NOT REALLY!!

  How simple life could be, especially in a scripted program. Know what to say, how to respond, who says what. "Beam me up, Scotty" was the go-to statement and decision when things got too hot to remain in place. Just get the hell out of Dodge- and off they went, ready for another show. Well, I, for one, wish we had that option, to beam out of this wacked up totally Snafued world. But that option is not on the menu. We had better figure out some other way in which to handle this ugly mess, for if we fail, a definite possibility, the future is unspeakable, to be dreaded, rather than serving as a repository for hopes and dreams.

The whole thing is surreal. One does not know where to look, where to turn, how to turn, in fact. Who the hell knows where we truly are, so how do we figure a way out. Paper maps are obsolete, and who can fold them anyway! Too much interference with Waze, GPS, On Star and any other app. So, are we, as one of my kids used to ask, "Are we losted?" The obvious answer - oh, yes, we are.

It is a world where from one minute to the next there is yet another shocking, breaking news story. Our heads are bombarded. Our minds question the reality of it all. We wonder just who is running the asylum; is it Arkham Manor in real life? Calling Batman. Send up the Bat signal, but no joy here either. It is not working. 'Losted' we are.

What next? Well, the news feeds seem to feel that what will comfort us is to read the "9 Things Not to Wear When Traveling on a Plane" or some other such nuggets of wisdom. Really? Do we need to be instructed on whether to put on clothes, to take a sweater for a freezing plane, to pack a mask, to can the pjs, to ditch the heels or fancy cowboy boots? Really, is this our perennial first day at school dither? Or is this simply a distract them moment, now stretched into weeks, months, years? Ironic too, for today, one never knows if the plane will arrive, get delayed, canceled, 'losted' somewhere out there, seeking a flight crew and holding those awesome snacks! What to wear? Survival clothes!

Not quite sure, though, whether there are any survival clothing wares out there for other, 'minor' happenings out there. Are you scratching your head, wondering, thinking deeply as to what could be more important than the clothing for travel? Perhaps you are right, for we are now travelling in uncharted territory, apparel suitable not yet invented. Just get dressed. Take the first step.

Remember "We Didn't Start the Fire" as Billy Joel would shout his litany of troubles round the world? Well, we certainly could have a new version. And, in fact, we did start the fire, or allowed someone else to light it up, feed it, encourage it, and now, now, it is raging out of control. An egregiously outrageous, illegal invasion and destruction of a smaller country by a giant, Russia, and the world stands by and allows this bloody proxy battle, a harbinger of things to come, to meld into the background as newer stories, outrageous, once unthinkable events take place. More dead? More rubble? Ho-hum. Yawn.

Brittney Griner is treated as human trash, worthy of nothing but to be a pawn in the political battles of two countries with competing theories of government. Spartacus moments few and far between. In fact, cannot remember the last one. Too far back in the midst of time. Emanating from the fogs of time are the echoing cries of the past, of the Nacht und Nebel horrors of Nazi Germany, and the newly echoing voices of modern-day tormented souls, of mankind serving itself up on its own platters - and for what!! For nothing. Other than making a huge mess of the whole thing. 

So, Ukraine. Next up? America. Are we entitled any longer to call it that, as America stands for more than a nation in North America. It stands, or stood, for good, for hope, for errors corrected, for patriotism, for humanity, for efforts, for picking oneself up off the floor and going at it again. Where is that America today? Nowhere to be found, or at best, a mere shadow of what once was. Peter Pan lost his shadow and needed it back. Do we, can we?

Read the following and then tell me if we have indeed, enough, more than enough, to rewrite the lyrics of that iconic song.

Trump's Mar-a Lago raided. Evidently, the toilets are clogged - as were those of the White House during his residence there. Always said he was full of it! Oh, not to forget the ketchup stains on the wall. And, of course, a 'brilliant' Fox pundit tells us “...this is the worst attack on this republic in modern history, period.”‬ Uh, thought that was the rebellion, the damned huge insurrection, of J6! How silly of me.

” McCarthy said. “When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts" Nothing like a good old weaponization of the government to pursue 'facts', particularly those of a vivid, twisted mind.

 " ...not nine people on the Court. That’s my view.” Says Graham, even as his nine people - actually, six, rescind the rights of so many. The right to choose. The right to make one's own decisions. The right to vote. The right to have legal, nationally recognized same sex and interracial marriage, to adopt. Uh-huh. Spare me his version of life and rights and its interpretation.

The FBI conducted the raid. The same FBI which tanked, admitted to it, the investigation that never was re Kavanaugh, our second sexual pervert on the Court.  The Secret Service?  Nah, even worse!

Rudy Giuliani says he cannot fly to Georgia. Eric Trump has marbles in his mouth and sh-t for brains when he says, serious face and all, avoiding tripping on his forked tongue, "Honestly, I hope – and I’m saying this for the first time – I hope he goes out and beats them - no, he lost to them - but what is truth between friends -" because honestly, this country can’t survive this nonsense. It can’t," Honestly? Honest and Eric Trump do not share anything in common. Not ever.

Sated yet? Or is our appetite for self-consuming so savagely intense that nothing will stop it; nothing will sate it. Not anymore. I could cry. In fact, I do. So should you. But more than that. We need to raise our voices, to demand a reality show that accepts reality as is and not what we twist it into, a misshapen curse on our futures.

So as we run around catching giant 17 foot invasive Burmese pythons, as we find human remains in the dying Lake Mead, some stuffed in barrels - Jimmy Hoffa, anyone - we forget to check in, to catch and dispose of, the human pythons feeding on our country. Draining it, squeezing it to death, and how many lives are going to be ruined, dreams destroyed, before we truly understand that if we do not use it, we lose it - democracy down that crapper of Trump and up with fascism, autocracy, virulent, open hatred and discrimination, and worse.

Really? Yes, really.