Posts published in “Rainey”

A couple of years ago, following extensive testing, I was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment - MCI.  A low form of dementia.

At the time, the neurosurgeon said he couldn't make a prediction for how much time I have left until the curtain closes.  Based on his long medical experience, he opined it could be a few months to a year to several years or maybe nothing would ever change.  No "roadmap" as it were.

In a subsequent conversation, he said the scores on my tests indicated possibly as many as seven years of decline.  But, even that "best-I-can-guess" opinion was followed by several disclaimers.  So, the upshot is, we don't really know how this is going to go.  Or when.

I'm not writing this as a search for pity or sympathy.  Rather, as a lifelong reporter, I want to describe how this journey goes as a "first person" account.  As long as I can.  Family "first lady" Barb has asked me to start a written log and make entries as I notice changes.  And I have.

Just this morning, I was trying to figure out what three bottles of unused prescription medication were for.  She told me.  Then she told me again.  And one more time.  At the moment, a couple of hours later, I don't remember what she said.  But, I can tell you the four-digit home phone number we had in 1948.  I can tell you our home address in 1945.  Long term things are very clear.  Remembering what we had for dinner last night, not so much.

Yes, I've done a lot of research about dementia.  Some is encouraging.  Some is frightening.  Causes are mostly unknown.  Cures are non-existent.  Outcomes nearly all a dead end.

But, there's room for optimism.  At age 89, life has been very good.  I've had my share of both ups and downs.  On balance, things have worked out pretty well. Some dementia patients live their lives with little difficulty.  Maybe I will, too.

No, it's not me that should concern anyone.  It's Barb.  And our daughters.  The ones who likely will experience an ever-increasing burden of care as my awareness changes.  If it does.  They're the ones who will feel the load - both personally and financially.  Caregivers, so often, have the tougher battle.  Being close but knowing nothing they do can reverse the symptoms or bring back someone they love who no longer knows who they are.  If it gets that far.

We've taken care of legal and financial matters as best we can at this point.  Necessary documents created.  Wills updated.  Outside financial and medical support researched.  Home health options examined.  Figuring out what remodeling changes may be necessary for security purposes.  Lots of little details that have never been important before.

One of the difficulties we face is trying to figure out if the changes in my life are because of the dementia or just old age.  Weakness, balance, weight loss.  Even memory.  None of us comes with instructions.  I don't have an "owner's manual" to refer to.  Is the new pain this morning age-related, caused by some dementia decline or just because I slept wrong?

Aging, we're often told, is not for sissies.  That is one hell of an understatement!  When we recently lived in a 55+ community, we saw so many people suffering from just about everything physical.  And mental.  Simply because of advancing years.  Even those who lived the "good life" and took care of themselves were weakened and disabled by a body in which the various parts no longer worked as they should.

No, I don't talk about this dementia business for personal reasons.  Rather, I do it as someone who has been a life-long professional reporter, a researcher of fact; someone interested in the human story.

I'll start - and maintain - the log of changes as they occur as Barb wants.  We've already got some back entries to insert. Will be interesting to look back as we go.  Sort of like comparing how we look today with old photographs of what used to be

I won't bring the subject up again in this space unless something significant occurs.  Which we don't expect.  But, as a lifelong student of fact, I'll try to keep a sort of "third person" attitude for as long as I can to monitor what has become, for me, an unexpected journey.

But, really, isn't that what's life's about for all of us?  Unexpected journeys?

If you can read that, you probably swear as much as I do and you know just what I meant instead of using the actual words. Those are not good, respectable words, actually.

I find myself using more "foul" words lately - more than in previous times. Our mass and (un) social communications are full of the foul and getting - er, well - fouler.

As a journalist/broadcaster for several decades, I usually know the right words - the respectable words - to use. I was raised in a home where "not a discouraging word" was used or heard. In short, I know better.

But, as a casual Facebook user, I'm amazed - and often disgusted - by the continual use of such printed words in postings. Both in memes and individually written texts.

Sometimes, the gutter words - f**k, s**t, pi***d and more - seem to be in nearly every post. They're used - and re-posted - by people I know don't use such words in their everyday activities. For some, they're probably repulsed by others who use them. But, we all know what they are.

They've become verbal crutches for a lot of folks who think their use makes you sound more angry or more "adult" or authoritarian. In the stands at sporting events, heard at an adjoining table in a restaurant or just used in otherwise normal, day-to-day talk or postings between acquaintances.
As a society, we've either become more accepting of their use or we've learned to ignore them. They add nothing to any communication so if you block them out, you won't have missed anything.

For most of us, the shock value - if there ever was such thing - has worn off. Maybe that's why they creep into our speech without a second thought. I read more of them in a week online than I remember hearing in a year, living on a mountaintop above the Arctic Circle with 50 other guys 60 years ago.

It wasn't so long ago the American public was shocked - shocked, I tell you - when Clark Gable said to Vivian Leigh in Gone With The Wind, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" Now, you hear a lot worse than that on your TV any night of the week. You can even watch "constipated" actors sitting on toilets or bears in the woods wiping their butts with the latest tissue. The goal posts for shock value have been moved way, way down the field.

The overall coarseness in our nation is an ever-present and growing societal reality. You don't like it. I don't like it. But, it's hard to escape. Politicians are using the "bad words" in speeches. (See old Trump rallies.) Older folks, raised in more restrictive times, now post or re-post online words I would have gotten a soapy mouthwash for at home. A lot of young people - who certainly know better - pepper conversations and texts with 'em. They're everywhere.

We've gotten way past "damn" or hell" or other such old expletives. And we're not going back. The new, casual, more common use of profanity has worked its way into our usual, everyday language. Most of us try to ignore it. Most of us won't use it. But it's ever-present. And we're getting inured to it.

Damn!

Congress and the rest of us are about to run head-long into the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding "free speech."

Ever read all those words?  Well, here they are:

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of free speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

That's all of it. Right there.  Forty-five words.  But, just four words - "...freedom of free speech" are the ones pounced on by everyone who believes that right, as it may - or may not - apply to them, has been tampered with.  And, while many people may make that claim, constitutional scholars by the dozens have hundreds of "legal" interpretations but no clear answer.  It can be awfully fuzzy.

Please note right here.  I've spent a lifetime defending the right of free speech.  As someone who's been a reporter/writer for most of 60 years, I've held my nose and defended some really terrible "free speech."  And, for the most part, still do.  But, there are limitations.

Here's a list of generally recognized legal limitations to "free speech" I came across the other day: obscenity (depends on context but not regular old porn), fighting words, defamation, child pornography, perjury, blackmail, incitement to lawless action, true threats, solicitations to commit crimes and plagiarism of copyrighted material.  Legal decisions have been rendered - and, for the most part, accepted - on all counts.  But, as I said, "fuzzy"still applies

Private companies - like the one who recently deleted all of Donald Trump's accounts - have a lot of leeway in how they handle users - DJT and others - including their own employees.

But, let's say you're a government employee.  Any government employee.  Your employer has the right to make sure your speech doesn't conflict with your job.  But, (un)social media has made it more difficult to regulate employee speech in a constitutional way. (Un)social media has blurred a lot lines.  Legal and otherwise.

So, let's consider what DJT said a while back which resulted in an attack on our Capitol. Were his words to a crowd of many hundreds, spoiling for a fight with Congress, really protected "free speech" as Republicans claimed?

Well, go back to the list above and see.  I find "incitement to imminent lawless action" and "solicitations to commit crimes" pretty well nails it.  True threats, too. You might throw in "fighting words" for a topper.  I don't think he's off the hook there.

When people talk of "free speech" relating to government, the issue is often turned on its head.  "Free speech" in the Constitution is really used to protect you from government punishing you for your speech - not the other way around.  But - and this is a big jump - the article citing "free speech" means government - and its representatives - are most often held to a higher responsibility to make sure what they do and say doesn't lead to unlawful actions.

So, again, "free speech."  Did Trump cross the line?  Did he abuse the right of "free speech?"  Did he use his speech to instigate or condone illegal actions?  My take is yes.

Trump has proven to be the false prophet so many of us - mainly New Yorkers - believed to be the case years ago.  A lot of Republicans in Congress - and I believe elsewhere - have recently thrown in the towel and decided that is a fact, too.  The defections in the House are interesting, especially some from the "hard" right.

While "Donnie" still has a corps of several million "believers," it appears he'll be too busy defending himself in one courtroom or another to "lead" effectively.  And, it seems, he'll be too busy scrounging for dollars to keep his heavily mortgaged companies alive.  Trump just has to be thinking that running for president was the worst decision he's made on his own.

"Free speech" finally got him.  Got him good.

But, look at the bright side.  He's got his own special place in our country's history.  And an asterisk beside his name, too.  Something no other former president can say.  Talk about speech.  And free, too.

How long are we - the majority - going to continue being confronted by a loud, discordant, foul minority? By an often times loud, discordant and ignorant minority? How long are we going to continue being "kicked around" by the too-often unknowing?

Think about it.

Example: There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. Many of them - NO - most of them seem to be honest, straight-forward, good people working in the bowels of government with the best of intentions. Most.

So, who do we hear about? Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, George Santos. Type the word "George" into your Google browser and see what name comes up first - without even a last name.

Liars. Loud mouths. Cretins. A handful of idiots in an otherwise necessary institution of our government.

Speaking of the House. What about those 21 Republicans - another minority - signing onto a piece of hate mail directed to the inbox of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg?

They jumped all over him with blame for the derailing of a train carrying burning tank cars filled with dangerous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. Demanded he get "his" National Transportation Board of its butt and get to the bottom of the calamity. Many of them even went to their local media to cast blame and disrespect on Secretary Pete.

Problem: Ol' Pete has no authority over the NTSB. It's a stand-alone, federal agency with no ties to the Dept. Of Transportation.

So you've got 21 Republicans - members of Congress - who have no idea what the hell they're doing. Ignorance personified. Seems a class or two in political science would be a good requirement - make that an absolute requirement - to run for any federal office. Another ignorant vocal minority. In writing, yet.

Or, the folks at Faux Neus - yet another foul, lying minority.

Seems their talking heads knew from the git-go that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. So, what did this bunch of cretins do with that knowledge of facts? Right. They went on and on for weeks, saying Trump won- that Joe Biden was not elected by the majority of us - that the entire election was fraught with cheating.

Now, thanks to a court filing of documents by Dominion Voting Systems in a billion-dollar lawsuit - whom the Faux Neus folk loudly claimed were responsible for the "fraudulent" election - we have their admissions of duplicity. In the words of Mr. Rupert Murdoch himself, who sits atop of their lying "food chain." And the emails and texts of his lying minions. All of it. Black and white.

The problem with the Faux Neus deal is that faithful watchers of the bilge-water espousing liars won't get the facts because they're still tuned into Faux neus. Still continuing to be fed a diet of B.S..

Or, all these Republican-dominated legislatures - all 21 of 'em - hell-bent on ridding their states of drag shows. Drag shows? Yep, while real issues of legislative import go begging, GOP-state-after-GOP-state is going after local drag queens. Another minority band of loud, idiotic cretins in Republican drag - er - dress.

Every day - day after day - we in the majority are doused with crap about another "loud, vocal minority" up to no-good. While millions of us - hundreds of millions - live lives trying to do our best, it's the vacuous, strident clamor of idiots - a minority to be sure - idiots we hear the most about.

This nation has state-of-the-art communications capabilities. Envy of the world. But, far too often, what's being communicated isn't worth the time to read or listen to it. Too often , it's mental garbage being propounded by a minority of fools aided by a willing media constantly running after ratings.

While our nation's founders created a great, living document in the Constitution, subsequent generations found it necessary to make specific amendments as the time changed. It's no coincidence the first add-on created covered freedom of speech.

The night Donald Trump was elected, I said to Barb, "Before the end of his term, he'll have pissed off everyone he comes in contact with.  Every one."   Being prescient isn't one of my strong suits but several years of evidence seem to make the case.

From individuals to entire nations, he's angered them all.  He seems to have a real knack for it.  But, there's significant evidence of a growing "push back" of sorts taking place.

Here's one.  General James Mattis.  Former Defense Secretary, lifelong Republican and someone whose 40 years of military service have been honored by just about everyone.  Except you-know-who.

Those who've followed his career know Mattis is Marine down to his camo shorts.  A professional who knows intimately  - and who lives by - the chain-of-command.  An order is given and his answer is always "Yes, Sir."  Even when Trump criticized and belittled him both during and after his Secretary of Defense posting, Mattis kept his military bearing.

But.  Mattis has written a book about his career and includes some hints of how he feels about Trump.  Not out-and-out blatant criticism but you get the idea when he writes "I found him to be of limited cognitive ability."  And several other verbal jabs.

Yet, while Mattis is holding his tongue - for now - it's likely we'll be getting a fuller picture soon.  "There is a period in which I owe my silence," Mattis said, referring to his post-Trump days.  "It's not eternal," he added, "And it's not going on forever."  Boda Bing!  Boda Boom!  My guess is about December, 2025.

Another case.  Trump criticized Faux Nuews.  Told his followers, "They're not working for us" and suggesting that a new and "more supportive" media network was needed.

Now, many of us figured Faux would knuckle under and "come to heel."  But, no.  Fact is, several of the major Faux players got up on their hind legs and told Trump they weren't "working for him." They got downright indignant and claimed media "impartiality" and told him they'd report the facts as they happened to be.

Putting Faux Nuews and the word "facts" in the same sentence has been - and likely will continue to be - an oxymoron.  But, at least they took a stab at journalistic professionalism for once and bit back.

Still more evidence.  The exodus of Republican members of Congress.

Lot's of 'em.  Many angry at Trump and tired of defending him.  The reasons vary but the flight is real.  Going into the 2026 election, Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take the majority in the Senate.  That is, keep all they have and add four.  Seemed out of reach.  Now, not so much.  Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Georgia, for example, seem winnable.  How 'bout that?

And more.  As Trump has fired former "best people," many have not just shuffled off to deserved anonymity.  Several have written fiery  books and others have taken to more respectable media to tell "the inside story" of White House chaos.  Some are even making big bucks on the "chicken dinner" circuit telling their tales to other Republicans.  Yes, Virginia, Republicans!

And this.  One night recently, little Donny Junior went to Kentucky for a well-publicized speech to the GOP faithful on behalf of the one-term, right wing governor.  Kentucky Republicans in Mitch McConnell's home state spent heavily to promote Donny.  Even rented a 7-thousand seat auditorium.  And when Donny went to the mike, he looked out on a throng of 200.  Yep, 200!  In Kentucky?

And more.  National farmer's organizations are coming unglued over the beating they're taking from Trump.  The same guy they backed so heavily in 2016 and 2020.  The tariffs - real or promised - are killing 'em.  Along with a couple of years of bad weather.  You can see the bib overalls on TV, night after night, swearing both at-and-off Trump.  Lots of rural vows of "Never again!"  Who'd a thunk?

And those examples are all domestic.  We haven't talked about other entire countries.  Some who don't even want him to visit.  The President of the United States persona-non-grata.  Media - and many politicians overseas - are skewering anything Trump related.  And, in those few countries still trying to keep up appearances, heads of state are plotting ways of dealing with Trump.  Or going around him.

Trump's continual back-stabbing of once loyal staff, supporters and entire countries continues unabated.  But, we're seeing more people openly turning on him and biting back.  Or staying away.  We're seeing once valued fellow-travelers taking open stands of opposition.

Still, there's that one last bastion standing with him.  Republicans in Congress who've every reason to dump him but lack the guts to do it.  He's still got the most dangerous politician in America - Mitch McConnell - riding shotgun.  At least for now.

But, as said at the outset, Trump has this one unique quality of turning friends into enemies.  So, a guy can always hope!

There is substantial reason to believe this nation will face more armed attacks on our institutions and - in some cases - attacks on individuals prominent in public life.

The University of Chicago has a program it calls "Project on Security and Threats."  That group ran a national survey earlier this year.  One finding: the number of Americans agreeing "the use of force is justified to restore Donald Trump to the presidency" increased from 4.5 to 7-percent.

Put another way, that's an increase from 12-million to 18-million Americans adults.  Up to eighteen million people believe taking to the streets - in some cases armed - is just fine if it means Trump can be President again.

The Chicago institute found the increase "likely reflects the response of a more intense commitment to Trump following the announcement of the federal indictments against him for mishandling classified documents."  Those indictments were announced about 18-days before the June survey and it's likely that timing had a direct affect on the polling results.

And, there's this.  Voices on the far-right are being raised again as they refer to the old Biden White House as the "Biden regime."  Federal law enforcement is being called the "Gestapo" on talk radio.  The Department of Justice has been called Biden's "personal police force."  Institutions like DOJ are labeled the "Department of Injustice."  Indictments against Trump are referred to as "political war crimes" and/or an "assassination."

There is public talk on "hate radio" of imprisoning Democrat politicians - even their families!  One of the loudest voices in that discourse was that of right-winger Charlie Kirk who talked of the outright assassination of President Biden.  Looks like somebody got to Kirk first.

It's the MAGA media wherein the audience has been programmed, by years of conditioning, to talk of such things.  To think such things.  What's out there today makes the late Rush Limbaugh and his imitators sound more like "pussycats."

If you haven't listed to "hate radio" in awhile, I recommend you spend about 15-minutes listening to the verbal diatribe.  I seriously doubt any thinking person can stay tuned longer than that.

Lest you think there are overstatements herein when talking of "armed" action in our streets, I commend the name Ammon Bundy for your deliberation.  Remember, he's already had armed experiences against the feds in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada.

Currently an Idaho resident, Bundy lost a court battle for blocking entrances to St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise and was fined 50-million dollars for his activities.  He didn't show up in court to defend himself and St. Luke's will never see a single dollar of that fine.  That's because he doesn't recognize any form of government above that of county sheriff.  We'll see.

Bundy, and other criminals of the far-right, are armed to the teeth.  It's just a matter of time before someone - or something - sets one of them off and there will be violence.  Shots fired.  Somebody killed.

Remember those 18-million Americans who believe "violence is justified" if it means Trump can inhabit the White House again.  Whatever it takes.

This armed resistance to authority has been festering for a long, long time.  Fires, stoked by "hate" radio and other sources, have kept anger and fear at near-boiling temperature for more than 40-years.  Now, the accursed Internet is linking up more of these haters using (un)social media.  And, the fires are burning even brighter.

Where the first significant outbreak will occur, who it will involve and how many will die are still unanswered questions.  But, there are many indications conditions will get worse and shots will be fired.

It's "duck and cover" time.

For God's sake!

Don't we have our "worry closets" full to overflowing these days with serious, national issues - truly worrying and, in some cases, world-threatening issues - without worrying about the depicted skin color of a cartoon character?

Yet, the national "dustup" cluttering the media landscape is the freaking out of the chattering classes over Disney Studio's depicting the lead in the "Mermaid" cartoon movie as a Black.  A Black half-woman, half-fish creature of our imaginations.  Seriously.  Skin color!  Of a fictitious fish!  Er, woman.  Or something.

My God!

It's a frigging cartoon, ladies and gentlemen!  Lighten up!

Would a white half-woman, half-fish, fictitious creature be more to your liking?  Would we have peace on earth?  Well, would we?

It's a damn cartoon, folks.  Deal with it!

I don't praise or condemn the Disney fantasy factory for making the cartoon skin Black or White.  Nor, I believe, should anyone else.  Any more than when Snow White was White and the Wicked Witch Black.  It's, frankly, not worth the time or concern.

We've lived with movie's messing with skin color and whole nationalities all our lives.  Remember Charleton Heston in Ben Hur?  A White chariot-racing "Egyptian" contesting the outcome with an equally White "Egyptian" bad guy.  Remember Jeff Chandler - the leading man in the movie "Cochise?"  White and Yiddish from birth.

Remember Amos and Andy from radio days?  Freeman Gossden and Charles Correll played the leads.  Both White.  Many other "Black" radio characters, too.

Arts and artists have played with our mental proclivities for literally centuries.  Remember Shakespeare?  Many of his female characters were often played by men.  And men by women.

And radio's "Green Hornet."  Kato, the Hornet's driver, was said to be Japanese.  Then, Philippine by birth.  But, when the movie was made, ol' Kato was Korean.

Whether radio, TV, movies or extra long cartoons, it's all meant to create fictional characters, nationalities and - yes - people of different skin colors.  In our minds!  Our minds!  Heston's being Caucasian - and Jewish - by birth detracted little from his role as a faux "Egyptian."

Ariel is supposed to be a mermaid.  A mythological sea character with roots going back as far as there are people who've sailed the world's oceans.  We've all grown up with one or more make-believe mermaids in our lives.  Until now, largely unnoticed as just another fantasy.

But, these days, when radio talk shows aren't ripping/praising Donald Trump, the talk often turns to Ariel and whether she's Black or White.  And vast social significance is placed on her skin color by people with half-vast ideas.

The conventional "wisdom" is Ariel is supposed to be a White, mythical character.  Which is being challenged by the other conventional "wisdom" that "it's about time Disney recognized Black people in the marketplace."

For my money, both conventional "wisdoms" are wrong.  Let it go.

We still call baseball "America's pastime."  Fact is, the majority of players are Black, Hispanic, Japanese, etc..  It's a game.

We see commercial after commercial on TV each night with one or more - or all - Black actors.  Nobody makes anything of it.

The last interaction I had with a Black American was probably 20 or more years ago.  But, it makes no difference to me if the Buick division of General Motors wants to sell me a new car driven by a Black or White character.  It's the car, damn it!  It's the car.

And, so it is with Ariel.  She's a made-up character - a work of fiction.  She can be anything your mind says she is.  Black.  White.  Blue.  Ten feet tall.  With horns.  Or long blond hair.  Or red hair.  Or green.  It's your Ariel.  See her as you see her - not as I do.  That's the beauty - that's the wonder - of fantasy.  It's yours.  And, no one else's.

So, give it a break.  Ariel would want it that way.