Amnesty International USA Group 211, 2016 holiday party
Wishing
my readers all the best for the new year, our national challenges
notwithstanding.
Many
voters wanted change—never mind what sort of change. Well, they got change—a real
roller coaster ride. And while Hillary Clinton certainly had experience, her experience,
derived from having been on the scene for a pretty long time, was not a good
harbinger of change.
The new
year brings a degree of dread instead of hope—I agree with Michelle Obama on
that. We are stuck with Donald Trump for the duration. His supporters may have
hope, but we’ll see how long that lasts. Only 2 Trump electors defected and 5
Clinton electors as well, but not toward The Donald. A sliver of hope that millions
of Americans held onto, that the election outcome might be overturned by the
Electoral College, simply did not happen.
According
to pollsters, Trump enters the presidency with more negative than positive
public support, something not seen for other incoming presidents, who usually
have started out with a honeymoon period. Of course, no other winning candidate
has lagged so much in the popular vote. Also, some of the family businesses are
being boycotted. Trump boasts that he will have the biggest inaugural crowd
ever, but don’t bet on it, even though he is encouraging his supporters from
the mid-west to come in droves. He will probably lie or exaggerate as usual,
saying later that it was the absolutely biggest crowd. Our women’s march the
day after is not being allowed to occupy the national mall, perhaps to prevent a
comparison.
Comics,
such as on SNL, are going to have a
field day with Donald Trump as
president. A shirtless Vladimir Putin
was a perfect touch in one of their latest vignettes! We may as well laugh
rather than cry. Those comics have a guaranteed gig.
Trump
himself doesn’t always look like he’s having a lot of fun, especially when commenting
on SNL, though he’s sticking Democrats in the eye with many of his nominations.
I’m sure he gets a short-term, childish thrill out of naming the fox to guard
the hen house. And he enjoys getting press attention for making shocking
statements on Twitter, like that the US and the world need more, not fewer,
nuclear weapons. And never mind conflicts of interest. One of his surrogates
has wished death on President Obama. Is there nothing out of bounds for Trump
and his folks? He needs people around him constantly to help tamp down his
emotional volatility and explain what they think he means by his obsessive
tweets. Can he still learn new behavior at age 70 and after a lifetime of being
petty, vindictive, lying, and completely outrageous? Even his ardent
supporters, who now vicariously enjoy his antics, might eventually tire of them
and of him, especially when their personal situation stagnates or goes downhill.
I would love to be wrong about Trump and find that he actually is able to rise
to the occasion. You or I would probably even do better than he as president
ourselves, though we lack Trump’s apparent charisma.
Trump is naming really crazy people as advisers and cabinet
secretaries. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy Secretary (a job Sarah
Palin was said to have coveted) when he couldn't even remember the name of that
particular agency when he planned to abolish it? Maybe if he abolishes
it, he will be out of a job? Regarding Trump’s choice of personal advisers,
there is little to stop him, but we can only hope some Republican lawmakers
will question some of his strange cabinet picks and stranger tweets
and public statements. He’s avoiding press conferences, preferring tweets
because of his short attention span, which also allows him to control the
information. Kellyanne Conway is now called "The Trump Whisperer"
because she gives him a script or spins whatever he says.
The Donald’s tweets about the need to increase nuclear weapons are
not a joking matter. On the subject of nuclear weapons, the brief exchange
between Pakistan and Israel on the subject demonstrates both the danger of fake
news and the inappropriateness of conducting foreign policy via tweets.
Trump
supporters have been arguing in favor of the Electoral College that it allows
small states to still have a say and not be swamped by east and west coast
elites. That’s true, but is it fair that small-state voters should be able to swamp
big states, to impose their will on the majority of American citizens living in
more populous states? I’d rather support
majority than minority rule. Now Hillary’s popular vote is almost 2.9 million
ahead of Trump’s, so although he denies it’s true, he must be aware at some
level that most American voters did not (and do not) support him. How long can
he go on denying the truth on this and other matters?
Trump's pick for ambassador
to Israel would be a joke if it weren't a real possibility, a guy just as crazy and offensive as he
is. Even Netanyahu might pause on this one. I don’t usually comment on
Israel-Palestine, as I already have too much on my plate, but this ambassador choice
is completely outrageous—like so many others of Trump’s appointee-choices,
which a Republican Congress may simply decide to rubberstamp, especially after
the US abstention on the UN settlements vote, just to show their Israel
credentials: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-choice-for-israeli-ambassador-is-a-danger-to-american-lives/2016/12/19/b1909638-c618-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.f675d4ff47dc
Democrats are
apparently now taking an idea from the Republican playbook—focusing more on
state and local issues—“states’ rights” and building up from there, something
the Democratic Party has neglected in favor of a national scope.
A friend
with another blog has this to say: Donald
Trump starts out already as a major liability for all Americans, and sadly, at
his age, it is a stretch to imagine that he will mature in office into the president
this country deserves. But, it is always good to remain very guardedly optimistic
expecting simultaneously the worst.
Why have international adoptions become so agonizing? New York Post-The gist of the article is what I’ve been
saying all along, based on my experience as an international adoptive parent
myself and an adoption agency board member for many years, namely, that some
intended protections, such as the international Hague Convention, actually are
obstacles and have increased the cost exponentially without helping kids get
families.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/676bdf93-bfec-32f1-b647-8352edfe7f6a/ss_why-have-international.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
Kimberley Motley, the American lawyer for Cuban
dissident El Sexto had been arrested and interrogated, but was released and
forced to leave Cuba. (Reminds me of my own experience.) http://www.local10.com/news/cuba/us-human-rights-lawyer-tells-cubans-in-interrogation-i-dont-work-for-the-government
Cuba, after 12 years of relying solely on
Venezuelan oil, is back to buying some oil on the international market.
Correction:
I’ve been sometimes mistyping the first name of our Cuban annual conference
panelist last April—her name is Laritza
Diversent and her office is still under siege.
I picked
up an old paperback of Edgar Snow’s Red Star over China at a library
book sale. Certainly his praise of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party in their
early days helped foment a positive image of both around the world. It put me
in mind of Herbert Matthews’s extravagant praise of Fidel Castro in the New York
Times, which has had lasting effects to this day.
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