Since DJT was in Office, the Political Universe Has Felt Unhinged. Maybe, Now, this is Changing: Dusk Now Has Its Sibling, A New Morning, Back

Not being able to watch DJT’s arraignment on tv, moment-by-moment, was a bummer. His legal team argued news cameras in the courtroom would create a “circus-like” atmosphere. It’s a circus-like atmosphere whenever DJT is speaking. Media organizations counter-argued that the gravity of the situation warranted full public access. The judge did allow five news-pool still photographers to snap pictures.

 

I would’ve liked to see images of him fingerprinted, for example⎼ although I could also see the value in a different viewpoint, that maybe the best thing to do is to sideline the event, sideline him, as Dahlia Lithwick argues in an article in Slate. Let him whither from lack of attention and let most of the rest of us focus on taking constructive actions to advance democracy.

 

The violence that some predicted, and that DJT himself tried to incite with calls of death and destruction, gladly did not happen. The pro-DJT morning rally was maybe 100 – 150 people, not anything in size or intent as what happened on Jan. 6. MSNBC reported that Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos briefly attended the rally. Greene had helped plan the rally but left quickly due to the loud noise and protests that mostly drowned out the few comments or lies she was able to utter.

 

But indicting DJT for crimes a preponderance of evidence demonstrates he allegedly committed was itself an action that advanced democracy. It had a profound effect on me, and maybe on much of the human world. It was emotional and political, but also something else; cosmological, maybe. Certainly ethical. It was about resurrecting a sense that the earth itself is spinning as it should. That cause and effect still work together.

 

Some would claim what I feel is just a yearning for revenge, but I don’t feel that very much. I feel that what DJT did, repeatedly, is shock us. To shock and use against us our sense of rightness, justice, and truth; empathy, and compassion.

 

He’s tried to shock us into seeing the world as a duality of good and evil and then rip away one side of it, so we feel the world unbalanced, unhinged, and ourselves powerless, or that no power in us can stop him. Or that he is the absolute power, not only above the law but above the very workings of nature. He used lies not just to hide the truth but to make truth impossible to argue. Or to focus so strongly on one side of the coin, one side of humanity, the back, so all we see is the backside of humanity.

 

So, when he was led to the courthouse, the unbalanced world was returned to some sense of balance. What was unhinged was now hinged to a sense of order. Dusk now had its sibling, a new morning, back. He wasn’t put in handcuffs or subjected to mugshots. But power had, in our eyes, been somewhat restored, not only to the legal system but to our sense of rightness.

 

The trial will be about DJT trying to cover up and mis-characterize in his business and tax records his payoffs to two women he had affairs with (and to one doorman who had knowledge of a secret DJT child) so news of the affairs and other negative information would not de-rail the 2016 election. In other words, he engaged in an illegal conspiracy to aid his campaign and undermine the integrity of the election⎼ and he did this in October, right before the election.

 

DJT and his GOP followers claim this indictment is a political action, created by Democrats. But Michael Cohen, DJT’s fixer, was charged by DJT’s own Department of Justice in 2018 for making these payments and falsifying his actions. Cohen pleaded guilty, the DOJ and judge accepted the plea and sentenced him to jail time. The Justice Department did not, however, charge DJT himself but showed that he had directed Cohen’s actions. So, it’s not George Soros or President Biden who initiated this case, but DJT’s own people.

 

What I and so many others are concerned about is that this is one of the lesser of his many crimes, and possibly the most difficult to prove. It would be better for advancing democracy and the rule of law if the results of the investigation into DJT’s efforts to steal the 2020 election and proclaim himself dictator, by Fulton County, Georgia, DA, Fani Willis, for example, (or the DOJ or special counsel Jack Smith) are released soon and possible charges made public. That is a clearly potent charge. And, hopefully, other indictments, a veritable avalanche of charges and evidence would soon follow.

 

Democracy is not efficient. Rule by law is not instantaneous. Fascist Dictator Mussolini claims to have made the trains of Italy run on time, but this is not totally true. Most of the changes to the Italian rail industry took place before he was in power. Mob rule can make instantaneous decisions, but few of us would like to be around when they do so.

 

We need to be glad democracy takes time to mete out justice⎼ although in this case, taking too much time might allow the GOP to further undermine the institutions of democracy itself and replace fair trials with political shows. So, we need not only a fair trial and conviction, if warranted, but one conviction after another, and this year: one example after another of justice and the power of “we the people”.

 

Now, if only the judge, Juan Merchan, would admonish DJT more fully, and hold him responsible for the threats and attacks⎼ not only against himself, but the Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, Democrats everywhere, and even against DJT’s former followers, like Bill Barr, who have spoken against him.

 

Over the last two election cycles, we, and so many others, have become sick of the chaos and hate DJT and the GOP manipulate, the threats to our rights and democracy. And we’re more motivated than ever to take action to stop the establishment of autocracy⎼ and to promote a fair democracy. This and the other trials to come will hopefully continue that effort.

 

 

 

If Empathy Were Allowed Free Reign… Stopping Attacks On the Heart of What It Means to be Human

In many K-12 schools throughout the world, empathy has been prominently included in programs meant to help children learn how to be more emotionally literate, more self-aware, relate better with others, and better understand the people, literature, and historical eras they study.

 

So, until recently, I never imagined that empathy itself or teaching about it could be so controversial, but many GOP are doing all they can to change that. Of course, with all the trauma, stress, and illness that has plagued us over the last three to seven years, doctors, nurses, teachers, first responders, and others have been reporting increasing burn out from all the pain and suffering they’ve witnessed. But that’s different from banning it.

 

If empathy is a human ability to “walk in someone else’s shoes,” and experience the world as we think someone else is experiencing it, then it can definitely help us in our studies, and it can help create a more supportive culture. It can involve “feeling with another,” as the roots of the word are en meaning near, at, within and pathos meaning passion, feeling, suffering. Or sometimes it’s just an ability to read other people.

 

In contrast with empathy, compassion is not just a feeling but more a readiness to act to improve other’s well-being. Sometimes, it builds on empathy; sometimes, it develops from a sense of what’s right to do, or from kindness. In his book Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, psychology professor Paul Bloom describes empathy as like a spotlight, narrowing our attention to one place or person; but we can get caught there. Compassion is broader in outlook, with less of a chance of distress. But both are crucially important in our lives.

 

What we’re seeing now by many GOP is a fear of empathy itself and an attempt to outlaw teaching how to strengthen empathy in ourselves and others⎼ how it can help stabilize relationships and communities. Their fear and threats are walling them away from anyone with different views. Who could’ve imagined a major political party would be opposed to strengthening human relationships? If they are so threatened by empathy, compassion must be terrifying.

 

Two right-wing parents in Pennsylvania are suing a school district for teaching empathy and kindness through a program called “Character Strong.” They argue the program violates their Christian beliefs, although they refuse to state which lessons violate their religion. The suit is supported by groups who aim to stop any teaching of social-emotional learning, the history of US racism, and the implementation of restorative justice policies. Maybe for them Christ’s teaching to “love thy neighbor” is also a violation of Christian beliefs. Is empathy now a sin for such Christians?

 

Arkansas GOP Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law this year allowing children under 16 to be hired more easily and without first obtaining a work permit, which means they can work without parent permission and other protections. This followed the actions of the US Labor Department to fine and stop an Arkansas company from using children, as young as 13, to clean “razor sharp claws” in a meat-packing plant and to work with caustic chemicals. Sanders shamelessly defended the freedom of corporations to make a profit over the protection of children.

 

The New York Times reported that migrant children, who were separated from their parents and driven by economic desperation, were being forced into brutal jobs across the US. The jobs involve work that grinds them into exhaustion until they fear they’re trapped for life in awful conditions they can’t escape. The DJT administration turned a blind eye to this, and only in the last two years has the federal government taken action to stop it.

 

If empathy were allowed free rein, such efforts to exploit children and repeal laws that have been in place in the U. S. to protect them for over a hundred years would never be considered or permitted….

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project.

The Biggest Threat to All of Us and Everything Is the GOP Way of Thinking and Acting

I must admit I enjoyed watching President Biden’s State of the Union Speech. Actually, it was one particular moment I most enjoyed, the one reported most in the media afterwards, when he went off script to respond to GOP jeers.

 

He had been talking about GOP plans to cut Social Security and Medicare. And I guess many GOP couldn’t stand their malignant plans being held up so publicly to their faces, so they screamed out “Liar.” It seems Biden expected such a response and had set them up so competently. When Marjorie Taylor Greene and others called him a liar, he responded by asking if their yells meant Social Security and Medicare were now off the chopping block, right? And they cheered. And Biden ad-libbed: “All right, we got unanimity!” The programs might now be safe, for this year.

 

Of course, the GOP did, in fact, plan to cut Social Security and Medicare, and almost all programs that protect the well-being and healthcare of most Americans. And they’ve been doing this for years. In 1935, almost all the GOP voted against the programs. The Reagan era GOP not only proposed big reductions in Social Security but eliminated thousands from the rolls who collected due to a disability, delayed and proposed cuts in COLAs.

 

Recently, GOP Senators John Thune and Mike Lee talked about slashing the programs. Senator Rick Scott famously proposed putting the two programs, along with Medicaid, on the chopping block every five years. Senator Ron Johnson increased it to every year.  Former President DJT proposed, in every year he was in office, to cut the programs. In 2017, the GOP attempted to cut or eliminate not only protections for those with pre-existing conditions, but the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, all to pay for tax cuts that most benefit corporations and the wealthy, as in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

 

And in the House, the GOP have recently weighed different ways to target the programs. Back in 2015, most of the GOP now in prominent positions voted to raise the retirement age to 70. Luckily, they failed. They consistently resisted efforts to make these social programs more solvent by the fairest and easiest manner ⎼ raising the payroll tax cap so rich Americans pay taxes on their whole income. They pay taxes now on wages only up to $145,000. Wages above that are untaxed. The Republican Study Committee instead plans to cut or eliminate benefits.

 

The GOP is now not simply the party of DJT. They are not, for the most part, simply a new fascist party, or a party of white Christian nationalists. They are not simply a party of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Asian, anti-any gender other than male-dominance. Or the party of autocratic, oligarchic, plutocratic, kleptocracy. Or the party of narcissistic hate, greed, grievance, and ignorance. They include, simply, all of these, and continuously make use of all these forms of manipulation and profiteering from undermining others.

 

How else do we explain someone like George Santos, or a party that supported the actions of such a person until he became too toxic? Some Party officials knew about his lies even before the election. Many, including Speaker McCarthy, are working even now to keep him in Congress.

 

Santos is so lacking in a moral compass, and is under investigation for so many possible crimes, the news stories about him are almost unbelievable. He is being investigated for perpetuating fraud against his constituents and donors, fraud in Brazil in 2008, and stealing money from a GOFUNDME for the dying dog of a homeless veteran. He has been accused of sexual harassment by a volunteer in his office. Reliable reports say he lied about his mother being killed in the twin towers on 9/11, lied about his own name, education, ancestry, and history.

 

Or Marjorie Taylor Greene, who heckled President Biden during the state of the Union. According to Salon, she did this under orders of DJT. She already, according to USA Today and her own tweets, had “liked” calls for violence against Democrats, called school shootings fake, staged events, repeated theories that space lasers caused California wildfires, and of course the big lie, that DJT had won the election in 2020, which he didn’t; and that he didn’t initiate deadly events on Jan 6, 2021 to set himself up as a dictator, which he clearly did.

 

Or GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert who followed Biden’s speech the next day by praying for his death; this was not the first time she had done this. Or the sex trafficking and corruption of Matt Gaetz. So many examples.

 

The GOP are not capable of governing. They do want power, prestige, but don’t seem to care about getting the details right or solving the problems we face, or whether they might hurt anyone. They lie instead of studying the reality. They scream and threaten others as if they have a direct line to God and no need to cooperate with anyone who doesn’t agree totally with them. This is an unbelievably dangerous way to think and act.

 

And I am saying all this not because the efforts by many GOP are new; most Americans, I believe, already know what the GOP have done. We’ve been living with these GOP for years. And I am writing not just out of the sheer joy I felt seeing President Biden so dexterously deal with the sneers and jeers.

 

I write about this, so it doesn’t become old and normalized.

 

I write about this because the actions and way of thinking of many GOP constitute a threat beyond anything I ever wanted to let into my mind; a threat so unbelievable, I and others have trouble believing it’s true. But I can’t let myself be frightened into feeling helpless, or so angry I feel we’ve failed if we don’t better the situation immediately. Or give up hope. Or stop caring. Listening to Biden, remembering the last two election wins and the Jan. 6 Committee Hearings, I feel hope.

 

In a democracy of millions, holding the powerful responsible takes time. Seeing the results of our action takes time. We all constantly affect each other in ways subtle and profound. Just imagine the difference being in a room with someone filled with greed, hate, and lies compared to being with someone who acts kindly, compassionately, knowledgeably. So, supporting each other, in what we do, how we think and act, matters. Change creeps, until it erupts.

 

*This post was syndicated by The Good Men Project.

We Do It Because It’s What Needs to Be Done: Democracy Won in Georgia

It’s raining, hard, outside. But inside myself, it’s spring. Outside, the very air is misty-gloomy. Inside, I feel happy, hopeful. However, even after watching the returns, seeing him catch up and then slowly be declared the winner, I could hardly believe it. We won.

 

And then he delivered a wonderful speech that no GOP could ever give, because it directly called out the deep wrongs committed in the past by the Deep South. And it showed us someone who could transcend his own self-interest and proclaim that serving the good of we the people is who he is, and what he himself must and would do.

 

Senator Raphael Warnock won the run-off election for a full term in the Senate. And democracy won in Georgia.

 

And DJT lost. The would-be dictator who continues to lie, to cry that he didn’t lose, and badly, the 2020 election⎼ the supporter of White Nationalism who called for the termination of the constitution and who pushed for a person to run for office who was totally unfit to hold any high public office, lost. And Herschel Walker lost.

 

Warnock won despite all the efforts by the GOP to suppress the rights of black and brown and any person of color to vote.

 

This followed a week or more of wins for democracy and the rule of law.

 

Democracy won in New York City. DJT’s family real estate business was found guilty of 17 counts of scheming to defraud, tax fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy. DJT was personally named in this trial as knowing about or authorizing some of the criminal activities and “explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.” This might lay the groundwork for further prosecutions by the NYC district attorney regarding other business practices and even hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.

 

Democracy won in New York State. New York State Attorney General Letitia James found DJT violated state and possibly federal criminal laws and referred the findings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. She had already asked a judge to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the company’s financial doings and oust DJT from running the company.

 

Democracy won in Washington D. C. Bernie Thompson, the Chairman of the House Jan 6 investigation committee said they will issue criminal referrals to the DOJ focusing on those who organized or incited the violence of Jan. 6 and the continuing attempts to overthrow the 2020 election.

 

Also in Washington, a federal appeals court on Thursday threw out the decision by Judge Canon, a DJT appointee, for a special master to oversee the examination of government documents stolen by DJT. Canon’s ruling gave support to efforts to slow down the DOJ investigation; and now that investigation can proceed more expeditiously. The 3-judge panel (all GOP appointees) ruled unanimously that Canon had violated basic principles of our laws, namely that laws apply to “all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank.”

 

Democracy won in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was named to oversee the investigation into stolen classified documents found at DJT’s home in Mar-A-Lago and into Jan 6, subpoenaed records of communications between DJT or his aides, and election officials in those states regarding election interference. The records include communications aimed at overthrowing the fair and accurate counting of ballots, and efforts to substitute fake electors for actual ones ⎼ replace electors who would follow the will of the voters with those who would do DJT’s will.

 

Democracy won this week in this country. But there’s clearly a race on. Can Democrats establish enough policies, strategies, and laws to limit the chaos, politics of hate, and continuing efforts to establish minority rule and undermine civil rights by members of the GOP when they take control of the House?

 

Can Democrats and responsible GOP get the reform of the Electoral Count Act passed, in order to eliminate some of the methods DJT used to try to seize unlimited power for himself. The Reform Act would clarify the role of the Vice President and how electors and elections are certified.

 

Can Democrats raise the debt limit so the GOP can’t hold funding the government hostage to carry out their intention to slash or destroy crucial anti-poverty programs or any program that serves the majority of citizens, like Social Security or popular healthcare programs, like Medicare and Medicaid?

 

Can Democrats stop investigations and impeachments planned by the GOP that are without merit.  Their plan includes investigations and impeachments of President Biden’s cabinet, administration, and family, the Department of Justice, and maybe the president himself, despite there being no evidence of anything untoward except the GOP’s own objectives.

 

The GOP aim to undermine the confidence people might still have in democracy, undermine the rule of law and any truly substantive investigations, including into the Jan 6 subversion attempt and other criminal actions. Their efforts serve the interests of autocrats like Putin instead of the interests of most Americans.

 

So, democracy has won this week. We need to enjoy and celebrate it. And remember why we do this ⎼ not that many of us could ever forget it. We need to make our voice heard, to vote whenever we have the chance, and help get out the vote, not only to protect our rights, our world, and our lives, but because it’s what we’re called to do in these times. It’s what people are always called to do, namely what’s needed and what’s right.

 

**This post was syndicated on Sunday by The Good Men Project.

 

Ancient Lessons About Reducing Anxiety and Embracing the World

Despite feeling tremendous relief just a few nights ago, when Catharine Masto Cortez was declared the winner of the Nevada Senate race and my wife, and I, danced around the living room⎼ today I feel heavy once again. Why is that? I was so happy the Democrats exceeded expectations and maintained control of the Senate. The outpouring of support for the rights of women and to vote has clarified for all that the GOP war for autocracy can be stopped.

 

But sometimes, we get so caught up in a situation, a worry, expectation, and lose any perspective. We might be too frightened, traumatized, or invested and we see things only one way, as if the moment stood isolated in time. And we lose sight of how the situation came to be.

 

We might lose sight, for example, of just how traumatized we all were by past threats and those still looming. We have the GOP barely gaining control of the House and, of course, keeping control of the Supreme Court. And their leaders, DJT and others like him, are still threatening to seize the Presidency, avoid prosecution for their crimes, and impose their will on the rest of us. And the chaos they might yet cause, with their program of hate, lies, and division, and denying the factual results of this and past elections.

 

But not only is no human an island but no moment. The past sets up the present, as this moment educates the next. One moment’s mistake can lead either to another mistake ⎼ or to insight, when we can allow our heart, mind, and senses to be open to it.

 

I was reading a book by Joan Sutherland, a Zen meditation teacher, called Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans. In chapter two, she talked about how a new form of Zen developed in China in the eighth century in response to catastrophic times. Over just ten years, two-thirds of the population died due to rebellion, invasion, famine, and disease. The Tang dynasty of the time went from a flourishing empire to, afterwards, a barely surviving one, where life was so tenuous.

 

Of course, this mirrored back to me our own time, marked as we know too well, with so much disease, so many climate disasters, and the threats mentioned earlier of violence, and the attempted destruction of our democratic form of government.

 

No moment is the same as any other, but how did people, in awful times in the past, or going through awful times today, cope? Can we today, or those from the past, reveal ways of living that can help us through the pain to something we could welcome, to ways of living that meet our needs and strengthen our humanity?

 

I especially look to people like Zen adepts, those who have spent years studying the mind, body, and heart, and living harmoniously with others and nature. According to Sutherland, the Zen adepts and innovators of the 8th century,  realized that trying to escape their world through a narrow path to personal peace or religious ceremony would not serve them or their culture. They needed a sense of immediacy and, awful as it was, they got it….

 

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Right Now, Election Fatigue is Just Part of What It Means to Be a Caring Human Being

Outside, it’s cold. In the 30s. As it should be in November. The trees, except, of course, the evergreens, are bare, brown, and leafless. Yet the sky is that deep morning blue. And it feels like it will warm up. Even though I’ve been enjoying the warmth lately, almost a week in the 70s, it’s a disconcerting warmth, almost scary in being so unseasonable.

 

Last night, election night, I kept checking in on the results until around midnight, when I went to bed. And then I had an interesting time watching my mind.

 

Rachel Maddow and others from MSNBC had earlier talked about surprising results showing that Democrats could possibly hold onto Congress. And many DJT picked candidates, awful and unfit for office, like Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and Lauren Boebert in Colorado, could all lose. And these losses would show the GOP how much of a liability DJT was. And this would, ideally, lead the GOP to renounce DJT and all he represents.

 

For too many GOP, all that mattered was their power. Absolute power with an absolute ruler. Competence didn’t matter to them. Ethical behavior didn’t matter to them. Serving the people, and working to “establish justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…” ⎼ the constitution didn’t matter to them.

 

Many didn’t seem to realize that if they served an absolute ruler, their power would depend on HIM (if it’s a him, and it would be). They’d lose any independence. Their future, their character, their well-being, all up to HIM.

 

And for me, in the dark of night, there was such a wondrous desire to say “we could win this. We could maintain control of Congress. We could hold onto the chance to promote justice and domestic tranquility, and act to benefit the welfare of all the people.” But I couldn’t say that out loud, not even out loud for only my own inner ears to hear. I couldn’t risk jinxing it. What ego, to think my thoughts so powerful! So, I listened as deeply as I could until the sound of moonlight filled the room.

 

Then thoughts of the worst scenario showed up. I felt afraid. My stomach tensed, my hands reached up, knocking off the quilt that covered me. I heard lines from different GOP, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the first action of a new GOP House would be to impeach Merrick Garland. Then maybe impeach President Biden and destroy the remnants of democracy. The whole legion of DJT followers, election deniers, spreaders of disinformation, were all ready to deny any elections they’ve lost once again. All working to take away health insurance protections, Social Security, voting and abortion rights, working to turn the US into a a wasteland of lies, resentment, and hate. All to serve the mad quest for absolute power….

 

**To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

After the Vote, the Wait: Facing the Chaos of Numbers, Avoiding Deception, and then, Please, Let There Be News to Celebrate!

After the vote, we listen. We watch, and we breathe.

 

We know this has been an intensely stressful time, stressful few months, stressful 6 years. We know so much is at stake.

 

We face the chaos of listening to changing numbers on the news, the mad attempt to know before we can know, to get it over with. To be at peace. To feel safe ⎼ while too many of the GOP do all they can to interfere in and make sure we distrust democracy, foster hate, demonize and threaten with violence any opposition. We remember Jan. 6, Buffalo, Charlottesville, the attack on Paul Pelosi⎼ and so much more.

 

We know it will take many hours, or probably days, maybe weeks. Only later will we seriously consider what we did right, and what more we could do in the future. Now, we know we voted. We did something. We’re only one person amongst millions.

 

So, we breathe in and out as gently as we can and recognize the tension in ourselves. We’re as kind as possible to everyone around us because we know we need kindness ourselves. We need patience.

 

Only with this kind intensity can we then think clearly. Observe clearly. We assume nothing until we have sufficient fact-based information and analysis to know for sure. And then we’ll be ready for whatever happens and able to do what’s needed to protect and expand democracy, our future, and the well-being of our communities.

Do Not Assume. Research, Then Vote: For the GOP to Claim They Care About Violence Against Most Americans Is Laughable

It’s easy to make assumptions in all areas of life. Back in 2016, many people who opposed DJT assumed he could never win and so didn’t vote at all. Who would vote for a racist, narcissistic tv personality and real estate developer except other racist developers?

 

Even today, people might assume they know what will happen in some of the elections. For example, we might assume a Democratic incumbent Governor in New York, Kathy Hochul, will easily defeat a GOP challenger who still repeats lies about the 2020 election and opposes abortion rights for women. But according to FiveThirtyEight, Governor Hochul holds, now, only a 6 point advantage in polls. 6 points is wonderful, but in New York I’d expect it to be more.

 

According to Quinnipiac, crime is the most often cited issue in the New York election and the GOP are supposedly winning that issue. Is that reporting and polling accurate? Republicans have been using it to drown out the tides of anger about their  program of taking away a woman’s right to control her own healthcare, right to abortion, and family planning, or anger about the GOP assault on voting rights and democracy.

 

The GOP have incited violent crime throughout the nation, opposed efforts to reduce gun violence, and threatened with violence anyone who opposed them, Democrat or Republican.

 

The Jan. 6 investigation revealed that DJT not only incited but tried to lead the Jan. 6 assault on our nation. Since then, there’s been a record rise in attacks on members of Congress. On Friday, 10/28, a follower of DJT, inspired by lies and hate speech against Democrats, broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home, and assaulted her husband with a hammer. Then Fox disinformation media host Jesse Watters suggested the suspected attacker, who fractured Mr. Pelosi’s skull, should be released from jail, because “people get hit by hammers all the time.”

 

The GOP leader not only incited an attack on the US Congress, but consistently acted to undermine the rule of law. States under their control suffer more violent crime than states led by Democrats. So, for them to try to pretend to care about the rule of law or stopping crime (except when it’s directed at them) or for anyone in the media to support their claim is laughable.

 

Even now, the GOP are calling on people to use the threat of violence to intimidate voters, as in Arizona where armed followers of DJT’s lies are trying to frighten voters from putting their ballots in drop boxes. The GOP are purposefully de-stabilizing society by undermining community feeling and trust, creating fear, and inciting hate in the form of racism against black, brown, and Asian-Americans, anti-Semitism, hate of LGBTQ+ people and others.

 

When we feel we have little or no power or are hurting, we might assume we know what we don’t know. The realm of what we don’t know is always infinitely larger than what we do know. We use the illusion of knowing what will happen to bury our anxiety in the face of an unknown and possibly frightening future. But this tactic can make the situation worse….

 

*To read the whole piece, please go to The Good Men Project.

What We Once Had, We Might Not Have Ever Again: Speaking for the Majesty of an Eagle Taking Flight

Listen. It’s raining. Luckily, it’s not yet snow. For the last four or five years, we have become more aware of how extreme and precious the rain can be, switching between either drought or flood. It comes like a storm, harsh, or like a shadow, then it’s gone.

 

But not today. The rain is steady, and the sound is beautiful. Like the sound of crickets and cicadas, the wind, and the waves of the sea, it’s absorbing and surprisingly comforting. For the moment, it even washes away any anxiety over the election.

 

Even the muted light is soothing today.

 

I notice the fallen leaves, yellow, burnt orange, a bit of startling red. The leaves almost cover the deep green grass, which is eagerly drinking in the rain. The earth is thirsty.

 

I close my eyes and just listen. The sound gets more distinct. There are currents in the rain. The pace of falling water speeds up, creating a wind of rainwater pushing against my body even though I am in the house. Then it softens to barely a whisper. What before seemed steady and continuous is now revealed as something else, something unique in its pace. When I simply listen, there is more to hear.

 

Two days ago, my wife and I drove into town. From the opposite side of the road, just before the farm stand where we buy corn in season, an eagle rose out of the tall grass. Majestically and ever so slowly, it took flight right in front of a dark van. Its wingspan was wider than the van, yet somehow the eagle wasn’t hit. It flew off in front of my car window, unhurt. But the driver of the van barely maintained control of his vehicle and then pulled off the road and stopped.

 

We can easily assume so much. That one moment will be like the previous one. We walk out of the memory of yesterday’s door and drive on our memory of yesterday’s road.

 

We might assume that because we can (hopefully) vote, now, or because we have (hopefully) protections on the job now, or can get Social Security, or healthcare, we will have it tomorrow. We might tell ourselves or others we will have it no matter who wins the election on Tuesday, November 8. But as the GOP have said, all this can and will end if they win control, just as they work to take away a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her own health and when or if to have a family.

 

We need reassurance that our world won’t totally flip over on us. But to get that, we must pay enough attention, and be ready to act, so we’re not shocked when today almost slams into the windshield of our car….

 

 

*This is an update of a blog from October, 2020.

 

**Please go to The Good Men Project to read the whole article.

The Republican Party is Evil Beyond Redemption– A Letter from A Friend

A friend, Alan, sent me the following post as a letter, and I decided to share it with you. It is his piece, his conclusions, and research, and very timely. Please consult his links if you question his conclusions.

 

The Republican Party is Evil Beyond Redemption

by

Alan Silverman

 

It is difficult to quantify evil. I will try.

 

Richard Nixon won the Presidency of the United States by convincing South Vietnam not to sign a peace treaty ending the Vietnam War. He then extended the war four more years, murdering millions more human beings. Finally, he abandoned American prisoners of war to die in Southeast Asia.

 

[See articles on Nixon’s treason at politico.com,  millercenter.org. SmithsonianArticle]

[Schanberg article on Nixon abandoning our POWs in Vietnam]

 

I’m seventy five years old. DJT’s January 6 insurrection is the third confirmed treason by a Republican President in my lifetime. Reagan’s Iran treason being a possible fourth.

 

The second treason was when the Bush administration outed CIA officer Valerie Plame to punish her husband for saying George W. Bush was lying to justify invading Iraq. Pure simple undeniable treason. Bush, Rove and Chaney took so many morally indefensible actions; it’s easy to overlook Valerie Plame. It shouldn’t be. It highlights Bush’s disastrous decision to invade Iraq while the Afghan War still hadn’t been won.

 

First and worst was Nixon’s treason to win the 1968 Presidential election. Worse than Trump’s insurrection because they botched it. Richard Nixon’s worked to perfection.

 

Through an intermediary Nixon approached the South Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace talks and talked them out of signing the peace accords. He told them he would give them a better deal than the Democrats.

 

Theorized for decades, now proven by tape recordings. Nixon made the offer, the South Vietnamese broke off negotiations, Nixon won the election and the Vietnam War continued four more years, killing millions more human beings and further tarnishing America’s image in the world.

 

Nixon also knowingly left perhaps a thousand American prisoners of war in the hands of our enemies. Not many people know about this because an official government investigation in 1991 said there weren’t any POWs left behind. By that time neither party wanted to know otherwise.

 

I found this out in an interesting way. After retiring from IBM I opened my own PC consulting business. Syd was a customer of mine. One night he called me and said he lost an entire article on his computer. Not unusual considering my client base. I once found a novel in an author’s recycle bin. Finding Syd’s article wasn’t that easy, but I was able to recover it for him. He was appreciative.

 

That article was about how Nixon abandoned our POWs in Vietnam and knew it. I immediately flashed to the Russian roulette scene in The Deer Hunter. Hell of a thing to read at one in the morning, dead tired.

 

Syd died in 2016. I knew Nixon had probably committed treason in an attempt to win the 1968 election. I never knew he succeeded. The South Vietnamese pulled out of negotiations shortly before the election to help Nixon win.

 

Being a computer scientist, I am very logical. Please read the following and see if it makes sense to you:

 

“Richard Nixon won the Presidency of the United States by convincing South Vietnam not to sign a peace treaty ending the Vietnam War. He then extended the war four more years, murdering millions more innocent human beings. Finally he abandoned our warriors, American prisoners of war, to die in Southeast Asia.”

 

That is undeniable evil. Evil without justification. Evil in intent and outcome. Nixon’s treason betrayed the men and women who fought for America, killed millions of human beings and altered our world’s path to something far worse.

 

DJT didn’t make the Republican Party evil. Since 1968 the Republican Party has been led by amoral psychopaths who don’t give a damn about other human beings, start wars for no reason and cheated on Democracy until they destroyed it.

 

Individual Republicans can be decent human beings. They cannot be moral human beings because their leaders are evil.

 

Every moral human being must vote for every Democratic candidate in every election until 2025 at least. That gives humanity a chance.

 

My profound thanks,

Alan

 

Alan Silverman protested the Vietnam War at the 1968 Democratic Convention. He later graduated with a degree in computer science and worked at IBM as a system programmer. Still later Al met New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for reporting on the Cambodian Genocide. The movie “The Killing Fields” is based on Schanberg’s life.