Our family has just observed my older daughter
Melanie’s birthday, celebrated on the anniversary of my late son Andrew’s passing.
The holidays are always bittersweet for us.
Kiluea
volcano
on Hawaii’s Big Island now finally seems quiescent after exploding for months
and destroying many homes. For years, I and countless others have marveled at
the regular lava flow plunging down in a cloud of steam into the ocean below, the
flow glowing brightly at night and giving off tremendous heat. It was a
spectacular sight and experience like no other. But now, it seems, the volcano
is resting without any more flowing lava, just harboring a molten lava lake
still glowing in the crater below, seen from the rim. But visitors must be
careful about not falling in; I don’t know how close they are now allowed to
go.
Bhutan is a small country
with a total population of about 800,000, slightly more than Washington, DC.
Somehow, I’ve gotten on Bhutan’s radar and have come to know a number of
Bhutanese here in DC. But international news involving Bhutan is exceedingly
rare and most Americans have never heard of that country. I am alert to any
news of Bhutan, such as this:
Also, here is an article on Bhutan travel, but apart from just
getting there, the daily fees mandated by the king are costly (only visitors
from India are exempt, I’ve been told). Also, the weather, at least in the
capital city Thimphu, is always
rainy and cool or even downright cold every time I check. That probably allows
tress there to grow tall, with lumber seeming to be the main industry besides
tourism.
A notice from local government reached me out
of the past from my tenure as board president for a local agency called Children’s Adoption Support Services (CASS).
It was reminding me to renew our tax-exempt status. How much water has flowed
under the bridge since we started that agency! My long-time friend Hope, a single
parent pioneer who adopted three children, including one from Vietnam, was the
spark behind our effort. (I once wrote about her and her children for the Washington Post.) Alas, our agency is
long gone, friend Hope is no longer with us, and adoption has undergone many
changes since. So, I won’t be renewing our status, but just now receiving that
letter reminded me of both our victories and challenges in getting our agency
underway.
On
Saturday, Dec. 15,
daughter Melanie and I were driving back to DC from Va. when several bridges
crossing the Potomac were all blocked. Police could not tell us why. Then, the
next morning, we read in the Washington
Post that “Trump makes unannounced visit
to Arlington National Cemetery.”
According to news reports, gun-related deaths in the US now surpass vehicle deaths.
Very sad what has happened to Venezuela, not so long ago probably the most
prosperous country in Latin America thanks to its vast oil wealth. Venezuela
started going downhill when Hugo Chavez assumed
the presidency and began dispensing oil largess to allies, including Cuba. Under Nicolas Maduro, the nation has continued its precipitous decline.
I’ve helped Venezuelan asylum seekers here,
folks who once enjoyed a normal middle-class life and since were blindsided by
Maduro’s incompetence, corruption, and power grab. Venezuelans (and Cubans who
can get out) are fleeing to other South
American countries. Those Venezuelans lucky enough to have US visas (sometimes 10-year
visas issued before the worst of the crisis) are now coming here. There is an object
lesson for us here in the US about not letting a populous power-hungry president
destroy our democracy and our economic wellbeing. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/dec/18/the-fallen-metropolis-the-collapse-of-caracas-the-jewel-of-latin-america
Should the US now pull out completely out of Syria? The time doesn’t seem right. But
since Trump’s surprise announcement did not mention a date, maybe there is some
wiggle room there?
The Weekly Standard’s unfortunate demise strikes fear into the
hearts of Republicans who dare to counter Trump. However, the tide will turn
rather suddenly, I predict, and will become an anti-Trump tidal wave, even
among Republicans. They will fall all over themselves to try to distance
themselves, “I really never supported him.” Fortunately, Trump is not actually such
an adept “dealmaker,” just a braggart, so has done less real damage than he might
have intended. Most Americans will feel enormous relief when he is out of
office, but some of us will also grieve for our losses. Pundits and historians
will endlessly examine all that went wrong.
158 million would-be migrants want
to move to the US, the world’s top pick, including among Hondurans.
It’s not
surprising that folks want to come here, Trump's policies notwithstanding.
Films and TV have made the USA a desirable “dream” destination. People
elsewhere with the actual means to do so (money and visas) seem less inclined to
come here now with Trump in office, but poor people still imagine a land of
milk and honey. Upper-class and even middle-class people abroad often appreciate
being able to hire servants to care for their kids, do their housework, and
guard their homes, something they could not afford in the US, so are not as
inclined to move here. Of course, if everyone who wanted to come actually
could, it would create an unacceptable avalanche. Still, the US could absorb and
actually needs more than are coming here right now, especially among working
age adults able to fill jobs and reduce our population's overall decline and
aging. At the very least, those undocumented folks already here and working
productively, as well as the Dreamers, should be legalized. There would be no
loss in doing so. Even Trump's properties employ "illegals."
As for how to keep so many new “illegals” from coming into the US, one
way would be to increase legal immigrant visas,
including with the visa lottery, won
by some folks who once lived at my place, also to welcome many more refugees. We need to keep the US
working-age population from declining, as has been happening in Japan and some
European countries. We are not producing enough babies!
A wall is not a good optic anyway—Trump cites
the example of Israel’s wall, which has not been good for that country’s
reputation. Perhaps because he feels besieged by the Mueller investigation,
Trump has been asserting his manhood in a tangible way by demanding a physical
wall, threatening a government shutdown over a border wall promised to his
ever-shrinking base of supporters. Hey, isn’t Mexico supposed to pay for the wall anyway? So, let’s say
that Trump makes the government shut down happen; then what? I doubt Republicans
would want that, especially as Trump is taking full ownership. (Now, at the last
moment, the budget has apparently been extended into the new year, though Trump
has yet to sign.)
Donald Trump, who has so often boasted about
his enormous wealth, could actually offer to fund the @#$%^&* wall himself,
put his own vast money where his mouth is. But a wall between Mexico and the US
is not a good optic or environmentally sound; better is a see-through fence only
where necessary. Speedier processing of asylum applicants and getting separated
kids back with their parents should be added to any border security effort.
Children should not die in custody, as has sometimes happened. But parents also
bear responsibility for embarking with them on such a perilous journey.
Yet, those who seek asylum because of threats
of gang violence or domestic abuse are not making unsubstantiated claims. A
young Honduran man was murdered days
after being deported. https://www.yahoo.com/news/honduran-teens-joined-migrant-caravan-killed-mexico-155726711.html
Here is
another challenge to Trump & Co. Judge
orders deported asylum seekers to be returned to US, in a Trump
administration rebuke
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-orders-deported-asylum-seekers-to-be-returned-to-us-in-trump-administration-rebuke
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-orders-deported-asylum-seekers-to-be-returned-to-us-in-trump-administration-rebuke
Instead of pledging money for a wall, the US
has reportedly partnered quietly with Mexico, pledging $10 billion in aid for southern Mexico and Central America. Trump
has not tweeted about this, as far as I know. It’s not clear whether this is
actual money, just a loan, or a matter of moving funds around. https://apnews.com/0fcda32812024680ad98676379c47233
Mexico is also reportedly considering a $30
billion Central American investment to stop the migrant
crisis. Again, after this announcement, details of an actual investment are
murky. It may be loans, private donations, and/or funds already allocated for other
purposes, possibly not new money.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/421930-mexico-considering-30-billion-central-american-investment-to-stop-migrant
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/421930-mexico-considering-30-billion-central-american-investment-to-stop-migrant
The Trump administration does deserve some credit
for agreeing to ban bump stocks, a
no-brainer, also for agreeing to reduce some federal sentences.
The Fed ever so slightly raised
interest rates despite a warning from Trump. The stock market, which has been
plunging, is recovering somewhat.
Maybe The Donald has finally begun realizing
that he’s in trouble, as he reportedly failed to leave his bedroom on Dec. 14
when news came crashing down all around him.
There has been speculation (wishful
thinking?) that Trump might actually resign, claiming victory for the most
successful presidency ever known in American history. He doesn’t seem to be
getting a lot of job satisfaction right now. However, resignation might bring
the day of reckoning for him even closer, although the political class might
just let him retire in collective relief. Surely Pence would pardon him and he
would still enjoy Secret Service protection. He could continue to play golf and
give rally speeches to his ardent followers to boost his ego—maybe even charge
admission. It’s doubtful after his real estate machinations have been so
thoroughly exposed that he could get back into that business.
Would a truly capable and smart leader, secure
about his own abilities, actually boast that he’s the greatest ever? Muhammed
Ali’s boasting was partly tongue-in- cheek, but Trump has avoided any hint of
irony in his own braggadocio. And does the United States really need to tout
its economic might and military superiority? Doing so raises doubts, especially
under Trump when we are actually going downhill. (But the man does know now to
draw attention to himself. I’ll grant him that.)
With all the focus in the Republican Party—and
for that matter among members of the public--on jobs, jobs, jobs, I’m reminded of the maxim of the occupational
therapy association where I worked for 16 years, namely that everyone seeks “purposeful
activity” however defined subjectively by each person. Work and being paid for that
work are major ways of valuing one’s own “purposeful activity,” though an artist
like Van Gogh might paint on his own schedule and without any remuneration. Actually,
primates and other mammals also seem to engage in purposeful activity and often
seem listless and bored without it. Hence, gerbils have climbing wheels, dogs chase
sticks, and zoo gorillas’ search out hidden food.
At this point, the revelation of the vast extent
of clergy sex abuse, especially of minors, in the Catholic church and the cover-up, not only in the US, but around
the world, has prompted me to take a long time-out from the church. I feel for sympathy
for Pope Francis confronting this serious long-festering problem. I remember my
own youthful interest in becoming a nun and even, not so long ago, attending a
mass officiated by Cardinal McCarrick. But now, late in life, the
pope and the church would have to take dramatic action to win me back again.
Dear readers, why not consider giving your
loved ones an adventure-filled, inspiring
book for the holidays, one outside the ordinary mainstream, namely, one of my
own titles, available on Amazon? (You can tell the recipient you know the
author.) The main message of both books (Triumph
& Hope and Confessions of Secret
Latina), memoirs from my own life, is that we all have unique and amazing experiences,
not only you and me, but even the panhandler on the corner if only he could put
words to paper. My immediate neighbors greet me regularly outside my front door,
seeing only a slender smiling woman of a certain age and, as I return their
greetings, I see only their own superficial appearance. But we all have secret
depths and unique feelings and vast experiences. Read about my many adventures
and challenges, then acknowledge and celebrate your own.
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