Musings:
•The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter 14). He has:
Announced the revival of nuclear testing;
Advised the Republican Party to end the filibuster in the Senate in order to deny the Democratic Party control of the government forever;
Dispatched three military aircraft to El Salvador without the approval of Congress as part of the “end of” drug trafficking;
Continued to claim that the cost-of-living prices are “way down”;
Partially dismantled the Department of Education by shifting billions of dollars in grant programs to other agencies;
Announced the levying of tariffs of 100% on semi-conductors and cell phones and their parts, but exempted Apple because of its investments in his pet projects;
Threatened to withdraw military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine if it doesn’t surrender to Russia and cede Russian-occupied lands to Moscow;
Threatened to replace air-traffic controllers who refuse to return to work without pay with “patriots”;
Withdrawn South African’s invitation to the G20 summit next year because it is “not a country worthy of membership anywhere”;
Called for Democrats who tell military personnel not to obey “illegal orders” to be jailed or hanged;
Commuted the sentence of a convicted Ponzi scheme operator four days after his incarceration; and
Pardoned the former president of Honduras who had been convicted of drug trafficking.
•The shape of mythic lies, part two:
Mythic lies have been grouped in three categories. They have taken no greater form than in the category of theology. Every religion ever created since hominids swung down from the trees and walked upright has posited a “Golden Age” in which humans who were created by one god or another lived in perfect harmony in a land of peace and plenty. But, then “sin” entered the picture; the people disobeyed their gods and acted in their own self-interest. In retaliation, those gods threw the humans out of “Paradise” and required tribute to atone for their ”sins.”
Often, the tribute took the form of blood sacrifice, animal and/or human. By this means, the people hoped to regain the favor of their gods. Nowadays, this barbarism is practiced symbolically. But the need for “salvation” is preached in every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple; you must pray to whatever god you believe in and beg its forgiven of your “sins” so that you may return to a “state of grace.”
This is the shape of mythic lies: That humankind is made to believe themselves worthless, that whatever good they may do comes not from themselves but from some god working through them, that they must be “saved” through a host of rituals, and that they cannot achieve a life of perfect harmony otherwise.
In the realm of human laws, this state of affairs is known as “extortion.” But it doesn’t have to be endured, dear reader.
•Winter came early this year and brought with it mountains of snow. Once upon a time, shoveling one’s walks was a mark of neighborliness and civic responsibility. With the passage of time, I have seen very little neighborliness and civic responsibility in this regard. What I find very disturbing is the negligence of the merchants in town; they do a masterful job of clearing their parking lots so that motorists can pull in and shop, but neglect the sidewalks surrounding the property, thereby forcing pedestrians to either navigate a slippery path or walk in the streets and risk being struck by a passing vehicle. And what I find particularly disturbing are the houses of worship which are guilty of the same neglect. The motorists can come and pray, but pedestrians don’t have a prayer.
Pedestrians have rights too, don’t you know, dear reader, foremost of which is the right of safe passage along our public thoroughfares. At this time of the year, that right is routinely trampled upon. In my humble opinion, this practice strikes me as pure discrimination, favoring motorists over pedestrians. I would call upon all those who have had difficulty traversing snow-covered sidewalks to protest and demand accountability. And if property owners do not respond to the problem voluntarily and perform their civic duty, then perhaps the City Council could be persuaded to consider an ordinance requiring the same.
Just a thought.