LOST IN THE WOODS

     Ever find yourself turning around in a wooded area and losing your sense of location? How to find your way out to civilization? Or even just trying to maneuver around the eternal detours of road construction that never seems to end? Well, here we are in the midst of a forest of our own making, allowing it to grow up around us, perhaps even enjoying some of it until we realized what the truth of it was. Now the question is how do we get out of here?
     From the Code of Hammurabi to the rules of the Bible to the codified laws of society, man has moved positively along the road through the forests. Yes, we have gotten lost at times, terribly lost, and still are, but there was a forward movement. Now? Now is problematic and the question is - how did we get here in the first place? Where did we go wrong?
     I believe we forgot. We forgot that life is not just the accumulation of 'stuff'. It is not just the fancy cars or the bigger house or the costliest clothing. There are social obligations and that is what we have left alongside the road these days, thinking perhaps that we were lightening the load, but instead have found that without it, we appear to be weighed down and are sinking deeply down into a darker, more complex forest.   
     We have wasted funds on egos. Ben Carson's supposed great initiative has bombed. Quelle surprise! The DOJ has become a revolving door at the top and a poor excuse for the defender of the nation, becoming instead, the tool of Trump. Justice has gone out the door and taken another path, leaving other levels of government to challenge what has become a nasty status quo.
     People charged and convicted of crimes see nothing wrong in sending threatening tweets with target and harsh words. Why? Perhaps they feel that the leader of this now perverted society, the one lost in the deep backwoods, will save them when he achieves his final goal of total domination of America and the end of our democracy. When the President of the country is described as "it's possible that Trump is a Russian asset", then know for sure that we are indeed lost. We have thrown away the signposts to safety, defying our allies and making it easier for our enemies to flex their muscles, annex lands not theirs, dominate the world's economy.
     We are imprisoning children, tormenting their parents, allowing people in our custody to die, turning our back on our very being as we deny sanctuary to those seeking asylum, think that we can wall ourselves off from the world with sky high steel bollards, usurping private land to do so, ruining the natural migration paths of animals, and  now - now we are force-feeding those in detention! Admitted to by ICE! What the hell!!!! Are we so deeply in this dark woods that we will never ever get out?
     What is most frightening to me as a Jew is the fact, backed by statistics and gruesome videos, is the immense growth of anti Semitic deeds, words and behavior of the world. Marches, filthy epithets, beatings, killings, threats, and the same old same old of blaming the Jews for the misfortunes of the world, for its uneasiness, for all its ills. Have we not learned anything from history or are we perennially doomed to repeat it? Yesterday, reading the reports and statistics from all over the world made me wonder what the end of it all would be.
     Perhaps we are getting some warning. One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica has a huge hole beneath it where melting has occurred. Should this glacier collapse, well, you figure it out. There is a Biblical promise that the world would never again be destroyed by flood, but we are doing a great job of forcing that promise to be broken - and through our own doing! But not to worry, for if not by water, there are many other natural disasters that we are courting, so patience!
     I hope that many of us are now seeking a way out, finding the true path, challenging the status of lost in the woods. We do not have to be perfect, only to strive to be better than we are. Plenty of room there so why not get started? The increasing forest fires, those catastrophic ones, are ever growing. Times a wasting.

COPYCAT!

          For the most part my blog has been consumed with the greater danger - Trump and his minions. However, there comes a time when we must turn to the local situation and get a grasp on it as well. Our local situation is the entity called UCO, right here in Century West Palm.
     For too long there has been a dictatorial situation here in the Village and that drives the situation into worse levels year after year. Once there was a firm term limit on officers, but this man, so enamored of himself, could not give up this presumed link to power, such as it is, and manipulated the system - a skill he has and uses for dastardly purposes - and has been in there multiple terms and the Village has suffered greatly for it.
     There is barely any interest at all in being part of UCO for delegates or volunteer positions. There is very little room to maneuver unless one pays homage to the man, bends the knee, so to speak, and agrees with all he has to say. If not, one will be shown the door and saluted with nastiness, in front of and behind the back of. The insults can be sung, yelled, snarkly stated and even made from the dais at Assembly. Anyone who raises an objection, a question, who seems to challenge an idea or has ideas as to how to improve a situation is deemed a troublemaker and been called worse. On the purported blog of the Village, which is actually his own private blog, the man prints insults and then when called on it, removes it and plays dumb. He puts down his recommendations and calls all those who do not make his list troublemakers, dissenters, rioters and worse.
     Revenge is a favorite theme of his. Lack of forethought and lack of hindsight, questionable, very questionable, contracts are made and we, the Villagers, have to pay the consequences. We, like the citizens of America, are denied the papers we are entitled to, and told so with a smirk that one truly itches to wipe off his face.
     Meetings to explain, to be transparent, are few and far between, with agreements often made privately and then foisted upon us. Delegates are given not enough time to read and absorb terms of contracts yet asked to vote on these huge outlays on a minute's notice. Committee members are chosen on the basis of obedience and if not - off with the head! No assignment, no job. And thus we have revolving clones, members of committee after committee and the officers vote multiple times on the same issue. There is never any chance of getting anything through as he controls it all and his little puppets vote as they are told.
     So what has happened? There is a constant lack of quorums at the assemblies and even Executive Board meetings and others. Why? Because what is the use? There is a great sense of apathy for nothing happens anyway, so rigged is the joint against the residents. Information is withheld and just about the only one I see doing a good job, working hard at it, is Don Foster. Any questions and we get harangued, lectured, insulted and worse. So now the Village is being run by a smaller Assembly and soon it will be smaller and smaller, less use to the Village, a joke, actually. The press is suppressed here as wished by someone else and perhaps the new editor will allow opposition pieces, op -eds, but somehow I doubt it. Other newspapers are allowed, as long as it is not The Messenger, a paper put out by residents of the Village, but as with all dictatorial situations, not allowed in the Clubhouse and has to be distribute elsewhere. Why? Because the man is paranoid and can not tolerate any opposition, any chance of truth hitting the light. 
     The apathy is catching on with more and more. There are groups that will shout for their own interests, selfishly demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars be spent on their issues - tennis courts, pickle ball courts, disrupting the village by construction, and yet there is no interest in helping to run the Village and it is understandable for it is of no avail. Why bother to volunteer? Why bother to open oneself up to insults and personal attacks?
     And thus we have the lack of follow through, of the land of excuses as for example, why the roads are being repaved piecemeal - so many roots of trees, ya' know. We have no lane markings in the roads off the main perimeter road and people just zoom through and it is often a game of chicken - who is moving over, just as there seems to be little or no discipline on the main roads. Kill the pedestrian. Five points? or bike in the street, wheelchair in the street rather than the sidewalk - what you get five points for getting yourself hurt?
     We have lost our way here and the main cause sits there in the back office of UCO, contemplating more mischief and wrongdoings, false ideas and projects and leaving us more and more in a bad situation as there is very little new blood, and the new names are mainly followers, rather than out of the box thinkers with the courage to stand up with their ideas, and the various associations cannot even find people to be active board members! But watch what happens next Friday when suddenly close to 300 delegates will come to vote. The stench of it all! The reeking of the questionable means by which these people are found and the impossibility of getting a true list of who and where they are from and when their position was taken and where the hell are they all year!
    Why are there no volunteers? Why no candidates for office, as in the Executive Board when suddenly AFTER it was closed there was suddenly about eight more candidates. Stinky, folks, stinky.
     Dear Lord, but we need a clean sweep of officers. Next year is the time to replace this old president. Time to change. Time to rearrange. Time for one vote per resident owner and this man's unpopularity will get him gone - so now do you understand the delay in getting this done? It is our Village. Ours! Not the personal property of someone.



     

THERE ARE NO WORDS....

          …..and yet there must be, for how else are we to fix the situation - if indeed it can be fixed. We are in a dangerous situation, one more fraught with existential threat to our country than has ever been before. Yes, we have been eye to eye or missile to missile with Russia over Cuba, at odds with North Korea, at war with Vietnam and almost tore the country apart there, but at no time before this have we ever had a man sitting in the Oval Office, purportedly the leader of the nation, charged with its defense, and who categorically does exactly the opposite and puts our very existence in peril.
     Just trying to get the words out that would define the great danger for us brings frustration to my most inner being. How to transfer that feeling to others? How to get them to understand the situation? How to break the dangerous hold that Trump still holds over his "base", the very people for whom he is most dangerous? Instead of me filling the blank areas of the screen, here are a few bits from other people.
     "No other President in decades publicly threatened retribution against a television network..."
     "constitute a threat to the safety of my family" (Alec Baldwin asking upon being threatened with retribution by Trump)
     "...if the President cannot defend this country then he cannot fulfill his constitutional oath of office"   Exactly, for if he cannot, and indeed is threatening its safety, then what is the corollary conclusion?
     "And the idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia's malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, "Why would a president of the United States do that?" McCabe said.
     "In the great state of Texas, we care about a little thing called private property, and there's going to be over 1,000 ranchers and farmers potentially impacted if the government comes in and takes their land," Hurd said on "Face the Nation" Sunday.
        A forced nomination by Japan for Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize. My vomit runneth over.
     Massive collusion of various parts and departments of the government, our government, to set up traps for kids looking for a university education so they can build their lives, be a part of the American dream. What they should have been doing instead is going after the developer and cheat and criminal who orchestrated his own false university. Never a university, just a money drain on desperate and trusting people and guess who benefitted?
     The same horrific multiple shootings but gun control? Never, it seems. Building of better health care, especially for mental illness? Never. Humane treatment for those seeking asylum in our country, just as all our ancestors did? Never, it seems, not anymore.
 Truth? An endangered idea and value in this administration.
     A voice of a bereaved mother -

"Eleven years have gone by and it keeps happening, and it's so disheartening and so sad,"

     And the hope and prayer, the expression of a deep need for this country and its people? 

     "To see what is happening to our great nation is disturbing to all of us as Americans. We cry out to you, Lord and we beseech your grace and mercy upon us all. Wipe away the fear that grips our hearts. Heal the tension and division that has emerged among us, Lord, and bring us together in love."

     Or at least some form of sanity. And we all know where that must begin.
     

ICHY PICHY

     When my oldest granddaughter was little, anything that displeased her was deemed "ichy pichy" and so it has remained. We all use the expression when we come across items we do not like or behavior that is displeasing, or improper or simply just to tease her.
      But in today's world there are many situations which truly deserve to be called 'ichy pichy'. The lies, for one. When did it become acceptable to lie, to incessantly lie, to lie about lies, to call truth lies, to use the word fake about truth and reality? And when did people become so what? Stupid? Ignorant? Self denying? Lying to oneself? I cannot figure it out but I know that for sure it aggravates and troubles me to the nth degree.
     When did it become so bad and sad a situation in DC that an end to it seems ever more distant and impossible. I had hoped that by this point we might have at least reached the end of the beginning, but it seems that nastiness and lies, putrid behavior and hate, not only are not ending, but are instead growing by leaps and bounds, condoned by the powers that be and the powers that want to be.
     Junior has proven himself to be a true chip off the old poisonous tree and his statement about teachers was just about beyond the pale but actually fit quite well with the rhetoric of the Trump family.His father has talked trash for almost his entire life, so why not continue the family tradition. Only this time he has taken off after one of the last bastions of our American society and a very dangerous signal as to the truth of the desires and plans of the Trump family and  for sure, it is ichy pichy. “you don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth.” I am proud to have spent my life as one of those "losers".
     When a dictator takes over a country, the first thing that is done is to mass arrest all intellectuals and voices of society. Journalists, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and of courses, teachers are arrested. Why, because they value knowledge, truth, justice and why especially teachers? Because they are the last hope for a society. They will do anything, including risking their lives, to educate the next generation, to pass on values, to pass on the need for democracy, for respect for others, for human rights. They give of their own time, their own souls, so sacred is their responsibility. 
      So here we have a family that wishes to install aAmerican monarchy, the Trump dynasty. The father rails against the media, yet runs his government according to the needs of Limbaugh and Hannity. He praises them excessively and even Coulter, who I for sure despise has come around to realize that the national emergency we have is the fact that "the President is an idiot." Well, welcome to the club!!
      But not so much of an idiot is he when he continuously challenges the Constitution, the division of powers that make our democracy function, adds to his own powers to the point that we are almost being run totally by dictat and fiat from his ugly mouth and mind. I have warned about this trend for quite some time already and there are many that have joined in the outcry and the warnings. I have pointed out his takeover of the judiciary, a signpost of encroaching dictatorships and loss of liberty, of justice, of hope, of future - just look at Hungary and Poland - and impose upon our judiciary system and the growth of incompetent judges all with the Republican stamp of approval and many with the ABA stamp of disapproval.
     Several years ago Trump said the "American Dream is over" and he was so right - as long as he is in office, as long as we have Senators with no backbone, no moral codes of their own, who wish to share in the loot and dismemberment of our country. We are despised by the nations of the world even as the ass boasts of how much respect we are getting. Yet what do we call it when Pence send Trump's greeting to the nations of the world and waited for applause and instead got dead silence. Why do we here in the country seem to be the last people to recognize the truth and  the danger.
     Yes, the dream is over as we refuse to remain a haven of safety and hope for the world. The dream is over unless we fight back, throw him and his minions out of office, return to the progress we had made in insuring better and better government. The emergency - oh, yeah - I feel for him standing there at the omelet bar , the tension mounting, which should he choose and as for the other 'emergency' well, that could wait, omelets and golf come first. The exaggerations and the lies - a very dangerous ichy pichy.
     Demand that your reps do the right thing. Demand that they stand up for America and not kneel down for Trump. Demand your rights. Demand human decency. Bring about the downfall of the most powerful effort since we became a country, to turn it into what it is not meant to be. The danger is clear and present.
     One way to turn the situation around is to choose well and I must say that Klobuchar seems to be an excellent alternative to the crap we now have in office. She is knowledgeable. She is tough. She can be kind and she can apply the truth. She knows how to work with people and is not an extremist of any side. the more I read of her, the more I like her. “We’re going to look at each other and look at the challenges we face in this country,”  climate change, lowering health care premiums and the cost of prescription drugs, immigration as the bedrock of American values, passing privacy laws to rein in technology companies, and the importance of protecting voting rights.

     Music to my ears, my heart, my soul. No ichy pichy here.

      

MONEY MONEY MONEY

     Nope, not talking about the Mamma Mia hit song, but rather the new and ugly face of money within this present administration. In addition to the wastage and highway robbery of the various Secretaries, the ego spending of theirs, their avaricious behavior with their old fields of work, there is a cruel and crude attitude towards money within this administration. It drives it to the point of indecency and brings shame upon us all.
       First and foremost, most telling about the fall from grace that has overtaken our country is the shameful immigrant issue. In fact, it is so shameful that if one looks at it properly, we have descended into the very depths of moral disintegration as we sell humans once again in order to raise funds. There are still thousands of children being held in a huge tent city, under federal controls so no welfare inspections, no educational strides, no proper supervision, no proper psychiatric care. What is even worse, boding more evil for the future, is the fact that more beds are being brought in, more huge tents being placed upon the land, more guards brought in to watch over these 'dangerous' future criminals, you know, those crying five years old, the three years old who still need diaper changes, and the teenagers who tried to escape violence only to find themselves being used as coins for profit.
     Yes, these kids are being bought from the federal government as they are placed in a for profit corporation's custody. They are being sold. Period. Everyone takes a bite of the apple - the government, the company, the workers doing shameful work and we should all hang our heads in shame. No slave market auction as such, but what else is this other than slavery, the marketing of human beings for profit and worst of all - these are children!!!!!
     And the money theme continues to carve its way through the rest of the administration. The rich got their tax cuts, the companies received windfalls of filthy money, the middle class got screwed as they now realize that their taxes have gone up, the poor are told that they might as well starve and quickly, please, as they are wasting our money, the American Dream has been killed for money purposes, trade purposes, that are screwed up anyway, our national debt goes up another trillion dollars with no end in sight, so at least there are happy fatcats! and now Trump, denied his awful funds for that stupid wall, is planning on raiding the piggy banks of the nation to build it!
      And the nation? For the sake of stealing funds that are eminently not necessary, for the sake of proving the power of the wallet, the power of imposed fear, we are headed into a constitutional crisis such as we have never seen before and worse, we now have the pervert Kavanaugh on the bench and 83 twisted and incompetent Trump judge appointees on the bench. Woe for us. Woe for the future of our country. Woe upon the future of the world. All for the sake of money and its conferred power.
     Jews are being cursed again, blamed for globalism, for money misuse, and by a Congresswoman no less and her supporters. The President is deemed "off the rails" on these issues, seven year old little girls on lockdown are writing last minute messages to parents, how they love them in case they are killed during this bomb threat lockdown. But gun control? Nope. Money, money, money. Filthy money. Money that should have no place here, for there can be a sane gun policy wherein rights are not breached and lives are not lost, especially our kids sitting at their desks.
     Money, money, money. The Trump Organization has to cancel its last remaining hotel agreement due to the fact that there is increasing watching over his business and the improper use of it, its growth potential, using the position of President to grow more money. At least this has had some positive impact here. And the excuse of showing 'deference' to the President, entrusting him with the right to run rampant over the Constitution, to sell children, to build walls - no, got to go. Money can not be, most emphatically can not be, the ruling principle, the driving motor of this government, of these United States of America.
     Yesterday I took a look at the bookmark I am using, from Yad Vashem, and the theme is remembrance, "let no Holocaust victim be forgotten". It follows that with a quote from a child, a teen, lost to this murderous era, to criminal people, all so that money, money, money, flowed through the German economy. It is from the last letter he wrote in the ghetto of Vilna in 1941, as the Germans undertook the 'work' of killing 90% of the Jew of Lithuania, amongst them my family of over 200 people, on my father's side. He wrote - "I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger." Well, we will remember him and other victims, and we will not sell our souls for money and more important, we will not let others do that, to reinstate slavery in whatever form. All for money.
     This cannot be. This will not be It must not be.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

Wish it were really only one that flew and wish that the nest were not so large in diameter and depth  and sure as tootin' wish there were a whole bunch of fewer cuckoos!
     So we have the wife of a WH official who sends out blasts that a measles epidemic is false news and that  anyway, these diseases are good for fighting cancer!! You cannot make these things up. Wonder   what she would say to the parents of kids who died or were severely damaged by these 'harmless' diseases? And of course the question of vaccines, well, you should hear the rant on that!!
     But she does not stand out among these cuckoos. Trump meets the President of Columbia and goes off on a tangent about the economy - which by the way is beginning to show very recognizable signs of a recession - about how great he is doing, how the wall is being built and they have achieved much in that area, which is interesting since not one inch of new wall has been built under his administration! He throws great and fabulous words all over the place, particularly where they do not belong and then abruptly shuts the conference down. Cuckoo indeed!The nest is going into multiple condos already, so large and necessary are the housing demands.
     Meanwhile the nest of vipers, of consummate liars, although evidently they are not as talented at it as they think they are, grows apace and the circle is tightening round the master viper, the major cuckoo. Wish we could have an end - and then a proper beginning once more. I bet so many others do also.
     A serious issue though is the growing anti Semitism and the wrong arguments about it. See, the issue is not whether Omar apologized and meant it, or did not, or spoke again, now speaking at the conference along with an avowed anti Semite who prefers the death of Jews to anything else.  She obviously means her poison statements and not her apologies and the point is that Pelosi should be kicking her down the alley and not pointing fingers at the Republicans who were VERY slow to punish King and other such critters - including the chief Republican, Trump, who finds fine people on that side of the issue.  That is just one aspect, but the onus of punishing Democrats is on the Democrats and to do the right thing and not see the wrong thing done by the Republicans as an excuse for them to make short shrift of it. Do the right thing - period.
     Someone must take a stand. Someone must be brave and honest enough to admit and present the facts, to teach the world that no, it is not singing the Coke song but rather the Horst Wessel song about Jewish blood! Again. Again. Hungary. Germany. Poland. The USA. Russia. Indonesia. and I must say that to hear a German voice speaking about Jude just about sends the wrong kind of chills and fear running through me.
     The problem with the cuckoo's nest is that it is really not that of the cuckoo alone, for it belongs to a growing clan of them, too many to count. Their voices run together and stronger and outshout those with good intent. It is not one who flew over, but more and more. I can confess that as a woman, as a humanist, as a Jew, as a proponent of social rights, I am scared. Very much so.
     People, these are not harmless cuckoos. People said that Hitler was insane and they would just use him for his strength and then get rid of him. Uh huh. Not exactly what happened, was it? He used them alright and then threw them under the Zyklon B gas! We must be wary and watchful and ever so careful as to where we place our political and social hopes and never underestimate the power of the supposed kooks. Behind them is a strong group of determined evildoers who have other plans than you or I. Think I am jumping the shark? Well, go take a tour of Europe. Take a trip through recent videos here in the USA or should I say Jew - S -A as the bigots ranted at their rallies. Burn words, burn books, burn people. Simple progression. We know that. We must admit that and do something about it.

TIRED AND ACH AND SO HAPPY

          Doing the worst part of travel - packing - and had to take a break or my back will start to picket me. We were supposed to come home with less than we came with, so why is it that my two original suitcases are jammed to the hilt and we have another suitcase bought to carry the rest of the purchases! There is just so much here that is beautiful and meaningful and it is hard to put it down, or to say oh, so and so would love this and then not get it. Soooooo - one buys it and hence, well, you know the rest.
     In any case, this was a great visit to see friends and family and we will certainly, G-d willing, be back again. But I am not so happy about what we are returning to! I guess throwing rolls of paper towels was not enough of an insult and a ----you to Puerto Rico. Nope, that Demented One has to threaten to take away funds meant for their recovery and put it towards his stupid wall. Now, by the by, it is not to build the wall, but to finish the wall, making believe that he actually did some construction - did not - and hence hopes he can fool the same people again. Now he also tells California the same thing about the funds needed to recover after the catastrophic fires but neither will take it sitting down. What is the matter with this man? Does he not understand reality? Or is it that his perception of reality is so  skewed that it will never mesh with ours?
     Now the other idiot, Cruz, had a 'great idea'. Let the drug lords pay for the wall. Uh huh. First of all, they could care less as their drugs do not come in over the wall but rather through legal ports of entry so why care. Second of all try to picture the lineup and process. Okay, Drug Lord 1 - here is your bill, pay at that window and next! Truly! anybody in the Republican Party ever think ahead for two seconds before inserting feet in mouth?
     And in the meanwhile, the hypocrisy grows and grows. McCarthy, who loves nativists and white nationalism and who proudly said so, now has appointed himself the spokesman for the  Jews against anti Semitism. Oh, right. Yup. Like the two things have nothing to do with each other. As far as Omar, she can go to hell and she should be stripped from her assignments, but as of yet, the Democratic leadership does not seem to realize that. Perhaps one day....., one day.... In the meanwhile, we have dead from the neck up Devil's Spawn, Pence, who must have received permission from "Mother" to speak, suddenly pipes in and who the hell cares what he was programmed to say. Personally, I think he is working on one damaged spark plug out of say, eight.
     It is so hard to believe that we have a government filled with nonentities and harmful creatures. We need to look past them into the future and find and elect someone good and the first thing to do is make sure we indict the criminal Trumps and get them out of the way along with their minions. 
     The second step is find a good woman, yes, a woman, find a running mate, and go get em! But the Democratic  Party must choose carefully. There are forces working hard to split the Party, weaken its power and its draw. These people are found on the left, mainly and I am all for progress, but it must be secure and backed up. Yes, Green by all means, but sensibly and in a manner that will insure its success. And we also need to stop the nastiness assigned to women when they speak up, are powerful, have strong ideas, have strong personalities. Whereas all that is oh so great in men, women with these powers intimidate the weaker gender, the men, and hence their nasty campaigns. Personally, I think there are some good choices out there, but Globuchar seems to draw me the most and I need to check out some opinions and votes, but she is a strong and  determined woman, just what the doctor called for.
     We need to stop this racial hatred once more. What the hell difference does it make about skin color. All black is not uniform and neither is brown and neither is white nor yellow nor red or whatever color is ginned up. And why is natural tan bad while those insane deep and dark tans are okay? Blood is red. A heart is a heart. The kidneys work the same. We need to get real here. It will be hard to leave behind these primitive reactions, but we need to, must, if we are to progress anywhere positive.
     Sometimes I feel so out of step with this world. Where did I miss the turn, or is it the world which messed up, began a uey which led into swamps of yesteryear? I wish I knew and I wish I knew the answers to the problems, the proper Waze directions! In the meanwhile, I believe we all need to start with the man in the mirror and go from there.
 Tomorrow is travel day and I hope to post a tad later on in the day, so watch for it. In the meanwhile, there are the posts from the trip which came on at odd hours for you, so please, read and enjoy and catch up.

A DAY OF TEARS, A DAY OF SOUL WRENCHING

      No matter how many times I have been to the Yad Vashem or the National Holocaust Museum or the Jewish Heritage in NY, or anywhere else, I still feel the wrenching of the soul. I always look at other visitors and think about what would have happened to them, just as I know what would have happened to me at various stages of life. There is always a new exhibit or fact or picture or even an old one that strikes me in a new way. but yesterday was something different.
     Recently we have begun research into my family's roots, going back as far as we can, pushing the envelope and making a breakthrough at times which is exciting to the nth degree. It makes me wonder in awe at how so many couples, all through the thousands of years, no matter the situation, managed to find each other, marry and continue the line and here I am. It confers upon me the duty and responsibility to continue this chain, this line of links, between past, present and future. So imagine the emotions felt when I was able to find family members in the testimony pages of Yad Vashem, knowing their names now, and the blow to the heart when I saw a face that 
was, and was not, my Bubby's. It was the face of her sister, a sister I had never known had existed, her older sister, one of five older siblings lost to the murderers of Hitler, along with spouses and complete families, down to the youngest babe in arms.
     Now imagine the emotions roiling and boiling when we found a relative from an uncle who had managed to get out before the war, went to Israel, and established a family, which has grown nicely. I so wish my Bubby had known this, but my emotions were surely felt by her up there and the emotions of my cousin, Sholom, were intense as well.
     There is a feeling of joy, of sadness, of f*&^+ you when I think of the plans Hitler and his murderous minions had and the fact that despite it all, despite the thousands of years  of persecution, WE ARE HERE. And will always be here.
     And yet, what do I think when I see the clouds of poison rise again over Europe, when I see the same poison here in my own country. What do I think and what am I supposed to feel when the President of the country welcomes right wing extremists who threaten me and mine, when bigots and haters on left and right, dare to speak out, to openly refer to hateful memes? And what do I think, do, when representatives in government repeat this murderous garbage?
    So yes, Steven King was stripped of his assignments but what about the rest of those in government who speak out with hateful canards, timeless in their false accusations against Jews, calling for action against Jews and these are people who are in MY government. And what about when they are in the party I support, do it again and again, and yet get away with false and forced apologies. These apologies mean nothing, less than nothing, and are actually mockeries of true apologies. Are people afraid to criticize them openly to the true degree necessary because they are Moslem and want to be PC? Have certain members of the Democratic Party begun to lose their moral spines? They leave it to McCarthy, a true bigot from the Republicans to speak out against this? I recognize the irony here, the falseness of it, but still, the Democrats must put their firm stamp down on this, casting it out, if they are to maintain what they have gained.
     And how am I to integrate all this modern day hatred and prejudice and anti Semitism, even unto the point of shooting and killing right near my son in Pittsburgh, right here in my country, with the hatred and its growth portrayed in Yad Vashem?
     Actually, there is no way of integrating this for it should not be. I do not want a descendant of my family to one day be researching their lost past generations and see my face or the face of a younger generation and remark on the shocking resemblance, staring out of a page of Testimony as to when and where and how this person was murdered.
     Perhaps this statement will make it more real to you. It is not that 6 million were killed, but that 6 million people were murdered and each victim murdered was a Jew. These were real people, people who cried, laughed, loved, worked, lost, won, raised families, had hopes and dreams for the future, who persevered through the hatred to live lives in a positive manner and who one day found themselves in a nightmare world such as could never be imagined. The bigger shock here, is that there are people right here in this country who would gladly take the jobs of chasing down, arresting, incarcerating, torturing and murdering and how do I know this? Because the same people who ripped babes from their mother's arms, who pulled screaming child and parent apart, who threw children into cages with cold concrete floors, who outlawed touching, even of siblings - these same people are the moral descendants of the guards of the camps, of the ghettoes, of the Einsatzgruppen. It is a small step from this to outright killing.
     So yes, emotional stress yesterday about the past and what I discovered and uncovered. Emotional stress when I confirm that my great grandmother, for whom I am named, was indeed thrown onto a boxcar going to Belzec, an extermination camp, at the fragile age of mid 80's and most probably died right there in that damned and accursed railroad cattle car. I can only hope that it was quick, not after days of starving, of thirst, of cold, of fear. I can hope but is that not a pathetic hope. What does that say about mankind? About us, all of us?

JERUSALEM IN THE RAIN

          Into each life some rain must fall and we had some yesterday as we tramped through the streets of Jerusalem and who cared! We ran and laughed and finally gave in and hailed a cab and then enjoyed one of the benefits of Israel. For the sake of haggling a bit on the fare and then getting in, one then receives a friendly grilling as to where one came from, how long they are here, when are they coming home for good, and loads of personal advice like when children and grandchildren should get married, what is better - children or grandchildren and on it goes. It makes the ride a tad easier to tolerate, getting one's eyes and mind off the fact that we are going full speed ahead even as the car in front is stopped! It is definitely a perk of the ride.
     But then again, it just points out that the world does not truly understand the thinking of the people here. In a shoe store, where we have shopped for fifty years! we entered into a joking conversation with two young men as to the popular shoes they were considering purchasing. At the counter, paying, we discovered that these young men knew a nephew of mine from Dallas. Who'd a thunk that in the middle of a small store in the heart of Jerusalem, we would run into a connection and the grandson of the owner said it - All of the people, the entire nation, is like one small family. We know each other, even if we do not!. Now figure that one out! but seriously, though we argue and shout and call names and literally call down the wrath of the Lord upon others, but we do it as a family and when push comes to shove - we are there for each other.
     As an aside, to the person I know is reading this posting - got two for one neighbor and could not decide on which one for you, so took two! You will both love them. Shopping long distance.
     If only the world would realize that basically, we are all family, the family of man, here on this earth and the sooner we recognize that the better. Last night I caught up on an episode of Madame Secretary that I had missed, the one where she went to check on the children thrown into cages - just writing that sends chills down my spine. I wonder if people watching realized that this was not TV, but a real representation of a true situation, We were locking up children, in cold cages, neglecting them, separating them from parents and the worst thing is that there were people who supported this, who denied this, who implemented this. Damn!!!!!!!Never say it could not happen here for it already has.Every single one of those guards should have walked off the job, shamed to do such things and hey! I want Tea Leoni to run for President or at least the writers of the show as they mesh with me just perfectly!
     These poor kids did not have rain in their lives, but had hail and sleet and all sorts of nasty weather phenomena, but the worst one was the fact that we allowed this to happen. Not the way to go, was it?
     Well, now we have a choice. A plethora of choices and I, for one, was happy that Globuchar announced her run. I have been waiting for this, impressed by her during the hearings on the pervert, Kavanaugh. We have some good choices here, some better than others, none perfect, but that is life and the rain that falls. What is definite though, is that this man has got to go! We all must take a hard look at the truth, at even the mere thought that a President of the United States could even be contemplating treason and commerce with the enemy ….. !
     The Brady bunch song had the words that  "when it's time to change, it's time to rearrange...." and that time has come for us to do that. We need to prioritize, to rank, to understand the needs of the now and the future, to understand the existential importance of some of these issues, and put aside some of the nonsense and work together as Americans, not Republicans, Trumpers, or Democrats - as Americans. We need to become a family of Americans once more, and maybe spend a few days in the rain in Jerusalem.
     
     

ON THE BEACH

     Do you remember reading the novel by Alex Shute? Australia was the last bastion of life on earth after a nuclear war, nothing to do but wait for the winds of destruction, of poison to reach them as they sat there, on the beach.
     Well, today, I noticed that suddenly I had quite  a large number of readers from Australia and the book popped into my head, particularly after reading recent articles about the country. There has been terrible heat, droughts, now a punishing rain with huge floods, and I realized that this country is as much on the beach now as it was in the book.
     Australia, so far away, yet so close in terms of the devastating effects of global warming. Huge turns and extremes in the weather. Angry populations, worried about resources, sharing with immigrants, dealing with the effects of a climate gone rogue - and does this all sound familiar? Look at the countries of he world, especially the western ones, the ones who used to provide refuge and hope for so many of the lost of the world. Look at the anger and the hatred now. Look at the intensity of these emotions on the faces of people who themselves are harmed by the policies and actions of the powers that be. How did we all get to be the Australia on the beach?
     We got there because we all forgot our responsibilities. We got there because we were selfish. Another car. A bigger house. Fancier clothes. Jewelry to knock one's eyes out. Pressured kids who cannot even take the time to play, just play. Competition. Spying on each other. We did not even need Big Brother for that - we did it ourselves. And we ignored all the consequences of our actions, refusing to see that it all added up to disaster for the earth. And worse than all else, we retrogressed, electing people, allowing people, who refused to see anything but money in their pockets to run the world. And the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, with fewer protections, fewer safety provisions, and people went hungry in countries all over the world that had once been prosperous and even here in the USA we had food insufficiency, food insecurity and should we not be ashamed at that!
     We invest our resources in tracking down the little dude who is taking care of our gardens and throw our hands up in victory when we find him. We chase down a woman who helps another to register to vote, not realizing that he had a green card but was not a citizen. So we throw an older woman in jail. Oh, yippee! Don't we feel so much safer now! And please do not forget the harm we do to our economy when we bust up and arrest the little business guys who came here, worked hard, but were undocumented. Never mind that we should show them a pathway to citizenship, a just reward for their contributions. Oh, no - we need to shut the shop, rip the family apart and perhaps engage in a contest as to how long we can separate the families.
     Somehow we have managed to turn our values inside out, ignored them, trampled on them, in the rush to what? Riches? More fat? Better gyms? Fancier clothes made by 8 year old kids? Where have we gone wrong and how do we turn it around?
     I am not of the pay grade that has all the answers, but what I do know is that we have to choose our leaders better, more wisely. We need to cut out the big egos, the talking heads, cut off the extremes, and let the vast middle talk to each other, come out of the woods where they are hiding. It takes a modicum of sense and a modicum of selflessness, a realization that we are all on this deserted island in space, no ships to come and rescue us, no more land to destroy, no more anything, unless we work together. 
     I do not wish to be the Australia of today or of On The Beach. I want the Australia of the tourist beauty, the welcoming natives and citizens, the glory of the Great Barrier Reef, the awesomeness of the great Outback, the potential for the future. I believe we mostly all wish for that. Now let us get started on the road back to it and we will progress forward. G'day!

AND THE WINNER IS..........

    I wonder what the end of that sentence might be. We are talking about the end - if there is an end - to this whole rigamarole involving and revolving around the Demented One. It appears to be descending into another phase of the strength of staying power, the intensity of anger, of fear, of truth.
     As of now, pieces have begun to crumble off. This one confesses and the other one adds to it. Lies are tried and then discovered and warnings handed out about obstruction of justice and interference with the process. Threats are made and we are in a nose to nose contest of the schoolyard. Who will cry uncle first - anyone's guess.
     I believe that Trump had himself convinced that no matter what, he would either win the 2018 mid terms or he would maintain the power of fear over his minions and nothing would happen. He even allowed a farce to be made of his supposed defense team, what with a wacky Giuliani mouthing off, changing stories, Cohen breaking down and telling all he knew, Manafort doing desperate terms and twists, all to no avail, and now, why now it is payback time. Like it or not, he will have to reveal his tax returns. He will have to turn over all papers and documents re the inauguration expenses, re emoluments, the profit taking of his hotels as they rip off the government and the taxpayers, and the bill has come due.
     I would just like to know who invited the two idiots - Junior and Eric - to chime in from the peanut gallery with their nonsense and stupidity? Who cares about them and their comments. Evidently they think they are now part of the new aristocracy of America, the first family, and thus are entitled to say and mouth off whatever and whenever they wish to.
     But still, do we not all wish that this would just disappear, that we would wake up and find a woman in the White House, Trump still ranting away on his ridiculous and fake show, and the government functioning in such a manner as to protect the people of the country and the world. Then, my friends, the winner would be US. Yes, us, the citizens and residents of this country, the people of the world for all would benefit if our energies were turned to finding new answers to old problems and to untangle new problems. There would be no mass migrations if the problems of climate change were addressed, if lands were not swallowed by the sea or covered with the sand of encroaching dunes. Children would be able to play, rather than take a gun and go off to the jungle to fight an adult's war.
     No, I know that this would not be a snap of the fingers, would take time and a great deal of effort, of attempts that succeed and those that do not, but truly, what else should we be doing if we are to survive, if our little orb in space will continue to provide us with hearth and safety.
     Would it not be a nice thing to have our analysts concentrate on something other than the latest outrage perpetrated by the Demented One? Would it not, in fact, be truly nice to have a normal President? Would it not be nice, for a change, to discuss some theoretical point rather than try to counter lies about hordes of new Huns besieging our borders?  Could we at least try to make history in a positive manner rather than knowing that future historians will shake their heads in wonderment as to how this era happened, or worse, how all ignored the fall of America and the encroachment of worldwide dictatorship?
      Pipe dreams? Maybe. But I still recall the video which the Beatles put out with their song the Pipes of Peace, when on Christmas Eve the soldiers of opposing forces climbed out of their trenches and became people again, not objectified enemies to be killed and for what? Why can we not throw out all who oppose these pipes, give everyone a fresh one and new tobacco and let us all smoke to peace, to humanity, to justice, to hope. For our children if not for us. Pipe dreams can become realities if, and only if, we are willing to get in there and tamp the tobacco down, puff to get it all started off properly and keep at it. Can we? Can we become the declared winner? I truly hope so.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

      Are you like me, wondering when this same old garbage is going to go out with the tide and a freshly washed strip of sand be revealed underneath? I am so tired of the lies and poppycock that comes out of that man's mouth and the twists and turns he has caused in our civic conscious.
     He has never lost the opportunity to mess up. Every time he speaks, he inserts two feet and then bites down, with his sentences full of bombast, exaggerations, pure lies, and poison darts. What we got from this SOTU was only more of the same alongside his piggish like behavior in his snubbing of Pelosi and in taking credit when there was a celebration on the floor because of the larger numbers of women there. Idiot!!! No thanks to him, and yet he thinks that all is about him, stems from him, and belongs to him.
     It seems as if we are now in a mode of crude behavior, cannot talk, will not listen, and how many times have we heard, even said, that we cannot talk politics with friends or family. The role of discourse in society seems to have been lost, abandoned along the way and that is not a positive move at all.
     In a discussion about extending and toughening background checks when one wishes to buy a gun, there was deep rancor between a Republican Congressman, Matt Goetz and the father of a son killed in Parkland. All this Congressman seemed to feel he had to say was that nothing will help unless we build a wall on the southern border. Excuse me!! This was not an illegal immigrant who did the killing, nor was it cowardly immigrants who failed to do their duty as first responders, and even if there had been an illegal immigrant involved, do we tar all with the same brush. I thought we had long ago learned that one bad apple or two does not a whole ruined crop make! Nor did it give this politician the right to speak so nastily to the grieving father.
     Same old, same old, will mean we make no forward progress, and in fact, will probably regress. How many more extended invitations will be spurned, how many more times will Trump bluster and threaten and then refuse to sign a bill. And for what? So he can continue in office, continue to make sure that we, the taxpayers , pay more of our taxes into his hotels!?
     How many more times are we going to pick up a paper and read of more safety regulations undone, of more holes cut into the social safety net, of the horrendously overpriced drugs and medication, and of the corruption, the nasty stench of the current administration? For how much longer do we accept this same old garbage? When do we start thinking out of the box for better ideas, proposals and solutions? When do we regain our enthusiasm for our country and its values? When do we stop appointing people, electing people, who  look upon office as a way in which to enrich themselves?
     If we correct the wrongs of the past wo years we will have gone a long way in regaining the respect of the nations of the world. We will have a healthier constituency. The same old will be swept out to sea and a new current will bring in the freshness, that tang of salty air and water, the joy and immensity of the oceans. Then we can live again. Then we can hope again. We so desperately need that hope. We need the new, not the retreads all worn out, useless and even dangerous. 
     None of this will happen unless we stick to the points necessary, stand up to the Demented One, encourage his Party members to remember their own souls, the ones which maybe held ideals n their younger days. Let us rejoice in a new and breathtaking combination of the best of the old and the best of the new, and leave hatred out the door. It does not belong here.

GRACE OF COMMUNITY

     So remarked Stacy Abrams in her response to the State of the Union Address recited by Trump, accompanied with his stupid smirks and grimaces, exaggerated statements and downright lies. No one is killing babies and post 24 week abortions are for non viability and woman's health. We should be long past the imposition of the Catholic truism that babies lives come before women's lives. A religious belief is one thing, but to include this in government for the masses, then no, no go.
      However, as I have stated before, abortion is no woman's dream, but rather a nightmare she would love to pass up on. But life hands us different hands and they must be allowed to be handled in the proper way for the people involved.
     That being said, I have never before seen such stupidity. Trump stands there with his demented smirk congratulating himself as if he achieved this - the record numbers of women in Congress. Uh, excuse me, but did anyone notice that this was on the Democratic side and the numbers were less, fewer on the Republican side of the aisle. Though a few of the women in white were not exactly to my taste, the facts are the facts and the Democratic Party appears to be the welcoming party of change and truth, for the most part. No crazy statements about illegals  for most are trying to come in legally, but you know who seems to block that path and then whines about the consequences!
     Abrams spoke of unity, of the grace of community that has always been part of America, knowing that we can step forward, dare to grow, because there would always be people watching our back, stepping forward with us, remembering that we are all Americans together and the sooner and the deeper we understand that, the better off we will all be. Grace of community.
      On the other hand, we had a man still ranting and raving over investigations which he called partisan and divisive. Yes, partisan if one bases that on the fact that the investigations are standing on the facts as they come out - the nastiness, the dirtiness, the corruption of the Republicans and this administration. From top to bottom, there has been such a selfishness amongst them that this has not been seen since the days of Harding. Let the chips fall where they may, this poison must be cleared and cleaned up for poison left in the body politic creates even more sepsis, to the point of death of the founding values of our country.
     Time and again, Abrams returned to the founding values. Democracy. Attempt made, mistakes made, return efforts and steps forward. Voting rights and for heaven's sake, why are we still arguing about this. It is a basic right for any citizen of America to vote. Period. Why are we still arguing this point a century and a half after the Civil War, a hundred years after the Women's Voting Rights Amendment? Has the time not come already, and have we not fallen too back into the past with some of the arguments of those who would wrest this right from those who have it.
     Grace of community should have us standing together, in bipartisan manner, to clean out the poison, sweep the floor clean, and return to the grace of community that should be so prominent a part of our country. Abrams says she loves her country, and I believe her, but pride in it as it stands right now is hard. Very hard. I would love to be proud to be an American if only we all behaved with that proper pride and take our proper places as leaders in all that is positive, in attempts to always improve.
      "For I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free..."  So goes the song, but ask yourself if that sentence is still true for all, if the community of Americans all share in the grace of that feeling, knowing they are free. Grace of Community. I love that term. Love that thought. Love the dream it represents and the best that we can be.

SO IS THIS THE WAY IT IS DONE?

      When the Founding Fathers imagined the government of this country they figured on logic, on order, on democracy, and yes, on privilege - or on the burden of responsibility of those to whom much is given so much must be returned. For many decades that was the way it was, with democracy and the right to vote being expanded, even as the higher elements of society placed the hats of a son or two into the political ring. It was called public service and no, I am not a Pollyanna, thinking that they were all angels. I know that power was a major factor, that and prominence, but also a sense of pride, of service, of destiny. 
      But this seems to have been lost and the question now is - is this the way it is done.  Trump has openly stated that the way to power is through fear. Fear! Is that the way it is done now? Is that what we use to run the government of the United States? Is that how we want to function?
    I believe it is not, and most positively speaking, of late it appears that the fear of the power of this man to ruin everything, is waning Most of the leaders of the world are openly derisive towards and about him, and it seems he earns only the praise of other dictators, and even then, many now have the 'courage' to shout back. Like a roiling and undisciplined bunch of kindergartners.
     So who is afraid any longer? Even the Republican wimps are beginning to stand a tad, just a tad, straighter, taller, but still are not openly rebelling, just sending out a whole bunch of whispers and possibilities. Will they follow through? Will the same members who wimped out and approved the pervert Kavanaugh for Justice be able to stand up for what is right? Will they pass some needed bills and then override the Demented One's veto? Will they refuse to allow military funding and manpower to build that damn wall? Will the man run rampant over the country with that very dangerous precedent of emergency power and then what? Will the Party just cede the last shreds of its dignity to the man who scares them beyond all reasonability?
      Most importantly, this man has taken away the brakes on the extreme right and the extreme left. It is no longer not the done thing to be open about hating others, to lie about hating others even as the hatred grows. We are now allowed to oh so cleverly call the hatred by other names so it becomes acceptable. Wrong, so wrong, and it must be stopped.
     So now we have rapists and murderers, drug smugglers, threatening to take over the country and just forget about the fact that we have left out the other drug business people. These are little brown people - but oops, shhhh, do not say that out loud. Do not call it anti Semitism, but just the exercise of free speech when the Israel Philharmonic comes to town and it is booed, ostracized, criticized, demonized. 
     And the gall of it all, when this Demented One, the leader of the haters, brings in a survivor of the Pittsburgh slayings, as if his own nasty mouth and embrace of right wing haters did not contribute to this! Hypocrisy at its worst! This is like saying that Hitler did not want the Final Solution - another euphemism - because he once had a good friend who was Jewish. Hogwash!!!!!!
     So how to run a country? With honesty? With subterfuge only to save the country in a time of danger, such as war or terrorist attacks? With leaders who have to prove at least a modicum of intelligence, a working and functioning brain, no signs of dementia, and a work ethic. One with a proper physical exam so as to be sure as to what we have. It is possible, but a long slog back to the way it should be and we must get started on it immediately.
      That is the way to run a country. That is the way it should be done. Now let us make sure it is done.

NOW THAT IS SCARY

     Hey, sorry for the delay, but am now posting from the inside of a hotel room in Israel. Wandering through the airport on my way to find the cab pickup, I noticed, as usual, the heavy mix of nationalities. Arabs in both old and modern clothing, Jews of all types, Europeans, Africans and golly gee, no fighting. The signs were in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian, believe it or not. No one was sneaking around with a knife down his pants or carrying some sign or another insulting another group. And when in the streets of Jerusalem, the nonsense about financial unbalance is so obviously wrong. There were groups of women shopping on Rechov Yaffo, in the shuk of Machane Yehudah, in the upscale Mamilla Mall, sitting at restaurants, and no one was given nasty looks or threats. Obviously there was money to be spent and security in being wherever they wished to be. How lovely would it be if the haters of the world went to pick up on some other characters, like Maduro, or Duterte, or Putin, or XI or yes, even Trump, and left the people of Israel to find their way to peace quietly and carefully, knowing that the only way to end this is to learn the path to co existence, to allowing Israel to be the world's only Jewish state and why not, among all the Moslem states, to acknowledging that both sides are here to stay and throwing canards at each other with the world chiming in will not lead to peace and treaties. But scary? When driving into Jerusalem where it was - a huge picture of Netanyahu and the Demented One. Ugh! Thought the driver was going to lose his breath due to laugher! Scary!
     But the best scary moment of the day is when Westerhout, the President's personal secretary, says that he works harder than anyone else Now imagine that. This guy does not get to work till 11 AM or so after spending some hard hours listening to the creeps of Fox and then tweeting his miniscule brain out. and here is the analysis of his hard work schedule.In her tweet, Westerhout blasted the leak as a "disgraceful breach of trust."

"...... before adding that Trump works harder for the American people "than anyone in recent history."
According to Axios's analysis of Trump's schedule since the November 6 midterm elections through to February 1, the president dedicated 297 hours and 15 minutes out of 502 hours to unstructured "executive time."
By comparison, the U.S. leader's diary had roughly 77 hours of scheduled meetings included, as well as around 51 hours of total travel time. Meanwhile, 40 hours were dedicated to eating lunch.Ahem!!

     The man is certainly underqualified to serve in his position. He thinks he is running his family's company down into the ground yet again, ruling it as a dictatorship, not understanding that this is the company of the people and not Trump! He has allowed power to be consolidated within his family's hot little hands, including those of Kushner.
     But perhaps the most frightening moment is yet to come, tomorrow night, as he speaks in front of the nation in the State of the Union. He will be flanked by so many Democrats, behind and in front, will see another pervert sitting with the Justices and will probably take pride in that. He will reintroduce religion into the issue of a woman's control over her own body, a major no-no. He will what? Rant and rave about brown people coming to take over the country? Free flowing drugs they bring in  - except that drugs come in through legal ports of entry and not by these frightened and hopeful migrants only wanting to do what his own grandfather did - immigrate to America and work hard, succeed and have a life.
     Shall he take pride in the stings and scams the ICE and Border Patrol run in order to trap immigrants, take them away? Is he going to speak with pride of the hard work he and his minions have done to upset the balance of the world order? Oh, yes, he is working ever so hard - and if he ever were indeed to work hard, then my hair would be standing on end and I think I would become a survivor fan really quickly.
     There is so much to be done dealing with real problems so one must wonder why he keeps ginning up new and ridiculous ones, why he hates the free press, why he loves dictators and right wing extremists, why his family, particularly his two idiot sons think anyone with an ounce of brains between two ears would be interested in their puerile statements?
    Yes, life is scary in these here United States and liable to get even more frightening after the speech. Let us hope and pray that he does not go too off the rails, declare emergency after emergency and that he does not cause irrevocable harm to us and the world. Scary indeed.

STATUS? JUST DIVE IN!

     I do not believe that there is a person on this earth today who can clearly define the status quo of anything - certainly not as a true and clear determined fact. Yes, the situation is all SNAFU'ed up, no doubt about it, but the roiling and the boiling keep the contents rolling around, first one on top and then the other and suddenly, yet another pops up. No one is actually very sure or clear what the ingredients even are and how they interact with each other.
     Kamala Harris said something that would help clear things up. When asked about her mixed racial background - black from a Jamaican father and Indian from her mother, her response was that this is not important in defining who she is for she says, "I am an American." Music to the ears. She stressed that what is important is not her, but the people. More music. This is what we need in the next President. This is the sentiment we need to be pushed and recognized as the national motto of the country. We have already stated it in a host of places - e pluribus Unum - from many, one.But somewhere along the way we lost sight of that, particularly under this most recent illegitimate President.
     We have elevated hypocrisy to the level of an art as the man who encouraged hatred, who talks of Mexicans and "little brown men", who embraced both body and  soul of right wing Jew hating extremists suddenly talks ever so righteously about a picture of what is claimed to be the present governor of Virginia in blackface. He says not, but Trump doubles down on this and calls down the wrath of all upon him. 
    When I was a kid I did not think anything about blackface, seeing it as just one of the techniques singers used to make the presentation more real to the audience. Now I understand the effect on African Americans but also wonder why the snide presentations of Jews also does not raise hackles. The other day I watched a  TV talking head snicker his way through a whole routine about Jews, using terms and canards to oh so stimulate his snickering. I heard not nary a word of protest about this. Not from anyone.
      I also have a question for Trump and his minions. This took place many decades ago so why does this guy not get a pass when Kavanaugh, the pervert, said he never did it, but even if he did, it was when he was a kid - not really - and therefore he should receive a pass on it anyway, and the Republicans of slimy fame went along and we now have two sexual perverts on the Bench. 
     The point is that we must be fair and must be understanding. We are just beginning a pathway to unity after two, closer to three years of disunity and encouragement of hatred and differences. We need almost to walk in the shoes of others, many others, if we are to feel the pains and the joys, the motivations, of others and know and learn how to behave, what to say, what to strive for, how to be better people. And that certainly does not involve encouraging hate speech.
     One of the biggest bones of contention that the Democratic Party will have in the next few years is the increasingly violent and hateful speech put forth by Tlaib and Omar about Israel. They do not pull punches, using all the canards of old - globalists, bankers, murderers, dual loyalties - and fully conflate, though they deny it, anti Zionism with anti Semitism, and use excuses from freedom of speech to justify their rants. I cannot abide the present Republican Party. They are a boatload of hateful, weak willed, spineless moral cowards who have ceded the authority of the legislative branch to the Demented One in the Executive seat. Oh, sometimes they talk the words but the actions never ever follow through. Wimps. Useless. But this trend in the Democratic party will certainly force me to think again. Perhaps I will vote only locally if the candidates for President do not speak up. Perhaps I will vote with my feet. Perhaps I will be able to find some remorse and understanding from those in the Democratic Party who have allowed, no, even encouraged this hateful trend. I am sorely disappointed in Pelosi who caved and gave Tlaib a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, a freshman given such power!
     And I am not alone in these feelings. I get all the pleas for donations but have not yet clicked on any this time around. I need to be sure what and who I am clicking for. And many others, Jews and non Jews alike are uneasy with the situation. Even that loser, Jeremy Ben Ami, from J Street, has voiced his unhappiness and concern re these two and their adherents. It is time for the world to finally stand up and acknowledge the fact that though we have different wrappings and different approaches to life as we grew up in various differing areas of the world, we are all the same underneath the wrappings. The bullets kill all, no care as to the color of the wrapping or the age of the soldier, or the age of the little girl who is raped and then sold into sexual slavery.
     Kamala Harris said it right when she said, "I am who I am." She is fine and if others need to dabble in that nonsense, then it is of no concern of hers. She will concentrate on policies. I ask, I plead, I demand, that all the candidates speak up on this Israel concern and come down firmly where they believe they need to be. See, I have no problem with different and even opposing situations. My concern is with the hatred conjoined to these opinions, the viciousness, and the return to the canards of life eternal for the Jewish people. Is it not time that we drop all this? Is it not time that we recognize the truth of the poet, Heinrich Hesse, who warned us that where people begin with burning of books, their thoughts contained within, they will end by burning people. We have seen it before, and G-d help us, we are seeing it today. Time to stop.
     Time to dive in and change that status, to finalize the ending of hatred, of cruelty, of pointed barbs at cultures and people who might differ from us. Have we not seen enough of the dying and starving children, the desperate faces of the adults as they try to find refuge for themselves and their families, at the agonies on the dead faces, and the crumbled cities of the world, and remember, there is always payback, always consequences and they are not pleasant. Power grabbed is power to be usurped. Uncertainty ruling the world will only bring more war into it. We are now back in a Hot Cold War, in national competitions of an unfriendly nature so what - do we drill our kids to get under their desks again??
     I am so tired of this, tired of the intransigence of so many, of the lack of caring and understanding of so many, of their inability to look beyond the tip of their noses and see both the trees and the forests. Dive in, folks, for if you do not, then who will, and if no one will - well, you do the math here. Ain't difficult, is it?

IT'S ALL IN THE HEAD!!!!

          Flying when being attacked by a virus is no fun. The ears protested. The teeth in my mouth ached! My nose was running so fast I thought I would have to chase it and as for the headache.... Well, at least the coughing was under control, squelched by two pills so no one thought I should be locked away somewhere.
     When we arrived and settled in, I thought it would be a good idea to check the news for an idea. My head was empty, disappointing me in my hour of need. What to write about? What? Writer's block? Me? Moi? Can't be and yet there it is.
     I came across an article written by Deborah Lipstadt about the growth and the depth of the current state of anti Semitism. She should know for she was sued in England and was quite victorious in the suit. But what was most depressing was the fact that Jews are now targets for mortal attacks with new ones being planned. Here, in America, the Goldeneh Medina, the hope for the thousands of Jews trapped in Europe under pogroms, blood libels, rapes (and no, Donny, not by Central American immigrants!), loss of family members through killings and a place of hope was desperately needed.
     And so they left Europe in droves and went to England, Australia, South Africa, South America, Cuba, and yes, the United States. Wherever they could get in, there they went and when havens were so truly needed, the gates of the world were shut. Yes, some countries picked over the lot, taking artists and scientists, musicians, but as for the little people - their chances were slim to none. The only country that wanted them, needed them, Palestine under the British Mandate, was blocked by the British both before, during, and after the Holocaust, even as Jews were still being killed for daring to have come back alive and refugees were sent by the British to yet another prison camp or, most horrifically, sent back to Germany. Can you imagine the suffering, the torments this meant for these survivors?
     And today? Anti Semitism is a growth industry. Sign up, open one's stupid and dangerous mouth and there ya' go. News coverage and all, especially if you decide to say that you back Trump, back his evangelical extremism, especially with religious issues. And remember, evangelicals support Israel, but they are not crazy about Jews and just listen to a few of the leaders as they speak garbage and hatred about them. And why support Israel? So that the Jews will all go there and then the second coming of the messiah will be upon us - or so their belief goes and if we do not all go? Interesting, yes? Please note that this is  not meant to bash all evangelicals with a bad rep, just those who deserve it.
     When people mix religion and politics it is not good. I understand Pence, the Devil's Spawn, thinks I am evil, a barbarian, because of my opinion on the abortion issue. No one is FOR abortion. No one gets up one day and says, oh what a good day for an abortion. It is a hard and heartbreaking decision that is made after considering all issues involved. It is not anti life either, for there is no pregnant women who does not feel her heart and soul being ripped out if she has to undergo an abortion. How do I know? Because at one point I thought I might have to have one and for two weeks of indecision and fact finding, I was depressed beyond words. Thankfully, it was not necessary but the feelings of what might have to be still leave a scar on my soul. But the choice belongs to the women. Not to the man who is afraid of women, who will not meet with women, or to the man who thinks he can grab the private parts of women and they should thank him for that privilege. Men are not told whether they can sire a child or not, have no responsibilities when they do, and the women are left holding the bag, no matter the future.
     Follow the trail after these 'do - gooders' who cause more harm than anything else, especially when they frighten those entering a woman's clinic, or even killing a doctor provider, or blowing up a clinic or refusing to fund Planned Parenthood which provides so much other help and care to women,  so now what do they do for this poor woman, forced to have a child with major and costly care needed? Do they provide caretakers? Do they give extra funding for special foods, for household needs, babysitting so other children can be serviced by their mother, or for the mother to get a soul saving break? No - for instead they threaten the social safety net denying funds or calling these people in need all sorts of nasty names. The hypocrisy of it all!
     The head is still ranting so I gotta' get it out. What to do when the children of a man who is president but manifestly should not be, follow in his footsteps, follow crooked pathways in  business and now are involved in a suit against the and their father for fraud, for cheating, for lying, for scamming. Ah, the father must be so proud as they follow in his footsteps. And the corruption, cheating, criminal incompetence, cronyism that are running wild through the halls of Washington are totally disgusting. And yet there is more everyday. Trump wants to change working regulations so children can work more hours and isn't that a good break for hotel owners, business owners and other "Trump People" as he himself called them. Somehow I think that the President and the government of the United States are supposed to serve ALL the people? I must be nuts, huh?
     At wars of words and deeds with practically the world, the US is now in  a precarious situation. Mutterings about this Demented One and his crew of minions are becoming louder and with stronger words. People are voicing opinions and suggestions and they are not advocating Ring around the Rosey!!
     So, is it all in the head or is it reality? But whatever, my head is truly aching and I need Advil and bed. Or couch. Whichever I find first.
      Hope your day is better than mine but at least I have my kids- some of them - with us. That is worth a headache any day of the week.