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.

Dear Stoneman Douglas Students:

It is with a heavy heart of an almost 70 year old grandfather that I write to you today.  When I was an elementary school child during the height of the Cold War, we too had practice drills.  Ours were called “civil defense” exercises, during which we were rehearsing responses to a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union.  Depending on the predicted imminence of the attack, we were to follow a specified procedure.  If the strike was suspected to be immediate, we were to “duck and cover” under our desks.  If the warning gave us an additional minute or so, we were to go into the hallway, lean against the wall and clasp our hands behind our necks.  A bit more advance warning meant that we could gather in the windowless basement of the school building.  If a few hours were expected, the planned response was practiced one time only – designated parents were to come to the school, load their vehicles with children and drive them into the mountains to presumed safety.  The impossible logistics of this option led to its elimination.

Once the dangers of the fifties passed, I hoped that my children would never have to experience the unnerving drills, let alone the horror of an actual event, and for quite some time it looked as if that were to be the case.  Then came Columbine.  My children attended a high school very close to Columbine and were deeply affected.  We attended a memorial service for the fallen, at which time somewhat meaningless platitudes were provided by a politician and a clergyman.  I was not satisfied but hoped this was a one off event.  I was wrong.  One after another horrific day occurred – years later even at the precise school my children had attended.  And now it has unbearably descended upon you.

And so, my young heroes, I write to you not only with thoughts and prayers but with some advice from the elderly.  Do not stand for it.  Do not allow anyone to tell you that you are too young and don’t know what you are doing.  Do not accept any rationale given for what has happened.  Do not stay silent when they say someone is putting you up to it.  Ask them to find the checks if they claim you are being paid.  Do not let any self-serving politicians or television personalities impede you.  Organize, march, protest, register, vote.  Most importantly, let no one ignore you.  You are the survivors, not they.

You have the power and have already proven the strength of your resolve.  Continue and you will gather thousands to your side.  You are the hope of my grandchildren’s future, and I have much grandfatherly pride in you, even though I have never met a single one of you.

Nazi runs as Republican for Illinois Congressional seat.  He must be one of Trump’s “very fine people.”

Here’s a very partial list of those whom Trump has insulted:

John McCain, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Anderson Cooper, Lindsay Graham, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, President Obama, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Todd, George Will, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Sessions, James Comey, Robert Mueller, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Snoop Dog, Democrats, Dick Durbin, Chicago, Dianne Feinstein, Jeff Flake, New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, Robert Gates, Meryl Streep, Kirsten Gillibrand, Whoopi Goldberg, Chuck Todd, Nikki Haley, The Justice Department, Hamilton, Mexico, Obamacare, Doug Jones, Nancy Pelosi, Kim Jong Un, George Papadopoulos, Michael Wolff, protestors, George Will, Amazon, Bill Kristol, Megyn Kelly, Dreamers, Rand Paul, Colin Kaepernick, Tim Kaine, Obamacare, Iran, Congress, United States, Today Show, Hollywood, Al Franken, Bill Clinton, Chris Christie, F.B.I., Chicago, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Facebook, Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Meet the Press, Megyn Kelly, LaVar Ball, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Paul Ryan, Saturday Night Live, Cory Booker, Donna Brazile, Joy Behar, Richard Blumenthal, Steve Bannon, Rod Rosenstein, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alec Baldwin, Macy’s, Michael Bloomberg, NATO, United Nations, Wall Street Journal, the disabled, Muslims, African Americans, Asians, Michelle Obama, Hispanics, Jews, women, the White House, Khizr Khan, Carly Fiorina, Pope Francis, Haiti, El Salvador, Africa, Michael Wolff, Heidi Klum, journalists, late night hosts, Rosie O’Donnell, Robert DeNiro, Mark Cuban, Rick Perry, John Kasich, Elizabeth Warren, the media, U.S. Post Office, Bob Corker, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Irish Americans, Charles Krauthammer, Academy Awards, Brian Williams, Chris Matthews, immigrants, television networks, Arianna Huffington, Puerto Rico, U.S. military, Air Force One, Native Americans, gays and lesbians, widow of a Green Beret, holocaust survivors, voters, Harvard, Australia, Sweden, etc., etc., etc.

Notably absent:  Russia, Vladimir Putin, NRA, Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr., Eric, Stormy Daniels, Melania, his ex-wives who were paid off, Fox News, tanning spray, Norway.

It’s been a year that we’ve had to endure Trumpism.  I compiled a collection of some of the observational zingers that I’ve created during that time and posted on Facebook, Twitter and my blog.  See if you have a favorite:

·        Congress scuttles coal mine river debris regulation.  Who doesn’t want barbecue flavored water?

·        Trump advisor Miller says, “It’s not for me to speak what’s in Trump’s mind.”  That’s because it’s empty.

·        Rand Paul says there’s not enough time to investigate Republicans.  Who can argue with that?

·        Trump’s official inauguration poster had a misspelled word.  Did Betsy DeVos write it?

·        Spies withhold info from Trump.  They’re waiting to give it to him at the Mar-A-Lago buffet line.

·        I think the dictionary just added a new entry to the definition of deranged.

·        “Mr. President, can you comment on the rise of anti-Semitic acts in America?”  “Sit down and shut up.”

·        If Trump’s favorability rating keeps tanking, his popularity will soon be roughly equivalent to Lizzie Borden’s.

·        Trump says he’s going to bring the country together.  Only if it’s in the line at the Canadian border.

·        Trump says he has a friend in Paris.  I thought Napoleon was dead.

·        Nixon’s former lawyer sees “echoes of Watergate” in Trump’s first month.  I see echoes of Dr. Strangelove.

·        Trump misspells “hereby” twice on Twitter.  Betsy DeVos immediately called for choice in spelling.

·        Trump thinks Obama wiretapped him.  Actually, it was Putin setting up the direct line.

·        Interior Secretary repeals ban on lead bullets.  We need to do something with the extra lead that will be in our water.

·        Waiting for Trump to tweet that he is no longer tweeting and then tweeting to confirm it.

·        Trump threw his can opener away when Kelleyanne Conway told him it was breathing.

·        George Forman grill accused of leaking Trump’s tax return.

·        Whenever Trump make a ridiculous unsupported claim, I can’t help but think of Gilda Radner saying, “Never mind.”

·        Budget Director says Meals on Wheels not showing results.  Those old, poor people should be running marathons!

·        Spicer claims Britain spied on Trump.  Apparently, the queen keeps a microwave in her purse.

·        Trump didn’t hear Merkel’s request for a handshake.  The voices in his head drowned her out.

·        Trump supporter says he wasn’t lying, just speaking Americanese.  The rest of us know it as bullshit.

·        When you suddenly find yourself nostalgic for Ted Cruz, you know things have turned very dark.

·        Trump approval rating falls again.  Soon it will be lower than Trump U graduates’ success rate.

·        Trump said, “I didn’t know it was so complicated.”  I think he was referring to tying his shoes.

·        Trump proclaims Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  Kind of like Jack the Ripper proclaiming Knife Safety Month.

·        A new plague in the Passover celebration: boils due to lack of health care.

·        Let’s hope Sean Spicer doesn’t start talking about carnival rides at the Holocaust Center.

·        Trump sent missiles to Syria while eating chocolate cake with Xi.  He plans to bomb Mexico over borscht with Putin.

·        Manafort registers as foreign agent, but most good enemy countries were already taken by other Trump advisors.

·        13 health code violations at Mar-A-Lago.  Trump asks if Obamacare still covers food poisoning.

·        White House calls DeVos Sec. of Educatuon.  Pretty much how kids will spell under her leadership.

·        Trump sends armada in wrong direction.  He always gets confused between North Korea and North Dakota.

·        Trump’s 100 day accomplishments:  “I ate the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you’ve ever seen.”

·        Ivanka got booed in Germany; she got bribed in China.

·        The tax plan apparently was written on a napkin at a Mar-A-Lago dessert extravaganza.

·        Trump said he would meet with Kim but no dinner.  A good thing: food poisoning at Mar-A-Lago could cause World War III.

·        Trump tells CBS, “I don’t stand for anything.”  Well, duh.

·        They may have to reopen Alcatraz for the Trump Presidential Library.

·        We’re going to look back at, “I am not a crook,” with fond nostalgia.

·        Trump will be going to Italy for the G7.  He thinks it’s a bingo game.

·        Trump tweets covfefe, trying to learn Russian for when Putin becomes National Security Advisor.

·        Trump has given ethics waivers to 17 White House advisors.  He’s turning the swamp into the Everglades.

·        U.S., Syria and Nicaragua not in Parris Accord.  Two dictatorships and one democracy.  Nicaragua is the democracy.

·        Sessions says he gets nervous answering questions quickly.  After all, he needs time to make up his lies.

·        Kellyanne Conway says get a job instead of Medicaid.  Nursing home residents may need help with the applications.

·        Trump was unable to find his limo parked in front of him.  Let’s hope that happens with the nuclear codes.

·        Trump’s lawyer says Trump was aware of nothing.  That about says it all.

·        Jared Kushner attended the Russian meeting in hopes of obtaining a personality.

·        Liar, liar pants on fire.  There must be a huge number of flaming trousers at the White House.

·        Ivanka says she supports her LGBTQ friends.  She thinks it means Let’s Get Back to Quotas.

·        Trump wants to be up on Mt. Rushmore.  Let’s put him there – literally and permanently.

·        Every time Anthony Scaramucci speaks, an angel pukes.

·        Stephen Miller is a rare thing.  Jewish Nazis are hard to find.

·        Kellyanne Conway says Trump is planning to be a two-termer.  Obviously, she was referring to jail terms.

·        Trump to skip Kennedy Center Honors.  Anything with honor in it offends him.

·        Trump tweets, “Help America heel.” Apparently, after he resigns, he’s going into the shoe repair business.

·        Trump donates Melania’s stilettos to the Red Cross as a rescue device.

·        Don Jr.’s next story will likely be that he went to the Russian meeting to see if Hillary was adopting Putin.

·        Trump thought Motel 6 calling for ICE is like what he does when he has a margarita at Mar-A-Lago.

·        Trump throws paper towels to hurricane victims.  For the next one, he plans to provide slip and slides.

·        Trump forgot that he was President of the Virgin Islands.  It’s just that he gets so excited when he hears virgin.

·        Every time Trump makes a ludicrous claim, he says he has proof.  Apparently it’s 80 proof.

·        Trump plays golf in Japan.  That’s to avoid the fact that he can’t remember the name of Japan.

·        It is quite telling that Trump was more upset that Kim Jong Un called him old than he was about Kim calling him a lunatic.

·        Reddi Wip and Hebrew National hot dogs pull Hannity ads.  If a beer company follows suit, and viewers boycott them, Alabamans will have no nutrition at all.

·        Shouldn’t the Attorney General of the U.S. be able to remember … anything.

·        Of course Trump supports Moore.  They’re on the same competitive sexual assault team.

·        It turns out that the witch hunt is actually catching a lot of witches.

·        Kellyanne Conway says that Trump has tremendous moral standards, and apparently she has tremendous brain damage.

·        After Trump slurred his words, there is very little left that he hasn’t slurred.

·        Trump doesn’t care anything about Net Neutrality, as long as he can still tweet from the toilet.

·        Mnuchin’s horse manure was just regifting of Trump’s tax bill.

·        Trump suing Bannon for defamation is like Kim Jong Un suing Trump for having a bigger button.

·        Trump said he could beat Oprah ... if only he could learn the words to the National Anthem.

·        So many Republicans have such poor memories, the FDA has approved a new drug called NowIRecall.

·        Analysts indicate that Trump speaks at a fourth grade level.  Come on now let’s not insult fourth graders.

·        Trump played golf on Martin Luther King Day.  He originally had planned to play tennis because he thought it was Billie Jean King Day.

·        Trump recognized a lion on his cognitive test.  Now if only he could recognize that he’s an imbecile.

·        Word has it that the entertainment at Trump’s $50,000 a ticket Mar-A-Lago celebration will be Stormy Daniels, but you have to bring your own copy of Forbes.

·        Trump says he’s a stable genius.  The rest of the horses agree.

·        Now we know that when Trump said, “Only I can fix it,” he was referring to the plumbing at Trump Tower.

·        Melania stayed home from Switzerland.  She paid Trump $130,000 so that she didn’t have to go.

·        Mueller gets Trump to agree to be interviewed by promising him two bags of Big Macs.

·        Melania flew to Florida.  She decided that she would rather spend her anniversary at the insect infested Mar-A-Lago than with Donald.

I'm just finishing a book entitled, "When Paris Went Dark," a history of the city during the German occupation of World War II. The author, Ronald Rosbottom, quotes French President Jacques Chirac, fifty years after the war. Although the context is quite different, I'm afraid similar words about today's America will resonate in the future of this country:

"There are, in the life of a nation, moments that wound its memory as well as the idea that one has of one's country. Nothing must block out the dismal hours of our history if we are to defend a certain idea of humanity, of liberty, and of dignity. In so doing, we struggle against those dark forces that are constantly at work."