Talk To the Hand

Oh, yes. This is a fabulous article that expresses it all--the disgust, the frustration, the sense of unfairness, the outrage at hypocrisy. David Marcus is speaking for untold millions of Americans when he writes 

The 'Not My President' Crowd Needs To Sit Down And Shut Up: The left made the rules. I'm ready to play by them.

I'm one of those millions Marcus is speaking for. I'm ready to have an illegally elected non-president for a few years (if he can manage that much time). This country has been through worse; we'll survive. But no more playing nice, lefties. I come from a strong line of street fighters. We don't go down easily. So bring it. 

While It's Still Legal...

Prescient President

 

“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

A Bit of Good News

As upsetting and depressing as current events and the so-called media "coverage" of them may be, there are occasional rays of light that break through the bleakness. One of them is the announcement that the time-honored and beloved "Charlie Brown" Thanksgiving and Christmas specials will air on television this year, after all. Both shows had been relegated to Apple TV+; but public pressure forced a change of plans, and now PBS stations will be broadcasting both shows.

We may have missed out on the Great Pumpkin this year, but due to the onslaught of online petitions, we'll have the "Peanuts" Thanksgiving and Christmas classics to enjoy. It's gratifying to know the voice of the people can still carry some clout. These days, we've got to find our good news where we can, Charlie Brown.

With Gratitude

 

Who Is Alex Trebek?

 

Unknown Nation

 "It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."

~ Joseph Stalin

Welcome to the Banana Republic of America, where a candidate's lead of hundreds of thousands of votes vanishes magically in the dark midnight hours as more "batches" of ballots are delivered long past the voting deadline. It's where more "voters" in a state than actual legally registered voters can cast their ballots. This is now a country where election laws are openly flouted, ubiquitously and with impunity. My native land appears to me as an unfamiliar hell-scape of corruption.

Today I am very sad for my country. I'm even more grieved at the thought of my grandchildren growing up in such a corrupted, controlled and hateful political environment.

All of my grandparents immigrated here to build a better life, and they did. My parents' generation worked and fought hard to expand on those dreams. The Boomers, of which I am one, had life too good for too long. Too many of us forgot the precious gift that is liberty; too many of our children were not taught, and do not appreciate, the miracle that is America. Thus today we find ourselves afraid to speak our minds and hesitant to act on our values, fearful of social and economic repercussions, cowed into silence by the vicious intolerance of the "others." These are not the conditions in which freedom flourishes, and so we find ourselves losing it.

We also find ourselves in an election crisis that will not end well for either presidential candidate or for the country. The winner, although still undeclared, will be forever tainted by this disgraceful voting controversy. Too many Americans no longer trust our elections, or any of our institutions. We are divided into two warring camps to an extent not seen since the Civil War. How might this tortured state of affairs end for us? 

In The Outline of History, Vol. 1, H.G. Wells covers in fascinating forensic depth the collapse of the Roman Empire. But Wells sums up the fall of Rome in just one succinct sentence: "The essence of its failure was that it could not sustain unity." Those words should be an urgent warning to us today, the citizens of what once was the promised land of E Pluribus Unum.

Counting Down

 "Pray, hope, and don't worry."

~ Padre Pio

Tuesday, November 3, is Election Day. It has been a long and acrimonious presidential campaign. Has the United States ever faced an election this fraught with rancor, anxiety, and fear of the future? From what I read of history, perhaps 1860 was the last year so angst-ridden.

The legacy and social media are blatantly tilted towards the Democratic nominee Joe Biden, to the extent that it ignores and mischaracterizes factual newsworthy events in order to protect him. This explicit bias is unprecedented in our nation's history, a matter of no small concern for our future. But that does not stop uncounted thousands of President Trump's supporters from turning out to cheer him on, often in bitter cold or steaming hot weather. Even when the number of attendees are dramatically limited by governor's decree, multitudes turn out to support Trump. It causes one to wonder, which contestant will win this David-and-Goliath style battle? Will the victor be Biden-plus media-plus Big Tech-plus Democrat governors? Or will President Trump and the voice of We the People, who turn out in such vast numbers to support him, triumph? We may not know the answer on Tuesday, but we will know it very soon.

Americans on both sides are energized, anxious, and largely exhausted with politics. There are worries about fraudulent votes and the legitimacy of extra days of ballot counting. No doubt whatever the outcome, there will be trouble; I hope it is minimal and short-lived so that the country can get on with life. As for me, I've donated to my candidate's campaign, cast my ballot early, and prayed daily for an outcome that will be best for the USA. Counting down, with two days left, I know I've done what I can.