American Diplomat - Charles Ray: Zimbabwe's Authoritarian Ruler Seen from a Human Perspective

https://www.amdipstories.org/podcast/charles-ray-zimbabwes-authoritarian

Zimbabwe's Mugabe, seen from a personal perspective.

So Stupid It's Not Funny: Trump's Crackdown on Legal Immigration: The Da...

Racism by any other name still smells like s**t

Donald Trump’s alleged statement that he was tired of people coming to America from Haiti and ‘shithole’ countries in Africa ignited a storm of controversy, and caused his apologists to pull out all the stops to refute the claims.  Trump has been accused by many of his critics of racism, while those in his camp vehemently deny this accusation. I might be misreading the whole thing, but the racism charge seems to be based mainly on his alleged use of the term ‘shithole’ to describe countries in Africa, along with his preference for people from Norway.

While Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) maintains that this was what Trump said, Senator David Perdue (R-GA), after initially saying that he didn’t ‘recall’ the president using such a term, later came out and told George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s “This Week” that he ‘did not use that word.’ Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said he didn’t hear Trump say ‘that word.’ Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, who was also in the meeting, told Fox News that she didn’t recall Trump saying ‘that exact phrase,’ but conceded that the conversation about immigration was ‘impassioned.’

Now, we can rant and rave forever about whether or not Trump called African countries ‘shithole’ countries, but I’d like to point out something that everyone seems to be ignoring. None of the Trump apologists have denied that he expressed displeasure at immigrants coming from Haiti and African countries, and would prefer Norwegians. Maybe they were so busy trying to make him sound less crass and vulgar, they overlooked it, or maybe he said it, only without calling the countries in question ‘shitholes.’ So, dear friends, whether or not he used that exact term is irrelevant. If he said he was frustrated with immigrants from Haiti and African countries, and would prefer lily white immigrants from Scandinavia, whether it was intentional or conscious or not, it was racist—just without the scatological term. The fact that he was expressing a feeling shared by many of those who support and voted for him is also beside the point.

I’m sure there will be someone who will immediately come up with a scenario where he ‘never mentioned Haiti or African countries.’ After all, in this administration, truth is often replaced by alternate facts, and if the man behind the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania disagrees with it, it’s ‘fake news.’

So, let the fun begin.

American Diplomat - Ron Neumann

Former ambassador to Afghanistan, Ron Neumann, compares the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan on American Diplomat:  https://www.amdipstories.org/podcast/ron-neumann

Reactions to Trump's 'Shithole Country' remark at White House

American Diplomat - Podcast

Check out this amazing podcast by Peter Romero and Laura Bennett that explores the day-to-day life of American diplomats.

https://www.amdipstories.org/podcast/tom-miller-soldiers-without-weapons

Leave Trump on Twitter, but keep the fire extinguishers handy

 In the wake of Donald ‘Loose-Lips, Tweet from the Hip’ Trump’s most recent 140-character rants, there was buzz encouraging Twitter to suspend his account. Wisely, the company refused to do so. Now, anyone who has read my musings knows that I’m no fan of our 45^th president, but, I am strongly against trying to stifle him on Twitter, or any other communications platform, for the same reason I condemn the White House’s attempt to block publication of Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House; it would be a blatant violation of the Constitutional provision of freedom of speech.

As a nation of laws; a condition that Trump seems hellbent on changing, by the way; we must learn to endure communications that we disagree with, or vehemently dislike, in order to protect all speech. So, we must continue to allow Trump to get up in the wee hours of the morning and fire off his ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘I’m a stable genius’ missives, and hope that he doesn’t inadvertently start a nuclear war in the process.

There’s another reason that we should not try to block this, despite the danger it causes. At some point, and that point is probably a way in the future, he will have to answer for his actions, and there will be no better evidence of his state of mind, intentions, and actions, than his own words. So, rather than trying to muzzle him—as desirable as that might be—we should preserve his every tweet, his every recorded word. One day, they just might be the key exhibits in the prosecution’s case. And, if not that, they will certainly be a treasure trove of background material for historical researchers.

From Uptalk to Downtown 'New Yawk,' Robert Siegel Explored How We Speak