I've lost the posting between the last one and the one now appearing before that, so there is a gap for April 30. Yes, April 30 had been written right on the blog but simply is gone now, never to be resurrected. After a posting had been lost before, I tried creating the blog in a word document before posting it, but there were problems in doing that and I had started getting confused, so now I just take my chances and post directly on the blog. But once a posting is uploaded to the internet, it seems to remain stable there, as I still have postings from years ago on the previous version: https://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com/
But before being uploaded and actually published (following a system for doing that), a draft made directly on the blog may simply disappear meanwhile. After a draft is once uploaded and published on the interent, it's little tricky then to make changes, though it still can be done. However, it's not desirable to edit something after it has already been posted--there are some problems in doing that.
Drafts made after dark seem to be the most vulnerable to disappearing. I am speculating that in the evening, the computer "airwaves" could become more crowded, which may lead to access and competition problems. Since I am writing this right now after 10 pm, it may all be gone by tomorrow morning.
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It is now the next moring after I wrote the above and that short post is still here.
A reader asks if starting blog #3 would help? No, unfortunately, it would be subject to the same risks as the current version.
My daughter who advises me on these matters says:
I've told mom this happens bc she tries to type directly into the blog and either accidentally closes the window or perhaps loses her wifi. Either way, the solution is to type her blog into a word document, save it, then open up blogger and paste everything in instead of composing on blogger. I checked just now and her blog is still up.
When I actually tried creating each posting as a word document before uploading it on the blog, that proved impractical and somewhat confusing, so I am back here now to writing directly on the blog, possibly risking its loss. And what looks one way in Word may not show up just the same way on the blog.
While a post may still be lost now and then, this blog is an ongoing narrative, so losing one day is usually not crucial. If something is important, it will always come up later. These are mostly my personal observations and stream-of-consciousnes musings, "a day in the life" is all it is, with current news items interspersed; it's not rocket science.
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Now back to current issues.
In my own view, it is unfortuate that Democrats ever seized on abortion as an issue, as that does not represent pro-life Democrats like me. So I feel it's time now for Democrats to formally abandon that position and to elect more pro-life Democrats like Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar. Unfortunately, most pro-life members of Congress actually are Republicans. However, Democrats for Life is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that acts as the primary voice for pro-life viewpoints within the Democratic Party.
I'm speaking now as a Democrat myself who is both a birth and an adoptive mother and also a single parent for many of the years when my kids were growing up. I am living right now here in West Virginia with my son, adopted from Colombia as a baby.
Is it easy for a woman to pursue a career while also being the mother of young children? No,
usually nothing really worthwhile is easy. But no longer does having a child "out-of-wedlock" carry a stigma. Nor are single parents uncommon or particulatly disadvantaged. At the hotel where my son works, single mothers often bring their children with them to work on holidays and weekends (usually only one or two children, but once I saw three.)
Since none of us will live forever, what better legacy to leave than our children? They
to carry on.That has been the history of humankind ever since time immemorial.
Furthermore, in this day and age, when, under Trump, almost all immigration has been stymied, then our country really needs all the children we can get. Deportation is an especially counterproductive stratagy for our country right now, as the birthrate is slowing. Already, we are not producing enough babies to keep our population from actually shrinking. The U.S. birthrate fell to another record low in 2025, with only about 3.6 million births, continuing a nearly two-decade decline. The fertility rate dropped to approximately 1.57–1.6 births per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement level needed for a stable population. This trend is driven by more women waiting or choosing not to have children, and when even waiting too long may l
In
Cuba
, the lights are still out, but Trump doesn't want a flood of Cuban refugees coming here, while the diaspora might welcome that. So what to do now?
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In Iran
The war has actually resulted in more executions and arrests being made inside Iran, perhaps of war dissenters or of those seeking greater freedom and rights. When the war is over and the dust settles,the true toll of the war can be assessed. Wars rarely have net-positive outcomes.
, a prominent Iranian human rights activist, engineer, and the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remains a high-profile female prisoner in Iran, currently in a critical health condition as of early May 2026. She has been repeatedly arrested and sentenced for her advocacy against the mandatory hijab, against the death penalty, and for her reports on the abuse of female detainees in Tehran's notorious
Evin Prison. At age 54, she is the mother of teenage twins, a girl and a boy, now living with their father in exile in Paris.
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The Iran conflict has already passed the 2-month mark.
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The conflict involving Iran reached the 60-day mark Friday, and the Trump administration argues that the war has effectively ended due to a fragile ceasefire that began in April — meaning congressional approval is no longer required. In a letter to Congress, President Donald Trump said hostilities with Iran have “terminated,” despite the continued presence of U.S. troops in the region — a position that allows the administration to sidestep the May 1 deadline to seek authorization for ongoing military action. Trump also acknowledged the conflict may not be fully resolved.
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Pentagon Pete Hearing Descends Into Chaos as Protesters Slam Him
When the self-styled “Secretary of War,” Pete Hegseth 45, was grilled by Democratic members on the House Armed Services Committee about his and President Donald Trump’s highly unpopular war on Iran, one question prompted the hawkish former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host to fly off the handle. Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio pressed the defense secretary about the U.S. Army service members who survived the March 1 drone strike in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and who had told CBS News earlier this month that their unit was “unprepared to provide any defense for itself.”
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Pete was then interrupted by protesters while giving testimony about the Iran war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had melted down so badly during his congressional hearing on Wednesday that even the committee’s Republican chairman had to calm him down. The guy is really out of his depth and is a war criminal to boot, but Donald Trump gave him his current job and still keeps him there.
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OK, folks, all for now, so let's get together again tomorrow.
A former neighbor, still living not far from the DC house I had owned on Captiol Hill, has sent some photos of her backayrd redo, including this one.
