“It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
~~~ Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine), speaking out in 1950 against McCarthyism
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(Hearts by Angie Traverse)
Twenty years ago today, my friend Angie died.
We had met when we were volunteering at the middle school our children attended. Angie was kind and caring and funny and talented and we became friends, although she had a plethora of friends already. Because we were both doing volunteering and taking care of family, we had the flexibility to meet for lunch and chat or work on committee projects. Because Angie’s good will also embraced family, she got to know my parents.
We thought that, one day, we would become grandparents and have multi-generational hangouts.
Unfortunately, a nagging cough when Angie was 50 turned out to be stage 3 lung cancer. It was a shock because she had never been a smoker. Despite all the best efforts of her medical team, the cancer eventually progressed and took her life at 54.
March 25th was Good Friday that year.
There was a charitable fund set up in her name and, for years, I gave to it every year on March 25th and on her October birthday. The last few years, though, the website has disappeared. I think the fund probably had enough contribution for it to be endowed so its work can continue.
I’ve written about Angie before here at Top of JC’s Mind and even had a poem published about our friendship and her loss.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Angie’s death was followed by the loss of my long-time parish community and the death of B’s dad, the first loss of a grandparent for our daughters.
2005 became one of the worst years of my life.
I fear that 2025 may be even worse, especially when I look at what is happening in the United States as our democracy disintegrates and damages lives here and abroad.
Personally, this will be the year where we figure out what is going on with my health and address it or the year where I have to deal with giving up what I thought my life as an elder would be.
A small problem when people are dying or being threatened or losing family members because Trump/Musk/Vance et al think they can break laws, norms, and ethical obligations and concentrate all power in the executive branch.
I am sorry that I am too weak to be out on the streets for protests and have to confine my activities to online posts and messages and phone calls.
I’m hoping we can turn 2025 around after these horrible last couple of months.
Trying – while mourning for those who have been hurt.
And still, twenty years later, missing Angie.
“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
~~~ Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, who passed away last week at the age of 93
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(COVID Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)
The COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns began in the United States five years ago this month. I’ve written a lot of posts about it over those years and I’m proud to say that they have been added to the archives of the Newark Valley (NY) Historical Society to be preserved for future research.
To date, there has only been one case in our household, when B contracted it at a work event in November, 2023. Fortunately, T and I did not get sick.
All three of us participated in Phase III clinical trials for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and have kept up to date on recommended doses as the virus has mutated into new variants over these past five years. We’ve also taken other precautions, such as masking and avoiding crowds when virus levels are high. Admittedly, it’s been harder and harder to get information about virus levels in our area as the public health emergency lapsed and reporting became optional.
I do still get some public health and long COVID newsletters that give some information. I found out today, for example, that there is a new variant, BA.3.2, in South Africa that has 50 new spike mutations. It could stay localized and fizzle out; if it out-competes other strains and spreads, it could create a wave similar to Omicron.
As far as the United States goes, I’m concerned that the vaccination rates are likely to fall even further with a vaccine skeptic now in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. The United States has already suffered over 1.2 million deaths from COVID with millions more dealing with long-lasting health repercussions. Vaccines can help people avert more severe symptoms and decrease the chances of being infected but work best if a large proportion of the population are vaccinated. This also helps protect people who have more fragile immune systems, such as the very young, elders, and people with compromised immune systems.
I believe that information is power, but it needs to be factual information, not wishful thinking or political posturing. We can’t pretend that the virus doesn’t still kill or sicken people and that the United States is not continuing to lose hundreds of people each week due to COVID-19.
To deny the existence of COVID and/or its impact on our lives dishonors those we have lost, those who have been sickened by the virus, their loved ones, and their communities.
Take care of each other and do what you can to keep us all as healthy as possible.
The sign at my church, St. Francis of Assisi, this weekend:
D E I is what the kingdom of God is about.
Amen!
I had to share this post from my blogger-friend JoAnna. She expresses what I and millions of others in the United States are feeling right now.
“There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice.”
~~~ Thomas Paine, closing lines of American Crisis, 1776
This sobering 1+ liner comes to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday series. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/05/one-liner-wednesday-bad-suggestions/
Image by Satheesh Sankaran from Pixabay
I wrote this post in April, 2022, in support of the Ukrainian people suffering the invasion of their country. It shares a recording of the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton singing John Rutter’s “A Ukrainian Prayer” which was written so that people around the world could offer a prayer for the Ukrainians.
I am appalled and sickened by the unconscionable abandoning of Ukraine by Donald Trump, JD Vance, and their administration. I know millions upon millions in the United States are also vehemently opposed to their abandonment of a sovereign, democratic ally in favor of a murderous, corrupt dictator who invaded a neighbor without cause.
I am grateful to the European community and our Canadian neighbors who are convening an emergency meeting to support Ukraine. I, along with the majority of Americans, will be supporting their efforts as we continue our resistance to the Trump administration here at home.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.”
~~~ Thomas Paine, opening lines of American Crisis, 1776
This sobering 1+ liner comes to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday series. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/02/26/one-liner-wednesday-useless-superpowers/
Vote for Democracy #34
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Because of my health, I haven’t been up to doing major posts about the situation here in the United States.
Condensed version: Donald Trump and Elon Musk are leading an internal administrative coup, trying to end our Constitutional democracy and install an autocratic oligarchy. Despite court orders, they have fired vital staff in agencies, fired those in charge of oversight and investigations, tried to overturn birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 13th Amendment to our Constitution, cut aid to poverty-stricken people around the world, and abandoned our allies, including Ukraine, turning instead to supporting Russia and far-right European parties like Germany’s AfD. Congressional Republicans, who are in the majority in both houses, have mostly ignored this disaster, allowing their own constituents and the fate of our allies to suffer.
There are many organizations and prominent, principled individuals who are calling out these outrages and resisting, as well as ordinary folks who have been voicing opposition to their members of Congress, protesting in state capitals and other cities and towns, and organizing boycotts against oligarchic companies.
The level of public corruption is staggering. Trump is blatantly profiting from the presidency, including by cryptocurrency schemes. He has suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Elon Musk is cutting jobs and programs in multiple agencies while protecting his businesses’ extremely lucrative government contracts and eliminating those who were investigating him for violations.
Trump’s popularity has already fallen but there is no sign that he will change his ways, even with his shameful behavior in turning against Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal, immoral, and indefensible invasion of their country. It’s also helpful to note at this point that Trump and the Republicans do not have a mandate from the voters for any of this. Trump won less than half of the votes cast in November and an even larger number of eligible voters did not vote at all. There are also a number of things that Trump has done or threatened that were not part of his campaign rhetoric at all.
Anyone who was familiar with Project 2025 realized that some of these executive directions were coming and that the administration would push for all power to be concentrated in the presidency under the controversial “unitary executive” theory, which flies in the face of the systems of checks and balances established in our Constitution.
Still, the avalanche of executive actions and pronouncements by Trump, Musk, Vance, and other high-ranking officials has been staggering. Part of their plan was to overwhelm the courts and anyone in government or not who opposed their efforts.
I wish I could say those of us supporting democracy, the public good, and our traditional allies were bound to succeed but I don’t know what will happen. I’m afraid that some of the damage will be permanent. Actually, we know that some of the damage is irrevocable, as some recipients of USAID have already died because medical care and famine relief were abruptly ended.
I do want people to know that Donald Trump and his administration do not speak or act for me and for the majority of Americans. I am deeply sorry for the damage and harm that have befallen millions of people at home and abroad. Admittedly, my part in the resistance is tiny but I will continue to be part of it. Please, all defenders of democracy, do whatever you can within your own sphere of influence to help reverse the slide toward autocracy and oligarchy. We the People must assert our rights and rebuild a country that respects our freedom and liberty.
Joanne Corey 