A Break in the Clouds

The resiliency of the American people is refreshing, isn’t it?  It has taken a full year of living with Trump and his propwash for the body of our politic that is the majority to awaken from their slumber and show their displeasure with the state of our nation.  Tuesday’s election was an across the board repudiation of the hate, the racism, the division that has been the hallmark of the Trump Administration.

Take a look at the faces of the new legislators that will take their seats in Virginia.  Out of 15 state legislature seats that changed parties to Democratic, 11 of them are women replacing men!  Those women won on issues from healthcare to climate change.  Inclusiveness and diversity were the watchwords of these winners as opposed to scare tactics and fear.

I have been certain for the last several years as I watched the slow progression of our politics descend into self-interest and greed that the only way to reverse the trend was to rouse the populace to vote.  Well, it looks like the populace is ‘roused’.  Over the past year we have seen a whole crowd of newly minted activists arise out of somnolescent citizens.  Angry wives, Moms, unlikely politicians at best, they have risen to take their place as active citizens at all levels of government.  I have a friend in the suburbs of Philadelphia who was ecstatic that Democratic candidates he supported at the local school board level had defeated a whole crop of incumbent Republicans.  There is a ‘wave’ that is definitely on the horizon…a redemptive wave that spells the return of American politics to a place where crass and embarrassing politics are repudiated, where insults and division are rejected in favor of compassion and reaching out to help the less fortunate.

The heart and soul of America resides in acceptance of our differences and equality of opportunity for all citizens.  That means that things like healthcare and tax reform are meant to help those in the most need, not just the really wealthy who don’t need the help.  Let’s hope that the wave on the horizon is just the beginning.  Let’s hope that the wave continues to grow as the anger at being led by a narcissist maniac and his minions to the degraded state of perception by the rest of the world increases.

I will say it again:  the true salvation of our society and our way of life rests with the responsibility of each one of us to be aware of the issues and VOTE.

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Let me say it louder:  VOTE!  It is the right that countless thousands of our citizens died for.  It is the salvation of our country.

Is That a Ray of Sunshine?

A lot can happen in a year’s time.  One year ago we imagined Hillary Clinton as our first female President.  Not all of us were thrilled with her, but in hindsight, it is hard not to ask the obvious questions about where our democracy would be relative to where it is today.

There are not many, if any, beyond the rabid base that Trump encourages who would say the country is headed in the right direction.  We have seen an increasing threat to our first amendment freedoms, the dismantling of 50 years of careful societal structuring to give our citizens the cleanest air to breathe, the cleanest water to drink, a constant attack on the 4^th Estate, the normalization of chronic lying and falsehood in our politics, and the disregard by the executive branch of our government for the rule of law.  These are not small annoyances, but instead are frightening disruptions to our American ideals and sense of humanity

We have a leader who is combative at every turn, never apologizes, lies constantly and has no grasp at all on the details of policy, the art of political engagement, the concept of compromise, or even the most rudimentary elements of genuine human empathy.

To survey the American landscape today is to see a republic (for the time being) where less than one third of our populace has somehow grasped the reins of power and has no idea how to use them for the benefit of the most citizens.  Digging deeper we are becoming aware of the long existing nefarious reasons for this condition: obstruction of voting rights, gerrymandering, racism, greed among our legislators, divisiveness at all levels of government and the abuse of power by the rich.

Now there seems to be a not so subtle shift at the edges of the Republican Party to call out the administration for all the egregious things it has done in the last year.  Obviously long overdue.  Will it have any effect?  Probably not, since it is clear that the current crop of Republicans have no ethical compass.  They allow Trump to debase the country because on some level they believe condoning his behavior is okay as long as they get what they want policy-wise.  That is a true deal with the devil, because the end result will be the corruption of our 241-year experiment with democracy.  We can only hope there is a 'break in the clouds'.

The 2018 election will be the next fulcrum point that will indicate whether the other 2/3rds of our countrymen have what it takes to save the republic.  The dark cloud on the horizon for that event is the movement being created by Steve Bannon.  Should he succeed in replacing elements of the current  Republican majority with Trump supplicants like “Judge” Roy Moore, the two party system as we know it will cease to exist.

So, the single ray of sunshine I see now is the dawning awareness of our Republican legislators that their bargain with the Satan of Trumpism is much more dangerous than they realized.  Until those Republicans become concerned with us as citizens rather than opportunities for personal aggrandizement, nothing will change enough to make a real difference until new elections.

And Now for Something a Little More Depressing......

Every day is now filled with journalists openly criticizing and bad mouthing President Trump.  No one has any respect for the guy, and of course, all of the scorn is so richly deserved.  There has never been an electoral mistake like this one.  We have finally gotten the President we deserved.  My only hope is that the damage that is well on its way to manifesting terrible consequences for our country can be mitigated by whatever those of us who are rational can do to slow it down.

The net result of all this is disheartening.  Our children growing up during this period will accept as normal the role model presented by the disgusting behavior of a man who is only concerned about himself.  He is the worst kind of role model for impressionable minds.  The long-term result of exposure to that kind of person as a leader is unknown, but can’t be a good thing.

Watching and listening to him deal with the disasters and crises of our time makes me more fearful every day that the chaos described by the retiring Senator Bob Corker is ever closer to being our reality.  To listen to the voices of our ‘leaders’ on the right is to realize that our country is truly an ostrich with its head in the sand—everything from health care to climate change to foreign policy decisions to environmental decisions to abortion to budgeting to defense to white supremacy to gun control—all these things are in the hands of hypocritical morons with no humanity or morals.

Tom Friedman wrote yesterday that the only action left for those of us who feel left behind or shut out is to mobilize at the ballot box: get people who are like minded to run for office at ALL levels.  It is true.  If we are still a democracy, then we can do that. (notwithstanding efforts to gerrymander, deprive voting rights, intimidate minority voters, etc.)  In fact it may be our only hope. 

Even if by some “Act of God” Trump is disposed of, that would leave us with Pence, who is potentially worse than Trump.  Pence, who knows how to operate the Washington levers of power, might take us in a direction that only his warped sense of morality is comfortable with. 

The downside of Mr. Friedman’s path is that it will take time, an entire generation in fact, to turn it around.  Perhaps that is our destiny as Baby Boomers—to have grown up in the 50s, 60s and 70s to taste the excesses of personal freedom, only to have them ripped away by misguided fools who don’t read and have bad dental work.  Hillary was right.  The world is now controlled by the deplorables, and God help those who are not deplorable along with them.

Maybe these are truly the “End Times”.

I see more and more people on Facebook who say they have given up watching TV and listening to the news.  It is just too disturbing.  I can relate to that.  I used to hang on every word that came from the lips of Rachel Madow because I thought to myself, “here is a person who is intelligent and really has a grip on what is going on….and therefore will somehow persuade someone with some power that we have to do something to save ourselves”. 

I was a fool. 

No one can save us, so I have started to contract my universe of awareness to focus on only those who are dear to me, and ways that I can get the most out of my life here on Earth.  Growing globally and expanding my consciousness is less important today than loving my family and helping those less fortunate that I can have an impact on.

I would urge all of you who feel the despair that I am describing to look inward and become aware of your close communities.  Be the best you can be in a smaller universe.

The larger scene will take care of itself…..or it won’t.  It almost doesn’t matter.  If the buffoons and blowhards destroy the planet, it certainly won’t matter. 

All of us long for an America that is synonymous with hope and goodness.  I am afraid that is a myth my friends…and it will remain a myth until the scourge of idiocy that now rules our land finally wears itself out.

Cat 5 Catpocalypse!

Cecily and I have been on vacation in the mountains of North Carolina since August 19, so we have endured the runup to Irma mostly as an emotional cyclone!  Inevitably we needed to head back to civilization, and Irma only delayed our need to return.  However when it became clear that Irma was going to be a nasty bitch who ate trees and houses, we decided to go only as far as Atlanta and hideout at my brother-in-law's house until Irma did her thing.

The most trying part of the experience was extracting my sister-in-law, Tracy from Naples, and daughter, Shaune in Tampa, from the disaster zones so they wouldn't be killed. Neither one of them really wanted to leave, but after the media scared them to death enough they reluctantly headed out......toting Tucker and our two cats.  So here is THAT story which is the real horror show!

For those of you who know Noose, Meese and Tucker, you know that they are independent and....how shall I put it....vocal when they are unhappy.

We asked Nick Romary, one of our LDM team to help Tracy stuff each cat into a cat carrier that was two sizes too small.  Meese, the monk, was submissive, but Noose, was having none of it.  I got a frantic call from Nick that they couldn't get Noose in the 'box', so what should they do.  The terror and hesitancy in his voice conjured up a scene of biting and scratching that I had only experienced a few times with Noose, but was glad that I was dealing with this from a distance of 600 miles!  I told them to put him in a pillow case and then lower the pillow case into the cat carrier, which apparently they did without major injury!

So then Tracy, her cat, Tucker and our two cats headed up I-75 for Atlanta where we were waiting for them.  They got as far as Ellenton (just north of Sarasota) when Tracy's car crapped out, so the menagerie had to find a motel to spend the night.  The next morning, we managed to guide them to Caitlin's house in Tampa where they camped with Caitlin's roommate and her cat....get the picture?  Catpocalypse!  It was truly a "Cat 5" situation!

As the warnings about Irma became more dire, we persuaded Shaune to collect our animals and head to Atlanta while Tracy decided she preferred a local shelter.  More on that nightmare another time.

So Shaune drove all night with the newly reconstituted menagerie of Tucker, our two cats in their '2Xnothing' boxes, and Shaune's two dogs, Anabelle and Stella.  They drove from 1am all night long and arrived early Friday morning. 

The cats were in 'bad humor' after being in the boxes for 10 hours and had urinated in the cat carriers and on themselves, so Shaune's car was literally a 'shit show'.  Cecily and I grabbed the two cats and made a bee-line for the tub and gave the cats a bath.  For both cats, that was the final indignity!  Here they had endured confinement, noise, strange people, strange hotel rooms and houses, and now finally the people who are supposed to love them.....were trying to drown them!!  Meese has no claws so he was manageable, but Noose was having a hissy!  He bit the crap out of my thumb and was a nightmare to clean off and dry.

So we all spent the next three days nursing our wounds... and pride... with the cats in the bathroom and the dogs running free.  Fortunately Ed has a fenced in yard which they loved.  Shaune and her dogs left on Monday morning and Cecily and I left on Wednesday morning.

We are now back in Naples and lordy its a mess!  Trees uprooted everywhere, signs damaged, street signs ripped out of the ground, flooded areas, etc.  Our neighborhood is pretty nasty, although our place came through the storm with relatively little damage.  Lots of tree branches down and all kinds of detritus everywhere.  But it will all clean up in a few weeks.  More problematic is the lack of gas, power, internet, banking services, etc.  This is a resilient community though and people here know what a wonderful place it is, so I am sure the shell shock will be short-lived.

So for all of you who wondered if we survived, the answer is yes.  We will live to be threatened by another monster storm on another day.....hopefully not for a while though!

OK, Congress, Make it Happen!

I am SO impressed that Trump loves all the DACA kids.  Ending the DACA protection is perhaps one of his most cruel actions of all, but what could we expect from a man who is more concerned with keeping his warped promises to satisfy his deplorable base than looking out for 800,000 kids who did nothing more than breathe while their parents aspired to a life of freedom in the US?

Trump's action is really so predictable in its absence of compassion, and we see the strategy behind his offloading this responsibility to Congress.  He wants to play on all our emotions for these youngsters to force through his ridiculous compulsion to spend our money on his wall.  The result is that we now must rely on our constipated Congress to fix this.

I have a simple solution.  Those in Congress who are passionate about this issue and can mobilize as many of the supposed supporters to get behind a basic piece of legislation, and draft a simple instrument that deals only with the DACA Dreamers.  Pass it in both houses---fast--- and then when Trump vetoes it because it doesn't provide for his wall or anything else he wants, send it back to him in an overide vote.  It will then become law without his signature.

If there are any Republicans who can strap on their balls and do the right thing, then this can happen. With all the people who support these Dreamers, it should be a slam dunk to draft a simple piece of legislation to accomplish the goal of protecting the Dreamers status permanently....we are led to believe......However,  I wouldn't count on it!