TRUMP...THE MOST USED PRESIDENT

Donald Trump, after only five days, is proving to be the most used US President ever.

Far from being a purposeful and decisive President, Trump has spent his first days doing the bidding of those corporations and wealthy men who recognize a stooge when they see one.

Yes, Trump has been busy. But does anyone really believe that this man of exhibition rather than substance is researching, discussing, consulting, debating or thinking long and hard on the issues on which he has taken action? Of course not. What matters to Trump the appearance not the actuality.

The issues facing Americans are complex and nuanced. Trump is not.

Yet already, in the first five days, without plans to deal with the consequences, he has approved two pipelines long the subject of controversy, required government employees to withhold necessary environmental and agricultural information from the public, begun the process of wiping out health care for millions, agreed to bring back torture, withdrawn from trade agreements with our allies, threatened to take another country's oil by force even if it starts a war, began moving an embassy which also may start a war and, well, the list goes on.

Each of these actions is worthy of the most serious scrutiny a leader and his/her advisers can give to the decision making process. None of these actions was anything more than theater for Trump.

Donald Trump is an empty vessel into which those with money and power, including at least one foreign leader, are pouring their directives and Trump plays puppet.

Beam Me Up

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

~Walt Disney

Tomorrow morning Al and I will climb in the car and travel three hours so that he can undergo an ultrasound and a fine needle biopsy. And then we will drive three hours home. A trip we have already made once. Eventually we will go back for surgery, requiring a multi-day stay as well. What's wrong with this picture?

The distribution and availability of health care, or lack thereof, continues to plague our country and our world. If you or your family have the means, distance is no problem. Steve Jobs received a new liver, not because he jumped over others on a list, but because he could afford to fly to all the facilities that kept lists; an action that was perfectly legal and recommended by his doctors. (Jobs lived in California where the wait was three times longer than Tennessee where he received his transplant.)

However, if you are just an average citizen, you face significant hurdles. Where medical treatment is available and how to get to that treatment can make such a decision life or death. This dilemma is especially true if you live outside a major population center. Those, as we are, who are semi-solidly middle class (but retired on a fixed income) jump in our car, spend extra time recovering from the stress of travel on top of the medical stress and, in the long run, hope we and our finances survive.

And if you are poor, well, everything is worse and often catastrophic.

None of this is news to any sentient being.

Today I am dreaming just a little bit. The big dream, of course, is fixing the health care system. But a smaller dream is fixing transportation. And personal cars are not the fix; although I'm open to self-driving, electric cars. Extensive mass transportation is the only way to level the playing field. Think buses, trolleys, trams, light rail, passenger trains, metros, undergrounds, subways, ferries, high speed rail, hovercraft, share taxi, paratransit or my long time personal favorite: Star Trek Transporter. Before you sneer, reread the quote at the top of this blog. We need more folks to passionately and doggedly follow the dream. Beam me up.