Baby It’s Been Hot, Lunar Landing, No Statehood, Socialism, Racism, Planned Parenthood

Apologies last time for words extending out of line; I tried to correct those flukes without success. Also, I don’t know what the last item on that last posting means. I did not put it there and was unable to eradicate it.

Yes, I have been sitting in front of fans with a wet wash cloth on my head as my central A/C is not working. I am used to 100 F temperatures in southern Honduras, but there it is dry hear and here in DC it’s 100 F and humid! Below is a headline from the Washington Post (July 16) showing that our recent heat wave here in DC was not just a figment of our imagination, it has been real and is still continuing. Earth just had its hottest June on record, on track for warmest July  

With the lunar landing anniversary in the news, I am taken back to that time, when as a young mother of 2 small kids who had just moved to my current home in Washington, DC. I looked out at the moon, hoping to see a dot signaling the lunar landing, but, of course, it was too small and too far away.

Sorry to hear that polls show that most Americans do not support statehood for DC, even though we have more population than Vermont and Wyoming. Why not?  Do they even understand the issue? Many friends in other states are surprised to learn that we are disenfranchised in DC.

Anything to make a dime, Trump campaign begins selling plastic straws, found to me harmful to sea turtles and other sea creatures, contending that “liberal” paper straws are no good.

Meanwhile, Trump operatives have come up with a clever strategy that he didn’t come up on his own, which involves moving federal agencies from DC to Midwest Trump strongholds

Just because Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro calls himself “socialist” is no reason for a socialist-leaning former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, now U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to give him a pass. And she did not. https://www.yahoo.com/news/united-nations-report-socialist-details-103013098.html

The “socialism” that Trump accuses Democratic lawmakers of fomenting is nothing like governance in Stalin’s USSR or in present-day Venezuela or Cuba, or even in China and Vietnam. Rather, it is more akin to that of Canada, France, and the UK, with national health services, and of the Nordic countries, with special provisions for parents, children, the disabled, and older people. Taxes there may be higher, but so are benefits, which are provided more equitably and economically than in our own country. The word socialism should not be used as a political boogeyman. Sen. Graham, who has become a lock-step Trump advocate has even equated socialism with communism. (Does Trump have some secret information about Graham that could harm his reelection chances?) Graham does deserve credit for calling out Trump for blatantly racist comments about several Democratic Congresswomen. Maybe he will have more influence on Trump by usually being such a slavish apologist? A president shouldn’t have to rely on “minders” to keep him in line, like some great big baby. Wash his mouth out with soap! And I like a new chant being taken up by Democrats, “Send him back!” (Presumably, send Trump back into retirement and to his residence in NYC, a city where he is mostly reviled.)

The worst if it is that most Republican voters support Trump, whatever he says or does, so Republican lawmakers don’t dare criticize him. It’s a cult that would drink the Kool-Aid if Trump ordered it. They want people like the 4 targeted Congresswomen to leave the country and they love it that the president gives license and voice to their most racist and base desires.  Trump is every-man or woman as president. Trump wants to make sure they turn out to vote for him.

Although there are too many Democratic wannabes, all of them are giving voice to important issues.  

I suspect that physician, Dr. Leana Wen, was removed as head of Planned Parenthood as she was trying to take a broader public health stance in which abortion was just one option among a range of services, including contraception, STD treatment and prevention, and cancer screenings, among others. The board may have wanted a more militant pro-abortion focus, emphasizing a “right” now under attack. I believe that the American public, while a slight majority supports abortion in the first trimester, is more nuanced in its beliefs and Wen’s tactic would have garnered more support for all the services of Planned Parenthood. But evidently the board preferred a more confrontational and focused approach.

The Graduate, Hurricane Barbara, Maui Fires, Trump Fails to Eliminate Peace Corps, Children & Families, King of Chaos, Latin America, Asia, South Sudan, Me-Too’s Evolution, Beating Trump

Bikram, my GAO fellow from Bhutan graduated from the program and now you might say I have an empty nest, which is fine for now. I enjoy knowing folks from all over the world and offering them temporary shelter, but it’s hard on the facilities and puts me in a constant mama/nagging mode. Again, to quote Greta Garbo, “I want to be alone!” 

Hurricane Barbara, my namesake, became the 1st major hurricane of 2019, to be followed by many more.

The Trump administration tried to scrap the Peace Corps in the next federal budget. But by a vote of 110 – 315, the House of Representatives soundly defeated Trump’s effort to eliminate all Peace Corps funding in the federal fiscal year that begins next October. 

Fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui threaten the native Silversword plant discovered and named by my biologist son-in-law, who works often on that island. My younger daughter, his wife, is also a biologist.  

As emotionally wrenching as that photo is of the young father and toddler daughter drowned in the Rio Grande (aptly called Río Bravo—Angry River—in Spanish), last Feb. when I was in Honduras, the rumor was that crossing the US border with a child meant you would be freed sooner to return to court later and would also have a better chance of obtaining asylum, one reason so many are now traveling with young children. Maybe the publicity around the death of the Salvadoran father and his child will discourage them now? Other migrant families have drowned without being photographed.

Because of longer life expectancy and lower birthrates in our country, our population is aging, so we do need much more immigration by younger people. The Trump should welcome more of the families with children arriving at the southern border. Increased immigration alone cannot make up the demographic shortfall, though it would help. Certainly, any mass deportation of undocumented residents would be devastating economically and socially. Even Mr. Trump’s enterprises rely on undocumented workers, who have appealed to him to protect them. 

The census citizenship question was designed to disadvantage states with lots of non-citizens, whether documented or otherwise.  But apparently Trump wasn’t willing to let the matter go. Though he did not win the day on including the question on the census, he can still use it as a rallying point for his anti-immigrant presidential reelection campaign. However, because he is so unpopular, so reviled in many areas of the country, his raids have less local cooperation than has been the case for other presidents, including Obama, who was given the dubious title of “deporter-in-chief.” Trump announced his raids in advance to make sure his loyal base knew he was getting tough on immigrants, while at the same time, arousing his many opponents, further dividing the nation. He makes no effort to expand his base or to bridge the political divide, quite the contrary.

With El Paso at the border-crossing’s epicenter, I am reminded of my childhood days in El Paso, when my Dad was a US Army officer at El Paso’s Fort Bliss, then was sent over to Europe during World War II. I remember attending kindergarten and first grade in local schools and singing daily, “The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live-long day; the eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away.” I really thought some giant unseen eyes were looking down on us. I recall movie theaters being divided into white and “colored” sections, or sometimes films being shown to each racial group on alternate days. We used to walk easily across the bridge to Juarez to shop or eat Mexican food on that side. It was a fun excursion to easily enter an alternative world where another language was spoken and to become immersed in different sights, scents, and music.

Leaked information indicates that Trump’s efforts to scrap the Iran deal and probably his push against Obamacare are fueled by his resentment of the greater popularity and obvious ability of his predecessor rather than by any concern for the good of our nation or the world. He is a petty, childish guy, deeply insecure, fueled by resentments based on real and imagined attacks on his feelings of self-worth.  

Chaos theory seeks to explain what is not obviously predictable. It deals with chance, surprise, randomness. Most of the time, when we go out walking in our neighborhood or get into a car, we get where we intend to go. Rarely, there is an accident and we don’t arrive. Some “accidents” or surprises are lucky ones, others, not so much. Often, these “chance” events have started with a small deviation from the norm, like the example from my last blog of a driver who suddenly switched from turning off a highway to veering back onto it and caused a 5-car pile-up behind when all slammed on their brakes, including the car my daughter was driving and I was riding in. Chaos theory cites the theoretical example of the butterfly that flaps its wings and starts a reaction that ends up as a hurricane elsewhere.

Donald Trump’s elevation to the US presidency is an example of chaos theory in action. Russian election interference, coupled with the skewed Electoral College system, along with big money donations to the Republican Party, allowed Trump to win the presidency even though he fell 3 million votes short. Since then, he has deliberately fostered more chaos and uncertainty by his impulsive and unpredictable actions, engaged in partly because he has no actual plans, but also to deliberately keep both allies and adversaries off-guard, allowing him to imagine that he alone is in control. He might be called the king of chaos, but the American people and other political leaders, as well as citizens and leaders of the world, are getting pretty tired of it all. There is enough that is unpredictable and uncontrollable in life without having Trump deliberately making it worse. His tactics end up achieving little or nothing because he acts alone, makes no plans, and brings no one else on board. Twitter is the perfect medium for him to express his unfiltered and impulsive thoughts. Any of the current Democratic hopefuls would be better than Trump, but will they screw up again by fighting among themselves and not being prepared against interference?

Trump highjacked July 4, making it a campaign rally and his own vanity project to try to appear presidential. The guy, after phony draft deferments, is tying himself to the military in a pathetic effort to bolster his own image and self-esteem. If he were an ordinary citizen, we would just feel sorry for him, but because of his authority and the slavish deference of Republican lawmakers and appointees, his whims are causing a lot of grief and damage, not only in the US, but worldwide.

Efforts to fly the Baby Trump blimp at July 4^th events ran into some obstacles. The blimp inflated with air was seen at ground level, but not allowed to be floating above the crowd. In a brilliant move to counter MAGA hats worn by Trump supporters, his opponents can carry around Baby Trump balloons.

I avoided July 4^th events, but because I live on Capitol Hill, I did hear the flyovers and fireworks. Apparently, Trump got mixed up giving his speech, forgetting that there were no airports back in revolutionary days. But that he did not even notice and correct his own gaffe again reveals his mental failings. Yes, Trump flubbed his big moment speaking from the Lincoln Memorial when he referred to the revolutionary forces securing the airports. Any normal person, after making such an error, would have joked about it and corrected himself immediately, but Trump didn't respond until the next day, saying that raindrops had fallen on his teleprompter. His staff must have endured a heart-stopping moment when he misspoke, but the fanatically loyal base and most Republican lawmakers acted like it didn't even happen. The most merciful out for Trump himself and for the nation would be an illness that prevents him from running for a second term.

The Trump/Kim handshake photo-op, something that may have popped into Trump's mind just at the last minute (leaving everybody scrambling to please him, as usual), was probably a good move after Trump had walked off from the last talks. Trump knows how to keep himself in the spotlight and remain the center of attention. Daughter Ivanka took advantage of the occasion to appear there too. Shaking hands is fine, but North Korea is not halting, much less ending its nuclear pram, its only source of strength. Kim must be delighted to be playing Trump so easily. Just give the guy a photo-op and continue whatever you were doing.

Here are a few news items f interest to me as volunteer Caribbean coordinator for Amnesty Int;l USA

Raped, widowed, homeless: Haiti's slum women abandoned to gangs

Amelie BARON, AFP, July 12https://www.yahoo.com/news/raped-widowed-homeless-haitis-slum-women-abandoned-gangs-015604374.html

Pompeo Highlights the Importance of Democracy in the Dominican Republic  https://www.yahoo.com/news/pompeo-highlights-importance-democracy-dominican-021801854.html

Global Voices advox*, July 5, 2019

Censorship

Is Cuba trying to outlaw independent media? A new decree will prohibit foreign web hosting

It is also illegal to host "news media" sites locally.

By Ellery Roberts Biddle

With 3G and Twitter, Cubans unafraid to complain

The spread of wireless service has given rise to a new class of netizens, who are organizing in a manner not seen since the Cuban revolution. And the government is responding, sometimes.

By Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, July 8. 2019

In my Amnesty volunteer role, I met at the AI USA office with Sirley Avila, a Cuban woman whom I have been assisting and about whom I wrote an on-line article,  www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-e-joe/a-revolution-with-promise_b_9801712.html

Chinese authorities must be anxious to prevent the idea of mass protests spreading from Hong Kong to the mainland, confronting them with a Tiananmen-type situation.

Family separations are not only happening at our own southern border but also among China’s western Muslim Uighurs in a system similar to the residential schools for indigenous children of decades past in the US and Canada, schools designed to teach the children English and assimilate them into the mainstream. I have had the good fortune through my volunteer work with Amnesty International to meet Uighur activists here in the US, where their plight is not well-known. https://www.youtube.com/user/bbcnews

Pregnant Women and Children Massacred in Papua New Guinea, Police Say NY Times, 7-10-2019

This headline caught my eye because, about 20 years ago, a visitor from Papua New Guinea stayed at my house. He told me that tribally based revenge killings were common in his country (at least at that time) and he hinted that he had engaged in helping carry some of them out. However, he assured me that my family and I were safe, as we were not members of a rival tribe. Such killings were initiated by men and usually focused only on  males of rival tribes, he said, but apparently men were not the only victims in the recent case reported by the Times. Apparently, revenge killings are still occurring there, though perhaps international attention will help them die out. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/world/asia/papua-new-guinea-massacre.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

American Samoa is a tiny island country in the south Pacific where apparently most inhabitants do not want full citizenship because of fear of an assault on their native customs and language. However, other regional islands, like Guam and Micronesia, are territories whose inhabitants are full American citizens, able to travel freely anywhere in the USA and to vote in national elections. What American Samoans may need to join them is a guarantee of some indigenous protections like those afforded to Native American tribes on the mainland, which could give them the best if both worlds.    

The fate of South Sudan has been of special interest to me ever since my mission there in 2006. So sorry that tribal rivalries have now replaced the unity that led to independence in 2011. An additional comment is that most people in South Sudan are close to being truly black, unlike so-called “black” folks here in the US, including members of my own family, who are more “blackish” than “black.” Here is lady I met in South Sudan. [Orange lady]

ht https://www.yahoo.com/news/south-sudans-machar-says-ready-talks-rival-kiir-094404551.htmltps://www.amnesty.ca/news/open-letter-urges-federal-government-investigat

Heard a radio documentary offering a rather nuanced take on the Me-Too movement, a situation where a college-age young man and a young woman seemed to have different views of whether their sexual encounter was consensual or not. The man thought it was; the woman said it was not. Some such situations are ambiguous and do not fit a pattern of outright rape involving force or threats of bodily harm, but, rather, involve steps toward intercourse that may be hard to turn off once underway. If alcohol is involved that’s a further complication, though it was not a factor in this case. Likewise, there was no prosecution or other penalty for the man, except for his apology and trying to try to make amends. Seduction and foreplay may involve persuasion, but when does that move over into unfair pressure?

Cultural differences also come into play. Muslim women cover their hair and don’t touch unrelated men. Male Buddhist monks in Thailand cannot even take something from or directly converse with women; I have communicated with them by writing notes that each party lays down to be picked up and read by the other. But in Latin America, men typically greet women with an embrace and kisses on both cheeks. Is that a Me-Too violation?

Of course, when I was young eons ago, the Me-too movement did not exist and women tried to avoid even getting into compromising situations. There was no on-line dating. Homosexuality was illegal. College women like me lived in all-female dorms with restricted access and curfews. Rape and even consensual sex by unmarried people were largely hidden and there was no easily available or effective birth control and certainly no legal abortion. Young women went to Mexico to get abortions and babies were given up for adoption in secret to couples like me and my late ex-husband, though I subsequentially had a biological child. We sometimes forget that mores were different then and that not all long-ago actions can be strictly judged by today’s standards. The same may be true regarding race relations and other matters and is certainly true of many cultural differences in the present day, though because of the internet and mass media, practices are moving more quickly toward greater universality. Unfortunately, because of his age and long life, Joe Biden is getting caught in this bind.

When men in this situation have been defended, particularly by women, critics who still hold them to today’s standards have coined a pejorative term for the attitude of such apologists “himpathy.”

Time to get into gear for 2020, become totally partisan, and prepare to vote a straight Democratic ticket. Right-minded, genuinely patriotic Americans must work together to make sure Trump doesn't get a second term, Each of us needs to talk about, contribute, and campaign for Democrats running not only for the presidency, but for the Senate, the House, and state offices, all down the line. We need to especially support Mitch McConnell’s Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, an outspoken former fighter pilot whom the senator is already trying to tarnish. He is such a sly, unprincipled guy, we need to throw the book at him, though he will probably survive ine ruby red state of Kentucky.

And though we don't always like voting for the lesser of evils or for candidates whose views we don't totally espouse, we currently have a binary system where usually there are only 2 viable candidates for each office. It would be better if we had a system whereby a voter could also indicate a second choice with lesser weight, as exists in a few places elsewhere, but we don’t have anything close to that here as yet. Too many voters last time failed to vote because they didn’t like something about Hillary Clinton, partly because of false narratives about her health or personality, or they just didn’t like her voice or her appearance in a pants’ suit. If Joe Biden should be the Democratic candidate this time, objections to his age, changing stances, attitude toward minorities and women, personality, etc. will arise. Too bad, folks, if Trump is his opponent, vote for Biden anyway and don’t sit out the vote just because you don’t particularly care for him. If the alternative is 4 more years of Trump, that is much, much worse, We do not live in the best possible of all worlds.    

It would be great to get rid of the Electoral College and Republican gerrymandering--issues to work on, but not achievable by the next election. Nor can we soon breech the bitter partisan divide to reach “common ground.” So we just have to soundly beat Trump and overcome his voters at the polls, despite their hurt feelings about being ignored by the “coastal elites.” Beat them soundly in the voting booth and let them lick their wounds and continue to wear their MAGA hats and look back nostalgically to the glory days when their hero Donald Trump was in office, but is there no more. Four more years of Trump and his gang is simply unthinkable. The world cannot tolerate it. Then we have to work to undo much of the damage that has been done. I hope to live long enough to see that happen. 

Democratic Debates, Carrot or Stick? Trump, the Great Decider, Migrant Bodies, Honduras, Venezuela, Granddaughter’s Visit, Peppers, Right to Life/to Choose (Again)

Because I don’t have TV (no patience to sit to watch it), I missed the Democratic presidential candidate debates, as I could not find them on radio. Perhaps it would have been too cumbersome to try to broadcast them on radio. Instead, I heard excerpts, including of Beto O’Rourke speaking accented, but intelligible Spanish. I’ve already said I would vote for any one of them, but maybe front-runner Joe Biden as a centrist has the best chance of appealing to disillusioned Trump supporters. I would love to see him with a female VP, if that can happen, and also to win in a landslide against Trump, despite the quirks of the Electoral College that cheated us so disastrously last time. This time voters cannot afford to be so quite picky, as some were about Hillary. For better or worse, it’s a binary contest, so never mind about 3^rd party choices this time. It’s either the Democrat or Trump.

President Obama offered more of a carrot than a stick to adversaries Iran and Cuba. Trump prefers threats and confrontation, inflicting economic pain and risking violence and war. There is no guaranteed method of influencing the actions of other nations and their leaders, who are simply other people, after all. Trump’s tactics are scary and have not proved successful so far, increasing not reducing tensions. If other leaders feel under attack, they will fight back and resist. Trump never gave Obama’s approach to making a deal a chance to increase mutual trust and reduce the likelihood of conflict with political adversaries, whether in other countries or here in the US.

The standoff with Iran is entirely of Trump’s making. He has goaded the Iran regime into resistance and self-defense. He came perilously close to starting a war there, perhaps pushed by his advisers, but reportedly pulling back at the last minute after perhaps realizing it would hurt his reelection chances, which it would. If it was an impulsive decision to go ahead and then equally impulsive to pull back, we dodged a bullet that time. Shooting down an unmanned drone, however costly the device, doesn’t merit all-out war. Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly lost interest in Venezuela, where the US could have some influence if it played its cards right, which is unlikely. 

Trump’s approach to trade is similarly heavy handed and mercurial. Don’t try talking first, just slap some tariffs on products from another country and then, as he likes to say, “Let’s see what happens.” The man has no imagination, no foresight, no ability to put himself in another person’s shoes. His taunts of other lawmakers are worthy of a third-grade playground bully, hence meaningless. When poll numbers from his own pollsters were leaked, showing him falling behind major Democratic presidential hopefuls, he fired the pollsters. Don’t give that guy any bad news! Of course, even if he falls far behind in the popular vote in 2020, we now know that may not be definitive. Depending on how Electoral College votes fall, he could still pull it off again. Can lightning strike twice in the same place?

If Trump loses reelection, which I fervently expect and hope he will, he and his supporters will certainly cry foul. Some of them have even expressed the wish that he might have a 3^rd term. Would the man even live that long? Will I survive that long? The fact that Trump is still in office now is certainly eroding my mental health. Or how about “President-for-Life” like former Haitian dictator Baby Doc? It’s hard to imagine why so many Republican lawmakers and fellow Americans continue to slavishly support the guy. Maybe it’s due to a cult-like psychology that drinks the Kool Aid even though it results in certain death. In traveling abroad, I’m pretty understanding and accepting of cultural differences and clashes, but seeing such a sharp divide within our own country and being part of it is proving very unnerving. 

As for the migrant crisis, it’s easy for Trump to try to demonize the so-called hordes of criminals trying to crash the border to invade our country. But, as always, an individual case is easier to understand and pulls more on the heart-strings. A little refugee boy’s body washed up in Greece caused more outrage than the sinking of a boatload of refugees. Likewise, there is less sympathy here for crowds waiting at the border gates and much more for the man and little girl whose bodies were found drowned on the shores of the Rio Grande. In both cases, the bodies being shown face-down seems to have increased their poignancy. A single human photographic example makes it easier for the viewer to identify with the victim than the sight of a crowd.

However, I must observe, based on my own recent conversations in Honduras, that the rumor there is that getting into the US is easier with a child in tow, one reason so many adult migrants are traveling with children. Push factors include lack of work, crop failures, and rampant crime in their own countries, while pull factors are the demand for workers in the US, especially in agriculture, hospitality, and construction which depend most on foreign workers (even Trump properties have relied on undocumented workers).  

It is noteworthy that Trump has been traveling abroad, both to the UK and now to Japan, without Melania in tow. Nor has she been visible here in the US. Perhaps she’s just fed up and awaiting her welcome release in 2020.

Meanwhile, Honduras protests: Military deployed after violence

       21 June 2019 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48712001       

Anger has been building in recent weeks over proposals to restructure the ministries of education and health. Opponents say that the changes are the first step towards the privatization of education and health services. Two people were killed recently.

On our Amnesty Int’l USA Facebook page for Latin America, a couple of guys posted there that Venezuelans are making up stories against the Maduro government just to gain asylum here and that the whole Venezuelan problem was made in Washington. I have helped some of those Venezuelan asylum applicants and assured them their stories were credible. I asked if the millions of Venezuelans fleeing to other South American countries have been merely trying to get asylum in the US? Really, some AI members are as boneheaded as Trump supporters, lots of conspiracy theories floating around, amplified by the internet.

Jared Kushner’s plan for the Palestinians (put together without their input) takes a page from communist China and Viet Nam, namely emphasizing economic development without parallel political development. Most people anywhere would accept that as a cup half full, as it allows them some freedom and agency in their daily life while giving them no role in choosing their leadership or governing laws. 

My granddaughter was up from Florida, visiting us and her 11-year-old son, who is staying here for the summer. She was also taking care of a local friend’s 8-month-old baby, a very precocious child, not only showing teeth in a broad smile, but who can stand and walk a few steps alone, pick up tiny snips of food to eat, and even bring a spoon to his mouth, in stark contrast to most children I’ve seen when working as an interpreter in home therapy. 

Riding with my daughter to go meet my granddaughter, we were involved in a fairly minor 5-car chain accident. The driver of a car ahead had apparently changed his/her mind about turning off, veering back onto the highway, then speeding off, causing 5 cars behind to slam on their brakes, crashing slightly into each other. The back of my daughter’s car was hit pretty hard and we were jolted, but not injured. The driver of the car ahead of us, who at first had been walking around, decided that a previous back injury had been aggravated and left in an ambulance. My daughter laments that her insurance will rise. The car that hit us from behind has the same insurance and faces the same fate. But the errant driver who had caused all this chaos had gone ahead scot-free.

While I am not fond of hot peppers myself, the potted plant grown from seeds by previous Bhutanese visitors, continues to bear fruit. I can only give them away. 

While many Catholics adhere to a seamless support of life from prenatal through natural death and in opposition to capital punishment, it is also true that some advocates for the unborn still support executions for those who have committed capital crimes. At the other end of the political spectrum, many vociferous opponents of capital punishment are equally adamant in supporting a woman’s “right to choose.” There is often little middle ground, at least among activists for both sides. Yet a growing number of people are voluntary vegetarians because they oppose killing animals for food. And a woman stomping on a turtle-egg nest was arrested, apparently for endangering unborn turtles. What does the “right to life” encompass? It seems to depend on the consensus of the tribe you consider that you belong to. I have no problem with voluntary euthanasia by someone with a terminal illness who is cognitively and emotionally sound. Where does that put me on the political spectrum if I am also not so supportive of 2nd trimester abortions? I do think the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters are where “pro-life” folks should put their efforts and where the Supreme Court might rule to further parse the broad and somewhat vague outlines afforded by Roe. But the subject of abortion has grown so contentious and partisan that it is not an issue the politicians on either side should be willing to tackle in any depth or nuance right now.  

Surprise Phone Call, D-Day, Local Events, Compassion Fatigue, July 4, Cuba Travel Ban, Sex Abuse in Baptists churches and elsewhere, Abortion/Miscarriage

A man who had been visiting me from Nigeria a couple of years ago called on Eid, quite a nice surprise I usually don’t answer unfamiliar numbers, but this time, glad I did.  

My late father, US Army Col. Leonard Currie, though born in Alberta, Canada, had become a US citizen and was in Normandy on D-Day.

         

     
                  My 11-year-old great-grandson De’Andre is 
                visiting the DC area 

                from Florida for the summer.  

My visitor from Bhutan and his colleague, who is staying with a friend nearby, participated in a Cultural Day at GAO, where they are taking a course. GAO fellows from various countries participated which showcased scenes, food, and artifacts from each home country. 

                         

Waiting in line at the Post Office, I talked with a young mother who looked Hispanic and admired her new baby girl. But like too many mothers in Honduras, her baby's hands were covered by mittens. I didn’t know such baby mittens were still being made and were available in the US, ostensibly used to keep newborns from scratching their faces. (It is sometimes hard to trim tiny fingernails.) I used to try to dissuade Honduran mothers from using them; they considered babies sucking on their fingers unsanitary and bad for their future teeth. Sucking fingers is normal and instinctive for babies! But I hesitated to offer advice there in PO as the poor child sucked on one of the mittens. 

Working recently as an interpreter at a DC public school that shall remain nameless, I saw a hall bulletin board featuring photos of prominent people, including the Obamas and Hillary Clinton, but not Donald J. Trump! At that same school, I learned that cursive writing is no longer taught. Why bother when communication is electronic and letters appear only in print? Some folks may remember, as I do, practicing writing each cursive letter, upper and lower case. And will our grandchildren be able to read letters, documents, and diaries that we and historical figures have written in cursive? Signatures are usually done in cursive, though many people now just scribble something unintelligible.

Previously on these pages, I questioned whether overwork was really responsible for the 2018 suicide, at age 65, of Amnesty International’s West Africa Researcher, Gaëtan Mootoo, as per his suicide note, prompting a large financial settlement for his family? I speculated that there may have been other factors, maybe health, relationship, or personal problems, since he could have simply resigned or retired, or insisted on getting more help. However, a Mexican lawyer involved in human rights work made a convincing case that compassion fatigue is real and can actually drive someone over the edge. Dealing with human problems and suffering day after day can become overwhelming and seriously depressing because of inability to make any major inroads. She considered the Mootoo suicide quite understandable in light of the pressures of human rights work and the settlement, fully justified.

There is a rather scathing article in The Economist (June 8, 2019), about AI’s toxic work environment.

https://www.economist.com/business/2019/06/06/charity-begins-at-work

I still think that staff suicides at AI are not fully attributable to the work culture, but am willing to acknowledge that the sheer pressure of human rights work and the constant exposure to human traumas and suffering could push a sensitive person over the edge. So now I must admit that the work could actually be a major factor in suicides, with that work being even more thankless for unpaid volunteers like me who get little acknowledgement.

I do appreciate The Economist’s frank discussion of compassion fatigue at AI, but must express my annoyance that an otherwise impeccable publication, insists on changing US book titles and formal institutional names to British spelling, as in the case in the reference in the AI article to a Harvard-published book, rendered as "The Fearless Organisation." I looked up that book on Amazon, and the title is shown with a z. I've even seen The Economist do that in letters-to-the-editor from the US. But American publications don't change the spelling of British book titles or institutions; we don’t write about the “Labor Party.” I wonder if each issue of the magazine is subjected to spell-check before it goes to print, which automatically converts American spellings? 

It looks like Mr. Trump is hell-bent on ruining the usual non-political, nationally unifying July 4^th celebration by changing its location and featuring himself as the main speaker, positioning himself at the Lincoln Memorial, perhaps hoping that Lincoln’s reputation will rub off on him. The optics may play well with Fox News and its viewers, but I predict that attendance will be smaller than normal and marred by demonstrations. The Trump Baby blimp is already being readied. I certainly do not plan to attend the fireworks this year. 

If Trump got 5% of the DC vote, that's an overestimate. He is totally reviled by DC citizens, so security for his July 4^th appearance, if goes ahead (plans have yet to be presented), will be a nightmare. Of course, Trump will say he got the biggest crowd ever to hear his speech, just like the crowd that attended his inauguration. He claims to be "your favorite president." When he loses in 2020 (we simply cannot have another fluke like 2016!), he can always say it's fraud, fake news, illegals voting, or whatever. "This too shall pass" does give some comfort, but is harder to invoke when our life horizon as seniors is somewhat limited. We'd like to survive long enough to see it actually happen! 

This is my reply to a friend favoring a Biden/Booker Democratic ticket: I'm not crazy about Biden. He was not helpful on our Amnesty Caribbean issues when he was veep and we’d asked him when he visited certain countries to put in a word--at least, he did not do so publicly and never got back to us. But I would certainly vote for him over Trump and he would probably have the best chance to appeal to moderate voters, so, yes, I’d vote for him, but would like him to have a female running mate. Booker is a very smart guy--if Biden gets the nomination and chooses him, that would fine. Of course, there are many like me who would vote for anyone over Trump, which is one reason so many people are running, hoping to be "the one." But Biden, for all his missteps, probably still has the best chance of both getting the nomination and winning the presidency, Electoral College or no. Several states are making sure all their Electoral College votes go the winning candidate--they have learned a lesson from 2016!

Trump’s travel ban affects Cubans trying to make it in the private sector and also is annoying to cruise ship passengers rerouted to other destinations: Cubans Pay for Trump’s Travel Ban, Wall St. Journal, June 7, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubans-pay-for-trumps-travel-ban-11559943888

Would-be American visitors to Cuba should complain to Trump and to the White House, not that Trump would care, except maybe if they say they won't vote for him in 2020. It's a mistake to cut off American visitors to Cuba, because now, after the death of Fidel and the reduction in Venezuelan oil shipments, ordinary citizens’ support for the government is shakier than ever. Being able to meet and serve even non-Spanish speaking tourists would help undermine the regime, especially if such services are offered by folks in the small, struggling private sector.

It has become apparent that sex abuse is not confined to the Catholic church, as Baptists are now grappling with the same issue. And so are sports, colleges, Hollywood, government at all levels, international bodies, other countries, in short, it seems it be a worldwide problem. Why is it so widespread, universal really? It’s due, I believe, to a combination of culture, testosterone effects, power dynamics, physical strength and force, and economics—exacerbated by sheer inertia, shame, and fear on the part of victims. Women sexual predators are much rarer, often teachers of young male students or another woman in a position of authority. Now the Me-Too movement is confronting sex abuse and we’ll see where that leads.                                                                                                                                                                        

As for the abortion debate, especially regarding early abortions, which admittedly are the majority, I think pro-life folks should largely give up the fight, since medication abortions cannot be controlled as a practical matter. Instead, they would do well to focus instead on second and third trimester abortions, where Roe was more equivocal and where public opinion might favor their arguments. I’ve already mentioned having seen children born after 25 and 26 weeks gestation who are functioning and personable, perhaps with some delays. A baby born after 23 weeks just went home, admittedly after much special treatment. I do think abortions in the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters should be quite limited and perhaps be called euthanasia if deemed necessary because of a serious fetal defect. They should not be performed then just because a woman had failed to notice she was pregnant and doesn’t want a child.  

It also must be acknowledged that there may be as many or more early miscarriages at the same stage of gestation as an early abortion, a loss certainly, but not regarded as such a terrible loss, especially if the woman gets pregnant again, although that will produce a new and completely different individual. (We are getting into philosophical weeds here.) Some women who have lost a pregnancy through either miscarriage or abortion, go on to have subsequent children who might not have been born if the earlier pregnancy had resulted in a birth. Each of us owes our existence to the unique and chance uniting of a particular sperm and ovum. It’s the same ovum (or sometimes ova) throughout a female cycle, but sperm comes in multiples and if a different sperm had united with the ovum, a different individual, maybe of the other gender, would have been produced, not me or thee. And feelings about miscarriage in early pregnancy do vary widely. A woman at a session of a bereavement support group I attended after my son had died lamented the death, by name, of her 4-month-old son. We all sympathized, as she was very outspoken about grieving the loss of her only child. Only later did I learn that her “son” was a 4-month fetus and she had had no other children. So, different strokes for different folks.