Trump Impeachment - 2

 The previous president of USA has been impeached a second time for inciting violence on 6 Jan. I watched almost all of the event that occurred on 6 Jan - it was a horrendous attack on the capitol building. It was hard to watch and I cannot even imagine how it must have been for the people inside. Some important personalities like VP and speaker of the house are protected, but the staff? They will also suffer the PTSD of this event. 

Here is the video that the impeachment managers put together and presented to the senate. It is powerful and has video that has been obtained from security and personal videos.

What is sickening is that the senate will exonerate him. No one needs to see the video above to convict him. Just the event on 6th Jan was enough. But this GQP senators (grand Qanon Party) are traitors and should not be sitting in that building. Anyone who can let anyone maraud their house like this and not hold the perpetrator accountable does not deserve to be there. 

I think these GQP senators don't want to hold anyone accountable because they want this kind of thing to happen again and they like the violence. That is the only answer possible. It has been so whacky to see the impeachment managers defending VP Pence, when he himself has not spoken up about this. And none of his party members are supporting him. Pence's own boss sent the mob to kill him, and the party is okay with that? This is all so messed up! What is wrong with the GQP??? How does one not have nightmares after such an incident? The video of Pence being shoved away by the secret service was really impactful for me. This kind of shoving has never been done anywhere else to any other VIP because it has never been this unsafe. But it was unsafe in the US Capitol building? Caused by USA's own president? 

I know that elections can take care of some this people but what if they don't? What if their constituents like this kind of violence and power grab? How did McConnel and Graham get reelected at all in the first place? I am sure there is some rigged election there. 

The GQP is as responsible as Trump for the mob attack on the 6th Jan because they also did not acknowledge the Biden victory. Trump could not have done it by himself. The entire GQP has been supporting him since the beginning. What I have not been able to understand is why? I understand about the power thing and all...but the man has no character or morals. He is a narcissistic sociopath. Anyone willing to kill his own very loyal VP is dead in my books. But this GQP is still by his side. How can they be willing to compromise so much for his voter base? If they tell the truth, the base will understand and move on. Trump will not live forever - but the party will....or maybe now it is time for the party to die. 

I am so mad and so disappointed in this whole process that I don't even know how to deal with my emotions. It has been frustrating to watch all this and feel normal about this country anymore. We seem to be spiraling down into some hellhole of our own making. These White people will forever be grieved and because of them we will all have to keep on suffering. I am not saying all White people are like this, I am talking about the ones who support Trump.

The Last Days of Trump Reality Show

People have always thought that Trump was the president and should be treated like one. In reality he was always just Trump with all the perks of the presidency with none of the responsibilities. He never cared about anyone but himself throughout his four years and its ending on that note as well.

People voted him in to bring about change - and they got change. One of the things that republicans always want to do when they get into the government is to break it. Why? And then they want to keep getting elected again and again so they can stay in the broken government. They are completely demented. And obviously they don't have need to help the people who elected them because they are in it to break the system.  And their electorate is so stupid they keep electing them again and again - masochists. Or actually their leaders are so good in convincing them that the "other side" is preventing them from doing anything - when reality is something else.

Trump was the chief of all. He is the ultimate con man. He has been perfecting it all his life. All he can do is bully, grieve, be a victim and not take responsibility for anything. All he wanted was personal benefit from the presidency. He only knows how to do transactions in money so all his dealings were purely bank oriented and the more for him the better. He completely took advantage of doing business at his properties where ever he could. It was all about him and his family. His daughter and son in law are as big of grifters as he is and his two older sons are equally selfish.

I don't know why reporters were always respectable to him - he wanted to use them or they were the enemy. Reporters should have treated him like the reality star he was and held him to that standard. He was never the president that everyone wanted to think he was. He had no respect for the office, for his cabinet, for his colleagues or even his voters. He is a person of no character and no morals and never will be. All throughout the pandemic he had super spreader events making his own supporters sick. How can such a person be taken seriously?

The presidency meant nothing to him except power to do whatever he wanted, punish whoever he wanted, fire anyone and of course make money....not to forget enjoy golfing on his own clubs. Again, no character.

Despite all this everyone is talking as if his words have any meaning. They don't. He is not ruining democracy by not acknowledging the results. He sounds like a deranged old geyser and a sore loser. I know he has that position of presidency but until now he has never done anything to be deserving of that job so why now? Our democratic systems are working just fine - voting was fine, counting was fine, people stood by the results ethically. 

What is really not working is the republican party - the congress - they are the ones who are the true enemies of the people and looking to end democracy. They are the ones providing oxygen and water to Trump. What people are not able to see is that the republicans are the ones who are doing the most damage. All of them should be held accountable - but the will not, because they are lucky, their constituents are stupid and ignorant. 

Sadly, we are going to be stuck in this rut until people start becoming more educated and understand what is happening in their own lives - who is for them and who is against their interests. But again, sadly their interests are so narrow and short term that they cannot see far enough for what is good for everyone. When you cannot see a human being as a human, everything is lost.

New President - 2016

I woke up today like a number of Americans to find out that a reality star is our new president. My feelings have been intense all day trying to process this. I have been listening to NPR, reading articles online to see what the heck happened.

First and foremost I think this country could not handle a black president for 8 years. It was very hard for it and having Hillary run against a white man was just the straw that broke the camel's back. America is still quite racist and sexist.  I have felt these feelings myself even as a highly educated woman.  I can imagine what the white and black women go through all the time.

Here is a great opinion that I think is the truth..."This is Racism". I always felt this has been going on for 8 years since Obama became president.  Of course a lot of people are now coming out and saying it was the economics and there was this "forgotten" America.  Sure - but why did this America let itself be like that? Why did they not keep up with times? I have more to say on this....another blog.

The other thing that has been illuminating for me is how many uneducated Trump voters are. So now there is so called "war" between the intellectuals and non.  Again this was because the Obamas were such high class intellectuals.  All the white uneducated could never connect with the intellectual blacks. And there is more to this....again - later blog.

When Obama won - he got the Nobel Peace prize; and a Trump win - he got protests and fear. That shows what kind of candidate he is.  Trump lied and lied and lied, people heard what they wanted to hear and voted. Soon they will realize he will not do anything for them. Trump is only for Trump. His children and his loyalists will prosper. Meanwhile the whole country will be at unrest and live in fear of their lives and lifestyle.  All he wanted to do was win, like in a competition.  He never thought he would win.  

He ran against the establishment – now he has become the establishment.  And he is surrounding himself with establishment and lobbyists - the swamp that he wanted to drain!! Sure!!  And his establishment is really the scary establishment.  He will try to make the most money he can.  He does not care about the people or the environment – so they both will suffer.  For all his rhetoric and rallies ... Sorry America…..I don't believe there will be improvement in anyone's life except his inner circle.

I really feel for Mother Earth though.  She is really going to suffer under Trump. As mush as Obama loves the nature, this man is completely anti environment.  Luckily for me, I have no children to leave this beautiful earth to. When I die – I die peacefully alone. I don’t feel the responsibility that people with kids and grand kids feel. I can help them – but they really should answer to their kids as to why they let their hatred and ignorance elect a lying narcissistic president.

I feel scared for science.  Most Republicans have shown their disdain for science and facts.  Will we be able to make any progress in this area?  I feel life has come to a stop - and the things that will take hold are racism, discrimination, women's rights and basic humanity. Fear and uncertainty will rule. 

And just like all Americans think I am answering for all Indians, I will now ask all white people to own up to their fellow American's decisions. God help us!

The Professor of the Millennials

I have been writing a lot about my students but I have not mentioned how I have grown in the last 20 years.

I started as a typical professor teaching in a small liberal arts university. I was prepared for my classes. I taught from text books that I thought were quality books and challenged my students.  I gave routine homework as I knew from my education that feedback is very important. I did not have any feedback on any of my work for more than 6 years and I could never tell what I had done wrong. I did not want my students to feel that way. Exam should not be the only way to evaluate. So I routinely tested them with quizzes and in class questions.

This is how it went on for 10 years.  I changed some text books. My exams were still all written out and hand graded by me. I felt good about the quality of product coming out of my classes.

Then I changed my job for another university.  This was a similar university to my previous one with one major difference. The fees was too high. The students attending this university were generally the privileged ones.  I had hardly any diversity in my class. Within one year I could see the problem. These students were ready to blame anyone for not succeeding in my course. Even a hint that they were going to get a B was not good enough for them, so they lashed out.  For the first time in my life I was forced to give multiple choice exams because my students were accusing me of unfair grading. This had never happened to me before. I had only two grade challenges in my life, even now,  after 20 yrs.  All this really bummed me out.  So I looked for another job.

I found one in a nice college that had a lot of diversity in student and faculty.  Great I thought! Well....not so fast!

It turns out there is a great difference between a Masters and PhD professor. And from what I saw in my department, the MS graduated professors did not challenge the students as much as I would. It turned out to be a popularity contest. Anyone demanding quality product would not be popular. But students also don't demand quality, they demand good grades.

The other problem I faced was the type of students I was getting: there is no quality control, there was no prerequisite and there was also not a great demand on the student to do well in the courses. It became a catch-22 for me. I was required to teach at a lower level, give easy grades and not worry about the product or the long term learning consequence for the student! This was a big eye opener for me.

I also saw that most students just did not have the time to study, they are working, taking care of family or commuting so much that they miss class. That inspired me to make power points so students would have some notes to refer to.  That was not enough....I eventually recorded my lectures, so they could understand what I was trying to teach. That as not enough because they still don't know how to solve problems....so then I started making notes of me teaching them how to solve problems (pencasts). So it seemed to me that I was working more than they were.

Do I see the results of my hard work? I don't know. The information is out there. I don't track the usage of that info because I know that students can pass my classes without all that information - they used to - 10 years ago!! Now they cannot concentrate in class, they cannot give time to study and what is bothersome, they don't even try. They just give up. Why? Who teaches them that giving up is okay? How can you keep wasting time and money in college. Be done with it and start working and do other things in life. College is not work....it is one step in the journey of life.

I have adapted a lot over the last 10 years but there are things I will never understand because I have not been through it myself so I can only sympathize with them - not empathize. I am very grateful I never had to pay for my education; my parents supported me. Getting my PhD in USA showed my how expensive education could be.  Thank god my subject was chemistry so I could get teaching assistant job otherwise I would never have been able to afford PhD.

I sympathize with my students that they have to go through such hardship in such young age. But not all are like that. The ones who have financial aid and have some support should have no excuse for not being better in their studies. But then .... it takes all kinds........

As time goes on - I know I will adapt. Sadly chemistry has not changed - it has not become easier. It still requires time and hard work.  There is no question to what hard work can do for a person. I don't have to do half the things I do for my students, but I do, so they understand that it is not just their struggle to do well, it's mine too.

Hating the Government and the Whiteness in USA

I was thinking about why some people in USA hate the US government so much.  Then I thought about how this country came into being. There were no rules, regulations or impositions. One could go wherever anyone wanted, shoot and kill whoever they thought was trespassing on their land or for whatever reason and no one would question them.  And Maybe people would fear them for it and they could easily rule that place.  That is what all the western movies are about which are so popular?

Of course what all those initial immigrants were not counting on was that there would be more immigrants.  This all then leads to having a social structure, law and order that they would have to abide by.  Slavery in the early days was a result of unchecked morals and greed.  Even slavery took a long time to be abolished because the initial government was from the same initial white immigrants. In my opinion there is no moral high ground for slavery in any era.

With the election of Obama, the first black president (and this is when he is only half black!!), nomination of Trump as a presidential candidate now the acquittal of the Oregon wildlife occupiers that “western” mentality is coming back.  One just wants to do whatever they want and government should just butt out of it.  Well…they don’t believe in government when they need to obey rules and pay taxes but they will believe in government when they want their medicare and medicaid!! How does this work??

Why is it that these “militia” was let off without any verdict whereas the Native Indians who are fighting for their natural resources, water, are being treated like criminals.  Double standards are everywhere all the time in USA. If Obama had been even 1% of what Trump is as a candidate he would have been vilified. Even Hillary, despite being white, would have been vilified! But Trump is excused all behaviour and people actually defend it. How?? It really is great to be white in America and that’s what all these white supremacy groups want….their white America back!  It’s a scary thought.

Any country that excludes because of religion will not survive.  Any country that is formed on the basis of religion or class or color will not survive. Diversity is a natural phenomenon.  Anyone who does not embrace it will become extinct.  I think humanity is getting there…..

Right now I am just blown away by the racism that is so alive in this day and age in America.

Character

Character of a person makes him who he is. (I will use "he" just for convenience - otherwise we know there can be a "she" also).

Character is a sum of experiences, wisdom from those experiences, personal values, maturity and I also believe it is somewhat destined. We can see good character in children - where does that come from? One sibling can differ so much from another: they have the same upbringing and same parents and environment, yet they can behave so differently. How? I don't know. Which is why I believe that character is destined.

In my thinking, character of a person is seen in their honesty, loyalty, respect, high moral values, ethics and humility. Humility because one should not let get all the other characteristics get into their head and turn into pride and ego. One should have good character just because it is a good thing - not to prove anything to anyone. Sometimes people call people with good character "self-righteous". I think that feeling comes because they can see the good in others which they know they themselves do not or cannot possess.

For most part, people live their lives without giving much importance on how the other person behaves because it really does not affect them too much in a day to day basis. However, the closer the relationship, the more important the character of a person becomes.  We tend to make friends with people who share our values in life. So if the character of a person is not matching with ours, we will not only not be friends but we will not trust them either.

Most of us can survive with whatever degree of negative character we have. (The more the negative value the harder the life!) The character of a person shows its true colors under extreme circumstances. If one can come out of that time/situation with gravitas then we can say - Okay! this person has shown some character!

Some good souls may not have a need for their character to be tested, because they have such high ethics and morals that they will never fail. Those really are higher beings.

I feel these days most people use character as a commodity; they use it as convenient to them. They use it where they see a value for it and not where they don't. They may show good character to their boss but then go out the mistreat their subordinate. They may show they have high values and moral to their family yet not show respect to strangers or sometimes even friends. Or in some cases, they may say they have high values, yet when the time comes to actually show it, they behave contrarily.

People with such bipolar behaviour can lose the center of their gravity - the core of their being. They can lose perspective of who they were, who they are and what they are becoming. They may lose track of how they are behaving and with whom. And if they keep continuing on that path then all their different roads will start crossing each other eventually the "real" person will start to emerge - the one who uses character as convenient to them. And using character as a commodity is not good character to begin with - that's called having "loose character". All that they were trying to accomplish will be lost in one second.  All the good will get washed out with one single bad action - trust will be broken. And trust is a like a glass vase, you can join it if it breaks but the cracks will always remain.

I believe in living with a set of values whereby

• I can sleep peacefully at night
• I know that I have not hurt anyone with my actions or words (at least not consciously)
• I have not asked anyone to do anything for me that I myself would not do. I cannot place anyone else's ethics on the line - otherwise I will lose my morality by asking someone else to lose theirs. 
• I know that I did my best in whatever I was doing and 
• that I will keep doing my best.

I don't want to live a life that is lie. It does not serve any purpose. It is better to remove oneself from the situation rather than face a lifetime of living a lie. If an action is not making someone happy, or making you happy then maybe that action is not worth taking. Not that every action has to make someone happy and not that every lie is a bad one - that action and that lie that ruins relationships are not worth it!!

In life we come across situations where we may not want to do something but we are being compelled to do it - for the good of a larger cause or the good of a person. We have use our judgement in those cases and decide what is more important to us - our values, our good name or making the other person happy even though it is not the right thing to do. We have to feel satisfied and ultimately live with our decision.

I want to live a life where I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to be ashamed of, I have no regrets and I am at peace with myself. I want to live with the feeling that I did the right thing - under the circumstances. A thief may think that stealing is fine and it is righteous according to him, but deep down somewhere he knows what he did was wrong. What I am saying is I should be able to live with my decisions. 

I may have referred to this bhajan before also - but really - its my favorite one! It conveys the message that your "self" is the mirror of your character - you know what you are doing is just or not.