You did good, Senator John McCain, thank you. Rest in Peace

US Navy Library of Congress

At John McCain's funeral service the tributes were moving and inspiring and as truthful and unpretentious as the man who was shot down, badly injured and captured by North Vietnamese, and was a prisoner of war for 5 years, enduring torture and refusing early release out of solidarity with fellow prisoners. Who, on his return, entered politics and served as a Representative and then Senator for 36 years.

But the most moving of all was Meghan McCain's eulogy to her father who she loved so deeply. She didn't hold her tears back but spoke fiercely and passionately and with the most wonderful articulacy. She unequivocally rebuked and condemned the current president and his behavior without naming him.

Everybody who spoke did that today, including 95 year old Henry Kissinger. As John McCain undoubtedly knew they would.

Barack Obama and George Bush spoke their truths about their personal and political relationships with him. They used the platform to promote unity and the ideals McCain believed in that they share. There was plenty of wry humor, but they both always brought it back to the most important thing about McCain - that he believed in equality and never treated a person differently on account of their religion, race or gender. That he spoke his truth to authority without fear.

The entire ceremony was transfixing. The tremendous respect was foremost and the grief was palpable. Rest in Peace Senator McCain. You did good, choreographing this service the way you did. Bringing people together. This was a sobering and wonderful moment in American history.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Revisited as Trump Provokes N. Korea's Kim Jong-un?

On this day, 1945, the US dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, instantly killing about 40,000 people, having dropped the world's first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima three days earlier. The horror has lived on in everybody's minds and hearts.

Yet yesterday, Donald Trump threatened N. Korea with "fire and fury" over its nuclear capacity and its own threat to destroy the US. The world watches, tense, as this out of control, intellectually challenged man, unleashes his ego, too narcissistic to understand the consequences and how close he's pushing the whole world towards nuclear confrontation.

When asked what the government was going to do about N. Korea a short while ago, he said vacuously, "We'll manage it, we'll manage it." He wouldn't take any more questions on the subject. Because he didn't have a clue.

It's been 201 days of this inept, dysfunctional American president with severe personality disorders, living in a private bubble utterly detached from reality. Surrounded by bottom-feeders and acolytes, scrabbling for power like a bunch of starving hyenas attacking a bloody carcass, snarling and tearing at each other. The leader of the free world isolating America from international trade, separating it from the free and the just.

An ultra conservative government, largely driven by Evangelical Christian 'principles', dragging the most powerful democracy back into pre Civil Rights days wherever it can, back into discrimination, unfair treatment, bigotry, sexism and xenophobia. A climate change denier in charge of the environment.

The list goes on. It's endless now. Over 200 days of human rights violations, scandals, vulgarities, lies, corrupted souls,  hiring and firing at the whim of a sick man addicted to himself and his TV enablers. Furiously trying to cover his Russian connection tracks and losing the battle fast. Swamped by the relentless push of 5 major investigations. Desperately trying to distract, failing abysmally.

Hemorrhaging popularity and trust, even in his ever dwindling base. The whole world worrying about how he'll cope with a real, international disaster. And now it's about to happen, only he's the author of it.

Nuclear confrontation has suddenly and by degrees become a reality for all of us, as the sick man with tiny fingers recklessly provokes the world's most frightening sociopath, Who, it turns out, has the capacity to target the US with intercontinental ballistic missiles that have miniaturized nuclear warheads attached. It's alarming how so many military analysts are saying that Kim Jong-un isn't insane, he's strategic, he knows what he's doing, and he's homicidal but not suicidal.

He's just saber-rattling, saying that he'll destroy America. The only way to deal with him is to push back, show him that America means business. Threaten to annihilate N. Korea. He'll buckle. He knows that a full-on US attack will destroy his country. He doesn't want that. He just wants to be safe, he wants a deterrent, and to be treated like one of the big guys at the table.

They were wrong about how developed N. Korea's nuclear capacity is. The Washington Post reveal surprised everybody.  Anything from 25 to 60 missiles that could reach the west coast of the US and possibly even New York. But they're not wrong about Kim Jong-un?

The worry is that these military analysts are still burying their heads in the sand. The problem with sociopaths is that they don't function the way most of us do. They don't have a stabilizing component in their brains. They can be supremely logical, sure; but their wires are crossed, and their rationale for behaving anti-socially makes sense to them. We have a prime example in Donald Trump.

Watching Kim Jong-un survey his gigantic weapons displays, and his mechanized, mind-vacated, supremely controllable puppet troops and citizens, it doesn't take a genius to see orgasmic satisfaction that is insane. Out of control. Push him too far with threats and there's no guarantee that he won't lose it and push back with an attack because it will give him an orgasm. It'll be too late then, as American cities burn à la Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to say, Damn! We were wrong. Too late, also, for Trump voters—and die-hard Bernie Sanders fans—to realize they made a mistake.

Some of them might even be dead. Or mutilated beyond recognition. Or weeping over their screaming children, helpless to save them. We were all concerned about the fate of the planet because Trump and his government are in denial about climate change. We may not have to worry about that any more.

Can Democracy Withstand the Trump Administration Onslaught?

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Democracy. In the West we take it for granted that once established, the power of its values and laws intrinsically protect society from corrupt governments forming and stripping people of their rights. The Donald Trump administration has proven us wrong.

Value systems have always collided. In the West the ugly stuff was protected by legislation and social mores that gave power and freedom of expression to racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes, xenophobes, cultural persecutors, and deprived the targets of a platform if not the right to express their frustration, anger, hurt and outrage and work towards gaining equality. Gradually, though, the underdog in every sector of society has gained power. Those who were open to enlightenment embraced the concept of human rights, and legislated to protect them.

But you can't legislate what people think, what they want, what they read. Laws can't control the racism and bigotry that lurks under the surface, building momentum, lying in wait for an authority figure to grant permission to come out into the open, be vented and acted upon.

Spiteful, mean-spirited, greedy for power, panting for the right to be cruel without facing punishment and consequence.

You can't openly legislate for how those who need protection choose to vote, but you can introduce laws that make it difficult or impossible for them to even get to the polling stations. You can gerrymander districts so that those who can vote to protect decent human values don't, effectively, have a voice. You can use the written media, TV, radio stations, the church, to manipulate minds that are already leaning that way anyway, distorting truth until it's unrecognizable. Exploiting fear of change, fear of dark skins, fear of the other.

You can target those who don't have resources, who, if they could, would vote for representatives whose aim is to enfranchise everybody, create a fair society where equality and equal opportunity are the main principles of every branch of government.

In a so-called free society, even in the strongest democracies, much of the principle of do unto others has to be left to the conscience of the individual. It's constantly evolving for many, as it should. If that many isn't the majority, or the minority gets the power, society has a problem. In the West we're used to seeing corrupt leaders in  countries with no functioning democracy. We're accustomed to watching them destroy economies, commit genocide, imprison, torture and murder opposition to the government, prohibit freedom of speech.

We've believed that America was above that. It had long been the leader of the free world. Free and fair elections, freedom of speech, protection of the press, the importance of equality at least valued by one major political party which had an equal shot at gaining the power to improve society at all levels.

But now? Freedom of the press is under threat, hate crimes are on the rise alarmingly. Truth, equality and equal opportunity are not valued by the government, nor are a clean environment or international co-operation. Greed and destruction prevail in every sector of the administration, out-picturing the mind of its dysfunctional, mentally unstable leader. As for elections, was 2016 free and fair? How is possible that a man who lost the popular vote by close to 3 million votes—more than any president in history—could become president? The point is made ad nauseam that Russian interference did not affect the actual vote tally. That's not accurate; it affected the minds of far left and far right voters very successfully. It's not hard evidence, but lack of evidence doesn't equate in reality to absence of truth.

Liberals tend to believe that the search for enlightenment in every aspect of life is innate to the human race, or at least to the vast majority, that do unto others makes sense to most of us and dictates how we relate to each other.

   

But in our everyday lives, why then are reality shows that thrive on humiliation,  emotional and physical punishment so popular? What about Mad Men? It depicted the sexism, feminism, homophobia, antisemitism and racism of 1960's America. Yet it was widely acclaimed as being the greatest TV show ever. Did the majority watch to be outraged and celebrate that we've moved on? I doubt it. Was it Roman-type lust for watching Christians being thrown to the lions and torn apart? Possibly. Most likely, in the light of the 2016 election result, it was a hankering after an era where social conscience was a dinosaur.

Now a vulgarian who epitomizes that dinosaur is president of what was once unquestioningly the most powerful democracy on the planet.

The biggest mistake we make in the West is believing that democracy automatically delivers what's best for everybody. It doesn't. It doesn't even deliver what's best for the majority, when the voting system has been so eroded that a racist, bigot, con artist, arch manipulator, sexual abuser, ignoramus and compulsive liar can win an election on a minority vote, with the assistance of a foreign power whose primary objective is to undermine western democracies.

The words the American people are bandied about a lot by the current Administration. Which American people would that be? Those who support the government and the President are in the minority. Donald Trump has exploited the fears and lusts of his base and successfully controlled the narrative for them. There's no doubt in reality that he is an abuser who uses whoever he can, tossing them aside like so much detritus when they no longer serve him. Yet they mindlessly endorse his abusive behaviour, his dysfunction as a president, when the policies he pushes threaten their own lives. They believe anything he says, even when he directly contradicts himself. Blind loyalty to an abuser? It's a kind of variation on Stockholm Syndrome.

The liberal press and Democratic politicians have striven valiantly to keep truth alive and democracy functioning, but in the face of Trump's monumental lies and his determination to thwart democracy, everybody is exhausted. 

For democracy to function as a force for good in society, truth must be valued. When it's under siege and the minority has power, it spells trouble. It always has. It always will. Ultimately it seems to be true, looking at the big picture, that good triumphs over evil. That's not much consolation to the lives that are destroyed in the process. It's no consolation to the Muslim, Jewish, Latino or African American children who are targeted at school, with the upsurge in hate crimes since Donald Trump's campaigning. Whose lives will never be the same again. It's no consolation to the parents who can't protect them.

It'll be no consolation to any of us if the values that keep society intact are eroded beyond recognition and democracy rendered impotent in the country that is supposed to be leading the free world. 

A World in Disbelief as Trump Pulls US Out of Paris Accord

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"A year and a half ago, the world came together in Paris around the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children.

It was steady, principled American leadership on the world stage that made that achievement possible.  It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well... 

Simply put, the private sector already chose a low-carbon future.  And for the nations that committed themselves to that future, the Paris Agreement opened the floodgates for businesses, scientists, and engineers to unleash high-tech, low-carbon investment and innovation on an unprecedented scale.

The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got." Fmr President Barack Obama

On Thursday, after a week of indecision and keeping the world in suspense, and acting against the advice of 22 senators, Rex Tillerson, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump breezed onto the lawn at the Rose Garden and announced that the US would pull out of the Paris Accord. Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Scott Pruit had won the day. 

The world is used to hearing America described as the most sophisticated democracy in the world, the assumption being that true democracy is the best system for progress in society on every front. Barack Obama's election in 2008 seemed proof of it; it was miraculous that an African American could win the hearts of the majority of voters, in a country long characterized by racism and wealth of opportunity for one race group at the cost of all the others, but African Americans in particular.

That Obama pulled the US back from the brink and went on to achieve what he did for America and the world, despite rank opposition from Republicans, reinforced the idea that this democracy deserved the position of world leader.

There wasn't any doubt in the minds of the majority of people paying attention that President Obama deserved the role and did it proud. Under his Administration the focus of global affairs turned from the bully power of war to the transformative power of diplomacy. No doubt either that First Lady Michelle Obama transformed her role and became a world leader in her own right, championing education, health and children's rights within America and internationally.

This remarkable couple, whose lives and work were driven by a desire to see social equality in every realm, exemplified dignity. The White House was a transformed place. American democracy was safe in their hands. And it was something the world could and did respect.

But now, that same democracy has produced a president who is no better than a corrupted, severely intellectually challenged, if not mentally deranged, banana republic dictator.

Supported by infighting, back-stabbing liars, racists and bigots, (some of whom have zero qualifications for their positions of immense authority), who have no problem sacrificing the health of more than 20 million people, or pushing the world to the brink of potential nuclear confrontation with North Korea. They promote social inequality, bigotry and racism, and are very busy creating a culture of disinformation second only to Vladimir Putin's.

They supported a candidate who ran on exploiting fear, rage, white supremacy hatred and sheer ignorance. A man who had no qualifications to be anything, let alone a president, and who garnered votes by promising to roll back every progressive policy instituted by the Obama Administration. America may be the most sophisticated democratic system on the planet, but perhaps our idea of what that produces needs adjusting if elections can be swayed by foreign powers, if districts can be so gerrymandered that one party can't win, if information that voters rely on to make their decisions is in fact disinformation. 

Democracy is an imperfect system; it's better than pure socialism, but it's a work in progress. As the world gets more and more interconnected, the effects of national elections and the actions of political parties and leaders are felt by citizens of other countries. They can't vote, but they can act. They're mostly democratic countries.

The solution may not lie in democracy. International disbelief at the stupidity of America pulling out of the Paris Accord is matched by resolve to protect our planet at all costs. So China is stepping up, France and Germany are forging a stronger partnership, Europe is girding its loins, and within America, states, cities, counties, and corporations are forging ahead, investing in renewables and in globalization. Stronger together.

Those who are afraid, and who want to go back to a world where fossil fuels can be exploited and the consequences ignored, flex their bully muscles and exert control. But it's a death rattle, and in fact their ship has already sailed. The world is never going back to isolationism, or to using fossil fuels with reckless abandon.

And in reality, it will take years for the US pullout to be effected. In that time, Donald Trump will be gone, and Republicans will be out of power. Damage done will be undone. One step back, two steps forward.

The most sophisticated democracy in the world will have averted its own catastrophic disaster. Whether it will still be world leader is questionable.

If America recedes from the world stage for a while because of the stupidity of a president the majority didn't vote for and are now struggling to get rid of, perhaps it will be a good thing. It will give the country time to get its own house in order. Barack Obama is just getting into his stride, free now from the shackles of the presidency. Hillary Clinton has also come out of the woods. Rep. Adam Schiff is doing a sterling job on the Russia investigation. And the Democratic Party has never been so unified and so focused.

This is not the end of the world.

My Letter of Thanks to President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama

Dear President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, thank you for the grace and dignity you brought to the White House. You made it a thoroughly beautiful place, that exhibited and has come to symbolize truthfulness, profound understanding, inclusion, joy and values that sustain individuals, families, relationships, friendships, communities and whole societies. 

A place of intelligent, humane government, wisdom, humility, a real striving towards world peace through dialogue instead of war. Of the importance of equality in every walk of life, and of triumph through adversity.

For so long politics has been portrayed as a dirty game. I know the worst needs to be exposed but often that happens at the cost of the best. Russian-driven fake news aside, a democratic society with freedom of speech isn't easy when our salacious instincts are so powerful and they're constantly spoon-fed a diet that's so rich and so gratifying to them. Let's face it, the dirty parts are more dramatic than the clean. The distorted picture is hard to resist if your only source of information is a media driven by the need to make money, employing journalists who need to make a living, and to support their families.

Some people instinctively search for something better, but many either soak up that rich and gratifying diet and utterly abandon independence of mind, or they're nauseated by it and give into cynicism, become enervated, lose interest, and don't realize that by not searching for the best, they're strengthening the worst.

But you have been a shining example that's been right out there for everyone to see, and that some have been blind to but that most have ultimately embraced. You entered the minds and hearts of millions, at home and around the world. You elevated politics, reminding us all that it should be, can be and is something of beauty, something that inspires and gives hope. A means through which people can be drawn together and society can be healed and constantly improved.

We've seen, up close and personal recently, that instant gratification of baser instincts, of the salacious part, lasts a few seconds and then the after-effects kick in. They last much longer than a few seconds and they spread like a virulent disease.

You have proved that living with courage is attainable and rewarding. That wisdom isn't always instantly gratifying but that it makes space for giving and receiving love, for experiencing joy and fun, for the best kind of bonding experiences. That going high creates massive challenges within, but that when we rise to them, the sense of fulfillment and peace, the knowledge that we've contributed to making the world a safer place for ourselves and everyone around us, that we've opened the door to give and receive love and respect—that is unparalleled, long-term and sustainable gratification. And nothing beats it!

I'm not an American citizen, although I've longed to be one forever. It was hard to watch the election process and be powerless to play an active role. I wanted to be on the ground, talking to people, helping out, doing my bit. America has always epitomized for me a society where those who have to fight for equality do so with incredible courage, persistence and resilience, though the worst of times. Joined and supported by those who do have equality and want it for everybody. A society where the power and importance of hope and faith are recognized and nurtured.

These past eight years have illustrated those qualities to me more than ever before. You changed the way America deals with its own problems and, as a member of the international community, although it's the "biggest kid on the block", your Administration has behaved with restraint and respect, with profound understanding of long and short term consequences for all.

I've raged and mourned, along with millions round the world, the results of the election. But I've been uplifted at the power of the fight to preserve values that are under siege in many place round the world. It's always true that the worst time bring out the best in the best people.

Mr. President when I watched your press conference last night, I soaked it up with a mixture of intense intellectual satisfaction, relief at your sane and coherent responses, pleasure at the way you spoke about your beautiful daughters, infinite sadness that this was your last press conference, and profound gratitude for everything you have done for the world and for me in my own life. I didn't want you to leave that podium.

You and the First Lady have "lived your lives out loud" and illustrated every day, in so many different ways, that real power, real strength, is a quiet thing but it somehow speaks the loudest, its voice travels the furthest, and its message reverberates in hearts and souls forever.

Referring to the US Olympic athletes, you said what a pleasure it was to interact with people who are the best in the world at what they do. Well, every person who has interacted with you and the First Lady, have had that experience. You've carried the weight, the burden of responsibility with grace, good humor and dignity. I've seen how it bowed you down, though, and lately, although your sadness at the end of this incredible era is palpable, it's seemed as if, in shedding the burden, you've not only lost the weight of it, you've lost years!

Thank you for bowing out of the White House in such a mind-bogglingly graceful, soulful and completely undefeated manner despite the results of the election; in fact, in a way that has left me, and I'm sure millions of others, notwithstanding our fear of what's coming, with a sense of the gentle closing of one door and the opening of many others.

God bless you and your family, and keep you safe.

Will Donald Trump Quit Before The Inauguration? Can Republicans Hold Onto Their Power?

Participants in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. 

From Library of Congress. Photo by Peter Pettus

25 March 1965. The day Martin Luther King led thousands to the capitol steps in Montgomery, Alabama, after marching for five days from Selma, Alabama, to support African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership had campaigned for voting rights. King told the assembled crowd:

 "There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes." 

African Americans had endured generations of violence and assault to every part of their being, but they endured and their spirit of resistance slowly gained momentum until it peaked under the leadership of Martin Luther King. The world lost one of its greatest men, and thousands endured further assaults and violence for the Civil Rights Movement to succeed, but it prevailed in the end.

Fast forward to Nov 9 2016. The day the world got pretty damn dark again for millions. The day the quintessential banana republic bigot was elected as president of the most powerful country in the world—the country thought of as the most advanced democracy—with the help of a rogue FBI Director and the Russian government and now America is on the brink of being rolled backwards at the speed of light, to pre Civil Rights Movement days.

We share joy and triumph and hope, but grief is the most isolating experience. A predominant fear among many has been that with time grief will heal and the outrage will fade. Don't let this be the new normal has been a common theme.

This being Donald Trump's ignorance, stupidity, racism, bigotry and sexism, and culture of covert and overt white supremacy, promotion of inequality, discrimination against women, minorities and Muslims, exploitation of people and the earth's resources, the many being sacrificed to the few, rolling back clean energy, embracing policies that will enrich the few, destroy the poor, erode the middle class again and accelerate climate change.

How could what Trump personifies, and has exposed as the underbelly of our lovely Western culture, ever become a new standard for what's acceptable, the new normal? Because we do become inured unless we make a conscious choice not to be. But a huge body of people have already made that choice to fight for and preserve a coherent world for everybody. Including some powerful legislators and media organisations who aren't allowing Trump to become the new normal. As an example, the New York Times, which made a decisive switch from sitting on the fence to condemning Trump and endorsing Hillary Clinton during the primaries, actually increased its digital readership by 21% in the third quarter of 2016.

The investigation into Trump's charity foundation continues and he's powerless to stop it. Democrats in the Senate are delaying their acceptance of eight of Trump's cabinet picks while they call for more information, tax returns, and ethics investigations. They can't block the posts because they don't have the votes but they can delay and jam up the process. And that's what they're doing.

In North Carolina, a judge delayed the law overhauling the elections panel, a law that would severely restrict the powers of the soon-to-be Democrat Governor.

It's obvious from Trump's body language and his utter inarticulacy when questioned on matters of state that he's totally out of his depth and very uncomfortable with the heavy investigative spotlight on him and his family. Whatever he's hiding by not releasing his tax returns will come out in the wash somewhere.

He's been horribly—or wonderfully—humiliated by so many celebrities refusing to perform for his inauguration, and by the recent defection of performers in two of the groups that he did manage to secure, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Rockettes. Trump's response was to say that he'll have a protracted inauguration day parade and he'll only attend three balls (Obama attended eleven), because he wants to get to work immediately. The notion of Trump working is ludicrous; all he's doing is showing his vulnerability.

His transition team is a shambles, his tweeting is still out of control and now he's intimating that the Intelligence report on Russia's hacking prior to the election was inadequate. Even GOP politicians who have weak-mindedly endorsed him are putting boundaries down. So he'll be up against his own team as president.

Trump never wanted this job, but when he 'won' the election he obviously thought he could carry on lying, cheating and exploiting. Now that he and his posse of children are waking up to reality they're scrabbling around like crazy.

Trouble is, he's made a lot of very smart, very informed people very angry. And they have the law on their side. It's ironic. Trump craves constant approbation and to be able to do whatever he wants, and he only ran for president to pump up his profile so he could expand his businesses. Now he is being excoriated every day by the press, he's despised by millions in America and around the world; he's in a job that's virtual straitjacket for somebody like him; his charity foundation is under investigation; and he's having to divest!

Poetic justice. Speaking to Seth Meyers, Michael Moore predicted Trump will find a way to quit the presidency before the inauguration. I'm half inclined to agree with him but even if that happens, the battle has just begun. 

"Collectively we come together and we say, you know, we're going to preserve some things that last beyond our individual lives, that we're going to pass that on. And we have to do it together. You know, that is hopefully part of what is best about our government. And so every once in a while we need the ability to step back from our personal wants and project something finer and better for future generations." 

Barack Obama said this in 2010. He was in Yellowstone talking about the preservation of State Parks, but his words apply to preserving anything important. Throughout history, when decency and democratic legitimacy have been under threat, people with integrity have instinctively come together and fight, and it's happening now. A force like this might isn't bully-driven so it might not seem powerful at first, but it gathers momentum that's unassailable and it sustains itself until it succeeds, no matter how long that takes.

Liberals and Democrats are already looking to 2018. If they can reach Democrat voters for those mid-terms, they could regain control of Congress because all 435 House seats, and 33 out of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs. And to illustrate the interest, if you Google "what congressional…" the sentence completes as "seats are up for reelection in 2018". With 27 million search results.

Enjoy your power while you have it, Republicans. It's not going to last very long.

Goodbye to Dignity in the White House

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President Obama & the First Lady at the 2016 CBC Foundation Awards Dinner

President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama at CBC Foundation Awards Dinner

It's a daunting prospect, four long years without an American president and first lady who have been a joy in every way and a constant reminder of the true nature of integrity, dignity, compassion, understanding, courage, sanity, coherence, brilliance of mind.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to OprahWinfrey in June this year about the next generation of women. When Oprah asked what single piece of advice she could give to young women, Michelle Obama's response, and she included young men, was that "We can never be complacent... The work always continues…We have seen in recent times how quickly things get taken away from us if we aren't vigilant."

Indeed. And that was in June. From then on the nightmare has just gotten darker and darker, as every decent human value has been assaulted by Trump and his cohorts.

Do we even know how to be vigilant enough anymore? Did we ever? Conservatives are very good at vigilance because they're often driven by anger and fear, which are the most powerful motivators to action. Liberals aren't so good at the kind of vigilance that's necessary to stop sociopaths from getting into power. Too often they try to see the best in everybody, which is good as an overarching philosophy, but not if it blinds you to the reality of what people's anger and fear will drive them to. And it's not much of a motivator. Let's all try to get along. If somebody is abusing your child, do you try to get along with them?

Don't sweat the small stuff. People say it a lot, but the small stuff is the early warning signal, it's the hairline crack. Small cracks never go away, they always widen, and if you catch them early, not much damage is done. The more you ignore them, the less sensitive you become to them until you only wake up when your house has collapsed.

Throughout the lead-up to the election, every intelligent person and journalist with a conscience and the capacity to separate media-driven hysteria and fake news from reality was shouting warnings about Trump. But it was too little too late.

Where has everybody been during Obama's terms, where the GOP has done everything it could to obstruct him and not do its job? Where was the liberal media outrage at Obama's unpopularity when he was doing a sterling job despite the obstructions? Where was our outrage at the vicious racism that was directed at him and the First Lady and at the up-swelling of racism and white fear of losing status quo that led to a burgeoning of white supremacist groups?

That's not where it all started, but it's where it could have been stopped. The GOP got away with not doing its job. It got away with the gerrymandering, with targeting minority voters, making it harder for them to vote. Those were some pretty sizable cracks.

It was small step from there to a candidate who would campaign on enabling hatred and assault on human decency in every aspect and encourage Russian interference in a presidential election and was too stupid to understand how that would imperil American democracy. A small step to millions believing fake news and to the main social media platform through which it was disseminated not identifying it until it was too late. The mainstream media didn't identify it either. From there it was easy for an FBI director to 'innocently' release a statement that would sway the election and hand it to a sociopath.  

Yesterday, apropos apparently of Putin's speech to his military leadership that Russia needed to upgrade its nuclear capacity allegedly so that it could penetrate sophisticated defense systems, Trump tweeted that the US needs to increase its nuclear capacity until people come to their senses about nukes. When I saw the news last night my blood ran cold. So best buddies Putin and Trump are in stand-off already.

Two out-of-control narcissists, hungry for control and desperate for affirmation, and both with the power to set off another world war. The alarming thing is that Putin is a terrible man but he's intelligent. The same can't be said of Trump, who is frighteningly gullible and manipulable. 

This is what happens when an over-enabled cheat, obsessive liar, a racist, a sexist and a bigot with an over-sized ego is elected with the help of a partisan FBI director and Russian intervention.

From the Obama Administration to this. Pave paradise and put up a parking lot. Vigilance; we need to upgrade our idea of what it entails. I've seen a huge outpouring of frustration on Twitter and Facebook from people who were vigilant, and who did speak their mind, over and over. Who turned out for the vote. But it was too little too late. Even as a non US citizen, I could have done more. A whole lot more.

Because this isn't just America's problem. It affects all of us. The racist bigot who is about to take over the White House has enabled white supremacy in the US, which has a ripple effect around the world. He will happily screw up international trade agreements and relationships and create massive uncertainty in the global economy. It would thrill him to increase nuclear capacity and give the order to bomb the shit out of a country at three in the morning because somebody in that country told the truth about him, or because he read something on a fake news site, or because he realized that the hair he has left is thin and straggly.

Before the election, I went to a lecture given in Cape Town by a visiting US professor, a passionate Democrat, unequivocally damning of the GOP and Trump. He said that up until recently his only involvement in politics has been to vote, but it's not enough anymore. It's not enough for any of us.

How did America go from the best to the worst? While we were sleeping. We thought we were awake but we were dreaming. Now we've woken up to a nightmare. What's left to do?

#goodtrouble

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) November 11, 2016

Trump Train Mows Down American Democracy

Aaaaand, America's Next President… is the one who lost the popular vote by close to 3 million in an election that Russia and fake news directed. A man whose highly inflatable ego inflates his wealth but not, of course, his debt, which he said during the primaries was now non-existent but which motherjones.comhas revealed to be $1.3 billion.

It's the guy who's under investigation for ties with Russia, who has chosen an oil mogul for Secretary of State with enormous economic interests in Russia and who's a friend of Putin's. The man who's chosen a cabinet of far-right, anti-everything-progressives some of whom have zero experience. Who paid $25 million to settle a lawsuit for his fraudulent university, who can’t finish a sentence articulately, and who trashed Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign, whipping up rage in his fans, threatening/promising to jail her when he won, then said the Clintons were good people once he had. 

The guy who lies and cheats and steals and sniffs and whines. The sociopath who exploits fear and ignorance, hates Muslims, Latinos and African Americans, despises the poor, abuses women, stiffs his workers — Ahhh! Enough of the words. Pictures do a better job.

Yip. Classy, huh. That’s the next American president. Unless one of the investigations unearths something criminal, or the petition to the Electoral College electors (which has over 4.8 million signatures and counting) begging them to save America has some effect, or they decide off their own bat that they liked that hashtag #HistoryMade.

And on a final note, I Googled when did Donald Trump… And got this.

Millions of wishful thinkers perhaps? Millions of Trump voters experiencing #TrumpRegret, buyer’s remorse a la Brexiteers? Nothing quite so inspiring. It was one of those fake news sites, which posted that Trump had died, as per the quote below. (I’m not linking to it here in case it carries a virus.)

Donald Trump was pronounced dead today at 11am following what some are describing as a violent heart attack.

The world famous businessman and TV personality was previously treated for minor cardio vascular issues that followed a mild course of antibiotics.

Fans have already taken to social media to express their emotions with hash tags #RIPTRUMP #TRUMPRIP #TRUMP4EVER.

Donald’s family and friends have asked to be left alone by all press and media at this present time.

PLEASE SHARE THIS ARTICLE TO INFORM EVERYONE OF THE SAD LOSS OF DONALD TRUMP.

Snopes’ rather dry comment on it was:

“We’d rather not bother giving such cruel and callous clickbaiters additional publicity (so we’re not linking to anything here), but enough confused readers have asked us about this fake report that we unfortunately need to debunk it here.

Donald Trump is not dead.”

Sigh. No, he’s not. But American Democracy is in danger of its life. Everything that’s good about America is in danger of becoming something of the past.

Missing Hillary Clinton and Mourning the Lost Opportunity

I think I'm never going to get over it, that Hillary Clinton lost to a bigot, a fraud, a man of whom the worst description you can think of wouldn't be strong or comprehensive enough. I miss everything about her and her campaign with Tim Kaine. I miss how I felt, believing that my values would be protected, that the world would be moving forward, with the US taking a stand against bigotry, racism, injustice, inequality and sexism at a time when the far right is gaining momentum everywhere.

Taking a stand for coherence, the importance of truth and unity. I saw #StrongerTogether in continual action through a wide spectrum of communities, across race, gender and economic status. I saw people caring, outraged at the same things that assault me.

I saw tremendous triumph through adversity in Hillary Clinton herself, and I saw how many people liked, admired, and loved her. And I had faith that Barack Obama's incredible legacy would live on, that he and Michelle Obama would be honored for the dignity, grace, wisdom and sheer exuberance they've brought to the White House. 

There was everything to look forward to. The US going from strength to strength, a bastion against the far-right that's gaining ground everywhere.

I looked forward to opening up the New York Times every day for breakfast, and also reading the New Yorker, Politico, Mother Jones, Salon, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Huffpost as the transition took place, and then as the next four years unfolded. I even hoped that inroads would be made into GOP power in Congress and that Obama's pick for the Supreme Court would go through. I knew Hillary Clinton would be in for a tough fight against Republicans but I had faith that she'd prevail, as Obama has.

I craved an end to the mindless, relentless exposure of a stupid man. I never found him entertaining, I couldn't stand him from the minute I first saw him years ago on his horrible reality show. He's a nasty piece of work through and through. Revolting to look at, revolting inside and out. How I looked forward to the day he was out of the limelight. Gone!

I saw Oprah interview Maya Angelou once, and ask if the pain of her child's death had gotten any easier with time. Maya said why would I want it to? I could relate to that. I gave my beautiful son up for adoption when I was in my twenties and it was the hardest and most awful thing I've ever done. The most painful, definitely. I don't want to let go of the pain. Why would I? So I can feel better? I wouldn't be feeling better, I'd be numb.

This isn't like that, of course. Nothing will ever be like that. But there are some things that are similar. I don't want to move on. I don't want to try and find some good in what's happened. Because there is nothing good. I revile the man who won, and the means by which he did. My intelligence and my soul are assaulted every day by him, as he turns America into a banana republic.

I mourn Hillary Clinton's loss and what it means for the Obamas, for the President's legacy. For the world, for my world. As I said, I don't see myself feeling any better any time soon.

Hillary Clinton Climbs In The Polls, But Where Is Bernie Sanders' Help?

As the election heats up and Hillary Clinton gains at the national polls, I want to breathe a sigh of relief and let go of anxiety, but I tell myself "not yet."  Standing in the shower today, I thought, this wouldn’t be happening, it wouldn't even be a close contest, if Bernie Sanders and his supporters hadn't chosen to try and win by trashing Hillary Clinton. They lost anyway but they've done so much damage.

Anybody who has taken a side in the US election season is likely to have been insulted by somebody feeling equally passionately but on the other side.

I've had insults hurled at me from the left and the right. To my surprise, I haven't felt personally hurt. A comment I left on a New York Times article was published and I had over 450 comments, many from angry Bernie Sanders supporters  who actually didn't read what I said. I was even accused of being a $hillary Wall Street whore. I wish.

But what hurts my brain and my heart is the misinformation that's spread around so liberally and high-mindedly. Scapegoating. It gets all the molecules of my being vibrating madly, wildly and very noisily. Which probably means it scares me shitless.

I hated it when Barack and Michelle Obama were the targets, and I hated it just as much when Bernie Sanders was. So it's understandable that I'd it when Hillary Clinton is the target. 

When you scapegoat, two things happen. One, you don't perceive your victim to be a human being dealing with issues you probably will never have to. Two, it's never about them, it's about your frustration with yourself or your own life and your belief that you're powerless to change any of it. We've probably all scapegoated at some point. It feels very satisfying in the moment and makes you feel tremendously powerful, but you can't sustain that feeling, so you have to do it again. And again. Yeah, there's a word for that. Addiction.

Your own rage builds on itself and you get nastier and nastier. The more you do it the more you have to lock out good sense and real information. It achieves nothing, but it does a lot of damage, to you and the target.

It's a bit like the photo, which is of my apartment. There chair is facing inward but it's empty. The reflection of the chair faces out to the view and the open horizon. When you scapegoat you long to access what the horizon promises but until you choose to sit in that chair and face yourself and be real, only requiring culpability from people who actually are culpable, it will never happen for you. You'll always be facing away from the good stuff. The best part of you will always be the ghost. 

And if, in politics, the person you're rooting for can only win because his supporters trash the opposition, it's because his good points aren't strong enough to win with. But if he gets into power his weak points will override the strong and then everybody suffers. 

Would Bernie Sanders have gotten so much support if his movement hadn't relied on trashing Hillary Clinton? And if he was such a great leader, why not just promote his strength? His campaign started out that way. It was all about love and truth and honor. Now it's all about rage, scapegoating, hatred, misinformation and conspiracy theories. Bernie Sanders said he would do everything he could to prevent the GOP candidate from winning. But in effect he's done nothing. His endorsement of Hillary Clinton was lukewarm in intent and what is he doing now? A lot of his supporters have said they'll endorse Jill Stein. They just don't care that it could give the presidency to the GOP nominee.

Sanders said he fully understood the problem with Ralph Nader and he had no intention of repeating that mistake. But in truth he started a Ralph Nader movement and he's powerless to stop it. If he's trying he's being tremendously discreet. 

So, though I'm relieved that Hillary Clinton is climbing in the polls and the GOP candidate is dropping like a stone, I'm holding my breath. 

Connect with me on Twitter: @JenniferJS_

Will #Bernie's Supporters Vote for #Hillary Or Refuse to Vote At All

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Predicting the outcome of primaries and elections can become addictive but it's a pastime that leaves you feeling empty. It's just numbers that might or might not be real.

Much more satisfying is to read the comments to articles on the various campaigns—where readers leave intelligent comments, that is. Like the New York Times, which draws pretty informed readers. Recently it ran an op-ed piece on whether a highly contested nomination process damages a Party or not and if yes how much.

Relating to this Presidential race and the Democratic nomination, the author speculated on Hillary Clinton's ability to gain the allegiance of Bernie Sanders' supporters if she wins the nomination.

I've read in other media reports and on Facebook that Clinton supporters will vote for Sanders if he wins the nomination, but the reverse isn't true; a lot of Sanders supporters are saying they won't vote at all if their hero doesn't win the nomination, citing all sorts of conspiracy theories about how corrupt Clinton and the Democratic Party are. The comments and 'recommends' on this NYT article backed that up.

I've heard the argument that it means Sanders is the better candidate, but it doesn't mean that at all: it means that Clinton supporters understand what's at stake and are not willing to sacrifice their country.

Sanders and his supporters generally consider themselves to be on moral high ground; they are the ones who haven't been brainwashed, who care the most about democracy, the poor, the middle class…

Yet, what's at stake in this Presidential election is the middle class, the very poor, human rights in practically every category, a GOP-skewed Supreme Court, added heft to the military industrial complex and to major corporations that do control politicians in Congress, and internationally, America going back to the world despising it. I think about Susan Sarandon saying, from the comfort of her million dollar home and life in LA, that if Bernie loses the nomination she would welcome a GOP president and Congress because then everything would fall apart.

And who would be hurt the most? Obviously not Susan Sarandon. How is anybody going to undo the damage of a skewed Supreme Court? What kind of moral high ground is that? The dangerous kind.

It's the kind that led Sanders to once give his enthusiastic support to Fidel Castro, brushing aside the executions, the corruption, the suppression of opposition and the media with "sure, there are some problems".

Well, there are some problems now, too. Sanders has woken up and nurtured a beast which has the label "liberal" but is actually more angry than anything else. And not controllable. Bernie and Jane have said explicitly that they will support Hillary Clinton if she's nominated. But #FeelTheBern-ers think they know better than the man they adulate. It will break his heart if a GOP candidate wins, or if the chance of Congress changing hands is destroyed by his own supporters.

Democracy isn't Dead or Dying in America

A lot of people are defending American voters and blaming the politicians for the terrible voter turnout in the 2014 US midterms, the lowest since 1942. I recently talked to somebody who said America has no leaders worth voting for.  

No leaders? It has probably the best leader in the world as President in terms of vision; down to earth understanding of the problems and ability and willingness to create intelligent, workable solutions; integrity and absence of ego in decision making; clarity of thought; wisdom and courage; humanity; generosity.  It’s an almost unprecedented package in a President.  

Yet a huge number of voters have been choosing to hate him since he was elected. Their hatred isn't based on fact and they choose not to look at that, either. They believe whatever they read. So should we blame the media? We can't really do that because the media provides  whatever attracts the most readers. The percentage of truth in media reports is a direct response to what the majority of people want to read. FOX News, whose capacity to distort facts is unbeatable also has unbeatable ratings. It has recently reached its 150th month as #1 amongst cable news. That's a lot of misinformation reaching a lot of people who want to hear it, for a long time.  

What about Democrat politicians who didn't have the courage to stand up for their President, should we blame them? To some degree, yes we should. It's ironic that they didn't and they lost anyway. Proof that courage is a winning attribute.  

But politicians respond to opinion polls. So we’re back to ordinary people in the street making simple choices. Do I believe what I read, or do I use my own brain? Do I face my prejudices and fears and deal with them courageously so I can look for and recognize the truth, or do I take the easy route and feed gluttonously on junk? It’s very satisfying at some level but it’s addictive and the more you imbibe the harder it gets to kick the habit.

Politicians aren’t a causative element in democracy; they’re a symptom. If we don’t want to accept that we don’t have to. But it’s a choice that will have a consequence, which we won’t like. And who are we going to blame then? 

When life is challenging it’s about the hardest thing in the world to say “okay, what am I doing to contribute to where I’m at?” Usually we can’t because we judge ourselves so harshly that it’s easier to avoid accountability altogether. But it’s the only thing that effects real change in our lives. America’s democracy looks like it’s under threat but it isn’t; this is what democracy is about; learning to be accountable at a personal level for the choices we make with regard to those who make our laws.   

Barack Obama being elected was a symptom of the beginnings of immense social change in the US. But change doesn’t happen easily and overnight, especially the kind that he signifies. The state of politics at the moment is a symptom of everything in the American psyche that is resisting real change. And that resistance only rises up in response to real change happening deep within.

On the road to change, nothing is as it seems. When you think you’re over the worst you’ve really just rolled up your sleeves and embraced, accepted, the idea of change, and that’s what happened when Barack Obama was elected. It’s a point of no return, though, because that acceptance highlights everything in you that has stopped you from moving forward until this point, and that made it necessary for you to change if you want a better life.  Once you engage in facing all of that stuff you go through a period that seems unrelentingly dark, a downward, backward slide. You hit your lowest point, which seems the worst. But actually it’s the best because it means you’ve faced all the obstacles and from then on things get better. Slowly at first, then exponentially.

The first African American President was never going to have an easy time. There’s too much deeply buried prejudice and fear in too many Americans’ psyches. As it’s risen to the surface and manifested as allegiance to right-wing media misinformation and hatred within the middle class of the man who’s been rooting for them, it’s been an ugly, distressing and depressing thing to see. 

But at least it’s visible now. You can’t take on an enemy you can't see and don't even know exists. Changing deep-rooted beliefs and fears in individuals and societies isn't fun at one level. It's terrifying, uncomfortable, it tears you apart as you build allegiance to a new, broader idea more embracing of the good things in life but cling to the old ideas because they're safe and comfortable at some level even while they're strangling you. Unfortunately, though, in this it's no pain, no gain. 

And the pain is in itself a symptom that things are getting better and there's something about wrestling with change that makes you feel so alive, despite the discomfort. So democracy in America isn't dead, it's just waking up after a long sleep that was comfortable for some but at the cost of too many to last.