politics

Terminator Too

A second

term

will

be the first

time

we will

come to terms

with our own

demise

as a democracy.

Trumping

up

conspiracies

and other

theories

in order

to grab

the presidency,

the 45th

POTUS

seeks 

not just

a rematch,

but to hatch

a plan

for the Mar-a-Lago

man

to remain 

in the White House

the rest

of his

life span.

The four year 

term

would be

terminated

along with

the Constitution

and any 

institution

that he terms

problematic.

He’s like

a termite—

hiding 

just out

of sight

behind

the walls

before 

they crumble

from years

of the pest’s

consumption,

until

the destruction

is structural

damage.

He seeks

to avoid

a prison

term

(or 4)

by running

for President

of MAGAstan.

Coining

and coopting

terms 

of speech

for agreement

that the breach

with democracy

is somehow

other

than his.

The deep 

state 

of subversion

and

his perversion

are on display

every

day.

In terms of

options,

one thing

we can 

do

is hold

those who 

enable,

even seemingly stable,

to account.

The MAGA

malignancy

requires

proficiency

in democracy

to build

resiliency.

Despite 

imperfections,

rejecting

deflections

(and certainly,

insurrections),

is a starting point

for keeping

The Terminator

from seeking

a forever

next term. 

The problem

ain’t 

Biden;

it’s those

hidin’

behind 

The Terminator

along with

The Terminator

Too.

Gag Reflex

A Gag 

Order

was reinstated.

You know 

what that 

means:

a dare

to air

and impair

potential

jurors,

witnesses,

clerks,

and anyone

associated

with each

trial

of the vile

former POTUS.

He taunts

what he wants

with the confidence

of no consequence

to him. 

The running gag

is no joke

however much

he needs

to provoke

and invoke

“rights”

that are wrong.

That reflex

is strong

but doesn’t 

belong

only to him.

The say anything

world

in which 

we live

could use

more thought

before

speaking freely.

Of course

celebrity

adds intensity

to any message.

So retractions

soon follow

as they swallow

their pride 

trying to hide

their ugly

or stupid

side.

And now 

universities,

struggle with

absurdities

beyond fraternities

as asymmetries

highlight

bigotries

and hostilities,

no longer on

the peripheries

of campus life.

Everywhere

people

seem to reflect

less

and sloganeer

more.

Meanwhile….

“We’ll see

what happens,”

as he likes

to say,

now gagged

and bound

by law 

and order. 

His Gag 

Reflex

effects

everything

coming up. 

Men O’ Pause

The pause 

has been

paused.

For a moment,

pregnant 

with possibility

for release

and aid,

the pause

extended

and portended

hope.

Eight more

hostages

freed,

they agreed,

and that

was that.

We know

that Blinken

and Biden

are, 

along with Qatar,

attempting

to broker

more than

a Jack Benny

pause. 

But it’s Bibi’s

war

while more

and more

information

reveals

received

details

of Hamas’

depraved

planned assault

on innocents

as long

as a year

ago.

Let’s just pause

here

and take in

what is clear

in this mess.

Destroying

Hamas

and leaving

Abbas

will not

go well.

And now 

with this intel

it seems

to smell

of rot 

and hubris

and perhaps

obtuseness

that has led

to a horrible

war

against terror.

Another pause

as growing calls

for the incursion

to cease

for the release

of the rest 

of the hostages,

seems to be

the best

we can

expect

for now.

As long

as Bibi

can pause,

the cause

of this war

persists

and he

resists

prosecution. 

Mike Drop

News dropped

yesterday

about

the fateful day

of January 6th

nearly  

three years 

ago.

Pensive Pence

considered skipping

the election certification

proceedings,

noting 

that there were

“too many questions”

and it would be

“too hurtful

to 

my friend.”

His friend,

the fiend,

brought him

along 

for the ride,

and now 

it was getting

even bumpier

and Trumpier.

Pence’s book

notes,

“You know,

I don’t have

the authority to change

the outcome,”

but later

he contended

that the comma

never should have been

placed there:

“You know I don’t 

have the authority

to change 

the outcome…” .

Dropping the comma

changes the insinuation

about the situation

causing consternation

almost three years 

later.

His son,

a marine,

sought

to intervene 

saying,

“Dad, 

you took the same oath

I took….

an oath

to support 

and defend 

the constitution.”

Ultimately, 

Mike supervised

after

his life

was jeopardized

as the Capitol attackers

chanted

“Hang Mike Pence!”.

He survived

and certified

the election.

But to now get

an inkling

into his thinking

and the sprinkling

of information

almost 3 years

hence,

proves that Pence

was no better

despite 

knowing better

than the rest

who didn’t 

want to be

dropped. 

Minimum Wage

At a minimum,

political

campaigns

are attempts

to influence

decision making

without violence.

We wage wars

on everything.

We conjure

the valor

of fighting

as a warrior

for the right

to champion

Cancer

Christmas

Guns

Personal Autonomy

Fetal Rights

Racial Equality

Gender Equality

Marriage Equality

Group Identity

Gender Identity

Social Justice

Climate Justice

….

You name it,

war is waged

on it. 

Until now,

those wars

have been

metaphors

for concerted

efforts 

to support 

a cause

or suppress

what is 

deemed

an invader

or enemy.

But even after

electoral decisions,

ill health remissions,

and holiday contritions,

divisions

remain,

and positions

harden.

At a minimum,

we wage

a perpetual

cold war

on  several fronts

at once.

Who are

the ones

waging peace?

Too idealistic?

They do not

need

to search 

for the way

to peace,

for they know

that peace 

is the way.

Too unrealistic?

It seems

that waging

war,

at a minimum,

does not

cause peace.

What happens

the day after

the cease fire?

Post Impressionism

Vermin.

From the river to the sea.

Globalists.

Confederate flag.

Noose.

Ok gesture.

Welfare Queens.

Real Americans.

Law and Order.

America First.

MAGA.

Speech

can be

a weapon

that kills

the bodies

politic

and civic.

Let’s not

pretend

that words

may offend

without 

consequences.

Posting hate

through images

visual

and linguistic

is intentionally 

antagonistic

and characteristic

of the most

objectionable

among us.

Proudly

bigoted,

they promote

identity-based

appeals.

These signals

of utterly

inappropriate

appropriations

are coded 

language

that convey

affiliation

by othering

while intentionally

demeaning.

The Dog Whistles

that may have

once been

mostly political

are predictable

and critical

for everyone

to hear.

This coded

communication 

provides 

information

and plausible

deniability.

Hate speech

may be free

to post,

but the cost

of expression

that leaves 

an impression

of hate

and threat

as code

for action

is not 

an abstraction

or mere

distraction.

There is no

innocence

in a call

to violence

without

saying as much.

The impression

says it all. 

Daylight Savings Time

Lindbergh baby

John Paul Getty III

Patty Hearst.

Munich

Entebbe 

Iran 

Lebanon

Gaza.

Black September

Idi Amin

Ayatollah Khomeni

Hezbollah

Hamas.

Gilad Shalit

Daniel Pearl.

What could be darker

than kidnapping

and holding

hostages?

This fall 2023,

Hamas’ kidnapping 

of 250 

people

of all 

ages,

has the world

reeling.

Somehow,

the conversation 

quickly shifted

from unspeakable

atrocities

on October 7th,

and the hostage

taking

for nearly a month

now,

to the deliberately

triggered,

hideous

war,

conceived

to decimate

innocents—

the ones 

just trying

to live

above

the tunnels—

the innocents 

who are

supposed

to be liberated

and recognized

to live in

a self-determined

nation state—

intentionally 

doomed 

to suffer 

and die

at the hands

of the

enemy

(Israel),

subjected

to the brutality

of war

just

as Hamas

calculated

along with

massacring 

a kibbutz,

a peaceful

community

across 

the border.

As the world

watches

the horror

in horror,

and diplomats

quietly

seek

negotiations,

profound 

destruction

and devastation

persists

in retaliation.

Hostage taking

works

to call attention

and change

the narrative,

to gain

status,

power,

money.

How quickly 

the conversation

has become

about 

Israeli brutality

against innocent

Palestinian

people

living 

now suffering

and dying

in Gaza. 

Even nonviolent

hostage taking

works:

Tommy Tuberville

Matt Gaetz

Donald Trump.

Who wouldn’t

do anything

to save

lives

and restore

families

and normalcy

and peace?

Hostage takers.

So much 

of politics

is hostage 

taking.

The gun lobby.

As profoundly 

broken

and helpless

as 

we feel

right now,

real

hostages

kidnapped 

from their homes

are still 

in captivity

as bombs

drop

around them.

To those

who struggle

with 

the politics

of everything,

channel

the struggle

to release

and support

those

kidnapped

and held

in captivity

and the families

of the massacred

and hostaged.

Insist on

and contribute to

humanitarian

aid

to innocent

civilians.

We need 

to fall back

to daylight

not add

to the darkness

with political

slogans

and hostile

rhetoric.

I get it.

Our world

feels

out of control

and spiraling

further

away

from all 

that we 

cherish.

Indeed,

too much

is too 

awful.

But we 

have to

begin

to figure out

less damaging

resistance

and build

greater

resilience

because there

will always

be turbulence.

It’s Daylight

Savings Time.

It always 

starts

in the middle

of the night. 

History Lessens

History lessens

the exclusivity

of now.

What seems

unique

is really 

a tweak

of actions

of factions, 

reactions,

and distractions

that humans

do 

to

each

other.

This October

surprise

attack

by Hamas

upon Israelis

shocked

and horrified

in scope

and scale;

each

detail

grotesque.

Historical

comparisons

to 9/11,

’73,

and even

The Holocaust;

to Nazis

and Isis—

the ultimate

barbarism—

casts Hamas

among

other

embodiments

of pure

evil. 

From eternity

to here,

history

does not

lessen

the reality

of evil

of humans.

We like

to think

we progress,

and we do.

We like

to think

we are more

sophisticated

than our

ancestors,

yet

history

proves

to be

more complex,

with effects

that traumatize

and catalyze.

History

must 

humanize.

It is

the story

of humans,

sometimes

beyond

comprehension.

But that

is the

task

that history

asks.

We like

to think

we are

different

and less

naive

than our

predecessors.

But even

our successors

will have

or 

will be

aggressors

or oppressors,

and certainly

transgressors,

because

humans

have such

capacities.

Forgetting

the lessons

of history—

human

actions 

and 

reactions—

lessens

the ability

to strengthen

stability.

Fundamentally,

fundamentalism

lessens—

a lesson

learned

from history.

The progress

and ideas

of accessibility,

diversity, 

and inclusivity

that make

the present

feel

like sustainability,

become

thwarted,

distorted,

supported,

and exported

by extremists

who are

zombies

of history,

trying

to lessen

the inevitability

of time

and evolution.

I still

hope

for all

humanity

that sanity

will prevail

and we 

can exhale

while learning

the lessons

now.

Gutted

It’s so very

exhausting.

Thoughts

abound

suggesting how

to live 

better.

More this.

Less that.

Kale?

Pro

Democracy.

Anti

Autocracy.

Greener.

Cleaner.

Healthier planet,

gut,

you name it.

Safety.

Growth.

Resilience.

Endless

issues

demanding

urgent,

immediate

attention.

Everything

feels like

crisis

self imposed.

Backlash to

institutional

disparities,

injustices,

bigotries—

hate

with deep roots

like oaks trees

and hickories

live for 

centuries.

It’s overwhelming

and painful

to reckon

how we are

living now.

I can not 

tolerate

the intolerable,

or accept

the unacceptable,

which is inundating 

us 

daily. 

I am enervated

but not 

yet

defeated.

The culture 

that I embraced

is being 

gutted

without conditions

suitable

for growth. 

We may

or may not

need kale,

but the gut

needs

to be rid

of toxins

and create

homeostasis

to foster 

health. 

Fire Power

With 

the former

guy

who branded

himself

on tv

saying,

“You’re fired,”

the wannabe

important,

desperate 

for attention

and power,

led

the charge

to fire

the Speaker

of 

the House.

An assault

on The House

of Representatives

again,

this time

we witnessed

from within,

it is clear

that 

fire

and power,

assaulting

institutions

and traditions

while

calling themselves

conservative,

is the Republican

brand

in the 21st century.

Cruelty

sparks drama

while pretending

it’s some sort 

of political

philosophy.

This century

began for us

with a disputed

election

followed

by a terrorist

attack

from

abroad.

The answer

to difficulty

and complexity

it seems,

is assault 

weapons. 

Now in human

form,

some openly 

carry

banners 

and weapons

of hate

to intimidate

to feel

important.

AH, 

to be

seen

in scene

after scene,

matters more

than governance.

It’s the anti

social

media power

that

fires up 

the pyromaniac

group.

I thought

of calling

this

“Burning Down

The House”.

But fire power

is really 

the only

discernable

stance 

beyond 

no taxes

that is consistently

attempted

at all costs.

Excusing

hostage 

taking 

with a government 

shutdown.

Excusing

mass shootings.

Excusing

insurrection,

and then twisting

and distorting

truth

while nuclear

secrets

were being

shared.

The relentless

spray,

like an 

AK

47,

requires

more 

than duck

and cover

and remaining

silent.