TAKE TWO ASPIRIN, TWO KNOCKS TO THE HEAD, AND DO NOT CALL ME IN THE MORNING!

  Have you ever had that moment when you stood there in shock after hearing, seeing or reading something simply outrageous or previously unthinkable? Did you then question your sanity or vision? Did you then smack the palm of your hand to your head, a simple reset, you hoped? Did you then act upon the impulse to go home, take those two aspirin, stretch out on the bed in a darkened room, and simply hope and pray that it would all go away, at least by the time you got up from your so needed sanity restoring nap!

Well, ditto here, folks. Me too! Reading the news, watching news broadcasts, my most often used phrase is "Say what?!"You read it again. You flip through the channels or the internet trying to check on the reality of what you hope was an error, a wrong switch in your oh so challenged brain in these times. And then - dear Lord! It was real.

Here are a few from five minutes of perusal of the day's reporting.

"I said I was going to go down with the crowd. But they wouldn't let me go. I think if I did go down there, I would have stopped the people from doing anything bad," Trump added."

Uh huh! Sorry, folks. He said it. He really did. Well, just chalk that one up to more lies and increasing derangement. Gotta' laugh - else you will cry.

Here's another one that will perhaps give rise to the same thought I had after reading it. Shame on us? Shame on the country? Shame on all those mud slinging careless, selfish pols? Check it out.

"Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were," "There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out."

"If they get through that door, they're into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress," 

Okay. So....my thought? Maybe we should have let it happen! Huddled, crowded into a supply closet, afraid for their lives, after a big fright, a threat to their own physical safety and integrity, maybe, just maybe, a harmless punch or two, a touch of their own medicine, perhaps they would have manned and womaned up, done the right thing and tossed the creep out of office. Woulda'. Coulda'. Shoulda'.

Trump warns Tuberville to "Protect yourself." Right. This from the man who had no knowledge of any planned insurrection, of the bloodshed to follow, of the threat to the fabric of this nation. Yup. But he knew nothing. Ask him. Well, actually, he does know nothing, but manages to crawl into the heads of people and turn off their bullshit gauge! And so we have a  return to American history, yet another Know Nothing Party has emerged. 

How much longer till people finally realize that they are fighting the very people who wish to save them from themselves. The vaccine is good. Write that 500 times and maybe, just maybe, it might penetrate those thick skulls, reawake the wiring of the brain, causing it to function properly. Or is it too late for that? Guess my answer to that!

The same people who shout about "having the courage to say no to the federal vaccine mandate," Cruz tweeted. "It's the right thing to do - to respect the right of their employees to make their own personal decisions about their own healthcare." -  are the same people who rant and rave, even kill, as they seek to deny that same privilege of self determination to women seeking control over their bodes, their decisions, who, after much hard thought, come to a painful decision that an abortion is necessary. 

See, they, no one, is pro abortion. They are pro choice. Pro the dignity of women. These supposed pro lifers, those who beat up clinic staff, harass the women entering, are they prolife when a doctor is shot in the name of saving lives? Are they pro life after that unwanted child is born, no money to buy necessities. No money for health care. No money for food. No time for stimulation of the growing mind. No time for love and care. But nope! They are done with pro life the moment that poor woman has been forced to bear that child of rape or incest, or damaged beyond repair, doomed to a life of pain, or the child that would simply break the back of this woman and her family.

How does one reconcile the absolute point of absurdity of their stance when they speak out of more than two sides! When they remain willfully blind to the truth, buy into the crap spewing from the mouths of wanna be dictators, rush to buy books replete with the same lies, calling it "historical standards". Hitler is smiling down there , folks, a great big grin on his damned face, for he is vindicated, his beliefs and techniques proving viability. Worse, the ever increasing success of his are being mirrored today. The same history that wrecked the world, that slaughtered millions, that ramped up hatreds, is the same today. Just look around and see the parallels. We refused to learn from the past and so it has come back to haunt us. An oft repeated warning about that, but who cares  anymore? Two knocks? Like tossing a spool of sewing thread to a man drowning in rough seas.

The ugliness grows apace. A high school cheerleading squad, those very same people who snoot off to others not as "gifted" or  "special", hang up a sign intended to demoralize the rival school, claiming they are privileged white creeps while the squad and their school are the blessed ones as they attend public high school rather than a Catholic one. The echoes, the ripple effect of the hatred, the absurdities, the far fetched extents of the tentacles of hatred and anger are way too long. They have veered into the dangerous world of causative and caustic behavior, self righteousness, self pity and ever growing class hatred. So no we have Stalin grinning along side his now best buddy, his BFF. We lose.

So yes, take two aspirin, by all means, but perhaps a few more might help the pain of the so many knocks to your head as you try to integrate what you see and hear and cannot believe, into a  strangely deformed reality that simply boggles the mind. Calling for help? Unfortunately too many of those people are the ones instigating and profiting from the unrest, the violence, the threat to democracy, its very noticeable crumbling.

I think I need to take four Tylenol - no aspirin for me - kick myself in the head, and find there no help, so off to that darkened room until I must emerge again and face the awful reality. Oof! I know. Where is that chocolate for that cures everything. Does it not? I wish.

Seriously, folks, we are in a bad way. Whether we like it or not, try to deny it, it is here, it is upon us, and the future is even uglier. We are running out of time and room to redirect the country, to get it back up the ramp and onto the proper roads. Tick, tick, tick.

KNOCK, KNOCK......WHO'S THERE?

  Apparently no one. As the fire beneath the underpinnings of our democracy grows in size and ferocity, we are left with a huge portion of an electorate who remain, as one pundit said, "MAGA Morons". "I feel like whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it.”  Is that not adding fuel to the fire, when people willingly shut down their s..t detector? Spews indeed!

 When reality is denied, when these same morons, "deluded supporters all proclaiming that “Trump Won” as loudly as they could,"  (that)  “antifa,” the “corrupt FBI,” and the “deep state”    is the truth, well, you figure it out. What else can we expect from people with brain shutdown, when their leader says, in response to lawsuits re Jan. 6 and by injured protesters at his hotel, that "The Klu Klux Klan [sic] dressed protester case should have never been brought as the plaintiffs have no one to blame but themselves." Fire and brimstone, sulfur aplenty. Truth? An endangered concept in that camp.

Law, legality, respect for the law, consequences for breaking the law, well, we can all recite that question, "Where has it gone, Joe DiMaggio?" Seemingly, we can all go whistle in the dark for all the good it would do. The way of life that should be the rule of life, respect and obedience to the laws of the country, - down the hatch. The law itself is being increasingly perverted, block American guaranteed rights, such as the right to vote, to be safe from rotten apple violent law enforcement personnel, even as that oh so political Supreme Court votes personal opinions, akin to those of the Leader, Trump, shielding sanctioned brutality by those same rotten apples. Indeed Joe, keep looking for perhaps you will see a path through the smoke and ashes of that dangerous fire.

"My country is currently a disaster, it is experiencing the most dangerous situation within it since our civil war, that is, for 160 years. And we are getting dangerously close to another civil war, we are on the brink,"

So states an actor and musician, recognizing truth. On the other hand we get dangerous nonsense at that, how one political host from the extreme right, someone who should know better, states proudly that he "wanted to get COVID-19, and this was all part of his plan.

"Hence, so, I have engaged with strangers, constantly hugging them, taking photos with them knowing that I was making myself very susceptible to getting COVID. Which is, indeed, as bizarre as it sounded, what I wanted, in the hope I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics," . Adding, mind you, that he has been taking all the dangerous drug protocols of the Trump camp. Yet another example of people choosing to go against human instinct and protect their lives, rather than choosing to inject and/or swallow poison and boasting about it. Bizarre!

Can we not see beyond the bombast of a deranged, demented person, one who resorts to preschool schoolyard insults? Apparently not. Where and when and how was the match put to that fire that threatens the continued existence of America as she is supposed to be? 

I cannot answer that question in any manner or form which adequately explains it. It is that irrational. It is just so sad, so bad, so inimical to goodness and life as it should be. To borrow the phrase from a  noted author, "Cry the beloved country." Cry indeed. And please, can someone be there to answer the knock? Many someones?

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT - AMERICA?

  Forget Alfie. He is not relevant here other than perhaps serving as a representative of the great unwashed, wondering what values to choose, which paths to take, what decisions to make. But unlike Alfie, whose decisions take place in a movie, the decisions we make, in real life, are not rescindable. Even should a decision be overturned down the road, the harm has taken place already, or the harm will presently take place, depending upon the time set of these decisions. Hence the question: What's it all about, America?

We can dodge the question no longer. It has become a question whose answer demands great attention and inner examination. It requires an understanding of the harmful effects of a snowballing mob, rolling all along with it, growing in an intensity which negates individual will, morphing into a new entity, generally harmful in intent and consequence. Read accounts of Jan. 6, how individuals lost their uniqueness, merged into that new monster called "Mob of Rebels".

So what's it all about, America? It is about a decision we must make in the immediate here and now. It is the decision we must make about our national character, our defining characteristics and values, a determination as to whether we accept the responsibilities that have devolved upon us from the past through the present, hopefully into a less questionable future. What will America choose?  That is a question whose answers have demanded the riveted attention and concern of nations of the world. Certainly, at least as of yet, we remain a force for good, less so than before Trump, but  remnants remain of that impetus. Weaker, more exposed to existential harm, it has not yet left the room totally, without recourse or room for hope.

There is much to take into account, to be overcome, before we return to a position of sanity and faith - for a viable future for our kids and grandkids. It is vital that we look into consequences of our decisions. Immediate, even perhaps selfish, demands must take second, third and last place in a race for a non apocalyptic future. That future has been described, even annotated as to the year we will have crossed those red lines that cannot be erased any longer. That year, those years, are actually within the lifetime of most Americans living today - and the rest of the world as well.

Will we choose policies and thought over cultish veneration of a personality? Will we lose our individuality, merge into the "mob", the entity which enables us to allow our prior moral roadblocks, to be subsumed, consumed, into, by, that 'mob', that living, breathing fire and danger entity negating all that oppose it, negating any defiance to it? Will we enjoy it? That possibility, that world of Hitlerian resemblance and modeling, has been proven to be possible, eminently so. The mobs of hate, the ugly crazed, screaming beings willing to do harm, even kill, in the name of that hatred, for that 'leader', are real. People willing to throw kids into cold, harsh conditions - and justify it - are here. Been there, done that. Our own homegrown Nazi wanna be's. If we allow the backward and oh, so very dangerous Trumpian values - or lack thereof - to determine, to choose our roads, we will have indeed, that very ugly future and an inhabitable world with a very limited future. Of some sort. or none.

See, at this point it is not only Trump, but also those who would follow in his footsteps, who endeavor to outdo him in all his ugliness. Hawley, Cotton, McCarthy, DeSantis, Abbott, Cruz, Gaetz, Greene, even Haley has joined in. No lack of wannabe purveyors of hatred and hopelessness. None. At all.

I read a definition of the dementia caused by Alzheimer's. "no survivors.....It destroys brain cells and causes memory changes, erratic behaviors and loss of body functions. It slowly and painfully takes away a person's identity, ability to connect with others, think, eat, talk, walk and find his or her way home." It is ugly, a very real possibility as our population ages. Worse, apply it to a nation that has lost its way, incurring a national dementia, acting within that deadly, ever darkening night. Are we, have we, become that demented nation, developed national dementia as we sink deeper, ever deeper, into a national Alzheimer's? 

What's it all about, America? It is about us. It is about who we are. It is about who we will be, the values we will champion. Life? Or Alzheimer's? What's it all about, America?

THE WATER? THE AIR? THE PLASTIC? THE ???????

  What do you think? To be able to answer one must push an internal brain reset. One must turn off reality, turn off the natural instinct to protect oneself, negate any positive, realistic thinking and go to automatic conspiracy mode. Got it? Got it. Good job.

Additionally, one must accept the rule that bans independent thought. No choice in that. For that minor sacrifice, for that adherence to all the rules, what do you get? You get a red hat or a label of a 'progressive' or at the highest level, an ability to cheer on blatantly false statements whose glare  blinds all. Thus, you, too, can be a member of the newly twisted society and nation that is America today. Such a privilege! Such a joy!

So....you tell me. What the heck has happened to the people of this nation? Where has independent,  strongly tethered to reality, thinking gone? Has it been eroded by something in the water? In the air we breathe? In the plastic overrun of the world? In climate warming? Where? From what? Or perhaps it is a pandemic which we did not notice, so busy were we, are we, combating COVID? Aha!! Got it. The aliens. You know, the ones from that dark planet, who manage to magnetize our bodies through a COVID vaccine, forcing us to attract teaspoons onto our bodies.! Got it!

 But wait! There's more. Do not forget the pizza store and the trafficking within. Do not forget the rebels of Jan. 6, the anti-fas morphed into Trumpian logotypes for their nefarious purpose of ...who the hell knows! Deny all the lies, the ones which miraculously were converted into statements of truth, merely by a nod and a wink from Trump. And how well his sycophants learned that talent. Makes one proud.

Here is the best one. Contrary to every shrieking, screaming fiber of a body, seeking to survive, growing numbers of fools are believing all they are told, drinking the descendant of the Kool-Aid of Reverend Jones! How? Just look around and try to see past the film thrown over deadly nonsense. No, COVID is not a hoax. Yes, people do indeed die from it. Painfully. Alone. Yes the vaccines help a great deal but no, are not perfect - no medication is. No, horse meds are not the answer, most definitely not and in fact, well, a good substitute for that short in supply Kool-Aid!

The whipped cream on top? The patently false statement re masks. The same thing. Are they perfect? No. Are there better ones? Yes. Are there enough of those better ones  to go around. No, but they are so uncomfortable that most people would lay them aside anyway for the softer one, the three layered cloth or the four layer one, or one with an insert slot for a filter.

Now the cherry. There is a most definite conspiracy to take away all our rights. No mass events. No avoidance of masks and vaccines. No masks for the most vulnerable, little petri dishes of the disease - the kids under 12. Of course, their parents do not enforce the mask rule, poor little mites should not have to suffer that inconvenience. Nope, according to the 'valid' thinking of the day, better they suffer the worst of the pandemic. The parents will have proved their point. They remained stalwart proponents of independence. No one will force those awful life saving steps on them! No sirree!!

What has happened to the people of America? What has happened to logical thought? Where has the instinct to survive gone in these people? Why is it that perhaps the new immigrants, those seeking entry into this blessed country, are the only ones who continue to believe in its precepts, in the hope and the future it holds out for all? What has happened to us? When have we retrogressed to the temperatures of a previous Civil War and run down the tracks towards another, more bloody, more permanent one? Where? When? Why? Why? 

Why indeed. Until all those why questions can be addressed, we are condemned to a very iffy, troubled future. All of us. We are intertwined. No matter the political name one pins on oneself, we all are on this small, endangered, orbiting planet, and no one will escape unscathed. We will all face the consequences of this irresponsible and deadly, yes, deadly, behavior and thinking. What am I saying? Thinking? Apparently approaching extinction level. And it is all on us. 

PENS AND SWORDS, INK AND BLOOD

  "So I hear tell that once it was believed that "the pen is mightier than the sword". Words ain't stronger. Agin' the sharp end of a sword ?  Pshaw!"

Unfortunately, those who espouse that belief are blind to the very clear connection of words to those very sharp ends of swords. Words of violence. The perversion of words. The blood they encourage to be spilled, the very real and overt thread connecting words to the resultant violence - all denied in the camp of the red. The same camp which Greene, that incompetent, dangerous bigot, wants to know who supports it. 

 Unfortunately, boding no good for our country, almost half agreed with that thought while another large percentage thought it a good idea. A dystopian state within our borders, the validation of Newspeak, of 1984, of Big Brother, of hypocrisy as a national belief. A sword backed tenet of a new Bible, a new pledge of loyalty to a flag carried at an insurrection. A belief and system of government that belies the fact of equality for all. Hence people are not created equal, are not entitled to the same rights,  a new  statement in a new religion. A religion of false idols and the sacrifice of many for the benefit of the few.

"weird and wrong" to "pledge allegiance to a flag connected to January 6." " people got to get out there and vote."

“Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24” if his election fraud hoax is not “solved” first."

Two opposing viewpoints. Which are we to believe? Which are people following, caught up in mob rule, canceling their own individuality as they cede control to the power of words leading to those swords awaiting anointment with the blood of the enemy - their fellow Americans. This Trump madman, this deranged, toxic person has now given us the best present ever - the absence of Republican voters. The absence of deluded individuals. The absence of hate filled madmen - and women. The absence of the coppery reek of blood round our voting polling stations.

The GOP at this point is manifestly anti democracy. Read that in the words of GOP supporters themselves. 

"My personal message to you is think about putting your ego in check for the first time in your life. Not because you’re not right about a lot of this stuff, but because for the health of the country and for a true healing… that’s the way we can do it."

 " apropos of nothing, Trump recalled the unproven rumor against him stating that he likes being peed on for sexual pleasure." “I’m not into golden showers,” he told the crowd. “You know the great thing, our great First Lady — ‘That one,’ she said, ‘I don’t believe that one.’”

See the crooked logic, the evil plans, the twisted minds, the filthy, fetid swamp of their minds, the shame they bring to our very nation. They have callously agreed to support lies, to install lies as facts and Truth, to support rebellion, to support hypocrisy, to render this nation moot!

"I was born at night, but not last night,"  

That is the excuse of Grassley for accepting the endorsement of Trump, the same man about which he stated a few months ago: 

"President Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen even though the courts didn’t back up his claims," Grassley said in a Feb. 13 statement, following the Senate’s acquittal of Trump. 

"He belittled and harassed elected officials across the country to get his way. He encouraged his own, loyal vice president, Mike Pence, to take extraordinary and unconstitutional actions during the Electoral College count," Grassley said. "There’s no doubt in my mind that President Trump’s language was extreme, aggressive, and irresponsible."  

The pen or the sword? The ink vs. the blood? Unfortunately, I fear that blood will be shed for I see no rapprochement possible with people who refuse to think for themselves, who have no power of discernment, of distinguishing fact from lie with apparently no desire to do so. I see no possibility, or the rapid shrinking of the possibility, of healing our wounds and believing once again in unity, not two nations, one of Red and the other of Blue.

Sad. Discouraging. Ugly possibilities.

So others are now saying, worried, exactly where I have been living and saying for years. 

I hate " I told ya' so" - but there it is.

Would it were not so. Would it will never be.

Hope is dimming, the flame of the candle  sputtering.

Wake up, America.  WAKE UP!

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK

  Watches, folks, watches. It appears I have a vice of sorts and it all began with watches, many, many years ago. The guilty party here, aside from me - Swatch. I love their watches, from the simple to the more expensive, from the large faces and thicker bands to the elegant skin watches. I especially love the fun watches, the ones with bolder designs, yet lovely in appearance. So, I managed to build a collection of sorts without meaning to.

As time went on, batteries die, need replacement and that could be a problem, though it pleases me  to report that these batteries are easier to get and local jewelers can repair as well as 'rebatterize' the watches. (Shout out here for Bennison Watch Company= off Palm Beach Lakes Blvd.) Hoorah!!! Makes life a lot easier for those of us who accumulate Swatches. Particularly as Swatch stores have disappeared from malls. I believe the closest one now is in Orlando airport!  Tad inconvenient. Thus, picture my dismay when there was a deafening silence. No tick tock from them, nary a peep, even from the louder, older ones. Uh oh! However, I am happy to report that all but two are as good as new though unfortunately, two had fatal issues. Their tick tock is forever silenced. On the other hand, I now have three new Swatch watches! As vices go, not too bad. Gottta' love 'em!

Sorry to say that some tick tocking is not so easy  to fix. Local jewelers are unable to fix these mis-tockings. " all of this is now under a ticking clock," That is the statement re the last ditch efforts of a guilty, panicking Trump to keep his sins hidden, never to appear in the House or in courts. He asserts executive privilege, though he is not the current President, hence has none. It is also morally correct, and legal, that truth should out, as it always does, despite maniacal efforts to deny it. The Nazis did, with their burning of records, exploding infrastructure of camps, frenzied burning of bodies and dispersal of mammoth amount of ashes,  determined to kill Jews to the very last moment. They were held to account, though not enough.

 Such are the crazed attempts , the last ditch attempts, of Trump et all to hide their treasonous actions leading up to and including the insurrection of Jan. 6. As far as I am concerned, their continuing efforts with the Big Lie, of stolen elections, their horrific attempts to change voting laws so as to make it nigh onto impossible for many to exercise their right to vote are open treason. Awful.

"the President maintains his conclusion that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents provided to the White House on September 8, 2021."

"Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former President's assertion of privilege."

The above is, hopefully, the death knell, or at least the first tones of those tolling bells, for Trumpian horror. The beginning of the end to his determined efforts to twist this country around, hide the tick tock of its beating heart - the Declaration and the Constitution. One cannot attempt crimes and then use trumped up excuses - in so many ways! - to cover it up. His efforts, and those of his abettors in his crimes are the equivalent to the person who kills his parents and then begs the mercy of the court as he is an orphan!! Cannot have it both ways. Crimes of political homicidal intent will out, perpetrators will be held to accounts, and we see this all over the world. Unfortunately, too often it takes too long, has incurred awful amounts of harm and damage, and the road back is tough, really tough.

"Unfortunately, I think the president had some really, really bad advice," Short told Drucker. "The way the White House was structured at that point was that those people giving that really, really bad advice were given carte blanche access to the president, and I think there were no safeguards in the way the White House was being run at that point."

This cannot happen again. Bad advice? Ya' think! We must have safeguards in place. Deranged Presidents and their enablers, lost souls, every one of them, cannot rule the roost. We must make sure that proper tick tocks run the country in a smooth manner, and if needing repair, then we do it. Right away. No attempts to silence the tick tocking of the nation can be allowed to succeed. None. That simple. As simple as tick-tock. 

WHEN IS RIGHT WRONG?

  Perhaps we should, in present times, ask why is right always wrong, or why has wrong become a trait of right? When has it become, why has it become, part and participle of the definition of right, to include the definition of wrong, as well? When has it become synonymous with the words, intent, and actions of treason? When has right assumed its own self given 'right' to abjure the Constitution of the United States of America, to stage its own bloody rebellion, a coup attempting to overthrow the constitutional government of this country? When has right gone so wrong as to openly allow Supreme Court Justices to speak out, outrageously, for the 'right' view? Impartial? I think not. Right gone wrong. I think yes.

“I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,”

The above is the plaint of the right - and please forgive that term as that is what the 'wrong' deem themselves. The very words are incorrect, abrasive, signatory of the lying, the words of self delusion spoken  so often that they are turned into a mockery of 'truth'. Accepted as such. Right gone wrong. Again. Always.

This is not one day in January but rather one day which exposed all the dirt, the filth, the illegitimacy of those 'right' people. Their one day is the polar opposite of the 'one day' sung of by Mattisyahu and countless young voices raised in hope of that one day when there is peace, when there is harmony, when there is a replacement of strife and bloodshed with tools of amity, a modern statement of a very old Biblical statement - that nations shall neither carry nor wield weapons against each other; indeed, those swords will be beaten into plowshares. A dream of humanity from time immemorial, yet the same dream which we insist on sabotaging every damned time! When right goes wrong. And yes, to be fair, when left goes wrong as well.

When partisanship goes nuclear, when right becomes the fodder of false debate and very real attack, then that 'right' which opposes the right becomes oh so very, dangerously, wrong. When in the name of 'right' a governor, with presidential ambitions, G-d forbid, wreaks havoc as he walks, stomps, heavily, upon the rights of private companies as well as giant companies necessary to the economy of Texas, in the name of 'right and rights', well, where does the right go from here? The only path left is a critical fork in the road: either dissolve in the name of sanity, recognize the dangerous absurdity to which it has fallen, or commit further to it, taking on the teeth, the nails, the bloody desires of a Jason from Halloween, another Hitler with ambitions to inflict more of this perverted 'right' upon nations, not only individuals.

Truthfully, I believe that their choice has been made. Consequently, we ourselves are now faced with a choice: either we resist, forcefully, truly committed to this existential battle, one of long duration, or we cede it all to them, accept the results, the terrible to contemplate results, and reap what we have allowed to be sown.

The warning signs are there. The report released by the Senate makes - or should make - any truly right person cringe in shame and disbelief. Yet there it is.

 "What I said is there are states that didn't follow their legislatively set rules,"  "So the statement is flatly wrong, and the suggestion that we should have held oral argument is ridiculous,” 

When these two statements can be made, one by a Supreme Court Justice, actually abjuring his own words with the very same statement allegedly doing so then we are almost lost, only a faint clue leading to a way out, to a salvaging of what remains of our country, its values, its true history, its chance for a future, our kids chance for a future.

"the case for the legislature that approved the Texas abortion ban to be impeached for treason, asking how "a state can avoid complying with the constitution by passing a law that forbids a court to correct them while they do it" without consequences."

Yes, it has come to this. The right kicks the Constitution in the face. The 'right' kicks the people to the curb, following the dismal example of its god, Trump. even outdoing him in their zeal to prove their 'rightness'. The 'right' declares open war against the federal government, in fact any government, while, at one and the same time, attacks the supposed violation of rights of the individuals even as at the same time, they shred those very same rights in their mad stampede to perdition and havoc, as they create their own reactionary, rights depriving laws. Oh, Hell!!

America's Cold War. Against each other. As our enemies without engender their own battles against our country and win. As we fall behind. As we reject our own progress. As we encourage outrageous partisanship on both left and right, the 'wrongness' of it all. Super contagious, deadly as the Delta variant of COVID. With, apparently, no vaccine of sanity in sight.

When is right wrong? All the time. When it willfully abandons the true right. Deserts truth. Engages in harmful activities for state, country and inhabitants. Openly, unapologetically, rebels against the legitimacy of the legitimate government of these states, of the United states of America. Brazenly, commits treason. Then, right is wrong. It is upon us, no one else, to right the right. Before it is too late.  

FROM WHENCE?

  History is replete with people, individuals and groups, nations, asking, in plaintive, even frightened tones, that exact question. From whence? Where do I - we look for rescue, for aid, for advice, for safety, for sanity? Where? Oftentimes, it is nowhere to be found, the answer to that plea, the port of safety, the path to that port, hidden.

On the other hand, the answer is right there, in front of our noses, as plain as the noses on the face, but we simply cannot see it nor, perhaps, do want to see it. We cross our eyes in order to avoid seeing that obvious truth. It speaks too tellingly of failure. The failure of society. The failure of individuals. The failure of truth, of justice, of values. Instead, society has deteriorated so that truths are buried, too inconvenient to be exposed. In exchange, we have lies bruited about, passed off as etched in stone, becoming ever more outrageous, ever more existentially challenging, threatening. Yet, we refuse to see the truth. Why? From whence, to whence, do we get the methods to change this growing threat to our lives, to our way of life, our peace and our sanity. Beats me!

In public, with no shame, people turn on their own words, endorsing an insane man and his Big Lies, his path to another term paved with stepping stones of discarded honor, trashed morality, stomped upon justice, truth crushed, all paved with an overlay of greed, of anomie even. How can we thus have a true society, for always, a civilized society must have laws, fair, truthful, laws. From the Code of Hammurabi to the codes of today, there must be law, fair, impartial, with protections for all. 

We have discarded those laws, that critical necessity for the continued existence of society. In this case we must return to history and examine it, seeking lessons, seeking understanding, seeking to return sanity to a crazed society. Laws are now perverted, legality questionable in its morality. Nazi Germany had laws, a legal system, but most assuredly it was not moral. Not perhaps even legal. Rome's law system collapsed of its own weight of trash and debasement piled atop, smothering it and Roman hegemony. The same with Greece, with Egypt, with any system hampered by a perverted, dangerous false set of touted values. 

From whence? Certainly not from GOP members who have Faustian bargains in place. Certainly not from those deluded people who spurn troublesome truths about climate, about the razor's edge upon the earth itself is poised, who defy the truths of science, and instead use pseudo-science to push their own deranged agenda, all the better to foster hatred and tragedy. To grow an evermore unfair  society where the majority are oppressed, mired in poverty, with nary a chance of changing that status quo. That, apparently, is the present goal of too many. Woe upon us if we allow further growth.

So, again, from whence? The whence is to be found within ourselves. We need to actively, proactively, confront those who would destroy our society, its path to progress, to improvement, mock its errors, even as they propose horror in exchange. There is no magic source of help. There is no knight in shining armor. There is no army waiting just over the horizon to save us from ourselves. We must deny Trump and Trumpian cult behavior, its ugliness, its corrupt philosophy. We must reject the lies, the immorality, the danger to ourselves. We must. If not, we are lost and along with that comes the additional corollary of denial of a future of any meaning or value or hope to our own descendants. Yes, that will be upon us. Is that what we want? It is certainly what we are allowing, fostering its growth, ugly growth, covered with a black mold that will poison society, killing off any positive impulses, smothering any justice at all.

From whence? I am growing more and more concerned, convinced, that we are headed into a terrible time, condemned to repeat ugliness of the past as we refuse to learn from it, to accept its truths and lessons. From whence? From nowhere until we ourselves wake up. No five more minutes. Now!! The alarm is ringing, shattering the peace of righteous sleep. Wake up.

IN DISTANCE THERE IS GRACE

  Said by a person discussing the heartbreak of a loved one with severe depression, it is a sentence with its own grace. Indeed, when caught up in the stress and strains one cannot see the craters awaiting all involved, with nowhere to really turn for guaranteed cures or even answers as to why this happens. It is lonely. It is hard. It haunts one for a lifetime according to the writer of the essay.

Does distance give something, someone, a piece of grace? Yes, in the sense that the hard, sharp and jagged edges of immediacy have been dulled a bit by time. The anguish of what coulda' woulda' shoulda' been will never leave, but at least the immediate agony is a tad dulled, to the point of enabling talk of the loved one with laughter, as well as with tears.

However, the question remains. Does distance allow us to see things through a different mirror, one of time? Does it, in fact, allow for truth to emerge, unobscured by the pressures of immediacy, a need to act, to fix, to condone or condemn? I am not sure. I have observed the pulling away of people from unpleasantness, the denials they use to safeguard themselves from the anxieties, the fears, the stresses that arise from unsettled conditions and situations. Particularly if the distance in time is not really all that great. People get tired of hearing about it, turn away from it, magical thinking, but there it remains - no grace indeed. In fact.

"President Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen even though the courts didn't back up his claims," and "belittled and harassed elected officials across the country to get his way." Grassley added that Trump "encouraged his own, loyal vice president, Mike Pence, to take extraordinary and unconstitutional actions during the Electoral College count."  "There's no doubt in my mind that President Trump's language was extreme, aggressive, and irresponsible," sharing his view that all involved in the attack -- including Trump -- "must take responsibility for their destructive actions that day."

"I believe the President bears responsibility, and that is why I urged him personally to call off those who were violently storming the Capitol last week." Hinson added, "I wish he had spoken up sooner, but he did not."

All of the above are statements made by Republicans regarding Jan. 6 and Trump involvement. Add a little bit of time to this tainted stew of politics today and we get this: "First of all, [Biden] didn't get elected, OK?" The crowd responded to Trump's buffet of lies by chanting, "Trump won! Trump won!"  Grassley stated he would not be smart if did not accept the support of the winner. Tunes have changed, time allowing for a corrupting effect of distance, rather than a clearing up of the clouds of the time which often obscure the truth.

Apparently truth is irrelevant here. 

In this case, distance is no help. Distance of short duration only has helped those who would bring us down, who would destroy democracy, change the path, the destiny, of the world. In effect, with their blind and crazed adherence to denial of fact such as climate change and the pressing demand to act upon that, their demented belief in conspiracy theories that are way, way, out there - well, the future of this planet is not looking too rosy.

Time has not allowed us grace here. It has not eased the anxieties, the depression, that becloud our future and our present. Will we be allowed time to clear it up, to accept its grace? Dunno, folks, just do not know.

One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal says Facebook is 'proffering more talk &…

UNRULY PASSENGERS

  It appears to me that along with the COVID pandemic we have another. The pandemic of unruly passengers, those who forget the modicum of civil behavior in public. We can all recall our parents, or ourselves, saying, with a sigh of relief, that at least we, or our kids, behaved outside the home, putting a better face on us all. Well, that seems to have gone by the wayside, picked up by the trash gatherers. Along with that trash, we have unfortunately, tragically, thrown away the value of civil behavior. Hence, the impossibility of our nation engaging in civil discourse any longer. A tragedy indeed.

We do not hear each other any longer. We do not listen to our words nor the words of others. We only hear the noise of public misbehavior, the shouts, the jeers, the ranting and ravings which have too often degenerated into threats, real danger of physical harm. In fact, that took place on Jan. 6, thankfully less than what was planned for.  Hoped for by those who instigated the whole coup attempt. No, forgive me, there was a coup; it failed.

The epidemic of unruly passengers. On planes. In rage incidents on the road, in shouting matches on the streets, in obscene 'rallies', ostensibly for political support for a candidate, but in actuality, rallies of hate, of lies, by a man who has hijacked the plane, the train, he is on, much to dismay and danger. He and those cowards, misfits, deluded people who march along with him, to his dangerous tempo, are the unruly passengers on our ship of state. This once stately ship, beautiful in purpose, beautiful in values, beautiful in its attempts to do the right thing in public, is now decayed, leaks developing, rust accumulating, listing to the side, and passengers are falling overboard, as there is no longer any room for them on this ship of state.

Nero is said to have fiddled while Rome burned. Bad rap. Are our accusations re Trump and fellow criminals incorrect? Absolutely not. Read the accounts now out, the mammoth Senate report, the words of participants and instigators, their continuing egregious attempts to whitewash the whole mess, turn it into a 'patriotic' demonstration, or, amazingly, in the same breath, turning it into indeed, a coup attempt, but by the Democrats. These unruly passengers either steering or along for the ride, are truly skilled at avoiding truths, twisting them so that the original owner of those words do not even recognize them nor their original import.

See the wisps of smoke rising into the air over the entire country. See the forests burst into flames, uncontrollable, even desired by too many. "Part of something unusually evil" are the words of Grisham. Others speak the same  lingo, but where were they during this descent into hell? Wherefore and why did they not speak up? Why? Because they believed they were on the winning side, dreams of glory, wealth and power running riot in their heads. Their win would have meant permanent loss for our beloved country, our Republic, our "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave". The free and the brave are no longer welcome here. Too sad. Too horrid to contemplate, yet so we must. Else we lose it all.

 "...a man who attacked the foundations of our democracy throughout his time in office, ... Just nine months ago, he incited a violent mob to attack his own Vice President and threaten the lives of lawmakers who were simply fulfilling their constitutional duty to certify our election."

That is the man, along with his blind followers, who will destroy our country if we allow it. Yes, we. WE must demand an end to this farce, to making a mockery of our laws, of subpoenas, of paying dues where they are owed. Do the crime - do the time. Impose meaningful penalties for those who have spurned the law, thinking they are above it all. We need to find the courage within to do what must be done, like it or not. To do otherwise is to sign off on this country, to cede it to all those unruly passengers who would better have been left at the gate, or on the pier. Not along for the ride. Not on our ship of state.

Let us deny this voyage to those who would sink us along the way and deny us the lifeboats meant to save us. Let us root out the truth, hard as it might be, harsh as it indeed is proving to be. Sling them into the brig; have done with it. This is the only way, just as our parents or ourselves punished those who engaged in  public misbehavior, embarrassing all, so too we must punish those who embarrass this country in public, who undermine it, willfully, who deserve no mercy, no excuses. It is an existential threat, must be recognized as such, must be answered as such. Unruly passengers must be stopped before they get on.

BUBBLES AND MAPS, COOKIES AND SHOES

 No, I am not shocked, but yes, I am. How could I be shocked when for years, literally years, I have been writing of the danger Trump posed for our republic. Again and again, a miserable game: Trumpian outrage and blog reaction. But nothing helped. Even as the vote  proved that some sanity remained within the voting population, the number and the fervor of Trumpian die hards are enough to eat away at the soul of this country. How many more people are willing to cede this country to an insane man? How many are willing to establish prison camps, torture sessions, dark days of oppression and persecution? Apparently, far more than is healthy for the continued existence of the United States of America as envisioned. From the Declaration of Independence, through the Constitution and Amendments, via war after war protecting its independence and in defense of a better world, through mistake and error after error, through correction after correction? Out with the trash!?

This insurrection, this blatant coup attempt - make no mistake about it, for it continues on, well apace, its presence reeking of sulfur and the stink of hate. No illusion, it is a confident cabal of teflon law breakers, sure of themselves and their ability to evade, openly defy the law without compunction, no fear of the seemingly toothless law, as no criminal actions have been pursued in the context of this coup. WHY THE HELL NOT?

Two contrasting road maps, polar opposites. One lays out a map which demands action, participation, alertness, sacrifice. The other demands obedience and fear. Nowhere is this contrast of maps more obvious than in the members of the Supreme Court, our supposed bastion of the law. How things have changed. How Marshall, Frankfurter, Ginsberg, all the decent Justices are rolling in their graves, horrified at what has happened to their beloved, once honored and honorable Court.

Sotomayor, in a moment of sadness, in hopes of waking people up, says "There is going to be a lot of disappointment in the law, a huge amount,"  and continues with "But my point is that there are going to be a lot of things you don't like" and that the public can change." It is believed "She is crafting arguments for future advocates, she is creating these road maps for how to restore rights to disempowered people,"    Contrast that with the blatant lies and whines of  three never should have been Justices, disgraceful and shameful, and one who needed to have retired. So they whine: "The media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference. So if they think you are anti-abortion or something personally, they think that’s the way you always will come out.” and then, guess what? They go right ahead and do exactly that, proving the point. We are lost.

Our maps are crumbling, the cookies joining them in that state of crumble, even as the cliff edge and its underpinnings are eaten away, eroded by the war on the supporting foundations of that once stalwart, commendable, reassuring mountain. No longer. No longer. Not at all. We are that close to a successful coup. If it will not happen on the streets, or via frauds and attacks on campaigns, then it will happen through the even more frightening and quite possible path - turning the very law which is supposed to protect us and the republic, against us, using and twisting phrases, misstating, misinterpreting, but there all the same. 

We have seen much of it already, including a  400 page ultra frightening report on Trump's rabid attempts to overturn Nov. 3. His insane decision that he is the One, the Leader for Life and no law will stop him in fulfilling that goal. Along with him trail the suckups, the enablers, the power seekers, those who have ceded souls to him, marching along in the same shoes, fit to their misshapen cloven consciences, sure that the bubble their leader, Trump, resides in, is the bubble they too want. Goodbye to us. Hello to horror. Hello to The End.

No, folks, I have not jumped the shark or any other creature. Such is the peril we are in. We have allowed others, enemies of freedom, of equality, of rights, to steal the republic from right beneath us. We have enabled that. We have been indifferent, or careless, or pumped full of anger at the wrong things, fooled by a madman who hates those who are his base, his rabid supporters, who literally are willing to die to prove their loyalty to him and his twisted ideas. Manifestly dangerous untruths are accepted as words from the heavens. Religion is perverted, claiming G-d as their inspiration and justification. Such a shameful approaching end to a glorious experiment of mankind. 

Unless we act. Now. Demand criminal charges. Demonstrate that no one, nobody, is above the law. Prove that we will defend our country, what it stands for - or once stood for - and can and will do so again. Prove to history that we are worthy successors to those who have gone before, fought to defend this country, shed their blood, gave their very lives to it and its ideals. Can we do that? Are we even willing to do that, or do we think that life under Dictator Trump will be okay, not worth opposing? 

I hope not. I truly do. And yet - I despair.

NO DELIVERY

  Not failed delivery. Or missed delivery. Or late. Or will try again. Simply no delivery. At all. For months. And months. Despite numerous phone calls. Day after day. For months. False promises. Lots of empty words. Last night a phone call informing us that there is now a new position meant to address and fix this situation. Gee, wonder why I remain skeptical. It is not a personal problem. Nor an area problem. Apparently, it is a national problem. Whoa!

Much can be extrapolated and interpreted from this seemingly annoying, but minor problem. Sure, it bugs the heck out of us and other people in the same boat, but is it truly a problem of great import? Oh, yes, for understanding what it means, what it tells us is indeed both important and worse, truly, bad news. It does not bode well for the future.

What am I talking about here? Seems simple. The most annoying failure, for months, to get a simple thing accomplished, something which we have been doing for decades, wherever we lived. What? The daily delivery of the NY Times. Yup. Just that. First, day after day, then week after week, then month after month and I dread the future. Not so much for the delivery, as most days we can buy it, though far more costly to do so - and annoying! What is actually quite telling of this failed delivery system is of far more import than my convenience.

Last night I was told by the appointed person that this failed delivery was a national problem. Yes, national. The American pie system of daily delivery of the paper has gone underground, apparently dug its own grave for lack of personnel to fulfill the demands of a delivery job. Now mark you well. I am not belittling the demands of the job. Even as I am up, awaiting the early delivery I am used to, I am still in my home, not out delivering papers in the wee hours of the morn, day after day. In the cold. In the heat. On holidays. I understand that this is actually an important job. I respect the deliverer, showing my gratitude with a substantial Christmas gift. So what has happened to change this so?

COVID happened. A pandemic happened. Yet delivery remained in place for months, more than a year after the onset. What happened to change this fact, this process, seemingly minor, but really not so. In a wonderful gesture of understanding, sympathy, and good will, to tide people over as jobs were lost or sickness occurred, bonus payments, supplements, were added to unemployment compensation. Understandable as so many could not afford rent or mortgage, or even to pay the grocery bill, the utilities, or put gas in the car. This bonus, this additional payment, plus child payment additives, has ruined the system. It has ruined the delivery system of a nation.

No, not just the Times, but rather the implied delivery system of fair pay for fair work, a system wherein a job was done and payment was received in turn. The market and demand - or not - determined the rise and fall of these remunerations, of the delivery of the various services. While certainly not perfect, this delivery system worked. Till it didn't.

Americans are spoiled now. Able to sit home, able to pay bills, live a decent life, even as one did not work, did not partake of this promise, of this segment, of the national delivery system, Americans became used to not working. Simple as that. Now, the apparent thinking is  - why the hell go to work. Why get up every morning or middle of the night, to fulfill obligations of my part in this national delivery system? Hell, no! I would rather get paid for doing nothing other than enjoying my perpetual vacation. The system is broke!! 

Broken and shattered and I wonder if we understand that the simple failure of daily delivery of the newspaper is far more than that. It is the breakdown of the system to a degree which we have not fully integrated into our national understanding. But we are beginning to as we learn that hell, yes, there are plenty of jobs out there now. Some good. Some great. Some not so good. But they are there. 

Where are the workers to fill those jobs? Where are the jobseekers at the fairs, the beckoning signs of HIRING ignored? The standard of knowing one had to work for one's living? Gone by the wayside. And why not? If my bonuses added during the pandemic mean I can do the same or better than when I did work, then why work!! Think about that for a moment. 

That means that the driver of the truck that delivers food to the markets is not there - and neither are the food products. So they are unbought. The company loses income. The company downsizes. No fair value is generated. The economy shrinks. The costs escalate as shortages occur on a growing basis. Yet even as we whine, as we suffer consequences of increasing import, even then, we still do not go back to work. We prefer to 'work' at home or simply  stay home and get money for seemingly nothing. The system is patently now broken and demands fixing.

It is a difficult task. People have to understand how the market works. Yes, it is most manifestly not always fair. Capitalism is a poor system of economics, but it sure as hell works better than Communism or Socialism in the long and short run. There is room to move up, to better oneself.  Americans have done that for centuries, drawn immigrants hoping to do that, like bees to honey.

 The system of national delivery worked, with creaks and groans, with demands on all sides, cracked and fractured at times, but somehow managed to plug away as all, or most, understood to some degree at least that national delivery was a must. We need to return to that understanding. While we need to insure that people in America do not go hungry, that all children attend schools which actually educate, that shelter is provided for all, we also must insist that the bonuses of COVID time be stopped. We must encourage, explain, that we need the participation of all within the national delivery system or else it will not work. 

Or else it will not only be my NY Times not delivered, but much more than that. Not a good future to imagine. In fact, never mind imagine. Just look around, see the temperament of the nation. Understand that we had better fix the national delivery system, that we had all better become deliverers of some product or another, or we will face much worse than some annoying shortages.

In the meanwhile I want my paper!

BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND BEWILDERED

  How else to describe in possibly understandable explanation the current mood of the day. For several days I have been busy with other things and the days have passed with little time to peruse the news. Frankly, it was a pleasure, temporary as it was, my blood pressure remained steady with a diet lacking the Trump ingredient, yet all the while I knew, I know, that reality has its place in life and cannot successfully be ignored for too long a time. It has the unique ability of insinuating itself into the very corners of our lives, like it or not, realize it or not. 

Want a book. Oops! Out of stock. When will it be restocked? Dunno. The container is on a ship about number 96 in line to be unloaded. Here is another book suggestion. No, I do not like manga! Or perhaps you need a refrigerator for yours is hopelessly slowing down. Well, that will be about another 6-8 months. Oh, or about the replacement car so desperately needed so you can get to work without mass transit, you know, with all the fools there who refuse vaccination and/or masks, because it is all a hoax or they are invincible? Uh, that would be a definite, resounding NO! Used car prices, if you can find a used car, are to "infinity and beyond"! A new car, well, shortage of chips for all the computers that now reside within the car. Sorry 'bout that, but that is reality. It is there. It is in your life, like it or not, so might as well pay attention so you will have a list of good substitutions and alternatives for all shortages.

However in the meanwhile, our very unpleasantly dark comedic world continues. An aide of Trump is playing hide and seek with the House Committee on Jan. 6. Still does not understand that the truth will out; there are enough redundancies within the subpoenaed for that truth to be revealed under oath. Go, hide, you fool. Or we have Pence tripping over his own feet and tongue in a manifestly unbalanced act trying to reconcile his actions before, during and after the rebellion on that infamous day, and the chilling echo within his head of the mob calling for his lynching. Deny that? How can one? Reality. Like it or not.

Then we have the Lieutenant-governor of Idaho who obviously runs a life guided by the principle of when the cat's away, the mice - the mouse, here -  will play. No sooner than the governor is out of state then this fool immediately counters mandates, installs his own, and for what? The governor has said it will all be negated upon return. So what's the deal here? Reliving his days of yore when his parents would go out for the evening, no babysitter, and wow what he could do! 

We apparently have all decided that the three Bs of the title are the three Bs of reality rather than the better three B's of Biden - Build Back Better. So we force and foist our own preferred imagined reality upon the poor denizens, hapless, as they try to make their way in their own true reality. Truly, bothered and bewildered, even as the supposed leaders are truly bewitched by nastiness, by unruliness, by unimaginable ambitions.

Speaking of ambitions, speaking of reality that cannot be denied, much as we wish, here is a good one for you to absorb.

"President Trump's interpretation of executive power and his attempt to usurp the president may have paved the way for another, less personally insecure and more capable populist president - someone who actually did his or her homework and was skilled in project management - to pull a Putin in America,"

Yup, yet another former Trump servant telling truths. And we wonder, where the hell were they all this time? Why did they not speak up then? Did they know there would be a blooming and blossoming market for tell it all books, each containing more outrageous truths than the one before? All to horrify us as we realize how truly precariously we were and remain balanced on that razor thin precipice.

Well, reality is there. That is reality. Wonder if I can hide out another day? Let me rummage around in my waiting to be finished wood projects. Or perhaps a table to be refurbished? Something. Anything. Works for me today, anyway.

G-D'S WILL? G-D'S WILL.

  Throughout the history of man, the phrase 'G-d's Will' has been used to justify and/or explain away behaviors and events which left a rather bad taste behind. Used when there were no other words to be said, words being inadequate at the time.

G-d's will is one of the most arrogant statements ever. Using G-d to justify awful behaviors and statements that rend the heart and souls of people equally as harshly, as cruelly, as bloody as matching actions is arrogant and disgraceful. It is the fallback position of tyrants, of false prophets.. Words can cut deep, or they can ease pain. The use we make of them is our choice; G-d has nothing to do with that.

Words and their impact must have consequences. Words can enable. They can instigate and they can inspire and comfort. Who chooses? We do. The speaker of those words, the one who usurps G-d's authority, dares to avow that he speaks the words of G-d, well, G-d has nothing to do with that. That last sentence bears repetition as too many people forget it, forget the harm it causes, forget the consequences and go on to do worse. I am so tired of these actually godless critters who think they know it all and think they are successfully hoodwinking all within the reach of their words.

Sinema and Manchin apparently are blind to the harm of the words that accompany their destructive stance on the Build Back Better plan. McConnell spits out falsehoods with every breathe. Trump and his GOP-fascists - self explanatory. Words are twisted to such a degree that their original meanings get lost in their implications. People, in turn, simply stop hearing, stop listening, certainly not a result "devoutly to be wished". Worse!

On the other hand, words have great positive power, a side which provides for the healing balm they can provide, for the love they can endow, for the encouragement and hope given to those in need of precisely that. In fact, is it not true that there is hardly anyone who does not benefit from all that. While friends and loved ones are an integral part of providing that, there are other situations where perhaps the proper usage of words is of even more import, more telling.

I am lucky to attend such  a place at least 2x weekly, for a number of years at this point and intend to continue to do so as long as possible. Yes, it is a place where physical rehab is provided; however, there is much more than that. Here words create a blanket of hope and healing, of love and encouragement, of an insight and perception with one goal in mind - the betterment of those who come seeking help. This quest is successful, more than one could expect, for with the physical comes the emotional needs, knowing that one is not fighting the battle alone. This is of greater value than words can indeed express.

The work, the atmosphere, the very air, the words, are indeed doing G-d's will. No great boasts, no arrogance, merely a desire to do and for others. Something to 'devoutly to be wished" if I might borrow the words of the great Bard, Shakespeare. What he would have made of these times. 

In the dark, often frightening world of today, we need the sparks of light and hope that are found in my rehab. In the souls of those who give of themselves to others, who encourage and challenge  the physical realm, along with the warmth, the love, the care that is perhaps even more important. It is an eclectic family that does, quietly, (maybe not so quietly at times), G-d's will the way it is meant to be. Not boastful, not presuming, merely doing to and for others. Not to forget the laughter so integral to healing. That is it. Period. I am indeed blessed.

THE ANSWER, MY FRIENDS, IS ....

  ... not blowing in the wind, though winds are often used as metaphors for things 'acomin' down the tracks. Well, we certainly have something speeding down the tracks towards us and it is not a good one. It bodes worse for us than the mistrals of France, the chamsins of the Middle East or the Santa Ana winds of California. It is, in fact, just about the worst wind(s) we can get, growing stronger all the while. Whose fault? Well, for that, my friends, just look around for the closest mirror, no need for full length. The face will do. There, in that mirror, in the mirrors of America, you will see the enablers of these destructive winds, already over the coastlines of our country, already sowing harm, danger, and discontent. It is upon us - by us.

For years already I have been shouting, warning, pleading with readers to understand that America as it is, a democracy, a leader of the Free World, as a beacon of hope for so many, is living on borrowed time. We have never ever in our history been at such a point of peril, of dissolution. Not even the Civil War I rivals this as now, in Civil War II - and make no mistake about it for it has already begun (Jan. 6, anyone?) - will be, is, worse. It has those on the "Union" side also wanting secession.

I never jumped the shark. I was early on with the warning, with the understanding of what would ensue, what did ensue, what is growing, along with all the dystopian aspects of Trump and Trumpian supporters. In fact, it has gone way past what most people think. It has developed a life of its own, ugly, jagged edged, opposing all those who refuse to accept it as our future, and do not hesitate to use violence as as tool. With, or without, Trump himself. At times he is almost unnecessary, even been booed by his own people.

 Despite that gladdening one's heart, it bodes ill for the rest of us, for this poisonous movement has developed a momentum of its own. It feeds on the ignorance of people. It feeds on their irrational hatreds. It feeds on Lies, a huge foundational column of its movement. These Lies have been diagnosed as "disconnected from reality... a kind of social pathology". It accepts, as written in stone, crude, dishonorable statements such as the speaker who told an absolutely quiet, accepting audience, that 9/11 was CGI at the Towers, never happened, and the Pentagon was hit by a missile of ours, to hide missing funds. You might say HUH!!!! but the audience believed this!!! Believed it!!!What else will they believe? What else can be fed to them all the better to serve us up as the dish of the day. 

"The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War." says a neo conservative. Horrifying, warning, these statements continue with the prediction that there is a "reasonable chance over the next three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves." I agree with this statement, this prediction but beg to amend it. Not a chance any longer; it is upon us already. Federal authority is being challenged with the violence against school boards for imposing a mask mandate. Crazed Trumpian creatures threaten bodily harm and in fact, inflict it already upon those whom they oppose.

The question is what can be done or is it too late? I am approaching the point of belief that it is well past any possibility of returning to a pre Trump America. The poison has seeped too deep within the misguided, all now willing to accept as written in stone all the harmful aspects of a Trumpian world, all its crude, even murderous, authoritarian rules, its distemper, its mockery of all the hopes and dreams of humanity. Yes, all, for think not that if one is a white, male, WASP that you will benefit. Wrong. Only those who are within the cabal; the rest of all - go to hell. Your reward for suborning treason and hate, for supporting ignorance and lies.

The fact that Trump now walks free, despite all his crimes, despite his continuing criminal behavior, despite all the growing evidence - how shameful it is. All the creepy things that went on in the White House are exposed by its very actors who now think their tell it all books excuse them from  the guilt in enabling this, in contributing to the down fall of America. As one pundit said, "Someone needs to answer the question for us what happens when our Department of Justice, when our law enforcement authorities, decide they will not enforce the criminal laws of the United States?" We hear no answer. Only that deafening silence, and stifling inactivity.

The NY Times, much as I hate its bias against Israel, has told the truth re Trump and related felons, conspiracies, even as Trump rages on, slamming their Pulitzer Prize re Russian interference in the 2016 election. They title an editorial "Jan. 6 Was Worse That it Looked", detailing all that led up to it. So it was and so it is and so it will be unless we wake up and do what must be done. Else we are lost as a country. We are lost as a people. Simply lost and bereft.

Folks, this is a terrible time. People say they do not listen to the news as it's too unpleasant. A dictatorship in America, a loss of the USA, is even more unpleasant. Reality is as reality does and being willfully blind, ignoring things, hoping they will go away, is unproductive at best and at worst, well, we had better not go there. And yet, we are right there, speeding down that destructive road, the winds howling all around us, and all my fellow Cassandras , male and female, are falling by the wayside, run over by the angry ill winds of a Trumpian future. Woe upon us.

These winds are no good. They are vile, plain and simple. They are here because we have allowed them to be here, to exist, to feed upon us, to grow ever stronger, ever more destructive, ever uglier. We have done this. It is said that a people have the leader they deserve. Is Trump or Hawley or Cruz or Abbott or Greene or McConnell the leader we deserve? If so, we are lost. Man the boats! But where will the boats go? Where will there be safety in the world if the United States of America goes under? Think on that.

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES AND ENDS? MAYBE - OR MAYBE NOT.

  Why should I be the only one staring into the dark of night as I toss and turn, wondering just how I can fix, or contribute to the mending of this broken world of ours. Broken in so many ways, so deeply, grievously, that I wonder if there are enough dressings for these wounds. Worse, the question: what do we do if these wounds are mortal? Answers anyone? Thought so.

 Add to that the puzzling words and sentences I find during the day when I read. Here's one for you. The Joker, the Riddler of great pride, tells us "riddle me not" so this one's for you. No, not a beer. Sorry. but you might need one after trying to figure out just where the next few sentences lead us.

"There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence."  Meister Johannes Eckhart, circa 1300

Got that? Read it again, stretch the thought and its consequences. What that well known individual said, are we bright enough to argue and disprove? Think about it. If there is only a Now, then what do we do with the Past, or does it not exist in the sense that it means anything, and, in fact, counts for nothing, if at the end of the next thousand years we are at the same point, nothing new, nothing changed, only the always present Now. Dear Lord! Flickering memories of Philosophy 1, a course I most manifestly did not enjoy at the time.

Is there then no influence, no lessons from the past, no planning for the Future, a future which we hope will always be better than that Past and Present? Is there no use for planning, no room for progress, simply a waste of time? Do we live and agree with those who state, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we might die"? What a depressing thought, enough to put one in a real funk if followed to its end thoughts and meanings.

If the Present immediately becomes the Past and the Future moment almost instantaneously becomes the Present and then the Past, before one can even do that proverbial wink of an eye, then of what use is anything? Why plan? Why hope? Just do what is comfortable for you- but will others allow that to be or will we degenerate into our basest thoughts and motives? I know where I stand on that question.

Think that is only a medieval thought, with no connection to the world of today? Think again. 

"Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now." Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, 1999

Confused? Depressed? Hoping that your next class demands your presence? Publix? Whatever the excuse, it really does not work, for these words are not meant only to torture poor freshies. Nope, their content, their import is there for the adults of the world, if there are any left.

Think of the ads which bombard us 24/7/365. "Just do it!" says Nike. 'Live in the moment' blares another. We are dared each and every hour of the day to just go ahead and climb that mountain, dive deeply into the ocean, hop on top of the train rather than inside. Go for the adrenaline moment rather than plan for the Future. But there is no future we have been told. Evidently the ad people agree as do our politicians of the GOP - along with the idiots of the extreme left of Democratic Party. There is no realism in their behavior, certainly not of any consequence for a Future, which evidently will never come into existence. Head spinning yet?

Ready to push this aside, say life is not a philosophy course? But perhaps it is so in true existence. Where and how do we differ from  a thousand years ago. We fight with more 'advanced' weaponry? But dead is dead. We care for the hungry, the needy any better than we did then? Not with what I see around. We plan any better for a constantly changing world? Or do we allow that very world to disintegrate beneath our feet, in our  lungs? 

Where, how and when have we improved the chances for mankind to survive, to progress, to indeed be able to refute those philosophers, show that there is indeed a pathway for us. There we could delineate the Past from the Present, from the Future, that which is to come. Can we ever draw a distinct line which distinguishes the Now from that which is the Past and that which will be the Future?

Certainly they think not. They are not alone. Perhaps we can explain this lack of progress as something caused by a lack, a deficiency within mankind. They pass on the chance to do, to act, to better mankind. And so we doom ourselves. Our own fault. Our own blindness. Willful? Cannot help ourselves? Shakespeare warned us about that five hundred years ago. 

"There is a tide in the affairs of men / which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune. / Omitted, all the voyage of their life / is bound in shallows and in miseries." Julius Caesar

Dora asks, "Can we do it?" The Little Engine puffs away, "I think I can, I think I can." And we, the peoples of the world - what do we say, what do we think, what do we do? What do you or I do?

Philosophy class? Mere bull session material? I think not. We truly have not, as clearly as we should have, created the lines to which we can, with confidence. safely point to as that time which separates our existence into the Past, the Present - the Now - and the Future. We should have done better. Now go back to sleep or to mean thoughts, or to better thoughts, a determination to do better. One can always hope. Or can one?

SIDE EFFECTS

Bet you are thinking that here goes another diatribe re side effect excuses for not getting the vaccine. Or perhaps the side effects that arise from this nonsensical and dangerous game of chicken over the debt, the infrastructure's necessity for infusions of cash. And why. Uh-oh, here comes the shadow of Trump. Well, you are wrong. Yes, these are indeed issues of great importance, but this morning - a different take on side effects.

Every year, in September/October, depending on the Jewish calendar, there are days of great challenge for members of the Jewish religion, particularly those who are more stringent about observance. First there are the two days of Rosh Hashanah and then comes the meal before  Yom Kippur and then the break the fast meal. Four days later are the two first days of Sukkot, followed by four days of semi holiday, topped off by yet two more days of holiday at the end.

Sounds great right? Wrong. Ever so wrong. See, this is one proof that G-d is more male in character as no woman in her right mind would schedule so many days of holiday so closely. The resulting demands are exhaustive and exhausting. Trust me. I know. Been there, done that, still doing so, though at a lesser pace as the next generation picks up the responsibility.

What responsibility? That of the food! One holiday festive meal after another. Families and friends gathering. Friendly (yet, at times ruthless) competition over the lavishness, the variety, the complicated dishes that appear on the table, one after the other. Then the bemoaning by the hostess how so much food is remaining. Followed by the bright face of said hostess as she realizes how many meals could be gotten out of the leftovers. Thinking ahead to the next meal, to the next holiday, to the next year all the while her tablemates are groaning at the thought of more food, more meals, the food that accompanies the family on holiday outings. Then - the worst. The dreaded side effect. What could it be?

Even as all are sitting around the table, or relaxing and indulging in the holiday 'grazing' . There is that dread that stares them in the eye. That haunts their days and nights. That permeates every forkful, every luscious bite of sheer indulgence. What could be so consuming of thought, of mind? And eventually the body? Well, hint.

 There are the new clothes bought for the holiday, for the new season. There they are, sending out warning rays. Do not eat. Do not eat. Skip the desserts. Most definitely. But how could that be, when the desserts are so tempting: the sweet melons, the tart fruit and the cakes oh, the cakes.

So we make excuses. We are celebrating holidays, sharing in joy, in the holidays which have kept us together through the centuries. We gladden the heart of the hostess as she 'kvells' at how well it all went, already thinking of the next year, what could be improved, how could she outdo herself - and her friends! And we are celebrating even as we remember and recall the times in history when there was no food on the table, none to be had, a bad time for Jews, oppressed, imprisoned in ghettos,  prisons, concentration camps, denied economic opportunities, education. So we rejoice at the changes that came our way. So, we eat. a forkful for us. A forkful for our ancestors.

But wait. There are the days and meals of the Sabbath as well. By now we are all rolling around, real and true roly-polys - and here are the clothes, hanging in plain sight. Especially the garment awaiting that special occasion. You have to, must, no two ways about it, fit into that gown. No alternative. Even as you look down at the scale and wonder -"how did that happen". Even as you tug on the zipper a bit more and hold your breathe. But try doing that for five or six hours. Uh-uh.

And so you are now the official sufferer of the dreaded side effect of the holidays. Weight gain, at precisely the wrong time. That sneaky little pot belly coming to visit again, hanging around way too long. But, honestly is there ever a right time for that - weight gain and tummies? For that looming threat, the catastrophe of having nothing to wear at the wedding, the bar mitzvah, whatever. Every bite comes back to haunt you. Every luscious piece of cake, every indulgence, bites you back.

So, the next side effect - the drastic crash diet. The anxiety level every morning as the scale that haunts your dreams is right there at your feet. The hard work ensues. The promise to never do this again, never to indulge so much - and never to be kept. Not in the holiday spirit after all.

Uh oh. Just realized that Chanukah is right around the corner. More family gatherings. More friends for dinner. More latkes. More sufganiyot (filled pastries, with custard, chocolate, jelly, whipped cream - anything that is bad for you but sooooo yummy. The scale shivers under your feet, trying so hard to gain your attention, warn you of oncoming danger, but you stalwartly ignore it. Your goal for that gown has been met. Chanukah? Well, it will have to take care of itself, as usual, for the side effect, especially when shared with families and friends, the commemoration of our history and heritage - those are the true meaning, the true side effects. Think we'll struggle through another year, all the better! Scale, get thee gone!