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Here
is Amnesty International USA’s America’s Director, Marselha
Gonçalves Margerin on current US immigration policy,
expressing what many of us are feeling: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/U-S-immigration-polices-hateful-cruel-Opinion-13130987.php?utm_campaign=twitter-mobile&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=email-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social#asset-photo-15747658yrtma
Good news that at least some 3-D printed guns have been detected by TSA screening.
Like
a naughty child, Donald Trump seems
to enjoy thwarting and contradicting his “handlers.” They say one thing, then in
a tweet or rally, he says something completely opposite or off-the-wall. When staff
are asked about his bizarre statements, they say he was just expressing his
frustration or his opinion, not giving an order. They attempt to manage or ignore
him. Even Melania is going in the opposite direction, though she does show up
for essential photo-ops, as when shaking hands with Vladimir Putin, which
obviously was distasteful for her. And Barron? Where is he? We used to see the
antics of the Obama girls, but Barron doesn’t surface, not even at Christmas.
No heart-warming father-son activities. But at least we live in interesting and
unprecedented times, thanks in no small measure to Donald Trump, a source of
constant surprise.
Now
Trump, his son, and his lawyers are tripping over their own tongues with
conflicting statements about the infamous “Trump Tower meeting.” Mueller must be sitting back, just
listening and watching.
Donald
Trump, who surely is down a few IQ notches, likes to brag about his great intelligence
and to label others as “dumb,” “dumbest,” “not smart,” and “low IQ.” We would
feel sorry for him under other circumstances.
It
is especially frustrating for us here in DC, denied the vote, to see Donald
Trump defining this country all over the world, ruining our international
reputation as well as our life at home. That even a minority of fellow citizens
support him is a disgrace. He embodies a political climate of corruption, lying
(big time!), misogyny, bullying, name-calling (in the absence of substantive critiques),
greed, and selfishness. All that it will take time and effort to overcome.
Stephen Miller’s Uncle Calls Him a Hypocrite in an Online Essay (headline from the NY Times) Miller’s uncle points out that Miller’s own family includes immigrants and refugees as does Donald Trump’s family as well.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-millers-uncle-my-nephew-is-a-hypocrite-on-immigration
[A Cuban dissident we met with at the AI USA office during a visit here
in DC]
Amnesty urges Cuba to allow
access
to detained dissident
HAVANA — Amnesty International says the leader of
one of Cuba’s largest dissident groups has been held incommunicado for a week
in the eastern part of the country.
The
human rights group is calling on the Cuban government to allow family members
of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia to
visit him at a jail in Santiago de Cuba and let him hire a lawyer of his
choice.
Amnesty
says the leader of opposition group Patriotic Union of Cuba and his colleague
Ebert Hidalgo Cruz were arrested Aug. 3 following a traffic accident involving
a plain-clothed security official. It said only Hidalgo has been allowed a
family visit.
Ferrer was among 75 dissidents imprisoned in a
March 2003 crackdown. He was released in March 2011.
Cuba Charges Leading Dissident With Attempted Murder
The leader of one of Cuba’s largest and most active opposition
organizations was charged Friday with attempted murder after being held
incommunicado for a week in eastern Cuba. Jose
Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was charged
with deliberately trying to run over an official from the ministry of the
interior on Aug. 3, a spokesman for the group told Reuters by telephone.
According to Carlos Amel Oliva, a member of the UNPACU leadership, the incident
was an accident and the official was only slightly injured. Oliva said Ferrer,
who does not have a driver's license, was on his way to visit his daughter with
UNPACU member Ebert Hidalgo Cruz and had taken the wheel to practice driving
when the official, in civilian clothing, stepped out in front of the car.
It’s
a truism that life is an evolving project, an ongoing effort or struggle, a series
of corrections, with a few moments of respite, bliss, achievement, affection,
and comfort in between. There is no holy grail. I remember meeting a man once years
ago through a dating website (a foray into a realm that I soon abandoned) who
thought that if he looked long and hard enough through such a vast network that
he would eventually find “her,” his true soulmate, his ideal woman. She was “out
there” somewhere; it was just a matter of honing in on her. How could a guy in
his 70’s, a former businessman and a father, twice married by his own admission,
hold fast to such a notion? Already, his naïve belief made me scratch him off my list. We were both already senior citizens, so I wasn’t likely
to change his mind (or have my own mind changed either).
Perfection
in any person (one’s self included), place, or thing is impossible to achieve,
no matter what definition of perfection is being used. That’s why Disney-fide senior
living complexes offering non-stop “fun” in retirement—golf, pool parties, dances,
movies—soon pall. Something that has stuck with me from years of working at the
occupational therapy association is the importance to each of us of engaging in
“purposeful activity,” however we may define it. We really don’t want to just stand
still.
The
absurd excesses of Mr. Trump and his administration have created a huge
backlash of “purposeful activity” among citizens that I hope will bear fruit in
the mid-term elections. Maybe there will even be an overreaction, as sometimes
occurs. Some of the enthusiasm for “socialism”
being seen now is, in my opinion, such an overreaction. There is also a false
assumption that “socialism” is the economic system of Nordic countries. Not so, rather their economies are capitalist and
profit-oriented, but taxes are relatively high and the government provides quality
health and social services. It’s a trade-off that benefits the majority of citizens
and most are satisfied with it. But it is hardly true socialism whereby the government
owns and directs the means of production and controls all aspects of life.
Trump
supporters accuse those of us who oppose him of having a personal grudge against
the guy. Yes, we do feel offended by his statements and his style, but we also dislike
his policies and appointments—it’s more than just the man and his personality,
it’s what he is actually doing and fomenting that we oppose. And if Trump
alleges that press reports are false, including transcripts or recordings, then
he owes us, the voting public, an explanation. It’s not enough just to rail against
“fake news.” Show us just how or why
it’s fake. And while the nicknames he uses for opponents (often female), Wacky Jacky, Pocahontas, Dog Omarosa,
and
Crooked Hillary, may sound catchy to his followers, they are not very
informative. And because Trump lies so much, it’s hard to recognize when he
might actually be telling the truth.
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