It's True, Katydid Did Come To Visit

On this particular sultry, late summer night, I'm surrounded by a symphony of nature's sound.

I step outside and into my backyard, pausing to listen. What is that strange call?

Not crickets. And not the Cicadas. Their soaring daytime serenades end come nightfall.

Small birds? Giant tree crickets? Bats? Do bats make calls like that?

The call sounded like a cross between a bird and a cricket. A new species?

New to me, anyway. I just moved into this Courthouse cottage a few months ago.

The stacatto song comes from every direction in the trees above, accentuating a constant chorus of crickets from the ground below.

Back inside the cottage, I suddenly hear one of the strange calls up close and personal. It seems to echo off the walls.

Where was it? More importantly, what was it? It's definitely loud.

Sounds like it's coming from the window. Not outside the window, but by the window, behind the blinds -- and inside the cottage.

"It" called out again, two piercing staccato calls, one right after the other.

I approach the blinds, again the thought surfacing that perhaps it's a bat? And as soon as I lift the blinds, the thing will come screaming for my neck.

No, I tell myself. It's probably just a baby bat. A cute, little, furry guy looking for his mama. He'll want to make friends.

I could name him Flappy. He could rest on my shoulder and we could watch TV together. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

I lift the blinds. Suddenly, I see him on the couch just below the air conditioner.

Not a baby bat. A green leaf-like insect, nearly 3 inches long, just looking up at me.

It resists climbing onto my finger, but doesn't run away -- or fly, or jump, or skip, or whatever it does for locomotion.

The creature climbs onto the air conditioner. And it calls out again a couple times, as if yelling to his pals outside, "Hey, get me outta here!"

So, I do my research. He's a Katydid, of which there are thousands of different species in the world.

More specifically, this fella is a True Katydid -- also known as a Bush Cricket, which seems fair since he's related to crickets and grasshoppers.

And it's his kin folks that are taking the instrumental lead in the symphony outside my open cottage door and window this summer night.

Katydids are rarely seen. Mostly heard. I feel privileged.

Now, a Giant Katydid can grow as big as a human hand, I see from the picture on my phone.

Katydids inhabit late summer and early fall nights from New Jersey down to Mississippi.

And they spend their summer nights pretty much like most earthly creatures of a certain age: they seek a mate.

But that's where the romantic similarities between the Bush Crickets and humans end.

The Katydids sing to each other by rubbing their forewings together and listen for a response with the ears on their front legs.

Not even in my brief time traveling with a small, one-ring circus that featured various sideshow attractions, did I ever encounter such an oddity.

In summers past, I'm sure I've heard the Katydids' distinct call, but just took it for granted as part of the summer night soundtrack.

Instead of Flappy, I go with Chirpy. Now, Chirpy is clinging to the ceiling in the kitchen. He's either hungry or has repositioned so he can see the TV better.

I figure it's the latter. As I settle down to watch Batman vs. Superman, my new pal starts with the shrill chirps again.

I glance at him. Do you mind? I ask. He's quiet.
Do you see any ears on my legs?

While he's looking and thinking, I resume watching the movie, glad to have the company.

Meet Chirpy.

Here's To Gene

It's always sad when a film icon dies. But I'm feeling a little emptier with the passing of comic genius Gene Wilder, who died at the age of 83 yesterday.

First off, I can't believe he was 83. The films he did 40 years ago or more are still so alive and hilarious today.

Young Frankenstein, the parody he wrote with Mel Brooks and starred in as the nephew of Dr. Frankenstein, is Wilder's greatest achievement.

So many laughs. So many great lines, scenes. "Walk this way.. You just made a yummy sound... Sedagive?! ... Hello handsome... "

That understated style got you every time.

Of course, his pairings with Richard Prior in movies -- Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Stir Crazy and Silver Streak were priceless.

So, here's to Gene who gave us so many laughs. He lives on in the art he left behind.

And we still have many more laughs to go.

Enemy Trump?

Anymore, it's clear that Donald Trump's original Oval Office ambitions were nothing more than a fantastical ego trip, filled with grand proclamations, to bolster his brand.

He never really wanted to be president. Not really. Sure, the way a first grader wants to be Superman, Trump was in love with the idea of being king of the world. But that's it. He didn't want to do the work.

Now, that he surprised everyone -- including himself -- by gaining the nomination, he's essentially winging it.

In the meantime, the self-styled "Law and Order" candidate, through his angry vitriol and childish personal attacks arguably has only fomented lawlessness and disorder on American streets.

Trump's shunning the "Black Lives Matter" movement, while showering all police officers with praise, only perpetuates the pain of bigotry, subverts justice and increases tensions between blacks and cops.

Trump's call in December for a Muslim ban in the U.S. arguably played right into the hands of Islamic terrorists and has unnecessarily burdened millions of American Muslims.

What impact has Trump had abroad? Is it a coincidence that the United Kingdom, after observing Trump's isolationist overtures for months on end voted in favor of exiting the European Union?

His call to build walls, his mocking assaults of anyone challenging his deluded assertions, his phony posturing and flat out buffoonery should disqualify him from American citizenship, let alone the presidency.

A multitude of troubling unanswered questions remain and circle like vultures over Trump's head, demanding answers.

What exactly is Trump's business interests in Russia?

And where does that $12 million off-the-books paper trail, linking Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort to pro-Russian politics lead?

And equally important, what sort of destructive notions are being planted in the psyche of our youth who have been exposed to the bullying, crude, creepy Trump traveling sideshow for the past year?

We can thank decades of ultra conservative-minded greed for spawning this mutated amalgamation of humanity's basest emotions: anger, resentment, fear and hatred.

A political party can't ideologically align itself so unabashedly with corporate America for so long while trampling Americans' rights, without dire consequences.

Trump is no outsider.

He's the twisted, contorted reflection of contemporary republicanism scowling back from the funhouse mirror.

Until the GOP lives up to this, the circus show will go on, selling out American values.

Now that Trump has begun getting intelligence briefings -- amidst his sporadic, bizarre outbursts and mounting questions about his Russian connections -- our nation's security is threatened in so many ways.

It's long past time Republican leaders, for the sake of this country, unitedly and formerly acted to rebuke Trump.

And it's about time Americans soberly consider that our country's most dangerous home-grown terrorist actually is the alarmist extraordinaire himself, Donald Trump.

Trump's Hypocrisy

If Donald Trump truly wants to weed out the bigots, hatemongers and state enemies from our country, the divisive presidential wannabe should start with himself.

Trump's call for an "ideological test" as part of his "extreme vetting" proposal to screen for potential incoming terrorists, only punctuates the absurdity of his campaign to win the White House.

"Those who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted into the United States, "  said Trump on Monday.

The disturbing thing here isn't so much the bombastic billionaire's blatant hypocrisy,  but that he seems utterly oblivious to the hideous "bigotry and hatred" he has relentlessly spewed since announcing his bid for the White House last summer.

Trump's incessant, inflammatory racist rhetoric regarding Mexicans, Muslims and blacks is a matter of record. And there's no way to measure the damage done by his fear-mongering.

If "The Donald" were ever subject to his own super duper extreme vetting -- and he unquestionably should be -- he'd not only be banned from the country, but possibly charged with treason.

Said Trump on Monday: "We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people."

Nice of the Reality TV star to defend the very American values he has so thoroughly trashed for the past year. But what's this "we" and "our" stuff?

Maybe Trump should actually start demonstrating those American values by respecting his fellow countrymen first, before demanding anyone, citizen or immigrant, do the same.

That's the least we should expect from someone running for the highest office in the highest office in the land.

How is Trump Still in the Race?

What will it take for the Republican leadership to demonstrate their alleged love of country and finally can its increasingly volatile Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump?

Khan Trumps Fear-monger

Poor Donald. He's been "viciously attacked" by a thin bespectacled,  mild-mannered, soft-spoken Khizr Kahn. 

What is this world coming to? I can hear my late, great Aunt LaLa now, making that disapproving ticking sound with her tongue.

So appropriate. The supremely arrogant Trump gets taken down by a humble, God-fearing man.

I believe this will ultimately be the last straw, what leads to The Donald's eventual demise.

(Thought this was timely below to revisit in light of Trump's persistent antics. Published last December in The Gazette.)

As the alarm bells clang louder and louder inside Donald Trump's head and resound across this land, we'd do well to recall the quelling contributions of TV journalist Edward R. Murrow amidst the Red Scare of more than half a century ago.

"We will not walk in fear, one of another," asserted Murrow in a 1954 CBS TV broadcast calling out Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist Party witch hunt, which was stirring fear and promoting paranoia throughout Cold War America.

"We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men," Murrow continued. "Not from men who feared to write, to speak and to associate and to defend the causes that were for the moment, unpopular."

If we were to listen to the increasingly "popular" disingenuous, hateful, fear-monger extraordinaire Donald Trump, who makes allusions to President Barrack Obama as a terrorist and incites fear of all Muslims at home and abroad, then of course, the real enemy, fear, wins. And unreason is free to run rampant.

The Republican presidential front runner's call on Monday to block all Muslims from entering the United States, has shades of the 1950's "McCarthyism" that Murrow confronted head on, exposing its alarmist widespread persecution of innocent law-abiding Americans.

Of course, America must be vigilant and take security measures against radicals the likes of the San Bernardino shooters from entering the country. The House bill passed Tuesday that bars travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan from entering the U.S. without visas, is a good step. But as usual, Trump’s mouth went too far.

As leaders everywhere, domestically and internationally -- from boxing legend Muhammad Ali to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- voice their disgust over Trump's bigoted declaration, Trump's approval numbers at home rose several points. And that's what's really scary.

Trump can say pretty much anything, as long as he says it in that outraged, snappy, trumped up, Donald kind of way. And a growing segment of the American living room masses will look at each other in amazement and nod their boggle heads in agreement.

Trump is what happens when a party consistently puts corporate welfare ahead of its constituents' well-being. In part, we can't blame the "make America great again" believers. But, sooner or later, they are going to have to wake up.

Of course, all this enflamed rhetoric from Trump and his fellow Republican presidential candidates over the terrorism threat and President Obama's perceived international failures, obscures the urgency to address America's long-standing murder by gun epidemic.

Whether this administration is doing enough to fight terrorism can be debated. Whether or not America needs stricter gun controls cannot.

An average of 36 people die daily and 30,000 yearly from gunfire in America. This year so far, there have been 353 mass shootings (three people or more shot), more than one for each day of the year.

Republicans' denial of urgently needed gun control measures -- like thorough universal background checks and assault weapon bans -- is criminal. Period.

You can't separate the two issues -- terrorism and guns. One too easily serves the other, as in the case of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.

Despite California's military assault weapon ban in 2000, designed to prevent the sale of high powered semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 models used in the San Bernardino massacre, manufacturer's subsequent addition of a "bullet button" feature -- supposedly making the weapons less deadly -- was enough to allow the legal sale of those rifles.

Republicans failure just last week to expand background checks for gun purchases on line and also block persons on the FBI's terrorist watch list from purchasing guns, demonstrates the degree to which conservatives are owned by the NRA -- and are failing Americans.

By engaging in campaign bolstering theatrics while ignoring the gun dilemma, Trump, Tea Party presidential favorite Ted Cruz and all the rest of the posturing Republican presidential hopefuls continue to blur the truth of key social issues, and only aid and abet gun-toting killers.

(Kevin McKinney is a freelance writer living at the Jersey Shore.)

Ego and Deflection Motivate Trump

Donald Trump's Twitter war with the parents of the Muslim American Soldier killed in Iraq suggests a fragile ego and lack of self control. Alternately, if that doesn't explain Trump's insistence on keeping this story alive, fanning the flames with childish insults, maybe his focus on Kahzir Kahn and his wife is more strategic. 
It certainly could be The Donald's way of deflecting attention from what is arguably the more important recently breaking story -- the billionaire businessman's suspect links with Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
It's likely a little bit of both.