My son also sent more photos from my recent visit to W. Va., including seasonal bright blue and yellow flowers displaying the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
My older daughter recently discovered this slide collection at Virginia Tech, about my late father’s architectural and planning work:https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/currieslides/
Many memories were evoked by this collection. My name is mentioned for having donated the slides some time ago. Glad they are now so accessible online. (Skip the digital library virtual exhibit.)
Leonard J. Currie Exhibition, University Libraries - Leonard J. Currie Slide Collection
A wild fox biting people here on Capitol Hill tested positive for rabies and was euthanized along with her kits.
I never actually saw this 1000-year-old cherry tree when I was in Japan, quite an amazing venerable living thing. It would be wonderful to see it and sit under its shade, but I don’t expect to be going back, so must appreciate its beauty and longevity from afar.
Costs are spiraling up now, leading to higher wages, leading in turn to higher prices. Inflation is occurring worldwide.
We Capitol Hill residents
have a troubling and perhaps troubled neighbor whom we may pass on the sidewalk
without even being aware of it. Whatever your position on abortion, this woman
would not be someone you or I would feel comfortable befriending. Her stance or
motives for keeping dead fetuses in her home have been hard to fathom--maybe to
display at different stages of development? Were any possibly her own? It’s been
quite a mystery and rather unsettling.
The mystery has finally been solved. We now have a face and a name for this woman, Lauren Handy, who claims to have given a proper burial to over 100 fetuses taken from a medical waste truck. Washington DC anti-abortion activist had 5 FETUSES in her home, stolen from medical waste truckhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10689135/Anti-abortion-activist-5-FETUSES-home-stole-medical-waste-truck.html
The Hill, Poll: Trump leads Biden, Harris in 2024 match-ups
This is very
scary news. Can President Biden pull out of this slump? He may now wonder why
he ever wanted this job. It’s hard to imagine a worse president than Donald Trump, something we must avoid ever going through again, though
maybe Ron DeSantis is a close second in
terms of sheer wackiness. In contrast, Joe Biden is a steady hand but no firebrand. He doesn’t get the
credit he deserves and neither does Kamala Harris. Neither has particularly sparked the public’s imagination and
loyalty, at least not since winning an overwhelming popular vote. Were people simply
expecting too much? The voting public is fickle and, like a romantic lover, wants
to keep on being aroused and excited.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Trump manages to keep himself in the news by still doing and saying
outrageous things and making bogus promises. He has a loyal and devoted
hardcore following, no matter what. Too many of our fellow Americans seem to be
as intellectually and morally challenged as Trump himself. As more about his
wrongdoing is revealed, his supporters seem ever more eager to rush to his defense.
Those who dismiss the scary events of Jan. 6, 2021 don’t live here on Capitol
Hill where we witnessed them in person.
‘I didn’t win
the election’: Trump admits defeat in session with historians.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/05/trump-admits-election-defeat-historians-zelizer-princeton
What?? It’s
about time! Trump has finally slipped up and said he lost in 2020, though, of
course, the election was "rigged." Has a losing presidential candidate
ever before failed to withdraw gracefully and to congratulate the winner? Has a
loser ever previously tried to interfere with election certification, then failed
to concede defeat after more than a year? Even Al Gore, who in 2000 might
actually have garnered a few more votes than GW Bush, just for the sake of settling
the matter, conceded to Bush. I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras then and
never received my absentee ballot, which would have given Gore one more vote. Trump
now claims that he had wanted to join the Capitol rioters planning to disrupt
the presidential election ballot count, but the Secret Service wouldn’t let
him.
Daily
Mail,
Kellyanne Conway's husband George suggests Russia under new leadership could
hand over the 'files on Donald Trump' after ex-president urged Putin to release
information on the Biden family
There are rumored to be some files regarding high jinks that Trump engaged in involving urination.
I happened turn
on the radio recently to hear a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis has
a 59% approval rating among Florida voters. My own family members living in
Florida are not among them. Although it’s rather late for me to change my nationality,
I’m tempted now to move to Scandinavia, perhaps to Finland, designated by the
UN as the happiest country in the world, where people are reportedly kind and
civil to each other and enjoy a robust life expectancy despite living in frigid
temperatures and in darkness most of the year. There is a strong safety net in
Finland and crime and corruption are low. The Covid death rate is relatively
low as well. Finland which, like Ukraine, has a long
border with Russia, is said to be considering joining NATO, but Putin may not
feel as possessive of Finland as of Ukraine. Best to
do it before Russia decides to object.
Meanwhile, all eyes remain on Ukraine. My nephew who had been living and working in Ukraine has now moved his online gaming business to Bulgaria.
Many Russian citizens may actually have been convinced by Putin’s propaganda that their forces are fighting valiantly against neo-Nazis in Ukraine. We may not be getting the entire picture here either.
ABC News, What is genocide and
has the legal threshold been crossed in Ukraine?
Business Insider, Germany intercepted conversations of Russian soldiers discussing Bucha killings, contradicting Kremlin claims of a hoax, report says
Outsiders now credibly accuse Russia of war crimes for targeting civilians. Russia has now been suspended from the UN Human Rights Council. As mentioned before, during World War II in my own lifetime, the allies mercilessly bombed civilian targets in Germany and, in Japan, the US killed tens of thousands of civilians and subjected many more to lifelong health problems with atomic bombings. Those would certainly have been war crimes by today’s standards. The “laws of war” have mercifully changed, banning the infliction of deliberate civilian casualties. But that is no deterrent to Putin’s forces nor is he likely to face any consequences. If war can be subjected to laws, why not just outlaw war itself?
While the
war in Ukraine continues unabated, we are not done with Covid either, as Covid is
not done with us. If it actually originally escaped from a Chinese lab, those
involved will carry that secret to their grave.
Yes, Covid
is surging once again, though this newest version, while possibly more
contagious, doesn’t seem particularly lethal so far.
WHIO, New,
more contagious COVID variant surges in U.S.
New York
Times, A New Wave of Covid-19 Is
Coming. Here's How to Prepare. The culprit
this time is BA.2, a subvariant of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
Nobody knows for sure how much havoc it will cause, but BA.2 has already led to
a surge of cases in Europe and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the United States and around the world.
Because of Covid, hospitals are no longer thinking up ways to bring in new patients to increase revenue. They are busy enough just keeping up with patients already arriving. In the old days, before Covid, when working as a hospital interpreter, I saw patients coming in for all-night sleep monitoring, for instance. Elective surgery was common then. Now many infections that might have led to a hospital admission are being treated at home. A friend with kidney cancer kept having his recent surgery delayed because it was not considered urgent, but thankfully he finally got it done.
NBC
News, Toddler
fatally shoots 4-year-old sister at Pennsylvania gas station
Some
parents haven’t learned from news reports of these tragic shootings to keep all
guns away from kids; better yet, keep guns away from everyone. In this case, a
2-year-old killed his sister. So far just this year, 258 children ages 11 and
younger have been killed or injured by gunfire. More than 1,000 were wounded or
fatally shot last year. These are completely preventable tragedies.
SunHerald, Hancock
girl who dreamed of TikTok stardom accidentally shot by 9-year-old, stepdad
says
This
happened in Mississippi, where a 9-year-old found and discharged a gun hidden
under a bed, killing a teenager.
AP, Police
say 6 dead, at least 9 injured in Sacramento shooting
It’s happened
once again. Not only are kids shooting and accidentally killing other kids, but
mass shootings keep happening in our country. Is it worth this repeated carnage
to maintain the so-called “right to bear arms”?
Yahoo/News, Republican-controlled
states have higher murder rates than Democratic ones: study
California,
where the latest (but not the last) mass shooting occurred, is not a
Republican-controlled state, but, overall, murder rates per capita are higher
in majority Republican states, especially in southern states with looser gun
laws.
Finland, like the US, has relatively high gun ownership. Switzerland is another country where gun ownership is common. However, in those countries, many guns are rifles kept out in hunting cabins or at shooting ranges, or are antiques passed down through the family, not loaded handguns at the ready, as in the US, where ordinary disputes can trigger someone to actually pull the trigger and shoot up everyone in sight. Having fewer guns available here would mean fewer unexpected firearms’ deaths of innocent people. Guns here have not proved protective, rather, a genuine threat to us all.
Migrants answer Joe's call: First caravan sets off from Mexico bound for the US after Biden revealed he would end Title 42 on May 23 amid fears the army will be needed to control the flood https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10670879/First-migrant-caravan-sets-Mexico-Biden-revealed-end-Title-42.html
The
pent-up demand by those already gathered at the border or on their way will
overwhelm the border and Biden will get the blame. And what will asylum seekers
experience on either side? Having been an interpreter in recent years for asylum
seekers, I know life won’t be easy even for those who do make it across and then
are not immediately deported. The US is not the nirvana they’d imagined, especially
for those without citizenship or other legal status. In the Peace Corps, we worked
with local folks to help them improve their lives at home, but young people seeking
adventure and partnered men hoping to better support their families were never
deterred then, nor will they be deterred now or in the foreseeable future.
Crossing
the US border was, and still is, a common rite of passage, an adventure, and an
expression of emergence into adulthood for many young people in Latin America, and for all
crossers, lured by the myth of abundance, it offers a chance to explore a new fantasy
world where everything is different, even the dominant language. After being deported,
most will then settle down into their old life back home once again and engage
in sufficient work locally to sustain themselves and their families, reminiscing
always about their storied time in the US. In Honduras, I’ve never met a taxi driver (I’ve
always asked) who had not been to the US. They like to talk about it,
expressing a mixture of emotions about the amazing sights they’d seen, the good
money earned, and the many hardships endured, including confronting unfamiliar
cold weather without proper clothing. Several single men would share one small
apartment, sleeping in shifts in the same beds, as some worked nights and
others, days. They never had trouble finding work in the US.
I also know of more than one woman who had gotten pregnant by another man while her husband was away and managed to give the baby up for adoption, a very complicated legal procedure in Honduras. More often than not, the new parents would simply register the baby as having been born to them, according to secrets I am sworn never to reveal. Is it easier to confide in someone you know won’t remain in your community? My lips are sealed on this and many other such personal matters.
Now
even Democrats urge Biden not to drop Title 42: Senators warn
there isn't a proper plan in place for 'mass migrant event' on May 23 and the
White House should instead focus on 'strengthening' security https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10672525/DEMOCRATS-urge-Biden-not-drop-Title-42-Senators-says-isnt-plan-migrant-influx.html
Although our country is still very short of workers, especially those willing to work for limited wages, allowing an influx now could spell political defeat for Democrats. Biden should come up with an excuse that passes legal muster to delay until at least 2023, maybe even beyond.
Daily
Mail,
Biden administration CONFIRMS they will drop Title 42 on May 23 - and
the chaos has ALREADY begun with migrants in caravan heading to the U.S.
scrapping with cops in Mexico
Biden surely could have found an excuse to delay at least until after the midterms, but he didn’t listen even to his fellow Democrats. I’m glad to be no longer working in immigration court.
A bill to block the end of Title 42 will be introduced by Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) and James Lankford (R., Ok.), and is cosponsored by four other Democrats and five Republicans.
Texas lawmakers are suggesting sending border crossers by bus to Washington, DC. https://apnews.com/article/immigration-covid-health-texas-congress-5980efee00f615ffa57cd04d80e77b7e
At the same time, although the public may not see it, the US could actually use more immigrants, as last year’s population growth was the smallest ever recorded. There were fewer babies, more deaths, and almost no immigration. Life expectancy continued to drop in 2021. The biggest states, population-wise, New York and California, actually saw net population losses, while Texas and Florida saw some gains.
Atlantic, Why U.S. Population
Growth Is Collapsing
Simply put, the U.S. has too few births, too many deaths, and not enough immigrants. Whether by accident, design, or a total misunderstanding of basic economics, America has steered itself into the demographic danger zone
Now the crisis
in Eritrea seems to have been all but forgotten, though that struggle continues
unabated. Even Afghanistan is fading from the memories of most Americans,
whose attention has now been captivated by Ukraine and its millions of
refugees.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10685679/Hundreds-Ukrainians-shelter-Mexico-wait-cross-U-S-border.html Around 2,000 Ukrainian migrants have arrived in Mexico in recent weeks and set up camp to wait to claim asylum in the U.S. once Title 42 is dropped next month
Yahoo, Camp
of Ukrainians at the U.S.-Mexico border swells, as more refugees arrive
As even more Ukrainians show up, many are now being sent along with other migrants to immigration detention, waiting there to eventually be admitted. Ukrainians do need to take advantage of this opportunity as the welcome mat may be pulled back as even more of them arrive.
Daily Mail, Europe's refugee crisis comes to the US border: Thousands of desperate Ukrainians pile into shelter https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10693657/Europes-refugee-crisis-comes-border-Thousands-desperate-Ukrainians-pile-shelter.html
Some
Ukrainians are already being let into the US now, even before May 23, when
Title 42 ends. Poland, a geographically much smaller and less prosperous
nation of only 38 million, compared to over 330 million in the US, has already taken
in more than 2 million Ukrainians. As of the end of March, the US had accepted only
8,000 refugees from various countries and the total refugee cap for 2022 is
only 125,000 (still more than the number admitted under Trump, which was almost
nil).
https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/us-to-play-critical-role-in-sheltering-ukrainian-refugees-says-expert-russia-biden-europe-krish-vignarajah-lutheran-immigration-refugee-services-title-42
Texas A&M
offers Ukrainian students full tuition and room and board | TheHill
https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/600428-texas-am-offers-ukrainian-students-full-tuition-and
At the same time, Cuban and Haitian migrants are definitely not
welcome.
Since the beginning of October, the Coast Guard has stopped more
than 1,067 Cubans at sea and on the way to South Florida — the most since
fiscal year 2017. Last fiscal year — Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021 — the
Coast Guard said it stopped 838 Cubans along the Florida Straits, a spike from
the prior fiscal year’s 49 people.
Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard reports it has stopped nearly
2,300 people from Haiti at sea who were on their way to South Florida. That’s
up from 1,527 in all of fiscal year 2021 — a huge jump from the 418 people
interdicted the previous fiscal year, according to the Coast Guard.
Reuters, Colombian
man pleads not guilty to conspiring to kill Haiti's Moise [Mario]Palacios was part of a five-man group known as the "Delta
Team" that entered Moise's bedroom to gun him down, according to an August
report by the Haitian National Police on the murder. The other four members of
that group are in Haitian custody.
Palacios is now being tried in Florida.
The Telegraph, I was
allowed to transition at 18 without question – but I regretted it
This is a story by a young woman in the UK who took hormones to transition to male and
experienced some benefits, but a couple of years later, before having had
any surgery, she decided to transition back, though she was still left with unwanted
body hair and a deeper voice. She advises people to wait to transition until
they are older.
A bill approved by the Oklahoma legislature would make abortion, except to save the life of the mother, a felony, but only for the doctor performing the abortion, not the woman seeking it. Then, in Colorado, “abortion rights” were again upheld. So there is still a stark divide. But with medication abortions via pills now taking place in private homes and constituting the majority of abortions, doctors are not involved except perhaps to prescribe the pills. And pills could be mailed from one state to another. Fairly soon, an abortion decision will be coming down from the Supreme Court.
More Americans than not back idea of 15-week abortion ban, WSJ poll finds While there seems to be a growing acceptance by Americans of the idea that early abortions either cannot or should not be banned, there is also more acceptance of instituting bans after 15 weeks, as is now being proposed in some southern states. Exceptions would probably still be possible in specified cases, but Chief Justice John Roberts asks if 15 weeks isn’t long enough? The viability limit enshrined in Roe of 24 weeks is no longer valid, as babies born earlier have actually survived with specialized care. How early might preemie survival go? Artificial wombs may even lie in the future, which would really muddy up the question of “abortion rights.” The so-called “Constitutional right” to an abortion actually refers not to abortion per se but to the “right to privacy,” which has limits in many other circumstances. Abortion as a widespread practice was simply not foreseen by the founders. Exactly when a fetus can feel pain is also uncertain. However, laws prohibiting inflicting pain on animals, particularly mammals, could also be applied to human fetuses.
BBC News, Texas
abortion: The ‘ranch’ for mothers with no place to go
A fledgling service has emerged for women unhappily pregnant beyond the Texas six-week abortion “heartbeat” limit. It’s called Blue Haven Ranch and is already helping pregnant women up to and beyond delivery, although whatever their religious orientation—or lack thereof—Bible study attendance is mandatory.
As human beings, our knowledge, understanding, and even our continued existence as a species are limited. The scientific consensus seems to be that our universe long ago came into being and will come to an eventual end when the big bang fizzles out. If so, how did the birth of the universe ever come about; was there anything before it and will there always be something beyond it, ad infinitum? Or could our universe have actually materialized out of pure nothingness and, if so, how and why? And could everything in existence eventually disappear completely into the void? Philosophers and scientists have grappled with these existential questions, but most of us have enough challenges just coping with our limited daily lives.
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