Terrible, no good awfulness

This isn’t serious governance. It’s slash and burn, in-your-face idiocy. It’s distraction and cover-up, 24/7. It’s so bad and so negligent that it sometimes feels like a sick joke, like it can’t possibly be happening. Like who could be this ignorant, and so willing to carry through on the next cold-hearted, ill-advised thing?

Half the country has given permission, though, apparently deceived into thinking that Trump was actually capable, or some sort of miracle worker sent from God.

What brand of Christianity cultivates such gullibility and blindness?

For various reasons

Daily writing prompt
Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?

Any of the early years of our marriage, maybe my junior or senior year of college.

Though there was a lot of work to do, maybe my senior year at seminary, when the five of us traveled back and forth to Harper’s Ferry every Sunday and other times as well.

And I wish I could have back the last couple of days my mother was alive.

Window Dressing

What a useless prick. While many indicators trend poorly, he’s worried about his image, he’s pissed at someone about a picture or a magazine cover or a derogatory comment. He’s such a weakling, his priorities are so skewed that he worries more about his damned ballroom than about any relevant indicator of health or sickness in this country. A robust DJIA will only get him so far.

He’s got an administration full of whack jobs and lightweights, all beholden to him (imagine that—this time around, the main quality he looked for in filling positions was loyalty to him!). Nobody offers reality checks or speaks truth to him. They just burrow further up his ass.

Looking at the headlines this morning, it’s apparent that a storm is coming, and it’s coming for every sector of our economy, every aspect of our life together. Nothing is going to be left unscathed by the total failure of the Trump administration to take its job seriously.

The sham passing as strategy is obviously to portray the current shutdown as the Democrats’ fault, which is the furthest thing from the truth. No doubt, it’s a political hot potato, but the reality is that Republicans have lost their minds. They insist on draconian cuts to programs that millions of people depend on. Sure, they can offer up drivel, like those people are lazy, or most of them are illegal immigrants, or “This is America. Everyone strives and makes their own way!” But in reality, they are all out to lunch, intentionally clueless.

They can cast aspersions and throw numbers around until the cows come home, but most of us don’t need numbers anymore. We’re totally familiar with cold-hearted incompetence when we see it, and Trump has been the poster child for it since 2016. Actually, well before that.

And one more thing: he’s losin’ it.

2200

Time’s Up

How best to summarize…

Enough is enough. No more amateur hour. No more bruised egos and handicapped, emotional lightweights who carry lifelong grudges. No more unconscionable neglect. No more flakes and pretty boys who are only good at ignoring science, talking in cliches, and spouting the party line. No more ass kissers showering the Supreme Leader with contrived, smarmy compliments at every Cabinet meeting. No more shadow elites running the show from behind a curtain somewhere, who wield power because they’re filthy rich and not because they have anything important to say.

It’s time to deep-six the hijackers, send them packing, make it plain that we will not swallow what they’re trying to force feed us. The damage is being done, and we can’t let it fester any longer.

Laziness, incompetence, and hate cannot prevail. May the voting booth still be a viable solution.

Forever Young

Daily writing prompt
What does it mean to be a kid at heart?

I think it’s a commentary on the way many adults feel. Chronologically, someone may be 70 or much older, but mentally and emotionally they could still feel like they did when they were 20.

To be a kid at heart can mean that you as an adult can put your wisdom and maturity on a shelf. You are able to let go of whatever inhibition keeps you, for example, from engaging with kids who just want to play. My grandchildren are always telling me that I’m silly, but they seem to like it when I give them horsey rides or they can pile on top of me or I play hide and seek with them, or we sit on the floor and build something with blocks or play with trucks, sit at a table and draw or color, or kick a ball around.

Maybe part of this is that one just refuses to admit that they’re getting older and should be more careful when they exert themselves. One knows the wolves are getting closer to the door, but the tendency is to ignore them for as long as possible.

Maybe it’s a way for us who have more of life behind us than in front to hold onto something that can feel like it’s slipping away, going by too quickly. We still need to be involved and useful, not discarded.

Besides all that, kids have a knack for bringing out the kid in us.

Yuck

Hadn’t heard about the Mob for a while, was wondering if they were still around. Of course they emerge amidst a scandal involving NBA players and teams. Who couldn’t have seen that coming?

Betting is so mainstream anymore that it’s a wonder any event or sport can go unscathed for very long. It’s such a slimy endeavor. Even commentators plug it, trying to give it a certain validity? Make it sound commonplace and normal, just part of the scene?

There’s such kismet between outfits like Fan Duel and the NFL that it’s surprising people aren’t screaming “Get a room!” into their televisions.

Money, money, money. Any way, any how.