the views of Majorie Taylor Greene ... and too many others ...

The news: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-holocaust-outrage/index.html 

Night and Fog: https://vimeo.com/189672641 

 My older and wiser brother (hopefully resting in peace), said it could happen in America ... I did not believe him so many years ago growing up in East Tennessee ... now I believe him ... It could happen here as Trump's treatment of immigrants at the border suggests and as Marjorie Taylor Greene demonstrates ... she is Trump's Kapo ... 

 the problem of evil has been known for centuries ... see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil#:~:text=The%20problem%20of%20evil%20is,was%20popularized%20by%20David%20Hume. ... see also https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-evil/ ... or just look around on this anniversary of the murder of George Floyd ... 

in America there has been systematic disregard for the sanctity of life since immigrants arrived here with slaves centuries ago ... and the fact that so many sanctimonious republicans are encouraging the destruction of this fragile democracy is so discouraging ... in a land "where seldom is heard a discouraging word" ... nonsense ... 

 we are not innocent ... as the Al Chet prayer at Yom Kippur suggests ... we are all responsible ... (see https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6577/jewish/Text-of-Al-Chet.htm) I find it very difficult to focus on my little patch of existence when there is so much brutality , greed, and degradation of human life at such high levels in this country ... I am depressed ... 

as the donkey in Shrek said, I need a hug . .. 

 Afterthoughts: 

 Having now received a virtual hug from cousin Becky, and having thought more about what I was thinking I wanted to add the following:

First, it is not just brutality, greed and degradation of human life in high places ... it is all around at nearly every level in nearly every neighborhood. I live in the most violent country on the planet. 

 And, I think it was Epicurus who articulated the problem of evil and an all knowing, all powerful, and always benevolent supreme being - namely, if that being knows about evil but does not prevent it, then the notion of all benevolent is out the window ... if that being knows about evil but cannot prevent it, then out goes all powerful or perhaps that being is unaware of evil and there goes all knowing ... 

 The Greeks introduced this problem a couple of thousand years ago ... and along came Leibniz centuries later ... when I was a doctoral student at the Univ of TX a visiting professor came and offered a seminar on Leibniz and how Leibniz still defended this as the best of all possible worlds ... I do not recall that professor's name nor the details of the argument but it seemed like his defense of Leibniz relied on our ability to make this a better world ....of course I was impressed at the time ... but no longer .... 

 "the arc of justice" must be infinitely long ... or at least a lot longer than I can imagine ... but then my imagination is limited and reality may not conform to the limits of my imagination ...

 What seems a little surprising to me is that after all my years in higher education in the field of learning technologies is that things that happened to me some 50 years ago seem to dominate my thinking ... and I have a bad memory ... 

 "I should have been a pair of ragged claws ... Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." 

 Name that tune and you win an all expense trip to the nearest coffee shop ... 

 my name is michael, mechanical man .... drive me and steer me wherever you can ...