You know it's different when...

 You know things have changed when: 

            Snoop Dog and Peyton Manning are team mates covering the Olympics

            A French new "new wave" cinema turns Paris into the "Opening Ceremony" featuring a menage a trois and a building with windows full of a beheaded Marie Antoinette as Olympic images

            When a Presidential campaign is waged as a battle of memes and regarded as entertainment. (And when media covers it that way)

              When MAGA has the old white man with signs of mental instability as the fuhrer. (And when he is a winy old felon)

You know it's crazy time when:

             The winy old felon drones on about doing away with elections because he will "fix things." (And when crowds who call themselves Christians are all in)

You know it's "Come to Jesus" time when: 

            Christians who are not right wing evangelical dominionists are blowing the whistle and calling a cult a cult. 

            When Christ followers remind the world it is about love and acceptance-not hate, judgement and dictatorships.

            

    You know there is hope when:

            A man puts nation above self, patriotism above ambition, and listens to the people. (Joe Biden will remembered as a great American President and honored public servant.)

            When millions of US citizens are signing on to the Presidential election in record setting ways. (And when millions more are now looking at the MAGA criminal network and laughing at how pitiful, pathetic and pathological they are!)

    It will be even better when:

            The rest of us find a way to build bridges, renew friendships, and express understanding to the poor victims of MAGA and Fox brainwashing, lies, conspiracies, manipulation, and anti American cultism. They too have hopes, dreams, and hurts. 

            When people understand that tolerance, respect and human dignity is for everyone. (And when people understand Love is an action and a choice!)

     See you down the trail.  

 

A Bipartisan Win Puts MAGA on the Ropes

 

        The view is clear. Bipartisan works.

        American citizens and the perception of us around the world got a measure of grace when a bi-partisan coalition passed a package of national security programs.

         112 Republicans, the MAGA extremists, have been pro Putin obstructionists taking their orders from the Russian patsy Trump. They were beaten up when Democrats and 101 Republicans declared 311-112 that vital aid would be sent to Ukraine as the suffering nation endures Putin’s brutality, war crimes and attempt to destroy the nation.

 

        There was a time in America when traitorous notions like those of MAGA would be scorned and efforts would be undertaken to drum them out of government. Today they openly avow to break the democratic republic while their master sits in criminal court facing the first many felony charges. Bi-partisanship came to the rescue and again reminded us that when reason prevails, congress can be effective. 

        The MAGA crowd has taken a hit. Not yet washed up, but foundering. Republican leaders say they have fallen prey to Russian propaganda and may be losing power. Trump is weakened as he sits in a courtroom and hears the accusations spoken. He’s left to whine to cameras and it’s an old act. His night time rallies, where he is bathed in make up and hidden beneath a red cap, are stale refrains increasingly punctuated with verbal slips and obsure riffs that have caused professionals to question if his cognitive skills are in steep decline. He is an out shape aging man play acting like a tough guy. He is tough only to the coop of low lifes, bullies and sleaze who are the MAGA caucus who readily go to their knees for him. 

        This vote and bi-partisan majority isolates how out of touch MAGA is with most Americans on national security. 

        And what do the crimes against humanity gang in Russia say? Here's a quote from 

 DmitryMedvedev after the vote to send more aid to Ukraine-something he counted on the Republicans blocking...

    "...I can't help but wish the USA with all sincerity to dive into a new civil war themselves as quickly as possible. Which, I hope, will be very different from the war between North an South in the 19th century and will be waged using aircraft, tanks, artillery, MLRS, all types of missiles and other weapons. And which will finally lead to the inglorious collapse of the vile evil empire of the 21st century-the United States of America."

        That is pretty much the sentiment of the MAGA crime syndicate. Why any American, despite how right wing they may be, can support the anti-American MAGA is beyond me. Brain washing, blind zeal and old fashioned stupidity are evidently Republican tools of the trade. 

    

        Stay informed. Stay free. Act like it.

        See you down the trail.

Waiting, In the Interval

        Between seasons. Between change. Between atmospheric rivers. Between the America we knew and where it goes. We live in the interval.   

        On the California central coast this is the season some call Irish.

    If you know Ireland, you know this is an imposter. It is reminiscent, however. 

    Just being California winter is plenty good. From the perch here, it seems entirely too many citizens are loosing their grip.

    This includes the Alabama Supreme Court and at least 6 activist US Supreme Court Justices, all of those who have surrendered heart and mind to the MAGAban, those who give comfort to Russia and their mad czar, and those want to kill the almost two-and-a-half century experiment in a democratic republic. 

    We are between sanity and them. 

    If the MAGAban sycophants were to gain control, we likely would slip into a struggle that no one deserves. That we need to address these realities is a signal  we are in descent. 

       There is much about this America that is troubling; beliefs that are badges of ignorance gone malignantly arrogant. Uneducated and now unhinged. 

       The hijacking and the weaponizing of faith is misbegotten. Christian Nationalism, the atrocity of Hamas, and Netanyahu's abuse of the history of the Jewish state to conduct a war of genocide are three footmen of hell. There is plenty of evil creeping about.

        Nations respond to attack, but a counter attack that targets civilians, and ignores pleas for restraint is a case of two wrongs do not make a right.

        Authoritarianism, theocracy, and a new feudalism are active threats and sadly too many are poorly educated and/or manipulated to understand how they have become tools. 

        Again Russian agents are manipulating US citizens and attitudes. The MAGAban Republicans are part of the attack. They also put our children and grand children at risk of going to war to stop the aggression of the same Russian czar they support. It is madness.

        We stand between continuing the struggle to realize our aspirational promise or a regressive mania that seeks to discard human rights, freedom of thought, choice, belief and expression. 

        The poisoning of faith is insidious. We have seen it before. Dietrich Bonhoeffer a Lutheran minister was an outspoken critic of German Nationalism and the rise of the fascists. He was executed by the Nazi government. 

        Bonhoeffer asked humanity to think deeply and weigh the consequence of what is said, thought and believed. "Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are."

        Be it a philosophy, faith, or a personal code requires examination, giving respect, and thinking of others. This is more diligent than being a follower, scrolling your screen, posting emojis or rants. It requires getting out of echo chambers and silos.

    Look closely and you will see in Christian nationalism, Christian Trumpism, and MAGAban Nationalism, the seeds of the destructive evil that coopted faith, churches and the German regime.

     Things change. We can make choices. Big decisions are ahead.

       We live in the interval.  

        See you down the trail.

Israel As Warning...

 

    In the tragedy that is Israel and Gaza are implications the US should be chilled by.

    Israel's intelligence and security failures are rooted in the Netanyahu right wing coalition. His own worst intentions are abetted by extremists in his government. It's a bad mix and they've been on an authoritarian track, trying to weaken the Supreme Court, with too much fixation on West Bank settlers and those issues, as well as staving off what has been a national uprising. Serious distractions and they now recoil from slaughter. They must square it with their personal and national soul that they too are responsible for the brutality and blood bath. They lost focus.

    American Intelligence executives tried to send warnings about activity in Gaza. The Netanyahu coalition's most deadly sin is being so out of alignment with the will of the Israeli majority, caused by the unholy coalition's goal of holding onto power just to have power. Sound familiar?

    Netanyahu's corruption charges were trouble enough, but the extremists he has bedded stained and poisoned a government that more than any has fought to maintain it's existence, legitimacy and it's own worst demons. They were weakened by their own hand and failed at being resolute and alert.

    That almost sounds like a US story.

    A twice impeached, 4 time indicted insurrectionist sociopath liar, who threatens to be a "president of revenge" who will change how America government works could be in a position to be elected. That frightening possibility speaks to the inherent danger in our own nation including the crippled intellect of US citizens with the right to vote and who could find a way to work the electoral college to put a deranged and dangerous man back in office. 

    The MAGA party has poisoned the republican party and has made the US House of Representatives inoperative at a time when our own financial existence and   security demand action. They are breaking the government, with intention. They are weakening us.

     Our national security leaders talk about the instability and ignorance of Trump when he was commander in chief. 

    Scalise and Jordan are men with such repugnant personal flaws that their authoritarian and anti democracy politics have to take second place in why they are too whakadoodle to be House speaker.

    The same anti American forces are trying to undercut aid to Ukraine. I have written previously of an intelligence brief in which I participated shortly after Russia invaded. Intelligence officers from the US, UK, Canada and France said Putin's strategy would be to outlast US and western resolve. He counts on on the US giving up. His agents in the republican party, the insurrectionists and anti democracy caucus are working to stop our assistance of Ukraine. That could be deadly.

    History teaches what happens when an invading force like Russia, or a Hamas, or a Hitler led Germany are not stopped. Posts here 5 and 6 years ago, drawing parallels of the rise of German and Italian fascism to the take over of the Republican party and the rise of the MAGA cult drew criticism from some. I think more people have come around to understanding the warning.

    When we look at Israel, now at war, and at war with itself too, we should see other warning signs. 

    See you down the trail.

Truth in America-Battle Lines are Drawn

 

        The more perfect Union, Justice, domestic Tranquility, the common defense, the general Welfare and the blessings of liberty, the very raison d'etre enshrined in the Constitution, are in doubt and the people of these states are not United. 

    All is at risk, in danger and under attack because of lies. In January 2021, the US Capitol is a fortress, on defensive footing after four years of assault.

    As power transitions, the future of the Republic demands a full investigation of the insurrection. A national commission, such as those that investigated  9/11, the Kennedy Assassination, the Roberts Commission on the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, and other national trauma should be instituted. There is much to learn.

    The deadly insurrection appears to have had inside help from republican house members and/or staff. Capitol Hill police officers appear to have been complicit. Federal investigators have already identified police and sheriff department officers from across the US as being active in the assault. The truth of these insinuations needs to be learned.

    Aside from prosecutorial and national security threads to be followed, the commission would document the enabling social, political and cultural influences that undergird and created the foundation for the most heinous attack in US history.

    As the people who inherit the constitution and who are now responsible to maintain the democratic republic we must act forcefully against all bad actors, no matter where the trail leads.

    One of my heroes is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who died for his role in trying to end the rise of the fascism and authoritarianism that spawned the Holocaust. Generations of Germans have confessed and lamented how Hitler's Nazi movement could and should have been stopped by German citizens, rather than enabling a mad narcissist to turn a full nation to evil. They believed the lie. The risk of not seeking the truth is grave. 

    Those Americans who believe the false claims of a desperate and demonstratively insane Donald Trump must understand it is about more than politics. They need to know the depth and expanse of the Trump deception, distortion and anti American behavior. For the well being of the nation and themselves, they must come to accept the truth.

     Trump's supporters on Capitol Hill must acknowledge they were wrong. It would be an affirmation of the sanctity of the separation of powers and the Constitution for those in the House and Senate to be removed and charged as insurrectionists and seditionists. It appears such a movement may be mounted in both chambers.  

    There are calls for remembering the January 6th attack on the capitol and attempted coup as we remember 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. The more we learn of the violent orgy of the Trump mob, the more egregious it becomes.

    The republican party is presently infested with cowards. As William Saletan wrote, "Republicans who were in a multi year frenzy over Benghazi are now downplaying insurrection at the Capitol." You saw that evidenced in the Impeachment debate.

    There's a mitigating circumstance, and while it is not a pass for their continued support of Trump, it speaks to the vile influence and toll he has spawned. People, politicians and state officials targeted by Trump now need security. Some republican House members say they feared for their lives if they voted for impeachment. Family members of the incoming administration are under protection from Trump supporters. State capitols and state officials have been threatened by republicans. 

    Since the day of his announcement Donald Trump filled America with lies, hate and fueled division. The republican party sold its soul to the only president to be impeached twice,  a man who has done the bidding, willingly or otherwise of the wily Vladimir Putin. Trump has presided over brining America to an all time low.

    The tide has changed, but millions are brainwashed. They will be resistant. When members of congress were hidden away, sequestered in tight quarters as the blood thirsty mob rampaged the Capitol, republicans in the group refused to wear masks, turning the terrifying experience of hiding for safety into a super spreader event. Members of the republican caucus have been seen shoving and blowing through the newly installed metal detectors. That is ignorant and abusive.

    The republicans are at war. Will Trump fascism and mindless loyalty dominate, or will those of reason, principle and belief in America wrestle control of the party their way.

    Democrats will continue to walk the tension line between their progressive wing and the centrist position of Joe Biden and the predominant caucus.

    Other things are changing. Corporate donors have blacklisted republicans who supported Trump. Trump's brand is on the way to being worthless. Josh Hawley, who thought he was an heir to Trump nation lost a book contract, and is being sued by Hallmark for funds they contributed.

    Mike Pence, who I knew when he was an unsuccessful congressional candidate and small market radio host missed an opportunity to be heroic and to be forever remembered that way.

    His refusal to activate the 25th Amendment, because his ambitions lead him to reason he can absorb the MAGA millions for his own presidential aspirations is delusional. The Pence tragedy speaks to ill placed faith of Trump nation and the broken republican party.

 

    These not no so United States must work its way back to a place where governance, and public good supersede political advantage, ideology, vanity and the souless opportunism of people like Trump, Cruz and Hawley. 

    There may soon be legislative punishment for Trump minions like McCarthy, Gosart, Gaetz, Jordan and 140 others.      To some their actions were sedition.  

    Most of us live far from the levers of power but US citizens are participants never-the-less. This history making era will be  infamous. It has been a time of division and pain. There is time for family members, friends or associates who have been on the low road, believing the big lie, to wake up, to see the truth.                      

    Society, generations hence, will study this time of infamy. Descendants will see photos or video clips of those who were part of a movement that worshipped a lie and were ignorantly part of an effort to destroy the United States. These Trump lovers and Republicans were played for suckers by a fraudster lunatic. History will have the last word. 

    There is a saying in several idioms and of various "origin," Jeremiah, Jesus, John Heywood in 1546,  and Jonathan Swift in 1713. It speaks to us in 2021.

    "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

     See you down the trail.