What’s It Gonna Be?

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The Supreme Court ain’t so supreme, of late.

Maybe it has always benefited from a certain undeserved mystique- its members aren’t gods, after all, just human beings tasked with important work. Justices over the years have produced many landmark decisions seemingly based on a sincere and fair treatment of testimony and applicable law, even charting new ground from time to time, especially when it comes to human rights and bodily autonomy.

Lately, though, there seems to be some backsliding. More suspicion, more doubt, more finger pointing in the direction of a hand-picked conservative majority on a mission to, oh, I don’t know, tighten things up, bring us back to a “better” place that pleases straight, white Christians everywhere.

In the midst of the Trump mess, the court seems to not want to stick its neck out and abide by the 14th Amendment provision of forbidding insurrectionists from running for office. Though he hasn’t been accused yet, many know what Trump did and who and what he really is, and how dangerous he has become.

So maybe it comes down to how closely the court adheres to the letter of the law, along with its efforts to reel in the temptation to react to certain public sentiment, and to what many are seeing with their own eyes: Trump running roughshod over, and even making a mockery of certain norms that have long served as guardrails.

Sometimes it looks like nothing can be done to make him go away.

Drastic Measures, Sometimes

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Daily writing prompt
What villain actually had a good point?
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I’m not that familiar with TV and movie villains, or real villains, for that matter. Well, except for people like Hitler and Jim Jones and Vladimir Putin. I know that, in general, people we consider evil are convinced of their own “good” intentions, their own beliefs and zeal for drastic measures and certain results. I suppose one could argue that the “villain” moniker is a matter of perspective, but I don’t believe that is relevant in every instance.

Anyway, the one person who did come to mind is from V for Vendetta. V at one point says that people should not fear their governments, but governments should fear their people. Or something to that effect. I seem to recall hearing this being spoken lately, or seeing it in print, and find it to be of some relevance, given what we’re facing here in the U.S.

Living under the thumb of a repressive, oppressive dictator wannabe has led to anger and revolt. Donald Trump appears to relish the role of troublemaker and fearless leader, and can easily be dismissed as a shallow pretender who never grew up, who always needs to get his way. But he wields great power and as such commands our attention– even if it’s the people around him, lurking in the shadows, who are more scary and focused and zealous.

In any event, such hard-headed conviction and delusions of grandeur exact a toll on the person harboring such beliefs, and eventually the oppressed win the day. Even if, agonizingly, it takes a while.

Relentless

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The news comes in waves.

Mitch McConnell—is he alive, or at least conscious? Is Putin as evil and crazy as he wants to make us think? Is Trump going to blow up NATO? Did Trump interfere in the process of getting Mr. Balogun back for the Belgium match? That worked out, well, about as expected. Balogun’s presence didn’t matter. In fact, it may have messed with the U.S. players’ mojo, and all Trump really did was to hand Belgium additional motivational fodder and confirm us to be the bad guys the world already suspects us to be.

Did the latest news about Graham Platner’s checkered past hit of its own accord, or was this a calculated, well-timed Republican ploy to drag a potential challenger to Susan Collins even deeper into the mud? If so, how much did the woman who came forward with the allegation get paid?

Politics is indeed a slimy, cutthroat business, and humans can so readily indulge the enterprise. To add to the mess, Donald Trump is so damned inspirational in this regard.

Enough Already

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Daily writing prompt
Is a little chaos actually good for us?
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Honestly, only as a frame of reference, only as it provides contrast to moments of calm and relative peace. I’m tired of chaos, since that’s pretty much all we’ve been getting since 2016.

There’s a difference between the chaos of hosting a houseful of families with children for a long weekend and the constant drumbeat of manufactured drama and insolence and blatant incompetence of a second Trump term. Both come with a shelf life, but the former is a bit easier to tolerate.

I’m at the point where it’s a big No to even a small amount of chaos. I’m tired of it, I abhor it, at least in the context of daily dealing with this gaggle of shysters and low-lifes we loosely refer to as “leaders.”

It does make for some interesting viewing if one is watching a World Cup match, though.

Walk East (or West) ’til Your Hat Floats

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In an old post from July 5, 2020, I was doing a post-mortem on Donald and Melania’s appearance at Mt. Rushmore the previous day, where he gave one of his screeds dressed as a speech in front of 7500 maskless disciples who thumbed their noses at the pandemic in order to come and listen to their fearless leader spend who knows how long spewing more Milleresque poison.

I added at the end that Gutzon Borglum, the brainchild of the landmark, was associated with the KKK. This has gotten me thinking about the messiness of our history and how we grow up learning only parts of stories about places like Mt. Rushmore, often excluding how the local native American tribes, for example, didn’t want a gigantic monument to Manifest Destiny and four white guys, two of whom were slave holders, emblazoned on the side of a mountain on what they considered sacred land.

That whole scene from six years ago was surreal, and now Trump is back, elected to office for a second time, and still dropping hints about wanting to have his face added to the four who are already there.

Sure, why not? It’s not even ridiculous anymore. It actually makes sense, if one understands such a thing to be just the latest attempt at distraction, another tactic that he hopes will get us off the Epstein scent.

Or maybe he’s finally going off the deep end.

Older and Newer

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective?
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I’ve mentioned this in different contexts, and it’s not a recent learning, but one that has led to significant personal reassessments. After reading Sapiens, by Juval Noah Harari, my view of religious faith changed. A certain doubt took hold. I suppose one could say that it was a mistake for me to pick up the book in the first place, but it was there to read and I had heard good things about it. It ended up changing my perspective on lifelong beliefs and practices. Or perhaps it was just confirming doubts I had already been harboring.

A more current revelation is that the 4th of July I’d prefer to observe has nothing to do with what’s going on in this country at the moment. The current leadership is useless and hateful and uninspiring. I am simply remembering and honoring the events and people associated with what went on in the late 1700s, when a group of leaders put their names on a remarkable document– an act of defiance that would have gotten them hanged if things had worked out differently. Such courage and conviction and imagination are nowhere to be found among this present-day hodgepodge of sycophants and pretenders.

Z land

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Daily writing prompt
What do you do to improve your sleep?
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Lately, I’ve started going to bed earlier. I also try to limit fluid intake after a certain time, in hopes of getting up less during the night. I don’t eat anything heavy after supper, maybe apple slices or dry cereal or a bowl of microwaved popcorn made in a Pampered Chef silicone family sized popper. I turn on one of those tall, rotating floor fans and keep it on low, just to get some air movement.

That’s about it.

Crispy

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Daily writing prompt
Hit 5,000 steps today and drop your achievement here — we’re cheering you on!
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Probably won’t happen today. I did have 14000+ steps on Saturday, when it was still hospitable for humans to be outdoors. So I’m gonna count that as having some in the bank… 🙂

Had a “feels like” temp of 116 here yesterday. More of the same today. And tomorrow.

Kudos to all who get it done today.

Something To Cheer About

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It will be interesting to see how deep they can go. Maybe they’ll get past Belgium and move on to the quarter finals. Their star scorer will be ineligible because of a red card he received in the Bosnia-Herzegovina match, so they’ll need a plan to compensate for that.

Belgium is tough, but one might dare think Destiny, aided by a home field advantage. In any event and no matter the outcome, it’s nice to see the U.S. have a team that seems legitimately competitive and scrappy, with a manager who seems like he’s all in.

I just hope Donald Trump doesn’t hijack the proceedings and make it all about him, which somehow feels inevitable. He best stay away, because if he shows up, it’ll be the usual kiss of death.

Seismic II

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This isn’t a mere difference of opinion, nor is it a manageable give-and-take between liberal and conservative or whatever labels can be slapped on someone’s political stance.

It is, rather, blatant awfulness on full display. It is abject failure and incompetence in need of being called out. This is about naming intentional evil, ignorance, deceit, neglect, self-interest, power grabs, delusions of grandeur, and deprived childhoods that have mushroomed into skewed worldviews and irrational hate.

We’re watching as this all plays out before us. And as abhorrent as many say it is, it just keeps happening. It’s a cancer, a toxic ooze that’s finding its way into cracks in the foundation.

Imagine the balls it takes to step into an administrative role with little to no experience and then behave as if everyone should bow in your presence. Every day the dynamic is one of bruised egos and kids in candy stores. In Donald Trump’s case, add bull in a China closet.

The folks at MS Now are apoplectic on a daily basis, taken aback by the bald-faced lying, the unabashed attempts at sabotage and destruction of long-held norms and Constitutional provisions. Meanwhile, the crew at Fox News is seemingly luxuriating in the afterglow of jobs well done, still wondering what all the fuss is about among “Dumbocrats,” yelling and swearing at Haitian immigrants to get the fuck out of America and return to a homeland that’s on fire with gang violence and rampant poverty.

No, this is nowhere close to a mere difference of opinion. This is more like watching the shining city on the hill being taken to the cleaners, being reduced to a smoldering pile of shattered dreams and empty promises, and not wanting that to happen.

Maybe, though, our dreams need to be made of sterner stuff than a chicken in every pot and some shallow, endless pursuit of… happiness?