Of birthdays, springtime, and a world still at war

Happy birthday to me now in late March, also to my son Jonathan 2 days earlier. I was visiting him for the first time since last November to celebrate our birthdays together, spending over a week in Berkeley Springs, W Va., without any internet or phone. It was a nice respite away from the computer, but put me way behind on correspondence. Here now are some of many birthday messages received on my return.

I hope you are well and keeping active. Many blessings for your birthday. 

Greetings from Honduras.

My friend Sonam Yangchen in mountainous Bhutan sent me this message while I was away: 
Hi Aunty, 
Washington is snowing I guess, how are you dear, take care 
Happy Easter aunty, always, Sonam 

Little does Sonam know the high temperature these days has hovered around 60 F.

While I was away, an errant ship collapsed a bridge in neighboring
Baltimore, killing, several workers, including at least one from Honduras.
Since our country is not producing enough workers, we should welcome those
from elsewhere coming to help us out.

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Walking into my home on my return from W Va., I encountered a faint gas smell, which turned out to come from an oven pilot that simply refused to be lit. Fortunately, I came home before the house had become filled with gas, possibly blowing up? After I’d immediately called the gas company, all gas for the house remained turned off for several days (stove, furnace, hot water). Unbeknown to me, it had  all been silently turned off by the gas company using a switch located at the outside meter. I only discovered that had happened when I found a gas company notice left at my front door. After that, I hired a very versatile workman to permanently shut off the problematic oven pilot, thereby stopping all future use of the oven which finally solved the problem. In days gone by, I did often use that oven for cooking up various dishes for all the dinner guests whom my late ex-husband had invited to advance his career, also when cooking for our family that included 4 kids. But now living alone, I no longer need the oven; stovetop burners and a microwave are enough. Cooking with stovetop gas allows for more versatility than using electric burners and my radiator heat from a gas furnace is cozier than electric heat as well, but gas is also a problematic fuel now being phased out all over the country.  

When I first called about the gas problem in my house, the person answering my call had an accent when speaking English. I now know that most people responding to our calls on almost any subject are physically located elsewhere, as I’ve learned by sometimes asking them where they are located. Some have said Philippines or India; others have only said “off-shore.” I have yet to encounter anyone from Honduras, though I do know Hondurans working for call centers who have learned to speak English without ever having left their country.

Now as a senior citizen, I’ve learned to take things slowly and to avoid multitasking which only gets me off on a tangent. Also, I never get too worked up over relatively small problems, like having no gas or heat. After the untimely deaths of my older son and Cuban foster son in successive years, since I am still surviving, nothing much can faze me any more. 

Before I left for W Va., the redbud tree in my front yard had just started blooming.

Here were the cherry trees beside the Potomac River as we were leaving town for W Va. 

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Then in W Va., while my son was on duty at the Coolfont lodge’s front desk, I spent several hours sitting by myself in the entryway, sometimes greeting or talking with folks who passed by. Otherwise, when he was working, I often stayed alone out at his house out in the woods with no TV, radio, or phone, reading old New Yorkers passed along by a friend, with the issues later being donated to the Berkeley Springs public library. 

However, one evening out at the lodge, I sat at the bar eating supper looking at a giant wall screen featuring a lively game of women’s college basketball. It was Tennessee versus North Carolina State, something I would otherwise not have seen, having no TV myself. North Carolina won that game, 79 to 72.

Outside, redbud was in full bloom, though not exactly red.

Yellow-blooming Forsythia was also abundant everywhere.

What are these little yellow flowers popping up near to my son’s front door? Sometimes I see and hear deer running by. (His rented home is located out in the woods over a mile from the lodge where I had been watching the women’s college basketball game.)

One afternoon, I stood out by a canal next to flowering trees near the natural hot baths in Berkeley Springs, from which the town derives its name.

 Sometimes I ate alone in the dining room at the lodge while my son worked or I spent time reading in the lobby.  

My son's young dog, named Willow, sometimes traveled with us in his car. 

 

Though I was away from the news in large part and out in the woods in touch with few people, nonetheless some events, both national and international, still caught my attention.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh may well have expected never again to hear the name Christine Blasey Ford. Just as Clarence Thomas had weathered allegations of sexual misconduct before him, Kavanaugh may have hoped to see Ford’s 2018 public assertions against him relegated to the dustbin of history. But now at age 57, Ford, a professor of psychology as well as a wife and mother, has resurfaced with a new memoir One Way Back giving her side of the story. She was interviewed recently by Michel Martin on NPR. For the female half of the US population, her accusations still resonate, as we’ve all been there. Nonetheless, 2 justices accused of sexual misconduct still remain on the highest court of the land.

Miami Herald, ‘We are hungry’: Cubans take to the streets in the second-largest city to protest

Folks in the city of Santiago (where I’ve visited) have taken to the streets in a rare public protest for which the Cuban government is blaming the US (nothing new there). It’s very hard for Cubans to actually mobilize, but they did so this time out of sheer frustration. Cuban authorities have since requested aid from the World Food Program.

 

CNN, Pelosi praises Schumer’s speech on Israel, says ‘Israel’s reputation is at risk’

Israel’s reputation has already taken a major hit, so demoting Netanyahu and changing course on Gaza would certainly help, the sooner, the better. By insisting on staying on, Netanyahu is not protecting the wellbeing of Israel, rather putting his own position above the good of his country.

 

Politico, ‘Totally inappropriate’: Netanyahu condemns Schumer for meddling

Schumer has said that Netanyahu simply has to go, so he is just asking Israel to give the US someone else to work with. Otherwise, should the US stop “meddling” in Israel’s affairs by no longer sending any more money? Since World War II, Israel has received hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. aid and remains the No. 1 recipient of American foreign aid. Of the approximately $3.3 billion which that country receives each year in American aid, roughly 15% goes to Israel’s defense budget.

 

Who pays the piper calls the tune.

Politico, From her lips to Chuck’s ears: Schumer’s rabbi weighs in on his Israel speech

The rabbi has totally supported Schumer, saying he is expressing the views of the overwhelming majority of American Jews.

Netanyahu has justified the Gaza assault using Old Testament metaphors. However, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, in a recent radio interview, depicted Netanyahu not as some rare outlier, rather as actually spokesman for a majority of his fellow citizens. Most Israelis really do want to kill all Palestinians, according to this commentator, even willing to eliminate an entire population now thought to be supporting Hamas fighters. However, even if true, wouldn’t such an effort actually be considered genocide? Is Israel, a nation established as a refuge from genocide, now actually willing to inflict genocide on another ethnic group? Already Palestinian journalists, having suffered horrific losses in their own families, are providing graphic and devastating accounts and photos of civilian deaths and injuries going well beyond just the elimination of Hamas. 

An alternative path recommended by the US posits having Israelis negotiate an end of hostilities with Palestinians, including an agreement to support the establishment of a Palestinian state, something which Netanyahu has so far flatly rejected. The US, as the major political and economic sustainer of Israel, is now confronting our own pending elections while voter support for Israel here, even among Jews, is waning, especially among Democrats. The whole world has also been turning against Israel. No wonder Schumer has been saying that Netanyahu simply has to go. War hawk Netanyahu may need to be removed for the well-being and actual survival of his country.

Let’s keep in mind that we Americans once considered Japan and Germany to be irredeemable enemies deserving of total obliteration. Is it then possible to imagine a future of cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians? It has to start somewhere.

CNN, Netanyahu’s response to Schumer widens rift in US-Israeli relations

Independent, Netanyahu agrees to send officials to Washington to discuss Rafah strategy

Welcome to spring. President Biden: time’s up on Gaza.

March comes in like a lion. Does that mean the weather starts out in March roaring like a lion, but ends the month more gently, like a lamb? The first day of spring does seems to be arriving ever earlier, year after year. 

This turns out to be a rather long posting, so put on your reading glasses! Parts of the posting may appear slightly out of alignment, but stubbornly resist correction—sorry about that. Also, I don't know why some Washington Post headlines appear in ALL CAPS; it's simply the will of the inscrutable blog gods.

A quick reminder here that on the US east coast and much of the rest of the country March 10 was the date to “fall back, spring forward” by turning our clocks ahead one hour and getting up an hour earlier. Mexico ditched the time change, something we here in the US should consider doing as well.  

Daylight saving time: Sun, Mar 10, 2024 – Sun, Nov 3, 2024

Daylight saving time, also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time, or summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer, so that darkness falls at a later clock time. Wikipedia

Also on Sunday March 10, Author J.K. Rowling sparked controversy with a tongue-in-cheek message on Mother’s Day, being celebrated on that date in the UK. “Happy Birthing Parent Day to all whose large gametes were fertilised resulting in small humans whose sex was assigned by doctors making mostly lucky guesses,” Rowling posted on X.

I heard a recent radio interview with someone (with a distinctly male-sounding voice) who’d “transitioned” from male to female at age 67 after being married to a woman with whom he’d produced a son. He may have always secretly yearned to be a member of the opposite sex. Now in the twilight of life, wearing feminine clothing, taking female hormones, and perhaps having undergone surgery, has this person finally become a woman? Author Rowling has run into considerable flak for saying that a trans woman is not really a woman after all.

 

Rather surprisingly, age 70 seems to be when happiness peaks for the average American. Ages 20-40 are also rather satisfying years for most people, while a slump then typically occurs between 40 and 50. Of course, special circumstances can also influence happiness and wellbeing. When I lost my son and foster son in successive years, my own age had little impact.

Why do we all keep on getting spam calls from people speaking English with a foreign accent? No, they’re not foreign born Americans, rather, lower-paid offshore English-speakers spending every day on the phone dialing one US number after another. I’ve met some of them in Honduras. It’s a living, after all.

Have you ever noticed that folks appearing in commercials these days seem rather ordinary looking, more like you and me, and not as glamorous as in days gone by?

Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Woe to us women over 85 who are twice as numerous as our male agemates, thus much less likely to have a partner of opposite sex. Most men our age already have female partners, often much younger. Lucky ladies take good care of your men! The gender ratio only gets worse for women among many challenges that we face over time, though we're still glad to be survivors.

This house for sale in DC, posted on our neighborhood website, looks welcoming.

My granddaughter Natasha, now the mother of a 16-year-old boy, once liked to wear an old-fashioned dress that my late mother made. 

In his recent State of the Union address, doubling as a campaign speech, President Biden sounded vigorous and combative, not like the sleepy octogenarian described by election rival Donald Trump. In his speech, Biden referred obliquely to Trump: “some other people my age see a different story. An American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. That's not me.”

The usual hecklers interrupted, but the president kept his cool.

Biden declared himself committed to securing the border but sidestepped mentioning that undocumented migrants are actually much less likely than others to commit crimes (or do anything else that might lead to deportation). In another part of his speech, he referred to a young woman killed by an “illegal” and even garbled the victim’s first name.

NBC, 'Disappointing': Biden's reference to 'an illegal' upsets some Democratic allies

Biden mentioned ”reproductive rights” and “assisted reproduction” in almost the same breath (the word “abortion” is hardly ever spoken aloud by public officials). He also promised to fight to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land” as well as to guarantee “the right to IVF nationwide.” (“Pro-lifers” are rarely so identified in the mainstream press, as they would identify themselves, but rather as “abortion rights opponents.”) 

After his speech, Biden stayed on to mingle with lawmakers.

Daily Beast, Biden Threatens ‘Come to Jesus Moment’ for Netanyahu on Hot Mic

Maybe Biden knew it was a “hot mike”? (And, yes, Netanyahu definitely has to go; yesterday would not be soon enough.)

Then the very next day, Biden hit the campaign trail. Let’s see if he can keep on being upbeat and feisty until election day. In a new on-line campaign ad, he ruefully admits, “I’m not a young guy.”

GMA, Americans split on who they trust to do a better job as president: POLL

According to this poll, 36% of Americans trust Trump to do a better job leading the country as president, while 33% trust Biden, and 30% trust neither. How can so many voters possibly trust Trump? What is the secret of Donald Trump’s appeal? Is he a counter-culture hero for all those unhappy with their current circumstances? Mike Pence just offered Republican voters unhappy with Trump permission not to vote for him. As for me, I’ll be forced to vote for Biden once again.

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TIME, George Santos Is Running for Congress Again, Just Months After House Expelled Him

Santos announced his plans to run against the very representative who led the charge to expel him, GOP Rep. Nick LaLota. Santos will certainly attract supporters and contributors.

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Wash. Post, Cherry blossoms are halfway to peak bloom and much sooner than normal

The cherry blossoms are already in bloom, though spring doesn’t officially start until March 19. While   we've basked in relative warmth here on the US east coast, snow has fallen recently near Denver.

Flowers have blossomed all winter long on my back porch.

More flowers have appeared outside my bedroom window.

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Today, St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is marked in green on my calendar. More than 165 years ago, Joe Biden’s ancestors crossed the Atlantic from Dublin. Mr. Biden still boasts about his Irish blood. But the Ireland of today does not support Biden’s Israel-Gaza policy. Wash. Post, Irish anger over Gaza may make for a tense White House St. Patrick’s Day

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AP, Man suspected of killing 3 people in Philadelphia area arrested in New Jersey, police say  

Now with the NRA fading, hunting on the wane, and so many Americans living in crowded cities, it's time to start the process of restricting gun ownership to militias or law enforcement, as originally envisioned by the 

Founding Fathers and, hopefully, over a generation, to finally reduce the toll of gun violence in our country. 

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Juan Orlando Hernández, former 2-term Honduran President, extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking and firearms charges, has now been convicted. Prosecutors say he had received millions of dollars to protect drug traffickers. His brother was already in prison here.

Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President of Honduras Indicted

Department of Justice (.gov) https://www.justice.gov › opa › juan-orlando-hernández...

Ex-Honduras President Found Guilty in Drug Trafficking Trial https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/nyregion/juan-orlando-hernandez-honduras-guilty-verdict.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 ABC News, Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez found guilty in US drug trafficking case

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Meanwhile, pandemonium has broken out in Haiti.

The area that would become Haiti was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, still inhabited by indigenous people. French colonizers then arrived and began cultivating sugar, coffee, and cotton using imported African slave laborers. When the slaves finally revolted in 1791, the French to withdrew. All remaining Europeans were then summarily killed by the former slaves. Independence was declared in 1804 in the western part of the island which became Haiti, whose inhabitants now speak French and a French-based creole, while the eastern part of the island is the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. The US occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. 

CNN, US, Germany and EU embassies begin evacuating staff as violence spirals in gang-plagued Haiti

Haiti has now descended into total anarchy, especially in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Times have changed since the years when, as an election observer and human rights monitor in Haiti, I traveled all alone everywhere, riding by myself on city and long-haul buses and once even attending a voodoo ceremony. My home is filled with Haitian tapestries and artifacts. Haiti and Haitians still remain dear to my heart.

Wash. Post, Haitians shot dead in street with no one to take the corpses away

CNN, US, Germany and EU embassies begin evacuating staff as violence spirals in gang-plagued Haiti

Miami Herald, U.S. military flies Marines into Haiti embassy, evacuating some staff in overnight airlift

Miami Herald, Haiti prime minister’s hold on power is ‘untenable,’ State Department says 

 

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a 74-year-old neurosurgeon, who had landed in Puerto Rico after returning from Kenya, has finally agreed to step down. He had gone to Kenya asking for help to oust the gangs taking over in his country (although Kenyans, while also black, don’t speak French or Haitian creole, Haiti’s main languages). Gangs now control Port-au-Prince’s airport, preventing Henry’s plane from even landing there. Demands that he step down have come not only from the gangs vying for political power but from ordinary citizens angry that elections have not been held for nearly a decade, while Henry himself was never actually elected to begin with. 

NYTimes, Kenya Hits Pause on Police Deployment to Haiti After the Haitian prime minister announced his intention to resign, Kenya said it would not send a force until Haiti forms a new government.

Wash. Post, How the gang leader ‘Barbecue’ became one of Haiti’s most powerful men

Reuters, After prime minister pledges to step down, uneasy quiet in Haiti capital

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Moving on now.

Wash. Post, Brazil’s staggering dengue fever crisis is a warning to the world We had dengue outbreaks while I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras. I never came down with dengue myself, but some colleagues did. I did get malaria.

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Getting tough on crime, following El Salvador’s lead.

AP, El Salvador extends anti-gang emergency decree for 24th time. It's now been in effect for two years Bukele has used emergency powers to round up 78,175 suspected gang members in sweeps that rights groups say are often arbitrary, based on a person’s appearance or where they live… El Salvador's homicide totals haves dropped from 6,656 in 2015 — an average of about 18 per day — to 18 so far this year.

 

Salvadorans I’ve spoken with in the US totally applaud President Bukele’s crackdown, saying it was about time, expressing little concern about possible lack of due process for defendants.

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Honduras wants to build West's only island prison colony and lock gangsters inside

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most feared gangsters there.

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And in Nigeria:

CNN, At least 287 school children kidnapped by armed gunmen in northwest Nigeria

A Nigerian friend has this to say about the situation there: I must tell you that Nigerians have lost count of the number of kidnapped in Nigeria on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. The government is doing practically nothing reasonable to end the menace. The truth is that we need help, we need true leaders!

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“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is a popular pro-Palestinian chant.

 

Wash. Post, Canada and Sweden resume UNRWA aid funding

 

CBS News, Israeli government restricting worshippers from attending prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Reuters, Israel destroying Gaza's food system in 'starvation' tactic, UN expert says

Men gathered in Gaza to bury the emaciated body of a 10-year-old boy who had starved to death.

Not only are many Gazan children still dying or being killed, but some 17,000 children have been orphaned by Israeli attacks.

CNN, Newborns die of hunger and mothers struggle to feed their children as Israel’s siege condemns Gazans to starvation

 Aljazeera, Six children die of malnutrition in Gaza hospitals

NBC News, As malnutrition deaths are reported and hunger grows, will 'famine' be declared in Gaza?

ABC News, Biden to announce 'emergency' US military mission to build pier off Gaza coast to deliver aid

Wash. Post, Biden’s plan for maritime aid deliveries to Gaza draws skepticism

ABC News, US airdrops meals, water into northern Gaza where aid has been limited

AP, Biden: Netanyahu 'hurting Israel' by not preventing more civilian deaths in Gaza

Huff Post, Bernie Sanders Calls On Biden To Block U.S. Funding For Netanyahu's 'War Machine' (Sanders is as least nominally Jewish.)

Wash. Post, Biden has huge leverage on Israel. He hasn’t really used it yet.

Wash. Post Israel acknowledges strike on U.N. facility, says it targeted Hamas commander

Joe Biden has gradually changed his tune on the Gaza war, months after worldwide sympathy for Israel first surged right after the Hamas attack. As Israeli retaliation has continued and has become excessive, killing so many Palestinian civilians of all ages, world opinion has shifted. Biden’s views may have also shifted, but so far, with little real action on his part, just talk. Young Americans and university students have kept on demonstrating in support of Palestinians but seem to have failed to influence Mr. Biden.

It's way past time for our president to actually pull the plug on financial and moral assistance to Israel so that food aid can actually reach Gaza and other West Bank territories. Belatedly, as civilians of all ages are now finally starving to death, the US is scrambling to feed Gazans, seeking a roundabout sea route and not reigning in Israeli aggression, still trying to play both sides. The International Rescue Committee issued a blunt statement: “Palestinians in Gaza need a sustained ceasefire and they need it now. A temporary pier that could take weeks to construct or airdrops are not a solution.” Israeli officials, in turn, cast opposition to their attacks on Gaza as a resurgence of historical antisemitism.

Most Jews living in Israel today may indeed still fully support war-hawk Netanyahu, who aims to save his own skin as well to defend his country after the Hamas attack, now trying to compensate for his own failure to foresee or prepare for the attack. But his belatedly defensive and aggressive moves to redeem himself should not govern US policy. Jews living here in the US are definitely divided, as are most Americans, with some Jewish friends now actively participating in public demonstrations against Israel’s war conduct.

Wash. Post, How Oct. 7 is forcing Jews to reckon with Israel  Many progressive Jews outside Israel may turn toward a Jewishness that is more personal, familial and spiritual and less national-political

ABC News, 5 Palestinians killed after shelling at UN aid distribution center in Rafah, Gaza

NY Times, At Least 20 Killed in Attack While Waiting for Aid, Gazan Officials Say

ABC News, 5 Palestinians killed after shelling at UN aid distribution center in Rafah, Gaza

NY Times, At Least 20 Killed in Attack While Waiting for Aid, Gazan Officials Say

BBC News, Israel Gaza war: EU says starvation being used as a weapon

Wash. Post, U.S. floods arms into Israel despite mounting alarm over war’s conduct  [Is Biden playing both sides?]

Reuters, Aid ship reaches Gaza coast; Israel rejects Hamas truce offer

Wash. Post, Israel faces crisis of its own making as chaos and hunger engulf Gaza

The Hill, Netanyahu hits back at Biden’s criticism: Policies are supported by ‘overwhelming majority’ of Israelis

USA Today, Israel should hold elections and oust Netanyahu, Schumer says in harsh speech. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer [who is Jewish] called Thursday for Israelis to hold elections and choose a new government that can better handle the threat of Hamas.  “As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” the New York Democrat said in a floor speech Thursday morning. “Nobody expects Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, preserve Israel’s credibility on the world stage, and work towards a two-state solution.”

Politico, Senate Dem says blocking weapons shipments ‘on the table’ if Israel invades Rafah Congressional action to block U.S. arms sales to Israel is "certainly something that’s on the table" if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launches a large-scale invasion of Rafah, according to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Reuters, Netanyahu says Israel will push on with Gaza offensive, including in Rafah

Telegraph, Biden trying to overthrow Netanyahu, Israeli government claims

If true, let’s hope that Biden actually succeeds. Biden needs to work with a more reasonable, less hard-headed Israeli leader.  

What can be done to muzzle this guy?

It’s way past time now to demand a complete ceasefire and for the US to stop giving any more money, arms, or moral support whatsoever to Israel!! More Americans like me are turning against Israel to demand a full ceasefire, as per the sign in my own front yard ever since last November. 

President Biden, whatever are you waiting for? Biden’s forbearance toward Israel may have tried to retain leverage over war hawk Netanyahu via control of the purse. But if that leverage remains only a bluff, can it remain credible after all? Biden has already called the threatened Israeli invasion of Rafah a “red line.”