The state
seems to belong to an earlier era when neighbors all knew and supported each
other. My son never locks his front door and leaves purchases in his unlocked
parked car. Folks he passes on the street in his small town often greet him by his
first name. But after 3 ½ years of living there, he is still regarded as a newcomer.
W Va. has
been losing population and its citizens are older and poorer on-average than
most Americans. Employment has been lost particularly in coal mining. The state’s
total population is only 1.8 million. Charleston, the capital, is the largest city
with about 51,000 residents.
Maybe W Va. Senator Joe Manchin genuinely feels somehow belittled or taken for granted by the Biden administration and by the Democratic Party, but as a politician, he should have a thicker skin. Now he has inflicted critical damage on the administration and, more importantly, on the whole country, especially on his own constituents in W Va., by retracting his vote for the BBB bill. A fitting remedy would be for a retiring Republican senator to step up now and risk expulsion from the party by publicly announcing a vote for the bill, but I’m only dreaming since such a bold lawmaker would need to engage armed guards henceforth for round-the-clock protection.
Los Angeles
Times, Nicholas Goldberg: I really didn't think he'd do it. But I was
wrong about Joe Manchin's weak character [Goldberg
isn’t going to win over Manchin by that characterization.]
Market Watch, Should one
millionaire senator really be able to send millions of children back into
poverty?
The Hill, Nearly
three-quarters of GOP doubt legitimacy of Biden's win: poll
Despite Joe Biden’s record win of 7 million more votes than Donald Trump, too many people in W Va. and elsewhere, thanks to misinformation still being expounded by Trump, believe Biden won illegitimately due to fraud and collusion originating from murky and mysterious sources. Has a presidential loser ever before failed to concede? Even Al Gore, who apparently won the popular vote by a small margin ended up conceding, as did Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote over Trump by almost 3 million votes.
Ft.
Worth Star Telegram, Triple homicide suspect identified; Garland police ask for help
finding 14-year-old shooter [This youthful
shooter killed 3 other teenage boys, probably to settle a grudge. The ready
access to firearms makes such impulsive killings possible, in this case, having
cut several young lives short and meaning lifelong incarceration for the
shooter.]
Daily News, North Carolina 3-year-old dies after accidentally shooting
herself on Christmas [She found a holiday visitor’s
unsecured gun.]
The Hill, Armed
man with 'hit list' including Biden, Fauci arrested in Iowa on way to White
House
What more is
there to say about the “right to bear arms”? Fewer firearms would
mean many fewer premature and accidental deaths.
AP, Hundreds
of Afghans denied humanitarian entry into US
[It is a real
travesty after the abrupt US withdrawal from Afghanistan to deny humanitarian
visas to those who have supported our efforts there and who now seek refuge in
our country.]
After South
Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has left us, I am
recalling his visit to Washington, DC in 1999 when, wearing his signature red
cap and gown and flashing a big smile, he met with a group of us from Amnesty
International, applauding our work, listening to us, then shaking hands all
around.
The Nov. 15,
2021 issue of the New Yorker includes an article entitled “Letter
from Honduras: False Friends” referring to outgoing president
Juan Orlando Hernandez, suspected of drug trafficking, along with his brother, who
is now imprisoned in the US.
The Hill, https://thehill.com/policy/international/human-rights/586696-federal-class-action-lawsuit-filed-over-treatment-of [Haitian migrants]
Miami Herald, Two Cubans have been kidnapped in Haiti, Cuban authorities say
Miami
Herald, Just before Christmas, Cuban authorities handed decades-long
sentences to July 11 protesters
Miami
Herald, 25 Cuban migrants land on beach and near Key West landmark,
U.S. Border Patrol says
|
The Fight to
Define the Post-Castro Era By Jon Lee
Anderson
[in Foreign Affairs] |
[It is so much easier
to compel vaccination in an authoritarian country like Cuba, which has
vaccinated more than 90% of its citizens.] https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/medical-advances/586801-cuba-has-vaccinated-more-than-90-percent-of-its
AP, Nicaragua
seizes former Taiwan embassy to give it to China
Is it time to update Roe vs. Wade now that more is known about fetal development?
According to a June 2021 poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC
Research Center for Public Affairs, 65% of Americans believe that abortion
should be illegal in the second trimester of pregnancy and 80% in
the third trimester.
AP, Comments
renew debate over adoption as abortion alternative
[As this article
indicates, most single unexpectedly pregnant women who are not seeking abortions
now end up keeping their baby rather than placing the child for adoption. Unwed
motherhood no longer carries a stigma, as it did during the time of Roe. An expectant
mother does bond with the child, even during pregnancy, not only by witnessing
the growing baby bump, but by feeling movement and viewing ultrasounds revealing
the gender of the fetus. Most abortions take place early in pregnancy, before
the expectant mother has experienced any signs of the “personhood” of the
fetus.]
As acknowledged before, it isn’t easy to bear
and raise children and the responsibility doesn’t necessarily stop when they
grow up. Like any human relationship, parenting has its ups and downs and
sometimes more downs than ups. Human beings, ourselves and our kids included, may
act in unanticipated ways, which can make life surprising, scary, painful, but also
interesting and rewarding.
Occupational therapists with whom I worked for
many years would say that an effortless life, one without any challenges or “purposeful
activity,” might not be very fulfilling after all. (Ikea reports that customers
are willing to pay the same or even more for furniture that requires assembly
than for items already assembled.) Meghan O’Brien in “What Doesn’t Kill Me” in the
New Yorker (Nov, 15, 2021) argues that effort, as well as pain, gives a
sense of purpose to athletes, ballet dancers, and even daily joggers. She
refers to a book by Paul Bloom, The Sweet Spot: the Pleasure of Suffering
and the Search for Meaning.
[First part of this date's posting appears just before this one.]
///////////
Fernando Fernández
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