The calls for impeachment grow. The women who were molested by him call out in stronger voices that he too needs to face the consequences. The growing concern that the man is deranged in addition to having a simply awful personality, never having grown up. He and his administration, his appointees, all seem to be lacking the ethics gene and the reek of dollar rule is high. The fetid smell of the swamp grows ever stronger.
So let us say that he is impeached, convicted, charged with obstruction of justice, replaced via the 25th Amendment, whatever the cause - then what? Apres Trump - what?
Trump and Trumpism is not one figure. As in The Walking Dead, all the followers of Negan, a human monster, call themselves Negan and it appears that all of Trump's followers call themselves Trump by any other name. That means that even if he were not physically in office, his philosophy would continue and perhaps get even worse. The lack of ethics, the conflict of interests, the sheer incompetence and inexperience, the total lack of honesty, the ever growing return to nepotism, the overwhelming disregard for the majority of Americans all in the name of "helping" the wealthy - all this would continue - and more.
The hatred and prejudice that were unleashed with his candidacy will continue and emerge even more, grow into mainstream America and woe upon us. Should his VP, Pence, take over, it will be much worse as this man has the self discipline to put forth and carry out his sinister plans and beliefs without enraging everyone every day. He will go quietly and do his thing and we will find ourselves in a Pence - Bannon world, a world composed of hatred, of nastiness, of a nativist culture that is malignant and destroys all that it touches.
What is hanging over the country and the world is the very real fear that Americans will not stand for this, will not go down quietly, without protest. Sure, there will be those in government such as those in the House who voted for this horrific tax bill, and people who will follow anyone who empowers them, but there are others who will find a backbone and who will go down fighting - and I mean that in the true and full physical sense of the word. Rioting in the street will be nothing as compared to Americans fighting Americans. The country and the nation will break into parts and pieces. Texas will go it alone, always nuts. Alabama will truly recede into the benighted mores of 17th century society, the empty states will band together for population and power and the Unite States of America will be no more.
Think I am nuts, going to the extreme? Well, there are many who are beginning to fear this possible scenario. There are those who warn us re impeachment and insist that there must be plans for afterwards. Apres Trump must have delineated plans or else the battle is lost and the war lost for sure.
Never before , at least since the Civil War, has there been such hatred, such animosity, such division among the people of our country. Never before have we become so vicious towards our immigrants. Yes, we had prejudicial attitudes before, but this violence, this determination to 'rid' the country of those who actually help build the nation, this eagerness of people willing to sign up and be legally vicious - well, if that does not send a chill down your spine then I know not what to say to you other than to go back in history and see how ordinary people became the killers and executioners of Nazi Germany, of Turkey with the Armenians, of Bosnia, of the Tutsi, the Rohingya and the list never ends, does it?
We must insist on transparency, on honesty, on full compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law. The Russian ambassador sys there is a huge list of Trump officials with whom he spoke. Kushner keeps lying thru his teeth. Mueller is rapidly gearing up for his climax and findings and in the meanwhile the rot underneath, our own moral failings are being exposed hour by hour.
Why do and did so many men think it okay to paw at women, to force themselves on women and children and boys. Why is it okay for a man to say one thing, be extreme in outspokenness re LGBT and then have it disclosed that he himself is gay. It should not make a difference re a person's orientation and yet there it is. We hide the truth from ourselves and others and then wonder why all is going to hell in a handbasket.
And then? A scary thought. A vison of the stuff of nightmares - unless we wake up and prepare and plan and change the path. It can be done, but time is running out, the sands of time do not stop and wait for us to catch up. And then? You go figure it out.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Thursday, November 16, 2017
THE HEALTH OF MENTAL HEALTH
Wow!! It is certainly a moment. I actually agree with Trump on one statement that he has made and that is that the status of mental health care here in the country is not good, is, in fact, problematic. It is after that, that Donald and I disagree.
We do indeed neglect mental health here. It is always being fought over by insurance. It is limited in coverage and scope and treatment is usually hidden by the one getting the treatment due to still backward thinking. And it is bad enough when this happens, but what happens when the President of the United States is suffering from some kind of mental derangement and/or disease?
Trump is ill. There is no doubt about it. Many have come out and stated this be it with a name such as narcissism or megalomania and/ or with the addition of a degenerative illness, one that is the cause of his bizarre statements and actions.
Take a minor action, one that he himself chided Rubio about, the taking of a sip of water during time at the podium. Yet there is a difference. Trump was awkward to a point beyond reason. I am not even sure that with his actions that he actually got any water in his mouth and his actions and movements trying to open the bottle, almost trying to hide the bottle - weird indeed.
But there are more serious moments of mental health questions. His very obsessive behavior in tweeting, particularly in aggressive or nasty language, one after the other, his seeming inability to let things go as he perseverates, and his last misstep, when he tweeted the same text to the people in California re the shooting there as he did to the horrific church massacre in Texas.
Or take his weird behavior in group situations. There was the time he actually pushed a head of government out of his way so he could be front and center. Now, on his most recent trip, he once again positioned himself in the center, all the better to tower over the shorter Asian figures and then had difficulty crossing his hands to conform to the rest of the group. Strange. Very much so.
Many of his actions make no sense and we are lucky if there is no harm because of them, but at other times there is great harm. Here is one. We all know that elephants, among other species, are being hunted, poached, out of existence due to greed and selfishness. Major efforts have been mounted to save this intelligent species and yet, what does this madman do? He is going to allow the importation of the heads of these elephants "because it will enhance their survival." I kid you not. Hunting, in this bizzaro world is now considered good for them, as if they were a bunch of overgrazing and overpopulated deer.
So what do we do? It is not a healthy situation when a mentally ill man is head of government and can exercise so much power. The disaster risk is epic. And while we can sympathize or even empathize with him, personal must be separated from public due to his position in life. Yes, he will be feeling separate, sometimes fuzzy in the understanding of what is happening. He will deny, deny, deny. But the gaps in reasonable behavior are growing. The possibility of disaster grows every day, increasing to dangerous levels.
If we had an enlightened approach to mental health and mental disease, be it of physical or other cause, then perhaps we could be sure that this ill man would be relieved of office and at the very least undergo a public health evaluation, public in the sense that the results would be aired. As President he has no right to hide this from the country. It only bodes no good for us and for the world.
How will he deal with the radioactive cloud that is now drifting over Europe, very dangerous, and suspected by experts of coming from Russia. Will he call on his imagined great friendship with Putin? Or will he ignore it because so he has been told to? How will he handle the possibility of he himself coming under criminal charges due to his own record of molestation and sexual harassment of women? Prosecute them all as far as I am concerned, from Bill Clinton to the lowliest, but there is no reason to allow Trump to skip out on his behavior!!
Mental health? A major issue here in the country. But it becomes even larger and looms menacingly when one suffering from illness of the mind is the President. And yet, the Republicans follow him blindly, like the children after the Pied Piper. Only this time, will there be a time when we can regret our actions in "hiring" him and fix the mess? Who the hell knows and the time for that is running short, especially with his big stupid mouth and itchy bomb finger.
We do indeed neglect mental health here. It is always being fought over by insurance. It is limited in coverage and scope and treatment is usually hidden by the one getting the treatment due to still backward thinking. And it is bad enough when this happens, but what happens when the President of the United States is suffering from some kind of mental derangement and/or disease?
Trump is ill. There is no doubt about it. Many have come out and stated this be it with a name such as narcissism or megalomania and/ or with the addition of a degenerative illness, one that is the cause of his bizarre statements and actions.
Take a minor action, one that he himself chided Rubio about, the taking of a sip of water during time at the podium. Yet there is a difference. Trump was awkward to a point beyond reason. I am not even sure that with his actions that he actually got any water in his mouth and his actions and movements trying to open the bottle, almost trying to hide the bottle - weird indeed.
But there are more serious moments of mental health questions. His very obsessive behavior in tweeting, particularly in aggressive or nasty language, one after the other, his seeming inability to let things go as he perseverates, and his last misstep, when he tweeted the same text to the people in California re the shooting there as he did to the horrific church massacre in Texas.
Or take his weird behavior in group situations. There was the time he actually pushed a head of government out of his way so he could be front and center. Now, on his most recent trip, he once again positioned himself in the center, all the better to tower over the shorter Asian figures and then had difficulty crossing his hands to conform to the rest of the group. Strange. Very much so.
Many of his actions make no sense and we are lucky if there is no harm because of them, but at other times there is great harm. Here is one. We all know that elephants, among other species, are being hunted, poached, out of existence due to greed and selfishness. Major efforts have been mounted to save this intelligent species and yet, what does this madman do? He is going to allow the importation of the heads of these elephants "because it will enhance their survival." I kid you not. Hunting, in this bizzaro world is now considered good for them, as if they were a bunch of overgrazing and overpopulated deer.
So what do we do? It is not a healthy situation when a mentally ill man is head of government and can exercise so much power. The disaster risk is epic. And while we can sympathize or even empathize with him, personal must be separated from public due to his position in life. Yes, he will be feeling separate, sometimes fuzzy in the understanding of what is happening. He will deny, deny, deny. But the gaps in reasonable behavior are growing. The possibility of disaster grows every day, increasing to dangerous levels.
If we had an enlightened approach to mental health and mental disease, be it of physical or other cause, then perhaps we could be sure that this ill man would be relieved of office and at the very least undergo a public health evaluation, public in the sense that the results would be aired. As President he has no right to hide this from the country. It only bodes no good for us and for the world.
How will he deal with the radioactive cloud that is now drifting over Europe, very dangerous, and suspected by experts of coming from Russia. Will he call on his imagined great friendship with Putin? Or will he ignore it because so he has been told to? How will he handle the possibility of he himself coming under criminal charges due to his own record of molestation and sexual harassment of women? Prosecute them all as far as I am concerned, from Bill Clinton to the lowliest, but there is no reason to allow Trump to skip out on his behavior!!
Mental health? A major issue here in the country. But it becomes even larger and looms menacingly when one suffering from illness of the mind is the President. And yet, the Republicans follow him blindly, like the children after the Pied Piper. Only this time, will there be a time when we can regret our actions in "hiring" him and fix the mess? Who the hell knows and the time for that is running short, especially with his big stupid mouth and itchy bomb finger.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
RECYCLING? GREAT IDEA!
Today, Wednesday, is America Recycle Day. Great idea, and one long past due, long past the time we should be doing this automatically. However, there are things that should not be recycled and unfortunately inertia, apathy, and sheer laziness allow for it.
One of the worst things we do is recycle people. We keep them in positions of power and influence long after their sell by date. Simply due to inertia, they remain in office and we get stuck with a Congress that does not function, a Presidency which is broken and a country and in fact, a world, divided in two, with the top 1% owning half the world's wealth.
So how do we recycle? Simple. For the things we throw out such as aluminum or plastic or papers there are bins and yet some people find it difficult or too annoying to do so, so for their laziness our kids will suffer. Fines ought to do the trick, stiff fines. Money talks, as they say. Invading the pocket hurts.
But what about the other things that are being recycled? Today we have old ideas of hatred and prejudice being recycled, some in partially new wrappers, but not enough in disguise that we do not recognize them. We see the inability of people to turn away from recycled ideas about gender, about the relationships between men and women and who must take responsibility for it.
We see recycling of the idea of greed and that the government should serve the office holder rather than the office holder serve the people. So greed blooms and blossoms, but with rank roots and poisonous buds. We see progress rebuffed and our old mistakes come back to haunt us as outmoded ideas, programs that did not work, come back from the graveyard of such things and there we are, stuck in the non recyclable yard.
What happens when we do not recycle people? Well, here in the Village we have a man and his coterie who think they are to be there forever and a day. Their ideas are old, their thoughts are withered, and the Village pays the price in financial instability, purposeful blindness, and a shaky future as bills and errors come home to roost. Not a great situation.
But in the world at large it is even a worse idea. There are no more public servants. Statesmen of dignity, enriched with the idea of public service, of paying it forward, are few and far between. We see demagogues begin to repopulate the ranks of so called leaders of countries. We see genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place and no one does a thing so hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are chased out, killed, tortured, mutilated, and their plight just simply ignored. It makes me frightened for what if another group is chosen? What if there is an anti Catholic witch hunt? What if there is a country which decides once more to kill the Jewish people of their country? Where does it end, all this recycling of old and hateful ideas? And when? Not soon enough.
And now we have one who is quite possibly the worst individual to ever be President of this country. How we were stupid enough, lazy enough, non thinking enough to allow this to happen is another example of selfish thinking and inertia. This is a man whom most Americans do not want to rerun in 2020. This is a man who has the lowest polls ever for people do not trust him, do not feel he is qualified to be President and yet here we are.
This is a man who surrounds himself with lackeys and true yesmen with no independent thoughts of their own. These people even have the same type of faulty memories as they appear in front of committees and lie, do not recall, and when pushed up against the wall suddenly do recall what happened and thank the media for reminding them of it. So we had collusion with Russia all thru the campaign and only G-d knows what Putin and Trump are talking about in their very private meetings. Perhaps they talk of plans to get together with the other demagogues of the world and split the countries up? Perhaps Putin reminds Trump how much he now owes Putin and the day will come to pay that bill! Recycling of human trash and trashy ideas is not a good idea, not at all.
So what happens when we allow old canards to be recycled? What happens when we do not sort out all the trash? We keep a pig such as Roy Moore in office despite the fact that people concede that rumors and talk and knowledge of his misdeeds were known for years, and even approved of by some. YUCK!!! And when we dig further we find all the gut ugly mess of so many men and their misdeeds. All their apologies do not amount to much when compared to the anguish they have caused, the trust they have spurned and held in contempt thru their actions.
And finally we have the recycling of the idea that Americans are in the right to carry around assault rifles and just shoot 'em up wherever they are so moved. So yesterday once again we had a shooting in a school, an elementary school, and only thru the quick reactions of the supervisory adults and teachers that more deaths were averted. How many more times? How many more deaths? How many more bouquets of flowers? How many more teddy bears? Time to trash this idea, no recycling for it.
So today, we must choose carefully and recycle what we must and should and trash the rest deep within the no return pile.
One of the worst things we do is recycle people. We keep them in positions of power and influence long after their sell by date. Simply due to inertia, they remain in office and we get stuck with a Congress that does not function, a Presidency which is broken and a country and in fact, a world, divided in two, with the top 1% owning half the world's wealth.
So how do we recycle? Simple. For the things we throw out such as aluminum or plastic or papers there are bins and yet some people find it difficult or too annoying to do so, so for their laziness our kids will suffer. Fines ought to do the trick, stiff fines. Money talks, as they say. Invading the pocket hurts.
But what about the other things that are being recycled? Today we have old ideas of hatred and prejudice being recycled, some in partially new wrappers, but not enough in disguise that we do not recognize them. We see the inability of people to turn away from recycled ideas about gender, about the relationships between men and women and who must take responsibility for it.
We see recycling of the idea of greed and that the government should serve the office holder rather than the office holder serve the people. So greed blooms and blossoms, but with rank roots and poisonous buds. We see progress rebuffed and our old mistakes come back to haunt us as outmoded ideas, programs that did not work, come back from the graveyard of such things and there we are, stuck in the non recyclable yard.
What happens when we do not recycle people? Well, here in the Village we have a man and his coterie who think they are to be there forever and a day. Their ideas are old, their thoughts are withered, and the Village pays the price in financial instability, purposeful blindness, and a shaky future as bills and errors come home to roost. Not a great situation.
But in the world at large it is even a worse idea. There are no more public servants. Statesmen of dignity, enriched with the idea of public service, of paying it forward, are few and far between. We see demagogues begin to repopulate the ranks of so called leaders of countries. We see genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place and no one does a thing so hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are chased out, killed, tortured, mutilated, and their plight just simply ignored. It makes me frightened for what if another group is chosen? What if there is an anti Catholic witch hunt? What if there is a country which decides once more to kill the Jewish people of their country? Where does it end, all this recycling of old and hateful ideas? And when? Not soon enough.
And now we have one who is quite possibly the worst individual to ever be President of this country. How we were stupid enough, lazy enough, non thinking enough to allow this to happen is another example of selfish thinking and inertia. This is a man whom most Americans do not want to rerun in 2020. This is a man who has the lowest polls ever for people do not trust him, do not feel he is qualified to be President and yet here we are.
This is a man who surrounds himself with lackeys and true yesmen with no independent thoughts of their own. These people even have the same type of faulty memories as they appear in front of committees and lie, do not recall, and when pushed up against the wall suddenly do recall what happened and thank the media for reminding them of it. So we had collusion with Russia all thru the campaign and only G-d knows what Putin and Trump are talking about in their very private meetings. Perhaps they talk of plans to get together with the other demagogues of the world and split the countries up? Perhaps Putin reminds Trump how much he now owes Putin and the day will come to pay that bill! Recycling of human trash and trashy ideas is not a good idea, not at all.
So what happens when we allow old canards to be recycled? What happens when we do not sort out all the trash? We keep a pig such as Roy Moore in office despite the fact that people concede that rumors and talk and knowledge of his misdeeds were known for years, and even approved of by some. YUCK!!! And when we dig further we find all the gut ugly mess of so many men and their misdeeds. All their apologies do not amount to much when compared to the anguish they have caused, the trust they have spurned and held in contempt thru their actions.
And finally we have the recycling of the idea that Americans are in the right to carry around assault rifles and just shoot 'em up wherever they are so moved. So yesterday once again we had a shooting in a school, an elementary school, and only thru the quick reactions of the supervisory adults and teachers that more deaths were averted. How many more times? How many more deaths? How many more bouquets of flowers? How many more teddy bears? Time to trash this idea, no recycling for it.
So today, we must choose carefully and recycle what we must and should and trash the rest deep within the no return pile.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
ABNORMAL AND THE NEW NORMAL
Lately people have been referring to the new normal, particularly if something is a tad, or more than a tad, off from the usual, the expected - yes, the norm. With such craziness going on now, people have given up those norms and called the weird, the unexpected, and yes, the wrong - the new normal, as if that makes it right.
In late 1992, over 1,700 scientists gave a warning to the people of earth of the dire outlook for humanity if it kept up its ways - the warming of the earth, the pollution, etc. Now scientists have given us another warning, a second warning, and it is not good. But, a big but, those who claim that these awful changes in the environment, the climate, the weather, the droughts and the floods are simply 'normal', the new normal - well, pack your bags and hope that there will be shuttles to Mars!! We have accepted falsehoods to cover over truths, truths that are hard to accept.
Unfortunately, these new normals are not limited to 'only' the environment, but are also found in the morality or lack of it in our societies of the day. Up till now there have been gaps in truth, there has been violence and greed, but always there were those who tried to reform, labor activists, new political demands, but today, all the rules and regulations have been tossed by the roadside. Conflict of interest? Nah, never mind that. Collusion with the enemy? That's okay, for the President loves the guy. Evil dictators, murderers in fancy clothing? Nope, no problem for they are beloved by our esteemed president.
Greed is the new normal. There have always been those , particularly in the financial world, who forgot that money is there to serve a purpose and is not meant to be stored up in some miserly condition, to be gloated over. Money is a wonderful tool for philanthropy and even the old robber barons of yesteryear realized that and set up organizations to funnel aid to where it was needed. Though that did not excuse their greed, it did allay it to a degree. However, today, people serve the corporation alone, shove the money into overseas accounts and the people are neglected.
There is no more loyalty to country. Those who yell the loudest about patriotism are those very ones who have turned on their country, claimed a new loyalty to whatever will enhance their fortunes, their power, their family. So the President's own son, Junior, exchanges email with WikiLeaks before and after the election and then tries to hide it. More and more garbage is coming out re the Trumps et al and now they are going to try to obfuscate with smoke machines calling for new investigations of Hillary. Third country banana republics - we, once the nation that set the ideal, are now emulating you. We persecute our political opponents, go after them , try to lock them up - all in the name of power and as a device to pull attention away from their own misdeeds.
There is a nastiness in the air. There is grossness in our behavior. The rot of sexual molestation, of undignified behavior with and towards women, the attempts to take control over their own health away from women, - where have we gone? Is this the new normal? Back to the fifties and worse? Do we allow ugly relationships between adult men and children, girls in their teens, and do we okay that in the name of religion? Pucchhhh!!!!! Time to shake out religion and find the purity within and not the ugly dross that has shackled and covered it over the centuries.
The new normal seems to be a perversion of the old normal. We have taken the worst of it and turned it into something holy, something that we are supposed to praise, to worship, to follow down its twisted trails. The new normal is ugly. It is selfish. It is contraindicated and will lead the world to destruction. We are already well down that path. Just take a look around.
Let us make a new, new normal, one that encourages care and concern for our planet, care and concern for our fellow beings, care and concern for true morality, use of money as a means to a good end rather than for its own sake.
Is this all a pipe dream? Perhaps, but humankind has been trying to improve over the millenniums so why have we decide to okay it, to allow, a backwards regression? Why? "Riddle me not," says the Joker. Well, riddle me not, says I. Just find me an answer, a proper path, a proper inducement to shake up the world and bring it to its senses.
In late 1992, over 1,700 scientists gave a warning to the people of earth of the dire outlook for humanity if it kept up its ways - the warming of the earth, the pollution, etc. Now scientists have given us another warning, a second warning, and it is not good. But, a big but, those who claim that these awful changes in the environment, the climate, the weather, the droughts and the floods are simply 'normal', the new normal - well, pack your bags and hope that there will be shuttles to Mars!! We have accepted falsehoods to cover over truths, truths that are hard to accept.
Unfortunately, these new normals are not limited to 'only' the environment, but are also found in the morality or lack of it in our societies of the day. Up till now there have been gaps in truth, there has been violence and greed, but always there were those who tried to reform, labor activists, new political demands, but today, all the rules and regulations have been tossed by the roadside. Conflict of interest? Nah, never mind that. Collusion with the enemy? That's okay, for the President loves the guy. Evil dictators, murderers in fancy clothing? Nope, no problem for they are beloved by our esteemed president.
Greed is the new normal. There have always been those , particularly in the financial world, who forgot that money is there to serve a purpose and is not meant to be stored up in some miserly condition, to be gloated over. Money is a wonderful tool for philanthropy and even the old robber barons of yesteryear realized that and set up organizations to funnel aid to where it was needed. Though that did not excuse their greed, it did allay it to a degree. However, today, people serve the corporation alone, shove the money into overseas accounts and the people are neglected.
There is no more loyalty to country. Those who yell the loudest about patriotism are those very ones who have turned on their country, claimed a new loyalty to whatever will enhance their fortunes, their power, their family. So the President's own son, Junior, exchanges email with WikiLeaks before and after the election and then tries to hide it. More and more garbage is coming out re the Trumps et al and now they are going to try to obfuscate with smoke machines calling for new investigations of Hillary. Third country banana republics - we, once the nation that set the ideal, are now emulating you. We persecute our political opponents, go after them , try to lock them up - all in the name of power and as a device to pull attention away from their own misdeeds.
There is a nastiness in the air. There is grossness in our behavior. The rot of sexual molestation, of undignified behavior with and towards women, the attempts to take control over their own health away from women, - where have we gone? Is this the new normal? Back to the fifties and worse? Do we allow ugly relationships between adult men and children, girls in their teens, and do we okay that in the name of religion? Pucchhhh!!!!! Time to shake out religion and find the purity within and not the ugly dross that has shackled and covered it over the centuries.
The new normal seems to be a perversion of the old normal. We have taken the worst of it and turned it into something holy, something that we are supposed to praise, to worship, to follow down its twisted trails. The new normal is ugly. It is selfish. It is contraindicated and will lead the world to destruction. We are already well down that path. Just take a look around.
Let us make a new, new normal, one that encourages care and concern for our planet, care and concern for our fellow beings, care and concern for true morality, use of money as a means to a good end rather than for its own sake.
Is this all a pipe dream? Perhaps, but humankind has been trying to improve over the millenniums so why have we decide to okay it, to allow, a backwards regression? Why? "Riddle me not," says the Joker. Well, riddle me not, says I. Just find me an answer, a proper path, a proper inducement to shake up the world and bring it to its senses.
Monday, November 13, 2017
JUST A BIT OF HISTORY
Condemned. That is what we are according to the sentiments of historians. We have, in our hour of need in today's times, forgotten the warning that if we forget about history, disregard it, we will be condemned to repeat it. And so here we are. Again.
WWI was a time of strong men rulers, demagogues, emperors and kings, and unruly times for the world. Recent past had scores of wars, small and large, proxy wars in some cases. The streets were rife with warring sectors of citizens with great unrest among the lower classes of society even as the upper classes reveled in their excesses.
And the various 'prophets' called out warnings but no one was listening. Thus a shot against an heir to a crumbling throne caromed through the tangled lines of alliance and off the world was to war and off marched the millions of men, off to slaughter in the poppy fields of Flanders, in the bloody trenches that took as much as 60,000 men in one day of fighting at the Battle of Somme.
The fields were soaked with the blood of the population of Europe. Britain never recovered before she was entangled in yet another World War which was actually an extension of the first war as no lessons had been learned and the situations were the same. Once again we had demagogues who ruled with iron fists. Once again we had men who refused to listen to history, refused to hear the ominous notes of the martial music. Once again the streets were filled with marauding hordes.
Fast forward into the future and watch the era of dictators take hold. Watch the lessons of two world wars go down the drain. Watch the growing class hatred, the growing difference between the classes, the inequalities of society and the ever present hatred of the 'other' as defined by various hate groups. And follow this repetition of history into present times.
Today the world is once again rife with demagogues, including one right here in what is supposed to be the bastion of freedom, of democracy. Worse yet, this demagogue has inspired the haters and the hatemongers to crawl out of the woodwork, into the open. The lines of hatred extend through the world and cross borders.
So we find groups of haters marching through the street. We find opponents meeting them and crash!! We find the hatred of others strong once again and its stink fills the earth. So all Moslems are bad, and Jews are hated once more with people taking selfies with a statue of Hitler in front of a background of the gates to Auschwitz. Even the adherents of supposed peaceful religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, are killing with a mighty sword. And above all we have the demagogues and the uber wealthy and the growing distance between the haves and the have - nots, the lack of care for the poorer classes and the crushing of the middle classes and soon it will be even worse if Trump's tax plan goes forth. Much worse.
So where are we now? Here in the country of supposed impartial justice, we have judges who are bigoted and ignorant being appointed for lifetime positions. We have sheriffs who adhere to rough justice, who believe in rough justice, if we can even use that term, that word, justice and it seems at times that we have gone backwards, so far that the past is now meeting the present and designing the future in ways of which we should be very wary.
We have states which seem never to have emerged from Reconstruction times, where benighted people are supporting an alleged sexual pervert, a child molester, a person for whom the White House is asking for more time, tsk, tsk, so unfair is the accusation! The rot among men who were mistakenly thinking they were living in the Middle Ages and ruled over all below them in terms of power and influence was exposed and its ugliness keeps growing.
Political rot is evident in the return of nepotism, of violated ethics, of the political dirty business of gerrymandering, and now the interference in our political sovereignty and our most valued rite of free elections by an enemy of ours - who has the President of the United States vowing for him and dissing his own people.
So where are we now in terms of history? Unfortunately not at a good point. Alliances have been trashed, countries have taken huge steps in the violation of other countries, people talk of hate and killing, guns in this country, assault rifles, are amassed at a growing, obscene rate, and we kill more people in mass killings then any other country, especially if they are not at war. Supposedly we are not at war and yet, and yet, perhaps we need to rethink that thought. And we had better rethink the position of a man who has isolated us among the countries of the world.
"He who does not learn from history is condemned to repeat it." So we have been told many times over in so many words. Why have we not learned that lesson? Where do we go from here? Your nightmare is my nightmare. Can we not wake up from it? Had we better do so and quickly? Think about it.
WWI was a time of strong men rulers, demagogues, emperors and kings, and unruly times for the world. Recent past had scores of wars, small and large, proxy wars in some cases. The streets were rife with warring sectors of citizens with great unrest among the lower classes of society even as the upper classes reveled in their excesses.
And the various 'prophets' called out warnings but no one was listening. Thus a shot against an heir to a crumbling throne caromed through the tangled lines of alliance and off the world was to war and off marched the millions of men, off to slaughter in the poppy fields of Flanders, in the bloody trenches that took as much as 60,000 men in one day of fighting at the Battle of Somme.
The fields were soaked with the blood of the population of Europe. Britain never recovered before she was entangled in yet another World War which was actually an extension of the first war as no lessons had been learned and the situations were the same. Once again we had demagogues who ruled with iron fists. Once again we had men who refused to listen to history, refused to hear the ominous notes of the martial music. Once again the streets were filled with marauding hordes.
Fast forward into the future and watch the era of dictators take hold. Watch the lessons of two world wars go down the drain. Watch the growing class hatred, the growing difference between the classes, the inequalities of society and the ever present hatred of the 'other' as defined by various hate groups. And follow this repetition of history into present times.
Today the world is once again rife with demagogues, including one right here in what is supposed to be the bastion of freedom, of democracy. Worse yet, this demagogue has inspired the haters and the hatemongers to crawl out of the woodwork, into the open. The lines of hatred extend through the world and cross borders.
So we find groups of haters marching through the street. We find opponents meeting them and crash!! We find the hatred of others strong once again and its stink fills the earth. So all Moslems are bad, and Jews are hated once more with people taking selfies with a statue of Hitler in front of a background of the gates to Auschwitz. Even the adherents of supposed peaceful religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, are killing with a mighty sword. And above all we have the demagogues and the uber wealthy and the growing distance between the haves and the have - nots, the lack of care for the poorer classes and the crushing of the middle classes and soon it will be even worse if Trump's tax plan goes forth. Much worse.
So where are we now? Here in the country of supposed impartial justice, we have judges who are bigoted and ignorant being appointed for lifetime positions. We have sheriffs who adhere to rough justice, who believe in rough justice, if we can even use that term, that word, justice and it seems at times that we have gone backwards, so far that the past is now meeting the present and designing the future in ways of which we should be very wary.
We have states which seem never to have emerged from Reconstruction times, where benighted people are supporting an alleged sexual pervert, a child molester, a person for whom the White House is asking for more time, tsk, tsk, so unfair is the accusation! The rot among men who were mistakenly thinking they were living in the Middle Ages and ruled over all below them in terms of power and influence was exposed and its ugliness keeps growing.
Political rot is evident in the return of nepotism, of violated ethics, of the political dirty business of gerrymandering, and now the interference in our political sovereignty and our most valued rite of free elections by an enemy of ours - who has the President of the United States vowing for him and dissing his own people.
So where are we now in terms of history? Unfortunately not at a good point. Alliances have been trashed, countries have taken huge steps in the violation of other countries, people talk of hate and killing, guns in this country, assault rifles, are amassed at a growing, obscene rate, and we kill more people in mass killings then any other country, especially if they are not at war. Supposedly we are not at war and yet, and yet, perhaps we need to rethink that thought. And we had better rethink the position of a man who has isolated us among the countries of the world.
"He who does not learn from history is condemned to repeat it." So we have been told many times over in so many words. Why have we not learned that lesson? Where do we go from here? Your nightmare is my nightmare. Can we not wake up from it? Had we better do so and quickly? Think about it.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
THE CASE OF THE ROTTING BALANCE BEAM
We have all seen those women on the gymnastics teams balance themselves as they jump and twist on the balance beam. We all gasp as they do their routines. But there are more people also trying to balance and their beams are rotting, from within and without.
Prominent among those rotting beams are those used by men to allow themselves the "right" to attack and mistreat women, up to and including rape. It has allowed them to okay attacks on children for their sexual glee and joy and then shift the blame to the "tempting" woman. What is even worse, is that this is endemic to men all around the globe, no matter the religion or belief and all this despite the supposed advances that women have made in recent years. There IS NO advancement under these conditions. NONE. That balance beam is too rotten to continue in use.
"She has no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to trace out her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might." The Brothers Grimm, "The Seven Ravens"
Out of supposed stories for children we hear the truth of the world. We all need to go out there and find our 'brothers', wherever and whomever they might be. Until we recognize that, we are in lots of trouble. Most of the ancient cultures of the world have the world balanced on something, be it a turtle, an elephant or the shoulders of Atlas. When the world goes off on a wrong tangent, that balance is endangered. And that is a truth even today for just look around and ask yourself if we are in balance and what is the consequence.
Our pollution and attack on the earth, the skies, the seas are sending the planet into gasps as it searches for ways to compensate. Our countries and tribes are at war with each other, no sooner ending one conflict than starting in on another.
And one of the biggest threats to the proper condition of the balance beam of the country and the world, one of the biggest contributors to its rot is that man in the Oval Office, Trump. He gleefully holds out a clenched fist along with the murderer Duterte. He praises Putin, yet another demagogue, as he touts belief in him rather than in his own countrymen. He calls Comey and other dignified public servants hacks, worthless beings, and Comey had two beautiful tweets right back at him, one praising the power of truth and the other from Amos telling of the rolling of justice as the waters of a waterfall and a stream. No nastiness but the point was made, emphatically so. No matter how Trump tries now to take back his words, they stick to him like glue.
It would go a long way to removing that rot from the beams of the world if Mueller is successful at building the obstruction of justice case against Trump and possibly others. Perhaps a lesson would be learned or at least people would think several times before they added to the rot within the beam.
And make no mistake about it - that rot does spread. Now Trump and Kushner, two most unqualified people, liars both, are promising the world that they will solve the Middle East crisis, first between Israel and the Palestinians and then everybody else. Great trick if they can pull it off but smell the air, smell the wood rot? Oh, yes, it is there. How can any country trust the members of another country who have been shown to be liars, who leave out huge segments of truth for convenience sake?
It appears that there are few and far between if we try to find those who will fix the rot. The elements of courage, of righteousness, of unselfishness seem to be in short supply what with everyone, or most everyone, hedging their bets, waiting to see what shakes out. So Moore gets a pass, again, and some molesters think Hollywood and the world will continue on, but wait - here is Gal Gadot, a Wonder Woman indeed. She has had the best break of her career, portraying a hero for the empowerment of women, and yet she puts it all on the line, for she will not be in the sequel unless Ratner is gone. Yay for her!!! Would that there were other courageous people out there who literally put their money where their mouth - and their conscience are.
But still hanging around are the brazen attempts of Trump to grow that rot as he nominates and his lackeys in the Senate approve, people for federal courts who have no experience, have been deemed as unqualified by legal associations, and yet here they are, people who think it is okay to have armed revolt against the government, people who pander to the NRA a month after the Sandy Hook shooting horror but here they come as Trump tries to add more rot to the beam for years into the future.
So where do we stand? Where do you stand? Time to dig hard, dig deep, and rid ourselves of the rot within our balance beam and very soon, for we are at the tipping point. Rot spreads. Rot ruins plans. Rot will upset the balance of the world as it treads on that rotten balance beam. Time to become inspired gymnasts.
Prominent among those rotting beams are those used by men to allow themselves the "right" to attack and mistreat women, up to and including rape. It has allowed them to okay attacks on children for their sexual glee and joy and then shift the blame to the "tempting" woman. What is even worse, is that this is endemic to men all around the globe, no matter the religion or belief and all this despite the supposed advances that women have made in recent years. There IS NO advancement under these conditions. NONE. That balance beam is too rotten to continue in use.
"She has no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to trace out her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might." The Brothers Grimm, "The Seven Ravens"
Out of supposed stories for children we hear the truth of the world. We all need to go out there and find our 'brothers', wherever and whomever they might be. Until we recognize that, we are in lots of trouble. Most of the ancient cultures of the world have the world balanced on something, be it a turtle, an elephant or the shoulders of Atlas. When the world goes off on a wrong tangent, that balance is endangered. And that is a truth even today for just look around and ask yourself if we are in balance and what is the consequence.
Our pollution and attack on the earth, the skies, the seas are sending the planet into gasps as it searches for ways to compensate. Our countries and tribes are at war with each other, no sooner ending one conflict than starting in on another.
And one of the biggest threats to the proper condition of the balance beam of the country and the world, one of the biggest contributors to its rot is that man in the Oval Office, Trump. He gleefully holds out a clenched fist along with the murderer Duterte. He praises Putin, yet another demagogue, as he touts belief in him rather than in his own countrymen. He calls Comey and other dignified public servants hacks, worthless beings, and Comey had two beautiful tweets right back at him, one praising the power of truth and the other from Amos telling of the rolling of justice as the waters of a waterfall and a stream. No nastiness but the point was made, emphatically so. No matter how Trump tries now to take back his words, they stick to him like glue.
It would go a long way to removing that rot from the beams of the world if Mueller is successful at building the obstruction of justice case against Trump and possibly others. Perhaps a lesson would be learned or at least people would think several times before they added to the rot within the beam.
And make no mistake about it - that rot does spread. Now Trump and Kushner, two most unqualified people, liars both, are promising the world that they will solve the Middle East crisis, first between Israel and the Palestinians and then everybody else. Great trick if they can pull it off but smell the air, smell the wood rot? Oh, yes, it is there. How can any country trust the members of another country who have been shown to be liars, who leave out huge segments of truth for convenience sake?
It appears that there are few and far between if we try to find those who will fix the rot. The elements of courage, of righteousness, of unselfishness seem to be in short supply what with everyone, or most everyone, hedging their bets, waiting to see what shakes out. So Moore gets a pass, again, and some molesters think Hollywood and the world will continue on, but wait - here is Gal Gadot, a Wonder Woman indeed. She has had the best break of her career, portraying a hero for the empowerment of women, and yet she puts it all on the line, for she will not be in the sequel unless Ratner is gone. Yay for her!!! Would that there were other courageous people out there who literally put their money where their mouth - and their conscience are.
But still hanging around are the brazen attempts of Trump to grow that rot as he nominates and his lackeys in the Senate approve, people for federal courts who have no experience, have been deemed as unqualified by legal associations, and yet here they are, people who think it is okay to have armed revolt against the government, people who pander to the NRA a month after the Sandy Hook shooting horror but here they come as Trump tries to add more rot to the beam for years into the future.
So where do we stand? Where do you stand? Time to dig hard, dig deep, and rid ourselves of the rot within our balance beam and very soon, for we are at the tipping point. Rot spreads. Rot ruins plans. Rot will upset the balance of the world as it treads on that rotten balance beam. Time to become inspired gymnasts.
Friday, November 10, 2017
NOW JESUS!!!!
Well, this takes the cake. Instead of condemning disgusting behavior, instead of admitting that many men have a problem controlling their id, particularly men in a position of power, large or small, over a woman, now some of the Republican conservatives have brought Jesus into the fray.
Roy Moore, a disgusting human being from the get go, who should never have been allowed to run for his known violations of ethics and his twisted values, now is a Senate candidate for Alabama. And lo and behold, we hear that when he was in his thirties, he decided that a 14 year old girl was a proper sexual partner. But instead of apologizing, we get the excuse that Mary, the mother of Jesus was 14 and Joseph was an adult carpenter and together they raised Jesus. Dear Lord!! Will these perverts stop at nothing? Are there to be no boundaries any more? Are we to turn back the clock to more benighted times where not one of these revelations of sexual misconduct would have raised an eyebrow?!
This whole boiling controversy just keeps getting better with Bannon, that misfit for humanity, equating this incident or disclosure with the release of the Access Hollywood tape of Trump, yet another pervert, and blames it on a conspiracy. I kid you not.
We have indeed lost all sense of morality, of shame at our behavior, at the greed so rampant among the people of the higher economic classes. It seems the more money one has, the less one has to obey rules of morality, principles of society, care for the less privileged. It makes one sick to the stomach to realize this and take in all the revelations.
People have lied, as for example, calling Papadopoulos a low level person even while he represented the Trump campaign at meetings with foreign officials - right up till the Inauguration. The appointees to the highest offices of the country all have lied and protected their wealth. We find that all the biggest companies and the universities have protected their funds in offshore accounts.Our officials have sold us down the river to Russia and it now looks as if Trump is developing another bromance with Xi of China and screw the people of America.
And now for the piece de resistance - the tax "reform" bill. This bill will certainly enhance the lives of the uber wealthy. Trump tells people that it will make him "less rich' and the urge to upchuck is intense. What this supposed plan will do is crush the middle class, drain them of funds, of the wherewithal to live a life, and turn the applecart so far over that there will be no chance of righting it. And as for the other economic classes, they are royally screwed as well and G-d forbid one in any bracket other than the ubers, has problems especially within the deduction issue. G-d help one who has medical expenses, heretofore allowed as a deduction after a certain point. Now - forget it - so to hell with chronic disease and condition expenses. To hell with rare disease. To hell with a family with a sick member. To hell with all, other than Trump and his buddies.
It is time to pressure representatives and senators to vote against this bill should it come to the floor. The damage it will do is mammoth and do not think this is only in the domestic area. Our State Department is being decimated, with offices allowed to go unfilled, people laid off or quitting, important State affairs going begging, EPA going to the opposite of what it should be doing even as officials are awaiting appointments and the only thing that looks good for employment is ICE and Border Patrol!
The ethical and moral values of the country, the very fabric of life, is rotting from within and there appears to be no end to it. Revelations come down the pipe at a dizzying rate and yet nothing really changes. Are we that blasé over all this rot? Do we not care? Are we not embarrassed in front of the world?
Must we all become hopeless cynics and allow our future generations to become that as well as they too suffer the consequences of terrible decisions made in the times of today? Is it truly a new world, one without hope of change and progress but rather one of degeneration, of moral filth? I hope not but nothing will happen unless we all speak out, vote out the trash, and insist on proper behavior, disclosure and transparency from the new. This is the only way.
Roy Moore, a disgusting human being from the get go, who should never have been allowed to run for his known violations of ethics and his twisted values, now is a Senate candidate for Alabama. And lo and behold, we hear that when he was in his thirties, he decided that a 14 year old girl was a proper sexual partner. But instead of apologizing, we get the excuse that Mary, the mother of Jesus was 14 and Joseph was an adult carpenter and together they raised Jesus. Dear Lord!! Will these perverts stop at nothing? Are there to be no boundaries any more? Are we to turn back the clock to more benighted times where not one of these revelations of sexual misconduct would have raised an eyebrow?!
This whole boiling controversy just keeps getting better with Bannon, that misfit for humanity, equating this incident or disclosure with the release of the Access Hollywood tape of Trump, yet another pervert, and blames it on a conspiracy. I kid you not.
We have indeed lost all sense of morality, of shame at our behavior, at the greed so rampant among the people of the higher economic classes. It seems the more money one has, the less one has to obey rules of morality, principles of society, care for the less privileged. It makes one sick to the stomach to realize this and take in all the revelations.
People have lied, as for example, calling Papadopoulos a low level person even while he represented the Trump campaign at meetings with foreign officials - right up till the Inauguration. The appointees to the highest offices of the country all have lied and protected their wealth. We find that all the biggest companies and the universities have protected their funds in offshore accounts.Our officials have sold us down the river to Russia and it now looks as if Trump is developing another bromance with Xi of China and screw the people of America.
And now for the piece de resistance - the tax "reform" bill. This bill will certainly enhance the lives of the uber wealthy. Trump tells people that it will make him "less rich' and the urge to upchuck is intense. What this supposed plan will do is crush the middle class, drain them of funds, of the wherewithal to live a life, and turn the applecart so far over that there will be no chance of righting it. And as for the other economic classes, they are royally screwed as well and G-d forbid one in any bracket other than the ubers, has problems especially within the deduction issue. G-d help one who has medical expenses, heretofore allowed as a deduction after a certain point. Now - forget it - so to hell with chronic disease and condition expenses. To hell with rare disease. To hell with a family with a sick member. To hell with all, other than Trump and his buddies.
It is time to pressure representatives and senators to vote against this bill should it come to the floor. The damage it will do is mammoth and do not think this is only in the domestic area. Our State Department is being decimated, with offices allowed to go unfilled, people laid off or quitting, important State affairs going begging, EPA going to the opposite of what it should be doing even as officials are awaiting appointments and the only thing that looks good for employment is ICE and Border Patrol!
The ethical and moral values of the country, the very fabric of life, is rotting from within and there appears to be no end to it. Revelations come down the pipe at a dizzying rate and yet nothing really changes. Are we that blasé over all this rot? Do we not care? Are we not embarrassed in front of the world?
Must we all become hopeless cynics and allow our future generations to become that as well as they too suffer the consequences of terrible decisions made in the times of today? Is it truly a new world, one without hope of change and progress but rather one of degeneration, of moral filth? I hope not but nothing will happen unless we all speak out, vote out the trash, and insist on proper behavior, disclosure and transparency from the new. This is the only way.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH
Whither the way now? Do we regroup as a country or do we further divide, splitting into more and more outsider parties, forgetting that Republican, Democrat or whatever, we are all supposed to be Americans and define our loyalty that way. Those who speak of the flag, who flaunt their supposed patriotism, well, here is the chance. But it does not seem that we will find that path and instead will go round the mulberry bush yet one more time and where we will stop? Who knows? And when? Who knows again.
Bannon is shouting, ranting and raving, proclaiming a movement of revenge, of destruction of those who do not embrace his supposed republicanism and death to the defyers of his words. Sean Spicer, yes, that very same nitwit, speaks at a dinner saying that between the worst Republican and the Democrats, there is a huge difference. Really? Here is that dichotomy again, even from what is supposed to be a more mainstream Republican event. We are a country now split into groupings of parties, of political thought, rather than Americans having different thoughts on issues facing all of us.
And Trump, he who took yet another self praise picture yesterday and then tweeted it out of China, where is he? Deserting his country yet again, as he praises the Chinese for their trade practices, the very practices he had condemned and ranted against. "I don't blame China," Trump said during remarks to business leaders inside the Great Hall of the People. "After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit."
So what do we do with such a man whose paths are circular or agonized twistings along cliff edges, all the while damaging his supposed country, the country of which he is the man at the helm. Are we yet to continue the mulberry way for another three years?
What will be left of our country as we knew and still know it after another three years?
We have now come up with a DACA case, a kid deported and caught trying to get back in, a crime according to the rules of ICE.We are punishing our own people for wanting to be in their home, for America is what they knew, where they lived their lives. Instead we welcome foreigners intent on destroying us and our economy, welcome our own people who only wish to destroy any and all regulations that will impede their path and those they owe loyalty to, to make even more obscene wealth, steal more money from the people. Pruitt proudly and defiantly says he will continue to negate and repeal more regulations that shield our natural resources, our very health and lives.
This is what we have come to. Tuesday nite was a note of hope, a ray of light. 2018 might actually give a way to shut this man down, he and his co conspirators. Perhaps Trump and Trumpism will collapse of their own weight as the Russian inquiry keeps growing and those charged number many more, but what we do need to do is work the elections, work and work and get our people in.
As those who mistakenly voted for Trump realize their grievous error and turn to the right candidate, the true party of Americans, as perhaps the moderate Republicans, such as they are realize that they should not be resigning but instead should be standing there and saying why they will stay, why they will remain in the fray, as they hopefully realize the true path - then 2018 will work out and 2020 will be a triumph.
But dreams can pop, can they not? And paths often have unseen twists and curves. We must be alert and vigilant and we must work to let the people of the world know that America as they knew it is still here, working hard, and we will rejoin the countries of the world and take our rightful place among them. Together we will work to right the wrongs, the problems and insure a brighter future. This is what we need to do in order to pass on a proper legacy to the future generations.
Bannon is shouting, ranting and raving, proclaiming a movement of revenge, of destruction of those who do not embrace his supposed republicanism and death to the defyers of his words. Sean Spicer, yes, that very same nitwit, speaks at a dinner saying that between the worst Republican and the Democrats, there is a huge difference. Really? Here is that dichotomy again, even from what is supposed to be a more mainstream Republican event. We are a country now split into groupings of parties, of political thought, rather than Americans having different thoughts on issues facing all of us.
And Trump, he who took yet another self praise picture yesterday and then tweeted it out of China, where is he? Deserting his country yet again, as he praises the Chinese for their trade practices, the very practices he had condemned and ranted against. "I don't blame China," Trump said during remarks to business leaders inside the Great Hall of the People. "After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit."
So what do we do with such a man whose paths are circular or agonized twistings along cliff edges, all the while damaging his supposed country, the country of which he is the man at the helm. Are we yet to continue the mulberry way for another three years?
What will be left of our country as we knew and still know it after another three years?
We have now come up with a DACA case, a kid deported and caught trying to get back in, a crime according to the rules of ICE.We are punishing our own people for wanting to be in their home, for America is what they knew, where they lived their lives. Instead we welcome foreigners intent on destroying us and our economy, welcome our own people who only wish to destroy any and all regulations that will impede their path and those they owe loyalty to, to make even more obscene wealth, steal more money from the people. Pruitt proudly and defiantly says he will continue to negate and repeal more regulations that shield our natural resources, our very health and lives.
This is what we have come to. Tuesday nite was a note of hope, a ray of light. 2018 might actually give a way to shut this man down, he and his co conspirators. Perhaps Trump and Trumpism will collapse of their own weight as the Russian inquiry keeps growing and those charged number many more, but what we do need to do is work the elections, work and work and get our people in.
As those who mistakenly voted for Trump realize their grievous error and turn to the right candidate, the true party of Americans, as perhaps the moderate Republicans, such as they are realize that they should not be resigning but instead should be standing there and saying why they will stay, why they will remain in the fray, as they hopefully realize the true path - then 2018 will work out and 2020 will be a triumph.
But dreams can pop, can they not? And paths often have unseen twists and curves. We must be alert and vigilant and we must work to let the people of the world know that America as they knew it is still here, working hard, and we will rejoin the countries of the world and take our rightful place among them. Together we will work to right the wrongs, the problems and insure a brighter future. This is what we need to do in order to pass on a proper legacy to the future generations.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
AND SO........
One year later another election day. So what happened and what has happened during this year and most important, has there been any progress, particularly among the benighted? Well, one can only hope, but I think that there were some victories yesterday and some glimmerings of light and hope for the future. But make no mistake about it - there is still a long and difficult road ahead and we must be vigilant, careful, and proactive if we are to maintain our country as it should be and not as the morass of ethically challenged obscenely wealthy people who stand to crush the lower economic classes with taxation, no healthcare, no rights and no life.
The slogans of "war is peace and slavery is freedom" come from the prescient novel 1984 and while we have passed that year, left it behind, we have not left behind those among us who glory in its thinking and picture of a bleak future. These are the people who lie and lie and lie yet again. These are the people who follow Trump's path, who base all on wealth accumulation and power associated with that wealth. It leads to people such as Ross and DeVos and Price and Scott and Tillerson and so many others who are now in government ruining our country, taking down all safety regulations, all hope for the future and who, along with Trump, benefit from the rulings and policies of the government.
After one year we still have a president who is not a president. He is a big infant, an oversize baby who thinks in terms of making believe he is driving a big truck, or gleefully planning a "secret" trip to the DMZ, all the better to shout out defiance against the nearby madman, but in any case, failed in that, the trip a no go due to weather.
He has made the art of telling a lie a premier rule of his administration. He has embraced white supremacists, hateful nationalists, "America Firsters", critters such as Bannon, and spins on a dime, all the better to change his lies and change the narrative of truth. We have gone backwards during his time in office and the rest of his tenure is threatening indeed.
The rest of the world has begun to count us out, disinviting Trump to a climate conference, no room for him among 100 nations. America is not to be relied upon any longer because there is a deranged man at the helm. Impossible theories are put forth such as the fact that the proposed tax 'reform' is actually a welfare plan, for the wealthy, a give away for the bloated corporations who have stored away billions upon billions of dollars in oversea hideaways but that money has not filtered down to more jobs, better pay and benefits for the worker bees. Nope, and now he is proposing more money for them. There is no such thing as truly trickle down economy for the wealthy keep it to themselves and the corporations just hoard the money like uncle Scrooge in the comics.
And meanwhile America keeps burying its dead, shot down in mass shootings, babies and all.
The proponents of free guns shout how one man with a rifle shot the shooter. True, but after how many deaths, after how many babies shot multiple times and if there had not been an availability of this assault weapon there would have been no shootings and no need for a rifle to have been in church. Even country music people have begun to come around to the necessity to change the rules, to make it possible to ban assault weapons. When will we ever learn? How many more deaths and horrific wounds and mutilations will it take for us to learn that and shut down the extremists of the NRA? How many more balloons and teddy bears and flowers and pictures and crosses will it take to finally get that message through?
And so one year later we are mired in the muck and filth and incompetence and evil of the Trump reign. We have made a start but more needs to be done. Much more and quickly. One year later and so much damage has been done. Where and how does it end and for how long will we have to bear the consequences of his mismanagement and cruel policies. Is there even an answer to these questions?
The slogans of "war is peace and slavery is freedom" come from the prescient novel 1984 and while we have passed that year, left it behind, we have not left behind those among us who glory in its thinking and picture of a bleak future. These are the people who lie and lie and lie yet again. These are the people who follow Trump's path, who base all on wealth accumulation and power associated with that wealth. It leads to people such as Ross and DeVos and Price and Scott and Tillerson and so many others who are now in government ruining our country, taking down all safety regulations, all hope for the future and who, along with Trump, benefit from the rulings and policies of the government.
After one year we still have a president who is not a president. He is a big infant, an oversize baby who thinks in terms of making believe he is driving a big truck, or gleefully planning a "secret" trip to the DMZ, all the better to shout out defiance against the nearby madman, but in any case, failed in that, the trip a no go due to weather.
He has made the art of telling a lie a premier rule of his administration. He has embraced white supremacists, hateful nationalists, "America Firsters", critters such as Bannon, and spins on a dime, all the better to change his lies and change the narrative of truth. We have gone backwards during his time in office and the rest of his tenure is threatening indeed.
The rest of the world has begun to count us out, disinviting Trump to a climate conference, no room for him among 100 nations. America is not to be relied upon any longer because there is a deranged man at the helm. Impossible theories are put forth such as the fact that the proposed tax 'reform' is actually a welfare plan, for the wealthy, a give away for the bloated corporations who have stored away billions upon billions of dollars in oversea hideaways but that money has not filtered down to more jobs, better pay and benefits for the worker bees. Nope, and now he is proposing more money for them. There is no such thing as truly trickle down economy for the wealthy keep it to themselves and the corporations just hoard the money like uncle Scrooge in the comics.
And meanwhile America keeps burying its dead, shot down in mass shootings, babies and all.
The proponents of free guns shout how one man with a rifle shot the shooter. True, but after how many deaths, after how many babies shot multiple times and if there had not been an availability of this assault weapon there would have been no shootings and no need for a rifle to have been in church. Even country music people have begun to come around to the necessity to change the rules, to make it possible to ban assault weapons. When will we ever learn? How many more deaths and horrific wounds and mutilations will it take for us to learn that and shut down the extremists of the NRA? How many more balloons and teddy bears and flowers and pictures and crosses will it take to finally get that message through?
And so one year later we are mired in the muck and filth and incompetence and evil of the Trump reign. We have made a start but more needs to be done. Much more and quickly. One year later and so much damage has been done. Where and how does it end and for how long will we have to bear the consequences of his mismanagement and cruel policies. Is there even an answer to these questions?
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
YEAH, THEY DO
"Guns don't kill people, people do."
So we have heard and seen time and time again, but here is the truth - guns kill people. If guns were not so many out there then perhaps we would have fewer killings, certainly fewer mass killings. Yes, they are inanimate objects, but the same as we do not want people wandering about with massive butchering knives, we do not want people wandering around with assault rifles and weapons.
There is another fallacious statement that seems to be making the rounds and supposedly proved itself in Texas - that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yes, a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy, but the point is that the bad guy should not have the gun in the first place! And by the time the good guy used his rifle, 26 people were dead and countless others were wounded, some grievously. And a family was almost totally wiped out with a hero of a mother who gave her life trying to shield her four children.
We are the only western country which allows so much gun freedom. Again, yes to the Second Amendment but also yes to simple and common sense restrictions. I honestly do not know why it is so difficult to understand that and look how easy it is to slip thru the cracks. Go to a gun show. Order on line, deep web, or have someone forget to put in some info on a bad dude, or even buy in a state where there is no background check or one that disappears with the passing of some green bills from one to another. And these guns kill people! They certainly do.
How many more mass killings are we going to have and what will be the end result. Will we turn a blasé eye to them, ho humming as we tsk tsk and turn the page as so many do on the constant huge bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we going to become a country which eats her citizens? Weapons are deadly and they become even deadlier in the hands of the untrained, the mentally ill, the evil and the careless. They kill, yeah, they do. So return to the lists and pictures of those killed in Vegas, in Texas, the little ones, the young men and women starting out, the parents, the grandparents and ask - where does it end?
I do not expect great results when we have a madman say that it is a mental issue, that the person was deranged. Yes, anyone who contemplates killing so many and then acting on that is mentally deranged but the point is that without that assault weapon there would not have been such a slaughter. So the point is, the question is - why are we taking our lead from one who himself needs help in the mental area, who cannot think a thought all the way thru without digressing into off balance remarks. Answer me that one. If you can.
What else is new under the sun for us? Well, let's see. Aha, the new oh so beneficial - NOT - tax plan, the welfare for the wealthy, wherein the middle class will be paying millions more in taxes and that number only goes up as the years go on, but those rich dudes, oh, how happy they will be buying their umpteenth house or yet another fancy plane. And yet, the Republicans in the House keep on a pushin', blind to their own self destruction, to the total ruination of a once grand and honorable political party.
Today Trump is at 36% and all that comes to mind are the words from the limbo song - 'how low can you go". It seems there is no downward limit for Trump, no bottom, as all his numbers grow in the wrong direction. So what do we do? We fire a woman who flipped him or his motorcade, the bird. So what? Free speech, but her company decided that they own her private time for the salary they paid her and they fired her. Yet others do the same or similar thing; it is unfortunately part of America political reality today, so do we now have to censor ourselves according to our bosses? Are we losing freedom of speech or is it granted only to the extremists of the alt right? Where does this end? How do we end this without giving away all our rights.
And all this bother over one whose close compatriots are under a deep shadow re Russian collusion. Concern among Americans polled is showing an increase and people are not so able to brush this off. Are we allowing people in the public eye to sell our country down the river for the sake of their adding to their obscene wealth yet more millions and billions? Has the world come to this - tribal loyalties, and wealth loyalties and the whole nationalism, nativism, that these people push are just a thin disguise for what - wealthism? Selfishness? Maximum greed? You pick the title. The name does not matter, only the grievous disloyalty to the people they are supposed to serve.
I am so tired of all the crap that keeps getting pushed down our throats and seeing pictures of Melania in yet another obscenely expensive outfit standing there like a statue, no facial expression, simply does not cut it - not for me nor for many others.
So yeah, guns kill people. People kill people. Indifference kills people. Laziness and selfishness kill people. Indifference kills people. Hey, Rohingya anyone? Human trafficking anyone?
It is a bitter and harsh world out there but at least we should try to improve it where we can. We need to start somewhere, anywhere. Be active and get out the vote and vote oneself when the time comes. Stand up to hatred and selfishness. If we do not, no one else will do it for us.
So we have heard and seen time and time again, but here is the truth - guns kill people. If guns were not so many out there then perhaps we would have fewer killings, certainly fewer mass killings. Yes, they are inanimate objects, but the same as we do not want people wandering about with massive butchering knives, we do not want people wandering around with assault rifles and weapons.
There is another fallacious statement that seems to be making the rounds and supposedly proved itself in Texas - that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yes, a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy, but the point is that the bad guy should not have the gun in the first place! And by the time the good guy used his rifle, 26 people were dead and countless others were wounded, some grievously. And a family was almost totally wiped out with a hero of a mother who gave her life trying to shield her four children.
We are the only western country which allows so much gun freedom. Again, yes to the Second Amendment but also yes to simple and common sense restrictions. I honestly do not know why it is so difficult to understand that and look how easy it is to slip thru the cracks. Go to a gun show. Order on line, deep web, or have someone forget to put in some info on a bad dude, or even buy in a state where there is no background check or one that disappears with the passing of some green bills from one to another. And these guns kill people! They certainly do.
How many more mass killings are we going to have and what will be the end result. Will we turn a blasé eye to them, ho humming as we tsk tsk and turn the page as so many do on the constant huge bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we going to become a country which eats her citizens? Weapons are deadly and they become even deadlier in the hands of the untrained, the mentally ill, the evil and the careless. They kill, yeah, they do. So return to the lists and pictures of those killed in Vegas, in Texas, the little ones, the young men and women starting out, the parents, the grandparents and ask - where does it end?
I do not expect great results when we have a madman say that it is a mental issue, that the person was deranged. Yes, anyone who contemplates killing so many and then acting on that is mentally deranged but the point is that without that assault weapon there would not have been such a slaughter. So the point is, the question is - why are we taking our lead from one who himself needs help in the mental area, who cannot think a thought all the way thru without digressing into off balance remarks. Answer me that one. If you can.
What else is new under the sun for us? Well, let's see. Aha, the new oh so beneficial - NOT - tax plan, the welfare for the wealthy, wherein the middle class will be paying millions more in taxes and that number only goes up as the years go on, but those rich dudes, oh, how happy they will be buying their umpteenth house or yet another fancy plane. And yet, the Republicans in the House keep on a pushin', blind to their own self destruction, to the total ruination of a once grand and honorable political party.
Today Trump is at 36% and all that comes to mind are the words from the limbo song - 'how low can you go". It seems there is no downward limit for Trump, no bottom, as all his numbers grow in the wrong direction. So what do we do? We fire a woman who flipped him or his motorcade, the bird. So what? Free speech, but her company decided that they own her private time for the salary they paid her and they fired her. Yet others do the same or similar thing; it is unfortunately part of America political reality today, so do we now have to censor ourselves according to our bosses? Are we losing freedom of speech or is it granted only to the extremists of the alt right? Where does this end? How do we end this without giving away all our rights.
And all this bother over one whose close compatriots are under a deep shadow re Russian collusion. Concern among Americans polled is showing an increase and people are not so able to brush this off. Are we allowing people in the public eye to sell our country down the river for the sake of their adding to their obscene wealth yet more millions and billions? Has the world come to this - tribal loyalties, and wealth loyalties and the whole nationalism, nativism, that these people push are just a thin disguise for what - wealthism? Selfishness? Maximum greed? You pick the title. The name does not matter, only the grievous disloyalty to the people they are supposed to serve.
I am so tired of all the crap that keeps getting pushed down our throats and seeing pictures of Melania in yet another obscenely expensive outfit standing there like a statue, no facial expression, simply does not cut it - not for me nor for many others.
So yeah, guns kill people. People kill people. Indifference kills people. Laziness and selfishness kill people. Indifference kills people. Hey, Rohingya anyone? Human trafficking anyone?
It is a bitter and harsh world out there but at least we should try to improve it where we can. We need to start somewhere, anywhere. Be active and get out the vote and vote oneself when the time comes. Stand up to hatred and selfishness. If we do not, no one else will do it for us.
Monday, November 6, 2017
THAT STINKY SMELL
Smell it? That stinky smell, the nasty, musty smell of a growing swamp? The one that threatens us all? Smell it? And then ask oneself why the growth in the odor, why the growth of the swamp?
There is a nasty miasma of the air in our country. We appear to be exactly other than what we scream and shout we are. We glorify the uniformed services even as we see great big holes in their ethics. Catching those holes and dealing with them does not mean that one is denigrating all uniformed services, but one must face the truth.
There are policemen who overstep their bounds. No one said it was an easy job, a light responsibility, but if one takes it on then it must be with respect and attention to all the details. And the same goes with our armed forces.
We find that there are huge holes in the ethics of our servicemen. Perhaps it is the training. Perhaps it is the screening. Perhaps it is the initial evaluation. Perhaps it is that we are involved in wars in places where we should not be and these people are being recirculated in an impossible situation. Perhaps it is the lack of proper care for these warriors upon return from war. And perhaps it is the fact that there is a very loose ethic in some of our armed forces.
The latest has hit the Navy harshly. From their destroyers involved in terrible accidents that need not have been to the burgeoning scandal of 'Fat Leonard", wherein hundreds of Navy officers, including over 60 admirals, are involved in bribe taking from a contractor, being supplied with wild parties, liquor, etc. If there is such rot from the top, then what can we expect from the lower grades?
And the rot does come from the top. There is not even an attempt to hide it; rather there is an even perverse sense of satisfaction and a job well done when the administrators of our government appointed by Trump, immerse themselves in money making schemes, in influence peddling, in all sorts of manners all of which screw the people. From Ross, the Commerce Secretary, to DeVos, to Trump and everything in between, that stinky smell is growing.
Growing ever stronger is the odor wafting over from the country of the ruble. Nine people already in Trump's circle are tainted. When one goes over the campaign, one can see the blatant influence of Russia, the patent shrieks on the blackboard as Trump consistently praised Putin and had a love fest with him, from the cash behind Milner's purchase of Facebook stock, to meetings and lies, lies, lies. What have we allowed to happen? Why have we sold our heritage and not even for a bowl of lentil soup? For what? So Trump and other nabobs, robber barons in a throwback to the time of robber barons here, so they can add to their already obscene wealth?
As for the 'base", even they are retreating, recognizing the inherent wrongness of Trump. His mouth. His tweeting. His temper. His stupidity and negligence. His numbers are the lowest in seventy years!! And yet, here we are almost on war footing with North Korea, another country with a head who has no self control, who is spoiled and has never grown up.
And even as there is yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in a church, a place of prayer, of community, Trump says this is "not a problem of guns. It is a mental problem." Yes, his!!! Yes, there is some indication that a man with a rifle, brought to church for some reason, shot at the shooter and he left the church. That was a rifle - not an assault gun. I have no problem with the Second Amendment which allows for the right to own a gun, but that is a handgun or a hunting rifle. There is no reason to allow for assault weapons. NONE! And the bodies of men, women, and children give proof of that. How many more times are we going to gasp and cry? How many more times will we hear the questions raised by a weeping friend or relative, by a mother who holds her little child? How many more times will we hear the cries to the heavens of why, why?
And the stink is overwhelming as one approaches Trump territories, as we now hear that he who shouts and rants about hiring Americans, he who shouts and raves about immigrants taking jobs, he who raves wildly that we are not giving Americans a chance - he has now gotten permits for 70!!!! foreign workers for his Mar a Lago hotel. Stinky, stinky.
And we should expect the situation to be even worse than it is already as the reek of sexual molestation, of mass disrespect of women, of young boys, not just in Hollywood, but in so many other industries and fields, as all this is uncovered and why not, if we elected a sexual predator as president!! We stink! We in this country who did not prosecute and imprison, who did not impeach and convict. What does it take to finally do something? Will it have to be a signed contract with the Kremlin in order for us to recognize his traitorous deeds? Will it take a young lady coming forward and claiming not only molestation but even rape? Or a large group of women? What does it take for us to finally stand up and howl NO MORE!!
My nose is clogged with the reek of this nasty ever growing swamp, this morass of amoral and immoral individuals and their nasty acts, their oppression of the people of our country. I mourn the reek of a country deteriorating in its own juices of greed and indifference. Raise your nose to the air and see what you smell. It is disgusting and I am ashamed for us as we present all this to the younger generation.
There is a nasty miasma of the air in our country. We appear to be exactly other than what we scream and shout we are. We glorify the uniformed services even as we see great big holes in their ethics. Catching those holes and dealing with them does not mean that one is denigrating all uniformed services, but one must face the truth.
There are policemen who overstep their bounds. No one said it was an easy job, a light responsibility, but if one takes it on then it must be with respect and attention to all the details. And the same goes with our armed forces.
We find that there are huge holes in the ethics of our servicemen. Perhaps it is the training. Perhaps it is the screening. Perhaps it is the initial evaluation. Perhaps it is that we are involved in wars in places where we should not be and these people are being recirculated in an impossible situation. Perhaps it is the lack of proper care for these warriors upon return from war. And perhaps it is the fact that there is a very loose ethic in some of our armed forces.
The latest has hit the Navy harshly. From their destroyers involved in terrible accidents that need not have been to the burgeoning scandal of 'Fat Leonard", wherein hundreds of Navy officers, including over 60 admirals, are involved in bribe taking from a contractor, being supplied with wild parties, liquor, etc. If there is such rot from the top, then what can we expect from the lower grades?
And the rot does come from the top. There is not even an attempt to hide it; rather there is an even perverse sense of satisfaction and a job well done when the administrators of our government appointed by Trump, immerse themselves in money making schemes, in influence peddling, in all sorts of manners all of which screw the people. From Ross, the Commerce Secretary, to DeVos, to Trump and everything in between, that stinky smell is growing.
Growing ever stronger is the odor wafting over from the country of the ruble. Nine people already in Trump's circle are tainted. When one goes over the campaign, one can see the blatant influence of Russia, the patent shrieks on the blackboard as Trump consistently praised Putin and had a love fest with him, from the cash behind Milner's purchase of Facebook stock, to meetings and lies, lies, lies. What have we allowed to happen? Why have we sold our heritage and not even for a bowl of lentil soup? For what? So Trump and other nabobs, robber barons in a throwback to the time of robber barons here, so they can add to their already obscene wealth?
As for the 'base", even they are retreating, recognizing the inherent wrongness of Trump. His mouth. His tweeting. His temper. His stupidity and negligence. His numbers are the lowest in seventy years!! And yet, here we are almost on war footing with North Korea, another country with a head who has no self control, who is spoiled and has never grown up.
And even as there is yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in a church, a place of prayer, of community, Trump says this is "not a problem of guns. It is a mental problem." Yes, his!!! Yes, there is some indication that a man with a rifle, brought to church for some reason, shot at the shooter and he left the church. That was a rifle - not an assault gun. I have no problem with the Second Amendment which allows for the right to own a gun, but that is a handgun or a hunting rifle. There is no reason to allow for assault weapons. NONE! And the bodies of men, women, and children give proof of that. How many more times are we going to gasp and cry? How many more times will we hear the questions raised by a weeping friend or relative, by a mother who holds her little child? How many more times will we hear the cries to the heavens of why, why?
And the stink is overwhelming as one approaches Trump territories, as we now hear that he who shouts and rants about hiring Americans, he who shouts and raves about immigrants taking jobs, he who raves wildly that we are not giving Americans a chance - he has now gotten permits for 70!!!! foreign workers for his Mar a Lago hotel. Stinky, stinky.
And we should expect the situation to be even worse than it is already as the reek of sexual molestation, of mass disrespect of women, of young boys, not just in Hollywood, but in so many other industries and fields, as all this is uncovered and why not, if we elected a sexual predator as president!! We stink! We in this country who did not prosecute and imprison, who did not impeach and convict. What does it take to finally do something? Will it have to be a signed contract with the Kremlin in order for us to recognize his traitorous deeds? Will it take a young lady coming forward and claiming not only molestation but even rape? Or a large group of women? What does it take for us to finally stand up and howl NO MORE!!
My nose is clogged with the reek of this nasty ever growing swamp, this morass of amoral and immoral individuals and their nasty acts, their oppression of the people of our country. I mourn the reek of a country deteriorating in its own juices of greed and indifference. Raise your nose to the air and see what you smell. It is disgusting and I am ashamed for us as we present all this to the younger generation.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
WHO KNOWS? I DO NOT
All are talking. All are writing. All are chatting on TV and radio talk shows. All seem to have answers, yet there are none and in the meanwhile, nothing gets done. Not in any positive manner anyway.
The federal government seems riven into two. We have that government which is functioning with those employees who are doing their jobs, who are there as permanent employees, who take their responsibilities seriously and then again, we have those who have been appointed with the directive to take it all down, to destroy any progress made, particularly if made during the time of Obama. His name and the scope of any directives or rules and regulations are anathema to Trump and his people.
So why is that? The answer is who knows? Why is it that these people think they can turn back the clock, hide the truth, convince all the people all the time that there is nothing to worry about, even as the planet burns, turns into dust, dry and arid, or floods in massive ways, or shakes itself in fracking induced quakes. Why is it that the Federal government can produce a report which warns of warming, of disastrous climate change and its main cause - humans - and yet there goes Zilke or Price or any one of Trump's appointees who are shattering the protective legislation we have had put in place. So once again, not only are we destroying our very home in a physically obvious manner, but we are also turning those crystal streams into streams of death with banned chemicals, with the cancellation of rules that mandated safety regulations, that watched the chemicals that tainted our foods, our water, the very air we breathe.
Why? I do not know. Nor does any sane person, for is there any amongst these people that actually think they can avoid the consequences? Do they think they will be able to maintain their own air, their own water, their own climate? And yet they function as if they actually do think that. They need to understand that the apocalyptic movies which show one group of people living in an Eden while the rest struggle in death traps will not happen. It is a cinematic pipedream.
There is much to puzzle over in the machinations of this administration but can it all be explained? I do not know, but if an administration is led by a madman, by one who seemingly has lost his way, lost his mind, then what can we expect from the followers who seem to glorify every and all maniacal statements and actions. Children are adorable, and they often speak the truth without garnish, but obscenities and threats, tweets by the hundred, sentence structure that is non existent, grammar that speaks of an ignorant person who had inadequate schooling, and all coming from an adult - that is not charming, nor truthful, nor attractive, nor productive and is mainly lies, lies, and more lies.
The truth will out. Only children think there is wishful thinking, that wishing makes it so. Adults realize that that belief is a false one, but when one builds an entire system on that false belief then we are in trouble indeed.
So why are so many people mired in the Bizzaro world of Trump? Because that world impinges greatly and in a negative manner on our world. We cannot get rid of him and his disasters that he keeps foisting upon us by getting him to say his name backwards. Only Superman can get that done! So instead we fuss and fume, rant and rave, write and talk and according to one woman, “Unless I turn off the lights, go in my bedroom, shut the door, and turn off the TV, there is no way to escape,............ “I feel like we eat, sleep, and breathe Trump. Trump for breakfast, Trump for lunch, Trump for dinner, and Trump as a midnight snack.”
When one is surrounded by the consequences of poison, when one is supposedly "led" by a dangerous individual, then yes, one is obsessed by that individual and rightfully so, for he impacts upon everything, from the taxes we will pay to the air we breathe to the very fact or question of our literal survival. When the man speaks in a decidedly confused manner, then we are in trouble and here is one such example, from an interview to be published Sunday.
The federal government seems riven into two. We have that government which is functioning with those employees who are doing their jobs, who are there as permanent employees, who take their responsibilities seriously and then again, we have those who have been appointed with the directive to take it all down, to destroy any progress made, particularly if made during the time of Obama. His name and the scope of any directives or rules and regulations are anathema to Trump and his people.
So why is that? The answer is who knows? Why is it that these people think they can turn back the clock, hide the truth, convince all the people all the time that there is nothing to worry about, even as the planet burns, turns into dust, dry and arid, or floods in massive ways, or shakes itself in fracking induced quakes. Why is it that the Federal government can produce a report which warns of warming, of disastrous climate change and its main cause - humans - and yet there goes Zilke or Price or any one of Trump's appointees who are shattering the protective legislation we have had put in place. So once again, not only are we destroying our very home in a physically obvious manner, but we are also turning those crystal streams into streams of death with banned chemicals, with the cancellation of rules that mandated safety regulations, that watched the chemicals that tainted our foods, our water, the very air we breathe.
Why? I do not know. Nor does any sane person, for is there any amongst these people that actually think they can avoid the consequences? Do they think they will be able to maintain their own air, their own water, their own climate? And yet they function as if they actually do think that. They need to understand that the apocalyptic movies which show one group of people living in an Eden while the rest struggle in death traps will not happen. It is a cinematic pipedream.
There is much to puzzle over in the machinations of this administration but can it all be explained? I do not know, but if an administration is led by a madman, by one who seemingly has lost his way, lost his mind, then what can we expect from the followers who seem to glorify every and all maniacal statements and actions. Children are adorable, and they often speak the truth without garnish, but obscenities and threats, tweets by the hundred, sentence structure that is non existent, grammar that speaks of an ignorant person who had inadequate schooling, and all coming from an adult - that is not charming, nor truthful, nor attractive, nor productive and is mainly lies, lies, and more lies.
The truth will out. Only children think there is wishful thinking, that wishing makes it so. Adults realize that that belief is a false one, but when one builds an entire system on that false belief then we are in trouble indeed.
So why are so many people mired in the Bizzaro world of Trump? Because that world impinges greatly and in a negative manner on our world. We cannot get rid of him and his disasters that he keeps foisting upon us by getting him to say his name backwards. Only Superman can get that done! So instead we fuss and fume, rant and rave, write and talk and according to one woman, “Unless I turn off the lights, go in my bedroom, shut the door, and turn off the TV, there is no way to escape,............ “I feel like we eat, sleep, and breathe Trump. Trump for breakfast, Trump for lunch, Trump for dinner, and Trump as a midnight snack.”
When one is surrounded by the consequences of poison, when one is supposedly "led" by a dangerous individual, then yes, one is obsessed by that individual and rightfully so, for he impacts upon everything, from the taxes we will pay to the air we breathe to the very fact or question of our literal survival. When the man speaks in a decidedly confused manner, then we are in trouble and here is one such example, from an interview to be published Sunday.
"Well, it was a friend of mine who was a businessman -- a very successful businessman and a good person, and you know, Paul was not there very long," Trump said on Sharyl Attkisson's syndicated show "Full Measure," which will air in full on Sunday.
He continued: "Well, I think we found out something about he may be involved with all -- with certain nations, and I don't even know exactly what it was in particular. But there was a point at which we just felt Paul would be better off -- because we don't want to have many potential conflicts."
As confused and confusing as his speech is, his structure, his manner of thinking or not, this is as confused as his actions are and so yes, I do know why we obsess - because our very survival is at stake.
What must we do to fix this situation? I do not know for sure. I do know that if he is to remain in office for another three years, then G-d help us, but we must maintain a control over him. Let him be ruled by others, by people of honesty, by those who have the care and concerns of the country at heart and not their wallets and stock holdings. Insure that true patriots are in place, that people who actually like people are in office, that our civil rights programs return from the muck in which they have been placed and let us get our country back on track. Otherwise, we will either destroy ourselves or split into tiny state countries, as we engage in a civil war, for that is coming, make no mistake about it, if we continue along this path. There is too much hatred and animosity out there. There is too much ugliness.
So who knows? Not a clue.
Who knows? I do not know, but someone out there had better know for otherwise we are in a truly bad way.
Friday, November 3, 2017
THE RETURN OF DIOGENES
For those who do not remember from the classics, Diogenes is the man with a lantern who wanders the earth seeking an honorable, honest person. Needless to say, the search is not very fruitful. Wonder what he would say to that quest in the times we live in. Wonder if he would give up the search in total frustration.
Is there anyone untouched by the greed, by the incessant grasping for power, by the sheer betrayal of all that we are supposed to hold and cherish, of the traitors to America who rant and rave about patriotism? All those who have taken the song "Proud to be an American" and roar it to the winds are the very same people who either have betrayed their country or are accepting of those who have and chief among the betrayers is the president. Over half of Americans believe that Trump has committed criminal offense in regard to this Russian tie and almost half, 49%, believe that Mueller is doing a good job.
Sessions lied about knowledge of the Russian tie and so did Trump as it turns out he was right there at the meeting and was amenable to the suggestion. Sessions said no and to shut up about it - obstructing the truth as it should have been reported as an attempt by Russia to interfere with our election. But they shut up, hoping that lies and more lies would do the trick.”
“No,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody that I know of. Nobody.”
This was his response when asked if he or anyone he knew had knowledge of this whole event. Lying thru his teeth he was and is! This, the man who tweeted away, telling lies, passing on false stories and not our valid president!!
And yet on he goes, trying to put yet another one over on the American people, trying to pass his welfare for the wealthy tax plan, where deductions useful to the middle class are eliminated or drastically cut. Corporate taxes? Oh, yes, and why this will supposedly make them eager to invest new funds is beyond me as this was tried by Reagan and bombed, was just tried in Kansas and they had to impose major taxes now to make up for the loss of revenue needed to carry out the responsibilities of the state, and in any case, the corporate treasuries are at their highest point now and anyone see a golden trail of investments or raised wages? Nope. Didn't think so.
Where is honesty here? Where are the public servants of yesteryear who even in their greed and search for power still knew that they had to serve the people and not themselves. Today both parties are affected by this creeping rash of greed but at least the Democrats have more connection to what is needed and what must be done, what must be fought. The Republicans have lost their way and there are tears on Lincoln's face in his memorial as he sits and ponders how his Party and how his country, this magnificent Union that he fought so hard to maintain, how it has all fallen apart and gone so astray.
I believe that never before have we been in such dire straits as a country, as a people. We have forgotten our roots in immigration and immigrants. We have refused to adjust to a new world. We have gone around threatening and blustering, playing a dangerous game of chicken with North Korea. We have allowed divisiveness to spread and allowed new explosions and infestations of prejudice and hatred to grow.
So on Diogenes goes, lighting and relighting his lantern, seeking, seeking, the honest people, seeking the honest and honorable leaders. What we need is reason, faith, trust, honor, true patriotism, generous hearts, an understanding of the true responsibilities of positions held.
It is getting harder and harder to find these people, be it here in America or out there in the Ukraine, or France or Britain or just pick a country. Abraham searched in vain for enough good people to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Will we be in a comparable situation? You tell me.
Is there anyone untouched by the greed, by the incessant grasping for power, by the sheer betrayal of all that we are supposed to hold and cherish, of the traitors to America who rant and rave about patriotism? All those who have taken the song "Proud to be an American" and roar it to the winds are the very same people who either have betrayed their country or are accepting of those who have and chief among the betrayers is the president. Over half of Americans believe that Trump has committed criminal offense in regard to this Russian tie and almost half, 49%, believe that Mueller is doing a good job.
Sessions lied about knowledge of the Russian tie and so did Trump as it turns out he was right there at the meeting and was amenable to the suggestion. Sessions said no and to shut up about it - obstructing the truth as it should have been reported as an attempt by Russia to interfere with our election. But they shut up, hoping that lies and more lies would do the trick.”
“No,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody that I know of. Nobody.”
This was his response when asked if he or anyone he knew had knowledge of this whole event. Lying thru his teeth he was and is! This, the man who tweeted away, telling lies, passing on false stories and not our valid president!!
And yet on he goes, trying to put yet another one over on the American people, trying to pass his welfare for the wealthy tax plan, where deductions useful to the middle class are eliminated or drastically cut. Corporate taxes? Oh, yes, and why this will supposedly make them eager to invest new funds is beyond me as this was tried by Reagan and bombed, was just tried in Kansas and they had to impose major taxes now to make up for the loss of revenue needed to carry out the responsibilities of the state, and in any case, the corporate treasuries are at their highest point now and anyone see a golden trail of investments or raised wages? Nope. Didn't think so.
Where is honesty here? Where are the public servants of yesteryear who even in their greed and search for power still knew that they had to serve the people and not themselves. Today both parties are affected by this creeping rash of greed but at least the Democrats have more connection to what is needed and what must be done, what must be fought. The Republicans have lost their way and there are tears on Lincoln's face in his memorial as he sits and ponders how his Party and how his country, this magnificent Union that he fought so hard to maintain, how it has all fallen apart and gone so astray.
I believe that never before have we been in such dire straits as a country, as a people. We have forgotten our roots in immigration and immigrants. We have refused to adjust to a new world. We have gone around threatening and blustering, playing a dangerous game of chicken with North Korea. We have allowed divisiveness to spread and allowed new explosions and infestations of prejudice and hatred to grow.
So on Diogenes goes, lighting and relighting his lantern, seeking, seeking, the honest people, seeking the honest and honorable leaders. What we need is reason, faith, trust, honor, true patriotism, generous hearts, an understanding of the true responsibilities of positions held.
It is getting harder and harder to find these people, be it here in America or out there in the Ukraine, or France or Britain or just pick a country. Abraham searched in vain for enough good people to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Will we be in a comparable situation? You tell me.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
THE RIVER
It is often stated that time is a river, always flowing, always changing and yet remaining the same. Well, it certainly seems that way now even as its flow is clogged with garbage, with sewerage from ages that should have long ago been erased from human behavior.
Shootings have become ho hum, as eyes skip over these reports on news feeds. Yet another one in a Wal-Mart store even as a hostage situation was ending and of course we have the havoc and murder of the NYC bike path. Yet another attack on the fabric of the city in the same neighborhood of 9/11. So just as movies special effects keep growing, all the better to keep the level high, will the level of frequency and violence keep mounting until we are blasé about everything in this category of life?
It seems that we are just attacking the quality of life, the values of truth and honesty, of honor and true patriotism all without end. Those who scream the loudest appear to be the perpetrators of the misdeeds and the attacks on the American fabric.
So Trump and the Republicans, particularly the "conservatives" rant of outrage as the football players take a knee to protest racial injustice, prejudice. Oh, the disrespect towards the flag the "patriots' shout. Throw them in jail, fire them, shouts the president of the USA forgetting the First Amendment and then we have the horrific violation perpetrated upon a hapless roommate in the University of Hartford, all done by her roommate who belongs in other political parties of other times!! Why are people feeling empowered to do such horrible things to another human being? Where do they get the inner what- guts, courage, gall - to do this and I hesitate to use words of positive connotation with these actions and beliefs. And yet our 'leader' does not condemn these actions, only raising his voice to shout re immigrants, tarring an entire class of people with the same tar and feathers, forgetting that immigrants have given this country its lifeblood over the centuries.
And of course we have the perversion of the 2016 election campaign and the election itself. Fact after fact now comes out, the filth spewing out, the trolling of the internet by Russian troll websites, the layering of fake sites and fake news, lies, lies, lies, the interference with our sovereignty, the fact that Flynn, Junior (that creep), Kellyanne Conway and others retweeted the garbage of these sites - where does it end and when does its import end? The CEO of Apple talks of the dangers these troll sites portend, the divisiveness of them, the danger they present to the country and its very fabric of values and yes, all so true, but where is the solution and more important - how did we get here? And how do we reverse engines? How do we reverse the flow of the river?
We conflate research with collusion. We conflate lies and viciousness with just the way things are. We begin to lose sight of the wrong, the very wrong, people being placed in office, into judgeships, into the very places that will ruin America for decades, that will turn the clock and the river backwards, that will choke our land, choke our citizens, but all is well for others as they plan even more accumulation of obscene wealth, more houses, more goods, more lives in which there seem to be no moral values, no red lines.
Is impeachment the answer? I truly do not know. I do know this man is not qualified to be President of the United States but I then question if Pence is either. He very quietly is pushing his own agenda and the place of civil rights, the place of women's rights, the place of social safety nets, the place of goodness, of being fair - all this seem to have NO place in his talks and philosophy. Quite frankly, I think he is even more frightening than Trump. And personally, men who paste their hair to their heads in an obsessive hairdo give me the creeps.We all know Trump is a major doofus and we can try to rein him in, but how to deal with the smooth operator? That could be the question of the future. How to deal with the 'patriots" who are actually the very opposite and who are intent on limiting the rights of our citizens?
So the river of America, the river which once had green shores, had many ships of state emulating the larger one of which we were so proud, which we made sure to maintain - this river is going, going..... The native American chief shedding a tear alongside dirty banks is now crying for more than trash alongside. He is crying over the trash of life that we are heaping all over ourselves, our country and our river. The Stones sang how 'time is on our side" - but well, it is not, and we are quickly losing our grasp on time, on its river, and on ours. To the oars, my friends, to the oars!
Shootings have become ho hum, as eyes skip over these reports on news feeds. Yet another one in a Wal-Mart store even as a hostage situation was ending and of course we have the havoc and murder of the NYC bike path. Yet another attack on the fabric of the city in the same neighborhood of 9/11. So just as movies special effects keep growing, all the better to keep the level high, will the level of frequency and violence keep mounting until we are blasé about everything in this category of life?
It seems that we are just attacking the quality of life, the values of truth and honesty, of honor and true patriotism all without end. Those who scream the loudest appear to be the perpetrators of the misdeeds and the attacks on the American fabric.
So Trump and the Republicans, particularly the "conservatives" rant of outrage as the football players take a knee to protest racial injustice, prejudice. Oh, the disrespect towards the flag the "patriots' shout. Throw them in jail, fire them, shouts the president of the USA forgetting the First Amendment and then we have the horrific violation perpetrated upon a hapless roommate in the University of Hartford, all done by her roommate who belongs in other political parties of other times!! Why are people feeling empowered to do such horrible things to another human being? Where do they get the inner what- guts, courage, gall - to do this and I hesitate to use words of positive connotation with these actions and beliefs. And yet our 'leader' does not condemn these actions, only raising his voice to shout re immigrants, tarring an entire class of people with the same tar and feathers, forgetting that immigrants have given this country its lifeblood over the centuries.
And of course we have the perversion of the 2016 election campaign and the election itself. Fact after fact now comes out, the filth spewing out, the trolling of the internet by Russian troll websites, the layering of fake sites and fake news, lies, lies, lies, the interference with our sovereignty, the fact that Flynn, Junior (that creep), Kellyanne Conway and others retweeted the garbage of these sites - where does it end and when does its import end? The CEO of Apple talks of the dangers these troll sites portend, the divisiveness of them, the danger they present to the country and its very fabric of values and yes, all so true, but where is the solution and more important - how did we get here? And how do we reverse engines? How do we reverse the flow of the river?
We conflate research with collusion. We conflate lies and viciousness with just the way things are. We begin to lose sight of the wrong, the very wrong, people being placed in office, into judgeships, into the very places that will ruin America for decades, that will turn the clock and the river backwards, that will choke our land, choke our citizens, but all is well for others as they plan even more accumulation of obscene wealth, more houses, more goods, more lives in which there seem to be no moral values, no red lines.
Is impeachment the answer? I truly do not know. I do know this man is not qualified to be President of the United States but I then question if Pence is either. He very quietly is pushing his own agenda and the place of civil rights, the place of women's rights, the place of social safety nets, the place of goodness, of being fair - all this seem to have NO place in his talks and philosophy. Quite frankly, I think he is even more frightening than Trump. And personally, men who paste their hair to their heads in an obsessive hairdo give me the creeps.We all know Trump is a major doofus and we can try to rein him in, but how to deal with the smooth operator? That could be the question of the future. How to deal with the 'patriots" who are actually the very opposite and who are intent on limiting the rights of our citizens?
So the river of America, the river which once had green shores, had many ships of state emulating the larger one of which we were so proud, which we made sure to maintain - this river is going, going..... The native American chief shedding a tear alongside dirty banks is now crying for more than trash alongside. He is crying over the trash of life that we are heaping all over ourselves, our country and our river. The Stones sang how 'time is on our side" - but well, it is not, and we are quickly losing our grasp on time, on its river, and on ours. To the oars, my friends, to the oars!
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
AGIS QUO ADIS
No, no misspelling in the title. It is Latin for do whatever you have to do. Period. Some people use this as a guiding principle of life and others use it only at times of desperation. It is a thought which makes one stop and really evaluate the situation before coming to a conclusion as to what exactly it is that needs to be done.
Does anyone today know, truly know, what needs to be done and are there truly any definitive and definite answers? Actually, I think not, for we are living in times that are shocking and troubling, and the shocks just keep coming down the chute, one after the other, before we even have time to know the first and here comes the second and third. Fast living but not the way we want, is it?
Today we have a President living under siege, real or perceived. He is as a caged animal, defending his turf, turf which he should not have had in the first place. But like any animal, he marks his territory and now is determined to fight for it, right or wrong and he does not care who he throws under the bus or denies. So Papadopoulos turns into a "coffee boy" and Manafort is denied, lowered or lessened in importance. He even picks on the kids of the journalists.
As the mess is exposed to the air, more and more comes to light. The high living of Gates and Manafort, the machinations of those around Trump, the confusion within the Trump campaign as to how to handle this and the decision by many of the Republicans to use the excuse of the typical child - but ......did something wrong so go pick on them, but you see it does not matter what someone else did, only what one does, how one leads or led and how one structures a life for public service.
So do what one must? Yes, but does that include terrorizing underlings or cancelling loyalty or demanding adulation, or outright prejudice, outright misogyny? Does it allow one to wallow in corruption, to have the gall to think that it is okay to have three passports, to play games with funding and banks, to hide what eventually cannot be hidden any longer and then claim indignation or ignorance? Is it okay to work with the enemy of the country?
Government conducted in corruption will break down at some point and there is no use shooting the messenger, for trying to hide it or stop the uncovering by getting rid of the investigator is a backwards step and will only cause further disaster. Anger at the investigator should instead be directed at the one who caused this embarrassment in the first place. But the Republicans, particularly the extreme conservatives have decided to play hide the head in the sand. They aim their barbs at everyone other than at the criminals or the leader of the whole mess.
The best thing that we can all do now, what we must do now, is to take an accounting just as Jews are directed to take an accounting of their lives before the Day of Atonement, so too must Americans take stock, account for their decisions that have led us to this point and the signs of rot are there to be seen, clearly so, but they have been ignored and here we are with the results.
So all are amazed at the #MeToo but why is that. I would venture to say that most women have been hassled, tormented, sexually challenged or demeaned, trust violated, treated as chattels and servants and even those who do not realize it, or who think it is the normal way of life - the truth is right there. We have allowed our society which has been boasting of late how advanced it is in its attitude towards women, allowing them some room in business, on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, we have allowed them to overlook and bypass the obvious, that it is not truly so.
We marvel at the molesters, their names, their positions, are indignant and are throwing the book at Weinstein, who deserves it, but allow a self confessed boasting molester to stand at the head of the country. Hypocrisy!! We allow this same man and his own critters of the swamp, his corrupt friends, to run the country, to ruin our country, and then we wonder why he is so puffed up and angry? We just about told him he has free rein and now it seems that maybe at least some of us are reneging on that. It seems as if his 'R's' are deserting him, he who has encouraged this war of civil and civic proportions.
We listened to the big lies that were told, the huge whoppers - and not the McDonald ones either - and drank the Kool Ade, willingly and even gleefully, thinking how smart we are and were. Well, it was all wrong and now, now we have to listen to that Latin saying and Do What Must Be Done. Like it or not. We have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin if we are to clean up the morass that is the government of this country today. We need to take stock and cancel out the guy who is chanting childish but dangerous statements and epithets at another crazy guy, but this time the weapons are not spit balls but nuclear bombs. And we need to figure out how to prevent attacks such as yesterday's - if there is actually such a way that can be found, for terrorism is as old as the world, in one way or another. It is just that there appears to be more weapons capable of larger death counts than there were before. Shouting and tweeting about more illegal and unconstitutional ways and manners is not the answer.
For sure one of the first things we must do is remove all shades and shadows of nepotism from the administration and that means getting rid of the family members who are not wise enough, experienced enough, honest enough, strong enough in their morals to stand in the Oval Office as they do now. We need to remove all those in the administration who are corrupt, who are thinking of their old buddies and their own bank accounts rather than the safety, the needs and integrity of the country and its constituents. We need to weed out the liars who stand there cloaked in their arrogance who refuse to admit to lies or okay, 'misstatements'.
Do What We Must? Yes, albeit a hard and frightening task. But do it we must or it will be done to and for us by those who should never have the ability to do so in the first place for their directives and principles are not good for the soul nor the body of America. Choose or lose.
Does anyone today know, truly know, what needs to be done and are there truly any definitive and definite answers? Actually, I think not, for we are living in times that are shocking and troubling, and the shocks just keep coming down the chute, one after the other, before we even have time to know the first and here comes the second and third. Fast living but not the way we want, is it?
Today we have a President living under siege, real or perceived. He is as a caged animal, defending his turf, turf which he should not have had in the first place. But like any animal, he marks his territory and now is determined to fight for it, right or wrong and he does not care who he throws under the bus or denies. So Papadopoulos turns into a "coffee boy" and Manafort is denied, lowered or lessened in importance. He even picks on the kids of the journalists.
As the mess is exposed to the air, more and more comes to light. The high living of Gates and Manafort, the machinations of those around Trump, the confusion within the Trump campaign as to how to handle this and the decision by many of the Republicans to use the excuse of the typical child - but ......did something wrong so go pick on them, but you see it does not matter what someone else did, only what one does, how one leads or led and how one structures a life for public service.
So do what one must? Yes, but does that include terrorizing underlings or cancelling loyalty or demanding adulation, or outright prejudice, outright misogyny? Does it allow one to wallow in corruption, to have the gall to think that it is okay to have three passports, to play games with funding and banks, to hide what eventually cannot be hidden any longer and then claim indignation or ignorance? Is it okay to work with the enemy of the country?
Government conducted in corruption will break down at some point and there is no use shooting the messenger, for trying to hide it or stop the uncovering by getting rid of the investigator is a backwards step and will only cause further disaster. Anger at the investigator should instead be directed at the one who caused this embarrassment in the first place. But the Republicans, particularly the extreme conservatives have decided to play hide the head in the sand. They aim their barbs at everyone other than at the criminals or the leader of the whole mess.
The best thing that we can all do now, what we must do now, is to take an accounting just as Jews are directed to take an accounting of their lives before the Day of Atonement, so too must Americans take stock, account for their decisions that have led us to this point and the signs of rot are there to be seen, clearly so, but they have been ignored and here we are with the results.
So all are amazed at the #MeToo but why is that. I would venture to say that most women have been hassled, tormented, sexually challenged or demeaned, trust violated, treated as chattels and servants and even those who do not realize it, or who think it is the normal way of life - the truth is right there. We have allowed our society which has been boasting of late how advanced it is in its attitude towards women, allowing them some room in business, on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, we have allowed them to overlook and bypass the obvious, that it is not truly so.
We marvel at the molesters, their names, their positions, are indignant and are throwing the book at Weinstein, who deserves it, but allow a self confessed boasting molester to stand at the head of the country. Hypocrisy!! We allow this same man and his own critters of the swamp, his corrupt friends, to run the country, to ruin our country, and then we wonder why he is so puffed up and angry? We just about told him he has free rein and now it seems that maybe at least some of us are reneging on that. It seems as if his 'R's' are deserting him, he who has encouraged this war of civil and civic proportions.
We listened to the big lies that were told, the huge whoppers - and not the McDonald ones either - and drank the Kool Ade, willingly and even gleefully, thinking how smart we are and were. Well, it was all wrong and now, now we have to listen to that Latin saying and Do What Must Be Done. Like it or not. We have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin if we are to clean up the morass that is the government of this country today. We need to take stock and cancel out the guy who is chanting childish but dangerous statements and epithets at another crazy guy, but this time the weapons are not spit balls but nuclear bombs. And we need to figure out how to prevent attacks such as yesterday's - if there is actually such a way that can be found, for terrorism is as old as the world, in one way or another. It is just that there appears to be more weapons capable of larger death counts than there were before. Shouting and tweeting about more illegal and unconstitutional ways and manners is not the answer.
For sure one of the first things we must do is remove all shades and shadows of nepotism from the administration and that means getting rid of the family members who are not wise enough, experienced enough, honest enough, strong enough in their morals to stand in the Oval Office as they do now. We need to remove all those in the administration who are corrupt, who are thinking of their old buddies and their own bank accounts rather than the safety, the needs and integrity of the country and its constituents. We need to weed out the liars who stand there cloaked in their arrogance who refuse to admit to lies or okay, 'misstatements'.
Do What We Must? Yes, albeit a hard and frightening task. But do it we must or it will be done to and for us by those who should never have the ability to do so in the first place for their directives and principles are not good for the soul nor the body of America. Choose or lose.
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