Misinforming

THE LATEST RUMOR is that Trump's attorneys are going to argue that all the material found by the FBI in their raid on Mara Lago, all the government documents were not government property. Evidently they intend to begin making this highly questionable arguement soon, before Trump is even indicted and, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, before he even appears in court. Precisely how theey intend to make this ostensibly spurious argument, in terms of facts and logic, remains anyone's guess. Perhaps their simple logic will be that when Trump took the material with him when he left the presidency, the material automatically began belonging to him the moment he took it, simply because he took it. Well, as they say, if that's all they got.....Another rumor, in the form of a prediction, is that if Trump is indicted, by any government or court, violence will break out in the United States, presumably widespread, across America. Scenes of the Capitol insurrection come vividly to mind, and you realize that not only are Trump's followers crazy enough to become violent, but in fact they are violent by nature, and have already demonstrated this propensity. And, alarmingly, it appears there there are still somewhere around seventy five million Trump followers, although the actual number may have dropped somewhat. Let's just say, there are enough of them to make trouble, serious trouble. And nothing could be more obvious than the reality that not only should Trump be indicted, he must be, because this business of his stealing Top Secret documents from the government is deadly serious, and he was, as they say, caught red handed. Trump must be indicted, charged with federal crimes, pure and simple. An investigation must be conducted to reveal exactly how Trump got all that material smuggled out of the White House, who if anyone helped him, what his motive was, and what he intended to use it for, or perhaps has already used it for. Has he already sold out America, to maybe, say, Putin? The point is, who knows? We must find out. The reaction of his MAGA following to a Trump indictment cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty, but, based on their behavior generally heretofore, they will not react reasonably. Most Trump supporters still claim that the FBI planted the evidence to trap Trump, and they also claim that the documents found by the FBI were declassified by Trump. But if they were planted by the fibbies (the FBI), how could Trump possibly have declassified them? Trump supporters have long since abandoned the realm of reason, and have constructed their own, alternative, imaginary reality, a mass delusion, mass mental illness. We may expect them at any moment to claim that Jesus Christ instructed Trump to take the documents home with him.

Observing

THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS, and beyond, will be a good time to pay close attention to Trump supporters, including our friends, individually and collectively, as they react to Trump's latest, greatest criminal act: stealing documents, including Top Secret documents, from the United States. At the moment, there seems to be a somewhat eerie silence in Trump land, but, hey, how long can that continue? The fact that the affidavit has been released, and that it explains clearly the problem and how to solve it, and the fact that the problem was sovled exactly as laid out in in the affidavit and approved by a federal judge - all this has tended to hush the Trump crowd. their crazy claims that all the material was automatically declassified when Trump touched it, or the crazy lie that the FBI planted the evidence, all the craziness ha been silenced, bu only for the moment, only until conservative america concocts more craziness, more fabrications to explain and justify Trump's treasonous, criminal behavior. Ask any Trump supporter how he or she would react if the FBI raided Obama's or Clinton's house, and found the same material found in Trump's mansion? You might alsmot think that in that event, the conservative hordes would be calling for the immediate arrest, indictment, trial, and execution of Obama or either Clinton. In fact, you know damned good and well they would. This FBI raid, and its results, reveals at least the fourth time that Trump has commited high crimes and felonies against the United States, impeachable, worthy of prosecution, conviction, and incarceration, if not execution. And ecah time his cult followers ignore or justify Trump's treason, thus sinking themselves ever deeper into the moral morass they have created for themselves. The longer Trumpers cling to Trump, the more difficult it will be to finally cast him aside. During September and October and the first week of November leading to the midterm elections, Republican candidates will have to decide whether to continue to base their campaign on their suport of Trump. If they do, they'll have to fabricate more phony justifications for Trump's latest crimes, and more baseless accusations against his prosecutors, and it should result in an amusing if pathetic spectacle.

Migrating

HUMAN BEINGS are nomadic, mmirgratory by nature, because for tens of millions of years, our ancestors maintained neolithic, hunter gatherer civilization, groups of maybe fourty always on the move, following the seasion, and the food. The invention of agruculture and animal husbandry and neolithic civilization was a great step forwared for humanity, allowing for sustained progress in evolving human civilization towards greater understanding of nature and higher artistic expression. Nonetheless, to this day, we have the urge to roam. In her shockingly insightful new book "Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World", Gaia Vince points this out, and reminds us that human history has been largely shaped by migrataion; large groups of people all moving together as a group into new territories. Climate Change is upon us, and becoming more extreme every year. During the past decade unprecedented numbers of people have migrated around the world, humanity is on the move as never before; from Africa into Europe, from Latin America into North America. As climate change worsens, and extreme wildfires, drought, flood, violent storms and torrential floods, sea level rise, and other disasters become more and more impactful and destructive, people will be forced to move away from today's coastal habitat, and surrender it to the ocean. About one half of the world's eight billion people live within a few miles of the ocean, and will have to move inland. Gobal civilization will be shaken up as is already happening, the migration of billions of people over the next couple of decades disrupting every nation's political balance, every country's economy and culture, straining resources to the point of economic and infrastructure collapse. People will be forced to move away from areas where extreme drought decade after dacade are turning the land into desert, driving human cities out. As the Lousiana and Virginia coastlines shrink and vanish, people will be forced to move ever more north of New Orelans, and ever more east of Washington D.C. and New York City. Even now sea water is rising and flooding up and into the Miami, Florida sewer sytem, and the New York City subway system. Humanity produces eough food to feed everyone, and yet, billions of people don't get enough to eat. How much longer until the water wars begin? We humans can barely drag ourselves to the meeting table and even begin to discuss much less agree on how to reverse climate change and how to save the environment, for heaven's sake. I'm extremely grateful for the life I have now, for the life I have had over many decades, and for whatever life I have remaining in the future. I'm not worried about myself. What worries me is wondering what kind of world, environmentally and climatically, the kids being born now will have as they age into adulthood. Will Earth become superheated, with heat waves, droughts, and wlidfires all over the planet? This is already happening, of course, and can only get worse. Already massive flooding events are happening all over the world, as are wildfires. How much worse will it become, over the next quarter century and half century? Thinking about this is alarming, and also, you can't help feeling how unfair this situation is for the next generations to come.

Suppression: Seeking Fairness

FOREIGNERS VISITING AMERICA often comment about the frequency with which we Americans play and listen to our national anthem, at seemingly all public events. We do the pledge of allegiance a lot too. The same is true of praying. We Americans do a lot of public praying, in groups. And, considering the current very conservative make up of the United States Supreme Court, it seems likelly that over the next coupleof decades at least the judicial system will be affirming the right of American's to pray under all circumstances, whenever and wherever, notwithstanding the seperation of church and state, which far right wingers sometimes argue isn't in the constitution, even though it plainly seems to be in the very first amendment thereto. throughout American istory, whenever Americans have prayed together in public in largenumbers, as they have freeuently, the prayer is invariably a Christian prayer, by default, by intent, by design. Usually the prayer is "non denominational"; you reallly can't tell whether it is being given by a Baptist or a Methodist, or whichever. And anybody in the group or crowd who happens to be non Christian, anyone who happens to be Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, or atheist, is expected to quietly participate in the prayer, if only by remaining silent. Christians have always been comfortable with that, because they greatly outnumber all the ohter non Christian faiths, and can easily ignore the non Christians in the crowd, or pretned thay aren't present, or whatever works best for them. things would be considerably different if representatives of all of other faiths started demanding equal opportunity to lead their faithful in prayer at public events in America. The Christian majority would likely be far less comfortabl with a society in which all religions were given equal time, and religious suppression, which is actually what we have in America now, were eliminated in favor of religious equality, equality of religious representation and expression Presumably, the vast majority of Christians in atendance would simply have to remain standing silently while all this took place, which in the future, it very well might. The fact is that America is becoming increasingly religiously diverse, as migration from all over the world brings other faiths to the U.S. and more people choose to embrace non Christian forms of worship and faith.

Entering A Danger Zone

THERE IS A STRONG POSSIBILITY that within the next ten years the United States and china will go to war against each other. That is the assessment of geo-political analysts Hal Brands an Michael Beckley in their intriguing but alarming new book: Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China". That is to say, the coming conflict between the U.S.A. and China. The threat of a war between the two superpowers will peak during the next decade, and of course can still be avoided, although there is no curent indication that either nation is willing to do what is necessary to avoid catastrophic war. The rivalry between Chian and the U.S. is of course decades old, dating to long before the Chinese communist revolution of 1949. Tensions and animosities between the two countries has noticeably increased during the past few years, as anyone wo follows the news and current events has observed. China's behavior has been increasingly aggressive and acrimonious, and has included a huge military build up larger than any since World War Two, expansion of Chinese control over the South China Sea, China's rapid industrialization and commercialization of its economy, which includes a large amount of intellectual property theft from American sources, which the United States has repeatedly protested. China is acting like an emerging superpower or empire determined to fulfill what it considers its destiny of domination of the international order, economically and militarily. For several decades the United States has been the world's only true superpower, and the threat of a rising China will force the U.S. to respond, either by accepting China's rise, or opposing it. People who closely study the history and politics of nuclear weapons generally consider it a miracle that no atomic bombs have been used in war since Nagasaki in 1945, and most agree that it is nearly inevitable that nukes will be used in the future, unless the world acts quickly and effectively with international agreement to remove them as a global threat. Currently, eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world seems only a remote possibility. The looming global catastrophe of climate change and environmental collapse, and international competition rather than cooperation for increasingly scarce resources, together portend poorly for our (humanity's) future, immediate, and long range.

Catering to the Base

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES for various high political offices in America, in general, are Trumpists. The ones endorsed by Trump are tending to win in the primaries, and will be opposing Democrats in November, but not in all cases, which might indicate a slight weakening of Trump's grasp on teh Repubican party. Still, Trump's grasp is strong. Most candidates are endorsing Trump's election denial lie, and many of them are vowing to fight and eliminate everything that is "woke" in these United States. Among the far right, woke is the enemy. The only remaining question is: exactly what is "woke"? The term originated, it is widely assumed, within the African-American community, and the term "woke" refers to a state of awareness in which the systemic racism which is so obvioius throughout American culture and society - is acknowledged. Acknowledged and emphasized, rather than denied, as is the tendency throughout conservative America. Hence conservatives have twisted the term to mean progressive social and cultural values in general, including political correctness. Hence, in conservatives states, laws are being passed by far right wing state legislatures making it illegal to mention anything having to do with gay rights or gay culture in public schools, and illegal to teach in public schools that there is a history, past and present, of systemic racism in these United States. Illegal, in other words, to acknowledge and teach the truth. American conservatism, as embodied in and represented by Donald Trump and the Republican party, prefers to deny the existence of racism, gay culture, and climate change, as well as Biden's legitimate election victory over Trump. An ideology of denial and lies. And just like conservatives tried to ridicule and scorn the words "liberal" and "gay" into hiding, so now they are trying to turn the term "woke" into a shameful word, by twisting its meaning. Amereica, as usual, needs exactly the opposite of conservative cultural vallues. America needs to embrace, rather than eliminate "woke", which, after all, is nothing other and nothing more than acceptance of reality.

Drenching

IT HAPPENS MORE AND MORE OFTEN. In some innocent town, city, or locale, the folks are minding their own business, on an ordinary day, when, suddenty, it starts raining, and refuses to stop. Inch after inch of driving rain pelts down, until a foot or more has fallen, and everything to the horizon is a solid lake, everything underwater. The results are always catastrophic: billions of dollars of damage, lost property, dozens of lives lost, if not more. Just within the past couple of weeks this has happened to St. Louis, western Kentucky, Dallas, and even Death Valley, California, among the hottest driest places on Earth, usually. Its also happening all over the world, this pattern of sudden, excesssive rainfall in extreme amounts, then, flooding, destructon,and death. it happened in Seoul, South Korea. And it all makes perfect sense, is easily explainable, and scientist of all sorts, from climate scientists to meteorologists, have been predicting and warning us for decades: that this would inevitably happen. The more heat there is in the atmosphere, the more mosture the atmosphere holds, and the more often the occurrence of these intense rain events. In a word, climate change, Its that simple, and its happening right in front of our faces. The new normal is extreme droughts over wide spread areas, with the wildifres and all that, and, the more violent storms, more intense, heavier rainfall events. The droughts and wildfires are also happening all over the world; throughout much of Europe, including Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy, as well as Australia, China, and Africa. Its bad now; not a day goes by during which we don't hear about one climate change disaster or another. Not only that, but climate science is now able to determine precisely which extreme weather events are caused by climate change, and to what extent. Almost all of them are. Very recently Congress passed a large spending bill with a lot of money included to fight climate change, mainly by installing solar and wind energygenerating facilities and halping the electric car industry. Every Republican in Congress voted against it, just as generally every Republican votes against any bill intended to fight climate change. That seems insane, and in fact is, and the question is: why? Conservatism embraces tradition, and resists change, is why. Time is rnning out to save the atmosphere, and may have already run out. Over the next few years, starting now, the weather and climate both are only going to become worse, more extreme, more inhospitable. Electing Republicans, from here on, can only be described as a climate disaster.

Defeating Craziness

ALL ACROSS America's fruited plain, all across our great nation this fall, Republicans will be running for offices such as congressperson or election commissioner who are outspokenly, devotedly, election deniers, embracers of Trump's big stolen election lie. They will be running because they defeated other Republican candidates in the primaries who are not election deniers or supporters of Trump; it is still Trump's party, and one must support Trump, including his big lie, to succeed within it. This unto itself is terribly alarming. The thought that election deniers might get elected to positions of high office, overseeing elections, is beyond alarming. Their Democrat opponents, if they are smart, will during the fall campaign constantly remind the voters that there is no way in hell we the people want to elect election deniers to any public office, including dog catcher, for one simple reason: election deniers are demonstrably either crazy, dishonest, or both, and thus, unqualified to hold office. In order to be accepted as a player/decision maker/candidate for high office in the Republican party, you must be an election denier, meaning you must be crazy, dishonest, or both. This is merely one example, one symptom, of the massive descent of the Republican party, of conservative America, of conservative evangelical Christian America, into insanity. There are many more, as proven by the fact that seventy percent of Republicans still insist the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and the same seventy percent still believe that Trump's violent insurrection at the Capitol and his attempt to overturn Biden's election vicroty were and still are noble, worthwhile undertakeings, all in the pursuit of justice and the American way. These people are insane, deluded, like Hitler's NAZI followers. This descent of teh Grand Ole party is being closely observedby man keen observers. Among the most astute is Tim Miller, whose book "Why We Did It: a Travelogue of the Republican Road To Hell" provides insight into the causes of this tragic demise of a once center right party of reason into a mob of far right wing advocates of populist authoritarianism, the cult of Trump. Miller is a born again, reformed former conservative Republican hit man, whose function was to smear Democratic candidates and produce anti-progressive propaganda. But he drew the line at Atump, refusing to supprt what was obviously to Miller a severely unethical scam artist. In this sense his book reads like a confesion; Miller takes the blame for helping to enable Trump's rise, by providing advice which was followed. He seems genuinely remorseful. It reminds one of David Brock, himself a right wing operative turned progressive strategist, and his seminal book: "Blinded By the Right". Brock was assigned to stalk and research the Clintons, but the more he learned about them, the more he admired them. Through journalists, their process of elucidation of public afairs, we the American people might finally be awakening to the reality of what an absolutely horrible and harmful organization the Republican party has become. For our sake, let us hope.

Crazies, Being Crazy

THE CRAZIES, aka Trump lovers, including white evangelical ChristianTrump lovers, seem to have finally exhausted all their many lame lies and excuses for Trump having been caught red handed in illegally in possession of Top Secret documents. Um...oh, well, before he removed them, borrowed them, and took them to his house he had them declassified, as standart procedure.. yeah...sure...the FBI planted all the documents, boxes and boses of them, in his house, in ordr to set Trump up for a phony bust, because the FBI has been infiltrated by liberal Democrats who are out to get Trump....the raid was totally useless an unnecessary, since Trump had been cooperating all along with the government, and the situation would have been resoloved with no problems. Doubtless you've heard them all. Incredibly weak. MAGA America seems to have finally settled on a slightly less insane version of this last one. attemptintg to distract from the real issues, Trump's criminality, the MAGA mob is expressing shoek, horror, and deep, deep concern over the heavy handedness of the FBI, concern about the government over reach from the Justice Department, behaving like an authoritatian government, and using the FBI like Gestapo storm troopers. This of course is completely phony, and every bit as idiotic as the discarded rationales. The very same people who uttered not a squeak of protest or anger when George Floyd was murdered on camera by a police officer now worry about police officers conducting a duly authorized raid, all strictly according to due process mandated by federal court. Suddely, conservative pro Trump America is concerned about police behavior. Truly laughable. The real issue, of course, is the shocking revelation the the former president of teh Unied States, upon leving office, stole ans smuggle into his privat home a large number of government documents and property, much of it Top Secret of beyond Top Secret. The actual results of the raid, the FBI'ds acquisition of all this evidenc, prove conclusivelyl that the raid was not onlly justified and proper, but, inf act, absolutely necessary. What Turmp did is, alas, nothing short of treasonous and traitorous. Trump could have done a great deal of damage to the United States with his stolen material, and perhaps he already has. That, as they say, remains to be seen. By now he's had time to sell the nuclear secrets to Russia, or, hell, to just hand them over gratis to hs old buddy and icon, Vladimir Putin. Heaven help Ukraine if Trump were still president; by now, the Russians would have conquered Ukraine with American assistance, were Trump still in office. Once again, supporters of Donald Trump, by their continued support of him after all his criminal and immoral behavior, have proven that they are no better than he, no more honest nor less criminal and immoral. . How dare anyone suggest that MAGA members, especially evangelical Christians are morally inferior for supporting Donald Trump? Anyone who accepts election defeat with grace and good character is superior morally to Trump and his supporters, and anyone who is shocked and horrifed at Trump's handling of stolen Top Secret documents is morally superior to the whole MAGA mob, which, it appears, wants to merly sweep the whole thing under the rug, as usual.

Talking Cats

WE WERE TALKING ABOUT CATS, as it seems I often am. Cats can be a topic somewhat like the weather; innocuous, agreeable, hard to argue about or engender controversy and resentment. She was a ninety year old lady I had known for awhile, and had mixed emotions about, having heard her say things like: "Nowhere in the Bible does it say that its OK to have women ministers". But she was saying all the right things about cats. About how she had had a cat for twenty years, but that it had died, and that her grief had been so great that for a long time she simply wasn't ready or able to obtain another cat, not enough time had passed since her loss. Somebody said that she must have taken very good care of it for the cat to have lived so long, and I agreed. She mentioned that at various times people tried to gift her with a kitten for adoption, and she had simply not been ready. We all agreed that we knew exactly how she felt. The empathy was apparent. Then she said that finally, the time had come, and she knew she was ready to adopt another cat. She said that she wanted to pick one out for herself, rather than have somebody siply present her with one. For some reason that raiseda bit of a red flag with me, although I'm still not sure why; really, I cannot fault anyone for wanting to choose their own pert, nor, for that matter, for having preferences about the animal's appearance, such as color, gender, and so forth. she said she had indicated that she had always wanted a black cat, and the guy told her "Ma'am, there isn't a white hair on his entire body". So, at last, she had a black cat. Then came the bombshell. the first thing she did, she said, was to have the cat declawed. Instantly, I felt the shock, anger, and hatred surge through me. To me, and probably to most people, declawing a cat is torture, abuse, and should be illegal. She kept talking, saying that cat's don't need their claws on their front feet anyway, since they actually fight with their hind legs only. And besides, she had to protect her furniture. Incredible, that anyone would actually say that; cat's don't use their front claws. More proof that people are willing, ready, and able to invent any fantasy, embrace any lie, which suits their interests by justifying their beliefs and behavior. What, pray tell, kind of person would choose to declaw a cat, then invent and embrace the idiotic lie that cats only fight with their hind legs anyway, so do not miss their absent front claws. Merely to hide one's guilt? Why go to such an extreme? A real sicko, right? Or, maybe, just maybe a normal, ordinary human being. Hell, you just want people to have enough integrity to leave out the bullshit. Sickening, how often and how easily most people abandon their own moral principles for expediency. Are you listening, Trump people?

Dumping and Trumping

LIZ CHENEY is an absolutely ideal conservative Republican. Or, so it seems from the other side of the isle. Obviously, she has a good pedigree, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Conservative to the core, with all the right positions on all the right issues, and among the most consistent supporters of Trump with her voting record in Congress, something like ninety seven percent Trump. And yet, here she is, esssentially alienated and ostricized from the Republican party, having two days ago lost by a very wide maring the Republican primary for her seat in Congress. The lady wo beat her is almost certain to defeat the Democrat opponent, another lady, this fall, in what is among the nation's and the state's (Colorado) most conserative congressional districts. And all because LIz Cheney had the guts, and the integrity, and the morality to call a spade a spade, to call Trump's big lie a lie, which she did from the "git go". Liz Cheney, despite her conservatism, has shown a great deal of courage and integrity. The lady, Hariet Hageman an outspoken far right wing lawyer and unconditional Trump supporter who defeated her is a big Trumper, and a vociferous proponent of the big lie of the stolen election sort. Eveyone, including Liz Cheney, knew that this was coming. Trump had endoresed Hageman weeks ago. Let that sink in, as they say. In order to run for election as a Republican, or to even be accepted in the Republican party, it is absolutely necessary, one simply must; accept and preach the big Trump lie, that the election was stolen from Trump. The Republican party is still the party of Trump, as evidenced by the fact that Trump's candidates are winning a lot of primaries against non-Trump candidates, and the Republican party is now completely founded upon a brazen lie. In order to be a member in good standing in the G.O.P. (republican party) you must swallow the lies of Trump, hook, line, and, as they say, sinker. How incredible, that one of America's two major political parties has come to this, has reached this incredibly low low. Maybe Trump and Cheney will both run for president in the 2024 Republican primaries. That would be high entertainment indeed. Surely we are witnessing the destruction and dissolution of the Republican party.

Amazingly Following Trump

THE MOST AMAZING THING about Donald Trump isn't his dishonesty or criminality; the most amazing thing about Donald Trump is the mindset and behavior of his followers, plus, of course, the sheer number of them, tens of millions. Amazing, that upwards of seventy million previusly presumed intelligent, decent Americans have chosen to deceive themselves by embracing Trump's lies and criminality. Trump's latest act of traitorous criminality, stealing, smuggling, and concealing Top Secret government documents, has now been verified, confirmed. He did it, flat out. but instead of simly acknowledging this shocking reality and condeming Trump for putting American national security at great risk, Trump's supporters are livid, outraged at the FBI, threatening the agency with violence and threatening the country with civil war. This civil war would presumably be between the Trump people, which for the most part consists of white conservative evangelical Christians, and the anti-Trump people, which consists of good patriotic Americans with moral values and an intellect. Sometimes Trump's supporters remind one of Hitler's followers; cultish, insanely loyal, reduced in moral and intellectual character to the lowly status of their esteemed leader. The FBU is in a purely defensive, ultra prepared position. Never before have Americans treated their own law enforcement agency this badly. The threates of violence are all over social media, and many are being received daily at various FBI locations aroud the country. The threats are coming exclusively from white Christian conservative America, from the Trump base of support. Defund the FBI, scream the same people who ridiculed thsoe who protested against the murder of George Floyd two years ago and called for defunding police departments. Trump and his base of support tried to steal teh presidential from Joe Biden by pretending that Biden stole it from Trump, then they tried to overthrow the government with a violent insurrection, and now that Trump ha been exposed as a criminal, once again, by stealing government secrets, his base continues to follow and support him, and will evidently continue to do so, all the way to hell.

Building the Future

IN SAUDA ARABIA, ther is a plan to construct a single building five hundred meters high, two hundred meters across, and about one hundred and seventy one kilometers in length. The outside of it will reportedly be covered entirely with mmirrors. The building will be a city, of roughly nine million people, acording to the plan, which evidenty was drawn up by some of the world's best urban planners and architects, and has the approval of the Saudi government, meaning the royal family, the king and his assistants, including the crown-(clown) prince, Mr. Bin Salmon. construction has already began, and by the year twenty thirty at least one point five million people are expected to already be living in it. In every nook and cranny of the giant building-indoor city, everyone who lives there will be within a five minute walk to nearly anything anyone can possible imagine needing, certainly all the basics and staples. The mirrors on teh entire outside of teh structure wil enhance the sensation tha the building is part of nature, blening in with and reflecting its surroundings. With regard to energy, food, and water sources, the new city will apparently be completely carbon neutral, and will damage, deplete or destroy no resources nor life. A sustainable city of the future, which, when you consider how narrow it is across (about two hundred meters) will actually take up consiedrably less ground space than other cities of nine million people. Amazing, to be watching the future unfold in science fiction style. even better, there are predictions that the solutions to climate change are already within our grasp, the we need only implement them, and that a rejuvenated "born again" planet Earth could be achievable within this century. Hallelujah and amen to that, right-o? The Biden administration and most of teh world's progressive governments and thinkers are on board with the "thirty by thirty" plan, according to which by the year twenty thirty a mimimum of thirty percent of teh world's land area and ocean area will be given over completely to wildlife habitat and wilferness. The plan's primary opponents, surprise surprise, are American conservatives. American conservatives, including Trump's special evangelical Christian MAGA mob, endorse the idea of exploiting one hundred percent of Earth's resources for profit, capitalistically and corporationally. You may recall their "bring back coal" plan, which, thank the dear lord, died with the Trump administration.

Decrying Trump's Mistreatment

AS THE HOURS AND DAYS passed post FBI raid-on-Trump, MAGA-America intensifeid its conniption fit. The very same people who ridiculed the "defund the police" movement after the murder of George Floyd, law and order pro Trump America, began calling for the defunding and destruction of that bastian of radical liberal political activism, the FBI, the agency whose director-decision maker was installed by Trump himself. This latest "witch hunt" is simply too much to take. After all, if it can happen to a former president (who should actually still be president) - it can happen to you. And thank God it can happen to tyou, or to any American who breaks the law by hording top secret documents instead of turning them over to the proper authorities, which is exactly what Mr.Trump seems to have done. Do we now expect him to call together a violent mob for the purpose of attacking and ransacking the FBI building? Most amusing, as always, are the many and varied lame defenses of Trump, and expressions of hatred by the far right agaisnt the law and order they so fervantly swear to abide by. Trump, it seems, actually had already declassifed all the top secret documents he illegally transported to Maralago instead of turning over to the government. Nobody seems able to locate any of the paperwork or presidential signatures which would have facilitated this. Will Trump escape indictment and prosecuation, now that he had been caught red handed, so to speak, with top secret material where it should never be, in his possession? If he does, he would deserve to be remembered as the second American teflon president, teh first having been Ronald Reagan.

Changing Color

"THE LAST WHITE MAN", a newly publisehd science fiction-fantasy dystopian sociological political novel by Mohsim Hamid, exemplifies its title. The protagonist, a white guy of Scandinavian descent, awakens one day to discover that his skin a surned a deep shade of brown. But he is not alone. In the unnamed country in which he lives, every other white person has the same experience, as if the universe wants the previously white race to understand the burden of dark skin by experiencing it personally. Hamid was inspired by Franz Kafka's iconic "Meatmorphosis", in which the central character turns into a giant insect. The people who turn dark are immediately treated differently, more poorly, by their friends and neighbors. This should not surprise them, but does. Thus has Hammid written an insightful examination of racism and personal identity. So much for white supremacy, numerical or cultural. Jews will not replace us? In the novel, the white race replaces itself, and joins the crowded club of darkly pigmented peoples. The current incarnation of the white Christian conservative Republican party knows the feeling, for it lives in a world in which white conservative Christians are being "replaced" by hordes of undocumented brown immigrants, courtesy liberalism. What a nightmarish reality which to invent, and in whcih to dwell. To be a Christian conservative must be sheer hell, constantly confronted with the hideious specter of ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity. the replacement project is neither random nor natural, but rather the carefuly orchestrated machination of......whom? A secret cons[iray of teh "deep state", millions of government bureaucrats organized to destroy traditional America, perhaps with the assiatance of the NAACP, the mainstream liberal midia, and the Democratic party? Upon further reflection, replacing America's paranoid delusional right wing with, damned near anybody, might not be such a bad idea after all. Glad they thought of it.

Deconstructing

IT ALL BEGAN with Newt Gingrich, the unrelenting attack on political civility and reason which has now become not only pervasive, but transparently visible within the Republican party, according to journalist Dana Milbank in his illuminating new book "The Deconstructionisits: The twenty Five Year Crack Up of the Republican party". The very moment Bill Clinton was sworn in as the nation's fortieth president in 1992, conservative America, accustomed to having the presidency, spoiled after twelve long years of Reagan and Bush, reacted with hostility. Young white men began forming "citizen's militias", hate groups well armed in the woods, pretending to be military organizations in defense of liberty and virtue, a trend which persisted but came to a sudden end when the federal building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by two militia members. Then came 1994, and Gingrich's "contract With (On) America". Gingrich, mentored by right wing extremist activist Carl Rove, himself a shady Nixonian figure, decided to destroy bi-partisanship in favor of all out, no holds barred war agasint Clinton, the Democrats, and progressive policies. Gingrich was successful in persuading a sufficient number of his fellow right wingers to adopt this approach, that it became the only approach employed by Christian conservative America. Never compromise with, never agree with the left, no matter whether the left makes reasonable proposals. Republicans had been out of power in the House of Representatives for forty years, and Gingrich decided that the time to work with Democrats across party lines was done, and that only by waging all out war and abandoning any pretense of cooperation could conservative America regain legislative power. The rise of Gingrich coincided with the entry of Dana Milbank into journalsim, and ever since he has carefully kept track of the situation, a situation he contends which led directly from Gingrich to Dondald Trump, passing through the Tea Party along the way. Thus has the Republican party evolved from a center right party of Reagan and reason, to the extremist, violent terrorist-criminal enterprise it is today. Milbank reminds us of what we already knew; that Donald Trump and "Trumpism" is a symmpton, rather than a cause, of this disease. There was a time when consrvative America reacted to its losses with at least some small degree of equanimity. Now it reacts by fasely claiming that elections are stolen from them, and by violently attempting to overthrow the federal government. Milbank details with incisive detail how we arrived at this sorrowful place.

Saying It Like Sagan

CARL SAGAN, who said many things best, said, paraphrased: "Why has there never been a religion which says: "This is better than we ever thought possible! The universe is larger, grander, more elegant, more subtle, more beautiful than any of our prophets or sacred scriptures ever told us? Glory hallelujah!" The answer, as Sagan was pointing out, is that by nature religion does not seek to improve itself, does not seek to incorporate new knowledge into its worldview, and refuses to accept progress, instead preferring to proclaim itself perfect, incapable of advancement. Religions prefer to keep their universes and their gods small. Carl Sagan, like most people well educated in science, had serious misgivings about religion. Sagan had what he called a love affair with science, as do many intellectuals. What he loved about science, as he indicated in his seminal book "The Demon Haunted World" is that it provides new knowledge, it expands humanity's understanding of the world and the universe, it gives us an enhanced appreciation of the glorious natural world, and, most of all, it seeks constantly to improve and correct itself, to learn from its own mistakes. Science inspires those who are amenable to inspiration. Science over the past four hundred years has shown us a universe far larger, more incredible, and more amaagingly sublte and elegant than any religion every has or possibly ever could, within the confines of religion's primitive, mistaken notions about reality. Sagan, like many well educated people, saw religion as confining, stifling, perpetually stuck in its own little world of profound limitations and falsehoods, its views of nature forever locked into a false reality, because of its refusal to grow, change, and improve itself through self correction. Science ceaselessly progresses towards a greater understanding of nature, including human nature. Religions remains forever moribund within nonsensical, primitive cosmic paradigms. According to the bible, for instance, the Earth is flat, and the stars are shiny little trinkets suspended from the solid dome of the sky. Or, they are the light of heaven, shining through pinprick holes in the great iron sky dome, according to which scriptural passage you accept, take your pick. This version of reality is badly out of date, and needs updating, an updating it will never receive, because the Bible is considered by its votaries to be inviolable, sacred, unalterable, perfect, tragically. Religion, every religion of the thousands extant, needs a new book, a new and improved version of reality. Science has a new and improved book every moment of every day. The only true religion is reverence of reality, as revealed by science.

Raidng Trump

THE FBI NEVER BOTHERS ANYBODY without good reason, despite the best eforts of conservatives to denigrate the agency. Donald Trump didn't say anything about whether the feds messed up his bedsheets or entered and rearragned his closets, but he did say that he was being persecuted for political purposes. Yet another Trump lie, more whining. Admittedly the FBU did, several years ago, harass a good friend of mine over an extended period of time by listing him as a "person of interest" in a string of serial killings, and admittedly that irked me a mite, but, well, they were just doing their job. The FBI never raids anyone's house without probable cause, formalized by the signature of a federal judge. Now we wait to find out whether Trump did indeed violate the law, as the Department of Justice suspects he did, by failing to turn over government documents to the National Archives, and instead spiriting them away to his Florida hovel. Hint: he spirited them away, he broke thelaw; otherwise Merrick Garland would never have sought the signature of a federal judge. Now the entertainemnt commcnces. Better grab your biggest popcorn popper. FOX "news", so I am told, is already "freaking out". We shall shortly be gifted the spectle of not only MAGA Amerca, but conservative America and evangelical America having a, as we say, "shit fit", about poor Mr. Trump, the messenger of chrst, being tormented mercilessly by those rascally liberal Democrats. We will learn that the FBI has been infiltrated by and is full of wild eyed liberals, bent of bringing Trump down. another conspiracy of the left wing media, the DMC, and, for good measure, the Chinese. The notion that Trummp is capable of violating the law, much less being a constant criminal, will never enter their deluded little minds. As the hours passed post raid, the righteous indignation of the right proliferated, stinking and shining like dead mackeral by moonlight. Thus came the calls for investigation of the FBI, the Justice Department, and promises of dire retribution. The members of the sub committee investigating Trump's failed violent attempt to overthrow the American federal government were threatened with jail, in the event that the Republicans capture the majority in Congress. It was pointed out that no former president had ever been treated this way. It was not pointed out that no foremer president has ever organized and orchestrated an insurection agaisnt the United States government. Good pro Trump evangelical Christians, always eager with threats of damnation, threatened to consign Democrats to hell. With regared to hell, they are the experts.

Singing, Just To Sing

SOMETIMES I WONDER whether anyone thinks it strange that I, who lack religious faith, sing with a gospel group. Or maybe they simply smugly assume that I am one of them, a devout Christian, and have been "saved". People, and particularly deeply religious people, are presumptuous. How on Earth could anyone possibly not be a Christian, especially one who sings in a gospel group? Well, dearly beloved religious, permit me to introduce you to a concept which to you is doubtless novel. Its called "open mindedness". One way to put it is "when in Rome". A better way is to say that it never hurts anybody, including me, to try to understand and experience the viewpoints of other people. In fact, it might help. Also, let's bear in mind that there are thousands of religions on Earth, about fifteen hundred organized in the United States and registered with the gevernment for purposes of tax evasion, and that, as Goethe said: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decide to invent mine." Any approach to anyone's religiosity which is not predicated on open mindedness and acceptance is unreasonable. No matter who yo are, your approach to god is not superior to any other. Its simply....yours. People who ardently embrace formal, organized religious dogma are by nature not prone to espouse or express empathy beyond the limits of their own faith, tending instead to recoil in horror, disgust, or mere disapproval of those outside it. I don't like organized, dogmatic religion, nor dogmatic, religious viewpoints generally. Give me the free spirited pantheist, agnostic, or atheist any old day. Having said that, I know many Christians who are extremely nice, kind, and good people. I firmly believe they would be that way no matter what their religious convictions, or lack thereof. I have never seen any evidence that religion improves anyone, and I suggest that neither has anyone else. Actually, research repeatedly indicates that atheists are morally of higher quality that the deeply religious. As Casey Stengal said: "You could look it up". Personal improvement comes from within. Contrary to what most people seem to think, religious influences come from outside the individual, bestowd by societal influences. Truth be told, I'd much rather gather together and sing classic rock n roll songs from the sixties, or I think I would. But, singing is singing, it is what it is, as the tired cliche goes, and if I can learn to tolerate their bizarre, unpleasant songs about being saved by being covered in the blood of Christ, they can learn to tolerate me, or better yet to accept me, since sustained tolerance, as goethe said, is an insult, whether or not they have the foggiest idea of my religiosity, or lack thereof.

CPACing

CPAC IS AN ACRONYM WHICH, if menory serves, stands for "Conservative Political Action Committee", or maybe "Citizens Poised Against Civility". Either will suffice, being accurate. They gather together once or twice a year, to spout what to them is inviolable verity but to the sane sheer nonsense. Among their featured speakers this year is the Hungarian demagogue-dictator Viktor Orban, their hero. Just the other day his speech resulted in his receiving a standing ovation from the assembled. He reminds them of Trump, he reminds himself of Trump, thus his hero status. All he needs to do is to be defeated for reelection, then try to overthrow the Hungarian government to achieve true Trumpian status. Orban is a true Republican. He is concerned about the purity of the "white" race, and believes that the immigration of brown and black people into Europe and particularly into Hungary is a great tragedy, because it dilutes raial purity. Like Trump, like Republicans, he would quite likely prefer that all immigrants into Europe come from, oh, say... Norway. Liberals sometimes accuse right wing MAGA types of being "fascists". Meanwhile, MAGA types bend over backwards, so to speak, to justify this unkind accusation. Viktor Orban indicated that it is impossible for Christians to be racist. Really? Wherever he got this notion, he needs to revise it. The American Republican party has been described by academicians as the "white Christian party". Take a quick peek at the audience for Orban, and bear in mind that the keynote speaker for CPAC is none other than Donald J. Trump, who wishes to eliminate immigration from what he calls "shit hole countries" of Africa, and to allow immigration from, as he said, Norway. Lily white, those Norwegians. Racism permeates the Republican party. Racism is a traditional, conservative, core American value. White nationalism, Christian nationalism dwell within the conservative community, not the liberal. And thus did the Hungarian dictator admonish liberals to "go to hell", and expressed concern that the racial purity of white European Christian civilization is gravely threatened by immigration of dark skinned Muslims. Magyar ethnic purity, and all that. Appropriately, conservative racially pure Christian Republican America gave him a standing ovation. The more racist the remarks, the greater the positive response at CPAC meetings. Then came Trump, who most of his life has falsely claimed that he is of Swedish and not German ancestry, a habit he got from his grandfather and father, the former having been kicked out of Germany for criminal activity. Did Trump tell the adoring white Christian conservative crowd that windmills cause cancer, or that George Washington's army captured every airport from the British in colonial revolutionary America, or that Friendship with Italy dates to the reign of Julius Caesar? Probably not. Trump doesn't like to repeat himself; doing so exposes lies. so, in with Norwegian immigrants and out with the black and the brown toned. That'll get 'em up on their feet, applauding. A healthy does of racism goes a long way towards satisfying white Christian America, for whom racism is a core cultural value.

Jonesing

LISTENING TO ALEX JONES experiencing his eureka moment in court evoked a mixture of utter contempt and head shaking pity, not so much for him, for the bizarre scam job he has done on millions of radio followers, and for what he has put people through who have already been through much too much. Having bleated for years that the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was a hoax perpetrated by the "deep state" within the federal government for the purpose of collecting ammunation to justify banning assault rifles and taking good people's guns away from them, now, he waxes realistic, if not overtly contrite. Where he belongs, according to anyone with decent moral values, is in prison. Where he actually is is in court, as the court determines his liability and damages, he having already been convicted of civil charges. IN a predictable but disgusting attempt to avoid the huge financial settlement the court is likely to impose on him, he is also in bankruptcy court, although he is well known to be very well off financially. When one spends decades alluring the gullible with tales of the fantistically untrue, in this country, one gets rich, sometimes quickly. so he sat in court, all demure, and simply said, "I understand now that the Sandy Hook massacre really happened, and I never relly intended to hurt anybody, I never even used anyone's name". For that alone he richly deserves what was once called a "swift kick in the posterior". Witnesses said that when Jones issued his sorta pseudo mea culpa there were tears in his eyes, and he was perspiring profusely. Prsion is as good a place as any to cry and sweat. The Alex Jone's of the world have alwasy been an insidious infection in American culture, which itself originated and grew as a sort of scam, a culture of huxters. The internet merely magnifies and expands what is and has always been there, usually, in the past, in a religious guise. American culture is an incubator for newly born religions, various twisted versions of christianity. When we secularize nonsense, it takes the form of some imaginary "deep state", and a never ending slew of conspiracy assertions, assertions, because those who present "conspiracy theories" never present them as "theories", but rather, as proven, absolute fact. How else could they gain credibility, even among the gullible? P.T. Barnum may have said that "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people". Well, depending on what happens in the penalty phase of Alex Jone's civil lawsuit, and what happens to him in bankruptcy court, someone may indeed go broke underestimating, if not the intelligence, the resolve of the American people and the victims of its violent culture. You'd be hard pressed to think of a more deserving criminal than Alex Jones, in or out of prison.

Voting On Abortion

TEH GREAT STATE of Kansas, irreedemably conservative, popularly voted by a wide margin, nearly sixty forty, to in, essence keep abortion legal in the Sunflower State. Right wing pro birth extremist Trump types immediatley claimed that the election was stolen, that it was riddled with fraud, and that in actuality the people of Kansas voted by a landslide to outlaw abortion. It is not yet known whether and when an angry mob of Republicans will storm the state capitol and ransack the joint, and perhaps kill a few liberals. The referendum was expected to be close, but wasn't.In one of the most right wing states in the union, they the people amde known and reminded usthat we the American people want access to legal abortion. supposedly, the divide between pro choice and pro birth America is rather close, with a slim majority favoring pro choice. Now, this assumption is suspect. It may well be that a vast majority of the American population favor legalized abortion, with, of course, restrictions and limitations. the voter turnout in Kansas was extremel high; nearly twice the normal turnout. Abortion is obviously an issue which brings people out to vote, and would probably attract a large turnout in a national referendum, a national referendum being quite possibly the best possible solution to the question, a solution which could and would, in theory, end the controversy forever. but in these united states, we are relutant to let people vote too often, on too many issues. After all, that's what our political leaders are for, and heaven foribd that we should actually become a democracy, especially a direct one, rather than a republic. In states where the demise of Roe v Wade is bmboldening Republican state legislatures and governores to enact severe restrictions on abortion access, in several cases banning the proceedure altogether, the wishes of the majority are being ignored, the people are being governed by a minority extremist political party with a minority extremist agenda, not only concerning abortion rights, but most other issues as well. Does a majority of Americans want to ban books in public schools because some books express acceptance of gay and transgender people? No, absolutely not. Does a majority of Americans want to make it more difficult to vote, as Justice Alito says: "merely inconvenient", in order to address a mythological nonexistant problem with widespread election fraud? No, according to all surveys. And the list goes on. An American majority is progressive on all issues, including abortion rights. The struggle now is to return government to the majority, which usually but not always knows best, contrary to the beliefs of the nation's founders (except for Jefferson), who gave us a republican form of government which places power in the hands of an elite, aristocratic minority. Our hope, and perhaps the best kept secret of all; is that we the people, by voting in large numbers for progressive causes, can overwhelm the extremist far right wing with sheer numbers, representing the wishes of the people at large. Let the revolution at the ballot box begin.

Descending

MOST SHOCKING AND DISAPPOINTING of all is the precipitous declie of the moralaity of the American conservative community, specifically, te evangelical Christian conservative Republican Trump movement, aka, "the wusual suspects". After all, isn't this the demographic which pride itslef on its moral speriority, patriotism, and religious devotion? Tragically, its all a sham. When eighty two percent of them support donald Trump a yer and a half after Trump's violent insurrection,and most of them falsely insist that the election of 2020 was stolen from Trump, where is the moral superiority? It seems more like moral corruption, immorality, and dishonesty. As for patriotis, since when do patriotic Americans refuse to accept the result of a free and fair national election, attempt to violently overthrow the government, by attacking and ransacking the nation's Capitol building, killing five people? The alarm sounded way back in 2016 when Trump's famous Access Hollywood interview, with its horrible debauched message, failed to bother his supporters - you knew something was wrong, even at that early stage. In retrospect, it seems evident that the rise politically of Donald J. Trump was the driving force which brought out the worst in the Republcian party, the evangelical conservative community, and destroyed its moral fabric, and any claim to moral integrity American conservatism might otherwise have had. By embracing Trump, American conservatism can feel comfortable with its own racism becasue Trump fels comfortable with it, comfortable tiwht its anti-immigrant attitudes, comfortable with its hatred of gay and transgender. people. American conservatism is a movement in denial; denial of alimcate change, of vaccinations, of Trump's election loss. All of these denials are deadly harmful to the country, harming the United States presumably well into the uncertain future. Ant attempt to suggest that moral decline is happenign equally on both sides of teh pooitical spectrum falls flat, untrue, without eny evidence to back up the notion. Moral depravity, like racism, sexism, and the various forms of reality denial, are characteristices of the far right, conservatism, political and religious. That iw why this malignant movement ust be voted out of existence, swept into the proverbial dust bin of American history.

Spreading Disease

TEH DISEASE, which began witha single, evil virus in the form of a ie, has, as they say, metasticized, has gone grass roots, and spread across the country, well organized at the local level, if not the national. Nationally, it remains a bit amorphous. Trump's big lie has gone viral, digging its insidious way deeper into the fabric of American culture and politics, badly damaging both. Now it has twisted and morphed into a holy crusade to reform already fraud free American elections, by giving Republicans the power to overturn them, and by making it ever more difficult to vote, thereby driving down the number of voters, eliminating mainly poor black and brown citizens from voting. All this is precisely as planned. If Republicans have their way, if Republicans gain control of congress and enough state governments, it will soon become very difficult for anyone oher than a white conservative Christian Republican to vote. Or if not, it won't be because the Republcian party didnt try. All over the country, in Republican primaries, election denial candidates are running for office, and although most of them are not winning, enough of them are to create alarm. Right wing groups all across the fruited plain at the local level are going door to door trying to persuade anyone who will listen that the election was stolen from Trump. They simply will....not...let...it...go. The insane irony of it all is how blatant and obvious Trump's lie was from the git go, and how transparently obvious a lie it reamins today. NObody can possibly really believe taht teh election was stolen from Trump. From a psychological and sociological standpoint, it is fascinationg to witness firsthand the phenomenon of seventy five milllion people instantly, en mass, fervantly embrace an outright lie uttered by a strangely popular, criminal demagogue, and then to proeed to turn the lie into an ideology, a cause, a crusade, a movement, a religion. Election denialism. It has utterly taken over and transformed American conservatism. American conservatism is now engaged in a desperate struggle to reduce the number of peope who vote in the United States, dangerously. Also, America's right wing wants to outlaw any mention of gay or transgender culture in public schools, and prohibit any mention of America's history of racism, nor of its systemic racism, extant today. American conservatism, embodied by the Republicna party and within it the evangelical Trump movement - is stark, raving, insane, as evidenced by its insane policies.