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March 28, 2017

Pardon Me, Which Way is Backward?”

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Been quiet on the Jersey shorefront lately. As a faithful fighter for the progressive cause, I’m witness to the same unfolding madness as all of you. We’ve now arrived at, and in relatively short order, an incredible confluence of events. Let’s unpack the largest calamities while also highlighting the noisemakers that distract.

The man in the White House, dis-affectionately Mr. Drumpf, carnival barks to his loyal followers. All unfavorable news is a sham, climate science is a Chinese head fake and he, Drumpf, is victim of such hatred because he’s so damn rich, famous, and well-endowed (hands check, please).

Hillary haters, stay united! Who cares the election was 4-months ago? That campaign was fun! And while we’re at it, all you faithful GOP-ers line up & shut up. Your chance to kiss the ring awaits, but first, show me your obedience. Start with a Fox News interview.

Nearly forgotten are the 2 attempts at legalized discrimination disguised as Executive Orders, a.k.a. The Muslim Ban. Cheers to our federal courts, the one leg of the governmental trilogy that seems firm. The “America first” fakery is called out for its blatant truth: RACISM. So far, we’ve dodged a bullet to the heart of what it means to be the United States of America. Sadly and angrily, we cannot say the same for the plight of individuals, heroes and families trying to escape violence. To music I turn. TY RZA.

The AHCA, also known as TrumpCare or Ryan’s ticket to hell, crashed and burned. From this legislative embarrassment squeaks a hint of good news. America is unwilling to sign up for a plan that blatantly injures the weak while enriching the wealthy. Good on you, America, even the ignorant Drumpf voter gave this idea the heave-ho. TY Jared Bernstein for your take on this trump-ian failure.

Russia, say what? Ignore the blaring signals of collusion. Please, pay no attention to Sauron’s soldiers – names like Flynn, Manafort, Page, Sessions, and now, Kushner – who ploy direct links (and recorded conversations) to various and sundry oligarchs, spies, and ambassadors of Russian borscht. Drumpf leaks now a running stream, pee-like. Turncoats line up at Rep Adam Schiff’s door; take a number.

Drumpf family hubris in a single thought: One by one, they have each confirmed their first-class seat on the speedboat that’s soon to crash on the shores of Guantanamo.

But these are NOT the reasons I write. Nearly sixty days since my last post, my fingers alight over Drumpf’s shamelessly titled, “Energy Independence” executive order. This EO takes direct aim at President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). EPA chief and chief knuckle-dragger Scott Pruitt is now in charge of dismantling, withdrawing, and rewriting the policies of CPP.

From the largest ISS (that’s International Space Station…) peripheral overview, climate is intrinsically linked with the animal and plant world. And for millennia, species-human ruled the land, sea and air. We, collectively, extracted as we pleased. Mama Nature periodically bit back, but never enough to curtail our taking trends.

Over the past few decades, the scales have tipped toward Her. She’s had enough, wants to kick our whiny little asses out to pasture, into extinction. And she can, as she persists.

Drumpf continues to hoodwink the GOP base, while the top 5% of our country (who voted red) are “all-in” on the con. UNDERSTAND THAT HE, AND HIS PROFIT-PIGS AND NIHILISTS, care not a lick about you, me, or the climate. Money and power are their ONLY goal: take more, give less. Your health, wealth, fresh air & clean water get the wink & nod. All the world, and the majority of Americans, know this.

So, what are we – Progressive USA – gonna do about it? Thanks to a number of leaders in Washington D.C., shout-outs to Representative Adam Schiff, my new heroine Sally Yates, and the stalwart media voice of Rachel Maddow, the underpinnings of redirecting our country are taking hold.

And for a serious environmental and climate shout-out, look no further than EnviroNews. They have got our backs, with investigative reporting that calls out the killers and polluters embedded in politics and business.

With each passing day, things are going to get exponentially more difficult before the ship is righted, or “left-ed.” Ya, I’m not looking to give a lick of literal credit to any red-sniveling fool.

Let’s get to work.

‘Nuff said.

Photo credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration

January 31, 2017

Sanity, Simoleons and Somalians

img_0276Welcome to The United States of Ameristan, where our FUBAR presidency is in full bloom. Day 11 will surely bring more surprises. To maintain sanity, I portend advance consideration of the wackiest idea possible. Maybe Bannon will be SCOTUS nominee; I’ve heard from some people, some very important people, that he’s an excellent multi-tasker.

You see? The shock and awe is minimized when one is prepared for the crazy.

Our freshly tic-tacked leader is letting his hair down, fearless of the sans-cojones establishment. Gamesmanship and alternative facts manage the media, while tweets at corporations and Mexico maintain the frothy base. And for any legal geek who dare betray, it’s banishment from the kingdom. We are apprentice to the “Presidency for Dummies,” newly published from the White House dungeon, available wherever the uneducated shop, and in every trump hotel room.

In case you’re in flyover country, a simoleon is old-school New York slang for money. Use in a sentence like this: “I took a hundred simoleons from some schmuck who bet HRC would win.” Losers lose, winners take the simoleons. As for the rest of you, choose a side.

Our new normal has been brewing in the undercurrent for many years. Drumpf harks us backward to the days when men were king, women stayed quietly home and Camel-no-filters were puff-panache. Women’s rights, civil rights and same-sex sex were dreams kept in the closet.

The country has progressed too quickly for a minority base of white folk. Couple this demographic with the top 5%, socially softened, who seek only to regain their institutional status protections and wealth enhancements. In walks the DT, partnered with the master puppeteer, and blessed by golden showers from distant demagogues.

You can’t make this stuff up, nor do you have to, just turn on the damn TV.

As for Somalians, well, they’re no longer welcome. Whether a brightly striving candidate for a Stanford PhD or a graduate from Al Qaeda’s suicide school, we can’t tell the difference. So stay away, and blame Obama while you’re at it. And in case you’re wondering, we have plenty of Caucasian Christian terrorists ready to light up a crowd with an MR15. It’s legal in these here parts, so no others need apply.

If unclear, my satiric rant belies truer passions and commitments. For 18-months and 11-days, my eyes and ears have witnessed the unfathomable turned real. My heart hurts. I am proud of my second-generation American Irish status. And prouder still to know that, less than 100-years ago, blood of my blood was spilled in the fight for rights, dignity and freedom. Sound familiar?

History continually repeats itself until the lesson is learned for good. Another repeat brews before our very eyes. And instead of reading about it after the fact, in history books or newspapers, our social networks deliver in real-time.

Whether viewed through the lens of the annihilation of America’s First People, “The Troubles” in Ireland, Apartheid in South Africa, The Holocaust, internment of Japanese Americans, Rwandan genocide, or the ongoing Israeli Apartheid of the Palestinian nation, WE HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE.

The United States of America is a country of immigrants, and one of the greatest 240-year experiments ever undertaken. Yes, blemishes and murder abound, but that’s a human thing, not solely Americanized. The model of fleeing persecution, a fresh start, gained its best foothold on our shores.

I, for one, do not seek to give that up. I want the experiment to continue. I welcome the browning of our citizenry. I hope for feminine intuition leading the way, softening both American self-care and outward-facing diplomacy. I believe our next iteration, “America 3.0”, is within reach. The sooner we upload this new paradigm, the safer and saner we become. Roll forward with me.

‘Nuff said.

Photo credit: James D. O’Connor, November 2013, somewhere on the road of the American West.

January 20, 2017

Trump Inaugurates the End of W.M.D.

img_1972Say it with me people, the end of White Male Dominance is nigh. To me, this is our goal. Thanks to #theDTs 60+ million voters – the minority electorate – we ignited a trumpster fire at high noon on the Capitol steps today. Only one way to go from here. Tomorrow, we flip the switch, march and resist, turn the lights on to a new beginning.

It’s going to take some work, and will include a few interim steps backward. Genuine progress is a long-term struggle. Make no mistake, the fight before us is the 21st Century’s version of the Civil Rights movement. Make no mistake, a majority of that trump minority will awaken to their horrendous choice. I’m thinking by the 4th of July 2017. No one can ever state that progress is easy. We just made it exponentially more difficult.

I’ve quietly understood for many years that, between the male and female sexes, the true dominant force is woman. The giver of life, there is no ‘he’ without the ‘she.’ Sure, men deliver seed. Yet, having witnessed the delivery of my children onto this planet, I will forever stand in awe. Sorry, fellas, we need to hand over the keys.

I’ve also studied a few history books, enjoyed a wide range of fiction, non-fiction, and biography, where the narrative and inflection scream patriarchy. At some point, we must close that chapter on our human story. The male sex needs to accept their notch-down status and take a backseat. Trump and his pending board of directors only reinforce my belief. Their billions will be no match for what’s coming. Mother Nature is our ultimate creditor. And we ignore this empirical truth at the peril of our species.

Specifically, the white male dominance (again, W.M.D.) that propagates our American culture must be shrunk from power. For 350 years “they” have had their chance, and they blew it, bigly, ravenously, and murderously. I’m comfortable stating the obvious, because I am begotten of them. I’m holding up the mirror of responsibility. We blew it. Behind the whitewashed story of our nation’s history are whole populations eviscerated, women and children subjugated, and fellow humans of black, red, brown and yellow skin enslaved. Just follow the money, and one will find white male as the power source of suffering.

This. Must. End. And the first step to change is awareness. So, here I am, raising the white flag, for both the woke men ready to yield and the knuckle-draggers clinging to their final false vestiges of power.

It is time for our female warriors to step up, step into, the reign of power. Imagine intuition, smarts and savvy, empathy, fairness and wellbeing as our modus operandi. Imagine conversation and negotiation supplanting guns and the flexing of military braggadocio. Imagine sunlight and relentless wind as our Energy provider. Imagine broccoli over burgers.

And finally, imagine “real men” supporting this new paradigm. Imagine us dudes standing tall, en masse, with our feminine leaders. “Yes, we can” are words of infamy, only recently unfurled upon the American saga. I say we carry them forward and make them ours. Guys, this is our opportunity to truly be great.

‘Nuff said.

January 16, 2017

High Tide and High Time

The beach in winter is solitude perfect, an opportunity to discover and recognize one’s immense smallness. My largest thoughts will never hold a candle to the Atlantic’s majesty. And I’m a man who knows big thinking – my life goals – which, like the oceans, both humble and sustain me as I forever forge ahead.

My best big thinking pales in comparison to the ideals of another great one – a man like few we’ve ever known. Today we celebrate the limitless legacy of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. I was only 8 years old on the day of his assassination. Yet his message of empowerment, hope, fairness and the relentless pursuit of justice will forever ring true. I am honored to bow to his greatness.

This off-season, my fourth on Jersey’s coast, I time my beach sojourn with low tide. An additional 40 yards of firm sand delivers my imagination beyond the break, where I, too, walk on water. Oftentimes a long lake forms, moat-like, on the shoreline. In Fall and Spring, I wade through, chilling my toes and calves. But Winter is thick-socked and booted, so I must stay ashore until I come upon a narrow rise in the sandy bottom. My entry to the beyond deepens my oceanic bond. Intentions and exaltations rejuvenate, it’s impossible to stay low.

Reality returns quickly, though. My dreams intact, my heart strong, I do battle with the human detritus that relentlessly assaults our oceans. Plastic bag at the ready which, of course, I find on the beach, I walk the high tide mark – mama nature’s rampart. I collect plastic shreds and Styrofoam wedges wind-blown from a thousand garbage cans. I gather bottles and cans that somehow missed the recycle bin, wave-strewn and rejected by the tides. Within a mile of walking, my two arms and ten fingers are weighed down. It’s a solo endeavor, one I take pride in, to actively participate in protecting Her from us.

It’s high time that we devote our mindsets to cleanup and conservation. Land and sea has given our species much, yet we continually strive to take more. We collectively suck her dry, and the day will come when Mother Nature says, “ENOUGH!” Until we reverse the leveraging of earth’s resources, and become protectors all, our species’ survival is on a countdown. Earth will live on and thrive without us, after She swats us away like an annoying cluster of gnats.

‘Nuff said.