December 21, 2022…

As we’ve traveled now these past 5 years and I record some of what we’ve seen and experienced I seldom write about political events and the larger issues of the day that make the headlines. Surely, historians will do an excellent job of that down the road. Since I publish my musings on line at my personal website I believe my contemporaries aren’t interested in my rehash of what they hear on radio, see on television, or read on line every single day of the year. There’s only so much of today’s news one can tolerate before going mad. Plus, some of my friends or readers as it were might not agree with my viewpoints and in today’s world we are so tribal in our politics that I might really stir up trouble with a comment or two. So, with that in mind, I focus on our personal experiences as we travel with some reminisces of past escapades.

However, one of my main reasons for writing in this blog or journal if you will is to give a view of the early 21st century in America to future relatives, perhaps unborn today. It would make my old soul very happy indeed if that were to happen, if my great grandchild might one day peruse these pages and find some of them interesting. Might it inspire someone down the long and winding road to get out and find America on their own terms...to explore the land and engage the people of this great nation? In this little entry, December 21, 2022, I will take leave to reflect on the events surrounding us, a highly subjective account of the issues of the day so to speak. I promise not to do this often in future pennings, but on this cold and overcast morning on the cusp of Christmas, 2022, in Georgetown, Texas from the dim light of our kitchen table in Nell, our trusty motor home, I feel bound to do so.

To begin, one of the overarching topics nearly everyday is Trump, the past President of the United States. His outrageous behavior and blatantly stubborn disregard for the mores of our culture has a singularly divisive effect on the people of our planet. His true believers are rabid in their devotion to him, as if they have been hypnotized or zombiefied. No matter the outrageous act, they love him and will do his bidding regardless. Today, the Congress of the US, after a year long investigation into the January 6 insurrection, has recommended to the Justice Department that 4 indictments should be made against him for his part in organizing and propelling all those thousands of his followers who very nearly took over the Capitol and stopped the proceedings to declare Joe Biden as the new President. In addition, Trump is being investigated for stealing documents, some highly confidential, as he left the White House on January 20th, 2021 and hiding them at Mar a Lago, his Florida resort home. It’s my opinion that he either sold copies, or intended to sell copies of these documents to interested parties and foreign governments. Perhaps there could be some blackmail motives as well since its reported that some of the documents he took were Top Secret with information on domestic and foreign leaders. I believe that because every single thing Trump does is transactional. His actions are always motivated by money, power, or influence. That’s it. That’s his modus operandi.

Trump has ongoing investigations aimed at him regarding his corporation in New York where he repeatedly manipulated his tax returns to save millions upon millions of dollars illegally. In fact, his personal tax returns have just been acquired by Congress and they will be made public very shortly.

In Atlanta, Trump faces charges that he attempted to coerce the state leaders there to change the outcome of the votes in Georgia during the general election of 2020. In fact, there are tape recorded phone conversations where he did just that. Everyone has heard them. By now it is common knowledge how he and Lindsey Graham, the vapid and two-faced senator from South Carolina, worked to overthrow the factual election results from Georgia.

Professional political pundits could go on and on about other cases and investigations that have been mounted against him. I lose track myself. Of course, throughout the course of his political life there have been dozens of women who have stood up to reveal that they were either raped or taken advantage of in sexual ways against their wills. That almost goes without saying and those issues are on-going in the public domain. They seemingly keep coming out of the woodwork. They number in the dozens. Seems always that where there is smoke there is fire. It is a fact that Trump paid off Stormy Daniels, the porn star, to keep her from talking about their relations

Most recently, namely last week, Trump proclaimed he had a special announcement to make. All of his followers and FOX news began salivating at what it might be. He’d already announced himself as a candidate for the presidency in 2024. What might this huge special announcement be? Turns out his special announcement was his unveiling of NFT super-hero trading cards,(digital renderings available only on line) featuring Trump in several super-hero costumes... Astronaut, muscle-man costume like Superman, Wild West cowboy get-up, and so on. It was truly sickening to see. It was also embarrassing to the nation to have a former President debase himself so for stark monetary gain. Even Steve Bannon, the swarmy devotee of white nationalism, was sickened by it, saying,

“Make it stop...make it stop...”

I’d guess that 30% of the voting nation are true believers in the Trump idiocy. That’s his popularity number today. During election times he has been able to lure large portions of swing voters to his cause. In 2016 he lured the larger percentage of them. In 2020, when people had experienced his brand for four years, many of those same swing voters did not support him. His blind followers overlook everything and anything he does. There’s many theories as to why this is, why he remains so influential to so many people. I hate to postulate this, but it may be because there are precisely that many people in this country who are still racists. Trump offers them the notion that there is a strong-willed white man who can save them from the non-white hoards that are taking over the nation. That is my personal belief. I believe that support for all of this sick behavior from Trump emanates at its essence from racism.

“Just keep white folks in power and we’ll all turn and look the other way as you commit your various sins. Just keep everyone, all these blacks and foreign immigrants in their place. In fact, no more immigrants if you please...build us a wall.”

That’s what I really hear when I hear support for Trump.

The bottom-line to Trump is that he brings out the very worst in people, me included. If you get too close to him you wind up disgraced and cast aside or in jail. If you donate to his political action funds he takes your money for himself and his emperor-like lifestyle. I do not like myself when I think about Trump. I become hateful.

Turning to the other elephant in the room so to speak is the Ukrainian war. Tonight, as a matter of fact, Vlodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, is in Washington DC meeting with our president, Joe Biden. He addressed a joint session of Congress during prime time on live television. Zelensky stands firm and upright in his resolution to lead his people in their fight against the invading Russian forces. Joe Biden has been his most ardent supporter, directing some 40 billion dollars thus far to procure weapons and ammunition for Ukraine. A goodly portion of that money has been directed towards direct assistance to the Ukrainians in the form of restoring power sources, providing medical supplies, and repairing bombed out infrastructure across the country.

“Make it stop...make it stop...”

That’s what I really hear when I hear support for Trump.

Biden has also strengthened NATO in its resolve to defend Europe against Russian aggression. During Trump’s reign he tried repeatedly to damage NATO to the point of its failure. The dissolution of NATO has and is the design of Putin and his politburo cronies. Trump saddled up to Putin and in some ways tried to appease him and give him what he wanted in his designs for a remade Europe, a heavily Russian influenced, weakened ghost of itself...all to give Russia more power and some say, glory. Trump, a fascist wannabe, is attracted to fellow dictators and strong men, and is repulsed by duly elected democratically installed leaders. Plus, Trump wants a luxury hotel in Moscow's Red Square. There is that transactional thing again.

Now, the heroic people of Ukraine have performed a near miraculous feat in driving back the Russian army from their lands. They are killing Russian soldiers in droves, by the thousands. In recent months the tide of war has swung clearly to the Ukrainians who fight like cornered tigers on every front. Europe, and to a larger degree, the US have supplied Ukraine with the best defensive weapons money can buy. The Ukrainian fighting spirit, augmented by our support and weaponry, has been more than the Russian invading forces can handle...so far.

We hear reports that in order to staff his army Putin and his generals are drafting criminals and convicts to go fight. Mercenaries from sympathetic countries run by strongmen and warlords have been sent to the front lines on Russia’s behalf. At the moment, Putin is working on the leader of Belarus to send troops and refresh his front lines even more. But, though the war is going terribly for Putin, he seems unwilling to cave. Nightly he hurls rockets and drones at the key infrastructure points and civilians. Most of Ukraine is reportedly without power, and it is getting colder every day now. The people of Ukraine are suffering immensely. Putin’s intention, his strategy, seems to be...if we cannot defeat them on the battlefield then we will bring the population to their knees until they surrender. It is a Russian way of war going back centuries.

Looming in the back of everyone’s mind is the fact that the US and Russia, France, Germany, and England, all have nuclear weapons. Should Putin decide to use them in this war what would the next move be from Ukraine’s allies? As a child growing up I was terrified of nuclear war. It seemed to my young mind that it was just a matter of time until the world would be destroyed by them. Nakita Kruschev banged his shoe on the table during a UN General Assembly meeting during those days and shouted,

“We will bury you!”

I’ll never forget it. Nor can I forget how scared we all were during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when we came within a camel hair of nuclear devastation.

So, today, December 21st, 2022, Vlodimir Zelensky steadfastly leads his besieged people in the defense of his nation. The parallels to 1940 and Winston Churchill’s leadership against the Nazi blitz are not lost on me. The brilliant bravery of the men and women of Ukraine shines as a beacon of light. We hope and pray this terrible war ends soon.

I should mention the plague called Covid-19. In past postings I have talked about it at length. Truly, in my lifetime I have never seen anything like it before. During the past two plus years over a million Americans have perished from it. So many have contracted it by now. The death toll from the virus has slowed as the major pharmaceutical companies have developed great medicines to keep it at bay. New vaccines and boosters have been created which also slows its progress and its deadliness. However, most people I know have had it.

Our daughter and son, Suni and Eli, have both had it and lived through it. We were worried something awful for them because they both have compromised immune systems, Suni with type 1 diabetes and Eli with vitiligo. Bob Breidenbach, my best friend, who is the most physically compromised person I know, has had it and lived through it as well. Others have not been so fortunate. Several musician friends of mine have died from Covid.

Right now it is raging again in China and other geographies throughout the world. Here in America it is on the rise as is the yearly flu and a seemingly new and particularly virulent virus that affects the respiratory system, giving us a one-two-three punch of bugs to battle this winter. It’s interesting that during the past two winters the flu bug has been rather mild in occurrences. I think that may because during those times everyone was wearing masks in public whereas now folks have foregone that practice. Through it all, Diane and I have not had Covid or the flu. (knock hard on wood!) We are fully vaccinated with two booster shots to boot and we always get a flu shot. Could it be we are genetically disposed to be less likely to contract Covid? I don’t know. Some scientist say there may be genetic factors at play that preclude some folks from getting Covid.

There is no shortage of threatening, if not crisis-type, over-arching developments to fret and worry about these days. These are just a few, and I have not brought up the environmental train wreck that is just around the bend if we earthlings don’t get our act together. There is a terrible situation on our southern borders with immigrants piling up in the thousands trying to seek asylum here. In Iran these days they are killing dissidents. They are reportedly very close to developing a nuclear bomb. The prospect of Iran and the radical leaders possessing a nuclear arsenal are beyond frightening. North Korea, whose leader, Kim Jung Un, is hurling intercontinental missiles all over the Pacific in his own brand of saber rattling is yet another dictator whose fiery motives create angst and fear.

Yet, all around us there are so many reasons to rejoice over. Our economy in America is still very strong, albeit inflation has taken a toll recently. Medical science is creating ever improving medicines. Diversity among the population is increasing and acceptance for it, despite some stubborn white folks, is at an all time high. Our younger demographics are overcoming the fear and hatred of those with different color skin tones and nationalities. Alternative energies are being developed and should be mass distributed throughout our energy infrastructure very soon. And, Trump’s freight train of insanity may be finally running out of steam. Maybe he’ll end up in prison!

Diane and I both feel we have blessings a’plenty. We count them like grains of sand on the beach. We worry and fret sometimes. Of course we do. But we try to live every day on its own merit. In the end, it’s all we really have. Today is the day, now is the time, this is the place.

“We will bury you!”

I’ll never forget it. Nor can I forget how scared we all were during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when we came within a camel hair of nuclear devastation.