First off, this posting was considerably delayed because of my being targeted for elder abuse, not physical, but financial, suffering a massive incursion into my bank account, something still being sort out. Because I have no cell phone, it was impossible for me to monitor my account online even with the help of a bank agent. But I finally noticed funds mysteriously disappearing. I never used my debit card for purchases, only when making withdrawals or deposits at the local branch. The bank has restored some of the funds, but not all yet. Edited or not, it’s time now to make this posting before it gets any longer. I wanted to include more photos, but maybe because of the heat in my office where the computer is located, I'll save those for next when cooler temperatures may prevail, so posting this now, come what may.
I'm asking my bank for a monthly printout to be snail-mailed to my home, When the alleged perpetrator was found, her
name was completely unfamiliar. I don’t know what will happen to her. Maybe she
was a bank employee? There are way too many potential leaks in the internet system. However,
now one of my daughters is pressing me to become more alert on financial matters, as my inattention
has partially caused me to hemorrhage all this money. So that unsettling bank problem was
the main reason for this belated blog posting.
Then last Sunday evening around 11 pm, I got a call on my supposedly unlisted number from a woman purporting to be from my bank. The call dropped when I asked for her phone number to call her back. She was obviously not from the bank. Now, in the digital age, there is no privacy. My sister and her family live safely and quite contentedly without a cell phone or internet, just a newspaper delivered daily to their front door.
I had gone to Honduras a year ago and always give away considerable funds there, But only in US cash dollars, so no fooling around with banks, even more risky there. I know I cannot take it with me. I am very frugal regarding my own living expenses.
Earlier this week, I got a message from Verizon, which handles my phone and internet, advising that they would be coming out on Wed. to change my system to Fios, purported to be superior. So they came and now while I still have internet, the phone only works next to the computer in my office while 3 other phones in the house are dead. I asked what I should do about that and was told to get new phones to replace them. I think Fios mostly is helpful to folks who have TV, which I do not. If you know anything about Fios and its supposed advantages, please advise. And please let me know if you have ever dealt with a bank fraud. But in an odd way, losing son Andrew and foster son Alex when they were too young has inoculated me against these lesser problems.
Phrasing is
important in advertising, with used cars now being described as “pre-owned”.
And with all
the hype now promoting the new Barbie movie, I recall that my kids once playing
with Barbie dolls and pulling off all their heads.
Baby, it’s been hot outside! Even hotter recently in the aptly named Death Valley in California, where the temperature rose to 128 F, though still not an all-time record.
USA Today, A
Death Valley hiker gave an interview as temps soared to 121°F. Hours later, he
died. A 71-year-old man
died at a trailhead in Death Valley on a recent afternoon as temperatures soared to 121°F, the
National Park Service said. The man, identified as Steve Curry, collapsed outside
the restroom at Golden Canyon.
Wash. Post, Another massive plume of smoke from Canada fires fouls
air in Lower 48 Washington ranked among the most polluted cities on Earth on
Monday afternoon, with smoke predicted to blanket the East Coast through
Tuesday.
The heat is bad
enough, now with a smoky haze as well.
Wash. Post, Here’s
how we know Earth hasn’t been hotter in thousands of years
Yes, we certainly
are feeling the heat right now here in Washington, DC.
NYTimes, Rising Temperatures Threaten More Than Misery for
Oldest Americans T]his past week has posed
particular perils for older people, who are among the most vulnerable to such
extreme conditions.
Despite many succumbing to Covid and now to heat, older Americans are still
growing in total numbers and in percentage of total population, with women
increasingly predominating at older ages. Starting out, slightly more baby boys
are born than girls. Yet women are almost twice as numerous as men among
Americans 85 and over. Of those surviving men over 85, 60% are married, while only
17% of women that age are still married, with 83% now being either single,
divorced, or widowed. Of those Americans who live to age 100, 85% are female.
Baby girls born today have a good chance of living to age 100. So despite being
child bearers and more involved in childrearing than their male partners, also while
holding jobs, women on the whole live longer than men. But their average
earnings are always less, 77cents for every dollar earned by (white) men. Some
of this income gap has to do with career choices, and also because women often
take time out for child bearing and child rearing.
People eighty-five and older are the fastest growing segment of the US population. That’s me. In a little over a decade, there will be more people in this country over 65 than under 18. Half of those 85 and older now require financial assistance, while three quarters have some form of disability. I am still a financial mainstay for my family, and whether or not I have a disability depends on that definition. Certainly, I am less physically active and fit as in earlier years.
Wash. Post, The
new D.C. police chief has her work cut out for her
Pamela
Smith is her name and she is a woman unlike past chiefs. But like previous
chiefs, she is black, as that’s where most of the city’s problem spots can be found
and African Americans, while no longer over 50%, are still a large ethnic group
at 45%, with white folks slightly higher now at 46% (percentages vary slightly
according to different estimates).
Washington, DC, with so many federal office buildings, has seen its downtown
become a ghost town ever since the pandemic started, along with the increasing availability and practice of remote work.
No longer are the roadways clogged with commuters nor are the subway and bus
system still overcrowded. Fossil fuel is being saved, though office culture and
camaraderie have suffered and office
romances have dwindled. Some federal agencies now require staff to come into
the office only on Wednesdays. Computerization of office work has opened up new
opportunities for some folks, but put others out of work, more recently actors,
whose images, once captured can be re-engineered indefinitely. That means they
only need to be paid once for an appearance. Extras and crowd members are
especially vulnerable.
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Yahoo, Govt. offices sit unoccupied, costing taxpayers billions |
Maybe if Chatbox now can help college students write essays, that’s the new normal, as it is also for journalists and authors, whose writings should be judged according to this new standard. However, innovation may be set back, as Chatbox is not creative, but mostly reliant on previous writing.
NYTimes, Drowning Is the No. 1 Killer of Young
Children in the U.S. Fixes Are Lagging.
During my long life, I’ve known parents who have lost kids
to drowning or others who came perilously close, especially in summer. I was always
super vigilant around water with my own kids, who all learned to swim early. I
used to take them for regular lessons to the year-round natatorium located only
a few blocks from my home. It is very risky to have a private pool with small
kids.
Ft Worth Star Telgram,
Missing 4-year-old girl discovered face
down in above-ground pool, Texas cops say
She could not be revived.
AP, The sea otter harassing surfers off the California
coast eludes capture as her fan club grows She grabs surfer boards and rides them herself.
GMA, DOJ warns Texas against using buoys in Rio Grande to
stop migrants
Gov. Abbott has also
authorized stringing razor wire under water.
NYTimes, Texas’ Harsh New Border Tactics Are Injuring Migrants
However, if more people are allowed to cross, that will
just serve as a magnet for others.
I’ve been asked to resume Spanish medical interpreting
after stopping with pandemic, but as helpful to others and as interesting as
that can be, I just don’t have the energy to go out to such assignments
anymore. A labor shortage exists even in that limited field! I’ve also been
asked to please return to Honduras and to bring another wheelchair then, but
cannot afford to do that right now and am not sure about ever going back, as
it’s a rather rugged trip and also somewhat risky for an American, though I
usually can pass for a native Spanish speaker from another country.
NY
Times, Huge Protest March
Reaches Jerusalem After 5-Day Trek From Tel Aviv
Tens
of thousands of protesters reached Jerusalem last Saturday, many having walked the
40 miles from Tel Aviv. The march highlighted the depth of opposition to a government
plan to restrain the judiciary. Would President Biden and the US dare reduce
its massive aid to Israel? Maybe it’s time to consider doing that now, a step
many American Jews would support.
Wash. Post, Rare shooting in Auckland leaves two dead, six hurt hours before opening of women’s World Cup This happened in law-abiding New Zealand.
Brave Haitian players made it all the way from their beleaguered country to play in the women’s World Cup.
Wash. Post, Kenya’s
Faith Kipyegon cuts nearly five seconds off women’s mile record Kenyan runners are always the fastest.
NY Times,
Short-Term
Pain for Long-Term Gain? Nigerians Buckle Under Cuts. In his first two months in office,
President Bola Tinubu has ripped the Band-Aid off Nigeria’s ailing economy.
Here’s what my Nigerian friend had to
say,
Good morning, madam
Barbs. Indeed, Nigerians have been groaning since the so-called fuel subsidy
was officially removed by the present administration. This was announced in the
President's inaugural speech on 29th May. The pump price of fuel immediately
rose by about 300%. Worse still, last week, the pump price increased by
additional 13%. This has put Nigerians under enormous pain and made the cost of
living generally unbearable. Although, the present administration explains that
this pain is inevitable for us to achieve sustainable development, as the fuel
subsidy regime was seen by majority of Nigerians as a scam and a conduit pipe
for massive fraud and corruption. But the argument is that certain palliative
measures should have been put in place by the government before removing the
subsidy. Now everything appears to be like 'putting the cart before the horse.'
I’ve been wondering to what extent individual decisions and actions spur collective action and vice versa, even regarding the movement of hundreds and thousands of people, like those from Africa now heading toward Europe and those from Latin America moving north to the USA?
I’ve also thought about the anti-abortion movement resurfacing in our country. Might that also be a result of a collective realization or a reaction to the reality that as individuals and as a people, we are not producing enough children to take over for us after we are gone?
If “gender-affirming care” involving physical and hormonal changes were not now available in some parts of our country and the world, then transgender folks would not aspire to making those actual physical changes and would simply have to rely on cross-dressing as before. But now that making real bodily changes is possible, some individuals do seek that out, with some occasionally going back and forth because of uncertainty. I have already commented on some actual cases earlier in these pages. Likewise, if abortion had not been legal in many places for quite a long time, for years having been promoted by Planned Parenthood as a legal and “constitutional” right for “pregnant persons,” if a whole abortion industry had not grown up around that, there would not be such fervor now against measures trying to ban abortions. Before Roe, I had a friend unhappily pregnant, who gave up her baby for adoption, and I had adopted some of my own kids myself before that time. So I do have skin in this game. No doubt, my own opinion is influenced by having had both adopted and foster children, as well as having given birth.
I am in a
minority, certainly among Democrats, in advocating for not allowing abortions
beginning when a woman first realizes she is pregnant. As for rape and incest,
maybe those should be exceptions, but in countries where those exceptions don’t
exist, I have seen babies still getting born despite alleged rape and incest and
everyone eventually does alright afterward. Of course, not everyone actually
born and raised becomes a good person and maybe the experience of being initially
unwanted impacts their life negatively and that of their mother, as well as
society as a whole. I also realize that many pregnancies are lost through
miscarriage
The
Conversation, Many anti-abortion activists before Roe
were liberals who were inspired by 20th-century Catholic social teaching...
By the time the Supreme Court reversed
Roe, the anti-abortion movement had become so thoroughly allied with
conservative Republican politics that it was difficult to imagine a time when
liberal Democrats who supported an expanded welfare state were leaders in the
movement. But some abortion opponents are already realizing
the limits of a strategy that
is narrowly focused on fighting abortion only through legal restrictions. They
are calling for renewed efforts to secure
family leave policies and economic assistance for low-income
pregnant women. This has been my position all along. I wonder if the
anti-abortion movement now resurfacing in the US is not only a response to the
end of Roe, but also, to an extent, a societal reaction to help compensate for the
nation’s lower birthrate?
BuzzFeed, A Woman Made A Never-Ending List Of All The Reasons Why
She Never Wants Kids And It's Become One Of The Biggest Viral Trends
Now that giving birth to a child or not is a “choice,” as abortion advocates like to stress, that allows enjoyment of the pleasures of sex without risking the natural evolutionary result (though probably having an abortion is not much fun). Of course, nature has made people enjoy sex precisely in order to produce children, but if not enough of them are actually produced, humankind is in trouble. Are there personal risks involved in giving birth to and raising children? You bet! Are there personal risks, as well as more broadly for the world, if too many people avoid having any children at all? That’s also true. Most parents, but not everyone, would not give up their precious offspring for all the freedom and luxuries touted by the childless. Children are unique human beings, just like everyone else, invaluable beyond measure. I say that as someone who has lost a son and a foster son and would have sacrificed my own life to avoid that outcome. And of course, not all children produced actually grow up to become valuable citizens,
The woman who posted about never wanting kids will never know the love, joy, and deep meaning that children can bring. And unless she is a hermit, she still depends daily on other people who have been produced by someone else. She herself was also once an infant, birthed and raised by someone who was not childless. Humans have continued to exist on earth for millennia thanks to sexual reproduction and motherhood, just as nature intended.
Of
course, for most women, pregnancy and childbirth do involve temporary
discomfort and even brief physical pain which fortunately often fades from
memory, making many willing to repeat the experience. However, most American
women now stop after just 2 kids, as that is as many as they care to raise. And
most US mothers now are starting out later, giving them less time to actually have
any children. Statistics bear that out, as now the overall average birthrate
per American woman has fallen below replacement levels. Women would need to
produce an average of 2.1 children to maintain a steady national population. But
even after the pandemic, the US rate is now only 1.6.
So only immigration can save the day for our country. Nor would the US or any other country want to imitate Niger, with an average of almost 7 births per women, a number now starting to fall only recently. South Korea has the world’s lowest average fertility, only .78 children per woman. North Korea, which suffered a famine in the 1990s and has not yet fully recovered, has a rate of 1.8 children per woman.
The birthrate is also going down in many developing countries, where often contraception is impractical and abortion is unavailable, so many women turn to sterilization when they consider their family to be complete. However, their men usually reject any such procedures for themselves. Since abortion is generally unavailable in the developing world, not even in cases of alleged rape or incest, children born as a result simply are incorporated into the local community.
While birthrates have been falling everywhere, world population is still expected to increase by nearly 2 billion over the next 30 years, going from the current 8 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050 and peaking at nearly 10.4 billion in the mid-2080’s. The task will be to just keep it steady right there, neither more nor less. I will be long gone by then, so subtract me from that total.
UN SG Guterres has appealed to the Security
Council "and all relevant potential contributing
countries” to create the deployment of a multinational force to assist the Haitian
National Police, which, he says, the Haitian government had requested back
in October 2022. He called for a "robust security force deployed by Member States to
work hand-in-hand with the Haitian National Police to defeat and dismantle the
gangs and restore security across the country,” adding that the police force will also need financing
for training, and equipment.
Cuba Archive, 21 EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS IN CUBA SINCE JULY 2021
Cristhian Jimenez would like to recall the message,
"Post on social media on the birthday of Jose Daniel Ferrer, prisoner of
conscience in Cuba ".
DISCLAIMER
This email has been sent by Amnesty International
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01606776 with a registered office at 1 Easton St, London WC1X 0DW). Internet
communications are not secure and therefore Amnesty International does not
accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. If you are not
the intended recipient you must not disclose or rely on the information in this
e-mail. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do
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International for operational or business reasons.
This
came in from Amnesty International regarding another part of the world:
I’m still trying to find someone to take over my volunteer position as Caribbean coordinator for Amnesty Int’l USA. After 42 years, it’s time for new blood. That person should at least speak Spanish and have some experience in the region.
There does seem to be a global consensus against the deliberate bombings of civilians, such as those carried out during World War II. Some types of weapons can now be banned, so why can’t war be banned altogether?
I
don’t know what more to say about transgenderism, a topic appearing repeatedly
in the news. Surgery and hormones are already well-known options now being discussed
and disseminated widely on the internet for all to see. I’m glad I’ve never had
to confront that issue personally with any offspring or among close friends. It
seems that even after “transitioning,” many transgender folks face continuing
personal identity problems and express further aspirations, as well as regrets,
which must be worrisome for them and their families. I’ve never knowingly met a
transgender person, so have not acquired much understanding of them.
Transgenders transitioning in either direction often seem to have kept their original private parts, but some endeavor to create similes of those of their chosen gender with varying success. Now it is alleged that bio men taking female hormones can be induced to produce breast milk. I doubt that. Even we women who have actually nursed children cannot produce breast milk on demand. What’s next, implanting artificial wombs and making bio males go through the whole pregnancy and childbirth experience? Life is complicated enough already without having folks tying up medical practitioners’ time and skills with such bizarre requests. Sometimes, even though plenty of money may be offered, doctors should find the fortitude to say “no, scrap that idea. Find some other worthwhile investment for your money and efforts.”
I do have experience with gay folks, including with a gay nephew and my gay Cuban foster son. They faced numerous challenges early on because of lack of social acceptance and self-doubts, but my nephew, now in his 50s, is doing much better in today’s more accepting social climate. My foster son did not survive the AIDS crisis.
NBCUniversal Apparent coup attempt Vladimir Putin faced may have
never ended
Wagner Founder Yevgeny Prigozhin –reported to have gone to Belarus – apparently is actually back in Russia after he and his mercenaries rebelled against Vladimir Putin’s army by staging what many believe was a potential coup. Prigozhin is said to use body doubles, so it’s been hard to keep track of his actual whereabouts. Putin still must keep on alert while feigning “business as usual.”
Wash. Post, Kremlin smears Wagner boss Prigozhin, hailing Putin as Russia’s savior
Wash. Post, Putin met with Wagner leader Prigozhin after failed mutiny, Kremlin says
I am not the only one feeling uneasy about the US sending cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Wash. Post, Six
killed, including three children, in Chinese kindergarten stabbing
While
mass stabbings in China are tragic, gun violence in the US is far worse.
Stabbings can only take out a relatively few people and stabbing news is probably
not disseminated much in China to avoid incentivizing others. The perpetrators
almost surely get the death penalty.
The death penalty was used much more routinely in our own country years ago, including in California, which now has a moratorium. When I listen to the old-time radio show Dragnet based on California true crime stories from the 1950’s and ‘60’s, I am surprised at how often the offender is reported to have been executed in the San Quentin gas chamber.
As I now near the end of my long life with its many tragedies and sorrows, I must admit that I've nonetheless had a very interesting and varied life, very unconventional, though you would never guess it from meeting me today as a lady of a certain age living quietly now in Washington, DC. To the extent I am aware, it’s been quite different from the life experience of my neighbors or even of my children, who all seem to have followed a more traditional path. Although I suffered from a shocking divorce from my blind husband, who was so dependent on me and when we had been so close for more than 2 decades, and while I have undergone the further terrible loss of my older son and Cuban foster son and other tragedies, I also have had some very interesting experiences quite different from those of people with whom I regularly interact. Many of those experiences have enriched my life and still sustain me today. So despite the tragedies, there has been compensation now from recalling my many adventures around the world and from now having close worldwide connections, thanks to the internet that miraculously brings us all together.
And, of course, there are always lost pets.
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