I went to an exclusive prep school. Think Mark Zuckerberg. But as I now reflect on it, though it was more or less on the side of the angels, it was not too swift when it came to Human Rights. I remember history classes when the travesties of US international policy were regularly passed over. It was really only as years passed that human rights began to creep into our consciousness. Now we have full-fledged international organizations whose business is to protect the rights of everyone on the planet. We should be aware of that.

But our president appears to include human rights among his hatreds, with mosquitos and the former president.

Let's see how he responds to the latest violation. The violation is the detention of alleged drug offenders in floating prisons in the Pacific. This is carried out by the US under the auspices of the Coast Guard.

Misguided

Donald Trump already has a good deal on his plate. He faces Mr. Mueller. He sees an agenda about to be sunk in Congress. There is all sorts of talk about a government shutdown. Add to that a laundry list of actual achievements -- including the destruction of Obamacare and the creation of a Cabinet made up of the sort of people he vowed to free us from.

This is reported by two other recognized news sources.

And the NYT weighed in with this.

The salient facts include the fact that that people are being illegally detained, that cruelty may be a feature of this novel torment, and that Trump can almost be guaranteed to defend the action as something Obama forgot to do that is necessary for our security.

Hurt and harm

Evil is what destroys and kills. It is conscious violence. It is the hijacking of memory and transporting it into permanent resentment. It is a human act. When Donald Trump broadcasts to everyone that he favors a little torture in the mix of law enforcement, he summons the worst angels of our nature and we end up with far-flung disasters like Mai Lai and Abu Ghraib.

Hurt and harm are OK with Trump as long as he is sequestered on one of his properties, including the one he currently runs as a Trump Store.

The wrong approach

Not only is it wrong to turn international waters into the preserves of the US but it is also wrong to conduct a punitive, cruel and costly War on Drugs, If this is the American way it is the wrong way.

A truly American way would listen more to our Declaration of Independence. Drugs are a scourge and we should legalize them and make them available on an ethical basis to those who need them. Mix in Trump and history and our ill-conceived war and you have disaster staring you in the face.
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