Old and Getting Older

 I’m every bit 90 now, and feeling like it. How does it feel?  Well, I awaken each morning , knowing I really have nothing to do. In olden tymes, I would awaken, get up, shower, dress, knowing I had a purpose—going to my job to do something useful for someone, for a fee-my salary.  Sometimes, I would write down what I was doing and have it published in some form.

But in any case, I knew each day, I had to accomplish something for someone else.

But now, there is no “someone else”. I am done, with doing theoretically useful tasks for other people.  Now, I am stuck with observing the world. And what do I see daily? I see a madman whom the American people elected to the Presidency doing stupid things daily designed to hurt other people . . . people he does not even know.  And why is he hurting other people he does not even know? Well, because he can, as a way of demonstrating that he is in charge of America, and he can do anything he wants, and no one is allowed to interfere. NO ONE!

And so he is deporting people he thinks should be deported? Why? Because he can. It is his way of demonstrating that he is in charge of America. He is acting like King Donald I.  Now I have two theories about all this. Theory One is that Donald now actually believes he can do anything he wants. He thinks MAGA faithful elected him to be King Donald. And he is pissed at America, and he intends showing America that he is pissed. Why is he angry? Well, because other folks said he is an idiot-malenfant (well he is, but he does not like hearing that).  He thinks he is perfect in all respects, so to hear other people say he is an idiot, really pisses him off. And now his MAGA’s gave him unlimited power to take revenge on that outside world. So he is doing just that.

Now the second theory is that The Donald is beholden to Vladimir Putin, maybe even on his payroll, Yeah, he is an employee of the Czar of Russia.  He looks at Czar Putin and he sees a dude who apparently does whatever he wants in Russia, and no one holds him to account.  And at some stage, Putin bought him . . . maybe it was that period when he was 41, bankrupt, visited Russia and then came away with banks loaning him money to buy a grand hotel, Remember that? And maybe he has been on a Russian payroll ever since.  Now what would Putin love to see happen In America? Well, it would be great were America to simply die. Yeah, American institutions would disappear and the entire American government would just break apart and go away. And America would then no longer be a feared adversary. No, it would just be a pathetic little country with essentially no government, ruled by a pathetic old man called The Donald, a man who would do whatever Vlad Putin told him to do. Yeah, that’s my second theory.  And  maybe they are both operating at the same time.

Now what I really do not understand is why the existing American government is allowing Trump to do what I described—just destroy the entire American government.  Yeah, that makes no sense to me.  But it is what I keep watching, and I am beginning to think, maybe it’s all cuz I’m 90 and I just do not understand anything any longer. Maybe I am just dreaming about the destruction of the American government, and it isn’t really happening before my eyes.  Do you think? So, this is all just a horrible dream, and maybe I will awaken sometime in the next century and all will be well with America. OK, so dream on Richard. Awaken next century and all will be well. Won’t that be nice?

Russian Agent Trump

 I am having increasing difficulties daily reading anything said or done by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. In only a little over a month since being elevated to the Presidency, Donald Trump has managed to alienate virtually all of our friends and allies all over the globe.  And he has been assisted, inexplicably by Elon Musk, the richest human on the planet.  Together, they seem to be enjoying life while destroying our Nation’s Government, firing workers at random and either doing away with Executive Branch agencies, or threatening to do so.  All this without any action by our Congress either in support of or in opposition to his actions.  Musk isn’t even a legitimate member of our government, but he seems to relish in the job of total destruction.

I keep waiting for the Great debate –Trump Vs. Congress. But NO. No debate, not even a conversation.  How could this be even possible?

Then recently, I read about how, when Trump was only 41, and bankrupt, he was invited to visit Moscow. He went and then, shortly thereafter, upon returning from Moscow, the bankrupt Trump suddenly received loans from 16 banks and, without negotiation, purchased The Plaza Hotel for $407.5 million — a record price for a hotel. So, presumptively, Donald Trump was then on a Russian payroll. Now, how/why would they have wanted him on their payroll? This was in the 1980s, way before he became US President. Did they know or predict he would become President?  Ot. More likely, they simply added him into their list of rich people whom they had bought for future corrupt purposes.

Now, we can argue about this forever, without coming to any conclusion. However, virtually all of Trump’s actions since becoming President have been at least supportive of Putin’s Russia.  Now, what troubles me the most is that, prior to our election, none of this news became public. Why was there not even a mention of this possibility that Trump was in fact a Russian agent? Now, to be fair, we do not know that Trump is on Putin’s payroll today, but his actions, especially his recent dealings with Ukraine and Zelensky, seem strongly suggestive of that possibility.

I am not sure how to explain Elon Musk and his total support of Trump. Why would the wealthiest human on the planet suddenly come into play as yet another Russian agent by supporting Trump? Hard to understand.  But I remain even more uncertain about the motives of the Republican party, and, even of the Democratic Party. What we have is something close to total silence on this entire issue – Is Donald Trump, the President of America, an agent of Vladimir Putin? 

Can we at least debate that issue folks???

Understanding The Drumpf

 I am having difficulty knowing what to say anymore.  I guess I do not really remember his first four years. It seems such a long time ago. But this time around, four years into the future seema forever. Partly, that’s because I’m 90. I may or may not last for the entire four years.

I have lived through many presidencies, beginning with FDR and WW II.  Some I really hated, -- Nixon, Reagan especially.  But, now, in comparison, those look almost benign.  Even Trump’s first term seems benign.

But now, I wonder, faced with the prospect of Kamala Harris, an intelligent woman of some Black descent, how could they—anyone—actually vote for Donald Trump?  I can understand someone saying, well I can’t vote for a Black woman, so I will not vote. Now, I disagree with that decision, but I understand it. But for someone to say, I will vote for Donald Trump, because (the reason does not matter, because no reason justifies such a vote).  Trump is so stupid, and so awful, there simply are no valid reasons to vote for him.

And his behavior since the election justifies that reasoning.  Mainly, he seems bent on disassembling the entire US government.  He seems to have begun with USAID. He hates Foreign Aid.  Why? I guess because it involves giving away money, mostly in the form of goods, to other, poorer countries. There are, as it turns out, countries so poor, they cannot feed their own people, or provide them with health care, or in fact protect their borders.  So, our AID program helps them to remain viable and assists in keeping their people alive and somewhat well. I grew to respect USAID, I guess mainly because I worked in India, courtesy of USAID.  This was in the 1960s, when India was just coming into its own. We were friends then (are we now?). India had one population group every bit as well educated as were we, the foreign aid helpers. We, the helpers, were all graduates, mainly in engineering or business.  And we formed the equivalent of a consulting group within the Planning Commission. We carried out studies that could advance India’s economy.  But I also grew to understand that USAID undertook many forms of assistance, from supplying basic food and medicines, to more advanced planning enterprises.

So, Trump disassembling USAID, and thereby disengaging us from other less fortunate countries, was simply a form of international disengagement.  But apparently Trump viewed it simply as giving away his money.  And at one level, that is exactly what it was, as is all forms of charity.

Trump does not see the benefit to him from helping other countries.  I assume he sees Defence as a different matter, so were we to supply weapons and funds to another country for Defence purposes, he might better understand and agree.

Now, his attack on the Department of Education I understand even less. That, I assume, is governed by his religious supporters, who view regular education as partly a form of attack on religion, to the extent that better educated people might be less likely to support right wing religion.

But more, I think Trump prefers keeping the American population as ignorant as possible—perhaps the better to understand and support him.

Now Trump’s selection of JFK, Jr as Health Czar is also at best confusing. Junior is anti-vaccine and apparently anti-advanced health care. So, health research, drug/vaccine development (see FDA, or CDC) would be anathema.  Ergo, all of the Health and Human Services agenda would be on Trump/Junior’s kill list.

And you can keep going down the list –Environment, kill it. Anything vaguely science, kill it. The DEI thing is less understandable. I understand that Trump is both a racist and a misogynist, but I assume the anti-Trans/LGBTQ thing comes from his right wing religious zealots.

I assume that research into the stars/universe might be attractive to Musky, even if Trump has no clue. And we really have no idea who is directing the kill/support directives—Trump or Musk.   I guess his philosophy is vaguely –if a group promises to shoot other groups that might harm me, then that’s good. If a group promises to help others, then it depends on how much of my finances might be affected.  Also, if I can spend taxpayer dollars to help some group that promises to support me politically, then that’s good thing.  So he isn’t actually very complicated.  Now why Blacks, Hispanics, or Women support him seems more questionable, except when they are moved by something else he is doing (like religious right-wingers).

So, I guess, in the final analysis, if you are a religious fanatic, a racist, or a right winger politically (you hate Russkies, immigrants, or intellectuals) then you will likely support Trump, even though he is an ignorant POS.

Maybe, I just need to listen to him and decide which part of his dysfunctional brain is yakking at me.  Then I can either laugh, or shiver. In either case, whenever he opens his mouth, my state of depression is likely to intensify. Welcome to our world.

King Donald

 “You have to learn from history,” Trump said. “You can’t keep doing the same mistake over and over again.”

And by that, Trump means that he will take over the Gaza strip and it will then be a piece of American territory.  See, Trump does not either understand or especially care about legal definitions.  I observe that he brings in Elon Musk, or allows Musk to wander into our government, announce the formation of a new government entity and then proceed to simply take over existing US Government entities.

Something for us all to consider. Elon Musk was never elected to office, I suspect that he was never subjected to any security clearance process. I well remember  getting my first security clearance as a new flight test engineer in the 1950s.  It seemed a complex process. But Elon? Nah. He just wandered into government because The Donald said it was ok. Or maybe they didn’t even do that. Elon seems to do whatever the hell he likes, like bringing in his four teenybopper kids to help him in his efforts to dismantle our government. Makes me wonder. Did the boytoys get top secret security clearances?? No, I thought not. Elon and The Donald seem to operate as though there are no rules of the game. 

I guess I no longer understand how our government has changed since the GOP allowed The Donald to take over.  Trump for some reason does not like foreign aid, and especially USAID. And so he simply began tearing it down. He is firing people I think, although I am not really sure he can do that legally. But he seems to be causing foreign aid funding and shipments to cease, causing much grief around the world.  People may well die because of his actions, or inactions.

What gives me great pause is the utter silence arising from our republican friends. They are theoretically in charge of our government. Yet, they allow Trump to act as though he is King Donald I. Not even a single question?  It’s like we have three governments—King Donald, who does whatever he feels like doing, the GOP Majority who do nothing, and the Dem Minority who passively observe what their betters are doing.  We no longer seem to have a government that argues and chats about what to do next. We have a government that sits in its chairs and observes what its leader does, and then, mutters, “Oh dear” before going off for a coffee.

So, Trump says, We are taking ownership of Gaza. And his GOP buds say, “Huh?” But then they go about their business as usual. Now the outside world is saying, “Hmmm, I don’t think so”. Well, to be fair, His Majesty Bibi, is likely saying, “Hmmm, sure, why not?” The Arabs are responding, “NO!”.  But Trump seems not to understand that he is not actually in charge of the World. He does not own Gaza, so he cannot simply declare it as a US territory.  Now he likely does not understand that. Because Trump seems not fully in control of his own mind, he has been acting as though he owns everything and is free to do whatever he wants.  And, his Congressional buds act as though that’s OK. So, we have a weird kind of Monarchical government, and the rest of the world is watching us with increasing dismay.  The Arabs are yelling FU to America, but The Donald does not hear what anyone else is saying. He simply does not care. He wants his Gaza, and Greenland, and Panama, and Canada, and Mexico. See, they all actually belong to him. I think his Nazi dad willed them all to him.

And the rest of us?  Well, we are expected to sit back and just shut up until King Donald wants us to do something. And so both the Dems and the GOP buds are mostly just having another beer, and chatting quietly. Wouldn’t do to upset the Donald after all.  People observing might mistakenly think that Congressmen had brains, whereas we know those things have been tucked away into the attic in the House of Congress.

So, TaTa folks. Anyone thinking of maybe moving to New Zealand? It’s nice there, I understand. But you will have to ask real nice. NZers are beginning to get a bit more serious about who they will allow in.

So, behave , And watch carefully. See if you can tell when The Donald goes fully off the rails.

God and Humans

 I am sitting there watching the BBC report on today’s news. First, they are reporting on the grand celebration of the 80^th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. For those of you too young to understand, Auschwitz was but one of many Nazi Death Camps during World War II. In apparently, January 1945, the Allied troops opened and thereby liberated that Death Camp. And what is a Death Camp you might ask if you are very young?

Well, World War II was heavily about Germans capturing Jews in Germany and moving them out of their homes and  into camps. And why did they move them? Well, because, once they were in the camps, their Nazi rulers began murdering them by placing them in gas chambers, after which they burned their bodies.  Why did they do that? Well, Hitler and his Nazi followers thought that Jews were evil people and had to be eliminated from Germany, and maybe even the World. Why did they think that? Well. Apparently Jews were too successful and the less successful Germans thought that Jews had some evil powers ( I think it is now called brainpower). So, to preserve the German core of mediocrity, they began that war on Jews. Eliminate All Jews, and only then would Germany be successful.

And then, in addition to their War on Jews, the German Nazi’s decided they should also rule the World at large. And so Nazi Germany began invading and killing folks from other neighboring countries. And that’s what triggered World War II.

And so, all the non-Nazi’s of the world gathered together and decided that Germany and its allies (Mussolini down in Italy had taken a liking to Adolph and so joined forces with the Germans. ) should try to occupy and thereby control territories beyond Germany—like France maybe?? And then, of course, for odd reasons, Japan joined forces with Germany  and began bombing places like Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and then by invading China.

And so it went on.  Until they exceeded their ability to control and also because they annoyed too many people—like Russia and England and finally America.  Those folks got together and finally beat the crap out of the Germans to the point that Hitler and his BFFs had to say, OK, we give up,  Now by then, the Germans and Japanese had killed  somewhere close to 85 million folks. Here from Wikipedia:

“World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million deaths were caused by the conflict, representing about 3% of the estimated global population of 2.3 billion in 1940.^[1] Deaths directly caused by the war (including military and civilian fatalities) are estimated at 50–56 million, with an additional estimated 19–28 million deaths from war-related disease and famine. Civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. Military deaths from all causes totaled 21–25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war. More than half of the total number of casualties are accounted for by the dead of the Republic of China and of the Soviet Union.”.

And then, of course, there were something close to six million Jews killed in the Nazi Death Camps, just cuz they happened to be Jews. Now what was that all about again? Here again, is the Wiki take on The Holocaust:

“The Holocaust (/ˈhɒləkɔːst/ ^ⓘ),^[1] known in Hebrew as the Shoah (שואה), was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out primarily through mass shootings and poison gas in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, and Chełmno in occupied Poland. Separate Nazi persecutions killed a similar or larger number of non-Jewish civilians and prisoners of war (POWs); the term Holocaust is sometimes used to encompass also the persecution of these other groups.

The Nazis developed their ideology based on racism and pursuit of "living space", and seized power in early 1933. Meant to force all German Jews to emigrate, regardless of means, the regime passed anti-Jewish laws, encouraged harassment, and orchestrated a nationwide pogrom in November 1938. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, occupation authorities began to establish ghettos to segregate Jews. Following the June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, 1.5 to 2 million Jews were shot by German forces and local collaborators. By early 1942, the Nazis decided to murder all Jews in Europe. Victims were deported to extermination camps where they were killed with poisonous gas if survived, while others were sent to forced labor camps where many died from starvation, abuse, exhaustion, or being used as test subjects in experiments. Property belonging to murdered Jews were redistributed to the German occupiers and other non-Jews. Although the majority of Holocaust victims died in 1942, the killing continued until the end of the war in May 1945..

But then it all ended. Maybe God had decided that enough was enough??

And then, as I continued to watch the BBC news reports, they turned away from their coverage of the Holocaust, and moved onto that little war thing in the Republic of Congo. Yeah, apparently the folks who live in the African state of the Congo, What’s that you ask?

Here,

“For decades, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the scene of one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. In the latest iteration which began in May, its army has been fighting the M23 rebel group, which is waging its most sustained offensive since a 2012-2013 insurrection when it seized vast swathes of territory.By area, the vast Central African state is the second-largest country on the continent and the 11th-largest in the world.That space, especially its mineral-rich eastern region, has been the battleground for more than a hundred armed groups fighting for control of territory there or using it as a base to launch attacks into some of its immediate neighbours – Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Uganda.Consequently, that has led to the death and displacement of many Congolese citizens.This month, the Norwegian Refugee Council declared the situation in the DRC as the world’s most neglected refugee crisis – for a second year running. At least five million people are internally displaced and one million more fleeing abroad, the aid group said.”

And then their report ended. But did they switch to news of a peaceful rally of folks somewhere celebrating something happy? Ummm, not yet. Nope, their coverage moved onto Gaza where Netanyahu is trying to bring calm to the storm that is Israel. Well, some understandably think that Bibi is beginning to emulate the Nazi’s, but that is but one opinion. At any rate, the BBC report was on the folks moving, walking mainly, north to get out of Gaza without being killed there.

And then I began thinking about God. So, God invented humans?? And you folks seriously worship that God?  Seriously??? Have you never any doubts about your belief system and your following of a God that allowed such awful things to happen? And then, I think about little kids, our Great Grandkids for example, running around giggling and bringing joy to their family. Yeah, those kids. How wonderful are they? Well, maybe God has nothing to do with any of this stuff, wonderful or awful. Maybe, we need to pay attention to what is in front of us. Give Love. Be helpful whenever help is needed. Try to spread love instead of Hate. If our leader of the moment (Trumpie) is always spreading Hate, then maybe we who don’t follow him should spend our time countering with Love and helpfulness.

So that is my take-away message from watching all that awful stuff. Don’t blame God. Look to Humans. And, instead of following awful creatures like Trump, try to follow those who spread Love and Help. Be kind. It works people. Spread Love. Be kind.

Scary Thoughts

It’s interesting how various social media seem to both follow you, and, sometimes to look like they are forecasting. I note especially on Facebook. Lately, I have been noticing an increasing number of postings from various folks on who has recently died. I turned 90 last December. Since then, I have been observing an increase in the articles about famous folks, or just folks who have died recently.

But then I just noticed a couple of postings about people who are writing about being frightened about death—should we be scared? Are we scared? My reaction is . . . hmmm, should I be frightened about dying? I mean, I am now over 90, and way beyond the age at which everyone in my family cashed in their chips. My mum, my grands, my sis and bro, my aunts and uncles, all cashed it in by their mid-80s. So, what am I waiting for?

And then, there’s that frightened thing. Should I be frightened about the likelihood of dying “soon”? Well, why? I assume if dying included some horrortale—pain, or something awful one had to go through in the act of dying, then I assume one might be frightened of that act. But, short of some nasty disease, the act of dying itself seems to be an empty set. One simply stops being aware. And is the absence of awareness frightening? I am thinking, NO.  I suppose that thinking about the act of dying might produce some nasty thoughts, but the act itself?? Hmmm, I don’t think so,

And so, we go on.

But thinking about nasty thoughts, there is that awful thing coming up on Monday, January 20^th, Inauguration Day. Now that is frightening. Why you might ask? Well, that day ushers in a new era in America—four years of Donald Trump as President. Now that is scary. I know. I lived through four years of him from 2016-2020. Still not sure how we survived that era. But, now, with me being 90, four more years of Donald Trump?

And I think that the nasty thoughts somehow exceed the Trumpie himself. The coming era signals something truly nasty about America. People in America, knowing what we all know about Donald Trump, decided that they wanted him to be their chosen leader. They wanted him to shape our Federal government.  And shape it he will. RFK, Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services??? Seriously? He doesn’t even believe in vaccines for God’s sake.  He may well dismantle FDA. Oh that would be grand, huh? And how could he cope with NIH—brilliant scientists working to define the relationship between human physiology and diseases. Or simply how the human body works? JFK, Jr.?? Really? I assume he is just dumb, but maybe he is also evil. That is the main two characteristics of Trump and his BFFs—ignorance and Evil.

And then, Defense? A drunkard??? Running our military? Seriously?

And being 90, I also have developed a fondness for Social Security, and for Medicare. Yeah, turns out, I like getting a monthly check from our government, one that I have already self-financed through my payments over some 50+ years. And then, health care. Have you ever checked out how you might pay for health care without your Medicare? Yeah, but now I am hearing rumors about how Trumpies want to cut taxes by gutting Social Security and Medicare.

I am unsure  how Trump has managed to become BFFs with such a truly bad set of pseudohumans. Of course, he is getting some help from dudes like Elon Musk.  Yeah, talk about evil dudes. Elon is Right up there at the top of the list.

So, does death make me scared? Well, no, but Donald Trump scares the shit out of me. Does that make me want to commit suicide? Well, no, but it does make me want to migrate to . . . maybe New Zealand, or even next door to Canada. But given my age and absence of readily available cash, I doubt those folks would want me. Would I go were I, say 35? You bet.  Now that is worrisome too. How many of our 35 year old wonders might consider migrating away from America?  Too many I think.  And then there are our grandkids and great grandkids. What have they done to deserve this mess we created? Donald Trump? Seriously?  No, they deserve way more than that. They surely deserve at least the America in which I grew up in, say 1965. Yeah, we had problems. But No, we did not have an idiot-malenfant like Trump at the top of our heap. Now that scares me.

Bye Jimmy

 OK, so Jimmy has departed this Life. He was a good man, although his defeat by that idiot, Reagan might belie that fact.  I worked briefly under Carter and I thought he was great. I was working at The Urban Institute, a non-profit research center, when I received an invitation to join the Carter administration as a working chap in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to help lead an evaluation office.  Unfortunately, I joined near the end of his brief tenure.  However brief, I loved working under the Carter Administration as a member of our government. And Then Reagan defeated Carter. That was baffling, as Reagan was nobody, despite being a governor in California.

Everything changed after Reagan took over.  The Big change for me was to replace my former boss with a newbie brought in by Reagan. He turned out to be the single dumbest man I had ever worked with or for in my then 24 year working career.  And so that kind of defined my life at DHEW, then DHHS.  I worked for another several years, but then I finally quit and went into business for myself, to avoid becoming brain dead.

So, I was lucky enough to have a chance encounter with one of our world’s good men—Jimmy Carter—and then one of our truly awful men—Ronald Reagan.  The problem I have now is, how can I say that about Reagan, when we now have Donald Trump? I mean, how is Trump even possible after folks like Carter and Reagan?  Americans elected all three people?  Now, to be fair, Americans elected Trump to avoid electing a woman. Apparently we might have voted for Adolph Hitler to avoid electing a woman?  I mean, Kamala was bright, ethical, knowledgeable, except . . . she was a woman. I mean, America can’t elect a woman . . . right???

So what have we become as a Nation?

From Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump.  Wow, what a ride on the road to Hell.  Think of it. In my lifetime:

FDR, Truman, Eisenhower,  Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II (ugh), Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump (aaarrrggghhh). Of that group, Trump makes a mockery of the Presidency. And it is not merely Republican-Democrat politics. I mean, Ike, Ford, Bush I were ok. Now Nixon, Reagan, Bush II were all bad news for America and the world. But Donald Trump really makes all of them look great by comparison.

So, Jimmy, Rest in Peace. You will always look good by comparison with the latest idiot-malenfant elected by Americans who wish to destroy America. Bye bye Jimmy. Bye bye America. And folks, Be Careful What You Wish For.