Samain and the Shadow Moon (last session)
Thursday gratefuls: Marilyn. Rich. Ron. Jamie. Susan. Joanne. Close, loving friends. Alan and Tara, too. And, the Ancient Brothers: Mark, Tom, Paul, Bill. Dr. Josy and Natalie. Jackie and Rhonda. Grace incarnate, Godly people. Each one a malchut in my life. Shadow, the absent. Elk. Mule Deer. Wolves. Bears. Mountain Lions. The cycle of life among humans and their wild neighbors.
Sparks of Joy and Awe: Marilyn
Life Kavannah: Wu Wei Shadow, my Wu Wei mistress
Week Kavannah: Malchut Wonder. A feeling of surprise mixed with admiration caused by something beautiful or unexpected.
Being a metaPhysician
One brief shining: After a good night’s sleep, a long nap, and Marilyn offering to drive me yesterday plus my hernia moving back up and out of the way (reducing in medical lingo), I felt so much better, no pain in my left leg and hip, rested, clear headed.
The current disaster: Here’s my letter to the editor of the Washington Post commenting on the Hegseth/Bradley mess.
“I have a son in command in the military. I asked him about this. He pointed to rules of engagement which come, according to this article, from the “target engagement authority” which is Hegseth. In spite of the fog of politicians attempting to provide cover for themselves, Hegseth’s own statement that the Admiral acted within his legal authority condemn Hegseth, not the Admiral. I agree that the Admiral tortured the rules of engagement to justify a strike on men struggling to survive. Who’s responsible here? Could it be the toxic combination of little men playing war (Trump and Hegseth) entangled with the Special Operations ethos of getting the job done no matter what?”
Arcing back for a moment to yesterday’s post about humor as a moral compass, I want to underline the lack of a moral compass on the part of this whole administration. Absence of an ethical framework results in decisions made situationally, often with the heat of passion at the helm, rather than considered weighing of good and bad consequences.
Think Noemi with the family dog in the gravel pit. Think Kennedy mindlessly ignoring long established science supporting vaccines. Think Trump pardoning Hernández while waging “war” on Maduro. Think Hegseth, the dry drunk wanting more lethality. And getting it.
This administration makes decisions in the service of more power and profit for those in office and for those closest to them. We know it’s wrong. They may not. They may see it as the spoils of victory, reinforced by a stunning “mandate” at the polls. Trump himself, the beating heartlessness at the top, believes in garbage people and shithole nations, which implies of course that he and his are not garbage and that their nation is not a shithole. I beg to differ.
My point is this. An unpredictable, greedy and often ignorant leader at the top empowers the more cunning, the more ideological in his government to get done what they want no matter history, tradition, right and wrong. They all operate in their spheres with vastly different priorities and focus. No one reins in Miller, Noemi, Kennedy, Bessent, Hegseth.