Floyd Verdict, Republican Lawmakers, DC Statehood, Foreign Workers, Unaccompanied Minors, Sexual Identity, No Internet Privacy

 

The jury’s verdict was rendered in the murder trial of George Floyd with former police officer Derek Chauvin now locked up after being found guilty on all counts: second and third-degree murder and manslaughter. I doubt Chauvin intended to kill Floyd, though he certainly exercised excessive force that actually resulted in his death. He used very poor judgment and, as police officer entrusted with protecting the public, should be held to a higher standard than an ordinary person. So, it would not be surprising if on appeal Chauvin is still convicted of manslaughter, though he might be also convicted of second or third-degree murder even if there was no intent or expectation that death would result as long as he willfully inflicted serious bodily harm that actually resulted in death or showed extreme indifference to the value of human life. A police officer is usually armed and is invested with official authority, so carries immense responsibility and should be held to a high standard. Chauvin’s lawyers might still argue on appeal that he could not get a fair trial in Minnesota or anywhere else because public opinion—even world opinion—had risen up against him. According to polls, most Americans agree with the verdict. Whatever happens, this case will still continue to be a rallying point for social division. In fact, it already is, with the police killing of a teenage Ohio girl said to have been threatening others with a knife (supported by camera footage). Police often must make split-second decisions which, if replayed in slow motion, allow for secondhand quarterbacking.

 

Mass shootings in the US have become so epidemic now that we hardly react, Ho Hum, another mass shooting, how may killed this time?

 

Republican lawmakers barely comment on current events, focusing recently on a critique of Democrats involving Dr. Suess books. We do need a more serious and focused Republican Party that does not dumb down the electorate and pander to their worst instincts. Should political leadership aim to mimic only the lowest common denominator? The party now needs to emerge from Donald Trump’s sweaty grip, though white men at the core of his support may still complain about always being targeted as the bad guys. Former National Democratic Committee chair Howard Dean commented recently about Republicans, “These people are crazy...They’re conspiracy theorists, they’re whack jobs. They’re embedding their own reality. I mean, if they ever really run the country, it’s going to be a disaster.” Howard Dean Drops The Hammer On GOP: Racists, Conspiracy Theorists, Whack Jobs, https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/howard-dean-neo-fascist-gop-134037019.html  Indeed, on Fox, GOP apologist and spin doctor Tucker Carlson accused Democrats of trying to “dilute” the population by “replacing” current citizens with immigrants. Doesn’t that sound kind of whacky?

 

“Taxation without Representation,” the rallying cry of American colonists against British rule, is now gaining traction around the country. Auto license plates in DC have long proclaimed “No taxation without representation.” A DC statehood bill has now been introduced in the House of Representatives, making more Americans aware of the issue. Indeed, in my travels from east coast to west, I’ve found most people are surprised that those of us living in Washington, DC, the very seat of our representative government, have no voting representation in Congress, even with a population greater than 2 states. Republicans are grasping at straws trying to deny that representation to an overly Democratic electorate, calling it “unrealistic” and a “power grab,” also accusing the population of not being “well-rounded.” Puerto Rico may not be far behind, potentially adding more to the Democratic ledger. The solution for Republicans is to come up with workable and acceptable policies, not block Democrats from representation and voting.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been associated with rare, but very serious and difficult to treat blood clots among women under 50, resulting in a very few deaths, but, of course, if such a death or serious reaction is your own or of a loved one, that’s one too many. So now the vaccine may need to be avoided by younger women, an obvious solution. Unfortunately, revelations of life-threatening adverse reactions to the J&J vaccine, however uncommon, have contributed to vaccine hesitancy even within my own family although some of our members have actually come down with the virus. I sent a virus skeptical family member this rather graphic article by someone who did not have serious Covid, but still something to be avoided: Bob Wojnowski: No way was I getting COVID, until I did https://www.yahoo.com/news/bob-wojnowski-no-way-getting-040100786.html

 

A malaria vaccine under development is good news to folks like me who have suffered more than once with malaria, though supposedly it may become less acute in subsequent bouts. It’s an illness that annually kills over 400,000 and afflicts over 200 million worldwide.

 

On Yahoo News, 2 contrasting stories appeared, one about a "gestational surrogate" who "carries" babies for genetic parents, the other about a single woman who became a "mother" by giving birth to a baby conceived with a donated egg and sperm.

 

Not only is the definition of a mother in flux, but now new mothers often need official post-partum assistance, especially after giving birth to their first child, to replace the instruction and support that used to be provided by their own mothers and grandmothers back in the day.

 

AP, Biden OKs more foreign seasonal workers as economy improves, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-economy-589dc17501502479e3ee57a4b711ca41  The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. would approve an additional 22,000 H2-B seasonal, non-agricultural worker visas on top of the annual limit of 66,000 set by Congress. It cited increased demand from employers, with the number of people seeking jobless benefits at the lowest point since the outbreak of COVID-19.

 

People are climbing over Trump’s border wall with $5 ladders,                 report says, https://news.yahoo.com/people-climbing-over-trump-border--wall-194411626.html

 

Biden's announcement that unaccompanied minors will be admitted to the US is a message that has traveled fast and far. The most egregious example was that of the 2 Peruvian sisters, ages 3 and 5, filmed while being dropped one night over a border fence. Most unaccompanied minors are not as young as those girls, but teens who undertake their journey in a spirit of adventure and emancipation, though it usually turns out to be more rugged than anticipated. I've met several who have fallen off Mexican trains and lost limbs, like a young Honduran who lost an arm and a leg, seen here singing at a Washington, DC gathering. 

As a Spanish interpreter, I've also met a number of teens in immigration detention, lawyers’ offices, and asylum interviews, but rarely have known their final outcome. In those few cases where I've been informed later, all their petitions have been denied (under Obama). Some such young people seemed to have genuine fears of gangs either trying to rob or recruit them if they were boys or to rob or rape them if they were girls, describing hostile groups waiting for them on their walk to and from school or near their homes whenever they went out. In the Peace Corps, we tried to organize kids in groups opposed to gangs, providing them with strength in numbers. 

Readers will find much commentary about Latin America on these pages because of my own ties to that region after living there off-and-on, also about the Caribbean because of my position as volunteer Caribbean Coordinator for Amnesty International USA for the last 17 years, more recently with the help of 2 volunteer assistants, one for the Dominican Republic, the other for Jamaica, though with so many island nations in the Caribbean, it’s hard to keep track of human rights issues on them all.

Reuters, Castro's heir faces pressure to accelerate reform in Cuba, https://www.yahoo.com/news/castros-heir-faces-pressure-accelerate-235941467.html  [Miguel Díaz-Canel, age 60] It does seem, after more than 60 years of communist rule in Cuba and the end of Castro leadership, that the Cuban Communist Party will have a hard time maintaining control, especially after Raúl Castro’s death.  

Reuters, 4-19-2021, Cuban dissidents decry harassment, as congress denounces ‘counterrevolution’ attempts, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuban-dissidents-decry-harassment-congress-denounces-counterrevolution-attempts-2021-04-18/

 

Miami Herald, Coast Guard returns more than 20 migrants to Cuba, https://www.yahoo.com/news/coast-guard-returns-more-20-001503659.html

AP, Catholic officials halt activity in Haiti for 9 kidnapped, https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-officials-halt-activity-haiti-184729436.html Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed across Haiti as part of a three-day protest to demand the release of nine people including five priests and two nuns kidnapped amid a spike in violence.

 

Meanwhile, back in Washington, DC, surrounded and beleaguered by increasingly bold raccoons, I decided to finally cut down the tree where they like to hang out, giving them access to my house. I could just have the branches cut, as before, but those branches soon sprout back even when cut off right at the trunk. However, after making that momentous decision, I now find that no tree can be removed without the approval of a DC inspector, as was the case also last fall when the dead maple tree was removed. But even applying for a permit is proving challenging as there is no option offered for requesting a tree removal because of raccoons or even

because cut branches grow back too fast. So there will be delay before anything can happen. The raccoons look like they’re grinning at us.

Those of us who have lived a long time have witnessed dramatic social changes and also participated in them. Back in the dark ages when I was young (yes, I was young once), many fewer teens than nowadays identified with being gay, bi, transgender, or “gender fluid.” Sexual identity was just not considered a choice then. Everyone was presumed to be straight; men were men and women were women, each with separate social roles. Some long-ago teens probably were concerned about not being or feeling “normal,” but they often kept such feelings to themselves and tried to conform to social expectations, as probably still happens today, especially in traditional societies. My late brother, an architect who worked for a time in Saudi Arabia, told me of not uncommon trysts between or solicitations from Saudi single men who were prevented from coupling with women before marriage. Probably most were not gay in the long run and went on to marry and become traditional pater familias. I also know men both in the US and Latin America who recount that their first sex exploration was with other boys before they later courted and married women.

Now some American kids from an early age insist not only that they are not “straight,” but were actually born in the wrong gender. I don’t know any myself, though acknowledge they exist. Much more common, in my own experience as both a social worker and just as a citizen and a mother among other mothers, is of teens who apparently waiver and experiment with alternative sexual identities, now more often considered a choice than in my youth. Before surgery and hormone therapy were available to make actual physical changes, those feeling themselves to be misgendered could only dress as and try to mimic the behavior of the opposite sex. Women might go undercover on ships or the military wearing male garb and some effeminate men would don dresses, wigs, and make up. Considering sexual identity as a choice is largely a fairly new cultural concept, certainly not part of all cultures, either past or present. Viewing it as a choice, rather than as immutable from birth, does make for the emergence of a wider array of sexual identities and expressions and for their exploration by more people, especially in their youth, beyond the more traditional male-female pairing, which is still the norm.

Back in the old days, very few of those who might have had socially unacceptable or non-traditional feelings dared break out of their expected roles; most conformed to social expectations regardless. One couple, my own contemporaries, had several children the same ages as my own. Our family often associated with theirs. The parents broke up after the police arrested the husband while he was out one night soliciting sex from another man. The wife claimed to have had no idea of her husband’s double life. Except for his arrest, she might never have known and they might still be together today. Were his same sex activities just an option for him or more of a compulsion?

Social expectations always have a strong influence on everyday conduct, but now with expectations about sexual identity and behavior in flux, more young people may feel free to deviate from standard marriage and common heterosexual conduct. Most may still go on to marry someone of the opposite sex, but more now will be experimenting beforehand with sexual identities and practices. My point is that an individual’s sexual identity is often more than an inborn, genetic, or immutable characteristic, though some parents and young people contend it is fixed from birth, which may sometimes be true. But often it is also a matter of cultural and social influences and acceptance, including the very idea of choice and the example of others, and so may even change and evolve during a lifetime. Therefore, it would be unwise for a young person or a parent to try to enable irreversible physical changes before age 18, as an early sexual outlier may become more traditional over time. And sometimes people go back and forth in terms of practices and attractions, and others may only change their orientation later in life. Women, especially, seem more often to go on from early gay flirtations to straight sexual behavior and conventional marriage. Members of European royalty, however, never seem to deviate from heterosexual norms and would cause quite a scandal if they did.

Someone who had witnessed and participated in many changes during her long lifetime was Hester Ford, who died recently in NC at age 115. She was the mother of 12 and grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother of countless more, so her legacy lives on. She grew up picking cotton and other crops in the segregated south and voted in the 2020 election, presumably for Joe Biden, though it was a secret ballot. While she is mourned now by her family, she certainly lived a long and full life, up until the end still able to recite Bible verses.

None of us will live forever nor see the achievement of heaven on earth. And very few predictions are 100% accurate, maybe only that tomorrow our planet earth will continue turning on its axis. We still need to focus on improving not only our own individual life, but that of future generations, while knowing that the task of achieving a better life and a more just world will never be completed.

 “Un plan móvil hecho para ti” is one of many Spanish-language solicitations popping up on my computer screen. Do advertisers snoop into my emails or listen in on my phone conversations? How do they know I speak Spanish? My sister, who refuses to have email is correct, connecting to the internet does invade our privacy. She and her husband are anonymous in the world at large.

Spam phone calls are an epidemic. If anyone knows how to block them on a landline, please let me know. I always hang up immediately which may not discourage them, as many harassing and predatory calls are pre-recorded. Millions of such calls are constantly being spewed out, so a few unlucky folks will end up responding.