Houston’s Fukushima 8-31-2017

31, August 2017                    Houston’s Fukushima

Much like the Fukushima plant in Tokyo, floodwaters shut the cooling system of Arkema chemical plant near Crosby, Texas causing a series of explosions. Both the primary and backup cooling system failed. The owners of the plant were evasive about letting the residents know what chemicals they were breathing. Nevertheless they found it necessary to evacuate residents within a one-and-a-half-mile radius from the plant. FEMA head Brock Long warned that the plume of chemicals leaking from the plant was "incredibly dangerous." Matt Dempsey, reporter with the Houston Chronicle in his latest report was highly critical of the chronic regulatory failures of the chemical industry. Arkema CEO Richard Rowe admitted that the chemicals could catch fire or explode.

Not unsurprising, Arkema successfully pressured federal regulators to delay new regulations aimed at improving safety procedures at chemical plants. It is a travesty that it took a severe hurricane to reveal shortcomings in basic plant safety. Furthermore, the chemical plants and refineries are situated close to poor communities and schools smacking of environmental racism.

Farewell talaq, talaq, talaq 8-28-2017

28, August 2017                   Farewell talaq, talaq, talaq

The practice of talaq-ul-bidat — or “triple talaq” — allowed male Muslims in India to end their marriage by uttering the dreaded word, talaq 3 times which was increasingly being emailed or texted to women. State the magic word, talaq 3 times and voila the marriage ends. No messy divorce courts or high priced lawyers. Even Pakistan and Bangladesh have banned this hideous practice. By contrast, a Muslim woman in India must seek the permission of her husband or a cleric to terminate the marriage.  Traditionally, Muslim women were forced to leave their homes and children without alimony or any other financial support.

At long last, a group of Muslim women challenged the constitutionality of talaq.

They argued that Talaq violated their fundamental right to equality under the Indian Constitution.

The India’s Supreme Court agreed by striking down the ‘Instant Divorce’ for Muslim men.

There is a strong need to have a uniform set of laws dealing with marriage, divorce, alimony and inheritance.  There are very few statistics available on the prevalence of talaq divorces. But one study found that 404 were instantly divorced from a sample of 4,700.

Pandering to the Muslim vote bank, the National Congress party had resisted challenging Muslim divorce practices. For example, in 1985 the ruling sought to nullify a Supreme Court ruling which ordered the husband of a divorced woman to pay $15 a month alimony shifting the responsibility away from husband to the divorcee’s family or Muslim charities.  Shameful!

 

Afghanistan 8-21-2017

24, August 2017                                     Afghanistan

We cannot seem to be able to step off the treadmill of failed policies. Repeating the same polices and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Afghanistan was no threat to the US. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi’s. Saudi Arabia is the epicenter of terrorism yet we continue selling billions of weapons to the Saudi killing machine which have used to slaughter innocent men, women and children in neighboring Yemen making us complicit in serious war crimes.

The US military has used its mighty hammer creating death, destruction and chaos. We have never apologized for slaughtering millions of Vietnamese, Iraqis and Libyans who posed no threat to us.

Does anyone recall the false domino policy of Vietnam? 

We were supposed to stop global domination of communism by establishing a beachhead in Vietnam. If Vietnam fell the world would crumble. Vietnam fell and the world didn't go red. Vietnam is now a major supplier of clothing and shoes to our markets.

The Taliban are not afraid of us. The corrupt Afghan government is in self-preservation mode. When the going gets tough the Taliban will always find a safe haven in Pakistan. No amount of  huffing and puffing by the Trump administration will make the slightest difference. We are the infidels. The Taliban and Pakistanis are tribal brothers. That is the difference.

Afghanistan 8-21-2017

21, August 2017                              Afghanistan

Was anyone surprised that American military commanders would argue in favor of more troop deployments? Where is the money coming from to support an already bloated military - infrastructure, education, healthcare? There have been budgets cuts in every major US agency except the war machine that has made us much less safer. Prior to our invasion of Iraq, there were no terrorist attacks in Europe and far fewer on our homeland. Have we learned nothing from our foreign adventures? The US is the largest defense contractor in the world. We have flooded the Middle East and other parts of the world with massive shipments of arms to enrich our defense contractors, unconcerned with the appalling loss of life of civilians. Threatening Pakistan will have no visible impact – they are extremely adept at manipulating US politicians.

Trump’s announcement is solely aimed at pleasing his base who have demonstrated remarkable resilience accepting their commander in chief’s failed promises.

Much like the prior wars in Vietnam and Iraq, this will be another monumental failure. According to the Military Times we have squandered over 5 trillion dollars in the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And what do we have to show from this massive investment in human capital and treasure – broken bodies, suicides averaging 18 per day and seething anger from the Muslim world.

Afghanistan has a long history of massive corruption. Our continued presence will only enrich the government. The time to exit the Afghan quagmire is NOW.

The demise of the Presidency 8-19-2017

19, August 2017                  The demise of the Presidency

With each passing day, there is ample evidence that Trump’s presidency is in a state of rapid decline.

In his last press conference, he went off script and voiced his inner demons sowing discord in a nation yearning for racial harmony and unity.

It is perplexing to understand why he found it so difficult to denounce Nazism.

He falsely asserted there was a moral equivalency between the dark forces of white supremacy and those who opposed such beliefs.

The world must have looked in horror at the neo-Nazi marches in Charlottesville which was reminiscent of the “Third Reich” marches in Nazi Germany.

It was gratifying to hear five members of Joint Chiefs of Staff condemning race-based extremism. World leaders from Secretary General António Guterres of the United Nations to Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain condemned intolerance and a failure of leadership in the White House.

Corporate leaders voiced their disapproval by exiting from Trump’s White House advisory councils.

With no steady hand to guide the White House, Trump went on the offensive lanching tweets to shoot down the “fake news” enemies exposing his appalling ignorance of world events.

Mr. Trump was reportedly energized by his Tuesday performance lambasting politically correct forces that he thinks are determined to topple him. He crashed ahead, attacking critics on all sides and delivering Twitter bursts of fake historical nonsense. 

Silence of the lambs 8-18-2017

18, August 2017                           Silence of the lambs

Trump’s equivocation on failing to condemn the alt-Right hooligans speaks volumes of his true sentiments. He should have known that there are six million reasons for denouncing the swastika bearers. I wonder why his daughter and son-in-law chose to remain silent. Sadly, Mr. Trump has raised a racist. His father was arrested during a clan rally in New York and was sued by the Justice Department for violating the Fair Housing Act. In a rare moment of divine justice, Mr. Trump was forced to condemn his ardent supporters – the hate filled reactionaries in Charlottesville. His body language said it all. He stood stiffly, eyes transfixed on the teleprompter, hands gripping the podium tightly, his voice flat and emotionless hating to deliver words he did not believe.

Perhaps he is fearful that one day his metal effigy sitting astride a bronze horse may be a painful reminder of our darkest moments.

The grand wizard, David Duke, condemned Trump’s speech and reminded him the alt-Right deplorables put him in office.

The departure of Merck and Intel from Trump’s presidential council and strong words from Walmart’s CEO are welcome, but it begs the question why these canons of business failed to recognize Trump as a racist much sooner. Was their rejection of Trump a pure business decision?  Are the other business leaders too terrified to speak out lest Trump uses the bully pulpit to shame them?

Charlottesville aftermath 8-16=2017

16, August 2017                         Charlottesville aftermath

Trump’s equivocation on failing to condemn the alt-Right hooligans speaks volumes of his true sentiments. He should have known that there are six million reasons for denouncing the swastika bearers. I wonder why his daughter and son-in-law chose to remain silent. Sadly, Mr. Trump was raised a racist. His father was arrested during a clan rally in New York and was sued by the Justice Department for violating the Fair Housing Act. Mr. Trump has surrounded himself by racists, white supremacists and nationalists on his White House staff including his Attorney General

In a rare moment of divine justice, Mr. Trump was forced to condemn his ardent supporters – the hate filled reactionaries in Charlottesville. His body language said it all. He stood stiffly, eyes transfixed on the teleprompter, hands gripping the podium tightly, his voice flat and emotionless hating to deliver words he did not believe.

Perhaps he is fearful that one day his metal effigy sitting astride a bronze horse maybe a painful reminder of our darkest moments.

The grand wizard, David Duke condemned Trump’s speech and reminded him the alt-Right deplorables put him in office.

The departure of Merck and Intel from Trump’s presidential council and strong words from Walmart are welcome, but it begs the question why these canons of business failed to recognize Trump as a racist much sooner. Was there rejection of Trump a pure business decision?  Are the other business leaders too terrified to speak out lest Trump uses the bully pulpit to shame them?

N. Korea 8-14-2017

14, August 2017                                           N. Korea

Why is the U.S. threatening war with N. Korea instead of pressing for negotiations?

The short answer is Trump’s desire to distract public attention away from the Russia investigation which has taken an ominous turn of events with the raid on Manafort’s home, the pending interrogation of Trump’s long time personal assistant, Rhona Graff, and investigation into Trump’s financial entanglements with Russia which Trump Jnr admitted were substantial.

Kim Jong-un and P. Trump are cut from the same cloth. Both will do anything to survive. N. Korea has every right to be wary of US intentions. Saddam Hussein paid the ultimate price for not possessing   WMD’s and Kaddafi gave up his nuclear arsenal and paid with his life. Bill Clinton launched missile strikes in East Africa to distract from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Trump’s war of words, belittling Kim Jong-un, whose finger is on the nuclear button, is totally irresponsible and plays into Kim’s playbook, depicting the US as the nasty aggressor. We need a diplomatic solution to the problem not hell fire and brimstone! We have threatened military strikes and imposed tight sanctions and nothing has worked. Why don’t we try something different? Bombard North Korea with acts of unconditional kindness – drones packed with food to remote areas to feed N. Korea’s impoverished people to counter Kim’s shrill anti-American rhetoric. This would generate good will, defuse tensions, promote pro-American sentiments and may eventually topple N. Korea’s one man rule.

Comment in the NYT 8-10-2017

10, August 2017 Comment in the NYT responding to Trump’s threat to attack N. Korea.

Thank you for participating on NYTimes.com.
Your published submission can be found at this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/world/asia/north-korea-trump.html?comments#permid

Kim Jong-un and P. Trump are made from the same cloth. Both will do anything to survive. N Korea has every right to be wary of US intentions. Saddam Hussein paid the ultimate price for his lack of WMD’s and Kaddafi gave up his nuclear arsenal and his life. Trump will do anything to distract attention from the Russia investigation. Bill Clinton launched missile strikes in Africa to distract from the Monica L. scandal. Trump’s is mentally unstable and will lead us into a preventable war. His war of words is totally irresponsible. We need a diplomatic solution to the problem not hell fire and brimstone!

Enemies of the Planet 8-8-2017

8, August 2017                                Enemies of the Planet

The ominous signs of global warming are becoming more and more self-evident. Here in the United States, temperatures have risen sharply. According to the recent climate report from 13 federal agencies, the warmest climate has been experienced in recent decades, the hottest during the past 1,500 years. Record temperatures have also been experienced in Europe, Australia, the Middle East and India.

The august body, The National Academy of Sciences, has signed off on the draft report which should give it enormous credibility.

If no remedial action is taken, temperatures are expected to rise 2 degrees centigrade by the end of the century. This would cause blistering heat waves, rainstorms, flooding and accelerate the obliteration of coral reefs. Greenland and the arctic ice are melting at an alarming rate a causing dramatic rise of sea levels.

The deadline for approval of the report is August 18. It is probable that Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, a climate change denier, may bury the report.

This must not be allowed to happen. I urge readers to call your representatives and demand the report be released to the general public. Light up the White House comment line and demand remedial action to combat the scourge of climate change. Silence is not an option. Your children and all future generations’ lives are at stake. If no action is taken, climate change will become the longest suicide ever attempted by the human race and we have a very good chance of success. 

Netanyahu – “Dead Man Walking” 8-7-2017

7, August 2017                           Netanyahu – “Dead Man Walking”  

Much like his embattled “friend”, Mr. Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel must be feeling the tight noose around his neck, as Israeli police amass mounting evidence of bribery, corruption and influence peddling

Mr. Netanyahu has been mired in several cases of accepting graft from a local newspaper to publish fake news in a desperate bid to receive favorable coverage. His former chief of staff, Ari Harrow, Israel’s “General Flynn,” has agreed to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Israel’s charge sheet is long and menacing. The Prime Minister has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Sima Kadmon, a prominent political columnist, wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that in light of Mr. Harow extremely light sentence for illegal business activities, his willingness to become a star witness means “Netanyahu is already a dead man walking.”

Much like his Washington, counterpart, Netanyahu has dismissed media criticism as “background noise”, or fake news. In an effort to appease the ultra-right, he has vowed to expropriate more Palestinian land for settlement expansion. Netanyahu’s supporters have denounced the investigations as a witch hunt.

To make matters worse, associates from his inner circle have been enmeshed in a huge $2 billion dollar deal for the purchase of submarines and missile ships from a German supplier. This could be the largest corruption case in Israeli history, involving deep conflicts of interest and national security.

Finally Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, is under investigation for reckless spending of public funds.

New immigration polices 8-6-2017

6, August 2017                        New immigration polices

The Trump brigade thinks that Emma Lazarus's Iconic Poem on the Statue of Liberty “Give us your tired, Your Poor. . . “needs some serious editing. No longer will America be the bastion of the poor and those fleeing persecution but will be replaced by hordes of highly skilled, English speaking technocrats.  This must be wonderful news to Trump supporters who must be descending on farms to do the back breaking work previously done by non-English speaking Hispanics.

The new immigration policy known as the RAISE Act would have blocked Trump’s own grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, from immigrating to the United States, had it been in enacted 1885. At the time of his arrival, Drumpf did not speak English, and his immigration record says he had no identifiable skills. The great-grandparents of senior policy adviser Stephen Miller would have also likely been refused entry under the proposed plan, since they spoke only Yiddish. Kellyanne Conway’s great-grandfather, too, would have likely been barred for speaking only Italian.

Perhaps the tunnel vision Trumpies are not aware that many of our Nobel laureates and founders of start-ups are the children and grandchildren of uneducated immigrants who arrived as penniless immigrants. Illiterate hard working Sikh immigrants arrived from India at the turn of the century and prospered working on the farmlands of the Central Valley.  In dramatic contrast, Trump's family is letting foreigners buy citizenship by investing $500,000 in Kushner's properties.

 

Abuse by U.S. Customs & Border Agents 8-3-2017

3, August 2017             Abuse by U.S. Customs & Border Agents

ABC 20-20 investigative reporters revealed horrific abuse by U.S. Customs and Border agents.

Newly released video footage shows U.S. C & B agents causing the death of a 16 year-old Mexican teenager, Cruz Velazquez, by forcing him to drink a bottle of liquid methamphetamine at a border checkpoint in San Diego.

Minutes after the teenager sipped on the liquid, his body began convulsing, and he screamed "my heart" in Spanish and then died. The officers were never disciplined. John Carlos Frey, two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker said Velazquez’s case is just the latest example of rampant abuse and mistreatment by border agents. His new investigation is titled "Life and Death at the Border.” Speaking on ABC’s 20/20, Reyna Velazquez, Cruz sister said the Border Patrol agents were laughing as her brother was screaming in pain.  The family was paid $1,000,000 in a wrongful death suit but there was no apology and no admission of wrongdoing. Earlier this year, the former White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, said the president wanted to "take the shackles off" the nation’s immigration and customs agents.  The two female border agents were back on duty the next day waiting for their next victim.