If you lie...

If you lie-- about Trump and his motives; you are as evil as he is. If you lie-- to yourself because your economic situation is better under Trump; you are as venal and selfish as he is. If you lie-- about Trump because he is your Dad, Husband, or business partner; you are complicit in all the chaos and pain he causes.

If you defend or attack: lies as truth, or wrong as right, or truth as lies, or dark as light, light as dark -- then you have joined the devil's side. You are a Trump supporter, an enabler of chaos, confusion, and not-so-clever subterfuge.

If you support Trump because you are afraid of black, brown, yellow or red people then you are a racist. If you back Trump because you hate Hilary Clinton , Elizabeth Warren, a Bill Clinton, and Stormy Daniels then you are a hypocrite and a misogynist.
If you proclaim your love for America but absolutely hate or fear immigrants -- then you may not be redeemable as a human being.

Violent Donald Trump

Donald Trump has been and is -- a bully. He now is telling his sycophantic supporters (Evangelical ministers, white supremacists, anyone who will listen) that if his party loses -- there will be violence. ANTIFA will rise up and undo all the "progressz" made in 2016. Donald Trump is threatening all of us and (wink, wink) giving his own "people" permission to "fight back, first." 

So, at the same time as he is playing the race/anarchy card, he is appealing to the lowest levels of racial and ethnic fear in everyone in America. Donald Trump is playing a dunbed-down Iago to both America's Othello  and her Desdemona. (Trump will not understand this reference.)

The above is just one more reason to RESIST and "vote out" Trump!

Scorecard for America

On the Bad Side
      Donald Trump
      Republicans complicit to Trump's plans to " tear down" just about everything
      Evangelical immoral hypocrites
      Trump's family:  wife, daughter, and others
      Trump's staff desperate to hold on to their pitiable positions
      Catholic right wingers
      Trump voters who refuse to see what is really happening
      White supremacists, racists, anti-gay people
      Uninvolved Americans who are "tired of all the fuss"
      Voters who still respect and would vote for Trump
   
On the Good Side
      Authentic human beings
      People with honest human values
      All those who oppose the devil, and Trump


     

God Is Alive: The Catholic Church is Dead

I left the Church several years ago; I now follow the value principles of Ko-Shinto Buddhism, some of which are interchangeable with Christian values. Why switch, and why announce it? The Catholic Church is corrupt -- it does not adhere to its own morality. It persecutes women, belittling and controlling them like any "good" medieval institution. It supports causes and people who do actual harm to life, love, and the best parts of humanity. These are people like Trump, hyper-capitalists, recidivist racists, zealots of all kinds.

I have moved from inspired altar boy to troubled doubter to ... finally, reluctant emigrant.  I gave seen the evil of predatory clergy, and warned others of its existence. I have seen the hypocrisy if Catholic zealotry and the prevarication of self-forgiving hierarchy. 

My morality is mine alone: it is not for everyone. It descries institutions in favor of individual souls. Mine is the heart of "homo viator" -- man the traveler, searching for truth!

Coming and Going

This upcoming week is an unusual one. I have friends leaving for Poland on thursday, more friends off to Italy on the weekend, and even I am planning a trip for Kentucky/Ohio/Wisconsin very soon after. A great American, John McCain, will be interred very soon. A lesser American, Donald Trump, will continue to embarrass himself and the nation by everything he does or doesn't do.

There is another mass shooting in the news, this time 4 dead and multiple injuries. And the Republicans in power will still do nothing but offer their worthless prayers to compensate for their cowardly lack of political and moral will.

Enemies of America take note: we are not all as worthless as Trump (and his cohort)., or the crass members of the NRA, or the morally bereft churchgoers who believe in Trump more than God! Don't mistake notoriety or celebrity-status for the real American values. We will fight all odds to protect our values, our beliefs, ourselves.

No Bail For Trump

Due to an internal regulation of the Justice Department Trump is not likely to be indicted, though he may eventually be impeached (perhaps after the midterm elections). But he is the "junior mob-boss" of the most corrupt American presidency of the modern era. Trump is "criminal-in-chief" of Trumpland!

Karma alone would condemn Trump. He is a bad and corrupt soul. But America is a country of laws, not necessarily of morality. So, in legal terms alone -- Trump deserves jail time. It would not cbange the evil person that he is, but it would end his ability to diminish and harm the rest of us. Let him proceed with his "deals," swapping cigarettes for extra Big Macs -- until he finds his way to Hell.

Long-term Elections in November, 2018

Crucial; these upcoming elections are crucial! This is the chance we all have to "take the house back," to slow the backward momentum of the Trump "changes;" and restore the movement to real American values. The venal self-serving autocracy known as Trumpland must be quashed.

We must remember and rectify all the errors that have been bulldozed into place: in BUD, in Education, in the  Justice department, in the FDA, the EPA,  and everwhere else. America cannot be the solipsistic duchy of Trumpland!  We sre much, much better than that.

Trump is a Criminal

Cohen says so; Manafort proves it; soon Mueller will expose it. Will the Evangelicals believe it; will they even care?  Have they lost all sense of morality?  Have they forgotten how to think?

All my friends and relatives who voted for Trump -- now is the time to regain your human  values and abandon the chimera that is Donald J. Trump!

If There Is A God...

Why do I doubt? Because the world is so confused, so confusing, so inclined towards evil and selfishness. Our leaders are not just flawed, but dedicated to their own evil selfishness (witness Trump!) People die, or are tortured, or stolen by other people who are without conscience or remorse,

If there is a God -- I hope He (or She) is paying attention. Punishment is required in response to evil. And not just at the end of time. Karma must be honored or hope is quashed for the rest of us. Trump must be "stopped" even if only by the weight and quality of those who RESIST him.

Humans Are Spiritual

Why do most people believe in an afterlife? Are they so in need of some kind of reward for their behavior? Does being kind, compassionate, or loving have positive value of its own?

Does a corrupt and heinous Catholic Church deserve our loyalty, or even our respect? I would say "no" to both. If we honestly believe in a God, or more specifically in "Jesus -- than how can we possibly follow this version of Catholcism? It is our moral duty to abandon and condemn this "evil" Church. This Church must change -- perhaps even deconstruct itself, to justify its very raison d'etre! 

Faith resides in the individual, not in the Church.

The Catholic Church

I am a former altar boy. I attended Catholic grade schools (2), a Jesuit high school, a Jesuit university, a Jesuit graduate school and a number of parishes throughout my youth. I married a convert to Catholicism (from her Baptist roots.) My own family had been Catholic going back for as long as we could trace -- perhaps 8 generations?

I am no longer a practicing Catholic. As an altar boy I and others steered the younger boys away from the predatory priests, and there were a few of them. There were "good" priests too, and good pastors who dutifully reported such behavior. And those bad priests were routinely transferred to another parish, a generally unsuspecting one.

I am now following Buddist tenets in my daily life, without believing in the mythology.

I still sometimes visit a Catholic church; I understand that I do believe in God -- but the specifics if Catholic doctrine seem strained and self-protective to me. Doctrine from all religions seem shallow to me; man-made explanations to fill in logical holes.
Religions practice "god'splaining" to exercise moral superiority and attempt to convince us all that they "have the truth" -- "that they are the truth!"

The truth is -- in us. In our humanity, in our kindness, in our compassion. We are responsible to be that truth throughout our lives. Our behaviors are our truth. Our highest instincts of "love" are our salvation. And our gift to the world after us.

Trapped by Smallmindedness

I have had a number of students who have come from an adjacent county called Effingham. Most of them suffer from the "closed world" syndrome. They cannot think outside the box, because they don't recognize that their hopes, dreams, and futures are all encapsuled inside the box. They are contained by restricting relatives and advisers, their own closed-off perspectives, and simple "fear." I have seen students refuse major scholarships out of fear. The blind should not be leading the blind.

Growth is achieved by risk, by projecting oneself into the future, by conquering one's fear not giving in to it. Some students go so far as to delude themselves, playing the victim to preserve their "innocent" fearful stupidity. Effingham County contains "tribes" full of such  "life-shirkers." You know who you are!  I can only feel sorry for your bad decisions.

Inciter-in-Chief

President Trump incites violence, then benignly proounces that he opposes it. As always, Trump is a liar and a hypocrite. His very nature is to sew chaos and spread hatred and mistrust. We are long past excusing Trump's behavior. He has displayed his penchant for actual evil again and again.

No amount of "Ivanka" or "Melania" softening will cover Trump's evil intent. He is what he is -- and we are stuck with him until time fades him away! Be strong all you normal people -- this Trump too shall pass.

Extinction Point

White people in America need to understand some basic facts. First, they are quickly and deservedly becoming extinct. What does that mean? It means that the number of "non-white" people is growing; through higher birth rates, much higher immigration numbers, and a higher rate of longevity growth among the adult populations.

The upshot is there is a growing number of white racists, fascists, and supremacists. And they are desperate to hold on to what was rather than embrace what is really happening. Many "whites" are demonizing non-white people in the same way Hitler tried to do to the Jews. Will the white population of America make the same mistake? 

Will Trump and his cronies try to inflict the same lies on Americans that Hitler did on the Jews (and others?) Is that process of dehumization already happening? The answer is clearly "yes!" The extinction point needs to happen.  All those people who define themselves as "exclusively white" need to self-eliminate!  We all must learn to become diverse. We are all, after all, mulatto!

Masochism ... or Madness

We all know the definition of "madness" --  doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results. Sexually we fall for the same lies, the same shapely body, the same perfect smile, the same perfect butt! Why are we so shallow, so gullible, so impossibly hopeful? We expect the same "bon vivant" to suddenly grow a conscience, or a character with moral "gravitas?" Madness!

And the masochism of putting ourselves through the same "ground hog day" process -- without even trying to extract some morsel of knowledge -- more madness, though of a different order of crass stupidity. Why are we so stupid? Why do we put aside our values to ingratiate our desires? We are flawed pieces of "meat!"

Why does a potential orgasm become the axis of our plans?  Why do we forgive extremely bad abuse towards us when we know it will just happen again?  Do we crave the "drama" of it all?  Are our minds so weak that our eyes cannot see the obvious? Are we hypocrites or just plain liars?

Can we see the truth, or do we refuse to acknowledge it? Are we "real" or are we "fake?"

Probing Russian Interest in this Blog

Ever so often I get a sudden surge of Russian readers of this blog. Since the number is typically 50-80 readers, sometimes over several days, I am "tickled" to make some possible guesses as to why this happens.

To wit: edgy ESL teacher somewhere in the hinterlands of Russia is using the blog as an exemplar of colloquial American English; cyberterrorists in the Russian government are trying to gauge the average American viewpoint on things; I (via the blog) am being recruited into Putin's fifth column; Putin really likes my writing style; Trump has Putin checking out his American critics.  Whatever is the real reason I challenge the readers to "respond" via the Comments section (unless you are worried about being tracked; I am capable...)!

Bluster, Bilge, and Blather

Trump is a criminal who happens to be President of the United States! I have extreme respect for America; but none for Trump. He has set all of us on edge by cheating, lying, bullying, and abusing us and the power of his office. He needs to be impeached, thrown out of office, and jailed.  He has filled his meager staff with amoral, sycophantic followers -- so dislodging his criminality will take time and effort.

We need to start NOW: Manafort, Flynn, Cohen, Trump, Trump Jr., and all who are complicit: Ivanka, DeVoss, Jared, and all the "crooks of the cabinet." Handcuff them all! We must support the media and the truth-tellers! Expunge the actively evil fake conservatives, supremacists, and wouldbe oligarchs! Get rid of Trump!