I’m just going to put this out there, and then get back to more wholesome topics.  So arrest me.

That depraved, vulgar, mentally deranged person and his klan in the WH can never be my president or represent my fellow citizens.  I could never respect them, let alone entrust them with matters of consequence or national security.  They endanger everyone I hold dear, and the very principles our democracy upholds.

It’s disgraceful that a loud, ignorant rabble of religious fanatics and extremists can still take over our country, and ban the very immigrants and persecute the very minorities our constitution has pledged to welcome, accept, and protect, all in the name of their hateful white supremacist “god” and “values”.  It’s like the crusades all over again, only with casino mentalities.  They conveniently forget their history, their own refugee roots, fleeing religious and economic persecution.  Then they proceed to whitewash atrocities and genocide right out of their collective memory in order to facilitate the process all over again, with passive compliance from their herds of sheep-followers.

This agenda affects you, me, our loved ones, and the very earth we stand on.  These holocausts–the Nazi butchering of millions of my own people, the brutal slavery that built our country, the savage genocide of native Americans who were here first, the list goes on and on—happened because of greedy, power-hungry terrorists who forgot their own humble origins, along with the passive/aggressive consent and tolerance of small-minded people, the same enablers who continue to not see “what’s so bad about DJT?”

I have no patience or tolerance for these purposely ignorant cowards, and I will continue to not recognize this president or his klansmen.  I will put my loved ones, and anyone who is victimized by these madmen and their devotees first, before I bow down to a fascist dictator and betray my own people and what we stand for.

I’m not a brave person, as I suspect you aren’t; the thought of such a possible nightmare scares me to death.  It’s never far from consciousness.  May it never come to this; may the fools just sabotage and destroy themselves, and let us get back to progressing without too many casualties.  But if we ordinary people don’t speak out for human rights and constitutional justice when push comes to shove, who is going to do it, and when?

Thank you; we now return you to your regularly scheduled gruel.

November 24, 2015

You have your Daleks of the world, howling “Exterminate, exterminate!” and then you have your simple Frogs and Toads, trying to get seeds to germinate.

Seeds grow at their own rate.  You can’t shout at them, read or recite poetry at them, sing or saw a fiddle at them, and expect them to just speed up their process.  You can’t scare them into growing.  When they are ready, and conditions are right, you’ll see them emerge.

Lest you think I’m being all deep and metaphorical, my literal lettuce seeds are just poking their little sprouts up through the soil of my vast fields of cropland on the windowsill.  The conditions were just right, and they weren’t afraid to come out.  It’s Science!

Any resemblance to people or current events blahblahblah is purely coincidental.  No plants or animals were abused in the making of this blahgpost, although in the privacy of my mind, certain persons may have been a little exterminated!  No-o-o, I didn’t say that…

This is also Day 3 of my little Experiment.  My evil plan is working.  I’ve substituted some positive habits for unproductive ones (brainwashing E into submission er uh getting her day off to a good start minus triggers) whilst (I just felt like saying whilst) I do my thing not involving the latest holocaust atrocities.  Hence, here I am writing folksy homilies and aphorisms.

If I were a Dalek, I’d be the one yelling “Procrastinate!”  But hey, at least I’m learning how to put off the negativity and despair until later!  And hopefully amusing you, my loyal readership of 2.5, while you’re, um, not procrastinating.  😉

© Arnold Lobel, Frog and Toad Together

Bwahaha my evil scheme is working!  First thing in the morning, I point E toward her cozy chair, with coffee, in front of the big screen full of mesmerizing nature scenes (oceans, forests, streams, etc.) with hypnotic music in the background, so she can zone out for a while, far from her Laptop of Doom.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing my usual morning puttering around, away from my computer as well.  I may glance or skim through emails and feeds to make sure the world didn’t end overnight, then instead of diving in to the Black Hole of Existential Despair, I’m trying a new strategy.

I may try writing practice earlier in the day.  I haven’t had time to refuel my political rant machine yet, so I’m forced to think of a more innocuous topic to start the day off.  Obviously if I were still working, this would all be moot, but I’m not.  My employment is to keep the demons at bay and maintain some mental sanity while we prepare for our move.  That’s a job in itself.

I’m aware that if you ignore evil lunatic presidents, they don’t just go away; in fact, it enables them to carry out their dastardly agenda with less resistance.  But there’s nothing monumental that I personally can accomplish to overthrow the government early in the morning, so I can be conscious and vigilant away from the hopeless headlines for another hour or so.

Then I may head straight into my other new daily habits, to make myself appear more productive than I actually am!  Or rather, to fool myself into not procrastinating.  My objective is to organize and downsize as much of my own personal dreck as possible before we move.  You’d think, having had to move and leave stuff behind several times in recent decades, I’d be down to the bare necessities.  You’d be wrong.  It’s amazing how those pesky things follow you everywhere, like needy dogs.

Also, have you ever noticed how one minute, 60 seconds, on the Infernal Machine (elliptical) can seem so much longer and harder each time?  No?  Well, it does to me.  But it will not defeat me.

It’s pretty sad when you have to devise strategies to avoid reminders of a crazy fascist taking our country straight to hell and us with it, so you don’t go stark raving mad.  But that’s the new reality, and not a TV show you can just turn off.  But I said I wouldn’t go there…yet.

Meanwhile, down under, the peasants are starting another day of slamming and banging and hating each other.  You’d think by now they’d have all killed each other already, give us a little peace and quiet.

Anyway, here are more cute animals.  Resistance is futile.

Even people without PTSD are finding the daily onslaught of DJT horrors too much to handle, especially first thing in the morning, plastered all over your feed.  The anxiety and menace are very real.  How much more so for someone recovering from a lifetime of extreme trauma, abuse, and marginalization.  It becomes debilitating, on top of all the other insecurities and fears.

So to counter all the early morning Trump-triggers, I’ve come up with an experiment for both of us to try.  First thing in the morning, instead of the usual zombie-lurch to the laptop full of dire news and social media screams, I’m redirecting E and her coffee to her cozy chair in front of the big screen with continuous nature scenes and soft background music.

I’m also delaying my own exposure to doom and despair until I’ve had time to focus and start my day.  I may glance at subject headers to make sure I don’t miss anything personally important, but that’s it.  All the existential threats to humankind and the earth itself will still be there later in the day.

I realize there’s not a lot we can do to change this catastrophe, but there are small, everyday things we can do to modify our own intake and behavior.  It’s safe to assume that many of the people we run into out there are also going through their own worries and fears, if not suicidal thoughts.  I figure if I act as civil as possible to each person I meet, that will ripple out and affect others, and maybe even avert some tragedy.  You never know.  It’s the least we can do to reduce some of the pervasive tension, post-election.

I realize our particular situation isn’t typical of most people, who are still too busy working and raising families to have time in the morning to do much of anything, let alone waste time on social media, or relax with nature programming.  But we’re in this peculiar holding pattern, stuck in a tiny apartment staring at each other, until we’re able to move this summer.

To make matters worse, the squatter colony below us is becoming increasingly deafening and confrontational, and there have been break-ins.  They’re constantly yelling, cursing and banging things loudly into the night, with their little children right there, not to mention fumigating us (and their kids) out with all the stuff they smoke.  Upstairs, we’re trying to bide our time and hold on as best we can.  The constant fighting and disrespect is also a trigger for someone with trauma issues.  It’s challenging, finding ways to maintain our equilibrium and sense of security.

But this isn’t intended as a negative post, but rather motivation to modify ordinary daily habits to be more nurturing and sustaining, rather than to succumb to the disturbing negativity coming at us from all around.  This evil isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s not a lot we can do to control it.  All we can do is not give up on ourselves, our fellow humans, our values, and our goals.

On that note, here are cute animals.

Many of us are so overloaded with DJT crap in our news feeds that we welcome anything normal, i.e. not about DJT, who is not appropriate or suitable for any audience, especially first thing in the morning.  So this post will not be about that.  Here’s proof:

A cute animal:

The Skullies say happy erev.  Somehow they’re always smiling, I don’t know how they do it.

Here are random homey shots, including the snow-ish scene outside this morning.  Also some pyro stuff.  I’m a fire freak.

The logical next step was to look at seed catalogs!  It’s been that sort of a day.

I’m reminded of a page from Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel.  It’s kind of how I feel right now.  F&T could be so penetrating and insightful.

Oh, and here is some coconut tapioca pudding.  With eyeballs.  Like my brain.  Pretty innocuous stuff.

Well, back to gazing across my vast fields of crops on the windowsill.  Which brings another F&T scene to mind (from Frog and Toad Together): 

(“Now seeds, start growing!”)

The end for now.

As I look over my vast acreage of crops (i.e. a couple of tiny windowsills where I just sowed some mixed lettuce seeds) I like to imagine I’m a farmer, plowing my fields with my horse-drawn tractor, putting in a good day’s work, then eating E’s hearty meal of mac’n’cheese (organic), kidney bean chili, and salad.

Well, the food part is true, anyway.  (We’re a great culinary team: I order, and she creates!)  Now if only the working it off part were true.  One can be delusional in a good way, if it doesn’t hurt anybody (not going there today).  I’m pretending I’m gardening in winter.  My vast fields await.

Back at reality, we’re already visualizing our smallish gardens of vegetables and flowers in our future home that we don’t even have yet.  That’s called thinking long term, a concept that is foreign to certain self-centered infants whom I won’t mention.

I have to hand it to E, who somehow has the intestinal fortitude to listen to that person speak, albeit for very limited sessions for sanity’s sake.  (“The enemy you know…” and all that.)  Myself, I can’t even bring myself to listen to that trash for a minute, or I gag.

But I’m determined not to dignify the aforementioned creature by ranting today.  There will be plenty of other days and rants, you can be sure.  But today I’m busy laboring in my mental croplands (“mental” being the key word there) in my picturesque pastoral utopia that the evil bastards can’t destroy.  ;D

I’ve seen some reliable political commentators indicating that Trump may simply be a puppet or trojan horse by which the real players, Pence and Co. (or Putin?), can take over with their agenda, then “pull the trigger” on Trump soon after.  Trump himself seems to be clueless and childish most of the time, lending some credence to this theory.

Then there’s the debate among laypersons over whether a Trump impeachment will necessarily take down Pence as well.  There appears to be some historical precedent for the latter.  But then don’t the next perps in line simply take their place?  I’m one of those civilians who isn’t too politically savvy, but I do notice that the usual rules and laws don’t seem to even apply to this administration, as they would to any other President in history.  He seems to be above (or below) the law.  So it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.

In fact, facts don’t even seem to matter or count to this admin; they just make it up as they go along. They live in some surreal world of make-believe.  They just spin it to reflect their delusional wishful thinking.  Meanwhile, back in the real world, it’s getting scarier by the day.  You’re afraid to wake up and find out what new reckless outrage has been imposed.  Make America vulgar and uncivil again.

Maybe extremity is the mother of united civil disobedience, which is what I see happening in the most unexpected of places.  People of all backgrounds who would never normally intersect or engage with each other, are actually joining together in movements to oppose this hostile coup.

Maybe it gets much worse before it gets better, but it’s heartening to see so many kinds of people standing up for civility and justice for each other.  It’s reassuring to see corruption exposed and accountability demanded of our leaders and public servants.  Maybe white supremacy and fascism won’t prevail this time around.  I hope we prove to be better than that.

I hope I prove to be someone who doesn’t shrink back in fear when push comes to shove.  I hope I’m the kind of person who will risk insecurity to stand up with and for victims of injustice and persecution when the time comes.  I’m not a very brave person, but I feel strongly about civil rights, social protections, and the environment.  Fear and insecurity are part of how these guys got into power and have their way.  I don’t ever want to be that kind of enabler.

For now, all we common people can do is bide our time, see how it plays out, and try to survive in an increasingly hostile environment.  I’m encouraged to see ordinary people galvanized to step up and get involved to make a difference.  I retain hope that these jokers in the West Wing will destroy themselves, and more reasonable minds will control the damage.

Then I can go back to more humdrum routine blahgposts about boring, regular stuff.  You know, like resolutions.

Moving right along…happy to report that my resolutions haven’t fallen by the wayside… yet.

I may have skipped a day or two of filing, but I made up for it with other reorganizing.  I subject myself to my one minute of Infernal Machine each day.  I’ve reduced my bogus political input/output except for getting my obligatory anti-Trump rants out of my system.  You’ll have to put up with that for a while, probably until he’s out.  I’ve been writing and reading almost every day, limiting my FB time to more positive engaging with proactive people I meet online.

As for snacking, well…we can’t all be perfect.  It’s winter, and we’re semi-hibernating.  Hey, we only eat one meal per day.  At least it’s healthy.

It’s been so encouraging meeting progressive activists online in our future home around Knoxville.  Who knew there was such an inclusive, diverse community in such a red state?  If nothing else, Trump has strengthened the opposition and resolve of people from all walks of life to join together to stand up for each other’s human rights and freedoms.

This momentum doesn’t appear to be dying down, but rather solidifying into grassroots political and social action.  Everything from holding representatives accountable, to considering running for office, to supporting local immigrant businesses, to showing support for marginalized groups, to offering assistance in many areas, it’s all happening in the south.  Not so much up here, but even Ohio seems to be rallying a bit.

We ourselves have already been offered helpful contacts and referrals for many aspects of our upcoming move.  We’ve been made to feel welcome by strangers before we even get there.  So some good has come out of a very bad event.  And it seems to be rippling out all over the country.  Evil, hurtful values won’t stand for long against integrity and truth in this country, because it’s not what decent people are all about.  At least that’s my takeaway.  I hope time proves me right.

E is busily cooking up one of her famous southern country breakfasts, complete with homemade from scratch biscuits, and other items I can’t mention or I’ll have to kill you, so off I go for now.

PS. Watch out, southern cooking, competition is on the way, from, go figure, Ohio.

I may be cynical when it comes to fairness and justice in the world, but I do believe in karma, or cause and effect.  It’s simple science: stupid genes get theirs eventually.  One way or another, the depravity of this admin is going to collapse in on itself.  They can’t perpetuate their delusion indefinitely; there will be repercussions.

Americans are rising up from day one, standing up for integrity and human rights.  Smart and caring people won’t take this lying down.  The consequences of Trump’s acts will hurt the very people who voted for him, and they won’t be able to blame Obama anymore.  This fraudulent contract will expire; it’s just a matter of time.  And we’ll be doing our little part to support the triumph of human dignity over sleaze.

Part of me just wants to cringe and die, but the other part wants to live to see that day, hopefully sooner, when this juvenile delinquent and his gang are found to be in contempt of constitutional law or conflict of interest, or whatever it takes.  I have to believe that this nation has not taken total leave of its senses.  I want to believe that the opposition and resistance will grow and not lose heart or acquiesce.  I do not want to live to see our very planet losing ground and disintegrating because of political greed.

We’ve come too far to just give up and concede.  Billions of lives, present and future, depend on how we respond to this crime against humanity.

This ridiculous farce of a presidency is so sickly fascinating, like rubbernecking at a disaster scene, that it’s hard to turn away, or wrap your mind around it.  Maybe it’s why some people are drawn to portrayals of violence and torture, like prey transfixed by a predator’s glare.  You stare at Trump and his clown posse in disbelief, certain that this nightmare will evaporate like mist in the light of day, but here it still is, in all its absurdity.  It’s plainly a hostile takeover.

In stark contrast were the many huge women’s marches across the country and world, even in unexpected places, reassuring us that some sanity and resistance still exist.  Trumpists can trumpet their delusional denial all they want, but numbers don’t lie.  A vast majority of women, men, and children can see through him and his crap, and won’t go down without a fight.  I hope this momentum continues to build, and his house of cards disintegrates.  Nothing built on such a flimsy, unscrupulous foundation can last for long.

Here at the local level of our apartment, we just roll our eyes, shake our heads, and wonder what the hell is going on in this country formerly know as a democracy.  The tension and apprehension are taking their toll.  There were uncertainties and insecurities before, but a few basic anchors and defenses seemed to be stable.  Now it’s all unpredictable and volatile, like our infant-in-chief.

I say “our”, but I renounce him as my president.  He barged his vulgar way into power illegally and without a real plan.  He and his appointees are supposed to serve us, not abandon us to our fates while they gloat.  They openly disrespect us, and I see nothing there to respect back or pledge allegiance to.  So sue me.  That’s where I stand, and I’m not alone.