June 30, 2018: Time to Hit the Streets and Get Loud, Resisters!

Good morning. Since I can't attend the Families Belong Together event today, due to, of all things, being on an antibiotic (for last week's injury) on which I've been told in no uncertain terms by the pharmacist to stay out of the sun, I will be participating by posting up a major storm on social media. Be braced if you are on Facebook today, as I hope to have time to post at an intensity y'all haven't seen from me since Bernie was running for President.

Why I care so much about this is that 2,500 babies and children were ripped away from their parents at the border, shipped far away in many cases, and put in child internment camps. Just let that last phrase sink in: child internment camps. In the United States of America. The staff at the facilities are not allowed to hug the babies or children. Remember, years ago, what happened to the babies and children in Romanian orphanages during the Ceausescu regime? They were deeply psychologically/emotionally wounded and profoundly scarred for life. Do we want this happening to children on our watch, in our name, IN OUR COUNTRY?

I beg of you all, if you can, show up today. And if you can't go in person, talk about it on social media. Call your senators and congresspeople (202) 224-3121. Talk to your children, your parents, your spouse/partner, your friends. Do not be silent.

This is important because, with this policy of family separation and child internment camps, Trump has gone from wannabe fascist to fascist. And if we do not stop him, our country will be a fascist country. So do it for America, and do it for each and every voiceless little baby and child who, right now as I compose and type this post, is all alone, scared, and missing their parents

Trump has gone from Wannabe Fascist to Actual Fascist: Now we, the people, must choose sides.

This blog entry is sort of a sister piece to the one I just posted (entitled "Vicious"), though I actually wrote this one earlier tonight, and wrote "Vicious" later.  Yeah, I'm on a tear.  Here we go:

The Trump administration is tearing people apart in more ways than one. In America, family and loved ones are parting ways, depending what side of the line they are on. With the policy of separating babies and children from their parents at the border, sending the kids away, sometimes hundreds of miles, with no paper trail of who they belong to and no plan or way to ever return them, Trump has moved from wannabe fascist to actual fascist. He's a fascist. We have child internment camps, right now, in the United States of America. He's doing this in our country, in our names.

So here's where I very sadly find myself, as in, here's how I see it. It's very black and white. It's crystal clear at this point. There are no longer any simply "misguided" Trump supporters. If you support Trump, particularly if you defend him vocally and consistently, you are complicit.

I don't make comparisons with Nazi Germany lightly. In fact, I usually don't make them at all. But I today see many comparisons with where we find ourselves in what I call Trumpocalyptic America. No, we don't have gas chambers just yet. But we have camps. Camps full of BABIES and children. We have parents told their children are being taken "for a shower", and then they don't see them again. Does that sound familiar to any of my friends with a Jewish heritage, like mine, or anyone who knows anything about the Holocaust? This is not okay. Not on my watch as an American citizen. The way I see it, there are two choices, because the situation is this, my friends:

Just as in Nazi Germany, you can be complicit, or you can RESIST. At least we still have a lot of beautiful laws on our side here. We still have the constitution. And we have television and the internet, which German citizens did not. So we have even less of an excuse than German citizens did to turn a blind eye when the trains pass by at night, so to speak. Some Germans claimed "We didn't know." But we Americans, we KNOW. So here is the reality: just as in Nazi Germany, there are two sides: right and wrong. Good and evil. It could not be clearer. And, if you know what is going on in our country, in our names, by our President, you are either a resister or you are complicit.

We all, and each, have to choose. And Trump is tearing families (and friends) apart in this way, too. Because, as fa as I'm concerned, if you know, and you choose Trump? You also just chose the wrong side of history, in a huge way. In a "good German citizen" way. Google that phrase if you don't know what it means.

So you, me, and all of us, have two choices. You can resist fascism, or you can know what Trump is doing and turn a blind eye, or worse, actually defend him. If you do the latter, we're done. Because we all have to chose, and I know which side of history I'm on. Had I lived in Nazi Germany times (thank God I didn't), I would not have friends who were Nazi sympathizers. I'm alive now. And I know a fair amount about history--particularly the Holocaust. And I know what Trump is doing now, today, in our own country. And I know that, as the saying goes, those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I know that I can't in good conscience have friends who are Trump sympathizers and defenders. I can't have friends who are complicit, because that would make me complicit. And I will not be complicit. So if you defend Trump, we have to be done.

#RESIST

Vicious

Well, I just got told I was being "vicious" by someone I love very dearly, for deciding I can no longer associate with anyone who is a Trump apologist, no matter how heartbreaking that decision may be for me in any given case. It's not vicious to know, and say, there is a line in the sand now that we have a fascist for a President, and I have to stand on the side of the 2,500 children. If you know about them, and you don't stand with them and against Trump's policies, then you are complicit. That's just reality. The 2,500 children in internment camps is what forced the line very real and absolute for me.

So life in Trump's America is that family and friends are ripped apart, and I'm not referring to what's going on at the border.  I'm referring to the person who sat next to me last week and sobbed about the unbridgeable canyon between he and his Trump-supporting brother. I'm talking about myself, and a person I love dearly, to whom I felt I had to say tonight, basically this: either you are with the 2,500 children or you are complicit. Complicit with fascism, and traumatizing 2,500 babies and children. And where does that leave us? On different sides of a line, an unbridgeable chasm.

The thing is, I'm a student of the Holocaust. And that's why I HAVE to see the line, and speak up. Just like Maxine Waters, actually, did the other day, and she is getting all kinds of misunderstood and all kinds of flack for it: she wasn't advocating violence! She was advocating creative NON-violent resistance! Speaking up and calling out fascism and complicity with same. She was saying: don't be silent. Elie Wiesel always said: don't be silent. I have not been silent, God knows. I've been shouting about Trump being a wannabe fascist since the primaries. And like I've said, I even predicted camps. Predicted it right on Facebook, and took a lot of heat for it then--I was called "overly dramatic", and unfriended by one person over it.  And now it's real.  And it's the line for me. Child internment camps is when Trump goes from wannabe fascist to fascist, and it then becomes incumbent upon all of us to NOT let him drag us, or our country, with him.

Trump's Propaganda Video Seems Straight Out of "Room 23" on LOST

 "Two men, two leaders, one destiny..."

If you are not terrified, you are not paying attention: we (the United States) are now at a surreal point, governed at the top by a wannabe fascist. Trump made a propaganda video to play for Korea's murderous dictator. It contains the above line (the two men, two leaders, one destiny horrifying schtick). It's Clockwork Orange meets George Orwell dystopia time. It's Room 23 from LOST!

Meanwhile, Trump's advisors state that there is a special place in hell for Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.

Folks, this is not good. We all, if we are sane and healthy, should be in fight or flight mode re President Trump by this point. If you think things are normal, you need to tune in to the news. This is not what is or ever, ever should be normal for the United States of America.

Rockabye Trumpy

To be sung to the tune of Rockabye Baby:

Rockabye Trumpy
In the White House
As indictments rain down, he tweets like a louse
When Mueller comes, the con game will fall
And down will come Trumpy, treason and all!

#GoMuellerGo #SaveOurCountry #MuellerTime

The March for Our Lives

Today is the March for our Lives, being led by a bunch of fired up, fiercely eloquent, social-media-savvy high school kids. As Lawrence O'Donnell put it last night on his program: "The President has fled to Florida, while kids from Florida are taking over Washington, DC."

Kids of Parkland, Florida, and kids of the entire nation, I stand with you. I've unfortunately seen some comments on social media in recent weeks that try to pit the generations against each other. As one of the younger Baby Boomers (almost Gen X), I want you to know that so many in my generation DID, and continue to, try. We tried (and continue passionately to try!) to change the world. I'm not saying all of us (there are some obnoxious ones we have to claim--but that's true of all generations), but so many of us did try. We didn't have social media back then. We couldn't live stream. We couldn't organize in the same way, nor could we effectively get our message out in the same way, straight, un-distilled, to the world. We were only covered as mainstream television at the time chose to cover our marches and movements, you know? Which was basically not at all for some of them I was involved with at your age (like the Nuclear Freeze movement, for example: media black-out).

Don't let haters pit the generations against each other. I, for one Boomer, LOVE the Millennials (and I hope you don't hate me  ). I first fell in love with you guys when the older ones among you led the Occupy Wall Street Movement. That movement gave me hope for our country, for the first time in many, many moons. Since then, I've realized just what a wonderful, awesome, WISE and eloquent generation you are, in general. And I am so with you now as you lead this fresh and fierce push for sensible, sane gun control.

The 2nd amendment was never intended to protect weapons of mass murder. Semi-automatic, military-style assault weapons are not for self defense. As you know all too well, they mow down scores of people in moments. Joe Schmoe and Joette Schmoe citizen should not ever have that power. Period. The 2nd amendment would not be touched/violated one iota by a complete and total federal ban on assault weapons. This is job one. Job two is a federal, strict background check on all guns sold, with NO loopholes.

Let the march begin.  And again, don't let those who seek to divide us up succeed. That is what Bernie Sanders has always urged, and it is so important to remember during this time in our nation when we have so many, including our President, who seek to divide us, to pit us against each other: white against black, native born against immigrant, Christian against Muslim, etc. We need to stick together! White, black, Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist, all religions, all ethnicities, all colors, men, women, straight, gay, old, middle-aged, young. It is so beautiful and deeply heartening to see you very young ones leading this. Yet it is so heartbreaking to know the reason why: you have seen far too much--experienced it, up close and personal. You've lost loved ones to this terrible violence. And now, we are ALL going to stop it, together. You have given new life and passion and urgency and eloquence to the cause. And today, the world listens.

The 2nd Amendment Was Never Meant to Enable Mass Murder

We need to ban automatic, military assault-type rifles in this country, PERIOD. There is absolutely no mention in the 2nd amendment of anyone’s right to walk around with a weapon of mass murder. And don’t argue that people will just buy these guns on the black market if they can’t get them legally: people do a lot of illegal things even when they are illegal, but that doesn’t mean that we should just have no laws!!! People commit murder even though it is illegal, should we just throw up our hands and make murder legal? Of course not. States that have tougher gun laws have fewer gun deaths, that is just a FACT. Countries that have tougher gun laws have far fewer of these horrific massacres.

We need to attack our gun violence problem in this country from many angles. There is no one magic solution. We need to fight it like you would fight any disease: attack the symptoms, attack the root cause, and try to make the patient healthier in a holistic way. But just because banning assault rifles isn’t going to completely fix our inherent, systemic and highly intractable gun violence problem in this country/culture, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. On the contrary: automatic assault weapons can mow down hundreds of people in SECONDS. This is madness!!! There is absolutely NO justification—least of all a constitutional one—for citizens to be legally able to get one of these weapons, PERIOD!

We, the people, ARE more powerful than the NRA. I don’t care how much money they throw at our elected representatives, if WE make it crystal clear to said representatives that WE WILL NOT VOTE FOR THEM UNLESS THEY ENACT SANE, SENSIBLE GUN CONTROL LAWS, INCLUDING BANNING AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS COMPLETELY, AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, then they will do it. Because, last time I checked (and, with our current president, you never know if this could be changing!), it is still one person, one vote. WE still have the power, people! So pick up that cell phone with the long-distance included in the price you pay anyway, and CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON, AND YOUR SENATOR. We need to heal our culture from this crazy love affair that we have with guns, and that will take approaching it from many, many disparate angles, as I said. But one thing we can do IMMEDIATELY is BAN AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS. We can demand this and make it happen. Rhymes-with-DUCK the NRA! Call your representatives now: (202) 224-3121.