Thought for Today: Massacre of the Innocents

08 Sunday Dec 2024

Posted by in Save Our Children

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Massacre of the Innocents, 1824 painting by Léon Cogniet (1794-1880)
Photo Credit: Wikiart

The continued bombing and starvation of the Innocents, in the land where Jesus the Messiah was born, echo across time and space from that very first Christmas in Bethlehem.

Joseph flees with Mary and Infant into Egypt. The massacre of the Innocents by King Herod.

A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.

Matthew 2: Verse 18, New American Standard Bible (NASB), Updated Edition 2020, by The Lockman Foundation.

The Writer’s Life: Changing Focus

24 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life

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Front Cover: Breaking Together: A Freedom-Loving Response to Collapse by Jem Bendell (UK, 2023)

This month, I will not be sharing “Chapter Seventeen: Set Adrift in Shark-infested Waters” from my work-in-progress. To tell the truth, I’ve not yet completed this chapter. Like Chapter Sixteen, this period of my life has been difficult to revisit. After leaving the convent, I lost purpose and direction in my life. I was set adrift. I floundered. I’m still working on forgiving that younger self for losing her way.

Fifteen months have passed since I read Breaking Together: A Freedom-Loving Response to Collapse by Jem Bendell, released in June 2023. His findings shook my world. Our climate and ecological crises are far more critical than we’ve been led to believe. We’re now living on a planet where every year is hotter than the year before. My work-in-progress, though important in calling attention to women’s issues, became meaningless in the face of the collapse of industrial consumer societies. I lost focus.

How could I share Bendell’s findings? No one wants to hear bad news. Yet, to look away means we will not be prepared when our world as we know it begins to fall apart around us. The recent victory of the minority elite ruling class, under their chosen authoritarian leader, will only serve to accelerate societal collapse. The picks for his cabinet speak volumes of their plans to execute The Heritage Foundation’s Mandate/Project 2025.

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“Waiting for Rain (Again)” – Poem by Jamaican Poet Tanya Shirley

17 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in Poetry, Women Issues

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Jamaican Poet Tanya Shirley
Photo Credit: Mel Cooke/Jamaica Gleaner

My Poetry Corner November 2024 features the poem “Waiting for Rain (Again)” from the second poetry collection The Merchant of Feathers by Jamaican poet Tanya Shirley, published by Peepal Tree Press (UK, 2014). The collection was longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. (All excerpts quoted are from this collection.)

Born in 1976 in the Caribbean Island nation of Jamaica, Tanya Shirley holds a BA (Honors) in English Literature from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. In 2000, she gained an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. For over fifteen years (2002-2018), she was an adjunct lecturer in English Literature at the University of the West Indies (Mona). She lives in Jamaica.

Who is the merchant of feathers? Why feathers? In the epigraph of her poem “The Merchant of Feathers III,” Shirley quotes Psalm 91, verse 4 (King James Bible) that speaks of God’s protection: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

But the merchant of feathers in Shirley’s poetry collection is not the Lord. As gleaned from the three poems bearing this title, it is the diversity of women from all walks of life who populate this collection. They are indomitable women who have learned to navigate the complexities of being female and have survived. As a woman, I can relate with their stories.

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Climate Crisis Update: “Perilous times on planet Earth”

10 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

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California Governor Gavin Newson (second from left) visits the Mountain Fire disaster area – Ventura County – Southern California – November 7, 2024
Photo Credit: Official Website of Governor Gavin Newsom

The news is not good. Here on Planet Earth, we live in perilous times. Such is the warning from fourteen climate experts from Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States in their article “The 2024 State of the Climate Report: Perilous times on planet Earth” published in the BioScience magazine on October 8, 2024.

“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster,” they warn. “This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis.”

Why the bleak prognosis? Of the 35 “planetary vital signs” they use to track the climate emergency, 25 are at record extremes. These include U.S. heat-related mortality, fossil fuel subsidies, coal and oil consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, per-capita meat production, global tree cover loss due to fires, ocean acidity and heat content change, glacier thickness change, and ice mass change in Antarctica and Greenland.

As demonstrated in “Table 1: Recent Climate Disasters from November 2023 to August 2024,” they emphasize the rapidly escalating climate-related impacts of our global failure to support a rapid and socially just fossil fuel phasedown. Not included in this list are the supercharged Hurricanes Helene and Milton that developed in the Gulf of Mexico in late September during publication of their report. Unforeseen, too, are the flash floods in Spain on October 29th triggered by an “extraordinary deluge” that dumped twenty months of rain in just eight hours. Sounds familiar?

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The Writer’s Life: Telling Our Stories About Harassment in the Workplace

27 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Women Issues, Working Life

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Photo Credit: New York City, Sexual Harassment Prevention

In Chapter Sixteen of my work in Progress, I share my experience of sexual harassment as a public high school teacher by a government official. It was a period of my life that I had buried deep in my subconscious until my best friend insisted that my second novel should be about my life in the convent. Sadly, she passed away before I had completed the final revision of The Twisted Circle: A Novel, dedicated in her memory.

Although I had extensively explored my final year in the convent for the novel, I struggled over several months to complete this chapter. I even considered leaving it out altogether. To share the real-life experience of a dark period comes with its own challenges. To have failed and be rejected had left a deep emotional wound. To expose and uproot the shame requires self-forgiveness.

As I also share in Chapter Sixteen, harassment in the workplace is not limited to the male sexual pervert or predator. We can also suffer harassment from the female boss or colleague who, for a variety of reasons, perceive us as a threat. Sister Albertus, a fictitious name, was my female co-worker and tormentor.

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FEMA: When a Natural Disaster Strikes Across State Lines

13 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, United States

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FEMA Search and Rescue Teams Respond to Hurricane Helene – September 26, 2024
Photo by Patrick Moore / US Department of Homeland Security Media Library

My heart goes out to all the folks whose lives have been upended by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. As the warming of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere continues unabated—due to humanity’s inability to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels—tropical storms have become supercharged and more destructive over a much wider area.

Such was the case recently when America’s southeastern states were hit by Hurricanes Helene (September 26-28) and Milton (October 9-10). It’s not just their wind speeds that make these storms deadly. Their size, speed, and capacity to hold more moisture can wreak havoc over more extensive areas. What’s more, their rapid intensification has alarmed our meteorologists. Within just two days, the unusually warm water of the Gulf of Mexico transformed Hurricane Helene from a relatively weak tropical storm into a historic Category 4 hurricane for this time of the year. Not to be outdone, Hurricane Milton took just over 48 hours to intensify from a tropical depression to a Category 5 Hurricane, according to NOAA Climate.gov. This is bad news. Millions of people in their projected path may not have sufficient time in which to evacuate to safety.

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Thought for Today: Proposal to Break Up and Commercialize NOAA

06 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, United States

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NOAA Satellite Image of Hurricane Helene moving into the Gulf of Mexico – September 25, 2024
Image credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA)

Break Up NOAA. The single biggest Department of Commerce agency outside of decennial census years is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and other components. NOAA garners $6.5 billion of the department’s $12 billion annual operational budget and accounts for more than half of the department’s personnel in non-decadal Census years (2021 figures).

NOAA consists of six main offices: The National Weather Service (NWS); The National Ocean Service (NOS); The Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS); The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); and The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and NOAA Corps.

Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful func­tions. It should be broken up and downsized. [Emphasis mine.]

[…]

Focus the NWS on Commercial Operations. Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather. Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private com­panies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.

The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.

Excerpt from “Chapter 21: Department of Commerce” by Thomas F. Gilman from Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project by The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC, USA, 2023 (pp. 674-675).

Thomas F. Gilman served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Trump Administration. Currently, he is a Director of ACLJ Action and Chairman of Torn­gat Metals. Gilman is the former CEO of Chrysler Financial and has had a 40-plus year career as a senior executive and entrepreneur in the global automotive industry, including roles at Chrysler Corporation, Cerberus Capital Management, Asbury Automotive Group, TD Auto Finance, and Automotive Capital Services. He holds a BS in finance from Villanova University.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is one of six agencies falling under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The agency’s mission is “to provide daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration, and the supporting of marine commerce. NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.”

The Writer’s Life: The Rise of Autocratic Rule

29 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life

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Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana (1964-1980)
First Executive President of Guyana (1980-1985)
Photo Credit: Forbes Burnham Foundation (Facebook)

In Chapter Fifteen of my work in progress, I speak about the rise of the autocratic government in Guyana in 1974. In my adopted country, we now face the possibility of re-electing a former President who promises to be a dictator only on Day One. He’s got lots of judicial protection in his favor. On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

Without push-back from Britain and the United States, Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham (1964-1980) consolidated his power through rigged general elections. For the American government, during the Cold War Era, the alternative leftist communist government was a definite no-no. Then, on December 14, 1974, as we the people prepared for the Christmas and year-end festivities, Comrade Leader Burnham declared his political party to be paramount above the State and all its institutions. That included the Courts and all pending cases against activists of the opposition parties. Burnham’s ruling political party and the State became interchangeable.

For those of us outside the corridors of power, our lives changed in unexpected ways. Churches that didn’t support the government’s agenda were viewed as enemies of the State. Any privileges the Catholic Church once held in the field of education were lost. Within three years following the declaration of the “paramountcy of the party,” my life was turned inside out.

Who knows what lies ahead for me and my sons should the framers of Mandate/Project 2025 have their way?

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Poem “Intolerance” by Brazilian Poet João Doederlein @akapoeta

22 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in Brazil, Poetry

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Brazilian Poet João Doederlein @akapoeta
Photo Credit: Poet’s Instagram Account

My Poetry Corner September 2024 features the poem “intolerance / intolerância” by Brazil’s young poet João Doederlein, writing under the pseudonym @akapoeta, from his bestselling debut poetry collection O Livro dos Ressignificados / The Book of Resignifications, published in 2017.

Born in 1996 in Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil, João began writing poetry at eleven years old. At fourteen, he started his first blog with his own texts. Then, two years later, he created an Instagram account where he began sharing his poems, together with his own illustrations.

While studying Advertising and Publicity at the University of Brasília (2015-2020), Doederlein created the Resignifications project in which he attributes new meanings to words. Based on the personal experiences of his generation, the poet, then nineteen years old, gave more weight to the objectivity of dictionaries with his poetic reinterpretations of nouns (n), adjectives (adj), and verbs (vt). In less than a year, his experiment spread across the internet, gaining thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram.

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California: Another Year of Excessive Summer Heat

15 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in United States

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Rosaliene’s Succulent Garden – Summer 2024 – Los Angeles – Southern California

This summer, June through August 2024, the average temperature for the contiguous American states was 73.8° F (23.2°C) – 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average – ranking as our nation’s fourth-hottest summer on record. So says NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. California – together with Arizona, Florida, Maine, and New Hampshire – “sizzled through their warmest summer on record.” Heatwaves are growing more frequent, more extreme, and longer lasting in the U.S. West and across the world as the climate crisis drives increasingly severe and dangerous weather conditions.

To end this summer with a bang, an excessive heatwave arrived on Thursday, September 5th, bringing a record-breaking temperature of 112°F (44.4°C) in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, September 6th, says the National Weather Service. With temperatures in the nineties in our neighborhood in West Los Angeles for five days straight, I was forced to stay indoors – no weekend gardening – until relief came on Tuesday, September 10th.

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