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I spotted a family, consisting of a man, woman and two young boys (8 - 10 years of age) in the neighborhood the other day. The man was wearing a t-shirt bearing the following note:
"Hit the road Amigo".
While it was tempting to tell him that I had considered wearing my "Elect A Clown Expect A Circus" shirt that day, I instead considered that not only do such antics only serve to exacerbate the current political polarization, but that anyone who considered that clothing item appropriate would most likely not consider physical violence an inappropriate reaction to such a remark.
It’s a parade
A satire for oppression
Provocateur
To oversee dissection
Notoriety; a craving
Never ending ’til it’s quenched
But no sooner than accomplished
Viciously starting all over again
Just what we need
More hatred for a weapon
Follow the lead
Against your own discretion
Try offending this offender
At each opportune moment
Though there’s little chance of succeeding
Save who you can but survivors are scant
Sure of your place
Certain of you own infamy
Confident of the position you have
Should you expand
Magnanimity to fellow man
Loss of some acolytes
Is a price you suspect
You’re simply not
Able to pay
Then through it all
In disrepute emerging
You took the fall
Sacramental; a purging
Now the party days are over
You don’t have to check IDs
Hubris took you down with much ease
". . . We have seen much in our day. Crime, poverty, drug abuse, racial discrimination, human trafficking, hate crimes. We have witnessed soldiers marched off to wars, some justified, others not. We have reported on horrible car accidents, serial killings, political corruption, disease outbreaks, air crashes, natural disasters, tragedy heaped on tragedy. But we can’t recall a president of the United States making light of the violent deaths of his fellow Americans. And to make it clear how meaningless those lives are to him, he then, in a breathtaking leap of logic, connected it all to his favorite topic, illegal immigration. . . "
Hidden Agenda
OHO (duo-Jay Graboski & Ray Jozwiak) live in Ocean City, August 2019
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". . . Men hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can't communicate with each other; they can't communicate with each other because they are separated from each other . . . "
-Martin Luther King
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. . . NO! That's NOT what it is. It is simply a recognition of behavior patterns and a need for honest explanation (and appropriate consequences) . . .
(from https://time.com/5557644/donald-trump-other-investigations-mueller/)
". . . Ongoing Investigations [facing Donald Trump]
Roger Stone criminal trial
There are a number of ongoing cases that will fall to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. One of the most prominent is around longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, who was arrested in January 2019 as part of the Mueller investigation. He was charged with witness tampering and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks. After he posted about the case on social media, the judge placed him under a gag order. His trial is set for November, and federal prosecutors in D.C. will now handle his prosecution, according to the New York Times. . .
The hush money investigation
This case is located in the Southern District of New York and focused on payments Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made on his behalf to women who allegedly had affairs with Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty in August of 2018 to campaign finance violations and other financial crimes, admitting he made payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels to keep them quiet in the run up the 2016 election. In December, he was sentenced to three years in prison. . .
Trump’s inauguration funding
Federal prosecutors in multiple offices have been looking into the record $107 million that Trump’s inauguration committee raised and asking questions about who the money came from, how it was spent and whether the committee gave donors favors or special access. . .
Pro-Trump super PAC
In December, the Times reported that prosecutors were interviewing people about whether Manafort illegally coordinated with the group while he was running Trump’s campaign, and whether the super PAC had taken in donations from people in Qatar or other Middle Eastern countries. So far, this investigation has not resulted in any indictments. . .
Trump Organization insurance policies
When Cohen testified in front of Congress last month, he mentioned that the Trump Organization inflated its assets to insurance companies. Days later, the New York Department of Financial Services sent a subpoena to Aon, the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, according to the New York Times. The subpoena asked for all communication between Aon and the Trump Organization, as well as other internal documents and contracts. . .
Trump Organization real estate deals
In another inquiry prompted by Cohen’s testimony, the New York attorney general this month began looking into several Trump Organization projects, including a failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills football team. Investigators sent subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank about the projects in early March, according to the Times. . .
The Trump Foundation
The New York attorney general’s office sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors last year, saying they engaged in a “shocking pattern of illegality.” The Trumps agreed to dissolve the foundation in December, but the suit is still going. The attorney general wants the Trumps to pay millions in penalties and bar him from serving on the board of any New York charity for a decade, while the Trumps are claiming that the suit was politically motivated. . .
Trump’s taxes
The New York state tax department said in October it was looking into allegations brought up in a New York Times investigation into decades of Trump’s “tax schemes.” New York City officials have also said they are examining Trump’s tax history. . .
Trump’s golf club employing undocumented immigrants
After two undocumented immigrants who worked at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey went public in interviews with the Times in December, federal and state investigators started looking into the situation. Lawyers for the two workers said in December that the FBI and the New Jersey attorney general’s office were examining allegations that the Trump golf club hired workers using fraudulent papers. Then in February, Democrats in Congress called for the FBI to fully investigate the situation. . .
Lawsuits
The emoluments lawsuit
Michael Cohen’s legal fees
Summer Zervos defamation suit . . .
Congress
House Intelligence Committee
Last spring when Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, the House Intelligence Committee put out a report saying that while Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, it was not aiming to help Trump. This contradicted all other U.S. intelligence community findings. . .
House Judiciary Committee
In early March, the House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into three main areas: whether Trump has obstructed justice; whether there has been corruption such as breaking campaign finance laws or misusing Trump’s office for personal gain; and whether Trump has abused his power through pardons or attacks on the press, judiciary or law enforcement agencies. . .
House Oversight Committee
This committee, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, is also looking into a number of areas but the most prominent is its investigation into the Trump administration’s handling of security clearances. Concerns with the process increased in recent months after the New York Times reported that Trump intervened to overrule intelligence officials and obtain security clearance for his son-in-law Jared Kushner. A White House appointee also overruled intelligence officials on at least 30 staffers’ security clearances, according to NBC News. The House Oversight Committee has asked the White House for documents relating to the security clearances and aims to find out why concerns were being overruled. . .
House Financial Services
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters chairs the House Financial Services Committee, and she is planning a joint investigation with the Intelligence Committee into why Deutsche Bank was willing to lend money to the Trump Organization when few other financial institutions would do so. . .
House Ways and Means Committee
The House Ways and Means chairman, Democrat Richard Neal, has said he wants to subpoena Trump’s tax returns. Unlike every president going back to Richard Nixon, Trump has refused to release his tax returns since he launched his presidential campaign, which has led many to speculate about their contents. . .
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, the committee chairman here, said in January he planned to investigate whether Trump’s business dealings abroad have affected his foreign policy decisions. He also wants to look into whether the President violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. . .
Senate Intelligence
The Senate Intelligence Committee started investigating Russia’s election interference in 2017. Unlike its House counterpart, it issued a report in the summer of 2018 concluding that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election to try to help Trump. . . "
. . . the craziness, that is
A shoot from the hip government
Based in ignorance and hate
Great-grandfathers (with scant few great-grandmothers)
Posing as legislators
Preaching about repressing
And destroying our environment
Among other things
Something's gotta give
And soon
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Accountability and transparency
Are what we're needing now
Together we'll stand
For what's good and what's right
And not fall for just one reprimand
The high road now,
Is what must be taken
Example to set
For the many now shaken
By intemperate egos breeding fear;
Stirring hate
Disregarding the future, the facts and our fate
A new day has arrived
It's now baby steps, see
A little at a time; enough that you can do
Work towards things agreed
And respect all those different from you
". . . Outside the synagogue and hospital, angry neighbors formed a march near where the President was paying his respects. Several carried signs objecting to Trump's visit, bearing slogans like "Words Matter," "Strength through Unity," "Watch Your Words" and "Hate does not work in our Neighborhoods.". . . It was a sign that Trump's presence in the city was not welcomed by many residents and local officials, who said they asked the White House to delay a visit until after the victims of the attack were buried. . ."
"I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member"
-Julius Henry Marx
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/far-right-group-takes-victory-lap-social-media-after-violence-n920506)
". . . Proud Boys . . . a “fraternal organization” for young men . . . As part of their initiation, members must declare they are a “Western chauvinist who refuses to apologize for creating the modern world,” and also abstain from masturbation. To complete the initiation, members must also get a Proud Boys tattoo, and undergo a beating by fellow members while naming five breakfast cereals, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has also designated them as a hate group. . ."
. . . you see a whacked-out meme on FB (or elsewhere on the web), spouting hate or (what seem to be) extremely aggravating 'facts' about a population of which you know very little (or possibly nothing), PLEASE do not post it (or re-tweet, or email all your friends). Instead, do some research.
(One option is https://www.snopes.com/ - but I would recommend looking at two or three in addition). You may just find that the meme that so stirred your emotions actually contained false information. Plus, you may actually learn something.
In rebuttal to https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/19/naked-donald-trump-statue-satire-ageist-body-shaming . . .
Regarding the five Trump statues, so let met get this straight, you feel 'NB' (a genteel designation based upon your own) is not good social critique through art because it gives way to "blind hatred that obscures their intent." Seems to me that any intelligent, fact-respecting citizen who has paid any attention to 'DT' (maintaining the MO), and how could they or any other citizens NOT- thanks to all the free media attention he has managed, has formed an opinion of DT that hovers somewhere in the 'don't care-for' range, and hopefully not quite as extreme as true hate. But that opinion is anything but 'blind.'
You say that the work's "slumpy, distended belly, withered buttocks and sagging pectorals, crosses callously into generalized ageism and body-shaming." I do believe that even DT himself might characterize that description as a bit too "politically correct." My aging, a-Phelpsian body would certainly make a poor cover for Playgirl (does that still exist?), but I am far from offended by, don't forget that DT HIMSELF invited visions of his 'man-parts' into our consciousness at one of the Republican primary debates, the NB sculptures.
Let's face it, this man is seriously (I think) running for the presidency of the United States of America. He is a television 'personality' by definition. He purposely taunts persons and peoples with all the forethought of a corner-bar drunk. He is a free target. He belongs to the public. I, for one, think the sculptures were quite funny and clever. Maybe the pieces are not Da Vincis, but I truly suspect the artist was never under any such delusion.
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(from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/06/13/fox-friends-welcomes-trumps-islamophobia-obama-slanders/)
". . . objectionable suggestions were coming out of the mouth of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and they met little resistance from the pliant crew of the Fox News morning program. The topic, of course, was the Orlando nightclub “The Pulse,” where Omar Mateen, who expressed loyalty to the Islamic State, massacred 49 other people Saturday night. “There are many, many people — thousands of people already in our country that are sick with hate and people that are around him — Muslims — know who they are, largely, they know who they are,” said Trump. “They have to turn them in. They know who they are. They see ’em. Like in the case of San Bernardino, there were bombs all over the floor. Many people saw the bombs. Those bombs weren’t there as play toys and they could have been reported long before San Bernardino took effect. Nobody’s reporting these people.” . . . “Fox & Friends” could have questioned whether it’s fair to hold “Muslims” — a population of 1.6 billion people worldwide — responsible for the actions of a single criminal Muslim. Are Christians held to that standard of self-policing? . . . "
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The church of music
Holds no ham and oyster suppers
We're all just deacons
With our boots upon the ground
Marching into mystery
In command but
Still can't quite see
The church of music
Won't require your weekly presence
You'll find it stays with you
No matter where you are
No dogmatic postulates
No demands on
Your fidelity
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
There are no fiery demons
In what I believe
It’s not for me to say
Who’s what and where they go
All things flowing naturally
No controlling
Power over you or me
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
Stricly spiritual
No trace of any politics
Lurking in the mix or in the fabric
Only what is good
No room for hate and no deceit
Honesty
Sincerity will move you
And me
This church won’t interfere
With what you think or do
Your body and your mind are
Yours and yours alone
No one tells you what to say
No one criticizes
What you feel inside
It can heal the deepest wound
Shine a light in the darkness
Warm a chill in any room
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church . . .
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
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“I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.”
― Stephen Chbosky
“I am tired of people saying that poor character is the only reason people do wrong things. Actually, circumstances cause people to act a certain way. It's from those circumstances that a person's attitude is affected followed by weakening of character. Not the reverse. If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others and judging their lives as either black or white, good or bad. We all live our lives in shades of gray.”
― Shannon L. Alder
“When you don't know where to start,
just go to a place you miss so much.”
― Toba Beta
“I just want to be someone, to mean something to anyone…”
― Charlotte Eriksson
“After a long silence, Dodge cleared his throat. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, 'Huh?hat”
― Frank Beddor
“sometime hate is just confused love!”
― Omar Tyree
“I freely admit I'm confused. I'm a confused and troubled individual but at the same time...Its Free! ”
― Craig Ferguson
“I do not understand this analogy," Mencheres muttered.”
― Jeaniene Frost
“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.”
― Daniel Boone
“It’s really very difficult to understand a woman – actually it’s not she but he who is confused”
― Amit Abraham
She/He
Recorded live at the compound by OHO November 2015(Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak)
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
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