WHEN IS RIGHT WRONG?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FROM WHENCE?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IN DISTANCE THERE IS GRACE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apparently truth is irrelevant here. 

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

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

One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate

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

UNRULY PASSENGERS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BUBBLES AND MAPS, COOKIES AND SHOES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO DELIVERY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the meanwhile I want my paper!

BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND BEWILDERED

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE ANSWER, MY FRIENDS, IS ....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SIDE EFFECTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WE GOT THE POWER!!!

  Yes we do, though it may not seem like that right now. Laws are being passed by Republican legislatures to infringe deeply upon the right and the ability to vote. That ability is the crux of the matter as difficulties, obstacles, are placed in the path of voters, aimed specifically at Democratic areas, at people who need these extra hours so they do not lose work time.

These same legislatures are defying the wish of the majority in so many areas, particularly abortion rights. It is more than it seems, for at stake is the question whether women are to be respected, as equal, capable, as worthy to rule themselves, to control their own bodies and health decisions. These Neanderthal legislatures are related to the Taliban in views, as they too would seek to lock women up, unable to sign a contract, get a mortgage, do anything without a man okaying it. Chattel, no better than slaves. Yes, that was here in America. It could happen again - especially in this atmosphere of bitterness and polarization.

Sonia Sotomayor warned Americans that this will be a tough time for them, but we, the people, had both the responsibility and the ability, the power to change things, to repair the damage to the laws and the spirit of America by the Republicans disloyal to America, to the point and beyond of rebelling in an open, violent attempt at a coup, even as Trump told them to "fight like hell". 

But we are not out of the dangerous eddies produced by their constant agitation. There are plans to continue to overthrow the government, reject any victorious candidate unless he/she is a card carrying member of their filthy cult, their fascistic philosophy, their contempt for the people. Their overpowering lust for power motivates them and their greed, overrides any and all obstacles in their path  to attain all they want.

We, the people - sound familiar? - need to demand that the Senate and the House do what must be done. Subpoena all, demand they talk, hand them jail sentences if they refuse. Impress upon them the mighty power of the people, of the true soul of this country. Vote them out office right down to city councils. Remember that we, too, can "fight like hell" but we will be on the right side of this matter.

We the people. Say it again. Feel the power.   

WE.  THE.  PEOPLE.

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

 ...that leads to where exactly? One does not hear the tones of the Beatles for this song. Rather we hear the crack of the continent, a splitting of a massive piece of land once known as the United States of America. United no longer.

How can we possibly overcome the issues facing us, the huge, ever growing cracks of dissonance, of unhappiness, of lies that wrap around people like burquas, blinding them to the truth. They put these burquas of the soul on willingly, the direct opposite of the women of Afghanistan, forced, once again into a prison that is their world. Why do these people do this? 

Why do they support a man who hates them, feels only contempt for them? A man who throws former supporters who trashed their own reputations in their servile support of that man who would destroy this country. A man who envisions himself as Leader for Life, followed by his just as crooked, morally destitute sons. And there ain't much to write home about his daughters or his son in law. 

Graham, McConnell, Giuliani, and the list is endless. The wheels on that bus do indeed keep going round and round. And yet there they still remain, promising to block a  Supreme Court Justice, promising to force this country to default, all because their god gave tax cuts to the uber wealthy as the economy collapsed. Great thinking, right? Even as his bewitched followers shouted his name as did the the crowds for Caesar! Fools they were and fools they be now.

Worst of all is the nastiness he injected into politics here in America. Always there was smut but he raised it to a level such as had not been seen before. He brought the cult personality into the political ring, the filth of constant lie upon lies, all the while embarrassing us before the world, an incompetent just about illiterate mentally deranged man who embraced fascism for the USA and raised the depth of racial and class hatred to unbelievable and sanctioned levels.

Suddenly we found our own homegrown fascists crawling out of the woodwork. Goetz, Cruz, Gosar, Greene, Boebert, Graham, McCarthy, Abbott and on and on. Fascists who have turned their backs on the people, on democracy and are alleged co - conspirators, cheering on the Jan 6 attempt to pull a coup on this government of ours. Trump keeps trumpeting his own lies that instigated that attempt, perhaps planned it all down to the last drop and, as usual, failed, as he did in all things. Thank G-d. 

Our long and winding road has turned into a danger for all of us. It has developed crumbling cliffs and flooding waters. There are no stops along the way, no time to regroup. Long and winding has turned into short and upon us. The time has come to pay attention to our present conditions and act, do something, chase away those who would bear us harm. Now.

There will not be a blog for Wednesday due to holiday but will be back on Thursday. Please browse through entries you might have missed or wish to read up on again.

BOGGLING THE MIND

  Well, I guess the Chief Gnome read my blog yesterday and decided this was a perfect time to raise the stake, put gnomic feet to the pedal, to the floor, and make huge headway in tampering with our lives. Of course any sane person realizes these "gnomes" are but our own missteps, mistakes, and unfortunately for us, deliberate steps taken by those who would destroy our country.

It boggles the mind when one pays attention to the news. 70 million people remain unvaccinated, but will gargle iodine!!! to remain safe. Nuts to the nth degree, but here they are. Here they remain, a drag on our economy, a drag on our healthcare, and personally, I feel they should remain last on line for healthcare. They have put themselves exactly where they are. Willfully. Stupidly. Nonsensically. Yet there it is.

 It boggles the mind to see the ridiculous steps taken in this bad news world of ours. People turn away from the news, thinking magically, like toddlers: if I do not see it, it does not exist. Well, wrong, oh so wrong. Not only will it be here, but the dangers it poses for this country, indeed for the world, for all, for individuals, will grow apace such as we have not seen before in this country. Woe upon us. 

We will reap what we have sown through our own ignorance, through our own hatreds, through the manipulations of those who are driven to retain power, the reins in their dirty little hands. Yet again, woe upon us. It boggles the mind how so many people do not see what is happening - or perhaps is it that so many, too many, actually wish to sign over their rights in and of a democratic state?

Perhaps it is the fault of our genes. We willfully engage in dangerous activities all the while the existential dangers grow exponentially. We literally jump into "wild swimming" - into lakes, oceans, rivers, where the dangers are rife, be it the temperatures that will give us almost immediate hypothermia, or the rocks that await the head approaching it, of the bacteria within or the chemical runoff from upstream or sewer discharge,  yet pay no attention to the vipers in our midst, the real dangers they pose.

It boggles the mind how people talk of the Big Lie,  doing little to truly discredit it. It follows the warning of Martin Luther who said all those centuries ago that "A lie is like a snowball: the further you roll it the bigger it becomes." How prescient. How applicable to the atmosphere of the very air in our lives today. The Big Lie of Trump and the Trumpian world continues to ravage and savage this country, putting our very survival at risk. Yet on it goes, rallies, Trumpian hot air, his dirty little sniffs that turn the stomach. It boggles the mind. It truly does.

"Our country will not survive this. Our country will not survive."

So spoke Trump. Rare words of truth even though he shrugged off his responsibility for this dire prediction. Even as he is indeed the Pied Piper in this truly twisted campaign of his. 

There are "signs of a gathering storm", feel "the instability in the air" but "ignoring the threat". The words of others, even as they mesh with my own thoughts and concerns. Here is the actual possibility, being spoken about freely in the Big Lie world:  "elements of the GOP are actively working to subvert future elections through laws, regulations and propaganda efforts. Snyder quite realistically described how a presidential loser could be cast as the winner in 2024. "That is what's happening right before our eyes right now," he said, "and we're just too cowardly to look at it." If we do not address this, do not take it down before it actually happens, then 2024 will be the last free presidential election - if even that - in the history of our once vibrant and vital democracy.  "Requiesce un pace." 

Rest in peace? Can we? Will we? Is it inevitable, this collapse of the best dream of humanity? Is there no hope? Will history report it as the colossal failure of the people of the United States of America, failing to insure that we stay united, that we eliminate the enemies within, deny them the ability to undermine this country and its democratic underpinnings, dishonor all the blood shed to insure its survival. 

It boggles the mind. It truly, terribly, unfortunately boggles the mind.     

THE GNOMIC PANDEMIC

  We all concentrate on or about the larger items of life. We speak of large bills to be paid. We speak of the huge problems waiting for solutions. We speak grandly of world issues, of national issues, but I have a theory. It is the Gnomic Pandemic. See, I find that the large problems end up getting attention, some solution or compromise is found, mashed together, but the little issues, uh uh. There they remain to bug the hell out of us for years to come, perhaps for all eternity for all I know!

Think of it. Somewhere there is a kingdom of gnomes. At the right age they begin training. How to be the most annoying gnome is the goal of this kingdom. At the very least, even the most uncreative one receives a job. Be the little gnome inside a head that cannot lose that headache. Just bang away - tap, tap, tap and the reverberations echo all day long, well into the night. No analgesic helps for it is a participant of the Gnomic Pandemic, nothing else.

Where else do these gnomes live? How do they eat away at our inner peace? Everywhere and everything is open to them. The gnome who changes the light to red just as you get there. The gnome who controls that old dude at the counter ahead of you, asking a thousand questions, all at the highest level of sound. The decibels carom from side to side inside your head, even as you stand there, shifting from one leg to the other, trying to avoid losing your place in line though that need is urgent - and where is that bathroom anyway!!!

Or how about the gnome who is always and forever stealing the notepads on the counters? Or the relative who just loves to drain the ink in every pen you own. Or the truly annoying one who starts the little unnoticeable rip in that plastic bag from the market and by the time you reach your car -RIP!!! Ahhhh - there goes the milk. There go the eggs.

The Gnomic Pandemic.

All these petty annoyances add up, squeezing the juice out of life making us wonder why we continually have this streak of tiny bad luck items that aggravate us so needlessly, so uselessly. Why is that traffic light always red? Why do you get stuck behind some huge double semi truck in a no passing zone that goes on forever. Just when you really need to get home or get to work 'cause if you are late again, that boss......

But wait. The 'best' awaits us, for the best gnome each year, the most creative one, the inventor of the most productive annoying gnomic intervention in life wins the prize. The prize? Aw, c'mon - you gotta' know better than that. Even the biggest dummy, the most unaware person in the world knows where the biggest, most efficient and dedicated gnome lives. You don't? You should, for the evidence is clear. Who speaks with a mouthful of lies and convoluted sentence construction, so twisted that nothing makes sense? Still no clue? Yoicks! You must have the gnome in charge of ignorance banging away inside that skull of yours.

Here is a clue. 'The numbers will show the truth, the HUGE numbers of the HUGE FRAUD and on and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Aha! That rang a bell? Yes, the Gnome who wins the Best Gnomic Intervention Prize each year, a tiny gold hammer, gets to vacation inside that just about empty head of Donald Trump. A bang every so often does the trick, for there is so much empty space there that one bang lasts for hours as it careens and careers for hours. The Gnome Kingdom laughs all the day long as the crazed humans, already nuts from constant Gnomic Interference, allow that King of Emptiness to sway them in every aspect of their lives. Clearing the way for more gnomes to have jobs, for more creative thinking, always trying to get one up on the other.

The losers? Us, of curse. My personal gnome is banging away at the headache node right now. Such energy I wish I could have, but never you mind, for I am sure that another gnome will come along with a better gnomic intervention. What, you ask. Nope, I ain't giving any gnome any ideas. Perhaps they will go away, find your head instead of mine or perhaps they will vacation inside Donald's vacant space head. There they can relax for a while - and so could the rest of the world if we finally did what must be done. 

What, you ask again. Dear Lord!! Put that man away. "Lock him up!" to use his own language and chant. A crook, a criminal from day one, the man has no use outside the prison walls. Indeed, he serves us better, a lesson to all, if he is inside those walls. That is what happens to a criminal. What a lesson for the kids after these past few years. A pandemic of COVID has nothing on the pandemic of the Gnomes, the Pandemic of Stupidity and Cupidity that overwhelmed us during Trump's term in office.

So let us rid ourselves of the Gnomes. Let us vaccine and booster away at all Pandemics. You know, the one that Trump denied would ever happen as he dismantled the apparatus to deal with such an event and here we are. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tapping away. Enough already.

HMMPFF! AND SO IT GOES

  Well, reading the morning news these days just about forces me to imitate a distinguished gentleman of  oh, perhaps the19th century, and go "hmmpff!" The news is that annoying, that repetitive, that predictable and that distressing. All with no end in sight, no cure, no answer readily available or even not so readily available. We are, my friends, stuck in an eddy of dirt, of garbage, of ill will, of insurmountable problems, with no exit available. Hmmpff! indeed.

So what do we do? What do we fix? What do we fix first? Way, way above my pay grade, though I do have some thoughts on the matter. Surprise- right? Actually, to tell the truth, I really have no clue as to how or where to start, so thick and entwined are our problems of the day - no, of the century.

How do we drain the toxins of the Big Lie, the lie that has branches and twigs that keep proliferating and propagating? Where to start? Where to make a difference that might just start that proverbial snowball rolling downhill, taking  all the garbage along with it, growing ever bigger, clearing a path behind it that makes room for positive attitudes, positive values and indeed - the truth! What a quaint thought these days.

So, what the heck, I will insert my two cents worth - it is my blog right! I must just pop in the comments about the travel in this country. I do not have access to numbers or statistics, only the images my eyes see and the answers to questions I asked of personnel and other travelers. There is much, much more travel these days. The traveling, though, is growing ever more unpleasant, as the airlines are not prepared to regrow themselves, to schedule more flights, to get more personnel in place, to cut down on the overcrowding, to calm down on the eternal and never ending lectures on the wearing of masks. Everyone is. No one is not wearing a mask. That is just the way it is, so the lectures, even in midflight are a tad annoying.

What does this increased travel mean? Perhaps people are more trusting of their vaccines and masks. Perhaps people simply want to start living again, seeing family, celebrating with friends, go on vacation. Whatever the reasons, there is the fact. We are on the move again. That, whether the GOP likes it or not, is a sign of optimism and trust - or perhaps weariness, or a combination, but that is okay too.

In the talks I had with people - I love talking with random folks, for the truth comes out inevitably, undeniably, and the outliers of society seem to recede into the woodwork where they belong. Never mind the polls and the shouters on the air. America is actually still pretty solid, pretty accepting of what needs to be done and all the  attempts to count them out are still, thankfully, not really winning.

So, back to the beginning. Where do we start? We start with the people, with trust in their steadiness. Most of us are still there, in clear circles and acres of sanity. Most of us are sick and tired of the degradations that Trump rained down on this nation. And continues to do so. Most of us are cheering, as the dogs eat themselves, attacking each other. People are laughing as they now blame each other, with crazed supporters of Trump such as Graham now having to eat his own words, and in private, question why the hell he supported Trump? Why did he cede his soul to that devil? Well, there it is and there it remains. What was done cannot be undone but these people can make amends. They can apologize, claim any excuse, but admit it and let this country move on.

First major step. Prosecute Trump. He is the root and the bud and the poisonous leaves. His plant must be extirpated down to the very last bit of roots or seeds. He must be denied any and all legitimacy,  all his claims exposed to the air, to the power of truth. Only then can this nation move on, begin to absorb those deluded outliers whose numbers are shrinking as they die off, from COVID, because they believed the lies he put forth. They relied on false medicines, on 'truths' with no truth within them, and so they die. They reap what they have sown, and justice? Perhaps. Harsh, but where else could it have led? What other results could have been expected?

So let us drain the poison of Trump from society, from this nation. Put him on trial. Expose the truth, the numbers and names of those who conspired with him to overthrow, to undermine this proud nation. Chuck them out with the trash for that is where they belong. Let us reinstitute sanity into the collective spine of this nation. It is there, within all those travelers, so tired of all this noise signifying nothing but trouble for us. Get the planes in the air, the cars on the road, the cures into people, and the truth believable again. There is no other way, no other start, no other path. Lies must be exposed. Justice must be ruthless. Otherwise the historians of the future, such as it may be, will simply adjust their glasses and say, Hmmpff! as they wonder why the truth and the path to success was not seen by the movers of society of the time? I too wonder at that. Hmpff indeed. It is just so clear to most of us.

Look, just look! See it! Work it! Hmmpff!!!

CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES

  This is the time of year when people's minds turn to choices. The past 18 months have indeed been a time of choice. To go or not to go. To see family or not. To give that hug or not? It is as if we are badgered by choice making and it gets tiring indeed. That is precisely when we make foolish choices and then must deal with the consequences.

Over the past few days I was able to read several books which had major choices within. The first was Defending Britta Stein by Ronald Balson. It concerned the situation of Jews in Denmark during WWII and the choices of individuals and a nation during that time. It was powerful, well written, based on fact, appeals to the emotions, the mind and presents much history within. It forces the reader to examine his/her own life, wondering what choices they would have made and what does it tell one about oneself? Is that knowledge good or bad?

Another book I came across was Mutation, written by Michael McBride. A goodly segment was over my head as it consisted of scientific terminology. Nevertheless, the story was clear, the necessity of choices to be made was clear, the consequences equally as clear. The choices were difficult, life threatening in many cases but they had to be made. The reader realizes that sometimes there are no good choices to be made. They equally stink, as the vernacular goes. Yet, there is no choice about making choices for one cannot float around in life, a dust mote borne on the air currents, for that allows choices to be made with result ensuing, but the choices and the results are inflicted, not made.

Briefly, the novel involves some truly weird life forms and life questions. It is more than a science fiction or fantasy offering. It kind of asks or presents the same choice as did Arthur C. Clarke in his famous saying: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." What we choose to believe tells us much about ourselves. Personally, I believe that we are not alone. It makes much sense that there are other sentient beings out there in that great big Universe. Make a choice. Think about the implications of that statement.

Our choices often reveal ourselves to others even if we do not realize it. Andre Malraux said, "Man is not what he thinks he is; he is what he hides." How often in life do we make decisions, choices for life, that are not really the ones we want to make or should make. We do it to hide some of ourselves, perhaps to hide a strength or a weakness. Perhaps to keep a secret. For many reasons, but still, not the truth for ourselves. So who are we indeed?

I think the truth is that we very rarely know the truth of ourselves, who we are, what we truly believe, what we know in our deepest selves is true and  the right choice. Our future is often based on the decisions, the choices, we made in the past. They follow us, even more so now in the age of computers and social media. We need to remember that, to take it into account when we choose to act or not. A character in the novel Mutation said it correctly. " It is in the dust of history that the seeds of the future are planted."

Think about the choices so many of us have had to make over the past troubled half a decade. What has ensued as a result? What will history and historians write about that and about us? Choices, choices. Who are we and who do we want to be?

STAR CROSSED TRAVELER

  It seems, of late, that every time I get on a plane, something inevitably goes wrong. It makes boarding a plane a bit of a nervous act as I am never sure what is awaiting. The last big mess was a dumping at Detroit airport literally in the middle of the night, an abdication of all responsibility towards the passengers by the airline and a wondering of "what the heck do we do now?"

Well, that had a happy ending, thanks to a daughter's good friend who kindly picked us up in that same middle of the night and graciously hosted us until another daughter drove four hours from Chicago to get us. No more planes for me that trip! The rest of the trip - the return voyage, was basically okay until we were told by the pilot that we had no fuel! Minor issue, yes?

Fast forward to yesterday. Flight to Pittsburgh broken by short layover in Atlanta. Even the wheelchair was there. Surprise! Small hitch - they put us in separate rows! Problem fixed. Yay! There is hope yet. Smooth flight to Pittsburgh and down to the carousel and wait. And wait. And wait. Until the carousel shuts down. And there we were, two pieces missing. No clothes to wear. No books to read. No suitcases. Star crossed again.

Trudge to the Delta office and now I understood why the head flight attendant had come over at the end of flight to ask who we were and to profusely thank us for flying Delta. Ooooookay, as we looked at each other in confusion. Ooooookay, we now understood as the agent told us that our luggage had been misplaced and then made its way onto the next flight to Pittsburgh due in after another two hour wait!!!!!!!! Steam began to noticeably emanate from my ears. Wisps were generated from my head. Explain, I told the agent. How the hell!!! And alongside were the others whose luggage was in that same container. Explain.

Told we could either wait there or wait at home, possibly for delivery that nite or then again, maybe not, we chose to wait. And wait. And wait. How could I trust them - they did not even have our number correct so who the hell would they have called? Finally, the plane landed, the luggage carousel began to spit out the luggage and there were my two missing suitcases. Yay!!!! On the way to the kids.

So far, a great trip. Made a special dish for the kids with the able assistance of my 15 year old grandson and all the aggravation was worth it. But wait.....what awaits us on Thursday when we fly back to Florida. The suspense.........

In any case, just wanted to tell you that there will be no blog for the next two days due to holiday. Please take the time to catch up on blogs you missed. See you on Thursday.