The Founding fathers, in their infinite wisdom and diligence, envisioned the Supreme Court to be just that – SUPREME!  President Truman’s words “… the buck stops here…”, is an accurate statement and well-intended for how the Highest Court in the Nation was expected to function. 

The Supreme Court (SC) was designed to be a NON-PARTISAN organization, free of any/all political party affiliations and established primarily, if not solely, to judiciously interpret the Articles of the Constitution, as written by the Founders.  This perspective is reinforced by the fact that all positions, once attained, are for the remaining life span of the appointed individual.  Sadly, however, this tenet has gradually deteriorated over the years, but even more so over the past six (6) years, as political partisanship gradually infiltrated the group. Currently, SC justices are essentially (political) pawns, rather than the independent voice (to the nation) for constitutional interpretation, fairness and impartial legal leadership.

However, this narrative is NOT to address the many ways in which the Supreme Court - that body of legal scholars, has failed.  My purpose is, instead,  singularly focused on the proceedings of February 8, 2024.   On that day, the State of Colorado presented to the SC, arguments in support of that State’s decision to block Donald J Trump from being on the State’s ballot, for the upcoming State primaries for the Presidential election in November 2024.
 
Colorado’s argument to the SC should have been focused primarily on only two (2) points, as follows:

• Does the State – any State, have the constitutional right – with cause, to prevent a candidate for Office from placing his/her name on that State’s primary ballot.

 

• Was the State of Colorado justified in citing the events of January 6 2021 as a legitimate reason for their decision to prevent Donald J Trump from participating in the primaries for that State.

 
Jason Murray, attorney representing Colorado and assigned to present the case, should have focused directly, if not entirely, on these two elements; but he did not!  Instead, he allowed himself to be led around, primarily by Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh – other justices participated in the interrogation but the slanted questions came mainly from these two.  Questions, paraphrased, as follows:

• … why should any ONE State have the right to determine who gets to be President…
• … we must consider the consequences to the nation resulting from your actions against Trump…
• … not everyone agrees that the events on January 6th constituted an insurrection…

 
These are clearly slanted/partisan questions, which not only ignored the findings of a legitimate Congressional investigation, but tainted the original objective of the hearing.

Bullet # 1 – This was a blatantly false and totally misleading question. One would expect to hear such a question raised by a candidate running for office – NOT from a justice of and on the SUPREME COURT.  At no time, during the hearing did Jason Murray, ever suggest that the State of Colorado was attempting to influence the upcoming presidential election.  As a matter of principle and law, no ONE State has that capability or authority.  The question should never have been posed and was designed entirely to unsettle the presenter and detract from the real issue.

Bullet # 2 – It is important to re-state the objective of this hearing; a) Review the circumstances under which the State of Colorado sought to reject and remove Donald Trump’s name from their primary ballot; b) was such an action supported within the Articles of the Constitution, specifically the Fourteenth Amendment Section 3.  If this was the purpose of the hearing and the objective of the Supreme Court, then the expressed concern over “consequences” had no place in a Constitutional discussion.  This was, after all, a question of legality, with regards to Colorado’s stated position.  To pollute the discussion with concern of consequences is akin to suggesting that a person on trial for murder should not be convicted because of the “consequences” such a conviction would have on his family.  How is it possible that a justice, sitting on the bench of the Supreme Court, could stray so far away from the objectives of the day, to ask such a ludicrous and almost inappropriate question.  

Bullet # 3 – Following the events of January 6th, the nation and the government were faced with how best to unravel the horrific debacle created on that day.  The extreme partisanship, currently existing within the Congress, did not make the decision any easier.  Nonetheless, it was finally agreed that a bipartisan committee would be assembled to perform a complete and comprehensive investigation of the events.  This, for the purposes of determining guilt or innocence of the individuals who participated in the assault on the Capitol building.  The investigation and hearings spanned a period of approximately 18 months, ending in January 2023.  The final results of this investigation were clear and decisive.

• The assault on the nation’s capital was classified as an insurrection
  
• Donald Trump, along with others were complicit in the planning and execution of this assault.
  

The United States government is comprised of three (3) main branches, as follows:

• The Congress of the United States – comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
• The Executive branch – comprised of the Office of the President and his Administration
• The Supreme Court

All three (3) branches are expected to work together, in tandem, to ensure that the rule of law is faithfully adhered to, without fear or favor, for ALL American citizens, et al.  The Supreme court has historically been charged with ensuring that the affairs of the nation are executed within the boundaries of the Constitution. To this end, one must assume that the Supreme Court had immediate access to the final report of the congressional investigation of January 6th.   If, upon review, the court found inconsistencies in the arguments and conclusions, so reached, it had an obligation to bring those finding to the attention of Congress.  The fact that the nation is currently divided along political party affiliations IS NOT/SHOULD NOT be the concern or a reason for inaction by the Supreme Court.
 
That said, the question posed by one of the two justices, mentioned above was completely out of step with the essence and purpose of the February 8th hearing.  For starters, who – in the mind of that questioning justice, comprised the group referred to as “… not everyone…”  And why should that be a concern?  The conclusions of the congressional hearing were well grounded in its investigatory findings and specific articles within the Constitution. Their conclusion was that an Insurrection did, in fact occur on January 6 2021.  If the SC did not agree with this conclusion, February 8th 2024 was not the time and/or place to make that position public.   The “audio only” broadcast of the proceedings, presented the Supreme Court – not as an impartial branch of government - as it should be, but instead, a partisan group catering to the affiliations of its conservative members.

The court has now retired to review the results of the hearing and render a position.  Based on the media’s interpretation of what was said, the consensus is that the decision (from the court) will be that the State of Colorado will NOT be allowed to remove Donald Trump from their primary ballot.   

Significance of the Supreme Court Decision:
Donald J Trump presents a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to the National Security of the United States.  Based on a regression analysis of Donald Trump’s behavior, actions and statements made over the past 6 years, it is painfully obvious that his attention is not focused on the interests of the United States, but rather, solely and only on himself.  But I am not an attorney; for this perspective to have any significance, it must first be processed and validated thru the Rule of Law by competent, objective and non-partisan attorneys.  
 
I am convinced that any reasonably intelligent person, reviewing Donald Trump’s behavior and narrative over the past 6 plus years, should/will conclude in similar fashion, UNLESS there’s a hidden, partisan agenda buried within their mindset.
 
The Supreme Court Justices should have reviewed the conduct and behavior of Donald J. Trump, in the manner         described above, in order to have a macro understanding of exactly who he is.  Now, faced with specific allegations of inappropriate and possibly illegal behavior, the job/role of the Supreme court justices is/should be abundantly clear, as follows:

• Review, interpret and conclude conclusively that the 14th Amendment, Section 3 specifically states that anyone seeking to hold a federal office within the government of United States, shall be barred from doing so, IF it is determined that such person or persons were engaged or participated in an insurrection against the United States.
  

 

• Based on the findings of the January 6th Congressional hearing, the State of Colorado was justified in its decision to bar Donald Trump from the State’s primary ballots.  The SC has an obligation to rule on this position, impartially      

 
It is left to be seen how the SC will rule on this issue.  The state of the nation and its Democracy will rest on that ruling.  However, if because of partisanship and right-wing politics, the court concludes that Donald Trump is immune from being held accountable for his actions, it will be a sad and bleak day for the United States and its citizens.
 
Live up to your oath of office and do the right thing.

Cairo turned out to be a huge disappointment.  A sordid city embedded in chaos, trash, poverty and steeped in the religious traditions of Islam.   A dull haze settled over the city, the result of exhaust fumes spewing forth from the hundreds of vehicles that clogged the roadways, bumper to bumper, crawling along at less than 25 MPH.  The trip from the airport to our hotel was just shy of 2 hours, even as the distance was less than 40 miles.  Fortunately the Fairmont Hotel was excellent - a true 5 star facility embedded within the decay that was the surrounding area.  Many, if not most, of the side streets fingering off the main artery were unpaved - aka dirt roads, strewn with trash on both sides;  many of the buildings were dilapidated at best, in dire need of maintenance and repair.  At first glance the entire area appeared to be war torn -  the result of missile attacks, at some level.  This, however, was not true.   What we were seeing was simply economic deprivation, resulting in (the appearance of) stark poverty and a general public uncaring, especially as it related to the trash.   

Our schedule indicated that we would spend the next 2 days in Cairo, spoke wheeling out to various areas within the city.  On Saturday, we would board a chartered flight to Luxor and embark on the Viking Osiris to start our Nile adventure.  Events will be recapped and presented by category, as opposed to a chronological sequence, allowing for a more comprehensive portrayal of each experience.

Islam and the People of Egypt:
The history of Islam in Egypt is long and complicated - way too much to address in any detail.  Sufficient to say, in today's world, Egypt is 90% Muslim; 10% Christian/other.  Cairo and the surrounding towns/villages are dotted with mosques.  Atop most mosques are speakers which blare the Call to Prayer announcement, five (5) times per day.  The mosques, themselves are historic and are well revered by many, if not most. 

Egyptian dress varies - western/secular wear as well as traditional Muslim garments.  Both men and women wear the traditional clothing but allegedly without any religious significance.   For women, we observed many in the full tunic, complete with face covering, to as little as the head cover only - hijab, combined with western wear - jeans, etc.  Men wear the Thobe - an over-robe, usually with slacks of Jeans underneath but many are dressed in "normal" western wear without the robe.

As stated, there is no religious significance to dress; it is driven by regional customs.  Maintaining the chastity of women stands ahead of religion; even though in some Muslim countries - e.g, Afghanistan, religious organizations enforce dress codes for women, under the banner of religion and usually with sexual overtones.  Egypt appears not to engage in this practice, nonetheless, some of the mosques we visited required that women be "sufficiently covered" - if not, they were asked to either leave or don a robe.  Pictured below are two women who were requested to "robe up".  Also, observe a group of high school kids on a tour of the mosque - Note the cell phones.   That said, the historical significance of dress is important and was an important driver for the crusaders, back in the 11th century.  Not really knowing who or what was a Muslim, the Crusaders focused on dress as a key identifier; and summarily killed thousands of Christians, simply because of the way they were dressed.

On the basis of religion, Egypt compares less rigid than other Islamic countries.  For starters, Egypt does not employ modesty code restrictions, as do Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan, to name three (3) countries.  Egypt also does not support the over arching right of family patriarchs to severely punish female family members for presumed dress and or moral infractions, which all too often include death.  This lighter approach to modesty issues has gone a far way to improving the lives of Egyptian women.  Clearly observed, a greater participation in day to day activities - jobs, education, corporate management roles and business ownership.

The mosques were well ordained, bold and beautiful.  Most of them date back centuries but have been maintained with care and attention.  The wall carvings were exquisite and numerous; and the reverence with which they were revered was abundantly evident on all who visited.

The Markets of Cairo:
This striking photograph of a beautiful young girl hawking in the market speaks volumes for the general mood of Cairo - children and adults alike.  Selling is a front and center occupation for all; and the targets are the tourists.  They are aggressive - this young girl being an exception.   They don't back off, especially if you make eye contact or say something; then they follow for 15 minutes.   The need is clearly understood; tourists provide a much needed revenue stream and the populous simply don't quit.  But it did become annoying; much like running a gauntlet from point to point.

Products were in relative abundance - clothing, trinkets, statues and carvings and last but certainly not least, spices. Talk about an aromatic treat; all sinus issues cleared in a day.  And let's not forget the "staff of Life" BREAD.  The lines to buy bread form in a heartbeat as the "bakers" begin pulling them out of the ovens.  We won't discuss the sanitary aspects of this process but it was a novelty to behold.

All toll, the market was an interesting adventure.  Observe the tailor hard at work in his "tailor shop"; and the spices on full display in the open.  I imagine any contamination is seen as a stimulant to one's immune system 

That funny looking contraption was used to grind flax seeds to make oil.  and finally, the upscale side of the market.

The Pyramids:
History tells us that small wooden boats started showing up on the Nile on or around 6,000 BC; that's approximately 8,000 years ago.  This gave rise to small villages, which eventually combined and grew to form two Kingdoms, earmarked as Lower and Upper Egypt.  On or around 3,100 BC these two regions combined to form what we know as Egypt.  In order to maintain control over this vast region the early monarchs - Pharaohs, concocted the mythical story, which essentially had two parts - a) the Gods ruled Egypt; b) Pharaoh was the intermediary between God and the people.  (hmm - this sounds so familiar)
Construction of the Pyramids commenced on or around 2700 BC.  Egyptian royalty was obsessed with life and wanted it to continue after death.  Embalming and mummifying were techniques developed to facilitate life after death and were totally accepted as a reality for the rulers and the wealthy.  There are approximately 94 Pyramids in Egypt - the most prominent three - the Pyramids of Giza, are the ones usually on display - Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu.  Shortly thereafter,  or simultaneously,  the Sphinx was created to be the symbolic protector of the Pyramids
After Greece and later Rome assumed dominance, Egypt gradually receded into the background.  The Pyramids and the temples that manifested Egypt's glorious days were gradually buried in the shifting sands.  On or around the early 19th  century, European archaeologist/excavator, William Matthew Flinders, started the restoration process - opening the flood gates, if you will. Within a few decades, the Pyramids were unearthed and plundered.  That said, to see what remains, in real time, is still a site to behold.
Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom were buried in the Pyramids of Giza, however, in subsequent periods, tombs, not Pyramids were constructed for these "modern day rulers".  Today, known as the Valley of the Kings, this area was/is vast an extensive, as we will review in the next segment.

Temples and Tombs:
Pharaohs of the new Kingdom drifted away from Pyramids in preference for tombs, dug and submerged deep into caverns of a mountain range, and subsequently named Valley of the Kings   For a more in depth narrative on this astounding history, click on the Blue to access.

That said, I'll share with you our experience wondering thru these tombs and passageways.  The artistry of the paintings, sculptures and hieroglyphics are mind boggling; but even more so, it highlights the travesty that has been dealt to this once great nation and civilization. The alleged glory attributed to Greece and Rome was always center stage for these two countries.  Greek Mythology and its litany of Gods - Zeus, etc;  the strength and structure of the Roman Empire; and the supposed longevity of both.

However, walking thru the archives of this once great nation, two elements became abundantly clear - a) the Greeks and later Rome both got their ideas from Egypt; Greek Mythology is a mirror image of what was established and enacted  in Egypt;  b) Egyptian civilization was fully developed by 4000 BC - having come on the scene 2,000 years earlier and thrived for over 3,000 years.  The Greeks and later the Romans had a civilization time lapse of no more than 600 years, each - start to end; and be amazed at how similar they both were to the Egyptian framework.  A strong case for patent infringement.   See the temples and statues in all their glory and compare to those of Greece and Rome; the latter pales by comparison.  

As outlined by historians, Egyptians - especially royalty and the wealthy, loved and enjoyed life; so much so, they clamored for continuance after death.  This gave rise to the elaborate structures - pyramids and later burial tombs, as well as sophisticated embalming techniques to preserve or at least delay physical decay of the body.  Favorite items of clothing, jewelry and sometimes even servants were included with the deceased.  All this in full display, 3,000 years later in the Valley of the Kings.

Over the 3,000 plus years of active history, Egypt had a total of 170 Pharaohs.  Seven (7) women - the last female was Cleopatra and 163 men.    The exact number of Pharaohs buried within the Pyramids could not be determined; only three (3) notables are recorded - mummies of Djoser, Khafre, Menkaure - Old Kingdom Pharaohs, and their descendants are known/thought to be in the Pyramids.   All or at least most of New Kingdom Pharaohs are buried in the Valley of the Kings - this included the infamous Tut Ankh Amen - AKA King Tut: first five (5) pictures.  The photographs do not do justice to the Real Time view. Observe the boy king's fan - made from ostrich feathers.

There was no access to the three (3) main pyramids so we could not observe any inscriptions - if there were any.  However, the tombs were loaded.  Artwork and carvings prevailed,

The statute on left is dated at 2100 BC.  The image of a young Egyptian girl - presumed to be of a upper working class, noting the container balanced on her head but also for the adornments on her ankles.  The facial expression, captured so long ago reflected, even today, in the faces of current Egyptian women.

Egyptians, dating all the way back to the Old Kingdom, were obsessed with documenting events.  They did this in a sequential manner, over the mellenia using hieroglyphics.  Throughout all the tombs the Egyptian story was told, century by century, millennia by millennia.  

In addition to King Tut, we visited the tombs of Ramses - ll, lll and lV; Nefertari, to name four (4).

The Hieroglyphics were just about at an end by the time Cleopatra came on the scene - on/around 50 BC; so, not much is depicted of her. Greece and later Rome had already plundered and taken control of Egypt.  The final battle with Rome, with Cleopatra at the helm of Egypt, was the grand finale for this nation.  On left is the depiction of Cleopatra, embraced and rendered by Egypt, as the sun began to set on this ancient nation, after 4,000 years of near dominance.

Antony & Cleopatra were real - the colossal flop of the movie, notwithstanding.  Cleopatra's father was Greek by birth; her mother  - albeit unknown, was Egyptian.  The recent controversy about Cleopatra's skin color  - fueled in large part by the Elizabeth Taylor visual, has merit on both sides.  To suggest that Cleopatra could not be of a darker skin tone, is absurd, given what is known.  Egyptians residing closer to the Mediterranean tend to have a lighter skin complexion;  however that tone becomes increasing darker as one moves south.
This is not rocket science. It is not known what, exactly was Cleopatra's skin tone, however, the odds that she looked like Elizabeth Taylor is a stretch, at best.

The next section will focus on Nubia - its origins and current status. 

Nubia is a region in and around northern Sudan and south Egypt.  Their history precedes that of Egypt.  In the mid 19th century, as the concept of damming the Nile began to formulate,  pressure to displace Nubian's steadily increased.  Formerly farmers, by heritage, the Dam's construction slowly forced these indigenous people from their land - as the dam flooded the region.  Currently they live in villages in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.  Many have migrated away from the region all together, settling in others areas of south west Egypt, Sudan and other African countries.

Egypt had a total of four (4) Nubian Pharaohs over the millennia.  The statue on the left was not of a Pharaoh but a well revered Nubian of the region - thought to be a mayor or the like - enough to earn himself a place in the Museum.

Our tour afforded us the opportunity to visit one of these villages to meet and mingle with the people living there.  We departed that morning in a small river boat, which gave us an even closer look of the Nile, and headed out. An experience extraordinaire.

School was in session when we arrived and these "poor" kids were suddenly surrounded by dozens of squealing and yapping tourists, gaping at that which they considered normal.  Some of the kids were smiling and pleasant, others in a mood to pout even as the teacher stood a the front of the room, attempting to remain calm and maintain order.

Lessons and instructions were given in three (3) languages - Nubianeze, Arabic and English.  We stood there in awe and watched the children, as they easily switched among the three languages at the behest of the teacher.   Kinda makes a mockery of the standing US mantra, which states that "... children are just not ready to take on learning a new language at an early age..."

The interaction with both the students and the teachers was pleasant and informative.  We departed knowing so much more of these quaint and ancient people, who can trace their ancestry back to early biblical times.

The Viking Experience:
This was our first river cruise.  To be kind and generous, it was different; realistically for us, it was a bit disappointing.  The vessel was decidedly smaller, but that was to be expected.  Built in Cairo only two years prior, the Osiris was exclusively for the Nile.  There were only two dining rooms with menu service only - no buffets.  No gym; no spa and a bow to stern walk was less than 5 minutes.  With only 80 guests aboard, meeting everyone was a breeze - assuming that was an objective.  For us, it never was.  That said, we did interact with more guests on this trip versus the previous two; and it was enjoyable.  However, entertainment was limited to one lounge with a piano player (who wasn't very good) and a floor entertainment on two (2) of the seven (7) nights.  So, if one was not much into drinking, back to the room was the natural next step, after dinner.  Suite occupancy gave us access to the Captain on the Bridge; and that was a novel experience.

The Captain was Egyptian - born and bred; spent his entire life on the Nile, navigating from the Sudanese border to the Mediterranean in small river boats.  Spoke not a word of English.   Two years ago, Viking offered him  the job when it became clear that the Nile was far too complicated a waterway to handover to someone with only a few months of training.

As is visible, the controls are all "joystick" size - gone are the two ft diameter wheels and cranking levers. During my brief moment of fame, I was able to vary the speed and direction; and could see an array of information, including but not limited to depth, width of the river - bank to bank, as we proceeded north, and any underwater obstructions.  Awesome stuff.

We spent our last night in Cairo at a Lebanese Restaurant - a first.  We are early eaters, so at 5:30PM, we were all but the only guest having dinner, at that time.  No problem. The cuisine was unique, different but delicious.  Totally enjoyed.

We are at the end of the narrative - to continue would make this quite boring; probably already is.  I've loaded the slide tray with a selection from the dozens of pictures taken but not included above.  I invite you to thumb thru - stop at any time, as you see fit.  Thanks for reading and viewing.  Much appreciated.

Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for approximately 55 years.  The son of a wealthy real estate entrepreneur, he had a great launching pad from which to spring.  A lot has been said about who he was/is, as a person, but even from the early days, family members presented him as selfish, self centered, egotistical and above all else, a consummate liar.  As portrayed, Trump would first determine what you needed/wanted to hear and simply say it. Throughout his 2015 campaign, Trump said repeatedly that he received $1 - 2 million from his father - a narrative that supported his being self-made;  turns out that his father funded Donald's initial business ventures, to the tune of over $500 million, over those early years.  He was also extremely good at lying expressly to avoid blame and/or responsibility.  The purpose of this blog is to objectively track Donald Trump's behavior and influence from the point at which he considered running for the office of POTUS, up through current events - as he sits, poised to face a deluge of indictments, all of which revolve around his abhorrent behavior as President. 

I will address Trump's early years only to the extent that they bear relevance to his behavior over and thru the years under review.  Also, tab on any/all blue highlighted text for additional details.

New York City's first real exposure to Donald Trump occurred when he built/opened his first major property in 1979 - The Trump Tower, a classy and opulent apartment and specialty boutique facility.   Even then it was apparent that he was obsessed with his name; this was the start of a very successful branding initiative.  Over the next 50 years he successfully established his name and achieved worldwide recognition.  Linking his branded name to (his) Real Estate ventures, he was able to create a monstrous revenue generating machine, based on royalties associated with its use on properties built, bought and or leased, worldwide.

In 1986, following the bureaucratic blundering of city government, Donald Trump stepped in and proposed to then mayor Ed Koch that the Trump Organization would rescue and restore the Wollman skating rink from disaster.  This was accomplished with a nominal investment of $2 million.  Trump basked in the glory of this accomplishment; and it was the first glimmer of Trump, the politician - several newspaper articles toyed with the idea of Trump for mayor, but these faded quickly and disappeared.  The escapade, nonetheless gave a glimpse of who was Donald Trump - a man who craved the spotlight.   Charismatic, with the ability to influence those around him, and beyond.  This posture would continue to grow and expand in the years ahead, as we'll see.

In 1984, Donald Trump entered the Casino industry - Trump Plaza, hotel and casino; his first.  This was the starting point for string of failed attempts into this business model.  Filled with failed financial restructuring, joint ventures, botched construction projects and ultimately, bankruptcy - six (6) in total, three (3) of which were directly related to (his) Casino holdings. During this tumultuous period - 1991 thru 2009, Trump systematically defrauded numerous groups - construction workers, business partners and hotel/casino staff, to name three (3) 

The pattern was endemic and his process, simple - tie everything up in court and wait for his pursuers to give up and walk away.  Most, simply did not have the resources or stomach for a court battle and, on an individual basis, the amounts owed were usually not sufficient to absorb attorney fees and legal costs.  His proclivity for lying allowed him to say whatever was needed to - a) create doubt; b) position the situation favorably for himself.  He had honed this craft to a fine edge - Mary Trump, his niece said, repeatedly that Donald Trump had the art of lying, down to a science.  Per Mary, as expressed many times in interviews and set forth in her book "Too Much and Never Enough" Donald saw the truth - as in what actually happened, only through the eyes of what worked for HIM; that which would allow him to achieve HIS objective.  This persona, when combined with his extraordinary ability to influence others and the cultivated physical presence - taking command and control of a room merely by entering, made him an awesome adversary; one to be literally feared.  And with good reason as we will see. 

Post the election of Barrack Obama in 2008 is when Donald Trump seriously began to consider running for the Office. Rumor has it that shortly after the election, he was overheard in casual conversation to have said, If that "nigger" can be elected President then so can I.  A rumor, to be sure, but the regression analyses of who is Donald Trump, clearly suggests that it is something he could have said.  But, he had to be sure of his chances to WIN.

As the GOP resistance to Obama increased, following the take back of the House of Representatives in 2010, Trump jumped on the bandwagon with his Obama birther claims.  He lied profusely about what he had and what he knew; and even after the actual, original of Obama's birth certificate, was produced by Hawaii, the onslaught continued.  Why?  because it was not about a birth certificate - not about whether (or not) Obama was born in the USA or somewhere else.  it was ONLY about revving the minds of potential voters; those who were already incensed that the POTUS was not a White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP).  This was his first real venture into the pool of politics and he was absolutely amazed at the public's response.  This single exploratory venture was the linchpin for Trump's ultimate decision to enter the parley of the primaries.

Immediately following his announcement to be a candidate for the POTUS 2016 election, there was a huge rallying from the media.  All three (3) - Fox, CNN and MSNBC, gave Donald Trump free air time, whether by telephone or in front of the studio camera.  And this was daily, from mid 2015, thru to election day.  No other candidate - Republican or Democrat enjoyed this privilege.  And it served him well.   Donald Trump admonished the entire field of candidates.  Starting with the first debate, Trump took the lead and held it to the end.  No other candidate in the history of Presidential elections, within the last 100 years, has ever accomplished this.  Testament to the skill sets outlined above, he lied, postured and presented himself in a manner that captured all/most that saw him.

On January 20, 2017 Donald Trump claimed the White House as POTUS.  One of his key campaign promises was that he would build a wall on the southern border to keep immigrants out and that Mexico would pay all construction costs, aka "pay for the wall".  This was just one of the many promises/claims Trump made during his campaign.  Some were significant, such as this one; others were trivial - "... I won't have time to play golf like Obama; I'll be too busy running our country and keeping it safe..."  Daaaa!

The point here is to demonstrate his strategy - a very simple one, at that.  Just tell the voters what you've determined they would like to hear;  punch their emotional ticket, rev their dislike (hatred is a more accurate description) for the other side - paint the latter as demons, liars, cheaters, wasters, etc.  Do it long enough and loud enough and it will become ingrained and accepted as TRUTH.  Donald Trump was a master and basked in the glory of his deception - cultivated and perfected in the Business world.  He was anything but a "good business man".  What kept him afloat was his ability to spin - to lie and win thru influence and threats of law suits.  The dead bodies he left in his wake were mere casualties of the war which was his life.  During the 4 years of his Administration, The Washington Post tabulated and fact checked a total of 30,573 lies uttered by Trump.  A Guinness Book record.

The Wall, from the very beginning, was a failed state.  He never even got close to getting Mexico to pay the bill and the bureaucracy and logistics for getting it started was nothing he anticipated.  In addition, there were already several hundred miles of existing wall, something he never even mentioned in his campaign wall rants.  However, even as his project was failing, he needed to keep the flame of hatred alive and he did so by raging about the migrate invasion occurring at the southern border.  The rapist, the drug dealers and murderers are invading our country, he said.  "We will never be safe until the wall is completed; and it's almost done..."  Migration and immigration have always been an issue for the United States.  Administrations came and when with marginal impact on the overall problem, which was in a continual state of change.  This is not a political problem; it is an issue for the nation to address.  But Republicans - aka Trump, saw this as a political lever.  Drive the far of an invasion into the hearts and minds of unsuspecting and ignorant voters and label the issue as a problem created by Democrats.

New York Times writer, Farah Stockman did a phenomenal job of objectively analyzing Trump's accomplishments over his four (4) years as POTUS.  This list of 126 accomplishments has been displayed and discussed on social media - mostly by Republicans, whose objective was to display Mr Trump as the nation's most accomplished President, ever.  Clearly this was not true but the level of collaborative effort between democrats and republicans  was certainly surprising.  Surprising, yes but realistically, this is exactly how government was supposed to function.  Trump's list of accomplishments are decent, but were due, in large part to the efforts of Congress, as opposed to his autocracy.  That said, Trump's accomplishments or lack thereof, were not the real issues; it was the barrage of lies that poured forth, along with his overt efforts to enrage voters - his Republican base, in particular.  Three (3) areas, in particular, clearly demonstrates Donald Trump's objectives, as follows:

• Federal Income Tax Reduction Act
• New Tariff Regulations
• Covid-19 Epidemic

Federal Income Tax Cuts:
On December 17 2017, congress passed and Trump signed into law a massive, $1.9 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act -TCJA.  The new law was broadly designed to do the following:
 - Lower the Corporate Tax rate - which it did, permanently.
 - Lower the Personal Income tax rate - which it did, but temporarily
 - Reduce the number of deductions available to middle income tax payers -            mortgage interest and RE Taxes

Not surprisingly, Trump's tax cuts were strikingly similar to those initiated by George Bush in 2002 - billions to the top 5%; for the remainder, not so much.   However, the main problem with Trump's tax law was not the law itself but the way in which it was presented to the public.  Understandably, there was a lot of switching around - remove a particular deduction but provide an offset, somewhere else.   For most middle income tax payers, this was confusing, by design. The intent was to make middle America think they were getting a good deal; when, in reality the benefits went, unequivocally, to the upper 5%.   The three (3) bullets above clearly indicated Trump's intention - Reward the wealthy at the expense of the middle - an objective that was initiated and accomplished by Reagan, George W Bush and now Trump.

Tariffs:
A Tariff is a tax imposed on merchandise imported from foreign countries.  The tax - reflected as a % of the value of the goods, is due to the importing country when the products are delivered.  However, this tax is NOT paid by the exporting country. The product, sitting on the docks, will not be cleared until the tariff is paid by company importing the material.  This constitutes a price increase to the company purchasing the merchandise and, ultimately to consumers of those products, as the merchant increases HIS prices to cover for the cost of the tariff, he was forced to pay. 

Donald Trump totally and intentionally misrepresented this situation.  Throughout his 4 years, Trump touted that he recovered millions of dollars from China and other countries, in increased tariffs.  A TOTAL LIE,  but Trump was allowed to make these false statements with absolutely no "push back" from his base; and, of course, the Democrats never have anything to say.  The Congressional Budget Office indicated that US Corporations were required to shell out over $300 million to cover the costs of Trump's political (tariff) debacle; which, in turn, was passed on to consumers.

Covid-19:     
News of the Corona Virus arrived in the USA in 4th quarter 2019.  A virus, dubbed covid-19, was radiating out of Hunan, China with devastating results for any and all who encountered it.  World Health Organization (WHO) projected that the spread could create significant health challenges for the entire world, if not immediately addressed. 

By late January 2020 it was evident that the virus was spreading, worldwide.  As leader of the Free World, the United States should have been stepping forward to harness resources and address the pending pandemic - but that is not what happened. Donald Trump saw this catastrophe as an opportunity to leverage his influence - even if the positions he was about to take were false and misleading.  At the top of the list was the "Blame Game" - WHO did not do enough; China conspired to release the virus on the rest of the world; and later on masks were totally ineffective in retarding the spread of the virus. 

Trump's cavalier and insensitive approach to the dangers of the virus single-handedly created a rift within the country, split along party lines.  Republicans were inclined to support Trump's version of reality; Democrats less likely; and the fight between the scientist and the politicians was on.  Dr's Fauci and Birx did  their best to reign in Trump but that was an impossibility.  He continued to talk about miracle cures - like drinking bleach and a host of other ill thought through recommendations.  Bottom line - the country was not prepared and when the virus finally hit US shores, it was devastating.  More people in the US, died from covid-19 infections - per capita, than any other nation on the planet.   National Public Radio - NPR did an excellent job of capture the sequence of events,  as poured forth from Trump.

Donald Trump politicized the pandemic in an attempt to strengthen his political position.  It did not work;  The nation came to realize in the end that the country had suffered severely as a result of the ravaging virus.   Conservatively, over 107 million people contracted the virus; over 1.1 million people died.  America voted Donald Trump out of office in 2020.

Government has to be collaborative, in order to be effective.  However, this was NOT Donald Trumps' view of how things should be.  He craved attention and sought it at all costs.  Add to that, the fact that he was/is an extremely influencing individual.  People craved to hear what he had to say -  this was his persona and he leveraged it to his advantage, even as the nation suffered.  It is still incomprehensible that Senior Govt officials - Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruise and a host of others, after totally trashing Trump in the primaries, did a complete about face and unabashedly supported his lying rhetoric, after the election.   Racial and other hate related crimes increased threefold since Trump took office; so also were police shootings and mass killings in schools, churches, nightclubs, etc.  We will never be able create a direct link of something Trump said with any particular act of violence. However when the regression analyses is completed the pathway invariably implicates Trump rhetoric.

The GOP manipulation of the Government construct is pathetic in it's display of extreme partisanship.  Starting with the Mueller investigation - which was supposed to bring everything to a head, but instead fizzled in half truths and innuendoes.  Recently appointed Attorney General Barr, wasted no time in dismissing Mueller's summary conclusion as inconclusive, even though the body of the report clearly outlined the specifics in detail.  One can only wonder if Mueller was, in fact, a Trojan Horse - a Republican, hiding under the guise of fairness and equity but with the intent of delivering non-specifics, which allowed Barr to conclude as he did.  Note however, that in this charade, there was NO talk about weaponizing the DOJ.

The Constitution - the document that directs and guides our government, was scribed over 200 years ago but has never been revised, save for the few constitutional amendments that were passed.  Most public documents do not survive 200 weeks without revision.  But we know that a constitutional revision will never take place because the GOP will not support it.  Too many of the antiquated constitutional declarations support the GOP platform - Free Speech and the right to keep and bear arms, to name two (2).  This stalemate situation has significant negative consequences for the Nation; Partisanship over the rights of citizens.  The senate's failure, on two occasions, to convict Trump after he was impeached, is testament to the extreme partisanship, in place, in the Congress. 

It is now June 2023.  Trump has been out of office for 2 1/2 years and during that time several indictments have been launched against him, as follows:

• The first, centered on the alleged hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels; recall - this was the issue for which Cohen was convicted and sent to prison.  This was the first time, ever, in the history of this nation, that an ex-president was criminally indicted for a crime.  Trial is tentatively set for early 2024. 
• Rape accusations charged by E. Jean Carroll.  Trial was held and Trump was found guilty and ordered                             to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million. 
• Accused of inappropriately/illegally removing classified documents from the White House, lying about the act and refusing to return the material - the latter was recovered in an FBI raid on Mar A Largo.  Indictment pending.
  
• Accused of attempting to coerce Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find non-existing votes in order to swing the Georgia  election results away from Joe Biden and to Trump.  Indictment pending.
  
• Implicated in the instigation of the riot/insurrection launched on the Capitol Building - Indictment pending.

The 2024 general election is approximately 17 months from today; and no one can predict how this event will unfold.  Donald Trump is a declared candidate, along with several others - Ron DeSantis included; and with a 59% polling, he leads DeSantis by a margin of more than 2:1.  All other prospects are in single digit %'s. The Nation is split - polarized by the false narratives that pour forth, daily from the media talking heads.  To be fair, there's misinformation coming out from both the Right and the Left; however, know that conservative media and the rambunctious GOP members of Congress, are far more flagrant and dishonest in their attempts to enrage voters by preying on their emotional pet peeves.

Trump is poised to be indicted and convicted on any one of the three (3) pending charges. However, it is still unclear if the constitution prohibits him from holding the office of POTUS, if he's been convicted of a crime.  Regardless, the outcry from his supporters will be gargantuan.  Even worse, if the conviction proceeds the election and Trump was the winner, the nation will be poised for a massive civil disruption.

The Republican party - knowingly or not, has failed to recognize the supreme responsibility they have to the citizens of this nation - to garner a sense of fairness and equity for all, if not most; even as they parlay to be elected.  This failure has sewn the seeds of derision, hate and violence within and among the populous; and one can only speculate on how they will react if the decisions made, are not in their favor.  For 100 years and beyond - civil war being the exception, this nation has NEVER experienced anger and rage at its current level.  The catalyst is undoubtedly Donald Trump; AND It should be the goal/objective of every citizen - Republican or Democrat, to see that he and his family are removed from the nation's political platform, FOREVER.

At age 70 and beyond, one will inevitably begin to question his/her mortality; for many, that process begins 20 to 30 years earlier.  Many, if not most people under the age of 25, do not consider religion a driving force in their lives - not unless their environment is steeped in the process and/or they are forced - actively or passively, into the system.  However, as one ages, the concept of mortality takes center stage, along with the realization that "we" will not live forever; that is downright scary, even though many will never admit that.  For centuries, religion - and for purposes of this text, I will focus primarily on Christianity; has maintained one clear but unstated objective, codified in one word, CONTROL.  The creators and proponents of religious dogma have developed and honed their message to drive "Fear of the Unknown" into the hearts of the unsuspecting and ignorant masses and, in so doing,  gain control of their lives - stem to stern. The consummate fear of spending eternity in HELL is the supreme motivator for religious conversion. The objective of this narrative is to explore the accuracy of these religious positions, to demonstrate how the established religious dialogue - written and spoken, is completely at odds with - a) the reality of life on earth; b) the human construct; c) any true and accurate knowledge of what follows after the body dies.   I will break my narrative into sections to support easy reading over time - no rush to judgement.

For most Christians, the Bible is the anchor of their beliefs - their faith.  Complied over centuries, the book has been subjected to several modifications.  None of these have been verified but the sense is that changes were made - it seems ludicrous to think otherwise.  Later I'll introduce the influence of Constantine the Great.

That said, let's explore the macro tenets of the Bible:  God created heaven and earth - did so in 7 days; he molded Adam out of clay and Eve, using a rib from Adam.   Adam arrived before Eve, obviously, but nothing is said about how long after Adam was Eve created.  However, Adam was obedient; he followed God's laws and was a "good boy"  Eve showed up and sometime thereafter fell prey to temptation - Eve, not Adam.  And to make it even worse, the symbol of her temptation was visually phallic.  So, right from the start - in the first book of the Bible, the woman was portrayed and presented as miscreant, soft of mind and controlled by emotions and her internal desires.  Knowing what we know today - 2000 plus years of CE history, doesn't this look/feel a little strange?  Something less ordained by God, more contrived by Man.  And remember, when the book of Genesis was written - by the Jews, I might add, Adam and Eve, such as they ever existed, were long gone!

... Continuing to probe - the Christian narrative states that God is omnipotent - all seeing, all knowing, with unfathomable knowledge, power and strength.  Keeper of all things, maker of all things - I could go on but the point's been made.  He - God, also made humans in HIS image.  One has to assume that this was a conscious "decision"  We also have to consider that, along with all other aspect of human appearance and behavior, God was meticulous in design, functionality, etc.  What then, was God's objective in creating LIFE, in general, human life in particular.  Was he seeking to achieve a foundation of harmony among all life but especially among humans; kindness, consideration, empathy, love and understanding - Yes?  All these options were available to him - he was, after all, the creator.  Make it so it works! In Genesis, as we walk thru the creation, the narrative was constantly punctuated with the phrase "... and God saw that it was good..." so, clearly He was monitoring the progress of his work.  Not much is said about the creation of Adam, other than he was made from dirt - hmm, there could be some significance in that fact; but we'll never know; however, let's press on.

Genesis states further that God cautioned Adam, and later Eve to abide by HIS laws.  Stay away from the Tree of Knowledge - "... if you partake of its fruit, you will surely die..."  This was a directive from GOD!  A declarative that should have been followed, without question.  Adam was good, apparently; but Eve - aah, the woman.  Suddenly we have a serpent - a crafty animal? Now I'm confused!  God had just finished creating ALL life on earth - this, one assumes, to include the crafty serpent. 

Was this a trap for Adam & Eve?  And Eve ate the forbidden fruit and offered it to Adam, but neither Eve nor Adam died - oops? Instead Eve fell for the lure of the phallic, thereby setting in motion the fall of Human Beings, which followed.  Before we are done with Genesis - the first book of the Bible, we have a murder - brother killing brother and God's dissatisfaction with the world he JUST created, so great, he felt compelled to "destroy" it - The flood and Noah.  All this is amazing!  We are not sure of the time elapse between the creation of Adam and the destruction of the world;  but it all happened in Genesis.  Given that God's human experiment appeared not to be working - I can't believe that murder and mayhem were part of the original construct; but the design was still in its infancy; why not just make some minor modifications? For starters, get rid of FREE WILL.  Clearly it was not working, right from the start, Eve, followed by Adam, ignored God's word and FREE WILLED themselves in another direction.  Back to the drawing board, GOD; fix the problem! Should not be so difficult, given the level of Your  perceived omnipotence.   But that did not happen; FREE WILL grew and flourished among humans; and the world, created by God,  became a HELL on earth for 70% or more of the people who inhabited it.  Later on we find out that the religious intermediaries found a way to lay the blame for this catastrophe, on humans, not God - after all, God was omnipotent!  More on that later.

As indicated earlier, for 200 plus years, following the crucifixion,  the various factions of Christianity were at war with each other and others.  They argued incessantly over whether the deity of Christ - the father, the son and the holy spirit was ONE entity or THREE.  Thousands were slaughtered as a result of this conflict.  Beginning in approximately 300 CE, formally known as AD, Constantine the Great, in an initiative to consolidate his rule/empire, established mandatory religious requirements.  He visibly converted to Christianity to set the stage for a new Religious platform.  Many claimed that he exercised editorial privilege with the Bible - removing and/or modifying aspects that did not align with his thinking and objectives.  Others - mostly die hard fundamentalists, claim that he did not.  However, this is irrelevant.  During the period of Constantine - approximately 40 years, and beyond, the fighting among Christians decreased dramatically and three (3) religious factions - Judaism, Christianity and later Muslims were able to exit in relative calm, but not for long...

Approximately 700 years later, all this was upended as Europe, under a religious edict from the Council of Clermont - 1095, launched the Crusade wars, to reclaim the "Holy Land" from the Muslims - and simultaneously, resolve the problem of the Jews.  A colossal mayhem, spread over 300+ years, which left the Middle East Region in shambles.  The infamous Christians, in their zeal for, whatever, killed anyone they found wearing a turban.  A turban was the dress of a region, NOT a symbol of religious affiliation.  Thousands of Jews and Muslims, now converted to Christianity were suddenly caught up in this insanity and were summarily butchered - not for what they believed but for how they were dressed.  The Catholic church went to great lengths to eradicate this horror from the records.  Today, most Christians view the crusaders as heroes in God's war against the infidels - and to clarify, Muslims and Jews.

For the next 1000 years, Christianity - also known as the Catholic Church, strengthened its world position, both as a religious force and government influence, amassing a tremendous fortune along the way.  The church became the official intermediary between God and "the people". Prayer was a requirement for all good Christians, made even more meaningful when initiated through a priest.  The Church determined what people could and could not do, with drastic penalties for those who dared to disobey.   They contrived all manner of charges to extract the meager holdings from the peasants - the most notable of these was Indulgences.  One could reduce time spent in purgatory, after death, by paying XX amount to the church.  And by the way, these established rules did not apply to the clergy - they were exempt! The Church promulgated the concept of Free Will, and instilled in ALL Christians that THEY - by invoking FREE WILL were responsible for all the evil that befell the world.  They, in league with the devil, had disobeyed God and would be punished in the hereafter for their sinful ways.  Didn't matter that these Priests - self appointed emissaries of God, were waist deep in corruption, lies, sexual deviancy, theft and coercive manipulation. They plodded forward, unabashedly.  Their CONTROL over the people, solidly in place.

All this gets us to where we are - today; we have approximately 2.2 billion Christians, most - 60%, of whom are Catholic.  The dialogue has been carefully crafted over the centuries and the narrative is explicit and unquestioned.  There is nothing unsaid, that has not already been said.  No Christian questions FREE WILL - in fact, they embrace it; no Christian challenges the omnipotence of God or the fact that He allegedly and selectively influences and intervenes in our daily lives, actively or passively - His presence is continuous.  Amen!

​Christians have been schooled to believe that there is no meaningful challenge to Catholicism, specifically, Christianity in general.  This, despite the profusion of data that contradicts just about every aspect.  I cannot hope to cover all of these contradictions - no one would read it; as it stands now, I doubt if even this will be read; but no matter.  However, Just as many Christians continue to espouse the "goodness" of God on a daily basis, I feel it is also appropriate to demonstrate the contradictions to religious dogma.  So let's take a look:

We now know that there were flourishing civilizations in other parts of the world, most notably China, but also India, Australia and Africa. The Jews "scribed" the Old Testament - Moses, allegedly was responsible for the first five (5) books, including Genesis, which narrated God's decision to destroy the world by flood. Noah and his ark allegedly contained the only living remnants of life after the flood - which we now know not to be true.  The reality of Life is at complete odds with the tenets of the Bible.  The Spiritual Geologists will have us believe that planet earth and ALL life forms thereon, magically appeared some 6,000 years ago.  Further, and serving only to complicate the situation, other religious advocates state that the 7 days of creation are metaphorical; one day does not necessarily mean 24 hrs, as we know it - it could, in fact, be a million years - less or more as the proponents see fit.  However, if we see that perspective as a possibility then it completely obliterates the 6,000 year old claim because the latter is directly tied to our existing timeline - 2,200 years since the crucifixion, etc.

Many Christians reject the Big Bang theory, but reject or not, planet earth is part of a much greater universe and this is not in dispute.  The Universe is, by all scientific evaluations, approximately 16 billion years.  Within that time frame, there was, supposedly, an explosion which sent huge chunks of geological material in many directions.  One of these chunks was planet earth - and that was approximately 4.5 billion years ago.  This phenomenon is not at all far fetched; even today we observe explosions occurring in space, some of which occasionally impact earth.  Thus began the evolutionary process on planet earth, 4.5 billion years ago - a slow and arduous process.

There are literally thousands of documents, written by scholars and scientists, people devoted to religion and their faith, speculators and spin artists, etc.  Scientists, thru a technique called  Radio Metric Dating, have been able to pinpoint the approximate date of geological material - in much the same way that one can tell the age of a tree by counting the number of rings in its core.   I am inclined to accept and explore the works of scientists.  They are invariably, more objective and usually follow the pathway of science without a predetermined goal.  On the religious side, Christians already have a goal - the narratives of the bible, and are merely seeking to create facts to support their beliefs.  That, for me is a fool's errant.

​EVOLUTION:
...conversely, the evolution of human life transcended through millions of years - as indicated above. That has been established and verified.  The first driver of life was SURVIVAL - live to see another day.  Human life learned to do that over the centuries and continued to improve.  But, along with those survival skills came other capabilities - we learned the value of greed, lust, lying, cheating, etc. all, in some way, tied to individual SURVIVAL.  "those who can, will".  Very quickly it was determined that all human beings were NOT CREATED EQUAL - yet another flaw; not equipped with the same skill sets at similar levels; and the separation began, - between those that could and those that couldn't.  Started then - clearly more than 10,000 years ago, and is alive and well today.  The Church would have us believe that FREE WILL is some equitably distributed skill set, ordained by God and passed down to humans; allowing us to make rationale and objective decisions - EXERCISE FREE WILL, based on information presented.  Fact is, that is a galactic fabrication!

Decision making is a process - along with thousands of other processes, all built into the genome of every person; and it is unique (to that person) as well as varied.  It is a rare event when two (2) different people, faced with the exact situation, will FREE WILL to the same conclusion - no lies, spin or positioning for hidden agenda reasons.  And if/when it does occur - well, a broken clock displays the correct time twice, daily.  We are predisposed to do what we do, be who we are, because of genetic coding - a product of the conception and birthing process. A person inclined to extreme rage and mayhem cannot be expected to remain calm when faced with events that gets him/her excited.   The reverse is also true; yet we consciously live in denial, clinging steadfastly to the FREE WILL deception.  The pundits will say that individuals, thru coaching and psychotherapy can be weaned away from the maniac behavior.  But understand that the  external influences of therapy an counseling can only stimulate chemical and electrical impulses that are present, to be stimulated. If absent or at significantly reduced levels, external stimulation will fail.

FREE WILL, such as it has been portrayed, IS NOT a direct dispensation from God; on the contrary, it is the result of thousands of years of honing the human genome - trial and error; retain that which makes you strong and accomplished; discard that which makes you weak.  That process is still at work, today - there are a lot of "bad" genes out there.  Maybe one day, evolution will eventually purge human life of all malcontent genes but for now we are stuck with them.  However, it is inconceivable to me that an omnipotent God could be responsible for the direct creation of so flawed a product.  Religion simply cannot have it both ways.  God either does not exist OR he is not as Omnipotent as the Bible makes him out to be.  I prefer to accept the latter.  Having started the process which launched Creation, God left all other aspects - with no intervention, to the slow plodding process of evolution.

PRAYER:
The Bible and the Church tells us that prayer is almost compulsory, if we are to effectively commune with God.  "... No one gets to my Father but through me, in prayer..."  The Bible also teaches us that we are ALL God's children; that he loves us dearly, has our best interests at "heart" and wants us to live a wholesome life while on earth.  Great!  However, the reality of our existence is in direct opposite of that statement.  Since the recording of human history on planet earth, 10% of the population, at any date and time, have always ruled the residual 90%.  This was true when the earth's population was but a few million people.  Today, world population is approximately eight (8) billion; and  conservatively, 60 - 70% of that 8 billion live absolutely horrible and despicable lives, from the day of birth until they die - and for a sub set of that %, the situation for them is 100 fold worse.  Many of these people pray; but even worse, many are but babies - 5 years old and younger.  What did they do to deserve the horrible lives they were handed; and all too often, even more horrific deaths, at the hands of some dysfunctional human being.  Just curious - was the latter exercising FREE WILL when he raped and murdered some hapless 5 yr old.  And where was God, when this horror was in motion?

Consider the following real event - two soldiers are in battle; one gets killed, the other survives.  When questioned by reporters, the latter's response will invariably be "... I knew I would survive because I prayed to God and I knew he would protect me...".  This is an every day occurrence.  We hear it ever time there's a tragedy - tornado, earthquake, covid-19; there's no end.  Those who are spared,  thank God for their good fortune.  My question is - who do the victims thank; what did they do or not, that committed them to their fate, versus those who were spared.  The mere thought that there could be some differentiation in treatment makes God into something other than as portrayed.  Prayer is a process conceived by MAN - the differentiating factor that makes ME good and YOU bad.   It becomes a retrospective process.  After the results are known, the reason for success or failure pivots on prayer.  I was successful because I prayed; your failure means you did not pray.  This is so Bizarre but totally in keeping with the mindset of human beings.  And this was designed by GOD???  Emphatically NO - it was designed by Humans - the self described emissaries of God, for their own selfish reasons.

I clearly recognize the possible existence of a higher power - a Supreme Being. I am not an atheist.  That said - however and whenever this force manifested itself, it had to fall within the boundaries that have been proven to be real - not over 7 days, 6,000 years ago. The universe is 15+ billion years old, so that would be a starting point.  This Supreme Being did whatever he had to do to ignite the creation of the Universe - We see a lot of images of finger pointing and touching; maybe that was the initial step - though I seriously doubt that.  Nonetheless, events progressed from that point, without  intervention from HIM.  
Life evolved over this humongous timeline - starting, stopping, changing direction, destroying itself and subsequently being reformed.  All of this, a constant evolution of life - ALL LIFE and matter, that has gotten us to where we are today. The trials and challenges faced daily by those early humans and other life forms - the cave dwellers/the hunter gatherers, were the tools that shaped the world and all therein.  Reptiles were fish before they became alligators, after being forced to live on land.  The Supreme Being had no input in the design construct of the universe and later planet earth.  All were products of a continual trial and error process over billions of years.   And, all this with no intervention, whatsoever! Our job, as the highest form of intelligence on Earth, was to work with each other to manage and secure the planet, on a platform of continuous improvement.  However, this was simply NOT possible! Evolution was focused initially on Survival and  crafted humans to do just that.  Comradery and consensus appeared only out of extreme necessity and were fleeting - the continual fight for survival and self promotion did not facilitate a harmonious existence.  Did not, 6,000 years ago - and I mark that time slot to indicate the first records of human existence, NOT the creation of Planet Earth; currently improved, at some level but still clearly lacking, today! 

... If fighting, killing and clawing through life to achieve individual success was the objective, the human race has been exceedingly successful - in the 20th century, there were, conservatively 231 million people killed or allowed to die, due to conflict and other horrors. BUT we failed, MISERABLY, if the goal was to achieve a harmonious and productive life, enjoyed by most human beings - simply put, people helping other people succeed on a macro level - the norm, not the exception!   There were numerous contributing factors to that failure but THREE stand out significantly, as follows:

• Evolution and the need to survive, developed skill sets in humans that were unabashedly SELFISH.
• Humans, who determined that "they" were better - as in more intelligent, stronger, etc. than others, initiated a process of manipulation in order to achieve control of those not as skilled.
• The birth of Religion - think about it, that concept was the single best narration to use in order to achieve control.  The Supreme Being was invisible to all; but the smart ones could contrive a story which would fill the ignorant with fear.  That fear became the controlling factor - in the hands of the manipulators, there were no boundaries to what they could achieve.

And, let me be clear, this phenomenon applies to ALL religions - not just Christianity.  Review the world and ALL the religions present and you will find that the few control the many and Religion is the center of that control.

The question posed in the beginning is again center stage.  Two questions: 1) Why does God need to be continually  reassured of his power and omnipotence? 2) What exactly is the culminating objective for all this devotion to God. It seems so strange, that a Supreme Being would need to be constantly applauded for his supremacy.  I do not believe it and will not accept the dogma - it is clearly contrived.

For human beings who have "given their lives to Christ" - whatever that means; what is the ultimate goal - the reward?  Is it that you will earn a seat in God's heavenly temple, after death, doing and participating in the myriad of activities, as spelled out in the Bible?  OR, on the negative side, is it to ensure, as much as is possible, that "we" don't end up in hell - fire and brimstone for eternity.  And if it turned out that, by whatever means, we were to be assured  that  those religious presumptions were FALSE, would "we" still be as devoted (to God). 

Faith says - no questions asked; accept as is and behave, as directed.  Obviously, many have done just that.  But it does not make it unequivocal; because no one really knows - conjecture at best, with a strong dose of persuasiveness built in. Strangely enough - Donald Trump expected the exact same thing - and was able to persuade/convince 60 plus million people that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen from him; that, despite all evidence to the contrary.  Religion is the macro version of what Donald Trump accomplished, both, with clearly the same objective.  And, in many ways, Trump considers himself "A God" or at the very least, a critical emissary.  Too many of "us" fail to see the threads of similarity in behavior, stretched  out across the platform of life.  We don't connect the dots and miss the cues.  Unfortunate but true!

My final position is, as follows:
There is a monstrous disconnect between life/suffering on earth, for human beings - as we know it, and the narrative presented in the Bible. Religious Organizations are immensely wealthy, yet hunger and starvation persists on a global scale.

Any literal interpretation of Creation is a zero sum game - simply doesn't work! God, in his omnipotence, failed in his design and creation of Human Beings and made no attempt to rectify.  And I am fully aware of all the religious justifications,  presented - that Human Beings are exactly as God intended.  However, the concept of evolution, with all its misses and re-works, fits in with life on earth - human, animals and vegetation; a jig saw puzzle with all the pieces coming together to present and support who we are.  Know that it is not even close to being perfect - and never will be; but it's what we have and it makes sense.

At the end of life, the physical body comes to and end and deteriorates - no challenge there.  The presumption is that the Spirit or Soul attached to that body, if it continues, does so independent of the body from whence it came.  The religious declarative is that the spirit retains cognitive knowledge of the life to which it was attached, taking that information forward.   My hope/conclusion is  that the spirit - such as it is, floats free - giving credence to the phrase "Free Spirit"  There is no heaven or hell; if that were true, then hell would be over crowded and heaven would be empty - we are all sinners, so saith the Bible.  Catholicism would have you believe that, having lived an absolutely corrupt life, if in 5 minutes before dying you confessed your "sins" to a priest and receive "Last Rites", all is forgiven and you'd be on your way to heaven - yeah!  The Jehovah Witness sect believe that only 140,000 souls will be selected for entry into heaven, all from their clan.  And on and on; each group with their own private nuance and interpretation. Wow!

Despite the billions of words written on this subject, no one knows for sure what actually occurs on the other side.  There has been no credible communications from that other dimension, despite all the dramatized dialogue to the contrary.  Each of us has our own hopes and expectations - none more credible than the other.  The intent of this blog is to get people thinking.  The hard core fundamentalists will dismiss every word as heresy.  Typical and expected.  Hopefully, many will see this for what it is - a provocative insertion; something for consideration.

At the end of the day, Iceland is nothing but a volcanic rock, situated just below the arctic circle.  That far north in the Atlantic, Iceland is closer to Europe than to the continent of the Americas.  First boots on the ground came out of Norway in 874 AD.  Migration, westward over the next 200 - 300 years, came mostly from Norway and Scandinavia and advanced the population, which today sits at approximately 371,000 - the least populated region on the European footprint.  Active volcanoes are everywhere; fortunately they are not gushers and they usually don't explode,  preferring instead to bubble up and flow over the side of the craters. Most people think that Iceland is cold - reasonable assumption; but is isn't.  Warmed by the constant flow of the golf stream, mean temperatures in the winter average mid 30's F and an absolutely delightful mid 60's range in the summer.  This provides a snap shot of our platform for the  next10 days.

Our Icelandic adventure began on Friday, November 19, 2021.  Covid-19 was a concern and there were protocols - USA and Icelandic, that had to be followed; but we did OK and boarded the Icelandic Air flight out of JFK, uneventfully.  We landed at Keflavik Int'l Airport on Saturday morning and limo'd into the city - courtesy of the company who made the arrangements.  After breakfast we spent the remainder of the day touring Reykjavik. An interesting city with a mixture of old and relatively modern architecture; churches (on the left - looked like a rocket ship) warehouses, etc. all supporting a farming and fishing economy.  And places to eat - no shortage of those. 

Dinner was our first exposure to Icelandic cuisine.  We had a special 7 course extravaganza at the Kopar - a mixture of local and European dishes and we were not disappointed.  The photograph on the right (above) is collage of refractive images, taken in the restaurant, looking thru a huge plate glass window at a shipping port.  The day was chilly and damp - raining on and off but enjoyable, none the less.

First observation, as we headed north out of Reykjavik was that the roads, more accurately, road - Rt 1 was the road that encircled the island, were narrow - one lane each way.  Added to that, the fall off on either side was immediate - no more than a foot of shoulder; and finally, no guardrails  (double click on all blue words for video) - well, let me say 90 % of the roadway - Rt.1, was without guardrails.  The fall off on either side varied - 5 to 10 feet, an inconvenience, or up to 100 - 200ft plus; clearly catastrophic, if not fatal. Very quickly I realized that sightseeing and driving was a non-starter, if I had plans to make it back to New Jersey.  That said, the scenery was exquisite.  Iceland is without trees - volcanic rock, get it? Tree growth, as observed, was the result of plantings and were mostly evergreens. However, the majesty of the hills and rock formations were breathtaking - having stopped to observe. 

Icelandic is home to a breed of small horses, similar to the Shetland ponies and, thinking it thru, the latter is but a hop away, on the other side.  These Icelandic horses (IH) served two purposes - for riding and for eating. Most of the consumption occurs in Japan, a major buyer of Icelandic horses - we saw no offerings on any local menu, however, throughout our journey, we encountered several pastures with lots of horses running around; from a distance, at first , they looked like cows - but they were IH's.  We did see some cows and a flocks of sheep.

We arrived at our first destination stop late Sunday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to find a small boutique hotel nestled in a quaint Icelandic town.  Little did we know what lay beyond this point.  The staff was extremely friendly and suggested that theirs was the best restaurant in town; we elected to give it a try. The hotel had a spa but is was closed on Sundays, however, with a little cajoling and a few bucks on the side, we had the spa all to ourselves, complete with bottle of champagne - not a bad first night.  No pictures of the spa; was too dark.

We started looking for the northern lights but came up short; the cloud cover was too heavy, so no lights tonight; but no problem, we had 10 days to go, Right? 

Lava flows, thermal pools and waterfalls - Iceland's filled with them.  We saw craters, no lava flows, but we sure saw a lot of waterfalls.  Majestic in all their glory - trickling or roaring, they got your attention. As the video will show, the falls were particularly spectacular as they struggled against the freezing temperatures.   The waterfall in the background had steps leading to the top - center shot; we started the trek but wind and the temperature made the hike unpleasant ; so we went up and back down very quickly.

We visited two thermal pools -  the water is pulled from the inner volcanic core at between 300 - 500 degrees Fahrenheit; and arrives in the pool at an average 105 degrees F.  It is actually quite pleasant but the high sulfur content limits the time in, to approximately 20 minutes; and you are advised NOT to submerge your head.  No photographs, the logistics of the pool and the phone presented a challenge.  The lower right below is a volcanic crater, known to rev up, ever so often and GLOW; has never overflowed - at least not recently.  The last major volcanic eruption in Iceland was March 21 2021.  We actually visited this site but there was no activity; just solid lava rock

As we traveled north, the weather became more severe, a barren expanse, covered in a blanket of white but captivating in its starkness.  This made the narrow roads  more slippery, requiring more attention.  We started thinking North Pole; maybe even bumping into Santa.  Then the weather cleared and a little farm community came into view, complete with a small red house and - yes, Reindeer! These animals are in the wild, even though they appear to be quietly grazing - much like deer found in North East US. We looked around for Santa but he was out running errands in preparation for Christmas, only 4 weeks away.

Leaving Santa's house and his reindeer behind, the weather again turned sour. Gail force winds getting up to 40 MPH and swirling snow; made it difficult to get out of the car - for gas or bathroom breaks, but we forged ahead on our way to the top - reference the map above; see where the green trail turns inland and a little left of center reaches the upper most point of our trip.  Here,we would be parallel to the lower section of Greenland and but a few miles south of entering the Arctic Circle. 

As we moved inland, the glaciers began to appear.  We had experienced glaciers in Alaska,  so we elected not to go walking on them. Later we found out that several people had close  encounters on the glaciers - mainly because the slow, melting process was underway.  Further along,  we came to this bay, loaded with what looked like Icebergs; they we in essence, pieces of a nearby glaciers that had separated from the main structure and floated free. But rest easy my  friends, there's no such thing as global warming.

The foreground of the picture on the left is actually a glacier field, which extends to the left and right of the captured frame for quite some distance in either direction. Glaciers cover approximately 11% of Iceland's foot print but is shrinking, daily as the temperature continues to rise.  As you can see, access is relatively easy and people go trekking onto it, only to get stuck when their foot sinks into a soft spot. Below is the Bay with the bergs floating around.  Large chunks of ice that have broken free from the main glacier.  Note the varied shades of blue - The deeper the blue the older is the glacier.  No estimate on age is available other than to suggest they go back into the period of the last ice age - just a tad before my time. The history of glaciers and the impact they've had on our world makes for very interesting reading. Wikipedia is a great place to start then move into the volumes written on the subject.                                                                  

We arrived at the northern most point of our adventure on day 6.  A quaint and quiet little town - Siglufjorour,  nestled between a mountain range on the northern side - complete with a thriving ski area, and a seaport - a bay into the north Atlantic. This harbor was once home to Iceland's largest herring fleet.

The hotel Siglo - center below was relatively new, owned by an Icelander native who lived 30 years in Phoenix, AZ; but decided to return "home" to take advantage of the exploding tourism extravaganza.  He built the hotel 2016 and, so far, with no regrets. In conversation, he told us about a Christmas Buffet the town was sponsoring that evening and invited us to participate.  We agreed to attend; took a stroll thru the town just to get a feel for the place then headed over to town hall for our Christmas buffet.

Christmas Buffet was delightful.  the hotel owner had called ahead and asked the organizer to give us the VIP treatment - we, one of only two "non-locals".  The food layout was lavish, to say the least; and the Maitre de spent a few minutes to explain the local cuisine and walked us thru the serving area.  For me, I didn't really care too much - I just ate away until I peaked; Susan was a little more selective, but made it thru, nonetheless.  Entertainment (click word to see video) was provided by a duo - an East Indian guy and a Icelandic girl - he was totally fluent in native and never switched to English at any time - no matter, the music was good in any language.

Throughout the trip, all "locals"  we met were pleasant, if not friendly, albeit they never went out of their way to engage.  We had a wonderful evening - totally unexpected; single greatest exposure to the local people, we'd had over the past 9 days.  We bade farewell the following morning and headed south for the last two days of our adventure.

Two nights remained before departure and to our great disappointment, we still had not seen the Northern Lights  The entire week was blanketed in heavy cloud cover with intermittent snow showers, rain and wind - very little or no sun, moon or northern lights.  So we had to resort to photographs - a poor substitute; c'est le vi.

The ride south was a lot gentler than the northern trek.  More farms dotted the path forward and the roadway was less challenging.  We discovered another thermal pool in the town and elected to take a second plunge. this one was more like a hot tub, as opposed to the first, which was like a very large swimming pool.  

We took a fair number of photographs, some presentable, others not so much.  But to construct a narrative around every picture would have been absurd.  Below is a slide show of the photographs not included above.  They present an extended view of the island's topography and highlights why as barren as is Iceland, the scenery is captivating.  Thanks for reading.

For the last 8 years I've written several blogs on the killing, by police officers, of unarmed people of color; a problem that has plagued this nation for decades but, sadly appears to have taken on a more aggressive stance within the last 15 years - even as one would have expected things to be improving. The situation acted out against Floyd was essentially no different than the dozens - nay hundreds of similar instances that had occurred in the past across the nation - no geographical footprint, exempt.  However,  inasmuch as, in the past the populous would fluster, register some indignation on the horrors and then return to life, as usual; in the case of Floyd, the response was entirely different.  This blog will explore the rationale behind the Tipping Point generated, what were the catalysts and what, if any changes will emanate from this global outpouring.

A Tipping Point can best be described as an event or series of events that, invariably, are mutually exclusive from each other but converge at a precise moment to bring about a significant response to an incident, which otherwise would not have gained much attention.   My sense is that there were two variables that converged on the Police killing of George Floyd; which in turn generated the worldwide demonstration we have witnessed - starting on May 25th and proceeding thru June, as follows:

• A 17 year old girl was sufficiently motivated to capture the horrors of Floyd's death and subsequently released her video to the media for publication.  Public America, not usually exposed to images so graphic and horrible, were suddenly confronted with this  8 mins and 46 second drama, played over and over until the true gravity and depravity of what this police officer had done, began to sink in.
  
• For more than eight weeks prior to Floyd's killing, Americans had been ordered to stay at home because of covid-19.  Tensions were high, domestic violence was up and, in general, people were looking for an energy release - delivered in a graphic eight minute video.  Several other videos surfaced shortly thereafter and for probably the first time, ever, America and the world were exposed to 15 - 20 minutes of a murder in progress.

Immediately following the video's release the mayor of Minneapolis, supported later by the Minnesota's Governor, summarily fired the four (4) officers involved in Floyd's death, but that did not prevent what followed. Starting in Minneapolis, protests began to spread across the country and across the world; mostly peaceful but also peppered with rioting and looting

The explosion of people taking to the streets was, in and of itself, a pandemic.  Across the globe, a diverse cross section of humanity rose up in unison to protest what they had just witnessed on screen, demanding drastic and immediate changes to the policing effort.  In the US for sure, but quite likely in other countries as well, the refrain used to describe law enforcement activities is "TO PROTECT AND SERVE".  However, this motto has slowly morphed into - what can now only be described as "COMMAND AND CONTROL".  Police officers no longer look like the "cop on the beat"; he/she is now a commando, dressed in battle gear reminiscent of an Army, Special Forces Hit squad; and for what reason? to break up a protest march that may have a few stone throwers in their midst?  When and why did we, citizens of the US, allow this to happen; but that's only one half of the whole truth.  The reality is that police officers in the United States operate in a near omnipotent status.  Clearly the laws of the country no longer apply to them.  They can lie, cheat, steal and kill with impunity, knowing that the "system" will Protect and Serve THEM.

What happened to George Floyd is, in many ways, very similar to the more than 5,000 other hapless victims of police violence over the past 7 plus years.  The only and  significant difference was that Floyd's killing was captured on video for all to see.  For most of the other instances, even if there was a video at some level, it was short, probably fuzzy and invariably inconclusive in demonstrating the officers' malicious intent; even though the latter could very easily be deduced.  However, for officer Chauvin and his colleagues, that protective screen was smashed and there was little doubt in the minds of most, that Chauvin's intent was to kill Floyd.

The protests gained momentum with each passing day.  Mayors and Governors across the country attempted to calm the growing throngs but their efforts flew in the face of the White House's demands that the Governors take control and "Dominate" the streets. Rumors permeated, that right wing radicals had infiltrated the protestors and initiated much of the looting that transpired.   The White House immediately countered that Antifa - a left wing splintered organization, spread across the country with no central headquarters, was responsible for the rioting and looting.  Trump went on further to say that he would be declaring Antifa as a domestic terrorist group; even as he was completely silent on any and all right wing groups suspected of infiltrating the protesters.  Of the 51 individuals arrested for looting and property damage, none could be linked to Antifa.

By mid June, the Tipping Point on George Floyd's killing was now in full swing and one week after his death, protests continued to rage across major American cities.  The standing refrain was Police Reform; how to get police officers to stop  the indiscriminate killing of people of color - male, female, young or old.  A tall order because the protocols, customs and behavior had been deeply entrenched within the fabric of every police precinct in all 50 States. In addition, all the recommendations, offered up, failed to identify the only REAL corrective action that could bring about the desired change.  
All recommendations presented, discussed new training protocols, funding cuts or de-funding police activities, community programs, designed to "educate the public" - get them more in line with police objectives, etc.  Useful?  maybe but will not achieve one step towards resolving the problem that plagues cities all across the US.  Well, let's take a closer look at this. 

Conservatively, no more than 10% of all police officers have the wrong perspective on policing - that's approximately 80,000 bad officers across the country.  But for that 10%, the malfeasance is far reaching, ranging from racial prejudice, rage against women, rage against all people, lacking in empathy, sympathy or feeling for others and of course spurred along by internal mental conflict - substance abuse, domestic problems, etc. 

In any hiring process the interviewer goes thru the steps but ultimately hires with no real sense of whether or not the person hired is aptly suited for the job.  However, if later on that person turns out NOT to be suitable, they are, invariably fired - dismissed, relieved of his/her duties.  The same should be true for police officers, but it is not.  Over the years, the system has endowed upon police officers a sense of the Divine; the ability to be above reproach, regardless of whatever they may have done.  Fostered thru the police unions, administered by the Blue Wall of Silence and, ultimately supported by State and Federal Govt officials; we are at a point today where a police officer assumes the role of enforcer, judge and executioner - all in one, for any suspect that is apprehended.  Said differently, the officer holds the life of that suspect in the palm of his/her hand, to decide whether or not that individual should live or die - doesn't matter the reason - sadly, there doesn't have to be a reason - "... you have no business driving a car like that; your wife's too pretty, she should be with me not you...".  Dozens of movies - Unlawful Entry have been made over the years depicting this exact behavior of police officers but some how it never resonates.

Judges rely on police unions to support their re-election; if a police officer appears in his/her court; the judge simply looks the other way - extends leniency in the direction of the officer even as he tightens the reins on the suspect.  This is absolutely abhorrent behavior but that's what happens and it is pervasive.  That said, here are the seven (7) critical steps that must be included in any law  enforcement reform, to be enacted, as follows:

• The entire structure engulfing the Blue Wall of Silence must be dismantled.  Good police officers MUST be able to flesh out and report the behavior of errant cops, without fear of reprisals or dismissal.
• Police officer training MUST stress and focus on conflict resolution as the FIRST step in any confrontation with a suspect.
• Deadly force - discharging a firearm, must be the measure of last resort, to be used when the officer's life is clearly in danger - the "... I thought he had a weapon so I shot him 5 times as he was running away..." will be unacceptable.
• Any officer, regardless of rank, found falsifying reports, planting false evidence, lying to superiors or in court, will face immediate dismissal.
• All instances of weapons discharge must be reported, in writing, up the chain of command.  If it is subsequently determined that the discharge was unwarranted,  the officer is given a warning.  After 3 such warnings the officer is summarily dismissed from the force.
• If a police officer kills a suspect and it is subsequently determined that - a) his life was not at risk;  b) he did not apply conflict resolution strategies to resolve the issue; c) the suspect had no weapon on his person or in immediate vicinity where it could be accessed for use, the officer should be arrested for a possible crime committed, tried and if convicted, sentenced to prison.
  
• Create a National Data Base containing the names and profile information of ALL police Officers who have been discharged from a Police Department because of a wrong doing.  This will allow other police precincts in other states to maintain a constant vigil on the whereabouts of these ex officers to ensure that they do not re-enter the system.
  

These are seven key strategic policies that must be further developed and incorporate into the NEW law enforcement playbook - a mandate for ALL police officers, nationwide.  Police officers MUST know that these regulations/requirements are not subject to interpretation.  And to ensure that the rank and file within the organization perform as expected, the the upper management echelons of law enforcement, starting with the mayor, must be held to a higher standard.  There has to be a constant vigil on the performance and behavior of these top management officials; and inasmuch as I am not an advocate for removing an individual who is performing well, simply because he has been too long in the job - aka term limits; any form of corruption, fraud, theft, etc are/will be grounds for immediate removal from the position.

The difficulty in attempting to create and implement a consolidated and uniform law enforcement strategy for all States cannot be overstated - not only because of size but also because of its complexity.   Starting with fifty (50) states, each with a State police force; we move down to counties within each state, cities within each county, towns within each city and in some States, the drilling goes even lower.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that any standardized, nationwide strategy can only be achieved if the effort is led and directed by the Federal Government.   However, the standard protocols, currently in place for each jurisdiction, could be allowed to remain in place, subject to reviews and modifications, as needed, as long as the seven (7) procedures, outlined above are implemented across the country - no precinct is exempt! 

• All governors confer with his/her top law enforcement officials and -a) review current standards; b) incorporate the seven (7) new standards into the revised Law Enforcement Handbook.
  
• Armed with this information, each Governor - or designate will convene in Washington , under the auspices for the Federal Government and begin the process of developing and creating a comprehensive Law Enforcement Hand book - a detailed and precise document spelling out all aspects of Rules of Engagement and expected behavioral protocols for ALL police officers. 
  

Without question this will be a challenging task; but difficulty does not mean it cannot be done And the single largest roadblock is/will be partisanship.  The need for unabashed collaborative discourse will be essential to the task's success; each state willing to consider and relinquish pet peeves for the sake of the whole.  But it can be accomplished, with strong and sensitive leadership!  And when complete the nation will benefit exponentially.

Currently there's tremendous pressure being applied to the Nation's historic stance on racial injustice.  BLACK LIVES MATTER has taken center stage; Juneteeth, which has been around for 155 years is suddenly a pivot point for yesterday's racial transgressions; statues of confederate generals and others, are being toppled and ethnic branded products are being renamed to neutralize any hint of a racial slur.  This is usually the result of a TIPPING POINT achieved; question is, can it be sustained.  Does White America have the intestinal fortitude to move forward, openly and honestly and address the questions of racial injustice, police brutality and a clearly biased criminal justice system.  Establish a platform of objective equity, based on an individuals' ability to perform and produce and a corruption free safety net system to assist those who are not able.  Clearly, all have to participate in this endeavor, however, without a concerted commitment from the white majority, there's very little hope that any meaningful changes will occur.   And here's the sad truth, on Sunday, June 21st, in Branson, Missouri, a raving Trump supporter boiling over with hate and rage, promised all within the range of her voice, that she would "teach her grandchildren to F**** hate all of you..."  That's the reality of the nation in which we live; and albeit that she's not the majority, there's way to many of "her" out there.

My hope is that George Floyd's Tipping Point will not fizzle to nothing.  With the strong and hopeful possibility that  Trump will be exited from the White House in Jan 2021, the new Administration will an opportunity to implement and achieve meaningful and sustainable changes  to the systems that for so many years have prevented the United States of America from being the comprehensibly great nation that it should be.  Democrats gaining control of the Senate would help A LOT.

The universe is no stranger to disease pandemics, they have plagued the world of humans since the days of early cave dwellers.  Pre and post Christ years had their share; but most notably was the scourge of middle ages - Eurasian region, labeled “The Black Death”.  Later, the disease was identified as the Bubonic Plague which could be traced, initially to Asia and later Europe, as early as 3000 BC.  The disease moved thru three continents by way of cargo ships and the hosts were mostly fleas and rats – a staple on these vessels.  Effective treatment was essentially non-existent and methods, as administered, were draconian at best.  The disease viciously attacked humans and animals alike and at the end of 8 years had taken the lives of 50 million Europeans and as many as 200 million people, worldwide. 

In the 700 years following the Bubonic Plague, there has been several other epidemics – polio, small pox, Tuberculosis, Ebola, HIV/AIDS and of course the tried and tested influenza.   However, during that period,  science made enormous strides, a significant portion of which occurred within the last 100 years.  It is, therefore surprising that today – now, in the 21st century, the world  should be facing a viral pandemic with no clear direction as to – a) how to contain the contagious spread of the virus; b) how to prevent it from killing thousands of people.  In the early years, the science was lacking; today, we have the science, it's the people - government administrators, that have fallen short.

Since the coronavirus – covid-19, appeared on the world stage in late December 2019, a lot has been written, in attempt to explain – a) its origin; b) level of contagion; c) how long it would last.  Most of this narrative was politically motivated, to the point where the majority of people were confused.  My attempt here is to share my perspective, based on available information disseminated to date – no spin; what was done right, what was done poorly and what still needs to be completed before we can declare “Mission Accomplished”

 As has been the case with so many of these viruses over the years, the origins of covid-19 allegedly stemmed from China - a “wet market” in Wuhan - as shown above.  Theories about conspiracies between the Chinese government and World Health Organization (WHO) were rampant, spurred even further by rantings from Donald Trump.  However, all that said, there are two indisputable facts – a) the virus did, in fact, originate in china – whether from a wet market or an accidental release from a research lab in Wuhan; b) spread and contagion were rapid and widespread.  Within weeks, infected people started appearing on cruise ships, docked at piers on West Coast US and in Europe, starting in Italy.  The disinformation campaign was also widespread, with Trump being the leader; other Heads of State also threw in their lot, most notably Boris Johnson, who delayed any corrective action for Great Britain, until it was too late.  However, reality  caught up with Boris, he eventually tested positive, was quarantined for 2 weeks, steadily got worse and ended up in a hospital ICU – minutes away from being placed on a ventilator.  But, the Prime Minister of the UK survived and was able to resume his job – his message now totally different.  Place cursor over photos for comments.

However, for the US, we had an entirely different situation.  As the virus continued to spread, globally, devastating Venice, Italy, moving to Spain and other EU countries, Trump ignored this reality in favor of his own agenda and saw covid-19 as an opportunity to score political points – hang the covid-19 outbreak around the necks of the Democrats. So, without further ado, he launched his false narrative.  Here are a few quick grabs.

• It's a Hoax
• The Democrats have conspired with the Chinese to create Covid-19 - NOT REAL!
• The Chinese created this fake news with the media to derail ME in the November election.

When it became apparent that covid-19 was real and spreading, Trump changed his strategy to downplay the looming catastrophe and its pending impact on the US, as follows:

• This is just the flu, nothing to worry about
• It will disappear when the weather gets warm – like a miracle

 
And then, still later, as the number of US infections continued to rise:

• China and the World Health Organization (WHO) conspired to withhold vital INTEL on the spreading virus.
• I always knew this was coming , that’s why I closed the border with China and later Europe
• Maybe injecting Clorox or some cleaning liquid will just clean up the lungs in a day or so.

 
Point made, and the impact of all this, summarized in a phrase –  “ No preparation what so ever” - (click for video clip)  The CDC reported on May 10th that approximately 36,000 lives were lost because the United States failed to act sooner.   UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – the greatest, most powerful and wealthiest country in the world, was ill prepared to meet and deal with the onslaught of covid-19, as it raged across the country.  In no short order, we were # 1 in just about all things negative.  On April 27th the nation recorded over 1 million "test positive" cases; and over 50,000 deaths due to covid-19.  New York City exploded with number of positive tests and deaths.  Reality finally took hold and the nation moved to Lock Down, even as cities across the country struggled to deal with the onslaught of this crippling devastation.

As a nation, the hope is that ALL who “just couldn’t vote for Hilary Clinton” and either voted for Trump or elected not to vote, in the 2016 Presidential election, will have now seen the errors of that decision.  Comes November 2020, all will have an opportunity to correct the egregious mistake made in 2016.  If that occurs and Trump is voted out, it would have been a steep price to pay but the final outcome would, at least be, in some way, rewarding.  Please understand that this is NOT about being a Democrat or Republican; this is clearly about a person - Donald J Trump, an individual who for his entire life has twisted and played his father's fortune solely for his benefit.  He is completely devoid of compassion and empathy; he's a pathological liar and thinks only about himself. Leadership skills are completely foreign to him.  He is by far the worst choice, ever, for the position of POTUS - a situation that must be rectified in Nov. 2020.

But this is not really or only about Trump – focus IS the virus, itself.  In many ways new – albeit an integral member of the coronavirus basket of viruses, a lot is simply not known. Dr Anthony Fauci, well recognized medical expert and head of National Institute of Health - NIAID, has made a gallant effort to provide credible information on the virus - Trump's efforts to realign the facts, notwithstanding. However, misinformation abounded, along with no information at all, as everyone struggled to understand what should and/or should not be done to protect oneself.  The individual nuances of conjecture are all together too numerous,  so I’ll focus on only the significant and the critical.
 
In an attempt to understand the mortality impact to the country and the world, it’s important to set a benchmark, based on factual data.  We appear to have a solid sense of three (3) key elements, as follows:

• How many people tested, were confirmed positive – whether or not they were actually sick
• How many people, of the total confirmed positives, have actually died.

The percent relationship of those two data points is critical.  The relationship also varies from country to country and within the US, from State to State.  For the world, the composite percent is 7%; In China, that percent is 4%;  in Italy and Spain – 14% and in the US – 6%.  To be clear, what this means is that for every 100 people who have tested positive for covid-19, 7 will die – using the composite world % rate.  There is simply no other way to say it, and THAT IS AN EXTREMELY HIGH KILL RATE.  The politically charged Right has tried to soften this result by playing with the numbers – the lower that percent, the easier it is to absorb the total number of dead.  The third critical number needed to complete the data set is, Total Number of Tests Performed.  That number is available for most states and the US in total; it is not available for the World.  For the US, as of May 25, 2020, total tests performed - 14.8 million (a Trump bragging point); total # of persons tested positive - 1.7 million.   Those two data points yield a percent relationship of 11.44%.  Globally and within the US, by state, that % ranges between 30% at the high and 5% at the low. When all is factored together, the results are compelling, as follows:

Worldometer has done an excellent job of providing timely and up to date data on the global impact of the virus.  The information provided below was extracted directly from the Coronavirus data set on the Worldometer website, recognizing that the numbers are constantly changing,  presented below is a snap shot as of May 25, 2020.

 
Total US population                                                                                                                                                       328.2 million
Adjust for people out of range – 10% ( no scientific basis to this number)                                                           (32.8)
 
Total US population - adjusted                                                                                                                                     295.4
 
US tested positive % of total tests performed –                                                                                                               11%
 
Potential # of US population that could be infected                                                                                                     32 million
(note that this number is within a range, similar to the number of people infected with influenza, annually)
 
Current US covid-19 mortality rate  - 5.88% as of May 25, 2020                                                                                      5%
 
Projected number of people that could die from covid-19 infection - over the next 2 yrs                      1.6 million                   

The Trump administration and his supporters – including the media, are playing fast and loose with the projected mortality data being published.  Tucker Carlson claimed on May 5th that the 3 - 6% mortality rate is severely overstated because antibody tests performed at random, suggested that a "significant" portion of the population had already contracted covid-19, albeit that they may not been been sick. Consequently, that number - whatever it was, should be added to Total Confirmed Positives (TCP's).  If this were to be done, the % of total deaths to TCP's would drop precipitously.  It would also be incorrect!  There are several factors – independent variables, that if achieved, would reduce the fatality number, but no one knows when and/or if and to what extent.  A vaccine would add significant value, providing it turned out to be effective.  But the scientists - Dr Fauci included, are being very careful not to present any vaccine as a panacea; there are too many unknowns; and history is riddled with vaccines that not only did not work but were the cause of a significant number of deaths
 
As we are all so aware, the potential death toll per the White House and presented in the media, changes daily – this, to keep that number at its lowest level, in order to support Trump's re-election prospects.  But the number keeps moving up.  As of May 25th, projection is that we will be at 134,000 dead by EOM August.  This number, up from 74,000 only 2 weeks prior; and up from 60,000 2 weeks before that.  Well, here’s the reality. 

The actual, average number of daily deaths - calculated from actual daily US covid-19 deaths, reported by Worldometer, is  approximately 1,200 – an extremely conservative number because it factors all deaths, starting on March 9th, when daily fatalities were in the single digits.  Today, using a 7 day rolling average (current day, going back 7 days) that number is lot closer to 2,000.  However, at 1,200/day times 45 days - May 15th to June 30th,  yields a total of 54,000 people; add that number to current actual fatalities (87,000 as of May 15th) and we have a whopping 141,000 and that’s only thru the end of June – two months ahead of August.  Another lie!!  We will actually hit 100,000 fatalities by Monday, 5/25/20.  

So, what makes the above analysis more credible than the trash presented by the media.  Well, here’s the answer.   

Statistical analysis is used daily to evaluate what the public thinks about, whatever.  A sample is selected and those people are questioned; their answers are recorded and categorized and then applied to the population at large.  The sample is usually only a small percent of the total population but the results, when presented, apply to the entire universe.  Well, that is exactly what this is. Click on - PEW Research provides more detail on Statistical Analyses.

We know how many tests were performed; and we also know how many tested positive; how many tested negative – its, on average, 80/20.  These results are a lot more credible than a pollster asking a bunch of people if they like Trump or Biden and why – yet the latter is initiated and the results published, weekly.  A covid-19 test has 3 possible outcomes – positive, negative or WRONG – the latter is relatively insignificant, compared to the total; so we can conclude that, on average, for every 10 people tested, 2 will be positive; 8 will be negative.  If that is acceptable – no reason to believe that it isn't, then that percent can be applied to the total adjusted population of the country.  And, if we go backwards to previous pandemics – swine flu, H1N1, SARS, etc.  we see the exact approach, above, used to evaluate mortality.  Difference is, the kill rate for those viruses was less than 1% - example, influenza, 45 million annual infections, 30,000 deaths – this is just a snapshot; the kill rate: .07% 

And for the 80 plus % that tested negative?  possibilities are - a) they have not been exposed to the virus; b) they have been exposed and contracted the virus but have developed antibodies and are not ill.  A lot is still unknown; can someone with antibodies infect others? no clear answer at this time, however, to refute Carlson's claims, those individuals have been accounted for in the covid-19 testing process.  They were either tested and found positive - were sick and placed in the hospital; not (seriously) sick and sent home OR they tested completely negative and again sent home.  As a slice/sample of the universe, the testing process is already accounting for those people Carlson is attempting to add back into the data set.   How shameful is that!!

Over the past 3 weeks,  many States witnessed what has been referred to as "A flattening of the curve" - that dramatic daily increase in positive tests and fatalities, now beginning to level.  Not a miracle, this was due to two factors - a) ordering people to stay home; b) For those who had to be out, wear a mask and practice social distancing.  However no remedy or cure has been applied, so as soon as those restrictions are eased, the likelihood that the virus will again kick in, is quite high.  As the States begin opening up for Memorial Day weekend, we'll see how much a resurgence is generated and whether of not another "Lock Down" will be required.


The White House, by inference, would have the country believe that the fatality number will be under 200,000 at max; and that the present projection will somehow freeze at 134,000.  This is simply not true.  As we move thru the summer months, we will see what is the impact on easing restrictions and whether or not there will a resurgence - second wave. 

The covid-19 saga is far from over.  We wait patiently for a vaccine and hope that, on arrival, it will be effective.  The economy is in shambles and efforts to re-open the country successfully - allowing people to go back to work, is contingent upon a solid and comprehensive strategy, which currently does not exist.   In the mean time billions of dollars are being farmed out with no concrete assurances that those most in need are receiving the financial assistance they so desperately need.  On Monday, May 13th Moderna, a Massachusetts based Biotech company, announced that they were weeks away from launching an effective vaccine; The company's stock surged 30%, fueling a great day in the market.  Following the surge, the company immediately announced a stock offering, using the inflated stock price, to raise $1 billion. It now appears that scientists cannot substantiate the company's claim.  Within the week following, Company executives sold off/cashed in more than $85 million in market equity. And this is only one of several stories of financial manipulation and malfeasance occurring across the US and world.

... and without any suspicious criminal intent implied, Forbes reported that American billionaires added a total of $280 billion to their collective equity holdings; Jeff Bezos - $35 billion; Mark Zuckerberg - $25 billion. Globally, the total increase was $434 billion.  That's the nature of the world in which we live; however, it's for the government - our government, to ensure that there is even a semblance of equity for the people - the front line workers who are working 18 hour days to keep everyone else safe and fed; the small business owners who are poised to see their life's work come crashing to the ground in a chapter 11 bankruptcy.   When the government fails to accomplish the task of supporting these and other people in need, they've failed the voters who put them in office and (they) should be summarily  removed.

How this will all end is anyone's guess.  Clearly the biggest losers are the people who have lost their lives - as of 5/25/20, 100,000 US residents and counting, and the critically ill who, even as they recover, will see their health profiles dramatically modified.  The 134,000 predicted by the White House is a figment of someone's imagination and hidden agenda - even 200,000 is a bit comical.  Will fatalities hit 2 million, well we certainly hope not; but a lot will depend on how well this crisis is managed at the top.

Believe it or not; like it or not, at the end of the day, the most effective form of government is an autocracy.  And this should not be so hard to fathom;  Autocratic rule has been the foundation of human life, ever since the first humanoids (supposedly) walked out of a cave, 10,000 years ago.  Initially known as the Chief, that title morphed into what was eventually called a Monarchy; and over the centuries became a Divine Right, bestowed on certain families, thus making it a RIGHT, not a privilege for an individual to be KING, or QUEEN.  That said, this birthright could be in the hands of a complete moron, he would still be King.

Autocratic rule is, as expected, driven by an autocrat; and most human beings like to be led - to be told what to do and would gladly comply, if only the autocrat would be more considerate, more understanding. if a civilization is fortunate enough to have a firm but compassionate and sensitive leader – one who seriously cares about the people he rules, then all is well; the people are contented and the kingdom prospers.  However, most autocrats are selfish, self-centered, lacking in empathy and, all too often,  paranoid, resulting in suffering at all levels for the citizens.  History is littered with autocrats, good and bad; and the world celebrates them, even if in their infamy.   Starting with Alexander the Great – and this is by no means a complete list, we have the likes of Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot; and we cannot ignore the European monarchs who wreaked havoc across the continent for centuries.  Occasionally, there was good monarch – consider France’s Louis XV; was sensitive, considerate and caring and for 50 plus years; the country was at peace and the people lived a relatively pleasant life; twenty years after his death, under Louis XVl, French citizens revolted and heads rolled.  And 20 years after that, another despot was created, flourished for a while then failed.  Thus, as a result of this uncontrollable variable – the autocrat, society concluded that autocracies simply did not work; – and let me add, in the overall best interest of the people they ruled.  Too much power in the hands of ONE person.

Population discontent ultimately gave birth to the principles of Democracy, an idea which stated that all persons have the opportunity to choose their leaders and in so doing  have a say in how their world would be governed.  The model allowed “the people” to hold elections, at which time they could choose who they wanted to govern/lead them and their country.  However, human corruption, greed and other vices soon made a mockery of this idea and not long thereafter the hapless people were back in the same position they were in under the autocrats.  Russia is a perfect example of this - the bolshevik revolution,1917. However, consider the United States of America, presented as the bedrock of Democracy; after 200 plus years, an estimated 70% its citizens – approximately 200 million people,  live in a range from abject poverty (the 100th percentile) to just getting by (the 30th percentile).  The good life for American citizens does not  materialize until you get below the 30th percentile; and exemplary life styles are reserved for the top 5%.   Call it what you may but this is NOT a Democracy! 

In reality, what has developed over time is that those running for political office (the leaders) have learned that voters, (the led) such as they are, are easily swayed; tell them something, loud enough long enough and frequent enough and they will accept and believe.  The independent thought of a voter - for the most part, is a myth.  Politicians have come to know this and have used it effectively over the years. The Brexit vote in Britain; election of Donald Trump in the United States; Greece, France and a host of other so called Democracies, all have been surprised by the swing voting positions of voters, due in large part to the overt and covert influencing techniques used by political engines.  The difference today, versus in the past, is that with the explosion of social media, farming out misinformation as facts, has reached epidemic proportions, with no visible indications that it can controlled.

The concept of a consolidated Europe is as fundamental in its significance and contribution to a well managed world order, as is (a consolidated) United States of America.  Yet there are those - Putin included, who for selfish reasons, would like to see the European Union fail; and with the powers of "voter influencing" at their disposal, they are on the way to making their objective a reality.

For the past 100 plus years, the United States of America has never been anything BUT a great country - the pivot point in Western Europe's victories in both World conflicts -  WW1 and WW2; and becoming the leader of the Free World, post the end of WW2 thru current times - temporary financial collapses and occasional internal conflicts, notwithstanding.  Yet Trump and his support machine were able to successfully convince millions of voters/people that America was a swamp that needed to be drained; that the country was awash in illegal immigrants to epidemic proportions and that Hilary Clinton was a criminal who needed to be locked up; and that HE and only HE was the solution for what ailed "US"  None of this was factual or accurate but it didn't really matter.  The voters were convinced, based on the influencing techniques, referenced above and Trump won the election in 2016.

In the UK Boris Johnston said, as he accepted the position of Prime Minister "... the campaigning is over, its time to get to work..." Sadly, however, in the United States, politics has become a business unto itself, a process used by life-long politicians to convince the voting population that they (the politician) are the only salvation for them (the people) – the solution to all their problems.  And this political process has now morphed into a 24/7 non-stop endeavor.  The campaigning never stops and the work of the people never really starts.  And what’s even worse, the objective of the party in the White House is to – a) undo everything put in place by the previous Administration; b) paint the worse possible picture of who is the opposition and market that slander to the voters. It may currently be at its worst, today under Trump, but it has always been this way.  The result is, inevitably, government inertia – nothing gets done.  As a country, for the last 10 years, we have not been able to arrive at a consensus on anything – Global Warming, Gun Control, Health Care, Immigration and a host of others issues, all of which need to be addressed and resolved.  This is called a Dysfunctional Democracy - and there are many scattered all around the globe. 

For a Democracy to work there must be an esprit de corps among and within the government; both sides are required to listen, evaluate based on merit and support where appropriate, even if the proposal is from the other side; thereby moving the government forward – getting stuff done!   However, this is NOT what we have currently; instead of a well-oiled machine - tried and tested over the past 200 plus years, we have a system in disarray with everyone looking for their respective next win, with no regard for the hardships and suffering of the people they promised to serve, when they  were voted into office.  A Democracy such as described above,  is no match for an Autocratic regime  who’s leader has a clear map of what he wants to accomplish and with no one to tell him that he's not allowed.

Enter Russia and Vladimir Putin.  Immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union, the Western (Democratic) world celebrated their victory over Communism.  China followed the USSR shortly thereafter, not by collapsing but loosening the reins of communism and allowing free market enterprises to flourish, albeit under government control.  Putin came to power in 2000 and from that point forward was committed to rebuilding his country.  On collapse of the Soviet Union, the States that together formed the USSR floated free as separate nations and Putin’s main objective was – and still is, to get them back under Russian control.  Over the 19 years that followed, Putin coerced, eliminated, intimidated and manipulated his way to where he is today, sitting at the seat of power in a country that is on its  way back (if not already there) to being a World Power.  How did that happen? Not difficult to understand – Putin is an Autocrat, plain and simple.  He did what he wanted to do with no reservations or restraints.  He has rebuilt Russia’s military to be a modern-day fighting machine, formed alliances with all the countries the United States and the western world find abhorrent, encouraged, if not supported middle east terrorism - even as he appeared (to the west) to be against it; and is slowly, thru economic pressures and military intimidation, pulling the former soviet countries back under Russian control.

In order to completely accomplish his objective, Putin must achieve/complete two (2) key objectives – a) neutralize  NATO, as a consolidated military machine;  b) dismantle the European Union – a difficult task but one which he feels he can accomplish. For many years, post 2000, Russia has re-engaged the spy game – flooding western Europe and the United States with moles, dressed up as butterflies.  And they have been successful; but his greatest accomplishment was yet to be achieved.  Enter Donald Trump.


Since the late 90's this “person” has tried and failed to gain access to Putin.  As David Corn set forth in Russian Roulette,Trump compromised himself in many different forms and venues; and one has to know that Putin – the consummate KGB spy that he was, did not overlook the treasure trove of information made available to him (through Trump’s outlandish behavior) for future use.   In 2015, when Trump launched his candidacy for POTUS, Putin saw his golden moment materialize.  He reeled Trump in, showed him the gathered information and gave him marching orders.  He also promised to support his (Trump’s) efforts to win the White House with cyber attacks and major disinformation campaigns.  Putin also knew that Hilary Clinton was a major distraction to his consolidation initiative.  The targeted countries were all NATO alliances and the United States – nay, Hilary Clinton, would NEVER support his strategy.  Clinton in the White House was a Putin nightmare.  She had to be eliminated!

Putin was successful beyond his wildest dreams.  His cyber warfare was extraordinarily effective;  there was virtually no system he could not enter, no news source he could not manipulate.  Let’s re-visit his goal – Dismantle both NATO and the EU.   With Trump now his Trojan Horse, with marching orders  to severely compromise the integrity and effectiveness of NATO, Putin turned to Western Europe and successfully sewed the seeds of discontent in the UK regarding the EU.  No one ever expected Britain to vote for exiting the EU; just as no one ever thought Trump would win the 2016 PE; but both events came to fruition, much to the surprise and dismay of so many, on both sides of the Atlantic.

However, the unanswered question is - what does Trump have to gain from this cozening up to Putin; maybe he'll now get his Trump Tower Moscow; maybe Putin promised him a share of the vast wealth that awaits Russia as they gain control over the still untapped oil reserves buried beneath the melting glaziers of the Arctic North.  We do know that Trump admires the Autocrat and secretly or otherwise, would like to be like Putin.  Trump has already made overtures regarding extending his Presidential tenure past the mandatory two (2) terms - not a task he can achieve by himself, even with his visible control over Congress; but with Russia's assistance, who knows.  Point is WE DON'T KNOW, but the signs are there.  "We the people" have to start seeing events for what they are - as they unfold, not respond to the slanted rhetoric of the political talking head or glitzy Facebook Post unveiled in our FB account.  The latter is what Trump is hoping will occur.  In his mind, the more than 200 million eligible voters in the US are there to support HIS goals and objectives; and he will manipulate those people in whatever manner required to achieve his desired outcome.  We must come together as a nation and stem this blight before in consumes us all.

If there’s anyone among you that still doesn’t grasp the strength and capabilities of an Autocratic governing force, compared to a Democracy, given the blatant and current comparison, as outlined, then you are totally asleep and need to wake up.

Although one could compare Putin to Hitler – and there are valid points of comparison, there is no real evidence that, as of today, Putin has any real Global ambitions - that is not to say that he would not accept if  handed to him.  However, his objective is to re-contain the former Soviet Union countries under Russia; That is first and foremost.  Secondarily, he wants the new Russia, with its now broadened Sphere of Influence, to be recognized on the world stage as the new trend setter for the globe.  So, let’s take a look – there are five (5) major players on the world stage – the UK, USA, Germany, China and Russia.  Of those five countries, two are run by autocrats; clearly, they both have governing bodies, but the decision-making rests with the person at the top – Putin in Russia; Xi Jinping in China – the same is true for North Korea, but they get lost in the rounding, for now - that could change.  The remaining three countries function in some form of a Democracy, unique to the country; but all suffer from the internal fighting and political paralysis with which neither China nor Russia have to deal - Putin can make a decision in a month that would take the United States congress more than a year, with no guarantee that a decision would be forthcoming.  In addition, the Middle East Countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, et al, although not considered super powers are aligned with Russia and are happy to do Putin's bidding, to keep that sphere of the globe under Russia's influence. 

Consequently, unless and until the USA, UK and other western democracies can get their act together, see and understand the big picture for what it truly is and what is at stake, we will ultimately see - a) fragmentation of NATO, over time as Trump continues to move the US in that direction; b) disintegration of the European Union, with Boris Johntson now at the helm of Britain and Angela Merkel's continued loss of control in Germany; c) Persia and Arab nations' bolster of Putin's sphere of influence goals in that region; d) strengthening of the partnership between Russia and China.  All this culminating in a change in leadership of the new world order, as Russia takes its seat at the head of the table; and all  before the end of the 21st century.  We may not have another global conflict, aka WW lll; Putin currently flexes his nuclear muscles with veiled threats of  preemptive strikes but Russia's still dealing with effects of Chernobyl and are not in a hurry to have to again contend with nuclear fallout.  However, increasingly, there’s no longer a need to kill the enemy, just re-program his mind to “your” way of thinking.  Think of the Manchurian Candidate on steroids.  The Putin/Hitler comparison does, however, have one striking similarity - the rest of the world sat by in 1939, watched and did nothing until it was too late.

Dear Mr. President:
 
I first saw you on television, on the night you gave the DNC key note address at the 2004 convention; and I said to my wife “… this guy is going to make it to the White House…”  Never thought it would be within the next 4 years; but that’s what happens when Jupiter aligns with Mars.  For a rookie Politician you did a tremendous job under extremely difficult circumstances.  Reviewing the macro accomplishments of all Presidents, starting with Teddy Roosevelt, in my view, you placed 2nd – behind FDR, in terms of bringing the country together and moving it forward for everyone. BRAVO! You had my vote on both occasions; I even contributed to your campaign – something I had never done in the past.   But this is not about stroking you to generate a “feel good” moment.
 
During your 2 terms, all the good things aside, you made some serious blunders – very costly and which in many ways significantly discounted your accomplishments.  Without going thru each situation, again, on a macro level, the single largest flaw was your undying commitment to being non-confrontational – not pushing back at the onslaught of negativism from the Right; and there was a LOT.  One example – “… if you like your health insurance program, you can keep it…”  I know what you meant, probably most Americans did; but the Right saw an opportunity and the used it to your detriment, almost to the point of bringing the Affordable Care Act to its knees.  But you did a poor job of explaining that the “… you can keep it…” was contingent upon insurance co’s allowing a policy holder to do so.  I waited every day for the clarification to come forth but it never did.  This is ONE of several examples – one’s enough.

During the 2016 election and Hilary Clinton’s campaign, you made a point of standing back because you did not want to be seen as attempting to influence the election in favor of your former Sec of State.  This may have been acceptable if the election was “normal” – visions of prior campaigns.  Point is, it was anything but.  This was abundantly clear, but it may still have been acceptable right up until it became apparent that the Russians and the Trump organization were in cahoots – word used by the New York Times, seeking to sway the election in his direction, using immoral, if not illegal tactics.

You were privy to some, if not most, of these activities and the possible impact they could have on the election.  However, you elected to remain behind the scenes –  allowed Mitch McConnell to override your attempts to go public – something you could have done without his support.   The State of the country was at stake – didn’t take a genius to see that if Trump made it to the White House, the Republicans would control all three branches and on their way to controlling the 4th (the supreme court).  In this respect, Mr. Obama, you were complicit in the disastrous failing of the Democrats in 2016 – hacking and social media scams, notwithstanding.  It is worthy of note that other major contributors to this abject failing were, Ms. Clinton, herself; Bernie Sanders, the DNC – Debbie Wasserman/Donna Brazile combo and others.  No understanding of the greater good; everyone seeking only to maximize on an individual level – BOOM! White House is lost, Trump is in control.  How bad is that??

Why is this important:
Because the debacle is about to happen again; and the country cannot survive another 4 years of Trump.  The Democratic party IS in disarray.  It is leaderless and what’s even worse, they have no one with a voice strong enough to deliver the weak messages they have, which means that the failing is compounded even more so.  Nancy Pelosi means well; she is a great politician with a wealth of experience but she has no delivery.  Chuck Schumer is totally useless; as the supposed equal on the other side, he is simply no match for McConnell.  Harry Reid did a much better job.  The line up of candidates, now numbering 23+, are all individually focused, thinking only of themselves.  Sure, they say the words but for anyone who’s listening, there’s not one actionable idea emanating from the entire lot – save for maybe Bernie, whose message has not changed in 2 years and beyond; but he is so inflexible, his message - good as it might be, wears thin because he's so rigid. The stage is now set, to be unveiled in 8 months, with a bunch of wannabe’s vying for position and saying anything they think will support their respective positions. Joe Biden currently leads in the polls but that lead is not meaningful - worth exactly ZERO. The party needs leadership, direction, a message, a strategy and a spoke person.  Currently, they have none of these attributes or skills. 

Under normal circumstances this would be challenging enough, however, in the world of Trump their efforts are already lost before they’ve even started.  Let’s look at the world of Trump.  He has turned Washington upside down;  he controls just about everything.  His current dilemmas, which for any other President , would spell immediate termination (for him/her), for Trump, they are but distractions.  He controls the Justice Dept, the military, Wall St and the economy.  The Mueller report was supposed to set the record straight, bring to light all the nefarious actions in which Trump had been involved, as it related to Russia and other matters - some illegal, others less so but all morally reprehensible.  However, instead of being strong and doing what was right for the country, Mueller takes a PASS, releases a report that created more chaos and confusion, versus the solutions we all expected.  It is not without suspicion that he could be a Trojan Horse, secretly working with Trump under the pretense of getting at the truth about Russia and unveiling it to the American people. Trump sets the stage; determines what gets done - what he will or will not do.  What do you suppose would have happened to you if you had decided NOT to release your Income Tax Returns; but Trump walks away, like a quarter back completely protected by his defense line.  All these facets have to be thoroughly understood if the Democrats have any hope of making inroads in 2020; but there is no evidence that they understand anything; and sadly, what little they know is delivered in such a lack luster manner – apologetic and without definition and/or clarity.

Enter Barrack Obama:
You are the only person – the only Democrat, well recognized and liked by the American people, who can rally voters to a cause, bring them forward with a defined message and strategy – something to which they can relate.  But even more important than the message, you have the ability to face Trump down, call him out for what he is and SPLASH that narrative across the country.  Drastic times call for Drastic measures and the current situation is as drastic as it gets.  A past President stepping into the campaign and leading the charge against the incumbent; never before done, but without it, the Democrats will fall to Trump again!  The Republicans will attempt to malign you, criticize your insertion into the election process.  BUT if your message is strong, clear and accurate you can/will side step the GOP harangue and be successful in – a) giving the Democrats a fighting chance in 2020; b) highlighting Trumps miscreant, if not criminal behavior and setting the stage for further investigations, now and/or in the near future.

What does a Strategy look like?
Well, first, you’ll need funding; you were an excellent fund raiser in your time.  I know of no one but George Soros and “Need To Impeach” Tom Stayer – the amount of cash the latter has unloaded over the past 18 months with absolutely no return - Amazing!  Those are two sources; I am sure they are many more and the amount needed will be significant.  Start  the fundraising process, now.  Key Action Plan steps, as follows:

• Meet with all candidates as a group and lay out for them – a) the need for Trump to be defeated in 2020, assuming Congress is not able to launch a successful impeachment process.  Establish and review all the challenges and roadblocks that stand in the way of achieving that goal.

 

• Layout in stark, real terms that if the party does not come together as soon as the nominee is identified, the resulting  fragmentation will be an enabler for Trump.  Obtain a commitment, at all costs from the group, that those candidates lagging behind will immediately fold in with the leader; and that position must be achieved well before the National Convention.

 

•   Research all the visuals of Trump’s lies and contradictions – too numerous to count, and compile a collage of  clips to be broadcast all across the nation – national and local networks, as well as cable; you will be the spokesperson, guiding voters thru what they are seeing.  Demonstrate, using the contradictions, how untrustworthy is Trump and the fact that his policies – such as he has any, are not in the best interest of middle America.

 

• Address socialism head on.  The GOP would have people believe that socialism is a dirty word; and they have been successful.   Explain what is Socialism and how it differs from Communism.  Demonstrate that some level of socialism is good for the nation and that we do, in fact have elements of socialist programs in place, TODAY.  The GOP would like people to think that there’s not a shred of socialism in our Free Market Economy.  We both know that not to be true; but no one will say it.  Demonstrate the value of government oversight and regulation; that without it there would be rampant fraud, manipulation and crime – individuals selling fraudulent goods and services to unsuspecting consumers.  We have that today, even with many regulatory policies in place; think of what it would be like if there were none.

 

• Lay out the Democratic strategy – straight talk, no sound bites and political spin.  Set forth the principles of “More for Most” as opposed to “All for a Few” and clearly articulate how a Democratic Administration would achieve this.  Call out the likes of Mitch McConnell and his cronies for what they are – Frauds with absolutely no interest in the welfare of  average Americans. 

 

• Note, however, that there is a significant flaw within the Democratic strategy, it’s called inflation.  As we work towards achieving “More for Most” the stimulated middle will begin spending and that leads to inflation.  This must be explained with a clear demonstration of how it will be curtailed and controlled; without the latter, we’ll be back to the 70’s with 15% interest rates and double-digit inflation.

 

• Explain why it is important to have a balanced Supreme Court; that Supreme Court judges should park their partisan perspectives at the door and focus only on the rule of law with a fair and equitable application for ALL citizens – why what Mitch McConnell did in 2016 was totally wrong; why the appointment of Kavanough to the SC was slanted, biased and not at all concerned with fair and impartial judgement.

 

• Tell ALL that you know about the Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s involvement.   Be straightforward, objective and accurate.

                                                                                                                                                                                               

• Explain what is the emolument clause and how Trump has completed violated its principles. Outline in detail, Trump’s nepotistic behavior with regards to his children and the abhorrence of them being involved in the upper echelons of White House  Administration, even as they parley their interactions with other world leaders for their own, selfish financial enrichment.

I am convinced that this is s winning strategy/approach, but it has to be delivered with Energy, Passion and Strength; no backing down and/or stepping aside.

I’ll stop here.  If you can successfully convince voters – Democrats and Independents, of the dirt that lies beneath the Trump Administration, even for ½ of the issues outlined above, you will be successful.  And, no matter what, DO NOT APOLOGIZE for anything - correct, yes, apologize NO!  In most cases, an apology is seen as “backing up” ; and as you well know – in tennis as well as golf, the player keeps moving forward.  Even if you’ve made a mistake, don’t ever apologize.  Your rhetoric of the past has expressed your undying love for this country.  Now is the time for you to step up/ step in and be the leader of the country that you truly are; anything less falls short.  One last point - Donald Trump launched his divisive 2020 campaign in Florida on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.  Understand that it was all encompassing - like a category 5 Tornado - sucking the oxygen out of every corner of the country. The Democrats currently have nothing to combat this onslaught and without a comparable aggressive and energized campaign, focused on WINNING, they will lose, unequivocally!!

It would be nice to receive a direct response from you – no handlers, and hopefully your screening process will allow this letter to filter through to you.  There’s merit in what I’ve outlined above, if not exactly then at least in some derivative form.  Hope you will see it in the light in which it was presented and recognize the call for action!

Best wishes to you
 
Howard A Samms

For many years, Viking Cruise Line has been known for the splendor of its river cruises.  Fairly recently - 2015 to be precise, Viking expanded their expertise to include ocean adventures.  In August we embarked on one of these excursions, entitled – The British Isles Explorer, on board the 6 month old VIKING SUN.  Quite aside from the fact that the ship was new, Viking spared no expense in putting together a floating 5 Star Hotel.  The amenities and the services were extraordinary, these to include spectacular meals in four (4) selective restaurants, a fitness center with all the latest equipment, a Spa designed exclusively for your comfort and enjoyment and last but not least entertainment at night - stage presentations, cinemas and of course a night club. 

Sailing through the night we arrived at our next stopping point, the Highlands of Scotland – Invergordon.  This region is known for its production of Whisky, specifically Single Malt Scotch. We stopped at the Dalmore distillery and later purchased a bottle of 15 year.  The landscape is dotted with several distilleries, all known for a high quality product.  Interesting point of Trivia, for anyone interested in SMS.  The prefix Glen, seen in front of most SM's - Glenlivet, etc.  Well, the Glen refers to the geography in which the process is achieved - a V shaped slope, either created or naturally formed for conducting the flow of water from it's source into the distillation process.   Samples of their product were not available, so we looked and walked out empty handed.  Bummer!!

The main town, Inverness was picturesque and carried the same air of tranquility and friendliness, as noted in the Shetlands.  This was the only day it actually rained but didn't seem to be a problem.  We trekked around, through the raindrops, purchased Mr Dalmore in one of the whisky shops - they have these, y'know, expressly set up to market the product out of the distilleries just a few miles out of town.  Visited the local hotel coffee bar - surprisingly it was a Best Western - comforts of home, had a cup then headed back to the bus for our trip back to the ship.

On board, later that evening, the entertainment crew put on a production, entitled -  "Songs from the Sixties", performed by the Viking Sun Singers - 4 Brits, age range 25 - 35.  Spectacular performance.  And then on to the club.

Edinburgh was our next stop and our first disappointment.  At this point, the largest city – population approximately 500 thousand (All of Scotland is a shade over 5 million).  As expected, for a city of this size, there was a lot more cultural and ethnic diversity – which was fine; what was not ok was the dirt and garbage - tons and loads of street activity - hawking, vendors, people selling tickets to sex shows and whatever else. Nonetheless, we were able to see the home of Robert Louis Stevens – author of Treasurer Island, the birth place of Sean Connery and Elephant House, the birth place of Harry Potter.   To be sure, the city – home of the Royal Yacht Britannica, (for those not aware, that's the Queen's private yacht), has a lot of history and points of interest; the trash was a deterrent to what should have been a very enjoyable experience.

We arrived at the Orkney Islands on Thursday morning; another garden spot nestled in the Highlands of Scotland.  First interesting point – No traffic lights; all intersections managed with “round-a-bouts”.  As was the Shetland islands, Orkney was also devoid of trees – lots of grassland, no trees - much as it was on the Shetland islands.  Winters are  brutal but made even more so because of the wind that blows consistently, sometimes as high as 130 MPH.   This is unimaginable!!
Two other points worthy of note -
1. Everyone’s aware of Stonehenge in England but here in Orkney there is a similar assembly of stones that predates Stonehenge by as much as 400 years.  Named the Ring of Brodgar, this archeological treasure trove is truly an amazing visual.

   2. In 1939, just prior to the start of WWll, a German U boat snuck into the Scaba Flow bay and torpedoed the British battle ship HMS Royal Oak.  A total of 834 souls were lost.  The wreck was never salvaged and today still lies at the bottom of Scaba Flow bay.

The weather was not what we would call summer.  High max’d out in the mid 60’s then slid into the low 50’s at night.  That said, for as much daily rain as was forecasted, we were spared.  A few drizzles from time to time but no major downpours.  We just need to dress warmly.  Stromness was a beautiful little seaport town, nestled on the tiny island of Orkney, north of the Scottish main land.  We walked around for close to an hour, shopping and looking.  Re-boarded the ship at 5:00 for another sumptuous dinner - we are eating way too much!

We woke this morning on the shores of another small and quaint fishing village - Ullapool, our last stop in Scotland.  No bus tours today, this was trek.  Only needed 90 minutes to walk thru the entire town.

... for anyone over the age of forty (40), the name Belfast has to be familiar.  Situated in the north east quadrant of Ireland, this city was a hotbed of violence in the 1970's and 80's.  No history lesson intended, here, however, the scars and the politics are still very visible, today, almost 20 years after hostilities ended and an agreement among Belfast, Dublin and England was concluded.  The picture on left is Bobby Sands, a Northern Ireland Nationalist who died in prison, the result of a hunger strike.  That picture is still emblazoned on walls throughout Belfast.  And speaking of walls, here's how important that vision is to these Irish Nationalists.

The city is not a garden spot of Ireland but the residence appear to be contented with their environment, such as it is.  The Union Jack flutters happily, along side the flag of the Irish Republic and no one seems to care.  This was unheard of 30 years ago.  For all the blood that was spilled over those horrible years, one can now conclude that the conflict appears to have achieved a reasonable ending - a novel idea for most conflicts.  The fighting is over, the Irish Catholics appear to be co-existing  with the Protestants and the Nationalists have their independence.

We visited City Hall, a relatively new structure and surprise, Hillary Clinton was one of the dignitaries who attended the building's inauguration.  She was Sec/State at the time.  Not on the list for a re-visit it was, nonetheless,  a place worth seeing.

Back on the bus and returned to the ship.

 ... Liverpool - birthplace of the Beatles; the Susan insert is a recent addition.   A city worth a second visit; our tour guide covered all the high points but there was decidedly a lot more.  As you might well imagine, the main focus was the Beatles.  We cruised thru their neighborhood - essentially where they grew up, and for that, the focus was on John and Paul.  Ringo and George's families were a little ( or maybe a lot) less wealthy so we did not go into their neighborhoods.   The song, Penny Lane suddenly took on an entirely different meaning as we observed to markers that sparked the lyrics.  There is, in fact a "Penny Lane"  as well as the bank - "... the banker never wears a Mac..." and the barber shop - all there in the center of town.  The statue on left resides at the Docks and appropriately so. 

The city was founded in the 12th century and has been known as a major shipping port for all of the United Kingdom.  In 1911, the Titanic, which was built in an Irish ship yard, launched from this dock.  One year later, on its maiden voyage out of Southampton to New York … well, we all know what happened to the Titanic. 

As would be expected, the city is rich in British history, replete with memorable buildings and plaques of the past.  We made the best of our 90 minutes on shore.  Beautiful day for walking

We departed Liverpool on Wednesday evening and sailed towards Greenwich, stopping in Dublin and Dover - interesting stops but side-stepped here to curtail length.  We arrived in Greenwich on Saturday morning and disembarked - cruise was over.  We checked in to Grosvenor House and spent the day walking around London - Trafalgar Sq, Hyde Park and China Town - there's always a China town.  Later that evening we went to see Aladdin.  On Sunday we prepared to meet with my cousin and her husband and a family friend from years back.  We all met at the Four Seasons for brunch and spent the next 3 hours talking, laughing, drinking mimosa's and enjoying the sumptuous buffet  laid out for us.  In addition, it was Susan's birthday and the restaurant kicked in to help us celebrate her day - heck we had been celebrating everyday for the last 3 weeks!

At 4:00 PM we had to shut down because the restaurant was set to close, but not before we captured the moment in the lobby.

... but we still had more partying to do, so we moved to the Concierge lounge to continue celebrating Susan's birthday.  We had so much on which to catch up; Five hours later we brought the evening - actually the day, to a close.

On Monday morning we met for breakfast then headed off  - first to the Churchill Museum - extraordinary slice of WWll history; and then to Buckingham Palace for the canned tour.  Interesting, to be sure but very packaged and contained.   Special thanks to my cousin and her husband for making the 5 hr trip to London.  We always enjoy being with them - this time no less and look forward to meeting up again. We said our goodbyes on Monday evening, they headed back home and we were on a plane to the US bright and early Tuesday morning, exhausted but happy for the experiences of the prior three weeks