Difficult Things [View all]

[H2O Man]

"All noble things are as difficult as they are rare." -- Spinoza


A series of four angry phone calls greeted me this morning. I'll skip to the last one, from my cousin, who was very unhappy with the news about the court decision that cut his bond by 68%. I reminded him about our conversation last night, when I suggested he not count the defendant's chickens before they came home to roost.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ny-appeals-court-reduces-trumps-bond-civil-fraud-case-175-million-vict-rcna144659

This did not, of course, make him happy. He continued to express his belief that the defendant has never been held responsible for his actions. I said that I'd send him the link to a page that documented that among the 4,000+ law suits he has been involved in, he has lost quite a few of the most important ones. I added that I did not think this history had been taught in the infamous Defendant University, although I am confident that E. Jean Carroll would agree with me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_and_business_legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump

Now, this doesn't not mean I agree with the ruling. I don't. But I did not find it to be at all surprising. As a NYS resident, I've wished that we had as good of higher state courts as New Jersey traditionally has had. I could go on a long rant about past corruption, but will instead say that today George Conway gave the best explanation of why this isn't as terrible a decision as I know it to be.

I try to never post/link to anything by (former) republicans. I am not friends with them. But I recognize that we share a concern about the defendant & maga cult. Thus, for example, I've had communications with Sarah Longwell for years, as it provides me with ways to approach conversations with republicans I know in real life.

Despite being familiar with previous issues with past NYS Attorneys General, I want to say that I have complete confidence in Letitia James. If anyone can change the ruling in higher state court, it is this lady. Now, in my long life, I have rarely had that level of trust in anyone in political life.

"How the fuck," I have been asked recently, "can you be confident that anything good can take place?" This reminds me of around 50 years back, a conversation I had with Rubin. He said that "everything under the sun is exactly as it should be, or it wouldn't be." Being young and angry, carrying an enormous chip on each of my shoulders that were almost as fat as my head, I pointed out numerous injustices -- including his legal case.

Everything is a direct result of yesterday, Rubin said. And yesterday was a direct result of the day, week, month, year, decade, and century before. And so on. The only things that can change, he noted, are human beings ..... and when people change, everything around them changes. This includes the potential for both good and bad.

When Joseph Campbell spoke of "the Hero's Journey," each time that person finds him/herself at their darkest hour, it is then that they understand the only thing they can change is their self. When they do, it is when they can bring about change. Now, few can be the hero. But we can all recognize that our country -- our society -- is at the time when the danger of darkness is the greatest.

That leaves but two options. One is to embrace the darkness, in ways ranging for compition to express the most extreme outrage, to saying it's all too much, I quit, guess I'll go eat worms. The other is to recognize that the best thing that you can do is to do everything to elect Joe Biden and other Democrats. Focus energy on that. And once we get that done, we will be in position to bring other much needed changes.