Gasping for Air!

 

I have simply lost patience with the minority in this country that reject basic science in the name of ‘personal freedom’.  I am watching videos of the most ridiculous emotional outbursts in school board meetings and other public forums of people who won’t wear masks or protect themselves and their families from fatal disease with a tested vaccine.  As I watch these people make fools of themselves I get angry because they are putting me and my family at risk.  They are selfish, rude, and just plain stupid. 

There is legitimate concern or fear if a person has no proof of effectiveness or simple fear of getting a shot or having a physical reaction to an injection, but there is simply no excuse for stupidity in the face of proven science.  The most egregious of these fools are the governors and leaders who should know better.  Look at De Santis of Florida or Abbot of Texas.  These two are evil personified.  Each of them illegally put roadblocks in front of parents who want to protect their children!.....or promote disinformation about some perceived threat of a conspiracy to implant electronic spy devices in our bodies, all in the name of some perceived violation of their freedom!

 

Really???

 

Haven’t children been vaccinated for measles, mumps, chicken pox, smallpox, whooping cough diptheria,

flu, etc. for years as a prerequisite for school entry?  Haven’t we all been vaccinated against polio, pneumonia, shingles and other diseases voluntarily and never complained about surrendering our ‘freedom’ by getting that protection?    What is the conspiracy of these scientific achievements?  Now, all of a sudden, the idiots who claim to be leaders are misinforming and abusing their power simply for political gain or self -aggrandizement.

 

And of course it is no surprise at all that 95% of the victims of the Delta variant are unvaccinated.  These lemmings are the ones clogging our hospitals and sucking up our medical supplies, preventing all the rest of us from emergency care or treatment of chronic disease that is vital to our survival and health.  They are selfish, self-righteous, and just plain dumb.  And they are suffering for it.  They and their family members are needlessly getting sick and dying.  Grief and anguish is the product of their stupidity. 

 

I am aghast at the unvarnished zeal that these fools exhibit as they proselytize their peers to reject science and oppose reason….all in the fallacious pursuit of some perceived threat to their ‘freedom’.  The reason that this pandemic is thriving is because of them.  They are fertile ground for new infection and the possibility of a new mutation of the virus into something virulent that might kill us all! 

 

Our country is so twisted into a knot of hatred at each other, that this has become a political/tribal banner they wave, not based on rational thought.  That, in itself, is a disease that we might not be able to cure at all!   I am tired of all these fools and I have no tolerance for their ignorance.  They need to start thinking and reasoning like semi-intelligent human beings!  Maybe what all the rest of us should do is encourage all the ‘non vaxxers’ and ‘non-maskers’ to gather for a giant rally; hope they all super spread the virus to each other and simply die out.

 

Oh, and watch out!!!  Many of them are running for office and might at some point pass legislation that will ‘legitimize’ their denigration of science and reason and leave all of the rest of us gasping for air!

Suffering Fools

For the life of me I cannot understand why there are millions of people who simply do not understand or believe the statistics concerning the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines.  One must totally reject any truth provided by science to continue to deny the effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing horrible disease and death.  How does a person simply reject facts that are undeniable?  People do that because they are just plain STUPID.

There is no other rational explanation.

 

One would think that the FACT that 99% of those who are getting infected are unvaccinated would have some sort of impact on those who continue to refuse to get the shot.  It doesn't--because they are STUPID.  I know all this crap about 'freedom of choice' and 'worry about authorities' seems to be the rationale these people parrot from social media disinformation, and exhortation from the dubious authorities at Fox News and other right wing media outlets, but at the end of the day it is simply because they are STUPID.

 

Perhaps the most egregious play here is by the Republican Party as a whole.  They have made vaccine

protection a political issue when it is simply a public health issue.  This Delta variant pandemic of the unvaccinated is primarily present in "red' states.  Anyone have an explanation for that?  And where is the former President who should be encouraging all his followers to get a shot, otherwise he could be accused of wishing them dead, but of course that is congruent with his disregard for over 600,000 dead so far.  One would think that rational human beings would realize at some point that their cult leader is not giving them any guidance on how to avoid the virus, when in fact he is doing all he can to create a result of increased disease that he can somehow blame on Biden.  It is all so sick. 

 

Finally with the death toll rising, hospital admissions spiking and the number of new cases soaring out of control among the unvaccinated, even the STUPID people are rushing to roll up their sleeves.  Sadly, for many of them it is too late...and it is too late for all the rest of us too.  It is we who must suffer overloaded hospitals, overwhelmed health workers and a virus free to seek out other juicy victims who will help to evolve new and deadlier variants.

 

And now we see all the Republican naysayers belatedly finding 'religion' and recommending vaccination.  However, there are still holdouts like Ron DeSantis in Florida or Christie Noem in South Dakota who throw bouquets at themselves for standing up for 'personal freedom' by rejecting the science of masking as a first line of defense in stopping the infections.  Yeah, you guessed it, they are STUPID (as well as being crassly ,self-aggrandizingly, politically selfish).

 

I suppose we will stumble across the finish line at some point and reach 'herd immunity' in spite of all the STUPIDITY, but what a senseless burden of tragedy for families, and waste of human life when it is all so unnecessary.  We are all 'suffering fools', but certainly not 'gladly'.

The Video Doesn't Lie

I just finished watching the New York Times investigative video report on the terrorist attack at the Capitol on January 6th.  I implore all of you to watch it.  The link to see it is:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/us/jan-6-capitol-attack-takeaways.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#commentsContainer

 

My initial reaction after seeing it was simply one of anger.  The New York Times has done an absolutely brilliant job of piecing together all the fragments of video that were shot by hundreds of sources to weave a real time explanation that clearly and graphically displays the events of that day.  Using detailed computer renderings of the Capitol and surrounding grounds and matching it with the footage offers a comprehensive and coherent narrative that shows how the event unfolded.

 

After watching it and thinking about all the commentary we have been hearing for months about how this event wasn't what we all witnessed that day, it is maddening to realize that we were lied to repeatedly and continuously since that day about what happened.  This video will undoubtedly be a centerpiece and roadmap for the further investigation by the select committee of the House as it digs into who the 'players' were in this conspiracy.  We will learn over coming months about the planning of this event and who was involved from the beginning.  I predict that our country will be surprised and ashamed of what happened that day.

 

To those who somehow believe this attack on our seat of government was benign and peaceful, you will be shocked and hopefully angered by what you see.  To witness the beatings and violence perpetrated by these people is so far beyond what could be called the "right of assembly and presentation of a redress of grievances" that it is breathtaking.  When we finally understand why additional defense was delayed, and by whom, perhaps those who masterminded this egregious attack will be brought to justice.

 

In the meantime, watch this and believe what your eyes are showing you so that you can reject all the obfuscation and misdirection coming from those who realize there is a nasty story that they would like us to never unravel. 

A Brighter Day for America

It is so demoralizing to sit here every day and read the news about the latest insult to our democracy being perpetrated by the Republican Party.    I am going to be 74 soon, so my time is limited, but I grieve most for my daughters, and for the youth of America and their hopes and plans for the future. 

 

In today's New York Times, Ezra Klein sums up the effort to establish a 'doom loop' for democracy by Republicans:

"The insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 failed. Donald Trump is not the president. But at the state level, the Republican war on elections is posting startling wins. They are trying to do what Trump failed to do: neuter elections as a check on Republican power.

A new report by three voting rights groups found that 24 laws have been passed in 14 states this year that will allow state legislatures to “politicize, criminalize and interfere in election administration.” And a May analysis from the Brennan Center found that Republican-controlled legislatures in 14 states have passed 22 laws that made voting harder, with dozens of others currently moving through the legislative process.

This is an example of what I’ve sometimes referred to as the “doom loop of democracy”: highly gerrymandered Republican state legislatures in key swing states passing legislation that gives them more power to discourage Democratic-leaning groups from voting, throw out legitimate votes and overturn election results — all of it backed up by Republican-dominated courts."

 

I think that in a few years if these trends are valid, there will be a turn to authoritarianism in the United

States.  Voting will matter little since it will be significantly suppressed and election outcomes will be managed by legislatures that will ignore the results by simply deciding to invalidate the results without any reason other than maintaining power and control.  If, somehow, we are able to avoid an actual civil war (I think it's pretty likely as a matter of fact), our standard of living is going to inexorably decline.  The realization that we have failed as a democracy will increase crime, social dislocation, mental illness, drug usage, etc.

 

Those in power will turn from supporting the majority of our population, leaving the powerless to descend further into poverty, searching for healthcare, food, the simple things we take for granted.  Social safety nets will slowly be shredded by the further increase of inequality between social classes.

 

With regard to social unrest, do you actually think that when the first elections are invalidated by the new legislative cabal, the democratic majority in this country will sit idly by?  I think not.  Expect an increase in violence and a resistance that will be active and forceful.  America will not be a very nice place to live.  Rule by the minority is unhealthy.  Maintenance of power is the only thing important to those who will be in charge, and they will do whatever is necessary to keep it.  Freedom of the press will begin to be stifled.  We see it already in the efforts to pass legislation to restrict the boundaries of education by 'stopping  indoctrination' in our universities and other places of higher education.  In Florida, Gov. DeSantis signed legislation to mandate 'surveys' at the state universities to ascertain students 'views and beliefs'. He threatened to withhold funding if presumably the results are 'unsatisfactory'.

 

We are seeing an effort by the Conservative 'right' to mandate only approved curricula in our schools.  That will inevitably lead to restricted thinking and the further weakening of critical thinking skills.  This will result in the disappearance of innovative entrepreneurship and the eventual 'dumbing down' of America's youth.

 

The refusal of one of our major political parties to accept the results of an election, the refusal to discuss the causes of the insurrection at the Capitol, the refusal to consider any of the legislative measures to protect the right to vote, the refusal to accept the truth that our national election was without fraud, threatens to drive a stake through the heart of our democracy.

 

Never in the history of our country has such a major part of our population disregarded the truth and accepted the misinformation and lies of a former administration to the extent seen today.  Because such a vast portion of our citizenry is ignorant, uninformed, uneducated and subject to manipulation, we are careening down a rabbit hole that will be our undoing.  Civility, empathy, integrity and compassion are now apparently out of style.  Violence and greed are the pre-eminent social drivers.  The concept of 'one nation under God where all men are created equal' is now a quaint notion that has been bastardized by people who really don't subscribe to that lofty ideal at all....and where America lands because of the rejection of our fundamental moral ideal as a nation is a very dark and pitiful place.

 

It is hard to contemplate this kind of an outcome.  The optimist in me believes that the core of American idealism and its dream of an equitable multi-cultural society will inevitably emerge from this morass to provide a guiding beacon for the renaissance of the American experiment.  I may not be around to see it, but, somehow, I am confident of its arrival.  Our youth will bring it about because they are not afraid to ask the hard questions and have the energy to make much need moral corrections.  I believe the American dream and the opposition to autocracy will not just roll over and surrender.  There will be a brighter day for America. 

Are We Still A Democracy?

Webster's Definition of democracy

a: government by the people especially : rule of the majority

b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation involving periodically held free elections

 

If you consider Webster's definition, there are several elements which seem to stand out right away:

--government by the majority

--representation involving free elections

 

On both those counts if you look at current day America, one sees glaring contradictions in meeting those definitions.

 The heated discussions going on in Congress about the filibuster as it is being used today bring this contradiction into sharp focus.  Majority equals 'half plus one'.  What we have in the United States Senate is a bastardized mechanism that enables the minority to rule.  This 'rule' was never contemplated by the founding fathers of this nation.  This 'rule' thwarts the essence of democratic decision making.  This 'rule', which has nothing to do with democracy, has brought our decision-making process to a complete halt.  As a nation we are constipated by elected representatives who have distorted the meaning of democracy to embrace an anti-democratic rule to maintain minority rule.

 

In addition, our elected representatives have engaged in a process called gerrymandering which thwarts the concept of representative government.  Over the past several decades, Republicans have been creating voting precincts and districts specifically to enhance the voting power of a particular group: their own.  This is not the essence of true representation.  We are seeing continuing efforts by Republicans to create voting districts that favor their political party, creating hundreds of 'safe' Republican seats.  This makes representative government impossible since it creates election districts where a majority of its citizen's voices cannot be heard or represented.

 

In addition, we are seeing the Republican party, which is ascendant in a majority of state

legislatures, purposely passing new laws that give the legislatures of these states the power to simply disregard the results of an election if they decide for whatever reason that there is some 'irregularity' that they perceive, without the presentation of proof or evidence. How is that a 'free and fair election'?  The filibuster, of course, has no place in state legislatures since that would thwart 'majority rule', which is what the legislators will claim gives them the right to throw out the results of an election.  How ironic!  This is what happens in 'Banana Republics'!  Just look at the attempted shenanigans that we witnessed in the 2020 election in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  These new laws being passed will make it easier to disregard the voice of the voters with impunity.

 

 Additionally, these Republican state legislatures are systematically passing new legislation that has the effect of suppressing and restricting the voting power of specific minorities:  actions like reducing the hours for voting, limiting the placement of centralized voting boxes to collect absentee ballots, restricting who can get an absentee ballot, requiring stringent and unreasonable voter ID regulations, abolishing mail-in voting, etc.  All these efforts are actions that suppress voter turnout.  These measures are being passed in the name of 'election security' so that minority groups, specifically black and brown people will have more difficulty in successfully voting.

 

Democracy depends on accountability.  Unless a democracy can hold lawbreakers accountable, there is no consequence for wrongdoing.  What we have witnessed is a total disregard for the rule of law by the previous administration: denial of subpoenas, withholding of information during investigations, pardons given to personal friends of the previous President who are clearly criminals, lying to the American people, and now using the Justice Department to investigate political enemies, etc.  We all want to look forward and deal with the present and future challenges that face us as a nation, but unless we have some accountability for the emerging facts concerning actions of the previous  administration that clearly broke the law, we will be destined to see another executive who will do the same or worse than Trump.

 

I return to my first question:  Are we still a democracy?  I frankly don't think we are right now.  If we continue to harbor without consequence the bad actors who have led us to this place, our democracy will be a sham.

 The American people are not sufficiently aware of the peril we are in as a democracy.  Committing these egregious measures in plain view has desensitized the majority of Americans to the impending danger.  This is a slow moving but inexorable wave of anti-democracy that is relentlessly overtaking our republic.  I am not sure how to stop it, but I am convinced that if we don't, America will be a very different place to live in a fighteningly short number of years. 

Mean Spirited Dishonest Pachyderms

It is hard to escape the conclusion that our country is in real jeopardy.  Yesterday all pretense evaporated as to the objectives of the Republican party.  It is clear that their motive in voting against the creation of a bipartisan commission to explore the causes and effects of the Capitol insurrection on January 6th totally rejects the welfare of our country and instead focuses only on the acquisition of power and their own aggrandizement at the expense of anything else.

 It is not brain surgery for the majority of our country to realize that the riots at the Capitol on January 6th were a direct result of the Big Lie promulgated for a year before the 2020 election by former President Trump.  The actual riot was encouraged incessantly by Trump and might even have been planned by members of Trump's coterie and those who zealously supported Trump's contention that the election was stolen from him, even though there is no evidence to support that contention.  Those facts undoubtedly would be revealed by a bipartisan commission charged with getting to the bottom of the real causes of the insurrection.  That is why the Republicans, and Mitch McConnell steadfastly opposed the creation of this commission.  And the really sad part of all this is that Republicans as a whole, with the exception of just a few patriots, have chosen the party and the cult instead of the integrity of the nation and its commitment to democracy.  McConnell is the quintessential example of the sleaziest of politicians caring nothing for the country and everything about his own power.

 

Given all that, the ongoing attempt to overthrow our democracy has not stopped...it has only gotten

more nefarious.  At Trump's encouragement, his minion's efforts in state legislatures in a majority of the country's state governments reveals efforts to restructure the election mechanism itself to give Republicans partisan power over the acceptance of the results of balloting.  How can that be fair and honest?  Imagine if Brad Raffensberger of Georgia was replaced by a Trump lackey.  If Trump had made the telephone call to such a person in search of 11,800 ballots last fall, do you think the result in Georgia would have been the same?  What if those kinds of appointments had been engineered in advance of the election in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona?  Do you think Joe Biden would now be President?  

 

Wake up everyone!  This is their strategy, and it just might work in 2024.  This is exactly what is happening in plain view in Georgia, Texas, and Michigan and as many as 44 state legislatures nationwide.  What do you think will happen in 2024 if these people are in charge of the election mechanism?  If they succeed, then the United States of America as we have known it will disappear.  It will be replaced by minority government.  Look at today's Senate:  theoretically the Democrats are in the power position, however the proposed bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection was killed by a vote of 35 to 54.  That is not what democracy and majority rule is all about.  That is what our future will be if this bloodless coup is allowed to continue.

 

Time is running out for naive buffoons like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to wake up to the reality that is clearly seen by the rest of the Democratic caucus.  Republicans led by McConnell and McCarthy are interested only in sabotaging any efforts to help the country being advanced by Democrats; obstructing any forward motion by the Biden administration; and pledging fealty to someone who will throw them under the bus as soon as they show any independence and integrity. 

It is time for Democrats to throw bipartisanship and caution to the wind.  Establish a select committee to dig deep into the causes of the insurrection and expose anyone who had a role in its planning and execution.  Eliminate the filibuster rule and enact as much legislation as possible using the slim majority the Democrats have to benefit the average citizens in the country who support current proposed legislation like S-1; the John Lewis bill, infrastructure, social welfare infrastructure, the Biden Jobs plan, etc.  Do as much as possible before the 2022 midterms and show the populace what intelligent responsive democratic government is all about.  

 

Republicans are not patriots.  They do not believe in democratic government, peaceful transition of power and the will of the electorate.  It is time for us to accept the sad reality that the Republican party does not really believe in America.  Let us move to save our republic.

 

Then pay attention to who you vote for in every single election, no matter how insignificant you may believe it is, and select people at the local level that will respond to the will of the people.  That is democracy's only real chance to survive. 

The Hard Reality

After the trauma of January 6th, I went silent for a few months.  I needed some time to process what had happened and what was happening to my reality, our reality as Americans.

 

During my life I have always taken for granted the liberties we enjoy as Americans and the lifestyle we live.  Because it has been relatively easy to glide through life as a baby boomer who is white and 'privileged',  I really never once doubted that being free was something I couldn't count on.  I remember in grammar school we had these larger-than-life Norman Rockwell posters of the Four Freedoms hanging in the main hallway.  I would look at them every day and they were comforting to me in the way that Norman Rockwell portrayed the American ideal, the American birthright.  I am sure you all remember them:  https://www.nrm.org/2012/10/collections-four-freedoms

 

Those posters came to epitomize for me the values that my parents and my school wanted to embed in

me.  There was a purity in those faces.  There was a purity in the messages.  There was a fundamental truth in all of those scenes that was filled with the essence of Americanism:  a belief in truth; an assumption that people were good; the belief that we all have respect for one another; and the bedrock principle that faith and family would always be there for support.

 

Because I was young and naive, I never considered that war was something that has no rational foundation, or that there were not black or brown faces in Rockwell's paintings.  Those Rockwell images only spoke of hope and idealism, not the naked truth of any of the grotesque backstory that was somehow not present during my early education.  Only later as I grew would I become aware of the reality of what life as a human on earth was really about.  But as that awareness grew, I became increasingly appreciative of what being an American was and how lucky I was to be born and raised in this peaceful place while the rest of the world was rife with unrest, ugliness and death. 

 

And so I lived my life.  I had successes and love and peace in my life without considering that  none of that would have been possible without that bedrock belief in my country and its values.  As I became more politically aware, I was disturbed by McCarthyism; Watergate, the War in Vietnam, and all the other cognitive dissonances that intruded on the protective barrier my mind had constructed using those tenets of 'Americanism' embodied in Rockwell's paintings.  I simply was not aware of the vast mass of American citizens who somehow felt more and more separate and excluded from the American Dream.  

 

In “The Bitter Heartland,” an essay in American Purpose, William Galston, a veteran of the Clinton White House and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, captures the forces at work in the lives of many of these people:  "(We) have witnessed the growth of a potent new locus of right-wing resentment at the intersection of race, culture, class, and geography — difficult for those outside its orbit to understand. They have a sense of displacement in a country they once dominated. Immigrants, minorities, non-Christians, even atheists have taken center stage, forcing them to the margins of American life.”  

 

Was Galston describing the people in Rockwell's paintings?  I don't think so.

 

My perception of those that Galston describes --those who follow Trump--based on what I see on the news, in interviews with them, in their writings, in the halls of Congress and our State Legislatures is a segment of our citizenry that is foreign to me.  Theirs is an alien moral system that does not value truth.  Lies and misinformation are to be believed; evidence is of no value.  Critical thinking and awareness of science and facts don't have relevance.  In the face of overwhelming factual reality, belief in a lie takes precedence.  Regard and respect for their fellow countrymen is absent if one does not agree with them, rather they are considered to be the enemy.  Belief in representative government with the right of each individual to vote is replaced with finding a way to deny those with differing views a voice.  Naked power is the only motivation.  Democracy as we have known it for 250 years seems to be warped in their view.  Winning elections by any means is the only motivation.

 

We have seen what happens when those whose guiding star is what I have just described come into conflict with those whose moral compass is congruent with my own....the riots of January 6th.  The shock

of that realization is hard to accept.

 

The aftermath of that insurrection has laid bare the deep gash suffered by our democracy, and the most unsettling part of that realization is that we are truly in danger of seeing our way of life permanently changed.  The forces of this new fascist mindset are strong and still working to gain the upper hand.  The America that was my bedrock is in great peril, and unless we forcefully figure out how to fix this wound, we will be forever changed and the guiding principles of truth, justice and the American way will be lost forever. 

A Special Time....

At this point in my life, it is a rare thing indeed to have some extended private quiet time with one of my children.  My daughter Caitlin has come to live with us in our guest house for the present.  Her path through life is exciting to say the least.  She works for a company that markets a sophisticated integrated broadcast computer platform to television networks and stations all over the world.  She is one of their small cadre of 'trainers' that travels the globe when a company purchases their platform and trains the staff on how to use it.  In the last 4 years she has been all over the world to some of the most exotic places on earth, getting an education and life experience that few young people her age ever receive.  

 

For Cecily and I, to have gently nudged her out of our nest and to see her fly in such a grand fashion is incredibly rewarding.  In fact, both our girls have become such gifted individuals with empathy, humor and kindness that they share unreservedly with everyone.  We are so proud of them and all they have

accomplished.  But with that success and accomplishment, we as parents inevitably experience a distancing as they pursue their dreams.  We cherish the times we spend together as they drop in to grace their parents with their presence as they follow their path through life.

 

And then, perhaps when we least expect it, an opportunity appears to get a bigger dose of them when the stars align.  Because of the pandemic, Caitlin has been training her clients from home via the computer, so for the last several months she has been living in Tampa by herself with a roommate since Shaune moved to Raleigh a year ago.  When the lease on her house came up for renewal, we offered and she decided to move into our guest house here in Naples to save some money and have the freedom to visit her boyfriend who lives in the UK.

 

And so, we have been the beneficiary of her presence in our lives for whatever time she spends here with us.  She moved in last weekend and created her own nest here just 300 feet from her parents and the result is that we are spending some wonderful moments together that certainly make our lives richer.  Having the interaction on a daily basis while still having the space between us to insure privacy is the best.  And we all know that this will be temporary, but to have these times when the world is in such flux is reassuring and comforting.

 

I see her through different eyes now.  She is an adult.  I see her navigating the potholes of life with a new sense of pride, because there was a time when she was not very adept at it, as most children are when they first start to fly.  But now she has a new confidence in her decisions and a view that is longer range than when she first started on life's journey.  It is remarkable to have a front row seat as she deals with her work and life in general.  To see your child in a new light is a rewarding experience for sure.  We feel blessed to have this time together. 

Worth Watching!

I have always been a fan of American Idol over the years because I loved to see the new talent start really raw and develop as the season progressed.  Regrettably. this series was very predictable season after season, and the format never really changed, except to try to make it more slick with higher production value.  The essence of the draw was always the talent for me though.  Over the past several years I lost interest in the repetitive nature of the format and for the last two or three seasons I really wasn't attentive to it.

 But I came back this season and am happy to tell you that the program has matured and hit a stride and rhythm that is just exactly what this kind of television should be.  Not only is it a vehicle for new and unvarnished talent, but the producers have finally struck the best balance between the emotional back stories of the contestants, highlighting only those that really have a chance to grow and win this competition.

 

In years past we were witness to many really bad auditions by people who didn't really have a shot at competing, but who the producers thought would titillate the audience and give the judges grist for snide comments and moments of ridicule.  That wore thin and I grew bored waiting for the talent that had a chance to win.  I wasn't particularly enamored of the judges either.  After Simon Cowell left, the judges comments became monotonously predictable.  For the past three seasons now, the judges are Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.  These three have great connection and interpersonal interaction.  

All three are different, yet share the same compassion and empathy for the people auditioning and competing.  We are still in the audition segments of this season, but the real competition promises to present some really unusual and gifted people who will try to grab the brass ring.

 

However, the reason I am engaged this season over other seasons is the way the structure of the auditions takes the time to tell the stories and reveal the journey with all its hopes and aspirations for the contestants.  The way the stories are told in advance of the actual moment when they sing their audition gives enough back story so that as a viewer, I am primed to experience the heartache or magnitude of the challenge each of these people has gone through to have this moment to change their lives.  I have now watched 4 episodes of auditions, and have been brought to tears at least once in each episode by who these people are and what they have experienced in their lives up to this moment.  The story of the extremely heavy set young

black woman who spent most of her young life homeless or living in a car was particularly poignant.  The courage she needed to do this audition was clearly apparent, and when she finally opened her mouth and completely stunned all of us, including the judges, it brought a welling up of emotion that I did not expect to feel.  And when the judges brought her mother into the room after the audition and we could see the moment between the two of them when their eyes met, it was heartrending and joyful.  

My point is that this and other stories are well told.  The focus of the series now seems to be firmly planted in revealing these kinds of human moments rather than only whether someone has a great voice or not.

 And now armed with this kind of information about many of the contestants, I am anxious to follow their journey because I know why this opportunity is so important to them.  I would invite all of you to try to find this program if you can and give it a viewing.  You won't be disappointed.  Kudos to American Idol, the new producers and the judges for providing a family viewing experience filled with empathy, encouragement and valuing the human spirit.

 

And just a word about Ryan Seacrest.  He has been with the series since the beginning and provides the glue that connects the stories of these people to the judges.  He is there as they walk through the door to

do the auditions and is there when they come out of the audition.  His smile and warmth has never been better.  He has matured with the series as well, and his confidence and comfortable affect garnered from all the years of experience gives the program that little extra boost of humanity and encouragement that provides the cherry on top of this sundae.

 

Bravo!

The Soiled 'Shining City on the HIll'

I seem to be experiencing an increasing level of anger and anxiety about just about everything recently.  Aside from the Corona virus and the resulting isolation (which has ramped my anxiety up more than I expected), the past four years have served to simply bust my psyche with the realizations that we are not all that we think we are in terms of 'that shining city on the hill' or the 'beacon of democracy' that we have been brainwashed into believing.  You can smile and tell me I am an alarmist, but I have news for you--you're deluding yourself  Let me depress you by noting the results of our recent history and our ranking in the global universe.  Consider the following..we are:

 

-the country with the most Corona virus cases in the world

-the country with the most Corona virus deaths in the world

            Have you ever asked yourself why or who's to blame for that?

-the US ranks 15th in providing health care among industrialized nations and ranks #1 with the   highest cost per capita for healthcare.  Who do you think profits from that situation?

-on the '2020 Freedom in the World' report  the US ranks 53rd among 84 countries sandwiched between Slovakia and Belize.

-on the '2020 Index of Economic Freedom' the US ranks 17th behind Lithuania

 

Let's consider our 'representative democracy':

 

We have a government that is run by Republican minority rule.  Do you think the founders of our country

intended that to be the case?   The Biden administration is trying to pass a Corona virus relief bill and not one single Republican is going to support it.  Not one single Republican is going to support an increased minimum wage initiative that would improve the lives of over 27 million Americans.  Is that what one would call national empathy?  The vast majority of current Republicans are still promoting the Big Lie about the election and are still kneeling for Donald Trump.  Why do you think that is?

 

The United States has a political party whose sole raison d'etre is to do as little as possible to improve the lot of the majority of citizens.  They spend all their time introducing bills in the state legislatures to impede voting, re-draw district lines to disenfranchise voters who do not agree with them, (primarily people of color), and promote disinformation that supports lying about important things like 'who won a national election', or who caused 15 million Texans to be without power and water for a week, or accusing Antifa of the Jan 6th attacks.

 

Somehow these people have a death grip on the ability of our country to honor the wishes of the citizens.  The Biden rescue plan has the approval of over 75% of the country in national polling and overwhelming support for the increase in the minimum wage.  And yet all these Republicans stand against these measures.  Ever ask yourself why?   The only way Democrats (who are actually the majority) can even attempt to get something done to help our citizens is to use a 'reconciliation' device in the legislative process to make it happen.  How sad.  Does it disturb you that all Republicans don't want to help our citizens?  

 

A part of our government that is the least representative of our people--The Senate--has a rule that requires a majority vote of 60% to pass anything.   70% of our population is electing only 30 of the 100 senators.  Somehow that doesn't seem right, does it?  Is that what majority rule means?  The supposed 'body of great deliberation' has not been deliberating anything for the past 4 years, and the guy who is now the minority leader still has control of everything because he has the Filibuster Rule to put his thumb on the scale.   This filibuster rule effectively gives his party the ability to stop everything the majority wants to do.  The founders did not create that rule, the Republicans did.

 

Every effort made to advance positive social or economic change is stymied by this party.  People in the Republican party have only one motive:  stay in power and cater to those who give them money.  They have no interest in supporting anything that would make American's lives easier or better.  They only have interest in lining their pockets, accumulating power and maintaining their ability to keep control.

 

Are you depressed yet? 

 

I am describing the people who stand up for overturning fair elections, rejecting the will of the people

and installing a man who clearly lost.  These are people for whom democracy is an empty shell and something to be ignored.  Democratic ideals and principles are ignored by them.  The rule of law is only good if it benefits them.  For example, consider their effort to prevent a Democratic president from appointing a Supreme Court justice 9 months before the election while they jam through a Republican nominee within 2 weeks of a national election.  How is that for hypocrisy?  Their infrastructure is cemented by a network of media outlets that they have cultivated and control, that spews their falsehoods incessantly and thrives on delivering lies and misinformation.  Why is that OK with them?

 

I can't listen to the news anymore because all these people who have no interest in making our lives better seem to fill the airways with false representations, accusations and specious reasons why the Democrats are responsible for everything because they are so 'radical'.  What is so radical about trying to put some cash relief in the hands of desperate citizens crushed by the virus?  What is so radical about trying to raise the standard of living by increasing the minimum wage so more money can be put into circulation to help the economy and most importantly feed their children?  What is so radical about trying to make sure everyone has the right to vote or have health care that is affordable?

 

So, don't let anyone, especially Republicans, lull you into believing in American excellence.  We are in tough shape.  With insurrectionists and domestic terrorists seeming to get a 'pass' from supporters of Trump and the Republican party, our republic is still in grave danger.  When the election of 2022 rolls around and these liars have monkeyed with the electoral system some more and possibly regain power, I fear we will continue our slide toward autocracy and fascism.  Make no mistake, the Republican party is the progenitor of autocracy and fascism.

 

How is your level of depression and anxiety now?  Hemlock anyone?