Ortega’s Reckoning, Cuba, Sessions, Macron, More Gun Violence, Me-Too, Trump and Money Worship

Ever since Daniel Ortega’s comeback in Nicaragua, he’s been keeping a fairly low profile on the world stage, but, suddenly, Nicaragua is back in the news. Some estimates have put the number of deaths in the recent Nicaraguan protests as high as 34 or more, including a journalist killed on-camera. The fight has gone beyond protests over pension reductions, extending to the heavy-handed way Daniel Ortega has prolonged his presidency once back in power, including the installing of his wife as vice president. I was an election observer back in 1990 when he suffered a surprising and bitter loss to Violeta Chamorro, despite having control of the military, courts, press, and everything else in the country. He had persisted ever since to regain the presidency and did so in 2007, with only one-third of the vote, as the Nicaraguan constitution bestows the presidency on the highest vote getter, not necessarily the winner of a majority. Ortega then rigged the courts and other government agencies and changed the constitution to enable him to run indefinitely. He is now on his third consecutive term on this round. He tried to steer a less fiery course than during Sandinista days and allied himself with business owners, an alliance now fraying. Oil subsidies from Venezuela have shrunk, which has not helped his fortunes. Now, Nicaraguans are expressing their discontent. To his credit, however, Ortega has allowed the Peace Corps to work in Nicaragua.

Check out our new Amnesty International Cuba podcasts on  https://www.amnesty.org/cuba2018

The Podcasts include testimonies of ordinary Cubans about their lives in the island. The 2nd episode of the podcast series ‘Cuban Lives’ is the story of Cuban human rights defender Laritza Diversent [who also spoke at AI USA’s annual conference in Miami in 2016].

Jeff Sessions, eager to keep his job, has wisely not recused himself from the probe into Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen. Sessions is clinging onto his job for dear life as his only way to remain in politics, enduring all sorts of humiliating insults from Trump who, so far, has not fired him.

Whenever Trump’s ego seems to need a boost, he goes on a campaign-type rally in front of a well-selected friendly crowd, as he did recently in Michigan. His boorish behavior gives license to his followers to follow his lead, to get revenge for what they regard as threats to their status in our country.

While many of us voters oppose the counterproductive activities of Trump and most Republican leaders, and also decry Trump’s hardcore supporters, along with Fox News (the real “fake media”) and the systemic advantages favoring Republicans, we also have ourselves to blame for not fighting hard enough and for taking for granted that since we were, and still are, so obviously “right,” that right will prevail. Overconfidence and a feeling of moral superiority on the part of Democrats and Democratic voters was a main reason why Hillary lost and why we now have a President Trump.

French President Emmanuel Macron put on a charm offensive, buttering up the easily flattered Trump in an effort to persuade him not to ditch the Iran accords. Perhaps that’s the only way to deal with Trump for the greater good of humanity and of our nation, by expressing fulsome admiration and praise since the guy has such a fragile ego—

”a spoonful of honey” as the song goes.

On a drizzly April 25 morning, I joined a crowd outside the Supreme Court protesting the latest version of the travel ban, which tacked on Venezuela and North Korea to give it the cosmetic appearance of not targeting Muslims. Reportedly, Justice Anthony Kennedy is leaning toward joining the conservative majority to uphold the ban this time, despite Trump’s desparaging comments about Muslims making his intent obvious.

 (The idea that the Supreme Ct., because of lifetime appointments, is above the fray, free of political influence, has long since been disproved.) The protest crowd was huge, snaking around the block, as curious tourists looked on. Meanwhile, Kennedy, often a swing vote on the court, will be 82 in July, and is being pressured to retire by Republicans who want to give their party still another shot at naming a Supreme Court justice. Let’s hope that Kennedy, despite his unpredictable leanings, hangs on until after the mid-term elections to prevent that from happening.

Quite apart from mass school, concert, nightclub, and workplace shootings, now there has been a gun rampage at a Waffle House. And a legal gun owner, an Ohio mother, accidentally dropped a loaded gun and killed her 2-year-old daughter. The constant repetition of such incidents has made the public kind of numb. I suspect that many more gun owners and their loved ones actually die from gun accidents, family murder/suicides, and individual suicides than ever confront a dangerous person with their gun. It’s too easy to pull the trigger on impulse or by accident. I’ve already mentioned that my son Jon, at age 11, was accidentally shot in the foot by a parents’ bedside gun dropped by another boy, an injury which thankfully did not kill him, but still plagues him today. A gun is most dangerous to the person who possess it and to their family and friends. It can be fired by a curious child (remember the mother killed in Walmart when her 2-year-old pulled a handgun out of her purse as he sat in the grocery cart?) or appropriated by a young family member intending to become a mass shooter or else stolen by someone intending harm. Countries with strict gun laws and fewer guns in circulation have fewer gun deaths. Even Switzerland, which allows considerable legal gun ownership, has stringent laws governing their use. We and our loved ones are all at risk because of the proliferation and lack of adequate gun controls in our country. Even if they aren’t actually killed, victims can still suffer lifelong injuries, like my son has. There are enough other risks in our lives—we don’t need this one. While gun advocates point out that a motor vehicle can kill people too, as has happened in Toronto and elsewhere (either accidentally or on purpose), a vehicle does provide much useful transportation, but a gun—except perhaps in the case of target shooting—is designed only to hurt or kill. The NRA is banning firearms during VP Pence’s upcoming meeting with them in Dallas—why, if guns are so protective?

I have a smidgen of sympathy for men caught unaware by the Me-Too movement. I’m old enough to remember times when sexual harassment by men of women was simply part of the culture, maybe not outright rape, but a sneaky pinch on the bottom, a too-tight hug, or a hand on a breast, as well as simply women being paid less than men in comparable positions or not being promoted at all. We didn’t complain—it was just how things were. Now, mores have changed, just as they have for the acceptance of divorce, interracial marriage and even gay marriage, pot-smoking, and being unchurched. Some guys were caught in the transition for activities they had indulged in before the full-blown change. As women, we allowed men license and now that such license has become unfashionable, we are complaining after the fact. I don’t mean to downplay the Me-Too movement; it is way overdue. But some men question being called out for behavior that was accepted at the time.   

In my old age, I’m wondering how we have come to so admire and value money accumulation? It’s understandable that everyone needs a basic income for food, clothing, and shelter, as well as for medical care, transportation, and even some extra for fun. Yet, the most important life values are human connections, physical wellbeing, and basic security. Surveys have shown that beyond a certain amount--in the US, about $75,000--an increase in income doesn’t add to life satisfaction. But does it then add to prestige or feelings of superiority? Why else do folks, especially men, seek to accumulate large amounts of money in the bank or in investments, something which, after all, is rather abstract, not a concrete benefit? Is it for bragging rights? Is it to compensate for evident personal deficits, perhaps the motivation behind Trump’s boasting about his wealth, while also making sure no one finds out exactly how much (or little) he really has? Maybe Trump hopes that seeming to be rich will make up for his feelings of inferiority because of his evident deficiencies in intelligence, personality, judgment, and appearance, especially in relation to Barack Obama, someone actually quite competent and with (gasp!) African ancestry? Trump is getting his revenge now as president by making often cruel and arbitrary decisions that willfully hurt others, justified by a veneer of political legitimacy. While some individuals seek to settle scores and overcome feelings of inferiority with guns or by driving vehicles into pedestrians, Trump uses the powers of the presidency to do the same against his perceived rivals and so many other, mostly aggrieved and marginalized men, identify with him and cheer him on. It’s a sorry, mutually reinforcing, situation.   

Summit of the Americas, Cuba, State’s Human Rights Report, Colombia, Nicaragua, Wheelchairs, More Bhutan Visitors, Traveler’s Circle, Taxes, Midway Island, Purposeful Activity

Neither Donald Trump nor Raul Castro attended the Summit of the Americas

OAS secretary general: 'We cannot allow the Cuban people to continue to be oppressed'

The secretary general of the Organization of American States urged participating governments at the VIII Summit of the Americas to put more pressure on Cuba and “not allow a convenient indifference in the face of a dictatorial situation.” “We cannot allow the Cuban people to continue to be oppressed by an infamous dictatorship, a dictatorship that carries the weight of decades of human rights violations … tortures and executions. We cannot allow that,” Luis Almagro said Thursday during a gathering organized by two organizations, Victims of Communism and CubaDecide. “We have to be faithful to fundamental ethical values.” (Miami Herald, April 13, 2018)

The passing of the Cuban presidency on to Miguel Diaz-Canel represents an historic shift away from the Castros, but probably won’t make much difference, especially as long as Raul Castro is still alive and heading up the overarching Communist Party. Diaz-Canel, even if he wanted to, would not dare stray very far from Communist orthodoxy.

I wrote my Confessions book to make the case, through the example of my own life, not only that unsung people like me and you are integral to the social and political fabric, but that governments and political leaders should be judged by what they do and its impact on others, not by political or partisan labels. Fidel Castro for decades tried to depict his regime as caring about the little guy by ostensibly providing food, health care, and education to all citizens, yet alleging relentless ideological attacks by the mighty USA/ Goliath. Actually, Fidel was the greater ideologue. Barack Obama, for all his many thoughtful policies, did go somewhat overboard in accommodating Havana, as did members of the Democratic Party, who followed in lockstep, posing for photo-ops shaking hands with Raul Castro and shunning Cuba’s genuine democracy and human rights activists. The US Embassy in Havana, which had allowed democracy activists to send secure e-mail via its computers, no longer allowed them access, instead reserving the computers for students selected by the regime. Except for MLKing associate Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the Congressional Black Caucus has shunned afro-Cuban rights’ activists out of a misplaced loyalty to Fidel.

Fully expecting Hillary Clinton to assume the presidency, I wrote my book, hoping to persuade “progressive” folks to hold Raul Castro to the same standard as any other head-of-state. I also wrote a series of Cuba-themed on-line articles in Huffington Post and Democracia Participativa. With a friend who had donated to Hillary’s running mate Tim Kaine’s campaign, I was planning to make my pitch to one of his staff members, whose name my friend had been given. I’d also scheduled a talk on my Cuba/Latin America book for the day after the election at the Chappaqua public library in the very town where Hillary lived. I had hoped to influence someone close to Clinton. Of course, only 8 people showed up to my talk and they were definitely downhearted and understandably not very fired up about Cuba or Latin America. So that plan backfired. We all know that Donald Trump took office instead and that Cuba has subsequently largely faded from the world scene. Contrary to what Fidel so relentlessly invoked and Trump’s own emphasis on personal loyalty only to himself, we should never pledge loyalty to any political leader. A leader needs to earn our trust, not demand it before the fact.

Speaking of loyalty, Trump, the accidental president, is giving James Comey’s book a big boost by trying to trash it. He would have been smarter to have just ignored it or dismissed it with few words. Now that Trump is on the warpath against still another well researched and carefully worded book criticizing him (so far, best sellers by Hillary, Wolff, and now Comey), he is likely to take out his vengeance, as before, by hurting vulnerable people who have a hard time fighting back: immigrants, American Muslims, Medicaid and food stamp recipients, and federal employees. Since Trump himself is illiterate, it would be hard for him to rebut his accusers with his own memoir because the only folks willing to write it for him are discredited political hacks and he would be likely to get himself into even more hot water by lying on the printed page. I’ve been allowing one rightwing website into my in-box, just to see how that thinking goes, but now they, like the Democratic sites, are starting to metastasize, so it may be best to shut them all down. All sides use emergency language and, of course, ask for money, money, money. 

Before they married, James Comey’s wife, Patrice, was a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Comey, visited her there and became very ill with malaria, so she took him to the hospital in the middle of the night, which saved his life. 

Facebook seems to have become extra careful now, asking for a password before allowing access.

Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, the State Dept. human rights report this year has many omissions, among them no mention of the DR’s anti-Haitian-descendants’ policy—that is, its policy of considering anyone whose antecedents came to the DR after 1929 to be a non-citizen—something, in fact, applied only to Haitian descendants. This year’s State Dept. Human Rights Report has many critics, including those of us with Amnesty International.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/20/state-department-human-rights-report-changes-540776

I graduated from high school in Bogotá, Colombia, many years ago and also have an adopted son born in Colombia, so have strong connections to Colombia. Colombia may have celebrated the signing of peace accords between the government and FARC rebels and paramilitary factions, but peace does not yet reign. Two defenders of the post-war rights of civilians caught in the crossfire and still suffering the effect of the civil war are now making a US tour and met with some of us at the Amnesty Int’l USA DC office: Ofelia Castillo of Tierra Patria in Cartagena and Sandra Bermúdez of Bogotá. Many rural Colombians and ethnic minorities have not been afforded justice or allowed to return to their ancestral lands.  

Here’s a statement related to their efforts from Amnesty International’s website: Amnesty International has denounced the lack of comprehensive protection of rights defenders and their families and urged the Colombian authorities to introduce measures to guarantee the protection of civilians and to dismantle paramilitary groups. Our campaign Unprotected Peace advocates for improved protection measures for communities at risk but it will highlight the alarming situation of Human Rights Defenders attacks in Colombia and the lack of effective protection mechanisms. In the context of Colombian presidential election, the campaign will promote dialogue about this issue in the electoral debate in Colombia and will help showcase the dire situation HRDs in Colombia now face. For more information on Amnesty International research and campaigns: 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38284

Nicaragua (again, a matter of my personal interest as I’ve been many times and was an election observer there in 1990)—at last count, 10 protesters were reported killed;

Amnesty International press released on attacks against peaceful protesters: https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2018/04/nicaragua-authorities-must-protect-the-peoples-right-to-protest/

Finally, with the invaluable help of my friend Dave, who has a car, in two roundtrips, we were able to take the four wheelchairs donated to me with missing footrests to the Salvation Army warehouse in Virginia. The Salvation Army has quite an organized system for drop-off and seems to have an army of volunteers and/or employees taking charge of donations. After I had been given those somewhat vintage wheelchairs, as mentioned previously, finding the right footrests for each proved too daunting and, instead, I just ended up ordering and taking a brand new wheelchair to Honduras last Feb. In Honduras, there would have been even less possibility of replacing the missing footrests, so as long as continue traveling to Honduras, I will take a new wheelchair. 

GONE!!




My two Bhutan (female) visitors had two (male) short-term visitors from their office whom felt I could not accommodate, having become less tolerant of confusion in my old age. I insisted they stay at a nearby Air B&B, though they did come over to eat at our house and gave me a jar of Bhutanese honey. 

The population of the whole country of Bhutan (a small, isolated traditional Buddhist kingdom) is the same as that of Washington, DC, so here you see a fairly good portion of the Bhutanese population right with me in my living room. 

Recently, had the good fortune to reunite with some old buddies from a travel story-telling group called Traveler’s Circle, including with our original organizer Mark, who drove all the way from Vermont. Here are a few Traveler’s Circle friends at our reunion just as the party was getting underway. 

Traveler's Circle reunion, 2018

I did file for an extension and paid my estimated taxes on time, planning as usual to finally file in October, as I do every year. My taxes, though not huge, are complicated, as I'm self-employed.

My daughter Stephanie is now doing biology research on Midway Island, of WWII fame, at the tail end of the Hawaiian chain. It has pretty much reverted to its natural state, so is a gold mine for biology research. It’s so far from Oahu that it took them 4 days to even get there (a thousand miles from Oahu, I believe) and she is incommunicado now on that island until mid-May.

Son Jonathan is slowly getting used to having lost his left index finger.

In my prayers, I ask “Deliver us from evil,” and you know what evil I’m referring to. Yet, despite the many challenges to human life here on earth and even in our own small corner of Washington, DC, I’m grateful that at my age (never mind how many years!) to still have such a full and rich personal life, still able to remain engaged and productive and fairly mobile while having no car and, more importantly, despite the many tragedies I have endured and the numerous ongoing challenges I now face. It’s also gratifying to have this forum as a sort of personal diary to document the salient events of my life and to share them with a few self-selected readers, including members of my own family. I learned a lesson from working for 16 years at the American Occupational Therapy Association, namely that everyone seeks their own subjectively defined “purposeful activity.” I’ve taken that lesson to heart.

Foreign Adoptions, Trump: How Long?, Orban, UAE Prisoner, Colombia

Intercountry adoption has just become too difficult now because initially well-intentioned child protection efforts have stifled it and made it excessively time-consuming and costly. Just getting an adoption agency certified to approve international adoptions under the so-called Hague Convention has provided adoption certifiers with a new lucrative business. A local adoption agency, Holy Child Support Services, on whose board I served for many years, has now closed its doors as a result. We gave up. This is one instance where I would agree that red tape and regulations have gone overboard to the detriment of those intended to be protected. The former head of that agency and I have been trying for more than 2 years to help a now-adult adoptee and her husband adopt an overseas child themselves, even one somewhat older and with possible medical problems. The wife herself was adopted from Vietnam years ago with medical problems due to an unknown attack during the war, so she is open to such an adoption. But she and her husband have not had success so far. She works in preschool education, so has lots of experience with children. There is no lack of kids in other countries needing parents; it's just that the costs and protections have put that option out of reach for many prospective parents. This is one area where well-meant measures have definitely gummed up the works.

While the attack against alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria may have been justified, it has also allowed Trump to turn public attention away from his usual misdeeds. By sticking to his prepared script in announcing the strike, he managed to seem almost presidential. However, he is hardly exonerated.

Without going into details, as they are far too many and well-known, not only is Donald Trump an ignoramus, trickster, atrocious speller, and a bully, he’s also mean and vindictive. He has shown no ability to learn or to reform, so the only solution is to remove him from office, the sooner, the better. No one can trust him and trust is the essential glue in all human relations. Pence seems to have mostly faded into the woodwork, not that he is someone to particularly admire, but he is more steady and predictable. The handlers who might have held Trump somewhat in check seem to have been swept aside. He’s no longer listening to them or sticking to the script—very scary. He’s feeling invulnerable, not listening to anyone, no brakes. Too bad about his equally misinformed and mean-spirited core supporters. When will they realize that Trump is no longer the bold outsider attacking the establishment—that he is the establishment? They’ve had their day in the sun, so now let the majority of Americans re-assert ourselves for the greater good of our country and the world. I do hope, despite big money and gerrymandering, that enough sane voters will come out in the mid-terms to overcome those formidable obstacles. We gave Trump his chance and he blew it. But we still have to work tirelessly against him and his Republican allies. We cannot assume that just because he is so stupid and misguided that he will automatically lose, as we did so complacently in 2016.

Certainly, having Trump in the US presidency has been interesting, a new surprise every single day. What will that crazy guy do or tweet about next? But it’s more than wishful thinking to predict that his days are numbered and that his reputation as our nation’s worst president will go down forever in history. Melania will soon be liberated. Just as his own support was a backlash against Obama, a giant backlash is now building up against Trump. James Comey’s book should help speed up the process, though, of course, diehard supporters will always stick by Trump.

The oscillation of the political pendulum brings correction from the extremes. Who could have predicted gay and even transgender rights? Even traditionist Costa Rica has elected a president favoring gay marriage. And what about the “me-too” movement that is upending gender norms? Socialized myself as a compliant female back in the day, I find me-too invigorating in my old age. And so, even the mighty NRA will eventually have to pull back. And Trump’s antics have been losing their shine, especially now as he ignores his handlers and creates economic and political chaos like a naughty child disobeying his parents. Nothing lasts forever. Trump has shaken things up, so now it’s time for rebuilding in a brand new way. Of course, any forward movement (progress?) will see its own fits and starts and experience a backlash against the backlash, but society and our political system will evolve clumsily and haltingly beyond the Trump era. It will be a relief to have left Trump behind.

Would-be candidates and websites trying to collect money and signatures to oppose Trump have metastasized. Early on, I signed onto and even reposted some appeals on Facebook. But now there are just too many and some of their aims are suspect, often seeming to be trying to drum up support and money in the name of opposing Trump when the connection to that aim is not so obvious. I do open and read some of these unsolicited messages, including even regular messages from a rightwing website, which, fortunately, is the only one I’m getting—must have clicked on something to give it my e-mail address. I could always send most of these appeals and commentaries to “spam,” but I like to skim the headlines.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has created a clever t-shirt beating the inscription “Can’t Build a Wall if Your Hands Are Too Small,” showing a diapered baby Trump playing with blocks.

Viktor Orban of Hungary was a big election winner, to the despair of my Hungarian student housemate, who voted at her embassy. He ran on an anti-immigrant platform, even though few immigrants are actually trying to live in Hungary. 

As for Facebook, like everything else (the internet in general, and virtually every imaginable item, idea, or activity), it carries both benefits and risks, but often we are so enamored of the benefits, we fail to guard against or even notice the risks. Now the day of reckoning has come for Facebook. 

A private Saudi women-only fashion show has been held, a first in that hermetic kingdom. However, private events for women are a regular part of life even among strict Muslims. I remember attending an Islamic wedding shower for women only on Kenya’s Lamu Island. Hundreds of women gathered under a tent, all flashing jewelry, body-hugging fashions, and elaborate hairdos. Nail polish, perfume, and lipstick were prominently in evidence. The women greeted each other warmly with hugs and kisses on the cheek. The bride, who sat up on a throne-like podium, opened each gift brought by the guests with much fanfare. Then each gift was passed around among the guests who oohed and awed over each item, especially the frilly underwear and sexy negligees. So much for the secret life of austere Muslim women.

Focusing on a less savory aspect of the Muslim world, at meeting of my local Amnesty International Group 211, we were joined by a visiting Amnesty member from Seattle, drawing our attention to the anniversary of the second imprisonment in the UAE of her personal friend, Ahmed Mansoor. Below is a photo of them together. 

This is from the AI USA website: One year ago, on 20 March 2017, prominent Emirati human rights defender and blogger Ahmed Mansoor, was arrested at his home. His whereabouts remain unverified despite a February mission by Irish lawyers to Abu Dhabi to find him. He remains without access to a lawyer. He is a prisoner of conscience.                                                                                                       

While I have mostly focused on the Caribbean through my 14-year volunteer position with Amnesty International USA, as well as on Honduras, my former Peace Corps country, I have not forgotten about Colombia, where I lived for two years with my family until age 16, when I went away to college. Thanks to my time there and attending a local private girls’ school (where I felt unduly restricted), I was able to master Spanish, which has served me well, both in the Peace Corps and my continuing work in Honduras and also as an on-call Spanish interpreter. My most important connection to Colombia is through my son Jonathan, who was born there and adopted at age one. The last time both Jon and I were back in Colombia was when he was 11 years old. At my urging, recently. when he was still living in Hawaii, he took a college course in Spanish, but only got a “B” because he really didn’t have much opportunity to speak Spanish there, though his accent is quite good when he does talk. That is a roundabout way to introduce two human rights activists from Colombia whom I met at a session held at the DC Amnesty International office. While Colombia may have celebrated the signing of peace accords between the government and FARC and para military factions, peace does not yet reign. Two defenders of the post-war rights of civilians caught in the crossfire and still suffering the effect of the war are making a US tour: Ofelia Castillo of Tierra Patria in Cartagena and Sandra Bermudez of Bogota. Many rural Colombians and ethnic minorities have not been afforded justice or allowed to return to their ancestral lands.

Amnesty International has denounced the lack of comprehensive protection of rights defenders and their families and urged the Colombian authorities to introduce measures to guarantee the protection of civilians and to dismantle paramilitary groups. Our campaign Unprotected Peace advocates for improved protection measures for communities at risk but it will highlight the alarming situation of Human Rights Defenders attacks in Colombia and the lack of effective protection mechanisms. In the context of Colombian presidential election, the campaign will promote dialogue about this issue in the electoral debate in Colombia and will help showcase the dire situation HRDs in Colombia now face. For more information on Amnesty International research and campaigns: ttps://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38284nsL https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38284

First Day of Spring? Bhutan Visitors, New Computer, March Against Gun Violence, Stephem Hawking, Easter Greetings

On March 21, the first day of spring, we had a surprise snow fall, bigger than any previously in the official winter season. Although the federal government was closed that day, the snow soon melted and there was the curious juxtaposition of my flowering tree with snow in the background.

The snow prevented my new visitors from Bhutan attending their first day of GAO classes. It has continued to be unseasonably cold for this time of year, but the cherry blossoms are still out. These two Bhutanese ladies are very polite and call me “Aunty” or “Aunty Barbara.” The population of their whole country is about 700,000, the same as DC, yet they both are here for a GAO government auditing course. The king of Bhutan must want to make sure the nation’s finances are kept correctly. 

I told them about an Amnesty case from Bhutan that our local group worked on back in 1982. To my surprise, they said that they and everyone else in their country still wears traditional dress whenever leaving home. Here is the excerpt from my Confessions book about our Bhutan Amnesty case, not necessarily considered by them to be a legitimate issue because the man was of Nepalese descent (thus, they are learning about different viewpoints on an issue).

One particularly memorable early prisoner was an ethnic Nepalese, born in Bhutan and living there his entire life. He was jailed because of his refusal to wear traditional Bhutanese dress and his insistence on speaking Nepalese, a forbidden language. We reached out to Bhutan’s king through a half-time personal appeal made by members of his favorite U.S. basketball team during a televised game. Whether the king actually saw the game and heard the appeal, we never knew. Still, our prisoner was released soon thereafter and quickly crossed over into Nepal, where he felt free to express himself as he saw fit.

Meanwhile, retired my old computer because it kept shutting down unexpectedly and I feared it might never revive again. All my data was transferred to the new one, but it’s taking me a while to figure everything out on the new computer that is a little too fancy for my taste or capacities.

I really wanted to join the march against gun violence, not only as a matter of principle, but because my son Jonathan, at age 11, was accidentally shot in the foot by another boy who dropped a parents’ bedside gun and it accidently fired. It could have killed him, but fortunately only hit the foot, an injury that still bothers him. However, too many tasks intervened preventing me from actually going on the march, including the arrival of my two visitors from Bhutan and having to get my rather complicated tax returns ready before the April 16 deadline. I was with the marchers in spirit and also recommend the following article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/opinions/gun-control-that-works/?utm_term=.42a070a174ec

Republicans, including Marco Rubio and Fox News, have been falling all over themselves trying to remain true-blue to the NRA and to discredit the massive gun control marches held all over the nation and the world, touting the sacred supremacy of the Second Amendment and calling the marchers as “disorganized” and “confused.” Some have even gone so far as to liken them to Nazis! The name-calling is really over the top and not tied to any reality, but lets gun supporters blow off steam and shows the NRA that some candidates are still loyal and deserving of their campaign donations. In fact, the marchers actually got well-organized worldwide in amazingly short order and were not the least bit confused. The gun lobby and its allies’ response is actually what has been disorganized and confused. What is so sacrosanct about the Second Amendment, which was deliberately manipulated by the gun lobby in our own lifetime? To be true to the Founders, is the so-called right of individual citizens to bear personal arms of any caliber actually superior to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” If the minority now in political power continues to be tone deaf to what the majority really wants, then let’s vote them out of office, no matter how big their advertising and campaign budgets or clever their gerrymandering. Switzerland has sports’ gun use, but among a small, homogeneous population, and does not allow citizens to carry weapons out in public. See also: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-guns-do-not-stop-more-crimes-evidence-shows/

Trump is already campaigning for re-election, heaven forbid! Do we all have to endure the next 3 years, plus even more of the same? Are the majority of Americans really so “low IQ,” to use one of Donald’s favorite epithets? Can we possibly get rid of the guy before the current term is up? Some of us now suffering daily are not that young anymore and may not live to see the day when Trump is gone, gone, gone. Rust-belt folks have had their day in the sun; now let the majority of Americans have our turn. Let’s hope we can undo some of the damage he and his cohorts have done. He has proven that he cannot learn or reform. It’s not worth commenting on every new outrage. And his base is slavishly loyal, no matter what he says or does. He’s right when he says he could murder someone on Fifth Ave. in NYC and his followers would still stick by him. That’s one time that he actually told the truth, but he lies so much, it’s hard to believe him when he does happen to tell the truth.

With a straight face, Trump has proclaimed April 2018 "National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month,” issuing a prepared statement that "Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability."

I’m not a big fan of Rep. Maxine Waters, a knee-jerk supporter of the Castros who has been unwilling to even listen to Afro-Cubans’ credible complaints against them and the regime, as mentioned in my Confessions book. But I suspect her IQ is a few notches higher than Trump’s own.

After I returned from Honduras, taking a brand new wheelchair, walker, and medical supplies to the new rehab center in El Triunfo, my first Peace Corps site, I was faced with the task of getting rid of four—yes four—older wheelchairs with missing footrests. Finding the right footrests for each among the many offered on line proved to be too daunting a task. I assume these darn wheelchairs were donated to begin with because they lacked footrests. Any suggestions? 

Here’s an item of concern to me both as a Spanish interpreter for many asylum applicants and also as volunteer Amnesty International USA Caribbean coordinator.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/advocates-sessions-decision-to-toss-rule-on-asylum-hearings-endangers-thousands/2018/03/07/24b63b24-2214-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_term=.875854e98419

As I become older and somewhat less physically agile over time, it is interesting to participate with therapists for children with developmental delays—some with autism, some with Down Syndrome, some with other challenges—and to see them achieve new milestones even as I and other older folks are on a reverse trajectory, trying to just maintain current function or slow down our inevitable decline.

I attended a meeting years ago, when working as a writer for an occupational therapy magazine, where Stephen Hawking spoke and answered questions via his speech synthesizer. Most questions were submitted before his appearance, as it would have taken him quite a while to type out answers on his computer-synthesizer. Considering that he had ALS, it’s pretty amazing that he survived to age 76, a really forward-thinking creative man. 

Happy Easter everybody!

Cuba’s Sonic Attacks, International Adoptions, Getting Lost, Amnesty Int’l Conference, Thwarted Triunfo Library Project, My Article on Honduran Presidential Elections, 2018 Honduras Trip Photos

Cuba's 'sonic attacks' may have been a side-effect of spying https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuba-apos-apos-sonic-attacks-203100769.html

Remember those 'sonic attacks' against the American and Canadian embassies last summer, making staff queasy and raising all kinds of questions as to what happened? There might be an answer. University of Michigan researchers have theorized that the incidents were really the result of ultrasonic signals from poorly functioning surveillance equipment. While individual ultrasonic signals can't harm people outside of extreme circumstances, multiple signals can clash with each other.

As the mother of an adopted son born in Colombia more than 40 years ago and also as a long-time adoption agency board member, I would say that there are now too many restrictions, costs, and requirements imposed on international adoptions, to the detriment of children and their would-be families. See http://www.businessinsider.com/why-international-adoptions-dropped-since-2005-2018-3

Just sounding off here about the challenges of having no cell phone and no car. So when assigned an interpretation in a strange neighborhood, I call a number for metro information and am given the detailed route. In 14 years, that system has never failed me. However, the other day, it did fail because although I had given the agent the right address in NE DC, it turned out she gave me directions to get to the same block of the same street in NW DC, an artifact of our unusual street numbering system and source of considerable confusion. (And I gave her the top rating after our call, a 5.} So, I got to the named street via 2 metros and a bus and considerable walking on a chill and windy day and found the right numbered block. Nowhere did the street name say NW. But the house number, for a client with a child with developmental delays, was nowhere to be found. I had a phone number for the therapist, but no phone. Then I spied a man with a cell phone, who agreed to make the call for me. It was then that I realized I was on the right street but in NW, not NE, and my address was some 26 blocks away. So I was not present for that family and not only missed getting paid, but my agency also missed payment, because they take about half of our hourly pay. Likewise, two blocks from my own home in SE, there is the identical address in NE, a source of much confusion.  

Donald Trump seems stuck in another era, trying to revive US manufacturing and coal and steel production, supporting white supremacy and gum culture, and closing borders to immigrants, not realizing that the economy and life in general have moved on. His shrinking core of faithful supporters wearing Make America Great Again caps share his nostalgia for a America that us no more and maybe never was.

Trump’s MAGA folks are also fueled by a sense of envy and resentment, of unfairness, that more educated people, minorities, foreign immigrants, maybe even women? and the coastal elites are doing better than they are, getting more of whatever is valued and Trump plays on those feelings, though unlike his hard core, he is a coastal elite himself and a very wealthy one and hardly an evangelical like so many of his followers.

If Melania should actually decide to divorce Donald Trump, she would probably get a better deal for herself and her son if she did it while Donald was still president. Trump’s supporters are predominantly male and they may actually vicariously enjoy his apparent ability to have affairs without consequences with buxom blond porn stars.

His boasts to the contrary, Trump has not proved himself to be a good negotiator, so someone needs to be at his side when he talks with Kim Jung Un.

Of course, money counts for a lot in politics and candidates do adopt positions advocated by their donors. But now with so many appeals for political donations, I would like to think that money is not everything and that most voters have some common sense and sense of decency and are not just empty vessels subject to the whims of political propaganda.

What about liability insurance for gun owners, in case their gun harms someone? People have car insurance to cover them if their car runs into another vehicle or person, even if they are not the one driving, and if the brake gives out while it’s parked on a hill and goes careening down into a person or property. What about insurance for gun owners in case their guns accidentally harm someone else or even themselves?  Is the tide turning on gun control, led by young high school students? It doesn’t seem right that we in the US, unlike citizens of other developed countries, have to be in fear for our lives.

The day after returning from Honduras, I attended Amnesty International USA’s annual conference held in the DC suburb of Rockville, MD. About 500 people attended. Highlights included celebration of the release from prison in Turkey of Amnesty’s director there, after she had spent 8 months. Turkey under RecepTayyip Erdogan has been moving continually in a dictatorial direction, hardly making the country a candidate for inclusion in the European Union. A prisoner of conscience whose case was highlighted is Leila de Lima, a legislator arrested last year for objecting to Duterte’s indiscriminate drug war killings in the Philippines.

A number of Amnesty members and visitors from other countries attended the conference, including my friend Gabriele Stein, head of AI Germany, who has helped out a lot on Cuba cases, including with a maimed Cuban attack victim and human rights activist now living in the US, Sirley Avila. One of our speakers, the UK’s Philip Alston, revealed that the US has probably the lowest percentage of registered voters and the lowest voter turnout of any developed country, also the highest rate of economic inequality in the developed world. 

 Above, Statue of Liberty welcoming refugees at Amnesty International annual conference in Rockville, MD, Feb. 2018, below refugee panel,

Above, members discuss resolutions at 2018 AI USA conference.

That same evening, I attended a very fancy retirement party for Chip Filson, a pioneer of the credit union movement. 

Here above is Chip,with a friend's hand on his shoulder, while below is a view from the top-floor hotel balcony. 

Just before I left for Honduras, I got some unwelcome news. A friend from childhood, who had visited me during Peace Corps, had won a financial settlement for injuries suffered in an accident at her assisted living compound. She had assured me that she had provided sufficiently in her will for me to be able to get our long-delayed library project for El Triunfo (the “Triumph” in the title of my Peace Corps book) underway. We had estimated that we would need about $10,000 on a one-time basis for furnishings and equipment for the library (2 computers, 2 window A/C units, a photocopier, bookshelves and furniture), with the building provided by the town and volunteer staff organized by Pedro Joaquin Reyes, who had attended a library training with me during Peace Corps and had been holding our book collection for years in cardboard boxes and old refrigerators. We were going to name the library after my friend. However, despite her verbal assurances to me in our frequent phone conversations (she lived in RI), after she died suddenly a few months ago, I was told that she had not actually included me or the library in her will. So I had to tell Pedro Joaquin in person, just now in Honduras in Feb., that we were back to zero on financing the library. However, if anyone reading this has any ideas of where to turn now, I will follow up on any reasonable lead. Does anyone have connections or contacts with any foundations supporting libraries in developing countries? When I was still in Peace Corps, would-be librarian Pedro Joaquin and I submitted a laboriously crafted funding application to an American donor with a foundation set up precisely for promoting rural Honduran libraries, but right after that, the donor switched his financial support to then-presidential candidate Manuel Zelaya, who subsequently was elected and who has continued to be a controversial political figure in Honduras. This donor later expressed public regret over supporting Zelaya, but then nothing was left over for libraries.

For my Honduras trip, I am posting photos with captions to take you all along on the journey. While in Honduras, I got a shocking message from my son Jon, saying that his left index finger, perhaps bitten by an insect or spider 3 months earlier, had been misdiagnosed at the hospital where he had gone for emergency care. They were sorry, but the finger would have to be amputated immediately, which it was.

That news threw a big monkey wrench into my mood during my trip, which was also hampered by continuing, but diminishing, demonstrations protesting the recent Honduran presidential election. 

Here is my article about the recent Honduran presidential election published on-line (in English) by Democracia Participativa  https://democraciaparticipativa.net/economia-society/columnistas-invitados/13621-post-election-impressions-from-honduras-a-house-divided.html

2018 TRIP PHOTOS Please bear with me in posting these photos, which is quite challenging. Photos are not shown necessarily in chronological order during trip and most are self-explanatory. Those who have my (Amazon) Honduras Peace Corps book (Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with the Peace Corps in Honduras) will be familiar with many people and places. Remember, if you feel like donating to lip/palate surgery, do so to Operation Smiles, not to Smile Train, as the latter does not perform actual surgeries. Fortunately, as expectant mothers become better nourished and take folic acid, the incidence of lip/plate problems at birth has diminished, though there is also a hereditary disposition in some families, such as family shown in my Honduras book with three children born with that anomaly.

Below, in Choluteca, in the south, the family of a Honduran doctor named "Loni" in my Honduras book, now living with her American husband and children in the US and working as a nurse practitioner. 

Here is Dona Reina and her daughter Solei, whose baby was born in the US when, with visas, they went on an extended visit there. They now sell pinatas, among other items, in their home store.

Below, Luis, my former colleague in La Esperanza's now closed Peace Corps office.

 Below, Mayan statue in Tegucigalpa airport.

Here I am below in El Triunfo (the "Triumph" of my Honduras book title) with my hired "rapitido" driver in 99 F weather.  

 

Below, girls playing with small gifts, including wearing plastic necklaces.

Triunfo scenes below, including of kids with "magic towels," tiny balls that open into small towels when soaked in water. Sweeping up and firewood below.

Left and below, El Triunfo health center  where I often worked during Peace Corps.

Above, new Triunfo rehab center with my donated walker and wheechair. 

Below Pedro Joaquin, designated future librarian, playing guitar and fixing an item out in his back yard 

Below, future library books kept in old freezer for safekeeping.

Above, house cracked in earthquake. 

 Above, retired postmistress Maria Elena with grandson holding magic towel. There is no longer mail delivery in El Triunfo. Residents must go to the nearest city post office, in Choluteca, to get their mail.

Above, store, below, typical cook stove in El Triunfo. 

Below, baby with donated native American blanket. Below that, baby crib with mosquito net. I always slept under a mosquito net when I was living in El Triunfo. 

Below, 2 kids at Teguc residential blind school and sign outside the school--photos are not permitted there for fear of people using them to collect money under false pretenses. The kids and staff remembered me from previous years. 

Below, sign outside residential school for the blind

It's hard to take photos on a long-distance bus because people are not eager to have their pictures taken. Youthful bus driver is maybe 
18? Honduras, relatively speaking, has a young population. While kids under 14 are not supposed to work, a bus water seller, about age 10; he gets off the bus at the next stop, then gets on a bus going in the opposite direction, often all day long until his 
bags of water have all been sold.

A girl, age 10 or 11, selling baked goods that her mother made.

In Tegucigalpa, my hosts, who none-the-less had a TV set constantly running, were parsimonious with light, using tiny light bulbs like this one. 

 A big mother-daughter project in Teguc was creating a dance costume for a school event, below.

Above, Operation Smile (Operacion Sonrisa) notice          My name button at the hospital, showing

outside hospital.                                                                   we have done 5,000 surgeries over the                                                                                                     years and never lost a patient.

Do you recognize me at right in hospital garb? 

Each operating room has two surgeries going at the same time. 

OK, folks, that's about it. As for Feb. 2019, as Hondurans would say, I will return, primero Dios, God willing.