STAYING OUT OF THE MIX

     So stated one potential voter when asked about her choice for President. She answered by stating that she was staying out of the mix, voting on down ballot candidates but not for the top of the ballot. No decision on the vital question as to who will lead this country over the next four years.

But in doing so, she has made a decision and it is not a good one for Biden. Not making a choice is giving  a free vote to Trump, giving him a pass on all the sins he has committed lo these past four years - and those he allegedly committed in years past. I cannot wait to see him charged, convicted and jailed. But for that to happen he must be out of office, where he should never have been in the first place! People, there is no staying out of the mix on this issue for all are going to be affected by the choice of others.

There are other numbers to take into account. The numbers such as an almost 1,000 drop in the market, losses of thousands, particularly hurting small investors. There are the umbers like 89,000 new cases of infection, a new record, and one we are likely at this point to break and set new records every damned day going forward. Almost 9  million infected here, almost 230,000 dead, though thankfully we are getting better at keeping patients alive, but at what cost, and also recognizing that as younger people become ill, they have a better chance of survival than the earlier, older patients and victims of this virus. Staying out of the mix? Sorry, not on this issue and so many others.

And as the virus rages, burning through the voter possibilities and options for voting, as the fires rage, shifting populations away from their voting areas, as hurricane Zeta shuts off power to millions, this election is becoming more and more of a tossup, with dire consequences depending upon the final vote count, which, incidentally, will not be available for at least several days, then challenged multiple times in the courts, now stacked with Trump zombies, thanks to McConnell and others of his morally challenged ilk, and then who knows? 

Will Trump take off on his crazed threats of challenging the election, of refusing to leave office. And if he wins, - then we lose. Will we begin the final assault on democracy in America, the final siege of rights, of humanity, of the environment, of a hope to avoid a sixth extinction - that of mankind!? Who knows!?

Pence has not shown up to meetings on the so called panel about the virus, and he is the chair. Yet another prime example of incompetence and stupidity in this administration. We find that Azar has used public funds to improve Trump's campaign (one which would be ever so improved if only the madman would pull out!) And that plan? To find celebrities who perfectly support Trump the Rump in every one of his insane proposals and platform planks. Guess what? None too many found, thank the good Lord! I believe they found 10, and that is actually ten too many for my taste.

We are being cautioned against early optimism as Republican voters tend to come out on Election Day rather than early vote. Well, we must combat that, chauffeur voters to the polls, give them water and chairs and encouragement to wait it out. We must carry ballots of the homebound to the boxes and offices for secure and timely deposits. We must do all we can, and indeed, stay, remain, up to our threatened necks, in the mix.

This election is a existential one, both for short and long term. This country cannot survive intact, in harmony, with its founding principles, its ever ongoing attempts to right wrongs, to undo the harm caused by mistakes, were Trump the Rump to serve another term. That must never happen nor should Pence be there in the line for office were something to happen.

No, we must recognize the situation wherein no one can stay out of the mix. We are already embroiled in that mix and must do our best, take our responsibility seriously, and get further in the mix until it is properly sorted out. And would that not be such a great joy, to see the criminal, the fakes and frauds, get what should have been coming to them lo these many a year.

And by the way, we must combat this attitude even in our local elections and choices. Guess what? The Executive Board meeting is canceled yet again.

March, 2020 - nix on Assembly and Board

April, 2020 -nix Assembly and Board

May, 2020 - nix Assembly and Board

June, 2020 - nix Assembly and oard

July, 2020 - nix Assembly and Board

August, 2020 - nix Assembly and Board

September, 2020 - nix Assembly and Board

October, 2020 - nix Assembly and Board

November, 2020 and on? What do you think?

Folks, we must get right in there and make one's displeasure known. Get rid of the useless timber and put in fresh plantings, newer and improved seeds, all for a  better CV and a better USA and a better world.

         VOTE     VOTE      VOTE    VOTE

"OVERCONFIDENT IDIOTS"

     I swear, you cannot make this up. The tautologies, inanities, stupidities and falsehoods that keep on coming from the maw of the Trump campaign are unbelievable, but unfortunately, too real. Their collective tongues and feet, along with their abused and abusive mouths must be raw from the constant insertion of said items into their mouths or stepping on them as they lay out carpets of lies before themselves. Kind of the opposite of the rose petals scattered before a bride. So, why the title? Could not help myself. Kushner, the "senior adviser" to his father in law, had a profound moment re their mess and incompetence with the pandemic. The problem, he stated oh so wisely and profoundly, was that the WH had too many incompetent idiots. 

If they would simply read a paper or wo, or look at their tv screens, the would see the truth, that the idiots are those reflected right back at them. They would realize exactly who these idiots are, condemned by their own actions or inactions in dealing with the pandemic. Hence the growing numbers of dead and infected. Hence the reeling hospitals and exhausted personnel on all front lines, with no help forthcoming from the incompetents and idiots in the White House.

Let's take another one, truth, evidently becoming an endangered species within the White House and this administration. Mike Lee, a prototype of the devolvement of all GOP Senators and public officials, said that fact checking, the truth, is simply censorship. I kid you not!

What has happened o our country, once so grand? What has happened to its ethics, to its honor, to its constant striving, to those who rose to the challenge in serving their country, rather than in serving themselves? Our cadre of supposed leaders is now a strange compendium of unbelievable idiots, liars, criminals, and incompetents.

Election poll: Biden continues to hold nationwide advantage in…

Supreme Court rejects Trump effort to shorten North Carolina mail-ballot…

Opinions | How the idiocy of Trump and Jared Kushner let the pandemic loose

Not done yet, folks, so hang in there. Just a bit more. Did you know that California forces its citizens to wear strange and arcane masks at ALL times. I kid you not - at least according to that prototype of the worst leader ever, Trump, and all manifestly lies, but then again,, re Mike Lee, truth is just censorship, so here comes the Queen of Hearts, shouting off with their heads and Americans screaming in desperation to the chant of "we're late" rings out so true. Can we wind back the clock, reset the dial, and return to any kind of normalcy? Dunno. I truly do not - and that is if all goes well with Tuesday and the right leaders are elected to office. But even then, even then, we have the tyrannical, demented, sociopath still in office till January 20th and oh the mischief, to say the least, that can be done in the interim.

Even if we could reset time, what about the rest of the "collateral" damage we have incurred these past four years. This man and his ilk took an economy returned to growing health and trashed it. They took compassionate reasoning and a caring government back to the Dark Ages of humanity where we condemned those needing  help to flounder and drown, alone, in despair, with hungry and homeless flooding the land. Why collateral? Because those who mattered in this strange and cold world would be only the upper crust, tax free, corrupt, spoiled, entitled, uncaring, as their growing wealth was ripped from the skin and labor of others. Collateral indeed. Now, if in today's world that makes me a - oooohhhh - socialist, then so be it. And so be it for all of you who use Medicare, Social Security, SNAP, unemployment benefits, age related subsidies, government funds, any governmental subsidies, then  Tsk, tsk, all you closeted socialists! Ooohhh, gotta' rethink, dontcha!

So, as the rest of the country remains in the killing fields of the pandemic, yeah, that one, we are being told that ending this pandemic is one of the leading triumphs of the Trump administration, Again, cannot make this up. Just pickup a paper, go online. then try not to choke, as you think of your own fear for yourself and your loved ones, as you mourn those dying, those already dead and missed, those friends gone, the overwhelmed hospitals, and exhausted front liners in all fields, from hospitals to food delivery, to all those purchases we now make on line and pick up curbside!!

But wait, for there is yet more vicious inanities. As Trump returns to the White House, stepping off his helicopter, no mob transportation for him, he rips off his so called mask, in a gesture meant to increase deaths and defiance of common sense, and tells us that we should not let it dominate us, not allow it to take over our lives, for we can live with it!!! Right! Tell that to the families with no medial or health insurance who die alone, at home, quarantined from their family, or the people dying alone in hospitals, saying goodbye over the internet, with only a caring nurse there to facilitate even that small gesture. Don't let it take us over; we can live with it. No, we cannot, as we are finding out once again. As the death rate, the hospitalizations all zoom up. 

No. We have had enough of this topsy-turvy world. This is not pajama day in kindergarten, or funny hat day in fifth grade or beanie day in college. This is live or die time in America. This is dying time for the economy as it cannot be restored until we deal with this pandemic. It is times of desperation as the repressed hatreds of so many burst forth from wounded hearts and minds, as souls are challenged, as violence grows. Pictures of protests and riots are shown as threats to what WILL be under a Biden administration, all the while, all the damned time, disremembering, that this is happening NOW, under a Trump administration, encouraged by a Trump administration, seeded by a Trump administration, all to bring about a different America, one with no hope, without unity, without compassion. Instead,  we will be just another once upon a time country now reduced to Third World status, run by petty despots who feather their own nests, stealing all those proverbial feathers from the oppressed masses of their country.

No, folks, this is the truth and if we have any more time on this stressed and abused globe of ours, future historians will wonder how a nation lost its minds, lost its collective psyche, became the moral mess it did; the immorality of its leaders, the weakness and flaws of the people, combining in an evil, seemingly unstoppable synergy. I, for one, do not want to see this happen. I, for one will vote Biden. I, for one, will be up all night, hoping, praying, shouting, crying, worrying - what will be. Trying to forgo any thoughts of the worst, or of a President who fosters Civil War in this country. Join me in fighting for a future and let us send these moral wimps and dangerous cowards back to where they belong wherever that is.

Finally, just a little tweak. David, oh, David, Board meetings are allowed as of Nov. 2, by the words of WPRF. Are we having one now? We can schedule one for next week and call it the March - October Executive Board Meeting!! Hmmmm. How do you get out of this one?

Go and VOTE, friends. Go in person now. Bring those ballots in. Get the crooks, the dangerously inept, out of office. Let us feel hope and clean air once again.    VOTE.

1 

QUESTIONS, YES, BUT WHERE ARE THE ANSWERS?

     The problem is, perhaps there are too many questions being asked, so answers are not forthcoming. Or, perhaps we are asking the wrong questions, hence no answers, at least not very many that make sense. Or, perhaps there are no answers. At least not helpful, complete answers which provide a cue, a roadmap, a direction to follow. Such is the predicament today. Not a good situation.

Then what is the question to be asked? Perhaps this one: what if? But then again, there are so many corollaries to that question that we could be up all night simply listing them. In fact, most of us will be up all night on Nov.3-4 hoping, praying, weeping, pleading, for a different result than four years ago.

Four years ago we forgot we were America. Four years ago we played a dangerous game of "I'll show them" and voted in a dangerous, demented clown, whose smirk was real. Four years ago we became the private go to resource for Trump coffers as the government paid him millions upon millions as he played host at his hotels and golf clubs. Four years ago we pushed this nation and globe to the edges of the earth and the dangers beyond manifested themselves daily as we ignored all warnings.

Four years ago we enabled the growth of hatred, a toxic atmosphere, to develop in this country. Four years ago we deemed all refugees as murderers and rapists, fought against the fearsome enemies of the state in the form of little brown children as we separated them from their parents, some of them still lost, perhaps forever lost. Four years ago we ran into a rain of lies such as we have never seen before, actual WH policy! Four years ago these lies, these bigoted statements and comments began to lead to murder - from synagogues to the streets. Four years ago we began to see violent proof of too many  rotten apples in the police departments as those deemed suspects, for whatever, were summarily judged out there on the streets, the literal street, tried and executed with capital punishment - death. Four years ago we forgot how to ask questions and the answers took too long in coming.

This attitude began to pervade the nation, seeping, oozing, into every level of government. It appeared to be that wherever a Republican came into office, the good old days of nepotism, graft and corruption, public funds drained off for private people and needs, all the ugliness of an ugly governmental attitude, came into fashion once more, with a riproaring bang as we, the people, were ripped off, stomped upon, deemed of little value, and the important values of profits for the uber wealthy, became prime. Values, morality? Feh!!

Even as we asked questions, more and more, we never received answers, certainly not honest ones. Those with thinking minds began to figure out the answers for themselves, began to draw up road maps that asked the right questions and led people to correct and helpful answers. The problem - will enough people listen, hear, see, think, and do the right thing and VOTE for Biden/Harris, for a future, for hope, for America. I hope so, I truly do. If not....I cannot even allow myself to go there, so frightening, so doomed a fate if that were to be.

And what about here? Here in CV we have the worst ever president of UCO, perhaps tied with Kurt Weiss who sold us down the river with the present expiring Millennium Agreement and David presumably is preparing - or not preparing at all - and hence history will repeat itself, perhaps even worse. He has long ago outworn his sell by date. His brain and thinking powers, his values, his morality, his recognition that he volunteered to run to serve the residents, and not himself - well, the resulting present situation is a clue to all that has, is, and will continue to go wrong here.

We have no clue as to where our funds have gone. We have no clue as to the proposed budget. We have no clue, and given no approval for the spending of funds as thousands are being thrown out every day as we piecemeal repair the roads that he did such a crappy job and contract with in the first place. We have no idea where we are in the new agreement and how much we will be ripped off by management. We have no UCO, for all intents and purposes, as there are no longer any meetings, certainly none which involve others than the same officials, the same cloned hand picked people, yes people, who show up at every committee meeting,  that does happen, all to rubberstamp David's warped decisions  - what a cruel joke! We have had no Executive Board meetings since March. We have had no Delegate Assembly meeting since March. The great techie maven apparently has lost those gray cells that deal with newer enabling techniques for meetings and so - no ZOOM for truly open meetings. The building - that we paid for - is locked against us, with self made hours and decisions as to whom to allow in and whom to block. Even the purported Village blog, his own personal one, has no takers, no responses, for he has long ago blocked all that oppose him ad his plans. Now there is a posting either volunteered or paid for advertisement for a political candidate for judge!!!!!

So what are the questions? Where are the answers? And where are we? Where are our mouths? Where is our defiance to this loss of democracy and rights. Sorry, got no answers for you if eyes and ears and feet and brains are not ready to hear them.

'Tis a shame, a deep one. Wish the answers were easy, wish the questions were asked, wish the answers were heard, on every level of government - but if wishes,,,,well, we all know the rest of that one. G-d help us if we do not help ourselves 'Tis a shame.

 

AMUSEMENT PARK RIDES

      Ah, who can forget the thrill, the fright, the daring, on that first step into the car of that ride. Up and then down, around the turn, being jerked hither and thither and going back for more. And now, we just stand there and watch and pray as our grandkids go on the most extreme rides ever. "I want him/her back in the same condition" is what I often semi jokingly say to the operator. Life changes, joys change, and values change -or do they? Or is it simply that we leave certain things behind and the ones we take are often changed drastically. Have we become jaded with the amusement park rides of life or have we begun  to treat and evaluate them differently?

As one gets older, one wants a bit more peace in and of life. Not for us those extreme ups and downs, the agonies of defeat and the triumph of victory. Yet, today, that is exactly where we are. The radicals of the 60's and 70's, those hippie flower children, singing of love and peace, turned into a generation of strivers, many forgoing their early ideals, giving up those dead and dying flowers and turning to the amassment of money and power instead. 

Today, there is a split in that generation, with one segment verging conservative, all the better to calm those ups and downs, to stop 'wasting' their time,  to deny their past and their former ideals. The other part finds itself on the firing lines once again. Back with the signs. Back with the campaigning. More phone calls to make. More hope that once again, just maybe, we can turn the world on its head. Can we? Is that park ride still working? Do we have the stamina to face its chills and thrills? 

Well, the night of Nov.3-4 will go a long way to telling us  the answer. Will the shouts of 'the whole world is watching' ring once again, as we wonder why there is that deja vu of standing against the cops once again, being told to leave if we are not willing to give up our rights in order to stress those rights? Weird reasoning in weird times and we are right back in that weird amusement park once more.

But these parks are not the names of the past and the present. No more Freedom Park in the Bronx. No more Action Park in New Jersey. The sweetness of Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland, the joys of the little ones - and not such little ones - at Sesame Place. The true magic of Disney. Where has that all gone? Instead of laughing and yes, stressed, family groupings or laughing teenagers, being oh so grown up and kids again at one and the same time - all these are replaced by walking politics. The most dangerous and least enjoyable rides are the ones on the pavements, on the heads and chests of people as they wear their politics openly and with hostility, as if with something to prove. And perhaps that is so.

But the present roller coaster that has grown into a devouring monster, one that swallows all the values and ideals, the one that grows apace even as we weaken in determination to keep alive those rides of old, that monster is swallowing whole the idea and reality, the dreams and hopes of America. Of what makes us Americans, once able to state that fact with pride, and yes, even conceit, but now, are unwelcome in so many places in the world, whose people fight viciously against each other, who have imported the open statements of old prejudiced memes and trolls, contaminating the newer rides found on the internet.

Quite frankly, I do not like this new amusement park or its selection of rides. Its whack-a-mole game is tainted as the heads of politicians arise rather than the proverbial moles. The targets have changed from rolling ducks to statements of rights, and people shoot them down, much to their  own disadvantage. We jeer at the poor dude getting dunked instead of sharing a good natured laughter. We forget our past in a crude nd mean rush to mortgage our future with the highest and most unrepayable rates ever. These rides stink! They are dangerous in more ways than one can even count or understand. So the cry of "I want my Maypo", I want my past values again, rings through the air, as a generation and its descendants confront the most hostile amusement park ever.

'Maypo' will never return until we prepare for it. We need to restore the safety regulations, the right of people to be secure in their jobs and not have politics interfere. We need to allow for freedom of speech, for differentiation and disagreement with the views of the ruling administration. We need to be determined re the rules of these rides, as they change, hopefully allowing for the remaking of themselves into something that can make us proud. We need to rid these rides of the true fright and danger they present. Difficult, admittedly so, but not impossible,

Get rid of those who cannot see the park that America was and is meant to be. Get rid of Trump. Get rid of Kushner, he of old fashioned prejudice and thinking. Get rid of Ivanka who traded her liberal tendencies for that shiny key to the WH. Get rid of all of those who think they can impose their religion and belief on others. Get rid of those unamerican Americans who twist and flout all that we hold sacred, shiny, meaningful, challenging and inspiring. Open the government,  stop with these nasty conspiracy fables. Open the meetings to the light and air, and just as an aside, David Israel, why the hell have there been no Executive Board meetings since March. You make believe they are scheduled ad then cancel them the night before!! Shame on you. Time for you to leave this amusement park ride so we can fix it, oil it, open it to new and fresh thinking. To people who can think ahead, care for the Village and not just about how to hold onto power. And spend our money and negotiate our contracts in deep darkness.

People, we have got to fix this park of ours, this beautiful park of America. The turnout must be huge. Every vote must be in,  hopefully by Nov.3  to avert all falsehoods.  VOTE, as if your life depends on it- for it does. VOTE! Vote against all that Trump means and represents, and VOTE to deny it, to cleanse it from our national profile. Vote because it is a privilege that must be used if we are not to lose it. VOTE for a good future. VOTE for a park where we laugh, where values are valued, treasured, where America rides the ups and downs of life with confidence and pride.

Vote so that this insane virus is met hands and heads on, that 80,000 a day stop falling ill. Vote, so some idiot can no longer say it is a blessing, nor stand on TV and make an ass out of himself, admittedly not a difficult thig to do, and yet, still have his backers. VOTE to lift the blinders. Vote for rights, for hope, for a future. VOTE BIDEN. Vote Democratic party for I cannot think of one Republican candidate on any level who has any moral courage left within.

       VOTE!!

110 YARDS AND DWIGHT AND SHERRY AND ALL THE WHILE...

      People watched in amazement as the ball was punted over 110 yards to cross the goal line. It flew through the air, straight and true as the opposing team ran uselessly to catch and stop its flight. In the meanwhile, we have yet another surprise and another crossover between the characters of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. Dwight and Sherry reunite in a tear inducing embrace, a search successful and the future? That is unknown.

People are becoming invested to a heavy degree in things that normally might have earned a comment, but today serve as substitutes for the real world. That world is just too damn uncomfortable; better to look away and survive is the thought. Keep your head down and your mouth shut appears to be the growing new normal. And yet, that is the very thing we must avoid, for if we say and do nothing, the cracks in the firmament of the United States of America will have no more reunions, will have no miraculous punts. Instead, there will be those ever lengthening cracks, the deeper and deeper chasms that will rend this country into shreds. What was - once - will be no longer. 

Voters are coming out in droves. That is good news but there remain questions that will not be answered until perhaps many days later. Who are these voters and their choices? Are there going to be more record numbers of voters on Election Day or will it taper off? Will the Democratic surge hold true, strong, right through Nov. 3 or will that be overcome by a last minute surge of troglodytes to the polls, determined to keep their chosen and demented tyrant in office, enmeshed in his own imaginary world colored by lies and 'roid rages.

So be afraid my friends, very much so. The GOP is continually going at the fabric of this country, and all is fair for them in this war against democracy. And yes, democracy - for that is what is at stake. It is freedom of speech. It is the right and the comfort to know that the government has the best interests of its residents in mind. That the politicians will not enrich themselves via corruption and theft at the public trough. That rules, traditions, decency, comity will all be valued and the anger and hatred will be tamped down. Particularly if Trump is consigned to the garbage heap of history, an aberration, and better yet, best, actually, we get to see him charged, led away in cuffs, doing a perp walk, and then modeling the orange jumpsuit that will so clash with his orange skin tone!!

We have now lost almost as many people to COVID 19 as we lost in battles in WWII. Within a few days we will bump up against a quarter of a million dead and 9 million infected with the numbers of infections higher than at any time since the beginning. We are at war. We are at war with the virus and with those who refused to admit it existed, that it needed strong and orderly, sensible ways to combat it, needed the work of real scientists, not the whoo-whoo ones that Trump drags out from some dark cupboard. 

It needs the trust of the population, the majority of whom now state that they will not take an early vaccine for the process is not to be trusted, too politicized, just so wrong. I am one of those and seriously, would love to see Trump and family take those vaccines first. Let them be the first, serve some positive purpose! 

What goes around comes around and it is not pretty. The cops are being politicized, losing their necessary neutrality. We eye the National Guard with great trepidation, for will they shoot their neighbors? Will they be transferred to other states so familiar faces will not be there, just as the Russians and Chinese do? People shout and curse each other, threaten them with dire consequences and even as the stomach churns and the despair rolls over in thick clouds, we, too, join in the fray, for so deep are these cracks and differences now, almost too far apart to hope for reconciliation and sense. And the armed forces? Will they obey a deranged and law breaking supposed commander in chief or will they support the Constitution? Facebook is preparing for disaster, people are planning, stocking up, buying guns, the rich are finding hideaway homes though there is no hiding from this, and we are in the midst of an uncertainty such as never has been before.

The truth is out. The WH admits it has no control, lost whatever chance of control, and now says it will pursue vaccines and mitigating efforts, huh! Thought they refused to wear masks, those political pieces of cloth, and all other measures. Well, guess there will be differences now - or maybe not. The WH tried to hide the fact that the virus is rampant among the West Wing and the VP's staff. Fox News had to quarantine a whole bunch of dudes due to exposure. Serves them right!! Choose stupidity and you will get bitten in the ass! Hard. Inevitable.

Trump keeps talking about some mythological corner that we are presumably rounding. Guess he is lost in his own Alice in Wonderland country where truth is a lie, and facts have no place there. Fauci says that we are indeed, not rounding any corner, but instead are going in the wrong direction. Quelle surprise! Trump says he cannot back some Republican Senators for he might lose his soul! What soul? Long gone in so many deals with the devil, so many deaths on his account books, the ones G-d keeps, so much guilt and evil laid at his feet - what soul!?

People, the future of this country, the future of ourselves and the kids are in our hands. We need to step up and combat evil for this is Evil with that capital E. Come out and VOTE. There is no other way. EVERY vote counts, There is no margin of safety. Time is of the essence. VOTE! For the sake of sanity - VOTE. For the sake of goodness - VOTE. For whatever reason - VOTE.

WHAT'S GOIN' ON.... ARE WE LOST?

    ...Time to get a move on...mmmmumm

That was one choice. Could have just as aptly been entitled Lost, after the iconic TV hit. Or, it could just as easily have been named COVID for obvious and not so obvious reasons. On the fourth hand (!) we could have named it tragic run up to a disastrous replay of history. And then a useless talking heads analysis of where we went wrong, with no one taking responsibility for anything!!

Anybody frightened yet out there? You should be, for we are living in a world, in times that have never been as complicated, as dangerous, as these are, especially with the evil synergy of so many complex issues at one and the same time, combined with a surfeit of evil thinking people, of complacent people, of hateful people, of just go along people. Perfect - or imperfect - recipe for bad social change and danger to humanity in a severely existential manner.

We are lost. We have somehow landed on what seems to be earth but apparently is not, what with polar bears and dragons and plots galore, with survivors killing each other rather than combining forces. We have people who demand leadership roles who are seriously lacking in the capabilities of fulfilling those roles.. We have all the selfish tendencies of mankind blooming and blossoming, being celebrated by people wearing red hats even as the flowers of goodness turn black with rot and from neglect. Old time lynch mobs are formed as the crowd chants lock him or her up - so what is next - a noose and a lightpost, or will that tall tree work? We have fallen low, my friends and this is the time to be frightened. And to take action, both proactive and reactive.

In a book which all should read, and feel,and mourn, and cry, and cheer, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz, by Jeremy Dronfield, a British nurse talks of what she felt when she was in Bergen Belsen after the war.

"... she felt shame and remorse that, having heard of the existence of such camps in 1934, she had never realized - and hadn't wanted to realize - that they could be like this. She and her colleagues were 'stirred with a cold anger which grew against those primarily responsible, the Germans, an anger that grew daily at Belsen." Others were shocked and it continues on - 

and sadly enough it has not stopped, never stopped for one minute, for one second in this world of ours. We cannot seem to stop ourselves from hating someone, anyone, someone other than ourselves, or even those like us if we do not go along to get along, justify it all by wanting 'peace', ignoring it all, turning upon each other, former friends and former family - and yes, former, for that is how deep the hate and the damage goes.

The world has not changed and in fact, the atmosphere of today is probably the most dangerous since the end of the Cold War - which has heated up again. Only now we have super weapons of which we boast, even as our people starve, as our economy collapses, as our leaders fail in their jobs and as we failed to pick the right ones.

How does one expect that our country, once a proud America, could survive this trend, particularly with so many stuck in a rut which precludes any blame or failure to impact their chosen tyrant. How does one continue on this blind path wherein the most selfish man on earth keeps telling us that we are "rounding a corner', that our numbers are great, -83,000 new confirmed cases on Friday, shattering the previous record of more than 77,000 cases in July, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The surge has led to more than 8.4 million cases and pushed the death toll to more than 223,000 people. That a vaccine is any day now, and the race for president is all about picking on him. Why does he only hear about COVID he wants to know. Anyone care to respond?? Disregard the true man behind the curtain, or the flimsy and faulty imitation of one. Ignore his lies, his sexual perversions, his disrespect for all others, for those who do not serve him - yes, serve - who do not flatter him and cater to his ego, who cheats the government and his fellow citizens, stiffs his subcontractors, ignores signed contracts, refuses to obey the rules and protocols, the traditions of this country, who encourages hate and finds positive things about hate groups, who lies and lies and lies and bullies all he can target. He even cheats charity!!

So tell me, red hat people, what does it take to get the blinders over your eyes removed, the minds working again, the Kool Aid put down, and a cool, refreshing glass of water taken - that is if one will be able to find any pure water, land or air, soon enough as all safety regulations are removed. As people with preexisting conditions - like me, and so many others - will simply not be allowed to live, the inevitable result of unaffordability of medical care, of medicinal aid, anything that would help a person live with a decent quality of life. And do not think you would be exempt from these troubles, for in such a world, there is no loyalty only constant fear, suspicion and depression, along with poverty, lack of medical care, lack of care for those who need it- and YOU will need that aid - that is never forthcoming any more. Scooters, medicines, hospitalization, home care - will be no more. A land of hopeless, desperate people. Blood anyone? Guns anyone?

What's goin' on is that we are indeed lost, that we are a nation afflicted with all the symptoms of COVID. We have a great fatigue plaguing the nation. We have lowered oxygen levels in our lungs and are laboring to breathe in these polluted and dangerous times, and oh, Dear G-d, but do we all have major headaches as we attempt to make sense out of a senseless world, a life, a threat to this country that we had not seen forthcoming , or did - and ignored it - or were ignored by those who simply want to live their own little life. But there is no longer that ability.  We are all in for it, the same damned mess that we helped create. 

 See, unlike that British nurse, WE are primarily responsible for it all. WE are the ones who let it get this far. WE are the ones who decided to go along with a dangerously demented and mentally ill man. WE are the ones who have not forced our GOP representatives to man up!! To do the right thing. And they have all, to a one, become moral cowards. Every Single One.

People out there who know the need for reform, for a strong and major change in our path toward the future - get out there and VOTE. EVERY VOTE COUNTS. 

 

G-D'S NOSTRILS

     What it all comes down to is, as Biden so aptly put it, a matter of character - his and Trump's. It was clear, crystal clear, throughout the debate as to the lack of character of Trump, even the evil tendencies that run through him versus the impassioned voice of Biden as he discussed certain trigger issues and had the absolute strength of character to admit mistakes in the past and attempts, ongoing, to fix those errors. That took a depth of character and a deep sense of honor and responsibility. As opposed to the shallowness, the greedy, hopelessly cold nature of Trump's character, his deep abyss of selfishness and sociopathy, unable to see beyond his own nose, to truly know and feel with and for other people in their joys, griefs, struggles and victories.

There was praise for Trump, that he did not interrupt, that he controlled himself. I wonder what debate those people were watching as I saw a man with constant grimaces and gestures, a man who refused to shut up as Welker asked him to, a man so cold, so clumsy, so nasty, with such a low bar of positivity within him, that when he controls or is somewhat controlled by a threat of a shut off mic, he gets praise. Well, maybe people also needed to listen to him as he spoke - of lies and more lies, of false accusations, of the same old tired excuses of 'audit' for no tax revelations, for blaming all things ugly on others, the same old refrain of being picked on - his own sin, actually - with no compassion for even the tiniest kids left bereft of parents through his policies.

Hence we arrive at the stench in G-d's nostrils. One of the analysts of the debate used that term to condemn that behavior with the children. 545 children can not be reunited with parents who were unable to be found, deported without their children, who had been ripped away from them. Many of these little ones were really little, under 5, even infants, toddlers, and they will have no idea who they are, their names, their parents' names, what parents are, actually, their heritage and background and that is the stench in G-d's nostrils. It stinks to the high heavens, penetrates into the deepest, most remote areas of heaven, and leaves or brings with it a reeking, ugly stench that offends the nostrils of     G-d. Perfect description and the fact that Trump could care less, could deny the cages, the inhumane conditions in which the kids were kept and the missing parents,  well, we know just what this excuse for a man truly is under all that orange skin, that weird hair and most annoying smirk.

Biden had it right when he stated that a man who could care less re the consequences of the pandemic, who is responsible for the huge numbers of dead, does not belong in the Oval Office, does not deserve to be president. Biden stressed that he would be an American President, not a Red state or Blue state one. He stressed that he was running, Joe Biden, and not anyone else as Trump tried to being in tired old and meaningless memes that long ago were shunted to the roadside.

I heard plans from Biden and none from Trump, only his continual whine and continued use of old lies. Not enough. Never enough. He simply does not have enough goodness nor honor and honesty within him to be a true leader. He has the emotional or rather emotionless affect of the sociopath, whose only emotion is anger when he is crossed or satisfaction at revenge achieved. This man is no President.

His stench needs to be gone. His stench needs to be fumigated from the hallways of the WH. His stench needs to be combatted with all that we have, and these children need to be reunited with parents or relatives, and the emotion with which Biden spoke on this and other issues is proof of the pudding.

 America and Americans need to be reunited, sewn together once more rather than be separated by flashing cleavers. Cleavers of hate, of violence, of bias, of stupidity, of poor policies, of no policies. 50 million have voted already. Join them, VOTE, and cleanse the air, fill the nostrils of G-d with fresh, sweet smelling and clean air, the air of hope, of unity, of genuine humanity of all.

                   VOTE!

 

NUMBERS AND BUBBLES, MARBLES AND BALLS

      It must be interesting to live in a bubble. There are those individuals who are forced to do so in reality due to severe illness. And then there are those who make up bubbles in which they live, leaving reality outside. That must require some hard work and effort, taking those away from other areas and the results are clearly seen, though the whole process of bubble making decisions is quite opaque, most often not open to understanding by sane people outside that bubble.

We have a sham President who lives in a bubble. Since childhood he has bubbled his life, protected by money, by his own fake calls for publicity, by his flamboyant life style, all clouded by the lies that apparently were and still are the currency of his life. Within that bubble, the only people of value are family members obedient to him, the "crazy uncle", of use in applying and pushing his bizarre policies, making excuses for his demented, mean spirited constant stream of tweets. To them, add his yes people, those who cannot seem to muster enough courage and values to say NO when he comes up with his outrageous and dangerous statements and policies. In the meanwhile, all Americans left outside this bubble, this very restricted bubble, are left with no defenses or remedies, infected to the ongoing disharmonic tune of over 8 million, dying in droves, alone, hurting, over 221,000 right now, and staring panic in the face as their money runs out, unemployed, their children are crying, and their homes and shelters are becoming lost to them.

So what's with the marbles and balls, you ask? Well, we all know the kid from childhood who always had to have his way, for if not, he would pick up his marbles, whatever toy  was in use, and walk away, leaving the rest of the more economically deprived children to figure out another game to play. These nasty children grow up into the same type of person and this time, as they leave, with their marbles in hand, the consequences are far more severe for all concerned. It is not a toy they leave with, but instead the trust, the hope, the faith that people ought to be able to have in their leadership. Well, certainly today, in these times, the leadership of the GOP is as far away from inspiring trust, faith, hope, and loyalty to the ethos of our country as one can get. They have long ago taken their marbles, the very ones we provided to them and paid for, and gone home, leaving their swamp behind, alive and well, expanding geometrically, swallowing all that was, is, and supposed to be America, gulping it down its greedy maw.

And the balls? Well, I do not know what it is about men that makes them think that their equipment is of great interest and beauty to others. Hence, the constant playing  with it and the public adjustment. That little head overpowers their larger heads, apparently mostly empty up there, and their hands are always, not in the cookie jar, but down their proverbial pants, caught redhanded, literally and figuratively. It is no wonder that "Mother" does not allow Pence to be alone with a woman, even for discussion, for maybe she knows something we do not, or she simply knows men, at least men of this ilk and lack of thought and control process. And why should we expect otherwise, as their chosen leader, their slavishly obeyed Master, is one of the biggest perverts around, whining so hard, so 'hurt' when a woman questions him strongly, fairly, when she does not fall for his 'charms', so faded are they, or dares to oppose him in any one of myriad manners. Hence, the cameo of Giuliani with his hands down his pants is not surprising nor shocking. Such is the level of their thinking for the most part and it does not get much better than that. Apologies to the men who are not this way, but these GOP bigshots - whew! Guys, you need to take your brothers to the woodshed and install some discipline in them, some moral spine, some semblance of civilized behavior. Immorality is generally not confined to one area. Remember that.

Tonight is the last debate. Record millions have already voted, despite all the attempts to stifle their ability to do so and these efforts are continuing. Will the debate change a mind anywhere out there? Who the hell knows in this  upside down world, where corruption has been honored these past four years, openly, proudly, and where progress has been turned on its head. Personally, I will be watching for the laughs, for the release of pressure as I shout at the screen, at their ridiculous man up there and that would be Trump, for those of you who still believe in bubbles and marbles, as I wonder just how low we have fallen, and how difficult the climb back will be.

But we are American underneath it all. We can hope that those who have forgotten will take some Aricept and recall the truth. We can hope that those creeps and spouters of hate will crawl back into the dark where they belong, disempowered, shamed and ashamed. One can hope, anyway.

And we can VOTE!! Each and every one of us must vote, no excuses. If that vote goes wrong, woe upon us. So VOTE. Emulate those who come with their chairs, with their kids and their toys, who sit and stand in line for hours, prepared with food and drink, bound by a determination and a loyalty to fellow Americans and to the world, commitment to a better world, to fix the world, doing their part in that effort. Or drop your ballot off at the office.

Join the sane, the responsible, the caring and the concerned. VOTE!!

bubbel nothing of any virtue or worth.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!!

      So states our not so presidential alleged President. Full disclosure: I have never accepted this man as my President, only as a sham who used chicanery and dirty tricks to delude enough people to sneak into the WH. Kind of like a cherry on top for his life replete with alleged fraud, sexual assaults on myriad women, physically and verbally, tax evasion and heaps and heaps of lies, piling up more slag in his life than the population of a large city!! Such proud accomplishments!!

In any case, into each life some rain must fall. This 'poor' man needs a permanent umbrella implanted within his head - at least it would not be empty then, would it - for upon him, the heavens have opened. Actually, for him it has been like a s^#t storm and never was one more deserved. In fact, he is so wet, so soaked to the bone that he cannot help himself as he whines aloud. Latest and increasingly used one? The whole world is against him. Apparently, aside from perhaps Carlson and  Hannity, there are no 'impartial' newspeople around, and ever single moderator is totally biased against him, purposely picked to upset him, and the rant goes on and on, ad infinitum ad nauseum.

Tomorrow night must be one of the most anticipated debates, if only to see, hopefully, the gasping last breath of a dying campaign, the last gasp of an America that should never have been, the last gasp of bigoted, extremist, dangerous groups that threaten our democracy to its very core, its very roots. There is a mute button to insure that Biden, really, gets his uninterrupted two minutes. So will Trump and it is within those two minutes in the segments that he will be able to sound somewhat presidential, for he can then read off the prompter. After that -anything goes, as he runs off at the mouth as he did the last time, rude and crude, ignorant and bigoted, as he is forever in real life.

Trump says his strategy is to allow Biden to talk, for then he will go off the train! Okay, weird, but understood, but truly, Trump is by nature unable to not interrupt with his inanities and dangerous misstatements, lies, to be truthful, and he will be the one going off the train tracks, once again. Hopefully, the off the track crash will be the final touch to a dying campaign and the first step to a return to sanity for so many deluded people, still caught by his mesmerizing chants and shouts.

Into each life some rain must fall and with a bit of luck, aided by the man who cannot help himself out of a ditch he himself has dug, there will be floods of life giving waters emanating from the screens Thursday night. Believe it or not, there is not a whit of truth in anything he says or does, spends more time on perpetuating lies than on  doing his job, and increasingly approaches red lines that cannot be crossed. Threat to our democratic process. Threat to voters. Threats of physical violence at the polls. Roadblocks galore to block voters in more Democratic prone areas. Pushing through manifestly unqualified and/or biased judges, including on the Supreme Court! There is no end to this man and his shenanigans, and unfortunately, these are not even practical jokes, but of actual danger to our lives and country.

Believe it or not, but the entire country has been affected. Here in CV we have a  man who has terrified and/or mesmerized people and/or bribed them with bits of power, to follow his lead, even as more and more of the Village residents awake - are "woke" to his nefarious plans and reasoning. Since March, this man has canceled all Delegate Assemblies, canceled at the last minute all Executive Board meetings, and run this Village like his own little fiefdom and it would be not a shock to find him one day referring to the residents as his serfs!

The danger here is that when one level of government is tainted, the rest follow along. Believe it or not, it is a little snowball that rolls downhill and amasses great amounts of snow, becoming an unstoppable compacted avalanche.

We need to stop this trend in this country. We need to push all these corrupt, unqualified, greedy people out of office, out of government, and if they are embarrassed - as Trump says he will be should he lose - please G-d! - then let them join him in his exile as he says he will have to leave. Good riddance to bad rubbish, to dangerous rubbish. Believe it or not, we do have some good days ahead - if, if, if we vote and get all to the polls and fight for fair application of the right to vote.

Believe it or not, your vote can be the deciding one. VOTE. VOTE for life. Vote for a reprieve, for a  chance to be America again. VOTE for whatever reason, but just VOTE!!

UNMASKED!

      Think about it. How many masks do we have to shed if we are to discover and uncover the truths we so desperately need to find? How many masks in terms of coverups and fake accusations do we need to rip off and reveal? How many mask wearing stories must we hear before we understand that those who refuse to wear masks in public are out looking for trouble, to gain publicity or attention, and are, plain and simple, guilty, at the very least of manslaughter, as they expose one and all to the dangers of the contagion and effects of COVID. How many more stories about the horrors of this virus must we hear before we unmask those who are so anti social, so twisted, that they will argue politics over a small piece of life saving cloth?

Not enough, we have the name calling emanating from the TV chair of the WH where the chief idiot in residence calls out others in the government, such as Fauci, naming them as idiots, as people who fight against his wisdom and his wonderful pandemic handling. That, as the numbers rise, as his own pandemic fighting apparatus is convulsed with internal bickering, to the detriment of our entire population. Unmasking the truth here is so clear and yet so ignored. "All these idiots who got it wrong" - the words of Trump, even as he ignores the idiot in the mirror, surrounded by other babbling fools.

Even as people are dying, sickening with the virus, there is a growing determination of people to get their vote in. Dying people make sure they cast their final vote. A 94 year old woman caught up in the idiocy of mail in ballots, is so determined to have her vote count, that her devoted son drives a 600 mile round trip to enable that to take place. People lined up in Florida yesterday, braving crazy winds and rains - to vote, to unmask the hidden truths, to unmask the wrong turns we have taken, have enabled, and to unmask a good and proper road map to return to sanity and safety. To value unity and harmony, civility and trust once again.

Meanwhile we have the continued efforts by the GOP to throw masks over the truth once again. Not satisfied with the dirty trick re emails and Clinton in the last election, they are now trying to present a blaring falsehood re Biden and his son, pushing a hoped for last minute blow against the Democrats. Once again they are aided and abetted by a weird Giuliani and an open agent of the Russian government. And these "patriots" run with it, doing Putin's biding like good little traitors and fools. Who are the idiots now, we might ask? But we already know the answer to that question, only hoping that enough people know the truth behind the masks of these liars and troublemakers, behind those who stand for more disasters awaiting us with, G-d forbid, another Trump/GOP term. If that were to happen, kiss this country goodbye.

Will people realize the truth behind the masks of the GOP and their rhetoric? Doubtful for many. When you have seemingly normal, of average brain intelligence, people, fall for the outrageous lies of QAnon, then one begins to wonder. Is it the water, the air we breathe, the plastics in our food, or a mysterious virus that affects the thought process? For people to hear and believe stories of deep state conspiracies, of child peddling, by conspiracy plots galore, all to take down their hero, Trump - well, one can lose hope. How do such blatant lies, such outrageous accusations, pass into the mainstream? Got me! My advice? Stay away from the GOP and stay away, turn off the media, when these QAnon stories come out - and stories they are, masks of lies that damage us all. 

The American people need to rip off the hideous coverings that have grown over the truths of life, the truths of the evil of this administration, over the disasters that have taken place, grown worse, and still await us with more dangers, threats to life and limb - of the people and the nation.

So put on your life saving masks, don the mask of sanity and hope, of determination to turn this country around, and vote to rip off the ugliness of the masks of lies, of corruption, of inhumanity and disasters. VOTE, MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT. VOTE!!!!! NOW IS THE TIME.

THE HEART OF DARKNESS

      That is the title of one of the most profound short novels ever written. Read by me in high school for an assignment and then chosen by me for a focus point in a paper for a college class, it made a lasting impression on me. It also has me feeling as if we are living the book right now, ignoring its warnings, and allowing that 'heart of darkness' to preclude and occlude all that makes us humans and humane.

It matters not where people live. What matters is the heart within that civilization, the heart within the people and the heart of the ruler. And there you have it. Whose heart will rule and whose heart will determine the future of mankind? It is an eternal question, played out over and over again, but this time, I believe we are in a more basic and elemental situation wherein the heart of darkness, should it prevail, will wipe us out, the Sixth Extinction, the end of it all. Certainly of life as we know, or knew it. Certainly of all hope for a future of light and progress. So choice is critical.

Ironically, the man with no character of any worth at all, unless one counts evil as a necessity, declared that we had a day of National Character  wherein we were to be 'nice' to each other, use kind words, be honest, honor our soldiers. This, from the man with no character other than evil, whose every word is coated with hate and tainted with the reek of lies, who calls our soldiers "suckers and losers". 

After my choking fit, not really knowing if I should laugh or cry at the absurdity of it all, I realized how truly sad a moment that was. The man who is a cyberbully, the man who beats all up with his words, and then compounds that with new rules and regulations, dictatorial orders that are shredding our society, whose wife said all should "Be Best", stop the bullying - he speaks of character?! Bizarre to the nth degree. And very telling of a possible future that should frighten you, the heart of darkness winning while the forces of progress face existential danger.

Is there a point beyond which people will finally realize the truth of Trump? His daughter in law excuses his statement that Whitmer should be locked up with all his opponents -  a frightening statement at that - by stating that he is joking, displaying a bit of 'humor'. That is the dark and despairing humor that precedes the death of a civilization, when voices are silenced, when gates and shutters darken the world, and the darkness within emerges to darken us all.

It appears to be that there is no end to the worries of us all. A statement that "I have three Black sons" as  a reason for waiting 11 hours to vote, or the sense of urgency that people have when talking of the desperate need for a safer, more humane society, a future for their kids, is most telling. Ironically, the lies that Trump reiterated over and over again, ad nauseum, re mail in ballots, has now gotten the largest turnout of all early voting, as people refused to allow for any chicanery to negate their voices re their votes. People are bringing in their ballots in droves, insuring that their ballot reaches its destination. The desperation and the determination - WOW!

"unbridled optimism and sheer dread." That was stated by one Democrat, who actually voices what we all feel. Are we right to hope? Are we able to perhaps see victory ahead of us, to allow optimism to surface, or will there be a catastrophe of four years ago, with the dread of that possibility darkening our vision. It is heart of darkness versus light of hope; it is the attempt o cut off food stamps aid for those in desperate need, versus the attempts by others to stop that from happening. How can one lead others down a path where the food insecurity turns into food desperation, hunger of starvation depths, to this country, to their neighbors, to the quietly starving children living next door as their parents run out of options?

Underlying it all is the fear of the extremes that Trump will go to to insure his remaining in office. Will there be violence at the polls? Will we return to eras of voting rights denials? Will force be used to defy the transfer of power? Will we be America or AmeriKa at the end of it all? Will Conrad's Heart of Darkness move out of its African setting and into its American setting, making the point that the place is not the issue, but rather that people and the desires of humanity within them that are the crucial determinants.

So, folks, the choice is clear. 15 days left to our future. 15 days left till the decision. Perhaps more than that as the ballots will all have to be counted and recounted, for sure. Unless, that is, unless we have an overwhelming victory of such proportion that there is no doubt at all, that all the evil machinations of the heart of darkness residing within the chest and soul of Trump et all were to no avail, or rather to positive avail as it brought all those voters out, all that determination to save our country.  

But make no mistake about it. Even with a victory, we have a rough and tough slog ahead of us. The incompetents pushed through for Federal Appeals courts, the cronyism, the corruption that has eaten its way into our national life, all that must be fought against, negated, perhaps impeaching and removing unqualified judges, whatever it takes to restore balance and sanity once again. It will not be easy to return safety regulations, to undo the damage already done. But as that American icon, Bob the Builder, said: "Build we must" - then build we will, a better, smarter, more experienced nation and people.

So get out there and vote! Take the ballot to the office. Take a chair, an umbrella, water, food, a jacket and hat and wait on that line to save America. It is that stark a choice. Every vote counts - every single one. VOTE!

LOST IN THE WILDERNESS

      This morning, or middle of the night, take your pick, I got caught up in some sidepiece stories. One has a missing mom, lost in the savage wilderness of Zion National Park. Where is she in the midst of Nature? No one is quite sure and she is missing for over a week now. Another story relates to homes that are built literally hanging off a cliff. Besides the fact that I would never look out the window as the heights would frighten me, how the hell do people live in these homes knowing that cliffs erode, beams rust, and Nature has its moments?!

Then it hit me. We, as a people, as a nation, as a world, are also living on the edge of the proverbial cliff, at times hanging on by our fingernails, lost in a new wilderness where we are without a clear map to paths of exit. Thus, we run around, lost, directionless, going in circles, all the while the situation around us grows worse with catastrophic acts of Nature piling up. Will we survive this horror trip into the wilderness or will we succumb to its perils, alone, in a darkness filled with the sounds of real and imaginary, just as frightening, perhaps even more so, predators just waiting to tear us apart.

Boys will be boys is the saying, but is there no limit? Yes, boys cannot seemingly walk down a hallway without kicking out at a locker or jumping with an imaginary basketball whooshing into an imaginary net! They are little macho men as they find their way through life. However, a huge however, is it not time that we stop making excuses for those who never grow up? Must we endure Peter Pan all the time? Do not get me wrong, for I love the whole thought of "I won't Grow Up" but I also accept that at times we must acknowledge that like it or not, we do grow up, must grow up and must behave as adults should at important moments in time and life. 

We here in America have forgotten that fact. Too many of us cheer on a man who incites the boy bully behavior of the schoolyard, never having learned to behave otherwise. We cheer on a man who lives for chants, carrying nothing within other than messages of hate, of stupidity, of an awfulness and darkness that is simply intolerable. How so many people can still look away from the sins of this man and make excuses for him is mind boggling.

 "Lock 'em all up." A continuous chant which, if we are blessed by his defeat, will prove onerous for him and his buddies as they lose their self imposed defenses as working for or as the President, and off they will go and you can bet your bippy that I will be there to cheer that on, to smile and whoop joyously as the man and his sick cronies do the  perp walk in their oh so cute orange jumpsuits, perhaps tailored for them in a custom shade of orange to match his skin color!!Guess color of skin might matter at times! Ahh, a gal can dream!

No meat or potatoes in that man's campaign. Only whines. Suburban women don't love him, he complains. His wall to "protect" us from the evidently revived hordes of Attila the Hun, is not quite getting built so quickly. He will be so embarrassed should he lose that he might have to leave the country. Oh, please do so - I will even give you a lift to the airport -  but after you serve your terms of punishment and confinement for your crimes. 

Other Republicans follow along in the ridiculous pathways this man has engendered. Sen. Perdue stands there and makes fun of Kamala Harris, miming her name in a ridiculing moment and worse, the idiots with him laugh at this negative schoolboy behavior. No, enough of boys will be boys. Guys, you gotta' grow up sometime, so why the hell not now!!!

The worst, though, are the sudden words of GOP members of Congress, both Houses, who suddenly realize that the coattails of Trump are all raggedy, unable to carry them to victory, but rather to defeat. Suddenly, they are trying to find breathing space, to extract their heads from his rear, where they have been hiding lo these many a year! But really, it is all still hot air, and their voices lie, their tongues are forked, the serpent still lives within them, as they will continue to vote as good little boys, serve the bully who maintains his hold over them, and will vote en masse to confirm the worst ever candidate for the Supreme Court. Worse than Bork. Worse than Thomas. Worse than Alito. Worse than Kavanaugh! Why? Because he said so!!! He said to!!!, "Wasn't me, Momma; he made me do it!" A constant excuse which counts for nothing on the scales of balance of life. Their damage done is damage of long term, perhaps forever, time and still, betcha' the yeas will outnumber any GOP nay at the confirmation vote. Sad, but true. Sasse, Gardner, Collins, Romney - bags of hot air worth nothing, less than nothing!

Are we not yet tired enough of all the misdeeds? Of all the attempts at bribery - money to farmers - now. Drug cards to seniors - now. The Abraham Pact, a big nothing - now, and the eternal ranting and raving, demented tweets and statements, evident signs of physical and mental deterioration in ever increasing speeds. Bread and circuses did not work for the Romans, nor cake for the French. The hypnotic horror of Hitler faded but only after unfathomable evil. The only thing left for us, for Americans to do, is to sit up, stand up, and do the right thing.

And all the rest of the numbers should convince you, should you need more convincing. Over 8 million infected. Over 70,000 yesterday alone. Bumping up against 220,000 dead and the numbers are growing in a ghastly, seemingly unstoppable run, with predictions of several more hundreds of thousands gone by the first month of the new year.

22 million jobs lost, and more, unemployment benefits running out, already gone for some, mortgages unpaid, rent unavailable, food out of reach with no money in the pocket to pay for it. Children wailing in puzzled hunger while parents cry over their hopelessness and helplessness and all the while our taxpayer monies are flowing into Trump's hotels, so much so, that the State Department refuses to release the facts and papers until after Election Day. Hmmm. Anybody smell the rats in the walls?

Let us find our way out of this dangerous wilderness. Let us anchor our homes and nation to a more secure site. Let us return to a past ethos and prepare for a better future. Vote! Please, for the sake of all of us - VOTE!!!!!

threats and dangers/

OH, THOSE CRAZY UNCLES!

     Last night was an example par excellence of the choice awaiting us. On the one side, there was a man calmly answering questions,  a few minor errors mixed in, appearing to be sane, rational, and truly caring for the American people with plans to help. 

On the other hand, there was Savannah Guthrie doing the best job yet at being a moderator. She peppered that man, that crazed individual, with to the point questions, demanded answers, refused to accept the inane and dangerous, yes, dangerous answers or response, for true answers were few and very far between. The lies that man told, the man that Guthrie said needed to remember that he is not the "crazy uncle" spouting these ridiculous statements, but the President, a leader, or presumably so, and he needed to be better than that. Ha! As if! Ever!

"I know nothing about it" seemed to be the refrain of the night for him, and there I agree. The man truly knows nothing about anything of importance. All he does know is to lie, to exaggerate, to push hatred and violence as if they were on a fire sale, and consistently back beyond belief statements from QAnon and the like about blood libel, deep state conspiracies, nonsense the JFK Jr and Osama Bin Laden are still alive - huh! and tries to wiggle out by denying any knowledge of it at all. Sounds remarkably like taking the Fifth, when one is guilty of a crime and asked a question that would cement his guilt.

It is extremely frightening to think that a madman is at the helm of a ship of state on very rocky and dangerous seas. More than that, when we read that two political appointees, openly political, mind you, put there in place to make sure that political correctness was followed, that things were kept under control, not for truths but for lies. Da! Nyet! Jawohl! Nein! Raus! Are you seeing the future of Trump and America yet? If not, perhaps you need some vision evaluation, for the dangers are clearly seen, openly there for the understanding and the fright they induce, the gloomy future they portend.

Even as Trump rails against mail in ballots, his people and campaign staff are pushing their members to do exactly that. Even as he pushes his dictatorial plans, even as people still refuse to see the truth, the dangerous truth, about him, there is a serious unity among his opponents, from Republicans disgusted by his behavior, by the perversions he has committed in the name of the GOP, to Bloomberg who has put his money where his mouth is, HIS money, and not that which was stolen from others or gained through fraud. Add to that the plain old simple people who were aghast at the result of the last election, determined to see a change, and the people who shamefacedly admit that they voted for Trump last time, caught up in his lies, but now are going for Biden. So many of us are praying that the dawn of Nov. 4 will be the dawn of a new day for this country and the world, for G-d help us if it is not so and I am very leery of the process, its destruction, and the very real possibility of civil war once again. That has already begun.

Are you into facts, cold, hard facts, that cannot be denied? Well, discard his ridiculous statement that the CDC said that 85% of those wearing masks get COVID, a perversion of a statement and a study. On the other hand, in so short a time, the infection rate has risen to over 50,000 a day, we have hit the mark of 8 million infected and 218,000 dead. Read those numbers again. And again. Are you satisfied with  Trump's pandemic plans and actions - or lack thereof? Are you such a believer that should you get infected you will refuse medical treatment in those very wards of which you deny! Money and mouths folks, money and mouths. Understand that the mask you do not wear, the social distancing you do not keep, well, you are thereby and hereby guilty of being complicit in aiding and abetting the murder of others, those who get sick and die, those who get sick and never really recover, those who have lives disrupted, lost loved ones, jobs, all sense of hope and trust - because you will not follow safety rules and instead follow the insane path of Trump. So J'accuse! The guilt falls where it must.

Finally, the warnings are there. Judges in the highest court who refuse to have any opinion even as we have seen these opinions voiced elsewhere. We have seen Barrett say that climate and environmental change and damage is controversial! Really!? But the Republicans have heard the warning voices and seen the writing on the wall. What goes around comes around, and "because we can do it" will not help them anymore. In fact, with a Democratic majority in both Houses perhaps we have a chance to reverse all this damage, to steady ourselves on a positive path, and why ? Because it is right and because we can!!

All we need is your vote. Run, walk, trot, crawl, fly, drive, ride, Uber or Lyft, just get there and vote!!

           VOTE!!!!!!!

 

A PLETHORA OF RICHES?

     No, I lie, or rather I speak facetiously, unfortunately. The only plethora we have today is one of worry and of pithy sayings that demonstrate the toxic environment we now live in. Dang, but it is one of the most depressing morning reads ever! So much choice, and so much agony, worry, distrust and disgust!

I wondered where we were living yesterday as John Kennedy - Lord, what a misnomer in our history! - asked the most inane, yet telling questions of the confirmation joke hearings. You should excuse me, but Barrett could have stood on a desk and did the proverbial action with a goat, and the Republicans would still all line up like the good little wimps and valueless people they are, and confirm her.

 No answers worth anything. No commitments. No honesty. Only a peek into the gloomy future, the next four decades of the USA and perhaps its end, as four decades of benighted thinking are not so easy to overturn and fix. The damage will have been done and often, what is done, cannot be undone. Too little, too late would be the sitrep!

Back to Kennedy, a typical prejudiced, misogynistic Republican, who asked such deep questions! Oh, yes! "Who does the laundry in your house?" and "Do you hate warm little puppies?" Really? Are these existential, constitutional questions, or are these mere representational questions that demonstrate the contempt that the Republicans have for their own candidate and the horrifying demonstration how useless this hearing is, and how much they expect to fall by the wayside with her in the seat honored by RBG. The contemplation of all this, the reality of all this is ....I have no words to express the depth of my horror, my angst, my concern, my fears. What have we done!!

Sen. Leahy called it right when he told Barrett that she lives under the "orange cloud", that poisonous cloud that has enveloped the country from border to border as ethics go by the board, as cronyism, nepotism, incompetence, corruption, and tyranny all raise their ugly heads and the future becomes ever more orange. Unless we all vote - the right way, the way to insure survival of the America we know and love, and criticize, and improve, and backslides and climbs up again. That is the America we need, the cloud of red, white and blue that fills the air, yet keeps it clear for purer visions, clearer and more defined acts of hope and for building a better future.

"It's not one that I can offer a view" is what she said and what she did. That alone is suspicious. Or does she have no independent thinking cells and must consult with her sect leaders as the good little handmaiden she has always been. Shudder! Shudder! Will we all be wearing red voluminous cloaks and vision impairing bonnets in the near future? Literal or figurative? Does it really make a difference?

There are record numbers of early voters, waiting for over eleven hours to cast their votes, overwhelmingly Democratic as far as can be told, even as the Republicans continue to try to block the very foundation stone of our democratic country, the right to vote. One Senator is convinced that the "antics" of Trump after the election to overturn his loss will matter not at all, so great will the victory be. Amen, to that! From his mouth to G-d's ears! To the minds of all the voters. Because, ladies and gentlemen and all in between, there is a great deal to worry about should we not win, should we allow this man to overturn our democracy, to make a dangerous farce of our election process, win in his attempts and goals, and  bye bye, not blackbird, but America.

All this, as the post office says it will undo, reverse, all the changes that have slowed down the mails, imperiled the mail in ballots. Uh huh! When the people are not there. When the machines have been disabled, destroyed, sold off for parts or scrap. When I get a notice that my package is late, but will be delivered on time, I wonder, I really do. Then I try to track it and find that it is traveling around, seeing the country, and the post office consistently lists it as unknown as to its location. Huh! Beats me! And that is why I worry re our once vaunted postal system. Does anyone remember when there used to be two deliveries a day, especially at businesses, or during the holiday rush season? What a difference!

Finally, hear the words of an up and coming tyrant, an American Hitler in the making, one Charlie Kirk by name. 

‘Be not afraid of the accusations that you’re a voter suppressor’

In closed door meetings he speaks in shocking words. "Please, keep the campuses closed," he says. It is a great thing, he says, for it keeps all those left wing students from voting. Orange clouds anyone, or red, or whatever color you pick other than American? He is just so delighted about the pandemic, all those bodies carrying no weight for him or his conscience. A battle of good and evil and they, we, have to do all that must be done, everything, to win. Shuddering yet? Frightened yet?

People, we have to choose our future now, for there is no more time left. And contrary to that demagogue to be , Kirk, and his ilk, it is time to be afraid, very much afraid. Time to turn the plethora of evil riches, of pithy sayings that warn of doom into a treasury of hope, love, unity and humanity.

Vote. Please, vote. For your sake. For my sake. For the sake of our kids and their future. For the future of this country. For the future of the world. For the future of humanity.

 That is how important it is to VOTE.