Constant Refrain

Nudging

the judge;

tempting

contempt;

fines

that are

just fine

with him.

A law

designed

without

the super

rich

in mind,

reveals

how we

think

about 

criminality.

The banality

of evil

knows 

a cross

section

of people,

place,

and time.

The rhyme

of history

is not

really

a mystery,

and maybe

that’s the 

key.

The symmetry

and poetry

of now

is the story

of how

we adapt

to humans

being:

aggressive

transgressive

obsessive

excessive

impressive

offensive

counteroffensive

expensive

reflexive

apprehensive

depressive

possessive

expressive

festive

suggestive

regressive

successive

progressive.

What

will it take

to hush

the guy

who paid

to have

the porn star

hushed?

The Hush

Money

trial,

unprecedented

for a 

president—

former

and possibly

future—

exposes

so much

that is

right

and wrong,

playing

a new song

along

with 

familiar

riffs

we’ve

heard

progress

before.

Do the Right Things

Now

a days,

the craze

on the right

is amazingly

cynical.

And yet

in spite

of spite

from the wing

on the right,

Speaker

Johnson

held tight.

An aid

bill 

was passed

long past

due

due to

bogus

focus

on spending,

practically

upending

alliances

with defiance

and reliance

upon

noncompliance.

In an ecosystem

governed

by climate

change,

creating

crisis

after crisis

after

crisis,

invites

us

to assess

how we 

address

this long 

term

condition.

What 

long

ago

was our

nature

has become 

abused

when 

government

was accused

of being

the problem.

Both right

and left

have

at times

been

reckless,

and feckless

leaders

or worse

have worsened

us.

But now

the right

can not

claim

righteousness

or

correctness

or validity,

much less

acceptability.

A country

of rights

abdicating

responsibilities

and civilities

creates 

possibilities

for horrible

vulnerabilities

and instabilities.

Reclaim what 

is right!

Our climate

crisis

requires

innovation

and

restoration

of what 

is right

and wrong.

The warming

of the planet

is overwhelming

us

just as 

the heated

rhetoric

in politics

is stifling

us.

Worse,

it is killing

us.

We know

what is

right,

but

complain

it became

too hard

to sustain.

Tomorrow

is Earth Day

and soon

Mother’s

Day,

sentiments

that deserve

acknowledgements

all year.

As

our democracy

needs us,

so does

Mother Nature.

The climate

crises

among us

and around

us

need us 

to do 

the right

things.

Mother

nature,

inside

and out. 

I mean,

as a verb:

to curb

what 

has been

unfathomably

disturbed.

Nature 

needs

mothering;

nurturing

to thrive.

Our twin

climate

crises

demand

each 

of us

to do 

the right

things-

even when

difficult-

to nurture

what’s

left.

Asleep at the We’ll

The cult

of personality,

regardless

of criminality

or venality,

reveals

a mentality

of those

who follow

their hollow

leader.

With a wink

and a nod,

and a facade

of leadership,

it’s actually 

worship

of dictatorship.

He feign’s

populism

while always

the victim

of a system

that seeks

to convict 

him.

Needing support

to pay 

bills

(which he won’t

pay),

he shills

to thrills

of Magaworld.

To them,

he 

is “we”;

he is their

guy

who will

defy

and deny

endlessly.

Aggressively

fomenting

without 

literally

saying,

the wink

and the nod

are  conveying.

Outside

the courthouse 

he boo 

hooed 

his plight,

lying

that his

right

to live

freely

has been 

taken

from him.

Yadda

Yadda

Yadda…

it’s all

so exhausting

and seems

to be costing

him.

Day one

of the first

trial,

he was

caught

nodding

off–

unfortunately,

off camera.

Asleep

at the

“we’ll”,

he’ll

be revealed,

but it 

remains

to be 

seen

when,

and if

it will be 

enough.

Track and Field

I track

my body’s

expenditures–

tallying

steps,

REM,

and deep

sleep.

My  convenient

device

provides

advice

to keep 

me resilient.

Physically,

it’s working;

I’m doing

better 

than expected.

But my

field

of vision

is narrowing,

as the harrowing

crises 

overwhelm these

data points.

In order 

to prevent

sleeplessness

and foster

resilience,

I need 

to care

less.

But I can’t.

We need 

to engage

in ways

that are 

interactive

and creative;

that address

the mess

from fossil

fuels

and plastic.

Truly drastic

measures

require

forgoing

pleasures

to which 

we have

become

accustomed.

Losing

trust,

witnessing

those 

intended

to see a

democracy

upended

is exhausting

to track.

And depressing.

The alienation

in this nation

is in part

caused by

a conflation

of news 

and entertainment

—infotainment—

and cruelty

so that duality,

not plurality,

is insisted

upon.

We are lost,

and the cost

is literally

killing

the country

(and others)

and the planet. 

Helplessness,

more than 

sleeplessness,

is the urgent

and important

crisis to meet.

As we track

our daily

routines,

we are 

far

afield

from living

from what

we’ve been

given.

We have 

retreated

to repeated

tasks

when what

is actually

asked

of us

is to heal

each other

and our

environment.

The Fetal Position

If you,

like me,

feel like

curling up

into 

the fetal

position

from opposition

to IVF
after feeling

helpless

about Dobbs,

then let’s

explore
The Fetal Position.

Personhood

is understood

as a fetus,

or an anonymous

contributor

(or contributing

entity)

to a PAC,

or a corporation.

Actual 

identifiable

people

are denied

rights

and 

regarded

as wrong

if they belong

to the school

of thought

that suggests

life begins

after birth.

This 

theocracy-

style

governance

is a supreme

encumbrance

not just

upon 

women,

but upon

families,

communities,

and actually,

our democracy.

Hearts,

bank accounts,

systems,

are broken

for a token

win

that doesn’t

affect

the legislators’

lives;

only the lives

and livelihoods

of those 

deemed

killing

personhoods

for securing

safer living

of actual

human beings.

The tortured

logic

for the gynecologic

obsessions

and supposed

transgressions

are injections

of a particular

(and peculiar)

religious

interpretation.

The anti-science

reliance

on a bible

as the guide

for literal

fetal

legal

accountability

will never

provide

sustainability.

From my

current fetal

position

I can only

suggest 

that The Fetal

Position,

whose

mission

is prohibition,

abolition,

and ammunition

against

the proposition

of complexity

of life

and governance,

is a minority

of a party

whose priority

is superiority,

of course,

but also 

authority

over others—

God fearing,

because

inspiring

fear

is what

they revere.

Fearing

government

and science

as slippery

slopes

promotes

anti-expert

(so-called

elite)

pronouncements.

Their

Fetal Position

is conceived 

from religious

interpretation

now codified

as legislation.

We can’t 

let our fear

keep us

in the

fetal position.

Find ways

to contribute

to uproot

this acute

and chronic

assault

on the embroyonic

and the Fetal

Position.

Elder Care

Some don’t 

care

about one

candidate’s

age

or

gaffes

or (potential?)

crimes,

because:

demeanor.

The meaner,

the better;

such

a go

getter.

His vim

and vigor

and ability

to trigger

libs

is his

super 

power,

despite

his dour

countenance

and incompetence

at everything

but delaying.

He’s playing

the game

to win

at all 

costs,

which,

as of now,

costs him

about a half

a billion

dollars

plus interest

each day

he doesn’t

pay.

“So what?”,

they say,

“He’s here

to stay”,

because

he’s the

Mr Fixit.

But if

the fix

is in

unless he

wins…

oh there is

no

logic

to the diabolic

hyperbolic

sclerotic

neurotic

chronic

liminal

criminal

chief

cheat,

other than

to serve

himself.

And the slow

moving

Joe

is suffering

from low

approval

ratings

despite 

succesful

governance.

But media

presence

presents

a problem

for the elder

statesman.

Looking

frail

on the campaign

trail

is worse

than the prospect

of going

to jail

in our current

democrazy.

Will stopping

Biden

be easier

than stopping

Trump 

from running?

This could 

be stunning.

Write

to your 

pols

regardless 

of polls

and tell

them how

much

you care.

A democracy

is not 

a one man

capability.

We are much 

more

than this

sore

spot

of old

white

guys

clinging.

Never Mind?

Lemme just say

that one 

should pay

one’s bills.

The latest

threat

to NATO,

though,

we can’t ignore

as a sure

bet

to upset

yet

again 

the anti

MAGA

as the saga

continues.

The irony,

as Andy

Borowitz

reminds us.

is that

the guy

who never

pays 

his bills

somehow 

instills

a sanction:

a sort of

permission

for Putin’s

aggression

and obsession

with expansion.

Trump

is playing

quarterback,

wanting his

own

Super Bowl

back;

treating this

as the halftime

show

Ushering

in 

the third

quarter

after ordering

House

Repubs’

ignoring

the border

deal

that could

have helped

our immigration

situation,

and also

Biden.

And who 

could forget

Hur’s hurling

insult

at the aging-

before –

our-eyes

POTUS,

who 

side steps

stepping aside.

Designed

to undermine

Biden’s

candidacy,

Hur’s report

tends

to distort

his role.

Now 

what’s on

everyone’s

mind:

Who’s

mind

is more

demented?

The tormented

one 

who foments

aggression

and hate

with a spate

of indictments

and trial dates?

Or the decidedly

decent,

accomplished

statesman

whose

lack

of alacrity

walking to

pressers

has had no

bearing

on his

ability

to engage

in serious

matters

at home

and abroad

with some

of the greatest

successes

despite

what impresses

the minds

of voters

most.

It used

to be

“It’s the economy,

Stupid!”

Now,

it’s just 

stupid.

And we can’t

never

mind.

In Tolerance

When I am

in

tolerance

mode,

I accept

what is

and 

what is 

not

to my

liking.

Except,

it’s now 

hard 

to remember

tolerating

what I 

don’t like.

The noise

from the

train

of thought

is more

tolerable

than

the noise

on the tracks

(that tracks)

outside

my mind.

That which

offends

me

I defend

against.

In tolerance

mode,

I recognize

compromise 

as a potential.

But the torrential

down

pouring

of cynicism

and tribalism

for the sake

of upping

the ante

of the anti-

agreeable

for the foreseeable

future,

is intolerable

to me.

I tune out

more

each day,

as avoidance

fosters

my endurance

without

the persistence

of the nonsense.

In tolerance

mode,

I can listen

and know

I can

respect.

I suspect

those opportunities

are in your

communities

more than

you know.

I find

myself

in tolerance

mode,

when being

among

real people

who want

to meet,

not compete

for likes.

But I’d like

people

to like this

and share

these conversation

starters—

as I think

we are partners

in

tolerance—

in 

consonance

with a need

greater than

 dominance.

So Much Winning

The big surprise

was not 

the primary

prize.

Although

a disappointment

for her

and now less

of a contest,

the best

is not

necessarily

who gets

voted in.

What does

BE BEST
really mean

anyway?

But I digress,

as the mess

of us

is made

by the few.

Even in

The Academy

where Barbie

revived

the biz,

The Ms (es)

who delivered

something

new and

bright,

light 

and true,

were ignored.

The women

who created

a phenomenon

and actually

united

diverging views

emerging

over decades,

dividing

us,

somehow

found

the sweet spot

and got

snubbed.

Is Barbie

really

us?

When is it

Kenough ?

The competent

women

are still

driven

but can’t

win.

I actually

read

a comment

today

in the NYT

complaining

about

Nikki Haley’s

teeth.

Her actual

dental

appearance

was too

grating

for this person.

I won’t 

lower

the conversation

to her

rival’s

looks,

even if

it’s one

for the books.

Back 

to The Academy

which now reflects

the tragedy

of us…

Like Dobbs,

this too,

will soon

not be 

news,

and we’ll

proceed

as we bleed,

(too female

for you?)

in desperate

need

of the

Gerwigs

and Robbies

and even

Haleys,

Cheyneys,

Hillarys,

and Pelosis,

and so many

of the smart,

bold,

talented,

and yes, 

flawed,

but not 

frauds.

Among 

the many men

(Ken!)

who deserve

rewarding,

the easy

ignoring

of the women

who actually

require

much more

to compete,

is a defeat

of understanding

or simply

a retreat

to the familiar.

Is this winning?

American Idle

The story 

of 

“The Golden Calf”

is a warning

against idolatry.

But only

recently

did it occur

to me

to consider

why

a calf?

Ancient cultures

and cults

and myths

regarded

bulls as sacred.

Among

the cattle

prominent,

the bull’s

dominent

stature

was a godlike

feature

in the ancient

world.

So why 

a calf

on behalf

of the Israelites

awaiting

Moses’ return?

Perhaps

the calf

is merely 

half

of the force

of the all

powerful.

And now

the maga,

at least

in Iowa,

have their

bull

ever ready

for the next

bullfight.

How perfect

that bull

means the opposite

of real

much like

the appeal

of the bs 

king

who says

it like

it is(n’t).

The bullfight

has officially

begun

although

this bull

has been

bullying

and running

forever.

He’s been 

stabbed

and tested,

but he has

bested

the best

efforts

to contain 

him.

He worships

idolatry

especially

of himself.

It would be

laughable

or a parable

if it weren’t

so horrible.

He’s the

American Idol

of the maga

nation—

a minority

whose sacred

cow

may be

a criminal—

and is 

no longer 

liminal.

America,

we can’t 

remain

idle.