I ran into some old friends this week, (perusers of my weekly rants), who individually and only semi-jokingly greeted me as the Prince of Darkness.  I won’t argue the generally dour nature of my theses, (nor my obsession with aptly placed adverbs), but I would hope that the satanic implication of the otherwise descriptive metaphor was unintended.  However, (at some point, I will stop crediting Professor Irwin Corey every time I use this particular conjunctive adverb…but not yet), as I consider myself more jocular than raging, on balance, I am compelled to explain my thought process as it pertains to these posts.

I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years.  My first blog was about my remarkable, on-the-spectrum nephew, Alex, who endured misdiagnoses, bullying and the universal angst of adolescence and young adulthood to defy and supremely exceed the generic expectations assigned to him, (he’s doing great, by the way).  Pretty positive, right?  But, W was President and he was so embarrassingly stupid, (more or less piling on to his dumbness on a weekly basis), that I took on the mission of using complete sentences and mostly proper grammar as my yin to his yang.  During the Obama campaign, although I was, and am, a strong supporter of his ideals and his character, I was so profoundly engaged in the impact of the historical possibility, that I committed my time, energy and words to that end.  I’m pretty sure I was instrumental in getting him elected.  Positive…some would say.  After the 2008 election, when it occurred to me that the “Change” I was expecting was merely a political buzzword and the spineless Democrats wimped on health care and lost the Congressional majority and the Tea Party and unapologetic racism bubbled to the surface, I lost my shit.  Then Trump.  What’s a poor, bi-polar Jew boy supposed to do?  Yet, (this is not an Irwin Corey-ism, but I’m still beholding), each week, as my brain flits through its recent intake, not unlike the spinning wheels of a Vegas slot machine, I make a concerted attempt at freezing the images on something rosy…uplifting…soul-enhancing.  Are you kidding me?  There’s a pre-teen soccer team trapped, deep in a hopelessly flooded Thai mine.  Country after country, inspired by the burned-out beacon of hope which used to shine from our shores, is turning its back on the most helpless and needy victims of atrocity.  Can you spell T-r-a-d-e  W-a-r?  Our Supreme Court is moments away from becoming an Inquisitional Tribunal.  Our, (how can this not be a horrible dream?), President is an evil and amoral criminal who is plotting to partner with his long-time BFF, Vlad the Impaler, to divvy up the world, (Wicked Warlocks of the East and West), and alter the progress of civilization for generations…or forever.

Ok…I’ve calmed myself.  I saw “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” this week.  I recommend it.  Fred was cool…mostly positive.  Oh…and Scott Pruitt finally resigned.  Wouldn’t it be a positive thing if he and anyone else who resists “protecting” the environment, whatever the cost or regulation, fell victim to some flesh-eating environmental disaster?  Sorry, Fred.