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Archive for the ‘Never Again’ Category

Rob Porter – Nazi Royalty?

Wednesday, September 4th, 2019

We have watched the arriving and leavings of Trump Administrative people and many conjecture as to why there is such a turnover. Mostly, the upheaval and ugliness of working at the White House for Donald Trump is cited. What is either glossed over or ignored are the dynamics that must be playing out when many of the people so involved and appointed by the Donald have a hate philosophy and political ideology to which they adhere.

We knew Rob Porter when he was a very small boy. Active, energetic, and into everything. He came to visit his grandparents. These grandparents were not publicly acknowledged as such but they were the people from whom came his mother. His grandmother was from Germany and spent several years in Austria when her father was Ambassador from Nazi Germany representing the Hitler regime. His grandfather was high up in that regime.

They came to visit from Argentina and went back and forth. From Argentina to the United States – always to visit their “daughter’ and her family.

In-between times the “family” met up in Europe or wherever Rob Porter’s mother was traveling to so they could spend quality time together and so Rob Porter and his siblings could get to know and stay in contact with their “real grandparents”.

When we were introduced the grandparents had Spanish names and spoke the language of Argentina. After a couple visits that dropped and they began to call each other by their real names. Something they clearly only did when alone or with friends.

Like many, they had a family secret, which little by little began to come out. Rob’s grandmother and grandfather had to flee Germany when the Nazi’s lost power and they fled to Argentina. His grandmother had a very small child – a baby – who she did not want to grow up with the stigma of being a Nazi, even though a very prominent one so Rob’s grandmother gave her baby daughter to a very close friend and took a step back. That must have been a profoundly painful thing to do because as we saw her – in spite of her Nazi training and leanings – her humanity and love towards her daughter was clear to see.

She talked about giving her daughter away with the expectation of not seeing her or her daughter ever knowing her mother, but as things turned out, they spent quite a bit of time together. They stayed with us often until the grandfather died of brain cancer. He came to the United States several times for treatment and we understand, after his death, his wife moved to the United States to be close to her family.

When I heard Rob Porter had a job which was so close to Donald Trump and he would know everything that happened in the White House, my blood ran cold. Why? Because we had many conversations with his grandparents and he was clearly exposed to a strong Nazi doctrine from a small child.

We had many conversations which ranged over the universe. His grandmother was very gracious and seldom engaged in anything other than talk on a general and surface level. His grandfather was taken with me and not in a positive way so in spite of trying to keep the conversations on a surface level he often let loose with his politics. The strongest of his comments which started such conversations came when I was holding forth, as is normal for me, on topics which run deep and not always positive towards how things work in the U. S. At first he was interested to know about the life of an African American in the U. S. After a few minutes, however, he always interjected as to how grateful I should be just to be allowed to exist in this country.

What made my blood run cold when I heard of Rob Porter’s job next to Donald Trump, working so closely and knowing so much about the inner workings of these United States, came from all that I knew about the political input that went on during his growing up years – from having seen how much he adored and how much time he spent with his grandparents who were definitely Nazi Royalty – and as time passed and people like Stephen Miller and all the rest began to surface, what I saw was a young man surrounded by those like him in an administration that reeked with Nazi influencers carrying out their basic philosophical and political beliefs, attempting to change this country to one in which they would be much more comfortable because the minorities of the world would either not exist or be kept in their place where they would be grateful just to be allowed to work for those who, following the Nazi Doctrine, were believed to be genealogically, intellectually, spiritually, and in their skin and hair color and texture the “chosen” few of this world.

Add to that a knowledge of Donald Trump as having spent his young adult years with his first wife and young children, having a copy of “Mein Kempf” next to his bedside and reading it every night the way most people read the bible and you have a lens through which to look at this administration which says it will spread evil such as this world has never seen before.

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Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃‬

Wednesday, October 31st, 2018

My heart cries out to you, O God,

others hear and feel their own – but you, O God, hear the pain on my heart and my life.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.
You, O God are omnipotent and gave me life
To you I owe everything.
Where are you now God that those who tried and did take the lives of my ancestors those dark days in Germany
are back today trying to take my life.
My soul screams to you, O God, as do the souls of those who escaped the Holocaust with their lives, but wound up
in a foreign land which rejects us.
How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land
How can we praise you, O God, when we escaped the Concentration Camps – the Pograms – the constant
humiliations –
How can we forget that when we finally broke free from the bondage which demanded and took the lives of those
we love, no country wanted us
We were refugees on a ship in the ocean not able to land because we were repudiated
No one wanted us,
Wealthy nations wanted the wealthy – they passed laws to only allow into their space relatives of those who were rich and who looked like them, talked like them, had the same values including the rejection of those like me – one of your chosen, O God, but to others one who they reject because of my love of God.  They wanted the young, those trained and able to serve their needs. They wanted those who would compromise their God for wealth, power and control.
We had been debased; we had been treated as beasts of burden and slaves
We had with us the elderly, the sick, those emotionally crippled, the destitute, those whose hearts cried because
they were afraid to let out their pain in any other way – the cost of others hearing and seeing their pain was too high.
The countries to whom we made our supplications turned us away and so we floated – with no food, no water, tired and desperate
Those same countries are killing us today and they are killing those who are not us, but who are unlike them
They come out and shoot us as they do animals and birds of prey only they are more careful with those because
they have a monetary value to them – we do not.
Those who arrive on these shores in the condition we were in all those many years ago are treated with the same disdain and rejection.  Has nothing changed?  Have they no shame?  Have they no soul?  Are they so enmeshed in evil they cannot overcome it?
They have not learned, they do not know!
O God you have searched me and you know me
Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men and women who are all around me and all around those you cherish
protect me from men and women of violence who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war everyday.
they make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s
the poison of vipers is on their lips
O Lord, I say to you, You are my God
do not grant the wicked their desires
do not let their plans succeed.
Let the heads of those  who surround me be covered with the troubles their lips  have caused
I know that God secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy
Let justice, O God, roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream
For today is replicated, in my land, the plight of the Jews during Hitler’s day.  But in this day others have been added.  Not just those who sympathize with the Jews, but those whose skin is darker; whose language is different; who are trying to sing Your song in a strange land.

Immigrants looking for a home, in this land,  are characterized as a “Caravan”  looking to attack a nation when in reality they are refugees seeking asylum, a place where they can find food, shelter and a safe place for their children.

In this society can justice be done by the victims of injustice?  That is who we are O God and we are trying to reach out to those who are in the space we occupied just a generation ago.

Is that possible, O God?  Can we continue living in a space also occupied by such pain and evil.

We will use our institutions to bring about justice and our lives to insure that others do not have to walk that Trail of Tears the way we were forced to walk it without food, water or shelter.

If that is possible, we will try, O God, so others will not have to serve and live the horrible life of slaves, who have been consigned to live as beasts of burden.

Thought I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.

you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes.

With your right hand, you save me.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh
when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
though war break out against me even then will I be confident.
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek God in God’s temple.
Of one thing am I confident –
that I will see the beauty of the Lord in the land of the living!
And in the end:

In memory of:

Maurice Stallard , (69)- Louisville, Kentucky                                                                                                                       Vicki Lee Jones (67) – Louisville, Kentucky

The Lord bless you and keep you

May  God’s face  shine upon you and be gracious unto you

May  God’s face be lifted unto you and give you peace, both now and ever more.

Numbers 6:22-27

The Manchurian U. S. Administration (cont’d)

Thursday, March 15th, 2018

President Trump has made it clear, on a daily basis, for all of us to see and learn from – one can live in a bigoted society and get feel goods from puffing yourself up to believe you are better than or you can live in a democracy – your choice.  You cannot, however, have both.

My guess is that Donald Trump has made a deal with Putin and Russia – he becomes U. S. President and helps Putin carry out his goals for these United States; Putin gets behind his candidacy and does everything possible to make that happen; and in return the “Don” gets his Trump Tower in Moscow at the end of his term(s) as president.

What does the “Don” have to do?  Take down U. S. sanctions against Russia; promote Putin as this wonderful leader and one we should befriend; carry out whatever side actions Putin lets the “Don” know are in Putin’s best interest and which he needs the U. S. to do immediately; and say nothing untoward – negative – or demeaning against Putin or Russia.

From where I sit, Trump is doing an incredible job of following through with his part of this apparent deal with Putin and is doing everything he can to turn the United States into a very autocratic, authoritarian, mean-spirited country.  He is following in the foot steps of the worse autocrats in history.  He is at the beginnings of that process, but he is moving quite fast and has accomplished much.

He has just moved a woman into the position of head of the Central Intelligence Agency.  Isn’t it wonderful that for the first time a woman has headed that agency.  However, on the other hand she is the one who headed turning a part of the Intelligence Agency into a very murderous, torture chamber for no good reason since it has been known for some time that torture does not get the results expected.

All of the laws which guaranteed a democracy are either being reversed or other laws are being added which make this a very ugly, fascist country.  The worst of our history is being replayed in the immigrant area.  We have been through refusing entry into this country of Chinese.  After the Chinese sweat blood and gave their lives to build at great cost to themselves and their families – our railway system and other low level, dangerous jobs they were forced to take to survive.  The Irish went through a horrible time complete with “No Irish need Apply”, amongst other denigrations and demeaning and horrifying times, some of which still exist today.  And on and on and on until you come to slavery of Africans.  I have to add Africans here because we do still engage in enslaving women in this country.

The ethics and moral values which so many families try so hard to pass along to their children have been short circuited by Mr. Trump and his administrations’ examples.  One can see the hand of one of Mr. Trump’s mentors – Roy Cohen – who in spite of being dead, still lives. Lessons the “Don” learned include the biggy – don’t ever admit failure.  If you have tried something and it fails, claim it as a great success, speak about your successes loudly so that people hearing will be swayed to actually think of where you failed as being a place where you actually were great.  I think Mr. Trump has forgotten as he lives out these lessons learned at Mr. Cohen’s knee that Roy Cohen died broke, friendless and living in squalid circumstances.

Mr. Trump seems to revel in his being president as the return of the “Alpha Male” – who is always at the top of society along with a few males not quite as great but walking with him as they make changes to the society in which they increasingly control everything.  As he moves along in his presidency along with his administration and the criminal enterprise we call the RNC, it is clear that they share some common beliefs:  1) the world’s rules, which must be obeyed, are those which keep men – white, Northern European ancestry men – firmly in control. 2) the women you select be careful to insure that they have been brain washed and are trying to and need to be better than when in actuality they serve the purpose of screwing men for the man’s enjoyment and are painfully screwed by the men for the man’s advancement. 3) Maintain the male god who is the keeper of this culture and of the rules by which we all live – rules which are there to keep men firmly in control.  The rules of the world have clearly developed to insure the total control of white, Northern European ancestry men over all.  4) Keep a watchful eye to make sure the developments and perceived advancements of science, religion, business, art are all led by and attributed to those same men.  Where it looks as though that is slipping, keep the young and the greedy roaming around to steal the advancements, ideas, vision of those non-white peoples.  Even some who look like friends – Al Gore claiming he was responsible for the internet when in fact that was a woman; Madam C. J. Walker who invented an incredibly profitable marketing system which she used to market hair products for African women and that marketing system’s invention and development were credited to men; and on and on it goes.

Where is the hope in all of this? Is there any light breaking into this world as it seems to be spiraling down into the depths of hell?  Especially since Donald Trump could not have done all of this alone.  There was a lot of history which preceded his presidency and a lot of people tuned into what he is doing and wants to do in the future.  Some of those people are ones who would be demeaned and destroyed if what they were working towards were to succeed and become a part of the structure of this world – these people seem totally oblivious to the fact that the success of their efforts will fall hardest onto them.

All is not yet lost, however.  We see light breaking in with the children –  During the Galilean ministry, Jesus’ disciples came saying ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And Jesus called a child and set the child in the midst of them and said, “Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever therefore humbles themselves as this child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And who shall receive one such child in my name receives me.  But who shall offend one of these it is better that millstones hang around their necks and drowns them in the depth of the sea.

However, that light is being mitigated by the darkness we see spreading as the rich become richer and the poor become desperate.  Especially as the rich see the poor as being poor because of some kind of moral deficiency when the moral deficiency is that of the billionaires whose greed keeps them from seeing clearly.  We move further apart as the riches of the world become more unevenly distributed, especially since it is not possible for one person to legitimately be worth billions while others live on the street.  That is happening to our world and it is reflected in our politics.  We want to insure that this trend continues because many of the poor are joining with the rich in bringing this about because they expect one day to be rich themselves and they want the kind of world that will shore them up and be prejudiced in their favor when their ship of gold comes in.

The work of the world is to take seriously Isaiah and all the other scripture writings that say in essence –

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

and a child shall lead them.”

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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you. Please also tell us if you want your name as your byline or if you want your article to appear without your name.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

 

We Stand with the Never Again Movement!

Tuesday, February 20th, 2018

It is unusual for a corporation or company or business to take civil rights stands or even political stands – although in fact, where they put their money and who they embrace as friends takes strong stands that the public cannot see and does not know about.  It is time for those stands to be taken clear, unequivocal and in public. Businesses and their public interest groups lobby Congress for all kinds of things to benefit their corporation and the communities it serves.  This time, stand up and stand with our and your children.  Make a very public statement that you are standing up for and with these young people.

Bettina Network, inc. stands with the young people who are the genesis of the movement against gun violence in Parklands, Florida.

We stand with the ‘Never Again’ Movement.

In the 1960’s the turning point in the Black Civil Rights Movement – the fight for equality which brought Martin Luther King, Jr. into prominence – was the point at which school children, very young school children, walking two by two walked into the dogs and fire hoses being used against those who simply wanted equal opportunity and equal rights .The detractors and those who fought against that movement took King’s life and the lives of many others.

Today, we have ignored those lessons and the lessons of the many other movements that went before to the point where our children are once again being called on to risk their lives, their education, the fullness of their youth to fight against those more interested in promoting violence, taking lives, doing everything except what is right in the control of guns to keep all of us safe.

It is enough!

It is time for every corporation in America and around the world to join us and stand with the Never Again Movement.

To bring a corporation into being – according to the laws under which corporations are created, the corporation is a person.  If that corporation has legal problems it has to be represented by an attorney just as an individual has to be.  All of the language of the corporate world shows the corporation is an entity that is treated as an individual and that enjoys protections and rewards under the laws of these United States, if they are incorporated in the United States – or other countries if they are created elsewhere.

Stand with these young people and support them as they call on Congress to stop taking money from the gun lobbies and as they outline where they are going and how they see themselves moving to save their lives and ours.  It is bad enough that our children have been made victims in this fight and now have to be the ones to take on the fight to save their lives and the lives of others.  Don’t be among those who leave our children out there alone fighting for themselves and fighting for each other.  That would be a tragedy and the crime of this society which should shame all of us.

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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you. Please also tell us if you want your name as your byline or if you want your article to appear without your name.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

 

 


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