Monday, July 22, 2019

Baby It’s Been Hot, Lunar Landing, No Statehood, Socialism, Racism, Planned Parenthood


Apologies last time for words extending out of line; I tried to correct those flukes without success. Also, I don’t know what the last item on that last posting means. I did not put it there and was unable to eradicate it.

Yes, I have been sitting in front of fans with a wet wash cloth on my head as my central A/C is not working. I am used to 100 F temperatures in southern Honduras, but there it is dry hear and here in DC it’s 100 F and humid! Below is a headline from the Washington Post (July 16) showing that our recent heat wave here in DC was not just a figment of our imagination, it has been real and is still continuing. Earth just had its hottest June on record, on track for warmest July  

With the lunar landing anniversary in the news, I am taken back to that time, when as a young mother of 2 small kids who had just moved to my current home in Washington, DC. I looked out at the moon, hoping to see a dot signaling the lunar landing, but, of course, it was too small and too far away.

Sorry to hear that polls show that most Americans do not support statehood for DC, even though we have more population than Vermont and Wyoming. Why not?  Do they even understand the issue? Many friends in other states are surprised to learn that we are disenfranchised in DC.

Anything to make a dime, Trump campaign begins selling plastic straws, found to me harmful to sea turtles and other sea creatures, contending that “liberal” paper straws are no good.

Meanwhile, Trump operatives have come up with a clever strategy that he didn’t come up on his own, which involves moving federal agencies from DC to Midwest Trump strongholds

Just because Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro calls himself “socialist” is no reason for a socialist-leaning former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, now U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to give him a pass. And she did not. https://www.yahoo.com/news/united-nations-report-socialist-details-103013098.html

The “socialism” that Trump accuses Democratic lawmakers of fomenting is nothing like governance in Stalin’s USSR or in present-day Venezuela or Cuba, or even in China and Vietnam. Rather, it is more akin to that of Canada, France, and the UK, with national health services, and of the Nordic countries, with special provisions for parents, children, the disabled, and older people. Taxes there may be higher, but so are benefits, which are provided more equitably and economically than in our own country. The word socialism should not be used as a political boogeyman. Sen. Graham, who has become a lock-step Trump advocate has even equated socialism with communism. (Does Trump have some secret information about Graham that could harm his reelection chances?) Graham does deserve credit for calling out Trump for blatantly racist comments about several Democratic Congresswomen. Maybe he will have more influence on Trump by usually being such a slavish apologist? A president shouldn’t have to rely on “minders” to keep him in line, like some great big baby. Wash his mouth out with soap! And I like a new chant being taken up by Democrats, “Send him back!” (Presumably, send Trump back into retirement and to his residence in NYC, a city where he is mostly reviled.)

The worst if it is that most Republican voters support Trump, whatever he says or does, so Republican lawmakers don’t dare criticize him. It’s a cult that would drink the Kool-Aid if Trump ordered it. They want people like the 4 targeted Congresswomen to leave the country and they love it that the president gives license and voice to their most racist and base desires.  Trump is every-man or woman as president. Trump wants to make sure they turn out to vote for him.

Although there are too many Democratic wannabes, all of them are giving voice to important issues.  

I suspect that physician, Dr. Leana Wen, was removed as head of Planned Parenthood as she was trying to take a broader public health stance in which abortion was just one option among a range of services, including contraception, STD treatment and prevention, and cancer screenings, among others. The board may have wanted a more militant pro-abortion focus, emphasizing a “right” now under attack. I believe that the American public, while a slight majority supports abortion in the first trimester, is more nuanced in its beliefs and Wen’s tactic would have garnered more support for all the services of Planned Parenthood. But evidently the board preferred a more confrontational and focused approach.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Graduate, Hurricane Barbara, Maui Fires, Trump Fails to Eliminate Peace Corps, Children & Families, King of Chaos, Latin America, Asia, South Sudan, Me-Too’s Evolution, Beating Trump

Bikram, my GAO fellow from Bhutan graduated from the program and now you might say I have an empty nest, which is fine for now. I enjoy knowing folks from all over the world and offering them temporary shelter, but it’s hard on the facilities and puts me in a constant mama/nagging mode. Again, to quote Greta Garbo, “I want to be alone!” 


Hurricane Barbara, my namesake, became the 1st major hurricane of 2019, to be followed by many more.

The Trump administration tried to scrap the Peace Corps in the next federal budget. But by a vote of 110 – 315, the House of Representatives soundly defeated Trump’s effort to eliminate all Peace Corps funding in the federal fiscal year that begins next October. 

Fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui threaten the native Silversword plant discovered and named by my biologist son-in-law, who works often on that island. My younger daughter, his wife, is also a biologist.  

As emotionally wrenching as that photo is of the young father and toddler daughter drowned in the Rio Grande (aptly called Río Bravo—Angry River—in Spanish), last Feb. when I was in Honduras, the rumor was that crossing the US border with a child meant you would be freed sooner to return to court later and would also have a better chance of obtaining asylum, one reason so many are now traveling with young children. Maybe the publicity around the death of the Salvadoran father and his child will discourage them now? Other migrant families have drowned without being photographed.

Because of longer life expectancy and lower birthrates in our country, our population is aging, so we do need much more immigration by younger people. The Trump should welcome more of the families with children arriving at the southern border. Increased immigration alone cannot make up the demographic shortfall, though it would help. Certainly, any mass deportation of undocumented residents would be devastating economically and socially. Even Mr. Trump’s enterprises rely on undocumented workers, who have appealed to him to protect them. 

The census citizenship question was designed to disadvantage states with lots of non-citizens, whether documented or otherwise.  But apparently Trump wasn’t willing to let the matter go. Though he did not win the day on including the question on the census, he can still use it as a rallying point for his anti-immigrant presidential reelection campaign. However, because he is so unpopular, so reviled in many areas of the country, his raids have less local cooperation than has been the case for other presidents, including Obama, who was given the dubious title of “deporter-in-chief.” Trump announced his raids in advance to make sure his loyal base knew he was getting tough on immigrants, while at the same time, arousing his many opponents, further dividing the nation. He makes no effort to expand his base or to bridge the political divide, quite the contrary.

With El Paso at the border-crossing’s epicenter, I am reminded of my childhood days in El Paso, when my Dad was a US Army officer at El Paso’s Fort Bliss, then was sent over to Europe during World War II. I remember attending kindergarten and first grade in local schools and singing daily, “The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live-long day; the eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away.” I really thought some giant unseen eyes were looking down on us. I recall movie theaters being divided into white and “colored” sections, or sometimes films being shown to each racial group on alternate days. We used to walk easily across the bridge to Juarez to shop or eat Mexican food on that side. It was a fun excursion to easily enter an alternative world where another language was spoken and to become immersed in different sights, scents, and music.

Leaked information indicates that Trump’s efforts to scrap the Iran deal and probably his push against Obamacare are fueled by his resentment of the greater popularity and obvious ability of his predecessor rather than by any concern for the good of our nation or the world. He is a petty, childish guy, deeply insecure, fueled by resentments based on real and imagined attacks on his feelings of self-worth.  

Chaos theory seeks to explain what is not obviously predictable. It deals with chance, surprise, randomness. Most of the time, when we go out walking in our neighborhood or get into a car, we get where we intend to go. Rarely, there is an accident and we don’t arrive. Some “accidents” or surprises are lucky ones, others, not so much. Often, these “chance” events have started with a small deviation from the norm, like the example from my last blog of a driver who suddenly switched from turning off a highway to veering back onto it and caused a 5-car pile-up behind when all slammed on their brakes, including the car my daughter was driving and I was riding in. Chaos theory cites the theoretical example of the butterfly that flaps its wings and starts a reaction that ends up as a hurricane elsewhere.

Donald Trump’s elevation to the US presidency is an example of chaos theory in action. Russian election interference, coupled with the skewed Electoral College system, along with big money donations to the Republican Party, allowed Trump to win the presidency even though he fell 3 million votes short. Since then, he has deliberately fostered more chaos and uncertainty by his impulsive and unpredictable actions, engaged in partly because he has no actual plans, but also to deliberately keep both allies and adversaries off-guard, allowing him to imagine that he alone is in control. He might be called the king of chaos, but the American people and other political leaders, as well as citizens and leaders of the world, are getting pretty tired of it all. There is enough that is unpredictable and uncontrollable in life without having Trump deliberately making it worse. His tactics end up achieving little or nothing because he acts alone, makes no plans, and brings no one else on board. Twitter is the perfect medium for him to express his unfiltered and impulsive thoughts. Any of the current Democratic hopefuls would be better than Trump, but will they screw up again by fighting among themselves and not being prepared against interference?

Trump highjacked July 4, making it a campaign rally and his own vanity project to try to appear presidential. The guy, after phony draft deferments, is tying himself to the military in a pathetic effort to bolster his own image and self-esteem. If he were an ordinary citizen, we would just feel sorry for him, but because of his authority and the slavish deference of Republican lawmakers and appointees, his whims are causing a lot of grief and damage, not only in the US, but worldwide.

Efforts to fly the Baby Trump blimp at July 4th events ran into some obstacles. The blimp inflated with air was seen at ground level, but not allowed to be floating above the crowd. In a brilliant move to counter MAGA hats worn by Trump supporters, his opponents can carry around Baby Trump balloons.

I avoided July 4th events, but because I live on Capitol Hill, I did hear the flyovers and fireworks. Apparently, Trump got mixed up giving his speech, forgetting that there were no airports back in revolutionary days. But that he did not even notice and correct his own gaffe again reveals his mental failings. Yes, Trump flubbed his big moment speaking from the Lincoln Memorial when he referred to the revolutionary forces securing the airports. Any normal person, after making such an error, would have joked about it and corrected himself immediately, but Trump didn't respond until the next day, saying that raindrops had fallen on his teleprompter. His staff must have endured a heart-stopping moment when he misspoke, but the fanatically loyal base and most Republican lawmakers acted like it didn't even happen. The most merciful out for Trump himself and for the nation would be an illness that prevents him from running for a second term.

The Trump/Kim handshake photo-op, something that may have popped into Trump's mind just at the last minute (leaving everybody scrambling to please him, as usual), was probably a good move after Trump had walked off from the last talks. Trump knows how to keep himself in the spotlight and remain the center of attention. Daughter Ivanka took advantage of the occasion to appear there too. Shaking hands is fine, but North Korea is not halting, much less ending its nuclear pram, its only source of strength. Kim must be delighted to be playing Trump so easily. Just give the guy a photo-op and continue whatever you were doing.

Here are a few news items f interest to me as volunteer Caribbean coordinator for Amnesty Int;l USA
Raped, widowed, homeless: Haiti's slum women abandoned to gangs

Pompeo Highlights the Importance of Democracy in the Dominican Republic  https://www.yahoo.com/news/pompeo-highlights-importance-democracy-dominican-021801854.html
Global Voices advox*, July 5, 2019
Censorship
Is Cuba trying to outlaw independent media? A new decree will prohibit foreign web hosting
It is also illegal to host "news media" sites locally.
By Ellery Roberts Biddle

The spread of wireless service has given rise to a new class of netizens, who are organizing in a manner not seen since the Cuban revolution. And the government is responding, sometimes.
By Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, July 8. 2019

In my Amnesty volunteer role, I met at the AI USA office with Sirley Avila, a Cuban woman whom I have been assisting and about whom I wrote an on-line article,  www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-e-joe/a-revolution-with-promise_b_9801712.html






Chinese authorities must be anxious to prevent the idea of mass protests spreading from Hong Kong to the mainland, confronting them with a Tiananmen-type situation.

Family separations are not only happening at our own southern border but also among China’s western Muslim Uighurs in a system similar to the residential schools for indigenous children of decades past in the US and Canada, schools designed to teach the children English and assimilate them into the mainstream. I have had the good fortune through my volunteer work with Amnesty International to meet Uighur activists here in the US, where their plight is not well-known. https://www.youtube.com/user/bbcnews

Pregnant Women and Children Massacred in Papua New Guinea, Police Say NY Times, 7-10-2019
This headline caught my eye because, about 20 years ago, a visitor from Papua New Guinea stayed at my house. He told me that tribally based revenge killings were common in his country (at least at that time) and he hinted that he had engaged in helping carry some of them out. However, he assured me that my family and I were safe, as we were not members of a rival tribe. Such killings were initiated by men and usually focused only on  males of rival tribes, he said, but apparently men were not the only victims in the recent case reported by the Times. Apparently, revenge killings are still occurring there, though perhaps international attention will help them die out. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/world/asia/papua-new-guinea-massacre.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

American Samoa is a tiny island country in the south Pacific where apparently most inhabitants do not want full citizenship because of fear of an assault on their native customs and language. However, other regional islands, like Guam and Micronesia, are territories whose inhabitants are full American citizens, able to travel freely anywhere in the USA and to vote in national elections. What American Samoans may need to join them is a guarantee of some indigenous protections like those afforded to Native American tribes on the mainland, which could give them the best if both worlds.    

The fate of South Sudan has been of special interest to me ever since my mission there in 2006. So sorry that tribal rivalries have now replaced the unity that led to independence in 2011. An additional comment is that most people in South Sudan are close to being truly black, unlike so-called “black” folks here in the US, including members of my own family, who are more “blackish” than “black.” Here is lady I met in South Sudan. [Orange lady]

Heard a radio documentary offering a rather nuanced take on the Me-Too movement, a situation where a college-age young man and a young woman seemed to have different views of whether their sexual encounter was consensual or not. The man thought it was; the woman said it was not. Some such situations are ambiguous and do not fit a pattern of outright rape involving force or threats of bodily harm, but, rather, involve steps toward intercourse that may be hard to turn off once underway. If alcohol is involved that’s a further complication, though it was not a factor in this case. Likewise, there was no prosecution or other penalty for the man, except for his apology and trying to try to make amends. Seduction and foreplay may involve persuasion, but when does that move over into unfair pressure?

Cultural differences also come into play. Muslim women cover their hair and don’t touch unrelated men. Male Buddhist monks in Thailand cannot even take something from or directly converse with women; I have communicated with them by writing notes that each party lays down to be picked up and read by the other. But in Latin America, men typically greet women with an embrace and kisses on both cheeks. Is that a Me-Too violation?

Of course, when I was young eons ago, the Me-too movement did not exist and women tried to avoid even getting into compromising situations. There was no on-line dating. Homosexuality was illegal. College women like me lived in all-female dorms with restricted access and curfews. Rape and even consensual sex by unmarried people were largely hidden and there was no easily available or effective birth control and certainly no legal abortion. Young women went to Mexico to get abortions and babies were given up for adoption in secret to couples like me and my late ex-husband, though I subsequentially had a biological child. We sometimes forget that mores were different then and that not all long-ago actions can be strictly judged by today’s standards. The same may be true regarding race relations and other matters and is certainly true of many cultural differences in the present day, though because of the internet and mass media, practices are moving more quickly toward greater universality. Unfortunately, because of his age and long life, Joe Biden is getting caught in this bind.

When men in this situation have been defended, particularly by women, critics who still hold them to today’s standards have coined a pejorative term for the attitude of such apologists “himpathy.”

Time to get into gear for 2020, become totally partisan, and prepare to vote a straight Democratic ticket. Right-minded, genuinely patriotic Americans must work together to make sure Trump doesn't get a second term, Each of us needs to talk about, contribute, and campaign for Democrats running not only for the presidency, but for the Senate, the House, and state offices, all down the line. We need to especially support Mitch McConnell’s Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, an outspoken former fighter pilot whom the senator is already trying to tarnish. He is such a sly, unprincipled guy, we need to throw the book at him, though he will probably survive ine ruby red state of Kentucky.

And though we don't always like voting for the lesser of evils or for candidates whose views we don't totally espouse, we currently have a binary system where usually there are only 2 viable candidates for each office. It would be better if we had a system whereby a voter could also indicate a second choice with lesser weight, as exists in a few places elsewhere, but we don’t have anything close to that here as yet. Too many voters last time failed to vote because they didn’t like something about Hillary Clinton, partly because of false narratives about her health or personality, or they just didn’t like her voice or her appearance in a pants’ suit. If Joe Biden should be the Democratic candidate this time, objections to his age, changing stances, attitude toward minorities and women, personality, etc. will arise. Too bad, folks, if Trump is his opponent, vote for Biden anyway and don’t sit out the vote just because you don’t particularly care for him. If the alternative is 4 more years of Trump, that is much, much worse, We do not live in the best possible of all worlds.    

It would be great to get rid of the Electoral College and Republican gerrymandering--issues to work on, but not achievable by the next election. Nor can we soon breech the bitter partisan divide to reach “common ground.” So we just have to soundly beat Trump and overcome his voters at the polls, despite their hurt feelings about being ignored by the “coastal elites.” Beat them soundly in the voting booth and let them lick their wounds and continue to wear their MAGA hats and look back nostalgically to the glory days when their hero Donald Trump was in office, but is there no more. Four more years of Trump and his gang is simply unthinkable. The world cannot tolerate it. Then we have to work to undo much of the damage that has been done. I hope to live long enough to see that happen. 
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