Handed trash? Make compost!

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo 

demonstrates how to wear a mask.

© CBSNew York 

Click to enlarge

These days of surging pandemic, even America and Americans see the value of face masks in reducing the risk of contracting Covid-19.

News blues...

Formerly resistant mask-deniers now urge their use. (Texas; Republicans;  Ohio;  California; even Trump-sycophant Pence.)
Donald Trump?
Not so much. “Trump Trip to Mt. Rushmore, Masks & Social Distancing Not Required”
This, while the US leads the world in number of infections: closing in on 3 million.
Trump, the “stable genius,” focuses on what’s really important: lying, obfuscation, and ignorant division:

… [Trump made] an impassioned appeal to his base while in the shadow of Mount Rushmore [and] instead of striking a unifying tone, railing against what he called a "merciless campaign" by his political foes to erase history by removing monuments some say are symbols of racial oppression.
"As we meet here tonight there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for," Trump warned.
"Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children." 

Many Native Americans would agree with Trump about “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.”
Unfortunately, Trump is ignorant of history – and irony – and fails to recognize how apt is his summary of Native American history since the first boatload of Pilgrims set foot in North America.

For many Native Americans, the 79-year-old Mount Rushmore, with four white faces carved into the granite, is a symbol of similar oppression, especially offensive because it's located in South Dakota's Black Hills, which they regard with reverence. 

Trump is a 19th century throwback longing for the good old days when the rabble knew its place and could be/was abused at whim and will.
He’s Cecil John Rhodes without the horse - or the self-made wealth. (FYI: Rhodes apparently was frightened of horses and loathed horse riding. Sickly as a youth and never robust, he was depicted on horseback because it made him look tall and manly.)
Who will have the last laugh?
Good question.
We, the People – and I mean the people around the world – must come together to stand up to Trumpism and the laissez-faire attitude of politicians (looking at you Republicans and Democrats). If we don’t, we are – and democracy is - sunk . Already struggling, We, the People could easily be back in the position of rabble abused at whim and will…
Consider the latest direction of US federal regulators who,

... quietly shredded the most significant banking reform enacted after the 2008 financial crisis last month. When they were done, they patted banks on the back for continuing to shovel cash to their shareholders.
Not a single Democratic regulatory appointee voted for the measure to strip what was left of the Volcker Rule of its meaning. Congress approved the Volcker Rule in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform package, which was meant to curb excessive risk-taking at the nation’s largest banks by barring them from making speculative bets in securities markets for their own benefit. The rule also forbade banks from holding a financial interest in hedge funds or private equity funds that were involved in such markets.
That principle has been under assault in the decade since. In a concession to Wall Street, the original law allowed big banks to invest up to 3% of their capital in hedge funds and other speculative vehicles and turned the issue over to regulators to hash out the details. The result was nearly 300 pages of loopholes and exemptions.
Last week, regulators at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) simply shredded what was left of the statute. Under the new interpretation, bank investments in venture capital funds are wholly exempted from the rule, as are investments in funds that focus on long-term debt investments. 

A significant problem, of course, is that Trumpies, "his base", anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, “the poorly-educated”, the “Basket of Deplorables”, you, me, Antifa, people whose views we dislike, etc., must be included and have a say in our collective future.
The world has had more than 2,020 years to figure out how to come together and live generatively. We’ve failed.
Can we do it now, under pressure?
To speak metaphorically: handed trash and bulls***, can we make compost?

***

Anti-Trump ads come so thick and fast these days it is hard to keep track. Moreover, how many times can We the People be shown the dismal failure of the Trump presidency without tuning out?
Overkill is real. One can see too much of a point of view.
Having said that, here are a couple of new ads/editorials:

• Alfred Hitchcock presents Trump 
• If you’ve missed Sarah Cooper’s Trump How to, voice-overs, here’s a compilation 
• The Lincoln Project : “Betrayed” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Concrete mixer = a blessing for titrating compost ingredients.
Who knew the satisfaction of watching – and sniffing the healthy aroma of – compost as it tumbles in a concrete mixer?
Excellent compost is, of course, made around the world without fossil-fuel-energy-consuming mixers.
I, however, have limited physical strength and I find the recycled (free) mixer liberating.
Three bags full of compost await spreading to nourish seeds.
Naturally, Murphy’s Law is in play (summarized: what can go wrong, will go wrong). I spent half an hour troubleshooting why the elderly electric mixer wasn’t powering up, and another hour repairing the elderly three-prong plug – twice! – before mixing commenced.
All appears well; another day of composting awaits.

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