Truth Dies First

The truth dies first and quietly
and it dies massively,
long before liberty and morality
long before the rise of power
and before laws are averted
and before new laws are issued
by a dictator in a frenzy of fascist
action, offensive to those who have
challenged evil, and fought for liberal
representative democracy,
for free trade and commerce
for treating people with equality and
equanimity.  Justice doesn’t die, it
is just redefined to the injustice of the
powerful, of doctrine before reason,
of power over right.

Truth will only rise again when
all else fails!

 

We Must Decide

We’re here, stuck in an irrational time
dredging history’s frightening rhyme.
Finding ourselves once again on a knife’s
edge, where freedom and our very lives
are risked in a gambit for absolute power
by those at home in a gilded mordor tower.

There is no one to come to the rescue.
There is no grand hero strong and true.
There are only the victims and the complicit.
And soon even these mere words will be illicit.
We need a people’s resistance of firm resolve
in defense of freedom, law and fairness.

For no government may govern without
the consent of the people for long.
And in this way, no dictator can rule,
without complicity of such rule.
And we are not, in our hearts, the cruel tools
of oppression their propaganda would advise.

We must decide!

Brilliant Insight

Yesterday I heard a guest (Jared Bernstein) on a News program provide this brilliant insight:  “We have a $900B trade deficit with the world – so we start a trade war with tariffs and it results in $7 Trillion loss in the US stock market.  It’s a little like burning your house down because you don’t want to take out the garbage.”

…. couldn’t agree more!

The problem with autocracy is there are no checks and balances against lunacy, and economic suicide.

Fight for Freedom

Yesterday I tried to write something beautiful, I tried to put the ugliness of the world and tragedies of the past week in the rear-view mirror with a brief reflection on the glorious breaking of a new day.

However, today I must explain and implore all of you to think beyond the daily economic challenges, think beyond the stupid statements, and the charged political climate and see what is coming.  We need to look into this abyss and be clear-eyed and purposeful that we are fighting for freedom.

“Liberation day” was not on Wednesday, it was something quite the opposite.  It was a redefining of the world order, it was enslavement. Declaring a trade war on the world has consequences. The farcical equations used have no basis in economics, they are a way to disguise ignorance while creating a world in which everyone must bend a knee to the Orange King.   The intent is not to create jobs, and growth, but to create power.  He is forcing all the world, countries and companies alike to negotiate with him.   This is a power grab.  He doesn’t care who gets hurt as he will never face the voters again (and don’t believe it is because he can’t run again) as he has no plans to give up power.

If you believe companies are going to make decisions to build in the USA, think about the idea of making a decision to disrupt your business for three to five years and spend hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment.  No CEO is going to make decisions for capital expenditures in an environment that is based on capricious trade costs and when the rule of law is dependent on the interpretations of one man.   China will see this as an opportunity to recenter the world around Asia.  We will become poorer as we lose influence on the rest of the world and bad deals begat worse deals.

The equity markets might recover some, but investors will be moving to other parts of the world, seeking growth.   Looking for friendlier environments, based on the capital premise of logical self-interest and mutual gains and less infected by the blind power grab and capriciousness of the Orange King.

The Economy is set on a course of ruin.
International relationships trashed – our friends are Russia and El Salvador it seems.
Courts Rulings are being ignored by the Orange King, under a guise of National Security.
Large law firms, and the Press are being blungened by a weaponized DOJ.
Universities are being bullied to confirm with a MAGA agenda.
Federal workers are being fired.
Health and Science research is being MAGA-fided.
Vaccine studies are being taken over by conspiracy theorists.
Our National Security team and DOD leadership are being decimated by loyalty tests and anti-DEI raids.

The hits keep coming.

With a flourish of the pen, executive orders are replacing the role of congress. … the last and greatest institution.  We must rely on congress right now.  Congress, our representatives in a representative government is the only obstacle in the way of a Trump taking complete control.  He thinks he has them in his pocket with threats of being primaried, with the threat of Musks millions financing challenges against any who rise up to fight for freedom.

We too are the last and greatest line of defense for our democracy.  We must give our representatives backbone.   We must make our Senators and Representative know that we believe democracy is worth fighting for.  Write to them and go to to town halls and make your voices heard.  Republican Senators and Representatives especially must know that we need them to stand up to Trump.  I write to ours every few days.   I tell them we must not abandon Ukraine, I tell them Veterans need support, I tell them keep DOGE away from our Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.  I tell them we don’t want trade wars, our economy and our retirement savings are important to us.  Take back control of tariffs, as it was before, the domain of congress.   I keep it simple and keep the hits coming.   They must listen to us, we are their only reason to exist.  Tell them do your job!

If they don’t fight for our freedom, then we must replace them in the midterms and pray that it’s not too late.

Fight for Freedom!

 

 

Sunrise as I write

I’m outside watching the sunrise as I write to you.
It’s a hazy, breezy morning.  the kind where low gray wisps of clouds move rapidly past the sky while the sun still refuses to show more than a glow of its presence.
The birds know.  They are making their journey to their respective feeding grounds, the pond ripples with the prevailing southeast wind which is bringing moisture with it, making the air feel heavier than it might otherwise despite a nice coolness.
In the few moments of telling you of this, the sky is changing color, from gray to a burnt orange as the sun asserts itself and the underglow of the drifting clouds reflect its intensity no matter how they try to resist.
A flock of fast moving small birds whiz by in a formation which changes as it passes, they are moving at high velocity for just the thrill of it I suppose, because of what could they be late?  The day is just beginning.
And now, in just these few moments, the sky is bluing and the clouds are changing to pink, the marsh hens are twittering away a distant woodpecker is pecking and the sun is alighting the trees and the ripples on the pond.
Good morning!

 

The Signal Among the Noise

Maybe the signal is bad?
the deranged Orange King muses,
trying not to show he’s mad.

No, dude, it is the noise
of all the clowns you
call your boys.

It is the privileged kiss-asses
pumping chests, exclaiming
Opsec and their successes.

While they violate laws
and all common sense
and obfuscate their flaws.

In front of oversight
in front of the people
claiming wrong is right.

Demanding suspension of belief
as they stick stubborn to the lie
waiting for next-news-cycle relief.

But the signal is cutting through
beyond the noise of arrests, cuts and
Greenland, and what’s said by fools.

Our friends, are becoming wary
as people are awakening to tariffs
and the pain they’ll be asked to carry.

The Orange King cannot find
the signal with all the noise created
and he clearly has lost his mind.

And the people will rise from sleep
with clarity that his dark-mad plans
are bringing us ever closer to the deep.

The signal must not be lost in the noise
and our freedoms, values and wealth
shall not be sacrificed to an Orange King
and his tech-bros.

Rise-up I say again,  resist… write to
Senators, write to Representatives
tell them we hear the signal despite
all the noise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masters of Our Fate…

Poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley
put into art of fire of red and black of the shadows by Peter Tunney as found at the Wynwood Art Museum, Miami

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
      My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
      I am the captain of my soul.

 

We are who we are. Tested by fire, by a history of challenges, and we will give in to no one, for we have earned our freedoms and will not give them up.   No matter what we have to do, no matter the obstacles we will have to  overcome.  We will face them without fear of retribution, revenge and unjust punishment… for we are masters of our fate, and captains of our souls.

Love Life

Life flows through life
And love follows life

Life is fed by life
Love enriches life

Only through giving life
will we have more life.

Only through loving life
will we find more love

In every positive action of life
we demonstrate a life of love

And the circle continues,
life, love, love life, and repeat.

 

 

Rum Raisin

Rum raisin ice-cream is the best… it originated in Sicily in the 1930’s … where raisins were soaked in a local wine and mixed then into gelato.  When it was brought to the United States the local wine was replaced with rum… what a great upgrade from the old to the new.

Rum Raisin

In the back furthest from the door
is the special treat I came here for,
Beyond the chocolate and cookie dough
not the vanilla or strawberry of old
or the mint chocolate or rocky road
lies that special treat, yummy and cold.

Like heavenly angels would dream
sweet raisins and rum with cream,
overflowing with richness and icy cold
it tastes smooth and perfectly bold
from Sicily it came here to our shores
and found its way to our local stores.

At the small ice cream shop on main street
of every small town, you’ll find this cold treat.
Just give it a try, in a cup, or better, a waffle cone.
Others will want to try it and not leave you alone.
But, love is sharing its perfect smoothness and taste,
and returns you’re sure to make, with all do haste.

 

 

 

My Stories, Poetry, Thoughts of the day