THE NEW ANTI-TRUMP: AOC

In biblical terms, an anti-christ is someone with diametrically sinister intents who inveigles to replace Christ in his second coming.  Many wish for this to happen in the 2020 presidential election.  Do the Democrats have any candidates capable of fulfilling this role?  According to Ballotpedia, 248 Democrats could well be on this list, although there are today "only" 24 who have officially formed a presidential exploratory committee.  All are close enough to be that anti-christ.

Ironically, the person who best fits the role of an anti-Trump cannot run in 2020, she is only 29, and can't even compete in 2024.  But in many ways, she just might have that extraordinary power to anoint the anti-Trump for 2020.  AOC is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she was featured on the April Fool's issue this year of TIME magazine.  But she is no joke.

AOC:

• female
• Hispanic
• born in New York City just before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, when Nancy Pelosi entered Congress
• when growing up helped her mom clean the homes of neighbors

• won a science-fair prize for research involving free radicals (the chemical kind)
• took out student loans for matriculation at Boston University and interned in Senator Ted Kennedy's office, but her father passed away in her sophomore year, and this was 2008 when there was an national economic meltdown

• she somehow stuck through her enrollment and graduated cum laude, in 2011, with a student-loan debt of $25,000
• joined an educational nonprofit, while bartending, working 18 hours/day

• after Trump was elected President in 2016, she joined some dogooders who stuffed into a borrowed 1998 Subaru to assist the Standing Rock Indian Reservation protest against an oil pipeline, while stopping by lead-poisoned Flint, Michigan to gain a first-hand account of the situation there

• on the way back to New York a group called Brand New Congress (their aim:  develop anti-Trump leaders) called (on a nomination by her brother) her to run for Congress, against Joe Crowley, the ten-term, fourth-ranking House Democrat
• she really had no chance, but, somehow, upset him by 15 points (being outspent 18 to 1), 
• then beat the Republican, plus Crowley, who ran as third party candidate, garnering 78% of the votes, to become the youngest female ever, at the age of 29, in the U.S. Congress.

• has more Twitter followers than Speaker Nancy Pelosi
• FOX TV is obsessed by AOC, portraying her as a radical socialist who threatens the American way of life
• from a nobody who wandered the country like a Johnny Appleseed to help needy groups, she has shot up to become the spirit of what leadership should be like for our future America

• first piece of legislation was the wishful and potentially historic Green New Deal, with Senator Ed Markey, to phase out fossil fuel use in a decade and overhaul the nation's infrastructure
• wants to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, the bane of Hispanics

• advocates universal healthcare, having campaigned for Bernie Sanders in 2016
• staunch proponent of LGBTQ rights and equality
• campaigns for establishing tuition-free colleges and trade schools

• supports the impeachment of President Trump
• MIT Lincoln Laboratory named an asteroid after her:  23238 Ocasio-Cortez, based on her science fair project in high school
• has became the inspiration to youthful social activists with vision and effectiveness

But not all is necessarily well, for The Hill said she had a bad month and might have violated Federal Election Commission rules.  But this article was written by an attorney who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign.

So AOC has become: 

• the dominant face of the Democrats
• America's newest human Rorschach test
• Wonder Woman of liberals and Wicked Witch of the right
• hot online, for when she said the lipstick she generally wears, is Beso by Stil, it sold out online

She is as tall as the average female in the U.S., 5'4", and has a boyfriend, Riley Roberts.  Boy, though, he looks too close to Seth Rogen in Long Shot.  Maybe more than anything else, she represents the politics of the possible, not necessarily the practical today.  But you got to start someplace, for things move so awfully slowly.   

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SOME AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I initially thought I read that a blind 48-year old runner named Thomas Panek finished the New York Marathon in 2 hours 20 minutes 51 seconds.  Turns out that this was "only" the NYC Half Marathon.  However, every day I almost fall with full sight.  Panek was helped by a relay of three Labrador retrievers, trained for helping blind runners.  One was Gus, a yellow Lab, his personal guide dog and running partner.  He has also participated in the New  York and Boston Marathons, but with human guides.  He lost his sight when he was in  his twenties from retinitis pigmentosa.

Another name not in the news:

Tanitoluwa Adewumi, age 8, skidded around the empty apartment, laughing excitedly, then leapt onto his dad’s back. “I have a home!” he said in wonderment. “I have a home!”

"I want my mom’s cooking again!” Tani mused as he explored the apartment. It was bare, but another donor had offered furniture, sheets and towels. Someone else was sending 100 chess books.

Chess?  Yes, this eight-year old won the New York State chess championship for kindergarten to 3rd graders.  His family left Nigeria in 2017 fearing Boko Haram terrorists, and were placed in a New York City shelter, legally seeking asylum.  His father drives for Uber with a rented car and sells real estate.   Tani only began playing chess a year ago.

Becoming famous provided donations of a furnished home, a new car for his father, job for his mother and a GoFundMe account of more than $200,00.    Three film companies are negotiating a movie.

Oh, with still nothing much, the family decided to take 10% out to donate to their church, and will make the rest available to help African immigrants struggling in the U.S.  Tani was asked if that was okay with him, and he said, "I want to help other kids, I don't mind."  He was tempted to accept one of several offers of a full scholarship to a private school, but the family decided that he would stick with his elementary school, for they were kind enough to earlier waive fees for the chess club.

Tweeted Bill Clinton: Refugees enrich our nation and talent is universal, even if opportunity is not.

This story made me smile. Tanitoluwa, you exemplify a winning spirit – in chess and in life. And kudos to your hardworking parents. You all should stop by my office in Harlem; I'd love to meet you.

While not quite as monumental as Tom and Tani, my one recent accomplishment had to do with the gallon-water prep for my colonoscopy.  The very first step was to take two Bisacodyl laxatives.  This pill is brownish and tiny.  My klutziness started it all, as I somehow dropped one of them on the table and it skittered away.  Ten minutes later, I was in panic, for it was too late to buy another batch, and the ignominy of having to postpone my colonoscopy because I lost one laxative pill was too embarrassing to imagine.  However, I made one final search, and seven feet away from the glass table was this slight discoloring on the rug, which turned out to be my pill.  I count this as a crucial accomplishment.

The procedure went as well as can be expected.  My gastroenterologist, Kristi Lopez, came by to see me after it was over, and mentioned the excision of few polyps, but sounded comforting about the routine nature of the process.  She gave me a five page summary with a lot of photos and considerable medical text.  What an accomplishment for her to prepare this less than an hour after the examination.  I guess this next can also be termed an accomplishment, while not amazing, still, as the report indicated that it might take two days or more before bowel movement would return...this morning, like normal.

However, my medical ordeal is not over, for the polyps still need to be checked for malignancy.  Plus, I've had two skin tags for decades.  The problem is that my golf cart seat aggravates them when I sit.  Apparently, 46% of the U.S. population has some kind of skin polyp, but the good news is that they are rarely dangerously cancerous.  Yet, I visit my dermatologist next week to begin the process of removing them.

A couple more amazing accomplishments, also of a personal nature.  First, I finally, after five years, at least, retired my Schick razor.  

After taking a tetanus booster shot, I decided that it looked too dangerous to continue using, even though it still shaved well.  I replaced it with one of those free razors you get from  hotels, and I expect this one to last for years.

The second amazing accomplishment in my 15C apartment, fragrant honohono orchids still blooming.  Growers have found a way to delay the flowering of these orchids.  At one time they were all gone in the March.  Here, almost June and:

I don't know how they do this, but I suspect they lowered the root temperature, where the sensors controlling the plant cycle are located.  For years we experimented at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, and found that we could change the fruiting ability of plants like grapes.  Here, very cold (mid-40's F) deep ocean water is flowed through thin underground pipes.  Two benefits:  water condenses around the pipe and irrigates the plant, but also, Chardonnay grapes can be produced twice annually by controlling the flow rate, and, thus, temperature.

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COLONOSCOPY

Today, on to my colonoscopy.  Please return tomorrow.  However, I'll leave with one cartoon:

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COLONOSCOPY: The Six Stages

We can disparage, but mostly, thank Hiromi Shinya of Japan, who found his way to New York in 1963 for surgical residency at Beth Israel.  Amazingly enough, he invented colonoscopy there.  With Hiroshi Ichikawa of Olympus, Dr. Shinya also developed the electrosurgical polypectomy snare before polyps were even linked to colon cancer.  

What a life, but he also performed 20 colonoscopies/day at that hospital, and has done it approximately 370,000 times.  He wrote The Enzyme Factor, where he claims that there is a miracle enzyme in your gut that, if absent, can result in cancer.  Also, too, diet and lifestyle are crucial.  He has been associated with Enagic Kangen Water, which is controversial, but has something to do with the benefits of alkalinity in the colon, and kind of makes sense.  At the age of 84 he is still alive.

To quote Wikipedia:

Colonoscopy (/ˌkɒləˈnɒskəpi/) or coloscopy (/kəˈlɒskəpi/)^[1] is the endoscopic examination of the large bowel and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD camera or a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed through the anus.   It can provide a visual diagnosis (e.g., ulceration, polyps) and grants the opportunity for biopsy or removal of suspected colorectal cancer lesions. Colonoscopy can remove polyps as small as one millimeter or less. Once polyps are removed, they can be studied with the aid of a microscope to determine if they are precancerous or not. It can take up to 15 years for a polyp to turn cancerous.

Why bother with a messy colonoscopy, which involves also drinking a gallon of treated water to cleanse your bowels?  Colo-rectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths.  Even with the availability of this exam--or maybe because of--there will be nearly 150,000 new cases of this form of cancer this year.  Not a great stat, but "only" 60% of these deaths are said to be prevented with this screening.  On the other hand, only 15 million colonoscopies are performed annually, so not sure what that 60% means.

So here are, potentially, the six stages of Colonoscopy to mostly prevent the Bigger C, Cancer:

     Stage One:  Making the big decision to go ahead with the treatment.  It took me twelve years from my previous exam.  One, I hated drinking all that fluid.  Mostly, I'm at an age where I'd almost rather just die than know I'm dying.  

     

     Stage Two:  So I finally agreed to undergo a colonoscopy.  That was about two months ago, but much of the delay had to do with my 42-day trip to avoid the re-experience.  There have been several nights when the prospects to come kept me somewhat awake.  I thought this impending ordeal would bother me more, but, in a way, it inspired me to enjoy life a bit more.  For example, eating better, for maybe this could well be the end.  Two days ago I went to Vintage Cave Cafe for some Italian cuisine, Caesar salad with truffles spaghetti, a bolognese sauce on the side, and a glass of Prosecco:

For dinner I stopped by Foodland Farms to pick up an artichoke, truffles pate and prosciutto:

I had the assortment with some endive, radish, potato chips and expensive Stanford Chardonnay, which will be one of my drink additives in the next stage.

Yesterday I went to Marukai to get some wagyu beef and tuna sashimi.  On the way home, I picked up a Mitsu-ken Mini Bento, which I had on my lanai.

Did you notice my calamansi tree?  It has more than 50 citrus fruits.

For breakfast this morning I had miso soup, rice, eggs and some sashimi.  My last lunch before I go on a liquid diet at noon will be wagyu steak, eggs, rice and sashimi.  At this point no vegetables are allowed.  I will then try to golf for 9 holes or so to dehydrate myself, then when I return, take a bath with some vodka and lemonade.  The agony will begin with two laxative (bisacodyl) pills at 5PM, volumetric imbibition, another two pills at 1AM, drink a good part of the rest of the gallon, which could continue until some time around 4AM, when all inputs to my body stop.

     Stage 3:  Add a safe liquid, like water, to the polyethylene glycol (PEG) chemical in the gallon bottle.  Actually, the bottle says 4 liters, which is more than a gallon.   PEG, incidentally, is also used as a lubricating coating, to store objects salvaged from the marine environment, prevent the warping or shrinkage of wood, preserve painted colors on works of art and as a step towards the manufacture of plastics.  Also used in skins creams, toothpastes, ink-jet printers...goes on and on.  Best as I can determine, after checking with my colo-doc, all the following are okay, and I certainly will go very light on the ethanol additives.  A hint of taste is all I seek.

I'll be using some of my favorite glasses, plus, maybe also a straw.  You laugh, but I want to, as much as possible, enjoy this all.  I double-checked on my computer the alcohol part, and the worry doctors have is that if you drink too much ethanol, your body will get dehydrated.  Are they kidding?  How can you get dehydrated by drinking a gallon of 95+% water?  Some in the medical profession even okay drinking a glass of white wine or beer JUST BEFORE the procedure, which can't be right because you can regurgitate it during the procedure into your lungs.  All my alcohol drinking will be terminated fully six hours before the colonoscopy.  

My other concern is that I like my current gut ecosystem--maybe five pounds of microbiota--it has long kept me well.  The cleansing kills most of them, and there is no certainty that the same, or better, balance will return.  Looks like I'll have to re-start another family of microorganisms, perhaps 40 trillion of them.  I can't believe medical science has not better researched this phase of the process.

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 Stage Four:  The colonoscopy.

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     Stage Five:  A visit to my doctor ten days later.  I guess the lab work takes that long.

     Stage Six:  Hopefully, this will not be necessary, but a person who I played poker with this week said he had a colonoscopy about ten years ago.  They found cancerous polyps, so they took out a portion of his large intestines.  He is very healthy today.  So my final end need not necessarily come in Stages 3 and 4.  I'm almost looking forward to getting this out of the way for my last time.

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SONGS OF THE END

Sure, I hope I'm overreacting about my looming colonoscopy exam on Friday.  But to continue on with this dreary theme, there are all kinds of lists for the top songs about the apocalypse, end of the world and doomsday.

Here are some of my favorites, now that I know what they are about:

• 99 Luftballoons by Nena, which was released in 1983 from Germany.  How many of you knew that those 99 air, and colored red in America, balloons, are mistaken for a first strike nuclear attack, resulting in a 99-year war?  Nena is the band, which came from the childhood name (Spanish for little girl) of vocalist Gabriele Kerner.  All my life I thought this song was a light ditty about floating red balloons.

• Then, of course, there is Skeeter Davis' The End of the World, which was released when I graduated from college in 1962, and deals with the aftermath of a romantic breakup.  It is the only song that placed in all four of Billboard's Top 5.  Plus, it was ranked #2 in 1963.  #1 that year was Surfin' USA by The Beach Boys.  She had a productive life and wrote 70 songs, with her end coming in 2004.

• Eve of Destruction is a 1964 protest song by Barry McGuire, recorded in one take, with lyrics scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper.  The 1965 Selma to Montgomery march line has been replaced by other incidents as they happened, such as the 1999 student massacre at Columbine.  Red China has been referenced and the assassination of John F. Kennedy is prominent.  The song was banned by a variety of American radio stations, claiming it was an aid to the enemy in Vietnam.

• Bad Moon Rising is a 1969 song by John Fogerty, performed by his Creedence Clearwater Revival, and is about the apocalypse that is going to be visited upon us.  You've heard it in a whole lot of films and TV programs.  In Argentina, BMR has become a soccer chant sung by fans to support their team.  Can't imagine why.  Manchester City of the UK has also adopted this tune.  Interestingly enough, Fogerty also wrote Proud Mary, in 1968, which people think is virtually owned by Tina Turner.

• In 1969 the Beatles released their final song with all four involved, The End.  How appropriate.  While not much of a hit, good way to end this posting, so I'll send you to the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics where Paul McCartney performed the closing couplet of The End just prior to Hey Jude. 

Here is one list of the Top Five Apocalypses in classical music, with #1 being:  Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time.  Feel free to enjoy all 54 minutes.  Certainly deserves its ranking.  Can you imagine listening to that into Eternity?  This one is about The End of World by Audiomachine.

Then of course, most of you will be going to Heaven, which is an almost desirable end.  Here are 157 top songs about Heaven, and #1 is Jackie Evancho's Open Fields of Grace.  I've been following her career since she first auditioned for America's Got Talent in 2010, and this is the first time I've ever heard it.  Remember, the 2019 version of AGT begins on May 28.

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