Monday, January 24, 2022

Peace Corps at 60, Global Warming? Virus Update, Other News & Commentary

 Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into existence.

The pandemic has dealt a serious blow to the Peace Corps, but now the corps is tentatively starting up again by first sending already experienced former volunteers for shorter stints to selected countries.

Let me say again at the outset, I post everything here in the same font, but it comes out with differences. Why? Please just bear with me. 

While global warming may be real, it doesn’t feel very real now here in DC. Our daytime temperatures in 20s F, or even teens at night, remind me of the January weather during Barack Obama’s first inauguration when we all stood outside cheek by jowl, packed in tightly together as far as the eye could see, stepping on each other’s toes, but still shivering as we struggled to hear what he was saying. (I also stood by observing Trump’s pitifully small inauguration crowd on an almost balmy winter day, as I live in the neighborhood.)

President Biden’s approval rating is at 47% according to Fox News, not a great number, but trending upward.

Now a few other news items. In Norway, mass murderer Anders Breivik, after giving a Nazi salute in the courtroom and carrying a white nationalist sign in English, now 10 years into his sentence, has unabashedly requested parole. The Norwegian public would certainly not feel at ease if he were walking free. He wantonly and deviously killed 77 people, including many young people. He is now 42 and supposedly could be released at age 53 after serving just 21 years, usually the maximum sentence in Norway. That seems too young and too soon for his safe release. However, Norway does provide for an extension beyond 21 years in special cases, which I suspect this would be. While I do not support the death penalty, Breivik certainly deserves life without parole.


Insider, A 73-year-old New York grandmother outsmarted scammers who pretended to be her grandson and said he needed $8,000 to be bailed out of jail

 

When they came to get the money from her, they were arrested. Yes, I too have had calls from similar scammers. My response to shut down my supposed grandson caller was “What’s your name?” “Grandma, you know my name,” he responded. “Yes, but just tell me your name,” then a click as he hung up.

A 75-year-old Frenchman who was trying to row across the Atlantic Ocean has been found dead at sea, his support team said.

The boat being used by Jean-Jacques Savin was found overturned. He was brave to try, but gambled away his life.

Tonga’s undersea volcanic eruption had everyone scrambling to find Tonga on a map. Until its volcano eruption and tsunami, that small country of 100,000 souls had only one virus case. The massive volcanic eruption has even been blamed for an oil spill in Peru.

Reuters, Vatican Website Gives Space to Group Demanding Female Priesthood

While a church with 2 millennia of history and more than 1.3 billion members has developed many entrenched factions, I’m glad now to see female priesthood advocates gaining some traction. Jettisoning celibacy would also be welcome.

A Pa. woman rescued this wet and shivering creature but an animal shelter wasn't sure what it was.  “What do you think I am, dog or coyote?” the organization asked. 


Quartz, Omicron has completely outpaced the delta variant in the US

 

Just as we had hoped the virus was ebbing, omicron, a new variant popped up. So, what’s next? That’s uncertain. The virus and its various manifestations have helped sour the electorate on President Biden, as inevitably the buck stops with him.


Individual liberties versus the rights of others have always presented a conundrum, as when your right to carry a gun endangers me. Likewise, your right to breathe freely while unmasked and unvaccinated risks others. Many Republican lawmakers support individual rights regardless of threats to everyone else. Unvaccinated anti-maskers gathered here in DC. Proud Boys and Trump supporters were prominent among them. 


The unvaccinated and unmasked not only endanger others and allow the virus to spread and mutate, but use up scarce medical resources when they do fall ill. And such unvaccinated Covid patients often die anyway, despite valiant efforts by hospitals to save them.

Ft. Worth Star Telegram, Man whose wife sued hospital over COVID care dies after transfer to Texas

Scott Quiner, a 55-year-old from Buffalo, Minnesota, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October and had been on a ventilator for two months at Mercy Hospital...He was unvaccinated...and often shared on social media misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine

LA Times, Op-Ed: Anti-vaccine patients vent anger on healthcare workers like me. It takes a toll on care

All over the world, people are getting understandably tired of Covid, but hospitals doing such heroic work should not bear the brunt of these frustrations.

JAMA, Study Links COVID Vaccine Symptoms to "Nocebo Effect"

 

Adverse symptoms experienced after a Covid vaccination may be at least partly attributable to the nocebo effect, whereby a person already expects negative results, the opposite of a placebo effect.


News-Press, DeSantis administration puts Florida health director on leave for encouraging vaccinations for his staff


Ron DeSantis, among other bogus claims, speculates that vaccination hurts fertility. Is he advocating “freedom” to get sick and die? DeSantis also has reportedly redrawn voting maps to eliminate 2 majority black districts, perhaps trying to out-Trump Donald Trump.

 

An unvaccinated Sarah Palin’s positive Covid test may delay jury selection in her lawsuit against the New York Times.


Courier Journal, Mitch McConnell says Black people vote just as much as 'Americans'

 

Minneapolis Star Tribune, Florida man charged with human smuggling after 4 freeze to death at Minn.-Canada border

 

Four people froze to death after being abandoned by a smuggler near the Canadian border. They had been able to get visas to Canada, apparently easier than to the US, where it’s nearly impossible. Then why didn’t they just stay there? Despite seriously colder weather, Canada offers many advantages to would-be immigrants. However, those unfortunates may have had US relatives and also have been enticed by the magic allure of our country, where many folks imagine that all their problems will disappear. It’s a common fairytale vision. Now with the US-Canada bordered reopened, many asylum seekers are now making the trek in reverse, crossing from the US into Canada, where actually obtaining asylum may be easier.  

People, Woman Meets Biological Son She Never Knew Existed — All Thanks to DNA Test: 'Instant Love'

Here’s an unusual twist on a surprise genetic-heritage story, a woman who had once donated her eggs was found years later by a young man born as a result.

During a pandemic with no end in sight, it’s not terribly surprising that the birthrate is down in the US, as in other developed countries. Most pregnant women elect to give birth in hospitals, where both they and their newborns might now be exposed to Covid. In an uncertain world, couples are coping as best they can with current responsibilities, not eager to add any new ones. A baby boom is more likely when people are feeling optimistic.

The virus poses a challenge to the Beijing Winter Olympics, awarded to that city long before the pandemic.  

Reuters, Pope confers lay ministries on women, formalising recognition of roles

 

Pope Francis has taken a step in the right direction. Let’s see if his successor will go even further.  

HuffPost, Tucker Carlson Says 'Conservatives Have Remained Calm And Nonviolent, Thank God'
Apparently, Carlson said this with a straight face. He also has compared vaccine mandates to Nazi experiments.

Reuters, Anti-abortion activists march in Washington, hoping it's the last time under Roe v. Wade

The pro-life folks came out on the coldest day of the year, January 21, when the temperature was about 20 F. Their slogans were “equality begins in the womb" and “love them both.”


A Fox News poll indicates that now a half century after Roe, Americans remain about evenly divided on abortion, with 29% saying abortion should be legal in all cases, 20% legal in most cases, 38% percent only legal in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, and 11% that it should never be legal. That continued lack of wholehearted abortion support is probably because the rights of the mother (potential mother?) are pitted against the rights of the unborn (future person) to stay alive. Probably a 15-week abortion cutoff (almost 4 months), as proposed in Mississippi, if examined closely, would actually be supported by most Americans, perhaps even proving acceptable to some supporters of “abortion rights.” Some European countries that allow abortions have a 12-week cutoff.

A fertilized human ovum in a petri dish would not normally be considered a person or even a potential person because it can only grow and develop if implanted into a woman’s body. Artificial wombs are still in the future; if and when they come about, the steam will go out of the abortion debate. Already because of advances in neonatal care, viability has been starting earlier. “All lives matter” is a popular slogan seemingly applicable to the unborn, being both human and alive.

I can empathize with a woman finding herself unexpectedly pregnant. I realize that she may face domestic violence and may not want to bring a new baby into her world. But as both an adoptive and a birth mother, I find difficulty taking the next step with her to the point of an actual abortion.

Abortions may be sought more often by low-income women who lack contraception and are in abusive relationships. Biden’s BBB bill would help them find a path out. Pro-lifers also need to support more practical help for parents after birth, as Biden has been advocating, including help with obtaining birth control, as well backing the gamut of pro-life policies included in the seamless garment ethic, including better gun control and ending the death penalty.

Contrast US abortion support 50 years after Roe with support for same-sex legal marriage, where state bans were struck down by the Supreme Court only in 2015. Americans’ support for same-sex marriage continues to trend upward, now at 70%--a new Gallup high.

Of course, same-sex marriage is not even contemplated in many Muslim majority countries, nor in most of Asia or in Africa, where laws and public sentiment run completely contrary.

Why is Planned Parenthood now posting so many on-line ads? WAMU, a local public radio station, mentioned the annual Right-to-Life march in just a few sentences, saying nothing about its numbers, then segued to a long interview with an abortion--or abortion-rights--advocate who was active 50 years ago. She said she was surprised that the issue is still so controversial. In mainstream media, I’ve never heard the January marchers described as “pro-life,” as they would describe themselves, but rather always as “anti” as in “anti-pro-abortion,” “anti-reproductive rights,” “anti-abortion rights,” or simply “antichoice’”

Proponents of decriminalizing abortion were strategic from the start in couching it as a “right,” moreover as a “women’s right,” as well as a “constitutional right,” though one scarcely recognized by framers of the constitution. The right to privacy is enshrined in the constitution and might apply to medication abortions taking place in the privacy of a woman’s home, which now as a practical matter cannot be stopped by any law. Abortion clinics performing surgical abortions at an intermediate stage, however, may lose business under a law like the one proposed in Mississippi, while later abortions, where the fetus has life-threatening defects, will still take place in hospitals.

As an interpreter, I’ve been involved in many intimate family crises, where even though a doctor or a therapist may nominally be in charge, because I’m the one speaking Spanish, the protagonists often turn to me. (Also, as a former social worker, I’m sensitive to their concerns.) More than once, a pregnant 12-year-old has been grilled about how this could possibly have happened as she steadfastly refuses to divulge the identity of the father, though she has a step-father who seems the likely culprit. She well knows he will go to jail if his identity is revealed. The girl’s clueless mother admits never noticing her daughter’s pregnancy until almost the due date and seems eager to protect her partner who provides the family with crucial support. Aborting a pregnancy at this late stage means essentially killing a fetus that could survive outside the womb. Whatever course is taken, the girl will experience trauma. Sometimes the child is born alive and passed off as a younger sibling of the birth mother. After the birth, DNA could probably lead to the father, but I’ve never been called in as an interpreter for that part of the story.  

 

Fox News, Recent Cuban immigrant and college student shocked by peers' perception of socialism, seeks to dismantle it

 

The dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela, and China, and even Putin’s hold on Russia, are not the sort of “socialism” being advocated by some Americans. That’s just a bogeyman being promoted by conservative pundits. Rather, Bernie Sanders and others envision a system more like that of Scandinavia, Denmark, and the Netherlands, with free expression and a market economy joined with universal benefits like health coverage and child care for a winning combination.

 

Miami Herald, Miami pols, how can you call for democracy in Cuba, but stand with fascism in Florida? | Opinion

 

Cuban-born Fabiola Santiago, Miami Herald columnist, is calling out Florida Republicans for touting democracy in Cuba, but standing with what she calls the “racist, fascist impulses” of Ron DeSantis in Florida and she also indicts Trump.

 

AP, Cuban protesters await sentencing, facing long prison terms

 

Yes, Cuba itself is a full blown dictatorship of more than 60 years.


Miami Herald, A kidnapped Cuban doctor is being held by a gang in Haiti even though ransom was paid

LA Times, Kamala Harris headed to Honduras for inauguration of country's president


Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the Presidential Delegation to Honduras to attend the January 27 inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro. Harris’s visit is a great honor for Honduras and for the president-elect.

Listening to old radio shows from the 1940s and 50s (I don’t have TV), I’m taken back to the time when “smokes” were politely offered to visitors. My own late former husband, a chain smoker, died of lung cancer in 1999.

Having experienced a divorce after 24 years of marriage and the youthful deaths of my son and Cuban foster son, I now feel inoculated against the isolation imposed by Covid since I’ve survived so much worse. I do cherish the time my boys and I had together and now appreciate my life as a single woman. I’ve also learned that while we always try to anticipate the future, we often cannot predict what will happen next.


January sunset in Washington, DC

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Tuesday, January 18, 2022

MLKing Remembered, Snow Redux, Various, Vaccination, Narcissism, Predictions, Australia, Cuba, Pregnancy Options, Trump Rallies Again

Whenever the Martin Luther King holiday rolls around, I’m reminded of that day in August 1963 when my late former husband and I stood at the edge of an enormous crowd, straining our ears to hear what King was saying in his “I Have a Dream” speech. In town for another meeting, we decided to attend what turned out to be an iconic speech. Then in 1964 King would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1968 would be assassinated, but until that speech, he was not yet internationally famous.

 On the holiday, King’s son, MLKing III, his wife, and 13-year-old daughter joined a Peace Walk across DC’s Frederick Douglass Bridge and his daughter, Yolanda, spoke to the crowd.   


It snowed again on Jan. 16 in DC for the 3rd time in 10 days. Prior winters saw only a dusting of snow that soon melted. Is more frequent snow now a manifestation of climate change or what? It was not so much this time, but now the novelty is wearing off. 

We also have been having colder temperatures than usual. The other night, it went down to 17 F, the coldest in 3 years. 

My son living 2 hours away in W Va., also saw snow this time, though his area  missed our snowmageddon of Jan. 3. Here are his apartment’s front steps and a path that he had shoveled before going out to shovel for his neighbors.  



As a Spanish interpreter in immigrant apartments in the DC area, I’d often notice beeping or dangling smoke detectors, as well as electric heaters in use, just as in the home of the immigrants where the deadly Bronx fire took place. It all has sounded too familiar. Not only might immigrants fail to change smoke detector batteries because they don’t know how or can’t afford to, but those coming from tropical climes, perhaps without residential electricity and certainly not heat, are also unaccustomed to dealing with electric heaters. [Please ignore font changes and odd spacing in this posting, as they stubbornly persist.]

In on-line ads, fathers are often shown changing babies or playing with young kids, while women may be shown operating heavy machinery. In real life, more often these gender roles are reversed, but let’s give advertisers credit for trying to change stereotypes. Likewise, black people are frequently shown as doctors or college professors. (Keep a look-out and you’ll see what I mean.)

Virginia’s new Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, won his race partly because of a stern vow to ban critical race theory, something not even taught in Virginia schools. He announced such a ban on his very first day. Whew, Virginians, now you don’t have to worry about that any more. What, exactly, is critical race theory? Few people actually know, as it’s rather complicated, but one of its main tenets is that race is a social construct.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a man with presidential ambitions, has again grabbed the limelight by threatening to fine hospitals for enforcing the federal vaccine mandate upheld by the Supreme Court. Donald Trump has called him “a wiseguy” and “dull.”

In the age of Covid, blood banks are running low, sending out an SOS for blood donations. There is no age limit, provided you are healthy and weigh at least 110 lbs. However, I’ve had malaria, actually more than once, which has prevented me from donating.

Daily Mail, 'It's a little bit disturbing': Unvaccinated talk radio host Glenn Beck, 57, says he has COVID for a second time and it's moved to his lungs: Reveals he's being treated with ivermectin and hydroxy

Covid, unlike other viruses, can strike more than once, and even affect vaccinated people, though usually not as virulently. Beck, presumably infected before, reportedly is among the adamantly unvaccinated. Figureheads like him who decry vaccination are guilty of spreading vaccine hesitancy and prolonging the spread of the virus, as well as endangering themselves, as in Beck’s own case.

Daily Beast, Unvaxxed Lunch Lady Wants You to See Her COVID Death Spiral

An unvaxxed lady almost died and still has health problems related to her brush with death, but she wants to warn others to get vaccinated.

Times-Mail [Indianapolis], Bedford teen recovering after 5 months in hospital with COVID complications

 

This boy, who also almost died and in photos appears overweight (a likely complication), was discharged while still using a breathing tube. His prior vaccination status is not mentioned in the article, probably indicating he was unvaccinated.

 

AP, Majority of COVID patients in German ICUs not vaccinated

 

AP, Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say

 

MarketWatch, Experts are starting to suggest most Americans will contract COVID as omicron variant spreads

 

But contracting it does not confer immunity from this virus, which keeps on mutating and Omicron is probably not the last mutation.

 

USA Today, My triple-vaxxed, 85-year-old mother caught COVID. Medical triage made her doctor useless.

 

The author is a regular USA Today contributor whose vaccinated father also came down with Covid. His parents weren’t given prompt medical attention, presumably because of their age. Patients in their 80s often don’t survive Covid even with proper care, so would have low priority. The son eventually found care for them far from home and they did survive.

Both older and disabled people, given that Covid care is in such short supply, may routinely be given second priority, especially as they may require extra attention.

Sex workers in the US and elsewhere have been especially hard hit financially by the virus, as it would be difficult to do sex work remotely.

If the largest US vote would simply always result in a winner, as in every other democratic country, the Trump presidency would never have happened and we would have had our first female president. The Republican Party would also have become less extreme and more faithful to Lincoln. Rogue elements would not now hold such sway. The recent accident of history that resulted in Trump could happen again unless the Electoral College could be abolished. So going forward, it is imperative to somehow assure that the popular vote will always prevail. We see now what can happen when a minority wins and tries to maintain its hold. And since I’m already on my soap box or perhaps just fantasizing, why not also give the vote to Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and other territories? That would be more democratic.

Jasper Johns, the well-known 91-year-old American artist whose styles have covered divergent ground over his many years of painting, is now being honored by retrospectives in 2 major museums. One of the paintings in these shows was featured in the New York Times on January 16, 2022. This provocative work, with its juxtaposition of actual metal objects and mostly gray brushstrokes, does invite closer scrutiny and speculation about its deeper meaning. However, to the untutored museum-goer’s eye, the immense value and artistic genius of such a painting may not be readily apparent.   

Buzzfeed and Reddit collect stories of premonitions that reportedly came true with stories that sound pretty convincing. I’ve had similar experiences myself, so I’m inclined to believe them. How or why do such very unlikely predictions come to pass, sometimes years later? There seems to be no scientific explanation—is it just the random caprice of chance?

Detroit Free Press, Roseville woman to face careless use of a firearm charge in 3-year-old's nonfatal shooting

A woman was carrying a loaded handgun in the pocket of her coat, left draped over a chair, that was found by a 3-year-old when she went into the kitchen to talk with his mother. He shot himself in the head, but hasn’t died yet.

Fox News, Wisconsin man was handling firearm that discharged, killing 8-year-old child: 'Put down the guns'

 

A man handling a gun shot a girl nearby, apparently by accident. As I’ve said before, reducing the number of guns in circulation means fewer gun accidents, suicides, and impulsive killings. Look at the UK, with only a handful of gun deaths. And look at Honduras, where guns abound and killings are through the roof. My own son is lucky to be alive today after a bedside handgun dropped by another 11-year-old only shot him in the foot when it discharged.  


Washington Post, The past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history

Washington Post, Australia hits 123 degrees, tying highest temperature on record in Southern Hemisphere

While we are in Australia, officials there seemed conflicted—or were in conflict with each other—about whether admitting Djokovic posed a risk or would be showing favoritism to a tennis star. Finally, after much delay and suspense, he was sent on his way.


NYTimes, Mass Trials in Cuba Deepen Its Harshest Crackdown in Decades (Some reportedly face 30 years.)

Miami Herald, More than 30 migrants stopped off the Florida Keys get Coast Guard ride back to Cuba

 

Miami Herald, A kidnap gang stole a maternity hospital’s new generator in Haiti. Now it has to close

 

Miami Herald, Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic join efforts to tackle migration, defend democracy

 

Reuters, Hundreds of U.S.-bound migrants set off in Honduras in first caravan of 2022


From Amnesty Int’l on a case in Honduras: On 11 December 2021, after launching our press release declaring the eight Guapinol defenders POCs, president-elect Xiomara Castro, condemned the criminalization of human rights defenders in the country and demanded the release of the Guapinol defenders. The trial of the Guapinol eight began on 1st December 2021 and resumes on 13 January 2022.


CADAL, Derrota madurista en la cuna de Chávez This article (in Spanish) tells how Sergio Garrido on Jan 9, won the governorship of the Venezuelan state of Barritas, triumphing over a Chavista candidate.


Fox News, Lia Thomas controversy leads women's sports advocates to speak out against NCAA: 'It's about fairness'


 

I would rarely find myself touting an issue being promoted by Fox News, but in this case, the suggestion that established athletes transitioning from male to female might compete in a separate category seems worth considering because of their special advantages. (Transgender sports competitors were discussed in the previous posting.)


People can be pretty picky. In Japan, a married woman whose husband had a hereditary condition sought to become pregnant by a man who lied about his ethnicity, education, and marital status. She subsequently gave up her baby and is now suing the man after learning he is Chinese, not Japanese, is married, not single, and went to a different university than the one he’d actually mentioned. After the birth, she gave up her apparently healthy infant, her own flesh and blood, carried for 9 months? If she could not tell the man was Chinese (or married, etc.) by actually seeing and interacting with him, what possible difference would that make for her baby? That child was fortunate to have been removed from such a shallow woman.


Parents in the US have won lawsuits for “wrongful birth” even when a healthy child is born after a failed sterilization and also where a child with disabilities has been born after a physician failed to check and warn parents in time for an abortion. A disabled person has also sometimes won a wrongful birth lawsuit. Of course, some such cases have been unsuccessful as well since, as with anything else, since judicial opinions vary and there is little established law on such matters. 

SNL reportedly did a humorous abortion sketch. Whatever one’s views on abortion, treating it as a joke seems a stretch.

On the subject of abortion, given that several states are considering a 15-week ban, I would agree with Justice Roberts, who asks whether 15 weeks—almost 4 months--isn’t long enough? The vast majority of abortions already take place within that time frame. How long do reproductive rights extend? Would a 15-week abortion limit be something worthy of mass protests? Most Americans would probably support such a cutoff.


USA Today, Abortion felt like an excuse to avoid helping us. Thankfully, we found another option.

Two women unexpectedly pregnant who had each considered having an abortion ended up finding help in Mary's Shelter in Virginia and went on to give birth.

It does seem that there might be fewer abortions if unexpectedly pregnant women knew where else to turn. Advocates for pregnancy choice should not only support greater help for pregnant women, but for both them and their babies after birth. Now in Mississippi, advocates for Medicaid expansion there are pointing out that more babies would survive after birth if health care were readily available.

Beyond concern for individual mothers and babies, encouraging more babies to be born and to survive means helping reverse the demographic slump our country is now experiencing. If Americans are going to live so long, more American babies need to be born and to grow up. Perhaps demographics might be a factor in advocating a reduced time frame in Roe vs. Wade? Biden and other Democratic lawmakers also now need to express more a nuanced abortion policy coupled with providing more help for pregnant mothers and babies after birth, instead of simply upholding Roe as gospel.  

Newsweek, How to Protect Unborn Life in a Post-Roe America | Opinion

The author of that article, Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, supports pro-life political candidates and advocates establishing more pregnancy centers and prohibiting abortions when a fetus can feel pain, as has already happened in some states.

USA Today, A fake, pro-Trump slate of 2020 electors sent their votes to Congress. Who was behind it? [Fake votes were sent from Arizona, just prior to his rally there.]


Insider, Trump claimed 'babies can be killed after birth' and called for ban on transgender athletes, stoking culture wars at Arizona rally


As indicated by what I’ve already written, there is no consensus on either transgender athletes or abortion limits, nor do opinions on either issue fall neatly into political camps. Trump’s political instincts correctly propelled him to seize on those 2 issues at his recent Arizona “Save America” rally whose theme was “Make America Great Again…Again.” There, wearing a red Make America Great hat (for sale at his stores), Trump again misstated facts, loudly declaring that he would not allow men to participate women’s sports and that former Democratic Governor Ralph Northam had advocated outright infanticide. Furthermore, If you’re white, you don’t get the vaccine.” He also announced that the FBI was behind the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump indulges in name-calling against Republicans who don’t support his election lies, calling them “a disaster” and “terrible.” What do those characterizations specifically tell you about those candidates—certainly that Trump doesn’t like them, which is enough for some voters, especially in the primaries. In the midterms, will Republican voters mostly still remain faithful to Mr. Trump?  

 


According to the definition of a narcissist from both the World Health Organization and the DSM, Donald Trump would qualify in spades. Narcissistic personality disorder, more common in men, is characterized by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive craving for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathize with others.  

A couple of readers have mentioned that this blog gives them a brief, though somewhat selective, summary of the news. I do appreciate my readers’ feedback, as well as their indulgence. Readers have contacted me using the email address posted above.

When grasping a stair rail in my house, built in 1895, or pulling out a pocket door, I appreciate the skills of craftsmen long gone whose work lives on.

Last time, I posted numerous photos and images that all came out fine, but not so long before, I was obliged to split a posting into 2, perhaps because there were too many photos? Or was it something else? This blog platform guards its secrets.