Far Fetched OR

So, I thought, as I pondered the past year, wondering what the FUCK, just happened to the American landscape, and especially what happened during a period of history in which I was well aware of the consequences of fools running amuck…was it all a dream, a terrible nightmare in which ominous omens not only hid behind clandestine shadows but peppered the sunlight with the scariest of sounds and sights, ever imagined and worse the unimaginable…then it came to me…this was all a game called Far Fetched or Full of Shit. As I write my last rant of a year so dire and desolate of morals and values, I need to better understand, exactly what had happened…

A lunatic, a known liar, loose with the ladies, a loser among those for whom ethics and empathy matter, a madman whose machinations from announcing domestic and foreign policy via Twitter, to describing himself as smarter than, more brilliant than and someone who talks to himself because only that kind of conversation has true meaning…was that FarFetched or just Full of Shit. Christian Crusaders, ready to sew the Scarlet Letter A on the women deemed unfit to own their own bodies, place men who love men in prison, pretend that families matter except if they are brown skinned and speak Spanish, who call out adulterous behavior as blasphemy except if performed by a Con Artist and Snake Oil Salesman who has dealt private deals to transform this nation into more of a Theocracy…was that FarFetched or Full of Shit! Good Nazi’s, Foreign Policy created by cartoon characters calling themselves FOX and Friends, Blackmailed Republicans, Cabinet members, almost every single one stealing taxpayer money for their own perks and pleasures, a Royal Family named Jared and Ivanka, running around with murderers like Crown Prince’s or dictators, making business deals on the deaths of innocent journalists…was that FarFetched or Full of Shit! A spiteful, insincere racist surrounded by selfish, sycophants delighted to denigrate and disenfranchise anyone and everyone…was that FarFetched or Full of Shit!

I could go on…but then my gut will explode, the acid will flow to my throat, my throat will contract, making it hard for me to breathe, which will affect my heart, causing it to implode, leaving me brain dead…so I close, while my sanity is still trying its best to survive. The sad thing is that all of the above plus about 8 million other things from MAGA minions to Putin’s puppets, to the level of stupidity and hate which has risen above flood levels, are not a game, and they are not Far Fetched but honestly and sadly Full of Shit!

some nerve

Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try. Donald Duck…oops I mean Donald Trump

So, if you were born into this country legally, perhaps, like Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Donald McGahn, all sur names I am certain, having little to do with Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua…OR your name is Maria Butina, or Vladimir Putin, Tayyip Erdogan, Mohammed Bin Salman, not your basic Latin sounding name, or even if your last name is Mercer, or Koch, or Adelson...it is not a matter of immigration or protection from a wall, that will permit you to FUCK up the democracy of our Motherland (again oops, that was a Term the Nazi’s used) I mean our Homeland, without ever using our Southern Border (again, a whole new xenophobic bit of jargon to scare the minions wearing MAGA hats) All you have to be or do is have blackmail material on Trump, purchase your way into the Oval Office, or just break a few laws, tell a bunch of lies or threaten innocent victims using as man Mafia style tactics that any mobster knows and loves!

“We are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall.” David Dennison…oops again, wrong again, I mean Donald Trump

800,000 Federal Employees, nope, 800,000 American citizens with no pay checks, services soon for health and welfare of millions of Americans, TDSA workers and Secret Service staff to serve and protect the Administration working but only with a promise of eventually getting paid…our economy on a brink almost daily of teetering into recession or smacking its head into a deep dark depression…and Trump the Ignorant, Trump the Tantrum tormented mentally ill treasonous jerk, tries to pander that the only bad the only danger is coming from the asylum seekers of Central America.

Everything wrong with the security of this nation has little to do with our borders or building a wall…but much to with THOSE (and add in the names of Ryan/McConnell/Graham/Ingraham and Hannity) who are here legally, have security clearances and access to the most insecure and dangerous demon to ever sit in the White House. Stop, AMERICA, enough of Trump’s made up, mixed up maddening machinations…the real enemy, the real fear, the real monster IS anyone and anything TRUMP! 

Cardboard Boxes

Tiny Dancer was playing from my earbuds, one of my favorite songs from Elton John’s album “Madman Across the Water,” I was excited because I knew, very soon my second favorite Elton John song, Levon, would soon smother me with reminiscent days gone by, when I felt giving anything one more try could and would actually make the difference. It was Friday, yesterday, December 28, 2018, actually 7 am in the morning and I was headed for a walk to see my doctor for my physical. The holiday season is still in full swing in LA, and the noise of the city, muffled of course by, Elton singing, “Jesus freaks out in the street Handing tickets out for God Turning back she just laughs The boulevard is not that bad”, helped hush any hubbub hanging around. It was one of those really windy Santa Ana winter wind conditions, leaving the sky bluer than the color blue had ever intended to be, but the wind also reminded any Angeleno out and about just how much gunk, and junk and wasteful items linger on the ground, until the heavens huff and puff and blow it all around. I left my house, and almost immediately witnessed a large cardboard box airborne hiding due north, almost with instinctive radar to smack me in my face. Someone must have purchased a 50 inch super deluxe extra special magic TV because, as this empty cardboard box was zooming in towards me I saw flashes of color advertising not only the content of the box but warning me to duck and cover. I luckily did and the cardboard box found a nesting place on the fence of yet another new McMansion being built on my street. Damn, that was close, I thought, but all this instant drama cause me to stop listening to Elton finish singing Tiny Dancer! But alas alack, to my rescue I heard the lyrics to Levon.

The wind continued, relentless in velocity, but with each gust, the sky seemed richer in color, and even with the clamor of the wind, it felt good to be alive, in LA. And then I hit Beverly Boulevard and was greeted with almost a half dozen cardboard boxes, this time, none of them flying objects of war, but all of them, products of a war on the poor, the mentally ill, and the injustice of just trying to exist. There is a small part of Beverly Boulevard, where old carpets, some torn tarp, stolen shopping carts, lots of plastic bags bulging at their seams, and human beings find shelter during the night, using cardboard boxes as either a make-believe roofer carpeted floor, or a wall to keep the rest of the world from their few moments of peace. “Levon, Levon likes his money. He makes a lot they say. Spends his days counting. In a garage by the motorway.”; those lyrics were crooning through my earbuds, as I encountered this row of cardboard box villas. Once again, albeit just in theory and not actual physical harm, I was hit in the head with the sight of cardboard boxes, on a very windy day in LA. 

I am never certain how injustice begins, and I truly understand that many of us have both our own definition of injustice, and our own opinions as to the causes and the effects. When the album “Madman Across the Water first debuted in 1971, there was a war in Viet Nam, the words Black Power were scary to hear, if you smoked marijuana you were going to Hell, and hippies were the antichrist; poverty was still around, but there were bigger fish to fry and be afraid of. I made it to my doctor's office, and with the journey home, the wind had died, the sky began to glow a duller blue, and there was not a cardboard box in the sky or on the ground.

so sad and pitiful

He told the troops he was fearful, for first himself, of course, then when he noticed Melania had traveled with him, he added he feared for the safety of The First Lady. In Iraq, with men and women who travel on roads filled with the hint of bombs and landmines, through alleys where then enemies of the US might be ready with weapons used to murder the troops instantly, and speaking to men and women who had completed or were about to complete life or death missions in countries filled with adversaries of the US…this “bone spur”I only fire the best people via Tweet or on some reality TV show, compromised Commander-In-Chief …had the audacity, which for him is nothing more than the blood that runs through his orange veins…to tell the Troops he feared for his life.

Still in office…still sharing the secrets which used to keep America a bit more secure from its enemies like Russia or China…still sharing best bud stories with authoritarians like Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, or Kim Jong-Un of North Korea, still touting his lack of knowledge of the Constitution, lying so frequently that totaling his inaccuracies has become boring…still able to decimate any remains of democracy, this perverted unstable, narcissistic ENEMY of the STATE, treasonous, criminal…continues to undermine, the pursuit of happiness of each and every American unless of course their last name is Trump.

Fuck the Federal worker he says, screw the asylum seeker, he screams, fair and equal, bull shit he stammers…I am cool, I am KING and I will hold my breath until everyone else around me dies! And as we continue the shut down, the sharing of top secrets, the too numerous to mention criminal acts, the mounting pressure that Vladimir Putin had declared war on this nation and is winning, and the fact that NO Republican politician has found the decency, the moral fabric, the values, the patriotism to stop this man with the power of checks and balances is the saddest part of the entire nightmare which was 2018 and may continue to be 2019! 

Journey and horizons

The journey home, begins, again, as Joe and I begin the arduous task of packing our bags, anticipating the medieval routine at the airport, the sardine can situation of riding on a plane, unless you are one of the special perks of people paying more than enough to at least find head, arm, and leg room…but most profound, will be the farewells, the last looks, the final touches, and the words of true human wisdom, of we, will see you again, we love you…never goodbye, but a so long FOR NOW!

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”Ralph Waldo Emerson

I sort of kind of began my less new detox while visiting my other family… Joe’s siblings, and parents and their spouses and kids… how could I possibly experience the Christmas spirit, which aside for the love of the Bruno family brought us to Buffalo…but detox is difficult and I had not the true strength to ignore the world in which I live, because I NEVER want to remain silent…I learned via the AIDS crisis and before that the Final Solution by the Nazi’s that silence DOES indeed equal death, so I continued to rant and rave, perhaps less actively than my usual angst permits…but still made myself aware…another innocent child has died in the custody of the Customs and Border Control and the Director of our Homeland pretends she is not the premeditated murderer. The Government is shut down, and some people who need food stamps to just eat one hardy meal will be without that benefit, and of course Trump lied to the Troops about pay raises, and his loyalty to them (he has no loyalty, except to the man who owns the video and audio and the loan money, Putin), There is more but I must refrain from all of my anger. Oh yeh, when Joe and I head for the airport, we will be greeted by TSA workers, working on a whim and a promise they will be paid…some day! 

“We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”Franklin D. Roosevelt

I am blessed with family and friends, who insist that hope is still alive, at least specks and sparks of it thrive. They assure me, with the wisdom of a human heart, and strength of a human soul, that certainly bad cannot triumph over good. Bad is pretty good at breaking rules, bending the truth, and being the bully, they say, but good, perhaps is like the tortoise who slowly, methodically, but surely wins the race…in this case not against the hare, but a monster so great in stature that at times he blocks out the sun. But, I am reminded by Joe, the sun will rise, Trump or no Trump! So we head home, this journey’s end…and the newest one to begin, again in LA

“And so we remained till the red of the dawn began to fall through the snow gloom. I was desolate and afraid and full of woe and terror. But when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again.” Bram Stoker

some kind of wonderland

Our country is witnessing a decline in morals, intelligence, values and the pursuit of happiness, for all of us who are not either the 1%, The Trump Crime Family or the list of politicians on a long list of people, mainly Republicans to be blackmailed. The foil that is Trump, the intention to deceive which was Putin and McConnell, and the blatant drive to lie, slander and establish rumor and innuendo which is FOX News; aside from the hacking of polling places with the assistance of Republican operatives in a half-dozen states has been a blessing for those who hate America, and in particular those who anyone perceived as different. Perhaps some, at the time of the 2016 election was dazzled by the bright shiny object identified as Trump, but like the bulb lighting the porch on a summer’s eve, attracting insects, eventually the closer the bug gets to the light and the longer the light remains lit, most any living thing coming close to it either suffers a hideous torture or a long lingering death! We, the People, the ones who do not wear MAGA hats, the ones who understand that the South lost the Civil War, the people who understood that winning WWII meant freedom and equality, and those who know that democracy even at its worst is better than living under the rule of a dictator…have finally woken from the nightmare, many of them created…and KNOW that Trump IS dangerous, delusional, a criminal and finally described as a ROUGE president. Isn’t it time We the People finally take to the streets and DEMAND the resignation, the impeachment, the prison time for a man whose mental illness IS so great as to deter his ability to remain Command-In-Chief. If not now when?

Lewis Carroll wrote the stories of Alice in Wonderland-Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Alice and the Mad Hatter. His characters were filled with bizarre identities, and even stranger beliefs and actions. At times I MUST also wonder if this era of Trump and the Treasonous Republicans is not one more Lewis Carroll novel, involving the weirdest of creatures and a not so wonderful wonderland in which these creatures thrive. So, I have lots a few quotes which cause me to pause, concern and an immediate correlation between fiction and fact. And yes Kellyanne facts matter, and no Rudy, a lie is not a good lie or bad lie, just a lie…the same as the only kind of Nazi is a bad Nazi…

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” Alice-

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” The White Queen-

“I don't think..." then you shouldn't talk, said the Hatter.

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”-The White Queen

“Curiouser and curiouser!”-Alice

“Off with her head”-The Queen of Hearts

We the People have been tumbling, spinning and falling deeper and deeper in a hole. Let's begin IMMEDIATELY to climb back to our reality, not the agenda of Putin/Trump/and McConnell

memory, today

Pizzellle, yep, the snow is falling in Buffalo, as if the lint filter in the dryer has decided to explode and the tiny pieces of Kleenex and other never to be left in the laundry pieces of easily shred white stuff has found its freedom and is slowly but surely drifting to the ground. The aroma of Pizzelle’s is wafting through the Bruno household, as Joe and his mother are preparing an Italian dessert, often too tempting to wait for dessert to chomp, chew and swallow. The exciting thing for me is that this is the first time Joe and his mother are baking Pizzelle’s together. The thing about this aside from stomachs growling, and tongues begging to taste this Italian treat is the memory that is taking place this moment, because never before, for any Christmas, have Joe and his Mom, stood in the kitchen and shared the energy and emotion of baking. And to complete holiday perfect picture, Joe’s dad is coaching both wife and son along, and of course providing the taste test, which we all know is an important responsibility! I watched and recalled the moments when my mother began her culinary magic, way back in the days of phones hanging on kitchen walls with extensions long enough to actually answer the front door while talking on the phone…and the days when CBS, had live coverage of Mary Martin, playing Peter Pan, and even if you could see the wires holding her up as she and Wendy flew, it was a miracle. My point, is that in this day and age, with all of the evil, all of the intentional bad will, all of the demeaning, dictatorial like behavior of the man sitting in the Oval Office, and his cadre of American communist con artists surrounding him by just saying YES to all and everything which upon he suddenly begins to perseverate…we can still believe that good is still alive, maybe not so well, but still breathing…

So, for today, and today only, I calm down my rant and outrage against a man whose intention for a living is to let others die a slow and painful death, lacking empathy for anyone but himself…and try to concentrate, on the teeny, tiny specks of promise…which like the large lazy flakes of snow, and the extra Kleenex in you forgot to take out of your pockets before placing your clothes in the washer or dryer, are trying their hardest, in Buffalo, to make this Christmas white.

For all of us who at one time were lucky enough that our parents, or grandparents, or great-grandparents or great, great grandparents, emigrated to this nation to find freedom and equality, and for all of us who understand the value and struggle of those from generations ago…and how today's generation of families want the same chances and choices…I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Season of wonder, and prosperity…in spite of the Scrooge in the White House!