A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE

      Just finished skimming through the news, something that I do at least several times a day, and I begin to wonder just why I do that. Comfort is scarce and fleeting. Biden is ahead. Nope, polls are narrowing. Ballots will/will not be counted. Courts will be rocked and jammed with political moves. The country is going under, for the third time(?) from COVID and I fear Fauci's words are prophetic. "We are in for a whole lot of trouble." We certainly are.

Day after day we are setting terrible records re infections. Thankfully, the newer victims are younger, hence stronger, healthier, and more likely to survive, but do not count on that and do not be careless. The deaths are still mounting, much too high. And do not listen to fakes who tell you that we are almost over it, "rounding" a corner. The only corner I see here is one that has no ends, no turns, only a straight path to more tragedy unless we change the rules, change the captains, and use common sense rather than wishful, faulty reasoning, thinking - or lack hereof - and dangerous actions and inaction.

More than COVID, I think, is the trouble we are in come Tuesday. The minute this is over is the exact minute that Trump et al will begin his barrage of dangerous and undemocratic statements, putting this country into peril such as we have not seen before. A modern Civil War is no longer predicted, for it is here already. When cops shout out pro Trump memes, or wear political clothing, fake their jobs and pepper spray people walking from a church to a voting site, quiet, with elderly, children, Americans - well, there is a whole lotta trouble coming down the pike, even as it begins already in state after state.

When a sitting President rants about failure of our political elections, when he encourages people to doubt, to claims of lost ballots, to interfere with voting, well, there is a whole lot of trouble going on. When he telegraphs his promise of challenges to the results - unless they break his way, well, batten down  the hatches. So what to look for on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or through Nov. 17? G-d help us for I am fearful, afraid of and anticipating the worst. America? Certainly, may G-d bless you, for your people certainly have not.

Can we ever get over this epidemic of false news, such as the "speech" that a Senator Donaldson gave to a standing ovation? Never was, never did, never happened, and no Senator either! And yet, Trump supporters will virally text and swear by this idiocy. When the Supreme Court is turned into yet another plaything for Trump, when Congress is populated by Democrats and Republicans, not Americans, there is a whole lot of trouble coming down that proverbial pike. When the entire GOP turns its back on the country, forsakes any values, any ethical standards, all in the name of retaining power, as little as it is what with their ceding more and more of it to a demented and dangerous man  - well, troubles here you are.

With all the guns around, and sales increasing by leaps and bounds, with self control shrinking by the second, with violence encouraged, with hatred on the rise and an open sore on the nation's soul, then blood will flow, and flow for quite some time. Will we become a banana republic, changing leaders every other day depending on the sayso of the army? Will we lose all that we have built? Will America ever rise again?

Sorry to say, folks, but I doubt it. Unfortunately, every single thing that I have written about has come true. All the worries and concerns I have written about are now stated by others, openly, not jumping any sharks. Please, G-d, that Biden has an overwhelming victory, that we shut down Trump and his ilk for good, throw out the man and his corrupt enablers, arrest him and all else who have committed crimes, and let us get our show back on the road - America again.

But - unless we all get there and vote, demand to vote even if you mailed your ballot in, for the poll workers will check. If it is not there, not so marked, and they check with the main office, you can vote, you can put America back on track. We can defeat incipient autocracy. We can defeat hatred. We can defeat those who ship children around, lose them, mistreat them, kidnap them, pepper spray them. We can defeat hopelessness. We can do all we wish and must do - if we vote, and vote for the right people all the way down the ballot.

If I was nervous last election, then multiply that by infinity. There is more at stake than the name of the next President. A whole lot more and a whole lot of trouble if we go wrong, if we are stupid once again, if we ignore the wishes of the majority and allow America to be stolen from right under our own noses.

We are the Americans who make up America. We are the Americans descended from immigrants who gave of their sweat and tears to this country, gave their all for the dreams and future of their families. We are Americans. Pray that we remember that as we check the boxes, pull the lever or punch that button. Do not allow any one being out there to intimidate you into forgetting that fact. Upon your shoulders, our shoulders, is the burden of the future of this country, of America, the idea and ideals of America. Please. Please.