Younger
daughter Stephanie arrived from Honolulu on a recent morning after being
expected later that afternoon. I was surprised but happy to see her after she had gotten a through flight. Steph is a veteran traveler, having traversed the
whole world from north to south and east to west, going to Latin America,
Africa, India, and the Far East, often accompanied by her husband. The couple also
went together to Portugal on their only European trip.
Although she was born in DC at GW Hospital and grew up in my current home right here on Capitol Hill, Stephanie has found herself unaccustomed to our December weather. She also is not used to having darkness fall so
early. The Hawaiian Islands, at about the same latitude as Mexico City, are never subject to cold weather, except on the highest mountain peaks, and daylight
hours there change little over the year. Islanders are always surrounded by
ocean waters, so the temperature never gets as steamy as our summers here in DC
and never cold at all either. Many houses, like that belonging to my daughter and her
husband, do have ceiling fans, but no heat. Hotels, however, all have A/C.
Steph
has been shivering here since her arrival and has turned up the temperature on both
the furnace and the water heater. She has also totally reorganized my household,
throwing out items I had forgotten all about, and arranging everything in a more
logical fashion, but one now unfamiliar to me. I will either have to put things
back as before or get used to the new layout.
Again, I apologize for the odd fonts, strange spacing, and all-caps in some places. I also tried to reorganize this posting without success, but it has kept reverting back to a less logical sequence. The blog gods always have a mind of their own.
Not
long after Steph's arrival, we had a visit from the 2 younger sons of my late brother Bob, who died at age 80 in 2019. Bob lived for years in southern Florida, from where
his sons Jim and Mark came to visit us just now. I'd often stopped there to see my
brother when returning from my annual humanitarian trip to Honduras. I would not
have recognized nephew Jim with his prominent white beard these days, even if I’d passed him
on the street.
Daughter
Stephanie shows some of her biology-themed artwork to visiting nephews Jim
and Mark.
Right, Steph with Mom
Here I am just sitting on my living room couch. Below nephew Mark points out a menu item at a local Thai restaurant.
.
Above is my younger sister Betty living in Philadelphia, whom my nephews visited next.
Daughter Stephanie, who went with them to Philadelphia, is shown here with Betty's husband Bill.
The following photos are from the life and death of my younger brother, Bob, father of Jim
and Mark. a well-known architect living in southern Florida.
First is my bath time in Guatemala with our local maid around 1940, with little brother Bob looking on, then comes a photo of Bob with his car and girlfriend
Jean not long before he died, and finally his body at his funeral in 2019.
I’d completely stopped doing Spanish medical interpreting at the start of the pandemic in 2020
to avoid traveling to assignments by public transportation, as well as to avoid sick patients, especially at my vulnerable age. Although now getting interpreter requests again online, I no longer respond
as I’m not very steady on my feet and most patients are likely to
be ill and perhaps contagious. I did enjoy the work because of its
variety and human connections, so regret having to give it up.
The
last time I actually saw former president Jimmy Carter in person was in
1990, as per my Confessions book, where a photo of us together appears
on page 80. He then wrote a short blurb in 2008 for my Honduras Peace Corps book.
After the recent death of his wife, the former president, who turned 99 in Oct.,
has remained living at home. He has been in hospice since last Feb. without having any major medical interventions over the last year. Might
he possibly make it to age 100?
After
I'd opened yet a 3rd Citi postal mail letter addressed to my older
daughter Melanie, once again lamenting my sad demise, I found out that son Jon living in W
Va. had also received several such letters. I had called Citi right after the arrival of the
first letter back in September, reporting that I am not actually dead quite yet. But
apparently my denial failed to register, as letters offering condolences for my
final exit arrived again in October and also in November. It’s a mystery how the notion
of my recent death ever got started. Citi is such a large, far-flung enterprise that communications
may sometimes become garbled, with some errors creeping in uncorrected.
So,
it is not too surprising either that Citi has had considerable trouble
restoring my stolen funds, an effort now slowing down even further. Sellers and
merchants have become increasingly resistant to reversing fraudulent charges
after already closing their books for prior periods.
Citi
has advised me to now contact individual merchants myself to make my case, but
that's a laugh. How could I ever prove that those are not my very own charges, made with
my personal debit card? And there are just so darn many charges! The fraudster certainly enjoyed making purchases with what she considered to be free money. At a
certain point, I must simply take my losses and move on to another bank, where I need to remain on high alert. I’ve learned the hard way that banks
cannot actually safeguard our money and that the internet exposes us all to many new
vulnerabilities, despite offering greater speed and convenience. I certainly am not
alone.
NYTimes, We Can’t Stop Writing Paper Checks. Thieves Love That.
My children and grandchildren are therefore now confronting
my reduced generosity this holiday season. What will happen next to the fraudster, beyond
being slapped with a bad credit rating, I have no idea. I might have to file charges
and make a police report, then go to court against her to assure that she actually is sanctioned, something I have absolutely no intention of doing and which would hardly
restore any stolen funds. Nor is Citi likely to pursue the fraudster because of
already being overwhelmed by far too many such cases these days.
I will simply have to chalk this experience up as a loss, while also vowing to be super vigilant from now on. Banking may have become
more convenient in our digital age, but certainly has become less trustworthy,
especially for us senior citizens, perhaps being special targets for fraud. I
never realized the risk before becoming a victim.
Another
avenue for victimizing the elderly are frequent spam phone calls. I once used to get them
from a purported grandson, who said he’d been in an accident and urgently needed cash, but those calls stopped right after I’d asked the caller his name. “Grandma,”
he’d protested, “you already know my name,” but when I insisted, he
hung up and never called back. After a recent barrage of other spam calls, I’ve now blocked
a number of such callers, hopefully not anyone I actually know. If so, surely, they
will contact me by email to unblock their number. Some blocked calls still ring,
remaining a distraction.
A
new DC museum, Planet Word, is one of few museums here in DC that I’ve
never visited, first opened in late 2020 during the pandemic. Advance reservations
are required and although admission is ostensibly free, a $15 donation per
person is highly recommended. If any reader has actually visited there, please
let me know how it went.
Semafor, George Santos is earning six figures
from Cameo videos
Expelled Congressional
representative Santos has wasted no time in monetizing his notoriety online to continue
funding his lavish lifestyle.
At
least 2 more mass shootings have occurred recently, this time, one in Texas and
another in Nevada. News about these shootings may incentivize other guys (and
usually they are guys—that is, males) just looking for their 5 minutes of
fame before perhaps dying themselves. Meanwhile, in Canada, our adjacent
neighbor with a similar citizenry, does not have to put up with this daily
carnage, which endangers all of us as Americans. Why is the gun lobby still so
powerful here? Most of us would support much tighter gun laws, but we are not
making that a political priority, while a small minority of firearms enthusiasts
and NRA supporters are hell-bent on keeping “gun-rights” laws on the
books and will spare no effort in that regard.
Wash. Post, Nuns buy Smith & Wesson shares, then sue to stop production of
AR-style rifles
This
tactic used by the nuns should be emulated.
Now
in the majority of developed nations, where partnered women are able to control
their own fertility, most are choosing to have only one or two children, or even
none at all, which does not add up to the average of 2.1 offspring per woman required to maintain a steady national population. A shrinking population, top-heavy at older
ages, will create its own problems. I have a fairly wide network, but don’t any know couples
today with more than 2 kids except those living in other countries, like a Nigerian
friend (below) who once stayed with me in DC.
The gentleman from Bhutan appearing below also once lived in my home and now wants to bring his family here, enrolling annually in the visa lottery where the odds are exceedingly slim.
One
reason American women are having fewer children is that they really like
working, especially working for money, which is how, increasingly, people now achieve
self-worth and assign value to their own activities. And it is not easy for women
to work if they have many children. A tried-and-true occupational
therapy adage bears repeating here, namely, that people seek purposeful
activity as they themselves define it and for many women these days, working for pay is
their main purposeful activity. (Writing this blog is an example of purposeful
activity for me.)
As indeed, is appropriate. What greater evidence is needed than showing
that actual physical changes in gender expression may be regretted later,
requiring considerable medical intervention to actually reverse them, and then only
incompletely at best? If breasts are removed, it is pretty hard to grow them
back. If a beard is zapped, even if the person reverts to being male, he will
probably never be able to grow a beard again. Delaying physical changes at
least until age 18 keeps them from becoming an irreversible and regretted fate
accompli at too young an age. If that opinion is “conservative,” then count me now in the conservative
camp.
AP, The UN secretary-general invoked Article 99 to push for a Gaza cease-fire. What exactly is it?
The
US vetoed this UN move, very unfortunately.
Time is up now for Israel to completely
halt its attacks on Gaza and also on the West Bank, regardless of the issues
involved, and high time as well for the US to stop supporting Israel so doggedly.
More Americans—even many Jews--have already decided that unless our country cuts support to Israel, many of us won’t be voting for either Biden or Trump.
Wiping out Gaza’s next
generation looks a lot like a genocide, which the US is continuing to fully fund
and to politically support. Historic structures have also been wantonly destroyed. For what?
For Israeli vengeance? Or because Netanyahu is trying to save his own skin? Is all that
going to make Gazans any less bitter and more compliant? Not likely.
AP, Israel presses on with bombarding Gaza, including areas
it has called safe zones for Palestinians
NY
Times, Jewish American
Families Confront a Generational Divide Over Israel
The
recent truce between Hamas and Israel was beneficial as long as it lasted, as no
one was actually getting killed. Israeli prisoners were being released by
Hamas, as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel. But Israel has broken the
peace by resuming the bombing of Gaza, killing over 100 people at the very outset,
including many civilians. Now the total death toll there has been rising even higher,
to over 18,000 at last count, including babies and children, with many others being
injured and crippled for life.
NY Times, Biden’s Strategy Faces a Test as Israeli Forces Push
Into Southern Gaza
While
President Biden is still expressing solidarity with Netanyahu and full support for Israel’s
scorched-earth approach to Gaza, he now is allowing other members of his
administration to express some reservations. The day that he dares to allow a
reduction in financial aid to Israel is when he will begin having more
leverage over the situation. So far, the tail has been wagging the dog.
AP, Israeli offensive shifts to crowded southern Gaza,
driving up death toll despite evacuation orders
Israel
claims that Gaza actually first broke the truce by launching a rocket that was
intercepted. Is there another way that Israel could have responded short of
reigniting the war? US Secretary of State Blinken has said that Israel has a moral
obligation to protect innocent civilians, but Israel doesn’t seem to be
listening. After telling Gazans to flee to the south, now Israel is bombarding
Gaza and killing many women, children, and other civilians. It almost looks like a
deliberate trap. Netanyahu has made clear his intent is to completely “eradicate”
Hamas. Many other people are being eradicated at the same time.
There
is also a practical problem that killing militants without actually risking Israeli
casualties by confronting enemies face-to-face, instead using only long-range automated weapons, may involve hitting anyone located nearby. “I made clear that before Israel resumes major military
operations, it must put in place humanitarian civilian protection plans that
minimize further casualties of innocent Palestinians,” Blinken has said,
specifically mentioning the need to safeguard hospitals, powers stations, and other
facilities. Israel has
ignored this advice, yet American financial and moral support has continued unabated.
But
why kill anyone at all, Mr. Netanyahu—why not continue talking and maybe even
making some concessions? It might even become a habit and provide more positive results. Netanyahu is fighting
for his own political survival and seems willing to kill as many Palestinians as
possible in that effort.
It
turns out now that the Israeli government actually knew of Hamas’s intent to
attack at least a year ago, but had dismissed the possibility. And Palestinian minors are still
being held in Israeli jails, further radicalizing them. Is it anti-Semitic to
ever criticize Israel for any failures and excesses? Uncritical financial and
moral American support for Israel is encountering its own growing condemnation
and resistance, both domestically and internationally. What about a US threat to Israel, made quietly behind the
scenes, to actually reduce support or pull the financial plug? That might be considered
too politically risky by the Biden administration or maybe it's already
happening in secret. Now the whole world has been turning against Israel, and also
against the US for its unstinting and unqualified support.
Wash. Post, White House pressed Israel during bombing pause to change its strategy That effort obviously failed.
Wash. Post, Destroying Gaza’s cultural heritage is a crime against humanity
AFP, Israeli strike destroys
prestige Qatar-funded Gaza complex Israeli forces seem bent on implementing a
scorched-earth policy. It’s no longer sufficient to just eradicate Hamas—everything
else in Gaza must be eradicated too.
Wall St.
Journal, The Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels Attacking
Israel From the South
Now
the war is spreading still further.
NBC, Sen. Bernie Sanders opposes giving Israel $10 billion
in aid
Sanders,
although nominally Jewish and reportedly having vacillated at first about fully
supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza, now seems to have come to a decision to
speak out forcefully against providing any additional aid to Israel. It certainly
seems high time to reduce aid to Israel, though, so far, President Biden has either not decided or dared to do so.
AP, US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations
demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza
This was a sad day and a very unfortunate action by our country. A ceasefire would
not mean that the US supports Hamas, just that people would stop killing each
other. Many Americans, myself included, strongly disagree with this decision to
ignore the UN resolution.
I
voted for Biden for president once, but never again. (If his main opponent next
year is Donald Trump, that vow may prove hard to keep.) I’ve already said
I’d vote for Haley if she is on the presidential ballot next year, despite never
having voted for a Republican in my entire life, and many other women would do
the same. If Republicans want to win the presidency next time, they should go
with Haley, but only as a presidential candidate, not as vp, especially if she were on
ticket with Trump. Our country and the world cannot tolerate another 4 years of
Trump.
Telegraph, Israel-Hamas war latest news: Israel 'fired US-supplied white
phosphorous' into Lebanon in possible war crime
And the
war keeps expanding.
AP, The State Department approves the sale of tank
ammunition to Israel in a deal that bypasses Congress
This action just adds even more insult to injury.
CBS News, Poll: Most Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of
Israel-Hamas war
Many Hamas fighters have already surrendered.
NBC News, Who will govern or rebuild Gaza after the war?
Good question.
Israel as a nation has a right to exist, as do people
who identify as Jewish. Likewise, Palestinians have a right to exist and to establish
their own state if they so desire—that has been my own position for some decades
now. I’ve often welcomed new Palestinian refugees and have helped them to become
oriented.
Decades ago, as a young college student, I piled into a car
in southern California one sunny morning with half a dozen others after
we’d all decided to drive down across the border into Mexico. Within our group
was a Palestinian student, still newly arrived, who wasn’t quite sure where we
were headed, but was glad to be invited along. So we spent the whole day in
Baja California, eating, shopping, and sightseeing, with me acting as
interpreter. By midnight, all tired out by now and ready to return, we were
stopped by an American agent at the border and asked to show IDs. That was when
our Palestinian friend was told that his visa did not allow him to leave the
US. The rest of us were free go, but he would have to be detained. Rather leave him
alone there, we pulled the car off on the side of the road to discuss what to do
next. As the minutes and hours ticked by with us all sitting there together, discussing what to do, tears began rolling down the
Palestinian student’s cheeks. We assured him that we would not abandon him, but
we really weren’t sure what to do next. At about 3:30 am, when no other cars
were passing through, we drove back through the checkpoint and pleaded with the agents to just let us through this one time, promising never, ever to try such a trip again with
our Palestinian friend. Two agents huddled in a corner to confer privately while
we all held our breath. Finally, they waved us through, warning us not to
tell anyone. And I have never done so until just now, almost 60 years later
Dec.
10
was international Human Rights Day, which would have been an appropriate
time for Israel to finally stop pummeling Gaza and its inhabitants.
Now
let’s imagine an alternative scenario where both sides actually get into the
habit of not killing each other while also not risking death themselves. It’s always
tempting to demonize our enemies as being evil incarnate, yet most actually do have
human qualities just like you and me. A wanton deadly and destructive war, like
that being waged by Israel in Gaza and also by Russia currently in Ukraine,
seems sadly anachronistic in this day and age. Could the combatants ever get to
the point, as now between Japan and the US, when they might actually become
friends? Sadly, I won’t live to see such a reconciliation between Israel and
Gaza, even if it should ever actually come about, and the near-term odds for
Ukraine-Russia are nearly as dim.
Reuters, US sanctions dozens of people worldwide over human
rights abuses
This seems
a rather sanctimonious move by the US, which is still supporting Israel 100% despite
international outrage about that country’s excessive human rights abuses.
And let’s not overlook Cuba, right here in our own backyard.
AP, Former career US diplomat charged with secretly spying
for Cuban intelligence for decades
Politico, The Too-Weird-to-Be-Fiction Story
of Cuba’s Spying Ambassador For four decades, Victor Manuel Rocha, a
one-time U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, allegedly spied for Cuba. His case
demonstrates that Cuba remains a power player in the world of espionage.
Here’s the case of another
double agent embedded within the federal government for quite a number of years, a trusted individual who was actually working for the other side. How many moles now remain in federal service, never getting caught before retiring with a generous pension
and numerous accolades?
Reuters, Cuba thwarts terrorist plot by South Florida man who
arrived by jetski, state-run media says
And then in Honduras:
Guardian, Honduras:
arrest warrant issued over murder of activist Berta Cáceres Indigenous and environmental leader
was shot in 2016 after campaigning to stop construction of an internationally
financed dam
Finally,
some belated justice may come about for this wanton murder.
Back
now to the start of a historical period, one of many that I’ve witnessed and lived
through and which continues even to this day. During the more than 40 years
since AIDS was first identified, it continues to infect people everywhere, though is no longer garnering headlines. Yet, an estimated 1% of the world’s adults
are currently infected with HIV, the precursor to full blown AIDS. Many of them
don’t even know it, thus spreading the disease even further. Of the 40 million
people around the world now living with HIV, almost half of them are women, nearly all infected by a male partner. But among the over 50% of men who are infected,
more than 80% acquired the virus from male-to-male sexual transmission, others
from using shared needles. An infected woman is almost never able to transmit
HIV to a man. However, a pregnant women with HIV may spread it to her unborn baby or, after a birth, through breast milk. Medications available in the
US and western Europe can now delay the onset of symptoms almost indefinitely. My gay
Cuban foster son, Alex, who probably acquired AIDS through male-to-male
sexual transmission, died of AIDS in 1995. AIDS was also a serious concern among
our patients when I was working as a Peace Corps health volunteer in Honduras,
as per my 2008 memoir Triumph & Hope.
I
must confess to feeling rather glum about the state of the world during this
holiday season. I don’t know what I can do to make things any better for either myself
or others.
One piece of good news, this lost neighborhood cat has now been found and returned to the owner..
Granddaughter Natasha (above right) came from
Florida to see me and my daughter Stephanie who had arrived from Hawaii. They went out together to see the White House Christmas tree display.
Now
Chinese winter lantern festivals have returned to DC.
