One year later another election day. So what happened and what has happened during this year and most important, has there been any progress, particularly among the benighted? Well, one can only hope, but I think that there were some victories yesterday and some glimmerings of light and hope for the future. But make no mistake about it - there is still a long and difficult road ahead and we must be vigilant, careful, and proactive if we are to maintain our country as it should be and not as the morass of ethically challenged obscenely wealthy people who stand to crush the lower economic classes with taxation, no healthcare, no rights and no life.
The slogans of "war is peace and slavery is freedom" come from the prescient novel 1984 and while we have passed that year, left it behind, we have not left behind those among us who glory in its thinking and picture of a bleak future. These are the people who lie and lie and lie yet again. These are the people who follow Trump's path, who base all on wealth accumulation and power associated with that wealth. It leads to people such as Ross and DeVos and Price and Scott and Tillerson and so many others who are now in government ruining our country, taking down all safety regulations, all hope for the future and who, along with Trump, benefit from the rulings and policies of the government.
After one year we still have a president who is not a president. He is a big infant, an oversize baby who thinks in terms of making believe he is driving a big truck, or gleefully planning a "secret" trip to the DMZ, all the better to shout out defiance against the nearby madman, but in any case, failed in that, the trip a no go due to weather.
He has made the art of telling a lie a premier rule of his administration. He has embraced white supremacists, hateful nationalists, "America Firsters", critters such as Bannon, and spins on a dime, all the better to change his lies and change the narrative of truth. We have gone backwards during his time in office and the rest of his tenure is threatening indeed.
The rest of the world has begun to count us out, disinviting Trump to a climate conference, no room for him among 100 nations. America is not to be relied upon any longer because there is a deranged man at the helm. Impossible theories are put forth such as the fact that the proposed tax 'reform' is actually a welfare plan, for the wealthy, a give away for the bloated corporations who have stored away billions upon billions of dollars in oversea hideaways but that money has not filtered down to more jobs, better pay and benefits for the worker bees. Nope, and now he is proposing more money for them. There is no such thing as truly trickle down economy for the wealthy keep it to themselves and the corporations just hoard the money like uncle Scrooge in the comics.
And meanwhile America keeps burying its dead, shot down in mass shootings, babies and all.
The proponents of free guns shout how one man with a rifle shot the shooter. True, but after how many deaths, after how many babies shot multiple times and if there had not been an availability of this assault weapon there would have been no shootings and no need for a rifle to have been in church. Even country music people have begun to come around to the necessity to change the rules, to make it possible to ban assault weapons. When will we ever learn? How many more deaths and horrific wounds and mutilations will it take for us to learn that and shut down the extremists of the NRA? How many more balloons and teddy bears and flowers and pictures and crosses will it take to finally get that message through?
And so one year later we are mired in the muck and filth and incompetence and evil of the Trump reign. We have made a start but more needs to be done. Much more and quickly. One year later and so much damage has been done. Where and how does it end and for how long will we have to bear the consequences of his mismanagement and cruel policies. Is there even an answer to these questions?
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
YEAH, THEY DO
"Guns don't kill people, people do."
So we have heard and seen time and time again, but here is the truth - guns kill people. If guns were not so many out there then perhaps we would have fewer killings, certainly fewer mass killings. Yes, they are inanimate objects, but the same as we do not want people wandering about with massive butchering knives, we do not want people wandering around with assault rifles and weapons.
There is another fallacious statement that seems to be making the rounds and supposedly proved itself in Texas - that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yes, a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy, but the point is that the bad guy should not have the gun in the first place! And by the time the good guy used his rifle, 26 people were dead and countless others were wounded, some grievously. And a family was almost totally wiped out with a hero of a mother who gave her life trying to shield her four children.
We are the only western country which allows so much gun freedom. Again, yes to the Second Amendment but also yes to simple and common sense restrictions. I honestly do not know why it is so difficult to understand that and look how easy it is to slip thru the cracks. Go to a gun show. Order on line, deep web, or have someone forget to put in some info on a bad dude, or even buy in a state where there is no background check or one that disappears with the passing of some green bills from one to another. And these guns kill people! They certainly do.
How many more mass killings are we going to have and what will be the end result. Will we turn a blasé eye to them, ho humming as we tsk tsk and turn the page as so many do on the constant huge bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we going to become a country which eats her citizens? Weapons are deadly and they become even deadlier in the hands of the untrained, the mentally ill, the evil and the careless. They kill, yeah, they do. So return to the lists and pictures of those killed in Vegas, in Texas, the little ones, the young men and women starting out, the parents, the grandparents and ask - where does it end?
I do not expect great results when we have a madman say that it is a mental issue, that the person was deranged. Yes, anyone who contemplates killing so many and then acting on that is mentally deranged but the point is that without that assault weapon there would not have been such a slaughter. So the point is, the question is - why are we taking our lead from one who himself needs help in the mental area, who cannot think a thought all the way thru without digressing into off balance remarks. Answer me that one. If you can.
What else is new under the sun for us? Well, let's see. Aha, the new oh so beneficial - NOT - tax plan, the welfare for the wealthy, wherein the middle class will be paying millions more in taxes and that number only goes up as the years go on, but those rich dudes, oh, how happy they will be buying their umpteenth house or yet another fancy plane. And yet, the Republicans in the House keep on a pushin', blind to their own self destruction, to the total ruination of a once grand and honorable political party.
Today Trump is at 36% and all that comes to mind are the words from the limbo song - 'how low can you go". It seems there is no downward limit for Trump, no bottom, as all his numbers grow in the wrong direction. So what do we do? We fire a woman who flipped him or his motorcade, the bird. So what? Free speech, but her company decided that they own her private time for the salary they paid her and they fired her. Yet others do the same or similar thing; it is unfortunately part of America political reality today, so do we now have to censor ourselves according to our bosses? Are we losing freedom of speech or is it granted only to the extremists of the alt right? Where does this end? How do we end this without giving away all our rights.
And all this bother over one whose close compatriots are under a deep shadow re Russian collusion. Concern among Americans polled is showing an increase and people are not so able to brush this off. Are we allowing people in the public eye to sell our country down the river for the sake of their adding to their obscene wealth yet more millions and billions? Has the world come to this - tribal loyalties, and wealth loyalties and the whole nationalism, nativism, that these people push are just a thin disguise for what - wealthism? Selfishness? Maximum greed? You pick the title. The name does not matter, only the grievous disloyalty to the people they are supposed to serve.
I am so tired of all the crap that keeps getting pushed down our throats and seeing pictures of Melania in yet another obscenely expensive outfit standing there like a statue, no facial expression, simply does not cut it - not for me nor for many others.
So yeah, guns kill people. People kill people. Indifference kills people. Laziness and selfishness kill people. Indifference kills people. Hey, Rohingya anyone? Human trafficking anyone?
It is a bitter and harsh world out there but at least we should try to improve it where we can. We need to start somewhere, anywhere. Be active and get out the vote and vote oneself when the time comes. Stand up to hatred and selfishness. If we do not, no one else will do it for us.
So we have heard and seen time and time again, but here is the truth - guns kill people. If guns were not so many out there then perhaps we would have fewer killings, certainly fewer mass killings. Yes, they are inanimate objects, but the same as we do not want people wandering about with massive butchering knives, we do not want people wandering around with assault rifles and weapons.
There is another fallacious statement that seems to be making the rounds and supposedly proved itself in Texas - that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yes, a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy, but the point is that the bad guy should not have the gun in the first place! And by the time the good guy used his rifle, 26 people were dead and countless others were wounded, some grievously. And a family was almost totally wiped out with a hero of a mother who gave her life trying to shield her four children.
We are the only western country which allows so much gun freedom. Again, yes to the Second Amendment but also yes to simple and common sense restrictions. I honestly do not know why it is so difficult to understand that and look how easy it is to slip thru the cracks. Go to a gun show. Order on line, deep web, or have someone forget to put in some info on a bad dude, or even buy in a state where there is no background check or one that disappears with the passing of some green bills from one to another. And these guns kill people! They certainly do.
How many more mass killings are we going to have and what will be the end result. Will we turn a blasé eye to them, ho humming as we tsk tsk and turn the page as so many do on the constant huge bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we going to become a country which eats her citizens? Weapons are deadly and they become even deadlier in the hands of the untrained, the mentally ill, the evil and the careless. They kill, yeah, they do. So return to the lists and pictures of those killed in Vegas, in Texas, the little ones, the young men and women starting out, the parents, the grandparents and ask - where does it end?
I do not expect great results when we have a madman say that it is a mental issue, that the person was deranged. Yes, anyone who contemplates killing so many and then acting on that is mentally deranged but the point is that without that assault weapon there would not have been such a slaughter. So the point is, the question is - why are we taking our lead from one who himself needs help in the mental area, who cannot think a thought all the way thru without digressing into off balance remarks. Answer me that one. If you can.
What else is new under the sun for us? Well, let's see. Aha, the new oh so beneficial - NOT - tax plan, the welfare for the wealthy, wherein the middle class will be paying millions more in taxes and that number only goes up as the years go on, but those rich dudes, oh, how happy they will be buying their umpteenth house or yet another fancy plane. And yet, the Republicans in the House keep on a pushin', blind to their own self destruction, to the total ruination of a once grand and honorable political party.
Today Trump is at 36% and all that comes to mind are the words from the limbo song - 'how low can you go". It seems there is no downward limit for Trump, no bottom, as all his numbers grow in the wrong direction. So what do we do? We fire a woman who flipped him or his motorcade, the bird. So what? Free speech, but her company decided that they own her private time for the salary they paid her and they fired her. Yet others do the same or similar thing; it is unfortunately part of America political reality today, so do we now have to censor ourselves according to our bosses? Are we losing freedom of speech or is it granted only to the extremists of the alt right? Where does this end? How do we end this without giving away all our rights.
And all this bother over one whose close compatriots are under a deep shadow re Russian collusion. Concern among Americans polled is showing an increase and people are not so able to brush this off. Are we allowing people in the public eye to sell our country down the river for the sake of their adding to their obscene wealth yet more millions and billions? Has the world come to this - tribal loyalties, and wealth loyalties and the whole nationalism, nativism, that these people push are just a thin disguise for what - wealthism? Selfishness? Maximum greed? You pick the title. The name does not matter, only the grievous disloyalty to the people they are supposed to serve.
I am so tired of all the crap that keeps getting pushed down our throats and seeing pictures of Melania in yet another obscenely expensive outfit standing there like a statue, no facial expression, simply does not cut it - not for me nor for many others.
So yeah, guns kill people. People kill people. Indifference kills people. Laziness and selfishness kill people. Indifference kills people. Hey, Rohingya anyone? Human trafficking anyone?
It is a bitter and harsh world out there but at least we should try to improve it where we can. We need to start somewhere, anywhere. Be active and get out the vote and vote oneself when the time comes. Stand up to hatred and selfishness. If we do not, no one else will do it for us.
Monday, November 6, 2017
THAT STINKY SMELL
Smell it? That stinky smell, the nasty, musty smell of a growing swamp? The one that threatens us all? Smell it? And then ask oneself why the growth in the odor, why the growth of the swamp?
There is a nasty miasma of the air in our country. We appear to be exactly other than what we scream and shout we are. We glorify the uniformed services even as we see great big holes in their ethics. Catching those holes and dealing with them does not mean that one is denigrating all uniformed services, but one must face the truth.
There are policemen who overstep their bounds. No one said it was an easy job, a light responsibility, but if one takes it on then it must be with respect and attention to all the details. And the same goes with our armed forces.
We find that there are huge holes in the ethics of our servicemen. Perhaps it is the training. Perhaps it is the screening. Perhaps it is the initial evaluation. Perhaps it is that we are involved in wars in places where we should not be and these people are being recirculated in an impossible situation. Perhaps it is the lack of proper care for these warriors upon return from war. And perhaps it is the fact that there is a very loose ethic in some of our armed forces.
The latest has hit the Navy harshly. From their destroyers involved in terrible accidents that need not have been to the burgeoning scandal of 'Fat Leonard", wherein hundreds of Navy officers, including over 60 admirals, are involved in bribe taking from a contractor, being supplied with wild parties, liquor, etc. If there is such rot from the top, then what can we expect from the lower grades?
And the rot does come from the top. There is not even an attempt to hide it; rather there is an even perverse sense of satisfaction and a job well done when the administrators of our government appointed by Trump, immerse themselves in money making schemes, in influence peddling, in all sorts of manners all of which screw the people. From Ross, the Commerce Secretary, to DeVos, to Trump and everything in between, that stinky smell is growing.
Growing ever stronger is the odor wafting over from the country of the ruble. Nine people already in Trump's circle are tainted. When one goes over the campaign, one can see the blatant influence of Russia, the patent shrieks on the blackboard as Trump consistently praised Putin and had a love fest with him, from the cash behind Milner's purchase of Facebook stock, to meetings and lies, lies, lies. What have we allowed to happen? Why have we sold our heritage and not even for a bowl of lentil soup? For what? So Trump and other nabobs, robber barons in a throwback to the time of robber barons here, so they can add to their already obscene wealth?
As for the 'base", even they are retreating, recognizing the inherent wrongness of Trump. His mouth. His tweeting. His temper. His stupidity and negligence. His numbers are the lowest in seventy years!! And yet, here we are almost on war footing with North Korea, another country with a head who has no self control, who is spoiled and has never grown up.
And even as there is yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in a church, a place of prayer, of community, Trump says this is "not a problem of guns. It is a mental problem." Yes, his!!! Yes, there is some indication that a man with a rifle, brought to church for some reason, shot at the shooter and he left the church. That was a rifle - not an assault gun. I have no problem with the Second Amendment which allows for the right to own a gun, but that is a handgun or a hunting rifle. There is no reason to allow for assault weapons. NONE! And the bodies of men, women, and children give proof of that. How many more times are we going to gasp and cry? How many more times will we hear the questions raised by a weeping friend or relative, by a mother who holds her little child? How many more times will we hear the cries to the heavens of why, why?
And the stink is overwhelming as one approaches Trump territories, as we now hear that he who shouts and rants about hiring Americans, he who shouts and raves about immigrants taking jobs, he who raves wildly that we are not giving Americans a chance - he has now gotten permits for 70!!!! foreign workers for his Mar a Lago hotel. Stinky, stinky.
And we should expect the situation to be even worse than it is already as the reek of sexual molestation, of mass disrespect of women, of young boys, not just in Hollywood, but in so many other industries and fields, as all this is uncovered and why not, if we elected a sexual predator as president!! We stink! We in this country who did not prosecute and imprison, who did not impeach and convict. What does it take to finally do something? Will it have to be a signed contract with the Kremlin in order for us to recognize his traitorous deeds? Will it take a young lady coming forward and claiming not only molestation but even rape? Or a large group of women? What does it take for us to finally stand up and howl NO MORE!!
My nose is clogged with the reek of this nasty ever growing swamp, this morass of amoral and immoral individuals and their nasty acts, their oppression of the people of our country. I mourn the reek of a country deteriorating in its own juices of greed and indifference. Raise your nose to the air and see what you smell. It is disgusting and I am ashamed for us as we present all this to the younger generation.
There is a nasty miasma of the air in our country. We appear to be exactly other than what we scream and shout we are. We glorify the uniformed services even as we see great big holes in their ethics. Catching those holes and dealing with them does not mean that one is denigrating all uniformed services, but one must face the truth.
There are policemen who overstep their bounds. No one said it was an easy job, a light responsibility, but if one takes it on then it must be with respect and attention to all the details. And the same goes with our armed forces.
We find that there are huge holes in the ethics of our servicemen. Perhaps it is the training. Perhaps it is the screening. Perhaps it is the initial evaluation. Perhaps it is that we are involved in wars in places where we should not be and these people are being recirculated in an impossible situation. Perhaps it is the lack of proper care for these warriors upon return from war. And perhaps it is the fact that there is a very loose ethic in some of our armed forces.
The latest has hit the Navy harshly. From their destroyers involved in terrible accidents that need not have been to the burgeoning scandal of 'Fat Leonard", wherein hundreds of Navy officers, including over 60 admirals, are involved in bribe taking from a contractor, being supplied with wild parties, liquor, etc. If there is such rot from the top, then what can we expect from the lower grades?
And the rot does come from the top. There is not even an attempt to hide it; rather there is an even perverse sense of satisfaction and a job well done when the administrators of our government appointed by Trump, immerse themselves in money making schemes, in influence peddling, in all sorts of manners all of which screw the people. From Ross, the Commerce Secretary, to DeVos, to Trump and everything in between, that stinky smell is growing.
Growing ever stronger is the odor wafting over from the country of the ruble. Nine people already in Trump's circle are tainted. When one goes over the campaign, one can see the blatant influence of Russia, the patent shrieks on the blackboard as Trump consistently praised Putin and had a love fest with him, from the cash behind Milner's purchase of Facebook stock, to meetings and lies, lies, lies. What have we allowed to happen? Why have we sold our heritage and not even for a bowl of lentil soup? For what? So Trump and other nabobs, robber barons in a throwback to the time of robber barons here, so they can add to their already obscene wealth?
As for the 'base", even they are retreating, recognizing the inherent wrongness of Trump. His mouth. His tweeting. His temper. His stupidity and negligence. His numbers are the lowest in seventy years!! And yet, here we are almost on war footing with North Korea, another country with a head who has no self control, who is spoiled and has never grown up.
And even as there is yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in a church, a place of prayer, of community, Trump says this is "not a problem of guns. It is a mental problem." Yes, his!!! Yes, there is some indication that a man with a rifle, brought to church for some reason, shot at the shooter and he left the church. That was a rifle - not an assault gun. I have no problem with the Second Amendment which allows for the right to own a gun, but that is a handgun or a hunting rifle. There is no reason to allow for assault weapons. NONE! And the bodies of men, women, and children give proof of that. How many more times are we going to gasp and cry? How many more times will we hear the questions raised by a weeping friend or relative, by a mother who holds her little child? How many more times will we hear the cries to the heavens of why, why?
And the stink is overwhelming as one approaches Trump territories, as we now hear that he who shouts and rants about hiring Americans, he who shouts and raves about immigrants taking jobs, he who raves wildly that we are not giving Americans a chance - he has now gotten permits for 70!!!! foreign workers for his Mar a Lago hotel. Stinky, stinky.
And we should expect the situation to be even worse than it is already as the reek of sexual molestation, of mass disrespect of women, of young boys, not just in Hollywood, but in so many other industries and fields, as all this is uncovered and why not, if we elected a sexual predator as president!! We stink! We in this country who did not prosecute and imprison, who did not impeach and convict. What does it take to finally do something? Will it have to be a signed contract with the Kremlin in order for us to recognize his traitorous deeds? Will it take a young lady coming forward and claiming not only molestation but even rape? Or a large group of women? What does it take for us to finally stand up and howl NO MORE!!
My nose is clogged with the reek of this nasty ever growing swamp, this morass of amoral and immoral individuals and their nasty acts, their oppression of the people of our country. I mourn the reek of a country deteriorating in its own juices of greed and indifference. Raise your nose to the air and see what you smell. It is disgusting and I am ashamed for us as we present all this to the younger generation.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
WHO KNOWS? I DO NOT
All are talking. All are writing. All are chatting on TV and radio talk shows. All seem to have answers, yet there are none and in the meanwhile, nothing gets done. Not in any positive manner anyway.
The federal government seems riven into two. We have that government which is functioning with those employees who are doing their jobs, who are there as permanent employees, who take their responsibilities seriously and then again, we have those who have been appointed with the directive to take it all down, to destroy any progress made, particularly if made during the time of Obama. His name and the scope of any directives or rules and regulations are anathema to Trump and his people.
So why is that? The answer is who knows? Why is it that these people think they can turn back the clock, hide the truth, convince all the people all the time that there is nothing to worry about, even as the planet burns, turns into dust, dry and arid, or floods in massive ways, or shakes itself in fracking induced quakes. Why is it that the Federal government can produce a report which warns of warming, of disastrous climate change and its main cause - humans - and yet there goes Zilke or Price or any one of Trump's appointees who are shattering the protective legislation we have had put in place. So once again, not only are we destroying our very home in a physically obvious manner, but we are also turning those crystal streams into streams of death with banned chemicals, with the cancellation of rules that mandated safety regulations, that watched the chemicals that tainted our foods, our water, the very air we breathe.
Why? I do not know. Nor does any sane person, for is there any amongst these people that actually think they can avoid the consequences? Do they think they will be able to maintain their own air, their own water, their own climate? And yet they function as if they actually do think that. They need to understand that the apocalyptic movies which show one group of people living in an Eden while the rest struggle in death traps will not happen. It is a cinematic pipedream.
There is much to puzzle over in the machinations of this administration but can it all be explained? I do not know, but if an administration is led by a madman, by one who seemingly has lost his way, lost his mind, then what can we expect from the followers who seem to glorify every and all maniacal statements and actions. Children are adorable, and they often speak the truth without garnish, but obscenities and threats, tweets by the hundred, sentence structure that is non existent, grammar that speaks of an ignorant person who had inadequate schooling, and all coming from an adult - that is not charming, nor truthful, nor attractive, nor productive and is mainly lies, lies, and more lies.
The truth will out. Only children think there is wishful thinking, that wishing makes it so. Adults realize that that belief is a false one, but when one builds an entire system on that false belief then we are in trouble indeed.
So why are so many people mired in the Bizzaro world of Trump? Because that world impinges greatly and in a negative manner on our world. We cannot get rid of him and his disasters that he keeps foisting upon us by getting him to say his name backwards. Only Superman can get that done! So instead we fuss and fume, rant and rave, write and talk and according to one woman, “Unless I turn off the lights, go in my bedroom, shut the door, and turn off the TV, there is no way to escape,............ “I feel like we eat, sleep, and breathe Trump. Trump for breakfast, Trump for lunch, Trump for dinner, and Trump as a midnight snack.”
When one is surrounded by the consequences of poison, when one is supposedly "led" by a dangerous individual, then yes, one is obsessed by that individual and rightfully so, for he impacts upon everything, from the taxes we will pay to the air we breathe to the very fact or question of our literal survival. When the man speaks in a decidedly confused manner, then we are in trouble and here is one such example, from an interview to be published Sunday.
The federal government seems riven into two. We have that government which is functioning with those employees who are doing their jobs, who are there as permanent employees, who take their responsibilities seriously and then again, we have those who have been appointed with the directive to take it all down, to destroy any progress made, particularly if made during the time of Obama. His name and the scope of any directives or rules and regulations are anathema to Trump and his people.
So why is that? The answer is who knows? Why is it that these people think they can turn back the clock, hide the truth, convince all the people all the time that there is nothing to worry about, even as the planet burns, turns into dust, dry and arid, or floods in massive ways, or shakes itself in fracking induced quakes. Why is it that the Federal government can produce a report which warns of warming, of disastrous climate change and its main cause - humans - and yet there goes Zilke or Price or any one of Trump's appointees who are shattering the protective legislation we have had put in place. So once again, not only are we destroying our very home in a physically obvious manner, but we are also turning those crystal streams into streams of death with banned chemicals, with the cancellation of rules that mandated safety regulations, that watched the chemicals that tainted our foods, our water, the very air we breathe.
Why? I do not know. Nor does any sane person, for is there any amongst these people that actually think they can avoid the consequences? Do they think they will be able to maintain their own air, their own water, their own climate? And yet they function as if they actually do think that. They need to understand that the apocalyptic movies which show one group of people living in an Eden while the rest struggle in death traps will not happen. It is a cinematic pipedream.
There is much to puzzle over in the machinations of this administration but can it all be explained? I do not know, but if an administration is led by a madman, by one who seemingly has lost his way, lost his mind, then what can we expect from the followers who seem to glorify every and all maniacal statements and actions. Children are adorable, and they often speak the truth without garnish, but obscenities and threats, tweets by the hundred, sentence structure that is non existent, grammar that speaks of an ignorant person who had inadequate schooling, and all coming from an adult - that is not charming, nor truthful, nor attractive, nor productive and is mainly lies, lies, and more lies.
The truth will out. Only children think there is wishful thinking, that wishing makes it so. Adults realize that that belief is a false one, but when one builds an entire system on that false belief then we are in trouble indeed.
So why are so many people mired in the Bizzaro world of Trump? Because that world impinges greatly and in a negative manner on our world. We cannot get rid of him and his disasters that he keeps foisting upon us by getting him to say his name backwards. Only Superman can get that done! So instead we fuss and fume, rant and rave, write and talk and according to one woman, “Unless I turn off the lights, go in my bedroom, shut the door, and turn off the TV, there is no way to escape,............ “I feel like we eat, sleep, and breathe Trump. Trump for breakfast, Trump for lunch, Trump for dinner, and Trump as a midnight snack.”
When one is surrounded by the consequences of poison, when one is supposedly "led" by a dangerous individual, then yes, one is obsessed by that individual and rightfully so, for he impacts upon everything, from the taxes we will pay to the air we breathe to the very fact or question of our literal survival. When the man speaks in a decidedly confused manner, then we are in trouble and here is one such example, from an interview to be published Sunday.
"Well, it was a friend of mine who was a businessman -- a very successful businessman and a good person, and you know, Paul was not there very long," Trump said on Sharyl Attkisson's syndicated show "Full Measure," which will air in full on Sunday.
He continued: "Well, I think we found out something about he may be involved with all -- with certain nations, and I don't even know exactly what it was in particular. But there was a point at which we just felt Paul would be better off -- because we don't want to have many potential conflicts."
As confused and confusing as his speech is, his structure, his manner of thinking or not, this is as confused as his actions are and so yes, I do know why we obsess - because our very survival is at stake.
What must we do to fix this situation? I do not know for sure. I do know that if he is to remain in office for another three years, then G-d help us, but we must maintain a control over him. Let him be ruled by others, by people of honesty, by those who have the care and concerns of the country at heart and not their wallets and stock holdings. Insure that true patriots are in place, that people who actually like people are in office, that our civil rights programs return from the muck in which they have been placed and let us get our country back on track. Otherwise, we will either destroy ourselves or split into tiny state countries, as we engage in a civil war, for that is coming, make no mistake about it, if we continue along this path. There is too much hatred and animosity out there. There is too much ugliness.
So who knows? Not a clue.
Who knows? I do not know, but someone out there had better know for otherwise we are in a truly bad way.
Friday, November 3, 2017
THE RETURN OF DIOGENES
For those who do not remember from the classics, Diogenes is the man with a lantern who wanders the earth seeking an honorable, honest person. Needless to say, the search is not very fruitful. Wonder what he would say to that quest in the times we live in. Wonder if he would give up the search in total frustration.
Is there anyone untouched by the greed, by the incessant grasping for power, by the sheer betrayal of all that we are supposed to hold and cherish, of the traitors to America who rant and rave about patriotism? All those who have taken the song "Proud to be an American" and roar it to the winds are the very same people who either have betrayed their country or are accepting of those who have and chief among the betrayers is the president. Over half of Americans believe that Trump has committed criminal offense in regard to this Russian tie and almost half, 49%, believe that Mueller is doing a good job.
Sessions lied about knowledge of the Russian tie and so did Trump as it turns out he was right there at the meeting and was amenable to the suggestion. Sessions said no and to shut up about it - obstructing the truth as it should have been reported as an attempt by Russia to interfere with our election. But they shut up, hoping that lies and more lies would do the trick.”
“No,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody that I know of. Nobody.”
This was his response when asked if he or anyone he knew had knowledge of this whole event. Lying thru his teeth he was and is! This, the man who tweeted away, telling lies, passing on false stories and not our valid president!!
And yet on he goes, trying to put yet another one over on the American people, trying to pass his welfare for the wealthy tax plan, where deductions useful to the middle class are eliminated or drastically cut. Corporate taxes? Oh, yes, and why this will supposedly make them eager to invest new funds is beyond me as this was tried by Reagan and bombed, was just tried in Kansas and they had to impose major taxes now to make up for the loss of revenue needed to carry out the responsibilities of the state, and in any case, the corporate treasuries are at their highest point now and anyone see a golden trail of investments or raised wages? Nope. Didn't think so.
Where is honesty here? Where are the public servants of yesteryear who even in their greed and search for power still knew that they had to serve the people and not themselves. Today both parties are affected by this creeping rash of greed but at least the Democrats have more connection to what is needed and what must be done, what must be fought. The Republicans have lost their way and there are tears on Lincoln's face in his memorial as he sits and ponders how his Party and how his country, this magnificent Union that he fought so hard to maintain, how it has all fallen apart and gone so astray.
I believe that never before have we been in such dire straits as a country, as a people. We have forgotten our roots in immigration and immigrants. We have refused to adjust to a new world. We have gone around threatening and blustering, playing a dangerous game of chicken with North Korea. We have allowed divisiveness to spread and allowed new explosions and infestations of prejudice and hatred to grow.
So on Diogenes goes, lighting and relighting his lantern, seeking, seeking, the honest people, seeking the honest and honorable leaders. What we need is reason, faith, trust, honor, true patriotism, generous hearts, an understanding of the true responsibilities of positions held.
It is getting harder and harder to find these people, be it here in America or out there in the Ukraine, or France or Britain or just pick a country. Abraham searched in vain for enough good people to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Will we be in a comparable situation? You tell me.
Is there anyone untouched by the greed, by the incessant grasping for power, by the sheer betrayal of all that we are supposed to hold and cherish, of the traitors to America who rant and rave about patriotism? All those who have taken the song "Proud to be an American" and roar it to the winds are the very same people who either have betrayed their country or are accepting of those who have and chief among the betrayers is the president. Over half of Americans believe that Trump has committed criminal offense in regard to this Russian tie and almost half, 49%, believe that Mueller is doing a good job.
Sessions lied about knowledge of the Russian tie and so did Trump as it turns out he was right there at the meeting and was amenable to the suggestion. Sessions said no and to shut up about it - obstructing the truth as it should have been reported as an attempt by Russia to interfere with our election. But they shut up, hoping that lies and more lies would do the trick.”
“No,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody that I know of. Nobody.”
This was his response when asked if he or anyone he knew had knowledge of this whole event. Lying thru his teeth he was and is! This, the man who tweeted away, telling lies, passing on false stories and not our valid president!!
And yet on he goes, trying to put yet another one over on the American people, trying to pass his welfare for the wealthy tax plan, where deductions useful to the middle class are eliminated or drastically cut. Corporate taxes? Oh, yes, and why this will supposedly make them eager to invest new funds is beyond me as this was tried by Reagan and bombed, was just tried in Kansas and they had to impose major taxes now to make up for the loss of revenue needed to carry out the responsibilities of the state, and in any case, the corporate treasuries are at their highest point now and anyone see a golden trail of investments or raised wages? Nope. Didn't think so.
Where is honesty here? Where are the public servants of yesteryear who even in their greed and search for power still knew that they had to serve the people and not themselves. Today both parties are affected by this creeping rash of greed but at least the Democrats have more connection to what is needed and what must be done, what must be fought. The Republicans have lost their way and there are tears on Lincoln's face in his memorial as he sits and ponders how his Party and how his country, this magnificent Union that he fought so hard to maintain, how it has all fallen apart and gone so astray.
I believe that never before have we been in such dire straits as a country, as a people. We have forgotten our roots in immigration and immigrants. We have refused to adjust to a new world. We have gone around threatening and blustering, playing a dangerous game of chicken with North Korea. We have allowed divisiveness to spread and allowed new explosions and infestations of prejudice and hatred to grow.
So on Diogenes goes, lighting and relighting his lantern, seeking, seeking, the honest people, seeking the honest and honorable leaders. What we need is reason, faith, trust, honor, true patriotism, generous hearts, an understanding of the true responsibilities of positions held.
It is getting harder and harder to find these people, be it here in America or out there in the Ukraine, or France or Britain or just pick a country. Abraham searched in vain for enough good people to save Sodom and Gomorrah. Will we be in a comparable situation? You tell me.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
THE RIVER
It is often stated that time is a river, always flowing, always changing and yet remaining the same. Well, it certainly seems that way now even as its flow is clogged with garbage, with sewerage from ages that should have long ago been erased from human behavior.
Shootings have become ho hum, as eyes skip over these reports on news feeds. Yet another one in a Wal-Mart store even as a hostage situation was ending and of course we have the havoc and murder of the NYC bike path. Yet another attack on the fabric of the city in the same neighborhood of 9/11. So just as movies special effects keep growing, all the better to keep the level high, will the level of frequency and violence keep mounting until we are blasé about everything in this category of life?
It seems that we are just attacking the quality of life, the values of truth and honesty, of honor and true patriotism all without end. Those who scream the loudest appear to be the perpetrators of the misdeeds and the attacks on the American fabric.
So Trump and the Republicans, particularly the "conservatives" rant of outrage as the football players take a knee to protest racial injustice, prejudice. Oh, the disrespect towards the flag the "patriots' shout. Throw them in jail, fire them, shouts the president of the USA forgetting the First Amendment and then we have the horrific violation perpetrated upon a hapless roommate in the University of Hartford, all done by her roommate who belongs in other political parties of other times!! Why are people feeling empowered to do such horrible things to another human being? Where do they get the inner what- guts, courage, gall - to do this and I hesitate to use words of positive connotation with these actions and beliefs. And yet our 'leader' does not condemn these actions, only raising his voice to shout re immigrants, tarring an entire class of people with the same tar and feathers, forgetting that immigrants have given this country its lifeblood over the centuries.
And of course we have the perversion of the 2016 election campaign and the election itself. Fact after fact now comes out, the filth spewing out, the trolling of the internet by Russian troll websites, the layering of fake sites and fake news, lies, lies, lies, the interference with our sovereignty, the fact that Flynn, Junior (that creep), Kellyanne Conway and others retweeted the garbage of these sites - where does it end and when does its import end? The CEO of Apple talks of the dangers these troll sites portend, the divisiveness of them, the danger they present to the country and its very fabric of values and yes, all so true, but where is the solution and more important - how did we get here? And how do we reverse engines? How do we reverse the flow of the river?
We conflate research with collusion. We conflate lies and viciousness with just the way things are. We begin to lose sight of the wrong, the very wrong, people being placed in office, into judgeships, into the very places that will ruin America for decades, that will turn the clock and the river backwards, that will choke our land, choke our citizens, but all is well for others as they plan even more accumulation of obscene wealth, more houses, more goods, more lives in which there seem to be no moral values, no red lines.
Is impeachment the answer? I truly do not know. I do know this man is not qualified to be President of the United States but I then question if Pence is either. He very quietly is pushing his own agenda and the place of civil rights, the place of women's rights, the place of social safety nets, the place of goodness, of being fair - all this seem to have NO place in his talks and philosophy. Quite frankly, I think he is even more frightening than Trump. And personally, men who paste their hair to their heads in an obsessive hairdo give me the creeps.We all know Trump is a major doofus and we can try to rein him in, but how to deal with the smooth operator? That could be the question of the future. How to deal with the 'patriots" who are actually the very opposite and who are intent on limiting the rights of our citizens?
So the river of America, the river which once had green shores, had many ships of state emulating the larger one of which we were so proud, which we made sure to maintain - this river is going, going..... The native American chief shedding a tear alongside dirty banks is now crying for more than trash alongside. He is crying over the trash of life that we are heaping all over ourselves, our country and our river. The Stones sang how 'time is on our side" - but well, it is not, and we are quickly losing our grasp on time, on its river, and on ours. To the oars, my friends, to the oars!
Shootings have become ho hum, as eyes skip over these reports on news feeds. Yet another one in a Wal-Mart store even as a hostage situation was ending and of course we have the havoc and murder of the NYC bike path. Yet another attack on the fabric of the city in the same neighborhood of 9/11. So just as movies special effects keep growing, all the better to keep the level high, will the level of frequency and violence keep mounting until we are blasé about everything in this category of life?
It seems that we are just attacking the quality of life, the values of truth and honesty, of honor and true patriotism all without end. Those who scream the loudest appear to be the perpetrators of the misdeeds and the attacks on the American fabric.
So Trump and the Republicans, particularly the "conservatives" rant of outrage as the football players take a knee to protest racial injustice, prejudice. Oh, the disrespect towards the flag the "patriots' shout. Throw them in jail, fire them, shouts the president of the USA forgetting the First Amendment and then we have the horrific violation perpetrated upon a hapless roommate in the University of Hartford, all done by her roommate who belongs in other political parties of other times!! Why are people feeling empowered to do such horrible things to another human being? Where do they get the inner what- guts, courage, gall - to do this and I hesitate to use words of positive connotation with these actions and beliefs. And yet our 'leader' does not condemn these actions, only raising his voice to shout re immigrants, tarring an entire class of people with the same tar and feathers, forgetting that immigrants have given this country its lifeblood over the centuries.
And of course we have the perversion of the 2016 election campaign and the election itself. Fact after fact now comes out, the filth spewing out, the trolling of the internet by Russian troll websites, the layering of fake sites and fake news, lies, lies, lies, the interference with our sovereignty, the fact that Flynn, Junior (that creep), Kellyanne Conway and others retweeted the garbage of these sites - where does it end and when does its import end? The CEO of Apple talks of the dangers these troll sites portend, the divisiveness of them, the danger they present to the country and its very fabric of values and yes, all so true, but where is the solution and more important - how did we get here? And how do we reverse engines? How do we reverse the flow of the river?
We conflate research with collusion. We conflate lies and viciousness with just the way things are. We begin to lose sight of the wrong, the very wrong, people being placed in office, into judgeships, into the very places that will ruin America for decades, that will turn the clock and the river backwards, that will choke our land, choke our citizens, but all is well for others as they plan even more accumulation of obscene wealth, more houses, more goods, more lives in which there seem to be no moral values, no red lines.
Is impeachment the answer? I truly do not know. I do know this man is not qualified to be President of the United States but I then question if Pence is either. He very quietly is pushing his own agenda and the place of civil rights, the place of women's rights, the place of social safety nets, the place of goodness, of being fair - all this seem to have NO place in his talks and philosophy. Quite frankly, I think he is even more frightening than Trump. And personally, men who paste their hair to their heads in an obsessive hairdo give me the creeps.We all know Trump is a major doofus and we can try to rein him in, but how to deal with the smooth operator? That could be the question of the future. How to deal with the 'patriots" who are actually the very opposite and who are intent on limiting the rights of our citizens?
So the river of America, the river which once had green shores, had many ships of state emulating the larger one of which we were so proud, which we made sure to maintain - this river is going, going..... The native American chief shedding a tear alongside dirty banks is now crying for more than trash alongside. He is crying over the trash of life that we are heaping all over ourselves, our country and our river. The Stones sang how 'time is on our side" - but well, it is not, and we are quickly losing our grasp on time, on its river, and on ours. To the oars, my friends, to the oars!
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
AGIS QUO ADIS
No, no misspelling in the title. It is Latin for do whatever you have to do. Period. Some people use this as a guiding principle of life and others use it only at times of desperation. It is a thought which makes one stop and really evaluate the situation before coming to a conclusion as to what exactly it is that needs to be done.
Does anyone today know, truly know, what needs to be done and are there truly any definitive and definite answers? Actually, I think not, for we are living in times that are shocking and troubling, and the shocks just keep coming down the chute, one after the other, before we even have time to know the first and here comes the second and third. Fast living but not the way we want, is it?
Today we have a President living under siege, real or perceived. He is as a caged animal, defending his turf, turf which he should not have had in the first place. But like any animal, he marks his territory and now is determined to fight for it, right or wrong and he does not care who he throws under the bus or denies. So Papadopoulos turns into a "coffee boy" and Manafort is denied, lowered or lessened in importance. He even picks on the kids of the journalists.
As the mess is exposed to the air, more and more comes to light. The high living of Gates and Manafort, the machinations of those around Trump, the confusion within the Trump campaign as to how to handle this and the decision by many of the Republicans to use the excuse of the typical child - but ......did something wrong so go pick on them, but you see it does not matter what someone else did, only what one does, how one leads or led and how one structures a life for public service.
So do what one must? Yes, but does that include terrorizing underlings or cancelling loyalty or demanding adulation, or outright prejudice, outright misogyny? Does it allow one to wallow in corruption, to have the gall to think that it is okay to have three passports, to play games with funding and banks, to hide what eventually cannot be hidden any longer and then claim indignation or ignorance? Is it okay to work with the enemy of the country?
Government conducted in corruption will break down at some point and there is no use shooting the messenger, for trying to hide it or stop the uncovering by getting rid of the investigator is a backwards step and will only cause further disaster. Anger at the investigator should instead be directed at the one who caused this embarrassment in the first place. But the Republicans, particularly the extreme conservatives have decided to play hide the head in the sand. They aim their barbs at everyone other than at the criminals or the leader of the whole mess.
The best thing that we can all do now, what we must do now, is to take an accounting just as Jews are directed to take an accounting of their lives before the Day of Atonement, so too must Americans take stock, account for their decisions that have led us to this point and the signs of rot are there to be seen, clearly so, but they have been ignored and here we are with the results.
So all are amazed at the #MeToo but why is that. I would venture to say that most women have been hassled, tormented, sexually challenged or demeaned, trust violated, treated as chattels and servants and even those who do not realize it, or who think it is the normal way of life - the truth is right there. We have allowed our society which has been boasting of late how advanced it is in its attitude towards women, allowing them some room in business, on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, we have allowed them to overlook and bypass the obvious, that it is not truly so.
We marvel at the molesters, their names, their positions, are indignant and are throwing the book at Weinstein, who deserves it, but allow a self confessed boasting molester to stand at the head of the country. Hypocrisy!! We allow this same man and his own critters of the swamp, his corrupt friends, to run the country, to ruin our country, and then we wonder why he is so puffed up and angry? We just about told him he has free rein and now it seems that maybe at least some of us are reneging on that. It seems as if his 'R's' are deserting him, he who has encouraged this war of civil and civic proportions.
We listened to the big lies that were told, the huge whoppers - and not the McDonald ones either - and drank the Kool Ade, willingly and even gleefully, thinking how smart we are and were. Well, it was all wrong and now, now we have to listen to that Latin saying and Do What Must Be Done. Like it or not. We have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin if we are to clean up the morass that is the government of this country today. We need to take stock and cancel out the guy who is chanting childish but dangerous statements and epithets at another crazy guy, but this time the weapons are not spit balls but nuclear bombs. And we need to figure out how to prevent attacks such as yesterday's - if there is actually such a way that can be found, for terrorism is as old as the world, in one way or another. It is just that there appears to be more weapons capable of larger death counts than there were before. Shouting and tweeting about more illegal and unconstitutional ways and manners is not the answer.
For sure one of the first things we must do is remove all shades and shadows of nepotism from the administration and that means getting rid of the family members who are not wise enough, experienced enough, honest enough, strong enough in their morals to stand in the Oval Office as they do now. We need to remove all those in the administration who are corrupt, who are thinking of their old buddies and their own bank accounts rather than the safety, the needs and integrity of the country and its constituents. We need to weed out the liars who stand there cloaked in their arrogance who refuse to admit to lies or okay, 'misstatements'.
Do What We Must? Yes, albeit a hard and frightening task. But do it we must or it will be done to and for us by those who should never have the ability to do so in the first place for their directives and principles are not good for the soul nor the body of America. Choose or lose.
Does anyone today know, truly know, what needs to be done and are there truly any definitive and definite answers? Actually, I think not, for we are living in times that are shocking and troubling, and the shocks just keep coming down the chute, one after the other, before we even have time to know the first and here comes the second and third. Fast living but not the way we want, is it?
Today we have a President living under siege, real or perceived. He is as a caged animal, defending his turf, turf which he should not have had in the first place. But like any animal, he marks his territory and now is determined to fight for it, right or wrong and he does not care who he throws under the bus or denies. So Papadopoulos turns into a "coffee boy" and Manafort is denied, lowered or lessened in importance. He even picks on the kids of the journalists.
As the mess is exposed to the air, more and more comes to light. The high living of Gates and Manafort, the machinations of those around Trump, the confusion within the Trump campaign as to how to handle this and the decision by many of the Republicans to use the excuse of the typical child - but ......did something wrong so go pick on them, but you see it does not matter what someone else did, only what one does, how one leads or led and how one structures a life for public service.
So do what one must? Yes, but does that include terrorizing underlings or cancelling loyalty or demanding adulation, or outright prejudice, outright misogyny? Does it allow one to wallow in corruption, to have the gall to think that it is okay to have three passports, to play games with funding and banks, to hide what eventually cannot be hidden any longer and then claim indignation or ignorance? Is it okay to work with the enemy of the country?
Government conducted in corruption will break down at some point and there is no use shooting the messenger, for trying to hide it or stop the uncovering by getting rid of the investigator is a backwards step and will only cause further disaster. Anger at the investigator should instead be directed at the one who caused this embarrassment in the first place. But the Republicans, particularly the extreme conservatives have decided to play hide the head in the sand. They aim their barbs at everyone other than at the criminals or the leader of the whole mess.
The best thing that we can all do now, what we must do now, is to take an accounting just as Jews are directed to take an accounting of their lives before the Day of Atonement, so too must Americans take stock, account for their decisions that have led us to this point and the signs of rot are there to be seen, clearly so, but they have been ignored and here we are with the results.
So all are amazed at the #MeToo but why is that. I would venture to say that most women have been hassled, tormented, sexually challenged or demeaned, trust violated, treated as chattels and servants and even those who do not realize it, or who think it is the normal way of life - the truth is right there. We have allowed our society which has been boasting of late how advanced it is in its attitude towards women, allowing them some room in business, on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, we have allowed them to overlook and bypass the obvious, that it is not truly so.
We marvel at the molesters, their names, their positions, are indignant and are throwing the book at Weinstein, who deserves it, but allow a self confessed boasting molester to stand at the head of the country. Hypocrisy!! We allow this same man and his own critters of the swamp, his corrupt friends, to run the country, to ruin our country, and then we wonder why he is so puffed up and angry? We just about told him he has free rein and now it seems that maybe at least some of us are reneging on that. It seems as if his 'R's' are deserting him, he who has encouraged this war of civil and civic proportions.
We listened to the big lies that were told, the huge whoppers - and not the McDonald ones either - and drank the Kool Ade, willingly and even gleefully, thinking how smart we are and were. Well, it was all wrong and now, now we have to listen to that Latin saying and Do What Must Be Done. Like it or not. We have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin if we are to clean up the morass that is the government of this country today. We need to take stock and cancel out the guy who is chanting childish but dangerous statements and epithets at another crazy guy, but this time the weapons are not spit balls but nuclear bombs. And we need to figure out how to prevent attacks such as yesterday's - if there is actually such a way that can be found, for terrorism is as old as the world, in one way or another. It is just that there appears to be more weapons capable of larger death counts than there were before. Shouting and tweeting about more illegal and unconstitutional ways and manners is not the answer.
For sure one of the first things we must do is remove all shades and shadows of nepotism from the administration and that means getting rid of the family members who are not wise enough, experienced enough, honest enough, strong enough in their morals to stand in the Oval Office as they do now. We need to remove all those in the administration who are corrupt, who are thinking of their old buddies and their own bank accounts rather than the safety, the needs and integrity of the country and its constituents. We need to weed out the liars who stand there cloaked in their arrogance who refuse to admit to lies or okay, 'misstatements'.
Do What We Must? Yes, albeit a hard and frightening task. But do it we must or it will be done to and for us by those who should never have the ability to do so in the first place for their directives and principles are not good for the soul nor the body of America. Choose or lose.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
A SINKING SHIP OF STATE?
As a kid I always liked the image of a ship of state, imagining the President at the helm, steering the country safely thru danger, shallow waters and rocks. Big waves could not stop that ship of state. Oh, no, for that ship was almost magical. Too sadly, as an adult I began the process of disillusionment, watching the ship founder from LBJ, Vietnam, Nixon, Watergate, Oliver North, Reagan and his Alzheimer's, Clinton and his apparent male disease or arrogance, all the way through the dirty campaign of 2016 and today's presidency. But today? Today the ship is actually listing, severely so.
The President, G-d help us, sits and lurks in the hidey hole corner of his residence, obsessively watching TV and tweeting away for all he is worth. His tweeting finger has moved disastrously so many times and yesterday was no exception as he tweeted before the full news was out and his campaign officials - with more to come - were tainted by the swamp waters he claimed to have drained. Those waters are rising swiftly, climbing the waterline of that ship of state and the question now is - will the captain of that ship, the President, go down with that ship.
Are there any life saving measures? Perhaps, if Mueller is fired - but that will raise a storm and even his blind base might recognize that action for what it truly signifies. How much lower will Trump go in his approval ratings as he is already at 38%.
He can issue a blanket pardon, but trust me on this - the stink of the fetid waters that the ship of state is presently mired in will overwhelm all, including the big fish or alligator right there at the helm. Will announcing that he will not run in 2020 do something to raise the ship, to rebalance it? Perhaps, and that is why perhaps Senator Rand and Chris Christie have announced they are not planning on running again for their office. Will Trump? Or will his ego convince him that he is above all this, that he is Teflon?
There are so many questions left unanswered this morning. Who exactly are those campaign people? Where did Trump actually come in and when? Who gave the orders? Will there be a much longer line in a walk of shame in Washington and will that line be composed of more than Republicans as it seems that all of Washington is tainted, have lost their minds in the pursuit of power, lost sight of all that is right and civility and public service have long ago sunk into the muck of the swamp.
And yet the Trump machine runs on with canoes and lifeboats dropping off the ship of state. Deregulation is a growing menace and does not seem to have an end to it. Lack of respect for the right of a woman to control her own healthcare and body, corruption in the hiring of companies for contracts even going so far as to hire the very enemies of the people as the administrators of government. The stink of that muck grows ever stronger.
Right now the Republicans must be putting on their waders thinking they can stay clean, untouched by the muck, safe on a lifeboat, but I would not be too sure about that. There is that looming 2018 election coming closer every day. There is the lack of bipartisanship. And there is the disgust of the people. How much more will the people tolerate? That question is the one that is thundering silently thru the houses of government today. It deafens the crowd even as it frightens the heart.
One other question. How will Russia take this whole thing. Will Putin just shrug his shoulders and keep on moving along, thank you, or will there be consequences. Money goes very far, does it not, in this administration so will consequences have to wait till the next administration. But not if it is Pence or one like him, for he and others come out of the same mold as Trump. Even as Nero fiddled, Trump golfs, and the rest all have their little sidelines of relaxation.
So perhaps we will be saved from a ruinous tax scheme to benefit the wealthy. Perhaps Trump will be very careful and behave himself as he starts out on a 12 country journey and G-d help us if there are no controls for how many more will he antagonize?
I dream of a time now when the leaky holes of the lies will be patched ad perhaps we can right the ship of state. Perhaps we can get people such as Kelly out of office, even as he masquerades as a decent individual but lies through his teeth and says that immigration should be best kept between zero and one. Lovely. So heart warming. I find it very frightening that this ship of state has so many military people in civilian office. The line of separation is shredding and not in a good way either.
To sum up - get out your rain gear, your waders, your boats and your oars. We will need strong backs to row us out of the wake and the pull of this leaky and stinking ship of state. We need to pull ourselves out of the swamp on to a clean and clear river - if we can actually find one after all the deregulations!
It is a long haul we have. We are only at the beginning and we must stay resolved, strong in our determination to clean out the mold and the rot infecting the ship of state, polish it up and send it back out gleaming and shining with the dreams of good people, with the hope that we can reinspire ourselves and the people who represent us in office. Then, perhaps, we can inspire our young and convince them that America can still be the country of the idealist and the dreamer. May that time and day come soon.
The President, G-d help us, sits and lurks in the hidey hole corner of his residence, obsessively watching TV and tweeting away for all he is worth. His tweeting finger has moved disastrously so many times and yesterday was no exception as he tweeted before the full news was out and his campaign officials - with more to come - were tainted by the swamp waters he claimed to have drained. Those waters are rising swiftly, climbing the waterline of that ship of state and the question now is - will the captain of that ship, the President, go down with that ship.
Are there any life saving measures? Perhaps, if Mueller is fired - but that will raise a storm and even his blind base might recognize that action for what it truly signifies. How much lower will Trump go in his approval ratings as he is already at 38%.
He can issue a blanket pardon, but trust me on this - the stink of the fetid waters that the ship of state is presently mired in will overwhelm all, including the big fish or alligator right there at the helm. Will announcing that he will not run in 2020 do something to raise the ship, to rebalance it? Perhaps, and that is why perhaps Senator Rand and Chris Christie have announced they are not planning on running again for their office. Will Trump? Or will his ego convince him that he is above all this, that he is Teflon?
There are so many questions left unanswered this morning. Who exactly are those campaign people? Where did Trump actually come in and when? Who gave the orders? Will there be a much longer line in a walk of shame in Washington and will that line be composed of more than Republicans as it seems that all of Washington is tainted, have lost their minds in the pursuit of power, lost sight of all that is right and civility and public service have long ago sunk into the muck of the swamp.
And yet the Trump machine runs on with canoes and lifeboats dropping off the ship of state. Deregulation is a growing menace and does not seem to have an end to it. Lack of respect for the right of a woman to control her own healthcare and body, corruption in the hiring of companies for contracts even going so far as to hire the very enemies of the people as the administrators of government. The stink of that muck grows ever stronger.
Right now the Republicans must be putting on their waders thinking they can stay clean, untouched by the muck, safe on a lifeboat, but I would not be too sure about that. There is that looming 2018 election coming closer every day. There is the lack of bipartisanship. And there is the disgust of the people. How much more will the people tolerate? That question is the one that is thundering silently thru the houses of government today. It deafens the crowd even as it frightens the heart.
One other question. How will Russia take this whole thing. Will Putin just shrug his shoulders and keep on moving along, thank you, or will there be consequences. Money goes very far, does it not, in this administration so will consequences have to wait till the next administration. But not if it is Pence or one like him, for he and others come out of the same mold as Trump. Even as Nero fiddled, Trump golfs, and the rest all have their little sidelines of relaxation.
So perhaps we will be saved from a ruinous tax scheme to benefit the wealthy. Perhaps Trump will be very careful and behave himself as he starts out on a 12 country journey and G-d help us if there are no controls for how many more will he antagonize?
I dream of a time now when the leaky holes of the lies will be patched ad perhaps we can right the ship of state. Perhaps we can get people such as Kelly out of office, even as he masquerades as a decent individual but lies through his teeth and says that immigration should be best kept between zero and one. Lovely. So heart warming. I find it very frightening that this ship of state has so many military people in civilian office. The line of separation is shredding and not in a good way either.
To sum up - get out your rain gear, your waders, your boats and your oars. We will need strong backs to row us out of the wake and the pull of this leaky and stinking ship of state. We need to pull ourselves out of the swamp on to a clean and clear river - if we can actually find one after all the deregulations!
It is a long haul we have. We are only at the beginning and we must stay resolved, strong in our determination to clean out the mold and the rot infecting the ship of state, polish it up and send it back out gleaming and shining with the dreams of good people, with the hope that we can reinspire ourselves and the people who represent us in office. Then, perhaps, we can inspire our young and convince them that America can still be the country of the idealist and the dreamer. May that time and day come soon.
Monday, October 30, 2017
COPY THAT? PLEASE DON'T
Sad. Anxious. Confused and bewildered. Fear of the future - or if there is one.
These are the emotions that are not only afflicting me, but also much of America and the world, especially its leaders. We are living thru such a time that has never been seen before, an almost total repudiation of the responsibilities of the American President, particularly to the people, and the pointed dissemination of ravings that border on the jingoism of the past in its urging and telling of war, war between the "Dems and the R's!" This is not what America is all about but this is what Trump and cohorts have made it become.
The elephant in the room today is the bated breath of the millions as we await Robert Mueller's first indictment. Who will it be? A family member? A political ally? An underling of the administration and/or the campaign? What will be the proximity towards Trump? And what will it mean for the nation? Will it come close enough to the presidency to actually possibly interfere with its reality and existence?
Trump is reacting by behaving as a maddened child backed into a corner, shouting epithets and threats as he behaves as if the whole world is against him. Well, perhaps they are, but if so, he has earned this by his behavior, by his infinite lies, by his repudiation of all that keep Americans safe, from predatory banks and lending institutions to environmental regulations designed to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the land that belongs to all of us.
He has encouraged postures of war both here within the country and without. It should not be the Dems vs the R's. It should not be a positing of the wealthy against the middle class and it most certainly should not be majorly screwing the lower economic classes by taking away their safety net from benefits to healthcare to educational possibilities for them and their children. When it was pointed out to Trump that his supposed tax reform would stick it to the middle class, he waved it off, literally, and tells the Republicans at the meeting to 'take care of it." It is no wonder that his approval number is the lowest ever - 38%.
The man is a disaster, not in the making, not in the offing, but in reality, in his present existence as the President of the United States of America, of the supposed to be leader of the free world. Instead we have him picking wars with any and all, from football players who are now told they are inmates of a prison, to the mayor of San Juan and the people of Puerto Rico who are still living in the deep heat of an airless, wrecked environment, getting sick from the water, still dying from a hurricane of weeks ago, supposed to be satisfied with thrown towels and a crooked contract for restoration of electricity. The corruption of this administration has risen to alarming proportions and we are sinking beneath its weight.
Maryland is investigating the Kushner empire there for its behavior and alleged violations of rules relating to tenants and physical condition of its holdings. Bannon is going after a Trump donor who crossed his lines and Trump is well aware of this. Talk of inmates running the asylum!! Who should be in the asylum?
And if all this is not enough, we add to all these negative emotions and fears this statement by Kissinger. “It cannot be that North Korea is the only Korean country in the world that has nuclear weapons, without the South Koreans trying to match it. Nor can it be that Japan will sit there,” he said. “So therefore we’re talking about nuclear proliferation.”
Is it all to end in a nuclear catastrophe and then it will not matter who is screwing whom, will it?
And for all of this, for all these actions or lack thereof, we say - Do not copy that! It is time to make the president and his henchmen realize that they are truly alone out there, that he is NOT our president and time for him to go. Would that Mueller would come up with a Trump indictment. When the fuss would settle down, there would be a combined breath of relief. And hopefully, Pence would have gotten the message loud and clear. Or so we hope. So we pray.
These are the emotions that are not only afflicting me, but also much of America and the world, especially its leaders. We are living thru such a time that has never been seen before, an almost total repudiation of the responsibilities of the American President, particularly to the people, and the pointed dissemination of ravings that border on the jingoism of the past in its urging and telling of war, war between the "Dems and the R's!" This is not what America is all about but this is what Trump and cohorts have made it become.
The elephant in the room today is the bated breath of the millions as we await Robert Mueller's first indictment. Who will it be? A family member? A political ally? An underling of the administration and/or the campaign? What will be the proximity towards Trump? And what will it mean for the nation? Will it come close enough to the presidency to actually possibly interfere with its reality and existence?
Trump is reacting by behaving as a maddened child backed into a corner, shouting epithets and threats as he behaves as if the whole world is against him. Well, perhaps they are, but if so, he has earned this by his behavior, by his infinite lies, by his repudiation of all that keep Americans safe, from predatory banks and lending institutions to environmental regulations designed to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the land that belongs to all of us.
He has encouraged postures of war both here within the country and without. It should not be the Dems vs the R's. It should not be a positing of the wealthy against the middle class and it most certainly should not be majorly screwing the lower economic classes by taking away their safety net from benefits to healthcare to educational possibilities for them and their children. When it was pointed out to Trump that his supposed tax reform would stick it to the middle class, he waved it off, literally, and tells the Republicans at the meeting to 'take care of it." It is no wonder that his approval number is the lowest ever - 38%.
The man is a disaster, not in the making, not in the offing, but in reality, in his present existence as the President of the United States of America, of the supposed to be leader of the free world. Instead we have him picking wars with any and all, from football players who are now told they are inmates of a prison, to the mayor of San Juan and the people of Puerto Rico who are still living in the deep heat of an airless, wrecked environment, getting sick from the water, still dying from a hurricane of weeks ago, supposed to be satisfied with thrown towels and a crooked contract for restoration of electricity. The corruption of this administration has risen to alarming proportions and we are sinking beneath its weight.
Maryland is investigating the Kushner empire there for its behavior and alleged violations of rules relating to tenants and physical condition of its holdings. Bannon is going after a Trump donor who crossed his lines and Trump is well aware of this. Talk of inmates running the asylum!! Who should be in the asylum?
And if all this is not enough, we add to all these negative emotions and fears this statement by Kissinger. “It cannot be that North Korea is the only Korean country in the world that has nuclear weapons, without the South Koreans trying to match it. Nor can it be that Japan will sit there,” he said. “So therefore we’re talking about nuclear proliferation.”
Is it all to end in a nuclear catastrophe and then it will not matter who is screwing whom, will it?
And for all of this, for all these actions or lack thereof, we say - Do not copy that! It is time to make the president and his henchmen realize that they are truly alone out there, that he is NOT our president and time for him to go. Would that Mueller would come up with a Trump indictment. When the fuss would settle down, there would be a combined breath of relief. And hopefully, Pence would have gotten the message loud and clear. Or so we hope. So we pray.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
WHERE DID CIVILITY GO?
Growing up in NYC I never thought about civility. One answered a question, gave directions, and moved on. One did not become buddies with the stranger. As an adult, I read that this was a distinct NY characteristic, shrugged my shoulders and moved on. One was polite, but one did not exchange family histories.
Then came 9/11 and the change was amazing. Strangers held hands, talked and cried with each other, exchanged stories and experiences, shared emotions, and that was with strangers in the streets, in the parks where there were memorials, on the trains, simply standing in line. It was a polite and warm city and it was nice.
When we moved down here one of the things we loved best was how helpful and polite people were. Standing on a line could net you a new friend or two or at the very least, service with a smile. We laughed when people complained that people were rude down here. Hah!! They did not know the meaning of the word.
But today it seems the whole world has gone down this nasty side path, one where there are only cruel and cutting words, insults, damnations and yes, even hatred. How has this happened? Where did we get off the right path and how do we get back - is it even possible?
In my mind I see that politics led us here. There were always strong feelings in the realm of politics and families often split votes, but there has never been such a time when politics are off limits at family gatherings, at social gatherings. The explosive emotions politics brings out now is a terrible sight to see and hear.
I, and many others, trace this nastiness back to its source and its chief proponent - Trump. Does he do it knowingly or by nature or by disease? Take your choice, but the conclusion is simple. When the nastiness comes from the top, when others see this supposed role model dishing out the crudity, the what is there to stop them from going the same way. It is the childish excuse that "everyone else is doing it" ramped up on overdoses of uppers, steroid rage going national and mainstream - without the 'roids!
A major cause is also to be found in Twitter and its tweets, I am sorry, but one cannot express a well thought out opinion or remark in144 characters, no matter what abbreviations are used and these trains of tweets that Trump uses are even worse. There is no room in tweets for thought, for compromise, for decency, for good old fashioned civility. They are written to shock, to horrify and to hurt. Period.
Civility flies out the window when lies and untruths and such crazy terminology such as "post truth" or "alternative reality" are made up and used. The only alternative reality is that found in a science fiction world of parallel dimensions, not here in our earthly dimension. These terms only encourage the voicing of old hatreds, or the rearing of the ugly heads of eternal hatreds of the other. And this hatred comes now from both sides of the matter and understandably so. It is difficult to know whom to trust, who is normal, who has a working brain rather than a screaming mouth. And a silent brain.
What is the need for a statement that "the inmates are running the prison". Certainly that was not well thought out to say the least. Why do we scream that Black Lives Matter or its counter group White Lives Matter? Why can we not say that ALL Lives matter. Why do we have rallies of hate, especially among white supremacists and why do we forget that this hatred grows every day to encompass more and more within its odious boundaries.
And yet there is a strange phenomenon. Here in everyday life I see black and white, Jew and non Jew, Protestant and Catholic - all mixing together. All live within each other's bounds and all are Americans and why have we forgotten this? Why have we forgotten those classic WWII movies where there was the Italian from Brooklyn, the southerner, the Jew, the American Indian and the African American. Sure, they jostled each other in first greeting but then solidified into a group of Americans - what we all should be. Where has that ethic and ethos gone?
I will confess right here that I have used strong words and statements in my postings, horrified as I am at the daily insults that this man, Trump, and his cohorts, impose upon us. I shudder at the nastiness, at the corruption, at the turn of the clock back to politics in the dirty bathwater, in the contempt that these "public servants" have for their constituents, at the rampant greed among the highest in the administration and the awful message it sends down the line.
Perhaps even worse is the fact that this nastiness, this populism that damns all others, this nationalism that has reverted to nativism, is contagious and one sees it all over - be it France, Russia, the Crimea and Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Britain, the African republics with their tribal warfare and yes, we have all devolved into tribes rather than countries. Civility has no place in these realities and yet unless and until civility does return and we actually open our ears and eyes and brains to the words and feelings of others, there will be no improvement. And here I will just insert my comment that the awful genocide and ethnic cleansing going on with the Rohingya in Myanamar is a throwback to other genocides and the world stands silent and the supposed figure for democracy stands there and even encourages it. Shame on her and on her countrymen. Shame on all those religious leaders who encourage hatred and murder, be they Buddhists here or imams elsewhere or ranting pastors or hateful rabbis.
We are all one under the eyes of G-d. Take the skin off and we are all the same so what difference does that pigmentation make? What difference does an accent make? I have no answers for myself, let alone my grandchildren who are bewildered by all this when they have been taught in their lives to be kind and helpful, to listen, to use words of aid and not hate.
Where has civility gone? Somewhere deep inside or thrown on the trash heap of society. Perhaps it is time we dig it back up and try it on for size. Nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Then came 9/11 and the change was amazing. Strangers held hands, talked and cried with each other, exchanged stories and experiences, shared emotions, and that was with strangers in the streets, in the parks where there were memorials, on the trains, simply standing in line. It was a polite and warm city and it was nice.
When we moved down here one of the things we loved best was how helpful and polite people were. Standing on a line could net you a new friend or two or at the very least, service with a smile. We laughed when people complained that people were rude down here. Hah!! They did not know the meaning of the word.
But today it seems the whole world has gone down this nasty side path, one where there are only cruel and cutting words, insults, damnations and yes, even hatred. How has this happened? Where did we get off the right path and how do we get back - is it even possible?
In my mind I see that politics led us here. There were always strong feelings in the realm of politics and families often split votes, but there has never been such a time when politics are off limits at family gatherings, at social gatherings. The explosive emotions politics brings out now is a terrible sight to see and hear.
I, and many others, trace this nastiness back to its source and its chief proponent - Trump. Does he do it knowingly or by nature or by disease? Take your choice, but the conclusion is simple. When the nastiness comes from the top, when others see this supposed role model dishing out the crudity, the what is there to stop them from going the same way. It is the childish excuse that "everyone else is doing it" ramped up on overdoses of uppers, steroid rage going national and mainstream - without the 'roids!
A major cause is also to be found in Twitter and its tweets, I am sorry, but one cannot express a well thought out opinion or remark in144 characters, no matter what abbreviations are used and these trains of tweets that Trump uses are even worse. There is no room in tweets for thought, for compromise, for decency, for good old fashioned civility. They are written to shock, to horrify and to hurt. Period.
Civility flies out the window when lies and untruths and such crazy terminology such as "post truth" or "alternative reality" are made up and used. The only alternative reality is that found in a science fiction world of parallel dimensions, not here in our earthly dimension. These terms only encourage the voicing of old hatreds, or the rearing of the ugly heads of eternal hatreds of the other. And this hatred comes now from both sides of the matter and understandably so. It is difficult to know whom to trust, who is normal, who has a working brain rather than a screaming mouth. And a silent brain.
What is the need for a statement that "the inmates are running the prison". Certainly that was not well thought out to say the least. Why do we scream that Black Lives Matter or its counter group White Lives Matter? Why can we not say that ALL Lives matter. Why do we have rallies of hate, especially among white supremacists and why do we forget that this hatred grows every day to encompass more and more within its odious boundaries.
And yet there is a strange phenomenon. Here in everyday life I see black and white, Jew and non Jew, Protestant and Catholic - all mixing together. All live within each other's bounds and all are Americans and why have we forgotten this? Why have we forgotten those classic WWII movies where there was the Italian from Brooklyn, the southerner, the Jew, the American Indian and the African American. Sure, they jostled each other in first greeting but then solidified into a group of Americans - what we all should be. Where has that ethic and ethos gone?
I will confess right here that I have used strong words and statements in my postings, horrified as I am at the daily insults that this man, Trump, and his cohorts, impose upon us. I shudder at the nastiness, at the corruption, at the turn of the clock back to politics in the dirty bathwater, in the contempt that these "public servants" have for their constituents, at the rampant greed among the highest in the administration and the awful message it sends down the line.
Perhaps even worse is the fact that this nastiness, this populism that damns all others, this nationalism that has reverted to nativism, is contagious and one sees it all over - be it France, Russia, the Crimea and Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Britain, the African republics with their tribal warfare and yes, we have all devolved into tribes rather than countries. Civility has no place in these realities and yet unless and until civility does return and we actually open our ears and eyes and brains to the words and feelings of others, there will be no improvement. And here I will just insert my comment that the awful genocide and ethnic cleansing going on with the Rohingya in Myanamar is a throwback to other genocides and the world stands silent and the supposed figure for democracy stands there and even encourages it. Shame on her and on her countrymen. Shame on all those religious leaders who encourage hatred and murder, be they Buddhists here or imams elsewhere or ranting pastors or hateful rabbis.
We are all one under the eyes of G-d. Take the skin off and we are all the same so what difference does that pigmentation make? What difference does an accent make? I have no answers for myself, let alone my grandchildren who are bewildered by all this when they have been taught in their lives to be kind and helpful, to listen, to use words of aid and not hate.
Where has civility gone? Somewhere deep inside or thrown on the trash heap of society. Perhaps it is time we dig it back up and try it on for size. Nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Friday, October 27, 2017
ADDICTIONS
Perhaps Trump has started one good thing, a campaign to try to deal with the opioid epidemic. Give him that, although he spoke about it months ago as an imminent thing and it took quite some time. As usual, however, the plan is incomplete and inadequate.
There is not enough funding, nor plans and pathways for more and exactly how these funds are to be used. Platitudes that are repetitive in nature but scarce on details are not the way to go but no surprise there as this is the Trump way, babble on and have no facts, no details,no plans.
However, what was even more disturbing is the aim of his program, at least his stated aim.
“The fact is, if we can teach young people — and people generally — not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them. And I think that’s going to end up being our most important thing: really tough, really big, really great advertising so we get to people before they start, so they don’t have to go through the problems of what people are going through.”
But the fact is, to use his own words is that in the opioid syndrome much of the addiction comes not from the kids, not from the purloined pills from medicine cabinets - and yes, there are those who start that way. But the truth is that much of the epidemic begins and stems from and continues with those people who were prescribed pills for pain relief, be it a chronic condition or a surgical situation, but the pain relief was needed. Then horror struck when these people tried to stop and could not. Their bodies were telling them otherwise.
So today we have a story of a billionaire who needs them and other days we read of people, plain people, just like you and me, who are stuck in a place they never wanted to be - dependent on pain pills. This addiction is different from other addictions. Trump talks of his brother who was a drunk, had alcohol addiction. That is an addiction that one starts on one's own, not via a doctor.
And yes, alcohol addiction, any addiction is terribly difficult to shed - hey, I am still trying to shed my chocolate addiction! People have all sorts of them but, and a great big but, this addiction to opioids via a doctor's helpful prescription is difficult indeed.
So who to blame. Do we tell the people only take three days or some such limitation? But what if the pain is still there after a surgical procedure. Do we depend on the mind power of the patient? Do we tell the doctor to limit the amount of pills but again, what if the pain is still there and pain can be debilitating to the point of non functioning. So what to do? It is a difficult area, a conundrum.
So talking to the young is not really the answer. For sure, talk with them, try to limit exposure, though we know that is difficult enough, but the main thrust must be via the main road - the legitimate users of opioids. I know that I have been prescribed pills and was very limiting in how many I would take for fear of addiction. I was told not to worry, but I did and thank G-d have had no problems after any of my surgeries, but it is not always possible to self limit.
Research must be undertaken for non addictive pain relief. The young must see a world for them that has hope so they need not retreat into a drugged up world that will hide their despair. And for all this huge quantities of funding are necessary, not just pie in the sky talking and words. Details are necessary and that is what is always missing in a Trump plan. That and denying the truth.
Trump seems to think that the fact that he has never taken a drink or smoked a cigarette makes him a hero. It does not. Neither have I or my husband or many others, but addiction is addiction and Trump has a severe one in his demand for adulation, for praise, for telling lies to cover the truth when that truth is not complimentary for him.
And today we all have a Trump addiction, and I am the first to admit it. Me and all those who give over the news, who analyze it, who respond to it with thought pieces. How much harm can this man cause? How much danger can he gin up for us and for the world and how many people can he hurt with his blindness and nastiness and damaged brain pathways? The people of Puerto Rico are still waiting in their heat, in the dark, in their piles of rubble. The people of America are still waiting for their health care, undamaged and whole, shorn of political nonsense. The people of the world are waiting to see if America goes down the path towards demagoguery and dictatorship and war.
We are all waiting. Those people stuck on pills and pain scripts that they wish could be undone. Those kids seeing despair and hopelessness for their future who turn to ways of escape. Those of us who are waiting for Trump to at least try to be presidential and turn away from his addictive behavior. That harmful behavior. Those plans that go nowhere. The addictions that remain.
We are in a bad way today in our country. Our leaders are not. Period. They are engulfed in their own addiction to wealth and to perceived power. They are obsessed with remaining in office. They are consumed with past misdeeds and the hope that they are not exposed.
We all have issues and problems so let us at least approach addictions with open minds and clear pathways, with honesty, with no moral judgements, with proper funding and realism in the plan. If we do not- who will and where will people go for help?
There is not enough funding, nor plans and pathways for more and exactly how these funds are to be used. Platitudes that are repetitive in nature but scarce on details are not the way to go but no surprise there as this is the Trump way, babble on and have no facts, no details,no plans.
However, what was even more disturbing is the aim of his program, at least his stated aim.
“The fact is, if we can teach young people — and people generally — not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them. And I think that’s going to end up being our most important thing: really tough, really big, really great advertising so we get to people before they start, so they don’t have to go through the problems of what people are going through.”
But the fact is, to use his own words is that in the opioid syndrome much of the addiction comes not from the kids, not from the purloined pills from medicine cabinets - and yes, there are those who start that way. But the truth is that much of the epidemic begins and stems from and continues with those people who were prescribed pills for pain relief, be it a chronic condition or a surgical situation, but the pain relief was needed. Then horror struck when these people tried to stop and could not. Their bodies were telling them otherwise.
So today we have a story of a billionaire who needs them and other days we read of people, plain people, just like you and me, who are stuck in a place they never wanted to be - dependent on pain pills. This addiction is different from other addictions. Trump talks of his brother who was a drunk, had alcohol addiction. That is an addiction that one starts on one's own, not via a doctor.
And yes, alcohol addiction, any addiction is terribly difficult to shed - hey, I am still trying to shed my chocolate addiction! People have all sorts of them but, and a great big but, this addiction to opioids via a doctor's helpful prescription is difficult indeed.
So who to blame. Do we tell the people only take three days or some such limitation? But what if the pain is still there after a surgical procedure. Do we depend on the mind power of the patient? Do we tell the doctor to limit the amount of pills but again, what if the pain is still there and pain can be debilitating to the point of non functioning. So what to do? It is a difficult area, a conundrum.
So talking to the young is not really the answer. For sure, talk with them, try to limit exposure, though we know that is difficult enough, but the main thrust must be via the main road - the legitimate users of opioids. I know that I have been prescribed pills and was very limiting in how many I would take for fear of addiction. I was told not to worry, but I did and thank G-d have had no problems after any of my surgeries, but it is not always possible to self limit.
Research must be undertaken for non addictive pain relief. The young must see a world for them that has hope so they need not retreat into a drugged up world that will hide their despair. And for all this huge quantities of funding are necessary, not just pie in the sky talking and words. Details are necessary and that is what is always missing in a Trump plan. That and denying the truth.
Trump seems to think that the fact that he has never taken a drink or smoked a cigarette makes him a hero. It does not. Neither have I or my husband or many others, but addiction is addiction and Trump has a severe one in his demand for adulation, for praise, for telling lies to cover the truth when that truth is not complimentary for him.
And today we all have a Trump addiction, and I am the first to admit it. Me and all those who give over the news, who analyze it, who respond to it with thought pieces. How much harm can this man cause? How much danger can he gin up for us and for the world and how many people can he hurt with his blindness and nastiness and damaged brain pathways? The people of Puerto Rico are still waiting in their heat, in the dark, in their piles of rubble. The people of America are still waiting for their health care, undamaged and whole, shorn of political nonsense. The people of the world are waiting to see if America goes down the path towards demagoguery and dictatorship and war.
We are all waiting. Those people stuck on pills and pain scripts that they wish could be undone. Those kids seeing despair and hopelessness for their future who turn to ways of escape. Those of us who are waiting for Trump to at least try to be presidential and turn away from his addictive behavior. That harmful behavior. Those plans that go nowhere. The addictions that remain.
We are in a bad way today in our country. Our leaders are not. Period. They are engulfed in their own addiction to wealth and to perceived power. They are obsessed with remaining in office. They are consumed with past misdeeds and the hope that they are not exposed.
We all have issues and problems so let us at least approach addictions with open minds and clear pathways, with honesty, with no moral judgements, with proper funding and realism in the plan. If we do not- who will and where will people go for help?
Thursday, October 26, 2017
WILL THE FATMAN EVER SING?
The saying goes that a fat lady has to sing before something is over. Well, what if we change it to the fat man who has to sing, that big overgrown and nasty child who stalks the halls of our government like a menace, casting a shadow over the entire country, and indeed, even the world.
This man, who is naturally a buffoon, a nasty one at that, gives himself hugs every night, seeks the hugs of others, boasts of standing ovations either that never were or that were given to him by chickens masquerading as Senators, as servants of the people, this man is a danger to us all.
This fact has been stated all along but even more important, is being said by members of his own Party. He gives himself sobriquets that praise himself, for no one else will, even those who suck up to him. He calls himself the "builder president", he who is deconstructing every safeguard that the Obama administration put in place, the very safeguards that will protect our lives and the lives of our children. But this man pulls them all out, crushes them, and takes glee in it. He makes dumb statements that if all had installed greenboard drywall, a water resistant drywall in all the first floors of Houston, why the damage from the flood would have been almost nothing!! I kid you not.
So never mind the unholy cost. Never mind the fact that all the furnishings would have been ruined. Never mind the bacteria and filth of the mud left over. Never mind the fact that greenboard is resistant not waterproof, just never mind all the facts! But on he natters away.
His poll numbers keep dropping, even from his base, the white non college educated male, and so many are expressing disgust at his behavior and actions or lack thereof. And that is from a FOX news poll too! Yet his nastiness continues as he baits a dying hero Senator, as he calls Jeff Flake names, as he belittles Corker, and worst of all, as he declares a war of words on a war widow; it is simply disgusting.
And the stink expands. A company that is incapable of doing the work of rewiring Puerto Rico is hired due to its ties to the administration. This company of TWO permanent employees now has to come up with all the people needed. The mayor of San Juan, that brave woman, calls them out and they tell her they have 300 people on the island and then take it down to 40 in San Juan and 44 in the rest of the island. Are they nuts? This is a drop in the bucket. They need hundreds of workers, tons of supplies and the knowledge and wherewithal to do the job but all their qualifications devolve onto their 'who they know' IQ. We are back in the morass of corruption and inefficiency and inability.
So what is left if this fat buffoon sings? Well, we have that stone hearted man who pastes his hair to his head - always a sign of rigidity and lack of goodness - just look at Junior! So Pence is not a good hope for us either, he who calls his wife "mother", who is afraid to talk alone in a room with a woman, thereby cutting out so much talent, displaying his own coarseness. Then there is the chinless and spineless and balless wonder of McConnell, that weasel, followed by another rat, Ryan, who could care less about the people, only about his heartless Ayn Rand inspired so called principles. Time to grow up.
WE, America and Americans, have allowed ourselves to deteriorate into a third world country in disguise. We have allowed ourselves to accept the behavior of demagogues and allowed them to surface here. That is what Bannon is, an ugly souled being who talks of wiping out his enemies. We have abandoned responsibility for our own country in the search for wealth and privilege.
We need to return to the principles. We need to restore the humanity in our government. We need to toss out those who have no heart, whose guiding principle is Big Business and banks, who step all over the People. And we need to do this ASAP. G-d help us if we do not get it together stat. Poor us and poor kids. Poor world.
This man, who is naturally a buffoon, a nasty one at that, gives himself hugs every night, seeks the hugs of others, boasts of standing ovations either that never were or that were given to him by chickens masquerading as Senators, as servants of the people, this man is a danger to us all.
This fact has been stated all along but even more important, is being said by members of his own Party. He gives himself sobriquets that praise himself, for no one else will, even those who suck up to him. He calls himself the "builder president", he who is deconstructing every safeguard that the Obama administration put in place, the very safeguards that will protect our lives and the lives of our children. But this man pulls them all out, crushes them, and takes glee in it. He makes dumb statements that if all had installed greenboard drywall, a water resistant drywall in all the first floors of Houston, why the damage from the flood would have been almost nothing!! I kid you not.
So never mind the unholy cost. Never mind the fact that all the furnishings would have been ruined. Never mind the bacteria and filth of the mud left over. Never mind the fact that greenboard is resistant not waterproof, just never mind all the facts! But on he natters away.
His poll numbers keep dropping, even from his base, the white non college educated male, and so many are expressing disgust at his behavior and actions or lack thereof. And that is from a FOX news poll too! Yet his nastiness continues as he baits a dying hero Senator, as he calls Jeff Flake names, as he belittles Corker, and worst of all, as he declares a war of words on a war widow; it is simply disgusting.
And the stink expands. A company that is incapable of doing the work of rewiring Puerto Rico is hired due to its ties to the administration. This company of TWO permanent employees now has to come up with all the people needed. The mayor of San Juan, that brave woman, calls them out and they tell her they have 300 people on the island and then take it down to 40 in San Juan and 44 in the rest of the island. Are they nuts? This is a drop in the bucket. They need hundreds of workers, tons of supplies and the knowledge and wherewithal to do the job but all their qualifications devolve onto their 'who they know' IQ. We are back in the morass of corruption and inefficiency and inability.
So what is left if this fat buffoon sings? Well, we have that stone hearted man who pastes his hair to his head - always a sign of rigidity and lack of goodness - just look at Junior! So Pence is not a good hope for us either, he who calls his wife "mother", who is afraid to talk alone in a room with a woman, thereby cutting out so much talent, displaying his own coarseness. Then there is the chinless and spineless and balless wonder of McConnell, that weasel, followed by another rat, Ryan, who could care less about the people, only about his heartless Ayn Rand inspired so called principles. Time to grow up.
WE, America and Americans, have allowed ourselves to deteriorate into a third world country in disguise. We have allowed ourselves to accept the behavior of demagogues and allowed them to surface here. That is what Bannon is, an ugly souled being who talks of wiping out his enemies. We have abandoned responsibility for our own country in the search for wealth and privilege.
We need to return to the principles. We need to restore the humanity in our government. We need to toss out those who have no heart, whose guiding principle is Big Business and banks, who step all over the People. And we need to do this ASAP. G-d help us if we do not get it together stat. Poor us and poor kids. Poor world.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
THE THREE D'S
Despair. Dismay. Disgust.
Can there be anything but that after the debacle of yesterday's political shootout at the Senate corral? It both highlighted a principled man and the ignorant hateful man and these impressions were reinforced by the servile behavior of the remaining Senators.
Disgust at their cowardliness.
Dismay that they still have not found either their spines or their manly parts.
Despair that this is the point we have reached.
Bonnie Tyler sang how we needed a hero and wonders aloud where have all the good men gone. I do not know how to answer that question because to find a good man today is hard, very hard. It is hard, difficult indeed, to find a proper response to a grandchild's question of why grown men are acting as they do these past months.
Jeff Flake and Sen. Corker were or are on the opposite side of the spectrum from me and yet yesterday I admired them. Each chose to fight back against the rising odds, against the pathetic fellow Senators who still cannot bring themselves not only to condemn Trump openly, but who gave him a standing ovation at their luncheon. Pathetic!
And that is exactly the point that Flake tried to make. He spoke of the lack of principles politicians had these days. He spoke of the wrongful attitude of in office characters who think that they are there to maintain their office rather than serve the people. How often have I bemoaned that attitude, that loss of honor and courage. So where are the JFKs of today, and yes, the LBJs who pushed a Great Society for the American people? Where are they? They have morphed into the Senators who voted yesterday to cancel the Obama era ruling that one could not be pushed into the arbitration rule, that one could sue a big business or a company or a nursing home or a credit card company rather than go to slanted and fixed arbitration, rather than allow a class suit, where power can be shifted into a fairer equation.
So this 'man of the people' - and I choke as I type that, is exactly the opposite. We are the ones who will choke on the air we breathe, filled once more with particles and chemicals. We are the ones who will imbibe poison with every drink of water. Soon it will be a world where the rich and wealthy will have water to drink while the rest - to hell with them!! Pence is making sure of that with his tie breaking votes all for the detriment of the American people. Base - wake up before it is too late.
There is disgust at these weasels for their lack of honesty and principles. There is disgust that this is what the grand country has become. There is dismay as we look towards a future where there is no future, a world that will be the worse off for our kids and grandkids, a world where the top layers of society comport with the enemy and are outraged when they are revealed and question how dare they do that!!
“We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks; the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions; the flagrant disregard for truth and decency.”
And yet that is exactly what we are doing, what we are even allowing to be applauded. We have given the American values away. We have turned on our own history, our own foundations and turned upon the world. We have left billions bereft of a leader and allowed selfishness and greed, me tooism, to rule the country. Even as the creep in office makes fun of Puerto Rico, even as he watches in glee as they struggle, sicken and die from horrific disease, from simple dehydration, as they sit in the hot dark world they have been shoved into, even with this, Trump et al have managed to award a huge contract to a tiny company incapable of rebuilding an electric grid in the island and why - because the owner donated thousands to Trump and his campaign, because both Zinke and Tillerson are connected to it, this company of TWO permanent employees. So to hell with the people of the islands, fellow Americans, for money is to be made here, so trample, trample over all who stand in the way.
So we allow this "dangerous and untruthful" man to remain in office, to spread his infection. We laugh at his craziness but it is not funny. It is disaster. It is despair and dismay and disgust and we do nothing!!! Almost a year after his election the man still chases after Clinton instead of chasing after the benefits for the people. No, for he is too busy trying to benefit the wealthy. This man who is a definite low life, a man with no honor, a creep of the nth degree. He will stop at nothing and no disrespect is too much, no detail too small, so for sure, let us take away the name Denali from the highest mountain, the name that it had for thousands of years from its native dwellers and let us go back and rename it McKinley. At least the Senators from Alaska said a resounding no. Huh!! Let us see the outcome.
And with all this, no one in the country feels their 'side' is winning. That is because the three d's are rampant. We have lost our way and the flashlight is running on dim, on low batteries. WE are overwhelmed with the corruption, with the lack of a principled government, with a return to days of politics such as we believed had long gone, to traitorous Americans who masquerade as patriots and who sell us down the road even as they spout slogans.
"Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?"
So plaints Bonnie Tyler and so we plaint all. Dismay. Disgust. Despair. We all need a hero. But the cupboard appears to be bare and for the most part, the cowards and the liars and the cheats and the nasties have taken over. We need a hero but where is that hero? Where? Where?
Can there be anything but that after the debacle of yesterday's political shootout at the Senate corral? It both highlighted a principled man and the ignorant hateful man and these impressions were reinforced by the servile behavior of the remaining Senators.
Disgust at their cowardliness.
Dismay that they still have not found either their spines or their manly parts.
Despair that this is the point we have reached.
Bonnie Tyler sang how we needed a hero and wonders aloud where have all the good men gone. I do not know how to answer that question because to find a good man today is hard, very hard. It is hard, difficult indeed, to find a proper response to a grandchild's question of why grown men are acting as they do these past months.
Jeff Flake and Sen. Corker were or are on the opposite side of the spectrum from me and yet yesterday I admired them. Each chose to fight back against the rising odds, against the pathetic fellow Senators who still cannot bring themselves not only to condemn Trump openly, but who gave him a standing ovation at their luncheon. Pathetic!
And that is exactly the point that Flake tried to make. He spoke of the lack of principles politicians had these days. He spoke of the wrongful attitude of in office characters who think that they are there to maintain their office rather than serve the people. How often have I bemoaned that attitude, that loss of honor and courage. So where are the JFKs of today, and yes, the LBJs who pushed a Great Society for the American people? Where are they? They have morphed into the Senators who voted yesterday to cancel the Obama era ruling that one could not be pushed into the arbitration rule, that one could sue a big business or a company or a nursing home or a credit card company rather than go to slanted and fixed arbitration, rather than allow a class suit, where power can be shifted into a fairer equation.
So this 'man of the people' - and I choke as I type that, is exactly the opposite. We are the ones who will choke on the air we breathe, filled once more with particles and chemicals. We are the ones who will imbibe poison with every drink of water. Soon it will be a world where the rich and wealthy will have water to drink while the rest - to hell with them!! Pence is making sure of that with his tie breaking votes all for the detriment of the American people. Base - wake up before it is too late.
There is disgust at these weasels for their lack of honesty and principles. There is disgust that this is what the grand country has become. There is dismay as we look towards a future where there is no future, a world that will be the worse off for our kids and grandkids, a world where the top layers of society comport with the enemy and are outraged when they are revealed and question how dare they do that!!
“We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks; the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions; the flagrant disregard for truth and decency.”
And yet that is exactly what we are doing, what we are even allowing to be applauded. We have given the American values away. We have turned on our own history, our own foundations and turned upon the world. We have left billions bereft of a leader and allowed selfishness and greed, me tooism, to rule the country. Even as the creep in office makes fun of Puerto Rico, even as he watches in glee as they struggle, sicken and die from horrific disease, from simple dehydration, as they sit in the hot dark world they have been shoved into, even with this, Trump et al have managed to award a huge contract to a tiny company incapable of rebuilding an electric grid in the island and why - because the owner donated thousands to Trump and his campaign, because both Zinke and Tillerson are connected to it, this company of TWO permanent employees. So to hell with the people of the islands, fellow Americans, for money is to be made here, so trample, trample over all who stand in the way.
So we allow this "dangerous and untruthful" man to remain in office, to spread his infection. We laugh at his craziness but it is not funny. It is disaster. It is despair and dismay and disgust and we do nothing!!! Almost a year after his election the man still chases after Clinton instead of chasing after the benefits for the people. No, for he is too busy trying to benefit the wealthy. This man who is a definite low life, a man with no honor, a creep of the nth degree. He will stop at nothing and no disrespect is too much, no detail too small, so for sure, let us take away the name Denali from the highest mountain, the name that it had for thousands of years from its native dwellers and let us go back and rename it McKinley. At least the Senators from Alaska said a resounding no. Huh!! Let us see the outcome.
And with all this, no one in the country feels their 'side' is winning. That is because the three d's are rampant. We have lost our way and the flashlight is running on dim, on low batteries. WE are overwhelmed with the corruption, with the lack of a principled government, with a return to days of politics such as we believed had long gone, to traitorous Americans who masquerade as patriots and who sell us down the road even as they spout slogans.
"Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?"
So plaints Bonnie Tyler and so we plaint all. Dismay. Disgust. Despair. We all need a hero. But the cupboard appears to be bare and for the most part, the cowards and the liars and the cheats and the nasties have taken over. We need a hero but where is that hero? Where? Where?
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
PSYCHOTICALLY
Are you scratching your head now, wondering if I have lost it? Well, no, I have not, but someone else has. Guess who? Yup - him. Again.
Speaking with Fox Business Channel's Maria Bartiromo over the weekend, Trump definitely lost it - not that he ever had found it!! It was a very softball interview, with the interviewer constantly trying to get Trump back on track but the man wandered all over the place, answered questions with weird responses, not connected at all to the question but the best was his response that the Federal Reserve is "important psychotically".
Now one could get a serious bellyache from laughter as one either sits thru the interview or reads it, but then one has to understand that the tears of laughter are actually tears of despair for this is just about one of the worst ever if not THE worst. When the President of the country talks as if he is Senor Wences, then we, the country, and the world in general, are in deep trouble, up to our necks. Seriously speaking, I have stated it before and will do so again and by the way, there is a book written with the opinions of 27 psychologists and psychiatrists who maintain the same feeling - that Trump is mentally ill, that he is off balance somehow and for some reason.
What is the cause? Is it chemical? Is it a degenerative disease? Is it hormonal? I do not have the answers, only the questions raised by his behavior and actions and state again that the man needs to undergo neutral testing, not by his doctor but by one who has no connection to him, by technicians who will not fudge the tests nor the results and the truth will come out. In the meanwhile, he needs to be removed from office and there is Constitutional provision for that.
And all the while, till this is done, what do we do? Well, we have to protest. We have EPA scientists protesting their removal from a conference as Trump et al continue their head in the sand approach to climate change, as they turn back the clock so we can again poison our waters and the very air we breathe. We can demand that Trump pay attention to the electorate and pay attention to his numbers as he has fallen to a new low in the polls. Even his so called base is shrinking and his swing voters are deserting in droves, complaining about his mouth, his tweets, his temper, his disrespectful behavior towards others, his lack of detailed plans, his tax reform for the wealthy, his deathcare that leaves so many with no care at all, his wild talk about war with North Korea and it just goes on and on.
Tax reform? What? How? By adding 1.5 trillion dollars to the debt, totally against shouted Republican statements thru the past eight years? And details? None forthcoming.
By taking responsibility for his actions? Nope, that will never do. Better to blame it on others, on bureaucrats and bureaucracy. Shout military threats but have no clue as to what happened to a patrol of ours in Niger and what the hell are they doing there anyway. Never blame it on poor planning and oversight - turn to the constant bogeyman of the times - terrorists - and blame it on them but I ask again, how is it possible that we send out our people so unprepared, so poorly armed or trained that ragtag groups of so called terrorists can overwhelm them and how do we send them out without proper backup and support?
I have a question that no one seems to have addressed. Special Forces are supposed to be the elite of the elite, the toughest of the tough and I have no quarrel and in fact am amazed at their achievement of this title, but, a big but, if we are shipping them all over kingdom come, then are we not diluting this training, for how can we have so many elite of the elite? It is like the terrible practice of giving a trophy to every kid in a league, watering down achievements and cutting incentives. Are we sending them out unprepared for what we are asking of them? And on whose shoulders does that responsibility fall and for a general to have to say he will make inquiries? Really? If the general does not know then who took that responsibility and where are the channels and the processes? How do we lose sight of a soldier and leave his body there for days? How have we fallen to this level?
And for that matter, I believe we are now in approximately 72 countries around the world, I have even read a figure of 77 so what's a few countries among friends!!! What the hell are we doing? We are fighting alongside people like Duterte in the Philippines, a murderous dictator? Not sure what the difference is between him and the 'terrorists' he is fighting. Is there a difference in the end result if one is killed by a Moslem extremist or is killed by a dictatorial despot? Dead is dead. The end. And where does it end? No clue. And sadly, neither does the army or our President or our government apparently have a clue either.
And so the saga continues. Even as we are deteriorating around the world, destroying our legacy, and destroying our own country by ignoring safety regulations for the environment, even as we are looking at ways and means to protect the 1% and the hell with the middle class and the lower classes, no retraining for them, just scapegoating the immigrants, that will teach them, even with that going on, we are still investigating the Russian effect on our election and G-d help us if we have truly become a subject country under the table to the Russians. They have perverted the social media, from Amazon to Facebook to YouTube. We have had members of the Trump campaign and administration tie themselves closely to the Russians and we have a president whose main motivation as president appears to be to publicize his golf clubs now paying attention to his Virginia one, and increase the value of his holdings. How we have fallen.
So, 'psychotically' speaking, we are in a bad way. Perhaps if we paid attention to the psychological harm that we have inflicted upon ourselves we might get somewhere. Laugh or cry at the man and the situation and the disasters that emerge from his mouth and mind? Do both? But we need help here, folks, seriously so and soon, or I believe the tipping point will be reached and then, who knows. Scary thought.
Speaking with Fox Business Channel's Maria Bartiromo over the weekend, Trump definitely lost it - not that he ever had found it!! It was a very softball interview, with the interviewer constantly trying to get Trump back on track but the man wandered all over the place, answered questions with weird responses, not connected at all to the question but the best was his response that the Federal Reserve is "important psychotically".
Now one could get a serious bellyache from laughter as one either sits thru the interview or reads it, but then one has to understand that the tears of laughter are actually tears of despair for this is just about one of the worst ever if not THE worst. When the President of the country talks as if he is Senor Wences, then we, the country, and the world in general, are in deep trouble, up to our necks. Seriously speaking, I have stated it before and will do so again and by the way, there is a book written with the opinions of 27 psychologists and psychiatrists who maintain the same feeling - that Trump is mentally ill, that he is off balance somehow and for some reason.
What is the cause? Is it chemical? Is it a degenerative disease? Is it hormonal? I do not have the answers, only the questions raised by his behavior and actions and state again that the man needs to undergo neutral testing, not by his doctor but by one who has no connection to him, by technicians who will not fudge the tests nor the results and the truth will come out. In the meanwhile, he needs to be removed from office and there is Constitutional provision for that.
And all the while, till this is done, what do we do? Well, we have to protest. We have EPA scientists protesting their removal from a conference as Trump et al continue their head in the sand approach to climate change, as they turn back the clock so we can again poison our waters and the very air we breathe. We can demand that Trump pay attention to the electorate and pay attention to his numbers as he has fallen to a new low in the polls. Even his so called base is shrinking and his swing voters are deserting in droves, complaining about his mouth, his tweets, his temper, his disrespectful behavior towards others, his lack of detailed plans, his tax reform for the wealthy, his deathcare that leaves so many with no care at all, his wild talk about war with North Korea and it just goes on and on.
Tax reform? What? How? By adding 1.5 trillion dollars to the debt, totally against shouted Republican statements thru the past eight years? And details? None forthcoming.
By taking responsibility for his actions? Nope, that will never do. Better to blame it on others, on bureaucrats and bureaucracy. Shout military threats but have no clue as to what happened to a patrol of ours in Niger and what the hell are they doing there anyway. Never blame it on poor planning and oversight - turn to the constant bogeyman of the times - terrorists - and blame it on them but I ask again, how is it possible that we send out our people so unprepared, so poorly armed or trained that ragtag groups of so called terrorists can overwhelm them and how do we send them out without proper backup and support?
I have a question that no one seems to have addressed. Special Forces are supposed to be the elite of the elite, the toughest of the tough and I have no quarrel and in fact am amazed at their achievement of this title, but, a big but, if we are shipping them all over kingdom come, then are we not diluting this training, for how can we have so many elite of the elite? It is like the terrible practice of giving a trophy to every kid in a league, watering down achievements and cutting incentives. Are we sending them out unprepared for what we are asking of them? And on whose shoulders does that responsibility fall and for a general to have to say he will make inquiries? Really? If the general does not know then who took that responsibility and where are the channels and the processes? How do we lose sight of a soldier and leave his body there for days? How have we fallen to this level?
And for that matter, I believe we are now in approximately 72 countries around the world, I have even read a figure of 77 so what's a few countries among friends!!! What the hell are we doing? We are fighting alongside people like Duterte in the Philippines, a murderous dictator? Not sure what the difference is between him and the 'terrorists' he is fighting. Is there a difference in the end result if one is killed by a Moslem extremist or is killed by a dictatorial despot? Dead is dead. The end. And where does it end? No clue. And sadly, neither does the army or our President or our government apparently have a clue either.
And so the saga continues. Even as we are deteriorating around the world, destroying our legacy, and destroying our own country by ignoring safety regulations for the environment, even as we are looking at ways and means to protect the 1% and the hell with the middle class and the lower classes, no retraining for them, just scapegoating the immigrants, that will teach them, even with that going on, we are still investigating the Russian effect on our election and G-d help us if we have truly become a subject country under the table to the Russians. They have perverted the social media, from Amazon to Facebook to YouTube. We have had members of the Trump campaign and administration tie themselves closely to the Russians and we have a president whose main motivation as president appears to be to publicize his golf clubs now paying attention to his Virginia one, and increase the value of his holdings. How we have fallen.
So, 'psychotically' speaking, we are in a bad way. Perhaps if we paid attention to the psychological harm that we have inflicted upon ourselves we might get somewhere. Laugh or cry at the man and the situation and the disasters that emerge from his mouth and mind? Do both? But we need help here, folks, seriously so and soon, or I believe the tipping point will be reached and then, who knows. Scary thought.
Monday, October 23, 2017
BREAKING THINGS
I borrow these words from a wonderful writer, Elana Sztokman whose articles I read as often as they are written. She wrote this article discussing how things are often in a position of having to be broken before they can be fixed, or at least recognized as broken. She states that sometimes there is no other way than to start allover again, so much are things broken.
At a point in her essay she reaches this conclusion and I so totally agree with her.
"I think about this regarding the world we are living in now. We are living in such a broken place.
The election of Trump was the act of such wanton destruction.
His election broke so much.
It broke hope,
it broke integrity,
it broke belief in humanity,
it broke compassion,
it broke decency,
it broke honesty,
it broke care,
it broke logic,
it broke truth,
it broke progress,
it broke bridges,
it broke connections,
it broke cooperation,
it broke generosity,
and it broke the movement towards creating a better world.
We are all experiencing the impacts of that breaking on a regular basis.
And there is so much that is breaking that he allows to continue to break. Floods. Fires. Hurricanes. Mass shootings. One after another, breaking, breaking, breaking.
And he does this actively and on purpose, not just by neglect or stupidity. Trump seeks to continue breaking everything that he can.
He is trying to break health care,
to break education,
to break justice,
to break the economy,
to break poor people,
to break women,
to break people of color,
to break Muslims,
to break immigrants,
to break the media,
to break democracy,
to break history, to break America,
to break alliances,
maybe even to break the world.
It looks that way some days. It looks like he might actually want to start a world war. That is the breaking that we are in the midst of."
The question remaining -
What does it mean to break the trump world in order to rebuild a better world?
"What does it mean to break the trump world in order to rebuild a better world?"
At a point in her essay she reaches this conclusion and I so totally agree with her.
"I think about this regarding the world we are living in now. We are living in such a broken place.
The election of Trump was the act of such wanton destruction.
His election broke so much.
It broke hope,
it broke integrity,
it broke belief in humanity,
it broke compassion,
it broke decency,
it broke honesty,
it broke care,
it broke logic,
it broke truth,
it broke progress,
it broke bridges,
it broke connections,
it broke cooperation,
it broke generosity,
and it broke the movement towards creating a better world.
We are all experiencing the impacts of that breaking on a regular basis.
And there is so much that is breaking that he allows to continue to break. Floods. Fires. Hurricanes. Mass shootings. One after another, breaking, breaking, breaking.
And he does this actively and on purpose, not just by neglect or stupidity. Trump seeks to continue breaking everything that he can.
He is trying to break health care,
to break education,
to break justice,
to break the economy,
to break poor people,
to break women,
to break people of color,
to break Muslims,
to break immigrants,
to break the media,
to break democracy,
to break history, to break America,
to break alliances,
maybe even to break the world.
It looks that way some days. It looks like he might actually want to start a world war. That is the breaking that we are in the midst of."
The question remaining -
What does it mean to break the trump world in order to rebuild a better world?
"What does it mean to break the trump world in order to rebuild a better world?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)