Day 160 - too much news

 Today is the 6th day of the 23rd week, the 9th day of the 6th month, the 160th day of 2023, and:

• Coral Triangle Day
• Donald Duck Day - my favorite Donald is 89 today.  A rather sad story - I had gotten a Donald Duck pin souvenir from a WDW trip that said '65 and still quaking' and gave it to the CEO of C&F Bank when I got home because I knew both Donald and C&F were the same age.  Jack Whiteside took it and thanked me, but he looked at me rather oddly  A month later I found out why - C&F had been sold.
• International Archives Day
• International Celtic Art Day
• National Earl Day - created in 2016 to honor Earl Baltes
• National Marriage Day - long before the wedding chapels in Vegas, there was Elkton MD
• National Movie Night
• National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day
• Toy Industry Day
• World APS [Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome] Day
• Writers' Rights Day

Quote of the day:
"Everyone finds their own version of Charles Dickens. The child-victim, the irrepressibly ambitious young man, the reporter, the demonic worker, the tireless walker. The radical, the protector of orphans, helper of the needy, man of good works, the republican. The hater and the lover of America. The giver of parties, the magician, the traveler."

~ Claire Tomalin, English journalist and biographer

Dicken's Dream

On this day, 153 years ago, Charles John Huffam Dickens passed away.  This painting by Robert William Buss portrays the prolific author sitting in his library, surrounded by the many memorable characters he had created in the course of his prolific writing career.

He often pointed out the hidden cruelties of the Victorian society in which he lived in his writings, and he was an avid social reformer. who worked to call attention to and address the horrible labor conditions the burgeoning Industrial Revolution was inflicting on the lower classes.

There is a lot of news today that is rocking our country, and there is some pretty heated statements made complete with innuendos and downright lies.  Yes I've been following the breaking events.  Yes I have very strong opinions about what is going on.  But as I was digging around, looking at the different reactions, I unearthed a story that has made me very uncomfortable.  Ignoring the click-bait nature of the headline, the fact that violence rather than voting is needed to implement change is chilling to say the least

That there are people who would engage in violence to install DJT in office is not surprising.  On 01.06.2021 I watched with horror as a group of those determined people stormed the Capitol with the intent of stopping Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.  That even more of them feel they would defend DJT from legal proceedings is more troubling as it indicates not only do they reject the ballot box, they reject the judicial system as well.   Now granted, like everyone else I feel the rich and powerful get to game the system so they get away with things I could not, but to be willing to take up arms against it?

It is the responses to the other categories that has me worried - that many people are saying they are willing to take up arms for those reasons?  To "preserve the rights of whites"?  What does that even mean?  And no, I don't think "replacement theory" is anything but a crock of crap.  To "ensure members of Congress and other governmental officials do the right thing"?  Well I definitely have expectations of both elected and appointed officials that they will do their jobs with integrity and intelligence, and within the law - and when they don't do that way, I advocate their incarceration and prosecution, but I'm not sure that is quite the same thing.  Would I be willing to physically do battle for abortion rights?  Protest and oppose restrictions, yes.  Agitate and vote for those rights, obviously - did it the first time around.  But be willing to or condone the use of violence?  No.   

And now the question of would I advocate violence to "achieve political goals that I support."  That's a pretty philosophical reflection.  Haven't our soldiers taken up arms to defend democracy and freedom many times?  If someone tries to install themselves as President for life [ like Putin and Xi Janping have done ], then yes.  But the problem is the old one of the frog in boiling water - what if they just chip away at our safeguards so that it amounts to the same thing with sham elections?  At what point is it necessary to rebel?

All these are very heavy thoughts to take into the weekend.  I need a little less news and a little more of Dickens, I think