Arthur Szyk's scroll of the 

Covenant of the League of Nations.

Paris 1931.

We persist in hoping

“…Westphalia”

*I ranted this in the early weeks of the current 4th World War.

Being a history fan an observation. It seems that Europe is now more united and agreed on one issue than it’s been since the Treaty Westphalia in 1648. This they thought would finalize European borders…sorta. The EU and NATO which traditionally agree on nothing. Now agree, except for the literal Nazis the run Hungry. They agree that Russia should be thoroughly dipped in ten shades of shit.

Granted the EU hung Greece out to dry after shoving her under a bus…several buses and a number of steam rollers. However even them Greek guys buy that short of nuking it. They too want Russia’s economic head in a bucket.

The Fourth European Tribal World War as some have noted is underway. No one at this point would be at all surprised if we wake up to chemical warheads launched. Still others expect the odd battlefield nuke to be added to the seasoning before this round is over. * ...still do. 

*On a personal note. I’m too fucking old for this shit.

"...kind"

 

About folks helping elders. I’m 72 still okay gots my marbles and can wander about. Sometimes though there a few problems. Which is why I’m so heartful when sometimes my building neighbors knock and look in on me. Making sure I’m okay and if I need anything from the store. I read it’s going up to over 90f tomorrow. I remember a few summers ago, I forgot my hat and water during a heatwave walk. I was dizzy about to fall. Fortunately, I was near my local library. …above. These are used as heat shelters in NYC.

Two young college volunteers saw me ran over and helped me up and walked me into the building. The librarians were kind got me water. One asked if I’d like something to read. I thought and asked for the ‘Portable Walt Whitman’ the Penguin edition. Wasn’t expecting it tho’ anything like it would have been fine. In a few minutes all smiles she came back and handed me that very volume. I’ve been wanting to share that story. People at heart are good.

Life is hard complicated but folks are still kind.

Been there.

Especially that last bit.

Only for me it went on for six months.

Still have flash backs.

 

 

As for the Fourth World War in Europe. The Cold War I've read is now considered the Third War. It's settled into a Stalingrad meat grinder. Both sides losing vast numbers. This in the east and with random Russian rocket hits in the rest of Ukraine...just to let folks know they're still around.

Besides the usual looting murder rape of civilians. There's the growing evidence of torture and murder of Ukrainian POW's. Russian grunts post TikTok and Telegram footage of themselves doing it. Gets better.

It's being noticed that the Russians abandon their wounded and dead in the field. However, they take the boots from KIAs even the abandoned wounded. Seems they need the boots. That and dragging out 30 to 50 year old tanks from storage. They can't quickly repair or replace modern equipment. 

Also they're stalled. Months of hard murderous fighting and their advances are measure in just a few miles. 10/20 miles here and there. Two cities taken a handful of towns...which they are now losing. One city is on the cusp of being re-taken. The Russians within surrounded and their escape bridge blown up. 

With large counter offensives coming armed with new NATO rockets planes and big guns...the shits in the wind. Late summer into fall. Russia has already lost, and they know it. This puts Nukes on the table.

Putin is dying or at least very sick. This war is his legacy project. He may not be clinically insane, but he's at least as nuts as Trump. Recall how #45 admired that Putin could just kill his personal enemies. When he's re-elected in '24 I expect him to do the same.

Putin like Trump doesn't like to lose. He's fought five wars to take back fallen away parts of the old CCCP. Toss in Syria for practice in leveling cities and use of chemical weapons. He gets what he wants. 

One guy not the Courts not the branches of government not even the Army declared war. Nobody wanted it except him. He went in bombed everything to shit and everybody went along. 

Russia has always been ruled by absolute autocrats. So they're used to doing whatever deranged shit they tell them. It has never had a real democracy has never had a peaceful change of government. As they say you get the government you deserve.

Putin's national press daily celebrate the idea of nuking Ukraine and NATO into submission. They broadcast maps of the new Greater Russia which goes from the French border to Siberia.

Unlike them we just steal oil do cultural imperialism. Export bad movies porn and crime. Which is cheaper with less piles of bodies. Everybody wants to be the fantasy version of an American. Nobody on fucking earth wants to be Russian.  

Okay maybe if you shoved a shotgun barrel up their ass without da grease they might agree. ...but it would be a close thing.

Getting to the nukes. Putin will do it if that's the only way he can win. The wild card is if the order is refused. As there's rumors that if Trump went nuts a nuke order from him would have been ignored.

The short form: We're fucked.

I want ice cream.

I'm home.

Quiet.

 

"...咲良"

Sakura (咲良) inspects my nice clean floor. 

I just polished...she approves.

 

 

A trail of dusks.

 

"...our lives and times"

My radio friend Larry passed.

Several have left this year.

Haven't the poetic wit to describe.

Life goes on.

The Earth Abides.

 

 

"...like last time"

Folks can be kind on a person to person level. Sometimes. I want to be positive. I think most want to be some even try. These days I feel fearful I'm brave in my way but the fear of where we're headed is there.

If I could I'd shut off all news platforms chats and sites that hate and fear monger.  Fat chance since it's near all of them. But if I could I would. The First Amendment isn't a suicide pack. I can't believe I'd say such, but the times have shoved me close to it.

A new war in Europe as fierce as World War II. The endless variations of plagues. The city I live in has an epidemic of assaults and murders. This plus the everyday human stupidities and horrors. Not too cheerful tonight.

What with Nazis being mainstreamed around the world again. Albeit under different names and brands. There was an international Bund rally of extremists in Hungry. A U.S. republican party delegation attended. Given that I feel like a Queer in most of the non-western world or a Jew in Poland or anywhere in Europe in 1936. 

I know they're coming. In our case in the American version. I can see large moving vans packed with the usual suspects. Long very long convoys of these headed down the Interstates to their final destinations. Folks will see them know what they are...shrug and go about their business.

Like last time. 

 

“…totems”

 

In a throwaway culture what becomes of our everyday utensils. These cast into industrial Potter’s Field’s. During my wandering Houseless year most of my possessions went there. Items of paper wood, and all, but eternal plastic.

My former companions sleep the centuries. Waiting for cultural anthropologists and their underpaid grad-students. Discovered un-earthed mis-labeled and thereby earn tenure.

Such a fate for my dear little ones.

31st century wonks won’t know she’s Malibu Barbie. Once an Empress of nations. They’ll be digging her sisters up all over the world. Scholars will say ‘…Clearly post-industrial worship Totems.’ Actually, they won’t be that far off.

 

"...chill"

Our Sun Storm has finally broke.

Mid-80's days and low 70's nights non-lethal temps.

My walls were literally too hot to touch.

The window frames gave burns.

Ain't we got fun.

 

"...topsoil"

An instructive, and necessary screed. After the plagues wars and bad vibes are over if I should live that long. I may give lectures online. Or at the New School if they’ll have me. ‘Guy Lessons.’

Basically, how to live in a house cabin or apartment of any size. These are all the same to guys. Just somewhere to eat sleep, and never maintain. Being of various orientations over the centuries. I’ve been able to observe guys closely. Shock, and horror does not begin. As Quentin Crisp, a noted guy, once said, ‘…New York Apartments are wonderful. After three years they don’t get any dirtier.’ And they don’t. Or so it seems.

Once a topsoil of radioactive isotopes shed skin bug parts dust, and roaming Buffalo settles in. You’re good for years of cozy living. Why disturb such peace, and order? Because we’re supposed to be bleeping civilized that’s why!

These scary years of being semi-locked down showed even a tidy soul as myself was in reality a slob. I thought my Zen empty digs were da cat’s meow. Till I was stuck here and had a good look. …Holy crap!

There’s reason I keep hacking at my digs over these recent centuries. Plastering painting banging constantly cleaning. Where does the damned dust keep coming from?! That stuff of future apartment topsoil. Every day I shovel a kilo of dat crap out'a here.

No wonder regular guys let it go and plant hallway crops instead. Forget city windows those are impossible to tame. Which is why dear Quentin just said fuck it, and wrote books, and plays instead.

In our next chapter how to quickly, and with ease to keep not only your kitchen bathroom all floors but 'yourself' squeaky clean! This, and presentable to visiting nurse’s city inspectors…one came by yesterday and nice neighbors. These plumbers and occasional cops are my only guests.

Once some bad guys used our fire-escape as an escape route…life in da big city. Except for them burglars and cops I look forward to visits. I recall dear Nurse Perez saying: ‘…I could walk around your place blind folded, and not bump into anything.’ I took that a complete validation of my efforts.

Heat Index of 97f today.

An almost non-life threatening hazy hot day.

An Ice Cream Day.

It's the little sane things.

 

Now only 'nine hundred ninety-nine cents'.

I remember when they were ten cents.

You didn't need a loan to get

Ya comic books then.

As for them Nazis and Klan.

Some ask why I'm against their free expression.

Sez I: "...Because they wants to kill me".

 

"...Holy Foc!!!!"

Official NYC HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT. Heat index up to 104f for Manhattan, Bronx, Southern Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn. Isolated heat index values of around 106 are possible. The Heat Advisory may be extended into Monday or Tuesday. Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. Take precautions. New York City residents should call 3 1 1 for health and safety information.

*I don't think these wonks are kidding this time.

Shit is in the wind. Stay the fuck inside if you're in the region.

If you have A.C. bleeping use it like ya life depends on it... because it does. If not go the the many City Heat Shelters. These are usually in schools' libraries of local community centers.

Check online for locations.

Hydrate like Hell!

A glass of water 4x an hour if ya thirsty or not.

Heat stroke sneaks up on you. Been there. Loves you folks be aware.

Brooklyn Antenna Dusk.

More to come.

It's too hot to edit and post the others.

My computer is set up in the non-refrigerated 

part of my digs. It's midnight and near 90f in here.

 

"...days go by"

 

Warm hazy dawn. Hot shower with soap that smells nice. A breeze. Sink overflows. Mind wanders. Small things.

Errand before the heat rises.

Still no peaches. Watched the world. The sun higher. There and back again. Called my sister Sylvia. She's so brilliant so kind. A day in the life and everyday counts.

"...It's Hot as Fuck"

With heat indexes of 100f+.

I'm hibernating in my thermal shelter.

Aka my bedroom. Where it's a refrigerated 68f.

It's 97f in my living room.

Do the math.

So while stuck in here I'm watching old movies 

and taking snaps of my toys.

This thing I now hear is lasting into August.

I read planes can't take off because the runways 

are melting trains stopped because the rails have buckled. 

In da UK them folks is dying. 

Because no one has air conditioners. 

The Northern Hemisphere is frying. 

Places like Europe with no hot weather infrastructure

are fucked. I remember when near 20,000 died 

in a heatwave several years ago in France. 

It was only in the 90's with humidity. 

However, they'd never had anything like it.

At least not in this geological era. 

Just as we weren't ready for Storm Sandy.

 These folks are helpless in the face of the heat. 

There's a learning curve.

Keep Hydrated stay the fuck out of the sun.

I'm looking at you joggers.

watch your kids elders pets and plants.

Note above in order of affection.

All that and lots of ice cream

The CDC recommends Orange Sherbet.

I like chewing ice cubes.

"...art of the deal"

Actually, I like this one.

Click to view portrait large.

Click below too.

I was in my thermal shelter,

my bedroom

and the composition come to me.

One works with what's handy at the moment.

I always loved dolls. 

Model trains planes and cars too.

However, my Queer soul was more with dolls.

When a lad my dear sister let me play with hers.

I played with her dolls.

She played with my Jeeps.

A pre-Stonewall gender identity family deal.

Kids left to their own work things out.

 

"...root beer"

Further down I was ranting about our assorted American traditions. The swell stuff that makes us great. All countries have these. Anyway, I went on about the Southern tradition of vast family re-unions. So big regional merchandising arose. Southern folks is all about family…seriously all of us all colors orientations and hat sizes. That and Black Barber Shop culture.

This where folks gets their heads cut…well the hair part anyway. Here I learned about the Brooklyn Dodgers the Army…all WW2 vets and work. In fact, I started work at 12. My uncle had a contracting company and my dad volunteered me to go out with the crews. One never forgets laying hot tar on roofs in 90f temps. I learned working for a living was a bleeping serious deal.

Black Barber Shops…right. These places are a kind of community center. Where folks tell their truths. I recall their reaction to Sputnik…I’m that old. That and later sending them little doggies out there. This to perish in the scary monotonous void…bad idea. They weren’t thrilled. Black folks have a caring for animals…it’s just in the heart. Comes from our rural Southern culture.

Here’s a story.

Before the Great Depression my family had a farm this down in Mississippi. One day dad’s driving our truck and sees a guy beating a horse. It just couldn’t haul the load. Dad pulls over tells the guy to cut it out…gets all kinds of shit back. So…my dad my kind brilliant dad beat the living crap out of the jerk. Then pulls him to his feet pays for the horse hitches her to the truck and takes her back to the farm. Where she lived for many years. That was my dad. You don’t be cruel to anyone in front of him is the deal. 

Where was I? …Right, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Dad took us to see them play at Ebbits Field. That and drove us and whoever else was playing on our stoop to the Coney Island amusement park…when the Steeple Chase was still there. 

He used to do that for us and the kids on da block. If you were handy you came with us…period. He’d have done it on a hot afternoon evening just like this. He’d shovel the lot of us kids into the old Buick and off we went. He loved the Cyclone! Coney’s roller coaster. He filled us up on hot dog fries’ gallons of Root beer then we’d watch the fireworks from the Boardwalk. 

It was folks like my dad my parents my aunts’ uncles’ cousins and assorted little pals back then that made America Great. Being kind being good being wise does the deal. That makes America Great. Stay tuned.

"...bears"

I was just posting with a pal about relative levels of danger we live with and take for granted. In Ukraine folks now go about normal lives with high explosive rockets landing nearby. Here in Brooklyn, I’m used to random murder and stray bullets. For some state sized fires. My pal lives in remote woods where folks are eaten by bears now and then. For yet others their pool cleaner is late. Danger and death is unique for all.

 "...Moon over Brooklyn"

Bob da Bunny on the Moon.

No bleeping idea how he done it.

But the bastard did!

 

 "...From my 2020 Covid posts"

This is how I go downstairs to get my mail now.

Comment's:

Charles: Does the Geiger counter help detect Covid 19?

Matisse: No silly, it counts Geigers'

Sidney: ...The North American Geiger. Noted for their literary acumen. 

The Geigers make up most of the Penguin Books proofreaders. 

They are now organizing as they were being paid peanuts.

Sharon: Don't turn suddenly to the left 

or that immersion-blender thingy might decapitate an innocent bystander!

We actually had a few laughs then.

Folks want me to pen something of my life and times. Maybe when the weather is more civil. Few works are done well when your ink evaporates before you can write anything down. As for thinking those were my last moments...well. What else could I do but have humorous thoughts. Also may finish them model kits and have 'much' more ice cream. ...non-sugared.

"...surreal"

My dear friend through years of radio art David Kenny just suggested I write something. Perhaps a memoir of a sort. I have been thinking such. Perhaps starting at catholic school. My introduction to surreal cosmologies. Through to my encounter with mortality the other night. With near a century of deranged mayhems laughs and wonders seasoned between.

"...It's 1936"

Washington (CNN)The Biden administration must pause its enforcement of federal guidance seeking to protect transgender students and workers in 20 states, a federal judge ruled Friday, siding with Republican-led states fighting to enforce anti-trans policies on their books.

The order issued late Friday allows the 20 states to continue enforcing controversial laws without risk of retaliatory action from the administration, including the loss of federal funding for schools. It drew praise from Tennessee, which is leading the states in a lawsuit, and condemnation from LGBTQ advocates who criticized the judge for "legislating from the bench."

Tennessee and 19 other GOP-led states brought a lawsuit last August arguing guidance issued earlier that year by the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission constituted an unlawful overreach of executive authority.

According to the agencies' guidance, transgender students and workers are covered under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded schools, and Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The guidance was designed to protect transgender individuals from a slew of anti-trans policies, including bans from school sports teams, bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity, as well as measures that allow employers to intentionally refuse to use a worker's preferred pronouns.

After the destruction of Roe/Wade. R/W which gave the right of Personhood to Women. This was inevitable. Once that was snatched away. Other attacks on protections and rights won over the last 50 years are being launched. I have lived to see the tide come in...and out.

"...near death and lollipops"

Wasn't sure if I would mention. Being the drama queen I am.  Last night had a medical event. Went fuzzy cramped up. Was on the floor but don't remember falling. 'Stuck down there a while. Came in and out. I thought of that commercial with the old lady: "I've fallen down, and I can't get up". Don't know if they came to scape her up. Life and times indeed. 

It's an experience to be helpless. 

The cramping was diabetes the collapse I didn't know. In a few hours was well enough to get up shower...fell asleep. Later went to that 'Mc-Clinic' around the corner. A commercial effect of the Covid era. These are popping up like gun stores in Texas. 

Didn't call an EMT van...these charge your Medicare acct. a thousand bucks a pop.  'Sides I wasn't dying as much as I was last night. Clinic only three blocks. One has to be practical. Yeah, things are bleeped up...but com'on I'm 238. 

Well. It was scary but anti-climactic. Hypertension...just watch da news. Dehydrated. Iced tea is not water...who knew. The diabetes was doing what it does. This and other assorted details I could have figured out on my own but don't own a white jacket. 

Still, they was all sweet folks. Very kind. I didn't know doctors and medical techs were all 11 and 12 years old now. Amazing. I wanted to give them lollipops pops. They just wanted my Medicare card gave me a bag of meds told me to be fucking serious about shit for a change and kicked me out.

All in a very nice way. I cheat death...again or at least more time in hospital wearing that smock that has ya butt hanging out. I met folks had nice chats. They were also as amazed as I that Johns Hopkins is graduating 12 years olds. Ain't life grand.

I just stumbled home and here we are.