On being good community citizens and just good friends

Rather than always making the US president's crazy antics the main focus of continuing attention, as he intends, how about paying more attention to our own immediate world: our family and friends, our neighbors, pets, gardens, and our own travels for a change? Let's focus now on ourselves and our own daily lives rather than on Donald Trump's daily life. 

This next story has particular resonance for me as I cannot forget seeing and even petting a few of the less skittish feral cats of Ottawa, back many years ago, all being fed and housed by volunteers. They'd congregated by the Parliament building where visitors contributed to their care. As a result, that whole area then was teeming with cats, way too many cats! You can still adopt a cat from Ottawa or anywhere else for free. So if you should want a pet cat, it's quite easy to get one. 

According to Google, the phrase "multiplying like cats" refers to their rapid reproduction rate.

A single female cat can produce multiple litters of kittens each year, and those kittens can quickly reach reproductive age, leading to a significant increase in a cat population over a relatively short period.

Wash. Post, Coal, the Lone Survivor of Canada’s Parliamentary Cat Colony, Dies

Yes, I still remember being fascinated by all the outdoor feral cats in Ottawa being tended by volunteers during a particularly brutal winter there on my visit years ago. Coal, that last Ottawa cat had lived a long and storied life. 

Reuters, Donald Trump Threatens To Revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s Citizenship

NY Times, 

Trump Threatens to Strip Rosie O’Donnell of U.S. Citizenship

Donald Trump Is Giving ‘Serious Consideration’ to Revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. Citizenship: ‘She Is a Threat to Humanity’

Mr. Trump cannot actually revoke the citizenship of Rosie O'Donnell, someone born on US soil to American parents. He certainly doesn't like her or her comments, but she has free speech and so the Donald will simply have to put up with her. He is not a dictator after all, but seems to really aspire to be one. Do we really have to endure 3 1/2 more years of this guy's crazy threats and antics? Best not to pay any attention, but here I am doing so once again. 

Wash Post, Bondi fires 20 Justice Dept. employees involved in Trump prosecutions. 

How can we even get through the next 3 1/2 years? Hey Trump voters, do you really want to protect your guy even when he may have committed serious crimes? 

Justice Dept. fires more prosecutors, support staff

AP, The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's investigations.

Exclusive: Hundreds at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges, Miami Herald learns

Trump wants to deport them anyway.

Wash. Post, Poll finds record high share of Americans view immigration positively

Nearly 4 in 5 Americans believe immigration is good for the country, a record high, according to a poll released Friday that comes as President Donald Trump continues to take aggressive and wide-ranging measures to fortify the southern border and deport people who are in the country illegally.

Donald Trump, whose own wife is an immigrant, has been doubling down on deportations and border security even though most Americans do not support such measures. In fact, our country really needs more immigrants, not fewer. 

                                            Clean up efforts continue in Texas after the floods. 

                                Are Trump and Musk still feuding? That's not necessarily bad news. 

NY Times, Children Killed in Israeli Strike on Water Point in Gaza, Officials Say Israel said a “technical error” had caused munitions to land dozens of meters from its target. At least 10 people were killed.

Wash. Post, IDF blames ‘error’ for Gaza strike that killed children collecting water

Israeli officials and Donald Trump don't seem too concerned that "errors" may have caused civilian deaths. 

As mentioned on this blog last time, the late "Queen of Volleyball," Flo Hyman, died of Marfan's syndrome st age 31 in 1986 during a volleyball match in Japan, 

Back to my own family's discussion of Marfan's Syndrome, which my late former husband had (although he died at age 63 of lung cancer from chain smoking unfiltered Camels, not Marfan's). While the odds are 50-50, in my former husband's birth family, 5 out 6 children were affected. The daughter of one affected sister's children, Denise, is still living with the syndrome. She has no children of her own. Looking at current family members, it seems that Marfan's is no longer being passed along in the extended Joe family. But being a dominant hereditary characteristic, it still exists in our country and all around the world. 

According to Wikipedia, "Marfan syndrome is a connective tissue disorder, that affects many structures, including the skeleton, lungs, eyes, heart and blood vessels. The disease is characterized by unusually long limbs, and is believed to have affected Abraham Lincoln. 

• Prevalence: Around 1 in 5,000 people are affected by Marfan syndrome."

Lincoln was unusually tall and lanky, especially for his era. He is said to have been as tall as 6' 8".