a great test of the country, the virus, to overwhelm us. We have allowed an incompetent madman to take us down further. We have jailed the innocent, imprisoned and caged children, lost them and ourselves in the system, thrown others into the hungry and cold life of homelessness, joblessness, and hopelessness.
Oh, yes, there were and are symptoms. Even the bling of our country, of civilization, our cultural life, our cultural institutions, are shutting down, starved of funds, of an audience, and the added joys, the embellishments that build civilization and raise it to heights, are threatened. Can they, will they, ever reopen? In fact, the more existential question is thus: will there be any need or call for it in the collapse of our country and the chaos which would ensue?
People, pay attention to the symptomatology of our nation, of the times, of the madman at the helm, steering us into that iceberg because he wants an ice cube. We need to return to sanity, to safety, to us, to America.
VOTE. That is the only safe way to go. I tremble to think of the other choice, the other consequences, if we do not shed ourselves of this destructive burden, this madman and adherents who are sucking our lifeblood. Keep the vampires, the walking dead, on the screens and between book covers, not in our reality. VOTE!!
Interesting questions and truthfully, I am not sure that I, nor any other person, have the answers to them. At least not close to 100% surety. The only one I know and trust for 100% validity is the fact that this country is crashing, terribly fast and awfully manifested, all traceable to a weak and malicious administration headed by the worst President ever in the history of this country and an administration noticeably emptier and emptier of those with ideals and morals, and ever more crowded with denizens of the deep and thriving swamp that is DC now and indeed much of the country.
The word made its first appearance in my lexicon while reading Mary Trump's book re her uncle. Talk about family one wishes away!! By the way, this is one sad book. One is tempted to feel sorry for that poor kid who lived in an ice cold emotionless family, but one must remember that others have come from poor or damaged backgrounds and made good, for themselves and for others. This guy chose to go along with his crippled personality, his great faults and chose to stomp all over all else in his mad path to his present job. If one is going to feel sorry for anyone, then feel sorry for his children, who have been raised in such a family, and for this country, doomed all the while he remains in office and certainly on track for total disaster and implosion should he G-d forbid win in November.
The symptoms are there, open to all, ignored by those who need him in office to sustain their life at the public trough, at their chance for riches, at their enjoyment of a morally vacant life. Self aggrandizement is the name of the game. Corruption is rife. The incompetence begins at the WH Oval Office and flows down that 'slippery' ramp to the rest of the Trumpians. The madness, the stench of filth, the plague of cold and uncaring behavior, the shedding at a faster and faster pace, of all the values that America once stood for - well, need any more? We, our country, have lost our way, and Trump never lost any momentum along his corrupt and vile pathways through life.
His symptoms of mental deterioration are loud and clear and growing ever more obvious by the day, even by the hour. Now, despite his oh so remarkable memory of five words - people, woman, man, camera, TV - that were never given to him, he is shedding his gray cells at an increasing rate.
"Twitter's trending topics are "really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair."
Not enough? Well, Twitter evidently is trending the whole world against him, rather than the other way, as the world manifests its trends on Twitter. But that is the way a sociopath thinks. That is the thinking of an aggrieved person in the throes of dementia, even as he tries to attach that name to one far brighter than he is.
More scary symptoms? Okay Barr, the highest officer of the land, meant to protect the rights and lives of all Americans, has now been totally and openly subsumed by his deference to Trump, even unto the point of defending the invasion, yes, invasion, of our cities, and threats of even more, in the name of "protection'!!!! We have reached the point where the division, the divisiveness wrought and encouraged by Trump et al, has reached not the breaking point, but rather the shattering point. It will shatter this country. Already among the shouts of BLM slogans, the Walls of Moms, the demand for equality, there is more. There are shouts of revolution. There are the shouting and the defiance encouraged by the fear the citizens of America feel.
Remember Rome? Remember the great empires of the past? Remember the Empire of Russia, then the huge Soviet Union? Remember the British Empire? Remember the powerful kingdom of Spain? Remember the Thousand Year Reich? Now remember the once upon a time United States of America. Yes, all empires can fall, especially as they forgot their roots, succumbed to corruption and false shows of deference to citizens, scamming them with bread and circus, and we are tilting, ever more, every day, every day that that man is in office, every day that his corrupt supporters work the reins of the country. No one ever promised us any permanence. That depended on us and at present, we have failed, enormously so.
Our civilization is collapsing. We have lost the true meaning of democracy. We have lost sight of our founding values, our dreams, what we represented to the world. We have lost, ceded our position as leader to the world. We have shut our doors and opened windows and cellar doors for low lying enemies of us to take over. We have ignored the symptoms. We have allowed a great test of the country, the virus, to overwhelm us. We have allowed an incompetent madman to take us down further. We have jailed the innocent, imprisoned and caged children, lost them and ourselves in the system, thrown others into the hungry and cold life of homelessness, joblessness, and hopelessness.
Oh, yes, there were and are symptoms. Even the bling of our country, of civilization, our cultural life, our cultural institutions, are shutting down, starved of funds, of an audience, and the added joys, the embellishments that build civilization and raise it to heights, are threatened. Can they, will they, ever reopen? In fact, the more existential question is thus: will there be any need or call for it in the collapse of our country and the chaos which would ensue?
People, pay attention to the symptomatology of our nation, of the times, of the madman at the helm, steering us into that iceberg because he wants an ice cube. We need to return to sanity, to safety, to us, to America.
VOTE. That is the only safe way to go. I tremble to think of the other choice, the other consequences, if we do not shed ourselves of this destructive burden, this madman and adherents who are sucking our lifeblood. Keep the vampires, the walking dead, on the screens and between book covers, not in our reality. VOTE!!
Monday, July 27, 2020
SO WHAT IS IT?
Is it the numbers? Is it the personality? Is it the ominous forebodings? Is it ennui? What is it? What is driving some of the biggest upheavals this country has seen in a very long time. More important, perhaps, is where are we being driven to? Is it a final destination or temporary - until when or what or who?
It is almost as if we are living out the famed first paragraph of Tale of Two Cities. It is the best and the worst of times and every other set of contradictions one can think of. There are the same wild swings and differences between economic classes and the same anger, rising, frustration growing, and paths that lead to peaceful mediations and compromises closing fast.
Look at the numbers. I think much of the push is coming from those numbers. Midweek we are going to hear a figure that will send the market tanking, worse than ever in recent times. We are to hear of the worst postwar economic contraction in 62 years. This, from the president who boasts of his economy, of his economic wisdom! Yet there are still people who say he is a good economic candidate!!! Well, perhaps he is, for the uber wealthy, but not for the likes of you or me. For those people who now engage openly and unabashedly in insider trading as the recent 'awarding' of stock benefits and the selling of Pharma company stocks at the sudden heights as virus vaccine news was dropped into the stew. Disgusting!! All by the big dudes in management, you know, the ones already getting paid in the two digit million dollars brackets. The numbers again.
There are more numbers. On track for 175,000 virus deaths by August 15 and by November 1, more than 200,000, and that does not include the millions infected, recovering, yet left with debilitating symptoms. We have the numbers of businesses in and out of business in the wild lack of proper response to the virus, led and driven by Trump et al, and despite Trump's statement that it is mainly the elderly, (so who cares is the intimation), it is the younger than 40 group growing, and yes, children do spread the virus and yes, they do die.
Yes, we need an economy that works, that thrives, that provides what this country needs, a nation back at work, but there will be no economy if there are no workers, no consumers, and why? Because they are either dead or incapacitated! First things first, and then all will come back, albeit in a different manner, and we must recognize that. There will never be a return to the old normal, and the new normal will have to be defined and fine tuned. Certainly, Trump is not the one to do that fine tuning. He does not even know enough or even want to find the best heads for that, for he hires only those of incompetence, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, veniality and contempt for all other than their own little coterie. It is the 'boys only' club dressed to look otherwise. It is driven by loyalty, blind lines crossing loyalty to Trump, and only Trump, to the detriment of all and everything else.
And the numbers are adding up. 100 days till elections. Republicans are the ones caught in ballot fraud, in Kansas, in North Carolina, but he blows heavy in the case of 347 ballots in Paterson, NJ, a minor kerfuffle, solved and avoided and not known at all as to actually how it came to be. And still he blows on, like a puffer fish gone madly overboard with its inherent poison, only we are the diners who are being poisoned!! Last election for president we had interference by Russia, and now we hear they and others are ramping up again. China is pushing for Trump to win as it is so much better for them. Can we not finally hear and see the truth? What is it that still has those who are willfully blind and deaf to his faults, his dangerous deterioration, his pathological mental issues?
“The bottom line is it’s a situation that requires nuance and it’s a presidency that has not engaged in a lot of nuance.”
Numbers are not the only game in town. We also have the turn toward the forces of the dark, wherein we apparently are no better than any other despotic country. "These tactics include deploying federal agents without identifying insignia in an apparent effort to evade transparency and accountability, snatching people off the street with no apparent reason for apprehension, and using potentially deadly munitions to harm peaceful protesters. These actions are out of control. They are more reflective of tactics of a government led by a dictator, not from the government of our constitutional democratic republic," they wrote, adding they were "chillingly reminiscent of autocratic governments that 'disappear' critics and opponents." These are the words which express it the best and it cannot be explained away as 'oh, that is just Trump being Trump'. This is actual and severe violation of our Constitution and an overt and violent reaction that in turn causes a violent reaction, something which they are liking and wanting very much.
Karen Bass, a Democratic Congresswoman, said it best. Basically, we need to make a point , yes, and the protesters are doing that, burning with outrage and the energy and passions of the young, but more than that, we need to make a difference. That difference will prove to be the long lasting changes we need to make in our evolving society, with all the unknowns we face.
We will need courage to do that. We will need fortitude and patience. We will need values, honesty, truth, decency, compassion. We will need true leaders and we will need numbers. We will need the numbers to come out and vote, to insist on their right to vote, to stand there till they get the chance to vote. Better yet, ask for a mail in ballot and then hand deliver it to the office where elections are supervised - no lost in the mail, no lost in a handover somehow, just there.
But do VOTE for those are the numbers we need. Nor do I and many others care if the vote is not so much for Biden but against Trump. Whatever. The numbers are what we need. Biden will do his job, getting aid from wiser heads than the past four years. He is a man solidly in the middle who knows how to get things done and most important, he is a decent man, a man of family values, a man who likes people and not only the man in the mirror. He is a man who will bring moderation to the extremes, just what we need now.
Do VOTE. Do give us the numbers we need to better this country and the world. Do VOTE for America. I so long for the day when we can freely visit and hug our families and friends, when we can say bye, or ciao, or ta ta, anything but the now standard - be well and stay safe. Why are we needing to say that and why do we know that Trump most manifestly is not the one to better this messy situation? Do VOTE and bring out those numbers already trending our way. Keep up the momentum - for life.
a
It is almost as if we are living out the famed first paragraph of Tale of Two Cities. It is the best and the worst of times and every other set of contradictions one can think of. There are the same wild swings and differences between economic classes and the same anger, rising, frustration growing, and paths that lead to peaceful mediations and compromises closing fast.
Look at the numbers. I think much of the push is coming from those numbers. Midweek we are going to hear a figure that will send the market tanking, worse than ever in recent times. We are to hear of the worst postwar economic contraction in 62 years. This, from the president who boasts of his economy, of his economic wisdom! Yet there are still people who say he is a good economic candidate!!! Well, perhaps he is, for the uber wealthy, but not for the likes of you or me. For those people who now engage openly and unabashedly in insider trading as the recent 'awarding' of stock benefits and the selling of Pharma company stocks at the sudden heights as virus vaccine news was dropped into the stew. Disgusting!! All by the big dudes in management, you know, the ones already getting paid in the two digit million dollars brackets. The numbers again.
There are more numbers. On track for 175,000 virus deaths by August 15 and by November 1, more than 200,000, and that does not include the millions infected, recovering, yet left with debilitating symptoms. We have the numbers of businesses in and out of business in the wild lack of proper response to the virus, led and driven by Trump et al, and despite Trump's statement that it is mainly the elderly, (so who cares is the intimation), it is the younger than 40 group growing, and yes, children do spread the virus and yes, they do die.
Yes, we need an economy that works, that thrives, that provides what this country needs, a nation back at work, but there will be no economy if there are no workers, no consumers, and why? Because they are either dead or incapacitated! First things first, and then all will come back, albeit in a different manner, and we must recognize that. There will never be a return to the old normal, and the new normal will have to be defined and fine tuned. Certainly, Trump is not the one to do that fine tuning. He does not even know enough or even want to find the best heads for that, for he hires only those of incompetence, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, veniality and contempt for all other than their own little coterie. It is the 'boys only' club dressed to look otherwise. It is driven by loyalty, blind lines crossing loyalty to Trump, and only Trump, to the detriment of all and everything else.
And the numbers are adding up. 100 days till elections. Republicans are the ones caught in ballot fraud, in Kansas, in North Carolina, but he blows heavy in the case of 347 ballots in Paterson, NJ, a minor kerfuffle, solved and avoided and not known at all as to actually how it came to be. And still he blows on, like a puffer fish gone madly overboard with its inherent poison, only we are the diners who are being poisoned!! Last election for president we had interference by Russia, and now we hear they and others are ramping up again. China is pushing for Trump to win as it is so much better for them. Can we not finally hear and see the truth? What is it that still has those who are willfully blind and deaf to his faults, his dangerous deterioration, his pathological mental issues?
“The bottom line is it’s a situation that requires nuance and it’s a presidency that has not engaged in a lot of nuance.”
Numbers are not the only game in town. We also have the turn toward the forces of the dark, wherein we apparently are no better than any other despotic country. "These tactics include deploying federal agents without identifying insignia in an apparent effort to evade transparency and accountability, snatching people off the street with no apparent reason for apprehension, and using potentially deadly munitions to harm peaceful protesters. These actions are out of control. They are more reflective of tactics of a government led by a dictator, not from the government of our constitutional democratic republic," they wrote, adding they were "chillingly reminiscent of autocratic governments that 'disappear' critics and opponents." These are the words which express it the best and it cannot be explained away as 'oh, that is just Trump being Trump'. This is actual and severe violation of our Constitution and an overt and violent reaction that in turn causes a violent reaction, something which they are liking and wanting very much.
Karen Bass, a Democratic Congresswoman, said it best. Basically, we need to make a point , yes, and the protesters are doing that, burning with outrage and the energy and passions of the young, but more than that, we need to make a difference. That difference will prove to be the long lasting changes we need to make in our evolving society, with all the unknowns we face.
We will need courage to do that. We will need fortitude and patience. We will need values, honesty, truth, decency, compassion. We will need true leaders and we will need numbers. We will need the numbers to come out and vote, to insist on their right to vote, to stand there till they get the chance to vote. Better yet, ask for a mail in ballot and then hand deliver it to the office where elections are supervised - no lost in the mail, no lost in a handover somehow, just there.
But do VOTE for those are the numbers we need. Nor do I and many others care if the vote is not so much for Biden but against Trump. Whatever. The numbers are what we need. Biden will do his job, getting aid from wiser heads than the past four years. He is a man solidly in the middle who knows how to get things done and most important, he is a decent man, a man of family values, a man who likes people and not only the man in the mirror. He is a man who will bring moderation to the extremes, just what we need now.
Do VOTE. Do give us the numbers we need to better this country and the world. Do VOTE for America. I so long for the day when we can freely visit and hug our families and friends, when we can say bye, or ciao, or ta ta, anything but the now standard - be well and stay safe. Why are we needing to say that and why do we know that Trump most manifestly is not the one to better this messy situation? Do VOTE and bring out those numbers already trending our way. Keep up the momentum - for life.
a
Sunday, July 26, 2020
SIMPLE IS AS SIMPLE DOES?
Is there truly anything simple any longer? Wear a mask. Nope, it 'offends' my personal rights! Wash your hands. Have no time. The whole thing is a hoax. The protesters are a danger to the country. NO, they are not. It is those who come afterwards who use violence, who are the dangers. They and the "Federal Protective Service". Is your head spinning from the changeabouts of Trump? For sure!
Nothing is simple any longer. Birx says, "We have to change our behavior now..." referring to the virus, but really, it is about all life now. The 'new normal" is not normal, nor is it new any longer. Politics are being played with the lives of people at stake. Gov. DeSantis should be brought up on charges of colluding with Trump to cause the death of so many Floridians. Trump himself, well.....you know the drill there.
"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on."
(Mary Oliver in Wild Geese)
So is this the new life, the new normality of us all, moaning, sharing our disasters even as we really do not hear each other, do not share any values any longer, having lost so many of these values as we are ruled by a government of no values other than greed? If so, what a gloomy and doomed outlook for the future. How hopeless and dark it will be in the years to come, if so.
But there are other outlooks, grim as they are, that also provide that hope. "In battle, in the forest, at the precipice in the mountains, on the dark great sea in the midst of javelins and arrows, in sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, The good deeds a man has done before defend him."
(Bhagavad Gita)
Yes, religion, no matter the name, simple faith, and never mind the additions and interpretations mankind has imposed upon them to their detriment, the true faith of a person stands as a defense. Not necessarily against death, but against despair, against a hopeless life. It encourages people to strive for a better world, to be better people, to be kind to each other, to share in a person's footwear so as to encourage empathy and a better world. Religion is not the only thing to do that, for there are many wonderful people who are not, but they are good, good in their souls, good in their outlooks, good in their understanding that we are all in this together.
We tend to overlook so much of life that is still good, even in a world that has gone so far along that road to hell in that proverbial handbasket. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Hound of Baskervilles, says, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." We are so enmeshed in the miseries of life, particularly in times of doubt, of insecurity, at at time when our values of life are tossed side, when the things and people we rely upon desert us, that we fail to notice that there are people who are determined to not return to the old, but to bring about a better world as an answer to all that. We fail to notice that permission to bring about that change comes from the man in the mirror, you, me, all of us, as we decide our own actions, or lack thereof.
We do not see the obvious, that we get the leaders we allow. If they are lousy, cruel, morally vacuous, well, why are they there? Why have they 'failed up" until their failures in life have brought them to a peak, a shameful peak for the rest of us. Why have we allowed a crooked, incompetent, demented man and his addled supporters to tear apart our lives, our world? Why? Because it was simpler to joke around with that which is not funny. It was easier to say that "we'll show them" via the vote, but exactly whom did we show? Who is struggling now? The uber wealthy or the middle and lower economic classes? Who is still getting obscene bonuses even as the rest of the country is struggling to pay bills, to keep a roof over their heads, to feed their families?
Who, exactly, is reaping the benefits of a terrible tax cut, which put more money in the hands of those who did not need it, kept it out of the country at large, and robbed the Treasury of needed funds to run this country, to fix its crumbling infrastructure, to add jobs, to retrain workers for a new world, to educate our kids, to ensure homes and food to all? You know the answer, as do I.
We have allowed our world to be turned upside down and then thrown into a whirlpool which will take us down. We have allowed the memories and legacies of good people to be trashed as they are used by current corrupted individuals and Parties. Even as the Trump campaign is told to stop using songs whose writers and vocalists oppose their use, even as the Reagan Foundation tells the RNC and Trump to stop using Reagan in their campaign to raise money, even as lies become truth and truth is the victim of its own whirlpool, we, and we alone, have allowed this situation to grow. It has become an eddy so large, so powerful, that it can devour all that we hold sacred, all that we know we need, to have a good life in a good country, in a world just coming to grips with its global issues, the existential ones that will kill us all.
So what is the obvious we are overlooking? What are the simple things we need to do? Guinevere and King Arthur sang wistfully of the things that simple folks do. We need to recognize that life, too, can be simple. We can walk the straight paths of life. We can have a good life for all. What we need is truth, courage, determination, faith, hard work and defiance of those who would destroy it all.
The first step is to let our rejection of violence from any and all sides stand out loud, clear, visible to all. We need to sue the Federal Government re their use of their 'new' fascist force. We need to remember, deep into our very bones, with every beat of our hearts, that we are Americans, the living faces of our ancestors' bold decisions to take a giant leap for themselves and their families. We need to allow that dream and hope for others, not to return to shameful periods of time when we allowed deep, destructive prejudice to shut our gates, to close off desperate people from life saving refuge. We cannot do that again.
We are America. We are Americans and accept our role in life. We are the Americans who will defy those who wish to destroy our country. First step - VOTE!! Ensure the safety and fairness of the voting sites. Defy those who would interfere with this basic weave of our country and its ethos, be they of domestic or foreign origin. Be America. Be American. Vote to protect that world, the one which is changing, but still can be shaped anew and urged onto the right paths. VOTE for that. VOTE for the good future. VOTE for hope. VOTE for your children's future. VOTE.
Simple is as simple does.
Nothing is simple any longer. Birx says, "We have to change our behavior now..." referring to the virus, but really, it is about all life now. The 'new normal" is not normal, nor is it new any longer. Politics are being played with the lives of people at stake. Gov. DeSantis should be brought up on charges of colluding with Trump to cause the death of so many Floridians. Trump himself, well.....you know the drill there.
"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on."
(Mary Oliver in Wild Geese)
So is this the new life, the new normality of us all, moaning, sharing our disasters even as we really do not hear each other, do not share any values any longer, having lost so many of these values as we are ruled by a government of no values other than greed? If so, what a gloomy and doomed outlook for the future. How hopeless and dark it will be in the years to come, if so.
But there are other outlooks, grim as they are, that also provide that hope. "In battle, in the forest, at the precipice in the mountains, on the dark great sea in the midst of javelins and arrows, in sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, The good deeds a man has done before defend him."
(Bhagavad Gita)
Yes, religion, no matter the name, simple faith, and never mind the additions and interpretations mankind has imposed upon them to their detriment, the true faith of a person stands as a defense. Not necessarily against death, but against despair, against a hopeless life. It encourages people to strive for a better world, to be better people, to be kind to each other, to share in a person's footwear so as to encourage empathy and a better world. Religion is not the only thing to do that, for there are many wonderful people who are not, but they are good, good in their souls, good in their outlooks, good in their understanding that we are all in this together.
We tend to overlook so much of life that is still good, even in a world that has gone so far along that road to hell in that proverbial handbasket. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Hound of Baskervilles, says, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." We are so enmeshed in the miseries of life, particularly in times of doubt, of insecurity, at at time when our values of life are tossed side, when the things and people we rely upon desert us, that we fail to notice that there are people who are determined to not return to the old, but to bring about a better world as an answer to all that. We fail to notice that permission to bring about that change comes from the man in the mirror, you, me, all of us, as we decide our own actions, or lack thereof.
We do not see the obvious, that we get the leaders we allow. If they are lousy, cruel, morally vacuous, well, why are they there? Why have they 'failed up" until their failures in life have brought them to a peak, a shameful peak for the rest of us. Why have we allowed a crooked, incompetent, demented man and his addled supporters to tear apart our lives, our world? Why? Because it was simpler to joke around with that which is not funny. It was easier to say that "we'll show them" via the vote, but exactly whom did we show? Who is struggling now? The uber wealthy or the middle and lower economic classes? Who is still getting obscene bonuses even as the rest of the country is struggling to pay bills, to keep a roof over their heads, to feed their families?
Who, exactly, is reaping the benefits of a terrible tax cut, which put more money in the hands of those who did not need it, kept it out of the country at large, and robbed the Treasury of needed funds to run this country, to fix its crumbling infrastructure, to add jobs, to retrain workers for a new world, to educate our kids, to ensure homes and food to all? You know the answer, as do I.
We have allowed our world to be turned upside down and then thrown into a whirlpool which will take us down. We have allowed the memories and legacies of good people to be trashed as they are used by current corrupted individuals and Parties. Even as the Trump campaign is told to stop using songs whose writers and vocalists oppose their use, even as the Reagan Foundation tells the RNC and Trump to stop using Reagan in their campaign to raise money, even as lies become truth and truth is the victim of its own whirlpool, we, and we alone, have allowed this situation to grow. It has become an eddy so large, so powerful, that it can devour all that we hold sacred, all that we know we need, to have a good life in a good country, in a world just coming to grips with its global issues, the existential ones that will kill us all.
So what is the obvious we are overlooking? What are the simple things we need to do? Guinevere and King Arthur sang wistfully of the things that simple folks do. We need to recognize that life, too, can be simple. We can walk the straight paths of life. We can have a good life for all. What we need is truth, courage, determination, faith, hard work and defiance of those who would destroy it all.
The first step is to let our rejection of violence from any and all sides stand out loud, clear, visible to all. We need to sue the Federal Government re their use of their 'new' fascist force. We need to remember, deep into our very bones, with every beat of our hearts, that we are Americans, the living faces of our ancestors' bold decisions to take a giant leap for themselves and their families. We need to allow that dream and hope for others, not to return to shameful periods of time when we allowed deep, destructive prejudice to shut our gates, to close off desperate people from life saving refuge. We cannot do that again.
We are America. We are Americans and accept our role in life. We are the Americans who will defy those who wish to destroy our country. First step - VOTE!! Ensure the safety and fairness of the voting sites. Defy those who would interfere with this basic weave of our country and its ethos, be they of domestic or foreign origin. Be America. Be American. Vote to protect that world, the one which is changing, but still can be shaped anew and urged onto the right paths. VOTE for that. VOTE for the good future. VOTE for hope. VOTE for your children's future. VOTE.
Simple is as simple does.
Friday, July 24, 2020
GOVERNMENT IN ABSENTIA
The question of the day apparently is: Do we have a government that functions as was and is meant to be, or do we have a government that runs more in the absence of it than the presence of it? In other words, do we actually have a government with participation of all, or are we running quickly towards the extreme opposite end? Are we falling into the company of countries run on the "strong man" mode?
Unfortunately, I believe, as do many others, that we are rapidly losing the structure and meaning of our government as is supposed to be. Increasingly, we are hearing of new laws, singular actions, that are done by edict, called Executive Orders, but make no mistake about it. They are the dictates of a would be despot who runs along his own tracks, ones which have no room for participatory government.
Hence, the threat of a force of "thousands", poised to invade, yes - invade, occupy, terrorize - sovereign states of this country. It is simply put, an attempted putsch by Trump to take over the country, lock, stock, and barrel, and to do so in a way which precludes opposition and based on lies and more lies, all run by a demented man along the same lines as other demented strongmen who were able to take over countries - much to their detriment. The Pied Piper takes over, and all the rats follow along, marching off to their doom, only in this case, the rats are the people of this country, foolishly following a false messiah who will only insure their doom.
Five words seemingly prove a point, at least in the delusional mind of a man looking to deny his cognitive deterioration and lay it off on another, his opponent. As is typical for him, he makes up a story out of nothing, arrogantly believing his own lies, even as the facts are wrong, so obviously incorrect to anyone who has even the least bit of understanding of the test Trump supposedly took.
At this point there is nothing to do but watch, protest, and even oppose the man with force meeting force as he seeks to impose his will and twisted thoughts on the American people. When peaceful protests are met with tear gas, pepper spray, 'less than lethal' ammunition, rampaging batons and booted feet, kidnappings and unlawful imprisonment, even as they exercise their civil rights, well, there is no turning the other cheek here. Unfortunately, we have reached this terrible point and the sooner his defeat, his rejection by the American people, the sooner, the better, we will be. So VOTE. Get the man and his henchmen who have turned their backs on the American Dream out of office - for good.
In the meanwhile, closer to home, we have our own entrenched dictator sitting there, ensconced in his basically empty UCO office, playing with a dog that belongs to another officer of this government in absentia, contemplating his navel and doodling around on his computer at the expense of CV. There has not been any meeting worthy of that name held since the whole COVID crisis began. All canceled, many at the last moment, by phone, even as one last night. Meetings are denied to others in the name of social distancing, even if held, and even as no one from the committee shows up or vast amounts of room to spread out are ignored.
Just what is going on in this Village? What is happening to our funds? What is happening with contracts? What is happening - if anything - on prep work for a new contract to replace the awful Millennium one due to run out in a bit more than a year? Are we going to allow yet another miserable President lead the Village down a bad path for them? What about the golf course next door? What about the traffic growth to be as a new development opens? What about the infrastructure plans and repairs? What about the holey perimeter fences, missing, open to all? What about future needs and concerns? What about our own by laws which have been canceled, abrogated, as David seeks to take over control, openly, using excuses to become the dictator he is at heart? Where is the technology he is supposedly so knowledgeable about? Where is Zoom? Where is justice and laws and proper government? Why is he still in office? Why are we not recalling him, suing him for poor conduct and performance, for incompetence, illegal conduct or whatever the hell works? Hell, let us march on UCO every day and annoy the dickens out of him until he either quits or turns over a new leaf.
Big and small, this country desperately needs help. We have lost our democratic underpinnings. We have allowed our citizens on all levels to grow apathetic, distanced from their levels of government. We have grown a population that actually has no clue as to what is going on as they turn away from 'disturbing' news in the name of 'not being bothered or upset'.
This is not the America I grew up in nor the America I wish for my kids and grandkids. This is not the UCO, the local government that I expected. Where have we gone, America? Why have we allowed incompetence and hatred to take over? Why have we resigned from the game? From the life, from our responsibilities?
We can do better than this. We must do better than this. If not, well, kiss the country America goodbye. Welcome in another, under whatever guise it takes for that will be our earned destiny. Not very safe, not very good for our health, but there it is. The choices on all levels are clear. Do we pass or fail? Up to us, to you, to me, to US.
WE are the residents of CVWPB, the residents, the citizens, of the United States of America, be we Black, White, Pink, Purple, Olive, Brown or whatever color we wish to be - even Orange! Let us remember that and act accordingly.
Unfortunately, I believe, as do many others, that we are rapidly losing the structure and meaning of our government as is supposed to be. Increasingly, we are hearing of new laws, singular actions, that are done by edict, called Executive Orders, but make no mistake about it. They are the dictates of a would be despot who runs along his own tracks, ones which have no room for participatory government.
Hence, the threat of a force of "thousands", poised to invade, yes - invade, occupy, terrorize - sovereign states of this country. It is simply put, an attempted putsch by Trump to take over the country, lock, stock, and barrel, and to do so in a way which precludes opposition and based on lies and more lies, all run by a demented man along the same lines as other demented strongmen who were able to take over countries - much to their detriment. The Pied Piper takes over, and all the rats follow along, marching off to their doom, only in this case, the rats are the people of this country, foolishly following a false messiah who will only insure their doom.
Five words seemingly prove a point, at least in the delusional mind of a man looking to deny his cognitive deterioration and lay it off on another, his opponent. As is typical for him, he makes up a story out of nothing, arrogantly believing his own lies, even as the facts are wrong, so obviously incorrect to anyone who has even the least bit of understanding of the test Trump supposedly took.
At this point there is nothing to do but watch, protest, and even oppose the man with force meeting force as he seeks to impose his will and twisted thoughts on the American people. When peaceful protests are met with tear gas, pepper spray, 'less than lethal' ammunition, rampaging batons and booted feet, kidnappings and unlawful imprisonment, even as they exercise their civil rights, well, there is no turning the other cheek here. Unfortunately, we have reached this terrible point and the sooner his defeat, his rejection by the American people, the sooner, the better, we will be. So VOTE. Get the man and his henchmen who have turned their backs on the American Dream out of office - for good.
In the meanwhile, closer to home, we have our own entrenched dictator sitting there, ensconced in his basically empty UCO office, playing with a dog that belongs to another officer of this government in absentia, contemplating his navel and doodling around on his computer at the expense of CV. There has not been any meeting worthy of that name held since the whole COVID crisis began. All canceled, many at the last moment, by phone, even as one last night. Meetings are denied to others in the name of social distancing, even if held, and even as no one from the committee shows up or vast amounts of room to spread out are ignored.
Just what is going on in this Village? What is happening to our funds? What is happening with contracts? What is happening - if anything - on prep work for a new contract to replace the awful Millennium one due to run out in a bit more than a year? Are we going to allow yet another miserable President lead the Village down a bad path for them? What about the golf course next door? What about the traffic growth to be as a new development opens? What about the infrastructure plans and repairs? What about the holey perimeter fences, missing, open to all? What about future needs and concerns? What about our own by laws which have been canceled, abrogated, as David seeks to take over control, openly, using excuses to become the dictator he is at heart? Where is the technology he is supposedly so knowledgeable about? Where is Zoom? Where is justice and laws and proper government? Why is he still in office? Why are we not recalling him, suing him for poor conduct and performance, for incompetence, illegal conduct or whatever the hell works? Hell, let us march on UCO every day and annoy the dickens out of him until he either quits or turns over a new leaf.
Big and small, this country desperately needs help. We have lost our democratic underpinnings. We have allowed our citizens on all levels to grow apathetic, distanced from their levels of government. We have grown a population that actually has no clue as to what is going on as they turn away from 'disturbing' news in the name of 'not being bothered or upset'.
This is not the America I grew up in nor the America I wish for my kids and grandkids. This is not the UCO, the local government that I expected. Where have we gone, America? Why have we allowed incompetence and hatred to take over? Why have we resigned from the game? From the life, from our responsibilities?
We can do better than this. We must do better than this. If not, well, kiss the country America goodbye. Welcome in another, under whatever guise it takes for that will be our earned destiny. Not very safe, not very good for our health, but there it is. The choices on all levels are clear. Do we pass or fail? Up to us, to you, to me, to US.
WE are the residents of CVWPB, the residents, the citizens, of the United States of America, be we Black, White, Pink, Purple, Olive, Brown or whatever color we wish to be - even Orange! Let us remember that and act accordingly.
Thursday, July 23, 2020
OH NO, HE AIN'T - OR IS HE?
The scene: The 2016 Republican Convention where they nominated a racist, fascist wannabe as the Republican candidate for President.
Who: Donald Trump, a moral vacuum, a failed, oft bankrupted, contractor stiffing man with a serious ego problem.
Results: A series of out of control disasters ripping the country apart, inciting chasm like divisions within the population.
Consequence: The country is undergoing the throes of a nation turning from democracy to despotism with all inherent signs and disturbances.
Warning signs: All these were ignored, even as his past signaled disasters in the offing. His own words clearly delineated his far gone descent into madness and serious personal fault lines of character - or lack thereof.
The words: As he ranted as to why he ran, he answered: "So that the powerful can no longer beat up upon people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me - which is why I alone can fix it."
Thus, we were warned, saw the future in front of us, and gladly marched off on our own trail of tears and regrets, for no he ain't! He, and he alone, is the one to do something and he has. Most certainly, he has. Like the very model of not a modern major general, but of a despot, a man seeking to turn a country into his own private fiefdom, and quite frankly, very much succeeding in that twisted ambition, he has dragged the country, along with sniveling suckups, bewildered people seeking a savior, and the misguided, into chaos.
Oh, yes, he, and he, alone, is the one. He certainly is. But look at what he has wrought. The powerful have modern day version of the scabs and police who supported them and the nabobs of business as they attempted to break the infant unions. They beat up on the workers exercising their rights to protest, to seek life, liberty and happiness, as our founding documents promised.
He boasts of his knowledge of the system and that is certainly true. A man of no morals has learned to game it all. He is the one, alright, the one to break us with that knowledge, knowing how to appeal to the dirty side of people, their greed, their dishonesty, their seeking power and its retention, their eagerness to bare and sell their eternal souls for that power and wealth.
We now have blood in the streets and this is merely a beginning. Troops use violence against their own neighbors. Unidentified, unknown, military like forces are deployed in our own nation!!! As in despotic countries worldwide, people are grabbed off the streets, civil rights ignored, trampled upon, thrown onto the dust heap of history, and at present - for now - are released, but how quickly that can change.
A whole segment of Americans have been branded the ENEMY. Who are these nefarious people? They are those who support the exercise of rights, even when it becomes uncomfortable at times. They are the protesters. They are even those frustrated young ones, who every generation or so, take to the streets in desperation, like in 1968 in Chicago, or at anti war demonstrations, ones who are frustrated by the lack of forward movement, who lose patience and use some violence. They also are responding, in their own view, as the only thing to do when they themselves, and worse, the peaceful protesters are attacked. With Batons. With bullets. With paint guns and they hurt! With cans and projectiles. With pepper spray in massive amounts. With sudden kidnappings. With arrests. With being branded terrorists. With being called Enemy of the People. With being used as excuses for the federal government to send its own secret forces into the enemy's cities, the cities where Democrats are the mayors, the governors are Democrats, and they refuse to stand for this.
Albuquerque is next. Then Chicago. Then? NYC? Detroit? LA? San Francisco? Where does it end? Does it end? The end result? Blood in the streets. Civil War II. The death of the best experiment of mankind, as faulty and perplexed and perplexing as it is.
But what can we expect from a man who orders attacks on a Wall of Moms. Standing there, chanting, wearing homemade protective devices. And they are gassed. They are beaten. Who are these men who beat up people, fellow Americans? They are those who will staff the secret police, man the streets, demand papers, drag you off, guard you in modern day versions of concentration camps and we so well and surely demonstrated our oh so clever modern interpretations of that with the cages for immigrants, with the willingness of the guards to "follow orders". With the callous brutality towards children. How far from a freezing ,concrete cage is the step to smashing those children against walls? Not far at all. Not at all.
Think not? It cannot happen here? We are different. No, we are not. It happened in Germany. That 'cultured' country. That advanced country. It happened all over where people become afraid, are threatened on every side, overpowered, beaten by those 'powerful people', who know the system and how to work it for their own benefit and screw all others. From the mouth of the horse himself.
This is the man in the grip of dementia, but that is not a hindrance in his ambitions. He will throw anyone under that bus, even his own son and grandchildren, used as pawns in his insane demand to reopen schools, all the better to sicken even more people, unto death. Even as we crack the ceiling of 142,000 dead. Even as we are knocking on the door of 4 million infected and growing. Growing!!! He states categorically that no one questions or talks about his mental capacity. Such a damned liar!
This, as he boasts of acing, like never before, a simple five minute test that every elderly person gets at one point or another to do a quick check on cognition. Even there he lies as he states no one else got it all correct. Well, I did and so did many others. And, Mr. Liar, Pants on Fire, the five words would not be "person, woman, man, camera, TV." The words are to be non related, no clues to the others, and are repeated at various intervals to check retention. This, from a man, who cannot keep track of his lies from one sentence to another. Test? Aced it? I think not. And so do many others. As do many others who are deathly afraid of what they see coming down the road from his direction.
The hatred is overflowing its containers. The seals on these poisons are breaking. The guns are multiplying, even as the Republicans refuse to control it. Death and chaos is so much better for their plans, for the plans of their master. Even the death of our country. And we, the true Americans, the true patriots, we are left, as a mom stated, 'with no choice' other than to do what we must.
"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone.' Winston Churchill.
We need to heed those words, hear them echo in our hearts, minds and souls, So get out there and do these words. VOTE.VOTE. ORGANIZE TO VOTE. That is the way, the only way, to be safe.
Who: Donald Trump, a moral vacuum, a failed, oft bankrupted, contractor stiffing man with a serious ego problem.
Results: A series of out of control disasters ripping the country apart, inciting chasm like divisions within the population.
Consequence: The country is undergoing the throes of a nation turning from democracy to despotism with all inherent signs and disturbances.
Warning signs: All these were ignored, even as his past signaled disasters in the offing. His own words clearly delineated his far gone descent into madness and serious personal fault lines of character - or lack thereof.
The words: As he ranted as to why he ran, he answered: "So that the powerful can no longer beat up upon people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me - which is why I alone can fix it."
Thus, we were warned, saw the future in front of us, and gladly marched off on our own trail of tears and regrets, for no he ain't! He, and he alone, is the one to do something and he has. Most certainly, he has. Like the very model of not a modern major general, but of a despot, a man seeking to turn a country into his own private fiefdom, and quite frankly, very much succeeding in that twisted ambition, he has dragged the country, along with sniveling suckups, bewildered people seeking a savior, and the misguided, into chaos.
Oh, yes, he, and he, alone, is the one. He certainly is. But look at what he has wrought. The powerful have modern day version of the scabs and police who supported them and the nabobs of business as they attempted to break the infant unions. They beat up on the workers exercising their rights to protest, to seek life, liberty and happiness, as our founding documents promised.
He boasts of his knowledge of the system and that is certainly true. A man of no morals has learned to game it all. He is the one, alright, the one to break us with that knowledge, knowing how to appeal to the dirty side of people, their greed, their dishonesty, their seeking power and its retention, their eagerness to bare and sell their eternal souls for that power and wealth.
We now have blood in the streets and this is merely a beginning. Troops use violence against their own neighbors. Unidentified, unknown, military like forces are deployed in our own nation!!! As in despotic countries worldwide, people are grabbed off the streets, civil rights ignored, trampled upon, thrown onto the dust heap of history, and at present - for now - are released, but how quickly that can change.
A whole segment of Americans have been branded the ENEMY. Who are these nefarious people? They are those who support the exercise of rights, even when it becomes uncomfortable at times. They are the protesters. They are even those frustrated young ones, who every generation or so, take to the streets in desperation, like in 1968 in Chicago, or at anti war demonstrations, ones who are frustrated by the lack of forward movement, who lose patience and use some violence. They also are responding, in their own view, as the only thing to do when they themselves, and worse, the peaceful protesters are attacked. With Batons. With bullets. With paint guns and they hurt! With cans and projectiles. With pepper spray in massive amounts. With sudden kidnappings. With arrests. With being branded terrorists. With being called Enemy of the People. With being used as excuses for the federal government to send its own secret forces into the enemy's cities, the cities where Democrats are the mayors, the governors are Democrats, and they refuse to stand for this.
Albuquerque is next. Then Chicago. Then? NYC? Detroit? LA? San Francisco? Where does it end? Does it end? The end result? Blood in the streets. Civil War II. The death of the best experiment of mankind, as faulty and perplexed and perplexing as it is.
But what can we expect from a man who orders attacks on a Wall of Moms. Standing there, chanting, wearing homemade protective devices. And they are gassed. They are beaten. Who are these men who beat up people, fellow Americans? They are those who will staff the secret police, man the streets, demand papers, drag you off, guard you in modern day versions of concentration camps and we so well and surely demonstrated our oh so clever modern interpretations of that with the cages for immigrants, with the willingness of the guards to "follow orders". With the callous brutality towards children. How far from a freezing ,concrete cage is the step to smashing those children against walls? Not far at all. Not at all.
Think not? It cannot happen here? We are different. No, we are not. It happened in Germany. That 'cultured' country. That advanced country. It happened all over where people become afraid, are threatened on every side, overpowered, beaten by those 'powerful people', who know the system and how to work it for their own benefit and screw all others. From the mouth of the horse himself.
This is the man in the grip of dementia, but that is not a hindrance in his ambitions. He will throw anyone under that bus, even his own son and grandchildren, used as pawns in his insane demand to reopen schools, all the better to sicken even more people, unto death. Even as we crack the ceiling of 142,000 dead. Even as we are knocking on the door of 4 million infected and growing. Growing!!! He states categorically that no one questions or talks about his mental capacity. Such a damned liar!
This, as he boasts of acing, like never before, a simple five minute test that every elderly person gets at one point or another to do a quick check on cognition. Even there he lies as he states no one else got it all correct. Well, I did and so did many others. And, Mr. Liar, Pants on Fire, the five words would not be "person, woman, man, camera, TV." The words are to be non related, no clues to the others, and are repeated at various intervals to check retention. This, from a man, who cannot keep track of his lies from one sentence to another. Test? Aced it? I think not. And so do many others. As do many others who are deathly afraid of what they see coming down the road from his direction.
The hatred is overflowing its containers. The seals on these poisons are breaking. The guns are multiplying, even as the Republicans refuse to control it. Death and chaos is so much better for their plans, for the plans of their master. Even the death of our country. And we, the true Americans, the true patriots, we are left, as a mom stated, 'with no choice' other than to do what we must.
"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone.' Winston Churchill.
We need to heed those words, hear them echo in our hearts, minds and souls, So get out there and do these words. VOTE.VOTE. ORGANIZE TO VOTE. That is the way, the only way, to be safe.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
THE NUMBERS GAME
There are people who make a living, so to speak, by being involved in a numbers game, much of which I do not understand - nor have any wish to increase my understanding of it. However, it appears that our esteemed President plays his own twisted version of the number game almost every moment of his life.
It is quite interesting if one stands aside and watches him play. Numbers no longer represent a defined and definite fact, but are twisted, turned, changed, made up, ignored - whatever is needed to be a self declared victor in the number game of the day. But how does one stand aside and watch, no emotion, unless one is either an alien of outer space origin watching these crazy Earth people destroy themselves, or one is Pence, who never has any emotion showing.
We are sooooo lucky to have those "news briefings" again. How and where better to get a dose of rotting figures and blasphemous lies than these supposed briefings. Yesterday was a miracle in that Trump remained true to his typed script without veering off into his usual rants and ramblings, stumbling at times as he read - difficult for him - and carried on reading one lie after another in his twisted numbers game.
But try as he might, the numbers do not lie. We are not the best in the world at defeating or managing this virus. But we are third worst in the world. Things are getting better, quickly, or so he intimates, yet we are back over 1,000 deaths a day that are directly attributed to the virus and never mind, apparently, those deaths that are shall we say, collateral effects of the virus. For sure, let us play this twisted numbers game and think we can hide the truth.
Numbers hanging there in the air, like the droplets of the virus? Sure. We are within a hair of 142,000 deaths. We have the largest number of infected in the world - of any nation - close to four million people. But, things are getting better we are told. The man has now changed his tune, sings the song of patriotic masks, after his nonsense ignited so many unnecessary fires about masks. He told us that he "carries one"!! Really, how about the next step and make it a chin mask and perhaps one day he might even wear it properly, as a matter of fact daily item of dress. Added bonus - it might shut him up for a while too and certainly will cover up that most annoying smirk of his, the one that states how smart he is to put so much over so many. He was even clever enough to take advantage of opportunities to try to get the British Open at his Scotland hotel. What a creep! What a never president of mine he is. Gotta' despise him!
Need more numbers for his twisted version? Okay, yesterday he boasted and 'reassured' us all that it really is okay, because most of the people who die from this are old, time to go, I guess. If he will play follow the leader, as the leader, it might be worth it!! To save this country. But, if wishes were horses..... Better to stand in reality, especially when our 'leader' does not.
So, anyway, back at the overcrowded morgues, we are finding that the rise in baby deaths are horrifying The rise in the numbers of dead and infected children, of young adults, of middle aged, are out there in plain sight, but apparently one of his writers, so adept at writing lies, left these facts out, that and the conclusions they lead to. It is not getting better, we do not see the light yet. We do not have the vaccine yet. But one good thing - which we know though unstated in that oh so wonderful and informative 'briefing' - West Palm Beach, along with JFK Hospital complex, are going to have a Phase III vaccine trial right here.
Yay!!! Let us pray. Let us hope.
The poll numbers are falling the way of the good. The number who disapprove of Trump are rising. But the numbers who believe in his mask dangerously stupid theory are at 49%. What are these people thinking - or are they at all?
There are also facts that leave one concerned for our future. While Twitter is banning QAnon, about time, for this is an insane site, spewing forth lies all the day long, we still have laws on the books blocking mail - in ballots. This, in the time of the virus. So drag those people out of the ICU, drag them out of home quarantine. Forget the mail in ballots. Hope that enough Democrats are stymied in attempts to vote so the Republicans win again - and we lose - and the corruption, the violence, the growing arrests by strange creatures in combat clothing with dark vans who kidnap citizens, scare the bejeezus out of them will continue. Oh for sure, Trump will like those numbers.
So while Grey's Anatomy is trying to deal seriously with the pandemic, and mayors of major cities are suing, trying to prevent federal forces, our own version of death squads, from being placed in any American city, that Demented One ignores reality, twists it to his liking and never mind the truth.
The moral of this sad tale of present day America is this: get out there and vote. Get out there and protest. Get out there and shout. Get out there and do not give in or give up. We have the numbers to defeat this man and his group of corrupt and dangerously unacceptable critters that run his regime. WE have the numbers to do so. Donate. VOTE!! VOTE!!
And until Election Day and then Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, stay well, be safe, and stay determined. Do not allow the destruction of our glorious country.
It is quite interesting if one stands aside and watches him play. Numbers no longer represent a defined and definite fact, but are twisted, turned, changed, made up, ignored - whatever is needed to be a self declared victor in the number game of the day. But how does one stand aside and watch, no emotion, unless one is either an alien of outer space origin watching these crazy Earth people destroy themselves, or one is Pence, who never has any emotion showing.
We are sooooo lucky to have those "news briefings" again. How and where better to get a dose of rotting figures and blasphemous lies than these supposed briefings. Yesterday was a miracle in that Trump remained true to his typed script without veering off into his usual rants and ramblings, stumbling at times as he read - difficult for him - and carried on reading one lie after another in his twisted numbers game.
But try as he might, the numbers do not lie. We are not the best in the world at defeating or managing this virus. But we are third worst in the world. Things are getting better, quickly, or so he intimates, yet we are back over 1,000 deaths a day that are directly attributed to the virus and never mind, apparently, those deaths that are shall we say, collateral effects of the virus. For sure, let us play this twisted numbers game and think we can hide the truth.
Numbers hanging there in the air, like the droplets of the virus? Sure. We are within a hair of 142,000 deaths. We have the largest number of infected in the world - of any nation - close to four million people. But, things are getting better we are told. The man has now changed his tune, sings the song of patriotic masks, after his nonsense ignited so many unnecessary fires about masks. He told us that he "carries one"!! Really, how about the next step and make it a chin mask and perhaps one day he might even wear it properly, as a matter of fact daily item of dress. Added bonus - it might shut him up for a while too and certainly will cover up that most annoying smirk of his, the one that states how smart he is to put so much over so many. He was even clever enough to take advantage of opportunities to try to get the British Open at his Scotland hotel. What a creep! What a never president of mine he is. Gotta' despise him!
Need more numbers for his twisted version? Okay, yesterday he boasted and 'reassured' us all that it really is okay, because most of the people who die from this are old, time to go, I guess. If he will play follow the leader, as the leader, it might be worth it!! To save this country. But, if wishes were horses..... Better to stand in reality, especially when our 'leader' does not.
So, anyway, back at the overcrowded morgues, we are finding that the rise in baby deaths are horrifying The rise in the numbers of dead and infected children, of young adults, of middle aged, are out there in plain sight, but apparently one of his writers, so adept at writing lies, left these facts out, that and the conclusions they lead to. It is not getting better, we do not see the light yet. We do not have the vaccine yet. But one good thing - which we know though unstated in that oh so wonderful and informative 'briefing' - West Palm Beach, along with JFK Hospital complex, are going to have a Phase III vaccine trial right here.
Yay!!! Let us pray. Let us hope.
The poll numbers are falling the way of the good. The number who disapprove of Trump are rising. But the numbers who believe in his mask dangerously stupid theory are at 49%. What are these people thinking - or are they at all?
There are also facts that leave one concerned for our future. While Twitter is banning QAnon, about time, for this is an insane site, spewing forth lies all the day long, we still have laws on the books blocking mail - in ballots. This, in the time of the virus. So drag those people out of the ICU, drag them out of home quarantine. Forget the mail in ballots. Hope that enough Democrats are stymied in attempts to vote so the Republicans win again - and we lose - and the corruption, the violence, the growing arrests by strange creatures in combat clothing with dark vans who kidnap citizens, scare the bejeezus out of them will continue. Oh for sure, Trump will like those numbers.
So while Grey's Anatomy is trying to deal seriously with the pandemic, and mayors of major cities are suing, trying to prevent federal forces, our own version of death squads, from being placed in any American city, that Demented One ignores reality, twists it to his liking and never mind the truth.
The moral of this sad tale of present day America is this: get out there and vote. Get out there and protest. Get out there and shout. Get out there and do not give in or give up. We have the numbers to defeat this man and his group of corrupt and dangerously unacceptable critters that run his regime. WE have the numbers to do so. Donate. VOTE!! VOTE!!
And until Election Day and then Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, stay well, be safe, and stay determined. Do not allow the destruction of our glorious country.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
THIS IS THE MOMENT
Is it? Dr. Jekyll sang this at the moment when he believed all his work had brought about success and hope for a better future. He was triumphant, at the high point of his life which then began a tremendous downturn into disaster. So the question before us, now, today, when federal agents supposedly from the DHS, unmarked, unidentified, garbed in death patrol squad clothing, ripping people off the street and questioning them for hours - illegally, immorally - and beating the shit out of one and all - is this the moment?
Quite frankly, and I so hope I am so off here, I believe this is indeed the moment. It is that moment in time when we get not a reward, but a booby prize, a disastrous one, a history changing one. It is a terrible moment for us all and certainly for the future, for it just about cancels that future in any positive manner or form.
John Bolton maintains that Trump has no historical knowledge, no long range planning and it seems so obvious how correct he is, yet I began to think again. Trump has little to none of the factual knowledge of history, takes no note of disasters awaiting us under his regime, yes - regime - in all its pejorative connotations. He has no understanding of the long term, now drastically shortened, time that we have to deal with the failing environment. He could care less, as long as money rolls in and toadying behavior continues and grows.
However, he has the instincts of a natural predator, one who believes in his right to rule the forest, to dictate to others and to enforce his vision of life upon all others. Thus, he understands history in that one particularly important theme. Power makes all things right in a Trumpian world. For Trumpian substitute any dictator's name from history and then understand where this poor impersonation of a natural man is coming from.
His goal, from the beginning, has been the destruction and the takeover of this country. Obvious in hindsight, many of us have long seen this coming and shouted out the Cassandra like warnings before. Troy is falling, she shouted, and so is America. Oh, the name could remain the same, but the innards, that which makes America truly America? That will be trashed, and not in an environmental turnaround pile, no reusing, recycling, refreshing, reforming. Nope, the country will be gone and that evil, sneaky and sly, yet demented man, devoid of all morality, lacking in every sense of any human empathy for others, concern or care for others, will be the man with raised arms in a victory signal.
How could a demented insane person do this? Easy. Hitler was insane, mad to his last inch and brain cell. So was Stalin. So was Nero. So was any dictator throughout history, and yet, in that brutal tunnel vision they thrived and succeeded. A main reason for that success was the stubborn and foolish, dangerously so, attitude of the public. Satisfied with their bread and circus. Downtrodden and beaten down by fear and 3 AM raids, nacht und nebel arrests, they gave in, looked away, until it was too late.
But the moment has arrived, here, now, in our country and this is the moment. Either we understand the truth or we look away, too late to allow it to enter our understanding. Troops are running riot in Portland. Opponents from the Democratic Party are being threatened with troops entering those cities and states to get "the evil anarchists". Truly? I believe the anarchists here are the members of the Trumpian universe who go along with him, sniveling, groveling, salivating, at the thought of wealth and power. They do not see, or ignore, the dangers to all, including themselves, for the madmen throw all under the grinding wheels of that bus should they lose their use, or heaven forbid, seem to lack loyalty to the dictator.
It can't happen here? So goes the refrain. It couldn't happen in Germany either, that land of culture of music, of art, of polite society. Oh, no. But oh, yes. It happened there and found willing adherents. And these same adherents are here as well. Think we cannot find the brutes to beat people, to torture people, to round them up, to separate children and family, to beat them unto death, to enforce cruelty and beastly behavior?
Well, who are those people in unidentified getups, smacking people with batons, spraying them with pepper spray, throwing them into vans, questioning them, and what comes next? No more releases, but the disappearances, perhaps, our own desparacidos? Who are those people who throw children and adults alike into freezing cages, no food, no water, no sanitary facilities. Who are those who refuse water and medical aid to desperate immigrants seeking a new life in America, the same as the ancestors of these same brutes did and not so long ago?
This is the moment, but I am not sure about which path the moment will take. Will it be the continued pushing of Trump, the further growth of occupying forces in our streets until one morning we wake up to troops lining these very streets, announcing lineups, exiles, arrests, forced relocations, and death. Death of life. Death of our country. Death of hope. Or will it choose the path that meets resistance, a public that shoves back, that refuses to allow the end of democracy here, the end of the American Era?
I am not advocating civil war, but I have mentioned its chances of occurring here. I have mentioned the possibilities of fighting in our streets, of blood running, in a new Civil War, one which must not be lost. Others also have been saying this more and more. The only way to prevent this right now is to push back. Protest. Protest. Protest. Challenge your representatives to speak out, to defy this would be dictator, this demented specimen of civilization gone wrong. Threaten them with loss of their positions if they do not heed their constituents. Challenge the brutes we now find live right next door.
And for G-d's sake, our sakes, our lives, resist, and VOTE! Refuse to give in. Refuse to allow these evil people to deny your right to vote, your right to live in a free and decent country. Support the dreams of your ancestors, of your parents, of yourself, why they and you came here to this country. Why tears ran down the faces of the immigrants crowding the decks.
With hard work, fierce commitment, we can defeat this insane caricature of a man, but we must get together now, put aside our ridiculous spats, Republicans must choose between right ad wrong, and keep America as she strives to be - ever improving, ever a leader to the world, a model for others to follow, with the courage to admit wrong doing and the willingness to apologize and do better.
This is no longer a matter of avoiding the plague or of being safe. This is now an existential issue that threatens our very survival. Portland is a portent of a future we need to avoid. Only we can see to that. Only we. You and I. Together. As Americans.
Quite frankly, and I so hope I am so off here, I believe this is indeed the moment. It is that moment in time when we get not a reward, but a booby prize, a disastrous one, a history changing one. It is a terrible moment for us all and certainly for the future, for it just about cancels that future in any positive manner or form.
John Bolton maintains that Trump has no historical knowledge, no long range planning and it seems so obvious how correct he is, yet I began to think again. Trump has little to none of the factual knowledge of history, takes no note of disasters awaiting us under his regime, yes - regime - in all its pejorative connotations. He has no understanding of the long term, now drastically shortened, time that we have to deal with the failing environment. He could care less, as long as money rolls in and toadying behavior continues and grows.
However, he has the instincts of a natural predator, one who believes in his right to rule the forest, to dictate to others and to enforce his vision of life upon all others. Thus, he understands history in that one particularly important theme. Power makes all things right in a Trumpian world. For Trumpian substitute any dictator's name from history and then understand where this poor impersonation of a natural man is coming from.
His goal, from the beginning, has been the destruction and the takeover of this country. Obvious in hindsight, many of us have long seen this coming and shouted out the Cassandra like warnings before. Troy is falling, she shouted, and so is America. Oh, the name could remain the same, but the innards, that which makes America truly America? That will be trashed, and not in an environmental turnaround pile, no reusing, recycling, refreshing, reforming. Nope, the country will be gone and that evil, sneaky and sly, yet demented man, devoid of all morality, lacking in every sense of any human empathy for others, concern or care for others, will be the man with raised arms in a victory signal.
How could a demented insane person do this? Easy. Hitler was insane, mad to his last inch and brain cell. So was Stalin. So was Nero. So was any dictator throughout history, and yet, in that brutal tunnel vision they thrived and succeeded. A main reason for that success was the stubborn and foolish, dangerously so, attitude of the public. Satisfied with their bread and circus. Downtrodden and beaten down by fear and 3 AM raids, nacht und nebel arrests, they gave in, looked away, until it was too late.
But the moment has arrived, here, now, in our country and this is the moment. Either we understand the truth or we look away, too late to allow it to enter our understanding. Troops are running riot in Portland. Opponents from the Democratic Party are being threatened with troops entering those cities and states to get "the evil anarchists". Truly? I believe the anarchists here are the members of the Trumpian universe who go along with him, sniveling, groveling, salivating, at the thought of wealth and power. They do not see, or ignore, the dangers to all, including themselves, for the madmen throw all under the grinding wheels of that bus should they lose their use, or heaven forbid, seem to lack loyalty to the dictator.
It can't happen here? So goes the refrain. It couldn't happen in Germany either, that land of culture of music, of art, of polite society. Oh, no. But oh, yes. It happened there and found willing adherents. And these same adherents are here as well. Think we cannot find the brutes to beat people, to torture people, to round them up, to separate children and family, to beat them unto death, to enforce cruelty and beastly behavior?
Well, who are those people in unidentified getups, smacking people with batons, spraying them with pepper spray, throwing them into vans, questioning them, and what comes next? No more releases, but the disappearances, perhaps, our own desparacidos? Who are those people who throw children and adults alike into freezing cages, no food, no water, no sanitary facilities. Who are those who refuse water and medical aid to desperate immigrants seeking a new life in America, the same as the ancestors of these same brutes did and not so long ago?
This is the moment, but I am not sure about which path the moment will take. Will it be the continued pushing of Trump, the further growth of occupying forces in our streets until one morning we wake up to troops lining these very streets, announcing lineups, exiles, arrests, forced relocations, and death. Death of life. Death of our country. Death of hope. Or will it choose the path that meets resistance, a public that shoves back, that refuses to allow the end of democracy here, the end of the American Era?
I am not advocating civil war, but I have mentioned its chances of occurring here. I have mentioned the possibilities of fighting in our streets, of blood running, in a new Civil War, one which must not be lost. Others also have been saying this more and more. The only way to prevent this right now is to push back. Protest. Protest. Protest. Challenge your representatives to speak out, to defy this would be dictator, this demented specimen of civilization gone wrong. Threaten them with loss of their positions if they do not heed their constituents. Challenge the brutes we now find live right next door.
And for G-d's sake, our sakes, our lives, resist, and VOTE! Refuse to give in. Refuse to allow these evil people to deny your right to vote, your right to live in a free and decent country. Support the dreams of your ancestors, of your parents, of yourself, why they and you came here to this country. Why tears ran down the faces of the immigrants crowding the decks.
With hard work, fierce commitment, we can defeat this insane caricature of a man, but we must get together now, put aside our ridiculous spats, Republicans must choose between right ad wrong, and keep America as she strives to be - ever improving, ever a leader to the world, a model for others to follow, with the courage to admit wrong doing and the willingness to apologize and do better.
This is no longer a matter of avoiding the plague or of being safe. This is now an existential issue that threatens our very survival. Portland is a portent of a future we need to avoid. Only we can see to that. Only we. You and I. Together. As Americans.
Monday, July 20, 2020
TIME TO RESET
So says Fauci, the man with the best grip on the pandemic, despite Trump's useless and forever ongoing badmouthing of him. Apparently, even some of those dunderhead morally challenged Republican members of Congress are seeing the light, too little, too late, but there it is. McConnell is even agreeing with the mask rules and other rules and defies Trump when he states the obvious - the virus isn't going anywhere anytime soon! Too little, too late, but there it is.
"I'm angry." So says the daughter mourning her mother's death after becoming infected through her work as a respiratory therapist. It was a needless death brought about through lack of proper policy, proper equipment and proper obeying of rules, such as wearing a mask. Well, so we are all, so we are all angry. Needless death and suffering that could have been prevented. Needless sky high numbers of dead, approaching 140,000, even as the virus that was harmless and going away by the end of the week - thank you, Dr. Trump and fellow idiots - seems to belie those very words.
"The President got bored with it." So stated a Republican figure in the beleaguered state of Texas. Bored with death. Bored with his own inadequacy. Bored with protecting the citizens and residents of this country. Bored with the whole job, only impressed with his ability to sit there, a bloated, demented figure, madly tweeting away nonsensical, venomous tweets. Offered up in replacement is the self promoting just as insane, dangerously so, Kanye West, whose platform consists of stupidity beyond words. A million dollars for a baby. Harriet Tubman did not free slaves, only turned them over to other white men to enslave them again. Don't you just love revisionist history!!! And he polls 2%!!!
Meanwhile we have a dangerous man in the running with still people who deny the evidence around them, even as refrigerated trucks repeat their role from NYC and hold the overflowing numbers of the dead. This man should have been imprisoned already, yet here he is, still in the running. At least 15 singers have sued to deny him the use of their songs, used by him without permission, in violation of the law, but the law never seems to matter to the Trump camp. We have ample evidence of that already.
As for the present situation and its portent for the future, well, just turn the knob, hit the button, read the paper. We are officially, in all but name, one of the primary members of the lawless nations which govern by gun and death. A federal Judge is attacked in a shooting at her home with her son dead as a result. Federal officials state imperially that they will not leave Portland despite never having been invited in, despite the havoc they have wrought, despite the repeated beatings and pepper spraying of citizens exercising their right to vote. Just ask the Navy veteran dressed in his Navy clothing, who now needs surgery on a fractured hand, was pepper sprayed and never got to ask these brutes why they were doing this!! And the cherry on top? Well, these same officials say they will interfere wherever they wish, asked to or not, unwanted or not, and there goes the first steps of military rule over the country. Yes, certainly something to look forward to.
And the piece de resistance? Wait for it, wait for it - okay, here it is. "I have to see. Look ... I have to see," Trump told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace when he asked if the president would accept election results if he lost. "No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no......." Yup, straight from the ass's mouth himself. This is such a wildly lawless and threatening remark, an existential threat to our survival as a democratic country run by rules, by fair law and order, by our Constitution, so wild, that it leaves one standing there like a country yokel, mouth agape, eyes wide and frightened half to death.
Well, Fauci is right in more ways than one. It is certainly time to reset, as best we can in this strange new world of ours. Reset the sitting President. Reset the members of Congress. Reset local officials. Reset the path to wellness and safety. Reset the country by voting. VOTE. That is the only way to go. Demand your rights, challenge the rules meant to deny these rights. VOTE. RESET. NOW.
"I'm angry." So says the daughter mourning her mother's death after becoming infected through her work as a respiratory therapist. It was a needless death brought about through lack of proper policy, proper equipment and proper obeying of rules, such as wearing a mask. Well, so we are all, so we are all angry. Needless death and suffering that could have been prevented. Needless sky high numbers of dead, approaching 140,000, even as the virus that was harmless and going away by the end of the week - thank you, Dr. Trump and fellow idiots - seems to belie those very words.
"The President got bored with it." So stated a Republican figure in the beleaguered state of Texas. Bored with death. Bored with his own inadequacy. Bored with protecting the citizens and residents of this country. Bored with the whole job, only impressed with his ability to sit there, a bloated, demented figure, madly tweeting away nonsensical, venomous tweets. Offered up in replacement is the self promoting just as insane, dangerously so, Kanye West, whose platform consists of stupidity beyond words. A million dollars for a baby. Harriet Tubman did not free slaves, only turned them over to other white men to enslave them again. Don't you just love revisionist history!!! And he polls 2%!!!
Meanwhile we have a dangerous man in the running with still people who deny the evidence around them, even as refrigerated trucks repeat their role from NYC and hold the overflowing numbers of the dead. This man should have been imprisoned already, yet here he is, still in the running. At least 15 singers have sued to deny him the use of their songs, used by him without permission, in violation of the law, but the law never seems to matter to the Trump camp. We have ample evidence of that already.
As for the present situation and its portent for the future, well, just turn the knob, hit the button, read the paper. We are officially, in all but name, one of the primary members of the lawless nations which govern by gun and death. A federal Judge is attacked in a shooting at her home with her son dead as a result. Federal officials state imperially that they will not leave Portland despite never having been invited in, despite the havoc they have wrought, despite the repeated beatings and pepper spraying of citizens exercising their right to vote. Just ask the Navy veteran dressed in his Navy clothing, who now needs surgery on a fractured hand, was pepper sprayed and never got to ask these brutes why they were doing this!! And the cherry on top? Well, these same officials say they will interfere wherever they wish, asked to or not, unwanted or not, and there goes the first steps of military rule over the country. Yes, certainly something to look forward to.
And the piece de resistance? Wait for it, wait for it - okay, here it is. "I have to see. Look ... I have to see," Trump told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace when he asked if the president would accept election results if he lost. "No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no......." Yup, straight from the ass's mouth himself. This is such a wildly lawless and threatening remark, an existential threat to our survival as a democratic country run by rules, by fair law and order, by our Constitution, so wild, that it leaves one standing there like a country yokel, mouth agape, eyes wide and frightened half to death.
Well, Fauci is right in more ways than one. It is certainly time to reset, as best we can in this strange new world of ours. Reset the sitting President. Reset the members of Congress. Reset local officials. Reset the path to wellness and safety. Reset the country by voting. VOTE. That is the only way to go. Demand your rights, challenge the rules meant to deny these rights. VOTE. RESET. NOW.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
NOTHING IS FOREVER
Many of us wander through life, if we are lucky enough to do so, under the misapprehension that life remains the same. If it is good, then it will always be good. If children are good, they will always remain so. False positives, as the medical terms go. Nothing is forever, at least in the real world, and while there are always the Cinderella stories, much of life for most people, can change drastically, in a moment, and not for the good.
A serious disease, an unexpected death, layoffs, simple age deterioration, a child's secret life of flirtation with dangerous activities exposed, a catastrophic weather event and we can go on and on listing them. But the one we never expected, well, that one is a national disaster that affects us all in so many ways.
We all have had expectations that the USA would foil the historic truths of empires rising and falling. We were different. We are different. Or so we thought, but now, uh uh. There is a fear pervading the very air we breathe; it is real and almost palpable, so strong is it.
A leader who turns on the very country he is supposed to serve and protect. The use of national armed forces to put down protests of the citizens. People being taken away in the night, thrown into unmarked vehicles, no answers provided, peaceful protests being attacked, individuals being "kettled" all the better to beat up, and the anger rises, the national temperature rising. And the cracks in the firmament of the nation spread and widen. Chasms develop, too wide and too deep to bridge, and confusion and dismay, deep uncertainty, rule the day. The foundation of the empire trembles. The people begin to tremble as well.
"It's the economy, stupid." Such is the go to phrase, the excuse for all societal ills. Yet that is not so. The economy did not cause the pandemic. The economy did not cause us to turn on each other, as the elites of society by economic worth, became carnivorous and in their insatiable appetite for more and more, never enough, ate away at the fabric of society. They provided a truly fertile growth atmosphere for anger, for despair, for hopelessness, for new hungers, physical hunger, spiritual hunger, existential hunger. Hope began to make rare visits to our national and private lives.
Nothing is forever. We know that. We also know that there are ups and downs, but what we had, then, that is lacking today, is that hope. That beautiful emotion that triumphs over a poor reality, that can take the tatters of a nation and sew it all together. But we also know that nature abhors a vacuum, and so into that vacuum pours the replacement emotion - fear. Unrelenting, ever growing fear.
Fear of the government failing us. Fear of the government turning on us. Fear of us losing our rights and even our expectations. Fear of our very basis of country being shredded. Fear of Newspeak. Fear of censorship. Fear at us becoming leaderless, or worse, with a demented one, always the signal for a dying empire.
We remember history and think of all the failed empires, those whose lies could not stave off historical truths and consequences. We think of our own homegrown fascists and Hitler wanna be. We feel ourselves, purposely and needlessly becoming a rogue, despised, and friendless nation, bereft of all allies, a laughingstock of the world even as we endanger that very same world.
Out of that fear grows anger, a dark blot growing over our national map, subsuming our national affect. We yell, we throw things, we protest, and the anger of all strata of society comes to the fore and it ain't pretty. No! it is ugly, divisive, dangerous, and produces nothing good if that anger is not paired with productive suggestions, with a new generation of leaders who eschew violence for logic and reality, for kindness and equality.
What do we do with a DeSantis who swears to the lies of his master, Trump, at a severe cost to his Floridian constituents? What do we do with a clearly demented man who has brought this country to the very gates of hell, to its clearly seen
wrong turns? What do we do with our anger at the presumed leaders of civilian society who follow that demented, immoral, traitorous man who rules with fear, anger, and jabs, not blindly, but with intent to stay in his drag and gain advantages for themselves and screw the little people? What do we do with our anger at the stubbornly clinging stink of prejudice?
As the anger grows, so does the violence. Right wingers who trade in hate see their moment growing again. So they act. The other end extremists also see their chance at making an impression, and the eternal anarchists, historical fact, take their punch opportunities. The middle people, you and me, well, we stand aside for a while but our anger grows as well. We need to put that anger, that burning fear, that horror at the disintegration of our lives, of the world as we know it, of the new world to come, put it somewhere positive and productive.
Is that possible anymore? Or are we too far gone? Can we pull ourselves together, work as a nation united, turn back those who have lost their way and remind them of what America and Americans should stand for, should strive for. Is that possible? Is it? Or is our own self created political and societal avalanche too powerful and fast moving to turn aside?
At one and the same time, we have two pandemics. We have the coronavirus which kills, which lingers in its victims, which has changed our lives, not for the good, certainly not, as we do not hug anymore, kiss anymore, even trust anymore, and isolate ourselves to save ourselves.
We have an economic pandemic, resulting in an economically damaged world economy, which will never turn around until we realize that we have done the damage ourselves. Greed, ignoring the failing environment and canceling protective regulations and the growing divide between a tiny portion of society and the rest, have us almost on that Snowpiercer train of the near future.
Finally, we have a pandemic of the soul and the heart. We have given up and given in, surrendering to these hostile ideas and people. We have chosen to align ourselves with factions rather than with all who want the best for us, for the country, for the world. Do we really need to heat up the Cold War once again and produce hypersonic missiles? Would it not be better to use that money, those funds,, to better the lives of all people, all races, all religions, all ethnicities? Can we ever do that? Will we ever grow into that ideal?
Nothing is forever. Certainly, we do not have to treasure our anger and fear and better, channel the energies they drain from us into positive actions and words. Let us begin, as they say, forthwith! First step, look in the mirror and see the truth of you. Look in the political mirror and see the truth of our failed leaders. Then vote them out. Not in exchange for extremists who appeal to our anger, but for thoughtful people who understand the power of words, the need for cooperation rather than pervasive and destructive anger and fear.
We need to use the propulsive power of words to move forward, seal the cracks, drain that proverbial swamp, turn negativity into positive action. Can we? Well, we must, or history will speak for itself and will repeat yet one more time.
Get out there and vote. Vote to be well, to be safe, for our nation to be well and safe as well. This is the only way to avoid growth of negative forces and battles in the streets. VOTE!!
A serious disease, an unexpected death, layoffs, simple age deterioration, a child's secret life of flirtation with dangerous activities exposed, a catastrophic weather event and we can go on and on listing them. But the one we never expected, well, that one is a national disaster that affects us all in so many ways.
We all have had expectations that the USA would foil the historic truths of empires rising and falling. We were different. We are different. Or so we thought, but now, uh uh. There is a fear pervading the very air we breathe; it is real and almost palpable, so strong is it.
A leader who turns on the very country he is supposed to serve and protect. The use of national armed forces to put down protests of the citizens. People being taken away in the night, thrown into unmarked vehicles, no answers provided, peaceful protests being attacked, individuals being "kettled" all the better to beat up, and the anger rises, the national temperature rising. And the cracks in the firmament of the nation spread and widen. Chasms develop, too wide and too deep to bridge, and confusion and dismay, deep uncertainty, rule the day. The foundation of the empire trembles. The people begin to tremble as well.
"It's the economy, stupid." Such is the go to phrase, the excuse for all societal ills. Yet that is not so. The economy did not cause the pandemic. The economy did not cause us to turn on each other, as the elites of society by economic worth, became carnivorous and in their insatiable appetite for more and more, never enough, ate away at the fabric of society. They provided a truly fertile growth atmosphere for anger, for despair, for hopelessness, for new hungers, physical hunger, spiritual hunger, existential hunger. Hope began to make rare visits to our national and private lives.
Nothing is forever. We know that. We also know that there are ups and downs, but what we had, then, that is lacking today, is that hope. That beautiful emotion that triumphs over a poor reality, that can take the tatters of a nation and sew it all together. But we also know that nature abhors a vacuum, and so into that vacuum pours the replacement emotion - fear. Unrelenting, ever growing fear.
Fear of the government failing us. Fear of the government turning on us. Fear of us losing our rights and even our expectations. Fear of our very basis of country being shredded. Fear of Newspeak. Fear of censorship. Fear at us becoming leaderless, or worse, with a demented one, always the signal for a dying empire.
We remember history and think of all the failed empires, those whose lies could not stave off historical truths and consequences. We think of our own homegrown fascists and Hitler wanna be. We feel ourselves, purposely and needlessly becoming a rogue, despised, and friendless nation, bereft of all allies, a laughingstock of the world even as we endanger that very same world.
Out of that fear grows anger, a dark blot growing over our national map, subsuming our national affect. We yell, we throw things, we protest, and the anger of all strata of society comes to the fore and it ain't pretty. No! it is ugly, divisive, dangerous, and produces nothing good if that anger is not paired with productive suggestions, with a new generation of leaders who eschew violence for logic and reality, for kindness and equality.
What do we do with a DeSantis who swears to the lies of his master, Trump, at a severe cost to his Floridian constituents? What do we do with a clearly demented man who has brought this country to the very gates of hell, to its clearly seen
wrong turns? What do we do with our anger at the presumed leaders of civilian society who follow that demented, immoral, traitorous man who rules with fear, anger, and jabs, not blindly, but with intent to stay in his drag and gain advantages for themselves and screw the little people? What do we do with our anger at the stubbornly clinging stink of prejudice?
As the anger grows, so does the violence. Right wingers who trade in hate see their moment growing again. So they act. The other end extremists also see their chance at making an impression, and the eternal anarchists, historical fact, take their punch opportunities. The middle people, you and me, well, we stand aside for a while but our anger grows as well. We need to put that anger, that burning fear, that horror at the disintegration of our lives, of the world as we know it, of the new world to come, put it somewhere positive and productive.
Is that possible anymore? Or are we too far gone? Can we pull ourselves together, work as a nation united, turn back those who have lost their way and remind them of what America and Americans should stand for, should strive for. Is that possible? Is it? Or is our own self created political and societal avalanche too powerful and fast moving to turn aside?
At one and the same time, we have two pandemics. We have the coronavirus which kills, which lingers in its victims, which has changed our lives, not for the good, certainly not, as we do not hug anymore, kiss anymore, even trust anymore, and isolate ourselves to save ourselves.
We have an economic pandemic, resulting in an economically damaged world economy, which will never turn around until we realize that we have done the damage ourselves. Greed, ignoring the failing environment and canceling protective regulations and the growing divide between a tiny portion of society and the rest, have us almost on that Snowpiercer train of the near future.
Finally, we have a pandemic of the soul and the heart. We have given up and given in, surrendering to these hostile ideas and people. We have chosen to align ourselves with factions rather than with all who want the best for us, for the country, for the world. Do we really need to heat up the Cold War once again and produce hypersonic missiles? Would it not be better to use that money, those funds,, to better the lives of all people, all races, all religions, all ethnicities? Can we ever do that? Will we ever grow into that ideal?
Nothing is forever. Certainly, we do not have to treasure our anger and fear and better, channel the energies they drain from us into positive actions and words. Let us begin, as they say, forthwith! First step, look in the mirror and see the truth of you. Look in the political mirror and see the truth of our failed leaders. Then vote them out. Not in exchange for extremists who appeal to our anger, but for thoughtful people who understand the power of words, the need for cooperation rather than pervasive and destructive anger and fear.
We need to use the propulsive power of words to move forward, seal the cracks, drain that proverbial swamp, turn negativity into positive action. Can we? Well, we must, or history will speak for itself and will repeat yet one more time.
Get out there and vote. Vote to be well, to be safe, for our nation to be well and safe as well. This is the only way to avoid growth of negative forces and battles in the streets. VOTE!!
Friday, July 17, 2020
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
When I was a little girl, oh so many, many, years ago, I would wonder what went on in the world, in the middle of the night, as I lay asleep in my bed. Did anything important happen? Was the world going to be there when I woke up? Would the world have changed drastically while I was asleep? And most important, when would I be allowed to stay up to those magical middle of the night hours?
Well, imagination and thoughts of the unknown are often better than the reality of those thoughts. Take it from me. What happens in the middle of the night is this: one lies in bed, staring into the dark, wishing one could fall back asleep. The thoughts begin to churn, the worries come back, the non answerable and insolvable problems circle the brain and sleep? A lost hope. Not to forget the nasty looks and thoughts directed at your partner as he sleeps away, totally ignorant of your miserable situation.
Then a strange thing happens. One gets so used to becoming a night owl, that the thought process actually begins to become a blessing in those middle of the night hours. The other night I actually was able to fall back asleep and when I woke up at 5:30 I panicked. So late!!! My timed meds? My readers' expectations, especially those also awake in the middle of the night. And my early morning appointment! Yikes!!!
Funny, what one can get used to. Of course, come the evening and I am truly out of commission. Sleep time. TV time, if one can find anything to watch. Book time, always a good time for that, but after two pages and after 8:30, sleep time arrives. But truly, it is not so bad, as the early morning hours are quiet. No emails that require answers. No calls to make. No phones or texts. No place to rush to. Just a quiet time to think, to ponder the woes of the world and how we get rid of the "most dangerous man in the world", as Mary Trump puts it.
The election cannot come soon enough for me as we hopefully repudiate this man and his hateful followers, his evil thinking corps of suckups! But then I worry if he will be able to sabotage the process and what damage will he do between Election Day and Inauguration Day? Will RBG stay healthy and whole, please G-d!! We need to wrap that woman in padding, bubble wrap, and carry her around for sanity's sake. Truly.
And in the middle of the night what is the topic of the times? Quelle shock! Trump is a racist. Trump is a raging anti Semite. Really?! Like was that so difficult to figure out? Did he not spout and espouse enough of these remarks to make it clear to even the densest of his bases, and to the most self deluded of them? And yet, apparently not, as even now, they deny the evidence and point to his Jewish son-in-law and his grandchildren. Well, Trump loves no one and nobody other than himself. Just ask his two children he ignores- Tiffany and Barron. Just ask the others and they will have to acknowledge that they work FOR him, not with him, on sufferance of performance and loyalty. Loyalty to him - Him, not the country, not its people, but certainly to the bottom line of Trump Enterprises. If not, well, there is that bus and its wheels.
Worse than it all is the divisiveness he inspires among those who should be united in opposition, those who are his targets and throwing each other under the bus is not a good way to go. Why is it that suddenly Black athletes, talk show hosts and public figures are shouting and ranting anti Semitic canards, the same old filth, praising that horrific bigot, Farrakhan? Jews have been supportive of the civil rights movement since time began, as they never were granted these rights until recently, in the history of the world, and they have been taken away at the drop of a hat. Canadians just read a manifesto telling the country to expel its Jewish inhabitants. And then what? What? Why must the world persist in these hateful divides? It produces no good, only much harm unto death and worse.
Then the despair of the middle of the night hits and something must be done to check it, to combat it, to try to persuade oneself and the audience that there is yet hope, we are not done yet. In Jewish folklore, there are the tales of the town of Chelm, known for its inhabitants who think, shall we say, differently, foolishly, but manage to fool themselves into thinking they are the "wise" men of Chelm and are happy in their foolishness and ignorance. I think some of us might have read one too many of these stories, succumbed to the bliss of self deception and willful ignorance.
But in the middle of the night, the dark and quiet night, the night can be deceptively soft and soothing, or turn the other way, and produce frightening visions and thoughts, an imagination run wild. Then the middle of the night opens itself up unto the harsher light of day, the sharp edges of the world exposed and reality sets in. The phone rings. The sleeping partner stirs. The emails from early rising children and friends begin and life goes on.
However, be it the middle of the night or middle of the day with the sun shining directly overhead, our needs are the same, meshing with the universal commonality. It is to be well, to avoid plagues of the times, and to stay, and remain safe. The human condition does not necessarily always provide that reassurance, mostly due to our own errors, large and small. With work, with determination and resolve, we can better that same human condition. First step-get him out and throw his moral weaklings out right along with him, never to return to our government again. Never to harm us again. And as for him, the minute he is out, serve him with his well earned and deserved criminal warrants and measure him for an orange jumpsuit. Ahhh, that image will soothe me during the next few middle of the nights.
Let us all vote and let us all look towards a better future where we WILL be safe and well. Let us VOTE and make that happen.
Well, imagination and thoughts of the unknown are often better than the reality of those thoughts. Take it from me. What happens in the middle of the night is this: one lies in bed, staring into the dark, wishing one could fall back asleep. The thoughts begin to churn, the worries come back, the non answerable and insolvable problems circle the brain and sleep? A lost hope. Not to forget the nasty looks and thoughts directed at your partner as he sleeps away, totally ignorant of your miserable situation.
Then a strange thing happens. One gets so used to becoming a night owl, that the thought process actually begins to become a blessing in those middle of the night hours. The other night I actually was able to fall back asleep and when I woke up at 5:30 I panicked. So late!!! My timed meds? My readers' expectations, especially those also awake in the middle of the night. And my early morning appointment! Yikes!!!
Funny, what one can get used to. Of course, come the evening and I am truly out of commission. Sleep time. TV time, if one can find anything to watch. Book time, always a good time for that, but after two pages and after 8:30, sleep time arrives. But truly, it is not so bad, as the early morning hours are quiet. No emails that require answers. No calls to make. No phones or texts. No place to rush to. Just a quiet time to think, to ponder the woes of the world and how we get rid of the "most dangerous man in the world", as Mary Trump puts it.
The election cannot come soon enough for me as we hopefully repudiate this man and his hateful followers, his evil thinking corps of suckups! But then I worry if he will be able to sabotage the process and what damage will he do between Election Day and Inauguration Day? Will RBG stay healthy and whole, please G-d!! We need to wrap that woman in padding, bubble wrap, and carry her around for sanity's sake. Truly.
And in the middle of the night what is the topic of the times? Quelle shock! Trump is a racist. Trump is a raging anti Semite. Really?! Like was that so difficult to figure out? Did he not spout and espouse enough of these remarks to make it clear to even the densest of his bases, and to the most self deluded of them? And yet, apparently not, as even now, they deny the evidence and point to his Jewish son-in-law and his grandchildren. Well, Trump loves no one and nobody other than himself. Just ask his two children he ignores- Tiffany and Barron. Just ask the others and they will have to acknowledge that they work FOR him, not with him, on sufferance of performance and loyalty. Loyalty to him - Him, not the country, not its people, but certainly to the bottom line of Trump Enterprises. If not, well, there is that bus and its wheels.
Worse than it all is the divisiveness he inspires among those who should be united in opposition, those who are his targets and throwing each other under the bus is not a good way to go. Why is it that suddenly Black athletes, talk show hosts and public figures are shouting and ranting anti Semitic canards, the same old filth, praising that horrific bigot, Farrakhan? Jews have been supportive of the civil rights movement since time began, as they never were granted these rights until recently, in the history of the world, and they have been taken away at the drop of a hat. Canadians just read a manifesto telling the country to expel its Jewish inhabitants. And then what? What? Why must the world persist in these hateful divides? It produces no good, only much harm unto death and worse.
Then the despair of the middle of the night hits and something must be done to check it, to combat it, to try to persuade oneself and the audience that there is yet hope, we are not done yet. In Jewish folklore, there are the tales of the town of Chelm, known for its inhabitants who think, shall we say, differently, foolishly, but manage to fool themselves into thinking they are the "wise" men of Chelm and are happy in their foolishness and ignorance. I think some of us might have read one too many of these stories, succumbed to the bliss of self deception and willful ignorance.
But in the middle of the night, the dark and quiet night, the night can be deceptively soft and soothing, or turn the other way, and produce frightening visions and thoughts, an imagination run wild. Then the middle of the night opens itself up unto the harsher light of day, the sharp edges of the world exposed and reality sets in. The phone rings. The sleeping partner stirs. The emails from early rising children and friends begin and life goes on.
However, be it the middle of the night or middle of the day with the sun shining directly overhead, our needs are the same, meshing with the universal commonality. It is to be well, to avoid plagues of the times, and to stay, and remain safe. The human condition does not necessarily always provide that reassurance, mostly due to our own errors, large and small. With work, with determination and resolve, we can better that same human condition. First step-get him out and throw his moral weaklings out right along with him, never to return to our government again. Never to harm us again. And as for him, the minute he is out, serve him with his well earned and deserved criminal warrants and measure him for an orange jumpsuit. Ahhh, that image will soothe me during the next few middle of the nights.
Let us all vote and let us all look towards a better future where we WILL be safe and well. Let us VOTE and make that happen.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
DANGNABBIT!!!!!!
And here I am, planning to write a different posting, when BOOM! Even the knowledge that I had Mary Trump's and John Bolton's book , all ready for enjoyable? frightening? reading over the weekend, could not stop the aggravation and the fear. The direction our country is taking, the wrong turns the supposed leaders have taken, well, if they do not keep you up at night then something, I hate to tell you, is very much wrong with your thinking process and understanding of our perilous situation. Never before have we been in such a hanging off the cliff, existentially threatening moment, even during the Civil War, for then at least we had a group of governmental leaders who were supportive of our republic. Now? Feh!! Now, the leader on high is a traitor, no other word to express its depth of danger, and the rest of them follow along like recently found lost lambs who huddle around their master even as he kicks the *&%# out of them!
What else is there, how else to think when these are the current activities of the day. The CEO of Goya, a company which relies heavily on a Latino following, praises the hell out of this demented and dangerous president. Such a leader- not!! He falls over himself in his efforts to praise and suck up. In return, he gets a nauseating pose of Ivanka masquerading as a model for a Goya ad, quoting the company's own message. Yup! Everything is for sale in this White House. Integrity? That ship has gone down long ago. Greed, corruption, quid pro quo? All over the new ship of state manifest.
But we are not done. Fox, emboldened by their supportive chief fascist in office, keeps on Nick Cannon and his show. Right after the most awful revival of every historical falsehood that reeks of anti Semitism, that smell of the blood spilled because of them, Cannon then spouts off some written for him set of oh so sorry lines and he is fixed! Yup, okay, once again, ad infinitum, to trash the Jews, to put them in harm's way, to encourage the hatred, the violence, to conveniently forget that oh, yes, - words can kill!! Is it difficult now to understand why so many Jewish citizens are checking their passports, making sure they are valid? From the right and the left - we are sitting once more on the edge of a crumbling cliff.
A lovely touch, someone mentions the fear of a secret set of voters, a thought I had just mentioned to someone the other day. These are people with enough understanding to realize that voicing their support for our homegrown Hitler would shame them, cause dissension, shut up about their plans to vote for him. And here we go on a truly slippery ramp to perdition. Again!
And where are the voters who plan to support Biden? Locked out of polling places, waiting in long and dangerous lines, for hours, into wee hours of the morning of the day after, denied mail-in ballots, ripped from the rolls of eligible voters. Or trapped in places where they are sheltering, far away from their registered address, and mail-in ballots are scarce as hen's teeth! Yup, America today! How far we have fallen.
Taking a lesson from the past, a bad lesson, the political appointees in the federal government are now being questioned vigorously, as to their loyalty to not the country, for why ask that when the President himself is not. What is their loyalty to Trump, the evil master, about their plans, their hopes and goals - all the better to insure that we, the people, go to hell, and take along with us the Declaration and the Constitution. And here we all sit, reassuring ourselves that our institutions will stop him. Really? The Senate did such a great job on that, did they not? The House Republicans were just as helpful. The judicial system is corrupted, rife with fractures and chasms, into which true justice has fallen, with a corrupt Attorney General and judges of the federal bench who belong back in law school to truly learn the law, about justice, the difference between legality and morality and a person's responsibility towards society. Anyone hear the echoes of history, Germanic sounds, ever growing brighter and clearer visions of raised hands and roaring sounds? Are you afraid yet? You should be. Are you at least worried? If not, get that head out of the sand. We are definitely moving towards the once unthinkable. G-d help us, but that is so.
Now our data is pouring into the White House and its shills, the new information about the truth of Covid - 19 to be held secret, just like every other fascistic government around the world. The truth is dangerous. Hide it. Cover it up. Lie through the teeth about it. No one is stopping it. Wringing hands does not count.
Seth Meyers says it better than me. "...the central feature of Trumpism: the proud lack of empathy, the intentional cruelty, inflicting misery on your opponents and disfavored groups just to prove your dominance." He continues with the following, truthful words as the day is long. "The basic truth here is that Donald Trump just could not care any less about racist police violence, or the coronavirus pandemic or the financial misery tens of millions Americans are currently going through," Meyers said. "And not only that, he's doing everything he can to make the situation worse."
We are warned, that there is a new life awaiting us, with old rules and assurances gone by the board. It is up to us to oversee those changes and perhaps salvage the most and the best from our former lives. It will demand great courage, hard work, mammoth effort, and sheer determination to triumph over those who would destroy this country, turn out the lights and return to a new Dark Ages. We cannot allow that. We must not allow that. Well? Safe? Bah! Humbug, unless we act. Dangnabbit? Such a mild substitute for the true words that need to be shouted to the Heavens! DANGNABBIT!!!
What else is there, how else to think when these are the current activities of the day. The CEO of Goya, a company which relies heavily on a Latino following, praises the hell out of this demented and dangerous president. Such a leader- not!! He falls over himself in his efforts to praise and suck up. In return, he gets a nauseating pose of Ivanka masquerading as a model for a Goya ad, quoting the company's own message. Yup! Everything is for sale in this White House. Integrity? That ship has gone down long ago. Greed, corruption, quid pro quo? All over the new ship of state manifest.
But we are not done. Fox, emboldened by their supportive chief fascist in office, keeps on Nick Cannon and his show. Right after the most awful revival of every historical falsehood that reeks of anti Semitism, that smell of the blood spilled because of them, Cannon then spouts off some written for him set of oh so sorry lines and he is fixed! Yup, okay, once again, ad infinitum, to trash the Jews, to put them in harm's way, to encourage the hatred, the violence, to conveniently forget that oh, yes, - words can kill!! Is it difficult now to understand why so many Jewish citizens are checking their passports, making sure they are valid? From the right and the left - we are sitting once more on the edge of a crumbling cliff.
A lovely touch, someone mentions the fear of a secret set of voters, a thought I had just mentioned to someone the other day. These are people with enough understanding to realize that voicing their support for our homegrown Hitler would shame them, cause dissension, shut up about their plans to vote for him. And here we go on a truly slippery ramp to perdition. Again!
And where are the voters who plan to support Biden? Locked out of polling places, waiting in long and dangerous lines, for hours, into wee hours of the morning of the day after, denied mail-in ballots, ripped from the rolls of eligible voters. Or trapped in places where they are sheltering, far away from their registered address, and mail-in ballots are scarce as hen's teeth! Yup, America today! How far we have fallen.
Taking a lesson from the past, a bad lesson, the political appointees in the federal government are now being questioned vigorously, as to their loyalty to not the country, for why ask that when the President himself is not. What is their loyalty to Trump, the evil master, about their plans, their hopes and goals - all the better to insure that we, the people, go to hell, and take along with us the Declaration and the Constitution. And here we all sit, reassuring ourselves that our institutions will stop him. Really? The Senate did such a great job on that, did they not? The House Republicans were just as helpful. The judicial system is corrupted, rife with fractures and chasms, into which true justice has fallen, with a corrupt Attorney General and judges of the federal bench who belong back in law school to truly learn the law, about justice, the difference between legality and morality and a person's responsibility towards society. Anyone hear the echoes of history, Germanic sounds, ever growing brighter and clearer visions of raised hands and roaring sounds? Are you afraid yet? You should be. Are you at least worried? If not, get that head out of the sand. We are definitely moving towards the once unthinkable. G-d help us, but that is so.
Now our data is pouring into the White House and its shills, the new information about the truth of Covid - 19 to be held secret, just like every other fascistic government around the world. The truth is dangerous. Hide it. Cover it up. Lie through the teeth about it. No one is stopping it. Wringing hands does not count.
Seth Meyers says it better than me. "...the central feature of Trumpism: the proud lack of empathy, the intentional cruelty, inflicting misery on your opponents and disfavored groups just to prove your dominance." He continues with the following, truthful words as the day is long. "The basic truth here is that Donald Trump just could not care any less about racist police violence, or the coronavirus pandemic or the financial misery tens of millions Americans are currently going through," Meyers said. "And not only that, he's doing everything he can to make the situation worse."
We are warned, that there is a new life awaiting us, with old rules and assurances gone by the board. It is up to us to oversee those changes and perhaps salvage the most and the best from our former lives. It will demand great courage, hard work, mammoth effort, and sheer determination to triumph over those who would destroy this country, turn out the lights and return to a new Dark Ages. We cannot allow that. We must not allow that. Well? Safe? Bah! Humbug, unless we act. Dangnabbit? Such a mild substitute for the true words that need to be shouted to the Heavens! DANGNABBIT!!!
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