. . . and it barreled in!

Well, what do you know? I thought August was hot and heavy in Washington DC, but lo and behold! September has come barreling in as if it were an elephant on the loose! I move to cancel all soap operas on the various networks and just watch the ongoing DC soap opera with its multi-faceted cliff-hangers! More entertaining and scarier by far!

We started off with Aretha Franklin’s funeral on August 31^st. I love this beautiful woman and her heavenly voice, and what an amazing journey was her life! However! People! Really! Eight hours? Eight hours for a funeral service??? That was obscene! Even if you want to call it a “celebration,” or as one guy said: we (meaning black people), know how to send someone home! Come on! Not Cleopatra, not Lady Diana, not anyone as far as I know has ever had an eight-hour funeral! Nor should they!

Moving on . . .

. . . to another eminent funeral, this one for John McCain. Irrelevant of what one’s political persuasion is, we all have to acknowledge that the man served his country as a soldier who was tortured and incarcerated, and as a respectable and prominent political figure for decades. I did not agree with McCain on a host of issues, however, the haters couldn’t wait until after his funeral to start spewing their dislike of the man, and that he was a war-monger who caused thousands upon thousands to perish. That behavior was in such bad taste! Couldn’t they, at least, have waited until after he was buried? What is happening to civility in these crazy days when most people are acting like loose cannons with no decent restraints whatsoever? Such despicable behavior was bested, though, by a funeral service that would have been very distinguished and dignified were it not that it became a political platform from which people were orating, opining and making political statements, thus demeaning the entire event. Most unbecoming!

Both funerals – even though Aretha was a Diva, not a Ruler, and McCain was a Political Figure, not a Monarch – reminded me of the Pharaohs, the Romans and other Emperors and how the funerals of their Rulers were occasions for displaying Power through Opulence. Or, maybe, one can think of North Korea and how the slaves of that Empire are required to shed tears and beat their breasts over the death of their Sovereign. The Brits aren’t any better in their Ostentatious display of Power during the funerals of their Monarchs. They all serve to make a statement of Dominance. Distasteful. Unnecessary. Uncalled for. Overdone. Sacrilegious.

Moving on . . .

Barely had the nation dried its tears – some of them hypocritical, of course – when two bombshells descended on our Trumpistan in rapid succession like the rat-a-tat-tat of indiscriminate fire from an assault rifle. The hyped-up announcement of Bob Woodward’s book: “Fear” that was released on September 11 was the expected 24/7 fodder for the Capital. With 18 books and almost 50 years of journalism under his belt, Woodward laid it on thick in his tome disparaging Trump, to the immediate adulation of the MSNBC anchors and audience – where he is a very frequent flyer – as they gleefully interviewed him and repeated some of the highlights. As if that wasn’t enough to keep the hoi-polloi occupied, an anonymous Op-Ed piece in the disrespectful New York Times – known for its biased and often untruthful reporting – from “Someone” within the White House hit the Capital dissing the President and opining his/her views about the horrid man that he/she is still working for and earning a living of. And how much lower and wicked can it get? In my opinion, he/she is a cowardly saboteur! All this comes to crown the opinions of those in the corrupt Mainstream Media who have been saying that Trump is an unhinged madman. Outside of the nation’s cesspool of a Capital, America’s (and the world’s) working men and women persevered in their labors oblivious to yet more salacious events, many of them stressed and barely making it month-to-month, strained over the fact that their safety nets are eroding day by day and that the last thing on their minds are the Palace Intrigues that occupy their corrupt politicians and corrupt-er media to whom they, their children, their futures and those of our Planet are of negligible importance, and becoming more so thanks to the Trump/Republican sordid agenda. Pretty dismal!

Moreover, the “hearings” continued in our Capitol with our vaunted politicians grilling the nominee, Kavanaugh, for the position of Justice on the Supreme Court. And what a show that was! One corrupt politician after the other playing “gotcha” in order to either incriminate, or adulate, the nominee and prove how more “loyal” to their Party they are with their relentless questioning and grilling! The Democrats focused on: “Roe v. Wade” and the abortion matter, and whether the nominee would support the President in case of Impeachment, or other Crimes and Misdemeanors that they are hoping to charge the President with, and how the Republicans will absolve him of those. I have no idea whether he will be a sagacious judge or not. For all our sake’s, let’s hope that he will be judicious and not political, although with the very wicked Condoleezza Vice (yes, V not R in my books!) sitting right behind him during one of the sessions was a foreboding and dangerous omen for me!

And, with the mid-term elections approaching fast, who but our previous President Obama, throws down his gauntlet into the arena and emerges as the White Knight he seems to be for many, in order to rally the troops and get them to vote for the Democrats. And the Democrat’s nation went gaga, goo-goo! Now, let me tell you, Obama is the Master of Speeches. I mean, there is no one else on the Planet who can rivet and mesmerize people when they listen to him orating. He is just incredibly awesome! However! However, where I, and my main issues are concerned, he has been disappointing – and that’s putting it mildly – for much of his presidency! In his speech, he was urging us (my words, not his) to do “better” by going out to vote, because we can’t make things “perfect” much as we would love to. Well, I did! I voted for him twice in order to make it better, and he only made it worse! So, no, he did not make it better for me, or for Syria, for Iraq, for Afghanistan, for Libya and for allowing Hillary to commit the crime that she did by invading that country, or for making a speech in Cairo to herald the Arab Spring that turned into our Arab Nightmare thanks to US “meddling,” or for the expansion of our military bases all over the world, or for continuing our criminal conspiracy on Latin America, as well as wherever we can interfere, or for so many other issues both domestic and international. The whys and what-fors are numerous. I am not in the least impressed! His Hope and Change, as well as his undeserved Peace Prize, did not work for me, and it will not do so in the future either.

Obama played his dismal part in the Palestinian drama more than any other President by allowing Bibi to build more and more settlements and, on top of that, by giving him more money than any other Administration. He even outdid Reagan and Bush Junior! He – and all the Presidents before him – laid the groundwork for what Trump, Bolton and Bibi are presenting the world with now: the “Final Solution” for the Palestinian people as per their wretched, criminal plans. Every Jew should be mortified by this, not only Palestinians! I disagree with Trump on many issues, but I agree with his disregard for the world’s many Institutions, including the UN and the ICC (International Criminal Court), which he is now threatening, although he is executing his contempt in a most ludicrous way! These bodies are worthless, where I, and the Palestinian drama are concerned: all talk and no significant action. The rest of the world’s leadership hasn’t served the Palestinian people in any way either, and they are not about to. We are Alone, and have been for the past seventy years! Appalling!

Then there was the tragic Remembrance of 9/11 and the 3000 people (about) who perished, as well as the first responders and volunteers who are still suffering and dying to this day as Congress debates extending their much needed benefits. Huh? However, and again, hardly anyone on the networks spoke of the millions in the Middle East who sustained – and are still suffering – the US Revenge Wars that we are still waging. That is the true enduring tragedy!

. . . my head is spinning, and September is not over yet! Phew!