ARE WE THERE YET?

 Anyone who has traveled with a child, or took a long trip, knows that question.  It is annoying. It is repetitive. It is without any satisfactory answer. However, all that irritation goes by the board when we ask ourselves that very same question re the status of this country. 'Are we there yet' in this case must be a repetitive question if we are ever to be able to not just paper over the divisive chasms, but rather to eliminate much of those chasms in a permanent manner. Unfortunately, we appear to be going about it in the worst way, enabling, even encouraging, the deepening of these chasms rather than filling them up, closing them off.

Are we there yet? Have we crossed the point of no return? Are we all to become a Wrong Way Corrigan, contributing in an evil synergy to our country's demise? That is a question that has become imperative to answer. Are we there yet and will we ever be? Or, more optimistically, are we there yet in terms of saving our Republic.

 False claims of systemic fraud in the 2020 election will result in blood being spilled, a Republican congressman warned Thursday.

Originalism is the legal philosophy arguing that the U.S. Constitution should be understood by its public meaning at the time it became law, as opposed to the idea of a living Constitution.

1. the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

   "through an awareness of intersectionality, we can better acknowledge and ground the differences among us"
2. the country's top general had to rebuff then-President Donald Trump's desire to order military intervention as a response to civil unrest several times, as the former president's manner grew more volatile in his final months in power, 
3. "That's how you're supposed to handle these people," Trump told top officials. "Crack their skulls!"  shoot them in the leg - or maybe the foot," Trump reportedly said. "But be hard on them!"
4. 
   

5. A Hill-HarrisX poll released last week found that 30 percent of Republican voters believe Trump will be reinstated in August, though there is no legal or constitutional maneuver that could feasibly return the former U.S. president to office in the midst of President Biden's own term.

   Trump himself has reportedly told acquaintances that he expects to be reinstated in August.

Having read those pieces from our country today, well, are we there yet and which there is it? The degree of demonization of the opposition, the shrieking and shouting from both side of extremists, the dialing up of irresponsible behavior - and I, for one, along with many others, fear the wrong there, two wrong 'there's and we must be so careful, ever vigilant in our defense of true democracy, of a 'there' that is a good place to be.

 Are we going to be a country where the middle is overrun by the outliers? In fact, are these outliers to become the norm? If we are ever to avoid or back out of the pathways leading to one wrong there or another, we must, absolutely must, make it clear that there will be no tolerance of illegal actions, particularly those leading to the overthrow of the legal government. On the other hand, while openly waging war on intolerable behavior by some law enforcement personnel, it cannot be used as an excuse, a get out of jail card, to commit a crime, defy legal orders to cooperate, and then claim innocence. That, too, leads to a wrong there and invalidates real and intolerable actions.

We must look for ways to forge a unity, a true country of united states. We must acknowledge past errors and work to make those errors only the past and nevermore to be part of the present and the future, at least as much as we can, given the human tendency to embrace the wrong, fight progress at times when it needs to be embraced.

That ruinous stubbornness, obstinacy, comes from both sides. Cruz  and others of his ilk rant and rave about communism. Hello, not the problem today, is it? Rather it is the usurpation by dictators of their respective countries, call it whatever name you wish. It is all dictatorship, fascism in its every format and attempted disguise. Making the Constitution a hidebound document, unable to be a living, growing, set of route markers for our nation, is to negate the forward thinking of our Founders, miring our country in some of the limitations of thought of the times. It precludes positive, peaceful progress. Definitely then we will reach a wrong, so wrong, there.

Yet look at the other extreme. This intersectionality, which emphasizes differences, establishing differences where previously there had been none, particularly among the younger members of society, trying to inculcate feelings of guilt and shame for birth into a certain skin color, or religion, or gender or whatever - wrong, wrong, wrong. Most emphatically yet another wrong 'there'.

The correct 'there' will be reached when we emphasize the unities, the commonalities and celebrate the differences that enrich this country, giving it a sense of optimism, an American manner strictly its own. At times arrogant seeming, yet always willing, albeit reluctantly at times, to move forward, leaving behind false, outdated, outmoded ideas, attitudes and laws.

We are definitely on a journey. As Americans, as human beings, we must choose the road carefully, stay in the middle lane, avoiding the pitfalls and possibilities of increased danger along the edges. We must be aware, pay attention, correct the veering too much in either direction, but most of all, remember that we are Americans, one and all, and are to set the standards for the world who look upon us to lead, to set a pace. Then, and only then, can we make this journey's destination the correct, dazzling with possibilities, 'there'. 

Are we there yet? Where is there? Are we there yet?

SIMPLE IT IS

  Simple as that. No need for complications. Just break it down to the basics and the simplicity of it all will amaze you. At least some of the time. The definition of simple is: "easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty.   plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature, or design; "

Using that definition it is simple to understand, for example par excellence, the Congress and its reality.  "Congress, which is best at doing nothing -- thanks to partisan gridlock -- returned to doing what it's best at."

Simple as that. A bunch of do nothing, know nothing, defying reality nothings. Simple. As that.

Thus, onward we do not forge, many of us happy in our self denial, in acceptance of what pleases, soothes, us rather than facing the more complicated reality and the reasons behind it. Yet another example of simplicity, cutting to the chase.

"I'm especially troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that Jan. 6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol," U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said during a court hearing in Washington. "I don't know what planet these people are on." It was not an accident that it turned violent," he said of the Capitol attack. "It was intended to draw to a halt the very functioning of our government."

In words of few syllables the truth is outed yet again - and ignored by the rather simplistic motivation behind it. 

Deny it all, defy the truth, support the easier lie and voila! Reality is changed, responsibility is removed. Simple as that. If only.

"She doesn't understand the Senate" we are lectured at. Truthfully. the entire thinking population of this country, and hell, the world, does not, cannot, fathom the inaction, the partisanship and the paralysis and venom it causes and induces. One wonders which alien pod has taken over McConnell. One wonders how a twisted bit of a man such as Goetz got into the House, the Senate's co-partner in the exercise of nothingness, and how he remains there, when certainly an orange jumpsuit would be a better fit! Simple. Why? Because so many of his GOP brethren also need new fashion, jumpsuits and befitting bracelets would be a simple start. Simple is the truth, not so simple its acceptance. 

Simple is the acknowledgement that there are rotten apples in the police barrel and the shameful inaction in removing them is just that. Shameful and simple. Yes, there are nefarious people who live among us. Yes, not so surprisingly some of these same people resist arrest and forthcoming incarceration in not such a five star hotel. However, a 16 year old boy followed into his girlfriend's yard to wait for her, exactly as my then boyfriend, now husband, used to do! The State Trooper deemed him 'suspicious' and 'After the teenager "failed to comply" with Smyrnios's orders to turn around and put his hands behind his back, the trooper repeatedly tased him.

"You think you can just do whatever you want but you can't," Smyrnios tells Rodeman as he lays on the ground.

Seriously?! Yes, seriously, unfortunately so. The good and solid cops in the barrel need to realize that ousting the rotten ones will have the beneficial effect of improving the situation. Simple, yet evidently not so, for where is that concerted effort? Meanwhile, the kid, who has done nothing wrong, writhes in agony as he is tased again and again.

I close with these words from a GOP state senator engaged in an 'audit' who has the strength to buck his strangulated Party.

"As is often the case, the truth is not as attractive or as immediately desirable as the lies and the lies contain elements of truth," 

"We must all remember: 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof' and 'claiming to find something extraordinary requires first eliminating the ordinary.'"

Simple, yet evidently not in the minds of too many.

Wish there were a vaccine for that stupidity and denial of truth, of reality! How simple that could be. But simply not to be. At least in the foreseeable future. Simply unfortunate. Simply tragic.

CLEAR AS DAY

  And there it is, folks, clear as day, as obvious as the nose on your face. The GOP has declared open warfare on democracy, wherever it  be found, wherever it tries to remain vital, life giving, and true to the ethos of America. Even as we know that we must continue to strive to improve our country, as we have done, at times reluctantly and even violently, over two and a half centuries, there are those whose main goal now, to the exclusion of all else, is to inter that democracy, entomb it for once and for all. 

From the time we first began to have  'social' lives, we learned and lived the majority rules law. Whether it was where to play, what to play, who was to be Class President, or Governor, the majority ruled. Or so we thought, until the Electoral College came into play. But we managed, for at least all players in the 'game' supported democracy. At least then they did.

Today there has been a tragic turn of events. Led by 'leaders' of dubious qualification, we began to turn on democracy. The previous President himself broached the idea of "Leader for Life". The same man and his pathetic, yet ever so harmful, servile enablers, advanced the attacks and ground was gained. To the point where all comity as Americans was lost. As  far as its return, great clouds of pessimism on that. Huge clouds. Suffocating and dimming the life breathe of American democracy.

"what do you expect from a street walker who has no clue about America."

The shameful words of one anti democracy person in New Jersey, referring to Kamala Harris. Comity? Respect? Dignity?  Poof! Going, going, almost gone.

The GOP has succeeded in multiple states in allowing, entitling, the corruption of the independence and neutrality of the election board, threatening the very cornerstone of our democracy. In the Senate and the House they insist on the filibuster legality and use it to contravene majority rule principle. They use it to destroy democracy, making it harder and harder to vote, aimed particularly at the voters who would oppose the GOP, making no bones about it.

Read the following samples of GOP thinking and then tell me you do not feel those flutters in the chest.

 "signed a law that fines social-media platforms that ban political candidates without warning up to $250,000 per day." DeSantis

"signing the elections law on Fox News while prohibiting other media outlets from attending, to his announcement last week that he will send Florida law enforcement officers to the southern border — as a dog and pony show for conservative media." DeSantis

Turning the pandemic battle into a political mudball fight, even as their constituents continue to needlessly die.

 "calls the bill's defeat a "win" for the country' - the voting rights overhaul, that is. Cruz

 GOP voting become a mirror of good fascistic obedient followers, as McConnell whips his Party members into slavish, robotic obedience.

 And AOC makes a statement on which we agree.

Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people," 

That, folks, is the crux of the matter, the clear as day issue facing us. Either we support democracy, face down and defeat those who would eliminate it, particularly those from within, or we lose it. Clear as day.

NICE, NICE

 I am sure most of us remember - or still do - teaching a young child to "make nice". Hopefully, the child would pick up the idea that nice is better than not nice. Unfortunately, it appears that some people never quite caught on nor ever practiced the honey vs. vinegar philosophy and behavior. And then they wonder why so many do not like them!

Ron Johnson, blind to his own twisted, nasty attitude, clear to all, dared to go to a Juneteenth celebration. As if! The obvious reaction to his presence and the dumbest comment from him, particularly vis a vis his history? Read and weep? Laugh? Sigh? Despair? 

 "as more people recognized him, he was drowned out by a chorus of boos. Members of a growing crowd swore at him and said, 'We don't want you here.'" Johnson told reporters that the boos were "not how you heal the nation," and added: "You come down here and try to interact with people and be nice to people. But this isn't very nice, is it?"

When the willful blind, the oblivious to their own reek continue on their path, well, no good end in sight there. Chuck Grassley wonders why the hell, after serving in public office since 1959, his numbers are low. Why? Perhaps he needs a refresher course in the understanding of consequences. Insane expressions, nasty biting commentary, rampant disrespect to and of others, and the swallowing whole of blatant falsehoods - 0h well, there ya' go. Hearings do have long tails and very often they slap back.

Jared Kushner, coming face to face with his own incompetence, manifestly unqualified for the roles and positions he took on, reacts in typical Trumpian behavior. Blame others, Do so in 'perfect' form, and for sure insist all the blame is in someone else's court, for sure not one's own. Hence this charming anecdote. 

"You f---ing moron," Kushner reportedly said to Robert Kadlec, then an assistant secretary of health and human services, who had purchased 600 million masks as coronavirus infections spiked across the country. "We'll all be dead by June."

So lovely. So far, so distant, from adult behavior. Evidently, he never paid attention to the 'nice, nice' instructions.

Project Veritas does the opposite, and swims in an ocean of putrid lies. Trumpian world denizens wonder why people are turning on them and maybe they should do the same. Rats leaving the ship and sinking the idea of 'honor among thieves'.  Certainly not when one is up next to walk the plank.

Think I will peruse the Prime Day sales at Michael's. Soothes the soul, certainly mine, and glorious when working in tandem with grandchildren. At the very least, one can vent the anger in a creative and productive manner. To the web site! Onward to infinity! Certainly feels as if this nasty, nice, nice denying phase will be around for the long run!

 

"ROTTEN CORE"

 Interesting and extremely telling are the words of politicians. Evidently, they do not heed the advice of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summers - "enough is enough!" On and on they babble, they threaten and on and on they are presiding over the dismantling of the firmament of this country. What is rotten and who is rotten? Read, think, think, evaluate, think again and its truth will be apparent.

This country was founded with an important principle - the right to vote, to have representation. True, it was flawed. Not unusual nor unexpected, particularly if we understand that its human writers wrote in the context of the times and were revolutionary at that. But we progressed, through war and peace, and the right to vote was  expanded until all were recipients of this most basic and essential right.

Unfortunately, there remained a rotten core indeed, who were blind to the correctness of that right and its inclusion of all. Jim Crow laws for decades x'ed out the Black voting right throughout much of the South. The leaders of this movement remained benighted and stubborn, "rotten to the core". 

However, with difficulty and much rancor, the country progressed. Not perfect, far from it, but progress nevertheless. Suddenly though, we ran into roadblocks, so thick and heavy along the highways and byways of this nation, that the infrastructure foundered under the weight. The country became endangered to a point which had never been reached before. Continued existence as America, as united states, was in serious peril.

Never before had we a president who would buddy up with our enemies and confound our allies. Never before had an entire body forgotten their duties owed to the entire electorate, ceded their morals and souls, their minds, independence and votes to a quite visibly damaged man. They cowered before him as a bunny rabbit before a hungry bear. And the rottenness at and of the core grew ever more malodorous.

Our country was in trouble. It remains so as the results of a clear victory were ignored, defamed, and grew more stinking than ever. That which the citizens of this country must trust if we are to remain as "we, the people", was attacked with mistrust and destruction as the goal. The peril from within grew, so obvious, yet so denied by its very perpetrators and even from a class of voters who simply cannot seem to envision and understand that they, too, are in line to drown under this putrid flood of denial of right to vote.

Now, here we are. Our country is at war, literally and figuratively. We had an attempted insurrection, strengthened by and with the suspected collusion of some governmental figures. A rebellion! How could this be? And yet it was. At last, the opposition realized the state of war, the extensive flood of decay, hitched up their proverbial pants and put forth a bill, the For the People Act, meant to dismantle those roadblocks, repair the infrastructure of voting, and dam up the nasty flood that has imperiled our nation.

Will we be successful? Will we rescue our country? JFK pulled a man to safety using his teeth and the strength of his weary arms. He inspired the remnants of his crew to live. Do we have any remaining echoes through time that will inspire us to grip, with teeth, arms, bodies and souls, to grip the sinking ropes of our nation and perform a beautiful rescue? I hope so. I pray so. Yet the doubt is there, gnawing away, as we deal with a McConnell who states that the Act has a "rotten core" and yet another 'leader' of the GOP states it is a "piece of legislation that needs to die, and die quickly."

Where do we go from here, folks? Are we going to go down for the count, go under for the third time? Suffocate under our own negligence, apathy, ignorance, greed, quest for power? Choose your own cause, but the results are clear. Want to keep this country a democracy, flawed yet the best government around? Well, then we all know what must be done. Let us make haste and get to it.

DOUBLING DOWN

 It has been said lately by several commentators that people are 'doubling down'. Generally, that phrase is followed by "or nothing". That happens when people are either caught up in the wildness of the moment, leaving behind all rationality, or are running fueled by deeply held beliefs, determined to advance those beliefs. Personally, I believe this current and ever increasing trend has risen due to two main reasons.

The first is the destructive legitimization of crude, no limits behavior as manifested by Trump and those  within his camp. This was followed by the incensed reactions of the opposing camp, and the rest is history, a shameful one at that.

The second is a reaction and result of the yearlong plus lockdown. With lives endangered, with the frustrated and natural desire to huddle with loved ones, we simply ran with it and lost our way. With some notable exceptions we became selfish. Our needs were paramount. In the servicing of those needs we tromped and stomped on all others. We forgot and/or ignored rules of societal behavior. We lost all patience with the ever increasing wait times for just about anything and everything, all the while desperately missing friends and most of all, the physical presence of loved ones.

Now, now we have doubled down on that anti-social behavior, forgotten how to interface with others, how to share lives and needs. We have forgotten our mutuality, doubling down on so many negatives. We shout at each other, deaf to the words of others. We increasingly use and allow the presence of weapons enabling a horrific growth industry of mass shootings.

There is a premise in psychology that "the type of memory designates the appeared distance in time". That means that good memories can feel as if they occurred yesterday, even as we push those more difficult recollections off, distance them. Yet today we are doing the direct opposite, hugging close the nasty, the selfish, pushing away the past memories of societal pleasantries and achievements, the joys and extrinsic and intrinsic rewards that ensued.

We have chosen the wrong things to double down upon and instead we are getting the "or nothing". In so choosing, in so doing, in such shortsightedness, we are reaping what we have sowed. Extreme climate becoming normal. Increased world tension. Existential, real, threat to the continued existence of America as we know it, as we believe in. Lives with less depth, less affection. In short, a losing bet.

Cannot we do better? Can we not find, create, a more positive bet upon which to double or nothing? A truly sure thing? I believe we can, have some leeway remaining. On that I would double down.

 

STICKS AND STONES

  First, an apology for late posting but I had some surgery yesterday and am typing with one finger.

In any case, the rhyme of the title continues with "...can break my bones but words can never harm me." Dumb as the day is long and even more inaccurate, particularly in our times when the power of words, with an emphasis on words of hatred and instigation are so thoughtlessly and purposely bandied about. With careless purpose or definite aims, enhanced or made more powerful, more hurtful, more harmful, than ever before, via social  media, these words, those words lead to the sticks and stones.

The viciousness and clear as day aims of these words are obvious and immediate, even as they echo forward into the future, into more evil words and resultant abominable actions. Be it the nasty mouth of Ilhan Omer or the  GOP and its cynical use of a tar brush on Democratic candidates, calling them anti Semites, Jews among the accused, they are no different in purpose, use and goal and further the growth of those sticks and stones.

Apparently, though, humans do not learn from history, however many the warnings. We insist on harmful repetitive behavior in word and deed even though it makes no sense at all.

 “I really don't want to have to end anybody's life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said at one point in the conversation, which occurred last week. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f***ing speed bump in the road. She's a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”

When words like these spew forth in an ugly stream, well does anyone, can anyone, claim any more that words are never harmful? One must be willfully blind and deaf to do so, or worse than that, knowingly using those words to incite and instigate until the sticks and stones are prevailing. The insurrection on January 6 is a jarring example, even as the proponents of that rebellion try to downgrade it into a "riot" and then go so far as to deny their oh so obvious roles in the whole mess and furthermore into the Twilight Zone by blaming it on their opponents. Huh? Say What?

Even in disagreement we must be civil and take into account the power of words. When we deny the truth, we then allow for increased unnecessary censorship in our inability to distinguish between  quality and purpose of those words. I permit myself a small sideways excursion to the paranoid world of David who is supposedly soliciting supportive comments from readers, like this one of mine - "This is not the first time Benenson has ripped us off for the A/C and related items. Evidently he and his lawyer do not understand the simple concept of capital improvements vs. repairs and who is responsible payment wise. We need to stand firm on this and the entire new agreement for that matter."

 When I do so, I am blocked - as always - and the nonsense continues.

One more comment, or two. The ancient Diogenes roamed the earth with his lantern held high, seeking an honest man and never finding one. Today we can reimagine this search. It is now a search for the decent and true, for the one who believes in positive action for the people and their needs and understands the power of words. Still looking.

 Here is a question from me. I do not understand Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It will become yet another point of contention and difference as some will follow and others will disregard. Yes, the official end of slavery was long overdue, though the tactics of slavery continued, the discrimination continued and did not end with the Black population. Do we celebrate the day we ended the incarceration of the Japanese during WWII? Do we celebrate with a federal holiday commemorating the day Truman signed the bill cancelling the bigoted limitation of immigrants such as Jews, even as they were running for their very existence, even as the Chinese were increased in allowance as well? What about the hatred towards the newly arrived Irish and Italian immigrants, considered less than human?

When we have taught the people of this country better; when we fully understand the ugliness of prejudice and hatred; when that happens - well, choose the day of federal, world and individual celebration. Until then, let us use our words better so as to avoid the sticks and stones that follow those words capable of harm, so much harm.

THE POPULARITY OF MULBERRY BUSHES

  Evidently, the song containing the phrase, "Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, etc.," was the favorite nursery and kindergarten song of many now working(?) in both Houses of Congress. It is so inculcated within their core that they go round the mulberry bush every day, inventing more, increasing the patch of mulberry bushes, every single day. Might even be cute to see them dancing, holding hands, in fraternal comity, but that is a pipe dream, food for writers of fantasy literature. Now they dance in anger.

Round and round they go, taking the country along with them, in this futile dance. A supposed representative of the "people" refuses to shake hands with a hero Capitol Police officer who defended that very same man and his colleagues during the insurrection. Oh, did I commit an egregious error? Apparently it was a 'riot', the clear intent to overthrow this government merely being an illusion. Hence, every single damned day we go round the mulberry bush as these benighted GOP Party members toe the Party line, support that dangerous ignoramus, Trump, and deny reality all the day long. Every single day. Mulberry bush time.

Tired of mass shootings, murder on crack? Why then do not move to Texas which has deepened its weird vibes as it approved the carrying of guns in the open - without necessity of permit! I kid you not. In fact, this particular mulberry bush gets too much nourishment as the philosophy that supports it, that purports to be 'in defense' of people, actually induces and allows for more mass shooting crime scenes. More blood. More tears. More lives shed. Needlessly. Unless boosting needy egos of the mulberry bush philosophers is of prime importance. More important than the lives of so many. How heroic they feel, walking around 'strapped'. For sure.

Bushes grow at a mad pace, even as the call for their elimination grows. How many more times must we be horrified by yet another video documenting an incident of tragedy and terror. An 18 year old boy taken into brutal custody for the horrific crime of vaping on a boardwalk. Never mind the stupidity of that, never mind the wasting of so many supposed protectors of the public spending their time on capturing this  awful 'criminal'. Never mind that he raises his hands and only moves one to remove his backpack as ordered. For that crime of obedience, he is tased, held, hogtied, carted off like an animal to slaughter. Not enough? Yet another incident where a 19 year old boy is brutally taken down, kneed forcefully and repeatedly by another officer, so brave, so bold, to beat up on a pinned kid - for vaping. 

What the hell! How many more times must we see this? How many more kids are taken down, tased, beaten, needlessly, brutally, not even resisting, until perhaps they realize they are fighting for their lives!!How many more Black kids are to undergo this as they commit the actual crime of walking freely, confidently, in their own country, even if guilty of minor violations. Even if guilty of more serious ones. What is with the violence? Why do we insist on tolerating these particular mulberry bush dances and dancers? How many more times will we circle this bush, never mind ripping it out by its very roots. Think not that it stops with one group of people. Disrespect, violence, is particularly contagious and attractive to too many.

How many more deadly poisonous mulberry bushes must we support in the continued denial of the Holocaust, in the inappropriate, to put it mildly, continual comparison of it with relatively simpler issues. The mask mandate is not comparable to the forced wearing of a yellow star - yellow, Greene, not "gold"!! That star allowed for the separation from society, eased their being herded into cattle cars, sent to their deaths. How many more false, meaningless 'apologies' must we endure before this particular mulberry bush is trashed, burned out of our systems, the prejudice that feeds this bush eliminated? How much longer?

No, going around these mulberry bushes and unfortunately so many more, is not healthy for us, for anyone. Hater and hatred are entangled in a messy, bloody, and tragic knot within the branches of these mulberry bushes. We need to stop the music of this particular dance and rewrite the score. Rechoreograph the dance. Do something. Anything. No more videos. No more hassles. No more bloody behavior.

 No more.

BRAKES? BRAKES!!! WHERE ARE THE BRAKES?

 Truthfully, we have been missing those brakes for quite some time already. The situation began with the weird campaign for president, with lies becoming the currency of the day, and the pressure on those brakes increased, against an ever increasing opposing pressure. They began to squeak and squeal. They began to be to loosen, unable to fully bring  a speeding country to a halt. They finally failed when reality was dismissed and broken and twisted fairy tale endings of personal wishes took over the roads of America.

On such broken and challenged roadways, driving with damaged cars and seriously damaged drivers. America simply gave up the ghost, or as near as ever before. Certainly it appeared that the drivers now on the road were playing deadly games of Chicken with broken brakes and knew not how to stop the car nor did they appear to even wish to do so.

The damage did not stop there, The increasing acidic rhetoric of the drivers dripped down, ate at the floors of the cars they were driving, dripped through to the streets below, creating new cracks and stressing older ones. Cracks began to appear where they had never been before. As for the engineers who were supposed to fix the mess, why they stood there doing nothing or even advising how to exacerbate the situation. And that, my friends, is how the roads of America, the ground upon which they were laid, the very foundation of it all, suffered the attack of the broken brakes and broken drivers, and crashed, time and time again, into the walls, the lightpoles, the very people alongside these same roads. 

These cracks and broken brakes influenced us to forget our manners, to forget indoor behavior and rules of societal living. We dismissed those calling for indoor voices. We discounted those calling for an end to schoolyard politics, but were shut out. Too much fun bullying, especially when one feels a victory. A Pyric victory, but one nevertheless. And America broke.

The question now before us is whether America can be fixed. But how to do that when the voices are still raised, when the 'dukes' are also raised, even flying through the air, making contact with chins and jaws. You ask where are the referees, where are their calls of foul play, of penalties? Forget about it, for they have long ago either left the arenas or joined in the fray. America is broken.

When there are a myriad number of crises that must be resolved, international, national, and local, a news site lists a thong item of clothing as a trending item. Really? This is what interests American citizens caught in a confusing, swirling eddy of hatred, politics, broken dreams, and anger, such deep, corrosive anger?

I think we are better than that. I think we have relied too long on those broken brakes. The time has come to fix them, to rip them out,  replace them with newer, stronger ones. Brakes that know how to function. Brakes meant to absorb shocks and continue to function. Brakes that respond to words of hope and reconciliation rather than words of anger, of hate, of bias and party politics. These are brakes that will remember through generational genetics that America is better than that. That America knows how to fix its broken cars, retrain its broken and confused drivers, and repair the huge potholes on its roadways.

We need to remember that we can fix all these issues if we but try. If we but remember that the wrong way to fix one hatred is to induce or stress another. Do not speak of prejudice but allow and even encourage that of anti-Semitism, deeming it socially acceptable. Do not call out "recounting racism she has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, offered shout-outs to her friends who also have faced discrimination, including African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and her “Middle Eastern peers, who have been facing struggle after struggle and are in constant fear of their families and friends being struck down by a militant government, who have had their land stolen and abused. I applaud you" -  Wrong, so wrong. 

 Do not equate absolutely uneven topics, for it demeans the meaning and importance of the larger issue. Do not allow, even seek out, speakers at graduation ceremonies who pick up on the prejudice flavor of eternity, and rally the crowd against Jews. Those brakes of society forever seem to be broken, and if managing to get better, are kicked again into broken status.

America, to your cars. To your drive pits and fix whatever needs to be fixed. Remember who we are. Remember our promise and our debt to history. Remember that hatred spreads and is oh so difficult to dredge out of the land into which it sinks, particularly when there are those pushing for it.

America, heal thyself and thus the world.

SAY WHAT?

  The best job of the future is apparently that of an interpreter. No, not of official foreign languages, but rather of English. Yup. Today one has to learn to read the truth beneath, for the words above belie that very truth - much to our detriment. Often these two things, the words and the actual intent are diametrically opposed and if we do not figure things out, and real soon, parse the sentences and words for the final truths, well, then, never mind the "say what", but pay attention to the "do what?" that follows.

Take a local issue that is manifesting itself all over the place, particularly here in southern Florida. It is overcrowding. It is loss of agricultural lands. It is the decimation of preserves. It is the elimination of the very trees we need to refresh and cleanse the air. It is the proliferation of acres and acres of concrete, raising the heat and temperatures, changing the environment and climate, ruining the quality of life for so many, for destroying the very things it touts - Florida living and life. 

For a start, begin with the wowser inflated prices of houses almost side by side, charging prices beginning now, boldly and brazenly posted on big signs along the highways and byways of Florida, at $700,000 to over a million, the same homes that were listed not so long ago as ranging from $200,000 to $500,000. The same houses that were  foreclosed, walked away from,  drowned their owners when the economy tanked and the bubble burst. Destroying neighborhoods with neglected and abandoned homes, filthy disease and mold ridden pools. Gutting developments. And now - we do it all over again. Making a bitter joke, a true mockery, at the excuse of providing 'affordable' homes. Say what? Whose affordable? Not ours.

So here we are, living in CVWPB, facing a mammoth development that will be built on a former golf course, one that was promised to remain so "in perpetuity" as such, but never mind the words obviously, simply trodden over for the sake of big pockets wanting more inflow and screw the little people again. Every plan put forth grew worse, crowding more population, more concrete, taller buildings, less grass and park area along the streets, all the better, as the wolf said, "to eat you up" - the 'you' being us.

 And hey, why not squeeze in some commercial development there, never mind the neighborhood concept. Never mind the dangerously increased traffic patterns to which one official said "they will have to make more u-turns". Uh huh, right there on busy Haverhill  Speedway! Especially with the aging drivers from CV trying to get in and out of the Village. Bloody Haverhill will result. But who cares, for Reflection Bay is going through.

For over a decade, Villagers have been fighting this egregious attack on the neighborhood. Okay, if there must be development, if there must be lies told, if words are to lose their true meaning, value and promise, if perpetuity is now meant to mean temporary, never mind all the dictionary definitions of its meaning, then be human. Do not be greedy. How many more millions and billions of dollars must be sucked out of Florida before the big boys are satisfied? How much more air must be tainted, overheated? How much more arsenic and toxins from the soil of the golf course will be ignored. As for the drainage, well, of course, screw the Villagers again, deny them the expected permanent, promised permanent, golf course, its drainage, and just drown a goodly part of the apartments on the ground floors of those buildings alongside the former golf course. It's only the elderly, so who cares?

Well, we do. But we have fought a losing battle. We do not have the deep pockets to overcome those of the developers. Those who name new massive developments a "preserve" even as they destroy the same preserve that had been there lo these many a year. Here we are told of a Reflection Bay. What bay? The one that will cover ground area within the Village? The committee that had formed did their best, beyond, over and above, what was thought possible, fending off the threat for so many years. We apparently have lost as the next step in the farce is a "hearing", as if the decision had not already been made. As if the Commissioners of Palm Beach County had not already agreed to sell us down the river yet again. Put up posters touting a hearing, but no working websites to go to.

We are not alone. Just take a ride along the roads leading to CV Boca, where huge, huge developments are nearing completion. Gone the rural area and bring in the urban crowding, disguised as Florida living. Take a ride through the streets of Stuart, check the increased traffic. Check the many, oh so many, developments razing the area's trees, all the flora. See the encroachment on the older  quaint area. See the ruination of the promise of Florida. See the actual development of the truths underlying the false words of politicians, developers and lawyers.

Think this only local? Nay, my friends, for we have not touched upon the 'truths' of the words of state and national officials. Another day, another posting. Oh, so much material. Unfortunately. Word! Truth!

GOOD? HAPPY? MAYBE. COULD BE

  Some overly optimistic people are beginning to hum "happy days are here again...". It is great if they have that feeling, that outlook on life. Always better to be optimistic than pessimistic, but, a great big but, one must also remember to include a huge, heaping dollop of reality into any outlook as to the present and future situations.

So, as to happy. Most mask situations are gone. People have taken the vaccines, dealt with the side effects for a few days, and can hug their friends and relatives, sees the grandkids, get out there again without huddling in fear of 'contamination' by their neighbor. Yes, there are exceptions. We have the health related areas where masks are mandatory. Fine. No problem. Most of us do not sit there all day, though the staff does, but still, better than before. So, happy and good. Now if only those stubborn and/or careless holdouts will go for the vaccines. They are 'waiting' - for what? For Godot? Not coming! Time to roll up the sleeves and get with the program. That goes for some  very good and loved friends. Better for them and for all of us.

So to more happy. Workers are actually being sought. The pink slip is withering on the vine. Business clothes are deformalizing as people realize that comfy clothes do not inhibit achievements in work assignments. Hey, all for that! Happy days indeed, from me, the ultimate old lady in tee shirts and shorts! As for fashion - Yay! Everything goes. Long. Short. Tight. Loose. Happy!

The outlook is optimistic from those who still believe that we can actually get together, work together, as Americans. As citizens of the world, as leaders breathe a sigh of relief as Trump is no longer there. However, there are major problems remaining. Trump influence and damage done. The lingering, still strong, hatred nurtured during his regime. Putin. China. Growth of right wingers who are way out there. Not good and not a happy inducing state of being. However, cooperation can go a long way to ameliorate the situational outlook.

Environment lousy, but we are back to working to improve it Can it get done soon enough, big enough, to at least change some of the worst forecasts? Hopefully. Neither good nor happy, at least until we know more, do more, in actuality, but still, some good and some happy there as well. 

That goes for other situations as well. We are getting 'there', wherever 'there' is, but slowly, as opposition continues, as what- imbeciles, truth deniers, false thinkers, irrationals - continue to exist and spoil the pudding, but hopefully, time will help the situation as the truth begins to be believed again. I hope. Remember truth? Yup, that missing element during the recent past. Now beginning to return, slowly, shyly, unused to the light, but, could be good days acomin'. Maybe. Possibly. We'll see.

Economy booming. Workers with increased power. But some people too lazy or spoiled by the extra bonuses of the pandemic year. Need to stop those, encourage return to work by all. Good and happy. Many other issues do remain. The Middle East. Growing anti Semitism, again, and not happy nor good there. Slaughter continuing in places all over the globe. Attention being paid to other rights violation, even as the GOP pushes to return the days of olde, with the wealthy ruling and the rest of us as peasants, and voting rights? What is that?

So, a mixed bag. There are days when I can actually see the coming, in fact, the growing presence of both good and happy. There are days when I see neither, nor any hope of them actually coming into strong and assured existence. However, on most days at present there is that glimmer, that growing light, that gives hope. Now, if Manchin will get off the dime and remove that stick; if Feinstein will retire, good job but time now; if Senators remember that we are all Americans rather than Party members with red kerchiefs around our necks, well....Then maybe both good and happy as the valves will open, the good be discussed and achieved, at least to some degree. Then, maybe, just maybe, we can sing that song. I hope. I pray.

STILTS AND STEROIDS

  What a great comparison. The behavior of Trump and the DOJ,  their egregious snooping, hoarding, gathering, of records and information about 'enemies' of the crazed Trump was compared to Nixon's behavior doing the same thing. Do not forget to include Hoover and his similar shameful behavior at the FBI during his long reign there. It seems that if one wishes to be a dictator, one must snoop. One must pervert the law enforcement organs of the country to do the bidding of the would be dictator. Thus the shameful behavior of Barr, who trashed his own reputation serving his master, Trump, taking the entire DOJ along for the ride with him. "Nixon on stilts and steroids" indeed.

Do not think the rest of the country is immune to that syndrome. We have seen countless exemplars now of the corruption of public service, of the selfish behavior of appointed officials, meant to serve the country, instead using the resources for their own advantage rather than for the country's.

Stilts and steroids behavior.

More of this behavior is to be found in the media, Deserting their roles as reporters, as investigators, they became participants, partaking of events. Alex Jones gave a half million dollars towards the Jan. 6 insurrection. Newly founded bullhorn media stations, were out there plumping for Trump, shamelessly partisan, pushing the Big Lie, encouraging distrust of the government, rocking this country to its very foundations - stilts and steroids again.

Once upon a time we had officials who, while not perfect, had the courage to move forward. LBJ, on June 13, 1967, nominated Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court.  "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place,". Stilts and steroids indeed as we compare that nomination to the shameful ones of more recent years. Stilts and steroids can be used properly, with boldness, with courage, if only one wishes to. However, our most recent officials, Senators, Governors, State legislators have all turned the opposite way, faced a different direction and end goal, serviced their own selfish interests rather than the peoples' needs. In a big way! In a negative stilts and steroids way.

Falsified 'recount' results. The pushing of 'truths' that are falsehoods. The alleged criminal behavior of those meant to enforce the law. The traitorous and treasonous behavior of officials at all levels of  government, even unto partaking in a rebellion, a violent attempt at that, with deaths resulting. Newspeak in real life. Orwell and Huxley, writing for a different era with similar behaviorisms, now have books befitting this era. 1984. Animal Farm. A Brave New World. Read them. Wonder and weep. Cry the Beloved Country indeed. Stilts and steroids, even as nothing ever seems to change.

So a pilot calls for "all strong males" to help subdue an unruly passenger. Perhaps we need all these strong males along with the power of all the strong women, of this country, of the world, to reset our axis and axles, return to a balanced country. Perhaps we need new and better pilots. Return to a country that has not lost its marbles, with aged senators shouting, faces and words ugly, harmful and blood shedding. with younger ones who appear to have learned at the knees of history's dictators. We need to return to America. Period. We need American behavior on stilts and steroids, the country which means well, which stumbles and bumbles at times, which has to overcome those who would hold progress back, those who would persist in maintaining old hatreds.

We can do this. We have overcome actions and times such as this before. We have to turn our backs on the hatemongers, on those who would prefer to limit the rights of all. Do not make an error in your thinking; the elimination of rights for one group becomes the norm for all groups. History tells us that. History warns of that. On stilts and steroids. We do not want those stilts, those steroids. We need the good stilts, the ones that help us see. We need the powerful steroids, the ones that stand for justice and right. Maybe I am simplistic, thinking we can actually do this, right the country again, but we have done so before. We can do so again. If we but climb on those stilts, take those 'steroids'. Stand tall and proud, and do the right things. Simple, yet hard. But still doable - at least for a time, though the windows and doors are closing fast.

Stilts and steroids.

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

  Upon reading the news feeds of the day, I just heaved a great big sigh and said to myself how tired I am of all this crap that hits the streets every day, day after day. We all seem to have lost sight of the facts and concentrated on emotions, on subjective judgements and consequences of those judgements. We have become the executioners of those we feel deserve it, or cheer on others who do so. We are as a nation of Rip van Winkles just awakened from a  long sleep, confused, not knowing how to behave with others, the simple and basic rules of daily life, beginning with courtesy. 

We recently flew back from  a visit with the kids and had perfectly fine and polite flights. All wore masks, no arguments. All cleaned up. All sat quietly when told of a longer flight due to turbulence. Perfectly fine, polite, with laughter here and there and flight attendants doing their jobs. Most important, passengers who allowed them to do their job. But recently some flights have apparently been originating in hell. Fights with flight attendants doing their job, even to the point of knocking out two teeth. American Airlines reported a fight wherein passengers, not all, only the visitors from hell, appeared to have forgotten that deep down they are still human and supposed to remain so. Calling names, insulting with personally targeted insults - what the hell!!!Why is it so difficult for people to understand that you pay your money, you take your seat, you sit quietly, be it reading, sleeping, playing with the baby, talking to a new acquaintance, or merely staring into space. No fighting. No suspension of human behavior and the rules of courtesy. Apparently I am wrong.

Members of Congress, both Houses, also have gone off track. The name calling rivals the toughest schools. The loss of patriotism, with Federal and State level officials allowing in, facilitating, the invasion of rebels, geared for revolution and harm, directly into the buildings. The attacks based on open hatred and prejudice, and yes, the reaching to new heights, or should I say depths, of anti Semitism from members of a group of vicious wanna be Alpha Girls. Their aggrieved response, claiming anti Moslem memes and tropes - and 'all' they did was to compare Israel and the US to the Taliban and Hamas! Only. The backbiting. The turns of those like Sinema and Manchin. The lack of attention paid to constituents and their desires rather than the at times perverse wishes of their own. The actions of these self same representatives of the people. As if!!

A nation of sneaks and more sneaks. Perverting the laws because they are inconvenient. Actually rebelling against this country, its government because they do not like it, well, toddlers do a better job of dealing with frustrating situations than these supposed adults do. Dressing up to resemble the 'tough'  look they imagine frightens people, rambling, rampaging through official buildings, shouting threats of murder, schoolboys on the loose at end of year release time, only these 'boys'  had murder and death at the end. Not a good ramble.

I believe that we have lost sight of proper behavior and management of our own wishes. We have forgotten, or now deem unimportant, the needs of others, how to negotiate, physically, psychically, emotionally, with others; hence, the violence upsurge and the excuses, the oh so righteous denial of its oh so 'wrongness'!

Locked up for over a year, given orders some did not like. Never mind that those orders saved lives, including theirs, even as over 600,000 died and close to 4,000 more are dying everyday. They did not like them, felt affronted and insulted. Like infants! We became antsy. When allowed out of the house, our quiet time out session over, we went wrong. Badly so. We were impatient beyond words. We pushed and shoved in any manner or form. 

We yelled,  threatened those who dared to think otherwise. We became followers of dictators and their hateful philosophies. We went on rambles with dangerous endings and plans. We simply lost sight of courtesy. Of social behavior. Of the interfacing of the crowd and the individual. We grew selfish, plain and simple. That selfishness has only grown in intensity and coverage, with expected results, exacerbating the situation even more.

What is the end? What is the cure? Is there a cure? Who the hell knows. All I know for sure today is that I am oh so tired, very tired of this, of all of this, and wish people would grow up, remember the lessons of their kindergarten teachers, their parents, their religious leaders who were truly religious. So tired.  

Thank the Lord above for family and friends. Think for yourself. Think again. Reevaluate before acting. Put on the shoes of others before taking a walk down a path that should be blocked off. Be human! Be humane! Be a thinking being rather than a simply reactive one. Understand consequences. Do not blame others for one's own faults.

Again - be human!! A good person. Simple, yet so apparently unachievable. A great shame. Dangerous, as well. Maybe we should all Rip van Winkle again and wake up,  this time in a better mood. Maybe.

A PLEA FROM THE HEART

 " We have seen a brick thrown through window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved into the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages." (Biden)

Rutgers leaders forced to apologize for statement condemning anti-Semitism..

"Anti-Semitic incidents in the country have more than doubled"

“I said that the seeds that gave rise to the Holocaust have always been with us. They have found root across cultures, faiths, and generations. “I said that the seeds that gave rise to the Holocaust have always  And they have reemerged again and again, especially in times of change and uncertainty,” Obama said.

Anti-Semitic attacks are being reported in US cities

 “these statements are anti-Semitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile to many Jews. We must never forget that less than eighty years ago, within the lifetime of our parents and grandparents, six million people were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust because they were Jews. Israel has long provided the Jewish people with a homeland in which they can be safe after facing centuries of persecution.” 

Ilhan Omar compares and equates Israel to Hamas, a known terrorist group, saying they commit the same kind and numbers of terrorist and criminal actions. Really?

 Read those words and then the words of the song that follows. This has gone on for 3,000 years. We are tired. We are weary to the bone, to the core of our souls. Understand the horrors of anti-Semitism. It is not a prejudice wherein a select few of a group are targeted or the group is defined as being allowed only certain roles and rights.

 Anti-Semitism is an existential prejudice with its clearly stated goals of killing, wiping out the Jewish people to the last child. That is the difference between prejudice against or aimed at certain groups and that of the prejudice inherent in anti--Semitism. Understand the current of fear running through Jews today. Hear them discuss in every meeting, every discussion, if it is time to leave, not wait too late, too long, as the Jews of Europe did. But then again, where could they go? Every door was closed to them; at least we have Israel.

The words and the meaning of these words are clear. It was written by one who perished in a concentration camp. It was written in Yiddish, the language of so many Jews. It was sung by prisoners, and why, because they were Jewish, had Jewish blood and therefore were deemed unworthy of life.

They could not live here. They could not live there. They could not live anywhere. They could not live. At all. That is anti-Semitism.

Note that left and right refers to the directions that meant instant death, gassing, shootings, or deferred death, before dying of starvation, illness, and murder. Listen to the song on you tube.

Wo Hain Soll Ich Geh'n - Where Can I Go?

Tell me, where can I go?

There's no place I can see.

Where to go, where to go,

Every door is closed to me.

To the left, to the right,

Is the same in every land.

There is nowhere to go.

And it's me who should know.

Won't you please understand?

Now I know where to go.

Where my folks proudly stand.

Let me go, let me go,

To that precious Promised Land.

No more left, no more right,

Lift your head and see the light.

I am proud, can't you see?

For at last I am free.

No more wandering for me.

Now I know

Where to go.

........There is nothing more to say.

SO, TO HELL WITH TRUTH AND REALITY

 Welcome to a strange yet, familiar world, insensible, unthinkable, at least to those who have been following trending thoughts and behavior through it all. That is, if they took off the infinite layers of obfuscation laid down by traitors, by insurrectionists, by those who would willingly, maliciously, brutally, take down the government of these here United States of America.

 In fact, this is exactly what they tried to do, not only thinking in the abstract, but acting upon those very thoughts, planning for it all. The truth and reality is that the very name of our Republic is a misnomer, for no longer are we the united states. In fact, too many of our individual states are divided within, rural vs. urban, extremists vs. what, shall we call them lesser extremists? Is there such a thing? In any case, we have lost all sense and all contact with sensibility, intelligence and understanding of consequences. In fact, that is a willful act and behavior of the rebels.

 "...the report is how it lays out that Capitol intelligence officials downplayed the threat of violence, even though, to quote the report author Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., "The attack was, quite frankly, planned in plain sight."

Intelligence officers had a huge amount of information about a planned attack because the insurrectionists were openly talking about it online and in great detail. But despite this, intelligence officials deemed the likelihood of an attack as "remote" and "improbable," choosing instead to ignore right-wing militia types openly sharing maps and strategies for storming the building. There are a lot of theories as to why Capitol intelligence simply didn't take the insurrectionists seriously..."

How is one supposed to react to that statement? Just how deep is the rot beneath, the ranks of those willing to subvert this country, to do what our enemies from without have tried to do. All the while those from within conspired to do the same and came too damned close to success. Too close, almost negating the comfort and relief at their failed attempt - and at the cost of that. 

Whose fault is that? Congress? The Capitol Police? The growth of extremism and its acceptance, perhaps even favoring it? Encouraging it? The truth? All of the above and more. Apathy. Hatred. Hopelessness on all sides. Unrealistic demands. The encouragement of those demands? Us? Again, all of the above and more.

More acidic, more frightening - and if one is not frightened by the letter of these five Senators, well, perhaps one is beyond hope, all too willing to allow the insurrectionists leeway, all the better to grow bigger, better, to eat us up, a big bad wolf of real life.

 “DOJ’s apparent unwillingness to punish these individuals who allegedly committed crimes during the spring and summer 2020 protests stands in stark contrast to the harsher treatment of the individuals charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.,” the senators wrote to Garland. They added, “Violence, property damage, and vandalism of any kind should not be tolerated and individuals that break the law should be prosecuted. However, the potential unequal administration of justice with respect to certain protestors is particularly concerning.”

Long maintaining that the Senators from Florida are beyond repair, way out there, dismissive of their constituents, tossing them away as yesterday's trash, useless, unimportant, well, here we are at the foreseen ending. Or is this the ending? I doubt it. Add to them Cruz. Lee. Tuberville. Know that there are others such as Hawley and Jonson. Enablers like Graham. McConnell. Greene. Even those such as Sinema and Manchin who cannot make up their minds as to where their feet belong.

Damage done during  a protest, damage done through violent hanger ons not part of the protest, via violence aimed at protesters and returned to the attackers, well, sorry, not the same. Not at all. One is protest for social justice, a long upheld and valued trait of our country. How many times can we recall protest marches and gatherings. So many, some of which included me - marching, chanting, not rioting, not robbing, not planning the overthrow of the government. Was the Selma March a rebellion, other than against injustice? Were the marches on Washington, in all its forms and focusses planned rebellion? Wishing to overthrow the government? Most emphatically no. Yet Jan. 6 - the evidence is clear. A horse of another color.

Truth is truth. Truth will out. Always and forever. Even though it might take time. Even though it be denied. Truth is truth. Responsibility for the attempted insurrection, its planning, its transition from paper to action - rebellion all, conspiracy all, and truth all. Reality demands the full story, the full consequences to those who planned and those who participated in it. Yes, and even those who now claim they are too stupid to know what they were doing or who foolishly allowed themselves to be led by their dumb noses into the mess. Uh huh!! Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they did or some version thereof? No. Nope. Nyet. Nein. Non. Choose any language and it all adds the same. A rebel is a rebel. A traitor is a traitor. High or low - all demand accountability and punishment befitting the crime. 

Can we get real here? Our nation is at stake. Really.

The truth is as clear as the nose on your face, unless yours is as dumb as those of the rebels! Really!

No to hell with truth and reality. Unless we are willing to add to the unease and conflict, the push to destroy this country. Just as I finally felt comfortable once again to sing the national anthem, to pledge with a full heart. Damn it!!!

TO IDIOCY AND BEYOND

 So here we are, standing around, standing silently, in confusion. Standing silently because we like what is going on. Standing silently because we have no clue as to what to do. Standing silently because we have no understanding, no comprehension, how badly we are mired, stuck, drowning, suffocating, and doomed to a future that will be not to our liking. Not at all. But, there is the clarion call again: "To idiocy and beyond!' And we  follow. Like lemmings. Like a herd of buffalos running, stampeding, right off the cliff, without even a reason -just following the one ahead of us who is following the leader at the head of the herd who is leading us all to our doom.

And so I wonder. How the heck did we get here? How did we all lose our smarts at the same time? How did we all forget what is important in life? How did we all forget to know, deep down, in the very core of our being, that all people are humans. All are equal, if not in intelligence, or innate gifts and talents, in abilities, whatever the defining terms of their identity, all belong to the same unifying class - that of equal participants in the world, members of humankind, equal in rights to all. But we forgot. Out of laziness. Out of apathy. Out of anger. Out of idiocy. And we are idiots, clinging to that idiocy to the point of no return.

Today we are still following old, antiquated thoughts. We are defining groups of people as untermensch, not deserving of the same rights and privileges as the rest of humanity. So we are still killing members of another sect of Islam. We are still killing members of another African tribe. We are still killing Uyghurs and deporting them at best. We are still fatally holed with bigoty against skin colors, against religions. And we are perpetually trying to do away with that pesky nation that continues to flout all attempts to destroy it - the Jews.

 When will we stop this? When will we all fall deaf to the clarion call of life endangering idiocy? Only the good Lord above knows, for it is beyond any rational reasoning to figure out or even begin to understand and know how to approach it with positive results forthcoming. There is such a resistance to this, to the acceptance of all, that we just keep digging our hole, the one we have dug already and insist on deepening. Idiocy. 

Last night one could watch the Kennedy Center Awards. It is always a beautiful production, meaningful and touching at the outpouring of honor and love, of appreciation for the artist and his/her contributions. This year's was no different, perhaps even more meaningful, considering the year and a half we have just undergone, the massive changes it has wrought, and the very iffy future we look upon.

 To look upon what once was, via the honoring of Joan Baez. To look upon the homage paid to Debbie Allen, a most talented choreographer and actor. Don't we all remember her from Fame. To hear the voice of Kelly Clarkson as she sang magically, bringing Garth Brooks to tears, as she sang The Dance, sang of what was, the despair as it was destroyed, the hope of yet more hope, more love, more light. To have a better dance through and of life. 

A future blessed with what is truly important. Returning from a long weekend with grandkids, holding them, their physical selves, I know  the truth of it all. I know the idiocy we are dooming ourselves with; I know we are heeding the wrong clarion call, to follow hatred, anger, nastiness, rioting and insurrection. I see the idiocy produce results that fracture our world more and more, dooming us to yet further life endangering idiocy. When will we learn? When will we know what is important? Garth Brooks said it all:

 “I want to see those people that are at the end of their rope and somehow have found a light through music. Somehow, they’ve made a friend at a concert that changes their life and forever they are best buddies — that sort of thing. I want to see people leaving that stadium loving each other more than when they got there.”

Amen!

CLAP YOUR HANDS

  There are times these days when it feels as if we are living in a land based on wishful thinking, all of which opposes everything in its path. If one says white, the other says green; if one says yes, the other says no. Automatic, robotic responses, particularly as the GOP members of Congress run under obedience either to Trump or McConnell. Adding up to the same result - a stall in the attack on desperate situations that need fixing: infrastructure, sane economic policies, preparation for a changed working world and the jobs to be available, a climate that will need to be pushed and shoved back into alignment, and yes, a chicken in every pot! 

Never forget the voting rights debate going on. Imagine! 2021 and we are once again debating who can vote, who can be squeezed out of that right and make it impossible for the opposition to vote in the first place. This is all led by McConnell and company, a man who says he will no longer talk to Trump but hell, he sure as shootin'  backs him up in every repressive, retrograde bill and proposal.

So where are we? We are at the point where Peter Pan asks the audience to clap if they believe in fairies, if they wish to rescue Tinkerbelle. We are just about there, though I hear no clapping! The average person, thinking person, in America, realizes that we need real action rather than wishful thinking. There is no more faith in the reality of fairies with their magic dust. There is no more positive response to "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands ". The clapping dims by the day. The fabled optimism and "we can do it" attitude of the American people are fading away in the distance.

Nevertheless, there are people who insist on holding on to that impossibility, who have an impossible dream. Manchin insists that by holding on to the  filibuster he will convince GOP Senators to see it Biden's way, the sane way. He bases this thought on the past, one which is truly over, down the drains, and relies on "7 brave" GOP members who oppose the behavior of their GOP clan. That number has shrunk from 10 to 7 and shrinkage is not protected against, but rather pushed, encouraged and demanded! 

You choose now: DNC Chairman: I know he wants to protect democracy but there will be no democracy if we don't protect the rights to vote of all Americans," "This is not a both sides issue," Harrison said. "Either you are for protecting voting rights and protecting our democracy or you're against it. We have to focus and do all that we can to ensure that all Americans, regardless of whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, get the opportunity to exercise that right."

Now McConnell: "an atrocity" that no Republicans would support.

"This bill obviously is designed to make it easier to cheat,

Furthermore, do not think this is only on one issue. It impacts all issues and the more Manchin holds out on his own Party, the more he encourages the GOP to stand firm, determined to turn back the clock, to better the lot of the wealthy and screw the middle and lower economic classes. Ignore the more and more frequent extreme weather events, the changing climates, enough to have physical evidence, wherein flora and fauna are adapting or dying to and with these changes. And folks, we are no different, as we die, fade, struggle and try to cope with all this. Not to forget the melting of the Poles and the consequential flooding of the world's lower areas as the waters of the oceans rise.

We have lost our way. We have lost sight of the fact, the desperately needed to cling to fact, that we are all Americans, thus deserving of the same rights and aiding in their ability to obtain them. We have rhetoric, acidic, destructive rhetoric, eating through our Constitution, through the noble plans of the Founding Fathers. We have allowed societal offenses to impact on our very fabric of country and citizens, defaming all in the path to a better society. That is wrong as well. 

Destroying that society, destroying the steps  already taken, demeaning all that brave people did because they were human, had faults, believed in the mores of the society of the time, destroying all in a massive, extreme, even offensive drive that smashes all in its way - why then, we will have a smashed America. Extremism, contrary to Barry Goldwater, is never a virtue. It in effect actually pushes the hope further and further away as the language grows harsher, the demands grow, and the impossibility of maintaining a democratic society, of compromise, under such conditions grows in leaps and bounds.

No, unfortunately we cannot recall Tinkerbelle even though she is revived nightly in book and play. Clapping our hands desperately, manically, will not change that truth. Nor will a louder, more desperate truth denying clapping of hands to prove to ourselves and others that we are happy. We can delude ourselves only so long before the truth slaps us in the face and then, well, the solution is way above my pay grade.

What I do know is this: We need to stop shouting at each other. We need to stop taking and maintaining unrealistic stands. We need to remember whether GOP, Democratic, whatever Party name one chooses, we are all American, committed to maintaining, perpetuating, the America "of, by, and for the people". Errors and all.

What is a virtue is some increased patience, a demanding one, but still, patience. We need to work with each other rather than fight each other. We need to stop the ramping up of the bitter acerbic rhetoric. We need to understand that no matter how righteous the grievances, we can never succeed for if we refuse to hang on, talk it out, the world will once again resort to its perpetual tool - war!

The groups that say enough already, well, while I empathize and agree, for almost 3,000 years the Jews have been chased from Pillar to Post, denied humanity membership, taken three steps backwards for every forward one, yet, today, we are in the midst of yet another epidemic of anti Semitism. It cannot be stopped with masks and vaccines. How to stop it? I am just as clueless as we all seem to be. How we stop many and all prejudices due to religion, nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, and any other stupidity that inhales people into its savage maw - beats me, but we must, we desperately must - figure out a way. We have all been patient, those suffering under the bloody, greedy hand of hatred. So can the rest of humanity put aside the killing swords, the illogical hatreds, the nastiness, the genocidal excuses and horrors and simply sit down and figure it out?

Clap your hands loud and strong if you agree.

Who knows? Maybe Tinkerbelle is nearby in hearing distance. Who knows?