Wherever life takes us, buckle-up, as it’s always a surprising and interesting ride

Flowers are still blooming on my back porch. 

My son living in W. Va. recently bought a 2006 Lincoln Town car which had been sitting for a while and still needs some work. I have yet to take a ride in it, though it has to be more comfortable than his old van, now gone to junkyard heaven. 

Let's celebrate the Mississippi quintuplets, 4 girls and a boy, being held by their proud parents, born at 28 weeks after fertility treatment.

In March of 2021,  a Georgetown professor, Dr. Newton Howard, erected two transformer statues, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, outside his home in Georgetown. When his neighbors demanded that he take them down, Howard refused and is still fighting to keep them.

President Biden recently visited the Irish Republic where his family originated and also Northern Ireland where political and religious divisions are still evident. But renunciation of violence has largely been effective there, which has a lesson for Ukraine. However, the partitioning of the whole island according to predominate religious affiliation seems rather anachronistic now, since religion and religious loyalty have been gradually fading in importance in either place. It would seem that national and religious identity have also become less salient now for many folks living in western Europe and north America as well. With the internet, air travel, and the 24-hour news cycle, some of us are feeling more like citizens of the world. English has become the de facto international language. Although the UK initially bucked globalization via its insular Brexit vote, that may eventually come to be seen as a mistake, and so may turn out to be only a temporary setback

 AP, AG: Guardsman to be charged with removing classified info He is 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira. FBI agents converged Thursday at Teixeira's Massachusetts home and took Teixeira, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, into custody, “without incident," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. He is being charged with unauthorized removal of classified national defense information with an initial court appearance in federal court in Massachusetts.

Reuters, Trump sues ex-lawyer Michael Cohen after grand jury testimony Mr. Trump is seeking $500 million in damages.

Wash. Post, Popular handgun fires without anyone pulling the trigger, victims say More than 80 people, including police officers, allege they were shot by their SIG Sauer P320 pistols. Some have lost work, live in pain after serious injuries.

 Insider, A 78-year-old woman charged with robbing a Missouri bank apologized to the teller with a note that read 'sorry I didn't mean to scare you,' prosecutors say She reportedly has 2 prior bank robbery convictions, so now what to do with her as a repeat offender? She apparently felt that she really needed the money. She would not do well in a general prison population, even in a women’s prison, so might only be sentenced to house arrest. 

Insider, A fisherman stumbled upon a Jeep submerged in a lake. When police arrived 18 minutes later, a woman was found inside — and was still alive. A fisherman boating out on a lake alerted authorities to a submerged vehicle which turned out to have a live woman still trapped inside, resulting in her truly miraculous and fortuitous rescue.

There have always been people—apparently only a very few—convinced from early childhood of having been born into the wrong gender, though with gender roles now converging more than ever, presumably such feelings would become less acute and less frequent. But not so—if anything the desire for gender change has become stronger than ever, perhaps as the result of social media influence, the x-factor now, as it's hard to shield kids from anything on the internet. I’ve never knowingly met a transgender individual, though I have met cross-dressers without any surgical or hormonal changes, including in Honduras.

WHIO, At least 20 injured, multiple dead from shooting at Alabama birthday party, reports say Every few days, another mass shooting occurs in the US. When is enough finally enough? Six people were reported killed this time, with a full report not yet released.

 ^{Telegraph, Kentucky bank gunman was star athlete and finance graduate who turned rifle on colleagues} He was a bank employee who had apparently learned that he was about to be fired. Anyone with a grievance can simply decide to go get a gun to just shoot up a lot of people.

HuffPost, In Surprising Turnaround, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Is Pushing Gun Reform Sharing a border with Kentucky, which had just suffered a mass shooting, seems to have prompted the Republican Governor of Tennessee to finally take action. Tennessee also had had its own mass shooting just at the end of March, so those 2 mass shootings so close together may have finally prompted the Governor to stop procrastinating

Jezebel, Dianne Feinstein Is MIA, and Her Absence Is Holding Up Judicial Confirmations Feinstein, age 89, is reportedly still “working from home” after a bout with shingles. She has remained in her San Francisco home since March 7, missing 60 votes of the 82 taken in the Senate in 2023, and as the Senate prepares to return from recess on April 17, it looks like she still won’t be there. She has almost 2 years to go until her term ends in Jan. 2025.

Wash. Post, Dianne Feinstein to give up Judiciary Committee seat while she recovers from health issues 

As an octogenarian myself, I’m inclined to give Feinstein the benefit of the doubt, but the people of California deserve to have someone more fully engaged. Likewise, Pa. Senator John Fetterman, after his long absence so early in his first term and given his resolve to continue despite his many physical and other handicaps, needs henceforth to remain faithfully on the job for the duration of his six-year term in order to fully represent those who put him in office (and whose taxes bankrolled his treatment). He is due back in the Senate on April 17. The US Senate (and the House) do need to make reasonable accommodations, but elected officials owe it to their voters to faithfully represent them and their interests. Feinstein and Fetterman are both Democrats, but New York Republican Congressman George Santos, who brazenly misrepresented his credentials, also deserves closer scrutiny. Getting elected is just the beginning, not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Meanwhile, as Biden delays his own reelection announcement, I wonder if he might be awaiting confirmation of a health issue?

Immigrants get most of their notions of American life from social media, movies and TV. If they do ever manage to make it safely across the border, they soon find themselves not in heaven on earth, but actually in a challenging and unfamiliar environment, without language skills or any legal status. Then it’s too late to turn back. They often band together with others in similar circumstances, sharing housing, food, and advice. As an interpreter and a social worker, I’ve often seen several guys jointly renting a single room, working different shifts, rotating on beds to sleep fully clothed, and scrimping to send money back to their families. They stay on until finally being deported, waiting for that free ride home.

Likewise, as a social worker, I’ve met homeless people who value their freedom and express pride in their own ingenuity by surviving without actually working or having a fixed address. Like undocumented immigrants, they also find fellowship among their peers. Most people do seek human connections whatever their circumstances. It’s a rare hermit who lives totally alone.

Some folks may be called “anti-abortion rights extremists” or slapped with other pejorative labels, but they are still “pro-life” in my book. I’ve become sensitive about how news and information may be slanted. “Freedom, Justice, Access” says an eye-catching Planned Parenthood ad popping up in my computer feed, stressing its non-profit status and requesting donations. But what about freedom and justice and life itself for incipient humans? “Reproductive privacy” was the defense used by advocates for a woman who had terminated her pregnancy without her husband’s knowledge or consent. Until an actual birth, a father apparently has no rights. A Texas federal judge arguing against distribution of the abortion pill was dissed for using the term “unborn human.” Is that incorrect? Most Americans reportedly support use of the abortion pill, perhaps regarding it as emergency after-the-fact contraception. But I see a difference between preventing a possible theoretical pregnancy and stopping the life of an actual human individual with unique personal characteristics, including a specific gender, eye, skin, and hair color, and already starting to grow and develop, just as we all have necessarily started out in life. Am I out-of-step with most of my associates on this question? You bet! And President Biden has changed his own stance on abortion over the years.

Wash. Post, DeSantis signs Florida bill banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy In Florida, to make sure to halt a possible pregnancy, some women may even start taking the abortion pill before they’ve actually confirmed their pregnancy. Despite my affinity with Gov. DeSantis’ abortion stance, I don’t plan to vote for him if he runs for president (while still considering him a lesser evil than Donald Trump).

Telegraph, A ‘vasectomy revolution’ threatens to plunge America into a population crisis  More younger men, often unmarried with no children, rather than older men with children already who are “done,” are now becoming candidates for vasectomies. Relatively fewer single American men or women are even considering marriage any more. Freedom and autonomy have become highly valued. And it’s very hard to backtrack on autonomy now, including on “rights” without consequences to sex, to changing one’s gender expression, or even to keeping on working from home. Once someone has become accustomed to something, losing it is often resented and resisted.

These days, the US birthrate is at a worrisome low, only 1.6 per woman, not sufficient for maintaining population at current levels, which would require an average of 2.1 children per woman. Women are also having their first child later, which reduces total births. Immigration could help offset this decline, but is not being encouraged. Americans are living longer, so how will we oldsters be supported?

With regular use of birth control, lower marriage rates, and later marriages, women in North America, Western Europe, South Korea, Japan, and China are now all having only one or 2 children, if any, which is not replacement. Africa, India, and Latin America could help make up the shortfall, but their immigrants are not being welcomed.

Wash. Post, How AI is reshaping porn New technology has for years been pioneered through porn. AI-image creation hasn’t broken from that pattern.

No longer do sweaty, moaning porn stars have to fake organisms on-screen or be filmed actually ejaculating. Their exertions can be recreated “virtually,” perhaps using previous live performances as a model, but leaving actual porn stars now out of a job.

 Wash. Post, She spent 500 days alone in an underground cave — and didn’t want to leave Spanish athlete Beatriz Flamini's solo challenge was studied by scientists. Her 500 days in an underground cave meant she had no idea what was happening in the world. 

Yet death-row prisoners are found to suffer physically and psychologically under solitary confinement.

As mentioned, my sister and her family live just fine without the internet, relying on letters, phone calls, in-person conversations, and a newspaper delivered daily to their front door. Their life is certainly simpler as a result and they don’t miss something they’ve never had. However, though I gave up trying to master a cell phone, I do appreciate keeping in touch with friends all around the world with just a few computer keystrokes and finding out whether friends my age still remain among the living. So I’m glad to stay now with the internet. How else would this blog be sent out?

The OAS here in Washington, DC, will hold a public discussion on "Cuba, Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Fear and Intimidation," on April 18, 2023, in the OAS Hall of the Americas. Cuba and its people have been relegated to the back burner lately as world attention is focused elsewhere, but they should not be forgotten.

 Miami Herald, Haitian-American couple from South Florida kidnapped in Haiti has been released  US citizens visiting family in Haiti, after more than 3 weeks, were finally released after paying part of the requested ransom. (Gone are the days when I traveled freely around Haiti and even rode regular buses, the only white person on board. I once even attended a voodoo ceremony.)

Miami Herald, Haiti police make new arrest in assassination of President Jovenel Moïse

AFP, 'I was born here': Thousands in limbo in Dominican Republic

AP News, Holy Land Christians say attacks rising in far-right Israel Simmering tensions in the community came to a head over Orthodox Easter rituals as Israeli police announced strict quotas on the thousands of pilgrims seeking to attend the rite of the ‘Holy Fire’ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Citing safety concerns over lit torches being thrust through massive crowds in the church, authorities capped Saturday’s (April 15) ceremony at 1,800 people. Priests who saw police open gates wide for Jews celebrating Passover, which coincided this year with Easter, alleged religious discrimination on Wednesday (April 12).

Axios, Tensions boil between Israel and Jordan over Jerusalem Escalating tensions and violence at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound over the last few weeks have exacerbated the already strained relations between Jordan and Israel, two U.S. and two Israeli officials said. Why it matters: Jordan’s King Abdullah II is the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. Because of Jordan's huge Palestinian population, any tensions in Jerusalem, and specifically at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, immediately become a domestic political issue.

Wash. Post, India’s population overtakes China’s, but numbers mask a bigger story Within India, fertility rates diverge dramatically from state to state, reflecting a significant north-south divide.

Wash. Post, China practices attacking Taiwan from the east, a worrying development China is warning Taiwan that it could completely wipe out that island nation and its residents, so best not to display too much independence.

Wash. Post, Taiwan highly vulnerable to Chinese air attack, leaked documents show The U.S. military assessments address the precariousness of Taiwan’s air defenses, reduced warning time for an attack and how China might use space assets. The strange balloons launched recently by China may possibly be involved in its plans to attack Taiwan?

¿China es un régimen totalitario? Is China a totalitarian regime? asks Isolda Morillo in a comprehensive Spanish-language article appearing in the Argentine press. So far, she argues, Xi’s regime has not proven to be as brutal as that of Mao with its purges and executions, but is more rigid than that of his immediate predecessors. And despite further consolidation of his grip under the guise of rooting out corruption and promoting the “Chinese dream,” Xi and his government still have shown some ability to adapt and a modest degree of sensitivity to world opinion. However, maybe, like Ortega in Nicaragua, his strategy is to advance gradually so as not arouse much attention or pushback?

Meerkats have recently caught my fancy, though I’ve never actually seen one except in a zoo. A meerkat is a small mongoose with long tapered legs, large eyes, and a pointed snout living in southern Africa. Meerkats can run fast, mostly eat insects, and live out in the desert without drinking any water. They do just fine living in a pretty unwelcoming environment. 

                                                 Apparently lost cat below looks like one seen before.

Last time on these pages, I reminisced about the breakup of my marriage. After that experience, marriage was not something I ever wanted to try again, despite having had at least one serious proposal after getting divorced (a divorce I’d strongly resisted). I had tried to give my first and only marriage my all, believing that my blind husband’s dependency on me would always keep us together. When couples now discuss the division of family labor, there was none of that in our household. I just did 100%, though I now have a blind woman friend with children who certainly does her share. I also worked part-time then and helped my husband in his work. Of course, once he had reached prominence with my help, he easily found a younger helpmate unencumbered by children to work at his side in his office fulltime.

High-profile men, married or not, are attractive to women, often to much younger single women like my late ex-husband’s personal office assistant, who then became 2^nd wife. He told me that she had insisted that they marry and some years later, they had a daughter, though he had strongly objected to that idea at first according to my kids. His blindness coupled with his evident success may have made him especially attractive to his second wife. But after they married, she was probably wise to make sure that he and I had no further communication, as indeed, we did not after that one fateful phone call that he made to me in 1984 when our conversation had gone so well. And, despite my older son’s tragic and unexpected death, I actually did better on my own after our split, finally free to revive my dormant Latin American side.

Here is a Christmas photo of me with late ex-husband that my younger daughter found and recently posted on Facebook.