How much, America?

    The scene just might be the most loathsome and repugnant ever to occur in the Oval office.

     American heroes Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, the surviving Apollo 11 crew, captured in the tempest as the rogue president walks back his walk back. 

     Those two brave men, who participated in one of humankind's great achievements, both of them now chasing 90 years, were miserably uncomfortable and needlessly and senselessly became chattel and collateral damage. It should never have happened.

      America and history owes them an apology for needing to endure the fetid drama that envelopes the deranged president. 

     Collins and Aldrin represent America at its best. The occupant of the White House, already considered the worst, simply corrupts and destroys. He had no business being in the presence of Collins and Aldrin. It would be a good thing if someone in leadership and authority issued an apology on behalf of the vast majority of US Citizens and the people of the world who see the president for what he is and who despise him and his behavior.

of that behavior....

      To my mind, one of the best uses of recording was the play back of the smug mugging he did, as his racist and nazi like mob broke forth in their hateful and truly anti American chant. There he was, looking left and looking right and smugly puckering as the hate crime went on for 13 seconds.

     Despite his weltering, all the world could see the lie.

not about politics or policy

     His mental illness makes him a danger in high office. Those who support him, pose a danger. Their combined lack of civility pose a danger. His and their racism pose a danger. His chronic deception makes him a danger. His stunted intellect makes him dangerous in high office. He has always been a cheat, liar, sexual predator, and arrogant. The sycophantic behavior of the bogus republicans is also a danger. It is enabling behavior.

     He is a clear and present danger. Heaven knows we are exhausted and frustrated as a nation. And we are divided: those who understand the danger and those who are the danger.

a meme to share

a moment of beauty

   Yet another magnificent orchid cactus bloom. Thanks for enduring another post about you know who. The world doesn't need another opinion, but some things need saying. 

And someday I want my daughters and grand children to understand, some of us did what we could to slake the evil of hatred, bigotry, prejudice, ethnocentrism and the destruction of civility and honor, to say nothing of the devastation of our environment. 

    See you down the trail.  

      

     

     

CHANGING HISTORY?

peace

     Gentle breeze, warming sun, resplendent nature. A quiet calm inviting deep breathing. 

    The timeless horizon of sea and sky is another good antidote to fatigue brought on by the furies of our day.

living by the gun

     As regrettable as the shooting in Alexandria is, it is an enactment of how a sizable portion of Americans think it should be. A "bad" man, in this case probably deranged by anger, is brought down by "good" forces. 
    The Alexandria shooting is a perfect axiom of the NRA advocacy that Americans should be armed. They are willing to accept the violence of Alexandria so good Americans can have unfettered, unrestricted full access to the Second Amendment-at least the way they spin it. They are wrong of course and they have manipulated the Second Amendment for cash, to further the mercenary aims of their sponsors, the gun industry. Still, the Alexandria incident is part of the NRA vision for America.
    We hope representative Scalise recovers and our thoughts are with his family. You should know Scalise has an A+ rating from the NRA. He has been active to make sure Americans are fully armed and he has worked to allow carry laws. He has fought every move to control the volume of weapons and the access Americans have to them. 

action-reaction

     In an NRA America their own lackeys including congressmen can be collateral damage, but that is how they would have it. 
     If Wayne Lapierre, the president of the NRA has a shred of decency he will be at the Scalise bedside and he will spend some of his nearly $1 million a year salary to help the Scalise family. Don't hold your breath.
     In an NRA America there could well be another angry gunman putting in a clip with Lapierre in mind. That's how it is in an NRA America where even their sycophants can be targets. Karma can be a bitch!

do we leave history alone?

    I was stopped the other night by something I heard on CSPAN and I still have not "unvexed" my mind.

    A group of historians were discussing how to regard Woodrow Wilson, a complex man, posing a multitude of issues. Reflecting the sensitivity of our age much of the discussion ran to his racism. One of the panel offered that a small aspect of a large and active life should not be the defining characteristic by which he or she is known.  

     The conversation digressed to how to regard our historic figures and the questions were many.

•  Should schools, buildings and especially dormitories be named for people possessed by "flaws"-at least "flaws" as seen by our generation? 
• Should statues to confederate officers, for example, be destroyed? 
• Is that revisionist? 
• Is it not a bit like what Isis has done? 
• Where do you draw the line?

      This area of inquiry is like a rabbit hole. There's much to be said about every aspect of the conversation. I watched to the end but the scholars reached no definitive consensus. 

open minded confusion

     While it is not wrong to entertain the questions and sensitivities of our time, it seems there must still be some way to mediate and tolerate history with truthfulness and full disclosure.  I'm not convinced contemporary American culture has found that method. A rabbit hole indeed and so I'm still vexed. 
     It proves once again, CSPAN may well be the most dangerous, and nutritional channel on TV. 

never has there been....

         The New York Times Frank Bruni said it well, "...to buoy his ego, they deface themselves..."

such a sickening seen    

     Watching the video of the Trump cabinet made me feel as I did when I watched the aberrant behavior of a criminal sexual psychopath in a day ward in a state hospital. He alternated between sucking his thumb, like a child, and grabbing and fondling his genitalia. It was disturbing, bizarre and I thought my role as a documentary journalist made be an observer of things too sick and too obscene to view.

      It was like that in seeing the Trump gang. Seeing the unprecedented ass kissing and weasel waltzing was nauseating. These people are sickos. They have no self respect. 

      When the President began with "Never has there been a President with few exceptions who has passed more legislation who has done more things than we've done...." any decent man or woman would have stood up and walked out or challenged him with reality or simply shut up.  

     My brother was the psychologist and therapist, but I tell you Trump is a mentally disturbed man. This goes beyond political revulsion. Yes he is a bloated, narcissist and either so ignorant or stupid as to be unqualified and contemptible, but he is a sick man who needs treatment. For these men and women who serve in the cabinet to have said what they did, in the manner they did, after his insane and/or lie filled preamble is nauseating. A low point. It is as if they encountered a poor soul undergoing a schizophrenic break and simply left him in the middle of traffic.

a troubled thought

      As troubling as it is to say this, I'm beginning to hope the Russians did in fact screw with the vote totals. That may be easier to accept than to know that, even though they are only a minority, millions of Americans voted for trump.

parting in scenic peace

Jacaranda trees in San Luis Obispo

linear order in rural Cambria

      See you down the trail.

Legitimacy?

    The scope of the American divide was clarified in California when Governor Jerry Brown defied the "alternative fact" reality of the Trump regime. It also cast new light on the questionable legitimacy of the new presidency.

    Noting California is the sixth most powerful economy in the world he said this state "is not turning back now, not ever."   He called for courage and persistence as California continues to work on climate change, health care and assistance to emigres.

    "We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy-truth, civility, working together-have been obscured or swept aside," the Governor said.
     He quoted the Woody Guthrie anthem, This Land is Your Land including an oft deleted verse,
       "Nobody living can ever stop me,
        As I go walking the freedom highway;
        Nobody living can ever make me turn back
        This land was made for you and me."

alternative legitimacy 

       A fact Kellyanne Conway or her boss can not deny is the minority status of the regime. Yes he was elected by the electoral college as is legal, but it is also true he was clobbered in the popular vote and it is true he was rejected by establishment Republicans. But the real factor as to his legitimacy or lack of it, is his disconnect between facts and the lies he spews. As he has done historically he denies reality. Many, if not all, of his followers believe him. They live in a fantasy land, constructed by deceit and ignorance.

        Most of his followers think unemployment rose under the Obama White House. It did not. There has been record job growth. He paints the bleak picture of America gripped by crime and carnage. Crime rates have dropped dramatically, despite the tragic mass shootings empowered by the NRA and its belligerent disregard of America. The economy is not in ruin, it has been on a record setting period of growth, following the near depression. There are more disconnects. In fact the lies are well reported but his supporters are disconnected from truth, they believe their liar in chief.

        Will those who supported him come back to reality? The man now refuses to release his tax returns though he promised to. He is moderating his hardline on deporting illegals. He railed at Goldman Sachs and used Hillary Clinton's connection to the firm as proof of her corruption. He has now designated 5 Goldman Sachs alumni as key members of his team.

        His team includes predatory lenders, crooks who made the life of his "ignored" supporters a hell.  There is the ever charming Conway who claims there are "alternative facts." Here's one, she was reportedly in a fist fight at one of the inaugural balls. How's that for class?  It appears his press spokesman Sean Spicer has saved his job, for the time being. After the weekend tantrum his first regular briefing was more civil and traditional though he too had trouble with facts. He refused too acknowledge that unemployment, as reported by his federal regime, is at a low of 4.7. Spicer said Trump doesn't look at statistics. 

      Perhaps the most festering problem is his bosses continued conflict of interest. What is at the core? There are credible sources who suggest that Trump is mentally ill, in the grips of a narcissism so powerful that he really doesn't know the truth or in his predatory mind doesn't think it applies to him. As he has said a few times he is next to God in ability. The ego maniac in chief may well be so far out of touch he is in fact a danger and at least illegitimate.  How many times can you lie at the rate he does and not be too sick to hold office?  

      The lies and disconnects are warning signs. Yet we live in the "post-truth" world where your opinion matters as much as the truth or facts. I used to think the dire pronouncements about what catastrophe he could bring were over started. Not now, now that so many devotees of the vulgarian refuse to believe the truth. He's perfect for the so called freedom caucus who want to destroy the government. He and they are a disease in the American body.

fresh and healthy

    

   

        Aside from the obvious success of California's economy and a Governor, respected by Republicans and beloved by Democrats the other good news is the ending of the 5 year drought.

     Growing up in Indiana I was used to hard rains, something I had not seen here on the California central coast until this year.

   In five days we had 6 inches of rain in our Phillippi gauge on the ridge. Our total for the year is almost 27 inches. In some places there is evidence of the saturation.

     As we move forward in these uncertain times I can't help but wish a man with the judgement, balance, vision, experience, governing skill, bi-partisan support and character of Jerry Brown was leading this nation. For those of you majority of Americans who worry about the miscreant freak who sits in the oval office, know this western Republic will have your back.

    See you down the trail.