Wednesday, October 10, 2018

I Wonder

I always wonder what makes something the way it is.  I always wondered how a bird flies or how bees pollinate flowers and how such a tiny thing makes such delicious gallons of sweet honey.  I wonder about the earth and how it began and how one can count trillions of stars above.  I wonder why it rains, why it snows and how those flowers frozen in winter's deep return in the spring from it in beauty.  I wonder how the oceans with waters so deep formed and how fish can only breathe under water.  I wonder about the cycle of life and why every living thing seems so entwined one with the other.   I wonder about viruses and bacteria that can fell a man or paralyze limbs perverting their form making life life-long difficult.  I wonder about death and why humans suffer loss of those they love but many other mammals do not love or understand loss.  These are things about which I wonder.

I also wonder about man; why some are so violent; why some are so quick to fight and why others want to walk in another’s shoes to think how they feel walking in them; why some can empathize with the plight of another whose arc of the universe did not bend toward justice.  Why some can feel the plight of the downtrodden and want to help but others want to take away food from the hungry, take away money from the poor but give to those who are steeped in wealth.  I wonder about these things.  I wonder why a man who cares begets another who does not.  I wonder how extreme love of punishment sadistically allows the strong to punish the weak often by depraved means.  I wonder why a man turns away from suffering and does nothing while another walks toward it and cannot do enough.

What prods a man to pull the trigger on another man?  What allows him to do that? A Saudi who wrote for the Washington Post was killed by other Saudis in a foreign land this week and then took a chainsaw to that man's limbs and cut them off.  The man’s sin -- criticizing a head of state by writing newspaper articles.  Did that head of state whose order was behind the killing think he was perfect and eschewed criticism to the point of murdering a fellow human being or was he really afraid of that criticism?  It was not enough that they killed the journalist but they also had to dismember him committing mayhem in the process.  I do not understand these things; I do not understand why some men can kill anything that moves and others can kill nothing even if it sits motionless.

I wonder how a man who allegedly attempts rape in a drunken state is believed that he did not do this thing but the voice of the woman to whom it was done is cast aside even though she was 100% sure it was he.  I wonder why if there were more of those who could attest to the man's drunkenness that they were not allowed to speak at the behest of a White House which ordered a limited investigation.  I wonder if that robed man who is alleged to have committed that heinous act was drunk with regularity, attested to by those who witnessed him many times in a drunken state. I wonder how he looks with satisfaction at his robed image in a morning mirror and then sits with pride to judge other men.    


I wonder why a nation born of immigrants develops policies in extremis to keep other immigrants whose skin is brown and who face danger in their own lands out of this one. Worse that nation separates children from their parents -- some forever.  I wonder why a president loves dictators more than he does democracies.  I wonder why a president lies so constantly that truth empties into the swamp he was supposed to drain. I wonder more why those who know he lies do not care. I wonder what was done to a president at so young an age that he can grow up saturated in corruption, mean, cruel and without empathy for anyone but himself.  I wonder why he laughs at the women whom he has admittedly abused and does so at their expense as he brags about how power can gain him these privileges because women let him do anything doncha know. This is our president. Shame on you, America, that you saw fit to give this great nation the curse of Trump.

I wonder about all of these things and wonder if there are answers to anything.

Local GOP Official Wants to Send Native American House Candidate ‘Back to the Reservation’ -- BUT SHE IS GOING TO WIN!

Sharice Davids is likely going to Congress, not “back to the reservation.” Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Normally the social media ravings of local party activists don’t merit any serious attention; these are the ground troops of American politics, who often get carried away. But occasionally you run across such a classic of evil invective that it just has to be shared. It comes from Kansas, where Republicans are used to being embarrassed by extremists like their gubernatorial nominee Kris Kobach. And the target is Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids, who is in a close race with incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder. The Kansas City Star has the story:
A local Kansas GOP official lashed out at Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids on social media earlier this week, saying “your radical socialist kick boxing lesbian will be sent back packing to the reservation.”
The Facebook message was written by Republican precinct committeeman Michael Kalny of Shawnee and sent to Anne Pritchett, president of the Johnson County Democratic Women’s north chapter.
Davids is indeed a lesbian, and a former professional mixed-martial-arts fighter. She’s also Native American. She is not, however, any sort of “radical socialist”; in the Democratic primary for this House race, she defeated the self-identified progressive backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And she grew up in the suburban 3rd congressional district of Kansas, not “the reservation.” But Kalny was clearly on a roll and wasn’t going to let facts get in his way:
“Little Ms. Pritchett- you and your comrades stealth attack on Yoder is going to blow up in your leftist face,” Kalny wrote. “The REAL REPUBLICANS will remember what the scum DEMONRATS tried to do to Kavanaugh in November….
Roughly 50 exclamation points followed the end of the message.
Kalny’s prophecy of what will happen on November 6 is not looking terribly prescient, either. A couple of weeks ago the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee cancelled a million bucks in planned advertising on Yoder’s behalf. It wasn’t because they thought he was a lock; The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Lean D.” You know, D as in “DEMONRATS” THAT IS DEMOCRATS!

NOT ANYMORE

  I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated agai...