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While We Still Have Time

In spite of the grimness of the times in which we live, there is still hope. If you feel, like I do, that the usual discourse about matters of critical concern tends to be superficial, misguided, and false, then you might find some solace and inspiration here. I will try to offer insight and a holistic perspective on events and issues, and hopefully serve as a catalyst for raising the level of dialogue on this planet.

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Location: Madison, Wisconsin, United States

I was born in 1945, shortly before atom bombs were dropped on Japan. I served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1971. I earned master's degrees in Economics and Educational Psychology, and certificates in Web Page Design and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I followed an Indian guru for eight years, which immersed me in meditative practices and an attitude of reaching a higher level of being. A blog post listing the meditative practices I have pursued can be seen here.

Monday, November 25, 2024

Events Will Overtake

The election, such as it was, is now three weeks old. For some, it was the Second Coming, American style. For many others it brought on waves of fear, foreboding and depression. Another Trump presidency promises lawlessness, oppression, worsening climate disasters and international instability.

It took me a few days to regain my sense of perspective and optimism. The prospect of four more years of Trump is almost unthinkable, but here we are. We’re cooked.

So it seems. But seeming isn’t the same as actual. Donald Trump may not, for one reason or another, be inaugurated on January 20 of next year. His mental state is pretty well-known: deranged criminal sociopath, narcissist, bully, fraud merchant, demagogue, pathological liar, clown, glutton and sexual predator. It seems obvious to many behavioral scientists and clinicians that he also is in decline. He has difficulty remembering things, though it can be hard to separate forgetting from lying. He has trouble focusing, speaking in a wandering, incoherent manner, saying whatever comes to mind, making no discernible point.

He also has uncontrollable anger, making him a dangerous person to be president, but making him also a danger to himself. His preference for low quality fast food can be seen as further evidence of pathology - food addiction, with inevitable health effects.

This isn’t exactly cause for cheer, but the prospects for another four years of Donald Trump don’t appear so likely. Project 2025, blah, blah, blah. The fascists are coming. Make plans to move to Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Or wait a while.

So Trump himself is more Wizard of Oz than Adolph Hitler, and his fifteen minutes of fame are way past expired, but what about the wrecking crew he is bringing in? Won’t they do his dirty work whether he is here or not? His threat to “burn it all down” can take place with or without him.

It isn’t likely. The threat of Trump’s revenge crusade (after all, he is the Messiah of vengeance) depends entirely on him. If his health fails and he is incapacitated, his phony power ceases. Without the illusion created by endless bluster he has nothing.

So Donald Trump, deranged and in decline, 78 years old, six-foot three and obese, is an implausible dictator. Not for lack of want or trying. He would like to be worse than Hitler, Stalin, Franco, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Suharto and Amin put together. In addition to his declining mental and physical health, he is lacking in intelligence and competence. His life is a pathetic study of failed businesses, unpaid debts, fraud and disgrace. His only talent is as a performer – a mob inciter and entertainer. A hate monger. He has an audience. It worked for the past nine years. It won’t be for much longer. Events will overtake.
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Here's a song. A movie. Another movie. Otis Rush. A going away song for Trump. A lesson he was incapable of learning. Maybe when Trump is gone we can do this. Amanda Rheaume sings a going away song for the American Dream

Thursday, November 07, 2024

Kamala Harris For President

Joe Biden is mentally unfit to hold office. This has been plainly obvious since his debate with Donald Trump on June 27, but he has likely been unfit for over a year, maybe longer. He never was a particularly bright guy, so it might be hard to tell when the decline advanced to a level of unfitness. 

Biden's unfitness seemed clear to me when he went to Israel last October 18, hugged the vile Benjamin Netanyahu, and declared himself a Zionist. He then proceeded to supply the government of Israel billions of dollars in money and weaponry, more than they could ever want or need. 

Whenever Biden's condition advanced to unfitness we will never know, but he is now in a sufficient degree of incompetence that he is a danger to the country and to world peace. It is probably too late to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, but we can pressure him to resign from the presidency. Kamala Harris, next in line for the presidency, would assume office for the duration of Biden's term, and would surrender the office to the thoroughly evil Donald Trump on January 20, 2025.

Kamala Harris lost the election resoundingly to Donald Trump in what has to be the greatest political humiliation in modern memory. She is through as a politician, but she is not unfit to hold office and is not a danger to the country and the planet. She would be an interim president, leaving office on inauguration day, but that is far preferable to Joe Biden being in office for even one more day.
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And, for the Democratic Party, nice going assholes! You deserve this for your nothing campaign, your nothing candidate and your nothing stance against the worst genocide since World War II. History, should we have a history, will remember this nothingness as symbolic of the times in which we live. 

All the more reason for Joe Biden, unfit for office, to resign. He, still assessing aid restrictions to Israel, might want to reassess his prospects for "Heaven," should he be facing the Grim Reaper after he leaves office.
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Here's an image that can be used as a bumper sticker, sign, or any other kind of prompt. Click on it and get a bigger version.

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Update, November 20: White House Says Democrats Who Oppose Weapons To Israel Are Aiding Hamas. I responded thusly:

The soullessness of this accusation is revealing, showing there is no depth to which Biden and his servants will not sink. It is also revealing of how desperate they are. As the genocide in Gaza progresses towards its, er, final solution, time is running out for Biden to wrap things up before January 20, when he will face not only powerlessness, but universal condemnation for his futile effort.

Out of office, he will face the further humiliation of having Trump take credit for whatever peace follows this shameful episode of U.S. history. He will not be able to leave the country, lest he be arrested and sent to the Hague for war crimes prosecution.

This should be a warning for all who seek power. Biden has been seeking power for his entire public life. In the four years in which he was the "most powerful man on Earth" he steered Russia towards invading Ukraine and sponsored the worst genocide since World War II in Gaza. He made powerlessness look attractive.
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Pollster Nate Silver is calling on Biden to resign. The chorus is likely to grow.