And I just read that they’ve discovered our brain knows when we’re dead! Let me outta here! fredrik raddum trans ī re
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All posts for the month March, 2019
Inside – A Poem
Published March 27, 2019 by Nan MykelWhat is it that calls forth
embarrassed uncertainty
when inside we stretch to
extend our narrow sense
of self?
A meditative leap into a state of maybe,
beaten back
into the spirit’s self constraint?
Which harbors pretense;
Wherein lies the danger?
The dream state, more permissive,
Offers refuge to those
Wandering familiars
Who beckon.
Nan Image Om Seti
Excerpted from Salon.com
Published March 26, 2019 by Nan Mykelby Chauncey DeVega, interviewing Constitutional Law Scholar Laurence Tribe:
What would happen if Trump refuses to step down and leave the White House if so ordered? That scenario is often discussed but rarely detailed.
I would highlight the fact that among the statutes that are triggered by the declaration of a national emergency is that the president can control the internet. He can take over the media. The president can arrest people without cause. Under a national emergency, Donald Trump can basically declare what amounts to military law and become the dictator that, in his dreams, he imagines himself to be.
That is scary. This horrible outcome does not happen overnight. The earliest invocations of the emergency powers may look a little bit innocent. But authoritarianism creeps. It doesn’t always gallop. And when authoritarianism envelops us, it may be too late to turn it back.
In this moment, what gives you the most hope? What are you most afraid of?
I am most afraid of the fact that Donald Trump may not leave office peacefully, and that there will be no real transition to a new president. I worry that we are on a downward slide that has no foreseeable end. My hope is that we have survived things that seemed at least as scary, in terms of a civil war and World War II, and that the United States has gotten better.
I am starting a research project examining that question. This is like looking into the face of Armageddon. I simply cannot tell you right now what it would look like. I do not think that Donald Trump would simply hunker down and say, “The Joint Chiefs are going to have to arrest me.” Trump would be a little more subtle than that, stupid though he is. I think Donald Trump would declare a national emergency. He would find an excuse for one. If it looked like Trump was going to lose the 2020 election, he would declare a national emergency as well. This would all be catastrophically messy….
Lovely photos by girls-Recommended site…
Published March 22, 2019 by Nan Mykel
A young woman expresses joy as she poses for a portrait.
Madina and Friba 11 2015 06 .jpg
Dr. Rex (It is What it Is) recommended this blog and I agree:
Steve McCurry’s Blog
Steve’s body of work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike – yet always retains the human element
Founded by Steve McCurry in 2005, ImagineAsia, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Its mission is to work in partnership with local community leaders and regional
NGO’s to help provide educational resources and
opportunities to children in Afghanistan.
Its mission is to work in partnership with local community leaders and regional
NGO’s to help provide educational resources and
opportunities to children in Afghanistan.
The goal of the program is to give students the opportunity
to document their communities by giving them
the tools to create their own art.
Fear Used to Promote Aggression — Read in theConversation.com
Published March 20, 2019 by Nan Mykel
Demagogues have always used fear for intimidation of the subordinates or enemies, and shepherding the tribe by the leaders. Fear is a very strong tool that can blur humans’ logic and change their behavior.
When ideologies manage to get hold of our fear circuitry, we often regress to illogical, tribal and aggressive human animals, becoming weapons ourselves – weapons that politicians use for their own agenda.
From a psychiatrist and neuroscientist specializing in fear and trauma, who has some evidence-based thoughts on how fear is abused in politics: theconversation.com
The politics of fear: How it manipulates us to tribalism
Fear, a psychiatrist writes, has roots deep within the human psyche, and demagogues have long exploited the emotion. In today’s world, it’s important to know the dangers of that exploitation
Drinking Poetry
Published March 19, 2019 by Nan MykelIt’s delicious!
I Wanted to be Included in on This One!
Published March 19, 2019 by Nan MykelSorry–I couldn’t let this one pass…
Reparations? NO!
Published March 19, 2019 by Nan MykelThe idea of paying attention to past wrongs while continuing to cause more and accelerated wrongs at the same time is…wrong. Halting continued and increasing racism is what’s important–not a pretend show that we are truly repentant.
Current Violence: New Zealand…
Published March 18, 2019 by Nan Mykel
Don’t only authors usually autograph their books? That means…
(Observation by Jill Dennison: Trump’s a plagiarist or he really thinks he is…)
Writing a Poem
Published March 18, 2019 by Nan Mykel
I’m writing a poem,
waiting for an image
to lead me on while eating
Greek yogurt…No, can’t
do both at the same time.
Now I am writing a poem,
my eyes closed…………….
A snapping turtle. I’m falling
asleep. No, I must do this.
Why did Socrates drink
hemlock? Maybe if I lie down…
Got it! Helpless worms who
drown in a downpour. And
unsuspecting turkeys who raise
their heads, drink the rain and
die. I didn’t use to know that.
Of course! My offstage image
has arrived: water. . . Tears.
No wonder it took me so long to
recall New Zealand, Parkland,
Jumal Khashoggi, refugees,
children in cages, climate change
and the raccoon who was tortured
to death in my hometown. And no,
I shed no tears for the devil.
Nan
NANMYKEL.COM 