Saturday, November 7th I sent my adult children a portion of an MSNBC broadcast—Saturday evening, the day that Joseph R. Biden Jr. became President-Elect of the United States, church bells were ringing in Paris, there were fireworks in London. Dancing in the street in cities around the world—a new era in the governing of the United States. Governance based on Science, not Partisan Politics. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Devi Harris will have their hands full in the next years. It will take years to repair the damage done in the last 4 years. Damage that continues today, because the person currently behind the Resolute Desk is pouting and refusing to concede the election. He’s done such a good job of spreading propaganda for the last 4 years that nearly half the country believes the lies…
Propaganda is based on the idea that some specific entity is responsible for our problems. A story is told that has just enough ‘truth’ that someone will accept it as fact. That one political party is an enemy of ‘democracy’ and that the country’s news outlets are ‘enemies of the people’. The US Constitution differs in that perception:
First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or freedom of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And yet, for most of 2020, peaceful assemblies have turned violent as two opposing sides fought to express their animosity; egged on by the man behind the Resolute Desk. More than two weeks have passed, and he still refuses to concede the election. Having lied and cheated already, he and his supporters tried to steal the election. People with Power could stop him; they apparently find value in the chaos. At least, General Services Administration confirmed that Biden is the probable winner, and his Transition can begin.
November 25, 2020, 6:30pm
12,769,915 CVirus infections in the US. 262,132 deaths. 178,750 new infections since yesterday. Statistically, the CVirus US death rate, per infections, is about 2.1%. 2.1% seems like a small number. 2.1% of 178,750 is 3,753 people who reported to a hospital somewhere in the country today and are now marked for death. A number in the thousands will be marked for death tomorrow.
“The most powerful man in the world” does not care. He’s too focused on the legal battles that will begin on January 20, 2021, when he is no longer the President of the United States. His indicted co-conspirator, the guy who says that he ‘knows where the bodies are buried’ because he ‘dug the holes,’ is certain that his boss will be joining him in an orange jumpsuit.
The largest voter turnout for a President at any point in American history resulted in 80,087,842 [51.1%] votes for Joe Biden; in contrast to the 73,903,127 [47.1%] people who voted for the current President’s reign to continue. The difference between the two numbers is 6,184,715. The Bush/Gore election that ended in the Supreme Court deciding for Bush, was over 500 contested Florida votes, not 6 million.
So, while 3,753 people were marked for death today [probably a large percentage of Republicans, who consider it ‘a violation of their civil liberties’ to wear masks], the President will do nothing to avert the deaths. He could, with a few phone calls, if he cared. He doesn’t. He cares about himself. And he convinced 74 million people that he was concerned about their lives. He isn’t concerned about anyone but himself.
Donald Trump skipped the G20 summit’s “Pandemic Preparedness” event to visit one of his golf clubs on the same day that a record 195,500 new Covid-19 infections were reported in a 24-hour period in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.
The summit, attended by world leaders from across the globe, is being held virtually this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 250,000 Americans – by far the largest total in the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/21/donald-trump-g20-pandemic-golf-club
From the ridiculous to the sublime…
There are nights so dark, that the dawn is not merely distant, but beyond imagination.
These are the hours where grief lives, where fear rules, where truth lies exposed, like a wound.
Hope hides, peace is for others.The minutes extend, repeating the distress of the hours that went before, and every thought begins and ends in silence.
Let the light shine.
Watch for it falling on each other’s faces.
Count the beams, catch them, let them be reflected back.
See the hope, see the promise.
Never hide your fears in silence.
Listen to those you cherish.
Hold them in your arms.
Let them hear your heart.
Tell your truth. Tell your story.
Call the Midwife Series 8 Episode 8
Stories.
Our lives are told in stories.
Again, from Jupiter Ascending [2015]
Caine Wise:
“Okay. When I was in the Legion, they gave me protocols for this. It can be difficult for Terrsies, or people from underdeveloped worlds, to hear that their planet is not the only inhabited planet in the Universe. Protocol actually says that most Terrsies will say that this has to be a dream.”
Jupiter Jones:
“Yeah, because a dream is the only way any of this makes sense.”
Caine Wise:
“Compared to what? The idea that you’re the only intelligent species, on the only inhabitable planet in a universe so full of planets that you don’t even have a number to describe how many there are?”
What isn’t mentioned above is the fact that there is a 360° repetition of the image.
Newton’s laws of motion are assumed to be applicable to our entire Solar System.
One translation of Newton’s laws reads:
Law I: Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed.[14][b]
Law II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impress’d; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impress’d.[15][c]
Law III: To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.[d][e]
The Laws of Physics are also assumed to be applicable throughout our Solar System.
It seems reasonable to assume that these laws are applicable within the Milky Way galaxy.
If they are applicable throughout our galaxy, it seems reasonable to presume that these laws are applicable throughout the Universe.
I’ve been a designer for close to sixty years. I don’t remember a time that I didn’t draw. Designing stick figures on a sheet of paper, telling a story in my imagination. In time, I designed furniture; then I started designing houses; and in time I designed commercial buildings. When I worked for the City of Portland, I checked the designs of architects, to ensure that the buildings were compliant with the Building Code. When I went out to inspect buildings, I discovered that carpenters don’t always follow the plans; and that the architects weren’t always paying attention to the progress on a project.
This was all taking place when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
In this century, I started designing books in addition to designing construction solutions for architects and building designers. In relatively recent years, I’ve had to design a new way to create illustrations, since my hands don’t work very well anymore. Nonetheless, I recognize design when I see it.
Space is HUGE; and we are so small.
These last 4 years have given new meaning to the smallness of some people.
Our nearly immense inability to ‘play nice with other people’ has been on prominent display for the months of this Pandemic, which gives no sign of stopping.
I’m tempted to blame this horrid time on one man. The reality is that we would not be in a state of chaos unless a very large portion of our American population had wanted to follow this man down a road that leads to death. This year has shown that people have a nearly infinite capacity to do harm to others, while bystanders across the street and across the world [thanks to the Internet], cheer on those who want to solve all of our problems with violence.
The horrid man has given us license, being the ‘most powerful man in the world,’ to be as ugly toward other people as we want.
A public health nurse is getting death threats because she ‘dares’ to tell the public that CVirus is a threat to the health of everyone…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/18/health-care-worker-threats-coronavirus/?arc404=true
We humans live in a small solar system in a low-rent district of a galaxy; a solar system so small that it can’t even be seen on the image above. The yellow dot representing our Sun is probably immensely out of scale.
I am of the opinion that our solar system has warning beacons that cover the exterior diameter of our solar system, warning intelligent species to avoid this place because we are infected by a Plague. A Plague that is far older than our CVirus Pandemic [one that apparently will be remarkably similar to the Pandemic my grandparents lived through].
There really isn’t a name for this Plague; greed, selfishness, prejudice, a lack of willingness to live with each other in peace. A desire for power, and the corruption power brings.
People in this country can’t wait until we are able to ‘get back to normal’—in my opinion, ‘normal’ sucked. We need to aim higher.
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Tags: depression, faith, freelance illustration, hope, intolerance, material poverty, mental health, Nerve Pain, Neuropathy, pain, persistence, personal excellence, Polyneuropathy, self employment, surviving
Chronicles in Ordinary Time 