NO POSTS UNTIL TUESDAY

 No posts until Tuesday. Travel and Weddings. All good things

TO WIT

 Some readers have asked me why I continue to stress on and about Trump. Why do I constantly criticize him? After all, he is not the only power player in the world, is he? He is not the only head of government who is disappointing in their lack of leadership, their dullness and consistency in choosing the wrong path, opting for the wrong philosophy, and choosing to return to and spout loudly of an undeservedly long lived trope of hate which should long ago have been burned in the trash heap and smoldering fire of discarded aspects of humanity.   

Particularly during these rather uncertain times, it behooves the nations of the world to pick and choose wisely, carefully, for their leaders. Their very lives might be at stake. If an error in choice becomes very clear, then the people of the world need to be able and willing to discern their error and clean house, legally and as quickly as possible so as to avert possible violent consequences of inaction or delay in action, thus allowing for the wrong leader, enablers and sheep like followers to ensconce themselves deeper into seats of power,   making their rejection all the more dangerous and difficult. 

  These incompetents, ill informed, poorly thinking individuals who have become leaders in our times and at other times as well, are clever enough in a street-smart manner. They knew, know, how to appeal to the lowest common denominator among the population. They know how to rile the people up, one by one, grow these individuals into a mob and are quite clever at rabble rousing the mobs gathered and then set them loose upon the rest of the nation(s). Mob rule then prevails, grows ever stronger, and are invested with power and influence beyond, almost beyond, belief.

These mobs play a serious game of following the leader. They dance their ways through the streets of the towns and villages. Big and small. They gather up much of the refuse of the larger cities. They use the tactics of their leader: threats and blackmail; the Big Lie and its repetition; mercurial changes and shifts in position, creating confusion among opponents, for how is one to join with others, when they are not sure of exactly what it is they are opposing - at least for that hour or day! Confusion, the nacht und nebel of Hitler, always a winning tool of choice for the dictator. It joins together words and deeds in a powerful evil synergy meant to confuse and dishearten, to frighten people and in crossing of lines once thought impermeable, beyond the behavior of mankind. 

Well, we have bloodily, violently, learned otherwise - and then we go and forget it, over and over, again and again and yet again. We find ourselves back where we once were, seemingly meant to return to this vicious nasty barbed wire fenced in circle, trapped within due to our errors. Awaiting these errors are dangerous salivating wannabe dictators, drooling at the sight of their prey soon to be feasted upon as their latest dish upon which they will feast with great gluttony.  And not a one of us is immune to this fate for each and every one of us can find oneself on the receiving end of the knife, of disappearance. NO immunity - ever.  

With each successive despot the lines never to be crossed grow ever more distant. Hitler's concentration camps and sites of mass murder. The bloody violence in the war between Serbia and Kosovo. In the fate of Argentina's Desaparecidos.  The disappeared of Iran, of Pakistan, of China, of Russia. The slaughtered Tutsi. The constant warfare between the Hindu and the Moslems. The world vs the Jewish people. The specific tactics and timing and extent might differ, the targets possibly unique to a particular country. But the results are the same.

A cowed terrified despairing populace. And their own cowed, terrified leaders who imitate the stronger ones, and then generally all crowning One as Top Dog. The one with the best knowledge of application of blackmail and threats. Who has a bullying heart and a dark wizened soul. Who cares for naught other than himself, even as he pretends to. As ugly inside as out. A person with no morals, no concerns other than himself and accumulation of personal wealth, and power. Mannerisms are often crude and boorish with peculiar tastes and overgrown ego, hubris beyond that of any character in an ancient Greek play. One who deems himself worthy of any and all honors and is not shy at all in making that known to others, even demanding it of them. 

These leaders are often strange characters, often criminal in intent and actions, many times even convicted of such deeds yet managing to avoid consequences and willing to commit further misdeeds in the name of disguising more serious wrongs committed by him. There are a clear lack of morals and a generous heaping of strange personal habits and fetishes, warped in thinking and shorn of true values, they often go for the short cut, the deal, the 'bargain' with no care for an understanding of long-term effect.   

People who aspire to such a position desire to leave behind a legacy. However, due to their own vices and arrogance their legacy is negative. Their crude erroneous hunger for worship and idolization, of complete obedience by others, becomes clearer, even to the ones deluded and the truth of history will emerge, as always. No matter how intense the efforts to change it, the truth will out.   

Such a man is Donald Trump. A man whose words are not to be trusted, even when they are   ostensibly, on one's side, for that will be the side which is beneficial to him and his plans - at that moment. Should, when, the situation change, so will he if it is to his benefit. Such a moment is now with Israel. With the rest of the world indulging themselves in yet another paroxysm of hate and murderous intent towards the Jewish people, it behooves him to take up for them- to a degree. Even now, his words change often as his threats and promises are meaningless, as one day threatened to rain down hell on Hamas if they do not return the hostages immediately, yet months later, they remain, tortured, starving to death, and WHERE IS THE HELL? WHERE? WHEN?  

How long can we rely on your backup? Will you sell us out to people who invaded us, who deny our legitimacy? What is now happening with Ukraine and Russia?  

Time now for the world, for the people of America, to take this man down and place him where he belongs. Out of office. Time to call him to account for all that he has done wrong. Time to take his enablers and fellow traitors to account. Time to impeach and convict. Time for him to pay the piper for his crimes. Time to rid ourselves of a foolish yet dangerous man of orange face and newfound full head of blonde hair. Time to deny him his legacy along with those of his ignorant, incompetent crooked judges and legislators.  

I believe that Trump is the source of much that has gone wrong these past few years. He has taught others that bullying is acceptable, even to be praised. He has taught the world that selfishness is the name of the game, not brotherhood and unity for progress. He has trashed allies and befriended dictators. He has here, in the United States, along with his enablers, revived suppression and oppression, encouraged censorship and reduction of rights and aid to those who need it in one way or another - but not to the wealthy. I truly believe that his campaign against antisemitism, necessary, has an underlying purpose as well - that of repression and censorship. In going to the extreme in threats and imposition of breaking back fines, he is furthering the spread and intensity of antisemitism to JewHatred as more and more are now placing blame for all this on the Jews, exacerbating the situation and boding no good for the Jews, in fact and in truth. This could have been done in much better, calmer manner.  Done in a positive way without the negative.   

He has brought the once proud nation of the United States of America down upon its knees. No longer a role model, only a nation which has shed its glories and turned to ignorance and selfishness. We have gone from the likes of JFK and RFK to Trump and RFK Jr.   

I, and many others, want our nation back.

We want all that we gained from our yesterdays, the promises of the todays we once had, and the positive tomorrows ahead. 

Robbed from us by the thief in charge.

I want them back.

We need them back.

And that is why I write about Trump.   

EENY, MEENY, MINEY, MO ...

  There is another topic of interest related to the topic of Trump's damaged intelligence. That is the sad fact that neurodegenerative diseases be it ALS or Alzheimer's, Lewy Body, or Parkinson's, or any other syndrome within those parameters are increasing, becoming among the most common and growing diseases. That is what we and in fact, the world is facing, even as we refuse to admit this, refuse to recognize its immediacy, and we are left with a growing crisis of many fronts. Foolishly, we hide its prevalence and growth within senior citizens, let alone in early onset cases. We hide it and fail to address it. We are ashamed and whisper about our family and friends who suffer from these neurodegenerative syndromes. That exacerbates the situation for the individuals for it means delay in treatment so critically needed.

People use the excuse of the permanence of these    neurodegenerative diseases; claim it would be a case of throwing good money after bad. Treatment will neither cure nor stop it so why not spend the funds on curable diseases where there is not an inevitable death resultant from them. But that is not truly so, for there is help. Though the inevitable progression through stages cannot be halted in its tracks, it can be slowed down. It can be ameliorated and not merely in small degree. 

It may be held at bay for years, allowing for further research, for treatment, for prevention, for living with it in productive manner. To extend life itself and give hope to those who suffer from them and for their families and friends and allow for more productive years. Most important, when that extension of time is combined with deep and serious research, miracles can happen. Strong symptoms can be suppressed. New treatments can be applied to the individuals. This is what is happening now. Even extending to efforts to prevent these diseases in the first place. That would be the best news of all.   

Sadly, we are not there yet. Research grants and funding must remain in place, even extended. But   why then are we not doing so? Imagine a world where these scourges are gone. Understand the benefits of an acknowledgement of these afflictions and the importance, the necessity, to treat them. To treat them hard, aggressively and immediately upon diagnosis. Understand the benefits of an acknowledgement and the crucial need to diagnose those afflicted and to remember to continue to include them in the lives and plans of families and friends. Doing so is of great benefit to one and all. 

Do not encourage nor allow them to hide, to entomb themselves. Afraid and ashamed to venture out. It is in fact upon friends and families to make their own adjustments so as to include them in the life continuing. In a life of value with much joy awaiting them. Do not take upon yourself the old. outmoded attitude of shame and concealment. This is not a punishment for some vague sins. This is merely a biological inconvenience. Were we to treat it as such, attack it as it should be, we would be in a better place already.  

 Rather than expending effort in the wrong direction, take positive steps. Sympathy, yes, but pity - no! Instead, take these efforts and energies expended and do what we can to alleviate inevitable complications within life. We can drive people to therapy - occupational, physical, speech and cognitive when necessary. We can take them to movies. To libraries. Engage them in intelligent discourse. Make time allowances for slower feet and hands caused by stiffening muscles. Have patience. Help when asked and do not force it upon them. It is hard enough for them to know and admit they do indeed need help with everyday activities once automatic. Be gentle in your assistance so that it does not come across as an imposition forced upon you both.    

In all of these areas there is help. In all of these areas there is deep research going on. New medications, improved medications. And yet it is not enough. We could be doing so much more. We need to recognize its onset and not shout it as a curse or denigration of humanity, as the lesser for having one syndrome or another.  

On the other hand, we must recognize what is there, what is fact and what is needed? To ensure. the best life possible. To ensure proper cognitive ability to carry out jobs and tasks undertaken or assigned. And to be able physically to endure whatever strain it places on one's body. For the safety of all, know when it is time to step down. We must be able to distinguish case, causes, levels, consequences and actions called for one from the other, call it out as necessary and allow for functioning within the society without shame but also without danger for others.

And so. To real life. Unfortunately, one of the most blatant places where we allow for visible degeneration, particularly of cognitive ability and lack of physical endurance, of weaker body, mind and soul is within the government.  We have legislators with no age ceiling, known to be incompetent, unable to function on the level necessary and yet they get reelected year after year after year. Until they finally drop in the traces. But by then it is too late, the harm already done. The same case with the judges not up to the challenge of the complex issues brought before them. 

While it can be found in other areas, it is more prevalent within the government. More difficult to shift positions around where and when necessary.  Or so present in bizarre statement and actions, in rents and raves, word salad speeches, the bizarre rage always there, that it is clearly discernible, even as we refuse to admit it due to misplaced reasoning or worse, due to nefarious plans of one's own. The drain of cognitive ability from the mind is reflected with and by the deterioration of the physical aspect, particularly if one has never lived a healthy life.  

Unfortunately, one such blatant and egregious situation is to be found at the head of our nation's government, the challenged in every way possible man who would be Ruler, Trump. Even while his dementia has long been noticed, even called out, there are those who refuse to acknowledge that fact, perhaps doing so for their own nefarious reasons. They place our nation and the world in immediate jeopardy. More and more are recognizing his dementia and the danger he represents for this nation, but there are those who continue their foolish and dangerous path and they are taking us all along with them on this so very wrong road.   Truly, he is well beyond his sell by date. Observe him closely and then you too, shall see the truth.  A man trying to find his way through the fog around him. And yet we continue to allow this man to make existential decisions for us. Why is it so? 

It's because we, the people of this nation, refuse to see through our own fog to the truth waiting there for us. We have not lived up to our responsibilities, perhaps even suffering from a similar, national degenerative disease. We too seem to be suffering from some national mass degenerative syndrome, this one with shuttered eyes. Affecting us at ever faster rate. Is there some medication out there that can wake us up. Let us see what is going on, to smell the rot, to see past the lies to the truth. To the ambition of this man to be the Ruler - not the president.   

Cancel yesterday.

Wipe out today. 

Create a future bleak and hopeless. 

Or not. 

Up to you and me and all of us. 

Eeny, Meeny, Miney Mo - 

Where exactly do we go?

 

  

NO POST TODAY

 NO POST TODAY  COMPUTER BROKEN

"FIRE BURNING ON THE DANCE FLOOR!"

 The rest of that line of a popular song of many a year ago, is “Call 911”. Actually, my granddaughter did exactly that because she said she wanted to see what would happen if she actually called 911. As she was a very young child at that point in time, the detectives who showed up wanting to know if somebody had made a call from here, understood that. They spoke very gently to her and dried her tears, reassuring her that she was not going to jail for the call made, as she feared.. Unfortunately, the time for gentle words is long past time as we see our world afire, in  so  many ways. The world is afire and all we do is stand there, looky-loos - and all we do is watch and add fuel to the fire. Deliberately? Unknowingly? Accidentally?

The answer to those questions are difficult to find. Even more difficult to accept. Should we come to the worst conclusions? Are we that stupid? Dumb to our own actions and the consequences from them, of them? Do we not see what we are doing? Literally and figuratively. Whatever the answer is to that question, it is not good.

 If we are doing this unknowingly, why the hell do we not know? If we are doing this deliberately, well, what more can be said about that? If we are doing it accidentally, how is it that all these accidental moments are converging at the same time, burning up this very challenged globe we live upon. There are other questions, unanswerable, for our behavior is both despicable and dangerous to life and limb and to the continued existence of the human race. 

For whatever reason, humanity seems to be indulging itself in suicidal manner and intent. The result is a scorched earth policy. We are burning the land behind us. We are burning out our cities and forests. We are burning up the sources of oxygen. We are depleting all that we need to live as even the lowest form of life is threatened. All is consumed as the roaring fires race around the world in a scorched earth policy. Even should we wake up and understand  the situation, the eminent peril it poses for us, even accept blame, seriously, is there any effective tool, any manner of thought and action, of realization and acceptance of our reality as is, not as we make it to be, that could stop the conflagrations in its tracks? I am not convinced there is a true possibility of that happening.

So. In literal terms our lands and forests are burning up. We cannot keep up with the fires, and before we can beat one down another flares up. Worse than the other. Our homes, recreational venues in the midst of these forest fires are lost, unfortunately accompanied with the death of civilians and first responders, of the smokejumpers and firemen  who combat these flames so powerful they suck the very oxygen from the air. We further compound the disasters  and let our anger overcome our common sense as we set our own homes on fire, destroying them. Is there any other creature on earth that will do that as a way in which express their anger or grievances? 

We are killing ourselves, and doing it with an apparent relish. Furthermore, we indulge in the invention of new weapons, ugly, significantly more deadly weapons, even converting a child's toy into a dastardly weapon of death and destruction. We kill each other with equanimity, maybe shed a tear or two and then, well, life goes on. But we are not immune from the consequences as they spread to the furthest corners of our lands and take these hostilities into space, under the oceans, to the highest points of the world, the driest deserts. We are touched by them and overwhelmed by them. Why then do we persist in this homicidal and suicidal behavior?  Beats me. 

Even as we consume, beyond the breaking point, the insensate and the sensate treasures of this world, we breach the  borders of sensibility and lose ourselves in a vortex of horror, impossible to escape or avoid. Furthermore, we are not content to leave it at that or even try to remedy  the situation.  We simply persist in boxing ourselves into corners from which we cannot emerge. 

To that we add the sharpest side of our tongues. We use words which cannot be revoked. We use words  which hurt and harm more than sticks and stones.    These words, these threats, are words which preclude any settlement acceptable and healing enough between enemies and even allies. There is nothing to justify these types of behavior and harm incurred. And yet, on it goes. Over and over and over again. We ignore history. We ignore diplomacy and we place emphasis on the wrong, the selfish, in a brutal selfish quest for ever more wealth and power.  Dominion over all.

In the late news of the night a considerable segment was devoted to the question of Dementia and whether it is indeed already well ensconced in the bizarre brain, that which remains, of Donald Trump, unfortunately now sitting in the Oval Office. Shamelessly using that office to sell America. To enhance his family's businesses. To partner with any and all who would partner with him with the motivation to make a deal, no matter how shady, how compromised and compromising it is. All to increase their wealth. Along with the motivation, particularly within Trump to wreak revenge upon those who displeased him, upon those  who could with the proper organization and will actually unseat him. So on he slashes and bites  and wreaks havoc. All the while we, apparently, have and will continue to allow it. Are we that afraid of the damaged man? 

Is Trump demented? For sure. He has been so for a number of years. Yet all who fell for his ugly words of hate and extremities now refuse to acknowledge what they know and continue to excuse his trips, his falls, his misused and misplaced words. His rambling on. His inability to keep to a topic. Or to segue properly in a logical manner from one topic to another. He misnames groups and people. He shouts to the world of how wonderful he is, how deserving he is of all honors and awards. He is crass, a boar and a bore, and a sexual pervert and convicted felon on 34 counts. 

Via and due to his dementia, we, the people, are suffering as our government is dismantled. As our foundational basis is under attack. Shattering by the minute. We lose the respect of the world even as we have lost respect for ourselves. Even as he endangers us with his grossly harmful policies and Cabinet and departmental appointees of incompetence, nastiness and sheer stupidity.  With  their ignorance and incompetence and their clear intentions to endanger the health and welfare of not only Americans, but of the entire world. All to benefit the filthy rich and deepen the poverty and struggles of the middle and lower class economic  classes.  

Is he demented? For sure. Get him to a neutral doctor. Give him a test, both oral and in writing, in various formats. The same for mental illness such as extreme narcissism. Perform an open, thorough and honest physical exam from top to bottom and    tell the true already known, obvious results. 

Then due to his egregious violations of sanctity of the nation, and the following, determine that he is unfit for office, for many reasons and unseat him.   

Due to clear intent to disobey and shred the Constitution;

 Due to clear intentions and actions to incite rebellion and to violently, with bloodshed, murder and rampages through the buildings of the nation, with threats pouring from the toxic, berserk, and bizarre mouths and minds of the crazed mobs of his adherents,

Due to clear intentions to incite the usurpation of legal powers of the legitimate  government;

Due to the desire and acts and threats meant to demean, corrupt and cause the legislators to become  powerless, paralyzed and unable to carry out their responsibilities; 

Due to the clear intentions, via words, actions, and pushed clearly unsuitable, insufficiently  knowledgeable and inexperienced appointments, to dismember the Supreme Court, particularly those justices who disagreed with him. 

Due to overt acts meant to demean and threaten all who opposed him, including private citizens, public servants, public personas, foreign nations and dignitaries, thusly endangering the world order and the safety of the nation; 

Due to the clear and exercised intent to direct the official military of this nation to act, to take arms  against civilians of their own nation. Generally because someone in power or position in that civilian entity had displeased Trump and thus was deserving of revenge wreaked upon said  'guilty' person.   

Due to the fact that he squanders public funds to benefit himself, as in his birthday parade, the paving of the Rose Garden (Also attributable to his  poor taste which is not impeachable.)  

Due to his highway robbery of overcharging the government for his trips during which he took  huge entourages, housed them in his hotels and overcharged for their keep. 

Due to his transparent ostensible government  purposed trips where he stayed in his various golf resorts, conducted a bit of  official duties, none very strenuous nor demanding of much time. Then conducted his private interviews beneficial to him and his business, but then again, does he not do that now,  huckstering his Bibles, his coins, his boots.

Due to his interference with the confidential functioning and papers of the government to which he either had no business or handled grossly incorrectly.  Hmmm- on purpose or through innate stupidity? 

Due to his interference in almost every single governmental department, His insistence on taking charge of where he has no business, no precedent for being there and interfering. His determination to change history and to ruthlessly suppress, oppress and censor anything displeasing to him and his perverted view of life. 

Due to the ruthless butchery of all federal departments, rippling through the nation, destroying the smooth functioning of the government leaving it unable to serve the public, its offices' responsibility.  

Is he demented? For sure, and it is time we accepted that, accepted that most of us made a mistake, (though not I), And it is time we stopped refusing to see the truth. Understand where we went wrong. What and how we must correct in order to forestall any more harm being inflicted upon us.    

 Time to salvage our  yesterdays. 

Time to redeem what we have left of our todays. 

So well past time to save our tomorrows.

  

DEEPER, DEEPER, EVERMORE

 So. Traveling home yesterday - the reason there was no posting - I nearly had apoplexy while reading the New York Times. In fact, I believe the only reason why I did not yell out loud in the deepest throes of despair is because I was in a plane with a full capacity of passengers and thought it would not go over well for a little old lady to explode as she sought to find where and why and how her country had gone astray. 

Why we had allowed it to do so? The thought, no, the knowledge, that this was nearly at point of no return, I barely kept my mouth shut, refraining from shouting to one and all to wake up. Smell the treachery. See the treason. Watch yourselves in the mirror as you, we, all of us, cave in to the Dictator, to the man now clearly desirous of total control over the land he supposedly led. The same man who swore to protect and serve, to defend from traitors and enemies within and without. He is the within so who is there to protect us, the people of the United States of America?

 In fact, who would see the nation through the throes of yet another Civil War? Would the forces of democracy be strong enough, or were the toadies of Congress, as the embattled judiciary and the weasel judiciary fought to the finish, will we, the people of this nation fight. We who know the necessity of remaining true to the principles upon which this nation was founded, will we have the willpower to remain strong and committed? Will we enlighten those who have walked deeper and deeper into the swamp of treachery, fallen victim to the false words and promises of a man demented. Crazed with desire to rule the world, to be written into history as the Great Peacemaker even as he incites more hatred, more violence, more despair and  more apathy, hopelessness within those who see him clearly.

There is little that is true and decent within this man's mind and soul, his blackened heart. He has modeled himself and his actions after earlier dictators who did as he is doing right now. That is using the very laws of the nation against that nation. Playing the nation against itself. Using the words of the law, aided and abetted by coopted judges and legislators, he cowed out all opposition  via threats, violence, and public humiliation, and climbed rung after rung on the ladder to the dark clouds of dictatorship, of American Fascism. Suddenly, there he was, a rung or two away from total mastery. 

We allowed this to take place. We are the ones who refused to see the truth? To acknowledge his ugly ambitions. We did. There is, was, no one else to blame but us. Either we did not see the ugly truth, or even after seeing it, refused to accept it. All on us. Too many accepted his words of explanation, remained blind to the increase of violence, of vicious JewHatred  spreading through the land and the world. Even as he claimed  to be the  protector of Jews, using that as the excuse to oppress and suppress all who opposed him. He used his powers and the weaknesses of others to censor all words of opposition, who tossed humans away like trash, who appointed incompetent fools, dangerous in their inability to do a proper job and their eager obeisance to all he demanded of them. To be his sacrificial lambs should anything go wrong.   

Claiming to be the savior of Israel, to stand with   her as other nations, one by one, walked away, set the stage for a second genocide of the Jewish people; he  set her up for disaster.  He supplied arms and ammunition, Spewed forth in pompous bombastic manner words and threats all leading to further incitement of Hamas and allies. They did not cave to his threats and called his bluff - and he walked away, stating it was now all up to Israel. To do whatever she wished. For he had had enough. So many other places of war and violence where he could meddle and play mediator and peacemaker. And so Israel now would stand alone. With such 'friends', surely there was no need for enemies. A  trite but true statement. 

All this was not enough. Nor fast enough. His humongous appetite for power and wealth could not be sated, even as he sold the nobility of America for his own bowl of lentil soup. He paraded us naked before the world. He meddled in the affairs of others, even to the point of ceding their land to invaders, all in the name of his reputation as 'Peacemaker'. Resultant question. Using a ceding of eastern Ukraine to Putin with the reasoning that it was part of traditional Russia why not these scenarios? Putin demands Alaska as part of traditional Russia as they first settled it. Why not for Mexico to demand the American Southwest   for they were there first? Why not for Native Americans to abandon reservations and demand the territory now known as the USA?  

This is a man who governs by blackmail and threats. This is a man who allows, encourages even the separation of children from parents. This is a man who incarcerates the innocent in filthy, shameful conditions. This is a man who calls out  the military to wage war, yes, war, upon fellow Americans. To take over a civilian entity, the capital of the United States, and flood it with the military and federal agents. To threaten to do the same to New York. To Chicago, to all who displease the mighty king.    

 Have we not learned better? Must we emulate the tragedy of Kent University? Are we to continuously and forever ignore the fact that this man incited violent treason against this nation on January 6?   Look aside from the fact that he is a convicted felon and should be behind bars at this point. That he is a sexual pervert? That he behaves as a shameless huckster selling baubles for his profit from the Oval Office and the golf courses of the world?    

At this point, we still have the legal power and ways and means to impeach, convict, and imprison  this felon and his abetting honchos for the crime of treason and treachery. Retract the pardons of those already convicted and serving prison terms for their participation in the rebellion of January 6th.   

 What are we waiting for? Until it will be too late? Until we will be too powerless, too stunned? Unable to react promptly and positively, to  restore our nation to what the Founding Fathers wished it to be? 

Are we going to throw all our yesterdays of democracy away, cancel the todays we thought we once were guaranteed, and fail all the tomorrows of our nation as it should be?

This is what we are doing now.  

Time to stand up and speak out. Time to demand our nation as it should be. An end to an imposition of dictatorship. An end to corruption and incompetence.  

Now.

Before time is up.  

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.       

GOOD MORNING - A TAD LATE IN THE POSTING

  Good morning, one and all. Sorry for the delay in posting after a day off but a person has limitations. Over the weekend we celebrated the marriage of one of my granddaughters. It was a beautiful affair. The  enthusiasm, the joy, the celebration of this event was heartwarming and soul fulfilling. It was not an over-the-top wedding where thousands upon thousands of dollars were spent. It was, in fact, a simple wedding but one so graced with all that money cannot buy and that made it in fact and in deed, an over the top wedding.  

A stranger standing unnoticed in the corner observing this beautiful affair would have marveled at the enthusiasm of the dancers, at the roar of the music, at the smiles on faces as they all shared in a communal rite:  the marriage of two young people, willing, even in this time, to unite and continue the chain. To add another link to the links of the chain of the Jewish nation forged by faith in their G-d, in the promises of the Bible and the archeological proof of such, along with a sheer stubbornness enabling them to survive all that a hostile world has thrown at them. 

All the threats and all the swords dangling over their heads, consigned to the dust of time, as this beautiful new couple merged, uniting two strands into a new one. Another moment of joy and   determination, Another toss of the head at the haters. Another in your face to those who would deny the legitimacy of Jewish  people, the promise  of their native and ancient homeland, and the assurance that they will be, even as their tormentors are no longer.

But what about the rest of the world? Why cannot they all, we all, engage in moments of shared celebration, of recognition that beneath and beyond all that distinguishes us one from another, lies the truth. We are, each and every one of us, born with the same dreams and the same needs. These   dreams and needs can be filled together, with the efforts of the individuals creating a synergy such as the world has never seen before. One that will impel the human race, as one, to move forward in the right direction. Then, maybe then, we could actually realize the reality of beating swords into ploughshares and  stop the needless shedding of blood in the name of hate and selfish greed and obscene lust for power and dominion over others. 

We have come close before, edging into this  thought, but we, the world, in one way or another, led by one nation or another, or under the terrible hypnotism of a deranged yet brilliant personality, have a perfect record of destruction of such possibility and gone back, down the road to perdition, To resoaking a land already overflowing with the casualties of the stupidities of mankind. And so, we keep on, embracing all  that is wrong, negating all that we have improved, all in the name of what!!!

Last night, as I joined in the singing and the dancing, as I watched the young faces alight with shared joy, with hopes for the future, I thought maybe, maybe, just maybe, if we could somehow package it all, all that so suffused the air, we could actually take steps forward.

But that was last night and today is another day

Today is a day after several days' separation, whereupon I return to the nastiness of the headlines. The cutting slashes and bites of angry words   meant to hurt and to harm and to raise the temperature of this world to a most  dangerous level. 

Would that we could take the happiness, the positivity, the dreams of yesterday, merge it with the hopes still new and fresh of today, and meld it into a brilliant tomorrow.

Would that we could.

 Maybe we could  -eventually - if we so desire.  

Maybe.

GREAT MINDS

  No, I am not including my mind with the great minds of some people that I wish to emulate today within this posting. So many times, even on ordinary days a certain mindset seems to be in place. The same idea seems to occur to various people at the same time. Simply put, take a look at some of the novels that have been written of late, or the movies, or the tv shows, and you will find that they are similarly themed. Missing teenager from a group of teenagers. Over and over and over again. A husband or wife disappearing and his loved ones find out that he had a secret life - over and over and over again. A person goes on a discovery journey at end of life and turns the life upside-down inside out. Over and over and over again. 

So why not some great minds, excellent writers well known for the quality and relevance of their writing, also visit a similar theme from somewhat differing viewpoints or points of emphasis. Put them together and voila! It says it all, clarifying much of one's own thoughts. Putting it all together from one's own stance makes a beautiful whole in the mind of the reader of these authors.

Of late, and not so late, in fact for quite some time, I have been wondering and marveling at the same time re certain thematic repetitions without satisfactory explanations combined with astonishment as to why no one seems to hit upon them. 

Surely there are others out there besides me who have the same questions, but the answers given are incomplete and way, way unsatisfactory. Personally, I find that many of these "answers” are dumbed down, as if assuming a lack of intelligence on the part of the one who asked questions. Or the answers are only topical, and do not truly delve into the meat of the question that lies right there beneath the surface. Most unsatisfactory, a waste of time and effort. Today, though, the effort was good, proved worthwhile.

So, the first and eternal question asked time and time again. Why the Jews? Why always the Jews? Yes, there are racially biased words and actions directed at some other groups, but it isn't a forever replicating theme within all cultures, even those who have never met a Jew in their lives. The Jewish people, and their indigenous ancient homeland, Israel, are favored targets of vicious vile hatred. These days the very air we breathe is suffused and overcome with chants of hate, of acts of hate and support of murderers. Those of Hamas, Hezbollah, those of Islamic Jihad, those of any terrorist organization that swears to bring about the slaying of Jews, spilling their blood and soaking the land beneath their feet. Their ugliness is rife upon the land. Again, why, always why?

And what do we Jews do? We try to 'understand'. What makes a person walk to such an awful beat. What makes them subscribe to this lust for the blood of Jews, age and gender making no difference. What twisted wiring in their afflicted brains and lack worthy souls has them thinking their plans re the Jewish nation, re the state of Israel are legitimate and praiseworthy?  How is it that media known for quality reporting have turned to the dark side and chase after Israel with a vengeance, refusing to ascertain the truth or falsehood of information. They merely take it and run with it. And if shown their error and they accept it, they publish a redaction in an almost invisible area. 

For example, take this imminent famine and this dire state of starvation. From October 8th, 2023, these claims were bruited about by the liars of Hamas, making good use of these claims for public relations. But also, by other nations, nations of the world who should know better. Behave better. Two days after they invaded another country, Hamas and their criminal, morally bankrupt enablers claim famine rife within their land. This even as the members of Hamas were nice and well fed. No signs of starvation. No sunken eyes, no dark circles, no bones protruding through skin, nearly broken through with the sharp points of those bones. No gaunt living skeletons, only those of their captives, their hostages whom they kidnapped from life and refused to return. 

These imminent famines and gross starvations never took flight for they were false. Were there no foods for feasting - probably, unless one bought in the highway robbery Hamas stores. How have we forgotten the truth of war, that in a nation at war, particularly one which instigated it, rationing occurs, a la Britain and the USA in WWII. No one in those nations, as hungry as they were, claimed starvation and famine. No feast, but also no famine upon the land. 'Merely' a war they supported and cheered in the streets as the hostages, dead and alive, clothed and naked, were paraded through their crowded streets. Held within their homes and in the godforsaken tunnels beneath their homes, to which they provided ingress and egress.

 A famine of humanity, yes, food perhaps not as plentiful, but who asked for this war? Whose skeletonized bodies are held out without shame to the world at large? Where are useful and actual and effective offended voices of the 'civilized' nations of the world? Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. As usual.

It is not upon us to "understand” the depraved behavior of Jew haters. It is not upon us to explain to them what makes them tick, what makes their ticks go wrong. It is upon them to understand how wrong they are, how egregiously wrong, sinful, offensive they are. That time is over. 

Well past time for us to stand in defense against those who hate us, those who attack us and wish only to harm us to the point of death. Not 'only' individuals, but the nation as a whole

No, no more understanding. No more education hoping to detain the beasts. No more foul memories of yesterday. No more ugliness of the todays we live. No tomorrows tainted and stained with Jewish blood. 

 No, we will stand tall and proud and determined. If you insist upon attacking us, questioning our legitimacy to life we will prove you wrong. Manner and method of which will certainly make a deeper impression upon you. You hate us for defending ourselves, for not dying in numbers satisfactory to you. Too bad. No more pathetic useless efforts to 'explain' to you where you have gone wrong nor to 'understand' your nasty quirks. 

So deal with it.

 Time is up.

There is much more on this topic, but I will not be able to post until Monday due to a family celebration.

See you then.

Will you be one of the great minds?

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

  I cannot remember which character in which sitcom of the day used this phrase so much so that it became a national mantra. But in its moments of comedy was more than a laugh or two or a snickering cynicism. Present in abundance was confusion and serious kernels of truth, including those of fear and a deep desire to more along, to fix all that was wrong, but no one knew exactly how to proceed with that goal in mind, with the ability to indeed remedy that which was indeed happening.   

 It is difficult to find a more apt phrase to describe the angst of the times. Overriding all are the existential questions as to what exactly is happening. What has happened to us? What has soured the growing recognition that no matter where we are, who we are, where we come from and where we are going, we all inevitably will share the same fate. Those butterfly wings waggling in the wind on one side of the globe will invariably, inevitably, cause a shift in winds on the other side. 

At some time, perhaps so gradually that we did not notice, we began to move apart, to separate ourselves from the "others" whomever they might be at that moment in time. Instead of combing the world for similarities, for shared viewpoints and dreams, we began to place all energies and 'creative' thinking into the wrong trucks and cars, with drivers opposed to care and concern for others on the same roads. These vehicles brought increasing moments of war and hate to the fore and there seemed no end in sight. In fact, all has gone downhill at ever increasing pace and level of seriousness and alarm. 

But do we take note and act to halt this downward slide of no brakes, promising naught but woes ahead? The answer is a resounding no. Even should one try, the calls to act, to see the truth, to address the needs are turned aside and the calls to ramp up the negativity are rife and internalized with an enthusiasm frightening to witness. Horrifying in understanding as to inevitable end destination.  

  The cracks within the globe and its inhabitants became and continue to become ever more evident, more glaring. The blindness grows and intensifies. The only changes from week to week, from day to day are the terrifying moments of realization that we are on a downward spiral which allows for no return to sanity, no shared dreams, merely antagonism and hatred intensified and internalized, growing strong, deep roots within the psyche of mankind, and its toxicity overcomes all.

How else to explain, if that, why a president should indulge in histrionics more befitting a toddler on a tantrum rampage? How else to explain the venom with which we approach each other, the worst thoughts in mind, with resignation to failure from the get-go. Why is it that the worse one's deeds are, the better the reward. With immense unmeasurable cruelty deliberately starve your own, use them as tools of publicity. 

Kidnap, kill and deliberately torment, torture, starve to death young men once vital with hope for their lives. Kill Jews and get their homeland as reward.  Learn quickly that the bigger the lie, the quicker and deeper it is believed. Claim a child suffering from cerebral palsy is dying via Israeli induced starvation. Correct that untruth on page quad zillion, to be ignored. Use the same young man as a child of two separate events and as a young woman in yet another staged photo op, supposedly proof of a raging famine. The lies persist even as the truth crumbles and lies alongside, in ditches, forgotten and despised.

Why do the qualities and characters of leaders of nations seem to decline with every hour in office. The greed, to enhance their power and wealth, to lord it over all others is sickening, frightening to the nth degree. If we cannot discern the good from the bad and persist in following bellowing crowds shorn of sanity, then where do we go next? To whom, to where, can we turn for aid and advice? 

How do we deal with the world intent on beating each other over the head with brutal tariffs and re invigorated trade wars. All allowing no good for any. The exercising of brute power over the weaker. 

To whom do we turn when the leaders of the nation turn upon the poor, those needful of aid. The challenged child. The anxious parents seeking only to keep roofs over their heads and food on the table. To raise their children with the hopes of a better future. What do we do when science is denied, when facts are twisted and perverted so that recognition is at zero point. To whom exactly do we address our concerns? How? How do we make ourselves heard and seen?  

Where do we go, what do we do, when those who work with sincere effort to fulfill responsibilities are then discharged from their positions, deemed as "disloyal" to the increasingly authoritarian leader.   Deemed as points of peril to the demented, crazed, with need for power and wealth ostensible leader of the nation.   

How do we indeed discourage the despair within our souls. How can we find the knowledge, the understanding as to what is happening. How to turn it around, shunt all onto another track perhaps a bit more difficult at the onset but with long term benefits so much better for a positive future for humanity, for any future at all. Might we yet be able to replace the ugliness with the virtues of yesterday?  Can we find a way to improve our todays, and soon, very soon?  Can we actually contemplate a better tomorrow for us all?    

Beats me.

 At times I remain hopeful. At times I laugh with a bitter undertone. Can we pull ourselves out of this quicksand, this morass of our own making?   

These are not questions for debating, but for the doing.  These are existential worries, ones that demand immediate and correct attentions if we are not to totally lose our way with hints as to return possibilities.

Look around. See the truth. Peer deep within your   souls, be honest, evaluate truly. Then ask yourself. Are you satisfied? Are you confident of a good future for you, yours, the world? If not, what can we do to ameliorate the situation, turn the troubles back on themselves and clear a pathway for humanity on which to go forward?

These are questions - and answers- which are applicable to all, necessary for all to ask and answer. We are, not a one of us, totally innocent -nor totally beyond redemption, but we must want, truly, deeply, need, to change. Anything less is useless.

Are we up to that?

Are you?

Am I?

Time will tell, will it not?

 I hope it is via a timepiece we can trust. 

STRANGE PARTNERS

  It is not very often that I agree with Thomas Friedman, an eminent opinion writer for The New York Times and an author in his own right. I can accept that he is a Zionist of sorts, that he loves Israel in his own way and manner of thought. However, I most definitely cannot stand in sync with most of his writing re Israel. He, like many American Jews have not known what it means to live under threat and challenge to the right to live and prosper. 

From within this ignorance, and I believe not meaning harm, though that is the inevitable end   consequence of most of their propositions if they would follow the thread of their thoughts, they would understand exactly what they are proposing. They impose standards onto Israel which are eminently impossible to attain. When Israel fails to meet those standards not demanded of any other nation, they are chastised in public by hypercritical fellow Jews, opening the field up for others to join in the fray.  

They opened Israel up to the slings and arrows of the world. This is a world which never passes up an opportunity to demonize Israel, to criticize Israel. To point out all its flaws. And demand perfection.  Never.  Israel perforce then becomes the chosen pariah of the world, called upon the carpet to explain why it has failed in its promise, why it has forgotten its inherent morality. In fact, it has become as the other nations in the world even as it actually strives to meet those demands maintaining higher standards. Their efforts to do so are ignored or played down, ever rising demands put in place.  

In fact, trying to meet those imposed standards is futile. Certainly not worthwhile in anticipation of any positive outcome. Held up as a nation which has failed in its promise, has forgotten morality, it becomes prime target for the rest of the world. Used as a tool of deflection from the woes of reality, the world rejoiced in its luck, even as it ignores the avowed hatred and goal of total extermination of all Jews certainly from the ancient homeland and if possible, to the rest of world Jewry.

Such desires have been chanted, shouted, etched in the blood of Israelis sacrificed upon this altar. The world, instead of taking them to task has begun to accept, even approve of those bloodthirsty chants.  Violent behavior is excused, even denied or praised. Losers in this conflict demand the wreaths of victory. Openly contrary to international law, they kidnapped civilians, children and infants, held them for almost two years and are literally starving them to death. Not "imminent". Not almost, not in two weeks or two months - but now, yet again the world stands silent and still, unseeing, uncaring.   Forced to dig their own graves. 

All the while the members of Hamas, and yes, most of the population upstairs are not starving. In fact, what they are doing is using this constant reiteration of famine and starvation imminent as a weapon of war. As these happily smug fools fall in line. Bow in belief of these lies.  As the world sits quietly by, denying the proof of their eyes in the skeletal frame of a hostage, forced to dig his own grave. 

All the while complaints grow, and Thomas Friedman and ilk buy into it. The enemies of Israel are empowered. Gleeful in their success in these public relations victories, they demand more concessions, more promises. So excited that they can fool the world for so long. Free to shout bloody words of hate and even act upon them.  All the while the complaints grow. The demands grow and the despair of the Jewish people grows exponentially. 

 Now for the title. Who are these strange partners? These strange partners are Thomas Friedman and the writer of this blog. I obviously have no truck with Friedman's beliefs and statements re Israel and what must be done. I believe his statements are so dangerous to the survival of Israel, that he should be muzzled. But he will not be so, for this is America, and we are entitled to the right of free speech. Unfortunately, he and I both agree that if something is not done, very quickly, sincerely. deeply, this nation of ours, in this case America, will no longer be what she is supposed to be. Still remains in some places but dwindling fast. When the president shouts that he will take over this office and that office and this city and that city. This country. When laws are being flouted openly and even cheered for in that act. This country is shattering into small pieces unable to be rejoined together as a whole. Lawyers brazenly lie before the judges. The Department of Justice is exactly not that. The Supreme Court is totally compromised. The legislative branch is populated with cowards and toadies. People of such low self-esteem, they stand there and smile as they are insulted by their lord and master, the crude demented tormented of soul Trump.

Present day America is now riven. Veins of chaos.   Overridden by hate. All the harm that he does and has inflicted upon us. We have forgotten what America is supposed to be. We have become blind. Ever more blind to what she is becoming. If we remain in total denial to the truth of what is and what will be, a replacement of our noble nation by a misspent authoritarian government. what will be? If we continue on in this vein, slowly, not so slowly, we are becoming ever more an authoritarian nation.

Thomas Friedman does not want this to be. His warnings here are absolutely on the dot, right on target. And here I become a strange partner, for in this I totally agree. For this, I have been warning about for months. Actually, from the first appearance of Trump on national platform. Because he has become the President for a second term. This traitor. Unbelievable.  It has taken that long for the people of this nation to understand what they have allowed. As the prices go up, as their factories and stores close, as their clothes become unaffordable. As we no longer can eat nutritious food or even afford to buy it. As we shiver in cold homes due to the unaffordability of heating fuel. And as we desert our allies, blackmail the nations of the world and   then think that should we be in trouble they will come to our aid!!!

No, absolutely not. We have shattered all the positives of our yesterdays.  We are certainly continuing on in that self-destructive manner in our todays. Even as we are increasing the toxicity of our tomorrows. Shutting doors and windows behind us with fewer and fewer ahead of us.    

PIECES OF THE SAME PIE

 Recently several readers of the blog have posed a question to me. The gist of it was this. Why bother writing, condemning, and warning re the ugly, awful and dangerous behavior and philosophy of Trump. The reasoning is something like this. The world is exploding with toxic hatred, with supposed protests breaking all rules and boundaries and morphing into mindless ravaging mobs intent only on vandalism and violence, grave threats to the fabric of life as it should be. Champions of the Jewish cause are few and far between and becoming even more so as the days go on. 

Hence the question. Why am I wasting time speaking or writing about Trump in negative manner when it seems to be that he is on our side, taking up the fight, waging war upon universities refusing to come to terms re their own innate and inherent antisemitism and twisted faculty rosters. Now he is pushing via threats to withhold disaster funds from cities and states which do not ban BDE. A good man, certainly, and not to forget that he took up the cudgels against our enemies, even flying a mission together, resupplying necessary arms and ammunition to continue our existential battle against the murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other 'friendly' folks. So why criticize him? Why look a gift horse in the mouth?       

   I am not a prophet, nor can I see through the skin and bones of a person to inner mind and thoughts. In fact, at times I have enough trouble deciphering my own mind and thought. However, what I can do is assess what I see and extrapolate from there a more finished evaluation, a more complete viewpoint. Whether there are those who disagree with my findings and theories is not the crux of the matter.  It is my right to free speech. My right to speak my mind. Others are free to disagree and dispute. What is not allowed is the suppression and repression of that right. As long as my speech does not encourage violence nor treason, disagree all one wants. That is the lifeline of this nation, for out of dissent with current thoughts came the momentum of improvement and social progress. 

With all that being said, my viewpoint of Trump is unchanged. He is a deep dangerous bubbling. source of peril for the survival of this nation as it was founded to be. A democratic nation. A nation welcoming all to its shores who wish to join with us and build that dream to reality. A nation which stood as a role model, a leader for other nations. A nation which confessed its errors and worked to make it better. But that is the case no longer. 

A rot has developed within this embattled land of ours. It is a rot dripping from the top, merging with the growth of rot from the bottom, meeting in the body of state, consuming it from within. It is an evil synergy suppressive of the right of dissent and challenge. The demand for truth is considered as treason, certainly a case of disloyalty to the President. It is a rot of the soul allowing the president to turn his responsibilities upside down. Instead of protecting his nation he becomes the most formidable opponent of it.

It is an evil via which this President Trump has grasped upon the powers of the two other branches of government and keeps them within his hidebound soul. He goes gung-ho against all protections meant for the people, be it via climate or emergency funds. Or educational funds, cultural funds. Medical care, you name it. His interfering fingers have been in all pots and pans. This president says he is above the law. He cannot be held to any standard, cannot be expected to obey laws, cannot be punished for violating laws. Then where do we, the people, stand? Nowhere, in fact. Or even less than that.

Where do we stand? In a land of confusion and darkness. When the president echoes authoritarianism in his peremptory firings of those who disagree with him, of those who dare to speak the truth. When he interferes with the separation between civilian and military, between church and state. When he rants and raves and goes wildly off track. When he projects political distorted. missions and views. When he makes wild and outrageous statements and demands that others believe.              Well, where are we, the people? We are nowhere. Rather, we are in a place of imminent danger.

I cannot trust a word of this man. Nor should any of us. How many times has he turned on a dime, turned upon the once most favored person. How long will it take for people to understand exactly what has happened with antisemitism in the universities. Money. It was his target and goal in the first place and last place, in all places in between. He sold everyone out. The universities bought him off, got them off and got him off their back. What was the big solution to combat antisemitism? Beats me. A promise of yet another committee that doesn't work. Another promise to watch for it. Those promises were there already, and there has been no change other than to ramp up and make much more visual a hatred for Jews which continues to plague the people of this world. A hatred which now has yet another platform on which to parade its ugliness. Without the Jews in our midst, we would not be having this problem. We would be free to move along in our path. But no longer. The mantra of the day. So, add up the total in this case. Seems we are in the negative, in the red.

Now we have this new wrinkle. All funds of emergency preparation, of search and rescue, of advance planning against disasters, natural and manmade, a combination of such, are to be held out according to whether Trump feels they have rejected BDE or not. That is a wonderful, wonderful goal. Would that he seriously meant it. But he does not. For this man thinks only in terms of dollar bills. This is what he sees at night when he sleeps. Unless his dreams are that he is back at the parties of Epstein. 

This man always has money at the end, at the beginning and in the middle of all that he thinks and acts.    He is now conflating in the mind of the public the topics of Jews and money. Long an ancient meme and trope of hate. The desolation and death left behind by disasters will now be blamed upon the Jews, for if not for them, the money would have been there.  Great, Donny, just great. 

This is a man of no honor. This is a man who sails on dirty seas. This is a huckster who sells the dignity of the Oval Office for the purchase of a gold-plated Bible. Or hat. Or coin. Or a t-shirt. This is a man who has sullied his office. The sad thing is, I don't know if we have understood that fact and how deeply we have been immersed in this pool of filth and greed. Altruism notably lacking. So, add this all up again. We are doubling the negative.

So, is this man a friend of the Jews? At this point. he's been better than most. But make no mistake about it. He is equally as fickle, perhaps more so, as other leaders of other nations in the world who have turned against Israel. So easily, so traditional. He is a man who values money. Nothing more, nothing less. This is a man with demented and skewed mental viewpoint and behavior. A narcissism beyond any conceptual understanding.  His thoughts are consumed with how he can improve his place of power. Who is doing him wrong? And who is falling in line? And how we can avenge those who challenge him. We are becoming a nation where loyalty to the nation, to the people, to the precepts of the Constitution, to the Founding Fathers has become discarded for loyalty to the Man. To Trump. To his authoritarian ambitions.     Loyalty. Utter and complete, and only loyalty to the betterment of President Trump. 

 Decide what you will. But I have heard no word of condemnation and outrage re the starving new Holocaust victims held and staved by well-fed Hamas captors.  Even the hypocritical UN, WHO, and International Red Cross have spoken up, not that I expect anything to happen as a result. But all I have heard from him, is that there is hunger in Gaza. Evidently the NYT also goes along, refusing to have a picture of these starving young men, taken hostage 2 years ago at the ages of 19 and 22. Where is the might of the world in any meaningful manner. Where is the plan, a demanded release of these two young men and the others remaining with them. Where is the Wall Street Journal supposedly supportive of Israel, for there too there was no picture of these young men. 

 No, trust not Trump. Think not that his motives are pure and permanent. Thinking that way lies danger. We are to seek allies. Those of truth. But trust lies only within us, our history and our faith. We must do the best we can, determine our own path. and welcome those who support the truth. Who share thoughts and brotherhood and humanity. We must beware those of ambition, especially in politics, whose views and opinions shift with the direction of the wind.   

Yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same horror. The same ugliness. Yet we remain here. Bolstered by our faith and trust in the Lord. We will muddle through, as always, albeit rough times can arise. 

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Does it ever change? 

 All are pieces of the same rotting pie. The pie has been left too unattended for too long. And it's now moldy. Reeking of nasty odors. And those who taste of it are infected.  No, unfortunately I do not trust Trump. In fact. I'm not sure of the loyalty of anyone on the face of this earth, even within our own.    Who can be trusted at this point in time? To do what is right for the right reason. With altruistic manner and thought. If you have one, please, send the name to me. 

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

Sigh.         

 

GOOD MORNING

  No, actually it is not such a good one. Not such a good one. Now, with the news one is reading, with the news one is hearing, and certainly not with a vision of a president who was looking outwardly sicker by the day, where is the good wished with the greeting of the title. Worse, with his mutterings and his promptings and his falsehoods that he wishes to force upon everyone, as he cuts down all who oppose him, where, again, is the good? 

Additionally. I cannot erase from my mind, from my eyes the vision of those two young men subjected to Holocaust conditions, literally. In the tunnels beneath Gaza. In the tunnels housing the terrorists who continue to fight. Who continue to raise havoc, deliberately starving not only these two young men, but others who remain alive, the few who remain alive. If what they are living can be called a life. How is it that today, so many years, so many decades after the Holocaust, we still have people - Jews - in these conditions. With plans to do the same, should they actually force the world to fall to its knees, give in to their crazed demands. Even as the world begins to justify their horrible October Seven massacre, and to excuse all that followed as the fault of Israel rather than those of the instigator. It negates all rules and regulations. It negates all common sense.

Yes. One does not fight civilians unless civilians are pushed in the way. One must fight a war where a war is, not where one would wish the war to be. Combatants, wherever they are, however they present themselves, and certainly if they use civilians as a tool of defense and offense, the civilians will suffer - the fault of their own masters. The people defending their right to live, in this case, the Israelis, must deal with the horror, of the anger and sorrow felt when they are forced to kill to defend themselves. 

Israel does not want war. Israel's songs are not of combat and blood. They sing of peace; they sing of friendship. They sing with sadness and sorrow. They sing with regret, but they do not sing with violent wishes and tendencies. All they want is to be home and to bring home all those who are denied that simple privilege.

I find this morning very difficult to write anything. I must sift over everything. From the past few weeks. Years even. And what is becoming more and more evident in this world - a literal danger to me and mine. A literal danger to both my countries, here and Israel. A literal danger to all the nations of the world as they fall down like dominoes before Hamas. As they recognize a state that isn't anywhere, a state that never was and never should be. A state that has no boundaries. A state that has no infrastructure. A state that fights within itself. The terrorist fighting another terrorist. With clans organizing gangs. Just chaos. The chaos which the Bible spoke when the world was first in the total chaos. 

Perhaps we are missing the clues that God is sending us. That we are indeed and in fact sending ourselves, I don't know. But today though, I wish you all a good morning and a good day. I do not think it is. Perhaps on the Morrow? Maybe. But for today? Today I am done with the writing.

Yesterday was a terrible day. Today is yet to play out before us, though optimism is not in plentiful supply. As for tomorrow? We will see.

THERE GOES THE FAN!!

  Well, good morning to you all. And welcome to the bizarro world of an American president, blatantly, openly, intensely, demented and autocratic in mind, manner and ambition. Welcome to an America which has turned it all around and begun to consume itself in the throes of obeying and cheering on the weirdest and most dangerous words and deeds of a man devoted to destroying the very basis and persona of a nation. A nation which should be planning the celebration of its 250th birthday, but it is more likely than not that we will be burying it instead. 

All due to the evil intentions and accomplishments of an evil man, yes, evil, who has managed to ensnare many, shut down the thinking processes of even more and waged a war of feverish demented terror and threats on those who need that extra push to join forces, coopted or convinced or terrorized into taking that last giant step into the wrong side of history. Choose your mantra, but this nation has either reached new depths of depravity and self-destruction or scaled the highest peaks to ensure that this nation does its worst to itself until final destruction. 

We, the nation, this once proud and stalwart country has turned its back on all that it was and was meant to become. Once we fought valiantly and valorously to always seek the road to improvement. Yes, we strayed many times, even took backward steps, but there is no denying the truth of history. We set the pace for the nations of the world, used our power to bring others to follow us and the world was, should have been, all the better for that influence, for that final push forward. 

Somehow, things changed, rapidly and catastrophically and the world is now returned to a world of competition beyond acceptable levels, defying any sense within its structure and goals.  We have returned to the world of the Middle Ages and Renaissance and beyond where nations jockeyed insanely for position and alliances were flimsy and wildly negated as nations enwrapped themselves in madness resulting only in war after war, declared or not, and hard times for the population. 

Nothing was ever resolved other than thru violence until some people came to their senses and realized the necessity of cooperation and compromise. Competition on an acceptable level, a cooperation allowing for growth of a country, for its population to dream and achieve those dreams, to raise families and provide for the necessities of life. It was not perfect, but it worked for the most part.  Those parts needful of attention received it albeit at times too late, too slow or simply not sufficiently enough, at inadequate pace, but progress was made. Until now.

We the people of America, the standard bearers for the world, have fallen down on the job. Denied its responsibility. Forsworn its place in history. Denied all that has made it great. All that has enabled the dreams of many to become reality. A nation where dissent was accepted, even expected. Via discourse, at times rough, even turning violent, to step forward and take the world with it. Generally, with errors, we used our might and influence to drag the reluctant along with us. We made many, many errors of judgment but we did try. No longer is such the case.  

Somehow, our core turned rotten as we turned our backs on all that we were, the proud standard bearer for the world, for a land where immigrants built the land, where we recognized ourselves in them, and welcomed them as they contributed new energies and ideas to the gestalt of America. It was a pattern that worked. Not perfectly. But progress was made. Until for some reason we bought into the wrong marketplace. We denied our ethos. We denied entrance. We became selfish guardians of all that should not be. Old memes and tropes of hate, of points of division became the lingua franca of the day. We buried true patriotism beneath obfuscation of hate revived. Ugly falsehoods regenerated. Woes of the Old World reenacted on the soil of the New World, ever so destructive of the soul of that new world. We ignored early signs of rot, twists and turns, reimaginations and reconfigurations of the harmful and hurtful.

 Suddenly, we became different nations. Suddenly there arose a world we had thought long gone. Where merchandising, international corporations and profit taking, became the driving motivations and true patriotism was subsumed beneath them, even as we shouted ever louder to conceal that truth. Even as 'patriotism' became ugly and exclusive, rather than inclusive, denying its benefits to others, denying that all nations need new ideas and energies if they are to remain viable.

 The further we strayed from true patriotism, the louder raucous voices were raised in attempts, too successful, to deny true patriotism. To replace it with an ugliness we once had thought, erroneously so, had been extinguished.  And yet, there it was, there it is, and seemingly there it will always be. Unless we do a major house cleaning, a spring cleaning of all that should be discarded. A reinstatement, a reinvigorating replacement with the proper, the moral, the hopeful. The true foundations of our nation and of a better world.

Unfortunately, it appears that we have now taken a final inevitable step into the worst of worlds. Not only have we bought into the gross falsehoods presented to us, but we have also taken that step, most bitter, harmful, into a world where hope regresses and despair makes inroads to the very psyche of the nation. How? By choosing to follow the wrong leaders. By buying into their lies and grandiose promises of improvements for all. Even as those "improvements” both incur and cause great damage to the fabric of life as it should be. As we once aspired to achieve for all.  America has descended into a world of war. For the soul of Ameria. For its future. For the future of the world. Deny it some might. But. The truth is there.

Our chosen leader is demented, grossly mentally and emotionally challenged. If he strays by two words from the prepared speech he is to give, he immediately descends into madness. Irrational in his statements. So erroneous. so harmful. Where did we as a nation go wrong? Where is there in fact anywhere to assign blame. Or is it that we all share in the blame for this situation. He is a man with clear dementia, more so than any other president who suffered from the same issue. And yet denied it is. Why? How have we fallen so low that we perforce buy into all. It is so wrong. So oppositional to all that we believe, all that America stands for, all that Americans should be and want to be. As we welcome others to be, along with us. 

But no. We allow no welcome. Instead, we welcome into our homes that prissy pursed mouth    spewing forth words of hate and egregious lies. Always pounding nails into the fabric of our nation so as to shred it and enhance the ease of achieving his total victory. An autocratic nation ruled by a dictator. A society riven by anger. Driven by despair. A nation which has taken all the good of yesterday and trashed it. A nation that has ruined its todays. A nation which bases its tomorrows in trembling, unsure, uncertain lands providing no firm foundations. Hope is at a premium. If it can be found.

If we do not turn aside from the words of hate spewed forth by Trump, from support of lies of his underlings, from the cowardice of his toadies, we will be signing our own death warrants. We are well underway on that road. It is up to us to open ears and eyes and minds and hearts and souls. See what is real and what is not. 

I am not a particular fan of Rosie O'Donnell, disagreeing in many political areas, but she has had the courage to speak up on the truth of Trump. Too many have not. Her recent words on the lack of sanity of this man and the responsibilities of all Americans, their right and their duty, to speak up in opposition ring very true, very urgent. Disagreement is fine, but repression is not. Yet there is where we are heading, well on our way. Unless we act quickly, end his gross ambition to usurp all reins of governing of this once America, we will reap all the poisonous harvests he has planted within the heart of this nation.   

 "I think Americans should stand up and say, 'No way. You’re not going to silence us. You don’t have the right to silence us. You never did. And you never will. We, the people, have the right to speak up against atrocities, which are happening on a daily basis.'" "ICE, his own personal Gestapo — what will it take, America? What will it take? He's gonna arrest every artist that disagrees with him"

 When will we Americans realize that. We have still the remaining legal manner in which to protect this nation of ours. Will it be too late? Is it already so? The chain of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Always linked together. We had better pay attention or the chain will be broken in a manner most unfortunate for us, the world in general, and certainly for America.