Today's MOZEN: MAD AS HELL

F LoBuono

There are few absolutes in life; death and taxes come immediately to mind for most of us. Personally, I would add that the Yankees will always be better than the Mets to that short list. And, racists are to be condemned whenever and wherever they are encountered. There is NO middle ground, debatable points, or compromise here. Either you are a racist or you are not. And, it's not sufficient to just say that you don't support racism. That ain't good enough. You must CONDEMN it with every fiber of your being.

A recent tweet by the President in reference to 4 Democratic Congresswoman to, in essence, "go back to the shit hole countries they came from", despite the fact the 3 of the 4 were born here and the 4th is a naturalized citizen, reeks of racism. I don't give a shit how he and the Republican lackeys who blindly support him spin it, that statement is as deplorable as it is pathetic. In a recent vote on the House floor to censure the President for his racist comments, only 4 of 191 Republicans voted in favor of resolution. That's 7.4%. Shame on them. By the way, every Democrat voted in favor of censure.

One might understand how virtually the entire Republican party licks his boots - that's their job as I see it. They are all a bunch of spineless jellyfish anyway. Their continued blind support of his abhorrent tactics is ample evidence of their cowardice. It's even gone beyond mere party loyalty. He seems to have a Svengali-like hold on their very souls.

However, it's the person on the street who continues to fanatically support a man whose M.O. is to bully, intimidate, castigate, and obliterate everyone who may stand in his way. And, the only reasonable explanation is that they feel exactly the same way about their own lives and that of others as he does.

It's deplorable.

So, make a choice here. You can be a sycophant and continue to make excuses for his boorish behavior. Or, you can stand up like a man - or, woman - and scream NO MORE. I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.

If you don't, you're as lost as he is . . .  

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP 7/15/2019

In a recent tweet, the President chided 4 members of Congress, all Democrats, to (paraphrasing): Go back to the shit hole countries you came from.

One of the four included Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, 14th District, who was BORN in the district, which is IN part of the area she represents, i.e. THE BRONX. The other district is QUEENS.

Now, I have family who lived in the Bronx. I also teach at Fordham University that is located at its heart. So, I have some knowledge, and feeling, for what this Borough is about. It is SO unique, SO diverse, that if your not from here, you just might see it as a foreign country! Or, you just might be a bigot, racist, or both.

But, it's NOT. 

IT IS AMERICA. The best that America has to offer. It gives opportunity to millions in the best tradition that is, or WAS, America. Does it have mean streets. Oh, you betcha'! (that's for my mid-Western readers). But, it's also beautiful because it has true heart and soul. It IS America.

'Merica. Trump's 'Merica.

Today's MOZEN: So Simple

F LoBuono

Every religion or organized spiritual pursuit has its rituals, rights, dogma, and cannon. However, since I was raised as a Roman Catholic and received plenty of indoctrination into its teachings (I attended the Madonna Parochial School in Fort Lee, NJ for 9 years - K thru 8th grade), I would like to write this post from that perspective.

Of course, as part of our overall education there was a goodly amount of religious instruction with an emphasis on the Bible, particularly the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. When I was young, I was intensely involved in the study of the words of the Christ and how they were interpreted in the Bible. My curiosity has not waned but my understanding certainly has evolved. This has led me to do some research to support my new perceptions.

Let me break down my new found insight this way.

The Bible is massive. According to the website wordcounter.net, it contains 783,137 words in total (King James version) and typically around 1,200 pages, with the New Testament containing 260 chapters divided into 7,959 verses and about 184,600 words. For relevance, the great American novel, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a ponderous read, is 358 pages and 94,500 words.

Think about that. No wonder it takes a lifetime to read the whole thing, much less understand it!

So, let me makes this as simple as possible.

You can take all of that blather, dogma, ritual, pomp and circumstance, and break it down to this: live a righteous life. Give more than you receive. Choose compassion over anger. Love yourself and your neighbor even more. Be kind and thoughtful. Seek resolution rather than revenge. Speak truth to power. Protect the innocent. Eschew greed and sloth. Do not judge those whom may be different. Accept fate.

One paragraph, about 45 words.

That's All you need. Well, at least it's all that I need. I have too much life to live than to spend it on a laborious and often contradictory tome. Simple principals, in the end, will take us much further. Yes, it IS that uncomplicated. All you need do is believe.

When You Think About It: We Must Take Sides

F LoBuono

It's simply gotten ridiculous. I can't keep writing the same shit over and over again. And, the way things are, I'm just preaching to the choir anyway, i.e. those of us who are like-minded in our disdain and disgust for our current President and his entire Administration.

Much like mold in a damp basement, our list of righteous grievances grows on a daily basis and is just as toxic.

Today was another classic example.

In an impromptu press conference before he boarded Marine 1, Mr. Trump decided to bring Labor Secretary, Alex Acosta, with him, ostensibly to have Mr. Acosta announce his resignation from the Administration and also to show his support for Acosta. The back- story is that Acosta is being forced to resign by the public outcry for his role in the sentencing (or, rather LACK) of convicted (and, recently indicted again) pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

After lauding Mr. Acosta for being an outstanding Labor Secretary, reporters questioned the President about his own relationship with Mr. Epstein. Despite numerous quotes (and photos) extolling Epstein's virtues and their friendship*, Mr. Trump NOW denies not only any affection towards him, but claims he hardly knows Epstein. This, of course, is keeping with the President's penchant for distorting the truth when he is not outright lying. In fact, sadly, about the only thing he has said that may prove truthful is his campaign statement that he "could stand in the middle of 5th Ave., shoot somebody and not lose any voters." (and, that seems to be just fine with his supporters - except, possibly, the person he shoots).

However, there were many other instances of not only exaggeration, self promotion, deflection, and distortion, but also of his flagrant demagoguery. This became most apparent when he criticized the New York Times for an article he disagreed with eventually calling them AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. This is an outrage - a classic case of blaming others for his own failings. None other than Thomas Jefferson said this about freedom of the press. And, it is only one of MANY defending the 4th Estate:

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823.

Think of that - keep the waters pure. Thanks to THIS President, our government has become a cesspool instead.

This man and his lackeys have become the Executive Producers of a reality TV show - the ONLY thing Mr. Trump has done well. It might be entertaining if it wasn't so god damned serious. This is OUR Country. I will not have it usurped by a charlatan!!

So, why bother, you may ask? Why keep drinking poison and wait for a different result? Well, this is why. And, I hope that you will join me in the resistance:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”

Elie Wiesal, The Night Trilogy: Dawn, Night, the Accident

*https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-epstein.html

Today's MOZEN: Consider Adoption

F LoBuono

Recently, there has been a spate of serious miscues regarding couples wishing to have their biological children through In vitro fertilization (IVF) and the California clinic where they went for the procedure. One example had the wrong embryos apparently being implanted into a surrogate causing twin Caucasian boys being born to an Asian-American couple who had planned on having twin girls of the same ethnicity.

Obviously, this is outrageous and unacceptable.

However, for me, there is an underlying message that I believe is worthy of discussion.

My post is NOT meant to deny to others what may be of the utmost importance in their personal lives, but to examine the premise that when you challenge nature, there are consequences. 

What has happened recently to this, and other couples, may be extreme example but there are other, less, outrageous ramifications, as well. The most common of these is multiple births of twins, triplets, etc.

Of course, this does not mean the parents will love these children any less. However, in the bigger picture, is this truly the right thing to do?

Please hear me out and consider this:

There are 107,918 foster children eligible for and waiting to be adopted. In 2014, 50,644 foster kids were adopted — a number that has stayed roughly consistent for the past five years. The average age of a waiting child is 7.7 years old and 29% of them will spend at least three years in foster care*.

I know that we are constantly using science to improve so many things in our life from medicine to transportation to climate. We are given these big brains to use to advance everything around us. However, I would also ask you to consider that we live within nature itself. Life has its own cycle from birth to death. And, there are certainly things that we ultimately have no control over - like death. No one gets out of here alive. So, we learn, or should learn, to live WITH nature and not always look to improve upon it.

So, it may be here. If it is not your fate to have your own children through the so-called normal process, are we not, in a sense, being instructing to find another way? Perhaps, it is Nature's Way of telling us that we should find fulfillment in our own lives by giving a needy child a good, loving home with parents who will care for them as their own.

Just something to consider.


*These are the statistics provided my Adoption Network

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP 7/10/2019

F LoBuono

This feature is becoming just too easy. There are simply too many f'd up people in this world. The latest is a woman from Florida who has apparently been spitting and peeing in the homemade ice cream of the store of an adjoining business.

Jung Soon Wypcha was seen repeatedly on security camera footage using the store's ice cream churners as a toilet as well as picking her nose and then sticking the contents in open ice cream containers.

She was arrested by Indian Shores, Florida police and charged with criminal mischief and Florida's anti-tampering laws. She was eventually released when she posted a $50,000 bond.

'Merica.

Today's MOZEN: Dreams v Reality

F LoBuono

Like many kids of my generation I dreamed of either playing in the Superbowl or in The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll band in front of a 100,000 people.

There were only 2 things that prevented either of these things from happening:

1. I was too small and too slow to play professional football.

2. As much as I love listening to music, I am completely tone deaf. Can't play a lick.

So, I went to work. And, the rest is history - sort of.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP 7/8/2019

F LoBuono

During a recent sentencing hearing after being convicted for his role in a 2016 Road Rage incident where he stabbed 3 men on an Oahu, Hawaii freeway, Mark Char not only went on a bizarre rant against both the judge and his court appointed lawyer, he actually showed up in Black Face. Yes, good ol' Minstrel Show Black Face. Court attendants believe that Char, who is NOT black, used a magic maker to create the effect. He rationalized the act by saying: 

"Now this kangaroo court is trying to give me a life sentence for me trying to protect and defend myself against the attack from three guys ― in essence, treating me like a black man. So today, I'm going to be a black man."

Mark Char in a Hawaii courtroom

The judge sentenced Char to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

'Merica.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP 7/6/2019

F LoBuono

Recently, a young woman in Lufkin, Texas, decided to take a gallon container of Blue Bell ice cream out of a Walmart refrigerator, remove the lid, take a BIG lick off the top, restore the packaging, and then replace it back into the fridge. We know this happened because she decided to have her boyfriend shoot her doing it and place the video on Facebook where it subsequently went viral. There is this wonderful close-up of her big, smiling face and fat tongue all over the ice cream. The flavor of said ice cream was not immediately known.

She was identified the next day and could have been arrested with her boyfriend for felony tampering which carries a potential sentence of 2-20 years in jail. However, since she is a minor (17), the case has instead been referred to the juvenile authorities.

Ah, the Price of Fame. 

Nope, you can't make this shit up.

'Merica.

You Can't Make This Shit Up

F LoBuono

While on my way to work this afternoon, driving south on The Saw Mill River Parkway, I noticed in the northbound lane a large, dark brown Range Rover SUV with a very large American flag attached to its rear bumper. In case you've forgotten:

Land Rover is a luxury car brand that specializes in four-wheel-drive vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, which has been owned by India's Tata Motors since 2008. The Land Rover is regarded as a British icon, and was granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1951.

Yup, 'Merica.