Disqualifying Credentials, & Taylor Swift For President

THE CONGRESSPERSON from my district is a Republican, of course; I live in a very red state, and even though my congressional district includes a major univerity, it is still, overall, conservative. He's an incumbant, running for reelction, and, since he is a Republican who toes the Republican line and has an impressive resume, he seems almost a shoe in to get reelected to another two year term in the House of Representatives, this fall. An yet, he has already begun his congressional campaign, in January. We the American people are, it seems, in for a brutally long election campaign season... His ad on the local radio is impressive, and details an impressive resume, including being the mayor of a large town which, during his mayoral term, attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in new business investsment. Before that, he was in the military, and platoon leader who served honorably in the middle east after nine one one. He promotes his congressional record by pointing to a new federal highway which runs through our district. Also, he is a majority member on the House Appropriations Committee. Impressive indeed. Impressive, but, alas, intolerable... unacceptable. For one thing, unless I am dreaming, he is a Trump supporter. All of the Republican leadersin ms tate, including all the House members and the governor herself, are declared Trumpers. That in itself disqualifies them for the offices they currently hold, or should. Likewise, Trump'sinsurrection disqualifies him, according to the constitution, for becoming president, or holdning any other office in America, including dog catcher. Maine nd Colaordo have removed Trump from the ballot; within a fewweks the U.S. Supreme Court will, presumably, rule on whether he can be on the ballot anywhere and everywhere. According to the constitution, according to the framers of the constitution, Trump should not be on the ballot is not eligible. The smart money says that our courrent right wing extremist pro Trump supreme court will lack the integrity to make the correct ruling, and will instead rule that Trump must be included on the ballot in every state. They will use some shrill, lame, "let he voters decide" illogic. What if Taylor Swift suddenly declared her candidacy for the presidency, and immediately attracted massive support (which she would), and surged into the lead in all the polls? Yes, its possible. It could happen. Anybody who has lived in these United States for the past few years knows perfectly well that far stranger things have happened. Taylor Swift, kicking Trump's ass- until a group of Trumper's points out the Ms. Swift is only thirty four years old, and therefore, accodoring to the constitution, not old enough to serve as president. They would take it to court. The Spreme Couort would side with the constitution, and Taylor Swift would be off the ballot, for being a few months too young. But Donald Trump, who tried to violently overthrow the United States government, I can almost promise you, will be cleared by SCOTUS to run. All because the high court is a bunch of right wing extremist punks, Taylor Swift is a liberal, and Trump is their boy.

Identifying the Leader

IN A SPEECH just the other day, Donald Trump made it clear who the leader is, as he announced himself the leader of the Republican party. Its hard to argue with him. Nobody did. Not a single Republican, including Nikki Haley Liz Cheney, or Marjorie Taylor Greene so much as whimpered a sigh of disagreement or protest, and, if anybody had, it would have been one of those three. The point is; the die are cast. the Republican party, as well as the conservative community in general and almost all of the evangelical Christian community within, has made its bed,and is now lying in it, and, by choosing to retain Donald Trump as their leader rather than take the perhaps more expedient path of putting him out to pasture, will, over time, experience the consequences of their choices and actions, as surely we all do. Although it is difficult to find or name a more reprehensible person more unfit for leadership than Donald Trump, were the Repbulcians indeed to jettison Trump, who knows whom they would replace him with? Quite possibly, someone even more undesirable than even Don the Con. EVen while a perfectly appropriate, excllent candidate like NIkki Haley offers to perform exactly that service, her offer is, seemingly, in the process of being rejected by Republican nation at large. Further proof of the lack of judgement, intelligence, and discernment among Amrican consrvatives. Rejecting a perfect opportunity to move beyond the disaster of the Trump era, and elevate a candidate for president who would probably defeat president Biden, and lead the Republican party back to some semblance of santy, and, just possibly, to a Republicn majority in congress (perish the thought). Abortion, whether to elect a criminal demagogue,and dealing with the border immigration crisis figure to be among the three most discussed issues leading up to the November election. Thereofre both parties are falling all over themselves in Congress to negotiatie a border strategy skufficiently acceptable to both parties to pass and become law. Biden has promised to sign almost anything, nowing how his low approval ratign is closely tied to the surge ofundocumented immigrants during his presidency. But if the current government succeeds in passing and implementing meaningful immigration reform before the election, the sudden lack of an issue will take the wind out of Trump's sails. for that reason, he used his declaration of party leadership as an opportunity to insist he is opposed to any bill which involves even the slightest hint of compromise by Republicans. The extremist conservatives in Congress support him in this nefarious perfidy. For the Republicans to cast thier lot with Trupat this point is the best thing that could have happened to the Democratic party, and the hopes of progressives running for office this fall. No only Trump's legal batles begin to reflect more and more negatively on him, but his own behavior on the campaign trail, attacking other Repbulcians as well as Democrats will only alienate more voters. Trump's base has hardened into a dense nucleus of a core, but is not growing, and will never grow again, but will only shrink henceforth, even if slowly, eroding and flaking around the edges. So be it. We've already waited this long, surely we can wait a while longer for Trump's inevitable political demise.

Posting The Truth

IT WAS, HANDS DOWN, the single greatest Facebook post I have ever seen, and that's goin' some, because I have seen quite a few gems, as I'm sure most of you have. It said: "Until some drag queen walks into an elementary school and beats eight nine year olds to death with a copy of "To Kill A Mockingbird", we may be focusing on the wrong shit." Well said. It is not hard to imagine, however, some of our conservative colleagues not understanding what it means. It refers to the fact that in conservative Republican states, much attention is being paid to an alleged problem of children having access to inappropriate books, and another imaginary non problem, that the nation's children might be harmed emotionally if they are made to feel guilty about living in a racist society,and must therefore be taught, falsely, that they are not living in such a society. Whatever. But these are only make believe problems. The real problem is that all too often somebody walks into a school and mass murders people. Whatever,if any solutions Republicans offer for this very real problem are pure nonsense. They offer no solution which includes reducing the number of deadly weapons in the hands of Americans, the only real solution in a country in which there are more firearms then firearm owners. Conservatives embrace the sheer lunacy that the more guns that are in the hands of "good people", the safer America will be, schools, and streets. Sheer craziness.Our conservative comrades want to eliminate from public schools all mention of LGBTQ or gay people, to elimiate all books in which there are gay characters, eliminate all mention of racism in America, historically or current, and remove all books about it from the library book shelves. Gay people are no threat to children, nor anyone else. Teaching the truth about American history, including the unpleasant realities of that history, is not harmful to children. Actually it is harmful to not teach true history, harmful to substitute for the truth a watered down, white washed version of American hsitory, which is called "hagiography", hagiography being nothing other than history written so as to flatter its subject matter. Hagiography is what has traditionally been taught American children; onlly in recent decades has there been a meaningful movement to start teachign the truth, actual history, to Americn children. This movement has been entierely spearheaded and implemented by progressive academicians, and thinkers, with complete, uncooperative, resistance by American conservatives, both in edudation and outside the field. Conservative dishonesty, as always, rearing its ugly head. Teaching both the good and the bad in American history does not cause people to grow up hating America. Quite the contrary, in fact. Every country in the world except the United States understands to necessity of strictly limiting by law the ownership of fire arms. Nearly every mass murder in America, including those in schools, - and they seem to happen with greater and greater frequency - is perpetrated with a high powered fully automatic military style assault rifle,which nobody has any business of owning, but which every one is allowed to own, an insane arrangement, which nonetheless is wholeheartedly supported by conservatives. Until this changes, the senseless slaughter will continue.

Digging Deeper

THE EIGHTY THREE MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT against Donald Trump will prove to be the least of his legal worries. The highly vaunted American legal system tends to find and convict the guilty, while providing protections and oportunities for the innocent. Not only is there no conspiracy led by Biden out to get Trump, Trump has been given and is still being given every benefit of the doubt. The evidence presented by the prosecution in both the New YOrk financial fraud case and the rape and defamation case are overwhelmingly convincing, and in fact constitute proof beyond the shadow of a doubt. In order to continue to support Trump, his supporters must embrace the fantastical narrative that the entire American legal system is corrupt, and engaged in a massive conspiracy against Trump. This ploy becomes more laughable by the day, as does Trump's big election lie and the continued acceptance of it by his cult.They are desperate, and it becomes more difficult daily to defend Trump, and yet they persist, for now. It has now been proven that Trump has over the course of his adult life committed financial fraud on a massive scale, and has also been a serial sex offender. And yet, his cult following remains intact, amazingly. They use denial to disguise their moral bankruptcy. Perhaps, as the days and months proceed hence, and the even more serious felony charges against Trump are brought to trial and the public limelight, his cult will begin to wear down and flake off at the edges, members will begin coming to their senses and back to reality, and the whole MAGA phenomenon will wither and die, as it needs to for the sake of the United States. The number of women who allege sexual misconduct by Trump is long, more than twenty ladies, and the instances of Trump's financial fraud are numerous, a consistent pattern of criminality. But the more serious indictments than even those serious indictments are those having to do with Trump's theft and concealment of classified documents, and his attempt to steal the presidency and overthrow the government violently. Both, one would think, are punishable by death, being traitorous, and treasonous. Thousands of documents were found in Trump's home; he was caught red handed, so to speak. His violent insurrecton against the United Staes was witnessed live and in living color by millions of Americans, and by millions more people around the world. How much corroborated eyewitness testimony is required for conviction? Surely a hundred million is enough. This whole bizarre, psychotic business of millions of Americans supporting Trump more vigorously the more his criminality is revealed has a limit. Precisely what that limit is might be difficult to define, so instead we will have to be content to merely wait for it to happen, and see what happens.

Voting On It

I LIVE IN A RED STATE, a small, poor, red state which usually ranks forty ninth or fiftieth in everything that counts, including per capita income and education. A state so red tat it votes sixty forty for Trump. That kinda red. Trump will no doubt carry the state this November, even if he happens to be incarcerated in federal prison at the time. The state has a right wing extremist Republican governor who endorsed Trump, and, of course, a Republican dominated legislature. It is alarming how far and wide this right wing plague,in the form of the Trump movement, has come. Gender affirming care for LGBTQ people is now illegal in, I believe, twenty seven states, book banning is becoming fashionable, and the very thought that there is any racism at all in America is taboo, forbidden. Like all the other red states in America, this one has burdened itself with the same bizarre, retrogressive, malignant laws; one cannot talk about racism or sexual identity in public schools, many good books are banned, it is illegal for doctors to treat LGBTQ people like LGBTQ people, and so forth. And, of course, abortion is basically prohibited, so restricted as to be very difficult to the point of being nearly impossible to get an abortion. Therefore, a citizen's group has organized for the purpose of getting the abortion question on the ballot this November, so that we the people can decide whether abortion will be legal, whether women will have autonomy over their own reproductive health care. The group is now trying for the third time to get this question on the ballot. The previous two times, the state Attorney General, a Republican, found technicalities with thich to diswualify the petition. The Republicans, in their typical style, are using any trick in the book to avoid allowing democracy to proceed, simply because they know full well that ther agenda does not have majority support among the people at large. The pro choice group is now gathering signatures on its petition, will need at least ninety thousand according to state law, and will almost certainly get more than that number. If the people of this state actually have the oportunity to vote on whether aortion will be legal, as it seems it probably will, then in all probability the electorate will vote to legalize abortion, to return bodily autonomy to women. If fact, if the people in all fifty states voted on whether to legalize or criminalize abortion, most probably they would vote to legalize it in all fifty states, as they already have in the extremely conservative state of Kansas, among several other states. In fact, a majority of Americans beleive that reasonably regulated abortion, with restrictions, should be legal, and that the state should not have power over a woman's reproductive choices. The majority is not huge, but it is a majority. Wouldn't it be better to let the American people decide this eternally vital question,rather than nine old people wearing black robes, or rather than a small group of millionaire men in small smoke filled rooms? In or modern era of computers and telecommunication, voting should be easier, more accessible, and therefore more common. We the people could and arguably should hold state and national referendums on any issues we choose. But, in order for that to happen, we must make clear our desire for such things to our corporate masters, who, as always, will be fearful of us the people, and, as always, resistant to our desires.

Losing Our Religion

TWENTY EIGHT PERCENT OF AMERICANS have no religion, according to a recent study. The non religious can be classed as atheists, agnostics, and people who indicated that they have no particular religious beliefs, but are not necessarily atheits or agnostics. This is up considerably from about sixteen percent a little more than a decade ago. Clearly, the percentage of religious Americans is decreasing rapidly, will likely continue to decrease into the foreseeable future, and whether this trend will ever reverse is open to speculation. Perhaps it will. Perhaps, in some future decade, like the twenty forties, there will be another "great awakening", as there were in the seventeen forties and again in the eighteen forties, when religious fervor swept through America, and the Christian flock multiplied considerably. For all we know, it may eventuate that by the end of the twenty first century, nearly all Americans and much of the global population has been converted and welcomed into the evangelical Christian community. Thus is ever the potential for mass movements to sweep through human culture and change society. It seems doubtful, though: there was, after all, no such religious "awakening" in the twentieth century; it may well be that by the twentieth century arrived, advances in science had reached such a point that the scientific paradigm was replacing the religious one, as is obviously continuing today, and will presumably continue into the future. When you factor in members of religions other than Cristianity, the percentage of Americans who identify as "Christian" is dropping to about fifty percent, seeingly destined to keep dropping. The number of atheists and agnostics in America is already greater than the number of Catholics or evangelical fundamentalist protestants. And again, the rise of science, which began during the "scientific revolution" of the sixteenth century and has gained momentum in every subsequent century, and the rise of mass public education in western counries seem to be the causal factors. Science is not losing momentum. If anything, it is rushing ahead at breakneck speed, revealing new and wondrous knowledge about nature and the unvierse which dazzles us anew with each passing year and decade. If humanity does not destroy itself by misusing science and technology, the future, icluding the near future, will be filled with scientific marvels virtually inconceivable by us today. Artificial intelligence, super computers, genetic manipulation, revolutions in energy sources, will all drastically transform human civilization, making ancient traditional religions seem ever more primitive, simplistic, irrelevant. Science already has in essence taken the place of religion in offering us explanations of reality; that is not going to change. Religious belief is concentrated among the older generations. Of Americans under forty, about half of them reject religion altogether. Each new generation seems to be moving farther from traditional religious faith. It is not difficult to imagine a human future altogether devoid of organized religions, in which such institutions have been relegated entirely to history books. Whatever new forms of faith and worhsip evolve to replace our outdated ones, if there are any, will surely encompass a much greater modern awareness of the universe, and will seem more like science than religion.

Getting the Big Picture

TO UNDERSTAND contemporary America, it is necesary to realize that Doanld Trump is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg, a symptom rather than a casue, a symptom of a deep social illness, right wing extremism. Trump himself would just as soon be standing in front of audiences of screeching liberals and socialists, ranting about worker's rights and corporate exploitation. In fact he was once a pro choice Democrat, in New YOrk City, where it pasy to be a liberal pro choice Democrat. But Trump knew which way the wind blew, and his personal fortunes would be far better served by taking the conservative approach. Trump has no core values, other than his personal wealth and fame, from which his desire for political power derives. But, being wealthy, he is much more naturally suited to economic conservatism, and, as for his social and moral agenda, he is up for sale. For far right wing religious extremism he makes a perfect spokesman, with the innane passion of a pulpit preacher. He loves the attention and adulation of his evangelical Christian cult followers, aside from the extreme irony of someone with Trump's debauched lifestyle, attitude, words, and deeds representing the supposedly moral majority. If the American religious right would deign to stay out of politics it would be somewhat less harmful to the country, but, alas, it won't, and therefore, is. The "moral majority" was enengered as a conservative resposne to Jimmy Carter's liberal evangelism, it elected reagen, and it elected Trump. If America isn't careful, it might elect Trump again. Thuswe have our current, strangemarriage of politicl and economic conservatism and religion in America. This, in spite of the obvious reality that the essential Christian message is far more left wing woke socialistic than neo-liberal right wing. The white Christian Republican party would happily elevate the Christian religion to official, state sponsored status, would insinuate Christianity into public shools and civic life, and the extremists would rewrite the American legal system to reflect biblical principles, disastrously. LGBTQ people, rounded up, and incarcerated or executed. Immigrants, especially the undocumented or dark skinned, deported or imprisoned in concentration camps. The complete dismantling of the economic regulatory powers of government, with unregulated capitalism loosened, running rampant, dogs, eating dogs. The complete denial of climate change, and continued support of the fossil fuel industry. These are but a few of the nightmarish items on the far right Republican agenda. This is no exaggeration. During the forthcoing election campaign between Biden and Trump, relgiious America will almost certainly unite in large numbers behind Trump, in direct if unwitting repudiation of all basic Christian values. This is what we are confronted with in America, a substantial movement of backward looking conservatives, wanting to literally turn back the clock of progress. They harbor the illusion that there was a better time in America, somewhere in the remote, foggy past....Indeed there was, if one happens to be a racist, a religious fanatic, or an unrelenting capitalist. What we have now is a nation of increased religious tolerance and diversity, reasonable economic regulation, and increasing racial tolerance, and tolerance of sexual orientation. Heaven forbid that we should turn back the clock on it.

Choosing To Go With Trump

ASSUMING THAT TRUMP wins today's New Hampshire primary, he will almost certainly win the South Carolina primary which comes next, in a state which evidently does not widely like its former governor, Nikki Haley. Interesting, in many of these suthern and midwestern states which elected a far right wing Republican governor, in almost every instance, said far right gov ends up tremendously unpopular. Although a marjority of Americans describe themselves as "conservative", the plain fact is that a majority of Americans prefer progressive policies, an are repulsed by not only the far right, but by itspolicies as well. Unless there are factors unknown to me, it begins to seem nearly inevitable that Donald Trump will not only represent the Republican party running for president against Biden, but that Trump's candidacy will be definite by February. That leaves a full nine months for the Biden - Trump election campaign,a very long time indeed. With either Nikki Haley or Trump, the Repblican party is committed to a far right presidential candidate, which may prove a problem for the Grand Old Party. The Democrats have made it clear that not only is democracy on the ballot in 2024, but reproductive rights are as well. America is a majority pro democracy country, and a majority pro choice country. In every state in which the electorate has voted on abortion rights, even in extremely conservative states such as Kansas, reproductive choice for women has been elected, by a wide margin. Many other states will soon have such referendi - all of them will vote similarlty to legalize abortion, with reasonable restirctions. There is a reason why the Democrat candidate has won seven out of the most recent eight presidential elections; namely, a majority of Amerians prefer progressive over far right policies, notwithstanding America's allegedly conservative bent. On issues such as whether to tax the rich or the poor, support for social programs, international cooperation, climate change, reproductive rights - acoss the board, the progressive position wins. The Democrats not only can hammer home the conservative refusal to deal with climate change, and refusal to embrace reproductive freedom, and make political hay. Then too, we will have nine whole months to compare Joe Biden and Donald Trump as human beings, including their past records. The current status quo begins to look rather favorably upon the Democrats, particularly since the Republcians are rapidly losing their opportunity to demonize Biden's record on the economy, since the economy seems to improve and grow stronger every day. In a more perfect political environment Joe Biden would have, early in his presidency, declared hismelf a one term president, and now, we would be embroiled in an exciting Democratic party primary campaign to replace him, with some new, younger, dynamic political leader getting the Democratic presidential nomination. The greatest liablity the Democrats seem to have against Trump is Joe Biden himself, his age, in spite of his proven record of being able to defeat Trump. So, we are stuck with comparing Biden and Trump as leaders, and as human beings, and making our choice. The advantage for the Democrats is that Donald Trump has nine full months to show the American people exactly what kind of person he is, as he has always done.

Choosing A Loser

IT WOULD BE BETTER, much better for Republicans if they did an about face and choose Nikki Haley as their presidential candidate. But that would require intelligence, and flexibility, neither of which seems to be in high demand currently within the conservative evangelical Republican MAGA community. Haley could and probably would beat an unpopular Joe Biden, whose unpopularity remains inexplicable but could change as the economy continues to rock and roll. If Biden would start ennunciating every word, drop the low monotonpus tone of voice, show some personality, and vigorously tout his admnistration's achievements and attack Trump, who knows, he might have a chance? Biden would likely beat Trump, but not Nikki Haley. However, the G.O.P. seems determined to march to its death off the cliff, by sticking with Donald Trump, who seems destined to "go down", if in flaming glory... For Trump to run against Biden would and likely will be a Democrat's dream come true. And, so it seems, the issue might well be resolved quite soon, and Donald J. Trump may emerge as the presumptive nominee by early February, if he hasn't already. That will leave nine lovely months for us Democrats to endlessly repeat the facts about Trump, about his big election lie, about the insurrection, all of it. Considering Trump's recent and current behavior, considering the things he is saying in his MAGA rally speeches, the next nine months, with a desperate Trump under siege politically and legally, almost promises to be extremely interesting, full of crazy, insane, outrageous comments from the Donald. The Republican party seems at present to be heaidng straight towards A Trump presidential nomination, which should, by any logical reasoning, prove to be ultimately a disaster for the G.O.P. and for the conservative political and religious community. Trump has already been a disaster for the country as a whole, both during his disastrous presidency and since, but not so much for the Republican party generally, yet. However, both the conservative agenda and Trump remain deeply unpopular among the general electorate. America is pro choice, supportive of social programns and the administrative, regulatory state, including the EPA, IRS, and OSHA, among many others, all of which the Republicans would destroy. Most Americans want to tax the wealthy, raise pay for the lowest workers, keep church and state totally separate with Jefferson's "unbreakable wall" between the two, and codify equality for minorities, such as LGBTQ people. All of these progressive policies are strongly supported by America, vehemently opposed by Republicans, and their conservative evangelical Christian base. The election in November will be about whether to reelect a criminal as president, or an honest incumbant with a successful track record... Whether to legalize reproductive freedom for women, or return to the dark ages of illegal abortions. Whether to accept black and brown skinned people, and gay people as legal and social equals, or to relegate them to second class status, as usual. With each passing day it becoes increasingly inconceivable that an honest, intelligent citizen would even consider voting for Trump, or the conservtive Republican agenda. Yet, some still do. They might well live to regret it.

Endorsing A Non-Racist Trump

SENATOR TIM SCOTT of South Carolina ran for president, got nowhere fast, and dropped out. He is the only African-American Republican member of the Senate, one of a relatively few African-American Republicans. was appointed to the Senate by then Governor Nikki Haley. Black Reublicans have trouble getting elected. Amazingly, the former presidential candidate proceeded to endorse Donald Trump for president, enthusiastically. More amazingly still, the basis upon which Senator Scott predicates his support is that, as he said roughly paraphrased: "We need a president who does not see people as black or white, but as Americans". Scott also cited as Trump's strong point his unique ability to unite America. Trump the great unifier. Does his unification plan include those whom he termed "vermin"? Endorsing Trump, because of Trump's totally color blind racist free heart, mind, and soul, and unifying tendencies. What a hoot. Quick fact check; Donald Trump is well known to be a racist, a serious one. Numerous people who now him well have attested to this, and during the years since Trump first entered the presidential campain in 2015 he has spoken like a racist so many times that it becomes almost impossible not to conclude that he isn't one. I can recall when raists din't bother teo hid their racism. Now, the only people who don't hd it are the white supremicist extremists, invariably far right politiclly, and profresing Christians. Always. Trump denies his racism, but he makes no attempt to hide it, schizophrenically. His most glaring recent example was his now famous comment that immigrants are pouring into America and poisoning our American blood. Poisoning our American blood. What, preisely, does this mean? Does it maybe mean that the millions of brown skinned immigrants from Mexico and other brown skinned countries are invading, overwhelming America, soiling, tainting, poisoning our lilly white Nordic English speaking culture? This is precisely what the reprobate meant. Recall his describing African countries as "shit hole countries"? His stated preference for immmingrants from, say, Norway? By endorsing Trup because of Trump's imaginary lack of racism is delusional, another example of self deeption, self brainwashing among Republicans, conservatives, evangelcial Crhsitians, Trump supporters, he crowd which still claims that Biden stole the election,that climate change is a hoax, and all the other wacko falsehoods and conspiracy theories commonly embraced by the far religious Trump right. This whole Trump thing is beginning to look more like a cult, more like mass hypnosis or mass deusion. Just the other day Trump said that on the day of the insurrrection, he tried to send ten thousand troops to Nikki Haley to preserve law and order, but that she refused. Trump, confusing Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley. In fact, Tump sat in the White House the day of the insurrrection, watching it on television like the rest of us, and like his supporters but not good Americans, rooting for the insurrectionstis, and refusing to send any help or allow any military or police help to be sent, because he wanted the insurrection to succeed. He wanted the insurrection to succeed. Donald Trump is a racist, a criminal, a traitor, criminally insane, who badlly needs psychiatric help.This obvious reality makes even the thought of those millions of misguided Americans who still follow him extremely alarming. Morally, legally, constitutionally, only a plea of insanity is sufficient to save Trump from his appropriate fate.

Evaluating Taylor Swift's Cat

TAYLOR SWIFT'S CAT has a value of one hundred million dollars, accoding to the report, some report. I heard about it on my favorite morning sports talk radio show, where they were laughing at the fact that, evidently, at least according to some economic measurements, the feline has far greater value than, say, Travis Kelce. One of the radio hosts asked precisely what that means, that the cat is worth one hundred million dollars? Does it mean that somebody would pay that much to buy it, or is that the animal's bank account? Does Taylor, notoriously generous, pay her tabby handsomely? Good qustion, I thought. Just off the top of my head, my best guesss is that, in conjunction with mommy, the cat - I don't know whether it is male or female, or what it looks like - has appeared in some sort of comercial enterprises -Taylor obviously likes doing television commercials too - said feline has been in front of the camera to the tune of one hundred million, money which presumably actually went to Taylor, and then, knowing her, to charity. But that's just a guess. As we say, who knows? If I ever happen to bump into an economist, and it crosses my mind, I'll ask. If I had a cat worth that much, I'd be temptd to try to get kittens from it. Then too, of course, all cats, being sentient beings of God's creation, are, in terms of human money, invaluable, priceless. I took biology in tenth grade, in which we dissected frogs, but not advanced biology in eleventh grade, because in advanced bio I happened to know that they dissected cats, and I wanted no part of it. Perhaps cats which are dissected lived long lives of love, at the end of which their grieving caregivers magnanimously, to honor their dearly departed, donated the remains to science. But somehow, I doub it. I honestly think tha if some lunatice knocked on m door and offered me, say, a million dollars for each of the stray cats for whicn I care, (I'm not sure I like the term "rescue") I would turn it down. I definitely would, if my stray cats were being bought for dissection. If they were being bought by Taylro Swift, say, to add to her collection of cats, however large or small it may be, that's another matter. I am confident in Ms. Swift's ability to give a cat, any cat, a far better life than I ever could, although it might be hard for her to match the amount of time and personal attention I provide mine. Although our modern American cutlure has tried harder than any civilization in recorded history to monetize, to assign monetary value to everything, some things are still beyond monetization, if only barely. Taylor Swift has doubtless long since discovered that the difference between one hundred and two hundred million dollars is insignificant in ot only the grand scheme of things but also in her personal life. The best and easiest thing for her to do is not not worry about it,hire good people to halp share the wealth with others, and to focus on doing what she loves doing best, which is evidently writing and performing music, going to football games, and making cats extremely valuable. Good for her. We need to value cats more in America, and dogs, and ourselves, and damned near everything else that really counts.

Facebooking Facts

ON FACEBOOK somebody posted, in big, bright letters, something to the effect that he looks forward to the day when the cross and the swaztika are cast into the dustbin of history, as harmful and undesirable. And, as I often do with anti-Christian messages, I agree. I hit the "like" button. I have long had troulbe with the cross as a sacred religious symbol. In early childhood I tended to submerge any negative feelings about it, preferring to go along to get along. That strategy, I have found, has its limits. When I was about twenty or twenty one I was hanging with a group of smart people, having an intelligent conversation. A deeply religious lady there said that she is physically, psychologically, emotionally unable to wear a cross on her person, around her neck, on her lapel, wherever, anywhere. The mere sight of the cross evoked such vicarious pain within her, she said, the mere thought of the crucifixion of Christ was so traumatic for her, that she never donned a cross, fervant Christian though she was. I could easily understand her point. Over the years, my aversion to the cross has grown, and is now stronger than it has ever been. The chief issue for me is the idea of using an insturment of torture and death as your most cherished religious symbol, rather than rejecting it as an instrument of torture and death, of the beloved savior. Obviously the veneration of the cross was an act of sheer defiance, a statement of refusal to be defeated. The cross symbolizes Christ's great sacrifice and his resurrection and victory over evil and death. I get that part. Hell, I was raised surrounded by it. However, that attitude assumes gratitude for Christ's sacrifice, glorification of it, and the cross become a sacred object to which people are supposed to cling, as their sins are washed away in the blood of Christ. I've known all this since childhood, and have always been somewhat amazed and confused by it. Hell, I sing about it every Monday in the gospel group at the senior center. For one thing, I don't know about you, but I simply don't like the idea of a far better man than I dying for my sins. Cowardly though I can be, whatever my consequences for accountability, let me experience them. Not an innocent man; me. I'll take my own rap. Crucifixion theology reminds me much too much of all the other sacrificial rituals practiced by all the other ancient and primitive religions with which history is littered. Tying the virgin down on the sacrificial alter at the top of the sacred pyramid, and hack to to bits with a sword to honor god, or gods, all of whom are evdentlly, like humans, meat eaters. Too muhh blood for me. Hell, I'm still pissed at the Old Testament God for mentally torturing poor old Abraham by ordering him to murder his own son, Isaac. I mean, what an asshole. What a scam. Jehovah, Yawyeh, Elohim, whomever, was willing to settle for a sheep, thank God, choosing veal parmesan over cannibalism. A very good songwriter has a lyric "Just Give Us Jesus, You can keep the cross"...and how....future religions will be different from our traditional ones, if religions continue to exist in the future. They will be less bloody, less violent, less demonstrably false, more enlightened, aware of the universe, and, presumably, much more compassionate, If they aren't, may the devil take them.

Facing Facts

MY INTELLECTUAL FRIENDS deride my participation on Facebook. It is beneath them, it should be beneath me. Well, as we say, whatever. May my intellectual friends soar to the great moral and intellectual heights to which they evidently aspire, and may they enjoy looking down on Facebook, social media, American culture, me, whatever. One cannot go wrong deriding social media and American cutlure. But I look at it a bit differently. I see value in Facebook, although perhaps not the exact same sort of value envisioned by its billionaire instigators. Facebook, like American culture and society, perhaps simply because it is a reflection thereof, can yield, for example, interesting ideas for essay writers. Since members have the opportunitiy to essentially taylor their facebook experience to their individual proclivities, any negatve experience on the platform can, arguablly, be blamed entirely on the user. Consider the following post, which scrolled down my computer screen in big bright, bold letters: "Christianity is not only false, it is harmful". Anti-religious and anti conservative, anti Trump posts come along often on my Facebook "news feed", interspersed with pictures of cute kittens, big cats, lovely scenery, sports news, and ads for environmental protection organizations. Actually, I like what Facebook spoon feeds me. My personal proclivities prevail. Long live algorythms. I agree with the anti-Christian post, despite the fact that I am a star singer in the gospel singing group at my local senior center. Non religious, but open minded, that's me. I realize that religion exists in human culture for a reason, and I think I understand the reason. Religion is a means of providing people comfort and inspiration, a means of organizing, supporting, sustaining society and civilization, and an attempt by primitive humankind to comprehend and approach nature's creator,to understand the universe. A sort of proto pre science. Science now fills the purpose formally filled by religion. Religion, all religion, is false in the sense that its explanations for existence are long aoutdated, replaced by superior knowledge and superior understanding, provided by science. To the post itself I responded, dealing only with the harmful aspect, as follows: "To whatever extent religion teaches that God speaks to us in books, and that people suffer eternal torment after death, religion is harmful". The notion that God spea to us in books and stories, is patently idiotic, since not only has there never existed a single shred of evidence that God does this, but it is obvious that God speaks to us in much better ways, through nature itself. Goethe said it best: "It is beyond me how anyone can believe that God speaks to us in books, and stories. If the world does not directly reveal itself to us, and if our hearts do not tell us what we owe ourselves and others, then we will surely not learn these things from books, which at best are designed only to give names to our mistakes." Enough said. Books are good tools, but limited, and to elevate any book to the status of sacred is abuse of book. For every book ever written, there is an all too human writer, or writers. Perhaps the most, harmful evil aspect of any religion is that God is a wrathful, vengeful entity who assigns people to eternal damnation and torment in hell. Not even a shred of evidence exists to support this malign, evil, harmful notion. It is entirely the invention of the human mind, of the sometimes misguided human mind. With all the pain and suffering in this world, who in his or her right mind would ven boher to invent or embrace such a horrible, monstrous thought? invent such a monstrous thought?

Devising Trump's Legal Strategy

WHEN ONE IS INVOLVED in as many lawsuits as Donald Trump is and always has been, you need at leaat one good lawyer, and more likely, several dozen or hundred. Trmp is paying millions of dollars in legal fees, probably using money sent to him for his righteous defense by his god fearing, Trump loving, pentecostal evangelical Christian MAGA cult members. He seems to be getting every penny's worth. His legal team has announced its "strategy" for defending Trump in his forthcoming trial for stealing and hiding classified documents. It has a familiar ring to it, for those with strong enough stomachs to follow Trmp and to pay atention to what he says, utters, and spews. He will play the victim! His lawyers will argue that this whole unseemly business about classified doceuments is nothing but a horrible conspiracy between President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and special prosecutor Jack Smith, a conspiracy to "get Trump" by people who hate Trump. Amazing. Trump is paying these clowns millions of dollars, and that, it seems, is the best they can do. Play the victim card, with an outlandish conspiracy theory, of the type which only extreme rigt wing Trump supprters can. You'd think, with all that legal talent, they'd be able to concoct someething at least reasonably plausable...The same stratigy is being employed in one of the other numerous trials in which Trump is the defandant; the defamation lawsuit by the lady, or rather one of he many ladies, who claims Trump raped her.This is Doanld's second go around in this case; he was already found guilty of defamation once, and now, apparently will be a second time, since he brilliantly went right back to defaming her immediately after his first conviction. Go figure. (Trump describes himself as a "stable genius", remember?). His claim is that he never defamed anyone, and that the lady's entire story about first being raped by Trump and then defamed by him is bogus, a hoax, a lie. Trump will be tried for ninety one separate felonies while running for president, and the Americna people, may, just may, if a perfect storm of insanity ensues, elect him president in November. God, what a thought. Trump's defense, in all of these crimes with which he is justifiably accused, is that a vast left wing conspiracy, headed by Joe Biden and including the FBI, the diplomatic community, the deep state, and the Internal Revene Service is trying to bring him down simply because he is running for president. Good luck with that! The truth, obviously, is the opposite; Trump is running for president hoping desperately that he will win, and thereby be able to avoid further prosecution by some presumed, magical, "executive immunity". If he wins, Trump will pardon himself, issue an executive order declaring the president above the law, declare himself president for life, sign an executive order banning abortion, making Christianity mandatory, banning race studies, and prohibiting use of the term "socialism" in public. It will be that bad, if not worse. Fortunately, such a scenario remains highly unlikely. More likely is that Trump will do time, unless some idiot right wing president pardons him.

Seeing A Cult, Knowing A Cult

THE IDEA that the political supporters of Donald Trump, who number in the tens of millions, comprise a "cult", never occured to me until relatively recently. Certainly not during his presidency. During his presidency, what fascinated me primarily was the frequency, outlandish transparency, and sheer numbers of his lies told from the White House, on a daily basis. The number turns out to have been between twenty and twenty five outright lies, per day, per president. They were widely reported nd documnted in the media, and I continued to be surprised at the apparent lack of concern on the part of his supporters. Did they believe his lies, or merely overlok them? Were his policies so desirable from their point of view that they were willing to accept Trump's constant lying and vicious slandering of his opponents, without so much as a moral qualm? So it seemed, and still seems. It may be that the idea of a Trump cult began to take shape in my brain when Trump's behavior caused incident after incident which caused me to declare his political career dead, instead increase the ensthusiaism with which Trump's supporters embraced him as their leader. First came the Access Hollywood recording a month before his election in 2016. I thought his candidacy was over. So did the Republican National Committee. However, not so. Then came one revelation after another, all damagaing to Trump. He knowingly, willingly welcomed and received assistance from Russian activists during the 2016 campaign, as later confirmed by the Russians themselves. Trump went merrily on, his supporters scoffed at the confirmed report. Then came his famous telephone conversation with the president of Ukraine, in whih president Trump tried to blackmail Zelensky for damaging information on Joe Biden. He was impeached for that, but again, his popularity with his support base only increased. The second impeachment, one week before leaving office, centered around Trump's failed attempt to steal the presidency from Bidn and to retain it by first lying about the election results,and then by organizing a violent mob to overthrow Biden's government, had, amazingly, much the same effect. By the time Trump finally left office ammid the carnage he left, if memory serves,I was entirely amenable to describing the Trump phenomenon as a "cult". My belief in this regard has, over the last few years, only intensified. I now firmly, unreservedly conisder Donald Trump a cult leader, and his remaining millions of sycophants his cult. His recent MAGA rallies provide perhaps the clearest evidence yet of this. In the video presentations which often preceed his speeches, Trump's ideas and leadership, indeed his every word, are presented with an apostolic fervor, almost in a religious sense. Trump the savior of America. He made America great again merely by being elected, America lost its greatness the very mmoment he,kicking and screaing, left office,and America will only, can only, become great yet again if the great man is returned to power. More than ever,a messianic attitude about Trump again becoming president consumes his following. When he speaks, his mainly evangelical Chritian audience raises both their hands above their heads, as if receiving the words of a divine being, sent by God. They calim to worship God and love Jesus. In reality, they both love and worship Donald J.Trump, as false a prophet as ever walked the planet.

Reviving Hope

ALL IS NOT LOST. Its not all doom and gloom. In fact, there are reslistic reasons to be hopeful, hopeful that we the human species can surive our own stupidity, can change course, better our behavior, effectively fight and ultimately prevail against our own global warming caused climate change. Climate change fanatics, by which it meant people who seriously believe in climate change, are extremely worried about it, have begun to push the panic button, and are predicting nothing but gloon and doom- may just be wrong. This does not in any way alter the demonstrable fact that the people who are panicing about climate change most passionatley and oudly are the onew who are correct, the ones tellinig th eturh, and the ones dismissing it as a liberal hoax, nothing to worry about, are wrong, dead wrong. A stunning, amazing new book, "Not the End of the World; How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet", should be read by everyone, fanatics and deniers alike, and should be comforted and inspired by it. The author, Hannah Ritchie, has all the correct qualifications. She is young, thirty, teaches and researches at Oxford, is a polymath with special expertise in statistical data interpretation, and identifies her calling in life as a quest for understanding and addressing the most pressing problems confronting humanity, including and especially climate change. Ritchie makes several crucial points which are often lost in the shuffle amid all the bad news, veriviably accurate but bad news regarding the Earth's curent trajectory, environmentally. Ritchie dos not ceny the reality of the negativity; currently the planet is on a course to greatly exceed the warming limitations goals set forth by humanity, and cliamte change is, quite obviously, upon us now and getting worse fast. However, the trajectory is changing, has already changed. The curve is flattening out. Globally, per capita carbon emissions have been reduced, a trend whichs seems to be sticking. The rate at which we are spewing carbon into the atmonsphere is slowing down, as sustainable sources of energy rapidly come online and fossil fuels are bieng phased out. Coal is nearly priced out of existence, even now. The atmosphere, globally, and particularly in places like Los Angeles and European cities, is much cleaner than fifty years ago, and European cities are much cleaner than two hundred years ago. The hole in the ozone layer and acid rain, both of which were causes of great alarm in the nineteen eighties, have both been eliminated by enforced legislation. Even deforestation has been reversed. It peaked in the eighties, and is now on the decline, is being reversed with reforestation projects well underway in many countries. Global poverty and hunger, both still seriously problematic, have both been greatly reduced in recent decades by the agricultural revolution, in which crop yields per acre have been increased by orders of magnitude. The essential message of this brilliant, informed young lady is simple: we are in trouble, but not doomed. There is much that we can do, and we are already doing it. But to ensure success, we must continue to do the right things with ever greater speed and intensity, and, if the force is with us, we will create, for the first time in human history, a truly sustainable civilization.

Making Sense

WHETHER 'TIS STUPIDER to refuse to believe in climate change or evolution is a matter opinion. Arguably, refusing to believe in climate change is far more harmful to the United States and to the world,than simply refusing to accept reality in preference for a primitive, false, but deeply held religious belief. Climate change denial is purely political in nature. The reality of climate change means that in order to sustain human civiliaztion, enormous, fundamental changes in the economic, political, and social structure of society must be undertaken. Change is the trait of liberalism, reistance to change that of conservatism. All climate change denial is among conservatives, for a reason, if not a good one. Refusal to embrace necessary change, refusal to understand the desirability of change is a deadly attitude, an attitude which results in death. Because religion is among the most sacred traditions in human culture, a fundamental pillar of civilization, it seems natural that religious devotion, to whatever religion,is compatible with social, political,and economic conservatism. The pragmatic effects of denyng human evolution by natural selction are far less dramatic; the world doesn't depend for its very survival on acceptance of Darwin, as it does indeed depend directly on acknowledging, addressing, and acting effectively to reverse climate change. On a strictly intellecual basis, however, creationism as a fundamental religious tenet, the Biblical account, for example, is no more intelligent in the twenty first century than climate change denial. It is amazing, that in these United States, with our huge, excellent public school system and extensive system of higher edcuation, with thousands of excellent colleges and universities educating millions of perfectly intelligent people each year - that there remains a significant sector of the population which denies the reality of human evolution. Denial, of course, for purely religious reasons. How many junior high school, high school, college, and university biology, chemistry, and physics teachers are there in America? Tens of thousands, at least? How many of them refuse to accept or teach evolution? Are there any evolution deniers among people trained in science? If there are, you can probably assume that they are teaching at religious institutions, and are echoing the official viewpoint, whether they personally know better. Eventually, nobody will deny climate change, just as, essentially, nobody who is sane seriously denies any longer that th Earth is round. And, there will also come a time when nobody refuses to accept the fact of evolution. One factor in favor of evolution, in terms of tangible proof, is that evidence and proof of it is all around us, in dinosaur fosssils. hybrid corn and other crops, dog breeding, cattle breeding, agricultural techniques in general. Any sensible perosn can take a look at a monkey or chimp in a zoo and immediately discern that we humans are indeed primates, and that our remote ancestors evolved into us. We can look forward to a time when creationism is no more accepted among intelligent people than the ancient Greek and Roman gods themselves It just may take a while.

Setting Limits, Part II

BEING UPSET WITH, or even disliking people who deny the reality of hauman made climate change is not only not unreasonable, it is appropriate. So is suggesting that such people, whether they know it or not, are borderline traitors, if not completely. This is because of the simple fact that for more than twenty years, the United States Department of Defense has identified human-made climate change as the single greatest threat to American national security. And they aren't making this up. There is a reason why this is so. Now, think about it. What do you call a person who refuses to acknowledge even the existence of the greatest threat to his or her country? A coward? Or, a shirker of one's patriotic duty, if nothing else, correct? Reversing climate change is a desperate necessity for the future survival of life on Earth, and to accomplish it is going to require maximum effort of as many people as possible. Climate change denial is the way conservatives justify their conservatism. Perpetuating corporate capitalism and the fossil fuel industry capitalist system makes perfect sense, if it does no damage to the planet. But not only does it damage the planet, it is going to destroy the planeet, if we don't do something, starting now. Conservative politicians think they are being quite clever by advocating an all in on all energy source strategy, because by so doing they are tolerating development of wind energy and solar enerty, which they think makes them environmentally aware and enlightened. But the opposite is true. Anyone who advocates the continued use and all out exploitation of fosssil fuels, including oil, coal, and natural gas, is effectively advocating the suicide of the human species. Until we can figure out to remove carbon from the atmosphere in meamingful amounts, we must cease and desist all fossil fuel consumption, immediately if not sooner. Conservatism by its nature resists change, and resistance to change is death to humanity, and to all life on Earth. The changes we must make are drastic, fundamental. There simply is no logner even the shadow of a doubt that climate change is real, and is caused by human beings. Stange as that may seem or sound, its reality. The notion that humanity is far too weak and puny to have any meaningful impact on nature is simply dead wrong, absurd. Consider what would happen to the planetary eco system if every nuclear bomb in the world were exploded at once. We, and all other life on Earth, would soon become extinct. We have the power to do that, and to do much else, like significantly alter the weather, the climate, the flow of rivers, and the creation of huge new, man made lakes. Humankind has already had a huge, comprehensive impact on this planet's ecosystem, demonstrably. Merely because over the past several decades many different people have expressed many different opinions about climate change does not mean that all views expressed are of equal value, truth, or accuracy. For decades the people who have warned us about global warming have been correct, with facts to prove their warning. And, over the same period of time, decades, the people who have argued that cliamte change ia a hoax, or isn't caused by humans are uneducated in science, and their reasoning is based on false assumptions and false facts, with twisted, incorrect reasoning. Every time. If only we had all listened to the scientists from the beginning. We must listen to them now, if it isn't already too late.

Setting Limits

YOU HAVE TO DRAW LINES, set limits, establish boudnaries, set standards. Everyone agrees on this. You can only take so much. Patience and tolerance are wonderful vittues, to a point. At some point, you run out of both, become exhausted. I have reached the end of my rope with several categories of people, people who, upon closer scrutiny, actually belong to the same general category - the category of people who choose to deny realtty for the sake of ideological expediency, cognitive and emotional harmony and comfort. Those categores are: people who embrace Trump's big election lie, and who refuse to unconditionally condemn Trump's violent insurrection which resulted. I cannot respect such people. They should know better. They should be ashamed of themselves. Likewise, people who refuse to accept the reality of human made climate change, and who insist that either it is a hoax, or that humans have nothing to do with it. Climate deniers I have run out of patience with. They are, in effect, traitors to America, to humanty, to nature, indeed, to God. But that's not all. There's more. People who insist that Darwinian human evolution by natural selection is false, and who embrace biblical creationism as the only absolute truth, I condemn, without reservation, as willful blindness and ignorance. Surely the purpose of religion is not to encourage people to believe in nonsense. If it is, to whatever extent it is, religion is harmful, and should be abolished. And we must not exclude from our list of unacceptable people those who so fervantly embrace their own religious beliefs that they insist that anyone who does not share them is condemned to eternal damnation and torment in the afterlife. In other words, if you believe in hell, and you believe that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior is doomed to spend an eternity in it, I comdemn you, unconditionally. Furthermore, I insist that if anyone actually spends an eternity in hell, which I doubt, then it will be you, the religious fascist. Hell, if you even believe in hell at all, I'm done with you; you're mentally ill, sadistic. Often, it is observable that the same people who believe in any one of these idiotic beliefs believes in them all. Often,,they're conservative Christians, often Trump supporters. A venn diagram representing all of the above false beliefs would intersect them all in the middle, and would encompass a fair percentage of the community of false believers. If you deny evolution and climate change, chances are you deny Trump's loss to Biden too. Whoever embraces one idiotic false belief tends to embrace many. Another pattern is more pervasive still; the commmunity of believers in these falsehoods tends to have another striking common characteristic; a lack of education. A lack of formal schooling, lack of history, biology, and chemistry classes in the old academic record. A lack fo college and even high school degrees. They may have a skill or skills. They may be first class plumbers, farmers, machanics, or whatever, smart, knowledgable, successful people, but nonotheless they are people without good training in the sciences and social sciences, including history, economics, and literature. tThe more educated people become in general science and history, the more likely they are to accept the reality of climate change, evolution, and Biden's election, and the less likely to believe in imaginary places like hell and in false beliefs, like eternal damnation for non believers. And, last but not least, the more formally educated people are, the more likely, much more likely, they are to be liberal, what we now call "progressive". Conservatism can be seen as a function of ignorance.

Comparing, Contrasting

LET'S ENGAGE un a little comparing and contrasting. Let's compare and contrast the situations of two prominent figures in the news, President Biden's son Hunter, and Jim Jordan, Republican congressperson from Ohio, high ranking official within the House of Representatives. The Republicans are considering holding the former, Hunter Biden, in contempt of Congress, while the Democrats are thinking about holding Jim Jordan in contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify when the Democrats controlled the House, up until just recently. Their subcommittte investigating the insurrection of January 2021 instructed Rep. Jordan to testify, which he refused to do. Currently, House Republcians ordered Huner Biden to testify about his personal matters, insisting that he do so, privately, behind closed doors. He agreed, but insisted that he testify in public, and he even showed up in person, ready to testify, but, since the proceeding was in public, the Republican committee refused to allow him to do so. Incredibly, the Republican controlled House will likely indeed hold Biden in contempt of Congress, not because of any refusal on his part to testify, but because of his insistence that he do so in public, in front of god and country. Incredible. The Democrats thought it might be a good time to similarly hold Congressperson Jordan in contempt of Congress, and have put forth a bill to that effect. Five'll get you ten that the Republican conrolled House of Reps will vote, by a narrow margin, to not so do. Jordan refused to testify about an event of crucial, vital importance ot the entire country, vital to the national security of America. Jordan refused, because the investigation into Trump's insurrection makes not only Trump look bad, it reveals many Republcians to have been guilty of being accomplices in the crime. The Republcan purusit of Hunter Biden is purely vindictive, retaliatory, an attempt to punish President Biden for defeating Donald Trump in the election and becoming president. Hinter Biden is being dealt with appropriately through the criminal justice system, as is Donald Trump. There is absolutely no need for Congress to investigate or to continue ot harass Hunter Biden, other than out of pure hatred and revenge. Not only should Republican members of Congress be indicted and tried and probably convicted for aiding and abetting Trump's insurrrection, but also for obstructing the investigation of it in Congress iteslf. Hunter Biden, who paid back his back taxes and is a recovering drug addict, should continue his rehab process, as he seeks to lead a better life. Jim Jordan, and nearly all Republicans in Congress, both houses, should, arguably, be indicted, tried, convicted, and incarcerated, for supporting Trump's election lie, and his consequent attempt to overthrow the American government violently. The hypocritical traitorous behavior of the Republicans in simultaneously trying to sweep the insurrection under the rug and forget about it, while persecuting an innocent and irrelevant person merely for the sake of revenge, is astonishing in its immorality and corruption. Worse yet, blame properly goes not only to Trump or a few Republican politicians and leaders, but rather, to the entire corrupt, immoral, treasonous party, a criminal enterprise and terrorist organization with sufficient guilt to spread to every single member.

The Earth, Heating Up Fast

ITS OFFICIAL. Twenty twenty three (2023) was, by far, the hottest year on record. Where I live, the summer seemed especially hot, so,I am not surprised. Not only was last year the hottest ever, but it beat it next closet competitor, which may have been twenty sixteen, by a good part of a degree, a very wide margin. Climate change, it seems, is accelerating. Accurate, reliable record keeping goes back nearly two hundred years. 2023 may possibly have been the hottest year in the last one hundred thousands years. By this time of year, about fifteen percent of the great Lakes are usually frozen. Right now, the percentage is closer to one percent. All over the world, glaciers and polar icecaps continue to melt, at an accelerating rate. By the end of this century, if we don't act, there will be no free standing ice left on Earth. Right now, where I live, it is, of course, mid-January, the middle of winter, and is suppsoed to be, in general, cold. In the last few days the temperature has reached sixty, then plummeted to below freezing withn hours, while a gale force wind blew non stop for days, and tornado warnings were issued, with violent thunder storms pounding the area. Then, it rained hard, as the temperature dropped precipitously, and ice covered roads were possible, predicted. In short, the weather has been crazy, is becoming crazier, seemingly, every year. I've heard people wish for spring. I comfort them by saying that it'll be here before they know it. I do not share what seems to me their strange desire to hasten the future into the present. As Einstein said: "I never think much about the future. It arrives soon enough". And how! I dread this coming summer, the summer of 2023. How ungodly hot will it get? What I fear is that within about five years or less we are going to start having summers in the American midwest, south, and southwest in which the daytime temperatures exceed one hundred degrees daily, for weeks on end. Every year, it seems we have at least one serious drought, and usually more than one. Drought with no rain for weeks. The local streams and creeks run dry, rivers look shallow, and water levels in local lakes drop to record lows. Trees begin to turn brown in August. My area is tree covered hills and mountains. In most wilderness areas here, the forest floors are filled with dead wood, as if they have not burned in many generations. The next time they burn, which is inevitable, the wildfires will be extremely well fueled, and massive. I know that sooner rather than later those famous western wilffires will spread eastward, and into th lower midwest, and eventually will cover and comsume the whole country. The eastern United States is far more heavily forested than the relatively barrn west; the wildfires of the future east will be enormous. After the fires, will the wooded forests return? Or will my heavily forested biosphere evolve, eutrophy into grasslands, prairie country, with fewer and fewer trees? And after that, what? Desert? We are told that it is not too late to avoid the worst consequences of cliamte change, if we act now, but that a certain amount of climate change is inevitable, is already baked into the environment by the one trillion tons of carvon we put and left in the atmosphere. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the inevitable "baked in" climate change we are experiencing is going to become much, much worse than now, and its bad now.

Trump, Showing Out

AS I PREDICTED HERE, Donald Trump is becoming more entertaining by the day, as his legal battles get into full swing, and the election draws nigh. Actually, he former prevaricator-in-chief is outdoing himself, exceeding my wildest expectations. And just think; its early. And, its only going to get better, as Trump deliberately tries to attract as much attention as possible, especially the attention of his cult members, upon whose potential for organized violence he is seemingly banking. Yesterday,in an interview, probabl on FOX, Trump took credit, all the credit, for the elimination of Roe V. Wade, as if he and he alone was responsible for the fact that abortion is no longer constitutionally legal in these United States. He never mentioned the Supreme Court, for intance. Nor did he mention any of the thousands of extrmet right wing operatives who organized to not only get Trump elected, but also to pack the US. Supreme Court with far right extremist conservative ideologues, like themselves. Donald Trump, the glorious champion of the unborn, of American babies, Christ's representative in the White House. Trump's lies are amazingly transparent, blatant,discernible, and yet, so willing are his millions of ethics-free intellectually twisted followers that no matter what he says, no matter how big his most recent big lie - they believe. Then, evidently determined to outdo himself, Trump shows up in court in New York, where he has already been convicted of financial fraud on a massive scale; and delviers a hateful, psycotic rant, against the prosecutor, the judge...until said judge stopped him, and the great prevaricator stormed out of the room, only to continue his hateful falsehood-infested rant outside, in front of cameras, of course. His same tired whining cry baby routine about being the victim never, amazingly, wears thin among his desciples, who lap it up like a starving cat and anti-freeze. The more Trump does his impersonation of a litle girl in front of whom some boy cut in line, the more his morally bereft disciples seem to love him. And the show only going to get better. Trump is looking at ninety one felony raps in four distinct jurisdictions, four courtrooms, and will, over the next few months, be spending a great amount of time in court, and on national television. Not exactly the situation he prefers for being on television, but, as they say, all publicity is good. The most amazing aspect of all is the overwhelming certainty that Trump is guilty of all ninety one crimes, the sheer obviousness of Trump's massive criminality, juxtaposed with the seemingly sincere fervor and pasion with which he pleads his poor poor pitiful me act, and the equal denial of reality and suspension of belief with which his acolytes receive it all. Best of all, over the next few months, we the sane people of America will have ample, abundant opportunities to witness more, much more this insantiy, in real time, real space, and a totally unreal country and culture.

Abusing, Religiously

THE SEXUAL ABUSE EPIDEMIC and resulting scandal within the Catholic church,centered mainly around members of the clergy, has long since been brought to the attention of the general public. A seminal study of this shockingly common behavior was researched, written, and published by formr federal investigator Leon Podle in 2007, in his ground breaking book "Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse In the Catholic Church",in which he used his comprehensive body of facts and figures to clearly demonstrate that sexual abuse, especially abuse of children, among the clergy, was (is) shockingly common, had manifested for a very long time, and that the initial and primary response of the church hierarchy, all the way up to and including various popes, was to conceal the problem and to keep it concealted by dealing within it entirely from within the church, leaving proprer, appropriate law enforcement agencies and the civic legal system completely out of the picture. Moving priests and bishops from parish to parish, amost as if playing hide and seek to keep their crimes from coming to light, was for decades the most widely employed strategy of the church. Podel has written several revealing monographs about the Catholic church, including a brilliant examination of the "feminization" of the holy mother church. The degree and extenst of clerical sexual abuse of children of both sexes by members of the supposedly celibate clergy are, it sometimes seems, endless. Tens of thousands of children worldwide have, according to well substantitated, corroborated testimony, been victimized by this horrible behavior. People are scarred for life, of course. Hundreds of parish priests engage in this crime for decades, victimizing each new generation of Catholic children, even while being allowed to remain at their pulpits, their suspicious behavior, red flags, and tell tale signs laregly ignored and overlooked not only by local congragents, but by the highest levels of church priestly hierarchy. It is not unreasonable to argue that, considering the enormous extent of the damage done decade after decade, involving so many people as perpetrators and victims both, that the church is corrupt beyond repair, rotten to the core, and that therefore the best and most compassionate course of action is to, as Voltaire famously said in the eigtheenth century: "crush the infamous thing"! A morally bankrupt, ancient old, rotting institution, having done as much good as it can, and more evil than it ever should have, best allowed to simply fade away, and die the same death that ultimately all religions ever conceived by the human mind have done and will do. More importantly and shockingly, the same moral corruption and decay, the same rempant criminal behavior, is epidemic in nearly all major organized branches of the Christian religion; The Baptist church, the Jehovah's witnesses, among many others, and does not exclude fundamentslist, evangelical denominations. Religion was an ancient invention of human culture, intended to fulfill social and emotional needs, to explain human life and the world we live in, to provide comfort, inspiration, and social cohesion. Is the human species ready to move on, to new and improved forms of understanding and admiration? It is easy to argue that indeed it is.

Republicans,Showing Out

THIS IS TOO SWEET. Sweet, because its so revelatory, so indicative, and such a great display of right wing Rebublican Trumper perfidy. Hunter biden, smartly, iw willing to testify, but only with millions of witnesses The MAGA thugs, folks like Margorie Taylor Greene, insist that Hunet testify in secret, or not at all. How can the Republicans site him for "contempt of Congress", when Biden has repeatedly declared his willingness and readiness to testify to answer all relevant questions? There is one and only one reason why the Republicans insist on secret testimony behind closed doors; there can only be one reason; they do not want the American people to witness what happens. This is becuae they will ask only loaded questions, questions designed to entrap Hunter Biden, questions which will result in answers that can be twisted and taken out of contest, made to look suspicious, dishonest, criminal. With witneses, with millions of Americans watching, they have to play it straight,they cannot bully, threaten, mislead or manipulate Mr.Biden in broad daylight, in front of millions of Americans, but only in secret. The Republicans have a great deal to hide, Hunter Biden has nothing to hide. That is obvious, and has been proven. We are witnesing, millions of us, a clear display of Republican criminality, typical MAGA thugish behavior, even as Donald Trump himself looks, speaks and acts more like a mob boss thug every day. From this point forward, Trump's court appearances are going to become more frequent, into the summer, all the way to the election. In the niniety one felony crimes with which he is charged, all of the evidence for all of them came from the testimony of close associates of Trump; good, solid, MAGA Republicans, compelled to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but, under the threat of perjury charges. Ivanka Trump, among many others, spilled the beans, and Don the Con is toast. Ivanka, among many other corroborating witneses, testified that her father conceived, carefully planned, and carried out his attempt to steal the presidency from Joe Biden through lies and violent insurrection - weeks in advance. The sworn testimony already give by close Trump associates, which will be given again in court by the same people, are devastating for Trump. Hunter Biden is a recovering drug addict, who is guilty of income tax evasion, and possesing a firearm illegally. He got rehabbed and cleaned up his drug problem, heroically, and paid badk the money he owed the IRS, admirably, and never involved his father in any business dealings; there isn't the slightest shred of evidence that President Biden benefitted from or participated in his son's various businesses. The fact that the Republicans are the ones conducting a "witch hunt" will soon be clearly proven. The fact that Donald Trump is himself a career criminal, and that the prosecutions against him will inevitably prove that, willl not help the Republicans. It will severely damage or completely destroy their credibility, especially since most Republicans remain staunchly loyal to Trump, and will therefore sink with Trump's inevitably sinking ship.

Trump, Finding An Acorn

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON an old blind squirrel finds an acorn. And, truth be told, if ever a squirrel were blind, it is none other than Donald J. Trump, whose verifiably inane, thought-free remarks could fill decades worth of "quote of the day" tear off calendars. And, his remark just the other day to the effect that in his view the American Civil War could have been avoided through negotiation, though maligned as usual by the usual discerning people, actually, upon closer reflection, aint so stupid after all. Impractical, unrealistic, definitely. Purely speculative fantasy, maybe. But really, not so stupid. Trump, like everybody else, was weighing in on Nikki Haley's now famous attribution of the causes of the Civil War without mentioning the word "slavery". She hemmed and hawed vaguely about how to govern, who rules, whatever, but never got to the point. (Of course, she's from the south). Yes, it was about slavery, as all the Confederate states made plain at the time in their formal secession documents. This notion of "state's rights" and "Lost, noble causes" as causes are pure, confederate-friendly justification, revisionist bullcrap. Trump never said anything about bout slavery either,(maybe he doesn't know about it), but only that the war could have been avoided through negotiated settlement. One obvious fact about the "War Between the States" is that nobodoy had any idea beforehand how horribly bloody and destructive the war would eventually become. Everyoen thought that it would be quick and clean. Both sides were convinced of a quick victory. Ironically, there wa at the time a growing awareness, thorughout the nation, including the slave holding south, that the institution of slavery, eventually, would have to be phased out of existence, simply because it could not be allowed to exist indefinitely into the future. That fact in itself contained the seed sof potential negotiated settlement. The promise of an eventual abolition of slavery, through slow stages, stages which would give slave holders a soft landing without undue economic hardship, as they simultaneously transitioned from outright slavery to paid farm labor. Already, long since, in 1818, the importation of slaves from Africa had been outlawed. A beginning had been made. The foundation had been laid for the gradual withering away of the "peculiar institution", which everybody recognized as contrary to basic Amrican values of freedom and equality. Regarding the hot issue of the day, the westward expansion of the United States, the admission of new states into the union, and whether they would be slave or free states, part of the negotiated settlement could have included provisions as to how the voters of the new states could decide that issue, with the provision that any new state which voted for slavery, would immediately be subject to the arrngements regarding the eventual end of slavery. Say, "by the year nineteen fifty there shall be no slavery allowed in these United States". Something to that effect. The salient point is, there are no conflicts between people or groups of people, such as countries, which cannot be resolved through negotiation, and without violence. This, because there is no law of nature, even human nature, which prevents this. And if Donald J. Trump is smart enough to understand that, so are the rest of us.

Paying Attention To Trump , Part II

IN YESTERDAY"S DAILY TRUMP insane rant, Don the Con said, roughly: "What a mess crooked Joe Biden has made!" Perhaps this was at one of Trump's MAGA hate fests, a campaign rally in Iowa. This is a perfect example of why it is imperative to pay close attantion to everything Trump says in public. His sycophantic followers doubtless hooted in delight at this latest installmanet of the litany of Trump lies which characterize his entire life and daily existence. A constant cavalcade of prevarication, spewing forth constantly from America's most reprehensible public figure, always. The most obvious thing in the world is that President Joe Biden is not a crook, is not corrupt. This is strongly indicated by the complete lack of evidence to that effect over a high profile political career spanning more than five decades. If Biden were a crook, we'd know it by now. We wouldn't feel any desperate need to invent false accusations of crookedness against Biden, as Republicans do, and are doing. Evidently, long ago, Biden lied about his academic record, claiming to have finished at the top of his class when he in fact did not, in fact finishing towards the middle. I think I vaguely remember the incident. Biden lied, or was uninformed about his place in his class. But that's about it, in terms of Biden moral vulnerability. Everyone and anyone is cordially, respectfully invited to provide some actual evidence of any Biden behavior more egregious than that. Meanwhile there is an overwhelimng, massive abundance of documentated proof, not evidence, but proof, that Donald J. Trump has continuously lived and continues to live - a life of crime. Almost as if a trove of stolen classified documents had been found in Trump's lovely, lavish home. Almost. Daonld J. Trump is, verifiably, a career criminal. And, of course, Trump himself knows it, just as he knows that Biden did not steal the presidential election from him. Everytime Trump states his infamous election lie, which is extremely often, he is committing a crime. So much for who is "crooked" and who is not. As for making a mess: again, there is not the slightest trace of evidence that Joe Biden, as president, has made any "messes", or has done anything except serving and leading his country with honor, and effective good policy. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has spent his entire life making messes, and the older he has aged, the larger, more harmful, and longer lasting the messes become. Numerous bankruptcies, lawsuits, and court verdicts against Trump. Looking for a mess? How about all the national turmoil, bitterness, legal entanglemeents, and destruction visited upon us all by Trump's election lie, and his carefully planned well orchestrated attempt to violently overthrow the United States government? The great insurrectionist mess. Now, there's a real mess, a mess to end all messes, still harming us all as much as ever, doubtless destined to wreak its evil harm well into the American future. Doanld J. Trump is a walking, breathing mess, mess incarnate, the mother of all messes, embodied in a single, corpulant, extremly mentally disturbed body and mind. Trump projects his own personality onto Biden, (as he often does to others) a clever attempt at a clever switcheroo, but, alas, not clever enough. Pitiful and pathetic, actually. Demented. Pathologically criminal, narcissistic insanity. Worse yet, Trump knows perfectly well by now that no matter how outrageously dishonest and pathological his comments are, they will serve only to inspire ever greater support among his cult followers, for they are no better nor sane than he.

Using Wisdom Wisely

SOMEONE TOLD THE STORY of the teacher who wanted to teach her class a valuable lesson. She told them that she would be leaving the room for a few minutes, would be back soon, and that anyone who left their seats while she was gone would be punished, maybe expelled. Then, she fished a goldfish out of the class aquarium, placed it on the table, and left the room. The fish began to writhe in agony as the children, presumably grade schoolers, looked on in anguished indecision. Finally a little girl jumped up, ran to the table, and returned the goldfish to the water. The teacher reentered the room, and verified the lesson; never let blind obedience to any authority prevent you from doing what you know is right. This is a lesson so profuondly and transparently important that you'd almost think that the teacher could have simply made the point verbally as an anecdote, without making the poor animal miserable for a few minutes and without frightening the children. However, drama adds emphasis. Someone pointed out that this line of reasoning was probably precisely wat Trump and his, as the person put it "bootlickers" believed when they denied the election results and attempted to violently overthrow the American government. True, to a point. What Trump and his "bootlickers" were and still are doing is, of course, simply engaging in self deception. Whenever a person of good moral values looks honestly at a situation, sees injustice, and attemptes to rectify that injustice through defiance of authority, no self deception is involved. Quite the opposite. The entire class heard what the teacher said, saw what she did, and knew that they wer presented with a very difficult choice. No self deception involved. Only after a potentially disastrous delay of conflict resolution did a single little girl summon the moral courage to do the right thing. Presumably, others in the class had made the same fateful decision, or were about to, but were "beaten to the punch" by the girl. Moral considerations become murky. How, precisely, do we differtiate between righteous causes worthy of personal risk taking, as opposed by our personal whimsical desires which can so easily be conflated with a great cause by the machinations of a devious human mind? This is why moral character within each individual is so vitally important. This is why honest people, disgusted with the behavior of not only Trump but his followers and enablers, quite correctly accuse them all of having abandoned their moral compass in preference to personal political expediency. Claiming vociferously and frequently that the election was stolen from Trump, in effect trying to steal it for Trump, and claiming that only Donald Trump can repair America, does not justify the attempt by Trump's mob to steal the presidency from Biden, by force of violence. Even more importantly, they are well aware, despite their rantings, that the election was not stolen from Trump, and that their insurrection attempt was no noble cause, but rather, treason. And the very fact that they who perpetrated this evil know full well what they did can not only give good Americans some measure of consulation, but also, at least the faint hope that there will come a time when the guilty criminals, all seventy five million of them, will eventually relent, confess, and, miraculously atone.

Paying Attention, To Trump, Part I

IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT that you have not yet purchased a super-sized popcorn popper, you may be out of luck. There has been of late a run on them. Even Amazon dot com has been having difficulty keeping up with demand. Savvy observers understand that now is the time to get prepared, settle in, and watch the big show, this being a crucial election year, an election in which, as Joe Biden correctly stated, democracy is on the ballot. A vote for Trump is a vote for authoritarian govenment, government by executive decree, government which with Donald Trump at the head would happily rubberstamp and executively order whatever crazy agenda items a desperate far right extremist Christian fascist mob desires. Said mob has at long last realized that its bizarre agenda cannot be implemented in America democratically; therefore, it has turned to authoritarian poplulism, and Trump it has turned into Christ's representative on Earth. Trump himself, as anyone with he merest trace of a brain tissue can readily discern, gives not a fig about Jesus Christ, the Christian conservative agenda, this country, nor much of anything else, but only about his wealth, fame, and power, in no discernible order. In essence, in order to preserve democracy in America, it is vitally necessary to oppose Donald Trump and his many supporters, with great vigor. The point is; now is the time to begin paying especially close attention to Trump, to his every word and deed, daily, hourly, incessantly. Disgusting though that may sound and may well be, it will prove beneficial to the glorious cause of perpetuating democracy, at least until the next far right extremist demagogue comes along to threaten it. (There are more where Trump came from, waiting in the wings). The diamond ring at the bottom of the dumpster will not be found without digging through and carefully examining every piece of intervening garbage, green slime and all. From the beginning of his political career, Trump has been a veritable loose cannon, verbally. So great is his pathological narcissim that he bothers not to actually think about what he is going to say before he says it. No matter what he says, he unreasons, it must by definition be true, for it was he who said it. Hence, remarks like: "They say windmills cause cancer"..."George Washingtons's are captured every airport in the colonies"..."Friendship between the United States and Italy dates from the time of Julius Caesar"....The 2024 presidental campaign has begun, and over the next few weeks and months, will get into full swing. Already Trump has called his political opponents "vermin", issued slanderous insults and threats, and announced his intention to beccome a dictator, for at least one day. As the elecion draws nearer, his appearances in criminal court multiply, and his frustration and anger grow, the reckless abandon with whih he speaks will only become ever more bizarre, as will his comments. Hence the need for large popcorn poppers. Also, the need to take notes carefully, and to be ready to repeat, as often as necessary, his insane utterances. The best way to oppose Trump effecively is to merely point out what he says, and what he does. Like all national elections, this one will be decided by independent voters.The best way to defeat the Trump movement is to make sure that independent and undecided voters are well informed in Trump-speak.

Cooperating, For Our Very Survival

IN A SMALL BUCOLIC TOWN in upstate New York, a local farmer was struggling with his agri business. Crop prices were down, expenses were up, and his farm's profitability was diminishing as expenses inexorably cuaght up with revenues. He realized that he was not fully taking advantage of opportunites to exploit his valuable land for profit. Suddenly, a thought came to him, of converting a part of his acreage for use as a solar farm. Wind, perhaps later. For now, solar. Either way, a large installation of machines and equipment would be imposed upon the landscape, replacing corn fields ugly metal objects,, changing the scenery considerably. He began discussions with a solar energy company whose ownership was very inerested in the idea, and plans were made. The farmer was promised that isntalling a solar energy facility would multiply the profits from his land. Word got out, neighbors and townfolk found out what was up, thought about it, mulled over the proposed details of the solar plan, and proceeded to pitch a conniption. Thus was the battle joined. The farmer and his family, always well liked among the townies among whom they had lived their entire lives, found themselves suddenly surrounded by less than friendly neighbors. The back and forth went on for months, then years. A local study group was formed to formally address the situation, everybody lawered up, and the war of words accelerated. Finally somebody had the good sense to suggest that the town prepare a formal list of changes to the solar plan that would make it acceptable to the community, and to present it to the farmer and the solar energy company. The list included items which were seemingly so reasonable as to be immediately aceptable without qualifications. The land on which the solar array was built and located must be utilized for other purposes simultaneously. Hiking trails, woods, streams, and nature parks, wildlife sanctuaries, a botanical garden on site, a reduction of electric bills for the town and its residents. Full payment of property taxes based on the enhanced value of the land. Ironically, opponents to a solar energy facility NIMBY were primarily concerned about the environmental impact of the proposed facilty and the loss of habitat, farm land and bucolic scenery. Ironc indeed. Despite the ostensible solution, problems remained. The solar energy company, in true big business style, cleverly failed to write the amended conditions into the actual legal contract, and thereby managed to wriggle free of most of the costly requirements it had originally agreed to. Its management claimed that it had no control over property taxes, local electric bill rates, and even lacked authority to impose zoning requirements upon any local land. All across America's fruited plain, similar scenarios are playing out, with differing results. Sometimes the solar failities go up, sometimes not, depending on the particulars of business negotiations and legal renderings. The United Sates has billions of acres of farmland and wilderness, and the government wants about ten million to be put into use for solar and wind energy over the next few years. Much more land than that is already being used for oil and natural gas development; much of this land could be converted to use for sustainable energy. The drama is being played out. The future for solar and wind energy looks promising, as the world increasingly understands our desperate survival needs, and sustainable energy proliferates. Increasing billions of dollars, both governemnt and private, are being invested in our future survival each year, as wind, solar, and geothermal energy systems take over. It is truly amazing what human beings can accomplish when we cooperate rather than engage in conflict. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we can accoplish our own future survival and that of the planet's ecosystem, because of and depsite our best intentions.

Sinning the Gay Way, Part III

ACTUALLY, WE'VE COME A LONG WAY in America. We have, arguaby, to a certain extent elevated ourselves above the barbarity of our previous selves, our previous society, and all in the time span of only a little more than fifty years. When I was child in the nineteen sixties, when one little kid wanted to gravely insult another little kid, the insult of choice was often "queer", or as we said in my neighborrd, "queerbait", meaning, essentially, the same slanderous thing. To actuallly express any sort of tolerance for gay people, any trace of aceptance of their "gay lifestyle", was unthinkable, and would likely bring one's fellow heterosexuals severly down upon one in dire retribution, criticism, or even rejction. Meanwhile gay people themselves either hid in the closet, figuritively, or languished behind bars in prison, the frequent price of peeking timidly out of the closet. Obsiously, things are better now, after decades of mass social movements, replete with protests and demosntratsions in the streets of America. Lwas have been repealed, new one passed. The fight has been and ontinues to be long, painfusly slow, and arduous, like all noble crusades for noble causes, but tangible progress has resulted. May it continue. But of course, we still have a long way to go, a very long way, and it remains questionable whether we will be able to complete the work within the next fifty years. Thirty or forty years ago, when the gay rights movement was getting started in earnest and building momentum, I would have predicted that by the futuristc date of twenty twenty four, our work would be complete. Alas, not so. But, to give credit where it belongs, the United States, American society, intolerant, and even vicious that its attitudes towards and treatment of gay people have historically, traditonally been, it has been, quite demonstrably, far more tolerant, far more ompassionate, far superior in spirit, word, and in deed than the which adheres in most of the rest of the world. America, a veritable bastian of liberal social progress, by comparison. Imagine that. Throughout Asia, Russsia, Africa, and Latin America in particular, treatment of the gay community remains relatively benighted. In some countries it is flatly illegal to be homosexual, as it once was in these United States, in fact until rather recntly. Mostly, gay people in these regions remain "in the closet", fearful of revealing their true selves for fear of harsh social retribution. To some extent that undesirable situation, don't ask don't tell, lingers yet in America, though to a much lesser degree and extant than previously. Here in America, a higher percentage of gay people now feel safe enough in their surroundings to "come out", and to openly be who they really are. And that, of a sort, must be regarded as progress, though limited. Progress at a price. All too often it turns out to be a deadly mistake for gay people to courageoously live as openly gay citizens. We Americans, if nothing else, are a nation steeped in violence, bigoty, ahd intolerane, much of it still aimed at gay folk. A recent TV comercial tells us that anti-semitism is on the rise in America, and that hatred against all minorities are as well; black, brown, Jew, Muslim, Asian-American, Latin-American;none escape the current wave of extreme right wing hatred currently sweeping through America. We must fight back, says the TV ad. Quite right, we must. But there is no mention of the other minority; the gay community. Bigoted hatred against that community is also on the rise. And that, in essence, why I object so strongly to and condemn so unreservedly the common religious dogma that to be gay is a "sin'. The world, if only sluggishly, is "trending" towards greater tolerance and acceptance. The arrow is history clearly points in that direction. Isn't it about time, indeed past time, for the world's great religions to catch up with the trend, to join the modern direction of society, to reform and improve itself just like the rest of us have, or are at least tryin to do, even if only with great kicking, screaming, wailing, and gnashing of moribund teeth.