Monday, February 23, 2026

Former Prince Andrew has been arrested; Trump still tries to be a king.

 



Donald Trump still seeks to become king of the world with absolute power, 

as already noted.  As world king, he might want to live in his own private castle, 

like Eltz Castle in Germany, with servants waiting on him hand and foot.

So never mind now about checks and balances, never mind about Congress or the Supreme

court, where 2 justices whom Trump actually named himself have opposed him--

how dare they? "Off with their heads!". 

But other government officials, including some Republicans, must keep on pushing back; 

otherwise, de facto, Trump will continue being a dictator. He can only go as far as others 

will allow. He has gone too far already .

 




Politico

A high-stakes State of the Union just got harder for Trump



NPR,  Politics chat: Trump says he'll raise tariffs despite Supreme Court ruling


Trump says he will raise global tariffs to 15% after Supreme Court decision

Never mind what the Supreme Court has ruled, President Trump says he will raise global tariffs by 15% anyway, only days after the Court ruled that he does not have the emergency power to raise them. 

Now what? Let's take away his phone, lock him up, amd throw away the key.

                                               Remember: 3 more years! 



Trump says he’s sending a hospital boat to Greenland as territory says ‘no thanks’


No one can tell Donald Trump what to do



                                                    What about  winter  weather now?

                            Snow fell farther north but there was barely a dusting here in West Virginia.



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Civil war is raging in Mexico now:

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Here's a report from right around here in West Virginia, with folks lining up at the state capital in support 
of anti-tobacco measures. Up until the mid-1980's, West Virginia was a major producer 
of tobacco. 

On February 17, 2026, hundreds of students and others rallied at West Virginia's State Capitol in Charleston to urge lawmakers to support tobacco prevention legislation. 

Dressed in rain gear, they advocated for House Bill 5108, to allocate $5 million in interest from the state's Rainy Day fund toward support of  thee state's anti-smoking programs.



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As was mentioned last time, young girls in Africa, as in Latin America, learn to care for future children by caring for their younger brothers and sisters. But now everywhere, fewer younger siblings are actually being born. Boys there, just as in our own ancestors' families, often work outside helping their fathers tend livestock and crops. Both girls and boys are preparing for their adult roles.


Here are a few girls I've met in Latin America also caring for younger siblings. (Look for more such photos in my books.)

 

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Over in the UK what's happening now with Andrew? 



• Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a younger brother of King Charles III, has been released from custody and remains under investigation following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, according to UK police.

• King Charles III has expressed his “deepest concern” about the case and stressed that “the law must take its course.” Andrew, who spent a decade as UK trade envoy, is the first senior British royal to be arrested in nearly 400 years.


            

What might be next for Andrew after his recent arrest? Police now guard his former home there. 





One of my readers recommends the folowing article. 

The Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2026

The Cuban Regime’s Slow Collapse

Will Trump seize the opportunity to free the island or be tempted into a deal?


I've said it before and will say it again, most of us don't need a gun in at home in case an
intruder might enter. Intruders almost never try to enter, unless the home belongs to the
family of a media personality like Nancy Guthrie. In fact, most guns being kept in the home 
end up killing or injurying the actual occupants, often a curious child. 
Many impulsive suicides or family murders could be prevented if a gun were not so handy. 
I've already mentioned how my 11-year-old son was shot in the foot by a gun that discharged 
when another boy dropped it, after finding it in a neighbor's bedside drawer. My son
 could have easily been killed. Instead, he sustained a foot injury that still bothers him today. 


I ran across this photo of my great-grandson, a pool shark, playing billiards at an early age, 
really pretty good, even then. Now he is a high school senior playing soccer and basket ball. 


Here he was at Christmas with his grandma and mom, all wearing matching pajamas.

A friend back in DC tells me that he and his family still have the print version of  the
Washington Post delivered right to their doorstep, just my sister and her family have done
with the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

My friend observes: "Newspapers have been going downhill for a long time now. It appears that 
they are being replaced by the internet. But there are some big downsides with the change. Apparently 
local newspapers did a lot of local muckraking. With them not keeping an eye on local misdeeds, there 
is a lot more malfeasance in local government. Nobody is looking over their shoulders. It seems likely 
that the Washington Post will not have the resources in the future to expose things like Nixon and 
Watergate. 
National Guard solders are still patrolling up and down Massachusetts Avenue.
Still do not know what construction work is in progress in front of the train station.  

Yes, I still do miss Washington, DC, and all my friends there, but am slowly acclimating to 
life out here in the rural West Virginia countryside.

I have always opposed the death penalty as government policy. but if someone killed one of 
my kids or grandkids, I confess that I might feel differently about applying it to that person.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Could Donald Trump do something positive for change? Help! Seeking personal advice to collect book proceeds, stymied for over 20 years.

 





Here again is my appeal to readers' for their help in collecting my book proceeds from Amazaon
.
If successful, a donation will go to Honduras. Maybe I should also offer a cut to whoever actually enables me get them. 


==================================


Flummoxed by technology in collecting my book sale proceeds!

Should I just give up on collecting any book sale proceeds, as my daughter advises?  Although not doing any promotion whatsoever for a long time, I probably could get at least several hundred dollars by now, maybe more, but is it even worth the effort? No luck so far. (A sale by Amazon was reported just yesterday, which only rubs salt in the wound.)

If any reader has some practical ideas,
 please let me know.
 I'm glad folks are still buying and reading my books now after more than 20 years, but sorry that it's proving impossible for me to collect my share. If anyone knows a reporter at the Washington Post who might help publicize my plight or anyone at Amazon who might actually help me to collect, please advise. "Elderly author unable to access book sale proceeds."

Here's what my daughter says:
Mom, I explained this to you already. The only way to get your book royalties would be to delete your books off of Amazon. Then repost them on Amazon. You would lose all of your reviews and also I do not know how to publish on Amazon. We paid somebody a couple thousand dollars in 2003 to design and structure your first book into a Kindle, which was then posted there. So your only two choices are to delete your books so they are not available anymore on Amazon or keep them on Amazon and at least people can have them.. There's no third alternative because we already went through this with Amazon. Whoever it was who created your account, we don't know her name. We don't know her email and we can no longer get in touch with her. Therefore, in Amazon's view, the Kindle account with your books on it is in a different name and we cannot answer any of the questions there, so Amazon recommended deleting it. Everything then must be uploaded again to republish the books. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Just forget it!


Maybe the final answer is "Win some, lose some," so this is simply a loss, and certainly not the worst loss I have ever endured. At least folks are still buying and reading my books after more than 20 years. I'm glad about that. And Amazon is still getting its cut. But as the actual author, I am just not getting mine. Surely there must be a remedy, but what is it? Reader advice is welcome, provided it's really something practical that might actually help.   

Thanks,¡muchísimas gracias                                    

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Donald Trump has often ridiculed "sleepy Joe Biden."

Now that Trump keeps dozing off during meetings, is he still just "resting" his eyes? 


Not only is he getting sleepy, but Mr. Trump still wants even more awards, more praise,
more admiration. 

Donald Trump, a flagrant draft dodger who avoided military service because of so-called "bone spurs", now seeks the Congressional Medal of Honor to add to his growing award collection. Bone spurs commonly occur only in folks over 60, not at Trump's age was when he was evading the draft.


Politics 

Draft-Dodging Trump Thirsts Over Awarding Himself Military Medal


Daily Beast
DARE TO DREAM

Trump's off-script comments about deserving a military medal were issued during a recent speech on affordability. Although he had fraudulently avoided military service, he still wants the highest military honor. Might his getting that award cheapen it for those who actually deserve it?




People

Trump Says He Deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for His 2018 Visit to Iraq: 'I Was Extremely Brave'

The Congressional Medal of Honor is the country’s "most prestigious military decoration" and is awarded to recognize outstadung armed forces personnel.


Although he had blatantly lied to avoid military service, Trump still wants to be honored for having served.  And how brave was he really on his visit to Iraq? 



Mediaite

Trump Bitterly Complains About Nobel Prize In Speech To 'Board of Peace' — Falsely Claims Ally 'Screwed Me!'


Donald Trump covets still another prize, the Nobel. 

When Trump finally departs for the afterlife, all his awards, fake or genuine, should be displayed to show his thirst for recognition. Isn't being the US president enough? Or maybe he still wants to be "King of the world?"


Yahoo Finance

Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s blanket tariffs



Trump’s Economic Advisor Wants to Punish Researchers Who Found 90% of Tariffs Are Paid For By Consumers 










 We cosumers already are well aware that we are paying.


The Federal Reserve Bank of New York had conducted that study. Now the bank is in Trump's cross hairs. 

And so is the Supreme Court, most of whose justices were appointed by Republicans, including Trump himself.

During his first term (2017–2021), Donald Trump appointed three justices to the United States Supreme Court: Neil GorsuchBrett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
 
Wash, Post, Trump calls justices a disgrace after tariff ruling.  His appointees, Gorsuch and Barrett, have just ruled against him. Trump says he doesn't care about their ruling as he can do whatever he wants anyway.  

NY Times, Trump says he will increase his new global tariffs to 15%

Angry over the Supreme Court's ruling against his tariffs, Trump now plans to increase them to 15%. (Isn't Trump acting like a big spoiled baby? Did he lack sufficient affection as a child?)

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Japanese authorities have figured out how to successfully butter-up Donald Trump--just give him lots of awards, some invented just for him.  

             Here was Donald Trump with some of the awards given to him in Japan. 


Maybe Donald Trump is actually a wannabe dictator, According to Google: "dictators routinely engage in practices that distort, manipulate, or suppress information to maintain control and further their agendas
This phenomenon, a core characteristic of authoritarian 
 and totalitarian regimes." is a description that actually seems to fit Donald Trump to a T.

The White House budget chief was among those who internally objected to the defense secretary’s plan to increase military spending by roughly 50 percent, people familiar with the matter said.


Reuters

Trump administration expands ICE authority to detain refugees


Donald Trump and his advisers now want to "re-vet" refugees to make sure they are still eligible to stay. After so many newcomers have already been deported, the Trump administartion has had to invent something else for ICE to do. And you'd better believe that if even one person has a questionable record, their situation will be magnified a thousand times over to show that ICE is really doing its job. What is the harm that such unauthorized immigrants are supposed to be inflicting? They only have come here because we actually need their help. This country does not have enough working-age folks to do the jobs that need to get done. And no practical way has ever been developed anywhere to screen new arrivals.   


                                "Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
                                        I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


The Daily Beast

Damning Poll Shows Anger Over Trump’s Signature Policy


Most Americans don't really want to see so many deportations.


Such petty decisions are not winning Republicans any votes, (I once heard a rousing live speech by Jackson.) 


She was an orphan adopted from Iran by a US veteran. The Trump 

administration wants to deport her



CNN

Vatican will not participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’



While Donald Trump and his minions now try to keep out any newcomers who might actually help meet our current worker shortage, they are still thinking far into the future. 

The Trump administration is reportedly considering several policy proposals aimed at increasing the birth rate, including a $5,000 “baby bonus: and a “motherhood medal” for any woman with six or more children. These are not so different from incentives China and Japan have been offering for some years now with little success. 

Scandinavia utilizes comprehensive, state-funded family support to encourage higher birth rates, including generous paid parental leave (often ~1 year), as well as heavily subsidized childcare, baby bonuses, and free education. Despite these incentives, Nordic countries, particularly Finland, are experiencing declining fertility and demographic challenges. At best, incentives are only help keep birthrates from falling even further. 



Babies sleep outside in Scandanavia, even in cold weather.



Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted, not for the first time, that "population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming." 

Musk has certainly been doing his part by fathering 14 children with four different women. 


Here are some key points in past efforts to limit world population growth. 

  • Early Malthusian Theory (19th Century): Thomas Malthus predicted humanity would outgrow available resources, as agricultural land could not support exponential population growth.
  • The 1960s "Population Bomb" Panic: Following the post-WWII baby boom, experts feared imminent disaster. Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book predicted that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s and 1980s (which didn't actually happen, though Ehrlich;s book was a best seller when it was released.).
  • The Limits to Growth (1972): A report commissioned by the Club of Rome used computer modeling to warn that, without significant changes, the planet's resource limits would cause economic and population collapse within 100 years.
  • Cultural Impact: These fears fueled movements like "Zero Population Growth" and influenced pop culture, such as the 1973 film Soylent Green, which depicted a dystopian future of extreme overcrowding. 
  • Since then humankind has gone overboard in reducing population growth, but reversing that effort now is proving not so easy either. Remember the traditional story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" with the porrage being too hot, then too cold, and finally "just right." How to get world population growth "just right" is the challenge.. 


Countries showing the highest growth rates now are all in Africa. Most other parts of the world are showing either a steady or declining population. The Trump Administration's aggressive and counterproductive deportation efforts in the US may eventually lead to population decline here, which is not a good place to be. But how to finally get the balance   "just right," as in the Goldilocks story, is not so easy either. 

 An African country I have visited that still has a high growth rate is South Sudan, but even there, each year, the total number of babies born keeps falling. So we may no longer be able to count on Africa to keep total world population from shrinking.

The average number of children a woman in South Sudan is expected to have is approximately 3.7 to 3.9 as of 2023-2024, representing a significant decline from over 7 children in 1960. Current data shows a downward trend in fertility in Africa, though still remaining high by global standards.


These African girls care for baby siblings. . 


And as was once the case in Latin America, female children in Africa help care for younger siblings, preparing them for a future as mothers. Years ago, I had taken a similar photo of a young Honduran girl carrying around her baby brother. 


 Already in Latin America, which had once seen high growth, the birthrate now actually is  falling below replacement. Many women there seek tubal ligations after giving birth to 2 or 3 children, since using birth control is impractical. Meanwhile, men refuse vasectomies over fears of affecting their maculinity. 


Birth incentives and generous paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers in Scandanavia have not so much increased the birthrate there as kept it from falling even further. 



Fox News

6 mothers who 'cherished time together' among victims in avalanche near Lake Tahoe





Associated Press

Israeli settlers kill 19-year-old Palestinian American, officials and witnesses say


For Donald Trump, his good friend Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government can simply do no wrong, so killing Palestinian civilians is their right.     


                 
 South Korean "sky capsules" are a good way to get around a city. My late ex-husband was of Korean descent, hence my last name "Joe," now shared with my kids and grandkids. I've visited other parts of Asia, but never South Korea. 


Peace Corps Launches Tech Corps Initiative

The Peace Corps has announced a new initiative called Tech Corps to “recruit, train and deploy skilled Americans to support the adoption of artificial intelligence in Peace Corps host countries."..The initiative was announced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026.