Happy July 4th, was a rainy, cool
day in DC, though the fireworks went on as usual. I skipped them this year.
Boniface, my Kenya
visitor, and the other GAO fellows attending his government auditing/accounting
course displayed items from their home countries at a "Cultural Day."
Boniface's country, Kenya, is one I’ve had the privilege of visiting more than
once, so it was great to see highlights regarding the historic island of Lamu
and safaris, both of which I’ve experienced and would recommend, along with
much more in that beautiful and varied country. In these 2 photos, Boniface is
discussing the different types of identifying necklaces worn by single and
married ladies--presumably Masai. I've met GAO fellows before from China, but
this was the first time I'd met one from Vietnam at her display table. Also, I
don't recall a fellow from Hungary before either--that table had delicious run
balls! Boniface is leaving soon and I will miss him!
First, my
Huffington Post article on Cuban
performance “painted piglet” artist Danilo Maldonado was also been picked up by
Democracia Participativa, then the
other 4 articles in my Cuba HP series. It
would be great if such publicity led to more book sales, but most readers of
that second website are Spanish speakers. They will read a blog posting in
English, but not a whole book. Here, again, is the “piggies” article as it
appears there.
Now, I’ve been invited to the NYC area to give a couple of Cuba book talks in
November—will keep you posted on the particulars.
QUEST
“In the word question, there is a
beautiful word – quest.
I
love that word. We are all partners in a quest.
The
essential questions have no answers. You are my question,
and
I am yours – and then there is dialogue.
The
moment we have answers, there is no dialogue.
Questions
unite people.”
Elie Wiesel
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, whose
unexpected electoral defeat by Violeta Chamorro I witnessed as an election
observer in 1990, has made a comeback, changed the Nicaraguan constitution to
permit himself consecutive terms, and packed the high court to rule against any
other presidential candidates, leaving himself as the sole candidate for an
unprecedented third term. I know my friends in Nicaragua are gnashing their
teeth:
https://humanrightsfoundation.org/news/nicaragua-hrf-condemns-court-ruling-leaving-ortega-as-sole-presidential-candidate-00556?utm_content=&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=here&utm_campaign=Nicaragua%3A%20HRF%20Condemns%20Ruling%20Allowing%20Ortega%20to%20Run%20Unopposedcontent
As per
the above, Starwood Corp. is going
to manage a hotel in Cuba run by the
Cuban military, which actually runs all hotels and funnels the money into its
coffers, distributing it on the basis of favoritism and party loyalty, keeping
the bulk of each employee’s pay, usually over 90%. The military under General
Raul Castro and his son, also a general, use this money to make sure members of
the military remain well-fed and faithful, a system Venezuela has copied to
assure there is no military coup. If you are just an ordinary Cuban—or worse
yet—a suspected dissident, you can forget about working in a hotel or any
aspect of tourism—which offers the best jobs now in Cuba. What else is Cuba
producing? Cigars and rum? Not food—it must import food despite having ample
fertile land.
South Sudan has cancelled its 5-year independence celebration because of renewed
fighting. We who have been to South Sudan all celebrated that independence too
soon.
Like many
observers, I’m shocked and disappointed by the UK’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union and don’t know why David
Cameron even promised to put it to a vote. (My 401K retirement account has also
taken a hit.) The decision is having negative economic consequences worldwide,
not so much because of the immediate practical impact (though that will be
substantial), but because of the psychological implications—the domino effect
and making people everywhere feel unsure about the financial future. Of course,
Donald Trump in Scotland crowed about the outcome (even though Scotland voted not to exit). Many Britons, like
citizens of other countries, are feeling invaded, that their way of life is
threatened—the same sentiment occurs here in the US and is giving Trump a boost.
We should not assume that he “cannot win,” as he has actually won so far and
the UK example shows us once again that common sense and reason do not always
prevail in politics. Only after the fact do voters regret unwise choices. Brits
are already feeling remorse.
Brexit
also has unleashed a rash of discriminatory acts in the wake of vote—something that
would happen here if Trump should win. Bigots would feel they have license to
disparage or harm those they don’t like or with whom they disagree.
Trump is a
patent or alternative medicine huckster, a guy who claims he’s got “the answer,”
boasting that he’s gotten rich and so will teach you how to do the same, when
one way he’s gotten rich is by scams, such as sucking people into paying for
his “get-rich-quick” seminars and courses. People want to believe in a magic
solution—for achieving true love, beauty, health, riches, fame—and when they
discover the charade, it’s too late. The same is happening with Brexit and will
happen with President Donald Trump
if the American electorate should be gullible enough to buy the medicine he’s
peddling. He misstates facts—or lies outright. Much of his money, besides initially
being inherited, was made by being a bully, a quick-switch artist, and a gambler
who just lucked out. Most of his financial transactions skirted the edge of
legality, which is no way to run a nation and engage with the world. But
somehow, Hillary has to find a way to get voters to trust her and to educate them on what’s realistic and possible. A
reasoned message will be hard to transmit when Trump has fired up desperate voters’
dreams and adrenalin. “I’ll bring back
coal,” he vows, “I’ll bring back steel. I’ll put Hillary in prison. I’m very smart,
very very rich, so just trust me. Don’t trust the establishment that has failed
you. I know how to do stuff.” The novelty and unpredictability of his pronouncements
is alluring to some, while people like me find it scary. He seems to be all ego
and id, no superego to put the brakes on—a real caricature of the ugly American.
Maybe his parents were overindulgent with him when he was growing up? Some
Republicans are resigned to sitting this one out, so whoever wins, they won’t feel
at fault.
Certainly
immigration, one of Trump’s key issues,
like any other, has pros and cons. Immigration provides a willing workforce,
often in their prime years, while at the same time, removing them from the often-struggling
nations that have raised and educated them. And there are limits as to how many
immigrants can be absorbed during any one time period. By analogy, you might welcome
one or two visitors in your home, but not 20. It’s not necessarily xenophobic to
want to limit the flow of newcomers. So, British people’s concerns about
migrants are understandable, though there is disagreement about how many is too
many and whether the migrants are actually “taking over” and changing the
country for the worse. Maybe they are enriching it. Yet, some Americans bristle
at hearing people speaking languages other than English and seeing signs in
Spanish.
Holding
his nose, looking even more cranky than usual, Bernie Sanders says he will now vote for Hillary. Many voters will
vote for Hillary in the same dispirited spirit; often in an election (and in life),
we are faced with selecting what we regard as the lesser of evils. If Hillary
wins, she should include Bernie in her government, just as Obama reached out to
her.
No
doubt, Sanders is trying to satisfy his fervent supporters, keep his political
crusade and profile alive, but with matters getting serious with Trump on the
other side, he needs to leave the race and bite the bullet to start supporting
Clinton; yes, she has her faults and has made missteps (Benghazi is not one of
them, those who knew the ambassador well, including his former fellow Peace
Corps volunteers, have told me he was a risk-taker who ignored advice not to go
there on that crucial date) but she’s basically a normal person, certainly more
so than Trump, and if you really don’t like her, sit out his election and support
another Democrat to run next time. Many Republican stalwarts believe that Trump
has hijacked the party and are just trying to save down-ballot candidates. Is
it really too late for the Republicans to try to mount a new presidential
candidate, one with no chance to win, but just to save the party’s image as
serious entity? The whole world is waiting this election outcome with baited
breath.
June
30, 2016, The Hill, Sanders
is only helping Trump by staying in the race
By Allan J. Lichtman
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/286071-sanders-is-only-helping-trump-by-staying-in-the-race
Clarence Thomas’s wife is angrily
shooting down rumors, reported here last time, that he is considering
retirement. Too bad if it's a false rumor--I hope if he has actually had a thought
about retiring that now he won't feel he has to stick it out on the court just
to prove the rumors wrong. In photos, he never looks like he's having a good
time. Maybe with the new court, if he finds himself continually on the losing
side, he'll decide to quit--let's keep our fingers crossed.
More senseless guns deaths, including a father who accidentally killed his
teenage son at a Florida gun range and kids here in DC who found a gun in a vacant
house and one ended up killed. I cannot forget when my then-11-year-old son Jon
and his friends were playing with a gun that dropped, discharged, and
thankfully the bullet only hit my son on the foot. Another man in the Midwest shot
his 3 children, his wife, then himself in short order. Without a gun, he might
have hurt some family members, but probably would not have been able to kill
them all. Apparently even the NRA supported some gun controls back in the
1930s. The current “gun rights” attribution to the Second Amendment is a fairly
recent notion—in previous generations, personal firearms possession was never
considered a constitutional right, not even by the Founding Fathers. Of course,
the main problem with guns is people and people are unfortunately prone to
impulse, accident, and aggression. And trying to keep guns out of the hands of
the mentally ill is an impractical solution because there is no clear
definition of mental illness nor is it necessarily a static state. Furthermore,
there is disagreement about whether those defined as mentally ill are really
more prone to violence than the general population. Often in the case of gun
violence, that designation is made after-the-fact.
Evan
Osnos, writing in the New Yorker
(June 27, 2016), gives a comprehensive review of how “gun rights” came to be.
The idea was something that surged strongly only around the 1970’s in a concerted
campaign by gun manufacturers and their allies in the NRA, boosted by the Supreme
Court giving a new slant to the Second Amendment, enshrining it as an
individually-based doctrine never envisioned before or by the Founding Fathers.
A few interesting facts are revealed by the article, including that more
American civilians have been killed by guns in the last decade than Americans
killed in combat in World War II. Both hunting and the number of gun owners are
shrinking, but each gun owner is collecting more guns and, while gun owners
comprise only a minority, they are strong single-issue voters and donors and therefore
have more individual political clout than non-gun owners. Accidents and
suicides account for the majority of gun deaths. Another biker gun brawl, this
one in Atlanta, has ended with injuries and death. In contrast, a fierce clash
in Sacramento between protesters and counter protesters resulted in stabbings,
but no deaths.
Statistically, just owning a gun puts a person at greater risk of
dying from being shot. Apparently if someone has a gun, using it on impulse is more
likely. That may have been the case of the Texas mother who shot and killed her
two daughters, then was shot herself. She was a big gun-rights supporter, with
an apparent history (after-the-fact revelation) of mental illness who nevertheless
was able to own several guns.
A special
problem in the US, unlike in other countries where gun ownership and gun deaths
are rare, is that we do have a gun
culture, at least among a fairly substantial and vocal segment of the population.
Furthermore, there are so many firearms already in circulation that having a gun
at the ready may be protective in some cases. An Oregon mother recently shot
and killed a stranger in her child’s bedroom. Now the NRA and gun sellers are
reaching out to gay people, as they reached out previously to women, as a new
market for guns. Meanwhile, as with other divides, polarization between gun
advocates and opponents is growing.
My readers
already know which side I favor in this debate. Bravo, I would say to the
Congressional sit-in led by Rep. John
Lewis, of whom I’ve been an admirer ever since he broke with the
Congressional Black Caucus to meet with former Amnesty Int’l prisoner of
conscience Jorge Luis Garcia Perez in January 2015. Shunning Cuban democracy
advocates and supporting the Castro brothers is certainly an example of
unhealthy “political correctness.” That term is often misused to support
bigotry and misogyny but in this case, it applies. (I sent a congratulatory
note to Lewis, since, as a non-constituent, his site wouldn’t accept my
e-mail.)
Heard a compilation
of extensive NPR interviews with President
Obama. He is certainly a very bright and thoughtful man, very articulate, the
complete reverse of mumbling, bumbling speaker GW Bush. Some of Obama’s positions
are well thought out, but he hasn’t always been able to convey his thinking to
an unsophisticated electorate and certainly hasn’t found a way to win over a recalcitrant
Republican Congress—nor has he apparently actually tried to be “pals” with
their members. Lyndon Johnson was a
master at going behind the scenes and twisting arms, but that has not been Obama’s
style nor would many Republicans be receptive to any overtures he might make. That
he has African heritage certainly hasn’t helped nor did he have much time as a
senator to make alliances beforehand. He seized the moment and ran with it. Let’s
see what he does after his presidency, as he is still young enough to make a
mark. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him teaching.
I’ve been
trying to puzzle out Obama’s seeming passivity in the agreements made with Iran
and Cuba—yielding a whole lot and getting almost no concessions in return. Cuban
leaders and apologists imply that is only right, given US “aggression” against
Cuba for all these years. Certainly Cuban democracy activists expected and would
have appreciated more support, but I think his strategy, rightly or wrongly, has
been to show Cuban leaders and the world, especially Latin America, that the US
is not attacking or beating up on poor little Cuba—thereby trying to gain some grudging
trust from the Cuban leadership even if it’s still a dictatorship, while also
allowing that leadership, indirectly, to ease some controls on the population,
because now who or what is the terrible enemy that must be so diligently guarded
against? On Syria, it seems Obama should have been more aggressive against both
ISIS and Assad—I don’t know how that would be done, as they maybe contradictory
aims. I don’t claim to know the Syrian situation in depth.
Good
grief, now just because I Googled wheelchairs
to see what they cost new to possibly take one to Honduras, not only am I being
bombarded on Yahoo (but not on my gmail account) with ads for wheelchairs, also
for walkers, adult diapers, and various medications—I guess that all goes with
being an old person who might be in the market for a wheelchair.
Some
readers may be aware, as I’ve mentioned it before, that there is a big controversy within Amnesty Int’l (AI) about
prostitution and “sex worker” rights. This is perhaps the next frontier in
the culture wars. AI has led the way with a controversial vote (I won’t get
into the whole backstory and accusations on all sides) to decriminalize all
aspects of paid sex, including the roles of johns, pimps, and madams. Important
sectors of the AI movement, even entire countries’ AI sections, are now trying
to modify that decision, saying it was rammed through without proper discussion
and research and with financial support from the sex industry. However, some advocates of
decriminalization point out that the sex industry is only one step removed from
dating in these days of contraception, abortion, STD treatment, and internet
connections, which promote “hooking up,” and where a man often invites a
woman out to dinner, a show, and flowers with the expectation of a sexual
reward at the end of the evening. So, perhaps, like gay marriage,
transsexualism, and even the stigma of divorce, paid sex as a crime or even
something unsavory, will go the way of the dodo. We may still decide to criminalize
forced or underage sex, but even the latter is murky, since most prostitutes
say they began as minors.
Here’s a
comment from an exchange among AI members, speculating on whether prostitution
might even be argued to be a human right: Nevada
might be a pertinent place for us to study, since there is both legal and
illegal prostitution there. I have read that the illegal prostitution,
mostly in Las Vegas, is far more important financially than the legal prostitution
in the North.
On the issue of making Amnesty policy on the basis of research, so
far as I know, prostitution has never been considered a human right or even to
be within the "penumbra" of such rights. In fact, the 1949 human
rights convention seems to say exactly the opposite. In such circumstances,
perhaps research becomes necessary to clarify the issue, and determine what
human rights, if any, are being violated.
But if we do research, surely it should be comprehensive and
conclusive and the 4 studies which have been done are anything but that. Why a
policy advocating full legalization would not study jurisdictions like Germany
and Nevada, which have already adopted that policy, is something I cannot
understand.
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