Bondi's Contempt

If anyone had any doubt about The Administration's contempt for Congress and the American people, watch one of the many videos of Pam Bondi's appearance before the Congress discussing the Epstein files. The videos are all over the internet.

Although as a feminist, I hate saying these things against a woman, especially one who has attained position and power. I can make an exception for Bondi. I watched a spoiled, rude brat.

What did she do?

She talked over her questioners, which in itself is not unusual for a politician. What she said was often ridiculous mostly in contemptuous tones at too high a volume that shows no respect for where she was and more importantly why she was there. 

In a question about the victims, she replied how well the stock market was doing. 

Let me think. If I had been sexually abused as a child, would I think, "This violation of my body was okay, because the stock market is great?"

Bondi kept throwing in remarks how Trump was one of the best presidents ever, non sequiturs of the type like if someone ask sbout the weather and the response is, "there's a new film on Netflix" only there's no new film.

Many of the victims were in the room seated. I cannot speak for her, but why wouldn't she look at them, talk to them, agree to meet with them, something the DOJ has refused to do? Why? Why? Why?

She used the Trump trick of trying to demean others. One example: She called Congressman Jamie Raskin a "washed up failed lawyer."

Committee Democrat Becca Balint walked out of the hearing in disgust. She couldn't take it any more, she said. 

Apparently Bondi hadn't done her homework when she went off on a rant about antisemitism not knowing Balint's grandfather had died in a WWII concentration camp. Antisemitic? I doubt Balint is. 

A reporter was able to capture a photo of Bondi's "burn book" which had information to taunt committee members. I guess whoever prepared the "burn book" didn't know about Balint's grandfather.

Think of the people that have been named so far. If you have a daughter, would you want her to be raped by any of them? If you are a woman, think back to your teenage years or early twenties. Can you imagine having sex with these men?  

Sex between consenting adults within or without marriage to the partner is fine...but sex with minors is not. Sex slavery is not. That Epstein was involved in a sex trade, has been proven.

The people who were his "friends" and participated are allegedly your leaders whose decisions in government and business affect you directly or indirectly. 

Scum bags and perverts run  aspects of your life. They are supported by some in Congress. 

Are you going to do anything about it?

Happiest Day and Other Lies

According to the Washington Post, Trump lied 34,000 times in his first term. He even lies in his contradictions. Or perhaps we should call all his statements, Facts of the Moment or even Facts of the Second. 

Politicians lie. Take Mitch McConnell saying different ways when and how a Supreme Court Justice during a president's term should be appointed. One example out of hundreds of thousands of false words delivered daily by humanity.

Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny are lies we are told as kids. They are lovely lies.

Lies in relationships can hurt but maybe sometime even help. How things are expressed can be unlies... "Dear, I think your blue tie, would look really lovely with that suit," vs. "You're not going out with the ugly tie. Yuck." 

There are unspoken lies. Does a spouse need to know you've broken off with your lover? Better yet, not to have a lover. Best, don't go to an Epstein type party.

One lie that annoys me on a personal level vs. political lies that hurt large groups of people is, "Your wedding day is the happiest day of your life."

Good grief, I hope not. 

My first wedding was an elopement and at the end what I felt was relief that my mother didn't find out until it was too late.

My second marriage some 50 years later was a commitment ceremony attended by 40 friends from seven countries. It was followed a couple of years later by the real ceremony in the mayor's office attended only by two friends who were our witnesses. Both were wonderful days. 

In many countries the only legal ceremony is the one at city hall. One can have a priest, minister, rabbi all conduct the ceremony hundreds of times, but the marriage won't be legal.

I'm pleased to report after 12 years of marriage we've had everything from calm happiness to outright joy even during the normal problems of living.

Weddings are often seen as times of great stress to get everything right. Some are so expensive that the couple must forego other things for decades. 

None of the stress of wedding details are the reason I don't like thinking of it as the happiest day. 

One might get married in their 20s, 30s, etc. Then they may live another 40, 50 years of more. Sure they will have ups and downs, but it's sad to think that one day was the best ever and everything else is a lesser degree of happiness working its way down to maybe misery.

Each day can contain happiness be it little or tiny. We have one life, make it count.

Free Write - Glass Recycling Unit

Free write 10 Feb. 10 2026 –  The Glass Disposal Unit

This week the three Free Writers are still in two countries (France and Switzerland) despite bad weather, they produced three pieces about a routine glass recycling unit. With luck, next week they will all be in Switzerland in one of their favorite tea rooms.

D-L's Free write

When Laila received the letter from the Homeowners Association (HOA) she was furious. It said the color of the flowers she had planted on the walkway to her front door were not on the approved list. Red!

She hated this house which her husband loved, a new McMansion. She missed her Victorian house with its history of previous residents embedded in its walls.

Today she needed to get rid of all her glass bottles. There was a disposal unit behind the HOA Community Center. The gray cement container was boring, ugly.

Laila loved color. Her old blue car had butterflies painted on its hood and door, much to her husband's disgust.

Laila was an artist, known by another name at her husband's request. She was beginning to have some success. 

That night she hatched a plan. One week later when her husband was on a business trip at 3:08 a.m., she went to the glass disposal unit with stencils and spray paint. Quickly, she turned it beautiful.

The HOA was apoplectic. They repainted it gray.

Laila repainted her art work on the container.

The HOA when they repainted the unit this time, installed a camera.

Laila disabled the camera and then repainted it.

Laila's husband sided with the HOA.

As Laila sat in her kitchen with no character, she felt she had two choices: Repaint or get a divorce.

Note: I ran out of time, but I didn't have an ending that I liked.

Rick's Free Write

Infrastructure for utilities can be bland, ugly, or beautiful, even educational. Telecom boxes, electrical wires and poles, trash and recycle stations…

When I worked at Nortel Networks, a major customer was BellSouth. They insisted that their streetside junction boxes all be painted a light sand color – supposedly to blend in, or at least not stand out, from their surroundings.

At the time we had pioneered a concept called “fiber to the curb” (kerb for my Brit friends). It was the era of 2G internet, transitioning to 3G. (We’re now at 5G, moving to 6G.)

I used to tell people I was waiting for “fiber to the brain” – and now some companies are claiming “neural” brain implants, i.e. Bluetooth to the brain.

In Europe, they tend to decorate utility boxes – artists and photographers layer their designs on all sides as street art. Brilliant. An array if colors, historical images, varied styles.

Over the years we’ve taken dozens of photos of the boxes, especially around Geneva. Talked about collecting them in a coffee-table book.

Do people still have coffee-table books?

Ok, maybe a calendar.

Julia's Free Write

He had woken up that morning full of energy – for once.

Of course over breakfast as he ruminated, he thought of all the things that he wanted to do: taking a long walk as the weather was finally decent, planning lunch with the expats who had arrived three days earlier; tending to his wee garden plot; planning his next trip to somewhere at least 100 kilometers away (the winter had been long); reading the new book.

All those lovely thoughts disappeared as he turned his head to see the overflowing laundry basket; the dust everywhere (remember the sun that he was admiring earlier?): thoughts of sorting and tossing all that accumulated “stuff.”

Oh, stop already he muttered to himself – it’s depressing.

Ah, a ray of sunlight: he could do one thing of each: take the accumulated glass to the recycling container. A good excuse to at least get that walk.

Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the top stories about the airline industry. He is the author of The Robot in the Simulator. AI in Aviation Training.  

Visit D-L.'s website  https://dlnelsonwriter.com, She is the author of 15 fiction and three non fiction books. Her 300 Unsung Women, bios of women who battled gender limitations, can be purchased  at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/300-unsung-women-d-l-nelson/1147305797?ean=9798990385504 

Visit Julia's blog. She has written and taken photos and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/ 

 

Tired of Ignorance

                                                                                    

He needs to work on his spelling a bit, but he's only a dog.

Anyone complaining about Spanish at the halftime Superbowl show with Bad Bunny is proving their ignorance.  

The U.S. has approximately 65.5 million Spanish speakers, making it the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.

Trump complained about the Spanish.

I want to live in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual world and for the most part I do.

My husband and I had our official marriage in our village's mayor office two years after our commitment ceremony. Like in many countries, even if a rabbi, minister or priest performed 1000+ marriage ceremonies with a couple, none are legal. 

Unlike our commitment ceremony attended by 40 people from seven countries, the only guests at our legal marriage in our Swiss village, were our witnesses, my housemate and her son. 

Most of the time, although we live in a Francophone world, at home we speak English or French. Just after the restaurant manager poured his gift champagne at our celebration lunch, my housemate and her son started speaking German. My German is rusty. I call it shopping German which means I can communicate on a very basic level.

That's weird I thought. I caught a few words about her picking him up by a certain time and where. Guacamole preparation? It made no sense until five hours later, when I realized they were finalizing details about a surprise party for us. They didn't think neither I nor my new official husband would understand the German.

Most of my friends' families are multi-lingual. Parents who must name a child, also decide who speaks what to their offspring. One couple where the woman speaks French, English, Dutch, German fluently and her American partner, who speaks English, made sure their sons speak English and French. Their three year old son when he met me sidled up to me and said, "I speak English very good."

Another friend (English, German, French) and her husband (English, French, German, Italian) have a daughter who from an early age spoke English, German, Swiss German with the same ease as she inhales and exhales. She is also learning French.

I won't ask you to forgive me for not feeling sympathetic when an American complains about someone singing in Spanish. It shows ignorance when an American growls, "Speak English. You're in America." What they are showing, "I'm ignorant and live in a bubble that shuts me out of all the wonderful things that the world has to offer."

Maybe the woman, who said that the Super Bowl was American so she didn't understand a Puerto Rican being there, didn't know Puerto Ricans are Americans.

Yes, language is tied to identity and culture. Limiting oneself is shutting out most of the world. Sad, so sad.

Even our dog is multi-lingual. We started speaking to him only in English. Then we realized by his responses, he understood, so for things we didn't want him to understand like, "Should we take the dog for a walk," we used French.

Then we realized, he understood the French.

"I started spelling words like "W A L K." He caught on. We knew by his body language.

Maybe we should switch to "Gehen" for walk and other basic German words.

I think my dog is smarter than Trump.

The loss of someone

I heard from my former niece, whom I am still in contact with. Her mother passed away at 92.

I have not had much contact with my former sister-in-law since the early 90s, but it is still a loss. She was an important chunk of my life.

At her wedding, I remember that the ice cream was molded into fruits. My serving was grapes.

Later my ex and I baby sat for their son and daughter. Some times the parents would bring fried clams as a thank you. As a New Englander, I loved them. Only years later did I realize why so many times after baby sitting I was sick. I am allergic.

When my mother insisted I give back my engagement ring (my ex was stationed in D.C.), I gave it to my future sister-in-law who kept it until I could elope. During that period they took me to their New Hampshire cabin, a relief from the tension in my home. 

Because I couldn't swim, I couldn't water ski, but they let me drive the boat for the other skiers. No one drowned.

We went to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington movie.

For years I used the Corning Ware she gave me.

My in-laws had lots of family gatherings. My sister-in-law  made the best potato salad I've ever eaten. I was invited to these gatherings even after my ex and I separated. 

During the last gathering I went to, I realized that the family was circled around me and my baby daughter. He was isolated in a corner. I had a lot of emotional support from my father and stepmom and friends. He needed his family.

The last time I saw my ex-sister-in-law was at my mother-in-law's funeral back at my ex-husband and his second wife's home after the service. My mother-in-law years before had informed me that she would always care about me. I visited her periodically. That was also the first gathering  I'd attended since I made my decision to back off.

Likewise when I moved to Switzerland, my ex-sister-in-law and I exchanged letters. Why this dwindled off over the years, I don't know. More likely it was one of those things that happen.

One of the sad things on aging, is losing people you know from different periods of life. I used the word "chunk" earlier in this blog. Let me add "treasured" to chunk. 

Faces

We don't select our faces...

They come through the genes the sperm and egg deposit. If we did choose, most women would rearrange their face: high cheek bones, a dimple, blue eyes not brown or brown eyes not blue.

When we look at a face, we can try and guess what that person is really like, although we can't guarantee accuracy from the face.

Our green grocer always has a smile and a happy greeting for everyone. A laugh is never far from her lips. 

An older friend radiates warmth, yet I know she's had many medical problems. Warmth doesn't mean courage, but it does blend with her "what can I do to help" attitude or "lets share (fill in the blank)."

Now let's look at the face of three high ranking officials starting with 64-year old Border Czar Tom Homan. (I will resist playing with his name saying a u was forbidden in place of a o.)

I should say that when I searched for photos almost every one was sour including Homan. When he appears in interviews maybe he thinks sour shows seriousness. His actions I find despicable. 

Forty-eight-year old Tom Cotton, Arkansas Senator, when he appears in an interview, acts as if a smile would be painful. I did find a couple of less serious photos. I will also admit that part of my negative reaction to his face and him, is his political stances are directly opposite to mine.

Now we go to Stephen Miller (40, advisor to Trump). He has been a negative force since high school, decrying multi-culturalism, while being pro-white supremist. He saw nothing wrong with putting immigrant kids in cages. If it is something that would help people, it seems he's against it. 

Being so negative did it affect his face?

Granted, I've no scientific proof about face reading, but I can see the results of actions and the actions of these three men hurt not help their fellow humans. 

Note: In choosing these photos, I had lots and lots of sour-faced pictures to select from and very few relaxed ones.

Mitch Checks In

 

Last week Senator (R) Mitch McConnell checked into a hospital. He had the flu. "His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving," the statement continued.

How lovely...How nice for Mitch. I bet with his wonderful health insurance through the U.S. Senate, he is not worried about payment.

That's not true for many of his constituents. It's not true for millions in America, some 8% or 27.1 million

"While states like New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Iowa, and Massachusetts boast some of the best health care systems in the nation, ranking high in overall quality, accessibility, and outcomes, states like Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, and Mississippi fall toward the bottom of the list, according to WalletHub.* 

When McConnell could have fought to keep or improve health care, his response not to fight for it, was, "They'll get over it," referring to his constituents.

Now if that isn't disgusting enough, read this  “We're going to focus on bringing down the cost of health care for everybody,” Senator Kansas R Marshall said. “And that starts with our price-tags bill forcing every health care delivery system in America to show patients upfront the cost, turn patients into consumers again, and increase competition."

The need for health care isn't a product. Patients aren't consumers. They are people with a major need.

In the middle of a heart attack when costs are presented in the emergency room to a person with chest pains, that person wouldn't go to other hospitals trying to find the best deal. 

We shouldn't worry about those poor people who can't afford health care insurance. After all, Mitch has his and screw the others.

*Read More:  https://wbkr.com/bestandworststatesforhealthcare2025kentucky-ranking/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Traveling Without Moving

I spent almost three weeks with Eleanor Roosevelt via a three-volume biography by Blanche Weissen Cooke. Although I knew much about the period, it was a reminder of how much ahead we are in the rights of blacks, refugees, workers, labor unions and the poor because of her work. We still haven't begun to reach her goals. 

I was in D.C., Hyde Park, New Zealand, Campobello and every other place, this woman travelled through my reading.

I stayed in Virginia and the D.C. area with the book Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea, a murder mystery. There were brief stops at Cambridge University and a Zurich Bank both places I know. Nice to see them again.

I already have the next book on my Kindle which will take me to Maine, Cider House Rules, which I read when it first came out in 1997. It was by John Irving who's new book Queen Esther which is connected in some way. I'll read the new book after I finish. 

Although I never met him, Irving and I lived in Exeter, New Hampshire at the same time. My Masters degree from Glamorgan University in Wales was on repeated symbolism in his work: short people, wrestling, bears, Vienna, etc. As for Vienna, the couple of times I've visited my writing mate in that city we ate little sandwiches at Trzesniewski. I can't remember if Irving ever mentioned the sandwiches along with his other symbols.

After that, I'm not sure what I'll read. There are still lots of books unread in both France and Switzerland. Never mind that we might pass a telephone booth changed into a free bookstore and I'll find something. 

Switzerland has the English Library and the English book store Pages and Sips. If we go in for scones, we find it impossible to leave without a couple of books and maybe ever a literary jigsaw puzzle.

I love books with Boston, New England, Canadian, German, French, Swedish, Scottish, Russia and Syrian settings, etc. Places I've been and may or may not go back to. Equally I love reading about places, I've never been and still want to go. Of course, it isn't just the settings, but the people that inhabit the pages, their problems, their solutions that send me into different worlds. I love being in different time periods and cultures. 

Reading adds a dimension to my life from the comfort of my couch, bed or chair. 

My mother thought that she didn't have to travel if she could read about a place. I disagree. I've had both. I don't care how well Irving describes Vienna. I can't taste the little sandwiches in a book.

 

1/4 Full

  

My happiest and most rewarding job was covering credit unions internationally especially when it took me to Warsaw, Paris, Dublin and other interesting places.

I often thought of my best friend's father shaking his head and calling me the "Little Girl From Reading who talks to world leaders."

None of them will remember me of course, and compared to major media reporters who must think sitting down with the U.K.'s prime minister is just another ho hum day. 

As part of covering the World Council of Credit Union (WOCCU)'s annual conference, I was able to interview the key note speakers, often current or former national and international leaders.

One, Mary Robinson, former Irish President and former Secretary General of the High Commission of Refugees (HCR), has influenced my thinking sometimes daily.

Robinson and I lived in Geneva at the same time. My office was across the street from HCR. I never talked with her there, but maybe we ate in the HCR cafeteria, the best of the alphabet UN agencies in the area. Maybe we shopped for groceries at the same time in the Co-op nestled among the agencies. 

"You have ten minutes," I was told as I was ushered into a conference room. Robinson, tall and lovely, was already there. She believed in credit unions, which had made a major difference to the lives of Irish citizens.

Ten minutes had passed. I had what I needed for my story, but I hated to end the session. I mentioned we'd live in Geneva at the same time. I knew she'd left HCR and her work helping those who were so desperate and who had no voice, citing it was U.S. pressure.

We continued chatting until we came to Rwanda, which she visited after the genocide and the horror still apparent well after.

"How did you do it?" I asked her, thinking of all the horrors she'd seen during her travels.

She reached across the table and put her hand on mine and said in her musical Irish accent, "My Dear, to me the glass is always a quarter full."

There was a knock in the door. She'd given me more than a half hour, not ten minutes. Later she introduced me to her husband. She, unlike almost every other keynote speaker, had stayed for the entire conference "to learn." 

The 1/4 glass remark gets me thru the day, stopping the gut-wrenching news from my birth country in the middle of self-destruction, Gaza genocide, Ukrainian bombings. I watch the hypocritical politicians and hear lie after lie.

Then I remember my life is 1/4 full living in France and Switzerland. I have enough food, often fresh from local gardens, time to sit in tea rooms and chat with friends. My two flats are warm, comfy and even color co-ordinated. The chimes on the patio sing in a wind. No bombs fall on me. My marriage adds a joy to my life. 

It's a lucky accident of birth and circumstances that I have what I have. All those things, fill my glass a quarter full but I can't stop caring about the other 3/4s. If only I could do more.

 

 

 

Free Write- Prompt a Seven-Up Sign

 An old sign was this week's prompt.

Rick's Free Write

We are fascinated by artifacts of history. Excavation of the ash-covered ruins of Pompeii. The inexplicable construction of Stonehenge. Pieces of pottery and wall frescoes that reflect how ancient civilizations lived.

Of such is the mystery of the Seven-Up sign of Argelès-sur-mer. Weathered, faded, still proudly mounted on the corner of a building at the intersection of Rue de la Republique and Rue Vermeille. An icon of American capitalist colonialism. A distinctly U.S .beverage promoted in the heart of a small French tourism village on the sea near the Spanish border.

No doubt the cost of the sign was discounted in exchange for the promotion of the soda pop. But why not Coca-Cola, the dominant force worldwide? Or at least Pepsi-Cola (yeech), the No. 2 rival?

I suspect a sense of rebelliousness on the part of the proprietors of the neighborhood grocery. An independent spirit reflective of a non-nonsense woman and her genial husband who was not adverse to getting on the store floor to play with his young goddaughter.

No one has occupied the commercial space since they retired several years ago. So the sun-faded sign remains. Defiant. Seven-Up  

Julia's Free Write

He had decided that the trip to his ancestor’s small village in the middle of France was now a necessity, having been thought of many times over the years.

He had a vague memory of visits as a small child, but those had disappeared along with his grandparents when his mother died. In fact, he didn’t really even remember his mother as he had only been seven when cancer came and although she fought hard, in the end was unsuccessful. His father never mentioned neither in-laws nor his deceased wife. Of the old school, he simply didn’t have the temperament.

But here he was, almost of retirement age and his company had sent him to Paris on a business trip so what better opportunity?

He arrived in the street where once they had lived and the first thing to catch his eyes was the sign: there it hung, an old sign. Perhaps not as old as the building to which it clung, but still old enough. In French– before the days of the Coke and Pepsi-Cola battle: Drink Seven-Up!

D-L's Free Write

The Seven-Up sign has been there for at least thirty-five years. The grocery store below only carried Coke and Orangina. 

Babette and Jean-Pierre were Pied Noir, black feet the term used for French citizens forced to flee North Africa for political reasons.

I used the sign to give directions to my place. "Pass La Noisette on your right and a 14th century church on your left. Take a right at the Seven-Up sign. 

The neighborhood, unlike the sign, has changed. 

A mamie, one of the old women of the village gave me a splendid history of the street with its 400-year old houses and families. 

"Pierre, he looked like an old Tony Curtis, when he wasn't at sea.His wife was an artist. Alain, who once lived in Haiti, sailed to America in a boat not much bigger than a row boat. 

Today, as some of the old Catalan families have died out, they are replaced by retirees from Northern France and summer folks from many countries.

The neighborhood became Copenhagen South. First it was a TV journalist followed by a film director, writers, producers, some who won international awards such as Césars, Emmys and Baftas. 

One flamboyant director, tired of the separation between locals and others, decided to throw a street party for all.

From then on people from all the houses mingled.

Seven-Up was never served. 

Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the top stories about the airline industry. He is the author of The Robot in the Simulator. AI in Aviation Training.  

Visit D-L.'s website  https://dlnelsonwriter.com, She is the author of 15 fiction and three non fiction books. Her 300 Unsung Women, bios of women who battled gender limitations, can be purchased  at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/300-unsung-women-d-l-nelson/1147305797?ean=9798990385504 

Visit Julia's blog. She has written and taken photos and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

 

 

Scam Warning

 

The bad guys and girls are finding more ways to scam people out of money.

One of the earliest targeting me was when I received a text from my friend Mary. The text said she was in Wales and her purse had been stolen with all her credit cards, money and passport. 

Could I send money? She'd pay me back when she got home.

I turned my chair around. "So Mary, how are things in Wales?" She looked confused until I explained. The scammer's timing was bad.

Another friend, a professor in economics, was taken in by a Russian girl who "fell in love" with him. He sent money for her to join to him in the U.S. Needless to say, she never arrived. Because of his intelligence, that he fell for it, amazed me. Probably hormones won out. Her photo was stunning.

And different celebrities allegedly want to be my friend including my favorite Divo singer. Also John Irving was so happy I did my master's degree thesis on repeated symbolism in his books. Donna Leon and I exchanged several emails until I asked her some questions that the real Donna Leon would have had no trouble answering. 

I kinda wish Leon and Irving were real, but I was 99.9999999% sure they weren't. I probably shouldn't have played along, but I see nothing wrong in scamming the scammer.

Lately, I've been barraged by people who will publicize my novels. https://dlnelsonwriter.com and do wonderful things to promote my books. Some will even make a movie. 

The Author's Guild, of which I am a member, is really good at notifying members of the latest attempt to fleece them. 

Today was a new one. A person claiming to know me, had a video of things I wouldn't want anyone to see and for only $2,000 they would destroy it. I had 48 hours to send the money. 

Hmmm, I think I won't. Even on the tiny, tiny, tiny chance I did something so bad, I would remember it. My life is too boring. 

I do wonder about the scammers. It is part of a group where they must get X number of victims or they lose their jobs? Is it a solo person, who can earn enough that s/he doesn't need any cohorts?

I get tired of robbers from those on the street to those at the top levels of business and government. 

It's naive to hope people will be honest, help each other out, care. I want to be naive, but being realistic is self-protective 

 

 

White Supremacists You're Outnumbered

The U.S., about to celebrate its 250 birthday, was founded by white male supremacists. They were the leaders of the colonies, either via the British government or local residents, who were also British.

This was the way society was set up across Europe and the colonies at the time. 

Meanwhile blacks were often consider property, captured from their African homes and bought and sold like any any other property. American hero Thomas Jefferson had a breeding/marketing program. 

The second person killed in the run up to the Revolution was free man Crispus Attucks, a multi-racial sailor of negro and Indian ancestry. The first was an 11 year-old boy. Attucks was shot at what became known as the Boston Massacre, five years before the Battle of Lexington, which will be celebrated this spring.

The attitude toward blacks can be seen through writings even until today. 

Lynchings were common for far too long. Segregation was considered normal. It took a Constitutional amendment to allow blacks to vote, and even today, restricting voting rights by redistricting is ramped in some states. 

What most whites don't realize when it comes to humans on earth, whites do not outnumber other races. 

 

When one class of people are subjugated for reasons of race (and gender) everyone loses whatever contributions to society. 

Does everyone contribute to society? Of course not. 

Some hurt society, not just the robber in the slums. Some of the billionaires, who are white and have much too much influence, do great damage to society as a whole no matter what their product is. 

 

Breakfast Tea with Eleanor

 

The bowl of tea Rick brings me early this morning perfumes the bedroom. He crawls back into bed.

We are both reading. He's researching the novel he plans to write. I'm on the final third of Blanche Weissen Cooke's trilogy on Eleanor Roosevelt. We read bits to one another.

I thought I knew the period from what I've read in the past. In high school and university, U.S. history courses never made it beyond the Depression if we got that far.

What amazes me is that many of the issues the world is dealing with now they were dealing with then. The difference is technology, but the humans living in that era fought with the same ideologies.

I would like to clone Eleanor and have her hold a majority in the Congress and on the Supreme Court. Her view of the world softened FDR, but not as much as she wanted. The U.S. would have far less problems had he listened and acted more, but politics can curtail progress at any time. 

If by some miracle, Eleanor was sitting at my dining room table we could share a bowl of tea. I would want to see her reaction to the negro gains, an issue she worked tirelessly on. As pleased as she would be on the progress, she would also know that white supremacy and antisemitism still exist and work to eliminate them need to be continued.

I bet she would admit that she was wrong about the ERA, although her reasons were sound for the time, and she spent a large portion of her time advancing women opportunities. 

I would tell her that I had no idea how the government limited their use of women in WWII despite all the Rosie the Riveter posters.

The treatment of refugees is the same today, I'd say. We could commiserate about all the refugees who died because a U.S. officer delayed their exit visas from France.

As mothers, I could sympathize with her having all her sons fighting in WWII. I could tell her my relief after having a daughter knowing she would never be cannon fodder, but wouldn't tell her that had I had a son during Vietnam, I would drive him to Canada rather than die in that unnecessary war. It was more patriotic to stop the war, I would say. Would she agree? 

Sitting at my table, Eleanor begins to fade. My respect for her will never fade.

 

 

 

 

Sugar and Spice - Epilogue

 

EPILOGUE 

THE FOURTH GRADE class at HJPS was holding its Valentine’s Day party. The desks were in a circle. A heart-decorated box was in the center on a spare desk The teacher reached in and pulled out the envelopes naming the child whose address was on the outside.

Margaux Fournier had dreaded today. She had been so afraid that no one would send her a valentine. She did not know the teacher had made one out to each child and several anonymous ones just in case a child received none.

Margaux need not have worried. It was weird since she had overheard the murder plot. She knew from the news as well as the press outside the school something was being done about it.

Emma, Gloria and Juliana had disappeared, from school for a while in the fall then came back in January. Amanda and Clay never returned.

Three of Margaux’s valentines were from Emma, Gloria and Juliana. They weren’t friends, but they no longer taunted her without their ringleader.

After she had gone to the headmistress, the news channels had a story that matched what she had overheard. Her mother had talked about changing her schools, but was hesitant to create another upheaval in her life.

With Amanda gone, Margaux had begun to make friends. The conversation about the news casts died down. She just knew that school was better now.

***

“It’s lovely Amanda. Thank you.” Rob, her therapist, gently put the valentine back in its envelope. “I heard you worked really hard almost every day on making the valentines.”

She had used the paper doilies, red construction paper, regular paper, watercolors and colored pencils in the art department. From the time she was in kindergarten, she was told that she had real artistic talent far beyond her years.

“Don’t you want to put Happy Valentine’s Day on your cards?” Millie, the art therapist, asked.

Amanda had shaken her head. “It hides the design.” She didn’t say she would have preferred to write, “I Hope Your Valentine’s Day Sucks.” Being negative wouldn’t help get her out of McLean’s.

Only being sweet and being co-operative would do that. When her father had visited, he’d said that. He had been her only visitor. 

For the first few weeks no one had been allowed to visit. When he had come, she sat on his lap, played with the buttons on his suit jacket and looked into his eyes with what she hoped he took as adoration. Usually, it worked to get him to give whatever she wanted. It didn’t this time.

She asked one of the staff to mail her valentines to her mother, father, Gloria, Juliana, Emma and Clay. “Don’t put a return address on it. I want it to be anonymous,” she said.

The staff member took them to Rob. “Don’t mail them,” he said. Had Amanda known, she would have been furious. It wasn’t that she wanted to wish the recipients a Happy Valentine’s Day. She meant it as a warning.