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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Ferlinghetti Dies at 101

Copied from a Facebook post. Thanks to Toby Coleman. 
There was an open mystery to roaming the shelves of City Lights Books.  I met Shel Silverstein there and with my love of the works of Richard Brautigan and Michael McClure, the feeling of the sixties (for me) will always be in the walls and all of the books that changed our literary world.. at least, a little. Happy Trails Lawrence. Long may you wave!
/// 
 From the Staff of City Lights Books:
We are sad to announce that Lawrence Ferlinghetti, distinguished American poet, artist, and founder of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers, has died in San Francisco, California. He was 101 years old.
Ferlinghetti was instrumental in democratizing American literature by creating (with Peter D. Martin) the country’s first all-paperback bookstore in 1953, jumpstarting a movement to make diverse and inexpensive quality books widely available. He envisioned the bookstore as a “Literary Meeting Place,” where writers and readers could congregate to shares ideas about poetry, fiction, politics, and the arts. Two years later, in 1955, he launched City Lights Publishers with the objective of stirring an “international dissident ferment.” His inaugural edition was the first volume of the City Lights Pocket Poets Series, which proved to be a seminal force in shaping American poetry.
Ferlinghetti is the author of one of the best-selling poetry books of all time, A Coney Island of the Mind, among many other works. He continued to write and publish new work up until he was 100 years old, and his work has earned him a place in the American canon.
For over sixty years, those of us who have worked with him at City Lights have been inspired by his knowledge and love of literature, his courage in defense of the right to freedom of expression, and his vital role as an American cultural ambassador. His curiosity was unbounded and his enthusiasm was infectious, and we will miss him greatly.
We intend to build on Ferlinghetti’s vision and honor his memory by sustaining City Lights into the future as a center for open intellectual inquiry and commitment to literary culture and progressive politics. Though we mourn his passing, we celebrate his many contributions and give thanks for all the years we were able to work by his side.
We love you, Lawrence. 💖
- Staff at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

Monday, February 22, 2021

SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THESE...

 Now and then I have permission from South Bend scholar, Bill Svelmoe, to re-post his writing on Facebook. This guy has a point of view that many share, including me. His sense of humor and cutting edge imagination are probably not appreciated by all .. but I appreciate his taking time to knock out visuals that are very interesting. Thanks, Bill. 

////////////

I would like to wish our former president sweet dreams. 
 
As you drift off to sleep in Mar-a-Lago, know that a passel of young aggressive New York prosecutors are burning the midnight oil with your tax returns, savoring every line, calling to each other "Hey, come check this out," sending out for more coffee because they can't bear to leave the office even for sleep, each dreaming of the day they get to swear you in in a court of law, and then, with the eyes of the world upon that court, request with a sly smile, "Please turn your attention to this line on this form and answer this question" ...
Sweet dreams Mr. former president ...
 
#30#
Bill Svelmoe
South Bend, Indiana
Go Irish! 

 

Saturday, February 13, 2021

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS?

 Bill.. Svelmoe is a college professor in South Bend.  I've admired his take on the current issues of the day in the USA, having found him last year on line. We have not met, but his scholarship and having read his novel, Spirits Eat Raw Papaya, I admire his way of thinking. In the following essay, he's 'big wording' us a little bit but stretching the vocabulary is, to me, a good thing. 

I've encouraged Bill to move his writing from skinny little Facebook blurbs to a more reader friendly format like this one.  He's busy and will probably do that when he has time after the end of the school year. I just like reading in a friendly format.

The following essay may have one typo.   I wonder if Bill composes on line or in a Word program and copies and pastes. His punditry is a primer for critical thinking and maybe he'll publish his essays in a book one day.  Don't let the big words freak you out.  Absorb the information and see where it leads you.  Take a walk on the wild side.. (Lou Reed came to me for some reason.. )

I have not vetted the statistics. This is a copy and paste deal, with paragraph spaces on me.

Thank you, Professor Svelmoe for permission to share as I might.  This essay is a bit long, but stick with it. Have your dictionary handy. 

michael sheehan

2/13/2021

//////////////////

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. on January 6, 2021, as rioters stormed the Capitol hunting for the enemies of Donald Trump, Trump called the newly elected senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville. Trump wanted to bend the senator’s ear with strategies to destroy American democracy. Tuberville informed Trump that he had to seek out a hiding place and that Vice President Pence had been hustled away by the Secret Service.
Translation: We’re in serious trouble. 
 
More than ten minutes later, Trump tweeted: "Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify."
Translation: I don’t give a shit. Find Pence and do with him what you will. And if Tommy gets caught in the crossfire, so be it.
 
Yesterday, news of a Trump conversation with Kevin McCarthy surfaced. Similar conversation. Perhaps more f-bombs. Similar result. Kevin, you’re getting what’s coming to you.
One might expect such an embrace of violent political vengeance to be soundly rejected by the law and order party. It will not be.
 
One might expect such an embrace of violent political vengeance to be soundly rejected by the Jesus-followers who have transferred their allegiance to Trump. It will not be.
In fact no group in the country, a recent survey shows, embraces lies and violence like white evangelicals. Our friends who love Jesus.
 
Forty-one percent of white evangelicals said they completely or somewhat believed that violence may be required to keep the right side in power.
And here is where I’m really going with all this. The why question. Why is that? How have white evangelicals so lost their way?
 
The short answer is that the Bible consists of more than the Gospels. If all you read is the Gospels, Jesus, and God himself, can seem quite friendly. One can almost imagine following such a man. After all, water into wine is a pretty cool trick. Makes for a happy lot of disciples. 
 
Unfortunately the Gospels are followed by the Book of Revelations. Jesus shows up with a sword coming out of his mouth. Lots of blood. Lots of butchered people. Apparently lots of folks who didn’t get the message.
 
Equally unfortunate is the fact that the Gospels are preceded by an older Testament. The picture of God therein lists to the brutal side. Sound thrashings of the human race fill chapter after chapter. Floods, pillars of salt, snakes, earthquakes, and the swords of his folk, all inflicted on those who somehow failed to get the message.
 
One of the most striking stories is of the Israeli general Joshua, filled with blood lust as he pursues his/God’s enemies, calling on God to make the sun “stand still” so that he’ll have more daylight to kill and capture. Well, actually, just kill. God was never too fond of capture. Presumably getting bogged down in trials taxed his patience.
At any rate, God obliged. The sun stood still. Daylight lingered over a scene that I suspect even Josh Hawley would find disturbing. 
 
I have long thought that the next religion I take up will be one in which its devotees pray for time to stop on a 72-degree summer day, high blue sky, a light breeze blowing, and the entire desire of the worshipers is for the sun to linger a little longer on the face of such a world.
 
But I did say that was the short answer. Best get out now, if you don’t want the long answer.
 
The long answer is that evangelicals defend, even embrace, such Scripture, and such a God, and such violent action in the world, because they are constrained by the founding presuppositions of the movement, presuppositions which force evangelicals to deal with such texts as if they were entirely accurate history and present an entirely accurate picture of the nature of God. It’s called the doctrine of inerrancy, and, while it has a long history, which perhaps I’ll get into at some point, it forces evangelicals to defend every piece of Scripture as if it were literal truth. 
 
Let me illustrate.
A prominent evangelical seminary recently received a $3 million donation to establish a Center for the Study and Ministry of the Holy Spirit today. The donation will fund ten years of things like academics getting a "two-course release" to study the Holy Spirit. I admit, perhaps to my shame, that as an academic I couldn't stop chuckling over the notion of professors getting course releases to study what is, virtually by definition, invisible and unknowable. I know academics. You ain't gettin’ anything useful on such a subject even from ten years of two course releases. But I digress.
 
The funds will also be used to bring to the center "influential Christian leaders who can educate the community about the Holy Spirit's current work around the world." Imagine with me for a moment an influential leader standing before our assembled academics and declaring that such and so that happened in some obscure African or Asian nation was a "work of the Holy Spirit." But someone else stands up and says, No, that actually wasn't the Holy Spirit. How does one adjudicate such a question?
 
The article announcing the grant contains the seeds of the answer to that question. The millions of dollars will be spent on a "biblical examination" of the Holy Spirit. A "sound biblical hermeneutic" will be used. And therein lies the problem. As anyone who knows evangelicalism knows, those are code words for a host of presuppositions like inerrancy, literalism, theologically accepted views of God which will not, I repeat not, be re-examined as part of this study. So, in other words, you will spend ten years and millions of dollars coming to the exact same conclusions to which a mountain of books on the Holy Spirit have already come. I guarantee you that after ten years not one new insight, an insight not already written in some text somewhere, will have been gleaned. You simply cannot go anywhere new in a discussion about God if the presuppositions are not open for re-examination. I don't care how many course releases you get.
 
How do I know this you might ask?
Well, let me illustrate some more. And this is closer to the topic at hand.
None of the following is fiction.
 
A professor who professes to "love inspiring students with the beauty of the Old Testament" takes up the topic of God and genocide. And there is beauty here. The beauty is in enjoying the tortured explanations required when you refuse to examine your presuppositions.
 
He begins by laying out four propositions which he admits cannot all be held at the same time.
 
1. God is good and compassionate.
2. The Old Testament is a faithful record of God's dealings with humanity.
3. The Old Testament describes events that are identified as genocide.
4. Genocide is always evil.
 
I leave it to you to guess which proposition he discards.
You're right of course. Number 4. Genocide, it turns out, is, by definition, good, if God is the one committing it.
The professor dismisses any attempt to re-examine how we think about God with one sentence. That's what the "New Atheists" do. So it's automatically out of bounds. In fact, if you question along those lines, you are likely a candidate for some good Old Testament genocide.
 
Hemmed in by his presuppositions, he refuses to see the text as anything but an accurate historical record; therefore, he is left to defend Yahweh's genocide.
How? 
 
Three points.
1. The Canaanites were bad. They'd had plenty of time to repent. Time's up. Women, children, cats put to the sword. We should feel more sorry for the Israeli soldiers who had to carry out the deed than we should for the women and children. They undoubtedly required years of therapy to get over sinking their swords into screaming babies.
 
2. This wasn't “ethnic” genocide. For some reason our author appears squeamish about that. It was “theological” genocide. The Canaanites didn't think correctly about God. They could, after all, have thought correctly about God, likely after taking some classes from Israeli scholars with course releases, joined the Israelis, and saved themselves from annihilation. After all God set snakes on Jews who didn't think rightly. He's an equal opportunity thought-police genocidal deity. [O.k. Granted I'm paraphrasing a bit. But the ideas are all there.]
 
3. This genocide was part of God's plan for the world. After all, he'd done it before at the flood, at Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. The author helpfully points out that God used fire at Sodom and Gomorrah because he'd promised not to drown people again after the flood. I guess he felt as bad as some liberals do about water boarding. Couldn't go back to his favored technique. Kind of hemmed in by his own vows. Rainbows and all that.
 
Basically, our author explains that God has to kill lots and lots of people in order to get through to us that he doesn't like us being bad. We're slow that way. Probably something to do with sex. Usually is.
 
The author generously points out that we all deserve the same fate. In fact most of us will receive the same fate. Our personal Sodom and Gomorrah is simply postponed till the end of time. We'll eventually get our own bad-people genocide. The Canaanites simply received their end-times genocide early. God removed the "common grace" many of us get, i.e. we get four score and ten years on earth to agree to the correct ideas about God, and "brought their eschatological judgment to [the Canaanites] immediately." 
 
But God also gives positive reinforcement. In the same way the Canaanite genocide was a prefiguring of hell, the Israelis getting to move into their now "unoccupied" land was a helpful prefiguring of heaven. The whole thing was a giant object lesson. Why the Israelis came equipped with swords and not flannelgraphs is never explained.
 
After all this tortured logic, our good author lets himself off the hook by saying he "feels ill at ease" with this "difficult topic." And the "destruction" of these civilizations was "limited to that time and place and is not to be repeated today." Whew! How he knows that, he does not say. When someone comes to butcher him and his family claiming God's command, I assume he'll explain it then. At the very least he'll feel "ill at ease." 
 
Likely, after four years of Donald Trump, he has revised his notion that violence is limited to “that time and place.”
Here's my point. Evangelicalism is stuck. Forty-one percent of white evangelicals will continue to support political violence as long as they worship a God who never blinked before dispensing the harshest justice upon human beings. Listen to their rhetoric today. They celebrate their violent God.
 
To grow, both in influence and intellectually, evangelicalism simply must re-examine its founding presuppositions about the nature of Scripture and the nature of God. Otherwise millions of dollars and a decade will be spent, and the movement will arrive right back at the starting gate, publishing defenses of the indefensible. 
 
P.S. A better use of that $3 million and ten years and professorial course releases would be to study how a centuries old and once respected religious movement winds up with over 80% of its constituents voting for Donald Trump. Believe me, those votes and my post are inextricably linked.
 
There's a beautiful irony in our good prof's piece defending God's genocides. He articulates clearly that what God is most passionately opposed to, the sins for which He butchered entire races, are "sins of injustice that enriched the oppressor."
Yet not one word in his article about the 80% of his religious tribe that pulled the lever for a man and a party whose every waking moment is given over to plotting how best to take from the oppressed to give to the oppressor. If God were still in the genocide business, he'd likely turn his attention first to evangelicals.
 
It turns out that blind commitment to presuppositions leads to an inability to see what the story of Jesus quite obviously intends to be the central message and commitment of evangelical faith. I think he said something about love. Somewhere in there.
 
As I heard a black comedian recently say, "Religions are always fighting about who has the right messenger. I don't give a damn about your messenger. My question is, did you get the message?!"
 
Bill Svelmoe / February 13, 2021



Monday, February 1, 2021

IT REALLY WASN'T SO BAD...


To be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, 
 
other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, told four Congresswomen of color to “go back to where they came from” even though all four are US citizens and three were born here, hired an advisor that called outright lies “alternative facts,” insulted Steph Curry on Twitter, insulted Meryl Streep on Twitter, insulted Madonna on Twitter, insulted Snoop Dogg on Twitter, insulted Chrissy Teigen on Twitter, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cybersecurity after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID superspreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.
 
But Presidents should be allowed a few foibles, just like anybody else!
 
///
I was unable to find whomever took time to assemble all of this.  If you know the source, I'd like to credit them.  I have not vetted every point. When I first saw it on Facebook, I started reading and couldn't stop.  I have classmates who believe that 45 was the best president the USA has ever had and the French woman I mention in the previous post was positive that all of the verified news is a hoax. I've asked people who believe as she does to be in touch with me.  I really want to know how someone believes this stuff.
What a world. 
Ground Hog Day tomorrow.. the date..not the movie. I like to believe in the ground hog.. 
michael sheehan
2/1/2021

RONNIE BRYAN IS GONE

Darn it.. 

Another one bites the dust.  The most hurtful thing, besides knowing that Ron Bryan, an old high school pal, has died is that he died from the virus.. the plague, and his lovely wife, the former Patti Grossnickel, cutest girl in the whole class.. has the virus, too. 

More hurtful than that is that the couple who monitor the news of our high school class, Marvin  and Kay, his wife.. have responded to my emails by telling me that they would no longer respond to me And, evidently, they have removed me from the class mailing list.  Why? Because I 'hurt many people'.  Never my intention.  I guess other folks in the class felt 'hurt' by my simply asking them last fall for whom they would vote. I declared Blue.. and that was that.  No campaigning or otherwise supporting our now President Biden and VP Harris.  I simply asked a question. I have reported the vitriolic responses here earlier.  

I'd apologize in a second if I had intentionally done  something to actually upset these old pals on purpose.  In fact, I do owe Marvin an apology because I  had a limbic reaction and told him to look in the mirror. He's a handsome guy, but.. anyone who did not Vote Blue this time has supported the person whose behavior has been outrageous and unacceptable is culpable.  The ultimate slap in the face to our Republic, was what everyone saw on January 6, 2021, all thanks to the impeached prez. 

A last note to my classmates who may be on board, and understand where I am coming from: please share news of our class as you may still receive it from Marvin and Kay.   I actually thought that he and I shared a sense of humor.  All is not lost.  I forgive them for being recalcitrant and hope to regain a connection to the all of the people I grew up with back in Greeley, Colorado.

But.. the prompt for today was the serendipity of a misdialed phone call. Dyslexia is setting in and though I don't know the number I incorrectly dialed, a voice mail picked up.  I left a 'have a nice day' sort of message apologizing for my mistake.  

Then...

My phone rings. It's the woman whose number I dialed incorrectly.  She is French and tells me about her career busking in the streets of New York, the portable tapdance floor, her love of God and devotion to him (her/it?)..no.. Him.. and how the former president is a humble servant of her god and other stuff that goes on non-stop with an invitation to read all about it on her website that even though she has changed her name, still has lots of information and how the insurrection was supported by the local cops and that the country is well into the Handbasket to Hell with President Biden in the White House.  

As I am a bit lonely.. having been divorced from the comings and goings of my high school pals and returning a phone call to good old Ron with no answer when I call back.. I listen to this woman screech on non-stop while now and then I speak over her, interrupting, or trying to and asking if she understands that her accent and rate of speech make it impossible for me to understand what she is saying? She babbles on at an even faster pace saying she did not intend to get into this topic and when I ask her if she knows how really ridiculous what she is saying sounds, she adds that she knows FOR A FACT that President Biden is a communist and that America is now in really bad shape.  I ask if the thinks the former prez is God.  A pause! well..no.. but he is humble!  Humble?? Really? 

This reminds me of a song by Mac Davis (a former neighbor of mine btw) called "Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble..." 

Because this distraction is really a bit entertaining,  and she won't shut up.. I think about just putting the phone down and going for a cup of tea.  She has no comprehension of the barbs I stick in when I think she may be taking a breath, but really.. she must be the Kenny G of talkers because I don't hear her take a breath anywhere. 

This wake up call is to share with those who watched the insurrection after the miscreants were goaded to wreck the ballot count and storm the Capitol.  Were you appalled? Can you imagine anyone who was not?   Sadly, there are people loose in our society who, like this woman.. really believe the fantasy that she was spouting.  Unhinged diatribes are a reflection of some philosophy that I'd truly love to understand.  The recent list of woes that the former president laid on our country was posted on Facebook the other day.  It's not an essay or an article. It's just a list.  I may post it here, later. I have not been able to find the author who compiled the list and would like to credit him/her. 

All of this to say is that formerly, I thought that critical thinking may be a saving grace for many who have witnessed the destruction of trust and humanity that the twice impeached guy wrought upon the nation.  I'd still like to think that people like this woman who just blathered on for ten minutes, not 'getting' my insults and questions, but on a roll to her own satisfaction.. there are folks like her and it seems that reason has nothing to do with their beliefs. At least reasoning that makes sense to me. 

 If you are a member of my high school class and have seen the light, denouncing your connection to what the republican party has become, please find my email address and send me a note. Call me on the phone. Voice is good.

To Patti Ryan.  Ronnie was a pal whom I really liked.  When he declared his intention and yours to vote red, that made me sad, but living in Buckeye, Arizona and coming from Greeley, Colorado may have been a factor in that. Health to Patti and to all who may venture here. This virus ain't foolin'.. Please follow the protocols and be well.

whew.. 

michael sheehan