thoughts on environment, politics, health, life issues
I was subject to the draft during the Vietnam War, complied and went for my physical, but was turned down for medical reasons. Am I a patriot? If I’d been accepted, I would have gone to Vietnam if ordered to do so. But few would believe I’m a patriot after being rejected.
Some believe the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol…
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What strikes me most about Trump is what he doesn’t say. For example, and perhaps mostly glaringly, he hasn’t said a word encouraging people to take the Covid vaccine. If he cared about the welfare of the people of this country and the world, he would be out on the hustings, shouting from the rooftops, to take the jab. But no, not a word from him on this vital subject. Why? All I can figure is that he doesn’t want President Biden to benefit from the end of the pandemic, a pandemic that he, Trump, perpetuated and accelerated through his ineptitude and narcissism. Another reason is that he doesn’t want to antagonize his followers who are against vaccines–like QAnon wackos, Christian evangelicals, white supremacists, and slavery and Jim Crow apologists.
The sad truth is that Trump doesn’t care. About Americans, about democracy, about the economy (except his own business), about immigrant families, about crime on the streets and hyper-availability of guns, about equal justice for all, about Blacks or Browns or Yellows or Reds, about Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Atheists, about scientists, scholars, educators. Nor does he care about valid, democratically-run elections, like the one he lost so decisively in November 2020.
By hanging on to the Big Lie, like a monkey hangs on to the grub of food in the trap hunters have set for them, Trump reveals an addiction that is bringing him further down a rabbit hole of destruction, and dragging along with him all his Republican minions who are duped by his lies.
The answer for those of us who see through his lies, is not to keep harping on Trump. He, himself, is a lost cause, and unresponsive to any criticism, sanctions, censures, even lawsuits at this point. His cult followers will merely brush aside any of those attempts at vilification and label him a martyr. No, the answer lies in the election of 2022, perhaps one of the most critical elections in the history of our democratic republic.
2022. It’s just around the corner. And the outcome will test the influence, if any, that Trump has on our electorate. Will Trump-loyal Republicans regain control of the House and/or the Senate? Or will the Democrats further solidify their hold on these Houses of Congress and make Joe Manchin irrelevant? And what of voting? Will Republican efforts to suppress the vote prove successful? Or will voters find a way around these scurrilous laws to vote enmass? Or will Republican laws actually reverse the results of elections they deem not in their interests, namely those that put Democrats in power?
It will all be laid out before us quite graphically, in the results of the 2022 election. And it’s all up to you and I, the voters. For despite the new Republican voter suppression laws, where there’s a will to vote, there’s a way to vote. So no matter what the obstacles, I deeply hope you will vote. And if the GOP tries to reverse the outcome of the election, I hope the courts will respond as they did when Trump tried to reverse the vote of the 2020 election, and prevent Republican-controlled states from doing so.
Otherwise, if either fails, you can kiss our democracy and the country we love goodbye!
I am deeply concerned with the violent direction our country is taking, led by a once fringe digital Frankenstein called QAnon. This toxic monster is currently proliferating like oxalis, and as hard to pull out. How they got this powerful, I don’t completely understand. But like Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, QAnon feeds on suppressed anger, fears, personal frustration, and an unacknowledged touch of insanity. QAnon envisions a world of devil worshiping pedophiles, mostly Democrats and left wing media elites, all part of a deep state that only Donald Trump can root out, prosecute, and destroy.
Yes, it is bizarre, irrational, paranoid, and psychotic but thousands, if not millions are drawn to its iconoclastic and cryptic messages and dogwhistles. Someone with the moniker of ‘Q is fueling the fire with supposed codes from Trump that the time has come for action—violent action against the corrupt status quo which has stolen the election away from Trump, despite the confirmed fact that that has all been investigated and debunked by the courts, reporters, legislators, and every sane source in America. Still QAnon supporters insist on their interpretation of facts, twisting and distorting the truth into manifestoes for actions as violent and seditious as 1/6/21—the insurrection at our Capitol building, causing legislators to hide and cower in fear for their lives.
QAnon must be stopped cold in its tracks or it will [Read more…] about I am Deeply Concerned…about QAnon
As an older secular Jewish man, I believe I’m in a good position to judge a politician’s attitude towards Jews. And one’s attitude and behavior towards Jews does not necessarily coincide with one’s opinion towards Israel and their governmental policies. That’s a very complicated snake pit that involves religious, territorial, nationalistic, historical, and cultural considerations. But one’s attitude and opinion of Jews is more visceral. Put the word Jew before any Western person and ask for their first impression and you will discover their basic attitudes and inclinations, especially if the responses are confidential and discreet. Because of historic racism and prejudice towards Jews in the Middle East and Western worlds, I suspect those responses will be mostly negative and derogatory, depending on geographical, educational, economic, and religious factors.
I’m not a professional historian, but it is commonly accepted that the first Crusaders, around the year 1096, on their way to liberate the Holy Land from Islamic rule, invaded Jewish villages along the way, and massacred most of their inhabitants. The Crusades, after all, were church-sanctioned genocidal escapades to combat paganism and heresy. Jews were lumped in with Moslems in that regard. And to solidify the hatred, a conspiracy theory started in the Middle Ages, called blood libel, was spread by word of mouth, accusing Jews of murdering Christian children in order to use their blood as part of religious rituals. These claims—alongside those of well-poisoning and host desecration—have been major themes of the persecution of Jews in Europe. And Europeans brought such vicious falsehoods to America when they colonized this territory.
Believe it or not, this conspiracy theory still survives [Read more…] about Why Jews, and really everyone, should not vote for Donald Trump or any of his Republican enablers
Armaggedon, the prophetic war between the forces of good against the forces of evil has already started in America. It’s been coming to this for a number of years now, the start of which was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. This triggered the internal conflicts of the 60s which spawned radical groups on the right and the left. The groups on the left kind of fizzled out over the next few decades, but the groups on the right organized, weaponized, and bided their time recruiting and training until they rejoiced and expanded as a result of something quite unexpected: the internet and the World Wide Web. As a result of the social media phenomenon which took root in the 90s and greatly metastasized up to 2016 when the mainstream population gifted them with the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States, perhaps the most powerful position in the world. This was the green light extreme right wing groups including white supremacists, nationalists, and militias were waiting for in order to fatten their coffers with funds, troops, and more sophisticated weaponry. It also allowed them to infiltrate key elements of society including the military, local police departments, and political institutions.
The extreme left was caught off guard as it watched fascism spill into the viscera of our country like a flash flood. Small groups of dedicated soldiers like Antifa formed and opposed the boisterous rallies of the radical right, but with Trump’s tweets casting aspersions on the group, he’s had some success branding them as villains and white supremacists the victims. But then the battlefield got much more intense and complicated when a police officer in Minneapolis put his knee to George Floyd’s neck, murdering a man they had just handcuffed and arrested. This touched off a firestorm of protest not only in this country but, amazingly, around the world. And the movement Black Lives Matter (BLM) was birthed and trained to walk/protest as quickly as a newborn foal.
This and the coronavirus pandemic caught Trump and the right wing extremists off guard, particularly seeing many white people supporting BLM and joining in their peaceful protests against police brutality targeting Black folk. So, Trump, panicking and seeing his popularity drop in the polls upped the ante and [Read more…] about We Should be Thanking Antifa
