HENCE, WHEREFORE?

  Hence, where do we go? Where do we go as a nation, as a people? How, exactly, are we going to face the future? Are we going to lose all we hold precious, or much of it, or can we perhaps turn the clock back, reset to the point where sanity, usually, reigned? Where people did not push others to the brink - and then over the edge. Then smirk. That is the current state of affairs in this once shining example of bipartisanship. Once people were able to disagree in a civil manner, dial up tension as expected, but omitted personal, venomous insult. Science was accepted as fact when proven and no one tried to push false and dangerous beliefs on others, in a most deranged manner. Ahhh. the olden days.

We have reached a crossroads, a major fork in the road. In fact, we already have walked down one side, seemingly choosing one option, and it ain't a pretty one. We have placed ourselves in a position of coming from behind in a search for a better world, one of progress, hope, and positive movement. Where has that world gone?

It has morphed into a splintered world, one of sharpened edges, able to cut one's throats without any warning. Suddenly one wakes up and realized what the combined efforts of authoritarian supporters has wrought. Not pretty at all. Not at all.

Hence, wherefore?

There is some wiggle room - we hope - some signs that some people have seen the light. However, the signs are still weak, still outshouted by the raucous noise of crowds who know not what they do, what they are enabling, what will be their fates if their shouts become realities. They know not at all what awaits them in that ugly, proposed world.

These supporters do not like when we rail against the politization of health measures that benefit the nation's public health. Instead of science, of research, of proven methodology, they support absolute lies and most dangerous ideas. Take Viagra and avoid COVID. Better yet, drink your own urine and lo and behold all will be well. Inject yourself with poisonous drugs not even meant for human usage and the stars will shine brightly above, though eclipsed by the brilliance of the fire burning down your homes. A fire lit by one's own thoughts and willful behavior. Self-immolation. Nothing but.

The sane are just beginning to realize that the golden boy of the fake gold plating is tarnishing quickly. Only the most extreme media report on his rallies of the crazed, those actively seeking their own death, though when COVID hits, they run to the strained hospitals, endanger the health workers, beg for relief and cure, forgoing their precious Viagra and urine, seeking life, seeking real cure possibilities. Draining the nation's resources. Delaying its recovery. Damaging all in their selfish, deluded advocating for the dangerous lies pushed by that malignant crew of power-seeking fascists. 

My home state of Florida is endangered by an evolving DeSantis, actually, devolving, as he and his crazed GOP legislators push through law after law, act after act, openly, viciously, taking away rights, cramping the freedom in which we are supposed to live. Evidently, he and his fellow fascists, supporters of authoritarianism, under their rule as the authorities in power, are flying high.

DeSantis is running to be selected as the GOP candidate for President. More appropriately, he should be named as the candidate of choice of - here insert the name of any white power, fascistic, crazed group, proud of its hatred for all other than themselves and I'm not sure about that last part. One cannot be a hater of humanity to such an extent without being a hater of oneself as well.

He says Florida is the "freedom state". Others beg to differ, amend that statement - "free to do as you are told". Well, hell NO! Most definitely so.

His freedom?   A slew of bills has advanced attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling “discomfort” over the state’s racist past. Not to forget his "election police". G-d forbid!

Amanda Gorman, that brilliant young woman who read her "The Hill We Climb" at the Inauguration, has the best encapsulation of what is going on. "I'm a firm believer that often terror is trying to tell us of a force far greater than despair ....a call forward, a summons to fight for what we hold dear. ... hope isn't a promise we give. It's a promise we live. ...the rest is history."

"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." So, who is it that we will allow to control the history of America, the history of mankind? If we are not them, then we are lost. Most assuredly so. A point emphasized in many dystopian novels and many essays. We must grip the fear Gorman writes of, hold it tight, use it as a hammer, an incentive to take back the world for the sane, for those who value progress, for those who actually are not self-haters and inflictors of all that is wrong on anyone they deem deserving of it.

Finally, here is a thought that has come to us, unknown as to author, nevertheless a most profound statement.

"From invention is born progress

  From reinvention is born freedom."

Let us reinvent ourselves as we should be, as we once strived to be, and have left behind as we career down a most dangerous choice of road.

YOICKS! I GIVE UP!!! MAYBE

  "Put your money where your mouth is."

We all know that saying. But what happens when you cannot figure out how to put your money wherever your mouth is? What then?

Well, in my case, thank the Lord Above for giving me my live-in techie. With a vocal call from the owner of that confused mouth, there he is, rescuing me yet again. But worry wart that I am, I wonder what happens when that will not be enough. In fact, it is already happening.

Have you tried to negotiate some of those web sites, trying to find what you are looking for, then narrowing it down among the myriad choices, then finding your cart, or your bag, or whatever it is called, and trying to pay for it? Oh, there are those pants you clicked on in error. How the hell did they get in the wagon? More important, how do I get rid of them? Trying to find the 'x' or the 'remove', is an adventure all by itself.

Furthermore, how is one to choose or even find the item when one cannot understand the names. What the heck is an O.G pair of pants? Does an aging gangster, now walking with the aid of a walker come along with the pants? Do we get a choice as to which gangster? What if one does not desire one? Is there a choice to refuse that gracious offer? Seriously, a dictionary of current terms of fashion is fast becoming a necessity.

 Along with that should be a listing of the brand names and where they originate. G-d forbid you get stuck with a disguised company that is actually in China, and brother! Or sister!! You will learn the virtue of patience awaiting its arrival. By that time, you will have pulled out all your remaining hair from sheer frustration trying to contact that firm. The reason for it might have passed and you might even be a different size. Then try returning it. Forget it! You will eat the cost, with Goodwill the final beneficiary. Yoicks!!! Foiled again.

Now try your eagerly awaited purchase on. Uh huh. "Too big, too small, too little, too tall." Yup, reading Dr. Seuss to the kids when they were small is quite beneficial at times. Especially in describing the fit of clothing, all the same size, with manufacturers apparently free to make a size any size if feels like. Such fun for them. Such frustration for us. Such an adventure to shop these days. Yoicks again.

And then, and then.... uh oh - cannot even shop, despite the need, gone, the ability even to purchase anything. That mouth needing the proper money placement will go hungry, frustrated to the nth degree as ...wait for it.... bitcoin, block chain, cryptocurrency and all those related terms enter the fray. Oy vey! I can see myself sitting in the dark, no book to read as my Kindle is playing games with my sanity. No light to read by as I could not pay my bill in crypto coins. No food either, as the supermarket moved online. How the heck does one maneuver that new challenge? And thank you very much, but I like to pick out my own vegetables and fruit. Dang it all.

But do not give up. Perhaps some generous soul, caring for our benighted souls, will come to our rescue. Maybe. Maybe not. Another chapter in a changing life. Such excitement awaits us. There is always hope in the innate goodness of people, as difficult as that seems these days. Here is a heartwarming story.

Four years ago, a Sudanese family fled an unlivable Sudan, and became enmeshed in awful refugee camps. Worse, proof of their marriage was lost in the shuffle of survival. The pregnant wife and children were allowed in as refugees while the father was left behind, tagged as a single man, the worst category. Would they ever see each other again?

Luckily for the wife, two members of a church home group decided that the Bible was to be taken literally, lived, not just mouthed. "... and I was a stranger, and you took me in."  They remembered the story of the Exodus, its meaning for our lives, even today, in this confused world of ours. They remembered and lived the admonition to remember the stage of the Israelites as strangers in Egypt and the welcome they received as they were taken in by the Pharoah. 

We are all told to do the same.

And so they did. And so they succeeded. Four years after separation there was a most emotional reunion, with all crying. A miracle of the power of the little against the worst odds, of goodness; a miracle of modern-day life.  Oh, there will be adjustments as they reformat their lives as a family, but they are together.

The question now arises. This took place in 2016, a long, tumultuous six years ago. A most different world. Would this happen again in our hate infested and infected world, where we are now told to hate the stranger, hate those who are what we or our ancestors were.

What do you think? What do you feel?

A most new reality for all of us. Think I will retreat to my online confusion, for our present reality contains too much hurt and anger, far more difficult than learning the new way of life in an online society. So depressing to contemplate, let alone to deal with, to live the truth as we should be doing.

Yoicks is way too mild for this world of ours. We need to return to the law and ways of our older society, relearn those ways, live those ways, and then take them along with us as we learn new ways. 

IF ONLY ....

  The news report today, including articles within The Reporter, are rife with terms and phrases that seemingly convey much. Mostly though they are replete with hot air, heated rhetoric, positions totally the opposite of what they seem to state or support.

 Remaining with us is the political aspect, wherein lies are pushed over and over again, becoming 'truths' in the minds of too many, over-whelmed by the attacks on sanity, reasoning, and civility. Too many now wrap themselves in cloaks of despair, concern, uncertainty, and are just plain good and tired of local, state, national, and world problems that have seemingly replicated themselves from the past. We continue to prove ourselves deaf, dumb, blind and stupid, as we forget the lessons of history, the need to heed it and learn from it.

Most of us can remember the drills of our childhood days when we were told to hide beneath our wood desks or line up in the hallway, against the walls. That would, of course, protect us from nuclear bomb fallout. Even as the harrowing pictures of vaporized people, their shadows on the walls of Hiroshima and Nagasaki seared themselves into our minds. Even as we fought in two more wars, calling back the same soldiers or their younger brothers or even their sons. 

We fought wars we lost, took on more - that we also lost. Where we never had a realistic chance at 'winning' if there truly is a winner in any war. Where the wars were seemingly endless, swallowing up hundreds of thousands of men and women. For naught at the end of it all. The destruction of these wars followed the veterans home, suffering from unacknowledged PTSD, or from chemicals used during the war - by us. Placed within a poor medical program for veterans.  Yes, things are better now, but why are we still fighting, repeating the same errors, leaving behind locals who risked their lives and worked with us. Why? Why?

One excellent contributor to the Reporter spoke whimsically about returning to the past, turning back the clock. Sweet, as we paint the past with rosy hues, ignoring the problems that were overlooked, even as the Fifties, apparently an ideal time to grow up proved otherwise. The Wonder years were not necessarily so wonderful. That generation of privileged children grew into a most profoundly disturbed and disturbing generation, strong ideals, corrupted ideals, forgotten ideals, and lots of woes.  Idealistic and cynical, generation of rebels which morphed in time to a most conservative layer of society, even reneging on some of their fights. No, I do not wish to relive some hard years, not at all.

We speak of bodily integrity, with both sides of the tongue and mouth involved. Bodily integrity means that one has the power, the right, to control, to decide, what is to happen to that body. Hence, we are allowed to refuse treatment, or demand treatment. We can go to a doctor or ignore it, creating a worse problem, cost the taxpayers money, yet there is that principle of bodily integrity. But then it disappears, swallowed whole by society's ills.

Today there are too many rooting for closure of that right, at least in the area of choice by women. To remain pregnant or not. To have a child most manifestly doomed to a very brief, painful existence. To carry a fetus to term, conceived under violent or perfectly vile conditions. To carry a fetus to term when the mother herself would either die or be profoundly damaged. To carry a fetus to term when there is no money to care for it, and society most assuredly does not provide for it after birth. The hurts of impoverishment, underprivilege, of being unwanted, unloved ignored, society cold to all that. The uncertainties and pangs of adoption, not such an easy out. Ask an adoptee or the parents on both sides. No, bodily integrity is so necessary here, but where has it gone?

It has gone into a return to the past, to a past of dead and dying violated women, victims of society, killed, damaged beyond repair in back alley, illegal abortions. It is a world now wherein the poor find it almost impossible to find a clinic for a safe, necessary abortion. Even the pills that would help are being attacked by rabid anti-choice people, deluded into thinking they are doing right. They are not. The violence, even murder, perpetrated by the movement on doctors, volunteers, people seeking abortions is unacceptable. Kill life to 'save' life?!

The vaccines. Different. This is a public health issue. Typhoid Mary was found, not given a hug and kiss and told to "go and spread more disease". No, she was isolated, had to give up her kitchen career. For the public good. No one has to be isolated here unless it is necessary for their health and/or the health of others. Those who refuse vaccinations are indeed eager to get, be served by that same aid.

The vaccine is safe, assured, working. Masks certainly do not harm anyone, even perhaps saving them from disease or infecting others. How is that in any way equivalent to the issue of abortion, when a total body, a total person, future of individuals are at stake, not the health - or death - of multiples of millions!?

We must march forward, even if by inches, learn from, the past, not repeat its mistakes, under worse threats, wherein WWIII will be followed, inevitably, if humankind survives, to a WWIV, fought with sticks and stones and sharpened rocks attached to staves of wood.

We have got to do better.

SIXES AND SEVENS. WHERE ARE WE?

    "This is a low confidence forecast at this time," the agency said Wednesday. "Significant changes are possible."  

"Not only is it illegal, it’s just plain unconstitutional,"

"...school board has banned the acclaimed Holocaust survivor-themed graphic novel Maus amid a conservative push to control the narrative on what is taught in history classes. The board had considered censoring the book to remove the "foul language" but eventually voted to ban it altogether by a unanimous 10-0 vote.

 "...argued that it was appropriate material for a teaching module on the Holocaust and helped students learn "the difference between right and wrong" and how to "be ethical people with compassion and morals and respect for others."

Trump then interrupted his playing partner.

“Forty-fifth and 47th,” he said."

 "...powerful coastal storm Friday night into Saturday night...will likely impact at least a portion of the region with heavy snow, strong winds, coastal flooding and dangerous seas," the Weather Service says. "However, still some uncertainty on the exact storm track and intensity, which will have a direct impact on snow amounts and other storm details."

"... there’s something more fundamental at stake: the survival of democracy.

“We can talk about all of those things, but everything that you are about, everything that I care about is at risk if we do not protect our democracy and if we do not protect the cornerstone of our democracy, and that is the right to vote,”

“I really believed that we could have died that day,”

So, what exactly are we referring to here? What is six and what is seven. Does it even matter? Is it the weather or the very air of the country? Is it about a bomb cyclone with powerful winds and potential damage or are we understanding the comments of Shakespeare who consistently maintained that weather and politics reflected each other? Personally, I am beginning to believe that thought. How could I not, when the comments on one mirror the comments about the other.

Look up and reread those comments. Can you tell one from the other unless more information is forthcoming? Nope, so closely are they attuned. Who knows? Perhaps even with our thoughts, particularly when reinforced by ill-conceived   actions, we can influence the turns of weather as well as with harmful actions taken or not taken re the weather, the climate, the environment. Equally so with the political life blood of this country. Right down to the lowest or down ballot candidates.

The same uncertainty. The same lack of confidence in our ability to predict, foretell the almost positive consequences and where it will happen. Why? Can the situation(s) be 'fixed' or ameliorated to some degree, one that allows or gives us time to deal with lack of confidence, inability to predict the 'weather' we are facing, improve understanding of cause and effect - long and short term? 

I believe, fiercely and strongly, that if we do not change our entire approach towards both, we are doomed. To death of democracy for sure. The consequences? Draw your own 'weather' map, isobars of pressure and storms galore wherever one points that laser. Death of our America as we know it or knew it. Death of the planet, at least as far as habitation by humankind? Or visions, predictions of Ice Ages, Sixth Extinction, returns to the caves, Mad Max syndromes, Snowpiercer lives? Who the hell knows and that is precisely the point. The only thing we know for sure, is that we are in for a long-term siege, mounted defenses and offenses of democracy, of sanity of actions and thoughts, of decency, compassion, forethought, all the traits that so many at the top of the heap have forgotten -much to our misfortune, again, to say the least.

We must stop saying 'the least' for we are long past that. We are in the category of 'for sure' when we contemplate both topics - weather and politics. When have we ever had such existential threats facing us?  The weird and dangerous weather events -flash floods along with drought. Fires raging through the natural infrastructure of the land. Entire species moving lock, stock and barrel along with the flora because the environment has changed so drastically. 

The death of democracy? The repetition of history again - Russia and Ukraine and what pretense will be used to 'justify' invasion. The reaction or lack of action of the world? The drums of war beat loud and fierce once again. Do we disinter Chamberlain as our diplomat in charge? Or will it be Churchill? Better yet - someone in between with a magic formula?! 

Understand that I am not a fan of Ukrainians, remembering how they joined with unique enthusiasm and numbers, bought into the plans of Nazism to eliminate Jews from the face of the earth, my murdered relatives, as closely related as first cousins once removed. Tell me, - why are we still dealing with Holocaust denial, even as the last survivors die? Who will hear the echoes of their pain? Will those echoes die for lack of attention, for belief in lies over truth? But invasion? NO!

The same thing that is happening right here in our country. So, who do we defend, or do we say as the Duke of Verona did in Romeo and Juliet - call a pox on both houses whose fight and enmity brought tragedy to their own families along with the rest of their city?

Will we ignore the storms that rage through this country or will we face the facts, make hard decisions and take strong actions, ones necessary to safeguard, to rescue our country from its worst citizens? Will we lay responsibility where it belongs: On the perpetrators, on the evil influencers, on those who stand aside and do nothing, hide their heads, entire bodies within the sands of the world, even as the sands are drowned by the rising oceans?

There is no running away from it all. It is here. It is intertwined. We all are at personal risk, we and our children, our extended families, our friends, our nation, our world. By the increasingly hostile, unpredictable Nature along with the growing hostile, but perhaps predictable- sadly so - nature of and consequences of the politics of our times??

Sixes and sevens? Perhaps nines and tens.

   "For those who suffer, 

     Those who endure,

     And those who fight."  (Dedication in a book)

"For the human soul is virtually indestructible,

 And its ability to rise from the ashes

 Remains as long as the body draws breathe."

(Alice Miller - For Your Own Good)

Perhaps there is yet some hope.

BOMB CYCLONES TO ADIOS

 Such a delight it is to read the day's news, past, present and future speculations - most manifestly not! It can make you cry, laugh, shake your head in despair and amusement, all at the same time. You scratch that same head in total bewilderment, wondering just when people lost their collective minds and succumbed to the ridiculous to the sublime, no matter from whose mouth it exits, or what nonsense is espoused. Today is a perfect example. What a mess!

Some good news first. Mark Cuban has opened a pharmaceutical rescue operation, where drugs will be the cost plus 15% and no more middlemen or monstrous additions to that cost. I will be checking things out as I received notice of a completely illogical, unaffordable co-pay that will double my co-pays for each and every month - if not more. And I have not yet heard of the change in co-pays for other drugs and no, not one or two, but try oh, maybe 20+ and growing. Completely undoable. Particularly if one wishes to do such outrageous activities such as breathing easily, eating food, paying the freight to keep a roof over one's head, paying taxes, paying utilities and actually using that AC when the weather is hot, hot, hot. Minor problems I guess, right?!

Forward, ho! We are far from done. Are you feeling squished here in South Florida as every single empty lot, beautiful stands of trees, open landscapes are targeted by developers greedy for fortunes, cramming in unreasonable amounts of houses, apartments, and people, with little land for recreation or simply for zoning out? Nope, not necessary. Not to developers nor, evidently, to too many of the Commissioners or the Zoning Committee. Even as they go home to mammoth homes on large spreads, pools galore and huge and we, the little people, well, we just have to make do. 

Curtail that outdoor activity. Forget admiring nature or going birding. Nature walks in preserves? What preserves, shrinking by the day as we build roads for the new developments, encouraging more development needing more roads, needing more lands, more destruction, leading to more crammed developments, on and on ad nauseam. Surely the next thing we can expect is a Mad Hatter and a strange Queen emerging from our newly exposed land. Ripped from forests, ripped from their jobs of beauty and oh, yes, giving us oxygen, absorbing carbon dioxide. Never mind, just do not run anymore. Just a little sacrifice, correct? Finally, as far as the noise wall, or moving into the living quarters of homes in the path of the proposed enlarging of the Turnpike, well, just a little sacrifice for the good of all, right? Be a sport.

Cake and eating it too? Petere Dinklage, a wonderful actor, including in Game of Thrones, portraying a brother in a family of beautiful people, while he is a dwarf. Tough lot in life, yet he does quite well, pulling off many self-rescues and trending towards the, if not good, then towards the less evil. He complains about a new production of Snow White. Why? Because ... complete the title ....and the Seven Dwarves. What nerve! Insulting to dwarves. Even as he is now working in a new production as a malevolent dwarf. Huh!

  Children must be protected from seeing and hearing how dwarves are portrayed, transferring that to the real world, that no, they are not bad nor so very different from us, especially in the inside and mind and heart and soul. As so many generations of children did. But never you mind, for apparently, I do not know how a dwarf feels nor have faced any antagonism. Hmm, something wrong there, very much wrong.

No, I cannot say I have walked in the shoes of a dwarf, but I have walked, and will continue to walk, G-d willing, in the shoes of thousands, millions, of people who most certainly have faced their own discrimination. Additionally, such a wonderful distinction, been the target of a 90 minute conference by the biggies of Nazidom, in Wannsee, to establish an oh so scientific plan to eliminate all the Jews of the world, as each country was conquered. Oh, yes, they had lists and plans, targets to reach, quotas to fill, all the while squeezing money from their bodies and souls by working them to death. Moreover, if people still survived then certainly, they must be destined for destruction, too strong for the plans of the Nazis, so scientific and oh so calm, in their plans. And not to forget the children and the women of child bearing age, a source of more Jews. Nope, cannot be. Target those groups especially hard and what a good boy you will be. Maybe even get a medal or two, an opportunity to reap monetary rewards from the piles of belongings left behind. Oh, yes, such piles and piles.

So no, Mr. Dinklage. I do indeed know those shoes. Indeed, I do. Nor should you think this is over. Not at all. Over the weekend carefully weighted leaflets - in Miami, San Fransisco, Denver - stating 

"Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish," said many, if not all, of the flyers. Listed on the paper were government officials who have played parts in managing the coronavirus pandemic and who the flyers say are Jewish, according to local NBC affiliates and regional - distributed by  "a loose network of individuals that engages in antisemitic stunts to harass Jews," said the Anti-Defamation League statement. "They work alone, in small cliques and occasionally travel across the country to work together in larger teams."

All this as RFK, Jr. states  ."things are worse for people today than they were for Anne Frank, the teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex in an Amsterdam house for two years.  His father and uncles are rolling in their graves, as his grandfather kvells! Not for the first time either. Joined by such other luminaries of our Congress, like Gosar, Perry, Omar, and not to forget Boebert who so cannily recognized a group of Jews as a reconnaissance team for a future insurrection.  Evidently the Jews were heavily involved in Jan. 6 events. Huh, you say? Oh yes, pay attention to my shoes, but be careful of which synagogue you attend for you might be next!!!

In the meanwhile, we have a bomb cyclone threatening the East Coast. We have whiners on Wall Street and Big Banks whining that now there will be no non risk opportunities for them for profit, as interest rates are raised in order to tame the economy and inflation. Tsk, tsk. How many others have never had that opportunity!! So of course, instead of calmly planning the right steps, oh just panic people by predictions of huge crashes and devaluations. For sure, that will help as you buy all stocks at low prices, then watch as we pull together and restart the proper engines with smooth purrs. Oh, the profits you will make indeed.

Jakarta is sinking. Island nations are being drowned in the seas. The climate is wacked out. Hatred and utter nonsense grow apace, as lies become truths, and deluded people refuse to see the inevitable end of a fascistic movement -lest we lose it all. 

As for Adios. Well, there is now an Adios Sinema group and what a joy for that. Add Manchin, the cowardly GOP, not a good guy in sight, the white supremacists who shout for blood, the far left which had gone berserk. So many more to bid goodbye and never come back. So, adios to them and adios for today. Gotta' read some more - from a novel. Saner territory.

 

FRAGILE THINGS

  I very recently picked up a best seller titled The Nature of Fragile Things. The title alone intrigued me, particularly at this time, or rather in the times of our lives. It opened with a quotation.

"Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream."                   Mary Wollstonecraft

It hit me, then and there, how apt this quote is. Life is certainly more than a dream, but we must add to that statement that most people have a dream to work towards, to toil hard to attain. If we forget those dreams, if they are forcibly removed from us, from any possibility of actuality, then life becomes little more than a grubbing for survival. Life then becomes another category of dreams - that of nightmares, living nightmares.

We all know the living nightmare of the political world we now inhabit. We all know of the eroding base of our democracy, of the two nations that have emerged within its population, a most dangerous turn of events. However, today I will write of a smaller nightmare, of an event of impending breakage, of the fragility of a place now facing an attack on its very being by another group, one known for steamrolling, for forcing issues to courts, after placing facts on the ground, for causing loss of dreams of too many, as they watch them turn into nightmares. As they pursue their 'dream', as they tread heavily over present reality, as they plan to change the entire feel and facts of a development of approximately 14,000 to 15,000 residents, some part time, and many full time, including myself, the fragile nature of the things here are obvious.

They wish to import the crowded nature of urban living to a rural development. Century Village is open, huge swaths of grass between buildings, with trees in the parking areas, with pools and courts for various activities. It is a paradise for many, at times a troubled one, but we overcome and go on. A dream fulfillment of retirement for many. For many who cannot afford to move, who literally are living on their last pennies and have nowhere to go, no funds to spend, no dream to replace this one. I myself would find it difficult in many ways to have to remove myself, separate myself, from my personal dream here. And yes, I resent a group coming in and almost immediately trying to change the aura of this Village, of imposing their requests, their designated needs on others. I truly do. The fragility of my life is at risk. Perhaps I am selfish, but those are the facts, madams and sirs. Those are the facts.

There are many other plots of land undergoing development around the area, again, perhaps too many, but there it is. There are empty plots awaiting development. The fulfillment of their dream, of a southern residence is quite possible elsewhere, building it from the ground up, with their own rules, with their own consequences if they slide by certain safety rules, as they push the envelopes of laws of zoning, as has allegedly been done before. But not in my dream. That is their dream.

 Mine is to live here in peace with all, accepting demographic change as it occurs and has indeed occurred, but we live in peace and harmony - for the most part. We all want this dream to exist, and we are very, very nervous re its fragility and the attack upon it. It is not correct to impose a dream of oneself upon the dreams of others, breaking them, crushing them, in a selfish, unwanted, imposition of their dangerous dreams.

We have seen this group flout laws of safety here in the Village. Violating social distancing at pools in the height of the pandemic. We have seen the very fabric of buildings torn apart, imperiling other apartments, indeed the very lives of others. Now we are being asked to quietly sit by as they wish to cram two more unneeded pools, in precarious physical location, verging on a huge lake of the Village, add ugly fencing, cram the parking area, add yet another two-story building on this site, hence giving us the oh so comforting urban crush feeling. They are removing a building from its service, much needed services, for the people of the Village, as it has done since the beginning of its existence.

Not to forget the impact - the noise of constant cars in and out in a congested area, on a dangerous four corner main intersection, in a Village where driving is not always a safe gambit. Now to add more oil to the fire? NO! No more lies about a reduction in traffic there!! Really!! Is the next target the shows at the Clubhouse which generate traffic and need parking area? Or forbid clubs during the day, the general traffic of a busy important building that services the entire Village? Or change the bus times if they generate too much traffic at prayer times? Or block their cars entries and exits into their narrowed, less buffered parking area?

There are two synagogues within walking area in the Village. One is an Orthodox one, founded by early residents of the Village and there is a place, indeed a physical place already there for their services. If they are a bit crowded during the season, well, so are the other synagogues, and we all manage. To create yet another, within the very heart of the Village is to invite trouble, a great deal of it. It will cascade into more requests for purchases of buildings for private needs, add more traffic, ruining the very air, physically and emotionally. It will add yet more separation within the population. NO, that is not the dream of us, but rather a nightmare.

The Zoning Commission must turn down these outrageous requests or demands. They must. For the sake of all of us. We must all show up for the Zoom meeting and for the two hearings to follow. WE MUST.     PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

TIME TO WHISTLE?

In The King and I Anna explains her method of handling fear. She tells of whistling, a method by which she hides her fear and anxiety and at the same time firming up her strength to move forward. Double purpose, double success. Of late, I have found myself walking around the house whistling. Huh! Since when did I think I could whistle and carry a tune with that whistling? Does it even matter whether or not I can, if that whistling enables me to go on, to walk through life apparently unconcerned, or with manageable concern and " and no one ever knows I'm afraid".

Interesting thought with an interesting carry through. What if we all were to whistle, softly, with ever increasing volume and confidence, and finally full throated. What if that were to give us all the strength to carry on, to do what must be done. What if it gave us both external and internal strength, an ability to deal with the real problems of our lives? What if that whistling would somehow clean the bewaxed ears of supposed leaders, clearing a pathway to their benighted brains, allowing the whistling of the world to be heard, encouraging them to whistle along? Could we then find a way home, a much-needed way, unlike the Children of Thunderdome so depressed and demoralized that they gave up on a "way home". 

However, we do need another way home. A successful one, a positive one, one which allows for us to attempt mending the rifts of the nation and the world. One that enables us to find our own inner core, the innate goodness, the positive impetus within all. What if? What if indeed. Can whistling actually work? I doubt that our solutions will be so simple, but somewhere, somehow, we must try, we must take a first step.

We are already in political quicksand up to our waists. Going down even faster than before. No rescuing or rescuers in sight. No convenient branch to lend a hand, a way out and home. Nowhere. Yet, we must continue to look, not give up, not cede to the powers of evil, revenge, dementia and  lawlessness, a legal system which mocks justice, makes a bitter joke of fair play and equality.

Heed the warning, the heavy stones that force us ever deeper in that quicksand in a mire of our own making. Heed them before it is too late. The clock is not on our side.

In Virginia staffers are let go, fired, so those who agree in “philosophy and legal approach.” can be appointed instead. (Whence our diversity?)

"no unanimity on how best to go about deterring Russia or what measures to take in the event of an attack on Ukraine."  (WWIII?)

"We are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false." ... the public needs to know, we've never had that before."

"The idea that the Trump base is some narrow group of white men with guns? Bullshit. This is a huge movement including misogynistic women, including racists of every kind, but also including all kinds of educated people in cities and suburbs," he expressed to The Guardian.

He continued: "It's also a movement against liberalism, against what the Democratic party in their view has come to represent. It's about race, all kinds of forces, people's idea of what the United States ought to be. This movement embraces autocracy, authoritarianism, a peculiarly American neo-fascism which Trump represents."

"Flyers containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory linking the COVID pandemic with several American Jews were distributed throughout Miami Beach Saturday night."

Lists 14 prominent figures, identifies them as Jewish, Similar flyers are posted on various extremist groups’ websites and have also been distributed over the past few months in at least eight other states including Alabama, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont," (AND HERE WE GO AGAIN!)

Newt Gingrich states: January 6 committee members will have the tables turned on them if the GOP should gain control of Congress.... face a real risk of jail for the kinds of laws they’re breaking.” (Really? Who has broken the law? Look at the man in the mirror.)

Care for a whistle or two?

How do we get back to the power of whistling? By doing it. By mending the errors of the past, by acting rather than live in apathy, by accepting that we all can contribute, rather than be hopeless dupes of evil-minded characters with their own agendas, none of which bode well for the simple folks. Even as more and more of those "simple folks" are absorbed into that ugly mass of drowning hopes and futures. That ugly mass of rolling, self-consuming, world destroying zombies in our own version of War Z. Before it becomes too clear, too late, that we ourselves are the zombies, self-consuming even as we eat all else in our paths. Before we totally lose the power of empathy, of sympathy, of good will - or has that already taken place?

"Just whistle a happy tune" - would that it were so easy, so simple. But whatever works is whatever we need. Now. Time is not with us. The hatred is consuming us all. People are becoming so enmeshed in their own false beliefs, accepting lies as truths, that they simply cannot, or refuse to, hear the truth as truth. I see it within my own circles of family and friends. I see the growing unwillingness to discuss, rather than demand or dictate. I see it - and hopefully enough others will see it as well. Others who can join the whistlers, raise the volume, endow it and us with growing strength, and crack the shells encasing all of us.

WHISTLE. 

WHISTLE. 

FOR YOUR LIFE.

FOR THE KIDS.

FOR THE FUTURE.

NOW.

STARE DECISIS

  Nope, not a misspelling or a typo. It is a Latin term used to delineate the normal path of judicial decisions. How or why are they reached and how ignoring it means some problems, from minor to earth shaking and society rattling. It is defined as a doctrine to "stand by things decided". In other words, be very careful of a decision which overturns the societal norms, particularly if it involves destruction of, or a major change to the rights of the involved parties in the dispute. As well as the decisions of predecessor judges.

Change is allowed, as in Topeka vs. Board of Education in which the accepted doctrine of the South was separate but equal. It was turned away, declared unconstitutional, and change had to take place. This is an example of a good time to ignore the stare decisis doctrine. On the other hand, the predecessors of the current Justices of the Supreme Court are now on the cusp of ignoring the predecessors' decisions in Roe v Wade denying its validity, and destroying, ignoring the right of women to control their own body and health decisions. This is slavery, no more and no less, particularly as there is no valid legal argument here that to allow the right to choose adversely affects society at large. 

However, we are facing a Court that is so manifestly, obviously, a politically activist bench, that decisions are skewed one way in the main. Occasionally, there are times when they come to their senses, as with the release of the papers dealing with Jan. 6, as in decisions of lower courts allowing the release of papers which indicate the alleged wrongdoings of Trump et al. Finally!

Yet even as a correct decision was made in this case, it was not unanimous, as Clarence Thomas, accused of sexual misbehavior, dissented. Just as the ties of his wife to extremists, now called far right, are revealed. Tied to a man accused of sedition, a coup, a rebellion, an insurrection - choose the term. How is this man allowed to vote on issues, with this apparent connection and blatant possible bias? Why does he not recuse himself? Why? Because these Justices have taken on a role of political, robe wearing activists, a most definite wrong turn - for them, for us, for the country, for our entire legal system. Imagine overturning all the Amendments regarding rights, negating all the progress achieved over the lifetime of this country. Imagine, just imagine the negative effects.

Not so hard to do these days. The cracks of the veneer of some are showing through, enlarging in length and depth. Lauren Boebert openly makes a statement rife with anti-Semitism, accusing a delegation of casing the area, doing a reconnaissance, planning an attack. This at a time when a synagogue was invaded by a terrorist, where the hostages rescued themselves, escaped with and by their own courageous actions, and then denied at first the dignity of having it called as it was, and is, and seemingly will always be - at least for Jews - even in America. Colossal nerve!! 

Even as McConnell allows his inner truths to emerge by a major slip of the tongue. Trying to justify the GOP and its refusal to protect voting rights of all, as state and local GOP members have declared war on those rights, he says,  “African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans."       Uh huh! Not Americans, are they? The voting restrictions are not aimed at Black voters? And this will stop with them? We all know it does not. When one segment, any segment, of society is denied rights, the next segment will follow. I refer you to the words of Pastor Nieumuller about that. No words can erase the truth forever.

Stare Decisis - a doctrine greatly to be valued and used appropriately. We certainly are not enforcing nor following that doctrine and never will, as long as the political activism is barely hidden under robes and allowed to continue. Time for action. Time for correction. Time. For. Truth.

I THINK I'VE GOT IT!

 Now do not get so excited. I do not have the cure for the ills of the world, though maybe.... What I do have is a cure for insomnia, guaranteeing a sound, deep and refreshing sleep. "What is it, you ask?" Well, read the blog and find the cure for yourself. Where pieces are missing in your life, try to find a substitute. It works, trust me on that. Unfortunately, I will have to re-engineer the cure as of Sunday afternoon. Sadly so, but ever hopeful of an exciting re-do.

So, spill already! Okay, first step is the main ingredient. Import a loveable, exciting, curious, energetic 11-year-old, Enjoy the hugs and the questions, the wonder at the world and its contents, not like our jaded eyes, and just go with the flow. All day and into the night. Be prepared to look at the world in new ways, reenergizing yourself, reintroducing you to the possibilities of every day and every hour of that day.

Next step. Ignore the ills of the day for once. Recognize that your voice is but one in a crowd of protesters, of those in agony at our current path.  Fixings will have to wait another day or two or three. Or never, but back to the joy and the cure.

We moan and gripe about the wildlife around us. We complain about the long way we need to drive to get around the many - actually too few and threatened- nature land preserved for now and the future. Instead, observe, wonder, roam and wander. See the glory of the world, the shared traits among them - and ourselves too.

Take the time to seek out the birds around us. I enjoyed quite long, intelligent lectures by a certified ornithologist, already published with an article about birding, I learned to see those annoying iguanas in another light, as we observed them at different times of the day. And I learned that bringing mud in the house was not a catastrophe, for cleanup was possible, no harm done, and a shower cleans the rest.

The learning, the excitement, the energy - all are contagious. But no rest yet for the weary septuagenarian. Nor wanted. Not ready yet to call it quits. Too many hours of the day remain, to be filled with more fun, more knowledge and more hugs and kisses, including the notorious "squooshy hug". Beware, for it captures the heart with no return on that.

Lunch! Ah!!! Double ah. Can sit for a while, even as the chatter continues. Excitement about new dishes and a willingness to try them, much better than his grandmother. Too old to change for me. A devouring of the entire portion, unlike we old folk who shlep home a doggie box for the remainders. So refreshing. Not to forget the sundae dessert. On again, rest done with. 

To the joys of inner excitement, where blessedly, I can sit and share intellectual pursuits with the young man. We discuss the series he is currently reading, devouring. We introduce him to the challenges of sudoku and mini crosswords. We discuss the building of a birdhouse, and aha! He loves my wall art, calling it cool and then, bless him, asks who did it so no bias there at all. Knew he was a brilliant kid!

And so it continued, even as we left him for a show celebrating Tina Turner, a much-admired icon of my life. Emulating his enthusiasm, I bought into the whole gestalt of the concert. I sang, I rocked, I even danced, albeit a bit, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was indeed special to see the old folks and the young folks enjoy the same music, admire the same genius, the strength to overcome a disastrous relationship.

Upon arriving home close to eleven what did we discover? An 11-year-old young man enjoying and discussing the pros and cons of entrants in a cooking show. Finally, it all quieted down, and we all went to sleep, gearing up for yet a most magnificent day to follow. Whatever the weather. The weather around this kid is always magnificent, always sunny and clear. And bless the boy, I slept like a log, overslept even, the best! Though now I must rush for an early morning appointment and then return to wile away the hours again with my magic young man. Not to forget those hugs and kisses, that open awe and joy in life that blaze away in his beautiful blue eyes.

A great and most wonderful cure to insomnia.

HAVE WE REACHED JERICHO???

  Yes, that question deserves three question marks, if not more. How many times have we said the equivalent, each time Trump apparently finally being caught with his pants around his ankles, and again, how many times has he made it to safety? Too many is the correct answer. It became a joke, a most dangerous one, as people began to succumb to despair, to apathy and inertia. It seemed there was no way, ever, to right the wrongs of that man.

They were wrong, thankfully. Yesterday, this whole week, actually, might finally be the blast of the trumpets that make the walls crumble, causing them to "come tumblin' down" And a hearty AMEN to that along with an about time! City, state, and federal levels all spoke of proof found, the subpoenas issued and surprisingly, amazingly, the benighted Supreme Court actually turned down the umpteenth request by Trump's lawyers to block the release of Jan. 6 related papers. Whoa!!! They said no! The authority of the current President must prevail. Never mentioning the horror of Jan. 6, only that very short statement. But it is enough right now to begin a steady "chip, chip, chipping away" at those tall protective walls around him.

Chip away we must. The man and his cohorts, his partners in crime - and crime it most certainly is - must be brought to account. They must be uncovered, bared to the world in all their ugliness, in all their betrayal of the people, of the democracy within this country. If not, we will lose that democracy. Every day I hear more and more speak out loud of that possibility, of the fear and concern as to what this very uncertain future will bring us. This is manifestly one time that I wish not to gloat with an "I told you so" because it is just too black a picture to actually visualize.

Will we then have our own hit squads, visiting homes in the early AM hours, slipping black bags over protesters of the new regime - and regime it will be. There will never be another free and trusted election, not in our lifetime and probably far more than that - if the world even survives. A group of 100+ ultra-rich people laid it out clearly before the nations of the world. "It's taxes or pitchforks."

Those pitchforks, the weapon of the people, the little people, so beaten down, so deluded, so lied to, so despairing, will dig deep, no mercy. It will be a war that ravages the world at large. The inequality of all our societies is too blatant to ignore. The few feast. The few live a luxurious, pampered life while the rest of us starve, make do, squeeze every penny, yet see no hope in the near future. The last, yet seemingly likely resort - Civil War - is not a ghost, but rather a large, ever growing, ever nearing, ever more delineated fact.

Trump et al will hopefully learn that one cannot commit a crime, scheme treason and treachery, encourage insurrection and death, and then hide behind those very same crimes. Nope, cannot work, surely not, in a democracy, one we must maintain. The elite of world society are told   "Show the people of the world that you deserve their trust."   That plea must be heard for without that attention and recognition, nothing will remain. Education thrust to the wayside. Changing environment not addressed until we are all choking in the smog, thirsting for clean water, bleakly hunting for food, all the conventions of society long left behind in a singular constant war to survive.

Over the top again, you say. C'mon, you say. Well, I heard that four years ago when I wrote of Civil War in this country. Now it is a constant topic. Oh, do not get me wrong; like everyone else, I like to be right but not here, and not for that ugly future. We must stop running away from - pardon me - "truth, justice and the American Way". A way which encourages voting right for all - even as the entire GOP voted against a bill that would insure exactly that. Don't tell me there are 'good' Republicans'. When push comes to shove, they collapse, like balloons emptied of air.

I long to sing and dance in the streets, shouting, glory, glory, the damned walls came tumbling down. We won; America survives. Only, only, if we recognize how close we came to losing it all - how close we remain. Hard work alone will fend off that awful possibility, now grown into a probability, as awful as that sounds. Keep those trumpets going, along with action. Our only chance. 

Will we take it?

WELL, DONE IT AGAIN!

  Blow me down; late again. This time I will write a blog. So, as Sgt. Jack Webb used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts." And doesn't that date me! Oh well, facts are facts, and one cannot deny them. Or is that no longer true in this wacky world of ours, when truth is denied, belied, obfuscated every minute of the day. The night as well.

But blow me down again, but this morning's news presentations are somewhat startling. Trump is caught in a squeeze. The House will receive only four papers or documents, but it is a start. The NYS AG is going after Trump, and Junior and Ivanka for fraud in their business. More subpoenas are being sent to important advisers to Trump - now if only they would carry through and prosecute the  defiers, the deniers, finally getting somewhere to putting that man, that traitor, on trial.

Will it ever happen, will the GOP ever come to their individual and collective senses? Will they man and woman up, eject those within their midst who are outright fascists, proud of their benighted minds and goals? Just the facts? I have great doubt about that but worry about the final results in the oncoming elections. Just the facts again.

The GOP has taken over many state legislatures, installing restrictive voting bills, gerrymandering to the nth degree. If the Democrats do not get back the down ballot and the local legislatures, then for a fact - we are doomed. As individuals and as a country. A fact. And no, I 'amen't' exaggerating!

People are reacting and pushing for change, for justice to prevail, to remove the haloes around the crooks and traitors. The hope is that if the truth comes out, if the bubble bursts, and the filthy doings are displayed front and center with all the confessions of the guilty ones, then maybe, just maybe, we can win back the deluded minds of bewitched Trump believers who continue to attend his fake rallies, reminiscent of fascist rallies.

The point is that a conspirator cannot hide behind his conspiracy, plotting all the while to take down his country and then claim that is confidential thinking, hence must be guarded and never released. That is the defense of the parent killer who then pleads for mercy from the court as he is an orphan. Cake and eating it all - must be a never ever in the Trump instances.

Look around and see what we now have. We have at least two perverts on the bench of the Supreme Court. We have a woman who has denied rights to other women, who is deep in conservative mythology and menace. We have three lone 'liberal' judges with one in his eighties. G-d forbid the worst happens - well then expect indeed the worst to happen! There is no civility amongst themselves, defiance even of the Chief Justice, displaying blatant political partisanship by Gorsuch, his rudeness and most selfish behavior.  He has forced another judge to isolate herself from in person appearance at court or at deliberations. Why? Because the creepy dude refuses to don a mask in deference to the susceptibility of a sister judge to COVID as she has an underlying condition. Typical of GOP adherents today but not so typical of proper Supreme Court Justices behavior. Not before this. But now, everything goes. Just the facts.

Blow me down again as there is an open attempt to pull one over all the residents of CVWPB. The plan is clear, the outcome clearer. There is a very clear delineated plan to remove a building in the heart of the Village from its role serving the residents, now to serve only a specific sect. Worse, they intend to add a building, add two pools, construct ugly walls around them, limit the parking places available to Villagers, causing havoc on busy show nights and standard everyday traffic. Havoc at a crossroads of the Village. Damage to the infrastructure and appearance of the Village. Damage resultant from construction. A very ugly separation of a group from the gestalt of the Village. striking perhaps a death blow to it, changing it entirely from a residence for 55+ to a replication of Catskill encampments where large families overwhelm the campuses of bungalow colonies, swamp the roads with traffic, and not much civic cooperation forthcoming. No longer a home for those who live here, want a 55+ development. Need it.

 A most dangerous precedent for South Florida and its many 55+ villages and developments. It is incumbent on the Palm Beach County Commission to deny the new owners of the building their plans to destroy the Village, for that is the end result. No two ways about it. They must consider the inevitable outcomes, the history of these planners, the voices of those who oppose it, and not get beguiled by promises of benefit to them and the county. There will be none. Only damage.

Blow me down again? Well, if blown down by this, many people will not be getting up.

OOPS!

  My bad, folks, or blame it on Mother Nature. Had to wait up late to pick up one bedraggled son along with wife and child and then wait till we heard that another grandson had reached Denver, delayed until truly late hours, or should I say, early morning hours.

In any case, mesh that with an early morning appointment to which I am trying to get to, along with a shortage of cars since one decided to give us a bit of a run for our money - probably quite a bit of that! Have to Uber, and here is a confession. Never Ubered by myself, only with others who pressed all the right buttons, so here is hoping I get home safely and at a reasonable hour!

The complications of life, but all made worthwhile when that hug and kiss, no not from the son, but from the delicious grandson comes my way. Promise that tomorrow there will be a posting.

Apologies. Must get ready and run. If you see a tired old woman shlepping herself along, looking like the last entrant in a crazed marathon - that's me, trying to find an Uber driver.

Wish me luck and will see you all tomorrow - I hope.

"NO CASUALTIES"

 So we were told in an 'oh, so' reassuring manner. By whom, you ask? By the terrorist who invaded yet another synagogue, becoming a habit these days. Even as his very next sentence or two conveyed the threat of a slaughter of the hostages if anyone tried to come in prior to freeing an infamous terrorist. All the while he ranted and raved about Israel and Jews. Just lovely. Another perfect Shabbat.

The Rabbi reassured all afterwards, happy to say that there were "no casualties" and anyway, Jews were used to this; after all, events similar to these had occurred over the millennia. Small comfort, I say. Better if we could have said this was an aberration, totally out of the box, but never you mind, at least there were no casualties. Yes, we were immensely grateful for no casualties in the form of death, but really? Casualties aplenty there were.

Yet again, the synagogue has been turned into a battlefield, and not the standard one between members of the Board, of the synagogue and the Rabbi. Jews argue, provide their own version of casualties, and then go on to share a festive meal together. But this? No, this definitely left casualties. American Jews are repeatedly being told they are not welcome; once again they have become the very visible and "the other", a favorite target of bigots, from all sides of the political spectrum. Yes, casualties.

The casualties these days are not limited to a small, insignificant for most, terrorist event in a suburb of  Dallas. The world has gone off track, leaving mass casualties behind. Country after country suffering from violent or almost there behavior, with open warfare already in process or very visible on the screen of the immediate future. Countries vanishing under rising waters, buried under ashes of erupting volcanoes, suffering from severe drought, no relief in sight, increased desertification. Even as arable land is slathered with heat increasing cement, raising temperatures, pinching the production of food even as mass starvation is becoming ever more common. We cut down trees which helped us breathe, and casually ignore the horrific extinction of species. Something to be proud of? "Look, Ma, see what we have done!"

In America we have done no better, trying our darndest to catch up with the world, apparently the new goal of our "can do" American attitude. We might even bring about the Sixth Extinction, sooner than had been thought! Such pride we can take in our deeds! Such success. As phrased by one expert - humans are the cause of this extinction event, unlike the others; humans are the only way to fix it. "And we are not very good at that, are we?"

Apparently, we are good at fulfilling the promises of old adages. The cookie crumbles. The rot is underneath. We are our own worst enemy. We are destroying ourselves. Everyone protests. Limit the right to vote. Claim rigged elections if you lose. Undermine the electorate and our democracy. Ignore the majority voters if you disagree and push bogus audits. Appoint partisan people to control  elections. One writer comments, in a most understated manner, that there is "a lot of stuff going on here", within our country. Ya' think?!

"We have met the enemy - and they are us."  Fire when you see the whites of their eyes." But their eyes are our eyes. "The enemy is within." As we battle rebels, violent rebels, insurrectionists, treasonous characters - among our most eminent and/or violent and bigoted souls. Indeed. what have we done? What Hath Man Wrought?

Jill Biden states “healing” a nation wounded by a deadly pandemic, natural and other disasters and deep political polarization is among her chief roles as first lady.

Wrapping up a year in which... the first lady (said) that she found herself taking on a role that "I didn't kind of expect, which was like a healing role, because we’ve faced so much as a nation.”      

We did not expect it either, did we, yet there it is, right before our very eyes even as we remain blind to the deep infection within our body politic. Ignorance is not bliss. Bad things do not go away. Actually, they multiply, get stronger - and divide a nation's people. The sepsis introduced into that body eventually, unless is powerfully, determinedly,  dealt with, will lead to death.

No casualties? I beg to differ. These were simply more additions to the list of casualties of this nation, little and big, that are eating away at our foundation even as the rot drips down from the top.

We have a huge job, a terrifying responsibility now laid upon us, much of it preventable, if we had but paid attention, had not lost our collective minds these past few years, not catered to hatred, controlled ourselves, used indoor voices and indoor footsteps. Not prostituted ourselves to the lowest common denominators. But we did not. 

Now, now we had better dig in and do the job right.

 Will we? Will we? Can we?

HIGH WATERS

  Yesterday a tsunami hit the shores of the West Coast of our country, an unusual, though quite possibly a most dangerous event. Thankfully, that was not the case this time but always, the risk remains, both from Nature and from Man. Of late there has been a chain of weird natural events, almost as if we are being sent message after message from on high, from whatever Power you believe in or from the depth of your own honest soul. There is something very wrong with us, with the world and we had better tackle this problem or there will be nothing left to tackle. Priorities are screwed up, to say the least.

There was another high-water mark yesterday, one that is always being challenged, others willing, eager even, to set yet another record. This high watermark has been exploding over the past few years, yet despite all these new marks, it is merely a continuation, albeit growing by leaps and bounds, dating from time immemorial, or more specifically ever since Abraham, the forefather of all, recognized his Invisible G-d, a unique one. It stamped a notice to the twisted world on the body and soul of all who followed in his footsteps, who worshipped the same G-d, called themselves Jewish, part of the Jewish nation. Here, yet again, surprise, but not really, shock, but not really.

So, damn it all, when is enough, enough? When can Jews expect to be safe in their own lands? When can we cease being the target of false canards, deadly lies, accusations beyond the Pale? When will it ever stop? Why was my Sabbath, the Shabbat of Jews around the world disturbed by news of yet another brutal attack on our people? Make no mistake about it; this is not only an attack on Jews. As I have said multiple times, more than I care to remember, that hatred and its inevitable consequences never ends, never stops with the elimination of its target or targets. It must feed on something lest it consume itself.

It is a fair statement that reactions were one of predictable choices. It was ignored. It was greeted with a yawn. It was greeted with glee. It was met with anguish. It was met with anger. It was met with fear. Luckily, it was not met with blood - this time. The next time, and assuredly there will be a next time, that blood might well be there. Thus, we have grown to expect. Thus, we have grown to know. We will always live in anguish, in the homelands of Jews in their homelands around the world. Not even in our tiny, unique country of our own, amongst the many Moslem and Christian and Buddhist and Hindu nations, are we forbidden to live in peace. The Jewish people are evidently not on the list of being worthy of their own land, a land that has been theirs from time immemorial, built and rebuilt, time and time again, always with Jewish inhabitants. Damn it all. A continual chasing of high-water marks that should never be, that should have been stamped out millennia ago.

That this hatred has grown to such proportions even in this country of ours is a high-water mark of shame. But no shock. Not in the atmosphere of this country these days, lo these many a year. How could it be otherwise when we can pick up a paper and read more lies, wallow in the falsities of social media, when a blood libel is actually raised, when a false pamphlet called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a patently false publication created by anti-Semites is so easily available, when the sales of Mein Kampf are growing? How? Why?

There is an acrid taste of bitterness in the air we breathe today. When a prominent historian from Yale can write a most frightening article -" the states are preparing the legal steps that will enable Trump to be installed as president the next time around. And that in turn will lead to a terrible sort of conflict, the kind that we haven't seen before. we are on the brink of some kind of conflict. It's the kind of conflict that ends with some kind of basic political reconstruction, where the US as we know it doesn't have to exist."

 Echoing what I have been predicting, warning, preaching about lo these many a year, well, it is downright frightening. We Jews know what happens in such lands, in such places, under autocracy. We are the preferred target of the day, we and others who will protest, who will form a challenge to such a country. Jews thrive in democracies, where people are welcomed, treated fairly - at least most of the time. Thus it has been throughout all the days and years of our lives. And such is the challenge we are facing today, as a nation, as one country. Yet we have denial, a most dangerous denial, willful or not, conscious or not. Read his long article for perhaps one might wake up and taste that acrid air. Feel it burn one's soul along with one's lungs.

Whatever metaphor, analogy, allegory you prefer, high water or low, quicksand or cement, we are not in a very good way these days. Are we honest? Look past all the shouting, all the curses, all the blind to reality loyalties, the willful ignoring of dangerous people and ideas in some bizarre repudiation of our value set, of our ethos as Americans, as Jews, as Christians, as freethinkers, as humanists, as any sane, rational, thinking human being. Get over it, be you Democrat or Republican or any political denomination. Our country is drowning or sinking or both at the same time. The road to a positive future is befogged, almost to the point of Nacht und Nebel, the fearsome atmosphere of Nazi Germany and its conquered lands. There is very little time remaining to find a different path or to clearing that highway so befogged and dangerous. Little time indeed.

To prove a sad point, I will venture that many of you are not even aware of the event that I refer to, what happened yesterday in Texas. Check the papers, the media. Yet again, a synagogue held to ransom, to free a terrorist, the Rabbi and three congregants held hostage, a siege which thankfully ended with no bloodshed. But many consequences. Close, too close. How much more are we to fear this recurring. And recur it will most certainly do.

With respect for the BLM movement and supporters, there has to be a change. Jews have recognized the unfairness of your history here and been in the frontlines of protest and funding, linking hands, hearts and wallets with all. Why, then, is the BLM movement, along with suspicious allies, even Jewish self-haters, disregarders of the past, holding our people responsible, worthy of blame and death, of bloodshed, of anguish, of denial into the ranks of humanity as equal  members? Why are anti-Semites so welcome in your world? Why have you allowed this? Why have you forgotten the past, disregarded the present and mortgaged our future to evildoers? Anti-Semites. Again, ad infinitum ad forever - hatred has neither bounds nor boundaries, always seeking food for its ever-hungry maw. Always and forever and you are right there in its sights. I know there are those who will vehemently deny this paragraph, but it is my call, Think about it. 

We must all choose to be part of the solution, not builders and accommodators to the problem, an existential problem for all. Read the following. Think again. Reassess. DAMN IT ALL.

THERE MUST BE AN ANSWER. 

THERE HAS TO BE. 

LEST WE ARE ALL LOST. 

ALL.

Type in: Yale history professor Timothy Snyder...

                letter to the editor: Reader dismayed

Yale history professor Timothy Snyder told Insider he fears American democracy may not survive another Trump campaign

cdavis@insider.com (Charles Davis) - Yesterday 4:20 PM

cdavis@insider.com (Charles Davis) - Yesterday 4:20 PM

cdavi@insider.com (Charles Davis) - Yesterday 4:20 PM

A PLEA

  I am basically a nobody. I am not eloquent. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I am not an "influencer" nor a driving force in the world of today and I thank my lucky stars for that. The responsibility is overlooked as jarring moments of crazed behavior, over the top, is ever more admired. We have lost our anchors of sense and sensibility, lost control of the rudders of society. We are drifting without a motor, at the very least a properly working motor. We are open to the vagaries of so many detrimental factors and find ourselves lost in stormy seas, left open to monster freak waves, with little ability to avoid its damage and existential threat.

Why am I making this plea? Because we are lost. Because the situation is getting worse and worse. Because if we do not come to our senses, we are lost, will be lost and remain lost until this country is decimated, beyond repair, bereft of hope, and totally immune to any possibility of actually working things out. Certainly not in any sane, rational manner. Our supposed leaders of society have seen to that. One analyst asked if we are "doomed to be governed by irredeemable idiots". He is absolutely correct.

My plea is this: can we not return to our senses, learn from the past, hear the words of the past  wherever they are to be found, and do the right thing. A Supreme Court is not the place to decide medical issues, nor to approve deprivation of rights of so many, be it in voting or control of their own bodies, forced to carry an unwanted, even dangerous or hideously inseminated fetus to full term, a prison sentence for life. 

Is it a bizarre conspiracy? Plot? as apparently one party plus two wolves in raggedy sheep's clothing (Manchin and Sinema) deem it a worthwhile idea to hamstring this country and its people, to encourage madness in a supposed base, and follow an acknowledged - by them, even - deranged character down his particular rabbit hole of deception, lies, delusions, hatred and an inevitable imposition of autocracy over democracy. 

The distance traveled in that rabbit hole, on its highways, is enormous. Quite frankly, we do not, at this point, have enough fuel to turn around and come back. Perhaps Manchin and his filthy millions from coal, will donate some to us, to enable a return to whence we came and to whence we must return. Doubtful at best. Never is actually the answer.

Last night we attended a wonderful replication of a Simon and Garfunkel iconic concert in Central Park in Manhattan. Their songs, their music, remain so apropos of today's world. Ergo, I plead with all. Let us heed those words, hear the pleas, my plea. They sang of a need, a desired goal, an intense need to "look for America". 

Yes, we have lost America, certainly that America.  We have lost sight of what she is, what she needs to remain. We have lost the beauty of so many looking for their America, looking for the dream, its  possibilities, its promises, its reality that should be. Instead, we now try to deny that gift, that opportunity, to immigrants, deny the very same opportunity our immigrant ancestors were given. We have lost America. The America that should be, not the America that we have tormented, disparaged, and twisted until any resemblance to what was, what should be, is just about beyond repair. What have we done? What has man wrought, as we spurned its beautiful gifts?

I plead with all. Let us talk with each other. Hear, heed and listen to each other, choose the right "idols" to worship; those of freedom, liberty, hope, justice, and yes, even the symbolic presentation of a Superman flying through the skies for "that freedom, justice, and the American way".

Perhaps I am a hopeless Pollyanna, a demented optimist, hoping, praying that there remains enough within our hearts and souls to fight the good fight, the negatives we have imposed upon ourselves. We need the inner core of American values to face the facts. We have turned on ourselves, eaten away at ourselves in a most cannibalistic, destructive  manner. 

We have turned all, no matter what, into political warfare, dividing this country as it has never been, not even in the soon be called Civil War I. Perhaps it is already fitted with that designation. We have  argued ourselves into a divided country, not by geographical features, but by our mouths. Continuing this behavior, mostly thanks to our politicians, especially the GOP, we will carve out several weak, small, insignificant, endangered countries from a single great one. Yes, it can happen here and is, in fact, in the minds and mouths of too many, to the point of open rebellion on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Are we totally lost, beyond redemption and repair?

You answer the question, but honestly, putting down your own divisive and powerful biases. Are you to stand for, defend, our America, or are you to continue down that rabbit hole, become human lemmings and herds of unthinking buffalo, ignorant of their own impending doom as they rush to the sea or fall off that cliff? The method of death matters not, only the impending death. A death of America. Quite possibly of many in resultant bloodshed.

Have our tongues not cut enough into our body politic? Can we not separate human, driving issues and problems to be the societal, humane problems they are, not political problems? Can we? My doubts eat away at me.

Thus, I plead, an insignificant member of American society, grateful for my grandparents who came here, that my parents were born here, that I reaped the benefit of brave and hardworking ancestors who instilled in me a love of country, a gratefulness owed to that country, and a determination to keep it safe. Perhaps, I hope, there are enough of us, the insignificant, tired, citizens of America who will answer the plea and turn this country around. 

I hope. I plead. I pray.