It gets quiet of an evening. One thinks of constellations, cosmology, laws that govern orbits.

Somewhere out there is the energy of an Adams, a Jefferson.

-Impossible to imagine these dignitaries wouldn’t take an interest in human events now.

Be still.

I sensed Jefferson this evening, out in the Cosmos. Or right here, when the living room is quiet, at nightfall.

He has that jaw set. The wakeful dreaminess. The political insight of a street fighter. The intense interest in the scheme of government. All submerged in a deep, deep infinite contemplation.

Here in the living room for a brief time, beliefs and human schemes evaporate; out in America comfortable people dream, and the universe, our cosmology, assets its existence for a moment.

-I thought of slavery. I can’t mention the presence of Jefferson without mentioning the modern American polling data on a Jefferson of two centuries ago, regarding the horror of human bondage.

The impatient rejoinder from beyond is as follows:

“So are you willing to throw away car keys and walk? Because the energy usage is devastating to the environment and the workforce is paid half wages.”

Point taken.

So the issue before us is, that out there in Mar-a-Lago tonight is a former President, a virtual terrorist, willing to threaten the United States, asserting powers that are…extra-Constitutional.

Jefferson is referring to MAGA as “the Ultras”.

They were there in 1800, too. Personal empire, as a means to a personal end.

This is a fascinating stress test of a still-young republic, this Florida stand-off with the former president.

I sense a deep capacity for contemplation in Jefferson. A mind that is its own galaxy…infinite but focused. A natural bridge. Still. Quiet mind. Observing.

And the thought comes that we are what we believe we are, and at times those ideas fluctuate and the Nation is its own cosmos, with its dynamic laws, which can only be approximated in the Constitutional scheme.

Ideals exist. And these are expressed in a balanced design of government, of natural rights, of human rights.

And the former president Trump is now outside of that dynamic scheme. A “private citizen.”

Here is a description of tyranny:

“a condition imposed by some outside agency or force.”

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Cosmology is our theme. Constellations. Satellites of governments. Rogue agents and astronauts, attempting to determine boundaries and corruptly acquire assets, from beyond the map set forth by the political explorers of the early United States.

Jefferson is pointing out that, as in the historic case of his Vice President Aaron Burr, Trump has become interested in empire, and so has stepped beyond the scheme of government.

With Burr, it was an empire in Mexico, which led to a trial for treason before a Supreme Court justice.

With Trump, a base in Florida, and documents he may use as bargaining chips to sell, extort or destroy.

To step outside of the scheme is a paradox: one loses power when one departs from the design set forth in the Constitution; it is a bit of a trap, a hidden trapdoor contemplated. devised by the Framers.

They told no one, that the Union, being perpetual, to step beyond which allows no leverage, so one tumbles to oblivion, by asserting powers that don’t exist in the Constitution.

Perhaps that is the case before us.

He said.

***

Tina Heringer The spirit of Gore Vidal dropped by last week, in my living room. Still using the cane on the Other Side. A friend referenced his famous view of our politics, often expressed, the party with two Right Wings, so I’ll describe:

It’s kind of funny but hard to translate. I was sitting alone at midnight after the siege of Mar-a-Lago, the room in semi-darkness, thinking of how Man is actually an Island out on a distant crag, surrounded by the great infinite mystery and how the ship of state is headed toward its Great Destiny- or The Great Dark. I was alone, looking into the Vastness and blank-ness of our political situation, of the Bird with Two Right Wings, and I suddenly sensed the great presence, Gore Vidal. The Great One. And he gave a sinister eye-roll and said in spirit, “well what took you so long? You’re really not quick.” And then pfft he was gone. And that is true.💙 And I felt somehow…reassured. Jynx was staring at that corner, too with her green eyes buggin’ out. I’m not sure what it means but I’ve learned to be grateful.🇺🇸

Just my imagination?

The spirit of Gore Vidal dropped by last week, in my living room.

It was kind of like having FDR drop by. That patrician energy.

Still using the cane on the Other Side. A friend referenced his famous view of our politics, often expressed, re the party with two Right Wings, so I’ll describe:

I was sitting alone at midnight, after the siege of Mar-a-Lago, the room in semi-darkness, thinking of how Man is actually an Island out on a distant crag, surrounded by the great infinite mystery and how the ship of state is headed toward its Great Destiny- or The Great Dark.

I was alone, looking into the Vastness and blank-ness of our political situation, and the government run by the Bird with Two Right Wings, and I suddenly sensed the great presence, Gore Vidal. The Great One.

And he gave a sinister eye-roll and said in spirit, “well what took you so long? You’re really not quick.” He was referring to the plight of Democracy, the drama of The Republic, the denouement of authoritarianism.

And then pfft he was gone. Leaving me in that rarified space of the Present.

And that is true.💙

And I felt somehow…reassured. Jynx was staring at that corner, too with her green eyes buggin’ out. I’m not sure what it means but I’ve learned to be grateful.🇺🇸

Just thought you’d like to know we’re being …observed.

Don’t read this, maybe. I have to write it though.

I had a friend who served as an army ranger, special forces, he said that he was stationed in many places “we weren’t supposed to be“ and he told me a story about Afghanistan.

He said that before 911, one of the most charismatic leaders In the northern part of of Afghanistan was rising in popularity. I guess he would be considered a warlord- but kind of a combination of war lord and Bruce Springsteen, for the militias in the north. Yes. Popular national leader, potentially. (It was Ahmad Shah Massoud, of the Northern Alliance.)

He may have been the most significant challenger to the Taliban- and the Taliban too was on the rise.

We’re talking autumn of 2000.

My friend explained that, just weeks before 9/11, this charismatic leader was visited by journalists, at a time in which he was poised to gain some control of the country and prevent the Taliban insurgency from taking over.

He was beloved, revered, admired- politically significant within the country.

The journalists who visited this leader were Al-Qaeda. This militia leader was assassinated. Murdered.

My brilliant, thick-skinned special forces veteran was practically in tears when he told me the story. A veteran frustrated with the ironies of fate. He knew the man, Massoud. He knew that it was a hidden turning point in history.

911 happened. A power-vacuum left ignorant young Taliban kids to negotiate the removal of Bin Laden with the United States of America. I’m not saying they’re innocent- but naive, clueless, as well as violent fanatics. And Bin Laden was a Saudi. An “unwelcome guest”.

He could not be removed without violent insurgencies igniting throughout the region.

And Bush/ Cheney were going to bomb the shit out of Afghanistan.

My army ranger friend was already hoping to return, to rebuild infrastructure, electricity, roads society. A failed state breeds terror.

But the hope was crushed by the assassination of what could have been a national leader with international support.

He explained that history is not always what occurs – it’s what opportunities are taken off the table even before what we think of as history begins.

A charismatic leader with influence in the country could have prevailed against the Taliban but, once assassinated, that opportunity was destroyed forever.

I’m just telling you what a veteran told me, although it is true that a militia leader was assassinated before 911 and it was known in the region how significant it was that he was killed.

I just can’t Google all this right now. It goes on the pile of all the comment threads that really mean so little.

Then the war came. We drop the mother of all bombs, we carpet-bombed the villages, the targets, donkeys and weddings, we chased in jets above unknown terrain looking for Osama bin Laden in a cave, not knowing our chance of prevailing was zero.

Our chance of success was nill.

If you don’t believe me, consider this : in the beginning of the invasion of Iraq by George W Bush, an international effort was being put in place by Sergio DeMello, and with that came hopes of truly international collaboration in the ensuing war against Sadaam Hussein Dictator of Iraq.

In the early days of the invasion the United Nations installation was just being put together in Iraq.

The initial invasion was complete, and the blueprint for the next stage of the conflict was just being begun.

And in charge of the UN effort, De Mello, brought diplomatic flair, objectivity, experience, and the possibility of truly building a coalition that might spare Iraq an endless war.

And the international effort was seen as crucial and would certainly be a necessity when combat ceased and rebuilding ensued.

The site was bombed- by what became ISIS, DeMello was killed and the international effort was destroyed forever.

The day of that bombing, president George W. Bush was on the golf course. It was a sunny day and he was informed on the cell phone- blackberry, back then -that the international effort was over- the bombing of the UN site in Iraq had occurred-

and, as I thought at the time, the true import of that phone call was that the US incursion was a lost cause; the international effort was over, and that the mission of George W Bush was doomed forever to failure – in the first months of the invasion.

It was over before it began. 100,00 casualties. Now perhaps a million. Who knows? They refused to count.

What was needed was removed from the table even before history began- and the reasons, the causes for that, are so complex, so tragic, so heartbreaking- we may never know all that has been lost, beyond the millions of deaths in the wake of this initial catastrophic pursuit of empire.

You don’t have to believe the story- you don’t have to Google anything I say- but I can tell you that this September 11 is going to be a deeply troubling reminiscence of more than what happened on that day – but how much lead up to that day – history we haven’t even begun to process.

Not just three thousand deaths.

Not just a plane turned around at Cleveland, my home town, loaded with passengers returning to San Francisco, my home town – crashed by heroes in a field to prevent the intended destruction of the White House.

Not just those. But millions. Millions of deaths.

I have no insight into this beyond books, conversations, and, like many Americans, I make up my own reality- and yet there’s a deep sorrow involved this time for Americans. We have a lot to think about, and there are no easy answers now -the easy answers were never there.

What was desperately needed – even for that fucked up mission in Iraq, which never should have occurred, was removed before the history we know even began.

Friends, can I say one more thing? It is true we have a Taliban in this country.

We have our warlords, we have militias. We have desperate uneducated people, angry, rejected, enraged.

We have cynical, well-educated people too, using them as pawns -As Osama bin Laden would do, as George W. Bush would do, as Donald Rumsfeld would do.

In Abu Graib, a war prison during Iraq, during the term of Donald Rumsfeld, it was the low-ranking servicemen and women who were accused of acts of torture- even while the secretary of defense played word games, denying the orders from the White House, denying culpability.

Bush /Cheney / Obama /Trump threw our servicemen and servicewomen under the bus.

Our kids were sent on a hopeless mission to remake the map, just as always, to get it down on paper, no matter what the cost.

And, by and large, most Americans said ok. They must know what they’re doing.

Wrong.

“It’ll only take six months, and then we run for President the next year, on a great quick victory over terror” -That’s what they said, anyway.

That’s what they always say.

A failed state is the cause of terrorism, they tried to tell us.

We need to make certain OUR state doesn’t fail.

Tragedy is not knowing the answer to that.

Samuel Alito made news through insensitive remarks but hey. There’s something here to think about.

I listened to Samuel Alito’s speech in Rome, on religious freedom.

It’s forty minutes, but here are the key takeaways:

1. The sun revolves around earth. This is deeply rooted in both History and Tradition.
   You have a constitutional right to believe it.
2. Speaking of the sun. It’s fucking hot in Rome this summer.

-Alito remarks that, while it is usually hot in Rome in summer, this year is much more so. (It’s almost 100 degrees F at 6 am!)

Alito did not mention the obvious, that a recent Supreme Court decision struck down efforts to halt global warming. I’m certain the audience noticed this bland dismissal of climate change. Or maybe not.

3. American football is still the most important subject in the western world.

Football is a bridge to understanding. (Really?)

-Alito drew parallels between religious belief and American football fans. (“Cheese-heads” and headscarves: the same?)

-Sunday football vs Sunday mass, quite leaving out the range of thinking and creativity of the rest of the population immune to these distractions. (See #1. Sun revolves around Earth.)

4. Religious freedom is “embattled” and must be fought for. (It’s not, of course. Religious practice has just declined, despite the tremendous perks granted in the First Amendment.)

Yes, despite the fact that religious practice is protected, and that is clear in the Constitution, Alito blames “secular society” for what he sees as a limitation on religious freedom- that other people have different beliefs, too, he finds objectionable. (See #1, sun revolving around earth, again.)

-That belief systems must co-exist is not a battle, however. Coexistence is the opposite of a battle, in reality.

---

(If true, that religion is “embattled”, the judge has definitely chosen sides. He has a prejudicial view, and takes up the cudgel for a particular religion, despite law and precedent. Impartiality, what good is it?)

Alito acknowledges his own view that the religious question is for him adversarial. It’s a struggle for power. Nothing but.

Alito, in addressing religious freedom, ignored the fact that the US Capitol was attacked by those who consider themselves Christian Soldiers.

-Leaders, like Mike Flynn, spoke “evangelical” to rallies, in order to heat up the movement to the J6 assault on American Democracy. Many in the crowd were led in prayer for the miracle that would overturn the election.

The large Dec 12, 2020 MAGA rally in Washington, just one week before plans were put in place for the J6 assault, was led in part by evangelical activists and Alex Jones, one of the Space Laser Community.

5. Alito shifts to an argument that goes without saying, that, of course, religious practice promoted charity and social justice. Abolition and civil rights.

-And yet, right now, states are figuring out how to enforce the Dobbs decision against women and girls and men and doctors and neighbors.

(Alito did not note that the power of the State to determine human rights based on religion was a foundation for totalitarianism in Nazi Germany. He did footnote the Holocaust, however, as something bad that happened.)

Alito did not explain the inherent bigotry of such a world view, how utterly parochial it is, nor that Republicans contemplate using military, national guard, martial law, to enforce it. No mention was made by Alito of the attempted Muslim Ban in USA.)

So who is embattled by whom, one wonders?

And then the Alitos had a really nice dinner while Rome burned in the summer heat.

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There is one point implicit in Alito’s remarks on religious freedom. He’s not too keen on freedom of thought as an inalienable right. Perhaps he sees secular society as a lot of cheese-heads. Misguided fans of culture.

He sees believers wandering in a fallen secular world, unable to express the full extent of their personal beliefs. Welcome to Planet Earth.

Alito did credit those- James Madison among them- who surveyed human rights and included results from a wide range of approaches to government from ancient history to modern life, an effort to determine what rights of all are most important to include in declarations of human rights.

So we see that, historically, it was secular scholars who made provisions for religious freedom- not the other way around.

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I’m certain Alito’s remarks were intended to be light in tone and not challenging to his audience.

But he signaled his dislike of society and his deep bias and the limited comprehension expressed of the real world- the world which many of us actually do cherish. Including the right to be free, truly free.

When I see Alito I’m not seeing freedom. I’m seeing social injustice and tanks in the street.

Vote Blue.

***

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jameskoehnsf’s Blog

Chief Justice John Roberts.

He took a rare opportunity the other day to comment on the opprobrium directed at the Court after the overturning of human rights, saying disagreements about an opinion do not reflect on the legitimacy of the Court.

That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard from a conservative- ever.

The Dredd Scott Court in 1857 was “legitimate.” That didn’t grant it integrity, when it upheld slavery.

It’s the decision, stupid.

To indignantly defend an opinion that was not set in precedent, that was written out of acrimony, and that includes hate speech, and was based in the thinking of an era of witch burning; that was issued immediately upon seating a corrupt court, with two stolen seats, nominations by presidents that did not reflect the popular will; that includes the spouse of an insurrectionist that lobbied for the overthrow of government, and then who ruled on her case.

John Roberts. He just ended the last vestiges of legitimacy with one word.

Americans are not in the mood, John Roberts, to be lectured on respect for a court that has not earned it or delivered justice and fairness and constitutional protections that are the right of every citizen- all without a hint of foundation in the actual reality of this year.

Totally illegitimate Supreme Court.

The problem is lack of respect for the opinions of mankind. Lack of respect for every American.

That’s how out of touch they are.

Roberts’ indignation proved the case against the Court.