Winchester, Speaking Spanish, “Sorry” Is Not Enough, Kim in Control, Reassessing the Rohingya Crisis, Honduras Plane Crash, Panama, Blackness, Baby Bust

While visiting my son Jon in Winchester, Virginia, he and I stayed at a hotel, giving him a break from his all-male residence. Here we are in the hotel hot tub, where, if you look very closely, you will see his missing left index finger, whose shocking amputation was mentioned earlier in these pages.

I am not the lone parent who unsuccessfully tried speaking Spanish to my young kids so they would learn. First, there was my then-husband who did not know Spanish and undermined the whole idea. But mainly, it was a matter of peer pressure and embarrassment if friends were around and Mom was speaking Spanish (“Mom, stop it!”) and they always answered me in English. That often happens with US-born school-age kids living even in households where both parents are native speakers. The kids usually understand the parents’ Spanish, but always answer in English with their rejection of the parents’ language becoming more pronounced as the kids get older. Only at college age do they begin to understand the advantages of bilingualism.

Another deadly school shooting—what’s next, close all schools? Make everyone stay indoors with a personal firearm at the ready? It’s way past time to reign in the NRA and the “right to bear arms.” As my kids used to say, “’Sorry’ is not enough.” OK, gun lovers, how have your firearms stopped gun violence? Parkland survivors are now righty saying “We told you so.” Hey, Mr. Trump, a young Muslim woman was now killed by a native-born American, what about that? Candidates running in Nov. will have to decide if the financial benefits and votes they get from the NRA and gun supporters are enough to counteract pressure from gun-control advocates. All evidence shows that where there are fewer guns present, there are fewer gun deaths. Although there was a horrific family murder recently in Australia in a rural area where firearms are permitted, the overall gun death toll in that country has shrunk dramatically since controls were enacted—the same in Conn. and other states with strict gun laws. 

Reportedly, Trump made a brief trip to see Melania in the hospital, and later welcomed her home in a tweet, calling her Melanie. And what about Barron? Where is he? Apparently, he did not visit his mother in the hospital. Barron must be away at boarding school because he’s never around. Poor kid, with a dad like his, he’s better off staying elsewhere. Melania has agreed to tough it out, but is keeping herself as separate as possible

A “trumped-up” claim means one that’s inflated, a term with special resonance these days. One of Trump’s many trumped-up claims is for still more tax cuts before the November elections, a transparent simple-minded ploy to win votes, even though the nation is already in dangerous deficit territory. He is deathly afraid that a Democratic Congress will impeach him. Who is the actual criminal, those who want to impose penalties on Trump for his criminal conduct or Trump himself?  

Kim Jong-Un has taken charge of the North Korea talks as a befuddled Donald Trump tries to grasp what’s going on. His rather crude cancelling of the talks does little for his reputation or our national security. Trump is a big crybaby.

However, probably most issues are not 100% black or white. From AFP, May 23, 2018, Rohingya militants massacred Hindu villagers during last year's uprising in Myanmar's Rakhine, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report that sheds fresh light on the complex ethnic rivalries in the state.

Here’s from an article about a private plane crash at the airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, one of the scarier places to land. We passengers always clap after a safe landing. Fortunately, no one was killed in this crash.

Miguel Osorio, a spokesman for the Hospital Escuela Universitario, said that five crew members were being treated for minor injuries and were in stable condition.

The Honduran Civil Aviation Agency said in a statement that the crash took place at 11:15 a.m. It added that everyone aboard was taken for medical attention and said airport operations were temporarily shut down while authorities checked to ensure conditions were safe. Operations resumed at 3:15 p.m.

In 2008, a plane of the former airline TACA crashed in nearly the same spot. Five people died in that crash.

Tegucigalpa's airport has long been notorious as one of the more difficult approaches in the hemisphere, surrounded by mountaintops and residential neighborhoods. The airport's runway is about 6,600 feet long, according to the airport's website.

Authorities asked drivers to avoid the area and said about 50,000 people in the surrounding neighborhood lost power because the plane took down power lines.

Panama is just one of over 45 countries I’ve been to for various reasons during my long life and my involvement in many different endeavors. So I would recommend this piece that appeared in The New Yorker about US ambassador to Panama John Feeley, who resigned recently.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/28/the-diplomat-who-quit-the-trump-administration

Is there any way for compromise or reconciliation to take place between the Trump administration/Trump’s base and the rest of us, who are, after all, the majority? I’ve been trying to think of an opening, some issue—maybe on the Dreamers? The problem is that the mid-terms are coming up and neither side wants to be seen “giving in” to the other.

Regarding the royal wedding, I certainly wish Harry and Meghan well. They seem very fond of each other, though there also seem to be some red flags in their relationship. As Donald Trump would say, “We’ll see what happens.” It was gracious of Prince Charles to walk the bride down the aisle.

As for the bride’s much-touted African American heritage, she is hardly “black” in appearance and her mother only partially so, more properly “blackish” rather than black. We have darker-complexioned folks in my own family, like my granddaughter and great-grandson, but they don’t make an issue of it. 

To see someone who’s really “black,” go to South Sudan where you see me there with one lady and another whom I met.

The US birthrate, which plunged during the recession, has not picked up but has continued on its downward spiral. That reflects some pessimism about the future. Fewer babies mean fewer future workers, which is why we in the US should more than ever welcome more immigration and legalize undocumented people already living and working here now to keep them here. And the foreign-born birthrate is often greater than for the native born. The shortage of farm workers is especially acute. Of course, welcoming more outsiders means the national complexion begins to change, not only skin color, but language, food, and culture. Is that what a minority of white native-born Americans fear?

However, with the baby bust now occurring in this country as well as the current shortage of farm and construction workers, it is certainly counterproductive to be deporting people and keeping others out when we need more, not less, immigration. DACA and TPS should be renewed immediately and a more sweeping amnesty put in place. We need those folks! Do we want to end up like Japan, a nation cool to outsiders, where robots are starting to take care of an increasing elderly and shrinking population and people rent out fake families?

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China is on the verge of abandoning its limits on births, a policy that went too far. So much for the “population bomb.”

If Trump actually confused HPV with HIV, as Bill Gates alleges, that would be par for the course. The man operates at about a 4^th-grade level, no offense to 4^th-graders who are actually growing and learning daily, while Trump is retrogressing. Maybe the Trump base doesn’t care how misguided and ignorant he is, as they are at the same level and consider themselves equally capable of running a whole country. They are proud that one of their own is actually doing so now, at least to some extent. It’s sad and unfortunate that Donald Trump and his followers are so mentally and psychologically challenged; the rest of us , while sorry if their feelings are hurt, consider that all this has gone much too far, that they have had their moment in the sun and now he and they should not be permitted to keep inflicting their misjudgments on the majority of Americans and on the world. The problem is how to stop him and them. So far, no one seems to have found a likely remedy to an increasingly damaging and desperate situation. Someday, we’ll look back on the Trump presidency with amazement and disbelief, as well as relief, but we certainly are not there yet. Wake me up when it’s over.