We Are Seeing Ourselves

In a mirror that reflects

Our collective ugliness

Filtering out what could

Be our best beauty by

Seeing the whole as one

Reflecting back the parts

That only by themselves

Need the most work

Taken over by individual

Subjective perspectives to

Shedding excess weight

Not by diet and exercise

Which would be healthier

Instead, surgical removal

A temporary quick go-to

Needing extra medical care

Later, more often, and costly

Removing things unwanted

Only because some parts

Are viewed as undesirable

Because a head said so

Who thinks that in a gilded age *

Everything ought to be golden

While opportunities could

Be taken to take advantage

See their potential beauty

Beneficial to the entirety

Since they are of the whole

Not in the first place

But always all ways

Groom those in such a way

As to bring out their

Useful and effectiveness

That the entire self could

Recognize how beautiful

It is always all as one



*

“As the United States grew into the world’s leading industrial power during the late 19th century, those atop the economic ladder in America’s Gilded Age accumulated spectacular fortunes. By 1890, the country’s 4,000 millionaires held 20 percent of the country’s wealth, and with that enormous affluence came colossal political corruption.

Corporate titans could buy anything they wanted—including politicians. Richard White, professor emeritus of history at Stanford University and author of The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896, says the Gilded Age was among the most corrupt eras in American history primarily because of “the rise of corporations and the growth of modern means of communication that intensified the way corruption can work.”

“This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people no longer,” former president Rutherford B. Hayes wrote in his diary in 1886. “It is a government by the corporations, of the corporations and for the corporations.”

Politicians took spectacularly handsome bribes from corporations and demanded kickbacks as the helping hand they extended often came with an open palm.

– History.com



As long as I’m sidetracked…….

“Corporate titans could buy anything they wanted—including politicians.” – History.com

“Elon Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to back President-elect Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, campaign finance records filed Thursday show.”

– CBS News


Oopsie


An “unpaid” government employee overseeing “your” money. Cutting budgets, departments, without Congressional approval. Sending in henchboys to access the treasury and your Social Security.



“The Trump administration’s use of (FOR SHOW) military aircraft for deportation flights is running a high price while at the same time moving fewer migrants than lower-priced commercial charter flights.

The cost of flying C-17 military cargo planes is high, costing roughly $28,500 per hour of flight time, according to Reuters. The flights — averaging between 10 and 13 hours — take twice as long as chartered removal flights.

The flights with 80 people can cost around $3,918.75 per person to Guatemala from El Paso, according to an analysis by the El Paso Times using flight tracking software data.

A similar contracted charter deportation flight from El Paso costs taxpayers roughly $1,168.75 per person to Guatemala. The calculation is based on only 80 people on a removal flight, which generally carry 120 to 125 migrants.

The higher cost of President Donald Trump’s military deportations per migrant has raised condemnation from lawmakers.
“It is an abuse of taxpayer resources; it is a violation of the public trust,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said. “It’s a betrayal of the taxpayer because there is a cheaper alternative.”

– El Paso Times


I guess if the head of the DOGE
Wasn’t so far up 45/47’s arse
He could cut that expense also