April Update
It's been awhile since I've posted. Justin's situation is hard to write about, but I know there are people who want to know what's going on with Justin, my son. In truth, he is getting sicker and weaker. For awhile,he made great progress, talking, eating, and getting back into his power wheelchair. Then he started getting weaker. His left lung became covered with secretions, and he needed surgery to scrape things out. Then a CT scan revealed more new spine fractures (total of 7). After that, he just hasn't been able to get over the hump. This week, Justin decided to discontinue the weaning from the ventilator. He is on full breath support and can no longer use the voice valve to talk without dangerous oxygen drops. Pain medication has been significantly increased to help him deal with the pain. It's a tough thing for a 23-year-old to confront one's mortality. We will continue this journey with Justin to the end to the best of our abilities. We
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It's maddening, isn't it? They made a big stink about keeping President O'Bama from appointing a Supreme Court Justice because he was in his last eight months of office. Then they pull THIS!
I'm not sure when it could no longer be called a Democracy; my suspicion is it NEVER has been. They just did -- at least until R. Reagan took office -- a sort of half-decent job of making it LOOK like one. Ah, well. I thank my lucky stars I won't be around much longer to endure it. But it's looking more and more like Nazi Germany and I'm seriously thinking about where to run to. I've thought of going to visit my sister in Germany or going to Greece, but no one will let us -- Americans -- in.
I've been reading The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell and noted with interest he spent some time in the '50s (I think) in Taxco, Mexico. It was an artists' colony. I hoped to take advantage of having signal this evening to look it up and see what's become of it. Maybe IT'S the place to go hide.
Forty years later, I'm a lot more cynical, but it's still hard for me to believe that this country has enough voters to re-elect a man with Trump's values. The first time, maybe people were surprised. Now...as a country, we only have ourselves to blame if there is a second term.
The Nazi Germany parallel also weighs heavy on my mind. There is a short list of places elsewhere in the world that I want to spend time in before I'm done on this globe, but I was hoping that it wouldn't be to run from a country disintegrating into fascism. Biden is just an emergency brake; he isn't a solution to the damage that has been done. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238
It's a hype-less account of the loss of our liberties. His citation and brief discussion of The Patriot Act, in itself, solidified my concerns for the country's future. The fact that he's in Russia, of all places, is just incredible.