Count to ten

Everybody just needs to take a deep collective breath, and chill out for ten seconds.  Here are a few ways to do it:

• English - zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
• Kalalisut (Greenlandish)- nul, ataaseq, marluk, pingasut, sisamat, pingasut, sisamat, arfineq, arfinillit, qulit.
• Tswana (Botswana) - lefela, nngwe, pedi, tharo, nne, tlhano, thataro, supa, robedi, robongwe, lesome.
• French - zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.
• Spanish - cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez.
• Italian - zero, uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci.
• Romansch - nulla , in, dus, trais, quatter, tschintg, sis, set, otg, nov,  diesch
• Romanian - zero, unu, doi, trei, patru, cinci, șase, șapte, opt, nouă, zece.
• Romani - nulo, jekh, duj, trin, shtar, panzh, shov, efta, oxto, inja, desh.
• Hindi - शून्य, एक, दो, तीन, चार, पांच, छह, सात, आठ, नौ, दस।(shoony, ek, do, teen, chaar, paanch, chhah, saat, aath, nau, das.)
• Maltese - żero, wieħed, tnejn, tlieta, erbgħa, ħamsa, sitta, sebgħa, tmienja, disgħa, għaxra.
• Lithuanian - nulis, vienas, du, trys, keturi, penki, šeši, septyni, aštuoni, devyni, dešimt.
• Estonian - null, üks, kaks, kolm, neli, viis, kuus, seitse, kaheksa, üheksa, kümme.
• Hungarian - nulla, egy, kettő, három, négy, öt, hat, hét, nyolc, kilenc, tíz.
• Finnish - nolla, yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi, kuusi, seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen.
• Igbo (Nigeria) - efu, otu, abụọ, atọ, anọ, ise, isii, asaa, asatọ, itoolu, iri.
• Arabic - صفر، واحد، اثنان، ثلاثة، أربعة، خمسة، ستة، سبعة، ثمانية، تسعة، عشرة. (sifr, wahd, aithnan, thalathat, 'arbaeat, khamsat, sitat, sabeat, thamaniat, tiseat, eashra.)
• Persian - صفر، یک، دو، سه، چهار، پنج، شش، هفت، هشت، نه، ده.  (safar, yek, do, seh, chehar, panj, shesh, npaft, npasht, nah, dah.)
• Navajo (Diné Bizaad) - názbas/ádin, tʼááłáʼí, naaki, tááʼ, dį́į́ʼ, ashdlaʼ, hastą́ą́, tsostsʼid, tseebíí, náhástʼéí, neeznáá.
• Icelandic - núll, einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir, fimm, sex, sjö, átta, níu, tíu.
• Dinka (South Sudan) - guɛw, tök, rou, diäk, ŋuan, dhiëc, dhetem, dhorou, bɛ̈t, dhoŋuan, thiäär.
• Turkish -  sıfır, bir, iki, üç, dört, beş, altı, yedi, sekiz, dokuz, on.
• Swahili -sifuri, moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi.
• Hebrew - אפס, אחד, שתיים, שלוש, ארבע, חמש, שש, שבע, שמונה, תשע, עשר. (afes, achad, shti'im, shlosh, arba, chamesh, shesh, shba, shmona, tisha, asher.)
• Albanian - zero, një, dy, tre, katër, pesë, gjashtë, shtatë, tetë, nëntë, dhjetë.
• Russian - ноль, один, два, три, четыре, пять, шесть, семь, восемь, девять, десять.(nol', odin, dva, tri, chetyre, pyat', shest', sem', vosem', devyat', desyat'.)
• Chinese - 零、一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十。 (líng, yī', èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, ji, ǔshí.)
• Japanese - ゼロ、一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十。 (zero, ichi, ni, san, shi (or yon), go, roku, shichi (or nana), hachi, kuu (or kyuu), juu.)
• Korean - 영, 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯, 여섯, 일곱, 여덟, 아홉, 열.  (yeong, hana, dul, ses, nes, daseos, yeoseos, ilgob, yeodeolb, ahob, yeol.)
• Lakota - tákuni , waŋží, núŋpa, yámni, tópa, záptaŋ, šákpe, šakówiŋ, šaglóǧaŋ, napčíyuŋka, wikčémna
• Esperanto - nul, unu, du, tri, kvar, kvin, ses, sep, ok, naŭ, dek.
• Malay - sifar, satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapan, sembilan, sepuluh.
• Basque -zero, bat, bi, hiru, lau, bost, sei, zazpi, zortzi, bederatzi, hamar.
• Greek - μηδέν, ένα, δύο, τρία, τέσσερα, πέντε, έξι, επτά, οκτώ, εννέα, δέκα. (midén, éna, dýo, tría, téssera, pénte, éxi, eptá, októ, ennéa, déka.)
• Zulu - u-zero, oyedwa, ababili, abathathu, abane, abahlanu, abayisithupha, abayisikhombisa, abayisishiyagalombili, abayisishiyagalolunye, abayishumi.
• Danish - nul, en, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, syv, otte, ni, ti.
• Quechua - cero, huk, iskay, kimsa, tawa, pichqa, suqta, qanchis, pusaq, isqun, chunka.
• Hawaiian - ʻole, ʻekahi, ʻelua, ʻekolu, ʻehā, ʻelima, ʻeono, ʻehiku, ʻewalu, ʻeiwa, ʻumi.
• Maori - kore, tahi, rua, toru, whā, rima, ono, whitu, waru, iwa, tekau.
• Rapa Nui (Easter Island) - kore, tahi, rua, toru, hā, rima, ono, hitu, va’u, iva, ho’e ’ahuru
• Georgian - ნული, ერთი, ორი, სამი, ოთხი, ხუთი, ექვსი, შვიდი, რვა, ცხრა, ათი. (nuli, erti, ori, sami, otkhi, khuti, ekvsi, shvidi, rva, tskhra, ati.)
• Telugu (Southeastern India) - సున్నా, ఒకటి, రెండు, మూడు, నాలుగు, ఐదు, ఆరు, ఏడు, ఎనిమిది, తొమ్మిది, పది. (sunnā, okaṭi, reṇḍu, mūḍu, nālugu, aidu, āru, ēḍu, enimidi, tom'midi, padi.)
• Nahuatl (Aztec) -  ahtle, ce, ome, yei, nahui, macuilli, chicuace, chicome, chicuei, chiconahui, mahtlactli
• Q'eqchi' (a Mayan language of Guatemala) -zero, jun, wiib’, oxib’, kaahib’, oob’, waqib’, wuqub’, waqxaqib’, nueve, lajeeb’.
• German - null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn
• Latin - nullus, unus, duo, tres, quattuor, quinque, sex, septem, octo, novem, decem.

Ice ICE, Baby

I like to mix things up when I'm reading.  If I've just finished a book on genetics, it might be time for a show business autobiography.  But somehow I've managed to read two books in a row about the extreme right wing-- its ideology and theoretical foundation as well as its designs on the American political system.  The first, Furious Minds by Laura K. Field is about the recent history of particularly 4 strains of far right conservatism which she calls Claremonter (i.e., Straussian "Ideas First" foundational theory coming out of the Claremont Institute and its ideological affiliate Hillsdale College), Post-Liberalism, National Conservatism and the Hard Right all of which have come together in spite of quibbles in their approaches to support and influence Trump in contrast to the more genteel Never-Trumper faction of more mainstream and establishment conservatives.  The second is Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez, which has as its subject the rise in America of a hyper masculinized Christian Nationalist Fundamentalism.  The obsession of these damaged aggrieved men plagued with inadequacies real and imagined for an idealized notion of  the manhood of other men could be channeled into something healthy like self-awareness but instead it is tamped down into a regressive compensatory fantasy of a rancid, stunted, flaccid male-centered world order that they are bent on imposing on the rest of us.  There is certainly overlap in the themes and content of both books.  Unfortunately, it is also bleeding into and saturating current events.

I keep getting haunted by the thought that ICE is a black hole that is being brandished against the American people.  If there is one thing to take to heart from the themes explored in Field and du Mez's books, it's that there is a thick strain on the right that would like to Holocaust the left, and it’s not hard for me to believe that the gigantic plaything called ICE that they now have at their disposal thanks to Trump and their mutual enablement is piloting the clampdown.  I don’t know ultimately how well this is going to go over with "average Americans" though. I think the idea of an American Gestapo having carte blanche to kill citizens, even "radical lesbian" citizens is probably not going to sit well with people’s ideas of what America should be like.  I don’t know though.  How deep do the right’s tentacles go?  Am I being paranoid?  I think it’s a big agency with theoretical impunity and prosecutorial immunity that is not getting a lot of oversight out of the administration, an administration run by the most proudly horrible human beings whose horribleness is bolstered by a large network of like-minded academics, theologians, opinion makers and knuckleheads.

Jessica Burbank, who also goes by Ka, raised an interesting thought experiment on which she solicited opinions from her podcast audience.  Her question was "What do you think about ICE Agents quitting for moral reasons?  Do you forgive them?  What questions do you have?"  The conversation struck me as being the evil cousin of the Graham Platner oppo reveal controversy that tested the mettle (and familiarly rent the fabric) of online leftism last fall. As with that earlier stink, Burbank's audience seemed split between forgiveness and vengeance.  

My advice to any ICE agents who suddenly wake from their incel repressed homoerotic Nazi dream and want to walk away:  Do it.  Don't ask for permission or forgiveness from the Americans whose tax dollars you have taken to wage war against.  Just come back from the darkness.  Join us on the streets that you will have made that much safer.

Gaye Su Akyol - İstikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir

From the Turkish singer, painter, bus driver -- and anthropologist!-- Gaye Su Akyol comes a reminder (and none too soon) that Stable Dreams Are Reality (which is to say: Reality is a stable dream):

Lyrics: 

Of, bu ne biçim hayat
Bu nasıl bi kafa?
Yatırır adamı, hop falakaya
Dere gibi akar, dertte yüzeriz
Uçuyoruz evet, çünkü güzeliz
İstikrarlı hayal hakikattir
Ölüm var mı yoksa bir rüya mı?
Derdim derdine ortak olsun
Aşk şarabın, düşle dolsun
Al, sazım anlat ben yoruldum
Sığamadım her yerden kovuldum
Denize yakışan martı gibiyiz
Nereye eserse oraya gideriz
İstikrarlı hayal hakikattir
Ölüm var ve bu bir rüyadır
Derdim derdine ortak olsun
Salla be hayat rock'n roll
İstikrarlı hayal hakikattir
Ölüm var ve bu bir rüyadır
İstikrarlı hayal hakikattir
Ölüm var ve bu bir rüyadır
Derdim derdine ortak olsun
Salla be hayat rock'n roll

In English*: 

Stable Dreams Are Reality

Oh, what kind of life is this?

What kind of mindset is this?

It lays a man down, then throws him on the rack

It flows like a river, we swim in sorrow

Yes, we're flying, because we're beautiful

Stable dreams are reality

Is there death or is it just a dream? Let my sorrow be shared with yours

Let love be filled with wine and dreams

Take my instrument, tell me, I'm tired

I couldn't fit in, I was chased away from everywhere

We're like seagulls suited to the sea

We go wherever the wind blows

Stable dreams are reality

Death exists and this is a dream

Let my sorrow be shared with yours

Shake it up, life, rock'n roll

Stable dreams are reality

Death exists and this is a dream

Stable dreams are reality

Death exists and this is a dream

Let my sorrow be shared with yours

Shake it up, life, rock'n roll

~~~~~

* I dabble in Turkish, but this translation is unedited from Google Translate.