Banning Books, Sidestepping Parents

THERE ARE A FEW TENETS concerning education that conservative Christians seem to all embrace. A fundamentsl one is to avoid by prohibition teaching about things that are undesirable, meaning, things which conflict with conservative Christian political orthodoxy. If it aint savory to conservative Christian sensibilities; ban it. For instance, no discussion about gay or transgender folks. Nothing about racism in America, past or present. And, the lynch pin; the banning of "certain" books, which is daily coming to mean many more than "several"; several hundred at last count. The books most often banned concern gay and transgender kids, racism, or religions other than Christianity.Lastly but of utmost importance, underscoring all other decisions; parental influence and ultimate control of school curricula.Tthe fly in the ointment that that none of these policy decisions has been implemented or even voted on by the parents in the general public anywhere. In every case, its a small group of politicans and administrators, some not even elected, who are making these choices. This fact will predictablly be counterd by teh specious argument that all over America the paents indeed are deciding on and implementing these restrictions, since the school board members and administrators who make them were chosen by the conservative Christian community majority of voters. This argument, of course, is pure nonsense. The fact remains that no local, regional, or national voter referendum has occurred to indicate any majority support for any of these harmful policies, about gay people, race, or books. After the fashion of fascists, everywhere, the book banning community, a definite minority of the American people, is claiming, like Trump, a mandate which simply does not exist. Parental control is nothing but a noble sounding catch phrase to justify the usurpation fo what Americans really want and replacement of it with outdated, censorious, heavy handed government interference in public education by a radical group of far right wing extremists. What Americans really want in public education, and in soceity, is cultural acceptance of diversity and an open, free culture of diverse ideas and lifestyles. Banning books has no placein a free, democratic soceity which values educaiton, and msot Americans know and support this sacred principle. then, there are the minority of fascist usurpers,ozzing like posson from within the Trump movement. They must be defeated, and relegated, ideologically, to the veritable dust bin of history.

Woking Up

BAD GRAMMAR NOTWITHSTANDING, there is no defensible, justifiable eason for not being "woke". "woke" merely means being aware of the history of racism in the United States, and its persistance, in more sublte forms, in contemporary society. Failure to acknowledge this is like failing to acknowledge the reality of economic inequality in America, or sexual abuse, or bad weather. The very existence of white supremacist groups such as the "Proud Boys" proves that racism exists. Why deny it? Political conservatism and Christian apologism are complicit. The rampant racism in Spain, currently noted in the international media, as manifested by fan treatment of a star African soccer player, is ironic because racism, actually a modern invention, first appearaed in Spain and Portugal as a pretext for enslaving Africans in the mid fifteenth century. Ancient manuscripts show no trace of racism. On the Iberian penninsula, the Catholic church did nothing to discourage slavery, and everything to support it, and its Christian justification. Much the same is true in seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century America, where religion was used to justify slavery. Europeans and European-Americans were doing benighted Africans a tremendous service by removing them from the dark, barbaric culture of Africa, with its pagan religions, and exposing them to and indoctrinating them into the true faith, thus ensuring their eternal salvation. Enslaving Africans brought them reprieve from the fires of hell, and the hope of salvation by admission to and eventual entry into the heavenly kingdom of God. Every state which seceded in 1861 to form the Confederate States of America issued a founding document, a sort of "declaration of independence" from the United States, and all of them articulated defense of the institution of slavery and the northern states' threat to it as the primary motivation for their separation. Denial of the validity of "wokism" is as false as the revisionist historical assertion, long prevalant among misguided history students and scholars, that the cause of the American Civil War was not slavery, but rather, the noble cause of the defense of "states rights." To disprove this false thesis, one need only ask: "precisely what "state's right" were the confederate states defending? The answer is that they were defending their perceived God ordained right to own human beings, and to reduce them to hard bondage and hard labor, in the interest of establishing and maintaining a propserous agricultural economy for the wealthy elite white Christian plantation owners. It is crucial to accept, and impossible to honorably deny, the reality that in contemporary America denial of extant racism derives from the descendants of the people who once promoted it.

Awakening

THERE ARE FEW EXPERIENCES more nauseatingly illuminating than listening to a group or even a pair or Christian conservatives discuss - nearly everything - but especially political, religious, and social issues. The hot topic of the moment, among others, is something they derisively call "wokism". Wokism, asbestos I can make out, is what crackers term the results of something called "Critical Race Theory". Critical Race Theory should actually be simply called "history", or "sociology", but, never underestimate the abilitly of scholars and bigots to invent, promote, and deride a newer, fancier sounding moniker. CRT is nothing other than the vast and growing body of scholarship and knowledge which has definitively shown that racism in America still exists as always, but that it has been shamed into going underground, and is now manifeest primarliy in institutions, legal, law enforcment, medical, you name it, racism is buried within it. Becoming aware of this hidden, residual racism is what African-Americans have come to call being "woke", rather than the much more grammatically corrrect "awakened", or "enlightened", or "illuminated". The point is that, whatever you call it, Christian conservatives despise it, and they they call "wokism", as if it were a blasphemous organized religion or political ideology. To them it is a liberal hoax, or Marxist plot, intended to destroy the country by educating and thus destroying it. This is predicated on the conservative refusal to accept the "liberal" belief that racism still exists in America, if indeed it ever did. To conservatives, to acknowledge any lingering racism is to hate the country. Conservatives rid themselves of the burden of accepting racism's reality by denying its existence, much as they deny the existnce of the LGBTQ community, or try to, and its needs, with "conversion therapy", which brainwashes gay people into hererosesuality, much like evangelical missions brainwash people, or try to, into abandoning their existing religiosities and accepting salvation through the one and only "true faith". Denial of climate change, of vaccines, of cultural diversity, and of the benefits to society of government social programs for the poor and regulation of the economy are among the more prominent forms of right wing Christian denial. Acordingly, Christians who embrace "wokism" are not really Christians, since there is nothing in the New Testament which tells us that Jesus was "woke". Love thy neighbor suffices not, it seems.

Ha Ha-ing

THE NICE FACEBOOK LADY who only steals magnolia blooms fron her neighbor's tree when she determines that the tree has "too many" blooms, is a digital picdture taking and posting machine. She takes pictures of all things and everything relating to her self absoprtion, including magnolia blooms in every stage of bloom, except at the end. She spares us that, but does not spare us an endless parade of swimming deck and cat pics, both of which might actually be hers, or might not. On Facebook, anything goes, and nobody knows. There is a certain wistful sadness associated with fading flowers, and above all else, she waxes positively cheerful. Her only pictoral omissions are pictures of her house, which she wisely refrains from taking or posting, and of herself. For this she substitutes pictures which seem to have been taken in the nineteen eighties or nineties, judging by her hair style, clothing style, and baby, which she says is now an attorney in his late twenties. But ever cheerful she is, and the magnolia blooms are forever young, ensconced in water and thriving, for the time being. He good cheer is So much so that no matter what she posts or says about it, she accompanies it with one of three expressions: "Ha"..."Ha Ha", or, and you guessed it: "Ha ha ha". Never an "lol", always the "ha ha's". She laughs at her own jokes, which is of course a social faux pas, but not other people's. This began to annoy me, and still does. Finally, after sustained reflection, I understand why. In early childhood, kids, being human, learn how to ridicule each other derisively. Its one of the first lessons they learn. Jealousy, and the perceived need to retaliate, evokes the sound which most closely resembles actual laughter; the onomatopoeia-ic "ha ha ha", which means "neener neener neener", or "I am making fun of you". I find her ha ha-ing annoying simply because I associate it with the pain of early, and sometimes late childhood, derisive ridicule. Gimme a good old fashonied "lol" any day of the week; the marveolus, neutral statement invented on AOL decades ago that simply says: "I am laughing out loud", or that I am giving "lots of laughs". So far I have been unable to convince her that stealing magnolias involves two crimes: criminal trespass, and theft of property. I've given up the ghost on that project and, if I'm smart, I won't even bother to try to get her to translate her ha ha into something a bit more palatable, and at least somewhat less derisive and childish lol.

Solving A Problem, Ostensibly

OVER THE PAST FIFTY YEARS, the Earth'spopulation has more than tripled, trillions of trees have been destroyed, and more than twelve thousand natural disasters, nearly all of them caused by climate change, have cost humanity roughly two trillion dollars in damage repair. (At the dawn of human civilization, the number of trees on Earth is estimated to have been about seven trillion; we are now reduced to less than half that number.) The resposne to this by the fossil fule industry has traditionally been to disregard it, and to claim that the problems are all made up, and that fossil fuel use has had nothing to do with the calamity. But traditions sometimes give way to reality. The industry eventually, belatedly decided that its position was neutral, then, with equal reluctance and hesitation, that the destruction of the environment was real. Finally, it acknowledged that fossil fuel consumption does indeed play a role, a minor one, in concert with nature. Only in the recent past has big oil and coal and natural gas unabashadly 'fessed up, acepting its complete responsiblity for environmental degradation, minus an earthquake or volcano or two. Opportunistically, the culprits themselves proposed a solution, hoping to get their feet away from the fire, so to speak, and to simultaneously present itself as the hero, as the solution rather than the problem. Carbon sequestration!... Simply remove the carbon from the atmosphere, turn it into solid chunks of coal, or diamond, or whatever, and store it underground...somewhere or other. The actual proposal was not made by members of the industry, but by environmental scientists, but, hey, who'll ever know? Why give credit where credit is due, when one can steal credit like a theif stealing the health of the planet and the future well being of those who live on its surface? Problem is, the solution is not so great after all. It turns out that even the most cursory examinatons of human and corporate nature clearly indicate, when analyzed by artificial and organic intelligence, that solving by any means possible the problem of carbon in the atmosphere is likely only to increase the willingness of big fuel to continue putting it there, for the sake of profit. (you know how people are...). Only a world wide ban on carbon emmissions will suffice. Either that, or as we like to say: back to the drawing board...

Pulling Back Part II

The telephohe calls started coming, and kept coming. It seemed that loval hospitals were full up with infants in need of viral free blood transfusions. Calls in th wee early morning hours. Calls late at night. they called, I came, we conquered. Of particular note was the time I rushed out of the house, hopped in the car, and drove like mad, like too much mad, towards the donation location. Halfywa there my phone rang again, (I was fortunate to have a cell phone with me, which I seldom do), and I was told that it had been discovered that I was ineligible to donate, owing to the recency of my latest contribution. without having the audacity to ask why in the name of hemophilia I had not been informed of this earlier, before I left the house, and why I had been called in the first place, I hung up, grumbled a bit, and turned around. I kept noticing that nobody ever told me anything about the infants to whom I allegedly gave blood; the outcome, their condition, whether they might need my services again, and so forth. So, I asked. I was told that this information was not normally made available to donors, but for me they would make an exception. They had all survived, and were thriving. This in itself was sufficient to satisfy me, but they went on. I was further told that my services would likely no longer be required, because, alas, in some undertermined way my blood had finally contracted the anti-CMV virus, and, well, I had thus been relegated to the nine hundred and ninety nine out of a thousand viral positive blood category. In all honesty, I had already decided to terminate my availablity as an emergency call if needed blood donor. Too much stress, too little time. My career, as a donar of privileged blood, had come to an abrupt end. I felt relieved, the burden of sharing something rare and special and of the greatest importance lifted from me. Another thought occurred to me: every tiem I had ever donated blood, whole or otherwise, other people were in in the room, bleeding away on the platelet plasma machine. A great deal more time is needed to donate platelets and plasma than whole blood, another reason why I felt somewhat liberated. Surely one in a thousnad people other than me could be found, and made available. I won't ask about this. I'll never know. There's nothing I could do about it in any event. I still donate platelets and plasma, but now, on my terms, in considerably less stressful circumstances.

Pulling Back, Part One

I DID SIMETHING I never thought I'd do. I told the Community Blood Center that I would prefer it if they stopped calling me to ask me to donate blood. the fact that I didn't unequicoally demand the cessation provides an opportunity for them to call me in case of a dire emergency, I suppose. They seem to have accepted my decision. I began donating blood fifty years ago when a good friend of mine and his good looking blonde girlfriend persuaded me to do so. I didn't need much pesrsauding. Over the decades I have accumulated an impressive number of donations, about 61 1/2 gallons, if my numbers are correct. I'm nost sure, but the blood bankd is: after all, it is they who first started keeping assiduous track when I began donating. I merely followd their lead, if a bit sloppily. I seem in fact to ahve grossly underrated myself; I make my curent donation toal to be 299, teh bolld center says , I think, 491. it seems those plasma and platelet donations, which is my current modus operandi, app add up a mite faster than I had expected or responded to, in terms of calculations. After about forty years of strictly donating whole blood, I branced out into plasma and platelets, permetting me the opportunity of donating more often, and with, perceive, better effect. At some point, and I can't quite remember when, it was discover by the folks down t headquarters that I have a rare blood type, called "anti - CMV negative", which means that my blood is free of a bery common kind of virus shared by nine hundred and ninety out of every one thousand people, and tht I cah therefore donate blood to infants, even new born infants. so, on to the emergecney call list I went, becuase one cn never tell much in advance whether an infant is going to suddenly be in need of a blood transfusion. And when one needs one, one needs one badly, immediately...

Stealing Magnolias

I HAVE A NEIGHBOR with a magnificent magnolia tree in his yard, and each spring I eagerly await its blooming. It comes, but it never lingers long. The blooms open, reach their peak, fade and crumble in what seems like an unfairly short period of time. A bit too far north, it seems. Farther south more favorable conditions don't seem to bring about the blooming much sooner, but they last much longer; people are still enjoying them weeks after my time has passed. There is a lady who smart phone photos of an unopened magnolia bloom almost every day, and keeps the snapshots coming every consequent day, as the flower opens, and reaches its peak. She spares us images of its inevitable later faded glory. She doesn't seem to have a magnolia tree in her yard any more than I do; the blooms come, so she says, directly from her neighbor's tree, which she describes as "having too many blooms". so, to keep her neibhgor 's tree within acceptable limits, she snages one, for the sake, I assume, of community service, upholding the law of floral productivity. I hesitated, and still hesitate to ask exactly how many flowers are permitted, and how she can tell when the tree has crossed her imaginary line in terms of sheer numbers. My reluctance "stems" from the fact that this is the same Facebook lady whose swimming pool must be forever filled, even in the severest drought, in order to avoid doing damage to it due to its emptiness. (Over the eyars, I have learned, through hard experience, when to go no further, when to not pursue a subject.) One day, she stat nobody should ever have flowers in their homes, not even for occasions such as funerals or weddings? (She thought she had me). Evidently, she equated the two life changing events, marriage, and death. To that I responded: 'My concern is not so much with the flowers, but with their source". She told me to "lighten up". I had thought myslef alreay fully enlightened up, and told her so. I then assured her that henceforth I would assiduously count the blooms on my neighbor's tree, and, in the event of there being "too many", would take the necessary action. I still don't know what the magic number is beyond which a tree is allowed no further legitimate production, but fully intend to pursue the matter, possibly with a botanist, and when I find out, I'll sound the alarm, warning all who might commit the transgression of failure to monitor and properly respond to an excessively prolific tree the chance to rememdy their oversight.

The Radicalizing of the Right

IT HAS COME TO THE ATTENTION of astute observiers of political history that in recent times the Reppublican party, in which the American conservative movement is embedded, has "taken a hard turn to the right", has become what amounts to an extremist organization. This phenomenon has not escacped the attention of historian Matthew Dalleck, whose seminal new monogrpah: "Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right", clearly elucidates the genesis of this transformation. The post World War Two period in America was a time of conservatism, socially and politically, a return to what the right wing deemed "normalcy". Although the period immediately prior to the war was far from "normal". Roosevelt's "New Deal" had radically transformed the nation, where under his Democratic Socialist leadership and agenda the traditional neo-liberal economy was supplanted by an unapologetically socialist set of programs, including Social Security, among others. For the right, "normal" meant pre-New Deal. Unable to revoke FDR's agenda, conservatives became content to merely resent and oppose it. Eisenhower, a moderately conservative president, was from the beginning of his adinistration insufficiently conservative for those who would have had us return to the days of Herbert Hoover and before. founded by a small group of ultra right wing industrialists in secret in 1958, named after an American Baptist missionary and war hero in china, The John birch society was founded in 1958, and although it never consisted of more than between sixty thousand an d ahundred thousand members nationwide, endure, according to the author, untio the early nineteen seventies, when, as Dalleck describes it, it "burned itself out". In turth, it still exists today, but im much weaker form, it having for the most part blended in with other far right wing organizations, such as the Republican party itself. The groups consisted in local chapters of no more than twenty people each, and its agenda included strong opposition to the civil rights movement, to gay culture, and, most of all, oppostion to communism. Conspiracy theories were its stock in trade, much as they are in today's ultra conservative culture. Perhaps the most blatantly ridiculous such theory was that President Eisenhower was a member of and an agent of the American communist party. So transparently false was this crazy concept that even the Birch leaders quietly attempted to squelch it, with some degree of success. Dalleck traces this narrative directly to today's renewed reactionary radicalization of the conservative movement, spearheaded by the rise to power of Donald Trump. Dalleck predicts the ultimate decline of the current incarnation, but warns us that a series of election losses will be required for this to happen, losses which, while some have already occured, have only succeeded to a small extent of bringing the far right back into the mainstream American political fold.

Publishing

A COUPLE OF NEWLY PUBLISEHD BOOKS, one fiction, the other non fiction, merit attention. "The Every", by novelist Dave Eggers, is a sequel to his 2013 dystopian nove, "The Circle". "The Every" also portrays a dystopian societal future, but with a few more laughs. A woman named "Delaney" seeks and gains employment with and entry into the world's last remaining corporate entity for the intended purpose of destroying it, with the hope of returning society to a kinder and gentler past. Over the past few decades the concentration of wealth in the United States has reached proportions not seen since the gilded age of the late nineteenth century, causing some people to semi-seriously speculate that there wil come a time when all the money in the world is owned by a single person. This novel gives us the most plausible scenario to date in which such a scenario becomes possible. The Every is the result of a merger between "The Circle" and a major e-commerce concern, which completes the process of ultimate corporate integration. The work has been likened to a cross between Orwell's "1984" and McGoohan's "The Prisoner". Its a smmooth read, easily digestable. "The Age of Danger" is a bit bumpier, for it deals with current reality, and offers suggestions on how to deal with it, to the extent that dealing with modern societal circumstances is a possibility. The United States is beset with a plethor of what we tdoay tend to term "challenges", what once were called "nightmares". Arms races with both traditional (Russia) and new (china) superpowers, the former in apparent decline, the latter seemingly on the rise. New high tech weapons systems, such as dronew and hypersonic missiles capable of blowing holes in the nation's infrastructure. Cimate change, Economic instability precipitated by seemingly regularly scheduled convulsions in the market economic system. Artifical Intelligence and its possiblity for abuse and human surrender to machines. The authors, andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker, cogently point out that of them all, climate change itself is the greatest threat; if the Earth's ecosystme continues its encroaching disruption through sustained human attack, no other threat is necessary to bring about the destruction of civilization. No age in human history has been even remotely close to being danger free, obviously. But the threats which imperil us now have a much more comprehensive characteristic. Hypothetical soultions proposed by the authors result from their access to a large number of national security experts, and provide a thought provoking mix of remedies, and of a potentially much safer American future with creative and innovative possible solutions.

Swimming

WHEN THE LADY in Florida kept posting on Facebook complaints about the lack of rain in the Tampa area, she never failed to mention that the prolonged drought forced her to turn on the sprinkler system in her lawn, and to keep "topping off" her swimming pool, to compensate for evaportaion without natural replenishment. Suddenly a thought cme to me: what if, during a prolonged drought, people simply let their lawns dry up and die, keping faith that they would at length be reborn, and kept their swimming pools empty, for the sake of conservation of water. She assured me that this was a ridiculous idea, that so doing would lead to a less than beautiful lawn, and do damage to a swimming pool. She turned out to be quite correct, according to my subsequet research. Apparently most home swimming pools are not constructed with sufficient strength of concrete to withstand the presure accumulated by failing to equalize pressure on both sides of the walls. My thought at the time was that if home pools were constructed with adequate reinforcement, eny pressure exerted by the encroaching Earth would take so long to do damage that even if an entire summer swimming season passed with empty pool, the damage would be minimal, if any. Not so, assured she. She then invited me to retract my comments, which I declined to oblige, telling that I do not "do" retractions", which I indeed do not. As goethe said: Only by errors which really irk us do we advance." One must own one's mistakes. If everyone who makes inaccurate comments on Facebook offered to retract them, where would we be in our pseudo world of social media? Constrained to the truth, an unthinkable state of affairs in our digital world of alternative facts, it might seem. She bragged about her ability to teach a teacher something about swimmming pools, I countered with a comment that any average first grader can teach me a great deal, about almost anything, on account of my willingness to learn. Swimming pools, full or empty, can teach us lessons, sometimes with tragic results. In 1963, renowned American poet Theodore Roethke had a heart attack while swimming, and died at 55. The pool in which his life ended was drained, filled in, and turned into a Zen meditation garden, complete with decorative patterned pebbles and lush plantings. Still today it is well utilized for that purpose. On another occasion my best friend's father, while staying at a motel, awakened in the middle of the night, and decided to go for a midnight dip. He failed to notice that there was no water in the pool, dived off the high dive and into the waterless pool without looking, and ended his life. Empty pools do damage to more than their mere selves. They also can provide moments of joy. In some communities, the annual autumnal draining of the public pool is preceeded by a day in which folks are invited to bring their dogs for a final end of summer swim. Surely there can be no better use for a concrete hole filled with chlorinated water. It must be conceded that jumping into a soon - to - be -emptied - for - the - autumn swimming pool with innumerable wet dogs beats the hell out of jumping into a never to be emptied private pool only to discover that it is inhabited, on a temporaty basis, by an alligator or water mocassin. Stranger, more fightenign things have happened, but I don't know when or where.

Dumbing Down, Politically

ASTUTE OBSERVERS have noted in recent times that there is, deeply embedded in American culture, a certain "lowest common denominator", a cultural crassness with permeates society, reducing us to our most juvenile intellectual level, which has only been enhanced by a recent tendency to "dumb down" us, the American people, magnified by mass media and social media. I can recall that when I was in the eighth grade one of my teachers told the class that newspapers are written on an eigth grade level. Evidently, they still are, for the benefit of the least educated demographic in American society. Most folks have probably noticed that when we watch or listen to the news, on almost any "platform", we are spoon fed an enticing mis of feel good stories and sensational nightmares, presumably to keep our attention, attention for profit. In an interesting monograph, "Profiles In Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got dumb and Dumber", published in 2022, comedian and author andy Borowitz etends this theis to the politial arena in a thought provoking manner. Borowitz asserts that there was a time when we the American people expected our political candidates and leaders to inform us, about their policies in particular, but that under the influence of mass marketing and mass media, we now expect them to entertain us. He reminds us that the most recent four Republican presidents: Reagan, bush, Bush, and Trump, were all known by those who knew them well as men of mediocre intelletual capabilities, and that their mediocrity was on full display during their terms as president. "A Quote A Day" tear off calendars have been printed and popular featuring a stupid or silly but accurate quote a day from each of them. Donald Trump rached a new intellectual low point, "lowering the bar" with vacuous comments involving windmills allegedly causing cancer and airports in revolutionary era America. Like the noble intent to which FOX news falsely claims to aspire, one must, for integrity's sake, be "fair and balanced". The author give Ronald Reagan a hard time for his famous remark, which he evidenlly made to Gorbachev, that if the Earth were threatened by attack from extraterrestrials, humanity would instantly put aside its petty squbbles and differences, and unite to fight against the new enemy from afar. Apparently Reagan made this same metaphor many times, it was a recurring theme of his remarks, and Borowitz holds it up as an example of Reagan's mediocre intellect. One might beg to differ. On a purely hypothetical level, this concept has cogency. The problem with it is that, in the event of aggressive invaders from outer space, human technology would doubtless be utterly unequopped to offfer even the slighest resistance. Still and all, Reagan's point is well made, and serves its purpose. When a person makes one intelligent comment his entire life, it seems a good idea to make it often, and after all, we must give credit where credit is due. Borowitz also points out that the tradition of mediocre Republican American presidents with mediocre intellects has a much longer tradition, one which arguably began with U.S. Grant, continued on through Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, and threatens to endure into the future.

Trump Telling The truth?

WHEN DONALD TRUMP famously said that he could shoot somebody dead on fifth avenue without damaging his poitical support, he was evidently lapsing into a rare moment of truth and wisdom. As they say, sometimes the blind old squirrel finds an acorn. Also, even a broken clock is right twice a day. (They sure say clever things, dont they?) The truth of this has never been more evident. Newly "convicted" in a civil lawsuit of being responsible for sexually mistreating and defaming a women, his poll numbers have suffered - not at all. Seemingly daily the psychology of mass allegiance to a cult leader becomes more fascinating, as we witness the phenomenon directly. Surely there will come a time when the Trump phenomenon appears, fully elucidated, not only in history books, but in sociology texts, and abnormal psychology books as well. An uniformed explanation might include the theory that when a large group of people cdecide that a leader is good, or beneficial to society, and remain convinced of that over a long period of time, it becomes increasingly difficult to find fault, any fault, with the leader, and the attitude towards him or her takes on a kind of unqualified reverence, unshakable by logic or reason. Before now, the thought that a person could become president or fht eUnited States, endure two impeachments, los a bid rfor reelection,be hit with a federal criminal indictment, be found by a civil jury to be responsible for sexually molesting a woman, then run for president again, and win a major political party's nomination, and, heaven forbid, actually become president again - would have been unthinkable. but, this is a new and different era. If nothing else, what we are witnessing is the sad reality that one needn't be a good, or even decent person to be successful in gaining political power, even in, especially in, a democracy. Astute observers of American culture have long warned us that there might come a day when a person of dubious intellectual and moral qualifications, a complete reprobate, comes to power as president. That day has come and gone, and, nightmarishly, might well come again.

Playing Chess

MY ASTONISHMENT WAS GENUINE when the eighty six year old gentleman, who has quite clearly despised me for a very long time, walked up to me at lunch and asked me if I know how to play chess. Yes, I replied, but not very well. I was so amazed to be having this conversation that I neglected to add that I played chess whien I was a teenager, but never played enough to become good at it, and that as of now I haven't played a game of chess in...well...decades. Instead I just waited to hear what he had to say next. He said that he recently came across a chess board - I'm not exatly sure where, it was as if he suddenly found it lying aorund the house, or something - and that he wouldn't mind learning how to play. Still amazed, I jumped right in, smiled warmly, and said: "Sure. Bring our chess set here to the senior center. I can teach you how to play, and before long, you'll be beating me, I promise." Instantly my respect for this old farmer, which had long flagged, was restored. A man his age, interested in, wanting to learn chess, wanting to learn something new! That behavior is a great model for me, and, in my opinion, for anybody. Of all the regrettable characteristics displayed by humans, among my leat favorite is the tendency of many people to prejudge others, to decidedto dislike somebody without any truly good reason. I suspect that nearly everybody has at one time or another been the vitim of such treatment; sometimes I feel as if I've had more than my fair share. But over the years, for most of my life, as I have aged and I hope wised up, I have learned that the best way to deal with this situation is to take the high road, the treat the hateful person with kindness, warmth, and respect, no matter how badlly he or she treats me. Its hard to do, but usually worth it in the long run. Almost invariably the prejudgmental one will eventually get to know me a little, I get under their skin and into their heart, and....hallelujah! One fine day the despiser of me no longer despises me, but wants to befriend me. Its happened many times in my life, and I have never regretted using this approach. So now, in this most recent incarnation of my "honey is sweeter than vinegar" approach, the old getleman wants me to teach him how toplay chess. I need to make the most of it, and I intend to. Again, I am very favorably impressed when a person of advanced years expresses a desire to learn something, anything, new. Wanting to learn how to play chess is in my estimation a laudable aspiration for an eighty six year old person, regardless of the fact that in this case the person , until quite recently, has despised me for years. I also conisder it admirable for people to change anegative attitude, and replace it with a better one. Your move, sir.

Trump, Thinking, Or Whatever

AFTER ALL WE'VE SEEN, nobody should be surprised when Trump, giving a deposition under oath, was shown a thirty year old picture of the woman who alleges he raped her, and thought the picture was of Marla, his second wife. The photo was, (and is) quite clear, and Mr. Trump was given every opportunity to correct his mistake. Instead, he doubled down. This is a good example of exactly why we do not, repeat, d not, want Mr. Trump to shut up and go away; he's far too entertaining out here amongst us. The question is; what does Trump think of his misidentification, and, equally importantly, what do hiw followers/supporters think about it? Trump will either continue to claim for the rest of his efe that the photo is indeed of Marla Maples, either that, or he will claim that he was somehow tricked into misidentifying the woman in the photo. What if he turns this into another "big election lie"? In other words, the more obvious its falsehood, the more tenaciously trump will cling to it. And, by logical extension, the more Trump clings to it, the his followers/supporters will. This country might well end up witha situation in which seventy million Americans look at a clear picture of E. Jean Carroll and insist that they are looking at a photo of Marla Maples-Trump, just ike their icon/hero/master. As if the big bizarre mass produced election lie isn't bizarre enough...And of course, the believers will be the same people; those who believe the election lie will believe the picture lie as well. So, as they say, here we go again. Another addition to a growing body of Trump lore which will doubtless, since he is a former president, live in infamy, to quote FDR. For sheer amusement value, this surely ranks right up there with the infamous "wind mills cause cancer" comment, and his assrton that the Civil War annoyed Andrew Jackson, and that George Washingtion's army captured every airport in the colonies during the war with Great Britian, and so forth. the essence of this conditin, psychologically, might well be a deeply ingrained "it does't amtter what I say, because whatever I say it good and true beaue I am the one who said it" attitude, based upon extreme self serving arrogance and narcissism. But whatever it is, you somehow sense that we aren't through with it quite yet, so, as they say, settle in for the rest of the show.

Putting The Proud Boys Away

AT LONG LAST, the four big leaders of the infamous white supremacist terrorist organization the "Proud Boys", have been convicted, of "seditious conspiracy", among other crimes. Evidently they could all get upwards of twenty behind bars, thank heavens. Interesting that the convictions were for "conspiring" to have an insurrection in an attempt to overthrow the government, rather than the seemingly far more serious crime of actually having it, of carrying out the insurrection plans, and nearly overthrowing the government, with lives lost in the failed attempt. But more importantly, this trial established that yes indeed the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a pre planned, deliberate conspiracy to overthrown Biden's election and keep Trump in power, a true treasonous insurrection. Of course we all already knew that the very moment Trump told his assembled mob "go to the Capitol and fight like hell or you're not gonna have a country anymore". This trial of the Proud Boys also clearly established something we also have long known; that the insurreciton was based on Trump's big election lie, that most conservatives and Republicans (basically the same people) thoroughly embraced the election lie, and the insurrection attempt, and Trump, and even more shockingly, still do. theProud Boys are far right wing conservative, all the way. They support Trump, white America, and all the rest. Deeply embedded within America's conservative community and Republican party are all the right wing racist hate groups, the white supremacists, folks who are generally Christian, so they claim. Trump is a demonstrable racist, and so are many of his supporters. This conviction of the Proud Boys is the mere tip of the iceberg. the entire Trump-supporting conservative-Christian demographic is to blame for our current American resurgance of racism, hatred, and gun violence. so ar, more than six hundred participants in the Cspitol insurrection have been prosecuted and convicted, which is wondereful and truly just, but there is much more work to be done to achieve true justice in America. Most conspicuous is Trump, who should be in prison, and may, if the lord is willing and the creek don't rise, end up there.

Witnessing The Universe

AN ASTRONOMER AT M.I.T., using his time with the new Web space telescope wisely, was fortunate enough to actually witness a Jupiter sized planet crash into the star it was orbiting, a collision which caussed quite a reaction from the solar mass itself, evidently causig it to throw up a large flare, sort of a "burp". All this happened many lightyears from the Earth, and would have been unknown to us in our inability to see it, until quite recently, the advent of the Webb telescope, prominently perched in orbit a million miles from the Earth and sun, and working beautifully, so far. The Webb telescope is totally opening up the univesse to our observation like nothing ever before has. The sights and views of the uiverse, deep space that we are getting from both the Hubble and the Webb telscopes are icredible, amazing, and beautiful, as anyone can see by logging on to the website "Astronony Picture of the Day". Actually witnessing the impact of a plaent the size of Jupiter with its parent star is not only incredibly good luck, it is also a profund step forward in our understanding of the unvierse, through the venerable science of astronomy. Astronomy was invented by ancient, primitive people, and was a prominent culture in all ancient civilizations. Our names for many stars and constellations, as well as our numbering system, come from ancient Arabian culture, for example. The Webb space telescope is merely our latest in a long line of historical scientific achievements which should make us all proud, as memebers of an intelligent, inquisitive, creative species of beings. Our world today is the result of science, more than anything else. In one of his many compelling books, Carl Sagan said that the biblical, Christian universe left him feeling dissatisfied, with a uninverse much too small, and simple. Well, Dr. Sagan can rest in peace knowing that the real universe, the one revealed by science rather than religion, is astoundingly huge, diverse, unpredictable, exciting, ever changing, and amazing generally. That is one reason why traditional, ancient religions, such as all the world's major religions are, in a sense, obsolete. They present an inferior, inaccurate, description of the universe, of reality. To simply admire nature, and venerate its creator through our even increasing understanding of it which we gain through scientific exploration seems much more appropriate than inventing anthropomorphic gods who, as they say, move in mysterious ways. Indeed, seemingly capricious, pernicious ways. Religion perpetuates ingorance, science replaces ingorance with knowledge, while preserving the wonderful sense of wonder and awe we feel at every level of comprehension. The more we learn about creation through science, the more reason we have to feel this admiration and veneration.

Government, Preventing Free Market Failure

IN TEH PAST MONTH three fairly large banks have failed, meaning that at all three, the depositors all suddenly decided at the same time to withdraw their money, the banks couldn't handle it, and went "under". First, they had to close their doors, then announce that they would not be reopening. The assets and customers and chareholders of all three are being dealt with. The assets have been purchased by larger, healthier banks, sich as J.P.Morgan Chase, the depositors will get their money back thanks to the FDIC, and the shareholders? Well, they're just plain out of luck, their bank stock gone with the wind, so to speak. All three died of essentially the same disease; humanerror. Or rather, human greed, leading to idiotic, egregious, risky, unsound investments by the banks and their financial managers with other people's money. Why did this happen? Lack of government oversight, clearly. A failure of the federal and state governments to properly monitor and regulate the banks. And of course the governments are not regulating banks, nor any other fincnaical institutions, very closely these days, due to the implementation of conservative Republican policies, which, above all else, includes a drastic reduction in government's power and authority to regulate the free market, or any part of it, including big banks. Chalk up yet another disaster to right wing lunacy, in particular, the lunacy of actually believing that the "free market" regulates itself better than government can or should. We know better in our modern age of economic understanding. We now know that in a modern, vastly large and complex international capitalist economy the free market simply does not correct itself. There must be government involvement in the form of international agreements, and natioanl conomic regulation, thing such as laws against highly speculative ventures within the financial services profession. An unregulated American or global economy would be disastrously chaotic, and, while indeed problems would in the long run "correct themselves", the process, left unassisted to natural forces, would include massive recessions, depressions, and collapses, all unnecessary in a well regulated market economy. For more than a hundred years it has been perfectly obvious that without strong government intervention in a nation's economy, disaster results. The next time somebody tells you that we simply must avoid socialism, you might ask the person whether he or she intends to avoid receiving social security.

Accidentally Mass Murdering

SINCE MASS SHOOTINGS HAPPEN in Ameria on average about once a day, its difficlut to keep up. A recent one was a bit unusual, and highlights the potential problem of maintaining a society in which your average citizen is well armed. Most, indeed the vast majority of these horrible events seems to be the result of planning, usually rather detailed, elaboarte planning which takes shape over a period of time. Sponteneous mass shootings seem to be rather rather. But the one just north of Housteon, in which man from Honduras was firing his AR15 in his back yard late at night, was certainly spontaneous. He was drunk, and the noise was terrifying the neighbors, especially a baby trying to sleep. A neighborly request that he cease and desist turned ugly, and he killed five of them, including children. Prior to this horrible incident, nobody suspected the man of beign someone who becaue of his mental characteristics should not be allowed to own an assault rifle, or if they did, it certainly wasn't reported and acted upon. Quite the opposite, apparently. For this man to own this weapn was, for all intents and purposes, accepted by, sanctioned by society in general. One of the "good people", deemed qualified to own a powerful weapon, who gets very angry very unexpectedly and quickly, and, as they say, goes off. The question is: of all the tensof millions of Amerians who similarly own powerful firearms, how many more spontaneous mass murderers are out there, lurking, unwittigly waiting for just that precise trigger moment...Is not necesssrily the psychotic or habitual criminal who tragically, illegally gets his hands on a firearm about whom we should concern ourselves. Its the rest of us, the tens of millions of good, "normal" people who own and carry, legally. Because out from this teeming horde of well armed citizenry will inevitably emerge that suddenly angry motorist or impatient persons tanding in line too long. The opportunities are too many, the circumstances too numerous. This go get 'em hustle bustle every man for himself society we have here in these United States is tailor-made for resentment, alienation, anger, and violence. And we have created the perfect environment fo it to ferment, build, and explode...

Banning Books

THE NUMBER OF BOOKS which have recently been banned in American public schools is skyrocketing, and has already reached the hundreds in several bright red states. It is easy to anticipate that soon the number will begin to reach beyond a thousand in most of these benighted places, and, as they say, the sky's the limit. Who knows? America's public schools in states controlled by conservative Christian Republicans might well "achieve" a list of banned books which will make the famous, or infamous Catholic "Index of Forbidden Books" of the late middle ages look like child's play. And let's be damned sure that we all understnad that this new phenomenon of banning books on a massive scale is completely and purely the project of conservative Christian America, or more accurately, white conservative Christian Republican America. Its their baby, so to speak. Proof of their desire and intent to remove all traces of homesexuality and transgenderism and racism from these white Christian conservative United States culture. Most of the banned books have to do with sexual gender and orientation, and racism, including cute little stories intended for children in which a kid who has two mommies or two daddies has a bit of trouble fitting in at first, but whose potential friends finally see the light, the light of non discrimination, and befriend the child of gay parents, just like one of their own. Sweet, precious stories teaching great moral values to kids, values like acceptance and tolerance and love. Christian conservatives seem to think that such sweet, pro -love books are somewho harmful to America and American children. They must be crazy. Hell, they are crazy. among the more famous authors to join the ranks of the prohibited is the renowned and successful romanace writer, Nora roberts, of whom most people have heard. Somewhere in Texas, Ithink it is, Nora shall be read no more. She is reportedly furious, and plans to sue. Moe power to her. As they say, payback is hell. This brigs too mind the hilarious approach taken by Bertolt Brecht, when his books failed to appear on Hitler's list of books which must be burned. Brect, noting that all the books on Hitler's burn list were good books, feigned fury when none of his books were evidently deemed by der fuhrer to be good enough to merit burning. but where does it stop, if it even does stop? Pulitzer prize winning novelist Toni Morrison among the greatst writers in American history, has been banned in some locations. Warmly I remember high school, fifty years ago, in which the book "The Catcher In the Rye" was banned - and every kid had a copy of it in his or her locker. The good news is that generally censorship doesn't work. For the moment, we the American people must accept and act on the reality that our culture and country have nothing to fear from books of any sort, but a great deal to fear and dread and fight against from the people who want to ban any of them.