OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF BROADWAY

      Not to worry. Though theaters around the country have long ago shut their doors, dimmed their lights, mourned the lost season, the theater of the absurd is alive and well in DC. Need to check on that? Not a problem. I refer you to the confirmation 'hearing' of Barrett for Supreme Court Justice. Ironically enough, this woman would be a replacement seat filler for the icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg who must be rolling over in her grave at the sight of the latest absurdity of Washington theater.

Swearing she would not be a 'pawn', one could hear the gagging across America. This woman, a 'handmaiden' of her off the wall Christian sect, refuses to state explicitly her beliefs and how they would affect her votes. Really? She who says that it is not the job of the Court to right wrongs, but to obey and uphold the law, would have done very well in Nazi Germany. Those judges also said, maintained, that they were doing their job, upholding the law, following the rules, and it was not their job to determine the morality or immorality of the Nazi laws. Their consciences were clear as their Jewish colleagues and neighbors were beaten, robbed, tortured, dragged off to the forests to be shot, to the ghettos to be starved and to the death camps to be exterminated. But the laws were upheld. A pat on the back!

So, to wit, Dred Scott is still a slave and so are his descendants. Women's suffrage can be recalled, canceled. Discrimination can be legally allowed. All safety regulations can be rolled back for they are not 'upholding' the letter of the law as seen through the distorted glasses of Barrett and her GOP Senator supporters, along with every bigot in the country. And oh, no, she has nothing to do with Trump, because, as the GOP Senators state, Trump is too dumb to understand all the issues. Excuse me? This is the man they are backing maniacally for President? Theater of the absurd, alive and well, in a very sick country with diseased leaders at the helm, in danger in  the most storm ridden waters of all time.

Trump, the man who never grew up, now seeks to find love out there. Evidently, Melania is quite upset with him, so he seeks elsewhere. He begs the suburban women to "love me"  - and there it is again, the gagging across America. "Suburban women, will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?" Is that a statement from a person who should be a President of a diverse nation? Nope, this is the one who needs some remedial education courses touching on the history of the world and the dangers and perils of blocked vision that is overwhelmed by hatred, bias, prejudice and the outcomes and effects of those poisonous beliefs and actions.

As for America, well, it sits there wondering what will be with a packed Supreme Court full of bigots, of backward thinking men, of a woman who feels she is subordinate to men, their handmaiden, as they push their agenda of hatred, of backwardness, of poverty inducing laws, of bias so blatant that once again we will be the leader of the world - in the wrong way!

This theater of the absurd has moved out of the theaters of the nation, out of the increasingly tainted courts rife with newly appointed Republican backed incompetents and worse, and into the streets and lives of us all. So, go, shop early, go nuts over Amazon et al super bargains, spend the money one does not have in the frantic hamster manner of trying to forget that we are all now theater of the absurd captives and victims. That is, unless we wake up, walk out, demand our money back, and vote to shut down this off off off off Broadway absurdity.

The major way to do that right now is to get out there and VOTE. Vote early. Vote with a confidence that it will be counted by going to the polls or bringing in your ballot yourself. Do not wait until the last moment. Do not wait for Trump to impose or attempt to impose his version of a twisted America. Do not give in to this very dangerous, existentially dangerous, theater of the absurd, the theater which promises, or threatens, to wipe America off the maps and install AmeriKa in its place. Then, no more arguments re the ballots, the voting, only the happiness of the GOP Senators and backers as they are marched off to their own brought about condemnations and punishments as they refused to think, to think hard and caved in to their most base and vile needs and desires, gave up on thinking and turned traitors to the ideals, history, and ethos of this nation. And reaped their end themselves. There is no loyalty in a Trumpian world of the absurd.

Vote, people, vote. It is desperately important. Let us be sure to rescue our country, rescue even the benighted ones who cannot see the truth, who cannot see the theater of the absurd in which they play the fools. We need to open their eyes and their minds, to ream out their ears so they can hear and distinguish the lies from the truth. So VOTE. There is no other way other than tragedy and war. No one wants that - I hope. But in this living absurdity - who the hell knows.

Let us be all Americans once more, Let us be America again. Let us be able to view this era, this Trumpian distortion, as a blip in history, a short time when America went off the tracks, but quickly righted itself, turned itself around, reinstated humanity and the right paths and guides, and became the leader of the world once again.

TALKING OF WHICH....

      Pain. Unexplained illnesses. Outrageous attacks on the truth. Fake ballot boxes placed there by - GASP! - the Republicans in California! So now, once again, who is the guilty one in election fraud? 

Does this ever end, or is this the slippery slope, a real one, unlike the frozen ice one that Trump could not maneuver during a hot summer day! Is this the slope at the frightful angle that means there is no stopping the downward movement until the bottom is reached with a fierce final tumble?

So, speaking of which, the J and J trials are being halted for an "unexplained illness". Hmmm. Would that we could call a halt to so many comparable things right here in the nation at large. So many seem to be afflicted with so many formerly eradicated, or nearly so, illnesses. Nope, not the childhood diseases that unthinking parents expose their children to, but the illnesses of overwhelming greed, of chicanery, of me-ism. How many people have paid big bucks at those famous golf clubs in order to get attention from Trump? How many times have the Trump spawn gone to those same clubs of Daddy's and just happen to have a tail of Secret Service personnel who are paid for by guess who? US!!! Yup, while we struggle to stay afloat, these spawn are keeping Daddy's head - and thus, theirs - above water with OUR money! Yup, ahh, the beauty of greed!

So many illnesses. The driving urge to cheat, to lie, to support liars, to ignore reality. The illness of Trump - which was it? Was it not? Was it faked? Is he still there and a clone is out in the world, even more bizarre than the real one? Where does this absolute Twilight World end and the truth begin - or is the truth so far out there now that no amount of thematic music will ever bring it back again?! Is he negative? IS he ever positive?!

"Look, I know how to make deals," says McConnell, an attempt to push aside the oh so true accusation that he is playing politics with the very lives of Americans, that all goes by the board in the name of keeping that man Trump and his party of would be mini  tyrants in power and never mind the costs in terms of humanity. Yes, the man knows how to make a deal and has made several these past four years. 

One is with the Devil! The other is with the Devil's representative in the American government, Trump,  the man, himself. Oh, not to worry, I am not so far gone with pain that I imagine a man or human shaped, anyway, in a red jump suit and apparently a pair of horns on his head - perhaps early Christmas hat - approached him and made a deal. But somewhere along the way, McConnell decided to sell his eternal and immortal soul for the dubious pleasures of this world as head honcho of the Party in the Senate and the ability to inscribe his name in the history books forever. The fact that he will be known as a villain, as a traitor to his roots, to his country and its people, its ideals, to the covenants it shares with the nations of the world - all this makes no never mind to him as he revels in his very temporary cloud of tainted glory.

New headlines: Trump manages to spread the virus even better than before and as usual, calls his doings 'fabulous!" for who else could have done such a good and thorough job of it! He boasts that he is actually a young man under that secretive elder statesman coating. A perfect physical specimen and never you mind about that secret November trip to the hospital with that so obliging doctor, Conley. Trump is obviously a super being, and that trip must have been to measure his  apparently changing mental quotient and ability!! What? You question his mental acuity then and now? Tsk, tsk, Fake media. Deep State hoax, like the fake Republicans putting out the fake ballot boxes! And have I got a bridge or two for you!

So many illnesses. So many topics of which to speak. Speaking of which, as Israel's death toll and infected toll rise, why does the news media show pictures of China? Weird. Vison problems? Speaking of which, our toll is bumping that 215,000 ceiling, only it is not a ceiling, really, is it. We are quickly approaching 8 million infected and now that we know there are several strains, and one can get them all - so much anticipation as the mighty Trump crows about his immunity! - well, where and in whom do we place our trust? Where do we look for the truth? If Trump can use Fauci in an ad for him! praising him! then what now? Oh, yes how about a new ad as the Taliban have just come out with an endorsement for Trump? I kid you not. Such is the state of American politics and reputation in this world. What a cruel joke that man and his henchmen have pulled on us. Sad, very sad.

There are bright spots. Think of the fun we can have switching channels from one Town Hall to another, as two stations feature the two candidates at the same time period, at their own meetings rather than a debate. Think of the possibilities. How quickly can you smoosh the two together, put words that never were said as such, together, to form different meanings, different realities?

 What the hell is the matter with us? Why is this man, this absolutely abnormal man, still in the Oval Office. Still tweeting away with his endless and insane tweets. Why is he still gulping fast food as if there were no tomorrow - quite a possibility at that anyway, - and increasing his bizarre behavior, his rants, his demands to have the power of a tyrant and anyway, he will just take them - so there!! Off with their heads!

Speaking of which, my head needs some more sleep. Now if I can only get my poor fractured spine to go along with this, well, a gal can dream, can she not? This is America, after all, right?

Just get out there and VOTE and be careful about fake drop boxes. A taped on piece of paper does not a legal drop box make! So hmmmm, wonder what those nefarious Republicans planned to do with the gathered ballots and by the way, how many have they already filched from unsuspecting voters. Just get out there and vote again at the office if you dropped it into those boxes. Or check, for the rolls will have the information if your ballot was received or not and where it is in the process and procedure. VOTE, make sure of where and how you do that voting. Thank you, Trump et al for corrupting the very essence of America, for turning back the clock to a past which does not bear repeating and to a present and future with other dictatorial and manifestly criminally negligent of its citizens and their rights, countries. Now aren't you proud! Aren't we so proud of this accomplishment! VOTE!! Speaking of which, this era is killing me! Let us vote and get rid of it - for good!

WHIMPERS AND BANGS

     Ok. So holidays are over, at least for a while, so regular posting will now be in place. Sorry for any confusion.

In any case, we are now facing a choice. Are we going to end this whole mess with a whimper or a bang, or perhaps both. The GOP is fighting with the desperation of a desperado losing a life and death battle, and seemingly is and will use any and all to fix their mess. Oh, not to correct it, to do the right thing. Nope, what they want is to stop the voting rights, the ability to vote for as many Americans as they can, using all machinations and permutations they can think of. Including violence and physical intimidation, what with arms. Yes, they have certainly heeded the instructions of our homegrown tyrant, and stood by, ready, willing, and salivating at this permission to do harm, to hurt, to destroy this country.

The GOP , the Senators of the Party, have consistently been missing some spine. All spine, actually. They have stood by this man, this dangerous caricature of a human, in the name of installing incompetent, unqualified judges to a federal system now crippled for decades and await the final touch of installing a "handmaiden" to the vacant seat. What an insult to women, a slap in the face of the memory of RBG. 

Now they are beginning to realize how bad they have become. They have condoned crime, theft, fraud, tax evasion, cronyism, the growth of that reeking swamp of DC, worse than ever. Trump has been shown to be the fake wizard behind the curtain, no answers at hand for the messes he has encouraged and allowed to grow apace, only truths that are depressing, A man who cannot keep out of bankruptcy despite all the advantages of a beyond wealthy father. A man who has to cheat and lie and steal his way through life. A man who is disrespectful of all other than himself. A man whose slide into dementia, whose sociopathic nature is only exacerbated by and with the dangerous side effects of one of his medications - long insane rants and erratic behavior way, way, beyond the norm. Hard to tell there between what was already and what is new!!

Worst of all is the death of this country, the death that the GOP is presiding over, headed by that lunatic, Trump. Our once proud nation is now a joke unto the world, rather than a leader in all that is good. We are failing in our responsibility to provide a path towards a better world, to provide a space wherein dreams can come true, without ruby red slippers or fake wizards. We have failed.  

 The question before us now is what will the end be - or can we avoid that seemingly unavoidable end? Will we sink beneath the weight of all our sins, our cynicism, our cruelty and indifference to those in need, our avoidance of the right, choosing the wrong and the seemingly easy thing to do? Or can we stop with a bang! Can we bring a halt to this slide into a history replete with failed and arrogant nations, with homegrown tyrants, wannabe rulers, so enmeshed in their own crooked minds and plans, that they destroy their country - and millions along with it.

Can we, will we, have the audacity, the courage, the inner strength, to fight against all that is so wrong with us now, be honest with ourselves and realize the damage Trump and his ilk have done? I hope so, for if not, the whimpers of this dying country will be drowned out for all time, a mere blip in time, a failure, due to the weaknesses of the people of the nation, the venality of its leader, and the complicit and implicit acts of approval of so many in the commission of crimes, of all that is wrong with society.

So bang we must. Bang away with strength. Bang away at all who would bury America. Bang with the enthusiasm of the true patriots, of true Americans, of a true America. Light the  Lady's torch again. VOTE!!!!!!

Now as an aside, to the poison pen writer. We know who you are. We have traced you all the way back to your poisonous self. For the sake of those we know, stop, or we will be forced to reveal in  public who you are. Save your family from that distress. Get help, help you so desperately need and have needed for decades already. Have a good day!

 

"HOW DARE HE..."

      A nurse, exasperated by Trump and his dangerous statements, asked how dare he make those statements? How dare he mislead so many people, encouraging them to not use safety precautions, to not be afraid of the virus. How dare he? Because the man is not all there in any sense of the meaning of sanity, of humanity, of care and empathy for others. See, a sociopath does not have that quality and can only try to copy it by watching others, but, as usual, Trump fails. The greatest failure as a man, as a father, as a husband, as a President, as an American, as a human being endowed with qualities of goodness and kindness.

This lack of all things bright and beautiful, as the saying goes, is reflected in so many of his followers. Many are still blinded by whatever it is that causes their eyes, ears and minds to deny the truth, but there are others who are as nasty, as combative as their mentor. One of those has resurfaced on my comments section, with his stupid and meant to be cruel words. I will gladly post opposition viewpoints phrased in decent language, no personal insults, but not the words of a man - or woman - caught up in the throes of Trump's inhumanity. So blow hard, but you will get nowhere other than a negative place, just as we  in America have been doing these past four years.

Now I read that Pelosi is going to install a commission meant to investigate whether any President, particularly the one we now have, who behaves so erratically, so cruelly, so contrary, so opposed to rationality, is fit to serve. If that is the case, then the 25th Amendment comes into play. Too little too late? Maybe, since he demonstrated his moral turpitude many years ago, and continued on that path, adding fraud, tax evasion, lies, treason, and more to his resume, and evidencing symptoms of both physical and mental incompetence. 

Promising seniors free access to his antibody serum, which he cannot do, by the way, he now refutes his own ridiculous ban on fetal tissue research, as this was the source of that serum! A typical not thought through behavior, words that mean nothing, only signifying his further deterioration into that long night.

The editorial in the Daily News! supports the above theories and about time. His crazed irrational series of actions, screaming at his remaining aides that he has not yet sickened, in more ways than one, ordering them to prosecute - more like persecute -his political enemies. Folks, that is dictatorship and tyranny. That is Hitler, Mussolini, Orban, Duterte, Putin - not America. Not at all. That is Caligula and Nero, all the horrid figures throughout history who wrecked their own nations with their insanity, their sick arrogance, their irrationality, their toxicity.

Calling Harris a "monster" is not exactly grown up behavior, is it? Come through with a logical statement or objection but it is time to put away the toys, the behaviorism of schoolyard years, particularly the ones of a bully. When the chief sexual pervert is in the Oval Office, how hypocritical is it for the GOP to go against a man in North Carolina because he cheated. Yes, morally reprehensible, but how many of those shrieking, hypocritical, out for blood GOP people are just as guilty on their own of sexual peccadillos, and guilty tenfold for ignoring the sins of Trump, his ruthless contempt for women.

Aw shucks, just read he was not the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. How shocking that this man who sent massive numbers of troops into Afghanistan, who does not oppose monetary tributes for killing an American soldier, who was brutal in Yemen and Somalia, who constantly threatens to unleash all forces and might of America against those who displease him, how shocking that he did not win! Uh -huh!

“Tomorrow, by the way, tomorrow, come here tomorrow,” 

So says Pelosi when in conversation with reporters. Well. I do not think that we have the leisure time to wait for any more tomorrows. We need to speak up loud and clear, vent our anger, and VOTE!!!! We need to let people know that America has returned to her senses, to her political and moral role in the world. We will show people that we reject cruelty to those in need. that we reject cronyism and privilege for the few. That we reject racism and bias, hatred and disunity. We will be America, Americans, as we exercise our right to VOTE, despite all efforts to stymie and deny that vote to all.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

      As millions of others last night, we watched the debate. Correct, there was no shouting over the top lunacy displayed. Furthermore, there were no insults traded as to personalities of the debaters. And here the differences stopped. The same interruptions of the Democratic candidate by the Republican. The same refusal to obey the rule agreed upon, dismissing the very weak attempts by the moderator to shut Pence down when he ran over - which was basically, all the time! The same refusal to meet and answer difficult questions. And the same old, same old lies. Again and again. Did Pence think he was fooling anyone with his tightly controlled hair, his pursed looks of derision as Harris spoke? Even that damned fly knew where to find his food of garbage - Pence's head. So much for Mother Nature and her opinion of all this.

I was basically listening for several things. And there they were. Pence, the head of Trump's disastrous virus fight, repeated the same lies, replete with sickening praise about it. Pence refused to answer the question about peaceful transfer of power. Bad question not to answer.  He refused to admit Trump's obvious and dangerous preference for extreme right wingers, lack of condemnation of their behavior, shaking his head when those nasty statements of "stand by" and the like were quoted.

The same lies, over and over again. Harris, constrained by the double standards placed upon women who dare to speak up, pointedly told Pence that "I am still speaking" when his constant overruns and interruptions became too much. She warned him of the difference between opinion and fact, facts clearly being in short supply in his answers, other than made up ones.

In the meanwhile, the Demented One speaks of his 'blessing' from G-d - to be ill with COVID. What an ass! Ask the 211,000 people dead, or rather ask their grieving and bereft loved ones. Ask those millions and millions infected, struggling, and dealing with debilitating long term after effects. Ask all those denied the same treatment he received, as he promises them the same thing! Ha! Want to buy some bridges and tunnels? Ask those who lay dying, all alone, cut off from the comfort of a son, a daughter, a spouse, a parent, unlike the treatment he received. There is no comparison at all. And no one else went home to a fully staffed oversupplied hospital setup in their home - but he did! But his pea sized brain cannot take it all in. As usual, the lights in that dark and echoing head, were off, useless.

The only way to return to sanity, to people willing to use science, true science, not the quackery land lies of his chosen 'scientists', is to vote this man and his ilk out, way out and far away from the halls of the Congress where they have perpetuated so much harm, long lasting, perhaps permanent. Climate change and man's role in that, but we are told that the hurricanes remain the same! Guess he does not live in a hurricane affected area, nor does he live where the homes are burned down as the land is afire. Existential threat? Bah, humbug! 

As for church and state, yes, faith is an important question  but one's own faith has no place in official policy nor on the courts of the nation, and yet there they are. All those incompetent judges called out as such by their own fellow lawyers, but nevertheless, on the bench due to Trump and his complicit Senate. A new rushed candidate for Scotus, one who is heavily enmeshed up to her neck, or even over her head, in an extreme Christian sect. The shivers down my back are now on the permanent running setup, and I will admit - I am frightened, truly and massively so.

Thus, all in all, albeit in a more polite and civil manner, the debate was the same old, same old, with the Democratic Party participant coming out on top. As for readiness to serve at a moment's notice - Harris all the way. No doubt about it. A Pence presidency would be Trump Redux, much to our detriment, a final touch on our road to perdition.

People. Time is running out. 26 days left for us to save this country, to save this world, this globe of ours on which we live. We have no other home. No aliens have contacted us with invitations. No one has contacted his ridiculous 'Space Force' to ask us over for talks and tea. We must get real and save ourselves- the right way. VOTE. Take your neighbor. Mail his/her ballot. Drop it in at the office. Anything that will help further the reformation and return to sanity within this country. No more disunity. No more instigation of hatred and violence. Just VOTE for hope, for goodness, for possibilities. The Biden/Harris ticket and the Congressional people who will further it all the way.    VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

PAIN AND TIME

    I cannot remember another time when I had such sustained pain. Not even after knee or shoulder surgery. Never do I recall a time when it is so consistently difficult to get into and out of a bed or even a chair. Along with that pain comes an incredible change of time. It stretches out as one tries to handle it. On the other hand, it passes by quickly as it runs out and away with not much to show for it. It is kind of like the situation we have now in real life, the life of our nation and our citizens.

Our time now is painful. Our citizens are being taught to suspect one another. We hear of  a frightening 'army' out for bear who will poll watch  for the GOP. Think of hulking, armed creatures intimidating some little old lady out to vote as they surround and loudly challenge her as she drops off a ballot or stands in line waiting her turn to vote, a privilege and right of American citizens.

Time is  a fleetin' as the days prior to Nov. 3 quickly run through the hourglass of time. We are antsy, anxious to have this done with, anxious to hear the results, even as we know the days will drag on until all votes are counted, all challenges over with, and  decision rendered. The question now is whether America will survive these days, this questionable, challenged election, this extremely possible emerging Civil War II on its heels. Will America survive or are we now running through the last days as we now know it, as a democracy?

The pain we feel in our bones, in our hearts, makes it all the more painful and drag through time even as it also races. Do we have enough time to rescue, save, our country? How do we even survive until Jan. 20 with a madman at the helm, whose madness is exacerbated by the weird combinations of toxic drugs administered to him, many of which have dementia, hallucinations, and psychotic behavior as side effects. 

How do we remain alive as we are whipsawed through changes of policy within hours, as the stock market loops crazily, as the world grows ever more concerned? How do we live on as a healthy entity with a crazed tweeter running the show, with any sane person remaining either fired or sick with the virus. Even his own son, Junior, remarked that his father was acting crazy in the hospital. Well, most of us know that he is irrational almost 100% of the time, ill or not!!

With Dr. Fauci warning us that a bad fall season could leave us with 300,000 to 400,000 dead by end of year, time seems even more constrained even as it appears to race by. The pain to people as they lose loved ones. The pain to people as they must forage for food for their families, as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads, as they lose their dignity and pride, as the middle class disappears into poverty. We watch with tears  in our eye as confused elderly, without their meds, grown too costly for them, as their income for retirement shrinks all the time now, wander, alone, lost. We watch American children with those same huge, confused eyes, bellies swollen, hunger ravaging their bodies. This is what happens when an economy shatters, no hopes of a fix in evidence.

The only answer is to get out there and vote, to fight against the pain or use it as a goad to faster action and quicker healing. Vote is the way. Vote is the direction we need. Vote, vote, vote for our future, for our life as a nation, for our kids, for our survival, for our recovery from our present painful situation. VOTE!! Let us be America again.

 

ON THE CONTRARY!

     

    So the big, brave man tells the country not to be afraid of the virus. He, the man with excessive medical care, personalized, overseen by experts called in from all over the nation, with a hospital room in his own house, this man tells people not to be afraid of it. Of course he slightly forgets that his care is not like any care that any other patient gets. Not that the first responders are at fault, not at all, but it is nigh unto impossible to give this level of care, standard, exceptional, experimental, to all. So what is this man babbling about? Once again, he is shooting off that stupid know nothing mouth of his and luring people further into the maw of COVID. The true statement should be: be afraid, be very afraid. Wear the mask. Keep your distance. Think of the risk to others when configuring your plans.

This man could give a whit in concern for others. Placing the Secret Service people in a perilous situation as he plays Mr. President is not the act of a caring, thinking person. Not at all. Nor is the continued push to enable an announcement that a vaccine is ready - just before the election. Screw the safety regulations. Screw the danger to those receiving it. Screw the wise reactions of the nation as more and more are stating they would refuse such a vaccine where politics is the guideline rather than safety and care for the population. Don't be afraid? NO - be very much afraid.

As over 210,000 people have lost their battle with the virus, as close to seven and a half million people have faced infection and their battle to survive, this man is declared "flawed, selfish, reprehensible". With fake courage, backed up by all the help available to him - and only, him - he refuses to endorse the safety rules. No, he is concerned with only one person, one fate, one man's health - his, so be afraid, very much so. Your ostensible leader could give a s--t about you and yours.

The battle for a fair election continues apace as the Democratic Party and the corrupt, debased GOP battle it out in court, one trying to keep access available, the other - evermore continuing its arrogant efforts to close off the right to vote to so many. The rocky road to tyranny here in America grows ever smoother, the destination ever closer, as people remain unaware, apathetic, as our status as a democracy goes down the drain. Don't be afraid? On the contrary - be very much afraid.

 They have tried every corrupt path, from lies, to threats, to violence, to encouraging every hateful behavior towards, or rather, against, others. They have subsumed the governmental offices into shills for Trump. They have encouraged nepotism, cronyism, greed, selfishness and endangerment of not only democracy, but of the very survival of the earth. Don't be afraid? Oh, no, my friends, be very much afraid. Nope, not enough. More.

We are at a definitive crossroads of life, of choices for the future. To choose the positive one, the one with hope to undo the damage this man has already done, plans to do, we must turn him away, deny him any continued power, turn him and his to a blip in our history, what almost was, but successfully fought against.

Unfortunately, we must be afraid. With a selfish, ignorant, demented man at the helm and a severely incompetent crew, we must recognize the fear we should have, do have, acknowledge it and turn it around. That is the only hope we have. Be afraid - and then act upon it. Do the right thing. Get out there and VOTE. Vote for freedom. Vote for America. Trump is not us. Never.

 

VERITAS TEMPORIS FILIA

      Truth is the daughter of time. So, before I get into the posting, let me confess all in the name of truth, like where the hell was I yesterday and why so late today. One is simple: it was holiday and I forgot to note that on the Friday blog. Mea culpa. Why so late today? Because, quite frankly, I was an idiot, and attempted to do something by myself which was truly a dumb move and then - wham!! Over I went, wrenching my back truly badly, to the point of not being able to walk for a while, and concussing myself, denting a radiator cover with my own little delicate head! A day and a hospital visit later we confirmed no fracture of the back, no brain bleed or clotting and I was able to return, albeit a tad damaged! And definitely slower moving!

So, in the name of truth I confess I was an idiot at that moment and I must accept that I need some physical help at times. The pain over the next few months will remind me should I forget. Would that the daughter of Time, Truth, would be so easily understood and accepted by others. Would that people would finally accept that Truth will out. Time is on the side of Truth and there is no hiding it forever. Much better to work within that principle rather than try to oppose it and then find oneself on the ground with a dent in the proverbial radiator cover! Much less painful for all concerned.

Thus we rightly ask ourselves what was the point of lying re Trump's COVID issue? The Truth will out, people will speak, tongues will trip over themselves, people forget what lies they told, thus adding new and contrasting ones and the final result? The Truth is outed, bits and pieces falling into place. So what was the point in the first place? Beats me! Time will tell has lots of reasoning behind it and always will, though too late at times. The damage is done and the consequences are not good. The liars never seem to learn, do they?

The man poked fun at all the precautions. He urged his benighted followers to follow his untruths. He pressured governmental organizations to lie, as in the connection between kids and the virus. He lied about the virus and its powerful outcomes, even unto death! Almost 210,000 dead now and millions upon millions infected. The equivalents of smaller cities being totally emptied,  but lies continued and there ya' go! Goes around and comes around. Get what you give. Reap what you sow. Take any saying and the Truth hits you right in the face.

Now we find that the man was and is truly bad sick. What did he expect? Did he not worry as he knew he had zillions of people at his beck and call, no insurance complications, no "sorry, too experimental" - nothing to stop his personal journey of healing? Too bad it does not stretch to the everyday average person in America. And much of that is his fault. Truth and Time tell the story, do the not? And why the continuing lies? Why the stupidity of it all? And what is with the ridiculous oh so angry statements about SNL and the skit. If Trump goes for a little ride in the midst of it all to wave to fellow idiots; if he puts on a jacket to sign meaningless papers to show he is 'working', then so what? He is obviously playing down his vulnerability and true state of health - what a shock! - so two can play the same game. Not serious, then fine, satire is okay. And besides, why did he not wear the mask and why did he not warn people, instead of telling more lies and more lies and allowing it all to spread.

Why? Because the man could care less about anyone other than himself, his power, his bottom line. All else is fodder for his machinery that crumbles all before it - or so he thinks. Truth is, please, G-d, he will go down in a few weeks and the only question remaining is will he behave as he should, as he swore to, to defend the Constitution, serve the people, or will he instigate Civil War II?

Riding in an Uber on the way home, we had a driver who was a stereotype of a typical crude Trump supporter. Sleeveless shirt, big, tattoos, bearded and we kept quiet, as today, one speaks naught of political thoughts and leanings. Too dangerous in the Trumpian world we now live in. So he spoke, a nice and gentle voice in a man filled with concern as to why people do not talk any more, why do they yell, why can they not see what the truth of Trump is? Did they not have enough time to see and understand what he is doing to the country? Lesson learned: no judging by appearances. Meet and get to know. Talk and share. That is the way to go. That is how Truth emerges.

And now, friends, again, my apologies and I will be signing off for today. Head banging and back screaming, with knees and shoulders joining the chorus. Think I will add in a few howls of my own!

Stay safe, be well, appreciate the Truth and the value of Time and most important =  VOTE.

AND IT JUST AIN'T SO!

     Believe your eyes and ears we are told, but can we? The world is immersed in a sea of falsehood, one right after the other, even contradicting themselves as spoken by the same person. How do we know what is, and what is not? Unfortunately, the burden is upon our shoulders, for so many of the leaders and so much of what they say is suspect.

Trump could not bring himself to condemn racism and extreme white supremacists. 48 hours later he stated he is condemning them, even as he still maintains he really was ignorant re the Proud Boys. Well, despite the fact that ignorance is not an excuse, which would pretty much affect his entire lexicon of statements,  a day later  we are being told that the " suburban, low income people of color are ruining this American dream. So what is, and what ain't?

Money where your mouth is? We will see. Trump has now been declared positive for the virus. So, what touted method will it be? Will it be hydroxychloroquine? Will it be an injection of Lysol or some other toxic cleanser? Or perhaps a bath in the stuff? Or maybe one of the vaccines that come from his BFFs, Xi and Putin? Or maybe, this man who has condemned so many by his inaction, and inappropriate and harmful actions, to long periods of illness or death, to poor health care, will now get the best this country has to offer. No shortage of PPE here. NO shortage of ventilators. NO shortage at all. So exactly who has ruined the American dream for so many? And may G-d forgive me for thinking, what goes around comes around, and it is about time!

The whole country has immersed itself, willingly and not into a new version of America. Things are split right down the Party line. Want to listen to Trump's panicked and frightening call for all the National Guards to airlift in soldiers because there were crowds of peaceful protesters outside the WH fences? Republican governors did and Democratic ones did not. Wear a mask or carry one in a pocket, hoping for osmosis somehow? Well, are you for the security danger as presented by Trump or not?

Yes, we have lost our American Dream, but not for his claimed reasons. We have lost the Dream because our leader is a more and more openly declared Fascist. We have lost it because that man and his just as guilty henchmen have encouraged hatred and violence. We have lost it because too many of us secretly agreed with that hatred or just sat there on our thumbs and rotated, either too apathetic or tired or sympatico or lazy or whatever excuse one can think of. If good people, for one reason or another, do nothing to oppose evil, well, there ya' go! And here we are.

So the obese, demented old dude now has the virus. His wife says she does not give a shit about her WH duties or what she says or does and what people say. She is tired of it. Her miserable husband appears to mesh with that just fine So here is an idea - get the hell out of Dodge and allow our American Dream to return. End the acidic atmosphere that is eating up our civility, that encourages the barbaric and uncivilized and demented behavior of yours at the debate and basically all the time, no matter where, when, or what. See, I, and many others, growing numbers, could give a s--t about your seeming unhappiness, about your desire to be left alone to totally tank this country, to see it through to its final collapse. Get thee gone is our mantra. And soon!

What also ain't so is the existence of truth in the governing administration of the UCO of CV here in West Palm. The President is an increasingly strangely behaving entity, closed off more and more in his office, refuses to allow people in to the building, calls out in a roar to ban certain people, and cancels month after month of meetings and assemblies that are supposed to be a gathering of informed, questioning people who will make informed choices, and vote. Right now - we have zilch and the system is cracking.

It just ain't the American Dream anymore. Can we bring it back, revive and reenergize it? I believe we can, but time is running short. Red lines have been breached and great damage has been incurred.

People. for the love of heaven, get out there and vote. Despite all the obstacles they place in our way - closing of drop off points, of polling places, of harassment, verbal and physical, of threats, - get out there and VOTE. It is the only peaceful recourse we have. But mind you, and I cannot believe we are so close to the next point - it is a likely thing that that man and his miserable critters will fight the results if they are not satisfied - i.e. should they lose - please, G-d! Are you, are we, prepared to defend this home of the free and the brave? I certainly hope so, for there is no one exempt from the terror of tyranny. No one.

"MASTER, I'LL BE GOOD!"

      Read that again and again and again. And no, this is not an excerpt taken from a book which contains slavery. This is the cry, the piteous cry of a woman, hogtied, like a piece of livestock, thrown into a car, and allowed to fall off the seat, headfirst, feet higher than head, and lay there, in pain, in increasing panic and anxiety. "This is some slavery sh*t. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry God ... It hurts so bad ... Please don't let me die back here. MASTER, I'LL BE GOOD!" Upon reaching the police station, the female officer awaiting them asked the prisoner why she was head down like that.

Master, I'll be good? Where and why and how does that statement, that terrified pleading, have a place in our society. How has it come to this? Why has it come to this and how the hell do we fix it? And we had better fix it and soon, for the alternative is not a good one. 

Nor does it fall only upon Black women caught in bad situations. It will affect all, 'master' and 'slave' alike. Nor should one question that prediction, for this is the same thinking, the same approach to life and to others, the same cruelty, fiendish evil cruelty, that gave rise to the joint cooperation of guards and doctors! as they forced detained women immigrants into sterilization, The echoes of Nazis, the stink of evil, the stench of madness, is growing and we are all at risk.

The source of the emanation of that stench? Look to DC. Look to the WH. Look to the cowardly GOP Senators who cannot bring themselves to condemn their demented leader, that lunatic of the debate, as he refused to oppose racism and extreme right wing white supremacists. Not only did he refuse to denounce and separate, but he asked them to "stand by". They are now eagerly organizing their patrols of the polling places, as asked for by Trump, right there in his rants and ravings. 

What do you think will happen the first time they try to intimidate, harass,  and deny a voter exercising his/her civil rights? And why not, for with the new Justice they are cramming through, the civil rights gains of the last decades, for women, for disabled, for LGBTQ, for people of color, will be erased, as if it never were - and never will be again.

Claiming ignorance of who the Proud Boys are, a false ignorance, used as his perpetual excuse, does not absolve him of the taint, the huge and ugly stain of racism. The truth is the truth and no amount of lying will cover it up for eternity. Truth has that most important feature, asset, trait, of being revealed, sooner or later. I can only hope that the truth of Trump, who he is, his true plans and ambitions, his dementia and quickly expanding descent into further dementia, will be revealed - soon!

Saying he "misspoke" is not the answer. Saying he made a mistake is not the answer. The truth is the answer and we cannot, will not, must not allow for "Master, I'll be good" to stand in and stand out anymore. It is criminal to degrade one to that point. It is a crime for officers of the law to do that, to instigate, entangle and rev up a bad situation, making it worse. 

It means that we must treasure the good guys in law enforcement and weed out the others, kick their rears out, deny them any future entry, and improve our recruitment, assessment, and training of present and future officers. It means we have to educate the public as to their rights, as to the fact that there are good officers, that if a person commits an offense he can be arrested, but there are limits to the force that can be used; the necessity of realizing that there are also criminals and wrongdoers among people of color, the same as there are among the other races and colors of humanity.

We start this process by ending the reign of the man who is described as the one who inflames racial hatred and divisiveness in the nation.  "We can't go on having a leader that does nothing but throw gasoline on the hatred in this country."  We cannot abide one as a leader who is named as the most prolific seed of misinformation in the world!! And this merely refers back to the pandemic, not yet to his other lie fests. This, is our President!!!!! This is the man whom I have never recognized as my legitimate head of country. Never then, and never ever.

I want my home back again. I want the surety I once had that despite the haters that will always be there, me and my people, were safe and welcome, able to contribute to the country and live their lives. I want the rights that we all have been endowed with by law. I want my America. I want my America. I am so tired of the hate. I am so tired of living in a growing fear and fright of soon to be necessary flight.

Please, for heaven's sake, for our sake, VOTE. Get out there and VOTE. Do not abdicate the country, deeding it to the haters, the dregs of society. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

 We must never hear that sentence again - "master, I'll be good!" Never!!!! NEVER!!!

WHAT I SAID!

      Boy, do things happen, even when they should not. Not quite sure what I watched last night, did my share of  shouting at the screen or looking in sheer puzzlement and confusion at my husband, who shared the same look. I also had both admiration and frustration as I watched Biden deal with an unleashed lunatic, a shouting, ranting, schoolyard bully with no better words in his mouth than name calling and blatant lies.

First, we had a calm, though annoyed, Biden, who waited calmly and even with a smile, for Trump to finish his most current rant. Then he finally had enough and told him to just shut up. Ooooh! Really! I could think of many other more forceful and to the point things that Biden could have said, but he is a gentleman, and a gentle man. He spoke to the people of America, rather than to the asylum's latest escapee. It was like Arkham Manor came to life on stage. What a mess. Where was Batman when Gotham was so desperately in need of him?

 Probably, he was hiding out of sheer embarrassment. As Biden said, "This is so unpresidential." It so was not. It was a disaster for the American people as they watched their President, the man who swore an oath to protect the Constitution, try to rip it, shred it, nullify it, with his callous and dangerous words. He sent shivers down the spines of the collective world as he refused, categorically refused, to accept that the election would be fair, and any damage done to that would and could be laid at his door. He has undermined, purposely, willfully, with great calculation, the election process, laying the claim early that if he wins, well, what a marvelous election, but should he lose - well, gird your loins my friend, biblical style, because blood in the streets is not unlikely at all.

Biden agreed to recognize the results, to wait patiently for the results without referring to warlike terms. Trump, on the other hand, called for his bullies to enter the polls and watch. Watch! And what then? Act, if they do not like what they see? Act how? Like the bully soldier puppets of third world countries?  For like it or not, that is what we are becoming, quickly, oh, so quickly. Trump's display last night was a typical rant and rave of would be Hitler wannabes and by the way, what the hell was that hairdo about? He looked even more insane than ever when paired with his crazed face, his petulant gestures and his constant me, me, me interruptions.

His ignorance came through loud and clear. One cannot be a poll watcher until application, review, and training, with specific assignments. They are not allowed to interfere with the voting process, only with specific voters if there is a valid reason. I suspect that validity has long ago walked out the door, frightened off by this madman and his henchmen.

Biden came out great as far as I am concerned. I do wish he had spoken in loud tones over Trump's constant hectoring postures and voice, but Biden is a pro, knows how to control himself, despite obvious cause, obvious anger. This is the man we want negotiating with the rest of the world, a man we want to lead us back into the light, out of the darkness of Trumpian times, the hopelessness it has engendered.

Jagged. Shitstorm. Bizarre. All these have been used to describe the debate and its significance. However, for many people watching, especially those historically more sensitive to the stink of prejudice and racial violence, his statement that the Proud Boys should "Stand back. Stand by."  - well, I just about ran to check the validity of my passport. Refusing to condemn his and yes, they are his, violent crusaders of evil, to refuse their support - that is what he said. So, stand by - for what and for when? 

If you are satisfied to live with that threat, or perhaps even like that thought, then there is nothing, no help for you, until you come to your senses. Biden refused violent people and violence. But all this stems from Trump, for all this ugliness, this jaggedness, arose strictly out in the open during his time in office and with his encouragement. No, there are not "fine people on both sides". There is nothing fine in a person who shouts bloody racial epithets and comes loaded for bear to a peaceful protest by those who think otherwise.

People, the time has come. Personally, I believe we should just cancel the other two debates as there is no chance of a normal one, not with Trump. Allow the VP debate as Harris will hand Pence his head as he attempts to cover for Trump and his murderous, yes, murderous, errors and even deliberately taken wrong paths.

Stand by - to defend our nation. Stand by to be aware and proactive as Trump attempts to interfere with the election process. Stand by to save this country as Trump attempts to turn it into his own private fiefdom.  VOTE VOTE VOTE

THINGS HAPPEN

      .... for a reason. People, when confronted with confusing or troubling events, often think that to say that "there's always a reason" is the best thing to say. It is just that we do not understand the why, it seems and so we are to take some nebulous amount of comfort from those meaningless and even hurtful words. Words can be as soft as a down pillow or as harsh and ungiving as a stone wall.

Where do these words come from? They come from us. They come from the people we supposedly copy or trust or admire or hate. Their words and ours that follow are of dire importance. Unfortunately we forget that and the result: shoot one's mouth off, ergo, something happens. It is a version of the butterfly effect wherein one small inconsequential action on one side of the globe leads to ever growing consequences and finally - disaster.

"Fiction isn't just what you find in books. It's the lies we tell ourselves. They can be sturdy lies we use as scaffolding, lies with an abrasive edge to scour our consciences clean, lies that settle over things we'd rather not see.... There are many other permutations, but whatever form they take, these are lies that we love and loathe. The only way to avoid creating your own fiction is not to think at all."   (Character in novel To Tell You the Truth)

So things do happen for a reason and those reasons for all those happenings often originate in our own minds, mouths and tongues and in our acceptance of them as gospel, refusing to think or evaluate for ourselves. Hence, the confused and confusing situation in which we are presently living. One question arises time and time again. What is the truth and how are we to separate it from all the conditions and feelings and motives that surround that hard to find truth. And once found, how do we incorporate it within our bruised and battered brains and souls? How do we avoid the fiction we create by believing those lies? More important even, especially when the fiction of lies has been flowing in such huge amounts and producing dangerous currents, is how do we reverse the situation, recognize the fiction perpetuated on us and which we so willingly began to believe and spread as etched in stone?

Today, 36 days or so prior to Election Day, a day on which we truly will be judging ourselves, picking our destiny, rejecting or accepting of the fiction we now live in, it is time to sit down and think. Think with an open mind. Think without self pride and protection that will force you to defend your poor choices up till now. Think as a whole, rather than on one tiny part of life. Think and evaluate the core values of this country. Think how we have always held to them even as we made gross decisions, terrible decisions, turned false to those beliefs.

 Yet there were those and are still those, who keep a steady hand on the wheel, waiting for the storm of fiction, of the bad and dangerous fiction, to abate and then step in to turn our country, our America, back on track. Honor, honesty, acceptance, leadership, truth, empathy and caring for the weak and helpless - that is what we are, who we are, and the current toxic fiction we have created - well, it needs to go. Now. This minute, for the hands of the clock for USA Doomsday are hitting the midnight hour. After us, thus follows the world, and that's all the fiction that counts, no erasures any more. All the red lines will have been crossed and that fiction will be the last one we ever do. Things happen.

What is the dangerous fiction we have allowed to take over our lives? What is the dangerous fiction we have swallowed whole, accepting the lies, the coverups, the next lies that refute the first lies, the complete and total abdication to corruption and greed, to crass behavior and a lack of empathy to such a degree that is found only in sociopaths, along with their ability to mesmerize their audiences into believing their fiction, their harmful, dangerous, existence threatening fiction.

For four years we have been swallowed whole by the fiction of Trump and henchmen. We have allowed the erasure of goodness from our nation. We have allowed that fiction to convince us that the morally challenged GOP is really simply admiring the clothes of that truly naked emperor. We have convinced ourselves that it is okay, in this fiction, to hate others, to scream and shout words of hate and to act upon that hate. We have allowed this country to forsake its responsibilities to the world, to its needy, to its struggling middle class. This fiction has catered strictly to the upper, upper wealthy and no amount of lies can cover that over. 

This Trump fiction has finally been truly punctured. After all these years, finally, his returns are open and hello, America!!! This man is a total and complete fraud. He is basically broke or will be in the very near future. He is corrupt and dangerously cynical and noncaring, derisive of his duty towards his country, contemptuous of the truth. He has lied, blatantly so. Even now, he denies the truth and when pushed to the wall, says it is okay, his right to avoid taxes, his right to shirk all that is right in his skewed, nasty fiction.

Worst of all is the fact that his fiction has swallowed ours whole. He has driven nails between the generations, between members of families, driven away the very idea, the very gestalt that is America. Can we defy his fiction? We had better if we want  a viable future for our kids and grandkids, for the world.

            " 'Tis a fearful thing

              to love what death can touch."

       Yehuda Halevi, 12th century Jewish physician, poet and philosopher.

I love America. Period. It is not perfect and at times lives in a fiction that is all wrong. Then we recognize that and redo it. That time is here and now. That time is more urgent than ever.

For the sake of all you love, do not allow it to die, for America to crumble into dust, with only faint echoes to be found in space and in the dirt of its crumbled civilization. Think and reject that which is wrong and then go vote. VOTE.

    

     

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?

      We all were there. Anyone in close contact with little kids who are first meeting the world at large, knows those questions. Why is the sky blue? Is the ocean also blue? Do they meet? Do they share the blue? Can I have a cookie? Why not? Where are we going? When will we get there? Are we there yet? Now? Now? I have to go to the bathroom - now! Really bad? Oops. Too late.

There are no answers that would stop the barrage of questions and generally, that cookie would be given, if only for a bit of peace and quiet. But I wonder now what kind of cookie we are going to be offered as we ask questions, repeated questions, substantial questions, existential questions, and not only do we not get a cookie in any form, but we are told how badly life will change. "Are we there yet?" we ask. "Almost", is the answer given. Are we too late here as well?

Why have we allowed this?

Why are there gatherings ever larger in scope and numbers by far right wing haters?

Why do we allow a definitively damaged man to overturn all that this country once was?

Why do we allow that same man to threaten to overturn election results, refuse to leave the WH and transition peacefully?

Why has this man politicized every single government branch and organ - and gotten away with it?

Why has Congress confirmed each and every corrupt and venial, unqualified candidate?

Why have we ceded the Supreme Court to him?

Why has he not had his tax records opened?

Why is he not in prison for his sexual attacks? 

Why is he not a registered sex offender?

Why are we allowing such delays?

Why do the children of this man, filled with the same hate towards all, the same conceits, think they are the anointed successors of their father?

Why do we allow them to think that way?

Why do we allow the corruption, the nepotism, the cronyism, the joined complexes to rule the day?

Why do we allow politics to interfere with science, be it re hurricanes or vaccines?

Why do we shrug off the numbers, those horrible numbers, ever growing - over 7 million infected   and 205,000 dead!

Why have we grown so blase, so heartless and yes, even vicious?

Why have we had rumbles in the streets and are they the preludes to the oncoming inevitable Civil War II?

Why do we allow a bully, a tyrant, to run the government, paralyzing and coopting morally valueless Senators and other members of the GOP?

Why have we all lost our way, fallen off the track through the swamp of DC, going down for the last time?

Why is Joe Biden, according to Trump, both the dumbest man and the best debater at the same time? A tad nervous there, Donny boy!? Cake and eating it too?

Why is this our President?  "an ill-formed man who lacks basic self-control and shows no semblance of inner character."  Or this -   "...who knows. He's sort of like Goebbels. You say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common knowledge," 

Why do we tolerate the abrogation of every  norm, principle, tradition and law of our country, making a farce, a dangerous farce of it all?

Why have we become a third world country, the butt of every joke of the world?

Why are we allowing our citizens to die from hunger, malnutrition and untreated health issues?

Are we there yet? Dear G-d, but I hope not. I hope we have a chance at this election. I hope we come to our senses before voting. I hope that people switch their brains back to the ON position.

Why have you not yet voted if your state allows it? Get thee to those polls, mail in the ballot, stand in line - whatever, whichever, works for you, but VOTE!! Literally, the entire world is depending on you to save it. VOTE!!

Are we there yet? Are we? Are we?  Are we?

WE'LL SEE

     Those are the words right out of the ass's mouth. We'll see, he says, when asked about the acceptance of the presidential election. We'll see, what he means, is that we will see if we are to remain America as such, or if we are to enter the next era, where the USA, a la Rome and other great empires, fall back into the dust as they retreat into darkness, tyranny, political corruption and all sorts of trickery and ruses. And all the while we are supposed to trust the words that emanate from the mouths of those corrupt, morally vacant Republicans who say that they will accept the results, accept if the Supreme Court hands the office over to Biden. They say that even as they push through the most hurried nomination and confirmation process ever, a cruel joke, a nasty hoax pulled on the American people. Even as they sow huge fields of doubt and suspicion upon a safe method of voting. This is the belt and suspenders theory of GOP government. Cheat and lie, accuse and lie some more, then put on the suspenders by packing the court with dangerously biased, bigoted, incompetent and dangerous 'judges'.

Do not know much about Gorsuch, other than he has shown some moxie via his voting. But look at the rest of the Republican appointees, right back to Clarence Thomas who should have been forced to resign when there was conclusive proof that he did indeed sexually harass his victim, even as Trump should have been declared useless and violator par excellence with all his sexual suits, but nope, there he remains as President. We have Kavanaugh and my nausea roils me once again as I think how we went wrong here, how politics slammed decency and honor into the mat and refused to tap out.

And I wonder about his new pick. The lead choice is quite controversial, belonging to a fringe sect of Christians which refers to women as "handmaiden" and there it is! My gorge rises and out spews all the nauseating factors and facts of Trump et al. Give him what he wants, continue to be pathetic moral weaklings, and we will have a dead country. We will see? Yes, we unfortunately will, and getting America back? Be real. Get real. We will have lost our battle with history. We will live on in shame as the generation that lost America. We'll see, won't we?

The intrusion of politics into religion and vice versa. The intrusion of politics into health care. As far as that goes, even as he takes apart our health safety net, as leaky as it was, Trump now thinks we elderly people are so "wonderful" that he can bribe us, get our votes, for a $200 'gift card' for drugs. I do not know about the rest of you, but that ain't cutting it with me. I am not a cheap date. I am not something to be 'drug' out of the closet, forced to make my 'x' on the spot, and put back into the closet, to rot and wither away, denied all care, denied all hope.

Oh, yes, he tells us, we are "rounding the corner", referring to the virus battle. Well, no, we are not, unless referring to the corner around which there is the heightened fear of virus plus flu. Just think how we all hate the mask, breathing behind it, hearing weird voices emanating from blocked mouths. Now think of the stuffed noses, the scratchy throats, the thirst of hurting throats, the aches, and just where will those masks go under difficult situations, even as our health system, private, personal, and institutional, collapses under the strain and masks go flowing past into the sewers. Not a pretty picture, not a good corner!

Nor does this stop with Trump and his malignant crew. The very idea, the nerve, to strip America of its democratic rights and rites is overwhelming in its growth. Even as Trump pushes the envelope nationally, here in CV we get yet another cancelation of the Executive Board. No interference for David Israel. Oh, no, he needs to keep his bully pulpit. He needs to hide his incompetence, his deteriorating state of mind and mode and mood. Where does this all end? I am afraid that we will indeed see - and shrink in horror at the sight.

People, we all have to get out there and vote. We need to vote for a future of light, of hope, not of darkness and oppression. That is what will be should Trump win - HORROR!!! Honor the memory of a great woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Honor the sentiment expressed by those mourning her as the hypocrite and his amoral wife, showed up- the nerve - and the chant rose into the air: "Vote him out!" "Honor her last wish". Indeed.

Vote, however it works for you. But vote. I really do not wish to see what he thinks we should - and truly, deny it all you want, neither do you. Time is running out, in the country, in localities and here in CV where nearly a year has gone by with no UCO meetings for delegates, for officers of the Board and just plain old residents with concerns. Not a good place to be and not a good future if we do not challenge and defeat this. VOTE!! Indeed!

  

STRUGGLES, JOYS, THE LIFE OF A MARRIAGE

    Almost forgot what today was in the midst of the business of life. Should we go to the kids for the holidays? Should we order an expensive item on line or find an alternative? Should we invest in repurchasing the saws and nail guns we used to have but gave away? And oops, today is September 24, 53 years after we officially committed ourselves both religiously and civilly, to a union, to a determination to live together, to build together, to spend our lives together. But please note yet again: still no proposal. Hmmpf! 

 Looking back, there were highlights of joy and happiness and moments of deep despair. Those were the moments that definitely tried our souls and the depths of our commitments to each other, to what we had built over the years, to the level of strength we had, to overcome, to solve, to hope, to trust in the depths of our beliefs, to rebuild. I believe it was those moments that truly cemented the marriage, filled in any possible cracks, far more than the moments of joy, for who crumbles under those? 

 As I look back at the 53 years, at the five years even before that, I marvel and wonder, I thank G-d for the opportunity we had and continue to have,  G-d willing, to build together, to continue to grow together, to find new joys, new areas of togetherness, to be able to indulge the whims of the other and find that we can actually share them as well.

The joys and love of marriage evolve over the years. No longer the giddiness of first love, it has been tempered by time. It is more meaningful, deeper than the flowers on dates of first courtship, even the sweet gestures of waiting for me Friday afternoon and carrying my books home. It is more than the silly gifts I used to bestow on him with gleeful laughter. The willingness, the ability, the not turning away from the trials of life, of being patient and helpful as life chimes in with not such good news. It is a stronger, and yes, even a sweeter, kind of love, one based on life, on truth, on strengths, on the vagaries of that life together, as we weathered moments of happiness and joy and came through the moments of despair and trial, bruised and battered, tested, but better than before.

We accomplished much. No, not the accomplishment of huge amounts of money, or even little heaps of money, but we have much more than that in our bank accounts. These accounts give us interest, unlike the accounts of today! They are the savings of a lifetime. They are our children. They are our grandchildren. They are our friends. They are the good things we have accomplished in life, the help we gave to others, knowingly and unknowingly. They are the help we were given in our times of need. 

They are the pride and good memories we have of our teaching careers, the friends we have made from that life, and hopefully, the good we did during those years. They are the knowledge that our names, for the most part, I guess, I hope, are good, always having been taught as kids, living as adults, that the crown of a good reputation is above all.

We look back and are proud of what we have done. We bless the hard work and love of our parents. We look forward, G-d willing, to more years together, to building more, to enjoying our dividends, knowing that our kids have absorbed what we tried so hard to give them, are loving siblings and we know that we can rest easy, knowing they are there for each other. We see the blossoming of our grandkids as they evolve from the adorable little cuties, to still and even more adorable and beloved responsible kids, teens, and young adults, choosing carefully, evaluating carefully, as they make their own ways through life. We know they love us unconditionally, even as we do the same, and oh, the joy, of ganging up on the middle generation!! And we are happy.

 Notice that the piece has changed from I to We in the course of its composition. That is the same transition that has taken place over the years, so much so, so strongly, so deeply entrenched, that it is hard to even think of ourselves as separate beings. So much the WE are we. Of course, there are the remaining few imperfections that I am still working on, all to perfect the We -ness that we have, but then again, a woman's work is never done! Right, ladies?

And so WE hope for as many more good years that the Lord sees fit to give us. We like our We being. We even love our new found love of woodwork, of building new, of refurbishing the old and damaged, and creating new beauty. We know, not just hope, that that beauty of creation, of always building upon the old to new heights and depths will continue to insure that the We remains through all time.

Happy Anniversary, Gerry. We made it through the years, as Kenny Rogers sang, and We are all the better for it.  Love ya ' and still awaiting for you know what!!! Are you wondering what the answer might be?  Ahhh, the suspense....

REPUBLICAN GOLD? ZOMBIES AND MORE!

       As I returned home from a truly beautiful week with my kids, I wondered at what would be in the coming days. What would be in the coming months is another story, a story of existence and survival, a life changing world and a world possibly changed beyond recognition and possibility of survival. I wonder at the crassness of the GOP as it celebrates the death of a giant, seeing it as an opportunity to truly change the world in a mightily negative and permanent manner. Gold in the death of one who epitomized the promise  and dreams of America. One who epitomized the everlasting struggle of women to obtain their rightful share in and of society. Gold in the opportunity so ghoulishly based on a tragic death, so strongly fought against, mourned by millions, by those who know what America was meant to be, what she is and what could be a disastrous future.

     In the meanwhile, as the Republicans do their perverted and heartless war dance, America mourns its new numbers. Trump says he has done a wonderful job of fighting the pandemic. Excuse me? In what universe? In what dimension? Pence calls it a "heartbreaking moment" but oh, well, "it could be worse!!' Tell that to the one whose loved one died and became the first to die over 200,000 prior victims. Tell that to the 6.8 million infected. Tell the thousands and thousands who are finding out that the effects linger for months, debilitating, life changing, a life now rent with fear and pain. A life where the betrayal of the government, of its perverted leader, Trump, et al, has failed them, to the tune of death and destruction. Imagine the thinking that inspired that sentence. The Holocaust killed off more than 6 million Jews as well as millions of Roms, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, political opponents, but oh well, could have been worse. Could have been the other five million Jews around the world!! So be grateful!!!???

We are told now of zombie storms, coming back to life to wreak more havoc upon people. We then think of zombie humans who without voodoo, come back to a sputtering life in order to rain hurt down upon the earth. They wish to open a gold and copper mine in a pristine area of Alaska, a truly dirty operation, even as they boast of their lines of influence and contact to politicians who will vote on this. More slime!!

We hear of stories that boggle your mind, at the twisted minds that think of these things and the benighted minds that actually believe these lies. Fauci Arrested screamed the headline - but no he wasn't. A fake perpetrated yet anew on the American people, pushing this nonsense of a COVID hoax. Wonder when all those dead victims will arise as zombies for the GOP, Hoping that would be never!!

Even as so many of the country speak out against Trump and his twisted views, Jimmy Kimmel says, “If you don’t register, you can’t vote,” .We are in danger. “It’s hard to believe that we are only 42 days away from Donald Trump refusing to accept the results of the election,”  Think how that sentence should boggle your mind! We are in danger of losing ourselves and our precious rights as Americans. Even as there is a growing concern of vote deprivation and suppression, as record numbers call for voter registration information and help, as disparate figures join together to raise funds for felons who did their time, to pay off debts and thus enable them to vote, we are reminded of that  impending danger, a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, held up by a fraying cord even as the GOP saw away at it. 

Meanwhile people hold to their oblivion as it serves them well. The ultra conservative religious groups see heaven on earth as new religious rules are imposed on the people of America, despite their own individual beliefs. They regale themselves in songs of greed and joy as they bypass all safety rules and regulations, and the poison of politics inflames the land, killing it. They forget that we are judged, at one time or another, for we have to pay our dues. They are needful of a reminder of that with words from their own books. Here is the Romans 1:29 version of the Genesis warning. "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice."

So as Trump parades his First Family across the stage, in his never ending attempt to establish his dynasty, people, be aware, very much aware, be alert and be afraid. This kind of 'gold' we do not need. This ghoulish joy at the death of a wonderful person is just so wrong! This kind of zombie story we do not need. Not to worry anyway, for the Walking Dead versions are returning. Be satisfied with that and oppose the real life introduction of a zombie democracy here in America.

And while we are on the subject, we have big troubles here in the Village. It appears that at least some of those stories and rumors about the growing senility and questionable decisions and behavior of and  by David Israel have their kernel of truth. We now seem to have Bob Rivera, the Recording Secretary, assuming the role of the president. All issues should be sent to him, apparently, and he will assign it to the appropriate committee!! Really, Bob, c'mon, I think you are a  good person and care for the Village, but you are not the President and if he cannot or will not perform his assigned duties and fulfill his responsibilities, then he must go, one way or another. One other senile president is enough, don't you think?!

What is needed is the full resumption of meetings as there is plenty of room with social distancing and masks. David is the one holding up these sessions and the true and open UCO that we need. Get real and get honest with yourself and with us. There is nothing in the way of that other than the stubborn denial of reality, the alleged growing dementia of David, and the impossible to understand support of his backers, perhaps reveling in new assumptions of power? I cannot explain nor understand this any more than I can understand or tolerate the support of an evil man such as Trump. Same difference, truly.

Think about your little note there on a blog that is useless, for it posts nothing other than some blurry videos of useless meetings, denied to the residents, pushes opaque government and administration, and leaves us in a sad and bad situation, no planning, no honesty, nothing good. Bob, what is needed is an emergency meeting to replace David and have another election so that we might have a true leader here in the Village who can shepherd our way through a new agreement before we run out of time by MAY to agree to one. We need a thinking and coherent person at the helm who can see clearly what awaits us in the future, what steps to take, who will consult with other CV residents, who will do the right thing or at least try to. What we do not need, though meant in a good way, I assume, is a Recording Secretary exceeding the job qualifications and job description, in lieu of a useless President, detrimental to us all.

People, we need to pull our pants up, tie our laces, put on our thinking hats and get out there and do the right thing. Demand your rights. Demand honesty. Demand transparency. And VOTE! VOTE!! 

BABY STEPS, FAIRY TALES, FRUSTRATION AND MORE

      We are told that there is no fairy tale ending to the virus situation, no happily ever after. That would be okay if, a great big if, there were no ogre hanging around, refusing to admit wrongdoings and pushing the world into an ever more seemingly permanent one of ugliness and anger.

 Grown ups do not expect fairy tale endings, certainly not in any realistic approach to life or an understanding of it. However, what we have now is a world of frustration, of anger, of a lack of understanding - not of people, not of oneself, not of the necessities of life and the realization that political leadership of this country, indeed of the world, is not a laughing matter, but an existential matter. And we are losing the battles and the wars in this arena.

Ironically, we do not even recognize - or at least deny recognition - of the truth of our words, even as we say and hear them. Many of us sit there and gape at the screen, at the interview, or stare at the words we just read, unbelieving, struck dumb, and angry, so angry. Angry at how we are losing not just a race or two, but losing the world, losing our country, losing our future.

.... by saying, “If you’re a dictator and you put people around you who tell you how great you are and what you want to hear, and I think they’re telling him, ‘Hey, you’re on top, you’re doing great.’”

Those were the words of H. R. McMaster as he chatted with Colbert. His foot was consistently being stuffed into his mouth by his own words. I cannot but believe that he knew exactly what he was saying, what was being maintained sotto voce, but did not have the moral equipment to stand up and shout to the skies about the dangerous creep, the buffoonish not such a buffoon, sitting there in the WH or traveling in luxury, draining the funds of the taxpayers, and all the while, stabbing American democracy and the American people in the back as they stupidly, dangerously, and unthinkingly back a person and his henchmen who will take away the liberty they so shout to the skies, even as he is more than on the beginning of a path most dangerous to us. 

The CDC has lost all credibility as two factions duke it out - one the scientists and the other the pathetic shills of Trump. In the meantime, we are left trying to figure out the new rules of survival. As for the vaccine, the supposed panacea, the happy ever aftering solution, well, forget it. Who can trust it now? Who knows what safety rules have been skipped, deliberately so, all in the rush to get it there before Nov. 3, all in the rush to avoid all scientific rules and regulations. Who will suffer? We, the people, even as we become a spectacle to the world, a twisted and bizarre remnant of a once great country, now a banana republic, subject to the whims and words of China, of Russia, of Xi, and Putin, and Orban and anyone who feels like chiming in with their own two cents, dangerous or inane or both at the same time!!

We eschew tradition and the rules and foundations of our own country. We tout 'historical precedent', even as we slam down the truthsayers who remind us of the hypocrisy going on. Trump dares to impugn the last words of an icon, even in death breaking a glass ceiling, the first woman to lie in state in the Capitol. "Maybe she did and maybe she didn't." And then claims the Democratic leadership put that statement out. Never mind her granddaughter, never mind the woman herself, just lie and lie and lie! And there will always be dangerous morons who believe and parrot.

Was he there? That he dare say that  and that there are believers of that rampantly evil statement - he is running yet another cavalcade of murderous cars right through the fabric of our nation. This, as he calls some of the largest cities of the country  “anarchist jurisdictions”    and threatens all sorts of punishments, as he destroys voting rights, claims 'naked ballots' - no privacy sleeve - need to be invalidated, thus insuring his winning of states such as Pennsylvania! He will stop at nothing, even as those responsible for the Mueller investigation now admit there was a whole lot more there and they should have done better - but there was fear in the air!

All the while, this man, this dangerous man, shouts that he is angry - at his own Republicans, claiming they need to do more to support him, even if it means buying into his egregious lies. The nerve! The danger! Even as their hypocrisy overflows the Potomac Basin, flooding the country with toxins that are  homicidal to our future as a democracy. Even as they line up like good little boys and girls to vote for another backwards and benighted Justice, dooming us for the next two generations at the very least, and most probably dooming it forever. So vast and deep is the harm that a packed Conservative bench will be.

Be afraid, folks, very much afraid. We are not in the midst of a good fairy tale. No woodsman to the rescue, no prince turned frog turned prince again, riding to the rescue. No time for baby steps or looking to others to solve the problem, make it go away even as you play around and refuse to pay attention. As a kid, I stood and shouted, "The whole world is watching" and I do the same now, only with more despair and understanding of the dangers we are facing. And with less hope that there is time and momentum to fix the problems.

Please, people. Heed the cry of so many and get out there and vote, even as it is getting ever more difficult to do so, as they try to rip that right away from all of us. VOTE. VOTE. Take your neighbor to the polls, help those who need help, do whatever is necessary so that we might have a better future, and if not us, at least the kids will. At least the world will have a better shot at surviving.

Just get out there and vote, especially now if your state has mailed the ballots out and/or early voting has begun. VOTE. VOTE.

WORDS WORDS WORDS WORD?

      Words cannot convey the emotions. They cannot convey the horrific possibilities that await us. Words cannot but express a fraction of the roiling emotions of so many at the passing of such an icon. It will be many a year until we have an equal, or one who approaches equality, and if Trump and the rest of the troglodytes have their way, there will never be such an individual. Why? Because that man and his demented, spineless, valueless cohorts will confirm an appointment of one of too many backwards thinking people to try, mind you, to try, to replace RBG. Impossible! Truly so.

     Meanwhile, here we are in a battle of words with an existential ending awaiting us. Either we wait and do the right thing, or we totally stomp upon America and its citizens. The GOP, Trump and McConnell, in particular, have thrown aside all formats, all even hints, of following rules and traditions, have climbed to the highest rung, or should it be the lowest rung, of hypocrisy, stepping all over their own behavior and tripping on  their forked tongues, as they rush to nominate a candidate, confirm, and change this country for the next 50 years and beyond. Never mind, they say, about Garland. Never mind, they say, about Kavanaugh. Never mind the overwhelming loss of decency, of 'Americaness' that their behavior means.

     We will turn into a tyrannically run country. We have one such tyrant, Orban, endorsing Trump! Wait a minute! Endorsing Trump? Once again, we have fallen to the rank of those tiny little countries at the beck and call, the toy, of other nations. We, America, have 'achieved' that embarrassing station in life. And make no mistake about it, for if we continue on this path, woe upon us. Words? There are none strong enough to express what that means.

     Need to see dancing in the streets? Do not even bother to turn on the TV. Just look outside your window and see the crude and thoughtless supporters of Trump shouting, "Fill that seat", with voluminous glee. with malicious joy, as they contemplate and react to the death of a tiny giant, an icon to and of the world, to thinking people here in America, and particularly to women. 

     The role she played in our lives, in bettering this country, in being a role model for the people of this nation - just watch the growing and spontaneous crowds that gathered at the steps to the Supreme Court. There was no dancing, no chanting, only sorrow and recognition of the huge loss we have suffered. And it truly is a blow to us and our hopes of turning back the tides of destruction we have welcomed in with the advent of Trump.

     How does one compare these two. Trump was dancing on her grave as he reveled in the chant. It did not happen fast enough for him! RBG expressed herself with dignity, all the time. Trump states that he does not trust the results of the election - that is if he loses, but should he manipulate it enough, as in via the USPS, then oh, sure, it is fine. The mere thought that he will fight an election - whoa! Dramatic and dangerous. Placing yet another puppet of his, another backwards individual who remains in the Middle Ages, on the Court, insuring an approval for him.  The recognizing of the danger to all of us, for no one is immune in a dictatorship, well, what words can I use to express the sorrow, the risk, the peril to us all.

     All this while we continue to lose people to the scythe of the virus. Still, people were calling it a hoax, resisting safety efforts, - until suddenly no longer a hoax, but a slayer of their loved ones, who fell before this enemy in droves. No longer a political hoax, but too late for these people to have realized and accepted it. So now they mourn their dead ones and the toll rises over 200,000 with more to follow. In March, Trump's empty yet dangerous words played it all down, saying nah, it would never even reach 100,000 - as we stand to pass double that today.

     Folks. I have no more words today. I have no words to express my grief at the passing of RBG. I have not enough words of power and strength to express my fears for this country, for the world, and yes, selfishly, if you will, for my family, for my own little personal world.

      Only one word might pull this out from the approaching fires. VOTE!!!! FOR G-D'S SAKE, FOR OUR SAKE, FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN, FOR THE FUTURE - VOTE!!!!