Category: 2022

Yes! Here we come, Rehoboth! We haven’t had the pleasure for the past two Lethal Virus years, however, this year we decided that we absolutely needed a vacation! We rented a house, packed our clothes, piled up the car and at nine o’clock in the morning off we went! Woo-hoo!

The trip is about four hours long from Northern Virginia – depending on your location – to Rehoboth, Delaware. So, after all the morning coffees and teas, a pit stop was necessary, and for old woman me it was essential! There are no decent Rest Stops on our route such as there are on the Interstate we usually drive to New York, therefore, we had to make do with the McDonald’s facilities where the kids bought some goodies, we bought coffee and then used the bathroom. It was a disaster zone, and I am pretty sure it wasn’t the fault of the employees who had to keep it clean. It was mostly the patrons! Have they no bathrooms in their homes? Do they have to throw toilet paper and paper towels on the floors when there are available trash cans? Must they pee all around the bowl, and on the seat? It was disgusting and uncivilized! And, can McDonald’s not afford to hire an attendant who can Clean and Disinfect their toilets periodically during the day? I would certainly think so! On the way back from Rehoboth, we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and facilities. It was in a better condition, though they, too, could do with an attendant to maintain proper hygiene! Goodness! Neither of them is hurting for money, but they do have the pervasive quality of greed that is destroying this nation!

Rehoboth is a bustling little city, as usual, though not as crowded as it is in July and August when we had planned our vacations in previous years. Very, very few people wore masks, but we did whenever we stepped into one of the shops, however, we planned and enjoyed our meals at the restaurants where there were maskless outside tables, and many of those establishments had adjusted to our Virus Reality and created those spaces. Moreover, just not having to shop, clean and cook our meals was simply heavenly, and made restaurants all the more enjoyable, notwithstanding the fact that prices have gone up, and quality of food has gone down!

The little city that this resort has become is not unlike many little towns and resorts across these United States, and, really, in worldwide touristic destinations. There are year-round residents and there are the tourists, or vacationers like ourselves. There is also a fascinating infra-structure built around the vacation rental homes, which are plentiful! For instance: one morning, sitting on our patio that looked out to the street, we saw a lovely young woman and her son on their bikes. We chatted. Apparently she has a business that she started about a decade ago and that had thirty customers to begin with, and nowadays has about four hundred. That business entails going around each of the rental homes that the company overseeing them contracted her for, wheel out the rubbish and recycling bins on the assigned pickup days in the early morning, and wheel them back in during the evening. The purpose of this assignment is that many renters forget, or disregard their rubbish chore creating a headache for the rental and trash/recycling companies. Voila! A business was thus created! There are quite a few such small enterprises that have sprung up around rentals. It’s really interesting how opportunities arise and families are sustained!

True to form, I took time off and watched the Congressional Hearings as my family were teasing me for being such a political junkie even when on vacation! C’est la vie! One thought that kept on recurring as I followed the proceedings was that the die-hard Trumpists will not change their minds. They just won’t! I doubt that they realize that he was only Used by the Plotters who have been working on a sick Ideology for a few decades! Also, there must be quite a few Republicans/Conservatives who, as they watch the Hearings, might come to the realization that Trump took them for a ride, and preyed on their corrupt gullibility, however, many of them will never admit this in order not to embarrass themselves with their families/friends and lose face for being saps who were used and manipulated. I have seen this happen so often in my life, especially during times of crisis in the Middle East when people took sides, became agitated, argued vehemently and defended their stance with passion only to find out after all the dust had settled that they had been manipulated. Frankly, it has sadly happened to me too on occasion. We are all: Left, Right and Center liable to behave that way sometimes, and quite reluctant to admit that we were wrong. That damn obdurate human nature of ours! Moreover, and more interestingly, what the Hearings depicted is that despite all our bitching about the corrupt elements working in our government – and there are many – the majority of those civil servants are ethical, moral, conscientious and dedicated human beings. That is indeed very heartening!

Anyway, on Friday, June 17 we saw a helicopter circling above the Rehoboth skies.

“Biden and Jill are spending the weekend here,” says daughter.

“Will you take me to his house?” I ask.

“What for?”

“I just want to have a word, or two with him.”

“You think the Secret Service will allow you?” says pragmatic younger daughter.

“Why not? I am an old, harmless, unarmed woman.”

“Hah,” she says mockingly, “and if you insist and persist you’ll be whisked off to Guantanamo!”

“They haven’t shuttered that up yet!???” I ask, mockingly!

“No. Anyway, what would you say to him?”

“Quite a few things! Oh! Quite a few! But, I will start by telling him not to mind the flak he’s getting from our so-called journalists, commentators, pundits etc. and, especially, that Rupert Murdoch – what an evil man! –  station! How I ever – ever! – thought Tucker was a cute guy I have no idea! (Regrettably, I’ve made small misjudgments like this here and there during my eight years of blogging!) I will also tell Biden that he came upon a United States, and a World, really, that are in total dysfunction and not entirely through his own making! Not that I won’t tell him what I think he Should be doing domestically, and internationally, because I have quite a bit to say about all that!” Daughters scoffed at me! Dream on, they said facetiously.

However, no sooner had we returned from vacationing, with spirits and energy restored, a humongous miasma descended upon the US: The Supreme Court handed down its two macabre decisions regarding Guns and Abortion and to my horror, the horror of the nation and the world, we have again demonstrated that we are sinking into an Authoritarian, Racist, White, Christian, Colonist Republic that is frightening and dangerous! We are being Talibanized! Tragic!

Nota Bene: I reread my blog on “Abortion” dated 2/28/2015. Appropriate then and, especially now!

There were 3,209,510 high-school graduates across these United States in the year 2020. The numbers for 2022 are close to that, but not yet finalized at this writing.

I have attended a few of these graduations and, inevitably, as soon as the Pomp and Circumstance music resounds in the auditorium, followed by the National Anthem, I choke up and a couple of tears slide down my cheeks! I can’t help it, especially sensing all the excitement and anticipation of the beautiful young graduates all aflutter lining up with their hats and gowns! There they are having completed twelve years of elementary and high school education and now moving forward, many of them going on to all the colleges and universities that they had been touring and applying to for the past year, or more. What an exciting time!

They listened to the speeches, all full of optimism and enthusiasm, they clapped and then ambled up to the stage to receive their diplomas, after which they all threw up their hats and laughed while congratulating and hugging one another. How delightful!

Today’s graduates have been told for many years that they can:

Be Anything You Want To Be

Do Anything That Your Heart Desires

That is Not the Reality of the World that they will be interacting with, for, as a tragic example of what life can dramatically spring on them, on June 7th. a terrible accident took place in Oakton, Virginia where I once lived, where my children went to school, and which is more reason why I was deeply affected by this distressing incident:  A teenager, driving a brand new BMW, with three friends in the car sped along Blake Lane, rammed into a stopped car and mowed down three young Oakton high-school girls, two of whom passed away that evening, the third was fighting for her life. The speeder will definitely be indicted and punished by the law, as he should be. Had he anticipated being a killer as he got into his car that day? Had those three innocent, beautiful young girls ever imagined that they would be brutally killed that afternoon? This is one example of many occurring in every community across this country. Had ANY of those innocent children and adults across these United States who have died at the hands of a murderous individual wielding a lethal weapon ever imagined that this might be their fate? No. Sadly, none of them did. It is Infuriating, Devastating and absolutely Brutal! To add insult to injury any bill that comes out of our polarized and corrupt legislature will barely be sufficient to stem this carnage!

This year’s graduates, whether they are from high-schools, or colleges and universities across the country will be facing an environment that is very Dangerous, Threatening, Savage, Unpredictable and totally in contrast to all their Hopes and Expectations. It is going to be a very, very rude awakening! Our country has been in the throes of Disruptive Forces for a few decades now, and matters got to a head with the election of Barack Obama in 2008 when the Settlers and Descendants of White Christian Colonists imbued with an English Racist Supremacist ideology decided that the United States of America was their sole Fiefdom and that no other interlopers were allowed to partake in that endeavor as Rulers and Law Makers. And, since that plan went into effect the United States has been undergoing drastic changes – some subtle, some overt – that easily classifies us today as an Uncivilized Nation where the Ideology of the Corrupt, Racist Few has permeated insidiously within all elements of our Society resulting in Behaviors that range from the Bizarre to the Illegal, to the Discriminatory, to the Murderous! It is Shameful, Embarrassing and Menacing! And, even though these younger generations might not have paid enough attention to the world outside their immediate environment, they should, because our entire Planet is a Royal Mess that is bound to reverberate and affect what are their cozy cocoons at this moment despite the slaughters that have been going on during their precious young lives.

So, no, many of those graduating this year especially will not be able to: Be Anything You Want To Be, or Do Anything That Your Heart Desires, because the Zealous Pursuits of the Corrupt, Racist Few will impede their Lives, Livelihoods, Choices, Finances and Dreams thus turning them into Modern Day Slaves for whom Democracy and Freedom will become a mere Mirage, unless there is a return to Reason, Common Sense and the Common Good!! This is unlikely to happen soon enough!! Moreover, whether they come from Pampered and Privileged Backgrounds, or Parents who are Harried and Cash-strapped they are probably as Dysfunctional as most of our Families are these days, and that will further exacerbate their already Precarious Futures. Certainly not a pretty, or rosy picture!

I wonder if we, their parents and grandparents, have equipped them enough to form a Human Barricade against these Malicious Efforts? Have we taught them enough about their Citizen Rights? Their Voting Rights? Their Sexual Rights? Their Rights to Protest and Constitutional ability to turn things around? All indications seem to point to the fact that these recent generations seem to have all the necessary ingredients to do that. I sincerely hope so! Meanwhile, and as their country, these United States, sinks lower and lower into sheer Madness and Incoherence I will hold my breath and cross my fingers real hard!! It is a daunting period in the history of a nation that was destined for Continued Success, but that is ready to forego that in order to pursue the Dastardly Ideology of the Few!