Saur/Dough

Trump’s appearance

looked dour

in Judge Juan

Marchan’s

court

for election

interference

with payments

to hush

any nasty

report.

Meanwhile,

the Supreme

Court heard

the absurd

case for immunity

for the Presidency.

Actually,

the impunity

seems exclusively

to apply 

to 45,

despite endless

questions

of future

hypotheticals,

antithetical

to the institution

or Constitution

that has served

for over 230

years. 

Trump’s Supreme

lawyer,

D. John Sauer,

seemed

to find favor

with the males

who love 

power.

They found

plausible

deniability

for immunity

regardless

of constitutionality.

Alito feigned

the whole

thing was 

offensive

and sought

to dispense 

of it

by refusing

the facts

of this 

current 

case.

Likewise,

Kavanaugh

stated his

stance,

deflecting 

from the here

and now

of the case,

to his concern

about 

the future.

Surprisingly,

Amy Coney

Barrett

quite seriously,

challenged 

Mr. Sauer

on official

versus 

private 

actions. 

Sauer’s 

concessions

that some

of Trump’s

situations

required

prosecutions,

at least

conferred

some reality

check.

The triple

named

conservative

woman

on the 

high court

reminds me

of another

one,

Sandra

Day

O’Conner,

who surprised

those who

surmised

her ties

to the right

would

compromise

her jurisprudence.

But the women

so far,

have displayed

much more

affiliation

to the Constitution

and institutions

than conciliation

to power. 

As the 

hush money

trial

has already

revealed,

concealed

monies-

whether

to subvert

an election,

or protection

of ideology

while serving

as a Justice-

is basic

corruption

always.

Speech Pathology

The right

to speak

freely

and to protest

peacefully

are hallmarks

of democracy.

Yet

the threat

of actions

from aggressive

factions

in reaction

to passions

inflamed,

has sustained

fears

of violent

incidents.

When 

the former

President-

defendant

posts

quotes 

and

anecdotes 

or notes

his

rants

against

individuals

he claims

are against

him,

he goads

and corrodes—

even erodes

codes

of ethics

and possibly 

laws.

Meanwhile,

the protests

at Columbia

etcetera,

are confounding.

Sounding

off 

on campus,

while camping

out

as classes

are in session,

is practically

tradition.

But the current

condition

of free speech

transmission

raises

the proposition

that the exhibition

is potentially

physically

dangerous

to any 

of those

who might

oppose.

Many 

have mentioned

Skokie,

the would-be

Nazi

march

through a

community

of survivors,

as an example

of ugly,

yet free, 

speech.

We live

in an ugly

time of

pathology

where 

speech

is not

merely

a trigger,

but the

ammunition

for the 

dissolution

of civil

discourse.

This pathology

is antithetical

to a functional

democracy

even when 

the speech

is free. 

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.

Eclipsed

For a moment,

the upcoming

eclipse

got eclipsed

by a

northeast

quake

which eclipsed

mideast

bombing

which eclipsed

the war 

in Ukraine

which was trumped

a while ago

by Trump

eclipsing himself

with more

crazy

each day.

This Spring

has been

anything

but silent.

This season

of birth

and renewal

has been 

cruel

to humanity

and democracy.

Meanwhile,

people

are freaking 

out

about

nature.

Making Ago of It

MAGA

became

a party

to insanity

with no

real

vision,

just 

division.

The sense

of impending

ending

of what 

we treasure

is the measure

by which

we react.

Humanity’s

mortality

(and certainly

Democracy’s)

is what we

tend

to see.

At least

let’s not

go further

but add

some fervor

to be the

preserver

of this

life

now.

The party’s

over

so let’s 

stand

our ground

into the ground

this time

around.

Screw

decorum—

a forum

for repression.

Bring

obsession

and regression

to the fore

and the floor

of our House.

Hats off

to 46,

who wants

to fix

so much

that is broken.

The Center

of Gravity

has normalized

depravity,

self serving

and unnerving.

Calling themselves

Conservative

is interpretive

at best.

Suggesting

Great

while exhibiting

hate

is actually

reflecting

our past.

We’re better

off

and on 

a path

forward,

certainly

since

COVID.

But what

we thought

was outmoded

has a devoted

following.

Wallowing

in grievance

and demanding

allegiance

will not

forward

us.

Looking toward

what was

is blurry,

leaving out

the worst

and worry.

But many

feel 

more confident

in the current

fever dream.

The wish 

of 4 years

ago

is merely 

to hold

on.

Making

America

Great

Again,

as though

it’s something

we only

know

from long

ago,

is oh so

hollow.

In the Mean Time

In

the Mean 

Time,

adults see

difference

as deficiency,

and insufficiency

of means

as moral

failing.

In the Mean 

Time,

an embryo

has more

right

to life

than its

mother. 

In the Mean

Time,

if that embryo

develops

to be 

female,

she will

lose her

embryonic

rights.

In the Mean

Time,

the pro

life

movement

is aligned

with unfettered

access

to military

grade

weapons

that tend

to show 

up

shooting

down

schools,

churches,

clubs,

synagogues,

theaters….

etc

etc

etc….

In the Mean 

Time

putting

prisoners

to death

is deserved,

despite

claims

to (and of)

the right

to life.

In the Mean

Time,

adults

insult

others’

physicality

as abnormality

or deformity

or just ugly,

and therefore

worthy

of discussion.

Disgust

has no

end

in the 

Mean Time,

even

when others

are inspired

to harm

“hearing”

alarm

in debasing

and chasing

some ego

reinforcement

or political

endorsement.

In 

the Mean Time,

fear dictates

so a near

dictator

can reappear

as POTUS.

Where

can

we go

in

The Mean Time?

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.

Liberty Mutual

Liberty

is a statue

commemorating

a virtue

welcoming

into our harbor,

absent

on the southern

border.

Insecure

from escapees

and refugees

seeking

asylum

after 

an insanely

difficult

trek

under stars

and the blazing

sun,

overwhelming

our broken

system,

we no longer

talk of liberty

or freedom

from dangerous

or injurious

conditions

except 

in Gaza

despite 

Hamas.

The explosive,

corrosive,

divisions

pushing

boundaries

at the borders

within several 

democracies,

while atrocities

unrelenting,

remind me

that 

Lady Liberty

is a statue

from long

ago.

Our experiment

in liberty

has always had

an element

of hypocrisy,

sometimes forgetting

responsibility

and accountability

to others

that accompanies

her.

Don’t tread

on me:

it’s my liberty

for me

to be as free

as can be

unless

I’m powerless,

which often

means

without means.

(or a woman,

or person of 

color;

or queer

or any other

minority

denied

liberty

because

it’s been

historically

otherwise

until

recently.)

But history

is being

written

anew 

with old

conventions

and oppressions.

It’s as though

some want

liberty

to be an old

statue.

They will 

demand

what

they please

ignoring pleas

that counter

their own

misperceived

threats

or preferences.

Their defenses

of god 

and liberty

(and possibly 

immunity)

are sculptures

of a culture

long dominant.

But liberty

stands

alone,

prominent,

as a definer

of human

beings.

Despite 

Putin’s

war 

to dominate

Ukraine,

the sane

understand

the demand

that liberty

is not merely

a statue,

but an evolution

itself

of self

and other

reckoning

from the beckoning

of the torch.

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.