Hell in a Hand Basket

It helps sometimes to be a little deaf.

A ground squirrel lost its life today.

It was born in the year 2020 and it died in the year 2020. Not a good omen.

Blown to smithereens when curiosity got the best of it and the poor thing wandered too close to a transformer at the end of my drive. I heard the explosion. My neighbor said she saw the flash.

Considering the loudness of the pop I was surprised I could see no damage to the box at the top of the pole posted at the entrance to my driveway. I did find the remains of the ground squirrel. Thanks to my dog, Sally’s, sleuthing about.

A chunk of the squirrel about the size of a softball was missing. He, or she, was quite nearly blown in half.

Metaphorically speaking, that ground squirrel is us.

Chunks of us missing due to daily explosions.

Assaulted by the news day in and day out. Our minds a mush of concerns.

Getting sideswiped every day by things beyond our control.

And I don’t know about you but I want to believe the world has not gone to hell in an hand basket. I cling to the notion of normalcy like a talisman. I want to believe that we’ve always had conspiracy theories and I shouldn’t fret about one that claims public figures are sex trafficking and cannibalizing children.

But the President of the United States and members of his family regularly retweet or repost that particular conspiracy theory as well as others. That’s not just abnormal. It’s insane.

I want to believe our government agencies, like the Center for Disease Control, are not compromised by politics. Especially while a worldwide pandemic continues.

But there is evidence that the President of the United States is intervening politically in the numbers and in the scientific process and in what we can and cannot know. That’s not merely abnormal. It’s criminal.

I want to believe there are sane, rational individuals without axes to grind, or skeletons to hide, or unknown powers to appease in charge of the Department of Justice.

However, when you send mercenaries without insignia to do your bidding, name major U.S. cities in deep blue states as ‘anarchist jurisdictions’ in order to justify whatever legal action you will be taking next, knowingly target peaceful protesters with chemicals outlawed by the United Nations, so that the President can get a photo op of himself holding a book he’s never cared one iota about before and start your second career on the Hill by blatantly misinforming Congress and the country of the contents of an investigation into the same amoral creature mugging for the camera in front of the church - it is clear - the corruption runs deep.

I want to believe the President of the United States is not salivating over the idea of becoming a despot, of possibly serving multiple terms.

But his allegiance and admiration for despots the world over give me more than pause. And his thirst for notoriety - good, bad or indifferent - is unquenchable.

I want to believe the framers of the Constitution, even though they were just men and not gods, gave us the tools to prevent the hostile takeover of our government. I want to believe there are still levers to be pulled, rules of order to be applied.

But I don’t think they could comprehend how much the government could rot from within. I don’t think they counted on a despot who would flaunt all traditions, norms and mores. Or what to do if such a scenario unfolded.

You have to wonder where we would be today if slaves were freed, and Blacks and women were given the vote at the birth of our nation. You have to wonder what kind of difference that might have made.

Would we still have arrived at these crossroads?

"I am optimistic in the long run. A great man once said the true symbol of the United States is not the bald eagle, it's the pendulum, and when the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it will go back."

- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaking to the BBC in 2017

Well, you can’t spell truth without Ruth. This will be the straw I grasp today as I dodge and cope with the daily digital explosions of breaking news alerts.

The one tool we know we have, we still have and we know we can deploy is to vote. Ruth Bader Ginsburg would want you to vote. She’d want you to encourage others as well.

I just wish our neighborhood ground squirrel had better luck and maybe lived to see 2021.

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Came across this on a friend’s social media page and I found it to be a useful exercise:

The Clemson University Media Forensics Hub presents: Spot The Troll

The quiz where YOU examine images of real social media content and decide whether it's from a legitimate account or an internet troll.

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Also, another quote from RBG I had not seen before.

"Another often-asked question when I speak in public: 'Do you have some good advice you might share with us?' Yes, I do. It comes from my savvy mother-in-law, advice she gave me on my wedding day. 'In every good marriage,' she counseled, 'it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.'

"I have followed that advice assiduously, and not only at home through 56 years of a marital partnership nonpareil. I have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court of the United States. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade."

- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from her 2016 book 'My Own Words'