Paralyzed with Fear

 

How in the world did we get into this predicament? Atop of a steep mountain, paralyzed with fear, and about to go careening down to our ultimate doom, we wait for the grade school bully’s push.

We fearfully cower while our beloved USA is stripped of all we hold dear. All that our ancestors fought and died to protect and defend. Concord, Gettysburg, Meuse-Argonne, Normandy, Bastogne, Midway, and Guadalcanal are only a few of the places covered in their blood and tears shed in defense of our Constitution and our rights protected within.

It is our duty now to honor and enforce our laws which protect and defend the rights of all Americans.

It’s time to find our collective will power to overcome our paralysis and take back our USA.

Making America Wealthy-White-Male-Enough Again

I have resisted the fact that the Trump administration is in large part overtly racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and elitist. Now it is clear. Worse, it's also clear that Mr. Trump has little regard for our nation's laws.

Further, it's obvious that Mr. Trump’s greatest strength is white American’s fear of people of color, especially black and brown people.

To remain in power, Mr. Trump is willing to leverage that fear and sacrifice our Democratic Republic in the process.

The challenge of our time comes down to our decision: Are we going to continue to stand idly by while Mr. Trump and his administration disassemble not only our legal system, but our humanity, as well?

I fear we are on a path toward a second Civil War. Sadly, this president is no Abe Lincoln.

Young Abe Lincoln Make A Tall, Tall Man - Johnny Horton - 1973

Cowardly Lion Had More Courage than all the Congressional R People Combined

It’s Wed am, following Pres. Trump's firing of FBI Dir. James Comey* and I am taking in today’s beautiful sunshine on gloriously beautiful Grosse Ile, MI. It’s a rare day indeed.

The U.S. House is on spring break after the R people passed Trump Care. The thought occurred to me… How are those Town Hall meetings going?  You know, those meetings when members of Congress go home to talk with the “Joe and Jane Lunch Bucket” people (the 99.9%) they are supposed to represent.

The answer appears to be they are going, but without the R people answering their constituents’ questions.

Why, you might ask?

Well, it’s because they are a bunch of cowardly no shows.

Unlike the Lion of Wizard of Oz fame, the R people will never get their medal for courage. After all, the Lion overcame his fear and did go into the Wicked Witch’s palace.

Overcoming one’s fear demons is very hard. Especially if your happen to be a soulless, psychopathic R person.

But, I understand. Looking into the faces of all those hometown people you have just screwed over and trying to think up a whole bunch of alternative facts must be really, really difficult.

*Critics at Town Halls Confront Republicans Over Health Care,Jacey Fortin and Daniel Victor, New York Times, 9 May 2017.

**Five questions for Trump after FBI firing, Katie BoWilliams, Jordan Fabian and Morgan Chalfant, The Hll, 10 May 2017.

King of the Forest - Courage - Bert Lahr - 1939

Fear & Rawhide

Fear is one of the prime motivators of life.
We fear making wrong decisions. We fear appearing stupid. We fear many things.

Oddly, we never fear making good decisions, because, well, the results are usually good, depending on the issue bein' decided, of course.

Take this coming election. Just what would a bad decision be? And what would a good decision be?

Should we fear Mr. T as president or Sec. Clinton?

Now that our FBI Director has muddy-up the waters and caused a massive outcry of “offendedness” by issuing his “October Surprise”, which has morphed into untold levels of fear amongst potential voters, I am doin’ a whole lot of “fearin’” myself.

In order to lower my “fear” quotient, I decided to seek counsel from a childhood hero.

Yes, going back to the days when things were black and white is SOP for me. After all, back then we all knew that our heroes would make the right decisions for the right reasons, no matter the situation.

That’s why I felt good after watching one of those old TV westerns. Take Rawhide, for instance. When Mr. Favor (Eric Fleming) and Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) made a decision I always knew it was for the right reason and everything would turn out fine.

Now, who would Mr. Favor and Rowdy vote for in this election?

I know there’s a message from the past waiting to be rediscovered and help resolve this very dilemma. Let’s watch an episode and discover the pearls of wisdom waiting there for us.

Rawhide - Incident of Fear in the Streets
Season 1 Episode 17, 8 May 1959

Pete is injured, so Favor and Rowdy into a nearby town for a doctor. Because the town lynched a man the day before, the residents along with Favor and Rowdy are held hostage until the Sheriff and the man who led the lynching are also hung.

What's the Challenge?

By Ron Baker

I recently discovered a photo which underscores a challenge that is coming into focus. It's not that the challenge is new. In fact it's been confronting humanity since the beginning of time.

It's just that now the looming U.S. Presidential election has put it into a spotlight of sorts.

Is it fear of the “other”, religious fundamentalism or just plain old stupidity reeking from this photo? Regardless, the candidates have become adept at playing these cards when it comes to getting votes and media attention.

The challenge is: will we, the voters, accept or reject these centuries-old "misinformation" tactics in this election?

Above photo first posted in 2014:

Holly Fisher, aka "Holly Hobby Lobby," a Christian mother from West Virginia

In the meme, that photo is side-by-side with an image of Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, an international terrorist known as the White Widow who is part of the Al-Shabaab Islamic militant group. The meme, which shows Lewthwaite in a similar stance while holding a gun and a copy of the Quran, says: “Explain the difference.”

Difference? I can kill you without having to kill myself...in a bikini...while eating bacon...and having a margarita. pic.twitter.com/Ru84BOU3kF

— Holly Hobby Lobby (@HollyRFisher) July 6, 2014

Who Is Holly Fisher? ‘Holly Hobby Lobby’ Now An Internet Meme Called The ‘American Taliban’, by Nadine Deninno

“A Christian mother from West Virginia is receiving equal parts hate and support for her controversial views online and is now the subject of a widely shared Internet meme."

“Holly Fisher is a newly minted Internet celebrity famous for speaking out about her political beliefs about guns, abortion, health care and other hot button political issues. Nicknamed “Holly Hobby Lobby” for her support for the the Supreme Court’s controversial decision last week, Fisher is now the face of a Twitter meme many are calling the “American Taliban.”

“The image making the rounds on Twitter shows Fisher standing in front of the American flag holding a gun and a copy of the Holy Bible. (Fisher herself posted the photo.)"

“Biggest complaint I'm getting about my #HobbyLobby pic is there's no gun, bible, or flag. Tried to make up for it  pic.twitter.com/YneQ9Dkkxi — Holly Hobby Lobby (@HollyRFisher) July 4, 2014"

“In the meme, that photo is side-by-side with an image of Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, an international terrorist known as the White Widow who is part of the Al-Shabaab Islamic militant group. The meme, which shows Lewthwaite in a  similar stance while holding a gun and a copy of the Quran, says: 'Explain the difference.'"

“Difference? I can kill you without having to kill myself...in a bikini...while eating bacon...and having a margarita. pic.twitter.com/Ru84BOU3kF

— Holly Hobby Lobby (@HollyRFisher) July 6, 2014

“My new nickname is ‘American Taliban’ it seems. You know how I know the lefties don't really think I'm a terrorist? They hate me,” Fisher wrote on Monday in response to the backlash.

“In other tweets, Fisher wrote to her 34,000+ followers:  “Jihad Barbie. That means they think I'm pretty, right?” and, ‘I'm not a terrorist, but my husband has killed a few. #ftw.’”

Who Is Holly Fisher?‘Holly Hobby Lobby’ Now An Internet Meme Called The ‘American Taliban’,Nadine Deninno, International BusinessTimes, 7 July 2014.

Doppelganger USA Untethered?

The election results I read today are not the ones I had hoped to see. I fear for our nation, our people (the 99.9%) and humanity for our Doppelganger USA may now be totally untethered, unrestrained and unleashed on the world.