Wednesday, October 31, 2018

6: All Hallow's Eve


18 comments:

  1. This week I heard [on NPR’s Fresh Air https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2018/10/29/661662001?showDate=2018-10-29 ] that there are people in our country who fear minorities (especially Jews) because they fear that their land and their jobs will be slowly taken by others. Jews are apparently especially scary because they have worked so hard and done so very well. What makes them think the land and jobs are rightfully only theirs is the mystery. Or is it? Isn’t it what they have been taught? They have been taught to fear the stranger, and taught that only people like themselves have worth. It seems to me a massive inferiority complex passed on generation to generation. What’s more, there are people who grow up and buck those teachings, and others who cannot. Wil says it depends on who gets the good judgment gene. He may have a point. What if it has something to do with the size of a person’s amygdala, thus how much compassion they are actually capable of? That is likely too simplistic, but it offers an idea, a reason to begin to “welcome the stranger” who simply isn’t capable of comprehending compassion. (However, that doesn’t mean giving the “stranger” the keys to the city or the keys to the safe or any leeway at all to be cruel. There should be no tolerance at all for white supremacy. In fact, keeping them from harming others may assist their salvation, in the long run.) It shows a great need for education (over time) through actually meeting some wonderful people who turn out to not be so scary after all.

    I was in shock on the weekend, I think. (Breathless...Speechless...) It took me until Monday for the tears to come. What wisdom the Pittsburgh community showed in not meeting DT’s plane, not making way for him. Whenever a President comes to a town it messes up traffic and makes headaches for the locals. How much worse for him to do that in the midst of the funerals. He did so because he didn’t want to inconvenience himself and miss rallies to be there. Even worse, far worse, that he’s been talking out both sides of his mouth, going to the rallies and spewing hatred, even now. He is incapable of compassion.

    So here we are 6 days to the Election. I dare to hope.

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  2. Thanks for this, Alan!! ~

    The Biggest Story of the Midterms Is One the Democrats Aren’t Telling
    “Things are looking up for progressives at the state level—but until recently, the national party wasn’t spreading the word.” —Ram Emanuel

    It kind of makes me smile that RE had to admit it.
    And I give the credit to Bernie and Our Revolution and all the good Progressives out there working so hard!

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  3. Head's up:
    Special counsel Robert Mueller has referred to the FBI allegations that women were "offered money" to make "false claims" about him, a spokesman said Tuesday.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/30/mueller-accuses-opponents-of-offering-money-to-make-false-claims-about-him.html

    A sleazy lawyer says he has a client who will make an accusation this Thursday at "high noon."

    Sounds like it's high noon at the OK Corral and a two-bit lawyer is going to face off with the FBI.

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  4. Susan, puddle and I are up late too.

    (I get to sleep in, tomorrow.)

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  5. What I wanna see happen is for people to be so disgusted by a President who spews hatred, is cruel to children, and doesn't have a clue what the Constitution says and means that they flip the Senate as well as the House. Oh, please.

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  6. I wonder will I ever sleep again, or if this is now my new now.

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    1. There is a theory that the tendency of teenagers to stay up and sleep late, and the tendency of old people to not sleep well had survival value for our remote ancestors. The idea is that someone in the group would always be awake to watch for dangerous beasts. So blame it on Australopithecus--just like our evidently hard-wired desire for fat, oil and sugar.

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    2. Well, there ya go. I'm on guard against dangerous beasts!

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    3. I never doubted you. ♥

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  7. Just miscellaneous thoughts re above....

    I continue to think that what we are experiencing may well be the death rattle of white supremacy, and it is looking very much like the death rattle of the Republican Party as well. One cannot discount the possibility that there might be an undercurrent of subconscious guilt among those who are acting out, as well. The recent research demonstrating developmental abnormalities (genetic? random?) making some people more subject to fear are certainly interesting; it could have survival value for the species, just like risk-seeking behavior in young people (persisting into adulthood in a few individuals). I sure would like to see the Dems gain control of BOTH houses of Congress; but the House is where money bills must originate, and the investigative power of its committees is a great prize--especially since the GOP eliminated the previous custom that the majority must work with the minority to decide which investigations to pursue. The GOP was salivating about a wave of investigations that would last through and even beyond HRC's election, and it looks like they will suffer under the lash of their own devising. It wouldn't be good in a healthy Congress, but turnabouts IS fair play. And how about expanding the Supreme Court to, say, fifteen members when Dems gain the Senate and the White House? Again, not the best idea, but does anyone have a better idea? Well, nominating one or more SC justices to the appellate courts is an attractive idea, and it does have a precedent. Oh, and one correction--it is not six days *until* the election; the election began three or four weeks ago, and *concludes* six days from now. And thinking of some people escaping from the political mindset of their families and communities, but most not--isn't that much like religion? And think of how the religious landscape of the country has changed even during our lives? I am reminded of the old saying that the Episcopal Church was the Republican Party at prayer.

    Well, better get moving; a quick check of the world news--NHK TV news just had a bit about Turkey, then stretching exercises, dental appointment, and Art class at 1:00 PM. I am working on a landscape with a village in the foreground, and it is coming along reasonably well, considering.

    Alan

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    1. "I am reminded of the old saying that the Episcopal Church was the Republican Party at prayer."


      Oh, God, no.

      I do not know very many Republicans who darken the door of Episcopal churches!!! And I've been aware for three decades. There was a conservative faction in the congregation that I left, but over time those groups have moved on to Bible-centric (vs Christocentric) churches, or to what Wil calls a "Community Bible Excitement Church."

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  8. ”The decline and the fall of the West is coming quicker than you think” [Click] Oh. A basketball story.

    Weirdest story of the day, guaranteed. [Click] Grows out of the fake [fake fake, actually] rabbi giving the invocation for Mike Pence.

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    1. May I just say, as a Christian, that I find what Pence did reprehensible?

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  9. I was just listening to an old Janis Joplin song I hadn't heard before (she plays the autoharp): "So Sad To Be Alone." Wow--that cut way too close to home; I had to cut it off.

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  10. I did want to mention that I had an eye exam today. The dilation has finally worn off completely. My retinas are the same as always; no new problems. But the retinal specialist did agree that my cataracts are getting worse and I should probably check in with the cataract specialist again. Busy right now, but will be trying to get that done before too long.

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    1. Bill, I am hoping good things for you from your specialist visit. Would cataract surgery be more complex for you than for the average person? There are some excellent treatments now. I have a cataract in my right eye that really puts a SHINE on car lights at night. So far it's not enough to do anything about. But my day will come.

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