Migrant Caravan, “Fake News,” Get Out the Vote, Supreme Court, Senate, Saudi Arms Sales, Maine

We’ve all seen images of the Honduran/Central American migrant caravan, apparently spearheaded by opponents of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, which many dispirited and beleaguered Hondurans and other Central Americans decided to join. Some may have considered going north before, but moving along in a crowd offered safer passage than going it alone and certainly proved less costly than paying a smuggler. However, an effort to tap into the genuine grievances of caravan participants may have had the unintended consequence of giving Donald Trump a strong talking point just before mid-term elections in the United States, paradoxically threatening the very fortunes of asylum seekers should they actually arrive at the US-Mexico border. This may turn out to be an effort that backfires on its participants. The Central American migrant caravan comes at a very unfortunate time for the upcoming elections, giving Trump a big talking point. I hope they don’t reach the border before election day. 

Typically, Donald Trump is now blaming “fake news” for riling up his supporters and for inciting a rabid defender and faithful Trump rally-goer to send pipe bombs to his targeted enemies, bemoaning instead the possible impact on the midterm elections. Trump himself takes no responsibility for urging his supporters to “lock her up,” or to become physically aggressive with reporters or with women (‘grab them by the …”). Fake news, he contends, is trying to pin this one on him when he had nothing to do with it. As in the kids’ chant, “Donald, liar, liar, pants on fire.”

Trump has been saying a vote for a Republican candidate “is a vote for me.” But, I predict that if Democrats prevail in the mid-terms, he will suddenly abandon the most ardent members of his base to become more cooperative with Democrats. He’s an opportunist through and through. However, I do agree with him that prescription drugs are artificially costly in the US. I’ve been saying in my books that medications, including those made in the US, are actually cheaper abroad than in this country.

If enough voters go to the polls, then Democrats will carry the day.

Russians and others (the Chinese?) are back trying to boost Trump and thereby damage our country and our influence in the world. The US may also sometimes try to interfere with Russian elections, but probably less successfully, in part because of less internet use there. Also, the Russians have a lot of practice interfering and Putin has much greater control over domestic media. Trump only has Fox News here. It’s hard for some Americans to recognize or admit that they have been manipulated or duped. We see it also in everyday life. When presented with contrary evidence, people may cling even more tightly to their original stance, only too willing to label anything contrary as “fake news.”

In a last-ditch effort, Trump has been promising voters a “middle-class” tax cut when there is nothing on the table and the deficit is soaring, even as Republicans hint at cutting Medicare and Social Security.
 

While I consider that Brett Kavanaugh’s recent demeanor expressed during Congressional hearings indicates he lacks a judicial temperament, it may be somewhat unfair to evaluate his teenage conduct by today’s mores. When he was in high school, young men from well-to-do families were expected and encouraged by peers or even by parents to “sow their wild oats” before settling down to a career and marriage. Excess drinking and sexual aggression by youthful males were the norm. And probably even today, the angry older white male cohort so enamored of Trump grew up approving such behavior.

However, the Senate, which must approve Supreme Court justices and federal judges, is badly skewed in terms of citizen and voter representation since sparsely populated states like Wyoming and Vermont each have 2 senators, while populous California and New York have the same number. Worse yet, DC and Puerto Rico, home to more American citizens that either Wyoming or Vermont, have no voting reps in either chamber. So, our nation needs to fix these imbalances and get rid of the Electoral College to provide a more representative government, but the minority states enjoying advantages now are not likely to be swayed by arguments for fairness and would block any such efforts. While Trump and McConnell have bragged about how many judges they have appointed, including two Supreme Court justices, the Senate’s unrepresentative nature allowed them to block Obama’s judicial nominations, including one to the Supreme Court and then to gloat about it later.

McConnell has reportedly said that the “deficit is not a Republican problem.” Didn’t the Republican Congress and Senate push through a huge tax cut and an increase in military spending, signed by the Republican president, that led directly to this huge deficit? What about the promise that decreased business taxes would be offset by taxes on greater business profits? That never works. Once taxes are cut and military spending increased, it’s hard to pull back. Republicans may find it easier to increase taxes and cut benefits to ordinary citizens, some of whom are dumb enough to support Donald Trump and their party. And with the US labor shortage, how about reversing the shutting down of TPS and finally approve DACA, and also give legal residence to law-abiding long-term de facto residents. Deporting people who are already contributing will only add to the labor shortage. 

Hope that McConnell, Sanders, and the Trump family have all learned not to show their faces in public because they are not revered and respected, rather, ridiculed and reviled. Let them appear only at very carefully guarded and pre-screened rallies and on Fox News before the rabid minority who support them. 

The US should be a world leader and not sell arms to Saudi Arabia, a nation using them for inhumanitarian purposes, as in Yemen. Let others sell to the Saudis and be condemned by world opinion. Would we sell gas to Hitler? Trump and his underlings have reportedly advised the Saudis about concocting a cover up for their murder of Khashoggi. And while we are at it, we should immediately restore aid to the Palestinians to express a fair and even-handed approach to their needs and not turn the whole world, especially the Muslim world, against us. Finally, while Donald proclaims a love fest with Kim, the North Koreans are expanding and increasing the range of their nuclear arsenal right under his nose. Hey, Donald Trump, are you listening? No, the man is tone-deaf except for what he wants to hear. I agree with Putin that the US is suffering the effects of a whole series of “mistakes,” mistakes made mostly by Trump and his administration and supported by a supine Republican legislature. Some of the damage Trump has done may be irreversible and his faithful and small-minded voters bear the ultimate blame.

Was glad that Maine residents are experiencing a boycott after Sen. Susan Collins’ lame explanation for her vote to confirm Kavanaugh. While red state residents may tout their independence from “elitist” Democrats, outside tourist dollars are most welcome there.

As the midterms approach, it’s really scary to think that maybe the Democrats won’t prevail in either chamber. That would be a horrible disaster and could happen if Democrats don’t go out to vote. We in DC, a Democratic stronghold, as usual, will have no impact, thanks to Republican efforts over the years to stifle our vote. 

Chili Peppers, Son Jon at Home, Surprise Contact, Socialism, Hurricane Volunteers, Belated Accusations, Asylum Seekers, Cuba

 A photo gallery here, myself with son Jonathan  in West Va., below Jon with sister Melanie.

Jon's younger son Kingston living with the family in Hawaii. 

Old train displayed at Martinsburg train station from where I departed. 

                                                               Jon's ukuleles

The yellow house we did not buy. 

Making apple butter at the Apple Butter festival, Oct. 2018

                                             Pig roasting at the festival, tasted pretty good.

                                                   

Above and below, small-town parade images

Above, peppers growing from seeds planted by my departed Bhutan visitors, now bearing fruit. 

While I’m not very active on either LinkedIn or Facebook, sometimes those sites do yield a nice surprise, like an invitation I just got on LinkedIn from Dr. Hilda Molina, a Cuban neurosurgeon, once a darling of Fidel Castro, who then turned against her. She is profiled in my Confessions book (pp.163-66). After many international appeals, Fidel finally allowed her and her mother to join her son living in Argentina, where she now resides. She has now told me her mother died in 2013, but at least they had a few years together in relative freedom in Argentina. Dr. Hilda has started a human rights organization, www.crecerenlibertad.com.ar and has written a memoir, Mi Verdad [My Truth].

Though Donald Trump has accused Democrats of promoting Venezuelan “socialism,” actually, what Democrats are aiming for is a more Nordic-style “socialism,” that is, a capitalist, competitive economic system along with high taxes and a safety net for everyone.

Under Trump, the US is abdicating its role as a global leader. Trump may turn a blind eye to global climate change, but it’s happening all around us anyway. It’s very appropriate that Puerto Ricans have stepped up to help mainland hurricane victims, reminding us all that they are American citizens as well.

It’s certainly true that back when Brett Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted a young woman (or several?), male sexual aggression was accepted, even encouraged and rarely reported, mostly because the blame would then have fallen mostly on the woman. It was a different era and ethos then, so it may be somewhat unfair for Kavanaugh to be judged by today’s (only recently accepted) “me-too” standards. However, as women, most of us never really accepted male aggression against us nor men’s supposed superiority, though many of us only rebelled internally and indirectly, and now feel that Kavanaugh’s accuser represents us all at long last. Maybe the accusations against Kavanaugh don’t rise to the prosecutorial level, but a Supreme Ct. judge should be held to a higher standard. That Clarence Thomas, already on the court for many years now, beat the rap doesn’t mean the same mistake should have been made with Kavanaugh. A taint will remain on Kavanaugh’s character, just as it still remains on that of Clarence Thomas. So many of us women who have had similar unreported experiences still side with the accuser. If Kavanaugh really did it and had come clean, then he might have been worthy of confirmation. He could perhaps simply have admitted, “I was not accustomed to consuming alcohol then, drank too much beer and really don’t remember everything. I am truly sorry if I scared someone and I did learn from my mistake as a teenager.” Unfortunately, that’s not what he actually said. His accuser Ford came off as very credible.

Certainly, in days gone by, male human sexual aggression was expected, even encouraged. “Me-too” is only a recent development. Also, testosterone, produced much more abundantly in male mammals including humans than in females, has a bearing both on male aggression and sexuality, as well as on physical strength. Male mammals often essentially rape females and males fight each other more than they fight females, or than females fight either males or each other. Of course, human men are expected to learn to control both aggressive and sexual impulses in ways that other male mammals are not, but we do need to recognize that such urges are surging in many young men in late adolescence, as demonstrated by the disproportionate arrests of youthful males. This does not excuse Kavanaugh’s behavior, if it actually took place. If the assault(s) did happen, he probably has moved well beyond that point by now. Both he and Ford seemed fairly sincere, so it boiled down to “He said, she said.” Still, if he did it and is lying now, he is not fit for the Supreme Court—or for any court for that matter. Also, his display of anger and righteous indignation was unbefitting of a judge, though many men may have identified with him. Certainly Trump did.

Like most women of my generation, I’ve experienced my share of sexual aggression, but in my day, we expected it, were resigned to it, and tried to avoid and stave it off, sometimes using face saving humor, as if sexual overtures were just a mistake or misunderstanding. For me, such incidents, while I do recall them, do not stand out starkly in memory relative to much larger stressers and losses in my life, such as the deaths of my boys, divorce, being laid off after 16 years, financial hardship, and my kids’ various problems.

The news business and book publishers have benefited greatly from the rise of Donald Trump, not to mention authors taking advantage of their connections to him. I dreamed the other night that I was leading a lost and befuddled Trump out of a cave—any symbolic meaning there?

Though merely an outside observer, I may as well also throw in my own 2-cents on Soon-Yi Previn’s belated accusations of having received less-than-maternal care from her adoptive mother, thereby apparently trying to undercut allegations of sex abuse against her now-husband, Woody Allen, accused by another sister of abusing her when she was a minor. Of course, both accusations or characterizations could be true, or both could be false or exaggerated, or only one might be true. And Soon-Yi may have had a different experience with and attitude toward her mother than did her siblings. Also to be factored in are the impact of Soon-Yi’s early pre-adoption life as a Korean orphan and her place within the large brood her mother was raising, perhaps risking leaving one child feeling insufficiently loved. However, in light of Allen’s sexual pursuit of young Soon-Yi herself, though she was by then no longer a minor, it’s not hard to imagine that Allen might have also sexually approached her sister at a younger age. Nor does Mia Farrow’s alleged maternal coolness negate what Allen may have done to her daughters, though a feeling of being neglected by her mother may have driven a youthful Soon-Yi into Allen’s seductive arms. Soon-Yi’s very belated accusations against her mother coming out now raise questions, though sometimes these matters do only come out later in life or in therapy, as apparently happened in the case of Kavanaugh’s accuser. Farrow’s other children have come to her strong defense. I’ve noticed among my friends how various members of the same family may have very different views of their relationship and of actual events than I have as an outside observer. In a very common occurrence, friends and other observers may be well aware of one spouse’s infidelity while their partner seems (or feigns being) blissfully unaware. Truly, truth is in the “eye of the beholder.”

I’ve already expressed my opinion that the Catholic Church, in addition to promoting “zero-tolerance,” should go further to prevent sex abuse among clergy by abolishing mandatory celibacy (allowing celibacy if freely chosen) and permitting married and women priests. Until the abuse problem is adequately addressed, I don’t plan on participating again with the church, except when visiting my son in WVa. or when in Honduras.

         

Had a recent interpretation assignment at a DC high school helping Spanish speaking parents communicate with their kids’ teachers. Most of these kids are fairly recent arrivals (just before Trump) now mastering English, alongside a few kids from French-speaking African countries. These students and their parents are used to large classes back home where rote learning is the norm, so they are pleased and surprised when each student here gets individual attention. But hanging over everything is the fear of deportation. I happened to ride home on the metro with one of the mothers, who told me of her anxiety and of having to hire a private lawyer to support her son’s asylum claim. She said she works in construction to earn more money than she earned before in food services.

Detained Cuban asylum seekers are contacting me right and left for help in my volunteer role as Caribbean coordinator for Amnesty Int’l USA. The Trump administration seems as eager to get rid of Cuban asylum seekers as it is to get rid of immigrants in general. Cuba seems to have faded from the international scene, especially after Fidel Castro’s death