W. Va. Visit, Cicadas, Dr. Fauci in the Crosshairs, Liz Cheney Down but Not Out, Israeli Conflict, Death Penalty, Migrants, Honduras, Havana Syndrome, Amnesty International Cuba Campaign

Just returned from another visit with my 
son in W. Va.

 

After 17 years, cicadas are here again, a bit scary looking but harmless to humans and reputed to be tasty. I’ve eaten bugs in Honduras (only cooked), quite crunchy. Haven’t tried cicadas yet. 

I was just reminded on Facebook of a past Mother’s Day, back when my great-grandson De’Andre was only 5. That was 8 years ago, so now he is 13. A lush azalea seen in the photo has been crowded out since by the tree behind, becoming barely a shadow of its former self. My great-grandson was featured again recently on this blog along with his mother on my March 18 posting, no longer a shy little boy. Here are the 2 photos together, me with great-grandson in 2013 and again in 2021. 

Some Republicans are busy spreading rumors (not based on any facts) that Dr. Fauci is somehow responsible for the spread of Covid around the world, as well as in our own country. That sounds like an idea that originated with Donald Trump, king of liars. Are the internet and instant messaging really a net good for humankind after all?

Are we in a situation now where voters only accept that an election was fair if their candidate has won? Face it, Mr. Trump and Trump supporters, you have never represented a majority in this country. It was a fluke, an unfortunate accident, that Donald Trump ever became president to begin with, back in 2016 only because of the quirky way votes fell under the Electoral College system. Once in office, Trump had chance to win over the majority, but he never did. He never even tried. But he still claims to have won again in 2020 without any evidence.

After Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted from her leadership position, Trump wrote "Liz Cheney is a bitter, horrible human being," also calling her a “warmonger.” Trump is very big on name-calling, very small on identifying what issues Cheney supports that he might disagree with and why. Instead of a secret ballot, a voice vote was conducted by her fellow Republican Congress members. Fearful of alienating Trump’s supporters among their constituents, especially with Trump planning to run primary candidates if they strayed even an inch, few dared to publicly support Cheney. In the short term, Mr. Trump has won this round, quite a spectacle, but Cheney is right that the Republican Party needs to find a way to move completely away from Trump to survive long-term.

 After Biden waffled on refugee numbers for a while, one of my Amnesty International colleagues announced a victory: Biden Proposes to Receive 62,500 Refugees!

Simmering grievances and mistrust between Arab and Jewish citizens have bubbled up within Israel and between Israel and Gaza. I won’t go into great detail, because the press has already done that, though it does seem that the Israeli government started things off by evicting or threatening to evict Palestinians from Jerusalem. Arabs living in Israel have apparently felt themselves to be second-class citizens, as well they might, given that Israel defines itself as a “Jewish state.” Trump cut off all support to Palestinians. Israel’s destruction of a building in Gaza that housed Associated Press and other media seemed excessive and unjustified. Israel is not faring well in world opinion. And where is Hamas getting all the rockets it launches at Israel? More could be said, but I’ll leave it there.

A man totally paralyzed and unable to speak had a device inserted into his brain enabling him to communicate by spelling out words, but only wordlessly just in his mind. So many children and adults with whom I’ve worked via the occupational therapy association, in Honduras, and as a Spanish interpreter would benefit from such a system, even some not as severely disabled as the subject of this experiment. I once attended a “talk” by the late Stephen Hawking, where he sat on stage in his wheelchair while his pre-recorded words were rendered in artificial but intelligible speech.

One reason I am not a supporter of the death penalty, besides the fact that some people do change over time, is that innocent individuals can be and have been executed for crimes they did not commit. But if that is only discovered after they are already dead, then it’s too late to release them and make amends. Death row inmates often declare their innocence and not all actually are innocent, but some really, truly are. Which ones? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Where a mistake has been made and found out later, there can be no redress if the person has already been put to death. 4 Years After an Execution, a Different Man’s DNA Is Found on the Murder, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/us/ledell-lee-dna-testing-arkansas.html 

Five young undocumented migrants, including a 2-year-old and an infant, were by themselves when they were apprehended in South Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border...

The oldest of the migrants, all of whom were girls from Honduras and Guatemala, was 7, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. None needed medical attention, the agency said.

An agent with Customs and Border Patrol spotted the girls near Normandy, about 2½ hours southwest of San Antonio, on Sunday, the agency said.

"It is heartbreaking to find such small children fending for themselves in the middle of nowhere," said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin L. Skero. https://www.yahoo.com/news/five-undocumented-children-including-infant-025118869.html

So, mothers and fathers are sending their small children across the border, trusting in the United States to take good care of them. This mythical confidence is misplaced, as kids need their parents more than whatever benefits might await them in our own country. The migrants now crowding US borders, as well as African and Middle Eastern migrants risking their lives to reach Europe, are placing an almost religious faith in a promised land. Yet, their destination is just another part of planet earth peopled by ordinary human beings. These pilgrimages, taking place in different parts of the world, are still another manifestation of the ethos or mindset mentioned last time, that reaching some magical goal will erase all individual human problems thereafter. Media and aspirational books feed on and perpetuate these same myths. Sorry, folks, there is no magic bullet, no heaven on earth.  

Has Honduras become a 'narco-state'?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56947595

A lot of credible suspicion surrounds the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández. Honduras is a relatively small country, both in area and population (nearing 10 million). Word gets around there. Folks often actually know each other and are pretty aware of what others are doing. Heck, people there even know me, as I’ve found while volunteering at a hospital or even when boarding a bus and someone shouts out “¡Doña Bárbara!” or even “¡Doctora Bárbara!”

It's hard to believe his own brother was heavily involved in the drug trade and the president knew nothing about it.

“Havana Syndrome,” a mysterious invisible set of long-lasting problems, has afflicted not only American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba, but also in China. At first, it was dismissed, but now is under serious scrutiny, although prevention and remedies are still elusive. Many US Embassy functions have been moved out of Cuba entirely, making it difficult for Cubans to get visas to leave via normal means.   

On April 29, we in Amnesty International launched a worldwide campaign, The Eternal Flame, to support Cuban artists and others being seriously threatened, harrased, and detained by the government. After a November 2020 protest, the government subjected these individuals to state surveillance and house arrest. In March and April 2021, the Cuban’s government extended their surveillance to include approximately thirty activists. Not long ago, a Cuban artist  was forceably removed from his home and taken to a hospital by state security agents. [ZS1] [AF22] 

Why is one of Cuba's most rebellious artists still isolated in a government hospital?

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/12/americas/cuban-dissident-artist-hospitalized-intl-latam/index.html

New campaign for Cuba, #TheEternalFlame.

Also on the AI website, look for Cuba: Amnesty International and artist Erik Ravelo launch ‘The Eternal Flame’, a digital conceptual memorial in support of San Isidro Movement and freedom of expression

29 April 2021

Also on the AI website see: The members of the San Isidro Movement are human rights defenders who stand to protect a very basic freedom, the right to peacefully express their minds and souls. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

This project represents the flame of freedom: a flame that never goes out, a contemporary action that never ends and that is kept alive by our solidarity with artists defending freedom of expression. Erik Ravelo

Reuters, Cuban government ends leading dissident's hunger strike, https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuban-government-ends-leading-dissidents-163137638.html

The San Isidro Movement led by Otero, a performance artist, is a dissident group that includes a few dozen artists, writers and activists. Members of the San Isidro Movement in November had staged a hunger strike against censorship and harassment of independent creators and activists by the Communist government. Police ended the hunger strike, prompting a rare protest by around 300 people in front of the Culture Ministry in Havana. Authorities since then have vilified members of the group as outside agitators working with the United States. Its members repeatedly have been temporarily detained and often told they cannot leave their homes, with communications cut. Otero was arrested a few weeks ago as he protested a Communist Party congress by sitting in a garrote. Authorities seized or destroyed some of his art. Later, he was taken to a hospital against his will.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: Cuban dissident's health stokes allies' fears, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56947591

 

Washington, DC, May 3, 2021                                                                            Center for a Free Cuba (CFC). The life of opposition activist and independent artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is in imminent danger in Cuba. State Security agents took him from his home on Sunday, May 2 and transferred him to the Calixto García Hospital located in the Cuban capital according to official sources, however, his real condition and location have not been confirmed by his family or close friends. This secretive situation has triggered the suspicion of human rights organizations and their defenders outside the Island, as well as within the country.

 

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Mother’s Day, Covid, Gun Violence, Gray Divorce, Falling Births, Republican Obstructionism, Amnesty International

Belated Mother’s Day wishes to any and all mothers who may be reading this. I still miss my own mother, who died in 2006. (I appear with her on the last blog posting.)

A world champion in the motherhood category is a woman in Mali, already with a daughter, who gave birth to 9 babies without having used any fertility drugs, so she said. If all the babies survive, they will shatter the previous record of 8 for simultaneous live births. Fortunately, the fame of multiple births does help parents afford to raise so many offspring.  Malian woman gives birth to nine babies, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56994408

Doctora Jeanette, a retired doctor in El Triunfo, Honduras, tells me: “People here are all getting sick and dying of Covid. We still have no vaccines! God willing, we will see you back here again before too long.”

Another mass shooting at a party in Colorado has left 7 people dead. Not even a private gathering is now safe. Where is the NRA’s “good guy with a gun” who supposedly protects us all? Current lax gun laws are an open invitation to violence.

A 6th-grade girl shooter in Idaho wounded 3 people before being disarmed. Gun shootings and killings by females are relatively rare compared to those perpetrated by males. The reasons are probably both cultural and hormonal (related to male testosterone levels). That the Idaho shooter was a girl was duly noted as something quite out of the ordinary.

Package thieves in our neighborhood have become epidemic. Thieves follow delivery trucks around to snatch up the packages before you can even open the door to retrieve them. It’s probably the same in other cities. Some folks have cameras to film the action and, in our area, post them on the neighborhood website, which should help identify the culprits if they can ever be caught. I suspect they have lots of stuff they may not even want piled up in their homes.

Bill and Melinda Gates’ surprising announcement of their divorce after a long marriage, not so long after the Bezos also ended their marriage, shows that even achieving great wealth together and apparent agreement on how to use it are not sufficient to keep a couple together, even after raising children to adulthood while also establishing a productive partnership in philanthropy. Are Bill, who's 65, and Melinda, who's 56, maybe just a normal couple after all? As the stigma surrounding divorce has eroded, the divorce rate for Americans 50 and older has doubled since the 1990s. Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos were 55 and 49 when they divorced. Al and Tipper Gore split up while in their 60s. In many, perhaps most, cases of “gray divorce,” it’s the man who has a sexual/romantic relationship outside the marriage, hinted at as a possible factor in the Gates’ split. A new partner is usually more exciting and alluring than a long-time, overly familiar spouse. As women age, they traditionally lose their appeal to men while any surviving guy becomes an increasingly scarce and hot commodity among women. Men on average die earlier, so fewer of them, relatively speaking, remain alive as the years goes by. If a man is also well-off financially, his appeal to both young and older women escalates. Speaking for myself as a single woman now in my 80s, while my current romantic prospects look pretty slim, that was not the case when I was younger. Even in my 40’s with 4 kids, I had serious suitors back then. Now older men tend to pair off with ever younger women. Besides the sheer scarcity of available, suitable, and attractive older single men, another consideration for mature women entering the dating game is the prospect of future illness and end of life care with a new male partner, who is apt to be even older than she is. It’s one thing for a woman to care for a man in his last days after they’ve spent many years together, another if she only comes into his life near his decline and death.

After my own marriage ended after 24 years of what seemed like a strong partnership (my ex-husband soon remarried, yes, to a younger woman) and now seeing friends also married for many years questioning whether to remain together, I wonder if our longer lifespan has extended marriage perhaps too long? In today’s marriages, husband and wife do not have the traditional gender division of labor that once made spouses dependent on each other. Fewer Americans are getting married at all now and the average marriage lasts only about 8 years. Odds that a given marriage will end in divorce are estimated at between 40 and 50%, rather sobering to contemplate when raising a celebratory toast to the bride and groom.

What public policies might encourage the duration of marriage? And since the US birthrate has plunged and now has reached its lowest point in 50 years, to sustain our population, more support may be especially needed for young families. The Biden administration is trying to offer that in its American Families Plan. What else might encourage the birth of more children to keep the future economy afloat? Perhaps family leave for both parents with the birth of a child? (While not the norm in real life, most ads for baby products show dad, not mom, changing, feeding, or bathing the baby.)

With more women now working outside the home, childcare is increasingly important, so Senator Elizabeth Warren is championing the cause of affordable care. If a woman is nursing a newborn (good for both mother and child and for their bond), it would also be advisable, in my opinion, to incentivize new mothers to spend at least the first 6 months at home with their new infant, perhaps working from home in our post-pandemic world.

There is concern now that too few babies are being born in the US to support future retirees. With fertility controllable to a large extent and with women expecting to be in the workforce, it’s logical that they would have fewer offspring. Most younger women I know have only one or two children, if any. Perhaps economic incentives and support can help reverse this trend, although young married mothers of my acquaintance vow that going through pregnancy twice is their absolute limit. Immigrant women seem open to having larger families, so if policy makers are worried, more immigrants should be admitted, not only to assure the future workforce, but to provide immigrant adults to bolster it right now.

Donald Trump is a dad who never changed a diaper. In fact, he is reported to have avoided engaging at all with his kids until they’d finished high school. Reputedly, he only “allowed” Melania to get pregnant when she promised to keep her figure.

Even after six months, Mr. Trump continues to settle scores and promote the false narrative that he actually won the 2020 election. His minority vote victory in 2016 was due to a rare fluke in the Electoral College system unlikely to be repeated—which it was not. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called out Trump apologists parroting his favorite line of “people are saying,” by asking “What people”? Republican Congressman Adam Kinziner of Illinois contends that few of his Republican colleagues really believe Trump won, but are afraid that Trump’s followers, aroused by exhortations from the man himself, will vote against them in the primary if they admit it. That’s a genuine fear, since many Trump supporters still find it easy to believe that he actually did win because they and everyone else they know voted for him. Recently, in West Va., I saw Trump yard signs still on display. Meanwhile, hell bent on fomenting mischief, Trump and his allies have ganged up on Liz Cheney, furthering a split within the Republican Party and blocking any semblance of bipartisanship. Minority leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to oppose any and all proposals from the Biden administration “one hundred percent.” No longer are Republican elected officials even pretending to promote bipartisanship, the common good, and constituent wellbeing, or even to tell the truth, only to score political points and survive in office. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senator Lindsey Graham have argued that the Republican Party cannot get along without Trump, which may be true in the short-term. But Cheney, a staunch conservative, realizes that the Republican Party cannot win long-term by denying the integrity of elections and by failing to emerge from Donald Trump’s sweaty grip.  

North Carolina’s 20-week abortion ban challenged in federal court

More than a dozen states have similar laws restricting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. (Washington Post. May 7, 2021)

Barring some life-threatening or serious harm to the mother from continuing with the pregnancy beyond that point, 20-weeks seems like a reasonable abortion limit as already stated on this platform. At 20 weeks and thereafter, if the pregnancy cannot continue because of a serious threat to the mother, every effort should be made to preserve the life and health of the child who may then need to be delivered prematurely, rather than euthanized in the womb. (In successive surveys, majority support for “abortion rights” applies only to the first trimester of pregnancy.)

Axios, Amnesty International restores Alexei Navalny's "prisoner of conscience" status, https://www.yahoo.com/news/amnesty-international-restores-alexei-navalnys-152219123.html

Reuters, Amnesty: Yemen's Houthis must release model fearing 'virginity testing', https://www.yahoo.com/news/amnesty-yemens-houthis-must-release-155714250.html

 

In my role as Amnesty International USA’s volunteer chair for the Caribbean, I prepared testimony for the American Friends Service Committee in New Jersey on behalf of a Cuban man in deportation proceedings. He would not fare well back in Cuba, not only because he has lived for many years in the United States, but because his father and brother were well-known human rights activists who had been imprisoned for their advocacy in Cuba. His father was once an Amnesty prisoner of conscience, someone jailed for his peacefully expressed beliefs.

What might the future hold for us, our country, and the world? We are able to predict only immediate and broad outlines. Individuals often envision a fairytale future for themselves after they finally achieve a long-term goal: landing that dream job, marrying the love of their life, buying a new house, having a child, retiring, or, even, getting divorced. But nothing ever turns out quite as expected. Change and challenge are the only constants, which keeping us from ever getting bored. Occupational therapists I’ve worked with over the years have stressed the importance of “purposeful activity” and certainly life’s frequent twists and turns confront us with many challenges and opportunities.   

 

Spring, Remembering my Mother, Raccoons (Again, Still!), a Scam, and More

  

It has been lovely this spring to see so many flowers and tree blossoms emerging after the winter and long lockdown. 

And now, after 17 years underground, Cicadas are due to start coming out this week in our area, as well as north to south from NY to Ga. and as far west as Ill. and Tenn., so it will become pretty noisy.

A friend just found and sent me a photo from 2005 where four of us appear, including me and my late mother, Virginia, taking me back in time. Little did we know then that Mother would die a little more than a year later at age 92.

Our household’s saga with raccoons continues. 

Not only are they cheeky, staring at us boldly through our windows, but their hands (and feet) almost mirror our own, which is kind of creepy. They are considered intelligent with good memories. The question is, are they more entitled to be living here than we are? When I asked folks on a neighborhood website for advice on dealing with raccoons, most were more concerned about the creatures’ wellbeing than our own. I was advised to just “enjoy” them. For more than half a century living in my house, I have enjoyed seeing a variety of semi-wild creatures, including birds, squirrels, possums, and, yes, raccoons. My kids and grandchildren have grown up harmoniously beside them. But when raccoons recently started trying to get inside, bumping up against and scratching on windows, which we dare not open as the weather gets warmer, it seems high time for them to move elsewhere. My house was built in 1895. Doesn’t that give us as humans certain rights? If anyone knows of a place that will take them away for free, please advise. I've investigated all the local humane animal associations and none of them remove raccoons, only commercial places, always promising to do so "humanely." While raccoons rarely become pets, President Calvin Coolidge did keep a pet raccoon called Rebecca. 

Members of the neighborhood website also warned me not to use the services of someone who had contacted me there offering to remove the raccoons, useful information. Best to go with a commercial service. The task will be to coordinate with tree removal soon after so that new raccoons don’t take up residence. 

India is now experiencing a Covid surge, but reported deaths there do not yet approach US totals and are much lower per capita. Indians are scrambling to get vaccinated. Yet vaccination sceptics abound in our own country, especially among Trump supporters, who seem to have absorbed the message that everything offered by the government is suspect (except money), even though Trump himself was ill with the virus and also has since been vaccinated. Not only do the unvaccinated imperil themselves, but the rest of us as well by letting mutations arise and by burdening the health care system.

Joe Biden is hardly a charismatic politician. Instead, he comes across as grandfatherly, someone steady, comforting, and trustworthy. But, like most political figures, he is not totally transparent. Biden has made 67 false and misleading statements in his first 100 days in office, according to a report from the Washington Post’s fact checker. That compares to 511 false comments by his predecessor Donald Trump in his first 100 days. After that relatively modest start on voicing falsehoods, Mr. Trump quickly picked up steam, rising to a crescendo on Nov. 2 just before the election, when he made 504 false claims in a single day. Many still believe that whatever Trump says is Gospel truth, especially that he’d actually won on Nov. 3, but that his re-election had been mysteriously “stolen” from him, although, as the sitting president of the United States, he held all the levers of power and authority at his fingertips. As Cindy McCain has said, "The election is over. Biden won."

Again, an email arrived unbidden from a rightwing source: “The first 100 days of the most leftist presidency in American history have been a nuclear attack on America.” I could easily block such messages, but it’s informative to see what an extremist segment of the US population believes, however misguided. The internet has certainly extended the reach of such propaganda.

With a shrinking working age population, the USA needs more immigrants and guest workers, as well as later retirement and more outreach to older potential employees (such as myself). Despite the pandemic disproportionately targeting older folks in the US and worldwide, the greying population is growing. It would be helpful for older workers and for parents of young children to have more part-time employment options.

ABC News, Lawyer for former police officer Amber Guyger asks appeals court to toss her murder conviction of Botham Jean

Those entrusted with firearms have a responsibility to be less trigger happy, and that includes police, who may be prone to just shoot, even at someone trying to flee. Is fleeing from police deserving of the death penalty? Couldn’t they just shoot the tires of a fleeing vehicle instead of the driver? If fewer firearms are in circulation, then fewer folks will react impulsively, killing someone by accident or without reflection as Amber Guyger did. Why not shout out to someone you think has invaded your space, asking them what they are doing there? If Guyer had done that, she would have discovered she was mistaken and not in her own apartment. But she just saw a black man inside and immediately pulled the trigger. If a white woman had been there, would she have shot her? Not likely. She would have said, “Oh, sorry, I must be in the wrong place.” And, as mentioned before, gun possession is usually more hazardous than protective for the owner, who is much more likely to die or kill an innocent person than to save his or her own life. Many have accidentally shot their own family members. The more guns in circulation, the more unwanted deaths will occur: murders, suicides, accidents. Firearm possession carries special responsibility.

 

Honduras is a small country awash with guns, mostly from the US as well as a few homemade products, some of which must be reloaded after each shot. Drug stores, grocery stores, and retail businesses all have armed guards on duty, as do wealthier households. Bank customers must pass through metal detectors. The result is hardly more safety. Honduras has one of the highest homicide rates in the world with 80% of homicides there committed with guns; San Pedro Sula holds that country's highest homicide rate with 137.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

 

There were 19,379 gun violence deaths in the US in 2020, plus 24,090 gun suicides. The US gun death rate is 8 times higher than Canada’s and 100 times higher than the UK’s.

Free passage for Central Americans across their mutual borders has made it hard to control migration. Having the Peace Corps back in the region would certainly help.

Reuters, Arizona governor signs ban on abortions based on genetic abnormalities

But abortions done for no particular reason, not based on finding any genetic abnormality, can simply go ahead? That makes no sense.

From Amnesty International USA: Send a click tweet AND a personalized tweet demanding President Biden raise the refugee cap to 62,500—the number his administration committed to in February.

 

AP, Kidnappers in Haiti release 9 people including priests, nuns, https://www.yahoo.com/news/kidnappers-haiti-release-9-people-134819382.html

 

Friends of mine have been involved in the following film:

Nationl Review, The ‘Plantados,’ Cuba’s Immovable Heroes, https://www.yahoo.com/news/plantados-cuba-immovable-heroes-103020364.html [My Confessions book recounts our local Amnesty International group’s involvement in 1994 in securing the release of 26 long-term Cuban political prisoners, so-called “plantados” or rooted ones, all kept for years beyond their original sentences. One married a member of our group.]

An action circular for the newest Amnesty Int’l campaign for Cuba, “The Eternal Flame”, has started with the launch of a contemporary piece of art (video) depicting Cuban artists burning their tools to protest against the situation artists face in Cuba.

Cuba Archive / Archivo Cuba <info@cubaarchive.org>

URGENT APPEAL

Let's help save Cuban artist on
hunger strike, Luis Manuel Otero

April 27, 2021. Luis Manuel Otero who creates modern sculptures for performance art, declared himself on hunger strike on Sunday, April 25^th, to demand that Cuban authorities:

1. lift the state of siege surrounding his home since November 2020;
2. return his confiscated works of art and compensate him for damages;
3. respect the full exercise of artistic freedom in Cuba.

Reuters, Cuban government ends leading dissident's hunger strike, https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuban-government-ends-leading-dissidents-163137638.html Otero was taken to a hospital. The San Isidro Movement led by Otero, a performance artist, is a dissident group that includes a few dozen artists, writers and activists. Members of the San Isidro Movement in November had staged a hunger strike against censorship and harassment of independent creators and activists by the Communist government. Police ended the hunger strike, prompting a rare protest by around 300 people in front of the Culture Ministry in Havana. Authorities since then have vilified members of the group as outside agitators working with the United States. Its members repeatedly have been temporarily detained and often told they cannot leave their homes, with communications cut. Otero was arrested a few weeks ago as he protested a Communist Party congress by sitting in a garrote. Authorities seized or destroyed some of his art.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: Cuban dissident's health stokes allies' fears, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56947591

 

Can the U.S. and Cuba get along now that the Castros are gone? https://www.yahoo.com/news/can-the-us-and-cuba-get-along-now-that-the-castros-are-gone-141956095.html

 

Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga was traveling from Salt Lake City to Hawaii on April 28 for a family vacation when she gave birth to her son, Raymond, at just 29 weeks gestation, https://www.yahoo.com/news/nurses-doctor-help-lucky-mom-064327654.html Another instance of a very premature baby surviving, similar to some I’ve seen as a Spanish interpreter. Best wishes for Raymond, but the delay in getting him a hospital was unfortunate.

 

Mores have always evolved, but now even faster than before, especially for women. In most societies until about the early and mid-20^th century, women mostly were occupied within households, bearing and caring for children, while men worked outside the home. That was the pattern of my own mother, though she had earned a degree in architecture. Women usually have less physical strength than men and so have also relied on them for protection. There have been (and still are) a few matrilineal and matriarchal societies and some characterized by polyandry (one wife with several husbands), as mentioned before, mostly in the mountainous regions of Bhutan and Nepal as a means of conserving land, as one woman with several husbands can only bear a limited number of children, while one man with several wives can have many more offspring potentially dividing up the land. Now the evolution and questioning of mores has picked up speed, while families are having fewer children and more women are working outside the home, giving women greater equality and independence and allowing them to press for even more equality and rights. Change is the watchword now, overcoming longstanding traditions.

A scam letter from the UK, purporting to be from the Cooperative Bank, arrived, telling me I had surprisingly inherited a whole lot of money from a hither-to unknown relative. The real name of a bank employee appeared as the sender. Here is the postmarked envelope, in case you receive something similar. Don’t reply, but let the real-life bank know, as they do keep track. How did they get my name and address? 

 

Spanish-language ads keep popping up on my computer, including this for phone service: Encuentra tu teléfono y plan ideales.

 

Floyd Verdict, Republican Lawmakers, DC Statehood, Foreign Workers, Unaccompanied Minors, Sexual Identity, No Internet Privacy

 

The jury’s verdict was rendered in the murder trial of George Floyd with former police officer Derek Chauvin now locked up after being found guilty on all counts: second and third-degree murder and manslaughter. I doubt Chauvin intended to kill Floyd, though he certainly exercised excessive force that actually resulted in his death. He used very poor judgment and, as police officer entrusted with protecting the public, should be held to a higher standard than an ordinary person. So, it would not be surprising if on appeal Chauvin is still convicted of manslaughter, though he might be also convicted of second or third-degree murder even if there was no intent or expectation that death would result as long as he willfully inflicted serious bodily harm that actually resulted in death or showed extreme indifference to the value of human life. A police officer is usually armed and is invested with official authority, so carries immense responsibility and should be held to a high standard. Chauvin’s lawyers might still argue on appeal that he could not get a fair trial in Minnesota or anywhere else because public opinion—even world opinion—had risen up against him. According to polls, most Americans agree with the verdict. Whatever happens, this case will still continue to be a rallying point for social division. In fact, it already is, with the police killing of a teenage Ohio girl said to have been threatening others with a knife (supported by camera footage). Police often must make split-second decisions which, if replayed in slow motion, allow for secondhand quarterbacking.

 

Mass shootings in the US have become so epidemic now that we hardly react, Ho Hum, another mass shooting, how may killed this time?

 

Republican lawmakers barely comment on current events, focusing recently on a critique of Democrats involving Dr. Suess books. We do need a more serious and focused Republican Party that does not dumb down the electorate and pander to their worst instincts. Should political leadership aim to mimic only the lowest common denominator? The party now needs to emerge from Donald Trump’s sweaty grip, though white men at the core of his support may still complain about always being targeted as the bad guys. Former National Democratic Committee chair Howard Dean commented recently about Republicans, “These people are crazy...They’re conspiracy theorists, they’re whack jobs. They’re embedding their own reality. I mean, if they ever really run the country, it’s going to be a disaster.” Howard Dean Drops The Hammer On GOP: Racists, Conspiracy Theorists, Whack Jobs, https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/howard-dean-neo-fascist-gop-134037019.html  Indeed, on Fox, GOP apologist and spin doctor Tucker Carlson accused Democrats of trying to “dilute” the population by “replacing” current citizens with immigrants. Doesn’t that sound kind of whacky?

 

“Taxation without Representation,” the rallying cry of American colonists against British rule, is now gaining traction around the country. Auto license plates in DC have long proclaimed “No taxation without representation.” A DC statehood bill has now been introduced in the House of Representatives, making more Americans aware of the issue. Indeed, in my travels from east coast to west, I’ve found most people are surprised that those of us living in Washington, DC, the very seat of our representative government, have no voting representation in Congress, even with a population greater than 2 states. Republicans are grasping at straws trying to deny that representation to an overly Democratic electorate, calling it “unrealistic” and a “power grab,” also accusing the population of not being “well-rounded.” Puerto Rico may not be far behind, potentially adding more to the Democratic ledger. The solution for Republicans is to come up with workable and acceptable policies, not block Democrats from representation and voting.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been associated with rare, but very serious and difficult to treat blood clots among women under 50, resulting in a very few deaths, but, of course, if such a death or serious reaction is your own or of a loved one, that’s one too many. So now the vaccine may need to be avoided by younger women, an obvious solution. Unfortunately, revelations of life-threatening adverse reactions to the J&J vaccine, however uncommon, have contributed to vaccine hesitancy even within my own family although some of our members have actually come down with the virus. I sent a virus skeptical family member this rather graphic article by someone who did not have serious Covid, but still something to be avoided: Bob Wojnowski: No way was I getting COVID, until I did https://www.yahoo.com/news/bob-wojnowski-no-way-getting-040100786.html

 

A malaria vaccine under development is good news to folks like me who have suffered more than once with malaria, though supposedly it may become less acute in subsequent bouts. It’s an illness that annually kills over 400,000 and afflicts over 200 million worldwide.

 

On Yahoo News, 2 contrasting stories appeared, one about a "gestational surrogate" who "carries" babies for genetic parents, the other about a single woman who became a "mother" by giving birth to a baby conceived with a donated egg and sperm.

 

Not only is the definition of a mother in flux, but now new mothers often need official post-partum assistance, especially after giving birth to their first child, to replace the instruction and support that used to be provided by their own mothers and grandmothers back in the day.

 

AP, Biden OKs more foreign seasonal workers as economy improves, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-economy-589dc17501502479e3ee57a4b711ca41  The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. would approve an additional 22,000 H2-B seasonal, non-agricultural worker visas on top of the annual limit of 66,000 set by Congress. It cited increased demand from employers, with the number of people seeking jobless benefits at the lowest point since the outbreak of COVID-19.

 

People are climbing over Trump’s border wall with $5 ladders,                 report says, https://news.yahoo.com/people-climbing-over-trump-border--wall-194411626.html

 

Biden's announcement that unaccompanied minors will be admitted to the US is a message that has traveled fast and far. The most egregious example was that of the 2 Peruvian sisters, ages 3 and 5, filmed while being dropped one night over a border fence. Most unaccompanied minors are not as young as those girls, but teens who undertake their journey in a spirit of adventure and emancipation, though it usually turns out to be more rugged than anticipated. I've met several who have fallen off Mexican trains and lost limbs, like a young Honduran who lost an arm and a leg, seen here singing at a Washington, DC gathering. 

As a Spanish interpreter, I've also met a number of teens in immigration detention, lawyers’ offices, and asylum interviews, but rarely have known their final outcome. In those few cases where I've been informed later, all their petitions have been denied (under Obama). Some such young people seemed to have genuine fears of gangs either trying to rob or recruit them if they were boys or to rob or rape them if they were girls, describing hostile groups waiting for them on their walk to and from school or near their homes whenever they went out. In the Peace Corps, we tried to organize kids in groups opposed to gangs, providing them with strength in numbers. 

Readers will find much commentary about Latin America on these pages because of my own ties to that region after living there off-and-on, also about the Caribbean because of my position as volunteer Caribbean Coordinator for Amnesty International USA for the last 17 years, more recently with the help of 2 volunteer assistants, one for the Dominican Republic, the other for Jamaica, though with so many island nations in the Caribbean, it’s hard to keep track of human rights issues on them all.

Reuters, Castro's heir faces pressure to accelerate reform in Cuba, https://www.yahoo.com/news/castros-heir-faces-pressure-accelerate-235941467.html  [Miguel Díaz-Canel, age 60] It does seem, after more than 60 years of communist rule in Cuba and the end of Castro leadership, that the Cuban Communist Party will have a hard time maintaining control, especially after Raúl Castro’s death.  

Reuters, 4-19-2021, Cuban dissidents decry harassment, as congress denounces ‘counterrevolution’ attempts, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuban-dissidents-decry-harassment-congress-denounces-counterrevolution-attempts-2021-04-18/

 

Miami Herald, Coast Guard returns more than 20 migrants to Cuba, https://www.yahoo.com/news/coast-guard-returns-more-20-001503659.html

AP, Catholic officials halt activity in Haiti for 9 kidnapped, https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-officials-halt-activity-haiti-184729436.html Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed across Haiti as part of a three-day protest to demand the release of nine people including five priests and two nuns kidnapped amid a spike in violence.

 

Meanwhile, back in Washington, DC, surrounded and beleaguered by increasingly bold raccoons, I decided to finally cut down the tree where they like to hang out, giving them access to my house. I could just have the branches cut, as before, but those branches soon sprout back even when cut off right at the trunk. However, after making that momentous decision, I now find that no tree can be removed without the approval of a DC inspector, as was the case also last fall when the dead maple tree was removed. But even applying for a permit is proving challenging as there is no option offered for requesting a tree removal because of raccoons or even

because cut branches grow back too fast. So there will be delay before anything can happen. The raccoons look like they’re grinning at us.

Those of us who have lived a long time have witnessed dramatic social changes and also participated in them. Back in the dark ages when I was young (yes, I was young once), many fewer teens than nowadays identified with being gay, bi, transgender, or “gender fluid.” Sexual identity was just not considered a choice then. Everyone was presumed to be straight; men were men and women were women, each with separate social roles. Some long-ago teens probably were concerned about not being or feeling “normal,” but they often kept such feelings to themselves and tried to conform to social expectations, as probably still happens today, especially in traditional societies. My late brother, an architect who worked for a time in Saudi Arabia, told me of not uncommon trysts between or solicitations from Saudi single men who were prevented from coupling with women before marriage. Probably most were not gay in the long run and went on to marry and become traditional pater familias. I also know men both in the US and Latin America who recount that their first sex exploration was with other boys before they later courted and married women.

Now some American kids from an early age insist not only that they are not “straight,” but were actually born in the wrong gender. I don’t know any myself, though acknowledge they exist. Much more common, in my own experience as both a social worker and just as a citizen and a mother among other mothers, is of teens who apparently waiver and experiment with alternative sexual identities, now more often considered a choice than in my youth. Before surgery and hormone therapy were available to make actual physical changes, those feeling themselves to be misgendered could only dress as and try to mimic the behavior of the opposite sex. Women might go undercover on ships or the military wearing male garb and some effeminate men would don dresses, wigs, and make up. Considering sexual identity as a choice is largely a fairly new cultural concept, certainly not part of all cultures, either past or present. Viewing it as a choice, rather than as immutable from birth, does make for the emergence of a wider array of sexual identities and expressions and for their exploration by more people, especially in their youth, beyond the more traditional male-female pairing, which is still the norm.

Back in the old days, very few of those who might have had socially unacceptable or non-traditional feelings dared break out of their expected roles; most conformed to social expectations regardless. One couple, my own contemporaries, had several children the same ages as my own. Our family often associated with theirs. The parents broke up after the police arrested the husband while he was out one night soliciting sex from another man. The wife claimed to have had no idea of her husband’s double life. Except for his arrest, she might never have known and they might still be together today. Were his same sex activities just an option for him or more of a compulsion?

Social expectations always have a strong influence on everyday conduct, but now with expectations about sexual identity and behavior in flux, more young people may feel free to deviate from standard marriage and common heterosexual conduct. Most may still go on to marry someone of the opposite sex, but more now will be experimenting beforehand with sexual identities and practices. My point is that an individual’s sexual identity is often more than an inborn, genetic, or immutable characteristic, though some parents and young people contend it is fixed from birth, which may sometimes be true. But often it is also a matter of cultural and social influences and acceptance, including the very idea of choice and the example of others, and so may even change and evolve during a lifetime. Therefore, it would be unwise for a young person or a parent to try to enable irreversible physical changes before age 18, as an early sexual outlier may become more traditional over time. And sometimes people go back and forth in terms of practices and attractions, and others may only change their orientation later in life. Women, especially, seem more often to go on from early gay flirtations to straight sexual behavior and conventional marriage. Members of European royalty, however, never seem to deviate from heterosexual norms and would cause quite a scandal if they did.

Someone who had witnessed and participated in many changes during her long lifetime was Hester Ford, who died recently in NC at age 115. She was the mother of 12 and grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother of countless more, so her legacy lives on. She grew up picking cotton and other crops in the segregated south and voted in the 2020 election, presumably for Joe Biden, though it was a secret ballot. While she is mourned now by her family, she certainly lived a long and full life, up until the end still able to recite Bible verses.

None of us will live forever nor see the achievement of heaven on earth. And very few predictions are 100% accurate, maybe only that tomorrow our planet earth will continue turning on its axis. We still need to focus on improving not only our own individual life, but that of future generations, while knowing that the task of achieving a better life and a more just world will never be completed.

 “Un plan móvil hecho para ti” is one of many Spanish-language solicitations popping up on my computer screen. Do advertisers snoop into my emails or listen in on my phone conversations? How do they know I speak Spanish? My sister, who refuses to have email is correct, connecting to the internet does invade our privacy. She and her husband are anonymous in the world at large.

Spam phone calls are an epidemic. If anyone knows how to block them on a landline, please let me know. I always hang up immediately which may not discourage them, as many harassing and predatory calls are pre-recorded. Millions of such calls are constantly being spewed out, so a few unlucky folks will end up responding.