Republican National Convention Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech

My Take on the RNC2020 Donald Trump's Acceptance Speech 

I wonder any of you have seen all four episodes of the 2020 Republican National Convention? 

As for myself, I watched the first episode out of curiosity, the second one towards the end to hear what Melania have to say about her wayward husband. 

I skipped the third one entirely because Mike Pence’s sanctimonious preaching, hovered over constantly by his mother wife Karen, the Karen of all Karens, often bores me to sleep. 

For the last and the least, I wanted to see how the circus barker Donald Trump juggled all those pandemic, economic and sociopathic hot irons he himself manufactured out of thin air, a virtuoso performance of and by itself.  He never disappointed. 

His speech was preceded those by a parade of men and women drunk with Trump’s brand of kool-aids spiked with hundred-percent-proof Russian vodka, especially one concocted up by his besotted Ivanka.  All suffered end-stage symptoms of Fake Patriot Disease, a performance issue where they could only raise their flags at half-staff; their Second Amendment infatuation and their gun-wielding urges were left half-cocked. It’s just not a good feeling, they would say, if you ask them. 

 ********** 

Here is my take on the RNC 2020 Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech in a poem: 

Time for the grand finale to hit the fan, 

In came the orange man in orange tan. 

Up waddled this fake man with pompous airs, 

And  heart seething with spawns from viper lairs. 

Jittery, fidgety flashed his tiny hands, 

Off teleprompts he took to his own stands: -

An arson’s creed to set the world on flame,

And glib conjuring of blame-shifting game. 

‘Tis a circus show none ever could live down: 

A court jester’s mad grab for monarch crown. 

His spews of garbage met with up-rolled eyes, 

The day Donald Trump won the igNoble Prize. 

********** 

My commentary on the RNC2020 Donald Trump's acceptance speech continues below: 

All in all, it was a four-ring circus where lots of spins, juggling, contortions, magic tricks, elephant parade, the disappearing acts and the escape-clause artists, trying their best to distract and deflect the viewing public from all those past transgressions that were Donald Trump’s and to razzle-dazzle their base. 

What is more, tried as they might, all those lion and tiger trainers, engaging in confusion, distractions, evasion, and all the tricks of their trade in their guild books, failed to tame the inner animal demons that have already escaped long ago from Donald Trump’s dark lair of a heart and still continue now to wreak havocs far and wide. 

In other words, the circus barker’s orchestrated, discordant concert of blame-shifting, deflection, avoidance, omission, questionable cures and various mind hacks have only reinforced the impression of Trump as an aging, blow-hard snake-oil salesman now exposed to the world. 

His first term has been a complete disaster. His dystopian vision of America in his 2016 inaugural speech has come to full fruition, beyond his own expectations. His indolence, neglect and dereliction of presidential duties endanger our national interests and security. 

His persistent insolence towards our rules of law and his outright violations of our Constitution threatens our democracy and the credibility of our public institutions. His Twitter-happy fingers and their proximity to the nuclear button often send the world and his senior officials into tipsy, topsy-turvy world of frantic frenzies and bewilderment. 

His words now strain credibility and the office of the president a laughingstock of the world community. His rule by proxies, cronyism, unqualified personnel and attack dogs create a government ungovernable and in complete chaos and unable to handle and manage incessant crises that often come our way. One glaring example is the pandemic that ravish our social fabric and render our economy, social well-being and health care system asunder. 

His mauling packs of attack dogs of white nationalists, supremacists, militia groups, racists and misogynists, fanned by and emboldened by the vitriol of some conservative TV and radio talk show personalities and conspiracy theorists, personally sanctioned by the president of the United States. They take to the streets and parade publicly in full military garbs and with military-grade automatic attack weapons. These “very fine people” deemed by Donald Trump, is the modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan and could be the brown-shirt stormtroopers of his future regime. Here’s the Trumpian dystopian future in a snapshot. 

The re-election of Donald Trump as president of these United States must not succeed. His second term not only would corral us down a dangerous path of environmental disasters, authoritarian rule, the obliteration of our Founders’ dreams, and the loss of our American way of life as we once knew it. 

It would also usher in the world a dark era of strongman rule and eventually would result in a world dominion of autocracy. The only major democracies in the world like Germany, United Kingdom and France would not be militarily strong and united enough to resist the territorial ambitions and militaristic adventures of countries like Putin’s Russia. 

The first country to feel Putin’s grab for territory conquests would be Ukraine, followed by Belarus, and then Kazakhstan, and Georgia, countries with heavy ethnic Russian population or strategic importance. His success would encourage other countries with similar ambition to subject the world to their horrific doctrine of what I would call the New World Colonialism. 

For dictators could not function in isolation, they need alike company to reinforce each other’s positions and to justify their strenuous hold on the people they enslaved. That we must not allow to see the light of day. So go out and vote Trump out of office and hopefully into an institutionalized facility. For our sake and the sake of our children and their children’s children and the world, please exercise your right and vote early!!!

#DonaldTrumpsAcceptanceSpeech #RepublicanNationalConvention2020 #RNC2020 #AcceptanceSpeech #TrumpSpeech

Star River Night (My attempt at Chinese poetry)

星河夜

斜陽西落別彩霞
燈火螢點照人家
一碧銀河浮天際
猶似春流飄浪花

(English translation :)
The westward sloping sun bids the colorful clouds farewell,
(Only by) The lamps’ light and flashing fireflies reveal the presence of human dwellings;
A (swath of) silver river floats above the blue horizon,
Just like its foamy sprays flutter upon a spring stream.


#ChinesePoem #StarRiverNight #MilkyWay ##MilkyWaySerenade #StarryNight #ChinesePoemTranslation #CountrysideNocturnal

© By Paul F. J. Chow 6/30/2018

A Tribute to Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking, you were a giant star that illuminated a far dark corner of our universe and brought to light our further understanding of its many deep mysteries.

He is a testimony to the enduring spirit of human courage and aspiration. He defied all odds and outlived some 50 more years after a diagnosis of ALS, a debilitating nervous degenerative disease at the age of 22. He refused to allow the restriction of his freedom of movement imposed by physical disability to limit the expanding scope of his mental ability to wander among the galaxies. All the while, he maintained his sense of humor and his enthusiasm and love of life. For all these, thank you, Stephen Hawking, Rest in Peace among the stars.

P.S. Some interesting facts about Stephen Hawking: he was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo Galilei and died on the 200th anniversary of Albert Einstein's birthday. I don’t mean to make a mountain out of a molehill, uh . . . in this case a galaxy out of our meager solar system. But it does beg the question: is there some truth to the claim of a sentient and conscious universe (aka panpsychism) as proponed by some scientists and physicists, an order in this seemingly random, chaotic universe after all?

#StephenHawking #panpsychism

On the life of Stephen Hawkins, go to http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43396008

Reflection on #EarthDay 2017

Whenever I can, I often remind myself to put
my Body in the solace embrace of Mother Nature,
my Spirit on the uplifting flight of Music,
my Belief in the sentience & sanctity of All Life
my Hope on the redeeming grace of Mankind,
my Faith in the regenerative power of Planet Earth,
my Life's Pilgrimage on steadfast guide of my Purposeful Compass,
and my Soul in the beneficent hands of All-That-I-Am, One-And-The-Same!

When we say "Save Our Planet", we are actually saving ourselves. Earth has survived many cataclysms before during its formative years without us, countless of asteroid bombardments, upheavals of land masses, volcanic activities and climate extremes. Life always finds its way, whether we are going to be in that picture in the future is entirely up to us.

Stop #ClimateChange, Reduce #CarbonEmissions, Plan #UrbanDevelopments, Increase #OrganicFarming, Control our #Biomass with #ZeroPopulationGrowth, Tread lightly on our own personal #CarbonFootprints.

The gifts and gists of the world's Great Faiths

My 2011 holiday season message to urbi et orbi and to all my friends and unfriends, known, unknown and yet-to-know:

The Gifts and Gists of the world's Major Faiths* and an emerging new one, as I see them:

Do unto others as I please - Atheism, circa time immemorial.

Do unto others as my god pleases - Polytheism, since the birth of human "god concept"; and Hinduism, circa 1500 BCE.

Do unto others as Moses would have chosen to do unto each other - Judaism, circa 1000 BCE.

Do Nothing – Taoism, 6th century BCE.

Do unto others as Yourself. – Buddhism, 563BCE.

Do not unto others as you would not have others do unto you. – Confucius, 551BCE.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. – Christianity, 1st century AD.

Do unto others as god’s rejects. – Satanism, circa birth of Christian faith, there is always a Bad One as a counterpoint to the Good One.

Do unto others as Muhammad would have done unto others. – Islam, 570AD.

Do unto others as I know best. – Agnosticism, first coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869.

Do unto no other as I would only do unto Myself. - the Religion of "I", the narcissistic new faith of the new millennium.

Do forgive my King James English, but in my usual, self-effacing way, I want to import unto you the solemnity of these pronouncements!

**********************************

On this coming holiday season, I wish you all a Joyous Holiday and a Happy New Year!!

For those who observe Christmas, let’s not forget the main message of the birth and life of Jesus of Nazareth: "Judge not, so you will not be judged! Love thy neighbors as thyself, and love God above all else!" For mere mortals and less saintly people like the most of us, the “Love thy neighbors” part is quite a tall order to fill, unless thy neighbor happens to be a supermodel type or a Greek god hunk, whichever your taste leads you. Even then, that loving feeling won't last forever. Especially if she is a high maintenance type or he is a real bad, bad boy and has a bad case of roving eyes. Failing that, at least make peace with each other Or yourself. Don't we claim we are all children of the same god? Or we can go at each other like a fully dysfunctional family with maximum sibling rivalry on display. A la Abel and Cain?

As to "Love God above all else!” what is not to love? He is The Man who holds all the trump cards, in one hand a vessel full of grace, in another, hellfire and brimstones. But thank God that is only the Judeo-Christian tradition, Nicene Council-edited, King James Era English translated Version. The true nature of God can only be understood through personal revelations, with help by learning from experiences of great sages and thinkers, including those in the Bible. Having said that, the messages of Jesus' ministry are undeniably timeless and universal and contributed greatly to the civilization of humanity. Without him, we might probably still be howling at the moon, pillaging in packs, laying with sheep and breeding inbreds.

P.S. Sssh...Let me let you in on a big little secret, my little big holiday present to you, so to speak. I have an insider-trading informant that gives me reason to believe that our current, most Christian and esteemed U.S. Congress is actually practicing Atheism and Taoism. More often Atheism. How scandalous! So un-American! We should indict all its members before the House Committee on Un-American Activities! Since we believe in "Judge not, so you will not be judged!” we will not sit in judgment on the committee proceedings, so let them ... uh ... let them do unto themselves and see how they like them forbidden apples! If they still don't do right by them, then it's time for us to clean house.

Further more, some elements within certain monotheistic faiths are, in fact, practicing Polytheism! How sacrilegious to their own self-appointed mouthpieces of god and self-anointed high priests of their faiths! How especially unctuous to the shamans, the brahmans or the lamas to the children of lesser gods! These religious functionaries think only they have exclusive rights to the "Do Unto Others" litany of sacred rites, injunctions and oracles. Especially dangerous are those clergies who, by proxies or edicts, assume the holy trinity role of the judge, the jury and the executioner.

*My definition of "major faith" is based on their major effect on the current world population.

The real B.S. . . . uh . . . oops . . .I think I have a Rick Perry moment . . . I meant the real P.S.: My above rambling hopefully will be interpreted by my gentle readers as my humorous and illuminating take on current state of U.S. government gridlocks and religious strife in the name of God.

Most, if not all, religions were born during turbulent times of our human history, when seers and prophets were popping up like mushrooms after a great storm. These religions were created to tame the inner beasts within all of us, to establish moral codes and acceptable conducts within a certain culture. Before long, the zealous converts within the new order religious leadership started to create legends and myths around their religion to safeguard the founder’s legacy and to lay claim that theirs and only theirs alone was the true and only faith sanctioned by God. Along the way, the original intents and teachings of the founder got twisted and corrupted for sectarian, political or xenophobic reasons.

Gradually religion becomes synonymous with culture. When I am talking about cultures, I’m not talking about the ones that grow in your overstuffed holiday refrigerators, mind you. I'm talking about cultural traditions and customs, the ways of life. Today's religious conflicts are conflicts of cultures, with some cultures thinking that their ways of life are losing to influences from outside.

If the Roman Catholic Pope were to proclaim in his "urbi et orbi" annual message an edict to cancel Christmas, the world's mercantile industries would be up in arms and sales receipts in opposition, and would denounce His Holiness for practicing Agnosticism. Forget about the military-industrial complex. Let talk about the religious-mercantile complex! This is where the money that makes the world go ‘round. For example, when you buy an electronic gadget in the good ole U.S. of A. at Christmas, you have a design engineered here in the U.S., mineral resources imported from Africa, components made in China, technical support from India and the profits go to off-shore banks in the Cayman Islands. You don't want to step on them hundreds of dollars a shine Gucci shoes or the humble satin-lined fisherman sandals. This Christmas cancellation business might even provoke fierce revolt from Christians and some non-Christians alike; "the most wonderful time of the year" has been associated with so many fond, alcohol-fueled, eggnog-soaked memories. Now, that is culture to you!

I'm not against organized religions; they give some people a sense of belonging, sharing and fellowship. These religious gatherings foster camaraderie, cooperation, reciprocal supports and mutual aids. These are essential spiritual foods that nourish the human souls. These are the stuffs that a healthy society sustains itself and thrive, without them it will not survive. It is the dogmas, injunctions and exclusivity enjoined by the head honchos of some organized religions that breed ignorance, intolerance and suppression of freedom of expressions that are detrimental to the human spirits.

Most religious adherents, however, are sincere and wise enough to discern the true meanings of their founder's messages from those enunciated from the pulpits. “An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy”, as a proverb goes. So listen to your mother and eat them vegetables, they give you more moral fibers than any clergyman ever can. Uh. . . now I am digressing. Hopefully these genuine followers of their respective faiths will continue to contribute to the civilization and enrichment of their own cultures and future generations. The alternative will be totally unthinkable, short of reverting to the howling-at-the-moon habits as of olden days, the hapless golden days of savage customs of yore. (I did a little Christmas song parody here, didn’t I?)

As for Atheists, I don’t doubt their sincerity. But in the end, their philosophy is an exercise of intellectual indulgence. The human species has come a long way on the evolution tree and finally achieved the self-proclaimed title of Homo sapiens, the rational man. An adult human brain weighs about 3 pounds and takes up a space of about 85 cubic inches on an average man. From this small confine of a structure sprung a civilization that is a marvel to behold. It is capable of building magnificent architectures, inventing amazing tools and composing masterpieces of arts and literature as testimonials to its own greatness. It can achieve all these things because of its capability for symbolic consciousness, the ability to communicate with mutually agreed symbols, i.e. written languages. When recorded down, the accumulated knowledge of past generations passes on to the next.

But all our human languages have their own limitations when coming to describing what even our limited senses are conscious of. Even a beautiful, colorful and continuously evolving language such as English has to borrow phrases from other languages, such as déjà vu from French, face-saving from Chinese, schadenfreude from German and mathematical symbols from Arabic. But when comes to describing non-symbolic consciousness, we are at a loss. Our human mind is only capable of understanding the concept of the four dimensions: the three-dimensional space and time. Beyond that, an average human brain has problems of comprehending them, except by theoretical physicists in mathematical equations. To say there is nothing out there beyond what our human brain can comprehend is presumptuous. Even one of our greatest rational men, Albert Einstein, when presented with the theory of Quantum Mechanics, incomprehensibly murmured, “God doesn’t play dice.” He implicitly acknowledged there is a God. The greatest test is when a plane, completely filled with leading members of the World’s Atheistic Society (an hypothetical one, I hope), is about to crash, I will bet that more than 99.9% of these atheists will drop down on their agnostic knees and pray away, in whatever face-saving languages they comprehend. What a schadenfreude moment! (I know I shouldn’t have gloated on this hypothetical misfortune of others, but here I was at the grace and mercy of my Muse, and she commanded, “Write!” And so I did, for illustrative effect. Another déjà vu instance.)

As for myself, I am open to the teachings of all faiths. Philosophically, I tread the middle path, the Golden Mean, the way of the Tao (harmony with the universe) and the Buddha (self-realization). Not too hot and not too cold, just as Goldilocks likes it, as they say. Where am I spiritually? I am still looking forwards to the adventures lying ahead, strolling leisurely down the roads taken, through hills and dales, climbing every mountain, fording every stream, always navigating guided by my own higher, purposeful compass, occasionally getting disoriented in the woods, sloshing my way through rains and snows, basking in sunshine and cool breezes, never failing to stop to smell the roses, taking in the grandeurs and wonders that is our world, witnessing the myriad interplays that are dramas of life, trying to remember it is not the destination that counts, it is the journey.

For more information about me, please visit my web site at www.pfjchow.com. Thanks.

So, on this holiday occasion, I wish you Peace! Brothers and Sisters, Peace! ;-)

Happy Birthday Anniversary! Jesus of Nazareth!

A Night of Madness in Paris

All the people of the free world stand with Paris and the French people in solidarity during these dark days of sadness. A dark shroud of madness descended on Paris yesterday, but it failed to smother the bright lights of liberté, égalité, and fraternité in a city known as the City of Light. Hopefully the French people will not lose sight of their national aspirations and come through this tragedy with these lights shining ever brighter in its aftermath. These lights epitomize the common basic human values shared, aspired and reflected by majority of humanity.

It is sad that a few ignorant, misguided youths, severely misled by a few extremists amid their religious leadership, blindly carried out such senseless and heinous acts of atrocity, where innocent lives were taken to make a fruitless point. Their senseless acts will not only cast a bad light on their own religion in general but also unfairly jeopardize the waves of refugees seeking asylum from the strife-weary, war-torn Middle East in particular. A political backlash will come from the extreme right in some host countries to turn away those desperate souls seeking a better life in Europe and elsewhere.

From the political viewpoint, we the Americans, have more in common with the French than with the British. Our Founding Fathers based the United States Declaration of Independence and the country’s Constitution on the same universal principles of human rights similar to French national motto. Although we are still found wanting on the fraternité side; and Katharine Lee Bates tried to address that with “And crown thy good with brotherhood” in her beloved patriotic song, “America the Beautiful.” We still have quite a way to go before we get there.

Even our Star-Spangled Banner is sometimes called the "Red, White and Blue", the same colors as the French Tricolor. While the British brought us mad King George, class system snobbery, Puritan’s religious fanaticism, puritanic prudery, watercress-cucumber tea sandwiches and the Boston Tea Party, the French people gave us Marquis Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, the Statue of Liberty, laissez-faire, joie de vivre, French fries and champagne.

What would party rock to, without that ethanol buzz? English tea? Give me a break! Instead of those snobbish, upper-classy British tea sandwiches, the French gave us another simple, popular Bourgeois fare, the French fries. What would American lunch do, without those gluten-free carbohydrate fix? I shudder to think.

"Champagne and greasy French fries," you asked "what kind of food and wine pairing is this? Is that the best you can think of? Out of so many fine, heathy French cuisines and drinks Julia Child had shown us? Obviously, you are no connoisseur of fine French gourmet, are you?" Well, that maybe so, but mine is a greater version of the great French paradox, like the coupling of a commoner, Kate Middleton, with the British crown-aspirant, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of the House of Windsor, aka Saxe-Coburg und Gotha cum Mountbatten. That's both a big mouthful, if you ask me. The name and the house, that is. Well, there is no confusion there. It is not like the name is your average John Smith. With 20 possible (conservatively) popular names for each of the 4 name placeholders, the probability of another person having the same name would be 1 in 20 to the 4th power, let alone a prince. Ditto with the house name, hyphenates notwithstanding.

Rarer still, if you were named after the country's patron saint by a fervently patriotic and religiously devout parent, you would be called George George George George of the House George-George and George with George, and a title apropos, the Dude of George. Did his parent bite off from the royal trappings more than George George George George can chew? I would say so. That was quite a big bite, believe me you. By George, he almost chokes on them every time he opens his mouth trying to announce his own name and nearly runs out of breath just by briefly mentioning it. Poor George George George George of the House George-George and George with George, the Dude of George! Whew!

Now, between the commoner and the prince, which one is the fine sparkling drink and which one is the plain, common snack in their relationship? Well, your guess is as good as mine. This food pairing is an acquired taste then. It just needs some getting used to, that’s all, especially for the British upper-crust’s stiff upper-lips’ taste buds. The commoner and the prince, that is. For some stiffer upper-lipped crème de la crème nobility, it is more than a French paradox, it is the pollution and dilution of the English blue blood, like serving champagne over ice, a severe affront of proper protocol, tradition and taste. Foods do get into your blood stream, you know, especially quicker when coupled with alcohol, hence the dilution and pollution bits. Well, there is always a first in history. Once a precedent is set, certain history is bound to repeat itself. All I have been saying here is about pairing of French fries and champagne. Yes?

To each his or her own taste then. Champagne and French fries, anyone? It is on the house, if you guess the name right. Or see if you can just say it in one breath. OK then. Let’s par-tee! Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Faire la nouba! C'est la vie! And bon appétit!

P.S.: Fight terror with humor!

#PrayForParis #StandByFrance #FrenchNationalMotto #JeSuisParis #FightTerrorWithHumor

Take Down the Confederate Flag from Public Grounds

The Confederate Flag, has long been the symbol of defiance of the pro-slavery south. It is a mockery of human decency that it still flies on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse. This gives the flag legitimacy. To African Americans, it still instills unease, fear or even terror. It is a flag under which many white racist groups rally their battle cries of murderous hate and white supremacy.

Some in the south claim that the flag represents the South’s self-assertion against the North’s over-exertion of federal power over state’s rights. It is part of the South’s heritage. But history has rendered its verdict, this self-assertion was based on a wrong and unjustifiable cause, an immoral cause that tried to justify the subjugation of one human race over the other. The Confederate Flag is the symbol of that cause. The Southern heritage is one all Americans should be proud of, it is part of the American cultural landscape, but the Confederate Flag is not one of them. The flag is terra cariosa, in Latin, rotten earth, a gaping gash of quick sand on part of our cultural landscape we should be wise to stay away from. It is an abyss from which one should avert one’s eyes, lest one would be lulled into its hateful embrace.

The Confederate Flag, as well as the Nazi Germany Flag and the Japanese War Flag, should all be relegated to the dark of recess of the World’s Museum of Regrettable and Forgettable History. But the heinous and criminal acts committed under those flags and the lessons learned from them must not be forgotten, like stubborn weeds, they would sprout their tendrils of hatred and malignancy if we were not vigilant at all times. #TakeDownTheFlag