The "Flame of Passion"--A Poem I Wrote 25 Years Ago--Never More Timely

THE FLAME OF PASSION The flame of passion….. Never to lose it ourselves. Always to give it life in others. That inner spark, that inner drive, that mixture of faith and hope and confidence, that leads us to search and to risk, to discover and to achieve, to undertake what is most personal and sublime, and yet often most uncertain, too. Oh, how this is the way we learn and grow, and experience the joy of accomplishment beyond the norm. That flame of passion can be very vulnerable, even in the strong. Especially in one’s early years, subject to discouragement and scorn. But just as much it is in our power to give it life in those we know. How well I recall those who did that for me. Those who opened the door far and wide and set me free to pursue what I most believed. They fueled my flame of passion, of purpose, of confidence more than they will ever know. They made me a different person than I otherwise would have been. The flame of passion…. Never to lose it ourselves. Always to give it life in others.

A Plea for Unity

Bishop Budde’s sermon was an incredibly powerful and courageous call for moral leadership. Her focus on dignity, honesty, and humility as the foundations for unity is a timeless and profound message, especially in times of division. These values are critical for bridging divides and fostering a sense of shared humanity. It was inspiring how she used her platform at the National Cathedral to address President Trump, advocating for mercy and justice for the people who are frightened by what lies ahead. Contemptuously, he rebuked and dismissed her plea. Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

An Assault on Social Justice, Dignity and Truth

I have decided to post a message I sent to my family at about 2 AM this morning. Dear Family, I woke up a bit after midnight still trying to stomach and fathom President Trump‘s inaugural address. I dictated this quickly at 1:10 and I had ChatGPT clean it up. Let me just say this. As I ponder the uncertain future and what I can have confidence in and take great heart in it comes back to you and your children. I’m not sure what they’ll do, but I do know this. They are good people. They believe in social justice, dignity, and the pursuit of truth. And no matter what happens, no matter how long mom and I live, I know they like their parents will do their level best to do what they believe is right and make a positive contribution to the people whose lives they touch. I’m not sure you can imagine how good that makes me feel. Love, dad An assault on social justice, decency, and truth. Moments after President Trump finished his dystopian inaugural address, I wrote to my son: “So sad, so depressing, so dangerous.” Where are the leaders to respond? At the age of 86, statistics suggest I will not live to see another president inaugurated to office. It would be easy for me to dissect all the cruel and dangerous parts of Trump’s address. Perhaps none are more significant than the license he has given to land-seizing, land-coveting autocrats to take territory based on their perceived natural right, rather than adhering to the rule of law. Equally alarming are his steps to eradicate reasonable actions aimed at achieving social equity and dignity for all people. As his first repeated assault on truth. There are already numerous commentators analyzing and exposing the horrific and divisive elements of his speech. My question remains: where are the leaders to respond to this? Who will step up, reach the American public, and present a unifying vision for our future—one that supports the rule of law and human dignity? Where is the person who will acknowledge the mistakes we’ve made in failing to recognize the fears people face—fear of too many immigrants, fear of an overheating economy that leads to inflation, and concerns about value-based programs aimed at equity that have gone too far in implementation? Former and current Democratic leaders sat in the Rotunda yesterday, no doubt filled with a combination of disgust and dismay. President Biden, I’m sure, was biting his lip. I cannot imagine the feelings Vice President Kamala Harris must have had. My own reaction was summed up in the message I sent to my son. I am confident that eventually, a leader will emerge—someone who will express a unifying, humane, constructive, and forward-looking agenda with a set of values that we can all rally behind. Please, God, let it happen sooner rather than later.

Trump's Own Words Will Condemn Him in History--Posted by My Son David

January 6: The Wanna-Be King's Speech Read It, Knowing What We Know Now David Pepper Jan 06, 2025 Today is the final January 6 we will have before Trump’s return to the White House, where he will use presidential power to erase his and others’ crimes against America from our collective memory and history books. Share Of course, they’ve been trying to whitewash it all ever since. And it’s worked to some degree. But once Trump re-assumes the Presidency, he and his minions will use their official powers and legal processes to go much further. This will include minimizing their own actions and complicity, pardoning those who attacked the Capitol and committed violence, and attempting to punish those who worked to expose the truth to the nation and bring accountability. The entire right-wing universe and political world will be part of this whitewashing and gaslighting project. Knowing that this is coming, I’m presenting below the heart of Trump’s infamous January 6 speech. (Some will remember that I did this a year ago). You’ll see why when you read it why it’s so important that every American takes the time to review the words involved in one of the lowest moments in our nation’s history. (Before my post last year, I had never read them that closely—my guess is most Americans haven’t either). Why? Because amid all the coming efforts to erase history, the words of the speech itself can not be erased. A foundational artifact that can’t be buried. And equally importantly, versus what we knew (and didn’t know) when we saw him giving the speech live, the words are far more damning now—in the light of all we’ve learned since the infamous day, including: that he was told by much of his staff and lawyers, as well as officials in states, that he had lost the election; that despite that, he had engaged in a weeks-long campaign to undermine confidence in the outcome in certain states, and was pursuing a variety strategies to overturn those outcomes based on the doubt he’d sowed; that with those conspiracy theories as a backdrop, he and his legal goon squad had concocted a rogue legal theory and phony fake elector scam to take place before and during the House vote on January 6; that with the help of lawyers, he had been bullying Vice President Pence to swing the outcome on January 6; that he had schemed with a number of House members and Senators to delay the January 6 vote, giving them all time to create even more chaos, sow even more doubt, and ultimately overturn the election. Now that we know about all those background actions and plans, the tone, tactics and strategy of his January 6 speech—which we at first might've dismissed (or not even paid attention to) as a typical Trump rant—carry a far different meaning. This was no protest. Or even riot. This was a deliberate and planned action to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and both in this speech and on Twitter, Trump was the ringleader and executor of the central act. Here are the essential excerpts of the speech, along with some additional context. Read the words closely: January 6, 1:00 a.m.: Trump tweets: 8:17 a.m: Trump again tweets about Pence: Several more tweets follow over the course of the morning: NOON: After a number of warm-up acts (including Rudy Giuliani calling for ”Trial by combat,”) Trump begins his speech: Well, thank you very much. This is incredible…. It's just a great honor to have this kind of crowd and to be before you and hundreds of thousands of American patriots who are committed to the honesty of our elections and the integrity of our glorious republic. All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they're doing. And stolen by the fake news media. That's what they've done and what they're doing. We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that's what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election. You know, I say, sometimes jokingly, but there's no joke about it: I've been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. OK. Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign, the most of any incumbent president by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago…. We will not let them silence your voices. We're not going to let it happen, I'm not going to let it happen. (Audience chants: "Fight for Trump.") … Thank you very much, John [Eastman]. Fantastic job. I watched. That's a tough act to follow, those two. John is one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country, and he looked at this and he said, "What an absolute disgrace that this can be happening to our Constitution." And he looked at Mike Pence, and I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do, all this is, this is from the number one, or certainly one of the top, Constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it. We're supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our constitution. States want to revote. The states got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to recertify. They want it back. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people. And I actually, I just spoke to Mike. I said: "Mike, that doesn't take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage." And then we're stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot and we have to live with that for four more years. We're just not going to let that happen…. For years, Democrats have gotten away with election fraud and weak Republicans. And that's what they are. There's so many weak Republicans. And we have great ones. Jim Jordan and some of these guys, they're out there fighting. The House guys are fighting. But it's, it's incredible. Many of the Republicans, I helped them get in, I helped them get elected. I helped Mitch get elected. I helped. I could name 24 of them, let's say, I won't bore you with it. And then all of a sudden you have something like this. It's like, "Oh gee, maybe I'll talk to the president sometime later." No, it's amazing. They're weak Republicans, they're pathetic Republicans and that's what happens…. The weak Republicans, and that's it. I really believe it. I think I'm going to use the term, the weak Republicans. You've got a lot of them. And you got a lot of great ones. But you got a lot of weak ones. They've turned a blind eye, even as Democrats enacted policies that chipped away our jobs, weakened our military, threw open our borders and put America last. And you have to get your people to fight. And if they don't fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don't fight. You primary them. We're going to. We're going to let you know who they are. I can already tell you, frankly. But this year, using the pretext of the China virus and the scam of mail-in ballots, Democrats attempted the most brazen and outrageous election theft and there's never been anything like this. So pure theft in American history. Everybody knows it. That election, our election was over at 10 o'clock in the evening. We're leading Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, by hundreds of thousands of votes. And then late in the evening, or early in the morning, boom, these explosions of bull****. And all of a sudden. All of a sudden it started to happen… Republicans are, Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It's like a boxer. And we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we're going to have to fight much harder. And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a, a sad day for our country because you're sworn to uphold our Constitution. Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections…. Today we see a very important event though. Because right over there, right there, we see the event going to take place. And I'm going to be watching. Because history is going to be made. We're going to see whether or not we have great and courageous leaders, or whether or not we have leaders that should be ashamed of themselves throughout history, throughout eternity they'll be ashamed. And you know what? If they do the wrong thing, we should never, ever forget that they did. Never forget. We should never ever forget. With only three of the seven states in question, we win the presidency of the United States… I want to thank the more than 140 members of the House. Those are warriors. They're over there working like you've never seen before. Studying, talking, actually going all the way back, studying the roots of the Constitution, because they know we have the right to send a bad vote that was illegally gotten…. But I want to thank all of those congressmen and women. I also want to thank our 13, most courageous members of the U.S. Senate. Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Ron Johnson, Senator Josh Hawley, Kelly Loeffler…. Today, for the sake of our democracy, for the sake of our Constitution, and for the sake of our children, we lay out the case for the entire world to hear. You want to hear it? In every single swing state, local officials, state officials, almost all Democrats, made illegal and unconstitutional changes to election procedures without the mandated approvals by the state legislatures. That these changes paved a way for fraud on a scale never seen before. I think we go a long way outside of our country when I say that. [Trump details his conspiracy theories about Pennysylvania] Pennsylvania has now seen all of this. They didn't know because it was so quick. They had a vote. They voted. But now they see all this stuff, it's all come to light. Doesn't happen that fast. And they want to recertify their votes. They want to recertify. But the only way that can happen is if Mike Pence agrees to send it back. Mike Pence has to agree to send it back. (Audience chants: "Send it back.") And many people in Congress want it sent back. And think of what you're doing. Let's say you don't do it. Somebody says, "Well, we have to obey the Constitution." And you are, because you're protecting our country and you're protecting the Constitution. So you are…. And we got to remember, in a year from now, you're going to start working on Congress and we got to get rid of the weak Congress, people, the ones that aren't any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world. We got to get rid of them. We got to get rid… The radical left knows exactly what they're doing. They're ruthless and it's time that somebody did something about it. And Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I'm not hearing good stories…. So, I mean, I could go on and on about this fraud that took place in every state, and all of these legislatures want this back. I don't want to do it to you because I love you and it's freezing out here. But I could just go on forever. I can tell you this…. The Republicans have to get tougher. You're not going to have a Republican Party if you don't get tougher. They want to play so straight. They want to play so, sir, yes, the United States. The Constitution doesn't allow me to send them back to the States. Well, I say, yes it does, because the Constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our Constitution, and you can't vote on fraud. And fraud breaks up everything, doesn't it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you're allowed to go by very different rules. So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do. And I hope he doesn't listen to the RINOs and the stupid people that he's listening to…. We won in a landslide. This was a landslide. They said it's not American to challenge the election. This the most corrupt election in the history, maybe of the world…. This is not just a matter of domestic politics — this is a matter of national security. So today, in addition to challenging the certification of the election, I'm calling on Congress and the state legislatures to quickly pass sweeping election reforms, and you better do it before we have no country left. Today is not the end, it's just the beginning….[O]ur fight against the big donors, big media, big tech, and others is just getting started. This is the greatest in history. There's never been a movement like that… We must stop the steal and then we must ensure that such outrageous election fraud never happens again, can never be allowed to happen again… If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country because it's illegal when the votes are illegal when the way they got there is illegal when the states that vote are given false and fraudulent information…But now, the caravans, I think Biden's getting in, the caravans are forming again. They want to come in again and rip off our country. Can't let it happen…. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore…. And I say this despite all that's happened. The best is yet to come. So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol, and we're going to try and give. The Democrats are hopeless — they never vote for anything. Not even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help. We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God Bless America. Thank you all for being here. This is incredible. Thank you very much. Thank you. The speech ends at 1:10 p.m. With Pence inside, the Capitol grounds had already been breached for 20 minutes by then (about 30 minutes after Trump had first told the crowd that they would be marching to the Capitol). 1:02 p.m.: Pence refuses to accede to Trump’s demands. 2:12 p.m.: the first rioter enters the Capitol building itself; Vice President Pence is evacuated, escaping only 40 feet from rioters who have breached the building. 2:24 p.m.: Trump, knowing about the breach and that Pence is sheltering to stay safe, tweets again: Immediately following this tweet, according to the House Jan. 6 committee, “the crowds both inside and outside of the Capitol building violently surged forward,” overrunning police lines that had previously held stable. You know the rest. Bottom line: as we watch Trump try to erase his actions on January 6—and punish those who uncovered all this evidence—NEVER FORGET this speech. Or the context in which it was given. It’s clear: He knew exactly what he was doing. It was a plan. He fired the starter’s pistol to launch it. He came damn close to succeeding. It is one of the great failures in American history that he was not held accountable for it. But that failure will only be made worse if we allow that history be erased. Be sure others see the speech in the same way…. Share Type your email... Subscribe Day 36 — January 5, 2025 Through posts and interviews, Trump and his political allies make clear that their plan on assuming office is “shock and awe”—rushing forward their plans into an immediate flurry of executive orders, followed by, as Trump put it, “one powerful Bill” combining all of his major policy proposals at once. As always, he promises to pay for the added costs with tariffs. 112 Likes ∙ 46 Restacks Discussion about this post Comments Restacks Write a comment... Diane E Bellard 2d The fact that Trump was not held accountable for the many crimes he committed following the 2020 election will forever be the gravest miscarriage of justice ever committed on the American people. We all watched that day in horror on live TV, but at least we felt reassurance that he would never be in power again. To watch him ascend to the presidency again, claiming that he supports the rule of law, and promising to pardon all the Jan 6 prisoners is infuriating beyond belief. I don't know what Americans were thinking when they cast their votes for him. I really fear for the next 4 years and pray every day that our republic can withstand all the assaults he has planned. I'm exhausted but still plan to be in the fight...there are way more of us than there are of them. Like (11) Reply Share 1 reply

Manifest Destiny on Steroids--President Trump is Dangerous--Plain and Simple

 

Manifest Destiny on Steroids

President Trump’s press conference yesterday, January 5th, can only be described as dangerous, outlandish, and frightening. In less than an hour, he announced emphatically that he intended to:

• Apply economic pressure to annex Canada,

•  Use force to take control of the Panama Canal if necessary, and

•Make Greenland part of the United States.

We’ve seen bold and unjustifiable actions under the banner of Manifest Destiny before, but never with such overt intent, openly breaking international law.

It’s hard to imagine a better excuse for President Xi of China to justify taking Taiwan under the mantra of national security—the reasoning Trump cited for acquiring Greenland, controlling the Panama Canal, and annexing Canada. And Vladimir Putin can claim the same rationale of National security as justifying his attempt to take over an Ukraine. 

It’s hard to believe a president would say such things—impossible, really. Yet here we are, with a president-elect making these claims.

This man is dangerous—plain and simple. He must be checked by the Senate, the House, the courts, the people around him, and the media.

I never thought I would live to see the day when a president—or in this case, a president-elect—would utter such words.

Why Bother to Commit Your Reflections and Memories to Paper?

 Anna Quindlen’s slim notebook, Write for your Life, contains many pearls of wisdom which relate to my motivation in writing my journal over more than 40 years and, above all, in my hope that my wife, Francie will continue to commit her remarkable stories to writing so that future generations can see them. Perhaps, these words will encourage you to record your stories.

 

Here are some of the pearls which Anna Quindlen offers us:

 

In reflecting on her motives for writing her books, shew writes:  “In these pages I hope my children would find me when I was gone.  The fact is, the books are only collections of words; there is a familiar motto:  ‘Actions, not words’ are what matter.  The fallacy in that quote is that words are actions.  They punch, tear, hurt, harm, soothe, amuse, educate, illuminate.  They express ideas and feelings, and they make people feel better and they move them to tears and they enrage them, and they define them.”

 

“Think of it this way:  if you could look down right now and see words on paper, from anyone on earth or anyone who has lifted, who would that be?  And don’t you, as do I, wish that person had left such a thing behind?  Doesn’t that argue for doing that yourself, no matter how terrifying or impossible writing may sometimes seem?  It doesn’t really matter what you say.  It matters that you said it.  The gift of your presence forever.”

 

“So what if your story of a small, unremarkable life is read only by you, in some quiet corner, or by one or two people you love and trust understand?  If those are people who can learn from and value it, isn’t that a notable achievement, a valuable audience?”

 

“When you write, you connect with yourself, past, present and future.”

 

“’Life is all memory,’ wrote Tennessee Williams.  ‘Except for the one present moment that goes by so quickly you hardly catch it going.’  The point is that writing is a net, catching memory and pinning it to the board like people sometimes do with butterflies, like the ones we hatched.  Writing is a hedge against forgetting, forgetting forever.”

 

“There are no journals written by my father.  If I could go back in time, I would ask him to keep one, but maybe, like so many busy people, he would think it was a waste of the scant hours in his day.  Why? you would ask.  What would I write about?  I would offer you the same answer I would have given him:  Nothing.  Everything.  He could have written a recollection of college days gone by, or an account of the morning’s fishing, getting skunked out by the secret spot…” 

Creating an Empowering Narrative for Our Natipn

 The Great Disorder:  National Myth and the Battle for America, by Richard Slotkin 

 

This is an important book that builds on beliefs of mine and have held for decades.

 

I have long called and hoped for a new narrative that can unite our nation as it has only rarely been united, usually in times of crisis.  Slotkin’s book shows what we know:  Our personal lives and our understanding of our nation’s life is built around narratives.  Just as we as individual will tell each other only parts of our stories, so also do we tell those parts of our national stories that seem most relevant, compelling, useful, or consoling, at the same time.  Most people do not particularly care about the “whole story” but, rather, those parts of the story that relate to our current culture and what we need to remember now. 

 

This, while clearly not all inclusive, is also not intentionally deceiving.  We hope other people will respond affirmatively to “our vision” and story about the United States.  Equally important, we hope to inspire each other and our children with “our story” to give them hope for the future.

 

To have a well-functioning democracy, we need to have “our story” one that while never uniting all people, we unite a majority of people.

 

It is competing “myths” that explain much of the culture wars of our time.

 

Slotkin’s book makes it clear that our national culture and belief in ourselves has been founded on a variety of myths:  “the frontier,” “the Civil War as a just war for liberation of Black peoples” or, conversely, as the “lost cause.”  There is a “cowboy/gunfighter” myth that took its form importantly in westerns. 

 

Again, whether there are some who try to manipulate these myths in order to sew discord in events for their own political, social and economic goals, most of us find ourselves caught up in competing myths about ourselves that combine elements of hard truth and historical facts with wishful thinking or wishful dis-remembering. 

 

Slotkin’s book reminds me of the power and the variety of myth.  Of course, they apply to other countries:  the founding of Israel; the plight of Palestinians.  Putin’s view of the history of Ukraine is a lot different than the Ukrainians. 

 

Slotkin makes it clear that the MAGA movement is based on a combination of at least the “frontier myths” and the “lost cause myth” which focuses on grievance and little justice to the minority.

 

The importance of those myths in the MAGA movement could not be clearer.

 

The bigger challenge is how do we frame a line of thinking, vision, “myth,” if you will, that would the majority of people behind an agenda that both recognizes the thoughts of the nation and its strengths and which points to a brighter future.  I have always returned to the Declaration of Independence, which is its own myth in a way.  A call for equality of opportunity, recognition of the dignity of every single person, and the rule of law.

 

We need a narrative that faces up to the ugliness of our past (slavery, treatment of the indigenous people, sequestering the Japanese, “not so good” wars, but also the aspiration and the good which American people have done across the world.

 

I think a narrative along these lines can be put together credibly and with powerful resonance.  It will point to a better future. 

 

I happen to be reading a book right now on a totally different subject, while it is not totally different.  It is written by Father Nouwen.  The title:  Life of the Beloved.  My reading this followed the reading of the new biography of John Lewis by Raymond Arsenault.  In it, Arsenault develops clear and passionately Lewis’s pursuit of the beloved community.

 

I believe we can formulate and should try to, and follow, a narrative, a myth, that would see us at our best:  recognizing truth as best we know it, the good and the bad, while seeking to meet our highest ideals, as framed in the Declaration of Independence and other documents.  It might be titled “The Reformation of America” or, perhaps, something more sexy than that. 

 

I believe there would be substantial appeal in this if it were well-packaged. But the key will be to have it well led.  It requires a spokesperson with great credibility, charisma and personal power.  Without that, I do not believe it will happen. 

 

I believe the moment for such a revised “myth” or narrative is ripe.  There is so much disarray, so much polarization, so much meanness and cruelty in the world, a majority of people, I am convinced, are looking for something better, real, that can bring us together. 

 

I would love to see some legitimate approaches taken in framing such a narrative.  I may circulate this to a few people with the hope they will be able to bring their imaginations and insights to this.

 

As Slotkin says at the end of his book, “the making of national myths has proved to be essential to the creation of nation states to the maintenance of that sense of historically continuous community that allows them to function.  The danger of mythological thinking is that it attempts to reify our nostalgia for a falsely idealized past, and to sacrifice our future to that illusion.  But we are not bound to live in a fixed scenario bequeathed to us by tradition.”

 

No, we can create a new myth and new narrative.