One Man's Opinion

The West or developed world has done some very bad things to Third-World countries throughout history. First, it has exploited them mercilessly, robbing them of their natural wealth and condemning them to poverty, and subjecting them to unfair trade and other economic practices, with the same result. Second, it has invaded them and changed the course of history for the worst, creating or aggravating all sorts of economic, political and social problems there. Third, it has fueled domestic and international conflicts, by selling arms to parties to those conflicts, weapons that, otherwise, would have been impossible for them to have. Thus, conflicts and wars have turned deadlier and lasted much longer due to the supply of weapons by the so-called democratic nations which are constantly decrying the violence in those countries.

By now, everybody knows about the 9-year-old girl in Arizona who accidentally killed her instructor, while being taught how to  use a Uzi submachine gun . If there was a need to prove just how insane the U.S. is, this is definitely it. People who even think about a child handling a gun, let alone an automatic weapon of that kind, should not be allowed to walk around the community. People like that should be put away, so they stop hurting others. Both her parents who took her to the firing range and the instructor who accepted to teach her were clearly at fault, and showed a degree of irresponsible behavior that is beyond belief. That is one sick society.

It may very well be a case of "tit for tat." After all, if the Americans want to play hardball against the Russians with economic sanctions of all sorts, they should be prepared to suffer the consequences. Like having a dozen McDonald's closed in Russia, which, by the way, is not such a bad thing, from the Russian point of view. There are too many fast-food -- really junk food -- outlets in the world, so those won't be sorely missed.

The U.S. is outraged at the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine. Imagine a country invading others, in order to impose its will on, annex it or whatever. As a citizen of a country invaded by the U.S. in 1898 and maintained as a colony till the present, I find such a reaction by the Americans as simply cynical and laughable. As part of Latin America, the so-called "backyard of the U.S.", invaded so many times by the Americans, we in Puerto Rico have to laugh our heads off at the American attitude on this matter. The Americans must either think that the rest of the world ignores their history of interventions and invasions, or that it accepts that the U.S. has some sort of divine right to rule the world as it sees fit.

Well, the Vatican has begun to undo some of the damage that it consented to during decades, regarding the  pedophiles in its ranks. Revoking the diplomatic immunity of the Polish bishop who was its ambassador to the Dominican Republic, where he engaged in child pornography, is an important step in the long road to a long-lost credibility and respectability. Pederast clerics can have no quarter inside the Church; they have to be turned over to law-enforcement authorities, wherever they may have committed their crimes. There can be no room for technicalities or legal finesse, in order to avoid prosecution and conviction.

Anyone who sees the video of the Missouri white cop that is on the Web knows why Michael Brown was shot to death. This is still the mentality of much of the South, including its law enforcement. They are just itching to kill black people. Imagine this guy being on the police force for 35 years! As a lawyer, I know all about due process, but ordering a psychiatric evaluation is a waste of time and money. Even if some psychiatrist finds him capable of performing his duties, there is just no way that he can continue to be on the force. Except in KKK country.

As a whole, education has been on a downward slope for a long time over most of the world. Most young people are more concerned with taking "selfies" and sharing their trivial lives through the so-called social networks, than with learning anything of value. Consequently, when the time comes to grade or test them in whatever shape or form, they do rather poorly. Then, teachers are blamed, tests are blamed; anything but the real culprits. It's the "system" that's at fault, not the dumb and lazy students who just want to get by and can't wait to get out of school and go party and do all sorts of wild and crazy stuff. Then, when they end up asking you if "you want fries with that", they realize that it's too late.

Some in the U.S. are bothered by the coverage and criticism abroad of the Ferguson, Missouri situation. At bottom, they are upset and embarrassed that the U.S., so fond of lecturing the rest of the world on human rights and civil liberties, is being taken to task for its handling of the demonstrations there. As I've said before, the Americans like to look down on other people and feel superior to everyone else, pretending that they don't treat dissenters and protesters badly, a part of the myth that the U.S. propaganda machine has been feeding us for decades. Now, we all get to see that there isn't that much difference between the U.S. and other countries, when it comes to dealing with street protests, especially when what started all this was a racially-motivated crime by white police against a black young man.

Frankly, Obama should be much more concerned with what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri than what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine. He should be paying more attention to the tragedies at home, and less to the ones abroad, to which the U.S. contributes heavily by its incessant meddling. Perhaps, if he wasn't so embroiled in the violence overseas, he would have enough time to think about what should be done to curb the violence in his nation's streets. Especially against his "brothers and sisters."

Here's another news item that is... not news, really. The University of Notre Dame has suspended four of its football players for having cheated on their academic work, by turning in papers that were written by someone else. So, what else is new? Does anyone still believe that college athletes are there to study and, worse, do so honestly? College athletics is big business, especially in important universities in the U.S. Talented athletes are recruited to play, not study and get good grades. As long as they are healthy and  successful on the field, everything is done to keep them at the university or college. The institution couldn't care less if they learn anything or graduate. At best, this episode at Notre Dame is old news.

Full-scale fascism has hit home in the U.S. In Ferguson, Missouri, to be exact. Granted that some people have turned to violence and looting as part of the protests over Michael Brown's death, but, by all accounts, the police have gone overboard themselves.They have gone so far as to arrest journalists from The Washington Post and The Huffington Post, as well as impeding coverage from other sources. In other words, law enforcement has turned lawless. These events should be an eye-opening experience for all those who naively believe in the silly "exceptionalism" of the United States. There are still too many people who think that these kinds of things only happen in barbaric and inferior countries, but not in the good ol' USA. Things haven't changed all that much since James Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time . Next time is now.

When I was a kid, some people used to say that children should be allowed to play with dirt, so that they would build up their immune system. What sounded like an old wives' tale now seems to have more than a grain of truth to it, with the strong possibility that some bacteria may be quite effective in reducing cancer tumors. Although in its initial stages, the research has started to indicate that this could be the case in some instances of the disease. "Cleanliness is next to godliness", according to Ben Franklin, but dirty may be closer to living.

Another young unarmed black person is killed by a cop in the U.S. Why is this news? Black people should know that it's always "open season" against them. The rest of us should not expect anything different. The question is not if it's going to happen, but when and where. The people who do the killing always have a"good" reason for it. But, we all know the real reason: blacks are presumed guilty...of anything and everything. So, it's shoot first, and ask questions later. The Americans built their country with the "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" motto. Ditto black people.

Hillary Clinton has thrown not her hat into the ring, but her gauntlet. An iron one, at that. And she hasn't thrown it down, but hard at Obama's face. One has to wonder if she ever got over her defeat for the Democratic nomination for President, and her recent disparaging comments about Obama's foreign policy are part of a grudge she has held all these years. Or if this is what she truly felt all the while she was his Secretary of State. In any case, it doesn't speak well of her to come out now with all this criticism. As to her views on foreign policy, evidently, she wants to portray herself as an extremely strong leader, in the mold of Margaret Thatcher, a poor choice of role model. If one is to believe her, should she get to be President, she will embroil the U.S. in one conflict after another, just to show how tough she is.

Isn't there something weird about announcing that you will continue to airstrike or bomb a country indefinitely, and then going on vacation with your family? Well, I guess this was just another day at the office for the President of the United States.

The Americans are bombing Iraq. So, what else is new? You know what they say: "If at first you don't succeed, bomb, bomb again!" Obviously, both Afghanistan and Iraq are U.S. failures. When faced with a problem, Americans either throw money at it or throw bombs. Frequently, both. Thus the legendary corruption by the U.S. government and its contractors in both countries. After proclaiming victory in its nation-building mission, the Americans have done an "about face" and gone back to the square one of bombing Iraq to hell once again. If it weren't tragic, it would be hilarious.

The Michigan white man who killed a young black girl who banged on his door seeking help, because he was afraid, has been convicted of second-degree murder and other related offenses. What did him in was the fact that he shot through the door, testified that he thought she was attempting to break in, and wasn't going to "cower" in his own home. In other words, his defense was a combination of "standing his ground" and the "I-thought-there-was-a-burglar" excuse by Oscar Pistorius. Luckily, the jury didn't buy that theory. They saw through it, and rejected that defense. Concern for one's safety does not grant one a license to kill, unless one is reasonably certain that one's life is in danger.  Shooting through doors is extremely dangerous and reckless with regard to the safety of others who may be in a vulnerable position through no fault of their own. A civilized community cannot tolerate that degree of violence in the name of self-defens

As I've been saying all along, those American "students" who keep getting into trouble in suspicious circumstances in other countries are not innocent babes in the woods. Now, thanks to the Associated Press, we know for sure what we suspected all this time: they are agents for the CIA, part of a program to infiltrate and do political work in places such as Cuba, posing as aid workers for the Agency for International Development. American propaganda has portrayed them as naive victims of circumstances, but they go in knowing full well what they are doing. Just as Alan Gross did, and now he keeps whining about his incarceration. This explains why the U.S. has abandoned him; he took his chances and he lost. I've said it over and over again: one cannot believe anything that the U.S. State Department says, including why U.S. citizens are in trouble abroad.

People of good will all around the world rejoice over the appearance of the grandson of one of the leading figures in the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo movement. After so many years, the woman has had some sort of closure of the tragedy that befell her family. The movement that she helped found  has once more been vindicated in its effort to find those who were taken away from their rightful families and given to people who knowingly participated in this despicable practice by the military dictatorship. As she so aptly put it: "The search for the rest must continue."

The Pope has lifted the 29-year-old sanction against a Nicaraguan priest who participated in the Sandinista government. That punishment was meted out by John Paul II, now a "saint, but really a closet politician himself, with a clear anti-communist agenda. One would have to be very naive to believe that Father D' Escoto was really sanctioned for accepting a government post. With a history of meddling in politics in all sorts of ways, it wasn't that which the Polish Pope found objectionable, but the fact that he didn't like the man's politics, which he found too similar to the one in his country. Had Nicaragua had a different regime, more to the Pope's liking, he would have never punished the priest; at least, not so severely. Thank God Pope Francis has corrected this gross injustice.

For the millions of people all around the world who admire athletic prowess and  are in awe of God-given talent, the brilliant return to competition of Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter ever, is great news. After some injuries, he came from behind to anchor the Jamaican 4x100-meter relay in the Commonwealth Games in record time. Let's hope that he remains healthy, so that we can continue to enjoy more electrifying performances from this truly gifted athlete.

China is a huge country with the planet's biggest population, by far. So, it's to be expected that all sorts of accidents and bad things happen on a regular basis. I get the feeling, though, that Western media -- especially that of the U.S. -- is on a permanent watch to report every little negative thing that happens in China. To my mind, there is an evident agenda in this. China has emerged as the dominant world economic power, so the West, particularly the U.S., wants desperately to portray it as dangerous, dumb or inefficient, not on a par with the rest of the developed countries. Hence, the bad press that it gets day in and day out, highlighting its failures, never its successes. The hatchet job is so obvious, it's laughable.

Jesus Christ! On the one hand, Obama admits to torture and other wrongdoing after 9 /11, but then he turns around and expresses his confidence in  the CIA Director, the man who has just admitted that they spied on the Senate Committee that was investigating the Agency. Either Obama is insane or insanely cynical. It has taken the U.S. government all this time to accept the truth. The Americans, knowingly, denied any wrongdoing, while persecuting those who told the truth about these things. There is no way that one can believe in the sincerity of these belated apologies or mea culpas . If Obama is really sincere about this, he should call off his dogs, and leave Assange and Snowden in peace. But, we all know that it's not going to happen, don't we?