GROPING IN THE DARK

    There is an air of confusion enveloping us, not only this country, but the world as well. Two bit third world countries are feeling neglected and betrayed and are blowing off steam and hot air, leaving the world a heaving mass of uncertainty. Traditional powers are confused as well, not sure of this crazy dude in the Oval Office and exactly what he means, if he means anything at all.
     But, I believe, worse than that, is the confusion, the malaise, the melancholy, that is gripping the population, the people, of the world. Over this past weekend I have attended three wonderful performances by differing types of performers yet one thing was obvious throughout. They, too, are concerned. Statements of "especially in times like these" or "we certainly need these feelings today" or the very selection of songs - all pointed to confusion and even a fear that permeates it all.
Even the representative from the health service who came to my home spoke of confusion and 'how did we get here'. People are asking "what will happen to us, to the country?"
     What is even perhaps more significant or perhaps it is worse - who knows, in this crazy topsy - turvy world of ours where the inmates are actually running the joint - is the fact that even Trump's backers are turning away or expressing doubt. "He should shut his mouth or what is with the wall or the immigration crisis . All we want and why we voted for him are jobs." Well, sad to say, those jobs are not coming back and the sooner they realize it, the sooner retraining takes place, the better off they will be.
     But the saddest of all is watching the desperateness of those with a  modicum of intelligence who backed this man and are just as horrified by his doings and behaviorisms but who are falling back on "well, what is so bad?" or "so and so did this or that." The point is that it does not matter what so and so did in the past. It is what this man and his posse are doing  now - either nothing good or direct harm is what they are doing. It is time to open the eyes and see what they have wrought, indeed, what we all have wrought by neglecting to face facts and see what is truly going on.
     In a time of crises this Trump has time for watching a show that is taking the forefront of sarcastic commentary on his actions, He tweets away. He and his are under attack he feels and he cannot stand that. His reaction, to threaten to make it illegal to do such things. Perhaps the playing of the Nazi anthem in Hawaii was an omen from Above, warning us of what awaited us if we do not wake up and smell the coffee. In a time of multiple crises this man takes the time to rant about a man Mark Cuban whom I had never heard of, to stress that he is not qualified to run for president!!! Well, look in the mirror, honey, look in the mirror. And most unbelievingly of all, this Trump, this off balance mentally and emotionally challenged farce of a being is planning on running for office in 2020 and already, three weeks into his reign, planning that campaign! Will we even be here in 2020 should this guy remain in office, G-d forbid a thousand times!!
     So we grope for a way out. And in the path we discover that this man and  his Education Secretary cannot spell and obviously never heard of proofing things. His official poster misspells too as to. His Education Department under the incompetent and dangerously lacking stewardship of DeVos, misspelled W.E.B. Dubois's name in an official tweet. Help!! Help!! Where are the adults in the room? Where are people with working brains? Help!! Help!!
     And so stores continue to drop Trump products and I wonder, since he took this job to provide more jobs for his buddies and family and to make money, if his products have a turndown, will he quit? Oh, say yes, say yes, please!
     And in the meanwhile, we need to turn to the young amongst us to lead the way? A coed CYO basketball team in New Jersey had the ethical chops to forfeit the season when they were told they would have to throw off the two girls amongst the boys. They voted after the parents made sure they understood the consequences of the vote. They stood firm and their parents cried in pride. As well they should! And the adults everywhere else, as our teens and middle schoolers take to the streets in protest - where the hell are you? And where will you be when the ****hits the proverbial fan in a big time such as we have not seen? Where will you all be?
     Sad to say, most adults will be nowhere but in hiding, either ashamed of their part in this mess or in fear of this man and his crew, but  hope, hope, that there will be enough people to stand up, follow the leaders in this and get this man gone - the sooner the better and let him take all his crooked, ethically challenged, morally challenged, incompetent people with them. Let us all  hope we still have it within us to stand up to proposed tyranny and injustice. That we still know what the true America stands for and we battle for it, yes, even battle if needs be so.
     And that must filter down to the local spheres as well. Here in the Village we have had a tyranny imposed on us by omission and commission. We have turned away in apathy, asking "Well, what can we do? We need to wait till he is dead?" Well, I think not. We need to turn his world upside down as well, deny him his yes men on the Board, demand of him answers and demand and demand and demand and make life extremely uncomfortable for him and his. We need to elect people into office who will ask the right questions, but not only that. We need people who will insist on honesty, on honor, on transparency, on truth, truth, truth, on efficiency, on putting  the residents first, on putting aside petty differences and getting together for the sake of our homes - at least letting us have a place of safety within the churning world out there. We need to see past his evil and cynical tactic of labelling his opponents, denigrating them with a name he feels says it all. So behind the times is he that he fails to realize that there is a huge percentage of this Village that cannot stand him and his practices, but the system is so heavily slanted towards him and his tactics especially as he rips thru by laws and legalities as if they were nothing - Trump, anyone? - that it is difficult to get a word in edgewise as media of all types are blocked.
     Malcontents. Messenger Club. Enough already, David. Grow up and face your opponents as you should if only you had the equipment to do so. I, and many others, do not belong to any group, other than the Democratic Club which I recently joined and to the March for Women and to the rolls of decent people, and where do you belong? You speak of your NSA work, you speak of your patriotism G-d help us all, so where is it now? Are you with Flynn and other treasonous people or with the good people and that includes the people of the Village. Do you stand by the rules and principles of the Constitution, like freedom of speech and press or do you wish to keep violating them, trampling them into the dust?
     The time has come for all of us to chose sides - here and outside the Village as well. The time has come for all of us to grope thru the dark and into the light. Where will all of you be in this choice? Will we all face the truth or will we wimp out? That mirror is awaiting. Go look.

IT'S A MAD, MAD, BAD, BAD, SAD, SAD WORLD

     September,2031
     Somewhere in the USA

     I write this today somewhere in the USA, somewhere in the deep underground redoubts in which we remain, hide and plan. We are the last remnants of what used to be the United States of America. We are the last fighters for the return to the past, to a country that stood as an example to the world, as a bastion of hope and freedom. But no longer. So you who will read this, ask yourself how this occurred, how we let it happen and what we can do - and what we need to avoid if we are ever to return to what once was and make it so again. Our hope for the future is a return to a better past, to a once upon a time.

     By the tail end of 2017 edging into 2018 the world had already begun its change. Trumpian Tweets became the law of the land and it was impossible to know from minute to minute what was legal and what was not. That legality was determined by all the crooks, all the ethically challenged people we allowed to be installed in our government. Crimes and deeds that they openly admitted, or discussed under pressure, were written off, the same misdeeds which in earlier times had meant disqualification.

     It quickly became clear that morality was a discarded idea. It quickly became clear that the supposed representatives of the people had turned in their hats and exchanged them for hats of the PARTY rather than the Country. And we, the people, were the ultimate losers. And we were also the ultimate cause of all this as we allowed it to take place, making excuses and talking of chances. What chances? The chances to destroy us and our country? The chances and time needed to rip out every founding principle and value?

     The warnings were raised. The voices were raised. Over and over again columnists from all walks of political life warned of the possibility and woe upon us, the coming necessity of rebellion, of revolt, for if not, then who knew where it would stop. We learned too late that there were people enough to build a support for takeover of the country, for the establishment of a true dictatorship. Right to vote? Ha!! Politics became a tug of war between dictatorial groups and once the Trumpians took over they had to defend themselves against the Pencians and the Ryanites with bloodshed being the key ingredient. Masses of people whose jobs were lost through the manipulations of those in power hired on so they could feed their families. And the blood poured like multiple rivers through our streets and countryside. Huge swaths of the country became and remain dark, deserted by most and only the few remain, skulking and hiding but at least free of those in power.

     The Wall? Ironically enough Mexico is now paying for it in its maintenance as it struggles to keep out American refugees from their real life horror. Texacali, the states that seceded, are in a struggle with Mexico and the rest of the country is in tatters as well. Oregon, Washington, Alaska have formed an alliance. Canada is in talks with them to annex them. And order is being kept elsewhere with the use of our friendly troops from our friendly ally, Russia, who came in under Putin and Trump to "aid" Trump in his takeover and "restore order". They never left.

     Order is kept in the country that remains via a national police force and don't they look  nice in  their jackboots and bandoliers. And do not forget the 3G rule, wherein if you are in the first or second or third generation to enter this country, well, you are liable for deportation. Watch out. The raids that began in February, 2017 are peanuts. Hundreds have become thousands and even more and it has spread. The UN is now a subsidiary of what is supposed to be the USA and Israel is no longer as control over it was handed to Trump and his supporters in  2018 and the 3G rule went into effect there. Millions were deported from Israel back to Lithuania, France, from whence they had fled from bloody anti Semitism, to Russia, to anywhere that served as a deposit basin for bewildered and frightened men, women and children and the bloody pogroms of the past , the hatred, just bloomed in the toxic air.

    Back here we lost all rights and our land and waterways were contaminated. All safeguards for workers, the right to education for our children, the right of free speech and a free press just went whoosh! off to somewhere. The warnings made by the protesters, the passionate and brave speeches by those who dared speak up were ignored or scoffed at. Meryl Streep said in Feb., 2017 “We have the right to live our lives, with God or without, as we choose,” Streep said. “There is a prohibition against the establishment of a state religion in our constitution, and we have the right to choose with whom we live, whom we love, and who and what gets to interfere with our bodies. As Americans, men, women, people, gay, straight, LGBTG.
All of us have the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Said with tears in her eyes, it has now become a rallying cry for those of us who remain in the fight. And at that very moment the first attempts to make protest felonies and banned were taking place.

     Life has changed. Frighteningly so and yet, as we look at our kids who have survived, we know that we have raised a strong generation, one that wants what we once had and are willing to fight for it, to die for it and most important, to live for it. They sing the refrain of an old Disney song - "here we stand and here we stay" and are determined to make it so.

     As for us, the remaining adults who still remember and who have survived the bad times, this is what we say to you. Believe only in the truth. Do not allow history to be perverted such as the turning of an attack on children in Sandy Hook Elementary School into a hoax, for there are NO alternative facts, only lies, terrible ones. Fight for the rights that we gave up and are so desperately fighting for. Fight for them all over, be it in the national or local sphere. Challenge and demand.

     I do not even know if there will be anyone reading this in the future. But if so, heed my words. Hear our voices and see our blood and the stains it left behind. And pray, pray for all of us. Remember that the differences of color or belief or gender or loving mean nothing if there is no hope, no freedom, no rights and no justice. And so I end this letter to the future with this, taken from a favorite song of that past time.

      "Lead us to the place

      guide us with Your grace

     To a place where we'll be safe."

   May the Lord above, by whatever name He be called, may He watch over us. Hear us. And may we all aid Him in this fight by standing up tall and proud and fight for these rights and a way of life seemingly banned and destroyed. We are trying - you out there must succeed where we have failed. May the Lord be with you - signed, Tired yet Hopeful.

CLASS? ELEGANCE? CRASS AND CRUDE

     When one studies the presidents thru the centuries of America, we do not see perfection, but do see an attempt at some elegance, some sense of being genteel, to be of a nature which spoke to people, reached out to them. Some were elegant and full of class and they were role models for adults and children alike.
     But today we have a different story. We have an entire administration that is filled with some of the most crass people I have ever come across. There are no manners, no elegance, no sense of truth, no sense of obligation to the public, no sense of service to the Republic but rather a sense and feeling and urge to take it apart, to hurt the little people, to allow and encourage the ugly heads of prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia and any other ugly feeling to rise up and grow in the depths of the darkness these people bring to us.
     The talk of someone deserving to be "shut down' as Lindsay Graham says when speaking of Elizabeth Warren, a Senator who has only the welfare of the people at heart is reprehensible. To shut someone down, that is the language that one uses  in a dictatorship and after all they seemed so particular about words used to describe Sessions as written by Coretta Scott King, yet to demean another of their own, a woman, was okay? Hypocrisy at work and not unexpected from these people.
     We have the crassest merchants at work here. Trump, the ostensible leader, only sees the profits he can make and continues to hide his true returns and true condition of his supposed empire. He tweets out nastiness by the bucketful and rains nastiness on those companies who dare defy him, the king of all he sees. Or so he thinks and if that were not enough he lies with every breath. So Nordstrom did not want to carry Ivanka stuff anymore so tsk, tsk, bad company and he tweets about this? This is what a President does or has to worry about - whether someone likes his daughter's designs and products? And worse, he even has his stooge, Conway, tell people to buy Ivanka!! The conflict of interest, the ethics violations scream loud and clear but those dead doggies of Senators just roll over and contiunue to play dead for their master. Perhaps they will even get a belly scratch.
     Maturity seems to have no part within this administration. The judges' ruling yesterday set off a tweet storm of basically infantile shouting statements of warnings, and threats and warning of blame falling upon them. Now these judges are getting threats of harm and just where do you think the blame lies for all that?!
     He goes after innocent dreamers, the old folks, the immigrants who committed heavy duty crimes like jaywalking or passing a stop sign. Their material wealth is taken, confiscated by not so clean law enforcement even before they are convicted or even indicted. And they whine when lawyers for the people are trying to prevent this.
    We have the crude Sessions who once again wants to peek into the bedrooms of consenting adults and punish those who are gay, those who are same sex married, those who need help to vote and to see their rights protected and there seems to be no path to return to the past that he cannot find and tramp down, much to our detriment. Just listening to him talk yesterday about the ban made my spine ripple with unease. There are four options left within this whole issue so let Trump grow up and either state his misdoings or take the next step but do it as an adult, a hate filled one, but an adult.
    I wonder - where is the class of our supposed leaders. Bannon - what a pig!! A bigot and hate inciter from the getgo and there is nothing but nothing even possibly redeeming about him. Rosie O'Donnell's picture of her as Bannon should make him splutter, probably as much as the big baby, his boss, calls people meanie for imitating him and as Alec Baldwin says, "He’s tense, he’s angry, he’s pi**ed off, and that’s not fun to play.” He added, “Another thing I find that’s so weird about the stuff we’re doing, we’re just repeating back what he says. … Doing this is strange, but what is even more strange is this is real.”  Conway is a twit! And the rest are nincompoops who know only how to make money by oppressing people, by foreclosing, by charging high rates and prices, by buying stocks that they then help along with their own legislation. They refuse to divest or divulge their assets and they follow the damned example of their guru, Trump.
     We are lost in a world of crude people, no class in any way. They are selfish and nasty people and they encourage others to follow their examples in other governmental entities and we for sure have some here in the Village. When people refuse to speak the truth, when they think that lies will always get their way, well, they are wrong. So Grace sends her infinitely nauseating and infantile comments about how nasty all opponents of David Israel are, especially me it seems since years ago I lost an election to him. Well, who cares and the point is that people need to move on and we all have, taking steps to help our Village while she and her fellow haters have not.
     David et al are infuriated that people took steps to insure that the Village was not cheated again as David Israel has done before while indulging his own wishes and incompetency. So telephone calls were made and then David was forced, FORCED, to acknowledge the changed reality and include Comcast in this whole issue and lo and behold, they are the better deal, the legal deal. So even while he and his foam at the mouth and try to deny facts and make statements such as the one David did on his blog -"Let me assure you that no action taken by Mr. Grossman, or Mr. Moore have had any effect on our negotiations, except to confuse issues. The Principles are well aware of the Malcontent component." You bet they are!! That is why we now have the better deal and all the denials mean squat!!! The truth is sometimes hard to take, David, Grace and Bob, why would you believe that people have no right to improve situations? This is still America and there is freedom of speech and thought  - at least as of yet! Your mouth and your arrogance do you in again.
     Where do we go from here? Patriot team members are refusing to go to the White House in the traditional visit. Seems politics there are a tad off putting. Now we find out that yet another illegal act and possibly treasonous act was taken by having  national adviser Michael Flynn discuss sanctions and their removal with the Russian Ambassador before the inauguration!
     And we know that there is deep division within the country, a growing split between those who see the truth, between those who want justice and law the right way and on the other side we have those who wish to tear down our country and what it stands for. We have the three largest metropolitan areas in the country, with the most illegal immigrants - LA, NY and Chicago ready and willing to be sanction cities and defy the orders Trump thinks he can give and enforce. Some people do have spines! 
     So where are we going? I am not even sure if G-d knows for never before have we had such a crude sexual molester as the ostensible leader of the United States and its representative of us to the rest of the world. The nausea is overwhelming!! The air reeks of danger and injustice and hate. I detest what we are becoming. I fear what the future might bring. Impeach the creep and get on with life in the States as it should be.

UNAMERICAN AND PRESIDENT?

     How, I wonder, did the most un-American person become the President of the United States, America? How did the person whose every desire and action, every tweet, seemed to indicate a deep desire to destroy our country, how did that person get elected? And more important, how do we allow him to continue in office, how do we allow him to continue his plan and path on the way to our destruction?
     The man takes a vow to protect his country. He takes an oath that he will do his best, swearing with what is supposed to be honor and honesty, and yet, some of the very first things he does are contradictory in fact. What is even worse is the fact that his presumed Party members have turned into deep dyed in the wool cowards and turncoats and they refuse to outwardly admit that they have fallen prey, fallen under his threats, think that this is how they will keep their jobs. Well, they need to think again, for there is already a strong grassroots campaign and more to destroy the Republicans who come up for office in 2018. And that is what they deserve too!
      Today, the country is being used, openly, blatantly, as a source of funds for the Trump Organization. It is collecting fees from hotels, golf courses, gifts from foreigners who wish to get some of the bubbling fat within this organization.  It has totally turned ethics on its ear and the emoluments ? HA!! Fugeddaboutit! Not important. Not relevant. Why the military is even planning to move into Trump Towers at a cost to the taxpayers of $1.5 million and guess whose pocket is the richer for it? Uh huh. You got it!!
     We have a President who sued for damages that his wife could not make enough money during this time when she is frequently photographed. Why? He needs more money? There are no serious issues to study and think over? Nope, evidently not, for money is the issue he cares about. And to add to that, we have the president who takes the time to threaten and name call to a department store chain for not carrying Ivanka's line of shoes anymore. Really, should this not be part and parcel of capitalism, with some things successful and some not?  So what is his problem?And now he has to pay for pollution that his son's ex company caused or left behind. Couldn't pull his nuts out of the fire on that one!!
    We have Fat Cats being appointed and confirmed because aside from two lone women Republicans not a man among them has the courage to tell these nominees where to go and where to take their orders of destruction. They have not the courage, the moral power to tell Sessions to go home as he is a bigoted individual from way back and continues on in that path. Nope, what they do is stop Elizabeth Warren from reading a letter about him from  Coretta Scott King. Truly!! Are we actually going to censor people, stop them from talking and absolutely forgetting that they have accused her of doing absolutely what they have done! Truly, Animal Farm at its worst with  pigs being more equal than other animals. Yup!
     We have a President who states that he is above the law for his word is the law, is the top and final sayso on any issue and he has the ultimate and only right to exercise bigotry and racism and who knows, will he soon decriminalize sexual molestation so he can continue on his ways and speak of genitalia of women and boast of his crudity? All judges are no good if they contravene his orders, for he is the Boss! Would that he would fire himself! And as for the right to vote - these rights are under attack with his fervent blessing.
      And of course, we have the typical and familiar use of lies, exaggerations, falsehoods, "fake news", alternative facts, whatever that might be, as we are pulled into a world of post factuality and into the nasty world of 1984 where truth counts for naught, where the sights that are seen mean nothing, where all is upside down - all is un-American as we chase away our allies, endear ourselves to our enemies and throw away our values as if they are worth nothing!
     So, no democratic values. No democratic checks and balances. No truth so we now have spokesmen for the administration who talk of attacks in Atlanta and massacres in Bowling Green - which both never happened, of a man and administration that is in disarray, in dangerous conflicts within itself and would that it would implode!!Would that we could get  a redo if there were a way to redo the election.  There are bright people working on impeachment causes, working on issues to take him into court be it on the ban or  trying to cancel out all regulations that  have served to protect the American citizen.
     Folks, this whole mess is un-American, from the interference by Putin and Russian hackers, to Comey and his deliberate skewing of the facts and interpretation, of keeping the Russian aspects quiet, un-American in the deliberate attempts to devolve and destruct and destroy our country and its rules, its way of life. It is un-American how this man governs by royal decree and has royal tantrums when he does not get his way.
     So we will be American and we will protest and we will resist and we will make him back off and away and we will straighten him out and any who follow. America stands proudly for humanity, for values, for freedom and justice, for welcome to all, for a fair chance at life, for safety for the workers, for education that is a founding stone of our country, for people who are honest and who tell the truth about themselves. And if mistakes are made, so be it, as long as attempts are made to correct these errors. This man does not do that. This man is un-American! Not my President! Not at all.
     This man should not be considered the president of any American as all he does is attack our values and people who represent them. He instigates trouble and dissension. One person stated that due to Trump no one speaks to each other, friends , spouses, no one. This man is that  divisive. As a demagogue he is dangerous to an infinite degree and now has taken to asking people to inform on others - pure fascism and communism. Simple dictatorship 101. Here is what he told a meeting of law enforcement officers, the very people he wishes to turn into enforcers of his racism, his misogyny and make no mistake about it - all who oppose him. "President Trump told them to report "who the illegal immigrant gang members are...you're local. You know the illegals, you know them by their first name, you know them by their nicknames." And who is to say that these are the gang members!
     Totally sickening and frightening. These immigrants are us, live amongst us, are part and parcel of our daily lives and yes, I am sure  that there are people amongst those attempting to enter who dislike us, but not all, certainly not all, and so we do not throw out the baby with the bath water. Instead, we do what we always have done and are doing so in a much more comprehensive manner now. We question and check and double check and then allow in the fresh blood and ideas and minds that America needs to grow. That is American! And we keep watch over our right wing homegrown terrorists as well.
     So this hateful man insults a hero such as McCain who also is not terribly innocent in all this as he votes in the awful nominees, including the racist Sessions, the fox who is now in the hen house of justice for the country. G-d help us all.
And then we have Cruz who calls the Democrats the party of the KKK. And yes, there is a link two centuries ago with them but then again, the Republicans used to be the party of Abe Lincoln but now they are the party of Trump and Sessions and DeVos, Feh!! Look in the mirror, Cruz and see what is happening today and see how your party has reneged on its roots and today the Democrats are the party of justice and voting rights and immigration and all else  that works for the people and not the Fat Cats!
     So now this un-American person once again tries to dodge responsibility by trying to say he wanted to delay the ban. First of all the ban is awful and illegal whenever and second of all, grow up, man up and take responsibility. My middle schoolers knew this better than this man. But I guess he is too busy ruining the health care for men and women as he attacks Planned Parenthood, an entity, non profit, which provides health access and treatments for approximately 2.5 million men and women, so not just abortions and by the way, that is the right of women, to control their bodies and not the choice of religious fanatics who choose to impose their religious views upon me as a law!!! That is un-American!!
     And so we have a growing boycott movement - look to GrabYourWallet and check the list and add Under Armour to it as the CEO thinks Trump is an asset and Stephen Curry said he "agreed if the 'et" were removed." My man!!!
     And yet we still have heroes. We have Elizabeth Warren who tried to speak up before censorship, sexism and enforcement of obscure and ignored rules were put temporarily into play and so now we have a warning to those who support this man and his awful things he and his are foisting upon  us. She too can tweet, Donald!
"Consider this MY warning: We won’t be silent. We will speak out. And we WILL persist.
If Jeff Sessions makes even the tiniest attempt to bring his racism, sexism & bigotry into @TheJusticeDept, he'll hear from all of us.
    And you better believe every Senator who voted to put Jeff Sessions’s radical hatred into @TheJusticeDept will hear from all of us, too. If Jeff Sessions turns a blind eye while @realDonaldTrump violates the Constitution or breaks the law, he'll hear from all of us."
     Join in the protests. Speak up and do not be bullied. Be American!

DELEGATES NEED TO KNOW THIS:

Last week, I was fortunate to have attended a meeting Ed Grossman arranged with Communications Consulting Group – a competitor of CSI who David Israel is negotiating with. The meeting was called to find an alternative to Atlantic Broadband. At the meeting, we discussed the possibility of bringing Comcast in to bid.  We informed CCG that many residents did not have computers and were not interested in paying for the internet the way Atlantic Broadband was forcing us to. We wanted to know if Comcast could offer us a bid for Cable with or without internet for each resident. Previously, David Israel informed the Delegates that Comcast was not interested in bidding, but he did not tell Comcast he was considering signing a contract with Atlantic Broadband two years in advance because Atlantic Broadband needed two years to install infrastructure. Since CCG had contacts with Comcast executives,  they would inform them of the urgency to bid.  Subsequently, Comcast contacted David Israel and became involved in the bidding process.

At the recent Delegate assembly, David Israel gave the delegates the impression that he was responsible for getting Comcast to bid – nothing is further from the truth – and when Ed Grossman got up to speak CSI called him a liar, and the delegates booed Ed.  I am ashamed at the way the delegates acted. Ed Grossman, for years has been trying to stop David Israel from wasting our money.

SHAME ON ALL THE PEOPLE AT THE DELEGATE ASSEMBLY WHO ALLOWED ED GROSSMAN TO BE DISRESPECTED.

 

 

JUST WHO IS THAT IN THE MIRROR?

     Looking around, reading books, fiction and non fiction, I begin to wonder, just who is that in the mirror? Who is that supposed American but yet, is that a sniff, a taint of that dreaded word - immigrant? Oh no! Cannot be for then I might be shipped out of here! You too!
     So actually, just who is that immigrant that we are so consumed by, that eats away at our minds and souls, the one who is going to drag his aged parents, her little children, their disabled child, anyone and everyone they can think of, all with the nefarious and deeply hidden motive of doing harm to us? Who is it?
     Well, confidentially speaking, I believe we now have created more possible enemies than we ever had before. The deplorable conditions out there in the refugee camps, the joy of hearing the passage was open, the joy, the trepidation and then - gates and doors barred and locked. Go back from whence you came and no, we are not going to provide answers or humane conditions such as food, shelter, medicine and in fact, we are going to handcuff you and that dangerous looking elderly lady who "says" she is here to see her daughter and grandchildren for the first time in four years. Oh yes, such dangerous looking eyes. Aha! Gotcha ya!! And more enemies for us.
     So again, who is that immigrant, the same one who even before the founding of the country gave life to us, who settled the frontier, who invented, who wrote, who took care of people, who fought in our armies for independence and thru all the wars of our country. Who are these immigrants who have enriched our live s and oh so cleverly, Trump says, have hidden the deep and dark side of their nature and their plans?
     Sitting in my doctor's office yesterday, I looked at him, a good man, a kind man, a man who cares and who investigates a question of concern, and an immigrant!! Gasp!! He originates in India and I looked at him and thought of my cardiologist, another wonderful man, also from India and I wondered, these are the dangerous immigrants? These two kind people? And I asked him if he were in danger for if, so, my home was open to him. He laughed and said he was a naturalized citizen so he was safe. Safe!!!???? Is that the word we should be using and who knows with that crazy man in the Oval Office?
     So I looked around and thought of my upcoming surgery and wondered about the "dangerous" immigrants there. Awaiting me. What about the nurses? Are they Filipino? Jamaican? English? And the phlebotomist - what, will she drain my blood? And the surgical nurse and the orderlies? We have been watching too much TV, especially that ass, Trump, and are seeing bogeymen where there are none!
     Yes, there is danger in the world. Yes, there has always been danger in the world and yes, there have been bombs right here in the USA throughout our history and in Europe as well. Such is the nature of mankind, those who do wrong in the name of their beliefs and hopes. But, ah, that man is truly so clever, thinking we do not notice that all the terrible immigrants that we are going to stave off from harming us are only from those countries who do not do business with Trump! They have not seen the light of the Savior of mankind, the nutjob who rants and raves, who wanders around in a bathrobe like Bugliosi I believe it was, and if only they would open a Trump hotel or golf course, wow, suddenly all are whitewashed!
     The very country from which the majority of the 9/11 hijackers came from, Saudi Arabia, is not mentioned. Neither is India or especially Pakistan, that shelter for Bin Laden right in the open, the country that sends terrorists cross borders. But, remember, they have dealings with Trump. And so on this nauseating crap goes.
    And wait, we have left out that person in the mirror. Aha! But wait, that is me? Yes, I too am an immigrant, not of this generation, but my grandparents were and perhaps the taint of being immigrants still clings to me. And wait, who or what is that orange haired thing, the one with the dead animal lookalike on his head ---Aha, why it is Trump himself, the grandson of an immigrant and would that we had denied entry to that immigrant! If only we had been able to see the dreadful future.
    So now, thanks to an immigrant and their ilk, we have nincompoops and Fat Cats and no knowledge people running the government and they are making a concerted effort to destroy our country, its democratic principles, its very foundation. Perhaps Trump has the right idea - but only, you see, if it applies to all and in our "tremendous vetting" we will need to employ many seers who will see into the future and check off whether their descendants will do us harm or enrich us. Aha - so if we had that, where would Trump be? I hesitate to say lest I be accused of wishing him harm - now would I do that? But truly folks, follow this trail down to the end and see not only how ridiculous it is but also selfishly, how damaged and limited our lives would become. Hey, no Thai restaurants or Indian ones for that matter, no corner stores and wait a minute - oh no - we ARE immigrants and here come the Nations, the Native Americans- who were certainly here first. Dear Lord, who will take us all in now? Are we to line up behind the Syrian refugees and the Sudanese and the Rohingya from Indonesia and all the rest? Immigrants all and we need to remember that! If not, we are lost, so very deeply and unalterably lost.

AN UNWANTED PLETHORA

     Sometimes too much of something is not a good thing. There are days, or there were days, that I had to think about what to write but as of the campaign and especially after the election - whoo! Never at a loss. In fact, it has greatly limited the time to focus on our local issues here in the Village. So I will try to do both.
     And so... to the national news. It is indeed unbelievable how there are so many in Congress who do not have the courage of their convictions and refuse to defy a sick man, a greatly emotionally disturbed individual who tops the charts every day with another maniacal and ridiculous statement usually one that goes far in denigrating some one or some group. And yet, to criticize him  or to poke fun of him - it is so tempting - is taboo, at least in his mind.
     Emotionally way off balance and of a very limited intellectual capacity, Trump seems never to run out of gaffes. The media has not covered "massacres" so we do not know of all of them. The polls show that the American people support his ban. Just ask him and pay no attention to the polls that show otherwise and as to all those people protesting - maybe they are just 'malcontents' - and thank G-d for that!! And as for Pence, why he has become the defender of his Poodle, interpreting what it means to say and saying that truly, the people of the country understand his mind. Really? I would like to meet one of them because Trump's mind is a maze of rubbish, quicksand and infantile thought and behavior. And this man is the President of the United States of America, G-d help us all.
     I have begun to come across more and more articles and thought pieces as to why he has to be impeached, written by thoughtful and learned individuals. I read articles expounding very clearly why this man should not and will not last even two years. My concerns and fears? That if he does not go, does not leave, then there will be war, true pitched battles between supposed law enforcement individuals who are "just following orders" and those who protest the violations of our country's principles, who stand up for the rule of law, for morality in our government, against those who call for more murder as it was at Kent State.
     But remember, it will take Congressmen with a backbone, with the courage to face up to what they have allowed, to turn away his maniacal statements and plans and turn down his unacceptable, and undesirable Fat Cats who are basically being appointed with the mandate of destroying all the safeguards from decades of laws and legislation, the majority of which have been put in place to protect the American citizen, the American consumer and even the world and especially, of great import - our globe upon which we live. At last look I have not seen any spaceship Noah's ark that will take us all away from a destroyed planet, so folks, we had better do a heads up on this one. Oh, and by the way, I do not know about you but I do not want an entangled head of the FDA whose stocks and holdings in drug and drug related companies are ethical conflicts, and who says, let us just speed up the process of approval and let the people know that if they take these quickly approved drugs, why they take them at their own risk!! You cannot make up this cynicism and veniality - and stupidity on the part of our "leader". Perhaps he is the one of whom he is thinking when he says that we have bad people in our country, so basically stop picking on his best bud, Putin!!
     And to the local news. Last night there were a number of statements on David's personal blog which were not only nasty, but dumb. So David took them off lest all others see what he takes for support, just as bad as Trump in a more limited sphere.Well, full disclosure, so is the original article and it and the one that follows are petty as well and simply encourage nasty comments from nasty and limited minds. Let's explore a bit.
     First of all, why are David et al so concerned whether there was a call or not from Ed or Neil or whomever. The point is, the crux of the matter is, that it benefits the Village and we, including David himself, are saved from a terrible deal with Atlantic Broadband with a much better alternative from Comcast. Is it that the itty bitty boy's self importance is just that bit tousled and damaged, out of place? Well, frankly, too bad, because ego has no place in the Village UCO. What there needs to be is a little more humility, a whole lot more transparency, a whole lot less secret planning, and a bit more of reaching out to others. Hey, that older Coke commercial might help so go on line and watch it. Or any of the other ones which preach togetherness and hope and equality, etc.
     And it does indeed send shudders down my back when there is an outcry against a nomination process. The rules are the rules and really, what difference does it make if one person or two people make nominations from the floor and to those paranoid individuals, no, some of the nominated did NOT know they were going to have their names called as possible candidates in the election. And if talking of plans, well, David et al thought they could pull another previous election trick off and have a limited number of people run  for the seats open so that they could stack it all in  their favor yet again. There are so few people willing to run with this UCO and its UCO head, that they figured they could pull it off.Well, think again and it almost does not matter who gets in or not for secret plans and planning and crude tactics are part and parcel of UCO at present, but at least a statement is made.
     And again, returning to the issue that started that chain of nastiness and nonsense of his blog, why was there even a discussion of Atlantic Braodband when the contract had three years or more to go when this all started, Comcast was not included, lie about it whether they will - and I am still curious as to what was gained by some people via this contract and why we were willing to pay for a company's wiring up costs and why we are signed with a company to reward them for their 'efforts" - not so impressive - especially when David had NO right to sign without delegate approval - and bottom line, had NO right to discuss bringing broadband in to the Village as a utility for he had only permission to discuss cable. And as for the tired old and specious arguments of comparing broadband to the buses - state mandated - and other so called perks and amenities of the Village - apples and oranges dear people and the people have already spoken many times re this issue and overwhelmingly turned it down. And Bob, if anyone took money from accounts and reserves incorrectly -go look at the person or people who have done this already. What the hell and who the hell do you think took it or had access to it other than these people in UCO. Think, Bob, think. You are better than this.
     And for one "lovely" last note - over the past few weeks there have been 57 bomb threats to 48 Jewish Community Centers, swastikas in the NYC subway, windows of a synagogue smashed in Chicago, marches of right wing rabid extremists planned and taking place, op-ed articles questioning the racial origin and category of Jews and where is the shouting against this? Where are the Republican Jews who KNOW that Trump has encouraged and accepted these people and their support. So where are they and where is the world? Do they think they are exempt from,the spreading hatred? Think again, oh think again.
     Perhaps we all need to take thinking lessons.

IF IF IF

      If. The biggest little word ever. It speaks of dreams and nightmares, of possibilities and probabilities, of things gone wrong and things gone right when "if" raises its head.
     If we had an honest election, untainted by hacking, foreign interference, would we have been in the midst of the turmoil we are presently suffering? If we had a person with a functioning brain in office would we be living this? If we had people in charge who understood that we are all in this together, that we all need to co-exist in this tiny orb in space - if, if - all this frightening tension and hatred and smashed dreams and living nightmares - if, if.
     So how do we fix this if problem? First, we stand strong and we remain true to our beliefs and principles. And we take advantage of every edge we can find. Publish the garbage, the dangerous garbage that is rife within the Trump administration and perhaps we can shut it down. They wanted to sign away the rights of LGBT, allow people to legally discriminate, well, some righteous person within the Trump camp leaked a copy of that order and the outcry stopped it in  its track and IF we keep watch then maybe it will die the death it deserves - forever. And so it goes with any other anti and unAmerican ideas that float thru the Trump administration, all the hypocrisy - get it gone and keep it gone.
     The Superbowl, believe it or not, served as a great example and reflection of the America we wish to be, can be and have been. It reflects the welcome that America has given thru the years of its existence, its hope that it has given people. So Coke sang in multiple voices and languages of America! And 84 Lumber had a beautiful ad which was CENSORED by Fox - great surprise there, huh! which pictured a journey of a mother and child wishing to join family in America, their trek and the WALL that met them at journey's end. The child pulled out an American flag she had created from detritus found on the journey and lo and behold there was a door behind which was the dream - the United States of America. Well, Fox could not have this, the same Fox that is a mouthpiece for Trump, the same man who forgets that he is the grandson of an immigrant, the same man who forgets that Ivanka's items are manufactured mainly in China - oops!, who forgets right from wrong and who has no heart, no morals, no soul. Watch Lady Gaga, watch the other ads and see if we can remain true to our founding visions.
     So he sits in his bathrobe after 6:30 and watches TV or pours over the ads and newspaper stories - if they are short as his attention span is limited and he tweets and growls and plans more nefarious doings and deeds. And his speeches, his statements - well, see for yourself;  “Obamacare doesn’t work so we are putting in a wonderful plan,” Mr. Trump said. “It statutorily takes a while to get.  We’re going to be putting it in fairly soon. I think that yes, I would like to say by the end of the year -- at least the rudiments - but we should have something within the year and the following year."
  What the hell is that? And I thought George Bush had some language issues?
     So where do we go from here? Are we prepared for what is next if this man defies the courts? With his fascistic and demagogic traits? I shudder to think and to say but there it is - civil war and revolution and rebellion and violence and where and how does it stop. And if you think that I am talking out of my hat, here is a tweet from a Republican official in Ohio "Time for another Kent State perhaps. One bullet stops a lot of thuggery," Adamini tweeted.
In a separate Facebook post, Adamini wrote: "I'm thinking that another Kent State might be the only solution...They do it because they know there are no consequences yet -' We still remember Kent State and the shootings there. Again?! 'We, the United States of America...." Is that a challenged term? Will it vanish into the mists of history, join the wishes of a once upon a time Camelot? Will we all have to obey his bro, Putin, whom he cannot praise enough?     And if we think that it stops there, in DC, then think again. Look right here in the Village. Here too we have a man who sits isolated and alone at weird hours of the day and night, sits and plots in his lonely cave in the back of the UCO building. He holds secret meetings on Sundays and thinks no one notices the cars parked in back. Guess he has his own Bannon and Priebus and Miller. And what is his latest plot? The Broadband issues.
     There was a presentation on Friday between two proposals and everyone was talking of the comparison of the two but it seems to me that we have fallen into a trap and forgotten the essence of the issue. David Israel and UCO have NO right to bargain for the residents re Internet. He does have the right to bargain for TV and that is it. So in presenting these two proposals he glosses over the true state of affairs - that he is once again overstepping his bounds and it will all come back to bite us in the rear.
     Dan Gladstone has written a good presentation of this idea and the truth behind it. He writes of the residents who have no interest in Internet, no desire for it at all and why are they being told to choose when there is no right to do this. It would truly and honestly and legally take a change in the laws and by laws that govern our Village but then again, when has David Israel EVER guided his life by the rules if they get in his way.
     For years he hounded us for Wi-Fi, wireless connections and demeaned and belittled all who opposed it but we persisted and it was defeated, soundly and roundly so and he even admitted that in public yet at the meeting! Wow! Will it rain gold raindrops next? Now he is obsessed with broadband and its placement within the Village. The truth is that it is here already for those who want it, for those who need it and use it. He again, as usual, forgets that we have a very mixed population here, many elderly elderly and they have no wish nor the money to pay for broadband - especially as there is no right for this to be in negotiation!! But this is David. He has a one track mine - his desires, his wishes and screw the rest. So, in full disclosure, I would go with the Comcast proposal for it would benefit me but the point is - it was not and is not in the purview of his to do this. He obsesses about what he wants and forgets that for two years and more we were hearing how great  Atlantic Broadcasting was, how we should not pay attention to the complaints re its service - or lack thereof, how it was a good idea that we pay for its expenses in pulling wires up from Miami so it could then link up with other communities! And that was our responsibility exactly how and why? And then, yes, when Ed Grossman and Myron Solomon contacted Comcast who had never been informed that another contract was in talks as there were several more years on the contract, we achieved a better deal. CSI, signed illegally with us, grew hot under the collar at this fact and its publication for they wanted credit for this new offer from Comcast, and the tuchis lickers of David Israel all obediently booed Ed for their master dislikes him intensely and had shown him up yet again. No, Ed should not have yelled but neither should the CSI rep! Bad business manners!
     We need to go back to the beginning about broadband and who negotiates for the Village and if that is even correct. We need a Town Hall and not just a delegate meeting. We need truth in government but then again - why do we expect a change now and in fact, David so casually stated in the Rag that he intends to remain in office almost permanently until death! Well....
     But David Israel is doing no more or less than any other petty demagogue will do and does when the big honcho does the same. Get rid of Trump. Get rid of Bannon. Get rid of the bigots and the crooks and the Fat Cats of Wall street who are now busy planning to screw the very people who voted for Trump - get rid of all that and maybe, maybe we can then return to OUR America, our Village. Maybe we can stop all the hatred, the nationalism, the prejudice that is growing like a fungus all over the world. Maybe. IF...
    

HEY, HEY, HO, HO....

     No, that is not an early call to or from Santa but rather an echo of the 60's, an aural echo accompanied by the visual echoes of protesters marching all over the United States in protest against Trump and his fascistic government and his orders. It is not just the immigration ban, a ban which strikes at the heart of the foundation of the United States, but also just about everything else this man and his henchmen have instigated these past two weeks. In two weeks this man has just about tried to destroy everything and anything that pertains to the heart and soul of America. People are determined to protest these steps and filled the weekend with protests and marchers, including outside and near Mar A Lago.
     So aside from noticing that the man has tried to tame his orange hair mop, the one that people imitate with "dead" animals sitting atop a head, apart from that new part he has all the way down the left side, what has this man done for his country? Let us check the ways.
      Well, everything has become personal. If one goes against something that Trump wants, woe upon him or her or them. The attack is personal, as for instance that Twitter attack on the judge who ordered the ban. He became a "so-called Judge", a "ridiculous" one, even as he is known to be a respected mainstream Republican one and the issue now is will Gorsuch speak out against this attack on the judiciary as it exercises its rights and duties in America or will he join the list of wimps and wooses who cannot find their backbone?!
     We have had a parade of Fat Cats thru Congress on the way to approval, a bunch of foxes for the henhouses of various departments, people who either are just plain ignorant - DeVos is a good rival to Palin in that area - or they are people who actually are tied up in suits against the very department they are to head or they have spoken against it and are all in a rush to destroy everything that protects us, the little people, the environment in which we live and our very safety in the financial and economic areas. So back to the future - back to 2008, back to financial advisers free to rip off the investors, back to oil spills and chemicals ruining our waterways and lands, back to no healthcare for all, back to anything that is wrong and as for voting rights? HA!! Don't even go there.
     According to Trump's robots, there is a "basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."  Even I know that that is not so and a perversion of our laws and Constitution. It has always been so and only this man wants to change it - he and his fellow fascists, America Firsters.
  And it does not stop there. I have never seen such an animosity towards or rather against a President and in the first two weeks. All we get from his waning support team is "give him a chance". What does that mean? Till when? Why? Till he destroys us? Till we can figure out an answer to a question that I was asked by a visitor from overseas - "What have you people gone and done?" And I cannot answer her for I have no answer that would explain the travesty of an election, the nastiness, the incompetence that has risen to the top, the stupidity that has allowed a man who is called Pence's Poodle" in a national poll to rule us. So who runs this guy - Priebus? Bannon? Pence? A cabal? Certainly no one with a heart or a soul.
     Trump has been a suspicious character for quite some time. His ethics are nonexistent, he has been sued over and over again, gone bankrupt, had to settle a huge claim against his Trump University and has made efforts to stop such a thing from happening again - not the fake schools, but the suit against them!! He has been called a Manchurian Candidate and just listen to the latest. Bill O'Reilly and even in 2015 on The Morning Show, asked Trump about Putin and his killings and assassinations against journalists who opposed him and other dissidents and his response? "There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers,” Trump said. “Well, you think our country is so innocent?”
"Trump added that he thinks the United States is “better” getting along with Russia than not.
“If Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all around the world, major fight. That’s a good thing,” Trump said." Dear Lord - his English alone!!
     This is our president? Not mine, not mine. For the first time ever when asked to recite the pledge, I stood there with my hand in place but the mouth did not open and the words did not come out. Is this my country anymore? Whose country is it? Does it belong only not even to the 1% but to the .001% and the rest of us are peasants, serfs, with no freedom, no hope. That is not my country, not the land to which I pledged allegiance to my whole life. That is not my country that I grew to love and honor, to look upon with pride, the country that made mistakes, some pretty bad, but a country that looked at itself in the mirror and made strides to improve and right wrongs. When we once again have such a country then I will recite that pledge loud and clear and until that happens, I will pledge in my heart, pledge to the
Constitution, to the people who fight this fascist, this know nothing, this dangerous man and his dangerous henchmen. That will be my country and my president. This one? Feh!!!
     What we now have is a government that has made and is still looking to make mass arrests of protesters, looking for ways to keep those charges and take people to trial. They are massing at protest scenes and taking pictures and videos, all the better to get names and know who they are. And why? To arrest them as we fall deeper and deeper into a country that follows the rules and laws and philosophy of fascism? We are told that "Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large". Well, guess what? That is the job of the judiciary according to the Constitution - to check and recheck, to balance and to hear the voice of the people, protect the people against an Executive Branch gone wild.
     What is even more frightening is that this is the first time that I have read and heard of mainstream people, big people, little people actually calling for the removal of this man from office, no matter how. I have called for his removal, his impeachment, his being charged with whatever applies, but have called out against violence and yet I wonder how long people will resist if they feel a sense of futility, of nothing will get done unless the pace is stepped up. So Sarah Silverman tweeted "WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE. ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE and then took it back with  "FEAR can motivate even peacenik snowflakes 2 incite violence & last night I felt it hard. Trying 2 keep in check bc damnit I love u America'
     But she is not the only one. From calls to resign and ever onwards the news is not good. There is a sense of separation in the country and that never leads to good endings. Here is what one respected columnist wrote and you tell me - where are we going? What have we done? How do we stop this? How do we get our best minds on this project and figure out how we negate that last election and get our country back on track - along with the rest of the world.
     "...what we're hearing sounds like a man who is out of his depths and out of control, who can't even pretend to master his feelings of personal insecurity......utter chaos.....fresh debacle....America and the world can't take much more of this. Think about it: If you had an employee behaving this way, you'd immediately remove him from any position of responsibility and strongly suggest that he seek counseling. And this guy is commander in chief of the world's most powerful military.
     Thank you, Comey"
     I am afraid. and so should you be. The tempers are high, the stakes are great. 'I pledge allegiance to the flag....." where, oh where, is my country?
     Just had a conversation with my grandson and he told me that no, this IS our country, all the people protesting , that is the country and Trump and his people, they are not. So.....I will pledge allegiance to that country and hold in my heart the knowledge that we do have hope from this younger generation. Thank the lord for that. But....I am still worried as we go through the turmoil and torment that this guy engenders. Impeachment anyone?

INSIDE/OUTSIDE UPSIDE DOWN

   I can remember reading those words to our oldest at 5 AM every morning and can in fact still recite most of the book by heart. But we are not here to discuss Dr. Seuss but the images invoked by those words in today's world. And in ourselves as well. Where have all the idealists of youth gone? Where?
     Last night there was a great show in the Clubhouse with 6 young men and women singing and performing their hearts and voices out and the audience loved it. I sat there singing as they hit so many of my favorites and I began to think how strange it is that while inside I still feel the same age I was when these songs were popular, still think the same about many issues, outside, well, suffice it to say that the outside ain't the way it used to be!! Such a disparity between the two sides but I firmly believe the inside is the side most important.
     Time to take stock of the inside. Time to see where my heart and soul are. Of course, the first place they are is with my family and then my friends. The second place they are is with my country and my other homeland, Israel and along with that my religious belief and my faith in G-d. But perhaps the most overwhelming place I am at now is the confused and heartbreaking place we are all in as we wonder what the hell, what has happened and how has so much of the truth become or rather gone missing. Nancy Sinatra sang in her song, chiding her faithless other, that he was "lyin' when he should have been truthin'" and this exactly describes where we are now. So read on and see where and when and how your inside and outside mesh and what we do with the upside downside position we are in at present.
     Upside downside is the situation we now have in our government. Truthin' seems to be a radical idea whose time has not come - and will it ever with these people? Here is the latest gem from Kellyanne Conway. “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre" Well, that is because there never was such an incident, no massacre there. Yes, two Iraqi nationals were arrested there but their activities took place in Iraq and not here so puhlease!! And yet I will bet that today the talk will be of the Bowling Green Massacre as invented by Conway and all the Trumpers will swear by it!
     Their Holocaust Memorial Day announcement or statement was awful beyond belief. But Elie Wiesel said it far better than I ever could. “No word can contain the solitude, the solitude of the Jewish victim who was more alone and more abandoned and more tragic than all the other victims. Granted, there were other victims as well; we should never forget them either. But the solitude of the Jewish victims remains unparalleled. How many times must we repeat that? Everyone who was not Jewish had family outside. Thus, the non-Jewish prisoner could cling to hope: ‘If I die, my son will live. My parents will have more children. My sister will remarry.’ The Jewish prisoner knew that he or she was alone, maybe the last, for his or her entire family had been condemned to extinction. An entire people was sentenced to death for being.”
     Yet despite that, the Trump announcement contained no mention of Jews and it was on purpose as they admit. "Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks acknowledged – indeed affirmed – that the wording was intentional “as we are an incredibly inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered,” with “inclusivity” becoming a gateway for “alternative facts” and revisionist history. As Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt put it, “What we saw from the White House was classic soft-core denial. The Holocaust was de-Judaized.”
     And after that came the announcement of Trump over settlements in Israel and dear G-d I have to say it again - told ya' so! Damn it, I told you so!! And after that, the fait accompli of the immigration ban and the focus on Moslems! Racial and religious prejudice raise their ugly heads once again. And yet wait till we hear the excuses.
     Upside down again. The screamers and the yellers and the howlers for the wall - are you willing to spend $25 billion for your hysteria and nonsense, a useless wall at that and one that will demand that much land be confiscated from private owners via eminent domain and Texans, that means you! Yup, your land taken by your hero, Trump the liar. Upside downside.
     So we now have wonderful new promises and indeed even actions. We have an ethically challenged President who refuses to divest, whose conflicts of interest, whose veniality is bar none one of the worst and most blatant in the world. He is the president who refuses to divest, or show his tax returns for fear of what will be revealed,and who intends to make a personal profit from his position!! Yup - you chose him. And his family follows along with Ivanka seemingly nowhere in her divestment plans and announcements yet Grab Your Wallet has made an impact there as Nordstrom is cutting her line there and other companies are being affected as well in their connection to Trump. You see, pressure works both ways and Trump does not like that. Tough Bugs!!! 
     And yet, another area of wonderful Trump actions and plans. He will destroy the rule that financial advisers must do so with the benefit of their advisees in mind. That does not sit well with Trumpers so out it goes. As for safety and regulations in the workplace - why who needs them, so off we will send our breadwinners to places where no hard hats, no rules about chemicals, no rules about fair play, no rules about safety in any way, shape, manner or form. But there ya' go. Trump in action!! Oh, and by the way, should you desire to attend the religious service of your choice and take part in a spiritual event, well forget that for the religious leaders will now be allowed to speak from the pulpit - no more separation of church and state and evidently, forget about G-d. Trump is his evidently anointed one on earth, so shut up and listen to the pastor!!
Upside downside inside outside!!! Oh, and for the environment and climate change - bah, humbug!
     But never you mind, our security is all in place .We will discriminate and we will "vet hard' the dangerous kids and grandmas and grandpas and students who can help us in the future and  doctors with ideas and any other dangerous creatures!! Yes, security, but between 1975 and now no one from those seven countries has done anything here on American soil after they immigrated. But forget about it, for America has lost her way and her founding principles have been perverted, twisted in all ways. And yet, are we safe? I do not think so and in fact, I believe the biggest looming threat we have now is the threat of fascism via the critters of Trump' s administration even as we should feel so safe as his new CIA Deputy Director evidently knows torture so well as he personally supervised it during her career.
     Yes, inside/outside upside downside, My beliefs in human rights, in having fair play, in looking to better the life or lives of people - still there from my youth, and at times overcome by the needs and demands of everyday life, but they are back aroaring and demand attention. So yes, go to demonstrate and never mind the big bully's stare and threats and poutings. Do what is right. Always - and perhaps our wimps of representatives will hear our voices and if not - in two years, should the country as is survive that long - well just vote them out. Show them that we have a voice too! In fact, loud voices.
     And remember, always remember - “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time where we fail to protest against injustice.”

This is such a time.

TANGLED BEDDING

     How did we ever get to this situation? How did we find ourselves locked into sharing a bed with a megalomaniac, an ignoramus who has the potential, the huge potential, to enmesh us in global warfare and in the destruction of the United States, be it a physical destruction or its moral, spiritual and philosophical ruination and termination.
     We came off eight years with Obama. Granted, while he has an intellectual mind and is a bright man, he had no experience worthy of being president yet and basically won due to a euphoria of the African American community and of liberals who said it was time. So his ideal visions could not come to fruition for various reasons, bigots out there hated him for who he was, the color of his skin, not just whether they appreciated him as president or not, period. Yes, I believe he screwed Israel royal perhaps due to the fact that his chosen religious guide was a vicious anti Semite or perhaps due to the fact that he and Netanyahu rubbed each other raw. Whatever the reason there it was; however, he did well on the environment and in other issues, many of which are now going to be walked back because this conceited ass in the White House believes in nothing that he cannot see, that he cannot boss around, that his tiny and very limited mind cannot grasp.
     This man too has no experience worthy of anything for our government and country. He thinks he can sit and direct a stream of dangerously stupid and no thought thru ideas and directives and thus govern the country that way. He is concerned whether he is popular or not and when people protest him  he goes berserk. His manners are childish in the extreme.
     Just look at his body language when he announced Gorsuch for Supreme Court. He swings his hulking body side to side like a five year old with a delicious secret. He then asks over and over again if this was a surprise, was it, was it? Really? He called the guy to the White House, his name was in the papers before and all he wants to know was if it was a surprise. Who cares. The appointment will take whatever path it takes and we will have a disaster with right to choose, environmental issues, the forcing of religious viewpoints of one on the many, the rights of workers, their safety - so again, how did we get here?
     How did our sheets and Trump's get so tumbled together. We had the resentment of people over Obama for his policies. We had Wall Street who knew that Trump was full of it when he castigated them during the campaign. Note who his appointees are - millionaires and billionaires beyond imagination. The little guy - screwed again. We have a government full of elected officials who have no moral courage, do not believe in the importance of their convictions as they shudder in fear of losing their job. So we have the diplomats and employees of the State Department, the Acting Attorney General who was fired for her bravery and who deserves a medal and we have some possible characters who might stand by their honor and beliefs such as the two female Republican Senators. Hopefully they will not collapse like Rubio and Ryan. We need McCain to step up, Graham too. But will they? Look under the sheets and check.
     We had the bigots, the fringe extremists who saw their time in the sun had come. We had a man who thinks he is divinely anointed - just nauseating, but there it is. In addition to all that, he is just dumb in the sense of people smarts and truly, if he cannot see the necessity of running a government as it should be run, if he cannot see the difference between the responsibilities of a President and note its differences to that of a man running a business that is rife with bankruptcy, crimes of omission and  commission, of owing money, millions upon millions, to foreign nationals, who has no principles- well, there go the dirty sheets and it does not end.
     So we have a future of hate, of mass condemnation of religions other than Christian in the long run, despite the fact that many Christian leaders are denouncing this vehemently. We will have a man who shouts at allies, hangs up on the Australian Prime Minister, more tantrums. We will have the convicts in prison who see the future and what Trump will destroy in their lives and this country. Prisoners!!
     We have a country filled with generals and admirals who violated sexual mores but what the hey, so did Trump. Perhaps they will even get reinstated!!
     We have a country where hatred is the speech of the day and the patience of the people is waning, the violence of protesters who are feeling oppressed is growing and are scared and the ugly scent of Fascism is in the air. Actually, we even have a Fascist faux president in the form of Bannon, that right wing hatemonger who is putting his program right on thru using his puppet.
     Tangled bedding indeed and we all deserve some of the blame for allowing this and even more so if we allow it to continue. Trump must be reined in, controlled or let go, tossed out of office or neutralized in his powers. Any other way - too horrible to think of.
     And while we are on the path of discussing bad leaders and presidents, we must toss out David Israel here in the Village, he who too thinks he is divinely anointed and states as much as he confidently states that he plans on being the president for years to come. Oy vey! And oy on all of us here in the Village,  for it is time to vote in other people who will face him up and down and cut off his secret negotiations, his selfish plans and his poor accounting and usage of our funds. If we do not, if we even have a chance of living thru Trump, we have to live thru Israel as well and the best way now is to run for office here in the Village or nominate those who have the guts and the moral courage to withstand the abuse and deny David Israel his every wish - at major cost to us.
     Time we all speak up in every area and sphere of our lives. Bad role models hurt us all on every level of life.
    

CROOKS AND LIARS AND BIGOTS OH MY!

     Remember the original - "lions and tigers and bears, oh my". Except that was sung in a TV production and there were none of said animals there. But the danger perceived was real and the travelers going to Oz were indeed brave enough, stepping off into the unknown.
     So where are these brave travelers today, in real life? I was beginning to give up hope, feeling I was beating the drum in a vacuum, or with a few brave souls of the public eye, but then more and more brave travelers arrived and manifested themselves and then we had strong and important voices speaking out and crowds of souls braving the distemper of a dysfunctional president and his even more dysfunctional henchmen. And so, though highly frustrated that even more people do not see the truth of this naked emperor, at least more are speaking out and even some of those who voted for you know who are even beginning to give voice to their own doubts. Too little too late at this point, but there is always hope.
     Four Attorney Generals have filed suit against Trump for this immigration fiasco and travesty of justice and more are to follow. Over 1,000 State Department people have signed a dissent letter and fume though Trump might, this is a legal and oft used device in the State Department so Bannon and Spicer aside, they should just grin and  bear it and who knows, maybe even try to correct themselves and their fascistic leanings and tendencies.
     But make no mistake about it, the people of the title of this posting do exist and these are the people who are supposed to be our leaders, our sponsors in the world, our representatives  to the world, people who are supposed to look out for us. Well, wrong!! Sad. They will not do that job. Most should not even be confirmed into office and would not if not for the fact that the Republicans are the majority and there are many emasculated wonders amongst them, even into the Democrats whose seats are a bit wobbly. So honesty and courage go by the board in the name of political expediency.
 And who are these characters waiting for Godot? Well, we have those who are liars and who refuse to tell the truth and then are caught with their pants down. I guess better than being in them when they are on fire! They lie about their holdings of stocks and assets and how they obtained them. These lies are revealing other sins such as insider trading, lies and omissions on official documents including tax returns and again where are those belonging to Trump??!! They reveal their stupidity and lack of knowledge. In another time and place they would have been automatically out of contention for a seat but under the chief liar, Trump, ha! they look like pikers and are confirmed. Oh, the Democrats are just now beginning to stand up to this, but the numbers are not with them and unfortunately we also have those amongst them who are also worried about two years from now. Who the hell knows if our country will even be standing as it should be in two years and could be their seat will mean nada, nothing at that point. Ghost America will be a fait accompli unless we all stand together against these  alleged crooks and liars and bigots.
     For bigots they certainly are. Bannon comes from a radical fringe of right wing nutjobs and he states that we should bring the hate on. His Breitbart entity keeps up the running stream of garbage and for our reward in allowing this, we have the Executive orders that flow out from the overgrown infant in the Oval Office and "others" are banned, massed into one group, left stranded in overseas airports, real life Tom Hanks, handcuffed and threatened by others who forced people to sign that they are deporting themselves of their own free will and will not be allowed to return. Shudders of Nazi Germany as Jews were forced to sell their belongings and ride those damned trains all after signing postcards detailing their wonderful trips and the wonderful places they are in. No one freely puts themselves in danger and into a void unless they are pushed to do so by people or dangerous circumstances. And so here we are.
     And where are we? Well, a chief personage in the EU has stated that we now have the dubious honor of having our President named as one of the four biggest dangers to the European continent - Russia and Putin, China, radical Islam and terrorists and .....Donald Trump. And why? For his erraticism, his lies ad more lies and the unknown and/or insane quotient that he represents.
     As for the rest of the government, well, they are confused. Some are standing up, measuring up and they deserve medals and others are those bureaucrats who give in, who become the nameless souls who turn to the dark and follow orders, push people around and allow Fascism to flourish in our land. Or they become even more childlike than they are, calling each other names in the Senate, threatening each other, following the example of you know who who blusters away, threatens away, takes umbrage at Jimmy Fallon for his sarcasm about Trump - well, grow up, damn it! This is America and that is part of being a politician who has allowed this sarcasm to flourish by his own behavior.
     And now we have threats of boycotting Starbucks for heaven's sake as they talk of hiring and the idiots scream that they should hire Americans. Well, fine - if they could as they are hiring overseas for their locations there and seems to me that there are not enough Americans living there to fill the jobs!! In the meantime, back at the ranch, there is a counter Starbucks trend of buying their coffee. Hey, think I might and I hate coffee unless, of course in the form of ice cream!
     Finally, tit for tat, guess what? There was an "intruder" at the Republican conference in Philadelphia who recorded discussions and got the worry of Republicans over their President and his plans, got Pence saying he would, yes, would, investigate the voter fraud issue - and I am thinking hey, might be a good idea as it seems that the double booked voters appear to be from Trump so maybe we could get rid of him or redo the election. Guess they do not like the truth being heard and sent forth to the world. And this was not even being hacked! In the meanwhile, let us see what he does with the firing of rockets from Russian backed troops into the Ukraine. Will he stand up and be a man - okay, I know that is difficult but one has to hope, or will he wimp off and away from his bro, Putin?
     Liars and crooks and bigots, oh my. Oh boy! How bad and sad. How wrong. How tremendous an impediment. How destructive, a true mess. Why it is even carnage! Oh, never mind. I am going out to buy the new game from Merriam-Webster about the misspellings ad misusages by .....guess who! At least he is good for something - even the economy as people buy the game. Well done, Donny! Silver linings, huh?
     By the way, here is a statement released by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum - so read and think.
Today, the Museum issued the following statement:
The Museum is acutely aware of the consequences to the millions of Jews who were unable to flee Nazism, as noted in our November 2015 statement on the Syrian refugee crisis. The Museum continues to have grave concern about the global refugee crisis and our response to it. During the 1930s and 1940s, the United States, along with the rest of the world, generally refused to admit Jewish refugees from Nazism due to antisemitic and xenophobic attitudes, harsh economic conditions, and national security fears.
In our view, there are many legitimate refugees fleeing the Assad regime’s sustained campaign of crimes against humanity and the genocidal acts perpetrated by ISIS against the Yazidis, Christians, and other religious minorities. American policy should fully address national security concerns while protecting legitimate refugees whatever their national or religious identity.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.