LINES AND LINES AND LINES

 Anybody else out there tired of the overuse, the uselessness of the drawing of lines? Don't cross them, goes the warning, and when indeed crossed, what happens? A great big nothing. Should one cross that oh so very terrifying red line, well, it actually now carries as much potent threat as does the line - "Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins ". Yet it is considered the most threatening verbal warning ever.

On the other hand, when used too late in a growing conflict with overflowing words replete with threats galore, the threat has actually amounted to zero. Sounds of fury rising to the puffery of hot air. Hence one being warned re the final outrageous deed ignores it, secure in the record of futile recent reactions. Suddenly, though, it is put up or shut up time and the guns begin to roar. And people begin to die. The lines were drawn.

The University of Georgia and the University of Florida condemn the antisemitic statements projected on the walls of the TIAA Stadium. Big whoop as once again, the antisemitism, real, growing ever more violent, is yoked together with "other forms of hatred and bias". Let us draw a line there, please. 

Every time that conflation takes place, it waters down the fact that this particular hatred is virulent and seemingly eternal, and in this case, from coast to coast, organized by the "Goyim Defense League", goyim being the name some call non-Jews. It is a word from the Bible, meaning nations other than Jews, though in the promise to Abraham, the term, "goy gadol" - a large nation - is used. When the word 'goy' is used with venom, well, that is reserved for a violent, Jew hating perpetrator of violent acts. In this case, if the shoe fits, well there it is on your foot! Own it or stop it!

Lines were defied for too long during the time of the American Revolution. Lines were defied in the War of 1812. Lines were defied before WWI and again pre-WWII. Lies are being defied, horridly so, by Putin, perpetrated upon Ukrainians and his own people and yet, there goes another line, almost on a daily basis. So why would we expect him to stop when warnings are bursts of hot air amounting to big nothings on the part of the West.

Nancy Pelosi was supposed to be beaten to death. Not home, her husband took the beating, and the GOP says 'oh, dear, the violence must stop'. Really? Ya think! But on the other side of their mouth, with their split tongues, they maintain their violence inciting, encouraging speech, drenched in vitriol that consumes the listeners. Out they go to beat, shoot, stab, kill, to vandalize, threaten and frighten.

Never before has an entire political party of the mainstream turned on that proverbial dime and become a party plumping for violence, condemning all who oppose the change, who refuse to pimp out their honor, their souls. Never before, to me and many others have the initials GOP stood for hate. I often voted Republican but now, cannot trust any to be honest enough to vote with conscience rather than fear and lemming-like behavior.

We need new lines, or better yet, new reactions to the crossing of these lines already in place. Let us show that lines can be real, vital, useful. Violations of law- consequences. Disgusting behavior - consequences. Stupidity - there must be a regulation here, cutting out dumb as a stump candidate a la Walker, and others. Those spouting violence and bigotry - eliminated from competition and office.

Something. Anything. Or we are lost, beyond all hope of rescue. Not a pleasant picture or thought to contemplate- and then live,

BATTLES AND WARS AND WHERE DO WE GO FROME HERE?

  In any case, perhaps the question should be if and whether there will be a place somewhere to go. A place in time and space that will allow for a positive future for humanity, rather than a Mad Max life where there are no rules other than survival at every and all cost. 

Maria in West Side Story sang of a somewhere, a place where they and all, could be free to love. Rita Moreno sang even more poignantly in Spielberg's remake and reinterpretation as it became clear just how long this hatred between and among groups has gone on, the futility, the harm, the violence it engendered, the tears it produced and the uselessness of it all.

We humans cannot seem to let go of this baseless hatred. This animosity plays no favorites, reaping any and all from all sides, whomever falls into the shadow of death wielded from the deadly scythe. Battles are won and battles are lost, combatants never realizing that the war itself, is always lost. Always the deaths, the horrific wounds, the damage to infrastructure, lives ruined with no hope or recourse of aid; thus, battles are not important.  What is important, vital, a must, is to understand that we must recognize and address the underlying seeds and roots of these battles and wars. Then, only then can we look forward to a better world, one where we turn our energies and minds to repair the world, to undo the damage we have inflicted upon it. However, that is exactly what we ignore, and the wars, the killings the hatred continue to ravage our hopes and destroy the future. For sure, we have met the enemy and it is most definitely us.

You know I love being right. Most people do. However, I do not like being correct when it means danger and violence, more blood and fury, more useless, fatal stupid holding on to ideas and thoughts which long ago were beyond their selling and usage dates. Yet, we persist, don't we? We emulate the behavior of toddlers who love to run into the street and never mind oncoming vehicles.  Supposed adults, we too persist in similar self-destructive manifestly unprofitable behavior.  

Why is it that after a beautiful Sabbath with family with family and friends I open the news to yet more antisemitic remarkets by yet another athlete, 

 "shared a tweet on Thursday linking to the film "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America" on Amazon Prime.

— features several antisemitic tropes, including "more extreme factions of the Black Hebrew Israelites, which have a long history of misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and especially antisemitism." 

... known for referring to European Jewish people as the "synagogue of Satan," and promote the belief that Jewish people are responsible for slavery. ... "Jewish slave ships that brought our West African negro or Bantu ancestors to slave ports owned by" Jewish people, "

I feel helpless and hopeless. I feel frightened.

I read more of the incident with Nancy Pelosi and her husband, beaten terribly, a substitute of a crazed antisemitic white extremist, incited to this behavior by those faulty beings of the GOP and their ilk, those who push lies, push violence, push treason. Where have we gone as a nation, as a signpost to humanity that there is hope, that there is goodness? We have lost our way, lost our ideals. Jan. 6 was their first major coordinated attempt to fulfill their renegade wishes. Almost successful, and perhaps actually so, the violence, the stink of their treason continues to permeate the very air we breathe, and its violence, its bloody aims remain with us, unfortunately. I predicted this, I spoke of it, I warned. I pleaded, and here we are.

We must also understand the possibilities of the future. Do not think they have given up, raised a white flag. Far from that. We must take another lesson from the past and maybe, just maybe, if we understand its import for us, we can stave off yet more violence, civil war in this land. Understand now, do the right and necessary now, protect the rights of all, or lose it all. That is the stark and only choice.

A Prussian Marshal said, long ago, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy,"

The Jan. 6 corruption runs deep, wide and high. Their Plan B is there, make no mistake about it. It is already in play.

We must have Plans B to Z  if we are to save ourselves, our country, its future. Think about battles and wars. Who actually wins? Is there truly a victor. Wouldn't we be better served if we focused on solving our issues, the rotten seeds, rather than trying to eliminate them and their vitriol through ultimately useless, costly, bloody war?

HAND IN HAND THE ABOMINATIONS WALK TOGETHER

 It appears that the poorer side of humanity persists in recreating itself in whatever version will work. Infact, it does quite well. It has learned to submerge when necessary and when to come back, in full power and its own despicable glory. Well, folks, this is now the status quo, even worse in contemplation, as the greatest attempt at translating, transferring hate, as an emotion, into hate as genocidal action was almost successful. Further attempts with other groups followed this dark path and we have simply tuned it all out, particularly as it seems to be somewhere other than here, in America. 

How many more groups must be added to this shameful list before we finally learn. Before we truly understand that hate cannot be neutralized via false words and sentiments. It cannot be isolated from other hates and forms of repression. In fact, they buoy each other, creating an evil synergy. When will we ever learn? When will we ever feel, know, internalize the awful truth that genocide, hate, oppression are the worst of humanity, a signal, a lighting of the way down the darkest paths humanity can, has, and will walk. Again, and again. Unless we extirpate its roots from within, deep down and once and for all. 

Today, we are witnessing the very ugly return of this evil companionship. Terribly, horribly, awfully, sad, and yet there it is.  Marching hand in hand, haters and oppressors, those who have already begun again to spout the words of hate and those who strive to deprive all of basic human rights. Certainly, the rights we have long championed here in America and are now in danger of extinction. 

Read some of the following quotes and opinions and if your danger radar does not ping wildly, well either you agree with this or you simply refuse to see, hear and accept the truth, preferring to avoid unpleasantness -until it is too late.

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards shared an antisemitic tweet featuring Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.... The tweet read, "Jewish people will literally tell you that they want you to kill your own and humiliate your women simply because they have children to feed."

 Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed during a Wednesday appearance on Fox Business that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution does not protect Americans from having other people's faiths forced upon them. Americans have no right to freedom of religion.

The armed, uniformed right wing extremist, terrorists actually, who are intimidating voters in Arizona.

Re the GOP and Black candidates: (feel the anguish and despair in the words.)                  "I think the sad thing about this is, you know, Herschel Walker is woefully underqualified for this job and the only reason he was chosen and also supported by Trump is that Raphael Warnock, the senator in Georgia is Black and they wanted someone who was Black to confront him, to oppose him."

"Because we can't tell each other apart," said Goldberg " "Just because we see a Black person does not mean we do 'monkey see, monkey do. And I'm sure that you don't know how insulting that is, but let us just say to you, don't ever say that again because you look ignorant as hell. "

"A leading scholar of election laws says."...the evolution of an increasingly conservative Supreme Court with a skeptical approach to voting rights and an emerging record of upending precedents means that the current interpretation of the right to vote is no longer a sure bet."

Bret Stephens in his column, writes re reporting on antisemitic actions and words -"At times, the reporting has all but accused Jews of bringing the violence on themselves, with lengthy stories about allegedly pushy Jewish neighbors or rapacious Jewish landlords. At other times- such as after the attack in January on a Texas synagogue by a British Muslim man who traveled 4,800 miles to get there -reporters seem to have gone out of their way to find non-antisemitic motives for nakedly antisemitic actions."

Does this ever end? Apparently not.

Is there any difference between hatred and bias against Jews and hatred of Blacks or Asian or whatever group tickles the ugly thoughts of ugly people? 

The answer is a resounding no.

 The time has come to stand up for what we believe in, what we need, what humanity needs. No one else will do it. ' It is as always, upon us.

We will either reap the results with joy or we will weep at the results in despair.

The time has come to take a stand. To make a decision. The side of the angels or the side of the devil?

Today I was horrified to read these articles and reports. It is worse than I thought. I am truly frightened for the rest of my life and for the generations to follow.

COMMON GROUND

 Comon meaning a shared view or precept that is supported by most people of a society or culture. These common grounds range from holidays and laws to traditions and foundations of society. They are trivial and of utmost importance. Most importantly, they are shared. Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, his important pamphlet during the time of revolutionary American colonies. In it was the nascent seed of democracy, a huge concept for the time, and a reminder to us of what democracy means, how we achieved it, with its faults and virtues and how it can be lost. Unfortunately, we are treading on quaking grounds, the earth shivering beneath our feet as we endanger that hard fought, hard won, hard maintained democracy. Its survival - questionable. and indeed, a shared concern today.

More and more of the 'thinking' strata of society write, talk, of the imminent danger to the democracy of our country, its very much threatened survival, and the dramatic, possibly never to be returned, loss of America and in fact, the world, as we know it. Proof of pudding? Simply glance through a political map of the world and note where each country is fighting to install, reinstall, or protect democracy vs. the forces allied against it. Scary, far more real than Michael returning each and every Halloween! This is real. This is a substantive life changing event to a degree we apparently, as a society are having difficulty in truly fathoming. Worse? Actually desirous of such a change. Scarier.

Justice Kagan pointed out how high this uncommon ground has penetrated in this country -to the highest level of the judiciary system.

 "On Friday, she had said she was hopeful but reserving judgment on whether a court dominated 6-3 by conservatives can again find “common ground."

The people have lost trust in what should be one of the last bastions of democracy. Not now. No longer. As is constituted today, polluted, its dignity and mission demeaned by the arrogant incompetent, bigoted appointed judges of Trumpian era, the Court will never again be the fore of positive societal change it has been in some revolutionary decisions. Today, forget about it, as these 6 conservative judges buy most heavily into the stiff retrogressive culture thinking now blooming in this country. Their answer to everything appears to be collusion with the forces of their partisan belief and a pronounced partisan influence on decisions made and cases undertaken.

The shared and common ground of American society seems to have split in two. To such a degree that friends and family have been split, and politics is verboten in family and social meetings and in places of business. This is the stifling, chilling, mortal effect of autocracy. Its end version is a physical enforcement of speech control, manifestly not a good thing. In a new reality the more violent, crazed, bigoted, violence the language is, the higher this shameful person is ranked. As a society, we have turned upside down for too long and the time to right ourselves is upon us, has been upon us for some time.

Actually, truthfully, dismally, blood chilling reality - we have already lost the first skirmishes and have gone on to lose bigger battles wherein democracy opponents, under the guise, favoritism, of the GOP, antidemocracy, lie believing and professing acolytes of the Trumpian world have moved into positions where they can - and will- and have changed the path of democracy, rendered our entire voting system a very sad joke. Democracy? With rights to vote, to control one's body, to love and marry one's choice, disappearing in this country, democracy is already disappearing, under heavy life threatening attack.

The end? 

Or not.

The deciding factor?

US!

 

"AMUSINGLY LAWYERLY WEASEL WORDS"

 How apt are these words for so much of what has gone on in this country particularly in the halls and byways of political life. So much for the supposed scholarly reveals on the GOP side, as liar after liar purports to blow the roof off the hidden 'truth' - manifestly not the truth - and reveal the ugly underworld of the GOP instead. So much for the quality and the character patently missing among these tattered remnants of a once upon a time respectable, patriotic, reasonably competent entity. 

This is what troubles me a great deal. Paul Ryan, not one of my favorite people as I disagree greatly with his luddite safety net opposition, got it right and it frightens me. He said,"

 “new swing voter in American politics is the suburban voter and it’s really clear the suburban voter doesn’t like Trump but they like Republicans.”

“So I think anybody not named Trump, I think is so much more likely to win the White House for us"

If that does not frighten you, then understand what those words actually reveal and the terrible future it portends if they come true.

The "for us" is not for America as a whole in achieving some kind of uneasy political balance, but a victory for the GOP. End- Stop. The partisan GOP. The same GOP which sanctions bigots, haters, incompetents, and those who, frankly, belong in some kind of treatment program where they can be disillusioned of their autocratic spouting and possibly restored to sanity. A large step, but maybe, just maybe...

However, that is not in the plans of the GOP. They threaten to 'go after' the Democratic Party. They do not disavow Trump openly; instead, they praise him and his ideas, support his lies and viciousness. With obvious mental difficulties of all sorts, from lack of a working brain to complete absence of any positive character trait, on he goes and on they go.

They are indeed weasels, poisonous, vicious in their attacks and plans. Vicious in their complete disregard of honesty, for true care of the nation, the responsibility they undertook the minute they ran for office and/or swore an oath. Now if feels as if they have taken an oath of loyalty in a deal with the Devil and are supporting his acolytes - Greene, Jordan, Johnson, McCarthy, Cruz, Rubio, DeSantis, and on the other side, AOC, Omar, Tlaib, and America has gone totally off the track. At least the Democrats sideline them as much as possible, call them out for some outrageous statement. However, not so in the GOP, as they do the very opposite and tout their value every chance they get or manufacture. Their goal is to "take" the country. Then what? And then what. I ask despairingly.

When the outrageous false story is told of a political attack on a GOP supporter, the truth is ignored. The man beaten was a White Power extremist, well known, and there is no connection to Cruz or Rubio other than in their twisted minds and crooked tongues. Frankly, these extremists hang around the GOP these days. given warm welcomes, seen as allies to "take" America. Members of their greatly dysfunctional family. The only honest GOP members are in hiding, resigning, or torpedoing their careers as they speak openly. Too few of those. Too bad for America.

If I sound a bit over the top, I am. How can we accept this state of being? How do we allow, support, even solicit these corrupted people who have no concern for the very people they count as their base. How does this base continue to willingly wear the blindfolds, the ear plugs needed to convince themselves that those who would harm them are the ones they support. How does this continue apace?

Why is a Party so obvious in its plans continue to function as a 'patriotic' party. Frankly, they are uncaring of and for America, only for themselves. Openly supportive of a corruption of the judiciary system, they have enabled through lies and omissions, to pack the Court and so many lower   courts with partisan incompetent judges. Judges? They shame the word. Thomas and his alleged collusion with his extremist lie spouting spouse, his openly, spit in your face granting Graham sanction, the truth of his perversion which came out during his initial hearings. The blind endorsement of male privilege at that time, continuing to our times.  Endorsing him and Kavanaugh over the anguished truth telling tones of their victim. There they sit, Thomas in all his now talkative glory, vindicated by current disgraceful behavior by the body politic. 

Why do women, educated, thinking, feeling, women who carry the burden be prevented from choosing their course of decisions, vote for the very ones who treat them as garbage.? Why and wherefore is it permissible to reimagine, redefine women as chattel, with no rights? 

Why do those who need aid, or who supposedly think of themselves as forward thinkers, support them? Because they are GOP, and the GOP must retain power? For what? For the destruction of American society as we know it? As we wish it to become? Democracy or autocracy. The choice is upon us. NOW. Not soon, not a bit later, but right now. In a few weeks and even today as we early vote.

 Truth? An endangered species. A fading concept. Perhaps the truth in this case will not set you free but instead put you in an orange jumpsuit? A well-deserved sartorial necessity.

Will we not rid ourselves of these destroyers of the dream? Will we rescue the future for our kids, or shall we consign them to misfortune and dictatorship? Those are the choices. Unfortunately. But there it is. The truth. 

No more weasels. Enough!

AN ANSWER TO THE PAIN OF THE MILLENNIA?

  For centuries, for millennia, Jews have been persecuted, chased from pillar to post and then the pillars and posts were destroyed, instantly and inherently, implicitly and explicitly, providing for ultimate genocidal campaigns against the Jewish nation, its people, from the unborn and newborn to the most aged. Roots to flowering branches - all were to be extirpated from the makeup of the world population.

Against the ravages of mankind against them, Jews have survived, flourishing during good times and hunkering down amid terrible times. The last major attempt to destroy the People of The Book almost succeeded, as Hitler managed to kill 75% of Europe's Jewish population and the rest of the world's population of Jewry was well documented in preparation for its annihilation. 

Ghastly in devisement, even ghastlier in execution, these constant drumbeats "kill the Jews" have continued apace, forever rearing its ugly, deadly head, serviced by multiple leaders of society who spouted the same recuring filthy false canards of hate. Whilst violent to the extreme in Europe and Moslem lands, though it existed within the USA, it was generally nonviolent here, mainly expressed sotto voce, not quite the done thing.

Despite the quotas in universities, despite the unspoken antisemitism on Madison Avenue, law firms, and so much more, Jews were able to establish themselves, prosper, follow their religion at their desired level. They became comfortable and an integral part of the weave of the fabric of life in the nation. But always, beneath it all there was the taint of antisemitism just waiting to take to the mainstream. Now it has done so.

Killings. Murder. Random attacks. Vicious media buy in and publication of this 'new' but not so new antisemitism. The thin disguise of this viciousness as 'anti Zionism', demonization of Israel. The strewing of leaflets among Jewish neighborhoods, threats, rallies where openly, vicious antisemitism is proudly vaunted, and for that see the latest one in LA. So entrenched is this ugly movement that the ugly 'new' GOP has selected antisemites as their new leadership. Kari Lake. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Laura Bobert. Ron Johnson. Mastriano. Candidates for upper state positions, especially in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona. 

Nor can we simply overlook the filthy mouthings of Ye, the former Kanye West, who has become the latest vicious hate spouting puppet of these white antisemites so eager to spill Jewish blood upon our nation's lands. Apparently, Jews are the cause of bad diagnoses of medical conditions, even creating these medical issues, are the wily, sneaky manipulators of people, control the media, in all aspects, desire to take over the world. 

Would that this was so, that so great a power was in the hands of this people, for surely, peace would reign in the land as they followed the urging of the Bible to welcome all, to seek out, run after, justice, to take care of widows and orphans, to crush evil and injustice, to insure fair treatment of employees, to obey the rules of a civilized society, with the Ten Commandments the early seed of such a world.

What we have instead is a new America where universities establish 'safe' places from Jews. Really!! Where Amherst's student paper writes and glorifies the murders, the terrorism of Hamas, how right and fitting it is that they kill so many Israelis and never mind the collateral murders along the way. Universities now confessing their anti-Jewish quotas of the fifties and sixties, create new hostile conditions for Jews on campus and 'suggest' they might find a more 'comfortable' place elsewhere. Well, thank you very much-NOT!

When Trump accuses American Jews of being 'bad Jews' for not supporting him, for not supporting an Israel created in his image and need, enough!! 

 There goes the alarm, shrieking in our ears. The clappers of bells strike hard, loud and long. Again, the seeding of the dual loyalty accusations, ever and for always. Again, the attacks, verbal and physical. Again, the isolation and devaluation of a people. Always the denigration, demonization, the devaluation, the accusation of being subhuman.  Always the on-hand scapegoat.

The long lasting, through generations, of trauma and its harmful effects on descendants of victims of hatred has become clearer. Hence, no wonder all this recurrent, reviving, bitter, acidic antisemitism calls out these genetic memories, these traces of damages of a bitter bloody past, once believed to have been vanquished. How wrong we were. ARE.

There is a light in this dark tunnel we are passing through. Even as "there's an echo of a pain that people feel" there is also help. For millennia, Jews have followed the Bible and the Books that followed. Even as this belief was derided, castigated, via a new scientific advance in the field of geophysics combined with the earth's magnetic properties, much of the Bible, the invasions written about, have been closely dated and verified. 

Thus, hope. All the promises of the Bible. The promise of a nation as numerous as the sands and the stars in the Heavens. The promise of a land of their own. A land and world where peace shall reign as swords are beaten into ploughshares and the ways of war are learned no more.

Hope. Light. Belief. Relief.

But meanwhile, the pain is sharp, cutting, present and dangerous. Life threatening. Most definitely. 

“IT IS LOUD IN ENERHODAR”

  Enerhodar is a small village in Ukraine, one of many that are being shelled and rocketed to death at the hands of the Russian war criminals led by Putin and his sycophants. Knowing that they have adherents in our own American government is shocking, but actually should not be so for there is no difference in the ultimate goal for Putin led Russia and the current GOP leadership and membership. That goal: the end of democracy within the borders of their respective countries and a solid, irreversible hold on power for these oh so not leaders.

In the name of that goal, in the pursuit of that goal, there is a growing scorched earth policy. To hell with everything as long as we can continue apace with our nefarious plans is the apparent SOP - standard operating procedure. So imbued, drunk, with their victories, they ramp up; so caught up are they in their lemming run that they invite all, drag in all, and by the wayside are shed the shreds, the challenged, besieged, trampled upon remnants of a once thriving American democracy and a nascent never deeply rooted attempt to have democracy in Russia. A country seemingly addicted to having a bully, a heartless, soulless head of government, be it Tsar or Communist or any chosen name. The end goal, the end result is or will be the same.

In yet another frightening collusion between Life and Art, the co-creator of the popular House of the Dragon assures fans that "[season] two will hit the rhythms people came to expect from the middle run of Game of Thrones, but it will have been earned, and viewers will feel the tragedies because we put the work in."

Then I wonder, what of the promises we are hearing made by traitors masquerading as patriots. They have indeed 'put the work in' and are succeeding. They tout their so-called love of the electorate even as they strip them of social safety netting and rights, at an ever-increasing shrieking rant of hate. Worse, this raucous shrieking of the crowd has absorbed within it the very targets of their hate, feeding on their weaknesses and confusion, on the fault cracks within their souls. They become the willing dupes of their own destroyers, thinking that acquiescence will avoid the trip to the ovens for them. They are blind to the history lessons and the uselessness of that tactic. Time and again the original collaborators are squeezed out, killed, displaced, imprisoned, as the battle for control rages on. 

Where, I wonder, are the dragon riders we so desperately need these days. The Children of the Thunderdome sang "we don't need another hero", but we surely do. Bonnie Tyler, in her raspy voice, called out, asking, where her knight is. Our knights are gone, disappeared, absorbed within the daily scrums of this war between democracy and autocracy. Between good and evil. Yes. Just that - Good vs. Evil. 

I contrast the women of the current GOP, the Kari Lakes, the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Palins, and the rest of their ilk, cooperating with the very ones who are stripping their gender of control over their own bodies and souls with the brave women of Iran, the courageous women under Taliban rule who continue to educate their girls risking their very lives. We come up terribly short, falling further and further behind, dragging us all downwards with them.

As for the Kanye Wests, the Herschel Walkers, I simply cannot fathom their motivations other than they have lost sight of their own beings and worth, cannot see themselves in the mirror of reality, their innate worth, and are totally subsumed within the barricades of hate. They spout antisemitic canards at the drop of a hat, threatening death. Well, sorry, been there, done that, and we categorically refuse to fall in line. Kevin McCarthy in the name of his ambition has sold his soul and is now lost within a fog of his own making. The election deniers, the supporters of soul breaking, crushing lies, shattering democracy, the judges at every level, who have connived, lost their integrity and sold us all downriver.

We are all Enerhodar. We are all being shelled out of practical, life allowing existence. The infrastructure of our lives is falling, destroyed by rockets real and figurative. 

At this point I wonder if we have lost the war despite small victories and retrievals fought for, in land and rights. I wonder if we indeed have surpassed that deadly point of no return. Frankly, if all those election deniers, lie supporters win, take over the election apparatus in too any states, well, where do we then turn for help? Where do we, can we, survive and thrive again? Can we do it all over again, in a shattered nation, in a country of lost souls, wandering in search of new homes, new havens, their former ones gone, destroyed by enemies within and without.

I have long been shouting, pleading, whispering, writing of the dangers to democracy here in the good old USA. At first, I was a voice alone; unfortunately, there are now many recognizing the truth of imminent danger, but again - too little too late? I deeply, sincerely, hope not, but honestly, optimism is in short supply, shrinking every day, and the supply line is not in good working order for future deliveries.

We are indeed all Enerhodar. We all hear the noise, see the smoke, smell the ashes as they waft downwards. The question is - can we rebuild all our Enerhodars, large and small, physical and theoretical? Can we? Do we actually want to? Or have we lost ourselves for too long and the road back fading away at ever increasing pace. We need to choose a different city, from a time of hope and optimism. We need to find, if not actually reach, a new Camelot, look not back at the disappearing road, but forward, to a new, stronger, better road, with success possible. At the very least, get back on the road towards its gates. Let us open the gates of hope, of progress, regain what we have lost, and go further than that. If not- well, read the tea leaves, read the bones, check with the Oracle, and know the truth. 

We allowed it all. We enabled, even perhaps desired it. We did. We most certainly did.

We, and only we, can reverse this state of affairs.  

If we truly want to. Before too long.

WHAT IS AN ARC - AND WHY CARE?

No, not ark that floats, though certainly the arcs of society, and the individuals within, of that time were most incorrect, negative in every aspect, societal destructive in every which way. The arc I am referring to is the arc of morality. If this arc was defined in colors, it would be the darkest, deepest, ugliest, coldest color available or known to mankind. It would frighten all who looked upon it for its very presence negates humanity, all that has been good, progressive, helpful, and replaced it with our worst arcs, those which contradict morals and conscience, the arcs of lack of morality and the encouragement of greed and negativity.

Vaguely recalling the relevant phrase from a speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., it was adopted as the favorite quote of Barack Obama, to the point of being woven into the Oval Office carpet. 

 “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Yesterday I came across a character in a novel who stated, hopefully, that the moral arc of the universe will prove true. I have my doubts about that, almost to the despairing feeling that we are approaching the point of no return - or have done so already. 

 “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

That is the original quote, from a speech in 1853 given by Theodore Parker, an abolitionist, Unitarian minister. Hopeful, it yet reminds us, warns us, that while there is a tendency for the arc to find a home, a directional pulling for justice and morality, it is not automatic. 

 We, the people, have to acquire sweat equity, work for it. Enable it. Protect that arc. I did begin to think more re this topic. The entire topic of moral arcs, of right and wrong, has become verboten in the present world, a topic verboten among friends and family, the divisiveness too powerful, too inculcated within, a product of the Trumpian era. 

Others have referred to this powerful statement. In an interview on CBS, in 2016, Eric Holder reinforced the idea that yes, there is a moral arc, but it does not happen in a vacuum. 

"the arc bends toward justice, but it only bends toward justice because people pull it towards justice. It doesn’t happen on its own.”

Far from that for it takes the efforts of all to choose that arc representing the best of humanity. If not, then we are allowing, even pushing, the arc of ugliness, of pain, of the lowest depths to which humanity can fall -and indeed has already. These views, when adopted by too many, inevitably lead to the worst moments in the history of mankind. To adhere to the moral puts brakes on behavior contrary to conscience while ignoring and defying the moral undoes all our achievements to this point.

No one is perfect. No matter how often we try to find that ideal of perfection. We must, of necessity, understand that we are our own role models. We have chosen, via our free will, the paths and deeds of our personal arc. When all the majority of individual arcs meld with the better arc of society, then we have a society on the path to justice, bending that arc deeply in its pursuits of justice and morality. A true morality, not the deadly, twisted, artificial morality of bigoted individuals.

We can build such a society only if we actively participate. No standing silent. No allowing apathy to enable dangerously improper self-proclaimed leaders to gain their goals. No implicit or explicit deeds and words which do the same.

We are the authors of our destiny. 

We are told the way if we lose our way.

From a Gullah Geechee proverb we learn that            "If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you come from."

Simply put, we cannot divorce ourselves from our roots, from the meaning of the lives of those who came before and those who will follow.

"As we were, as we are, as we will be."

We are one. When we forget, ignore our past, our errors and our successes, we are rootless in a hostile environment. 

Let us replant ourselves in a swift, sure moment.

Let us keep the arc of morality bending surely, powerfully to that goal of justice. 

WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD - OR MAYBE NOT

 Ever try to find five contiguous minutes in which to try to understand the crazed world of ours? Find it impossible? Either to find the time or to grasp, a tiny little bit, of the New World? Then find, frighteningly so, that this world of ours is following that old, but true, statement that Life Imitates Art. And not in a good way either. Oh, there is good stuff in Art, but somehow it gets passed over for the glaringly very bad content and ideas. 

Well, it has long been quite true that the evil that mankind does, is always more attractive. It is the various versions of Lola, the temptress of the movie Damn Yankees. Or the bad dude, who till now was meek, hiding in the shadows along with his most unappetizing thoughts and plans, who, at the opportune moment, comes on full blast. Along with him come those of the same nasty bent, the same perverted thoughts. All planning go to hell vendettas against those who dissed them somewhere along the road. At least in their own minds.

Those proverbial closets are now opening, full blasts, and the ugliness is terrifying. No, not LGBTQ+ closets, for those are simply people, plain old everyday people, who simply wish to live as everyone else does, obeying the moral laws of humanity, contributing to society -or not - just like the rest of us. No, these closeted denizens are those who delight in steering that bus whose wheels are in perpetual motion, dripping with the remnants of those destroyed, the shattered lives and hopes of those in their perverted paths. Try to understand all this in that five-minute pause! No way. No how.

This morning, we wake up to a new godawful ruling by yet another Trumpian court of supposed justice, manifestly not so. This court has thrown the entire society under the wheels and ground back and forth, back and forth, dealing yet another mortal blow to a society trying to do the right thing. Trying to help those in need and trust me on this: we are all affected by their oh so not just decision. We all have had need of this agency and its purpose and actions. But screw us, for they decided it was unconstitutional. Yet another flawed decision based on more of their bigoted, ignorant, biased, immoral reading of the Constitution. 

Today, here is the new reality and if one follows the trail, the vile drippings on the path it has begun to build, oh are we in trouble. 

"Three judges appointed by former President Donald Trump handed down an astonishing decision on Wednesday, effectively holding that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency charged with protecting consumers from a wide range of predatory activity by lenders and other financial services, is unconstitutional and must be stripped of its authority."

There are so many regulatory, protective of society measures and institutions, departments of government which are financed in the same way, through fees and fines. As these institutions impact negatively on the nefarious plans and schemes, the greed of Trumpian denizens, they must go. The rest of us? Welcome to Hell.

Where does Art come into play? Understand that Art is all inclusive. The creative aspects of life, be it in sculpture, painting, writing of essays, novels, new technologies, new understandings of the intertwining of Nature and Man, new dreams of a better world - all are within Art. Art often warns us of frightening trends of society. Countless novels have taken to heart the responsibilities of educating society. Brave New World, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Grapes of Wrath, the list is endless and eternal. And here we are, growing, devolving, into our own version of a not so brave new world. Restrictions on rights, returns to openly adopted and approved forms of hatred, up to and including death for the 'offenders'. The phrase "Burn books, then people" is emerging more and more in our new, retrograde, emerging Awful New World. Again, try grasp all this, gain a modicum of understanding of all this in five minutes. Nope. No go. 

Sadly enough, most of us do not even try to allot five minutes on a daily basis to understand what is happening and our responsibilities re this existential situation. We are too busy trying to survive, or getting ahead, climbing viciously over the corpses of those in our way, throwing them under the wheels of that perpetual motion bus if that works better for us. Our humanity is leaking with very little in the way of restoration and reformation, or repair and sealing of these leaks.

The darkness of which I wrote yesterday is deepening. I am not sure if that is good or bad. Certainly bad, as darkness of soul and deed are always bad, but on the other hand, maybe we are getting closer to seeing the light of those beautiful stars, observing, and joining in the beauty and reassurance of those stunning Pillars of Creation. Maybe. 

In Black Adam, a newly released film, with mammoth action scenes, there is one line that rings through. "Only through death is the path to life.

Is that what we must do? Literally, figuratively, kill ourselves off, throw away the useless remnants of society gone berserk, amok, and rebuild, find new life? Maybe, but not a reassuring thought. With such a drastic change comes violence, major upheavals, and death. The choices for our future are becoming more and more limited, strictures placed on possibilities. Is there yet time and room enough to avoid the worst, reach a New World but a more welcoming one? For the little ones to whom we will be extending a welcome to in the days, weeks, months and years to follow? I do hope so. I do pray so. Join me.

STARS AND HORSES - AND JESUS GETS US?

  The title appears to be as confused as most people are today, what with some masquerading as patriots, so definitely not what they are and others giving up on any positive standards of morality as these standards are mighty inconvenient in a world gone mad. Sense and common sense, truth and lies, dis and mis information, all the necessary signposts and inns for those traveling along this most definite path to destruction of all we hold dear, in fact, much of what the millennia of mankind upon this earth have established, created, all turned to dust in the vitriolic atmosphere of current times. Still, what the heck is with the title?!

"Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars." Martin Luther King, Jr.

In our darkest moments we can see, are allowed to see, the hopes that remain among us, for us. That little bird struggling to get out of Pandora's box is still the little bird remaining in the box of tricks belonging to humanity -if only we allow it to fly free and freely. As darkness close in upon us, then only then, can we look up and see the beauty of the Heavens, the glory of Creation, the magnificence that we seem to be determined to destroy.

Life is cheap today. In Russia, it goes for the cost of a crude wooden coffin, more than 300,000 as Putin continues to destroy the lives of so many, at tremendous costs, yet on he goes, on the terror and death plague Ukraine, but the rest of the world as well. The stars are not yet visible in the perennially darkened world of Russian authoritarianism and intransigence of its rulers. As horrifying as it seems, apparently, we are not yet there, at that darkest moment that will allow the light of the stars to penetrate the darkness. How much more time we need though is frightening in the extreme; as bad as it is - to get worse? Incomprehensible. Yet so it is.

As for the rest of the world, is there anything better out there for us? Well, there is yet another Christian movement, one that seems to represent a different path for Christianity of the moment. Would that it takes and does so in the original sense of the word, of the hope which instigated this new organization. However, even as it urges people to do good, I wonder, I truly do. Religion these days has been perverted, twisted, turned into tormented shapes, all to fit the needs of those who treat religion as just another tool in the toolbox, all the better to achieve a goal. It does not matter whatever the name we give to our chosen religion; they all appear to be lacking an important aspect of true religion. Many people see that lack and have moved away from organized religion of all faiths, allowing for the extremists to take over and inflict yet more damage to an already damaged concept. Nope, no stars here yet either. I sincerely doubt that Jesus 'gets' those who are so deeply mismanaging religion.

A crude, rude, dangerous member of the extreme right, a proud and loud member of the deluded, fabulist mass, tells us, swears to us, that he is not changing his horse, the same horse we so deeply wish he would saddle up and ride on out of town! Bolduc, the piece of human trash running for a Senate seat from New Hampshire, states, “I signed a letter ... saying that Trump won the election, and, damn it, I stand by my letter. I’m not switching horses, baby. This is it.”

And he could very well be correct. This election could very well "be it" for this country as we know it, as we should keep it and are now giving away with open arms to those who hold contempt for its very essence of humanity, decency, and democracy. Nope, all these horses of diehard antidemocrats, of egregiously unqualified candidates, are nags too tired to show the rider who actually is boss. They merely plod along the road, almost inanimate, as is the electorate apparently, edging ever closer to that moment of darkness, the nadir of humanity, and there, will be the stars.

What are the stars? Why does the light of the stars, the jewels of the firmament, give us hope? It is because when we look to the sky above us, see its beauty, look upon it with eyes of awe and wonder, then, we can appreciate the efforts that went into this world, its makeup, its progress halting, even backwards at times, yet there, through plague and disasters, through the worst efforts of mankind to derail it, it remains there. 

Anyone looking through a powerful telescope who can see "The Pillars of Creation" can have no doubt that hope continues to exist albeit so distanced from us. It is there and when one looks upon it, understands that it is the source of new stars, the source of eternal hope, then we can know that we have hit the very bottom and there is only 'UP" to go. The stars will shine, guiding us, endowing us with the grit, the will, the ability to reform as is supposed to be. Find pictures of it -it is awesome.

How long for this moment to occur? Not a clue. I simply think that we are closer than ever. History is not on our side here. Not at all. And yet, maybe it is, for no one gazing on that magnificence that is The Pillars of Creation can lose the last remnant of hope - the light of the stars.

"A certain darkness is needed to see the stars."

We cannot deny the encroaching darkness. Now we must adopt the hope represented via the light of the stars. Again, "A certain darkness is needed to see the stars." (Osho).

Lord knows, the darkness is upon us. Let us all hope and pray that our eyes are now opened and opening up to that blessed light of the stars and the hope it should engender in us.

PAY TO PLAY

 Okay, all Jewish holidays over for now and time to get serious. Time to take stock of where we are in this crazed world of ours. Time for us to understand that reality has smacked us upside and downside the head and definitely we are all suffering the results of a mass concussion on the body politic - with the results evident to all - if only they want to see.

Pay as you go. Pay to play. Pay up. Pay the man. Pay your dues. All kind of giving us oh such subtle hints that we had better check our wallets, physical and online and wonder if we have paid enough, too much. Rebalance the books. Check our priorities with a harsh no prisoners taken attitude. Whatever the decision, it cries out for severe rethinking, staples for the eyelids, to keep them open, swabs for the ears, and locks on tongues that know nothing other than to gab or mouth off re that about which they know naught, add to the debt - and worse. The pay to play total keeps adding up. past due notices are flooding in, and we do......NADA!, Well, unless remaining in a state of willful denial is doing something.

The world is flooding, with almost entire countries in some areas under water, or up to their necks! Other areas of the globe are wracked with drought, openly starving populations on the move in desperate efforts to seek help, to simply survive. The rules of society are breaking down and the worst is emerging, shockingly fast. Once shameful, hidden sentiments are now out in the open and worse, being shouted loud and clear - with too many applauding. And the subtotals are already in the red. Reckoning time.

However, how does one pay up, clear the bills, change directions, when the roads are blocked, the bridges burnt to a crisp, the pillars of society are breaking and all the engineers with proper degrees have fled the coop, leaving us in the charge of fascists, would be dictators, and plain incompetents. The credit companies have lowered our credit scores and debt collectors are ramping up their game, with the inevitable disasters, personal and public, awaiting us all. Infact, the results are already here and debt collectors are flourishing.

Excuses are useless. The do not change reality nor turn it onto a better road. Especially when we ignore it all. Horribly, when the hate of one to all else, the hatred of groups, burst to the surface, crash through all the niceties and bloom and blossom in the toxic air. Heaven sent? Devil sent or debt collecting time for our Faustian deals? Pay the money and know what man, MANKIND, has done. Sins have come home to roost, moved back in and are not planning a move away at any time soon.

Thus, as the world crumbles, as societies shatter, as blood is spilled in ever growing quantities, as threats become, again, nuclear, in our stupidity, we stand there seeking the dike into which fingers will be inserted, in futile effort and effect, as the seas pour in. That dike? Kaput - as are we.

We have one, individual and societal chance left. Election time is upon us. We must now indicate through choice if we are ready to stand there and woman up. Yes, woman up, for in the main, the sanity and survival of society rests on the burdened shoulders of women who keep the world turning, the factories going, the kids fed and the home fires burning. No thanks to the men who have given in to fascistic, nationalistic leanings, said to hell with democracy or tightened already authoritative strangleholds.

Take a state such as Florida. It has turned more 'red' than ever, as the hatred abounds, the excuses are made, the debts are rolling up their totals, as payments come due, with little patience on the part of the creditors to extend any more credit. Thus, as the hurricanes grow more life threatening, as houses float away, as fires burn, as crops are destroyed by a violent climate change, as the economy is hurt by these aforesaid events, the blindness grows.

The incompetents win - Hello, Rubio. The nasties come to power - hello, DeSantis and the who the hell knows adds to the mess by doing nothing- and hello, Scott. Meanwhile, the county gives into harmful greed and allows developers to coat the land with cement, exacerbating all the above. Folks, time to assess, take account, check our financial resources and plan accordingly. The economy? HA! Just wait a bit more and watch all the natural and/or manmade catastrophes pile in and up. There is no hiding. No survival. No hope unless we take a big gulp, tighten the belts, hitch up our pants and get the show back on the road and pay off all debts, watch the accounts and build new, helpful, hopeful roads. All necessary to function properly. Forgetting all that? Well, we are living the results.

Like it? Well neither do I.

Get out there and vote - the better way.

Think!

s

 

'YA' GOTTA' HAVE FAITH

  ...And believe me, if the faith is not there, then well, I do not know how one survives this crazed, ever-growing in insanity, world of ours. It seems that there is not a whit of difference be it the insanity on a personal, one on one situation or on a national or international level. People are simply reeling, placing obstacles where they should not be and removing them where they most definitely need to be. Rhyme, reason, justice - all seem to have been abandoned by the wayside. Morality? Say what?

Not so long ago a certain level of off the proper path was accepted in politicians, kind of came with the job description. There were few, if any, angels among them. However, there was a modicum of understood strata beneath it all.  Politicians would remember that no matter the Party of choice, they were all Americans. As such primary loyalty was to the people, to the nation, not anywhere else. Certainly, larger, more glaring aberrational behavior would put an end to a career.

Today we are upside down. The more egregious the violations of once commonly accepted behavior the more likely to be rejected, even disgraced is no longer true. Today, the most glaring choice of favor seems to be the crooked, the morally challenged, shall we say. The bigger the lie, the bigger the audience of the faithful. The more obnoxious violations, the better excuses made to write off that behavior. 

Morality? Honesty? Duty to nation and country? Justice, fair and impartial? Inclusivity within the traditional mixing bowl that is, was, should always be America? Gone like the wind. Ever to return? Well, that is where faith enters. Faith that people can and will return to sanity. Hard push there, long haul up an ever increasing, hostile slope and in a most unwelcome climate. There is no other way to salvation other than 'ya gotta' have faith! Hard as that might be, as unlikely and far away as that retro reality, that change in attitude seems to be.

A letter to the editor in Saturday's NYT stated what we all know is the truth, as he writes that the man isn't in jail is amazing. That the man is running for office is a disgrace. I will add this: the growing numbers of those who follow this man, who accept lies as a permanent mainstay of life, who willfully, eagerly, jump onto a rickety, life-threatening wagon, is a dire threat to the survival of an American democracy. Why the hell cannot so many see it, fight through the fog blinding their eyes, see the truth as is, not as we wish it to be. Or is.

Faith in the basic goodness of the American people, with the memory strong within us of the confident even arrogant, American, striding through life, knowing that warts and all, America was the best thing for a sick world. Today, we are the sickest of all, fallen the furthest, cracked its terra firma,  shattered it, on the way to a weak scrum of 50 or so pathetic ministates, with no power, with no morality, with little in the way of takeovers by dictators, and a miserable life for the population at large. A great big ugly existential threat. Do we have the faith that we can and must overcome this, block this path to the dead future and instead revive an America almost dying, ready for its deathbed?

In Ukraine the people are fighting the giant who has invaded, sacrificing people, the very infrastructure of life to the idea of democracy, of law, of a civilian population functioning freely. In Iran, led by brave, mostly young women, to the point of death, there is a growing revolution which I so hope succeeds. Why are these people capable of sacrificing all in the name of freedom and justice while we, in America, are giving it away, throwing it away, hand over fist.

Today we are allowing ourselves to sink into a morass of holier than thou people who have one goal in mind - to rule this country, to impose their religion, their philosophy, their hatreds and biases upon us. Here are policies from two national giant chains of drugstores, the main source for Americans to receive their doctor prescribed medicines. Faith is eroding rapidly.

Walgreens updated its company policy to allow pharmacists to use their discretion and "professional judgment" when determining the legality of a prescription based on local laws. CVS has gone a step further, requiring its pharmacists to confirm a medication won't be used to terminate a pregnancy before it fills a prescription, 

Is that the world we want, we wish for our kids? I hope not. I do have faith, but I must confess that its bright colors are shrinking fading, becoming well tattered at the edges of hope.

Time to reject the morally filthy. Time to reject the aberrant behavior we have tolerated for too long. Time to be better Americans, better people, before we lose the chance.

Ya gotta have faith, and that faith must be joined with others professing faith. Faith in us, the people, the very core of this country. Before the opportunity is gone. Never, I fear, to return.

AMEN! AMEN? AMEN - MAYBE

  Well hallelujah and amen! A committee of brave men and women, most especially Liz Cheney, who has doubled down on her doing the right thing in the face of nasty opposition and a possible cost to her political career. Putting her money where her mouth is, answering to her conscience rather than taking that easy long, evil slope of vicious intent adopted by the majority of the current GOP. 

Her words were fierce, her determination to seek accountability and consequence, the need to answer to the people rather than to Trump, buoyed by a hard-working committee, - a much better example or role model for the younger generation to follow -and in fact the older generations as well. A toast to their courage, the dramatic ending of a voice vote confirming for all time the issuing of a subpoena to Trump, a bang of the gavel and over and done.

So, amen to that, but it is far from over and done. The subpoena has to be responded to. Either Trump puts up or shuts up. Either way, he comes out dripping sweat and evil dark, emanations from his mostly dead soul. Now is his time in the sun, where his tale is to be told, in public forum - under oath. Oh yes, under oath. A real deal breaker, that. 

In addition, it is now upon the government institutions to take correct steps, to follow up with what they have been given, a man so enmeshed in his criminal, treasonous behavior, deeds and words, that whatever happens, he will replace Benedict Arnold as the synonym and picture when defining treason to this nation.

If our presumed leaders, G-d help us, do not act, well, the future is not bright. Morals and conscience are taking a far distanced role, negligible actually. We are raising a generation of young fanatics and bigots who know naught of what they speak, and instead ape the horrors of their most definitely not wiser elders and aim to go one better. The Young Republicans in a college endorse a tweet or posting by Kanye West, the now even worse Ye, in his rabid statement of "death con 3 -Death to the Jews." 

The President, a woman of course, had the decency, the guts, to resign in protest. However, the vitriol of increased, revived old canards of hate bode ill for our, my, future. Why is it that hatred of Jews must resurface every damned time there is a crisis somewhere, every time some wannabe dictator seeks an issue where there is none.

How is it, why is it, that even the targets of hate do not see their way clear to the future and instead ally themselves, shamefully futilely with those who will, at the 'right' time, throw them under the wheels, then back up and do it all over again. Using them as proof of the inherent nastiness, subhuman traits of a particular group.

Once again, Jews and Blacks must walk hand in hand rather than oppose each other. There is no future in allying oneself with those who seek your extinction or 'proper' place in society, meaning among the dregs, the abused, the targets and hapless, hopeless victims of murderous intent and hate. It is in the blindness of those who sell their souls for 'the Vote', for 'control', that society loses its way, rolls over and plays dead, too well. In the interim and for the foreseeable future if indeed there be one, those who poison it, terminate its vitality and viability and the 'black hats' win. Perhaps this time forever.

This is what we must oppose. This is what we must defend against. This is what that committee is fighting for. This is what the Grahams, the Greenes, the Trumps, the Walkers, the Wests, on and on, stand for, forever, sickening, the pathetic cowards who refused to back up their own accusatory true words of Jan. 6, who have forgotten their fear of that rampaging mob out for blood. Theirs. Sent by that man they now fear and support. Buying so deeply into him and his corruption, his evilness of heart and soul, hook, line and sinker. Now they must all be hoisted by their own petard. Pay the well-deserved consequences, be held accountable. Pay the cost of their faithlessness and weakness.

Amen? Yes, a good hearty loud shouted one, but with a bit held back. That bit must be retained until the cycle is complete. Then, only then, might we have hope to return to sanity, Trump and the Trumpian Movement, having been an aberration, never to be repeated. Lesson learned. Internalized. 

One hopes. We all must hope. We all must support those who would see us back on the right highway to the future. Then, a full, complete, deeply felt and learned-AMEN!!

A VERITABLE PLETHORA - NOT GOOD!

  One day, hopefully soon though I doubt it, I will sit here in the early morning hours and type in a posting re local issues, of good things happening, anything but the filth, the lies, the danger that has become part and parcel of our lives for lo these many years, worsening day by day. A sad commentary on life.

Before the bad, a simple story re a good thing; there are some good people out there. Yesterday, on my way to a doctor, I got lost. An indicative landmark was moved, bollixing me but good. An unfamiliar area, phone forgotten at home, and late for the doc. Oy vey! Pulling into a shopping plaza, I entered the UPS Store and asked to use a phone. Immediately, a gentleman standing there pulled out his phone and asked for the number. The UPS guy did the same. The gentleman even indicated he would drive me to my doctor, but I had my car and mission was completed, albeit a tad late. There are good people out there. Unfortunately, the good they do, the little deeds that make life that much better, more tolerable, are drowned in the maelstrom of what is life today in this troubled country. 

In any case, back to ugly reality. At this point I do not know whether laughing or crying is more appropriate. That we are having sessions, live, re the treasonous rebellion of crazed citizens, the horrific guilty persons who betrayed their country, broke their solemn oaths, who willingly, purposely, maliciously - it simply boggles the mind. A toddler mentality was inflicted upon this nation in their very much insane desire to change the election results, to follow Hitler's prescription of the Big Lie, and turn this nation upside down, legislate, battle, whatever it took to destroy it as a bastion of democracy, a place of hope to the world.

So now do we dance or cry or both. Hopefully, a long time coming, the guilty will be indicted, tried, convicted and imprisoned. Hoorah!! About time, too long in coming, actually. Too much time which enabled the spread of the poisoning of this nation's bloodstream. I understand the nature of this matter. Every i and t crossed and dotted, yes, but too much attention and stress on details slowed the process. Details can be aired at the proper time. Too many crooked, biased judges are tainting the judicial system, placing insane Party loyalty above loyalty to Lady Justice, endangering a final, just resolution to the chasm, the sinkhole swallowing the nation.

The nation needs rescuing. It needs relief. It needs time to take a deep breath and looks round, evaluate, accept the terrible truths of our present situation, what we have allowed, even desired by too many nefarious people. Chief among them Trump. However, he could not have done this alone. The horrendous turmoil needed people to feed its fires, to take it as far as they could go. Into that fire went true patriotism. Joined by books which contained content inimical to their fascist beliefs. Into that fire went people who displeased these fascists. Accepted, even wooed and lionized, were those guilty of moral and legal turpitude, excused in their misdeeds and crimes, in the name of POWER. Power not to or for the people, but power to the new wretched, abhorrent GOP.

Today the last hearing of the Jan 6 Committee will convene with more proof, new witnesses, and please, please, a knitting together of the criminals to their crimes, their treason, and begin the end of this corrosive acid eating away at the underpinnings of this nation. The pursuit of truth has befogged our view, hindered our priorities, allowing the world to careen like a drunken globe, the marbles within pulling, rolling this way and that. World order, sanity, decency has been greatly diminished. Two-bit dictators, confuse and conflate their twisted needs and desires with that of their respective countries, with tragedy the inevitable result. Every single day. Every damned day!

"Well, we have a bunch of new documentary evidence and statements that establish the central role that Donald Trump played and his overwhelming culpability in these events," "I don't think any reasonable, open-minded observer could watch what we're going to do tomorrow and what we've done over the course of these hearings, put it all together, and not come away with one conclusion, which is that none of this would have happened except for the will of Donald Trump." But the political coup and all of the events surrounding the attempt to overthrow Joe Biden's majority in the Electoral College, the insurrectionary violence, the mobilization of the mob, all of it flowed out of the will and determination of one man to seize the presidency and that's Donald Trump "

Let us finally put this issue to bed, turn over not a new leaf, but a new library! Accept the guilt of Trump and his enablers. Bring the deluded back into the fold and get on with the pressing needs of the world, the answers to existential questions arrayed before us. The truth is not out there, thank you Rod Serling, but rather right here, in front of our noses, ears and eyes and working brains. Time to recognize, accept, and react properly and promptly.

William Shatner said that during his trip into space, as he looked out into the great black void, what he saw was not mystery and awe, but rather death in the midst of all that darkness. 

"All I saw was death."

We are looking at the great void before us. Either we light it up with justice deserved and earned, or we simply allow the darkness of a spoiled, hopeless humanity to engulf us all. Period.

Oh, for the simple joys in life and the simple feel-good stories.  I wait. I wish. I hope. I pray.

Join me.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! JESUS CALLING

  No, I am not being sarcastic nor disrespectful when I call out to those who profess a special relationship with him and present themselves as his representatives on earth as they spew forth their twisted version of Christianity. A version which reverts more and more to the rather barbaric blood thirsty Jew hating one that was in place for too long.

Far too often in this challenging world of ours people have chosen or been duped into following false prophets, false gods which do nothing other than exacerbate the hostile atmosphere enmeshing the world. It contributes yet more gallons of blood to the already soaked earth, even as the earth, the very grounds meant to sustain us are deprived of proper nourishment, clean water. We do not see the connections, do not see the cause and effect of all our misdeeds. We take the wrong turn in our desperation to change the status quo, its worsening bent, and miss all the cues and directional arrows.

No religion is immune to the phenomenon of false prophets. Each religion has its extremists and fakers. Lord knows how often I have taken off after the extremists of Judaism. Judaism's most sacred city, Jerusalem, has a unique syndrome attached to it wherein a person comes there and finds that he is the reincarnation, the reintroduction of holy prophecy. Who the hell knows! Maybe they actually are, and we, in our deafness and blindness neither see nor hear the truth. Be that as it may, this particular growing version of a malignant Christianity professing to be the best, the newest, the greatest, the truest is particularly irksome and annoying, and dangerous! The grounds of Europe and the Middle East reek of the blood of my people spilled by so called religious zealots performing their own version of Christianity and the love of Jesus as they butchered his own people.

The eagerness to join the acolytes of this new 'christianity' so manifestly not Christianity is frightening. The urge to spout venom, to use words of incitement to violence is growing in this country, my America, so different from my true America. In the very state, the very city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where 11 members of a Jewish Congregation were slain, Mastriano, a candidate for high office, spouts forth venomous antisemitic poison, is BFF with a known virulent antisemite who claims that no longer will 'true' Christians bow to the 2% - meaning Jews. With far worse around. Running against a Jew, clear, open, proud, and practicing, he uses the vilest statements and lies to denigrate and defeat him. This is Christianity? Evidently so in the eyes of too many, a growing segment of population buying into this dangerous filth.

"... do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." 

 I, John, 4:1

The warning is from a founder, shall we say of Christianity, quoting the words of Jesus.

 Among the forefront of this so false religion is the filth of the earth.  Marjorie Taylor Greene. Herschel Walker. Mastriano. DeSantis. Lauren Bobert. Don Bolduc. Blake Masters. The Oath Keepers. The Proud Boys. The list of the lost grows daily. Worse, is the defense, the multiple excuses from hitherto honest, good folks, as they fall over each other in their eagerness to validate these people, wash them clear of outright sin, support the leading Devil, Trump, who instigated it all. 

I am friends with some true, devout Christians, from Evangelical to mainstream, all the way to strict Catholic. None swallow this garbage. All of them are embarrassed by it. All of us are extremely worried, fearful of its inevitable end unless waylaid and soon, stopped dead in its tracks.

Christianity yes, if true to its beliefs, rid of its bloody history, its antagonism towards Jews and 'others'. The false gods of the false religion of the false christianity - NEVER! 

MY G-D, MY G-D, WHY HAVE WE FORSAKEN THEE?

 Yes, the title is properly written, though generally, we ask why has our G-d, by any name we address Him, forsaken us? I believe in this case, we have forsaken Him and along with that goes the wholesale abandonment of true religion, true belief and observance, from the most visibly observant to the secular Humanist. We have all forgotten Our Maker, Our Creator and wandered, or even rushed, down the most awful, uncaring, barbaric paths that a human can tread. The bitter cherry on top? The fact that we revel in these paths, boast about them, and defend them with a grossly misplaced passion.

Over and over again, we read in the Bible and other religious texts, how G-d comes rushing to the aid of the righteous. Granted, at times, terrible times this aid comes at a slower pace than we pray for, but who are we to judge G-d's timing. Certainly not we, the pleaders, the sinners, the awful perpetrators or tolerators of the most egregious acts ever, as we revel in their reports, as we wallow in the mud of its reeking, putrid horror.

 We have forgotten our humanity. We are living and reliving the worst moments and traits of humanity and then are so righteous in our forgetfulness, our thoughtlessness, our hypocrisy as we replicate the worst moments of humankind. Not understanding why so much grief, so much anger today? I suggest you peruse a paper or two, check out the reliable, fact filled media. Reading too much for you? Look at those damned pictures, and you will understand - or should - if there remains any drop of pure, honest, full disclosure self-evaluation. 

And no, I am not removing myself from our miserable, shameful behavior, for all of us, you and I, they, them, and us are equally responsible, as guilty, as by commission or omission, explicitly or implicitly, we allow the worst of us to continue. Topping that, or actually falling to a deeper depth of depravity, we actually cheer it on.

So, what the hell am I referring to? Generally, the entire gestalt of life today. We tolerate the worst behavior of our supposed leaders. We refuse to acknowledge their criminal and moral misbehavior and make excuses for them. We overlook the bad in the name of some perverted 'good' we see in them. The eye power amazes me as they can see good where there is none. The hypocrisy of these supposed examples of civic duty and their supporters or excuse makers, sicken me. Surely, in the vast billions of people, better choices, can, should be made. 

In fact, for all claiming true belief and observance, any belief system, we are supposed to understand that good coming out of bad, out of sin, bears with it consequences. The charitable donations of the thief do not wash clean his sins, his antisocial deeds. Removal from the actual misdeeds of humanity, simply observing and saying, doing nothing, not making one damned sound of protest - well, the consequences are upon us. We are not immune to these consequences, however much we try to delude ourselves that we are. 

Okay, folks. Here are the proverbial last straws that simply broke me yesterday, a day of religious importance, be it a Saturday or Sunday or Friday or whenever. A day when I have time to think, to learn, to wonder, to cry. The horror of the war in Ukraine, and worse, the indifference of too many, individuals and countries, as they weigh the inconveniences vs a strong response to war crimes. Failing to understand the lessons of time as they back down under threats and blackmail from the violators of what should be a civilized society. Why are we not there yet. How many more millennia will it take? And we call upon G-d to remedy our errors! Why? He did nothing. We did.

Worse, the poignant photo of the 24 little ones in Thailand, killed, brutally, as they lay napping in their preschool daycare. Oh, they were not 'ours' were they? Tsk, tsk, terrible - and what were we talking about? No - they are ours. In fact, we have been there, done that, time and time again and how many more murders, savage, cruel, barbaric in the extreme, are we to allow before we understand, internalize the reality - we are responsible for all. We allow society to deteriorate to the point where so many think it okay to take out grievances, real or imagined, simple or complex, real or imagined, upon the most vulnerable of that society. Blame has nothing to do with it. In fact, kids are the most innocent of all of us.

One more, and then we can all go on with the rest of our lives, tsk, tsking away as we stroll through the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, the decades that are so otherwise experienced by many. It is a fact, no matter how long one has been living in this country, native or immigrant (uh oh - a dirty word) someone or you yourself, came to this country with a dream, a need, a responsibility to others. It might be escape from oppression or a severe economic reality, to the point of starvation. It might be a drought or a rising sea level, to the point of no return, negating food production and/or ability to remain and survive. Whatever it is, how dare we sit there smugly and deny this right to others. Who are we to determine that we are the blessed ones, and everyone else can go hang! Who are we to deny the right to live here because they are now turning 21, aging out of DACA. They are Americans. 

Furthermore, take a good, long, hard look at the struggles of those desperately needing to leave places where life is worth nothing. Take a good long hard look at those trekking through perilous territory, along with kids, babies, grandparents, with nothing but the clothes on their backs- nurses, doctors, teachers, storekeepers, students, babies, workers, future leaders, inventors, literary lions - and then accuse them all of being criminals! Were our ancestors criminal as they banged on the door to enter? Why do we wish to repeat the wrong rather than do what is right.

The anguish on the faces. The determination to make it. The salvation, always, of the Goldeneh Medina, the Golden Mountain, where the gold of hard work allows people to survive. And if there are a few bad bananas in the bunch well, hate to break it to you but we got plenty of those here already. (For reference and lists of rotten bananas, I suggest checking the current local and national GOP).

Folks, we all must do better, be better, think with hearts rather than emulate the hard heart of the Biblical Pharoah. We all know what he reaped. Are we at that point too? We must, of necessity, dig deeper, open the pathways of the heart, the soul, if we are to remain human, worthy of being here.

We are the ones who deserted G-d. We are the ones who have turned away from that which should be treasured. We are the ones who are the hypocrites as we bang on the chest in repentance, or confer with the Imam, the Pastor, the Reverend, confess to the Priest, or a Rabbi - and then go back and do the same as before -or worse. 

We are the forsakers. We had better return soon. 

And hope that our return is on time and approved.

And this time do it the right way, not with empty ostentatious actions, but rather with true recognition of the 'sameness' of humanitnd our obligations to serve G-d or any belief system with true values and deeds.

PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO A JEWISH HOLIDAY THERE WILL BE NO POST TOMORROW AND Tuesday. I WILL RETURN WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH A NEW ONE. IN THE MEANWILE, WHY NOT CATCH UP ON THOSE YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED.