MYOB
a motto to live by
In case anyone is unfamiliar with this title, it is something I have struggled with all my life. Mind Your Own Business means stop being a nosey parker. And it has taken years of trying to live one day at a time to realize how much I used to get involved in and have opinions about other people’s lives. So forgive me if that is the first thing that came to mind when I awoke to the awful news on Saturday morning. How does a regime that touts America First become so intricately involved in another country’s governance?
I know that it is now possible for all of us to immediately research the background to this foreign policy action—and depending on the sources you use, the story will unfold to confirm or debunk your beliefs. I actually listened to the phone call that Dear Leader chose to make to Fox News (or Faux News as we think of it) first thing that morning, before his official presser at 11. Listening to the glee and downright lies was enough to ruin my whole day, but thanks to helpful family and friends I managed to avoid too much doomscrolling later.
But I had posted to my chat here the first reports, and I immediately got a reply from someone with a completely opposite view of the facts. And just now I was able to listen to a special edition of The Daily, a very thorough news show from the New York Times that usually is available only on weekdays. The calm recitation of events made it clear that the future is still very unclear. As the reporters said, the most unsettling remark made from the press conference was that we will be “running Venezuela” for a while. And of course, it happens that the new leader of that country (who was the Vice-President) is a woman, and the opposition leader is also a woman. So now Dear Leader’s rampant sexism is being torn asunder. What’s a misogynist to do?
Oh dear, I am rambling on. I wanted to make the point that sometimes the news is so horrific that we have to take a break from it. And also I wanted to note that actions are not often taken until things hit people personally. [Hence, MTG and now Lauren Boebert for various reasons are seeing the light.] I don’t know anyone from Venezuela, but I found a connection in that I once flew out of Stewart airport in Newburgh, and I also lived in Brooklyn and walked past the MDC quite often. So now this story has a personal slant which keeps me checking the updates.
But I also awoke this morning thinking about Hannah Dugan again. It still is incomprehensible to me that a sitting judge could be charged on a felony, when the option of a misdemeanor was given. Who influenced that Grand Jury to indict her with the jailtime-inducing charge? And she has just announced her retirement. What a travesty. Just as critics are now saying that many of the administration officials lied to Congress about the build up of warships near Venezuela, what will become of us if the truth is dead?
I was hoping to end on a positive note, but somehow it seems wrong. I will say that reading the Tom Brokaw book about the Sixties brings back many memories of the trauma we lived through then. So I guess we’ll make it through this one too.
RESIST ALWAYS
TTFN
Hello Katharine! I grew up in Panama, with the Panama Canal Zone, a U.S. territory sitting in the middle of the country. As a result, I am not a big fan of the Monroe Doctrine, and this takeover of Venezuela is like “deja vu all over again.” (The Late, Great Yogi Berra) The invocation of the Monroe Doctrine, and calling it the Donroe Doctrine rubbed salt in the wounds and added insult to injury. It will be very interesting - and frightening - to see what happens next.
I can remember when it was Stewart Air Force Base. That was in the 3rd and 4th grades when we lived in Cornwall and walking to school required me to cross a gulch on a fallen tree so I could take the shortcut through the wooded area.