Any news

The desire to hear only good news has a dangerous side effect of accepting [and expecting] that there is something toxic that we cannot handle in the real world.

Pictures of puppies playing don’t change the headline that 100s of beagles were rescued from a horrific breeding farm. The good news is in the rescue. Yes, Virginia, Santa sometimes delivers on the promise.

Good news is also a kind of a born-again fantasy. It preys on the idea that the New Testament is “good news.” I suggest a more careful reading not just for the good news but for why Christ’s vision was necessary.

I also suggest that there is an original 5 books of the Bible that warrants perusing. It has many a dark corner. Religionists tend to explain this away.

One line of examination brings us to “that’s what it was like in those days.” If we suggest that history and antiquated ways of thinking play a part in our interpretation, we also suggest the imperfection of it all.

There is nothing about humanity that is writ in stone.

Choice

An alcohol-fuelled lapse in judgment can adhere like crazy-glue, imperilling the sober future you hoped to carve out for yourself.

But no one wants to or expects to live 100% on the straight and narrow. A little risk is inherently exciting and sometimes necessary or rewarding.

Does an unplanned pregnancy qualify as a rewarding risk? Shouldn’t you have the choice to decide if you are ready for the long-term commitment it represents?

Justice at a snail’s pace

Is it just me or do you too find the investigation into the J6 Insurrection moving too slowly?

Fox non-News is taking the time to keep spreading The Big Lie. In the absence of immediate indictment, there is room to sow doubt.

And to be fair, just as my side [I hope you have joined me there and I can call it our side] is certain of its view of the Storming of the Capitol, so those who are partial to TFG see it differently. Some are cynically supporting the falsehood that TFG did not lose. Others sincerely believe what he and the folks at Fox have been telling them.

The Great Big Lie that an election was stolen may be illogical and implausible but as with other untruths repetition gives it legs. The greater truth that TFG and his co-conspirators were attempting to steal democracy from under our noses calls for prosecution.

There has been no rush to judgment. The extreme caution with which the DOJ has approached its target of investigation makes that clear.

We need to close in on those working to undermine America. Now.

Viruses

They may be smarter than we are or they may just have excellent survival skills, but viruses of one sort or another are eluding our best defenses.

Their skills are tantamount to a plan to evade our emergency plans. Variants and new found “pox” threaten us. We find a vaccine, they slip past it.

Signs of intelligent life? Perhaps these little bits of biologics really do have the brains to outwit humankind? Perhaps….

Or more likely, we’ll just do ourselves in. Here at home there’s the semi-conductor bill that can’t get out of the Senate and would put us at a real disadvantage in a conflict with China.

Globally, there’s climate change that has us warming to the point of overheating. Everywhere.

Dysfunction and inefficiency, autocracy and the quick march behind totalitarian regimes can all do so much damage.

Those little “bugs” don’t have to work so hard at undermining after all.

Pride Goeth Before…

There’s a tiny American flag waving in this picture.

To me it sounds like something out of Peter Pan, only far more ominous.

Am I picking on this extremist group for their choice of name? Yeah, but also for their ideology.

Taking pride in being a thug with neo Nazi affiliation is a new take on overt self-confidence.

What exactly are the “proud boys” proud of? Unfettered hate? Misogyny? Racism? Lack of empathy, sympathy, civility and humanity?

Perhaps they are proud to have such loyal wives?

As one Twitterer put it, Mrs. Radovich wasn’t so “proud of her boy” as to acknowledge their relationship in her Sarasota FL OpEd.

Melissa Radovich describes this group of insurrectionists as ordinary concerned dads. She fails to say that one of them lives with her in their blissfully hateful home.

Or that the “boys” are so concerned over the state of American democracy that they are looking for violent ways to overthrow it.

Now, there’s a point of pride for you!

Fear mongers

When I was in elementary school, we routinely hid under our desks to prepare for nuclear disaster.

One of my closest friends in high school was still traumatized by these drills all those years later. She worried about the mushroom shaped clouds in our future.

Came the tragedy of September 11, and we found ourselves under color-coded threat alerts. I submit these can be unnerving. Wondering what to do about a red alert can be futile and very frustrating.

Keeping us on the edge is also a great totalitarian tactic. I think it helped Rudy start on his career track of disgusting behaviors.

How often should we let them cry wolf or tell us Sadam has WMDs? The McVeighs, the Crimos and the “proud boys” are much more real and immediate dangers.

Our awful and lax gun laws which put weapons in the hands of these real threats are destroying our civil peace. And don’t get me started on our so-called “Supreme” Court!

This is not by way of fear-mongering but a plea that you stay involved in civic affairs. I urge you to please use what Pres. Biden refers to as your “superpower.” Vote.

America’s origin story

Those of us appalled by those of you taking aim at the Constitution still have hope for American democracy.

Not my art but ain’t it cute?

Those of you fighting to dismantle civil rights, health and welfare have abandoned any faith in its precepts.

Assuming of course you ever cared about the founding principles of the United States of America.

And yes, the Constitution is a flexible document that should keep up with the times. Society can dictate its amendments to the “rules” of the original. It shouldn’t hold back civic progress in the interest of being true to its every nuance.

The Constution, like the Government, is of the people/by the people/for the people. You are not.

They’re singing a different tune

You’d think that the Supremes who make up SCOTUS would be enthusiastically singing God Bless America. You would think that Irving Berlin’s patriotic “2nd anthem” would be their favorite paean.

It appears it’s not. The highest bench in the land are changing their tune. And ours.

From the looks of it our Justices are celebrating the 4th of July by doing a little decomposition.

Taking apart laws that codified our civil rights, disarming government agencies set up to protect Americans, reversing precedents seems to have been their playlist this term.