Abandoning Morality For Trump

THE ESSENTIAL FACT is that Donald Trump knew Jeffrey Epstein and had an extensive association with him long after learning all about Epstein's behavior regarding underage girls. Precisely how much Trump knew explicitly about Epstein's serial sexual abuse of them remains a bit murky, but undeniably he knew enough to curtail any further association, and, equally certain is that he knew enough to know that Epstein was indeed a sexual predator, a criminal, enough to get law enfocement involved if only by doing nothing further than alerting the policeof FBI to the suspicious nature of epstein's behavior. Trump easily could have done that, but didn't, either because Epstein was a big campaign donor, or because Trump himself is guilty of the same illegal behavior that Epstein was. I already know more than I need to. Ever since the notorious "Access Hollywood" tape was revealed to the world in early October 2016 I have known all I need to, and more. Donald Trump is a serial sexual predator, who should be inprison, many times over,not only for his doubtlessmany crimes against underage girls, but because of the wide ranging riminal activity in which he has engaged, including insurrection and financial fraud, all of which everyone is familiar with. Trump should have been cast aside as a viable candidate for high office moments after uttering his infamous "pussy grabbing" comment, and with every new revelation from the Epstein files, that glaring reality will hit hoe harder. All these sordid but verified facts about Trump's criminality have had aprofound impact on independent voters, who have turned away from Trump in huge numbers, partly because of the Epstein affair. No more than twenty five percent of independents now support Trump; previously the number was closer to one half of American independents. Republican MAGA nation is divided over Epstein. For the most part his most fervant Trump cult members seemto either be in complete denial, as usual, or have already decided that the whole thing is a hoax, or that, even if true, it doesn't matter. One T shirt said' amazingly: "I don't care if Trump is a pedophile". There's not much one can do to contend against this level of depravity, except to hope and pray that it isn't indicative of either the sentiments or the moral character of the vast majority of the Aerican people. The bad new is, it seems to be. Many times decent people have been shocked not only by the extent of Trump's never ending crime spree, but even more so by his supporter's apparent acceptance or unconcern about it. Several years ago, when it was discovered that more than two thirds of Trump supporters believe and embrace Trump's notorious "bie election lie", the red flags went up, or should have. Can that high a percentage of the American people really be so willing to set aside all thoughts of morality and decency in politicians all for the cause of unconditionallly supporting a convicted criminal, merely because he harbors a hatred of dark skinned immigrants, and is trying to take advantage of a single act of violence committed by an Afghan immigrant to end all further immigration into the United States? We must it seems, accept the reality that Trump was elected because not despite his racism and hatred of gay people and other demographic minorties. Chances are, immigrants from Norway and other lilly whe countres will proceed apace, even though no sane self respecting Scandanavian would even think once about immigrating to the land of violence and economic desperation. Most immigrants come from poor "shit hole" countries, as Trump calls them, dark skinned folks. Too bad for Trump that the country needs its dark skinned workers, illegal or not, much more than it needs Trump's hatred and racism.

Caring For Stray Cats

PUPPY MILLS are one thing, kitten factories, another. Dogs and cats are both worthless in Proprietary America, where monetary value is king, except for pure breeds, which are bred and sold. Honestly, it doesn't seem to reflect well on American culture that dogs and cats are often treated either like sellable commodities, are cast away as worthless. A select few receive and benefit from human companionship. This stark reality can remind us that we resist truth, as Goethe said, only because we fear that we might perish if we accept it, and that also, as Nietsczhe said, "If thou gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee". Every dog should have either a loving human home or a healthy pack with which to live. Dogs need people more than cats need people, Stray cats seem to do pretty well, in terms of surviving and getting enough to eat, not only in the United States, but all over the world. In my small town neighborhood there is a healthy population of stray cats, and I and others feed them; none of them seem under weight or unhealthy. Although cats are solitary animals, I am told that stray cats in urban areas with a food source form large colonies, which sometimes people adopt. I admire anybody who cares for a stray cat or dog. Itis hard to imagine feeding a largecolony ofstray catstwiceaday.I'msure you'd develop a system. We Americans do love our dogs and cats. Most of us love them more than we love people, acccording to studies and surveys. Almost everybody I ask tells me that. When our beloved pets die we mourn inconsolably, as we should. It is tempting for cats lovers like myselfto mourn and lament the very existence of stray cats,and to assume that any cat which lives it life without human love and companionship is deprived of the most important thing in life, and istruly a tragic case. I tend to question that attitude. Cats, like people, can live only one life at atime, and, as we humans well know, whatever benefits you choose and experience in life, there is an entire wolrdof opportunity out there that you will never know or experience. somehow, I am unable to believe that a cat who has never known human companionship can possibly mmiss it, or even desire it, nor, for that matter even concive of it. Itseems highly unlikely that stray catslive a life of supreme unhappiness, lonely for want of human attention. Arguably cats who do not associate with humans gain some benefits. It is a common belief among cat lovers and experts that we should always keep our cats indoors, and I tend to agree with that. They live longer that way, and are exposed to far fewer dangers. What they sacrifice in return is freedom of movement, the loss of their hunting prowess, and whatever else thay might've gained from a life outside. A homeless dog is a far sadder situation than a homeless cat. Although both are incredibly affectionate and well suited tohumans, dogs are far more dependent on and ultimately perhaps compatibale with people. When I found out about teh basic attitude of Islamic culture towards cats, my love of Islamic culture was born. Moslems consider cats to be sacred animals, and treat them with love and respect. Hordes of stray cats roam Islamic cities, well cared for by everyone, and anyone who mistreats one of them or fails to help feed them is in deep, deep trouble. I have one indoor cat,and two outdoor cats, plus two more strays whom I feed every day, and have for years. Five total. All came to me as strays. They add great value to my life. It is my honor to associate with them. One of them, Mandi, is asleep in my lap,purring. Maybe, just maybe, caring for them alows me the luxury of believing, whether true or not, that what Goethe said about people in general applies somehow to me: "Noble be man, compassionate, and good."

Banning Puppy Mills

FLORIDA GOVERNOR Ron DeSantis likes to please his carpetbagger conservative constituency by embracing policies such as pretending that racism doesn't exist and scrubbing all mention of it from Florida public schools, pretending that climate change doesn't exist either and scrubbing all mention of it from all state documents such as the official state website, and so forth, believe it or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is still legal to talk about climate change in science classes in Florida, as far as I know, with the assumption that it is real. However, Florida Repubs want teachers to also teach that climate change may be entirely natural, or, perhaps, a hoax, amazingly. There is an ongoing debate about this, incredibly. But one thing which both ends of the political spectrum agree on is that animal abuse is unaccceptable and must be eliminated. In many cases, the devil is in the details. For instance, I have no idea what percentage of the American population considers declawing cats to be abuse, but I do, and I suspect that a majority of Americans do as well. Most of us probably believe that the practice should be outlawed. I certainly do. Most folks probably agree that puppy mills are immoral, undesirable, abusve, and should be outlawed, which is precisely what Florida quite recently did, with the governor signing the new law into law. Good for him, and good for Florida. Forcing female dogs to get pregnant over and over again, producing as many puppies as possible, and selling them for the highest price possible is a form of free enterprise which must not be allowed to exist anywhere in teh united States, and whcih hence forth shall not be in Florida. If Trump would issue an executive order prohibiting puppy mills and declawing catsI would, I must confess, be jubilant, as would I presume most animal lovers. The fly in the ointment is, of course - would such executive orders be legal? Would the courts decide? Trump, it seems, is always willing to issue executive orders of dubious legality, and to let the chips fall....the problem with that is that here i am, perfectly willing to allow Trump to function like a fascist dictator - when it suits my interests and beliefs. Shame on me. Only Congress can prevent puppy mills and cat declawing nationwide! What, precisely, constitutes a "puppy mill"? Precisely how many puppies must oen breed and sell before becoming one? Shoule dog breeding for profit be banned altogether? Argubaly, it should? One thing for sure is that we teh American people must become more animal friendly, in terms of simple ethical treatment. The organization "PETA" is exactly what the doctor ordered regarding cleaning up America's treatment of animals, despite widespread criticism and condemnation of it among conservatives. Tha vegetarian movement, which as I underst and continues to grow in America as well as worldwide, is no less noble and beneficial to humanity. I have eaten synthetic beef hamburgers. they are delicious, and the fake beef cannot be distinguished from the real thing. I invite you to take the black angus test yourself. (Be honest). We can eliminate cattle ranching, breeding, and harvesting, and lose nothing. So, why not? If humankind wenst vegetarian en mass, it would have a profound impact on improving the health of the planetary ecosystem, as well as human health. Ask any scientist. We must face facts. Homo sapiens may well not be ready, in terms of cultural evolution and enlightenment, to take such a drasticmeasure jsut yet. but, maybe that time will come. As for now, if puppy mills ar being banned anywhere in America, there is hope, for America, and for the whole world.

Supporting Socialism

THE HOUSE RESOLUTION, which recently passed by a vote of two eighty five to ninety eight, condemns the "horrors of socialism", and affirms America's rejection of socialist policies, and their connection to dictatorship, economic collapse, and mass human suffering. Pretty dramatic stuff. No wonder a few dozen congressfolks failed to cast a vote. Hell, anything as horrible as that not only ought to be condemned, it ought to be banned and destroyed. Fortunately, the hyperbolic house bill of condemnation is talking about a political system, not an economic one, a system in which some brutal dictator or political party siezes control of a country, destroys democracy, and implements a forced government controlled economy, such as national socialism (NAZIism), in which capitalism is reduced to state control of corporations, state control of the economic activity of an entire nation, as in fascism. The Republican sponsored bill which so dramatically condemns the horros of socialism fails to point out that democratic socialism, such as he sort we have in this country, is entirely different, and is to a large extent the result of populism and popular social movements. Dictatorial, autocratic socialism bad, democratic socialism good. It really is that simple. What the U.S. House of Representatives has condemned, actually, is brutal, autocratic government, Capitalism is competitive economics, socialism is cooperative economics, in a nutshell. Because human beings, as Aristotle and others have pointed out, are social animals, economic cooperation, socialism, is quite "natural", despite the often made claim that it is not. While acknowledging that humanas are social by nature, living in groups, he rejects socialim as an economic system, and embraces the individualistic profit seeking competitive system of capitalism, saying "that which is owned by everybody is cared for by nobody." Plato, his idealistic mentor, was more open to communal, public ownership. People who say, as one of my less enlightened college professors did, that socialism has never worked anywhere and never will work anywhere are perhaps thinking of third world countries where brutal strong man dictators assume government control of the economy, and declare economic equality for all while pillaging the treasury for themselves. Critics of socialism certainly are not thinking about the United States, where a socialist government infrastructure, consisting of federal pyhsical infrustructure such as highways and dams, and financial social support systems like Social Security and Medicare bolster and sustain the broader capitalistic economy by supporting and stabilizing it. Europe goes a step further, by regulating their corporate capitalism more stringently than the U.s., and by allowing the citizens to benefit from democratic socialism to a much greater degree than in America. Corporations are alive and well in Europe, but tehy do not own and control the ountry nearly to the extent that American corporations do. Conservatives often warn us that we in teh United States most crtainly do not want to become more like Europe culturally and economically. Just the opposite is true; Americans who see the benefits from Europe's progressive culture and economic policies seek to emulate them, wisely. even Adam Smith, the intellectual and spiritual father of modern capitalism, embraced socialism by asserting that "All government action favoring the poor is desirable, but no government action favoring the wealthy is desirable". Capitalism requires rules and regulations to play by. Government, using socialism on behalf of the people in general, must always protect the country from the harm which comes from capitalism out of control, enriching the few, crushing the rest of us.

Fighting Trump With Truth

KAROLINE LEAVITT is not exactly my favorite peron, as I have previously indicated. My antipathy for her is nearly but not quite on the level of my Trumpopathy, my intense dislike of the Donald. Typing her name in all caps I find irksome. Its a toss up between her and Sarah Huckabee Sanders for least favorite presidential spokeshuman. Like her apparent role model who is the current governor of Arkansas, Karoline stands proudly in front of the mike in front of the White House, and issues forth a storm storm of outrageous lies, verifiable. The whoppers seem to be getting bigger and more outrageous daily, as the administration becomes increasingly satisfied that the Trump base is buying them, and as this presideny crumbles in catastrophic failure and the need to invent imaginary sucesses grows. Hermost blatantand vicious falsehood of all she repeated recently, as she has before. The official Trump claim is that the Biden administration "weaponized" as we like to say these days, the federal Department of Justice,and used it to attack Trump during the entire Biden aministration. This, of course,is utter nonsense, a falsehood on the level of the big election lie, among other Trumpist lies. During the Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland did indeed lead several investigations of Trump related activities, investigations which eventually led to prosecutions, prosecutions which were truncated before their conclusion by the reelecion of their principle subject to the presidency. Point blank, the plain truth is that every single one of them was not only justified by circumstances, every single one of them was mandated by them, the vast abundane of evidence aganst Trump requuiring legal scrutiny of the most thorough and comprehensive kind. This, beyond doubt. You don'tleave the White House with thosuands of top secret classified government documents, take them to your home, and store them there in your basement and bathroom without somebody in the government wanting to as you about it. Also, if you attempt to organize a violent insurretion against the American government to overthrow it, you're gonna get investigated, period. For a weaponized justice department, look no further than another blondebombshell, in more ways than one, Pam Bondi. Her stated intent is to gain revenge on every person who has ever wronged Trump, using the D.O.G and its powers more like a hit squad than an entity pursuing justice. Karoline Leavitt is in the potentially awkward and highly unusual position of defending and schilling for a career, convicted criminal who also happens at the moment to be the most powerful peronon the planet, terrifyingly enough. It takes a heap of lying and truth stretching to get that done. Obviously, her comments,like those of her boss, reveal an intense hatred of Joe Biden for having had the audacity of beating Trump in the election of twenty twenty. With their characteristic complete lack of class, they constantly insult the former president, gratuitously, with slanderous lies. Biden Meanwhile, Biden, ever the gentleman, remains silent, choosing not to respond to the president's nonsensical, evil idiocy. Good for him. A man of true class. I wish he'd lash out against Trump, and push back against the lies. I'm sure I would. The easist way to lash out against and attack Trump is to relentlessly state facts, and tell the truth. W're going to keep getting a veritable avalanche of propaganda and lies from Karoline Leavitt's prettty blonde face for the next three years, and one of the best and ost necessary ways of defending and preserving democracy against Hitleristic Trump and Karoline Leavitt Goebells is by responding, in unison and as loudly as possible, with an incessant outpouring of facts. Considers us the sunshine which illuminates tehe roaches beneath the rocks.

Voting Socialism Down

UNLESS I'M DREAMING, and although I'm petty sure I'm not I wish I were, the United States House of Representatives voted the other day to officially declare that socialism is bad. And no, I'm not making this up, although, again, I almost wish I were. I don't know what the exact piece of legislation said, how it was and is worded. Neither do I know what the exact voe was. Was it by party line,with the Democratic caucus lining up to defend socialism, or was it one of those four hundred and thirty four to one things, with some recalcitrant leftwinger,like, say, AOC, holding out for cooperative economics. For the purposes here it probably really doesn't matter whether it passed a long party lines or with a bipartisan bang, and exactly how the condemnation of socialism is worded as it becomes the law of the land. Mind you, the new law does not in any way impede or prohibit socialism from existing in these United States; it merely decalres that socialism is not a good thing. by implication, one can safely assume that it is a law wiich does indeed, if ony tacitly, expess disapproval of socialism with the implied opinion that it should not only never be implemented in the land of liberty, but also, that it does no good anywhere in the world where it has ever been tried, has never worked, and all that. You've heard it all before, perhaps at John Birch and MAGA gatherings. The standard right wing "socialism is evil" speel. And of course what socialism really is is is an economic system, a way of doing business, and, more broadly, a way of organizing a civilization and living life. It is inherently neither good nor evil, as arguably neither is capitalism. It is absolutely hilarious that the lower house of Congress actually took this ridiculous action, thus leaving itself open to deserved ridicule and contempt. Maybe this would be a good time to introduce a bill into the House officially declaring that democracy is good,and that plutocracy and fascism are wrong. Of course, who knows how close the vote on fascism might be? Most if not all of the Republican caucus might vote in favor of it. What is blatantly, hilariously obvious is that the Republicans obviously have no idea what "socialism actually is. Most likely what they mean by the term is a brutal, repressive dictatorship government, suchas that in, say, Venezuela. A dictator whose regime imposes strict contrils on his nation's economy, allegedly on behalf of the welfare of "the people", in reality to line his own pockets and thoseof his closest supporters. That, as sopposed to socialism in Europe, all of which countries have a higher standard of living than the United States, and much greater economic equality. One must also assume that those Congresspeople who voted to elect socialism as the greatest evil in human history were not referring to Social Security, Medicare, or to public streets and highways, public libraries, or to any of the other seemingly innumerable examles of suddessful and popular socialism in freedom's land itself. We may never know what they meant by "socialism". Conservatives challenge us to name any country where socialism hasever worked, we give the U.S.and Europe asexamples, andthen,the discussion of exactly what socialism is commences,inevitably, because conservatives don't seem to government programs as socialsim, strangely. In point of fact, they very much are. Or why not just go right on practicing and benefitting from socialim in every nook and cranny in our beloved America, as always, while simultaneously condemning it as the greatest evil to ever appear on God's green Earth. A little hypocrisy never hurt anyone. Vote down socialism now! As they say, whatever works.

Holding Trump Accountable

A PERCEPTIVE JOURNALIST remarked that although he can't soeak for other people, every day when he gets out of bed, the first thing he thinks is...now what? My initial reaction to this was, who doesn't? Curiouser and curioser and the event which especially catches my attention as being wild and strange is the one the other day, in which six Democrat members of Congress made a video with each of them, one at a time, looking at the camera and telling the American people, and especially military service members, that they are morally obligated to disobey all illegal orders. I wonder how man people have seen it. Its quite remarkbale, partly because all six politicinas is a former military service member, several of them having been involved in military intelligence gathering operations. It isn't surprsing that Trump "went off" on them for doing this, it is rather alarming the severity of his rebuke, accusing them all of being traitors who have committed treason, and threatening them with the death penalty. The first question is probably, why did they do this, these Democrats? The apparent answer is that they are reacting to the verifiable fact that Trsump, from the firstday of his second term, has been acting illegally, issuing illegal executive orders, taking all kinds of illegal actions, giving illegal orders. The most glaring example of this is his sending the Ntional Guardinto American cities, for the stated purpose of giving assistance to local law enforcement agencies in enforcing the law, the purpose being to help reduce crime. Obviously, this violates the well known "posse comitatus" law of1877, prohibiting all United States military from acting as police. Technically, and not so techinically, everytime Trump gave such an order - he did so, what, two or three times, before backing off when federal judges ruled it illegal?- those to who it was directed, the National Guard members of both genders and all ranks, should have refused the order, refused to report for duty. Also, this business of Trump dropping bombs on small boats leaving Venezuela and heading out to sea and killing the people onboard, as Trump has done about two dozen times, killing upwards of a hundred people - this too is illegal, according to international law, and according to American military law. The proper response would havebeen to approach and apprehend the various sea craft, board them, and confront those on board, pending investigation into their motive and intent. Marshall Dillon hated bounty hunters who preferred bringing in "wanted dead or alive" outlaws dead. The United States should be better than this. It is illegal for the U.S. military to invade and occupy American cities, and to murder foreigners on the high seas, period. Trump's criminality only grows more widespread. The six Democrats,by reminding all American military personell that they are under no obligation to obey illegal orders, and are in fact required to to disobey them, are standing up to Trump by reminding Americans in unoform that they are loyal to the constitution and to the country, not to any political leader, and that in this democracy,it is up to them, and up to us all, to uphold the rule of law and defend it against attacks by power hungry political demagogues. During the Cold War, Einstein suggested that if all men of military age in the world refused military service, all war would come to an end. A fun idea, if nothing else. It seems even more unlikely that soldiers and sailors will refuse to obey an order from Trump than millions of American will rise up and throw Turmp out of office. What we can all do, however, is hold Trump and his enablers accountable for their illegal actions, and, eventually if not now, make them experience the consequences.

An Endearing Bit of Trump

YOU GOTTA GIVE credit where credit is due, and I do, or at least try to. We tend to issue blanket condemnations of everything our adversaries do. I know I do. But also I try something different,I try to find diamonds in the dung heap, so to speak. I look for endearing traits or even momentary acts by those I hold in the lowest regard, like, say, Prsident Trump. And when he invited the newly elected mayor elect to the White House, then treated him with warmth, humor, and civility upon his arrival and during the entire visit, I was pleased. For me to be pleased with anythig Trump does is so miraculous that I wanted to hold on to the moment for a minute, as we say. The new mayor is a very pleasant, engaging, intelligent man, warm and friendly. That seemed to influence Turp, to soothe his savage spirit, so to speak, and to actually present himself as a fully functioning human being, rather thn the usual incoherently babbling lie and insult spewing ogre, if you know what I mean, and, frankly, you do. Oneof those brazen but good looing female reporters asked the mayor elect if he truly, in his heart of hearts, considers our president to be a fascist. Not necessarily a protocol savvy question, but, hey, you have to admit, a somewhat relevant one, and not unfair. And just like we'll never know what Christ would have said to Pilate, nor shall we ever know how the mayor to be would have responded. Fortunately, we can make a pretty well educated guess as to what it would have been from the mayor elect, if not Christ. But Trump saved the awkward situation, by slapping his new buddy on the arm, and, like a true teammate, telling him, "Just say 'yes'. It'll be esier that way." Without a doubt, oeof the best situational improv ad lib one liners I have ever heard in my life. Worthy of George Carlin,Jack Benny, any of the great ones. It cracked me utterly up when I heard it live, and I still laugh when I think about it. I probably always will. Good one, Mr.Trump, and I mean that. My question is: where has that Donald Trump been all these years and decades?Where the warmth, the charm, the self deprecating sense of humor? I heard our president say that, I warmed up to him,if only for a brief moment. I'd pay to hear Trump say or do something equally warm and endearing on a daily basis. Something truly human. Trump is not, in my estimation, a paricularly good public speaker. True, he knows how to rev up a crowd, as long as the crowd is so uniformaly made up of people who adore him almost like a Christian adores Jesus. The people in front of whom Trump spews his rambling gibberish come pre prepared to rev themselves up to a fever pitch. His rambling, dissembling incoherent semi sentences andphrases his admirers loverlook, not caring so much what he is fumbling over, trying and failing to say, but rather empathizing with his anger, hatred, and self imposed sense of victimhood. Trump's MAGA movement is suffused with a pervasive sense of victimhood, a feeling of being threatened, traditional white Christian America under attack from within and without, assaulted by a steady storm of liberal DEI domestically, and encroaching multi cultural competition from without. This makes the MAGA movement mean, nasty, and aggressive, and dangerous. The best response might be to treat it like a tornado; avoid it until it runs out of energy. Meanwhile, any further sign of true humanity from Trump I'll regard as a rare gift, and keep looking for diamonds among the dung.

Trump, Skating Again

IF YOU LIKE TO read, write, and talk about Trump, you usually have new material every day, and today is no exception. Within the past twenty four hours the prevaricating president has insulted a top rate television journalist by calling her "piggy" because she dared ask him about the Epstein files, and has threatened the lives of no fewer the six prominent Democratic members of congress. Not bad for a day's work for the rumpled red haired don, our national mob boss. Trump seemingly cannot endure an entire day without doing harm of some sort to someone or other, some days he does more than others. The past couple of days have been at least par for the course for our felonious head of state, and maybe just a bit above his average... For the record, it clarly states in the unviersal code of military conduct, gospel among American military circles, that no person wearing the uniform of the united States military, no member of sidmilitary, shall obey illegal orders. All military personell are required by military law to disobey illegal orders, and are thus,at least implicity, charged with the task of studying and knowing precisely what constitutes an illegal order. what exactl makes an order illegal. That is not necessarily an easy task, for anyone. But the regulation is clear. What the six Democrat members of Congress diewasto merely state this fact. It may be that perhaps that they believe that Trump might possibly issue illegal orders to the American military,or already has. What they said is, of course, perfectly true. For this Trump stated that their statement is an act of treason, for whcih they should all receive teh death penalty. Quoting the United States military code of conduct, a capital offense, in the twisted, contorted, mentally ill world of Donald Trump. It is being pointed out accurately and often taht Trump always verbally attacks strong intelligent women who speak out by insulting their pyhsical appearance with insulting slanders. The "piggy" remark his latest among many, over a period of decades. Trump never seems to try very hard to conceal his deepl nasty personality, calling women "nasty", as he often does, is, as it always is from Trump, projection, of his own self, by himself, onto others. It is Trump who is "nasty", and it is Trump, more than anyone in American history, who deserves to by sentenced to death and executed, according to proper jusrisprudence, for the high crime of incitement to insurrection in a violent attempt to overthrow the American government. All of the Congress people whose lives Trump threatened now have enhanced security staffs, as well they should. And even if some crazed lunatic, in other words a typical MAGA member, assassinates one or more of the Democrats,, bear in mind this; Donald Trump will have been directly responsible for it, but would never in a million years be held responsible for it, either by the legal system, or by his supporters. He would skate, as he has already skated on a potential insurrection and several murder raps. Several people were killed during Trump January 6 insurrection, remember.Trump is therefore, quite arguably, guilty of some degree of murder or manslaughter. The president of the United States can commit no crime, the Supreme court has ruled, no matter what he does. He or she is now above the law and can never be held liable for illegal behavior. Who knows what will happen when Trump leaves office, if he doea. As for now, he seems quite above and beyond the reach of justice.

Becoming Attentive

CONSPIRACY THEORIES, we all know, are in style, to say the least, all the rage, to say more, a cultural obsession, to say the most. None, arguably, is more popular or enduring than that which argues that there exists, deeply embedded within the United States government, a secret cabal which secretly either governs the country of has an outsized influence in its governrnance - it becomes a bit vague on this matter- and which consists of people within the federal bureacracy, a secret consortium of mid and low ranking government bureaucrats, thousands, perhaps millions of them. Crazy as that sounds and seems,it enjoys widespread popularity, and has lingered a long time. Most people are familiar with it, many, far too many, gives it credence. This, of course, is complete hogwash. My sister was a career civil servant bureaucrat, and she laughs at the very notion that a couple million government bureaucrats might have than much power and influence,and might be that well organized, and so seretly. She also dismissed, out of hand I might add, any thought that the American government might be in possession of and concealing from the public the actual bodies of extraterrestrials, by the way. If that saddens or angers anybody, I apologize. That does not mean, however, that the system is not rigged. In point of fact, it is. Indeed the entire American political and economic system is rigged to the hilt, owned and controlled by an elite group of wealthy powerful people. Bernie Sanders, among others, calls this the "billionaire class". Other names for it include; the corporate oligrachy, the one percent, Gore Vidal, the late great liberal author and occasional activist put it this way: There are two governments in the United States, the purely cosmetic government with which we are all familiar, consisting of the constitution, the three branches of government, and all the extensions of those two basic institutions, such a s federal law, agemcies, and other entities. Then, there is the real government, the actual system of power which not only owns much of the wealth of the nation, but which consists of a tiny fraction of the population, our ruling oligarchial corporate masters. It is, quite simply, this oligarchy which purchases and owns the political system by funding it, what is sometimes called the "donor class". The billionaire donor class. No, it is not a monolith. After all, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and George Soros do not suport the same candidates and causes as the highly conservative billionaire class generally does. Consider them the exceptions which prove the rule. Billionares have their own best interests, the rest of us have ours, and they are not always the same. The insiduous, hidden oligarchy which owns and controls the American republic is nothing other than corporate capitalism itself,and those who own and control it. This it does in plain sight, with the full tacit approval of the American people, largely uncontested. And, well...whose fault is that? Jefferson said it best: "If the people become inattentive to the affairs of government, the legislators and magistrates shall divide society into two classes; wolves,and sheep." The most obvious fact in the world is that poor people greatly outnumber the wealthy, the ones who have rigged the system, everywhere on Earth. That gives them power thatso far has only manifested in theory, and in isolated instances. If we common poor people ever fully realize what we are capable of, if we work together, we would be amazed at ourselves and what we can accomplish.

Waiting For Epstein and Hope

THERE ARE CERTAIN TRENDS in American society which bode well for the future. First and foremost, Trump is extremely unpopular, and his approval rating continues to decline, without any indication that it will ever go back up. Undoubtedly, Trump'll try all sorts of gimmicks to boost this approval, gimmicks such as sending a few dollars to American households, try to bribe us into returning to our previous status as devout, unquestioning, obedient MAGAts. We can already tell him; it aint gonna work. The cat is out of the barn, and the cow is out of the bag, so to speak. The most sensational anti-Trump trend, obviously, is the national bipartisan obsession with the release of the notorious Epstein files, about which I may well be the only living American not to give a rat's psterior, as it were. To me it matters not a whit what or what not the Epstein files do or do not say. And, for that matter, they must say it all, for evidently they are the most hugely prodigiously lengthy collection of documents in the history of the printed word, containing, word has it,enough material to fill and refill the Library of congress several trillion times. I, for ne, have been given more than enough hard evidence that donald Trump is a criminal, a sexual predator,and a pedophile that I firmly believe it,to the point of being absolutely convinced of it. Trump's own words and stated behavior only serve to reinforce the worst about him. Of course, the rape conviciton, and the roughly two dozen rape accusations by other victims do not contribute to his reputation, or my personal opinion of him. It may be that the Epstein files, no matter what they contain, change nobody's mind. The main benefit of Trump's declining popularity it that it increases the chance for the bestpossible outcome of the Trump presidency; that it languishes, or the remained of its duration, in a state of impotent, ineffective torpidity, hobbled by its rejection by ever increasing numbers of its former supporters, as teh conservative tries to extricate itself from the grip of Trumpism, and move on to a Trump free furture with more opportunities for sustainability. Republicans are starting to figure out that the Trump movement is weakening, is unsustainable, and will soon crash and burn, and that the Repblican party must therefore move on fromit. Another positive trend is the almost complete rejection of the Trump agenda through renderings in federal court cases. The federal judiciary has not only stood up to Trump, but has effectively reduced the MAGA agenda to a pile of ashes, an unfulfilled wish list of extreme far right insanity, such as brutally policing American cities to eliminate colored people. Smart phones are exposing the brutal Gestapo tactics of Trump's beloved I.C.E., and the American people are rising up to put a stop to it. There is no scenario by which Trump could be removed from office which would benefit the United States, or the progressive cause. Not his death, nor impeachment and removal,nothing. Why would anyone opposed to Trump want to see him removed, and replaced by teh equally execrable J.D. Vance? Far better to simply endure the remaining Trump administration, with vigorous opposition, while Trump's inevitable decline takes the Republican party and the conservative movement down with it. Its not mrely Trump, but the entire Trump supporting community in the United States which needs to be exposed, excoriated, reviled, opposed, defeated, and allowed to harmlessly fade away. The inevitability of this brings comfort and creates hope. It cannot, however, happen soon enough.

Living, and Letting

I HAVE SEVERAL ornamental maple trees in my nearly half acre yard, and have learned that every ornamental maple has its own timetable for displaying fall colors and losing leaves. Mine seem to prefer turning from green to bright red, yellow, and orange over a period of about twenty four hours in late October or early November, displaying their autumnal beauty for about another twenty four hours, then, dropping all of their leaves in yet another event lasting about one day, decorating the ground with a lovely carpet several inches thick and then standing leaveless all winer long, during which, a friend once pointed out to me, deciduous tress have their own special kind of stark, barren, tree branch brown beauty. My entire yard becomes seriously buried in teh carpet of leaves, becasue I have about sixty trees, all deciduous. Many of them are mere sapling volunteers and will never get big due to their being closely clustered together. About twenty of them, however,Iplanted twenty years ago when I built my house, and they are now big, beautiful, and dropping leaves like crazy. I knew from the beginning that this would be my fate, to have a lawn inumdated with leaves in late fall, but I accept it as the price I pay for trying to save the planet, one yard at a time. I wear my leaf strewn lawn like a badge of honor, sort of. My strategy is to fill my big trach can with leaveseach week throughout the winter, to cut down a bit on their enormous volume. I'd have a bonfire, but am afiaid I'd burn down my trees, and, more horrible still, my house. Most of the leaves, and their are more leaves every year as the trees get bigger and produce more and more leaves, I simply allow to remain on the ground throughout the winter. I am told that this is good for not only my yard, but for the Earth's environment in general, becasue the carpet of leaves provide habitat for all kinds of small animals, including snails and worms, animals which contribute to ecological health and balance. Sometime in late February or early March, when the weeds begin to grow and the yard begins to look like it could use its first mowing of the spring, I mow it,leaves and all. The entire yard, bathed gently in early spring mulch. I know people who have no trees in their yard, have planted none, for the expressed reason that they have no interest in dealing with leaves. You wonder whether they will pave their whole yard with concrete to avoid mowing the grass and pulling weeds. That approach, on a large scale, wont work. Insect exterminators sometimes knock on my door, offering to rid my property of all living creatures, inside and out. I politely decline the offer. Even taking into consideration the fact that I was nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes, I would rather work out my relationships one on one with the wide variety of animals which inhabitmy yard,including ground hogs, gophers, boles, moles, and snakes, than use chemical warfare to turn my property into a lifeless, desolate, wasteland of perfect grass and nothing else, which looks like a putting surface. I have evolved spiritually beyond the need to kill or pull weeds. I just let 'em live, and mow them with the rest of the yard. I leave two or three little islands of unmowed wilderness, as insect and especially butterfly sanctuaries. I am realizing what humanity needs to realize,and is perhaps beginning to; that we humans neither own this planet, nor live on it alone, nor does the world exist merely for our convenience and pleasure. As long as we all remember that, we should be just fine.

America, Absent

A GLOBAL GATHERING of government officials and scientists is underway in Brazil, and, of all the approximately two hundred countries on Earth, guess which one is not formally, offically represented there. The topic the gathering is intended to address is climate change, and what, precisely, we the human species intends to do about it. Alarmingly, it is now agreed by nearly all climate scientists that the traditional goal of keeping global warming to less than one point five degrees Celsius by mid century is no longer feasible. In that, we have already lost. Mitigating global warming, climate change, is the most urgent necessity facing humanity, argubaly, no other human concern, including war, poverty, or disease, is as great an urgent threat to continued huuman existence as climate change. If we humans don't change our ways, drastically and soon, our species will cease o exist, essentially committing suicide by environmental destruction. If you guessed that the United States is the important country not represented there, you guessed correctly. The United States is not officially represented there because, as everyone knows, the official policy of the United States of America under the Trump administration is that cliamte change does not exist, at least none of it, if it does exist, is caused by human behavior. To whaever extent the climate is changing, it is always changeing naturally, and this is no different. Climate change caused by human activity, the United States officially asserts under Trump, is a hoax. This is certainly among the most idiotic,ludicrous assertions ever made by ay government in teh history of governments,if not the absolute most fatuous. But, it is, after all, our America...under Trump...The "in spirit" president of the United States,California governor Gavin Newsome, is in attendance, his assertion being that somebody, anybody, can and must represent our America at the world's great convention on climate change. He's doing it, because,as they say, somebody has to. It seems embarrassing, as an American, that we, the most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world, are absent from the most important gathering of nations, arguably, in history. Claiming that climate change is a hoax is no less silly than claiming that human evolution by natural selection is a hoax, or that the Earth is six thousand years old. About as silly as rejecting people and nations because they embrace a different religion than you and yours. What Gavin Newsom eis doing is important, as an example of what stated and local governments and officials, as well as the private sector, cand do and is doing with or without the support fo the federal government, People and communities are planting trees, in the U.S., and all over the world, as the gloval environmental movement grows. The harm that the Trump movement, the current Republican party, and conservative America in general has done to the country, in refusing to address economic inequality, racism, political corruption, and a host of vital issues, is insignifigant compared to the harm being done by denying the existence of climate change, and leading the country down the path of self destruction by refusing to embrace replacing fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources. Election denial was and is bad enough. Denial of their leader's pervasive criminality is equally bad. But when every scientist in the world, when every current weather pattern points to increasing, cascading climate change, to refuse to acknowedge the very existence of what the American military long ago identified as teh greatest single threat to American national security, the collapsing climate, is, in a nutshell, traitorous.

Getting Our Religion

FOR SOME REASON I have growing urge to decorate my house with Christmas lights, on Novemeber sixteen, of all dates. This usrge has been with me for several days, even though we are currently in the middle of a warm spell. Maybe the warm spell is the catylist. I noticed jsut last night that there is one, only one but still one, house in my neighborhood which has indeed put their Christmas lights up; they looked good last night. Each year I hang strands of lights in my front windows, in no dicsernable pattern; I just hang them randomly, abstractly,and they always look good to me when I am finished hanging.I buy strands for about three dollars a box at Dollar General, and as the holiday season moves along, I often buy a box of light on my regular shopping visits, and add them to the array as Christmas day approaches. Ovrteh past couple of decades or so, if memory serves, I hang up the first lights on the Sunday afternoon and evening after Thanksgiving. From late November until New Years Day, which is about when I take them down... I turn them on at dusk every evening, and,f or some reason, leave them on all night long. If it is overcast the following morning, I sometimes decide to leave them on all day. I have no idea the precise impact on my electric bill; obviously, it doen't lower it any, and doubtless raises it at least some, though I haven't the faintest idea exactly how much. Not much, I suspect.I can't recall any January light bills standing out as being excessive, and then too, these modern Christmas lights, the liny glittery ones they sell these days, appear to be pretty easy on electricity. Years ago I used to put up a six or seven foot artificial Christmas tree, then, cats came into my life, and well, the rest is history, as they say.I haven't had a Christmas tree in years. I've never actually tried having a tree and cats at the same time: I just figured that the easiest way to proceed was to give up the tree, to not even try it, seeing as how Christmas decorations have no special signifigance to me anyhow, other than just fun. As I age towards the transition,I seem to enjoy and embrace "the Holidays" as much as if not more than ever, which I think is a good sign. that I have not become bored, jaded, or disinterested with the frivoliies of life, frivolities such as religious holidays and holiday decorations. I'm also glad I have a kind of "when in Rome" attitude about life as a member of a community and of society. There is, for instance, no reason for me to feel conflicted or hypocritical about regularly attending chruch when in fact I not only am not religious,but I actually disparage and denigrate religion in general. The fact is that I see value in religion, all religions, not just teheone of my choosing. I have no patience with people who embrace their religion of choice with enormous enthusiasm and devotion, and for some reason seem to completely fail to comprehed why and how other poople do the same, with religions of their choosing. The more devoted people are to their own religions, the more intolerant they tend to be of other people with similar religions devotion to their own religion. Religious intolerance,bigotry, prejudice are as unreasonable and illogical as racism itself. With thousands of organized religions in the world, nothing is more obvious than that they all deserve equal respect, by everyone. There are millions of good reasons to dislike people, without bothering to use skin color or religion as one of them.

Trump, Running From Epstein

THE BREAKING NEWS, evidently, is that Donald Trump is mentioned hundreds of times in the notorious "Epstein files", just in the relatively small part of them which have now, over the past forty eight hours, been released. I have this habit of turing the volume of the flatscreen down,and just watching the news headlines while listening to hard classic rock on the radio to distract just a tiny bit fro teh harsh realities of today's news. Call me crazy. and, sure enough, on CBS very early this morning, the headline flowed past that Trump is all over the Epstein files. It was a long story; the headline stopped and remained on the screen for a full five minutes, while they gave detailed information, but I didn't listen. I'll get filled in later. On the TV screen, the camera zoomed in to words on a page, evidently the words of Jeffrey Epstein, talking about how extremely interested Trump was in the very young girls frollicking in his pool. Now, we've been hearing about this so called "Epstein Affair" for what seems like a very long time now, and, I'm not going to lie to you, I have long since grown tired of it all. I am quite satisfied that Donald Trump is a low life sleaze bag pedophile, disgusted but not surprised, and disgusted most of all, actually, by the continued support Trump enjoys among his base. It is now established that Trump knew, for years, all about Epstein's sleazy involvement with underage girls, and yet, continued to have a friendship with him. Disgusting. I have said it from the beginning and will keep saying it: Trump's supporters are no better than he, and their support for Trump, tragic though it is, is, in a way, quite appropriate, because Trump's supporters tend to be intellectually and morally as well as ideologically similar to Trump. There is, however, trouble in paradise. A certain percentage of Trump supporters, are demanding the full release of the Epstein files, and, with mounting evidence that Trump is indeed a pedophile, are not happy with the early revelations. It may be that his very tolerant and patient evangelical support base is starting to lose its patience and tolerance with Trump's increasingly hard to hide immoral past sexual behavior. The Trump camp is already in damage control mode, claiming that the entire business regarding Epstein is a fraud, an elaborate hoax. The problem is, there are far too many photographs, personal testimonies, and all manner of proof of Trump's long standing association with the ultra wealthy sexual predator pedophile Epstein. Trump ended the association and started trying to hide it from the world far too late, and has been caught. Trump's failure to hide his criminal activity may yet prove to be his downfall, to whatever extent former presidents can fall down. Nixon did not deserve a pardon, and Trump deserves one even less. It may be, however, that he does not live long enough after he leaves office to fully experience the consequences of his crimes, and goes to his grave largely unpunished. The rest of Trump's life will be a continuation of the seeming feeding frenzy of investiations into his many crimes committed during his second term, crimes he hasn't even committed yet, but most certainly will, in the remaining three years of his administration. Historians a hundred years from now will still be sifting through Trump's crimes, and analyzing the strange phenomenon of his political movement. Maybe they'll have more answers than we do.

Losing Our Religion

AMERICAN CULTURE has always been diverse. Socially, ethnically, racially, you name it, we Americans diversify it. This is especially true in the realm of religion. An estimated fifteen hundred organized religions flourish in freedom's land, about half of which are various Christian denominations, the rest a spectrum of the world's religions, of which there are an estimated four thousand or so. Goethe's comment "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine" is not far if at all removed from the truth in the great American "melting pot". Religions, however, do not tend to melt together, but rather, to remain apart. Communities are built within the faith, but often are limited to the faith. Since American society features such a fascinating array of religious variety, surveys and studies are constantly being undertaken to measure in precise terms the American religious landscape. The prevailing trend is that religion in general, and the Christian religion in particular, is declining rapidly in the United States. A little more than a generation ago fully eighty five percent of Americans self identified as religious, with religion playing an important art in their lives. Over the years that percentage has steadily declined; within the past decade it has declined to around sixty percent, and the most recent survey, released this week, indicates that an important milestone in the decline of religion in America has been reached and passed; less than half the American people, forty nine percent to be exact, consider religion to be an important part of their lives as of mid November, twenty twenty five. The United States is now, at least statistically, if not formally, a majority non religious, secular humanist country. How much further will the trend continue? Will the percentage of religious Americans eventually become a shrinking, vanishing minority, dwindling to nothing as religions of all kinds disappear from American cuture? Research conducted in countries around the word indicate that indeed the trend in the United States of declining religion is manifest throughout the western hemisphere, and generally throughout the world. Europe, for instance, has become essentially a non religious, secular society, with only a smal lminority of religious people,as can be readily discerned by anybody to visits and travels widely in Europe. Religion still has a stronger hold in third world, undeveloped countries, while the decline in church membership proceeds rapidly in countries with a developed indistrial economy and high tech industries. Where science and technology make their largest imprints, religion tends to recede most rapidly. Religious faith and devotion serve emotional as well as spiritual needs for humans, and, quite possibly, for intelligent species of life in every nook and cranny of the universe. Presicely how those needs can and will be met in a post religion world has not been clearly articulated or delineated. But we can rest assured that the deep rooted human needs which have for thousands of years been satisfied by religion and religiosity are not going to simply vanish as our species moves beyond religion, to a higher intellectual level based on knowledge through science. For our emotional and spiritual sustenance we will have to learn to derive spiritual, religious meaning meaning from nature, from the universe itself, as we cast off our religious superstition and mythology. Fortunately for us, we live in an utterly amazing universe, worthy of our love and admiration.

Attending A Church On Life Support

LAST SUNDAY I attended services at the little Presbyterian church deep in the wooded valley,rather than the cuhrch of my true "faith", the Unitarian church. I got a ride, and the drive is short and extremely scenic. There were nine human beings in the building, four clerical officials and five congregants. The weekly goal is to reach double digits; this week,"we" failed, if only barely. If its any cosolation, it feels good knowing that I am truly contributing, just by being there. At the coffee and donut party before church the entire governing committee of four was present, so they decided to have a meething, their monthly meeting, then and there. I just sat ans listened. It was illuminating, and very sad. All four committee members are well into their seventies; at seventy I am a relativeyoungster in this church. Their stated goal is to keep the little church alive until the year twenty twenty eight, so as to reach its two hundreth anniversary. I got the impression that after that date, they are all willling to accept the reality that they themselves will not live long, and that it is unlikely that any infusion of new members will keep the church going. Other churches in other small towns all across the country have and are shuttering their doors,as membership declines, and teh Christian religion shrinks in America. An admirable, appropriate, and doable goal, it seems to me, to keep a church alive artifically for three years, for the sake of achievement and tradition. The main problem is raising the money to do it. They are looking for help from a wealthy benefactor, such as they have gotten before. I wish them luck. All I can do is come to church every now and then, and put a few bucks in the collection plate when it comes to me. Next week, this coming Sunday, I will be back at the Unitarian church, even though its a twenty mile drive for me. Its worth it, but not every Sunday.I'not sure i will everbeamember of any organized religions, or attend one every Sunday, although I sometimes think that if the Unitarian church were within, say, a few blocks of my house, rather than twenty miles away, I would. It almost seems like everybody in the world is a defacto member of the Unitarian Universailist church, whether they know it or not,and that Unitarianism, philosophically, surounds and absorbs all other religions in the world, all four thousand two hundred of them,the way Hinduism surrounds and absorbs Buddhism. I still havent heard the merest mention of either Jesus Christ or God at a Unitarian service, and that's fine with me. I know for fact that UU accepts and loves both concepts. The Presbyterian minister,a good friend of mine, begins each serviceby telling us that he is a one trick pony,that he has the same message every week, and that message is that we can rejoice in the fact that Christ forgives us for our sins. In fact he delivers a fresh and interesting sermon each weak, and the forgiveness through Christ part is fine with me, even though it is not central to any of my personal religious beliefs, nor even part of them. I like being educted and inspired by Jesus, by his teachings,but not forgiven by him. The forgiveness I truly need and seek is the forgiveness that I can give to myself, but sometimes fail to do so, even when, under similar circumstances,I would forgive anybody else. Sometimes we can be too hard on our selves. In whatever religion we choose teo live, comfort, motivation, and motivation are of paramount importance, and self forgiveness especially. That will remain true no matter how many religions people invent to emphasize them.

Calling Lies Lies

WE GET CAUGHT UP with the blatantly insanely stupid words, actions, and policies of the Trump administration. Each day, more lies and melodrama, more hatred, more fodder for tabloid journalism. We seem to almost be lulled into familiar acceptance of perhaps the most powerful, impactful influence emanating from the Trump fun house: the great propaganda machine. You wonder how many people it actually takes to concoct this stuff; every member of the Trump administration seems to spew it, seems to be on the same page, as we say. An incessant avalanche of lies, all consistently tied together into one vast bundle of prevarication, creating a fantasy land to replace reality, one in which Trump has made America great, again, rather than doing it enormous demonstrable harm. The biggest single source is of course the pretty blonde face of prime Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who does Joseph Goebbels proud, and who takes smug, self confident facial expressions to a new level, as we say. Several days ago Trump resumed his habit of pardoning every criminal who has ever had anything to do with helping him to advance his political career, his fame, or his fortune, of whom there are numerous. He's done this before. Violent criminals who attacked and brutalized police officers during Trump's ill fated attempt to overthrow the federal government are now walking free because of Trump, rather than languishing in prison where they belong. Trump is himself, arguably, doing likewise; walking free, rather than doing the time that many Americans justifiably think he should now be doing.. The notorious criminal and crime boss Rudy Guiliani is now a man without a criminal record nor a destiny to serve time in a federal pen, thanks to his boy Donnie. All of the violent criminals who used violence to try to keep Trump illegally in power are now free, pardoned, and so is everyone else who should be in prison for committing crimes on behalf of and for the benefit of Trump. The first casuality of fascism is democracy, the second, justice. According to blonde Karoline, who keeps a straight face by wearing a perpetual condescending smirk, the Trump administration is unmitigated success and glory, rather than the total disaster any discerning American can plainly see. The mainstream media, which is overwlelmingly corporate in nature and therefore anatural ally to Trump, tends to disperse, amplify, and magnify the torrent of misinformation originating with Trump, and emanating from the White House. Only a few media outlets bother to offer fact checks and corrections of Trump's lies, which are so constant and so loudly repeated that they mainatin a dominant place in the media. The tragic fact that the United States of Advertising has been a propaganda factory since its inception has its good points as unintended consequences. It takes a heap of propaganda to turn a brutal, oppressive corporate oligarchy into a demmocratic land of opportunity. Hence, we the American people have long been accustomed to being fed a line of bull, so to speak. With this experience,despite our general gullibility there is at least a streak of discernment in us, and we ths possess a certain talent for calling a spade a spade, as it were. Scientific skeptism, critical thinking are not entirely lost on us. We have the necessary tools at our disposal to identify MAGA lies and propaganda, to call them out,and to discredit them. In that, we are fortunate,and freedom of information and speech has served us well. We need them now, more than ever.

Trump, Supposedly Ending Wars

CURIOUS, and always disbelieving of Trump, I typed into my trusty computer: "Has President Trump actually stopped eight wars,as he claims?" Since my computer knows everything, it would have the answer. What came up was a list of the eight wars Trump claims to have singlehandedly ended, listing the participants, with a brief description of the underlying causes and current status of each "war". Each war had about one page or less of information, so I read it all. What I came up with, what I easily and quickly deduced,is that Donald Trump has in fact stopped nary a single war, and that his claim to have done so is nothing other than another Donald Trump big lie, or mega lie if you will, or "MAGA lie". How utterly shocking. The articils frankly concluded that Trump's claim is dubious at best, a stretch of truth and the imagination, in essence, false. Again, how shocking. Trump is being given credit for and taking credit for "ending" the war in Gaza, which is actually a genocide, being carried out by Israel against the Palestinians people, Indeed a formal cease fire took effect several weeks ago, brokered, so they say, by Trump. the only problem with this narrative is that the war in Gaza hasn't actually stopped; since the "cease fire" began, a large number of violations of it have occurred, with each side blaming the other for each one as it occurs, the usual scenario in such matters. The war in Gaza, tragiclly is far from over. Among tehe wars Trump clais to have stopped is the perpetual cold war between India and Pakistan, border hostilies which have lasted decades, since 1947, with frequet eposices of violence which, miraculously have never to this point erupted into full scale war between the two powerful military nations, both with an arsemal of nuclear weapons. Recently the Pakistani government, its dictator,thanked Trump for allegedly brokering a peace for a war which never happened; perhaps he wants something from Trump, like money, for verily, there is no current war between India and Pakistan. The Indian government issued a calm, diplomatic sounding statement in response to Trump's peace making claim,stating matter of factly that all international diplomatic matters between India and other countries are all handled in the same way, by the Indian government, through the use of its own diplomatic resources, period. Furthermore, we have all seen Trmp's utter failure to help bring about the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine, despite his concerted efforts to do so. Not that anybody else could or would do any better, but Trump bragged about his ability to end that conflict in a single day, presumably a day of his choosing. What Trump has done, evidently, is get in contact with the participants of all eight wars, eitheir through the state department or in some cases personally, offer to serve as a mediator, let's have some peace talks at Mara Lago, and so forth, and so on. What this all appears as to be is a strategy by Trump to so deeply immerse himself in international affairs, events, and foreign policy, to reamke himself in the image of a great world leader and peacemaker, thus conveniently ignoring matters like the Epstein files, inflation, his sinking approval naumbers, sweeping it all under the proverbial rug. Hint: world leaders do not respect or Trust Trump enough to follow him as a leader of anything or anybody, like most morallly and intellectually honorable American people. Alarming as it is that current American foreign policy under Trump is nothing other than a cover for criminal activity, even more alarming is Trump's criminal activity itself, because we the people have not yet found a way to stop it.

Fighting For Food Stamps

UNLESS I'M DREAMING, and surely to God I am, and if I aint, I wish I were, Donald J. Trump has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court asking SCOTUS reverse an appellette court ruling that he, Trump, the U.S. government must pay S.N.A.P.food stamp benefits for November, despite the government shutdown. Trump wants the SCOTUS to rule, in effect, that millions of Americans should go hungry,instead of using other funds to pay the bill, as some states have already done. Why on Earth would anybody, including Trump and most Republican members of Congress, and probably most MAGA members, want millions of Americans to go hungry? Finally the answer came: because food stamps was and is a Democrat idea, a Democrat program. Similarly, the government shut down itself is nothing other than an argument whether to cut Medicaid and subsidies for Obamacare. You can probably figure out for yourself which side wants to do what. (Hint: Republicans hate "socialism"). Why on Earth anybody would want to cut Medicaid and Obamacare is nearly beyond comprehension. Same reason the people want to cut Medicare and Social Security, presumably. They don't like socialism, don't like paying taxes to help people who won't help themselves, blah blah. If millions of Americans are adversely impacted by reductions in Medicaid or S.N.A.P. or other programs, a fairly high percentage of those affected will be Republicans, Trump supporters. The longer people are deprivied, the more they will come to realize who is responsible for it, and the more attempts by Trump and the Republicans to shift the blame to Demorats will fall flat, as it already has, seemingly. A large majority of the American people properly blame Trump and the Republicans for the congressional impasse and government shutdown. The recent eletions, which resulted in an unmistakable blue wave for the Democrats, clearly indicate that Trump and the Republicans are in trouble, with low approval ratings. Supporting government assistance programs would seem to be a far more effective political strategy than attacking them, one would think, considering the sheer number of potential voters who benefit from them. Trump's crazy policies,policies such as imposing excessive, ridiculous, donomically disastrous tarifffs on everybody ad everything, and dropping bombs on boats in the Caribbean, are being brought to a standstill by both the courts and the legislative branch. There appear to beindications that the Supreme Court does not like Trump's tariffs, and will tell us that Congress should be in charge of tariffs. In the U.S. Senate, there is a strong bipartisan movement to force Trump to stop the boat bombing, as once again he is usurping a power which, according to the constitution, belongs exclusively to Congress. The mare fact that Congress, for the first time within recorded history, is actually standing up to Trump, or starting to, and pushing against the fascist president in his stealing cngressional power. As public opinion keeps turning against Trump et al, you would expect the Republicans to back off all this cutting funding for programs which help people, while simultaneously enacting massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. There is a limit to the extent to which we the American people will tolerate teh nation's prosperity being swept up by an elite super wealthy few, while tens of millions languish in poverty or near poverty. For the moment we must rely on public opinion, the courts, and the legislatures to stem the tide of Trumpist fascism, hoping to survive long enough to get to the midterm elections, where we the people, god willing, will end the insanity, once and for all.

Bringing Back Insects

IN THE MIDDLE of a grassy prairie land sits a solar energy facility, corporate owned and operated, with its array of solar panels spread out across the land in neat rows, the panels resting atop metal frame platforms, overhead. On the ground below, beneath the solar panels an in the rows seperating the rows platforms is a ubiquitous grassy field of wildflowers, buzzing with insects, including many different pollinators, mainly bumble bees. A bee keeper maintains ten different colonies of bees, each colony a loarge wooden box with a screen lid, inside of which is a massive beehive, and thousands of buzzing bees, making honey. The beekeeper spends much time each day maintaining, caring for the hives, which serve as massive bee production facilities, sending a constant swarm of bees out into a world in which the population of pollinating bees,and insects of all sorts, have declined in population by more than fifty percent, a dangerous indication of the surrent state of the health of the world's ecosystem. Solar energy and insect nursery at one location, two birds with one stone, so to epeak, a perfect combination for a sustainable future for all life on Earth. If memory serves, there is also a monarch butterfly sanctuary on the American side of the Rio Grande. The more, the merrier. May the entire planet become a sanctuary for all species of life. Each spring in recent years I designate a small part of of my year, an areabout nine square feet, or three feet square, one in my front yard and another in the back, as a natural habitat and insect sanctuary. I keep the lawn mower out of these protected wilderness areas, and let the weeds grow. As the growing season proceeds, the insect activity within these sancturaries becomes quite extensive, telling me that the project is worthwhile. I have noticed, or think I have, that during my lifetime there has been a decrease in insects, especially the fire flies of warm summer evenings, among other species. Insects used to end up smashed upon the windshield in large numbers after a drive along any American highwayas those of a certain age will recall; now, our windshields stay more free of smashed insect bodies, or at least so it seems to me. And, as a matter of fact, the entymologiststell us that indeedthe insectpopulation of teh world, all specis on all continents, has seriously decreased and is seriously decreasing, a trend which, if it continues long enough, will bring about the extinction of all life on Earth, including us. Alas, we need to return to a world where our windshields are covered with bugs. When I was a kid in the nineteen sixties I wa taught in school that there were about three billion people in the world, and about two hundred and fifty million in the United States. When the world population reached tehe five billion mark, in 1987,it seemed like a very large number, and I kept wondering how high it would eventually go. The newspaper in my hometown celebrated one hundred years of publishing in 1997 by sponsoring a contest,in which people worte an submitted essays describing their vision of the worldin the year 2097.I got thirdplace,and won twenty five dollars, by writing about a worldin which twenty billion people live in super high rise bildings thousand of feet tall. Here in the real world, we are wll past eight billion, the global birth rate is declining, fast, almost as if nature is turning off the baby machine, and it is predicted that the world's population will max out at about nine billion by mid century, will level off, and then steadily decline back to previous levels. This scenario sounds preferable to me to my version. Assuing, of course, that hamans are not alone on the planet, and are still sharing it with billions of insects, pollinating vast areas of wildflower wilderness.

Bombing Small Boats

NOBODY CAN BE BLAMED for not believing a word Donald Trump utters. At this point, with more than ten years and fifty thousand blatant lies by Trump, both as president and out of office, under our collective belts, it can be argued that anybody who does beleive a word that Trump says is gullible, or if nothing else a great risk taker. Now he is saying that all of the small boats the United States has been bombing and sinking on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Central America were delivering illegal recreational mind altering drugs to American customers. (Actually, American dealers, who would then presumably deal with customers). Morethan a few seagoing caft have been sunk, dozens of people killed, mostly by drone strikes, which the Pentagon proudly shows on taped video for the evening news. One look at Hegseth and you can tell; the Secretary of War loves being, or playing the part of, a bad ass. Does anyone ask or wnonder why the War Department under Trump doesn't just follow one of the craft, or all of them, with a drone, find out where it ends up,were it docks,and what happens after that. The people on board could be approached, interviewed, and arrested if need be, and the entire drug cartel operating out of Venezuela, possibly controlled by Maduro himself, could be dismantled, taken into custody, tried, convicted, and incarcerated. End of problem. Or maybe that would be too easy, and makes too much sense, and doean't destroy enough evidence. After all, Trump tells us that onboard each small craft are enough recreational drugs to kill twenty five thousand Americans. Its a miracle any of us Norde Americano Yankees are still alive...Since nobody, especially we the American people, have no idea who and what is on these doomed boats, it could be anything: fishermen, families out on their yacht for a cruise, anything...it deosn't seem to matter. It takes neither a genius nor an experienced political analyst to figure out preisely what Trump and his inner circle are trying to accomplish by this small scale naval theatre. Even a relatively short period of time observing and getting to know Trump is sufficient to see that the felonious president is trying to do all in his power to distract the nation's attention from those dreadful, dark, murky "Epstein files", that legendary, almost mythical collection of documents which, according to legend, prove that our American president is a serial sexual predator,or even a pedophile. And since the average American attention span is approximately equal to that of a normal healthy goldfish, the ploy might well work. An even more imporant reason for drone bombing fishing boats is as an early stage in a process of imposing United States military power upon Venezuela, with the goal of bringing about regime change in that country, and, quite likely, to gain access to its immense oil reserves for American oil companies and the Trump family, including young Baron. When left wing dictators in Latin America become too strident and anti-American, folks like, say, Castro, the powers that be in the U.S. start chomping at the bit to remove them from power. If United States military forces occupy Venezuela,Trump might like to have another military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, to celebrate America's might might and moral glory. It is being pointed out that drugs do not come from Venezuela; they come from Mexico and Colombia, mainly. That, of course, is quite irrelevant. You start to wonder which is the more frightening and egregious; Trump's domestic policies, or his foreign policy. Whichever way you argue, you have a lot of material to support your argument.

Driving To Church

YESTERDAY, SUNDAY, I decided to go to church. Last Sunday I went for a wonderful run around the local lake, a form of religious service. I flipped a coin mentally, and decided to drive the twenty miles to the Uniterian Universalist service, mainly beause I now consider myself a Uniterian Universalist. Once again, as always, the entire service was, in my oinion, wonderful. The entire two hours I was there, one hour for the infomral discussion group in the basement, another hour for the actual service in the lovely chapel, I never spoke a word, or scarcely did, being quite content to simply listen. The entire time, in both activities, somebody was almost constantly saying something valuable, worthwhile, intelligent, and I was learning from it and inspired by it. It was a great pleasure for me. Once again, as always, the hymns the Unitarians sang were in my estimation transcendantly beautiful, both musically and in terms of the message delivered. One, titled "We Are A Circle" I found especially moving, lovely, upbeat. A lady stood and started clapping while singing, and soon, most of the rest of us, between fifty and seventy five people, were also on our feet, using energy. I loved it, and was tempted to stomp my foot. I refrained. I have now participated in singing maybe a dozen Unitarian hymns or so, and they are all the same; beautiful, wonderful. I would like to take a Unitarian hymnal to every conservative evangelical Christian I know, hand it to them, and say, "here,try this". The UU congregation seems to be to be a well educated, intellectual, progressive bunch generally, which also suits me. I fear I shall always be a mere visitor, however, and not an actual member of the church, becsuse I have to drive twenty miles to get there, and twenty miles back home, a bit far for me. I would rather be able to walk to church. Unitarian Universalism seems less like an actual "religion" to me, but more a foraml, ceremonial celebration of spirituality and religiosity in all their various forms. Peraonsally I am a "pantheist", a follower of Spinoza, and no matter what your personal religious beliefs,you are welcome and included at UU, and I love that. Their ceremonies, many of them remindful of but different from traditions like communion and baptism, are always elegant, lovely, and comforting. On Sundays when I don't feel like driving forty miles through heavy traffic I instead drive to the Presbyterian church about five miles from my house, a beautiful scenic but relatively short drive along a small country road. That's where the minister is a friend of mine, as are all congregants, who scarcely number ten. The little country church struggles to reach double sigits in attendance. The minister understands that I am not a Presbyterian, nor even a Christian, but that I sometimes don't want to drive twenty miles, and would rather atttend his church, which I do not feel unpleasant nor entirely incompatible with my personal beliefs. But the essential, spiritual message from the Christian faith, the message of Jesus, which this minister delivers reliably, is worthy of everyone's acceptance and embrace, regardless of matters of dogma. There is an Islamic Mosque right across the street from our uinversity football stadium. I would almost like to attend one of their services, as a visitor. Heaven knows I've had enough unpleasant experiences inside the football stadium, recently. A 2-7 record can have that effect. I could use some nearby, across the street comfort, inspiration, and rejuvenation, and, if not for that, what are religions, what is any religion for?

Preserving Democracy

I HONESTLY THINK that if I had been born and raised in a country governed by a dicator, that I would have grown up accepting dictatorship as the natural, best form of government, and probably would consider myself fortunate to live under such a benevolent ruler. Since all dictators try to present themselvesasbenevolent,truechampionsof "the people", and since they tend to try to reinforce this message with a constant stream of propaganda, I, most probably, would have bought into it. But who knows? Maybe not. Maybe I would be a dissidant advocating for more democracy in our beloved fatherland, or whatever. Each day I feel more as if I am fighting to preserve, or to create for the first time in reality, democracy in a country in which a large percentage of my fellow citizens wants to replace democracy with fascist oligarchy or dictatorship, take your pick. We all know that we the American people have never had a true direct people's democracy, but rather, a representative democracy, a republic. Our "representatives" turn out to be the wealthy white male class, which in today's reality translaes to plutocracy, government of and by and for the wealthy corporate elite. James Madison, like most of the founders, believed that ninety nine percent of us the American people are unqualified and incapable of governing themselves, must be represented and cared for by the superior one percent wealthy powerful elite. Current events, one must admit, sometimes seems to validate this negative attitude. That is exactly what his constitution, which we still use today, establishes, a representative plutocratic, very indirect democracy. Thomas Jefferson, Madison's mentor, we much more favorable towards an actual direct democracy, one in whichwethe American people actually have power, and govern ourselves. Within five years of the establishement of the constitution, Madison regretted it, because he saw that the wealthy elite ruling calsshad no intention or representing anybody other than themselves, and their own economic and political interests. And so it has been ever since, and so it is today, our American oligarchy-plutocracy, in which the wealthy elite few own and control the American government, and most everything else. Obama,in a campaign speech the other day,reminded us that democracy and free speech must be fought for. Jefferson believed that every new generation would have to fight for freedom from tyranny; a bloody revolution for democracy about every twenty years. It seems rather obvious that most people would rather be subjected to the tyranny of dictatorship thatn engage in a violent fight to preserve democracy several times during their lives; Jefferson pointed this out in the "Declaration of Independence". When democracy fails to work, when it becomes corrupted and ineffective,it becomes tempting to replace it with a less corrptible, more effective form of government, rather than to take the trouble to repair, restore, and perpetuate democracy. Then too, whenver democracy yields precisely that results we want, but is opposed by a powerful opposition movement, it becomes tempting to chisel our democratic achievements in stone by preserving them under an immmutable, unchangeable, authoritarian government. There are always forces working to undermine and destroy democracy,and there always will be. Democracy must be supported, defended, and strengthened by non violent political movements which include voter education, expanding voting rights, and removing the corrupting influence of corporate money from American politics, among other changes. The Trump movement is content to codify the Trump agenda in stone, in authoritarian government. The rest of us, the majority of Americans, must fight for our democracy by fighting to destroy the Trump movement.

Making America White Again, Part II

THE IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT agency or force is yet another successful attempt to construct the name of an organization so as to yield a tough, cool sounding acronym "I.C.E". I know how it feels. In early 1991 the United States attacked and invaded the nation state of Kuwait, for the purpose of liberating it from the clutches of our true enemy, Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq. At the time I thought this war was entirely unnecessary, entirely a product of United States imperialistic aggression and greed for wealth and power, entirely a creation of a nefarious Bush administration policy. For that matter, I still believe all that. I was not alone in my steadfast belief, and millions of Americans proceeded to protest that war, which may have shortened it and limited its scope. Locally, in the college town where I lived, our anti-war group was well organized, met regularly, got together to organize and hold war protests on campus, becameclose, and,so we thought, needed a name. Using talent on loan from God, as Rush Limbaugh used to say, I came up with one: "Students Against Gulf Engagement", or, for short, "S.A.G.E". to this day, I am proud of that. So, I.C.E. it is. This brand new law enforcement agency is entirely the product of Trump, M.A.G.A., the Republican party, conservative America, the usual suspects. It is the result of the hatred of undocumented immigrants illegally living in the United States, of whom we all agree there are more than ten or eleven million. Generally speaking, the conservative position on these more than eleven million people is that they are criminals, law breakers, and should all be apprehended, incarcerated, and, by whatever due process is proper, perhaps a court hearing and formal decision rendering, deported. The progressive point of view is that most of them, indeed a huge percentage of them, are law abiding hard working people, mostly young families, who fled thier home country only out of desperation, fleeing vioence and poverty, and have assimiliated into American culture, and are collectively contributing tens of billions of dollars to the American economy each year, by working hard, wealth and prosperity, and paying taxes. In a nutshell, it can be said that, in a sense, both sides are correct. One approach, is utterly unworkable and impossible, and also harmful to the United States, that of deproting all eleven million of them. The other, of providing a pathway to citienship and work permits to the vast majority of them, to all of them with no criminal record, will guarantee continued or improved prosperity for the entire country, by giving it precisely what it most needs: workers. Half of all "American" farm workers are undocumented immigrants,living and workign in the U.S. illegally. Kik 'em all out, and the agricultural economy and therefore the entire economy and therefore the entire country collapses into chaos, probably crime and violence proliferating out of control. Everyone in the country has a smart phone, and loves to use it taking pictures and making movies. Everytime a gang of ICE agents approaches a harmless black or brown skinned American citizen on some American street and viciously brutalizes the citizen, which is happening more often every day,somebody is going to make a video of it,and the video is going to go viral. Trump's approval will keep going down, and his policies and supporters will attract ever inreasing opposition. We will all have to take sides on the issue of Trump's fascist Hitlerian Gestapo. ICE is seeking recruits by paying theme extremely well, including a hefty signing bonus,and by inviting good Americans to join the fight, the fight "defending American culture" as they put it. This racist white supremacist dog whistle is easily heard by everyone, and it clearly reveals the true conservative Republican M.A.G.A agenda; to make America white again.