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Deeply Worried, But Full of Hope

Bishop Mariann Budde

For those of you who have followed the saga of my hospital stay to battle and convalesce from the attack of Flu A, I was released last Wednesday, but not without their final testing to ensure I was well enough to leave and could manage at home on my own.

The Lariboisiere Hospital in Paris

The last few days, I shared a room with a 99-year-old French woman who had all her faculties and was too adorable for words. Unfortunately, she stayed hospitalized while I packed up my things to return home. The hospital officials armed me with a package of documents from the stay, including a couple of prescriptions for blood tests to be taken in the future so they could monitor my progress. They also explained that someone would call me to arrange a housekeeper to come four times during the next month to clean and get groceries and a physical therapist to get my lungs back in working order…all covered by French social security. My eyes must have lit up in surprise! What amazing service!

I cannot give enough praise to the French healthcare system after having gone through this ordeal. I just wish the French themselves knew how spoiled they really are! I don’t think they do when I hear some of their complaints. Nonetheless, if you have get sick, this is the place in which to do it!

I spent a lot of time watching the news during my stay at the hospital and then at home while resting. Keeping up with what’s going on in the U.S. has become more and more acute since leaving the U.S., although you might think there’s not much reason to care anymore. “Au contraire,” being so far away and looking back across the Big Pond has heightened my interest in American politics and how it affects my family and friends, all Americans, France and the rest of the world.

I was glued to the screen from my hospital bed all during the inauguration of Donald Trump, watching all the players and what they had to say or how their faces reacted. Melania Trump did a good job of hiding her eyes with her wide-brimmed hat so no one couldn’t read anything into them. At least, that was my take on it since otherwise, it seemed so out of place.

The powerhouses in the room, the three wealthiest Americans, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, sat together and almost as close as the immediate family. That was a sight! And I loved watching the past presidents all lined up, working hard to keep their poker faces—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama—alongside former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former First Lady Laura Bush. Former First Lady Michelle Obama, was notably missing.

The tech titans at the inauguration

I know a lot of people who couldn’t bear to watch any of it at all, but I was fascinated by the entire scene and thought of it as a moment in history not to be missed. Never before has there been such a non-traditional cast of characters as at this inauguration.

Former presidents and first ladies at the inauguration

Within minutes of having taken the oath, that big black aggressive signature of his was put to many executive orders, as he promised. I got curious about his signature from a graphologist’s analysis and discovered one from just a few days ago published by the TimesNowNews.com by Sheila Lowe, a forensic handwriting expert. Paraphrasing, she uncovered personality traits such as a strong drive for power, a need for control, and possible dishonesty. Her findings included: “stabby strokes” in letters like “O” associated with dishonesty; large, blocky letters reflecting a need for authority, security, and unresolved emotional issues, and a signature resembling “barbed wire” suggesting arrogance and self-destructive tendencies.

So, if you didn’t know the man, you might say she nailed it.

And with those stabby strokes, he destroyed a lot of lives and the future of many. He signed orders: deporting undocumented migrants and their families and other immigrants; withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement (taking no responsibility for being one of the world’s biggest polluters) while expediting fossil fuel projects and limiting renewable energy initiatives; restricting recognition of gender identity and protections for transgender individuals; ending policies addressing racial equity; freezing federal hiring, except for border enforcement and military jobs; making it easier to fire federal employees, emphasizing loyalty to the administration’s policies; establishing the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk; repealing many Biden directives on Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, and COVID-19 (but left statutory drug pricing caps intact); withdrawing from the World Health Organization; aligning foreign policy under an “America First” agenda; re-designating Yemen’s Houthis as terrorists; lifting sanctions on certain Israeli groups; restoring the name “Mount McKinley” in place of “Denali;” ordering flags at full-staff during his inauguration, reversing Biden’s mourning tribute for former President Jimmy Carter; directing the DOJ to explore re-imposing death penalties commuted under Biden; encouraging aggressive pursuit of the death penalty at federal and state levels; pardoning individuals convicted for roles in the January 6th Capitol attack; ordering investigations into alleged weaponization of government agencies during Biden’s tenure; revoking security clearances of intelligence officials linked to the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

In effect, he undid Biden-era initiatives, restricting immigration, bolstering nationalism, and reasserting conservative principles across governance. Of course, let us not forget, many policies face legal challenges and significant public scrutiny.

Thank the lord! Or should we thank our democratic system?

Then, when he wasn’t looking, Mariann Edgar Budde, an American prelate of the Episcopal Church, who has served as Bishop of Washington since November 2011 before being elected Washington’s first female diocesan bishop, and who served 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, nailed him from her pulpit during her sermon with her sweet quiet tone to ask for mercy: “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now….”

We didn’t know who she was before, but we sure as hell know who she is now. If he had just let it go, it might not have exploded into such a nuclear mushroom. After he returned to the White House, Trump said, “I didn’t think it was a good service” and “they could do much better.” But later, in an overnight post on his social media site, he sharply criticized the “so-called Bishop” as a “Radical left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” he said. “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job!” he further went on to say “She and her church owe the public an apology!”

In all honesty, it gave me hope that some of us still have compassion for humanity and the willingness to stand up to unleashed authority. One commentator remarked that “she had more ‘balls’ than all those rich billionaires at the inauguration put together!” No joke. She put herself out there without fear of repercussions. Does it take a woman to stand up to a white male supremacist such as Donald Trump?!

Mark my words. This is just the beginning of the backlash. It’s going to come from far and wide—to all the points of his big black pen tentacles. It’s going to be fascinating, frustrating, infuriating, frightening, and challenging for the next four years. But, maybe this is what it takes to wake up Americans, and the entire world, to reject ideas that are designed to control “other people” (whoever “other people” are to them), greedily make more more money while “others” just get poorer or lose their rights, and are contrary to what Christians preach as their values.

After having recently experienced French healthcare, that is completely covered under the social security taxes I pay, and provides for everyone regardless of whether they paid into the system or not…I have a more well-rounded point of view than someone who has never experienced the benefits of living in a Socialist Democracy, such as France.

Don’t be deeply worried. Remember there are still people out there who have the ‘balls’ to stand up to bullies, and be full of hope instead.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds dressed in blueAdrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group®

P.S. You can have my point of view, too…just by spending the rest of your life here. You will never regret it. If you are interested in learning more about moving to France, contact us today!

P.P.S. I don’t expect all of our readers to agree with my points of view. I’m entitled to have them, and I am entitled to offer them to my readers in my own missive. You are free to unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of this Nouvellettre®.

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