President

A Thousand Points of Light

“A Thousand Points of Light” will always be associated with President George HW Bush, and maybe more-so today, the day of his funeral. At the time he coined the phrase, I thought it was hokey, and I thought the initiative was one that was an attempt to absolve government from doing some difficult things. But, in retrospect, and especially compared to this current administration, “A Thousand Points of Light” seems quaint.

I have been thinking of “A Thousand Points of Light” not only because of Bush 41’s funeral, but because on the eve of this funeral day, Bob Mueller’s eagerly anticipated memo regarding Michael Flynn’s sentencing was released, and I believe it contained a thousand points of light, despite all the blacked out redacted parts.

The immediate reaction to the memo included the commentary about how much was blacked out; that little was left to read. Upon further examination though, it became  clear that Flynn’s cooperation with the U.S. government was extensive and illuminating (even if we are not yet privy to that information). 

In this season of festivals of light and giving, so important to warm and brighten the cold dark days of winter, we are reminded of “A Thousand Points of Light” in a nearly perfect synchronicity of remembrance and anticipation. 

Isn’t that what December is? 

Omarosa! (To the tune of Oklahoma!)

Oooooooh….Omarosa, the apprentice winning

Trump’s own game.

She’s got a book to sell

Some tapes that tell

That a lying, racist White House

Is to blame.

Oooooooh….Omarosa wants to blow the whistle 

Starting now.

She was fine before

Going through the door

Of The Oval and The Sit Room

Who knows how?

(interlude)

We know that she’s mostly a sham.

And, like Trump, she’s a media ham.

But when we saaaaaaaaaa AY

Om-a-rosa’s news todaaaaaaaa AY

We really know that

It’s President Trump’s 

Omarosa.

Protege.

The Comb Over

In an attempt to disguise, strands are carefully swept across and over the other side.  The intention is to cover; conceal; shield. The part that divides one direction from the other gets lowered to convey a sense of fullness and depth. The look is achieved with gusts of hot air.

It’s quite a style that attracts attention, yet it seems glaring that something quite different exists underneath the Comb Over. The effort to maintain this deception of what’s actually there is extreme, and the coverup is usually worse than the crime. Well, maybe not in this case, despite the desperation of the Comb Over. 

The Comb Over, attempting to deflect from the bald truth, is a daily routine of bald-faced lies. The vanity and ignorance, much less the deflection of the naked truth, gets combed over and over and over calling more attention to what’s being camouflaged.

It’s become a very hairy situation. 

Litmus Test

 

 A guy shoots up a newsroom, killing 5 journalists. President says nothing in response to event or to reporters’ questions following the incident. That night, the video of  the President silently walking past reporters, ignoring their questions about the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom, was aired on tv and social media. A long day later, he stated that “journalists shouldn’t have to be fearful of being attacked while doing their jobs”. But  to Trump, journalists are “the enemy of the people”.  

So, another mass shooting that couldn’t be prevented, because how could we possibly stop the outlier? Each time? Beforehand?  We could arm teachers! Where are those good guys with guns? 

This is a reflection of our culture and politics. We live in danger of being shot anywhere because we won’t regulate lethal weaponry and have poor mental healthcare. Guns are considered masculine, even when women use them. They are the ultimate symbol of American individualism and self sufficiency. They are said to be for protection, but they are for killing (or injuring) full human  (and other) beings. They are meant to cause suffering and fear.

Even those who want to see loopholes closed, better screening , and better mental healthcare across the country, understand that there is a cultural affinity for guns, legitimized by the Second Amendment. 

Why, then, has abortion become the litmus test of our culture and politics? Why has Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion, always seemed dispensable ? The “Right to Life” is only valid as a potential life, but not once born—an actual life? Many like to mock the Clintons’ stance that abortions should be “safe, legal, and rare”, because, well, Hilary said that. The circumstance of pregnancy is unique. But it does include women’s health, and I do think abortions should be safe, legal, and rare.

 Abortion is not some newfangled cultural phenomena that began with The Feminine Mystique. Abortions have always existed, and have been dangerous (and criminal) until I was 10. But the cultural zeal and singular voting issue that has overridden everything in my lifetime has been the issue of abortion. 

Physicians have been shot (and killed) over the idea of getting rid of Roe v Wade, thereby criminalizing abortions (and OBGYNs who might perform the procedure). Right to life?

The President of Trumpistan understands that putting an anti-abortion judge on The Supreme Court will keep his base applauding, and his congressional lackeys collecting contributions. The ridiculous argument that gets put forward that it should be a states’ rights issue, not a federal one, sticks because it is an effective political move to limit access in Red states. Culturally and politically, the so-called “Right to Lifers” have all but eradicated the legality of early termination of a pregnancy, while opening up the floodgates for more semiautomatic weaponry without restrictions on use. 

Sure, there are several issues that delineate the views of the Supreme Court, but none are as contentious as Roe v Wade. Not even guns. We have deluded ourselves across our culture and politics into accepting certain rights as necessary for freedom and, ironically, life, and others as oppressive. Moreover, we have been so divided and hateful over this issue. We have so little room for accepting differing concepts, or compromising. 

Abortion is the issue that most are concerned about now that Kennedy is stepping down from the high court. Shouldn’t we be talking more about the mass murder at a newsroom? 

Having It All

What do Donald Trump and Kate Spade have in common? They are both tragic (albeit in profoundly different ways), and have shocked us into realizing that maybe we already have it all. 

This president has made us relish what the Presidency could be and should be, regardless of ideology. The title carries meaning, history, and promise—not merely power. We never feel like we have it all with any president, but now we feel like we are losing everything. What has happened to our country under this presidency feels tragic.

Kate Spade, whose shocking and tragic death this week, seemed to have it all : a hugely successful business and brand that was for women who wanted to have it all. She had the markers of it all—marriage, child, business, great accessories….. Her public image concealed an excruciating illness, and her brand reflected upward mobility mixed with a retro look that nodded to the modern.  Her brand did not reflect her truth. 

I am sad for the Spade family.  And I am quite sad for us for being duped and succumbing to branding. I am sad that goodness isn’t enough. I am sad that it feels like those who understand that power is not the same as “having it all “are the ones who suffer and so often lose. 

The shock of this presidency is constantly jarring. The shock of Kate Spade’s tragic death (and internal life) awaken us to re-prioritize, to learn more, and to cultivate greater compassion.

Having it all sounds like perfection. There’s no such thing. 

There is wholeness—at least temporarily and with moving parts. Maybe that’s having it all, and why when we witness brokenness in a person, in a culture, in our government, it feels like a tragedy.  

Time Signature

I have been turning away from all the retrospectives of the last year. Not only do they tend to be highlights of awfulness and idiocy, but they don’t even feel like the past. It seems like an exercise in torture rather than in reflection. There hasn’t been space (or time) for reflection. Rehashing isn’t reflecting. It’s anxiety producing rather than enlightening.

2017 doesn’t seem like an unfolding of moments, but an unending cacophony that is unrelenting and without a coda, despite today’s date. But we still mark time, and move to its rhythms, and this weekend we get to celebrate the potential of the new.

Trump thinks he’s jazzy—always riffing and soloing, adding syncopated rhythms because they are unexpected and chaotic. He digs improvising governing. He just never learned the essentials, or the masters, or understands the distinctions that separate art from mere expression.

He has put his signature on this time of ours, at least in 2017 (and 2016). But there were other instruments that resonated during the year. 2017 started with The Women’s March, and by the latter months, the enormous chorus of #MeToo became a show stopper.

The Taking a Knee verse will be remixed in 2018, most likely beginning with the Super Bowl. The anthem of freedom has been reconsidered, and despite differing interpretations, real freedom does not diminish.

The Trumpist movement will be last year’s hit. Trump will keep rapping, but lacking artistry, he will be a pop phenomenon (which is all he wanted). Investigations and scandals, and ridiculous comments, will be the drumbeat until the coda. Meanwhile, we who have been Kind of Blue, can conduct ourselves in concert in 2018.

Happy New Year!

American Fall 2017

The last few weeks we’ve seen men falling from grace. Well, we’ve seen powerful (and unknowingly powerful) men who have abused, fallen from their positions. Whether abusing powerful connections to self aggrandize, or using status to euphemistically self aggrandize while forcing a woman or minor female or male to watch and/or participate in unwanted sexual acts, there has been an almost daily revelation of jerks who shouldn’t get off.

Yep…the 2017 Jerk Off. Sorry for being crass, but is there really a more perfect description?

Let’s go back a few weeks to the #MeToo moment. Women (and almost women) didn’t pile on to a hashtag for fun. It was an admission I never imagined, although it was an assumption as long as I can remember. Being harassed in a sexual way, even just by someone leering, has always been part of the female experience. Abuse is almost as common. Sexual misconduct is practically a catch-all phrase, but women (and girls and boys) know appropriate and inappropriate behavior. I thought men knew appropriate and inappropriate behavior too, but more and more it seems as though too many either don’t know or don’t care. Jerk Offs.

The #MeToo moment was empowering for women (and males who may have been abused as kids), but was astonishing for many men. The assumption seemed to be that there have always been a few bad apples, and power corrupts, but most of us live decently. HA! I suspect most women would reject that, at least in part. Most women learned very early on that they could very easily be preyed upon and have felt diminished by men.

But the American Fall of 2017 isn’t about victimhood, it’s about the Jerk Offs. It’s about exposing the Jerks, many of whom were once widely revered. Mostly, it’s about exposing those who have gotten away with abuse.

 

The American Fall of 2017 Jerk Off isn’t only about exposing sexual abuse. The Trump administration has been a textbook case in how to be a jerk. Inappropriate behavior has been the MO. For those of Trump’s ilk, disruption is all about being inappropriate. It’s about being unconventional and not having to play by the rules (or barely playing within the rules). Not unlike comedy, which exposes conventions and sometimes seeks to upend them, gaining attention and audience, Trump enjoys the shtick and the platform to bark and get responses. He thinks he’s funny—a bit of a comedian—and seeks power, wealth, and adoration. Oh, and he’s a misogynist and objectifies women, and even if he has been inside the law, cares little for appropriate behavior or decency. He’s the Jerk in Chief.

 

Then there’s the man child of Silicon Valley, Mark Zuckerberg, with Sheryl Sandberg leaning in by his side, claiming innocence and seeking to be absolved of any responsibility for whatever gets posted on their Facebook platform. They deny that their ginormous social media company and platform is media. I guess it’s just social. Jerks!

 

But amidst the American Fall of 2017 Jerk Offs, there has been the most horrifying abuse that actually gets diminishing attention each week, with each incident. Mass shootings tend to fall into a different category. They are perpetrated by nobody famous (until the shooting of innocents), so they don’t seem to be about abuse of power. But there is a common denominator to many of these mass shootings, thus far all committed by men.***(https://www.massshootingtracker.org/data) Domestic abuse preceeded the mass shooting. We know that not all shootings follow a domestic incident, but even without an incident preceding the shooting, the shooter is often one who could not or did not have appropriate romantic or sexual relationships. This is not to say that the act of a mass shooter is reduced to a domestic incident. It is surely more complicated than that. But the fact that so many of those who commit mass shootings have domestic issues (and easy access to an arsenal of semi automatic and other guns) is one that deserves much more attention.

 

Abuse exists in many forms and does not manifest in a singular manner. Sure, power corrupts. That we know and have always known. That is why we need limits and checks and balances on power in every domain.

Lack of power can inspire shameful behavior; irrational behavior; or worse. Power issues and weapons (of every sort) are toxic. We have a responsibility to address the weapons of mass destruction of our society and culture, as well as the issues of power that have people become abusers.

 

The American Fall of 2017, the season of the Jerk Offs, has been a season of exposing the abuse and the abusers, as well as their weapons of destruction. This is an opportunity. I, for one, am amazed and inspired by those who have called out the Jerk Offs. And this is the beginning.

T-Rex

 

“…they cling to guns or religion…”

 

“…basket of deplorables…”

 

“…moron.”

 

It’s easy to identify the speakers of the volcanic verbiage that erupted after terrible frustration, expressing antipathy and disdain. It’s really not ok to publicly disparage (or get caught deriding others, or one’s boss).

We’ve all had oops moments, but we aren’t Presidential candidates or Secretaries of State. Still, everyone is subject to one’s own reptilian brain.

The reptilian brain is the part of the brain that controls involuntary functions. It’s in charge of our survival. It directs our heartbeat, organ function,and breathing. It is responsible for sexual behaviors and our fight or flight responses. Our responses to danger or fear stem from our reptilian brain. Our anger or other emotions and actions that take over in response to a perceived threat are automatic. We don’t even think about it. The reptilian brain runs the non-thinking, automatic, involuntary functions for survival.

But clearly the reptilian brain is insufficient beyond survival instincts. Thinking and thoughtfulness advances us. The reptilian brain governs without thought. Of course, if we were having to think about each heartbeat and physiological response, we wouldn’t be able to consider anything else. And, sexual behavior and responses to danger are necessary in some measure to ensure the continuation of life.

It’s hard not to feel like we are in the Land of the Lost. “Land of the Lost” was a tv series in the mid 1970s about a family thrown back in time as they attempt to survive among the dinosaurs. In our own Land of the Lost, we see governance by fear. We feel terrified of our government, our neighbors, our technology, and all others—those who don’t fit into our images of what is right or good. Of course there are more good among us than those who get attention, but I know there are many people who feel as I do: that we are lost, and if not becoming dinosaurs ourselves, we are certainly living among them, and our reptilian brains are taking over.

That sounds rather alarmist, doesn’t it? Perhaps I am being too dramatic, but aside from my exhaustion and grief from constant verbal warfare, and intense hurricanes, and unspeakable violence and hatred, even against quiet protest, I am astounded daily by the lumbering leaders, proving themselves to be like dinosaurs— especially the lumbering leader in chief.

Somehow, this POTUS whose reptilian brain informs almost every response, seems to get away with reprehensible speech and behavior, and at the very least, incompetence. I was utterly astonished yesterday that the one known for “you’re fired”, didn’t fire Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, after Tillerson evaded (but did not deny) the report that he called his boss a “moron”. Perhaps the POTUS isn’t phased by such a reptilian faux pas. I mean we all slip, right? And who speaks and acts from the gut without thinking more than the POTUS?

Even more astonishing to me though, was Rex Tillerson’s obsequiousness during his press briefing. Couldn’t he survive without this position? His instinct is to work for a man he thinks is a moron? T-Rex went from seeming strength to a big old lumbering….what’s the word?…..dinosaur.

And you know what happened to the dinosaurs. They became extinct when the climate changed.

Reality Winner

Drip drip drip..… Leaking sludge..… Quietly exposing naked truth….. Releasing the fluid nature of hidden conflicts, shady relationships, questionable connections, while trustworthy historical international alliances, treaties, and accords are disparaged.

Trickle down economics doesn’t work, but trickling droplets of actual occurrences, conversations, meetings, statements, and other pesky facts, are puddling and flooding airwaves, bandwidth, eyes and ears.

Each daily shocking revelation is really no surprise; just a bit more proof of what so many suspect and are eager to lay bare. What seems so obvious must still be uncloaked, and we have procedures and laws which must be followed.

It has become difficult to sustain patience in the era of the tweet; just ask POTUS Trump. But reality will trump Trump.

Reality Winner, the prescient name of the first leaker of the Trump presidency to be arrested, exposed a top-secret intelligence report detailing Russian meddling in the American election from within a national security complex and sent it to The Intercept. But consider that this 25 year old woman is but one of over a million people with top secret clearance who have access to government secrets due to the post 9/11 expansion of security agencies.

Reality Winner is facing a difficult road ahead after her arrest. Yet, Reality Winner may just be the meta name of this era—not Trump.

History Buffed

I’m surprised he didn’t say Michael Jackson. Or Janet Jackson. Or Jermaine Jackson. Or even Glenda Jackson.

In an interview yesterday, POTUS Trump wondered why the Civil War wasn’t “worked out” and suggested that Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the war started, could have prevented the most horrific war in U.S. History. Oh, and he neglected to mention the word slavery, among any other facts.

The POTUS Trump’s ignorance is staggering, and his ability to “tell it like it is” is actually a pathetic display of what little ability he has to speak beyond childish simple phrases (albeit with unwarranted arrogance instead of naïveté). This is not merely about not being a great speaker, (which he thinks he is). This is about inadequacy, incompetence, indifference, and idiocy.

This is real news, (and yet, is this really news?), and real history. The POTUS is about making history, and The POTUS TRUMP is all about being an historic figure (although, he will probably remain historic for all the wrong reasons). I never expected any POTUS to be an historian, but I do expect presidential candidates, much less THE POTUS, to be real students of History.

But this POTUS is always distracted and seeks bright, shiny objects (and “Strongmen” where he has business interests). And where luster begins to fade (in his case, knowledge and ability), he buffs it up. Of course any kid who has ever taken an AP U.S. History exam knows, the causes of the Civil War is an essential question/prompt. Actually, every child learns about the causes of the Civil War in elementary school, before tackling the complexities of the conditions preceding the war in more sophisticated high school history classes. This POTUS really is like the Emperor With No Clothes. He is in the buff. He’s no history buff; just nakedly foolish and impetuous, caring only about enriching himself and his family, while feigning Populism.

How many history buffs will be created as a result of this latest ridiculousness? I hope many. What has happened here, and is happening around the world, is an obliviousness to History’s lessons. Those who rightfully feel like Democracy is not delivering fast enough, or the downsides of Globalism and Immigration, as well as technological advances that render many jobs obsolete, have reason to be frustrated and concerned. Legitimate concerns need not deligitimize all of reality, including institutions and forces that have many dimensions, and understanding actual trajectories and consequences, rather than fantasies.  This POTUS and others who claim a similar “Populist”/nativist appeal like to think that their personal histories are the most important, and that problems need not be complex. It’s so simple. Just ask the history buffs.