Dear readers, apologies for glitches in recent posts, something becoming more common, but completely out of my control. .
Is it due to our very cold weather now, with temperatures approaching 0 F at night? That excessive cold might be affecting computer access and function out in our remote rural area. I do plan to just keep on going here now, hoping that most will still be intelligible and informative.
- Sunday, Jan 25: Heavy snow/sleet, 100% precip chance. High: 18°F, Low: 15°F Snow started during the nigh and has contined coming down.
Our dog Willow looked out at the snow,
She sniffed it curiously, but soon returned to the door to be let inside.
Now back to Minnesota, where ICE has been busy, and not the frozen kind,
NBC News, A tiny Danish American town loyal to Trump is baffled by his threats to take Greenland
Another Danish-American town is Solvang in California, where my grandparenst once lived.
Donald Trump posted an AI-generated photo of himself walking in Greenland with a penguin.Of course, there are no penguins on Greenland.
ICE agents in Minnesota sent a 2-year-old girl, whose family is from Ecuador, along with her father, to Texas, after smashing their car window. They were still in the car in their driveway, having just returned from a shopping trip. The agents might have asked the driver to roll down his window instead of just breaking it. They did not have a warrant. Do ICE agents even know what they are doing, or are they simply just winging it?
The next day, the little girl was then returned from Texas to her mother in Miinesota. The child had probably been born in this country. Her father still remains in custody. Will he now be deported? Ecuador is quite a long way from the US, so if deported, it would be very hard for him to get back. Apparently, he had a job in Minnesota to help support his family. Also, he was probably a needed employee who may be hard to replace. All this proves so counterproductive, both for this family and for our country. And this is only one case out of so many more. (Donald Trump, you could stop this in a minute,)
Quite obviously, the US cannot accept everyone who wants to come here, attracted by higher wages and exaggerated visions of abundance. After they actually arrive, most immigrants find that life can get pretty tough; it's not all milk and honey, but they just have to tough it out to provide for their families. As I've said before, no workable system for screening newcomers has ever been developed, neither in the US nor in Europe. So folks just arrive anyway, managing to stay under the radar for years, still making a living while raising families here. Humans have been moving from one place to another ever since time immemoral.
I know a number of undocumented folks working now at jobs where they are needed and highly valued. Unfortunately, they also have to drive without a license and don't dare visit their home country, often sending their US-born children instead.
Unless newcomers are creating problems, why not just leave them be? Don't be smashing car windows, sending them to Texas, and trying to deport them. Because we really do need them to stay right here, where they have become part of our community and shouldn't have to live in fear.
USA Today, Donald Trump approval rating low; Trump rips 'fake polls'
If someone is sinking into dementia, as may be happening now to Donald Trump, he's not going to be aware of it; he's just going to trust his own perceptions and judgment, as we all necessarily do. What else do we have to go on? Trump thinks he is doing just fine and is making all the right decisons both for himself and for the nation, so he considers everyone who disagrees with him to simply be wrong. And he still believes that he remains quite popular with American voters, so polls purporting to show him losing support are simply dismissed as "fake news."
"Oh, would some Power give us the small gift / To see ourselves as others see us!' That is the final stanza of the 1786 poem "To a Louse" by Scottish poet Robert Burns.
Trump's Attempt to End Birthright Citizenship
Although 2 of Trump's wives may have come here on visitors' visas that then expired, they stayed on anyway after marrying the right guy, namely, Donald J. Trump. He may be our deporter-in-chief, but he still protects his own. Now Trump apparently even wants to end birthright citizenship for everyone else, a very longstanding tradition. His own mother was not actually born in this country, but in Scotland, so maybe Donald Trump should not have been awarded US citizenship and needs to be deported there (provided that Scotland would even take him). Birthright citizenship in the US has been in effect at least since 1868.
Google reminds us: On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship for babies of undocumented immigrants and for people with temporary status in the U.S. Executive Order 14156: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship departs from over 125 years of precedent as it sought to abolish the United States’ longstanding policy of unrestricted birthplace-based citizenship.
Trump's executive order drew immediate legal challenges from states, immigrant rights groups, and expectant mothers. On January 23, three days after it was issued, Federal District Court Judge John C. Coughenour in Washington State called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” and blocked its implementation for 14 days. On February 5, Federal District Judge Deborah L. Boardman issued a preliminary injunction also stopping implementation of the executive order. The preliminary injunction preserves the status quo until final judgement. As a result, the executive order has indefinitely been blocked until these cases are adjudicated.
These islands were bought by the US. Now they have a message for Greenland.
The US Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark for $25 million in 1917. Now Donald Trump seeks ownership of another Danish territory, Greenland, which Denmark says is not for sale. If a US government official other than Trump were exploring the possible purchase of Greenland, then Denmark might be more willing to actually let it go.
Unfortunately, Trump's abrasive, toxic personality drives many people away, though obviously US voters approved him this time. My son, who actually voted for Trump, has cooled quite a bit, but too late now. We're probably stuck with Trum for at least 3 more years. Even then, Trump might want to run as VP along with Vance next time and how could Vance possibly refuse? Gavin Newsom might then have a chance, but where is Kamala these days? Is she tired of politics or is she just waiting to make a strategic and timely move? If she runs for president again, of course, I'll vote for her again, but she needs to make up her mind, as I'll be 88 in March and won't live foreever. And she is not getting any younger either.
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Politico--The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan said Thursday. That escalation has been sought by some critics of the Cuban government in the administration and backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two of the three people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions. No decision has been made on whether to approve that move, but it could be among the suite of possible actions presented to President Donald Trump to force the end of Cuba’s communist government.
He said, "They’re investigating it now. Apparently there was a section of the train line in poor condition."
He also sent me a photo of the cathedral Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, where he is living.
Construction of the catheral has been going on now for over 100 years, due to be finished finally later thus year.
Google says: The Sagrada Família in Barcelona is an iconic, unfinished basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí, combining Gothic and Art Nouveau styles.Construction began in 1882, and it is renowned for its 18 towering spires, intricate facades, and tree-like interior columns.
