It feels like a massive storm has descended upon us, a storm of biblical proportions.  For more than 40 days and 40 nights we have endured.  Mercifully, the George Floyd jury found former Officer Chauvin guilty on Tuesday 4/20. Without that, our boat may have swamped.

No sooner than the skies started to clear with that verdict, actually about 20 minutes before its announcement, here in my own Columbus another tragedy befell us.  Ma’Khia Bryant was shot to death by a police officer.  She was a 16 year old African-American girl in the act of swinging a knife at another girl in the midst of an apparent brawl.  All caught on body camera.  Further, the officer, himself, was but a kid, a 23 years old and on the force one year.

Tragedy is the norm these days, and bullets were also raining in this town on the previous Saturday, 4/17.  In an event worthy of much more attention, LaToya Renee Carpenter, 32, died when struck in the head by a stray while driving to pick up her 11 year old at 7:30 pm.  Ironically, a vigil was in process on the southeast side for a homicide that occurred one year previously in a “drug deal gone bad” according to The Columbus Dispatch and police reports.  An SUV drove by this vigil, and sprayed the small group with bullets injuring 9 and killing LaToya while in the act of being a good mother—her daughter now motherless and her fiancé without a partner.

Black lives do matter, and very sadly they are being wasted on all fronts.  The Violence Data Brief for Franklin County compiled by the City of Columbus informs us that African-Americans are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized by firearms-related assault than Whites.  Black men are 14 times more likely to die by gun violence than white men—48.4 to 3.4 per 100,000.  Latoya Carpenter’s death was the 60^th this year, a full two months ahead of last year’s record-setting pace of 170 homicides for this city.  Almost 75% of U.S. homicides are committed with a gun. 

And indeed they are.  We are also amidst a tsunami of mass murder. 

Atlanta, March 16; 8 shot dead at spas by a man seeking to solve his sex addiction by eliminating the temptation, according to him.

Bolder, March 22; 10 killed while shopping for groceries by a man prone to outbursts of rage.

Rock Hill, South Carolina, April 7; 6 killed (two of which children), shot for no apparent reason by a man mentally ill ever since his professional football career, contends his father.

Indianapolis, April 15; 8 killed at a Fed Ex terminal by a pimpled 19 year old whose mother had legally removed a shotgun from his possession only to have him buy new assault rifles to commit this blood-letting.

So, what to do?  There are many things that could be done and many things that should be tried.  New police training, removal of officers with questionable records, discontinuation of the use of police as the initial and primary intervention in mental health and domestic problems.  Even minor traffic issues are not always best resolved by the intervention of a white man with badge and gun.

And what of the guns themselves?  Too many, too easy to get, too easy to use, too carelessly owned, too powerful for any reasonable purpose.  It’s time to rebuild our flood walls and stop the flow of these vile devices.  If only they were just used for hunting and self-defense!  No real right need be violated to stem these waters.

There is too much death in our time.  I’m drowning.  We’re drowning!  Efforts will continue to mitigate this disaster.  Please help.  More votes will be taken, petitions signed, more marches will be held, and we need to be there.  My sign will say, “Too Much Violence, Too Many Guns.”

(This old business is sad business! Three mass shooting in the US in less than a month! I have a new sign in my front yard, but still no progress on gun regulation in Ohio or in Washington, though President Biden is planning to take some executive actions.

I found this draft of a post in my file and decided to run it at this point. My wife asked me not to publish it initially, she was worried by the threatening letter I had received. At this point, over a year and a half after the mass murder in my home town of Dayton, our Republican Governor’s modest package of gun controls has been rejected by our Republican controlled legislature.

But now, after the Atlanta, Bolder, and Texas shootings, I refuse to give up especially in light of the stupidity that composes so much of the opposition to any efforts to control these vile and excessive weapons! The weapon used in Bolder was a semi-automatic pistol with modifications. Here is the original draft –following the pictures–now published with some modifications.)

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(Top Left, one of three shooting sites in Atlanta area where 8 woman were killed by a 21 year old “strict” Christian man who said he had a sex addiction and was eliminating his temptation.. Middle, King Sooper grocery store where 10 were killed by a young man with known mental problems using a semi-automatic pistol that he had purchased just days before; he shot it out with police in store before being arrested. Right or Bottom, Texas cabinet factory where a 27 year old disgruntled worker killed 1 and wounded 5 two of which still in critical condition, one a responding police officer.)

The Original Post following the Dayton Murders

On Sept. 13, (2019) The Columbus Dispatch published a letter I submitted arguing for a tightening of Ohio gun laws.  The paper is not “The Disgrace”, far from it; it has a moderate Republican orientation and went so far as to endorse Hillary in ’16 and is calling for gun control now.  About five weeks after the mass shooting in Dayton took the lives of 9 innocent people in a 24 second hail of gunfire, I wrote the editor and was published.  It still shocks and angers me that in 24 seconds, 9 people could be killed and 17 injured.  My letter was most immediately prompted by a set of proposals tentatively put forward by our Governor.  In response to my letter, I received at home through the mail a rather peculiar and unfortunate response.  My letter and parts of the reply are printed below.  Its writer included a fake name and address, I discovered upon further research.

       Momentum is building for gun restrictions

Our Republican governor has conjured up the courage to defy the National Rifle        Association and the bulk of his party’s elected officials and will be putting forth a weak-kneed  proposal involving 17 actions — including some mental health                  up-grades — that is far better than nothing.  It is time to turn the cultural tide              against guns.

It is time to expand the limitations of the right to own a gun, a right that has already  been appropriately limited with our agreed-upon outlawing of automatic weapons.    We obviously need to go further.

Ohioans have the right to public safety.  Our children have the right to be safe in        school.  Manhood is not about owning a gun and certainly not about owning a            military-style weapon.

Better than the governor’s upcoming “red flag” proposal is the one currently being    sponsored by state Democrats and the courageous and clear-thinking Republican   state Sen. Peggy Lehner from the Dayton area.  It proposes a court hearing on the safety of a given individual’s possession of a gun and then allows that individual to respond in court if the weapons are removed.

Even in Washington, D.C., there is renewed pressure to, as the people of Dayton          shouted, “Do something!”

Readers should call or write their elected officials.  Put a sign in the yard.  There is an upcoming rally and march downtown on Wednesday with the Ohio Coalition  Against  Gun  Violence.  Act now!

Greg W.

A rather simple and straight-forward set of points.  All except for the manhood comment, which I was rather surprised The Dispatch printed.  I am familiar with letters to editor (LTE)  and I thought that comment would be removed in editing as too testy.

Here are some exerts from the response I received.  My wife has asked me not to make too much of this incident, not wanting to provoke further hostility.  I agree, and will provide for you just a sense of it.  It consisted of two pages, the first is described below.  It was extreme.  His caps and bolding.

HEY……WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT MANHOOD! My take upon  reading your LTE submittal to The Columbus DisGrace is YOU are undoubtedly a naive, sniveling , sentient cry-baby pussy who collapses at the slightest provocative action! You could be a #MeToo, or a tree-huggin enviroWacko ! BTW, I’m continually  amazed that The Columbus Disgrace doesn’t run out of confused Democrat schlubs  like you….

LISTEN UP YOU COWARDLY DUMB MOTHER-FUCKER! Red Flag Laws or Universal BackGround Checks maybe feel good non-remedies to the Gee I Pissed My Pants  Crowd but they are also utterly useless and ineffective deterrents ! Admit it ASSWIPE   You want “gun confiscation” and abolishment of 2^nd Amendment !  …Americans will NEVER….NEVER …EVER give up their guns! Guess who looses this argument ?….

KNOW THIS, YOU’RE A POOR EXCUSE FOR A MALE AND AN AMERICAN! Know also  that when the anarchy for which you unwittingly advocate for and promulgate  breaks out….it’s most probable that you won’t be able to scatter your old wrinkly ,      pansy ASS to the tall weeds ! Why’s that you axe ? Well….. could it be a dull machete  intervened ? Could be , since the God of Abraham knows where you live. The (3) Eyed Raven has now been assigned to keep a vigilant eye on you. There will be a        reckoning!  Praise the Lord ! Amen!

Note in the third paragraph near the end, he seems to threaten me with the “dull machete” reference.  Obviously he knows where I live; heck, I’m in the phone book.

It appears that my manhood comment bothered this guy.  Note the reference to it several times and all the disparaging phrases referencing to women in various ways.  Following the above, he had a sketch similar to below of “the three-eyed raven” he refers to as “CORVUS CORAX” which is the scientific name for the raven species.

Also on the first page and to the side was this statement (all bold):

“HEY BOZO! Hope this does not ‘bunch up’ your panties!  NO ONE has a right to public safety!  An expectation …..yes…but not a right!  Own/Bear arms is a RIGHT and I can prove it !!!!!”

Now, The Declaration of Independence does state, in paragraph two,  that there are “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  To me, that would imply public safety, but I will give him the point that that is not literally stated in The Constitution.

The first page of his letter ends with a reprinting of my letter to the editor in the bottom right corner.

The second page is a ‘wanted poster’.  In large letters it starts “WANTED” and then has the pictures of eight Democrats including Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Hillary, and Barack Obama.  “For TREASON & HIGH CRIMES“, it continues on the bottom, and then ends with a picture of a noose and a drawing of a firing squad.

(Well, there it is.  I can assure you that appropriate steps were taken. I spoke to the Columbus Police and the local FBI office. Both said that there is a lot of this that is around, and that not much would probably come of it. Both inspected the letter [I mailed a copy to the FBI on request] and indeed, nothing further has become of it, from the writer or the authorities.)

Please Keep Up Your Efforts to Control Guns through State and National Legislation!

But some ‘Persons,’ through their Mental Illness and arbitrary acts, endanger the Social Foundations of Meaningfulness. Other Persons, through their misguided Abstract Thinking, enable these attacks on A Secure and Meaningful Human Togetherness!

Well after all, Ritual is just sentimental foolishness. It’s all fluff and no substance. Why celebrate and commemorate a birthday, a wedding, a death? What is real and true are the forces in the world and the universe that churn away relentlessly; they are out there beyond us and have no interest in our petty subjective concerns. We hanker for objectivity and the independence of real fact, real forces, and the objectively true!

Yet on Wednesday, January the 20th, a calm settled over this nation. A sense of relief and normalcy began to restore itself, in many a mind. Songs were sung. Oaths were taken. Speeches were made. Promises were bestowed. Parades were (virtually) marched. History was cited and speculations as to our future abounded. It’s what we do as an American People at our best. We re-establish our unity. We confirm our commitment to the shared Principles, Goals, and Behaviors that will facilitate our close proximity: house to house, apartment to apartment, farm to farm, city to city, “from sea to shining sea.”

Ritual is one of the pillars of Human Mind. It is an essential way for us to ‘get on the same page’ Subjectively! Far from subjectivity being arbitrary, largely private, and lacking in orderly substance, it was in Ritual —as a rehearsal, idealization, test run, and then a constitution of our many coordinated behaviors— that the eventual conceptual split between the Subjective and the Objective was initiated, but not necessarily accurately. Group hunting, mate selection, birth and death, verbal communication, fear and joy, curiosity, were all being orchestrated and objectified for various human groups, and most especially “our group”, which ever you happened to be in. The Human Mind is our coordinated behavior and our coordinated ideas and emotions about that Collective Behavior, Our Larger Unity. These are Patterns that are Objective to Us, but not totally independent of us, says the philosopher Dan Dennett.

(ORGANIZING OUR BEHAVIOR, IDEAS AND EMOTIONS THROUGH RITUAL: the American Nation (top left), Anansi the trickster god for West Africa, the Team, the Hunt of caribou, the Scientific Method, mistletoe with Meaning for ancient Druids (bottom left), Birth and Womanhood portrayed in a Venus figure of Cro-Magnon Europeans, a Commemorative Hindu expression, modern American’s feeling The Spirit. EXAMPLES IN A HISTORY OF HUMANS ATTEMPTING TO ORGANIZE THEIR BEHAVIOR AND THEIR EMOTIONAL LIVES. IT IS AN ONGOING SEARCH, AN ONGOING DISCUSSION concerning our joint behavior and its interpretations.)

Yet The American Nation remains seriously divided. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have pledged to work for unity, but too many Americans, too many Republicans, refuse to adequately disavow the obvious illegal and unconstitutional behavior of the thug Trump.

And also in My Family; who will work to restore its unity? The “soothing realities of American Democratic Ritual” have yet to take hold firmly enough here also. On the day of the Trump-Led Insurrection, in complete exasperation, I called my Pro-Trump Brother In Law as I watched. I said (in effect), “Look where you guys have gotten us!” He was shocked by it and watching too, but he refused to take the lion’s share of the blame. “It is also the Democrats”, he insisted. Pelosi and Schumer and Cortez, just as much as Trump and his whack-job conspiracy-mongering followers, “They got us here too”, he insisted.

We did not talk long; it was going nowhere.

Later I found out that his wife, my sister in law, also received a phone call from her brother that day. He too put the pressure on, again basically saying, “Look at the nonsense you have helped create!” She also tried to shift too much blame onto “The Democrats”, I learned.

I had told my wife I had called her brother that Wednesday of the lawlessness, when I was off work and watching as she was at work, teaching. She took it pretty well, at that point, partly because I assured her I did not push it too far or too long and it was not an overly acrimonious conversation. But several days later, as we were relaxing and enjoying some wine and reviewing all the upsetting historical developments, her fears and anger came forth. It was I who started talking politics with her family, she said. “Look at the mess you have created now!” (a familiar phrase in this whole story) she now demanded of me!

My wife had always been cautious not to bring politics into her family, and initially when I had, it went well. Those were before the days of Trump, when her brother and I had polite, quiet, and interesting exchanges of opinions and facts. But since the poisonous Trump, conversation had stopped, only to burst forth again with the emotions of insurrection!

What soothing rituals will help bind these wounds and bring this family back together? And our Nation? Oh, woe is me!

In the post of last week, “The Big Lie…” and our national political disaster of January 6th, (https://wordpress.com/post/naturereligionconnection.org/6891), I ended by commenting on my apprehensions for the following Sunday and Inauguration Day. I was concerned that more of the Right-Wing Hitler-like Putsch would continue on those following occasions.

It did not! Not nationally nor locally did Insurrection or even demonstrations occur at a significant scale. Here locally in the Central O-H-I-O, that following Sunday witnessed a very minor event at The State Capital, one that was ironically made light of by our very decent newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch.

Only several dozens of demonstrators appeared and they were overwhelmingly outnumbered by police and state National Guard. It did begin ominously with the appearance at noon of an armed and marching contingent of “Boogaloo Boys”, but they quickly declared their intention to the police to be “peaceful” and merely to practice their right to bear arms.

(These boogaloos stressed to reporters that they were not “Proud Boys” nor were they there to support President Trump’s efforts to resist the results of the election.)

The Dispatch reporters ended their story with the wry observation that the demonstration started to wind down soon and was done by 3pm, leaving amply time for everyone to get home to watch the big professional football game involving the Cleveland Browns. Hey, even revolutionaries have a variety of priorities.

On the National Scene, two local men, ages 36 and 27, were arrested in Columbus and charged for their participation in the Capitol Building Riot. The men were initially approached by Capitol Police as they were waiting for an Uber ride to return them to their hotel after the incursion.

When they were informed the ride could not reach them in the security zone, they turned to walk further but one of them stopped to pick up the fancy wooden coat tree with brass hooks that stood near them. Police then (duhhh!) demanded he stop, but he dropped the coat tree and ran. The other man waited and cooperated with police and was found to be wearing an armored vest, and have in his backpack marihuana and an open bottle of good bourbon. Upon review of Capitol security tapes both the bourbon and, obviously, the coat tree were stolen in the “insurrection.” The spoils of war, I guess.

In German, grosse Luge (roughly) can be traced back to Hitler’s Mein Kampf in 1925. He contended the Jewish people and Marxists told “The Big Lie” by blaming German General Ludendorff for their loss in WWI. Ludendorff was an anti-Semite and Nationalist, and thus respected by Hitler.

Hitler’s lieutenant Joseph Goebbels was probably the first to have said, “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it often enough, it will be believed.” But it was Hitler that gave the definitive analysis of its effectiveness in his book. “The broad masses of a nation” are “always more easily corrupted by” a big lie than a small one. The Big Lie effects “the deeper strata of their emotional nature.”

And so we saw what we saw on Wednesday, January 6th, 2021, a small-time insurrection against our Democratic Government, a regular Beer Hall Putsch in Washington D.C.

The Beer Hall Putsch was part of a very unstable time in Europe and the world: the post WWI period. It may seem only a cliché, but something is deeply true about it; in society, old orders were in decline, new and uncertain forces were pushing forth. People searched for answers and some found them in different kinds of extremisms. Many people became adamant Communists; others turned to racial and ethnic identifications and discriminations — extreme Nationalists; others hung desperately to the the old system of aristocracy. This was the faction and forces represented by Ludendorff, an aristocrat himself and still an advocate for the Kaiser and the nobility; they temporarily, at least, aligned with the rising charismatic leader, Hitler. (Similarly, American Fundamentalist Christians hitched their wagon to the rising but erratic star of that vulgar, irreligious man, Donald Trump.)

Hitler attempted to follow the course of Mouselini in Italy and seize power. At a mass meeting at the Burgerbraukellar (Citizen’s Beer Cellar) Hitler leaped upon a chair and fired a shot into the ceiling with a pistol to gain attention. He declared that his Nazi Party troopers had the building surrounded and were ready to march. He demanded the support of opposition factions and eventually Ludendorff led this temporary coalition through the streets to overtake German government offices.

Well, at least Hitler had the ‘courage’ to accompany his supporters on their march. Mr. Trump, in his 80 minute incitation to sedition, promised to march with his people but that did not happen.

The Big Lie in America

A shocking series of events these were, in the U.S. of A., over these past two weeks. Our current President, Donald J. Trump, now stands Impeached for the second time in his four year term. He incited the overthrow of our government. History was made as American politics took a deep dive into the dirt, as it occasionally has in our 200 year history.

January 6th was unprecedented in American history. An out-going president urged a large group of his supporters to march on The Capitol building in protest of an election he claims he won “by landslide” but was being “stolen”. “Stop the steal”, they chanted. Trump vowed he would “never concede” and that they should “never stop fighting.” “Strength” is what is needed now, “not weakness”. he told them. One of his warm-up speakers, Rudy Giuliani, told the crowd, what was needed now was “a trial by combat” — a fight — to decide the issue. Trump had previously promised his people, that if they came to Washington, “it will be wild.”

And so it was “wild”, deeply disturbing, and very un-American! Five people died. One shot by Capitol Police as she attempted to forcibly enter the Chambers of the House of Representatives while its members were huddled inside. Another was a Capitol Policeman hit in the head with a fire extinguisher while resisting the seditionists. The remaining three were Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies, such as heart attack, in the uproar. One of these, her family reported, had gone to Washington in spite of their efforts to dissuade her, and that in recent months she had become deeply interested in online conspiracy theories. “It just started to spiral” said her sister.

One of the many incredible aspects of these events, was Trump’s eventual treatment of his longtime loyal Vice President, Mike Pence.

In the build-up to January 6 and the joint session of Congress to accept the Electoral College ballots to officially sanction the elections results, Trump put tremendous pressure on Pence, both privately and in public, to not accept the ballots, to rule them invalid in several key states. But, Pence did not have the power — by law — to do so, and this was overwhelmingly regarded to be the case and the historical tradition.

In the immediate hours before the joint session, the President’s supporters began to gather for their “Rally to Save America” and Trump made one last call to Pence. He cajoled him, pleaded with him and finally told him that this was his chance “to either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy.“ Some of our international readers may not be familiar with that slang term; it is an extremely derogatory term for a women that simply equates her to her genitalia. (As reported by the N.Y.Times, 1/12)

But, Pence refused to break the law and ended up huddled in the Capitol basement with various Congresspersons and under tight security as the seditionists had breached the building. Some of them were chanting, “Hang Pence, hang Pence.”

Such is the character of our outgoing president. He is a massively destructive influence to American political integrity. In other words, he is not honest; he is not concerned about right or wrong, and he has no principles outside his own ambitions.

How Did It Go This Far?

There are many questions about the events of January 6, but let me focus on just one, a big one. Why did Americans follow this man? How did it get this far? And this returns us to THE BIG LIE.

As far back as September, I wrote of my concern with Trump’s reckless rhetoric concerning the upcoming election. Mr. Trump had already supercharged the political atmosphere by vilifying those that disagree with him. They are “evil”, “criminal”, “crazy”, “stupid”, “communists”, “brain-washed” (by the mainstream media), and not “true Americans”. Immigrants from Mexico are “rapists”, “thieves”, “murderers” and infiltrated by “terrorist”. Democrats “want to destroy our country”, he contended, and media organizations that criticized him were “fake news”.

I commented that discussion with his supporters was already nearly impossible because of their bizarre views, their “alternative facts” and highly charged emotions. And so, Mr. Trump has Lied Big on many occasions and as Hitler had observed, appealed to his supporters at a “deep emotional level.”

In the September post, I wrote of my particular concern about one claim of his, and that I would politely contest it with any of his supporters in spite of this toxic atmosphere. I wrote,

“I will propose that Mr. Trump is doing us all a disservice when he says, “If I lose, it is because the election is rigged.” After all, one of the spectacular realities about our country is that Our Democracy is Real.” (see The American Presidential Election…https://wordpress.com/post/naturereligionconnection.org/5926)

Mr. Trump has now played that card. The election was stolen and those that are Not True Americans will now hold power, he still believes I will not go into detail to refute this claim of the theft, sufficient to point out that 60 of his lawsuits have been dismissed, all 50 Secretary’s of our States have certified their election results as accurate, and that his own FBI chief and (former) Attorney General have declared no evidence of any significant irregularities.

But the card was played, and the January 6th attack on our Democracy was the result. The vehemence of his supporters and their delusional states were well on display. Trump has been Impeached by the House, and we will wait on the outcome in the Senate. How many Republican office holders will continue to stand by this farce and this denigration of our country? Many have abandoned it and him.

Today is Sunday, January 17th, the day further ‘rallies’ by his supporters are to take place in Washington and various state capitols. And to these, these ‘Americans’ have sworn to carry their weapons! I wait apprehensively, my only hope is that the rather thorough denunciation and negative outcry against the law-breaking and desecrations of January 6th will have dampened the mood and convictions of many of these potential and continuing insurrectionists. (But also, a huge police and National Guard presence!)

”Our state is on fire,” said the Governor on Wednesday (11/18). He is touring the state delivering this message. He has already initiated a state-wide Curfew from 10pm to 5am. He is seeking to be more surgical in his approach this time, instead of the massive and across-the-board Shut Downs he initiated in March. DeWine is a courageous and honest man! He is a Republican and is defying great push-back from his own party on both Virus Policy and Mr. Trump. DeWine is one of the few Republicans to nationally acknowledge Trump’s evident defeat and the need to start the transition to Biden! Not all politicians are dishonest and shameless opportunists!

Last Tuesday, The Ohio Hospital Assoc. reported some 3,600 Ohioans in the hospital with Covid. Of those 900 were in Intensive Care Units and 440 of these on Ventilators! We are now recording 8 to 9,000 new cases a day, and these are jumping dramatically by the day. My county, Franklin — the state capital, home of The Ohio State University (with its 50 thousand on-campus students, in normal times), and the world HQ of Nation Wide Insurance and Wendy’s — has now gone “Purple” in the state Covid warning system. This is the most severe category and we are the first Ohio county to attain it (“We’re No.1; We’re No.1!”) In response, some stores are closing early, some school systems are going online or staying there longer. Some schools are going online for Middle and High School but staying in a blended mode for elementary students, who do not learn well online and cannot be at home alone. We are recording about 50 to 60 deaths a day.

The madhouse character of the situation hit home this morning when my wife went grocery shopping. The store was packed! No carts were available. The store had people waiting at the door at the 6am opening she was told, and by the time my wife got there at 9:30, most paper products were gone and also boxed spaghetti, macaroni, a lot of bottled water and a few other items. When she left, an hour later, the store was more crowded than initially. This crowding situation at the store was probably exacerbated by a Noon Kick Off here in town for our OSU Buckeye football team. But no 100,000 fans at the stadium (by order of the Health Dept.) only lots trying to get errands done by noon to watch on TV.

To put some perspective on the Ohio situation, we have 64 Covid cases per 100,000 people but North and South Dakota have 177 and 137 respectively. That is outrageous considering the open spaces and lack of urban crowding in those states. Their Republican Governors have been flamboyant in their denial of Covid’s Reality, and now they are the world’s Hottest Spot for spread and their hospitals are Full and staff’s Exhausted! Nationwide the average is about 40 per 100,000.

We need to get TRUMP OUT and Biden’s Team in as fast as possible to start leading this National Health Crisis!

HURRY, get your TP while it lasts!

Stay Safe and Beat The Bug!!!

And now, moments before the publication of this post, I have learned Trump has got The Virus. Well, he didn’t want us to wear that mask, now look! Here is my post, with no alterations made in light of the big news. “Trainwreck” Trump, he is.

The post.

Been talking to some people, watching and reading a variety of news sources, seeking their take on the debate. Seems a pretty common reaction that Both Did Bad: Biden and Trump. Some of the headlines and leads suggest something of the same: “Debate Chaos” and such. But this is misleading, I believe!

Granted, your frame of mind and reference point does have a lot to do with your final interpretation, and I’m glad I waited till Wednesday morning to view it because I wasn’t tired and had more patience than late Tuesday evening. But really, what else should you have expected from President Trump?

Here is a headline I like better, from The Columbus Dispatch as part of the USA Today Network: “Analysts: Trump hurt worse by chaotic debate.” And then soon in the article it gets to the heart of the matter, our President destroyed that debate!

“Doubling down on the steamroller tactics that helped him…in 2016, Trump repeatedly talked over Biden during (Biden’s) allotted time,” said the paper. “When moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly admonished him, Trump loudly talked right over (him) as well.” The paper then reported that Biden, in his own defense turned to the President and said, “Will you shut up, man?” Wallace then finally reminded Trump that “the country would better be served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions” and later reminded Mr. Trump that his campaign “agreed to the rules” that he was so poorly following.

That is the debate that I saw. Biden won that debate, in so much as it was one. He showed reasonable poise in the face of Trump’s attempts to bully, and actually had several fine moments when he turned away from his opponent and spoke directly to the camera and the American people. Granted, he did refer to Trump as a “clown”, but a clown, and worse, he was and is, in my opinion.

Mr. Trump continued to disparage and undermine our electoral process on Tuesday evening, and this is grounds enough to vote him from office, in my view. He does our entire nation and it’s history a grave disservice when he pretends our elections are not fair and accurate. This claim was aptly rebutted by Mr. Biden. Also, when the President of the United States cannot call out and unambiguously disavow an armed and violent group based in racial and other forms of hatred our country is in dire straights. Former Vice President Biden skillfully assisted in putting Mr. Trump in that spot in this debate, the spot from which he miserably stumbled.

I say, Joe Biden succeeded in that first encounter with this unscrupulous man. Let us not soil that accomplishment due to the dirt in which Trump placed that event! Apparently various Biden aides have labeled Donald’s performance, “a trainwreck.” I think that is an apt description but also a worthy monicker: “TrainWreck” Trump.

GoJoe, 2020!

What to say or do in the current American political situation?

We Americans are fortunate to have a solid democratic tradition. We can debate and disagree about politics, put different signs in our yard, go and vote, or even just ignore the whole thing. But this year, and this Presidential Election, seems different.

The stakes are higher than ever! Obviously we are plagued with this virus and it’s economic consequences. Obviously our lives have been and still are hugely disrupted. This past two weeks I have returned to teaching at a high school that has classes at less than half the normal size with the student body divided into three groups. One group comes to school Monday and Tuesday, another Thursday and Friday, and a third group has chosen to only work online from home. Sporting events have restarted but with no on-site spectators or only a few. My wife and I have eaten at a restaurant (on their patio) one time in six months! Things are very different and that is true in politics too.

I used to involve myself in a lot of political conversation. I often go door to door working for Democratic Party candidates. I have trained door-to-door teams and my wife and I have sent them out and coordinated them from our home. When substitute teaching, the topic often arises especially in social studies classes. In that situation I generally and carefully play ‘devil’s advocate’ to contentions made by students advocating various positions. With my wife’s brother, a very committed Republican, I was once able to carry on a polite, informative and ongoing conversation about politics, but no more.

The current Republican President, and candidate for reelection, has changed all that. (Well, kind of. Actually I believe that our election of Barack Obama, a black man with a different kind of name and a political progressive, scared right-wing Republicans and a portion of the population that feels itself threatened and ‘marginalized’. That is what gave Mr. Trump his opening.) Mr. Trump’s Politics of Fear, Denigration, and Division has made conversation very difficult, very tense, and easily nasty.

It is probably of little value to argue (debate) with most Trump supporters! In general, I have tried to point out the factual errors in many of their contentions, and this especially with his younger supporters at school. But with his adult supporters, I feel it is almost like a personal psychological affliction that leads many of them to their support of that psychologically disturbed man. Often discussion has come very quickly to, something like, “Boy, do they have you fooled.” And we each say this to the other! They believe I am ‘the sucker’ for believing “main-stream media”, and I believe they are sadly mistaken and kind of crazy for believing so many conspiracy theories and “alternative facts” (i.e. Fox News). It can even come to them regarding all progressives as Evil, and I being deeply concerned that many Trump supporters are racists, xenophobes and potentially violent.

This is scary! This very seldom happened when Republicans ran far more respectable and principled candidates like John McCain or Mitt Romney. Though let us not forget, Republicans do often turn to fear tactics to motivate their base which is — beyond many of The Wealthy who simply want to make more and more money — predominantly racially white, religiously conservative Christian, and many of them not well educated. Mr. Trump actually has said, “I love the poorly educated.” Please, Donald, let’s try Not to make that a virtue, but he does!

Our Democracy is Real and The Two Things I have Decided to Insist Upon

So, what to say in this unfortunate situation? Of course one could say many things, and most would lead quickly to hostility; but I will try to keep the conversation going by trying for two minimal points. First, I will propose that Mr. Trump is doing us all a disservice when he says, “If I lose, it is because the election is rigged.” After all, one of the spectacular realities about our country is that Our Democracy is Real.

When Trump surprisingly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton — the wife of a former president — in 2016, that election was not rigged (though the Russians did interfere and did coordinate with the Trump campaign to an unacceptable degree). When Republican George W. Bush beat Democratic Vice President Al Gore in 2020, in one of the tightest elections ever, that election was not rigged (though the voting situation in Florida left much to be desired). When Republican Ronald Reagan beat incumbent President Jimmy Carter in 1980, that election was not rigged. No real evidence exists that our system is not overwhelmingly legitimate!

When Donald Trump casts doubt on the legitimacy of the American Electoral Process he desecrates (or even defacates) upon the very foundation he stands. For even Trump supporters, and those opposed to him, that is A Tactic that should not be tolerated! That is Not “Making America Great Again” nor will it “Keep America Great”!

SECOND, I am going to resist the claims that “All politics is dirty” and that “All politicians are crooked”. I usually do give some resistance to those who propose this as a self-evident truth, but this election cycle I will simply oppose it outright. It is not true, and Donald Trump has made it shockingly clear that in comparison to him, Many Politicians are Downright Saints! Mr. Trump has taken modern American politics to an all-time low and should not be allowed to continue. If you don’t see that, you haven’t been watching. Saying “All politics stinks” is too often laziness and a neglect of responsibility. In this election, that easy way out should not be accepted as legitimate for any American.

This point has also been made very clear to me by one of our own local politicians, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. He is a Republican and I have never voted Republican in my entire and long life. But, Mr. DeWine is a sincere and honest Public Servant! I do not agree with him on some very important issues like woman’s rights to abortion and often tax policy, but this man has impressed me and my wife with his honesty, courage, effort and intelligence in these very difficult times. He has run our state well –often in opposition to many in his own party– during this pandemic and following the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Dayton, my home town, in August of 2019.

DeWine is an old school Ohio small town practicing Catholic who has remarkably remained open to the goodness of most people and to the honor of service. As Senator, he went to the funeral of every Ohio soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he did so without publicity and from his sense of obligation. Early in his political career his eldest daughter died at 21 in an auto crash. She had been involved in an orphanage and school in one of the poorest areas of Haiti, and in response to her death the DeWine family has taken responsibility for that school through donations, fund-raising, and many personal visits to the site. These are not commonly known facts about him; he does not publicize them. He is the polar opposite of that bag of self-aggrandizing wind, President Trump.

So this year, once again, I am gearing up to campaign and to discuss politics! The sign is in my yard; I have been in conversation with the local Biden campaign; I have already been discussing it some at school with students. There are two points I plan to push hard: one, Mr. Trump does Every American a Disservice when he attempts to de-legitimize our electoral process, and two, not all politicians are crooks, and certainly not to the degree that Mr.Trump is himself! I believe these are two minimally acceptable propositions that all Americans should be ready to face.

In following posts, I will let you know how it goes!

Recently there has been much talk about our conference’s decision (The Big Ten) to not play football this fall due to the pandemic. Most of it has been criticism, even anger. Conspiracy theories are common. How could we shut down football when Notre Dame, the SEC, and others are continuing to plan to play? In Ohio we are allowing some high school football, leaving it to individual school districts and leagues to decide, but the major colleges won’t play (the MAC conference is also shut down). How does that follow? That argument— “they’re playing”—may be a little like saying, “look, the guy in front of me just ran that red light, therefore I should follow!”

Hey, I’m a Buckeye fan and I was very much hoping to watch them play. We have the best player in the country, and Coach Day said this could be a once-in-a-lifetime great team. It is probably not going to happen and that is very disappointing. Further, the league officials did not make clear their specific reasons for closure. It was left rather vague.

I can understand the disappointment and even some disagreement, but not to this level! We should all really know by now, that this pandemic is a mess; if you don’t know that, then you are part of the problem. You are one of the reasons there will be no Big Ten fall sports! You doubted the scientists and doctors. You questioned Governor DeWine and Dr. Acton’s decisions. You did not, and may still not be, fully complying.

League officials did give some clues to their decision. The Columbus Dispatch reported (8/20 “Virus curve, testing issues problematic for Big Ten”) that league officials in interviews with the paper reported their concerns about community spread. Prior to that, the paper reported a league medical officer’s concerns that there was no national policy; no effective national testing or contact tracing, no reasonable and universal masking standards. He suggested that the situation was a chaos in which the decision to play would be no more than a roll of the dice.

That is correct. Imagine game day here in Columbus, and in Ann Arbor, East Lancing and western Pennsylvania, Iowa and Nebraska (Big10 country). No fans at games, and bars full. Neighbors gathering round TV sets, families, friends all together and rooting, shouting, drinking, high-fiving, and sharing food. Don’t even think about the teenagers in the campus dorms. It would be a royal cluster contagion in too many cases. Too many, as has now been proven, would not behave responsibly. The virus would spread.

So, unlike what I hear from many of my friends and family, who are determined that it is always about money and law suits, I believe that maybe these institutions of higher learning were holding on to something higher. The Big Ten felt that they should not go along with this mess. They are supposed to be about education, knowledge, and enlightened behavior. Maybe this time, they chose that over football. Go Bucks!