Flags

It becomes a sense of pride, not inherited but earned. It indeed wasn’t in your DNA, or the book of  the month club while in the womb, nor at first sight after noticing your own toes, those tall, gangly folks who coo, and ahh, and ooh you (if you were lucky enough), but somehow along the way when inclusion could be taught or exclusion insisted upon, you realized that somehow someway a Flag, a piece of cloth with an assortment of colors and shapes, had some kind of human invented destiny, that was to become yours. There were, you were lectured, good Flags and bad Flags, as if the Flag itself was another human being.

Opening the closet door was difficult enough, stepping outside, of the dark, self imposed prison, was spooky enough, and hearing the splash of news that self-esteem belonged to you or had to be earned carried so much weight that some of the average citizens felt more comfortable running back, pretending the real safe place was to hide. Not in Provincetown, the Flags wave in unison, and at the same time with the wind under their wings, they can demonstrate unique tricks, trappings, and terrific feats of strength, surprise, and certainty that there ain’t a thing wrong, having a rainbow lead your path forward!

I am of course a concoction of a recipe so ridiculously filled with a variety of ingredients, each day, yet each way changing but staying the same, but still unique and original, like the people around me. There are those who are brave enough to say so, to be proud enough to brag about their lives. I am not a clone or cultists. I have become less fearful!  I CAN salute many flags, take a knee demonstrating my mistrust or refusal to be intimidated, or initiated into thinking one way is right one way is wrong. It neither the color of my skin nor the colors of my flag which genuinely project the purpose of my being. Trump Land wishes and hopes we stand in line, be good little boys and girls, hate the same, and scapegoat the newest names on a list destined for a railway car to some end of the line. Provincetown, Day Two, and I salute what makes us unique, not what we must find as ugly!

PT Day Once

Like a welcoming hand, as the tide is low, permitting its most well-kept secrets to be discovered, it acknowledges that chance and choice are not mere consequences, but opportunities tempting and trustworthy. Take a ride or watch as the current comes crashing in and leaves you standing on the shore, and the boat, silent, and stealth-like, just waiting for you, finds it sail and rides the high seas, without you.

We can watch and wish, we can gaze and guess, or we can begin our journey with guts, glory, perception, and purpose. In the time of Trump, we must weather the high seas of hate, the tsunami of bigotry and bias, setting a course where freedom and fair gently take us to our next horizon. Joe and I are in Provincetown, and the cruel world around me is just outside the bubble of beauty this place begs you to enjoy. Day One, and I can dream once more!

the slug

A long time ago there was a TV series called Thriller, with Boris Karloff (the original Frankenstein Monster) as the host. It was one of too scary to miss television shows, and even though you knew it would be haunting, and very nightmare provoking, it was a must watch television show, for me! Leslie Neilson starred in the episode, he was a big burly masculine kind of dude character, as machismo as possible. He treated people like guinea pigs, inviting them to his mansion then tormenting them, having the women succumb to his masculinity and the men to become jello so he could brag about emasculating them. He was a wretched character always thinking he was in charge. One evening Leslie Neilson’s character, invited a scientist to his house, a man, Leslie Neilson thought was a devious and sinister as the character Leslie Neilson portrayed.

But the scientist was not a bad guy instead sought revenge for all of his friends who had either lost their minds or just acquiesced to the power of Leslie Neilson. The scientist devised a plan to FINALLY knock the bully off of his masculine horse. Pretending that a potion a secret potion the scientist devised if swallowed by anyone would turn them into a giant slug. No power, no mind control no ability to be human. Leslie Neilson’s character loved the idea. The scientist brought along an enemy of Neilson and slipped the potion into his wine. A few scenes later we hear screaming and crying, and we find the enemy turned into a hideous form of a slug. So horrible that the entire body was covered in slime and goo. Neilson’s character loved it, but became selfish and threatened the scientist that if he did not give him the formula, Neilson would murder the scientist. The scientist then told Neilson, that in fact he too had drunk some of the potions, and in mere hours he also would become a slug. Then, to make matters worse for Neilson, the scientist took some drugs pretending that they were poison, and fell to the floor. Neilson freaked out, he started running through his mansion screaming cursing, repenting, and demanding he is cured. Mind over matter, thinking the worst and saying that he could be the man he wanted to be, Neilson’s character took a gun and shot himself in the head. Both the scientist and the first guy who took the fake potion heard the shots, and the end scene was the two of them standing over Neilson’s dead body laughing!

Kind of a long story to make a point, but it is a story with relevance for me as I watch the insecure, empty, lonely inept, narcissistic psychopath sitting in the White House, melting down and imploding as would a nuclear reactor. If in fact, Trump implodes the seriousness of his demise would be as horrendous and dangerous as the nuclear gas floating in the atmosphere. Today, Trump Tweeted a few more words of worry. (Any other politicians by now would have locked either in a penitentiary or an asylum for the severely mentally ill)There were two foreshadowing Tweets, that all of America should take seriously (that is until the spineless Republican Party begin to act a patriots) The first was that Trump make try and take some Executive Action against Google/Facebook etc., because there are too many negative comments about Trump, but the more dangerous of these two is the Tweet where Trump threatens there may be violence if the Republicans do maintain the majority after the Midterm elections.

Dictator/Despot, desperate and dangerous. A madman is threatening Free Speech and harm to the citizens of this nation…I don’t know about you, but, I think we have reached a VERY critical moment…Trump has communicated his intentions, and these are nothing to laugh about, in fact, these are more to die about! 

indictment

In 1973, the Department of Justice concluded that the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions. HOLY COW! Honestly, OMG! Has anyone taken a severe glance at the behavior of Trump, at his immature, irresponsible, and irreverent performance while sitting in the White House? For one moment has True taken, seriously his obligations as Commander-In-Chief and better yet does he even understand his responsibilities and the expectations of the job? Trumps while the intention was and is to undermine the functions of the Executive Branch of government. This man and his family and his corporation and his Cabinet have all been indicted, accused, caught in the act, of criminal activities. And we as Americans are supposed to pretend that any legal action would seriously undermine an already mentally unstable man like Trump from performing his duties! Let's stop pretending that Trump is above the law, he has managed to laugh in the law’s face his entire professional career, and WE THE PEOPLE must be stronger and more willing to stop the madness.

And regarding more madness, coming from an already unstable delusional, a narcissistic guy sitting in the White House, we have the Executive Branch ignoring a Federal Judges demand that the remaining 530 kidnapped chidden be returned to their families. Its been a few weeks and the Executive Branch has brazenly refused to make a move on reuniting families separated. Perhaps if FINALLY the someone was held accountable for this illegal and unlawful action, the families would be reunited. Maybe placing in jail the Director of Homeland Security and the Director of Health and Human Services until all families are reunited might be a perfect beginning!

And talk about undermining the Executive’s serious business of governing our nation, I suppose waking up at 5 am and tweeting about how Google is mistreating Trump, is normal? Mental illness, ineptitude, lack of understanding of the job, crime…and seriously we are supposed to believe by law we cannot at least indict Trump. COME ON AMERICA?

about the senator

Another shooting, but no big deal, it happened in Jacksonville Florida, but two weeks prior another shooting had taken place in a high school stadium in Jacksonville Florida, so precisely much attention is one city supposed to be given when after all it was just a shooting and massive enough for all of the CABLE networks to run those ridiculous BREAKING NEWS banners. We had our fair share of Talking Heads, this time Ex-FBI/ATF/Police try to talk us through what might be happening, second-guessing, pontificating and providing us with war stories of how other events like this most recent murder spree finally ended. We had the usual Cable Personalities frown, emote and try their best to predict the ending way before the ending was evident. Its America, so shit happens, and when the shit is caused by a white guy or gal, it ain’t no big business, cause white people to need mental health treatment, whereas any other skin colored person is a terrorist or a thug. The new norm is to now showcase the murdered and place a placard of their face and their ambitions. Wham BAM, thank you, Ma’am, we have done our due diligence…because honestly what else can we do with Gun Violence. And oh yeah, Rick Scott, Florida governor, did extend his prayers and thoughts and said he would spare no expense in sending in the Troopers. Remember Rick Scott was also gonna, sorta, maybe have that roundtable talk when the time was right with the victim's families and the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School war zone. And Floridians you now get a chance to vote Rick Scott as your newest Senator. 

Senator John McCain has passed away after what has been described a horrible type of cancer. All cancer is awful, a cruel trick to the fabric of life, and to have loved someone suffering from any form of cancer is a real test of your own character and emotion. It is never easy to watch those you love hurt or so warped with pain. My condolences to the McCain Family, for their personal loss! Sorry to be a bitter Betty, but I am not precisely sure what John McCain accomplished that made America a more homogeneous nation. And in the most event years when Obama was president, I witnessed minimal bipartisan intention. Instead, all I saw was McCain taking marching orders from Mitch McConnell, who we are now discovering is most likely another Putin puppet. I get angry when I pretend any politician who had recently suffered a horrific kind of death to be an American hero. 

The Republicans, now in the Senate, those who praise McCain for being a real American hero, can actually put action behind their almost empty or is it patronizing words, by making American democracy great again, the way they all verbalized how John McCain felt about this nation.  One more test, to discover if words from politicians mean anything more than a photo op, or sound bite, or just their mouths moving and sound erupting from their vocal chords. I would like to say time all tell, but WE, WE AMERICANS, are running out of time! 

another good guy

How inconvenient, and how rude, another shooting in Jacksonville Florida at a Bar/Restaurant, there had been one at a football stadium two weeks prior…but honestly how inconsiderate of the shooter to try and murder or at least injure innocents on the same day the Republicans are mourning John McCain…I mean honestly how many thoughts and prayers can a person be expected to extend.

But back to the shooting in Jacksonville, this one is really nothing to worry about because it was a white murderer, using one of 3 million available handguns in the United States. Governor Rick Scott tweeted that he would send any and all emergency assistance Jacksonville might need. He also promises to speak with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas victims in Parkland, describing that shortly he would have a roundtable discussion regarding guns, and murderers and the Second Amendment and blah, blah blah…This will fade away as have all other stupid gun violence incidents. Nothing here for Trump to rage over, because I am sure as with Nazi’s, there are some good white guys with guns who eventually shoot to kill humans!

friends of John McCain

The chaos and confusion will flourish in the Senate even as the men and women sitting in the august body of US power pay homage to Senator John McCain. They will speak of him as the Maverick, as the sometimes eager individual ready to cross the aisle, to help create fair and equitable laws for Americans and not kowtowing to the political parties of America. For a mere moment in time, reflection on the positive actions of a Senator will be shared, falling from the same mouths who immediately, after wishing hopes and prayers will renew their animosity toward democracy and justice for all. John McCain will be remembered by some for his duty to America as a captured POW, fighting adversity and torture, others will recall his feisty fixation on supporting his constituents, and others will take all of that into consideration as well as his reticence in being brave enough to argue the merits of Country before Party during his last years, alive. I am torn, as I found this man to be a real hero once, but watched him succumb to another disease, not his hideous, and horrendous bout with cancer, but the disease of self-preservation politics. I extend my condolences to his family. Death is hard to digest and difficult to deal with. 

But here we are, ALL of us, still alive facing our own disease, a destructive, deadly ploy to erode and erase the already weakened democracy of our nation. Perhaps, with his passing, John McCain has earned a status of an iconic Senator, but with his passing, who is there in the Republican Party to take the mantle, to find the guts, to become brave enough to fight for the rights of ALL Americans, and begin to stand firm against an empty, needy, narcissistic, angry immature man such as Trump? All of the Senators from both sides of the aisles will praise the work of John McCain, and as is usual they will mourn for a minute and forget the words they used of righteousness, integrity, and pursuit of happiness, and just repeat the useless and nonsensical words of Trump. McCain’s war of words with Trump has found its resting place, but Trump's words of injustice, ignorance, and intolerance will still resonate and cause chaos and confusion.

We ALL know, at least those of us who honestly have a connection to the continuity of our Constitution, that the criminal acts, the attempt to conspire with an enemy foreign power, and the constant lies told by anyone Trump is a disease aimed to kill. We ALL know that shaming, blaming, or naming Trump directly means very little, as Trump lives in his imaginary Bubble World, and no one or nothing will get him out of that psychotic environment. So, perhaps as the GOP Senators recite their eulogies toward John McCain, we take their words which most likely will talk about fairness, heroics, and patriotism and ask each and every Republican Senator, why not behave the same way in which you have praised John McCain.  Trump will not change for the better and indeed will become worse. The only hope we have is to find one, two three Republican Senators who actually mean the words of sympathy they use to describe John McCain, and stop America from dying of a Russian made, Republican assisted cancer!

another day

Five hundred thirty-six children, still missing or unaccounted for and even perhaps forgotten about. So once Lindsey Graham and Mike Pence insisted that a President who commits a crime or lie or has an extramarital affair should be Impeached and jailed, but now remain silent. Money laundering was a big deal when some Mafioso crime boss enjoyed the rewards of tax-free money, but come on folks this is America and Capitalism invited creative ways to become wealthy, no need to waste time when politicians and their families are ingenious enough to hide their dollars. Truth, fuck it, it is irrelevant if it has little purpose for your decision to lie. And anyway isn’t truth just in the mind's eye only, if you see it one way and I see it another whose truth is it anyway?

Five hundred thirty-six children, all shades of brown and perhaps a mixture of black were kidnapped, but those who kidnapped them were just following order, so stop giving the ICE Agents and HLS dudes a hard time, they were just following orders, doesn’t that make them more Patriotic than those overpaid, goons in the NFL who take a knee when OUR National Anthem is played. Let's get this straight a song, a salute,  a hand over a heart is what make the red, white and blue, even more relevant, than expressing yourself against injustice and inequality. And when Jesus told the British and the Spanish and the French to invade North America, he armed them with enough power to destroy the heathens who dared to claim God’s world as theirs. But then Jesus remembered that some of the European armies were not all white, so just like the European Invaders of North America, there were some good invaders (the Caucasians) and some bad invaders (the Spanish), just like the time Trump insisted there were good Nazi’s and bad Nazi’s.

Five hundred thirty-six innocent, terrified, lost, lonely traumatized children were ripped from the arms of their parents, similarly as  the Germans did in the Second World War, as the Boka Haram did in Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria as the Europeans did with most of the natives from Africa. What are facts anyway, they only are more confusing for getting away with crime, collusion, blackmail, and backstabbing! He says he is the best, why do we have to bug the guy sitting in the Oval Office, after all, he won the election, and who cares about how he won it, this IS America.  People live on the streets, the minimum wage cannot pay for healthcare, rent or food, but then its the fault of the poor being poor. Not permitting same-sex couples to wed, or permitting women to take responsibility for their reproductive rights are sins, but discrimination, bigotry, and racism is Gods calling. And stop picking on the Republicans, they know they don’t mean what they say, they know they stand for nothing of value to their constituents, and for God sakes, they support the guy who God himself ordained and trained to become Commander-In-Chief! Well, it is Saturday, August 25, 2018, have another great day in America!  

get, gone

I tried, really did, thought what else can I say regarding the disaster/horror/apocalyptic political environment in which I find myself living. I walked away from my computer in the morning, casually looked at my phone, resist as much Talking Head TV as possible, but as the day slowly lingered on, and on and ON, as perhaps an addict might, I craved just one more peek into the tumult, the treason, the terror just outside my safe space. And it took only a few minutes to satisfy my angst, my frustration, my NEED to try and make a difference. I never have “free based” anything, but I am told free basing makes the high almost immediate, and the euphoria a gift to cherish. But then all of that expires and the need, no the desire to do it again returns.  So, after catching up on the World Of Trump via too many inconvenient conveniences, here I am at my computer with a Blog…a late Friday, August 24, 2018, version of ranting and raving of wishing and hoping, and that fucking waiting for true Justice to wipe away anything Trump! This Blog is more a bunch of thoughts of how come, and what if’s…

How come a sitting President cannot be indicted? If the Founding Fathers of this nation did not want Royalty to lead the country, and if their intent was for the common man to decide upon the leader, and if they hoped that from the masses would emerge a hero, a leader;WHO, no matter how brilliant, intelligent, charismatic (not Trump, indeed), then why treat this person and this position as someone or something above and beyond reproach? I am flummoxed at the idea that a sitting President can remain a criminal until his term has ended. I know, I know, there is that clause about Impeachment, but the sad matter of facts that provision was also based on the fact that this nation would remain a country repeating its “Checks and Balances,” that our Constitution proposed as law. So, if the sitting President cannot be indicted, and the Majority Party will not Impeach him, it seems that we the common man are doomed to be duped by a despot, and permit he or she to lawlessly govern our nation…It is beyond my comprehension!

And speaking of the Majority Party, sitting on their hands, why are we not wondering why their asses have not moved one bit to free their hands and have also stifled any reasonable attempt to discover the truth. A long time ago when all of this hideous GOP behavior began, I remarked in a few Blogs, that Putin and his chums admitted to having hacked both the DNC and RNC Internet sites. At the time I shouted via all CAPS, that the inaction by the Republicans was partly due to them trying to pass a Christian Conservative agenda, but in fact, Mitch McConnell being so sly and sinister understood that he and his GOP goons were also under the blackmailed thumb of Putin. And now with so much evidence, so many witches being caught with their broomsticks, so many discoveries regarding polling places and the election, it has become even more apparent to me that the Putin has some might excellent, MIGHTY FINE juice on the Republican leadership and Party. So how come no one is looking into that scheme. Am I to believe that each and every Republican politician hates America so much that they permit praise of Putin, or have the Republican leadership laid down the law, that there is so much dirt, on the Grand Old Party’s bosses, that EVERYONE will be implicated if that ship sinks.

We have witnessed more unbelievable actions, more unmentionable behaviors, more dirty politics in these past two months, and are still waiting and wondering when will it end…I don’t get it…and I don’t understand why we can’t GET it over with! 

thou shall not

Like so many other man invented literary works, stating to be the ultimate in law, I am sadly learning that the text of the Constitution is not, at all a composition valued for its purpose or intent, but instead as a piece of literature which can be heralded as the final word, of assumed to be nothing but a bunch of words interpreted as necessary. Similar to the various Bibles written by man, all of which are full of shall thou shall not, or thou shall, the Constitution matters very little as a solid foundation when men and women decide, in fact, they are Gods or in the case of the Constitution the Royalty able to ignore, implore, thrive by or entirely reject the paragraphs supposedly printed an impenetrable.

The EVIL-Evangelists, hold a Bible as proof that God exists, a judgmental God with strict rules and regulations for HIS creation, the human race. Yet in this age of wishing for a Theocracy rather than a Democracy, the EVIL-Evanelists ignore the parts of their own Commandments inviting thou shall not be an adulterer, thou shall not steal, thou shall not deny the poor, as irrelevant and only requesting that the thou shall not pertain to freedom of reproductive issues for women, and matters of marriage and love for same-sex couples. And in trying so hard to overthrow the democracy in which they are permitted to enjoy their own freedom of religious choice, by demanding this nation become a Theocracy, the EVIL-Evangelicals have also decided that Thou Shall not have a system of checks and balances and any law is the law given by their God which of course is manipulated to the satisfaction included in the bigotry and bias of religious zealots. The greed, gluttony, the sheer indulgence of grifting, the lying and cheating, one might expect any holy person to shun and demand justice…but nary a word of thou shall not be spoken by the so-called Shepherds of Jesus, as it related to the Trump Family, Trump Election Campaign or the Trump Foundation, let alone Trump!

And much to my dismay, I have learned by living in the era of Trump history, that the Republicans also find disdain with their poetical Bible, the Constitution, and have permitted their leader to become a King, am Authoritarian, a Dictator. The GOP it seems to have a list of thou shall’s which include… allowing Trump to Executive order anything he feel's, aids his own agenda…ignoring any reasonable attempt at checks and balances…invite assistance from an advisories nation of the US…ignore the wishes of a majority of this nations citizens…and pretend to remain aloof and confused when questioned if any laws of justice have been broken by the Commander-In-Chief. And much to my dismay the Republicans are fighting a war to transform this nation into a Plutocracy and cease any particles left of a once proud Democracy. For the GOP the Constitution is a toy, a paper pad whose words can be either erased with ease or whose words when relevant to the cause of anarchy or self-enrichment are written in ink. How easy this Trump Thing would or should or could be handled…yet this nation is beyond the brink of despair!  

I am I cried

"I am"... I cried

"I am"... said I

And I am lost and I can't

Even say why (I Am…I Said by Neil Diamond)

There I was, able enough to have used my Silver Sneakers Gym membership, as a part of my Blue Shield Part B/C/D Medicare, working out at 24 Hour Fitness, finding myself riding the bike, watching the TV in an air-conditioned room, filled with all sorts of cardio machines, and windows galore, permitting a show and tell of the people walking on Santa Monica Boulevard. Having finished my weight’s routine, I was finalizing my wellness program with 30 minutes of cardio. There I was watching, CNN and MSNBC discuss the variety of Tweets, by Trump, accusing Michael Cohen of caving in, and proudly patting Paul Manafort on the back for continuing to be the criminal he had always intended to be.  I had my headphones tightly ticked into my earlobes, trying my hardest to listen to remixes of disco music, but with so many televisions positioned at every angle, it was hard not to notice the world of Trump even asI tried my best to isolate these 30 minutes to my own world.

I turned my head to the right, looking out at Santa Monica Boulevard, and I watched as the lady drenched in dirt, and sweat, carrying her three bags of plastic bottles and glass containers, tried to reach deep into the depths of the metal trash can situated in front of the gym. At first, it might have seemed funny watching as she almost dove to the bottom of that barrel, like a swimmer might choose to dive to the bottom of a swimming pool. But there was really no humor, the lady covered with soot, and grime finally rose up holding two plastic bottles, the one in her right hand she placed in her mouth, leaning her head back permitting whatever liquid was lost at the bottom of the container to fall into her throat. The bottle in her left hand was immediately tossed into one of the sacks she had placed on the ground. I turned my head away, almost feeling that I was intruding, and as I did so, CNN was announcing that Trump was about to honor a Military hero for his service in protecting his Troops from an Al Qaeda attack. And then it was as if a whack on the side of my head happened.

What world am I living in, I am…I cried to myself. A criminal is sitting in the White House. A man known to have no use for scruples, a man hacked and hijacked into office, and who is guilty of so many crimes, pretending to be the guy who is honoring real heroes. Trump offers congratulations to a guy who does not admit his own crimes and defames the guy who pleads guilty. And then I wondered, deeply as I turned my head once again toward the street outside, watching one man with his sign for some food pacing back and forth in front of the gym, am I lost…am I lucky…I am riding my bike in an air-conditioned gym, watching a criminal as Commander-In-Chief, act as if nothing is unusual…witnessing poverty, hunger, homelessness…I am so confused anymore! And to top it off, not ONE Republican of any crucial political position has come forward to announce that FINALLY, America belongs to its citizens, and not Putin and his puppets. I am lost, and I don’t even know why!  

in West Virginia

Trump marched into West Virginia, with his made in China MAGA hats and Flags, stood on the stage to chants of “lock her up, lock her up” His belly oozing over his made in China suit with his tie looking like a noose hanging from his neck, smirking that orange grin, bouncing his head as if he were a bobble doll on the dashboard of a car, Trump felt like the Preacher man, as if he was about to deliver a sermon from the mount. Sitting around him with just enough Black people in sight, (most likely told them they would be deported to another state if they did not cooperate), were the citizens of West Virginia rooting, cheering, hooting and hollering…but for the wrong team.

So Trump wants to bring back clean coal…he wants to pollute the landscape in the air, the soil and the rivers! No need for an explanation about the long lingering effects of carbon-based poison, nope, just promises that more jobs will be created…not jobs for the 21st, or 22nd centuries, but the kind go job your Grand Pap died from and the kind of jobs which made all of your Grand Pap’s kin either suffer a slow painful type of death or just left them with a slow painful kind of life.

The crowd went crazy happy when anyone mentioned a Democrat. No one even gave a thought that the Democrats voted for Affordable Healthcare, for home-delivered meals, for healthy meals in school, for that matter any meal program in school. As the crowd chanted “lock her up, lock her up,” none of them realized that a bunch of criminals all associated and working for Trump were being locked up. 

The West Virginia Cult had no idea that as they kissed the ass of a man who could give one shit about anyone sitting in the audience, their entire future was about to last as long a fruit fly. Dad goes to mines, digs that coal gets coal dust in his lungs, mom can’t really find a job cause she has three kids to take care of, because there are no Planned Parenthood centers to help with family planning. The kids go to school, if they are lucky, the ones in hollows and hills, have some Cheerio’s drenched in Monsanto poison spray, they may go to school with a few pieces of fruit washing in the runoff water from some cool mill or butcher mill. Dad, starts to feel ill, but he has to work, can’t afford a good doctor, mom tries her best, but the Community College closed down, and there are no courses offered to teach computers or any of that Liberal Tech stuff. The kids, if lucky grow up but unemployment is really high. The state ain’t gonna help out, cause that is socialism). Some of the family survives, some die, some live a painful life, some only live cause it's too painful to die.  But Trump is the GUY, who cares for the little person, and as long as he says so, and the Baptist Preacher down the lane says so, all is well.

The crowd in West Virginia went wild on Tuesday, August 21, 2018, as Trump and his West Virginia Republican puppets were planning a pre-meditated murder for a bunch of too stubborn to believe in the truth Americans!

remain dubious

Tuesday, August 21,2018 almost felt like a gotcha kind of day. So many fishing red banners, blaring the words breaking news…so many current lawyers, ex-lawyers, former lawyers opening and sharing their opinions on the law, what used to be the law, and what we now consider the law! Talk show host’s white enameled teeth brightly smiling, actually glaring into the cameras, mug shots of the Trump Crime Family neatly trimmed and placed on whiteboards.  I am sure some people actually peed their pants, so thank goodness for those desks, as props for all of the Talking Heads to sit behind and find a place to pontificate and punctuate what in a reasonable era of American history might actually fact, and truth.  

Of course, I felt some relief, kind of like when your kids finally realize Mom and dad are the Tooth Fairy so the charade can be called off, and hopefully the surcharge for more and more teeth. But, after the cheers and shouts and then of course we all knew that had been shared, I realized that it is the Twilight Zone in which we are all living, and most episodes of that show, had a bunch of trick endings, especially when any character had business with the Devil. When Rudy (The Royal Court Jester), spit out his now famous “truth is not truth”, it was not due to an overdose of opioid, he was not on his fight Harvey Wallbanger, NOPE, Jiggles the Clown Giuliani was very precise in his statement, understanding that even though another clown George W Bush said, “you can fool me once, but you ain’t gonna fool me twice…” that in fact no matter what Cohen said or says, or for that matter anyone else on the level of trust as once was Cohen…the truth is not the truth, because if Trump says it ain’t so, it ain’t so!  Lots to celebrate on Tuesday, August 21, 2018, but this IS the era of Trump, and the fact is fiction, fake is anything real, and the truth is not the truth. I will be a bit more flushed with excitement, when I hear the buzz of the overtly quiet GOP Congress, begin to say out loud in front of the cameras, AMERICA, we have a Trump problem. Until then, UNTIL the checks and balances catches up with the Republican Congress, and country comes before self-concern, and Lobbyists are no longer lingering with considerable checks to stop the balances…UNTIL I hear the same hypocrites who shat all over themselves regarding the necessity to Impeach Bill Clinton take to the microphones RENOUNCING the criminal acts of Trump, I will drink from my cup of half empty flat champagne!

Putin does not joke around, Putin has outsmarted oh so many people, you think he hasn’t a really, really good exit plan for his machinations, manipulations, and handling of Trump. Some small rodents have begun to jump off the ship, but there are still some large filthy, RATS still roaming free in the Trump White House and the Trump Crime Family. It was a wondrous thing to watch the law begin to blossom, but until I see a bouquet of honesty, of truth, of fact and of reasonable Republicans join in and tell me its time to take back America, I remain dubious.

535

“…A smooth way forward for our children…” a portion of Melania Trumps four-minute contribution to a conference on Cyberbullying. 535 Orphaned/Kidnapped/imprisoned kids, still separated by Melania Trump's husband, Donald for the simple act of trying to find sanctuary in America, from countries at the ready to make the lives of the innocents and their parents a total Hell. Smiling at the camera’s at least I think so because for it is so difficult to read the squint in her eyes as a sign of emotion or just too much plastic surgery. Dressed in a cute little blouse with a carefree bow, whimsical in a way, as was the intonation from one person of any who could bitch slap her husband’s hypocrisy straight across the American contentment, by simply stating Donald Trump, has created more evil with his Tweets than any other sitting president, he has demonstrated his loathing for the minimum rights of freedom, he has divided families, and he in all the evilness he possesses has the power to change an immoral policy, based on the hope and prayers that a base group of bigots  and unintelligent supporters believe will make America great. Melania Trump could have also stated that her “Be Better” bull shit, which permitted her to pretend as a First Lady she actually has a cause is nothing but voodoo, to impress a cult that thinks Trump is cool because he has a real Babe as his wife, his third wife to be sure, with a flurry of other Babes receiving or had received payoffs as Trump dabbled in adultery.

And then Melania, if she REALLY gave a shit beyond her prenuptial contract could have said, I will now stop reading my prepared statements, and share with you my fear that my 10-year-old son, whose father is 72 years, has a role model of sinful self-absorption, who is so insecure he must bully others, and who I try so hard to keep from watching any news except FOX. Then looking straight into the camera, trying to open her squinting poor plastic surgery eye job, could have said, I do not want my son Barron to become someone like Donald Junior, Ivanka or Erik, who greed and gluttony were taught and learned from Donald J. Trump. Then leaning in a bit further, wiping a sort of tear from her prenuptial eyes, also add, BUT I do hope Barron gets a better break than Tiffany Trump, who was the spawn from wife number two, but who might as well been the daughter of anyone secretly invited into the confines of the Trump Tower.

Five Hundred Thirty Five children, over weeks and months, stranded somewhere in old warehouses, left to the curiosities of ICE Agents who suddenly have the power of the Gestapo, unknown as to both their mental and physical health conditions, treated as chattel…and as Melania Trump spoke for four minutes, carrying the power of the White House and office of the First Lady, smiled, nodded her head, and ignored the plight, the pain, the prejudice of 535 lost souls, called children! But not her son, Barron!  

25th Amendment

I have lamented, laughed. I have witnessed way too many Talking Heads languish over, linger on and on, getting paid a pretty buck, speaking out of every orifice of his/her body about the seemingly ludicrous, lascivious, and hellacious manner by which Trump speaks, acts, Tweets, and thinks. I have been as sarcastic as possible, snarky and surprised as the next ordinary American that for some reason or another, Trump can continue to lie, distort reality and honestly nothing much except raucous rants and rapid responses to his extreme outbursts remain the answer. But this week, when I heard Rudy Giuliani, another fame seeker and whore for attention said, “truth isn’t the truth,” and referred to the fact that “…there is always somebody’s version of the truth…” I gave myself the preverbal WHACK, on the side of the head (truly whacked my head so hard I yelled ouch), and realized perhaps all of us who have both feet planted on firmly on the floor is actually floating in space. MAYBE, Trump ACTUALLY does live in some visual reality world where what he sees is not like the others, how he states what he says has nothing to do with other realities, and perhaps we are dealing with a man who REALLY, SERIOUSLY, REALLY is living a life devoid of the natural world in which a majority of us live. 

Think about this America: In all of Trump's life he has never had anything but gilded gifts, opportunities provided for him, no accountability, a sort of king in his own Kingdom with no overseers, and a vision that, because he has, he can still get away with any action, he deems necessary for survival. If I were Rod Serling, and it was a new episode of the Twilight Zone, I would introduce the character of Trump as the man whose universe seems the same as the shared universe, whose interaction with the people around looks the same, BUT who is truly living in a parallel existence, not knowing what is real thus declaring his own realities. No one is that great a con to continue to call out Fake New, Alternative Facts, and now Truth is not truth.” No one, except a madman, and I am using the 1950’s definition as in crazy, bizarre and filled with a psychosis deep and dense.

Perhaps, Trump truly believes in whatever dimension he is breathing in oxygen, maybe he is suffering the consequences of never having been told no, perhaps he in the throes of dementia, perhaps as the mental health community once clearly said, this man is just mad!  I now have to wonder, and of course worry even more, not about the madman but the fact that most likely his enablers are aware of his madness and choose to DO NOTHING at all. 

The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with issues related to presidential succession and disability. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 was ambiguous as to whether the person who was vice president took over only the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, or also became President of the United States; nor did it define inability or state who had the power to declare a president incapacitated

we the who

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble to the United States Constitution signed in convention September 17, 1787. Ratified June 21, 1788)

If one were to casually review this Preamble, which was never written as law, but as an introduction leading to a set standard of requirements for a newly created country formed from Revolution. And then, if one were to read the first three words…” we the people…one might assume that anything else, written,(also)  WOULD indeed be put in place because we the people desired to contain and control our own destiny. 

Clearly, at least from my standpoint, “We the people," living in this nation since the beginning of the 21st Century, seem to be the least important demographic, the odd man out, the less influential group to decide the fate of our nation and the future of its democracy. “We the People”…have witnessed, a covert act of war against democratic principals by foreign powers, disregard for equality by Political parties, via a Judiciary acting as God, creating  a whole new “we the people”, by identifying Corporations as people, and an overt intent to introduce, with full power, or is it, greater power, a definition of governing known as PLUTOCRACY, A country or society governed by the wealthy, or an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth. “We the People,” may still resonate as some dreamt up version of Americana melancholy, a machination, sounding sweet and forever reminiscent as Mother’s Day, Apple Pie, or Picket Fences, BUT its relevance as serving any kind of establishment for equality or the hokey patronizing, we are one… is dead and gone.

How easy it seems, it is to break the law, Trump has demonstrated the ease by which the Con Game can be won. Not only does Trump believe he can be master of the Universe, but his comrades in arms the Republican Party also think they're Royals, serving in the court of a King. The only “we the people”, who seem to be safe and secure are either the Donors of Dark Money, the Puppets (Congress), receiving bribes, the Evangelicals praying for the rise of a Christian Nation, and the Oligarchs of Putin who desire the same privileges they have murdered for in their own nations, to follow them to America.  Truth, justice, welfare, tranquility Blessings of Liberty, were words once written by men who actually believed that “we the people,” could survive. Trump, Congress, the Wealthy, and of course Putin is betting that the bad guy wins and the good guy becomes nothing but a footnote in a democracy that died! We must Resist, WE MUST!

saturday

It was Friday, yesterday, August 17, 2018 and I awoke, as I had mentioned in previous blogs, checked my phone hoping to find Trump had been impeached, praying that Putin hadn’t invaded Alaska, wondering if Martial Law had been declared, and worried that the Crusades hadn’t quite reached my front door, the one with a Mezuzah hanging on it identifying that Jews lived here. It was Friday, yesterday, and I heard that the Manafort jury was still deliberating the 18 counts of fraud, money laundering, theft, and God only knows how much payoff to betray this nation. I, out of habit turned on MSNBC, listening to the shock and awe of expressed by not only the Talking Heads but the the Ex-Staffers from a litany of Intelligence Agencies as to the audacious behavior of Trump to create both a Nixon’s Enemy List and begin to establish a McCarthyism system of placing you as a real American (this decade, admitting to liking the Communists), or a bad American, one who favors democracy! I heard the phrase “Witch Hunt” at least two dozen times, watched a con artist amble to his helicopter, once again ripping off the taxpayer, traveling to his Golf Resort at Bedminster, for a working vacation (GAG), asserting that the real enemy is the Press, Nancy Pelosi, and Robert Mueller; waving his hands as if by doing so the world would pay less attention to the lies spoken and concentrate on some kind go hocus pocus, hoping to make all of his evil disappear.

After 15 minutes of what is now considered the NEWS of the day, the took the TV remote, pressed as hard as I could on the OFF button, dramatically threw the remote to our glass coffee table,(thank goodness we spent a decent amount of the thickness of the glass), frightened our dog, Chance, and to no one but Chance and I shouted the following, “FUCK”, “I can’t stand this”, “When will this end”, and “Why is this Asshole still president and not in jail?” In a normal circumstance, I would have immediately rushed to our office and written a blog…but I froze, and a bit of fear started to ooze out of the pores of my skin, trying its hardest to find entry to my brain, being stopped by my gut, but sending a message to my entire being, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO DO! And, suddenly, just for a few seconds, which seemed an eternity, I believed that Trump had won the battle of Evil versus Good. So, I tried my best to not write about a man and his minions, felt defeated and stayed away from my computer. Finally, thank goodness, the urge to fight back returned and I was able to add a few pieces of advice to other people’s posts and did protest as best I could.

It is Saturday, August 18, 2018, I have yet to watch MSNBC, read any posts from Facebook or even look at my watch. I have returned from my early Saturday walk with Chance, walking on quiet LA streets watching the homeless pack up their tents or blankets, witnessing the crew of brown skin men and women beginning their jobs of either gardening, construction work, walking in and out of the back doors to the various restaurants in the area. I saw a woman almost bent in half filled the filth of a long life of no second chances hunched over looking for plastic bottles to place in her already three large ready to rip at the seams bags, and another person putting make on their face, placing a wig on their head, sitting on one of three suitcases which I supposed was the compilation of everything owned. A car was parked at the corner, waiting for the light to change, and the radio was blaring the news, and I overheard that 500 some kids were still missing from having been kidnapped by the government and that more names were being placed on an ex-security list, by Trump. Chance had pooped and peed and was ready to head home. My stomach began churning, I could feel that heated bit of anger rise, anger and angst caused by the bad guy winning, and I decided that today, I needed to do two things. The first was a vent, and the second was to make sure I NEVER REMAIN SILENT, regarding this perilous piece of history in which I live and in which I must make a difference. Happy Saturday! 

saw this coming

Let's stop looking at all of the people who either no longer, have security clearances or are on the list of having their clearances canceled, but start asking who correctly holds power to review all of the top secrets regarding the safety and welfare of this nation. And lets stop kidding ourselves, and going crazy, each and every time a new American person is added to the Trump Enemy’s List by just realizing how often Trump has met with either Putin, one of his Secret Service generals or one of his puppet Oligarchs and WORRY about ALL of the Top Security Information they have or had already received. We should have begun to really be afraid, when the GUY sitting in the Oval Office, the Commander-In-Chief most likely COULD not pass whatever particular test or inquiry is mandated for Security Clearances, himself. This childlike behavior, these hissy fits, this punishment for daring to use free speech, these reactions to any kind of criticism, all of that and those and these ARE real issues here. As the Republican refuse to do anything to protect our Constitution, our system of checks and balances…to keep a divide between the three branches of government…As the Republicans hide in the shadows placing Party over Country or even worse their own rotten jobs over the freedoms of Americans…As the Republicans permit Trump to become more and more Emperor or an Authoritarian Leader creating a Banana Like Republic…That is what we NEED to be fighting back. We talk about the precipice looming, the point at which there can no longer be any turning back. We talk about Trump's bouts of childlike behavior, his narcissism, his lack of understanding of the foundations of democracy, his immaturity, and yet not one Republican stands forward to say, STOP, this man is delusional, this man is UNSTABLE…why do we act so surprised when one more calamity claims the climate of this nation…Trump is doing the bidding of Putin, the Republicans are enabling Trump thus Putin to eat away at any semblance of sanity for this nation!

WE ALL KNOW THIS…yet act shocked anytime one more DICTATORIAL action or reaction from Trump takes place. One man with the assistance of one Political Party, paid for by an ENEMY OF THE STATE, prayed for by RELIGIOUS LEADERS who are waging a CHRISTIAN JIHAD, supported by a BASE of BIGOTS who loathe anyone seemingly different from they, and promoted by a PROPAGANDA MACHINE, pretending to be a news outlet, and all we are doing is pretending that we are shocked, or that the Mid-Terms will change everything.  This all reminds me of any movie when an ALIEN  NATION of Extraterrestrials, coyly, but savagely drop their little pod like war machines to Earth, causing the human beings to just stare and point, when SUDDENLY, the small pod machines open up and immediately annihilate the population. We are watching and doing very little to stop the end of our freedoms, equalities, justice, and democracy. One day, if books are still permitted, in the future, the readers will ask out loud, DIDN’T THEY SEE THIS COMING? 

is it, just me

Is it me, honestly, sometimes I think I am the most insightful person in the world, or is it that the Media is just stupid, or just waiting for one more “gotcha” line. For Trump, IT IS a badge of courage every time he is accused of being a Racist Misogynist and even a Nazi. Trump thrives on the love from a base of goons, the foundation of the ignorant…Trump understands calling people of color, dogs, or stupid, or any other derogatory name is one more notch in his limited cult of followers…and the Media plays right into it, boosting the Inane, Insane, Insecure, facade of a human into fame and more prestige. And yet, all I hear from the media is did Trump say the N-word, did Trump call a person of color an inflammatory name, is Trump, a bigot…OF COURSE, HE IS. 

Is it me, honestly, I have to wonder why in the world the Media just doesn’t stop asking Trump the obvious, and START asking the Republicans all of them no matter how red a district or gerrymandered a district or however much Putin has paid them…why not ask them…NO pursue them…NO relentlessly nag them do you agree with Trump when he degrades women, do you support Trump when he uses racist slang toward people of color, and if you don’t why haven’t you come public to renounce Trump! It seems so easy.  And oh yeah, Media, when you are sitting in front of Sarah HUCKABEE  Sanders ask her how she can work for a man who hates women and minorities…then when she defers or protests too loudly, instead of moving on, combine your talents s journalists and ask the same question again, and again, and AGAIN, until either Sarah HUCKABEE  Sanders answers you or walks out in huff!

Trump could care less if the righteous are upset, we know that…it's The Republicans and the clan of the cabinet who need to be pushed, who need to be on the record…Trump is proud every time he is accused of the most heinous of actions…his CULT loves it…it makes them braver to try the same terrible things. Is it me, honestly am I the only most insightful person to understand that Trump DOES NOT CARE if he is called names…as long as he believes he is the BULLY, he is cool and comfortable!

which one

Um, I have a question for a friend who happens to be an American and still has hope that democracy has a few lifelines left, OKAY, it’s not a friend it’s ME. Let's say there was an FBI agent who for twenty some years was best in his job for counter-intelligence activities against Vladimir Putin and his Russian spy agencies. Let's say this guys name is Pete Strzok, and not only had he been responsible for following up on Hillary Clinton’s emails which seemed to be no more than a bunch hooey, honed up by a bunch Republican Gerrymandered CongressPeople, but he also caught some evil enemies of the state during his tenure. Let's say then, Mr. Strzok, like so many other Americans terrified at the incompetence and lack of respect for the US Constitution and the disregard for “Checks and Balances,” made an unprofessional personal error and complained that HE too thought Trump was a jerk. Let’s add to this information that today, without the respect and due process usually or should I say used to be given to FBI employees, Mr. Strzok was fired.

So…to continue my question, let me add that one, Donald Trump, has not been fired, has not been held in contempt, has not been sent to jail, and there is mounting evidence, via the Russians, via, Putin, via Don Junior and via a myriad of Trump staff and Trump himself that secrets had been shared with a known enemy of the state, Russia…but unlike Mr. Pete Strzok, Trump is still employed and still can provide an enemy of the country with the highest and most confidential information owned and possed by the United States.

SO…here is the question…who the fuck would you rather still have working for the US, a man who has dedicated his entire professional career trying to keep Democracy alive and the United States a country of laws…OR a man who borrows money from Russian Oligarchs, thinks there are good Nazi’s, finds Putin (even if he poisons journalist, jails political opponents, and conquers other countries for no other reason, then he can), a swell kind of guy! Which guy Pete Strzok or Donald Trump is the hero, and better yet the guy you want to trust? Just asking, cause it is driving me crazy, how much injustice this White House is getting away with!

another book

Even the two words placed side by side REALITY STAR, sort of makes me want to vomit, as I find them to have no relevance, no reason, and no purpose except to perhaps justify the lack of creative thinking, laziness, and demise in any attempt at culture during the decades of the 2000s. Who could give a real shit about a pretend bachelor or bachelorette, housemates who, in real life would remain homeless due to their extraordinary unacceptable sociable habits, and glamorous ladies whose only talent is to punch someone in the face, the gut, or just be a miserable spoiled brat? We all have our little perks and indulgences, and this opening rant is not denying anyone their “cheat day”, full of sugar and ingredients of fluff and foolish, but for me, sitting, in my American home, confronted, EVERY DAY with a KING of reality nitwits, having scary controls of my life, I am not a happy camper.

So, some unknown wanna be, behaving badly, but so bad she was good enough to catch Trump’s attention is suddenly the “cat’s meow” (an old and trite adage describing the newest or latest in toys). And we now are in love/hate with Omarosa Manigault, because she, being a smart talentless twit of a person, realized that she could trade in her 15 minutes of fame into  a few hundred’s of thousands of dollars and at least a 2 month stint on every useless talk show, or be on the tips of many broken talking heads. And that, this being America 2018, the shit Omarosa is selling, is trendy. Some, call her a fraud, a liar, user, a gnat on the tip of a flea. Some dismiss her, and man now have disdain because, Omarosa says she has some of the goods on the bad guy named Trump. Ooooooh Scary!

But folks, Ms. Manigault is not as scary as two other women who caught the attention of Mr. Trump, both a purveyor of the “BABE,” and the woman who can pretend because she is female, somehow she has the respect of other females. There was a trio of Omarosa’s, and two of them are still around spewing the same bull shit, Omarosa swears she has on tape, and dissing the dirt Omarosa says she will discuss, they are Sarah HUCKABEE Sanders and the ever precious and never precocious Kellyann Conway. All she ladies, lied for Trump, all three ladies, supported his misogynist and racist behavior, and all three ladies fought the battle that the truth was fake, and the only news where the Tweets falling from Trump's tiny finger.

But now, one of the trios of sad sack ladies has turned a nasty shoulder and given a very sashay away, and suddenly the same bullshit she had spied as Kelly Ann and Sarah are to be considered just an attempt at a REALITY STAR wanting more. In a sane world who could or would or should care. But my bet, in the time of Trip, is that WE pay more attention, NOW to what Omarosa is saying or all have noted in hr book because when good girls decide to become mean girls, ain’t nothing sacred anymore. So for me, there will be less pooh, pooh toward Omarosa and more, hmmm, maybe Kelly Ann and Sarah wished they had written that book, first!

a most different sunday

I had written about the sheer magic which is the city of LA on a Sunday morning, at 6:00 am. I walk our little dog Chance, and this week as an added bonus, I am babysitting my daughter’s dog, Maya. So here we were the three of us, enjoying the quiet, not yet too humid and hot weather. The original blue of the sky, sadly tinted with the oranges and browns of the fires burning wildly just north of us, but still the sense that even in a city as loud and significant, as crowded and contrived as the city of angels, peace has a place to settle. The mistake I made today, was to walk an extra block north and find myself on Melrose Avenue, a central east-west thoroughfare which during the day I avoid unless Godzilla is roaming the side streets. But it is Sunday, the quiet so deafening it is soothing, and the Angeleno’s are still asleep, so I am confident the sidewalks are mine alone, I mean ours alone. But then, the daydream of just being fades into a shouting match between three homeless individuals, and their friends, who must have been imaginary or just invisible to my eyes. One man with torn clothing with walking with a zig-zag gate, taking him from the sidewalk to Melrose Avenue. Another whose pants perhaps need only a belt or rope to keep them on his very skinny hips is digging into trash cans, sipping whatever liquid had remained at the bottom of the container. And the third man is about two blocks from the two other men, cursing them a long life in Hell, which from my perspective, they have already arrived. Chance and Maya are busy sniffing the perfumes left on the ground from the night before and of course are unaware of the behavior of three human beings, whose lives, from my perspective, once again, just my point of view, seems sad and empty, but still with the possibilities of a future, with more promise and less pain.

And then the anger, welling inside of me, since the advent of Trump and his lack of empathetic policies toward anyone but himself, and the hypocritical double speak of the Republican party, supposedly the moral conscience political party, rose to power almost as dangerous as of a dictator…IMAGINE, I spoke out loud, if the same effort to enrich, the wealthy with tax breaks, to increase the profits for Corporations, the energy, and enthusiasm to hide money inside the dark, dank spaces where off-shore accounts linger like dripping lime on a rusted pipe…IMAGINE, if the same concern of making the Capitalistic lives of the 1 or 2% better had EVER been used to actually help the poor, the addicted, the hungry, what a better nation, what a better population of people we might actually be at this time in the history of the world!

It is not just the homeless addicted mentally ill folk in LA, but the kids growing up in Kentucky, where, it seems the Coal Companies are permitted to pollute the rivers with coal ash (Of course clean coal ash., It is the families of Flint. It is the elderly either hidden in their one-room flats or placed in county homes where abuse and disadvantage are part of the price of getting old and being poor! Imagine, if all of the Congressmen paid back the money the government provided to fight their sexual abuse cases, if all of the Trump Cabinet members, past and present from Scott Pruitt, Wilbur Ross, Ben Carson, Tom Price, Steve Mnuchin actually paid back the money they stole from the treasury for their own personal benefits. IMAGINE if Betsy Devos, Elaine Chao removed their hidden tax-free profits from the Seychelles  Deutsche bank, and paid their share of taxes….AND IMAGINE if any member of the Trump/Kushner family actually cared enough to support this nation’s economy instead of they're own self-serving privately held funds located most likely in China or Russia. 

I usually love my early Sunday morning dog walking moments, but with everything Trump happening, every bit of corruption and crime passing as the norm, every arrogant attack against minorities, the poor, the elderly, people with disabilities, and witnessing REAL HUMAN beings suffering, today’s excursion was one of melancholy and I grew mad…MAD, because none of this is anything but man-made.

just words

“…The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” (Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln) 

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It began as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity; one hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. “I Have a Dream Speech,” August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr

In this kingdom of darkness, there were many people. People who came from all the occupied lands of Europe. And then there were the Gypsies and the Poles and the Czechs ... It is true that not all the victims were Jews. But all the Jews were victims.

Now, as then, we ask the question of all questions: what was the meaning of what was so routinely going on in this kingdom of eternal night. What kind of demented mind could have invented this system?

And it worked. The killers killed, the victims died, and the world was the world, and everything else was going on, life as usual. In the towns nearby, what happened? In the lands nearby, what happened? Life was going on where God's creation was condemned to blasphemy by their killers and their accomplices. 50th Anniversary Speech of the liberation of Auschwitz, 1995, Elie Wiesel

I remember: it happened yesterday or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy discovered the kingdom of night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.

I remember: he asked his father: “Can this be true?” This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent? Excerpt from “Night” Elie Wiesel

"You had a group on one side, and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious, and it was horrible, and it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side — you can call them the left, you just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.” August 12, 2018, Response to violence at Charlottesville,  Donald Trump

At 68, I have marveled at the advances in technology, medicine, and creativity during the six soon to be seven decades of my life. I have read history books, I pour over the events of the past, and motivate myself to discover where the thinking went wrong, where the misery began, where the ignorance advanced. As a Communal worker, I worked with groups, trying to determine the commonalities, and reach out to understand why the differences seemed to matter more. I had made unity a mission, acceptance a purpose, inclusion a certainty. America had never been a perfect nation, but somehow some people always strived to become better. I learned from both the Black community, the Jewish Community and the LGBTQ community that remaining silent equal death, and promised myself to ALWAYS speak loud, and speak out. And now, today In my country, in Washington DC, there is a gathering of men and women and sadly children whose intent is to destroy, diminish, decimate any form of democracy, to exclude, and explode this nation into a Civil War, not a geographical war, but a Culture War/a Crusade/a replication of bigotry, hate, envy and exclusion.  I had hoped we could become better than this…but then understanding our differences much better than most Americans, Vladimir Putin created a puppet, Trump and a gang of self-serving politicians to hone in on fear and loathing. Is this our future…if so whatever happened to our past!