Saints and sinners

  West Virginia wildflowers of all colors now abound, although no one has ever planted them. 

I

I sometimes pick a few wildflowers to grace our kitchen table. But mostly, I just leave the flowers outside for everyone to enjoy.

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Have I ever told readers that I met Mother Teresa in Nicaragua in 1990? Yes, probably I've already told you, but, if so, I have simply forgotten, so now will tell you once again.  

Teresa has just been canonized as a saint by the Catholic church.  So, yes, I actually had met a saint way back then in Nicaragua, where Teresa and her nuns had been working tirelessly around the clock.  They provided health care, food, and clothing to needy Nicaraguans, as well as prayed daily with them, and just held their hands when they felt all alone. 

They were just following in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

 Mother Teresa was a remarkable woman in many ways; I'm so glad to have met her. She has shown us all what just one person can do. 

Mother Teresa, if you are somewhere, even in heaven, please help us out right here, right now, on our lonely planet earth, not only in Nicaragua, where I once met you, but all over the world.  

Having met Mother Teresa years ago and just now picking wildflowers right here around my home have been bright spots in my long life, where I have also endured much loss and suffering, including the tragic death of my older son.  We all have suffered great losses.  Does humankind have to endure great pain and suffering just because Adam and Eve once bit into the forbidden apple?  That really doesn't seem quite fair.

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Trump officials scramble to manage fallout after his $5K check pledge to all Americans

Indeed, Trump’s promise Wednesday, of $5,000 to every adult US citizen if Republicans keep their congressional majorities, is just one example in a long line of his dubious vows of cash payouts.

Like so many other of Trump's promises, this one is not likely to be kept, so voters should just vote according to their own priorities and pay no attention at all to whatever the president says. Even if Republicans do keep their congressional majorities, no one will be getting any money from Mr. Trump anytime soon. 

Wash. Post, Some restaurants, hospitals and construction firms pushed forward with layoffs as the end of temporary protected status for 232,000 Salvadorans loomed. https://wapo.st/4A8edjC

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                                                    What's coming next?

Wash. Post, Trump asks convention crowd to pledge to him they will vote, ‘cheat like hell’

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Wash. Post, Two of the most important corridors for international energy shipments are blocked.

                                            Yemeni civilians wave a white flag. 

Wash. Post, Trump says he would "love to see Ireland reunited." 

But then who would be in charge? (He was speaking then in Dublin.)

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Wash. Post, U.K. Parliament rejects bill to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill

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Wash. Post, At the Pentagon, Trump ties the legacy of 9/11 to his Iran war At a solemn ceremony marking the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Donald Trump edged close to embracing policies he has long criticized.

PBS, Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, the alleged plotters still have not faced a trial. After rejecting prosecutors' request to begin the trial in January 2027, a military judge at Guantánamo Bay has ordered jury selection for the trial of four alleged 9/11 plotters — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused principal architect of the attacks — to begin on June 5, 2028.  Will that trial finally actually happen? 

(Will the defendants all still be alive by then?)

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                                                               Now onto our solar system

                                  Astronomers say that Mercury (seen above), one of our nearest fellow planets, is shrinking fast. 

Venus, another neighboring planet in our solar system, usually orbits just beyond Mercury but occasionally comes in somewhat closer to the sun. 

Mars is another nearby planet. 

Neither Mars, Mercury. nor Venus seem to harbor anything like life, not even mold or microbes, at least as far as we know.  

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We humans, along with our earth's animals, plants. insects, microbes, and other living creatures, are most probably all alone in our solar system.  No creatures from Mars, sometimes depicted in stories, will ever come to visit us. 

But if they did, what might they look like? 

Yes, you and I, along with our fellow humans and any other living beings on planet earth, are probably all alone now in the solar system. So we'll never have a visit from a Martian nor from any other living creature coming to us from beyond our own planet earth. 

 We are perhaps simply all alone here in the universe, just living our everyday life, as humans have been doing since time immemorial, and which they will continue doing for centuries to come. 

How old is too old?

 

Donald Trump recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He doesn't consider himself very old, certainly not too old be our US president.  

Mr. Trump always tries to keep himself in the news, still aiming to be remembered as the very greatest president ever in our nation's 250-year history. But since his popularity has now been tanking rather badly, fellow Republicans wish he would just shut his mouth and go out to play some rounds of golf, leaving the midterms alone.   

Donald Trump does not consider himself too old to be our president. He has even bragged about "passing" MoCA after getting all the questions right. How hard is that? (Not very hard in my own experience,)

Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a 10-to-15-minute screening tool used by healthcare providers to detect early signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia.

In any case, we don't have too long to wait until Trump's presidential term expires. But a lot can still happen in the meantime.

Some ladies in Mexico have been busy saving bees, so essential to the ecosystem.

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Here's someone now who is really old.

• José Flores, a 119-year-old resident of Sardinal, Costa Rica, is seeking formal international verification to be recognized as the world's oldest living man. The oldest living person is said to be Jeanne Calment of France who lived to age 122.  So José has just 3 years left to go to meet her record. 
• (I myself expect to be long gone before even approaching that age.)
• 
  
• Costa Rican man, 119, seeks recognition as world's oldest person | Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/costa-rican-man-119-seeks-recognition-worlds-oldest-person-2026-09-09/

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NYTimes, Why Israel Reacted With Fury to U.K. Sanctions on West Bank Settlements

The fierce retaliation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the new UK restrictions is a reflection of his tough re-election fight, analysts say.  But Donald Trump is still his very good pal.

 Bibi  is furious  with the UK.

.

  Netanyahu is now fighting for his political life. 

                                          
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Our country and the world really need more babies. Malthus could not foresee the advent of birth control. 

What can be said about babies now?

At birth, there are about 105 boys born for every 100 girls as a world average, with about the same ratio here in the US, Here now are top baby names in our country.

Top 10 Baby Names of 2025

Rank	Boy name	Girl name
1	Liam	Olivia
2	Noah	Charlotte
3	Oliver	Emma
4	Theodore	Amelia
5	Henry	Sophia

More boys are born everywhere, but by age 100, at least here in our country, there are only about 32 American men for every 100 women. So guys just reach your 100th birthday and you'll have your pick of all the ladies. Why do women, considered to be the weaker gender, on average, live so much longer?  That's been attributed to their production of estrogen and to the possession of 2 X chromosomes, while men have only one. 

In 2084, world population is expected to peak, after which it may slowly decline. 

Niger in Africa is one of the world's fastest growing countries. 

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 South Korea has the world's lowest ever fertility rate, leading to a shrinking population of roughly -0.13% annually.  The government is offering numerous incentives to boost the population.

Korean Government Birth Incentives

Cash Subsidies: Parents receive direct cash payments and monthly allowances after a child is born.
Medical Support: The government covers up to 25 IVF (in vitro fertilization) cycles per childbirth and provides subsidies for egg freezing.
Housing Aid: Newlyweds and new parents get heavily discounted rent or low-interest mortgages. Some localities offer apartments for as low as a dollar a day. 
Matchmaking Events: Local districts sponsor social events and cash grants to encourage dating and marriage. 

Private companies offer similar incentives

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The American population has grown by 0.5% (an increase of 1.8 million people) between July 2024 and July 2025, now reaching a total population of approximately 341.8 million. But US growth is sharply down, partly due to Donald Trump's misguided anti-immigration policies, which are proving to be quite harmful, not at all helpful, to our nation. Our population is no longer at replacement and has too many elders with not enough babies and young people anymore. (This is Malthus in reverse,)

Although Donald Trump is still on a deportation rampage, he has decided not to go after Salvadorans right now.  (Is he perhaps understanding that we do need to keep some of these folks staying here right now?)

NY Times: 

Salvadorans will keep current deportation protections for the time being, Trump officials say. Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador was set to expire on Wednesday. But the Trump administration said it would make a future announcement about the program at the “appropriate time.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/us/tps-el-salvador-immigrants-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1._1A.oIbW.JLI9CbyWmbrV&smid=em-share

(TPS for Salvadorans is said to have been extended now for 6 months,)

The US southern border may be considered sealed, but where there's a will, there's a way. 

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The Angel Oak in Charleston. South Carolina, may actually be 400 years old.

Visitors are welcome to take a look, provided they don't get too close.

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We don't think of wolves as needing protection, after having lived for eons as wild denizens of the forest. But too many wolves, essential to a balanced natural ecosystem, have been killed by humans with guns. Without wolves, we would not now have our pet dogs, so let's safeguard wolves, the cousins of our very own pets and vital guardians of the forest. 

AP, Man’s best friend is getting some love from the Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts of the USA said its first cookies for dogs will go on sale in January. The blueberry muffin-flavored cookies were developed with Bark, a New York-based seller of dog treats and toys. The cookies, dubbed Patch Pals, will only be sold online.

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A friend from my old neighborhood back in DC has sent a photo of a tree still out on the street near his home.

And here is one of many fallen branches.

Now a whole lot of cleanup is still needed there, while not so far away, we just had rain.

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A look now at Spanish translations of ads originally appearing in English. In English we tend to be blunt, brief, and direct, but less so in Spanish. So ads must be culturally sensitive, not simply translated word-for-word.  

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Nouns in Spanish have a gender, such as la sopa (the soup, feminine) or el

 

jabón (the soap, masculine). 

 So just remember that Spanish nouns are either male or female, no matter what they refer to.

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Here now is another Spanish interpretation assignment that I can no longer accept. I do miss that very varied and interesting work. 

Hello Barbara,

CSA Solutions has sent you an assignment, 

[Though this doesn't look quite like an interpretation assignment, maybe instead something regarding car repair?). 

Title	Higi Diagnose & Repair - PC
Location	District Heights, MD 20747
Date and Time	Tue, 15 Sep 2026 08:00 AM EDT
Price & Payment Terms	Flat fee of $90.91 Paid 30 days after approval