A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

Archives for September 2024

Will, Harper, Donald and Transgender People

A new Will Ferrell film on Netflix is a testament to friendship, pride, progress and pain as Trump attacks transgender people.

One of my earliest memories from my 1987-93 stint working in the Philippines was a beauty pageant I attended in a smallish provincial city with two American colleagues. One was a female co-worker at the foundation that employed me and the other a young, male agricultural engineer.

The several hundred-strong audience, comprising both men and women, was enthusiastic but polite, with the engineer cheering loudly for the prettiest contestants – and being met, for reasons we’d soon understand, with chuckles from the Filipino crowd.

It was only when the event ended that we realized both that it was a transgender competition and how normal that was in Philippine society.

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Harris Hits a Home Run

At a pivotal moment in American history, she was positive, passionate and presidential. But most of all, she was strong.

I’m leaving for the airport in three hours, haven’t packed, and have all sorts of other things to do before taking off. But I’m so high on account of Kamala Harris’s debate performance this evening that I have to post.

Up to the Task

Did she have it in her? I’ll confess to having had that doubt before the debate. I didn’t fear that she was up to being president. Rather, it was whether tonight she could best a sociopathic master of manipulation.

She didn’t just best him. She hit the ball out of the park.

Now, I’ll grant that there were several moments that I wish she’d handled a bit better – for instance, her failure to blast Trump for repeatedly praising Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, who’s taking his great country down the tubes. But that’s easy for me to say; I wasn’t up there on stage staring down the living, breathing embodiment of a brutal banana republic, someone who’d take our country and our world backwards as best he can.

And much more to the point…

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My Indian TV Interview About the Kamala Harris CNN Interview: She Wisely Played It Safe

There's a Method to the Vagueness.

As I’ve previously noted, I’m sometimes interviewed by a leading Indian broadcaster, WION, about U.S. current events and foreign policy. WION recently contacted me to comment on the August 29 Harris/Walz CNN interview. Here’s the video. (Apologies for the fact that I’m slightly out of focus, which actually might be better for my appearance, and for the sound being occasionally glitchy.)

I hope that my observations are worth considering, but in any event you might find it of interest to learn a bit about what educated Indian audiences are interested in regarding our presidential campaign.