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VA Official: Flooded Beaumont VA to reopen soon. Nearby the saddest and most remarkable event from Tropical Storm Harvey

Southeast Texas veterans and their families can return in November to the Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic. I hope that if you read this, pass it on to other veterans.

My local Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic has been closed since being, at least partially, swallowed by the Great Flood of Ought-17. The clinic I use, which is only a block from Interstate 10 in Beaumont, TX. The flooding was due to Hurricane-Tropical Storm Harvey. I have to go to that Clinic at least every two months or so for various reasons. Thus, I looked at the VA information on the ‘net and saw that the Beaumont VA clinic was closed when the flooding began at the end of August. It remains closed here on Oct. 25, 2017.

An RV hosts a mobile Vet Center in Beaumont after flooding from Harvey. VA photo.

A spokeswoman for the VA at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston said the Beaumont clinic building will open soon.

Maureen Dyman, Houston VA spokesperson said in an email that the clinic is set to reopen “sometime in November.”

” … we are seeing more than 100 patients a day in 5 mobile medical units set up out in the parking lot of the clinic. We are really committed to serving our Beaumont Vets during this time,” Dyman said.

Those units outside the water-logged clinic building are reminiscent of “M.A.S.H.” in the movie and television series. That is due to the series of tents outside the clinic. There are also some big RVs helping such as the photo of the mobile Vet Center. Still, in all of this, it seems the staff is getting things done the best they can, at least that was my one experience.

I figured the clinic would be hard hit with flooding. Just off I-10 and near the clinic was where a nurse for a Port Arthur hospital had, for some reason parked in rising flood waters at at a medical building. When Collette Sulcer stepped out of her car with her 3-year-old daughter Jordyn, she was swept away in the swift water, hanging on. Local police and firefighters in a Zodiac boat happened to see a woman in the flood waters with a little girl hanging on. The first responders plucked the child from the flood waters as well as her mother. The police and fire people saved Jordyn but Collette didn’t make it though those responders and others tried mightily, giving the mother CPR all the way to a hospital. The mother died holding onto Jordyn Grace Sulcer.

Some say Collette is a hero for the remarkable feat of hanging on to her daughter in the racing water that claimed the mother’s life. Maybe. Perhaps so. But Collette Sulcer was also doing her most important job as a mother.

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The honest smile that lights the day’s dim news

Our journalistic future, with Mizzou-Columbia alum, RealClearPoly, and CNN analyst, is bright with that sincere smile. Public Domain, I hope.

I get mesmerized … with that smile. It’s hard to turn away.

I speak of Rebecca Berg. The 27-year-old California native is national reporter for RealClearPolitics. But I see her quite often on Wolf Blitzer’s “Situation Room” on CNN where she is a political analyst.

Berg speaks with a gravitas that belies her age. And, even though she is cuter than a speckled pup — trust me, that is cute — she is more than just a pretty face. I have seen young female journalists who were not much more than a pretty face. But that is, fortunately, rare.

 

Nonetheless, it appears Berg has put in a lot of work  from her days at University of Missouri — a well-regarded J-school — and her earlier OJT as a fellow at The New York Times, plus a stint at BuzzFeed.

Berg is not a wannabe scribe, and not a TV poser. She does it without extraneous “Look-at-me-me-me” face time.

Young Ms. Berg does wield a smile  that seems second nature — Or first nature perhaps. The smile looks so very honest. Smiles such as the journalist’s can be mistaken for those whose lives have been cruelly locked into a sadder-than-sad cynicism. Not her smile.

Her honesty shines through while speaking of heavy interactions in the often screwed up world within and outside the District of Columbia.

To quote an old Southern rock and roll tune from the 1970s by the oddly-named band, Wet Willie:

“You say you got the blues/You got holes in both your shoes/Feeling alone and confused/Just keep on smiling.

“Keep on smilin’ through the rain, laughin’ at the pain
Rollin with the changes til the sun comes out again.”

Yes ma’am, Ms. Berg, keep on smiling.

 

 

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Straight from The Donald’s mouth

It really is remarkable. Maybe it isn’t. Remarkable. Perhaps.

Such is the communication style of our “beloved” president. As Donald J. Trump is a piece of work, so are his utterances. Take for instance his recent interview with several reporters from The New York Times. I mean, I have met many politicians in my life. Trump and his loyalists all say that the president is no politician. But, he is a politician, no matter what anyone says. And just as many politicians are full of bullshit, so is The Donald. That is why I marvel at this Times interview and what he said during that interview.

The Donald is watching you! White House photo

First of all, part of Trump’s shtick is the interview. He rails against the media and if you believe Trump, The Times is among his largest target.  But three of those Times reporters, Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, and the latter especially, seem to report and write as if they can actually translate what the president says in his circuitous manner of speaking.

The interview sparked some of the most baffling sentences put together by a modern U.S. president. Take, for instance, Trump and his apparent view of the Affordable Care Act as enacted by his predecessor and the earlier health care efforts of his predecessor’s predecessor’s predecessor.

“Look, Hillary Clinton worked eight years in the White House with her husband as president and having majorities and couldn’t get it done. Smart people, tough people — couldn’t get it done. Obama worked so hard. They had 60 in the Senate. They had big majorities and had the White House. I mean, ended up giving away the state of Nebraska. They owned the state of Nebraska. Right. Gave it away.”

Wake up Nebraska, your Abylai Khan is here, and he is asking for Donald Trump. By Agymsaly Duzelkhanov – Museum of the First President of Kazakhstan, Public Domain,

One can hope –especially those Nebraska folks — that the Cornhusker State wasn’t inadvertently given to another nation. Let’s just think how it would feel to wake up to find your state was now under rule of, say, Kazakhstan.

It is anyone’s guess as to what Trump is talking about — well maybe someone in Kazakhstan would know — once he gets fired up and expounds in thought of health insurance. At least, that seems to be what he is talking about:

 “As they get something, it gets tougher. Because politically, you can’t give it away. So pre-existing conditions are a tough deal. Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan. Here’s something where you walk up and say, “I want my insurance.” It’s a very tough deal, but it is something that we’re doing a good job of.”

But as many in the U.S. fear for what kind of damage Trump might do domestically, he would have you believe that we should have no major problem with foreign policy. Hence:

 “I have had the best reviews on foreign land. So I go to Poland and make a speech. Enemies of mine in the media, enemies of mine are saying it was the greatest speech ever made on foreign soil by a president.”

Oh well, we still have Kazakhstan.

Perhaps the strangest part of Trump in Europe, and with his foreign relations in general is his “handiwork.” It seems that our current president has some sort of hand fetish. His latest hand job was with the French President Emmanuel Macron. Here is the breakdown on the marathon shake from CNN’s Chris Cizzilla.

Apparently Trump has found himself a bro in Macron:

“He’s a great guy. Smart. Strong. Loves holding my hand.”

What more could the leader of the free world need?

 

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Trump the ungrateful pr**k

What if there was a Donald Trump rally and no media came?

My definition of insanity is the way Trump has treated media during his campaign. His remarks of how the media is “disgusting” liars spur some of his more crazed groupies onto threatening and even assaulting some of the reporters and other media at his rallies.

The GOP candidate at a press conference. What he does with that finger has his staff worried.
The GOP candidate at a press conference. What he does with that finger has his staff worried.

Trump has lately driven the insane idea that the media and establishment are combining to rig the election in favor of the Democrats and their candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The polls showing Trump losing are also a major target of scorn.

I have said this and I will say it again. I covered President George W. Bush throughout his political career. I’m not saying this was a full-time gig. Thank heavens that was not the case. I did interview him one-on-one while he was stumping for his father, President George. H. W. Bush, during the older’s losing campaign against Bill Clinton. I also attended various events during his terms as governor of Texas as well as president. The latter included press events at the Crawford ranch and at Fort Hood. All of this I say to make the point that I saw Gee Dubya go from a pretty affable guy to a thin-skinned politician. But against Donald Trump, there is no contest as to who is most sensitive to criticism or ridicule.

Trump, one must admit, is a master manipulator. He beat more than a dozen candidates including Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz in the primaries. Trump did this calling in to TV and radio programs, being everywhere and holding massive rallies. No worries about finding donors, Trump said. It’s all on him — and the free media exposure, of course.

But things changed after the political conventions and since Trump has been locked in a mostly losing battle for U.S. president with Hillary Clinton.

Recently, the signs are fairly ominous for The Donald as his campaign has faltered and he has been stuck in a contest for whose past is more toxic to voters. Hillary has her problems, the e-mail controversy, Benghazi and Wiki Leaks. The latter has mostly captured e-mails from a Clinton and Democratic campaign that is rather ugly. Still, she hasn’t made any comments that she favors sexually assaulting other men or women. Thank God for small favors!

So Trump goes on and on complaining about a media that made him what he is today. That is, a Republican candidate for president, albeit an apparently failing one. I have been continually wrong about his prospects. But barring some bombshell that Hillary shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, it appears she will be elected president two weeks from today.

From what stunts Trump has pulled to screw over reporters, calling supposed press conferences that were really infomercials for his company, I would really love the media, at least once, to boycott the rest of his campaign rallies. He hates the media so much, so what will be an outcome would be without them? That won’t happen. There are just too many greedy shits who get filthy rich in media conglomerates. The guys and gals who do what I did, though at a much different level, are the ones who suffer through all the crap at rallies from an ungrateful candidate.

I never thought I would say this, but I truly hope HRC wins. I just think Donald Trump is too dangerous to elect. I also hope her win is a landslide with at least the U.S. Senate being back in Democratic hands. A Dem majority in the House would be a real Christmas gift. Although, I don’t see that happening.

In two weeks we shall see what we shall see. I don’t really expect him to concede defeat but hopefully HRC’s totals will be sufficient to ensure Trump will finally be exposed for what he has long been — a loser.

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Listening to “sports” with Fred and A.J. in Houston. Happy Labor Day.

It is Labor Day and it has been a slow day for me. But that is good. I decided to mute the TV and the madness that, in all reality, surrounds what is the real presidential race. There is plenty time for me to comment, or vent, about that contest.

Instead, I am listening to “The Blitz,” with Fred Faour and A.J. Hoffman on Houston’s ESPN 97.5. I think it is hands down the best sports show in Southeast Texas. Of course, these radio rangers have plenty to talk about with all the football kicking off in this football heavy state. Right now, Fred and A.J. are talking to producer Jong Lee are talking about his upchucking after four beers after the University of Houston win over No. 3 Oklahoma in NRG Stadium. Hey, these guys keep it real.

Oh well. That’s all I want to talk about today. If you like sports and degenerates, and live in the Houston/Beaumont area, tune in to Fred and A.J. Oh, if you call and they ask you what’s up, answer “Sports.”