A "Dreamer" and a hero.

           “Compassion is the basis of morality.” 
- Arthur Schopenhauer-

"Alonso Guillen drove more than 100 miles south from his home in Lukfin, Texas, last week, determined to help those trapped by Hurricane Harvey flooding in the Houston area.
But he and another man disappeared after their boat capsized in a flood-swollen creek Wednesday, and relatives began searching for their bodies.

On Friday, searchers found the body of Tomas Carreon, 25, of Lufkin. On Sunday, relatives spotted Guillen’s body.

“He was floating in the water,” his brother Jesus Guillen, 36, a Lufkin truck driver, said in Spanish during a phone interview.

Luis Ortega, 22, of Lufkin, who survived the boat accident, told searchers the men had been swept away by a powerful current. Ortega barely escaped by grabbing a floating gas tank, then a tree.
Relatives said Guillen, a Mexican national, was a “Dreamer” enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Trump is said to be poised to scrap, though he may leave it intact for six months to give Congress time to find a legislative solution. (Ortega is a U.S. citizen, as was Carreon, Guillen’s brother said.)

Guillen moved to Lufkin at age 14 from just across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico. He later graduated from Lufkin High School, attended St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, worked in construction and at a local club, Rodeo Disko, and radio station, SuperMix 101.9 FM.

He was known as “DJ Ocho,” who mixed country and hip-hop, followed Texans football and the Houston Astros, played softball and soccer, sported Cowboy hats and red, white and blue sunglasses.

He used the station to organize fundraisers for those in need. “It didn’t matter what situation it was,” said friend Linda Alvarez.

Guillen masterminded the rescue trip to the Houston area just like one of his radio station fundraisers: on the fly, with friends’ help. After the storm hit, they borrowed a boat and drove south to save strangers.

Like many in Texas, Guillen’s family has mixed immigration status and is divided by the border. His mother, a Mexican national, still lives in Piedras Negras, Mexico, with one of his brothers. His father is a legal resident, and his brother Jesus is a U.S. citizen.

Alonso Guillen applied for DACA, an Obama-era program that protected from deportation about 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. He applied because so many of his family and friends were in the U.S., and that’s where he saw his future, his brother said." [Source]

Mr. Guillen was a hero. The narcissistic serial liar who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not.

Imagine being kicked out of the only country that you have ever known, and  then sent to a country where you don't even speak the language. Imagine, too, that you being here "illegally" is not even your fault.

If you are a dreamer, this is the position that you now find yourself in while living in Donald trump's America.

*Pic from chron.com

OPEN THREAD WEDNESDAY.

 It's open thread Wednesday, but I need your thoughts on a few things:

1. Is the president of the United States capable of empathizing with another human being?

2. Was Donald and his wife really plugging their own merchandise when they were supposed to be offering comfort and leadership to the people hurt by Hurricane Harvey?   

3. Is Ted Cruz such a disgusting human being that we actually like Chris Christie more than we do him?

4. Should LaDawn Jones be worried down in Georgia?

5. And finally, do you think this cartoon from Politico is insensitive?

Holla.  

A big news night.

 What a night.

First, my thoughts are with the folks in South Texas and Louisiana, as  hurricane Harvey barrels towards them.

This will be Mr. trump's first test with a natural disaster and I suspect that it will not go well. He is a man, after all, who does not believe that global warming or climate change is a thing. Already his White House is declaring that the states will be the main actors in this disaster and they must not depend on the federal government.

We will see.

Second, the president pardoned a known racist and a convicted criminal tonight, a man who blew off the Constitution and has no respect for the law.

But we shouldn't be surprised, trump promised that he would do it, and the fact that the man happens to be a racist just made it easier for him.

"In a two-paragraph statement, the White House said that Mr. Arpaio gave “years of admirable service to our nation” and called him a “worthy candidate for a presidential pardon.”

OK, if you believe that denying human beings their basic human rights and dignity is cool, go ahead and knock yourself out.  

Think about this, trump pardons this clown on the very weekend that a category 4 hurricane might do mass damage and cost the loss of life to quite a few Americans. This is a time when we should be focusing on the people of this part of the country, and not making news by pardoning a racist criminal.

Finally, trump claims that he fired another known racist today (the man claims that he resigned) and  a lot of people are wondering what took them so long. I am wondering why he didn't wait a few more weeks to do it since he already waited so long. Why do it now?  

I am guessing that the pardon of Arpaio and the firing of Gorka kind of go hand in hand. He couldn't just fire Gorka and not throw a bone to his racist base, and he did just that tonight by pardoning Joe Arpaio.

Wait, did I say finally? There is more. North Korea fired three more missiles today , and there is more news on the Russian probe.

Have a nice weekend.

*Pic from politico.com