Thursday, October 26, 2017

To Russia with Love

Since I observed that my last post on #PuertoRico got such a broad reception from inside Russia - with more than 47% of the hits coming from there - I wanted to send out a shout out to all my cosmonaut friends over there and give you something for your listening pleasure tonight.

As you know, you have been really very important to us lately - what with all the dossiers and the meetings at #TrumpTower and we have become extremely interested in your dear leader #VladamirPutin and what, exactly, his intentions are towards us - and what we might expect from him and - of course - you - his loyal - or perhaps not so loyal - bots.

I wanted to share with you a most interesting podcast that I listened to this evening. Now it comes out over iTunes from NYC - but I am sure that you have perhaps heard it? - no - I suspect that you have not - since it was only last night - and you guys who are assigned to my blog are on the #PuertoRico desk. But obviously - you are fluent in English.

And - obviously - you can figure out how to download the itunes app? because that format ought to be available to you even if you using a home built computer.

Tonite's podcast is with a man named Preet Bhajara - you are free to google him - or GIFY - (google it for yourself) He has become pretty famous since Mr Trump fired him. It is a good road to fame here now.

His guest is a man named #BillBrowder - which may not actually mean anything to you "bots" (I do not mean that to be a demeaning term - I know that there are humans who are reading this - but 458 hits in one day from INSIDE of Russia?) - but certainly the name of Sergei Magnitsky rings bells in Moscow - or wherever you are.

Here is the BBC report - ( I do not know how censored your news is - I suspect it is deeply censored)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20626960

And here is the intro to tonight's podcast -- you ought to follow on Twitter .. https://twitter.com/PreetBharara/status/923656746387804160

Tonight's guest is Bill Browder - who has - indeed written a book...

but this podcast will do nicely

https://twitter.com/PreetBharara/status/923534221616078848

Try to stay warm. I just turned the heat on here in Florida for the first time this year. The temperature dropped to below 70 degrees! But I am a tropical bird now. At 70 degrees F - I put on a sweater.

Moscow must be very -very cold.

Bill Browder will be a great deal more trouble to you dead than alive -- I can assure you of that.

Trust me on that one, Vlad.

Friday, October 20, 2017

IRMA to MARIA

Will the Rains Never End?

It has been RAINING here - in the Northern Caribbean - in South Florida - since IRMA hit us with the 90 MPH winds. Huge Rains. Sheets. Torrents. Low Ceilings.

For myself - I am on MARIA watch for Puerto Rico, as my closest living relative is there strung out between the southwest tip of Cabo Rojo and San Juan - hungry, in search of water, without much money, without access to water, without electricity, frightened, alone.

Walmarts - he reports - is out of water.
The limit to buy is one bag of ice
Three cans of Chef Boyardee for one person.
There is running water but the reports are that it is not safe to drink.
Without electricity there is no stove, no way to heat food or boil water.

I send him again the formula - three drops of chloro to one litre of water - drink a half glass - if he does not vomit - it is safe.

The winds of IRMA hit here at 90 mph. They were the strongest I had ever experienced. When they hit him, the winds of MARIA were at 185 mph. !*!$$%# 185 mph is more that my mind can grasp.  Like money over one million dollars.. my mind can not absorb.... how terrified he must have been
alone
in
the
house
with the
winds
bringing
down
the
old
trees
around
his house
in the campo

Now he has gone to San Juan
he reports that
that the CONDADO
is DARK

The CONDADO

which looks like MIAMI BEACH!!

is DARK

now
I know
Puerto Rico

And I know the Puerto Ricans

And I know that Puerto Rico Se Levanta

but
I weep
for
the
darkness
of
the
Condado

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Aim of Aid is not really to Help"

I took some time off to move - making an arc from 196 miles from Port au Prince to 742 miles away, back in Florida but surrounded somehow still with Haitians.... Kreyole on the radio,, Kreyole in the Walmart aisle, Kreyole wafting in from my neighbor's house.

"Did you read the news about the more than 200 Haitians found starving in a cave?" my chiropractor asked as he sought to distract me from cracking my back into some semblance of upright biped so that I could walk again without pain. How I had injured it was a mystery.

"They were singing. That is how the aid workers found them. They had nothing to eat. Months after the hurricane. Just google it, You will see. I do not understand it. They should be able to grow food there."

"I have blog" I responded. "Lots of information on that."

My doctor is from Toronto, moved here years ago for the weather. Many of his patients are Haitians. He picks at my mind, seeking to understand. His receptionist calls herself Haitian, although born here, child of the elite, speaks Kreyole, speaks of her country with contempt. As does the branch manager at the local Chase branch. "Haiti will never change." "Haiti could not have been expected to prosper after having to pay reparations." "No, I have never been" "No we rarely go back now, although my family owns several properties around St Marc."

Someone still collects the rents, I think. Someone made those folks poor.

I get angry easily on this topic and want to BLAME someone.

Except Bill and Hillary Clinton- I seem the only one who does NOT want to blame them. I think about the earthquake and Bill Clinton and his office in Harlem. Read Notes from the Last Testament by Michael Diebert  for the deep background on Bill Clinton and Haiti and Aristide.... But I was in Santo Domingo during the earthquake and saw how quickly Bill Clinton responded how often he came down .. how deeply -- he really does indeed care about Haiti.

No good deed goes unpunished.


I google the article on the cave dwellers. Both the Herald and the Sun Sentinel have the same article. It is a puff piece written for Food for the Poor. I know it well.

"Starving Haitians Found.. SEND MONEY"

How could they even bother to print this mess? Found in a cave? With no water? honestly? really? no water? eating toxic plants?

One does not survive without water.. a HUMAN cannot survive without water...

Miami Herald 


I have a lot of respect for Jaqueline Charles..

Who is a fine journalist..

but note - the same story .. here 

 but it would be relief to ALSO hear ABOUT

the ABUSE..

ABOUT the SCAM of the Lords of Poverty


and some reflection on
how it must look -- those "mission trips" - on the air conditioned buses - going down for three days at the cost of about $400 a day (air fare not included) to "SEE THE POVERTY"

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN KEEPING THEM IN A ZOO?


anyone
who has spent more than 2 weeks on the ground in Haiti knows this is \
A SCAM


Wouldn't it be a RELIEF
to have the RELIEF AGENCIES
exposed for the SCAM artists that they are?


Fortunately... there are REPORTS

http://www.ngosunited.com/how-haitian-aid-works/


So Bravo to Dr Schwartz --


The irony of what I’m saying here is that it’s a viscous cycle. If Haitians could not leave the country. If 90% of medical school graduates and 98% of the children of the rural elite did not emigrate to the US as soon as they are college aged, those people would be the ones to change the system. They have the smarts and the connections to make the system work. And 50 years ago they did have an impact. But emigration gives them and their parents a much easier option. They don’t have to risk fighting. It’s just stupid not to go to the US, Canada or France. Why on earth would someone stay.  Think about it: send your kid to one of these developed country with limitless possibilities and good healthcare, or have them stay in poorest country in the western hemisphere with pathetic future for all but the super-rich and horrendous healthcare. No man, you get your kids the hell out.
And so in Haiti the human capital is gone. The only people who are left are the super- rich, the super poor, drug dealers, and people living on remittances. What that means is that the only people left in Haiti either don’t want change, don’t need it, or can’t do anything to effect it.