I Remember the Red Guard

In June 1982, I traveled with an Art Group to China for a 3 week study of the Chinese cultural arts and historical lectures about painting, and sculpture. The excitement of visiting a culture of 3,500 years old, belonging to the Shang dynasty was a dream realized. After almost 13 hours on the plane, the landing on an airfield that was dark and seemingly way out in the country was a little disquieting. Coming to a stop, all was dark and very quite. The door finally opened to exit, but we were told to stay in our seats. In burst the Red Guard. Their guns extended, and moving quickly through the isles, we were stunned into quiet obedience sitting there much like stone statues.

Well, here we are, in China. Sitting there not knowing if or what was to happen next. Twenty minuets later, it was determined we could deplane. All through our stay, the Red Guard were around, discreetly following us, observing us and being our constant companions in their green uniforms. 

The Pentagon has ordered the creation of a National Guard Reaction Force, it is expected to complete civil unrest training and be fully operational by April 1. The total size of the force will be 23,500 troops across all 50 states and three territories, excluding the District of Columbia, the documents say. Most states will supply 500 personnel for the reaction force, with the rest falling between 250 and 450. Executive order 14339.

"If I want to enact a certain act I’m allowed to do it routinely. I’d be allowed to do whatever I want," Trump said in his remarks on Air Force One. "The courts wouldn’t get involved, nobody would get involved. I can send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I can send anybody I wanted.”

He did prove this when he sent the Marines to Camp Pendleton to fire live ammunition over the I5 freeway. This was for anyone who is listening, was a shot across the bow of Democracy. No one in Congress cared, The Courts did not care, The People did not care, they went to the beach, and watched the action from their cars which were stopped on the Freeway in the sweltering sun. The CA State Police did stop traffic for several hours. One patrol car was hit with shrapnel.

And so we go along. Nothing has changed in our busy daily lives, and when we wake in the morning our day seems much like the day before. Did we not see the National Guard, and the Marines at the Home Depots spiriting away folks in white vans with no due process, did we not watch the Jan 6^th rioters trying to over throw the 2020 election, did we not hear, this man say you will never have to vote again?

Our collective ears, eyes, and minds have been dulled by the constant barrage of hateful rants from a person who won our Nations highest office, and has built his administration on the ideals of hate and revenge. Will our minds wake up, will Congress begin to See, will the Supreme Court finally realize what they created?

Will we, in OUR not too distant future, see ICE and the National Guard come onto the planes when we travel from blue states to red states with guns, masks, and pepper spray going through the isles looking for people they think are illegal immigrants ?

As I remember, the Red Guard in China, they were for me, very polite, and amused at this small blond artist who was painting pictures of their buildings and parks. For as you might surmise, the Chinese Artists are the Masters of Water Color Painting and have been for centuries.

The Sea

                             Trying to Find a Bright Spot                           

                                      

Today I will paint. The world around me seems to be filled with so much hate and ill feelings, I am tired, my mind will not absorb any more of the politic right and wrong. Who is right all of the time, and who is not wrong some of the time.

I live near the Sea. Today I will absorb the light, the blueness of happiness that splashes into the air, little orbs of healing and pleasure. The paintings are of the Sea and the Kelp Forests that are a source of Food. Food for the body and my soul.

Kelp Woman

Finding the bright spot should give me the restful pause to be the self I remember when I was 10. I celebrate that young girl, entering to her emerging awareness of the possibilities of being just herself. Going back is also projecting my imagination into the future frailties of our world, hence the paintings of Kelp Woman.

The purple sea urchins are killing the Kelp Forests. The Starfishes are a keystone species, and they are dying due to the warming of the Oceans. The Starfishes eat the purple urchins and help the kelp to thrive.

There is one book would be the one that I would have if I could have only one. 'The Starthrower” by Loren Eiseley is a book with visual words painting stories about nature's powers of our existence of which we can only wonder. The stories have remained with me for many years, and I hope that you dear readers can find this book, for you too will find memories of your own that are called up when your read this little tome of wonderment's...You could perhaps find your own spot of restful happiness.

 

The People's House

now owned by Trump

“You will never have to Vote again”. He believes that he will live there forever, and so, the White House, our House of the People, belongs to him in his neurotic brain. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we know from past iterations that the beholder of the Oval Office thinks that gold means good taste and big stands for power and so, for him, his delusions must be beautiful and true. 

The Oval Office now looks like a trophy shop, and the proposed ballroom looks like something that Marie Antoinette would have built at Versailles. Seeing the Grander of the palace that Putin lives in, the busy brain of the Oval Occupant was jealous and wanted gold everywhere, and it has to be in a very bigly ballroom.

The destruction of the East Wing of the White House, where the offices of the First Lady were located was probably a thorn in his side. We know how he feels about Women, that they are not important in his grand scheme of how his house should be ordained. 

The destruction of the East Wing is but a Metaphor for what he has been doing for the past 9 months to the entire American Government, and is now trying to do to our Health Care, Cities Protesting, voting rights, due process, and the American People. It is distressing to think what he will do for the remainder of his term.

A GIFT TO TRUMP

TRUMP v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT No. 23–939. Argued April 25, 2024—Decided July 1, 2024

Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a (former) President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts. Pp. 5–43.

President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity. Pp. 5–15

U. S. 786, 800 “His authority to act necessarily “stem[s] either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself. “

This new authority given to the President by the Supreme Court has in truth made the Occupant of the Oval, a King, the sentence above in this ruling stands out to give one great pause. It states that his authority stems from an act of Congress, or the Constitution itself. This ruling has been ignored by the Oval Occupant, he also owns the Congress, and disregards the Constitution.

The Delusions of Grander by this man knows no bounds and we, the American People are suffering a great loss for our Democracy. I wonder, is his destroying one third of the White House an  “Official Act”?                                   

 

DESTRUCTION OF OUR HERITAGE

The Guided Medallions stuck all over the Oval Office are images of a wishful person who thinks he is King. Gold is the best indicator of one's stature of the Nation's highest office, Right? Wrong, it makes a laughing stock of our White House office of the President. Plainly, it is just stuff just stuck on the walls to give the impression of wealth, and power. Obviously, it was not designed to be that way originally, one has the impression that a child who has a new toy, and just can't wait to use it in such a way, that it makes adults want to throw up.

Now the destruction is actually real. The East Wing of the White House is being demolished to build a Grand Gilded Ball Room. Good Architecture always has the mandate to honor the history of the surroundings.

AIA An architectural design that "should fit in with existing buildings' aesthetics"refers to the concept of contextual-ism, where a new structure is designed to harmonize with the physical and cultural characteristics of its surroundings. This approach goes beyond simply imitating existing buildings; it involves a thoughtful analysis of the environment to create a design that feels like a natural and integrated part of the community.

This huge structure dwarfs the main building of the White House. Plopping an out sized building connecting to one smaller would get an F on any Architectural design. This building could have been located on the oval green lawn in back of the main building, leaving the East Wing in Place and keeping the integrity of our history, and keeping the design pure for our White House.  

A Perfect example of adding a new structure to a historical building is the Louvre Museum in France. The Glass Pyramid in the court yard is a jewel of wonder, and it is not connected to any of the surrounding buildings. It is it's own wonderment. It shines like sparkling diamond and becomes a beacon of welcome to visitors.

The New Ballroom at the White House could have been a astonishment of excitement to visitors with a grand paved driveway leading to a place with it's own special placement of importance. Instead, it will be connected to the main building making the whole a statement of woeful folly

The Occupant of the Oval is not known to have the concept of good taste. His language, his symbolic red tie, his destruction of the Rose garden, tells the story of one who is childlike and acts on whims of fancy. I wonder if his Red Tie was made to be in the same over the top scale as the Grand Ball Room, would he be happy with the look of stupid?

 

My Neighbors, the Marines

Today the Marines are going to shoot live Ordnance over Interstate 5 Freeway into Camp Pendleton. 

I live in Oceanside CA and the Base is our northern boarder of the City. For years, there have been occasionally loud booms, flyovers of jets and the large U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy. These aircraft are a wonder to watch and I feel the vibrations, the thunderous pulsing of the engines, laboring to make their climb over my head, a miracle, I sigh.

                      CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA,                                             UNITED STATES

I have a deep appreciation for the Marines. I feel safe in my community up high on a hill. I can watch their nighttime shooting of softly falling lights like fairy tale stars drifting down to light up the landscape of our earth. In reality, the lights are parachute flares, which are pyrotechnic devices designed to signal distress or to illuminate a large area at night during training.

I feel safe, when I go downtown to the Oceanside Museum of Art, and waiting to cross the street, the Young handsome men of the Corps take my arm and escort me across the street. Do I feel like a queen ? Yes.

I feel at peace when walking in our Senior community, I see the beautiful young men and women, running like the wind up our hills and waving to me, remembering the days when I too could run with the courage of my will to be healthy.

Today, however, the troops of the Corps will be doing the biding of the Occupant of the Oval. They will be shooting live ordnance over the weekend travelers of our County on Interstate 5 into Camp Pendleton. The Freeway will be shutdown, leaving thousands of cars sitting the hot sun, the folks left deal with their human needs, because of the whims of a man who has never known anything but his own selfish wants.

The rational is to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our County, but is that really the reason?

The Hatred of California by this Occupant of the Oval is well known. In my view, this is a warning to Governor Newsom. Beware, “I can do this whenever, wherever, and to ever I want”. He has demonstrated this in the targeting of boats in the Caribbean...

I fear, this won't be the last of a show of power from this man whose hatred of California has been seen in the show of ICE in Los Angeles and beyond.

Still, I revere our Young Men and Women of the Corps, who give tirelessly their truth, their honor, their time, and even their lives, I Celebrate them, Honor them and am in debt to them for they are a force of nature and are the best of Us.

The Best of Us...

 

As Americans there is so much we agree on. Why then, is there so much hate? Can our great American conversation start with these words of agreement? Could the media and our politicians start with these words. And, if we could start the conversation, would it be possible that the things we agree on are the most important words, and that hate should be the least of the starting points? Would it be possible that the middle 43 percent of Americans who could vote for words of agreement to have a collective deciding voice?

Who would carry this banner, and how can we use the new AI to make us heard?  

Watch our time of National Pride and People as One at the Dodger World Series Game One 2024. The National Anthem and Fly Over... 

 

“We Can Do This the Easy Way,

or the Hardway”

Pandora by RJameson

They will have to use the Hardway on Me.

I will never bend my knee to the most corrupt, evil, unfit person to ever inhabit the Oval office. I am not Harvard, the Paul Weiss law firm, Steven Colbert, Jimmy Kimmil, I'm just one person who will continue to tell my truth with no filters to soften my Words. My Words are the culmination of what I hear and see from this administration. From the very first time this oval occupant pompously came down his golden escalator, the words were those of xenophobia. This hatred continues to this day, only now, it turns onto American Citizens.

Antifa is now considered to be a terrorist organization. The oval occupant announced on social media that he would designate antifa as a "major terrorist organization'

Antifa is not an organized group. It has no central leader, membership, or headquarters. Who can be determined to ba Antifa? Apparently anyone who is considered to be strongly against the Oval occupant or his executive orders. Those anyones can be you, me, us. They are already taking away people who have brown skins.

He called for his political enemies to be jailed, suggested it should be "illegal" to criticize judges, and declared it should be "illegal" to say he lost the election.

“I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, I get 97% negative, and yet I won and easily,” He said as he returned to Washington following a state visit to Britain, adding: “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Where is courage to counter the attracts on our freedom of Speech? The Networks if combined with the printed news could mount a great push back to this want-to-be dictator. Why are they now NOT doing this? Big Reason: MONEY. The FCC is the hammer, everyone (corporations) else is a nail. The NGOs like PBS are feeling the pain, and the universities are threatened, the Social Services have been cut with more to come.

These words from the Oval Occupant are from 2015 to the present. Does it sound like it is getting better for us? From what I can ascertain, it seems like we are not living in a Democracy. It sounds like we are well down the slope to dictatorship. The time line has made His past words normalized and folks have become inured to what is happening. Maybe the words of Brendan Carr will wake people up, They woke up Ted Cruz.