End of the Week Updates.

 

As for the Texas flooding disaster, more than 170 people have been missing according to Governor Greg Abbott. The death toll has risen to 119 people. This can be the deadliest natural disaster in the continental United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 if the death toll approaches 300 people. Katrina killed as many as 1,833 people and caused more than $125 billion in damages. Involving the catastrophe along the Gaudalupe River was a disaster that was caused by Nature and decades of social decay and reactionary policies. Trump's first term had Trump rejected the Kerr County's application for a federal grant to build a flood warning system. Trump tries to dismiss any link between the disaster and the cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The two NWS offices in central Texas were very understaffed. Trump shut down any federal programs to address climate change and banned research into global warming. While this is going on, there is massive wealth gained by billionaires in oil, gas, tech, weapons, ranching, and health care industries. Texas ranks 49th in terms of proportion of adults who are high school graduates, 48th in terms of child health, and 50th in the proportion of the population covered by health insurance according to the annual ranking conducted by CNBC. So, we need to address poverty, unemployment health care, racism, discrimination nationwide not just in Texas. A few months ago, the Texas state Senate blocked legislation to establish a statewide emergency response plan, at a cost of $500 million. So, we need investments in infrastructure and not promote the interests of oligarchy, anti-scientific bigotry, and brutal austerity. This situation existed in American society for decades when trillions of dollars are funneled to the super rich while much of our country's infrastructure has been damaged.

One federal judge blocked Trump's order to restrict birthright citizenship. This is good news as all people are created equal and are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This isn't the end of the case, but we have temporary light in the midst of an evil agenda. The 14th Amendment was signed after the Civil War to give black Americans citizenship and to allow any human being born in America to have automatic citizenship too. Even non-citizens on American soil are entitled to due process and basic national and international law. The Trump's administration defiance of many laws and the concept of the separation of power is telling. Trump trying to ban birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional. The federal judge issued this order in a nationwide class action. The Trump administration is trying to ban birthright citizenship because of the obvious reason. It involves race and immigration. The Trump administration wants to change the demographics of American society. The Trump administration views a certain group of people as superior to people of color (which is false). Also, many people like Stephen Miller have hatred of a multicultural democracy found in America. Such reactionary views of deporting people who are denied due process is very unpopular among the American people.

Trump is using the DOJ to target Brennan and Comey, because they disagree with Trump's political views. Also, the DOJ wants to whitewash the Russian attack on the systems of American elections. Ratcliff is a CIA director who supports Trump's policies and desire to intimidate people who express dissent with the policies of Trump. Trump is weaponizing the Department of Justice to target his political opponents. He has allowed the New Jersey mayor to be arrested unjustly, and he was released. Many Congressional leaders have been arrested and assaulted by Trump's governmental authorities too. We are in a place of authoritarianism. The DOJ investigation of Brennan and Comey is a misuse of their power to abuse their power in promoting Trump's agenda. Trump already sued CBS for no reason and was paid millions.

Trump wants tariffs as high as 50 percent involving Brazil, because he supports the far-right extremist Jair Bolsonaro. The President of Brazil now is the liberal Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who is sympathetic to the lives of Afro-Brazilian people, etc. Trump claims that Bolsonaro is a victim of witch-hunt which is a lie. Bolsonaro is facing trial for being accused of attempting to stage a coup against Lula. Bolsonaro is a Trump ally. President Lula said that Brazil is a sovereign nation and vowed to reciprocate if Trump follows his planned tariffs against Brazil. Trump is an extremist as the U.S. ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year. That means that America exported more goods to there than it imported from there. U.S. exports to Brazil include fuels, machinery, aircraft, etc. Imports from Brazil to America has a minimum 10 percent tariff. Trump wants to have massive tariffs against more nations from the Philippines to Sri Lanka starting on August 1, 2025, unless negotiations happen.

Many people have talked about the controversial views of Sade Perkins. I didn't listen to what the haters had to say about her comments about the Texas flooding disaster. I watched her interview with Willie D recently to witness what she was trying to say in context. I agree with Sade Perkins's overall points with slight disagreements on other issues. Sade Perkins said that there is a double standard among the coverage of white girls (made up of an all-Christian group) being killed by the flooding and black and brown people being killed by natural disasters. When Hurricane Katrina came about, some in the media called black citizens refugees which is inaccurate. Also, Perkins said that in retrospect, she shouldn't call kids the c word. That is true as no child should be called the c word. She disagrees with the MAGA agenda, and her partner to me is wrong for throwing her under the boat in that fashion when not understanding the context that she made. It is fine for her partner to disagree with the usage of the c word to describe kids. Also, it is important to note that the Camp Mystic camp had mostly white people, but black people were in that camp too. Regardless of the racial composition of Camp Mystic, no one should die from a natural disaster. I haven't seen a quote from Sade Perkins (she said that she has been called the n word, been doxed, and received death threats which is all wrong and evil) saying that the kids deserve to die. What she did say that if there were black and brown people dying in a similar fashion, racists would not feel the same empathy. That is correct. Sade Perkins is a progressive activist who abhors the system of white racism and wants justice. She said also that the racist systems harm many poor white people too as we have a new law harming the social safety net that harms black people, white people, Asian people, Latino people, Arabic people, and people of every color and background. Sade Perkins dates a person who is a religious person, and Sade says that she doesn't believe in God which to me is ironic. Me personally, I believe in God and the power of God. No human is perfect on this Earth. I agree with Sade Perkins on many things, but even she had to concede that you can't call kids the c word (as that is wrong). One great point that Sade Perkins made is that people like Alex Jones talked about camps and black helicopters back in the day, but Trump, now in 2025, is President funding the growth of new internment camps, having the Marines in the streets of Los Angeles, and enacting actual fascistic policies. Yet, Alex Jones is silent on that reality in 2025, because they are hypocrites who care more for the defense of the MAGA cultic ideology than democracy, freedom, liberty, and equality for all people.

By Timothy