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Jackson, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

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Christmas display
Even in hardscrabble El Bajito. It actually does not surprise. Not everyone who lives here is a displaced fisher or farmer. And the Germanic touches to the celebration of the birth of a prophet long ago in the Levant? Remember that part the Spanish heritage is that much of Spain was conquered by the Teutonic Visigoths. Photo by Eric Jackson.

That time of the year in this corner of Latin American Christendom

by Eric Jackson

Panama is a Catholic country. Not universally, and it’s not compulsory, but it is mentioned in the constitution, next to where it says we have freedom of religion here, that we’re Catholic-majority.

In our history the indigenous people, most of whom traced roots to the Chibchan peoples of Central Colombia, were forcibly drafted into Catholicism by the Spanish conquistadores. How brutal was it? Depends on whom you ask. Among those original nations that never entirely assimilated, horror stories abound. From the Spanish side, varying shades of autocracy tended to censor the whole story.

Our independence from Spain? At a key moment the local Catholic Church saw the handwriting on the wall and went along with Panama splitting from Spain and rather immediately adhering to Bolívar’s Gran Colombia. But Bolívar and his partners in leading the revolution were freemason, men who disapproved of any official religion but trusted people who in some fashion believed in God more than those who did not.

Simón Bolívar died a hard death, infected by tuberculosis and disaffected by the course that his revolution had taken. “I have ploughed the sea!” he lamented on this deathbed. And indeed, Gran Colombia gradually broke apart and Colombia spent most of the 19th century rent by civil wars between Conservatives who wanted an officially Catholic country and Liberals who wanted secular government.

Panama took its exit from Colombia in a 1903 US-backed Conservative coup. The Liberals went along because like most other Panamanians they were sick of Colombia’s incessant warfare. Soon, under the leadership of Belisario Porras, the Liberals gained the upper and and the Conservative Party went extinct here, but they never got so hardcore as to ban Christmas. 

Did the Liberals take over the churches? Actually the Catholic Church maintained its own governance but the buildings became public property — that is, maintained at public expense but run by the priests. And with the US presence in the form of the Canal Zone, a commercial aspect to the main December Christian holiday was enhanced in Panamanian culture.

Neither here nor there, but the commercialization of the holidays also brought with it a social compulsion to consume, the inner-felt need to buy and give gifts. It’s a police problem not only in Panama, but the cops here not only publish annual warnings, the also have enhanced the guard around ATM ,machines and shopping centers.

Do be careful. Christmas is also high-crime season. But then, just as there are people looking out for drunk drivers and muggers, most of the people here are in rising spirits. Take care but enjoy. 

Cops a the ATMs
‘TIS THE SEASON — for cops to keep an eye on the ATM machines. Police photo.
 

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Editorials: Sticky fingers; and another US school massacre

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archive -- andti-corruption protest
It’s not like some new discovery for Panamanians.

Sticky fingers

The American Embassy has compiled the research, but based on results from a porous Panamanian judicial system. They find that some 63% of Panama’s public corruption cases between 2018 and 2024 have been about theft. Of those in which charges have been brought there has been an increasing tendency to find people guilty, and tens of millions of dollars worth of loot have been recovered.

But how much of the problem is found in those numbers? And what about the private sector, where embezzlement, fraud and all manner of employee theft are
significant issues?

Against that backdrop, and in a much longer historical context of peculation, graft and the laudering of its proceeds, there is a crisis in confidence. Seemingly nobody who stands to be asked to sacrifice something to resolve an actuarial problem with the Social Security Fund believes that the big winner won’t be some crook with the right connections. Other countries and international organizations look at our situation and impose sanctions to keep their dishonest citizens and companies from riding on a Panamanian gravy train of impunity.

Ousting Ricardo Martinellli from where he’s holed up, and pehaps the Nicaraguan diplomatic mission itself, would be an obvious step toward the rule of law that might instill some confidence. Renouncing membership in the Central American Parliament to eliminate that impunity dodge would do us much more benefit than harm.

We need a national cultural revival, but also some visible actions by the government instead of complaints about and retaliatory measures against “discriminatory sanctions.” It’s more important for us that people here come to believe that the sticky fingers don’t get to keep what they stole than what others think about us. What the neighbors say will follow.

gun control

Another school shooting in the USA

This time, in Madison, Wisconsin, was an anomaly. The shooter was a 15-year-old girl, even though these sorts of crimes are generally guy things.

The rest is so boringly familiar. Some of those who were shot survive. Will private insurance, or the public health care system, skip out on their treatment? Will they, or the witnesses who have been shocked into years on nightmares, be told to suck it up, that post-traumantic stress isn’t a “real” injury? Will gun nuts wonder, if only the teacher was carrying a machine gun? Will politicians who have prostituted themselves to the National Rifle Association offer their thoughts and prayers? How many Republicans in Congress are sending out Christmas cards of themselves and their spouses and kids displaying firearms in front of a Christmas tree?

The basic healing process begins on a negative note, a rejection of the gun culture and the false premises on which it is built.

Abba Eban
Abba Eban,photo from the National Libray of Israel.


History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

Abba Eban

 

Bear in mind…

 

Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

Erica Jong


Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.

Frank Zappa


The phone company handles 84 billion calls a year — everything from kings, queens, and presidents to the scum of the earth.

Lilly Tomlin

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First thing Monday Blog links and memes

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Captain
A police captain, kids and parents at the Buguba, Chiriqui Christmas parade.

People go on vacation, but the news marches on
La gente se va de vacaciones, pero las noticias siguen

Look at the sources on some of these links. If loyalties are to the Democratic Party, or to the US State Department, in some cases they are enemy propaganda. But dumb is the news and policy analyst who never looks at what the other side is saying.

Panama says it’s not obliged to accept migrants deported from the USA

Tulsi Gabbard as ‘heat shield’ for RFK Jr.?

Wikler talks his ‘strategy for every state’

Los ahorros navideños en Panamá alcanzaron un total histórico de B/.244 millones

Pabo instala extractora de palma apoyada en cuestionable consulta ciudadana

Mitt Romney: Dems miisread America’s mood

Murder by spreadsheet

Migrants crossing Darien heard of Trump’s victory — and picked up the pace

Trump businesses keep hiring foreign guest workers

Xi: China y EEUU‘ganan con la cooperación y pierden en la confrontación

RFK Jr.’s rough road to confirmation

Bernie: Biden should consider preemptive pardons

State Attorney Worrell triumphs in election but will DeSantis accept it?

El desfile de Navidad en la ciudad

Los desmanes de Lucy

El bullying no entra en receso

Israel closes Dublin embassy

China says Philippines has ‘provoked trouble’ in South China Sea with US backing

Petro sostendrá un encuentro con Sheinbaum

End of the Dubai dream for Europe’s drug lords?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fights for a promotion

Insights on Rudy Giuliani’s legal problems

Exdirectivo de consorcio para obra del Canal narra una larga historia

Tokyo tries 4-day work week to boost birth rate

Nicaragua invited Russia to build an alternative canal to Panama

 

anti-racist

 

banned books

 

fraud artist

 

delusion vendor

 

farm workers

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The economy — near where the editor lives

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Informal economy
The government and the banks usually don’t count Panama’s informal economy, but when anybody credible does so, it has about half of the national work force living on it. Selling sweet and cold stuff to those who pass by, a yuka patch, some banana stems and a few fruit trees in the yard, an occasional gig on the side — as much as some self-appointed “better people” may want to turn up their noses. those folks are outnumbered by those who live off of the informal economy.

Looking around at the local economy

by Eric Jackson, looking at his part of Panama

This morning’s (Sunday the 15th) edition of La Prensa led with a monumental story about big business and the government (we’ll get around to that in a bit) about three multi-billion-dollar arbitration cases brought by multinational mining companies whose operations or plans were shut down here by last year’s public outcry, a high court decision and legislation to ban open-pit mining for metals in this country. In her Sunday “Knockout” interview Flor Mizrachi talks with businessman, blogger and economist Felipe Argote about the evolving process and contents of efforts to reform the Panamanian social security system. It was worth buying a hard copy to get past the pay walls on those articles, but those were bigger and protracted over time looks. Here the editor, breaking in a new camera, glances around at the here and now in Anton municipal district, taking in hints of a more local economy that’s surely something of a microcosm of the larger national one.

New construction
Yes, there is new construction ongoing, as in these business premises going up by the Pan-American Highway in Anton. But new premises for an existing business, a business new to the area, a store looking for a buyer to start a business? Part of Panama’s overall economic malaise is unsold inventory, in real estate as well as in other things.

 

the roads
The roads are a mess. This part of the highway, going into Penonome from Anton, is crumbling and being repaired, causing monumental traffic jams. Also, however, giving some people and companies gainful employment. Does this reporter want to start pointing fingers and get into litigation about it? Safe to say that the previous government put off a lot of maintenance, AND that for a very long time there has been pilferage of materials and money from the nation’s public works budgets. The road between the country’s main drag and the barrio where the editor lives is a potholed mess, even though it was redone near the end of the Varela administration. Was the Varela era repair done properly, or just as best could be done on a poor foundation? The editor is not a forensic engineer, but has been around long enough to know some of the games that get played here.

 

ad space
One quick way to learn something about the economy at a glance, or several glances, is to see who is tryin gto sell what to whom. The ad space above this pedestrian walk over the highway in Anton is still vacant, as it usually has been since the depths of the COVID epidemic. But also read the newspapers, not just for the stories but to see the advertising or lack thereof. Is the editor one to on that basis call one or more of Panama’s dailies endangered? Let that one play out — some owners have deep pockets for the hard times. But it’s a terrible advertising market in Panama these days.

 

hope
UDELAS, the specialized university that General Torrijos’s sister founded long ago, has just cut the ribbon on a project in the editor’s neighborhood, turning the abandoned old corregiduria into a holistic human services center, so they say. The problem is that there is this ongoing battle about who runs the university, which is playing out in the courts and meanwhile the faction holding onto power has massively fired the faculty and staff who oppose them. It’s a good idea and might actually come to fruition, no matter who wins. Hope springs eternal.
i 

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Mid-December blog links and memes

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dogs
Get to work and they take over….

I am now on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/ericjackson-editor.bsky.social. The same runaround prevents me from logging into Facebook, but international press reports suggest a systemic problem that affects millions of users. Shall see — candor is a rare commodity in today’s corporate world. Christmas and Hanukah are coming, and for all of you pagan Sun worshippers the Solstice. I have been through much leaner holiday seasons but I’m OK. The Panamanian economy is weak and I am getting by in it. 

 

concerts

 

Coffee price surges to highest on record

Panama reopens probe into priest’s 1971 forced disappearance

Investigaciones tras el asesinato de un hombre en el Hospital Santo Tomás

Transición de la temporada lluviosa a la seca: cielos nublados y lluvias intermitentes

Milei, Musk and Maga: Is Argentina influencing the USA?

Kamala pollster: Democrats need to change approach for Trump’s second term

Trump picks Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes to head intelligence advisory board

Mia Farrow hits RFK Jr. with ‘terrifying’ memory of polio experience

The Assad regime’s fondness for speed

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi undergoes hip replacement surgery

Investigación de concesión del Panama Canal Railway

Destituye al presidente surcoreano por haber declarado la ley marcial

Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter wins Heisman Trophy

Gimnastas panameñas conquistan el podio en Centroamérica y Sudamérica

 

high prices

 

 

is that all?

 

fascist lies

 

 

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¿Wappin? Blue sky on a December morning / Cielo azul en una mañana de diciembre

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John Lennon
The NRA doesn’t note his passing. It doesn’t help gun sales. John Lennon photo by St. Boniface’s Cathollic College, Plymouth. / La NRA no toma nota de su muerte, lo que no ayuda a las ventas de armas. Foto de John Lennon del St. Boniface’s Catholic College, Plymouth.

Don’t procrastinate now
Ya no lo pospongas

Brother JC Crawford Intro
https://youtu.be/xOD9e7I6bHs?si=CzKQxVZCcFmyGqyE

Rubén Blades – Desapariciones
https://youtu.be/SnPF6_7C_OE?si=hPJc1KRs_FkwuaLh

Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Today
https://youtu.be/vIbsweglLjg?si=jmFJ6QOl3GuDZZFE

Julieta Venegas – Andar Conmigo
https://youtu.be/wtpTCWF2fjk?si=_gYlyQ-uni6Eq2An

Lord Cobra – Crook Salesman
https://youtu.be/kEmeSBAtIuw?si=Oh7g_G4w_Y-s68Dm

Natalia Lafourcade – La Llorona
https://youtu.be/t5h1thWbVTc?si=CnQENstF124K3ldi

Mark Knopfler – Brothers In Arms
https://youtu.be/Z3_HTGdLXL4?si=RlMhPmXD5nCDv_WV

Neil Diamond & Natalie Maines – Another Day (That Time Forgot)
https://youtu.be/amNwTJth1MY?si=wBELl2XcvaPpNmAp

Mon Laferte – Tu Falta De Querer
https://youtu.be/5R1RGl4WQP8?si=C-dt4OKvp7Ww8qab

Roger Waters – Two Suns In The Sunset
https://youtu.be/P_m2CZU9vdk?si=IGr7aGkXhhxfZfnS

Graham Nash, Judy Collins & Art Garfunkel – Imagine
https://youtu.be/kZ_s-Tf-EjY?si=zqiL8K2V9fXN__Zd

Rómulo Castro y Grupo Tuira – La Rosa De Los
https://youtu.be/QUoV65mVgss?si=Ly-lXfpFeiWsrs0R

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Ben-Meir, Syria’s possible future

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HTS rebels sweep to power in Syra. The fall of the Assad regime is an historic watershed event that will have significant regional and international ramifications. The questions are whether the rebels fulfill their promise to be inclusive and lift the Syrian people out of their misery, and what can the United States and Israel might do to help shape the trajectory of the new regime.

Assad’s fall: rebel prospects for success

by Alon  Ben-Meir

It is hard to exaggerate the jubilation of the Syrian people when they heard the news about the fall of Bashar al-Assad, which ended a 52-year-old ‘dynasty’ that will be remembered as the darkest chapter of the country’s existence. How long the public’s jubilation will last, and whether normalcy will be restored to a shattered country, will depend on whether the new government fulfills its promise to be inclusive, focusing on rebuilding the country and seeking peace and reconciliation, or simply replaces one ruthless dictatorship with a new one.

Perhaps it is premature to determine whether or not the rebels will keep their word with respect to their promises to be inclusive and treat every citizen, regardless of their ethnicity, equally before the law. However, there are important and positive signs that the new leaders are likely to follow what they have been saying to demonstrate that they are committed to establishing responsible and legitimate governance.

To that end, they called for national unity and a peaceful transfer of power. The rebels’ leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, met with the outgoing prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali to discuss the transition of power to demonstrate his desire to work with experienced officials to ensure a smoother power transfer and temporarily supervise the bureaucracy. Hadi al-Bahra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, outlined plans for an 18-month transitional period and extended his hand to help draft a new constitution and hold elections as desired by the rebel leaders.

To show the rebels’ leaders’ commitment to justice, they swore to hold accountable many army officers who were involved in torture and commit themselves to establishing “a state of freedom, equality, rule of law and democracy,” as Syria’s UN ambassador Koussay Aldahhak stated. They instructed their followers to preserve the state’s institutions, restore essential services, and reopen banks to ensure economic stability. They further directed their rank and file to prevent the desecration of shrines and cultural centers of many ethnic groups, including the pro-Assad Alawites, making them feel reassured and optimistic that they would not be excluded from joining the political transitional process.

Given the reign of horror that was inflicted on the Syrian people, the new leaders appear to be committed to a new beginning that the public is yearning for, not simply replacing the ruthless Assad dictatorship with a new one. They want to write a new chapter that would end the public’s pain, suffering, and despair, especially over the past 14 years since the outbreak of the Arab Spring, and bring hope for a better and promising future. On the whole, it appears as though a new era has dawned on Syria.

The above positive signs, however, are not free from the many challenges in regime change, which include integrating the armed groups into a unified structure and preserving all state institutions, as well as laborious negotiations between the numerous opposition groups with different ideologies and loyalties. There are also concerns that hasty changes might invite other militant groups to emerge and plunge the country once again into a civil war and destroy what was left under Assad.

Finally, the more troubling concern is about the Islamic roots of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the question is raised as to whether or not its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, formerly affiliated with al-Qaida, would revert to extremism. To alleviate these concerns, he clarified that his severing of ties to al-Qaeda goes back several years and pledged to pursue pluralism, ethnic equality, and religious tolerance.

What transpires domestically will affect foreign powers, especially Turkey, Iran, and Russia, which have vested geostrategic interests in Syria. How the rebel leaders navigate between these rival powers will have significant repercussions for Syria and its place in an unstable region ladened with conflicts and competition for greater sway with the new leaders in Damascus. Setting this aside, for now, the most urgent matter is for the USA and Israel, in particular, to take several actions to encourage the new Syrian leadership to pursue what they have publicly promised and maintain the initial social, economic, and political steps they have taken.

The US should first remove HTS from the terrorist list to send a clear message that the US is willing to demonstrate its initial trust that the new leadership will indeed follow what they have promised. Since legitimacy is critical to the new leadership, the US should offer diplomatic recognition, conditional upon the rebels’ commitment to democracy and the rule of law.

In addition, the USA should engage in back-channel diplomacy to discuss regional security and offer cooperation. The United States could provide economic assistance by first removing the sanctions that date back to 2012, assisting in the efforts to recover funds stolen by Assad himself and his government, and supporting reconstruction efforts, which can significantly help improve living conditions and stabilize the country. Finally, the United States could offer technical know-how and training for civil society organizations and help promote independent media and democratic institutions.

By taking these and other measures, the United States can demonstrate its commitment to supporting the Syrian peoples’ aspiration for democracy and the prospect of growth and prosperity while addressing US concerns over regional stability.

To prevent any potential conflagration with the new Syrian government, Israel has established three red lines for the rebels, daring them not to cross. These include: 1) not letting chemical weapons fall into the hands of Jihadist rebels; 2) preventing Iran from deploying Iranian troops to rebuild any military installations on Syrian territory; and 3) no hostile forces deployed near the Israeli border. Israel has already taken several precautionary measures to prevent any misunderstanding, which include temporarily seizing control of a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, bombing suspected chemical weapons sites, and implementing a curfew in several villages within the buffer zone.

Having conveyed that those are preventive measures, Israel can take several steps to encourage peaceful relationships with the new government while mitigating the rebels’ traditional hostilities toward Israel. To begin with, Israel should establish a line of communication with the rebels and extend humanitarian aid to develop goodwill. In addition, Israel can offer economic incentives and demonstrate its interest in addressing Syria’s security concerns. By combining diplomatic outreach, strategic security measures, and financial incentives, Israel can develop a stable relationship with the new Syrian government while maintaining its security.

There are and will be several other critical issues that separate Israel and the rebels; chief among them is the future of the Golan Heights. However, whether or not the new government accepts Israel’s gestures, by taking these measures, Israel can create a positive atmosphere that can facilitate constructive negotiations about any conflicting issue in the future.

The stunning victory of the Syrian rebels opens up new possibilities for a more peaceful Middle East, or it can set the stage for even more intense violence, death, and destruction. The new Syrian authority must decide which way they choose to go. One thing, however, is certain. Although other powers, especially Turkey, Russia, and Iran, have a unique interest in Syria’s future, what the United States and Israel do will have the greatest impact on the path the new regime in Damascus will choose to travel.

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proposed by the Panamanian ambassador, drafted by a committee led by the US ambassador, passed on December 10, 1948

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US Ambassador Eleanor Roosevelt

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles).

Preamble

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly,

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

 

Contact us by email at / Contáctanos por correo electrónico a thepanamanews@gmail.com

To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.

Para defendernos de los piratas informáticos, los trolls organizados y otros actos de vandalismo en línea, la función de comentarios de nuestro sitio web está desactivada. En cambio, ven a nuestra página de Facebook para unirte a la discusión.
 

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The Panama News blog links and memes. December 10, 2024

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New St}yria
See here for the story.

Another blog post while our access to Facebook is limited

 

Dry season in Panama? Not yet.

Bajó el precio de guandú

Posición de los partidos ante las reformas

Arctic shipping set new records this year

Panamá firma los protocolos para convertirse en Estado asociado del Mercosur

Taylor Swift spreads the proceeds of her tour among staff

Lula stable after brain surgery

Haiti gang kills 110 people accused of witchcraft

Bernal, Educando para la capacidad de discernir

Chittister, Which star do you follow?

Tulsi Gabbard scrambles to save spy job as another Trump pick hits trouble

Caricatura, Víctor Ramos

Temblor, Motivaciones y lecciones de la elección de Donald Trump

In the wake of Assad’s fall Israel attacks Syria

In the wake of Assad’s fall the United States attacks Syria

Judge questions release of pro-Russian Capitol riot defendant

Supreme Court justicess question minority set-aside fraud prosecution

Court nixes Rupert Murchoch bid to cement politics of his news empire

Panamá cierra con orgullo su participación en los Juegos Bolivarianos

Corea del Sur: Fracasa la moción para destituir al presidente Yoon Suk Yeol

 

Footnotes to the screaming headlines:

* Panama has seen a recent rise in the homicide rate. Mostly it’s gangsters killing one another over who controls which part of which racket. If you are a worried expat, do not go out and acquire an arsenal of firearms. Just stay away from the rackets and from racketeers.

* Some people had interpreted President Mulino’s campaign trail rhetoric about him not investigating anyone as a free pass for previous corruption. It seems like what he really meant was that this stuff is not the president’s job and he’s loathe to interfere. View the various news organizations’ scandal stories with the historic partisan alignments of those media reporting them in mind. There has been generalized corruption and you don’t need American Embassy pronouncements about it to understand. So far, there is no big witch hunt and no party membership is a stay out of jail card.

* Are the commie radicals about to take over Panama and make it into the next Venezuela? Outside forces might lean on Panama and provoke more widespread economic suffering on Panama, for whatever reason. The opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) is part of the Socialist International. Those folks are not very socialist, democratic or revolutionary. Their caucus can play games in the legislature but will not come to power anytime soon. Even farther away from power are the actual communist factions, which are important factors in the labor movement and will be in the streets this week to oppose a jam-through of worker-unfriendly changes to the public pension system. Some sort of compromise is more likely than another national strike.

* These are not boom times. Christmas shopping will drive a little spike in business but we still have a weak economy.

* Has Syria fallen to horrible terrorists who are now pillaging and massively murdering innocent people? Maybe. Hold off on judging such reports until more information, from more reliable sources, comes in.

 

santa

 

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Mulino in Ayacucho
President Mulino addresses the MERCORUR summit in Ayacucho, Peru.

 

Contact us by email at / Contáctanos por correo electrónico a thepanamanews@gmail.com

To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.

Para defendernos de los piratas informáticos, los trolls organizados y otros actos de vandalismo en línea, la función de comentarios de nuestro sitio web está desactivada. En cambio, ven a nuestra página de Facebook para unirte a la discusión.
 

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Chittister, Which star do you follow?

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Sister Joan

The function of Advent is to remind us what we’re waiting for as we go through life too busy with things that do not matter to remember the things that do. When year after year we hear the same scriptures and the same hymns of longing for the life to come, of which this one is only its shadow, it becomes impossible to forget the refrains of the soul.

Advent relieves us of our commitment to the frenetic in a fast-paced world. It slows us down. It makes us think. It makes us look beyond today to the “great tomorrow” of life. Without Advent, moved only by the race to nowhere that exhausts the world around us, we could be so frantic with trying to consume and control this life that we fail to develop within ourselves a taste for the spirit that does not die and will not slip through our fingers like melted snow.

It is while waiting for the coming of the reign of God, Advent after Advent, that we come to realize that its coming depends on us. What we do will either hasten or slow, sharpen or dim our own commitment to do our part to bring it.

Waiting—that cold period of life when nothing seems to be enough and something else beckons within us—is the grace that Advent comes to bring. It stands before us, within us, pointing to the star for which the wise ones from the East are only icons of ourselves.

We all want something more. Advent asks the question, what is it for which you are spending your life? What is the star you are following now? And where is that star in its present radiance in your life leading you? Is it a place that is really comprehensive enough to equal the breadth of the human soul?

—from The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister (Thomas Nelson)

 

Contact us by email at thepanamanews@gmail.com

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