Month: September 2021

   

 We are advised that authentic subterranean termites [“epifamily isoptera”], in contrast with our metaphorical ones [“Americus underbellia”], date back more than 120 million years, to the age of the dinosaur. They are known as “silent destroyers,” due to their natural propensity to create damage to wood, such as flooring, and the structural supports of buildings. The prospective purchaser of a home is well advised to procure a certified, “termite search,” prior to his acquisition of title, against the possibility of infestation and damage by these dreaded, quickly multipliable, wood-consuming pests. Empirical experience would recommend the occasional replication of such search and the use of appropriate repellants, as needed, to ensure the building’s structural integrity.

 Any cursory review of history will reveal the dreaded existence of a multitude of National leaders, possessing the metaphoric inclination to replicate the natural activity of destructive subterranean termites, by their immoral propensity to rot and destroy the essential supporting pillars of society. A vile, contemptible occasion of such injurious [metaphoric] termite infestation, to the vulnerable pillars of our Republican Democracy, was inarguably manifested, by the recent, pestiferous, and ruinous Presidential term, of the not-so-subterranean, Donald J. Trump.

Many scholars have said that the two essential pillars of American democracy, are the sanctity of the law and the freedom of the press. Relatively recent history [the 1930’s] demonstrates that, even in the heart of a civilized Europe, rational human thought dramatically succumbed to the irrational ranting of the infamous, demagogue, Adolph Hitler.  Hitler’s early efforts during the brief existence of the democratic, German Weimar Republic, were dedicated to tactically subverting the existing German law and the strict repression of newspaper journalism. These programs have been deemed fundamental to such dystopic subversion of citizen rationality to Hitler’s vitriolic and hideous propaganda. In like way, Donald Trump’s comprehensive and virulent assault upon the societal existence of  “Truth” [“alt. facts”] and on the responsible media, were tactically intended to affect the common ability of the American people to decide on the authenticity of politicians and their policies. As is eternally common to the early establishment, of both termites and hateful autocrats, Trump sought the calumnious control and unlimited infestation of existing objective and empirical reality.

Trump’s early destructive behavior consisted of his [defensive] derogation of the critical media as untrustworthy [“fake news”] and his articulated and demonstrated, disrespect for the law. Considering his known ignorance of history, such efforts, no doubt, were a spontaneous and unwitting replication of the pernicious Hitler formula. Trump’s populist success as a demagogue regarding many discontented, uninformed, and impressionable citizens, and his damage to the underpinnings of National democracy, is empirically comparable to that evinced by his Nazi predecessor, in the latter’s infestation and total destruction of the support structure of democracy in the 1930’s Weimar Republic.

Trump’s bias and divisiveness [contrary to the American institution of its declared, “E  Pluribus  Unum”], his unrelenting attempts to delegitimize America’s definitional voting process, after his  defeat by Biden [“The big lie”], despite its multiple certifications, his present call for multiple election audits,[to manufacture the  impression, since his ego-defeating loss, that election results, in general, are not final, but, purportedly subject to scrutiny], his incitement and support of the violent insurrectional termite swarm on the Capital Building of  1/6  [based upon his tactically fictitious claim that the election was “stolen”], the current multi-State, Trump-inspired legislative actions to rig future elections, by curbing the black and brown vote [since their votes, had, in large part, been for his opponent], his un-American support of biased Christian White Supremacy groups [for the latter reason] the paranoidal conspiracy theories of Trump acolytes [encouraged by Trump’s anti-factual propaganda and serial mendacity], the universal rejection of modern Science by Trump and his loyal sycophants, resulting, respectively, in the occurrence of otherwise preventable horrendous human tragedy from the Covid pandemic, and, regarding his denial of global warming, the devastating loss of life and property and the ensuing plethora of unprecedentedly savage natural disasters; all of which clearly constituting the undermining and weakening the structural integrity of our vulnerable pillars of Democracy.

The infestation of the now defeated Trump and his loyal termite swarm of indefatigable cult followers persists to date. These pestiferous menaces must be publicly identified and voted out of office; lest our Nation be undermined and destroyed by the metastasizing infestation of nefarious, termite-like, White Christian Supremacy Groups and a host of miscreant others, whose actions are destructive to America’s basic and traditionally democratic, underpinnings.

We would recommend an appropriate and empirically effective pesticide for the control and elimination of our[metaphorical] National termite population; one, consisting of a combination of an awareness and recognition of the identity and existence of our destructive citizens, strategically combined with the dedicated and responsible votes of every moral and knowledgeably informed citizen. Recent unconstitutional attempts to withhold, or impose limits on any portion of the American voting franchise, [as well as attacks on all equal rights of all citizens] are deleterious to the support structure of the American Nation and must be vigorously and effectively opposed. Any residual termite damage to our Nation and its traditional values must be immediately repaired and strengthened by enlightened and rationally appropriate citizen action. Lastly, but of existential importance, aspiring American leaders must be vetted, as a prerequisite to nomination, to ensure their personal commitment to the support of the foundational ideals of our Democratic Republic.

-p.    

Peering thru the National spyglass
He can faintly espy the outlines:
Floating islands of flotsam and jetsam
In watery flight from perilous homelands
Fleeing the awful Four Horsemen,
Hearts throbbing, desperate for life,
Beseeching the sons of desperate migrants
To light the soft-candled glow of empathy,
Rekindle the long-repressed memories, and
Hear the fluttering pulse of the flotsam and jetsam
And eschew the gods of comfort, for those of love.

-p.
L.N. Shapiro, NYC 9/24/21

Anyone would tell you that Deena was certainly nobody’s fool. Deena Jane Ipecac always knew what, and for how long, something was “cool.” She was admirably self-sufficient, persistent in her personal pride and defensive when she detected any threat to her firmly held self-image. For example, when something new came up in conversation, of which she knew nothing, she had the tactical good sense to reply “whatever,” to denote disinterest or even boredom. It is to be especially noted that she studiously avoided any consideration of “then” and was unrelentingly focused on “now.”

Deena Jane was always reliably “in the know” and constantly alert to the shifts in the wind concerning changes in linguistic or apparel fashion. She prudently kept the latest “smartphone” within easy reach, in which phone was stored, the latest music, games, celebrity gossip, current telephone numbers and most notably, dozens of posed “selfies, ”taken and painstakingly selected, to reveal the authentic Deena Jane; the latter always seeming to bear an uncanny resemblance to some  “diva” appearing on her favorite reality television show.

Her texting was always expressed in the very latest patois, “lol,” “omg,” “s’up?” as some examples; and revealed a generous use of the latest lingua franca, such as “like,”” totally,” “awesome.” Ms. Ipecac was literati, performing close and analytical readings of People magazine and most of the supermarket celebrity publications.

To her credit, she was completely flexible; when the need for change was perceived, she changed, except for her tattoo. Her clothes were always au courant, hence, for the present, rips in her jeans, flip flops and a streak of color in her hair (usually blue).

Often, Deena Jane’s friends disappointed her, however; she was often willing to endure a contrary opinion if it was expressed by an attractive person who affected confidence. It was, unfortunately necessary, every so often for Deena Jane to change her “best friend.”

As far as “boys” were concerned, she was faultless at identifying who was considered the “hottest” by her cohort and then directing her flirtations at him.

Her conversations, such as they are, contain the language of the current patois, “totally,” instead of “yes,” “she goes”, in lieu of “she says” “awesome pizza,” instead of “tasty” pizza.  She qualifies all her statements with the word “like” in order to avoid any possible impression that she has a current emotion or has personal feelings about the subject.

Deena Jane’s eyes are always celebrated in a copious variety and quantity of makeup products, as contained in magazine advertisements which endows her eyes with a striking resemblance to that of a lemur; she only decorates her lips with lip gloss ( for the moment). There is a simple metal adornment screwed to her left earlobe.

She invariably refers to ( and, thereby, deprecates) aged members of society by referring to them as “cute,” carefully reserving the word “old” to refer to, “out of fashion,” “passé,” and other “retro” things, words and expressions.

Deena floats high on life’s meandering stream,  never knowing the direction of the next “cool” thing, but ever ready to make changes in her appearance, vocabulary and when necessary, friends.

Do not have pity or be sad for Deena Jane, she is especially fortunate to remain forever young (that is, as long as it is in fashion).

p.

We will dare to offend against the classically accepted tenets of the essay form, for purposes of clarity and emphasis, and, in nuanced fashion, and display our conclusion at its beginning, viz., Mankind has impeded the direction and implicit potential promise of Evolution, by its inglorious and shamefully ungrateful, squandering and misuse of the potential, afforded to him, by the generous gift by Nature, of an advanced brain.

We have previously stated our personal [“rational”] interpretation of the ancient, apocryphal legend of Adam and Eve, which has much significant metaphorical and allegorical relevance to our present theme. Religious dogma recites that the first man, “Adam,” committed mankind’s universal and eternal, “Original Sin,” by the act of eating an apple from the “Forbidden Tree of Knowledge,” inhabited by a “serpent” [snake]. He did so, it says, in response to the temptation of Eve, the first woman. As a result, the tale continues, Adam discovered his “nakedness” and he and Eve, [ Mankind], as punishment were forever banished from the “Garden of Eden.” Churchgoing supplicants have eternally sought forgiveness for this alleged “Original Sin”.

Were mankind to properly utilize Evolution’s generous gift of an advanced brain, as Nature intended,  he might have comprehended the true celebrated message, proudly announced the allegorical significance of the Tree of Knowledge, the Apple given by Eve, the snake resting on the tree limb, Adam’s consequent discovery of  his “nakedness” and mankind’s permanent expulsion from the “Garden of Eden.”

The snake, in ancient mythology, eternally, was a universal symbol of fertility; thus, eating an apple from the tree of knowledge, inhabited by the classic symbol of fertility, [i.e., mental fertility], cannot acceptably, be seen as sinful. The apple offered and given to Adam by Eve, rationally portending an invitation to knowledge, generously awards to woman, the honor of delivering the gift of the promise of knowledge to mankind. Adam, thereupon, discovers his “nakedness,” [ i.e., identity, self, awareness] and they [Mankind, as symbolically fictionalized in “Genesis,”] are thereafter, banished from the Garden of Eden  [ man’s original, primitive state of ignorance] never to return. This depiction, inarguably, is a momentous occasion appropriate to great Anthropological celebration, and not for lifetimes of religious regret and profound torment.

While this essay, is not focused on religious belief, but rather, on the widespread misuse, or non-use of reason, by mankind, yet, we cannot resist the following modern, non-secular illustration of mankind’s failure to employ reason, to inform his understanding of the world and of himself.

The undisputed, consensus of scientists of note, is that the best estimate of the age of planet Earth, is in excess of 4.5 billion years, with an allotted, “error range” of 50 million years. These declarations are based upon the scientific dating of the rocks in the Earth’s crust, and that of the moon and fallen meteorites. Western Religious belief states that the World [ and its oceans, flora, and fauna] were all created by the Deity in six days, after which the “omnipotent,” creator had to “rest” on the seventh day, fortuitously, on Sabbath Sunday. The latter does not even approach any generous concept of rationality.

To be clear, we do not maintain that “reason” is the sole appropriate guide by which to evaluate reality. Human valid emotions, such as love, anticipation, hope, ambition, desire, like and dislike, as only a few examples, may be useful, even admirable, despite their non-rational foundation.

It has been a matter of good fortune, that, our Nation has historically been populated by the numbers of educated and informed citizens, mandatorily required for its continued success as a democracy [as prescribed by Thomas Jefferson]. Yet, like many cultures, it has eternally suffered the existence of a substantial “underbelly,” of inadequately educated and poorly informed citizens, seldom civically participatory and essentially of little utility, to any representative, Democratic Republic.

We have often expressed our admiration for the 17^th Century, English philosopher, John Locke. Locke, who famously, declared that man is born with a clean slate [“tabula rasa”] and that all knowledge is acquired by his experience [ foundational empiricism]. When we write in this essay of rational thought, we refer to determinative thought, founded upon objective experience and learned human lessons.  Previously acquired, or newly discovered experience, comprise the only reliable foundation upon which man may properly and rationally, reason. Error is usually the unsatisfactory result of the failure to objectively comprehend or misjudge the relevant empirical reality.

When man acts contrary to reason, he does so, erroneously, and in derogation of the natural dynamic of mankind’s continuing evolution and thereby negatively affects, the ongoing progress and successful operation of his society. In sum, actions taken, contrary to reason, are in direct breach of mankind’s implicit, non-verbal, paleolithic promise, to advance toward the goal of wisdom.

A discernable, regressive departure and steep descent, on the part of many citizens, from a promising level of mankind’s slow, but steadily developing, enlightenment, in no small part, due to the influence of the despicable Presidential term of Donald Trump. The ascendency of the incapable and discernably ignorant Trump, had the dynamic effect of a chemical catalytic, empowering a previous, unorganized, nor especially assertive, ignorant “underbelly” of our Nation, to the ominous role of an outspoken, violent, albeit totally ignorant, revolutionary force. A usefully perceived commonality was especially exemplified by Trump’s personal and neurotic attack on “truth,” creating a new and dangerously irresponsible concept of “alternate facts.” This errant concept served Trump’s egocentric need to comport the accurate criticisms of the media with his egoistic fantasies about himself and to counter the plethora of justified criticism. The underbelly contingent used it for their reductionist fantasies.

Truth, the gold medal of reason, thus, tactically, and neurotically, downplayed by Trump, was also loyally dismissed by Trump sycophants, in the creation and belief of irrational conspiracy theories. These delusional precepts consistently lent a dystopian, sub-rosa intention even to acts of government, proven protective to the health of citizens, such as vaccine to prevent infection by the Covid virus; and universally asserting, a paranoid style, secret and malign intent, behind even the most necessary and universally salubrious programs. The substitution of such delusionary conceptions, for reason and reality, has induced many easily misled and poorly educated citizens to irrationally refuse approved vaccination against the pandemic, in certain cases, in favor of ingesting veterinary horse wormer.

Other illustrations of irrational delusionary conceptions, are practically speaking, without limit: viz., that 9/11 was a U.S. military false flag enterprise, that homosexuality is teachable, that Israel shoots missiles down from outer space, that our Nation was created to be Christian, that the Biden election win was due to fraud, that caustic bathroom cleanser is an effective medicine against Covid, that government acts of compassionate capitalism are socialistic [ and, ipso facto, bad], that immigration dilutes American “purity,” that abortion of an early fetus is homicide, that automatic weapons ensure democracy, that the Jews control the banks, that black colored skin is, somehow, correlated with lack of intelligence and creativeness, that the planet and all its flora and fauna, was created in six days, in time for the Sunday Sabbath, that indigenous Americans were savages, that global warming is a liberal hoax, that liberals are child molesters, etc., etc., ad Infinium, ad Nauseum.

Human failures of empirical rationality are not only regressive and harmful but are intrinsically and shameful gestures, lacking in gratitude to Nature, for evolution’s generous gift to homo sapiens of an advanced brain designed for implicit advancement toward the ultimate golden prize of wisdom.

-p.

The eternal, steady, discernable pulsing, is
First felt upon rolling into the City, the
Bricked Buildings, parallel streetways, the
Dwellers, peripatetic, with leather-leashed dogs, the
Open window intrusive loud music, heard
Amidst the diffused glare of traffic streetlights, the
Screeching halt of a speeding auto, the
Clanking din of the lidded metal bins,
All are singers in the Metropolitan Choral.

By radical amendment to the libretto, the
Country sounds emanate from softer voices, the
The sibilant sounds of the brushing arbor, the
The pliant wind though standing tree trunks, the
Soft neighborly brush of verdant bushes, occasional
Sounds of small critters and soprano songbirds, the
Salutary respite of quiet, dark nighttime, occasionally,
Punctuated with distant hoots and canine barking, this
Is the Planet’s natural, earthly Sonata, hanging on.r

p-
L.N. Shapiro [9/16/21]

Conspiracy ideation is not synonymous with the noun, “conspiracy.” It refers to the “explanations” for an event or happening that involves a conspiracy, allegedly, by smarter or more powerful forces, usually political, despite the empirical fact that other evident explanations are more probable.  Conspiratorial ideations are somewhat resistant to disproof, since unfortunately, they are reinforced by circular reasoning viz., both the evidence against the conspiracy, and the absence of evidence are subjectively, interpreted, by the believer, as probative evidence of its truth. Conspiracy ideation is always harmful and is often pathological; it has, consistently, been found by sociologists and psychologists, to be correlated to lower skills in analytical thinking and their psychologically projected narratives, termed by professionals “illusionary pattern perception.”

Observably, it was the sudden terrorist attacks on 9/11, which, at first, appeared to defy explanation, occurring, simultaneously and fortuitously, at the same the time that the internet started to boom, which chance combination enabled many fringe conspiracy theories, and made them readily accessible. The 9/11 event fueled significant distrust in the American government and fears of real and perceived enemies. Feelings of lost trust and insecurity, made some citizens susceptible to conspiracy ideation, leading ultimately, and shamefully, to the bizarre acceptability by many. of Trump’s, unsupported, neurotically egocentric assertion [“the Big Lie”] that the Presidential election victory, was “stolen” from him by the Biden supporters, despite its official certifications, as accurate and properly conducted.

The phenomenon of conspiracy theories, historically, is not new; illustrations are seen in the Lincoln and JFK assassinations and in the past, world-famous Lindbergh baby kidnapping. However, the events of 9/11, as stated, accelerated, reshaped, and significantly energized the phenomenon of misinformation and conspiracy ideation; mistrust of a “dark” government operation, the FBI, the “surveillance state,” embedded communist agents, immigrants, Muslims, Israel, and  Jews, the belief that that the Trade Center Buildings buildings collapsed due to controlled destruction, that the same was a military “false flag” operation, rather than an al-Qaeda mission, and others. Among the persuasive, fearful citizenry, there was a neurotic, fearful meme, of our Nation’s lost control. This acceleration of fringe conspiracy memes led to and fed neurotically inspired theories, viz., that President Obama was a foreigner, that there was a grand conspiracy involving Liberals in illegal child trading and abuse, having its official headquarters in a pizza shop, that Hillary Clinton illegally exposed secret government information, that a cabal of Satan worshippers is running the world, and that Donald J. Trump is the savior, that Israel is shooting rockets down on Earth from Outer Space, that Covid-9 [thanks to Donald Trump] is a hoax, that vaccines developed by medical science contain a sub-rosa ingredient, enabling the dark, controlling part of the federal government, to electronically, trace the movements of vaccinated citizens, that the 2020 election was stolen by the Biden people from Trump. It appears to be an empirical fact that people who are inclined to believe in one conspiratorial delusion, have been found to believe in others.

Misguided citizens who are prone to believe in conspiracy theories may create factually untenable issues and challenges for the making of policy and law, and, where possible, such skewed and delusional beliefs, should be confronted, albeit a rather difficult task. As stated in the earlier part of this piece, because, such thoughts are neurotically, reinforced by circular reasoning, i.e., they are subjectively confirmed by the misunderstanding of the true facts relevant to the skewed theory and, as well, by the absence of the relevant and determinative facts. It should be observed that such contrived theories are extremely difficult to controvert when the adherent to the fiction has a strong need and affection for a group that espouses such delusional theory [“tribal” or” group think”]. Experience has taught us that the following principles are useful:

• It is especially important to keep cool. Acrimony only strengthens the resolve as to the delusional belief
• Know all the accurate facts and the entire, accurate context of the relevant subject matter
• Politely request, of the believer, the relevant data, or facts, underlying the [false] assertion
• When strategically possible, politely demonstrate the opposing facts or evidence
• Be especially patient and sociable, but not patronizing

In the event of failure, remain friendly and invite further thought and future discussion on the topic.

-p.

Nearly two decades have passed since the unprecedented, shocking, and tragic event of 9/11, which is slated to be commemorated in a manner of weeks. In general, Americans hold varying perceptions of the tragic event and its significance, both symbolic and empirical. After a great deal of objective deliberation concerning the event, most particularly, America’s reactive response, we have arrived at the following [perhaps, nuanced] vie

Pollyannaish inclined citizens, who declared that the horrendous event resulted in, at the very least, a short period of universally desired national unity, were shown to be dead wrong. The Nation had, for some time, been rancorously divisive and to our perception, the terrorist action did nothing to lessen the divisiveness. Notwithstanding a universal abhorrence of the event, each of the disparate cohorts appears to have imposed its own disparate and nuanced doctrinaire meaning and significance to the event. In our view, it would not be too much of a stretch to speculate that, among other evils the event, ultimately, played its relevant part in the later insurrection against the government’s Capitol Building.

Predictably, the divisive groups respectively, construed a significance to 9/11, consistent with, and supportive of, the views previously held by them. The xenophobic right-wing favored the “retaliatory war” undertaken by George Bush, which resulted in tens of thousands of American and Muslim deaths and incapacitating injuries. The systemically biased portion of the Nation initiated a shameful, ignorant, anti-Muslim pogrom [“Islamophobia”] against any individual with tan skin and a turban including, Indians, Sikhs, and members of other unrelated ethnos as well as terrorist reprisals against Mosques. No newly developed, unifying feeling of National brotherhood regarding American citizens of color, was created, rather, the hateful White Christian Nationalists, simply chose to enlarge their repugnant list of perceived enemies.

Disagreement with the governmental response to the 9/11 attack, apparently caused America’s crop of shameful, underbelly citizens, to believe that the government has not been in the right hands; a feeling which we would venture, helped prepare the various White Christian Nationalist groups for the later, Trump sponsored, January 6 insurrection. 9/11 was also the fertile greenhouse, for the evolution of the bizarre phenomenon of today’s plethora of delusional conspiracy theories, and the Bedlam-babbling, “Qu anon.” Anti-Semitic falsehoods, such as the tactically perfidious assertion that no Jews died in the catastrophe  [in fact, there were a great many Jewish and Muslim casualties and deaths], or that our government, cynically played a part in it, are examples of the contemporary hazard of paranoiac fantasies which, frighteningly, metastasized, to a dangerous degree, into Congress. The fertile seeds of false propagandic assertions, reached its zenith with the Trump, neurotically created falsehood, that the election was stolen from him, as cultishly and violently asserted by the January 6, insurrectionists.

We need to take a good look at the grim facts of 9/11, to determine the appropriate context in which the subject event is seen and remembered. We adamantly object to any possible perception of the historical event as being, to any degree, analogous to the celebratory context, appropriate to such holidays as, Independence Day, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Hannukah or Christmas. Rather, it should be an elegiac occasion, appropriately remembering and mourning the casualties and destroyed families, on all sides, resulting from the terrorist incident including the shameful, responsive aftermath. It is our recommendation that 9/11 should properly be contextually understood as a sad commemoration for the many losses and notably, for the frustrating endurance of mankind’s failed aspiration for a peaceful and just world.

-p.

[ Addendum]: This essay, like the Valentine’s Day essay, “True Love and Bulbs,” will be perennially republished similarly, because of its felt eternality.

It requires no extraordinary feat of perception, or especial analytic acumen, to observe that generally, white Americans have enjoyed many legally and socially sanctioned privileges which have been, in various degrees, denied to minority groups, notably, communities of color. Inarguably, African Americans, in particular, have historically faced inequitable and unjustified restrictions in their political, economic, and social lives. It is noteworthy that, even at the present day, among other pernicious practices, black Americans are experiencing a shameful populist putsch by many right-wingers, to illegally and immorally, limit or deny their democratically entitled, voting franchise. American racism is basically and fundamentally exemplified by the wrongful denial to a racial group, relevantly, the black population, the political and economic advantages of the white. Categorically, we would responsively and confidently, award America’s past, sordid enslavement of black people for agricultural servitude, its well-earned place as America’s “Original Sin.”

The pernicious continuance of such immoral degradation and prejudicial behavior by white against black citizens, so many decades after the legal disestablishment of slavery, is a continuing and conspicuous blemish upon our Nation; most particularly its publicly asserted, avowed principle of universal equality. The preceding observations, however, are presumably known, thus, we will, at this point in this essay, thematically, propose a needed solution; in sum, an increased emphasis and affirmative extension of actions by the greater number of right-thinking white citizens, in aid of the complete elimination, or at the very least, the material reduction of such unjust and harmful bigotry.

If our personally nuanced take, on the 18^th Century novel, “Gulliver’s Travels,” by Jonathan Swift, is correct, it would make Swift’s work, among the earliest of statements on the irrationality and tragedy of unjust discrimination against others who look or behave in a different manner to the [English] “untraveled” [thoughtlessly conventional] observer. In the satirical work, hostility between those who had high heels, [the high Church] and those whose shoes had low heels [low Church] and those who broke their hard-boiled egg on one end, versus others who eat it from the other, are allegorical but are pointed references to the irrational animosity of the human persona against others of different stripe. Prejudice against “other” human beings who, by the natural, fortuitous experience of their birth, unpremeditatedly, inherit a darker skin color, is simply put, reductively ignorant and “Swiftian.”

Empirical reality, nevertheless, has persisted in the demonstration of deprivation and limitation of freedom on the part of minorities, racial and ethnic, due to said evident inclination to irrational and reductive subjective prejudice on the part of many white Americans. Our history has recounted the exceptional lives of many laudable people who have dedicated their lives to the amelioration of racism, including, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. Dubois, Sojourner Truth, to name merely a small sampling, of this well-populated Honor Roll. Our salient observation is thematically concerned with the plain fact that these, memorable and celebrated lives, are all, uniformly, black.

In truth,  as far as we can discern, a vastly greater number of white Americans do favor universal equality, irrespective of color or ethnicity. Our theme is that, while it is empirically justifiable, and tautologically, natural, for black Americans to oppose racism, the fight for universal and fundamental acknowledgment of equal rights for black Americans, is most appropriately, and conceivably, most effectively, waged by allied white American citizens.  White spectators of prejudiced police brutality, preferential racial policies in employment, the unfair justice system,  and, regarding the most fundamental injury to democracy, the attempted hobbling of the [black] vote, must cease in their mere observation and more effectively, advance their enlightened philosophy by effective action: viz., joining in the peaceful protest marches against racism and threats to voting, and by affirmatively speaking and writing in opposition to such un-American and illegal bigotry. Additionally, and very importantly, by overtly demonstrating their sincere feelings of universal brotherhood and social equality, by frequent neighborly style socialization with members of disparate racial and ethnic groups. Picnics, barbeques, vacations, and mutual leisure weekends, taken together, may effectively, far outweigh the most rational and cogent anti-bigotry arguments. Right-thinking white citizens, need to more demonstrably and in outspoken fashion, publicly voice their demands for progress in the universal enjoyment of equity and justice, perhaps sooner accomplished by normalized social interaction, between all citizens.

Such positive and affirmative behaviors would, arguably, serve as reparation by white Americans, for the Nation’s relevant, past wrongs, and additionally, articulate an empathic, meaningful, and symbolic declaration of their derivative atonement for this historical wrongdoing. 

-p.    

The controversial issue concerning a woman’s personal right to have an abortion has become so volatile and angrily divisive that a State, viz., Texas, has bizarrely chosen to deputize its anti-abortion citizens, by authorizing them, vigilante-style, to institute legal proceedings against anyone seeking an abortion, together with any accomplice [including the Uber driver that brought her to the clinic]. It is impossible to see any rationale for this dystopian legislation, which could, in any way possible, square with the American system of jurisprudence, nor with human reason. We refer to this grotesque situation, however, merely to illustrate the radical extent of the opposition to what would seem to be a women’s natural right to care for her own body, by an abortion, as generally approved by Roe v. Wade and any and every historical American tenet, concerning citizen liberty and protected privacy.

Those who have tactically arrogated to themselves the name, “Right to Life,” in the name of protecting the fetus [“life”], have perpetrated multiple acts of premeditative and deliberate murder of abortion providers and their assistants; in their misguided criminal insurrection against the abortion of a fetus. Their tactically, misleading name does not appear to prevent them from inconsistent acts,  such as opposing all governmental assistance to the needy mother or baby, after the signature event of birth, the championing of free and unregulated gun ownership, and of capital punishment. Their proclaimed motivation, viz.,  the preservation of the life of the fetus, revealingly, expires at the moment of birth.  This puts to the lie, their proclaimed motive, and their tactically misleading name. The blatant illogic and the discernable inconsistency of their actions, empirically suggest a different, underlying, and fundamental purpose; to be set forth below, following a brief statement on the moral justice and rectitude of preserving this major choice, naturally and exclusively to the pregnant mother.

Margaret Sanger said, “ No woman can call herself free until she can consciously choose whether she will or will not be a mother.”  We wholeheartedly agree and have sought for some time for the underlying motivation of the ardent opponents of this most personal and life-altering right. We have closely read and long considered the arguments on both sides of the issue and have recently concluded, that the most fundamental and efficacious basis for the legal rejection of such interference with the natural freedom of choice, to date, strangely, has not, to date, been revealed nor articulated. We have thus chosen, to express this overlooked Constitutional precept, proscribing such denial of abortion rights.

All purported motivations of the opponents of abortion having been factually and logically disproven by their own inconsistent actions and beliefs, we may, permissibly, conclude by elimination, that the essential motivation of the members of the anti-abortion movement is otherwise. Until credibly shown erroneous, we firmly believe it to be fundamentally, religious. Please take note that the faiths of Catholicism, Conservative Protestantism, Buddhism, Orthodox Judaism (only), Hinduism and Sikhism, all prohibit abortion.

As generally known, the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment to the Constitution, provides, inter alia., that government may not control the exercise of religion, nor vice-versa. If we are, indeed, deductively correct in our conclusion that a sub-rosa, religious basis, remains, by elimination, the only empirically logical and explainable motivation, for the ardent prohibition of a women’s right to seek abortion, it follows that it is in clear and flagrant violation of the Constitution’s “Establishment Clause,” and therefore, illegal, unconstitutional and unenforceable.

It is most illuminating and, indeed, telling, that the State of Texas, the warm beating heart of the Evangelical “Bible Belt,” and deservedly included among the most invasive of this most intimate of American, Constitutional freedoms, would give birth to this most conspicuously and witlessly [preferably aborted], reductive, legislation.

-p.

In previous writings, we noted an observed and disconcerting, steady descent of the Supreme Court of the United States [“SCOTUS”], from its historically perceived, exalted and  Solomonic stature, [justly deserved by its past dedicated adherence to the impartial scales of justice] to a pragmatically impure institution, undemocratically, responsive to the will of powerful special interests. With respect to its recent, bizarre decision, not to ban a dystopic Texas Statute, involving the woman’s right to abortion, we can confidently, observe that the High Court’s formerly, elegant, principled, and loyal adherence to the traditionally balanced scales of legal justice, has sadly, morphed into the indecorous category of a publicly demonstrated, upset applecart. We will say considerably more on the Texas Statute, following a  brief redux on background.

Our early critical comments were made concerning the case of Bush v. Gore [2000]. We noted that the case involved issues which were, indisputably, “political” and, accordingly, not precedentially, appropriate or acceptable [nor, certainly, to be ruled upon]. The historically consistent precedent requires that to have a case accepted for consideration by SCOTUS, a prerequisite application for a “Writ of Certiorari” had to be filed, in which there was a successful showing of the total absence of any “political” issue in the case. The legal explanation for this unwavering, harsh prerequisite, was principally founded in the Constitutional doctrine of “Separation of Powers.” This eternally applicable precedent mandates the denial of acceptance, by SCOTUS, of any matter that, in the least, had some political albeit, indirect effect.  It is bafflingly clear that the SCOTUS adjudicated case of Gore-Bush had political issues as well as determinative, political impact, every bit as evident as apples in an apple pie.

Far worse, in its negative impact upon our Democratic Republic, [perpetrated by the institution created to ensure its efficacy and endurance], was the unusual and fundamentally undemocratic decision of SCOTUS, in the Citizens United case [2019]. In that impactful case, SOTUS bizarrely ruled that “corporations are people,” and therefore, legislation limiting the amount of their contributions, is a violation of personal freedom of speech. This flawed decision unfairly enables special interests to make unlimited contributions to elections and thus, undemocratically, to skew elections in favor of the wealthy business interests, while minimizing the effect of the vote of the ordinary American voter. Its pernicious effect upon the meaningful citizen’s right to vote and its negative effect upon an aspiring democracy, already hobbled by the influence of money, is obvious and repugnant.

The strained and tortured legal rationale of the holding in the United Taxpayers case is an illustrative indication of the shocking surrender and abdication of principle, of America’s formerly esteemed and impartial arbiter of the law, to the powerful interests, in lieu of its entrusted responsibility to assure equality and justice; at the high cost of our democracy.

Every beginning freshman law student and most businessmen are aware, that when the law refers to corporations as “persons,” that corporate “person” is understood to be merely an accepted  “legal fiction.” This commercial fiction affords to an entrepreneur limited liability, regarding a business venture properly conducted under his artfully selected corporate name. As provided in the  Corporation Law,  the business, [as opposed to the human person of the entrepreneur] can sue, and be sued, in its corporate name. Such law concerning corporations, since the historic days of the English Statutes of Elizabeth is intended, specifically, to limit the liability of the individual entrepreneur; as part of society’s economic encouragement to enter into business. As universally known, the law, over the many decades, has never, by Statute or case precedent,  granted ” human personhood” to the commercial fiction of “person, ”legally attributable to corporations, by legislative fiat. We are struck by the thought that, if every freshman law student and the average businessman knows this basic principle, certainly the all wise, SCOTUS, ineluctably does.

The recent SCOTUS ’refusal to act, regarding a recent bizarrely construed Texas Statute, interfering with the right of abortion ss provided in the Roe v. Wade decision by SCOTUS is disappointing, This un-American legislation has the analogous, sophomoric utility of an excuse from a visibly chewing, child, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, whose defense is that he misplaced his keys, and was in the process of looking for them.  

Texas is the same, Trump-cultish State that tribally, opposes official medical mandates for vaccination and masking to avoid Covid contagion, but energetically and astoundingly, promotes, as an alternative, the widespread ingestion by its citizens of veterinary horse wormers. That same, Bible belt dysfunctional State, has outdone itself by its recent legislative travesty, viz., a Statute, as referred to above, permitting any private Texas citizen or Texas non-governmental organization, to sue anyone, seeking an abortion, as well as any party who aids and abets in the [Roe v. Wade], approved the act, including the uber driver. It is hard to find words to describe this Kafka- like, Alice in Wonderland law, because it is so far outside the realm of practical common sense as well as the entire context of our legal system. It is an ill-informed ignorant and pathetic attempt to circumvent Roe v. Wade’s proscription against the “State’s”  ability to interfere with the right to abortion, by the atavistic and wild west authorization of citizen vigilantes, and is a cookie jar devious, and reductively transparent way to enforce the Bible belt State’s atavistic proscription against abortion. The State has been prohibited by Roe, to do it, so, now, any half-witted citizen can do so. In the anticipated litigation, where is the basic legal requirement of  “standing” to sue, i.e., a plaintiff who has suffered demonstrable damages? What will be the measure of plaintiff’s personal damages? etc. etc. We could go, painfully, on and on….!

The media reports that SCOTUS, unashamedly, has passed over an opportunity block this asinine and societally paleolithic, legislative travesty. As to the contemporary SCOTUS, we sadly rest our doleful case.

-p.