Look Closely

Trump still believes a sucker is born every minute, and to be fair to him, he is almost correct. Trump is good at two things, smoke and mirrors, and indirectly bragging about how good he is at the smoke and mirror thing. In Trumps’ sad state of narcissism, he is always afraid, that if the people don’t find out just how good of liar he is, all of that lying will have been wasted. Most people with at least an average IQ understand that with every Tweet, or accusation attempted by Trump, he is in fact trying to cover up his own inadequacies; thinking as a two year old Toddler would, if i say it isn’t so, no one will accuse me of doing it. And i hate to admit it but there is a third thing Trump excels at which is diversion. He is a master of diversion, so much so that he could care less if a few dozen warheads are activated or the brink of a nuclear holocaust is on the horizon. Trump’s plotting and planning diversionary tactics never take in to account the consequences for the other, but always and ONLY take into consideration how he will weasel out of yet one more lie. As far as the sucker being born every other minute thing, Trump, knows full well that the so called network news cabal of bling infested amateurs, love themselves some bling, so Trump provides their small minds with tons of diversions.

The thing about Trump, again, that most people with at least an average IQ understand, is that the closer the American public gets to uncovering his illegal and treasonous acts, the more brilliant he becomes in acting out. First it was Tomahawk Missiles, now it is battle ships heading toward the Korean Peninsula, all the while of course hiding out in his Mar-A-Lago tax payer funded resort. Imagine any other president placing the world on the path to the Third World War, and deciding to play a few rounds of golf while doing so. Sadly, the enablers of the Party of Death the GOP, could care less, just as long as Trumps signs into law, that women no longer have personal rights to their bodies, poor people remain in poverty, education becomes Christian, and there are enough OTHERS to blame of everything wrong in this nation.

If this man is not impeached or hopefully placed in prison, and if all of his Russian spy’s and Republicans comrades are not removed from power sooner than later, we can all get ready for a few things, from more bombs blasting in air, less freedom of any press or expression, and the best of all martial law in which we all, except for those Putin prefers, will be held hostage in our own country. Look closely at Trumps behavior and you will understand just how close he thinks he is to being caught and captured as the enemy of the state he really is.

A collision

Because he can and has and no one has even tried to stop him….because he has no conscience, thus no fear of consequence, he will continue to cause and create havoc, having a hell of a time doing so…because his ego is an endless pit of hunger and he has an insatiable appetite for spite and will feed on that spite to soothe his cravings, no matter how crazy the results. He of course is Trump. 

This man sitting in the White House is no longer just a joke, or a fluke. We know he is a con a liar and a revengeful insecure narcissist, who is permitted to gamble with the health and welfare of ALL of this nation, and sadly so the populations of the planet Earth. He will seek attention, looking for the brightest light as does a moth to a porch light in the summer time, but instead of his burning and crashing into oblivion he will take the rest of us with him. 

I ask the rhetorical question over and over and with each inhale of breath to recite my query, I sigh and feel sick, but who can stop this man, how can we stop this man, when will the bottom of the barrel, which Trump continues to decent each and every day, be reached? All of America should be worried, why does it seem however that anything Trump is becoming more and more like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, instead of being seen as that rogue astroid, on a collision course to end civilization!

It is that serious

As another day rises in a country whose democracy is crumbling and being destroyed, as another day rises in a nation no longer of or for the people, as another day rises and all we read and re-read is THAT this time Trump is finished…as another day comes and surely will go with still Trump lying, stealing, cheating, denying, BUT Taking as much advantage of the citizens of this nation, maybe we all should realize one thing…Trump will remain strong until the GOP stop remaining weak…We can ooh and ahhh, I can continue to get yet one more useless email from the DNC promising me that with my next donation of $3, we will knock Trump off of his throne…Trump will control the conversation until the news networks hire real journalists, not entertainers, not talking heads, not ex lobbyists, not pundents, who don’t play lets pretend and debate, but who in fact state the facts, show the facts and refuse to let liars lie, and cheaters cheat…

Another day, and this one brings the ‘Yugest’ bomb ever…warships off go the Korean Peninsula, Assad denying anything chemical, polluted environments, nepotism at the White House and men and women who have lied before Congress sitting in Cabinet positions. As another day rises and ends, it carries with it the hope that somehow America will ever recover…Trump is murdering this nations soul and as long as the GOP who understands that with Trump in the White House none of their disingenuous agenda will ever see the light of day, assisting him supplying him every murder weapon necessary, soon nothing resembling the USA will exist…Yep IT IS That Serious! 

OMINOUS

October 22, 1962, (a day after my birthday when I became 13 years old, (My Bar Mitzvah was about to happen in November, the tradition, regarding this in the Jewish religion, was that I would officially become a man), but I was still a kid. October 22, 1962 the United States enforced the Cuban Embargo, demanding that no Russian ships enter to exit from Cuba for fear that the cargo onboard might contain nuclear materials. Coincidently, this crisis lasted 13 days. I remember having a President in the White House, with intelligence, concern for the American people, President Kennedy was a Democrat, but I also remember that the Republican Party, of that era were also, supportive the American public, and realized that Democrats and Republicans shared a common aggressor, and that not working together was wrong for the American public. I also remember that no one in the White House or for that matter was beholden to the Russians, or fearful that blackmail disguised as puppet strings would be pulled or pushed to keep the politicians of both parties from doing the common good for ALL of America. I was still a kid, but watching my parents, our adult neighbors and family, I realized something beyond my imagination might come to fruition. I also remember that the news, during this Missile Crisis, was direct, was factual and was not more concerned with sound bites, bling, or BS. The truth was told, no talking heads to debate the fact that maybe a nuclear war would be good for the nation or not, and any report presented to the American public was sound, solid and sure.

It is April 12, 2017, a day after my sisters birthday. I am now 67, and as read about the current events of today, I feel that ominous, emotion wafting up my spine digging into my spine, I had no idea what to call that same feeling as a kid, but as an adult I will just use the word terrified. Whether it be Syria or now North Korea, this nation under the leadership of a reality star, and the CEO of Exxon Mobile, all pampered and procured by a Republican Party whose only cause is self, the nation is facing some OMINOUS events. We have a man in the White House who wants to get even with anyone he deems the devil. He has oil deals with Putin his daughter tells him she is dismayed that children in Syria are being poisoned with chemicals, and he will Con the rest of the world, just to keep his narcissistic fame and ill gotten fortune. The Republicans in Congress have demonstrated over and over again their disdain for democracy and permit this nihilist to remain in office. And the cable news talking heads praised a useless and expensive missile attack ad bravery, refusing to ask the big question what is next.

I am terrified at these actions, I am miffed that Trump somehow is still in charge of the button to end civilization, I am pissed that no one has budged an inch to remove him from power…and I am not sure if there will be any other time in my life to witness something as OMINOUS as what our nation  has permitted to take place.

The drain

Our house in Pittsburgh, was located in a row of homes, now neatly referred as town homes. We were situated at the end of the row, giving us access to an alley, which during the day, provided a bunch of outdoor creative opportunities of inventive games, but in the evening, the same cheerful exciting pathway from the front of the house to the back yard, was nothing but a haunted dark tunnel, where surely the spirits of the dead, zombies, or monsters waited to grab you and God knows what happened after that. At the back of our house were 15 cement steps leading to the cellar door. That door was made of the strongest wood, but trying to open or close it, one might have thought it was pure steel. At the bottom of the 15 steps, right before you could or would try to open our cellar door was a drain a circular whole with a very rusted mesh covering. Anything and everything from the top of the 15 steps could and would follow the rules of gravity and flow gently or in the case of a good summer Pittsburgh thunderstorm, fall in torrents to the drain.

My father, was a cop, and his days off were random, but when he had a day or two, at times he became the handy man. I loved my dad, but his handyman activities always included the use of his two youngest children, me and my little sister, and when he would utter the scary words of lets clean the drain, my little sister and I would shudder. Lets clean the drain, meant Would first have to reach into that pit of hell , reach for whatever ghastly gook, bigs, or dead things lived and died. Then, even though my hand were small, my poor little sister who had even smaller fingers had to reach deep, deep into the the entrance of Dante’s inferno and pull out the the most gross of gross crawly, smooshed and used to be living things remaining. We would beg our dad to just let whatever died in that drain remain. Our pleas went unheard and instead of removing the rot of existence each week, we waited until the pile of putrid stuff accumulated and accumulated. If only my younger sister and i ha been brave enough on our own to just, once a week face our fears and dig out the junk of the drain, we could have eased the fears of too much, too late and too bad!

Each and every day when I read that the Trump Dictatorship has once again ignored the Constitution, continued to scam the American public, conducts personal business, permits his family to rip off our economy and is still colluding with Russia, and the only response is wait, his time will come and not a thing IS really done to stop him (Except for endless emails to me from Tom Perez and the DNC to give $3) I think of the drain at the bottom of our house and all of the most miserable of Earth’s garbage lying there. All I can do is think, the more we wait the more disgusting the pile of shit will grow. the more the pile of shit grows the more difficult it will be to remove it. the more difficult to remove the more lazy we become and then suddenly it is ignored and considered just the way of life, it is what it is. Cleaning the drain was awful work, but so fulfilling once all of the crap was gone.

Pesach

Having spent all of my professional life in Jewish Communal Service, I have had vast opportunities to participate in a wide variety of religious, observant, cultural and honestly convenient celebrations of Judaism. Through my almost 30 years of JCC employment, I have been told, lectured to, suggest by, informed of and experienced what God is, what God isn’t, what a good Jew should be, what bad Jews act like, who is a Jew and of course who is really not Jewish. The thing I understand best at my ripe young age of 67, is that my kind of Judaism, my beliefs, my connection with my God is unique unto me, but because of all the hundreds of people I have met, it incorporates so much more.

Tonight is the beginning of Pesach (Passover). For me, the reason to celebrate this holiday has much to do with the issues of freedom, the need to express myself, and the choices of how to make a difference and how to let the opportunity of equality slip by, with just the sheer lack of action. Perhaps, the Jews of Egypt fled for 40 years, understanding that the risks taken for freedom outweighed the oppression of slavery…perhaps a higher power provided the escape necessary…of course being human, many could not understand that deep inside they had the will to become more, and perhaps they needed God to remind them of their own abilities, albeit, for me, it is easier to ask God to do the job than often times doing it yourself. Tonight is a look back at history, and sadly, a story I see finding surface in out modern society. Not just the Jews, but many Americans are becoming the victims of a self anointed Pharaoh, shackles created formless income, less education, less health care, less job opportunities have been dangling and the more complacent the citizen the tighter these chain become. Tonight, is Pesach, and at the Seder people will sing Dayenu (Hebrew for “It would have been enough”) reminding us that we once were slaves, not again, EVER. For me, I must add never again, and will continue my Exodus from a tyrant, an oppressive government and the politicians who enjoy the kind of life, the rest of us must beg for.

Tonight is Pesach, and the one other wonder of this holiday aside from never taking freedom for granted, is the culinary aromas and tastes, which still permeate, my soul as if my mother was still cooking, baking in her kitchen. I always miss my mother, but on Jewish holidays filled with flavors, I remember how her food tasted so much better as she added love to everything she created. Hag Sameach!

only words

Most of us of have learned a lesson regarding words spoken; they may eloquent, they may require tears when listened to, they may be as artful as a sculptor who finds a piece of wood creates a masterpiece, they be muttered, muffled or magical but like the oxygen in our lungs, once expelled they disappear…UNLESS each and every word is followed by an action, they turn invisible. The words spoken by the man sitting in the Oval Office, most recently have tried to sound compassionate, supportive; reading from a teleprompter of course using the words of someone just as insincere as himself, but with complete sentences, Trump talked about the lives of those beautiful Syrian babies, tortured, harmed gassed and dead. His actions, we have all witnessed are meaningless, and honestly are reactions, which HE hopes will con all of us into thinking HE has changed. They are just words…

Chemical warfare is a creation of the most evil of humankind, but it does not always lend itself to the battlefields of war. Kids in Flint Michigan are suffering, dying slow deaths because of the chemicals in their water system. Not a word spoken in their defense. Streams rivers, ponds full of coal ash runoff, factory rust and ruin all working their way into the neighborhoods of Appalachia, kids bathing in it, swimming in it, drinking from it. No words about that, except from Trump and his cohorts to permit more of it to happen. Monsanto, with all of their chemicals feeding live stock, watering crops, pesticides spayed not he fruit and vegetables, eaten by the kids of all states, carbon particles, now able to float freer than ever with the cuts to the EPA , all falling in the lungs of every American child, rich or poor, black, brown or white. No words for that, except a quote similar to Sarah Palin’s lack of concern, “drill baby drill.”

Now the entertainer of news networks, like CNN, ABC, CBS etc, have fallen over the words Trump has spoken, pretending that by just speaking those words of “those beautiful babies in Syria”, actually mean anything more than,”now my rating will go up.” Words can be like the finest of art, but the colors and hues and intent of the artist remains on the canvass, Trumps words  are full of hot air and as they rise to the surface they burst pop and fade away, leaving the listener with nothing to hear.