New Year’s Greetings, Hopes for a Better 2021

Goodbye 2020 and good riddance! At least we’ll soon be getting rid of Trump’s presidency, though he and his followers will still make mischief, as they have already been doing. The pandemic remains a huge global challenge. And yet, the US stock market remains up, both up and down, but basically up for now. 

 A friend originally from Cuba sent me a holiday greeting showing Cuba’s patron, La Virgen de Regla.

Among many upbeat holiday greetings, I also received sad news that a man from Nigeria, who had stayed with me 2 years ago, had died after a 2-week bout with Covid. Friends in Honduras also contracted the virus, but survived, as did my daughter and her husband in Hawaii. Local neighbors are now under quarantine because someone in their household has the virus. Who could have anticipated something like this? The quarantine reminds me of when we were quarantined with measles and mumps in my childhood and had warning signs posted in our windows. Mr. Trump and his administration (and his followers) bear responsibility for the extensive economic devastation, suffering, and death caused by Covid, making ours the worse afflicted nation in the world. The virus could not have been kept out, but need not have spread so fast and so far.  

December is always a somber month for my family because both my son and Cuban foster son died in December, one year apart. My son Andrew's gravestone lies below the stump of the maple tree removed in October. 

My son Jonathan’s family, who came to W Va. last July, went back home to Hawaii in December in time for Christmas. They’d all been staying with Jon in his one-bedroom apartment, so, as cold weather advanced, they went back. But family ties were strengthened during their 5-month visit and Jonathan hopes to visit them in Hawaii before too long. Meanwhile, the family connects via Skype. After the family had left, leaving room for me, I spent Christmas with my son in W Va. 

We prepared a roast duck for dinner.

Many West Virginians had supported Trump, judging by their yard signs. It was nice to have a change of scene and the extended lockdown had been getting pretty tiresome. I can well understand how folks may just decide to throw caution to the winds and go out to a restaurant or party; we are all experiencing pandemic fatigue. But with the virus apparently mutating, vaccines cannot be distributed fast enough.

Little did I know when I set out for Honduras last Feb. that the pandemic would be sweeping the world by my return in March. I don’t plan to go to Honduras again this Feb. to volunteer with medical brigades, something I’ve been doing ever since leaving Peace Corps there 17 years ago. Such brigades, which rely on volunteer surgeons and nurses from abroad and gather potential patients all together at a public hospital, will have to be drastically reconfigured if they are to continue. I will contact the Operation Smile folks in Honduras to see what their new plans are, if any. They had asked me to bring a child-sized wheelchair “next time.”

Look for AI USA statement on the website: PRESIDENT TRUMP STOKES VIOLENCE AND INTIMIDATION AS HE REFUSES TO ACCEPT ELECTION RESULTS

January 6, 2021 National Peace Corps Association: This violence cannot stand.

 Advertisers realize I know Spanish and often send me ads in Spanish!

Miami immigration court ruling could mean green cards for large number of Cubans, Miami Herald,  January 7, 2021

In a surprising court decision this week, a Miami immigration judge ruled that any immigrant released from detention by the Department of Homeland Security without a deportation order has been paroled as a matter of law.

Monday’s immigration court ruling, which is not publicly available but was obtained by the Miami Herald, could particularly impact Cubans who immigrated to the U.S. since January 2017. That’s when the 20-year-old “wet foot, dry foot” policy allowing most Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay and become legal permanent residents was canceled.

Historically, Cubans detained by DHS after entering the U.S. at a port of entry were released and given a Form I-94, also known as a “parole card.” That parole card would then serve to apply for a green card.

But when “wet foot, dry foot” ended, those protections stopped. Instead, Cubans were detained, released and not given parole cards — stripping them of the opportunity to apply for residency. The new ruling upends that, potentially allowing thousands of Cubans to seek legal status in the country. But so far, it is not binding, meaning it can’t be enforced beyond the handful of cases directly under consideration in the decision.

Rachel Rodríguez, a Cuban refugee in immigration detention in La. for more than year, finally had an asylum interview that allowed her to remain in the US, but now she has contracted Covid, so has not been released. 

Bravo to Nancy Pelosi, who, at age 80, has kept her House Speaker post, serving a role model for the rest of us. Although both Trump and Biden received record votes in November, nonetheless, one-third of voting age citizens failed to vote in the last election, something that occurs routinely.

The idea of American exceptionalism has certainly plummeted during Trump’s time in office and may never recover. Trump and some members of the Senate have kept contesting his definitive loss. Why? Surely, they don’t really believe he won, but still seem to want to keep the hardcore base revved up and in their corner. If votes don’t determine election outcomes, why even bother to vote? And the Electoral College definitely needs to be abolished so we don’t face a debacle like this again. Does Trump really mean what he says? Does he really believe he actually won the election? Is he crazy? Delusional? Are his followers? I got an email from a Trump supporter asking, Trump's Georgia Rally: Last Hurrah -- Or Revival? Trump is a spoiler for the Republican Party, which doesn’t seem able to shake him off. The Georgia Senate races should be a wakeup call to the Party to move away from Trump.  

On this blog, I’ve described Mr. Trump’s hold on the Republican Party as “drinking the Kool Aid.” California Congresswoman Jackie Speier, a survivor of Jonestown, makes the same comparison based on her own experience.

This California Representative Survived Jonestown and Says Trumpers Have Definitely Drunk the Kool Aid, https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-representative-survived-jonestown-says-095709450.htm

Trump’s phone call the previous Saturday to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, asking him to retally votes in Trump’s favor, had been recorded. However, Trump supporters, instead of condemning Trump himself, lashed out at the guy who recorded him! Logic is topsy-turvy in Trumpland.  

After speculations that Trump’s blatant interference may have lost them the Senate, more sober Republicans began rethinking of their slavish loyalty toward the man. Even McConnell cooled. Trump berated Mike Pence for betrayal in following the law on certification of the election results. But for many, the final straw was the assault on the capitol.

Trump supporters, urged by their leader to come to Washington and high on adrenalin, could be heard outside my Capitol Hill home, starting on January 5, yelling and chanting. Many were wearing military fatigues and not wearing facemasks or practicing distancing. Some openly carried pipes and clubs. Others, apparently, brought firearms in contravention of DC law. On January 6, the man himself appeared among the crowd, speaking for an hour, reiterating his charges that the election had been stolen from him, urging them to go to the capitol and take action. So, they did. They broke down doors, invading the capitol building where Biden was being certified as president by lawmakers. Some apparently carried firearms inside, though that’s prohibited. Like naughty kids, they reveled in smashing windows, putting up their feet on lawmakers’ desks, and waving Confederate flags, now more than 150 years after the civil war ended. 

The National Guard helped take charge of the situation and lawmakers were corralled into safe areas. We heard sirens. There were injuries and at least 5 deaths and the Electoral vote was temporarily halted.  

If Republicans --both lawmakers and constituents-- should start jumping ship and if the Trump brand becomes more tarnished, defections may become a cascade and Trump will be left alone playing golf and fending off lawsuits in retirement. Might we be seeing the final spasm of Trumpism? If so, you read it here first. (Just wishful thinking?)

Meanwhile, across the channel, Britons are coping with Brexit, another citizen mistake. Just like Trump supporters, Brexiteers voted against their own interests.