Sausalito This Morning
Focus
I swear I’ll only post what’s uplifting from now on but this morning I read a poem by Alison Luterman called Mockingbirds.
She’s talking about the debate and writes:
we’ve had some of the smartest women on the planet
in contention for this job, but no, it’s gotta be
two men who cannot seem to form
one coherent sentence between them
Women are the ones most affected by this election and yet we’re watching two old men. How can this be?
On the plus side, birds are singing this morning as a crescent moon lights the sky. My husband saw a mother and baby deer in our yard last night.
I focus on the words of Claude Monet, the French Impressionist painter:
I would like to paint the way a bird sings.
Today I focus on the way a bird sings. Pure delight on this last day of June, the flowering passage of the first half the year.
Emily Dickinson: The only Commandment I ever obeyed – Consider the Lilies.
Politics
I started reading Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest. It’s about the six months before the Civil War. He wrote it because it reminded him of today, and I’m drawn into it and see the similarities as to division.
I read Heather Cox Richardson as usual today and am struck by her emphasis on what Trump said. I never intended to bring politics into this blog but I feel things are at a critical point right now. There’s the Supreme Court corrupted by Trump and their recent decisions, and Trump’s connection with Putin. Read her today as I pull out a few paragraphs.
HCR: He said something else last night in his slurry of words that jumped out. Somewhere in his discussion of Putin’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022, Trump said: “Putin saw that, he said, you know what, I think we’re going to go in and maybe take my—this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream.”
She goes on to give Trump’s connection with Putin and his dream. You can read how it connects for yourself. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-28-2024
HCR: In last night’s debate, Trump insisted that Putin never would have invaded Ukraine on his watch (although Putin in fact continued his 2014 assault during Trump’s term, and Trump tried to withhold support for Ukraine).
Last night, Trump claimed that the Ukrainians are losing the war and described how sad it was that their country is being destroyed (without mentioning that it is Putin’s unprovoked war that is doing that damage). He also significantly exaggerated how much money the U.S. has contributed to Ukraine’s defense.
So when Trump last night said about the 2022 invasion, “Putin saw that, he said, you know what, I think we’re going to go in and maybe take my—this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream,” it sounded as if he had been in on the Mariupol Plan. And when he talked about how the war needed to end, especially in light of Putin’s recent “peace” plan, it sounded as if perhaps he still is.
And he promised, yet again, that he and he alone could get Gershkovich released.
The Democrats need to rally, and when they win expand the Supreme Court to correct recent decisions intended to destroy our democracy. It’s not a time for division. We need to come together, yes, with discussion, but also with resolve to defeat Trump, Putin, and the Christian Right.
I feel Ruth Bader Ginsberg damaged her legacy by not resigning from the Supreme Court so someone with her leanings could be appointed. We are in dangerous territory with talk of replacing Biden as though we might want someone younger, we might not agree on who this younger person should be. That aside, President Biden was rated 14th by the 154 presidential historians who rated Trump dead last. They rated Trump the worst of all the U.S. presidents and that’s really saying something as they haven’t all been winners.
The Democratic party has always been complex as they work to embrace a multitude of people and viewpoints. The issue of age is key in this election, key on both sides. We celebrate this country’s independence next Thursday, July 4th. May this not be the last year that we do.
Rebecca Solnit on the “Debate”
This is my last post on the debate, my last suggestion of a column to read. Because so much is at stake, because our democracy is at stake, I feel a bit obsessed with the debate. I, too, wondered why Trump claimed caring about the environment on the day his Supreme Court dismantled legislation to protect it.
One more read: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/28/debate-losers-american-people
More on the Debate
I suggest reading Heather Cox Richardson and her interpretation of the debate last night.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-27-2024
HCR: Tonight was the first debate between President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and by far the most striking thing about the debate was the overwhelming focus among pundits immediately afterward about Biden’s appearance and soft, hoarse voice as he rattled off statistics and events. Virtually unmentioned was the fact that Trump lied and rambled incoherently, ignored questions to say whatever he wanted; refused to acknowledge the events of January 6, 2021; and refused to commit to accepting the result of the 2024 presidential election, finally saying he would accept it only if it met his standards for fairness.
I was by the marsh today before an eye appointment. A Snowy White Egret, Golden Slippers, circled about drumming up food in the water and mud. How does each of us focus and interpret what we see?
The Debate
I watched the debate last night, all of it. What I saw is one man who lies and lies and lies and doesn’t answer questions about what he would do about child care, and who claims he is an environmentalist. If the world blew up with lies, it would have blown up last night.
Yes, President Biden stumbles. He let Trump’s lies get to him but that shows he is human, and we want someone with a heart in the White House. Having spent years in Toastmasters, I would have coached Biden differently, and wondered why he wasn’t told to slow down, and make one, two, or three points. I also would have said “my administration has done” to take the focus off of him, and onto the many people who support the running of the government.
A good quarterback thanks the team. This is not a one-man operation though we like to pretend it is. We want a frontman, someone who supposedly does it all but Ronald Reagan had Alzheimers and yet the country ran. I wish we could look at the content of what the Biden administration has done, and not a man who is rattled by a bully who lies. How many of us could stay cool amidst outright lies? Trump has made it clear he’ll put those who oppose him in jail if he wins. He almost makes it clear he won’t respect the vote count and system. He’ll try a coup again. This is frightening stuff, so let’s hope we can stay with the facts, and elect someone who cares.
I recommend you read all of Robert Hubbell today but I offer a taste.
Robert Hubbell: The hypocrisy and double standard is sickening. One candidate on the stage lied from start to finish. And no one is suggesting that he drop out.
Here’s my takeaway: Joe Biden learned a lot tonight. Every statement Biden makes from this point forward should include “convicted felon,” adjudicated sexual abuser, “hush money to porn star,” stolen classified documents, and Trump believing veterans are suckers and losers. Those statements are all true and they are what is necessary for Joe Biden to break through the constant stream of lies that spew from Trump’s mouth.
It is also clear that the debate format is broken. It is silly. It is unfair. But that is a topic for another night, not an excuse for tonight. In many ways, this is the start of the fight, not the end. Trump lied every moment he opened his mouth. We can deal with that when we are not constrained by two-minute alternative sound bites.
Hubbell suggests we donate to Biden’s campaign to show support, any amount shows support. Here’s a link to Hubbell’s Substack.
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
My heart votes for the heart that was on display last night, a heart that rattles and speaks the truth.
Love
This week my friend and colleague Karen Roeper gave an inspiring speech to the graduating class at the Roeper School in Michigan. The school was founded by her parents in 1941 when they were forced to leave Nazi Germany. Already involved in education, they came to America in 1939 vowing to establish a school that would educate children to participate in the world as caring, humane adults.
Karen’s theme in her speech is love.
She shares an excerpt from an interview with the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. He was asked, “If you could change one thing as Surgeon General that would be immutable for the long haul, what would it be?”
He responded: “If I could change one thing, it would be: I would want us to very explicitly, and unapologetically place love at the center of our lives as a galvanizing force in our society.”
He continued on to talk about how our current society is locked in a struggle between love and fear.
Karen quotes her mother from her 2007 commencement speech: “If you really love yourself, then you will love life itself and you won’t want to hurt or harm others.”
Buddhist Jack Kornfield offers a practice: “When you are walking around the world, see every person as once having been a newborn child.”
Yesterday I spent time in my neighbor’s beautiful yard which is an offering to serenity for all who come, plants, animals, birds. I share a taste.
Interconnectivity
In the last few months I’ve been in the desert area of Phoenix, the redwoods of Woodside, passed through the golden grasses of California hills and settled by the bay and ocean in Marin to watch the waves and tides move in and out.
These different landscapes are openings, portals, twined in diversity, offering expanded and different ways to participate, create and breathe.
Today I read Robert Hubbel. Timothy Mellon, who inherited a fortune of $14 billion “donated $50 million to Trump the day after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for interfering in the 2020 election by falsifying documents to conceal his sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels”.
Mellon wants Trump to be president so he doesn’t have to pay taxes to support the network that connects us. I find myself feeling compassion for him. How sad and tragic to be so isolated and deluded.
Maybe if we unite our hearts in sending warmth, love, and care to him, the ice floe on which he lives will melt and he’ll dissolve into the waters of this planet we share.
Inverness
We spent the night in Inverness in West Marin. Watching the tides and changing light, my brain tunes into vibration and movement, soft tones.
I’m reading Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice by David S. Tatel. Thumbs up!
In the Night
I’m up in the night with the moonlight and critters who explore in the dark, though this almost full Strawberry moon offers light.
The last few days I’ve spent time with my neighbor’s mother who is suffering from memory loss, or is she suffering? It’s her experience, yes, but there is an immediacy to it, a presence. Perhaps it is that she’s been through the anger stage of losing control, of not being able to live on her own, or drive, and so now there is a settling into gentleness, a tender rhythm.
I feel embraced in a softening sea as I lose fear around one more thing I might fear. Yes, it requires the help and patience of others, but perhaps there is a gift in it, too, a gift for the neighborhood as we absorb memories flickering like stars.
Steve and I were married 53 years ago on this day, June 19th. Now, it’s a legal holiday, Juneteenth, honoring the end of slavery in the United States. May we continue to honor and cultivate the interconnectedness that brings peace.
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