Closed for the rest of the summer

I've made the decision that I'm going to take the rest of the summer off and work on my health, so hopefully this 85 year old body can still be sitting here as a 95 year old some day.  I'll be having a heart valve replacement in early August, which has produced dramatic results in thousands of cases like mine.

So I invite you to check back in September and see whether I have chosen to resume daily postings.    Also, sometimes things happening in the world may just compel me to write my reactions, just as I did yesterday in commenting on Trump's treasonous behavior on the stage with Vladimir Putin.    So if Trump resigns or gets impeached, I'll probably be unable to keep from commenting on that.

Thanks for your interest.

Ralph

Did Trump commit treason yesterday?

Yesterday's press conference between Trump and Putin qualifies as something I can't not comment on.    I won't waste words:   it was treasonous.   It actually meets the definition:   "giving aid and comfort to the nation's adversary."

So let's think about what this could mean.

1.  Putin actually holds some damaging information over Trump and has control of him and Trump knows it.
2.  Trump is an unwitting asset of Russia, meaning that he is being used by them without realizing it.
3.  It is what former CIA Director John McLaughlin said on tv:   a combination of naivete and arrogance.     He is naive in thinking he can believe what Putin says.   Add into it his narcissism, and Putin's KGB skills at reading and manipulating the other person.

Here's what I think.   Trump may be beholden to Putin in some way and is consciously under his control.   The only other possible explanation is the naive/arrogant/narcissism one.

I think Trump very much wanted -- and thought he was given it -- a clean slate.   He would not have to deal with past problems. (why didn't Obama fix this?).   He wanted to start fresh, without encumberance, and work his magic deal-maker skill and be the white knight hero.   His questionable deal-maker skill is another subject.

It's not working.   I hope Ivanka and Jared can convince him to resign.   If not, the the Republican leaders should come to him and insist on it.    And, if not, then he should be impeached.

Ralph

Rest of week off

Will be taking the rest of the week off and probably start posting again on Monday.
Ralph

Will be taking a few days break

ShrinkRap will take a short break from daily postings.    Suggest you check back on Wednesday.

Ralph

Scott Pruitt's gone; but deputy may be worse for the environment

Scott Pruitt's resignation is cause for jubilation -- just to get such an embarrassingly petty grifter out of there.    The triviality of his greed created such a media circus (trying to buy a used Trump hotel mattress) that it overshadowed the greater danger to the environment that his successor may turn out to be.

A former coal industry lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, has been deputy director and will assume the role of Acting Director.   He's a Washington insider who knows his way around the political quagmires, which is why I say he may be more dangerous.   And he won't be such a distraction.

Perhaps Pruitt's greatest talent was in knowing how to flatter the president.  His resignation letter drips with adulation for Trump the man;   his "gratitude" is for the "blessing" that was the opportunity "to serve you."    Nothing about serving the American people or preserving our planet.

And his refusal to take responsibility for any of this is utterly breath-taking -- just like his beloved boss.    He resigned because the media attacks on him had become "a distraction."    Not because of any failure on his part.

Ugh.     Good riddance.

Ralph

Our border cities are NOT under siege; crime is NOT rampant. A border resident says it's false propaganeda.

Victoria Ochoa is a Harry S. Truman scholar from the Rio Grande Valley and an incoming J.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  She wrote this for the Washington Post.

*     *     *     *     *

"I am from la frontera, meaning "frontier" in Spanish but translated in English as "border." The news over the past few weeks might make you think that places such as my hometown — McAllen, Tex., in the Rio Grande Valley — are under siege from waves of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, a crisis of lawlessness so extreme that drastic measures are needed. Tearing children from their parents, or, when that proves too unpopular, corralling families in tent cities. Then there's the $25 billion wall that's needed to safeguard the United States from the threat of being overrun.

"The view from down here is different. In a 2018 rating of the 100 most dangerous cities in the United States based on FBI data, no border cities — not San Diego, not Texas cities such as Brownsville, Laredo or El Paso — appeared even in the top 60. McAllen's crime rate was lower than Houston's or Dallas's, according to Texas Monthly in 2015. The Cato Institute's research consistently shows that immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are markedly less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

"In the U.S. borderlands with Mexico, our inherent duality is what helps our communities thrive. We work hard, attend school and worship just as Americans do all across the nation. Yet we are overwhelmingly Latino, and a quarter of us are foreign-born. We are here and there. Some of us were born here, and some of us were not. But it doesn't matter — pero ni modo — all are welcome.

"Maybe it is the composition of the humble communities already established in the borderlands, not the new arrivals, that so alarms some politicians and pundits. Maybe that is why militarizing a region supposedly in crisis has come to be seen as an acceptable idea. In 2016, Texas deployed 250 state troopers to our region, and in 2017, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed off on an $800 million allocation for border security (yet vetoed nearly $860,000 for the Colonias Initiative Project, a long-running state effort to help poor communities on the Texas border obtain drinking water, wastewater service and roads).

"This year, Congress approved 100 miles of border wall, and federal authorities are beginning the process of seizing land for it in my hometown. In April, the Defense Department began sending National Guard personnel to the border with Mexico, with as many as 4,000 troops authorized for deployment. The number of U.S. Border Patrol agents at the border is also rising.

"The government has a responsibility to police the nation's borders, and I am grateful for the people who keep us safe. But today's military presence and stepped-up law enforcement remind me that this isn't the first time that politicians have used Texas's southern border to burnish their tough-on-crime credentials.

"In 1915, the Texas Rangers were sent to establish control of the border when the Mexican Revolution prompted an increase in Mexican immigration and a threat to Anglo dominance in the region. Rangers and civilian vigilantes massacred hundreds of Tejanos with no repercussions.

"Nothing so extreme is conceivable today, but killings of immigrants by law enforcement in the borderlands still happen. In South Texas, we are still waiting to find out why a U.S. Border Patrol agent in May shot to death Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, a 20-year-old Guatemalan. According to news reports, she was trained as an accountant and, unable to find work, had traveled 1,500 miles in search of a better life. She was killed a mile into U.S. territory, in Rio Bravo, about 130 miles from McAllen in the same region where hundreds were massacred before.

"The heavy-handed law-enforcement presence in this region creates a climate of fear and mistrust. Residents are routinely stopped for no clear reason. Texas law now encourages local law-enforcement officers to hand over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement people who are in the country illegally. Border Patrol agents are known to ride with state troopers; in an area that is 88 percent Latino, routine traffic stops are regarded as a tool for implementing federal immigration law.

"Enforcement is ripe for the intimidation of noncitizens and citizens alike. At a Border Patrol checkpoint 74 miles from the actual border, agents have asked my purpose for leaving the area.

"I wonder what will finally placate the fearful people 1,500 miles away who sent these border agents and National Guard troops to the borderlands. More checkpoints, more families detained, vaster tent cities? Maybe the wall they dream of? For most people, or most open-minded people, a simple visit might be enough to be reassured that this is not a scary place. It's my home. Mi frontera. My frontier."

*     *     *     *     *

Exaggerating danger and portraying oneself as the savior on a white horse is pretty standard political fare.    But on immigration, we're seeing this play out on over-dose levels of steroids, enhanced by reality show TV theatrics, and ballyhooed by a master at the misstatement and misuse of facts.   In short, we all know by now -- and it is commonly so stated by news anchors -- that Trump lies, all the time.

This is all to the serious detriment, not only to the peace, but also the safety, of communities like McAllen -- and of the nation itself.

How long will it take us to reconstruct our democracy, to restore the trust of the people in their government, even in the most sacrosanct counterintelligence services, where Trump has sown doubt, mistrust, and even paranoia?  When will this civil war be over so we can begin the reconstruction and restoration of trust?

Ralph

NY Daily News skewers "the clown who plays king."

The New York Daily News is famous for its sometimes brutal covers.  This is the one for July 4, 2018 -- accompanied by the subheading:  "The clown who plays king can't overthrow the bedrock values this nation was founded on 242 years ago today."