I have tried following the trail to the end of the path. I have gone further and further down the road each time the issue crops up but have been afraid to state the finality of the end. And yet, for how much longer can I, especially after having discussions with so many others of late who also use the words, "I'm frightened. Not so much for me as for my kids and grandchildren. What kind of world will they have to live in?"
So all holds barred. The exact feelings and statements that will explain these fears and concerns. It may sound extreme, but think it through carefully and see if you can refute it and if you have solid statements to make other than , "Oh, give the man a chance, or maybe it will get better, or someone will stand up to him, or Congress won't allow it" well, then contact me but all these statements above are useless, suppositions based on frail hopes which in turn have no solid basis other than wishful thinking. Well, we all know the statement of "if wishes were horses....." In fact, what we have now is what foolish or hate filled people or deluded souls have caused - a president elect for whom people are afraid to confess they voted for, for the rest of us who did not - the majority of the voters in America, by the way, why we politely warn each other not to offend those poor Trumpers. Well, why not? They have gotten us into this mess and how to get out? Why did they not consider our feelings that they trampled upon during the election campaign, the rotten people that attached themselves to the campaign and the fear that engendered, the vision of the future that far outweighed any of the apocalyptic movies and their portrayal of a future world and a future USA that is frightening to the extreme - and more and more realistic every day what with the statements and the appointments and the lies and the Putin and Russian fangs and arms in our very lives, the very fabric of the soul of America.
Sound over the top? Maybe, but read on and remember, I am open to honest and sensible and possible refutations. Yesterday someone asked in an op-ed piece why the Democrats do not fight like the Republicans, basically dirty or in your face and I wonder why? Why have the Democrats not stood up and said we will have no part of this? Why instead has Schumer stated that oh they will cooperate where they can? Why? What for? Did the Republicans cooperate with the Democrats the past eight years? NO, they did not and so we had gridlock and threatened governmental shutdowns. If we do not do this, stand up for ourselves, for Pete's sake, then here is the concluding sentence of the piece. "What this portends for the next four years is truly terrifying" And I add, what it portends for the future beyond that is even more terrifying.
And what do we know so far? Well, we have a new royal family, a princess who is supplanting the stepmother and taking over her office and functions perhaps? We have two princelings who will run the king's business concerns and the king will make sure that no decisions that are harmful to the profit lines of the businesses are enacted. We have entities who are already sucking up to this royal family by staying in their hotels, by shutting their mouths out of fear - and they confess to that fear!
We have a king to be who openly states that laws do not apply to him and in any case the morality of situations leave him cold. He is perhaps the most amoral and/or immoral being I have ever encountered. He is lacking in intelligence but makes up for that with his royal family and continues to openly display his sophomoric brains and personality and indulges in semi literate tweets in the middle of the night. He is the least dignified president elect or king to be I have ever come across and there is simply no shame in what he does or states for if there is negative feedback to a degree, he just denies he said it, lies, or walks it back - bigly so!!
And what about the royal court, waiting to be approved by Congress, waiting for what? For the members to grow several pair in order to defy his destructive choices? Will they grow these pairs or will they wimp out and woe upon us if that happens. Look what we will have.
Energy secretary - wanted to abolish it
Education secretary - a major threat to public education, rabid charter school adherent.
Attorney General - opposes the Voting Rights Act and is a known bigot.
Health and Human Service secretary - wants to practically eliminate Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and other such social programs. To hell with people, right?
Treasury secretary - was up to his neck in the financial crisis we all barely survived and then of course profited from it all. Good business our king to be would say.
E.P.A. head - denies climate change and has sued this department numerous times.
Secretary of State - great for Exxon, and great for Russia and Putin - not so hot for us.
Deputy secretary - OMG - watch the drool from that rabid mouth.
Miscellaneous appointments - four generals, more businessmen and Fat Cats, the critters of the swamp, Goldman Sachs people up the wazoo and never mind what they caused and profited from in 2008 and ensuing years.
And do not forget the wall to be built, the immigrants to be summarily tossed out, the Moslem registry, the Big Brother inquiries into Energy Department employees and their actions and thoughts about climate change, and do not forget the deportation police and what is the next step - thought police? He has already damned the media for being mean to him, such a grown up he is!! And what about women? Will we be forced into the back of humanity again? Will we be chattel again? Have we totally lost all hope of retaining rights over our own body, forced to carry babies we do not want and that might even have been foisted upon us by rapists, by incest violators, by piggish men who think they can do what they want, say what they want for after all, that is what men do we are told!! And please remember that Assad has said that Trump is a natural ally for him!!! I am vomiting.
Thomas Friedman writes of the crazy recklessness of Trump's plans and policies, particularly his climate related ones and writes of what could be. He questions with great dread what the Russian interference actually means and I question too. Can we really rely on this election after all the hacking and the interference or are we here on this earth to satisfy the whims of Putin, a very bad man to say the least. And if we null and void this election as I am coming to believe we should more and more - then what? Civil War? Chaos? Are we strong enough to handle this? But on the other side, are we strong enough to keep our souls and our country and its values with four years of the Trump monarchy and will it be only four years or are we saying good bye to the democratic country once known as the United State of America?
And a question. I have often joked that they will be coming for me, what with what I write and state. Is that really a joke? I dunno know. Perhaps I should ask Putin. Perhaps I should run to Israel but then again, what is its fate what with the anti Semitic fiends coming out of the woodwork and welcomed and the Arabists, the fossil fuel people appointed to the royal court? And hey, do not forget the Palestinian terrorists invited into a third grade classroom in Ithaca to spout hatred against Jews and Israelis. Check it out and it took a year! to get the video of it - never mind the other two that remain secreted! Simply put - I have never been so frightened in my life. How about you?
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
All of us are familiar with questions, the ones the little ones ask, the ones that are asked and hopefully answered in the classroom, the ones we ask each other and the ones we ask ourselves. Even Socrates asked questions. What is just as problematic for some as troublesome questions, though, are the answers that must be given and the truths held within - or the lies running through them evident to all. What do we do with these problematic questions and answers? We hopefully have the courage and the honesty to ask and answer as they should be but that seems to be lacking at this point.
How did we, the greatest country in the world, ever get to this position, wherein we have a president elect whom very few want as president - even those who voted for him? How do we get outta this mess or is it even possible and if not, then what the hell do we do for the next four years - if we survive them? Lord in Heaven, I have no ideas for that. I am just as stumped as everyone else, all trying for desperate answers to these desperate questions.
We now have a government of Fat Cats, of critters from the Black Lagoon, exactly the opposite of what the man promised his voters. We have an administration to be of those who are foxes now to run free in the henhouses and not only eat the chicks but destroy the whole henhouse down to the last board and nail. We have a proposed Secretary of State who has taken numerous actions opposed to governmental positions in his prior job and as for those who voted for Trump because he would be closer and warmer to Israel - told ya so!! This Tillerson is NOT a friend to Israel. But you got what you wished for and now you can rue it all for the next four disastrous years!
The world is going off track and we have to ask where do we come in, how much blame does the new president to be deserve. A whole lot. He has empowered the extreme right wingers, the nut jobs, the dangerous haters, so much so that for example, Poland's right wing government is banning most public meetings and gatherings - unless of course they are under their protection. So how long do you think it would take for a Trump regime to do the same? Not long, I tell you and then what? Will we behave as sheep and go along with further loss of our rights, with further rending of the Constitution?
We have just had the most hijacked election ever here in the USA. Down to the congressional races and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and up to the top race - all were hacked - openly and viciously. So are we not a satellite state of Russia who seems to have determined the outcomes of these races? And if that is so, then why and how do we allow these results to stand and yet, how do we change this without causing chaos and civil unrest and even war? I do not know, but the answers are above my pay grade - I just ask the questions!
We do have people of courage though and we need to follow them and refuse to do wrong. Energy Department people are refusing to answer a questionnaire about their climate change activities. Tech employees at Google, Facebook, and elsewhere are not going to work on a registry of Moslems, all or from certain countries or wherever and whatever. My blood runs cold at the thought of another registry. Jews should fight this tooth and nail as should any decent person. Hate and prejudice and actions relevant to them only proliferate and spread from one group to another. There are no boundaries in hate. Advertisers like Kellogg are pulling away from sites and products associated with hate and bravo for them. Support them. Buy them.
And how are we supposed to respect and honor a president who appears to be lacking several sections of a working brain. Read these sentences and tell me how one is supposed to rely on him, he who does not have any attention span, refuses to listen to intelligence briefings because, he says, he is "smart and does not need them on a daily basis" so how will he fill that time ? With working on his business dealings contrary to all that we hold dear as he uses the country to further his profits?
"We’re going to win so much, you’re going to Paul Ryan and you’re going to go, ‘Mr. Speaker, please. Please. We can’t stand winning this much. We can't take it.And he’s going to come to see me and he’s going to go, ‘Mr. President, the people in Wisconsin are tired off winning so much.’" And it continues from there. This is a mature leader? This is a leader? At all?
Questions have been asked throughout time and answers have been demanded. When enough asked how can people be chattel, we fought a war. When people asked how can we oppress people because they are of color or are women or are from other countries - we had civil rights movements and we continue to have them. When enough people asked how did we allow this slaughter of millions of Jews to go on without us saying boo, we have Holocaust education. Where anti Semitism rears its ugly head once more, we have those who fight against it. When a rap artist, if one can call him that, rants of "dirty Jewish execs" he is forced out. And when men continue to molest and abuse women, they are now called out on it, be they president elect or movie star or business exec.
And questions can be local as well. How can David Israel continue to carry on his illegal broadband campaign when the people have spoken? How can he believe he or rather we should sign a ten year contract? Who does that in such a changing field - unless there are other things going on? Why does he not answer questions and demands for papers and information when it is required of him? Why does he oppress those who are opposed to him? Why does he cancel rights of Americans? Why do some people refuse to recognize his growing incompetence even as our financial situation worsens? Why? Because people are afraid to change the status quo but if we do not, be it here or in the country at large - our status quo will be changed for us and not in a good way.
Questions and answers, answers that lead to more questions. Sometimes action is demanded. Come march with the women on January 21, 10 AM. Be it a mile or two or a half or a block - show your face and show your support. Get behind your subject. Fight to keep our rights. Fight to keep equality and justice and honesty. Republican or Democrat or even independent - our rights and the rights of all in our country are being challenged. Stand up for them and stand up for yourselves. And after the parade in the days and months to follow - make phone calls, sign petitions, write and send emails and letters. Constant vigilance is needed, especially in these times.
How did we, the greatest country in the world, ever get to this position, wherein we have a president elect whom very few want as president - even those who voted for him? How do we get outta this mess or is it even possible and if not, then what the hell do we do for the next four years - if we survive them? Lord in Heaven, I have no ideas for that. I am just as stumped as everyone else, all trying for desperate answers to these desperate questions.
We now have a government of Fat Cats, of critters from the Black Lagoon, exactly the opposite of what the man promised his voters. We have an administration to be of those who are foxes now to run free in the henhouses and not only eat the chicks but destroy the whole henhouse down to the last board and nail. We have a proposed Secretary of State who has taken numerous actions opposed to governmental positions in his prior job and as for those who voted for Trump because he would be closer and warmer to Israel - told ya so!! This Tillerson is NOT a friend to Israel. But you got what you wished for and now you can rue it all for the next four disastrous years!
The world is going off track and we have to ask where do we come in, how much blame does the new president to be deserve. A whole lot. He has empowered the extreme right wingers, the nut jobs, the dangerous haters, so much so that for example, Poland's right wing government is banning most public meetings and gatherings - unless of course they are under their protection. So how long do you think it would take for a Trump regime to do the same? Not long, I tell you and then what? Will we behave as sheep and go along with further loss of our rights, with further rending of the Constitution?
We have just had the most hijacked election ever here in the USA. Down to the congressional races and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and up to the top race - all were hacked - openly and viciously. So are we not a satellite state of Russia who seems to have determined the outcomes of these races? And if that is so, then why and how do we allow these results to stand and yet, how do we change this without causing chaos and civil unrest and even war? I do not know, but the answers are above my pay grade - I just ask the questions!
We do have people of courage though and we need to follow them and refuse to do wrong. Energy Department people are refusing to answer a questionnaire about their climate change activities. Tech employees at Google, Facebook, and elsewhere are not going to work on a registry of Moslems, all or from certain countries or wherever and whatever. My blood runs cold at the thought of another registry. Jews should fight this tooth and nail as should any decent person. Hate and prejudice and actions relevant to them only proliferate and spread from one group to another. There are no boundaries in hate. Advertisers like Kellogg are pulling away from sites and products associated with hate and bravo for them. Support them. Buy them.
And how are we supposed to respect and honor a president who appears to be lacking several sections of a working brain. Read these sentences and tell me how one is supposed to rely on him, he who does not have any attention span, refuses to listen to intelligence briefings because, he says, he is "smart and does not need them on a daily basis" so how will he fill that time ? With working on his business dealings contrary to all that we hold dear as he uses the country to further his profits?
"We’re going to win so much, you’re going to Paul Ryan and you’re going to go, ‘Mr. Speaker, please. Please. We can’t stand winning this much. We can't take it.And he’s going to come to see me and he’s going to go, ‘Mr. President, the people in Wisconsin are tired off winning so much.’" And it continues from there. This is a mature leader? This is a leader? At all?
Questions have been asked throughout time and answers have been demanded. When enough asked how can people be chattel, we fought a war. When people asked how can we oppress people because they are of color or are women or are from other countries - we had civil rights movements and we continue to have them. When enough people asked how did we allow this slaughter of millions of Jews to go on without us saying boo, we have Holocaust education. Where anti Semitism rears its ugly head once more, we have those who fight against it. When a rap artist, if one can call him that, rants of "dirty Jewish execs" he is forced out. And when men continue to molest and abuse women, they are now called out on it, be they president elect or movie star or business exec.
And questions can be local as well. How can David Israel continue to carry on his illegal broadband campaign when the people have spoken? How can he believe he or rather we should sign a ten year contract? Who does that in such a changing field - unless there are other things going on? Why does he not answer questions and demands for papers and information when it is required of him? Why does he oppress those who are opposed to him? Why does he cancel rights of Americans? Why do some people refuse to recognize his growing incompetence even as our financial situation worsens? Why? Because people are afraid to change the status quo but if we do not, be it here or in the country at large - our status quo will be changed for us and not in a good way.
Questions and answers, answers that lead to more questions. Sometimes action is demanded. Come march with the women on January 21, 10 AM. Be it a mile or two or a half or a block - show your face and show your support. Get behind your subject. Fight to keep our rights. Fight to keep equality and justice and honesty. Republican or Democrat or even independent - our rights and the rights of all in our country are being challenged. Stand up for them and stand up for yourselves. And after the parade in the days and months to follow - make phone calls, sign petitions, write and send emails and letters. Constant vigilance is needed, especially in these times.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
WHERE TO TURN???
If ever there were a time when one needs to pull the blankets over the head and return to a dreamworld, well, here we are. And yet, that avoidance tactic will do nothing to solve the problem and worse will be waiting when we cannot delay nor ignore any longer. So what is it exactly that we are trying to avoid?
We have been attacked, just as surely as we were attacked on 9/11. There was no literal blood spilled, but it does not bode well for the future of that statement as somewhere along the line we must respond or look like fools in the eyes of most citizens and in the eyes of the world. One cannot sit and rotate and just hope that the bad people go away. These "wild things", this "monster under the bed" is real, are real in more ways than one and yet, what is the worst thing about this whole incident?
No, it is not that we were grossly hacked; we knew this had to happen someday and probably already has to a large degree. What is the worst is that we have either an imbecile as the president elect or a person complicit in this act of war and that should scare the pants off you!!! Those blankets are looking better than ever.
So what is this man's reaction to the opinion of 17 intelligence agencies (never knew we had so many)? "I don't believe it," he says. It could be the guy in New Jersey or a guy sitting in a bed. And in the meanwhile, Russia is sitting there with its proverbial head in its hand bemoaning the truth of the statement - beware what you wish for , for it might come true. Did they wish to disturb the election? Yes, I firmly believe so and I am obviously not alone. Did they progress to the point of backing Trump, or rather destroying Clinton without realizing that the action had a corollary attached - Trump could then win and yup, their dream came true and now they have to live with it. Even Russia now realizes what a ninny, to say the least, that we will have heading up the government. How does one deal with a ninny? Ask Putin.
But the more important question is - what to do? How could we possibly have a traitor, knowingly or duped into it, as the President?! Should we just sign on the dotted line and hand it all over to Russia? Where exactly does this end? "No panya maya" - I don't understand - but actually I do. Trump, this man, was so hungry to prove himself real, not just a reality show joke, not just a person who made it on his dad's pulling his nuts out of the fire and by using OPM - other people's money - that he did anything and everything to bring that about. Frauds at Trump University, withholding wages from workers and contractors, bankruptcies galore, legal suits and here he is with his ass just about perched in the seat of power.
There are now websites where people are posting their regrets about voting for him. Too little too late - unless we actually get the chance and have a roadmap as to how to undo this without causing civil war, without destroying the country and yet, and yet, if we do nothing, then where will we be in four years? Not in a good place, and that is for sure.
This is an inherently dishonest man who tells lies as easily as lifting his toothbrush and brushing. No tax returns. No health report and remember - this dude definitely has something going on inside that head and it ain't good. Lies and more lies. So you who wanted change - you got it, huh? Drain the swamp? Oh yeah, we got even more alligators and snakes in position now. Why we have practically the entire oil and fossil fuel industry holding governmental office. We now have all people who oppose the very office that they are appointed to so basically, they will preside over its autopsy, the quicker the better! We now have another fool, Rick Perry, who could not remember the three agencies he wanted to destroy if president and guess which one the genius forgot and then remembered - the department of energy - the very one that he is now nominated for!!!
Oh, as for the minor problem that all these people have major, beyond belief, investment ties to the very areas they are supposed to watch, to make sure they protect the citizens, well, not to worry; they will just take the path of their leader - lie, deny, obfuscate and delay. Now we are not to hear his, Trump's, plans till after the election. Perfect, huh!!
Even his own party has had it, with even supporters of his calling for investigations and Obama is not ignoring this in his waning days of office and neither should we. Should we just hope that enough electors realize that if they are to fulfill their stated duties they cannot cast their vote for Trump as he is not "qualified" to serve. And then what? Then what? I will admit, should this happen and Clinton be chosen, I and many others, millions of others, will erupt with a shout of joy and to be honest - so will many others who have by now realized the major error of their ways. But, a big but, what will happen? and what would happen if the electors could not agree on a candidate? Does Obama stay in office? Is there an emergency law to be passed to make sure we remain intact as a country? Blankets anyone?
From the sublime to the ridiculous. I cannot ignore the elephant in the room right here in CV anymore. David Israel is a perfect mirror image of Trump in all his inadequacies. For years he has just chugged along, using his negative personality to frighten people, to throw them under the bus, to dust them off at a later date should they serve his purpose - and these fools go right back in all the while enjoying the mirage of power. We have someone who has neglected his fiduciary responsibilities to the Village and its residents and allowed the demands on its finances to grow like Topsy. He wasted millions, literally millions, on poor contracts, poor performances, lack of contract clauses that would have protected us, shut down all the media outlets, threatened and denigrated from his seat on high, on that stage where he violated every aspect of the role and behavior of a chair.
And now where are we? Ready to pull the local blankets over your head? Well, we now are going to have to pay an enormous increase in our monthly fees and no one has ever said if that is a temporary one year increase or if we will just merrily roll along and add to it next year so that more wasteful projects can be undertaken, more poor contracts can be signed and hey, need an excuse? Here's one - the roads, another elephant on the lawns of the Village. It is getting into an even more desperate situation but I guess we might have to wait till potholes open up, but hey, nostalgia will tell us to leave them so we can feel a bit of the old homestead from up north!!
Over $10 and that is just for WPRF alone. Where is UCO's fee? What about the needs of the association? And I have never had so many people coming over to say that they simply cannot pay. They have no more stretch in their budget and this will mean a change in their food shopping or cutting out that movie or G-d forbid, not taking insurance on the unit. It could mean a doctor visit less or medicines needed not being bought and taken. Even those of us who had a little give are now feeling it. I am. And so are others.
And what are we paying for? We are paying for a capital improvement, something that WPRF and Levy should pay for, but it seems that they are calling it a "repair". Really? I have a president elect you might want to buy if you believe that!! And this stems not only from greed, which now seems to be the fashionable thing to have in this country, but also from the Millennium Agreement and while it will be up rather quickly, what have we done to address its bad points? What have we done to set ourselves up in a strong position and stop handing the keys to the vault over to Levy? Why nothing, sirrah, nothing!!! Typical of the poor performance and actions or lack thereof of David Israel and crew.
An alleged traitorous person for President of the country. An incompetent local dude for
Village president. Hmm...going to the closet for more blankets. As the song says, "There's a time for us", but when? Don't know about you, but this whole national situation is truly getting me down and a bit bewildered as to how we got here in the first place, though I really do know and I wish others would recognize why too. At least let us do something to fix our local situation and let us put those blankets away, lace up our shoes, take a deep breath and get on with it. Defend our rights here in the country and here in the Village. Time for breakfast. Time to get to work. Blankets away. Wagons, ho! (Sorry, had to get that in as we were just talking about that show, Wagon Train, and its stars.)
We have been attacked, just as surely as we were attacked on 9/11. There was no literal blood spilled, but it does not bode well for the future of that statement as somewhere along the line we must respond or look like fools in the eyes of most citizens and in the eyes of the world. One cannot sit and rotate and just hope that the bad people go away. These "wild things", this "monster under the bed" is real, are real in more ways than one and yet, what is the worst thing about this whole incident?
No, it is not that we were grossly hacked; we knew this had to happen someday and probably already has to a large degree. What is the worst is that we have either an imbecile as the president elect or a person complicit in this act of war and that should scare the pants off you!!! Those blankets are looking better than ever.
So what is this man's reaction to the opinion of 17 intelligence agencies (never knew we had so many)? "I don't believe it," he says. It could be the guy in New Jersey or a guy sitting in a bed. And in the meanwhile, Russia is sitting there with its proverbial head in its hand bemoaning the truth of the statement - beware what you wish for , for it might come true. Did they wish to disturb the election? Yes, I firmly believe so and I am obviously not alone. Did they progress to the point of backing Trump, or rather destroying Clinton without realizing that the action had a corollary attached - Trump could then win and yup, their dream came true and now they have to live with it. Even Russia now realizes what a ninny, to say the least, that we will have heading up the government. How does one deal with a ninny? Ask Putin.
But the more important question is - what to do? How could we possibly have a traitor, knowingly or duped into it, as the President?! Should we just sign on the dotted line and hand it all over to Russia? Where exactly does this end? "No panya maya" - I don't understand - but actually I do. Trump, this man, was so hungry to prove himself real, not just a reality show joke, not just a person who made it on his dad's pulling his nuts out of the fire and by using OPM - other people's money - that he did anything and everything to bring that about. Frauds at Trump University, withholding wages from workers and contractors, bankruptcies galore, legal suits and here he is with his ass just about perched in the seat of power.
There are now websites where people are posting their regrets about voting for him. Too little too late - unless we actually get the chance and have a roadmap as to how to undo this without causing civil war, without destroying the country and yet, and yet, if we do nothing, then where will we be in four years? Not in a good place, and that is for sure.
This is an inherently dishonest man who tells lies as easily as lifting his toothbrush and brushing. No tax returns. No health report and remember - this dude definitely has something going on inside that head and it ain't good. Lies and more lies. So you who wanted change - you got it, huh? Drain the swamp? Oh yeah, we got even more alligators and snakes in position now. Why we have practically the entire oil and fossil fuel industry holding governmental office. We now have all people who oppose the very office that they are appointed to so basically, they will preside over its autopsy, the quicker the better! We now have another fool, Rick Perry, who could not remember the three agencies he wanted to destroy if president and guess which one the genius forgot and then remembered - the department of energy - the very one that he is now nominated for!!!
Oh, as for the minor problem that all these people have major, beyond belief, investment ties to the very areas they are supposed to watch, to make sure they protect the citizens, well, not to worry; they will just take the path of their leader - lie, deny, obfuscate and delay. Now we are not to hear his, Trump's, plans till after the election. Perfect, huh!!
Even his own party has had it, with even supporters of his calling for investigations and Obama is not ignoring this in his waning days of office and neither should we. Should we just hope that enough electors realize that if they are to fulfill their stated duties they cannot cast their vote for Trump as he is not "qualified" to serve. And then what? Then what? I will admit, should this happen and Clinton be chosen, I and many others, millions of others, will erupt with a shout of joy and to be honest - so will many others who have by now realized the major error of their ways. But, a big but, what will happen? and what would happen if the electors could not agree on a candidate? Does Obama stay in office? Is there an emergency law to be passed to make sure we remain intact as a country? Blankets anyone?
From the sublime to the ridiculous. I cannot ignore the elephant in the room right here in CV anymore. David Israel is a perfect mirror image of Trump in all his inadequacies. For years he has just chugged along, using his negative personality to frighten people, to throw them under the bus, to dust them off at a later date should they serve his purpose - and these fools go right back in all the while enjoying the mirage of power. We have someone who has neglected his fiduciary responsibilities to the Village and its residents and allowed the demands on its finances to grow like Topsy. He wasted millions, literally millions, on poor contracts, poor performances, lack of contract clauses that would have protected us, shut down all the media outlets, threatened and denigrated from his seat on high, on that stage where he violated every aspect of the role and behavior of a chair.
And now where are we? Ready to pull the local blankets over your head? Well, we now are going to have to pay an enormous increase in our monthly fees and no one has ever said if that is a temporary one year increase or if we will just merrily roll along and add to it next year so that more wasteful projects can be undertaken, more poor contracts can be signed and hey, need an excuse? Here's one - the roads, another elephant on the lawns of the Village. It is getting into an even more desperate situation but I guess we might have to wait till potholes open up, but hey, nostalgia will tell us to leave them so we can feel a bit of the old homestead from up north!!
Over $10 and that is just for WPRF alone. Where is UCO's fee? What about the needs of the association? And I have never had so many people coming over to say that they simply cannot pay. They have no more stretch in their budget and this will mean a change in their food shopping or cutting out that movie or G-d forbid, not taking insurance on the unit. It could mean a doctor visit less or medicines needed not being bought and taken. Even those of us who had a little give are now feeling it. I am. And so are others.
And what are we paying for? We are paying for a capital improvement, something that WPRF and Levy should pay for, but it seems that they are calling it a "repair". Really? I have a president elect you might want to buy if you believe that!! And this stems not only from greed, which now seems to be the fashionable thing to have in this country, but also from the Millennium Agreement and while it will be up rather quickly, what have we done to address its bad points? What have we done to set ourselves up in a strong position and stop handing the keys to the vault over to Levy? Why nothing, sirrah, nothing!!! Typical of the poor performance and actions or lack thereof of David Israel and crew.
An alleged traitorous person for President of the country. An incompetent local dude for
Village president. Hmm...going to the closet for more blankets. As the song says, "There's a time for us", but when? Don't know about you, but this whole national situation is truly getting me down and a bit bewildered as to how we got here in the first place, though I really do know and I wish others would recognize why too. At least let us do something to fix our local situation and let us put those blankets away, lace up our shoes, take a deep breath and get on with it. Defend our rights here in the country and here in the Village. Time for breakfast. Time to get to work. Blankets away. Wagons, ho! (Sorry, had to get that in as we were just talking about that show, Wagon Train, and its stars.)
Monday, December 12, 2016
WOW!!!!! A STRONG WAKEUP CALL
Once again my choice of topic was preempted by another, stronger one. And while it has a particular call of an alarming wakeup for Jews, something I have been talking about for quite some time, it also speaks to the world and a choice we must all make and probably very soon, sooner than we think and definitely sooner than we had hoped for.
People are afraid. People are desperate. Perhaps people think that this is a time never before seen or lived through, but they are wrong. Perhaps people are more cowardly, knowing that they could undergo great personal harm should they speak out? Perhaps, but then again, who says that harm will not happen should one not speak out? Nothing in history tells us that and in fact, it teaches us the opposite.
It is said that a smart Jew will always have a passport up to date and ready but a wise one will have it in his pocket. Once that almost seemed to be a witticism but now, now.....there is concern but again, I will ask my question - where in this crazy world that we have now will there be a place of refuge, of safety, a place to raise children in security, a place for the elderly to live out their lives in peace and quiet, a place for people to build lives free of concern for their very lives, never mind their living! And it will be not only the Jews seeking haven but all the people who disagree with the powers in charge and control.
We all remember the words of Martin Niemoller, the Protestant pastor who spoke of the taking away of people and the silence of others because they were not them and so now here is the modern version of it according to the brilliant piece I read this morning.
We all said that we would know the signs, that we would be ready and yes, there are people, Jew and non Jew alike who do have escape plans in place, but again I ask where is that place of refuge? The world is too small for that to be. Instead, what we need to do is be brave and stand up and shout and yell and fight against a redarkening of our planet, against the new wave of young and vicious anti Semites, against the shadow of the swastika once more, against the polarization of our country and indeed the world, to fight against the loss of our souls.
So today's original posting will be here tomorrow - I hope - but today's had to deal with this. It is that scary and worse, that possible, in all its facets and intimations. Not again, folks, not again. Not for me and not for you and not for our loved ones and not for the world. NOW is the time to make sure that it is so.
And so I borrow the closing quote from the article that is still giving me the shakes.
“These are the times, “ wrote Thomas Paine, “that try men’s souls.”
People are afraid. People are desperate. Perhaps people think that this is a time never before seen or lived through, but they are wrong. Perhaps people are more cowardly, knowing that they could undergo great personal harm should they speak out? Perhaps, but then again, who says that harm will not happen should one not speak out? Nothing in history tells us that and in fact, it teaches us the opposite.
It is said that a smart Jew will always have a passport up to date and ready but a wise one will have it in his pocket. Once that almost seemed to be a witticism but now, now.....there is concern but again, I will ask my question - where in this crazy world that we have now will there be a place of refuge, of safety, a place to raise children in security, a place for the elderly to live out their lives in peace and quiet, a place for people to build lives free of concern for their very lives, never mind their living! And it will be not only the Jews seeking haven but all the people who disagree with the powers in charge and control.
We all remember the words of Martin Niemoller, the Protestant pastor who spoke of the taking away of people and the silence of others because they were not them and so now here is the modern version of it according to the brilliant piece I read this morning.
"First they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for the Mexicans, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Mexican.
Then they came for–
Wait! We were supposed to be safe this time!"
You see there is no safety this time. The world has shrunk that much and the poison that is affecting one country, the corruptness that is sickening all countries, has arrived here as well, along with a willful blindness of the people, refusing to see and hear what is right there. We have a president elect who - dare I say it - could actually be committing treason, or colluding with those who have or already have done so being in collusion with a foreign country, Russia, and its leader for who he has already professed admiration - as he arranged for them to hack our election and interfere with the very bones of our country. Methinks the man doth protest too much now in his denial, with 17 - 17!!!- agencies confirming Russian interference. Even his own party members are calling for an investigation - which we have had already!! We have choices for office to run this nation all with one thing in common - they are all fantastically wealthy and come from areas of the economy that do not speak well for the common man, the supposed beneficiaries of a Trump presidency. What is going on? And why are we silent?
A touch of humor in a not so funny situation? Be assured we are okay for Sarah Palin has promised that she will keep an eye on Russia. Whew! Such a relief!
Here is why I am so concerned. The history of my people is right there and takes place again and again.
"There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them…." From the Megillah or Scroll of Esther
"We got next, because we’ve always got next" and then the rest of you. No one is immune, no one. Esther was told by Mordechai that she had to speak up, waiting was not a good idea even if she seemingly had a good plan - NOW was imperative and so it is now. NOW we must stand up to those who would destroy our world. NOW is the time to stand up to corruption of the soul that seems to be catching. NOW is the time to call a lie a lie and not hide it under a new name. NOW is the time to stand up, demand the truth, demand that our country live up to its history and its values, that we turn aside all the bad that seems to be growing daily, replicating itself in leaps and bounds.We all said that we would know the signs, that we would be ready and yes, there are people, Jew and non Jew alike who do have escape plans in place, but again I ask where is that place of refuge? The world is too small for that to be. Instead, what we need to do is be brave and stand up and shout and yell and fight against a redarkening of our planet, against the new wave of young and vicious anti Semites, against the shadow of the swastika once more, against the polarization of our country and indeed the world, to fight against the loss of our souls.
So today's original posting will be here tomorrow - I hope - but today's had to deal with this. It is that scary and worse, that possible, in all its facets and intimations. Not again, folks, not again. Not for me and not for you and not for our loved ones and not for the world. NOW is the time to make sure that it is so.
And so I borrow the closing quote from the article that is still giving me the shakes.
“These are the times, “ wrote Thomas Paine, “that try men’s souls.”
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumphs."
Let our souls and our hearts and our minds be up to the job ahead.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
MR. TRUMP, CALL ME
Mr. Trump, call me. Let's talk. Let's do something that has not been tried yet - a simple talk between you and a nobody - me. That is precisely why we should talk. I represent the little people of America, you know, the ones without big bank accounts, the ones who struggled through life from paycheck to paycheck, the ones who have no connection whatsoever to the Wall St. billionaires you are appointing to your cabinet nor the military figures - not one, not two, not three, but four!!
Like you, I am in Act III of life and I love my life. I have a wonderful life partner and together we share life from teen years to now and G-d willing well into the future. I have wonderful kids who are working hard, struggling to pay bills let alone putting aside for retirement. I have beautiful grandchildren and I worry for them and the future world they will be facing. I have great friends and I worry for them as the struggles of the health of the aging begin to impact their lives. But you, Mr. Trump, do not know us, the majority of the citizens of the United States. You do not understand mainstream thinking, at least not according to the actions you have taken and the path you have chosen.
So let's talk and let me make you aware of, understand, why it is that people are so worried, that the majority of the people did NOT vote for you, why there is a great deal of angst and yes, even sadness about your election, sorrow at the fact that we still do not have a woman in office and look who won instead! A person who denigrates women, who speaks of them with a foul mouth - and is that the same mouth that kisses your daughters, the same mouth that is supposed to model itself for your sons? A misogynist, an open one, in the Oval Office. Yes, I am worried and so is the rest of the country.
Let us talk of the concerns we have over the alt-right, a fancy name for degenerates of life, who hate all that is "other" to them. Who speak of the JQ issue - the Jewish Question. Who speak of their being part of the mainstream, G-d help us all. Who do away with the swastika for PR reasons but who picked up validation when a "presidential candidate included his promise to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he called rapists and criminals. The alt-right raised its collective head to listen.".I, and millions of others worry. We certainly do.
Let us talk of the worry that not one of your promises to your supporters has been acted upon in a positive manner. You say what about the jobs you saved? Even that is a lie in number and reasons and cost to the taxpayer and the very temporariness of it. Manufacturing jobs will not come back again for many reasons and it is your responsibility as president to be honest about that and instead of bluster, figure out a new way, a way to retrain workers, to match people and economy and job needs, to pick people for your Cabinet who do not oppose the very things they are supposed to protect and watch over.
I, and many others, worry about the willful lies that you and yours state. Climate change is not Chinese made nor a hoax. It has a great deal to do with human errors that must be fixed if we are to save our planet. So how do you invite all the foxes into the henhouses and keep a straight face?
We need to talk as we watch the Russians have a great deal to do with us and our elections and hacking and even they admit it so exactly who are you trying to kid with your denials. And your friendship with Putin and your Secretary of State to be and his "close" relationship with Putin - are we to all now have to learn Russian as a second language - or even a first? Yes, people worry for no one seems to understand your underpinnings, your morals and principles - if there are any.
I can look back at my life and be proud of what I have done and achieved. It was not a big job nor a fancy job yet it was important, for I worked with kids, with students, in various roles. I tried to mentor, to model, to be a friend and a guide, to encourage, to teach the meaning of The Lord of the Flies and the appreciation of a Shakespearian play as well as the ability to talk and write properly, coherently and intelligently and when I hear from a former student, my educational kids as I call them, I feel good. I have made an effect, a good one, I hope.
What, Mr. Trump, will you feel as you look back? Do you think that your billions, your ties to moneyed people all over the world, will cover all sins, that your misdeeds will be ignored. Help us, the little people, understand. I think that most of us are willing to work with you if we can understand you, if you can grow up and stop these nonsensical sophomoric tweets and speak as an adult. Talk with us, not at us.
I worry because I am a person and worthy of value.
I worry because I am a woman.
I worry because I am a senior citizen.
I worry because I am a Jew.
I worry when there is a call from Cadillac for a neo Nazi, an alt-right character for an ad. Yes, they now deny it - but who did it if not them and why? Frightening.
I worry when the president elect defends a foreign country, Russia, against all common sense and facts and chooses it over our own CIA.
I worry because I come from a working class background for most people do, whether they be a plumber or a cabinet maker or a teacher or a lawyer. We all work.
I worry because I am a mother and grandmother.
I worry because I am an American and I worry for our values and for our future.
Help me and others stop worrying. Help us become more confident in you and your plans. Explain your actions in more than five tweets and 140 letters. Believe it or not, there is a huge segment of your countrymen who do not tweet nor plan to.
So call me, Mr. Trump, call me. Let's talk and help me feel as if I am not the nail of Abraham Maslow and you and your administration are not the hammers that you will use to bang down the nails.
Call me, Mr. Trump, call me. Let us talk.
Esther
Like you, I am in Act III of life and I love my life. I have a wonderful life partner and together we share life from teen years to now and G-d willing well into the future. I have wonderful kids who are working hard, struggling to pay bills let alone putting aside for retirement. I have beautiful grandchildren and I worry for them and the future world they will be facing. I have great friends and I worry for them as the struggles of the health of the aging begin to impact their lives. But you, Mr. Trump, do not know us, the majority of the citizens of the United States. You do not understand mainstream thinking, at least not according to the actions you have taken and the path you have chosen.
So let's talk and let me make you aware of, understand, why it is that people are so worried, that the majority of the people did NOT vote for you, why there is a great deal of angst and yes, even sadness about your election, sorrow at the fact that we still do not have a woman in office and look who won instead! A person who denigrates women, who speaks of them with a foul mouth - and is that the same mouth that kisses your daughters, the same mouth that is supposed to model itself for your sons? A misogynist, an open one, in the Oval Office. Yes, I am worried and so is the rest of the country.
Let us talk of the concerns we have over the alt-right, a fancy name for degenerates of life, who hate all that is "other" to them. Who speak of the JQ issue - the Jewish Question. Who speak of their being part of the mainstream, G-d help us all. Who do away with the swastika for PR reasons but who picked up validation when a "presidential candidate included his promise to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he called rapists and criminals. The alt-right raised its collective head to listen.".I, and millions of others worry. We certainly do.
Let us talk of the worry that not one of your promises to your supporters has been acted upon in a positive manner. You say what about the jobs you saved? Even that is a lie in number and reasons and cost to the taxpayer and the very temporariness of it. Manufacturing jobs will not come back again for many reasons and it is your responsibility as president to be honest about that and instead of bluster, figure out a new way, a way to retrain workers, to match people and economy and job needs, to pick people for your Cabinet who do not oppose the very things they are supposed to protect and watch over.
I, and many others, worry about the willful lies that you and yours state. Climate change is not Chinese made nor a hoax. It has a great deal to do with human errors that must be fixed if we are to save our planet. So how do you invite all the foxes into the henhouses and keep a straight face?
We need to talk as we watch the Russians have a great deal to do with us and our elections and hacking and even they admit it so exactly who are you trying to kid with your denials. And your friendship with Putin and your Secretary of State to be and his "close" relationship with Putin - are we to all now have to learn Russian as a second language - or even a first? Yes, people worry for no one seems to understand your underpinnings, your morals and principles - if there are any.
I can look back at my life and be proud of what I have done and achieved. It was not a big job nor a fancy job yet it was important, for I worked with kids, with students, in various roles. I tried to mentor, to model, to be a friend and a guide, to encourage, to teach the meaning of The Lord of the Flies and the appreciation of a Shakespearian play as well as the ability to talk and write properly, coherently and intelligently and when I hear from a former student, my educational kids as I call them, I feel good. I have made an effect, a good one, I hope.
What, Mr. Trump, will you feel as you look back? Do you think that your billions, your ties to moneyed people all over the world, will cover all sins, that your misdeeds will be ignored. Help us, the little people, understand. I think that most of us are willing to work with you if we can understand you, if you can grow up and stop these nonsensical sophomoric tweets and speak as an adult. Talk with us, not at us.
I worry because I am a person and worthy of value.
I worry because I am a woman.
I worry because I am a senior citizen.
I worry because I am a Jew.
I worry when there is a call from Cadillac for a neo Nazi, an alt-right character for an ad. Yes, they now deny it - but who did it if not them and why? Frightening.
I worry when the president elect defends a foreign country, Russia, against all common sense and facts and chooses it over our own CIA.
I worry because I come from a working class background for most people do, whether they be a plumber or a cabinet maker or a teacher or a lawyer. We all work.
I worry because I am a mother and grandmother.
I worry because I am an American and I worry for our values and for our future.
Help me and others stop worrying. Help us become more confident in you and your plans. Explain your actions in more than five tweets and 140 letters. Believe it or not, there is a huge segment of your countrymen who do not tweet nor plan to.
So call me, Mr. Trump, call me. Let's talk and help me feel as if I am not the nail of Abraham Maslow and you and your administration are not the hammers that you will use to bang down the nails.
Call me, Mr. Trump, call me. Let us talk.
Esther
Friday, December 9, 2016
NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSESLF?
Those are famous and heartening words coming out of the world cataclysm of WWII. And then I think of one of my favorite plays, Les Miz. and of the rousing song of hope - and sacrifice - One Day More and of the echoes of history and the epic heroism of those who refuse to be slaves and I wonder, I really do.
What has become of us. We are actually both a laughingstock to the rest of the thinking world and a most frightening phenomenon at the same time. How does one have a leader, an elected leader yet, who is a clown, a liar, a morally bankrupt person, a perpetual adolescent, and an imbecile in the knowledge of tact and honesty and simply watching one's mouth. The old saw of engaging one's mind before engaging the lips and mouth would serve him well. And yet, we see that his "leadership" has led the world and our country into a frightening revival, coming out into the open, of those who hate, who pander to hate, who think hate is a reason for violence and act upon that belief. He has encouraged the rise to power of the same forces in Europe. Dictators sleep comfortably in their beds, no longer afraid that the military and moral right and might of the United States will be raised against them.
There should be dignity in the Office of the President of the United States, a sense of gravitas, but where is such a thing when it is now announced that the President as of Jan. 20 will still be listed as the Executive producer of Celebrity Appearance and get paid for this via MGM. What an undignified state of being for a sitting president and for the country he represents. How inappropriate and how symbolic of all that we will have, a sitting president who refuses to divest, who thinks that the Oval Office is just another, bigger way to enhance his income, his monied holdings and that he is above the law, legal and moral. How uncouth. How morally incorrect. Simply revolting and this is to be whom we show to our children as a role model, as one to emulate?
There is not a one of his campaign promises that he has kept and indeed he has violated many. He promised to "drain the swamp", whatever that was meant to signify and yet one now finds that the level of the swamp water has risen. The net worth of those so far appointed to the Cabinet is over 14.5 billion dollars - wow, such a collection representative of the blue collar workers who were his voters! They have as much connection to them as we do to these Fat Cats. In fact, he has invited the foxes into the henhouses and we are expected to sit there and clap and shout how the Emperor's new clothes are wonderful even as he parades naked in the streets with the hens in his mouth - and he could care less. So we will now have an enemy of environmental changes and rules in order to at least slow down climate change - will instead be in charge of it. We will have enemies and foes of the health needs and interests of women, of their rights to their own bodies as the heads of these departments. Should we now all get ready to lose the vote and regard ourselves as chattel to men? We have fossil fuel industry executives in charge of energy and clean fuels.
Our country, which has long prided itself on the separation of civilian and military, and of having the military subject to civilian control, has taken a big blow to this principle as Trump has appointed general after general, including one whose nickname is Mad Dog, another who sees conspiracies under every bed and the closets too and a running or working principle in this future administration seems to be that it is okay to bring your child to work time, every day, and the more corrupt, the more morally challenged why the better it is.
As for medical issues and promise, nothing doing. Nothing detailed, just bluster and tweets. Oh he will lower drug prices. Really, where are the details. Words mean nothing unless accompanied by action - or underlined by inaction. The millions who achieved medical care under the ACA will now have it ripped away, but oh, not to worry, one will be able to choose freely- except of course if one has a chronic condition, or is poor and has no money to pay these exorbitant fees and there is no longer any government subsidies and shall we go on....
He states that he will get rid of the terrorists, all out war upon them and yet he praises Pakistan to the sky, tells of its "terrific" people, that it is a "fantastic" country. Yes, this is the same Pakistan that harbors terrorists like a dog harbors fleas, the same country which openly hosted Bin laden.
The Department of Labor is going to be headed by a fast food magnate, not exactly the most welcoming of places of employment, a man who says not to increase hourly wages or else these places will close. So much better to keep people in slave wages, Oh yes. Such a friend to labor!
And this man's own party already has great differences with him but this is countered by all those who now suck up to him, afraid to lose business or to be tweeted about and then receive threats to life and limb. If the muckety mucks have a great fear of him, then what should the little people feel? How do we tolerate a man who lies, a man who admires tyrants, a man who has no moral boundaries or guidelines, a man who will use the power of the office to enhance his own income - against the legal and moral law, though he has openly stated that if one takes advantage of legal loopholes, immoral as that might be, then that is smart!! Folks, where do we go from here?
Fear only fear itself? Yes, but there is more to it than that. I know people who already have put in place escape plans. Escape plans!!!! But where in the world will be a safe haven if the world has gone insane? Why and what are we to do when there are already rumors of war with China and allies? Whether this be an exaggeration or not, the mere existence of that thought is frightening - even as he collects rent!!!! from them , a straight out violation of the Emoluments Clause. Well, we can impeach him and seeing him sit in a courtroom will be a common place event as he has to answer to all the suits against him- or settle them as he did with Trump University and the fraud he perpetrated there.
What have we wrought !! What have we done? How do we fix this? How do we gird our loins as the Bible says and stand against all that he represents? Well, we pull up our pants, stand tall, take a deep breath, and shout out loud. We shout for rights. We shout for equality. We shout for justice. And we keep on shouting until the point is made and protective and restorative actions are taken, until the representatives man and woman up and remember their souls, until the spirit and values of America are front and center once more and the rest of the world follows, until the brave resisters of violence and hate, of invasion of their countries finally have hope once more. Big job but there is no alternative. Fear? Yes, I, and many others are afraid, but this is still America and we will still use our rights and the law to return to sanity. There is no other choice.
What has become of us. We are actually both a laughingstock to the rest of the thinking world and a most frightening phenomenon at the same time. How does one have a leader, an elected leader yet, who is a clown, a liar, a morally bankrupt person, a perpetual adolescent, and an imbecile in the knowledge of tact and honesty and simply watching one's mouth. The old saw of engaging one's mind before engaging the lips and mouth would serve him well. And yet, we see that his "leadership" has led the world and our country into a frightening revival, coming out into the open, of those who hate, who pander to hate, who think hate is a reason for violence and act upon that belief. He has encouraged the rise to power of the same forces in Europe. Dictators sleep comfortably in their beds, no longer afraid that the military and moral right and might of the United States will be raised against them.
There should be dignity in the Office of the President of the United States, a sense of gravitas, but where is such a thing when it is now announced that the President as of Jan. 20 will still be listed as the Executive producer of Celebrity Appearance and get paid for this via MGM. What an undignified state of being for a sitting president and for the country he represents. How inappropriate and how symbolic of all that we will have, a sitting president who refuses to divest, who thinks that the Oval Office is just another, bigger way to enhance his income, his monied holdings and that he is above the law, legal and moral. How uncouth. How morally incorrect. Simply revolting and this is to be whom we show to our children as a role model, as one to emulate?
There is not a one of his campaign promises that he has kept and indeed he has violated many. He promised to "drain the swamp", whatever that was meant to signify and yet one now finds that the level of the swamp water has risen. The net worth of those so far appointed to the Cabinet is over 14.5 billion dollars - wow, such a collection representative of the blue collar workers who were his voters! They have as much connection to them as we do to these Fat Cats. In fact, he has invited the foxes into the henhouses and we are expected to sit there and clap and shout how the Emperor's new clothes are wonderful even as he parades naked in the streets with the hens in his mouth - and he could care less. So we will now have an enemy of environmental changes and rules in order to at least slow down climate change - will instead be in charge of it. We will have enemies and foes of the health needs and interests of women, of their rights to their own bodies as the heads of these departments. Should we now all get ready to lose the vote and regard ourselves as chattel to men? We have fossil fuel industry executives in charge of energy and clean fuels.
Our country, which has long prided itself on the separation of civilian and military, and of having the military subject to civilian control, has taken a big blow to this principle as Trump has appointed general after general, including one whose nickname is Mad Dog, another who sees conspiracies under every bed and the closets too and a running or working principle in this future administration seems to be that it is okay to bring your child to work time, every day, and the more corrupt, the more morally challenged why the better it is.
As for medical issues and promise, nothing doing. Nothing detailed, just bluster and tweets. Oh he will lower drug prices. Really, where are the details. Words mean nothing unless accompanied by action - or underlined by inaction. The millions who achieved medical care under the ACA will now have it ripped away, but oh, not to worry, one will be able to choose freely- except of course if one has a chronic condition, or is poor and has no money to pay these exorbitant fees and there is no longer any government subsidies and shall we go on....
He states that he will get rid of the terrorists, all out war upon them and yet he praises Pakistan to the sky, tells of its "terrific" people, that it is a "fantastic" country. Yes, this is the same Pakistan that harbors terrorists like a dog harbors fleas, the same country which openly hosted Bin laden.
The Department of Labor is going to be headed by a fast food magnate, not exactly the most welcoming of places of employment, a man who says not to increase hourly wages or else these places will close. So much better to keep people in slave wages, Oh yes. Such a friend to labor!
And this man's own party already has great differences with him but this is countered by all those who now suck up to him, afraid to lose business or to be tweeted about and then receive threats to life and limb. If the muckety mucks have a great fear of him, then what should the little people feel? How do we tolerate a man who lies, a man who admires tyrants, a man who has no moral boundaries or guidelines, a man who will use the power of the office to enhance his own income - against the legal and moral law, though he has openly stated that if one takes advantage of legal loopholes, immoral as that might be, then that is smart!! Folks, where do we go from here?
Fear only fear itself? Yes, but there is more to it than that. I know people who already have put in place escape plans. Escape plans!!!! But where in the world will be a safe haven if the world has gone insane? Why and what are we to do when there are already rumors of war with China and allies? Whether this be an exaggeration or not, the mere existence of that thought is frightening - even as he collects rent!!!! from them , a straight out violation of the Emoluments Clause. Well, we can impeach him and seeing him sit in a courtroom will be a common place event as he has to answer to all the suits against him- or settle them as he did with Trump University and the fraud he perpetrated there.
What have we wrought !! What have we done? How do we fix this? How do we gird our loins as the Bible says and stand against all that he represents? Well, we pull up our pants, stand tall, take a deep breath, and shout out loud. We shout for rights. We shout for equality. We shout for justice. And we keep on shouting until the point is made and protective and restorative actions are taken, until the representatives man and woman up and remember their souls, until the spirit and values of America are front and center once more and the rest of the world follows, until the brave resisters of violence and hate, of invasion of their countries finally have hope once more. Big job but there is no alternative. Fear? Yes, I, and many others are afraid, but this is still America and we will still use our rights and the law to return to sanity. There is no other choice.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
AN AMERICAN FAIRY TALE
Once upon a time there was a young man who left his country and traveled to another. He became an immigrant, you know, one of those despicable beings who steal jobs from others and commit crimes. He prospered in his new country but tried to return to his original one without much success. His son, also suspect as one descended from an immigrant, only a generation away, also prospered and raised a son of his own.
This son, only two generations away from an immigrant so was he also suspect? Guess one has to evaluate that for oneself. Anyway, this son was not happy. He needed to move up in life, being comfortable or even rich was not satisfactory enough. No, this young man decided that he was actually royalty and needed to be recognized as such.
So he began his royalty campaign in earnest. He used money from Father's Treasury and knew there was more should he need it and sure enough he had to return to the well for more. He learned quickly enough the rule for advancement in the financial world - use OPM - other people's money and always claim that it was lost. Avoid taxes, use every loophole one could find, even if the outcome was not morally correct and always and forever, label one's products with the name in gold so people would accept his royal ascension when the time came.
As the years rolled on, this King to be married several wives and had children, children who were raised to be princes and princesses of the royal line. Two wives were discarded along the way until he felt he had the perfect consort and always his quest was uppermost in his mind. People began to wonder and make excuses for him and his behavior as he began a new career, a new stepping stone toward his royal progress.
Finally, the opportunity. Success was possibly at hand. The country was riven, driven to distraction by its differences, by pressures both inward and from outside. The country and its ideals were under attack and this self made princeling and king wanna be used the same tactics he used in business. He blustered and lied. He refused information and did not expose his inner and most secret documents. He did not pay taxes and praised others who did the same. In fact, he even promised to cut their taxes so their companies would flourish even more and have more money held from the consumers of the nation.
A campaign of hate and abuse began. Truths were exposed and yet this wanna be recovered from all accusations. He molested? So what, was the attitude. He is doing what most men do or dream of or at least that was what we were being told. He was being sued in courts, both civil and criminal but so what was the attitude and so the possibility of the new ruler of the country sitting in a court defending himself was out there - and yet, people overlooked.
And why? Because our wanna be used a technique of the Big Lie and even the small lies. He came up or his supporters who were awful, came up with "false news" dignifying lies by another name - yet that is what it was and is. So his opponent became a pedophile and a murderer, a violator of the nation's concerns and security, an awful person accused of everything that wanna be himself has done, yet was pushed off on her. Missing emails? Sure - look at his businesses. Trustworthy? Look who lost people's money. Cutting taxes? Sure and look who is getting those cuts now - Big Business and Fat Cats.
But the almost King is happy and so are his four princelings who have become included in the government without formal approval, without governmental investigation And why? Because our new almost King does exactly what he wants and rules do not matter.
His promises could not be examined closely for fear of finding the truth and being forced to accept it and when brave souls took off after him and his lies and those of his proposed court, why they were threatened and cursed, receiving numerous death threats from the followers of this almost King. A labor leader who exposed the truth about the Carrier deal received threats that "they were coming for him". And he was not the only one. Women, reporters, anyone who stood against him were in the same boat. Apparently he had many evil elves working for him.
And so the almost king moved on, appointing to his court many generals and soldiers, all the better to what? To institute a coup of the new court over the old democracy? Laws and the Constitution did not matter, for his plans often involved overturning rules. He abandoned our old allies and chose new ones, new idols - Putin, Hitler from the past, Hussein, a deposed and dead awful man and dictator. Torture was approved. Harm was approved and soon enough this man will have satisfied his ambitions and his kingdom will indeed be his. And his princelings and of course his princess remain by his side as do the offspring of his courtiers. Long may his businesses flourish is the motto of the day.
So what is the end to this American Fairy Tale? I do not think we will have a happily ever after ending, not unless much changes. Not unless this lesser popular vote winner hears from the people who insist on their rights, their justice, their respect, their honor and turn away from a rule of fear, of tweets which are almost manic and which cannot be answered in person, a sign of a weak and insecure king. There are no fairy godmothers here to help the populace. They must do it themselves. First step - make your concerns known and examine your vote. If you already see the truth, then join with others who already knew it. March for justice and equality, whoever runs the country. March for goodness and unity, whoever runs the country. That is the only way we will have a traditional fairy tale ending
This son, only two generations away from an immigrant so was he also suspect? Guess one has to evaluate that for oneself. Anyway, this son was not happy. He needed to move up in life, being comfortable or even rich was not satisfactory enough. No, this young man decided that he was actually royalty and needed to be recognized as such.
So he began his royalty campaign in earnest. He used money from Father's Treasury and knew there was more should he need it and sure enough he had to return to the well for more. He learned quickly enough the rule for advancement in the financial world - use OPM - other people's money and always claim that it was lost. Avoid taxes, use every loophole one could find, even if the outcome was not morally correct and always and forever, label one's products with the name in gold so people would accept his royal ascension when the time came.
As the years rolled on, this King to be married several wives and had children, children who were raised to be princes and princesses of the royal line. Two wives were discarded along the way until he felt he had the perfect consort and always his quest was uppermost in his mind. People began to wonder and make excuses for him and his behavior as he began a new career, a new stepping stone toward his royal progress.
Finally, the opportunity. Success was possibly at hand. The country was riven, driven to distraction by its differences, by pressures both inward and from outside. The country and its ideals were under attack and this self made princeling and king wanna be used the same tactics he used in business. He blustered and lied. He refused information and did not expose his inner and most secret documents. He did not pay taxes and praised others who did the same. In fact, he even promised to cut their taxes so their companies would flourish even more and have more money held from the consumers of the nation.
A campaign of hate and abuse began. Truths were exposed and yet this wanna be recovered from all accusations. He molested? So what, was the attitude. He is doing what most men do or dream of or at least that was what we were being told. He was being sued in courts, both civil and criminal but so what was the attitude and so the possibility of the new ruler of the country sitting in a court defending himself was out there - and yet, people overlooked.
And why? Because our wanna be used a technique of the Big Lie and even the small lies. He came up or his supporters who were awful, came up with "false news" dignifying lies by another name - yet that is what it was and is. So his opponent became a pedophile and a murderer, a violator of the nation's concerns and security, an awful person accused of everything that wanna be himself has done, yet was pushed off on her. Missing emails? Sure - look at his businesses. Trustworthy? Look who lost people's money. Cutting taxes? Sure and look who is getting those cuts now - Big Business and Fat Cats.
But the almost King is happy and so are his four princelings who have become included in the government without formal approval, without governmental investigation And why? Because our new almost King does exactly what he wants and rules do not matter.
His promises could not be examined closely for fear of finding the truth and being forced to accept it and when brave souls took off after him and his lies and those of his proposed court, why they were threatened and cursed, receiving numerous death threats from the followers of this almost King. A labor leader who exposed the truth about the Carrier deal received threats that "they were coming for him". And he was not the only one. Women, reporters, anyone who stood against him were in the same boat. Apparently he had many evil elves working for him.
And so the almost king moved on, appointing to his court many generals and soldiers, all the better to what? To institute a coup of the new court over the old democracy? Laws and the Constitution did not matter, for his plans often involved overturning rules. He abandoned our old allies and chose new ones, new idols - Putin, Hitler from the past, Hussein, a deposed and dead awful man and dictator. Torture was approved. Harm was approved and soon enough this man will have satisfied his ambitions and his kingdom will indeed be his. And his princelings and of course his princess remain by his side as do the offspring of his courtiers. Long may his businesses flourish is the motto of the day.
So what is the end to this American Fairy Tale? I do not think we will have a happily ever after ending, not unless much changes. Not unless this lesser popular vote winner hears from the people who insist on their rights, their justice, their respect, their honor and turn away from a rule of fear, of tweets which are almost manic and which cannot be answered in person, a sign of a weak and insecure king. There are no fairy godmothers here to help the populace. They must do it themselves. First step - make your concerns known and examine your vote. If you already see the truth, then join with others who already knew it. March for justice and equality, whoever runs the country. March for goodness and unity, whoever runs the country. That is the only way we will have a traditional fairy tale ending
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
ON JUSTICE AND TRUTH
"Tzedek, tzedek tirdof" Justice, justice shall ye pursue. So it states in the Bible, the Old Testament and it is worthy of note that justice is based on the same root as tzedakah, or charity, giving, helping others. There is much justice to work for, to chase, but it must be done with a sense of mercy and compassion, tempered by it, with it.
Remember the song from South Pacific wherein the Lt. sings how hate and hatred must be taught, that it is not a natural occurring event? True words and yet how much time do we invest, how much energy have we invested into teaching of hate, into its institutionalization and its maintenance? Too much.
Hatred is the opposite of justice. Benjamin Franklin said that "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." I agree, yet disagree, for no one is unaffected by hatred and the purveyors of it. It infects and infests the world and the bloodshed that follows is pervasive. Rabbi David Wolpe, a most amazing writer and speaker wrote of his recent trip with the Joint to Vienna, to Hungary. "It is too much — too much beauty, too much betrayal. Too much music, too many death marches. Too much faith, too much waste. Too much art and literature and charm, too much cruelty and hatred and pain."
It is that pain which must be felt by all if we are to ever defeat this scourge of mankind. Justice is what we need but will we get it? Many are excited at the upcoming event after Inauguration, the Women's March on Washington. It is truly a Women's March on the world and all who value justice will join in, be it there or in a hometown march. "In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore."
Hatred is an easy trap into which one might fall. It refocuses one's anger, one's fears, "with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear." But we must learn how to deal with that, with those debilitating emotions. Full disclosure, we all have negative emotions and I will admit that I do have problems with much of the Moslem way of thinking, not believing that Islam is a religion of peace. There have been too many incidents of horror and slaughter for me to believe this. However, and a big however, I am willing to listen to the voices of those Muslims who will speak of peace, who will deny their murderous brothers, who will speak up. And for sure, I do not and cannot tolerate the thought of yet another group being tagged and numbered, denied their humanity, roped off, segregated, and cut out of society. As a Jew, I remember our history and shudder at how often we have suffered that and the tragic consequences. I shudder at the pink triangles of the gay sector of humanity under Nazi rule and the Romany or gypsies and Jehovah's Witnesses and any "other" groups. Yes, for the evil and the bad, let us indeed catch them, but that goes for any and all who would terrorize society, including American nationalists who back violence and raise threats A crime is a crime, no matter who perpetrates it.
Unfortunately, I believe this hate goes along with those who would deny the truth, who pervert it and go along on their merry way and deeply unfortunate is the fact that our president elect is one born liar. Every day he says or rather tweets something and the next day or even sooner, the truth will out. 1,000 jobs saved? Nope - 800 and at what cost and for how long and for what perversion of presidential behavior? A dignified statement? Nope, an adolescent tweeting, the use of which reminds one of the bullying schoolyard tormentor, of the alpha girl ranting on the awkward girl in the class. During the election period Trump raged at Megyn Kelly "...over the phone, quoting him as saying: “You’re a disgrace! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You’re a disgrace! I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account against you and I still may.” And the campaign against her continues as does other "false news" otherwise known as lies!! A pizza store has been the target of vicious lies as have the neighboring stores and a gunman even went there to shoot the "criminals" - all by Trump supporters, those enflamed with and by hate.
This is not justice and nor is it truth. Nor is it presidential, not in the very least and we must fight against this, push against it and demand that it stop. We must demand that our supposed leader, G-d help us, behave as an adult and stop tweeting , especially lies. He must tell the truth. He supposedly sold his stocks in companies and where is the proof that was supposed to have been released within 45 days? Where did he place the money? Did he buy other stocks? The truth, man, the truth! And this, even if true, and most have our doubts, this does not cut him off from his Trump businesses, not at all. We are not here to enable him to make a profit on his businesses. He lies about the cost of Air Force One and why? Who can fathom him? He ignores the dire warnings of the hospitals and even of his own party members about what would happen should ACA be repealed - millions uncovered, hospitals swamped with charity and non paying patients and unable to afford this or keep their doors open.
Women are not to be demeaned nor literally manhandled, people of color are not to be demeaned and victimized either, any and all colors, for all blood is red. No group is to be tagged and herded as animals. No torture is to be approved as a standard tool nor waterboarding or even worse as Trump so easily and offhandedly talks about.
If we are to have a good America and behave as Americans should (see yesterday's post) then we must roll up our sleeves and stand firm. The voices for justice, for truth, for the true America will not be silenced. As James Baldwin stated, "Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." We must face these problems and do our best to change them, and might we even dare hope that we can change Trump? I doubt that but we can organize and let him and his cronies know he is being watched. No shortcuts, no scapegoats and our representatives had better watch out as well.
We must look into our souls and call for justice, justice with compassion. We must cancel hate as a political tool or else we are all lost. Ray Bradbury said it best in The Illustrated Man.
"She wanted to get at the hate of them all, to pry at it and work at it until she found a little chink, and then pull out a pebble or a stone or a brick and then a part of the wall, and once started, the whole edifice might roar down and be done away with."
Would that not be beautiful? Why must it be a pipedream? Why can we not all work towards that? Why? Why?
Remember the song from South Pacific wherein the Lt. sings how hate and hatred must be taught, that it is not a natural occurring event? True words and yet how much time do we invest, how much energy have we invested into teaching of hate, into its institutionalization and its maintenance? Too much.
Hatred is the opposite of justice. Benjamin Franklin said that "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." I agree, yet disagree, for no one is unaffected by hatred and the purveyors of it. It infects and infests the world and the bloodshed that follows is pervasive. Rabbi David Wolpe, a most amazing writer and speaker wrote of his recent trip with the Joint to Vienna, to Hungary. "It is too much — too much beauty, too much betrayal. Too much music, too many death marches. Too much faith, too much waste. Too much art and literature and charm, too much cruelty and hatred and pain."
It is that pain which must be felt by all if we are to ever defeat this scourge of mankind. Justice is what we need but will we get it? Many are excited at the upcoming event after Inauguration, the Women's March on Washington. It is truly a Women's March on the world and all who value justice will join in, be it there or in a hometown march. "In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore."
Hatred is an easy trap into which one might fall. It refocuses one's anger, one's fears, "with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear." But we must learn how to deal with that, with those debilitating emotions. Full disclosure, we all have negative emotions and I will admit that I do have problems with much of the Moslem way of thinking, not believing that Islam is a religion of peace. There have been too many incidents of horror and slaughter for me to believe this. However, and a big however, I am willing to listen to the voices of those Muslims who will speak of peace, who will deny their murderous brothers, who will speak up. And for sure, I do not and cannot tolerate the thought of yet another group being tagged and numbered, denied their humanity, roped off, segregated, and cut out of society. As a Jew, I remember our history and shudder at how often we have suffered that and the tragic consequences. I shudder at the pink triangles of the gay sector of humanity under Nazi rule and the Romany or gypsies and Jehovah's Witnesses and any "other" groups. Yes, for the evil and the bad, let us indeed catch them, but that goes for any and all who would terrorize society, including American nationalists who back violence and raise threats A crime is a crime, no matter who perpetrates it.
Unfortunately, I believe this hate goes along with those who would deny the truth, who pervert it and go along on their merry way and deeply unfortunate is the fact that our president elect is one born liar. Every day he says or rather tweets something and the next day or even sooner, the truth will out. 1,000 jobs saved? Nope - 800 and at what cost and for how long and for what perversion of presidential behavior? A dignified statement? Nope, an adolescent tweeting, the use of which reminds one of the bullying schoolyard tormentor, of the alpha girl ranting on the awkward girl in the class. During the election period Trump raged at Megyn Kelly "...over the phone, quoting him as saying: “You’re a disgrace! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You’re a disgrace! I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account against you and I still may.” And the campaign against her continues as does other "false news" otherwise known as lies!! A pizza store has been the target of vicious lies as have the neighboring stores and a gunman even went there to shoot the "criminals" - all by Trump supporters, those enflamed with and by hate.
This is not justice and nor is it truth. Nor is it presidential, not in the very least and we must fight against this, push against it and demand that it stop. We must demand that our supposed leader, G-d help us, behave as an adult and stop tweeting , especially lies. He must tell the truth. He supposedly sold his stocks in companies and where is the proof that was supposed to have been released within 45 days? Where did he place the money? Did he buy other stocks? The truth, man, the truth! And this, even if true, and most have our doubts, this does not cut him off from his Trump businesses, not at all. We are not here to enable him to make a profit on his businesses. He lies about the cost of Air Force One and why? Who can fathom him? He ignores the dire warnings of the hospitals and even of his own party members about what would happen should ACA be repealed - millions uncovered, hospitals swamped with charity and non paying patients and unable to afford this or keep their doors open.
Women are not to be demeaned nor literally manhandled, people of color are not to be demeaned and victimized either, any and all colors, for all blood is red. No group is to be tagged and herded as animals. No torture is to be approved as a standard tool nor waterboarding or even worse as Trump so easily and offhandedly talks about.
If we are to have a good America and behave as Americans should (see yesterday's post) then we must roll up our sleeves and stand firm. The voices for justice, for truth, for the true America will not be silenced. As James Baldwin stated, "Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." We must face these problems and do our best to change them, and might we even dare hope that we can change Trump? I doubt that but we can organize and let him and his cronies know he is being watched. No shortcuts, no scapegoats and our representatives had better watch out as well.
We must look into our souls and call for justice, justice with compassion. We must cancel hate as a political tool or else we are all lost. Ray Bradbury said it best in The Illustrated Man.
"She wanted to get at the hate of them all, to pry at it and work at it until she found a little chink, and then pull out a pebble or a stone or a brick and then a part of the wall, and once started, the whole edifice might roar down and be done away with."
Would that not be beautiful? Why must it be a pipedream? Why can we not all work towards that? Why? Why?
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
ON BEING AMERICAN TODAY
Once upon a time, not so long ago, Americans walked the earth with confidence and joy. They were proud of a country which welcomed in new Americans, who reached out to help others, who basically had decided to look on life with a rosier eye than not. They had read Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the statement that "All human beings, as we meet them, are co-mingled out of good and evil." Americans used to make the choice of good, not that they were perfect and made lots of mistakes, but basically good was what they wished, what they taught their children, what they showed to the world.
Yes, there were aberrations what with the HUAC and McCarthy, the KKK, hateful periods of time as during the time of President Warren G. Harding, the corruptness and the hatred, the rabid anti Semitism of the time, the prejudice that African Americans faced, and groups of immigrants, including white ones from various countries. But somehow we managed to right ourselves, to come back to the center. But not now. Now it is different, frighteningly so.
Today we have a new organization called the Professor Watchlist, ostensibly there to watch those in the academic world who "advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." This was set up by a conservative youth group called The Turning Point USA. What was that again about the refuge of tyrants is patriotism?
Plato quoted Socrates as saying "As long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy." Meaning? That justice came before and still comes before other concerns and it must always be so if we are to live in a world of justice and peace. But that is no more the motto of the day - not at all.
Today we have an administration to be that is almost laughable if it were not so sad and dangerous. We have bigots. We have people whose children are being brought in and that is not only Trump's kids but also Flynn's and Mercer's Rebekkah and all these kids are chips off the old block and even more extreme in some cases. They have not ben taught to act on morals but on what will make money and especially how to find a way to leave others holding the bag whilst they march off with a profit. Talk of the circuses of ancient and collapsing Rome. We have the Mercers sponsoring a costume party called Villains and Heroes and Trump attends going as himself. (You choose which category he falls into!)
Today being American means watching Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, as the proposed head of a new organization that will boost Trump over all and when she was challenged at a meeting with Clinton's communication director, who accused Conway of running a campaign that "emboldened white supremacists and white nationalists" Conway reacted. She said or asked "Do you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform? You're going to look me in the face and tell me that?" The answer by one who held on to values and stood up for the truth said, "It did. Kellyanne, it did." And so it did.
And what do we do about it? What do we do about a new administration that is being called "Agents of Idiocracy"? What do we do with a president elect who is being greeted with contempt, who has lowered the bar so far down that there is almost no unqualified person anymore. Come ye, all ye sexual predators, and come ye all you liars and cheats and come ye all those who fail repeatedly in business, and come ye all who use hatred and spout hatred for all of you are the new Americans, the new face we will present to the world.
And yet, there are still Americans of old who refuse to lose that "Americaness" that gave the world much, that endowed us with a special heart, a flag that meant something, that we were proud to wave. There are still Americans who will stand up for what is right, for justice, for equality of all, no matter race, creed, color, religion, ethnic origin, orientation, gender, and any other category which now stands liable to be on the receiving end of hatred and even violence. Not everyone is cowed by the man with his finger on his Twitter button, by the man who thinks that everyone is "terrific", "believe me" - bigly so! And that his promise to us that he will make us great again is a slogan filled with lies and deceptions.
We have "bait and switch economics, we have empty promises", we have the same white class that voted for him just waiting there like lambs to the slaughter as their health care stands in danger even as they state that they like having coverage, something they did not have before the ACA. We have recounts being demanded and even now in Florida, a sign that the American people are not happy with this election, that it somehow reeks, especially as Hillary's popular vote now surpasses his by over two and a half million people. Where is the old rule of majority rules? Where do we really allow the voice of the people to speak? And how have we reached this point where Americans do not talk to each other anymore, so deep are the divisions and the tension.
Remember the "olden" days, those days in which we stood up to the Establishment and chanted "The whole world is watching" as we fought a war that was based on a lie of an attack, as we stood up for the right, as we took pride on those who rode the buses to the South and mourned the loss and disappearance of three brave boys, thrown into some unknown swamp. We had courage then, we believed in principles then, we stood for the right, the fair and where it was not we shouted for it, fought for it and put flowers in the rifles of soldiers. So where are those kids today? Would a Keith Ellison ever have been up for DNC chairman then? No, but he should not be today either, the man who has demonstrated anti Semitism of a strong degree over his lifetime But we are not thinking anymore. We just react and grow ever more extreme, forgetting that hatred has no boundaries; it oozes over all, drowns all it comes to and touches.
To be American today? You answer that question? Are we satisfied with the hatred, with the threats, with the coming four years of incompetence and dangerous posturings? Are we going to live past the idiotic insult to China, the country that owns over one trillion dollars of our debt, who lends us money as needed? And if they call it in? Yes, we need to challenge them on human rights, on some policies, but it must be done properly. And will we accept becoming a subject nation in all but name to Putin and his tactics? For surely we are headed there as Trump glows with praise for him. And are we going to see the last years of democracy here in the country, not perfect, but the best we have at the moment? Are we going to allow a demagogue to ruin it all, he and his lackeys and his Imperial Family and court figures?
Stand up for equality. Stand up for justice. Speak up where you see wrongs being done. Speak up for those who are losing their voices. Speak up for being an American. Remember what America is supposed to stand for, once stood for and must do so again.
I love my country, am proud to live here and to be an American. Why can we not all remember that? "The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it." True, sadly so, so let us work to stand on the side of good for that is what makes us human and that is what gives a hope for the future and that is what is supposed to make us Americans.
Yes, there were aberrations what with the HUAC and McCarthy, the KKK, hateful periods of time as during the time of President Warren G. Harding, the corruptness and the hatred, the rabid anti Semitism of the time, the prejudice that African Americans faced, and groups of immigrants, including white ones from various countries. But somehow we managed to right ourselves, to come back to the center. But not now. Now it is different, frighteningly so.
Today we have a new organization called the Professor Watchlist, ostensibly there to watch those in the academic world who "advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." This was set up by a conservative youth group called The Turning Point USA. What was that again about the refuge of tyrants is patriotism?
Plato quoted Socrates as saying "As long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy." Meaning? That justice came before and still comes before other concerns and it must always be so if we are to live in a world of justice and peace. But that is no more the motto of the day - not at all.
Today we have an administration to be that is almost laughable if it were not so sad and dangerous. We have bigots. We have people whose children are being brought in and that is not only Trump's kids but also Flynn's and Mercer's Rebekkah and all these kids are chips off the old block and even more extreme in some cases. They have not ben taught to act on morals but on what will make money and especially how to find a way to leave others holding the bag whilst they march off with a profit. Talk of the circuses of ancient and collapsing Rome. We have the Mercers sponsoring a costume party called Villains and Heroes and Trump attends going as himself. (You choose which category he falls into!)
Today being American means watching Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, as the proposed head of a new organization that will boost Trump over all and when she was challenged at a meeting with Clinton's communication director, who accused Conway of running a campaign that "emboldened white supremacists and white nationalists" Conway reacted. She said or asked "Do you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform? You're going to look me in the face and tell me that?" The answer by one who held on to values and stood up for the truth said, "It did. Kellyanne, it did." And so it did.
And what do we do about it? What do we do about a new administration that is being called "Agents of Idiocracy"? What do we do with a president elect who is being greeted with contempt, who has lowered the bar so far down that there is almost no unqualified person anymore. Come ye, all ye sexual predators, and come ye all you liars and cheats and come ye all those who fail repeatedly in business, and come ye all who use hatred and spout hatred for all of you are the new Americans, the new face we will present to the world.
And yet, there are still Americans of old who refuse to lose that "Americaness" that gave the world much, that endowed us with a special heart, a flag that meant something, that we were proud to wave. There are still Americans who will stand up for what is right, for justice, for equality of all, no matter race, creed, color, religion, ethnic origin, orientation, gender, and any other category which now stands liable to be on the receiving end of hatred and even violence. Not everyone is cowed by the man with his finger on his Twitter button, by the man who thinks that everyone is "terrific", "believe me" - bigly so! And that his promise to us that he will make us great again is a slogan filled with lies and deceptions.
We have "bait and switch economics, we have empty promises", we have the same white class that voted for him just waiting there like lambs to the slaughter as their health care stands in danger even as they state that they like having coverage, something they did not have before the ACA. We have recounts being demanded and even now in Florida, a sign that the American people are not happy with this election, that it somehow reeks, especially as Hillary's popular vote now surpasses his by over two and a half million people. Where is the old rule of majority rules? Where do we really allow the voice of the people to speak? And how have we reached this point where Americans do not talk to each other anymore, so deep are the divisions and the tension.
Remember the "olden" days, those days in which we stood up to the Establishment and chanted "The whole world is watching" as we fought a war that was based on a lie of an attack, as we stood up for the right, as we took pride on those who rode the buses to the South and mourned the loss and disappearance of three brave boys, thrown into some unknown swamp. We had courage then, we believed in principles then, we stood for the right, the fair and where it was not we shouted for it, fought for it and put flowers in the rifles of soldiers. So where are those kids today? Would a Keith Ellison ever have been up for DNC chairman then? No, but he should not be today either, the man who has demonstrated anti Semitism of a strong degree over his lifetime But we are not thinking anymore. We just react and grow ever more extreme, forgetting that hatred has no boundaries; it oozes over all, drowns all it comes to and touches.
To be American today? You answer that question? Are we satisfied with the hatred, with the threats, with the coming four years of incompetence and dangerous posturings? Are we going to live past the idiotic insult to China, the country that owns over one trillion dollars of our debt, who lends us money as needed? And if they call it in? Yes, we need to challenge them on human rights, on some policies, but it must be done properly. And will we accept becoming a subject nation in all but name to Putin and his tactics? For surely we are headed there as Trump glows with praise for him. And are we going to see the last years of democracy here in the country, not perfect, but the best we have at the moment? Are we going to allow a demagogue to ruin it all, he and his lackeys and his Imperial Family and court figures?
Stand up for equality. Stand up for justice. Speak up where you see wrongs being done. Speak up for those who are losing their voices. Speak up for being an American. Remember what America is supposed to stand for, once stood for and must do so again.
I love my country, am proud to live here and to be an American. Why can we not all remember that? "The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it." True, sadly so, so let us work to stand on the side of good for that is what makes us human and that is what gives a hope for the future and that is what is supposed to make us Americans.
Monday, December 5, 2016
AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YE FREE - IF YE RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH!!!
It is one thing to pound away at one's own beliefs, writing of them, speaking of them, even if one is a lone voice or one of a few, but it is even more frightening to find one a voice among many, telling of the same thoughts, the same fears, the same worries. Now the question is - will the people out there recognize the harsh truth and actually do something about it or will we not, turning blind eyes and deaf ears and closed mouths to the whole issue and then our beloved country will simply not be there after four years - or earlier.
Evan McMullin ran for President, more as a gesture of worry, of opposition, of a wake up call to America than in any serious thought of winning - he was available as a choice in one state, but his votes said something that we should listen to and he wrote an Op Ed piece this morning which will disturb my sleep for a long time - and should do the same to yours. And we begin with Trump's total ignorance of the Constitution and his refusal to learn.
When he was reminded that Article I assigns all Federal lawmaking to the Congress he cut in and spoke of Article XII - which does not exist! And not interested in learning at all, here is a paragraph to share with you - "He had questioned judicial independence, threatened the freedom of the press, called for violating Muslims’ equal protection under the law, promised the use of torture and attacked Americans based on their gender, race and religion. He had also undermined critical democratic norms including peaceful debate and transitions of power, commitment to truth, freedom from foreign interference and abstention from the use of executive power for political retribution. " The shivers are running down my back and I am wondering where in the hell on earth we can even run for sanctuary what with a most erratic demagogue in charge, one who relishes the thought of being the first dictator in America, voted into office and never out!!
His buddy, his much admired Putin even now sees that sometimes when one gets what one wished for it is not so good. Now he says..."And if he’s a smart person, that means that he will totally and quite quickly understand the different level of his responsibility. We presume that he will act based on this position.” Uh huh! The old saws are there for a reason and have lasted so long because there is truth in them.
He has threatened companies with punishments that he has no legal power or authority to do and yet instead of roars from groups connected to business, from companies we hear........correct - NADA and why? Because ".... groups stood nearly silent on Sunday, potentially worried about drawing the wrath of the president-elect."
There is a reason why he is bringing on so many former military officers, including interviewing yet another candidate for Secretary of State, a retired admiral. Dictators need the military to stay in power and can you just see Trump dressed up in a fancy military uniform full of gold braid and colored medals as he huffs and puffs along - and shuts down the democracy once known as the United States of America.
Trump is a man who threatens retribution, who threatens to jail people who disagree with him and act on those beliefs. He threatens to punish all, to revoke citizenship. He frightens people into sitting still, keeping mouths shut and I wonder - how does the rest of the nation not hear the echoes of Hitler, of demagoguery, does not hear the knell of the bell, tolling for us all. Throughout history most of the biggest dictators were people erratic in their behavior and thoughts and deeds. Be it Ivan the Terrible or any of the Tsars, Hitler or Mussolini or any of the dictators of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, turning hatred upon certain groups in society, be their names be Jews or Christians or a differing Muslim sect or Tutsis or another clan or tribe or even a rival terrorist organization - dictators cannot deal with opposition and will shut it down with the harshest of orders and illegal laws and then where will we be - living in a society that obeys these immoral laws because it IS the law? It has happened and can happen again. The Trump family is moving wholesale into the White House and into the lawmaking section of our country. Woe upon us if we do not heed the facts, follow the trends and not act accordingly. Impeachment is always there but there will be those who love Trump and his philosophy, the alt right, the crazy haters, the nasty dudes, the frightened who need a strong hand to feel safe. There is never an end to those who hang on and around hoping to gain something for themselves.
Here is a long piece from McMullin. " But the deeper objective is to weaken the democratic institutions that limit their power. Eroding confidence in voting, elections and representative bodies gives them a freer hand to wield more power.
Peal after peal of the bells. Law after law collapsing, erratic judgements and a neglect of America's role in the world, frightened world leaders, even those who backed him. Would that I am wrong. Would that all the other voices who are speaking up are wrong. If only - but remember the old adage of if wishes were horses.....We had all better get on these damn horses and ride and ride and ride. It is up to us to preserve our democracy. We must make it clear to Trump that we will not allow him to ruin it all. Press your legislators and representatives. Speak up. Write letters.
And come March with Us on January 21, 2017 at 10 AM. Show the world that there are still people who value our rights, our history. Walk for these rights. Walk for justice. Walk for those who cannot. Walk for history. But walk.
Read and think about the following lines and understand why I and many others are frightened.
"The world will be hard
And the wrong will be great.
The age of the Beard
Of the Sword - shields will shiver -
The age of the Storm and the Wolf are to .
come.
Before the World falls,
Man shall have no more reverence for man.
"Voluspa" Henry Morley translator
Evan McMullin ran for President, more as a gesture of worry, of opposition, of a wake up call to America than in any serious thought of winning - he was available as a choice in one state, but his votes said something that we should listen to and he wrote an Op Ed piece this morning which will disturb my sleep for a long time - and should do the same to yours. And we begin with Trump's total ignorance of the Constitution and his refusal to learn.
When he was reminded that Article I assigns all Federal lawmaking to the Congress he cut in and spoke of Article XII - which does not exist! And not interested in learning at all, here is a paragraph to share with you - "He had questioned judicial independence, threatened the freedom of the press, called for violating Muslims’ equal protection under the law, promised the use of torture and attacked Americans based on their gender, race and religion. He had also undermined critical democratic norms including peaceful debate and transitions of power, commitment to truth, freedom from foreign interference and abstention from the use of executive power for political retribution. " The shivers are running down my back and I am wondering where in the hell on earth we can even run for sanctuary what with a most erratic demagogue in charge, one who relishes the thought of being the first dictator in America, voted into office and never out!!
His buddy, his much admired Putin even now sees that sometimes when one gets what one wished for it is not so good. Now he says..."And if he’s a smart person, that means that he will totally and quite quickly understand the different level of his responsibility. We presume that he will act based on this position.” Uh huh! The old saws are there for a reason and have lasted so long because there is truth in them.
He has threatened companies with punishments that he has no legal power or authority to do and yet instead of roars from groups connected to business, from companies we hear........correct - NADA and why? Because ".... groups stood nearly silent on Sunday, potentially worried about drawing the wrath of the president-elect."
There is a reason why he is bringing on so many former military officers, including interviewing yet another candidate for Secretary of State, a retired admiral. Dictators need the military to stay in power and can you just see Trump dressed up in a fancy military uniform full of gold braid and colored medals as he huffs and puffs along - and shuts down the democracy once known as the United States of America.
Trump is a man who threatens retribution, who threatens to jail people who disagree with him and act on those beliefs. He threatens to punish all, to revoke citizenship. He frightens people into sitting still, keeping mouths shut and I wonder - how does the rest of the nation not hear the echoes of Hitler, of demagoguery, does not hear the knell of the bell, tolling for us all. Throughout history most of the biggest dictators were people erratic in their behavior and thoughts and deeds. Be it Ivan the Terrible or any of the Tsars, Hitler or Mussolini or any of the dictators of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, turning hatred upon certain groups in society, be their names be Jews or Christians or a differing Muslim sect or Tutsis or another clan or tribe or even a rival terrorist organization - dictators cannot deal with opposition and will shut it down with the harshest of orders and illegal laws and then where will we be - living in a society that obeys these immoral laws because it IS the law? It has happened and can happen again. The Trump family is moving wholesale into the White House and into the lawmaking section of our country. Woe upon us if we do not heed the facts, follow the trends and not act accordingly. Impeachment is always there but there will be those who love Trump and his philosophy, the alt right, the crazy haters, the nasty dudes, the frightened who need a strong hand to feel safe. There is never an end to those who hang on and around hoping to gain something for themselves.
Here is a long piece from McMullin. " But the deeper objective is to weaken the democratic institutions that limit their power. Eroding confidence in voting, elections and representative bodies gives them a freer hand to wield more power.
As a C.I.A. officer, I saw firsthand authoritarians’ use of these tactics around the world. Their profound appetite for absolute power drives their intolerance for any restraint — whether by people, organizations, the law, cultural norms, principles or even the expectation of consistency. For a despot, all of these checks on power must be ignored, undermined or destroyed so that he is all that matters.
Mr. Trump has said that he prefers to be unpredictable because it maximizes his power...... Mr. Trump’s inconsistencies and provocative proposals are a strategy; they are intended to elevate his importance above all else — and to place him beyond democratic norms, beyond even the Constitution."
Peal after peal of the bells. Law after law collapsing, erratic judgements and a neglect of America's role in the world, frightened world leaders, even those who backed him. Would that I am wrong. Would that all the other voices who are speaking up are wrong. If only - but remember the old adage of if wishes were horses.....We had all better get on these damn horses and ride and ride and ride. It is up to us to preserve our democracy. We must make it clear to Trump that we will not allow him to ruin it all. Press your legislators and representatives. Speak up. Write letters.
And come March with Us on January 21, 2017 at 10 AM. Show the world that there are still people who value our rights, our history. Walk for these rights. Walk for justice. Walk for those who cannot. Walk for history. But walk.
Read and think about the following lines and understand why I and many others are frightened.
"The world will be hard
And the wrong will be great.
The age of the Beard
Of the Sword - shields will shiver -
The age of the Storm and the Wolf are to .
come.
Before the World falls,
Man shall have no more reverence for man.
"Voluspa" Henry Morley translator
Sunday, December 4, 2016
WILL WE SEE THE TRUTH? WILL WE HEAR IT?
The truth is often not an easy thing to swallow. In fact, we often find the truth to be uncomfortable so we hide from it, willfully blinding our eyes, from those who did not "see" the nakedness of the emperor to those who would and will not see the harm we have engendered with the election of Trump. This man who promised all, despite all indications that he was telling a lie, many lies, this man who came off as a fool in the debates, this man who thinks America needs to be run as a reality show or indeed, as an adjunct to his business holdings, this man who cannot string together a sensible and mature statement and relies on writers and strict reading of text or to tweets, this man who loves to use the words "fantastic" or "terrific" - when referring to our enemies - this man will be the leader of this country and Heaven help us over the next four years.
People muse aloud, "Well, how much harm can he do in that time? After all, we do have laws and the Constitution." Well, why not ask the starving people of Venezuela, once a most prosperous country and now one with empty shelves in the markets and how about Brazil, once a thriving and huge emerging market and now? The answer is right there and so is the comparison. One in power, ones in power, can do much to harm the very fabric of our lives.
Last nite, at a very enjoyable show, people sang along and applauded the classic song "We Coming to America" or as often worded now "They Coming to America". Really? It is a wonder that this song is not yet banned for uh oh, here come those immigrants, swarming our pristine shores, you know the shores of a white, Christian, Anglo Saxon country with evidently no criminals for that exists only in the immigrant groups!! How quickly people shouting slogans of hate and violence forget that once upon a time they too and/or their families were immigrants and they too faced prejudice and nastiness. Italians were all members of the Mafia. Jews controlled the global economy - even as they struggled to make a living from the pushcarts of the Lower East Side and Brownsville. Irish were dirty, not fit for anything other than a spade or a mop. Ugh, all those foreign speaking people - send them back or keep them in their place. Do you really think that prejudice and hatred of immigrants is new? And yet - we are a nation of immigrants, a nation that welcomed newcomers with a statue standing on high to do exactly that. So why applaud a song and then go vote for one who makes it a farce?
We have a "chosen" few who will now rule the roost provided they get thru the confirmation process but what a bunch they are. We will have more military personnel running civilian departments including the Defense Department than ever before. We will have people who stand for all that Trump promised to get rid of and yet here they are, all the "creatures of the swamp" that he was supposedly draining. He promised that , right?! And yet here comes the hedge fund manager, the Wall Street guys who raided companies, the "legal eagles" who had pasts of prejudice and hatred. Here they all come and don't forget the biggest violator of it all - the president elect himself who states openly that he cannot be charged with conflict of interests - it is the law he says, ignoring the Emoluments Clause which contradicts that statement- and we already know how he takes advantage of "the law" by his avoidance of taxes. His evident non recognition of the difference between legal and moral is frightening as well. Remember the judges of Nazi Germany who also enforced the law. And of course, best of all, we are or should be the eternally grateful recipients of the biggest Trump gift to us - the four shadow presidents who will advise him, sit in on diplomatic meetings, hear secret information - and also run his companies. Yes, his children. Wow!!!!
And let us not forget the ACA or Obamacare, as it is better known. Yes, it is not perfect though 20 million more people are the beneficiaries of insured care now than they were before. Remember when the Republicans ranted of death panels? Uh huh - so where are they. In fact, should the Republicans have their way there will be plenty of deaths and much misery in life. Yes, some premiums have gone up - as they used to do anyway and we all know that, but where does that fault lie? In the greedy insurance companies. In the greedy drug companies who charge usurious prices, sinful prices for their drugs. In the cowards who do not rein them in because don't forget the contributions these entities make to these politicians. Wow, that swamp gets bigger and bigger.
Honesty seems to be a tad lacking here, is it not? A president to be who does not pay his share of taxes, who misuses money given for charity to pay his own bills, who does not release his own taxes or medical records and I still say the man is manic depressive in his behavior - but who knows as all is secret, as he goes around starting forest fires in the political world, who feeds lies to the people who sop it up - there can NOT be a separation of the country from the economy of the world. We are too intertwined and to do anything to undo that will cost us greatly. Remember, our own American businesses use foreign products to make their American made products. As does Europe use American products or China who imports much from us and in fact who owns us with all their Treasury Bonds they have bought.
Willful blindness is not a good idea. Demand that this future administration live up to the Constitution in the best way possible. Demand the preservation of rights - of women, of the LGBTQ segment of society, of workers and unions, of right, the right way, the moral way to do things. Keep Planned Parenthood and the health care it provides. Keep Roe v. Wade. Make sure we have fair immigration. Keep Medicare and Social Security. Keep the social programs of the safety net for our citizens. Fully fund public schools and do away with the poorly functioning charter schools who choose their students carefully. Keep religion out of the Oval office. Oppose hatred and violence, threats of torture, unfair business practices, wrongful and harmful laws and behaviorisms. Make America great again? We are great and I plead not to make it a Third World country for that is where we are headed. I hope to G-d I am wrong, but I have a "bigly" feeling that the worst is yet to come.
Will we see the truth? Will we recognize it when it keeps slapping us in the face? Or will we willfully and purposely close our eyes and minds and wake up too late? The choice is ours and we already have started down the wrong path. Demand of your representatives that they do the right thing, that they vote the right, the morally right, way. Write them. Call them. Be active. And keep an eye out for those less fortunate than you - though I think more and more will be falling into that unfortunate group. Obama added 16 million jobs and has left Trump a grown and growing economy. How long will Trump take to ruin it? And for how long will people continue to buy into the Big Lie and the myriad small lies that he puts forth.
Never before have I had such contempt, such dislike, such a lack of respect for a president to be and never before have I been so worried and depressed about the whole thing and the dangers ahead of us.
Come walk with us on January 21, 2017. Make your voices heard - everyone, non partisan, men and women welcome. Bring your signs and flags, walk for justice and fair play, for unity and peace. Meet at the Clubhouse in Room C and step off with us as we walk the perimeter, walk with us as much as you can and show the world that yes, seniors still have a voice and will raise it to the heavens in order to be heard and to see that the right thing is done.
We are woman - Hear Us Roar! Come roar with us.
People muse aloud, "Well, how much harm can he do in that time? After all, we do have laws and the Constitution." Well, why not ask the starving people of Venezuela, once a most prosperous country and now one with empty shelves in the markets and how about Brazil, once a thriving and huge emerging market and now? The answer is right there and so is the comparison. One in power, ones in power, can do much to harm the very fabric of our lives.
Last nite, at a very enjoyable show, people sang along and applauded the classic song "We Coming to America" or as often worded now "They Coming to America". Really? It is a wonder that this song is not yet banned for uh oh, here come those immigrants, swarming our pristine shores, you know the shores of a white, Christian, Anglo Saxon country with evidently no criminals for that exists only in the immigrant groups!! How quickly people shouting slogans of hate and violence forget that once upon a time they too and/or their families were immigrants and they too faced prejudice and nastiness. Italians were all members of the Mafia. Jews controlled the global economy - even as they struggled to make a living from the pushcarts of the Lower East Side and Brownsville. Irish were dirty, not fit for anything other than a spade or a mop. Ugh, all those foreign speaking people - send them back or keep them in their place. Do you really think that prejudice and hatred of immigrants is new? And yet - we are a nation of immigrants, a nation that welcomed newcomers with a statue standing on high to do exactly that. So why applaud a song and then go vote for one who makes it a farce?
We have a "chosen" few who will now rule the roost provided they get thru the confirmation process but what a bunch they are. We will have more military personnel running civilian departments including the Defense Department than ever before. We will have people who stand for all that Trump promised to get rid of and yet here they are, all the "creatures of the swamp" that he was supposedly draining. He promised that , right?! And yet here comes the hedge fund manager, the Wall Street guys who raided companies, the "legal eagles" who had pasts of prejudice and hatred. Here they all come and don't forget the biggest violator of it all - the president elect himself who states openly that he cannot be charged with conflict of interests - it is the law he says, ignoring the Emoluments Clause which contradicts that statement- and we already know how he takes advantage of "the law" by his avoidance of taxes. His evident non recognition of the difference between legal and moral is frightening as well. Remember the judges of Nazi Germany who also enforced the law. And of course, best of all, we are or should be the eternally grateful recipients of the biggest Trump gift to us - the four shadow presidents who will advise him, sit in on diplomatic meetings, hear secret information - and also run his companies. Yes, his children. Wow!!!!
And let us not forget the ACA or Obamacare, as it is better known. Yes, it is not perfect though 20 million more people are the beneficiaries of insured care now than they were before. Remember when the Republicans ranted of death panels? Uh huh - so where are they. In fact, should the Republicans have their way there will be plenty of deaths and much misery in life. Yes, some premiums have gone up - as they used to do anyway and we all know that, but where does that fault lie? In the greedy insurance companies. In the greedy drug companies who charge usurious prices, sinful prices for their drugs. In the cowards who do not rein them in because don't forget the contributions these entities make to these politicians. Wow, that swamp gets bigger and bigger.
Honesty seems to be a tad lacking here, is it not? A president to be who does not pay his share of taxes, who misuses money given for charity to pay his own bills, who does not release his own taxes or medical records and I still say the man is manic depressive in his behavior - but who knows as all is secret, as he goes around starting forest fires in the political world, who feeds lies to the people who sop it up - there can NOT be a separation of the country from the economy of the world. We are too intertwined and to do anything to undo that will cost us greatly. Remember, our own American businesses use foreign products to make their American made products. As does Europe use American products or China who imports much from us and in fact who owns us with all their Treasury Bonds they have bought.
Willful blindness is not a good idea. Demand that this future administration live up to the Constitution in the best way possible. Demand the preservation of rights - of women, of the LGBTQ segment of society, of workers and unions, of right, the right way, the moral way to do things. Keep Planned Parenthood and the health care it provides. Keep Roe v. Wade. Make sure we have fair immigration. Keep Medicare and Social Security. Keep the social programs of the safety net for our citizens. Fully fund public schools and do away with the poorly functioning charter schools who choose their students carefully. Keep religion out of the Oval office. Oppose hatred and violence, threats of torture, unfair business practices, wrongful and harmful laws and behaviorisms. Make America great again? We are great and I plead not to make it a Third World country for that is where we are headed. I hope to G-d I am wrong, but I have a "bigly" feeling that the worst is yet to come.
Will we see the truth? Will we recognize it when it keeps slapping us in the face? Or will we willfully and purposely close our eyes and minds and wake up too late? The choice is ours and we already have started down the wrong path. Demand of your representatives that they do the right thing, that they vote the right, the morally right, way. Write them. Call them. Be active. And keep an eye out for those less fortunate than you - though I think more and more will be falling into that unfortunate group. Obama added 16 million jobs and has left Trump a grown and growing economy. How long will Trump take to ruin it? And for how long will people continue to buy into the Big Lie and the myriad small lies that he puts forth.
Never before have I had such contempt, such dislike, such a lack of respect for a president to be and never before have I been so worried and depressed about the whole thing and the dangers ahead of us.
Come walk with us on January 21, 2017. Make your voices heard - everyone, non partisan, men and women welcome. Bring your signs and flags, walk for justice and fair play, for unity and peace. Meet at the Clubhouse in Room C and step off with us as we walk the perimeter, walk with us as much as you can and show the world that yes, seniors still have a voice and will raise it to the heavens in order to be heard and to see that the right thing is done.
We are woman - Hear Us Roar! Come roar with us.
Friday, December 2, 2016
THE SOUL OF AMERICA
I had an idea for a blog posting and then stopped to read several articles and changed my mind. Far more important was the question of our souls and the direction they are taking. Just what for and why have we sold our souls? Have we settled for a bowl of lentils that is momentarily satisfying and shot down our whole future? Think about it.
For the fleeting pleasure of yelling at a woman who dared to challenge, who dared to rise to the top, who was not perfect, men voted for Trump, ignoring his criminal deeds and lack of knowledge, of civilization. For the pleasure of what - standing by men perhaps, for allowing jealousy to take its course - women voted for Trump and against Hilary. So misogyny won and a woman was shown her place! So "Never again will a candidate’s immoral, criminal behavior toward women automatically be out of bounds."
For the sake of yelling for change, change, and the sick focus of supposed populism, we now have change indeed, right? We have the same lobbyists whom Trump pilloried included in the government. We have a bunch of Fat Cats appointed as Cabinet members, people who have no empathy for those in lower economic classes having never been there and I cannot find any serious charitable undertakings of these people - just like Trump whose charitable foundation ended up paying his bills!! "Never again will a candidate be expected to be financially transparent. Trump refused to release his tax returns, and no one seems to care, or even question that, anymore." His financial empire will still be held in his hands, reaping profits from other governments, reaping profits from those who will wish to curry favor and even reaping profits from our own government as they rent from him. Business as the business of America? You bet, especially if it is the business of Trump.
Hatred of women, of their bodies, no matter how he professes he loves it, sexual predator as president, foul mouthed as we have never had before- and that is whom the people selected? Oh yes, we must remember that they really did not as the majority of them voted for Clinton. Never again will a candidate’s immoral, criminal behavior toward women automatically be out of bounds
And the hate, oh dear Lord the hate! He takes on the universal world of hatred for his support. It did not matter whether one was a neo Nazi or a plain American alt right hater. Why he even took one as an official in his administration. And as for the rest of "others"? Well, he is an equal opportunity hater, campaigning against Latinos, African Americans, immigrants - conveniently disremembering that his grandfather was one!!
"Never again will widespread neo-Nazi support be considered un-American. Trump used neo-Nazis, which media sources refer to euphemistically as the “alt-right,” to help fuel his campaign, and the neo-Nazis used Trump to gain legitimacy.
Never again will singling out a religious or ethnic group be disqualifying. Trump ran on an anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim platform. But racism, like love, knows no boundaries. In the future, a candidate just as easily can direct that hate toward other groups."
And the lies he told, the lies he is still telling, the false face he presents. Pakistan is evil but wait - now they are fantastic people. So is the demagogue from Kazakhstan! As for Britain, well if she comes to visit she should drop a line. The lies he tells of others are actually the fault lines of his own soul. "Never again will a demagogue believe Americans won’t buy a Big Lie. Trump told one whopper after another and got elected. He told another this week — that there were “millions” of fraudulent votes. What won’t voters swallow?"
So what will be the future? What have we wrought? Trouble sure enough but I fear much worse and so do many other people. That is why I believe this election has been so divisive. It is the splitting of a nation, those who see the truth and those who choose not to or deny the facts even as they reveal themselves to all. It would be too hurtful to their souls to admit as much and so they willingly, with ever more difficulty, mask their eyes and their minds and their hearts and make up excuses. What have we done?
"In so many ways, Trump has set the bar so low that he has paved the way for the next person," and that person will be even worse, perhaps even more tied in with the haters of the world, with no connection to democracy, with a heart of hate and evil lies and we will have paved the way for it, to it. The man who screams "America First" in a rant, is not the man to lead us nor for the world either. They are already aghast at his statements and behavior. America First? Right down the toilet!
I must thank Rob Eshman for his points that I have borrowed. Sadly, he makes very good sense.
The Trump manifesto is riven with faults. It talks of jobs that will never come back and not because of a foreign country but because there is automation, and the jobs will be different and we must prepare the people for them by education and not by false tax cuts and breaks for manufacturers who are already sitting on billions of dollars. But that is what we get, what we now have and who knows what will be four years from now.
What will be after Trump? You answer that and answer honestly.
who may have fewer scruples, less restraint and more nefarious intentions.
For the fleeting pleasure of yelling at a woman who dared to challenge, who dared to rise to the top, who was not perfect, men voted for Trump, ignoring his criminal deeds and lack of knowledge, of civilization. For the pleasure of what - standing by men perhaps, for allowing jealousy to take its course - women voted for Trump and against Hilary. So misogyny won and a woman was shown her place! So "Never again will a candidate’s immoral, criminal behavior toward women automatically be out of bounds."
For the sake of yelling for change, change, and the sick focus of supposed populism, we now have change indeed, right? We have the same lobbyists whom Trump pilloried included in the government. We have a bunch of Fat Cats appointed as Cabinet members, people who have no empathy for those in lower economic classes having never been there and I cannot find any serious charitable undertakings of these people - just like Trump whose charitable foundation ended up paying his bills!! "Never again will a candidate be expected to be financially transparent. Trump refused to release his tax returns, and no one seems to care, or even question that, anymore." His financial empire will still be held in his hands, reaping profits from other governments, reaping profits from those who will wish to curry favor and even reaping profits from our own government as they rent from him. Business as the business of America? You bet, especially if it is the business of Trump.
Hatred of women, of their bodies, no matter how he professes he loves it, sexual predator as president, foul mouthed as we have never had before- and that is whom the people selected? Oh yes, we must remember that they really did not as the majority of them voted for Clinton. Never again will a candidate’s immoral, criminal behavior toward women automatically be out of bounds
And the hate, oh dear Lord the hate! He takes on the universal world of hatred for his support. It did not matter whether one was a neo Nazi or a plain American alt right hater. Why he even took one as an official in his administration. And as for the rest of "others"? Well, he is an equal opportunity hater, campaigning against Latinos, African Americans, immigrants - conveniently disremembering that his grandfather was one!!
"Never again will widespread neo-Nazi support be considered un-American. Trump used neo-Nazis, which media sources refer to euphemistically as the “alt-right,” to help fuel his campaign, and the neo-Nazis used Trump to gain legitimacy.
Never again will singling out a religious or ethnic group be disqualifying. Trump ran on an anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim platform. But racism, like love, knows no boundaries. In the future, a candidate just as easily can direct that hate toward other groups."
And the lies he told, the lies he is still telling, the false face he presents. Pakistan is evil but wait - now they are fantastic people. So is the demagogue from Kazakhstan! As for Britain, well if she comes to visit she should drop a line. The lies he tells of others are actually the fault lines of his own soul. "Never again will a demagogue believe Americans won’t buy a Big Lie. Trump told one whopper after another and got elected. He told another this week — that there were “millions” of fraudulent votes. What won’t voters swallow?"
So what will be the future? What have we wrought? Trouble sure enough but I fear much worse and so do many other people. That is why I believe this election has been so divisive. It is the splitting of a nation, those who see the truth and those who choose not to or deny the facts even as they reveal themselves to all. It would be too hurtful to their souls to admit as much and so they willingly, with ever more difficulty, mask their eyes and their minds and their hearts and make up excuses. What have we done?
"In so many ways, Trump has set the bar so low that he has paved the way for the next person," and that person will be even worse, perhaps even more tied in with the haters of the world, with no connection to democracy, with a heart of hate and evil lies and we will have paved the way for it, to it. The man who screams "America First" in a rant, is not the man to lead us nor for the world either. They are already aghast at his statements and behavior. America First? Right down the toilet!
I must thank Rob Eshman for his points that I have borrowed. Sadly, he makes very good sense.
The Trump manifesto is riven with faults. It talks of jobs that will never come back and not because of a foreign country but because there is automation, and the jobs will be different and we must prepare the people for them by education and not by false tax cuts and breaks for manufacturers who are already sitting on billions of dollars. But that is what we get, what we now have and who knows what will be four years from now.
What will be after Trump? You answer that and answer honestly.
who may have fewer scruples, less restraint and more nefarious intentions.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
WHO DO WE LOVE?
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"
Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol
We are all now killing the thing we love, or at least profess to love. What is that, you ask? It is our country. How you might ask? By putting it into a situation that is almost without hope, without sense, without decency and without honor. Please explain follows.
A leader of a country, let alone any other entity, is supposed to be one with dignity, with honor, with peace and confidence within him or her self, with a true understanding of the mission statements and goals of said entity. We are sadly lacking in this right now. Our ostensible leader has no dignity, thinking he is running a true to life reality show. Does he understand or realize that this is truly real, not a television reality show, scripted or otherwise? Does he realize that true and real lives depend upon his behavior and actions?
No, for what we have is an idiot who believes that one communicates a thought in five or so tweets. There is no depth, no understanding of human values and issues, just a boast without the whole story. And there is always a mocking of someone or something as he tries to pump up his "Nielsen" ratings.
In the ten days after his election, there were 867 incidents of hatred and bias with 100 of them anti Semitic in nature. These total incidents ranged from vile words to vile deeds and actions, including destruction, vandalism, and violence. The country has begun or rather has continued its split, with families not talking to each other and lifelong friends in violent disagreement.
Why is that? Oscar Wilde has shown us the ways or methods in which we can destroy that which we love and is it not time to emphasize the positives of our country, of its values? Is it not time to serve notice that we will not stand for this for four years, that change, the same change which this man said he would bring about must be change for the better? He must change. He must dig deep within his shallow soul and find something decent, something right, something human and something unselfish, something which indeed does show that he understands who and what he is not, to our misfortune, but there it is. Does he love this country or not? Does he understand that this is not an entity created to enhance his businesses? Does he understand that to be ethical and not violate the emoluments clause he must divest - totally - and if his children are to be involved with his business then they cannot be the four shadow horsemen of the presidency. In fact, "the business operations" that he maintains that he will now leave is not really enough to satisfy the ethics requirements of divestment. Not at all. And that if he even keeps his word.
How do we show this guy and his buddies that we want America back again, that we want our values to be cherished and valued, to be enhanced? Well, here is a simple first step. Breitbart has now denounced Kellogs for pulling their advertisement from it for it does not represent the values it wishes to be associated with so Breitbart wants a boycott. Instead, let us go out and buy extra Kellogs cereals. Donate the extras to pantries if you must, but support the company. Support any company which will come out for American values, true values, and not those of a reality TV person and one making a mockery of everything we hold dear.
This is serious business and we are not to forget equality for all, marriage rights for all, opportunity for all, fair immigration for we are a nation of immigrants, advancement, rather than retrogression in the area of women's rights, the retention of Medicare and Social Security and the interests of our elderly taken seriously. Talk of death panels!? This guy Price will have us all dead in our beds if he has his way.
Right now we are seeing the resurgence of Wall Street within the Cabinet and administration of Trump. We are seeing the rise of the Fat Cats, directly opposed to all his campaign promises. What and how we will manage with this man who appears to be a consummate liar and a cold fish is beyond my ken. All I know is that I will continue with my path and hope and pray that we make it through and in 2020 get a better chance at putting ourselves back together again. Just hope our country and democracy manage to last that long and we do not become a subsidiary country subject to the rule of others such as Putin or a stronghold in the land of hatred and prejudice and demagoguery. The world is depending on us to stem the tide of hatred from both the right and the left and we now continue to disappoint them. We must do better. First step - impeach the guy when he crosses that red line. Second step - find ways not to kill that which we love - our country. Find ways in which to keep it alive. A popular vote differential of over 2.3 million votes says a lot. There is a mandate, yes, but it is not Trump's and does not belong to him if we truly let the voice of the American people speak and not the antiquated Electoral College, itself a relic of prejudicial thinking.
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"
Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol
We are all now killing the thing we love, or at least profess to love. What is that, you ask? It is our country. How you might ask? By putting it into a situation that is almost without hope, without sense, without decency and without honor. Please explain follows.
A leader of a country, let alone any other entity, is supposed to be one with dignity, with honor, with peace and confidence within him or her self, with a true understanding of the mission statements and goals of said entity. We are sadly lacking in this right now. Our ostensible leader has no dignity, thinking he is running a true to life reality show. Does he understand or realize that this is truly real, not a television reality show, scripted or otherwise? Does he realize that true and real lives depend upon his behavior and actions?
No, for what we have is an idiot who believes that one communicates a thought in five or so tweets. There is no depth, no understanding of human values and issues, just a boast without the whole story. And there is always a mocking of someone or something as he tries to pump up his "Nielsen" ratings.
In the ten days after his election, there were 867 incidents of hatred and bias with 100 of them anti Semitic in nature. These total incidents ranged from vile words to vile deeds and actions, including destruction, vandalism, and violence. The country has begun or rather has continued its split, with families not talking to each other and lifelong friends in violent disagreement.
Why is that? Oscar Wilde has shown us the ways or methods in which we can destroy that which we love and is it not time to emphasize the positives of our country, of its values? Is it not time to serve notice that we will not stand for this for four years, that change, the same change which this man said he would bring about must be change for the better? He must change. He must dig deep within his shallow soul and find something decent, something right, something human and something unselfish, something which indeed does show that he understands who and what he is not, to our misfortune, but there it is. Does he love this country or not? Does he understand that this is not an entity created to enhance his businesses? Does he understand that to be ethical and not violate the emoluments clause he must divest - totally - and if his children are to be involved with his business then they cannot be the four shadow horsemen of the presidency. In fact, "the business operations" that he maintains that he will now leave is not really enough to satisfy the ethics requirements of divestment. Not at all. And that if he even keeps his word.
How do we show this guy and his buddies that we want America back again, that we want our values to be cherished and valued, to be enhanced? Well, here is a simple first step. Breitbart has now denounced Kellogs for pulling their advertisement from it for it does not represent the values it wishes to be associated with so Breitbart wants a boycott. Instead, let us go out and buy extra Kellogs cereals. Donate the extras to pantries if you must, but support the company. Support any company which will come out for American values, true values, and not those of a reality TV person and one making a mockery of everything we hold dear.
This is serious business and we are not to forget equality for all, marriage rights for all, opportunity for all, fair immigration for we are a nation of immigrants, advancement, rather than retrogression in the area of women's rights, the retention of Medicare and Social Security and the interests of our elderly taken seriously. Talk of death panels!? This guy Price will have us all dead in our beds if he has his way.
Right now we are seeing the resurgence of Wall Street within the Cabinet and administration of Trump. We are seeing the rise of the Fat Cats, directly opposed to all his campaign promises. What and how we will manage with this man who appears to be a consummate liar and a cold fish is beyond my ken. All I know is that I will continue with my path and hope and pray that we make it through and in 2020 get a better chance at putting ourselves back together again. Just hope our country and democracy manage to last that long and we do not become a subsidiary country subject to the rule of others such as Putin or a stronghold in the land of hatred and prejudice and demagoguery. The world is depending on us to stem the tide of hatred from both the right and the left and we now continue to disappoint them. We must do better. First step - impeach the guy when he crosses that red line. Second step - find ways not to kill that which we love - our country. Find ways in which to keep it alive. A popular vote differential of over 2.3 million votes says a lot. There is a mandate, yes, but it is not Trump's and does not belong to him if we truly let the voice of the American people speak and not the antiquated Electoral College, itself a relic of prejudicial thinking.
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