T’s the Season to be Jolly, and to Deck the Halls
with Boughs of Holly.
Here from our neighborhood website is a local Santa with Mrs. Santa.
Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, poinsettias were first
described by Europeans in 1834.
In Latin America, the poinsettia is known
as Flor de Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve Flower, or sometimes Flor de Pascua, meaning
Christmas Flower. Poinsettias’
association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico,
where legend tells of a girl, commonly called Pepita or María, too poor to provide a gift for the
celebration who was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and
place them at the church altar. The weeds then sprouted crimson blossoms,
turning them from weeds into beautiful flowers. Poinsettias are
poisonous to pets if they ingest them.
Flowers to brighten
winter days not only include poinsettias, but other flowers cultivated in
greenhouses.
For those of us living
on Capitol Hill, a walk over to the Botanic Gardens can provide us with a taste
of summer any time of year.
On Dec. 15, I attended
a farewell party for the Amnesty International office at 600 Pa. Ave. SE. Now, in
the digital age, with less need for in-person meetings, the office will be
moving to NW DC, a more affordable and more convenient location for most staff.
I’ve been a member and volunteer AI leader for 42 years, dating back to when
the office had been located at 3rd and Pa. SE. In those days, Capitol
Hill was not considered a desirable location. Among about 60 people in
attendance at the farewell were many old friends whom I had not seen since
before the pandemic. (Time will tell whether I was exposed to Covid there or at
a concert previously.)
Now with more work and
meetings being done on line, the need for the Amnesty office to be near Congress
is not so important. Still, I’m sorry to see it leave from what is a convenient
location for me. Now, I’m quite ready to pass on my volunteer duties as
Caribbean Coordinator responsible for 30 island nations and territories while
still remaining a member of local Group 211, which I helped found 42 years ago.
I’m the only member of our original 211 group, which back then met in person in
our own homes where we wrote letters by hand.
One woman at the Amnesty
farewell office event wore a T-shirt emblazoned in large letters with ”Abortion
is a Human Right,” a sentiment I do not share. A sign on the ladies’ room said
something to effect that there are no restrictions whatsoever on who may use
this restroom. At the event, I wore a black t-shirt displaying a Picasso
drawing of someone behind bars.
Dec. 19 is a
bittersweet date in our family, my older daughter’s birthday and the day we
lost my older son Andrew. (One of my grandsons is named for him.)
For happier memories,
I look at a photo of my 2 daughters as children wearing matching
dresses that my mother made for them.
WTOP News,
Police:
2 shot, 1 killed in Northwest DC This happened last weekend.
USA Today, Gunman kills five people and is killed by police at
apartment building in Canada
This is a report of a rare mass
shooting outside Toronto in Canada.
A worldwide recession is
looming, or will that just be a self-fulfilling prophesy?
In my lifetime, China
has gone from Asian backwater to world power. Also, in my lifetime, the worldwide
British Empire has shrunk back to its island dimensions. The USA likewise has
no guarantee of remaining on top. In fact, during Donald Trump’s presidency, we
took several steps back.
By hosting the World
Cup, Qataris have put their small nation on the map.
Qatar has a total
population of only 3 million, enjoying the highest per capita income in the
world, $92,000, at last count, due mainly to profits from oil and gas reserves.
Argentina celebrated its World Cup win without concern for Covid.
The World Cup is finally
over, but 3 journalists died unexpectedly at the games. One of them was
well-known American reporter Grant Wahl , age 49, who died from an aortic
aneurysm.
A 12-year-old chess prodigy, Tanitoluwa
Adewumi and his parents who fled Nigeria over terrorism launched by
Boko Haram have been granted asylum in the United States.
AP, Environmentalists want jaguars reintroduced to US
Southwest
BBC News, World-record nonuplets return home to Mali from Morocco
Just before Christmas, the Malian
nonuplets have returned to Mali, where their parents will continue to need help
caring for them.
The babies are shown here with their slightly older
sister; the family with 10 children should now be complete.
Here’s a color portrait of an
Egyptian mummy buried over 2000 years ago.
Reviewing the
posting of Dec. 12, I see that some items from the Washington Post came
out all-caps again. I have no control over that and no longer try to remedy
such anomalies, as it’s proven useless.
I plan to return
to CoolFont in Berkeley Springs, W Va., with my son for Christmas. Photos from
my Thanksgiving visit get me in the mood.
Other news items are all over the map.
The long arm of the law may still get you over time and
distance. Mario Garcia was captured for murder in Guatemala after 40 years and
Arya Singh was arrested in Florida for murder 4 years after throwing her
newborn into the ocean. (Whereas an abortion the day before would not have
resulted in such a serious charge.)
NYTimes, It's Time to Wear a Mask Again, Health Experts Say
Daily Mail, Hawaii's last
PRINCESS dies aged 96 with her wife, 69, by her side: Inherited $215m from
sugar plantation owner dad, bred racehorses and enjoyed toying with people who
asked her for donations Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa was her name. She inherited her wealth not from her native forebears, but as
the great-granddaughter of Irish businessman James Campbell.
Daily Beast, ‘Monster’ With Sharpened Teeth Held 20-Year-Old Captive
for Weeks, Cops Say It’s astounding how a
baby born and raised among us can become, at age 34, a veritable monster with a
tattooed face and sharpened teeth who held a pregnant woman captive and
assaulted her multiple times, not letting her escape. How does any human child born
morph into someone like that and could he ever be reformed?
Donald Trump won’t be returning to the US
presidency, fortunately, though he may not be ready to admit that yet.
We
don’t see Melania out there campaigning with him anymore. Trump wants to make
America great again, once again, back to a time when white men like him were totally
in charge. Or maybe his candidacy is simply designed to defer his legal
troubles and allow him to collect donations meanwhile? He’s been selling
digital trading cards at $99 depicting himself as a super hero, items that soon
sold out. Democrats could benefit if Trump stays in the game by dividing Republican
voters, though heaven help us if another electoral fluke should allow him to win once again!
Above, Mr. Trump rages against the Jan. 6 Committee.
HuffPost, Trump Hoarded Most Of The $147 Million In Small-Donor
Money He Raised For Himself
After seeing a video montage about Trump, Jane Goodell
observed: “I see the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee
will show when he is competing for dominance with another...They’re upright,
they swagger, they project themselves as really more large and aggressive than
they may actually be in order to intimidate their rivals.”
AP, The Federal Reserve's move Wednesday to
raise its key rate by a half-point brought it to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the
highest level in 14 years. The Fed's latest increase — its seventh rate hike
this year — will make it even costlier for consumers and businesses to borrow
for homes, autos and other purchases. If, on the other hand, you have money to
save, you'll earn a bit more interest on it.
Wednesday's rate hike, part of the Fed's
drive to curb high inflation, was smaller than its previous four straight
three-quarter-point increases. The downshift reflects, in part, the easing
of inflation and the
cooling of the economy. As interest
rates increase, many
economists say they fear that a recession
remains inevitable —
and with it, job losses that could cause hardship for households already
badly hurt by inflation.
During my own lifetime, the vast British Empire has shrunk precipitously. Let that be cautionary tale for our own country whose continued world superiority is not guaranteed. China is snipping at our heels.
Fox News, Retired Navy SEAL made famous after coming out as
trans announces detransition: 'Destroyed my life'
A retired Navy SEAL who became famous nearly
10 years ago after coming out as transgender announced he is detransitioning
and called on Americans to "wake up" about how transgender health
services are hurting children. "Everything that happened to me for the
last 10 years destroyed my life. I destroyed my life. I'm not a victim. I did
this to myself, but I had help...I take full responsibility...I went on CNN and
everything else, and that’s why I’m here right now. I’m trying to correct
that."
Just from having
lived for a very long time in many different places in the world and having known
such a wide variety of people, I do agree that physical gender changes should
be delayed, preferably at least until age 18. Likewise, even sexual preferences
may not be locked in until after that age, as has happened among some folks who’ve gone back and forth, so perhaps were actually bisexual rather than either
strictly gay or straight? Some identities are not so clearly fixed, although probably
most remain constant for most of us throughout life. However, it seems that
more people are trying to experiment now, although the majority of us remain
within traditional male-female preferences and relationships.
I disagree with a
recent court decision that sided with trans athletes who were being challenged
by those born female. Most trans athletes “transition” after first getting much
of their male height and bone structure, which gives them an unfair advantage.
I wonder if many trans athletes who retire from sports then revert to
expressing their birth gender? Most apparently retain male genitalia.
AP, Democratic lawmakers
visit Havana, meet with Cuban president
Reps. James McGovern (D-MA), Mark Pocan
(D-WI) and Troy Carter (D-LA) met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
An unlucky group of Cuban rafters was
seized by the Cuban coast guard.
Delta Air Lines Is Resuming Flights to
Cuba for the First Time Since 2020
The route to and from Havana will return following a three-year
hiatus.
Daily
Mail,
The ticking border
time bomb: 1,000 migrants in the largest caravan in HISTORY
crosses the Rio Grande into El Paso - with huge numbers being released onto the
streets and just nine days until Title 42 ends
A group of 1,000 migrants crossed illegally into El Paso, Texas on
Sunday night
It is possibly the largest single caravan so far to cross into the U.S.
from Mexico
Migrants are mostly from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Migrants making a nighttime passage near El Paso, Texas.
End of Title 42: El Paso says 2,460 migrants crossed DAILY over
weekend | Daily Mail Online
The flood of
border crossers continues.
Rep. Tony Gonzalez shares photo of an overcrowded El Paso shelter.
During
World War II, I was a child living in El Paso while our father was in the army
in Europe. Back then, my brother and I would walk with our mother across the
bridge to Ciudad Juárez to shop. I never
remember it getting cold then, as it has been there recently, rather,
stiflingly hot with no air conditioning. People were not gathering at the border
in droves then to enter the USA.
AP, US judge blocks Biden
bid to end 'Remain in Mexico' policy
Despite that block, migrants are still streaming across the border.
Our country does need more
migrants to fill work positions right now, though perhaps not arriving in such a haphazard fashion, and also more babies. We're fortunate that so many migrants want to live and work in our country.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rogue-hippo-swallows-2-year-old-then-spits-him-back-out A 2-year-old
boy is recovering after a rare hippo attack in which the massive animal
“swallowed half of his body” but then...the hippo had been forced to “vomit”
the boy back up after a shocked bystander hurled stones at it. The boy had
reportedly been playing by himself outside his home near the shores of a lake
in southwestern Uganda when the hippo “grabbed” him...A man who was nearby saw
the horrific scene unfolding and “stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to
release the victim from its mouth,” police said. The hippo retreated back into
the lake and the boy was rushed to a hospital for treatment after having been
“half swallowed.” Police said he escaped any serious injury.
Here are 2 wildlife photo winners. The one below features Honduran white bats.
Meanwhile, in our own neighborhood, less exotic animals continue to be lost and found.
In So. Korea and
Japan, children are often considered a year old at birth and another year older
on New Year’s Day, though efforts are now underway to use the Western system of
measuring age from the birth itself.Prostate cancer is an epidemic among men of a certain
age, including in my own extended family. A close friend died of prostate
cancer just this year. Men my age and younger often reveal their diagnosis secretly
in hushed tones, but I am no longer surprised. When most people died at younger
ages, these now common cancers didn’t have time to develop. We are happy when
we and others reach developmental milestones, but try to reverse course when
the biological clock starts winding down.
Age does take its
toll on all of who survive into our 80s, as I have. When I was in my 30s, I
remember traveling all over western and eastern Europe with my husband, who was
blind and who had a number of official stops on his itinerary. I was not only 7
months pregnant, but we had our 2 small children also in tow. I had to get
everyone through various unfamiliar airports. Nowadays, I might have trouble finding
gates just for myself.
Looking from the
outside, we might imagine that others live carefree lives and always enjoy
supportive relationships, but no doubt everyone faces frequent challenges in
their everyday and personal life.
According Article 1 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights:
“All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights.” Dec. 10 was Human Rights Day. (The declaration only
applies to those actually born.)
Anti-abortion advocates are described as being
“anti-choice,” while abortion advocates are said to be “pro-choice.” But what
if the choice is to actually give birth to a baby, as women have been
doing since time immemorial? Neither “pro-choice” nor “pro-life” advocates are
offering help to mothers in need over the long term, though some pro-life
groups do offer temporary assistance immediately after a birth. To avoid
population decline and top-heavy support of elders, US average family
size needs to reach at least 2.1 children, and/or more immigration needs to be encouraged.
A Planned Parenthood ad declares, “Abortion is under
attack," another such ad asserts “Abortion is health care,” also revealing that
donations are tax-deductible. Now there are “abortion doulas” as well as birth
doulas. Va. Democrats have vowed to defeat the governor’s proposed 15-week
abortion ban. Are 15 weeks considered not long enough for a woman to make up
her mind?
Daily Mail, America's
new abortion landscape REVEALED: Maternity care 'deserts', hours-long
journeys to clinics, fewer care providers, rising mum and child death rates and
spiking demand for miscarriage drugs, reports show
·
Requests for
self-administered abortion drugs spiked after Roe was nixed
·
Alabama,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma saw the biggest rises
·
Maternal death
rates are 62 percent higher in abortion-restricting states
·
And newborns
are 30 percent more likely to perish in their first month of life
·
Two fifths of counties in
those states are now classed as 'maternity
Carrying a pregnancy to term and
raising
a child to adulthood certainly carry more risks and responsibilities for a
woman than having an abortion, especially an early medication abortion. Early
in a pregnancy, the gender and other characteristics of a human fetus are
already determined, but abortion advocates do not yet consider it an actual
human. Some would say it’s not an individual person until after emerging and
taking a first breath.
More help is needed for pregnant women
lacking adequate support, including after a birth, something not being
provided in states restricting abortion. The first year of life is the riskiest
for offspring. Most
pro-lifers have not put their money where their mouth is to provide or advocate
for practical and emotional support for needy mothers. That would be the
best way to reduce abortions.
NYTimes, 'I'm Not Ready': A Mother Denied an Abortion in Texas
Faces an Uncertain Future
AP, Oregon governor commutes all 17 of state's death
sentences
Outgoing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that she is commuting
the death sentences of all of the state's 17 inmates awaiting execution, changing
their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brown, a
Democrat with less than a month remaining in office, said she was using her
executive clemency powers to commute the sentences. Neighboring California
already has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2019.
Amazon’s Alexa
and Google’s Siri are more than bots for some folks, but actual
companions with whom they speak. If these virtual helpers had faces, they’d
seem even more human.
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puede ser utilizada por la persona o compañía a
la cual está dirigido. [This pertains to real estate for sale.]
