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 It was more striking than usual for me to reflect on the wistful feeling I had on this past Thursday. Remembering September 11, 2001 I found myself recalling those all too brief moments when the country gathererd together, United States. We had been attacked and We were in mourning. We were trying to find our way in a darkness that had not been felt for sixty years. Congress, United, stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang. Together. God Bless America. Indeed. 

It was not long after that we began to split solidly down the middle. We went off to war with some lingering doubts about who we needed to catch and subdue for those heinous acts that briefly brought our country to its knees. For nearly ten years we had troops fighting in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, just unfinished business on the part of the man whom I referred to as "Pinhead" for most of his two terms as "president." It wasn't until his successor, Barack Obama rode into town that we finally caught the guy responsible for planning the attacks on the World Trade Center. Nearly ten full years after the towers came down, Navy Seals brought Osama bin Laden down. 

For a fifteen minute period, there was a national catharsis. Folks celebrated ever so briefly before rushing back to their blue or red corners. During this time, conspiracy theories were fast and thick in the wave of a new stage for interaction we called "social media." Internet access allowed us to point fingers and hurl invective as we made up stories to suit our convictions. This blog sprang from that era. 

Twenty-four years later, the fissures that have only widened since that moment have raised the question of Civil War. Couldn't we all just get along? Recent events suggest that we are moving closer to the brink of an actual shooting war here on our shores than we have been for a century and a half. Historians suggest that America was far more divided back in 1861. I am not an historian, but I find this a little hard to imagine. The "radicalized" shootings of our fellow Americans make that difficult to digest. 

Meanwhile, the convicted felon at the top of Jeffry Epstein's list seems uninterested in doing anything on his part as "president" to bring the country back together. When I say "seems," I mean that he has said so. On TV. In front of people. On the TV network that he uses as his bully pulpit. When asked by the fawning sycophants on "Fox and Friends" how he might attempt to bring the country back together, “I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less,” he said.

Fourteen years ago, Barack Obama asked Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner to come along with he and Joe Biden for a round of golf as budget negotiations had stalled. I don't expect that Chuck Schumer will be getting an invitation to the links from the former game show host anytime soon. 

Additionally, if I believed that calling our current "president" by name would actually make any sort of difference between the two sides, I would consider it. As I wait for a sign, I'll be keeping my wits about me and keeping my head down. 

Stay safe, America.