Having just reached my 70^th birthday, I decided to celebrate with a septuagenarian blog instead of a staggering number of candles.  If someone ten years ago had suggested that at this age I would be an active member of the “Resistance,” I would have laughed.  In January, 2017, I began my blog in response to Trump’s inauguration, because I truly feared for the future of my grandchildren.  I still do with great anxiety, but in addition, there are multiple other vast levels of concern about Trump and his cronies.  Just a few examples:

·        Racism – He referred to Neo-Nazis as “very fine people,” attacked a Muslim Gold Star Family, claimed a judge was biased because “he’s a Mexican,” has discriminated against African Americans his entire career, refused to renounce KKK leader David Duke, originated the “birther” movement against President Obama, and has stereotyped Jews to their face.

·        Hate Crimes – Under Trump such crimes increased 15% against Latinos and 38% against Arabs.  Anti-Semitic crimes in just the first quarter of 2017 increased a whopping 86%!!!

·        Enemy of the Free Press – Trump and his mouthpieces like Sarah Huckabee have created a state news outlet of Fox News – equivalent to Pravda of the Soviet Union, Rodong Sinmun of North Korea and China’s People’s Daily.  Fortunately, their efforts to hamper the flow of real news through legitimate outlets has failed.

·        Destruction of the Environment – Among the multitudes of programs and rules slain by this administration are such things as eliminating NASA climate monitoring, rollback of car emissions standards, cuts to clean energy programs, loosening of regulations on toxic air pollution, downsizing of national monuments, halting of mining health study, canceling rule to protect whales, pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement, expansion of offshore drilling, denying protection for endangered species, reopening of streams to mining waste, etc., etc., etc.

·        Incompetent and Corrupt Administration – Leaving Trump’s ineptitude aside momentarily, he hires or attempts to hire those who are completely ignorant of or antagonistic to the agencies they are hired to oversee.  Scott Pruitt is just the latest of those whose only aim is stealing as much as they can from the American people while destroying whatever they were hired to administer.  Examples are Betsy DeVos, Tom Price, Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Ryan Zinke, Mike Pompeo, Kirstjen Nielsen, Elaine Chao and many others.

·        Health Insurance – Consistent attempts to overturn Obamacare, including eliminating the individual mandate which will make premiums more expensive for others, reinstating pre-existing conditions exclusions, eliminating a key subsidy and promoting health plans that don’t meet minimal requirements.

·        Emoluments – The Constitution prohibits elected officials from accepting gifts or payment from foreign governments.  Trump’s refusal to divest himself from his worldwide businesses lead him to perpetual violations of this clause.

·        Income Tax – What do Trump’s returns show?  He promised to make them public.

·        Immigrants – His immigration policy defines Latino immigrants as criminals.  This policy has separated families, kept children in cages and required one year olds to appear by themselves in court.  He wants to stop legal Muslim immigration by suggesting that all of them are dangerous.  He said he would prefer immigrants from Norway.  I am the descendant of immigrants, and none of them came from Norway.

·        Malignant Narcissist – I have written a blog on this subject in the past, and he exhibits all of the indications.

·        Exhibiting many signs of mental illness – Dozens of prominent psychiatrists have stated that Trump has a dangerous mental illness and is not fit to be president of the United States.  Recently a Harvard psychiatrist said Trump is a sociopath and very sick.  His moodiness, belligerence,  erratic behavior, inappropriate tweets and quickness to anger are all key indicators of the onset of dementia

·        Women’s rights – He pulled back protections for women workers; called breastfeeding women disgusting; consistently denigrated women for their looks; advocated punishment for women getting abortions; pushed back against paid family leave; boasted about sexually assaulting women; called pregnancy an inconvenience for business; among others.

·        Trump lawbreaking – Defrauding Trump University students, breaking Federal law by claiming proceeds of his products would go to charity which was not done, violating election law by emailing foreign officials asking for political contributions, using his charity to finance his presidential run, using illegal immigrants to build Trump Tower, being caught illegally not paying sales tax, and more ad nauseum.

·        Nepotism – Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have no qualifications and no business being members of the administration.  Kushner has still yet to receive complete security clearance.

·        Trade War – Fortune Magazine says, “America will likely be the bigger loser.”

·        Immaturity – Trump is the equivalent of a schoolyard bully who pats himself on the back for making up nicknames.

·        Russian Sanctions – Although almost unanimously passed by Congress, he has ignored them.

·        Lack of Focus – Aids have reported that he is incapable of reading any report more than a few paragraphs long.  He was unable to remember the words to “God Bless America.”  His impromptu remarks are rambling and filled with unrelated digressions.

·        Governing by tweets and insults – No explanations needed.

·        Total lack of honorable and civilized behavior – Slandered dying Senator McCain, pushed aside a world leader so he could be in front, mocked a disabled reporter, called nations he doesn’t like “shithole countries,” and raced ahead of 92 year old Queen Elizabeth.

·        Electioneering – His rallies are nothing short of fund-raising events for his re-election, which we the citizens are paying for.  Horrifyingly, they are reminiscent of Hitler’s in which he claimed, “Germany wants a leadership in which it can believe, nothing more.”

·        Lies – He lies, and lies, and lies, denies he lies, and lies some more.  In his first year as president alone, he made more than 2,000 false or misleading claims.

·        The opposite of patriotism – Trump has humiliated, disgraced and debased the United States of America.

·        Treason – It’s no longer a question of collusion – it is outright treason.  Allies and enemies have been switched.  After a secret meeting, Trump stood next to the former KGB agent and dictator of Russia Putin, who is intent on denying American democracy, and accepted Putin’s lies instead of the truth of United States intelligence.

From January, 2017 until now, I have gained thousands of blog readers and twitter followers, and to all of my supporters as well as opponents, I give this promise.  The gloves are off.  I will not stop; I will not give up; I will not get worn down; I will not be silent; I will not become disillusioned; I will fight; I will persevere; I will march; I will vote: I will resist and I will persist.  I’m joined by multi-millions with many more awakening to the dangers every day.  The tide is turning but we will not let our guard down.  Our voices will be heard, louder and louder.

We are all descendants of immigrants.

Back in January of 2017, I posted an incident on Facebook, which I thought I had also added to my blog.  After searching, I realize it never made it to my blog, so I am now referencing it below.

What prompted my renewed interest is that the original posting referenced a recent echocardiogram that I had undergone.  Today I went for a follow-up procedure and the same gentlemen was my technician.  I told him that he had inspired me and I remembered a great deal about him two years later.  He still inspires me, and I have given him my blog address for him to read.

Here is the recreation of my original:

“I wanted to share a recent true personal anecdote about an encounter that impacted me greatly, and I know the majority of you will easily comprehend the multilayers of its significance. I was at my annual echocardiogram, and it was obvious that the technician performing the procedure was extraordinarily competent. It was also apparent, from his accent which I could not place, that he was not American born.

We developed a sort of instant friendship, and he asked about me and my family and I inquired about his. He told me that he had been in medical school in his homeland and was quite close to obtaining his M.D., but his credits were not accepted when he came to this country. He could not afford to start all over, so he returned to school for two years to become a technician. On the other hand, his wife started all over in school in the U.S. and performed her residency, and she was currently a doctor in the city.

He stated that they had truly embraced America, and they certainly contributed greatly to it. However, recently the nature of this country had changed so drastically that he was deeply afraid for the safety of his two small daughters. Consequently, he and his wife were considering moving to Australia or Canada. It was at this point that I asked him where he was from. He turned and looked at me with a brief, ironic smile and said, “Iran – you’ve heard of it?” Think about it.”

I’m glad he decided to stay.

I have been thoroughly convinced that the unthinking fanatic devotees to Trump actually represent a political cult, the definition of which was described many years ago as follows:

”Although we live in a democracy, cult behavior manifests itself in an unwillingness to question the judgment of leaders and the tendency to devalue outsiders.”

I did some research and found a number of characteristics of cults and their followers which are chillingly descriptive of this dangerous, destructive sheep like following:

·        Opposing news is ridiculed and misrepresented.

·        Claims of special exalted status for leaders.

·        The ends justify whatever means are necessary.

·        Unwillingness to question judgment of leaders.

·        Outsiders are devalued.

·        Critical thinking is opposed.

·        Seeking inappropriate loyalty.

·        Dishonoring the family unit.

·        Unreasonable fear about the outside world.

·        No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

·        Belief that the leader is always right.

·        If the leader is questioned, it is characterized as persecution (i.e., witch hunt).

·        Anything the leader does can be justified, no matter how harmful.

·        One standard for the followers and another for the leader.

·        An “Us against them” attitude and philosophy.

·        Focus on an imagined enemy.

·        No meaningful financial disclosures.

·        Documented abuses of the leader.

·        Pathological fear of dissent and demonizing dissenters.

It’s not just our imagination.  These people really are robotic members of the cult of Trump.

Many states are having primary elections, including here in Colorado.  And, of course, midterms will be coming in November.  I am actively participating in the election campaign of Jason Crow for Congress in the 6^th District.  I know there are many who feel that their vote won’t count for much or that voting itself is unimportant.  Both of those positions are inaccurate.  Here’s a bit of a history lesson.

George W. Bush won the Presidency in 2000 over Al Gore (who actually had 543,000 more total popular votes) by a disputed 537 Florida votes.  Trump won the Presidency in 2016 by carrying Wisconsin by 22,748 votes, Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes and Michigan by 13,225 votes – a total of around 80,000 votes, and over 90 million eligible voters didn’t vote.  Hillary Clinton had a popular vote margin of nearly 2.9 million votes.  In 1960, John Kennedy won the Presidency by a margin of approximately 100,000 votes.  In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won the popular vote by approximately 250,000 votes.  And, of course, more recently, Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore in the Alabama special election to fill Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat by around 20,000 votes, and a Virginia House of Delegates election came down to 1 vote.  There are many instances of elections being won or lost by very small margins, so it is really true that every vote counts.

And, voting truly is a privilege.  African American men were unable to vote legally until the 15^th Amendment passed in 1870 but were powerless to exercise the right freely until the Civil Rights laws of 1966.  Women did not receive the vote until the 19^th Amendment was passed in 1920.  Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens until 1924 and many states prohibited them from voting until 1957.  Residents of U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, are only allowed to vote in primaries, not general elections.

The Nuremberg Laws passed in Germany in 1935 disenfranchised Jews from the right to vote.  Women were not granted the right to vote in Qatar until 2003, in Kuwait until 2005 and in Saudi Arabia until 2015.  Severely restricted racial voting rights were prevalent in the Apartheid years of South Africa.  In fact, South African black women didn’t receive the right to vote until 1994.

Interestingly, 22 nations, with an estimated 744 million people, make voting mandatory.  Should we have this in the United States?  Probably not.  But we should encourage this right and privilege.  If you do not vote, you bear an even greater responsibility for the election’s outcome.

I’m pissed off, but we’re all being pissed on.

A United States Senator said, “Shall we first take care of our own children, our citizens, our country, or shall we bestow our charity on children imported from abroad?”  No, this wasn’t last year or last month but in March, 1939, in response to efforts to bring Jewish children to America to save them from the Nazis.

If you are unfamiliar with the anti-Semitic and anti-immigration position of a majority of Americans in the 1930’s, read the book or watch the HBO documentary entitled 50 Children: One Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany, by Steven Pressman, from which the above quote is taken.  Another excellent reference which illuminates the complicity of the German public with Nazi anti-Semitism and the ensuing Holocaust is the book entitled Hitler’s Willing Executioners by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.

Until the past few years, when I was researching my ancestral roots, I was unaware of my familial connection to the Holocaust.  My maternal grandfather and his siblings immigrated to the United States in the late 1800’s from a small town in what was then Austria but through most of history has been part of Poland.  Much of the rest of his extended family remained in the town in which Jews had been forbidden to live during the 16^th to 18^th century.  During Austrian rule in the 19^th century, the Jewish population grew but was at best a poor community and eventually began to decline.  My family, however, represented over 10% of the Jewish population of the town in the 1930’s.  Those who were left continued to live there under German occupation, until August 13, 1942.  On that day, the Jews were ordered to assemble in the city square.  The children, the old and the sick, including at least 25 members of my family, were taken to a forest and shot.  The few who were able to work were used as slave labor until they were eventually exterminated at the Belzec Concentration Camp.  I have in my possession the Holocaust Center records of my family victims.

Had my grandfather not been an immigrant, I would not be here to write this.

And so, until my last breath, I will continue to fight the creeping intolerance, racism, fear-mongering and fascism of Trumpism.  The lives of my children and grandchildren depend on it.

They’re deciding where to hold the 10 year reunion of Trump Administration departures, and there seems to be a consensus on meeting in Trump’s prison gym.

There are currently boycotts against sponsors of Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity.  Some say economic boycotts don’t work, but let’s take a look at the impact of a few of them:

·        In the late 19^th century in Ireland, Captain Charles Boycott was shunned after refusing to negotiate with tenants.  He was driven out of town.  Hence, the terminology.

·        As a result of the British Stamp Act of 1765 taxing the colonies, American colonists began boycotting British goods.  The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766.

·        In 1791, there was a boycott in England of sugar produced by slaves.  Sales of sugar dropped by 1/3 to 1/2, rallying abolitionists in a common cause.  Slavery in England was abolished in the mid-1800s.

·        The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to 1956, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, caused severe economic distress, and the city relented and passed an ordinance allowing black passengers to sit anywhere they chose on buses.

·        The United Farm Workers 1965 to 1970 grape boycott educated middle class families about poor farm workers, and millions stopped eating grapes.  In 1970 grape growers signed their first union contracts.

·        The Johnson & Johnson boycott was initiated over harmful chemicals in baby shampoo.  As a result, Johnson & Johnson reformulated all of its baby products.

·        In 1986, the International Marine Mammal Project organized a consumer boycott of tuna to end tuna fishing practices which were killing dolphins by tuna companies.  Today 90% of these companies don’t harm dolphins.

So, voting with your wallet can work!

WE MARCHED.

I knew why we were going.  To paraphrase Lawrence O’Donnell, whom I had watched the evening before:  The NRA has made it possible for American mass murderers to be the best equipped in the world.

This wasn’t our first rodeo, so to speak, since we had joined a march and rally last year, but I still wasn’t certain how many would be joining us.  When we reached the Park N Ride to take the light rail train to downtown Denver, I immediately knew that this was different.  We were the first stop on a train ride that is normally sparsely populated on a Saturday afternoon, but there were lines waiting to purchase tickets.  Mind you, this was in the middle of an affluent, highly conservative area.  I might have guessed there was another event happening downtown, except that everyone was carrying signs.  We purchased our tickets in the nick of time and hurried to the train that was just arriving. It had to deviate off schedule to allow the massive boarding, and by the time it departed, there was no sitting or standing room left with many still outside waiting for the next train.

We sat across from a nurse and like everyone else on the train struck up a conversation.  Her family were gun owners, but this was different.  Her middle schooler and high school student were with her and told us of their active shooter drills.  Her daughter would be voting in the next election.  Yes, we were on the right track.

At the Convention Center stop, the train disgorged and we began the several block walk to Civic Center Park where the rally was to be held.  Because the students had gathered first, we were nowhere near the speaker platform, but that was the purposeful intent.  I took note of some of my favorite signs:  “Respect existence or expect resistance,” “Our leaders are acting like children, so the children must act like leaders,” “School shooters are not a regulated militia,” “When your peers are being murdered, you become an adult by default,” “Read books, not obituaries,” “Actually, guns do kill people,” “I signed up to be a teacher, not a first responder,” “I suggest we put a teacher in every gun store,” “I should be writing my college essay, not my obituary,” “Betsy DeVos is the only thing that should be fired inside a school,” “The children almost broken by the world will become the adults most likely to change it,” and on the back of a dog, “NRA, why did you kill my best friend?”  Our signs must have struck a note, because they were photographed dozens of times – “Grandparents Marching to Save Lives,” and “Grandparents Can Be Tigers If the Cubs are Threatened.”  There were many young people there, but quite a few oldies but goodies like ourselves.  There also seemed to be numerous teachers present, with a very large contingent of Montessori staff.

The speakers began.  I will not go into detail because the media will have covered them well, but they were both survivors of massacres and relatives of victims.  During the speeches, which lasted close to two hours, a plane flew overhead, trailing a banner which criticized one of our Senators who has taken almost $4 million from the NRA.  At one point, it was announced that we had completely filled Civic Center Park.  We cheered.  We knew that what began as an idea and turned into a rally had now become a movement.

Then the march began.  The most interesting thing to me is that it seemed that virtually everyone in downtown Denver was part of this.  People were even leaning out of parking structures.  I had wondered beforehand if there might be any counter demonstrations, but not a single one was visible.  We marched for almost an hour and returned to the park, where it was almost as if those present were somewhat reluctant to end this statement of principle.  We walked back to the train stop, and apparently the crowds had disrupted the schedule so that we waited for a very long time for our train to arrive.  If we thought the trip down was crowded, this one was bulging at the seams.  We had to stand at a door well and watched as at each stop, people were disappointed that no more could get on.

Those were the mechanics of yesterday but now I will add my thoughts.  You must remember that these demonstrations were planned, organized and executed by young people.  There are those who say that teenagers couldn’t have done this.  I beg to differ.  Yes, the students from Stoneman Douglas are amazing.  But the over 800 worldwide marches were conceived and executed by other students, equally competent, articulate and committed.  Perhaps those who doubt these students’ abilities were exceptionally underperforming teenagers.  I remember being 17 years old and in charge of arranging housing and transportation to hundreds of students coming into Denver for a convention.  Our teenagers are our future.  As I watched some national coverage last evening, I was struck by something one of the interviewers said.  When he asked a volunteer who was stationed in Washington, D.C. to register new voters (there were many of those in Denver, as well) if he had had a successful day, the volunteer replied that he hadn’t signed up the numbers he had expected, because so many he asked responded that they had already registered.  The tide is turning.

To end, there are a lot of adjectives and adverbs that were engendered yesterday:  admiration, excitement, involvement, inspirational, hopeful, determined, aware, proud, powerful, passionate, grief, commitment, and yes, exhaustion.

On the short drive home from the train stop, I said these words, “I hope we did some good.”  I think maybe we did.