ECHOES ECHOES ECHOES

     ECHOES...….ECHOES...….ECHOES...….ECHOES...….ECHOES...…..
     Shhhh. Quiet. Listen deeply, intently. Do you hear it? Do you hear the echoes of the past as they reverberate in our own time? Do you feel the tremors of history and the threatening fear of repetition? Do you smell the sulfur smell of the devil in the deeds and words of his minions?
     How many times have we been warned by historian after historian after philosopher after social scientists? How many more times must we be told that if we remain ignorant, willingly ignorant, of the dangers of the past, then we will be doomed to repeat those errors of thought and humanity, and perhaps even to a worse degree?
     Evidently we do not hear so well or we choose not to hear these warnings and that is even worse. I watch videos and news snapshots, news reports, that show Trump in that damned red hat, a color that is becoming aligned with his dangerous quackery just as much as the brown shirt became aligned with the murderous militia of Hitler who went around threatening Jews, Socialists, anyone who did not heil, who displeased them.
     I hear the same statements of Hitler that he was going to make Germany great again. I hear the echoes in Trump's false and needless promises to make America great. What both of them are guilty of is taking their respective country down to the depths of hell before they are done or will be done.
     I hear the same demonization of the 'others' and the definition of 'other' depends on the pace of demonization and progress in their schedule of ridding the country of those they deem unsuitable - that is, unless they are needed for slave labor! So the list of undesirables grows apace as the hate grows, as the country sinks into a morass of ugliness and murder - yes, murder.
     I see the echoes of the past in today's world as people choose to follow a sociopath, a cruel and malicious man who has not one drop of humanity within. I see the echoes of the past in the lies, the ever growing count of lies, the lies upon other lies, and the growing danger evident in these very same lies. Claims of a booming economy are made yet if investigated just even a tad, we see the falsehood for what it is. We hear the dehumanization of citizens of the country, those who have been here for generations even, and they are attacked in every which way one can think of.
     And I wonder. I truly do, but now actually I do not have to wonder any longer. For me to hear how my little grandson explains to his sister that he was locked up because they were in a lockdown as they prayed on Saturday, even as fellow Jews were savagely murdered a few blocks away because they were Jews who dared to come together for prayer and rituals of the newborn, for me to hear that.... I cannot describe the awful and terrible chills and echoes that raged through me.
     Nationalism is not patriotism. It is a dirty offshoot of history, one that rears its ugly head too often. It is in the murder of Jews right here in our own country. It is in the starving people of Venezuela. It is in the broken state of Brazil. It is in the growing extremism of the right, of the nationalists in Europe.
     The echoes of the past are everywhere. It is in the arrogance of the ruling elite as they spend $95,000 for an overnight visit of Melania, the stiff model, to Egypt. Money that could have been used to feed hungry people right here in America. It is in the arrogance as Trump, as did Hitler, challenges the Constitution, negating Amendments on or of his own volition, talking in his ignorant and discombobulated sentences. I cringe as this is what represents us to the world and I cringe to think that just as did the Jews of Germany, of Austria, of France, of Holland, of Belgium, of Lithuania and on and on, the Jews of America will one day - and conceivably not a too far distant day - will also be rounded up and subjected to new rules of life even as they choke on a new advanced poison gas! Sound unlikely? Ask the survivors that remain. Ask their children. Peruse the pictures of athletic clubs, of family gatherings, of school pictures of 1935, say, and then compare them with the fate of the pictures as of 1940 and then tell me what is likely or not? Jews will never be massacred here in America…..oops, guess we were wrong.
     And we were wrong because we allow the President and his spineless followers, his cringing Republicans, to echo the terms of his, the 'globalists', the Hollywood people, the false media, the dangers they present to this country. We now see the attacks, the organized attacks on George Soros, on Michael Bloomberg, on Tom Steyer and why? Because they are prominent Jews and make great targets. So historians out there, everyday people out there - getting the chills yet?
     Need more? Go to the border and stand aside as the 15,000 armed combat soldiers begin to lose it, begin to shift those guns, to take an armed and militaristic stance, as they begin to shoot those known terrorists - that dangerous 3 year old, that terroristic looking pregnant woman, that teenager running from the gangs, that man shepherding his family to a better life - or so he hopes. And if that is not enough, why then just put out the most racist campaign ad ever in this country, at least in modern times, so vicious as to bring us back to the days of yesteryear, not of the Lone Ranger, but of the KKK, the lynch mobs, the home grown terrorists who preyed on the 'others' of our country.
     Where are we going? Why are we denying the ever growing echoes? Why are we deaf as they get louder and louder? Why do we not choose to see and heed the danger signs? I cannot  answer those questions. All I can do is call out and hopefully get some more to pay attention. It can happen here. It certainly can and has already done so in many instances. We have lost respect for each other; we have demeaned many in our thick fog of prejudice and hatred, and the snickers of nastiness grow ever louder and bolder.
     These echoes must be stopped. For the sake of us all. And for that alone - get out there and vote and before you pull that lever or press that button or check the box or insert that ballot - take an accounting of your true mind and heart and do the right thing. Vote the right way, the way for the future that we all want. That we all need. Put aside the primitive emotions that have been appealed to by Trump and his. We must if we are to overcome those echoes.

MESSAGES AND MESSAGING

     We live today in a world where barely anyone takes the time to think things through, to truly weigh and evaluate, to mesh all the principles of life and try to find a middle way. Today we are all about the extremes. We do not talk. We scream. We do not hear as we shut our ears. We do not see what we choose to ignore and we see that which is truly not there. And what we should be is ashamed of ourselves.
     I am ashamed at the organization representing  synagogues in which I spent my childhood and in fact, most of my life. They seem to be stuck on a one issue theme - Trump and Israel. They state how 'good' he is for it. But can one truly trust him as we have seen him swing on a dime, change ideas on a whim, lie to the heavens if it suits him - and lies evidently do - and if it suits him, he will sell Israel down the river, hey, possibly to Saudi Arabia if that will keep his trade balance the way he wants! The message is wrong here, folks, so wrong. So dangerous.
     Trump's message is loud and clear. As far as I am concerned he sends a message belonging to a sociopath. I have seen no evidence of a clear and honest emotion from him. His face pouts, he shouts, he mouths, but there is never a gesture of love, a statement of love, a statement that speaks of humanity. He needs to ask others how he should act in situations which cry out for humanity, for empathy, for understanding. I am truly beginning to believe that he has no capacity at all for it and this is what we have allowed to be our ostensible leader. Shame on us.
     We have all become lazy. I, too, am guilty of that laziness when I text or message. It is such a bother to keep hitting different tiny buttons to capitalize or punctuate properly or even type all the letters of a word. So, I, a teacher of Language Arts, a grammar fiend - poor students of mine - I, too, take the shortcuts in sending a message. But I hope and pray that I never take a shortcut away from that which is right and true.
     On the other hand, Trump does hit those small buttons with his tiny hands and he chooses those buttons carefully with his improper capitalization, with his lies, with his ignorant misspellings and his messages of hate come though loud and clear.
     So we are going to send armed soldiers, 15,000 of them, to the border to 'help' the Border patrol. These numbers are more than we still have in Afghanistan!!We are 'terrorized' by a caravan weeks away, that grows smaller by the day as the exhaustion and difficulty force people to drop off, that has so many mothers and children and I even saw an infant being wheeled in a carriage - such is the determination and hope that these people have. And yes, they are most definitely people, just the same as you or I, or our ancestors who were chased from pillar to post till they were able to find refuge.
     What kind of message are we sending to our kids? What kind of message are we sending to our grandchildren? What kind of message are we sending the future? Are we even allowing for a future not of the MAGA country, but of the United States of America? And as for patriotism, well, it is there, as deep and strong as ever. I am just waiting till this MAGA country goes away and the USA returns in its glory and truth, in its bumbling but hopeful way.
      Let us seek the messages we need to send. Let us make sure they are correctly spelled out, with words of truth and hope. Let us take a stand as a whole, not nitpick and stand on one issue alone - though, full disclosure, the lies that trip out of this man's mouth, his indecency, his record of tax fraud and economic misdeeds - well, back to the issues. Take all into account, all people into account. I did not like Obama's stand on Israel but recognized the need for his ACA, selfish or not. He was a man that recognized true human emotions and made his mistakes, but this Trump, this man who is an imitation version of a man, of a human being - I cannot accept his message in any manner, shape or form.
     His message is one of hate. His words of so called comfort are words that came from the mouths of others, from his court Jews, from his advisers, but not from his soul. His message is so wrong, just so wrong. So sorry, my friends who still say they support this man and his ways, you are wrong, dangerously wrong. Think again, please, before we are all hoist by your own petard. The "small protest" in Pittsburgh that Trump somehow did not see, and the "small" protests all over the country are what we have to see as the true message. Please. Please. And go VOTE.
    

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER - BUT WITH WHAT?

         Last night was emotional. It was overwhelming. It was strengthening. It was desperate. It was thankful. And it was grieving and questioning.
     Where was I? I was at an interfaith vigil/memorial for the victims of the massacre, for a simple yet complex effort to understand what has happened here in our country. Between two synagogues that I know of which served as places for the vigil, over 2,000 were crammed in to standing room only sanctuaries. All people, from all walks of life, from all ethnicities, from all religions. It was both heartening and disheartening at the same time. Why, why, did we need such a thing today, at the end of 2018? Is it not time that we put behind ourselves all this hate, this false outrage, this anger at the 'others' - whomever they might be - put aside the killing, the differences and realize that we are all the same. We bleed the same red blood. Our organs are interchangeable. Our brains work the same way. We love our children the same way. And we dream of a bright future, hope, the same way.
     But somehow this message has not come through clearly to still so many benighted and yes, violent, people, those who will espouse words of hate, words of incitement and then follow through with acts of hate and violence. And sadly enough, the President of our country is one of the biggest instigators of this hatred and violence. And I am so tired of hearing about his two court Jews, Ivanka and Jared. How many times do we hear an anti Semite say that he has a best or close friend who is Jewish so how could he be an anti Semite? Simple. It has happened throughout history and will continue to do so until and unless we straighten ourselves out  and we had better do so quickly. And I must say that seeing a false front Trump and an obedient Melania putting stones and for some reason a white rose on fake tombstones, in imitation of a Jewish custom - well. excuse me while I barf!!!
     So over 100 Steelers, players and staff, came to the funeral of the brothers, but Trump has to do something to set the eyes of attention upon himself. Who needed him there? Who wanted him there? His presence means nothing , nothing, until and unless he totally disavows all the words and groups of hate. But that will never happen because they are so much of his base, so intertwined with his campaign, so mixed in with the weak and spineless Republicans of today that it is nigh unto impossible for him to do so if he has any hope of remaining in power.
     So my cup runneth over when I stood there in that crowded sanctuary and heard over 1,000 voices raised in power, in hope, in loyalty as they sang the Star Spangled Banner. Full disclosure - I did not. I stood respectfully, understanding what this country meant to me and my family, to Jews and refugees as a whole, to all of us - but this is not my America any longer and I will not sing to it, of it, until it returns to what it is supposed to be. But the ties of the Jewish people to this country were evident in those raised voices. 
     And the fear and concern of the centuries, that there truly was NO home country for us, that we were never really accepted, that feeling and concern was just as evident as the Hatikvah, the national anthem of Israel, was sung with raised voices as well. For how long, for how many more centuries, are we to be the wanderers of the earth, welcomed in to build a country and then thrown out in an outburst of falsehoods and hate. And for how long, for how many more centuries will we indulge ourselves in hate, bathe in its awfulness?
    And my cup runneth over with sadness when I read that 5,200 armed and trained combat soldiers, in violation of the Constitution, will be sent to the border, some already there, and then what? Use up millions of dollars? Waste equipment and training that are needed elsewhere? These are more than the soldiers than we have on the ground in Syria!!! And do not tell me they are not allowed to interact or shoot, only build and help. Help how and one knows damn well that someone will shoot and then what? Then what!!!
     An atmosphere of hate with a man who aspires to become the first King of America, by term or by power. A man who wants to turn the country upside down and cancel the 14th Amendment which gives citizenship to a baby born here, or of American parents, born no matter where. There are over 30 - THIRTY - countries who follow this principle, even as that Demented One lies that we are the only ones to do so and he, with an Executive Order will annul that Amendment. Who the hell does he think he is? How dare he suggest such a thing?
     So even as those 'dangerous' women and children along with some men make their way to America, the land of hope, of dreams, where the "tempest tossed" are welcomed, we here must know, must feel deep in our hearts and souls, our minds, that this must stop and stop before it is too late. Friends are divided. Families are divided. Hatred separates. A daughter tells people not to vote for her awful anti Semitic father. Parents and children hide their thoughts. How long can this ever growing divide remain in  place before the nation splits asunder?
     The only peaceful way is to vote and to make sure that all receive the right as is supposed to be. It is already too late for that in many places, but pay attention - and I am not the only one saying this - heed the warnings all around us, understand the demographics of hate and its limitless flow. Heed that and vote it away. Insist on that. For if not, the division will be handled another way, like it or not, willingly or not and then violence such as we have not known will be all around us. No running away then. No ignoring the truth then. So please, for the future of us all, turn away from the hatred, from the fearmongers, from the negative and vote for the America that we know and love, the America of the Statue of Liberty, the America that welcomed in our parents and grandparents, the America that will hopefully be a home for our future generations. VOTE. For all our sakes, VOTE. What will overrun your cup? The choice is yours.

GALL! CHUTZPAH!!! BY ANY OTHER NAME....

     This floored me. Unhappy I am about Trump going to Pittsburgh today, how inappropriate it is, what with the victims of a massacre aimed at Jews still unburied, and this man, this demented man, this hatemonger, this grabber of the mob's attention, this rabble rouser, this so inept and dangerous man thinks that he should come here! For what? To grab attention? To wear his dumb and dangerous red hat and "tone" things up or down? Has he no shame, no guilt, no understanding of what he has done and continues to do?
     Yesterday, an Israeli delegation came to share in the mourning of the Pittsburgh community, to share in the grief, in the concern, and yes, in the fear. One mourner, one survivor, stated in an interview how his cousins had died in the camps, how his parents survived and yet, now, he is almost glad that they are dead for "the Nazis are here again", here, in the country where it was supposed to be finally safe.
     But Trump was too busy on Saturday to even try to assimilate an understanding of what he has done, what he has instigated and encouraged. At a rally in Indiana he played the song "Happy"! Pharrell Williams sent him a cease and desist letter, but where the hell is this man's understanding, his humanity, and the only answer is that it is not here at all, anywhere!
     Nor is it anywhere in the members of his campaign or in the understanding, it seems, of any Republican. A possibly Jewish candidate for office in a suburb of Detroit with Pence, that dangerous born again person whose life is determined by his wife's okays or not, this woman had a "rabbi" there to give a prayer for those attending, who invoked the slaughtered but one hangup. This was a "rabbi" from Jews for Jesus, an organization that is anathema to the Jewish community, that stinks of the centuries of forced conversions of Jews, a "rabbi" so inappropriate to the event that it takes one's breath away. And no, this has nothing to do with freedom to practice one's religion. He can adore Jesus all he wants, that is his right and why not, if that is what he believes, but do not invoke his name in an address concerning those who were slaughtered once more for the simple fact of being Jews in a synagogue, on Shabbat, practicing their religion. And make no mistake about it. Jews for Jesus are not Jewish other than by blood inheritance from parents, if so. And if so, they would be thrown into the ovens just as all other Jews were, simply because they were Jews. But in the meanwhile - no, completely inappropriate and unfeeling and definitely a lack of understanding and empathy.
      This man, this Demented One, and his Party are dangerous. They care not for anyone other than themselves and their offices of power, the offices that allow them to run the country down, to forget their responsibilities to the people of the country, the offices that allow them to use taxpayer money for their own purposes and why not, as they follow their leader down the road to perdition - one hopes!
     Do I sound angry? Do I sound despairing? Do I sound disillusioned and perhaps even hopeless? Well, how else can any feeling and thinking being be, even as we mourn the victims of hate, even at the same time as that One is screaming about caravans, planning on sending thousands, yes, thousands, of soldiers down to the border and all I can see in my mind and all many can see, are the pictures of Nazi soldiers shooting the mother holding her child or the father shielding his young son, or the grandparents holding on to each other. Dangerous people, these Jews, and oh so dangerous are the same equivalents in the caravan moving ever so slowly towards this same border. And we, here as Americans, are also approaching a border. A border of right, of love, of humanity, of decency, of all that is right with the world, with our country versus the other side of the border - all that has gone wrong with our country and indeed, with the world. The stench of hatred once more permeates the very air we breathe and the ranting and raving of a would be Hitler, and  make no mistake about that - and the choice is up to us. Do we stop this in its tracks right now, stand up to the hatred, to this man and his followers, those "fine" people, or do we gather ourselves, gird our loins as the Bible tells us, and combat evil, see the truth and admit where we went wrong?
     Do we have the chutzpah to take this on or do we allow the gall of the others - using their own word on them - do we allow that to take over our life, our lives?
     Time is running out. Decency is at its lowest point. Humanity is shrinking in its humane efforts but there is still hope even as the interfaith vigils are jammed with mourners, even as Muslims raise money for the families of the victims, even as people see and know and do the right thing. So now - where are the rest of you?
    And you know what to do - VOTE!!!!!!!

AND WE'RE OFF! AGAIN! EVERMORE!

         Evidently mankind has learned nothing from its tragedies. All the old canards seem to survive, even if they go underground for a while but then boom! Here they are again. To use the words of a thug who is part and parcel of the mess, "How sad, so sad. So bigly sad."
     When the ugly truth rears its head, those associated with that ugliness look for ways to shut down truthful discussion, meaningful discourse. They turn to the tried and true canards of the past and here we go again. Whom to blame for the massacre of Saturday? Well, that is simple. Blame the victims of course. They evidently picked the wrong progenitors. They should have locked the door. They should have had armed guards at every door of the synagogue. They should have had their own guns there, all the better to shoot. And of course, back to the top - they should not have been born Jews, or practiced their faith, and the guilt for this whole thing rests upon their shoulders. So there!!
     Think this is not so? Well, just read the lips of the Demented One, the one whose mouthing off sets the blackened hearts and souls of so many miserable beings afire. Whose hurtful and harmful musings and tweets encourage the worst in the worst people.
     Oh, when prodded enough he uses some of the right words for a few seconds but his inner nastiness and yes, evil, cannot remain quiescent for long. So yes, he first condemns the anti Semitism after being urged to speak up and then he begins his almost immediate descent into his usual nastiness. They should have had a guard there. Their fault. Obviously! Not to worry, he spoke to Jared and Ivanka so problem solved. Of course! And then again, time to get the jollies on the road again, so back to his nasty rallies, on the same day! Back to his sick jokes about "toning down" or bad hair days. And oh, yeah! There ya' go! Use that same disgusting tone and language and get right out there again with the words of hate, the words that encourage others to kill.
     So Steyer, a victim of the bombs, you know, the "hoax" perpetrated by the Democrats to stop the red wave - so help me, G-d, they believe this despite all proof to the contrary, is now called a "crazed and stumbling lunatic" in one of the Demented One's tweets. But then, enough already with this, as the more important things arise - such as tweets about the World Series. Yeah, so a bunch of Jews are dead, yeah, so what. It has happened before and it is their fault. So how can we blame this Demented One from falling into his usual ruts, his oh so harmful ruts.
     So a woman of 97 is killed, gruesomely. She should have stayed home instead of assuming that she would have been safe here in this country. And as for that horrific caravan? Oh yeah. There must be a criminal or two in the mess of people so let's tar the rest of them. Dehumanization and generalizations have worked so well before in the battle between good and evil so let's use them again. And these poor people frighten us so that we are violating the Constitution and sending armed standing army troops to the border. That will do it! Just shoot them down as they dare to ask for asylum, as they dare to hope for a better life and for sure, this big country of ours has so much to fear from this group of people who are still 1,000 miles away at an average of 20-30 miles a day, who come mainly as women and children, and wow! so dangerous! O, let's just have the troops and let the fates have the day.
     There is no stopping the hate once it starts, Yes, there are hopes that have come out from this awful massacre. There was an interfaith vigil. There are spontaneous vigils nationwide and planned ones. There are two Muslim groups in Pittsburgh who are raising money for the victims' families. And some Jewish leaders have told Trump he is not welcome here unless and until he vigorously denounces white nationalism. I would go further and demand that he stop using the term "globalist" an old word used to describe Jews and their oh so dastardly and obvious - at least in the minds of the demented - and their plot to rule the world!
     And yet and still, we have those who will continue to support this man and his evil mouthings, his nastiness, his cruelty, his vulgarity, his uncultured soul. I do not know anymore how to even speak with them. They think if they mention one person who is not perfect that this demeans the whole opposition to Trump. Not so. So yes, I do not approve of Sarsour, but then again, she is one woman in a huge outpouring of women so grow up already. And by the way, name me one good person, one honest and brave person, one with a spine, in the Trump campaign. Nary a one!
     Do I sound angry? Do I sound worried? Do I sound confused and concerned, fearing for the future? All this and more. The old canards of hatred are frightening, especially to one who is steeped in the history of her people. Especially to anyone with a thinking brain and a working heart and a clean soul. I despair for us and I despair for the world.
     There was a tweet I read yesterday which basically, simply, told us of all the places we cannot go - the synagogue, the church, the mosque, the schools, the supermarkets, etc. so where to go - the ballot box! Hear that! Heed that. Do not let the darkness of hatred overcome the world once more. Open your eyes and hearts and minds. Look at the pictures of the starving kids in Yemen and I do not care  what their parents did or how they hate Israel. These kids did nothing. Feed them! Yesterday I attended a wonderful and intense lecture about children in the Holocaust and one picture will remain in my mind and haunt me to my dying day. It was a Mengele special, taking two twins and sewing them together midsection, horizontally, breaking their legs so they are straight out to the sides, creating his own Siamese twins. Yes, imagine that - and imagine those poor kids whose original sin was being born Jewish!!!!
     Words of hate lead to deeds of hate. Deeds of hate lead to physical harm and harm to the culture of mankind, the burning of books. And those burnings lead to the burnings of mankind. We have seen it happen and we know it can still happen again - and yes, right here in the good old USA. Especially with those of the Demented One's ilk in power.
     Ballot box - and make sure that the correct choices are there when you submit. There already have been cases where the name was switched, as in Texas with Cruz and O' Rourke. And guess who was the beneficiary? Do not allow yourself or others to be denied your right to vote. Be firm. VOTE!!!! Use that ballot box as our battering ram to return our country to AMERICA as it should be. Please.

AL AYLEH ANI BOCHIYAH OVER THESE I CRY

     This is a verse from Eichah, a prayer recited on Tisha B'Av, a day when we grieve and mourn the destruction of our Temples in Jerusalem and cry for  those killed during that time. But for Jews it is not a novel thing to be killed, to be harassed, to be driven from pillar to post, to be forced to leave a country where they have lived for hundreds of years or denied legitimate ties to their original homeland.
      No, it is not a new thing, but could we not wish for it to be done with in this year of 2018? Here in America? Here in the land which was supposed to be the best and permanent champion of the rights of all, including those of Jews?
     Evidently not, and certainly not this week so filled with hate that spilled over into death. A black church that could not be broken into and so two black shoppers were killed instead at Kroger's. Bombs sent to opponents of the racist and ranting Demented One. And finally, on Shabbat, a day given over to family, to G-d, to prayer and contemplation, to time with friends, on this very day, at a ceremony celebrating the induction of yet another Jewish soul into the Jewish nation , a murderer, a creep inspired by the hatred that spews forth these days, by the increased rate of over 50% of anti Semitic incidents, at such a time, we Jews are forced to realize that no, we are not yet free of this hatred. No, we are not yet free of those who would kill us, who would wipe us out, deny us even one speck of hope and life. This murderer reminded us of that.
     So over these, we cry, but Dear Lord, over how many more? Here in Pittsburgh, a beautiful city with lots of greenery, a place of many new and young families, a city which has reinvented itself from the steel industry to the new industries of the Internet, a city where in a college area there have been Jews living for a long time, here in this city hatred and murder reared its ugly head. An American pogrom. Are we to wait till someone finds a way to create a bigger and more murderous pogrom? Are we to stand by helpless as hatred prevails?
     My heart was in my throat, bursting from my body as I heard the news. My son. His wife. Their children. The people I had met in visiting them. Where were they now? Were they safe? Whose shul - synagogue - was it? The calls from friends wondering about this, worrying about this. And the bitter relief felt that no, they had been in lockdown either in their home or in their synagogue, but no relief for the others, for the 11 killed, for those still in danger after surgery. Over these, Oh Lord, we cry, I cried.
     Hatred does not come from nowhere. It is a devilish emotion that is encouraged by evil minds, by the knowledge that people can be led into acts of hatred, into mob chants, by people who know this and who have practiced this since time began. Always, the target is the other, whomever that might be. But the shock here is that the leader of these rants of hatred, who chants away the day with memes of hatred, who laughs that no, a massacre might not be enough to stop a rally but a bad hair day might!! This leader - the President of the United States. No longer a dignified office, but rather an office of the mob, of the ravening hordes now allowed to spew forth as well and worse, take action on it. Growing anti Semitism on college campuses. Growing defacing of Jewish institutions with swastikas and anti Semitic curses. Growing threats and why not when the President tells us they are fine people, when he himself ramps up this nastiness, this hatred, uses provocative language, as low class as his language is, to rile up the mob - the very same mob that he states is the 'other' side, the mob that turns into a frightening voice of danger, of murder, of all that is bad in humanity.
     So Trump has fostered this and he must take the blame for it, he and his followers, And so must those among the Jewish people who have cheered him on, ignoring his misdeeds, the danger he poses for us. And so must all those who make excuses for him. He must be told, shown, that we will not tolerate this here in America. He and his must be weeded out of the government. We must vote to oust those who support him, who have lost the courage to speak the truth ad admit that they have been following a hate monger, an instigator of murder and attempted murder.
     OVER THESE, OH LORD, WE CRY. OVER HOW MANY MORE MUST WE CRY? HOW MANY MORE? HOW MANY MORE?
       PLEASE, PEOPLE, LET US PUT ASIDE THIS HATRED, VOTE IT OUT, TEAR IT FROM OUR HEARTS AND SOULS.
     LET US BE AMERICA ONCE MORE.

MAD

     Mad. The entire world seems to have reverted to the movie world of the Mad, Mad World and any and all progress has been set aside. But that movie was funny, amusing and entertaining even as it pointed out fallacies of the world.
     Today, however, our mad world is not funny nor entertaining unless one has a 'mad' mind. We have become so desperate, so straining in our desire and need for sanity that we jump on anyone who seems to represent that need. Hence all the dictators now returning to the world stage, those who promised reform, who promise change, but who seem to make those changes only in areas which would limit their power. So one country trashes all their judges and another attacks the media and journalists and another viciously attacks migrants and yet another makes threats or even takes physical  actions against its presumed opponents. Women are crushed to the limit with any and all modern ideas being subsumed in the madness of a changing world, one changing for the worse. What is even more frightening is the fact that we accept excuses from murderous leaders in mufti who present themselves as reformers but who turn out to be murderers, vicious fakes.
     Most frightening of all? The fact that almost every one of these actions of a mad world can be applied to the country which is supposed to represent sanity and hope. This country had a heavy burden, to be an example and even a savior to the world, but bore that burden proudly and mostly well,  though not perfectly, or at least it did until now.
     We here in the USA have a supposed leader who is so wrapped up in himself and his own needs that he treads over the rights and interests of others. His business needs, his physical needs, the needs of his tormented mind and soul - all these needs come before those of anyone else. Judges and the judiciary - just co-opt them. Women - just disregard them until and unless one has a sexual urge or need, no matter how perverted and then, why just grab the women without consent and then have your words quoted by another pervert as a legal excuse for his actions!
     Make friends with the strongmen of the world, strong in their cruelty, in their disregard of all that is right and proper. Twist the laws to ruin a country, to make it unsafe to live, to breathe, to drink the very water. Ignore science, unless it is pseudo science that can be used to support one's ignorant behavior.
    And as for the press - only a relentless adversarial relationship is possible. Brand them as the enemy of the people. Applaud the behavior of those who encourage physical attacks on them. Suborn lies and perjury by one's spokespeople to back up your attacks. Accuse the press of horrendous misdeeds against the people of the country while the truth is that the misdeeds belong to you.
    And overall, the best technique to use, the one which has proven successful with all dictatorial systems, is to tell the lie, the Big Lie and tell it often enough so that it becomes truth. Tell the lies so often that no one can distinguish the truth from the lies anymore. Vanquish the truth and all will belong to the victor.
     And the final results? Well, we here in America are awaiting the results as we reach a point that has not been there since the Civil War. Only now we are doing this, responding to memes of hate and prejudice, responding with mailed bombs, with viciousness, with the mouth of a man who cannot, for even 24 hours maintain a position of dignity and  unity. And top it all off with the statement that all these bombs are a conspiracy - of your opponents - to make you look bad! Truly, a bizarre world.
     And as for one's excess energy, vibrant hate that boils over, well, just head south to the border where the leader of a country built by immigrants is planning to use our army to shoot them down, to force them away, or to herd them into horrendous situations, separate families again, dehumanize them, turn our backs on the very thing which has always made us strong. No longer will we be the salad bowl or even the mixing dish. Melting pot? Ha! The goal now seems to be to wash out all the 'others' be they of any other color than white, any other religion other than Christian, women to stand at the end of the line and poor people - know your place!
     We have less than two weeks to try and balance this country again. Get out there and VOTE, VOTE for the proper people, the ones who have your concerns at heart, the ones who have a heart. As for me - I voted already and on Election Day I will be watching the polls, making sure that there is no chicanery where I am, that voters receive their proper rights and are allowed to vote without the attempts being made to restrict them.
     The choice is ours. The consequences are ours.

LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR!

     There are consequences. There are always consequences. They cannot be avoided, no matter how much one says so or denies them. And now we have it. We have the consequences and if we do not do something to stop this in its path, then we have cried havoc and unleashed the dogs of war. Right here in the good old USA.
     I have often felt akin to Cassandra, the prophet of doom and disaster in Troy, condemned to know the truth yet have no one believe her. She knew the Greeks would trash her city, decimate its population, yet could not make believers of her audience. And here we are.
     Trump, the Demented One , is a man filled with hate, spewing out of every orifice in his body. He reeks of hate. He reeks of contempt for all who do not choose to follow his ugly path, to support him in his nefarious plans. He rails against those who differ with him, who call him out on his calls for violence, on his use of words that bait the lowest of the low into shouting back his memes - lock people up, hurt them at rallies, praising those who use violence to shut down the media and where does it end, where would it end people wondered.
     And now we have the answer, do we not? It ends in violence. It ends in the tactics of the countries around the world that are engulfed in civil wars. It ends with deaths - the death of people, the death of democracy, the death of life as we know it. And I cannot understand the obtuseness of those who continue to excuse this man, this Demented One and his demented mouth, his demented brain, who continuously calls for hatred and violence and now we have it. Yes, we certainly do.
    Yesterday he puts his wife on to decry the violence, this women who has sold her body and soul for her clothing, who has cut the line with her parents visas, and then she turns off into opioid discussion. Huh!!! Weird indeed and then worse than that, the Demented One gets to the mic and states the same words but like the elephant in the room does not condemn the fact that these are all his political enemies, that these targets have been the constant targets of his foul mouth, that the CNN was targeted to and of that he made no mention! And then he continues to rant yesterday and condemns the media as the cause of this!!!!! And he too goes off to the opioid crisis. Where is that good old vaudeville hook to rake the unwanted off the stage? Surely we need it now!
    This is the take of that Demented One - "The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it,"...
     And here is the take of people with functioning brains.
     "Trump unleashed the dogs of hatred in this country from the day he declared he was running for president, and they've been snarling and barking at each other ever since," ….. "It's just inevitable there are going to be acts of violence that grow out of that."
      And not long after, Trump asks his audience, "See how nice I am behaving?"
     Well, he is not and he has brought about the first open steps of civil war, the same war that I have been warning of, the same ripping of society that more and more essayists, political analysts and thinking people have been warning of. 
     The man is erratic, a definite understatement. He denies science. He does not speak for the little guy, but instead for the ridiculously wealthy. He disregards warnings that his phones are being tapped by Russians and Chinese and goes ahead and discusses what all!
    So now what? Do we wait for the men with face masks to come and pick up all those who oppose this Demented One and those who support him? Do we watch as our society is diminished as more and more groups are rounded up? Disenfranchised? Do we sit and watch mutely as he violates the Constitution and brings up the standing army to the border and shoots down the thousands of migrants? And then who is next?
    Truly, people, we have come to a crossroads and perhaps even chosen one path already. I am frightened to the marrow of my bones. So should you.
     VOTE and VOTE and VOTE and make sure your neighbors do and make sure there is no chicanery about the questioning of registrants, particularly black and Latino. Remember who we are. We are the citizens of the United States of America - even if our President does not behave as such. Do the right thing and let us stop this violence. No more bombs. No more hatred and please, no more of Trump power. It is almost too late already.
     

RIDDLE ME THIS.....

     Okay, so I am officially a senior citizen, but does that mean that it is okay for me to be confused as to how we have reached this point, here in America and all around the world? Does that mean that we should allow demented senior citizens, ones filled with hate, allow them to rule the world and ruin the world? And yet, that is exactly what we have done, is it not? And folks, the blame for that lies not only with these people but with all the rest of us who have allowed them sanctuary within the heart of our systems.
     So riddle me this, folks. Here is a list of some things and then see if you can answer the question at the end.
1. Lies and lies and lies and more lies.
2. Lies to cover the lies already told.
3. Absurd lies such as that one has hundreds of pictures of Comey and Mueller "hugging and kissing". Truly, that idiot said that.
4. Having the FBI chase its tail as it tries to run down the absurd statements of the Demented One.
5. Rallies for Republicans hand picked to match the hate and lies that the Demented One represents.
6. An administration that regularly descends into physical altercations at meetings in the White House and elsewhere and who spouts violent verbal statements.
7. Administration officials and representatives of the Republican Party who are openly corrupt, bribable, inclined toward nepotism, use taxpayer money as their own private funds, are incompetent and lack knowledge of their areas or are already tainted by their prior lives.
8. Spokespeople who have regularly violated the Hatch Act wherein they are not allowed to plump politically via their jobs in the government.
9. The deregulation and tossing out of all regulations guaranteed to protect our health, the air and land and water of this Earth of ours.
10. Rallies filled with hatred, ugly spoutings of hate on and in public arenas and planes, right wing bigots coming out of the dark where they have hidden these many a year.
11. Use of the government and its various arms to cover for the Demented One, trying to make his oh so not there clothing into textured ones! There are no middle class tax cut plans. There is no booming economy as it keeps losing points every day and as companies now are losing value due to the harmful tariff wars the Demented One has imposed on the world.
12. Supposedly a friend to Israel and 'shows' it by moving embassy to Jerusalem but then promises the Palestinians that  Jerusalem is indeed the capital of two states and then, supports and defends the lies of his buddy, the Saudi prince who has designed the vicious murder of a journalist and then lied through his teeth - and is still lying - about it.
13. And the Demented One supports him! Reluctantly admits there is more to the story but it is okay after all, for they are trade partners, important cogs in agreements. So, it seems if one is important to the Demented One then anything goes. Hmmm
13. Uh, those murderers and rapists and now "Middle Easterners" who are so obviously 'terrorists' - all within the caravan that truly ticks the Demented One off - what if the Middle Easterner types are the handservants, the murderers sent by the Saudi Prince? Hmmm, does that make it okay? Are there really these people in the caravan or is it mostly and mainly just thousands of people looking for a better life, a safer life? A couple of bad apples, even if there, do not spoil the barrel. It was both comical and truly sad watching Pence trip over his own tongue as he tried to justify that ridiculous and dangerous statement of the Demented One.
14. The Demented One threatens to send the standing army against the caravan people. Posse Comitatus anyone? Comparison pictures of death squads of any authoritarian country, past or present?
     I could keep on posting the riddles and the questions but the point is made.
     So riddle me this, all of us out there. What the hell are we doing? Why are we doing this? Why are so many people shouting and ranting with ugly and scary faces - and no costumes on either? Why have we allowed the ugliness beneath to dig its way forward and why do we not recognize this?
     To paraphrase a commentator who wrote about the Tuesday meeting in the Oval Office, Trump "floated conspiracy theories, boasted about his achievements, bent facts, teased future announcements and dipped into a well of racial and cultural prejudice."
    This is the behavior of an autocrat, not a democrat, certainly not America! Not the United States of America! So riddle me this, folks, what is the answer? Where and how has this happened? Will we continue to allow it until we reach the scary point of a country of the USA such as is found in Farenheit 451?
     How to stop this? Stand up and protest. Do not hide in corners. Do not be afraid of this man and his henchmen. Do not allow the abuse of the voting privilege by those who would take it away once in power. Do not let those such as Kemp in Georgia rule the roost even as he bemoans the fact that voters might actually try to exercise their voting rights even as he has done his most evil best to deny them that right.
   So VOTE, people, VOTE!!! Bring the ballot over to the offices of the Supervisor of Elections. Drive a voter to the polls. Make time in  your schedule to vote. There is nothing more important than that. VOTE and take your kids along to see what you are doing. VOTE. Early VOTE. Election Day VOTE. Absentee ballot VOTE. Help people fill it in if they cannot do it themselves. Do whatever you can but VOTE. And then we will not have to riddle us this with awful questions and worse answers. The time has come to choose our future and the future for our kids. It is on us.

THEATER OF THE ABSURD

     We are living in a play, an absurd one which has little to recommend it or to try to understand it. It is replete with nastiness and nonsense and the literary analyst has no idea where to start or how to refute or deal with the absurdities that are added in every day. What is even more frightening is that there are people who buy into these absurdities even as they are wrecking their lives.
     Today we have the Kingdom of Genitalia. Suddenly the man who knows nothing, who boasts about how little he knows and how he can still fool and befuddle people, the man of no science, this very same man has decided that people are tied to their fates as determined by the genitalia of their birth. No such thing as transgender people. Nope, by crest or cleft it seems we are ruled. That is what tells us who and what we are and what we can achieve. Think not that this idiocy stops here. For example, what of the baby born with hermaphrodite genitalia or the one born with unclear definition, or the one with swollen genitals that are read wrong, incorrect. What if the doctors choose incorrectly - so then what when the girl realizes he is a boy or vice versa. And where does the rule of genitalia stop. Are we limited then in choice of careers, in plans and dreams, in ability to move through society? Are we then to return to a repressive society, one along the lines of the Hand Maid's tale or even of fundamentalists of all times and religions demand?
     And now Act II of this play. Immigrants, who now number 5,000 in a display of determination to reach the country of their dreams, of refuge, to flee violence, to give children a future other than being pressed into gangs. The idiot with his own alleged genitalia issues stands there and threatens and screams. He threatens Mexico that it had better do his bidding. He screams of deep state conspiracies, faults the Democrats and George Soros who has received an explosive device thanks to Trump's mouth. He screeches that he has alerted the borders and made plans but no one seems to have been told of these plans. He, the man who supposedly wishes to uphold the Constitution is now threatening an important provision - posse comitatus. The standing army is NOT allowed to operate within the country's borders so they cannot be called upon to shoot up those kids, those babes, those men and women, those teens. And G-d forbid that we have soldiers, be they of the National Guard or the regular Armed Forces or of Border Enforcement, G-d forbid we have people willing to do that. Shall they be rounded up, stripped naked and forced to stand by the sides of a ditch or canyon? Convenient, that would be in this Theater of the Absurd, the dangerous absurd.
     We are being ruled, yes, ruled, by a sick puppy of a third grader in a grownup's body, only this one never grew up in any important way. This puppy has turned into a junkyard dog, cunning, nasty and ignorant of the partnerships that can be formed with people. So perhaps we are now living through our own version of Animal Farm with all its nastiness and injustice and murder! More Theater of the Absurd - only how absurd is it really when we see all this in action? How absurd is it when we hear of an administration where the members of it turn rabid, fight each other and not only with their mouths, or frighten sane people with their faces of pure cruelty and venom such as was seen with Graham and Grassley at the hearings.
     This junkyard dog is standing there baying that if he wins the House again it is because of him and him alone. If he loses it, then it is not his fault he says. He lies and lies about his lies. He has forced so many thinking and knowledgeable people to speak as I do - that should he win, should his ballless and spineless Republicans return to a majority, then we can all say goodbye to America. Read Paul Krugman. Read Gail Collins. Read Maureen Dowd. Read Charles Blow. Read any of the many columnists who are shouting this to the world, to the voters out there.
    People - you must get out there and vote. Vote to overcome those base Republicans  -  in every which way. Vote to insure an America such as we know it and such that we can improve and bring  back to the proper highways. Do not assume another will vote for you. YOU need to vote and vote for the Democrats. Vote for the women. Vote for those who refuse to accept a Theater of the Absurd. Your future is at stake.

TEACHER, TEACHER

     How often have our teachers taught us the varying forms of the reminder that if we do not learn history and take lessons from it, we will be doomed by these actions or inactions to repeat the worst of history. And yet, time and again, we refuse to accept that lesson and there we go again and folks, here we go again right now.
     Yesterday we saw a movie called The Samuel Project which in essence was the story of a grandfather and a grandson connecting - via the grandson's project for school wherein he discovered the early life of his grandfather, a hidden child of the Holocaust. There is much to this movie and should be seen, even the kids and there are no horrific scenes of truth to be seen, but the implications for the adults are there. Particularly when we see some scenes, a picture or a map, of immigration and the fact that even after the war, after the slaughter, there was still no room for the Jews at any inn!
     We saw ships being turned back, victims being sent back to the slaughterhouse of Europe, desperate people going under fences, and maps which traced the useless paths of refuge. And echoed in all this, though unseen, were the ships being turned back today, the caravans of humanity being dehumanized, called criminals, ranted about by a demented and hate filled President and his followers
     And I wonder. Teacher, teacher, teach me the lessons again. Teach the world the lesson again. Hope that it is not to late, that we have not trashed all that made this world a good place to live, that we have not thrown out all the progress mankind has made since the first steps to a peace treaty ever took place or the first time one man extended a hand to another in a time of danger.
     We are killing ourselves. We are doing this in so many ways and I fear, as do a growing number of people, that we are killing off a refuge for the future for Spaceship Earth will be no longer. We are welcoming the killers, the extremists into government again, allowing them to implement their awful and dangerous policies. We are engaging in dangerous arms races once more. We are ignoring science, denying science - how stupid is that!!! How dangerous is that, even as the people stand in their ruined homes, their trashed lives due to extremes of Nature grown ever more common! Today we find that the largest living organism on this Earth is dying, a huge interlinked common system of roots which allows for thousands of 'children' trees to have grown from the 'mama' and yet today - we are killing it with our stupidity. How much longer till we kill all ourselves off and stage our own The  100, not as a TV show, but as a fact of life.
     Teacher, teacher. Answer me this. How long must one trust a perpetual liar? What does that say abut us if we continue on this futile and dangerous path? What do we do about those in positions of leadership of which they have made a mockery, and hear them deny the nose on their faces, then admit they are indeed there but did not get there the way people are saying, then agreeing to that, but adding conditions, and then agreeing with the facts but still adding conditional statements of disbelief. How low do we go in accepting killers, haters of humanity, selfish people, how low do we need to fall before we realize what we have done?
     So Trump is threatening to call out the troops and stop the caravan. My heart and mind quails at the images. We, at war against people who are the same as our ancestors, coming here to escape from danger, coming here to live a better life, coming here to provide  a future for their children, only they are coming a different way in different times. So what! Why are we not overhauling our immigration policy, ripping out the roots of hatred and installing proper and peaceful methods of accepting new blood, fresh minds and ideas into our country. But when one has an idiot at the head who persists in calling this caravan a conspiracy of the "Democrat" party - read that Democratic as that is how they are listed in legal formation papers - how do we handle and negate this idiot and his followers? And how do we tie together our country once again, bind up its wounds with the echoes of Lincoln's voice urging us on?
     Teacher, teacher. Help us to understand the schism and the abyss that is before us. Help us see that we have already lost precious people and ideas to that abyss and the chasm is ever widening, ever making more room for the blood that will be spilled. Teacher, teacher - I know what I hear and I know what I fear.
      So all of us - get out there and do what must be done, what is on YOUR shoulders to do -
     VOTE    VOTE   VOTE
Stand up against the hatred, the darkness that is encroaching upon the once bright and shining place known as the Golden Mountain, the Goldener Medinah, a place where all were welcome, even if that welcome took a generation, even as we integrated the children as the parents built new lives.
       VOTE      VOTE     VOTE
     Dear G-d! Just saw a video of the caravan and watched the men, the women, the children, the infants, babes in arms, as they came, came to us, in hope, in peace. And we are going to greet them with guns? We are going to find people, our soldiers, who will shoot these innocents? They mean no harm; only looking for life. Dear G-d!!

OF WINDOWS AND DOORS

     Windows and doors. Ways to get in and out of a house or room, ways to beautify one's abode or ways to lock oneself away from the world. Whatever we make of them tells us a lot about ourselves and the state we are in.
    We all know the one that states that when a door closes a window opens and versions of such. Trite, possibly true, but also not necessarily so. Today we are in a situation where we are more than gradually shutting windows and doors, blocking off the light from them as we make the home we choose to live in a site of separation and abandonment. Within that fortress of our own making we have closed off the windows and doors, made it a prison for ourselves and a trap for those who would break it open and let in the sunshine and the fresh air. Jamie Lee Curtis had nothing on  us in her fortified home in the new Halloween. We have made ours far worse and more frightening.
     Living in the dark, by choice or by force, causes a lessening of eyesight and vision. That is the situation we are in right now. We have chosen a damaged personality to lead us who has corrupted our windows and doors and is busily engaged in blocking off the rest. Instead of welcoming the lifeblood of the country, new immigrants, the same people who use democracy themselves and vote - yes, VOTE - to re-form the caravan, Trump shuts them out, demeans them, dehumanizes them, using the same techniques of dictators throughout history. And the sad, very sad and dangerous thing is, that those who follow seem to be ignoring history and we all know what that means - repetition and not in a good way either.
    We have a Trump who lies and lies and the truth never passes his lips. His tongue is forked in the vilest manner. He insults people in a personal manner and thinks he is oh so clever, even as he is simply vile and ignorant. He can neither read nor write nor speak in any kind of proper manner and the situation grows worse. Just follow his speeches and his tweets and this downward trend is easily visible. He believes that it is okay to renege on promises and use Native American names as an insult, ignores the truths of science in every field one can think of and yet, one wonders why he is still in office.
     Our windows and doors are not permanent nor invincible. We must work hard at keeping them open and operating, clear and available. We need to choose the correct windows and doors to keep our society visible and viable. We need to keep our treaties, not pull out of a nuclear armament one. We need to deal with the opioid crisis rather than approve another, even more addictive one as we are just about to do. We need to stop this nonsense of tax cuts and fake tax programs even as the rich get more and more privileges, becoming like the nobles of old who paid no taxes, but the peasants and the middle classes sure as hell did!
     We need to honor the truth. Honor the journalists who seem to have become prey for the dictators and haters of the world. We need to hear the truth about their deaths, the war against them and not believe the lies their murderers tell in their denial. Hear the truth. Believe the truth. Demand the truth.
     And we need to keep the hope of a Democratic victory this election. The Republicans are whipping their hate filled masses, their deluded souls, urging them to get out and vote, to keep out the rest of America. We, those who still hope for a country that we remember, that we learned about, that we valued and treasured, that gave us pride in being her citizens, WE must get out there and counter their votes. WE must vote the right way, the only way that will insure our future and in fact, the future of the world. 
     Closing the windows of science does not stop that science from becoming true. Closing the windows  of love and honor, of truth and justice, of morality and hope does stop the good dead in its track.   Graham Greene, in The Power and the Glory, says that  "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in." I believe that, but also see that there is a time in supposed adulthood when we can close that door to all that is good about humanity and destroy ourselves.
     Salman Rushdie, in The Moor's Last Sigh, states, "In the end, stories are what's left of us, we are no more than the few tales that persist." The question is here whether we will allow those few stories that remain to be positive or negative. Will our stories be those of opening windows and doors or of nailing them shut?
     Want to open those doors and windows? Want to keep them open? Want your story to be a good one, a positive one, a proud one? Then you know what to do.
        VOTE       VOTE        VOTE

WARNING: DANGER AHEAD

     When we look back at history we often wonder why people did not pickup the signs of oncoming events, why they did not pick up and leave or do something to avoid the danger ahead. Well, it is easy to do that with hindsight, but foresight? Not so easy, not so simple.
     Today we have as a President a man who praises violence, who says that a Congressman who body slammed a reporter is a hero, an exemplar to be followed. He calls the free press the "enemy of the people". He persists in calling the Democratic Party the Democrat Party as if to be a Democrat or democrat is an awful thing to be.
     He lies through his teeth. He uses body images and physically connected insults on women and is beyond the pale, especially as these insults and comments are coming out of a grown man's mouth and not a third grader. He persists in attacking any and all who come back at him with a remark re his own physical attributes - or lack of them - and behaves as if he were the messiah wronged.
     I could care less about his physical looks. Yes, it is weird that we have an orange man for the president. Yes, it is weird that he speaks in a weird manner, pursing his mouth very strangely. Yes, that is all weird, but worse than that is the fact that every time he opens that mouth another lie or hate filled comment comes out. He rules - and yes, I use that word rule purposely as this is what his final aim is - to rule the country, not preside over it in a democratic manner but rather in an authoritarian manner and the hell with the rights of the people, with the purpose of our country.
     He and his supporters argue that he cannot be touched because he is a sitting President. Not the fact that he is guilty of massive tax fraud and deceit, sexual assault, alleged collusion, illegal profiting from his position or anything else he has been accused of. Nope, only that he is above the law. Well, no one is above the law. No one. There is nowhere in the Constitution that states that a president is allowed to be a crook for his entire life and have it all overlooked because he somehow got to be President.
     But the law and indeed all discourse is twisted today. There are deep conspiracies against him he states and accused the 'Democrat' Party of organizing the caravan of refugees heading our way, a yearly event for many years already, and then dehumanizes them as "criminals". What he should feel is brotherhood with them if that were true for then he could and would bind with fellow alleged criminals!!
     His ignorance shows. The fly to that door is always open and it is painful to think that such a man is supposed to represent us internationally. Take the whole DNA brouhaha. It is not done the way he is pushing but rather how much of the gene sequencing one shares with another and it is always different. For example, both my older grandsons share a different amount of sequencing with me. That does not make one more of a grandson than the other, Hear that, moron Donald?
     As far as the generation of 6th or 10th, it also does not matter. Tens of thousands go on line every day to do genealogical research, looking for family ties, for ancestor information. Trees go back for generations. I recently had an email from someone we met on another website who told us, showed us, how we were related at the 6th great level. He is a great guy as far as my dealings with him and what I can see online, so yay!!The fact that the great grandmother I finally found, hidden in the masses of Jews killed by Hitler, is a further generation or two away from my children or grandchildren, but that does not make their genetic connection any less. But the ignorant Trump chants idiocy, stupidity, hatefulness and the idiots who follow him leave their intelligence at the door and go down that hole, or directly into the Pied Piper's cave. No thinking, just following, just obeying, allowing his wash of hatred, of lies, of ignorance take them over.
     Think the new Halloween movie is frightening? Well, think over the scenario we are now living in and think real hard, evaluate real hard - which is more frightening?
     Danger ahead. Warning! Danger ahead! Great peril, life threatening peril! Think and look ahead and let us defeat this peril.
     How? You know the answer. Fight, protest, demonstrate, yell and shout and scream but first and foremost.....  VOTE    VOTE   VOTE

SMALL PEOPLE

     No, not little people. Those are people who have short stature due to a genetic reason but can have big hearts, something not found in small people. Unfortunately, we are plagued with small people these days, much to our detriment and if someone can figure out how to reach them, make them grow - well, then call me ASAP!
     Small people are small minded. They are small souled and small hearted. Their brains seem to shrink by the day as they drop further and further into the Trump cesspool. There are people who are both small and regular people as they split themselves in two, keeping  a stranglehold on their Trump roots for they seemingly cannot admit how wrong they were and are and will be should they continue in this path.
     I look at a video of the caravan on its way from Honduras to the United States. I see hope. I see dreams. I see the future for the children walking along with their parents. I see bravery. I see immense courage. The undertaking, to walk for thousands of miles in an attempt to fulfill a dream is just mind boggling and we need to meet and greet them with something other than an incarceration and mistreatment and separation of families. We must set up a better system of immigration, recognize that like it or not, the immigration stream has shifted from Europe, Western Europe, to Latin America for the most part - at least here.
     But small people cannot accept these caravans of humanity for they fear for their own privilege, refuse to share our bounty with others, deny the facts that are evident- that no, immigrants are not the fuel of criminal statistics, that they do work, and work hard, and especially in the beginning, work at jobs that Americans will not take on.
    Small people are men who cannot bear the thought that they cannot rule over women. It is women who persist in denouncing their own, refusing to believe them because Trump does not - or so he says, anyway, - and so they claim the second place citizenship that men have afforded them.
     Small people are those who accede to Trump's behavior with the whole Khashoggi mess. Denying the evidence, the truth, refusing to hear of the torture and its aftermath because he wants to keep their trade, so to hell with morality, to hell with truth and a warning to all - if you get in trouble in some foreign country, make sure it will not adversely affect our relationship with them, for if so, Trump will sell you down the river without a second thought!
     Small people deny the evidence of their eyes, of the truth, of the signs via the weather, of a Nature gone mad and why? Because Trump says so and besides, there is money to be made in violating all our safety regulations and better yet, rescind them.
     I could go on and on re small people, but we need to find those who now have woken up and smelled that coffee, the people who voted to take Trump's name off the  building in NYC, those who campaign and call and mail and urge all to go the proper pathway this election cycle. We need to get this oh so proven with evidence tax cheat, liar, misogynist and more out of office or neutralize him and his wimpish and rudderless Republicans. We need to help them find their stature again, their souls. Before it is too late. I shudder to think what would happen should the elections not come off as we hope. I cannot even tolerate a peep at such a picture for the horror of it is overwhelming.
     So, people, you know what I am going to say. Screw the foreign governments who think they can now rule its puppet America. Disregard the Scrooges who wish to take away Social Security and Medicare. Dismiss those who cruelly wish to deny pre existing conditions any treatment. Guess the quicker one dies the better these people feel.
Do the right thing, an old but fresher than ever maxim. And how?
     VOTE     VOTE     VOTE

WELL, YEA AND NAY

     We live in a world that flashes by in nanoseconds. The news feeds are always changing and one crisis overtakes another and meanwhile, people feel a need to connect, to have some anchor in this overwhelming world. So they do as was done throughout history - look for the human connection, the family members they might find.
     Today that need can be fulfilled through searches. People troll through Facebook to find people, through YouTube to find videos that touch them, and yes, they search through genealogical sites. Why? Because it is there, available and actually fun to do, at least in the beginning stages. It is exciting to open the site and find the pages of first and second and third cousins you never knew or had lost track of. It is exciting to send out messages and actually get some answers.
     Why do people get so excited and for what? Hard to explain but here is an example. My two older grandsons, bright and intelligent young men, called me excitedly to shout that they were my grandsons!! Well, since I had held them five minutes after they were born I kinda' knew that, but I shared in their excitement and laughter as what we knew was confirmed for the world to see. Silly? Yea, but nay as well. The human connection is of vast importance.
     Next steps take place. I undertook a search for my namesake, a victim of Hitler and his hate filled hordes. The search was hard for I had little information. Yet there were volunteers who helped steer me through the shoals and reefs of the ancient records of European countries that are now different from then, illegible records in illegible handwritings, filled with esoteric numbers and letters, so when I was successful, yea, the joy and excitement was overwhelming and I actually cried.
     But now, as with most people, we did not stop with that discovery, for the urge to dig more, find more, go back in time far longer is overwhelming. Why? Do we expect to find some picture of a tenth generation or great, as it is called and find an amazing resemblance? Do we expect miracles? I was told that a few thousand years ago, Richard III and I shared a maternal ancestor. Do I expect to call up Elizabeth and claim kinship? Nay indeed! But it is exciting and fun. Thousands upon thousands of people are doing their research, delving into the truth of family stories of ancestors and find that there are bits of truth and bits of exaggeration, but who cares, really, for the search is both productive and informative in many ways.
     People search long and deep. Some will claim to tell you that through records and gravestones and whatever, they can prove their descent from the House of David, or some famous historical or religious figure. Perhaps they can, but we must remember that these are many generations ago, many, many decades and even some centuries ago, but we listen and we smile and we hug. So tell me, what is Trump's problem when Elizabeth Warren checked out her DNA and roots with an expert and found that there indeed had been a Native American ancestor somewhere down the line. The ability to tell exactly when as the time in the past increases, but so what? There was the family legend confirmed to a degree. And there was that cheap bastard trying to get out of paying his debt in the bet he crowed about. There went the hate filled memes on the Internet and why? Why? Because she had no picture, no name, no actual dates, no time and place of living? This is the way it is with long ago ancestors and I am excited for her at what she has confirmed.
     But the hatred of the masses keep on coming, led by the man who needs to abuse women, to shout out physical insults. Horseface, he calls one and he never stops. Where he has stopped is at some early point in his emotional and intelligence areas for he is just a hater, a selfish bastard who hates all and only loves the man in the mirror.  His selfishness even comes through in casual every day actions. How about the one where it is pouring as he and Melania walk to the helicopter and he, so lovingly, leaves her out in the rain, walks off from her, and then when back together, remains under it and she remains out, in the rain.
    So as we despair more and more in today's world, we delve deeper into the world of the past and yea, it gives great joy and leads to many good reunions or discoveries. I know, for I have found family where we thought there were none left. But it also blinds us to the importance of paying attention to the evils of today, of the blatant lies, of the avoidance of the truth, of our own version of the Emperor and his naked body, his naked hate, his naked stupidity, his naked ambitions, and his so obvious path towards the destruction of the world, literally and figuratively. Cut the taxes for the rich and then blame the enormous growing deficit on the Democrats. Lie and lie again about it. Threaten to cut off aid if more immigrants come to the border. Wish they had stopped that immigrant from Germany, his grandfather!!
    So yea, ancestor research is great. It is fun. It is sad, enlightening and heartwarming, but nay, if we use it to escape from the world in all its needs. Nay, for if we do not wake up rather quickly, immediately, there will be no future genealogical research for the Earth will be no more. Do not believe me? - go check with the scientists who have told us we are quickly reaching the point of no return. Go ask the victims of these ever growing intense disasters of Nature. Go and open the eyes, the heart and the soul and seek answers for today, so we will continue to have yesterday and tomorrow.
   VOTE     VOTE    VOTE   YEA!!!!!

ON BEING WILLFUL

     At times, as a child, my aunt would tell me to stop being willful when I did something she thought wrong - or willful. Still not sure why she said that, as people are entitled to opinions, but I sure do know why people can be called willful today.
     Today, people are willfully blind or deaf. They do not hear the cries of the children for their parents. They do not hear the cries of the oppressed around the world. They do not internalize the anguish of the molested, the harassed, the persecuted. They are willfully blind to piteous photos of man's inhumanity to man, to the destruction by Nature because we are so wrong in our behavior and deeds.
     And woe upon us as the plague of willfulness does not stop at borders. Last night I watched an episode of Law & Order:SVU that I had recorded and it broke my heart. It was about a ten year old child separated, ripped away, from her mother who had committed the cardinal sin of asking for asylum in this country of ours that once had stood tall as a  place of refuge for those "yearning to breathe free". The scenes with children in cages, yes, cages, on thin green mattresses with thin blankets, in primitive conditions, guarded by OUR soldiers ----well, like it or not, do not tell me that these scenes do not approach the level of the Holocaust. Yes, we are not yet at the killing point, but the more we do this, the more we dehumanize the "others", the more we allow hateful words to flow out of our supposed President and his minions in a filthy flow of horrible words, the more we do this - well, you fill in the rest of the lines, connect the dots.
     The University of Michigan has allowed over 200 slides of crude anti Semitic posters and slides to be shown, no, forced to watch by students, despite prior complaints. They are awful and rise above the Nazi cartoons in their viciousness. And right here in the USA. Right here in the country where people swore it would never happen here. But you see, if one ignores a bad thing, a cruelty, a dehumanization of one group, it is easier the second and the third time, even easier the fourth and on it goes. And yes, folks, we are so perilously close to sliding over a line I prefer not even to imagine, yet there it is, intruding daily, sometimes hourly, into my thoughts.
     There are heroes. Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved so many desperate Jewish refugees despite his "willful" behavior. Other diplomats who did the same, defying their orders - yes, orders can be defied if they are immoral. Those who protest, take in refugee children, stand and give out food and water to those so desperate in times of disaster, especially when our government seems immune to the awfulness of the situation and instead turns to self praise at good jobs, when the mounds of former towns and homes remain and the buried and missing are still waiting too and here are the willful volunteers..
     So the ass Trump can be willfully blind and deaf as he ignores the murder of Khashoggi by the Saudis, deeming it instead as a deed by "rogue" killers. Rogue? Not really such when they are sent by the government! Who has fessed up today. And no, government by tweeting is not government at all, merely a symbolic behavior by a disturbed mind.
     So yes, we must be willful. We must heed the call of those who need us, challenged though we might be. We must speak out, shout out, about the oh so wrong behavior that we are allowing, right here in our own country, let alone the rest of the world. We need to hear the lies and correct them. We need to feel proud once again as we stand to recite the Pledge, something I cannot do any longer. There is no more pride in me for that. We have trampled that right into the ground, so yes, I stand respectfully, kneeling is not even a possibility! - but the words - the words are stuck.
     So yes, I approve of willful - properly willful - behavior, willful behavior that makes sense, that supports the right and the just and the moral. And I detest the willful behavior that leads to death and humiliation, to the growing of future enemies of our country as we imprison them today, as children. I resent the willful attempts to throw out the Dreamers, to deport people who have lived here for decades, have jobs, small businesses, are scientists, doctors, parents of American families. I resent all this immorality. This willful immorality and will speak out against it as long as it remains part and parcel of our lives as it is today.
     I am no hero, trust me on that. But there is a limit and while physically there are limitations, my mind and my fingers work and so does my mouth. Be willful and VOTE!!! Be willful and turn away from your Republican cruel representatives, those who take advantage of us, people who make a mockery of even their own sacrifice. If I see one more photo of Brian Mast showing off his prosthesis......What about his votes for Trump? What about his anti environmental voting and no, his one fight about red algae is not enough. What about all his misdeeds? This is just one example of so many in that Party, the leader of which is a man who condemns one of his own as a "kind of Democrat". The nausea is rising again.
     VOTE    VOTE     VOTE