THE ELDERLY SHOULD BE PROTECTED FROM SCAMS

In today’s world of disinformation, dishonest sales swindles and outright criminal frauds, nothing upsets me more than those actors who exploit the elderly. We all have older friends and relatives, many living alone, who have lost valuable savings to a multitude of schemes designed to take advantage of them. This commentary will examine some of the common fact patterns and offer information on how to address this growing and troubling problem.

An ever-shrinking number of seniors have never adapted to using personal computers or smart phones. This protects them against the numerous scams directly related to the internet. Unfortunately, our oldest citizens who communicate primarily by landline telephones and the mail service are hardly immune from swindles.

Consider the elderly relative or close friend, living alone. One of the events that provides some welcome stimulation is the daily mail delivery. This individual may have developed a special affinity for missionary work, world hunger or domestic and wild animals. In the mail are multiple pleas for donations, focusing on the one or several causes that this person has supported in the past. The involved charities all trade mailing lists to insure maximum penetration into each older person’s checkbook. In no time, our elderly friend is getting dozens of solicitations each week and is writing numerous checks to demanding charities, often to the same organization more than once a month.  

Unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about a charitable scheme that plays on the emotions of the elderly. However, there are several defensive measures to suggest. First, the older person should be encouraged to stop the check writing and to seek assistance in researching each charity to determine which ones are worthy of a contribution. The Pennsylvania Charity Search, Better Business Bureau Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are good sources of information.

Second, many older people rely on IRA income to meet expenses. Each IRA is subject to yearly Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). Many older Americans are unaware that they can make a tax free Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) as part of their mandatory IRA distribution. If the older person is convinced to make a single reasonable contribution through a QCD to satisfy their empathy for a charitable cause, the constant barrage of daily mail solicitations can be thrown in the trash bin.

Lastly, assist the older person in contacting unsolicited charities to delete their name from mailing lists. Inform supported charities to remove their names from any lists that are rented or exchanged. Register with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to reduce unwanted solicitations.

Phone and in person solicitations are also problems for the elderly. Our senior friends should be encouraged to not answer calls from unknown numbers and to never give out personal information.  They should also be registered at the National Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov).

At the front door, our area is afflicted with fast-talking marketers who are well-trained in getting the elderly to change their gas and electric suppliers. The homeowner is offered a reduced teaser rate that often does not provide a less expensive long-term solution. All of these in-person offers should be declined. The older person should be encouraged to work with a friend familiar with gas and electric rates or to consult a public information source like PaPowerSwitch or PowerSetter. These sites provide the best consumer options for suppliers in each community with no hard sales tactics.

We are now in the middle of the Medicare marketing season directed at seniors. The saturation of TV ads and infomercials, unsolicited phone calls and mailings is overwhelming.  The regulations against unsolicited direct contact are rarely followed.

The danger in too much Medicare marketing is utter confusion that leads older adults to enroll in plans that do not meet their needs. There are many examples where unscrupulous representatives enroll the elderly customer in a plan that does not provide coverage where he or she lives. Others offer plans where needed prescriptions are not covered by the new policy. If a local senior needs unbiased help with Medicare, they should contact the Pennsylvania Medicare Education and Decision Insight (PA MEDI) to receive reliable advice.

Most individuals over 60 now have ready access to the internet through a personal computer, iPad or smart phone. There are countless conveniences when utilizing internet technology in everyday senior living, including personal safety.  However, these communication and search devices subject seniors to another level of potential scams.     

Many older people consider emails to be a safe and convenient method of communication. The truth is that those over 60 are frequent cybercrime targets. Our seniors need constant reminders to update software, purchase cyber security protection, to use strong passwords, and to avoid phishing scams. They incorrectly believe it is safe to post personal information to close friends on social media. Their curiosity leads them to open emails from unknown sources and worse, to open email attachments from these sources. All of this activity is an invitation to the cybercriminal.

Our seniors deserve accessible information programs that make them aware of the scams and frauds that are lurking everywhere. Regular community events can educate them on how to avoid becoming the next victim and encourage them to report any instances of fraud without embarrassment. Basic technology training and free internet safeguards should be made available. Seniors have earned our constant vigilance and the right to be protected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A REVIEW OF THE 2023 ELECTION RESULTS

 

Local Republicans are to be congratulated for painting Washington County red on Election Day. None of the theories on how County Democrats could reverse the outcome from four years ago were valid.

According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, the voter registration advantage that Republicans hold in the County, combined with one-half of those registered Independent, was the percentage of total registrations that provided the large margin of victory in the Row Office races. The Democratic team for Commissioner garnered a higher percentage of the votes in a loss as did the Republican candidates for County Treasurer and District Attorney in wins.

The closest contest was for the third and deciding seat on the Board of Commissioners between Democrat Cindy Fisher and Republican Electra Janis. Janis won by 1,060 votes giving Republicans a majority on the Board for another four years. Republicans also did well across the county in municipal and school board elections.

The winning Republican Commissioner team campaigned with a number of general slogans like, “protect taxpayers, increase transparency, and grow jobs.” It remains to be seen whether there is a hidden Republican agenda to reorganize county departments and agencies, including the Election Office and those responsible for economic development. Extreme members of the local Republican Party have called for such a move. If a decision by the Republican majority radically changes the status quo, minority Commissioner, Larry Maggi, will be limited to recording a dissenting vote and presenting his objections to the public.

Republican Row Office candidates all won, and will be entering their second term in office, with one exception in the Clerk of Courts where a first term Republican will assume office. The well-publicized disruptions that occurred during the incumbents’ first term are behind them. There is now the opportunity to reset Row Office goals and to serve the court system and Washington County’s citizens in a professional manner, free from partisan politics.

The local Republican Party has enjoyed contrasting its conservative views with its larger, progressive neighbor to the north. Now that liberal Democrat, Sara Innamorato, has been elected Executive of Allegheny County, this ongoing juxtaposition of policies and values can continue in earnest.

Ms. Innamorato has promised to introduce a number of progressive programs in Allegheny County. She will work with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey to revitalize downtown Pittsburgh, reform police practices, increase available housing and to manage the homeless problem. Local Republicans will gleefully point out any setbacks and encourage disgruntled Allegheny County residents to move into our communities.

As pointed out in a post-election study conducted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Allegheny County totals were not the expected straight party vote of urban Pittsburgh Democrats surrounded by a sea of straight party Republican vote in outer suburbs. The race for County Executive was much closer than the larger Democratic registration would suggest. Moreover, the Democratic progressive candidate for District Attorney, Matt Dugan, lost to the long-term office holder, Steven Zappala Jr.

The PPG study found that, “In 40% of precincts, both a Democrat and a Republican won at least one top-tier race. That includes nearly 50 voting districts within city limits, and dozens more in some of the county’s most Republican areas.” Interestingly, very little ticket splitting was evident in Washington County where voters favored their party of registration.

In contrast to Washington County’s red wave, Pennsylvania voting patterns across the state were noticeably blue. Eastern counties, including Bucks and Dauphin flipped their Boards of Commissioners to Democratic. Democrat, Dan McCaffery, won the most significant Pennsylvania contest for the open Supreme Court seat. This maintained a Democratic majority on the Commonwealth’s highest court. Five Democrat Justices and two Republicans will now tackle important cases including voting rights, abortion, and gun control.
Both Democratic and Republican political strategists across Pennsylvania believe that the continued backlash against the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion that overturned a 50-year-old -right to abortion is behind an increase in Democratic victories. It is uncertain whether this trend will hold in 2024. Pennsylvania will be a key battleground state in determining our next president and control of the U.S. Senate.
Nationally, several closely watched elections added to the Democratic winning streak. Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won re-election in deeply Republican Kentucky. In Virginia, Democrats continued to control the state Senate and were able to flip the state House blue. Lastly, in the red state of Ohio, Democrats pushed across voter acceptance of a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to include the right to an abortion.

To temper the good news for Democrats is a recent nationwide poll that shows President Biden with only a 39 percent approval rating in the battleground states. According to the New York Times, “The great question for the next year is whether the less engaged, less ideological, disaffected young people and nonwhite voters who do not like Mr. Biden will return to his side once the campaign gets underway.”

Both political parties will continue to analyze the 2023 election results hoping to gain an advantage ahead of the 2024 national elections.

 

THE BORDER CRISIS REVISITED

Several years ago, I wrote about the border crisis. While circumstances have changed and presidential administrations have come and gone, the situation has gotten worse. Permitting tens of thousands of migrants to be stranded at the border in a humanitarian and political crisis was unheard-of until 2019. These untenable conditions are now taken for granted.

The solution to the border crisis remains in the hands of Congress. A complete overhaul of American immigration policy is not in the cards. However, recent bipartisan discussions to tighten up asylum policy as part of a government funding deal are encouraging.

We are overwhelmed by the daily news coverage of thousands of migrants in Mexico waiting for the opportunity to cross the border, only to form large encampments in America’s border towns. Buses full of migrants are sent to northern cities that lack the capacity to care for them.  Congress has not allocated federal funds to aid the involved states or local border communities.

Frustration and anger are directed at the President and his administration. In fact, the executive branch can only take limited action because of existing laws. This is unfortunate because Congress is often ungovernable and in no position to restore order at the border.

The two key components of the border crisis are (1) the need for border security and (2) legislation on comprehensive immigration reform. Republicans have insisted on addressing only the security problem with illegal or unhelpful physical barriers and a draconian show of force. Republicans have long avoided passing immigration reforms which would provide funding for border security based on new technology and that would provide the ability to decide asylum claims quickly.

Democrats support immigration reform legislation that includes funds for more advanced and humane border security along with an overhaul of the entire immigration system. This would include the fate of the Dreamer population, those undocumented immigrants living in America since they were young children.

In the last several years, the nature of the border crisis has dramatically changed. The problem is no longer undocumented migrants from Mexico entering illegally to work or join family members. According to government statistics, the majority of recent migrants are citizens from the troubled Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Increasingly there are also new migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

The US Customs and Border Patrol reports that 250,000 migrants from these countries aggravated the most recent crisis over the past eighteen months. These individuals made the dangerous journey north to escape violent crime, poverty, natural disasters, climate change and other economic struggles. Few of the cases actually involve political persecution. However, after crossing the border, the majority of these migrants can legally claim political asylum until their cases are processed.

The existing U.S. asylum system was created in the Refugee Act of 1980 to review claims of persecution on a limited basis. Today, the asylum system has been transformed into the main avenue for mass immigration, a function it was never designed to serve. Julia Preston, the national immigration correspondent for the New York Times, addressed the problem in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs. (The Real Origins of the Border Crisis). Ms. Preston found that “By the end of 2022, almost 800,000 asylum cases were awaiting adjudication in the immigration courts. The average asylum case took more than four years to decide. Since Congress has passed no clear-cut procedures for deporting asylum seekers whose claims were rejected, many of those people and their families, along with tens of thousands of asylum seekers denied in previous years, have quietly joined the millions of undocumented immigrants already in the country.”

The existing law creates a classic funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Initially, all migrants can request asylum once they set foot on American soil. Next, these thousands of applicants are processed through an ever-narrowing chute of bureaucratic and legal requirements that takes years to implement.

What would new asylum legislation look like? It is clear that a system, which quickly and fairly processes new arrivals, is the sensible approach. When there is no opportunity to remain in the country for years as an unprocessed asylum seeker the flow of migrants will dramatically decrease. To this end, legislation must be passed to create numerous, large reception centers in border cities. These processing centers would provide faster screening, immediate deportation for ineligible applicants and give resettlement assistance for those who qualify. More asylum judges and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asylum officers must be hired. The DHS officers must be given the legal authority to make administrative decisions on uncomplicated claims to reduce those cases that require time-consuming court action.

Lawmakers should update and clarify the all-important “asylum persecution standard” to include those migrants who are victims of organized crime or sexual abuse. There must be immediate deportation of migrants whose claims are denied.

Congress must restore the asylum system to its intended, limited role. First, the requirements for asylum must be modified to match a changing world. Second, the other legal paths to immigration such as the labor and family unification options that are now underutilized must permit more legal immigration.

There has been a lack of Congressional will to find common ground and pass a bipartisan immigration bill. It is time for the American public to understand this complex problem and demand that Congress address the crisis.

ITALIAN FOLKTALES BECOME A BEDTIME RITUAL

“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again” C.S. Lewis

Last June, while browsing through the latest issue of The London Review of Books, I came across an essay on the life and works of an Italian author, Italo Calvino (1923-85). He was one of Italy’s greatest and most popular writers.

Because Calvino led an interesting life and was once considered for a Nobel Prize in literature, I researched which of his works were translated into English. To my surprise, Calvino’s most popular work available on Amazon was not one of his novels. This honor went to a 700 page edited volume of 200 Italian folktales lovingly organized by Mr. Calvino. (Copyright 1956, first English translation, 1980)

All of the critic’s reviews of this compilation were over the moon. When first translated in 1980, the Los Angeles Times called the effort “One of the New York Times Best Books of the Year. These traditional stories of Italy, retold by a master, are a treasure.” The New York Times Book Review continued, “This collection stands with the finest collections anywhere.” Finally, Time Magazine opined, “A magic book, and a classic to boot.”

Because my spouse is a full-blooded Italian and a retired elementary school teacher, I thought the collection would make a great addition to our library. Little did I know that for months to come this book of Italian folktales would frequently be our bedtime ritual. The stories are leading us down a rabbit hole filled with the magic of folklore that have nothing to do with the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, or Disney. We finally understood what the renowned expert on interpreting myth, Joseph Campbell, meant when he said, “The folktale is the primer of the picture language of the soul.”

Since we received our well-preserved used copy of the book in July, our evening routine has often included a bedtime story. The retired teacher, who knows how to interpret a yarn with appropriate vocal emphasis, reads each tale aloud. When the story is finished, she reads the short biographical note at the end of the book, giving us some background. In many cases, Calvino has merged different oral versions of the same folktale, from different regions of Italy, adding his own literary embellishments, to construct his own interpretation.  

Next, it is on to Google where we research the oral tradition for each tale and determine if the creative arts have reimagined each ancient story for some modern purpose. To our amazement, many of the folktales introduced by Calvino have been reworked as record albums, children’s picture books, short operas, theater productions, and, in one case, a French movie. Our research reveals that the citizens of Italy know these stories well and are proud of their oral traditions.

As we make our way through the folktales, certain themes emerge. Overall, the stories are delightful, inventive, charming, often unexpected, and occasionally horrific.  Good and humble decisions lead to positive outcomes while poor or selfish acts lead to unwanted results. It is easy to imagine a parent sitting around an ancient hearth relating the milder tales to children to encourage good behavior.

When reading the stories, we are always on the lookout for the numbers three and seven, which seem to provide organizational themes for many of the folktales. Like a good joke, a plot based on “threes” creates more interest than one centered on “twos” or “fours” (e.g. three sisters, three tasks). Moreover, the number three has Biblical implications of something complete and good (e.g. the Trinity, Jesus rising after three days). The number seven also signifies Christian completeness (seven days of creation). Characters in the stories are often affiliated with the number seven to signify an insightful or wise personality.      

Some of my favorite tales revolve around the village idiot as the major protagonist. This character is not mentally disabled but is shown to be a free spirit, and unrealistically optimistic or naïve. His misunderstanding or misuse of common language often leads to comical results and good endings.

As in folktales from around the world, many females, particularly young women, are not treated well. Forgetting to retrieve one object or failing to be obedient will likely result in being cursed with the head of a monster and rejected by the handsome prince. Thankfully, these same characters are resourceful and eventually are transformed back into the most beautiful maidens in the land.

Many stories are so different from familiar folktales that they immediately grab your attention. The apple holds a prominent place as temptation in the Bible and as a symbol of everything from evil to nobility in folktales. Italians from Tuscany concocted their own interpretation. In Apple Girl, a barren queen finally gives birth to an apple “redder and more beautiful than any other.”  The fruit holds within it, a young girl who must endure the violent attacks of an evil stepmother before shedding her bloodstained apple shell to marry the waiting prince. The blood from the attack signifies every young women’s passage from maidenhood to adult. She is now capable of producing her own fruit of the womb.

Calvino’s Italian Folktales may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For the two of us, the nightly anticipation of a new tale followed by a restful sleep makes all the difference. We only have 120 more folktales to go.