GOTTA' LOVE IT!!

  If a person does not possess a sense of humor these days, well, he/she had better find blinders, limit  contact with the outside word - outside their apartment walls, that is, ands stick to old shows without new PC invasion, with sugary sentiment and always, a happy ending or one that reduced you to tears. Good for the soul.  

Seriously, without humor it is indeed most difficult to maneuver these days - and keep one's sanity pretty much intact. Mostly people have not been paying attention to our critical political crises in which otherwise heretofore normal (for the GOP) people have morphed, as a recommended article maintains, become victims of body snatching! It is both funny and sad, a brilliant use of words and language to delineate a most critical situation. Written by a still uninvaded conservative writer, Matt Lewis, in the Daily Beast, yesterday, entitled Trump's Invasion of the Body Snatchers Ate the Republican Party.

Find it. read it. Laugh. Cry. Moan. Scratch your head. Makes as much sense as all the other theories trying to explain what happened to the GOP.

And now....back to home, good old CVWPB - or maybe not so good old CVWPB. An owner since 1998, I have seen major downtrends within the Village. To be fair, it mirrors much of what is happening elsewhere, but this is home, not vacation pod, for many of us here - including me - and we need to do better. So sure, the past two and a half years have been not so good all over. We hoped 2021 would change the dial on the world's situation, but it did not for the most part. In fact, it deteriorated even more as people were isolated, and furthered that isolation by opting out of so much. Too much.

Before reading on please read the following disclaimer. Please do not lay this on Gerry. He is my husband, not my boss, as I am not his, (at least in this case). He has closely worked with many in UCO and disagrees with some of what I have written. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa - me and me alone. And those who agree with what I have written.

In CV there already had been a trend, a downslide, of interest in UCO, basically the governing factor here in the Village. The President, David Israel, had clawed his way in to the position and maintained it through let's say, not such nice ways, insulting others, allegedly playing games with boards that suddenly, on Voting Day, came into existence, - and are we not seeing the impact on our Village what with the deterioration of those same associations with Brigadoon Boards. Additionally, he sicced the County on an entity outside the Village which had displeased him by allowing a poster hung on the fence (as do many organizations) for the opposing candidate, an act which entailed costly consequences for that entity without a great deal of funds to fall back upon. Nasty is as nasty was.

Gradually, the Village government became a tight sweaty group of the Elect, a la the Pigs of Animal Farm, whose hot little hands grabbed all, wanted all, and morphed themselves into members of almost every committee; hence, progress was stymied. Double voting, as Officers, on several Committees in one way or another, their bosom buddies appointed and opponents ousted or downright blackballed. Whatever worked.

Of course, people began to lose interest, frustrated by the tight stranglehold David et al had on UCO. Oh, there were and are some excellent people there who work hard for us, but what can  one say when most officers would respond to the request to report on the month's work they had presumably done, with a succinct statement: - "Nothing to report." What the hell were they doing month after month in UCO other than chowing down on snacks so kindly paid for by us. 

Credit given where credit due, they did show up for the most part during COVID, but what did they accomplish? Damned if I know. Or anyone knows. The Village deteriorated. Despite the ongoing efforts of Don Foster to take care of the Village for us. A building is going to be demolished - down to the ground. Other buildings have severe deterioration. Where was the UCO VP for that sector? Why do the VPs not make rounds, have set meetings with Association Boards? Why? Danged if I know. Too busy snacking probably. 

As for David Israel who suddenly recalls at election time that there are associations, there are Boards , there are Presidents of those Boards, of course kept to his usual state of sleepwalking and did not meet, did not supervise, did not do his diligent responsibilities. Hence the ever growing worsening situation we have with no one interested in running for office. Now UCO is driven to pleading for candidates. How embarrassing. How bad for the Village. My home. Your home.

We have subsidized WPRF to an obscene degree. Allegedly we have paid for cars for  Mark Levy while struggling to pay the transportation fees for our bus system. Does anyone know anything for sure re the Millennium or what has been happening the past twenty years, why we waited so long to begin negotiations - nope. All is a deep, dark secret, kept in the hot little hands of David et al. Remember the body snatcher article? Well.......

Again, seriously, very much so, any new administration will have its hands, its minds, its everything, full. As with Trump, the papers and records will reveal what has been going on or not, as the case may be. A most difficult task, to unravel, rewind on a proper spool and then create new viable, refreshing and possible ideas. Hard work indeed. Anyone out there want this - other than David or his chosen successor?               . I thought so. The newer residents do not even know there is a UCO or even where the Clubhouse is.

Volunteers? Draftees? Anyone? Body snatchers? Trumpods? Davidpods? Help!!!!  

A RUBIK'S CUBE

  Could not get back to sleep, and as I lay there, staring at the ceiling - so nice since we got rid of that 'popcorn', for some strange never to be known reason, thoughts of a Rubik's Cube arose. Now I never have been good at puzzles like that. They bored me. They were useless, for after you solved it, learned the trick to do so what then? Nothing, just a silly twirling of the sides and repeat.

From time immemorial I have guided my life with goals in mind. Whatever I did had to have a purpose, one that moved me forward, be it in comprehension of situations, or understanding of human relations, or expansion of horizons via books. But think not that amusement and sheer fun were off the menu. Not at all, for those apparently aimless moments added to the joie de vivre of life.

Now I mused about that darned cube. Life is like that cube except there is no 'answer' or 'trick' to the Rubik's Cube of life. Most of us spin the sides throughout our lifetime. Each time we feel there is a wonderful balance ....Boom! Something comes along and upsets it, renders the solution and plan we thought we had, in balance and surety, no more. We had to spin again and again, find a new balance or semblance of one, ease into it, ahhhh... and Boom! Kept us hopping, for sure, added zest to life along with a sense of accomplishment when a seemingly unsolvable Cube suddenly fell into place - at least for a while, for times of differing durations.

Most of us fell into a routine that allowed us peace in life, at least knowing the situation, as best one can know. That is why, I believe, that the COVID pandemic and shutdown, the continuing narrowed choices for the walls of our Cubes, upset the balance of many. Suddenly the game changed. Suddenly the possibilities to shape, to solve were limited, beyond our powers, beyond anything most of us could do other than do the best we could in a strange new Rubik's Cube of Life.

Lockdown. In confined quarters, alone with those dear kids, or that wife or husband of 'x' amount of years and our solutions no longer worked. Patience wore thin, sudden strangers stared at each other, conversation became stilted and limited. The eyes ran circles in their sockets as the head they were in sought rescue. All the while that answer was there. The many new solutions possible were right there, if only one could open eyes and minds and see them. Feel them.

The answer was to open up, go off road, think out of the box, challenge oneself with once otherwise ridiculous challenges. Surprise, surprise, for many  newly discovered worlds became favorite sites on that Rubik's Cube. Even better was when there was no problem with the confinement, and the newly introduced little blocks on the larger block of the Cube added zest, interests, challenges taken on and mastered, moving on and up those new colors attached to the new Cube. 

No easy twist of a wrist, rather an entirely different approach to life. Think how much better it was when the confinement partners never had a problem in the first place. What happened then was that the new insertions drew them together even more. Laughter, shared love and experiences, pride in accomplishment - good replacements for some of the faded colors of the Cube.

Think not that the Cube philosophy remains confined to the home. It does not. Most manifestly not, particularly in our times. People's Cubes have become misshapen, unable to be fixed, or the fix was being avoided. There was too much something or other on the  Cube that enticed their owners and operators. Bad juju, as they say.

And the answer is....asks the emcee .....and silence reigns. Or a happy shout, a modern day eureka! is heard. Those open to modifying their Rubik's Cube will hear, think, and do. Those not open, well, they become the bane of our lives, to varying degrees. That bane, those multiple bands, need restructuring, replacement in proper order on a newly renovated Cube. New solutions with no tricks engendered. It can be done. It has been done already. We can continue to do so. With one caveat - that we do the restructuring with care, with respect, with understanding of how these banes grew into existence and how they are part and parcel, like it or not, of our Rubik's Cube. Hence the need for care. Hence the need for repair. Hence the need for all to allow themselves new growth, new colors, refurbishment of a proper, refreshing kind.

It can be done. If only we all do so, join in. No, not that impossible dream that the Man of La Manche sings, but perhaps our own possible dream, a little one with big end results, ends that lead to new beginnings. Let us dream on.

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR'S HAIR?!

 In a world gone mad there are points of absurdity that boggle the mind and serve as distractions from real events and worries. It is a form of circus to the masses approach and unfortunately, it appears to be a good bet for the wrong people. Here are a few succinct quotes from today's topic articles. Read, compare and then tell me that your danger reading meter has not gone nuts, buzzing away. Those warnings are either ignored or used to shore up the wrong people. Much to the detriment of our world. Our future, with a possibility of no real future actually coming, approaching at rapid pace.

"just saw buzz lightyear with hair and screamed NO so loud that all my cups and glasses just shook." Buzz Lightyear has hair and I don't know how to feel."

"When people say to me 'I think Western Democracy could be seriously disrupted and undermined,' I'm no longer dismissive." TONY BLAIR

" due to Trump's contempt for the democratic process, there's "a reasonable chance over the next three or four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the county into red and blue enclaves." 

"GOP is now an anti-truth, anti-democratic cult of former president"

 "In the House and in top Republican-led state governments, the chief litmus test is loyalty to Trump and his false election fraud claims."

"60 percent of Republicans think President Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 election should be “overturned” 

"President Trump did not voluntarily disclose his tax returns during the campaign, his political opponents assume the information would damage him", (Well, that's a duuh!)

"Save democracy by rejecting Donald Trump and his Republican comrades, or allow them to run roughshod over our hard-won democratic principles and institutions by completing their coup — which now appears to be a runaway train".

Now take a deep breath and think. Where and when does an individual's responsibility come into play? What happens if that responsibility is shirked, or lackadaisical? To the point answer - it ain't good! Not one little whit. I think it is quite clear that every single one of us, worried for democracy and its approaching demise, has a serious burden of duty to respond in kind, insure our future, insure a realistic electorate which understands what awaits us if we do not wakeup, toss out the trash, and get back to reality and urgently needed steps to fix the mess.

Nor does it end at the national level. No, it is there in the state legislatures run by Republicans who are instituting partisan arbiters of election results, voter suppression laws, and a whole sale cowardly bowing of the knee, the head and the soul to the darkness of Trump et al.

It spreads its tentacles all over. DeSantis, quite fond of eating for himself, refuses to apply for $820 million for pandemic relief, particularly for food insecure families - children going hungry while that man stuffs his face - and his daughter's as well.

The idiots who wish to be in charge, permanently, ignore the obvious worsening of the world's climate, progressively worse heat waves, to the point of hostility to life itself. But never you mind, keep up with the fossil fuels, forget conservation and prepare yourselves to share the fate of the rest of us as the world turns into a fiery wasteland.

And the inevitable backlash begins. A white executive was fired and replaced by two women of different skin tone in order to 'increase diversity'. Major no-no. Guaranteed to turn the stomachs of many at the rampant misuse of good ideas. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in DC of a time when color will not matter, only ability. Why can we not do that now, here? Because we are too engaged in other, more important things, like concern about Buzz's hair? Not good. It all began with the oh so very wrong step of capitalizing the nature of skin tone. Why White/Black? Why not white, black for skin tone should have zero, zip, to do with anything. Stop emphasizing the outer layer. Rather pay attention to what is inside. Let's begin to prove that, live that. Do not add yet another level to the issue.

People, find something good to say or do, help another out of a mess, and seriously, work to throw out the trash. As for Buzz Lightyear, perhaps he, too, succumbed to the siren call of those hair growth ads. His business! We have other , more urgent tasks to attend to.

AND SO IT GOES, AND SO IT GOES, AND SO IT GOES - AND GOES WHERE?

  The question is, with attitudes that we now have, exactly where are we going? We had better be aware and alert else we engender permanent change in the firmament of our skies. Then where do we go? Not any place good. For sure. We are already well on our way to that change, those changes actually, a land grab of our values, of the promises of this country. What do we do in turn? Nothing really, other than  allow, give way, to the continued deterioration of this nation, a new trend of the times, along with retention of old hatreds, evil thoughts and deeds. Thinking? Nah. Ain't that the sorry truth of it all?

"At this point, we’re living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns? No, and I’m not — that’s not a joke,” asked the audience member. “I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

How does one deal with a nation that now has someone asking such a question, in all serious righteousness? I could not think of an answer that would shock that person and his supporters back to  sanity. Are we, as a nation, too far gone over the horizon to return? Are we? I shudder at the thought, equally as much as I shuddered at the question. My lower jaw had to be hauled back in place after the shock of reading about that.

Must 'it' go where it is going? Are there no voices of inspiration, particularly during times of great national, even world, stress?  Not so. "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 live in it after we are gone? (Winston Churchill)

 There we have it, but actually we do not, no longer. Can we haul it back, haul the nation back onto a plain of reformation, of healing a broken state of unity, more like a now state of disunity? The answer I want, plead for, strongly desire, is that of a yes, even a tentative one. However, what is heard   more and more, louder and louder, is a growing chorus of 'no'. Where are we going from here?

“trying to provoke you and everyone here,.. “They are trying to make you do something that will be violent that will justify a takeover of your freedoms and liberties, the likes of which we have never seen.”

We are sinking ever deeper into a moral morass with strong influence and provocation to the negative. Our supposed leaders incite violence, talk words of hate, and then beg relief when the hatred turns towards them. Relief from a government against which they actively incited insurrection! Sorry, folks. Remember the cake and the eating of it? See Marie Antoinette if you have forgotten.

To finish the job to complete the ruination of any hope into the future, refer to the multi page article in the NY Times about Israel. Once again - "What the hell!!!" Will there ever be a time when Jews will no longer be a recipient of hate, unbalanced, insane, putrid, malignantly unbalanced hate? Why is it that other nations are accepted as arbiters of their own country border lines? The attacking nation or the one invaded keep or lose the land in question, depending on the outcome of the fighting. And it is accepted, perhaps after some pathetic words from so called leaders. So why, why, is Israel different? 

War after war, declared or simply there, wars of survival against a foe which has a mantra of "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free." Meaning that the Jews, the Yahud, will be forced, real and implied, into the sea. It is not Israel that is being fought, but rather the continued existence of the Jewish people despite all that has been done to them, against them, over the millennia. It is ever ongoing, seemingly never to be lost to the darker side of humanity. 

The very same Bible that Christian nations quote and hug to bosoms, the very same Koran that Moslems treasure, is the same Torah, the history of our nation, that the Jews hold dear. So why is everything within accepted, written in stone, other than the Promise - a land of our own. A land which never ever was deserted, not mentally, not emotionally, not in reality. Always there were Jews living in the land. Always there were prayers to return, even inside a synagogue hidden in a concentration camp. Always, the land of the Jews.

Oh, I can argue all day long and well into the night re the fact that Israel is the land of the Jewish people. From time immemorial. Palestine and Palestinians are a made up figment of political expediency, a convenient distraction for Arab states where the people live in poverty under repressive governments. Hence, keep those camps. Annoy the world. These people, few of whom actually lived in the land over the centuries, actually came during the Ottoman times or earlier, urged by effendi, landowners from Greater Syria, who wished for their land there to be farmed. Refer to the writings of Mark Twain and Pastors galore who visited the lands; read their reports of the desolation.

 No flowering land of orange orchards and bountiful olive and fig groves. Those rusty keys they hold up as proof of ownership - sorry, folks, the landowners owned it all. And those keys? How many do you want, for they are found in droves in antique stores there.  You, too, can buy one and maintain that the key is proof of your 'ancient' ownership of land that the dastardly Jews are stealing from you! Why the hell not, as the world is always ready to think less of the Jewish people. Read later on of the contrast to the lands bought, legally, that the pioneers, the refugees, fleeing danger and death, looking for a future, returned to the past, and rebuilt, again, their ancient land, their ancient home, long promised them by  G-d on high, where there would be no ghettos, no restrictive laws, free to be and do, and just as much for the Arabs living within the borders. Simply look at the Arab citizens and see the truth - their advancement, the numbers in university, integral parts of the economy, in and of the government, the very armed forces of Israel, at the very top level.

So it goes? To where? Only when we can read and live the words of Major General William J. Donovan - "It's okay to stumble, as long as you fall forward." Only then will there be a positive impetus, one which hopefully can overcome the burgeoning negatives of our nation. One can hope. But one must also act, be role models for a better present and a positive future. 

Not all is perfect - not in America, Israel, or anywhere in the world. Read this brilliant mantra of a teen murdered by his peers.  “Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.” Would that we all could live those thoughts. Would that hatred be vanquished. If only.......

If only.

WHAT IN THE NAME....!!!YES, IN THE NAME OF WHAT?

  There, I believe, is the crux of the matter. What in the name of - insert favorite excuse - made me - you - whomever, do that? Then its time for truth, for what name, in service to what name, could have convinced you and others to do and say as you did? That is indeed a puzzlement, to quote the King of Siam. Is there, can there, even be such a reason, an impetus to engage in scurrilous behavior to this degree? To the depths of its consequences?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Additionally, it is doubtful that the reasoning of these evildoers will ever change or go away. It is part and parcel of the makeup of mankind and I do mean man -kind. Peruse the historical files and one fact shines in its blatant and forever role in the development of dictators and wanna-bes. Every dictator, every authoritarian figure, throughout the ages had at least one very crucial trait in common.

That trait, along with it pitiful corollaries, is this: the desperate need of the wanna be and the sycophants, is to be recognized as important, as a larger than life figure, as one who has 'made' it, who can cause others to grovel, who can indulge and bring to life every perverted nightmare of revenge and an "I'll show them" temperament. 

Look at those men. Caesar needed continuous streams of praise. So did Stalin. So does Putin. Manifestly so, so does Trump. That is what drives them, be it to amass funds, to fool all re those very funds, to raise great fear in others to disobey you, the high and mighty.  All in the way, all opposed, for whatever reason, are swept away in a growing wave of "I'm joining in - why the hell not?" There, succinctly stated is the underlying causation for the growth of dictatorship, the power of formerly despicable social outcasts, weirdos, people who never had true respect, or enough respect in their needy minds, drastically needing forever boosters, ever inflowing streams of praise to fully exist.

Sick people, Dangerous people. People needing to be separated from society. People who need to face the consequences of the sins they have perpetrated or tried to against society. And therein lies the rub. That crowd of losers, always about this man, is dangerous as well. They have bought it all, hook, line and sinker, allow themselves to be deluded, even sacrificed in the name of that societal renegade, should have been outcast. Why? Because they too have needs which must be met. Typically, there is a common thread of misogyny and don't the men love that! There is an atmospheric presence of anger, of revenge, of self pity, of a need to 'get theirs', no matter the cost to themselves, loved ones or society at large. Pure selfishness, a resultant evil synergy with the addition of smug self satisfaction at how far they have come down that road of self justification, self glorification and the fear of others when they are seen.

Note that these early inductees to this perverted plan of an inadequate man, are weak, many limited in brain power or misuse of said cells, or weak specimens of physical humanity, an outcast even from real society where they felt they belonged. It is that opportunity to 'right' all those imagined but deeply felt wrongs that provide an illegitimate plot its strength, its legitimacy, fake as it is, to flower, to afflict us all. In fact, these weaker versions of that damaged leader, provide the food for the continuity of the evil as the wanna be or the existing dictator means very much to grow and retain power.  Not so much the wealth, or other perks, whatever they think needed to prove omnipotence. Rather, it is the need to feel and be looked upon as Power Personified. As the one with life and death power. That, and only that, will satisfy that evil need. That is, as long as there is constant replenishment.

The followers, those of the next hierarchal rank, are equally as bad, perhaps worse. They refuse to see the truth. They refuse reality. They deny wrongdoing, learn to engage and enjoy it. Look at the next rank below Trump. DeSantis, Cruz, Boebert, Greene, Gosar the Fascist who feels he has to issue a childish dare to Biden - what a wuss! The list continues, unfortunately with Hawley, Cotton, Abbott, Giuliani, pathetic soul that he is, McCarthy, and on and on. People who have willingly sold their souls to the Devil, that other big time needy one who tramples over all in his driving need to feed his perverted soul.

And us, the rest of society? Well, we had better wake up. Evil unfought is evil triumphant. Make no mistake about it. That entire crew knowingly engages in a plot to build a fascist government, here, to remove rights of all, to assert their power any which way they wish. Evil laughed at, as they laughed at Hitler, grows by leaps and bounds, taking advantage of every misstep of society. Make no mistake about it. That is our future if we do not stop laughing at the antics of Trump et al. Instead, hold them accountable for their crimes, for their treason increasingly exposed. Notify them and the world that most Americans will not desert the guardian posts of our nation. That is what it means to be an American.

PALM TREES?

 Palm trees have always been the symbolic image to all wishing and hoping, in the middle of a severe winter, to get someplace warm, where the palm trees sway in the breeze. Well, now we hear otherwise and I almost laugh. Once again, this is something I have been saying for so long. These palm trees are not what they are cracked up to be. Sorry, fellow Floridians, but facts are facts.

Those of us who live here have been warning about this for years. These trees are a danger in many ways. They do not shade anything worth a sou. Particularly if those 'pincushion' ones are planted, with a top that points up doing nothing for those on the bottom! Particularly when beautiful stretches of oxygen producing, carbon absorbing, shade giving, canopy trees are clear cut. Another development. Another street and highway widening. Another wooded area lost to greed and overdevelopment. Drainage problems, resource problems. But there go the trees we need; instead we get maybe one palm tree for tens of canopy trees? Loss of beautiful Nature, increased water drainage problems, and strain and drain on resources. By the way, the replacement trees are but a fraction, a tiny fraction, of the trees lost to us. Do not forget to include the natural beauty and variety of these trees lost to us. Palm trees? Feh!! Nowhere close!

So, as we huddle inside, sheltering against the brutal heat and humidity, we read of nor'easters, atmospheric rivers, bomb cyclones, huge life endangering  mudslides due to humongous rains in burned forest areas. Any day one can either expect to see Noah on the Ark or Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan on public service tours! 

Folks, humor is fine, but this is truly a major, existential problem for humanity, particularly those living in areas where so much abuse goes on. Shares of the remaining lands are being bought up by the uber wealthy who then close it off to the rest of the world, hoarding Nature, hoarding space, as they selfishly reap the beneficial effects possible through money. The same money they drain from the besieged middle class flowing into their pockets, in what I am told is the "Great Consolidation"  - that drainage of money in one direction only. Manifestly not yours or mine!

After the Dark Ages, after the world opened when the worst of the Plague died down, the middle class gained maneuvering room for growth, gained economic and political power, demanded rights. They expanded the world's knowledge, financing journeys, encouraging artists of all types, and thus the Renaissance. Are we going to use our 'plague' to reverse the shift in power and once again allow wealth and power, good living, into and for the Few?  

So you see, the palm tree is merely a representation of what is going wrong in our society, with our values, in the increasing tension and anger running rampant in a powerful, putrid stream throughout the world.

What can we do? We are only little, individual voices. Can we, will we, be heard? Yes, most emphatically so. Voices raised against the war in Vietnam contributed greatly to its shutdown. The anger at the loss of life, the return to a barbaric, stunted, limited life for so many in Afghanistan after twenty!!! years of war, well, that anger helped bring it to a close. The fear, anger and raised voices against the backward thinking of the GOP Party members who railed against vaccines and masks   are succeeding and/or being ignored. 

Raise our voices, send letters to representatives. Join protests. Organize. We can make our thoughts and our power known to those who want our votes. Little by little, but littles add up. Do they not? And for heaven's sake, let us get some trees back. Let us hold back on some of that development.

Voices work. Palm trees do not. 

PACKAGES

  I would venture to say that most people love receiving packages. Delivered. USPS. Left by the doorway. Anyway, it is exciting and brings out the child in all of us. Even when we know the contents, still, to open and see what you ordered, it's here, it's a great and universal feeling. That is, of course, providing it is not a delivery of ominous content such as IRS, disappointing contents, and such.

However, there are other packages. These packages are not warmly welcomed. In fact, most of us complain re these 'packages', feel much put upon by them, and wish them gone. We often feel cheated, oppressed, upset by them and their apparent unfairness. We wonder why it seems that we are the only ones getting a package of such type.

Well, folks, having heard of many of these packages being delivered to people I know, love, and respect, here is my sincere advice. Accept these packages as part of life and value yours, rate its presence far better than the package delivered to your friend or neighbor. Even when the package is most debilitating, nothing good about it, understand that there is always, always, someone out there with a worse package. Take yours, as miserable as it might be, and go home with it. Deal with it. Prepare for its consequences. Think about what it means for your life. Understand it, if it can be. Live the best one can. And know, that the person, family, group, that seems non stick, all problematic packages seemingly sliding off, has packages you might be ignorant of, but behind those closed doors, something is always going on. And understand that there are packages from which there is no return envelope. It is yours to keep on a permanent basis, like it or not. The truth is, one has to deal with it the best one can and turn for aid from whence it can come. Harsh , but reality. Cry and then cry again. That is okay, but do not allow it to harm your responses, the necessary actions that must take place. 

"We were so sad, we were tired, we were cold, we had gone without food for days, we were faint with - we were not even sure if we were hungry or not, because it goes away, I do not know if you ever....Thankfully, you will never know, oh G-d, please may you never know." (Survivor)

Yes, we get hungry, we say we are starving, perhaps even have had to cut down on food intake for various reasons, but the package above... may it long,  forever, remain far away from us, and indeed from all. Yet it does not. That package gets delivered, is being delivered to myriad numbers of people round the world. Why? Because some packages within people were and are misdelivered, forcing others to share, unwillingly, in the results.

Those packages are life debilitating and life threatening, to the point of no return. Luckily for us, yes, luckily, most packages are not of that depth and power and oftentimes there is a route for aid, for advice, for dealing with that nasty package. Sometimes not. But trust me, when you then look within, seek out the packages in your life, you will say to yourself, "I will keep mine, as bad as it is."

Being human, we get wrapped up so in our own package contents that we forget that life goes on, that we must prepare for what life hands us, handle that which is 'unhandleable". Everything other than the most critical of times such as the Holocaust victims and their package, can be handled. Even the knowledge of impending permanent result, such as death, such as strong changes to lifestyle and abilities. Even the unbelievable can be approached with some sort of plan, for did not at least some survive the Holocaust, the 'modern' day camps, the genocidal tendencies of people, the constant attacks on our way of life, our rights, our power and ability to hope and prepare for a future.

We must also remember that there are good packages, some presenting themselves with surprise. Precious newborns. A child who blossoms, finds him/her self, a recognition of one's value at work, a promotion, a long held wish being fulfilled. Even better, the two varieties of packages can be intertwined, appreciating the one and working on the other. Hard. Almost impossible. Often impossible. But packages can have alleviating factors applied even as they burn its cruel way through our lives. 

Think not, readers, that I speak whereof  I know not. I watched my whole life as my parents were hit with one facet or another of a package that would not stop delivering. They dealt with it, moved on, and built a wonderful life filled with love and success. As we too are handed some very unwanted packages, knocking  on the door,  we too must  learn to handle those packages and their accumulated and growing weight in and on our lives. Hard. Harsh. But when I look around, see the packages others have received, I feel for them even as I thank G-d, appreciate that mine is a tad less intrusive, more hopeful perhaps, easier to deal with, to make accommodations for. Whatever. The point of all this verbiage, is take your package and deal with it, run with it, work on it, and always, always, never give up. There is always a better way to work these packages even when to see that is most difficult.

While I certainly do not very much appreciate some of my delivered packages, I also very much value other packages. Even the bad has some good as I find a sudden and most unexpected interest, perhaps even a talent of some small quantity, in the world of wood and the joys of running a paintbrush on a blank surface, and finally seeing something, a result. Not to ignore the inner satisfaction as well, as I open myself up to new thoughts, new experiences and experiments. No, that does not include sky jumping! My sanity remains intact!

Packages and life. Sometimes to be received with open arms. Sometimes to wish be gone. Some handled with more ease while others are just about impossible. The only way forward is to be angry, or glad, or mixed, and then face reality. Do what must be done, what must be changed. Live life the best one can, even under great stress. A smile works better than tears. Laughter is indeed the best medicine, even if temporary.

The little boy in The Music Man sang gleefully, voice raised in expectation of the wonderful packages on that Wells Fargo delivery truck. Would it not be nice to have that optimism that all packages are good. We know that is impossible, but we must, must, find something within, even the appreciation of what we once had, and empower ourselves to move on, to act, to love, to live.

May all our packages be good ones.

THE "ONLY" QUESTION? WHICH ONE?

  "The only question is how long it will take," 

No, that is not right, neither legally nor morally. Certainly not if one applies the rule of common sense, the rule which underlies every sane, law abiding, justice approving, fair treatment and rational understanding of a common principle of a proper society. That is, from time immemorial, as soon as human beings recognized the rationality of having laws which protected members of that society. These laws exacted, or laid down consequences, of violation of those laws, hopefully following the precept of "the punishment fit the crime". 

Humans, such as they are, have a tendency to push the envelope at times, checking how far they can go before being held responsible for their violations of laws. The longer the violations escape their dues, the more the members of that society will skip merrily down that road of evasion. The more that society will suffer, perhaps even undergo a massive restructuring of that society, an unraveling of all that makes it a safe and protective, righteous society. That, my friends, simply using the rule of common sense, is, simply put, not a good idea! Not at all!

"sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts"

That is the definition of common sense according to the dictionary, a basic statement clear to all. Common sense demands that society, particularly in the form of the government of that society, behaves in such a manner that it serves as the protector of its members. According to Thomas Paine, the American patriot, society is a necessary evil, for in an ideal society there would be no need to have such laws, no need to have consequences laid out, for people, using common sense, would instinctively understand what is good, what is not, and behave accordingly, always landing on the right side - justice, fair play, equal rights for all.

Well, folks, hate to break it to you, but many reject that understanding of common sense. Lust for power, to prevail over all, for money, or from their own innate evil, all contribute to the violation of common sense, of the very purpose of society. They  create immoral laws, contravening the actual definition of societal law, or simply go their merry way, giving two hoots for it all. Particularly if their behavior at the outset, receives no punishment, no correction, and worse, receives adulation from the misguided, the deluded, those seeking their own way to the head of the line. For their own selfish desires - over all that is good for the mass of that society. 

Common sense dictates the understanding that such behavior is most manifestly not such a good idea for that besieged society. Common sense demands that we apply logic to the situation and elect, appoint, people who would understand their role and duty towards society. But we do not. Nope.

Society is violated. Wrong is done, perpetrated,  attacking the very foundations of that society. What is next? Punishment. Consequences. Common sense. The youngest child learns that, knows that, instinctively. However, to the contrary, today we  have a man who violates, openly, the laws of society, common sense behavior and skates over any and all consequences of his misdeeds.

There is much smoke and fire enveloping Trump et al. The misdeeds, the offenses are clear. They prove a danger to the fabric of that society, America, its fulfillment of its stated goals and laws, its forever present drive to strive for better. Common sense says bad, very bad. And we ignore that fact, those common sensibly understood ways of society. This man and his camp violate the laws and then use supposed laws, interpretations of said laws to  justify, excuse and escape consequences.

Common sense rules such as inherently oppositional, of clear and present danger to a righteous society as supposed to be. When we take the path of allowing some to have their cake and eat it too, and deny a piece to all others, well, bad. Very bad. That is exactly what we now have, despite all the laws on the books meant to deter such behavior.

So what was that? What behavior? What questions do we have? Is there an only question? Well, yes, but that question has many paragraphs, and the evil doers are falling through the gaps, allowing for  egregious violation of common sense: if one does wrong, one must pay for that wrongdoing. Attack a legitimate government, the underpinnings of society - receive the consequences. It is common sense. Remember: do the crime, do the time.

Thus: Fight breaks out between Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Jim Jordan Or this: "killed for sleeping while Black.  Along with this: "... parked legally .. he wasn't posing a danger to anyone.

(Officer) knocked on window, startling him awake. They did not announce themselves as officers. (He) sat up and started the car. (Officers) immediately opened car doors and reached inside to forcibly remove him.  grabbed arm, and (Officer) wrapped his arm around  head and pulled, while (other officer) pushed from the passenger side.  

Scared, attempted to drive away, but (officer) jumped into the passenger seat. (He) looked at (officer) and asked, “Why are you in my car?” (Officer) attacked ... punched him, stunned him with a Taser six times, then used the Taser to strike him in the head. (He) never hit back. Moments later, (Officer) shot (victim) five times, killing him. .. had been in the car with for only about one minute before he opened fire. 

The result: qualified immunity and massive misinterpretation of a law meant to provide protection for officers when in danger, but not to permit wholesale killing and fatal or near fatal violence against the victim. Particularly when the victim had done nothing wrong.

This is what happens when we do not enforce the adage "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" and the unspoken following bit: or else know you will face the consequences.

Common sense. One question. One answer.

A society gone rotten from the top down.

And what do we do? How do we answer?

A riddle worthy of the Riddler.

I'M SHOCKED! JUST SHOCKED! ( NOT REALLY)

 We are in a weird spiral. The more outrageous things become, in deeds and words, the more we appear to either ignore, for far too long, much to our detriment as people, as Americans, or we go to war on it, trampling over other concerns. We all seem to have forgotten that there is a place for everything , a time for everything, if only we would pay attention and get back to work, the true responsibilities of our government; however, we continue to waste time and energy taking potshots at each other. Or, we plan ever more egregious behavior. All the while, our country sags, believing the worst when the truth is actually not so bad. And the media rolls right along with it. Shocking! Just shocking!  Again - not really.

To be fair, there are moments of true shock, though I believe we are growing thickened skins when having to face the imminent - yes, imminent - possibility, almost a probability, that our democracy will shatter. Now that, come to think of it, is indeed truly shocking, yet, too many feel ignorance is bliss, simply ignore and it will go away. It will not.

Time and again, we see, hear about awful behavior from officials meant to be doing the opposite. We are battered with words of warning, those sounding the alarm growing in number, but is it too little, too late? Would we really be shocked when the attacks on the underpinnings of the nation and our democracy by Trump et al actually achieve their goals? Not really, and truth to tell, they have traveled a goodly distance along that road. So, reality, my friends, reality. We have ignored, laughed, for far too long, but that deranged, demented man, that toddler in an old man's body, is entrenched within our system, much to our dismay and future possibilities. Shocked? Shocking?

Not really.

Why?

Read the following and then answer that question.

"for one of the country’s two major parties to commit itself to the destruction of democratic elections is a terrifying thing for the country."

"...the one thing it must stand for is overturning a free and fair election."

"Frank Herbert’s "Dune,” “The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it.”

"...to make a fundamental shift in how our economy works for working people, to build the economy from the ground up and the middle out, not from the top down," Biden said." (I wish.)

"A sitting sheriff in Washington State has been charged with making a false claim that a Black man....."

"Republicans Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, and now a third, Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who was charged with lying to the FBI..." 

 "unconstitutionally malapportioned" (Referring to legislative gerrymandering over and through the entire nation.)

"... Trump's family business, which is already under indictment in Manhattan, is facing a criminal investigation by another prosecutor’s office" (Yawn)

 "I thought this would happen in countries I studied, not countries I lived in," Rice continued. "Our institutions have to be upheld. What happened on Jan. 6 was wrong. I don't know how much more strongly I can say what happened on Jan. 6 was wrong. I also know that as a government and as a country, we've got to be concerned about the things that are making life hard for Americans and hard for American families." (From her mouth to  G-d's ears!)

Manchin thinking of leaving Democratic Party. News for all - he already has all but in name only!

"Sinema refuses to support any tax increases on the wealthy." (Yawn 2x)

Violent behavior by officers in NYC subway after 'disliking' being questioned as to why they were maskless. Solution - slam the questioner through the stiles! Yup!

Indeed. Words, actions, lack of actions, hypocrisy, threats, all possibly bandwagon jumps rather than true beliefs. Even, G-d help us, with many who actually could care zip about loss of democracy, even favor dictatorship, by a madman, an autocrat, a corrupt one. It will be better for this country, or forget the country - better for them. So they think. Living in delusion. When they wake up....will they be shocked? Confused at reaching this point? Oh, yes, once again engaging in denial of truth and reality. Shocking! Yet not. 

I wish there was a yellow brick road, obvious and safe, to follow to a magical Wizard. That road had dangers along the way, and the Wizard was a foolish, lonely old man, wishing, hoping to get back home. So are we. So must we.

Is that shocking? It shouldn't be. Yet there it is.

So, people, what do we do, what do you do about it? No, sand and head burying will not work long time, is not the answer. Shocked? Well, perhaps we all ought to get over the shock, get down to the nitty-gritty and force our elected representatives to actually do their jobs. Shocked? It seems so.

We had better do something soon. That is a fact.

Shocked? Shocking? Get over it.

TAKE TWO ASPIRIN, TWO KNOCKS TO THE HEAD, AND DO NOT CALL ME IN THE MORNING!

  Have you ever had that moment when you stood there in shock after hearing, seeing or reading something simply outrageous or previously unthinkable? Did you then question your sanity or vision? Did you then smack the palm of your hand to your head, a simple reset, you hoped? Did you then act upon the impulse to go home, take those two aspirin, stretch out on the bed in a darkened room, and simply hope and pray that it would all go away, at least by the time you got up from your so needed sanity restoring nap!

Well, ditto here, folks. Me too! Reading the news, watching news broadcasts, my most often used phrase is "Say what?!"You read it again. You flip through the channels or the internet trying to check on the reality of what you hope was an error, a wrong switch in your oh so challenged brain in these times. And then - dear Lord! It was real.

Here are a few from five minutes of perusal of the day's reporting.

"I said I was going to go down with the crowd. But they wouldn't let me go. I think if I did go down there, I would have stopped the people from doing anything bad," Trump added."

Uh huh! Sorry, folks. He said it. He really did. Well, just chalk that one up to more lies and increasing derangement. Gotta' laugh - else you will cry.

Here's another one that will perhaps give rise to the same thought I had after reading it. Shame on us? Shame on the country? Shame on all those mud slinging careless, selfish pols? Check it out.

"Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were," "There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out."

"If they get through that door, they're into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress," 

Okay. So....my thought? Maybe we should have let it happen! Huddled, crowded into a supply closet, afraid for their lives, after a big fright, a threat to their own physical safety and integrity, maybe, just maybe, a harmless punch or two, a touch of their own medicine, perhaps they would have manned and womaned up, done the right thing and tossed the creep out of office. Woulda'. Coulda'. Shoulda'.

Trump warns Tuberville to "Protect yourself." Right. This from the man who had no knowledge of any planned insurrection, of the bloodshed to follow, of the threat to the fabric of this nation. Yup. But he knew nothing. Ask him. Well, actually, he does know nothing, but manages to crawl into the heads of people and turn off their bullshit gauge! And so we have a  return to American history, yet another Know Nothing Party has emerged. 

How much longer till people finally realize that they are fighting the very people who wish to save them from themselves. The vaccine is good. Write that 500 times and maybe, just maybe, it might penetrate those thick skulls, reawake the wiring of the brain, causing it to function properly. Or is it too late for that? Guess my answer to that!

The same people who shout about "having the courage to say no to the federal vaccine mandate," Cruz tweeted. "It's the right thing to do - to respect the right of their employees to make their own personal decisions about their own healthcare." -  are the same people who rant and rave, even kill, as they seek to deny that same privilege of self determination to women seeking control over their bodes, their decisions, who, after much hard thought, come to a painful decision that an abortion is necessary. 

See, they, no one, is pro abortion. They are pro choice. Pro the dignity of women. These supposed pro lifers, those who beat up clinic staff, harass the women entering, are they prolife when a doctor is shot in the name of saving lives? Are they pro life after that unwanted child is born, no money to buy necessities. No money for health care. No money for food. No time for stimulation of the growing mind. No time for love and care. But nope! They are done with pro life the moment that poor woman has been forced to bear that child of rape or incest, or damaged beyond repair, doomed to a life of pain, or the child that would simply break the back of this woman and her family.

How does one reconcile the absolute point of absurdity of their stance when they speak out of more than two sides! When they remain willfully blind to the truth, buy into the crap spewing from the mouths of wanna be dictators, rush to buy books replete with the same lies, calling it "historical standards". Hitler is smiling down there , folks, a great big grin on his damned face, for he is vindicated, his beliefs and techniques proving viability. Worse, the ever increasing success of his are being mirrored today. The same history that wrecked the world, that slaughtered millions, that ramped up hatreds, is the same today. Just look around and see the parallels. We refused to learn from the past and so it has come back to haunt us. An oft repeated warning about that, but who cares  anymore? Two knocks? Like tossing a spool of sewing thread to a man drowning in rough seas.

The ugliness grows apace. A high school cheerleading squad, those very same people who snoot off to others not as "gifted" or  "special", hang up a sign intended to demoralize the rival school, claiming they are privileged white creeps while the squad and their school are the blessed ones as they attend public high school rather than a Catholic one. The echoes, the ripple effect of the hatred, the absurdities, the far fetched extents of the tentacles of hatred and anger are way too long. They have veered into the dangerous world of causative and caustic behavior, self righteousness, self pity and ever growing class hatred. So no we have Stalin grinning along side his now best buddy, his BFF. We lose.

So yes, take two aspirin, by all means, but perhaps a few more might help the pain of the so many knocks to your head as you try to integrate what you see and hear and cannot believe, into a  strangely deformed reality that simply boggles the mind. Calling for help? Unfortunately too many of those people are the ones instigating and profiting from the unrest, the violence, the threat to democracy, its very noticeable crumbling.

I think I need to take four Tylenol - no aspirin for me - kick myself in the head, and find there no help, so off to that darkened room until I must emerge again and face the awful reality. Oof! I know. Where is that chocolate for that cures everything. Does it not? I wish.

Seriously, folks, we are in a bad way. Whether we like it or not, try to deny it, it is here, it is upon us, and the future is even uglier. We are running out of time and room to redirect the country, to get it back up the ramp and onto the proper roads. Tick, tick, tick.

KNOCK, KNOCK......WHO'S THERE?

  Apparently no one. As the fire beneath the underpinnings of our democracy grows in size and ferocity, we are left with a huge portion of an electorate who remain, as one pundit said, "MAGA Morons". "I feel like whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it.”  Is that not adding fuel to the fire, when people willingly shut down their s..t detector? Spews indeed!

 When reality is denied, when these same morons, "deluded supporters all proclaiming that “Trump Won” as loudly as they could,"  (that)  “antifa,” the “corrupt FBI,” and the “deep state”    is the truth, well, you figure it out. What else can we expect from people with brain shutdown, when their leader says, in response to lawsuits re Jan. 6 and by injured protesters at his hotel, that "The Klu Klux Klan [sic] dressed protester case should have never been brought as the plaintiffs have no one to blame but themselves." Fire and brimstone, sulfur aplenty. Truth? An endangered concept in that camp.

Law, legality, respect for the law, consequences for breaking the law, well, we can all recite that question, "Where has it gone, Joe DiMaggio?" Seemingly, we can all go whistle in the dark for all the good it would do. The way of life that should be the rule of life, respect and obedience to the laws of the country, - down the hatch. The law itself is being increasingly perverted, block American guaranteed rights, such as the right to vote, to be safe from rotten apple violent law enforcement personnel, even as that oh so political Supreme Court votes personal opinions, akin to those of the Leader, Trump, shielding sanctioned brutality by those same rotten apples. Indeed Joe, keep looking for perhaps you will see a path through the smoke and ashes of that dangerous fire.

"My country is currently a disaster, it is experiencing the most dangerous situation within it since our civil war, that is, for 160 years. And we are getting dangerously close to another civil war, we are on the brink,"

So states an actor and musician, recognizing truth. On the other hand we get dangerous nonsense at that, how one political host from the extreme right, someone who should know better, states proudly that he "wanted to get COVID-19, and this was all part of his plan.

"Hence, so, I have engaged with strangers, constantly hugging them, taking photos with them knowing that I was making myself very susceptible to getting COVID. Which is, indeed, as bizarre as it sounded, what I wanted, in the hope I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics," . Adding, mind you, that he has been taking all the dangerous drug protocols of the Trump camp. Yet another example of people choosing to go against human instinct and protect their lives, rather than choosing to inject and/or swallow poison and boasting about it. Bizarre!

Can we not see beyond the bombast of a deranged, demented person, one who resorts to preschool schoolyard insults? Apparently not. Where and when and how was the match put to that fire that threatens the continued existence of America as she is supposed to be? 

I cannot answer that question in any manner or form which adequately explains it. It is that irrational. It is just so sad, so bad, so inimical to goodness and life as it should be. To borrow the phrase from a  noted author, "Cry the beloved country." Cry indeed. And please, can someone be there to answer the knock? Many someones?

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT - AMERICA?

  Forget Alfie. He is not relevant here other than perhaps serving as a representative of the great unwashed, wondering what values to choose, which paths to take, what decisions to make. But unlike Alfie, whose decisions take place in a movie, the decisions we make, in real life, are not rescindable. Even should a decision be overturned down the road, the harm has taken place already, or the harm will presently take place, depending upon the time set of these decisions. Hence the question: What's it all about, America?

We can dodge the question no longer. It has become a question whose answer demands great attention and inner examination. It requires an understanding of the harmful effects of a snowballing mob, rolling all along with it, growing in an intensity which negates individual will, morphing into a new entity, generally harmful in intent and consequence. Read accounts of Jan. 6, how individuals lost their uniqueness, merged into that new monster called "Mob of Rebels".

So what's it all about, America? It is about a decision we must make in the immediate here and now. It is the decision we must make about our national character, our defining characteristics and values, a determination as to whether we accept the responsibilities that have devolved upon us from the past through the present, hopefully into a less questionable future. What will America choose?  That is a question whose answers have demanded the riveted attention and concern of nations of the world. Certainly, at least as of yet, we remain a force for good, less so than before Trump, but  remnants remain of that impetus. Weaker, more exposed to existential harm, it has not yet left the room totally, without recourse or room for hope.

There is much to take into account, to be overcome, before we return to a position of sanity and faith - for a viable future for our kids and grandkids. It is vital that we look into consequences of our decisions. Immediate, even perhaps selfish, demands must take second, third and last place in a race for a non apocalyptic future. That future has been described, even annotated as to the year we will have crossed those red lines that cannot be erased any longer. That year, those years, are actually within the lifetime of most Americans living today - and the rest of the world as well.

Will we choose policies and thought over cultish veneration of a personality? Will we lose our individuality, merge into the "mob", the entity which enables us to allow our prior moral roadblocks, to be subsumed, consumed, into, by, that 'mob', that living, breathing fire and danger entity negating all that oppose it, negating any defiance to it? Will we enjoy it? That possibility, that world of Hitlerian resemblance and modeling, has been proven to be possible, eminently so. The mobs of hate, the ugly crazed, screaming beings willing to do harm, even kill, in the name of that hatred, for that 'leader', are real. People willing to throw kids into cold, harsh conditions - and justify it - are here. Been there, done that. Our own homegrown Nazi wanna be's. If we allow the backward and oh, so very dangerous Trumpian values - or lack thereof - to determine, to choose our roads, we will have indeed, that very ugly future and an inhabitable world with a very limited future. Of some sort. or none.

See, at this point it is not only Trump, but also those who would follow in his footsteps, who endeavor to outdo him in all his ugliness. Hawley, Cotton, McCarthy, DeSantis, Abbott, Cruz, Gaetz, Greene, even Haley has joined in. No lack of wannabe purveyors of hatred and hopelessness. None. At all.

I read a definition of the dementia caused by Alzheimer's. "no survivors.....It destroys brain cells and causes memory changes, erratic behaviors and loss of body functions. It slowly and painfully takes away a person's identity, ability to connect with others, think, eat, talk, walk and find his or her way home." It is ugly, a very real possibility as our population ages. Worse, apply it to a nation that has lost its way, incurring a national dementia, acting within that deadly, ever darkening night. Are we, have we, become that demented nation, developed national dementia as we sink deeper, ever deeper, into a national Alzheimer's? 

What's it all about, America? It is about us. It is about who we are. It is about who we will be, the values we will champion. Life? Or Alzheimer's? What's it all about, America?

THE WATER? THE AIR? THE PLASTIC? THE ???????

  What do you think? To be able to answer one must push an internal brain reset. One must turn off reality, turn off the natural instinct to protect oneself, negate any positive, realistic thinking and go to automatic conspiracy mode. Got it? Got it. Good job.

Additionally, one must accept the rule that bans independent thought. No choice in that. For that minor sacrifice, for that adherence to all the rules, what do you get? You get a red hat or a label of a 'progressive' or at the highest level, an ability to cheer on blatantly false statements whose glare  blinds all. Thus, you, too, can be a member of the newly twisted society and nation that is America today. Such a privilege! Such a joy!

So....you tell me. What the heck has happened to the people of this nation? Where has independent,  strongly tethered to reality, thinking gone? Has it been eroded by something in the water? In the air we breathe? In the plastic overrun of the world? In climate warming? Where? From what? Or perhaps it is a pandemic which we did not notice, so busy were we, are we, combating COVID? Aha!! Got it. The aliens. You know, the ones from that dark planet, who manage to magnetize our bodies through a COVID vaccine, forcing us to attract teaspoons onto our bodies.! Got it!

 But wait! There's more. Do not forget the pizza store and the trafficking within. Do not forget the rebels of Jan. 6, the anti-fas morphed into Trumpian logotypes for their nefarious purpose of ...who the hell knows! Deny all the lies, the ones which miraculously were converted into statements of truth, merely by a nod and a wink from Trump. And how well his sycophants learned that talent. Makes one proud.

Here is the best one. Contrary to every shrieking, screaming fiber of a body, seeking to survive, growing numbers of fools are believing all they are told, drinking the descendant of the Kool-Aid of Reverend Jones! How? Just look around and try to see past the film thrown over deadly nonsense. No, COVID is not a hoax. Yes, people do indeed die from it. Painfully. Alone. Yes the vaccines help a great deal but no, are not perfect - no medication is. No, horse meds are not the answer, most definitely not and in fact, well, a good substitute for that short in supply Kool-Aid!

The whipped cream on top? The patently false statement re masks. The same thing. Are they perfect? No. Are there better ones? Yes. Are there enough of those better ones  to go around. No, but they are so uncomfortable that most people would lay them aside anyway for the softer one, the three layered cloth or the four layer one, or one with an insert slot for a filter.

Now the cherry. There is a most definite conspiracy to take away all our rights. No mass events. No avoidance of masks and vaccines. No masks for the most vulnerable, little petri dishes of the disease - the kids under 12. Of course, their parents do not enforce the mask rule, poor little mites should not have to suffer that inconvenience. Nope, according to the 'valid' thinking of the day, better they suffer the worst of the pandemic. The parents will have proved their point. They remained stalwart proponents of independence. No one will force those awful life saving steps on them! No sirree!!

What has happened to the people of America? What has happened to logical thought? Where has the instinct to survive gone in these people? Why is it that perhaps the new immigrants, those seeking entry into this blessed country, are the only ones who continue to believe in its precepts, in the hope and the future it holds out for all? What has happened to us? When have we retrogressed to the temperatures of a previous Civil War and run down the tracks towards another, more bloody, more permanent one? Where? When? Why? Why? 

Why indeed. Until all those why questions can be addressed, we are condemned to a very iffy, troubled future. All of us. We are intertwined. No matter the political name one pins on oneself, we all are on this small, endangered, orbiting planet, and no one will escape unscathed. We will all face the consequences of this irresponsible and deadly, yes, deadly, behavior and thinking. What am I saying? Thinking? Apparently approaching extinction level. And it is all on us. 

PENS AND SWORDS, INK AND BLOOD

  "So I hear tell that once it was believed that "the pen is mightier than the sword". Words ain't stronger. Agin' the sharp end of a sword ?  Pshaw!"

Unfortunately, those who espouse that belief are blind to the very clear connection of words to those very sharp ends of swords. Words of violence. The perversion of words. The blood they encourage to be spilled, the very real and overt thread connecting words to the resultant violence - all denied in the camp of the red. The same camp which Greene, that incompetent, dangerous bigot, wants to know who supports it. 

 Unfortunately, boding no good for our country, almost half agreed with that thought while another large percentage thought it a good idea. A dystopian state within our borders, the validation of Newspeak, of 1984, of Big Brother, of hypocrisy as a national belief. A sword backed tenet of a new Bible, a new pledge of loyalty to a flag carried at an insurrection. A belief and system of government that belies the fact of equality for all. Hence people are not created equal, are not entitled to the same rights,  a new  statement in a new religion. A religion of false idols and the sacrifice of many for the benefit of the few.

"weird and wrong" to "pledge allegiance to a flag connected to January 6." " people got to get out there and vote."

“Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24” if his election fraud hoax is not “solved” first."

Two opposing viewpoints. Which are we to believe? Which are people following, caught up in mob rule, canceling their own individuality as they cede control to the power of words leading to those swords awaiting anointment with the blood of the enemy - their fellow Americans. This Trump madman, this deranged, toxic person has now given us the best present ever - the absence of Republican voters. The absence of deluded individuals. The absence of hate filled madmen - and women. The absence of the coppery reek of blood round our voting polling stations.

The GOP at this point is manifestly anti democracy. Read that in the words of GOP supporters themselves. 

"My personal message to you is think about putting your ego in check for the first time in your life. Not because you’re not right about a lot of this stuff, but because for the health of the country and for a true healing… that’s the way we can do it."

 " apropos of nothing, Trump recalled the unproven rumor against him stating that he likes being peed on for sexual pleasure." “I’m not into golden showers,” he told the crowd. “You know the great thing, our great First Lady — ‘That one,’ she said, ‘I don’t believe that one.’”

See the crooked logic, the evil plans, the twisted minds, the filthy, fetid swamp of their minds, the shame they bring to our very nation. They have callously agreed to support lies, to install lies as facts and Truth, to support rebellion, to support hypocrisy, to render this nation moot!

"I was born at night, but not last night,"  

That is the excuse of Grassley for accepting the endorsement of Trump, the same man about which he stated a few months ago: 

"President Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen even though the courts didn’t back up his claims," Grassley said in a Feb. 13 statement, following the Senate’s acquittal of Trump. 

"He belittled and harassed elected officials across the country to get his way. He encouraged his own, loyal vice president, Mike Pence, to take extraordinary and unconstitutional actions during the Electoral College count," Grassley said. "There’s no doubt in my mind that President Trump’s language was extreme, aggressive, and irresponsible."  

The pen or the sword? The ink vs. the blood? Unfortunately, I fear that blood will be shed for I see no rapprochement possible with people who refuse to think for themselves, who have no power of discernment, of distinguishing fact from lie with apparently no desire to do so. I see no possibility, or the rapid shrinking of the possibility, of healing our wounds and believing once again in unity, not two nations, one of Red and the other of Blue.

Sad. Discouraging. Ugly possibilities.

So others are now saying, worried, exactly where I have been living and saying for years. 

I hate " I told ya' so" - but there it is.

Would it were not so. Would it will never be.

Hope is dimming, the flame of the candle  sputtering.

Wake up, America.  WAKE UP!

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK

  Watches, folks, watches. It appears I have a vice of sorts and it all began with watches, many, many years ago. The guilty party here, aside from me - Swatch. I love their watches, from the simple to the more expensive, from the large faces and thicker bands to the elegant skin watches. I especially love the fun watches, the ones with bolder designs, yet lovely in appearance. So, I managed to build a collection of sorts without meaning to.

As time went on, batteries die, need replacement and that could be a problem, though it pleases me  to report that these batteries are easier to get and local jewelers can repair as well as 'rebatterize' the watches. (Shout out here for Bennison Watch Company= off Palm Beach Lakes Blvd.) Hoorah!!! Makes life a lot easier for those of us who accumulate Swatches. Particularly as Swatch stores have disappeared from malls. I believe the closest one now is in Orlando airport!  Tad inconvenient. Thus, picture my dismay when there was a deafening silence. No tick tock from them, nary a peep, even from the louder, older ones. Uh oh! However, I am happy to report that all but two are as good as new though unfortunately, two had fatal issues. Their tick tock is forever silenced. On the other hand, I now have three new Swatch watches! As vices go, not too bad. Gottta' love 'em!

Sorry to say that some tick tocking is not so easy  to fix. Local jewelers are unable to fix these mis-tockings. " all of this is now under a ticking clock," That is the statement re the last ditch efforts of a guilty, panicking Trump to keep his sins hidden, never to appear in the House or in courts. He asserts executive privilege, though he is not the current President, hence has none. It is also morally correct, and legal, that truth should out, as it always does, despite maniacal efforts to deny it. The Nazis did, with their burning of records, exploding infrastructure of camps, frenzied burning of bodies and dispersal of mammoth amount of ashes,  determined to kill Jews to the very last moment. They were held to account, though not enough.

 Such are the crazed attempts , the last ditch attempts, of Trump et all to hide their treasonous actions leading up to and including the insurrection of Jan. 6. As far as I am concerned, their continuing efforts with the Big Lie, of stolen elections, their horrific attempts to change voting laws so as to make it nigh onto impossible for many to exercise their right to vote are open treason. Awful.

"the President maintains his conclusion that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents provided to the White House on September 8, 2021."

"Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former President's assertion of privilege."

The above is, hopefully, the death knell, or at least the first tones of those tolling bells, for Trumpian horror. The beginning of the end to his determined efforts to twist this country around, hide the tick tock of its beating heart - the Declaration and the Constitution. One cannot attempt crimes and then use trumped up excuses - in so many ways! - to cover it up. His efforts, and those of his abettors in his crimes are the equivalent to the person who kills his parents and then begs the mercy of the court as he is an orphan!! Cannot have it both ways. Crimes of political homicidal intent will out, perpetrators will be held to accounts, and we see this all over the world. Unfortunately, too often it takes too long, has incurred awful amounts of harm and damage, and the road back is tough, really tough.

"Unfortunately, I think the president had some really, really bad advice," Short told Drucker. "The way the White House was structured at that point was that those people giving that really, really bad advice were given carte blanche access to the president, and I think there were no safeguards in the way the White House was being run at that point."

This cannot happen again. Bad advice? Ya' think! We must have safeguards in place. Deranged Presidents and their enablers, lost souls, every one of them, cannot rule the roost. We must make sure that proper tick tocks run the country in a smooth manner, and if needing repair, then we do it. Right away. No attempts to silence the tick tocking of the nation can be allowed to succeed. None. That simple. As simple as tick-tock.