Magnolia Dignity

Now tha's what I'm talkin' about, y'all:

Magnolia Dignity

Not MAGA iniquity.

Hark!  

I think I saw a flash in the pan!

I think I can; I think we can

Yes, I can see a flash in Atlan-

-ta!

Georgia!

Yep! Georgia’s on my mind

Cuz now in Georgia we do find

A glint of hope!

Maybe now our USA can cope.

Cuz trump’s senator Perdue got thrashed

By Governor Kemp in a Republican flash

And yeah, I say unto thee

There’s triumph in honesty.

Cuz Raffenberger’s quest for truth

has borne some precious Georgian fruit.

Yay! I say unto thee

There’s honor in integrity!

Cuz Brad, on trump’s sneaky phone call declined

When donald begged him for some votes to “find”!

I think I see a flash in the pan!

I think I can; I think we can

Yes, I can see a flash in Atlan-

-ta!

Georgia!

Yeah! Georgia’s on my mind

Yeah! now in Georgia we do find

A glint of hope!

There’s hope again for America

shining up from Atlanta.

Selah.

Yee-ha!

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

o’er our land of honesty, the home of the brave!

Cuz the devil went down to Georgia

lookin’ for some votes to steal.

But he got way-laid by an honest politician,

a Republican with a truthful rendition.

The South shall not lie again.

Yep, I have seen a flash in the pan

It’s shining up from At-lan

ta!

Georgia.

This bodes well for magnolia dignity

not maga-iniquity.

Glass half-Full 

No swastikas Here

 Here's an excerpt from my 2007 novel, Glass half-Full. This scene happens in suburban DC. 

Marcus opened a can of turpentine. He tipped it slightly so that its upper contents would spill onto a rag that lay on the parking lot next to his car. With the rag partially soaked, he began rubbing on the driver’s-side door. Someone had painted a black swastika on it while he was working late. His cell phone rang.

 He opened it, looked at the mini-screen, saw “Grille,” which stood for Jesse James Gang Grille. In the last few days, however, whenever he would see “Grille” displayed as the caller ID, it registered in his mind as “Girl,” meaning Bridget, because she would often call from there.

“Hi.”

“Marcus, have you heard about the explosion?”

“No, where?”

“At the Belmont Hotel, about 20 minutes ago.”

The Belmont was just two blocks from the restaurant.

            “That’s where the FEF convention is. Aleph told me he would be going there tonight. Has anybody been down there to see what’s happening?”

            “Kaneesha left here right after we heard it, but she hasn’t returned. I don’t think anybody’s getting in there for awhile. The police have got the whole block barricaded.”

            “I want to find out if anything has happened to Aleph. Don’t you think he would have left there by now?

            “The TV News says the police aren’t letting anyone in or out except rescue workers.”

            “I’m headed over there in a few minutes, as soon as I get the car-door cleaned up. Someone painted a swastika on it."

 

Although the incident depicted here is an indicator of a plot in which some terrible events are taking place, the intent of my story is, in a literary context,  to post a warning that we should never let it happen here. 

But these days, I'm starting to wonder.   

Glass half-Full

Cry Cry Cry

 Cry, cry cry for the Beloved Country. 

Cry the Divided Country

Cry; cry, cry, cry; Cry 96 tears; cry 96 million tears.

Cry while George’s guitar gently weeps.

Cry while my guitar gently weeps.

I hear millions of voices, crying for someone to listen.

Cry me a River. Cry for the children. Cry for the refugees. Cry for the victims.

Cry for the abused, the unjustly accused, the unfairly used.

Cry for the Injustice. 

Cry, cry, cry for George Floyd’s family. Cry for Freddie Gray.

Cry, cry for Brionna’s people. Cry for Arbery.  

Cry for Sandy Hook and Littleton.

Cry for Mariupol, for Kiev and for Kharkhiv.

Cry for Ukraine.

Cry for Russia.

Cry for Buffalo. 

Cry for Sarejevo, for Toronto and for Orlando.

Cry for baby Roe and baby Coe. Cry for Texas. Cry for Georgia.

Cry for our Supreme Court. Cry for Congress. Cry for our President.

Cry for January 6.

Cry for Charlottesville.

Cry for Dallas. Cry for Jackie, for Carolyn and JohnJohn.

Cry for Martin and Medgar and Malcolm.

Cry for the H-bomb, the A-bomb, the fire bomb.

Cry for Hiroshima; cry for Nagasaki. 

Cry for Jerusalem. 

Cry for Gaza and for Ramallah.

Cry for Calvary and for Calgary

Cry not for me, but for yourselves and for your children.

Jesus wept, so why not you and me?

Yet, yet, and yet . . .

In the midst of these 96 million tears I hear, in the distance, the plaintive voice of a maiden:

Sierra Rose sees; she feels, she notices, weeps, realizing we’re born into a crying world. 

Yet she sings. Sierra Rose sings:  Cry

"I hear millions of voices 

Crying for someone to listen . . ."

And if that's not enough crying for one day, cry for Custer and for Sitting Bull.

King of Soul

Purpose in Trouble

 My friend Kevin the wise man visited me and he had some good things to say about . . . wait for it . . . bad times. In this report, I have dotted out some of his words, so that you will read the message without making any hasty value judgements about the source.

We in America have been seduced into this life of seeking personal pleasure and avoiding any form of suffering. Too many claim the crown . . . while  avoiding any cr*ss . . . The prosperity preachers and false prophets of our day have only reinforced this  seduction and continue to lead others down the broad road to destruction.

The carnal nature of worldly man lives a life that is built around the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain and suffering. As followers . . , our lives are not to be focused on the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain. Our lives are to be focused on fulfilling . . . and . . . purposes while we are yet here in this life.

The suffering that is brought into our lives comes in many different forms. There is physical pain and suffering, that appears as an attack on our health and well-being. We experience suffering when this type of hardship hits those whom we love and are close to. (This ain’t no walk in the park , bubby . . . ed.) Broken relationships, betrayals, failures, family issues, the physical death of loved ones, inner struggles etc. can all lead to suffering. There can be times of hardship and stress. Then there are the . . . (expected) times of persecution, which will include suffering as well. 

There is also the suffering we bring upon ourselves through our own . . .(screwups) or through our own poor choices. The message presented here does not focus on that type of suffering, which requires a message of its own that would focus primarily on our need to ——————. The message here focuses more on the sufferings that we do not understand or that which seem unwarranted and undeserved. It is during these types of suffering that we need to embrace, trust and glorify our . . . throughout.

“Let us not become weary in doing . . . for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (found in an old book I purchased for a buck at a going-out of business sale. ed.)

This message on suffering is also speaking into the current issues with the world-wide covid-19 pandemic, and where do we turn to for comfort, answers and understanding. May we all come to a healthy . . . understanding of any sufferings we may face in this life, even when they may seem so incomprehensible at times.

—————— yourselves, therefore under . . .’s mighty hand, that . . . may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on . . . because . . . cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the . . . prowls around like a roaring ex-president looking for someone to take advantage of.  Resist him, stand firm in the . . . because you know that the family of . . . throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 

Selah.

Listen:   Traveler’s Rest

We Need to Fix This

 We the People need to learn how to discern the difference between honest information mistakes and intentional deceptions. If we don’t, our centuries-old democratic republic could self-destruct.

Recently, former President Obama challenged the people of our WebTech industry to help us fix these cyberspace-age pitfalls and perils, which threaten to disrupt our peace and destroy our public safety.

I highly recommend this message to any American who wants to see our children and grandchildren inherit the liberties that we have had growing up in the the world’s first world-class democratic republic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExEApwbhfqQ

Obama says there are some bugs in the software and we need to fix them. If we cannot repair them, the whole Web and We the People who use it could ignite in hate speech and erupt in violence.

Speaking at Stanford University, Citizen Obama presented evidence that  If we do not moderate, online, the instigators of malicious deception and intentional violence, they will trample over our human rights and destroy our peace and safety. Social media lies will incinerate our nation with flames of  insurrection. 

That’s my take on what he said.

Obama pointed out, for instance, that there is a real difference between honest mistakes and intentional deceptions. 

We are not talking about limiting free speech. We are talking about moderating public debate and in so doing, maybe even preventing another civil war. 

 We as social media users ought to learn how to discern the difference between  two types of misinformation.

Misinformation is not the same thing as Disinformation.

What’s the difference?

Motive. Intent. Misinformation can originate from legitimate opinions, facts, honest mistakes. Disinformation, on the other hand, comes from malicious, intentional deception.

If we don’t fix this, if we do not learn from our mistakes, there will be hell to pay. That’s my take on we he said.

Consider this. We have a Constitution; it was written by some wise leaders, 246 years ago. But even as smart as Jefferson and Franklin and Hamilton and those guys were, they screwed-up a few things that later became death-dealing fatal issues.

Slavery. The founders sidestepped around it with ridiculous notions, Such as, some people were deemed only 3/5 as important as others. 

But we fixed that problem with the 13th amendment.

Well, not totally, you know, but we got started in on fixing it.

Later, our modern leaders, bearers of the Constitutional legacy, constructed and passed the 14th amendment, which took us another step in the direction of Justice and Equality for all men and women.

Obviously, we’re still working on it. It takes hard work and dedication to do anything that is truly important.

So, President Obama says that we can, similarly, fix the flaws that were built into our internet and social media.

But it has to start with the people of the industry who built it, because they know how the nuts, bolts and screws that hold it all together work. They wrote the software; they built the hardware. 

And when the book of history is written . . . well, my friends, that's up to us, We the People.

Now We the People need to build some Peace and Safety into it, for the good of us all, for the Common good.

The Silcon techies can invent some new tools—both software and hardware—that can help us get through this problem.

Maybe we need a Bill of Rights for social media. I don’t know. But we need something before the whole damn bailywick flys apart.

Obama mentioned Section 230 of the US Code. It has already served as a starting point. It states that generally companies cannot be held responsible for most of the content that people post on their platforms, but our collective problem is a little more complicated than that simple statement. See what Wikipedia has to say about it. 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230

We need to get started on this before its too late. 

Thanks for reading.

Underground Railroad

The god of forces

 For those who bear the burdens of this world while anticipating a future heavenly rearrangement, we notice, counterintuitively, that the once and future kingdom of heaven suffers violence; for violent attackers do indeed take the kingdom by force.

In Ukraine today, we discern this happening—the sacrilege of destruction. That putinist destroyer who claims to be acting on behalf of decency and  religion is actually, in service to his god of forces,  destroying the Ukraine and its people. 

To be murdering and marauding in the name of what is sacred is blasphemy.

The grand highholykook patriaduck of Moskva needs to remind his overlord that the original Church founder taught non-violence, forgiveness, mercy and grace, to whit:

Blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the gentle people; love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you; turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. Be merciful; project grace instead of grievance.

The Founder did not instruct his people to bully their way into running the world, the republic, the empire nor the next nation over on the map. He did not command his people, nor his disciples, nor any of those brave souls who actively defend innocent people to—He did not command them to bomb the hell out of a nation on behalf of orthodoxy.

Hypocrisy: that’s what putin’s presumptious program is. . . orthodox hypocrisy.

This is what the kingdom of “heaven” looks like when purveyors of violence have imposed their conquest by the god of forces.

Lastly, in a parallel universe, the secular realm, this is what a Capitol institution looks like when madmen strive to destroy it and the Republic for which it stands, on behalf of their maga-madman.

Blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the gentle people; love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you; turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. Be merciful; project grace instead of grievance.

Don't let anyone fool you into believing that the grace and love of God ought to be imposed with violence and destruction on the institutions of this world.

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Nance '22 is Orwell '37

From one corner of Europe to the other, the combat service of international volunteers has defended citizens against organized murder, and in so doing, sounded the warning of world-class immanent danger. 

From Spain in ’36 and from Ukraine in ’22, two notable international brigade fighters reported to attentive citizens about the immanent perils of an advancing army of fascistic, hyper-destructive invaders.

In 1936, George Orwell left England to defend the people of Spain against Fascist forces destroying that country.

In 2022, Malcolm Nance left the USA to defend the people of Ukraine against Putinist forces destroying that country.

In 1938, Orwell wrote a book, a military memoir, Homage to Catalonia, about his experience defending the government of Spain against Franco’s fascists. Later, he wrote two other books, now world famous, Animal Farm and 1984. Both novels direct public attention to the mind-control tactics by which  hyper-socialist regimes control their workers. Ultimately, Orwell was joined in his literary reporting about military defense.  Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, also about the Spanish Civil War.

Now, in 2022, history, though not repeating, "rhymes". . . as reporter Malcom Nance explained to Joy Reid, his decision to “stop talking” and start fighting,  to join the Ukrainian International Legion, in defending Ukraine against the Rus-cist fascism of Vladimir Putin’s invading wehrmacht.

This is what Malcolm said to Joy Reid on MSNBC’s ReidOut:

“The more I saw of the war going on, the more I thought, ‘I’m done talking, all right? It’s time to take action here,’” said Nance. “I am here to help this country fight… what essentially is a war of extermination. This is an existential war and Russia has brought it to these people and they are mass murdering civilians, and there are people here like me who are here to do something about it.”

I learned about this from Manny Otiko's recent posting on Medium:

https://medium.com/politics-fast-and-slow/malcolm-nance-quits-msnbc-joins-fight-in-ukraine-c7fc279b15a5.  

Malcom Nance’s decision represents what it truly means to be a hero, in the literary sense but also in this real damned world.

The man stopped talking about the problem until he had done something about it. . . something to resist the evil that now threatens Ukraine and possibly the rest of Europe if not the whole world. And very important is: Malcolm had the military experience, thanks to our military forces of our United States of America, to actually do something about the problem by opposing it directly on the field of battle. In serving as a volunteer in the Ukrainian International Legion, he is sparing our nation the perils of official US intervention against Putin's threat of nuclear weapons.

I mean, who knew, in 1937, that the Fascists of Spain were being backed up by Hitler’s newly-constructed wehrmacht and Mussolini’s  fascist fighters? And look how long all of that took to run itself out, eight years of world war.

Who knew?

April 26, 1937, Hitler’s luftwaffe bombed the living daylights out of Guernica, Spain. 

April, 2022, Putin’s fascist forces are are destroying Ukraine.

Just now, Mariupol 2022 is Guernica of 1937!

And Malcom Nance has gone over there to do something about it.

God bless Malcolm and those with whom he joins to run the Rus-cist hordes out of Ukraine.

And like Orwell, Malcolm Nance has written a book, but it is not (yet) about Ukraine:

They Want To Kill Americans. It is about the connection between Putin’s Ruscist fascists and some similarly dangerous criminals in this, our fair country, the good ole USA.

In old news, my novel Smoke, published in 2017, is a story about that gathering storm of war in Europe in 1937.