On Defamation and Veneration

I listened as they called my President a Muslim.
I listened as they called him and his family a pack of monkeys.
I listened as they said he wasn't born here.
I watched as they blocked every single path to progress that they could.
I saw the pictures of him as Hitler.
I watched them shut down the government and hurt the entire nation... twice.
I watched them turn their backs on every opportunity to open worthwhile dialog.
I watched them say that they would not even listen to any choice for Supreme Court no matter who the nominee was. I listened as they openly said that they will oppose him at every turn.
I watched as they did just that.

I listened.
I watched.
I paid attention.
Now, I'm being called on to be tolerant.
To move forward.
To denounce protesters.
To "Get over it."
To accept this...
I will not.
I will do my part to make sure this great American mistake becomes the embarrassing footnote of our history that it deserves to be.
I will do this as quickly as possible every chance I get.
I will do my part to limit the damage that this man can do to my country.
I will watch his every move and point out every single mistake and misdeed in a loud and proud voice.
I will let you know in a loud voice every time this man backs away from a promise he made to them.
Them. The people who voted for him.
The ones who sold their souls and prayed for him to win.
I will do this so that they never forget.

And they will hear me.
They will see it in my eyes when I look at them.
They will hear it in my voice when I talk to them.
They will know that I know who they are.
They will know that I know what they are.
Do not call for my tolerance. I've tolerated all I can.
Now it's their turn to tolerate ridicule.
Be aware, make no mistake about it, every single thing that goes wrong in our country from this day forward is now Trump's fault just as much as they thought it was Obama's.
I find it unreasonable for them to expect from me what they were entirely unwilling to give.

Author unknown.

Treason, Thy Name is Trump.

"LOCK HER UP!" was the constant chant of the mindless all through the election as their Fuehrer egged them on.

I say now the chant we should embrace is "HANG THE TRAITOR!" and keep chanting it until he's tried and convicted, along with any of his handlers who participated in or knew of the Russian meddling. 

If hanging was good enough for Mussolini it's good enough for him.

And so it begins....

Trump suggests loss of citizenship or jail for those who burn U.S. flags

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/29/trump-suggests-loss-of-citizenship-or-jail-for-those-who-burn-u-s-flags/

An appeal for a real response to an obscene reality

On Facebook people are posting hysterical admonishments that we must "stop Trump from being inaugurated!".  As if by posting memes and signing petitions it will make one iota of difference.  One may as well pray to stop it, for all the good that will do.

The reality is he's not going to be stopped. He was duly elected. And if by some ridiculously remote chance the electoral college electors do not cast their votes for him, more than likely Pence would end up in the Oval Office.  No improvement there.   

I deal in reality as ugly as it may be, not wishful thinking.  Therefore, if we really want to do something feasible, actionable, and meaningful in response to the obscenity that will befall this nation on January 20, I urge everyone to make a donation to the ACLU, and/or Planned Parenthood, and/or the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and/ or Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

They are going to need our support now more than ever.

An Apology to the Free World

The fools have had their say, they have anointed their champion; and now the world will pay the price.   I'm sorry, World. Forgive us. They know not what they do.

And to those who would congratulate the winners, who seek to reconcile, and who use Jefferson's quote as a means of assuring their under educated-right wing-Jesus loving-gun totin'- racist-angry white brethren of no hard feelings I say FUCK THAT!

I wonder how magnanimous Thomas Jefferson would have been if he was Jewish, lived In 1930's Germany, and his "friend" endorsed the "final solution". Or if he was Black, and his white "friend" joined the KKK. Or if he was of Japanese descent in 1942 USA, and his "friend" endorsed internment for Japanese-Americans.

No... it's one thing to disagree on the size of a budget, or foreign affairs, or the running of a pipeline, et al... But it's a whole 'nuther thing to embrace someone who holds in contempt human rights, human dignity, and the sanctity of the freedoms this nation was founded upon.
I'll have none of it.
And none of them.

A final thought before November 8

Have these Jews forgotten what Fascism looks like?

According to the Religion News Service, Jewish voters favor Clinton over Trump by a wide margin.  Here's the key extract:

"... 61 percent of Jewish adults said Clinton and 19 percent picked GOP nominee Trump in the American Jewish Committee survey."     Whole story here.
All well and good.  But it begs the question: What exactly do the remaining 19% of Jewish voters see in a Trump presidency? According to the article, some are annoyed by the nuclear deal the US and our allies made with Iran, but can that really account for almost one in five Jews preferring the obscenity, xenophobia, and fascist like concepts Trump has expressed as his platform?

Having come from a Jewish family, one that lost relatives in the Holocaust, the similarity between Trump's programs ...one might say "solutions" ... to our national ills is so blatantly fascist that it makes one blanch, or should.
 
It  includes singling out of minorities, Mexicans, Muslims  and Blacks.  According to Trump he'd reinstate water boarding ("enhanced interrogation" is the nice term), profiling, and  "stop and frisk" (which has been declared unconstitutional).  How one can hear that, read that, and not think: "I vant to see your papers mein herr!" baffles me.

Oh but of course,  anyone who is or looks black or Muslim or Mexican has to be up to something.  His declaration that Muslims know more than they tell, that we must treat Muslim "neighborhoods" differently;  that every illegal Mexican is a rapist or criminal (after all "someone is doing all the raping!") and must be rounded up; that Blacks are their own worst enemy and are the highest crime producing people in the nation...all of it speaks of demonization, of scapegoating that smacks of totalitarianism.
 
How does an educated Jew who knows anything about the Holocaust accept the singling out of minorities today, any more than they would have accept the singling out of Gypsies, Jews, the physically handicapped, the Trade Unionists, the Socialists in Germany and then across Europe?

Can it truly be  "Well, I'm not a  Black, or Mexican or Muslim, so what do I care?."  Can 75 years of time have really blunted the horror that such "special treatment" and "solutions" delivered? Can they really embrace the "It can't happen here." fallacy? Can those 19% of Jews be so callous or so blind or so hateful that they'll readily wear the same emblem that their ancestors' persecutors wore in the last century, just invisibly?

No explanation or commitment to other national issues could justify this obscenity among people who shouldn't have to think twice about it.  1 in 5 Jews will vote for Trump!!??  It's enough to make me ashamed of my Jewish  roots.