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