Where are we headed?

    In an age of innocence it doesn't matter. Someone is watching out for us. These are not times of innocence nor is someone watching out. But first, let's ponder beauty before dissecting the latest from the beast!

     It's been a special year for Lana's heirloom Orchid Cactus. It was her mother's and since then offspring have been propagated. As if to celebrate the end of the drought,  it has been prolific this year.

    Bloom laden, this proud mother has been a source of wonder. There are relatives in the neighborhood-around front.

     Our fellow occupants of this blue planet create such pleasant moments. The frame below is a kind of "mixed media."

throw out the beast 

     Donald Trump cannot quit, be impeached, abducted by aliens, eaten by a Venus fly trap or turned into a fried chicken soon enough. The nincompoop is a menace to humanity. He has led us beyond the tall grass, to a place of danger. 

      As heads of state, scholars, analysts and historians have said in the past few days, the US is no longer the leader of the free world. Putin's man-toy, Russia's chief stooge, has created an opening for bully boy Vladimir to take advantage of. The US has lost credential, power and influence in the months since the sexual predator took office. It just got worse.

      Withdrawal from the Paris Accords-part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is dangerous to our children and grand children. It came after 195 nations signed the accord, after many lobbied the US to retain the high ground and after the Pope personally lobbied the nincompoop to continue to work on greenhouse gas emissions. The stooge said he didn't want other nations laughing at us. What? WTF?!  That is exactly how nations will respond to him. We are now in league with Syria as being opposed to the accord. 

     Here's a clue as to how out of touch he is. His primary advocates to vacate the accords were reichminister Steve Bannon and the friend of polluters and EPA opponent, now EPA chief, Scott Pruitt. Secretary of State Tillerson and first daughter Ivanka argued that to leave would be a mistake. The outsider creeps trumped the ultimate insiders. 

     These policy blunders are serious but so is the social carnage that has come under the beast. The outrage of the Portland train violence and the racist slurs being directed at LeBron James are only two of this week's examples of how  trump's world works. He empowered the worst of America to act out their evil. 
      Did you see where 16 White House staffers have been given dispensation to work on policy matters they handled as lobbyists or to work with former private sector colleagues. Conflict of interest? It's a foreign term to a real estate hustler with a history of screwing partners. 

      Nick Kristof said it well in the New York Times

"Today's White House seems to stand for noting loftier than crony capitalism and the scapegoating of refugees, Muslims and immigrants. To me, Trump "values" are primarily narcissism, nepotism and nihilism."

     Think for a moment about that. Nihilism! In movie and novel scenarios vain, stupid and evil leaders gain power and lead to destruction, in some cases on a global scale. Folks, this reality TV star is worse than our bad imaginings. He is truly a destructive force. He has to go! 

     See you down the trail.

ALL THREE RINGS

ladies and gentlemen

boys and girls of all ages....

Presenting the "golden shovel" at a Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus
Your blogger is in the red hat-details below

     

    The sun was not up yet when my mother woke my brother and me and told us to get dressed because they had a surprise for us. Groggily we obliged and got into the car. After a short drive, dad pulled into a field near a rail road track where a line of train cars had stopped. From a block or two away we could hear and see commotion in the dawning gray light.

     Elephants were being led down a ramp from one of the cars as dozens of people scurried about. In the next hour we watched as poles were set, tents were erected, cages, equipment, rigging, and other paraphernalia were put in place. The circus had come to town. It was in fact the Greatest Show on Earth, as signage on the train, tents and outbuilding indicated.

     It was the early 50's and the beginning of my love affair with the Circus. As lad I saw the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey extravaganza a few times. One year I got to talk with the World's Tallest Man, another time I got spritzed by a clown. I held by breath as the men and women on the flying trapeze flew somersaults above our heads. I worried about the man with the chair in the Lion cage, thought the women on horses or elephants were the essence of beauty, laughed at the antics of the clowns as my head spun trying to take in all three rings full of color, dazzle and spectacle. We did not get our first television for a few years yet. It was a different world.

     Fast forward, decades. As a correspondent for a syndicated television magazine we found ourselves on the train with a Ringling Brothers traveling show. They put us up close to the clown cars. Despite the antics, gags and laughs we still had time to see behind the grease paint and glitz. Circus life was hard, constantly on the go, living either on a train or in a recreational vehicle, caring for the gear, animals, making repairs, putting up or taking down, trapped in a kind of traveling tube, day after day. It was a job, unique, but still work.

member of the Flying Farfans acrobatic team

photo courtesy of Costumdesignplans.com

    Later the Big Top began to give way to arenas and stadiums and week long stays. One year, as I anchored at an NBC affiliate, I made arrangements to take my eldest daughter "back stage" to Clown Alley to be made up in costume so she could march in the Clown Parade.  It was not until we there and ready to be costumed that she told me she was terrified of clowns. She'd never let on, until we were in a chair, ready for the paint. As I recall it was one of the Flying Farfans who offered to sit with Kristin as I joined the parade. I quickly learned my job was to walk behind the elephants and keep the path clean. You might be surprised how active the lower digestive track of an elephant can be in the short circuit around three rings. 

     The picture at the top finds me in the red hat being presented my keepsake Golden Shovel, for services rendered. I still have that shovel and have used it for years. Strong, durable and for the long haul. I am sorry The Greatest Show on Earth itself could not have been more durable, but for almost 150 years it not only offered the adolescent dream of running off with the circus, it presented spectacular, live entertainment without peer. Hollywood, Cirque du Soleil, virtual reality, television, games and big time sports have changed the world, rendering the Greatest Show on Earth a bit of an anachronism, but there is nothing like a 3 Ring Circus.

sunset on dignity

    Without comment on policy or politics, the departure of President Obama comes with a loss of dignity and class.  The Obama family has graced our national stage with a sophistication that we will miss. The administration is the first in modern history without a hint of scandal. They have conducted themselves in an exemplary manner. They did so in the face of rude and racist commentary and a bitter political environment. Remember how tough it was when it began with the pledge by a jack ass that the republican's primary job was to guarantee a failure of the administration? Despite what one may think of his politics, Obama served  as a man of character and gravitas. Get ready for a change.

     Speaking of a circus! It remains hard to believe that a man who began his political rise by accusing President Obama of not being born in the US and who himself is a sexual predator, serial liar, tax cheat and a narcissist could get anyone to vote for him. How people could suspend the truth about the vulgarian to think he is capable of leading this nation is frightening. Well, stand back, the swamp is coming to the White House.  

     See you down the trail.