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On a great many occasions, we have wrestled with the enigma as to the motivation of those Americans whose contemporary mindset appears to reflect an insurgency against the liberal principles and relatively non-intrusive operation of our reasonably, competent, democratic republic. Their loudly expressed opinions and overt actions, [the most extreme of which was the January 6, 2021, violent insurgency against the Washington Capitol Building,] which, if conceivably successful, would seem, ultimately, to, lead to a steep descent into autocracy, portending a far less free and spontaneous life experience for all concerned.

It has been, ominously said, that the next Presidential election will determine the nature of the country we will inhabit. Our Nation, it seems, has been generally, bifurcated, into two competing constituencies; one of which, remains fully in favor of the precepts of universal equity, the unfettered right of every citizen to vote, and the implicit responsibility of government, when necessary, to render assistance to the needy citizen. The other, to supporting racial and religious preference, voting regulation and diminished government participation in the lives, business and welfare of the citizenry.

It was the latter cohort, in its crude intolerance and adolescent rashness, that chose to mount the violent insurrection; erroneously based upon the false, fascistic and tactically manufactured, “Big Lie,” [“stolen election,”]  tactically authored by the defeated, Donald Trump, purposed to overturn the result of that [certified, as correct] democratic, election. Those protestors and the Nation’s balance of Trump sycophants, would, thereby, engineer the setting aside of the vote, and thoughtlessly, the keystone institution of the democracy itself. In an earlier blog, we warned such ignorant, errant citizens, to be wary of what they ultimately wish for, viz., the cold iron fist of autocratic rule.

It has ominously, been said that the next Presidential election will determine the nature of the country we will reside in, as in the present, free, republican democracy or an autocracy, such as monstrously exists in Putin’s Russia, or Oban’s Hungary.

It is no less than crucial, that Congress pass the current Voting Rights Bill, as, yet another formal and articulated expression of Americans’ universal right to vote, the latter, being the salient criterion of a Democratic Nation. Yet, it may fairly be observed, that we have historically passed voting rights Statutes, [in addition to the U.S. Constitution, as it is contemporaneously read]. It is the theme of this writing, that, while the relevant enactments,, must be passed, the salient causes of the problems of inequality and of race and religious prejudice, apparently, are not intrinsically, legal ones.

It has been in our empirically considered observation, that we cannot depend upon Statutory Law, alone, to preserve democracy. As stated, to date, we may possibly have a surfeit of legal enactments providing for the preservation of an equitable democracy. It is essentially, the relevant people, who have to be convinced of the essential morality of universal equality and of personal worth. We have in our Nation, a huge conglomerate of varied individuals, discontented with their lives, who feel that their lives have no meaning and that the latter, is the fault of the government.

We certainly do not presume to infer that such discontent, or lack of meaning, is in any way, the responsibility of government. To the contrary, our democratic republic certainly does not discourage literacy nor self-advancement; the latter being the best route to a more fulfilled life experience. It is difficult to imagine any redeeming or perceived value in a daily life, pursued solely, in an ignorant, unaware, and insular manner. In fact, the foundational, and eternal purpose of this blogspace, is the encouragement of self-advancement through the conduct of personal elective activities; from reading and artwork to collecting and carpentry. The greatest number of pliny essays, especially the earlier writings are dedicated to the theme of self-fulfillment by the pursuance of non-work-related, selected interests. These “outside” interests furnish private insight to oneself and a mature perspective of others.

There, conceivably, may be ways, to encourage such self-improvement, personal self-fulfillment and as a positive consequence, feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction with life. This would tend to eliminate any felt need to seek a scapegoat for one’s discontent in life, such as the government or people who look different, Unless and until that methodology is developed and utilized, we will be obliged to rely upon efficient enforcement of Statutes, for whatever they may accomplish.

-p.   

The leaf dry rustling thru the breezy arbor
The subtle impress of a cool infant kiss
The stream’s quick chortle over its rock bed
The snap-hard taste of orange chocolate

The raucous din of children at playtime
The buzz- stiff buzzing of bumblebees
The adoring looks of the quietly loving
The tart-sweet taste of June cherries

The cheek’s soft touch of warm sunbeam
The smells: newly sawn wood and baked bread
The quick chin-lick of a small, furry kitten
The immense relief at a friend’s good diagnosis

The closing of the cover of a much-loved book
The wine glass of cold bubbly, Prosecco
The sitting midst’ loved ones for dinner
The soft utter surrender to a cool pillow.

APOTHEOSIS

Leonard N. Shapiro 1/3/22

The year 2021, observably, was a rather bleak one; featuring, among other joyless subjects, the Covid pandemic, instances of police brutality,  the aftermath of a violent insurrection, voter interference, extreme weather, (presumably, the effect of unaddressed climate warming), the continued rise of White Christian Nationalism, Congressional investigations, inflation, and judicial threats to established abortion rights. In this Holiday Special Writing, we attempt to sort out, from the din, real and fictional anecdotal trinkets (“Gewgaws”) which we hope the reader will find amusing.

*The Hammond Map Corp., in 2021, has announced to its stockholders, the recent development of an entry-level version of an Outer Space, GPS mapping device, to enable billionaires to view their earthly tax shelters during space jaunts.

* Tucker Carlson has testily, insisted that the use of Ivermectin, was, in reality, very successful. He admits that, while those who ingested it did sustain a high rate of Covid infection, he argues that, reportedly, less than .04% of Americans who did so developed horse worms.

* The Sierra Club has found that wearing red MAGA baseball caps, invites painful skull attacks by diving blue jays, and constant jabbing by inquiring hummingbirds.

* Forty-three Republican majority State Legislatures, have passed, in excess of three hundred bills, slanting the vote, in order to prevent the undemocratic effects of slanting the vote.

* The NRA has developed a pink-colored Gatling gun for gifting by sweethearts, next Valentine’s Day.

* Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resents certain recent comparisons of herself to Machine Gun Molly, of the 1960s, and has angrily stated her preference for comparison to Florence Nightingale,  Jane Austin or Eleanor Roosevelt.

* The Board of the Mike Pence Foundation has publically announced its unanimous ruling, that, following the decease of  Vice-President Pence, that there be installed an exact wax replica of a smiling Mike Pence in Mme. Tussaud’s Wax Museum, inserted between the statues of Jack The Ripper and Bela Lugosi.

* A request, identical to the previous, item has been made, by the constituents of Sen. Ted Cruz.

* We are not exactly sure, but believe it was the intellectually gifted, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who, prudently suggested, that instead of the expense of the purchase of a fleet of gondolas for the Potomac, it would be cheaper to buy two gondolas, a male and a female, and permit them to mate.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

–p.

What would be more bizarre than Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky?” More distorted than a carnival funhouse mirror? More, conceivably delusional than believing that “liberals” are maintaining a profitable business in child sex trafficking ?  More misguided than drinking bathroom cleanser, or injecting veterinary horse worm medicine, as preventative to an attack of Covid-19? More delusional than believing in laser attacks from outer space by Israel? That the Federal Government has secreted microscopic tracking devices in Covid vaccine?

The irrefutable answer, to all of the foregoing challenging questions, is The nomination of the disgraced and odious, Donald J. Trump, to run again for the American Presidency.

In the business world, applications for employment positions, involving any reasonable degree of judgment or experience, universally and necessarily, encompass a written resume, and a series of personal interviews. Such requirements are, discernably, in aid of the potential employer’s responsibility to determine the potential suitability of the job applicant for the relevant position. Should a prospective employer or his representative, detect any suggestive negative traits or questionable experiences, relative to the applicant, he would, reliably, refrain from electing to hire him.

The evaluation of any prospective performance by Trump, beyond his past, single and singular, four-year term, would not seem, as a practical matter, to require a written resume or personal interview. His established, ignorant and corrupt [mis]management of the high office, has been more, empirically informative than any descriptive resume or follow-up interview. Trump’s two Congressional, impeachments, the contemporary commencement by Congress and the Attorney General, of prosecutions to be pending against him for a smorgasbord of criminal offenses, including the possibility of Treason,  gross violations of the Emolument Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and most particularly, the unprecedented failure to peaceably step down, after his loss to Joseph  Biden, [as is traditionally required in a Democratic Republic], and his autocratic, creation of the “Big Lie,” ultimately, fomenting a violent and deadly insurrection, against the Capitol  Building [traditional historic  Nazi tactics], would, undoubtedly, mandate a long jail sentence, and not another detestable opportunity to replicate his un-American and immoral behavior.

Such dishonorable acts, are in addition to criminal negligence in issuing misleading statements, concerning the seriousness of Covid, promotion White Christian Supremacy Groups, bigotry against minorities and women,  serial mendacity, cruel, public ridiculing of the disabled, an embarrassing  and pathetically, sophomoric international performance, appointment of unqualified and ignorant toadies to the American Cabinet, autocratic campaign against the news media, derogation of the concept of truth, itself, and the contrary promotion of “alternate facts,” derogation of intellectuals and scientists, denial of global warming, publicly demonstrated, lack of moral principle, consort with prostitutes and criminal bribery to silence knowledge of such misbehavior, slander and castigation of critics, immense neurotic egotism, arrogance, coupled with massive and all-pervasive ignorance, lack of mature perspective and refusal to seek better counsel, lack of empathy for the needy, cruelty to immigrants and their families, improper relationships, viz.,  Epstein, Putin, perpetration of fraud and misrepresentation in business, ex., “Trump University,” “Trump Vodka” and others, plus an egregiously immoral record in the real estate business, inveterate golfer and slacker-off, grantor of financial favoritism and grantor of  bribes, general grifter and consummate violator of mainstream morality,  observable, full-time sociopath.

To those who, impulsively, would tolerate any consideration, whatsoever, of a reprise of the  Donald Trump  Presidency, we submit this writing, as his personal resume, for evaluative consideration.

-p.   

At this disturbingly divisive and rancorous moment in our Nation, it would seem relevant and useful, to recall the 1935, Sinclair Thomas novel, “It Can’t Happen Here.” The prescient work published a full 86 years ago, describes the uncanny ease, with which the rise of a charismatic, populist, demagogue, similar to Adolph Hitler, may come to power, disastrously resulting in a dystopic and autocratic, political government. [Hence its title]. A reading or review of this work should dissuade any thoughtful person from the misguided impression that such a tragedy could not, at any time, occur in our democratic Nation; indeed, that, recent events, conceivably, might portend a harbinger of such nightmarish tragedy.

Our readings indicate a historically, tried and true, household recipe for the successful preparation of this bitter repast, evincing its authentic and dystopic, autocratic and repressive lifestyle, flavored with a generous overlay of cold, unsweetened, quotidian fear. To access this consistently utilitarian and reliably, error-free recipe, one need not go to the trouble to consult the cookbooks, ex., “The Joy of Cooking,” or “The Silver Palate,” nor even, Ms. Julia Childs, herself; the reported events, appearing in the daily newspaper, will suffice to favor the reader with more than sufficient factual information.  

The sycophantic followers of Donald J, Trump, essentially, made up of the vast, populist “underbelly” of our Nation, whose extant cultish adoration of, and obeisance to, that bizarre, orange, Deity, prior to his Presidential election, seems to have endured, despite two shameful Congressional Impeachments, and his election loss. By such adamant support, they yet remain, loyally and unshakably, in accord with his crude and Nero-style, egocentric pathology, of favoring the pattern of autocratic rule.

Replicating the historically, inglorious, Adolph Hitler, and other such repulsive autocrats, Trump, with such cultish support has favored the reprise of the traditional, autocratic tactic of the subjective distortion of truthful facts, in favor of the more convenient use of “alternate facts, or, “alt-reality,” to comport with his own subjective distortions and evident ignorance, the disparagement and control of legitimate newspapers and other institutional media, the promotion of divisive prejudice, particularly, regarding people with dark skin as well as religious minorities, the disparagement of learning and educative science, opposition to immigration, the practice of promotion to high political office of his personal acolytes, of controlling police discipline and the military sanction of dissidents, abridgment of free [critical] speech, absolute intolerance of critical opinion, feminine and gender abuse, lack of empathy for the disabled,  the xenophobic opposition to immigration, distrust of the intellectual, and legitimate academia, ready acceptance of irrational conspiracy ideations, and a universal, systemic paranoia and ubiquitous oppression.

The plethora of disturbing, undemocratic observations during the past, dystopic, term of Donald J. Trump, and the persistent, cultish loyalty of his followers [to the point of violent insurrection makes the fear of a regression to autocracy, with all of its despicable concomitants, a cogent possibility. Our Nation must constantly stay engaged and informed, so that it can, resist the false, but tactically alluring, snake-oil promises by skilled, wily demagogues, and continue to maintain a fully aware and informed citizenry, to be enabled to counter the conditions that allow autocracy, or “totalitarianism,” to flourish.

It can happen here.

-p.

It is on the first day of the Winter Solstice, that Earth, our domiciliary planet, begins its slow, rotational turn, to the existential light of the Sun. Would that it was conceivably possible, to analogously observe Mankind’s assured regular inclination to enlightenment. Notwithstanding its laudable advancements, in science, digital technology and medicine, there has not been a commensurate heliocentricity, relative to Mankind’s advance to the attainment of enlightenment.

Any candid chronicle of events of the year 2021, would be hard pressed to do so, in a celebratory context; no psalms, carols, bells or whistles would suffice to dim: the anguished tragedy of the many thousands of preventable infections and deaths, attributable to the persistent Covid invasion, as exacerbated by the irresponsible ignorance of the Trump administration; nor, the emergence from the proverbial, woodwork of an anti-democratic horde of the Nation’s chronically ignorant underbelly, [catalyzed by their revered orange demagogue-deity, Donald J. Trump ] for the purpose of vociferously, and violently, demonstrating their psychotic hatred of representative democracy, in general, and American citizens, born with a noticeably heavier pigmentation of melanin, specifically.   

In a Nation, such as ours, populated entirely by immigrants and their progeny, the ardent, populist opposition, to the admission of desperate fugitives, fleeing foreign corrupt and dangerous venues, seeking acceptable lives [like their predecessors], is inhumanly cruel and despicably selfish.

At the close of year 2021, we find ourselves, confessedly, populated by a plethora of atavistic and undemocratic bigots, successful enough to date, to cause forty-three, Republican controlled, State Legislatures, to enact anti-democratic Laws, limiting the votes of America’s minority communities. The Kafka-like, “Through the Looking Glass” rationale, bizarrely enunciated for the latter, amounts to the avoidance of election manipulation, by [themselves] “overtly manipulating elections. This travesty has its tangled, gnarly roots, in Trump’s monomaniacal claim, the “Big Lie”, viz., the completely unsupported, fabrication that the election was “stolen” from him. It was this delusional, ideation, that led to the criminal insurrection at Washington’s Capitol Building, January 6.

At this remarkably, bleak time, the scourge of the pandemic continues to be increasingly, concerning. Notwithstanding, the laudable development of effective vaccines, Trump’s public disparagement of their administration, and, as well, of medically recommended prophylactic measures, tragically added to the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens. In addition to the reported mortality figure of upwards of 800,000 deaths, the prolongation of the virility of the epidemic disease, by his wrongful denial of its true threat has, to date, enabled two virulent mutations.  Hospitals are overwhelmed with cases involving Covid pathology, preempting surgery and other medical needs. There were loud, audible, boo’s the other day, when Trump and that avatar of arrogance and bigotry, Bill Reilly, publically admitted, to a television audience that they, inconsistent their ardently expressed, public disparagement of the process, had each taken both rounds of shots, plus the booster.

At the time of the occurrence of the present Winter Solstice, the most sacred and reverential part of the Founders’ architecture of our Separation of Powers, i.e., SCOTUS, scarcely resembles the institution, as properly and functionally constituted by our Founders.  A mandatory prerequisite to the acceptance of any case by SCOTUS, has, since its inception, the “certiorari proceeding,” purposed, to legally demonstrate, that no political issue was involved, nor any political impact thereof, possible. This was, appropriately, to prevent a breach of the requirements of the Constitutional provision of, “Separation of Powers.” Since the 2000 case of Bush v. Gore, SCOTUS has, in a surprisingly inconsistent manner, become political, [and worse, partisan] as was irrefutably, demonstrated by the Citizen’s Union case. The latter case was indisputably, political, and, further, contrary to all legal precedent extant, since the English Statutes of Elizabeth, ruled that “corporate personhood” [merely, a practical business fiction], entitled Corporations [as “people”] to make unlimited political contributions; thus upsetting the long accepted, constitutional mandate, and more existentially, dangerous to our citizen representative democracy; perpetrated by the very institution, created to assure and guide the proper functioning of our democratic republic.

Most troubling and existentially perilous, to our Democratic Republic, [perhaps, immorally seen as a useful tool by the autocratic, Donald Trump] is the Nazi-like rise of militant, White Christian Nationalist Groups. Their recent brazen, anti-societal behavior has metastasized from local criminality to the level of a full-blown, bloody, public Insurrection at the Nation’s Capital. The bitter lesson of the 1930’s Weimar Republic and Adolph Hitler must not go, unheeded. The insidious enemy, no doubt counts upon the reliable indifference of the public.

A mature and candid recognition of the presenting challenges is an existential prerequisite to their effective amelioration. We remain hopeful that, perhaps, by the next Winter Solstice, an aware and enlightened American population will, in natural adherence to its historically dedicated orbit, effectively, fend off, such threats to our fixed aspirations for eternally universal democratic equality and natural human advancement.

-p.    

It is empirically, irrefutable, that our perceived apprehension of others is acquired from mutual social experience, that it is non-scientific, but, admittedly, a subjective phenomenon. Much depends upon one’s previously established stereotypic images or, recollected impressions, of past interactive experiences. One’s own self-image, on the other hand, would seem to be the product of judgmental recollection of our lifetime reactions to presenting stimuli.

The quality of our recollected evaluation of others often depends upon the perceptual impact of their appearance, statements and actions. At times, inconvenient, facile and inaccurate fashion, one creates categorical or judgmental imagery of third parties, viz., stereotypes, construed in accordance with his perception of former experience. These effortless impressions, are tempting and convenient, but, all too often, unjust and inaccurate. It is inarguable, that our empirical experiences are finite, in number and that perceptions of the same, are subjective.

In an earlier writing, we expressed our strong negative reaction to the injustice created by the evaluation of insufficiently known individuals, reductively, based upon established stereotypes of others with whom we have had substantial, interactive experience. It would appear somewhat tautological, to declare that every individual has his own unique persona and life experience. Expectations of the quality of future performance of an individual, based on a perceived resemblance to another, or, the predictive comparison of differentiated individuals are equally reductive and illogical.

With these basic concepts in mind, and relevant to our present theme, we sought to understand the [merely] lukewarm praise, generally accorded by the media, to the Biden Administration, in lieu of what we observe to be, its outstandingly fine record, to date.

Initially, it is to be borne in mind, that Joseph Biden, upon entering Presidential office, inherited a roiling mortal pandemic [exacerbated by his incapable and ignorant predecessor], a seriously declining economy, a worsening and unaddressed, global warming, [the latter, already evincing tragic meteorological consequences], an autocratic insurrection upon the Washington Capitol, a Senate, controlled by a Trump acolyte Republican majority, the refusal of two obdurate, Congressional Democrats, to participate, in a needed elimination of the filibuster, the elimination of which would be crucial to halting Republican attacks on the right to vote [most especially, the vote of our black and brown communities].

Observably, the capable and informed policies of President Biden, after merely nine months in office, resulted in a Nationwide rational, and scientific program to fight the Covid pandemic, a much-improved, recovering economy [inclusive of a laudable, major reduction in child poverty], a wider citizen understanding and mobilization regarding global warming, the withdrawal from the useless and costly war in Afghanistan [specifically promised by previous Presidents], and a much needed restoration of universal respect for America’s Oval Office. Unlike his incompetent predecessor, he has appointed a Cabinet of knowledgeable, dedicated and qualified Secretaries, and a qualified and non-partisan, Attorney General. Biden has consistently and appropriately, demonstrated an empathic response to National tragedies, earning himself, the sobriquet of “Consoler in Chief.”

In light of the above, we confidently, attribute his lukewarm [as opposed to celebratory] approval, to the social and psychological dynamics, set forth in the earlier parts of this essay, which can be analytically, and relevantly, described as the error of comparative, “false equivalency.”

In the referenced, earlier writing, likewise entitled, “Great Expectations,” we severely criticized the reductive, lazy practice of maintaining a fixed, stereotypical expectation of others, who summon up some similarity with another person, with whom the observer had good or bad experience. The writing dealt with the unfairness of ascribing a persona, based on limited and subjective perception.

The election of Joseph Biden was, inarguably, a great relief, after the incapable and ignorant, clown show of the orange-haired darling, of America’s underbelly, Donald Trump; regarding whom, the Nation would have had little expectation of an acceptable, let alone, competent, performance. With reference to the present, themed, quirk in human judgment, the comparative ascendance to the Oval Office [mercifully] of Joseph Biden, appears to have elicited somehow, an unfair standard of unrealistically high, media expectations.

This is a classic case of the perceptual error of comparing apples and oranges, or “false equivalence,” noted above. The media and the Nation should appropriately, and fairly, construe their judgments,  upon the demonstrated, [excellent] beginning of Biden’s first term as President, and not on their personal, referential or esoteric expectations.

-p.
 * [once more, apologies for the title, to Mr. Charles Dickens]

In legal lexicon, the common law principle of “force majeure” [or, alternatively, “Acts of God”], if proved, is a determinative, equitable defense to any lawsuit alleging breach of contract. The term, itself, relates to the precedential rule that parties to a legal contract are released from the obligation to perform when extraordinary circumstances, beyond their control, prevent the fulfillment of the contractual obligation, viz., war, epidemic, riot, or disaster. In this short essay, we have taken the liberty of extending said term, somewhat, to include, overriding, or existential, priority.

It would require but little argument, to declare that the Nation is sharply, divided on many issues, such as exist between those who would deny women, the right of abortion, and those who support that right as a matter of personal liberty, the acts of State Republican majority Legislatures, enacting legislation aimed at  abridging the vote of minority citizens, the disputed existence of the need for gun regulation, the paramount importance of science and global warming, the subject of vaccination, on immigration, on the unsupported claims of irregularity of the previous presidential, election, on redistricting and “gerrymandering,” on questions of basic, universal equality, on taxation, infrastructure, excesses of police behavior, reform  of the criminal law system, on the environment,  free trade versus commercial protectionism, on women’s opportunities in the corporate marketplace, on free tuition for State Universities, on privacy, unionism, religious influence in government, the internet, capital punishment,  government responsibility for needy citizens, on health and safety regulations and various others.

Contesting parties have disappointingly and uselessly, eschewed the healthy, productive practice of peaceful, citizen debate, in their preference for the useless, divisive, practice of tribal, insular groups of identical opinion in acrimonious relationship with similar groups of opposite opinion. Influential lobbyists, seek to fashion  law and regulations to  suit their sponsor,[ conceivably, contrary to the interest of the American voter], members of the judiciary are improperly selected, based  upon their known views, rather than the appropriate criteria, of legal prowess and impartiality, big corporations undemocratically, enfranchised by SCOTUS, to make unlimited campaign contributions, and delusional conspiracy wonks, fervently peddling their paranoid ideations. The foregoing is but an incomplete list of the present subjects of National acrimony and division. The most shameful and dangerous expression of discontent was the large, delusional, horde of [Trump invited] election conspiracy stooges, which went so far, as to stage a violent and deadly insurrection at the Nation’s Capital Building, June 6, 2020.

The fractious and divisive character of the nation was significantly, exacerbated, by the entry into the political arena of Donald J. Trump, an ignorant but effective, demagogue, capable, somehow, of the acquisition of, a large and remarkably vocal, “populist” following. Trump, awarded the singular distinction, of Congressional impeachment twice, in his single, four-year term as President, bizarrely, has continuing appeal to the populist underbelly of our country, who seek to perversely influence and control voters and  Congressmen; which influence continues, unexplainably, despite his electoral defeat.

The Democratic Party has been repeatedly roadblocked in The U.S. Senate, in its numerous attempts to enact legislation in the public interest, by the Trump sycophantic Republican Senate, fearful of losing their seats due to the cultish appeal of the autocratic Trump. Outstanding among these un-American censors of Democratic-sponsored, needed legislation, has consistently, proven to be the canny, tactical Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, Senior Senator from Kentucky. This wily and tactical, Donald Trump supporter,  has publicly dedicated himself to block proposed Democratic legislation; included in which is “Build Back Better,” legislation providing, among other things, substantial financial support, for infrastructure repair and development, McConnell had previously, in arrogant, partisan manner, in like manner, blocked, a deserving Democratic nominee for Justice of the Supreme Court; and subsequently, as contrived, had three, unequivocally, conservative Justices appointed to the High Court.

The concern based upon the possibility of loss of their Congressional seat, due to Trump’s bizarrely continuing influence, has, apparently, influenced U.S. Senators and Representatives to support or oppose, Trump favored legislation, contrary to the foundational tenets of our Republican Democracy. In the immediately preceding essay, [ #627 “Bonfire of the Lemmings”], we stated that the salutary concept of a two-party system, has, of late, declined, as a practical reality, to one party,[ Democratic] supporting the principles of democracy and the other, [Republican] endeavoring to demolish them.

Last week, while the national teapot continued to boil, vigorously, and with great divisive rancor, an unusual confederation of powerful tornadoes struck the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and broad swaths of the adjoining, Mid-West. The unusual meteorological conglomerate of storms blasted Kentucky to absolute smithereens and effected commensurate damage in surrounding States. The devastating and unprecedented happening reduced all structures, including homes, to rubble, and was tragically responsible for the loss of life of many Americans, of all ages. This cataclysmic event, added to the existing contemporaneous persistence of Covid, unquestionably, constitutes a historically, dark, and epochful event.

There would appear to be, little vocabulary, sufficient to adequately, express the depth and quality of our empathy, for the victims of this vast meteorological tragedy. Nevertheless, the reader may find the following personal predictions, of the consequential alterations, to previously held political views, interesting and thought provoking. These predictions are founded, upon the eternal and pragmatic, political aphorism: “Your stand depends upon where you sit.”

• We anticipate a complete change of direction in Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell’s previous, obdurate resolution, to politically block President Biden’s “Build Back  Better” Infrastructure Bill. The Senator from the State of Kentucky, the latter, the bullseye center, of the enormous meteorological holocaust, will find, on further consideration, that the Bill is not far too costly.
• The voters in Kentucky and other affected “red” States may realize that Global Warming, in fact, is not a conspiratorial canard, perpetrated by the left wing, for political purposes.
• The affected citizens, needing substantial financial and other assistance from the Federal Government, may, at long last, experience the epiphany that governmental assistance is not the dreaded “apocalypse” of “Socialism,” [whatever their meager understanding of that economic-political theory may be].
• The uncomfortable realization by Evangelical Christians, that such severe meteorological events have natural causes and are not expressions of displeasure of the Deity [Ex: “The Great Flood,” “ The Destruction of Nineveh,” “The  Egyptian Ten Plagues”]; and perhaps, in addition, a learned, respect  for the environment, and understanding of the aspiration of a green, sustainable Planet.

To be clear, we do not wish to express any personal belief, whatsoever, in the desperate aphorism, that all bad things have some positive benefit, of one kind or another. We do not believe in such a nonsensical and Pollyannaish aphoristic rationale. There is no good side of the Holocaust, or, more recently, the pandemic. We merely seek to predict the possibility of the acquisition of some useful enlightenment, resulting from this horrendous event.

-p.

[N.B.: Lemmings, are a species of short-tail rodents that assemble for mass migration, and develop some kind of compulsion and, carried along by such unreasoning compulsion, or mass hysteria, fall into step for a march, that will take them to a strange destiny; they are victims of obsessive thought, e.g., “move on, move on,”…. then, reach a precipice, and go over.]

Our Nation has, by and large, enjoyed a two-party political system, each party, customarily and usefully, in mutual contention on controversial issues such as, fiscal and public policy, citizen rights, the extent of governmental participatory responsibility in the commercial and private arenas, and a virtual myriad of presenting subjects, both domestic and foreign. Such relationship of contention, as originally conceived, salubriously, assures necessary consideration and balancing of the equities. Moreover, consistent with the intended dynamics of representative democracy, it, significantly, affords to the citizen by use of his voting franchise, the opportunity to weigh in on legislative and executive policy.

Despite discrete historic episodes of hiccoughs and temporary roadblocks, the American Nation has been, discernably, successful in its slow, but continuous, progress towards its avowed aspiration of true and universal equality; such democratic goal, however, eternally hobbled by a portion [“underbelly”] of its citizens, clinging, like mindless lichen, to their atavistic prejudices.

Such slow, but steady advance, was road blocked, by the surprise elevation to the American Presidency, of Donald J. Trump; the latter, a demagogic snake oil vendor, and the perverse darling of the Nation’s underbelly. Demonstrably incapable and corrupt as an executive, he is a former part-time host, of a second-rate television game show, and widely reputed full-time real estate grifter. In view of his ignorance, egotistic self-promotion and overt rejection of mainstream standards of morality and decency, it is difficult to conger up rational reasons for his bizarre elevation to the venerable, Oval Office; the exceptions, being the eternally discontented “underbelly” and the financing by certain air- polluting industries, which, sociopathically, value profits over human health.

Trump’s first [and only] four-year term, in addition to attaining the singular distinction, of two Congressional Impeachments, proved to be a National disaster, domestically and internationally, by reason of his colossal ignorance, serial mendacity, and empirical incapability. It resulted in a major loss of American prestige, an exponential increase in National divisiveness, [to the point of development of insular cults in mutual tribal conflict] and a stalemate in racial justice, the latter, affected by his public encouragement of America’s Christian White Supremacy Groups. His autocratic attack on newspapers and the media and on the existence of factual truth [“alt. facts”] were frighteningly analogous to the perverse tactics employed by fascistic Hitler and Mussolini.

Trump’s most impactful autocratic program, was his “Big Lie,” viz., his false claim of election theft conspiracy, relative to his election defeat for a desired second term. This ploy was no less than catalytic for his tribal, compliant, cult, and the lemming-like, right-wing asylum, of delusional conspiracy mongers, leading to their notorious and shameful, violent insurrection at the Capitol Building.

The pathological falsity and effect of Trump’s delusional charge [The Big Lie”] of election tampering were metastasized by various State [Trump- Majority] Legislatures. Contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, they enacted legislation to eliminate or make difficult, the votes of communities of color, as their articulated, reaction to the latter’s widespread support of Biden. It is no less than maddening, to note that such actions were perversely intended to alter or distort the results of the popular vote, in an illogical and clearly, hypocritical reaction, to the [patently false] “ Big Lie” claim of unfair voter irregularities. [More bizarre, Alice-In Wonderland reality or Franz Kafka justice].

Autocratic tactics were employed, including, voter and citizen intimidation, denigration of truthful facts, in favor of those, subjectively, deemed more useful [“alternative facts”], a continuous assault on the public media, the inculcation of tactical and conspiratorial ideation, of prejudicial beliefs and bigotry, against “others,” the degradation of science and learning, and many anti-democratic, memes were validated by a large number of cultishly hypnotic followers. This has led, to the present, bizarre phenomenon of having two parties, one of which, in practical effect, supports democratic governance, and the other, essentially opposed to it. There are miscreants, who, for personal and sundry motives, effectively, plot the destruction of our democratic way of life and civil society, with the loyal support of lemming-like citizens, uniformly complying in a perilous, unaware and thoughtless trek to tragedy.

We are completely nonplussed and enormously alarmed, at the substantial number of lemming-like, thoughtless individuals, faithfully responding to the orange-haired huckster,[ analogous to the Hamlin town rodents, hypnotized by the fluted notes of the Pied Piper, or, applicably, to the tragic hypnotic attraction of the German people to demagogic Adolph Hitler in the 1930s]. Such misguided and delusional, Trump acolytes, evince tribal belief, in the false, conspiratorial allegations of Trump’s “Big Lie,” and to perceived governmental secret conspiracies of every nature, including, tiny, government installed, tracking computers in Covid vaccine, rockets sent, by laser beams, to Earth by Israel, a flourishing, left-wing, child sex enterprise, a plot to take away all gun ownership, a government plot to morph into Socialism, the control of banks by Jews, the dedicated evangelical capability of homosexuals, democratic party voter fraud, and secret plots of the Federal Government; all of which can only have their origin in Trump-inspired paranoia.

These deluded hordes of conspiracy mongers are, unsurprisingly, Trump confederates,  in his autocratic,  “Big Lie,” supporters of [Trump inspired], legislative interference with the vote [notably, with respect to communities of color], opponents of immigration, castigators of newspaper and other media, opponents of empirical truth, and, in contrast, supporters, of “alternative facts” and consistent with autocratic theology, staunch opponents of enlightenment, freedom of artistic expression, universal equality and the traditionally accepted criteria of democratic republicanism.

It is certain, in fact, inarguable, that the lemming is not celebrated for his predictive acumen.  Should the violent anti-democratic lust, and “group think,” of the rare species, of American lemming- citizens, conceivably, be successful, they will have achieved, by such thoughtless insular tribalism, entirely altered life-styles under autocratic rule; predictably, portending a plethora of State control and a contrasting, dearth of personal liberty. Their faux “patriotic” means, for the moment, may seem to them, exciting, even inspirational, [albeit distorted and delusional], but the ends predictably, achieved would lead such “lemmings,” to the dark, unforeseen, cliff’s edge of autocratic existence.

-p.

Any possible reluctance to criticize the current Supreme Court of the United States [“SCOTUS], by the accusation that it has become “political,” will predictably be further diminished, by its expected decision on the issue of abortion [Dobbs v. Jackson Woman Health Org.]. In the latter matter, the [“traditionally enlightened”] State of Mississippi, by Statute, banned legal abortion after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. The foregoing expectation is fundamentally, based upon the unbalanced political composition of the contemporary Court, which now contains three additional partisan, conservative Justices, appointed, based on their past expressed views by the Trump Administration.

We would choose to highlight three cogent considerations, two of which are legal, the third, societal, in favor of a definitive reaffirmation of the natural right and liberty of a woman to make the personal decision to abort her pregnancy; as decreed in the fifty-year-old precedential case of Roe v. Wade. Such considerations are: (a) The societal stabilizing benefit of recognized legal precedent, (b) The absolute proscription against religious preference under the “Establishment Clause” of The U.S. Constitution, and, finally, (c) the danger to life and health implicit in the obligatory resort to non-professional and illegal, {“back alley”] abortion providers.

• The sanctity of established legal precedent. The concept and application of recognized legal precedent is consequential in effect. It references a final, determination by an Appellate Court [viz., SCOTUS], which establishes the applicable legal rule or authority, for the future, on a previously controvertible issue.  Such determination is legally and societally, recognized and is productive of stability based upon its recognized resolution and universal acceptance.  The issue, previously contested, and resolved is a determinative source for relevant reference.

The Supreme Court, more than fifty years ago, established the Nation’s legal precedent, regarding the issue of a women’s right of choice as to abortion. The celebrated case of Roe v. Wade, determined the previously contested issue, by ruling that a woman had the personal and legal right to have an abortion. This was and is the settled legal precedent on the subject, and has been recognized and referenced, as stated, for upwards of one-half century.

The subject parties, who would seek to overturn established precedent, by making abortion illegal, vociferously, argue that legal precedent has in fact, been beneficially overturned in past American jurisprudence. citing such cases as, Plessy v. Ferguson [1896], which approved segregation in schools, if they were equal, and Brown v, Board of Education [1954] which indeed, overturned the precedent of the Plessy case; the latter Court, determining that all school segregation was unconstitutional, under the 14^th Amendment, and that’ “separate is not equal.” They could as well cite the overruled Dred Scott case, in which the determination was that a Black slave was just agricultural property (a “chattel”).

However, it is rudimentary legal analysis would reveal that when the [properly constituted] Supreme Court, overturned such precedent, it was, specifically for the express purpose of the protection of individual rights, and, manifestly, not their destruction.

It might be argued, as well, that the alteration of precedential law, concurrent with the shifts in Judicial membership, would necessarily lead to the public perception that the application of our Constitution is political and not impartial.

• The overturn of the Roe case, and the legal banning of abortion, would directly violate of the “Establishment Clause” of the U.S. Constitution:

Article 1, of the U.S, Constitution, among its other provisions, prohibits the making of any law, establishing or affecting the practice [or non-practice] of any religion. A review of “(c),” below, will result in the logical deduction [or the process of elimination] that the underlying motivation and evident purpose of the anti-abortion proponents are necessarily religious, if at all rational. We would refer the reader to “(c)” in support of this conclusion, in order to avoid unnecessary repetition.

• The proposed denial of a women’s right of abortion, would be a blatant deprivation of her rights to privacy and personal liberty, and result in her necessary and perilous relegation to non-professional, or “back alley” services, and amount to a personal and societal danger.

The avowed, motivational purpose of anti-abortion proponents is a purported reverence for “Life.” This tactical misrepresentation is irrefutably, belied by their empirically demonstrated beliefs and actions, which include denial of benefits for the needy child, after the event of birth, apparently, only valuing life, in utero [the fetus], supporting unregulated gun ownership, favoring the death penalty, denying refuge for desperate immigrants, ignoring, or opposing the existential threat of global warming.

Such evident sentiment and lack of human empathy belie their tactical choice of name, “Right to Life,” as well as their sub-rosa motivations; the latter, by logical elimination can only be based on religion [see (“b”) above and be unconstitutional.

Until the procedurally, troubling case of Bush v. Gore, an Appellant was required to prove, in a prerequisite proceeding [“Writ of Certiorari”] that the case, for which acceptance was sought, by SCOTUS, for determination, was “entirely free” from any political issue, nor had any indirect political impact. This requirement, constitutionally required to avoid the violation of its bedrock principle, ”Separation of Powers,” had been the rule since its inception.

SCOTUS’ steadily declining record of impartial jurisprudence and less than institutional excellence, reached its low point in the entirely political and democracy threatening, “Citizen’s Union” case. In the latter [political] case, SCOTUS, bizarrely, chose to extend the contractual business use and fictional concept of corporate “personhood,” to apply to actual, large corporate political donors; the members of the once, highly venerated Court, thereby sanctioning substantial damage to our representative democracy.

The disappointing and alarming decline of SCOTUS empirically seems explainable by the shifting, and unfortunately partisan, appointments of Justices, based upon their respective political leanings, rather than their excellent record of jurisprudence.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor relevantly and alarmingly stated: “Will this institution [SCOTUS] survive the stench created, in the public perception that the Constitution and its [interpretation] are just political acts?”

-p.