As I scrolled through the evening news last night, I came across story after story that had me shaking my head and saying, “Only in America”. Not, mind you, in a good way. So, after about the third one, I decided to compile them all into this post. Turned out I couldn’t fit them all into a single post, so there may be a follow-up … who knows? I have a backlog …
Does he or doesn’t he believe in climate change science???
John Abney Culberson is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Texas. He is a republican … go figure. He is a climate-change denier who claims that scientists have falsified data and that “the liberal obsession with climate change… is driven by their desire to raise more money for the government”.
Compared to Trump’s nearly half-million dollars spent from campaign funds buying the silence of his former paramours, Mr. Culberson’s improper expenditure of a mere $50,000 might seem like next to nothing, but a crime is a crime, and the hypocrisy in this one is truly astounding. The expenditures in question include books, coins, Civil War memorabilia and other collectibles … nobody is quite sure how these were needed for his campaign. It is well known that Culberson has a personal interest in collectibles and antiques, but he denies that these items were purchased to add to his collection. Instead … guess what his reasoning is? According to the Houston Chronicle …
“Culberson’s aides explained the purchase as research material on paleo-climatology, a subject that would help him understand climate science for his position on an appropriations subcommittee that oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They said the materials helped give him a better understanding of the changing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”
But … but … I thought he didn’t believe in climate change?
Only in America
A really bad move that will probably win him votes …

Ron DeSantis/Andrew Gillum
In Tuesday night’s Florida primary elections, Ron DeSantis won the Republican Party nomination for the office of governor, and Andrew Gillum won the Democratic Party nomination. Andrew Gillum is African-American, a fact that I mention only because of what happened after the election.
“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.” – Ron DeSantis
A word. A single word turned this statement from a typical hot-air bit of political rhetoric into an ugly, racist remark. Members of both parties, as well as Fox News spoke out against DeSantis’ comment. The NAACP Florida State Conference responded to DeSantis, calling comparisons to monkeys “by far the best-known racist references to African Americans in our national folklore.”
So, perhaps racist remarks by politicians are not exclusive to the United States, but the fact that the president of the nation defended the remarks and that he will likely gain voters for his remarks is, I think, unique.
Trump said he didn’t hear DeSantis’ racial slur, but then praised him as being “an extreme talent” and criticized Gillum, calling him a “failed Socialist Mayor”.
Only in America
Are you sure you were born?
U.S. citizens – people who were born in this country and have the official birth certificate that proves it – are being denied their rights to obtain a passport, and not only that, but their very citizenship is in question. Even worse, some citizens are being refused entry to their country of origin, the country the were born in! In some cases, passport applicants with official U.S. birth certificates are being jailed in immigration detention centers and forced into deportation proceedings.
WHY, you ask? Because this is part of Trump & Co’s effort to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, and the State Department claims that “the U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area of the country where there has been a significant incidence of citizenship fraud.” Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Guess what, Mr. Michael Pompeo, head of the State Department? I would rather let 100 immigrants in than to abuse a citizen … or anyone … in this manner. In my book Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump both earn a ZERO rating on human rights issues!
(Sorry, folks … my blood boiled for a minute there)
Only in America
Alternative Reality?
In January 2017, KellyAnne Conway, some sort of assistant to Donald Trump, though none of us have figured out quite what her role is other than to put her feet on the furniture and dress funny, coined the phrase ‘alternative facts’, when referring to the paltry number of people that attended the inauguration of Donald Trump. It has become rather the Orwellian buzzword, the joke of the day every day, ever since. Then we saw evidence of an alternative vocabulary, where up was down, good was bad, red was green, and so forth. Today, though, I believe we are seeing an ‘alternative reality’.
On September 20th last year, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico … hard! It is on record as being the worst natural disaster to hit the island in all of recorded history. The storm caused at least $90 billion of structural damage; the power grid was destroyed, leaving millions without electricity; neighborhoods were flooded; communication networks were down; over 1 million people had no drinking water; 93% of roads were impassible; infrastructure was heavily damaged, more than 60,000 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and the list goes on.
Keep in mind that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and its residents are U.S. citizens. Yet, response and aid from the U.S. to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Maria was slow … it was nearly two weeks after the storm before the first official U.S. aid arrived on Puerto Rico’s shores. Trump made a visit in early October 2017 and made a virtual ass of himself by throwing rolls of paper towels to people who were suffering from a lack of food, electricity, potable water, had lost their homes, and in some cases their loved ones. But yesterday he went one better …
For a long time, the death toll was officially recorded at only 64, though we all knew it was much higher, but there were a number of reasons it could not be accurately tallied. This week, the official death toll is 2,975 people as a direct or indirect result of Hurricane Maria. Some of those deaths would likely have been prevented with more and speedier assistance from the U.S. But take heart, for Donald Trump says we did great.
“I think we did a fantastic job!” said he to … whomever believes his
.
We did a terrible job. Too little, too late, and for too short a time. We should be hanging our heads in shame, apologizing to the residents of Puerto Rico. Donald can toot his horn, but ain’t nobody buyin’ it.
Only in America
Yeah, I know we are not the worst. Many nations’ human rights violations should give us nightmares, many countries use and abuse their citizens far worse than we do. No, we are not the worst. But I’ve got news for you … we are far from being the best. We are far from being even as good as we once were. And we are getting worse by the day. Think about it.