Paul Luvera Journal 
MARY THELMA BABAROVICH LUVERA 1905 – 2000 & NICOLA LUVERA 1860 – 1956
Two people I loved died in the past years during the month of July. My mother, Mary Babarovich Luvera, and my father’s father, Nicola Luvera. One on the 4th of July and the other on the 7th. Here is a brief summary of both unique people MARY THELMA BABAROVICH LUVERA On an early Friday morning, July 7th, 2000, my mother, Mary Thelma Babarovich, died in her sleep at the San Juan Care Center. Her death was not unexpected. After all,... Read More Read More
My wife Lita and I have a close friend Anna Lynn, who is an ordained Deacon in the Episcopal Church presently with a Federal Way, Washington parish, Church of the Good Shepherd. On the 7th Sunday of Easter this year, she gave the Sunday sermon, which she titled “Take Pride in Our Differences.” See YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/0df3p0RiYqg?si=PUZl-x_brMB-wteR What she shared is significant and important. I’ve copied her sermon, with her permission, and share it with you now. It’s an accounting with... Read More Read More
A BRIEF FISHING HISTORY OF GIG HARBOR
I’ve written about Gig Harbor and salmon purse seining several times while describing my experiences when in high school and college working on purse seine boats in Alaska and here in the San Juan islands. See https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2023/06/purse-seine-fishing-in-the-northwest. also: https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2021/10/the-gift-of-working-on-salmon-purse-seine-boats. It’s unique that I ended up living in Gig Harbor, where Lita and I have made our home for the last twenty-five years. That’s because I was born and raised in a very similar fishing & lumbering town of Anacortes and fished... Read More Read More
THE HIDDEN THIRD POLITICAL PARTY, THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY
The Federalist Society, officially known as the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, was founded in 1982. Since its founding, it has championed “judicial restraint,” the notion that judges should limit their roles to interpreting the law as written, leaving the actual business of lawmaking to democratically elected legislatures. It has grown into one of the most politically influential organizations in the United States while maintaining a low public profile. They are like the “Great and Powerful OZ”... Read More Read More
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE U.S. PRESIDENT THUMBS HIS NOSE AT COURT RULINGS?
It seems clear the Trump administration is fully prepared to defy judicial rulings of the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, by simply ignoring or refusing to comply with them. A strong belief in the rule of law and respect for the courts as fair and impartial has historically explained compliance with court orders. However, this is not the first time we have faced a constitutional crisis because of an executive refusing to accept judicial decisions. In 1832 in the... Read More Read More
WHO WILL BELL THE CAT?
Today’s national political status is in the chaotic shambles it is because President Trump’s operational method is not as a transactional politician but as a blatant extortionist. Those who don’t capitulate to his demands are subjected to punishment. Those who do fall in line are initially rewarded and then simply tolerated, but only so long as they continue to agree to whatever he demands & irrespective of their moral and ethical beliefs. It is allowed to happen because those constitutionally... Read More Read More
HOLLIS HALL BARNETT 1907 – 1990 – MY EXTRAORDINARY FATHER-IN-LAW
Hollis Hall Barnett was born May 3, 1907 and died in Puyallup, Washington at the age of 83 on March 22nd, 1990. He was my wife Lita’s father and a very unique and wonderful man. You can read about his Lita’s mother Betty Barnett and more about this extraordinary couple I quickly grew to love. https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2010/03/i-write-this-in-memory-of-my-wifes-father-hollis-hall-barnett-whodied-in-puyallup-washington-on-march-22-1990-at-the-a.html Hollis was born in Buckley, Washington on May 3, 1907 and spent his younger years at Mt. Rainier National Park where his father, Herman... Read More Read More
A REPORT ABOUT A BIRTHDAY AND A WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
On February 21, 2025 my wife Lita and I left on an Alaska Air flight to Kona, Hawaii at 8:15 in the morning from Seattle. That meant getting up at 4:30 am to allow enough time ahead of our flight. After being dropped off by our driver, we were met with two wheelchairs Lita had arranged. My walker had been sent to the hotel ahead of time, so we only had carry-on bags. Lita needed a walker because of her... Read More Read More
PETER BABAROVICH BORN 1861 & DIED IN ANACORTES 1935
My maternal grandfather Peter (Petar) Babarovich died the year I was born – 1935. I was born on February 21st, 1935, and he died a month later on March 5th of that year. As a result, I never knew this unique man. Nonno Babarovich was born on April 12, 1861, in the village of Splitska on the island of Brac in Croatia off the coast of Split, Yugoslavia in the Adriatic Sea. Peter was the second child of his father,... Read More Read More
WE ARE ALL WITH ALICE – DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
We live in strange times. The political situation since Donald Trump assumed office resembles the 1865 English children’s novel by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. Alice saw a white rabbit with a pocket watch complaining he was late. She follows him down a rabbit hole, (much like the voters followed Trump down his political rabbit hole) to a strange an bizarre world. We seem to be like Alice when she asked the Chesire cat sitting in a tree: “Would you... Read More Read More