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So unprecedented torrential rains,
floods, and hurricane force winds in east Texas three years in a row are not “climate change,” but “fake
news,” according to Trump, whose administration proposes cuts to FEMA and Environmental Protection
budgets? Facts on the ground may eclipse Trumpian spin and affect those
elected officials still loyal to his pronouncements. Let them change their
tune or be defeated at the polls. Of course, some will still say the Texas
flooding was an act of God and had nothing to do with human activity, perhaps
punishment for approving gay marriage and taking down Confederate statues?
Meanwhile, Hispanic construction workers will be needed to re-build, so time
to go easy on deportations. Trump’s threat to shut down the government
contrasts with his pledge to provide flood damage relief so that the storm
may have had a silver lining after all.
Just talked with Betio, a
former Honduran environmental activist
for whom I helped gain asylum here. He
moved with his family from the DC area to Houston, but, he says, in the outskirts, a little elevated, and
water has not actually entered into their house. He and his sons expect to be
able to go back to work in construction by next Tues. and there's a lot of
work for them to do!
This item below looks like
Betsy DeVos’s doing:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-quietly-removes-sexual-assault-report-from-website_us_59a6c322e4b084581a14ab59
With North Korea’s provocative missile launch over Japan, can the
world and our country afford allow Donald Trump to have his finger on the
nuclear trigger? Let’s hope that more sober folks are babysitting him on
this.
With a large jury award going to a woman
who blames her apparently terminal ovarian cancer on the use of baby powder, some mothers are
wondering about the safety of baby powder for their babies. Counter-intuitive
as it may seem, apparently it is
possible for flecks of powder to migrate up through the genital tract into
the ovaries and other areas, but there is no proof if that happens that the powder
can cause cancer. It also seems likely that the powder could be inhaled—certainly
it smells good. Given the concern, pediatricians have advised mothers not to use powder, to use a cream or
Vaseline if necessary, or just to leave a baby’s bottom bare, as is done in
rural Honduras. A photo of a bare-bottomed toddler is shown on p. 136 of my
book Triumph & Hope. That way
the child also learns to potty-train him or herself.
Here’s a guy who has done a number of
anti-Trump TIME covers. He left with the Mariel boatlift like my late foster
son Alex Lopez.
I
fled despotism in Cuba. Now I’m fighting it in America.
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Criticize
Venezuela dictatorship but mum on Cuba? That’s political hypocrisy. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article170268522.html
Cuba does not seem to be a priority for Trump; he is leaving it to some of his
advisers. He should do that with almost everything and not activate his tweeting
finger or open his mouth on any issue. Then we might get some sanity and
predictability in the government. I'm sure the Cuban government is wary of him
and now, with the problems in Venezuela, is trying to hold things together
without being too confrontational. After so many years and after Fidel's death,
especially when Cuba's influence on Venezuela is viewed negatively, the Cuban
regime doesn't have the worldwide support it once enjoyed. Russia and China are
giving some economic aid, but have not been loudly touting the virtues of the
Cuban Revolution. Of course, Trump put his foot in his mouth by threatening a "military option" in Venezuela.
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Christopher
Allen, an American freelance
journalist, has been reported killed in the fighting in South Sudan. The people living in South Sudan were able to unite
to obtain independence but their
tribal leaders wasted little time in jockeying for power.
James
Comey will give a lecture series here in DC at Howard University (he’d better have
protection from Trump supporters).
Kellyanne
Conway, with a straight face, told Pat Robertson on Christian News that Donald Trump’s most outstanding trait is his humility!
While Trump
gets low overall support in national polls that include not only Republicans
but independents and Democrats, polls of Republican voters show that he is
still preferred when matched against other potential Republican candidates. Trump
is taking no chances, apparently having started to collect funds and support
for 2020 on inauguration day. Heaven help us if we have to endure an
additional 4 years of a Trump presidency. Since he is already 71, maybe he
won’t live that long. I hope that the Republicans lose control of Congress in
the mid-terms, but because of gerrymandering and voter suppression in key
states, that may not happen. Pardoning Joe
Arpaio so soon after his conviction and even before
sentencing, while an injustice to all those whom he has injured, was not
terribly surprising, given his age and Trump’s promises. Trump should have
the power to persuade and educate some of his most rapid and faithful supporters
to soften their opinions, but he chooses rev them up instead. He would not
lose most of his voters by tamping them down somewhat and might well gain
others. He criticized Obama for commuting Manning’s sentence, but that was
not an outright pardon after no time served, as with Arpaio.
Donald
Trump is currently being sued by nearly 200 lawmakers for violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution
by taking payments from foreign governments through his hotels and resorts. And
now
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is
headlining an event at one of the very hotels in question. The
emoluments clause lawsuit could easily end up before the Supreme Court, and
Trump continues to use the presidency to push his brand and make himself even
more wealthy.
Donald
Trump, you are age 71, have bad habits, are overweight, and you cannot take
it with you. So what’s the point of increasing your wealth? Why not have the
Trump family make a generous donation for Houston flood victims? It seems where
philanthropy is involved, Trump has always avoided actually giving anything
himself while pretending that other donations filtered through him are
actually his own—a charlatan and faker through and through. Now he has said
he will “probably” donate $1 million for flood relief (an amount also pledged
by donors of considerably more modest wealth). He has a history of not
actually making promised donations with his own money, but bravo, if that
turns out to actually be the case. Meanwhile, Mike Pence, in appropriate political fashion, greeted victims in
person, rolled up his sleeves, and began clearing up debris, perhaps with an
eye to 2020. As an experienced politician, he knows how to conduct himself. But,
of course, he doesn’t have the fervent followers that Trump seems to attract.
The
event at which Gorsuch is scheduled to keynote is for the Fund for American
Studies, a conservative group that touts limited government and free-market
economics. It is being held at Trump
International Hotel, a property that is at the center of the emoluments
clause lawsuit. In fact, some think that the Fund specifically chose the
Trump hotel as a message of support for the president's position on the
emoluments case.
Is the Trump
administration engaging in lawless
deportations?
Ending DACA would be cutting
off our nose as a nation to spite our face. Here are thousands of US-raised,
English-speaking, educated, and productive young people whose deportation
could wreak economic havoc on the country. Trump’s best bet would be to
extend “study” of the matter, just as is happening with the transgender
military ban, until after the 2018 elections, to see which way the political
winds are blowing then. Maybe, just maybe, he will want to extend his appeal
beyond his small base. His base, who love Donald Trump unconditionally, come
hell or high water, are not going to abandon him on the DACA issue.
This is a longish but revealing article about Ivanka and
Jared: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-repelled-by-washington-elite
Here in DC, three Catholic activists have been on a hunger strike at the
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, asking for it to become an
immigration sanctuary, protecting people from deportation. https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/0fa74772-2d34-3e12-89e9-a2eb39dabced/ss_activists-launch-hunger.html
Artificial
Wombs?
The following article discusses experiments being
carried out on sheep fetuses at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia as part
of an effort to develop artificial wombs. So far, so good, as normal lambs
have been born. Indeed, already, special care for premature human babies has
almost put them into artificial wombs in NICUs as they continue their
development. What would artificial wombs mean for the abortion debate, also
for fathers’ rights, since once outside the birth mother’s womb, both genetic
parents would presumably have equal rights? No longer would the fetus be considered a
parasite of the birth mother, but the whole issue of parental rights and
responsibilities, and of abortion rights, would be turned on its head. For
expectant mothers, assuming no harm would come to the child, it would
certainly be easier than a 9-month pregnancy and childbirth. Meanwhile,
contraception is increasingly effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-big-idea/2017/8/23/16186468/artificial-wombs-radically-transform-abortion-debate
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