While the first human landing on the moon occurred in 1969,
sometimes we forget there was a total of six moon
landings by astronauts between
1989 and 1972. The first was not the last.
[Excuse big spaces between paragraphs and font changes, but they're proving too hard to fix.]
An article in the July 29 New
Yorker, “The Case of Al Franken,” argues that the accusations against him fell into a sort
of ambiguous zone and that he may actually have been a victim of a rush to
judgement by Democrats eager to show themselves being even handed. Certainly,
Franken’s transgressions, to the extent they even existed, were fairly minor
and were expressions of clumsiness, and not predation. They also occurred as
part of comic shows for troops stationed overseas, well before his Senate bid.
They seem to have been on the level of Biden’s often overly affectionate greetings
of women. Franken seemed to be doing a good job in the Senate and I sometimes
saw him eating at local Capitol Hill restaurants. Too bad he u=is no longer
here.
The biggest takeaway from Mueller’s live testimony is that Trump was not exonerated of obstruction and could be prosecuted after he leaves office. This may have been stated in the report, but how many people have actually read all of its hundreds of pages? While the written report may have said these things already, most Americans—and even most lawmakers—have not read the report in its entirety. Even Robert Mueller himself has not committed the entire report to memory. So, the Congressional hearings have exposed that essential conclusion to the public (to those disposed to believe it) that Trump was not exonerated. And while Trump runs consistently below 50% in polls, we need to remember that he won with less than 50% last time, so it matters how his voters are distributed and his hard core seems pretty hard. The more outrageous his actions, the better they like it, deriving vicarious pleasure from his ability to flaunt norms and behave impulsively. But Trump’s constantly shifting positions and his propensity to pull the rug out from under established agreements, a pattern he used in business to keep others off guard, is making him untrustworthy in the extreme, not a pattern that endears him to staff or much of the voting public. “What will he do next?” is the question asked by both adversaries and supporters. And while the hard core may still stick with him, perhaps even they are tiring of non-stop surprises.
A very bad idea: Senator Rick Scott wants to withdraw the Peace Corps from “hostile” countries such as China, the Florida Republican said Tuesday, in introducing legislation that would strip the program of its relative autonomy and put it under the State Department. Scott’s “Peace Corps Mission Accountability Act” would put the Peace Corps under the umbrella of the State Department instead of its current position as an independent agency under the executive branch. https://www.courthousenews.com/senator-wants-peace-corps-out-of-china-other-hostile-nations/
Here’s a statement from the National Peace Corp Association: Join the Peace Corps community in protecting the independent, non-political nature of the Peace Corps by opposing legislation (S.2320) introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) that would make Peace Corps subordinate to the Department of State under the direction of the Secretary of State.
By safeguarding Peace Corps' status as an
independent agency, we can help to ensure that it will not be used to promote
short-term goals of the Secretary of State or whichever administration is
occupying the White House. The international perception of the Peace Corps'
independence is imperative for its continued success, which is based on mutual
respect and trust of the host countries,
The Trump administration’s efforts to cut Food Stamps would only increase income
inequality. To decrease the enormous and growing federal budget deficit, how
about increasing taxes on high earning corporations and individuals? Trump gave
relief to them on the unfilled promise of creating more and better jobs, which
have bit materialized. Unfortunately, with automation growing, it will be
possible to maintain or increase production with fewer workers, but everyone
could and should benefit, just as all red-state Alaskans benefit from oil
revenues, whether they are working in oil or working at all. Work may become a future
luxury, fulfilling the universal need identified by the occupational therapists
with whom I once worked regarding every person’s search for “purposeful
activity.”
If mothers
or fathers requesting asylum were allowed to be with their
children in immigration detention or were
simply released to await legal procedures with their kids, perhaps wearing an ankle
monitor, it would be much safer, more humane, and less burdensome for staff, as
well as much cheaper for the government, so why isn’t that done any more?
With the plunging US birthrate,
we should welcome more migrants with young families. It’s a no-brainer.
The idea
that Guatemala and Mexico, for that matter, are safe places for migrants and asylum
seekers as Trump advocates is absurd. Trump bullied the president of that small country into compliance and
Guatemalans are protesting. Guatemala is anything but a safe place for asylum
applicants to wait - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-07-24/trump-guatemala-asylum-safety
After threats from Trump, Guatemala caved. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-threat-guatemala-signs-immigration-200616426.html
Mr. Trump demanded that
Sweden release ASAP Rocky, ASAP, not because he necessarily considers
him innocent but because he likes to boss other nations around and thinks
his demands will win over black voters. Can you imagine how he would react if a
Swedish official tried to intervene in the US justice system?
Speaking of black
voters, Mr. Trump did not endear himself to them by his repeated Twitter
attacks, not only on the four Congresswomen of “The Squad,” but on Congressman Elijah
Cummings and on the majority African American city of Baltimore, DC’s
sister city. Baltimore is the home of Johns Hopkins, also of the University
of Md. Hospital, a sprawling complex where I once worked as an interpreter,
going in daily on the first Marc train, often for 12-hour shifts where I earned
a lot of money. I was impressed by the care given and also exhausted by the
long hours with very sick patients and by the train commute. But my work there
was short-lived because the hospital system decided it would be more
cost-effective to hire in-house interpreters
I
met with Cardinal Ortega in Havana, a controversial figure, shown with
me in a photo in my Confessions book, where I describe our discussions.
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino dies in
Havana
I
don’t have TV, but often listen to public radio, where a frequent ad for financial
services agency Raymond James reminds me that my late son Andrew
once worked at the reception desk in their Ft. Lauderdale office. But, for some
reason, he quit and went to work for the company that changed truck tires out
on the highway. That new job resulted in a serious back injury for which he
took Oxycontin/ Oxycodone while awaiting surgery, which led to his death during
sleep.
I
could easily become a vegetarian, but of the ovo-lactose variety.
In fact, I’m almost there already, except when invited out to eat. Becoming a vegan,
like my grandniece who stayed with me last fall, or my younger daughter
Stephanie before her marriage, would require more imagination and inventive
cooking smarts than I can muster. While most Americans would recoil at eating
dogs, as is done in Asia, or horses, as we did during World War II, or even guinea
pigs, as I saw being done in Peru, how is eating a cow, pig, or sheep
substantially different, except for habit or tradition? I look forward to the
development of artificial meat when humans won’t be consuming other animals,
except maybe insects, which I have tried and found them crunchy and tasty in
the right sauce.
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