Dateline: McKinney, Texas September 3, 2017

Not Too Political This Week

This week’s blog post doesn’t have any particular topic. Hurricane Harvey has overshadowed everything, at least down here in Texas. The world has continued to move on in spite of our tragedy.

THE WALL

I’m wondering how to spin a little known, and probably purposely overlooked, story that came out of South Texas last week. I’m referring to the first response aid that came across the border from our neighbor to the South. Yes, Mexicans were caught providing aid and comfort to victims of Harvey. Amazing that ICE wasn’t there to turn them away.

Keep in mind that Mexico had the hurricane too. The Texas Gulf coast caught the brunt but there is no invisible barrier that keeps storms on our side of the border.

Texas Accepts Mexican Offer of Hurricane Harvey Aid

North Korea

That wacky Korean with the funny haircut is at it again. He just popped off another nuke, an H-bomb this time. Says he can put it on an ICBM and attack the USA.

I can see his point for being pissed at us; we have posed sanctions against the regime, and rightly so. The man won’t be happy until he has proven his point, whatever that is.

His Cult of Personality is all pervasive in the North. Dictators are notorious narcissists and Kim is no exception. Romania had a similar situation but the end of the USSR took down the Ceausescu regime. North Korea won’t be that lucky. A suicidal assassin or a Coup de Etat is probably their only hope. A war would only strengthen his resolve and grip on power.

Trump has stated we are out of the country/democracy building business. That’s good. It can never work like we plan. There are always some natives of the country we are democratizing that have different ideas. I thought we learned that lesson with Viet Nam.

Side Note on Viet Nam

Immediately after Japan surrendered on the USS Missouri Ho Chi Minh formed his government in Ha Noi. Much to the consternation of the French. They wanted their colony back; however, they were in no condition to run another country so close to the end of the Nazi occupation. The Brits stepped in to help French Indo-China back on its feet. At some point Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was in command of the British forces, recommended that the world should leave Indo-China to its own devices and the country would sort itself out in due course. Ho Chi Minh was really not a totally committed Communist at this point. Ho and his followers filled the void left by the Japanese after capitulation.

 Follow the link to a more detailed history of the Vietnamese conflicts.

The Birth of the Viet Minh: World War II’s Prelude to the Vietnam War

Side bar stories from The Dallas Morning News:

·       77 year old singer Tom Jones postponed his US tour because of health issues.

·       A second Salt Lake City police officer has been placed on admin leave after video of nurse’s arrest went viral.

·       A 13 year old boy is running for governor in Vermont.

o   Vermont is one of two states with no age restriction for running for office.

·       There is a refugee crisis in Myanmar.

o   Seems the former ruling military junta was persecuting a small Muslim sect.

o   Militant Buddhists among others are forcing these Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

·       Mexico is still a violent place.

·       Venezuela’s economy is still in the toilet

·       Kenyans are getting a “do over” for their recent election.

·       A fake hurricane Irma post had folks excited for a while (no, it’s not heading for Texas)

·       The last stranded Carnival cruise ship finally was able to return to Galveston.

·       Trump returned to Texas to help out.

o    “Do over”?

§  Felt guilty about not checking it out on the first visit?

§  Who knows or cares.

§  He may just be beginning to listen to people experienced in the optics of being presidential.

§  (My personal opinion is that no matter how hard he tries he will never be presidential or be considered a statesman.)

Short week coming up, Labor Day is tomorrow. Then I have a week’s vacation and in 2 weeks I’m going to my nephew’s wedding in Granby Colorado.

Cheerio chaps.

This is a Facebook post from one of the groups I belong to. It is for Glioblastoma patients and care givers. A few years ago a father of a young cancer patient that died not from the brain tumor but from the treatment. For some reason some people think the government are hiding cures for diseases because big pharm will lose money. Total crap I know but these people are on the fringes and they are given credibility. Here is my response.

We in the brain tumor community know that each cancer is as unique as the fingerprints on your hand. What is good for one patient is usually ineffective for others. This gentleman's story has been floating around for a long time. At best it is anecdotal evidence. Rest assured that the government does not hide cures for cancer. I've been a care giver for over 5 years for my wife. Stage 4 GBM in left temporal lobe. Standard protocol of surgery, radiation and Temodar. The tumor returned after 2 years. More radiation and 10 infusions of Avastin and Carbo-platin. She had a mild stroke probably due to the side effects of the chemo; her blood pressure went crazy. She also had a second stent placed in her heart along the way. It has been 3 years since any tumor was detected by MRI. No chemo for 3 years also. There is one word that we never use in the brain tumor world, 2 actually; Cured and Remission. With GBM that is the reality. You live with it. It's the new normal.

A free speech rally in Boston was disrupted by counter-protestors.

In Boston a rally that was billed as a free speech event turns chaotic.

The right wing free speech demonstrators were met by counter-protestors from the political left. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what went on. I’ll leave the descriptions of the event to the media.

My concern is that in Boston, the “Other Cradle of Liberty”, the right to free assembly and free speech was usurped by a violent wing of the opposition. Boston is where the original free speech movement started over 240 years ago. (There’s even statues there commemorating the event.) What better place to exercise your first amendment rights but Boston, Mass.

For the counter-protestors to act in this way is really un-American.  We all have the right to be heard as well as the right to disagree. These rights are unalienable. We as a nation must uphold everyone’s right to speak their mind. What was denied these right wing speakers were their rights to free assembly and free speech. The counter-protestors acted in a criminal manner and if possible should be held accountable. No one has the right to prevent a legal/lawful assembly as long as it is peaceful. Hell, the Supreme Court has upheld free speech rights so often that cases involving the first amendment rarely make it that far any more.

·       Burn a flag – Free Speech.

·       Have a Nazi rally in Skokie, Illinois – Free Speech. (This happened in the 80s)

·       Talk bad about the president – Free Speech

·       Say you want the president assassinated – NOT FREE SPEECH (This happened this week)

Everything the alt-right stands for I fine anathema but as distasteful as I think their views are I can only listen to them, form an opinion and exercise my right to disagree. The blogosphere is an excellent venue because hardly anyone reads them and I can get stuff off my chest.

“I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

kkk_leader_glad_protester_died

Someone close to me said I should try not to drop the F bomb for 1 day. So here goes.
How can any one who calls themselves an American condone these people. They are a scourge on the planet and they should be silenced somehow. To put yourself above another person because they are not Caucasian is not only un-American it is inhuman. If these people are allowed to persist in this behavior we are in some very deep trouble. In my humble opinion these people are enabled not necessarily by the president but by the climate that he has instilled by his inexperience and bluster. If you can't see that then the light at the end of your tunnel is a rapidly approaching train that is steadily gaining momentum. It's not about the statues any more; this is a life or death issue that is way beyond that.
(Not being able to "F" bomb is liberating somehow.)
Speaking of the statues, I really don't get this whole Southern heritage thing. I grew up in Philadelphia, The Cradle of Liberty, and believe me , we have our share of statues. But our statues are of winners and patriots not losers and traitors.
Didn't the South lose the war?
Didn't Lee and his bunch renounce their citizenship and swear allegiance to a foreign power waging war against the USA?
Did they not kill their countrymen and women in the bloodiest war in our history?
I have always been puzzled by this. And not just due to recent events. I have always thought it was odd that the losers kept the animosity going.
Finally, nothing on God's green earth will ever convince me that the Civil War was about nothing but slavery, period.
State's rights? Bullshit. Unless you mean the state's right to keep slaves.