It CAN Happen Here

In 2015, when Donald Trump announced his bid for the Presidency, there seemed little chance for this New York City business owner, who had spent decades dealing in real estate, hosting reality TV, and bankrupting his own casinos. 

But, as his popularity seemed to grow, it became alarming to some, those who know him well, those who know he has the conscience of a serial killer. Psychotherapists sounded the alarm, as did his niece, Mary Trump, whom herself is a psychiatric professional.

When Trump's "hot mic" moment from Access Hollywood was leaked, I thought that surely he was done now. I was so tired of the ignorance and bullying style he showed without remorse at every event. 

It seemed like a million days of the same speech:

"Lock her up", and "windmills cause cancer", and Trump groping and kissing the American flag on stage-it all sickened me and led me to believe he would never get elected. Americans wouldn't buy into this, I thought.

However, Trump did get elected and the next four years were a bloody nightmare! 

How did this happen?

And why on earth would people dismiss his craziness now? 

He, along with the Heritage Foundation's PROJECT 2025, have put in writing their fascist plans, on nearly a thousand pages that are free to download from their website. 

Their agenda includes taking apart many of the departments we rely on in our daily lives, such as the Energy department, the Department of Education, the EPA, and even our military! What seems uppermost in their minds is to fight all this "wokeness", and to establish a Christian theocratic government, concentrating most of its power in the Executive branch. 

They want organized school prayer, though Trump obviously has not read a Bible, ever. They DON'T want their kids to get vaccines or wear masks during a pandemic. Hell, they don't  want ANY child doing that and they loudly let it be known. 

Fast forward to present day...

After losing the 2020 Presidential election, and after having some SIXTY court cases about the election dismissed for lacking sufficient evidence of fraud, Trump carried on with the Big Lie, which he repeats to this day. As a matter of fact, very recently Trump said in more than one interview, he will NOT guarantee he will accept the 2024 election results unless he wins. He set up the 2020 election lie fiasco months in advance,  predicting it would be "rigged", before the conventions were even completed. On January 6th , 2021, Trump told a mob to march to the Capitol, where electoral votes were to be counted, and "fight like hell or you won't have a country!"

Adding more fuel, Rudy Giuliani shouted "How about trial by combat?!!" He was most enthusiastic that day and his ardent MAGA fans/cult members were too! Were they ALL drinking like Rudy?! I have to wonder...sigh.

 OK. On to Dobbs! 

Today, women do not have a guaranteed right to reproductive healthcare in the Constitution's right to privacy clauses (4th and 5th Amendments) or in the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment, regarding their own bodies according to Samuel "I Hate Our Flag"  Alito's written  majority opinion. What this ultra-right wing Supreme Court did was to take away rights from our daughters that our GRANDMOTHERS had! Until Congress codifies abortion rights, women and girls will continue to suffer at the hands of the orange tinted man who appointed THREE of the most right wing justices sitting, out of the six Conservatives on the bench! How did this happen?!

The "how" of it will be a case study in political science classes for years to come. But, what to do to stop it is  the immediate, more urgent concern.

Now, it is up to US to hold the MAGA right wing and frankly, the news media, accountable for the misinformation they spread on a daily basis. 

It is beyond frustrating to hear the speculation on right wing news and now, even historically liberal media sources such as the New York Times, about Biden being slow, old, and ineffective. Any eighty-one year old who can fly all over the world,, participating in meetings and summits with other world leaders, is on top of his game! His CNN debate performance is far less important, in my opinion, than how he performs the functions of the job he is tasked with. (So far, he has accomplished much more than his opponent had in his four years.)

Meanwhile, just watch Trump's rallies and listen to him speak. Electric boats and sharks, Hannibal Lector, rappers with felonies, January 6th "heroes and patriots", and on and on. It's the same speech everywhere he goes. He never talks about actual issues and policies. He still does not understand that those importing goods pay tariffs, not the country the goods come from! Those tariff costs are passed on to the consumer, thus, you and I pay tariffs-and Trump wants ten percent on every imported product! 

When he met with business leaders recently, they were baffled by his confusion and scattered thoughts. When he proposed the corporate tax rate should be lowered from 21% down to 20%, they asked why 20 and Trump answered it is a " round number". Huh?!

But, the worst part of the Trump agenda, as well as Project 2025, is the stripping of established civil rights they suggest we need. No, we don't! 

We need good public schools, not an end to the Department of Education. We need ready access to  women's reproductive healthcare, including contraception and abortion services. We need for every citizen to be able to marry whomever they want among consenting adults. We need workers' rights to be respected and for liveable wages to be paid. We need affordable, quality childcare and preschool. We need to protect Social Security and Medicare.

MAGA offers nothing like this. Their emphasis is on creating a Judeo+Christian form of government that excludes more of us than it includes. Emphasis will be on religion and ideology, not civil rights nor finding answers based on science and reall data. It may have 2025 in its title but they want an America from 1950, when bashing gays and lynching blacks was not unusual or concerning to many people, and was not discussed at the kitchen table. At least one MAGA candidate recently said he'd like to go back to when women couldn't vote!  

To think this is not a threat is to be naive about just how wicked the MAGA agenda is. If you think it can't happen here, think of Hitler and Mousolinni, both democratically elected but once in office, they took over their governments completely. Victor Orban in Hungary was elected, then changed their laws to allow him a lifelong dictatorship. Xi in China isn't as surprising but he has made himself dictator for life, as well. 

Do you honestly think with our current Supreme Court and the MAGA wing of the GOP ( most who still call themselves Republicans have embraced MAGA) that this could never happen here?!

Think again. It can and eventually will, if we do not remain vigilante in  protecting our democratic institutions. The answer to our problems is not to burn this experiment to the ground and replace it with a fascist "strongman", especially one as uneducated and frankly, malevolent as Donald Trump. 

Personally, I'll take Biden, the slow version or the "jacked up Joe" FOX news tries to spin. At least he doesn't want to be the next dictator in the world!

President Biden has been known to fall now and then, but he has never failed to rise again. He is more experienced and wiser, with better qualifications than any other candidate for 2024. Looking domestically, and on the world stage, having been decades in the Senate, two terms as Vice President and nearly one complete term in the Oval office, no one should be thinking of tossing Joe Biden.

If anyone should be thrown out, it is those who promote and protect the felon and authoritarian dictator wannabe, Donald J. Trump. Toss him, the Heritage Foundation, and Project 2025.

You'll be glad you did.

 

Do You Get It Now?

Trump was not a Republican. He used to be pro-choice and said he would allow a trans-Miss Universe when he ran that pageant. NOW, he is right in lock step with MAGA, Mons For Liberty, and others bullying them, and trashing reproductive rights.

Trump has used mail-in ballots. NOW, he says they're invalid, should be banned and says they make it too easy to steal an election.

Trump said he would fix illegal immigration with a wall. What he actually did was add to the existing wall, NOT extending it far from where it was. He also suggested putting sharks in the Rio Grande. He said separating families would discourage others from coming here-people fleeing death squads and the violence of drug cartels!

Speaking of drugs, President Biden has seized four times as much fentanyl at the border than Trump did. Biden has also deported more illegal immigrants than Trump did!

 A bipartisan bill was ready to be passed and signed recently and then Trump said no, don't pass it. That was the end of the most comprehensive border legislation in decades.

NOW, Trump is selling snake oil wrapped in a Bible,"endorsed by Trump", in partnership with Lee Greenwood, a country music star I used to like! A few years ago, Trump was asked his favorite Bible verse. He refused to share that, talking as quickly as I've ever heard him-"It's very personal, I love the Bible, the Art of the Deal is my second favorite book, next to the Bible but no ,I won't say a verse because it's all very personal"...blah, blah ...In other words, he has not read the Bible he "endorsed"!

SO, DO YOU GET IT YET?

Trump takes credit for overturning Roe V. Wade and says women love him. He was found guilty of sexual assault and defaming his victim and he says women love him.

He retained too secret documents illegally and now says they belong to HIM. No, they do NOT!

The thing everyone needs to "get" is that Trump will say any outrageous thing, commit any brutal act, as long as he gets what he wants, which is mostly revenge at this point. He has said he would bring "retribution". He has said if he loses, it'll be a "bloodbath".

I don't know about you but his retribution won't lower my rent or put food on my table. Trump's personal resentments are not my problem, nor yours. His lies are not welcome, any more than his grifting is.

DO YOU GET IT?

 It's time to understand what Trump really IS and vote accordingly.

 

 

Death of a Dream

As I have watched events unfold in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel I have been genuinely shocked by the United States' response.

The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 was horrific in its brutality. Let's not mince words here. This was violence waged on civilians to achieve a political end. That is the dictionary definition of terrorism.

Hostages were taken to be used as pawns in a plan to  exchange Palestinian prisoners for them. In part, they've been successful in achieving that goal.

 However, the cost to the average Palestinian in the OPT has been devastating!

I have spent the past fourteen years going online to learn more about this conflict and to communicate with the actual people in it.

Their dream is simply to be free, to be equal in their rights, and to raise their families in a secure environment -the same as anyone else wants for themselves and their kids!

But, Israel has spent seventy-five years attempting to kill that dream, in the name of their own security. 

Israel has walled themselves off from the Palestinians, for the most part. The areas they want, for new Jewish settlements, they have simply annexed into their own borders, displacing people even in East Jerusalem. This was to be the capitol of a future Palestinian state-the same state Prime Minister Netenyahu now says he will never allow! All this is in violation of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.

Today, settlers in the West Bank(with IDF protection) are waging increasingly violent attacks on Palestinians and hundreds of innocent people are dead as a result. 

In Israel, Hamas killed some 1,200 people in their terror attack.

In Gaza, the Israeli military has killed over 30,000 people, two-thirds of whom have been women and children. Approximately 70,000 have been injured and now have a collapsed medical system trying to provide care. The Israeli's  complete blockade of even food, water and medicine has caused a humanitarian crisis that was quite avoidable. In other words, Israel is waging violence against civilians to achieve a political end. As I said, the dictionary definition of terrorism is exactly that!

The whole situation has been heartbreaking and I cannot help but feel angst toward my leaders, as I see them supporting a genocide of people I dreamed would be free some day.

It has reminded me of another unrealized dream I once had.

Shortly after I was married, I became pregnant with our first child. I was apprehensive about a baby coming so soon but I dreamed of what he or she would be like.

Unfortunately, I was involved in  car accident in my ninth week and I miscarried.

Months later, sitting in a psychologist's office, I asked how I could feel such grief for someone I had never really met.

This woman said to me "You are grieving for the death of a dream."

I had dreamed of a baby girl.

My counselor went on to explain that all of the pictures in my  mind of what this baby would look like, sound like, all the school plays I would see her in, the future bride she would be-all of that died when she died. 

Today, I see Gaza, all of Palestine, as a dream I am watching die. I have lost a friend there, a beautiful woman who taught school and painted as a way of resisting her occupation. She had children she told me she feared for. Another friend has been displaced with his wife and four young children. I have lost contact with him and worry for their safety. Still, another friend lost his sister, who was killed along with her husband, leaving four children orphaned, who are now left with no medicine, little food and even less hope. The extended families in Gaza, trying to care for whoever they have left, are desperately trying to keep these kids alive while they pray for a ceasefire.

But, one has to wonder, "Alive for what? What future is there?" I have no answer to that.

The Palestinian dream of a free and secure land of their own may not be realized anytime soon. Changing attitudes are evident around the world but here in America, Zionist  propaganda reigns supreme! President Biden just cut off all aid to UNRWA, based on unsubstantiated allegations by Israel that members of the aid organization helped in the October 7th Hamas attack. UNRWA is the U.N. agency charged with humanitarian aid, healthcare, and education for Palestinian refugees, not only in the OPT, but in Jordon and Lebanon, as well. Those people did not attack Israel, yet will be punished unjustly by this financial abandonment of  UNRWA.

The dream of a free land for the Palestinians seems to be less of a possibility every day. It is on life support at this point and the question for the U.S. is whether or not to pull the plug entirely. 

Stay tuned! As the famous  Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over till it's over."

Fear

 That song comes to mind, the one that starts,  "I can't stand to fly...".

"It's not easy to be me", croons a band I don't remember the name of.

Not that being YOU is a simple matter. I'm sure it is just as complicated. The only real difference in all of us is that we have unique stories. Our issues and circumstances may differ, but we have very similar reactions and feelings about them. 

 The primitive brain sort of fascinates me. This is where the "fight or flight" instinct kicks in,  when we perceive a possible threat and react. It may not be Saber Tooth tigers we fight but our brains see the mortgage the same way,  maybe with less panic but with intense anxiety, at the very least.

Professor Robert Sapolsky, of Stanford University, has a lecture on YouTube called, "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" that I highly recommend! Dr. Sapolsky explains how the amygdala, (the primitive part of our brains) serves us well when outrunning a tiger. It was great for primitive humans, trying to outrun threats and fight mastedons. But in 2023, it gives you an ulcer over your house payment. Your primitive brain sees threats, but maybe not categories of threats!

However, we humans have a highly developed frontal cortex which we use to reason, explain,  and  guide us to decisions. 

Since we are all unique individuals, what I experience as "change", you may interpret as "threat". The cultures we grew up in, the generational differences and so on are sure to affect one's perceptions, as well. 

This makes me wonder about the U.S., our people, and our politics. 

When Donald Trump was running  for President, I thought there was no way people would actually vote for him in large numbers. I felt comfortable voting for a third  party candidate, feeling certain Hillary would win handily, anyway. 

Wow! That November day in 2016 was a real shocker! As I sipped coffee and stared at my computer screen, I wondered how this bigot and misogynist pulled it off!

Now that we have had two years of the Biden administration and the same two  years in both chambers, controlled by Democrats, we have seen things get done to help the American people. The infrastructure package worked out, clean energy, worker protection, and lowering drug costs will help many to have better lives. 

But, to the fearful, this doesn't look the same as it does  to me. To me, this is progress and it's good!

But, to Trump's loyalists, this help appears to be a political move. MTG was complaining in a video about high gas prices, wanting  Joe  Biden to use the power of the Presidency to lower fuel costs. After President Biden did this, by using our strategic oil reserve, MTG spoke angrily on the House floor about this, saying Biden's motives were  purely political, ahead of the midterm elections.

It's not that people like MTG are that upset about YOUR price at the pump. No, it is rather your decision at the ballot box that she wants to turn in her favor,.

Also,, if she says Biden is playing 

politics and abusing his power,  rest assured, it is that very power she craves, and does NOT have, which angers her so! Obviously, she feels threatened by power, unless it is HER OWN!

Well, folks, I could go on analyzing this but the bottom line is that if you see a thing to be  feared, let that primitive brain do its thing. However, it is important to remember that what you see as danger, I may see as simply an adventure to try, an interesting person I might talk with, or a new idea we haven't explored yet. Using the help of my frontal lobe, I have determined very few things actually threaten me. Drag queens, people of color, immigrants, gay married people (or gay single or widowed or divorced, as well)-none of these are a big deal, in my opinion. I also don't care what religious faith, if any, a person adheres to, as long as it does no harm.

It's called "live and let live", and it's excellent advice! 

Be not afraid, my fellow Americans, especially of one  another! We really ARE all in this together!

Believing the Unbelievable

 When I was in nursing school, I was assigned to a pediatric clinical rotation at one of our local hospitals. It was a pediatric floor, with an intensive care unit all its own, connected to the main inpatient area. It was a busy place, where I learned a great deal. 

One of the best lessons I learned was to not believe your own thoughts, at all times. If you have any doubt, double-check or consult someone else, to have it viewed with fresh eyes. What you believe may not, if fact, be reality!

HOW I learned that was through the mistake of a fellow student nurse. 

At the end of each clinical day, the nursing instructors met with their respective student groups, which consisted of approximately 6-8 students on each clinical floor. We would discuss our patients' cases, ask questions, and so on, per routine.  

But, on this particular day, we were discussing drug dosages and how to calculate them for pediatric patients, both by age and by weight. We had done this in class, calculating for adult examples, and figuring out IV drip rates. 

We listened, as our instructor gave us a hypothetical, where a three month old infant was to be given codeine. The number of milligrams per milliliter was given. The instructor told us the infant's weight and said to give "X" number of milligrams per kilogram of body weight. (By the way, this is where algebra class finally paid off!)

When we were done, most of us answered with the correct dosage on the first try. However, by one student's calculation, the infant would have been given one hundred times the correct dose. This would have been a fatal mistake! When she gave her answer with a straight face, the instructor tried to appear unfazed, yet what she said was deadly serious.

She looked directly at the student nurse and said, "What is frightening is not just that you got the dosage so wrong. It is MORE disturbing that you did not see your mistake. The number you came up with should have jumped out as a red flag as soon as you saw it."

I have never forgotten that. There have been plenty of times that I've asked a second nurse to double check my math, especially before drawing up an injectable medication, as they tend to be more potent and work more quickly, offering less chance to mitigate the impact of an error on the patient.

Today, as I watch members of Congress, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, say ludicrous things, I am reminded of my instructor's words. 

"It is MORE disturbing that you did not see your mistake."

When Greene said in a committee hearing that one elementary school received five BILLION dollars in Covid funds, that was LUDICROUS! 

But, Marjorie did not see her mistake; she didn't see that it's completely unrealistic that any one school would get that amount of money. 

When this Congresswoman was spreading QAnon conspiracies and talking about Jewish space lasers and Hugo Chavez, she didn't see her mistake. Instead, she has pulled back since then, but with the explanation that she was "taken in, like so many others". 

The most disturbing part in my mind is that Congresswoman Greene is NOT "like so many others". She is in a very powerful position in the House of Representatives and its so called "Freedom Caucus". She is in a position to create laws we all must abide by. She sits on important and powerful committees, including Homeland Security!

We must not elect leaders who can't see when their own ridiculous thinking needs a double check, a fresh set of eyes on the problem. 

Just as we couldn't ignore the danger of being cared for by doctors or nurses who can't consider that they may be making an error, we also can't be led by Congress men and women who don't have the wisdom to realize when they, too, are mistaken in their thinking. 

In healthcare, an error in thought or judgment could wreak havoc in one or a few people's lives.

A mistaken notion in Congress can affect over THREE-HUNDRED MILLION lives, and THAT is something we cannot afford to have go unchecked!

Naughty Republicans

 Republicans seem to be obsessed with all things sexual, homosexual, and transexual, while mixing in a disturbing fixation on children. I am scratching my head at all that, but who knows? Maybe in Florida, it is standard operating procedure in school to have a discussion about Mickey blowing Pluto in the cafeteria, right after naps. It is Florida, after all!

Today, after watching a few reports about Governor DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, I was thinking of the allegations against Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, namely that he paid to have a seventeen year old girl transported across state lines for the purpose of sexual activity. I am pretty darn sure that falls under “interstate trafficking”, “sex trafficking”,  and “human trafficking”, all three! Then, we have Madison Cawthorn, who feigns outrage over men "not being men". Yet, I was just looking at newly revealed photos of him, wearing black women's underpants and matching bra (very stylish). He was surrounded by several women. This is on the high heels of Cawthorn saying he has been invited to orgies at lawmakers' homes, earning him the wrath of his party's unhappy members.

     My brain screamed, "What the hell is going on?!"

    Looking back, I think most of the high profile sex scandals over the last several decades have involved Republicans, many of whom were self-proclaimed Christians. They have also been very much against equal rights for those in the LBGTQ community. Many have equated homosexuals with sex predators, especially pedophiles, or they have declared they are mentally sick in some way. Men who are transgender are seen as everything from “confused” to “perverted”, but never just “human”. 

Because we all tend to have short memories, I thought I would help out by remembering these stories for you. What follows are links to some of the more memorable Republican/Christian sex scandals. Feel free to share!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/roy-moore-who-lost-alabama-senate-race-after-allegations-sexual-n1019681

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/dennis-hastert-released.html

https://toilet-guru.com/larry-craig.php

https://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/29/lkl.ted.haggard/

https://baptistnews.com/article/southern-baptist-morality-activist-confesses-to-soliciting-prostitute/#.YmXANOjMIdU

That’s a start.

And, yes-I know about Bill Clinton. The girl, the cigar, the dress…I know.

Funny thing, though-she was nineteen.

As for the Clinton-Epstein connection, I lost a lot of respect for Bill on that one. I was not shocked, but disappointed, all the same.

Stay tuned, folks. We are mere months away from the mid-terms and it is bound to get even crazier. Buckle up!

 

Your Kid Can Pray

 

The 2021 "War on Christmas" is over. We are eleven blessed months away from the next one. I sigh with relief!

I like Christmas well enough. I was raised in the Presbyterian church, then was an active member of the United Church of Christ for over thirty years.

Thus, I can truthfully tell you that Christmas, when I was young, was a special holiday in our family. Once I had my own children, I enjoyed the Christmas lights, songs and activities we shared, now finding it even more fun.

But, I can honestly also say that I never thought those who do not celebrate that holiday were wrong. What on earth is a "war on Christmas" or a "war on Christianity"? As an American, I find it stunning that some of my fellow citizens would have school children be required to participate in public prayer. The talking point is that they want their child to be able to pray in school. 

Perhaps I misunderstood the "rules" when I went to public school, where we did not have prayers in any organized fashion. Back then, as I'm sure it is today, kids prayed in school. Trust me-I prayed a lot!

Before every important test, I prayed to God to let me pass. Before every presentation in speech class, I prayed to God to allow me to be fluent and to not faint. In every P.E. class, I prayed to God to "just let the ball go to the softball star (or basketball or volleyball...) and not me! Dear Lord, have mercy! This outfield ain't big enough!"

From my own vast experience, I am here to testify that kids prayed then and they pray now.

It took me a while to have The School Prayer Epiphany. But, one day as I pondered yet another online news article about this controversy, it hit me like lightening!

Your kid can pray in school. Between classes, at lunch, on the way to and from the school building itself, study hall, are all chances each day for your child to pray, if he or she chooses to do that. So, where is the issue?

That was the flash and the thunder in my much clearer mind! 

The issue is that some people want my kid to pray in school. Let me repeat that-my kid!

I was stunned at how simple it was and how long the whole thing had me confused. It was shameful, really. I try to be quicker than that!

Here's the bottom line: My kid can pray, just as yours can, if he so chooses. But, in a public, tax payer funded school, organized and/or public prayer is prohibited under our Constitution. Period.

Your kid can wear a cross necklace, carry a Bible, hold a rosary in hand, or none of the above in a public school. But, my kid can wear a pentagram necklace and carry a book on wicca, as well. In both instances, what cannot happen is that their teacher gathers them together to pray to Vishnu. Or Allah. Or Jesus. Or Satan. Or The Flying Spaghetti Monster! NO!

To summarize, I say "Merry Christmas", if I want to. But I don't subject others to some "Karen"  or "Ken" tantrum if they say "Happy Holidays". I have taught my children that their belief, religious faith or lack of any tradition at all, is their private matter. Actually, even Jesus said, in Matthew Chapter 6, to keep your prayer life private. 

Oddly enough, the simplest explanation of faith I've heard so far came from a young Pakistani man. In describing Islam, he said "The definition of Islam is "peace". It means finding peace on your journey toward God-and that is a journey that is personal. Each one has their own path." Isn't that beautiful?

It is sensible, tolerant, confident, and Constitutional.

Very beautiful, indeed!