Author: plinyblogcom

Traditional American citizens, are understandably troubled by the contemporary march to authoritarianism, spearheaded by Donald Trump and his devoted cult. Each succeeding day, one is the recipient of news that yet another fundamental constitutional limitation on federal power has been overriden, and the repeated demonstration that the rule of law and societal precedent are cast aside, in favor of un-American authoritarian polity.

It is of existential importance that the mainstream, freedom-loving citizen consider the insidious tactics of those who manipulate the demonstrably hapless, neurotic, and incapable Donald Trump in the direction of “his desired authoritarianism.” In our view, the noxious and insidious procedure eludes the perception of the mainstream American citizen, and notably, Trump himself. neurotically consumed by personal egocentrism and primitive hubris. It is our presumption that the orange-haired imperial dunce is preoccupied with himself and has little motivation for political change. It is our singular presumption that Donald Trump is an unwiiting, utilitarian protagonist for a sub-rosa, undisclosed Fascist lobby, sponsored by others, far more capable.

If our singular (admittedly, unsupported) theory is accurate, we might discern an insidious pattern of malign action, utilizing the hapless Tr dedicated to transmogrifying the American Founders’ radical and enlightened experiment in liberal democracy insidiously, to an atavistic, authoritarian State.

To continue with our extant supposition, it would seem empirically efficient for such conspiratorial enemies of democracy to affirmatively utilize, rather than seek to destroy, the accepted institutions of democracy, in tactical aid of their nefarious program in favor of a dictatorship; rather than endeavoring to limit fundamental citizen rights, they dynamically utilize them to ultimately destroy their efficacy.

Should our instinctive observations have any verisimilitude, the recommended solution would not be the denial of the traditionally appropriate rights of every individual, but rather, when relevant, to appropriately remain aware of their anecdotally ultimate purpose.

-p.

[N.B]: With apologies, the second-named protagonist in the following saga is a wasp (not a bee): However, the alteration of insect in the title sounds more euphonious.

Our regular readers know that we are cat owners, never owning fewer than two cats at a time. In an early writing, we indicated that the breed chosen has universally been “Devon Rex.” The Devon looks pretty much like the stereotypical alley cat, but lacks the common layer of feline “dander” under its fur, and so is non-allergenic. Additionally, notable are the subtle head wrinkles and short whiskers.

Our present lovable, furry tenants are “Gelato,” a masked face, gray, white, and brown, common-size cat, and a small, pink-nosed, snow-white, kitten-like (albeit mature) cat named “Bela” after Belarus, the country of her birth; the latter being the dramatic heroine of the present saga. However, before the revelation of the contextual episode, it would seem useful to reprise some earlier observations.

As recognized in such early writing, cats require less care than dogs; the latter require regular walking, irrespective of weather or busy schedule, while cats can unassistedly utilize a “litter box” for their natural needs (see: early writing “Literate Felines…”). However, domestic cats have a relatively short life span, viz., 10 to 15 years; as an empirical consequence, we have lived with several succeeding members of that warm and lovable species.

Our beloved Feline Dynasty includes “Cicero, ” regal, dignified, and contemplative; “Anchovie,” mischievous, rambunctious, lover of kosher-style deli, “Kudu,” regal, Victorian and adorned with a luxurious, Sax Fifth Avenue quality fur coat, “Gelato,” and “Bela” (see above). Bela, singularly, has a nuanced, squeaky “meow.” Needless to say, all of our pets have been the recipients of the status of “adjunct family members” and have been loved and treated accordingly, as ought to be the universal case regarding pet ownership.

It is contextually necessary to individualize our singular protagonist, “Bela.” While it has been our observation that pet cats, like their feral relatives, are acrobatic and agile, Bela, if she were a human gymnast, would qualify as a stellar performer at Le Cirque de Soliel or Ringling Brothers. She does not quietly pad into a room like other members of her species; she bounces into the scene. She is systemically energetic and gymnastic; we have humorously called her “slinky” because of her perpetual bounce and athleticism. In addition, Bela seems to regard herself as a talented and dedicated hunter. The instinct that motivates pussycats to pursue and paw at moving objects, including bugs, has been developed by her into a fine art. Any observed moving insect, regardless of size, venue, or speed, is not safe from her Olympic skills. It is an accepted feature of cat owners to anthropomorphize the movements or the perceived mood of cats, and we, in candor, plead guilty to that accusation. In our fantasized observation, she seems to revel in the successful capture of critters barely visible to the human eye. To further confess to our anthropomorphic inclination, we admire her skill and prowess in her chosen sport.

Yesterday afternoon, while engrossed in some routine and peaceful reading in our large windowed living room, we heard a painful, but all too recognizable, (squeaky) cry emanating from the area of one of the windows. We saw Bela agonizingly raising and licking her right front paw, and, to our perception, crying for relief. We found the tiny offending wasp, removed the small stinger from Bela’s paw, and attempted to soothe and relax the little sweetheart. As she stopped crying, we were able to discern the swollen right paw and surmised that, as was eminently probable, Bela had instinctively popped her paw on the moving wasp and was rewarded with the painful sting. Thereafter, we were downcast, observing that her paw was quite swollen and presumably quite uncomfortable.

To our relief, we were overjoyed the following morning to see little Bela bounce into the living room with her usual balletic penache.

-p.

In Brazil’s 2022 general election, Jair Bolsonaro lost, but asserted claims that the election was rigged and engineered a failed coup against the Brazilian Government. The same was the subject of a criminal trial, conviction, and a prison sentence for 27 years plus 3 months..

On January 6, 2021, in response to his election loss to Joseph Biden, Donald J Trump had orchestrated a bloody insurrection, or coup, against the Washington Capitol Building, which was participated in by a large horde of insurgents on his factually unsupported claim that the election was “rigged.” Trump was never punished for his outrageously criminal act, the latter, resulting in loss of life, serious injuries to Capitol police, and desecration of the historic institution. Like Bolsonaro, Trump was demonstrably responsible for the attempted (and failed) coup d’état. But, unlike Bolsonaro, he suffered no analogous (or any) punishment. By happenstance, Trump managed to win the succeeding election, and as President, pardoned all of his loyal insurrectionists for their (Trump-inspired) crimes.

Notably, like the United States, Brazil is a Federal Republic with a tri-partite governmental architecture, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, established under a National Constitution.

Notably, the Trump Administration, which has chosen to be busy utilizing its autocratic wrecking ball against the Nation’s democratic institutions, has indicated its displeasure with the disposition of the criminal case by the Brazilian Courts against Bolsonaro and has stated that the United States would “respond accordingly.” This declaration is shameful and fundamentally perverse.

We were entirely discombobulated by the Alice-in-Wonderland distortion of reason, evident in such an outrageously undemocratic response by the dystopian minds of our current political Administration. Is criminal insurrection against a duly elected, Democratic Republic to be judged an esteemed act? Are arbitrary and completely unsupported claims of “foul,” solely based on subjective disappointment at the ballot box, a rationally acceptable basis for claims of election denial, and worse, for violent insurrection? If such were the case, democracy would be dynamically impossible.

Stated in the most diplomatic and objective lexicon, the type of persona demonstrated by Bolsonaro and Trump is, inarguably, not suitable for leaders of a Democratic Republic. For this reason, we have eternally advocated vetting all aspiring candidates for the American Presidency.

-p.

The philosophical theory of William of Occam, popularly known as “Occam’s Razor,” states that when faced with competing explanations, the simplest one, requiring the fewest assumptions, is usually the correct one.

Yesterday, television viewers were greeted with yet another presentation of an obscene shooting; this one of a political figure, the 31-year-old Conservative, Charlie Kirk, at a public event in which he was the principal speaker. The ubiquitous variety and startling number of such tragic events appear empirically limitless; children at camp, school, or park, worshippers in churches and synagogues, in siores, on public streets, conceivably, any venue affording a gun lunatic, perceived enemies.

There is a universal media terpsichorial presentation following each such horrific event; the dance consists of (1) the interruption of general news programs unrelated to the event, televised statements by local politicians, and the local Sheriff, or Chief of Police, (2) broadcast shots of the venue and the fleeing crowd, (3) animated testimony from witnesses or attendees. (4) the exclusive dedication of the reporting media to several hours of related commentary and verbal conjectures, including those from familiar, retired FBI or police experts, conjectures as to the conceivable motive, and a recitation of techniques employed in such a criminal investigation and pursuit of the perpetrator. The experienced television patron can recognize, from frequent experience, the reprise of such standard commentary. (5)For the next few days, the respective media will present their regular commentators on the subject, and (6) immediately preceding the commercial message, the reaction of an excited witness, usually a female student or a tearful member of the victim’s family, pitifully relating the all-too-familiar lines of a traumatized witness.

We have tiresomely witnessed the predictable reprise of this performative media dance and the bland stereotypic utterances of “thoughts and prayers,” too often to resist the present statement of the effective antidote to this chronic disease, at the conclusion of this writing, one that, if he were alive, would predictably please Sir William Occam.

However, we might initially consider the limited utility of guns. Our small pocket knife, is useful for cutting string on packages, opening stubborn jar lids, slicing cheese, eating fruit, whittling, arts and crafts, sharpening wooden pencils, boring holes in materials, scraping off unwanted paint, and cleaning out small, structural cavities. By bright comparison, a gun’s utility is singularly restricted to killing and maiming, and, as an empirical matter, of no practical utility to a normally socialized individual.

The most distressing subject relates to the “right to bear arms,” as purportedly granted by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This intentional misreading of the subject Amendment is not excusable as a contextual error; it amounts to an intentionally tactical misreading of the Amendment by the NRA and others who substantially profit from their propagandistic sociopathy.

A mere cursory dip into American History will irrefutably disprove the populist claim that the subject Amendment regarding the “People’s right to bear arms” authorizes every citizen to be a “gunslinger.” An objective reading of history reveals that the Second Amendment is solely a statement of the ultimate settlement of a fundamental dispute relating to the nature of our new polity. History relates a fundamental dispute between the “Federalists,” who favored central government, and the supporters of separate state sovereignty.

The existence of an independent sovreignty was historically considered to depend upon the right of the entity to raise a standing army (militia) with the right to bear arms, The Second Amendment merely recites the ultimate settlement between the parties, which provided for a centralized polity, but the States (“the People”) granted the right to raise an independent armed militia, ( ” the People’s right to “bear arms.” ) We are emphatically obliged to presume that the NRA and the profuse members of the gun lobby include members who can, if desired, read the irrefutable history.

There never was a right to carry a gun, or for that matter, other conceivable “arms,” possibly, by extension, a hand grenade or rocket launcher; and we presume that the sociopathic supporters of this bogus “right” are perversely and profitably aware of it.

In view of the undeniable reality that guns are solely utilitarian in their capacity to kill or maim other members of civil society, and that there is no Constitutional franchise for their ownership, we can eschew the irrelevant debates concerning their legal sale and registration, gun shows, legal ownership, acceptability of military-grade armaments, vetting the determination of prerequisite mental health health and the like.

We would, justifiably, employ the contextual, Occam’s razor to the whole of the societally hazardous subject and expressly mandate the outlawing of all guns and instruments of homicide on the grounds of societal safety and basic humanistic considerations. There possibly,\ may be certain permitted exemptions, i.e, shotguns to farmers for protection of their animal stock from wild predators,

Aside from the far more cogent, societal and humanistic considerations, citizens do not reasonably require guns for their personal safety, any more than Grandma needs a Gatling gun installed on her sun porch for protection against rowdy neighbors.

-p.

Omar Khayyam famously wrote: ” The Moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on; nor all thy Piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line.”William Shakespeare relevantly declared, “Hoisted by his own petard.” (Hamlet).

The two foregoing quotations might summarily suffice to convey the intended context and theme of the present writing; however, it is felt that, as a pragmatic matter, it might require a bit more exposition. The recovery of the smutty birthday card from Donald Trump sent to the celebrated avatar of degeneracy, Jeremy Epstein, put the “lie” to Trump’s prior energetically expressed denial of its existence and his relevantly false claims of “hoax.”

Trump, popularly acknowledged for his Olympian-scale serial mendacity, was consequently relegated to the absurd defense that the signature on the bottom of the card was not his. It is worth noting that Trump’s relevant signature was, inarguably, identical to the numerous personal signatures he displayed to the press and televised to the public on the occasion of each of his many “Executive Orders.” His readily identifiable, magisterially executed signatures, universally marked with a hubristic flourish, appropriate to his egoistic neurosis, are executed by the employment of a wide-tipped black velvet “Sharpie” and are singularly identical.

Trump’s initial denials of the very existence of the sexually erotic birthday card sent to Jeffrey Epstein were emphatically decried by him as a “democrat hoax.” However, when incriminatingly found, his subsequent denial of his nuanced signature might empirically suggest that the identical signatures on his undemocratic and intrinsically illegal Executive Orders do not bear his authentic signature. This would result in the negation of hundreds of his Executive Orders, happily including his dismissal of the Department of Education, and USAID, his discharge of the CDC and other vital health agencies, his illegal use of the military, his autocratic harassment of Universities, and law firms, his unprecedented cruelty to immigrant Americans, his dismissal of student loan relief., his desecration of environmental watchdog agencies, including the EPA and countless other despicable Executive Orders.

The public display of Trump’s idiosyncratic signature to all of such egregiously un-American Executive Orders consistently reprises the identicaly nuanced, broad, black velvet-tipped signature of the hubristic Chief Executive. One would predict that the dishonorable Chief Executive would, if called upon, confirm the authenticity of his identifiable signature on all documents, other than the incriminating love missive to the wholesale child molester and close personal friend, Jeffrey Epstein.

-p.

It is September, time for the annual meeting of the “Citizens For Decorum Inc., a/k/a “CPD,” a Domestic, Not-For-Profit. entity, whose stated corporate purpose is the reduction of America’s national strife, by the dedicated and programmatic avoidance of acrimonious interaction between political opponents.

The advent of the thematic entity, in or about February 2017, was coincident with, or perhaps catalyzed by, the prior election of Donald J. Trump to the Office of the American Presidency. At the date of the official filing of the Certificate of Incorporation, for C.F.D. inc., consisted of as many as 20 dedicated shareholders; as of the date of this writing, the number has increased exponentially to a record 4,000. Telephonic requests for membership continue to be received at the corporate offices in Washington, D.C., from American citizens, notably based upon the stated desire for the amelioration of tiresome and disconcerting bellicose interaction between citizens of diverse political persuasion, appropriate to a political system of governance, as intended by its Founders to be governed “by and for its People.”.

As observed in earlier writings, the Nation’s idealistic Founders, if alive, would be gravely disappointed with the blasé philosophical character of the contemporary American citizen. What developed, in empirical reality, contrary to their expectations, was an eternal “Cold W” between citizens in divergent camps of groupthink opinions and the resultant impossibility of reasonable and useful debate of the issues.

To aggravate matters, on the surprise ascension of Donald J. Trump to the Oval Office, any hope of the achievement of the Founders’ expectations relative to the benefits of useful debate morphed into a Pollyannaish dream. Analogous to the spread of disease by Typhoid Annie, Trump toxically introduced, and MAGA adherents succumbed to and metastasized, the singularly bizarre conceptual epidemic of “Alternative Facts.” In addition to the latter’s empirical absurdity, the virulent spread of such tactical infection made any reasonably useful exchange of views between diversely opinioned parties futile; and sadly led to inter-actively aggressive responses, so that, thematically, even the casual discussion of divergent issues became distantly cold, interplanatory, and pragmatically futile.

The mainstream American can best (and salubriously) spend his time objectively, presenting the political issues as well as the merits of proposed candidates, to factually oriented citizens capable of unbiased reason and moral humanism. Enough traditionally oriented voters will, predictably, carry the day.

Exasperated citizens desirous of affiliating with other peaceful promoters of traditionally American political beliefs to non-belligerent citizens are eternally invited to become active participants and shareholders in the non-disputatious, not-for-profit, political entity, “CFD, Inc.”

-p.

[INTRODUCTION: Salvatore (“Sal”) Hepatica, a 40-year-old bachelor and computer engineer, peered at the mirror in his two-room apartment and smiled. It was the day before Christmas, and Sal had volunteered to play Santa Claus at his nephew’s school. He had spent hours putting on the rented bright red Santa costume, hat, robe, large white beard, and black boots. He chortled at the new appearance of his face; rouged, bearded, overtopped with the stereotopic Santa Bonnet. He had also been required to stuff two pillows into the jacket to mimic Santa’s iconic corpulence. He laughed out loud as he barely recognized himself.

It was early, so Sal decided to pay a surprise visit to his great-aunt Elvira, Epicac, who lived on the route to the holiday event, snickering to himself at the anticipated shock and surprise of the singular appearance of “Santa Claus.” He was nonplussed, however, when he arrived at his aunt’s door, and she immediately said, “Hi, Sal.”

There is merit and fairness in recognizing others for their personal singularity, as contrasted with a possible reductionist perception as stereotypical members of a subjectively perceived categorial group., It is neither empirically accurate nor fair to reductively attribute populist stereotypical characteristics to lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other functionaries, on the facile assumption that they evince certain stereotypical characteristics. John Smith, Esq., is not systemically or intrinsically a lawyer; he is an individual named John Smith, who practices the profession of law.

Indeed, it is unjust reductionist assumptions about other members of human society that have historically catalyzed the virulent and shameful toxicity of racial and ethnic prejudice. Reductionist ideologies of ubiquitous populations of humanity have eternally resulted in misery, tragedy, and shame, Rev.. Martin Luther King sagely advised, “looking to man’s content of character, rather than the color of his skin.” It is an empirical verity that reductive ignorance fuels prejudice of every toxic category.

It is inarguable that the term “immigrant” simply refers to a person from another country intending to reside in our Nation. It does not connote nor encapsulate any conceivable characteristic, positive or negative. Nevertheless, the American Nation has unfortunately been witness to ubiquitous bias regarding Native American, Black, Hispanic, Jewish, and most notably, Mexican and Central American immigrants.

We presume that we have adequately written of our President, the Chief Executive of a Nation, principally populated by immigrants and their progeny, whose repeated public defamation of the entire class of Hispanic immigrants, whom he has never met, is pernicious xenophobia, inhumanely exacerbated by his appointment of a Gestapo-style masked army to arrest, imprison, and banish to foreign torture prisons, immigrants from Mexico and Central America (inclusive of long-term residential families) without a modicum of due process.

Xenophobia, as is the case with other phobias such as claustrophobia, agrophobia, and acrophobia, is appropriately referable to psychiatric attention and should be so pursued, in the interest of the salubrious health of the body politic.

-p.

Our thematic circus has come to Foggy Bottom. All are now welcome to enjoy the ubiquitous talent and amusements on accessible display.

The prem in ent performance, taking place under the Big Top, is the Senate Inquiry relative to the policies of Joseph Kennedy, Jr., the unconventional Trump-appointed Secretary of Health and Welfare.

The spectators seated in the big top were witnesses to an acrimonious Senate hearing on the performance record of JFK, Jr., as National Health Secretary, which warrants the analogous rapt attention and excitement of a tourist at a Mexican bullfight. The event saw a bipartisan excoriation of the outre Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy. Senators from both parties remonstrated angrily with the stone-faced, gravely toned, aggressive Trump appointee, regarding his errant and dangerous policy of banning vaccinations and dogmatic firing of CDC professionals, who favor vaccination. Kennedy appeared defensively arrogant and argumentative in his vain attempt to justify his outre, dogmatic rejection of the subject’s consistently effective history of vaccination as a successful prophylaxis against disease. Kennedy appeared nonplussed about the empirical increase in measles (previously considered to have been eliminated) and other diseases, plainly inconsistent with his atavistic policy relative to vaccination.

The circus patron no doubt will contextually recall the million Americans who died unnecessarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the solicitous assistance of President Donald J, Trump, who recommended the ingestion of laundry detergent and the clinical use of a popular horse-wormer as a panacea.

Kennedy, the Nation’s Health Secretary, was unable to testify to the number of Americans killed by COVID-19; yet another revelation of his abject ignorance as to the relevant information. The bipartisan panel critically questioned the Secretary about the resignations and dogmatic firings of highly qualified, experienced officials of the CDC due to their support of vaccination policies and the danger of the Secretary’s outrageous and atavistic policies. We were indeed impressed with the candid expressions of irate criticism from the Senators, both Republican and Democrat.

At another of the numerous circus exhibitions, one can observe a complete list of the Trump tariffs, ignorantly (and illegally) imposed by the President with the sophomoric intention to lower prices, but which rationally and predictably raise the cost to sellers of imported goods and ultimately consumer prices.

Another entertaining exhibition is dedicated to honoring the many exotic, masked hoodlums hired by the Presidential Administration, tasked with the responsibility of slandering and eliminating peaceful Hispanic Americans.

In the course of our struggle to arrive at a conceivably rational explanation for Trump’s bizarre appointment of the incapable and argumentative Secretary of Health, we were reminded of his many other untenable appointments, all of which are grotesquely inappropriate and pragmatically dangerous; as described in some detail in earlier writings.

After stopping at the circus midway for a soft drink and cotton candy, one may elect to visit the circus freak show, featuring a Secretary of Homeland Security who has proven her sanity and competence by shooting her young puppy in the face and tossing him into a pit, an alcoholic Secretary of the Armed Forces whose body tattoos evince his ardent support of the Nation’s perverse White, Christian Militias, a security chief who is an intimate friends with the Nation’s sworn enemies, an Attorney General who despite articulated assurances of the absence of enemies list,” and her office dedicated to the reprentation of the Nation, nevertheless, utilizes her Department of Justice to compliantly prosecute political opponents of the President.

We anxiously await the striking of the contextual circus tent and the appropriate removal of the MAGA circus from the Potomac premises.

-p.

Were there any conceivable possibility that Donald J. Trump, honored for serial mendacity and “snake oil” demagogery, possessed a modicum of suitability to be the Nation’s Chief Executive, it was thoroughly dispelled today.

After the gut-wrenching testimony of a host of former victims of the horrific, juvenile sex ring, the enterprise of Jeffrey Epstein and his malevolent procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, Donald Trump arrogantly declared the ubiquitous heartrending and accusatory testimony “a hoax.’ This startling response warrants an obvious charge of defensiveness, given that Epstein was Trump’s known confederate. In our view, the reflexive defensive response may tend to beneficially demonstrate to, at least, some of the MAGA viewers the gross, tactical, and delusional malignity of Donald Trump. Notable MAGA cultists, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who held hands with democratic Congressman Ro Kahana, indicated ardent support for the victims.

One cannot know if such enthusiastic support of the victims evinced by Margerie Taylor Green and Lauren Bo9ebert was revealatory of a previously unmanifested feeling of moral empathy, or, alternatively, a further display of their mutual neurotic penchant for conspiratorial ideation; nevertheles, it is is our hope that more MAGA adherents will now be enabled to confess that Donald Trump is a devious snake -oil demagogue, a systemic villain and, himself, a despicable hoax. Like Trump’s infamous reference to the hundreds of dead young soldiers, buried at Arlington Military Cemetery, as”losers and suckers,” his knee-jerk defensive response, “Hoax,” may redound to the revelation of his systemically self-interested, immoral, and inhumane persona.

Significantly, the sexual abuse of several hundred sexually abused victims were enticed and ensnared in Epstein’s obscene web by Ghislaine Maxwell when they were of an innocent young age. Epstein’s procurement was international as well as National, and sophisticated methods of banking finance were established on a sub-rosa basis, internationally and domestically. A thorough investigation of his nefarious and despicably wide web of corruption and highly profitable enterprise would, doubtless. ensnare countless enablers as well as reveal the covert list of names of prominent consumers of Epstein’s nefarious service. The latter consideration makes relevant the possibility that Epstein, confined to a prison cell, did not die by suicide; an enticing proposition for conspiracy mavins, many of whom are MAGA cultists.

The public revelation of the myriad of contextual sex offenses against young girls, by a confidant of Donald Trump (apparently, also a loyal customer, as revealed by publicly shown video footage) would impair Trump’s political reputation, as it would other well-known personalities. It is the latter consideration that cogently suggests the empirical suggestion of such a homocidal event, as an empirical alternative to the media-reported “suicide,” and doubtlessly titillates the imagination of the “all-knowing” ideations of MAGA conspiracy wonks.

In the interestof our Democratic Republic, we would celebrate the justified removal of the inappropriate, autocraticly unprincipled Donald J. Trump from the American Presidency, However, we cannot help but look askance at the nature of a public that is ultimately moved to outrage by charges of sexual and homicidal nature regardless of responsible contempt at Trump’s multifarious constitutional abuse, heartless denial of institutional relief to the needy, domestic and international, autocratic attack upon our Republican Democracy, ubiquitous immorality, inclusive of multiple criminal felonies, his Gestapo-style prosecution of peaceful and productive Hispanics, his purloining of top-secret documents, criminal interference with the National vote, authorian motivatred attacks on American Universities and the National Media, violation of the “Emolument Clause by magnifi self-inrichment, elimination of the Nation’s Health Research Services, serial mendacity and complete lack of moral compass, all, in aggravation of a woeful state of empiricaslly demonstrated incapacity.

To quote a popular aphorism: “Any port in a storm.”

-p.

In the immediately preceding writing, we expressed our optimistic belief that, analogous to Sir Isaac Newton’s declaration that “For every action, there is an equal corresponding action,” the existing dystopia of the Trump Administration would be met by an equal return force (of citizens) restoring the traditional character of our Democratic Republic. We noted the current advent of instances evincing such dynamic reaction that have already manifested themselves.

In this writing, we are concerned with a more enduring, universal problem related to the future of Mankind’s developmental progress, or his atavistic regression, a subject of universal concern, historically predating the dystopian Trump Presidency and certain to persist long afterward.

In recent years, we have learned from conversations with academics who teach at universities and from startling essays of expert educators appearing in “The Atlantic” and “The American Scholar,” that the intellectual quality of today’s college students have degraded; that the desire for higher education for the sake of personal enlightenment and the development of a mature perception has waned in favor of securing a college degree as requisite to the acquisition of a good job. It has been revealed that the capability and inclination to read books and write essays are limited; that the salutary quality of intellectual curiosity is anachronistic. We regard this all-pervasive tragedy as shocking and extremely worrisome.

It has been the principal theme of this blogspace that enlightenment, particularly through the study of the humanities, leads to a mature understanding of oneself and the ambient World and makes for a fulfilled life experience. Under all of our 1,300 writings, the respective themes, expressly or impliedly, are founded in the desire to encourage personal growth and the attainment of a sense of fulfillment through reading and learning, on a personal and institutional basis. The aspiration for true success is attained by the result of the individual’s development of understanding and a mature perspective.

The subject is also one relating to the success and endurance of the Nation, as a correlating benefit. The existential importance of a sophisticated and knowledgeable population was again demonstrated by our World War 2 enemy, Germany. This small to medium-sized country came close to conquering the World, by reason of its educated and easily mobilized population. In our view, Germany’s power was in its human resources, far more than its natural resources and horrific armaments. It seems to be proven by history that the most cogent and effective National resource is its people.

In the search for personal growth and, more universally, National character, the enlightened citizen has not only provided for himself the opportunity for a fulfilling life, but, additionally, in the National context, an existentially vital citizen. The populist, unfulfilling preference for video games, rather than reading good literature, smartphones, in place of natural and satisfying personal interaction, has empirically and destructively, led to a generally dumbed-down, solitary, and insecure population of little utility to themselves and minimal utility to the Nation; they do not swim forward, their propensity and singular persona is handicapped and limited to the minimal dynamics of treading water in place. Relevantly, Thomas Jefferson presciently admonished that for a democracy to be successful, it requires an educated and well-informed population.

Conceivably, the Nation might convene a comprehensive program of study and recommendations of knowledgeable educators and psychologists to ascertain a utilitarian route to a more enlightened and knowledge-seeking student population. For starters, the holiday gifting of good literature to children rather than video games might be a cogent starting place,

-p.