Chile's President Gabriel BoricTakes Office - Part Of A New Generation Of World Leaders

Zelensky's been the world's superhero lately, but I want to point out that there are other young new heads of state with a strong progressive agenda.  

Gabriel Boric became Chile's president on Friday.  Here's some video and below an English translation of his inaugural address.

Here's an Al Jazeera video that gives some background on the new president.

The video below shows him addressing the nation from the presidential palace in Santiago.

Here's a link to the speech in Spanish.  And below is a Google translation. [Google translate has improved enormously over the years, but still has some quirks.  It starts out in Spanish "S.E. el presidente ..." which Google translated as "I know the president . . ."  OK, 'se' means I know, but that makes no sense.  My consultant said it means "Su excelencia"  or "His excellency."  I'll let you make your own adjustments along the way.]

I KNOW. the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric Font, makes his first presidential message and greets the citizens present in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Chilean men and women, inhabitants of our country, people of Chile:

This afternoon, for the first time, I speak to you as President of the Republic, President of all of us who inhabit this country that we love so much and how much we love Chile, which has suffered so much and has given us so much joy.

Infinite thanks for giving me this honor to you, to those who are seeing us in their homes throughout our country. Also, to my unconditional family, to our Cabinet, our teams and, also, personally to Irina.

This Chile made of diverse peoples and nations, installed on a cornice of the continent between the imposing mountain ranges and its magical ocean, between the desert of life and the Antarctic ice, enriched and transformed by the work of its people.

It is this Chile that in just a handful of years, and you have lived through it, has had to go through earthquakes, catastrophes, crises, convulsions and a global pandemic and human rights violations that will never be repeated in our country. But in which we always, always dust ourselves off, dry our tears, rehearse a smile together, roll up our sleeves and continue, Chilean men and women, we always continue.

The emotion that I have felt today when crossing the Plaza de la Constitución and entering this Palacio de La Moneda is deep and I need, existentially, I need to share it with you. You are a leading part of this process, the people of Chile are leading in this process, we would not be here without your mobilizations.

And I want you to know that we did not come here just to fill positions and entertain each other, to generate unattainable distances, we came here to give ourselves body and soul to the commitment to make life better in our country.

I want to tell you, compatriots, that I have seen your faces touring our country, those of the elderly whose pension is not enough to live on because some decided to make pensions a business.

Those of those who get sick and their families do not have how to pay for the treatments. How many of you have spoken to us, we have looked into each other's eyes.

Those of the indebted students, those of the peasants without water due to drought and looting.

Those of the women who care for their children with ASD that I find in every place in Chile. To their bedridden relatives, to their defenseless babies.

Those of the families who are still looking for their disappeared detainees, which we will not stop looking for.

Those of the dissidences and gender diversities that have been discriminated against and excluded for so long.

Those of the artists who cannot live from their work because culture is not valued enough in our country.

Those of the social leaders who fight for the right to decent housing in the populations of Chile.

Those of the native peoples stripped of their land, but never, never of their history.

Those of the harassed middle class, those of the children of Sename, never again, never again, the faces of the most isolated areas of our country like Magallanes where I come from, those of those who live in forgotten poverty.

With you is our commitment.

Today we begin a period of great challenges, of immense responsibility, but we are not starting from scratch, we are not starting from scratch. Chile has a long history and today this day inserts us into that long history of our Republic.

Starting my mandate as Constitutional President of the Republic of Chile is to become part of a history that exceeds us all, but at the same time gives it shape, gives meaning and direction to our gaze.

Thousands of people passed through here before us who made possible the expansion of public education, the progressive recognition of the rights of women and dissidence in the country and at home, the democratization of the country, the recognition of social rights .

Here, in this place from where I speak to you today, Balmaceda and his Chilean dignity passed, Pedro Aguirre Cerda and his "to govern is to educate" quoting Valentín Letelier.

Eduardo Frei Montalva and the popular promotion, comrade Salvador Allende and the nationalization of Copper, Patricio Aylwin and the recovery of democracy, Michelle Bachelet opening unexplored paths with social protection also passed through here.

Here you can also hear the echoes of those who have anonymously risen up against oppression, defending human rights, demanding truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.

The feminist cry and its fight for equality resonates here.

And some will also remember the 1,800 hours running around La Moneda for education.

But these walls have also witnessed the horror of a past of violence and oppression that we have not forgotten and will not forget.*

This Palace, this Square, this city, this country have history and we also owe ourselves to that history. Today, on this important day in the difficult, difficult path of changes that the citizenry decided to start in unity, I repeat, important, in unity, the days come to my mind and my heart when, together with many of the Here present, and surely those who are seeing us in their homes too, we marched together for a worthy future.

Where were we going, compatriots? where were we going?

This Government is not going to be the end of that march, we are going to keep going and the road, without a doubt, is going to be long and difficult, but today the dreams of millions of people are here pushing us, giving us meaning to bring the changes that society demands.

Chileans and Chileans:

My dream is that when we finish our mandate, and I speak in the plural because this is not something individual, this is not about me, this is about the mandate that the people gave us to this collective project, when we finish this mandate we can look at our children, our sisters, our parents, our neighbors, our grandparents and we feel that there is a country that protects us, that welcomes us, that cares for us, that guarantees rights and fairly rewards the contribution and sacrifice that each one of you, of the inhabitants of our country, do for the development of our society.

I would like, compatriots and in the examples one always falls short, but I would like, compatriots, that the people of Puchuncaví and Coronel can look to the future and know that their children are not going to grow up surrounded by contamination, something so basic.

That the people, the workers of Lota are not going to continue living in poverty.

That the communities of algueras and artisanal fishermen of the province of Cardenal Caro will be able to continue developing their traditional activities.

Let the boys and girls of Alto Hospicio, up there, know that they too will be able to access decent housing.

May the neighbors of Antofagasta, Maipú, Hualpén feel calm when they return from their jobs and have time to live with their families. That is why we will promote, as we have promised, the 40 hours.

That the young people of Juan Fernández, that isolated, insular place, will be able to have a decent school to study.

We know, compatriots, that meeting our goals will not be easy, that we will face external and internal crises, that we will make mistakes and that we must correct those mistakes with humility, always listening to those who think differently and relying on the people of Chile.

I want to tell you that we are going to live in challenging and tremendously complex times. The pandemic continues its course, with a balance of pain and loss of life that will accompany us for a long time, surely all of you know someone who has left as a result of the pandemic.

Let's think, let's think for a second, for a second about who has gone and who has left us, let's think about the pain that each family has in their intimacy because of who has left and who will not return. We have to embrace each other as a society, love each other again, smile again, this beyond speeches and beyond what is written, how important, how different it is when in a town we love each other, we take care of each other, we do not distrust each other of the other, but we support each other. We ask our neighbor how he is, we support the worker next door, we love each other, we get ahead together. That is what we have to build, compatriots.

We also know that the economy continues to suffer and that the country needs to stand up, grow and fairly distribute the fruits of this growth, because when there is no distribution of wealth, when wealth is concentrated only in a few, the pay is very difficult. We need to redistribute the wealth produced by Chilean men and women, produced by those who inhabit our country.

We know that to all these difficulties is added, in addition, an international context marked by violence in many parts of the world and today also by war. And in this I want to be very clear, Chile, our country, will always promote respect for Human Rights, everywhere and regardless of the color of the government that violates them.

From Chile, in our Latin America, because we are deeply Latin American and enough of looking at our neighboring countries from a distance, we are deeply Latin American and greetings to our brother peoples, from here, from this continent we will make efforts so that the voice of the south becomes to listen firmly in a changing world.

There are so many challenges, the climate emergency, migration processes, economic globalization, the energy crisis, permanent violence against women and dissidence. We have to work together with our sister nations, as we discussed today with Presidents of other countries. Never again look at us in less, never

Dear inhabitants of our land:

I assume today with humility, aware of the difficulties the mandate that you have entrusted to me, I also do so with the conviction that only in the collective construction of a more dignified society can we found a better life for all. In Chile there is no one left, we build democracy together and the life we dream of can only be born from coexistence, dialogue, democracy, collaboration and not exclusion.

I know that in 4 more years the people of Chile will judge us by our works and not by our words and that, as an old poet used to say, when the adjective does not give life, it kills. Today it was necessary to talk, tomorrow all together to work.

As Salvador Allende predicted almost 50 years ago, we are again, compatriots, opening the great avenues through which free men, free men and women pass, to build a better society.

We continue. Long live Chile!

*Here's a link to a post I did in July 2019 from Santiago which includes a picture of the palace he spoke from with two women picketing outside.  This is the building that the Air Force bombed in Pinochet's coup and where Allende committed suicide rather than be captured and tortured and possibly betray others.  I'd note that Allende's wife attended Boric's inaugural.  

 Below is another analysis of this significant change in Chilean politics.   

Gabriel Boric gets to work remaking Chile

Oil, Ukraine, Flopping, And A Cameo Part For Sen.Dan Sullivan

 When you get a chance, tie up one of your oil fanatic Republican family members and/or friends and make them watch this.  It covers most of the relevant issues.  Trust me.  It's worth watching.

Thanks, George.

Snow Plow Day

While we were Outside, I read people's complaints about the roads, the lack of plowing, etc.  We only got back Monday night, so we haven't lived with it.  But there was a huge pile of snow in front of our house - if I'd have tried to park in front of the house in my normal spot, I would have been blocking the road.  

But today the snow plows showed up around 9am and worked our neighborhood til about 5pm.  Back and forth, widening the street, then clearing the snow.  Then widening more.  Scraping the ice until the pavement was showing.  I don't recall there ever being such a day where our neighborhood got this much attention.  

Here's he's making lots of noise as he's scraping down through the ice to the pavement below.

To the left there is still ice on the street.  To the right he's gone down to the asphalt

 

At this point they have cleared the berms on the sides of the streets several times.  Now they've gotten the snow that had been piled up on the sides of the street, including the huge pile in front of our place.  It's in a big berm in the middle of the street - maybe 5 or 6 feet high.

Here's a bit of video as this piece of equipment pulls up the snow berm and spits it into the waiting dump truck.

As I said, we missed much of the terrible road conditions.  I don't recall the snow removal teams spending this much time - the whole day - in our neighborhood and getting rid of so much snow and ice in a single day.  My thanks to the team that cleared the streets so well.  

Bainbridge Island Supports People Of Ukraine

Sunday I joined my daughter and about 100 other folks from the island in a short procession and quiet rally for the people of Ukraine.  It was organized by the Interfaith Council.  Some pictures. 

We're about to board a plane back to Anchorage.  Looking forward to a second spring, but it could be a while.  

Bike Ride To Rocky Beach

 Biked over to Manitou Beach today.  

Downtown Seattle in the distance

Here's that picture again, cropped.  All of a sudden, all the gulls in the area took flight.  

Click on image to enlarge

TJ Leaves; Rich Russian Penis Vocabulary; AIFF 2022 Calls For Film Submissions; Housing Shortage Though People Leaving; Helping Ukraine

There are so many things to talk about.  This post is just going to give you a glimpse of a few and you can check out the links yourself.  

Redistricting Board Changes

TJ Presley resigned as Deputy director of the Alaska Redistricting Board to become Bill Walker's campaign manager.  According to Executive Director Peter Torkelson, TJ gave several weeks notice and his resignation was effective February 16, 2022.  I'd note that TJ and Peter worked closely together and were responsible for the website and the Board's efforts to insure as much public input as possible to the Board.  Unfortunately, they were not responsible for whether the Board listened to the public's input, and as Judge Matthews noted in his decision, they clearly did not in the Eagle River pairings nor in the Skagway house districts.  

"Not To Be Penis-Like"... Explaining the Brilliance and Insanity of the Russian Language

This blog post by Russian-American Slava Malamud, begins with a comparison of English airport customs signs and the equivalent signs in Russian.

"When you arrive at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow (did you notice how Russian passengers applauded the pilot for landing the plane without killing anyone?) and survive the passport control by the openly hostile female junior lieutenant of the Border and Customs Service, you are immediately greeted by two signs. One of them says the following:

“TOVAROV, PODLEZHASHCHIKH OBYAZATEL’NOMU TAMOZHENNOMU DEKLARIROVANIYU, NYET.”

Can you say all of this ten times fast? Or, really, fuck it, just say it one time slow.

Luckily, there is the second sign. It is the accurate, literal English translation of the above. It says:

'NOTHING TO DECLARE.'”

While Malamud tells us that English is far more efficient than Russian, he also says:

 But, as already hinted above, one area in which English can never compare to us is in relaying emotions and nuances of feelings. This is a task that Russian, with its myriad of suffixes, its glut of diminutives, its gender sensitivity and its poetic verbosity is uniquely suited to, leaving the directness and punctuality of English at a loss.

Wanna see how this works?

So, let’s consider the phrase “Yob tvoyu mat, kak zhe khuyovo-to, blya!”, uttered by pretty much every Russian male upon waking up hung over. It’s seven words, plus an emphasis word “to” (pronounced “toh”), which carry almost zero relevant information, while expressing rich layers of emotion that English is not equipped to relay. 

This phrase contains three profanities, all of them of carnal nature (the only type of profanities that exist in Russian).

The link will take you into a world you never knew existed.  (Unless you're a native Russian speaker or close to it.)  

Anchorage International Film Festival

If you know film makers, encourage them to send their best work to our festival.

The day is FINALLY here! Calling all filmmakers and screenplay writers: you can now send your film/screenplay to Anchorage International Film Festival to be considered for the 2022 program! We can not wait to watch and read all the new, exciting works , and equally share the joy here displayed by one of the wonderful filmmakers attending the festival last year (and having a blast, it looks like), Pat McGee

Spread the word to any and all filmmakers you know, all the scr…

See more

Housing Shortage Along With Loss of Population

I'm sure there's a good explanation for this and if it weren't after 5pm on Friday, I'd make some phone calls to see if I could find it.  Today we had this story in the ADN:

Average home price tops $420K amid ‘scary’ low inventory

Bill Popp quoted:

"Just over 3,600 single-family homes sold last year, an increase from 2020, when sales topped 3,200 and were the highest in at least 12 years.

A key factor is the limited number of houses on the market, realtors say, as residential construction has slowed in recent years.

The industry built fewer homes than expected last year. Popp said residential construction fell 7% compared to 2020, amid rising costs and shortages of material and labor during the pandemic."

But in late January Mr. Popp was lamenting declining population in Anchorage.  

Anchorage’s declining population creates strains on local economy

 "Anchorage lost a total of 1,550 residents from April 2020 to July 2021, eliminating part of the adult working-age population in the city. Anchorage has been decreasing in population, Popp said, since 2016.

I can think of a number of explanations, but it would be nice if the reporter of this most recent story had asked Popup to explain the apparent contradiction.  If we have 1500 fewer people, why don't we have more available housing?  Is this about people wanting to move out of apartments into new houses?  Is it about investors buying up houses and using them as rental units or B&Bs, while they wait for their investments to gain in value?  There's a lot more to this story than just having Mr. Popp's limited explanation.  

Helping Ukraine

And if you feel helpless as you watch the destruction of Ukraine, there are ways to help.  It's always hazardous to send money to online 'charities' especially when there is an emergency and scammers pop up all over waiting to take advantage of your generosity.  But for left leaning folks, you might give these Obama Foundation Leader* recommendations a look.  But try to double check nevertheless. 

How You Can Help the People of Ukraine - From the Obama Foundation - a list of organizations that their fellows in the field recommend for donations.  With links.  Just do it.  If $10 is all you can give, remember 1000 people giving that is $10,000.  

*What's an Obama Foundation leader?

The Leaders program launched in Africa in 2018, expanded to Asia Pacific in 2019, and inaugurated a virtual program in Europe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Obama Foundation Leaders hail from a wide variety of nations and territories, work across public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and address a full range of social impact issues.

The Leaders program offers practical skill building for social change, leadership coaching, discussion of critical issues, and small group support.

Obama Leaders also participate in various virtual experiences and special events, including one-on-one conversations with experienced mentors in the Foundation’s global network.

Last Post Repaired - Now It's Just the Leash Laws

[ UpdateMarch 3,2022  11:30pm -Whoops. I meant to only put up the part about the leash law enforcement.  Not these other notes that weren't finished.  But I somehow copied them to here as well.  I'm going to edit them out of this one and put them up in the next post.  Sorry. ]

The top of the sign says, "Leash Laws Strictly Enforced."  I looked around,  There wasn't anyone in sight and I couldn't help but think:  "By whom?"  

I'm all for leash laws.  It made me think about how people ask/tell other people what to do.  I'm guessing this was written by a very rule oriented person.  The kind who is a stickler for all the rules to be followed.  They tell us about the rule with a threat.  

Now if there was an enforcement officer in this park most of the time, I could better accept the sign.  But when you put up threatening signs that don't have much in the way of teeth, it erodes people's obedience.  

In this situation, "Please keep your dog on a leash" would probably be more effective.  

So, are my instincts here correct?  Or is this just my opinion and not backed up with evidence?  I do ask myself these questions when I blog.  And so I tried to find someone who had studied this and had more concrete evidence. 

The National Canine Research Center does address the issue, sort of.

"Effective Policies clearly describe the standards of Responsible Pet Ownership practices expected by the community from all dog owners. They also outline behaviors that the community will not tolerate from dog owners.

Which Policies are Effective?

Laws that govern responsible pet ownership, including: licensing, vaccination, and leash / confinement laws are effective.

For example: Calgary, Alberta enacted a Responsible Pet Ownership By-law in 2006 that focused on community-wide support for basic responsible pet ownership behaviors, including humane care (providing proper diet, veterinary care, socialization and training), humane custody (licensing and permanent ID), and humane control (following leash laws and now allowing a pet to become a threat or a nuisance). Through defined goals, support, public education, and incentives, Calgary achieved an unparalleled level of compliance, as well as record lows in total reported dog bites through 2012."

Education and getting voluntary cooperation rather than threats of "strict enforcement" is the focus.

Dornbossigns thinks educational signs are better too. 

"While fines can certainly deter people from leaving dog poop behind, they might not always be the answer. As we’ve seen in Chicago, community involvement may be an even better solution as it calls on people’s sense of duty and responsibility to keep their areas safe and clean. Signs are an excellent way to communicate this message and serve as a gentle reminder to clean up after your pets."

They seem to prize humor over threats.  But this comes from a company that makes and sells signs, so it needs more research.  But if it's a successful company, it would try to sell the most effective signs, and these are in line what the National Canine Research Center recommends.  

 

People Who Want To Be Themselves VS People Who Are Hiding As "Normal"

This was not at all on my agenda for today.  But then I saw  this Guardian article:

". . . Kids like Seph bring into sharp focus what it means to be male, female or something else. There is still widespread belief that minors with gender dysphoria – the clinical term for the distress caused by a mismatch between a person’s sense of their gender and their birth-assigned sex – should not be encouraged to transition. At least eight states have proposed bills that would criminalize doctors who prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to trans adolescents.

On one side of the debate are people who think Seph’s gender dysphoria will fade by adulthood. On the other are the vast majority of mental health professionals who study gender dysphoria insisting that affirming a child in whatever way they express their gender is beneficial to their mental health. . . ."

Here's my proposal on this topic, a different way to think about those opposing transgender rights.  Well, it's not really that different from what lots of people have already said.  

On the one side we have transgender human beings.  People whose physical signs of gender are either ambiguous or are in conflict with their mental sense of themselves.  (And probably a number of other variations of a theme.)  Their desire to dress, walk, adorn themselves, and the activities they want to participate in, with the people they want to be with, all that and more, doesn't match society's norms of how they should do those things.  

On the other side we have 'normal' people who find transgender human beings wanting to be themselves, a horrible, terrible thing.  Why?  The constitution says nothing about how people should dress and act.  It does say people have the right to pursue happiness.  Why interfere with another's pursuit of happiness?

We do have limits on pursuit of happiness - mainly when those pursuits do harm to other people.  But what harm do transgender folks living their lives honestly do to others?

I'd offer two interrelated reasons:

1.  It violates their world view.  People may like to change their cars or their clothing, but they don't want to change their fundamental views of the world.  Changing cars still confirms driving.  Changing clothes still confirms wearing clothes.  But changing genders violates people's fundamental binary belief system - male/female, good/bad, black/white, true/false.  A bright student of mine who was also raised Fundamentalist, told the class that he opposed homosexuality because it was wrong in the eyes of his church.  When challenged by other classmates, he finally said:  "The word of God is infallible.  It's a whole package.  If it's wrong about homosexuals, then the whole package falls apart."  

If transgender people are allowed to be themselves openly and society is more accepting of them, then their own world view is challenged.  Worse, their children get to see challenges to that world view.  

2.  It violates their personal view. 

 Let me tell you about another student.  He looked good, dressed well, spoke well.  But his papers didn't work.  I don't remember exactly what was wrong, just that I marked them up a lot, pointing our lack of supporting details and that what he was saying didn't sound authentic.  Things like that.  

He made an appointment to see me.  He told me he'd had a difficult childhood - again, I don't remember the details.  But he said he carefully watched the 'successful' people and remade himself in their likeness - the way he dressed, the way he walked, the way he talked.  Everything.  Until he passed for 'normal' and 'successful.'  My comments on his paper were, he said, pulling all that apart, exposing the boy he was running away from.  And after talking to his therapist, he was dropping the class.  He wasn't ready to face that or to have someone else (me) see that.  I told him I was sorry, but that I trusted his and his therapist's judgment.  

I think there are a lot of people living like that in the world.  They are disguised as 'successful' people - that is people who look and act like society's norms would have us look and act.  We have so many people hidden behind facades.  

For some of them, maybe many, people who defy society's norms because they are too oppressive are threatening.  They threaten their world view and they challenge their personal view.  That was true of gay people.  It was true of women who wanted to be more than a housewife.  Of African-Americans who wanted to be treated the same way white people are treated.  

Some closeted gays have been outed for being more anti-guy than the norm.  People have said they did this to hide their own internal struggles with their sexuality.  

But people can be hiding from lots of sources poor self-images - abusive childhoods where they were never good enough for their parents.  Or they grew up in poverty whose tendrils still pull down their self image. Or they weren't thin enough, tall enough, pretty enough, smart enough, articulate enough, or 'enough' in any of the countless ways our society tells us we have to be.  

"According to the latest annual statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, nearly $16.7 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures in the U.S. in 2020. (From Baylor College of Medicine)"

A July 2019 Business Insider article reports 

"The beauty industry is growing faster than ever before. Today it's valued at an estimated $532 billion and counting," 

Another 2019 Business Insider article  says:

"The U.S. weight loss market is now worth a record $72 billion, but the number of dieters has fallen, due to the growth of the size acceptance and body positivity movement."

We could add the money spent at gyms and in therapy and any other kinds of businesses that make money off of people's poor self-image, businesses aimed at making people 'normal.'  

That's not to say there aren't legitimate reasons any of these activities.  But a certain percentage of people who pursue these things would just be better off in a society more tolerant of differences.

And for those who can't make themselves look successful, there's alcohol and drugs to dull or even to escape reality for a while.  

REMI reports that people in the US spent $253.8 Billion on alcohol in 2018. But it's important to remember that about one-third of adults don't drink at all, and many drink relatively little..  Others very moderately.  I'm having trouble finding numbers that divide total expenditures on alcohol among different types of drinkers.  But there is:

"In 2019, 25.8 percent of people ages 18 and older (29.7 percent of men in this age group and 22.2 percent of women in this age group4) reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month,4 and 6.3 percent (8.3 percent of men in this age group and 4.5 percent of women in this age group5) reported that they engaged in heavy alcohol use in the past month.5"

And then there's the amount paid for illegal drugs - about $146 billion in 2016.

Basically, there are lots of signs that Americans are not happy.  I would suggest that many, if not most, are living lives, in Thoreau's words, of quiet desperation*.  Seeking to survive not just the physical world, but the social and political world.  

I'd suggest that those most desperate to 'fit' are those who are most inclined to attack those who are true to themselves.  Honest, open people threaten them.  They also make them conscious of the fake lives they are living.  I can't prove this, but I throw it out as something to consider and study.  

We should all be striving for a society where all people have not only 'the right' to pursue happiness, but the actual opportunity to do so.  

And, of course, there are the scavengers of the GOP who are always looking for fears to exploit in the next election.  

After I did the first draft, we went to the Bainbridge Art Museum and I saw these two words juxtaposed in one of the exhibits and it seemed meant for this post.  

*Iddo Landau takes exception to the broadness of Thoreau's comment, but does acknowledge, too, a number of points I make in this post.