 Last night Donald Trump called for a ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. Even American Muslims who are traveling abroad should not be allowed back into the country, he says. Is anyone else out there starting to wonder if Donald Trump's presidential campaign might just be a colossal hoax being perpetrated upon the American public? The biggest, most expensive, most elaborate practical joke in history being pulled off on a global level by a celebrity-hungry billionaire for his own amusement? Is Donald Trump getting a gargantuan kick out of his ever-growing base of fans that embraces every calculatedly odious notion he spews out? Is he going to continue tossing out worse and worse schemes until he comes up with something so base and horrific that even his most adulating supporters turn away in disgust, and will he then point his finger and laugh "Gotcha!"? Or is Donald Trump perhaps carrying on some kind of social experiment to see just how far one can stray from the tenets of human decency and still have an adoring fan base? Is he plumbing the dark depths of the human soul? Are his supporters his guinea pigs? Or does he merely adore stirring things up, causing fights and spreading discord for the fun of watching everyone's reaction? Is he trying to get Hillary Clinton elected? Is he secretly in league with ISIS to bring down our country? Or did he perhaps set out on this presidential campaign as a lark, just for fun, which, in any case, he seems to be having plenty of? And is Donald Trump enjoying himself so much, is he basking so greatly in his completely unanticipated popularity that he now believes himself destined to be President? Of course Donald Trump won't be our next president, this I have enough faith in my fellow Americans to believe. But I do believe that he has the potential for doing great mischief to our country over the next year while letting loose a legion of bad angels in the hearts of many. Last night shortly after Trump made his announcement calling for the banning of Muslims his supporters at a South Carolina heartily embraced his plan and greeted its reiteration with whoops and cheers. The bad angels are already having a heyday among us.  References:
1. https://www.yahoo.com/politics/donald-trump-calls-for-total-and-complete-214105912.html 2. http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/donald-trump-muslim-travel-ban-rally/index.html
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Last week after Donald Trump made fun of a reporter with a physical disability - and by logical extension, all people with disabilities - the conventional wisdom was that he'd finally crossed the line of nastiness that would indubitably cool the ardor of his supporters and send his poll numbers a-plummeting. But no, quite the contrary; Donald Trump's polls have soared since his mimicry of the disabled reporter and as of yesterday's CNN and Quinnipiac polls he's leading the pack of Republican presidential candidates by double digits. As of December 2 he had polled at 27% of Republican voters. Today he polls at 36%. The more hate he gives the more love he gets. Go figure. Actually a number of experts on political phenomena have been attempting to go figure the why and wherefore of all the Trump-love kicking around out there and, according to yesterday's New York Times, here is what some of them have come up with: 1. According to Matt Motyl, a political scientist at the University of Illinois, Donald Trump "appeals to the masses and makes them feel powerful again." 2. Also according to Mr. Motyl, Trump creates a "we vs. them" dynamic, where " 'they' are evil or crazy or ignorant and 'we' need a candidate who sees the threat and can alleviate it." 3. His "statements and accusations make him seem like a guy who can and will cut through all the b.s. and do what in your heart you know is right - and necessary," said Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University, who also pointed out that Donald Trump makes up false facts and figures to "erode people's trust in facts, numbers, nuance, government and the news media". 4. Jennifer Merciera, an expert in American political discourse at Texas A&M University, observed that Donald Trump's language is divisive and he paints people either as losers or winners, in which category he firmly plants himself with his "repeated references to his wealth and success and intelligence". 5. Mr. Kazin of Georgetown also noted of Donald Trump that "His relaxed, jokey tone makes (him) more persuasive." Trump has a "breezy stage presence" and is "an energetic and charismatic speaker who can be entertaining and ingratiating with his audience", To all the theories of the experts on why Donald Trump is thriving in the polls I'd like to add a theory of my own. I believe Donald Trump is drawing people because he gives us all permission to think the things civil society tells us it's wrong to think. He invites people to pull out and revel in the junk notions they might have hidden away in some dark basement of their hearts. You don't like, don't trust, or don't feel comfortable around all these Muslims with their mosques and head scarves? Well, you're right to feel that way, says Donald, those people are different from us, they're dangerous, they cheered on 9/11, they could be terrorists and in fact he'll close some of those those mosques and make all Muslims register on a national list. You have no use for that "Black Lives Matter" thing? You think maybe all the black men and boys who are at the receiving end of police violence probably have it coming? Donald agrees, as when at one of his rallies a Black Lives Matter protester was punched by several men Donald quipped, "Maybe he should have been roughed up." You think doing an imitation of a person's physical disability is hilarious? Hey, so does Donald. You believe a philosophy of religious tolerance, racial equality, and treating every human being as you'd like to be treated is a bunch of politically correct goofiness? You belong on Team Donald. In God we trust, sure, but not as much as we trust those little pieces of paper on which that phrase is written. And for some people the fact that Donald Trump owns more of those pieces of paper than almost anyone else on the planet makes anything he says gospel truth. Too bad what he says legitimizes for too many people dark impulses that should never see the light of day.  References:
1. http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=23 2. http://www.abqjournal.com/683229/opinion/trump-embodies-vices-of-the-times.html 3. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/95000-words-many-of-them-ominous-from-donald-trump%E2%80%99s-tongue/ar-AAg3UaL?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UP97DHP While all of America is still sick at heart after yet another horrific mass shooting, law enforcement officials have turned their attention to determining whether or not the couple who murdered 14 people and injured 14 more at the Inland Regional Center Law in San Bernardino, California were terrorists. What for? What difference would it make if they were terrorists? There's a mass shooting every day in our country and an average of a hundred more separate shootings. People bleed to death by the many dozens every day from gun violence. Granted, I've never seen someone bleed to death from a bullet wound and just the thought of it makes me sick, and granted, presidential candidate Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon who has seen people - children- bleed to death from bullet wounds said he "never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away" (wretched grammar, by the by), still, my point is that when people are bleeding to death in public places in these numbers isn't it kind of a moot point whether the bullets come from semi-automatic weapons fired by terrorists or non-terrorists? My friend Sharon posted this on her Facebook page:  And yet we don't want to allow 10,000 desperate, suffering, dying Syrians trying to escape ISIS for fear that some terrorists might slip through the net? According to the December 2, 2015 New York Times, this past Black Friday so many Americans bought guns that the FBI was processing about two firearm background checks per second. The agency ran a record 185,345 checks on people buying guns last Friday. So what do you think the chances are that someone among the185,345 is going to shoot someone else with the gun they bought? I'd guess close to 100%. You know why? Because someone doesn't buy something with the idea that they'll never use it. Because if you buy something then never use it you've wasted your money, right? A gun (all right, with the exception of a game-hunting gun) has no other purpose than to put a bullet into another human being. So if you've bought a gun you're going to feel like you need to use it some day and what else are you going to use it for? Think of it. 185,000 people. In one day. What are the chances? And yet a mass shooting a day, 30,638 dead a year, doesn't scare us a nanofraction as much as the thought that one of these mass shooting might someday be the work of an Islamic terrorist. Because we see death from a gun in the hands of ISIS as an assault on our American way of life. On the other hand death from a gun in the hands of a fellow American is, sadly, is an affirmation of the American way of life.  References
1. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fbi-treats-san-bernardino-attack-as-possible-terrorism-case/ar-AAfYDHC?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UP97DHP 2..http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/melanie-hunter/ben-carson-i-never-saw-body-bullet-holes-was-more-devastating-taking-away-2nd 3..http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/us/black-friday-gun-sales-soared-fbi-data-shows.html?emc=eta1&_r=0 A couple of months ago when Tom and I were in Spain walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, once in a while a Spanish person, upon learning that I was American, would ask me why there’s so much violence in the United States. My stock answer was “because it’s too easy to get a gun and too hard to get mental health care. “ "Oh, come on, we have crazies and guns in New Zealand, too," said a lady from that country with whom I was walking one day and discussing the problem, "and we don't have all these mass murders!" I was stumped to answer her, other than to suggest that maybe in the U.S. we have more guns and more crazies. "No, I'll tell you what your problem is," she said, then proceeded to tell me about her son, who happened to be visiting Alaska at the time of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. "My son was horrified, beyond outraged, really so upset over all those children and teachers killed. But the Americans he talked to about it just kind of sighed and said, 'yes, wasn't it terrible, wasn't it awful, wasn't it such a tragedy.' 'But what are you going to do about all these shootings?', my son asked one American, but the man's attitude seemed to be 'Oh, well, it's sad, but these things happen.' And that's your problem," the lady from New Zealand snapped, "in your country people only talk about gun violence and don't do anything about it!" I had to concede that perhaps she had a point. According to today's New York Times there is in the United States an average of more than one mass shooting - described as a shooting in which four or more people are injured or killed - a day. So far this year 462 people have been killed and another 1,314 injured in mass shootings in our country. And that's not even counting the over 100 people who die every day from gun violence outside the mass shootings. This is this morning's front page of the New York Daily News:  As for me, I'm chomping at the bit to turn my prayers into action.
But I don't know what to do. Anybody have any ideas on how to turn our country from the NRA back to the USA? Reference: 1. "How Often Do Shootings Occur? On Average, Every Day, Records Show", Sharon LaFraniere, Sarah Cohen, and Richard J. Opel, Jr., "The New York Times", page 1A, December 3, 2015.  Last Friday night, as the Black Friday shopping was winding down,  ...the Black Friday singing was winding up just north of downtown Columbus at Maynard Avenue Methodist Church,  ...where, after having enjoyed a fine day immersed in the Black Friday buying frenzy, I, with Tom and a friend, attended the "Alternative to the Black Friday Buying Frenzy Concert Celebrating Our True Blessings" featuring Columbus's golden-voiced folk troubadour,
During his years as the Ohio State House reporter for WOSU, our local National Public Radio affiliate station, Bill Cohen used to treat his fans to one much-loved yearly musical offering, a fund-raising concert for the Mid-Ohio Food bank which he called his "Spirit of the1960's Coffee House" celebrating the music, culture, and world-changing events of the 60's.  But since retiring Bill has become a full-time folk-singer, raising money for good causes by singing 60's folk-music concerts year-round solo or with his singing partner Carl Yaffy, together known as the Folk Ramblers.  The good cause Bill was raising money for from his "Celebrating Our True Blessings" concert was the International Medical Alliance of Tennessee, a volunteer organization that provides medical care in under-served and vulnerable communities around the world. Bill's wife Randi travels with this group once a year to the Dominican Republic where she serves as a volunteer translator for the doctors and nurses who provide care to impoverished Haitian workers who live and work just inside the Dominican Republic border. The old Maynard Avenue church, a simple yet beautiful setting for the concert,  ...was packed by the time the time the concert began, mostly with Bill Cohen's folk-music fans who'd been young in the 60's,
But who cared? We were there to kick back and enjoy the old songs, the good songs about the good things. And good songs about good things is what Bill gave us, accompanying himself alternately on guitar, 
...sometimes in wonderful ensemble with drummer David Maywhoor or cellist Michael Engels.
As the theme of the concert was a celebration of our true blessings, Bill chose to start off the evening recalling a blessing that, though we take for granted when young, we start appreciating once we've reached a certain age: the blessing of waking up every morning to another day, which he celebrated with the song "Zippity Do-dah!". And with this opening song the evening turned from a solo concert to a sing-along, as those of us in the audience who cut our teeth - or, should I say, our ears? - on that first generation of Walt Disney movie songs couldn't resist jumping right in on that early classic. Nor could we resist joining in with many of the other fun tunes and ballads Bill sang, such as Louis Armstrong's "It's a Wonderful World", John Denver's "Sunshine", "The Lord Is Good To Me" from Walt Disney's "Johnny Appleseed", the Bing Crosby 1950's hit "Counting Your Blessings", "Oh, what A Beautiful Morning", "I Believe," "America The Beautiful," and a song reminicent of old lovers who've had the blessing of sharing many years together, the meltingly beautiful "My Cup Runneth Over With Love." Bill also played a 1939 recording of an old Eddie Cantor song called "The Only Thing I want For Christmas Is To Keep The Things I've Got", which had a chilling effect as Bill reminded us that over the next few years as events exploded across Europe millions would lose everything they had, many millions their lives. Between songs Bill offered some thoughtful quotes, in his words "reminding us of our many. many blessings on Planet Earth" among them this quote attributed to Buddha: Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us be thankful. Bill sang and led us in song for two delightful hours, at the end of which he stayed around to mingle with his appreciative audience. I went up to him and thanked him for the music, taking his hands. "Oh wow, your hands are ice cold!" I remarked. "It's 'cause I'm nervous," he replied with a self-depreciating smile. "Oh, well, you know, you really don't have to be," I told him. Anyway, each morning since the concert I now wake up and find myself starting the day with a chorus of "Zippity Do-Dah!" It makes kind of a nice complement to the "Thank You" prayer.  |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY 
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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January 2025
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