I’ve got nothing.
I had to resort to taking yet another photo of the McCoy/music cabinet that is directly across the den from where I’m sitting.
I haven’t been feeling tip-top, so I’ve been resting. I also texted for Biden for four hours yesterday. And then I ate dinner with my husband and watched The Great British Baking Show and Rachel Maddow, whereupon I was enraged. And so it goes. Every day.
Among so many atrocities, so many despicable acts committed by this administration, the one that haunts me the most is the separation of families at the border. Children yanked away from their parents. Children in cages. And now we learn that 545 children are still separated from their families because those families can’t be found, most of the parents having been deported to Central America.
This is a stain on the soul of this nation, one that will never, ever go away. Stephen Miller, Rod Rosenstein, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, HHS – everyone who sat in that room and voted for this policy and then enforced it cruelly – each of them should be tried for Crimes Against Humanity at the Hague.
I’m a nonviolent person, always pushing for peaceful resolution, for protecting the lives of humans and animals. However, in this case, I find a firing squad sounds about right.
They have lost any sense of morality, any humanity. They’ve sold their souls.
I weep for those children. I weep for all the good people trying to find families in Central America in the middle of a pandemic. I weep for the parents and siblings who wonder if they’ll ever see their children again. I weep for our country.
All it took was four years to turn this country into something unrecognizable. Actually, it only took a year. In a pilot program in 2017, they started separating families at the border in El Paso. Then the “zero tolerance” policy was enacted in 2018.
I’m going to say it, loud and clear. I hate this man. I hate this administration.
I know I’m supposed to love and not hate. I know I’m supposed to have compassion for my fellow man. It took a long time – four full years – for me to use that word. But that’s how I feel and I’m going to own it. My previous word of choice, “despise,” isn’t strong enough. Neither is “abhor” or “detest” or “revile,” though I feel all of those emotions.
No lectures, please, on this. I am a good person. I try to live a spiritual life. But some things are beyond the pale. I used to say I hated the actions taken, but not the person. Now I don’t even say that. Hopefully, at some time in the future, I can separate the actions from the person.
But not now.
They are beyond redemption.
In the meantime, I want each and every one of them, and that includes every member of the GOP who enabled and supported this monster, to spend the rest of their sorry lives in infamy, shunned by society, and prosecuted for their crimes.
Thanks for reading this, for your patience. All I can think about is those children.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
Amen! I hope that we will see many of them behind bars.
I do, too.
Thanks, Pam.
Stay safe.
You have summed up how I feel exactly. I’m British, living in the U.K. and I cannot think for the life of me how anyone can think this is acceptable. Those poor children and their families, how cruel and all because they happened to be born at a particular time in a particular place. We are all part of the human race, why is that so hard? I hope and pray that what I’m seeing and reading in the news is accurate and those dreadful people responsible are brought to account.
I don’t know what you’re reading there but I can assure you that it is as vile as you can imagine.
Thanks so much, Fiona.
Stay safe.
I’m finding IG quite useful for worldwide news, Jessica Yellin is very informative (I hope I’ve spelt her name correctly). The British press isn’t terribly helpful. Vile sums it all up well.
Take care.
I love Jessica Yellin and I follow her. She is a reliable source, Fiona. Her whole thing is News not Noise – the facts.
Thanks so much.
xo
I totally agree! No pardons, no mercy just justice for the harm they all have caused.
Take Care,
Kaye
Park City, UT
Absolutely.
Stay safe, Kaye.
You have summed up my feelings as well. We as humans deserve kindness and love from one another not the terrible things happening to families coming to this country for a better life. The very things this country was founded upon have been forgotten by this administration and the ones that support it.
Yes. I agree.
Thanks, Deanna.
Stay safe.
Yes of all the evil things he has done , to me the the separation of the children is the most upsetting.
Melania is probably walking around the White House with her famous jacket on.
She does not give a damn either
I am currently reading Rage by Bob Woodward and he talks about how Mattis and Tillerson say Trump has no moral compass.. I truly believe he will soon be gone.
He doesn’t. He’s a malignant narcissist and a sociopath.
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe.
Amen to that!! You’ve summed up my feelings exactly. I was shocked last night when on Twitter, I discovered that article about the 545 children. Omg….the pain those parents are feeling, the cruelty! It’s unimaginable! How could they? Every last one of the Republicans is complicit…every last one! Starting from the top on down….and if hey did nothing to stop it, they are complicit as well. That is just inhumane, and I do hope that charges will be brought up before The Hague!
And…thank you for that picture…it is one of my favorites. Stay safe! ;)
Thanks, Donna.
Stay safe!
Hi Claudia. Your candor is spot on . This pain we are all feeling seeps its way into everything, doesn’t it? It is also very important that we not forget it. I am trying to focus now on election day. we WILL know on Nov 3rd that goodness and decency have not left us. There will be overwhelming consensus, there must be. I know that the Biden transition people are vetting my Governor, Charlie Baker (a Republican) and others who are good and decent and trustworthy, to step up immediately and begin to resurrect our government and our soul. here’s a great “meditation” for you: go get some ice cold cider (unpasturized) from an orchard, then drink it with eyes closed and for that brief time feel the goodness. Ahhhhhh. even OM can’t wreck that!!! love to you, Cindy
Love that idea, Cindy. We have nothing but apple orchards surrounding us – and mountains.
Thanks.
Stay safe.
Hi Cindy,
Charlie Baker is my Governor also. He said on the news last night that while flattered, we are stuck with him for two more years. I am torn….part of me wants to see him help on a national level and the other part of me wants him to remain here and keep working hard for our state. I love that he came out and said that he is not voting for Trump!! Hope you are enjoying the great weather we have been having.
~Donna
The paragraph that starts “I weep for those children” is the one I find as a prayer. I have used some of your paragraphs as prayers in months and years passed. And today I see your hate and confusion of why this is happening. I read your justifiable pain and rage and I read this paragraph and know that this will be my prayer for today. I have pain and rage and I thank you for putting it into words and then giving this prayer to me.
Thank you, Tana, for your lovely words.
Stay safe.
I feel the same. I’ve disagreed with presidents’ decisions before, there have been several whose faces and voices I could not stand to watch or listen to when they appeared on my TV, but I have never personally hated anyone – anyone! – as much as I hate that man. What he’s done to those families is just cruelty for cruelty’s sake and will stain our country for a long, long time.
I agree. There are certainly presidents that I strongly disagree with.
This is another category entirely.
Thank you and stay safe, Di.
Oh, Claudia; I can so feel your PAIN through your words. I saw this on the news right before bed last night and I couldn’t sleep a wink thinking about the children. Why? WHY? How can any human being not ask the why of it; the sense of it, when it makes NO sense. He always talks about everything being a ‘disaster’; well, this is at such epic proportions that the word can’t support the horror. Even if it unbelievably had to happen in the first place, how could it be such a botch; so disorganized, so cruel and inhumane. Zero accountability. I can’t even …
My mother-in-law was wrenched (maybe the word is heart-wrenching), along with her sister, from their mother at the start of The Great Depression in about 1929-31 U.S. after the father in the family deserted them. They were little things and their brother was handicapped. They lived in a rat-infested, I don’t know … couple of rooms? … and their mom just couldn’t make it, trying to find work, no money; what to do with the special-needs child. So, yes, the two little girls went to an orphanage and, although their mom could later get them out and it was better than starving to death, the trauma of separation and to end up in a ‘facility’ with other children where there was no love (and they were mostly just a herd) left a lifelong scar on the soul of these two girls. They tried to overcome over the years but they were so deeply affected by childhood distress that their adult lives were marked with a sometimes-inability to ‘function’ in what could be called ‘normal’. I think it could probably be called a lifelong post-traumatic stress. It was such a burden for them. And, you know, it was The Greatest Generation and there wasn’t any kind of therapy or help for them back in the 1930s, 40s, etc. My mother-in-law struggled her whole life with anxiety and depression. She was robbed of a life of happiness. I would say her sister suffered more silently. But those years with no parents in their lives, and being in an institutional setting, left them … damaged.
That’s the thing; they will permanently damaged by this trauma. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and NONE OF IT HAD TO HAPPEN.
I’m so sorry to hear this happened to your mother-in-law. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for them. So very, very sad.
Stay safe, Vicki.
Yes, thank you, but our sympathy needs to go not just to my husband’s mother and to his auntie, but to him and his siblings … because they didn’t get their ‘whole’ mother. She could be unpleasant, and my husband warned me about her; there were times where my feelings got hurt. However, over the years, as I learned more, I tried hard to understand just how deep her wounds bled.
It’s a long story in the family, but my husband just worshipped his grandmother who had to go through this ordeal with her three young children, alone and trying to find hope. She had the fight in her to survive and OF COURSE she didn’t want to give up her girls to an orphanage but there was absolutely no extended-family member to step in and give assistance or shelter. (As my own mother and also my great-aunt always told me, EVERYbody was in the same boat, everyone struggling in those awful years; so, if my husband’s young grandmother in her early 20s even had a trusted friend, they probably couldn’t help either.) I don’t know if any pride was involved; it sounded to me like she explored every link and the orphanage was the very last resort. She just had no alternative.
I’ve since read that there were many stories of wives being deserted by their husbands, and some of those husbands took their own lives when they looked at themselves as failures with their inability to take care of their families when there was such deprivation in the American Depression of that era. My parents’ very longtime neighbor of some sixty years was placed in an orphanage in about 1930; the family too big for one mom to try to support on her own (another case of abandonment by the head of house, the husband/father). In this particular situation though, nobody came to bail her out, and the little six-year-old ‘aged out’ in the facility to where, I think at age 18 (younger?), they sent her on her way. One good thing is that she was taught life skills in the orphanage, such that she knew how to cook & clean & sew, plus she was given some sort of secretarial-style training (I do think she was a high school graduate; same age as my mom, and my mom graduated at age 16) where she learned how to type and I believe take ‘shorthand’ so that when she DID age out, she could get a job.
So, thank God for that; but what I noticed about her, because I grew up around her and all the way into my most-recent years, as she only just died in 2017, was that it was seemingly ingrained in her (as if ‘programmed’) to be obedient, almost subservient, which meant that too many people in her life just walked all over her. You can’t come out of these kinds of early-childhood situations unscathed.
xo
I have said I hated him more times in the last few months then ever before. I truly believe he is evil. All I can say. My heart hurts for those children and parents. Families torn apart for no real reason. I can’t wait to get him out.
He IS evil, Linda.
Thank you.
Stay safe.
I want them all in jail. And yes, I’d love to see them at the Hague for crimes against humanity. He is an evil man. The Antichrist. There are many politicians I haven’t liked. I’ve been angry with them. I’d kill to have any single one of them back again. The only other person about whom I feel as intensely (or maybe more) is Hitler. The comparisons are far too close for comfort.
I agree. I have the same feelings about him as I do Hitler.
Thanks so much, Jeanie.
Stay safe.
Hi Claudia, I agree with everything you said. I wake up thinking about how much our country has changed in just four years. It’s disgusting. I too hate this man. I wish for bad things to happen to him and all of the people around him. It scares me to think that I could feel like this. I have become so angry. Not healthy. I am so sad for the children left behind. I can’t even imagine what their parents are going through. I believe he will not win this election but we will still have 12 weeks of his craziness. He will not go quietly. He can cause a lot more damage in that time period. Thank you for listening. xo
I know it’s not good for any of us to be this angry, but we also can’t shut off our feelings. I pray for the day when I no longer have to see or hear him again.
Thanks for being here, April.
Stay safe.
I’m with you, Claudia……I am with you.
Thank you, Judy.
Stay safe!
Amen. My feelings exactly!
Thank you Cathy.
Stay safe!
I agree with your assessment of this sub-human being. And I’m trying to keep hope alive that this country will come to its senses and blow him and his cronies out of “our house”. I’m hanging on with my fingernails, I think—getting the runaround instead of our mail-in ballots, waiting for medical tests, diagnoses, etc., upping my anxiety meds, and hoping I can keep on keeping on. I hope we can all feel better soon.
I’ve been thinking about you, Shanna. There’s too much on your plate at the moment. Sending my love to you and to Fred – praying, as well.
Stay safe, my friend.
Bravo Claudia, thank you for standing up for these dear children and their parents.
Thank you, Alice.
Stay safe!
I feel the same way. I am really struggling with a few friends and family that support him. I think by supporting him they give validation to his actions. I try to continue on with them but it is so hard. I pray when he is gone I can get over the hurt I feel! I pray he voted out and goes without incident Jan 20!
It’s very hard to deal with any supporters of him, let alone family and friends. I feel for you, Janet.
Stay safe.
How I decided to handle this, because I have Trump supporters in my family but also with a good friend or two and, although I can’t fathom how they feel as they do (when I thought I really, really knew them), like how can we possibly ever be on the same page again, is that I’ve decided Trump isn’t worth it. He’s been upsetting my life for five years and his decisions (lack thereof, i.e. Covid) have drastically ALTERED my life NEGATIVELY, so I don’t want one more negative thing related to him which means he is NOT ALLOWED to affect my special relationships with people I love. He will no longer have that power over me. I declare myself free of Donald Trump. I now refuse to let him or the election SPOIL my precious connection with my loved ones. I don’t mean for it to sound self-righteous or pious, but I forgive them for drinking his Koolaid. I was relieved to know that with one friend, she actually doesn’t like him; she has just liked how he tries to reduce her tax obligations because she thinks she’s overtaxed. I knew in my heart of hearts that there was no way she could approve of his behaviors; she’s just too bright not to see him as the sicko he is. Maybe I’m making excuses, but I’m not allowing Trump to do one more divisive thing in my life. He is … dirt.
I’ll stay out of this one except to say that I am unaware of anyone in my family or any of my friends supporting Trump. Most likely, my estranged sister does – or did – but she doesn’t talk to any of us, so it’s not an issue. But if they did, I would have to take a break from them.
And I’ll shut up now.
Go ahead and hate him. I do too! And I am the simplest, kindest person about. And since we’re admitting things, I wished he would die when he got Covid and rid us of him. Take care. Kit
I’m sure you’re not the only one, Kit. I want him to stay alive so he can be charged and prosecuted.
Thanks.
Stay safe.
I saw that on Rachel last night and I cried. Like you, and most of your community here, we were brought up to see the best in people, follow the Golden Rule, and not to use the word hate. But this is beyond our comprehension. And add this atrocity to the other 100,000 we can recall of the past too many months and years, and hate doesn’t seem a strong enough word. And seeing his numbers still at 30-40% are jaw dropping. Knowing that there are still that many people in this country who approve of him is mind numbing. And disgusting.
I believe that so many of us are suffering from total exhaustion. It isn’t good for anyone. The next 13 days will be horrific. I can’t fool myself about that because I don’t think that is healthy, either. Thinking any of this will get better now is just foolish. So we all have to take care of ourselves and each other. And to all: if there is anyone in your life who hasn’t yet voted, or is concerned or confused about voting, do all you can to assist them. We must do this.
Beyond comprehension is right. Beyond belief!
We are all exhausted, aren’t we? But we have to shore up what strength we have left and get through this election
Great advice at the end of the comment, Chris.
Stay safe.
Almost what upsets me the most right now is that they are flaunting it…..everything! Just daring someone to say something. If he gets re-elected it is going to be something worse than we can ever imagine. Nov 3rd can come none to soon!
Exactly. You’re right. Flaunting is the perfect word.
Hang in there.
Stay safe!
I agree with everything you said. I don’t watch the news on TV so when I saw the news online about earlier today about these children and not being able to find the parents, my heart broke in a million little pieces. I can’t even go there how these parents and their “babies” must feel. I can’t even type these words without tears rolling down my face.
I hope you aren’t getting sick, my friend. All this stress may be too much – it may be manifesting itself in a physical way. Please take care of yourself and get lots of rest.
xoxo
It’s my sinuses because of the weather change, but nevertheless, the stress doesn’t help.
Thanks for caring, dear friend.
Stay safe, Melanie!
I wish I had written this! My thoughts, words, and feelings exactly. Thank you. God help these children.
Thanks so much, Kate.
Stay safe.
I agree with what you say except for one thing. What got us here? the republican party. They want to be the rulers of the US and they have been working toward it for a few decades. I am frightened because I see a dictatorship in the future. I hope we avoid it.
I never said the GOP didn’t get us here. Of course, they did.
They are appalling, especially their leader Mitch McConnell.
Thanks, Jan.
Stay safe.
Trump just held a rally in my small Nevada town last weekend. I held my breath hoping that none of my Trump supporting (flags and signs) neighbors would ask me if I would attend. I left town for the day because I would not have been able to stop myself from throwing the most epic rant against that soul less empty vessel of human flesh that they so blindly follow. Please God, hurry the election and save us all.
I don’t blame you for leaving town for the day. I would have, too.
Thanks, Judy.
Stay safe.
Soul-less empty vessel of human flesh. What an apt description. Bravo, Judy, from reader Vicki. Good for you for leaving town. You couldn’t have given him the middle finger any better.
Finally!!! I’ve told my hubby for 4+ years how I’ve hated this guy. It’s SO good to hear everyone else’s opinions!! They’re all going to rot in hell for what they’ve done. Rachel was definitely tough to watch last night, but she’s SO on it. She really deserves a Pulitzer for her incredible work.
Stay strong Claudia…it’s almost over.
Yes, they are.
Boy, you’re right. Rachel should get the Pulitzer Prize!
Thanks, Priscilla. Stay safe.
Once again you have voiced my feelings so well. I have been in tears since reading about the children and can’t seem to concentrate on much else. xo
It’s heartbreaking. Fortunately, I’m texting for Biden so I have something positive on which to concentrate, but I understand, Annette.
Stay safe.
No one has the right to lecture…prayers…
I wrote an initial response to you, Brenda, that I now realize was my error in not understanding you. I thought you were saying I was lecturing. But then I went back and read the post and was reminded what I had written about lecturing. Sorry!
Thank you, Brenda.
Above all, take care of yourself, Sending prayers your way.
Stay safe.
Oh no no no…You would not do that…I don’t want anyone to ever lecture you about your thoughts and feelings, Claudia…I don’t want them doing that to me either. Let’s face it, politics, Covid, losing loved ones, testing and waiting for Covid results, health problems, watching a loved one’s funeral online because we can’t travel…sickness…you name it…2020 has it…I know how I feel, and I know no one will change my mind about things. You are sweet and dear…I would never ever say a negative word to you…prayers
Thank you, dear Brenda. I’m answering comments while on breaks from texting for Biden, and I suppose I read your comment too quickly. You are a wonderful person. I’m so sorry about having to watch a funeral online, health problems, all of it.
We need a new President and we definitely need a new year.
Stay safe.
You are right that we need a new president and we need a change in the Senate too! Here’s hoping! I voted in person today! Go Blue!
Yay! We’re going on Monday. Can’t wait!
Stay safe.
Claudia….I am also suffering from sinus, coughing and generally feeling bone tired. I know that I am also on edge thinking this bastard could get a second term. I keep making donations to the Biden fund. Not large amounts but I feel better after doing so. I am looking forward to voting
this Saturday.
May all the people who voted for this bastard suffer some form of humiliation when Biden wins. That includes some former friends and yes unfortunately family. There is no excuse for supporting him. Even Catholic nuns (nuns on the bus) are voting for Biden. I really feel such contempt and anger. It has been a horrible four years. The suffering of children should never be accepted or forgotten or forgiven. I don’t just want trump and his enablers to rot in hell….How about rot in jail for the time being?
Yes, I can go for that. Rot in jail sounds perfect.
We are also making donations and I donated a little to Jaime Harrison yesterday – who is running against Lindsey Graham.
Thanks, Maria.
Stay safe.
not that you need my permission or anyone else’s, but to your first sentence (“i’ve got nothing”) … i hope you never feel like you must post something here every day. you’d be missed, but we’d understand. if you need a break, i hope you take one.
that said, i am glad you put your feelings into words. feeling so much, going through so much … it’s good to let things out (i know you know that). you are not alone and your words let us know that we’re not alone, either. thank you.
sometimes my mind can’t go there and think about those parents and children being separated on purpose and maybe never getting reunited on purpose … breaks my already-broken heart. then i get mad at myself because if we don’t think about them and talk about them and put extreme pressure on our so-called “leaders”, then nothing gets done to reunite those families and that just cannot be tolerated.
on a happier note:
zoom/computer problem resolved so am set for the conference tomorrow and friday and i didn’t lose $250.00 … relief!
turned in absentee ballots after work today!
window air conditioner is out and not stored in my place (thanks to nice landlord), stuff is back in place and sanitized and the heat is on.
i am home, showered and had some thai curry for dinner. now taking it easy for the rest of the night.
hope you’re doing the same thing … feeling better and taking it easy.
stay safe.
kathy in iowa
Glad you’re all set to attend the conference, Kathy, and that you’ve got a good landlord.
Thanks!
Stay safe.
I’m sure that felt so good to write! My cousin, who lives on Long Island, and I were texting today about this. He wrote this…”And sadly, the knowledge that so many people really like this man which leads you to believe they have to be a lot like him”.
My husband always told our kids when they were young that hate is a terrible word…you can dislike someone but not hate them. I’ve never heard him use that word…and many more that I can’t put here…so much then in the past few months.
Hang in there…enjoy your little slice of heaven!
Debbie
I’ve always been told the same thing, but I find I can’t NOT say it at the moment!
Thanks, Debbie.
Stay safe.
Well
Claudia and Don you are like the best friends I could ever have even if its in secret on the internet. Been reading you for years.
My feelings mirror yours and the only thing keeping me sane is in this insane time of Trump is
Richard Rohr. Check out “Portraits in Faith: Richard Rohr” on youtube. He has a lot of youtube lectures. He is a Franciscan Fryer.
Some people just have a higher level of conscientiousness.
I appreciate you and your daily posts and want you to know you are good. Really good.
I am the lady who wrote you one time, (I was upset) for you blocking me from your internet when you responded to me to just let me know that your internet was down. (I hate those negative thoughts that I jump to.
Be calm, Biden will win the election because this planet can not survive 4 more years of chaos
and /or non believers of science.
W
Thank you, Wanda. I will check out Richard Rohr.
Stay safe!
Claudia, I’m so sad. These are terrible years that we’ll never recover from, either as individuals or as a nation. Your soul has been battered. We all need hugs, but we’re all germaphobes. Finding comfort and strength is not easy, even for my most religious/spiritual friends who find their hatred overcoming decades of faith. I wish you peace, rest, and love.
I wish the same for you, Nora.
We’ll get through this.
Stay safe!
Trump Derangement Syndrome at it’s highest.
You’ve been blocked. Bye!