August 26, 2025: Calling it What It Is

On orders from the White House, United States troops are patroling American streets. The pretext is crime. Yet the level of crime in Washington, D.C., is actually down, 33% in 2024 and even further in 2025. The other cities that the Trump administration is threatening with boots on the ground are Chicago, where, likewise, the crime rates are dropping, and New York, which is considered one of the safest cities in the world. All three cities are deeply blue, all three have Black mayors, and none of the three has asked for Federal help to combat crime. It makes me wonder just why Trump wants to insist these areas are in crisis.

Memphis, Tennessee, has a much higher crime rate. So do Saint Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Baltimore, Maryland. Why are those cities not on the list? The answer is simple. This is not about crime. It is about retribution and suppression. The Trump administration is targeting anyone who disagrees with his vision of America, and showing his willingness to use military power even when prohibited by the Constitution. It is a show to his base. It is a warning to everyone else—see what I can do?

He is working hard to destroy the two party system, and this is part of the battle plan. It is also flagrantly and unashamedly racist. But then, white supremacy is also a major part of his agenda. The question becomes, is it yours? If so, put on your marching boots and grab your rifles and goose step down your own street. But please stay off mine.

22, 2025: A Poem for Joni

 

Here is a poem, inspired by Republican Senator from Iowa, Joni Ernst.

We're all gonna die, she said with great cheer,

So why should I care about any of you here?

And, by the way, the Tooth Fairy is false

But President Trump has really big balls.

So you see, my christian values are on full display

In the help to my neighbors that I take away.

She is just one in support of Trump's goals,

A powerful minority caught in the fold.

They want us to know that our rights are all shattered,

That what's moral and legal no longer matters,

And troops on the ground can invade any city:

Washington now is a town without pity.

The Republican Party has a very long list,

Manufacturing crises where none exist.

Immigrants are criminals who all must go!

Give jobs back to legal citizens, although

If you throw dinner parties, if you have the nerve,

Just who do you think will clean, cook and serve?

August 21, 2025: Just Who's In Charge?

 After World War Two, the powers that be, C. Wright Mills' Power Elite, were so grateful for the defeat of Adolph Hitler and the Axis powers, that they rewarded their soldier-citizens with a liberal dose of economic opportunity. Since then, the elite's next generation began clawing back. And the next generation after that, the rich and powerful 1/10 of 1% who really run things today, actually resent having to help anyone, forgetting that a happy, healthy workforce is a productive one, and that their own wealth comes off the backs of that work force.

I know. I sound like a conspiracy theorist gone mad. But it is undeniable that America has become a plutocracy, that is, governed by the super-rich, of the super-rich, and for the super-rich. They have one agenda, increasing their wealth and power. What has changed is that the rich are outwardly righteous in their greed. Their monster, Donald Trump, has made this blatantly obvious. But is Trump merely a side show reality TV distraction, or is he a threat even to them?

I know that comparisons to Adolph Hitler are not considered useful or realistic, but who exactly is telling us that, particularly when such comparisons are so obvious? The MAGA movement considers itself a revolution in American politics, economics, and governance. The Power Elite, the Republican Party, and roughly 40% of the American people are lock-step behind them. Donald Trump is their face. But I think back to 1934, a scant 91 years ago. The German industrialists told Adolph Hitler that if he could not control his Brown Shirts and their leader, Ernst Roehm, they would not support him. Over the course of two days, June 30-July 1, Hitler eliminated 2,000 potential opponents, gutting the Brown Shirts and murdering his so-called friend Roehm. He won over the industrialists, then set the world on fire.

Ernst Roehm once famously said, “All revolutions devour their own children.” With Trump looking to control every aspect of American life, from minutia like the name of a football team to his authoritarian, and what some are now calling Marxist, approach to the economy, I again ask the Power Elite, Is Donald Trump your Adolph Hitler?

August 14, 2025: Christmas Is Coming

 

It is mid August already. Soon Costco and Walmart and everybody else will bring out their Christmas goodies and decorations, right alongside the Back To School supplies. As the one runs low, the other will fill the shelves. So it is time to start thinking about Christmas lists. Ah, lists—the gift that keeps on giving!

Today is also the 90^th anniversary of the Social Security Act becoming law, one of the biggest gifts by a government to its people of all time. In the spirit of that momentous occasion, I already have been thinking about my own Christmas list for 2025. I want to share what I have, so far.

National Parks that are well staffed, safe, clean and easily accessible to everyone, especially our foreign guests whom we want to impress with America's beauty.

The Social Security safety net firmly in place, fully funded and protected not just for me but for my children and grandchildren far into the future.

Clean air and water would be nice.

Affordable health care for everyone.

A living wage, which can be tricky, because there are so many opinions about what that is. Lets just say enough to pay all our bills, save a million-five before retirement, and maybe afford the occassional trip to the closest National Park.

Affordable housing for everyone.

Maybe we could have a return to the idea that we do need to help and care for each other, even strangers, because “a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet,” according to Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

Francis Perkins, US Secretary of Labor under FDR, and one of the major forces in creating the Social Security Act ninety years ago, said, “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.” I fear that many Christians in America have lost sight of their own christian values. My final wish is that they come to their senses and remember, “For everyone to whom much is given, much will be required, and from him whom they entrusted much, they will demand more.” Luke 12:48.

Red suits and fake beards optional.

August 9, 2025: White Washing History

 

It has been a busy week (aren't they all nowadays?). You know it's a busy week when each day seems like it's a week long all by itself. Much of the week has been centered on the ongoing Epstein affair, if you can call it an actual affair, or cisis, or scandal, or cover-up, or embarrassment. I call it a distraction. Even I am distracted. And, as they say on Ancient Aliens, you gotta wonder what else is going on that the powers that be don't want us noticing.

I have come to think of Donald Trump himself as a distraction, as a reality TV show, albeit a very dangerous one. Given that the American economic and political system as actually a Plutocracy—of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich—we should not be surprised to see Trump ripping down the curtain that's been hiding our true handlers. Who are these people, you might ask. Sociologist C. Wright Mills called them “the Power Elite” back in 1956. He suggested that a small, compact group of very wealthy and powerful, interconnected individuals shape public opinion, use their influence to help make policies, and work to enrich and entrench themselves. The Left call this group The One Percent. The Right call them the Deep State. But there is no reason to believe that these individuals have a specifically right wing or left wing agenda. They have one goal only, control over the rest of us. Donald Trump may be a member. He certainly services them.

They, it seems, along with the vast majority of the Republican Party, want to re-write the narrative of America's story to put themselves and their ancestors in a better light. They might call it revising. I call it white-washing. I can hear them now. “All those Black people back in the day came to America seeking a better life. We have them three square, a roof over their heads, and lifetime job security. We even encouraged a free sexual lifestyle. It was a good thing.”

Mills also talked about a “mass society.” The Power Elite thrives on creating an under-educated general population in which citizens feel powerless and disconnected. They begin to see the system as rigged and start to think, “My voice doesn't matter, why should I bother?” Changing our history to suit their narrative is a huge step forward for the Power Elite, and backward for the rest of us. We can't say we were not warned.

August 5, 2025: GAZA

 So, briefly, lets talk about Gaza. In the bloodbath that has followed, it is easy to forget the trigger. The Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 was horrendous and breathtakingly cruel. It was 9-11 in slow motion with innocent individuals slaughtered one by one. Israel's response is another issue, and a difficult one to give support to by people and nations outside. But we were not there on October 7, and we have to keep in mind that in the bloodbath that followed, Hamas has continually invited their own people to die.

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, was an atrocity. Israel's response to that attack is also an atrocity. Nearly two years and 60,000 bodies later, is Hamas gone? Is Israel safer? Even humanitarian agencies within that country are calling the destruction of Gaza genocide. It is a terrible word, one which Israelis know well. But saying they cannot commit such acts because of who they are is like saying only white people can be racists. It's just not so.

The people of Gaza find their homeland in ruins and their brothers and sisters, sons and daughters facing starvation. People are being killed just trying to reach food. The Netanyahu regime seems to be clinging to power in desperation by prolonging the war. To call it a war is itself ludicrous. You might as well call hunting deer with a high power rifle a fair fight.

Now Netanyahu claims he wants to occupy Gaza.

Most of us can't do anything about what is happening there. But at least we can call it for what it is and express shame that the United States is on the wrong side of this so-called fight. This isn't anti-Semetic. It isn't anti-Israel. It isn't pro-Hamas. It is pro life. Meanwhile, maybe our government can push to increase the flow of humanitarian aid from various international sources to the starving children of Gaza. Otherwise, Gaza will become Israel's Biafra.

July 31, 2025: Change of Pace

 

Here's a poem I published in my anthology, Old Man Walking, in 2021. Cataloging my poems, I rediscovered it a few minutes ago, and just wanted to share, as a change of pace. Enjoy!

Night Stockers

Who sweeps up the spits and chews?

Who repairs old worn out shoes?

Who cleans toilets in the night?

Who restocks after every flight?

Who makes sure that the shelves aren't bare?

The people who were never there.