Trump’s appeal
Regarding “Trump is appealing, funny — and dangerous,” (Jan. 28): I agree that Trump is appealing and sometimes funny, but dangerous? Shadi Hamid states that Trump is essentially dangerous because he is in pursuit of personal greatness. Really? What politician in the entire history of mankind doesn’t have dreams of greatness?
I can’t think of any person, living or dead, who has been so severely attacked by his opponents. Never mind all the lies by his opponents and the media. The outlandish lawsuits that cost millions and unimaginable stress alone would break the will of another politician. The only answer I can come up with is that he is in pursuit of greatness, but not for himself. For the country.
Dick Flamos, League City
This column provides us with some background and a warning about Trump. Remember back in 2016, before Trump was elected, when there were articles about Trump and a condition called narcissistic personality disorder? Reading through the description in DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association) it is hard not to think that a “shrink” would enjoy talking to Trump.
However, I think we can be pretty sure that Trump’s personality probably would never allow him to see a psychologist or psychiatrist.
David Norman, Katy
Regarding “Senators reach a deal on border policy bill. Now it faces an uphill fight to passage,” (Feb. 2): Gov. Greg Abbott: The border is not the No. 1 concern for Americans.
Price gouging is. Health care, prescriptions, food, gas, insurance, property taxes, practically everything except wages. Unchecked capitalism was never fair, and is destined for failure.
Your side in Congress is now refusing to pass what I feel is the strictest border bill in history for political gain. When you put political power above the American people, it’s time to exit politics. Period.
Most of the corporations doing the gouging have a lot of politicians on their payroll. They’re paying you to let them stick it to us.
David Hill, Houston
With the next total solar eclipse coming to Texas, I called several hotels in Kerrville and Fredericksburg. Usually the going rate is $150 to $170 or so. For the weekend of the eclipse, the asking price is $700 a night, with three- and four-night minimums. I understand the supply and demand, but I do think this is excessive. Also curious if this is legal.
Thomas Smith, Deer Park
Putting millions of taxpayer dollars in a park that should be kept simple and adapted to climate change, and not ornate with such heavy public investment, is an invitation for catastrophe. When will we ever learn?
Brandt Mannchen, Houston
Regarding “We endorse Ed Gonzalez in the Democratic primary for Harris County Sheriff (Editorial),” (Jan. 28):
Last Sunday, the Chronicle had an interesting endorsement. Upon reading the editorial, I realized that Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has already served two terms. So, what makes us think that, if he hasn’t done it in two terms, a third will make a difference? Gonzalez also believes that more money is the answer (typical of Democrats). He made the case that “only a bigger budget would truly improve conditions at the county jail.”
What we really need is to give someone other than Ed Gonzalez a chance to fix the county jail, among other things.
Brian Binash, Houston
Regarding “Beyond Greta Gerwig: Celine Song is another female director the Oscars overlooked,” (Jan. 25): With the announcement of Oscar nominations inevitably comes the onslaught of articles about the people who were “snubbed” and didn’t receive a nomination. In particular, it is noted that Celine Song, whose movie “Past Lives,” was nominated for Best Picture, did not receive a nomination for Best Director.
There are annually only five nominees for many categories, including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director but now there are more than five nominees for Best Picture. Clearly, not every director of a Best Picture nominee can earn a nomination for Best Director. Yet, anyone missing from the writer’s list of favorites is invariably labeled as being snubbed, especially if the person omitted happens to be from a demographic other than “white male.”
In the future, it should be required that any writer who advocates for the inclusion of someone snubbed (in their opinion) should list who they would take off the list of nominees to be able to include their choice.
Chris Kohnhorst, The Woodlands
income communities along the Gulf Coast will be among those who suffer first and worst from climate change.
Yes, big oil and gas companies have successfully deluded some into believing that LNG is a beneficial “transition” fuel, but that’s literally a dirty lie. Burning LNG not only emits carbon dioxide, but also methane — a tremendously more potent greenhouse gas upon release. Consider that the lifecycle emissions from the CP2 terminal alone would equal that of 51 new coal plants.
Further, LNG is bought and sold in long-term contracts, with every new export deal locking the U.S. and the world into decades of fossil fuel use at the exact time we should be transitioning to clean energy to contain the global temperature increase.
Reconsidering LNG exports is also in the interest of our national security. For example, without destination restrictions on gas exports, buyers like the Chinese government can sell American-produced LNG to anyone they choose to influence geopolitics to their benefit. With tensions flaring between the U.S. and authoritarian regimes, letting our energy be used against us is just plain stupid.
And speaking of stupid, exporting LNG also reduces the domestic supply, and thus directly drives up home heating and energy prices for U.S. families and businesses.
The U.S. is already the world’s largest exporter of LNG. There’s simply no good reason to allow big oil and gas companies and their billionaire CEOs to continue to line their pockets by selling America’s energy to the highest international bidder when it so plainly puts our people, our pocketbooks and our planet at risk.
We hope that pausing LNG export authorizations is just the beginning of a long journey to stopping fossil fuel projects, especially export projects like the pending LNG projects in Rio Grande Valley. And after this victory, we cannot afford to let up in our efforts to hold decision-makers accountable.
On the contrary, this historic
Roishetta Ozane is the founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana, a small mutual aid and environmental justice organization based in Lake Charles, and finance coordinator for Texas Campaign for the Environment. Bekah Hinojosa is a co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. She lives in Brownsville.
According to researcher Sandra Caron, I’m not alone. but Caron found that fully one-third of college women who experience sexual assault tell no one, not even one friend. By comparison, a Bureau of Justice Statistics victimization survey estimated that 64% of robberies and 81% of cases of vehicle theft were reported to police in 2022.
Why do victims of non-sexual violent crimes usually involve authorities while most rape survivors remain silent? Caron says most survivors, as I did, blame themselves. Or they feel society will blame them.
Remember then-20-year-old swimmer Brock Allen Turner who was convicted of rape in 2016? His father objected to the six-year sentence requested by the prosecutor, calling it “a steep price to pay” for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.”
Fine, I might understand — but not excuse — a parent saying something so reprehensible in defense of their child. But what about the judge? Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to only six months in prison, saying, “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.” That a judge was more concerned about the perpetrator’s future than the survivor’s is not uncommon — and reinforces the fear survivors have about how they will be treated if and when they come forward.
Fear of being held responsible for their rape. Fear of losing control of the situation. Fear of not being believed. Fear of getting in trouble. Fear of being labeled. Fear of being abused again. Fear of losing someone. (Yet another grim statistic: over 90% of juvenile victims know their perpetrator.)
Some survivors describe involving authorities as being assaulted twice. In her testimony, the woman Turner raped described the harrowing effects of not only her attack but its aftermath.
“If you think I was spared, came out unscathed, that today I ride off into the sunset while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken,” she wrote in a powerful statement. “Nobody wins.”
The #MeToo movement shifted public discourse, at least for a while; through a recall election, Judge Persky was removed from the bench. And organizations such as the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network and the Houston Area Women’s Center continue to support survivors. But as the statistics in that recent study show, there is still a long way to go.
For more than a decade, I’ve used an abbreviated story of my assault in self-defense classes that I teach to women and girls. For my students, it’s a useful scaffolding, explaining how violent attacks unfold. For me, it’s made that awful night easier to talk about.
Slowly, I’ve let go of the selfblame and shame. I wonder if that healing would’ve started 30 years ago, if I’d talked about it then. And I wonder if I might’ve prevented my assailant from hurting someone else if I’d gone to the police. I’ll never know.
But I do know now that remaining silent doesn’t solve anything.
A half million rapes in 14 states is too many. More than 212,000 rapes in Texas is too many. Any is too many.
At the very least, we must try to make it easier and safer for survivors of sexual violence to come forward, involve authorities, and begin to heal.
Chris Cander is a Houston-based author of five novels, most recently “The Young of Other Animals.” She holds a fourth-degree black belt in Taekwondo and is a certified women’s self-defense instructor. Learn more at chriscander.com.