Disgust of the Day!

Here I am again.  Two days in a row.  How about that?  Maybe this is the start of a trend.

But I couldn't resist calling attention to today's disgusting event.  While most eyes are focused on the vote for Trump's budget bill I'm resigned to that passing and am looking at something else: CBS caving in and giving Trump $16 million to make him go away in his lawsuit saying that 60 Minutes did bad things to him when it edited an interview with Kamala Harris.

$16 million just happens to be the same amount ABC paid him when he complained about a broadcast he didn't like.  Shameful!  Disgusting!

These are bribes, paid to curry favor with a bully who threatens their business.  Freedom of the press?  Hiding under the table pretending to be invisible.  Taking a stand for truth, consequences be damned?  Nowhere to be seen.  Disgusting!

For decades, 60 Minutes has stood atop the news world: trusted, interesting, relevant.  Will that be the way it is going forward?  I'd like to say yes, but my confidence level that it will be same is low.  That, truly, is a shame! 

Back Again!

I haven't posted in a while, but it isn't because I haven't had anything to say.  Every day as the events of the day unfold I find myself with thoughts, opinions and all too often upsets about what is going on.  Which leaves me with the conclusion that nothing I say will make any difference, so why bother saying it.  I'm reminded of the old comment about how much difference a fart in a hurricane will make.

A few months ago I said that the worst is yet to come and unfortunately I was right.  Wherever I look its worse:  The Supreme Court - the Congress - Ukraine - Gaza - Civil Rights - Freedom (or lack of it) in Universities - LGBTQ+ Rights - Energy Regulations - Immigration - USAID Programs terminated condemning millions to an early death - Etc., etc., etc.

In my bubble life is calm and stable.  Outside its a mess.  So maybe I'll fight my sense of resignation and speak up.  Maybe I won't.  Sorry, but that's the way it is at the moment. 

Lethal Weapon!

When told that the impact of his tariffs would result in less toys at Christmas, Trump's response was a "too bad" the kids would have two dolls instead of 20 and they'd cost a few bucks more.

Big mistake!  When less toys become the order of the day, when kids don't get what they want, parents will need someone to blame.  The fat guy with the orange hair will be an easy target.

Toys as a lethal weapon?  You heard it here first!

100 Days!

Everybody's got something to say about Trump's 100 Days.  I am reluctant to pile on with my opinions.  Why?  Because it feels redundant.  Repeating my opposition to what have been daily outrages on this 100th day doesn't help.

I follow the news closely.  So I am up to date on the assault to the essence of the country I have known and supported all my life.  To summarize the outrages doesn't change anything.

Comparing what the United States up to now has stood for with what it now stands for is a fool's errand.  We are in a new paradigm.  With or without Trump we are not going to go back to or resurrect the old paradigm.  That I don't like it doesn't change anything.

The upside to having flipped the page is the opportunity to create within the new paradigm.  Some pages have been written but that doesn't mean that there aren't many blank pages available.  Despair is not a solution.  Giving up is not an answer.  Howling in anguish is a waste of time.

The challenge is clear.  It is a new game.  Whether we will bravely and successfully create some new parameters and actions that confront it while being true to ourselves is not yet known.

Onward . . .   

Adding To The Noise!

I'm being asked why I haven't been posting recently.  Does being silent mean I have nothing to say?  No, that isn't it.  I am ready to rant every day - several times a day.  Why?  Because so much of what I see no matter where I look is depressing, horrifying, outrageous, destructive, etc., etc.

So there is no lack of reasons to speak out.  I could join the chorus of like minded people who feel the same way.  But joining the chorus will only add to the noise.  So rather than finding a way to change the direction we're heading I would have about as much impact as a fart in a hurricane.

It's worse than I thought it could ever be, and as you know I'm the guy who said the worst is yet to come.  I'm doubling down on that opinion.

Most frustrating is seeing how ineffective the protests are.  In the face of a well organized, focused and mean spirited bulldozer running things, the good guys are unable to mount a credible opposition.  We haven't faced (notice I say 'we' because I too feel helpless) the reality that the page has been turned and the world in which we've spent our lives is gone, dead, irrevocably changed and it ain't coming back.

The paradigm of the past has been replaced.  Fighting the new world in which we are now living with the old tools and methods that served us well back in the day is a waste of time.  So for now I'll stay in my comfortable bubble, observe what's happening, but not join the noise makers - yet!

Not Getting Hooked!

I think about writing a blog post every day.  Much that is going on around us is provocative and worthy of comment.  Every day.  Several times a day.  But I haven't posted anything for nearly two months.  Why?  No good reason.  Except I am refusing to rise to the bait, and there is plenty of bait, and react to the provocation.  Said another way, I resist getting hooked (like a hungry fish) and give in to a need to express my outrage.

I've said before it is going to get worse before it gets better.  And every day validates my premise.  I'll give them credit for being prepared to roll out dozens, hundreds, of Executive Orders and pronouncements, any one of which flies in the face of what we hold dear.  Its a blitzkrieg of the highest order.  And so far no fight back of any consequence from the people who represent me/us.

So its frustrating.  And I've been silent.  Not hooked so much that I've taken the time to express myself.  There is a cost to not being provoked.  We'll see if I continue this way and quietly pay the price.

Stay tuned . . .

Democracy is Too Much Trouble!

My friend, Bob Siegel, sent the following, titled "The Electorate has Spoken: Democracy is Too Much Trouble."

 The 60% of the 2024 electorate that even went to the trouble to vote responded to Ben Franklin's "we've given you a republic, if you can keep it" with "no, we cannot keep it."

As for myself, I stopped paying attention to what Trump and his fellow MAGAcytes are doing.  It would change nothing if I did pay attention. 

I suggest you'll enjoy a happier life if you stop tilting at windmills and stop agonizing over the failure of our 250 year experiment in democracy.  After all, it outlasted every other similar experiment.  

The historic record is patently clear: the 60,000 year human species' craving for an authoritarian governing body, ideally headed by an all-powerful autocrat, is hard wired in our DNA.