First, some good news:
Wash Post, U.S.
economy grew 5.7% in 2021, the fastest clip since 1984
As might be expected, President Biden did some well
justified bragging about this.
The
president was also lucky when he arrived to speak about his successful
infrastructure bill. Yahoo News, Biden,
in Pittsburgh hours after a bridge collapse, says funds from the infrastructure
law can be used for upgrades
BBC News,
Xiomara Castro: Honduras' first female president sworn in
Reuters, Hours
out of office, Honduras ex-president gains immunity through regional post
Outgoing
president Juan Orlando Hernandez took immediate
steps to safeguard his freedom by signing onto a 4-year term with the Central
American Parliament.
Reuters, Taiwan
vice president leaves to shore up shaky alliance with Honduras
AP,
Official: Honduras will maintain its relations with Taiwan
Our connections
with the animal kingdom persist, as we humans do not occupy this planet by ourselves.
A young female owl has been hanging out near Union Station where there are probably plenty of rats to feed her.
Wash. Post, The
world’s oldest living land animal? At age 190, it’s Jonathan the tortoise.
While global
warming may be a genuine trend, it does not feel like it right now.
USA Today, Frozen
iguanas are a real Florida weather trend
In Virginia, 2 officers were
killed during a shooting at the Bridgewater College campus with a suspect
now in custody. Flags in the state were flown at half-mast.
Congressional
investigators into Jan. 6 have allegedly expressed concerns that
calling on Donald Trump to testify would be useless
because of his habitual penchant for lying. He seems to be unable to tell the
truth and how would anyone ever know if he actually did? Mr. Trump has
reportedly collected a giant war chest to use as he likes. That gives him
political power if not legitimacy. And he has said he may run for president
again.
“If I run and I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,”
Trump told a crowd in Texas. “...and if it requires pardons, we will give them
pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.” He called the capitol rioters
“patriots” and “soldiers.” Furthermore, VP Mike Pence could have overturned the
election in Trump’s favor but “Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he
could have overturned the election!” He believes Congress needs to probe why
Pence didn’t do that.
When Trump won the presidency in 2016, albeit with a record vote deficit, it gave extremists someone to rally around and also energized rank-and-file Republicans. According to Yahoo News, nearly 6 in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now say they won’t vote in upcoming elections for any candidate who admits that Joe Biden actually won the presidency "fair and square." Trump’s “big lie,” claiming that Biden cheated his way into the White House, is a falsehood that three-quarters of Trump voters currently believe and has become a litmus test for the entire GOP, strengthening the former president’s grip on the party ahead of the 2022 midterms. Trump continues to make money on sales of personal memorabilia.
Is Trump’s support enough to re-elect him to the presidency? He will also arouse voters bent on preventing that from ever happening again, just as occurred in 2020. There may not be enough Trump Republicans to overcome expected fierce opposition to Trump, regardless of who is running on the Democratic side. Americans learned from 2016 that it’s not enough for his opponent to win millions more votes than Trump, since the Electoral College could still reward a loser depending on how the votes fall, so his Democratic opponent will seek to win a super-majority, just as Biden did and maybe will do again.
Policy makers lay the blame for a larger Covid death rate
in the US than in other high-income countries to the failure of a large number
of Americans to get vaccinated and our higher rates of obesity.
Wash. Post, A
mother smoked marijuana in the front seat, sheriff says. In the back, her
4-year-old found a gun and shot himself.
AP, Israel
calls on Amnesty not to release apartheid report
AI's
Report titled Israel's
Apartheid Against Palestinians, Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity was launched in Feb.
Wash.
Post, Amnesty International, joining other human
rights groups, says Israel is ‘committing the crime of apartheid’
Israel tried to
block release of the report, which it labeled “false, biased and anti-Semitic.”
Amnesty joins other human rights groups
in accusing Israel of apartheid based on
its nearly 55-year military occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a
future state and because of its treatment of its own Arab minority. Establishment
of the state of Israel as a secure destination for Jews was understandable,
given that Jews have been marginalized throughout history and that so many were
exterminated during the holocaust. However, there is a contradiction or
inherent tension between a country formed in modern times to provide a safe haven
for people of one religion/ethnicity and therefore favoring that group, while
also claiming to be a democratic nation and fair to all those living within its
borders or adjacent to it who do not share the dominant ethnicity.
AP, Norway
court rejects mass killer Breivik's parole request
No one else in Norway would have felt free if Breivik had been released to go free himself.
Now crypto currency, despite wild fluctuations in value, seems to gaining traction and may be a harbinger of the future, but just like any other currency, is only worth as much as people think it’s worth. Although crypto may seem rather amorphous and confusing to most of us, some folks have won big with it while others have lost just as much in dollar terms.
India has announced plans to create a “digital rupee.”
Meanwhile,
actual dollars (euros, yuan, pesos) have no intrinsic value either, being just
imprinted pieces of paper or numbers on a bank balance. Money has value only
because of agreement that it does. Now the stock market has been bouncing
around, reflecting investor uncertainty. The only sure thing is the barter
economy of our ancient ancestors: give me that nice fur pelt and I’ll give you
this big bag of fresh root vegetables.
As for more concerning economic developments, inflation in general and mortgage rates, gas prices, and food costs in particular are all on the rise, along with wage increases. It’s hard to just increase wages without increasing anything else or to prevent a more general upward spiral once it starts. Mortgage interest is still at records lows. I remember paying 8.5%.
W Va.’s Senator Joe Manchin, a nominal
Democrat who scuttled President Biden’s BBB bill, may have hurt many residents
of his state in doing so, but he has personally benefitted from donations from
Republicans. Maybe he’ll follow the lead of the state’s former Democratic
governor, who switched parties in 2017.
The Guardian,
Billionaire Republican backer donates to Manchin after he killed key Biden bill
Gov. Jim Justice, W Va.’s own party-switching governor, had a message for singer and actress Bette Midler, who called his state’s residents “poor, illiterate and strung out” after Sen. Joe Manchin’s refusal to support Biden’s bill, saying she could kiss his dog’s butt.
Vladimir Putin has made it pretty clear to Ukraine and the rest of the world that he is absolutely determined to prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO or increasing its ties to the west. He appears hell-bent on keeping Ukraine firmly within Russia’s orbit, indicating his willingness to ensure that not just with words, but by amassing very threatening troops on the border. Putin, at age 69, is likely to be around for a while and has no plans to retire. He has full control of the Russian media and apparently enjoys majority citizen support. Putin may be unable to restore his nation to its former Soviet glory, but is determined not to let its power erode any further. The man is also reputed to be of short stature and to have been striving to boost his he-man image for years, hence photos of him shown bare chested on horseback and riding a bear.
A new mutation of omicron, perhaps more contagious and vaccine resistant, BA. 2, detected in India, Denmark, and Britain, has already been detected in the US. Virus mutations could well go on indefinitely and even become the “new normal.” Too bad for us all and for President Biden, where the buck always stops. And too bad for the reputation of China, where it all started.
Reuters, Omicron subvariant BA.2 more infectious than "original", Danish study finds
Poetic justice seems to be playing out in states with anti-vax leadership where more people are getting vaccinated, while more of the unvaccinated are dying of Covid.
Insider, Michael Flynn doubles down on conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was created by George Soros, Bill Gates, and WHO to steal the 2020 election from Trump
USA Today, Anti-vaxxer tells supporters the new COVID antidote is in 'urine therapy' [Drinking your own urine, that is.]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is certainly out-of-sync with the rest of his family, his late father’s Democratic Party, and most doctors by becoming a vocal anti-vax conspiracy theorist, arousing virus skeptics around the country, including recently at demonstration here in Washington, DC.
Wash. Post, Inside an ICU, a depleted staff struggles to keep going
Luminis Community Hospital in nearby Md. is facing
a two-pronged crisis in this surge, with thin staffing and more covid-19
patients than ever. About 70% of patients admitted to the hospital are
unvaccinated, as are more than 90% of those who die there.
LA Times, A
15-month-old dies of COVID-19, becoming L.A. County's youngest coronavirus
fatality
No details are provided, but a child that age would not have
been vaccinated.
Independent, Father
dying of Covid regrets not getting vaccine in heartbreaking texts
Wash. Post, CDC
travel warning flags 5 Caribbean destinations as 'very high' risk for COVID-19
Countries with travel warnings include some in my volunteer Amnesty Int’l Caribbean orbit, including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Saint Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, and Bahamas, as well as Barbados and Sint Maarten.
Another
sobering observation now, and readers may have observed it too, namely that recently
several 20-something offspring of well-known actors or other luminaries have
taken their own lives or fatally overdosed. Is it perhaps because they feel unable to live up to their parents’
success and expectations? Or because they’ve felt sidelined by their parents’ careers? Or maybe because they’ve
been too pampered to learn how to confront adversity, including that arising
from the Covid lockdown? What has been going on with these young people?
Business
Insider, Sen. Ron Johnson says it's not 'society's responsibility' to
care for 'other people's children' while arguing against child-care subsidies
for working parents
To the contrary, everyone who relies on support in old age depends on “other people’s children.” Who does Johnson (R-Wisconsin) think is paying his salary right now? (Note, child care subsidies might also reduce the demand for abortions.)
On the energy
front, the move these days is toward “clean energy,” mainly electricity
generated by wind, solar, and ocean tides. Natural gas, already installed in my
home when I moved in more than a half century ago, is no longer in favor and is
increasingly being prohibited in new construction, with such an effort now underway
in the DC area. Besides being less environmentally friendly, gas is associated
with greater risks of fire and asphyxiation. But more than 50 years ago, gas
appliances were considered the latest thing, so my house already was equipped
with a gas furnace, clothes dryer, water heater, stove, and oven. Now, after
having lived with both gas and electrical systems, I find gas does have certain
advantages, namely being easier to cook with and also providing much cozier
heat.
A 21-year-old Colombian man,
Juan Esteban, found himself the sole survivor when a boat loaded with unauthorized
migrants overturned, drowning all other occupants including his 18-year-old
sister. The siblings had planned to join their mother in Texas.
Wash Post, Two
siblings tried reaching the U.S. by sea to reunite with their mother. Only one
of them made it
Wash. Post, Venezuelan
migrants being sent to Colombia under Biden’s new border plan
Asylum
seekers from Venezuela are not being allowed into the US or being returned
there, but sent to neighboring Colombia instead, a rather unusual plan. Is that
legal? Certainly it will be challenged.
Miami
Herald, As surge of migrants arriving in Puerto Rico by sea continues,
45 are detained in beach town
CBS News, U.S.
Coast Guard intercepts sail freighter with 191 Haitians on board
Reuters, U.S.
Coast Guard search finds one body, 38 still missing after boat capsizes off
Florida
Incidents of overturned or
interdicted vessels crowded with people, many of them Haitians or Cubans
seeking to reach the United States, are not uncommon in the waters off Florida.
Last May, 12 Cuban migrants died and
eight were rescued after their boat flipped over off Key West, Florida.
At least 557 Cuban migrants in all
have been picked up at sea by the Coast Guard since October, in addition to
nearly 7,400 Cubans interdicted during the previous five years, according to
the agency.
Vessel crossings by Haitian migrants have likewise grown more frequent as the Caribbean nation deals with economic and political crises, as well as gang-related kidnappings. The Coast Guard said it had intercepted at least 159 Haitian nationals this fiscal year.
Cubans still
have reasons to flee:
Miami
Herald, After denials, Cuba admits jailing hundreds of July 11
protesters, including dozens of minors
https://www.reuters.com/article/cuba-economy-peso/cuban-peso-in-free-fall-against-the-dollar-idUSL1N2U50UV
Wichita Eagle, Rep. Patrick Penn: March for Life spotlights the pro-life movement in Kansas
NPR aired a vignette of a woman with a 2-year-old child who found
herself unexpectedly pregnant and got an abortion with the financial and
logistical help of abortion advocates. Outside the abortion clinic, a man
reportedly carried a sign urging arriving women to change their mind. For such a
counter appeal to have any traction, it would have to consist of more than just
a protest sign, becoming more like the organized, concrete help offered by
abortion clinics. “Abortion rights” advocates accuse existing “prolife” or “anti-pro-abortion”
clinics of being religiously affiliated and too intrusive. The Washington
Post once ran a piece about a clinic offering practical help to pregnant
women, including to a single woman expecting twins. (I have yet to hear a
similar story featured on NPR.)
The pro-abortion side
often highlights women with very serious pregnancy complications. That’s not
what those of us with misgivings are talking about, nor are we talking about
victims of rape or incest, rather about the vast majority of abortions for
normal pregnancies. Some abortion-rights activists have emphasized the
financial burdens of childrearing, but who is going to support them in their
old age if there are fewer young people coming along? Biden wanted to give more
assistance to young families, an effort thwarted in lock-step by Republicans
claiming to be “pro-life.” If those seeking abortions are disproportionately low
income and members of minority groups, as seems to be the case, then they need
to have access to more assistance, both to better birth control and more help
in raising the children that our country still needs. But “abortion rights”
advocates don’t seem to be pressing for such measures.
Short of celibacy or sterilization, pregnancy is always possible
after sex despite today’s more effective contraceptives, though correct use of
contraception would probably result in many fewer unexpected pregnancies.
Presumably, undergoing an abortion would also make a woman more careful
thereafter.
As a registered Democrat
living in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, it’s assumed that I’m
automatically a supporter of “abortion rights,” so it’s not surprising that I
just received a request for donations to Planned Parenthood. The request warns
of “devastating consequences” from the efforts of anti-abortion forces who
threaten the “right...to control our bodies,” “access to health care,” and
“reproductive freedom.” Both sides on this issue use hyperbole. And, like gun
owners, abortion access supporters claim that they are exercising a
“constitutional right,” when neither abortion nor private gun ownerships was ever
contemplated by the Founders.
I note that the politically
correct terms now are “pregnant people,” “birth givers,” and “birthing people,”
not specifically “women” or “mothers.” I don’t know what a proper gender-neutral
term for “father” might be. Should male partners have any say in abortion
decisions? So far, the consensus seems to be “no.”
Some women have gone on
the airways or social media lately to tout their own abortion experiences.
Others have said on social media that they did not consider a fetus to be
“alive” or “human” until after birth. However, since animals must be protected
against pain, pro-lifers might pursue that angle in reducing the abortion
timetable. Certainly a fetus aborted at the 28-week limit specified by Roe
would feel pain and could also survive, so the “constitutional right” to an
abortion supposedly protected by the Founding Fathers would need to be moved
back some weeks. Until it was revealed that fetal skulls were being pierced to make
extraction easier after late-term abortions, that was a common practice.
I find myself in the special
position of a woman who has both given birth and adopted children, including adopting
one from Colombia, and also of having been the foster mother of a boy from Cuba
(youngest of 12 children born to a single mother in Cuba), making ours a
multiracial, multi-ethnic family, unlike those of our neighbors. So, admittedly,
my own parenting experience is not typical and may have imbued me with a
different perspective on abortion. Most of my children probably would not fit the
definition of a “wanted child” at the time of their birth. Furthermore, my
older daughter and her daughter both became pregnant as unmarried teens, but
both went on to give birth, so I first became a grandmother, then a
great-grandmother. It’s really scary to imagine that my daughter might have had
an abortion and that now neither my granddaughter nor her son would even exist.
As mentioned before, in Latin America, where abortion is usually
illegal, many women now choose sterilization after having had 2 or 3 children. Giving
birth to children is still very important to most women there, but they don’t
want as many as before. However, when I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras
(2000-2003), it was not uncommon then to see rural families with as many as a
dozen offspring and also men who moved openly between 2 households fathering several
children in each.
Before the era of legal abortion and effective contraception in
the US and other Western countries, married women less often timed or limited
pregnancies. I’ve already mentioned my paternal great-grandmother living on a
farm in Alberta who bore 12 children, all of whom survived. Her youngest
daughter, my grandmother, gave birth to 4 children, only 2 of whom lived to
adulthood. She was widowed when her husband was killed in a small plane crash.
On my maternal side, my grandparents had trouble conceiving so my mother was an
only child, something considered very unfortunate in those days. My mother’s own
pregnancies were inconveniently timed, first myself arriving not long after her
marriage when my Dad was a Harvard grad student riding a bike to class, then my
brother who came along 15 months later. Our sister was born while our father
was away in the army in Europe during WW II.
As indicated before, I’ve never quite been able to connect emotionally with a woman seeking an abortion, especially after the first few weeks when the fetus assumes a human form. There have been stories of women who first felt ready to welcome a child, then changed their mind later on when their partner deserted them. There seems to be agreement that animal pain should be avoided, so perhaps abortions could be limited to the point when a fetus can feel pain.
I’m not opposed to contraception (or even voluntary sterilization), which has led to a big reduction in average US family size and has allowed more women—more mothers—to join the workforce. When married women gave birth to many children, like my paternal great-grandmother with 12 (to whom, along with others, I owe my own existence), childrearing and housekeeping were full-time occupations that also probably left women feeling valued and fulfilled, though perhaps rather tired at the end of each day. Now motherhood may still be admired, but is considered as more of a chosen sacrifice.
None of us has a crystal ball, so the future can only be anticipated imperfectly. Who could have predicted the calamitous presidency of Donald Trump or the worldwide spread of Covid? In my personal life, how could I have foreseen the abrupt end of my 24-year marriage or the untimely deaths in successive years of my son and foster Cuban son? Those were sudden and devastating events, but I’ve also experienced some welcome surprises, such as in my own ability to bounce back from adversity, find a new career in occupational therapy, eventually join the Peace Corps (a lifelong dream), and embark on a late life occupation as a Spanish interpreter. Compared to other American-born white bread females like myself, I feel I’ve led a rather extraordinary life.
Stalin is reputed to have said, “One man’s death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.” Yes, it’s rather hard to empathize with mass deaths or to mourn those involved, especially from a distance. Thus, a far-off war or calamity may not tug at our hearts strings or impel us to offer assistance, so appeals for help are usually accompanied by the image of a single child, often a little girl, together with details of her sad story.
This blog has undergone a metamorphosis since the days when it began as a “Letter from Honduras” created and sent from a commercial computer center while I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras (2000-2003). That early effort led to my book Triumph & Hope, which garnered several awards and is still selling today, though now almost entirely as an e-book, and which then inspired me to write Confessions (both full titles appear above).
I also started this blog, which at first focused on return volunteer medical assistance/interpretation trips to Honduras. The initial version honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com stopped suddenly without warning a few years ago, leading to this one honduraspeacecorps2.blogspot.com
Now, in the wake of the pandemic, with return trips to Honduras still in doubt, I’ve branched out into reporting on personal activities here at home and commenting on items in the news. This time, I must confess to letting it get a bit too long.
To faithful readers who have stayed
with me throughout this journey or to those only now coming on board, I do thank
you for your kind attention and for your welcome comments sent to me at the
email address shown above. It’s been great to maintain connections with friends
all over the world and to get your feedback.
¡¡Muchísimas gracias!!
//////////////////////////
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