Stop the world,

 

I want to get off! 

Three more years remain in Donald Trump's presidency. At age 87, will I even live to see him gone, gone, gone from office? I try not to think about him, to focus instead on local concerns, but no sooner have I logged onto the computer, then there he is again, just staring me in the face. Or rather, at that precise momment, I am actually staring at his face right there on my computer screen, with his eyelids closed while just "resting" his eyes, as he says. And the guy has really been pretty busy lately during his rare waking moments. 

Last night our home fire alarm went off after my son had left something cooking too long in the microwave which then started emitting smoke. At least we know our system works. 

I looked out the window just now. The green grass outside is slowly turning to yellow. Our low temperature starts out hovering just below freezing, but not for long, since as the day goes on, the tenperture rises into the 40's, sometimes as high as 50 F. No real snow yet, just a light dusting, not like farther north in New York City, where sleds and tobbagans have ben out. My family members living on Florida's west coast are feeling quite comfortable now, with local highs around 70 F,  so no more need for air conditioning, just putting on a sweater before going out.   

Donald Trump has been complaining quite a lot lately. “After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,’” Trump had written that in response to a wave of fresh concerns about his apparently declining mental and physical health.

One reason for Trump's successive health screenings, which he complains are much too frequent, is apparently to monitor his ongoing decline. 

Now, just when some of us have been counting down the years and months until President Trump is no longer in office, his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has indicated plans to throw his own hat into the ring. Donald Jr. may be divorced, but isn't letting that stand in his way. Another Trump is really too much!  Lord have mercy! Let's get the whole Trump family completely and forever out of politics!  They should all retire like the Bushes have. I don't know where Kamala is now. She seems to be MIA. I'd love to see her in the presidency but would gladly take even a male Democrat over any more Trumps. Here is the slogan for the next presidential election:No more Trumps!

NYC Mayor Mamdani called Trump to express opposition to Maduro’s capture

Could Donald Trump simply order Maduro's capture without making a declaration of war or offering another rationale? Well, he actually did so, not giving any explanation, as he is now king of the world, daring anyone to try to stop him. The guy has actually been snoozing a lot these days, dreaming big dreams that he orders put into immediate action as soon as he opens his bleary eyes. 

After Venezuela raid, Trump says ‘We do need Greenland, absolutely’ — prompting Denmark to warn U.S. has ‘no right to annex’ the territory

One recurring Trump dream is simply to take Greenland from Denmark, as Denmark says it's not for sale. Will that stop Donald Trump? He had ordered Nicolas Maduro and his wife to be seized in Venezuela, which was done, though no court was ever sought. All Donald Trump has to do is order troops to Greenland, while perhaps offering Denmark a token payment. He might then declare that the take-over is part of our "manifest destiny." What could Denmark do about it then? 

Greenland's leader rejects Trump's latest annexation talk in the wake of Venezuela raid: 'Enough is enough'

Residents of the Danish territory appear to have little interest in joining the United States.

Short of arresting, locking him up, and taking away his phone, it's hard to actually control Mr. Trump, who simply refuses to heed court orders, precedence, or expert advice. After all, is there any higher authority in the whole wide world than the US president? Even if impeached, Trump would need to be removed from office by physical force, as he would surely resist. So who would even dare try to seize him? Such an effort could easily backfire and land someone in prison for quite a while.

Donald Trump is like the king in the Danish fairytale who doesn't know he is parading arouund naked, though no one dares to tell him. Everyone is actually afraid to tell him. Even if a doctor told Trump, "We have some concerns about your recent decisonmaking and memory.problems," then that doctor would be fired in a flash, just as Trump fired folks on The  Apprentice, bam!.bam! bam!

In Venezuela, after Maduro's ouster, vice president Delcy Rodríguez has become the de facto leader. 

                                              She now avoids saying anything at all.

CBS Evening News

After Maduro's ouster, two powerful women could vie for control of Venezuela

Vice president Delcy Rodriguez  and opposition leader María Corina Machado.

María Corina Machado vows to return to Venezuela and rejects rule of Maduro’s deputy Opposition leader says her movement is ready to win a fair election and praises Trump for toppling the president. She has called for new elections.

María Corina Machado was last year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize that Trump has so long coveted. 

                    Not everyone in Venezuela is happy with the US takeover.        

Fox, Trump’s Venezuela strike sparks constitutional clash as Maduro is hauled into US court

Fox, Americans do not want war with Venezuela  Military intervention in the country is even more unpopular than Trump’s tariffs and health care cuts.

The Guardian, Protests in US cities over Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela Hundreds gathered coast to coast, even as many in the diaspora celebrated ousting of Maduro. Top Republicans backpedal from Trump claim that US will run Venezuela.

Wash. Post, Trump warns of third impeachment if House Republicans lose midterms

Trump's warning could be considered an incentive to get out the Democratic vote. 

While Donald Trump barely speaks even one language, namely English, I am witness to the fact that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though US-born, does speak quite credible Spanish. Some years ago, while seated across the isle from him on a flight from Florida to DC, I chatted with him in both Spanish and English. He then helped me get my bag down from the overhead bin after we had landed. He seemed to be a fairly normal, friendly guy back then, but I have never spoken with him since. I pray, after being put in charge of Venezuela, that he will show some common sense and human compassion, which may be very hard to do while working for Donald Trump.  

Trump to House Republicans: If we don't win midterms, I will get impeached

Is this an invitation to voters to support Democrats? 

Washington Post, 350,000 Haitians are being sent home. That’s cruel.

Yes, the last time I was in Haiti, that nation would have been unable to obsorb returnees because folks already there were barely surviving. Things have only gotten worse in Haiti ever since. Besides, we really need more folks of working age to just stay right here, because we don't have nearly enough, ever since Trump ordered so many to be deported. If we were to ask Mr. Trump, "Why are you deporting so many?" he might then say because they did not enter legally. Who has ever actually entered the US  legally? Did Melania arrive here legally? No, she just came as a temporary visitor who then overstayed her visa. But she soon made the right connections.  

US expands list of countries whose citizens must pay up to $15,000 bonds to apply for visas https://apnews.com/article/us-visa-restrictions-trump-bond-travel-7211e43ef4eb84144717c3331ab89e8e?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=share The Trump administration has added seven countries, including five in Africa, to the list of nations whose passport holders are required to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply for visas to enter the United States.

One country whose visitors are required to post a $15,000 bond is Bhutan, so my friends there aren't likely to be visiting us any time soon. 

Now onto Japan, where an enormous 535 lb. tuna was caught and sold for over $3 million. If it had survived for so long, then it should have been let go to continue on living and growing. But no, people there just ate it. 

 

An acquaintance living abroad with her daughter just sent this greeting. 

                        Then this below came in from lifelong friends in Vermont. 
.                                                                           

                                            None of us is getting any younger, not them, not me.. 

Just to whet my appetite, though I now live quite far away, my former DC neighbor Susan, a fantastic cook, sent a photo of her most recent quick supper dish, rotisserie chicken wth rice pilaf. 

After viewing that tasty dish, I've been thinking about various food practices I've adopted during my farflug travels to some 40 countries all over the world. After once seeing a live cow being killed and butchered in Honduras, I no longer eat beef or the flesh of any animal with 4 legs  But I do consume milk, cheese, and eggs--also sometimes fish, so still get enough protein,

At different times in my life, I've tried becoming vegan, also vegetarian..During one period, I even  mostlyate insects. Humans have evolved to eat other creatures, but I'm not sure now about the most ethical type of diet. 

I don't like to support the raising of animals in inhumae conditons just to slaughter them for their meat. 

There is one almost universal food tabu. Some humans, perhaps mentally disturbed folks like Jeffrey Dalmer, have reportedly eaten human flesh, something widely forbidden almost everywhere. Better to actually starve to death. There was the Donner Party, where 87 pioneers heading to California in 1846 became trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada, leading to starvation, disease, and, ultimately, cannibalism.

Another, much later story, is about a rugby team stranded in the South American Andes. A new Spanish-language film, Society of the Snow, is based on the horrific events of that 1972 Uruguayan plane crash, where survivors ate the corpses of those who had died. 

 A very few remote indigenous tribes, such as some Korowai people living in West Papua, may still practice forms of traditional cannibalism, often related to beliefs about witches or sorcery.

Now I've completly lost my appetite.