It’s About Damn Time

PublishedJuly 24, 2022 Post authormortlaitner@bellsouth.net

Turn up the music, turn down the lights
I got a feelin’ I’m gon’ be alright
Okay (okay), alright
It’s about damn time (time)
Turn up the music, let’s celebrate (alright)
I got a feelin’ I’m gon’ be okay
Okay (okay), alright
It’s about damn time

(See footnote #1)

It’s about damn time

Saudi Arabia recognizes the State of Israel.

It’s about damn time

The Netanyahu trial ends.

It’s about damn time

President Trump gets indicted.

It’s about damn time

President Trump admits he lost the election.

It’s about damn time

The Republicans come to their senses.

It’s about damn time

COVID disappears.

It’s about damn time

The Palestinians sign a peace treaty with Israel.

It’s about damn time

AR-15’s aren’t sold to the general public.

It’s about damn time

Clarence Thomas resigns from the Supreme Court.

It’s about damn time

Russia pulls out of Ukraine.

It’s about damn time.

14. Thumbs up.—Julie

15, Thumbs up.—Ellen

16. Time will tell.—Cary

17. Thumbs up.—Marianne

18. Thumbs up.—Evelyn

—

1. “It’s About Damn Time” Sung by Lizzo—Songwriters: Blake Slatkin / Eric Frederic / Larry Tyrone Price / Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren / Melissa Viviane Jefferson / Ronald Jerome Jr. Larkins / Stephen Eric Hague / Theron Makiel Thomas

The Happy Meal

PublishedJuly 20, 2022 Post authormortlaitner@bellsouth.net

December 20, 2025

Eleven months after the President’s Inauguration.

Six months after his declaration of martial law.

I listened to the Swiss clock mounted on my kitchen wall; I realized my life and my country had gone cuckoo.

I sat at the kitchen table wondering:

Are the kids asleep?

Are they safely in their beds?

Are they okay?

I looked down at and stared at my daughter’s collection of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys resting in a cluster on the Formica-topped table.

She had collected the whole nativity scene.

A scene which included:

A baby Jesus sleeping in a manger, a Mary, a Joseph, an angel, magi and their brown camels, a shepherd, a sorrel donkey, a gray ox and a black sheep.

I silently cursed, “You fuckers, how could you do this to me!”

My curses were directed to the President’s Council on Religious Affairs. For they had ordered McDonald’s to put crèche toys in every Happy Meal for the whole month of December.

I whispered my curses for I feared bugs in my home.

I remembered when the Supreme Court had ruled—in a 6 to 3 vote—that it was not a violation of the separation of church and state for Congress to authorize the President the power to regulate what toys ended up in fast food cardboard boxes festooned with Christmas trees, red and white candy canes and jolly Santas.

I wanted to shove the collection to the floor and scream, “Enough is enough! You win! I’m leaving! You have driven me coo coo!”

But I didn’t.

For I feared hidden video cameras.

As tears pour down my face, I remembered the good old when I took freedom, liberty and justice for granted.

I placed my hand on my head and I prayed, “G-d, please return my life and my government to a state of normalcy.”

And I wept.

And I sobbed.

Back in the USA

PublishedJuly 16, 2022 Post authormortlaitner@bellsouth.net

Hey, We’re back in the USA

Thanks to the Seattle Movie Awards (SMA), for selecting “We Need Rent Money” as a semi-finalist in their film festival.

It’s sweet having an American win after our successes in all four corners of the globe.

Ya see, Seattle is one of our favorite towns.

And SMA has the admirable goal of trying to introduce the best of short and feature films to the general public.

And SMA has the lofty mission of discovering talented filmmakers from around the world.

Well, here’s your goal and mission, try to remember your trip to Seattle:

Being nervous as you rode to the top of the Space Needle, with its flying saucer-shaped dome;

It’s old now, having been built for the1962 World’s Fair;

But the panoramic views of Puget Sound and the Cascades are still marvelous;

How you ooded and ahhed watching the fish vendors throwing and the catching (they never dropped one) those large fish at Pike Place Market Food;

Seeing those magnificent works of art in glass at Chihuly Garden and Glass.

Great memories.

Well, we’re hoping to be ooded and ahhed as we win an award at the Seattle Film Awards.

But no matter what happens, it’s so good to be home,

Yeah, back in the USA.