One Man's Opinion

Time was when American manufacturing was the wonder of the world. But, greed and the emphasis on quantity over quality slowly cheapened its products into non-existence. Decades have gone by, and a host of things are no longer "Made in the USA" because no one buys them. They are made elsewhere much better. Even things that are made in the U.S. aren't really American, in the sense that they belong to foreign companies and the technology and quality control reflect another country's way of doing things. Take the automobiles that are made in the U.S. By the latest count, neither Ford nor Chrysler qualify as "American-made" because not enough parts are manufactured in the U.S. or their assembly is mostly done elsewhere. The fact that the two "most American" of cars are Toyotas says it all. The American empire ain't what it used to be.

Speaking one's mind has its consequences, as we all know. My mother-in-law was fond of saying that when one says what one wants, one will hear what one does not want. Donald Trump is finding it out the hard way. People -- especially, corporate people -- are running away from him, for his outrageous remarks about Mexican immigrants. First, it was Univisión, the Spanish-language network. Now, it's NBC. Pretty soon, he won't be able to "get arrested." He simply went too far. People like him think that, because of their wealth and influence, they can get away with saying anything. They're wrong.

True to its rebellious nature and tradition, the South is up in arms about the same-sex-marriage decision in the U.S. The Bible Belt has begun to refuse to obey the "law of the land", as handed down by that Yankee court in Washington, D.C.  Governors, judges and other government officials are openly defiant of the ruling. Some are going so far as to not issuing any marriage license , even to heterosexual couples, as a form of protest. Before this is over, there will be blood.

Here's an interesting and very revealing statistic. The chief medical officer for the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals in the U.S. has said that they receive around 20,000 complaints about hospitals and other health-care institutions every year. "We substantiate about 67%  of the complaints through this process. That's a very high substantiation rate", she stated. Very high, indeed. Remember that the next time someone says that the U.S. has the best health care in the world, or some nonsense like that.

I hate to agree with someone like Marine Le Pen, but she's right: "The French need to realize that the United States - and by that I mean the U.S. government, not the American people - is not an allied country nor a friend." Jean-Jacques Urvoas is even more right: "Once again, we rediscover that the United States does not have allies, it merely has targets or vassals." That's right. As an empire, the U.S. does not see anyone else as its equal, deserving of or entitled to consideration and respect. Others only exist to do what the Americans want. There is no room for honest disagreement and the right to do what they think is in their best interest. The Americans pretend to have allies or friends, while distrusting everyone, seen as an enemy or potential enemy. They think that everybody is out to get them. That paranoia has produced the spying on foreign leaders, including the last three French presidents, that we keep finding out about. Although they apol

Well-informed Puerto Ricans -- not too many of us, I'm afraid -- have known for years that the U.S. government has used us as guinea pigs for all sorts of experiments. From syphilis to agent orange, we have been exposed to all kinds of substances, so that, mainly, American armed forces are able to study their effects on humans. Now, we add mustard gas used on Puerto Rican soldiers, along with blacks and those of Japanese descent , in the jungles of Panama during WWII. Some 60,000 soldiers were exposed to mustard gas and other chemicals. Remember this the next time you hear the U.S. condemning another country for the use of chemical weapons.

In the wake of the Charleston church massacre, some people in the U.S. South are scrambling to pull down the Confederate flag, a symbol of the slavery era that has survived as part of a tradition of defiance and racism. Now that images of the shooter with the flag have surfaced, these Southerners want to distance themselves from the environment in which racial hatred has flourished all these years. So, it took this horrendous crime for them to realize what the flag stood for? This is just a hypocritical move on the part of all those who either supported the flag or were indifferent to it, knowing full well what it meant for black people in their communities.

As much as I hate to repeat myself, the continuing killing spree in the U.S. is too outrageous to ignore. There is no letting up in these mass shootings, almost a daily occurrence in some part of the country, the latest being a shooting at a party for some kids, with semi-automatic weapons , killing one and wounding nine. This, one day after Hillary Clinton made a very emotional and moving appeal on this subject. There is the answer to her plea.

I think that Obama and Hillary Clinton's plea to the American people about gun control will go unanswered. There is no overwhelming support for it. Americans have come to accept gun violence as a fact of life that cannot be changed. There is just no political will to do anything about it. The five- million NRA members effectively dictate public policy on this issue to the other 310 million people. It is simply pathetic that responsible elected officials and other political leaders are unable to convince the majority of their colleagues and the American people to change such an insane and tragic way of life.

Pope Francis has come out strongly in favor of taking good care of the "kingdom of this world." He has chosen to use his "bully pulpit" to shame the world into really addressing climate change and the rest of the environmental agenda. It is refreshing and hopeful to see the Catholic Church concern itself in such a forceful way with real and pressing human issues, instead of the more theoretical or spiritual ones. Let's hope that this conversation that is now taking place all over the world prompted by his encyclical turns into concrete action to improve our relationship with the environment.

The 21-year-old who killed the nine people at the church in Charleston, South Carolina, received a .45-caliber gun as that birthday's present. Enough said.

It now seems that the woman who passed herself as black and got to be president of a chapter of the NAACP is more than a cheat and a liar, but also has violated her trust as police ombudsman commissioner, by revealing confidential information, among other things. Clearly, this woman has some serious mental health issues, and seems to need attention and recognition. The racial identity obfuscation appears now to be the tip of the iceberg of much more serious things that are wrong with her.

Those who may have been gloating over FIFA's troubles with the law should take notice of MLB's troubles of its own. The FBI, which seems to have organized crime and other heavy stuff under control, is now investigating the hacking of the Houston Astros Baseball Club computer system by the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Club. It seems that this is just the tip of the iceberg of a common practice in professional baseball in the United States. Teams have come to realize that stealing company secrets is more profitable and practical than stealing bases, a part of the baseball craft that is no longer very relevant to the game as it is played now. Well, it makes sense that the "national pastime" reflects the national values.

I read that Brazil grapples with the problem of violent youth crime, and considers lowering the age at which a juvenile offender can be tried as an adult, from 18 to 16. Some people point out that incarcerating juvenile delinquents in adult institutions will only make matters worse because they will "graduate" into full-blown criminals. Those people call for education and treatment, instead. The trouble with rehabilitation is that, even if it works -- which is a dubious proposition, at best -- it takes a long time. Meanwhile, in the short run, something effective must be done to prevent these young people from continuing to engage in violent crime. The people who get killed, hurt or maimed by a minor are just as dead, hurt or maimed as they would be by an adult. I'm in favor of giving youths, as well as adults, all the help they might need to reform, but they have to be kept away from the rest of us, for some time. We have to recognize that, at 16, you pretty much kno

Who do you believe in? When people who have their hearts in the right place and fight for a just cause lie, it is particularly disheartening. A woman who is president of a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as a black person, has been denounced by her own parents as a fraud, pointing out that her daughter is of, Czech, Swedish and German descent, with some Native-American blood. But no black. One can only guess as to why the deception. Maybe she needed a job, and thought this was the way to get one. The issue is not her commitment or her effectiveness as an advocate for civil rights for blacks, but being untruthful about who or what she really is, because, then, people start to wonder about what other lies or misrepresentations she might be saying, and that affects her credibility and, ultimately, undermines her ability to do her advocacy job.

There are principles that are important to uphold. But, even those can never be applied regardless of the circumstances, especially when lives are at stake. The confidentiality of the doctor and patient relationship is one of those principles. As a rule, that information may not be divulged, but every rule has to have exceptions. The doctors who saw the German co-pilot, thought he was unfit to fly and remained silent because of the confidentiality rule ought to have their heads examined. Now we know that he went to seven medical appointments in the month prior to the crash, three of them with a psychiatrist . The fear of being sued or disciplined professionally cannot justify endangering the public in such a major way as allowing an emotionally unstable pilot or co-pilot to fly a plane full of innocent people. No court in the civilized world would contemplate punishing a professional who alerts the proper authorities, employers or others about the imminent danger posed by a deranged

Well, the Pope continues to rise to his challenge as the head of a Catholic Church embattled by the child-abuse cases by his clergy. In a very bold move by Vatican standards, he has created a tribunal to hear cases against bishops who have covered up these crimes. This is a first step. In order for it to be successful, he has to make sure that the court acts fairly but expeditiously. Everyone deserves his "day in court." I just hope this doesn't turn into days, weeks, months and years...

See? I told you. Last Wednesday, to be exact. I ended my post about the live-anthrax case saying: "Stay tuned. Before this is over, it will probably get worse." It has. Now we know that it was also sent to labs in the U.K. The count is up to 68 labs, 19 cities and four countries besides the U.S. I'll keep you posted.

They shouldn't have to ask. Relatives of Nepalese earthquake survivors who were killed when a U.S. rescue helicopter crashed with them on board are asking for compensation for their loss. It seems that both the Nepalese government and the U.S. military have been giving them the runaround, with the "We're investigating" routine. Rumor has it that the helicopter was overloaded. This is no time for legal niceties. Whatever the cause of the crash, the U.S. is responsible for those  deaths, so, pay up.

Jesus is supposed to have said that we would always have the poor to take care of. By now, it seems that the Catholic Church will always have the pederast priests to deal with. Just when you think that the sex abuse cases have reached some sort of plateau, new or, rather, old cases come to light, like the ones in the St. Paul Archdiocese in Minnesota. It is still amazing how the hierarchy in so many places chose to look the other way for years, thus letting these predators keep doing their dastardly deeds. It's not just the pederasts priests who are sick. The bishops, archbishops and cardinals who covered up for them are much sicker. Pope Francis has his work cut out for him.

Sexual shenanigans continue to plague the U.S. military in all of its branches. It would seem that soldiers, airmen and sailors have nothing better to do than to engage in sexual misconduct within their ranks, as well as outside of them, both at home and abroad. The latest incidents reported -- surely, not the last -- happened aboard  a submarine in which several sailors participated in videotaping fellow women sailors as they took off their clothes to shower. One officer who found out did nothing about it; another shared the images with others. In these hands lies the protection of the free world.

By now, most people have come to accept that the world's climate is changing dramatically. Global warming and several forms of extreme weather have taken hold and are wreaking havoc everywhere. You don't have to be a scientist to see and feel the significant changes taking place. The use of fossil fuels is a major factor in these changes. Though we have known that for decades now, most countries have been reluctant to cut down on its use, or have done so in very slow fashion. There are many economic interests in preserving the status quo. This is why it is worth noting that Norway has decided to divest its government pension fund from its investments in the coal industry. Given the fact that the fund amounts to $890 billion , it is no small or symbolic gesture, but a major practical step in the right direction. The example has been set. Who will follow it?

Some former CVS employees have filed a suit claiming that, while working as store detectives, they were directed to profile Black and Latino shoppers as most likely to shoplift. So, what else is new? This is what most Americans believe, so CVS is just behaving as most people in the U.S. do when they see Blacks and Latinos. Whites are naturally suspicious of people of color; their own or foreigners. Of course it's wrong and illegal, but it's a fact of American life. And, in the court of public opinion, the judgment has been rendered.

Why am I not surprised? The American government lies all the time, as "standard operating procedure." First, we were told that the live-anthrax case was a limited and minor thing; nothing to worry about. Not really, it now seems. As is so often the case, the full truth is starting to come out. Now the U.S. is admitting that those specimens were sent to " dozens of labs around the world ", as far as Australia and South Korea. Stay tuned. Before this is over, it will probably get worse. In not being forthcoming and making a full disclosure from the start, the Americans show that they have not learned the lessons from the past.

Better late than never. But, the fact that it has taken the Catholic Church 35 years to finally give Archbishop Oscar Romero his due as a martyr, not just of the Christian faith, but also, of democracy and human rights, is a sign of how difficult the Church finds it to recognize and validate those who have assumed positions against the powers that be and the wealthy. Not even when one of their own is killed as Romero was does the hierarchy rise up to honor him as he deserved. It took another Latin American prelate, cognizant of the realities of the region's history, to do right by him.

Part of Muslim-bashing is its treatment of women, including surprising prohibitions of things like driving. The anti-Arab propaganda has made a field day of this absurd practice, as proof of the culture of oppression that women there endure, in contrast with the freedoms of the enlightened West. Now, we find out that it is not only Arabs or Muslims who hold these beliefs, but also those who are on the other side of the religious and cultural spectrum. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect in England also bans women from driving, going so far as to threaten to keep children from attending school, if their mothers drive them there. Religious fanaticism is not exclusive to any one group, nor should we feel that it is only engaged in by people we love to hate. Fanatics have more in common with each other than with the ethnic groups or nations they belong to.