CHECKED IN AND AWARE

  Where have these people been my whole life? Yesterday I posted an entire article addressed, actually, in reality, to all good people, those who have set aside their normal standards in order to maintain and justify their support of Trump, of the GOP as it has turned rotten and acidic, turned a blind eye to the manifestly vicious newbies such as Greene and Boebert, Gaetz, etc. who should be pushed off to the side, but instead are granted plum chairmanships as of January. Not good for the country and not good for the Jews. Just being aware and checked in. 

So, this morning I open the computer and lo and behold, yet another voice speaking my very own thoughts, those which I have voiced over and over again. Those thoughts which are part of any Jew's life, any that are truly aware of our history and the rapid turn on a dime of supposed friends and neighbors as they threw people away and stole belongings, businesses, houses, rights, and lives. To this very day there are survivors and their descendants trying to have stolen art works and properties returned to them. Not with much cooperation either. Nor restoration of lives brutally cut short.

To the very end there was their hope. Until we Jews outlasted this frighteningly almost undefeatable plan to exterminate us, wipe us off the face of the earth - yet again - and always. Always. The old commercial wherein there was a deep voice intoning that the Hebrew National products answered to a 'higher authority', well, we Jews know, via history, via bones and sinews, via every blood cell, that the same 'higher authority' will never desert us. Check history for that. We might be smacked down, undergo terrible things that should never be, but at the end, when the smoke clears - there we are. Battered, bruised, but there again, to rebuild, not only our lives but to also help build a better society for all.

I have long been a fan of the old 'joke' - not so much a joke, that the smart Jew has his papers up to date and in order. The wise Jew carries them in his pocket, always. While I do not carry them, I do know where they are, and check several times a year to keep tabs on deadlines and due dates. And hound my kids to do the same. I am always wondering, thinking, evaluating, that though America is my country, five generations born here, there is always that little thought, that incessant worm of fright, of uncertainty. Fact of life. Even when we deny that concern, as do many American Jews, wishful thinking, always, there is the truth of history in the back of the mind and foremost in the heart. Always there is the history of how we came here due to incessant wholesale slaughter of our people, the impossibility of building any kind of future should we remain there. German Jews thought they were okay. So did Austrians. So did most Jews of the West. Fools all. So yes, I am American, born and bred, as were my parents, as are the younger generations, as were my grandparents, thrilled with the freedom to live and breathe as compared to what they had fled, brave, alone, as teenagers. And thank G-d they did. 

Following is the essay piece written by a deputy opinion editor of Newsweek. Good position. A successful family. An American through and through. Totally woven into the fabric of this country. And yet, and yet.... there are those same thoughts, persistent, and always aware. And in this country, at least to the present point, uneasy though it is, free to write of them. G-d bless! Read and understand what would happen if another reality stepped in. The horrors repeated, and that is for all, for no one is immune to the effects of hatred and intolerance. No one - not even the instigators, for all are fodder to feed the constant incessant vicious hunger of hate.

"Donald Trump Had Dinner With a Bunch of Antisemites, and I Feel Fine | Opinion

Former President Donald Trump had dinner with antisemites and I'm having trouble getting worked up about it.

You know why?

Because I'm Jewish.

How does that work, you ask?

Well, first Trump is a really, really bad guy. He has repeatedly shown himself antisemitic by conviction or convenience, and we have learned nothing new from this particular meal. If you're saying that the former president is mainstreaming antisemitism for the first time, I have no idea where you've been since 2015.

Second, antisemitism isn't new in this country—even though it's getting worse—and my family is always somewhat on edge, anyway. We came to this country with experience of pogroms in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia... We came to this country having survived the genocide of the Holocaust.

Our synagogue has security guards. The other synagogues around have security guards. Often the hired guards are accompanied by police officers, either on- or off-duty.

We have a kid that goes to a Jewish school. Guards there, too, long before they became standard in the age of school shootings. We're not worried about the threat from within so much as the threat from outside the community.

We're aware of who and what we are much of the time and I have yet to meet someone who is Jewish who can't give an exhaustive history of their family background and the antisemitism that played a huge role in the creation in their present. The past lives with us.

As we're taught about the Holocaust, the lesson is never that it can't happen here, but rather that it can. Sometimes, growing up, I felt it was simply a matter of time before "they" came for me and my family.

Many Jewish homes have a little case, ornate or not, attached to the front doorframe of their homes. The case is filled with a prayer, handwritten on parchment, and the more religious of us kiss the "mezuzah" when we walk in.

Mezuzot are typically bolted to the frame, but in my family, we've joked that we should use Velcro instead of nails or screws. That it should be "pogrom-ready," to be snatched off in case of either hiding or flight.

Ha-ha.

I grew up in New York City. When I was a kid, in the 1970s, nearly 20 percent of the city was Jewish, but it felt like more.

It seemed about as safe and far away from antisemitism as could be. There were Jewish delis, Jewish bakeries. Sometimes it felt like our public schools were Jewish schools because so many of us were Jewish in my neighborhood.

You would think that if people were to let down their guard, it would be under these circumstances. But that's not the way it was.

My grandmother, with her thick German/Yiddish accent thought America was the best place to be. It was the place that had taken her in when she was thrown out of Belgium with her 6-week-old daughter as World War II began.

But it was clear from her, and from her sister and the others who had made it from Europe, that America would be wonderful until it was not. Never for a second did they think—or want—to be anything but Jews, and they expected to be reminded of it. They knew neighbors who had turned on neighbors. They knew how a welcoming, cosmopolitan place could become something else.

Is it OK to grow up this way, on tenterhooks? Is it OK to live this way?

No, it is not.

But it does mean very little can surprise you.

So, when Trump has dinner with fascist Nick Fuentes and an antisemitic mentally ill moron, I refuse to get upset. Or should I say any more upset than I have been? Than I always am?

I'll continue to do what I've always done and be ready to yank that mezuzah right off the door."

 Now the alternative: Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

AND THE ANSWERS ARE ...

 Actually, there are no answers other than, "Lord, forgive me for I knew/or now know what I have done". The answers are to beat your chest in repentance and do the right thing from now on. The proper answers will save us from perdition, right here on earth. It will save us all from earning our own place inside a system which will condemn all who oppose to a life of despondency, lost in a sea of fellow humans drowning, without hope, hapless, in the face of a mighty, corrupt machine.

To clear the air, before reading the following, understand that despite the title, this essay is meant for all who believe in a G-d, a true one, a religion which urges all to live a righteous life, care for fellow beings, and just do the right thing, difficult or not. It is a call to all who, secular, religious, or whatever, believe in a just, fair, caring society. 

Nor is it about only one man, though it certainly is about him, the man who says he stole the documents openly, in huge numbers. It is also about those who emulate him, espouse his stands, whose programs are simply so wrong that it is astounding that there remains support. Be it him or DeSantis, or Goetz, or Fuentes - they are all the same, no airspace between. Righteous people have no truck with them. Period. At all. Ever. Never. Forever.

 Please note: while I have not written these words in this form, I have written these thoughts time and time again. Jew, Moslem, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Humanist - whatever, read, absorb, think, and answer from the depth of your heart and soul. Reclaim the pieces that have gone missing. Repair the frayed fabrics of your soul and the soul of society. Read. Please. I present it to you uncut, as presented by the Religious News Service.

"To those Jews who still support him

 Let me be clear. This is not about politics.

This is not about party.

This is about principles — deep, powerful, gut-level, historical and ethical principles.

For that reason, if you are Jewish, and you care about Jewish ideas, teachings, and history, and you still support him, I need to ask you a series of questions.

Why didn’t that support end a long time ago?

It should have been enough when his name first came into the public eye, in the early 1970s, when his family’s realty company was sued for discriminating against Blacks.

When he mocked the reporter with disabilities, any self-respecting Jew — or anyone who claims to believe in God — should have quit him, right then and there. Finis.

When he boasted that he could grab women by their private parts, you should have shaken your head in disgust. “This is not what my faith says about how we speak of and to women,” you should have said.

When he urged violence against reporters, you should have said something. “This is not what my faith says about how we behave in the world.”

When he characterized Mexicans as rapists, drug dealers and animals, you should have raised your hand. “Excuse me, but you do know that once you start insulting one group of people, there is no end to it.”

When he called for a ban on Muslims entering this country, you should have closed your checkbook. “If my grandparents could not have gotten into this country in the 1930s — and many could not, because of these kinds of policies — I would not be here.”

When neo-Nazis marched in 2017 in Charlottesville, chanting “The Jews will not replace us,” and he said that there were “very good people” on both sides: Did you stand up? Where was your Jewish pride?

When he said that he only wanted Jews and not Black people to count his money, why didn’t you say: “Wait one minute…”

When he retweeted an image of a Jewish star superimposed over a pile of cash, why didn’t you say, “That’s my symbol! What are you saying?”

If, back in 2019, you were present at the Israeli-American Council Summit at the Diplomat hotel in Hollywood, Florida, and you heard him say about Jews, “A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all. But you have to vote for me, you have no choice,” why didn’t you rip off your napkin, and stand up, right then and there?

If you were paying attention when he said, “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians, that’s fine,” why didn’t you reach for your valet parking claim check?

When, addressing an audience of American Jews, he referred to Israel as “your country,” why didn’t you say, “Yes, we love Israel, but we are citizens of the United States of America…”?

When he said that Jews don’t love Israel enough, why didn’t you say, “No, sir. You cannot tell us how to love Israel”?

Have you not yet realized that his ideology of white, Christian nationalism is precisely the sort of thing that condemned the six million?

When you watched what was unfolding on Jan. 6, 2021, did you feel a nausea that first sprang to life on November 8, 1938 — Kristallnacht?

When you saw the gallows that they erected for Mike Pence, did you think of Jews swinging from gallows, or of Black people swinging from trees?

The guy with the “Camp Auschwitz” T-shirt? Why didn’t you say: “Enough is enough.”

In the words of author Adam Serwer, “the cruelty is the point.”

Not merely a glitch in his thinking and in his program. Not simply a design flaw.

The cruelty is the point, and perhaps the only point.

Which brings us to this past week, in which he hosted a dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

His guests: Kanye West, of antisemitic fame, and Nick Fuentes, one of our country’s most prominent young white supremacists and Holocaust deniers.

To their credit, the Republican Jewish Coalition condemned the Mar-a-Lago guest list. Good for them.

But, but, but: His Jewish daughter son-in-law and grandchildren! And yet, he willingly hosts people at Mar-a-Lago who hate his family members.

The Zionist Organization of America presented him with the Theodor Herzl Medal. Oh, the pathetic irony. His version of loving Israel is supporting and applauding the kind of people — Jew haters who made Herzl’s Zionism — the Zionism of rescue — necessary in the first place.

Memo to Morton Klein of the ZOA: It is not too late to ask for that medal back.

It simply cannot be that this is the final stage of American Jewish assimilation. Once upon a time, we craved high culture. We wanted to live in the nice places, and be part of the nice clubs, and send our kids to the best schools, and go to opera and theater like everyone else.

Now, “to be a people like all other peoples” is to aspire not to the highest, but to the lowest? To the vulgar? In the elegant Talmudic phrase: ad k’dei kach — has it really come to this?

One of my favorite expressions is “jumping the shark.” It derives from the episode of the television show “Happy Days,” in which Fonzie rides water skis over a shark. Since then, “jumping the shark” has referred to a moment when something goes too far to be believable.

The dinner at Mar-a-Lago was a shark-jumping moment — or, it should be.

Let that dinner be a turning point, and not just for Jews. It should be a turning point for all Americans who care about the rise of antisemitism and of violence on the Right.

This is the time — actually, the time has long passed — for all Americans to simply stand up and say: No.

You are known by the company you keep. To open your table at Mar-a-Lago to willful, unrepentant, gleeful Jew-haters is to legitimize their views.

QED.

For those who still support him…

Are you done, yet?"

And the other way -  Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

OH, THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE SAY

  Many, many moons ago there was a show re the things that kids say. Kids and older people are similar in speech in the sense that the brakes are not really functioning nor applied 100%. Kids do not understand the need for subterfuge and moderation and older people feel the hell with it; they are old enough to get a free pass on what they say. Hence - less brake holds on utterances. It is quite refreshing at times but can be hurtful.

However, when one peruses the sayings, the speeches and utterances of people, particularly famous people, those who are quoted, we have another story. Truths often are revealed, and the person then trips over his/her own tongue to 'resay' or totally deny what was said. Does not work at least not yet, but never give up is the way of the day for the dumbest ever. They refuse to understand that facts and reality cannot be denied nor erased. They remain. Period. Fake news is a pain and dangerous, but the truth is always there for those who seek it and are guided by it. Still and all, utterances are very telling, cutting, revealing, humorous, the full gamut. 

Here are a few good ones from recent days.

These epitomize the views of the producers of a sequel or prequel to Yellowstone, as relevant to the picture of the twentieth century, beginning on Dec. 18. Quite revealing, as it presents all the cracks that have widened into chasms these days, as the twenty-first century follows loyally and closely upon the heels of its predecessor. Read and think.

"Your fight is with me and I kill much slower."

"Greed will be the thing that kills us all." 

 "You attack my family, it's going to be the last time you ever do,"

Then, of course, we have those oh so beloved remarks of Trump, a deluded and delusional man who thinks he can 'think' up anything or make it disappear. All within the power of his 'gifted' mind. So blessed are we to have this man sicced upon us by the Fates!

“So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black,." 

 Add to that his denial that he ever knew or heard of Nick Fuentes. Well, maybe he is actually telling a piece of the truth as he is illiterate, but it has been on TV quite a lot so....Same old business of lies and denial, always the refusal to take responsibility and lack of distancing from ugliness.

 How about some juicy, revealing ones re the temper of the times.

"Nearly half of Democrats wanted to put people like me, who haven't had a vaccine, in a government camp," 

“Character is what you do when nobody is watching. It’s about doing the right thing simply because it’s the right thing, and doing it over and over again,”

From Pence: Congress had "no right" to his testimony regarding the Capitol riot.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for a leader that’s setting an example for the country or the party to meet with [an] avowed racist or anti-Semite.

“And so, it’s very troubling, and it shouldn’t happen,” 

And why is he still considered a 'leader' and it did happen!

Ye "warned against believing other celebrities and anyone who doesn't believe in God, because they are "being controlled" by the actual people who "influence the world," ...

"Another issue I have, is the fact that Elon [Musk] won't reinstate Alex Jones," ... "Alex Jones is a Christian. But you have a person who doesn't believe that Christ is Lord going to buy an American media outlet and picking and choosing who can be on the platform. Jesus is Lord."

And here we go again. Blood libel anyone?

 “ever since the election in 2020, I think the [former] president’s descended deeper into the heart of darkness here,”

Uh, think he was way over his head into that heart of darkness way, way before 2020.

Following along these paths, believing the liars, allowing, making excuses for criminal, immoral, disgusting behavior, is dangerous. It leads inevitably to a country divided. To a country failing, to authoritarianism and plain old disaster. It leads, actually has already led us, almost there, to complete failure of the planet as we waste time and energy on hate and dissension, allowing the earth to deteriorate further, approaching a Mad Max kind of world, where water wars are fought, where starvation is rife, where law is meaningless. Welcome to earth! 2022.

Remember the song "in the year 2525, if man is still alive..." Think we need to change the date on that!

And in the meanwhile, we will live - or die - with a world run amok, where law is illegal, where morality is a paper torn to shreds, where this happens:

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

I. HAVE. HAD. IT!!!

  Up to here! And beyond. The stupidity. The lack of foresight. The refusal to look back and evaluate past actions, the horrific consequences we lived through -and continue to do so. I've had it with the rank stupidity and pride that are the engines blocking the thought process of too many. I have had it - and it looks as if there is no relief in sight.

 In fact, relief has moved farther and farther away, distancing itself from any return to sanity. Instead, we are honing blades, loading ammunition in our guns and semi-automatics, marching in uniforms, burning books and encouraging censorism and boast- of our acquaintance with or support of known terrorists, bigots of an order rivaling the worst   figures of humankind. All those who participated in the Holocaust - wish for it to return, even as they deny its truth and now in its denial. I have had it.

Most of all I have had it with all those stupid people, willfully blind, deaf and dumb in the sense of letting brains atrophy, who refuse to understand and accept the enabling roles they played in this whole mess. And continue to play by their opting for denial, excuses, and further disaster, to a point from which I am truly growing to doubt has any chance of reversing itself, repairing the damage wrought.  

I am sorry if my friends who supported Trump, and now his cursed surviving philosophy in the forms of DeSantis, Greene, Gosar, Boebert, McCarthy, Hawley, Haley, Walker, all the crazed extremists on both sides of the spectrum are upset with me for this posting. Aggravating as it was to see you support this manifestly false excuse of a human being the first time around, well, everyone can go wrong at some point. However, for not seeing the truth, ten years down the road, after all his egregious acts and statements, to continue? To support him, to excuse his malfeasance, his frauds, his blatant contempt for the law, his placement above the law. His towering ego and treasonous, seditious actions, and as I predicted - his most blatant, poisonous antisemitism pouring out and through all he has said and done. Supporter of Israel -not on your life. Just a political moment. Now, he dines with the likes of Fuentes and Ye, supports, instigated, a GOP which now runs on hate and bigotry, drooling for revenge, sponsors Walker, and the rest of his ilk, dumb as a stump and dangerous in their ignorance and vitriol.

Before this man appeared on the political scene one could laugh at him, excuse his moronic and allegedly criminal behavior, for he had no true power nor entry into it. And then- there he was - bigger than life and smaller than the head of a pin on the morality scale. Before this man political talk was allowed, was able to be carried on in a sane manner, a long time American trend. Today, no one talks politics other than with one who agrees with you. Otherwise, friendships have broken off, family divisions have multiplied and why? Because of him and all that he did, proposed doing, and spouted off. Because too many checked into his hate hotel and never came out, brains and wills removed.

Yes, there have been truly poor Presidents, Carter, Grant, and more, but not a one was a traitor to this country. Not a one has wrought this horrible process wherein America has become Amerika, where soon there will be tiny countries where once there was one, strong, confident, a leader for the world. Today - feh!! Under yet another reign of his, there would have been no support for Ukraine, always a constant appeasement for such as Putin, giving them free reign to invade over and over again. Under and because of him, where there was once a noble GOP, today there is a civil war within-between extremists and the even more extreme. The sane - no voice, no courage to speak out, and if they do, they resign. They leave the fray and Trumpian theory wins yet again.

Yesterday, Biden had this to say re Trump's shameful dinner and approval of blatant, known, antisemites condemned as such via their own words.  “You don’t wanna hear what I think.”

This, after the White House has already come out with this statement:

  “Bigotry, hate, and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in America – including at Mar-a-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned,” 

and his ex- ambassador to Israel told Trump that he mustn't deal with, let alone sup with "human scum". That he is "better than this". Well, no he is not. Nor are his base supporters of the gun toting, knife and hammer wielding, mob who wished to overturn this country. I hope and pray and plead that those who continued to walk after, excuse this man will recognize the truth, the damage, the life change he introduced and instigated within the country, just about breaking it, the harm to the world he inflicted and/or encouraged. Time To Stop. Well past time.

If we, as a nation, as individuals, do not own up to our part in this change to our psyche as a nation, as Americans, put aside our pride and then do all we can to counteract the damage, to heal the wounds, to once again talk of politics in a sane manner - well then there is no hope, no future other than one that will emulate this status for a large segment of the population. 

Remember her and remember this - there but for the grace of G-d go I - and you, and you, and you.....

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

IF WISHES WERE HORSES?

  Historians have long touted the thought that Richard III lost at Bosworth Field, allowing for the reign of the Tudors, changing the tide of history, all because of a horse, or rather the lack of one. True? Not true? A version of the truth? Since none of us alive were there, take your choice but the true point of that statement is that "if only" does not work well in reality. 

If we spend time wishing rather than acting, making things actually come to fruition, well, it is on us. And of course, the second maxim follows on the heels of the first. That is: be careful what you wish for - for the reality of the wish is not good at all. Should one require a great literary rending of that idea, read The Monkey's Paw by Edgar Allen Poe. Wishes did indeed come true, but how - was neither pretty nor wanted. Lesson learned? Doubt it.

Henry II wished for someone to relieve him of the burden of Thomas a' Beckett. Well, two people heard and took him up on that and the consequences of the fulfillment of that wish set in motion the yearslong shaking up of the world order. In fact, we are still living with the ongoing consequences of that wish fulfillment. 

Need proof? Read the papers. Study history.  Religion has become quite a contentious part of our lives. No wonder that John Lennon sang wistfully that one should imagine if there were "no religion too". It is not so much the religion, if not twisted via twisted minds, but the impact of that twisting, the rise to power of those who use religion to serve their own needs. They saw no reason why they should stop forceful obeisance to their religion of choice. And today? I refer you to religious extremists of all ilks, including the growing shameful and shameless crowd of rabid extremist right wing 'christian' pastors, spreading the Word indeed, though not the Words of the Lord.

I must confess though, that the wish expressed by my most unfavorite person - guess who- well, read and understand, though I promise I will not personally take him up on the fulfillment of that wish. However, thanks to him and others like him, the proliferation of an attitude quite popular these days, that guns solve all problems, that violence and murder and mayhem are the medicines we need to address socials ills, well, be careful what you wish for.

"Give me freedom or give me death."

 Quoth he who has taken the idea of freedom and run it up into a growing anomie in the world today. Most unfortunate are the long standing current and longer consequences which are rapidly changing the world. Certainly not for the good. Not for the people nor for the earth itself. Should some gun loving creep of any ilk, take him up on that wish, well, wishes, ya' know.

There is a fundamental break in reality and understanding among too many these days. Freedom, in this "free country" - isn't it? - does not mean the freedom to go against rules and laws, to void moral laws, fair laws. It does not entitle one to pursue any and all, trampling over any person or belief in the way. No, that is anomie. That is terror. That is not freedom. Certainly not a god given permission to wreak havoc upon a nation and a globe, to run rampant over all the principles of democracy, of impartial nonbiased judiciary. 

Nor for the growth of nefarious creeps who will support a manifestly perverted being because why? Because, as Kemp stated re Walker, the biggest filthy #$%* to run for office these days.

 "We need to get that seat back," Quoth Kemp.

Dumb and ignorant beyond all. Perhaps innate perhaps a result of football injuries, but that does not matter. It is that this is the ruling sentiment of the GOP. Support any and all, even perverts, idiots who cannot distinguish between election and erection. It follows, obviously, to hell with that quaint idea that legislators are there to serve the public. Public service. Remember that term. Remember when there was a time when to serve the public attracted the cream of society. Today, it is all the lowlifes who previously would have been booed off the podium as they went about dismantling this country.

When such creeps, bigoted, dangerous to and for this nation, for the world, such as Greene, Omar, Tlaib, Hawley, Gaetz, McCarthy, McConnell, Lake, Trump, Trump, Trump, etc. etc., etc., are elected to office, well obviously someone, perhaps many someones, spent a whole lot of time wishing. Most unfortunate, someone or someones have been making those wishes come true. Much to the negative, the dangerous sides of life here in these once United States of America.

I wish I could wish to unwish those horrid wishes. I wish for many things, but not too loud for one must be careful as to what one wishes for. Choose very carefully only after great thought - and be better off by not wishing but acting. In those wishes and dreams and significant actions, do not forget

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

UNCHARTED WATERS

 The term originally applied to the brave explorers, treasure seekers, and those seeking new homes who sailed, rowed, away from known coastal waters, venturing far across oceans, into uncharted waters. This was when there were believed to be monsters under the waters of the ocean, or even possibly an end to the oceans of the flat earth. Think of the bravery of these people. Think of the power of their motivations - curiosity, greed and even desperation.

Actually, all of life is in uncharted waters. We can plan, we can organize, we can promise, but one never knows what can happen to snafu those plans. Life is uncharted and flexibility, faith in motivation, are necessary to have a sane world. When those uncharted waters turn out to be disastrous for individual or humanity at large, it is time to seek new mapmakers and send them out to chart the unknown and chart honestly for the safety of all.

However, maps have their limitations. Some cannot truly be drawn until experienced, such as space, or the depths of the deepest oceans. There are places remaining unexplored, uncharted and I wonder at times if we are not better off leaving that as the status quo until we know, learn better. 

Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from past mistakes. We scorched the earth with exploration and land grabs from the very beginning of venturing into these waters and have continued right to the very present moment. Nor do I see any chance of this land grab action abating any time soon. Uncharted waters that are deadly to all, yet on we go. A great fear is that as we take more and more steps to explore space and other planets, we will spread human venom and vice throughout the universe, bringing old, should have long ago been discarded ways of thought and deed into blank slate planets or even to previously settled ones with life forms other than what we know. What then?

We need to rebalance ourselves. We need to keep the sense of adventure and progress, but carefully and thoughtfully. We must ensure that we allow for misunderstandings for clashes of culture, for facing the unknown, even as babies learn to balance and step off into the larger world of their home and life. Babies must learn that critical skill of balance if they are to succeed in life. It is when balance of adults is off that we create and maintain a crooked, unbalanced society, one prone to evil and harm, uncaring of and for many, with tragic consequences ensuing. Today, we are so unbalanced that one can almost feel the earth trembling on its axis.

We, today, do not often realize how blessed we are in our lives. Yes, there is economic uncertainty - but when was there ever not? Yes, there is baseless, senseless, violence inspiring hatreds and biases, but at least we are trying to alleviate their harm and hopefully, teach the haters to rebalance. Probably a Sisyphean task, but we must try lest the unbalance of life will try to reset via war in all forms.

As we age, we learn how important balance is. We fight to maintain our own physical balance even as age encroaches on that sought after balance. We finally understand how important life balance is and where we went wrong. We try to pass this understanding on, the better way to explore uncharted waters of life and living, but the younger generations never seem to absorb that understanding, even reject it at times -just as we did not when we were young. Perhaps the sense of some unbalance is necessary if we are to enter uncharted waters demanding entry and exploration. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I just wish we could do at least somewhat better.

In the meanwhile, we must look to and into ourselves and appreciate what we have and how we can make it better for all. Especially those crying out in fear, in desperation, starved, dehydrated, beaten and tortured, calling out to the world from dark dungeons and imprisonment. There is no balance for them; hence, no balance for the rest of us as well. Simply think of America, the world, today and understand the concept of balance and the uncharted waters that remain.

While you are eating your turkey, savoring those yams, waiting with great anticipation for dessert, planning for the family games later and the football games of the afternoon, keep in mind those who cannot do all these things. Think how blessed we are even in the midst of the chaos of life today.

Keep them all in mind.

Think of her - 

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINER CALLS OUT TO US.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

OH, THAT MONSTER IN THE CLOSET.......

 Well, there really is one there. A fact. Actually, fact is not a good term as we now have to deal with "retruth" activity and false facts, a totally oxymoronic term. A fact is a fact and if it is a made up 'fact", it is, by definition not a fact, but rather a lie. "False facts", whatever that is, is not a truth. Period. Anyone using a 'retruth' is immediately defined as supportive of a turn away from law and justice, and most definitely has more than a minor nodding acquaintance with that monster in the basement. Actually, the relationship is more like that of 'kissin' cousins.

Lately, actually for years, at an increasing speed, that monster has been climbing the stairs, those dark, steep, rank, creaky stairs which frighten all who see them. Some try to install a better lock upon those stairs, against the danger drawing ever closer, but locks will not stop the path. Only active truth, the recognition of truth, has the power to guard against the invasion of the monster and kin. That monster in the basement, on the stairs, is being met by the monster above, in the attic, whose steps rend the silence of the night. We wonder who is there, what are the plans of these approaching monsters regarding the inhabitants of the besieged house.

And what do those inhabitants do when they discover that those monsters, those alien creatures, are not alien at all. In fact, they are our kin. Once welcomed in, shown courtesy, even acceptance of relationship, it is not so easy to rid ourselves of them and repair their corrosive effect on society and on the unity of this nation, of the progressive countries of the world. The worst, though? When we look in the mirror, see the monster and know the truth of it all. The monster. is. us.

In the animal kingdom the aberrant ones of the pack, the herd, are isolated, even driven out. The leaders have combat to determine leadership, if challenged, in a known process. The leaders do not perform wholesale slaughter on the rest of the herd. Unfortunately, it is not the same in the kingdom of humans. No, for we savage entire groups, denying their humanity, their right to live among us, and we try to block them, exclude them from so called civilized society, left defenseless at best, dead at worst. The level to which enforcers of these ugly thoughts and deeds will turn is most frightening.

Humanity has gone thermobaric. That is the use of weapon or combination of weapons, such that will literally vaporize the 'enemy', denying their humanity, denying their right to exist, denying them the opportunities we have been lucky enough to have due not to our efforts but to those of our ancestors who did exactly what these people are doing. Trying to improve their lives, the lives of their families, and yes, some are illegal. Just as many of our own ancestors did, coming in by jumping ship, by paying smugglers, by use of false documents, whatever would work to deliver them from a fate worse than death.

 The desperation on their faces is the same desperation of Holocaust survivors trying to flee lands soaked with the blood of their families, of the Irish fleeing starvation, of the Scots rendered asunder from the structure of clans, of Italians fleeing poverty and rule of the Mafia, of Africans fleeing war torn nations and drought, of Asians fleeing oppression in their lands, or chaos anywhere. Why do we refuse to see the truth of it all and act properly, not humanlike, but animal like as they accept new members of the herd, even as humans exclude them.

As the Russians literally vaporize what once were Ukrainians defending their country, we vaporize others of the world by other means, the end results the same. Dead is dead.

Yes, that monster in the basement, the cousin upstairs, and all the rest in between are approaching, speed growing, the future glowing less bright, even going dark in some areas. We are the monsters, either complicitly or implicitly as we have enabled it all. Standing aside, staying "out of it" reeks of guilt and blame just as much as active participation. 

When the good, or timid, or too many stand aside, do nothing, say nothing, to stop the wrongdoing, the at times wholesale slaughter, well, follow that thought to its endpoint and understand. For those who do not choose to follow, understand that where one goes, so do we all. We might one day find ourselves in the same desperate straits as the once unthinkable becomes thinkable and real.

We are all the prisoners of humans gone ballistic in their monstrous behavior. We are all

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINES CALLS UOONUS.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

"THAT'S A GOOD ONE!"

  Was the statement made funny? Yes, quite. However, it was also sad as it reflects on the state of mind of too many in the USA. Too many of the gullible, too many of the willing to be deluded and too many who see a path to their end goals through this corrupted waste of a human.

Trump is exercising his constitutional right to whine. That is what he does best, that is other than his lying and cheating and treasonous acts against this country. What did he say and why did Jimmy Kimmel respond that way? "Res ipsa loquitor." The thing speaks for itself, proves itself merely by its appearance, action and consequences. It is a common principle in American law. Thus, Trump's deeds and misdeeds actually prove his intent to cheat, lie and interfere with the results of the2020 election and the passing of power in legal, peaceful manner. Oh, quelle shock! Not!!!

Trump was whining re the investigations into his obvious malfeasance, his intent to defraud and cheat not only those involved with him politically, but also anyone caught in the stinking environs of his family's businesses. He said, "“Over the years, I’ve given millions and millions of pages of documents, tax returns and everything else, and they have found nothing,” Trump insisted. “Which means I’ve proven to be one of the most honest and innocent people ever in our country.”

The response of the audience: The Kimmel audience laughed ― and so did Kimmel. 

“You have to admit, that was funny,” Kimmel said. “That was a good one, right?” 

So sad, so unfortunate for us that he was a President of this country, turned a good state of national condition into disaster and antagonized every ally as he trampled over our ethics and morality and reduced this country to a state bordering on a Third World authoritarian corrupt nation. Funny, yet sad. That we allowed such things to take place. Worse, there were far too many who cheered him on, rooting for the evil, the wicked, the corrupt, the blatantly selfish attitude of Trump and his cohorts and enablers.

Words that led to bad action and that continue to affect us, especially within the Supreme Court. Yesterday the oh so 'brilliant and impartial' judges, three of them, decided that " although the new state Senate map may “disproportionately affect minority voters” in Tarrant County, there was no evidence indicating that the legislature’s “true intent was racial.”.    You try to explain the obvious wrong turn, the upside-down use of power given them for life. I wonder if their bodies and souls will ever recover from the insane twisting they have done to state or rather misstate the obvious. Along with a corrupt GOP out for 'revenge', cracked within and without, replete with extreme ring wing members who openly avow, shout to the rooftops how they plan to effectively cancel the truth, turn this country into a fascist model. Who wish to undo close to 300 years of democracy. Simply bad people, in the fullest sense of the word. Res Ipsa Loquitor.

The rest of the world seems to have acquiesced to all this. American Bishops have joined the growing club of prejudiced 'religious' haters, who hate all who present a danger to the survival of their backwards thinking. Whatever, whomever is branded the hate of the day. They yearn for a return to a time when religion was shoved down people's throats and publicly interfered with the civil engine of the nation. Separation of church and state? Bah! Humbug in their minds and intentions.

This poison circulates in the air and poisons elsewhere as well. The Taiban have returned to official Sharia law, lashing, amputating, stoning, those who cross the line in their bizarre version of Islam, women are banned from life, and so after twenty years of blood and death, what have we gained? The loss of so many. The rending moot of the hopes and dreams of women.

Inflation. A challenging future for the economy, foreign competition, supply chains, sharing more of the wealth, black hat hackers, desertification and flooding, the climate, the existential peril posed for our home, the retrogression in too many areas of basic human rights. The disgraceful, shameful fact that here in this country so blessed by G-d, we have homeless, hungry families desperate, for even working people cannot afford rents and basic sustenance these days. Who dare not dream nor hope.

Time to hitch up our national pants, wear belt and suspenders, fold the cuffs so we do not fray, drag or trip over them, check our shoes and get the show on the road. Trump, that rump of a person, well, if he were anyone else, he would have long ago been indicted, tried, convicted and redressed in orange, along with all those who climbed down into the mud and filth that he loves. Justice. Equal justice. About time we had that going on in this country.

And that means justice for all Americans wherever they are:

 Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINES CALLS UOONUS.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

BEWARE! RABBIT HOLE AHEAD.

 What a great season ahead for rabbit holes. Looking glasses are all the rage throughout Europe and by the way, if you should see a blonde-haired little girl scurrying around or a Mad Rabbit muttering to himself, leave them alone. They are part of the New World we have chiseled out for ourselves. And the Middle East does it again, turning on a dime. For us, well, we have all three trends and they ain't lookin' good for us these days. Not at all. No indeedy!

       Saudi Arabia resumes beheadings for drug crimes (Anybody remember who also said the other day that anyone convicted of drug crimes should be executed? Hint: Begins with T, ends with a body part responsible for his 'thinking' - such as it is.) If that were not enough, the same moron has entered into a contract with Oman, making him a partner of a foreign country - forbidden when one is President - which he thinks he remains and wants to officially be again. Oy!!!!!

     Israel's right wing religious, some, not all, wish to emulate Iran and other crazy Moslem countries where men and women are segregated at public affairs, concerts, etc., etc., etc. What's next for these people - shrouds a la burkas? Arrest popular actors for removing their scarves? What the hell! Thank the Lord Above that the sane in Israel will prevent this.  Yet another sign of crazed religious fanatics wishing to impose their will on others, like it or not. Rabbit Hole ahead! Uh-oh, there just went a mixed group, right down that yawning hole in the earth.

     Well, while they go oops! we can easily turn to Europe and our own home sweet home as terrorist violent action is growing, against Jews, Moslems, Asians in all sorts of variations. Jews are once again checking passports, again, unsure of their welcome and acceptance as native and foreign born citizens, not targets for hatemongers and bullets and knives and TNT. Nor fists and cars and trucks.

     Our oh so respectable GOP leaders are chewing the fat off each other - and I hope they choke on it - but good luck to them. (Not really.) Instead of holding out a hand, apologizing for supporting that rump of a man, that traitor, no, never. They are threatening "just you wait, 'enry 'iggins'" attitude. So mature. So responsibly governing a country. So helpful in the face of the myriad crises chowing down on us. The rest of the world as well, and the globe itself. Literally! Golf might soothe their tired souls, but not for the rest of us.

    Alito, the Great Protester over the leak of the Roe disgraceful decision is uh oh, caught with his hand in the cookie jar and crumbs all around as his leak of yet other decisions critically important to benighted conservatives and bigots and oppressors came down the pike, from 2014 and on. Hmmm! Throw him off the Bench is the least we should do. Along with the two perverts, one also allegedly conniving with his wife re Jan. 6, the know nothing Barrett. Heck, make a clean sweep and send Gorsuch packing as well. America breathes again.

     No more time for this today. Have to plan our visit to the new little prince and raid the kiddy stores again. Oops - error - was just told he is no longer the prince, instead promoted to The King Of The Roost! Well deserved. Now that is what life is all about.

But never forget -

     Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINES CALLS UOONUS.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.

TWTWTW - WHAT THE HELL!!!

  For those of you 'little ones' out there, TWTWTW stood for That Was The Week That Was, just about the first dedicated comic-serious review of the crazed week that had just passed. Timely, wacky, iconic, the progenitor of the plethora of such TV and streaming shows of today, where we can now pick and choose our favorite. It will be the one that bolsters our own already preconceived opinions. We can so easily insist that we remain in the muck and mire of our own making. Oh, such progress we have made!

The Beatles sang "all we need is love", a pathetic reminder of an era when an entire generation of young adults (now we elderly 'statesmen/women') of that time believed they could change the world via love. Well, that idea crashed, did it not? That love we 'needed'? Still MIA. The 'fake' love, the love that will kill you -plenty to go around and then some. That love sung rotted at the roots, twisted this way and that and has become the love of damaged souls who will love you to death. They are the modern descendants of the Inquisitors, of the rigid Puritan leadership, the Imams, the Rabbis, the religious leaders who 'knew' the Lord up close and personal.  Self- appointed prophets, spewing forth the words of the Devil instead. 

 More and more it feels as if we are the ones, the dogs of that statement of Kinzinger, that we all have caught the car we chased, and are far the worse for this 'achievement'. Referring to the most recent whine of Trump, who "refuses to partake" in the system of justice that will, hopefully, at last, put him to bed - in an orange jumpsuit, justice meted out and the inadequacy of McCarthy, we, the great clumsy mass of humanity, here in the USA and the world, failed to understand that truly, beware what you wish for - for when you do, uh oh in spades!

Yes, we laugh at the routines of the late-night shows, at the amazingly inaccurate biased reporting of anything but the truth. Are we laughing or crying as we mull the underlying truths?  Do we truly understand the present, imminent, existential danger of our present crossroads? Why have we chosen to follow those who have transgressed the rules of society, who wish to place us under their feet, subject to the sting of their lying tongues and cold hearts, souls that are more noticed for their absence rather than in their presence? Why have we so willingly become their victims, even as we, totally wired into their falsehoods, condemn all who differ from us, demonizing, calling, shouting, ranting, for more severity of punishments? We indeed have become the dog concussed by those cars we caught, mortally so, I am thinking.

The hatred, the rigidity, the antagonism growing in the very acidic air, has eaten holes within our souls. Our most sacred institutions, our prides, have been corrupted, become the cynical purveyors of more hate, more acid, in their benighted, purposeful behavior. The Supreme Court- anything but that. The Presidency - a desired home for the facists among us. The armed forces - rotting from within by the heavy number of whiteright wing extremists present in their ranks. The political system, our once vaunted democracy, is just about down for the count, no Rocky within to resuscitate it. Rescuers? Few and far between as outliers become the 'mainstream', pushing new rules, oppression within our nation. Miseducation and reeducation. Corruption and hate. Insistence upon a forced national 'Christian' religion, most definitely not christian. Pushers of lies, hate, of violence and corruption.

As an American loyal to the true America, its dreams, its ethos, its promise, as a woman, as a Jew, I feel a dangerous wind at my back, pushing me where I do not wish to be. I see before me the deadly swamp, rife with dangerous critters and quicksand and sinkholes fatal to those who encounter them. I see eddies of frothing water which provide for no escape once caught in their current. I see very few along the shores and paths who can and will provide for rescue. And I wonder - what have we done? What have we allowed? 

Why were we all so blind, deaf, unwilling to recognize the imminent dangers we placed in our own path? Why have we become so acidic, so hateful of all humanity other than our very own, our insistence upon the whip rather than the book, the selfishness that hurts rather than the outstretched hand that benefits all? Why have we turned a deaf ear to the cries of the starving, the emaciated bodies of little ones caught in a mess their very supposed protectors created? Why do we not feel the swollen tongues, see the sunken eyes of a deadly dehydrated human?  Why do we not see the rapidly rising to the point of no return devastation we have sown and now are reaping from our dying home, our one planet we all share?

The fate of one is the fate all. We must learn that there is no escape from the deterioration we have been championing in our own fatal stupidity. Judaism has long admonished us to treat each other as we wished to be treated ourselves. To love your friend and neighbor as you love yourself. It tells us that one who saves another, is as if one has saved humanity. Consequences are for all - yet we refuse to see the truth of that.

Once again, I beg you to feel that truth, walk in the shoes of another and know deep down, the horror of that life. Know your responsibility to move heaven and earth to ameliorate that awful path of those shoes. Judaism tells us that to redeem a captive is one of the greatest mitzvot, good deeds, and commandments that is upon humans to fulfill.

 Thus, once again, with horrid additions, here is

Brittney Griner.

32 years old; 

a mother; 

a wife;

an athlete;

 a person;

persecuted for being American, Black, Gay, woman;

Condemned to a hellish freezing penal prison;

known eyewitness reports of:

torture;

slave labor;

starvation;

 no medical care;

little food;

inadequate clothing;

inadequate shelter;

zero life expectancy;

a plaything caught in a maelstrom of other's creation.

TIME TO BRING HER HOME.

WAY PAST TIME

IT IS UPON US - 

RESCUE THE CAPTIVE

SAVE A LIFE

BRITTNEY GRINES CALLS UOONUS.

HEAR HER CRIES.

FEEL HER PAIN.

SHE IS US, YOU AND ME 

AND WE ARE HER.