wheels of the bus

“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round…” if you have ever had a child enrolled in Pre School, been a counselor at a Day Camp, or observed very young Toddlers playing together, or worse been stuck in traffic, with nudgy kids in the back rows of your car, you have either sung the lyrics to this song, or been the audience for a presentation of this song, which can haunt you for hours to days. Imagine all the parts of a bus that make a sound, and then imagine singing loudly and proudly about each and every one! There are two exceptions to this merry tune; the first, nothing happens to the driver, (God forbid if so the bus might crash,) and the second, an important feature IS, that no one gets thrown under the bus! (Imagine those lyrics, the stooge on the bus gets thrown under the bus, crunch, crunch, crunch, CRUNCH!

Just as the phrase, “It was a dark and stormy night,” is too often used as an example for a very poorly written introduction to any piece of literature, the cliché of “throwing someone under the bus,” can be as annoying as the infamous “like fingernails on a chalkboard!” There is a point of exaggeration, annoyance, but if in fact you just read the words for the sheer value of each and every word in that sentence…is truly makes a good point…someone is explaining a simple action, which causes a similar uneasy result!

In the Game of Trump, one may, when a dark and stormy night seems the only kind of weather around, may be thrown under the bus, and as their bodies are trampled on the screech coming from their voices at times does sound like fingernails scratched on a chalkboard. The SS Trump is still sailing, there are rats still feeding on the bowels of the hull, on bribes, blackmail, treason, tyranny, lies and lecherous, malicious machinations, but a few well-fed rats, sitting in the fray, but still above some of the rat poop, are finding life rafts and jumping into the water,(still wearing their pearls and necklaces and $5000 suits.) But in the Land of Trump, a dark foreboding, foggy-headed and empty-hearted unempathetic narcissistic black hole of a landscape, the population has suddenly become infested with the paranoid proposition that there are not enough scapegoats to blame, so the Inquisition of extermination must begin. And thus, as most madmen run rampant, and as the Red Queen in Wonderland proclaimed…” off with their heads.” Sadly the guillotine is unavailable, so the Orange Bus is the weapon of choice…and as the wheels on the bus go round and round, bodies of once thought of buddies are thrown and left to die!

"I am...I said..."

"I am"... I said To no one there And no one heard at all Not even the chair! "I am"... I cried
"I am"... said I And I am lost and I can't Even say why" I am"... I said I am"... I cried" I am"(“I Am…I Said/Neil Diamond)

Genocide beings, began and will end shortly, the Kurds, will be either dead, or suffer consequences of torture and terror, because a mad man is still provided the power to decide who is Good (as in Nazi’s) and who is Bad (as in choices made by Putin), and the pit hole of Hell formed in Northern Syria by Assad/Putin/ and now Erdogan with loving assistance by a dumb shit whose towers to the sky, financial greed, lack of any empathy Trump has unleashed ISIS, and the end of any trust that a United States agreement  has value. We have become the nation of Trump, promises made, while stabbing you in the back, contracts made, with no intention of ever paying for services, and all moral or ethical standards ignored if even one more dollar can be made! And suddenly as if none of the GOP politicians who had received dirty money from the same Oligarchs, or Ukrainians, the Flying Monkey Brigade of Putin Puppets involved in usurping American priorities for Russian advantage, act the innocent and are appalled, that criminals, treasonous tricksters, donated money to their campaigns. Sometimes the blood on your hands is so deeply entrenched into your pores that unless you remove the entire layer of skin, you can and NEVER will be clean!

And in America, the same GOP politicians seem to look the other way, as Trump demeans, destroys, demolishes any principles that once applied to the office of President demonstrating HIS own Deep State of damage and insisting, that an innocence, a sweet adolescence of innocence by Trump is the only broken law, and to accuse this child of God is a game of JUST playing politics. The Crazies (an infection similar to Rabies/the Zombie Plague) like Giuliani/ Pompeo/Pence/McConnell/McCarthy run a Ponzi Scheme, one in which they fire the career processionals of the Intelligence Community and replace the fact-checkers, the policymakers, the protectors of ethics and Constitutional Law and Order, with the gluttonous, greedy, goons, who would rather bathe in billions of dollars while the rest of this nation begins to rot and ruin in the mildew and mold of Russian interference, and  the free reign of Russian Assets.

And we wait, as Trump calls upon anti-American Militia to shoot so-called spy’s…as Trump disparages anyone his paranoid pod of a brain imagines as brighter than he…as the Christian Crusaders insist, Jesus is the target if we fight back at Trump…as the Trump Children remain as grifters, at the same time in hypocrisy which has become the Trump norm, accuse other children of being the real enemy. Each day Trump remains in office, is one more day of pure uncertainty for this nation, possible extinction of equality for its citizens, a quicker death for our planet, and the permission for willing assassins to murder our democracy and the American citizens who hold on to the hope of freedom! “I am…I said, I am…I cried…by  I do know why!”

THINK ABOUT YOU

An auto-antonym or autantonym also called a contronym, contranym or Janus word, is a word with multiple meanings (senses) of which one is the reverse of another. For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". Thus the lyrics from Stephen Sondheim’s/”It’s Like I’m Losing My Mind” “The sun comes up I think about you The coffee cup I think about you I dim the lights And think about you Spend sleepless nights To think about you The morning ends I think about you I talk to friends I think about you And do they know? It's like I'm losing my mind!

For many a Jewish individual, with the passing of our Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), it is settled, in Our Book of Life, the matters of the next year. Our God has written; therefore we are and will be, but perhaps a miracle or two and wham bam thank you, God, for a second or third chance to dance the dance again, even when the music was supposed to end! Ain’t Life Great…whose life exactly? But then, Matters of Finance, lets just call it Money, a fruit from which an elixir of power, prestige, and the hope of erasing impotence outweigh, much of ANYTHING else, and the rest of the non-Jewish world, and sadly for some of the Jewish world, continues IT’S, swirl in a dervish like spin and evil, chaos, crime and corruption thump and bump, and Books of Life for many find fewer chapters, and fewer sentences ending, and they lived “happily ever after.”

The Kurds are now on the extinct list, the rights of the LGBT community on the soon to be exempt from equality book of laws. Females who desire freedom and choice of their reproductive rights, and pleasures of their bodies, waiting to find out if we will now announce “under HIS eye, “ before acknowledging their presence just to dismiss them as chattel, and commerce. Children, growing up in a country, they have become to love and live and learn as their own, just might not be good enough to remain free, because bigotry and racism are more Christian traits than, love and inclusion. And lies represent truth, the truth can be manipulated by the sheer weakness of humans who seek on rung up on the ladder of life than those they do not know but think they fear. Words fly like wild snowflakes in the midst of a blizzard, blinding us because after a while they all sound and look the same, and none of them become unique or identifiable. And on and on and on and on…we see what is right in front of us, and, still drive our cars towards the cliff, shouting, “Oh my, should we be stopping, shouldn’t we be applying the brake…but we drive ahead, ANYWAY!

“All afternoon, doing every little chore The thought of you stays bright Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor
Not going left Not going right… It's like I'm losing my mind!”(It’s Like I’m Losing My Mind”/Stephen Sondheim) Trump remains in power, even though the intelligent, the introspective, the smart, sophisticated, soldiers of American freedom, swear, and plead, and beg, that we Impeach, remove, jail and even contain this man in an ASYLUM for the Criminally Insane.  And all I can do, EVERY DAY AND EVERY NIGHT…is think about him, and worry, wonder and ask WHY!

Our Books of Life

“If I am not for myself who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now when?” “ In a place where there are not humans, one must strive to be human.” “Moreover he saw a skull floating on the surface and he said unto it: Because you drowned, others they drowned you; and those that drowned you will eventually be drowned.”-----Hillel The Elder

For many Jewish people throughout the world, those who identity is purely based on the essences of their religion, the purities of their God, the memories of traditions, the guilt of generations before them to embrace, the self-motivation of trying to discover meaning and purpose, it is the observance of Yom Kippur at days end. (Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.)

Atonement, growing up I was led to believe it was a referendum upon my own life and its reflections, deflections, derelict in duty to others, or direct and dutiful actions with others. It was MY personal journey of inquiry, introspection, and inclusion into the lives around me, and understanding my own life. A personal journey, I used to think, in which I could say, please, and pardon, and leveling of intentions to improve, inspire, and initiate a promise for tomorrow. I can NO longer linger even on my own here say…because, for me, the silent prayer to MY God, is too quiet, too selfish, self-serving, and not serving a greater purpose. I want purpose in my life, I seek purpose in my life, and I will purposely oppose anyone whose intentions do not include the greater good. The SILENCE of prayer is beautiful, I find meaning in it…but SILENCE often times Is not the solution. So, as the last pages contained in my Book of Life are written with the assistance of some mystical pen held by the fingers of magnificent, omnipresent God, I understand my BOOK of LIFE is valuable, ONLY when it is stacked with ALL of the BOOKS of LIFE, interwoven, entwined, and intersected. This world I live in today scares me, but more so, the most frightening of fears are the foolish, who believe no other life is as good or valuable as their own!

Supreme, maybe

The Supreme Court returns to the bench on Monday today October 7, 2019, to start a term that will be studded with major cases on gay and transgender rights, immigration, abortion, guns, and religion. The rulings will arrive by June, in the midst of an already divisive presidential campaign.

Beginning in October, the Supreme Court, will decide the fate and future, the fortunes or failures of a group of Americans and will either CORROBORATE, with the US Constitution regarding the divide between Church and State and the clear decision of the creators of the Constitution that the United States has no official stated religion; or this Body of Justices, supposedly non-political, non-partisan will practice in organized bigotry and bias and in theory create a Theocracy, replacing equality with Christian Dogma, a philosophy from which even the different sects of Christianity have demonstrated ZERO commonality. In other words, Evangelicals will become the motivating force in what happens within the workplace, your doctor's office, your family life, the health and safety of any American from public spaces to classrooms, and of course your bedroom! “we the people,” will change to “only certain people.”

Women could become chattel once again, young children who know nothing else but being an American may be forced to move to countries of which they have no common knowledge of the language or customs. Individuals knowing their own bodies, their own identities may be forced to live lives that are foreign to their human nature. Gay men and women could be punished for their natural love and desires for those of the same sex. Murder, mayhem and anyone who desires to become their own personal militia, filled with paranoia and insecurities might be able to express their anger with assault weapons, once upon a time created only for as a War Machine.  

The hypocrisy of religious zealots and the double standards of the insecure preachers who play God may become the ONLY WAY to survive in this nation. You can be an adulterer a heterosexual, and somehow Jesus will still love you, but if you are a man who loves a man Jesus and your employer who actually work for Jesus can fire you. You can murder children with a gun, because Jesus belonged to the NRA, but don’t you dare touch that zygote. Your Christian Family values can include sending your children to Conversion Con Artists, and your Christian Family values will also permit sending other people’s children to countries foreign and dangerous. And anyone who IS not a female with the need for control of her own reproductive organs, or a homosexual, or transgendered, or a brown-skinned human struggling to find a better life…do not think that if the Supreme Court decides to become a Fascist Body,  that you the Jew, the African American, the Caucasian poor person, the atheist, agnostic, won’t be next on the list, to have your freedoms and equality reviewed and possibly removed. No one will be safe if this Supreme Court bases the laws of this land on two simple words BIAS and BIGOTRY!

first ladies

Here is a little ditty about Franklin Graham the Evangelical American Taliban Reality TV Spokesperson for Jesus, that was in the news a while ago. (In case you have no idea who Franklin Graham is, here is a tiny bit of history: Franklin, is the son of Billy Graham who during HIS heydays of hate, had a few chats with Richard Nixon declaring, that yes indeedie-do, Tricky Dick HAD a Jewish Problem, Billy Graham had been quoted as telling the ever moral and Christ-like Nixon, that the Jews needed to be kept in check, as they were indeed the money lenders and could place their finances in the wrong hands. As Billy Graham was dying and thought maybe Jesus actually would welcome him and his bigoted anti-Semitic soulless body to the “Pearly Gates,” Billy apologized, in that kind of non-apology APOLOGY, by saying “If I offended any Jewish person I am sorry,” UH-HUH! Franklin Graham is also the brother of Anne Graham Lotz, who proudly proclaims that 9/11 was a blessing from God because America had to wake up from its sinful and un-Jesus like values!

But I digress: Back to Nelson (whose Pay to Pray makes Pat Robertson seem like a rookie in stealing your money) Franklin Graham told the press the “Melania Trump is the classiest First Lady our country has ever had.” Picture this, if you will, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump walk into the waiting room of Heaven, God (any God, pick your favorite), asks some simple questions of the three ladies. The first question is have any of you ever posed nude so you could kick start your career? Laura says I was a teacher, Michelle answers I was a lawyer and activist, and Melania says, well you have to start somewhere. The second question God asks is, have any of you plagiarized someone else’s writing. Laura speaks quietly and says I have used a ghostwriter to help me, but it’s always been my words, Michelle proudly says, I write my own material, and Melania says, I had no time, and beauty comes before anything, and well you know I no speak English that well. The third question God asks the three women is have any of you ever practiced adulterous behavior? Laura blushes and demurely shakes her head no, Michell looks at God in the eyes and says, are you kidding me, I love my man and he loves me. Melania says, well you got a start somewhere!

To those of you who STILL call yourselves Evangelicals, and who STILL believe in Snake Oil, all of the above probably makes perfect sense and you are saying, huh? But to anyone out there who truly believes in the messages Jesus Christ was purported to have said and done, and you are NOT going crazy from men like Franklin Graham, you must really hate your Lord and Savior or at least think he is a crazy moral-less chump! 

almost typical day

I slept in today, finally a decent night sleep, with the few sleep aides, like ZZZ Sleep Gummies, but Joe (my same-sex husband), gently nudged me, letting me know, that he was leaving for work soon, and I needed to walk Chance (our rescued puppy who is at least 10 or 11 years old, but still out puppy.) Neve a problem, as Joe has early Sunday hours at his shop, and this weekend routine is just that ROUTINE. I quickly arose, Chance still asleep in the bed next to me (yes he sleeps I  our bed, so if that disgusts you, you can stop reading.) I woke up placed on my Apple Watch (because it tracks my exercise and calories (and if I don’t see those numbers written somewhere), it seems that all that sweat and exertion is meaningless, (kind of like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there…blah, blah, blah.) The weather, for Angeleno’s (yeah I still say I am from Pittsburgh but have grown quite accustomed to the LA climate), was a brisk 58 degrees, so I relished the fact that I could wear my Gym Shorts but place a long sleeve shirt over my tank top. (I am also a Gay man suffering from “A Man of A Certain Age Syndrome, actually called insecurity, so concern as to how I look still rummages through my brain, and I was relieved that the right side of my body which had a shoulder replacement would be covered up. ( Vanity is victorious in LA!)

Chance was perky, once we got him out of bed, and he and I began our pee and poop journey on the side streets of WEHO. We approached our first intersection, a perfect plot of brown weed dead lawn, for the initial tinkle, but, lo and behold, a squirrel was standing there on its hind legs with a nut between its paws, surrounded by at least eight, count ‘em eight-morning doves. I stood still thinking I did not want to disturb the gathering of the nuts, but this squirrel and his GANG of Eight, started to approach me and I swear the look in all of their eyes, were you take one step closer and we will re-enact a scene from the movie “The Birds,” and some yet to be produced the “ATTACK of the Killer Squirrel,” Chance, with his one eye looked at me, sensed emanate danger and we both quickly high tailed it to across the street. There we ran into the Landlord of a very OCD  maintained the building, wearing his usual gray or was it once green robe, with his brown slippers, the kind that once was filled with the white down fabric, but now looked like he stepped in dog poo. This guy was at the same time peeling off a piece of rust from his drain spout, and passive-aggressively standing guard, against no dog poop on his very brownish looking lawn. Even Chance knew this guy was a loony tune, so we hurried past him, a few feet from his property and a final resting place for the first Chance poop of the morning. I with my recycled black poop bag picked up the poop, and the OCD Landlord felt comfortable enough to spend the next hour touching something else.

We made it to the corner where “COOKIES” is located, it is our neighborhood extra chic and shiny Pot Store. We were there early, but the same suspects were gathered round. The same three Guards were standing there, one who had to be 5 feet tall by 5 feet wide, one very tall, muscular man with the tightest Guards Uniform I have ever seen, doing a little flexing for the women waiting online, and a guy who looked like he was finishing his thirteenth toke, and was there mainly as show and tale. In the morning’s the favorite form of transport for the awaiting customers seem to be DODGE CHARGERS, all painted in black with tinted windows, and the new California license plates in black background, and yellow numbers and letters, all of which on this group of cars were some kind of acronyms. One car, which stood out was a very long Mercedes with a female sitting inside and her man pacing back and forth on his phone letting her know just how many more minutes were left till opening. Chance does not like the blatant odor of marijuana, so we scurried past the building. On the way toward home, we passed the lady, who smirks and says to anyone walking by her, and I quote: “please don’t look at my dog, he is shy and will not poop if he sees you looking.” Chance could have given a shit, and actually did shit, his second poop, and I knew we were on our way home, free and clear. As we headed home, I noticed the holdout Apartment Owners who waited till last minute to have their property retrofitted for THE BIG ONE…the 10.0 Earthquake, (the state of California enacted a law to retrofit property), I passed the two WEHO boys headed to the gym who, if you did not know them would think they were twins, as they looked exactly alike (I guess dating yourself is a thing.)

I write all of this, this non-Trump news, because, today, for the first time, I ignored, reading the news on my phone and did not turn on MSNBC News. I figure I would start the day, and write a blog, without using the word TRUMP more than several times. I also wrote this thinking about how nice life would be once Trump is out of the news and in prison!