Emulating Cassidy

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON is an American hero, beyond doubt. She is a lifelong Republican who never voted for a Democrat in her life, but is going to vote for Biden next time, despite her strong disagreements with his policies. She says that keeping Trump out of office is crucial to saving democracy in America, and that she will vote for Biden to save democracy, which to her is more fundamenally important than personal policy preferences. Her background, resume, and educational record are impressive, like those of most people who occupy important positions within the government. She served in the Trump administration, as MAGA loyalist through and through, who, as a close associate and advisor to the then president, was a Trump insider, and was well aware of nearly everything that the president did and said. She knew all about Trump's plan to steal the election from Biden, including his plan to deny the election results,and his formation of an elaborate plan to prevent Vice President Pence from certifying teh electoral college results on January 6, 2021,including the violent mob and its violent attacke on the Capitol. All Trump's idea, precisely executed, as he sat in the White House and not only did nothing to try to stop the violence, but actually rooted for the insurrection to succeed, by failing to order any law enforcement or national guard units to intervene. Csssidy Hutchison new all this, but on January sxth, as the mob ransacked the Capitol and killed several people, she decided, she realized, that she had has enough, and she could no longer remain loyal to Trump and supportive of his chaoti criminality. She knew that she would have to live with hereslf and her conscience for the rest of her life. She new that one day she would have to explain to her grand children what had happened, and what she had done on that horrible, infamous day of January 6, 2021. Ultimately, the decision wes not as difficult as she had thought it would be. She abandoned her support of Trump, left the Trup administation, and joined the side of American democracy, the side of those opposing Donald Trump. There she has remained ever since, writing, speaking, telling the truth. Because of this, she has been subjected to constant threats, death threas, the usual vile violent tactics of Trump supporters. On Decembrr 31, 2023 ahe appeared on national TV, a Sunday morning political talk show, and related all this to a national audience. Other young ladies, also former but reformed members of the Trump administration, joined on in the interview, repeated what Cassid Hutchinson said, told their own similar stories, confirming everything. the Trump campaing was watchign her appearane. It responded, roughly paraphrased, thus; "Cassidy Hutchinson is an ungrateful, lying grifter who took advantage of her position to profit personally from it, She is a disloyal traitor." vicious slander, from Trump and his criminal gangster enterprise. Typical fascist stuff. Fear by intimidation and threats. These ladies all speculated on what a second Trump term might look like; their warnings were dire. Trump, if elected, would assume dictatorial pwwers, as he has repeatedly said. He would fill the government with devot Trump supporters, and weaponize it, including the Department of Justice, to attack his perceived enemies, including Joe Biden, other Democrats, and those prominently opposed to Trump. All astute, objective political analysts echo this analysis. Thousands of former Trump loyalists whe have defected post insurrection have been the target of death threats. So have thousands of election workers, anti-Trump activists, among others. Trump and his criminal gang, his insdie suporters especially, are outdoing Hitler and the NAZIs in using this fear and intimidation by threat technique. By now, nobody should be surprised. It can get much worse.

Doubling, Tripling Down

ITS BEEN MORE THAN THREE YEARS since Donald Trump, early on election night, proclaimed his big lie. Even though it came from Trump,most people were udoubtedly surprised and shocked, though they needn't have been. Only a bit later did his sycophants decide to hop aboard that dishonest bandwagon. Their, for the most part, they remain today. Trump decided to double down, as we say, to commit himslef fully and irreversibly to his gamit, where he remains today. He often repeats his big election lie, in public that he was not beaten badly by Biden, that, as he said "Actually, we won the election". Between now and the next election, we can expect to hear the same tired, insane refrain repeatedly, early and often. And, we can expect nearly all of his obviously self deluded followers to fully support his outagioue claim. actually, everybody on Earth, except the seriously mentally ill, knows full well the Trump's lie is a lie. Trump knows it, and said so, repeatedly, in person, to confidants. Two weeks before the 2020 election, he told Ivanka, "No matter what happens in the election, we'll just say that we won. Fuck it." Ivanka testified this for congress and investigators. Case closed. The lie is blatant, and always has been. Trump and his cult had, and still have, many options in dealing with it. They could confess, and offer to repent and atone. Not likely. They could simply stop reapeating the lie, and claim, if asked, that they never raally meant it, that it was some sort of "joke". They could slowly but steadily back up, and, Trump leading the way, start to say things like: "Well, maybe the election wasn't totally corrupt, but election fraud is still a serious problem in our beloved America." (that too would be a lie, but for them, a retreat) .There are a million ways for them to extricate themselves from their factual trap, a million ways to slowly back up and stop the insanity. The individual people involved could all, as individuals deny ever having embraced the lie, and we the sane could either look the other way, or keep tellling the truth, while they deny ever having taken the lie seriously. Trump himself could claim that the Chinese made him do it. With Trump, anything is possible, and anything seems to work. But instead they choose and continue to choose the worst way, the way which will ultimately bring them down. They double down, and they keep repeating the lie with as much fervor as ever. Mentally ill and morally bankrupt that the big lie was from the very first, on election night, with each passing day, it become more so. Each day, the people who continue to spew and pretend to believe Trump's big lie, especially Trump, are, arguably, indisputably, more and more mentaally ill and immoral, both. More criminal. That as much as forty percent of the Aemrican people is in this frightening, dangerous, and pathetic state of mind is alarming enough, more than enough. Trump's criminal insanity would be insignificant, were he not potentially the next president of these United States. (Re)electing Trump in 2024 would be far worse than electing Hitler in 1933. Much worse. Far worse. It would probably be better, for the sake of the country, for we the sane to step back a bit, and let them work and squirm their way out of it and ti save face. But they only respond by boubling, tripling down. when the see s stepping back to give them room to escape, they see what they insanely think is weakness.Just another part of being criminally insane. So, at least for now and the foreseeable future, our only choice is to clearly respond to the big lie with facts, unrelenting opposition and determination, and, just for fun and variety, a healthy dose of scorn and ridicule. At the frist sign that they want a way out, then we'll make nice.

Going With Brandon

WITHIN TWO BLOCKS of my house in American tiny town south is a tire shop. Its a shabby white building housing, as far as I can tell, a tire repair business, and nothing else. I've had a coupla flats fixed there. They do a good job. In this tiny town, the tire shop is, amazingly, one of the hot social spots in town. It seems like more days than not a handful, often five or six, good old boys gather together there, and sit around, talking and doing nothing. Nice guys, country blue collar, strictly working class. And, they are right wing extremists. Christians, I don't know, but, my best guess is, very probably. Every time Trmp runs for president, the gravel dusty parking lot next to the busy tow lane highway bust out in a plethora of Trump campaign signs, and, sometimes, an anti-democrat sign. But, Trump, first and foremost. Sometimes a "Save America vote Trump" sign shows up. I fully expect the Trump signs to start coming out fairly soon, certainly within a few months, probably within a few weeks. I somehow psychically sensed that they were quite perturbed by Trump's election loss to Biden, sufficiently angered to totally buy in to Trump's big election lie, like so many other tens of millions of misguided Americans. Since I believe early in Biden's term, a single large sign has been hanging prominently from the ten foot chain link fence that surrounds the building. On it, in big letters, it says "Let's Go Brandon". "Brandon", I believe and assume, refers to Biden. Unless I am dreaming, in recent times in America the name "Karen" has been adopted by many brilliant people to refer to stupid women, and the name "Brandon" has been assigned to represent stupid men. Go figure. American culture in action. American exceptionalism, intellectually. It seems that the people least qualified by education to change or add to the English language are the most inclined to change it by trying to add to it. It is what it is, as the brilliant people like to say. Let's go Brandon. Derisively encouraging Biden, like encouraging a stupid person who needs help. A real put down, a real powerful insult aimed at Biden. What a horrible thing to say! The question is: is that the best they can do? Is that their idea of a good, stinging, effective, clever, funny insult? If it is, then the Trump movement is in trouble, deep trouble. They have nothing better. No facts, only name calling on a grade school level. Let's go Brandon. Meanwhile, over on Brandon's side, I keep telling democrats, progressives, Trump haters that it is no longer necesssary to call Trump names, as if it ever was, and really, not even necessary to insult Trump with facts. Indeed, the bare facts themselves are a powerful insult against Trump. Powerful, but no longer necessary. Every day, with every word he speaks, Doanld Trump clearly reveals himself, who he really is, far better and beyond my ability, or anyone else's ability to do. Trump reveals and insults himeself when he speaks, and the facts themselves not only insult, but condemn him. But just in case you feel an irresistable urge to put up a sign insulting Trump with facts rather than stupid names; try: "Trump-91 felonies". Or maybe: "Trump Insurrection 2024"...How about "Lock Don Up"? Or "Windmill Cancer Trump"... Well,you get the idea. All I know is,in a strange, Schadefreuden kind of way, I personally am really looking forward to the advertising part of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Going To Heaven

AMONG THE MANY BENEFITS of being retired is the opportunity to make your own schedule. I go to be early, have for years. Sometimes I sleep well, sometimes I don't. Often I awaken in the middle of the night, arise,and do a little reading, computing, or I turn on the television to watch some midnight news, or, if I'm lucky, a good old fashioned shoot 'em up western. The main drawbacks of middle of the night televsion are lousy programming, an inundation of commercials and info-mmercials, and reruns. It helps to have one's remote control in hand, and a willingness and determination to use it. Being male helps. sometimes something catches my attention, even a commercial. The relatively low cost of middle of the night advertising attracts the low budget shoestring advertisers This time, the narrator said, sonorously "would you like to know whether or not you are going to go to heaven?"..."Hell, who wouldn't?", I half sarastically said to my cat, who always awakens for my midnight ramblings, knowing the she has a snack coming. I thought about the grouchy old pentecostal dude at my senior center, who died several years ago, and often bragged that he had a "one way ticket to heaven", presumably because of his salvation through Christ, perfect church attendance, and hatred of democrats. Much that I despised him for having assigned me to eternal damnation as he did all democrats, I envied him in a strange sort of way. His certitude, although based entirely in his self aggrandizing fantasies, gave him comfort. Vicious, primtitive, and purely imaginary that both heaven and hell are to me (I firmly believe that anyone who believes in hell is mentally ill), I understand the attraction. The commercial went on to promote a website, "Heavenornot.com"...I immediately liked the name; nice and straightforward, enticing. I decided to visit, but was in no hurry. I thought about it for awhile, whether or not it was, whether it would prove to be or seem to me...a scam. I quickly decided that, yes it was most likely a scam. Arguably in fact it is a scam a priori, for someone, anyone to pretend, for profit or otherwise, to have even the faintest idea of not only whether anybody is going to heaven, but if heaven even exists. Nobody knows. Nobody. All contrary claims are false, scams, by definition, whether well intended or not. At length I logged on, but didn't stay long. The site was fancy, complex, with many items and choices to click on, slick, well produced. I pretty quickly concluded that this particular scam was well intentioned, and that its perpetrators would be outraged, hurt, and horrified, and downright wrathy to be accused of running a scam. My assessment is that the website is the genuine well intened product of a bona fide religious organization or church, trying to save the world, and probably not trying to profit from doing so other than to cover the cost of the website, break even, and maybe pay a little the people who worked and still work on the site. And, whow knows? Maybe a little extra for the church itself, that it might continue on its sacred journey,its God ordained mission to witness unto the world online the salvation offerd by Jesus Christ, the savior. But, who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Worse yet, I still have absolutely no idea whether or not I am going to go to heaven. Maybe I should return to the website, and cooperate fully. Maybe it doesn't even matter, or hasn't been decided yet.

Living In Fantasy

THE GOVERNOR OF OHIO, a Republican, came to his senses, proving that, at least occasionally, a Republican can do that. He defied the evangelical Christian conservative party line, and vetoed a bill which would have made it illegal for doctors to treat transgender patients as if they are transgender patients. Under the legislated law, doctors would have been required to retreat into pure fantasy, to treat transgender women as men, and transgender men as women. Such laws have already been passed and have become law in several other states, states of the Christian conservative kind. The underlying reasoning, if it can be called that, is based entirely on hatred, bigotry, ignorance, and religious fanaticism,all of which always seem to accompany each other, and to underpin bad policy. Since Republicans generally despise gay people and gay rights, as well as transgenderism and transgender people, they choose the easy way of pretending that such people simply do not exist, because they should not exist, and because the Christian fascist mob would prefer that they did not exist. The governor's veto in Ohio will most likely be overridden. The Republicans in the Ohio state legislature have enough votes to do it. The conservative playbook is to treat transgender people as if they do not exist,just as they treat human caused climate change as if it does not exist, and the self delusion does not end there. Cosnervative Christians pretend that Darwinian human evolution by natural selection does not exist. Conservatives in general and Republicans in particular simply pretend that Biden did not defeat Trump in the election, that he stole it. If you don't like it, just pretend it doesn't exist. The examples of right wing retreat into fantasy are too numerous to ascribe to any other cause than deliberate strategy, exacerbated by severe mental illness perhaps brought about by extreme despair, the horrible, all consuming despair one experiences when one realizes that the world does not conform to one's expectations, and that one can take drastic measures to refuse to recognize reality, because millions of other people are willing to join you in your delusional dishonesty. The more people who embrace nonsense, the more attractive and safer it becomes for yet more people to embrace it. With increasing support for one's beliefs, there is increasing motivation to continue to harbor them, no matter how unfounded they may be. The people who continue to insist, including the origingal election denying liar Trump himself, that the election was stolen, find it easy to continue the lie; millions of other people help reinforce the big lie, psychologically. As troubling and alariming as this pervasive pattern of right wing thought and behavior is, even more alarming is the apparent willingness of right wing Trump supporters to try to implement and enforce their skewed, psychotic agenda by resorting to violence. Public officials, including judges and prosecutors, who make rulings inimicle Trump or to the far right cause, face death threats daily. Election workers experienced a veritable avalanche of death threats beginning soon after Trump lost the presidential election..We can expect the people in Colorado and Maine who ordered Trump's name to be removed from the ballot to continue to be harassed,as they are already. And, in the very unlikley event that the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Donald Trump did indeed incite an insurrection and therefore cannot become president, which to sensible people seems obvious, we can expect our hateful, angry, violent conservative community to suddenly abandon their loyalty to the stacked conservative high court, and to direct their threats of violence against the highest court in the land.

Gathering Together, Assuming Risk, and Praying

THE PERILS AND PITFALLS of family holiday gatherings are well known to most. The drunk uncle. The eccentric uncle The religious fanatic. The pompous over dressed pseudo intellectual who simply must share. The strident political animals, left, right, and all stops in between. Even disparate football loyalties can engender stony silences, smirks, or even heated debates and violant outbursts. The coming together in a single kitchen, living room, home, or bathroom of people who are related by only blood but not proclivity or opinion is tantamount to a pile of dynamite stacked next to a gasloline can. As Goethe said: "We are united by sentiment, sundered by opinion." The rule of thumb is; keep your mouth shut and full of good food. Thus enters the proud self proclaimed atheist with his or her own agenda. Namely, to seek and insist on equal respect and participation in a world filled with pushy, intolerant evangelical Christians. They can become violent, and they pack heat. Our atheist is every bit as devoted to his religious views, of lack thereof, as any obnoxious, overbearing, preachy fundamentalist evangelical Christian who ever walked the planet or preached behind the pulpit. And, like many of today's devout, he feels persecuted. He believes, strangely, that there is a war against atheism, against the sacred constitutional ideal of freedom of religion or lack of religion. He envisions America as a place dominated by the Christian majority, a mob of fervantly faithful folk whose primary goals consist of converting every living soul on Earth to the true faith, which happens to be their faith, and, above all else, declaring America a Cnristian country by formal legislative action or presidential decree. Whatever is necessary, whatever works, as we say. Our Christian crusader family member and dinner guest is convinced that God's will includes prayer before every football game and town council meeting, white crosses at busy insersections, images of the handsome white Jesus looming over every hamlet, small town, or mega (MAGA) city skyline. Down to dinner sits the avowed atheist, with family and close friends clustered closely around an overcrowded table, a table festooned with heaping platters of sliced turkey, bowls and bowls of mashed 'taters, dressing, gravy, green bean cassoerle. The oldest man present, granddad, the patriarch, will of course say grace.Heads reverently bow, and the gentleman witness to the truth starts preaching and praying. "We thank thee oh Lord for the sacrifice of your only son, our sins washed away in the blood of Christ. Forgive us our sins, save us unto and into heaven, bless us, and our food"... The usual orders given to God, as we worship Him. What does the atheist do? He bows his head, closes his eyes, and pretends to pray, but of course does not. He does not believe in superstition, doesn't like bloody sacrifices, and knows damned well that his beliefs are as valid, (actually more vaild), worthy of respect and acknowledgment, neither of which he has any hope of getting in this retarded, brainwashed crowd. His choice is to either remain silent, or make some remark or comment plainly indicating to everyone present that he has no intention of taking part in their pointless ritual, but will magnanimously sit through it. The atheist has options. For may part, non - religious though I am, I pray. And I do it sincerely. I am, actually, a great prayer leader, because of my language skills. I can improvise a long, passionate, prayer praising God, without ever mentioning Chrisianity, and get way with it. Not only that, they'll love it, and be moved. Like Neils Bohr said when asked why the great scientist's study had an upturned horseshoe on the wall. "Because it might work, even though I don't think it does." Brilliant answer.

Reaching the Tipping Point, and Beyond

LAST SUMMER in Phoenix, Arizona the temperature reached one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit on thrity one different days. Not one hundred degrees, one hundred ten. There were many ore days on which it reached a mere hundred. Meanwhile, off the western, Gulf Coast of Florida, near Tampa Bay, there was an oceanic heat wave in which the water temperature was one hundred degrees for several weeks, and coral reefs were damaged, bleached and white with death, and every species of plant and animal marine was stressed and strained. Heat waves are more prevalent and more dangerous in the ocean than on land. Much of the world's heat is stored in its oceans. Much stored ocean heat ultimately gets relesed into the atmosphere, only to further exacerbate heat waves on land. More famously, with the gradual but increasing and inevitable melting of the arctic tundra, billions of tons of methane gas, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the thawing ground already is releasing and will release billions more tons of carbon into the atmosphere. All this adds much to accelerating climate change. The total amount of atmospheric carbon put there by human industrial activity over the past one hundred years now approaches one trillion tons. It seems like just yeasterday, and was actually just a few years ago, when our published articles warning about climate chnge stated the number, reasonably accurately, as about eight hundred and fifty billion tons. Nearly eveybody my age and older, and many younger, have noticed in their neighborhood, the cliamte has already changed drastically. Spring arrives too early, summer lingers too long, droughts are more frequent, severe, and prolonged. When it rains, it pours. Floods are more frequent and severe. Storms are more frequent, larger, more violent. We are told that it is still not to late to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change by making fundamental changes to our energy and economic systems now, but it must be done now. There are two problems with this. First, it is now obvious that we are indeed not going to do enough, if anything, "now". And, secondly, it is already too late to prevent drastic change to the climate through global warming, because climate change is already well underway, and has already become drastic. It has already caused significant damage, many billions of dollars worth, has turned millions of people into climate refugees a they flee famine and flood, and has killed tens of thousands of people. There will come a time, soon, when the summer of 2023 seems like the good old days, when the climate was still normal. Recently on National Public Radio I listened to a program about "the emotions of climate hange". It must be, in a twisted sort of way, very emotionally comforting to be a climate change denier. Convince yourself that its all a liberal hoax, problem solved. No wories about any need to redesign your sacred capitalistic economic system, no worries for the Earth's fufuter even with unlimited fossil fuel driven economic expansion and corporate profit. Drill baby, drill. The climate change crazy libs are crazy, just ignore them, or ridicule them for political advantage. Accepting reality rather than self delusion about the climate is far more complicated,far less pleasant, and requries intelligence,and sometimes courage. The primary emotions for those acknowledging and understanding the science of cliamte, so strongly confirmed by the weather over time, are far less pleasant, more frightening. There is the dread, the anxiety, the foreboding. Knowing that next summer, and every summer after that will almost certainly become the hottest summer ever, just as the summer 0f 2023 was, inspires dread and apprehension, appropriately. People grounded in our dire reality feel not only a sense of dread about the present, but dread about the future, long and short term. People know that we no longer need to fear only for our remote descendants, but also our children and grandchildren, and for ourelves. Climate change is here, and is becoming worse fast. Fear and dread are turning to panic, appropriately.

Finding Some, Any Use For the Court

As MUCH AS EVER, if not more, we the American people, and our beloved democratic republic needs help from an entity which was designed to render it; the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, at least as of now, such help shall not be forthcoming. And, like everyting else controversial these days, the issue involves Donald Trump. The fact that millions of Americans watched live and in living color the then president inciting and applauding a violent insurrrection against his government and country has consequences, intended and otherwise. The Colorado Supreme Court, barely, ruled that Trump is not eligible to be president or dog catcher, because his said violent insurrection violated the constitution. Sounds reasonable. Other states are in the process of perhaps arriving at the same conclusion, although Michigan ruled otherwise recently. In Michigan, criminals are evidently welcome on the presidential ballot. And, to be clear, no, we the people should never have the opportunity to vote for and elect whomever they choose. Not if theywant Taylor Swift, for example, to become president. Taylor, wonderful lovely person that she is, is only thirty four years old, and therefore, ineligible for another year. So, you Swiftie's'll have to wait, but not much longer. For a job as difficult and important as the American presidency, there simply must be reasonable qualifications. Hardly surprisingly, Trump is appealling the Colorado ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The timing couldn't be better, or more urgent. For the sake of democracy in America and thus for America herself, the court badly needs to take Trump's appeal, hear it, and rule on it. They need to "expidate it", in legalize. But instead, this this reprobate infested body of law did quite the opposite; refused to hear the case, at the precise mmoment in American history when that course of action does...not..work. As we know, the court has the right to do this, largely because it, in its finite wisdom, gave itself that right. Predictably,cowardly, the nine justices, two of whom are probable sexual criminals, several probable white collar criminals, and and six arguably simply fools, provided no reason for their inaction. This is their self imposed perogative as well, but, normally they, or at least one of them have something to say as to the reason for the court's evident indolance. Ducking their responsibilities, twice. Refried fascism. The real reason for the punt? Many are possible. They need more time to see how other states play out, or more time to give consideration to the issues as they develop. That's nonsense, because the issue has already played out, in one very legitimate, important American state; the test case is simple, clearly laid out, ready for litigation. We move on, in our search for raional rationale. We may never find it. We can only guess. What about the possibility that the six far right wing members of the coukrt are dyed in the wool Trumpers, and quite simply do not want to placed in the position of being asked to, of having to either make a ruling that will keep their MAGA icon cult leader off the ballot nationwide, thus depriving him and them of even the most remote hope that a nre are of Trump the suzzerain shall return, or, giving the logal go ahead to an outright criminal and treasonous traitor actually runnning for and perhaps becoming president, therefore not only angering most of America, but maybe, just maybe, touching off a twenty first century civil war. Or, if not that, then further dividing an already deeply divided nation. The conservatives on this court have already long since demonstrated that they are socially warped and legally twisted, embued with all manner of intellectual nonsense.Hell, you wouldn't be surprised that they believe the election was stolen from Trump, that climate change is a hoax, and that evolution is wrong, because it isn't in the holy bible.

Rotting In Hell

TRUMP is on a roll, or starting one. According to NPR, he posted a "Christmas message" on his unsocial untruth gimmick platform, "Truth Social", during which he said something to the effect that Joe Biden, and maybe Biden's friends, family, and suporters, can go "rot in hell". Since NPR reported it, the report is most certainly true. By now, most likely, millions of Trump's MAGA cult members have read the hateful post, and have enthusiastically agreed. Trump, revealing his version of Christian values, which actually closely correspond to traditional demonstrated if not espoused Christian values, at Christmas time. You somehow sense that Trump, bitter, angry, and desperate, is just now starting to get good and warmed up. Time to get the old popcorn poppr warmed up. For quite a while now, I've been telling people tha there is no longer any need for me to critize or condemn Trump, that he does that all by himself, he reveals himself much better than I or anyone else ever could. Another thing I have told people for a long time is to fefrain from making fun of Trump's hair, his body shape, or attire, and to refrain from name calling, particuarly the most popular names for Trump; idiot, moron, and so forth. I've actually lost friends by giving that advice; my fellow Trump haters who want to hate Trump in their own special, slanderous way, without my butting in. Okay, fine. Go for it. Reduce yourelf to his level. The way to show the real Donald Trump to the world is simply to quote him, to repeat what he says, and to clearly, accurately, honestly detail, in writing, converstaion, or wherever, what he actually does, and has done. Trump's long life as a pathological liar and criminal, as revealed by Trump... So this time, he did not, wonder of wonders, try to overthrow the American government or blackmail the president of Ukraine, nor kiss the ass of some brutal dictator like, say , Putin...no none of that. Nor did he insinuate that windmills cause cancer, attribute to George Washington's army the capture of every airport in Aemrica, or brag that the United Atates and Italy have been good friends ever since the time of Julius Caesar. Nor did he asscuse John McCain of being less than a military hero because of being captured in combat. (Give Trump credit for his reasoning here. In any real, dangerous combat, Trump would be running away from the fighting so fast nobody, not even an olympic sprinter or marathoner, could catch him, barring a flare up of bone spurs. And, he would doubtless be accusing the enemy of cheating). Trump planned to try to steal the election and presidency from Biden long before the election, according to Ivanka Trump and ohers. Many Republican Senators and Congresspeople supported the attempt, as did millions of Republicans, and most of the evangelical Christian community, and still do, to this day. They are still trying to steal the election from Biden, and covering up the insurrection, while still supporting it. And that's just the beginning, of the verified, documented events which quite clearly reveal and shine the light of truth upon the intellectual and moral character of Trump and his cult. Now, in front of millions, in front of God and country, he tells the president of the United States to "rot in hell". This is how this former American president behaves, every day. This is the real Donald Trump, demonstrably. And, once again, as they have over and over again, Trump's millions of supporters will ingore it, downplay it, deny it, or, most commonly, celebrate and echo Trump's vile vicious words and deeds, and they always have, always will, and thus they clearly reveal their own moral and intellectual bankrupcty and depravity. Rot in hell? Seems like Trump and his enablers have a better chance than Biden.

Creating Carnage

THE WORD "CARNAGE" gained new notoriety, of sorts, early in the political career of D.J. Trump, when he described the economic circumstances of workers in America's former industrial heartland with that word. Over the past five decades, the "iron belt" of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and parts of other states has deteriorated and devolved into the "rust belt", abandoned factories creaking and rusting in the wind, overgrown with sagebrush ad weeds. Labor is cheaper overseas, and the billionaires know it, and exploit it, like everything else, including us. The jobs, the labor goes over there, the big money comes right back here, and into a few bloated, privileged bank accounts of the privileged class, our dear corporate masters. Workers continue their downwardly mobile descent into full time employed poverty, or go jobless, and their families, hungry. He (Trump) was, of course, quite correct in that deary assessment,if by sheer chance. Like one of my country friends said: "Sometimes, the old blind squirrel finds an acorn." Trump also correctly identified the real guilty party in the flight of America's industrial capacity and jobs overses to cheaper, more fertile markets; the corporations themselves, and people who own them, aka, billionaires. None of this nonsense about foreign countries, like the nefarious Chinese, "staling' American jobs" with H. Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound". Hell, every job which leaves America is lost diliberately, tossed aside by our corporate masters like cat litter to the garden. By telling the truth about this, Trump established himself as an enity capable at least in theory of speaking without prevaricating, but, alas, ultimately chose not to. He (Trump) then grandly promised, if elected president, to do something about the economic disaster, but, of course, never did, because really, no president can. Presidents can and do promise economic miracles, but canot and never deliver. Perhaps there will come a time when we the Amerian people dimly grasp if not comprehend this basic fact of life, economics, and politics, and will not help Trump get elected over Biden because inflation is above two percent. W'll just have to wait and see. And pray. Never underestimate the power of prayer. whether or not it has any. Our true governing masters, the corporate industrial financial complex, could help, but won't. The word "carnage" actually got Trump off to an auspicious start in his 2016 political career, and could have been parlayed into a positive, producitve career in political leadership, had Trump not gone astray, changed course, descended into acrimony, hatred, name calling, racism, and his now infamous crime spree, a crushing burden of indictments and pending trials. All that, at length, appealing as it seems to be for his MAGA base, will ultimtely, among the American people at large, prove a greater drag than buoy, and, it says here, bring about his election defeat 1i 2024, and ultimately, bring him down generally in life. Maybe send him to prison, or some extradiction free foreign country, like, say Guyana. IN the meantime, the carnage will continue, because that's what our corporate masters, and many of us will keep supporting a pathological liar and career criminal for president, because that, it seems, is what we want. Mr. Trump triumpantly returns as dictator, the MAGA mob screeches with adelpated adulation, the great carnival barker resumes has avalanche of lies and extreme far right fascism, just the way the mob wants it. Maybe its what we deserve.

Bringing God Back To America

I HEARD IT on Christian radio, or read it in a post on Facebook, or both, I cannot reacall which. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. What matters is the message itself; "We must birng God back to America". This means the same thing, I assume, as "put God back in America", I believe is a frequent way of saying it. Although it is a very vague, general statment, I think I know what it means, what they are saying. The conservative Christian community, tens of millions strong, wants to restore formal, administration mandated and sanctioned public group prayer in American public schools, like it uased to be. I can remember our first grade class praying every day before school, along with I believe the "Pledge of Allegiance", in 1961-62. Then, in second grade, I'm pretty sure that we didn't pray as a class in school, ever again, because the Supreme Court had eliminated it in a major ruling. Ont of the things they want to do, beyond doubt, is for the Surpreme Court, the president, they aren't particular whom, to restore the public prayer to the public schools. Put God back in the schools. The Christian God. What about the other Gods, the other religions? That remains a fair question. Te conservtvie Christian community not only wants to put "God back into America and American schools, it wants to formally, officially put the Christian God and thus the Christian religion therein. What about the other religions? There are millions of Jews, Muslims, and others in America. Sometimes in America the prayer the religions aspect of civic events has consisted of a prayer to a sort of generic God of no particular religion, simply the God of the universe, implying the same God in any and every religion. At my local small town Senior Center, of which I have been an integral part since I turned sixty and joined eight years ago, we recite the "Pledge" and say a prayer every week day before lunch. When I started going there they prayed, but we started adding the pledge a few years ago because, and only because of... one reason,..one person... me. For several years I lobbied one director afer another, until I finally got permission to stand and lead the pledge every day. Little old pantheist - socialist me, bringing the pledge to the senior center. Not only am I a democratic socialist rather than a capitalist; but a non-Christian, an atheist according to them, a pantheist according to me. The daily prayer is pure fundamentalist evangelical Christian. That's what they mainly are. Except, often depending on who delivers it. Everybody has a different prayer style, and different people get to lead the prayer.Often it is directly spoken to God, with no mention of salvation through Christ, the shed blood, washing away sins with the blood of Christ, or any of that. Just God. Even the conservative evangelicals sometimes pray like that. Just God, no specifically Christian dogma. When its my turn to pray, I do it better than any of them, in my humble opinion. I use phases like "great eternal spirit", and "grateful for this unvierse and live"..very poetic, emotional, and they love it. We all pray differently, but I more differently, uniquely than anyone, by a mile, and yet,and yet..I get away with it! Nobody at the senior has ever complained to me about the way I pray, unless they did behind my back, which I rather doubt. So, who knows? Maybe there is hope. Maybe we can somehow all evolve, and come together more, spiritually, more as a nation, a people, and, above all else, come together more as a world. In truth, we do not need to put God back in America, or bring God back, because God never left America. Anybody who wants to pray in public school, or anywhere else in America, can do so whenever one wants. And, best of all, when we pray silently, we can pray to whatever God we want, want to believe in, or invent.

Trump, Actualizing

WHEN A GOOD FRIEND OF CALLED TRUMP "that orange haired Hitler" shortly after Der Fuhrer became president, I dismissed the remark as angry, bitter, hyperbole, an outburst of bad shortsmanship. Hillary had been cheated out of the presidency. She got three million more votes than our American HItler, and, surely, surely one of those states that Trump won by a few thousand votes had been stolen, rigged, and therefore a recount was essentail. We Hlllary-ites conveniently omit mention that after her election defeat, we libdems had our own concerns and misconceptions and paranoia about voter fraud, a stolen election, only not nearly as zelously, insanely intense as those of Trumpers, and, unlike them, we did not seem determined to carry our suspicions and our grudge to our graves. Hillary had been ahead in all the polls for months; how could she possibly have lost!? Well, the simple answer is that whereas the polls had predicted anywhere from a two point to ten point win for Hillary, indeed she won the popular vot by two percentage points, 51 to 49.....but..we all know, its the infamous and malicious electoral college that matters, not people's votes. Well, then the highly demanded recounts all took place, and not surprisingly, Trump's margin of victory only increased, but by a small enough margin to make it seem like salt in the wound. Gradually but steadily over the years since 2016 my friend's dire Hitlerian-Trumparian remarks seemed first less out of bounds, then increasingly less outlandish, less hyperbolic, more and more reasonable, until now. Now, it seems like a prophecy. It seems dead on. If you think this sounds like a warning, it is. Trump is beginning to talk more and more every day, as the election and his many court trials approach and Trump's desperation increases. It may well be that here in the great American fun house, Trump's words and deeds, and the complicated stew of circumstances that is our beloved 'merurca, will all combine in some inscrutable quantum mechanical manner to produce a perfect storm of ultimate calamity; the election of Donald J. Trump, accused felon and all, once again to the highest office in the land. Oh heaven forbid, but it might happen. More likely though is that over the next few months, Trump will destroy himself as the supercharged chaotic insanity of his screeds bestroys him when it detonates. The other day, he screamned that on his first day in office he will become a dictator (he says this often), and will decreee by executive order a complete ban on teaching the history and current state of racism in American public schools,and will prohibit any mention of LGBTQ people, expecially their current movement to gain equality. He would also prohibit by decree the teaching of climate change, and would sanction the banning of books, including books written by liberals and explaining subjects based on progressive realities. In short, the liberal-progresive point of view, and anything which bears it out, would be strictly prohibited in public schools under Herr Trump. Also, unflattering monographs about himself, but he didn't mention these. Even Donald Trump only has so much time, and con only cover so many seminal topis in pne speech orMAGA campaign rally. But no worries. He'll have numerous opprtunities to cover the rest of it, to explain his complete plans for his next presidency, in near future MAGA hate-fests. Precisely how the nation responds to the exploding depravity is the key. It all boils down to who is the more numerous, the fascist Trumpler mob, or, we the Americans of moral values, intelligence, and love of country and constitution.

Being Dead Wrong, and Dealing With It

WHEN I WAS ABOUT TWENTY ONE, in 1976, getting ready to finish college,a friend of mine was home on break,and when he and I got totether, we started talking, and decided to get a group of people together,a small group, at his parent's house,including a well known local minister, I believe a Presbtyterian or some "similar" demonination, and have an evening discussion group. My memory, which is very good, has dimned somewhat about this event, but I believe the reason we invited the minister, and older man, was that we wanted the discussion to be based on religion, something about religion, although I cannot recall exactly what. Hell, maybe we were going to discuss or debate what religion, in any, is true, especially Christianity. I became a non Christian early in life, and remain one. A I recall, there were maybe ten people there, including my friend and I, my friend's nice mother, an attractive, intelligent, middle aged woman, the minister, and several good friends our age. As my friends were discussing an dplanning our big event, we talked about how it woas going to function, topic, and so forth, and we talked about wheehte alcohol woule be served, in particulr, screwdrivers, voda and all. I argued stronglky that I wanted no alchol present, because it might damage or destory the discussion, a point of view I still consdier valid and sensible today. Back then ,as well as now, I am a modest to moderate drinker, although I can certianly "tie one on" form time to time, but that night, I wanted no part of it, for me or anyone else. My friend, however, who was less of a drinker than I, very much wanted to have the screwdrivers, and made it known that he and not I would decide. Fair enough. His house, after all. recall feeling kind of hesitant and nervous as the discussion group members assembled, but, his forty five year old open minded mother was perfectly to willing to allow this strong drug to be served to a group of twenty one year olds and a minister in her home, so, away we went. Opposed though I was to the booze, once it started flowing I wasn't about to miss out. I started drinking right from the beginning and got very drunk very early in the discussion, as I beleive did everybody else. The mother and the minister may have drunk a bit less than the rest of us, but, I believe, if memory serves, that they drank their fair share, if somehat less than I. The evening proceeded, very interestingly, amiably, and successfully if I recall. I can vaguely recall that I emerged as non religious, the minister was religious, and the others, including my friend, I recall not what they said, though I suspect that my friend was agnostic. The minister was, as I recall, very progressive, open minded, and understanding, and although he was a good witness to his faith that night, he made no attempt to pressure and proselytize me or anyone else. The most interesting development that night was that, at length, by some winding but presumably rational path, the conversation turned to the question of whether or not animals have amotions.... Why, and exactly how, I can't recall, but it did, and the topic lasted awhile, many comments were made. The one thing I absolutely remember is that I was the only one who said that animals do not have emotions. Everyone else said that they do. For whatever reason, I was not only certain that they do not, I was dead certain, and could not be moved, although all the others, especially and including the minister, tried to convert me to the emotional animals point of view. At one point he asked me whether I had a pet, what kind, gender and age, and I answered, yes, I have a pet. He asked me whether I loved her. Without hesitation, I strongly declared my love for my precious female Manchester Terrior,a chihuahua-like dog. He quickly proved that she loved me too, which of course should have been obvious all along to me. Only, it wasn't. For whatever reason, I insisted that what my dog felt for me was something other than love, a emotion-free creature concerned only with food and survival.... At some later point in my adulthood, as I aged, of course I realized how wrong I had been, though I can't remember when and how this transition ocurred. Of course, I still realize it. Now, the older I get, the more ashamed I am of ever having believed such nonsesne, as a smart, well educated young adult. As I write this, it seems kind of funny, and kind of embarassing. Well, and then, one cannot change the past. The best we can do, maybe, is to either forget it, or learn from it, and it seems I have chosen the later. With my generally good memory, I can never forget the past, even if I try, without some kind of drug or brain damage, neither of which I want. But at least I recognized my error and corrected it, if belatedly, and I feel that I grew in some weird way because of it, and I will never make that same mistake again.

Critically Thinking, Theogically

JOHANN WOLFGANG von GOETHE (1749-1832), the undisputed prince of European literature, and perhaps the most intelligent human who ever lived,said: "The Christian religion began as an abortive political revolution, and turned moral". A shocking, blasphemous statement for your average conservtive evangelical Christian, for whom the Christian faith is The Truth, the only truth, the revealed Word of God, the one true religion of the one true God. In fact, for the first few centuries of the faith, it was called,simply, "The Truth". The term "Christianity" came later, after the Council of Nicea, in 325 A.D., at which the Christian bible was instituted,by vote. For the critically thinking hisotrical, scientific scholar, the Christian religion is the product of a long sequence of specific historical events, amny of them knowable, documented, many not. For the intelligent polymath and poet, like Goethe, the critical historical, scientific approach works best. For your average intelligent well educated person, Goethe's approach tends to adhere. One such person Earnest Hemmingway, said; "All intelligent, thinking people are atheists". Not so, Ernie. Baruch Spinoza was a pantheist, in fact he is credited with having "invented" that religious philosophy, Thomas Jefferson and many of America's brilliant founders were deists, and Albert Einstein was also a pantheist. He said he believed as Spinoza believed, and described God as "The infinitely superior spirit", "The old eternal genius who built the world", and "the ancient one". All these folks, like a high percentage of educated intellectuals, regarded the bible as quaint ancient literature, Christian dogma and theology as superstition, and all forrmal, organized, dogmatic religion as inadequate in explaining cosmic and human existence. Jefferon used the term "our modern superstition" in his writings. Back to Goethe. He simply read the Bbile, and other histories, and what he read told him the the Hebrews seethed with anger and dismay under Roman oppression, and, in accordance with their scripture, awaited the long promised "Messiah" to deliver them from subjagation. They envisioned their messiah as a conquering, liberating military figure. Joshua ben Joseph, whom the Romans translated as "Jesus", disappointed them, with his message of a heavenly kingdom, and advice to the Jews to submit to Roman rule, and to reap their reward in heaven. Not wanting to discredt himself, however, he also promised that after his death, he would indeed return as the conquering heroic messiah of prophecy. That made it easier for him to attract listeners and followers; I'll give you what you want, but not now, later, effectively "stringing them along". Similarly, today's Christians often confront agnostices and atheists, after being unable to convert them, with the promise; "you'll find out about the necessity of being saved by Christ after you die, and find yourself burning in hell". (How generous of them.). That delay tacitc relieves our modern evangelicals of any responsibility to prove the truth of their faith, by leaving it to others, to the eternally damned themselves, after death, just as Jesus cleverly relieved himself of the impossible task of personally liberating the Jews from Roman oppression, merely by saying, in essence: "Just live with it for now, I'll be back later, while you're still alive, to make things right. They died waiting, just as today's Christians will.

Diverging Values

THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES when the two major American poitical parties seemed nearly indistinguishable. The immediate post World War Two period was charachterized by a mad rush to the political center. Strong on defense, so strong the President Eisenhower feared that spending on military procurement might bankrupt the country. Support for social programs and labor unions by both parties, with no apparent retreat from the New Deal. Most noteworthy, the Republican party was barely right of center, often slightly left of it, with support for women's equality and support of labor unions written into the 1956 party platform, which more resembled the agenda of Bernie Sanders than Ronald Reagan. Reagan changed, both parties evolved over time. Back then, Ronald Reagan had only recently converted from New Deal democrat idealsim to his eventual soft landing in hard core conservatism. The most outstanding development of recent times is the flight of the Republicans to the far, extremist right. It is neither unfair nor unreasonable to assert that the current Republican party contains strong strains of fasism, racism, and pure neo-liberal economics, with unfettered corporate enterprise opening the floodgates of corporate money controlling politics, and both foreign and domestic government policy. The two parties are perhaps as far apart ideologically as they have ever been, but it can be argued that despite the divisive vitriole which characherized the political landscape, it cannot be denied that, perhaps more than ever, we the people, if nothing else, certainly have a clear cut choice. Nor are they equal in honesty, integrity,and what they offer the country. The mere fact that the G.O.P. has cast its lot with Trump says much about its abandonment of integrity for political expediency, and its willingness to allow or accept low moral character and even criminality within its leadership. That two thirds of registered Republicans still insist that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump,that the insurrection of January 6 2021 was either justified by circustances, or was nothing more than a peaceful demonstration that got a bit out of control, speaks volumes, about integrity. Climate change denial, a bulwark of contemporary conservatism, is no less revealing. Denying the very existence of what the Department of Defense has for decades termed the single greatest threat to American national security is, arguably, criminally traitorous. The two parties are on opposite ends of the moral character spectrum.The fact the Republcians are tyring to level the moral playing field by fabricating wholly unsubstantiated allegations of criminal activity against President Biden is yet more proof of their low moral character. For their sacred cause of remaking the country in their extreme conservative image, they have literally sold their souls to the devil. They have for decades perpetrated the false notion that their is a liberal bias in the mainstream American media. If anything, the opposite is true. The neutral and conservatve media is complicit by presenting the lucicrous idea that both parties are equally corrupt, equally disengenuous, equally contemptuous in disregarding the the preferences and demands of the general population. No less ludicrous is the conservative establishment using their strategy to enact the conservative agenda by law by packing the judicial system with conservtive judges to secure right wing renderings, has invented the fantastical concept of "originalism", according to which we are expected to predicate all bench rulings upon the "original intentions" of the founders, as if we are capable of reading their minds. Democrats support equality for women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community, and freedom of religion and acceptance of religious diversity.Republicans want to criminalize homosexuality, make no effort to and to enforce gender and racial equality and elevate the Christian religion to the status of formal societal establishment. Democrats want to use progressie tax policies to more equally distribute the nation's wealth, Republicans seem content with less than one percent of the population having a disproportionate share of it. The two parties are not the same.

Contending In Vain, Amid Confusion

APHORISMS ABOUT HUMAN STUPIDITY are numerous,famous, and often humorous. Einstein was great at it, and those attirbuted to him are authentic. He had a great sense of humor. "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius is somewhat limited"...."Two things are infinite, stupidity, and the universe, and I'm not sure about the universe."...You've heard'em all... "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain", is from ancient times. They all are, as famous maxims usually are, quite correct. Nobody will ever convince a devout Christian conservative super patriot, for instance, that these United States of America were not fouded upon "Christian values", but rather, upon eighteenth century enlightenment principles,politically scientific ideals, such as those of John Locke, espousing popular democratic republican, enlightened government. These concepts were quite revolutionary for their time, much dabated, much mistrusted, and they engendered apprehension for the future survival of the republic. Then too, it seems readily apparant that if indeed the republic were founded upon Christian values, it would have been born as a dictatorship, for the Christian religion is, if nothing else, a dictatorship of Almighty God. But consider that in dealing with devout conservative reborn Christians, one is confronted with someone who believes on faith alone that the universe was created by an anthropomorphic deity (the entire universe was created by a very human-like being) who created humans who resemble himself, allowed them to behave badly, so badly that they dared to become curious, then murdered his own son, who is actually himself, and decided that this tortorous, ritual death would atone for the mistakes of everybody forever, but only if they would worship him. God, however, gave himself a break. He brought himself back from the dead,and rewarded himself with a heavenly, eternal life,thereby missing out on only one weekend. One lost weekend, quite a sacrifice! If that isn't bloody barbarism compounded by blackmail and coercion, what is? If that isn't chsotic, inchoate, convoluted, a veritable cowweb of a narrative, what is? Of the roughly four thousand recognized organized religions in the world, all contain some truth and widsom, all contain some falsity and nonsense. They also contain wickedness and horror,, such as the invention of "hell". If the concept of hell isn't psychotic, what is? Arguably, anybody who truly believes in hell is mentally ill, vicious, or brainwashed. Both heaven and hell are here, on Earth, if anywhere. Of these primitive, barbaric religions, none will endure long into the future, quite likely. Einstein speculated that the religions of the future will be cosmopolitan, encompassing our modern knowledge of the universe, reflecting a twenty second or third century awarness of reality, rather than one which is thousands of years archaic. These old religions concocted paradigms in which the world is flat, resting upon the backs of enormous turtles, among many other nonsensical notions. One notion is that when God returns to Earth in human form as Christ, the stars will fall from the sky and smash upon the ground like fragile glass trinkets. Conservatism, religious and political, embraces tradition, resists change, self improvement, and progress,and refuses to abandon demonstrably outdated but cherished notions of reality. The religion of the future will be predicated upon science, and the wonderous, miraculous universe it reveals, rather than long held sacred superstitions. But, regrettably, we'll have to be patient, and, while facilitating continued evolution, political, scientific, and religious, through our own efforts, we'll have to wait a while longer...

Selling Personal Porn, For Profit

IT BEGAN THE USUAL WAY. I was logged on to Facebook, for the only reasons I ever log on to Facebook, to promote this website, and to distribute negative information and opinion about conservatism, the evangelical conservative Christian community, the Republican party, and last and least, Donald J. Trump. Suddenly, as usual, a message popped up, accompanied by a photograph of the face of a beautiful young woman. The message said: "hello"... "howdy", I replied, as usual. Courtesy requires responding to pleasant greetings, including those from beautiful young women. The next comment is always the same question: "How are you?". (it happens that way every time. The standard interview has begun.). I gave my standard one word response: "well". Whenever the visitor understands my response,which is about half the time,the interview proceeds,in the usual order of questions and demands. Location? Age? Single? Married? What do you do to earn a living? Sixty eight,single. Nothing. (meaning, retired)...(I indulge them at first. It costs nothing but a few minutes,and can yield interesitng results, from the standpoint of sociological research, of course.) Then the interviews all begin to vary,taking off in their own direction, depending on the interviewer. These messages pop up between five and ten times a day. They all get to the part where they say they are looking for love, for a meangingful, long term relationship, and they think I may be the right man. What they are looking for, obviously, is money,and they intend to trick people, libidinous men, into sending it, by dangling the alluring prospect of love and sex,which, almost tragically, they seem to think is the best talent they have to offer. Money is money. This one sent me another picture, a full body shot of slender fully clothed curves, and said: "Send your pic". (They rearely ask for it, they usually demand it, and never use the word "please"). I suggested to this scam artist that she use some common courtesy,and make a request, rather than a demand. She, like all the others, chose to either ignore this suggestion, or didn't understand it. As always, I explained that I don't take pictures of myself, don't ask anyone else to, and that I care more about what people do and say than what they look like. They always respond to this with one word: "really", or "what?". This one did too. By this time most of them are asking for airfare money to facilitate their visit to me, the love of their life. This "lady" was more brazen. "Do you want to see a picture of my tits"? Sure! I respond, why not? She sends one, she on her back, fully clothed, large full breasts reaching towards the sky. "Nice tits", I say. Smart start for her; she has provided an alluring "hook", but given away nothing of real value which could bring in moneylater. "Fifty dollars for tit pictures, two hundred for pussy pictures. I have videos too". Now I have the price list, the menu if you will, and can decide. Sensing success, she aggressively intones: "Send mony now, please"..(finally, the word "please"!). "Let me think about it",I tell her. "I could buy a good porn magazine for about ten dollars", I say. She ignores this. I decide she needs a lesson in basic business managment. "I admire your entrepeneurial initiative, I say, but a good capitalist must follwow certain well accepted business principles, and must be smart, as well as hard working..."What?", she says. Red flag raised, I timidly ask her..um..do you know what capitalism is, and what a "capitalist" is? "No", she honestly confides. "Well", I begin, "capitalism is the economic system we have here in America,and, um, its where people start businesses, selling goods and services for profit, and, um"....still, she seems utterly confused. Now, I know I'm in trouble. My magnanimous desire to provde a much needed lesson in basic economics and small business management begins to seem doomed. This young lady is not close to ready for introductory Econ 101. I now realize that what she needs is probably a high school diploma, a GED, if not more basic instruction still. She goes silent,apparently less interestd in an education in business than in jumping right into her business, and letting nature take its course. Dimly bginning to sense that I am more interested in teaching than pornography, she fell silent. I truly hope that she does well with her personal pornography business, although I doubt that she will. What I said about the price of porn is undeniable. I see nothing more morally objectionable about what she is trying to do than the businesses selling cigarettes, alcohol, or cars, or those whose products pollute the environment with carbon, and are causing climate change, and hastening the collapse of the ecosystem and the extinction of all life on Earth through climate change. And, in any event, she will probably, perhpas after years of struggling with her ill fated business, learn her lesson through hard knocks, and, out of sheer desperation, get an education, a job, and, lord willing, become involved in capitalism in a more lucrative and honorable manner.

Demanding a Democratically Elected Dictator

AMAZINGLY, almost beyond belief, the dysfunctional, anti-democratic Republican party is beside itslf with outrage over the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Donald Trump from the ballot for the 2024 presidential election. How dare those Democrats conspire to deprive the good people of Colorado of the privilege, nay, sacred right, to cast a ballot for that paragon of law abiding morality,Donald J. Trump, insurrectionist-in-chief. Their rationale? The people deserve the right to vote for whomever they want, including a convicted felon and demonstrable inciter of insurrection against the United States government. The constitution does not prphibit criminals from becoming president. The Republican party, it seems, insists that the democratic process be given the opportunity to democratically elect an authoritarian president, much as the German people democratically elected their infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler The difference is that the Germans in 1933 were unaware that they were indeed eleting a nascent dictator, just as about half of the American electorate seems unaware of, or unconcered with the obvious fact that Donald Trump seeks presidential powers approaching the dictatorial. We know this, because he has said so, many times. For all appearances, Trump supporters want precisely an authoritarian president with the power to implement their anti-gay, anti-immigrant, Christian dominionist agenda by decree. Not mentioned amid all the wailing and gnashing is that the movement to remove Trump was,to an extent, spearheaded by clearer thinking Republicans. Trump will fortify the support of his political support base, by, as always, playing the part of the victim. Poor persecuted Donnie, the school yard bully who doesn't like receiving what he dishes out, and doesn't like justice when it is dispensed in matters pertaining to him. Trump's fervant cultish support base hardly needs further fortification. The prevailing spew is that democracy must be upheld at all costs, and that notwithstanding the degree to which a candidate is a criminal or a reprobate, the voters shoud have the opportunity to elect him president.The party which sidesteps democracy by packing the courts with right wing extremists, and relies on them to install its agenda from the bench, demanding democracy. That, is they say, is rich. Charles Manson for president! The Supreme Court cannot avoid hearing the inevitable Trump appeal very soon, and probably does not want to avoid it. The high court, after all, is packed with far right wing ideologues, themselves Trumpers. Abd of coures, the Colorado ruling will be overruled, and Americans will be prefectly, democratically free to reelect a former president who refused to accept his election defeat, and tried to stage an insurrection to oerthrow the federal government to remain illegally in power. The party of law and order, choosing to ignore the constitution in their zeal to elect their dictator of choice. But, we can take comfort in knowing that if elected, Donald Trump would only be a dictator on his first day in office. The white elephant in the room is, however, that that should give him sufficient time to do everything that has to be done to complete the conserative agenda, and completely destroy democracy in America.

Governing Ourselves

THERE IS A GRASS ROOTS Initiative in the late great state of Florida to put the abortion question on the ballot, and let to electorate have a go at it. Liberal Democrats, as one might supose, are promulgating it; the slight conservative Republican majority staunchly opposes the plan. Humans by nature and commmon sense embrace democracy when they believe that it will result in public policies which they approve of and support, and prefer authoritatianism or even dictatorship when they conclude that democracy has failed them by making popular choices with which they disagree. That is the poistion in which the conservative Republican community presently finds itself. The Americna people, by a significant majority, support a woman's right to choose, within reasonable limits, and conservative pro choice Republicans are aware of this, despite any of thier claims to the contrary. Even the myopic evangelical Christian community knows, or sould know, that they are in the minority on this an many other issues. For decades their strategy,formulated by the Heritage Foundation and other right wing organizations, have successfully implemented a strategy of packing the court system, state and federal, with conservative judges, to implement their agenda, on abortion and everything else, implementing it from the bench rather than the ballot box, bypassing the democratic process. My father once said, strangely but astutely, that, counter-intutive though it might seem, the best, most efficient form of government might well be a benevolent dictatorship. True enough. Dictatorshps "get things done", to paraphrase a quote from the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner.Democracy is inefficient,cumbersome, messy, and requires effort on the part of many people, with the presupmtion and unrealistic expectation that the general population has the capacity to govern itself. The founders of the United States knew full well that it does not, and thus, established a representative, plutocratic republic, rather than a more direct form of demoracy. Kansas, among the most conservative states in these United States, voted by a huge majority to legalize abortion. If the same choice were given to all the other states, it would almost certianly yield the same result, and abortion would once again be legal nationally, effectively restoring Roe v. wade. Trump and his fellow gangsters, with their nefarious "Project 47", and "2025 Plan", or whatever they're called, clearly lays out their agenda, an authoritarian one, with Trump the authority, governing by executive decree, installing the far right wing agenda without any trace of democratic process. Its alarming. Trump, as president, in their more perfect world, would have the power to fire all government bureaucrats, dismantle the meritocracy, and replace it with a government of federal employees chosen based on one qualification; loyalty to Donald Trump. Trump would want and maybe gain the power, with the stroke of a pen, to eliminate federal agencies such as the EPA, OSHA, and numerous other federal regulatory agencies. Authoritarianism, fascism, Hilter-ism. The conservative Chrisitian community would encourage Trump to install the Christian religion to the status of official, the official national religion. Freedom of religion, gone. Der Fuhrer, Herr Trump, would gladly accede to this heinous scheme, since religion is of no ocncern to him one way or the other, other than as a tool for his personal advancement. AS film maker Michael Moore pointed out, America is fundamentally a majority progressive country. A majority of the American people support equality for LGBTQ people, abortion rights for women, and higher pay, benefits,and workplace democracy for workers, governemnt regulation of the economy, and socialism in general, among other progressive values. Trump and the conservative evangelical community want to criminalize homosexuality, detain undocumented immigrants in concentration camps, and summarily execute drug dealers, without due process. All this is cearly written, spelled out on Trump's website. Thus we the American people are presented with a choice between fascism and democracy. We must trust that the American people will choose democracy and an emmpowered elecorate, and cast the fascist conservative agenda into the proverbial dust bin of history.

Digging For Gold

I WAS sitting in front of the computer screen in the nook and cranny kitchen, doom scrolling, as I often do, trying to figure out how to pay the rent, feed the cat, pay the water and elecitric bills (losing both heat,light,and water at the same time is a real bitch - showerng at the homeless shelter is inconvenient), and have a little cash left over for the casino, when, yet again,a message popped up on the Facebook screen. In our trailor park, the toilets don't always flush, and holes in the ceiling often go unpatched for weeks, but, we have internet service available, which most of us have, even though our "neighborhood" houses people most of whom can afford neither cell phone nor broad band. America's forgotten underclass. But most of us find a way. The Mexican lady in the unit next door turns tricks on weekends and cleans the houses of the wealthy elite during the week. As for myself, I can move a kilo in less than a day, providing good smoke to my fellow welfare recipients in our state where there is neither legal medicinal nor recreational marijuana. When I noticed that the message was from still another young, attractive, lady, I suddenly morphed, as if by divine providence, into a billionaire living in Holmby Hills. I quickly, almost automatically checked, and soon discerned that yes, yet again, the greeting was from an oatensibly very attractive, probably nineteen or twenty year very young lady. The usual scenario ensued, predictably. First the flattery, then the interview. "Hi handsome! I notice on your profile (I don't have a profile, never have,and don't want one) that you live near me. (There is no information available about where I live) Do you mind chatting? Here's my picture. Can you send me yours? How old are you? Married? Single? What do you do for a living." I have no picture, I reply, because I am rather well known, and prefer not to attract even more attention. I tell the truth about my age: sixty eight.That's where the honesty ends. Instead of saying "retired custodian, current drug dealer, living on Social Security and food stamps, never married", I inform her that I am approaching my retirement, from the Chairmanship of a fortune five Hundred company, separated and in court, frequently traveling, when not at the country club or corporate headquarters. Due to national security concerns, I am not at liberty to divulge the identity of the corporation I chair. I can sense, as usual, that we are inching closer to the actual purpose of her message, which is, of course, moeny. She springs it on me even faster than they normally do. Can you do me a favor,sweetie, she inquires? Maybe, I retort. Sensing an easy mark, she plunges straight ahead. "Can you send me some money, so I can buy a new phone card, so we can keep talking? And, since we know each other better now, would you maybe send enough to buy me a plane ticket to come stay with you?" Amazing, their brazen hustling, which they inevtibaly seem to think well concealed, being thinly, transparently concealed, couched in conspicuously feinged romantic interest. I never met a twenty year old lady online who didn't proclaim her enduring interest in older men, and, after all, age is but a number. Oh, and then too, our love connection is so plainly obvious. We,says she, are clearly a match made in heaven, All the tired cliches. I would love nothing more than to wire you a few thousand, I say, but, my girlfriend, with whom I might soon split, must not find out, for she would try to milk me evern more than she already do just for starters But their are complications. But if I can pry a few thousand loose from my disretionary account without notice, we're in business. Be patient. And don't call me,I'll call you.

History, Rhyming And Repeating

"HISTORY REPEARS ITSELF" is a phrase often used by intelligent people untrained in the social science of history. It is always well intentioned, intended to speak truth and elucidate reality. The word "trope" might describe the phrase, because presumably it is used, at least to a certain extent, figuratively, metaphorically. We can be assured that nobody who is mentally healthy actually beleves that the world is a perpetual "Ground Hog Day", consisting of a single day, repeated infinitely. Nor most probably do people mean to imply that we are born again and aging into the same world, reliving our lives with precision. What they really mean, perhaps, is that patterns of human behavior can be gleaned from historical events and trends. Wars follow periods of economic depression and instability. Technologically primitive civilizations are conquered and supplanted by those with more advanced technology and weapons. Religions begin as small cults, and, those which fulfill emotional needs increase in popularity, a critical mass is reached, and they proliferate in votaries to include millions of people, taking their place on the global stage, becoming one of the world's great faiths. Nations start small, grow in territory and population, overextend their resoureces in their expansion by attempting to govern and provede the needs of too great a geographical area, and then begin a slow decline which leads ultimately to their downfall. I remember an econoimcs professor, himself a serious student of history, telling me that the United States in the early twenty first century reminded him of the late Roman Empire in the third century A.D. I agreed with him completely then, and still do. The vast expansion of empire geopraphically, the projection of military and economic power far beyond the nation's borders, huge expenditures of resources in military procurement, a crass culture addicted to vacuous entertainment and vicarious violence, rampant, extreme economic and social inequality, social fragmentation and atomization, religious cults emerging locally in almost every corner of the country, dividing people, sapping the patriotic enthusiasm of the population, enticing people away from the dreary reality of everyday life, and luring them into spiritual realms of their own invention, further fragmenting energies, loyalties, and endeavors. Indisputably, drawing comparisons between the late Roman Empire in decline and contemporary America has validity. We can only hope that this analogy is false, that our beloved America is indeed not in decline, and that we, with sustained, dlilgent, collective effort, can sustain our national health and vigor..indefinitely. We have it within our power to do exactly that, we must trust. But one must be careful in making the coparisons, lest one overextend one's intellectual empire of the mind, and arrive on distant shores, stranded amid a murky sea of untenable praadigms. In essense, such comparisons have strict limits of efficacy. Above all, such comparisons do not fall within the realm of history, but more properly, sociology. History is the study of the past. The past concists of a seemingly (but not actually) infinite number of unique events. The united States is not "repeating" ancient Roman history, simply, precisely because nobody alive today was alive then; and nobody alive then is alive today. Its that simple. Whatever I do today wil never happen again, Somebody else may well do the same thing, but, different person, different location,different day. History is an enormous succession of documented, and interpretation of those events, large and small, involving millions of unique people, times, and places. Or,as a prominent historian once eloquently articulated: "One damned thing after another"... Wasn't it Mark Twain who said that history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes? Try telling a well trained professional historian that "history repeats itself", and you're likely to get a negative response, a dismissive shrug, a clarification, or a voluminous tome hurled in your direction. If you're lucky, the clarification will suffice, and germinate understanding. One can only hope, because you will never have the same opportunity to say the same thing to the same historian and receive the same precise response in the same precise way, ever again.

Getting Busted For Failure To Buy

LIKE MANY MEN, I don't like shopping, especially in crowded stores. But when I know exactly what I want or need, I brace myself, and dig in. And, like many men, I have a sense of independence, stubborness and determination which deters me from asking for directions or help. (Life is a highway, and a road map). I can waste gas and time finding my destination, and even more time and footsteps wandering around a store, looking...looking. Then too, people in low wage retail jobs often seem rude,annoyed, or unable to render assistance. Sometimes they're harder to find than what I'm looking for. Determined to buy some new Christimas lights and a new drinking mug with the name of my favorite college athletic mascot emblazened upon it,I entered a "Dollar General" store, convinced that said items might be or would be in stock,and that,at length, I could find them. No such luck. I don't give up easily, and thirty minutes later, I still had an empty basket. Belatedly I became convinced that no such items were on the shelves, and I noticed that not only was the Christmas stock depleted with empty shelves, but that the plastic kitchenware, drinking and eating items, included no collegiate motiffs. Five days before Christmas, the store was obviously going to sell all its Christmas themed merahandise,and not restock it. Disinclined to purchase something that I don't currenty want or need merely to be a good, paying customer,I replaced my shopping basket,and left the store,empty handed. On several occasions over the past few months, the same scenario has played out in the same store: Into the store, unable to find my cat's favorite brand or flavor of cat food, a T shirt with my college team's name on it, a pair of cheap sandals, or some other item, and after a prolonged stay of fifteen or twenty minutes of failure, back out to my car, empty handed. That's not normal. Ninety nine percent of shoppers in dollar stores enter the store, pick up a few items quickly, pay, and get out rather fast. But they always buy something. Apparently my stubborn, parsimonious, unusual behavior either angered, frightened,or aroused the suspicions of somebody, and they took down my license plate number, called the police, who sent a very pleasant young officer to my home to inform me that I must not enter the store ever again. Unorthodox behavior is not allowed! I assured the pleasant officer that I would gladly, fully comply. I can understand the store's point of view, and I can understand mine even better. We Americans are a nation of preferred conformity. One's behavior must be kept within a certain of options to avoid suspicion. You don't want to be guilty of being black, for instance,and walking or jogging after dark in fashionable neighborhoods inhabited by affluent "white" people. If you are, you may be arrested, shot, or both. Once, long ago, a lawyer told me that banning someone from a store which serves the public merely on grounds of suspicion is illegal. Who knows? Maybe I'll try a test case... My red ball cap which says "Make America Greta Again", a reference to both Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump, invariably inspires glowering, glaring looks from the liberal side of the political spectrum, and unwarranted, unwanted approval from the Trump right. I assume that nobody in America has one except me,and nobody but me likes it. Now, I only wear it at home, although I paid twenty dollars to have it specially made. I think its rather clever. But, alas, it fails to conform to societal expectations. (If only people would take the time to read closely!) Instead, they presume what it says, wrongly. Often, when people ask me the obligatory question, online or in person, "How are you"? (I am convined that nobody really cares, and that the question is nothing but habit, because most people pay no attention to my often creative, unusual responses)...so,I respond as tersely as possible, to got to the point and avoid elaboration. I say one word: "well", meaning, I am doing well". Evidently, that's the wrong thing to do,the wrong thing to say, because almost invariably it confuses people. Sometimes they say:"well...what?". I never respond to that. I think I'll continue giving my one word answer, because its honest, to the point, and reasonable, if incomprehensible to the mind of one who is unable to grasp any behavior contrary to normam expectations. ( should say "fine", but won't)... But I think I'll do less shopping,and, never again in Dollar General. They never seem to have what I want or need anyway.

Purging Trump

LIVE AND IN LIVING COLOR, tens of millions of Americans witnessed the prevaricating president of the United States stand before an angry, violent, well armed mob, its anger deliberately stoked by the prevaricator in chief, and commit what is among the most severe and heinous crimes against constitution and country, incitement to insurrection. "Go to the capitol and fight like hell" were his exact words. This is precisely what the violent mob did. The result was that seven people were killed and dozens more, many of them police officers, sustained permanent debilitating injuries. Every act performed by a person or a people is, due to varying perspectives, subject to interpretation. Bias is always present. History is subjective, not objective. Historians always have axes to grind. Thus, the unending complexities, difficulties, and frustrations of historical scholarship. Trump supporters have offered varying explanations, all heavily biased, to the point of inanity. No bias has ever been greater, or more morally and intellectually indefensible, than that displayed by Trump supporters. The events of January 6th, 2021 was nothing other than a guided tour of the Capitol building which got slightly out of hand..It was perpetrated by Democrats, FBI agents, and extraterrestrials in disguise... Every contrived explanation is more inane than the last; all are attempts to justify and defend the indefensible. So it goes with Trump supporters, who are no more moral, honest, or worthy of respect than their cult leader, Trump himself. The ruling handed down yesterday by the Colorado Supreme Court is, on its face, a slam dunk. Trump is guilty of incitement of insurrection, and therefor, according to the U.S. constitution, ineligible to serve as president. If one witnesses a crime being committed, one needn't await a formal verdict in a court of law to conclude that a crime has been committed, and to identify the criminal. Or so it would seem. It seems probable, however, that, legally, no American citizen can be excluded from serving as president under the fourteenth amendment without first actually being convicted of so doing in a duly empowered court of law. The ruling has already been appealed by Trump's lawyers, predictably, and will undoubtedly be heard eventually by the U.S. Supreme Court, or "SCOTUS", as we like to acronym-ize. The likely resut, at least so it seem,s is that the conservative largely Trump appointed court will overturn the Colorado ruling, and restore the insurrrectionist to that state's ballot. With an expidited ruling, Trump could and probably will be back up and running in Colorado before and on election day. Similar lawsuits to the one filed in Colorado which resulted in the Colorado ruling have been filed in other states, and are pending, making their way to their state's respective Supreme Courts. If they reach similar verdicts, and if the Colorado finding is overturned by SCOTUS, the overturning will of course pertain to all the other states. However, notwithstanding our sacred American principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty, merely being accused of and formally charged with a crime seriously taints the defendant's reputation. When Reagan Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan was exonerated of white collar crimes in 1981, as he left the courtroom, he asked, rhetorically; "where do I go to get back my good name"? Well, its far too late for Donald J.Trump to ever get back his good name. His "good name', if it ever existed, has long since been tarnished, soiled and besmirched beyond any possible cleansing. That has had no impact upon his cult MAGA following, who revere him all the more with each of his heinous words and deeds, like Jesse James. But among intelligent, reasonable Americans of high moral character, it certainly won't help his reputation, and may, if karma adheres, cost Trump the election, and result in his eventual incarceration.

Starting From Faith, Unfaithfully

FONDLY I RECALL many years ago listening to an interview with a very young Hasidic Jewish rabbi, stating his point of view concering the establishment and existence of the modern nation-state of Israel. The Hasidic movement,if memory serves, is a subset of the Jewish faith, which might properly be described as "religious conservatism". It originated in Ukraine in the eighteenth century, as a sort of Judaic revivalist movement, a backward looking ideology steeped in mysticism. Hasidic folks adorn themselves in black attire, and the men do not trim their sideburns, which grow long down their their faces, with long hair length and their distinguishing black hats. Traditional, ancient Judaic beliefs and values are their characteristic religiosity. This young man in particular, speaking perfect English but with an accent with seemed to indicate that English was his second language, offered to his intrviewer only the unvarnishded truth. The establishment of the modern Israeli nation was, in his firm opinion, a mistake. When questioned as to his reasons behind this view, his answer was disarmingly forthright. Because, he said, Judaism is not a nation state, it is not a political movement or entity, it is not a superpower or military organization. It is, he stipulated, a religion, nothing more, and nothing less. I found his words thought provoking in the extreme. The "zionist" movement, predicated upon the belief that the establishemnt of a new Israel, or Zion, was ordained by God, promised by God, and thus,inevitable, right, and proper, gained ascendancy throughout international Judiasm in the late nineteenth century, and Jewish immigration into Palestine, then a British colony, gained momentum, as increasing numbers of regufees, fleeing the periodic anti-semitic purges which had always swept across and contined to sweep swept across Europe, resulted in the cumulative creation of a large Jewish population east of the Mediterranean. AS the twentieth century proceeded, the immigration continued, and, for the most part, Jews and Palestinian Arabs lived side by side, among each other, harmoniously. The declaration of a Theocratic Jewish homeland, a formal nation officially sanctioned and mandated, occurred in May of 1948, largely with the support of both the British empire and the United States, the American empire. The birth of Israel was of necessity accomplished only with the unavoidable suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, who lost thier homes, having been diven from them, and, in many instances, lost their lives. All this is indisputable history, well documented, which nobody can deny. Nobody denies the Palestinian suffering, but many choose to ignore and forget it, for presumed political and ideologocal expediency. The culmination of Jewish persecution was of course Hitler, but Hitler was only the exreme, disastrous culmination of centuries of normal Christian European behavior; Jewish ghettos,ostracized in nearly all European cities, Jews themsselve treated by law as second class citizens. The founders of the United States strongly believed that theocratic societies do not function well, that they tend to devolve into religious based tyrannies, that the establishment of an official church, such as the church of England, was entirely undesirable, and that therefore the new nation would be born in the principle of freedom of religion, freedom from religion, and a complete seperation of church and state. As Jefferson and Madison both articulated, with an impenetrable, impregnable wall between church and state. That's why, when devout Amcerican conservative Christians delcare that the United States was founded upon "Christian values", and that America is a "Christian nation", or that the U.S. should formally declare itself a Christian nation with laws based upon biblical legal concepts, they are not only teaching false history, they are espousing ideals in direct opposition to the intentions of the founders. This is demonstrated not only by the first amendment to the constitution, but by the simple fact that the United States was founded as a democratic republic, and the Christian religion, far from being a democracy, is, quite simply, a dictatorship. America's Christian conservative "dominionists", who pose a gave threat to American secular demoracy, would do well to learn from the message of a brave, clear thinking young Hasidic rabbi, in an interview long ago.

Messaging, For Love Or Money

I SIGN ON TO FACEBOOK, and notice that there are several messages in storage, waiting for me. In no hurry, I do a bit of feed scrolling, and the usual cavalcade of cute kittens, Arkansas Razorbacks, if you love dogs press thumb, scenic vistas, traitorous Trump, Monet, Cezanne, anti-religion posts flow down and out of view. I actually like Facebook, although I tell people I don't, to make me seem intellectully superior. ("When one respects nothing, it is no trick to be brilliant", as Goethe said). I like the way that your personal feed content matches your personal interests on Facebook, the tailor made algothmatic made to order avalanching cavalcade of squares, intended to seduce and conquer. Whenever I see something I like, which is constantly, I click on "like". Whenever I happen upon somebody's comment post, and I agree with it, which is often, I type in the word "precisely". I have nearly the maximum number of friends, because I have many former students who find me online, and because I accept almost all "friend requests". I don't like to reject invitations, and i like to accumulate people to whom I can advertise and promote this website. Finally, I get to the stored messages. Suddenly a new one pops up, with a small picture of a young, beautiful female face in the upper right hand corner. At the bottom, she says "Hello". I type in "howdy". Then begins the standard interview, which rarely varies. They open with: "How are you"? Everytime, I respond with a single word: "well", meaning, "I am well". (I don't like to typewrite, and do I it tersely. Shakespeare said: "The best men are men of few words")... My one word response "well", always seems to confuse the young ladies, whih I find srange and amusing. Sometimes they ask: "Well, what?". I never respond to that. Often, I "hear" nothing further. The young lady cannot resolve her confusion, and has fled, I suppose. If she (or he) makes it past "well", the interview proceeds, with complete predictability. Your location? Age? Single? Married? What do you do for a living? When I say "nothing", rather than "I am retired", again, the confusion. And then, of course, the incessant, inevitable "do you have a pic"? Everytime, I answer "no", because I don't. I have no profile, and I take no pictures of myself. That,I think, clearly indicates my limited interest in Facebook. My pictuelessness seems to annoy them. "Take a selfie right now", they often demand. I decline the order. When the information they seek is expressed in the form of an order rather than a request, I tend to bow up. Sometimes I suggest that they use the word "please", and that they refrain from issuing orders. This also seems to confuse them. When they type in truncated, incomplete sentences by using only the first letters of words, "np","tgif",that sort of thing, I get confused. Most amusing of all is that when I reply "68", answering the age question, their response is always: "age is just a number". Yeah, sure, oh hell yes! Sometimes, although not always, I retort; "the hell it is", or "Maybe, but a very important one". Usually, I don't bother with that. It only further confuses them. Whenever I make a simple, direct comment, and the rsponse is "what?", I either repeat my comment verbatim, or say nothing. (I do the same thing in person) When one of them asks: "What are you looking for?", I always reply: "nothing". That always throws them, without exception, Often, it ends the interview. To a lady, without exception, they notify me that they themselves are looking for a relationship, true love online, a forever mate to love and cherish them, until death do... "Good luck with that", I say. Sometimes I say that their chances are better if they turn off the computer, go out in public, maybe to church, maybe to a bar, and mingle, in real life, real space-time. That, of course, is probably not true. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they seem confused. But they always ensure me that by messaging me, they believe thay may have found what they are looking for. Can we be friends? We already are, you're on my list. If the conversation lasts long enough, they always, eventually, get to the point, and ask for money. They need gas money to drive from California to Arkansas, to meet me in person and begin our perfect life together. My responses to this vary. Sometimes I claim to have no money, or that all my available funds are tied up in the stock market or my small business, or that I give it all to charity or that I am not allowd by law and by my parents to touch my trust fund until I turn seventy, or that I am naturally reluctant to send money by electronic transfer to a perfect stranger. That seems to confuse them. They are always looking for an older man, and age is a number. At sixty eight, I am a super hot catch for a twenty year old bikini clad beauty. I know that, and I'll keep trying. There are about twenty messages still to open. They all come with pretty faces and perfect bodies, and hope for a wonderful future, together.