An Agent, Orange

The glow of agent orange, blazing poison the minute it hits the flora, fauna, and futures of the men and women who must breathe it in, only to exhale bile and bacteria as dangerous as any invention by Monsanto, was generously displayed as the Emperor wearing no clothes paraded upon the podium, pretending, with the crooked lecherous smile of the Joker, and the contrived conversation of the con man selling no snake oil this time just snake shit, lying, leering, learning that the truth don’t matter as long as it contain just enough bigotry and bias, spoke, knowing that every word he muttered and minced meant nothing for the American people, but everything for the American King.

It was a history, right in front of our faces, and for some we knew this scene had played out before, for others unwilling to realize that authoritarianism, fascism, and nationalism are ingredients for an eruption of the soul and conscience of a nation which had never really recovered from an ailment of long ago called the Civil War. With words as useless as the letters imprinted on a teleprompter, which soon die once they fall off the screen, the man behind the curtain, with his hot air ballon ready to take him to Moscow if necessary, pretended that all men and women are equal, suggesting a bipartisan solution to EVERYTHING, as long as EVERYTHING went his way, because HE is the one Jesus elected to run this nation. Nothing he spoke of was real, and nothing he proposed he wanted…unless he and Mr Putin agreed to it beforehand.

A Civil War, indeed! The GOP with generals named McConnell/Ryan/Nunes/McCarthy all steward soldiers of greed and gluttony, at the ready to lead the charge against democracy applauded this masterful, undermining of America. Truth need no be told, truth need not be discovered and truth need no matter. The stench of cowards sweating, the odor of anarchists cheering, the smell of the decay of democracy was so odious as to filter through the television sets in the homes of those who watched the State of the Union. The saddest thing however will be, that those who supported Trump and Putin have no idea that like carbon dioxide, a silent and deadly creeping wave of air, those who take no notice of the overthrow of this democracy will also die the same death as those of us who MUST continue to RESIST and never give up or give in!

A coup

Coup d’etat, ain’t a fabled verse or  just some kind of conspiracy imagined plot or plan, nope, folks, it IS indeed shaping into a real and wrong performance of bad governing by the Republican leadership against our nation and national interests.

It seems Trump and his enablers like McConnell and Ryan along with his Fascist advisors are slowly but certainly derailing our democracy and imploding anything that might resemble checks and balances.

As any homegrown enemy  would wish, and just like flesh eating parasites, the guts of our government are being eaten alive, and from within. The FBI, the DOJ, suddenly they are the bad guys, they and of course the freedom of the press. Imagine, the material Putin must have amassed regarding Trump and the RNC, juxtapose that on the insecure, shallow ego of Trump and the power play of Mitch McConnell and wham, bam no thank you ma’am, we are in the throws of an unimagined coup. 

We knew this, the GOP knows this and it seems those who voted for Trump love it!

I am not sure what to do. But I do know, I will fight this with all my might and energy. So you voted for Trump, and now you have the beginning of a dictator, dumb, dedicated to destroying democracy. This is REAL, AND it IS time to become an alarmist, because it seems the law and order of this nation are on the very edge of extinction.

Tonight, tonight

Tonight, in some words scripted and crafted by men and women who hate our freedom and liberty… perhaps using some newly minted words smothered in narcissism, his illness for which he seeks no relief…choosing differences rather the common good…preferring to list accomplishments  only achieved via authoritarian means and methods…Tonight, a man will stan before an audience of politicians the most partisan this nation has ever seen…and this man will lie because his survival is based on anything but the truth.

Tonight, the homegrown, home made terrorists cels, heard by men with names such as Nunes, Ryan, McConnell, Pence, Mercer and Koch will kneel at his knees or celebrate with champagne as he distorts, the ideals of democracy. Of course the applause will resonate from anyone Republican, each member of that Party inciting on all kinds of purity from politics to the actual citizen and the their constituents rights.

Tonight an Emperor empowered by a foreign nation, energized by Corporate greed, enthusiastic as the townsfolk with pitch forks, white robes and symbols of a Nazi Nation bent on beating the downtrodden, will pretend, feign that he is the victim and we are the enemy. Tonight America should take note as the we witness the destruction of a once powerful nation on its decline, because democracy was too fair, democracy was too just democracy demanded that all we the people pursue happiness, pursue, freedom and we all are entitled to our inalienable rights.  I cried as I watched Walter Cronkite prepare us for the Third World War during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I sobbed as JFK’s coffin was slowly horse drawn down Pennsylvania, weeped with the assignations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy. I was shocked as Nixon swore he was not a crook, as Reagan somehow forgot that his head and heart were of the same body, lamenting that even though he was did a bad thing, he didn’t mean it. i was angered by the outing of a CIA Agent, Valerie Plame during George W’s term. BUT tonight, as the man Putin has placed in power enabled by the people Putin has either blackmailed or bought, I am distraught, dismayed and can only begin to believe ALL of the DANGER that lie ahead for ALL of us. When the Devil arrives he has no friends.   

National Shame

I think it was a National Geographic Special back in the day when color TV was kind of a new toy for people, so not too many folks in my neighborhood owned one. But this National Geographic Special was heralded as the first look at the intricacies of death, and in a philosophical way how death can lead to the continuum of life. This Special was deemed a good educational tool for families to discuss, nature and its balance of life and death. There was one family on our street, the wealthier of most families, and I remember that my parents and the others in our row of houses decided that we all would make it an evening of color TV and education. Living color, indeed, we all sat around the TV (but at least 4 feet away from the set as no one was certain if color TV caused a form of brain cancer if you sat any closer) and watch a variety of animals decompose, some in slow motion, some with the speed of light and some dying and witnessing the amazing amount of energy taking place over, about and in the body. Some of the neighborhood parents, were having second thoughts once we saw the gruesome and gross decomposition of these animals, and some of the kids were grossed out, but the kind of gross out, you can not stop looking at. One or two parents dragged their kids back home swearing that National Geographic should be ashamed of themselves for airing something surely to cause nightmares, but the rest of the parents and the kids remained, fixated at the life and death of living things. 

Devin Nunes, the Republican Chair of the House Intel Committee, and an ex Trump Campaign surrogate has decided to renew the  successful GOP game of Benghazi, this time titling it the Secret Memo, and he along with the Trump White House are about to present to the American people, a new batch of propaganda, available to dazzle, dazzle, and mesmerize with shiny lights and lots of flash, and absolutely NO substance at all! Mr Nunes who has placed Trump above the law of the land and his majority of GOP anarchists are trying their hardest to prove that Robert Mueller is the enemy of the state and trying even harder to provide Trump with teflon layer after teflon layer. With no input from the Department of Justice, nor the FBI, no appreciation of the concerns of the minority party, Mr Nunes is about to try and fool this nation, as the GOP did so well, that we have another Benghazi on our hands and try to distract the real issue of criminality for and by Trump, from the public. (A public that still believes the truth is not necessary if you have a political agenda to achieve.

I am beside myself, I am afraid, I am angry, and I feel hopeless that in fact our democracy is about to decompose. When I heard about the treasonous acts that the Republican leadership is about to embark upon, all I could think about was the first time I watched a living thing die, and just how it imploded on itself, until the living thing became just a bunch of ashes, and knotty chunks of bone, with tons and tons of maggots climbing all over it. Today, for the very first time, I truly have no confidence that our democracy will survive. Today I am watching the flesh eaters, the bacteria, the vermin, the maggots destroy the body of democracy, and I am not only grossed out, but depressed, disillusioned and honestly am not sure how to stop this death.

Grandpa Maxie

Yad Vashem a monument and a name" is Israels official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the dead; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and Gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future.

During my early career as a Youth Worker in the 70’s, I had the opportunity to act as a leader and escort 40 teens for during three consecutive summers to Israel. Our mission was to provide the Jewish Community Center teens with a six-week experience in Israel to hopefully provide insight, intellect, involvement and a practical understanding of life in country which for the jewish population held great importance. We were able to work in the Kibbutzim, visit the Negev and Sinai deserts, spend a week in then Gadna (a youth army camp) and visit the relics and monuments to ALL of the religious movements which claim home in the state of Israel. For three summers in a row, I was lucky enough to see, smell, touch, and live a spiritual  life, but most importantly share these moments of my life with teens aged 15 through 17, ages in which some impressions actually lame a lasting and touching mark upon their consciences. 

I have dozens of sheer magical moments i can recall, but one in particular resonates for me regarding the actions of Trump and the men and women of the Republican Party who seem to discard the past, refuse to embrace any future and who seem to ONLY care about the here and now. One summer, as usual I took my 40 kids to visit Yad Vashem, a young man from the Memphis JCC, part of my group, we walked into the building, and at the time there was a collage of photos of just some of the millions of people who had once lived a life of freedom, family and the potential for a future. Holding a photo his parents had given him, tightly in his hand, this young man scanned the collage took a few steps as close as he could toward the rope which kept the public away from actually being able to touch the wall, speed left and then a little to the right, then held up the photo, still clutching it as if his life depended upon holding it with all his strength. With a voice in between tears of sadness and over joy, he at first in a hushed voice spoke, thats my Grandpa Maxie. Then looking down to the picture and up to the collage, shouted THAT IS MY GRANDPA MAXIE. needless to say we all huddled around this young teen looking at his photo and the photo in the collage, and all of us shouted GRANDPA MAXIE.

There has always been great joy in my professional career as jewish Communal Worker. I have provided knowledge to those with whom I worked and in many moments have received greater understanding of life, and my purpose in living it. I am appalled, angry, that the issue of immigration IS an ISSUE in this nation. I DO NOT understand the lack of compassion, empathy or common sense which flows from the White House to the chambers of Congress as if it was filled with Monsanto GMO’s killing every bit of decency and democracy upon which this nation once was built.  When, oh when will the real Americans come back to life?

A Falling Tree

I remember, the very first time I heard the question,"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” At the time I had no idea that this is a philosophical thought experiment raising questions regarding observation and perception. I honestly believed it to be some kind of supernatural experiment (too many Twilight Zones as a kid), which helped identify particular half aliens (not from other countries but OMG, other worlds), because WHO else would even consider this issue of trees falling and noise or no noise relevant. It bothered me for the first few weeks hearing this question, and of course it jump started my imagination into wondering, what else might have happened, but because no one was there, DID IT REALLY take place. That question was unsettling to me similar to the two questions, I even hesitate to write, as just listing them makes my stomach churn: what is on the other side of end of the universe, and what was here before we even had a universe. I quiver internally just contemplating those questions.

So, on Friday, we discovered yet one more wealthy, man, insecure about his own masculinity, had been accused of using his power and fortune to pray upon female employees. One more dude, afraid of having a small penis, fearful of being found to be nothing but a blob without his power and prestige, pounces upon the ladies praying, as Sally Field once said at the Oscars, “They like me, they really like me,," but not waiting for answer, because he knows they DON”T. LIKE HIM. One more guy big in the land of anything Trump, sexually harasses women, paying them off if necessary because he probably has no other way of really getting off, himself. Then of course the perp asks you weren’t there so did it happen?

RNC Treasurer Steve Wynn, bet that he, like Trump could fondle, force, and act frisky with the babes, because being Steve Wynn almost trumps being Trump. Are we aghast, are we filled with anger, or are we used to just one more larger than life guy shedding his layers of bull shit just to be found a phony and a failure! Tsk, Tsk, Stevie, shame on you, but then you are a Republican and shame is not a part of your DNA. Its beyond time to get riled up, that train has left the station, except for the club car still located at the White House. Its time to really look at the picture of men and women in this nation. It is time to ALSO understand that sexual harassment is evil, but just as evil, is the proposition that reproductive restrictions on females is just as much an assault. Lets get really angry and finally lump ALL unwanted advances on women by men (and self loathing Republican Female politicians) as reason for a revolt. Lets stop picking at parts of the problem and deal with the entire cancerous tumor!

Me too Now

Among the millions of once unimaginable pieces of legislation that the Trump run Republican Majority in Congress is currently ruminating and rousing about is a plan to  make into law the 20 week abortion ban. You know, just one more intrusion into not only the freedom of a woman’s reproductive choice, but once again a hyper masculine control of that little lady and her special “bun in the oven” We just witnessed millions of women and the men who respect them as equals march across this nation in defiance of Trump and his misogynist manner, regarding sexual harassment, so one might be a bit disillusioned as to why the GOP would intrude even further into the world bodies and mind of women. The sad thing about any effort to control reproductive freedom and real choice, by the Republicans is that, albeit, only a slim margin of the GOP are female, THEY all fall in line like the lemming at the ready to jump off a cliff so their in-bred, idiot base won’t revolt and through said bums out of office!

What is it about the GOP one might ask; wondering why they support a tariff on any product that will enhance natural energy, rather than carbon oriented climate destroying fossil fuels. One might ask, wondering why the GOP is fighting tooth and nail against the Government law enforcement agencies who when are tear gassing minorities are heroes, but suddenly when pressing Trump and his Klan for the truth are monsters even worse than Putin and his KGB. One might ask; wondering why the GOP has little concern on laws that keep the worker safer, the consumer healthier, and the land we share less toxic. What is it about the Republican Party, and the voters who still register as Republicans, backing their anti democracy politicians, THAT makes them hate, really HATE almost every American who is not the Mercer Family, The Koch Family, Mobil/Exxon, Monsanto/Big Pharm/Big Agra/ and the kind of person deemed a Corporation?

#Me Too, perhaps it it time to call out the good ole’ boys and their good ole chattel GOP Gals, and start woman-splainin’ real life to these jerks. It is time for all of us to SCREAM stop the Trump/McConnell/Ryan BULL SHIT…Its way past time to place on notice to the GOP that this is OUR country too. I grow tired and more tired of civil discourse when one side of the conversation is about fascism/bigotry/authoritarianism/and hate, while the other side plays the role of the good guy trying to play by the rules. I JUST WANNA know when do WE the people begin to set the rules, without any debate about good verses evil, lies versus truth. SO FRUSTRATING!

Wake Up

We always play the Trump game, he speaks we react…he speaks then the GOP, agrees…the GOP agrees then the talking heads descend on the so called cable news shows…trying their hardest to insist that each story has two sides to it… an attempt to debate follows…this is no debate but nothing more than an attempt for sound bites, which are as empty as Trumps soul…sound bites are like gold to the idiots watching FOX news and suddenly any piece of rust or rot become a flying carpet from which the most uneducated of Americans begin to believe as truth…Trump after eating un-poisoned Big Macs, flushing it all down with a Coke, watches Fox and friends, forgetting he started the Trump Game to begin with and BEGINS again spinning tales summoned from his own insecurities, paranoia and sick sense of self…and we go round and round and round and round,,,the only people who get dizzy from all of this are the folks who ONLY want democracy to make a comeback to America, who believe in Checks and Balances between all three branches of government, and understand that trickle down ONLY means wealthy people peeing on anyone who is NOT wealthy!

We are focused on the Ring Master, while ignoring all of the side show acts who are stealing our freedoms, our equalities, our Constitution and our ANY chance to live in a sane world. The Trump Game, is an addiction for the Media, who tries to pretend they have learned their lessons when the game was introduced during the 2016 campaign, but somehow still permit the tail to wag the dog or worse permit the dog to shit all over them, again, and again. Wake Up!

You Can

You can cheat on your first wife, while getting your girl friend pregnant, then marry her only to travel to Europe and buy your third wife, and while  your third wife gives birth, find a few other women to pay for sex, and still be considered a child of God, just as long as you NEVER cheated on your first wife with another man, but most likely if that man had been married to a women, you could get his wife pregnant and still be that holiest of the holy, by a group of individuals who believe that Jesus Christ only hates the GAY, and ladies who love to own their own body parts.  You can laundry money for foreign governments or the wealthy oligarchs of foreign governments, letting them buy their way to the Oval Office or bribe their way into Congress, and still be considered a bit like Uncle Sam, but be a black man with a foreign sounding first name and a Muslim sounding middle name, and you are suddenly and enemy of the state, and certainly the root cause of all the rot in this nation, by the same God Bless America pay to pray phonies, who embrace  the guys who embrace Putin.

You can swear a zygote has a soul, a purpose, and a place in God’s plan, and be blessed by those who think the Holy Ghost visits them in their bedrooms begging them to run for political office, but try and find funding for pre-natal care/early childhood education/a nutrition program/public education/employment/or even consider keeping family units together as in “Dreamers” and their parents, and it is the Devil himself who has directed evil energy your way, dismissing you as misunderstanding God’s real intention. You can lower the taxes on the wealthy, insisting that work makes you free, you know, like the signs they placed over German concentration camps (Arbeit Mach Frei), and shame the poor or the working class as being losers never wanting anything but charity, demanding that Jesus, had little time for the lazy, and if you are wealthy only you know how to handle money. You can swear, government is a bad thing, as you run for Congress, insisting that your socialized paycheck, your socialized medical care, your socialized perks are nothing to really deal with, because, Jesus had chosen you from birth to save the American nation from people of color, and non Christians, including Mormons who really are just heretics, but call yourself The Freedom Caucus, and demand that compromise makes you weak and Gay or a sissy and a Communist, and continue to run for office without fear of failing because you are in a gerrymandered district, because its freedom for you and not those poor schnooks watching FOX News.

You can tear apart the democratic principles and become Speaker of the House. You can implode democracy and become the Majority Leader, and you can lie, cheat, steal, rob, corrupt, live in gluttony and greed and become the Commander-In-Chief, because the both the Evangelical Community, the Republican Party the KKK and the Mega donors like the Koch and Mercer Families have never cared for the Constitution and somehow think when they die, they actually can take it with them. Oh, by the way EVERYTHING burns very quickly in HELL.

damn, sad, damn

So sad, that when the quality of life is at stake, from supporting health care to young children, to keeping the Dreamers in the one and only country they have lived the majority of their lives, to providing Vets any kind of sufficient care and support, to permitting Senior Adults the sanctity of at least one hot nutritious meal, to affordable health care, that the majority of Republicans stage a battle, like a bunch of mean girls and boys who only want the popular kids to be on their side, and who are always scoring the big win, satisfied that in order to win SOMEONE should lose!

The Government Shutdown, was evil, the fact that our Congress cares more about their donors, their own profession as politicians first, public servants second, and catering to a base of voters who still believe the South won the Civil War is VERY EVIL. How do we stop this cycle of breaking bad? When all the Republicans seem to do is play dirty, and play to cut the gut from democracy!

Did the Dems cave…Will the GOP live up to their promises…Shall Trump continue to pretend he is winning…Are we going to debate the most inane ideas of who the real winners of the Government Shutdown, really are, while never EVER wondering who the real losers are as in the average American citizen! When will this shit ever end? We are told we can vote the bums out…REALLY, how does that work when in fact elections are hacked, districts gerrymandered, dark money is permitted to buy elections, and truth no longer is a moral value candidates have to demonstrate…How many more alarms do we need to sound, until all of us just go deaf from so much noise? So damn sad, and oh so damn frustrating!

Deja What

Déjà vu, but not in such a sweet and charming movie plot kind of way, but in a more malicious, we knew this would happen, but it’s the reality of America stupidness kind of situation. This time, once again we rely on the misinformation, the mis judgements, the missed opportunities of the Dems to realize just how GOOD McConnell is at screwing them, and just like anything Hillary, the Dems turn into cannibals and eat one another, forgetting the root cause of the troubles, but rooting as hard as we can to turn on OURSELVES. Déjà vu, once again, the GOP looked like they were going lose, then they won. The Dems looked liked they had a plan, then they didn’t. Save DACA, but don’t save it yet. Keep the government shut until real discussion takes place, but open it up on promises as strong as a piece of string holding up a skyscraper during an earthquake. Permit the talking heads to get paid to disseminate information based mostly on some unseen sources, trying to pretend that there is even a debatable issue regarding the GOP and Trump’s distaste for freedoms, human rights, and the Constitution. Worry about whose fault it is rather then the fact that nothing different has transpired prior to the closing of the government, and is re-opening because after all Trump cared enough to pretend to care.

I too am upset with Schumer and Pelosi, and often wonder what their worth is truly based upon. I always shudder with the kind of fear that a monster is truly lurking in the shadows anytime I hear ANY Dem pretend that they just won a round of politics against the GOP. I worry that the Dems will never UNDERSTAND that men like McConnell and Ryan have no conscience, no concerns for the constituents, and that playing unfair and dirty is what brings life to these two men, as well as money in their pockets from selfish self serving Republican Donors. For me, any time there is a win by the Democrat Party it had nothing to do with the DNC or Pelosi or Schumer. 

Until the truth is brought forth regarding the ALL of the collusion between the RNC/Trump and the Russians, and until something is really done to stop the hacking and the foreign involvement into our politics by the Russians, until the Dems begin to break some rules which the Republicans have easily broken themselves, every step forward by a Dem will be replaced by two steps even further for the Republicans. Trump lied to Schumer, the only time we heard about that was around midnight the night of the shut down…Trump has insisted that government shut downs are good, have we heard any commercials with him saying so…no but we get a lot of the Dems are helping Immigrants murder Americans…I am so frustrated that once again, just when I thought the Dems could do it, like the Little TrainCould, the Dems implode as the Republicans use every dirty trick and get away with it as the Dems just sing Kumbaya! Déjà vu!

so what

One more delusion discovered as the Deal Maker, destroyed any chance at becoming the Art of the Deal, but falling flat like the Fart of the Deal. Incompetent, impotent, useless, and ugly as ever, hiding behind hubris and humbug, and the destructive words of his associates, of Stephen Miller and the supposed adult in the room General Kelly, Trump , with the mindset of dementia, and dedication toward his own desires, remained aloof last night as a bunch of bumbling buffoons, took to the Senate floor, insisting that the will of the people is less important than the lack of will to govern this nation.

It was and IS important that the lives of the “Dreamers”, be a separate issue than spending money on a Wall, and I believe rightfully so, the democrats found a backbone and stood for freedom.  Just because the least informed voters, a minority of Americans, believed that separation of Americans is a successful stance, the Republicans with an exception of four, worried that somehow the Koch Brothers, the Mercer Family, the NRA would Primary them out, and once again as a Party before Country, and the Party of Mitch McConnell, one of the shiftiest and insecure politicians America has ever witnessed, said NO. Waiting for leadership from their Space Captain who was only concerned about his lush Mar-A-Lago Bribery Ball, was no where to be seen, but employed the incapable fingers of Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Tweet and insult rather than a chance to find consensus!

And so the Government shut down, no money for CHIP, no money for Centers of Disease Control, no money for the park Rangers, and if this Republican Battle for the souls of Corporations continues, real people, the ones the Republicans are always demanding Jesus cares about will stop receiving Food Stamps, Veteran Benefits, and the Military and the First Responder, which supposedly have always been the go to, to make America great will also suffer. Once again, for me this is no debate. Self serving hateful men and women calling themselves the Freedom Caucus/the Tea Party/the Aryan Nation/the Evangelical Christians cared less about the lives of ALL Americans preferring restrictions for most, who indeed seemed to be different in color, in sexual identity, in language spoken. 

So many reasons to dump Trump with last nights fiasco one sure sign of his lack of leadership and the GOP’s desire to divide. Shame, But the Congress shall continue to get paid and live a lavish life, no matter what. 

No Debate

The enemy of the state, is not living south of the boarder, and any wall summed to keep them out of this country is a bit absurd, because the real terrorists don’t cross the Rio Grande to invade our government, they fly either First Class, or from their own private jets originating in places with names like Moscow, Crimea, Odessa, Trump Soho, and they identify themselves with such ludicrous names as the Freedom Caucus,Tea Party, and the American Christian Evangelicals! The American government is going to be shut down because a bunch of Racist Bigots just don’t like the “Dreamers”, and they refuse to understand that via the CHIP program millions of poor children, many of whom are of color will live a better life. And oh yeah, the guy riddled with vast opportunities to be blackmailed by porn stars and the Russians has a fragile ego and he wants something else in this nation with his name emblazoned on it, A WALL.

The government may shut down because a misinformed, or should I add informed only by the bigots and idiots at FOX, 18% of inbred Americans scare the shit out of the GOP, and the cowards in Congress calling themselves Republicans fear the wrath of a few rather than the welfare of the many. This IS not a debatable argument, the Dems want healthy kids, rich or poor so they want to see CHIP funded. The Dems want families to stay together, to provide a homeland for kids who have really known no other country to call their own. The Republicans could care less. What seems to be the problem?

Religious WHAT

In 2018, hate, homophobia are now being masked as religious freedom. From a Republican Congress and a man sitting in the White House whose scruples are based upon lying, collusion with a foreign country, bribery from Corporations, adultery, and dereliction of Constitutional duty, we suddenly have a holier than thou proclamation that permits religion to trump equality and freedom. It seems now that the GOP, the Evangelical Christians who easily can overlook infidelity, lusting after one’s own daughter, cheating, racism, and misogyny, have found a harbor to hate and have docked their sailing ships of hypocrisy at the doorsteps of both the White House and Congress.

Now it is being proposed that if an insecure civil servant, health care professional, pharmacist feel that Jesus Christ will cry from the heavens because a homosexual couple wish equality, or a female desires the rights to her own reproduction and body, they, without any punishment or consequences can deny service, assistance, life support at the whim of something as bogus as religious freedom. No surprise, honestly, that the base of Trumpian supporters agree on this, no surprise because many of them have never read the history of this nation, nor understand that we caused a revolution from the harassment of a national religion. America has gotten uglier and deeper into the darkness of pay to pray preachers, Evangelicals who could care less about your character, morals or values…but prefer you NOT be a homosexual, and you have no choice in giving birth. The joke of course is on those Trump supporters who are of color, are not Evangelicals, are not from Norway, as once religious freedom is used as an excuse against the LGBTQ community and women, anyone and everyone else is next.

So, you hated Hillary…you never liked the idea of a woman as president…the Dems were all liars…only Bernie and no one else was going to save the day…you secretly are a racist…a homophobe…a misogynist…a bigot…and anti semite…or you were too stupid to check out all the missing information Trump bragged about but, never was, able to provide proof of…so you were sure, none of your Gay friends or family would REALLY be singled out, you were certain that the women in your life, could still maintain equality, some of your best friends were black…NOW, as if collusion, money laundering, gerrymandering, the Mercer and Koch Families, and the permission of Dark Money to remain mysterious was not enough, we have Religious Freedom, which is not free to everyone and has nothing to do with religion, just fear, loathing, insecurity, and idiots! Here we are in 2018, and as a Gay man, the father of a daughter, the brother to sisters, as a Jewish man, as an American, I am being relegated to second class citizenship because YOU voted for Trump, or didn’t bother to vote at all, or were just one dumb shit! So now, please go fuck yourself, because you have done one hell of a job on me, my family, my friends and my country!

Praying For time

There I was, walking home from the gym, on a fairly sunny LA day, my Beats Earplugs hanging down upon my neck like a librarian wearing a beaded necklace to hold a pair of glasses while combing the stacks for just the right book. I thought I had chosen my WorkOut Apple PlayList, the category of music with lots of get ready to dance and sweat music, wanting to continue feeling energized, as I had a decent workout, and was grateful to whomever the workout Gods might be for providing me with the stamina and motivation to keep both my mind and body in condition, and of course my free gym membership via the Silver Sneakers Program. Of course I passed the very LA juxtaposition of the newly produced Maserati SUV rushing the yellow light as the woman with three plastic bags and a borrowed shopping cart was trying to make it to the other side without being run over, all under the plasticized photo of a giant Kylie Jenner billboard, still wishing us a Merry Christmas. I had been pissed off earlier in the morning trying to vaguely listen as Trump could give a shit regarding a Government shutdown, and the inane and insane commentary of whether a shit hole, or shit anything was an appropriate way for anyone sitting in the Oval Office to communicate.

I passed a few younger people, and wondered are they “Dreamers,” and dare I ask if their lives have turned into Nightmares, just because Trump and many of the GOP politicians are indeed racists. My husband Joe, has tried to get me to be less stressed by this whole Russian/RNC/Trump coup…but nonetheless, I NEVER want to look back at my history and say I hadn’t tried for equality, for freedom and for truth. And then as I too just barely made it safely across LaCienega Blvd, like the homeless woman the song ‘Praying For Time’, by George Michael, found itself inside my Beats Earplugs, and as I stood watching the lady with her three huge plastic bags trip over a man lying on the sidewalk, legs spread apart with some kind of wide water like stain shouting out from the crotch area of his pants, I stopped. I could see the world around me, I could smell the aroma from the Marijuana Clinic, I could hear some asshole swear at a pedestrian, but I became transfixed, both feet stuck. Suddenly as the lyrics to the song ‘Praying For Time’ echoed in my head, all I wanted to do was scream, then cry, look up to heavens and ask WHY!

Music has always been my mentor, my motivation, it has been the crux of my memories, and the way forward for my adventures. The lyrics of ‘Praying For Time’, by George Michael, became the perfect therapy for the dialogue swirling around my brain, not just today, but ever since good things have happened to bad people, and good people have had to suffer the consequences. 

“These are the days of the open hand

They will not be the last

Look around now

These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man

Whose place is in the past

Hand in hand with ignorance

And legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor

And most of us are not sure

If we have too much

But we'll take our chances

'Cause God's stopped keeping score

I guess somewhere along the way

He must have let us all out to play

Turned his back and all God's children

Crept out the back door

And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate

Hanging on to hope

When there is no hope to speak of

And the wounded skies above say it's much, much too late

Well, maybe we should all be praying for time

These are the days of the empty hand”, ‘Praying For Time’, by George Michael

DELIBERATELY DANGEROUS

Lets just understand some of the recent events which have occurred during the last decade of American politics. Lets try and grasp just how we have denigrated our democratic principles, from the first day Barack Obama was elected president, at which time Mitch McConnell, the Republican Majority Leader informed his Caucus in the Senate with agreement from the Speaker of the House, that no matter what President Obama places on his agenda, the Republican Party will deny and destroy any attempt for President Obama to see his agenda for America find fruition. To, the denial by the GOP to even permit a vote on Merrick Garland to even be considered a nominee on the Supreme Court. From the continuous racist and religious bigotry toward Barack Obama and his family to the constant accusations that Putin was tougher than Obama, we had witnessed the Republican Party and their Donors demean and debase anything similar to checks and balances.

Lets just understand, that no matter what the Russians did to hack the 2016 elections, from bribery to computer viruses, to Russian Oligarchs donations to the GOP campaigns to down right blackmail, NOTHING of substance has stopped Mr Trump and his Robber Barons from continuing to reap the spoils of each and every average American. And while the Dems dream of a landslide in the 2018 elections, lets be clear not much has been done to even understand how the hacking happened in 2016, let alone placing stop gap measures in place to deny the Russians and the RNC access to future polling places. SO…why are we in such ANGST and AWE when we know Trump used words like SHIT HOLE to describe any nation whose population is not pure Aryan white! Huh, what, Trump is a racist, surrounded by racists, enabled by GOP racists, and we act stunned, surprised that Trump has even gotten further down the bottom of the barrel, and continues to spiral further into the depths of Hell.

The con is working, the con is supported by the Republican establishment, and somehow the minority of people in this nation dubbed as the Trump Base of support are conning the rest of us into letting our nations democracy rot and wither. We, who understand FOX news is nothing but propaganda..We, who hear a lie told and retold again and again…We who have a conscience and a soul are loosing the battle to some of the most villainous and evil characters written on the pages of history…and yet we act so surprised when trump uses the words SHIT HOLE…The con continues and all we can do is debate if SHIT HOLE is way overboard and expression… And oh yeah, if the Official Presidential Physician states that Trump’s mental capacity is A-OKAY, then we also should recognize, that the crazy man ain’t crazy just DELIBERATELY DANGEROUS!

oops, my bad

The house in which I grew up was a small row house (now it is called a townhouse and sounds a lot more fancy than it truly was or is). We had three bedrooms on the second floor, mine being at the back of the house and mine no larger than maybe two walk in closets. My parents had the middle room, right next to the stairs leading up from the first floor, which at night with all of the lights out, seemed like an endless canyon leading to the flood gates of something evil (I did watch a lot of Chiller Theater and The Twilight Zone), the room a the front of the house was occupied at that time by my one sister a few older than me and my younger sister.  Most of the time my room located at the back of the house was cool, but at night when thunderstorms erupted, or howling winds sounded like monsters, my room, which faced nothing but a bunch of garages and vacant spaces where garages had been, plus a panel of trees we named the woods, was scary, VERY scary.  I was about 8, my older sister was 13, and my younger sister 6, and my parents were out at a party. My 13 year old sister was our baby-sitter, albeit just in title only, But she was the oldest and deemed mature enough to watch my little sister and I. 

I am not sure what time it was, as night time in our house seemed to be always around midnight, of course when monsters come to life. I was still awake, listening to the wind rattling the branches outside of my window when I heard my to sisters calling me from their room in the front of our house. Both called my name at he seem time and said, they hav something to show me. I was reluctant at first to leave my room and visit, but I was also sure something might be crawling at my window, so maybe it was a good idea to take a break from the back of the house. Of course to get to the front room, i had to through the hallway (which always seemed eternal at night, past my parents bedroom and worst of all past the stairs that ld to the first floor, knowing of course some peering eyes would be staring at me, with long arms ready to grab me. I promise my self to dash out of bed, run directly to my sisters room and not look toward my right which led to the spooky stairs. I did all of that and as i reached the front room, my two sisters grabbed me, and pulled me into their room, slamming the door really, really hard. The words they both stammered contained the sentences:There isSOMETHING in Mummy and Daddy’s room, what do we do. I had to pass Mummy and Daddy’s room plus the scary stairs to get to my sisters room. I could have been eaten, dragged, taken, used as an offering to Satan, but did either of my sisters WARN me. Shaking, really shaking it was my job to use the extension phone and call our neighbor Uncle Nat (back in the day we called our good neighbors Uncle and Aunt), to come over with our house key and check out the monster in my parents room.  To this day, i still feel my throat close up, my right hand holding the phone spasm, and the pain in my lungs trying to breath and get enough air in my throat to speak.  My sisters were of no help, as they ran into the closet while I, having to be the brave son, stood facing the bedroom door, which at any moment would be shredded into pieces as THE MONSTER came in the front room to eat all of us. Uncle nat rushed over with a baseball bat went into my parents room, bravely, laughed and told us that the monster had been the venetian blinds caught in the window flapping as the wind blew.  Fear that might was forever, and all three of us stayed awake in the front room until my parents returned. It was a night filled with what if, and then what, and how would it end.

The people of Hawaii, were provided with an amount of fear, no one would ever wish upon their worst enemy. They were warned to take cover because of the possibility of an ICBM missile hitting the island. For the 45 minutes it took for OUR government to respond and reassure these Americans had to be and still must be memories that will only rot away at your gut. My sisters and I lived, (only three of us) through half an hour of Oh My God, but Uncle Nat came to the rescue. Hundreds of thousands Hawaiians were counting down their death clock, and it seems no ONE, let alone Trump came to their rescue, and all they got for seemingly an endless nightmare was OOPS, My Bad. Monsters lurk and it would be nice someone is there at the ready to rescue!

Dr King

“All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’ If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.” 

—from “I've Been To The Mountain Top,” April 3, 1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr

When I lived in Houston, one of my friends had a room mate who chose to do drag. Her drag name was Dee Nile. Dee Nile’s act was all about the things we know are true, yet prefer to do the opposite. Dee Nile was a political science major at Rice University during the day, but in the evenings decided he needed an outlet a means to speak truth to politics and Dwayne became Dee and Dee’s act albeit pure schtick always involved a message regarding freedom. Dee Nile would insist that had this NOT been a nation based on freedoms, she of course could not be standing on stage in her begged, borrowed and perhaps stolen glittery attire, complaining about everyone and everything. There was an irony to Dee Nile’s performance, simply put, Dee would pontificate about without freedom, we would not even have the right to deny. Dee would INSIST, that freedom offers the luxury to complain, to complain provides insight as to the good and the bad about life. Life is never ALL good or ALL bad, but without freedom, we would never know the difference.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." 

—from Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 1964. Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Truth, and unconditional love seem to be a fading phase. A passing fancy, once embraced, once inspiring. We also seem to become a nation with disregard to history, at least the parts of history that disturb a new kind of greed, gluttony and ghoulish desire to discriminate and discharge the equality of human beings. I need to hold on to hope, so I must find some reason from the past, because if we don’t learn from our history it might repeat itself three times worse. I do hope and pray Dr Kings quote from his Nobel Peace Prize Speech STILL holds true…or else I will feel loss and the future will seem lost.

Ain't Done Nothin'

WE KNOW, yep WE ALL KNOW, exactly who Trump IS and who Trump IS NOT…yet every time this man presents another personality from his bizarro world, ONCE again, WE debate, his character, his mental capabilities, his capacity to learn, and just how insidious and dangerous his narcissistic personality has become. The Talking Heads, dressed in their finest jewelry and ties, with coiffed hair, and perfect makeup, pontificate on the details of Trump’s newest bout of dementia, while the hots of some Cable news show, nod their heads in agreement or toss and turn their necks right to left trying to emphasize disagreement. ONE MORE, Trump fart escapes from his mouth and ONCE again with gnarled fingers, and throbbing arteries in our necks, we say just how low must we replace the bar, ONCE AGAIN.

While all of this happens, the leadership from within the Republican Party, either remains aloof, or worse, SILENT. Two Senators sitting in one the now infamous “SHIT HOLE” meeting, Senators Purdue and Cotton, don’t deny the racist remarks made by Trump, but at the same time they just don’t recall hearing the words SHIT HOLE! REALLY! But we must pay attention to THAT fact, the fact that OVERLOOKING, UNDERPLAYING, or just IGNORING, everything wrong with Trump and his administration, is the REAL dilemma this nation faces. Trump will not change,Trump is invigorated as long as it is not his base criticizing him, Trump has no conscience and Trump has NEVER, EVER paid any consequences for ANY of his actions…

Lets get real folks, it is the GOP, people like McConnell/Ryan/Gowdy/Nunes/Cotton/the who are the real deterrents to ridding this nation of an inadequate authoritarian. During the last three decades, with the enactments of Voter ID Laws/Gerrymandering Districts/ Disenfranchisement, the GOP has risen to power. Never because of a Party Agenda for the people, but a deep hate for people and using that hate to stir up a demographic within this nation who thrives on bias and bigotry. We can do little more to insult Trump, we must instead do MORE to attack this who insulate him. Why else would Putin choose Trump and the Republicans to wage war…Putin is smarter than most Democrat leadership. Putin understood that seeking to the Dark Side would sufficiently succeed in US politics, and who better than the current batch of bad guys, like McConnell and Ryan and Trump to claim victory. We can beat up on Trump all we want, but hey folks, 2018 is right around the corner, and we AIN’T DONE NOTHIN’ to make sure those elections are not ONCE AGAIN, hacked, rigged and run by Putin and the RNC!

ENOUGH/ENOUGH

The game continues, and we play it as if somehow the Master of Ceremonies will pay attention to our hisses, boo’s and other negative human sounds from the participants, hoping perhaps to call a time out and actually ask what is wrong? But the game continues, shock ensues, disgust roams the streets like discarded papers flying in the wind, and each day, every day, we wait for more of the same insane insensitive, stupid, sinister, demonizing displays of total incompetence and ignorance. Denials define explanations, accusations of others lying, as the real truth, defiance as defense and a total lack of any mature conversation as talking points as to why the man in the White House IS still saying, acting, doing, and participating in some of the most horrendous moments in the history of the United States.

Many of us wake up each day and with great hope, ask our partners, our spouses, ourselves, “IS HE STILL IN OFFICE?” As we inhale our first breath of the new morning, we wish and hope someone of great authority and desire for democracy will have found Trump mentally, physically unfit to serve or just guilty as hell as a Russian collaborator, collusionist and launderer of dirty money. Most of us hope there are still some innocent Republican leadership, not on the Putin Payroll who, with the assistance of the Democrats begin the process to remove Trump/Pence and the entire Russian Oligarch of Cabinet members from office. 

When IS ENOUGH ENOUGH, honestly, I can’t take one more day of news anchors heads exploding regarding the latest Racist rambling from Trump? I can’t take one more day of true Journalists writing columns regarding illegal, irresponsible actions by the Commander-In-Chief and his cronies. I can’t take one more day of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and the GOP leadership pretending that Trump misspoke but didn’t mean the anti-Democratic messages he either Tweeted or foolishly spoke aloud. When is it OUR turn, the people of this nation to take to the streets, to protest, to unify as ONE and not stop until justice returns to our nation. Lets be clear, Trump is the monster, but the Republican Leadership and donors like the Mercer Family/The Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson/FOX News are the scientists, who brought life to a creature void of conscience and soul!

choose the truth

I have often written about my father’s experiences as a policeman in the city of Pittsburgh back in the 50’s and 60’s. Most of my father’s police work was kept secret, but there were times when he would return home from one of his shifts, place his gun in its holster on the top shelf of our hallway closet (my sisters and I, each at the appropriate age got to look at the gun, touch it, and then were told it was not a toy and to NEVER ask about it or ask to see it again), remove his billy stick from around his waist, place it inside his police hat along with a pair of handcuffs, sit down on his Archie Bunker style chair in the living room, and begin to talk a little about his day. My father, was a foot patrolman in the 50’s, meaning he walked the beat of the neighborhood, and the one from which he started his career as a policeman was called Homewood, at the time one of the most segregated neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, with its demographics being Black ( the term Afro-American) was not even on the radar. My father had a variety of experiences to share, (he would tell my younger sister and I at the time they were more like adventures), and when my fathers day had been eventful in a positive way, he would still in his blue Pittsburgh Police uniform share some sage advice.

My father said, it was important to build trust within any community, but in particular if any of us ever found ourselves in a community where for some reason or another we were the odd man out, finding that TRUST was most important. One of the stories my father shared was about confronting groups of kids, who were about to attempt having some fun, illegal fun, but thought little about the consequences for seeking a good time. My father, would look at my little sister and I in the eye, as he rocked ever gently on the Archie Bunker brown tweed chair in our living room, and tell us that all you have to do is find one person who finally understands the consequences of a soon to be action. My father knew a lot of kids in the Homewood Neighborhood, and had a keen sense as to which boy or girl he should single out and ask his questions.  At the time all my father was, was the COP, the big guy standing 6’1” (God only knows I did not inherit his tall genes), and he would walk toward the one kid who stood the tallest, the one who seemed to say I dare you to knock this chip off my shoulder.  He knew all of the names of the kids in the neighborhood, and standing with his hands inside his pants pockets, would call out the name of the ONE kid, and say: when I leave the area and you create your fun, and someone gets hurt, or someone  gets caught, or something gets stolen or broken, are you going to be able to look at the rest of this group and still think you were right? Do you think, that everyone else will still look at you with the same respect you think you have NOW, once something bad happens? I can’t be here all the time, there will be other COPS, but YOU, and only you will be responsible for doing something good or something bad. My sister and I always asked, did they listen? My father would smile, twist his head to the right then the left, and add, if they really understood the power they had, they did listen. Then the story was over, and my father would walk into the kitchen and make a sandwich, and ask you want one too!

Senator Feinstein, did a Mitch McConnell move the other day, but not the usual Mitch McConnell move of anti-democracy, anti America, anti-constitution, she instead did all of America (even the Trump supporter Americans a favor), she knew that bad things were happening in the GOP led Senate, and did something good. She provided America with some truth, something McConnell and this dreary Republicans despise. She could have let lying Senator Grassley continue to mislead and provide Trump with cover, but instead, she did the right thing. She should take the credit for finally having a backbone and putting America first and not her Party. There will be other Senators, but this time Senator Feinstein became responsible showing other Senators how to do the right thing! If my father was a live he might ask Diane if she wants a sandwich! 

lets be real

Lets be real America, the boundaries of this nation have been invaded, not by those from Mexico, Central or South America. Not by white nondescript vans minus air-conditioning, with dozens of crowded human lives, driven by men calling themselves mules. Lets be real America, the Trump Wall idea is as solid as any of the Trump Towers, forged by foreign steel, low paid immigrant workers, and sanctuaries for every kind of money laundering available to mankind. Lets be real America, this nation has been invaded by terrorists who have worked and currently work for the Trump Administration. Lets be real America, no matter how many billions of wasted tax payer dollars are being bargained for against the lives of “Dreamers,” or other immigrants to this nation, not one cent has been debated upon or promised to stop the further invasion of this nation by Oligarchs, Blackmailed Politicians, and the KGB under the guidance of Putin, via the internet, via the hacking of polling stations, via the promises made to Trump and his kin to keep democracy a dying form of government.

We permit ourselves to obsess over a wall that was never going to be built by Mexican money, a wall that would only substantiate hate, fear and loathing, a wall to please the base of the Republican Party, the people who always need a scapegoat for fear they may be found the fools. By now, most of America understands the Russians came across the ethernet, not the Rio Grande, to wage war on America. By now most Americans, who don’t watch news to feel good about their own biases and bigotries, by now anyone with a shred of intelligence understands Trump’s victory was bought and paid for by the Russians, with the assistance of the RNC. By now most people have not heard word one regarding safeguarding this nation’s cyber security, because those who might make laws to do so, like the Republican Party, just don’t want to shoot themselves in the foot, and you know ruin a good thing.

Of course the lives of “Dreamers,," good citizens, families and individuals are being held on the auction block, by anyone Trump pretending that America’s boarders are not safe unless we build a wall surrounding the southwestern states. But flowing freely via every state in this nation are the virus’s and hacking maneuvers by a bunch of guys who don’t speak with a Spanish accent. The terrorist lives on Pennsylvania Avenue. We want safety, we must remove anyone Trump, and anyone Republican that feels it more necessary to lie, cheat and rob Americas freedoms for Trump.