Holier than thou...

 I am in the 2%...roughly...that is where as a Jew in 2021 I fall in the charts tracking religion in our country...Christians, which combine Protestant, Catholic, and Mormons, rack up somewhere around 65%...there are other small figures for many other of our fellow Americans, but the largest following Christianity is Unaffiliated...and yet, even in this little 2% sliver...I am subject to the anti-Semitic rhetoric and t-shirt display blatantly flaunted in our Capitol on January 6th...from a group dedicated to our current President...and for this, to date, there has been no condemnation from him...no distancing from this message...and so, if I follow "a" to "b"...this is more than a silent nod of approval to the rabid dogs who stormed the Capitol...theirs was merely a Pavlovian response to years of dogs whistles going back to Charlottesville...which leaves me in a sad and bitter place...if you are reading this and have ever been subjected to prejudice and hatred because of religious affiliation...or the color of your skin...or the accent which inflects your speech...you will understand that there are triggers...mild to severe...which will always lead you back to where you were left feeling your worth was less than zero...with all the visuals and audio from January 6th...it was actually those t-shirts that brought me there...and it leaves me wanting for a quiet seat in a synagogue...by an Eastern wall...to ask why?...why again and again?...and also begs me to ask...to the 65%...is this what Christ would do?...I think not...

A Capitol Offense...

 I promised I would not blog...after all...news and events are fluid...how can a writer capture change...so I will call this a written snapshot...today's events should surprise no one...the volcano exploded long ago and this is the lava pounding the streets you cannot outrun...Americans are allowed to feel disappointed in a close election...just ask Gore supporters 2000...they are allowed peaceful assembly...protest...they are not allowed insurrection...sedition...treason...I am strongly of the mindset that all Americans be given a basic civics quiz when registering to vote...you fail, you don't vote...kind of like driving...because the dangerous stupidity quotient is strangling this nation...do not throw the BLM protests in my face...because all those who peacefully protested had my support...the fringe inciting property destruction and violence did not...we all know that if these were BLM protesters on the Capitol steps today, smashing their way inside...we know they would have been shot, gassed, arrested faster than you can say MAGA...those who stormed the Capitol...confronted DC police...who refuse to leave now should be arrested...charged with treason...denied any stimulus checks...government financial support...they have severed the aorta of this country...they have broken my heart today...and they did it smirking, maskless, as so many of their fellow Americans are dying in hospital beds coast to coast of covid...I don't know where we go...I do hope to look back one day to this post...and nod my head that it was the lowest point for this nation...but of that I cannot be sure...can you?...