Saturday, June 25, 2022

Family & Friends, DC Primary, Uvalde Revisited, Congressional Hearings, Roe Overturned, Other Observations

 

Here’s a photo my roller skating daughter Stephanie just sent me from her recent visit here after her childhood friend came by.

 


Another photo was sent by my niece in Oregon showing us at a 1997 family reunion held there. She suggests that we plan another reunion while we are all still around. 
Apologies again for odd font changes. Readers may be assured that I used the same font throughout the posting, but the blog gods have a mind of their own.


When my friend and neighbor upgraded to a new I-phone, she gave me her I-phone 8. The following cartoon sums up my struggles to learn to use it. 

 

Last time, I mentioned having a Costa Rican visitor, Alex. Just now, he told me he needs to go back to Costa Rica at the urging of someone in government there, but isn't sure how his sponsors here will react. Nor did he say for how long. Costa Rica is small geographically and has only 5 million people, so one person can have a measurable impact and folks there often know each other. In my Confessions book, on p. 80, there is a photo of me with then-Costa Rican president Oscar Arias in 1990, at the side of a new swimming pool that he had just inaugurated in the suburb of Grecia by swimming the entire length underwater.

Honduras has twice as many people, 10 million, spread out over a bigger area. Even there, I am a known quantity, often being recognized. Meanwhile, here in the US, though I've lived more than half a century on Capitol Hill, I'm practically anonymous. As for meeting our own presidents, I only once saw Bill Clinton walking between office buildings. I also met Jimmy Carter with my family here in DC in 1979, as per this photo appearing in both my books, and then met him again when we were both election observers in Haiti and Nicaragua in 1990. But I've never seen Joe Biden or Donald Trump in person--nor would I particularly care to see Mr. Trump--I sincerely hope he never takes office again in our city. 


Uwamah Stephen, a friend in faraway Nigeria, thanked me for

forwarding an article about attacks against Christians in southern Nigeria.

 

Well received. Thank you, Madam Barbs. That is the current fate of Nigerian

Christians. It is indeed worrisome. We need concerted prayer from men of

goodwill across the world.

 

Someone on our local neighborhood website reported that she had “lost teeth from a domestic violence relationship” and needed advice on getting help to replace them. Unfortunately, domestic violence is all too common, but some women stay with an abuser because they don’t have any place else to go, especially if they have children. No relationship is problem-free, but if teeth are getting knocked out, it’s time to seek lodging in a shelter, if necessary, before figuring out the next step.

 

On June 21, we held a primary election here in DC, a de facto election, since all Democratic candidates will win in November, given the District’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate. Muriel Bowser, who faced 3 male opponents, has now won her 3rd term. One of her opponents may well become the next mayor. So far, all DC mayors and mayoral candidates, ever since the city was first allowed to elect its own mayor, have identified as black. We DC residents were authorized by Congress to vote for our first mayor only after my arrival; he was Walter Washington, for whom I voted in 1974. While African Americans no longer make up the majority of the city’s population, they are still the largest ethnic group at about 40% and fill most elective offices. The city is growing in population again now after dropping down briefly toward the end of 2021.

 

The on-line cross-country journey of Gaby Petito and Brian Landrie began as an informative and lighthearted saga until it turned dark, ending in both their deaths. In his handwritten diary, whose contents were just revealed, Landrie admits to strangling Petito before taking his own life with a gunshot to the head. Their remains had been found near their Wyoming campsite.  

 

The news cycle moves so fast in the digital age that now the terrible Uvalde massacre has almost become old news, though still worthy of comment.

 

Insider, Texas cops could have stopped the Uvalde gunman within minutes, but the school police chief placed the 'lives of officers before the lives of children': DPS director

Yes, that is what we’ve always suspected. Being unwilling to risk their own lives, they don’t belong in law enforcement.

 

BBC News, Uvalde shooting: Gunman could have been stopped within three minutes - safety official

 

Fox News, Uvalde school shooting: Officer whose wife was shot was disarmed and 'escorted' away, Texas DPS chief says

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steven McCraw ripped into the Uvalde school police chief's handling of last month's shooting at Robb Elementary School and said that some officers wanted to approach the gunman earlier, including a school district police officer whose wife was killed in the massacre. That officer, Ruben Ruiz, received a call from his wife, Eva Mireles, who told him that she had been shot. "He tried to move forward into the hallway," McCraw said Tuesday at a Senate hearing. "He was detained and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene." Mireles later died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.

Teacher Eva Mireles and several of the children might have been saved if the door had been opened sooner. They wouldn’t have bled to death or perhaps even have been shot to begin with. Now, at least, very modest gun control may pass Congress, though diehard Republican “gun-rights” advocates are still raising a ruckus about such efforts.  

Texas Tribune, The Uvalde school-district police chief was placed on leave following damning revelations about his response to last month’s shooting.

BBC News, Uvalde shooting: Robb Elementary School to be demolished – mayor This often happens after a school shooting.

 

USA Today, One month after Uvalde massacre, Biden signs most significant gun reform bill in nearly 30 years

Although a compromise that many safety advocates say doesn’t go far enough, it’s a step in the right direction and an achievement for the Biden administration.

 

Oxygen, Woman Who Pleaded For Help Finding Husband's Killer Is Sentenced To Life For Conspiring With Boyfriend To Kill Him

This was in Texas, but it happens all over the country. Whenever a “mysterious stranger” murders someone’s spouse, police usually suspect the surviving partner first, because most of the time, he or she actually is

responsible. Often, as in this case, life insurance is involved as well.

 

Boy, 5, left to die in his parents' hot car pictured with family This keeps happening now that summer is here. Wouldn’t a parent notice that a child is missing? Or are parents so absorbed in their own affairs that they forget all about their kids?

 

Fox News, Cornyn's office denies bipartisan immigration bill in the works amid conservative uproar

Cornyn's office said comments he made to Democratic senators about immigration reform were just a joke.

President Biden is in a bind on inflation, because by touting higher wages, he necessarily has incentivized an upward spiral in the cost of everything, while the war in Ukraine is no help either. Apparently, the only way to tamp down demand and rising prices is with higher interest rates, which then puts a damper on the whole economy.

Congressional hearings regarding Jan. 6 have continued, with convincing video footage and audio recordings presented about its antecedents and aftermath, showing Trump constantly badgering election officials, spewing out boldfaced lies, and hatching breathtakingly brazen attempts to win reelection at any cost. Probably that’s how he’s always operated, winning by cheating and applying constant pressure until he wears everyone else down—it’s his usual modus operandi, used successfully for most of his life. His supporters out in the hinterland still rally for him, eager to vote for him again. Congressional hearings about Trump’s efforts will only fire up his base and probably prevent Democrats from actually trying to prosecute him for fear of igniting a backlash.  

Meanwhile, the Texas Republican Party has rather belatedly rejected Biden’s 2020 presidential win, alleging “substantial election fraud,” contradicting current Congressional testimony and all available evidence. It’s amazing how Donald Trump’s ham fisted, obviously crude, attempts to overturn his sizable election loss still captivate his followers, thereby obligating many party stalwarts to take his side, whether they actually believe him or not.

The Hill, Trump praises ‘powerful’ Texas GOP after rejection of Biden win

Business Insider, Kasich says 'even clowns were embarrassed' by Texas GOP convention that included declaration that Biden 'was not legitimately elected' and called homosexuality an 'abnormal lifestyle choice'

Reuters, The Senate passed the first major piece of federal gun-safety legislation in decades. Meanwhile, just hours earlier, the Supreme Court expanded gun rights by ruling that Americans can carry them in public for self-defense. So a recent win as well as a loss on gun safety, as more guns being carried in public means that more accidents and disputes will end up with gun injuries and deaths.

USA Today, Should guns be banned in bars, hospitals? Supreme Court case could spur new 2nd Amendment fight

American swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted underwater during World Championships in Budapest and was rescued by her quick-thinking coach Andrea Fuentes. 

 


LA Times, Jury finds Bill Cosby sexually abused teen in the 1970s, orders him to pay $500,000 This verdict is too little, too late, and will present no hardship to Cosby, who remains free on a technicality, but at least it’s a modest acknowledgment of his predation on women over the years. For Cosby, the amount levied was just a slap on the wrist, given his wealth. “What? That’s all?” he’s been quoted as saying.

Reuters, U.S. House speaker's husband charged with driving under influence of alcohol Nancy Pelosi’s office had no comment.

 

The long-awaited Supreme Court decision on abortion has finally been issued. Yahoo News, Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, sends abortion back to the states Roe has fallen, and the fight over abortion in America will now rage on into a new and possibly even more polarizing and divisive chapter [photo]

After their long fight, pro-life forces are having their moment. It’s been pretty noisy here out at the nearby Supreme Court. with opposing sides celebrating and protesting well into the night.

Christian Science Monitor, Can you be feminist and ‘pro-life’? The women who say yes. 



NYTtimes, Abortion Pills Will Change a Post-Roe World I’ve said this already earlier on this blog. Pills taken in the privacy of one’s home cannot be policed.

The Hill, https://thehill.com/changing-ameri/respect/accessibility/3535615-here-is-where-you-can-still-get-an-abortion-despite-roe-v-wade-being-struck-down/ On Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court ruled, “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,” and that abortion access is an authority that should be left to states to handle. There are 22 states certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible now that Roe has been struck down. Within that, 13 have trigger laws already in place that are designed to take effect automatically or by quick station action now that Roe no longer applies. However, there are at least eight states that maintain abortion access with protective policies in place, taking into account cost and gestational age.

Abortion does help equalize the consequences of sexual intercourse between men and women. My body, myself” and “My body, my choice” are the watchwords of abortion rights advocates. But is there another body and another “self” involved in a pregnancy? The question is: when does that other body take shape and start becoming a separate person worthy of going on living? Half of fetuses are biologically female, just like their own mothers. (Or should we not call them mothers or even female, but, rather, “pregnant people,” a favored term that would hardly apply to a fetus.) According to neuroscience, the human capacity to experience feeling or sensation develops between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation. That would seem to be the point when the fetus starts meriting maximum protection, especially as preemie infants born at that stage have actually survived.  

Here is someone who never even considered having an abortion.

National Post, Woman with rare medical condition gives birth to 44 kids by age 40 This 40-year-old Ugandan mother experiences hyper-ovulation, meaning that her ovaries release multiple eggs at once, so that she has given birth to multiple sets of twins, triplets, and quadruplets.

 

Wash. Post, A Texas teenager wanted an abortion. She now has twins.  

(Double jeopardy!)

By giving birth to twins and committing herself to caring for them, this young woman’s former educational and career goals have probably suffered a setback. Yet, most likely, her goals have changed since the birth and she now values her baby daughters and their well-being beyond her own life and future prospects. People usually retrospectively approve or adapt to a previous decision—in the case of a pregnancy, either to undertake an abortion or to go ahead to give birth—then deciding after-the-fact that whatever they’d actually decided before was, for them, the “right” choice. We all tend to justify our own prior decisions and actions.

This may also happen regarding other life events. I’ve never had abortion myself nor even considered the possibility, having been both an adoptive and a birth parent, as already indicated, with my kids providing my most precious human connections. Nonetheless, other parenting events have seriously impacted me, namely the untimely deaths of my older son and Cuban foster son in successive years. While the pain of their loss has never gone away, it is not as acute now as it once was. Likewise, when my husband of 24 years, whom I’d helped raise up from obscurity as a totally blind college student to become a sought-after DC-based political guru, divorced me to marry his young office assistant, I was understandably devastated, especially as he had emptied out all our bank accounts, so I kept bouncing checks. After leaving, he never spoke to me again before he died in 1999, except for a single memorable phone call in 1984. But his total rejection freed me to embark on a totally new career involving occupational therapy, then to revive my bilingual self, subsequently to join the Peace Corps in Honduras in my 60s, afterward returning annually to that country for health care projects and starting a part-time post-retirement career as an on-call Spanish interpreter. I also was invited to serve as an election observer in Chile, Haiti, Nicaragua, and the DR. And for 41 years now, I’ve been involved as well with promoting human rights in Latin America, especially the Caribbean, my current volunteer responsibility for Amnesty Int’l USA. So, while I never wanted a divorce, I now regard it as positive step in my own life.

Guardian, US on course to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing war this summer

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/24/ukrainians-enter-us-asylum-biden-pledge?CMP=share_btn_link

ND TV, Former Miss Brazil Gleycy Correia Dies At The Age Of 27 After Routine Tonsil Surgery

This unfortunate young woman was an on-line “influencer” with 56,000 followers on Instagram, so her death became big news. Tonsillectomy after early childhood can be a fairly serious operation, though is rarely fatal. I had my own tonsils and adenoids removed in Colombia when I was 15 while wide awake, just sitting in a dental chair, following directions and keeping my mouth wide open, which was a memorable experience and not in a good way. It took me a while to recover both physically and emotionally. Fortunately, tonsils are no longer removed in young kids, as once was done routinely.

BBC News, Afghan earthquake: At least 1,000 people killed and 1,500 injured  The Afghan people simply cannot catch a break!

In China, where Covid apparently originated--whether from a lab, bats, or pangolins—the government is now using all its authoritarian strictures to try to totally eradicate the disease within its own borders. These efforts may indeed reduce Covid there, but cannot eliminate it entirely. There will always be movement in and out of the country, so Covid will persist, even in China, the mother country, though perhaps in a less lethal and harmful future form.  

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Yiddish Lovers (Facebook group suggestion)

 

GHOST STORIES  (Another Facebook suggestion)

 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Juneteenth, Summer Nights, Summer Visitor, Don’t Forget Baby in the Car, Trump Again/Still! More Shootings, Republicans Do Love their Guns, Justice Clarence Thomas, Personal and Gender Fluidity, and More


Happy Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, a beautiful day, a beautiful weekend, here. Officially, Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and declare all enslaved people there free. Over two and half years had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, June 21 is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

Fireflies are out again, suddenly seen flickering around on a warm summer evening. Where were they hiding until now?  

According to the Farmers’ Almanac, fireflies are actually a type of beetle, beginning as larvae living underground in winter, maturing in spring, then emerging in early summer.

Alexander from Costa Rica has come to stay with me for the summer. He will be working with a good friend of mine at HHS while earning a PhD from a Spanish university. We mostly speak in English, because improving his English is one reason for his visit here. 

My books are still selling as e-books on Kindle, but I don’t know which ones because I just get notices of small deposits into my checking account. Of course, while I’m happy that my books are still being read, Amazon is the major beneficiary. 

At least 5 American children have died after being left in a hot car so far this year. How can parents forget about their child? They always take their cell phone with them, their purse or wallet, and promptly unload their groceries or other purchases, but simply forget their baby or toddler is in the car?

The Guardian, Trump brought US ‘dangerously close to catastrophe’, January 6 panel says “Approximately 40 feet – that’s all there was – 40 feet between the vice-president and the mob,” said California congressman Pete Aguilar, a Democrat who led the panel’s third hearing. “Make no mistake about the fact that the vice-president’s life was in danger.”

For diehard Trump supporters, the hearings regarding Jan. 6 have had absolutely no effect, simply being dismissed as part of the conspiracy against him. Some say the attack on the capitol, which I and many others witnessed with our own eyes and ears, never actually took place or that the photos were staged.

Despite the hearings targeting Trump’s role on Jan, 6, Joe Biden’s approval ratings have apparently dipped a bit lower in some polls than even Mr. Trump’s. After Biden had gotten off a bike to greet supporters, then fell off in view of spectators, his fall became headline news, accompanied by photographs of him sprawled on the ground. 

NY Times, President Biden Takes a Tumble During Bike Ride in Delaware

Donald Trump would never be caught riding a bike—he just rides around on motorized golf carts driven by others.

HuffPost, Trump Posts Fake Video Of Him Hitting Biden In The Head With Golf Ball

Trump’s fake video, posted Saturday on his Truth Social account, shows footage of Trump hitting a golf ball spliced together with doctored footage of Biden’s bike mishap, with a golf ball flying into his head.

How does Trump survive politically given his childish antics and absurd pronouncements? Granted, he does manage to capture attention. Even my faraway Nigerian friend admires him. [Do you doubt that Mr. Trump really loves our country?]

If Donald Trump should happen to win office again, though some folks would celebrate, the result would most certainly be catastrophic for our country and for the whole world, especially as he seems to be in a very aggrieved, vindictive mood, itching to inflict payback against all enemies, real or imagined. Democrats may need to find a new presidential candidate, not Biden or Harris, someone who can ride a bike without incident and can challenge whoever the Republicans put up, even Trump.  

ABC News, 6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 riot: POLL While that’s a majority, only 19% of Republicans think he should be charged.


Republican Governor Greg Abbott's plot to bus migrants to D.C. cost Texas taxpayers $2.9 million https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10931805/Republican-Governor-Greg-Abbotts-plot-bus-migrants-D-C-cost-Texas-taxpayers-2-9-million.html

Abbott's program has helped many migrants move away from the border, where they’d never planned to stay anyway.

Nat’l Review, Texas GOP Approves Resolution Declaring Biden’s Election Illegitimate

They can make all the declarations they want, but Biden is still president. 

ABC News, At least 6 dead, 42 injured in weekend mass shootings across US

 

Fox News, Texas drive-by shooting at family BBQ leaves 2 dead, 5 wounded: police


AP, Alabama church shooting kills 2, wounds 1; suspect detained

Actually, all 3 ended up dead, though it would have been more except for the following.

 

Insider, A churchgoer in his 70s saved lives by hitting the Alabama gunman with a chair to stop his attack

Gun killings of folks simply attending ordinary local events continue almost daily. Is this the new normal? Do we just have to accept the risk? What’s the take-away? To simply barricade at home and never go out?

Insider, GOP Sen. John Cornyn was loudly booed at Texas Republican convention amid his push for bipartisan gun legislation

Republicans seem to love their guns more than human life.

 

Texas Tribune: New details on the Uvalde shooting: Records show that officers on the scene were equipped with rifles, shields, and a door-unlocking tool, but still waited outside classrooms for over an hour while the gunman fired shots.


The Hill, House Democrat calls for Clarence Thomas to resign following report of wife’s email with Eastman

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) called on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign on Thursday after news that his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, emailed with conservative lawyer John Eastman, who was central in former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In a statement on Thursday, Pascrell said Thomas “cannot possibly be seen as a neutral actor,” labeling him “a corrupt jurist.” [Don’t hold your breath waiting for Clarence Thomas to resign.]

Regarding the baby formula crisis, bottle-feeding has become so common that many mothers may not even realize that nursing delays the return of menstruation as well as of fertility, though it’s not totally reliable as birth control. Still, in the days before contraception, nursing not only provided babies with nourishment, but delayed the birth of a sibling. Nature has also made nursing a sensory experience for mothers.

It seems counter-productive and even counter-intuitive for abortion advocates such as “Jane’s Revenge” to attack pregnancy help centers and demonstrate at the homes of Supreme Court justices using dolls to represent aborted fetuses. Doesn’t “abortion rights” try to depict abortion as routine “medical care,” so why call attention to the human qualities of a fetus by using dolls?

The Guardian, Republican states trying to ban abortion expand health benefits for new mothers

This is step in the right direction, which if offered earlier, might have prevented some abortions.

The term “abortion rights” expresses the American emphasis on personal freedom and autonomy: freedom to have sex with a partner of any gender (age 18 and over) without consequences, as well as to carry a firearm in public and to represent oneself “authentically” by quirky personal dress, hairstyle, and other means. It’s the reverse of what happens in traditionalist societies where manners, dress, and relationships are carefully circumscribed. Personal clashes may arise in our system where individuals may act in a more freewheeling and unpredictable manner. Commonly recognized rights and obligations can and do change over time. I sometimes listen to Dragnet, a true-crime radio series based in 1940s and ‘50s’ LA, where guilty parties are often executed, which would not happen now in California.

Wash. Post, Second American is reported killed in Ukraine fighting

https://www.foxnews.com/us/coast-guard-sends-45-migrants-back-cuba-boats-spotted-near-florida-keys

A fellow Amnesty Int’l volunteer reports that the “US Postal Service has suspended delivery of letters to Russia as of March 11, 2022. Three such letters have been returned to our Amnesty group.”


Here is case from La Esperanza, my second former Peace Corps site, that I've been following along with Amnesty Int’l: 
COPINH announced today that, David Castillo, the former manager of the company Desarrollos Energéticos (DESA), and the man in charge of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, has been sentenced to 22 years and 6 months. He was convicted in July 2021 as a co-author of the killing of human rights defender Berta Cáceres in 2016. Berta’s family and COPINH continue to demand that the Honduran authorities hold all those involved in the crime accountable.

AP, Witnesses say more than 200 killed in Ethiopia ethnic attack

I’ve asked my former housemate from Eritrea about this, as she also has lived in Ethiopia. She sees no solution there.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Daughter’s Surprise Visit, Dr. Oz, LGBTQIA+, Queen’s Jubilee, Nigeria, Gun Killings & Mass Murder, Texas School Shooting, Firearms Laws, Culture Wars, US Population Stagnation, Baby Bust, Cuban Prisoners

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, partly because of my daughter’s visit, and partly because of many problems posting and other technical issues, but here we are again at long last, going through several news cycles. Lots here about guns and death, because that’s what keeps on happening. Also, about abortion in light of the leaked Supreme Court decision.

 

Although family members and friends are far away and not often seen in person, I do marvel that we can now communicate across vast distances. It was not always the case. I recall that once, decades ago, a Ugandan friend had sent me a US $5 bill with a letter to take to his wife, who had been arrested here for drug smuggling. I had been amazed at the time that a crisp $5 bill for her had actually arrived intact in an ordinary airmail letter. Yes, I did take that money and letter to her in prison, where we met for the first time. She was surprised and glad to have the money and to have me as a visitor, and knowing she had not been forgotten. Her husband had told their relatives and children back home that she was working in the US, a ruse that would have been nearly impossible to maintain today.

 

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, partly because I had a visitor, partly because of problems posting, but now here we are. My daughter Stephanie and her husband made a surprise visit to upper NY state to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. Her husband’s family is from Ukraine so the last few months have been worrisome and stressful. After celebrating her mother-in-law’s birthday, Stephanie took a train to DC to visit me.


Now another visitor has arrived, Alexander from Costa Rica, a country where I’ve spent considerable time at various junctures in my life, starting in adolescence. So, I look forward to getting to know Alexander. How do people from abroad find me? Much of the credit must go to the internet.

 

Living here on Capitol Hill, I personally witnessed the assault on capitol of Jan. 6, 2021, albeit from a safe distance of about 3 blocks. Even from 3 blocks away on East Capitol St., a raucous, rowdy crowd was quite visible and audible. I dared not venture any further. I beg to differ with those who said it never happened.

 

Several immediate neighbors are planning to move away, perhaps worried that rising interest rates might thwart their plans. Two houses on my block have sold recently and now one next door has just sold, along with 2 others around the corner. But I am staying put.

Wash. Post, Putin likens himself to Peter the Great, links imperial expansion to Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine continues to the detriment of both sides. Vladimir Putin did not want Ukraine to leave his political orbit and perhaps Ukraine would have done better by not announcing an intention to leave. In hindsight, could it have waited until Putin was gone? But because of Putin, it was felt that such protection was actually needed, as indeed it has turned out to be.

 A friend in Honduras, a big TV fan of Dr. Oz, hanging onto his every word (as dubbed in Spanish), will be happy that he has won his primary bid and I know she will be rooting for him in November.

 

What is LGBTQIA+? Good question. It’s not enough to be plain old male or female in a conventional role or even to just be gay, rather, now people have an array of other choices. Apparently young people, in today’s more accepting atmosphere, have become more eager to explore gender identities and expressions than in past generations.

 

Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee—70 years as queen--was a nice distraction offsetting the bitterness of everyday news.

 

About the recent murders of Christians in Nigeria, my friend there, no fan of President Biden, says the following:  

Good evening, madam Barbs.

It has been one gory tale after another here in Nigeria since some months now. It's really a pity! You can see that Biden is not a good leader, compared to Trump. Trump is an outspoken leader who had the interest of humanity generally and Christians in particular at heart. But unfortunately, Biden is not. It's a pity.

We really appreciate your concern. My wife asked me to greet you specially.

 

But all is not gloom and doom. "First, the bright spots. Nearly every year, and Freedom House documents this, even amidst the worrying trendlines and the prevailing narratives about autocratic ascendency, a peaceful, pro-democracy, anti-corruption movement emerges, shaking the halls of entrenched power. Typically, that movement is violently suppressed and cut down. We’ve seen that in Iran, we saw it in Syria, we continue to see it in Belarus, and of course, in Cuba. Occasionally, that movement breaks through, it establishes itself forcefully. We’ve seen that happen in decades past in South Africa. South Korea. Indonesia."  Samantha Power, Policy Address on Democracy and Development, June 8, 2022

 

June is Gun Violence Awareness Month. Are we now more aware? Or have we simply become numb?

 

It turns out that guns are dangerous! Imagine that! Some folks are just now coming to that belated realization after a continuous series of mass shootings all around the US. Now the majority of deaths for children and young people under age 18 are from gun violence, surpassing even motor vehicle deaths.

 

"We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if we can't ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen background checks, enact safe storage laws and red flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability, address the mental health crisis," President Biden said in an address to the nation.

 

March for Our Lives, Terror at DC Rally after Screaming Man Reportedly Claimed He was Armed

This just happened on Saturday here in DC, really scary. The screaming man turned out not to be armed, but was not arrested before panicking the gathered crowd, including survivors of mass shootings.

 

Insider, House Republican leaders told their members to vote against 8 gun-safety bills, citing opposition from the NRA and Gun Owners of America

Republicans’ fealty to the Second Amendment and the NRA remains inflexible. Gun rights supersede the right to life. 

 

NBC News, At least 12 dead in another weekend of mass shootings across America


ABC News, At least 5 dead, 27 injured as wave of weekend mass shootings in US continues

 

Here’s one close to home for us in DC.

AP, Authorities: 3 dead, trooper wounded in Maryland shooting

 

Will you or I be the next victims? Today, there are more guns in the country than people. With all those guns in circulation, accidents and impulse killings are bound to happen.

 

Might the gun carnage in Buffalo, New York, the killing at a Taiwanese church in southern California, and the massacre of children in Texas, all within days, have been prevented by stricter gun laws? That’s a remedy that’s hardly been considered. Many Republican lawmakers, beholden to gun manufacturers, don’t want to even discuss that option. Instead, they call for even more guns, including armed teachers, armed guards at schools, armed guards at shopping malls. Honduras is a country with lots of armed guards, even in grocery stores, hospitals and pharmacies, and with a higher gun death rate even than the US (though not yet a tradition of mass killings). More guns mean more gun deaths. And the example of someone like the Texas killer, though not often named, being splashed all over the internet, incentivizes others to follow suit. In fact, some already have. Is this carnage what our forefathers envisioned when in the second amendment they called for “a well-regulated Militia”?

The definition of a “mass shooting” can vary, but whatever measure is used, the toll continues. Gun violence has become an epidemic in the US. Some are copycat crimes, incentivized by reports of shootings in print, broadcasts, and social media. Reports often avoid mentioning the shooters’ names or anything else that might give them notoriety, even posthumously. We are getting kind of numb to these ongoing reports; it’s hard to be continually shocked over and over.

 

(Would-be refugees gathered at the US border apparently are not deterred by publicity about mass murders across the border.)

 

Ashville Citizen-Times Opinion: Now that we have 400 million guns, are we yet safe?

The author, John Owens, uses a wheelchair after being shot himself.

 

It’s happening right here, too close to home.

 

Wash. Post, 10 dead after shootings in Philadelphia, Tenn., S.C. and Michigan

 

Where will it happen next? Will it only hit home to us when we ourselves or our loved ones are targeted? Another mass murder has occurred in Texas, the land of “open carry,” ABC News, 'Bright, shining stars': Family of 5 killed in connection with escaped inmate ID'd

 

Arizona Republic, A mass shooting, and 2 more bodies: 3 Phoenix shootings in one night leave loved ones reeling

Associated Press

AP, 4 killed in shooting at Tulsa medical building, shooter dead

Since January, there have been 12 shootings where four or more people have been killed, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University mass killing database. Those shootings have left 76 dead, including 31 adults and children in Buffalo and Texas, the database says. The death toll does not include the suspects in the shootings.

 

U.S. has experienced more than 230 mass shootings so far this year

Associated Press

USA Today, 'Beyond devastating': 6 dead, 25 wounded in Philadelphia, Chattanooga club shootings

AP, Police fatally shoot Texas fugitive after family of 5 killed

Reuters, Three people dead after shooting in Iowa church parking lot

This latter may not qualify as a mass shooting because “only” 3 people died.

And murders of spouses and other domestic partners have continued unabated, usually carried out with guns, as in the following case. Rarely is an outsider the actual perpetrator of a murder taking place at home.

LA Times, Nancy Crampton Brophy Found Guilty for the Murder of Chef-Instructor Husband Daniel Brophy A Multnomah County jury delivered its verdict today, declaring Crampton Brophy — the author of the 2011 essay “How to Murder Your Husband” —guilty of second-degree murder.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A teen held in a deadly shooting was freed without paying bail. Then, police say, the 17-year-old fired another fatal bullet.

 

AP, NY passes bill raising age to buy, own semi-automatic rifles

The age has been raised only from 18 to 21, but still an improvement. Forty percent of mass shooters are men between 18-29, with the deadliest shooters usually under age 21, so any increase in the age for gun possession would certainly help.

 

Between 1982 and now, 124 mass shootings (defined as having 4 or more victims) have been carried out by men and 3 by women, so there is a stark gender difference, probably due both to hormones and cultural factors. (Even male animals are more aggressive than females.) Ninety percent of those who commit homicide are male, as are the majority of victims, and men also make up most suicides, two types of killings done predominantly with guns. Both men and women are more likely to be killed with firearms by someone they know than by a stranger. Though I oppose the death penalty in principle, it’s hard to justify death penalty abolition in the wake of the recent rash of horrible and continuing fatal crimes.

 

According to an intriguing article: Wash. Post, Eight weeks of therapy, plus some cash, can change the lives of violent men Could we as nation afford this? Could we afford not to do it? It’s a program tried first in Liberia, now being implemented in Chicago in high crime neighborhoods.

 

In hindsight, many mistakes were made by law enforcement in recent killings, especially in Uvalde, Texas, where, at first, no alert was sounded after the armed shooter had shot his own grandmother; then when an outside school door was closed by a teacher but was not locked; and, finally, when there was a long hesitation by first responders about confronting the shooter, perhaps out of fear for their own lives, while they gathered for over an hour outside a locked classroom with the shooter inside. As children lay dying and bleeding to death, some might have been saved if responders had gone in sooner; some parents tried to go inside but were held back. Only reinforcements arriving from the border patrol later took down the shooter. What was reason for the hesitation? First responders need to overcome their personal fear to protect the community. Investigations are certainly in order, but too late now to prevent lives lost and serious injuries that will impact survivors as long as they live. The 50-year-old husband of one of the teachers killed collapsed and died after leaving flowers on a memorial to the victims. That couple leaves behind 4 children, one a marine, another a college student, while 2 daughters are in 7th and 10th grades.


 

President Biden was cheered when he visited the grieving town, while Governor Abbot was booed, as he deserved to be. These terrible events do have an emotional impact far from Texas, as I can personally attest when trying to fall sleep at night. There seems to be no silver lining to this dark cloud. Only better gun control—fewer guns--would provide that and that doesn’t seem to be in the cards so far. So, we and our loved ones all remain at risk. Days after Uvalde, another mass shooting occurred during an argument at an outdoor festival in Oklahoma, with one death and several people injured. Shooters are incentivizing each other and being armed makes it only too easy to pull out a gun during a fight. Both a 10-year-old and 18-year-old have been arrested in Florida since Uvalde for making firearms’ threats. Now according to the Washington Post, there were at least 14 more mass shootings--4 or more people shot-- in the US over the Memorial Day weekend. Even raising the age for gun ownership from 18 to 21 would help, as young men seem particularly volatile. Raising it to 25 would be even better, but is probably not feasible. Just banning assault weapons would also help and not affect hunters and firearms used for personal protection, though allowing fewer guns overall would be the safer course.

 

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, What happens when ‘good guys with guns’ don’t use them? In Uvalde, Texas, children died

Police know how to end a school shooting.

“Wait an hour and then send in the Border Patrol SWAT team is not the right way. One of the worst days in Texas history is now a law enforcement outrage that will last for years. Uvalde police, school officers, county deputies and state troopers must explain why they guarded their own lives instead of 19 children’s, and then face the eternal scorn of parents face-to-face every day in that tight-knit ranching town west of San Antonio.

“Look, they are the first line of defense — their job is not to wait for the SWAT team,” said former Fort Worth police Chief Jeff Halstead, now a Las Vegas-based law enforcement consultant.

 

The House has passed a modest gun control bill in response to recent mass shootings that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle to 21 and prohibit the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds. The legislation, passed by a mostly party-line vote of 223-204, has almost no chance of becoming law because insufficient support in the Senate.

AP, Senate GOP blocks domestic terrorism bill, gun policy debate

No, absolutely no debate or vote, as the “right to bear arms” is sacrosanct for many Republican lawmakers, so it seems. Now, basic on shifts in public opinion, some Republicans are rethinking their opposition.

 

Sky News, Ted Cruz Storms Out on British Interviewer When Asked Why School Shootings Only Happen in America

GMA, In Texas and beyond, many politicians receive mega donations from pro-gun supporters

Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who represent the state where an 18-year-old gunman carried out one of the nation's deadliest school shootings last week, are among Congress' top recipients of contributions from pro-gun donors, campaign finance records show. Cruz, in particular, has taken in the most money from pro-gun individuals and groups of anyone in the current Congress, amassing $442,000 over the course of his career, according to an analysis of disclosure reports by the nonpartisan campaign finance research group OpenSecrets.

Cornyn ranks third among current U.S. senators and representatives, receiving a total of $340,000 in contributions from pro-gun donors over his career, after Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who has amassed $396,000, according to the analysis.

EJ Montini, in the Arizona Republic, Vilifying Republicans over gun laws is a complete waste of time

Firearms legislation meant to curb this kind of violence and save some lives will only happen when all that money being pumped into the GOP’s coffers stops translating into enough votes to keep Republicans in office. The most overused cliches are sometimes the truest, and none is more true than the one that goes: Money talks, BS walks. How do we know for sure? Well, just look who was invited to speak at the National Rifle Annual convention in Houston this weekend. At the top of the bill is former President Donald Trump.

 Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, NRA Texas convention, a celebration of guns, 2nd amendment, bans weapons for Trump speech

Speaking to the NRA in Houston, Donald Trump called efforts to curb gun violence “grotesque.” He ended up his rambling address with his usual complaints about a “stolen election.” He cannot let losing that election go. He only won in 2016 by a rare fluke that allowed him as the candidate with considerably fewer votes to declare victory. The odds were against having that ever happen again. Is Trump’s star finally fading now? Or is that wishful thinking? Democrats don’t now have a strong candidate to run against him. Trump’s hardcore supporters are still with him, even more so now that he is on the defensive. But Melania seems to have checked out completely on Donald as she is nowhere to be seen these days.

Scheduled to join Trump in what the NRA called “a celebration of Second Amendment Rights” were Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and a number of other elected officials (all Republicans). Abbott later backed out of appearing in person, addressing the gathering only “virtually.” He lamely suggested that the Uvalde massacre “could have been worse.” While putting the blame on “mental health,” he cut money for mental health services from the state budget and seems in no hurry to restore it. Many other scheduled speakers found excuses not to attend the NRA event, even virtually. Most entertainers cancelled at the last minute. Outside the gathering, protesters vented their fury. In Uvalde, parents who had lost children expressed anguish and anger, both at the gunman and their own dithering officials. Some injured children might have been saved if “first responders” had just entered the classroom sooner.

Wayne LaPierre survived an effort to oust him from the NRA leadership despite presentation of evidence of his unauthorized spending for personal luxuries. NRA speakers invariably blamed “mental health” problems for various recent shootings, including in Uvalde. It seems that “mental health” and “mental Illness” are only invoked after-the-fact in a gun killing, to steer attention away from gun proliferation, but never as a preventive measure. Does the NRA support more and better mental health treatment? Would those planning to murder others subject themselves to such treatment, assuming that their intentions were evident beforehand, and what is the magic treatment actually available that would stop them? The Texas school shooter committed mass murder only days after his 18th birthday when he could legally buy firearms. Before that, he didn’t murder anyone despite the urge to do so. Not yet possessing a firearm prevented him from carrying out his murderous intentions any earlier. Not having access to firearms subsequently would also have stopped him, as it probably stops likeminded young men in countries with stricter gun laws.

In China, where guns are simply unavailable to most citizens, a violent guy sometimes attacks others with a knife, but he’s easier to overpower than a shooter, often before he does any major damage. Now in Canada, fearing a spill-over from the example of US shootings, Trudeau wants to freeze gun sales and buy back assault weapons. A shooting in Tennessee where underage people were injured got almost no press coverage because no one was actually killed. During the Memorial Day weekend, there were at least 12 shootings where 4 or more people were injured. Little has been reported about the 17 Uvalde victims who were hospitalized after being shot, except that a few have been discharged.

 

James Densley, a professor of criminal justice, and researcher into mass shootings, has said, “The Republican narrative is that we’re not going to touch guns because this is all about mental health. Well then, we need to ask the follow-up question of what’s the plan to fix that mental health problem. Nobody’s saying, ‘Let’s fund this, let’s do it, we’ll get the votes.’ That’s the political piece that’s missing here.”

 

Conversely, is blaming recent mass shootings on “mental health” problems after-the-fact, as many gun-rights advocates are now doing, just a cop-out? Doing so tarnishes the reputation of all those coping with mental health issues, most of whom are not violent. And is any increased funding for mental health services being proposed by gun-rights supporters? Not  hardly.

With about 14 million people in the United States having been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, researcher Jeffrey Swanson, PhD, has emphasized that the number of people with mental illness who commit a mass shooting is a "very small contributor" to the rates of gun violence in the United States. What drives mass casualty shootings and gun death, as Swanson has said, is access to guns.

"Even if you were to do everything possible to eliminate mental illness, you'd really only be addressing around 3% of the violence in this country," Dr. Reena Kapoor, professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, has said.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, speaking at the NRA event, bypassed mental health arguments, strongly defending “second amendment rights” and blaming a “woke mob” for social ills. How did the second amendment get so distorted beyond what the Founders ever envisioned?


Newsweek, Just one day after the mass shooting in Texas that killed 19 children and two adults at a primary school in Uvalde, the National Rifle Association (NRA) promoted its "Banned Guns Giveaway" raffle, with prizes including a similar model of assault-style rifle to the one reportedly used by the 18-year-old shooter.

The Hill, More than half of Americans want stricter gun laws: poll

Could the tragic mass school shooting in Texas just days before an NRA convention in that state finally break the hold of the gun lobby on Republican politicians there? What is the tipping point that can overcome the economic strength of the gun lobby and gun manufacturers?

Insider, Guns are now the leading cause of death for kids. Doctors say they've had enough — and they're calling for 2 simple policy changes.

"As physicians, our mission is to heal and to maintain health — but too often the wounds we see in America today resemble the wounds I've seen in war," retired Major General Dr. Gerald Harmon, now president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. "A week after Buffalo, 10 years after Sandy Hook, 23 years after Columbine; the places and cities change, but the story is the same — too-easy access to firearms, inaction on wildly popular, common-sense safety measures like background checks, and countless lives lost or changed forever."... "Firearm injury is NOW THE TOP CAUSE OF DEATH for kids/teens… overtaking motor vehicle accidents," Dr. Vinny Arora, dean of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, wrote in a tweet. "Laws made driving safer. We must do the same for guns."

 

NBC News, Florida mom charged with manslaughter after 2-year-old son shoots dad in back

Personal guns usually prove more of a risk than a protection to their owners.

 

Holland Sentinel, Ray Buursma: Can the number of mass shootings be reduced?

Here are a few of the facts highlighted in this article. Six of the nine most deadly shootings during the last six years were committed by men age 21 or younger. (Already, in most places, alcohol cannot be sold to someone under 21.) Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New York, with stricter gun regulations, have 4 or 5 gun deaths per 100,000 people while Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, Alabama, and Alaska, with fewer gun regulations, have 23-28 deaths per 100,000.

Bloomberg, Mitch McConnell expressed support for a gun-safety deal proposed by a group of bipartisan senators, particularly the expansion of background checks on buyers aged 18 to 21. Some Republicans are coming on board belatedly now on gun control, after being silent for so long. And some from Trump’s inner circle, after not speaking up before, are suddenly questioning his 2020 “win.” Politicians are chameleons.

HuffPost, States Set To Ban Abortions Offer Little Support For Parents And Children

Some Texas residents are asking why their politicians support fetal lives, but not the lives of children already born? So, the abortion debate still continues, though now overshadowed by the “gun rights” debate. “Rights” seems to be the magic word in both cases. What about rights on the other side in either case?

 

Opinions on animal rights seem mixed. I once had a vegan relative living with me who consumed no animal products, no meat, milk, or eggs and avoided leather and even wool. 

 

Miami Herald, Video shows deadly abuse of an octopus, and a Keys stone-crab fisherman is charged

 

Animal abuse is not tolerated, but at what point does a human fetus deserve similar protection? Might it be when the fetus can begin experiencing pain? How would that be determined? Or is it only when the fetus can be sustained outside the womb? And while a woman may march for “my body, my choice,” how about the earlier choice that resulted in a pregnancy?

 

Safety for the would-be mother is not always safe for the would-be child.



 

I now disagree with Amnesty International, an organization to which I’ve belonged for 41 years, whose motto is “safe abortion care is a human right,” thereby supporting abortion up to 28 weeks of pregnancy, as first envisioned in Roe a half century ago. Now “viability” can happen earlier, reflecting medical advances, so 28 weeks is no longer valid.

 

Apparently, fathers have no rights before the child is born, only after the birth and when paternity is established, with rights then almost the same as the mother’s. A father has been able to thwart a mother’s plans to place a child in adoption by stepping up to take custody himself.

 

Economic studies do show that early childbearing, especially during teenage years and especially among black women, does have negative economic consequences for mothers. Pundits supporting “abortion rights” have pointed out that women who have an abortion instead of a baby do better in the workplace and in terms of lifetime income than those who give birth. Is that any surprise? Still, that seems like comparing apples and oranges. What is the economic value—or loss—attributable to the birth and life of a new human being? https://www.rtihs.org/publications/economic-burden-unintended-pregnancy-united-states#:~:text=CONCLUSIONS%3A%20Despite%20declines%20in%20unintended,factoring%20childcare%20and%20indirect%20costs.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite declines in unintended pregnancy rates, the annual cost of unintended pregnancy in the US increased from a 2011 cost of $4.6 billion to $5.5 billion in 2018. The true economic burden is likely higher when factoring childcare and indirect costs.

 

Of course, abortion also has negative consequences for someone who is never even born. Is that someone just a theoretical person? Recently deceased actor Ray Liotta said he was grateful for “being born. For my parents that adopted me.” How about providing more practical and financial help to mothers of young children in need? What are our priorities as a nation?

 

No longer is unwed motherhood stigmatized, which may be why so many single women now keep their babies and rarely relinquish them for adoption. It’s possible to say that unwed motherhood in the US is actually being admired now as a brave choice.

 

Wash. Post, Amid tensions over Roe, some antiabortion centers are being attacked Or, as those centers might describe themselves, ”pro-life centers.”


National Review, Pro-Abortion Terrorists Firebomb Oregon Pregnancy Center

 

AP, Amid abortion debate, clinic asks: Who's caring for moms? Sisters in Birth, a Jackson Mississippi clinic caring for pregnant women, just opened in June 2021. It hopes to expand to provide for births at the center itself. 

 

LA Times, Harris unveils expansion of postpartum health program for low-income moms Bravo, Medicaid coverage for low-income women for a year after giving birth. (Babies are already covered.) This is very practical assistance, which is what is needed.

 

LA Times, Progressive Cisneros requests recount in tight race against Texas Democratic Rep. Cuellar

With Cuellar, a pro-life Texas Democrat, only 187 votes ahead of Cisneros in the primary, there has been a recount, but Cuellar is still  victorious.

Vice World News, They Come to Give Birth in Secret. They Leave Without Their Babies. This is in Japan, where abortion is illegal and single motherhood is stigmatized.

Birth control and abortion have been attempted throughout human history, but only have become widespread and effective in modern times. In the past, it was thought that a fetus did not become “human” until “quickening,” that is, at about 16 weeks, when the expectant mother could feel movement. In days gone by, wet nurses often fed and cared for babies produced by well-to-do women. Bottle feeding was unavailable then and would have probably been unsanitary in any case. Even in my day as the mother of 4 babies, I used cloth diapers that had to be rinsed out in the toilet, then washed and dried at home. I found caring for an infant fairly labor intensive, even though the child slept quite a bit, gradually becoming more independent over time.

 

What is the proper line between being and non-being? Most contraception, something not available to sexually active couples in earlier times, blocks the uniting of sperm and ovum. Sometimes, a fertilized ovum can be kept frozen in suspended animation. It does not start becoming a person until implanted in a uterus, which is how the billions of people in the world today and in uncounted past generations all started out. It’s rather amazing that so many of us are now all here.

 

To be effective parents, people do need a minimum economic floor. President Biden has recognized this, trying to provide parents with a basic income. Any baby born also needs proper care and affection for quite a few years, probably representing a financial loss (investment?) for most parents, at least until they themselves reach old age when they may then require their offspring’s assistance. And those without children still rely on the children of others to support them after they retire. That includes increasingly numerous DINK (double income, no kids) couples who, at various points in their lives, will interact with and may need help from younger people birthed and raised by others. After all, every person, including every DINK, who walks this earth is part of our human family going back eons, someone who started out just as a fetus, then as a baby and a child, whom someone had to nurture and raise. What about the basic human relationship value of having kids? What about living and interacting with them, with simply knowing and loving them? Is that measurable? An adult couple’s relationship is not the only one of value.

 

Among my own kids, I have a DINK couple and 2 who are parents still legally married, but not actually living with their spouses, and a granddaughter who is a parent, but who has never married. My 2 kids with children have produced a total of 3, so, on average, they have more than replaced themselves. Their spouses actually have even more children, but not with them. Does my family reflect a change in family configurations? Probably so, since the traditional nuclear family, two parents producing and raising children together is on the decline, now representing only 18% of US households. Yet, it remains the ideal. My granddaughter, a single mother of mixed racial heritage in her 30s with one child, says the only way she would consider having another baby would be if she were legally married to a man who was a second bread winner and, currently, she has no such prospects. 

 

In developed countries, the average age of both parents at a first birth has been rising steadily and most American couples now say their ideal family would consist of only 2 children. Since some have none, an average of 2 children per family falls short of population replacement. In fact, the average number of children per woman of childbearing age in the US is now down to about 1.7. This is not a good place to be, as overall population then becomes top-heavy at older ages with too many people like me. An average of 2.1 children per woman is needed to keep an optimal, steady, and level population. Census data shows that many US states and cities have a declining population, including Washington, DC.

Brookings, U.S. population growth has nearly flatlined, new census data shows

A HISTORIC DEMOGRAPHIC LOW POINT

Among the many consequences the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted on the nation, its impact on the nation’s demographic stagnation is likely to be consequential. The new census estimates make plain that as a result of more deaths, fewer births, and a recent low in immigration, America has achieved something close to zero growth in the 2020-21 period. 

NYTimes, Report Reveals Sharp Rise in Transgender Young People in the U.S. Will a gender change, now more socially acceptable, serve these young people for the rest of their lives? Only time will tell.

Moving on now to the international realm, observers of the Ukraine conflict are speculating about Vladimir Putin’s health. He reportedly is preparing one of his daughters to take over for him in the Ukraine “special military operation” should he become disabled. Would she be just as ruthless as her father or might she actually modify his course?

We members of Amnesty International observed on June 4 the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown with candlelight vigils. A similar vigil being held in Hong Kong was shut down by Chinese authorities.

Wash. Post, As Biden eases Trump’s sanctions, Cubans hope for an economic lift

Here’s a Cuba Urgent Action from us as Caribbean volunteers at Amnesty International

Please find UA 49/22, regarding Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Mykel Castillo Pérez.

The trials of Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez, prisoners of conscience, are set to start on 30 May and 31 May, respectively, in Cuba. Otero Alcántara and Castillo Pérez have been in pre-trial detention for nearly a year, after being detained for criticizing the Cuban government. A prosecutor has requested that they be sentenced to seven and ten years in prison. [I, Barbara, have met Otero.] We urge Cuban authorities to grant access to international organizations to monitor the trials and to immediately and unconditionally release these prisoners of conscience.

INTERNAL LINKhttps://oneamnesty.sharepoint.com/sites/iar/3e08d008-ae57-46e0-adf7-5283eb515c23#

EXTERNAL LINKhttps://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/5660/2022/en/

 

CADAL, Joint statement condemning the charges brought against Maykel “El Osorio” Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara

62 organizations and 78 artists demand that the Cuban government release the artists Maykel «El Osorio» Castillo Pérez, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Abel Lashay, María Cristina Garrido and Randy Arteaga, who were unjustly detained for exercising freedom of expression and argue that these cases are part of a campaign by the Cuban government itself marked by repression and human rights violations in order to intimidate, silence and imprison artists and creatives who dare to criticize them.

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