We are now in November, Native American Heritage Month, culminating with the celebration of Thanksgiving when, at least in popular tradition, native people and white settlers feasted happily together.
Though Friday, October 28, was not yet Halloween, when I went out that evening to the mailbox 2 blocks away to post mail to Verizon about my internet outage (lacking another way to communicate), I ran into several excited, chattering groups of costumed trick-or-treaters accompanied by their parents.
A massive fatal Halloween crowd crush occurred on Saturday, October 29, in South Korea, mostly among young people out celebrating after the long Covid lockdown. The final toll turned out to be 154, including 2 Americans. There have been many accusations of blame, as hindsight is always more accurate than foresight. AP, Officials: 146 dead after Halloween crowd surge in Seoul At least 146 people were killed and 150 more were injured as they were crushed by a large crowd pushing forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities in the capital of Seoul, South Korean officials said.
Low water levels in the Mississippi River have resulted in a greater salt-water incursion upriver, threatening irrigation and domestic water usage.
I’ve just learned that “zoomers” are folks born between 1997 to 2012, so the younger ones are not yet adults.
Two sites have been selected for the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, pending legislative action from Congress.
My younger daughter, living in Hawaii, works as a biologist, but is also an artist, as evidenced by some of her sewing projects. Most are given to friends; she doesn't sell them.
Another Native Kauai Plant Is Now Considered ‘Extinct In The Wild’ https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/10/another-native-kauai-plant-is-now-considered-extinct-in-the-wild/ A team of biologists is now trying to breed ‘alula so they can reintroduce the plant before it’s too late.
At
her home in Honolulu, my daughter carefully tended an alula plant which
unfortunately died.
Cats around here keep on getting lost, and dogs as well.
Above, both lost
Maine Coon cat above
I am teaching English in an open-air classroom. The pupils are a happy and joyful group, mainly young men in their 20's.
Another friend, Jenn, is a former Peace Corps
volunteer who served with me in Honduras. She now works for the Peace
Corps from her Pacific-island home in Vanuatu and has posted a virtual service
request (below) for the development of a monitoring and evaluation tool for
health services. Peace Corps virtual service volunteers work via computer from
their homes wherever they happen to live. Even so, they must make a time
commitment while perhaps adjusting to a different time zone, and have superior internet
communication skills. While I might be able to do this particular volunteer
job, I’m not applying for it myself because I’m not very nimble on the internet,
though still able to participate in virtual meetings regarding my volunteer
duties with Amnesty International. Yet, anyone else who reads this and is
interested and meets the requirements should certainly apply. All Peace Corps
volunteers need minimally to be college graduates and US citizens.
VANUATU
OPEN TO ALL RPCVS
NO LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
Partnership with Tafea Provincial Health Services, Vanuatu
Ministry of Health (MOH)
·
Health
The following is another intriguing Peace Corps assignment, this time onsite in Peru, a country I would love to go back to, involving a type of task I’ve
done before. Except for native Spanish speakers, often from Puerto Rico, few
Peace Corps volunteers are my equal in their command of Spanish and even fewer,
sometimes even native speakers, seem able to write with always correct grammar
and spelling, though spelling in Spanish is largely phonetic. The question is
not whether I have “advanced Spanish skills,” as is called for in this assignment
in Peru, no, it’s other considerations. For starters, I’m not sure that I
should be away from my house and family for a whole year. I am my family’s lynch
pin and my big old house also needs special care. I doubt that Peace Corps
would take a chance on me at my age in any case. Working with at-risk children also
requires quick decision making, as I know from previous experience. So, I’m not
confident of still being able to keep up the pace while working in Peru for an entire
year. Furthermore, I’m now challenged with just walking around on rocky ground
or climbing up steep bus steps or using an outdoor latrine at night. I got a reality
check on those likely aspects of Peace Corps life during my recent visit to
Honduras, proving to be a wake-up call for me about my current physical abilities
or lack thereof. Volunteers do live at near subsistence level, just like the people
they work with. Alluring notices like this allow me to imagine a return to
Peace Corps service, though it’s not something apt to actually happen.
At-Risk Youth Social Reintegration
Specialist requires
a master's degree in psychology/social work, 2-3 years of experience working
with at-risk/abandoned children, and advanced Spanish skills. Country: Peru
Duration: 12 months Projected Departure: February 27, 2023
As
mid-term elections approach, Donald Trump and his acolytes continue to
promote distrust of government, voting, and elections, just in case their side
loses. In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro adopted the same playbook. Of
course, if their side happens to win, as Trump did in 2016, then the election is
deemed fair. But when their side loses, it’s blamed on cheating. When Trump was
declared the loser in 2020, he faulted mysterious “Deep State” forces for ganging
up against him for nefarious reasons. If elections cannot decide who
legitimately governs, that opens up the risk of dictatorship.
Election deniers here are becoming increasingly shrill now, already objecting in case their favored candidates lose. In Brazil, Bolsonaro began crying foul even before the presidential runoff there which, fortunately, Lula won. Until the flap over GW Bush’s possible loss in 2000 (when I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras and never received my absentee ballot), election denial was uncommon. Since then, it’s grown exponentially. Are there ever any illegal or uncounted votes? Probably here in the US, yes, a handful, but not enough to make a difference. Voting machines actually make voting and vote counting more precise. Voting is also still the best way to gauge the will of the governed. What other system would be better?
Karen is a name parents don’t give their daughters anymore, but some girls already have it.
Porch package thieves seem indifferent to what’s inside, stealing packages just for the thrill of stealing, perhaps to discard the contents later. Once a package thief opened up a package right on my front porch, leaving most of it scattered. It apparently was not to his or her liking, food items sent by one of my daughters. Now Whole Foods Market advises having Amazon packages picked up there.
Americans do buy and order way too much stuff, especially clothes soon to be discarded in landfills or dumped in 3rd world countries. This keeps the clothing industry in business.
Regular working from home reduces pollution, commuting time, and costs, and probably makes raising kids easier. A parent working at home when youngsters come in from school can raise a finger to the lips to indicate quiet. Then when the parent takes a break, children can be personally greeted. However, an at-home parent will no longer be conversing with fellow workers during a break, so maybe office culture suffers. An employee cannot be in 2 places at once. Disabled people are finding more opportunities now with work from home. It’s likely that employers will continue to offer a hybrid mix of at-home and in-office work, something that the internet has made possible and encouraged in the wake of the pandemic.
AP, DNA evidence frees California
man imprisoned for decades
LOS ANGELES— A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for
a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been released from a California
prison after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different person, the Los
Angeles County district attorney said Friday. The conviction of Maurice
Hastings, 69, and a life sentence were vacated during an Oct. 20 court
hearing at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los
Angeles Innocence Project. This man cannot recover 38 lost
years, but should be given generous compensation to better enjoy the years he
has left. He narrowly escaped the death penalty.
Wash. Post, America is now a tyranny of the minority
ABC News, 8-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed by brother playing with shotgun An 8-year-old boy in Texas has been killed after his brother accidentally shot him with while playing with a gun in the family home. [Parents should realize by now that having a gun in the home, especially with children, is far riskier than not having one.]
NY Times, Texas Goes Permitless on Guns, and Police Face an Armed
Public
HOUSTON — Tony Earls hung his head before a row of television
cameras, staring down, his life upended. Days before, Earls had pulled out his
handgun and opened fire, hoping to strike a man who had just robbed him and his
wife at an ATM in Houston. Instead, he struck Arlene Alvarez, a 9-year-old girl
seated in a passing pickup, killing her.
“Is Mr. Earls licensed to carry?” a reporter asked during the
February news conference, in which his lawyer spoke for him. He didn’t need
one, the lawyer replied. “Everything about that situation, we believe and
contend, was justified under Texas law.” A grand jury later agreed, declining
to indict Earls for any crime.
AP, Permitless carry laws raise new dilemmas for police officers It’s really scary to see people walking around in public carrying assault rifles. But do they have to threaten or actually shoot someone before police can intervene? What if they tripped and their gun went off?
Many fake “active school shooter” calls have now been traced to Ethiopia.
In my youth, we used to do school fire drills, but now it’s active shooter drills. It's time to abolish the Second Amendment—or at least to revise its application. Gathering up all private guns would be a formidable task, probably impossible, but gun buy-back programs need to continue, as fewer guns means fewer gun deaths. Local buy-back efforts only skim the surface, but having fewer guns in circulation is still better than nothing. Will Americans have to wait a generation or more for the personal firearms fetish to die out?
On my DC ballot, I couldn’t decide how to vote on Initiative 82, after hearing arguments from servers on both sides of that issue, so may end up just leaving it blank.
Some are questioning his decision to remain in the race after his stroke. But others say his victory would be a win for disability rights. When is a disability disqualifying for a job or office? What might be considered reasonable accommodations?
As the war in Ukraine drags on, Americans seem less enthusiastic about continuing to support Ukraine, especially since that support is fueling inflation. The war has also spurred the switch to cleaner energy, which is a positive development. But probably both sides in the conflict will have to give up something for a ceasefire to actually take effect and neither side seems willing to do that yet. Or a victorious Russia may end up conquering a ruined Ukraine and trying to control a resentful and uncooperative population.
Business Insider, Ukrainian children say they were taken against their will by Russian forces and placed up for adoption in Russia, where the process has been expedited
NYTimes, Using Adoptions, Russia Turns Ukrainian Children Into Spoils of War
A face-saving way for both sides to end the war in Ukraine is needed, perhaps requiring Ukraine to give up some territory or to delay its entry into the European Union, 2 options Zelensky and most Ukrainians would resist right now.
Yahoo News, Nancy Pelosi's husband 'violently assaulted' in their
home by man with hammer The assailant apparently brought a couple of hammers in his
gear. Paul Pelosi reportedly tried to grab a hammer away from the intruder, who then
viciously attacked him, as was witnessed by police entering the home for a
wellness check, after the Speaker’s husband had secretly alerted 911. The
intruder was apparently looking for Nancy, shouting out for her. Mr. Pelosi is
82, so the attack has been labeled “elder abuse.” The attacker has been identified
as a conspiracy theorist originally from British Columbia.
National
Review, Female High-School Volleyball Athlete
Suffers Serious Head Injury after Transgender Player Throws ‘Abnormally Fast’
Ball
I’ve expressed my opinion before on these pages that
athletes who “transition” from male to female after puberty, having first reached
their maximum male height, muscle, and bone structure, maintain an unfair
advantage over female-from-birth athletes. Social issues do wax and wane in
popularity. Right now, transitioning from one gender to another is regarded as
an expression of personal freedom among a certain segment of the US population, which therefore
supports male-to-female transgender athletes. Female-to-male athletes hold no
particular advantage, except perhaps in gymnastics.
Before there was such a thing as “gender affirming care,”
cross-dressing was the only option. Just having access to hormonal care and
surgery may propel some young teens into an irreversible transition which they
might otherwise have outgrown and about which a few have actually expressed regret.
AP, Illegal border crossings to US from Mexico hit annual
high A surge in migration from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in September
brought the number of illegal crossings to the highest level ever recorded in a
fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Migrants from those 3 countries had gotten the message that they wouldn’t be deported back to a Communist country and so began the arduous trek north. But now they are being stopped in Central America and told to turn back before entering Mexico, advised about no longer being able to easily cross the US border. Some, discouraged, have reportedly now returned home.
The Hill, Coast Guard returns more than 300 migrants to Cuba over
weekend
Migrants are getting confused about US immigration policy and so am I.
Cubans used to be able to arrive freely by sea, as my late foster son Alex did.
But then Obama stopped all that. Though the US does need migrants, how many are too
many and who will actually be allowed to stay and work?
Miami
Herald, Watch a Cuban pilot heading for Miami fly
low over the waters of the Florida Keys
Pilot
Rubén Martínez, who had flown a Soviet era crop dusting plane from central
Cuba, announced that he was defecting. His feat was heralded and he seems unlikely to be deported.
Wash. Post, Florida needs workers to rebuild after Ian. Undocumented migrants are stepping in.
Here’s something really scary. A woman rubber tapper disappeared while walking home one evening after work. After a very fat python was killed, her intact body was found inside. BBC News, Indonesian woman's body found inside python, say reports
Mainstream media often features abortions done after the discovery of serious fetal abnormalities. There is little disagreement about abortions in such cases or where rape or incest are involved. However, those are not the vast majority of abortions, which actually involve inconvenient timing or just not wanting to have a child, not any abnormality. A normal unexpected and unwanted pregnancy usually continues if abortion is not an option, as happened to a young Texas woman featured earlier here. Denied an abortion, she then gave birth to twins and adapted to and even embraced her new situation. That’s what often occurred before the Roe decision, women unexpectedly pregnant simply had babies, then cared for and raised them; giving birth was not considered a choice then, just fact of a partnered life, simply what happened to most couples. Women usually stayed home to care for the children while the husband worked to support the family. But after Roe, the expectation changed, “choice” became the watchword for continuing a pregnancy, hence the backlash against the recent Supreme Court decision annulling Roe. Women also had entered the labor force in larger numbers and couldn’t care for as many children.
A woman who
either has had an abortion or given birth, probably retroactively considers that the right “choice.” When a woman gives birth, a man also becomes a father,
though he had little choice. After the demise of Roe, the total number
of abortions nationally appears to have decreased, but then what happens to
women and babies from possibly unavailable abortions? States with abortion restrictions
should follow up to offer more help to needy new mothers. Their new babies will help reverse our nation’s demographic decline.
Daily Beast, Legal Abortions Fell By 10,000 in Two Months After Fall of Roe, New Data Shows
Wall St. Journal, Xi Jinping’s Endgame: A China Prepared for Conflict With the U.S.
Wash. Post, China hands Xi unchecked power, upending norms decades in the making
At the recent 20th Chinese Communist Party
Congress, Xi cemented his authority with an unprecedented third term as CCP
head and purged the party of its more moderate leaders. He announced a firm
resolve for a “centralized, unified party leadership” and promised a “new era”
of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” He seemed to backtrack on moving
China toward a more open, freer economic and political system.
Xi’s carefully laid plans are now being carried out, step by methodical step. “Reunification” with Taiwan is high on his announced agenda. China’s growth figures, not as robust as predicted, were released only at the end of the congress.
South China Morning Post, China’s 20th party congress concludes with bigger than expected leadership reshuffle
BBC News, Hu Jintao: ex-president escorted out of China party
congress
Nothing stands still, either in our personal life or in the wider world. Change and the unexpected always happen. No one can rest very long on their laurels. Xi, like all of us, is a mortal man growing older every day. All people and even animals—at least, mammals—always seek purposeful activity. Otherwise, ennui and boredom can set in. Yes, Xi is scheming methodically now, but even his meticulous plans cannot give him total control of a huge country like China. Already, Xi’s foes are plotting against him.
Ever since the pandemic,
without a car and at my age, I’m no longer willing to traveling on public
transportation to interpretation assignments, so have passed up recent job invitations
such as those received below. I’d also want to avoid exposure to new people at each
work site. In-person interpretation is varied and interesting, full of human
dramas, often surprising, though as interpreters, we are always sworn to
secrecy. I’ve also worked as a social worker and probation officer in the past,
so some interpretation scenarios were familiar to me, but in my interpreter role,
I’ve never had responsibility to actually help solve a human problem, being only an observer like a fly on the wall.
I get notices like those below fairly often now, so in-person Spanish interpreters must be needed. I do really miss that work, quite apart from the money involved. I only began doing interpretation post-Peace Corps in my mid-60s after taking a qualifying oral test, also getting fingerprinted and x-rayed for TB (since testing positive, though never ill). It was the perfect post-retirement part-time job, since, as an independent contractor, I was also free to accept or reject any assignment.
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Date
and Time |
Tue. 1
Nov 2022 10:00 AM EDT |
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Price
& Payment Terms |
Hourly
rate of $75.00 for a maximum of 1.00 hours |
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