Back again after a lost blog post

 I've lost the posting between the last one and the one now appearing before that, so there is a gap for April 30. Yes, April 30 had been written right on the blog but simply is gone now, never to be resurrected. After a posting had been lost before, I tried creating the blog in a word document before posting it, but there were problems in doing that and I had started getting confused, so now I just take my chances and post directly on the blog. But once a posting is uploaded to the internet, it seems to remain stable there, as I still have postings from years ago on the previous version: https://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com/  

But before being uploaded and actually published (following a system for doing that), a draft made directly on the blog may simply disappear meanwhile. After a draft is once uploaded and published on the interent, it's little tricky then to make changes, though it still can be done. However, it's not desirable to edit something after it has already been posted--there are some problems in doing that. 

Drafts made after dark seem to be the most vulnerable to disappearing. I am speculating that in the evening, the computer "airwaves" could become more crowded, which may lead to access and competition problems. Since I am writing this right now after 10 pm, it may all be gone by tomorrow morning.

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It is now the next moring after I wrote the above and that short post is still here. 

A reader asks if starting blog #3 would help? No, unfortunately, it would be subject to the same risks as the current version. 

My daughter who advises me on these matters says:

I've told mom this happens bc she tries to type directly into the blog and either accidentally closes the window or perhaps loses her wifi. Either way, the solution is to type her blog into a word document, save it, then open up blogger and paste everything in instead of composing on blogger. I checked just now and her blog is still up.

When I actually tried creating each posting as a word document before uploading it on the blog, that proved impractical and somewhat confusing, so I am back here now to writing directly on the blog, possibly risking its loss. And what looks one way in Word may not show up just the same way on the blog. 

While a post may still be lost now and then, this blog is an ongoing narrative, so losing one day is usually not crucial. If something is important, it will always come up later. These are mostly my personal observations and stream-of-consciousnes musings, "a day in the life" is all it is, with current news items interspersed; it's not rocket science.

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Now back to current issues. 

In my own view, it is unfortuate that Democrats ever seized on abortion as an issue, as that does not represent pro-life Democrats like me. So I feel it's time now for Democrats to formally abandon that position and to elect more pro-life Democrats like Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar. Unfortunately, most pro-life members of Congress actually are Republicans. However, Democrats for Life is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that acts as the primary voice for pro-life viewpoints within the Democratic Party. 

I'm speaking now as a Democrat myself who is both a birth and an adoptive mother and also a single parent for many of the years when my kids were growing up. I am living right now here in West Virginia with my son, adopted from Colombia as a baby. 

Is it easy for a woman to pursue a career while also being the mother of young children? No, 

usually nothing really worthwhile is easy. But no longer does having a child "out-of-wedlock" carry a stigma. Nor are single parents uncommon or particulatly disadvantaged. At the hotel where my son works, single mothers often bring their children with them to work on holidays and weekends (usually only one or two children, but once I saw three.)

Since none of us will live forever, what better legacy to leave than our children? They

will become adults to carry on after us, and eventually after they themselves are gone,

they then leave their own offspring to carry on.That has been the history of humankind ever since time immemorial.

Furthermore, in this day and age, when, under Trump, almost all immigration has been stymied, then our country really needs all the children we can get. Deportation is an especially counterproductive stratagy for our country right now, as the birthrate is slowing. Already, we are not producing enough babies to keep our population from actually shrinking. The U.S. birthrate fell to another record low in 2025, with only about 3.6 million births, continuing a nearly two-decade decline. The fertility rate dropped to approximately 1.57–1.6 births per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement level needed for a stable population. This trend is driven by more women waiting or choosing not to have children, and when even waiting too long may leave them without a choice.

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Cuba here

Former Cuban President Raul Castro, age 94, the younger brother of Fidel, 

appeared in Havana on May Day. 

Trump expands sanctions on Cuba, ramping up pressure on Havana https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5859874-trump-expands-cuba-sanctions/

As has been mentioned, I've visited Cuba numerous times, traveling the whole length of the island, from cities and rural towns to everything in between. But I was expelled by state security in 1997. My late foster son Alex from Cuba, who died of AIDS, had once been imprisoned there, probably for being gay. A narrative about my Cuba experiences and my own Cuba photos appear in my books, especially in Confessions. Sadly, Alex died about a year after my older son Andrew died after a work accident, so I was in mourning for years. 

In

Cuba

, the lights are still out, but Trump doesn't want a flood of Cuban refugees coming here, while the diaspora might welcome that.  So what to do now? 

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In Iran

'Killing off the country': Iran executes dozens, arrests 4,000+ in war crackdown

Trump's unprovoked attack on Iran is now leading to war casualties on both sides, as well

as to serious economic costs and losses for both nations. And also causing distruptions all over the 

world.The war has actually resulted in more executions and arrests being made inside Iran, perhaps of war dissenters or of those seeking greater freedom and rights. When the war is over and the dust settles,the true toll of the war can be assessed. Wars rarely have net-positive outcomes. 

:

Narges Mohammadi

, a prominent Iranian human rights activist, engineer, and the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remains a high-profile female prisoner in Iran, currently in a critical health condition as of early May 2026. She has been repeatedly arrested and sentenced for her advocacy against the mandatory hijab, against the death penalty, and for her reports on the abuse of female detainees in Tehran's notorious 

Evin Prison. At age 54, she is the mother of teenage twins, a girl and a boy, now living with their father in exile in Paris. 

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The Iran conflict has already passed the 2-month mark.

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The conflict involving Iran reached the 60-day mark Friday, and the Trump administration argues that the war has effectively ended due to a fragile ceasefire that began in April — meaning congressional approval is no longer required. In a letter to Congress, President Donald Trump said hostilities with Iran have “terminated,” despite the continued presence of U.S. troops in the region — a position that allows the administration to sidestep the May 1 deadline to seek authorization for ongoing military action. Trump also acknowledged the conflict may not be fully resolved.

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Pentagon Pete Hearing Descends Into Chaos as Protesters Slam Him

When the self-styled “Secretary of War,” Pete Hegseth 45, was grilled by Democratic members on the House Armed Services Committee about his and President Donald Trump’s highly unpopular war on Iran, one question prompted the hawkish former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host to fly off the handle. Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio pressed the defense secretary about the U.S. Army service members who survived the March 1 drone strike in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and who had told CBS News earlier this month that their unit was “unprepared to provide any defense for itself.”

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Pete was then interrupted by protesters while giving testimony about the Iran war.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had melted down so badly during his congressional hearing on Wednesday that even the committee’s Republican chairman had to calm him down. The guy is really out of his depth and is a war criminal to boot, but Donald Trump gave him his current job and still keeps him there.  

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OK, folks, all for now, so let's get together again tomorrow. 

A former neighbor, still living not far from the DC house I had owned on Captiol Hill, has sent some photos of her backayrd redo, including this one.

Starting over now once again

 A brand new day, a brand new post, so let's see how far we get this time. 

Last evening, in my sudden panic over the vanished post, I asked a young woman living in the DC area, someone indirectly related to me, to come here right then and there to help fix the problem, since she is pretty savvy on internet and computer issues. But then I realized that was a rather ridiculous request. So I told her: 

 I've now eaten dinner and am feeling much better, also remembering that a blog posting was lost before and simply could not be resurrected, no matter what we tried, so let's just forget.it. I was in a panic right after the blog posting I had worked on for 2 days had just disappeared, poof! But now I remember that it happened before, and simply nothing could be done. It could have been because it was after dark and the internet here doesn't work so well after dark, nor our phone either. It wasn't that important anyway. Compared to so many other losses in my life, this is really nothing so I'm sorry I panicked. Thanks for standing by. 

She then asked me: "Your blog doesn’t have an area where drafts are kept?"

No, the blog itself has no special area for drafts, but after a posting had disappeared before. I began making drafts beforehand, then posting them, but it got confusing between drafts and posts, so now, everything is done right on the blog itself and if it disappears, then it's just gone. It's not an official document, after all.

OK, now back to business.

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 New York Times: Since Congress Let Obamacare Subsidies Expire, Millions Are Dropping Coverage Americans can’t afford the higher health insurance premiums that resulted from Congress’s refusal to extend federal tax credits. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/business/obamacare-enrollment-decline.html?smid=em-share

Wash. Post, How Trump’s attacks on the Fed backfired, frustrating his plans to reshape it

Jerome H. Powell, the outgoing Fed chair, said months of legal pressure had left him “no choice” but to remain as a governor, a move that denies the White House a crucial seat on the board.

We have a new Catholic bishop here in West Virginia, formerly an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador.

On May 1, 2026, 

Pope Leo XIV

 appointed 

Most Reverend 

Evelio Menjivar-Ayala

 as the new Bishop of the 

Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

, covering all of West Virginia. 

        Ticks are out in force right now, so be sure to check yourselves and your pets.

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I heard Raul Castro speaking in Cuba years ago, and there he still is speaking now at age 94.

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The Iran/US war seems to be at a stalemate. There was no good reason for starting the conflict to begin with, nor any good way of ending it now. What was the objective of the war and has it been achieveed? The US actually started the hostilies by attacking Iran without any provocation and for no apparent reason, unless postponement of Netanyahu's corruption trial is considered a reason. That objective has actually been achieved. His trial on corruption and other charges has now been postponed once again, at least until the fall. Off-and-on, using various rationales, he keeps getting his trial date postponed and, as long as he has not been convicted, he has not been imprisoned. But he dares not leave Israel because there is also a warrant out for him from the Internatioanl Criminal Court.

              Iranians are still out demonstrating in support of their country and its leaders. 

The Trump administration says its war with Iran has "terminated". Just what does that mean? 

         (Mr. Trump doesn't seem to have so much time any more for daytime snoozing.)

Wash. Post, Trump’s fight with Iran is as unpopular as the Iraq and Vietnam wars

A Post-ABC-Ipsos poll shows most Americans call the military action a mistake, even as Republicans remain strongly supportive. Many fear the conflict will lead to a recession.

Here's an event, sponsored by a friend of mine: China’s Persecution: Assault on All Faiths   

May 12 at 1pm

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DC News Now

This photo shows the accused White House Correspondents Dinner gunman moments

before the shooting there, taking a selfie in the hotel mirror. Traveling by train

all the way from California, he had planned ahead, but not far enough ahead.

On surviving Trump's presidency

 Well folks, an entire blog posting with lots of photos just disappeared. Whoosh! Only the original title somehow has remained, so let's keep it. I've tried every way I know how to resurrect the vanished post, but it's just gone, gone, gone. I'd posted on it off and on for 2 days. Since the blog seems more vulnerable after dark, I should avoid working on it then. So now, let's start out fresh all over again from today. This will be a very short posting because it's already starting out with problems. 

Here below were some of the folks appearing in the lost post, whose photos have now resurfaced. 


Donald Trump, of course, how could we ever forget him, though we might want to? 

 Fed. Chair Jerome Powell is next, who has decided to remain on the board after his  chairmanship ends  

A New York federal appeals court has denied President Donald Trump’s attempt to have a court rehear his challenges to 82-year-old magazine writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse case – the latest in a years-long saga over the multi-million dollar jury award.

Here's a recap: Donald Trump was accused of sexually groping or even raping Carroll some years ago, but he has, through various very convoluted legal manuevers, managed to evade justice. So now Carroll has gone after him for money instead. She has already won her case, but has yet to collect since, through his lawyers, Trump is trying any way he can to avoid paying up. It's not only a question of the money, but of his reputation (and hers). Yet his hard-core supporters have remained loyal, no matter what The Donald has done or might have done.

OK, let's post this now and start over fresh once again.   

Back and forth

 Looking back at the last posting and even at several before that, I have no idea why some items appear in all caps. I obviously would never post in all-caps, one of many flukes in the blogosphere. I also realize that sometimes what appears in all-caps for me does not always do so for my readers, so may depend on our own individual computer systems. But if you see all caps, that was not my intent.

Recently, I had once again considered no longer continuning with the blog, since most of what is reported here is available from other sources, though I do put my own spin on it and also add some personal items. However, now several family members and readers have urged me to continue, pointing out that I have led a rather uncoventional life, despite appearing to be a quite ordinary "little old lady," which gives my blog a special quality. And it's also been helpful for me to be able to go back in time when memory fails me. I cannot claim a huge readership, just family and friends around the world, including some former DC neighbors; but since we're all here in this world together, let's just carry on. I am not trying to sell anything or to become famous, merely to communicate with many friends and family members. And anyone who has something to share or a comment to make can always send me an email. Unlike with my books, where I have actual physical copies, I'm not sure how long the blog will remain after my death. Some writings and actual books have survived hundreds or even thousands, of years, but the history of blogs is still being written.

Interim Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery W. Carroll has said that Cole Allen, the would-be attacker at the recent Correspondents' dinner, was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. He was able to bring them all from California by traveling by train, where luggage is not screened, as there are too many passengers getting on and off, some even daily commuters. Allen also had checked in as a hotel guest several days before the dinner. Security can only be provided at an actual event, as it would be imposssible to anticipate every possible undesirable scenario beforehand. Those who want to be in public life just need to take risks, though it would be most helpful to be able to jettison the so-call "right to bear arms," which puts all Americans at much greater risk than the residents of other developed nations.   

 

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Going outside now in Berkeley Springs, the air is quite balmy and everything is green: trees, grass, leaves, bushes--all in different green hues, 

Google says: Shades of green range from vibrant yellow-greens to deep blue-greens, offering a massive spectrum influenced by nature, such as lime, emerald, olive, and forest green. Common categories include pale greens (mint, celadon), bright greens (neon, kelly), dark greens (hunter, spruce), and earthy greens (sage, moss).

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My late father, Leonard J. Currie, a well-known architect and planner, avoided having the interiors of homes and buildings he had designed painted in green, as he felt there was already enough green outside in nature. Extensive information about him and his wide-ranging career can be found by Googling his name.

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A reader recently found the following bio of me on Huff-Post. It must have appeared there before I started this current successor blog, as only honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com is mentioned, without the 2. That first blog mysteriously stopped in 2019, so then I launched this one: https://honduraspeacecorps2.blogspot.com/ Here now is what she found.

Barbara E. Joe

author, human rights activist, Spanish interpreter

Barbara E. Joe, MA, (last name thanks to a Korean father-in-law) is a Boston native and an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley. A mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she works as a freelance writer, Spanish interpreter, and translator out of her century-old house on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. An Amnesty International volunteer since 1981, she was a founding member of local Group 211 and has served in various national leadership positions, including 14 years as volunteer Cuba and Dominican Republic country specialist and the last 12 years as volunteer coordinator for the Caribbean. She is also a member of the National Peace Corps Association and a board member of several non-profit organizations working internationally. After the deaths of her older son and a Cuban foster son, she joined The Compassionate Friends, a bereaved parents’ support group, and began leading a Spanish-language bereavement group. She has joined a small, intentional Catholic community called Communitas. From 2000-20003, she served as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras and wrote an award-winning memoir, Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with the Peace Corps in Honduras (Amazon.com, Kindle, & Nook). She has also written articles about Cuba, Haiti, Romania, Sudan, and other countries visited for humanitarian reasons. In April 2011, she was featured in Woman’s Day and in August 2011 and April 2013 appeared on Voice of America News in internationally distributed videos. In 2014, she authored another memoir, Confessions of a Secret Latina: How I Fell Out of Love with Castro & In Love with the Cuban People (Amazon.com, Kindle, & Nook). Her motto throughout her life has been to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Readers are invited to view her blog, http://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com, where she posts comments about Washington, D.C., Cuba, and her annual humanitarian visits to Honduras.

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Just now, after looking for my name on LinkedIn, I've found another Barbara Joe there, someone apparently of Asian descent. Joe as a last name is probably used mostly by people of Asian ancestry like my late former husband, Tom Joe, whose father came from Korea.

I forget whether I've already shared the message below received from Sirley Avila the Cuban woman whose right hand was cut off by a regime supporter. I had helped bring her to this country. In any case, here is her most recent message, so get out your Goggle translator.
Gracias, Barbara, tus recuerdos me hacen honor, eres una mujer valiente y tienes un hermoso corazón.

She also asked for my photo, so I sent her one taken with my granddaughter Natasha. I plan to see Natasha very soon in Florida at her son's high school graduation. but won't be going as far as Miami, where Sirley lives. 

Here is Sirley's own photo.

Sirley says her son and his family would like to join her in the US, but she doesn't have a job here and, under the Trump administration,she would need to have a place for them to live and other costs covered. Surely there is an organization that could help her and her family, though bringing in anyone from abroad is tough now with Trump saying that the border is closed. 
Ellos quieren estar conmigo, pero no he tenido ayuda para traerlos, como no he trabajado aquí en USA, se me complica traerlos porque necesito demostrar que tendrían vivienda, seguro médico y otros gastos cubiertos hasta que obtenga permiso de trabajo y trabajaran.

I recommend the following article, written by someone I once met years ago, Carlos Eire.

https://time.com/article/2026/04/23/waiting-for-spring-in-havana/

Here's something else to ponder: “Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” So wrote Alfonso X King of Castile (1252-1284).

Probably all of us, if actually present at that early time, could offer our own recommenations. 

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Can we now avoid talking about our erstwhile and current president, Donald J. Trump? No, probably not, since he is always making news. And no one can predict what he might say or do next. Almost nothing he does should surprise us, as he seems to like being unpredictable, keeping everyone in suspense. Or maybe he really has no partictular plan at all and doesn't even know himself what he might be doing next.  

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In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut -- all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- argue that the Pentagon did not take "basic precautions" ahead of expected Iranian retaliation after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against the regime in late February.

Yes,Trump had simply ordered the strike without consulting anyone, just after Netanyahu had suggested it to delay his pending corruption trial, urging Trump to keep it top secret, as Bibi knew Congress would never approve it.  

Poor Donald Trump--and poor USA with him now as our president--as he isn't thinking ahead, and often doesn't even seem to be thinking at all. 

Germany's Merz says Iran is humiliating US as talks stall

 Chancellor Friedrich 

Merz 

says the US has no strategy in the Iran war

. He is quite right, as Trump started the war on impulse with no plan in mind, just at Netanyahu's urging to delay Bibi's corruption trial to get him off the hook. As a result, Germany and other US allies are confronting economic and political fallout from a war that Trump had launched without any warning or ever consulting them. Now Trump has no idea on how to exit a war that he had started simply on a whim.

If Donald Trump doesn't know what to do next, he might consider retiring and letting Vance clean up the mess, as at least JD Vance doesn't suffer from senile dementia and senile attention deficit disorder. But even then, at every turn, Trump would try to undermine Vance. If Kamala Harris had been our president, the US would never have started this war, as Kamala is so much smarter than Trump has ever been.

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I've just found out that Sister Alice Zachmann, met years ago in Washington, DC, at masses celebrated by Communitas, a progressive religious gathering within the Catholic fold, has now died in Minnesota, 2 weeks after celebratig her 100th birthday. 

Valiant Sister Alice was a woman ahead of her time. She quietly triggered reforms in the US Catholic Church from within before anyone realized what she was actually doing.