As a wave is a force and not the water of which it is composed, which is never the same, so nobility is a force and not the manifestations of which it is composed, which are never the same. Possibly this description of it as a force will do more than anything else I can have said about it to reconcile you to it. It is not an artifice that the mind has added to human nature. The mind has added nothing to human nature. It is a violence from within that protects us from a violence without. It is the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality. It seems, in the last analysis, to have something to do with our self-preservation; and that, no doubt, is why the expression of it, the sound of its words, helps us to live our lives. – Wallace Stevens
I am rankled. Like to think of myself as an artist. Don’t say it much, but it’s true. Hell, you can call me a primitive artist. if that feels more accurate. Self-taught, I guess. But real.
Also Vietnam-era veteran. Husband. Grandfather of five. Viking descent – pending Ancestry.com confirmation – and native born in Mahopac Baby Hospital. Actual patriot, more concerned about preserving freedoms than building walls.
Trump – a lost ball in tall weeds – didn’t love the military so much when it was his turn to serve.
I am rankled. Had a vision. General Flynn’s idea of enhanced interrogation for El Chapo is an endlessly-repeated loop of Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway spouting alternative facts and imaginary terrorist attacks. Atlanta three times, not true, Bowling Green three times, not true. And now Nordstrom’s.
Hear something three times from purported authority figures and maybe it really did happen. We must err on the side of safety and security, they would have us believe.
Why not err towards freedom as we do with crazy people getting their hands on firearms?
“And a new era of justice begins.”
But I digress.
El Chapo being held in Guantanamo where he is forced to wear an Ivanka-designed prison outfit. The stripes are diagonal and reflective. Suitable for GenPop and solitary. Soon to be available at the West Wing Gift Shoppe.
Citizens of Tomorrow Don’t Stay Quiet
Look at those cheeks. And I am rankled. Deflected the threat on Twitter, chuckled at the warning from a supporter named sammythesquirrel.
But when you suggest I stop writing anti-Trump rantings, my first thought is hell, no. Second thought is, I appreciate your encouragement. Thirdly, how can you not?
Imagine I am not a single-issue voter nor an ideologue. Imagine I ignore alternative facts, fake news and trolls. Not a member of any party. Angry old white man in Florida, just angry at different stuff.
For example, just last night, a bad dream. Or as Sean would say, a successful nightmare.
I was the elderly Op-Ed editor at the Buchenwald Bugle. Just hanging on until I can get my modest retirement. Well, I write an innocuous enough note wondering about the mysterious new construction on the outskirts of town. Something about the armed guards and the railroad tracks that appeared overnight.
Anyway, the publisher comes to me, little guy with bad hair, and says we can’t publish my piece. Says it’s better to look the other way. Best just to be quiet.
Like James Comey has been lately.
I am pro-America. Pro-Bill of Rights. There’s a difference.
I will stop when they stop.
Until then, I am rankled.