Alternatives

 

It isn't socialism they hate

As much as social-ism itself.

The idea that we're responsible

For each other in a collective;

A school of fish rather than a shark

 

Who solitary swims and chews up

Each of us who is weaker, smaller.

Enjoying what he tears from our flesh.

Distaining the polite rules of play,

The very thought that others matter.

 

Knowing time is short for him on top,

Pushing his programs so ruthlessly,

Claiming a mandate from the voters,

Something like 1.5, underwhelming.

Look in the mirror your majesty,

 

Strutting your glory to all the world

Glittering in the rousing applause

Of the sycophants, the flatterers,

The pretenders who act superior.

But the Emperor's new clothes, not there.

 

Ignorant of how to help others,

Or how to build new communities

With common interests and support.

Making he who wears the crown nervous

Of his place, knowing it will not last.

 

The waves which swept in the shark changing,

Ushering him off to drift below.

Loading him down with obligations.

Turning the ocean back to people

Who care, who join, who swim together,

 

Doing the worst of all: ignoring

Him; no more applause; no more worship;

No more glory: only shame remains.

As the light shines on the smeared makeup

In a cracked mirror, so far to sink.

 

While the people join to claim their own,

The people in a community,

The people helping people again:

The social-ists all swimming together,

In a school rising toward the sun.

​

Thursday, 24 July 25

 

At the Café

 

Another asylum offer this morning

That makes half a dozen since we came last month

We agreed that civilization was thin 

Skin stretched over blood and guts hidden away 

The rules of behavior are so small a shield

Mutual agreement respecting others

Protecting each other from the wolves out there

The playground bullies' fingers on the triggers

The howling pack searching for the next victim

Clubs in the air sniffing around for weakness

The asylum somewhere else not our backyard 

Madness not our problem, watching from afar

But it is a window not a screen outside

Our own out there our own the problem our own

Asylum or asylum does it matter

What should we do what can we do the question

Another coffee my dear? 

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

 

Watch North Carolina

 

In November, North Carolina elected Democrat Josh Stein as Governor, and Democrat Jeff Jackson as Attorney General, and reelected Democrat Justice Alison Riggs to the state Supreme Court. The majority Republican state legislature did not accept the voters' decisions.

​

They stripped the Governor of his authority over public safety and public utilities. They stripped the Attorney General of his independent authority to make decisions not favored by the legislature.

Justice Riggs had won by only 734 votes. Two recounts confirmed her victory. Riggs' challenger, Jefferson Griffin then went a tiny step further: he challenged about 60,000 votes. At the state level, voter registration records were supposed to include a driver's license number and the last four digits of a social security number. Griffin's challenge of voters whose records were missing this information came after his loss.

​

The state Supreme Court ruled that the votes had been cast properly, and that throwing them out would violate voters' due process rights. In the same manner a Federal appeals court overruled the state Supreme Court and threw out Griffin's challenge to a relatively small number of overseas ballots requiring photo id's with their ballots. After the appeals court decision, Griffin conceded the race, some six months after the election.

​

Why bother writing about this case, when the ultimate outcome upheld the election results? Consider the Republican legislature. Consider the highly gerrymandered voting districts. Consider how close we came to overthrowing the vote. This is not just a concern about North Carolina. It is a concern for every state with Republican legislative majorities, and their willingness to push to extremes to discourage and depress Democratic voters. Their goal is to ensure Republican majorities forever

.

The Republican party needs to get over its MAGA fever. It needs to stop demonizing Democrats and any dissent. It needs to return to collaboration and compromise. Until this happens, any vote for any Republican is a vote for dictatorship. Do I sound extreme? Look them in the eye, and make sure that they return to minority status in 2026... 

​

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

 

Thunderclouds

 

It is one thing for a President to attack governmental programs and agencies, while his party watches and cheers. It is another thing for a President to try to force the private sector to echo his policies.

 

There indeed are parallels between the 1930’s and the 2020’s. A leader promising retribution. A party dedicated to power over democracy. A split among the people, between optimists and pessimists, centrists and radicals, joiners and splitters, problem-solvers and problem-makers, builders and wreckers, fairness and discrimination, consensus and dictation, empathy and disdain, generosity and greed.

 

For those who believe that the center will hold, there are cracks in the dam.

 

First, the President attacks diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) in the Federal government. Then he threatens the private sector with the loss of Federal funds or benefits if they do not do the same.

 

Unfortunately, Target, Amazon, Walmart, Meta, McDonald’s, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, John Deere, Tractor Supply, and Brown Forman (Jack Daniels) are among the majors who have either cancelled or cut back their DEI efforts. (Note that others continue to commit to DEI: Apple, Costco, Ben & Jerry’s, E.l.f Beauty, and JP Morgan.) This was a choice, attempting to stay on the same side as the President. The opposite choice was possible, defending DEI as good for business, but no. Many in the private sector give in.

 

CRACK: Many corporations cancel their DEI programs.

 

Second, the President threatens a leading university with the loss of $400 million in Federal funds if they do not meet his demands. Censor free speech (for example, do not criticize Israel for its actions in Gaza; if you do, you are charged with anti-semitism). Columbia capitulates, agreeing to his terms. The university could have absorbed the financial loss, but no.

 

CRACK: Freedom of speech and inquiry will be compromised on campuses around the country.

 

Third, the President issues Executive Orders targeting major law firms for their work suing the administration, defending legitimate protests, and internal diversity programs. The first firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, gives in to the threats.

 

CRACK: Independent legal counsel on major issues of speech and diversity is threatened when major law firms won’t fight for their independence.

 

So far, corporations, universities, and law firms have given up their independence after aggressive attacks by the administration. Who will have the courage to stand up to these attacks and say that the emperor has no clothes? Who will try to preserve the best of our traditions?

 

The sky darkens. The thunderclouds roll in. The rain comes down in sheets. The cracks in the dam widen and spread. When our social dam finally breaks, we all will suffer under the loss of our basic freedoms. Staying inside under the covers will not help. We need to go outside, get together, get wet, and patch the dam.

 

Otherwise, our children will ask, ”Why didn't you do anything?” And we truly will go down in history as the second Weimar Republic. Darkness will descend, and the world will have lost its beacon.

 

Friday, 28 Mar 2025

 

It's Sad!

​

It’s always been my opinion that T operates at the emotional and mental level of a child:

 

Name-calling and labeling, like “You’re a loser.”

Boasting, like “I know more about that than anyone.”

Exaggerating.

Lying at a dizzying pace.

 

All without any reason, or any facts to back it up. All expressing emotion. I agree that he does a good job expressing emotion. However, it’s used more as a weapon than as a positive to lift people.

 

So, let’s look at excerpts from his recent speech to Congress. I won’t deal with the lies, which have been well-examined by many fact-checkers. But, look at these excerpts. IT’S SAD! And he’s just getting started. Strap on your seat belts: it’s going to be a very bumpy four years.

 

 

BOASTING:

 

...proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America

 

...usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country

 

We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in 4 years, 8 years 

 

America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back.

 

...our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again.

 

...The presidential election of November 5th was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.

 

...the first month of our presidency, it’s our presidency, is the most successful in the history of our nation

 

We will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families.

 

I want to do what has not been done in 24 years — balance the federal budget

 

...our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history

 

...we’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody’s ever seen

 

...a great victory on November 5th, a date which will hopefully go down as one of the most important in the history of our country

 

We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.

 

I was saved by God to make America great again.

 

...we are going to forge the freest, most advanced, most dynamic and most dominant civilization ever to exist on the face of this Earth.

 

We are going to create the highest quality of life, build the safest and wealthiest and healthiest and most vital communities anywhere in the world.

 

 

NAME-CALLING AND LABELING:

 

Joe Biden, the worst president in American history

 

Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control

 

...the unfair Paris Climate Accord

 

...the corrupt World Health Organization

 

...the anti-American U.N. Human Rights Council

 

...the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate

 

...ended weaponized government

 

...the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies

 

...they’re so bad

 

Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing

 

They may be very dirty and disgusting

 

...our justice system has been turned upside down by radical left lunatics.

 

Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad.

 

 

EXAGGERATING:

 

...we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare

 

...We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country

 

...we have never seen anything like it

 

...shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program

 

...the federal bureaucracy has grown until it has crushed our freedoms, ballooned our deficits, and held back America’s potential 

 

We’ve been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth

 

...they’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before

 

...look where Biden took us, it’s very low, the lowest we’ve ever been.

 

Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies

 

...corruption like nobody’s ever seen before

​

MY CONCLUSION: A nasty, egocentric, empty suit...

 

 

Sunday, 9 Mar 2025

​

Save the Dems: Starve the Dems

 

Our house is on fire, traditions tossed aside, laws ignored, people treated as enemies, and government itself attacked as evil. The people who used to be kept in the closet as crazies, or as too extreme, have taken over the Republican Party. Our democratic institutions have been severely weakened.

 

The Democratic response: Chuck Schumer, head down (way down), softly reading his script. Not effective at all. And the Party leadership clings to power, preferring to lose with Biden and Harris, instead of promoting its younger, more energetic, and more progressive members.

 

The only way out of this mess in the short term is to work around the Democratic Party leadership.

 

We must withhold our donations to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). Starve the leadership until it steps aside.

 

Our contributions instead should go directly to our progressive candidates, incumbents and challengers alike. Or, to the organizations which support them, such as the Center for American Progress, Progressive Democrats of America, Justice Democrats, and Indivisible.

 

Longer term, we have to challenge the Republican messaging machine everywhere, running Democratic candidates in every district, promoting the progressive policies which most Americans favor.

 

Our house is on fire. Bring out the fire hoses: our candidates.

 

Tuesday, 18 Feb 2024