THE END OF THE BEGINNING? THE BEGINNING OF THE END?

  Truthfully, despite Winston Churchill being able to draw a distinction between those two phrases, it has eluded me. In my opinion, there is a beginning, a middle and an end and while at times it is difficult to see where those phases kicked in, Monday morning quarterbacking will always manage, or, in this case, historians of the future. For us, the people living through these times the beginning is way over, and we are solidly in the midst of things veering, I fear, to the end - or its beginning, or whatever time phase one prefers. The crux of the matter is, that we are in a losing, threatening phase in this country and in the world at large.

Look around. Read the papers and magazines. In hard copy or online. Listen to the words of supposed leaders, the positions they aspire to. Shake your head as much as you want. Laugh at the idiocies of these people. Wonder how the hell they are still at large. Anything you want, but do not underestimate the danger we are in. Deny all you want, but the truth is ever more apparent. Even the hardest heads of the Trumpian universe have got to realize this, come back to reality, and quickly. Lest all be lost, all attempts to right the situation, to correct the imbalances will be a case of too little, too late and now we all have to suck it up. Some in very precarious situations. What have we done?

We have not looked past our noses to the entire face. We cheer when DeSantis pulls his crazy legislature along with him in a Bizzaro world session and passes legislation that will catch all when they are not looking. Yay, you say when he has his absolutely dangerous and moronic Don't Say Gay Bill. Or denies medical help to those children in the transgender path, to the point of criminalizing parents who simply wish to see their child happy and healthy. Denies the right to women to control their own bodies, forcing a woman to carry an unwanted fetus to term, even ones of violence or threatening to the health of the woman. On and on we go. 

So, why isn't that Gay bill great? Simply because it is ridiculous. It refers to the early childhood grades and quite frankly, most of these kids do not raise the issue, other than the few who already are uncomfortable in their bodies or with societal norms. Very rare. The 'sex' education of these grades is one of 'bad touch, good touch' and what to do about it. What if there is a child with two mommies or daddies? Do we make that child ashamed? Great pedagogical practice there, isn't it!!! 

No medical care for transgendered children. Of course, for we should let them just stew, fall prey to disease, to illnesses of all kinds, make them feel terrible in their quest to be comfortable in their own skin Take away their masks for that is medical help too! And, sorry to tell you folks out there who think these bills are just marvelous, think again. Think again and again and understand, read between the lines. Make these practices illegal. No abortion. No control of a parent over child for their medical benefit. Legislating what can and cannot be said - and by extension - taught, in schools, leading right up to the fascistic censorship of classics, old and new, lest some benighted parent somewhere not like it. Once a freedom, a right, is denied, that denial path has a life of its own, bad for all. So, think again before you cheer - what you definitely have not thought through.

Denial of rights extends way deep and wide into the political sphere. Manifest, open, biased, hateful, liberty denying, laws are being passed by GOP dominated State Legislatures, against the will of their constituents, to make voting hard, almost impossible for some to vote. The ill. The elderly. The poor. The hard workers who cannot get off. The immigrant who does not understand English so well. Those who live in widespread areas, making it difficult to get to a polling place. Cut the hours. Cut early voting. Anything and everything are fair game. Think you now that you are immune to having your right to vote threatened, taken away? Do not be naive, foolishly so. Your right to a fair, honest, free vote goes right down that ugly autocratic tube. 

Where are we now again? End of beginning of what? The middle? Does it make a difference? Yes, but we must act now, accept the reality we have allowed, enabled, or worse, encouraged. We have monsters, traitors, absolute fascists within the highest offices of the land. They have colluded with the insurrectionists who wished to overthrow the government, install an illegal one, a continuation of the horror of the previous four years. Years that encouraged and enabled Putin to invade Ukraine, attack children, infrastructure and civilians because he knew we were weakened, and had a large number of traitors to this country in office. 

And that, my friends, linked the former president to this treason as he encouraged his duped followers to "be there, it will be wild" and engaged in planning, in calls, in texts, to move it along, the more violent the better. If some opposition people were hanged or injured, well, so much the better. These cabals of traitors encouraged rage and violence. They instigated and raised attacks on police, beating them with shields, with heavy sticks, spearing them, crushing them via doors and simple body weight accumulation. They raised victory fists to these criminals. They supported them and yet, they remain in place and/or continue to run for further office. Even the children of Trump encouraged this, particularly Junior and Eric, continued to push a program of violence, of falsehoods so egregious to the point of shredding this country to bits.

When a Governor states seriously that there will be Cold War with a neighboring state should a certain person get elected. When Ukraine is left alone, bereft of the weaponry they need, of the gaping absence of NATO nations to stand up to Putin rather than shivering lest he bully them more, when the UN forgets its Mandate against crimes against humanity, war  crimes, and does not act, does not send in troops, when a tiny nation like Slovakia, itself in danger finally sends Ukraine the weaponry it needs to shoot down the planes, the artillery stations, when this is happening, understand that there is something very wrong with all of us.

As the people of Ukraine are unfortunately and painfully learning, there is no refuge in a war of this kind. There is no running away from it. Be it east to west or south to north - all are caught in the trap unless there are scissors and tools to cut open that net and defeat its wielders. We all are in this fight, the entire world having to make a decision - what is important and what is not. 

How do we go about our lives, tsk tsking the awful pictures, hearing the wails of parents seeing their children be blown up, shredded, burnt, shot, butchered, and then walk away, of little or no importance? Sure, gas is now a bit more, but we have always been luckier with the price than the rest of the world. Are we going to stand by until the entire nation is cut down, when autocracy wins, and another 1.5 million children are murdered? Was it not enough during the Holocaust? Are we that uncaring? A gallon of gas vs. the life of a child.

The end? The beginning? The end of the beginning? The beginning of the end? The fall of the American Empire to join that of the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the Caliphate, Charlemagne, and anyone else you can think of. Use it or lose it. Defend it or it is gone. Understand the responsibilities or they will be removed from your access.

A gallon of gas vs all of the rest.

Your decision? Perhaps this suggestion from a terrific Senator from Hawai'i, Brian Schatz, will aid you in making that decision.

“We have to scream from the rooftops, because this is a battle for the free world now.”

NO FOUNTAIN PENS TODAY

 It used to be that when a Jewish boy became bar-mitzvah, responsible for his own behavior and religious observance, he would receive a present commensurate with that new 'manhood' -a fountain pen, a tool for the adult he was to be. Today, the fountain pen has become a memory of what used to be, a simpler time, albeit not always a prosperous or safe time. 

It was also a time when the very right of the Jewish people to exist was categorically denied. Chased from pillar to post, denied entry and refuge from basically all the countries of the world unless somehow shamed into it, accepting a few here or there. After WWII we had hoped that the conditions would change, that people's thinking would somehow evolve, turn away from the animalistic behavior of so called 'ubermensch' and their supporters. Alas, it was not to be - and I wonder if it ever will be.

Yesterday, at the time when the Israeli weekend begins, Thursday night, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people received a different bar mitzvah present. It was the thirteenth Israeli killed by terror over the past few weeks. 13. Mostly civilians, along with Border Police attacked as they did their patrols. 13 - of all ages, Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, from all walks of life, killed as they went about their daily lives. 13 - and no fountain pen. No, only bullets and knifings, more death, encouraged by the attitudes of too many of the world, too many leaders who refuse to condemn attacks upon Israel and serve up only criticism of their reactions to terror attacks. 

Very soon I expect to hear accusations of unnecessary shooting of the terrorist, should instead have risked life and limb to capture him alive. The Israelis will then turn into murderers as per world opinion. Never mind the bar mitzvah present of 13 dead and many others seriously wounded. A murderer, a terrorist, a person who purposely went after civilians, many of them young adults, just pre and post military service. But do I hear, do you hear, any words about the terrible attacks on civilians here, not even all throwaway Jewish victims, deemed of lesser value and import since time immemorial. Nope. Dead silence. No fountain pen here upon this bloody bar mitzvah.  

Jews are apparently obligated to wear thicker skin, to be less 'sensitive' to the memes and tropes of anti Semitism. Tsk, tsk, sorry 'bout that - and goes on to the next unthinking - and I am being generous.  I think that too much of this behavior is on purpose, indeed with great thought and even glee. A weak, and manifestly false apology is put forth and on we go again. On this not so merry road which leads to huge bar mitzvahs of blood and death. No pens.

Think America is different? Sorry, folks, not correct. The increased sensitivities of the day so desired by liberals, made so much of, are deemed unnecessary regarding Jews. They will just have to suck it up, say not a word, a word, to draw less attention to themselves. That was then, folks, but not now. We have learned better in a bloody lesson. Where the world stood silent, perhaps even quietly cheering on that aspect of the Nazis. 

Well, no longer. Today, when there is no room at the inn for Jews, not on the left, not on the right, we must speak up, particularly in a time of increasing violence against Jews and Jewish institutions. Shrugged off by police, downplayed, denied as hate crimes, and shoved under the carpet of life - until Jewish organizations raise the noise level, reveal the dirty truth. Our fountain pen gift to the world.

The left has turned viciously against Jews, delegitimize Israel, ally themselves with anti-Israel adherents and vicious, openly anti-Semitic people and organizations. The right is increasingly supportive of a toxic mix of politics and extreme religion. Prayers at political meetings, football games, any group action or speech. Wherefore and why? Separation of church and state, the warnings of our Founders to keep them separate - gone like the wind. Their fountain pens running out of ink, or perhaps overfilled with poisoned, corrosive ink.

Still think not so, too much sensitivity here. Okay. Here is one hot off the press. Geico, the huge insurance company was planning a "diversity" event, organized by their oh so not capable - or perhaps very capable - Diversity and Exclusion Planning Center. Their guest speaker? Linda Sarsour! I kid you not. The one and the same vicious anti-Semite who used the Women's March to expound upon those twisted beliefs, finally turned away from them. Too late. The damage was done. Yet here she is again. Evidently this Geico committee is deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to Sarsour and her open mouthing of hate, of encouragement of violence, condemning Israel as being founded on "Jewish supremacy'! They disregarded her open, close relationship with Farrakhan and his organization, openly, rabidly anti anything that smacks of Jews. 

It took a whole lot of yelling and protesting to get Geico to understand their 'error'. They canceled the event, but the point was missed. Why not have had a true diversity event? Why not invite in a Jewish person unashamed of his Judaism? Why not allow the ink to flow from our fountain pens, rather than the blood of bar mitzvah attacks. Wherein we garner more death for daring to live and thrive in a country of our own, a country of refuge. A country whose Jewish population includes the people of the world - Asian, European, African, North AMerican, South American, White, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Ethiopean, Burmese, Indian, Nigerian, descendants of Anusim, (the Marranos of Spain and Portugal), Ashkenaz, Sephardic, Mizrachi, a refuge for all, desiring to live in peace with her neighbors and the rest of the world to whom she has contributed much. 

"Blessed be Thou, King of the Universe, Who has given us life, and kept us, and allowed us to reach these times. - Amen."

A blessing we all should say, understand, and treasure. A blessing that keeps those deadly fountain pens away from us or makes them proponents and tools of peace for the world. All included. Even the Jews. Enough already. Enough.

THE UGLINESS OF IT ALL

  "maggot infested"  

"broken"   "corrosive"  "detached from reality"

"If everyone learns everything, there will be protests, -  referring to the awareness of the Russian public at large. “And I think that would be for the best. Because this war has to stop. There ought to be no wars at all.” AMEN!!!

"...we should just whack America with a nuclear bomb"

  "close calls go to the defendant." 

  "It is hard to deny this, of course. This is a crime which fulfills the features of a genocide,"

 " “Let’s be honest,"  says McCarthy (oh yeah!)

 "We will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead," says Garland (uh huh)

 So exactly who are we kidding? Just look at the venom behind some of these words. Some represent international anger generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the inevitable consequences of bodies returned home, en masse, to their families. Others are the remarks of United States members of Congress and holders of other governmental positions. They are either describing the nature of the vicious partisanship that has eaten away at the underpinnings of our democracy, or they are as busy as ever denying reality, looking it straight in the face and spewing garbage directly at it. With a straight face, ignoring their part in the whole stinking mess!

So who are we kidding? We are trying - and failing - to kid ourselves. We ignore the toxicity of our words, the continued harm they inflict on the global structure, on the need to remain at peace or at least a tentative peace. Anything better than war, though at times one needs to war against the immoral, the plain and simple wrongness of something. And yes, the evil that it has brought to this planet of ours.

I can understand the anger of a bereaved family, blaming it all on the opposing side. I can understand the anger directed at a government manifestly corrupt, uncaring of its population, and tumbling straight down to hell. And folks, do not think that the previous sentence has only to do with Russia. You would be sorely mistaken if you did so. Why? Because the government that we have at present is just about as corrupt as any other backwards, or tired, or confused country. 

 Apparently, we are suffering from a political version of a neuro degenerative disorder, eating away at our political brain, our civic intelligence, robbing us of the capability to govern in a positive manner. Instead of a caring government, we have become the epitome of a land which eats its own inhabitants. You ask, who is doing the eating? We are. Plain and simple. The rot comes from the top, sending out tendrils which infect the base, the bulk of a noisy, brainlessly shouting mob which knows not of what it speaks nor what harm it has wrought.

Biden, a fundamentally decent man, is walking a very thin, unbalanced and shaky tightrope, trying to maintain peace, avoid a nuclear war, yet stand up for democracy. He has had to come from behind,   hindered by the nasty consequences of a Trump   misshapen presidency, and a pack of howling, uneducated, nasty, mealy mouthed GOP members. They scream invective at people who disagree with them, shout out fascist themes. I believe that some of them truly are dangerously disturbed and are a present and clear danger to themselves and to the country. It is a party that has simply lost its mind, its values, its morals, its sense of responsibilities, as a party and as individuals. It is terminally ill and the longer this illness persists, the greater the harm to the nation, the greater the difficulty to slog back to sanity for all.

What is even more irksome, and that is a major understatement, is the careless tossing around of words which carry weight and should be used with great care. It is not genocide, this evil slaughter of Ukrainians by Russian troops and personnel. It is a massive war crime, the slaughter of a civilian,  non-combatant population, a war against old people, women and children. That is slaughter,  not genocide.

Nor should there be an insulting derisive, disrespectful use of the term Holocaust, comparing it to mask mandates, or rules for the safety of nations all around the world. How does that compare to the purposeful extermination - way beyond slaughter - of an entire race or religion, whatever term you wish to apply here. It makes no never mind, for the outcome was the same and worse, it almost succeeded. Today, decades later, the world population of Jewry is just beginning to equal that of  prewar population. That, is a Holocaust, not mask mandates. In fact, the objective here was to save lives, not take them, viciously, with cruelty prized above all. 

  We, the nation and the world, individuals and nations alike, have fallen victim to some mysterious virus which has incapacitated the ability, the neurons, which enable us to think rationally, to act accordingly, to talk with each other rather than to each other, the louder the better. We have fallen into a behavior pattern which drives us ever deeper into the abyss; the one where Nietzsche's monster is awaiting us all. Most definitely not a good place to be.

The ugliness of it all, the foolish, dangerous attempt to stomp on all who oppose us, the growing selfishness and greed of legislators, the growing malaise, the anger, the refusal to listen, carefully, to weigh and think - is this the world we want, the world we wish to bequeath to our children? If there is a world left to indeed bequeath!

Change is called for. If we are to tackle the existential catastrophic pitfalls awaiting us, threatening our very survival upon the face of this earth, we had better change and soon. Most definitely very soon. Time is fleeting. Opportunities are going lost. All our fault. All of us. Science has warned us. Common sense has warned us. History has warned us. And we have managed to negate them all. Aren't we proud!

LEGALITY MORALITY - DOES ANYONE CARE?

  Implicit- "something suggested or not clearly defined."

Explicit - "something clearly understood."

Such a plethora of blessings for us, with both adjectives alive and well in the discussion of the title. It is a discussion that has been absorbing attention from thinkers of society, skimmed over by those who truly could care less, and thought about by those agonizing over a possible, be it explicit or implicit, conflict and what is upon them to do. How does one mesh the two, with both morality and legality intact and in sync?

The answer far too many times throughout our history has been the fact, the ugly reality, that the two concepts were not in sync Too many evildoers took advantage of that and crashed and crushed all those opposed to their rule and plans, citing twisted laws and broken morality. We thought, barring any outliers, that after the huge disaster of the conflict between legality and morality that was Nazi Germany, or a co-operative conquered nation such as France under Petain, or the quislings of Norway, after all that, it would be an assured fact that it would never return. Fat chance of that.

The past six weeks has sent a shock through the global system. Putin made it legal for his army to invade, to kill, to maim, to rape, to pillage, to kidnap, to inter prisoners in his own renamed concentration camps, now called "infiltration" camps. Similar to the 're-education' schools the Uighurs are subject to by China. The same difference as we say. Will we be subject to the same god-awful pictures akin to the pictures of Jews as walking skeletons of the Nazis? And all legal according to the laws of Nazi Germany. Just ask the judges who stated they were just obeying the law, doing their jobs. Morality? An outmoded trait, gone.

Russia and its leaders, civil and military, are accountable, should be tried as war criminals. Simple. But I will eat my hat if that ever takes place. Apparently, the International Court is only obsessed with Israel and its imagined double standards violation, with no time or energy or interest in enforcing the laws elsewhere. Thus, Russia will walk away free. Even as they continue, massing forces to complete their original goal of many years planning and invasions, of chewing away at Ukraine - to gain a clear land approach to Crimea and the Sea. A goal of any Russian Empire from the first Tzar to the current uncrowned one.

The egregious violations of morality will double and triple in their double down attempt to gain total possession of the two 'independent' States that he, Putin, declared as such. The Donbas region will be subjected to even more bombs and shellings, attacks on civilians, to suffer under the same inhumane, manifestly immoral conditions that the citizens of Mariupol are living at present. With no end in sight. With the entire infrastructure pulverized to match the rest of the country's state of being. And the world? - silent, or impotent, or supportive or any combination thereof.

While the Russian invaders are explicitly and implicitly guilty of crimes against humanity, of war crimes of the highest - or lowest- degrees, the rest of the nations of the world are guilty of implicitly confusing morality and legality. I could care less  about the borders and their one foot over the NATO line laws. There are massive violations, mass murder on a scale rivaling anything since the end of WWII. Try to disguise the truth as much as you wish, but, it is a definite perversion of legality, for immorality, crimes, are never legal, not in a truly legal world.

We, the nations of the world are standing by and allowing this to happen. Implicit? Explicit? Take your choice, but I believe it is both. Why are we standing aside once again? How many more groups of people or nations must be invaded, oppressed? What does it take to move the nations of the world off their dimes? It is manifestly immoral to allow the innocent to be slaughtered without interfering. That is a law of humanity. It is both immoral and illegal to make a new set of laws which allow for murder, rape and pillaging to be legal. Never. Not in civilian life nor in that of the military. Never. Yet - here it is once again.

The blood of our brothers, and sisters, and uncles and aunts and family of mankind, of womankind, of humankind, calls out, pleads to be heard. Will we hear or will we continue to be hard of hearing and hard of heart, weak of will and lacking in morality and courage?

I am not very optimistic here. Not at all. And if those damn shouts of DeSantis keep on reverberating within the nation, well, I never thought there could be a president worse than Trump ever again, but I spoke too soon. He is a disaster of the nth degree, a present damaging governor to Florida, an open bigot and dangerous fool, a danger to this country, one that I fear, added to the previous harm of our supposed leaders, will bring us down to the lowest point, one from which we can never recover nor rise ever again.

As a most appropriate addendum, here is a rabbi's statement as he prepared to take a trip with a group of like-minded rabbis and cantors to the borders of Ukraine, to give aid, mental, moral, physical.

"wants the refugees to know they’re not alone, that someone sees and hears them and someone wants to help.

“To be human is to feel this cry within your gut,” Salkin said. “And I hope that people will do whatever they can. Because everyone’s children will ask them at some point, ‘When did you know? What did you do?’ I want the right answer.”

Morality and legality meshing smoothly. This is what it is all about and must be what it is all about.

SNAP, CRACKLE, AND POP!

 Most of us from the older generation remember that three-word entry into the lexicon of the day. Today's generations might unfortunately think it is either the news reports of the fighting around the world, a la Ukraine, or the sounds of gunfire from yet another mass shooting here within the borders of our own country, or less harmful, the sounds emanating from someone, somewhere nearby, playing one of those shoot 'em up video games. Us, well, we know the real deal.

Snap! Crackle! Pop! Ah, the sounds that bring back memories of childhood. The simple joy of putting one's ears close to the bowl of cereal and listening for those very sounds - Snap! Crackle! Pop! The gleeful shout when we heard all three. And off we went to school to relate that achievement to our friends.

Today, at times it is difficult to listen for those three sounds. Why? Unfortunately, Rice Krispies has fallen into that new category of spot shortages. At times South Florida, NY, etc., have been bereft of that cereal, along with cream cheese, forms of pasta, olive oil and various other sundries. One had to adopt a new shopping attitude. It was defensive shopping, co-operative shopping. If you saw a refugee, a surprise immigrant to your supermarket shelf, you bought it, need it or not. You would soon, so there it was. But there was more, as the quick phone calls were made and the necessary amounts were bought for family members. They were then dispatched to the various areas of the country where they resided. Success! 

An interesting shopping adventure once again and a sense of achievement and victory against the someone, somewhere, who instigated these spot shortages, mysterious to the nth degree. A smile lurks on your face all day. The new Mona Lisa smile of contentment, yet another one over the annoying mysterious one who has rippled the waters of life. Petty? Maybe. But take your victories where you can these days.

Unfortunately, the snap crackle and pop of today's times are not so user friendly, not soul satisfying, for they represent much that is wrong with the world today. Snap! goes the camera, taking a picture of Zelensky, the embattled president of Ukraine. Crackle! goes your heart when you compare his face of today with his face of a mere 41 days ago. 41 days of horror, of invasion, of war crimes perpetrated upon the civilians of this nation. 41 days of fighting off the giant, using the stones one has against the advanced and plentiful weaponry of the enemy. 41 days of personal and familial danger, withstanding the fear, even as it becomes etched upon one's face. The face of a hero. The face of one who should be paraded, feted all around this world of ours, so desperately in need of a hero. So difficult to find.

Pop! goes the sounds of the bullets flying yet again. Another mass shooting. A strange sense of relief when one hears that it was not another school shooting. However, just as tragic when we add up the losses from the shooting, any shooting. Orphans, widows, widowers, bereft parents, lives ruined, shocks to the waters of the lives of so many. Ripples becoming waves. Waves becoming  tsunamis. 

Why? For G-d's sake, why? Why has it come to this? Why are there not more ways to intercept people with a need, a desperation, to kill, to shoot, to gain notoriety in that manner? Why have we not developed methodologies to help them before they implode and explode at the same time? In fact, why have we allowed guns to proliferate throughout society, beyond all reason and sanity? Need a hunting rifle? Fine. Need a handgun for proven need and security, or to have at home? Fine. After investigation and approval. Need or want an assault weapon? Uh - uh. Nope. No way, no how. There is no need for that unless we are at war, against an invading army. Or you have a lust for blood, that of others, in a warped live action version of the violent war games of the gamer world.

A snap, crackle and pop heard round the world as we fall back into wrong, benighted ways that damage so many lives. Attempts to gain control over women who dare to insist on independence,  and equal rights for all. Attempts to deny freedom to live to people wired as gay. The same religious crazies who rant and rave about homosexuality, of G-d's wrath upon those who are, are the same people who forget that G-d is the one who has created us all, and if He wired people in varied manners, well, who are we to question His actions? Would we not be better off trying to correct the evil we have generated with intolerance, with neglect, with all the wrongs of society which so desperately need help. Do we not have enough to do without sticking our noses where they have no business being?

Perhaps we are hopeless. So many years after the revolutionary statement that "All men are created equal", all "have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - why, why have we forgotten the true import of those words, the pride we should take in our Founders, men and women alike, all who fought for that, for those statements, through the centuries. Why do we wish to regress, to cause hurt and damage to others? Are we so insecure within ourselves that we must, absolutely must, find someone to be on the rung beneath us so as to inflate our higher position? If so, how pathetic. Better we look to improve ourselves, to look at the man in the mirror, to begin there, and then move along the right path, the helpful, positive one for all.

Then, maybe then, we can all place our ears close to the cereal bowl of life and hear the lovely Snap! Crackle! Pop! Of three cute little elves. Wouldn't that be lovely - in real life, and not just in a song.

THE UNMAGINABLE BECOME IMAGINABLE AND THEN ......

 There are scenarios in life which were utterly unimaginable until they became imaginable and then transposed to reality. At times that change was good and at others, quite bad. The stark contrast in what was once believed impossible to its reality was often shocking, delaying the ability of people to believe their eyes and ears, to accept the reality as fact, like it or not. 

People said that the land of Goethe, of culture, could not turn into a killer nation, rife with fascist beliefs, proponent of mass murder - and yet, there it was. People said that France would never turn on its native French born citizens, and yet, there it was: an enthusiastic roundup of French born citizens, Jews, sent to Drancy, Vel d'Hiver and other temporary stations before being shipped off to their deaths. People stated that democracy would never cease in the USA and yet, there came along Donald Trump, the dissolution of the Republican Party and the shattering of its ethical ethos.

Yes, there are good things that became reality. Better medicines. Space travel possibilities. Electric cars and alternative fuels. Synthetic fabrics. Ease of travel. All overshadowed by too much of the negative unimaginable scenarios becoming imaginable, even frighteningly real. 

Laws of war. War crimes. War itself is a crime, indicative of the failure of leaders. How does one regulate the mass killing and awful destruction inherent in war? Laws in a fundamentally lawless reality? The oxymoronic character of its reality cannot be denied, try as hard as one might. The assumed belief in the growth of humanity is quickly shattered as proof of its failure lines the streets and byways of the war-torn area. 

Have you ever imagined that the way over the top Oscars awards show would stop mid excess and crazed musical presentations to present a deadly serious appeal from a heroic besieged President of an invaded and besieged, pulverized country? Yet, there it was, Zelensky on screen with a poignant plea.

"The war. What is more opposite of music? ... Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died, ... “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them, ...  But the music will break through anyway. We defend our freedom. To live. To love. To sound. On our land, we are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs. Fill the silence with your music. ... Tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks and TV. But not silence.” 

Will that plea be heard? Will the appeal to stand up for what is right, to defend a country fighting for its life, for independence, for democracy itself - will it get through? Will it be acted upon? Take a guess. One guess is as likely as another, though a positive response seems unlikely at present. And if not now, then maybe not ever, or a case of too little, too late. 

Even as reports of war crimes proliferate, rapidly, upon the withdrawal of Russian troops, an army historically noted for its brutality - rape, murder, looting, destruction, kidnapping and murder of civilian opponents. To the point of a return to the barbarity of shooting entire families, disposing of their bodies as trash, consigning them to deep pits. 

Nor is this lack of laws or adherence to laws unique to Russia. No, it is quite apparent here, in our own USA. The unimaginable - a president turning on his country, instigating, planning a coup, and worse - getting away with it. Despite the punishment of hundreds of others. Despite the deaths on that terrible day. Despite the shock to the system. Despite all the proof. No one seems to have the courage to say enough is enough. Time to get real. Indict. Convict. Imprison. A manifest danger to democracy, this traitor worse than any other in our history, an existential threat. Once again, the one in charge hesitates, moves slower than a huge turtle in the sand. Heartening to the traitor's followers. That he has followers is unimaginable in itself, even as it became imaginable and then a sad and dangerous reality, fed by lies that sucked the blood out of the arteries of this nation - our nation.

Unimaginable. A Supreme Court Justice tainted, a crazed wife who is outspoken in her desire to abort this nation's government. Refusal on his part to recuse from all cases of Jan.6, an attempted coup, whose planning she was in up to her neck. Was he? Impeach? With a Congress tainted itself by the presence of too many supporters of that coup, stained by the presence of so many outright felons?

 How have we come to this unimaginable state of being? How? How have we allowed the incivility of Congress, of the political framework of our nation to deteriorate so? How have we allowed Fox, a company with individuals who push the fascist system of Lies, Lies, and more, bigger, egregious Lies, how has it risen to its place in the nation's life - and death?!

Perhaps the sane need to imagine better, to create a better transfer of the imaginable to reality. We need to imagine a country filled once again with true patriots, a thinking population, true public servants, and a growing attitude of a return to optimism, and good old American can do spirit. Lest all is lost. There are so many of us out here who are beginning - no, deepening - our despair, our growing feeling that perhaps we have indeed lost it all, gone too far down the wrong road and cannot turn back. Lordy but I hope not.

The unimaginable become imaginable become a dreaded reality? Unfortunately, not unimaginable  any longer.

DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!

  Apparently, we are now living in a world where what was is no longer; what was understood is foreign to us in comprehension. What made sense is now nonsense, and what was right, well, where the hell did 'right' go? I know if I am confused there must be many more in the same leaky boat, and what the heck do we tell the kids? How do we teach them right from wrong, to have the courage to speak up when wrongs must be addressed and righted when it is so blaringly obvious that we do not do that anymore? Certainly, we are now walking, lost, in a new forest grown up around us while we slept or were somehow blind, even willingly so, to the drastically changing mores and conditions. No map available - not paper, not GPS, not Waze. Nothing.

First up. A topic that has gone somewhat missing from my blog as its place was usurped by the Ukraine crisis. Will get back to that a bit later in the blogs. But here we are in the unthinkable position wherein a sitting president (at the time) actually conspired with others to overturn an election and follow through with an almost unthinkable coup d'état. Here. In America. How could that be?

What happened to the country I began to study, love, with all its booboos, vices and virtues? Fifth grade began my love affair, through thick and thin, and sixth grade truly began a more comprehensive approach to our country, thanks to a wonderful teacher. While I knew we had made mistakes, would in fact make more, we did try. That was the most important detail of all, for if one recognizes what needs repair, one has already taken a step on the right path. 

But somehow, somewhere we went off track, lost our way in that new overgrown forest. It swallowed up loyalty. It ate the ties that bound us together. It made room for outright open fascists to find a place within a mainstream party, infected the government in every branch. Worst of all, it began to spread through the people of our nation, battered by the winds and storms of global events, led by a monstrous man, deranged in the same scale as Hitler, who touched upon their deepest, blackest, depths, giving them outlet for complaints and justification for their violence. 

Blind cult and personality loyalty displaced national loyalty even as patriotism was falsely invoked. The separation of the three branches of government, the best ever created, went missing as well, tainted by rabid polarization and partisanship. No longer was there one country seen through similar, somewhat different spectacles. No, for now there were two or even more countries struggling within the pillowcase, each trying its best to get out, never working together - and they all died. 

Criminal Conspiracy to defraud the United States

Common law Fraud

Dereliction of Duty

Financial crimes

What are those, you ask? Those are the categories within which our former president conspired to destroy our country, openly, brazenly, treasonous to the nth degree. Yet there he sits in his Mar a Lago and its duplicates round the world. He continues to spew forth poison from his forked tongue, bangs the iron cleaver ever deeper into the wedges of separation, now grown to huge, possibly overwhelming cracks which can never be repaired. Yet, again, there he sits, engaging in egregiously disloyal behavior, praising our enemy, engaging in a stream of politics which has no place within our political body. None at all! Yet there he is. There he sits as over 700 have been fined, incarcerated, penalized for their role in Jan. 6 violence and conspiracy. Yet there he sits. Even as his name, his complicity, his very open invitation to come down and join in; it would be great.

Much to our shame, much to our extrema danger, we are guided by men of cowardice, many of them actually complicit in the same treason, asking the fox to guard the hens. Even the supposed good guys are paralyzed, insisting they will not be pressured, supposedly worried over the consequences of pushing indictment and conviction of that most vile and violent traitor, Trump. Have we not learned that governing by fright does not work? Throwing sops out there does not work. Ask Marie Antoinette about that approach. Ask the ancient Roman Senators about that, about bread and circuses. It does not work long term and that is what we are in this 'game' for - the long term.

Appeasement of domestic or global enemies does not work. It does not work. Read that over again and again. Cowardice in defying the rabid hungers of fascists, of evil men out for power, more power, and even more, does not work. So why the hell are we redoing that same old meme again? Why? Why are we standing aside, allowing the enormously courageous people of Ukraine to fight alone, even not giving them the weapons they need to defeat that monstrous Putin, never mind adding the weight of active troops from NATO entering Ukraine. 

Personally, I believe that the opponents within the Putin government would break his world wide open if that were to happen, for they oppose his criminal behavior, his awful hunger, his violations of national integrity, would finally take action, not anxious at all for open warfare. They fear it as much as we do, as much as any sane person does. But no, we stand aside, giving weak, impotent 'oles', no substance beneath those words of the bystanders.

Where have all the soldiers gone, the song asks. Gone for graveyards every one - when will they - no, WE, learn? When will we learn that hesitation and weakness, prevarication, does not work, and those soldiers we did not wish to put in harm's way will pay the price for our inaction, wrong and  mistaken action, or lack thereof.

It just does not make sense. Have we all lost our collective and individual minds? Have we all lost sight of the difference between right and wrong, the necessity to defend the right, to stand firm, strong, against wrong? It just does not make sense!

ONE CENTIMETER

  One centimeter. Evidently this made a huge difference to a young couple and their just about ready to be born new baby, a second child for the mom. Women know their bodies, but men keep insisting they know better; thus, have instituted contrary rules, placing mother and child in danger. A four-centimeter dilated woman in obvious severe pain, the pain of the latter part of birth, refused entry. Why? She needed one more centimeter dilation, a measurement that can change, turn on a dime, but out she went - to give birth soon after in the car. One centimeter and active labor. Manifest pain, but men decided, for the sake of money, to place a ridiculous rule in place. Tiny minds evidenced in ridiculous tiny measurements and unthinkable possible results.

Apparently, this pandemic of tiny minds, unthinking, non-workable minds has hit the offices of the politicians running the country, and indeed the world. Rigid thinking. Antiquated laws and beliefs returning to life, zombie clones that suck the blood out of society. Measurements that make no sense at all, forcing decisions onto society that simply do not stand up to the light of day. All will be so judged by historians of the future.

 That is if there is a viable future for us, a future with a working society, a co-operative family of nations who finally realize and accept the truth: all nations are more alike than different. That a government owes certain manifest obligations to its citizens. Security. Access to food, shelter, education, medical care, and a progressive penal system which finally, can actually enact the reformation aspect of incarceration along with punishment for offenses. And why not, for a decent and fair society can cut the rate of the incarcerated population by double digits.

Sigh... yet another aspect of society that tiny minds cannot understand. When a misbehaving child in school is given another path to expressing needs, a positive one, rather than threats and punishment, the child can make a positive turn. Improvement of society begins at early levels, but tiny minds cannot seem to get it.  But the difference it would make!! Sigh...

Tiny minds obsessed about money, not understanding that a penny spent at an earlier level can save dollars at a higher, more fraught with consequences level. Deny abortions but deny also the funds necessary to raise that child, to aid the mother in providing for this unwanted or unable to be provided for child. Denying the resources at a younger level, equates to much higher spending later on and more damage to society and its members. Do not pay for a safety bar in a bathroom, but then spend thousands for repair of the fractured hip and other bones as a result of the inevitable fall. Makes no sense at all yet tiny minds rule the day. Petty, tiny minds, and looming results.

A country is invaded by a giant who has no qualms about shoveling people, his and those of the 'enemy' into a never-ending assembly line of death, pain, blood, and injustices that echo through the centuries. A centimeter again. When a democratic nation is threatened, it is incumbent upon other democratic nations to be both and properly proactive and reactive and aid the embattled country. It is not enough to watch them go down to the last man and woman, to the last pulverized remnant of a life that was. It is not okay for over 10 million people to be displaced, lose their lives they had been living, to wake up overnight to a crazed, fractured world of shelling, of children's deaths and maiming, of frantic, confused elderly, a world gone mad. 

What makes the difference? Apparently, tiny minds have struck again. It is just fine to stand by and watch a country get shelled and bombed into smithereens, pay for the refugees, for how many years to come, and why? Because of that centimeter, for should a Russian boot cross the border into a NATO country, aha! Now that centimeter comes into play. Even as these nations live in oblivious foggy thinking, for think not, and know, deep inside the marrow of your bones, that a predator is predatory, always hungry, always seeking new food sources, never ever done. That centimeter of ground makes no - never mind at the end of it all. Too little too late leaves one coming from behind, a bad situation. But....tiny minds who cannot see beyond that centimeter.   Sigh ...

That tiny centimeter is as prevalent as in the tiny minds of certain American politicians - along, unfortunately, with some unthinking, non-working brains of others who cannot see the truth behind the smoke. Graham, who has broken so many rules of discourse, of loyalty, of plain decency - now states that he holds Jackson to a different standard. Say what? Huh!! What standard? That of Trump? Limbo politics - how low can you go? Epitomized by this Southern gentleman who is most manifestly not! But that is for another day, another posting. I have many centimeters to go today, hopefully all in the proper, correct, beneficial direction. I will do my best.

GAME TIME?

  There are a limited number of timeouts allowed in a game. That is the rule, and it is followed. No debates. Just is. Thus, the question arises as to what happened to the rules of discourse, of governance, of responsibility, of owed loyalty to one's country and to history. We have lost all that, flushed it down the toilet of today's politics, a sewer growing by leaps and bounds. Is it not time to call this game on account of rule breaking beyond repair or acceptance? Where are the referees - or are they an extinct species?

Calling the true violations of the game requires bravery and adherence to the truth. It requires a strength of character which seems to be glaringly absent among the so-called leaders of the day; in fact, they might actually be playing for the other team even as they represent themselves as team members of ours. They are not. In fact, they are probably the largest collection of manifestly dangerous threats to democracy within this country and indeed the world at large. Worse, we have enabled this state of being and will reap the tears that follow unless we act, unless we show, act, upon the belief that this game must be called. Time has run out. Righteous penalties have been ignored, or discarded, consequences of rule breaking missing, empowering others to follow the same dirty trail. That sewer line leads directly to where we stand, ever deeper in the muck and filth, until .... when?

Actually, the when is ... now. Like it or not, the facts are the facts. Ignoring them, playing blind and deaf to them does not change the status and its imminent open appearance in the face of politics today. In truth, it really is already here.

How, you ask? When, you ask? Look around. We underwent the awful divisive presidency of Trump, a man who is now being called out by a judge that “it is more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired t obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”     Yet here he is, still considered a leader. Outrageous!!! A leader of what? A leader in the decision to take down this country from the inside, to delude enough people into believing that the Kool-Aid remains pure, not harmful at all - and they drink, hearty quaffs of it, enabling the poison to remain a constant in their minds, brains and souls. They believe the lies, the distortions of truth, the facts that are being exhumed, uncovered from the muck in which they were buried, to avoid disclosure of the facts, of the very imminent danger they were, and most importantly, remain, to the integrity of this nation.

Instead of facing reality head-on we attempt to fool ourselves. Even as the evidence mounts. Two openly Fascist members of the GOP were told, belatedly, that they should not have spoken nor joined a white power extremist conference. I kid you not. It amounted to a tsk, tsk, of little value even as they were told that should the GOP win control of the House, well, they are in like Flynn. However, when yet another creep of the GOP stands up and for some unknown reason, perhaps the foolish braying and boasting of the immature asses to be found within the present-day perversion of Lincoln's Republican party, speaks out about corrupt, dissolute members of this twisted sister of a Party - he is called out. Why the difference? In my opinion, because while the second is most probably true, the party members do not like being called out for that. However, the first indiscretions merely reveal the truth a tad too early; hence the damage is not too severe. Many of 'the base' actually are supportive of that extremist  group in the first place!

We are in a bad way here in this country of ours, embattled, conflicted, whether we openly acknowledge it or not. Call it by whatever term you wish - autocracy vs. democracy, good vs. evil, party vs. party, it does not make a whit of difference to the facts and the consequences dependent upon our behavior, the depth of our belief in this country and what it represents. Do we support a man and his followers, many of whom now admit their 'sins', allow him influential voice within his terrified party, or do we finally stand up and out and call out the true nakedness of this man, bare his soul to the light of day, deny the growing power of the darkness that is falling upon us? A dangerous darkness which we have enabled, even ignored, much to our detriment.

Supposed college break students are arrested and 75 firearms are confiscated. An almost 8-hour gap in the records of Trump's Jan. 6 day. Smell the rot yet, the conspiracy of attempted silence, the effort to continue to hide the truth?  Or wholeheartedly buy into its philosophy? 18 minutes of Nixon are nothing in comparison, yet we allow Jan. 6 to go mostly unaccounted for. 

We are told that "everyone's waiting for Putin to die". While that might be true, waiting is not the name of the game here. The people of Russia whom we are told "are not Putin" must take responsibility, admit the truth. They have sacrificed all in the name of the wealth and power game, fallen prey to the greed within, enabling this man, in 20 years, to consolidate his power and immerse them in a most violent, murderous, criminal war. Again and again. Russia will reap the just desserts, we hope, though  cold comfort that is to Ukraine  mourning its dead, including hundreds of children, the pulverization of its entire stock of structures, the devastation and  destruction rained upon its civilians, their abodes and places of work. A violation of every code and yet, consequences of any meaningful result? Doubtful at this point. 

Even as we hear people state that he has 'lost' the war, a manifestly ridiculous statement. He is there, killing his enemies, highlighting the weaknesses and fears of a supposedly united opposition, content to allow the blood to flow in Ukraine, for it is not theirs. He is solidifying his devouring of yet two more regions of Ukraine, not content with the theft of Crimea, or the dissolution of Chechnya, nor the helpings he took from Georgia and Moldova. Nor will he stop and why would he? In fact, he has won. At what cost? He does not care a whit. And in his book - why should he?

How do we delineate clearly what we are facing? Simply look at the list of those nations who refused or abstained to confirm the UN's resolution against Russia.  "North Korea, Eritrea, Syria, Russia and Russia’s close ally Belarus.

Among the nations that abstained were Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, and China." Not that it caried any true weight, but the value statement implicit within was rejected by states who themselves need condemnation for their own egregious violations against the people of their own nations, in fact anyone who gets in their way. They could care less. The same with Russia. No change in sight.

I believe game time is over, for quite some time already. We need to understand that and what it means to us and our descendants, to our country and its future. We need to, but will we? I begin to despair more than hope. Not a healthy situation for all of us. The sooner we recognize the impossibility of standing by and staying neutral in this conflict, the better we will be. Truth is harsh at times but that does not excuse ignoring it, refusing to address it. The game is in overtime, the pressure is on. This is a game for keeps, not to be 'refought' the next weekend afternoon. In fact, the weekend is almost at a close. Perhaps this blog today might have been better named 'Beat the Clock'. 

T  I  C  K - T  O  C  K   T  I  C  K -  T  O  C  K

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED

 I slept late, way overslept my usual morning awakening between 2AM-3AM. You would be surprised at  the amount of work one can get through during the early morning hours. No phone calls, or emails, errands or anything other than what one needs to do at that moment. Bliss indeed. In fact, if I ever, rarely, sleep till 4AM, I feel I have lost the day; it has gotten away from me. And so many things need to get done!

Whomever told me that retirement meant boredom, or a desperate need to 'structure' the day, is or was, a fool. I am wondering when those days of peace and rest come into existence. The time to read the myriad books on my must-read list and all those I add from recommendations. The time to do my woodwork, to venture into extensions of my painting -and who the hell ever thought I would be doing those activities! Ever. The strange paths of life indeed. Funny, ain't it.

Weird is also the name of the game of world affairs. Who would have thought that we would have a President, a former one anyway, vulnerable to charges of various felonies, in all fields of life, and worse, as a traitor to this country, seeking to overturn election results, aiming to be installed as a leader for life right here in the what would have been the former democratic nation of the USA. And all the people around him, all those now publishing  books which state  how they really knew he was deranged, then why did they stay on? Why? Because they thought he would succeed, he would have his crazed mobs, and they would ride his coattails to power and wealth. Hmmm, guess they were wrong , at least for now. As for the near future - not so sure as the entire world is now in a battle between autocracy and evil, and democracy and if not good, then most emphatically trying to be so much of the time.

Last night, at an ABBA concert, with a truly compatriot band to the real ABBA, not Americans faking it, it was awesome. There was a great mood in the theater, performers and audience syncing in mood and comradery, Then, during one of the talking minutes between songs, Ukraine came up, and how they have set up a charity donation site specifically for the children. The audience burst forth in spontaneous, thunderous applause. Interesting to see and hear and understand the mood of America on this issue.

Life is funny, sometimes good funny and other times not, in the directions it nudges us onto. Yesterday a friend mentioned batik and after she left I delved into the YouTube universe and it looks really cool. Think after I complete the projects I am working on  now, I might just take a stab at it. Will see. Maybe. Could be. Who knows?

Funny is not always funny. Every time there was or unfortunately, still are, terrorist attacks in Israel, more civilians dead, or the little baby Border Cops doing their national service, many Druze among them, killed in the line of duty, we always called immediately, checking on family that might have been there. Or they connected first with us. Funny now, how when B'nei Brak was mentioned, we had to call as we have found missing relatives there, descendants of a mother and father slaughtered violently, cruelly, during the Holocaust, even as these two boys were able to hide out and live through it. Now we have found each other in a serendipitous series of on line searches. There I was, calling to find out if all of them were fine. And they were. Thankfully. But as for the families of those slain, well, life is changed, much for the worse, this 'funny' thing happening on a normal evening, perpetrated by a crazed illegal worker, racing around on a motorcycle, shooting any and all in sight. Why? Who the hell knows.

This anger, this urge to kill, is fostered by a world gone mad. Why are they so anti Israel in the UN? Because it is a respectable way of indulging in antisemitism, the truth under it all. It is a way of garnering praise from a deluded world, a specific decision to ignore the truth and push a lie. Much more convenient to wreaking havoc on Israel, even as Israel does its best to help at disasters, accept refugees, Jewish or not, but definitely there for those in need of shelter from a world seeking to harm them because they are Jewish. That annoys people. 

So, the false accusation of apartheid. I invite all to take a walk and check this 'apartheid' out. So....Arabs working in all the pharmacies, even being the majority in that arena. There are tons and tons of Arab doctors, nurses, all kinds of positions in the hospitals and medical clinics. And all these Arabs and all the Jews, mix, serve each other, accept each other, better, in fact, than we do here when a 'different' doctor enters the room. 

As for housing, well go see the enormous palaces being built by Arab patriarchs. See how there are Arabs in formerly Jewish areas only, but the world does not see that. It does not want to see that. Not the homes, not the medical mixings, not the social gatherings, not the integration in all areas of society. Nope. Does not serve their purpose. Funny, ain't it? Not really. And look, another group of Arab women walking safely, excitedly, as they cruise the malls and shopping streets of Israel. Apartheid my a##!

Anyway, funny how oversleeping leads to other thoughts and rearrangements in the schedule of the day. Funny, for who knows the potential outcomes that arise because of this one little thing taking place? Who knows? That is the 'funny' part of life, funny good we hope.

DOES IT EVER, EVER END?

  So tired, so very tired, discouraged, frightened, by what is a vicious trope of hatred, of evil, with malice aforethought, and afterthought, never, ever ending, never disappearing with no possibility of return. Always, there remains a buyer in the showroom of hate; always, it serves as a convenient go to excuse for violence, for scapegoating.  

Anti-Semitism. Seemingly a harmless naming of an 'ancient' line of 'misbehavior', always carefully separated by its modern mouthpieces from their actions, calling it by other names which are exactly the same. Does it really matter if one calls it a "global conspiracy" if all know that the word Jewish was left out, but roars in reality. Does it matter if it is called anti-Zionism, when in reality it is anti-Semitism, clear and plain as day?

In the play The Rothschilds, Hal Linden plays the role of a most successful head of a family which climbed the ladder of success, despite all the obstacles, who realizes that it all means nothing. His most plaintive and touching song, a song of the eternal yearning of all Jewish people, touches the soul, as it bares the deepest desire to know that in my - your - own lifetime 

I want to see my sons enjoy the fruits of peace

While I'm still here I want to know beyond a doubt
That no one can lock us in or lock us out

In my own lifetime I want to see our efforts blessed
Yes in my own lifetime I want to see the walls come down

Well, folks, here it is again. Evidently the Rothschilds are responsible for the Theory of Evolution. They "paid" Darwin to come up with that theory, all the better to expand the idea of "A New World Order", a 'global conspiracy', funded by ...well, no words need to be stated to know who is the target here. In addition, that dangerous moron, a font of filth and hate, Rep. Greene, has already added to the putrid stew by stating that the terrible California forest fires were started by a Jewish funded giant laser in space! Funny? Yes, in a very sad way, that an official within our government, one who unfortunately has like minded buddies among the rest, can state that openly, push yet again, the terrible outcomes that result along the way, multiplied by those who actually believe this tripe and act accordingly. 

The latest ones were, of, let's see.... Aha! The Holocaust comes easily to mind, that nearly successful attempt to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of this earth. Even today, so many decades later, we are first reaching the level of the population of Jews before WWII. Sadly, I kid you not. And still there are those who simultaneously deny the Holocaust even as they push for its renewal.

   Meyer Rothschilds then adds "Then I'll rest." That rest, so yearned for, so desired, for millenniums, continues to remain out of reach. Will it ever be there, within touching distance? My humble opinion and evaluation say a resounding NO!!! Never. Ever. Not in "my own lifetime'" nor that of my children, grandchildren and on down the line - if the earth even remains inhabitable. If not, perhaps then it might stop.! Maybe. I have my doubts. It is that tenacious in clinging to vicious life.

You deny, say it is gone, well, tell the people of Israel who have been fighting against those who would see this state destroyed, its haven for Jews in danger. In the meanwhile, in countries around the world, Jews are targeted, killed in schoolyards, in synagogues, in stores, anywhere they live. One is justified to feel a tad, just a tad, frightened, you think!! For how much longer? When can we rest?

Certainly, if up to the UN we can never rest.     Among all the nations of the UN, all the openly violators of human rights, murdering all those they deem useless or inimical to their plans, are ignored. Who gets a focus? Guess who. The only nation to have a perpetual body committed to an 'investigation' of the crimes of Israel. Guess the refusal to lay down and bare our throats does not sit well in the hearts, minds, and dark souls, of too many all around the international forum. Here is the gist of a petition sent to the UN by a bipartisan group of 68 legislators of the USA. Bipartisan. Says something, does it not, in this increasingly deranged state of partisanship.

“We write to urge you to prioritize reversing the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel by leading a multinational effort in the Council and in the UN to end the permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Israeli Palestinian conflict,”.  

They went on to state that the commission will not only focus on actions Israel took to defend its citizens, but also "have a carte blanche mandate in perpetuity to examine any period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

 In other words, forever and a day is the time this predictable 'investigation' can remain in existence! My question now is why were there not more signatures on that petition? Why were the members of the House not asked to join with like - minded Senators for a stronger, more inclusive petition? Answer that yourself. Not difficult at all.

In the meanwhile, in that awful war of Russia vs. Ukraine, actually democracy vs. autocracy, the vicious crimes of Russia are tsked, tsked but nothing happens. Even as Ukraine, ironically so, now claims as Ukrainian offspring, the descendants of Jews who fled that territory, fleeing some of the worst pogroms ever! One hopes that this will not be repeated, though there is still, a strong vein of anti-Semitism running through the population, and mark my words, Zelensky, as a Jew, and the Jewish oligarchs, never mind those who are not, will eventually be accused of this this entire vicious crime. Mark my words. Unfortunately.

In my own lifetime. A pipe dream. Still. When will we ever be able to rest, to be free of the state of  watchfulness we must maintain? When? When?

 

 

"AN ISLAND OF HOPE"

  So stated a refugee from Ukraine about her sanctuary in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe. This poor country threatened by Russia, has provided wonderful safety for these refugees even as they ponder their own safety in the coming days, weeks, even years. They, too, need an island of hope, real or verbal, but there - stated and ready to be enforced. With reassurances in place.

Islands of hope also come with honesty, a trait sorely lacking these days. What we have instead are lies, more lies, yet more and larger, outrageous lies, and wimping out on our obligations to ourselves and the rest of the world. 

Like it or not, there are nations who are held to a higher, perhaps double standard. That is the way it is, and I know of no way to change that, to filter more fair play policy into the equation. It just is. Like it or not, the nations caught up in that problem must deal with it, play the game accordingly and stand tall, as role models for other nations, as guardians of democracy in our present war of protection and life for democracy and hopefully, an end to autocracy, at least for the moment.

Large hopes, big dreams, heavy responsibilities that no one asked for, and yet, there it is. Who are these nations? The USA and Israel. I already hear the naysayers decrying that statement. Those two nations are criminal, overzealous in their actions of protection of civilians and troops, in their reactions to attacks to their security, and in fact, apparently do everything wrong. 

That, my friends, is a statement that is all wet, soaked through with the blood of their citizens , spilled within and without the borders of these nations. And yet, despite all the whining, the accusations, and yes, even the mistakes these nations make, these same two nations are the ones prospering, the ones the rest of the world turns to. To advance the status of peace, of negotiations, as  big players in world politics, and will not be deterred from their responsibilities. No matter the cost. When these two nations give in to the criticism, bad things happen and we are seeing that right now.

Why did Putin think that this was a most opportune time to invade Ukraine, sure that he would get away with it all. Why not, for so he has done every damned time he invades a country? Because of four years of Trump, of six years of ever worsening enemy like oppositional partisanship between the two major political parties of America. Because of its growing weaknesses, of bare spots in their strength, internal and external, as loyalty to country and its values is turned on its very confused head. A perfect time to do something wrong, when the presumed opposition is weak, to its very core. Hence Putin and hence the growing attacks on Israelis, murderous attacks with exactly that in mind. Hence ISIS attempting to inflict more harm  upon the world, to disrupt the growing alliances between Arab nations and Israel. No islands of hope for the world must be left if they are to succeed.

That is what we are facing as residents on this endangered planet of ours. The planet has aged. Terribly so. Existentially so. Exponentially so. We  have contributed to that and do more harm with  criminal invasions by Putin and other autocrats. With the chemicals and smoke spewed into the air. With threats of more, worse to come. Even as the  blood of the people soaks into the ground beneath.

For the continued existence and yes, growth, of these islands of hope, we must stand strong. We must be honest, brutally so. Biden spoke that way yesterday, whatever the spin, I believe he spoke from his heart. He is a most decent man and cannot tolerate the egregious acts of violence perpetrated on innocent people, as nations are violated, as the world continues to spin on an ever more tortured and challenged axis. That axle is strained, close to its maximum ability to retain an even keel. Biden spoke the truth. "The truth will set you free" is how it goes and to that, the corollary - and keep the world spinning properly. 

Instead of whispering and pointing and oh, such shock, perhaps the nations of the world need to say - Yes!!! Perhaps the citizens of Russia need to step up to the plate rather than fleeing the country. Force him out. They have done so before. Why not again? Why not take heart from Biden, just as the Berlin Wall was taken down by the brave statement of Reagan to Gorbachev - "Tear down the Wall" and so it was. Honesty, if not the best and not infallible, sure comes the closest to it.

So, Israel will continue to resist attacks upon its borders and the murder of its people. Been there, done that, to the tune of millions, and more millions throughout the ages. No more. And if it takes some harsh measures to insure that, the world can scream all it wants. There it is. There it will remain. Until, as Golda Meir said, "Until the Arabs learn to love their children more than they hate us." No more free for all, no more free passes to kill Jews.

Furthermore, no more free passes to upset the world order, so much so, that the world itself is in existential, real, actual, life - threatening danger and most perilous future. These will not be the Perils of Pauline, so beautifully resolved at end of each segment. These will be perils of such reach and range that the world will never ever return to what it was. The reality will be awful, cataclysmic, catastrophic to the nth degree. If it even survives at all in some kind of livable conditions.

That is the world we bequeath to our children and grandchildren, to theirs, if we do not stand up to tyranny and tyrants, call their bluff before they, in even more criminal, world destroying acts and crooked paths, destroy the world through their own actions and misdeeds and/or inflict tyranny upon the entire globe. 

That would be on us. That would be on countries who neglected to pay their dues. That would be on those who refuse to challenge the evil that indeed exists in this battered world of ours. That requires us to reimagine this world, this planet, as one big, no island, but rather a globe of hope and peace, of freedom and responsible government, responsive   to the needs of its citizens, to maintain a true democracy staffed by honest, sincere public servants, as we recognize the humanity of all.

Wonder if my island - no - globe - of hope and peace will ever exist. No Blue Fairies out there to sprinkle us with that fairy magical dust, are there? Guess we will all have to do the heavy lifting. The consequences are there and clear.

FORGET THE COOKIES!

  If only it were the case of the crumbling cookies, we could sweep up, wash up, and bake anew if necessary. However, the crumbling of a different matter, of the world, is far more serious. Today, look around, take a good long serious one. The world is crumbling. The world order is no more. At least a modicum of civility even within the battlefield, is gone. Ripped to shreds, civilians being bombed - on purpose, the main targets of a most criminal battle waged by Russia. Russia, who has violated and continues to violate the territorial integrity of nation after nation, gobbling them up like the pieces of the crumbling cookie. However, these pieces have blood dripping from them. With no end in sight.

The nations of the world ignore the pleas of the embattled country - close the sky- please. Silence. Silence. Silence. It seems we are willing to give over some equipment, though not as much as promised, but serious help that would make a serious dent, complement the heroic stands of the Ukrainian people- not a wisp in sight.

No, we stand back, telegraphing our fear of a nuclear war, one that the deranged man, Putin, will pull off no matter what we do - if he feels like it. Even as we tease him, mouth statements that could just as well ignite his fury. When Biden says Putin has to go, do we think Putin will ignore it, this threat to his power, his insanely driving desire for Power? NO, nothing will other than a full-scale drubbing by the nations of the world. 

 Add to that the power of the people of Russia who can overturn their corrupt, oppressive government, just as they have done before, only this time follow up with the care necessary to maintain it. That will require the return of all those Russian refugees who have voted with their feet once the war began, left the Russia turning them into captives of a repressive, nasty government run by a crazed dictator.

But think not that Russia is the only one out there. We have corrupt GOP members who are into bitter partisanship, willing, able and apparently desiring to crumble the government of this country. There is no sense of country, only Party. There is no decency, only shouting, insults, lies, mis and dis information purposely being dispensed, and crazed media and government people spreading the false Russian side of this criminal war.

We have Americans who wish to split this country into pieces, getting their own share of the cookie pieces. They push for limitations of access, ability, and right to vote. They encourage violent chants, disregard the law, and desire deeply a violent culture of guns, guns and more guns. They are caught red handed committing crimes, and then deny with all their might. I have almost given up on seeing that bastard Trump family forced to pay the piper, but maybe, just maybe, with his two older sons and himself, testifying under oath, there will be some kind of payback. I hope! I do so hope!!

Think not that these dangerous Morons are the only problem we have, the only threat we have to our founding ideas. The 3-branch government, with its checks and balances, has been threatened, almost to the point of disintegration. The Supreme Court has become a basket of 'partisanshippers' with only nastiness and repressive measures utmost on their mind. Three of them even pushed for a decision making the armed forces subject to Congressional authority, overturning the concept of the President as Commander in chief. What have we wrought? What have we allowed? Yes, we.

Are we going to allow Clarence Thomas to remain on the bench, cohort of his evil rebel of a wife, who conspired to overthrow the legal government of this nation? Are we going to allow him to actually decide on Jan. 6 court cases, with his wife so deeply involved? We need to take the big steps, the hard steps, if we are going to salvage what remains of America. My America, the one to which I can pledge allegiance, not the one facing destruction through negligence and violence, through treason - among the highest in the land.

 Thomas, female version, calls for "the release of the Kraken" - go all out to suborn treason and overthrow the election.

One suffering Ukrainian refugee says, "G-d has left us...I am afraid." Well, so am I; so we should all be.

I leave you with the words, the very prescient words, of William Butler Yeats, in "The Second Coming".

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."