Of politics and pundits

Yahoo News, DNC 2024 live updates: Kamala Harris makes surprise appearance ahead of 

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton speeches

“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president, Joe Biden,” Harris said 

in a surprise on-stage appearance. “Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for 

your lifetime of historic service to our nation and for all you will continue to do. We 

are forever grateful to you.”

USA Today, DNC joy over Kamala Harris, Donald Trump’s sinking polls:

 Joe Biden made it all happen.

Daily Beast, Soon-to-Be Jobless Biden Unloads on Trump Like Never Before

And Trump is unloading now on Harris, contending that he actually is better looking. 

New York Post, Opinion: Biden/Harris made empty promises to stop migrants in Panama — but the flood continues

I listened to part of the Democratic Convention on the radio (no TV). It was all scripted, mostly

platitudes and non-specifics, totally predictable, perhaps inspiring to some, but after having 

heard so many such speeches over the years, I could have written them myself. For Joe Biden, 

it may have been bittersweet to hear himself being so roundly praised after having dropped 

out of the race. 

Perhaps Biden might have barely eked out a second term, though there was a greater chance of a 

Trump win with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, also of other Democrats down ballot risking defeat. And would Mr. Biden, now 81, have even survived to the end of his second term if he'd actually won reelection? 

The risk was just too great since another Trump presidency would be catastrophic, as the Donald has vowed to really settle scores next time. Now Trump seems totally flummoxed about just how to confront Harris with Biden no longer in the race.

Wash. Post, Kamala Harris unveils populist policy agenda, with $6,000 credit for newborns

If, indeed, a $6000 credit were available to families with newborns, that would do a lot 

to help stem US population decline and also to reduce abortions, so pro-lifers really need to

support this idea. Isn't this something that both parties can get behind? Republican VP candidate 

JD Vance has already endorsed a child tax credit. 

CNN, US fertility rate dropped to record low in 2023, CDC data shows

The US is simply not producing enough babies these days. If this trend is not reversed soon, there will be a continuing downward population spiral like that confronting so many other countries.

                               DC Councilmember Trayon White has been accused of taking bribes.
 

Are we mere pawns or masters of our fate? 

We might like to think we have some control over our own individual lives, perhaps even over the lives of others for mutual benefit. I'm speaking for myself now at age 86: trying to eat right, grabbing onto the railing climbing stairs, and still sharing time and money with family and others, including just recently with folks in Honduras. Based on the lessons of my long life, I also freely offer advice to family members and friends who may or may not accept it. We are all crucial links in a long human chain stretching back in time and always moving forward. 

When might our human species have actually started and when is it likely to end? The answer partly depends on how humans are defined. Several humanoid off-branches once arose several eons ago but did not survive. 

Science Alert: Nine Species of Human Once Walked Earth. Now There's Just One. Did we kill the rest?

Returning back again to the present, according to USA Today, Hawaii is now the most expensive US state and W Va. has the lowest cost of living. I have a daughter living in Hawaii and a son in W Va. 

The state of Mississippi has the lowest life expectancy and Hawaii, the highest.

NY Times, 

Florida Woman Is Convicted in Fatal Shooting of Black Neighbor

Personal firearms pose a grave risk to everyone, resulting in far too many accidents, suicides, and impulse killings. Can we here in US ever go back to our forefathers' original call for arming only "a well-regulated militia"? Those wise men never supported unfettered personal firearms access, but thanks or no thanks to the now moribund NRA, we are all still threatened by the NRA's aggressive promotion of an erroneous founding fathers' myth about personal gun possession. 

Most Americans actually favor far greater gun control. Gun manufacturers and enthusiasts will always resist any such curbs, but shooting galleries can be set up, as in other countries, for those who really enjoy pulling a trigger. 

AP, Claudia Sheinbaum, who won Mexico's presidential vote in June, is finally declared

president-elect

It sounds, so far, that Claudia plans to follow the lead of her predecessor on most issues.

Then in Venezuela, after the most recent election, citizens are no longer keeping quiet after Nicolás Maduro once again declared victory. Has he ever actually won a fair election? 

Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country and those who remain are completely fed up with having Mr. Maduro still in charge. 

 

                      In Venezuela, election protesters are now joining together and shedding their fear.

A former Peace Corps volunteer from Honduras, living with her family on a far flung Pacific island, now works from there remotely for the Peace Corps. In this digital age, it's often possible to choose  where one prefers to live and work. (She also has 2 adorable children, the popular limit now for most American couples.)

Here is her most recent message:

Hola Dona Barbara!

I read your blog with interest and especially appreciated 

the photos from El Triunfo and Choluteca. It looks very much the same, 

though I am sure it has changed in the last 20 years. Your dedication there

and generosity with gifts and assistance are so admirable. 

Yes we are still here and I am still working with Peace Corps. It is a wonderful job, getting 

to support the service of a new generation of Peace Corps Volunteers. 

I get to work with Don Luis, who you may remember was the agriculture sector APCD 

at our time. Since closing PC Honduras, he serves as a regional advisor.  

PC has just re-opened El Salvador (they are expecting their first cohort next month) and 

hopefully Honduras will follow sometime in the next 1-2 years. Depends on funding more than 

anything! 

Yes indeed my kids are getting big... I have attached some family photos.

You have lived a remarkable life and your reflections are fascinating. I remember visiting your 

Capital Hill house after I had returned from Honduras, likely sometime in 2005. 

It is great you are still there. 

Abrazos desde el mar Pacifico,

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[Why do headings come out in slightly different colors after I've pressed the same keys? 

Only the blog gods know why.]

The Gaza war still divides Democrats, who are continuing to fund Israel.  

AP, Quintuplets among Gaza's dead as Blinken visits the region to seek a cease-fire deal

Wash. Post, 

Israeli strike kills 10, Lebanon says; 

Gaza reports polio case in child

NY Times, There Is No Childhood in 

Gaza’ A 9-year-old Palestinian boy lost his mother, 

father and two siblings in an Israeli airstrike early 

in the Gaza war. Within months, he, too, was killed.

CNN, Israeli strike kills 7 members of 

same family with Blinken set to push for ceasefire and hostage deal 

A mother and her 6 children were killed.

War-hawk Netanyahu has expressed skepticism about the viability of a ceasefire deal, perhaps 

to undermine it. If the war ends, he then may be in trouble. Unfortunately, the Biden 

administration is still fully supporting Israel and funding its weapons of war. 

Amnesty International is calling attention to $20 billion dollars approved for Israel.

Amid horrific bombardment of Palestinian civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department is 

approving a brand new weapons package to the Israeli government… to the tune of $20 billion dollars.

This is unthinkable, as war crimes and human rights violations are ongoing, and Palestinians in Gaza remain 

at risk of genocide and an engineered famine.

The U.S. is supplying the Israeli military BILLIONS of dollars in weapons… 

meaning it can play an incredibly powerful role in saving civilian lives and putting 

an end to horrific violence across the occupied Palestinian territories — we just 

need to keep up the pressure on U.S. leaders.

If the US government simply refuses to stop arming Israel, can the war be stopped in any

other way? My front yard sign calling for a ceasefire has been up for almost a year now.

 From Amnesty International:

 Action Request: Project: Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: 

 Using the 10th Anniversary of the Arms Trade Treaty to make a 

 renewed Push to Halt Transfers to Israel

 

Global Campaign Actions in the week of the ATT CSP (19-23 August) 

to Call for Halt to Arms Transfers to Israel

At the DNC in Chicago, supporters of Palestine were out in force.

Truly, quite honestly, right now in fact, simply posting this blog keeps on getting ever harder, 

really so darn @#$%^&*=+! frustrating, and not only just because I'm getting older. 

For now, I'm still planning to continue, since posting here is free. And, pray tell, is there anyone 

to whom I could complain anyway? 

And I do have some faithful readers around the globe who say they look forward to seeing the 

blog, so I'm not quite ready to give up yet. But posting is getting increasingly stressful. 

Everything must be done only by trial and error.

Readers should know that posting here is never easy, so please bear with me on the quirks.

If I should actually decide to quit, you, my faithful readers, will be the first to know. 

I started out at in January of 2009 by launching a predecessor blog, 

honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com which stopped suddenly without warning after more than 

10 years. That was back in September 2019, leading to the current version: 

honduraspeacecorps2.blogspot.com

I wouldn't mind having this colorful antique carpet in my 

home, but its price of $40,000 puts it well beyond my means.

Recession fears abate, but still linger

August 1 & 2  proved to be more days rising to over 100° F with even more to come. At 7 pm on August 2, it was still 98°. Then about 1 am, when I tried to wash my hands, no water came out of the faucet. I said to myself, oh no, not only is this weather beastly hot and humid, but now no water! But by morning the water was back, so work must have been going on the water main during the night. Again on August 5 & 6, we had a high of 98 ° F with the air almost dripping with humidity. By Wed. Aug. 7, the heat had moderated somewhat. Other family members were caught up in the storms on Florida's gulf coast. Then at 8:30 am on August 9, sheets of rain were followed by a "tornado watch" for the US Capitol within walking distance from my home. It was very dark then, but no tornado materialized. Whew!

Because of a very annoying ad feed that started popping up on Yahoo not only to the right but covering the whole bottom of the email screen, I've told my kids and other readers to please contact me via g-mail from now on. If you need the g-mail address, ask for it on Yahoo but then erase my Yahoo address. Now I see that Yahoo is offering an ad-free service, but only for a monthly fee, so that's their game!

School has already started in Florida. My great-grandson De'Andre, just entering 11th grade, dressed in style with torn jeans and untied shoelaces.

                                     

    Son Jon often goes for a ride with his dog Willow. 

Here is my biologist daughter Stephanie in Thailand with a snail she found on a recent visit there. 

Daughter Stephanie and her husband met up with old friends in Bangkok.

Steph also sent two videos of her encounter in Thailand with an elephant. "The first is my video of the elephant (he flipped over a huge recycling container) and then of me running away, then him going into the forest. The second was taken by our Thai guide, Noi, in which she’s frantically yelling."

Sorry folks, no videos are available on this blog. 

Now Steph and her husband are back home in Hawaii, 

My family in Hawaii also reported good news about the ongoing recovery from the fires on Maui. Trees and greenery have returned there.

                    The ancient Maui banyan tree scorched in the fires is now showing green leaves again. The banyan tree was gifted to Lahaina by India in 1873 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant missionaries’ arrival in the area.

NY Times:What We Know About Britain’s Weekend of Violence The country begins a new week on edge after riots broke out in many cities, fanned by disinformation from the far right following a deadly stabbing. (The youthful stabber may have been born in the UK, but seems likely to be the son of immigrants, as  nothing has been said about his ethnicity, only that he was born locally.)

Wash. Post, Maduro lost election, tallies collected by Venezuela’s opposition show

Maduro boasts 2,200 arrests since the election; rights groups say at least 23 are dead. Can we believe that he actually won, with voters there celebrating his victory? Not likely. 

In Venezuela, postelection protests left 23 dead and more than 2,000 people arrested, according to the United Nations.

As readers well know, I consider Honduras my second country. My parents first took me to Honduras when I was only 2 and I just spent most of June there. Unfortunately, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, pressured by her leftist husband, is siding with Cuba and Nicaragua in insisting that Nicolás Maduro actually did win reelection in Venezuela. How does Maduro's contention that he is a popularly  elected president square with the continuing exodus of Venezuelans from their country? Neighboring Colombia is already inundated with Venezuelans and some 9 million Venezuelans have left in just the last few years. And they are still leaving now, especially after the sham election. I've met some who were able to make it to the US, none of whom reported ever having voted for either Maduro or his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.  

A couple of cleaning ladies came to my home recently, one originally from El Salvador, the other, from Venezuela. I always speak with them in Spanish. I told the Venezuelan, "I understand your president is saying that he won reelection in a landslide." She shook her head and wagged her finger, "¡Mentiras!" [Lies!]

Politico, The US and Cuba are at an impasse over expanding relations The Biden administration says Cuba needs to address human rights concerns before more progress can be made on diplomatic ties.

Israel killed a Palestinian negotiator and another prominent leader, signaling that Netanyahu really doesn't want to negotiate or to observe a ceasefire, apparently trying to first wipe all Palestinians off the map. He failed to notify the US, his key financial and political partner, of the pending assassinations in advance, perhaps to avoid US pressure to stop the killings by threatening a reduction in aid? Some 40,000 noncombatant Palestinian civilians, including the elderly, women, and children, have already been wantonly killed by Israeli forces. Those who have survived have experienced constant displacement. Of course, most Palestinians would also have gladly wiped out Israel and Israelis if they possibly could. But I find myself in sympathy with the Palestinians, remembering Israel's early days when Palestinians were being pushed off their ancestral lands. My Palestinian college student friends back then were shocked and completely bewildered by apparent US support of Israel's unprovoked aggression against their people. 

CNN, Palestinian homes were destroyed ‘for revenge,’ says Israeli soldier who served in Gaza

Israel advocates were successful in defeating pro-Palestinian voices in the US Democratic primary. It's disappointing that so far, Harris seems to be even more pro-Israeli and pro-Netanyahu than Biden and to dismiss the killing of non-combatants and children mere "collateral damage,"

Wash. Post, Almost 100 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school, civil defense says The  Israel Defense Forces said Hamas fighters had been operating in the Gaza City school. 11 children and six women were among the killed, a Gaza official said.

CNN, A Gazan father went to register his twins’ births. They were killed in an Israeli airstrike, hospital officials say Hours earlier, the Palestinian father-of-two left his apartment in Deir al-Balah to collect birth certificates for his three-day-old twins – Aysal and Aser, a boy and a girl. But while he was out, he said, he received a phone call that an Israeli strike had hit his home, killing the two babies, along with his wife, Jumana.

Wash. Post, U.S. will fund Israeli unit accused 

of gross human rights abuses

The determination ends a lengthy investigation of the Netzah Yehuda battalion, an ultra-Orthodox unit implicated in the death of a Palestinian American. [Blinken approved this funding. I remain at a loss for words.]

         Amnesty International USA "continues to call on President Biden and Members of Congress to stop sending arms to the government of Israel. Our research has verified the use of U.S.-made weapons in attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians, including children. By continuing to supply weapons to the Israeli government, our elected leaders are becoming complicit in civilian killings." 

            Amnesty held a recent human rights training on Gaza.

AIUSA, Attend our human rights training for Gaza on August 5th at 8 PM EST. 

Right now, one of our top priorities is advocating for an end to U.S. weapons sales to Israel. Our research has verified the use of U.S.-made weapons in attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians… including children. 

And by continuing to supply weapons to the Israeli government, our elected leaders are becoming complicit in civilian killings. In this training, we’ll walk you through all the background, and cover tips and tricks for coordinating a successful meeting with your members of Congress. You’ll walk away with all the tools and resources you’ll need to bring important human rights issues to the attention of your elected officials.

Sixty-two-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken deserves accolades for his efforts, not only in Gaza but also in Ukraine and Afghanistan. Although he is Jewish and a Democrat, he has tried to steer a fairly non-partisan course while working for both Democratic and Republican administrations. He seems not have been swayed by Netanyahu, though has still unable to achieve a Gaza ceasefire. I would disagree with his decision to allow funding of the Israeli unit accused of human rights abuses, but he has often seemed to be trying to be somewhat even-handed.  

 

                                            Israeli nationalists fly the flag.

Wash. Post, U.S. restarts offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after lengthy ban

Wash. Post, Stock markets are reeling, but economists say: Don’t panic yet

Panic has already begun and could snowball even further, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. The Dow suddenly plunged more than 1000 points, rebounding somewhat since. Did the Fed miscalculate or was panic actually the main problem, not economics? Did bad actors deliberately insert misinformation to arouse panic, which can travel around the globe in just a matter of minutes? 

CBS News, Stocks rebound from rout as Fed faces calls to cut rates early

Donald Trump is already blaming Kamala Harris for the stock market slump. He also must be envious of her crowd sizes, as his own have dwindled, not attracting anyone new. He has been flailing wildly, lobbing all sorts of spurious accusations against Harris to see if anything might stick. Recently, he said she had been passing herself off as being of Indian heritage, not black. 

What about that? Harris attended Howard University, an institution catering to students who identify as "black" or "African American," and she also joined a black-identified sorority there. (FYI, Bloomberg has recently announced making a substantial donation to Howard University.) 

I am quite familiar with Howard. After the untimely deaths of my older son and Cuban foster son, I met there with Compassionate Friends, a support group for parents who had lost children. I sought treatment as well at Howard's dental school, which attracted students from as far away as Canada. I also worked as a Spanish interpreter at the adjacent Howard University Hospital connected to the Medical School. Most students I saw walking around campus or gathered in university classrooms were of various shades of brown. I don't know if I saw Harris there back then, but most Howard students identified as "black" whatever their actual skin tone. 

Yahoo News, Kamala Harris reportedly picks Tim Walz as VP: Live updates ahead of Pa. rally with running mate

Harris was unlikely to have chosen a Democratic lawmaker still needed to help pass subsequent legislation, so while various names were floated, I'd always expected Walz to emerge. 

I simply cannot vote for Donald Trump, but hope I won't feel the need to sit out the election,

Bhutan's lonely runner just kept on going, way behind the pack:

https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/athletics-bhutans-marathon-runner-gets-standing-ovation-last-place-finish-2024-08-11/

Wash. Post, Catalan leader Puigdemont reemerges in Spain, then vanishes, evading arrest

The Catalán language is spoken in northeastern Spain in Barcelona and next to the French border. I've encountered it when visiting Barcelona and also sometimes with translation assignments that have been misidentified as being in Spanish. Catalán is so close to Spanish that I've had very little trouble understanding or even translating it. Some 8 million people live in Catalonia, a productive financially successful region where some inhabitants contend that they are supporting the rest of Spain. Catalán's leaders have often advocated for independence from Spain, resulting in various unsuccessful efforts at succession. The present-day independence movement, which surged again in 2009, has roots going back to the 19th century. Contemporary separatist leaders have been jailed and some have fled while others remain in hiding.

Some childless folks assume an attitude of moral superiority, boasting about enjoying the benefits of a heterosexual relationship and a carefree life of travel and other perks free of the responsibilities and burdens of parenthood. Yet, they themselves would not even exist if their own parents had remained childless. And they might soon find themselves alone with no one left to care for them in old age if too many others followed their example. 

A Merrill Lynch economic adviser warns:

• Market View: Falling Global Fertility Rates and the Implications for Investors — Record-low fertility rates and rapidly ageing populations have driven social, economic and fiscal stress globally.

Childlessness is now being chosen by a growing number of partnered folks living in Asia, Europe, and North America, leading to a population age imbalance. Already in Japan, with a low birthrate for some years now, robots are being used to help care for the elderly. Until the advent of birth control in our own lifetime (during mine, at least), most women who were heterosexually active, which was and is still the norm, could not easily prevent having children. Instead, they simply gave birth and took on the vocation of raising the next generation. (Taken to extremes, the current childless trend could even mean the end of humankind.)

I've been an Amnesty International activist and volunteer leader for more than 50 years, awarded a special plaque for my long service, yet readers already know that I've never consider having an abortion to be the expression of a human right. As an adoptive parent who has also given birth, I regard abortion as simply taking away an unborn child's right to life. For eons now, until the advent of legal abortion just in my own lifetime, the majority of women who became pregnant simply became mothers, as with any other species, as nature intended. Even birth control is a fairly recent invention. Women throughout history who didn't want a child under any circumstances simply avoided having sex with a man or, otherwise, took the chance of actually giving birth and sometimes even gave up the child for adoption. Now the world and our own country actually need more babies. 

Amnesty International is still seeking donations to advocate for "abortion rights," but can expect no more donations from me. Can having unprotected sex resulting in an unwanted pregnancy that then is aborted actually be considered to be the exercise of a human right? That's stretch in my opinion, though others may disagree. Note the following story from Amnesty that just came into my inbox.

Sheila* unintentionally became pregnant when her birth control implant expired, and she couldn’t afford a new one. She tried to seek an abortion in Mississippi… the month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The clinic she turned to had been forced to close… as did most clinics in Mississippi. Sheila couldn’t afford to travel out of state for an abortion. She had no choice but to give birth and bring her baby home, knowing she had no help paying for childcare and that there was no way that she could go back to work. Sheila’s human rights were violated. 

So then let's allocate some tax dollars either for child care to help Sheila go back to work or to allow her to stay home with her baby. Her life may be enriched by having her child. Or she could also have her baby adopted, as a friend did years ago, later finding her as an adult and also a bio grandson. Movie star Jack Nicolson is one of many famous folks who found out much later in life that their older "sister" was really their birth mother. 

Our country does need more babies. 

So, which of Sheila's human rights were actually being violated when she had a baby? Her retroactive right to have unprotected sex without the usual consequences? Furthermore, isn't a father involved here as well? What about his rights and obligations? And what about that unborn child's right to still be alive today, since he or she was not aborted? Both political parties support tax relief for parents. Is having sex even a right? How many older women have no sexual partner because men die earlier? Don't they also have a right to sex?

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As human populations continue to decline, perhaps the end of humans here on earth will be followed by the eventual end of all forms of life, that is, of any and all self-perpetuating creatures or species. Does life as we define it actually exist anywhere beyond our earthly home or is our lonely planet the only place in the entire universe where rare and fortuitous forces aligned to allow life forms to emerge? That question remains unanswered. 

And if the universe itself indeed has emanated from the void, might it eventually collapse once again back into the void, leaving nothing whatsoever behind to even mark humankind's brief existence? The universe, which may have emerged from nothingness, may then implode into mere nothingness once again. 

Philosophers and sages have long grappled with these questions without ever arriving at satisfactory answers. Humans have seized on an unsubstantiated afterlife to compensate for their own mortality and to avoid considering the prospect of the eventual end of all life and of the earth itself.