Testing... testing...

Four-plus months into Lockdown and six-plus months into what was planned as three months to oversee my mother’s affairs, I’m humming and oldie but goodie:

“On a Sunday morning sidewalk/wishing lord that I was stoned/for there’s something ‘bout a Sunday/makes a body feel alone…” (See below for more.)

And my tales of woe are just a microcosm.
The macrocosm? “Who the hell knows what’s going on? It’s just insanity.” 

News blues…

The federal government, under Trump’s direction, has botched testing.

…Experts are warning that the U.S. testing system is on the brink of collapse. “We are at a very bad moment here … We are about to lose visibility on this monster and it’s going to rampage through our whole country. This is a massive emergency.”

This must-read Vanity Fair article by Katherine Eban, “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan Went Poof Into Thin Air”, lays a foundation to understand how We the People arrived at this tenuous place.  

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Trump’s Tweet baselessly claims
mail-in voting is a vehicle for voter fraud.
Click to enlarge. 

"Why would Trump even suggest putting off the vote? Unless he plans to occupy the White House illegally, a postponed election wouldn’t keep him in office. In fact, it could well usher in an unelected President Joe Biden. That sounds strange, but it’s where the rules would take us if there were no election — if those rules were followed, which is a significant “if.” Here’s how it would work. 

Additionally, even Republican conservative legal expert and Federalist Society’s Steven Calabresi calls the president’s threats to delay the election “fascistic – and grounds for impeachment.” 

The influential conservative law professor supported President Donald Trump in 2016 and spoke out against his impeachment said the president’s latest tweet about delaying the election is grounds for his removal. Steven Calabresi wrote in his New York Times opinion article  that Trump “should be removed unless he relents” on his suggestion to delay the November election…. “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist,” Calabresi wrote. “But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.”
Calabresi also called for any lawmakers who support Trump’s fight to delay the election to “never be elected to Congress again.”

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Tick tock on TikTok? - because “Sarah Cooper is being mean to me! I don’t like it when girls are mean to me!” Critics [including this one are] convinced Trump wants TikTok banned because Sarah Cooper is driving him (even more) nuts. 

Healthy futures anyone?

Sunday timeout to appreciate wonderful creatures of our planet. They, we, the planet requires giant efforts to bring back a semblance of sustainable balance. Search for the community that is right for you and get to work…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

“On a Sunday morning sidewalk/wishing lord that I was stoned/for there’s something ‘bout a Sunday/makes a body feel alone/and there’s nothing short of dying/half as lonesome as the sound/on the sleepy city sidewalk/Sunday morning coming down…”
On this Sunday morning, I’m aligned with Kris Kristofferson (remember him? An historical figure these days.) “Sunday morning coming down”  (4:30 mins – scroll to 1:40 for the refrain.) 

I’m out of my depth in the situation I find myself. Having no experience of a mothering mother, I’m at a loss trying to understand the person biologically my parent. All this is complicated by the huge changes she faces: advanced age and fragile physicality, the consequence of past decisions, living as a “boss” in the same life for 60 years, and never having to face the challenges and complexities of the “real” world. Plus, seven pampered dogs. Two resentful and frightened domestic workers who see the writing on the wall: their longtime “boss” cannot continue “as is” so they’ll be retired. 

They’ll retire with sufficient funds to ensure they do not have to work again, but change is frightening. 

Fear projects outward, onto an object. 

Too bad for me that, in the microcosm,  I’m the object.
Too bad for the planet that, in the macrocosm, We the People - and planet - are Trump's object.