Saturday, November 23, 2024
A New & Improved Human?! Nope...
Friday, November 22, 2024
The Way of Losing...
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Let's Stop Gaslighting Ourselves...
"I don’t have a specific plan of action for our purported leaders. I do have the following observation: If you are saying that Donald Trump won a free and fair election, you are lying to yourself."
Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government by staying in the presidency after he lost an election. That is the very definition of committing insurrection against the lawful government of the United States. The 14th amendment was adopted specifically to bar people like Donald Trump — insurrectionists — from holding federal office.
This little detail has seemingly gone down the national memory hole, so eager are we all to tell ourselves stories in order to live."
Shame on them. Does anyone still believe in shame? And shame on us too.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Mass Delusion... Yes... Indeed...
"Mr. Trump’s voters are granted a level of care and coddling that defies credulity and that is afforded to no other voting bloc. Many of them believe the most ludicrous things: babies being aborted after birth and children going to school as one gender and returning home surgically altered as another gender even though these things simply do not happen. Time and again, we hear the wild lies these voters believe and we act as if they are sharing the same reality as ours, as if they are making informed decisions about legitimate issues. We act as if they get to dictate the terms of political engagement on a foundation of fevered mendacity.
We must refuse to participate in a mass delusion. We must refuse to accept that the ignorance on display is a congenital condition rather than a choice. All of us should refuse to pretend that any of this is normal and that these voters are just woefully misunderstood and that if only the Democrats addressed their economic anxiety, they might vote differently. While they are numerous, that does not make them right.
These are adults, so let us treat them like adults. Let us acknowledge that they want to believe nonsense and conjecture. They want to believe anything that affirms their worldview. They want to celebrate a leader who allows them to nurture their basest beliefs about others. The biggest challenge of our lifetime will be figuring out how to combat the American willingness to embrace flagrant misinformation and bigotry."
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
All in One Place...
On October 20, Peter Baker wrote a rare comprehensive story on Trump’s alleged and convicted crimes.
His businesses went bankrupt repeatedly and multiple others failed. He was taken to court for stiffing his vendors, stiffing his bankers and even stiffing his own family. He avoided the draft during the Vietnam War and avoided paying any income taxes for years. He was forced to shell out tens of millions of dollars to students who accused him of scamming them, found liable for wide-scale business fraud and had his real estate firm convicted in criminal court of tax crimes.
He has boasted of grabbing women by their private parts, been reported to have cheated on all three of his wives and been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, including one whose account was validated by a jury that found him liable for sexual abuse after a civil trial.
He is the only president in American history impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors, the only president ever indicted on criminal charges and the only president to be convicted of a felony (34, in fact). He used the authority of his office to punish his adversaries and tried to hold onto power on the basis of a brazen lie.
Mr. Trump beat some of the investigations and lawsuits against him and some proved unfounded, but the sheer volume is remarkable.
Monday, November 18, 2024
We are Not Wrong...
Yes. Something clicked for me over the weekend. Saturday, we plunged into other things. Playing music with our band. Sinking into the process of songwriting, and then bringing those songs to a small group of accomplished musicians. We all needed to do it. Desperately. We lost ourselves in the creating.
Then, later that evening we rode our bikes to a little storefront place (see previous post), and plunged into the good vibes of a ramshackle collection of souls, a loose community of seekers of good vibes, good music, and moments of glimmering transcendence.
It dawned on me that yes, of course, we live in a Blue Bubble, a place very different from other parts of the country, but we wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I truly believe we are on the right track. This is our America. It is the right place, the right time, the right stance, the way to live. It's a welcoming, open-armed and open-hearted place; a multi-cultural stew of Humanity. It's a beautiful thing, indeed.
Over here the policies are inclusion, non-discrimination, good cheer, smart conversation, a compassion and an empathy that rides inside everyone's hearts. We do have it figured out. Our side may have lost the election by the slimmest of threads to the forces of unreason, hatred, division, BUT WE ARE NOT WRONG. Our instincts, our policies, our politics, are correct.
We are on the path of soul.
So, yeah, you know, a new Manifesto. It's a Manifesto of Love & Creativity. We have to navigate around the coming Tyranny. Do our best to tune that evil, death-generating shite out, to keep our heads and hearts in the game. There is no place for despondency, there is no giving up. We are on the right side of history. No doubt. There may be dark times ahead, but we will gather together, and bring & bathe in, the Light.
This is just a little detour, a setback, a wake-up call.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
This is How to Do It...
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Here's a Good Question...
Friday, November 15, 2024
Turn to Wisdom...
Thursday, November 14, 2024
The HIlarity Phase...
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Re-Think, Re-imagine...
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The Worst & the Dimmest...
We have been on a downward spiral over here. Feeling like David Byrne's character: "I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax."
Plus, feeling really down in the dumps.
What is it all about? The reality that our politics has taken a sharp turn away from reason. You know we are now in the Age of Unreason: crazy, stupid, fierce, unhappy, flailing. Every day we hear about the projected new, incoming administration. The usual deplorable suspects. The major assholes have been victorious and they are on the rise. Not the "Best & the Brightest," instead "The Worst and the Dimmest."
It is totally disheartening. Mass Deportation is not a good idea. Climate Catastrophe is real and will have consequences for all living things on the planet. Climate Change Denialism is total madness writ large.
Talk about the Dark Ages. We will be taking major steps backwards into madness, ignorance, corruption, idiocy, bad-blood, bad deeds. Yes Fascism on the rise. What a waste of time, energy, and human potential. Is there an upside? Probably not. It's looking like that kind of self-sabotaging tragedy.
Monday, November 11, 2024
It's the "I'm with Corruptly-Stupid Election..."
Sunday, November 10, 2024
I Turn to Other Voices...
Assessing and recalibrating. There is no sense in beating up ourselves, or turning on our allies. The election of a deeply corrupt, criminal, billionaire, with no morals, no conscience, no respect for the Truth, the Constitution or The Rule of Law has deep & disburbing consequences for all of us on the planet.
Authoritarians like Trump love fear, defeatism, surrender. Do not give them what they want
I was asked to talk about hope. First of all, hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up. That we will assess our powers and weaknesses and recognise that the future we face looks grim, but we do not know how it will unfold, and neither do those we oppose. How it will unfold depends in no small part on what we do. People too often think hope is smiles and sunshine, when it’s fury in the face of danger and oppression, and pressing on in the storm.
More here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/09/authoritarians-like-trump-love-fear-defeatism-surrender-do-not-give-them-what-they-want
Saturday, November 09, 2024
A Letter to a Friend...
There is very little light at the moment. We are in the process of turning away, turning inward. Turning to our "art" our music, trying to find little moments of love and creativity. Doing our best not to be consumed by the darkness
I do know my history. There have been dark times before: The Bush Torture Regime, The Iraq War, Nixon's war on drugs, Vietnam, Kent State, Race Riots in LA, Chicago, Detroit, The long enduring oppression of the poor, women, blacks, browns, gays.
Fuck. The country was originally founded upon the Genocide of the Native Americans, and Slavery of Black Folk. A deep, dark history, no doubt. But also a reaching forward to a better way. That seems to have been convincingly obliterated by this election.
Friday, November 08, 2024
"Resist, Flee, or Surrender..."
Thursday, November 07, 2024
Democracy Damages Democracy...
Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Wow. I mean. Yikes.
Ha. What to say? Shit Happens.
I had no clue. Living in my own little progressive blue bubble. The USA is a big, complicated, contradictory country. Yikes. How does it feel? Like a punch in the gut, a sharp stick in the eye.
It's just another episode of Everything You (I) Know Is Wrong. There were a few pessimists in my midst, turns out they were oh, so right. My sunny optimism was a blinding ball of light. Sometimes things are not as they seem. Maybe I just wasn't looking closely or clearly enough? Dazzled by the joy and good feeling? I was in my happy little bubble, pretty sure that we would turn away, and turn the page, on that wanna-be tyrant.
Yes. So very wrong-headed of me. I chalk it up to weird shit & bad juju. Sometimes it is that kind of Universe. Supremely strange, but true, &, of course, greatly disheartening & disappointing.
I think of Curtis Mayfield this morning: "Keep on keeping on:"