100 Days of Failure, Broken Promises - And Action

It's been a hundred days since sanity, coherence, joy, optimism, brilliance of mind, sound leadership and dignity vanished from the White House. Since the building symbolized hope and housed a super-qualified, integrity-driven administration. Since the president and first lady and their two daughters were hugely respected round the world, free from even the hint of scandal or abuse. Since the planet was in safe hands and international conflict was under control.

A hundred days only? It feels like years. The six months since the New York Times finally took an unequivocal stand for Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump feel like decades.

Remember the Democratic National Convention, when Hillary Clinton broke a glass ceiling, and after that Barack and Michelle Obama took to the campaign trail with passion and energy that lit up every day. It feels like a lifetime since the world felt like a safe place after eight years of a president who valued diplomacy over war and understood how important it was not to engage in saber-rattling with trigger-happy sociopath leaders. Since hope and optimism were at an all time high for the future of America set firmly on a path of increasing tolerance, good governance and equality.

It seems as if a generation has passed since the most powerful nation in the world was perceived to be a buffer, an insurmountable barrier, against the insurgent far right in Europe. But it's only been one hundred days.

It's been a challenge to keep up with, let alone process, everything that the current president and his shambolic, understaffed, unqualified administration have done in that time to create carnage. Shock and horror prevail and ripple out constantly from the epicenter into the world. Liberals are obliged to keep themselves informed but it's like drinking poison every day. Donald Trump is in the news the whole time and every word written about him is  disheartening, depressing. The way the Republican Party is enabling him because they want the power is almost worse. Reading about it all is like trying to breathe through an oil slick. Rep. Nancy Pelosi tweeted some choice triumphs.

.@realDonaldTrump didn’t seem to think the “100 days” was ridiculous a few months ago. #Trump100Days pic.twitter.com/nrrz5krbfl

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 28, 2017

A hundred days ago, a significant majority of American voters and liberals around the world were in shock that the unimaginable had actually happened. Paradise was paved and replaced with a parking lot.

But if anybody was ever afraid that the majority of Americans would let Trump's bigotry, stupidity, racism, flagrant ignorance and sexism become the new normal, or that the Trump brand would make a fortune out of the presidency before Trump bankrupted the country and walked away scot-free, they can set that fear aside. If anybody thought that the majority of Americans were as easily brainwashed as the average Russian has been by Vladimir Putin, or that the free world would let itself be led into a dark age of intolerance, they'll have to think again.

Yes, it's been one hundred days of travesty, of inhumane campaign and post-campaign promises that fortunately have been broken, of a president who wanders the corridors of the White House in a dressing gown, mindlessly tweeting whatever is running through his seedy brain at three in the morning. A man who clearly has difficulty reading but none in telling a lie.

A hundred days of nepotism, back-biting, infighting, alternative fact spewing, lies and doubling down on lies, contradictions, threats of suing the press, calling it the enemy of the people. Childish attempts to follow Putin's playbook. And failure in everything that's been attempted.

A fragmented Republican Party, driven asunder by its own infighting; the Freedom Caucus pushing to the far right, and moderate Republicans fearing for their seats in 2018 if they give in.

In a normal presidency it would be a disaster. But in this one it's a triumph. It seems the parking lot came with built-in jack-hammers, because these one hundred days have also been a time of massive protests, of Americans going to town hall meetings and putting pressure on their representatives in Congress. Of the liberal media reporting truthfully, the New York Times and the Washington Post in a perpetual bun fight for who can get the biggest truth out first and most often.

Slate, Mother Jones, Politico, Salon, Vanity Fair, Daily Beast, HuffPost, The New Yorker, Reuters, Alternet, even Teen Vogue, to mention a few, all have their take as politics takes center stage. CNN, SkyNews and BBC anchors and hosts are relentlessly driving truth home. Comedians and cartoonists are having a field day. Twitter and Facebook are red-hot with protest and shared information.

Barack and Michelle Obama, have taken their break and are back in action, not as politicians, but as civilians. So is Hillary Clinton. And Bernie Sanders, is still in the Senate, and plugging away with Tom Perez for the Democratic Party. They all have huge followings.

Democrats in the House and Senate are fighting for all they're worth. Mike Flynn was forced to resign, Jeff Session and Devin Nunes' lies were exposed, forcing them to recuse. The repeal and replace Obamacare fiasco fizzled.  Judges have blocked two attempts at Muslim bans, and at defunding sanctuary cities. Democrats refused to pass a bill that had money in it to fund the wall with Mexico. The major tax overhaul has been limp dick. The economy only grew at 0.7% for these past three months, down from 2.1% in the previous quarter. That would be during Obama's time, the man who ruined the US.

All of Trump's major Make America Great Again campaign promises and most of his 282 all-time promises (tracked by the Washington Post) have come to nothing. Which doesn't, of course, affect his base, but it does everybody else. And they're the ones who will count in 2018 and beyond.

And then there is the Russia probe. The investigations into Russian interference in the election, and into Trump collaboration with them, gain momentum despite all the frantic attempts at distraction. Accusing Obama and then GCHQ of wire-tapping, Devin Nunes' fake-evidence collaboration with Trump which fizzled. The attack on a Syrian airbase that achieved nothing, leaving the runway intact. The MOAB dropped on an ISIS target. North Korea threatened with a possible invasion by an armada, which embarrassingly turned out to be one ship travelling in the opposite direction.

None of it is impacting at all on the forward movement of that pesky Russia probe, which now has four official investigative bodies. And all the investigative functions of the liberal press.

Which is not to say that America, the planet or the rest of the world is safe. There'll be no safety until this administration changes. But the Republican Party, with all the power on paper that it finally has, can't unite to utilize that power effectively. The understaffed, ill-equipped administration is falling apart. And Trump, for all his braggadocio, is visibly losing steam—admitting for the first time yesterday that the job was much harder than he realized that it would be, and pretty much expressing regret. Not surprising, given his approval ratings, and how much he is hated, distrusted, laughed at and scorned.

Paving the way to pull out? Paradise Revisited.

Can the Democratic Party be Blamed for Trump's Success?

"Those values upon which our success depends -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.  

What is demanded, then, is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.  

This is the price and the promise of citizenship." Barack Obama 2009

I'm hearing a lot, from liberals, that the primary reason for Trump winning the election was the failure of the left to deliver. It's good that Democratic politicians are questioning themselves and self-evaluating, but were they really the problem? I don't believe so.

Firstly, the electoral college win was due to a lot of factors that were in place before the election. Past gerrymandering gave red, rural areas disproportional over-representation; laws and policies were put in place made it harder for (Democratic leaning) minorities to vote.

Then there's the blurring between truth and fiction, and the appetite for it. Apart from the fake news fiasco, the GOP and Fox news promoted a narrative that Obama was the epitome of every worst thing in a human being, let alone a leader, and they targeted Hillary Clinton very successfully. Also, RT, Russian state-owned media, has targeted populists for a while, left and right, creating a narrative that the 'establishment' is all evil. Bernie Sanders die-hards bought into it, believing that Hillary Clinton was a rapist and a murderer, and Obama a monster. And now many of them are saying "what's wrong with Russia and Vladimir Putin?"

It's impossible to tell the difference between the far left and the far right sometimes, for the mindlessness and the hatred that's spewed out, all in the name of democracy. So the problem in this aspect has nothing to do with Democratic politicians not delivering. It's got everything to do with far left liberals believing and promoting the same myths that the far right got riled up by. Try to point it out and you'll be told you're stupid.

Then there's the underlying racism in the US that reared its ugly head again during the Obama Administration, and the not so underlying sexism that also surfaced with a vengeance during Hillary Clinton's campaign which, together with the GOP culture of discrimination, bigotry, exclusion, inequality etc, created fertile soil on which to sow the seeds of untruth.

Also, conservatives who fear losing status quo are very motivated to fight for it. They band together, are tremendously loyal, and they make no effort to try and understand liberals. They fight to kill and they play dirty. But Democrats are a different animal. They often feel morally obligated to see all sides, so they're not as blindly loyal to their own as conservatives, and can even be quite easily disillusioned. It takes a lot to make them fight, and historically, they don't turn out in the mid-terms. If they had, and Democrats had held onto Congress, Obama would have been able to achieve more, and more people would have felt the effect.

Bernie Sanders' inability throughout his whole political career to generate a huge following would have continued. The myths generated by the GOP, Fox News and RT, wouldn't have landed on any liberals. They would have appreciated Hillary Clinton and been inspired to vote for her, and not simply because she wasn't Trump. It would have been a landslide.

In reality, Barack Obama and Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, worked themselves to the bone, during the Obama Administration. What more could they have done?

The voters didn't do the same. If all the blame is placed on the Democratic Party for inadequate delivery nothing will change. But if voters ask, "How did we fail ourselves? How did we fail Obama and Hillary Clinton? What more can we do to protect our values?" then things will change and the change will be sustainable. Even those of us who aren't American citizens but who are devastated at the results of this election could ask ourselves that question, because Trump's win will affect us directly.

We all take power into our own hands only after disaster has struck. If only we could all somehow learn to be awake and aware enough to do it as prophylactic… After all, Obama was only echoing what John F. Kennedy said in 1961 at his inauguration.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Bernie Sanders Deserves Respect from Everybody

I don’t know why but until recently I have never seen many derogatory comments about Bernie Sanders although I’ve been told that there have been and still are plenty.

But lately I’ve started seeing people sneering at Sanders, saying he’s an old man who’s out of touch and can’t possibly win. I don't like the sneering any more than I like the hate campaign against Hillary Clinton. It has a sour, acrid feel to it. Yes he’s in his 70's but do we really want to promote the idea that your life is over and you have nothing to contribute after the age of 70? I hope not because to quote anybody who’s gotten there it’s going to happen to me too. I’m sure not going to subscribe to the idea that it’s ever over just because of a number.

Is Bernie out of touch? When nothing specific is attached to the phrase the insinuation is that he’s loony. Nothing could be further from the truth. He’s articulate and supremely well-informed and can hold onto an argument when distractions unnervingly are hurled at him rapid fire. The odds have been stacked against him in every way but he has persevered and turned the tide. Which is pretty heroic.

I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that he still can’t win the Democratic nomination. The Huffpost has an election results page where you can search for polls in each State and in pretty much all the states that haven’t voted yet and that have polls Bernie is closing the gap on Hillary.

Is there enough time for him? Never say never. His supporters remind us constantly—and rightly—that when he started everybody laughed at him. But look how much money he has raised from individuals. Look at his following on Twitter. He is a very committed man. Who has enjoyed unprecedented success despite having very little media exposure.

Who would beat Donald Trump despite that he has been given exposure that if translated into TV ads would have cost him nearly $2 billion. I think it’s cause for celebration and great respect.

Trashing Bernie Sanders will achieve nothing. In any case when did rude become the norm? It certainly doesn’t make your heart expand with joy and fill you with a sense that life is good and worth celebrating. It’s kind of like people thinking they’re cool because they get drunk. What’s cool about that? It’s the easiest thing in the world to pour alcohol down your throat and end up with a throbbing head as you bend over the toilet retching your guts out.

There’s nothing cool about being rude either. It’s easy. It’s tempting. It’s satisfying, at one level. I know because I’ve done it. At another level it’s a mild form of abuse, a.k.a. bullying. It’s basically saying that you as a human being are totally worthless whereas I, with my absence of respect for you, my lousy manners and my arrogance, am a model of rectitude.

And of course I’m smarter than you. Because you’re stupid. And I want to hurt you; I want you to feel small and inadequate. Definitely not cool. 

If Sanders wins the Democratic nomination wouldn't it be better if he won a landslide against Donald Trump? Of course it would. So how does it help Hillary Clinton supporters to trash him now? It doesn't. And he just doesn't deserve it any more than she does.

Reading the New York Times  the other day I came across this comment:

“A Hillary - Bernie ticket would be…combining 2 sides of the same coin into [a] whole balance. Together, they would sweep the country to winning a truly amazing revolution taking Obama's work to an even higher level. This is my wish for our country.” Karen from Boston, Ma.

Wouldn't that be the best thing? Bernie and Hillary joining forces is the best chance of a landslide against the Republican nominee.  

Cutting Off The Chain of Hate And Evil

I'm reading the Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. and came across this passage last night:

“Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil."

Passionately supporting a candidate I truly believe in feels like working towards cutting off the chain. Bernie Sanders supporters really do believe that he's trustworthy and truthful and that the policies he proposes are America’s only chance of escaping the grip of corporate greed and of breathing life into the middle class again.

Hillary Clinton supporters really do believe that she and her polices are America’s only chance of building on what Barack Obama has started and doing it in a way that will last, that she hasn’t been bought by Wall Street or lobbyists, and that she understands the complexities of world leadership better than Bernie Sanders.

How wonderful that there’s so much passion. But, whether I’m supporting Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, if I trash their opposition and invent stories about them which I spread around liberally to try and turn support for them into revulsion I'm not cutting off the chain; I'm strengthening it.

And let's face it, I'm not doing it for truth and social justice. I'm doing it because I've got unprocessed anger and it feels good to hurt somebody.

“History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important destiny—to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly, but which is our most powerful weapon for world respect and emulation. How we deal with this crucial situation will determine our moral health as individuals, our cultural health as a region, our political health as a nation, and our prestige as a leader of the free world.”

It’s still a work in progress, Mr. King.

Bernie Sanders Supporters Associate Hillary Clinton with Hitler

When I was in my early teens I learned about Hitler and the Nazis and the horror of it has stayed with me my whole life. Some years ago I discovered that I have Jewish ancestry. I've wondered if anybody I’m related to had to endure a concentration camp. I think about it a lot. 

Recently I visited the Holocaust museum in Cape Town. I’ve seen many photographs and international exhibitions of art exposing the brutality. I’ve been frightened and touched and moved and angered over and over again each time. But nothing prepared me for that day. The museum is constructed so that you move through sections representing different aspects of the Nazi atrocities. There are a lot of photographs of victims who are named and many more who are not. 

Except for a young girl I was alone. It was quiet and respectful and felt like a church. I moved from photograph to photograph of anguished men, women and children. I wept and wept and wept. I wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wanted to say to the nameless I saw you, I will remember you. I cried that humans could be so brutal.

At some point the girl came up to me quietly and put her arm around me. No words. Just love and kindness. It made cry even more. I didn't want consolation. I wanted them to have that love.

Today I was looking at what my Facebook friends have posted and I came across this. I’ve removed my friend’s name out of respect. It’s a video but I’m not going to provide the link. 

Anger me? No kidding. First off, the term Hillarynista is an insult, but much worse is the Hitler association. I didn't want to see any more, didn't watch the video. I don't care what Hillary said. It isn't funny. There's nothing good or entertaining or funny or profound or productive or remotely truthful about associating her with Hitler, no matter what she's done or said. It's not just the insult to her and her supporters that bothers me; in fact that's the least of it. It's the insult to Holocaust victims and their families of making a casual joke out of the cause of their terrible suffering.

I said as much in the comment section. I want to say more, not just to my friend, but to anybody who thinks comparing somebody to Hitler is a joke.

Do you think this is funny?

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Or this?

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How about this?

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I found another photo of piles of dead bodies with a doctor in the middle trampling over them. I couldn't embed it without paying $150 so take my word for it. By piles I mean hundreds and hundreds of people who surely lived through agony before their lives were snuffed out. And the doc casually strolling on them was the guy who had injected them with petrol. That one isn't funny either.

It's enough now. If you support Bernie Sanders then write about him. Don't kid yourself that you're promoting peace or solution or love when you casually share a joke that compares Hillary Clinton to Hitler. You're spreading hate.

The Strange Democratic Hatred For Hillary Clinton

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These days I'm seeing a lot of hatred for Hillary Clinton among Democrats who support Bernie Sanders. In fact some are shredding her as much as Republicans are. GOP strategists must be rubbing their hands with glee.

The hatred doesn’t make sense because Bernie Sanders has doggedly refused to play dirty. He’s all about love and respect, not hate, and building on truth and the positive. Which is what his followers seemed to admire him for in the beginning and still do. So it’s not a leap of logic to believe that they were and are sick of the dirt in politics, the negativity and the hate campaigns. And here some of them are, hating and smearing Hillary Clinton. Respect is nowhere on the horizon. Oh the irony.

Somebody pointed out the other day that these detractors are doing Sanders’ dirty work for him, and he’s not telling them not to. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Maybe he has said something but if he has, they aren't listening. Makes you wonder. 

In all the negative comments I’ve read about Clinton lately I've yet to see a specific example that illustrates the point being made; it's all just broad generalizations. She’s evil, she’s in bed with Wall Street, she flip-flops for political gain, she’s actually a Conservative, she’s too hawkish, she couldn’t please her husband so how could she please American citizens—yes, I actually saw that one. I wonder how many people who spread these generalizations could quote specific instances to justify their hate, and I’m talking about dates, times and individuals that have names. If they can, why aren’t they doing it?

If they can’t, what are they basing their opinion on? And how can they say that the reason they support Sanders is because he’s all about love, respect,truth, clean campaigning and everything that’s positive? They are making sure that that isn't true.

For years and years massive amounts of money, press coverage/media 'reports' aka opinion have gone into well-organized GOP campaigns to vilify Hillary Clinton while she's been giving her all, working for, among others, the very people who have manufactured opportunities to tear her to pieces, relishing the act every time. Very worrying is that the campaigns against her seem to have affected Democrats, just as those against Barack Obama have done. 

Worrying because in his case Democrats were so affected—or maybe infected is a better word—that they gave away the House. Can’t blame that on Obama, or on Republicans. Can’t blame it on politicians. Or on the media.

Most worrisome is that if Sanders doesn’t win the nomination Democrats will have contributed in no small way to the GOP smear campaign against Clinton and lessened her chances against the Republican nominee. Sanders might not be about hate—and I believe that he genuinely isn’t—but many of his followers are recklessly engaging in it ostensibly on his behalf.

Hate is like toxins that seep into the soil; it knows no fences or boundaries. And, to continue with that metaphor, suddenly you realize that your own crops are stunted and your own drinking water is poisoned. 

Wisdom from Civilized Men for an Era of Growing Intolerance

In 2008 I was enthralled, dazzled and inspired beyond words at the tectonic shift when Barack Obama was elected President. What a tremendous achievement for a society, for African Americans, for people of all races, what an example for the whole world! From slavery to this! From a silly-minded President beholden to the military industrial complex who let the country slide into the toilet to a man of depth, hope, faith and vision and the knowledge of how to stop the hemorrhaging and repair the damage. 

I felt certain that those who voted for Obama would stand by him through the harshest of obstacles, would take arms against a war of misinformation if it was leveled at him. Defend him to the death.

They had every reason to. And in the post election euphoria it was easy to believe that everybody heard him when he said he couldn’t rescue America on his own. Everywhere I went I saw and heard “Yes we can!” We, not I. It was a magnificent time in history and to be part of it in any way was thrilling, an honor.

What happened? Did Obama turn out to be less of a man than everybody thought? Was he less intelligent, less committed, less courageous, less capable of making rational decisions? Less able to understand the complexities of how to recover from economic melt-down? Did he, with his thoughtlessness and spinelessness, throw away this precious opportunity? Did he abandon the people who had trusted him enough to vote for him?  

No he didn’t. Too many of them didn't have his strength of mind, his vision. They abandoned him, even turned on him. And opened the doors and windows to the ill-wind that has always hung in the air, occasionally blowing at gale force but more often dropping to a noxious evil whisper. Now it blew across the country right out in the open and with a vengeance.

Aah. It’s painful to think about. Obama did and does his job anyway, and superlatively. He is appreciated by many but not as many as he deserves considering what he's given and accomplished. America is better off for his policy direction and so is the world. He was and is an honest man doing an honest job particularly well. And despite the obstacles thrust in his path, the hatred and the vitriol and the sheer, mindless racism sometimes overt often covert but just as recognizable, he maintained his commitment and his dignity and even his sense of humor. And grew in stature. Most of all his respect for Americans, regardless of their political affiliations and beliefs, remained the same.

Imagine being strong enough to rise above all of that. I think about how hard it is for me when spite is directed at me or I’m judged; how deeply frustrated I get when a person who condemns me doesn’t know the truth and doesn’t want to know, even though it’s not that complicated. The pain of it defies description and it rocks my foundations.

Obama has had millions of people doing that to him for over seven years. Even though he’s a really great President. I stop and think about that for a minute. The quintessential civilized man, the modern day hero. 

Six months ago I was sure that the next President would be a Democrat who would build on all the great things that Barack Obama has initiated. There’s plenty to still build, which he has always acknowledged, but he’s left a legacy, laid down a path into a good future. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would do the Presidency very differently but neither would tear up that path and build one in a completely different direction. Definitely, I thought, Americans will vote for another Democrat. So even if Barack Obama didn’t get the kudos he deserved, at the least the good that he achieved would be honored and sustained.

Now I’m not so confident. This era is fast turning into one where intolerance is burgeoning like a grotesque, rotting, foul smelling fruit on a deadly poisonous weed that’s reproducing as weeds do—in a manner that’s getting out of control.

Presidential candidates are growing in popularity the more foul-mouthed, intolerant, pro-violence and fascist they are. What has happened to America, the land of the free, home of the brave? Well it always was the home of many brave people and it still is, but it was never the land of the free for everybody. Maybe it’s really time to face that and say out loud that it’s also the land of the intolerant, the coward, the bully, the land of the still terribly disenfranchised…  

On December 10 2013 Barack Obama spoke eloquently at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. You can see his whole speech in text here. Or watch it on YouTube here. I recommend it.

One of the things he said that stayed with me was, “The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important.”

He wasn’t just referring to South Africa, but to corrupt leaders throughout the world. On the books America has [kind of] achieved equality but the moral clarity has been/is being smothered. We can point fingers at the Republican candidates and the right wing media that promotes them and we’ll be justified. Their ideas and beliefs are unconscionable. But the biggest danger lies with the conservative voters who will work hard to elect one of them—because they're driven by anger, hatred, fear and paranoia which are all very powerful energizers—and with Democrat voters who might not bother to vote at all.

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On April 16 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from the Birmingham jail, “More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of good people.” You can download the full letter or listen to the audio here.

What he predicted has come to pass. His words apply to fighting intolerance of every kind, to the 
nurturing and then preserving all that is good. And to ensuring that democracy creates a world where everybody's rights are respected. 

Breakfast with the Pope, Sanders, Rubio, Putin & Elton John

7:00 am. I wake up, heavy lidded and limbed. Yesterday I vowed to go to bed early so I could wake up before dawn this morning and not when half the day was already gone; used up by busy important people making something of their lives. 

While I... Come evening I succumbed to the devil. And couldn't unsuccumb myself until after midnight.

I lie in bed for a while, wasting more time, pondering yesterday, today and tomorrow. Until the world—aka coffee—calls. 

I shuffle off duvet and sheets and do a few quick bicycle exercises on my back. It helps to keep up the illusion that I’m doing something about getting fit again. I jump out of bed and glance at my body in the mirror. Do I look any fitter? Sure, honey, whatever you say. Actually I’m not in too bad of a shape, all things considered. All things being that I’m somewhere between forty and death and, more to the point, that I haven't achieved a state of sustained exercise yet apart from when I was cycling from New York to Key West. I don't even cycle at the gym. That's probably because I never go to the gym. 

Maybe it’s all the brain activity that keeps the weight off. Not that I’m a rocket scientist, mind you; it’s more rampant imagination than anything else. Maybe I’m just lucky; I love stale chocolate cake seeped in cold full-cream milk and carrot cake with cream—mind you, cream option works pretty well with chocolate cake, too—but that’s it for sweet things. I just don’t like them. I like salty things like chips.

Apart from a spoonful of sugar in my coffee and honey on my Ryvita in the morning. Huh. That’s quite a lot of sweet stuff after all. Ah well, life is a mystery sometimes.

I roll up the blinds. It's grey out there but not cold. Winter is over. It always seems to happen from one day to the next out here at the southern edge of Africa, the end of the world. I sit down with my coffee, switch on my laptop, bring up the New York Times. 

There are quite a few articles about the Pope’s visit to the US and his message about poverty, climate change and the dark side of capitalism, the downside of greed.

The wrong-headedness of arms dealing. I hope he finds time to talk to Marco Rubio, who said:

“If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win.”

But Il Papa would probably have more in common with Bernie Sanders, who said: “It is my firm belief that the task of a great nation with the most powerful military on earth is not how many wars we can engage in but how we can use our strength and our capability to resolve international conflicts in a peaceful way.” 

Amen Bernie Sanders. I wish you'd talk to the Pope about gay marriage. I wish you'd persuade him it's not a good idea to support Kim Davis and tell her that her bigotry is purely standing up for her right to speak her mind. She did a lot more than that, ace.

On other things Francis is doing well; addressing pedophilia, corruption, rampant capitalism and greed within the Vatican. He's defied a lot of the odds. The last pope who tried to do that allegedly died in his sleep from a heart attack, never having had a problem with his health up to that point. What followed was what looks like a cover-up by the Vatican; one that, if it was real, was outrageous.  

This Pope has even gone so far (for a Catholic it’s pretty far) as to say “who am I to judge” of homosexuality. It's not far enough though and no amount of other-goodness can balance out his and the church's attitude to gay marriage. His attitude to gay marriage also doesn't negate all the good things he's doing.

I tell you who Francis should speak to: Elton John. He can stand in the queue with Vladimir Putin, who, according to a tweet that made the rounds, intended to call the great musician. When the fraud was exposed, Putin decided he really did want that conversation. I couldn’t find any content on that, but I did find an interview with Elton John talking about LGBT rights in the Ukraine. What a great guy. He's done what he wanted with his life since forever, with his leaping-about laughing energy. He's still doing it, only now he's also using his wealth and clout to promote global tolerance. 

He was asked if he thought he could really get Putin to change. He said he didn’t know, but you either try or you don’t. You tell your truth and you may not succeed but at least you know you did your best.

I finish my coffee, thinking about that. I have boundless respect for people who tell their truth when it’s life promoting, because it’s never easy. They have to push through monstrous barriers erected by bullies who don’t want to hear it and want to shut them down. It’s crushing, painful, frightening, soul-destroying, even if you’re only doing it in your personal life and you don’t have global attention. And, you’re not just taking on other people, you’re essentially confronting everything in you that believes their resistance to your truth to be valid. Add sobering to the list. 

It’s also rewarding. And nothing is worse than keeping quiet. I’m sure of it. It’s definitely better to suffer slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than to stay mute and in hiding. 

This is Elton John’s speech at the 12^th Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting, talking about LGBT intolerance and about so much more. 

8:07 I head off to the shower. The Pope, Bernie Sanders and Elton John make good breakfast companions. Marco Rubio and Vladimir Putin not so much. I doubt anyone can change Rubio, but Putin? Strangely, I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Elton John could have a positive influence on the man. 

Go for it, I say. Between you and Obama you might be able to achieve miracles.

GOP Debate, Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama & the Power of Integrity

Last night I switched on CNN before the Republican ‘debate’ and listened to Anderson Cooper and a couple of other CNN bods discussing the GOP candidates as if they were expecting a real, live, politically authentic debate to happen. I felt a sense of unreality cloud my vision and my mental processes. Lethargy enveloped my body.

After a couple of minutes I switched channels. I had intended to watch the debate but I couldn’t stomach it. This morning, reading the NYT account of it, I’m glad I didn’t. As it happens, The Good Wife had more political heft to it than the GOP reality show.

A good antidote to the circus that would be entertaining if it wasn’t so scary is to read or listen to somebody who actually is engaged intelligently in the political process. Like Bernie Sanders. I still don’t like that he teamed up with Cornell West, or that he said he wouldn’t make the big mistake Obama made, but he’s a good courageous man and his words are such a relief in a world where so many manipulate to get an angle, to grab a bit—or a lot—of power.

I think he’ll win the Presidency, because he’s galvanizing the middle class, just as Barack Obama did. But whether he can continue to galvanize them once he’s in, and especially when everybody realizes that they need to be consistently galvanized, especially for the mid-terms, is anybody’s guess.

I hope he can. But that’s a long way ahead. For now what’s true and clear about him is that at age 74 he’s found his voice; he’s got a lot to say and all of it relevant and that’s the only reason he’s doing so well. Nothing got handed to him on a silver platter. He’s not a billionaire, he doesn’t lust after money. He hasn’t been elevated by anything that’s plastic in this world. He hasn’t pushed other people out the way to get ahead, hasn’t been a bully, has refused to insult other candidates. Hasn’t had clever PR agents with degrees in psychology and mass manipulation paving the way for him.

It’s funny, how easily we fall for the plastic stuff and for what glitters but isn’t gold. But when the real thing comes along we can still recognize it. It makes me think of when I worked for the city orchestra. I used to go to all the concerts, and they always brought in international soloists and conductors whose standard was always brilliant. Sometimes the soloists played note perfect; made no mistakes at all. That in itself was mind boggling and delicious to hear and watch. They’d always get standing ovations.

But one night the soloist was a violinist. I don’t remember his name but the conductor was Victor Yampolsky. Russian, I believe. I also don’t remember what concerto they played but I still remember my heart catching fire.

The music wasn’t note perfect. But it was enthralling, heart-stopping. And the audience leaped to their feet, exploding in applause. I realized kind of viscerally that people can recognize technical brilliance when they see it but aren’t always conscious of how much they crave the pure heart stuff.  But when they get it they respond to it, without everybody necessarily even understanding what has moved them.

It feels like that’s how it is with Bernie Sanders. As a soloist he’s not note-perfect. His appearance isn’t plasticized, he’s not rehearsed or polished in the way he speaks. But he’s getting a standing ovation that is straight from the heart. And people are definitely very consciously responding to the content of his message so I’m not saying there’s no conscious appreciation of that.

But I think there’s something more, something less easily definable. He defies the terrifying culture that is driven by the idea that the better you can con people the more likely you are to be successful. Not to mention the idea that by the time you’re 74 your life is over, Jack, and you’ll have to just roll on down the hill towards a quality of life that’s less and less rewarding, becoming more disempowered and increasingly inarticulate until you fade into sad oblivion.

Bernie Sanders has gained a lot of wisdom in his life and now is exactly the right time and the right age for him to be sharing it. Mazel tov to you Mr. Sanders.

I still feel sad that right in our midst is another man of the same kind of towering integrity, who has laid the foundation for much of what Sanders might be able to achieve as President, whose message is and always has been the same, and who has achieved a huge amount for Americans but who isn’t getting the recognition I think he deserves. 

He's also up against something more sinister than Bernie Sanders will ever have to deal with. 

The overt racism is awful enough but the stuff that flows under the surface is still a very powerful river. It's sinister, it's ugly, it's soul destroying. Yet Obama, and Michelle, have not just remained intact but they've grown in every way despite it. Or because of it. They've remained committed and clear in their hearts, minds and souls. Obama has achieved great things as a President in spite of it. That takes remarkable strength of character. 

But that’s no reason why Sanders shouldn’t get his.

Bernie Sanders, Jon Stewart, Cornel West & Barack Obama

Jon Stewart. Yummy. Incisive intellect, fearlessness and creativity. Humble about himself and physically uninhibited. Fab to look at. And of course he's a liberal. Utterly delicious altogether. Totally irreplaceable. 

I like what he said about Bernie Sanders. “We’ve all become so accustomed to stage-managed, focus-group driven candidates that authenticity comes across as lunacy.” Ain’t that the truth. As always, Stewart illustrated his point beautifully in this clip.

Sanders says all the right things and seems completely uncalculating, but recently I’ve wondered. The jury’s out.

He has an incisive intellect. He’s also courageous, passionate, and is physically uninhibited. Appearances don’t count for him. What’s not to like and admire? 

If I was American he would have had my vote until I saw what he said on MSNBC, that he won’t repeat Obama’s biggest mistake, namely that after his brilliant campaign in 2008 he basically said to the voters ‘thanks for electing me; I’ll take it from here’.

I did a double take on that. Actually, this is [part of] what Obama said in his victory speech in 2008:

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term… There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem…

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.  It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”

The ultimate truth-teller. He’s always said he can’t do it alone, that the road to change would be long and difficult but that together ‘we can’. He’s reiterated that message perpetually. It falls on deaf ears a lot of the time. I guess people don’t want to hear it.

Apparently Bernie Sanders doesn’t want to hear it either. He’s promising that when he’s president he’ll work with millions of Americans in a political revolution. He’s not acknowledging that Obama offered the same deal—which the people thought they wanted but actually they didn’t, perhaps because the reality isn’t as much fun as the idea of it.

What Obama inherited, together with a GOP Congress, are the root cause of what’s still wrong with America; it’s got nothing to do with Obama not being willing to work with the electorate. Who expected Obama to do it all in a day and blamed him when he couldn’t, then enabled a GOP Congress in 2012? The voters. Who allowed the country to fall into the hands of big corporates in the first place? Who allowed GW Bush to win? The voters. Nobody's stopping them from waking up except themselves.

A political revolution is about people freeing themselves from leaders who won't allow them their rights. That's very different from people who don’t want the hard work of keeping politicians in line, don't want to be responsible for their own actions, unrealistic expectations, fears and prejudices.

Obama has worked assiduously, with superhuman willingness, integrity, depth of understanding and focus, in the face of ongoing and phenomenal obstacles, to bring America back from the black hole. 

He’s done everything he could to not work alone. 

The country is doing better than any other country in the world affected by the Recession and there is unprecedented social change on pretty much every front—because of his leadership. He doesn't rest on his laurels, though. He continually says “it’s not enough.” 

Why doesn’t every voter acknowledge it and face the truth—that they are responsible for the problems that still exist, not him?

It’s not new that the electorate doesn’t want to take responsibility for maintaining democracy. It’s a human thing. We want our lives to change but we don’t want to face whatever we’re doing that creates that life. Change is hard. Obama acknowledges that.

Sanders doesn’t. He’s telling Americans that together they’ll create a political revolution as if it's the easiest thing in the world and then he slips in “I’ll do what Obama couldn’t, wouldn’t or didn’t.” The unspoken message is “It’s not your fault, it’s his fault.” That’s heady stuff, pretty seductive, but it isn’t truthful. 

More disturbing though is Sanders’ acceptance of Dr. Cornel West’s endorsement. West is a professor at Union West Theological Seminary, well known for his vitriolic diatribes against Obama, who he called the first niggarized President after Obama said this about racism to Marc Maron: 

“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that's still part of our DNA... 

Racism, we are not cured of it, clearly. And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”

That seems pretty accurate. Not to West though, who has also called Obama ‘counterfeit’ and ‘the black face of the American empire’.  It’s not the truth about Obama; it’s West’s interpretation and he seems to have quite a chip on his shoulder—which is understandable, but dangerous in a leader of any sort.

So why is Sanders aligning himself with him? the obvious answer is that he needs the African American vote. By choosing West he can say he respects and admires Obama, but also garner the votes of people who hate/scapegoat the President. 

Is that deliberate? I don't know. I hope not. But roiling around in my brain are those uncomfortable words 'double standards'.

Sanders and Obama are both intelligent, passionate, courageous, authentic men. Sanders is genuine in what he says and believes and he deserves the admiration and respect he's gotten for it. In today's political climate he's a giant. But so is Obama and he's paid dearly in many ways for standing his ground. I wish Sanders could acknowledge that and veer away from seeking votes from people who can't see it and who scapegoat Obama.