The enigma that is MTG

Georgian Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene announced this past week that she will be resigning from Congress on January 5, 2026. 47 reacted by applauding her decision and saying that she 'went bad'. He questioned her loyalty to him and to the Republican party. It is true that her behavior and statements have changed radically during the past few months. It's almost as though she's had some sort of awakening--a conversion of sorts. One could only hope. This is a woman who supported 47 wholeheartedly and brashly through his first term and into his second. Her brand of loyalty bordered on cultish. She was fond of conspiracy theories and her rhetoric did nothing to stop the fanning of the flames of hatred in the USA; it rather promoted division among the American people. She was no moderate Republican as she is now being portrayed. She was positioned firmly on the extremist right and was an ardent supporter of QAnon (Legislator criticism of a candidate’s conspiracy beliefs reduces support for the conspiracy but not the candidate: Evidence from Marjorie Taylor Greene and QAnon | HKS Misinformation Review). 

Why is she resigning? Is it just that her very public rift with 47 has damaged her future political chances? Or does she see an opportunity to reinvent herself and her potential political future? Is she deeply upset over how 47 has treated her, or was she prepared for the fallout? After all, she pushed and pushed for the release of the Epstein files/emails which 47 opposed, and they are now being released with his support. One could question his motives for his sudden reversal on this issue. I think he understood that it was politically savvy to do so. After all, he could see that the tide was turning against him, that he is losing his group of core supporters, and that can't happen. He has to control the narrative. Mark my words, in a month or two everyone will think that he was instrumental in pushing for release of the files. MTG will be a footnote to that story, as is the case for most people who oppose him. 

I'd like to believe that she underwent a true change of heart. She did apologize for fanning the flames of hatred and for her hateful rhetoric. God does work in strange ways. Perhaps we are witnessing a real conversion in action. But being the doubting Thomas that I am (and I am), I want more proof that she is a changed person. Time will tell. She is an enigma, and she is not likely to be pinned down or figured out any time soon. Perhaps she wants it that way. Or perhaps she really did get tired of the political games in Washington DC. Perhaps she found out that she was not really welcome at the party, or that she was welcome at the party as long as she continued to spout the party line. I find it interesting that she said that she had no desire to be a 'battered wife', accepting the bad behavior and remaining in her appointed place. I applaud her for following her conscience if in fact it is her conscience that is guiding her. But as I said, I want more proof that she is a changed individual. From a spiritual context, it's always possible that one can seek forgiveness and find it if one is willing to change one's ways. Anything is possible with God. Good for her if that's the case. She grew up, woke up, and did something about her past behavior. That's what God asks. Perhaps it will inspire others to do the same, and perhaps that's what 47 is most afraid of. 

Coldplay - Speed Of Sound (Official Video)

I listened to this song today and was transported to a place inside myself that I guard fiercely--that place that treasures music and lyrics. It's not just my heart but my mind and soul as well. How wonderful it is that we can fill our worlds with music, especially in times like these, where absolutely nothing is certain or sacred. Music and lyrics live on eternally. One hundred years from now, the world can listen to this song and wonder about the lives of the men who wrote and sang it, and about the conditions that created it. Creativity never ceases to intrigue me--how it happens, where ideas come from. I like to think that the collective unconscious is always floating above us and that we can reach up and pluck an idea or two from it. And do something with it that makes it uniquely our own. I love that idea. That has definitely been the case for me and my writing. I recognize poetry when I hear it in music and I am grateful that others write it too. It's not dead if it lives on in music. Here are the lyrics to Speed of Sound by Coldplay: 

How long before I get in?

Before it starts, before I begin

How long before you decide?

Before I know what it feels like

Where to, where do I go?

If you never try, then you'll never know

How long do I have to climb

Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

Look up, I look up at night

Planets are moving at the speed of light

Climb up, up in the trees

Every chance that you get is a chance you seize

How long am I gonna stand

With my head stuck under the sand?

I'll start before I can stop

Or before I see things the right way up

All that noise, and all that sound

All those places I got found

And birds go flying at the speed of sound

To show you how it all began

Birds came flying from the underground

If you could see it then you'd understand

Ideas that you'll never find

All the inventors could never design

The buildings that you put up

Japan and China, all lit up

The sign that I couldn't read

Or a light that I couldn't see

Some things you have to believe

But others are puzzles, puzzling me

All that noise, and all that sound

All those places I got found

And birds go flying at the speed of sound

To show you how it all began

Birds came flying from the underground

If you could see it then you'd understand

Oh, when you see it then you'll understand

All those signs, I knew what they meant

Some things you can't invent

Some get made, and some get sent

Ooh-ooh

Birds go flying at the speed of sound

To show you how it all began

Birds came flying from the underground

If you could see it then you'd understand

Oh, when you see it then you'll understand

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Christopher Anthony John Martin / Guy Rupert Berryman / William Champion / Jonathan Mark Buckland

Speed of Sound lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Mgb Ltd.

Who woulda thunk it?

The news that 47 has dumped MTG as an ally was of little surprise to me. Loyalty runs only one way in the current administration. The fact that she has lasted this long is the real surprise. If you question the leader, you're out. If you question powerful rich white men, you're out. You don't even get three strikes. 

What a farce politics has become. American and international politics--it doesn't really matter. It amazes me that things run as they should for the most part. But that's solely due to honest, ordinary, good people in politics who have morals and balls, and who stay out of the limelight, who aren't 'PR-kåte' (PR-horny) as the Norwegians would say. They do the jobs they were elected to do, or at least they try. The government shutdown in the USA shows that this is not always the case. But average ordinary people are not in charge when it comes to making the decision to shut down a government. I'm sure there were many underlings who cautioned their bosses about making the wrong decision for the good of America. But lately, it seems that very few decisions have to do with what's good overall for America. 

47 is now abandoning tariffs on beef, coffee, bananas and orange juice, among other foodstuffs (Trump cuts tariffs on beef, coffee and other foods as inflation concerns mount | Reuters ). Again, who woulda thunk it? Who did people think were going to pay for the tariff increases on groceries? The oligarchs that run the US economy? Not a chance. Anyone who thinks that oligarchy doesn't exist in the USA should think again. If you're a billionaire, baby, you've got it made. And you have an open door into the Oval Office as far as I can judge. 

We have young people now whose career choices veer toward being influencers or posting videos on Only Fans. Why? Money money money. Models, singers, and actors/actresses can make a fortune from selling their own lines of clothing and perfumes/colognes. Do you need a college education or a graduate school education for such things? No, all you need are fancy accountants and lawyers who take care of the whole shebang for you. But young people should take a long hard look at the statistics--there are very few who make it in these businesses, and you're shortsighted if you think you will. 

Everything is out of whack these days. Salaries for sports stars, actors/actresses, top-level leaders (don't get me started), businessmen, etc. I've been saying the same thing for ten or more years--when you pay superfluous department leaders at a hospital extremely high salaries, the money has to come from somewhere. You're extremely naive if you think that extra money is appropriated (from somewhere) to pay for these salaries. No, the money comes from the budgets that departments need in order to run their day-to-day functions. So the departmental budgets are cut, and ordinary employees are told that 'now we're going to work smarter and more effectively' in order to deal with the cuts. When you translate this bullshit, it amounts to that 'you're going to do the job of three people for the same salary as you have now, and you're going to work more hours in order to get the job done'. I've seen it so many times and it always ends up the same way. People quit when they figure out that they're being taken advantage of. And so it goes. Departments end up chronically understaffed. I view all of this from afar now that I no longer belong to the work world. Do I miss it? God, no. I know what hard work is, and I knew when what I did was appreciated and when it wasn't. You learn. Eventually you learn. It took me a while though. Am I a cynic? No. But I am a skeptical optimist. I have hope because I have faith, but that doesn't mean that I don't see the 'man behind the curtain' (think Wizard of Oz). There's a lot of bluster and arrogant talk and such, but it's covering up a lack of strategy and common sense. We need to get back to a world that values ethics and common sense. 

Random thoughts on a Friday morning

I train now three days a week--group training on Mondays and Wednesdays, and individual training on Fridays. The center where I train is four tram stops from my home, so it's convenient to get there. This morning's reflections--

• People on their way to work, stopping to buy their espressos and cappuccinos at Kaffebrenneriet (literally the coffee burner). I used to do that in Manhattan on my way to work each morning. 
• Stores opening for the day. 
• A gray autumn day, but a mild one. Kind of nice, actually. For once, the grayness doesn't bother me. I have no idea why. Maybe because I'm listening to my music and it energizes me. 
• Training has gotten me back into listening to music. I realize just how much I love dance music. I love training to dance music. I feel uplifted and happy. Carefree is the best way to describe it. Just about how I felt years ago on the dance floor. I used to love going to clubs on the weekends to dance. 
• People on the tram are preoccupied with their own things, listening to music on their phones or reading the news on their phones. Most people's faces are buried in their phones. 
• When I'm on the treadmill at the training center, I look out the window onto the roof below. A large number of pigeons sit there as well as on the electric wire above the roof. Looking down and out over the city. They sit there rain or shine. A bird's eye view--that must be kind of cool. I've always wished that I could fly. 
• I look out at the traffic pouring into the city. People on their way to work. The daily routine. I'm so glad I no longer have that routine. I appreciate my freedom, but it's been hard-earned. Over forty years in the workforce; that was long enough. I thought about myself as an employee. I probably wasn't the best employee in terms of listening slavishly to workplace leaders, but I have no regrets. Thankfully I chose research science, which imparts a fair amount of autonomy in terms of what one chooses to do each day. Meaning that I was quite free to pursue the research projects I wanted and luckily for many years, they were funded. 
• I talk to some of the people I train with. Many are interested in American politics and enjoy discussing them with me. I don't deter them. It's interesting to hear what non-Americans think about my country and the political chaos in which we find ourselves at present. We talk about what's going on in Europe too, because Europe is not immune to some of the polarizing ideologies that plague the USA at present. 
• I'm grateful for life. My prayer each morning is one of thanks--for life, for another day, for the people in my life who love me and whom I love. 

Halloween event at Frøyas Have in Oslo

Halloween has become a big deal here in Norway. According to recent sources, the Norwegians who celebrate Halloween use about 1.2 billion Norwegian kroner, which translates to about 118 million US dollars. That's a lot of money. This link describes how the popularity of Halloween has increased over the years (Halloween spending soars in Norway - Norway's News in English — www.newsinenglish.no), especially among young people and families with young children. 

When I first moved here, Halloween was not celebrated, and the idea of it was not popular. But that changed in the early 2000s, in part due to the availability of American films, including horror films, that depicted the fun and creepy Halloween goings-on. In 1997, I threw a Halloween party for my stepdaughter who was fourteen at the time. She wanted one and I thought it would be fun to do it. And it was. I remember that the costumes of the teenage girls and boys were pretty inventive--witches, vampires, zombies. One of the guys dressed up as a woman, and trust me, he did a great job. 

My husband and I attended a Halloween event at Frøyas Have in Oslo this past weekend. It was impressive. This was the first time such a Halloween-related event had taken place in Oslo, and it seemed to be well-attended. The Halloween park was set up as a collaboration between the companies Pilote Beauty and Gemino Art. It was billed as Europe's largest Halloween 'park'. I'd like to see more of these kinds of events--they're fun and creative and a little creepy (Halloween, Bydel Frogner | Halloween-park på Frogner utsatt for hærverk dagen før åpning: – Måtte være litt kreative)

Here are some photos of Halloween at Frøyas Have. Enjoy!