Yes, February is Black History Month. I have not forgotten, though family members who identify as black do seem to have forgotten.
Hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day, connecting with family and friends if not with a significant other.
On the
neighborhood website, someone is selling “ripped jeans.” Is that still a style?
Another website neighbor has warned owners of small pets about hawks flying low.
Some
neighbors have observed possums recently, but I haven’t seen any lately myself.
In any case, possums are gentle, shy creatures, not bold and aggressive like
raccoons. 
Before going any further, I must confess that I moved around parts of this posting and may have gotten some aspects out of order, so hope it still more or less flows along. I may have left some items out, but better that than repeating them.
Business Insider, Ontario declares state of emergency over trucker protests, calling the demonstrations an 'illegal occupation'
AP, Canada
border blockade clearing peacefully as police move in
Wash. Post, Paris and Brussels to ban ‘Freedom Convoy’ inspired by Canadian protest
Half of Olympic athletes playing for China were not born there, including many born in the US. Did they give up their American citizenship as China apparently requires? The answer seems murky.
Real snow fell in Beijing, causing temporary suspension of the winter games, which had been relying on artificial snow.
Right now, Vladimir Putin may have been playing “chicken” on
Ukraine, engaging in saber-rattling to show what he would do if Ukraine actually
tried to join NATO. Any such aspirations by Ukraine’s president are probably
quelled for the time being. Putin has made his point, showing what he could
do, as he actually did do not so long ago in Crimea.
We might take solace in knowing that troublesome leaders, like all of us, have finite lives, though they could always be replaced by someone as bad or even worse. Xi Jinping is now 68 and Vladimir Putin is 69 and neither ever plans to retire. Nor does Daniel Ortega, age 76, currently in his second presidential round, whose wife, age 70, could always succeed him. So far, Ortega has jailed 46 possible opponents to make sure he never loses another election, as happened to him in 1990, when I was there as an election observer. Donald Trump, who also aspires to a second round, is 75 and overweight, though looking somewhat slimmed down these days. It’s really scary to imagine he might take office once again.
Is it just my wishful thinking, or is Donald Trump’s star actually starting to sputter out now? Fissures seem to be appearing in his once rock-solid Republican support. We’ll find out at the midterms just how much clout with voters he still retains, learning eventually whether legal charges against him will actually stick. It’s important to him that Republicans who might protect him are victorious this time. Did he really try to flush incriminating evidence down the toilet? Is that why he complained about toilets being so hard to flush?
The man seems to have
been Teflon so far. His common facial expressions and terse declarations seem
almost like a deliberate parody of a crazy politician, but maybe they are in
fact genuine. One of his favorite chants first aimed at Hillary, “Lock her up,”
has now turned into “Lock him up.” He seems to lack any self-control or filter
on his emotions, much like a 2-year-old in a grown man’s body. Mike Pence
is now even being touted as a presidential candidate for 2024 in some
Republican circles.
While Republicans may accuse President Biden and the Democratic Party of “socialism,” that is not a dirty word. The kind of social safety net envisioned and encouraged by Biden is not Stalinism or Maoism, nor Cuban socialism, but more like the very functional systems now operating in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, combining considerable economic liberty with support for older or disabled people, new mothers, and the temporarily unemployed. Those countries have shown it’s possible to have the best of both worlds.
“Affirmative action” to create a more level playing field in jobs or education will arouse more push-back when supply is limited, since a minority candidate may be chosen for a rare opening that a straight white man also seeks. But if vacancies are plentiful in either realm, which now seems to be the case, affirmative action may go forward more easily.
Wash. Post, Marjorie Taylor Greene says Nancy Pelosi leads ‘gazpacho police,’
To her followers, that may sound just fine.
Sun News, ‘Mama bear’ owner of Myrtle Beach cafe dies of COVID: ‘She just didn’t get better’ She was 51 and unvaccinated. She leaves behind 3 children, including one only 11 years old.
NY Times, A
Rising Death Toll
There is
another health scourge in the US besides Covid, namely over 100,000 yearly drug
overdose deaths, mostly among young people. Fentanyl is the main culprit, as it easily leads to overdosing.
NBC News, She created a new Covid vaccine — and now she's up for the Nobel Peace Prize Honduran-born microbiologist María Elena Bottazzi, together with her physician colleague, created the Corbevax vaccine for Covid-19, a patent-free drug that last month received emergency authorization for use in India. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, has nominated Bottazzi and her colleague for the Nobel Peace Prize. Just think what the world and the US would lose if people like Bottazzi were not allowed to enter and work in our country? And when might such a vaccine be available here?
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández might have thought he got an out-of-jail-free card by joining
the Central American Parliament on the same day he left office, but the US was still
on his tail. Will the Parliament position afford him immunity or not? That
remains to be seen, as the matter is now under dispute.
AP, A stunning fall for ex-Honduran president wanted in US
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/11/honduras-environmentalists-mining-protesters-court-ruling Honduran supreme court orders release of anti-mining protesters Amnesty International described the original verdict as “outrageous” and said the Guapinol activists in Honduras were prisoners of conscience. But in a dramatic move, the supreme court has accepted an appeal filed months earlier. The court found that the case should never have gone to trial because the judge who sanctioned the indictment against the defenders – and later ordered pre-trial detention – was not authorized to do so. The charges must be annulled and the men freed, as the judge violated due process by presiding on cases outside her jurisdiction. The eight men, from a poor, semi-rural community called Guapinol, had been held in an overcrowded prison throughout the pandemic as a result of bail being denied – yet the conditions requiring pre-trial detention were never met, according to the supreme court decision.
In Cuba, slavery, threats, violence, harassment and separation of families are some of the lesser-known features of Cuban missions abroad, according to a recent virtual meeting held at the request of the Spanish NGO Prisoners Defenders, and due to complaints filed with the UN in Geneva and the International Criminal Court. I’ve met a number of Cuban doctors and other health practitioners in Honduras myself, some of whom have stayed on there and others who returned to their families in Cuba.
A women’s march in DC is scheduled for March 6. If focused heavily on “abortion rights,” I won’t be joining. I didn’t consider Virginia’s proposed 20-week abortion ban, which allowed exceptions, so draconian, but Democrats there roundly defeated it. Abortion, like many other issues, has become highly polarized and bitterly partisan, so is not subject to reasoned debate. I’ve already expressed my feelings on that topic, based both on my experience as a mother and as an interpreter for families raising adorable, lively preemie babies full of personality born close to 20 weeks—not the 28 weeks envisioned in Roe 50 years ago. Time now for an update! The number of abortions in the US has shrunk dramatically since Roe and now coat hangers are definitely out. Around the world, more countries seem to be moving toward permitting some abortions, but stopping them at much earlier stages than allowed in the US, at about the same stage as most early miscarriages. In some cultures, age is measured from the estimated time of conception.
Bucks Co.
Courier Times, Guest Opinion: The fact of human life is Roe v Wade's biggest
threat
Another
article questioning Roe has appeared, again in a small home-town newspaper, not
a major outlet, this time by a PhD instructor in medical ethics. His main point
in that a fetus is both human and alive.
NH Union Leader, Moms with tragic pregnancies split on late-term abortion ban Women testifying about their own unexpected pregnancies appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. A witness testified that she gave up her first child, who was then adopted, a girl who later married and is now the mother of 3 herself. That same witness told the committee that another of her children had died soon after being born with birth defects, but she was glad to have gotten to hold him. She also had four other healthy children whom she raised successfully. Of course, most abortions are not being performed for “tragic pregnancies,” if defined as tragic for the future life of the unborn.
People,
Italian Woman, 70, Found Sitting at a Table in Her Home 2 Years After Her Death
Is this the
likely fate of an older person living alone? We could actually do worse than
die sitting at a table, maybe simply getting ready to eat lunch. Or maybe after
going to sleep one night, then never waking up? My friend who took me to the
airport 2 years ago, when I was completely overloaded going to Honduras, has
just died suddenly of a heart attack. I am in shock. It would be best to gather
our loved ones around us for a final goodbye, but dying while carrying on with
ordinary life doesn’t seem too terrible either. The future is always uncertain.
Any of us could die today, tomorrow, or even the day after.
Lately, both online and in the mail, I’ve been bombarded by ads for collaborative, cooperative, or communal living, also for “independent” living, including senior housing and assisted living. Am I being targeted because of my age? I’ve lived my whole life with sharing, first with my birth family, then with husband and kids (I married at 21), then with foreign visitors, also with local housemates, so would like to try really independent living.
I tried vegan “chicken” tenders by accident, as the “vegan” part was in small print on the label, while “chicken” appeared more prominently. The product provided a good facsimile, but still tasted and felt “a little off,” though I do think I could get used to it. We all need to move toward a more plant-based diet, so this is a good start.
///////////////////////////
Como
decorar tu patio con plantas y algo más
Cocina
fácil y sana
No comments:
Post a Comment