"JACKASSERY"

  New term for me, but certainly a most apt term for the behavior of the GOP Senators at the Jackson hearings. They belittled and shamed a dignified woman, indeed asked her for a definition of woman as a qualifying question and answer to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. They ranted and raved re nonsense, re records of decisions  similar to those of Republican appointed judges. They lied, they besmirched reputations, and did not appreciate her correct response that categories which depend upon Congress are not in her purview; hence, she would refrain from commenting. They shouted, insulted,  interrupted, violated every rule of civilized behavior and discourse, and, of course, a la Cruz, made sure to  check if their latest outrageous statement garnered any Twitter response. Tantrums galore.

This phoniness is contagious and has affected the entire world. Super lies are the currency of politics today. Information meant to delude and/or feed into false beliefs are #1 in campaign politics. Presumed  leaders are arrogant in their faith that they can pull that proverbial wool over the eyes of all, have them trained to ignore the truth of their eyes. Putin has the arrogant belief that he can kill, imprison, destroy at will, lie to the people of Russia, even as they notice the possibly 15,000 caskets coming home to be buried, and  the wounded veterans of war, many just teens, damaged for life, in a fight that should never have been nor allowed to be continued, nor allowed to run rampant due to fears and inaction, wrong actions, by the natural enemies of a Russia gone rogue.

But on the nations of the world march, into muck and mire. Into quicksand that threatens to swallow the earth in its entirety. A nation pleads for sister nations to stop the slaughter and all they get is sympathy and some arms, but for this, the people must remember to sacrifice their all, to fight, an ant against a giant, to defend, win back, conquered territory. Alone. Despite all the horror of the human situation. As their families are forced to flee or remain in horrendous danger, unable to flee from the pulverized cities and towns, as they suffer under the massive war crimes of Putin and his supporters. Even as history tells us that appeasement and sacrifice of others to the greedy appetite of villains  does not work. It does not stop the juggernaut of the bandits of the world. They are simply fortified in their plans and thoughts, in their desires and the paths by which they achieve them. Shame on us all.

Back in the USA we allow open haters, extremists to remain in office. They are ignorant of their own major Founding Fathers documents, misattributing  citations to the wrong incorrect documents. They are traitors to the system, to us, the people. When a Supreme Court Justice, an alleged sexual pervert, has a wife who encouraged illegal overturning of election results, why is he still there, on the bench, not even condemning his wife, nor distancing himself from her outrageous behavior? Why? Because, as the song goes, he's "a believer". 

Tulsi Gabbard, a fine shill for Russia has the nerve to state her contrarian views, hurt her own nation!! What the hell is going on here? What have we done? Whom have we elected? Perhaps the very ones we have earned by our own willful oblivion, blind-sighted behavior and attitudes. While we remained in balloons of our own making, the rest of the world moved on, and the whole mess simply grew, like Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. There are no vacuums here on earth unless they are of our own making. They do not stop the rest of existence, nor does it pay homage to that balloon. In fact, they take every advantage against that balloon, soak, in its benefits for them.

Russia has engaged in brinksmanship for quite some time already. Over and over again they target innocent pawns of their foreign policy, lock them up for years on trumped up charges, imprison them in remote, harsh penal camps, where they sicken unto death. The most recent victims - Trevor Reed. Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, a world renowned athlete - all for the sake of playing a sick game of one upmanship. To the great harm of these individuals. The response to a question as to the condition of these captive, or how Brittney is bearing up, why she was not allowed to be visited by a lawyer, by an Embassy official - the answer was "as fine as can be expected" and "time will tell". 

Really? Pretty inadequate statements. Definitely underwhelming to an extreme. We have lost our dignity, our strength, and have become the plaything of demonstrably evil nations and/or their evil leaders.

Time will tell indeed. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Broadway production, there was a showstopper song: "This is the Moment". Dr. Jekyll thought it was all to the good, but learned otherwise, though he denied it far too long and too strongly. Well, this is our moment, Will we meet it? Will we hit the challenge on the nose, or will we fall below, found wanting? Either choice is fraught with danger, rife with damage of soul. This is the moment indeed. There has been more than enough 'jackassery' behavior in our Senate. Might we not reject it and convince our legislators to grow the hell up, refute that toddler behavior, and do the job right?!!

 Now is the time. Time has already taught us that. We simply need to learn to tell time better. Quickly. The right way.