The Trump Files

Hope is in our DNA

/ findinghopeness / 4 Comments

dna

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance I naturally thought it would be a good idea to offer my worried readers a moment of distraction regarding our shared ancestry; that is to say, the shared ancestry of the human race. And if anyone out there wants to apply that to the upcoming Very Important Moment (VIM) in history, the U.S. election on Nov. 8, then so be it.

(Yes, my friends in the United States of America, it is the future of all of us on the face of the Earth you are about to determine, not just your own.)

The science of genetics has reached the point now where it is fairly inexpensive to have a basic DNA test done showing where in the world your ancestors lived. By “fairly recent” I mean the test results don’t go back millions of years to Lucy and the Rift Valley in Africa, or the otherwise actual moment of creation; and, after all, there has been a lot of coming and going, ebbing and flowing, and mixing of our species since then. But they do go back thousands of years. Continue reading →

Trump trumps himself

/ findinghopeness / 4 Comments

trump

I know, I know, if you’re like me – and I can hardly imagine anyone who isn’t by now – you have heard more than enough of the unreal, virtual reality show called the U.S. Presidential Election.

By this time, after a year of, spending way too much morbid-fascination time watching and listening to its star, “billionaire, real-estate mogul” Donald Trump, dominate the news-media headlines, I keep telling myself, “enough already,” take a break, turn it off, somebody make it go away, please. Continue reading →

Cue the Adagio for the decline and fall of American greatness

/ findinghopeness / 5 Comments

Last night I watched most of the second U.S. presidential-campaign debate. You know, that’s the one in which Trump refers to his comments in the now-infamous video as “locker-room banter.”

Tonight, I listened again – though for the first time in quite a while – to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. The string quartet version is the one I like best. I always go to the Dover Quartet performance on YouTube. They really put their hearts into it. You can see that, as well as hear it. That’s flattery I’m sure they would be glad to hear.

dover

The Dover Quartet in concert

As I was listening the thought occurred this great music is well-suited as background for the tragedy now unfolding in that great country, the world’s first liberal democracy. Yes, liberal.  Continue reading →

Reflections on the edge

/ findinghopeness / 2 Comments

earthThe world is turning:

My sweet corn is picked, at least three weeks ahead of last summer’s crop after an unusually cool summer. Not so this hot summer.

It was a pretty good crop, despite the prolonged drought conditions thanks to many buckets of water carried by hand from a dug well near the “hot garden” in the field near the house. The rainy season arrived, but too late to have much of an impact on the corn, except to make the picking of it more urgent.

Continue reading →

Tears on Mount Rushmore

/ findinghopeness / 4 Comments

Mountrushmore

I was browsing the troubling, even downright depressing news headlines of the day when I finally landed on Donald Trump and his half-hearted choice of Mike Spence, Governor of Indiana, as his vice-presidential running mate. Then, for no apparent reason out of the blue, so to speak, I thought about the intelligence of plants. Continue reading →

Look inward, Angel

/ findinghopeness / 3 Comments

earth-children

I had many thoughts in the wake of two recent acts of disgraceful anti-Muslim behaviour here in Canada.

And that was before the incredible results of the referendum this week in the United Kingdom in which 52 percent of those who voted cast their ballots in favour of leaving the European Union. Racism and anti-immigration attitudes, encouraged and exploited by populist politicians, made the difference in an outcome that defies reason. It is a crushing blow for those of us who know in our hearts the only hope for the future of this troubled world is for people of all nationalities, cultures, and religions, or none, to live together in peace. We need to build bridges, not walls. Continue reading →

What makes America great?

/ findinghopeness / 4 Comments

statue-of-liberty

These days I think it’s more than fair to reflect on the nature of greatness; in fact, it’s an absolute necessity, as Donald Trump seeks to gain power and ascendancy over his great country.

trump

Donald Trump

That, I daresay, fits his definition of greatness, as in “Making America Great Again.” It’s about power, but not the power of moral rightness and of a great Truth as expressed, for example, by the wisdom of those who wrote the American Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States of America, for the world’s first, full-fledged modern democracy.

Continue reading →

How soon history is forgotten

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It’s tough to get a word in edgewise when you’re having a tooth filled. But the World’s Best Dentist and I always seem to do a pretty good job in the few minutes it takes for the freezing to take effect; and then afterwards for a few moments when the work is done.

Yes, yes . . . the infernal T-word came up. It was bound to: we both follow current events pretty closely; and in case anybody doesn’t get it yet, the fate of the world is at stake in the still-uncertain outcome of the incredible political events taking place in the U.S. Continue reading →

The soul of a great democracy is in grave danger

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The technical support woman on the other end of the line somewhere in the U.S. south or south-west sounded weary, and a little stressed.  I always try to exchange a little small talk with those call-centre/tech support folks; after all, I’m a real, live human being, and so are they. It often leads to something interesting. This time was no exception.

I took a risk and sympathized with her and her great nation about the present “political situation” it finds itself in, “what with Trump and all.”

I went a little farther than that even by suggesting the man and his careless mouth are playing “a dangerous game” with the future of his country and the world. “There’s a reason why we study history in school,” I said. “It’s happened before, somewhere else, and not that long ago.” Continue reading →