At
my local Catholic mass, we recently celebrated the 68th wedding
anniversary of a couple who are long-time members and also parents, whose now
middle-aged children were on hand for the event. They were married in 1950. I was married in 1959, but did not fare so well. My husband divorced me after 24 years, remarried, and died in 1999. So, kudos to this long- lived couple and to their long-lived marriage.
[Sorry for changes in spacing and font--that seems to be out of my control.]
Americans reportedly own 400 million personal firearms, 40% of the
world’s total with only 4% of world population. And many of the firearms used
in Latin America come from our country.
When I worked for the occupational therapy
association and was in Romania after Ceausescu helping
evaluation children's institutions, which were mostly terrible, I urged
child care workers, if possible, to pick up babies when giving them a bottle,
rather than just propping up the bottle. Of course, part of the problem was the
sheer lack of caregivers for so many children. I also encouraged caregivers,
when they had a weekend break, to take one or more of the kids home with them
for that period and some did so. Now is it true that the Trump administration
is forbidding caregivers in the immigration child detention facilities from
picking up crying children to comfort them? The whole idea of separating
children from parents is gratuitously cruel, but further forbidding holding
them when they cry is excessive. In other child care situations in this
country, caregivers routinely pick up the kids. And for all Sessions’
talk of obeying the law and punishing law breakers, immigration and other laws
can always be changed—they are not decreed in the Bible-- and, at least now,
unauthorized border crossing is only a misdemeanor and asking for asylum is not
even that.
I am put in mind of my post-Ceausescu visit to Romanian children’s institutions when I
worked for the occupational therapy association. It was quite distressful to
observe the situation there. Part of the problem was sheer lack of personnel
and resources. To my surprise, because Romanian is a Romance language, if
people spoke slowly, I could get the gist of what they were saying, but since
they didn't make the same effort for me when I spoke Spanish slowly, they
couldn't understand me. I wrote an article for our weekly OT magazine when I
came back, using a photo of a little girl named Gabriela. A couple in Minnesota
saw her photo and adopted her and I have been in touch with her via Facebook.
Once she left the orphanage, she refused to speak Romanian. She received OT
services and spoke out bravely to a whole room of conference goers at one of
our national conferences when she was still a child. In college, she
studied Spanish and sometimes she writes to me in Spanish. I mention her in
my Confessions
book.
Although the Sessions-Trump policy of
separating children and parents at the border has critics within the Republican
Party, apparently a bare majority of Republican voters actually do support it.
Republican lawmakers are loath to stand up to Trump, especially after Mark
Sanford’s primary defeat in South Carolina.
Are there any limits to presidential power? Is a president above
the law? Does the president get to decide whatever the law is and how it
applies? Can he pardon himself? If so, why didn’t Nixon do that? Donald Trump
and his spokespersons, especially Rudy Giuliani,
seem to be insisting that he has supreme kingly or dictatorial powers above all
written and legislated law, above even the courts, and also the right to even
define truth. He cannot lie, because the truth is whatever he says it is at the
time. The president cannot obstruct justice either because he defines justice.
Giuliani insists that Trump could even shoot James Comey and get away with it.
Is Giuliani trying to even out-Trump Donald Trump? Is he sending a signal to
those now in legal cross-hairs, like Manafort, not to spill the beans because
Trump will save him with a pardon. Trump has declared asbestos to be safe, so
nothing to worry about there. No global warming either. Canada burned down the
White House; sea levels are not rising. Trump had the biggest inaugural crowd
ever, and “I am very smart.” A stubbornly loyal core of Trump supporters seems
ready to worship their guy, even if he says the earth is flat.
Whether Trump’s image of infallibility holds up probably will
depend on the outcome of the midterms and whether Republicans maintain their
majority. Trump & Co. know that very well and are doing their level best to
make sure it happens either by hook or by crook and by pouring in lots of
money. Likewise, incumbent Republicans mostly seem to feel obliged to allay
themselves with Trump, whatever their private beliefs and inclinations. Full
employment, although wages have not risen, will help their side. So will
ongoing North Korea negotiations, even though no definitive conclusions will be
actually reached there. Will we be stuck with Trump and Trumpism for another 2
years? Or even longer?? Historians will later analyze ad infinitum everything that went wrong during the Trump
administration, but relief right in
the here and now looks pretty iffy. It will take years for present-day Trump
supporters to mercifully pass on. It seems that for legislators, keeping their
job trumps everything else, so they will take whatever position they estimate
will gain them the most votes. The only Republican lawmakers with any
principles are those not running again. The Chinese may have not conspired to
bring Trump into office, but they certainly are taking maximum advantage by
stepping into the vacuum created by his withdrawal of American leadership. This
may not have been what Russia had originally envisioned. Both Xi and Putin are
authoritarian leaders whom Trump much admires and strives to emulate. It seems
unlikely that Trump will press Kim on human rights, since human rights are not
a big issue for him here at home.
Liberty University, the Christian college started by the late Jerry Falwell, is enlisting its students and staff to produce a movie suggesting that God actually
chose Donald Trump to become president. "The Trump
Prophecy," which is expected to screen in more than 1,000 theaters,
features a retired Florida firefighter who claims God told him in 2011 that
"I will use this man to bring honor, respect and restoration to
America."
The Trump administration
and Jeff Sessions have wanted to
make a big public splash with recent mass
immigration arrests in meatpacking and landscaping companies. If these
enterprises have so many undocumented workers, they must need those workers.
Company executives were apparently not charged. Sessions has also decreed,
contrary to long established practice, that fear of gang violence or domestic
abuse are not grounds for asylum. As both a human rights activist and a Spanish
interpreter, I regard his small-minded pronouncements with dismay.
If trust and reciprocity
are the basis of lasting agreements, “deal-maker” Trump has certainly smashed prospects
of agreement with Canada and the European Union on trade. He seems to
think having temper tantrums, insulting potential partners, trying to scare
them, and walking away will bring them to heel, make them grovel at his feet,
as may have happened sometimes with his real estate deals. But such behavior may
have only hardened our former allies’ resolve to unite against him, to the net
detriment of the American people. Yes, a few lucky steel workers have recovered
their jobs, and 250 workers’ jobs were saved at the one US lumber processing
plant in Washington State, but how many more potential voters have lost jobs and income? America First is
becoming America Alone. And will such tactics work with North Korea? That’s
doubtful. Although lately, Trump has been playing nice with Kim Jong Un, can Kim really trust a guy like Trump? Can anyone?
Trump can turn on you on a dime—just ask some folks who have gotten the ax. And
Kim is quite capable of playing the same game. Trump’s survival in office may
hinge on the perceived success of his North Korea engagement. It was a starting
point, but, as Trump himself likes to say, we’ll see what happens.
Having heard Trump’s
North Korea summit speech, where he ad-libbed only slightly while mainly
following the scrip, he sounded OK, and he did not do too badly at the press
conference afterword. I did not see how, as he argued, a young American’s death
after being on North Korean custody had sparked the denuclearization process.
And it was apparent that human rights are not going to be part of this
equation, though even with a more rights-oriented US president, that issue is
rarely pressed anywhere in the world. It was apparently news to South Korea
that joint military exercises would be suspended. Kim must have left the summit
puzzled by Trump, but happy about the outcome and Trump’s apparent warm
embrace. Unfortunately, Trump’s domestic standing has been enhanced by his mere
appearance at the summit with Kim and may have helped some Trump candidates in
the primaries.
If former President Obama has actually referred
to Donald Trump as a “cartoon
character,” as has been reported, then he’s no longer a funny cartoon.
There has been much
speculation about Melania’s long public
absence and continuing lack of appearances. It’s probably a combination of
health problems and just being fed up with Donald and this whole presidential
thing. Some think she may have had more plastic surgery while in the hospital,
taking advantage of her stay there. Or her medical problems may have been more
serious than reported. We may never know, but let’s grant Melania her privacy.
I’m trying to be
evenhanded by allowing rightwing as well as more moderate political messages to
reach me, but I was taken aback when I was invited to enter a drawing for a free $3,000+ tactical combat gun used
by the military and law enforcement. Does the second amendment along with the
right of self-protection support the possession and use of such a weapon? May I
still enter this drawing (and win?) if I am a crook or former felon or mentally
ill?
My
own local Amnesty International Group 211 has a campaign underway pressing for
an apology, cleanup, and reparations from Shell Oil now 20 years after a
massive and damaging oil spill in Nigeria,
including a twitter campaign #oilinthefishbasket
See also
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr44/8530/2018/en/
Eduardo Cardet - Human rights
defender Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción was arrested in Holguín, Cuba, in November 2016 and charged with attacking a state
official after he publicly criticized Fidel Castro a few days after the former
leader’s death. Cardet has been declared a prisoner of conscience, sentenced to
remain in prison until 20 March 2020. He is also a medical doctor who has been
the leader since 2014 of the pro-democracy Christian Liberation Movement.
Amnesty International is calling for his immediate and unconditional release,
but also encourages use of this case to promote its new Human Rights Agenda for
Cuba, which includes a petition that highlights the need for all prisoners of
conscience in the country to be released immediately.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/04/cuba-2018-transform-confrontation-into-dialogue/
Also see Amnistía Internacional Américas by Amnistía
Internacional Américas on iTunes.
Amnesty
International issued Urgent Action AMR 25/8737/2018 on behalf
of Cuban human rights defender Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción whose
family visiting rights have been suspended by the authorities. He is a prisoner of conscience who must be
released immediately and unconditionally.
Here’s another Amnesty International Urgent Action (AMR
25/8541/2018) issued on behalf of Cuban scientist and environmental
activist, Dr. Ariel Ruiz Urquiola. He was sentenced to one-year
imprisonment for contempt and is a prisoner of conscience who
must be released immediately and unconditionally.
The
action is available here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/8541/2018/en/
You are
also encouraged to sign Amnesty International’s petition to the new Cuban
president supporting a new human rights agenda for Cuba: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/04/cuba-2018-transform-confrontation-into-dialogue/
Cardenal Miguel Obando has died, someone I remember meeting during
his peace efforts in Nicaragua up to
and after the 1990 presidential election,
which Violeta Chamorro won and where
I was an election observer.
OK, here’s
a test of your Spanish, a New York-born man, named below [presumably of
Nicaraguan heritage], was killed in
Managua. Un
ciudadano estadounidense, nueva víctima de la violencia en Nicaragua
Nacido en
Nueva York, fue hallado muerto en una calle en Managua junto a dos vehículos
quemados
Domingo,
junio 3, 2018 | Agencias
As deaths
among protesters continue in Nicaragua and electoral irregularities have been
revealed, why have not the US and the OAS been more forceful in their
condemnations? Deaths now are approaching 200 in what has turned out to be a
mini-civil war. I am heartsick for my friends in Nicaragua. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-06-19/violence-flares-up-in-nicaragua-after-suspension-of-peace-talks
Although
the Kilauea volcano has been
continually erupting violently on Hawaii’s Big Island for more than a month,
destroying forests, roads, and homes, remarkably, so far at least, despite some
injuries, there has been no word of deaths, as in Guatemala. Of course, the
volcano has actually been erupting for decades with a constant and predictable
lava flow, a major tourist attraction which I’ve seen on occasion in the past.
Now the volcano has gone haywire, with no end in sight. There seem to be
endless stores of molten lava bubbling up from the earth’s core.
If anyone
reading this has considered visiting the small isolated mountain kingdom of Bhutan, as my brother has done, you
might make inquiries with the travel agency operated by the boyfriend of one of
my Bhutan visitors. His name is Kinley Wangchuk and his company is called
Bhutan Tourer, bhutantourer@gmal.com
http: //facebook.com/bhutantourer If you want to see the landscape
there, here is a trailer for a rare Bhutanese film: Honey
giver among the dogs https://vimeo.com/158453408
High profile suicides are not only losses in their own right, but
suicide contagion may propel less well-known people to take their own lives
too, thinking that if such much admired and successful folks cannot find life
satisfaction, “what chance do I have?” Just recently, there have been designer Kate Spade, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, Inés
Zorreguieta, sister of Netherlands Queen Maxima, and now
even within our own Amnesty International Paris office staff, Gaëtan Mootoo,
a 32-year veteran who handled difficult cases in West Africa. Why? Why indeed? Work
pressures, image concerns, financial and legal losses, depression, pain and
illness, addiction, envy and revenge, and relationship problems may all be
involved, as well as impulsiveness and the example of others. There are moments
when most of us have felt that everything is really just too much and we might
contemplate leaving this “vale of tears.” It might be only a fleeting sensation
or something longer term and recurrent. In my own case, my husband’s decision
to divorce me after 24 years and the deaths of my son and Cuban foster son were
low points in my life, when only my other children pulled me through. I’ve met
other single parents who have lost their only child and I’ve wondered how they
have had the strength to go on. In the US, suicides are on the rise and about
half of suicides are committed with firearms.
Son Jonathan,
after a series of setbacks, has just returned from a 30-day Amtrak pass around the US, having gone as far from the east
coast as California, where he took a photo of my ez-husband’s/his father’s
simple grave.
It does
not surprise me that decades after Roe vs. Wade and abortion legalization in
several countries that in the US, citizens are still about equally divided
between opposing and approving legalization, between “abortion rights” and “right
to life.” As much as I understand the
distress of a woman finding herself unwilling and unexpectedly pregnant, it’s
also hard for me to wrap my mind around terminating a pregnancy, especially
after the early stages, as already mentioned on this blog. I have no quarrel
with gay marriage or
Juneteenth
greetings now on June 19, anniversary of the abolition of slavery, which I salute
as a citizen and also as a grandmother and great-great grandmother of folks
with slave ancestry. Here is a Mother’s Day photo from before my granddaughter
and great-grandson’s move to Florida a year ago.
Americans repo
When I work
