Reversing course! Can Donald Trump become a nice guy for a change? Can he start showing more compassion for other human beings?

 

Our holiday weekend is now over, and it was really fun, bringing us all together for the last few days.

Still, much urgent work remains to confront all the world's challenges.

A pivotal June 2026 Supreme Court decision allowed the administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians. But ending TPS would create an emergency that no one really wants to see, so Congress now must reverse that decision ASAP. Donald Trump needs to educate his followers now because , instead of deporting people, we really need to have them stay because we don't have enough working age folks to carry out the tasks that need to be done, 

For starters, it's now way past time to actually extend TPS, so Congress needs to get right to work to pass an emergency extension. We all need to let our Congressional representatives know just how we feel now, also showing the whole world that we are still a compassionate nation, remaining true to our immigration roots. Donald J. Trump, don't forget where you came from! Don't forget your immigrant mother! Don't forget your immigrant wife! Hey Melania, our country really needs you now to whisper right into Donald's ear. 

Let's come together now on our nation's 250th birthday, returning to our founding fathers' example by welcoming newcomers once again. That's what has made our country great, as a beacon and an inspiration for the entire world. To welcome the stranger is an old idea, as old as our nation, as old as the Bible, as old as humankind.

Trump Fans Confused by How Their Investments in His Crypto and Stock Are Now Worth a Tiny Fraction While He’s Getting Richer

The OFFICIAL TRUMP ($TRUMP) memecoin is currently trading at roughly $1.69, down over 97% from its all-time high of $75.35.

The $TRUMP memecoin is Donald Trump's cryptocurrency launched on the Solana blockchain in January 2025. As of July 2026, the token trades at near $1.69 USD, down over 97% from its all-time high of $75.35. The Trump family has alrready made big money from the currency, but at the cost to investors who lost equally big.

NY Times, Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin

Meanwhile, the Trump family has directly profited from these investor losses. What about presidents who have avoiding conflicts of interest by putting their investments in a trust and not touching them while in office? Donald Trump is definitely not interested in doing that. If he can make big money from being president, he certainly wants to use the office to enrich himself and his family. If investers have lost money to provide his gains, then too bad for them. 

Here's another Trump family investment

Grab-a-Gun, son Don Jr.'s favorite investment, hasn't been doing so well either, but may get a boost now if guns can be easily sent through the mail, an effort many Republicans  support. That would sell more gus and also definitely increase the US murder and suicide rate. After all, guns are meant to kill and the more guns, the more gun deaths,

I myself am now out of the loop, not actually a gun enthusiast. I don't cosider guns to be protective, but actually harmful. Their purpose is to kill or injure. Places where gun

ownership is retricted have much lower murder and suicide rates than here the US where the "right to bear arms" ends up killing so many people. Just see the statistics. Someone can perhaps kill a family member with a knife or even stab themself with a knife, but it's really hard to kill anyone with a knife. Not so hard at all with a firearm.

Having more guns in circulation, having more guns in a home, actually results in more gun deaths, as statistics repeatedly show. Many family murders and suicides would be prevented if a household had no guns at all. A gun is not needed in the US for family or household protection, as thefts now occur mostly on-line, rarely by a thief entering a home. If a robber should actually enter, what can be taken? A necklace? A picture frame? A clock? Then what can be done with those items to turn them into cash? This turns out to be a lot of trouble.

 Now to Honduras

Honduras is where I served in the Peace Corps and where I've launched many humanitarian projects since.

Honduras also has one of the world’s highest murder rates, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday. Haiti actually has the world's very highest rate, while Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and China have very low rates. Of course in China, firearms are not available to ordinary citizens, though government executions have been carried out with furearms 

I already knew it was dangerous to travel in Honduras, but I didn't quite know how dangerous. Much of the risk comes from the extremes of wealth and poverty, the very reason for those guard dogs. high fences, and razor wire protecting the compounds of well-off folks. 

Homes of the well-to-do in Honduras are never left unattended. When the owners leave on vacation, a trusted servant simply stays in their house 24/7, often there with her own children who otherwise are cared for by relatives and seen only on Sunday, her day off. She then never leaves her employers' home until they come back. Hondurans visiting me in the US have been amazed to see our houses being left  unlocked and unattended. Even when I lived Washington, DC, my front door was always left unlocked so visitors could enter freely. Whenever I was up in my 3rd-floor office, I would look out a window to see who was ringing the doorbell and call down to them to enter. 

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Canada fortuately has no "right to bear arms."  Gun violence there is usually carried out with a weapon from the US. 

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/focus/20260619-gun-violence-soars-in-canada-as-illegal-weapons-from-the-us-flow-in.

But gun violence is Canada is still much lower than in our country. 

Jamaica has the world's highest rate of gun violence. Haiti and Ecuador also have very high rates. The lowest rates are in Asia, with almost no gun murders at all in South Korea and Japan. In China, ordinary people cannot have guns, though executions by the government may be carried out with firearms. 

Haitians now living in south Florida and other parts of the US have been calling for some time for an extension of TPS as a lifeline. Unfortunately Haiti, a once beautiful country making important contributions to the arts and music, has now become largely a failed state. I used to visit there often, staying always at the Hotel Oloffson, since then burned down to the ground. The very least we can do for Haitians now living in our country is to allow them to stay until it's safer to return home. 

On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians. However, that protection and the Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) have been temporarily extended per court order through July 10, 2026.  So we now have just a few days left to reverse the final ruling. 

Today is already July 6, so something must be done by July 10 to completely reverse course and actually extend TPS even further. This matter is now getting quite scary! And really urgent! We need to actually reverse course! Republicans who want to stay in office urgently need to do this right now. Voters will no longer support you otherwise because public opinion is shifting very, very fast. We really do not want community members to be deported! Where this has happened so far, people everywhere have tried to physically intervene to stop it. It's one thing to talk about deportation in the abstract, quite another to witness it happening to folks we actually know. 

Donald Trump, whose own mother and wife were both immigrants, now needs to show more common sense, more backbone, and more human compassion. Donald, be a leader! 

As our president, Donald Trump now has to educate the electorate about our country's need for even more immigrants, not only from Haiti and Syria, but from other countries as well. Our birthrate is simply not keeping up. American women are just not having enough babies, only an averge of 1.6 per woman, when 2.1 is needed. And jobs still need to be done, so we ned more, not fewer immigrants. Most immigrants come here as adults, so no waiting for them to grow up. They can get right to work! 

By welcoming immigrants, our nation first came into being, becoming a wonderful mosaic. The United States just celebrated its 250th Independence Day on July 4, 2026, marking exactly 250 years since the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

Donald Trump, you can now make this anniversary really special and actually more memorable by welcoming even more newcomers. Surprise us all by being a good guy for a change, not just a stingy old meany. Lead by example. Just by being more bold and brave, you can really make it happen. Then you will certainly be remembered, even though your face will never appear on Mount Rushmore! Lady Liberty is really counting on you now! Readers, voters, please help get this message across to the President. Are you listening  Donald Trump? Even at age 80, it is not too late for you to change! Can a zebra change its stripes? Can a leopard change its spots? No, no, no, but Donald J. Trump can still change for the better, beome a more compassionate guy, even at age 80. So why not apologize to E, Jean Carroll and pay her what owe, instead of running away like a scared rabbit? You know you have to pay up.

One more thing now

Though not an occupational therapist myself, nonetheless for over 16 years, I worked for the American Occupational Therapy Association, still located at the same Bethesda address. I wrote articles for a weekly magazine, OT Week, and gave workshops at annual conferences. I also recruited volunteer helpers from among occupational therapists to give local workshops all over the country. I last worked there in 1999, just before joining the Peace Corps in Honduras in 2000. The association's website now says: "Occupational therapy intervention uses everyday life activities (occupations) to promote health, well-being, and your ability to participate in the important activities in your life." I still support that message. 

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Finally, here is an urgent appeal now from Amnesty International: 

Continue to advocate for Dr. Abu Safiya. [Featured before on this blog,]

Israel/ OPT: Fears mounting for arbitrarily detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya amidst reports his life is in grave danger - Amnesty International

 We are deeply alarmed by the reports that there is an imminent threat to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s life as a result of torture and other ill treatment he has been suffering while in Israeli custody. Israeli authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Abu Safiya. Pending his release, we call on the Israeli Prison service to ensure he is fully protected from abuse, granted urgent adequate medical care, and allowed immediate visitation by independent monitors.

ACT NOW: