Do
we simply wait for the future or do we create it? Of course, we all do
both all the time, awake or asleep.
Here are some yellow mushrooms from my own neighborhood, and below, some blue ones.
We
all have accumulated way too much stuff. Every day on the neighborhood website,
people try to sell or even give away excess items, often just putting them out
on the sidewalk to be taken away as trash if no one wants them.
Once
on a bus in Honduras, I began chatting with my seatmate, who turned out to also
be a former Peace Corps volunteer, born in Puerto Rico. He had stayed on after
marrying a Honduran woman and was now an English teacher in a bilingual school.
At that surprising point in our conversation, we switched over to speaking English.
As narrated in my Honduras book, after joining Peace Corps in 2000 at age 62, I extended my service from 2 to 3 ½ years as a health volunteer. Afterword, I became a part-time Spanish medical interpreter after passing a very rigorous qualifying test, then began traveling annually back to Honduras at my own expense to volunteer as an interpreter and helper for US-based medical brigades, each time taking a new wheelchair. I missed going in 2021 because of the pandemic, but returned again in 2022, as shown in these photos, one of me giving a donation in US cash dollars to the Honduran Red Cross.
For more photos and a narrative about that trip, scroll back on this blog to Aug. 13, 2022. This year, because of the massive theft from my bank account and all the fallout involved there, I will miss going to Honduras again this year.
My sister and her family are blissfully unaware of the internet, lacking both cell phones and a computer. Yet, a city newspaper is still delivered daily to their front door (for how much longer?), something created digitally beforehand. But no more type-setting to print a daily paper. And their family’s independent local bank has many cyber connections.
Before my recently discovered bank account theft, I never knew that purchases could be made from a debit account by simply giving out the number without even writing a check or presenting an actual debit card. That’s what my fraudster did, so she and others like her have taken advantage of the fact that many people still don’t know this. Other victims have learned it the hard way, just as I have. Now I know! Merchants could stop or reduce this by requiring a display of the image of an actual card, though maybe that could be faked as well in the digital age
I still hope to see more recovered funds soon. If merchants who accepted my debit card number on a fraudulent basis agree to voluntarily return the charge, great, if not, I would expect my bank to make up the difference—at least, I'd hope so. Aren’t banks supposed to be keeping our money safe? I’ve asked now when I can expect full reimbursement.
Meanwhile,
relentless robocalls to my private unlisted number have increased,
calls that only started after my discovery of the theft, often from the same
numbers, over and over again. My older daughter is trying to block them and just when they seemed to be diminishing, new ones have popped up. I do need to change my phone
number. Is this barrage of spam calls simple revenge, now being released
by fraudster Laela Janae Turner for halting her buying spree? Everything
she purchased with my thousands of dollars cannot have been for her own use, but rather resold for
profit. A neighbor speculates that she could have been a front for a criminal
enterprise. She zeroed in on my debit account as, like most people who never make
debit purchases, I only looked at cancelled checks. But now, I monitor both
credit and debit accounts religiously and have a monthly printout of all
banking activity mailed to my home.
Such thefts may primarily target vulnerable senior citizens like me, also like Senator Feinstein (see next).
Insider, Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she's being
cut out of millions from her husband's estate in an act of 'financial elder abuse'
Dianne Feinstein alleges that the trustees for her husband's
estate have engaged in "financial elder abuse." Katherine Feinstein,
who filed the suit on behalf of her mother, alleges that Feinstein is being cut
out of millions.
The daughter is
also looking out for her own interests.
Single women,
including mothers of children, understandably want to find partners, so they
often go online in this digital age. But that can be risky, as many women have soon found out. Better to lead a celibate life than to be dead and leave your
kids as orphans. I won’t share all the online reports of women killed recently
by men they met online. Sometimes, it goes the other way, as when a woman kills a
man she met online.
The Guardian, Donald
Trump to surrender at Fulton county jail on Thursday night Exclusive: Trump had lawyers negotiate booking to take place during
prime viewing hours to get maximum television ratings
Trump’s supporters
view his pending arrest as further proof that he is being persecuted. But some witnesses are starting to flip. If Trump is once again the Republican
presidential candidate, he will lose again, but another Republican candidate might actually win.
DC police Chief Pamela Smith, to cut down on violent
juvenile crime, has now ordered kids 16 and under off D.C. streets from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on
weekdays and 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. on weekends.
Wash. Post, Buffalo mass shooting witnesses sue gun industry, others for trauma Witnesses and victims should keep on doing this—hitting the gun industry in the pocketbook.
Bernardo Arevalo: Anti-corruption leader wins Guatemala election
Bernardo Arevalo promises to end elite rule
in a country mired in poverty and gang violence.
This
letter highlights Amnesty International’s deep concern regarding the
announcement that Kenyan law enforcement officers may lead an “international
specialized force” as requested by the Haitian government, to temporarily
assist the Haitian National Police (HNP) in addressing insecurity caused by
gang violence. We would like to bring to light some crucial issues that must be
considered before endorsing the deployment of such a force in Haiti.
From Cristhian Manuel Jiménez
Caribbean Campaignerm Amnesty International
International
Secretariat, Americas, México, DF
After 42 years as volunteer Caribbean coordinator
for Amnesty International-USA, I now want to pass on that responsibility to a
younger colleague. We recently interviewed an interested candidate, but she
didn’t seem to qualify. I think we could still find a place for her in another
volunteer position, as eager volunteers are hard to find. After I step down, I do plan to continue as a member of our
local Group 211, which I helped found 42 years ago
In an ideal future, both overall world and all national populations would neither shrink nor grow beyond current levels. Maintaining a steady population would require an average of 2.1 births per woman. Could that goal actually be promoted and sustained worldwide? Probably not. What actually happens will result from countless individual actions and circumstances, but also involves government policy and social support. Of course, even where there is widespread agreement, goals are seldom fully achieved but still can influence individual decisions and behavior.
Wherever certain “rights” have been recognized, whether for abortion, gay marriage, or gender transition, it’s very hard to try to back track on those rights, as some elected officials and policymakers are finding out.
But there is also spirited backlash, as exemplified by this item in The Telegraph, Opinion, Biden’s trans official is wrong – I’m a Mum, not an ‘egg producer’ Madeline Fry Schultz
The natural gender ratio at birth results in an average of 105 baby boys for every 100 girls. Yet culture influences elective abortions, as well as subsequent infant and child survival. Now men outnumber women in many countries, including in China, Arab nations, Iran, and India. But females predominate in Russia, both Koreas, Taiwan, Japan, Kenya, and South Africa, as well as here in the US, where 51% of our population is female.
Both Europe and the US could use more migrants, just not so many all at once. Canada is fortunate to have the US as a buffer, allowing authorities of that nation more leeway to pick and choose.
Now senseless shooting wars like Russia’s in Ukraine, already with half a million deaths and injuries and hitting those in the prime of life, are becoming anachronistic and actually are net harmful to both sides. There must be other, less damaging ways to settle political disputes. Why do leaders and citizens of what we now consider nation states keep trying to “win” by physically killing and wounding each other and destroying buildings? That seems outdated and unnecessarily destructive. We need visionaries to come up with and promote less harmful ways. War can and should change. Already, the killing of civilians, something widespread during previous wars, is now condemned as a war crime.
While we cannot expect to live forever, assisted suicide has now become a topic of debate as life expectancy increases. No one wants to make suicide easy for disturbed or impulsive individuals. But if someone is suffering from a painful, debilitating, and apparently incurable or untreatable condition with no relief in sight, then how long should they have to endure that? Might they be allowed to take medication to end their life under specific circumstances and, if so, when? These are questions without easy answers, nor should anyone ever be encouraged or pressured into actually leaving this mortal coil.
If having 2 children has now become a desirable norm, at least here in the US and some other developed countries, there are many ways for couples to keep within that limit, short of living a celibate life, not only with birth control, but with voluntary sterilization.
Folks here in my Capitol Hill neighborhood, posting on-line, typically refer to a beloved pet as their son or daughter. “Good morning neighbors, I too am a Doggie Dad; I was responding to a thread about our doggie kids and I realized I’ve never shared my little boy. “A pet is a living, breathing creature providing daily companionship, but on a less demanding basis than another human being. However, if more pets become substitutes for kids, then human populations will continue to shrink. Another neighbor posted a photo of her “pitbull mix and I absolutely love her so much... she’s a joy to have and my very best friend.”
An online search found over 400,000 photos of older couples smiling happily together,
but only 37,000 of older singles, often pictured with a pet.
Here are some local pets lost and often found by others.
A pet featured here this time is Molly, much beloved by her owners, but now being cared for temporarily by my son while they are experiencing housing problems, even taking her with him to the laundromat and when he visits a national park.
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