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.
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
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
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, a 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
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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