While it’s nice now to have an adult back in charge of the national government instead of an overgrown baby, we aren’t out of the woods yet, as the March 4 threat showed. Sen. Ted Cruz commented that Donald Trump “ain’t going anywhere.” Unfortunately, he’s right. In fact, Trump seems aiming for revenge and a big comeback.
https://nypost.com/2021/02/26/mark-meadows-says-trump- planning- for-the-next-administration/
So, though it would nice to
be able to change the subject, Trump continues to have an amazing grip
on his base which his recent presidential defeat seems unable to shake. A
substantial percentage of our fellow citizens--enough to keep on causing
trouble--still cling to Trump. My son living in W Va. tells me as much. So much
for Joe Biden's efforts at bipartisanship and finding "common
ground."
Mr. Trump has been expressing
vindictiveness against critics and arousing the ire of Democrats who, however, may
then become energized to defeat him, as happened in Biden’s landslide election
victory and Georgia’s Senate races. As demonstrated by Hillary Clinton’s
ignominious loss, it’s not enough for Democrats to simply win by millions more
votes, no, they/we have to win by an excessive preponderance to guarantee
victory after Republican gerrymandering and given the quirks of our skewed Electoral
College system. That system is a recipe for division, not bipartisanship. It
would be best for the Republican Party and for national unity if Trump
would just gracefully retire from politics and not continue to court extremist Congressional
candidates and extremist followers, but he looks unlikely to change. He is also
benefitting from direct donations to himself. The threat of physical violence
and even civil war by Trumpists continues under the guise of “the right to bear
arms.” If the loser can overturn an election outcome by force, as apparently
Trump has tried to do, isn’t that the end of democracy?
A goldish dwarf statue of Trump at CPAC was quite a hit. Folks proudly posing next to the statue seem to be occupying a parallel universe. But, remember what happened with the Golden Calf? Now it has been revealed that the statue was actually made, not in the USA, but in China. (Tried in vain to copy the an image of the statue for about an hour, but that may be blocked .)Trump had been busy fundraising for himself even before appearing at CPAC, perhaps for his post-election legal defense? House Republicans voting to decertify Trump’s election loss have not included their own concurrent wins among these efforts, rather urging decertification only at the top of ticket where Biden’s name was marked, but approving the “correct” votes for themselves below on the same ballot.
It’s been a year since we started
becoming aware of the worldwide pandemic. In early March 2020, in Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, we were just winding down Operation Smile, having successfully
dodged the bullet before the full force of the pandemic hit. (See March, 16/17,
2020 postings on this blog.) When I came back home then to Washington, DC,
debates about virus spread and wearing masks had already begun. Now, with over
half a million lives lost in our country and more than two million lost around
the world, is the end in sight? We don’t know yet, but it looks possible,
provided that vaccines can reach every corner of the globe. However, it is
quite concerning that at least 3 Covid variants have evolved, perhaps more resistant
to current vaccines and presenting a real challenge to achieving herd immunity.
If this pandemic should actually be conquered, it will be a testament to
worldwide cooperation and the first time that such control has succeeded in human
history, no thanks to Mr. Trump. While the Biden financial relief package does
increase our already ballooning federal deficit, we are now facing a dire emergency
perhaps even greater than past world wars and the 1929 depression.
According to the best
estimates (difficult to measure precisely), both US and world populations have
not actually shrunk during the pandemic, but rather have remained virtually
static, with US population at about 331 million and world population at 7.8
billion. However, a baby bust, some 300,000 fewer annual births than
prior to the pandemic, will affect US population in 2021 and beyond.
To help make up for US
population shortfall, especially in employment once the pandemic ends, President
Biden needs to try to fix our immigration system, while not encouraging too
many people to actually come. It’s very hard to thread that needle. Migration
is perpetuated by almost universal myths among folks elsewhere about our own promised
land, not so different from common beliefs among Americans about achieving
happiness only through "true love" and/or financial
wealth. We could use some more workers here after the pandemic, but
if any newcomers are allowed to stay, that does provide a magnet for the rest.
It also prevents people from trying to make things work where they are living
now. I’ve witnessed such common idealized aspirations firsthand in Honduras and
Cuba, as well as many other places.
Both Donald Trump’s slim, unexpected presidential Electoral College victory in 2016 (not repeated in 2020) and the rise of a worldwide pandemic were black swan events, also expressions of chaos theory or the butterfly effect, referring to the flap of a butterfly’s wing leading to a hurricane across the sea (as mentioned on previous postings). That is, both Trump’s presidency and the pandemic were unpredictable catastrophes, as their probability of occurring was very small. Donald Trump himself seemed unprepared for and surprised by his 2016 victory and also unprepared when the pandemic engulfed the United States and so he continued to deny its severity, even after he himself fell ill. Fortunately for humankind, many events are predictable, like earth’s rotation around the sun, but a fair number are surprising “freak” occurrences or accidents. So, we need to be able and willing to respond when the unexpected occurs, as Trump obviously was not for the pandemic, or even for his 2016 win or his 2020 defeat. Since he seems to lack both foresight and hindsight, dare we predict that his
star will fade? Only if another black swan event occurs would he ever be able to regain the presidency, so the odds are in our favor.
The situation in Myanmar
has become increasingly dire. The military seems relentless and protesters are still coming
out despite casualties, perhaps even more so because of them. We in Amnesty
Int’l were disappointed when Aung San Suu Kyi did
not stop the expulsion of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.
But now we wonder whether she might have gone along with that in order to
maintain her delicate leadership position, now being challenged directly by a military
inventing flimsy excuses to depose her? Donald Trump would love to have been
able to overturn Biden’s election similarly by force.
During the last few years,
US airstrikes from on high appear to have replaced ground combat,
risking no casualties on our side.
Mystery Illness: “a much larger scale and
widespread attack against our diplomatic corps, and our families” https://diplopundit.net/2021/03/03/mystery-illness-a-much-larger-scale-and-widespread-attack-against-our-diplomatic-corps-and-our-families/ [This
is a reference to the mysterious illness afflicting US (and Canadian) diplomats
first in Cuba, then in China, thought to be caused by microwaves. ]
|
Sandro
Castro, nieto de Fidel, presume su "juguetico" Mercedes Benz en las
redes sociales (+ VIDEO) |
|
Sandro
Castro, nieto del cenicero andante Fidel Castro, mostró en las redes sociales
uno de sus “jugueticos” tratándose de un Mercedes Benz, cubanosporelmundo.com [Sandro Castro, Fidel’s
grandson, shows off his new “toy,” a Mercedes Benz on social media.] |
Reuters, Dominican Republic to construct fence along
border with Haiti, https://www.yahoo.com/news/dominican-republic-construct-fence-along-215153876.html
This just in from Amnesty Int’l: “The trial against
the only person accused of the killing of Berta Cáceres will take place
on 6-30 April, 2021. We’ll let you know if any further action is needed.” (In
La Esperanza, where I lived for more than a year in the Peace Corps and where
she also lived and died, her first name is spelled Bertha, but “h” is silent in
Spanish.)
Last time, I mentioned that
a Muslim friend in Yemen had two wives and that men in Honduras, though
legally married to only one woman, often set up a separate household with a
second woman and have children with both. That would be characterized as polygamy,
but less common is a woman with more than one husband called polyandry.
A reader of this blog points out that polyandry has occurred in some far
eastern societies, in Nepal and Bhutan, where some of my previous visitors came
from and where they have returned. According to Wikipedia: “[P]olyandry in the Himalayan mountains is related to the
scarcity of land. The marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife
allows family land to remain intact and undivided.” So I asked friends
living in that region to comment on plural marriage there. A young man from
Nepal who had once stayed with me immediately obliged. Here is what he said.
Greetings from Nepal! So
good to hear from you. Regarding your question about polygamy, although it was
historically common for men to have two wives, it is a criminal offense these
days (has been illegal for around 4 decades now). As a result, the number has
gone down significantly. I would go as far as saying it’s absent in the cities.
Now, I think men do have affairs and have 'informal wives' on the side but it
is frowned upon and highly secret. Additionally, law considers such informal
relationships as marriages if the man has children with his mistress. I am
certain that the kings who ruled Nepal in the 70s had 2 wives. I don't think
the king who ruled in the 80s had 2 wives. I am certain that the kings who
ruled since the 90s each had only one wife.
Regarding your question on polyandry, it is
common in the Himalayan community. In fact, brothers still do marry the same
woman. Also, it is true that historians claim such practice was started to
accommodate with the scarcity that the Himalayan community faced. There is no
criminal restriction in law for a woman to marry multiple men but the first
marriage is considered void as soon as the woman enters into the second
marriage. So, it can be said that there is legal recognition of the practice.
To add to that, these days roads have reached the Himalayas and tourism has
boosted the Himalayan communities' financial situation exponentially. So, I
think the practice will be going down.
If you are curious, I think India has an
interesting regime on multiple marriages. I read somewhere that Muslim men in
India are allowed to have multiple wives and the justification comes from
religion.
Ultimately, it is great to hear that you have
taken the shots. Being the third world, Nepal has only procured the Oxford
vaccine so far (which has only 75% effectiveness while Pfizer has 95%) and has
no plans to buy Pfizer as of now. Anyway, we are taking all the precautions. I
would love it if you would keep sending pictures of the house as I enjoy the
nostalgia.
I also just heard from a man in Nigeria about the
kidnapping of school students there. That can happen because in Africa, if
students attend school beyond elementary grades, they usually go to sex-segregated
boarding schools. This allows parents to outsource some of the problems of
dealing with adolescents while also giving their kids more independence and connection
with peers. But, of course, staying overnight together in dorms makes students
sitting ducks for kidnappers. Years ago, right after the Rwandan genocide,
when I was a board member of an organization called Rwandan Children’s Fund,
we supported orphaned kids in boarding schools that were their only homes.
With New
York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s conduct toward women now being questioned,
it might be asked what are the proper limits? What is the fine line between
flirting and harassment? Most women of a certain age, myself included, have
been subjected to many unwanted sexual advances during our lifetime, sometimes
just half-joking innuendos or catcalls while walking out in public, sometimes
more aggressive physical embraces. Not all of these deserve responses because then
we’d be living in state of perpetual outrage. But what might be off-limits between
a boss and employee? Maybe only zero tolerance should be allowed there, given
their unequal workplace relationship. Perhaps Governor Cuomo crossed a red line
by making suggestive remarks to women in his employ. He might have reserved
those for women outside of work whom he was dating, assuming he even had time for
dating. He was crude and insensitive at best. But for romance and lasting
partnerships to emerge under whatever are considered proper circumstances,
someone has to make the first move. I know a professional man in Honduras said
to have first proposed marriage to his future wife (so she told me) while they
were having dinner in a restaurant before ever having laid a finger on her. In
Cuomo’s case, there are no accusations, at least so far, of actual unwanted
touching and I’m not sure whether simple sexual bantering, while perhaps
uncomfortable for a female employee, is worth getting too worked up over. When
the governor allegedly asked a young woman if she had ever been with an older
man, that was very creepy, but could she simply have said, “Your
question makes me uncomfortable, so please stop.”? Cuomo may have crossed a
line even though he apparently did not threaten or actually touch anyone. But
he also may have been caught by evolving mores, as the times, they are a changing.
Donald Trump’s physical “grab ‘em by the pussy” is another matter entirely.
And Cuomo’s hiding of nursing home deaths is another issue of concern.
While the
digital currency Bitcoin has been soaring in value, its value seems
especially fragile, as it’s not universally accepted. As mentioned before on
this blog, whatever is designated as money only has as much value as people are
willing to give it. Bitcoin is valuable because people value it, a tautology.
Stock market fluctuations are somewhat similar. Since all money is funny money
to a certain extent, I don’t get overly concerned about the national debt. We
are living in the here and now, not in the future, and we are confronting a national
emergency.
The northern
“underground railroad” that helped southern slaves to move north is well known,
including Harriet Tubman’s prominent role. Less well known is the southbound
“railroad” going to Mexico from Texas and neighboring states, allowing a
smaller number of “Negro” slaves to escape to freedom. Prior to emancipation, an
estimated 3000-5000 slaves did cross the southern border on horseback or simply
by walking into Mexico, which had outlawed slavery in 1829.
On the
subject of Texas, the University of Texas will continue to play the
controversial song “The Eyes of Texas” at football games because alumni
insist. I remember that song only too well, as we used to sing it daily when I
was in kindergarten in El Paso, much to my distress as a five-year-old child. The
refrain goes “the eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live-long day; the eyes
of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away.” Reportedly, the song was originally
inspired by Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
I am not the first person to see a certain resemblance between armadillos, thought to transmit leprosy to humans, and pangolins, considered a probable transmitter of Covid.
Strange as it may seem, both have live births and nurse their young. Neither is particularly cuddly, but each is cute in its own way.
After
being cooped up during the pandemic, I do appreciate my home of more than 50
years, but don’t feel exclusive allegiance to Washington, DC, or even to this
country. I find myself especially missing my annual visit to Honduras now in
Feb./March, where I’ve gone at this time of year ever since leaving Peace Corps
there 17 years ago. Honduras is like my second country and Cuba would be the
third if I were still able to go there, which I am not, as recounted in my Confessions
book. (That book has been confiscated by travelers returning through the Havana
airport, so they’ve said.) Fourth country would be Colombia, where, as
mentioned above, I’ve lived before, also the birthplace of my son Jonathan.
Posting on this blog is not as easy as it looks. Items don’t always appear as posted, as I find out in a preview, then go back to make corrections "blind" on the blog itself, and back again to preview to find out that the corrections failed or made things worse. Sometimes, I just give up and let the anomalies remain. Thanks for your indulgence.
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