Traumatized Survivors of Boko Haram

Nigeria -- Chibok is south of Maiduguri

Thank you to Time magazine writer Aryn Baker and photographer Paolo Pellegrin for this report on girls and boys who have escaped from Boko Haram in Nigeria.  Some escaped on their own, and 82 were released on May 6, 2017, in exchange for five jailed Boko Haram commanders.

http://time.com/boko-harams-other-victims/

The stories are haunting.

The families are not prepared for PTSD survivors.  In some cases, they fear them. 

The world focused on the 276 girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok, but there are many more--boys who were killed in their schools, toddlers thrown in sacks and carried off, kids forced to be suicide bombers.

We need to share their suffering, at least by reading their stories and viewing their circumstances.

Trump Now On His Way Out

Ever since dt was inaugurated, I've felt a responsibility to do my part to hasten his exit from the White House.  

I've tried to post every day on this blog, to read and listen to the daily news of his disastrous presidency, and to tweet as often as possible to senators, representatives, and others who can help to impeach and replace him.  

But after Jared Kushner's emails exulting in the opportunity to meet with Russians and obtain information to oppose Hillary Rodham Clinton's election, I see that the snowball is rolling downhill and cannot be stopped.

dt will be impeached--by November, I predict.  Long before the Mueller investigation completes its work.  And the Senate will then try him for his various crimes, from emoluments to collusion--unless he resigns first.

Therefore, I'm going to ease up on my intense efforts to get that ball rolling.  dt and his son-in-law and Paul Manafort and others have already set in motion the process that will impeach him.

Instead, on this day, I hiked near Sonora Pass on California Highway 108.  

I inhaled the clean air and glorious views of snow-capped peaks.  I sat in the solitude of a 10,000-foot hillside.

I'm not going to worry about dt any more.  He can still do damage, but he's on his way out.

May God forgive him--"He knows not what he does," as Jesus said.

He's an old man with dementia as evidenced by his poor memory, grandiosity, and lack of impulse control.

Democracy takes a stab in the heart

Today I'm grieving for my country.

It's painful to hear emails read aloud from last June, 2016, as Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort plan a meeting with a Russian lawyer connected to the Kremlin in order to get information on Hillary Clinton to use against her campaign to become president of the USA.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/heres-whats-so-damning-about-donald-trump-jrs-emails-w491757

Last June we were all innocent.  We thought the election would be fair, though Trump was soon claiming it would be rigged against him.

After watching Andrea Mitchell and others on the morning news shows, MSNBC and CNN, I drove from Gilroy to Oakland and Berkeley.  But I found myself in tears.

Why? I asked myself.

And the first thing that came to mind was the image of Donald Trump Jr. played as parts of his emails were read aloud:  "I love it" -- news that this Russian could provide information that would help the campaign of Trump Sr.

My nation was crippled in its 2016 presidential election by Russian interference.   Tragic--especially because it cost Hillary the election.  It cost me the chance to have a woman president.

I visited Ginny Hearn, ate lunch, took Marie's dog to her apartment to be there when she arrived from her two-week trip to France.

Then in the evening starting at 9:30 pm, I watched the evening shows: The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams. My sadness returned.

Michelle Goldberg spoke about "those of us who are forced to live through this terrible period"--today.  This spring and summer.  The unraveling presidency of dt.  The evidence of Russia working to undermine our democracy--with the help of some in dt's circle.

The trap was set by the Russian government and by Natalie Veselnitskaya, a lawyer working for the Kremlin.

Thank you to the New York Times for finding the emails and thus the smoking gun that shows collusion between the Trump campaign and

Weeping Again for Amelia Earhart

I am in tears about the fate of Amelia Earhart in the new theory offered by The History Channel in a documentary to be aired on Sunday, July 9.

Crashing and dying in an accident is at least quick and perhaps even painless, but being captured as World War II began and then held in prison for years is worse.

The new documentary to air on Sunday provides evidence that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, may have been captured by the Japanese after her plane went down on July 2, 1937.

For such an active person to be confined, unjustly, must have been very hard.

Now we must consider her death not a tragic accident but the result of war, of human cruelty.

And Noonan's death as well.

She has long been a symbol of achievement for women--now she is also a symbol of  men's injustice dashing the hopes of a woman--once again.

I think of my mother, eight years old when Earhart went missing.  I think of my grandmother, just two years older than Earhart

So many mothers and daughters and fathers and sons pondered over and grieved the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan, but now we know there is a link between her disappearance and Pearl Harbor.  She was probably not shot down, but Japan's nationalism and ambition fueled both losses.

Had news of her captivity been released, perhaps the US would have entered the war earlier.

See the preview of Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence using this link:

http://www.history.com/news/does-this-photo-show-amelia-earhart-after-her-plane-disappeared