The Ending of America

 Well, I think he may have done it. Done what you ask? Well, destroy America. America, as we used to know it, was a country governed by three separate branches -- the Presidency, Congress, with its two branches, and a Supreme court overseeing the other two. Now apparently, we are down to that Presidency thing. It is apparently the sole functional branch of our government. And it is being run by an international War Criminal. We apparently no longer have any allies worthy of the name--let's see, does Putin count as an ally? Maybe, and then maybe Bibi, and that seems to be it.

That other branch called Congress, seems completely non-functional, if not dysfunctional. And the Supreme Court has apparently decided it will no longer rule on anything of consequence regarding our President. They are pretty much going to let him do whatever he wants.

And so now we are down to watching how the rest of the world responds, if indeed they do anything. I suppose if Trump decides to drop some nuclear bombs on someone -- Iran maybe??--our former allies, now bystanders, might have some commentary. But, and this is a big BUT, those former allies seem unlikely to take any action to stop the Orange Dude in the White House. And so we are left with a Nation led by an evil, Malenfant idiot. Will he turn to bombing the rest of the world, just cuz he can?? We will see.

Good Luck World. And America . . . you used to be such a grand nation. Such a shame. Bye bye

Understand America

 I am having trouble understanding Official America – our Government—at this moment. Trump seems to be threatening Iran with War, yet to my knowledge, he has not even consulted, no less asked permission from Congress. He seems to say or do whatever he pleases, without ever consulting with anyone.  And it makes me wonder, what kind of country do we now inhabit? Is this Iran . . . Russia . . . 1936 Germany??

Trump seems never to seek or pay any attention to guidance. And no one ever says anything. Trump lies . . . all the time . . . about almost everything, and nobody ever holds him to account.  Dems say, “Oh he’s lying”, but Repubs dismiss that as opposition BS.  There seems no longer any actual conversation between the two parties, and now the SCOTUS seems to have given up and lets him do anything he wants.

So, what have we become? Surely we are no longer a constitutional republic. We seem now to be a nation of a dictatorship. I see routinely, signs about impeaching Trump, but then nobody ever does anything or takes even the first step in that direction. And he is only in his second year. Suppose he invades or attacks Iran, maybe like Venezuela.  And then suppose Iran says BS and attacks us back. And then we are at war with Iran, but Trump has never even consulted the Congress.  So, is that OK? So doesn’t that signal that we are no longer a constitutional democracy, but instead a Dictatorship? And nobody would object?

I cannot even imagine Harry Truman, or even Ronald Reagan, getting away with such shit.  And we seem to have slipped down into this hole without even any discussion.  So, Republicans are ok with all his shit? I have lived through Eisenhower, Reagan, two Bushes, not to mention FDR, Clinton, Johnson et al.  None of them even came close to this Dude.  As arrogant as that crowd was, they never crapped on the American people, and pissed all over Congress-(both sides) the way this Dude is doing. It’s like he recognizes no rules. He is stupid, we know. So maybe he is not even aware of how utterly destructive he has been and promises to be in the future.

And that is a serious problem. He may actually be so stupid that he does not understand how awful he is.  Most of the time, I think the Putin’s and Hitler’s of the world understand they are evil, but they act that way anyway, because they are so selfish that they care not about their effects on other folks.  I think Trump may be even more stupid, so stupid in fact, that he is actually unaware of how evil he is. And that could make him worse than Hitler or Putin. He is destructive but doesn’t even realize it.

And that could make him even more dangerous than either of the former twosome.

So, America, maybe you need to pay waaaaay more attention to our leader. Maybe you need to think waaaay more seriously about removing him from office (and ALL of his idiot-malenfant followers) before he actually destroys America altogether. Pay attention America. You are running out of time!

Reinventing Humankind

 OK, so let’s assume that God(dess) invented us all. But then, who invented him/her? So, as I see it, there really is no good answer to such questions. One can always simply reach back to another, “So, who/what invented . . .?” It’s really troublesome, cuz we always want some explanation for the universe.  It goes way beyond, “who in its right mind would have invented Trump?” I mean, something invented Adolph Hitler, right?  And would the same dude who invented Hitler also invent FDR?

Unless . . . yeah, unless.

So, suppose there is a cast of dudes and dudettes up there somewhere. And suppose further, their intent is to amuse themselves.  And so, they invent Jack Benny. But he was minor. The biggies are the Hitlers and FDRs and Trumps of the world. Cuz they are the ones who cause calamitous environs that bring about horror, or amusement, depending on your position. And so, when they play games, shit happens on Earth. Maybe that’s why they invented Trump in the way they did. In any rational world, Trump would have long ago been kicked out of office.  But the Dudes who invented this mess must have decided that it would be way more fun were Trump to continue acting like an idiot, causing everyone to yell a lot, but lacking the means to kick his ass out of office.

It’s kind of amazing really. I have been paying attention to politics in some form since I actually listened to FDR tell us on the radio about Pearl Harbor.  And, no I did not spend my entire lifetime listening to politics on the radio, but I did listen frequently. And it has been amazing really. Remember the Congressional hearings involving Nixon?  And remember those hearings about Cuba, where there did seem a distinct possibility that America and Russia would begin throwing ballistic missiles at one another. And we engineers at Lockheed sat around after work drinking at a pub, discussing whether it would be better to head off to the Sierra’s, or to the coast in order to remain alive.  I assume the Dudes upstairs were laughing out loud. Assuming that were possible.

As I approach the Dying thing, I find myself questioning my life and the why’s of that life, including where it goes from here.  Life has been pretty amazing for me and my family. Mainly, because we managed to travel a lot, to see strange places and record them in our brains.  But now, it’s beginning to close down and I find myself asking why? Why did we do those things and what happens next?

Are the jokesters upstairs still laughing at us, because we are all so terminally stupid? But if we are, why did they invent us to be so stupid?  Just cuz that makes them laugh a lot? So if/when I die, what did they invent for me?  I assume there is no Heaven or Hell.  That they invented us simply to amuse themselves, and that their humankind design is that we simply shut down and there is no more after we crash out of Life. If that is indeed the case, then we really need to rethink our lives. Make believe that someone is watching us, and act accordingly. Makes me wonder. If everyone did that, would we ever elect a Donald Trump?  Hmmm . . . seems unlikely. But then I’m really old and likely warped, so what do I know. Oh well, carry on. Amuse your elders upstairs.

It Is Time To Protest

I am at a loss for ideas. Maybe it is because I am 91, and my brain is beginning to close down.  On the other hand, our good friend, Sidney Tynan is sitting up in Rhode Island continuing to celebrate her life at the ripe age of 104. And as we were working out this morning. A friend came up to us and pointed out one of the folks there working hard to stay healthy and told us that she was just turning 100.  So maybe I should just suck it up and get on with that Life thingie.

But really, I keep being drawn back mentally to my little self sitting on the front room floor, listening to FDR tell us about Pearl Harbor. Or about my period working for that idiot  Ronnie Reagan. And fearing I would go brain dead if I didn’t leave.  Or watching TV news coverage of the idiot-malenfant Shrub act out in front of us.

But to be fair, none of them even resemble the current Idiot-in-Chief Donnie and his MAGAhounds who follow him around drooling Hatejuice everywhere. No, when he managed to have one of his Nazi-gangstas shoot and kill that lovely woman in Minneapolis, I thought, something has changed dramatically in America.  Yeah, we apparently have now become a NaziLand, in which no one is safe any longer.

Oh and folks, assuming you are not a member of MAGALand Gangsta’s. you can do something. Call your local member of Congress and tell them to disarm, maybe even defund ICE. ICE is the Thugleader’s main source of voter intimidation.  He may soon tell ICE to visit any/all voting areas (remember that voting thing?) during the next election and shoot anyone thinking of voting for anyone. Yeah, apparently, he plans to disable that voting thing. He hates it when folks vote, cuz at least some of them will vote against him, and he really cannot stand that.

So, while you still can, please contact your local Rep and tell them to get rid of ICE. They are simply Nazi thugs and America can no longer exist as a free and democratic society with ICE operating anywhere in the country.  And please, DO NOT WAIT. DO IT NOW!

Our local police forces have enough to do protecting us against actual crooks.. They do not have the resources to fight ICE. And remember, he is thinking about sending in actual military troops to any city that seems negative to him.  We need to rid America of Trump, in any legal way we can. Are we at that stage of citizen armed rebellion? Well, No, we are not. But we do not wish to move to that next stage. So, act now folks. Call your local congressman now. And when it next arrives in your neighborhood, get out and vote.  Who you vote for is up to you. But VOTE! And in the meantime, DISARM ICE. NOW!

LIfe in Today's America

 And so, 2025 draws to a close, and this newbie, 2026 enters our scene.  We don’t know what this year will bring, except that Donald Trump remains alive. Well, technically we don’t really know whether he will make it through this new year, but should he leave, there remain so many awful creatures appointed by him that good things seem unlikely. JD Vance, Miller, Kristi Noem et al seem so terminally awful that I would wonder the outcome should Trump fall by the wayside. It’s a bit odd I guess, saying that a Trump departure would not necessarily improve our political world.  But he really seems not to know any ethical, intelligent human beings.

I still have memories of me at about age 6, sitting on our front room floor, by myself, listening to FDR tell us on the radio about Pearl Harbor. Or about, heaven forfend, me voting in my first election for Dwight Eisenhower –yep I actually voted for a republican my first time out.  But it was Ike.  And he was more than OK. He was Ike.

But then the world began resuming its situation normal. Nixon, Bush, Reagan (aargh). Yeah, republicans resumed their norm – Terminally awful.  BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, none of the prior awfuls even resemble Trump. In fact, they all look pretty damned good in comparison to Trump. I mean, Mussolini might fit into his class—Hitler?? No, probably not. Hitler was in a class all by himself.

But, it is difficult to drop Trump into the class of prior officialdom. Some raters just toss him into the class of Worst-ever US President. And that seems OK with me, although to be fair, I  really do not know enough to make such a judgement. I do know that I have never observed a President who routinely was the joke of the room, as well as being simply evil. He is dumb and grotesquely evil, while still making people laugh at him. I cannot imagine folks laughing at Nixon or Reagan, unless they were telling an actual joke.

So, it is hard to know what we are supposed to do when Trump enters our presence. Now the problem with all that is the damage he is doing while he continues to serve. Our global reputation suffers daily. We have a huge military and nuclear weapons, so it is difficult not to take us seriously. But then Bobby Jr. walks on stage and tells us how he is going to dismantle our vaccine programs. Huh??? Or anything Steven Miller says, which seems to bring back memories of Adolph.  So, should we be laughing or arming ourselves?  I no longer know what to think. But him having a heart attack, or him being shot in the head, seem to be plausible possibilities – and how awful is that America?

I find myself, at age 91, wondering whether I will ever again live in an America of which I am proud. How sad that will be, as I move into my sadly aging existence. How sad indeed.

Life

 Life

So, Life is over.  Or, more likely Life never was. I think of something. And then I imagine that it never existed. But maybe it exists, and it is I who never existed.  How would I know? And would it make any difference either way?

Will my great granddaughter awaken someday, and ask, did I have a great grandfather named Richard? And if so, why? Or why not?

I think of India. Why? Because I lived there. Or did I? Does that place exist, or did my mind simply invent it?

And then I think of Donald Trump. Surely he exists, does he not? Well, does he? Ummm, maybe . . . maybe not. Does a squirrel wandering alone in the forest know of that Donald Trump? And if not, why not?

We went to our Farmers’ Market this morning. And folks wandered about, some even spoke to me, or about me.  And did that matter? Why would it? Some laughed at me, with me, about me. And then they went off without me, to spend the rest of their lives without me.

Why am I writing this squirrely piece? Because I do not any longer exist in any meaningful way?

But tomorrow, will I awaken and understand that life  is but a brief moment, and then it is gone, as though it never existed.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow. Will they arrive on schedule, and then go away, as does everything called life? I stare out at existence. Will that Donald creature still be here tomorrow? Or will he too disappear as though he never existed? That would be nice.

Tomorrow. Yes. Do arrive.                              

Hitler is Alive And Well

So what, now we are acting as literal pirates, seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker, and vowing to keep the oil? Is that not the literal definition of a global pirate? And that act falls on the heels of murder, when we killed two men hanging onto the side of a boat we had bombed. We said they were narco-terrorists, but in reality the two men were in the act of drowning, when we killed them. Some label those killings as War crimes, but in fact we are not at War with Venezuela or anyone else.  So, killing them was simply murder, carried out by a direct order of the US Secretary of Defense (likely instigated by Trump).

And nobody within the American government is calling for anyone’s immediate arrest.  And that defines the entire Trump Administration.  I would call it “Anarchy”, but apparently we have something different. Anarchy, simply put, is the absence of government or ruling authority, meaning no rulers or leaders, and can refer to either total chaos and lawlessness or a society organized by voluntary cooperation and freedom without coercion. And we have a “ruling authority”—the US Government, as defined and run by Donald Trump. Our government is now moving towards . . . towards, what . . . Nazism? And what is that? Nazism is totalitarian principle of government, predominance of especially Germanic groups assumed to be racially superior. Sounds vaguely like Trump, but he is moving towards his own definition of a Supreme Government Authority. Partly, he has brought into his government people who seem quite unskilled, ignorant even, of the jobs to which they were appointed. Mainly, their job is to carry out whatever Acts by Government that Trump dictates, whether those acts are  defined as “legal” or “Illegal”.  That was the essence of Nazi Germany. Whatever Hitler said or dictated, his followers were obliged to implement.

And oddly, Trump has removed all checks on him, through his republican Congress and his appointment of empty-headed Supreme Court justices (SCOTUS is dead: RIP).  I am pushing onto 91 and have never observed anything like this kind of authoritarian rulership.  In my dim past, I had always thought that Reagan, or maybe Bush II were awful, but they seem saints by comparison.

So, now, with two years to go, America is stuck with a full Nazi-like government that thinks it can kill anyone it wants and act as The Pirate of the Seas whenever it suits them. And because SCOTUS is dead, there seems no one to stop them. Imagine that?

So World, I do not know whether you have the Chutzpah to step in and say, “OK, Donald, No More!” See, that might mean a literal war, and then all those Nukies might become a threat to the world.

Where is AI when it is really needed?

Bye bye World.