Son’s Progress, Pedestrians with Phones, Cuban Migrants Seek Refuge in Chile, Turkey Releases Amnesty Activists, Honduran Elections, George Bush Senior and Other Harassers, Putin’s Revenge, Trump Targets Hillary in Mueller Probe, Tax “Reform”

                     Daughter Melanie offers son Jonathan a bite off her plate at restaurant meal.

 Halloween is a favorite holiday.

A new law taking effect in Honolulu, where my younger daughter lives, has now made it illegal to text or be looking down at a phone while crossing the street. Pedestrians in Hawaii's state capital who cross a street or highway while using a mobile electronic device can be slammed with a fine of up to $35 for their first offense, according to the new law.

Here’s a brave soul, apparently not intimidated by alleged sonic attacks: 

US appoints new chief for embassy in Cuba | TheHill
http://thehill.com/policy/international/357441-us-appoints-new-chief-for-embassy-in-cuba

The Cuban government has alleged that the whole attack story is made-up, but, if so, why have some Canadian diplomats in Havana and tourists claimed the same harm?

According to a report in the Chilean newspaper La Estrella de Iquique, 74 Cuban migrants arrived at the Chilean border seeking refuge and more were reported en route. If Cuban migrants have been blocked going north, now some are veering south instead.

Seven Amnesty International activists arrested in Turkey after a July workshop (that started with yoga) have been freed pending trial for terrorism, while one still remains in custody.  https://www.yahoo.com/news/amnestys-turkey-chief-denies-terror-charge-095350599.html

On November 26, 2017, Honduras will elect a new president.  Amnesty International and ten allied organizations urge presidential candidates to include in their government plans, ten measures to respect the human rights of the Honduran people and protect all those who raise their voices when these rights are violated.

Report: Coordinated plot to murder Honduran activist Caceres

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/the_americas/report-coordinated-plot-to-murder-honduran-activist-caceres/2017/10/31/3b7611a0-be5e-11e7-9294-705f80164f6e_story.html

There have been ample on-line defenses of George HW Bush after he reportedly touched women’s backsides in photo-ops while joking about “David Cop-a-Feel” as Barbara Bush stood stoically nearby. His defenders say he is to be excused by being old and demented and that he is a great man and was a great president. If he is truly mentally compromised, his caregivers, including Barbara, should make sure to stand between him and other women, as all have now been amply forewarned.  That GHW has indulged in such behavior in his old age would indicate (but does not prove) that he might well have done so earlier in life and the habit just carried over. For many men, it’s a culturally acquired habit, learned behavior, though I would not totally discount the influence of testosterone either. Even male animals seem more aggressive, sexually and competitively against other males, than do females. Still, the fact that many or even most men do not harass women sexually or otherwise proves it’s not something beyond their control.

According to one of my more thoughtful blog readers :  all i have to say is that the issue is not about  attractiveness or male testosterone but more about power.  should a woman have to pay 'extra' to get ahead?  is that equality?  are u saying that if she does not  like it, she can go back to wherever she came from, without consequence to the aggressor?   and that the next woman not hit on, can get the opportunity?

   i do not see this as about attractiveness.  Donald Trump is a pretty attractive guy, notwithstanding his personality.  and Harvey W. with all that $ and connections n starpower is too.  but they have used their power to extract sexual favors.  and that is not correct.  if we are putting guys in jail for rape, then these guys......

She’s quite right-- sex should not be the price of success in film or any other field, though it often is. An aspiring actress or any other female employee should not have to pay her dues that way nor be blacklisted because she refuses to consent. Women do need to speak up, despite fear of retaliation. Maybe Harvey and Donald are (or once were) attractive guys in terms of their prominence and power, though it's hard, at least for me, to see that now—it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

Trump won supporters by being anti-establishment, vowing to “drain the swamp.” Now Steve Bannon is turning the tables, using the same rhetoric against Republican incumbents.

Trump is reacting to the first Mueller actions with an attack on Hillary Clinton, par for the course. He must be itching to tell Mueller: “You’re fired!” (Golly, despite his superior intelligence and deal-making skills, he’s finding this darn presidential thing surprisingly harder than being a reality TV star or even a mega businessman!)

A 2- segment Frontline program, Putin’s Revenge, apparently attributes Vladimir Putin’s interventions aimed at elevating Donald Trump and harming Hillary Clinton’s presidential election prospects to her efforts as secretary of state to assist pro-democracy forces in Russia and undermine Putin. Putin aimed to deliberately harm Clinton and the US in retaliation, but apparently never expected Trump to actually win. Of course, that win was due not only to Putin’s efforts, but also to the quirk of the Electoral College system, which has unfortunately given us the president we have today.

Barack Obama tried to educate the electorate by word and example, but Trump uses both avenues to dumb down voters and reinforce and justify their prejudices.

If it ain’t broke, why try to fix it? What’s the point of tax reform, except to give Republican donors, along with Trump and his cronies, a further tax break and to punish blue-state citizens and their office holders by not allowing exemptions for state and local taxes? Of course, Trump wants a “victory”   and about which he can point to as a “win” about which he can tweet his heart out. But changing the tax code to reflect his wishes means a higher deficit, unlikely trickle-down to the bulk of citizens (never happened before), and possible harm to the economy which is doing just fine right now with Janet Yellen at the helm and under the current tax code. His base is likely to lose out.

“Tax reform” always has winners and losers. The main thrust of the Republican tax reform seems to be to accelerate tax collections now rather than later through 401K changes to reduce the immediate deficit impact of reductions in tax rates.

Not much information is available about the young migrant in immigration detention who was finally allowed to have an abortion. I wonder what country she is from and whether she might have been raped?  Not a few youthful first pregnancies in Latin American countries are attributed, rightly or wrongly, to rape. And it’s very unlikely that a legal abortion would have been available in her home country. Did she perhaps cross the border with abortion in mind?  Most young pregnant undocumented women would have welcomed becoming mothers here, believing that would give them a foothold in this country. However, that’s not necessarily the case. More likely, both refugee mother and small child would return back together to her country after she is deported. My friend who teaches preschool and kindergarten kids in public schools in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, tells me that a large proportion of her students were born in the US.