A Prince of Darkness and Election Fraudits

by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

 

Democracy is like the sun;
it reaches and touches every individual.

– Irene Fowler

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Good morning everyone and welcome.

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.
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Something has fundamentally changed in the world when one of the leaders of the European Union mentions the American president among the top threats to European unity, along with Russian aggression, radical Islamic terrorism, and civil wars in the Middle East. On Tuesday, European Council President Donald Tusk did just that.” 

Uri Friedman,  The Atlantic – January 31, 2017



Despite the recently announced results of the Trump-led Arizona ‘fraudit,’ which confirmed the election win of Biden, by an even greater margin; the sham audits are becoming insidiously and heinously, baked into an otherwise painstaking, legitimate, national electoral process. In other words, fraudits have been mainlined into the US domestic body politic; and by necessary implication, the global body-politic. The upshot is that the juggernaut, comprised of democratic nations, aka the free world, has been brutally injected in the jugular, with massive doses of crippling, anaesthetizing, life threatening, poisons.

These egregious aberrations based on the bogus, callous, concoction of the big compound lie, of ‘election fraud’ and a ‘stolen presidency.’ are not without grave ramifications for the world at large. The global fall-out of these open-crimes against democracy, perpetrated in the world’s oldest and most powerful democratic nation, are yet to be seen. The intended outcome of the Machiavellian ploy, is to dienfranchise immensely vast swaths of lawful voters. The injury will be most severe in cobbled- together, hobbled and/or fragile democracies, such as exist in Africa, and other developing regions, of the planet.

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TCS: Just Grab a Line – Five Days of a Literary Week

Good Morning!

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Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.
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“Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky.
When we think of the sky, we tend to look up,
but the sky actually begins at the earth. We walk

through it, yell into it, rake leaves, wash the dog,
and drive cars in it. We breathe it deep within us.

With every breath, we inhale millions of molecules
of sky, heat them briefly, and then exhale them back

into the world.” – Diane Ackerman

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Pathways and Daffodils

by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

 Lily-rose-jasmine, scented air
Paradise to gain, much to dare

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Good morning everyone and welcome.

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.
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Whilst trying to forge ahead with our individual lives, as indeed we must, we are often weighted down with past baggage, hindered by present constrictions, and fearful of future outcomes. In fact, the business of staying alive and living (surviving and thriving), may sometimes appear to be extraordinarily daunting. These instances may be akin to a situation where a non-mountaineer, is  faced with the do or die,  prospect, of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. In other cases, we may feel that we are swimming in dangerous, tricky waters, against strong tides; the shoreline may appear close, only to disappear like a mirage, the nearer we get to it.

Our travails are varied. However, the common denominator is that they are problems in search of solutions. In a way, we are all climbing the same mountain, and are all in the same needy boat.

Add to the conflicts and complexities, of one’s personal earthly sojourn, and saga, are the events of the outside world. Today, we are facing a once in a century global pandemic, on top of all else that ails humanity. Not the least of which, is fast–encroaching authoritarianism, threatening to destabilise the world’s oldest democracy.

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TCS: Under Deeper Skies Than Mine – World Tourism Day

Good Morning!

______________________________

Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.

______________________________

You road I enter upon and look around,
I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
– Walt Whitman, from “Song of the Open Road”

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Enzo the Dog

by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.” – Mark Twain

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Good morning everyone and welcome.

 

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

 

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.


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“As a species we face a nearly overwhelming and frankly frightening cluster of conundrums. While our attention may be given to the politics and catastrophes of the day, we will not be thinking much about the upcoming decades. But the problems we are facing are not going away and, if we proceed with business as usual, are likely to worsen.

Perhaps you have read the recent popular little novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain. It features two characters – Denny, a race-car driver, and his dog, Enzo. Denny treats Enzo as his best friend, watching videos of car races with him, talking with him about the fine points of winning races, like declaring “Your car goes where your eyes go”; Enzo takes it all in. Denny senses his dog’s acute intelligence, but can’t be sure exactly what Enzo comprehends.”

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TCS – September: Of Red Notes, Dissembling Breezes, and the True World’s Cold

Good Morning!

______________________________

Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.

______________________________

Another fall, another turned page: there was something of
jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s
mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”

— Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

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Afghan and Texan Women – More-Not-Less

by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

Woman, thy names are:
Trouble, Temerity, Triumph!

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Good morning everyone and welcome.

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.

_________________________________________

The frightful Taliban-dominated landscape is fraught with land mines, which could blow up most, if not all, progress made in women’s autonomy, well-being and development in Afghanistan. The roles and value of women and the girl-child, in Afghan society writ-large, remains to be seen.

One hopes that the powers that be, will not create structures which cause women and girls to be viewed through the same lens, reserved for animate and inanimate chattel.

Meanwhile, the recent Texas State law, greatly impinging on women’s reproductive rights, should also cause serious concern for the application and efficacy of the rule of law. Alarm bells should ring, regardless of which camp one belongs to; pro-choice or otherwise. The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas challenging the Bill. In  the words of Attorney-General Merrick Garland: “The Act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent.”


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Posted in Afghanistan, Poetry, Texas | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

TCS: Stand and Deliver – Poetry Out Loud

Good Morning!

______________________________

Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.

______________________________

You will find poetry nowhere unless
you bring some of it with you.
– Joseph Joubert

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The Greatest

by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13.13

Good morning everyone and welcome.

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.

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Posted in Nigeria, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Poem by Jack Prelutsky on His Birthday

Jack Prelutsky was born September 8, 1940, in Brooklyn, NY. American poet and singer-songwriter, most often writing for children, he has published over 50 poetry collections. Before becoming a writer, he worked odd jobs including driving a cab, moving furniture, busboy, potter, woodworker, and door-to-door salesman. Prelutsky was appointed as the first U.S. Children’s Laureate by the Poetry Foundation (2006-2008).

To read his poem “If Not for the Cat” click:

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Posted in Humor, Poetry | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment