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.
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.
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.
