Surely it can't get much worse!

(Public Domain)

As we approach the November election, so many events are happening that it is difficult to keep from thinking we are certainly nearing the Apocalypse. Record-breaking temperatures throughout the country, wildfires destroying millions of acres of our beautiful forests as well as those throughout the Amazon, melting polar ice caps that are causing warmer ocean temperatures which are creating a record number of tropical storms and hurricanes this year, are only a few of the troubling headlines. And then there is what appears to be the "Antichrist". Fumbling his way through interviews where he speaks of something he knows nothing about, he is advocating a method of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic that would result in the deaths of millions of people in the United States.."herd immunity", or as he calls it, "herd mentality". Something so many of his supporters appear to suffer from.

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The current administration has decimated so many of the federal government agencies that we no longer can count on getting truthful information or even assistance as was available in the past. Experienced, reliable heads of agencies have been fired only to be replaced by inexperienced, sometimes very unstable persons such as the one who just had a supposed "meltdown" online, Michael Caputo. Not only did he not have any health experience relating to running such an important agency as the Health and Human Services, but he also had been a paid "image consultant" of Vladimir Putin before he became president. As Trump's campaign adviser was his only qualification. We are still uncovering the damage he incurred through the CDC.  

"The United States leads the First World in the following categories: prison population, drug use, child hunger, poverty, illiteracy, teen pregnancies, firearms death, obesity, diabetes, recorded rapes, use of antidepressants, income disparity, military spending, production of hazardous waste, and the poor quality of its schools (Paul Hawken, who published this list in Blessed Unrest, also points out that the U.S. is the only country in the world besides Iraq with metal detectors in its schools)." What Happens When We Teach Peace

The current administration has done nothing to alleviate any of these problems in our society. If anything, the vacancies created by dismissing heads of departments and agencies working towards solving some of them have only made things worse. Money spent on building the "Wall" that was to be Trump's legacy would have gone a long way towards ending child hunger in the U.S. The appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education was almost laughable. How can someone of her wealth and again, no relatable experience for the position, someone who never attended a public school, be of help to our "poor quality" public school system? We could go on and on listing the holes in our democracy that Trump and his collaborators have created. So many of the cuts made have been behind the scenes and done quietly. The regulations they have done away with in the Environmental Protection Agency is almost criminal when we view the damage being done to our air pollution, groundwater, and wildlife. The only solution Trump has come up with lately in regards to the wildfires is those states should be "raking their forests".  (Image from Punch Line)

Some political pundit recently said that we should be prepared for anything from Trump to upset the election -- even starting a war! So far there isn't a sign of that happening. He's too excited about being "nominated" for a Nobel Peace Prize! 

I know who I'm voting to be our next president. Maybe our next First Lady will consent to be Secretary of Education. 

Peace,

Marilyn