We all are part and parcel of the social fabric

 

So we all have influence. We certainly need to use our energies and influence right now to curb Donald Trump's unlawful and harmful ambitions. Although he was elected US president, he is not king of the world, a role he has been trying to assume for at least the past year and even longer.   .  Republicans vow to block Trump from seizing Greenland by force Two Republicans vowing to keep Trump in check are Sens. Thom Tillis  (N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) who plan to travel to Copenhagen to  assure the Danish prime minister that there would be strong Republican  opposition to any effort by Trump to use military force to seize Greenland. Trump also needs to be prevented from using military force against the people of this country, something he is already doing.  .  Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Insurrection Act of 1807  is the U.S. federal law that empowers the President of the United States to nationally deploy the U.S. military and to federalize the National Guard in specific circumstances, such as the suppression of civil disorder, insurrection, and armed rebellion against the federal government of the U.S. Wash. Post, Native Americans swept up by ICE in Minneapolis, tribes say It may be hard for ICE agents at first glance to distiguish native people from immigrants since so many are indigenous. Wash. Post,Trump’s promised manufacturing boom is a bust so far Trump says the US ‘shouldn’t even have an election’ in 2026 because of  all his accomplishments An AP-NORC poll this week showed 62% of Americans say that Donald Trump is going too far in using presidential power to achieve his goals. The problem is how to control him, as Trump has shown that he is unlikely to obey or cooperate even with judicial orders. Furthermore, he will always have supporters within the electorate and elective office, no matter what he says or does. No one wants to see a civil war in the US or to have the president seized by force and jailed with his phone taken away, but does it have to come to that? Is there any higher power in the world than the American president? Really, there is not. Trump voters, you may have made a mistake, but the guy is likely to remain president for 3 more years.Therefore strife is  likely continue both here and abroad. Richard Nixon offered to resign but Donald Trunp is unlikely to do that. Trump is a disruptive, not a unifying force. Most laws work because most people and most officials agree to obey them. But when a US president chooses to flaunt the law, then options are limited. CNN poll finds majority of Americans say Trump is focused on the wrong priorities When my son and I went out today (January 16, 2026), we saw a group of anti-Trump protesters right here in Berkeley Springs, all marching and carrying signs. =========== The Hill, Tens of thousands gathered Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Havana to protest the deaths of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The protesters also called for the release of Maduro, a close ally of Cuba who now faces trial on drug trafficking charges in a New York City court.  /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Several types of wild nushrooms Toxic mushroom outbreak kills 3, sickens more than 30 in California When I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras, we used to gather wild mushrooms to eat. To test them for toxicity, we placed pieces on our lips for a few minutes, then waited for a couple of days to see if there was any reaction. When there was none,we then ate them with rice and sometimes with scrambled eggs. The eggs were laid by our free-range, semi wild chickens so we had to find them in the underbrush. But eating wild mushrooms is really risky, so best to simply leave them alone.. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// One of my daughters has sent me a bunch of recent New Yorkers, as she is a regular subscriber. Now living out here in rural West Virginia, I find I have apparently absorbed some local attitudes, as now I'm finding the tone of certain New Yorker articles rather condenscending toward folks living around here. That I have started feeling this way is truly surprising, even to me, as reading the magazine back in Washington, DC, it never affected me that way. So yes, our social environment does influence us. And we ourselves also influence others.  I remember after spending several years with the Peace Corps in Honduras, how my perspective changed. I am now surprised that some of my own opinions also have been slightly altered, just since moving here some months ago. For example, though I am hardly a supporter of Donald Trump, I now better understand his appeal to many voters. .  This recent New Yorker cover depicts Donald Trump's apparent thirst for Venezuelan oil.  A New Yorker article about Cuba of particular interest to me after my many travels there appears in the Oct. 6, 2025 issue; ''Deserted Island" by Jon Lee Anderson. So if you want to know more about Cuba these days, I would recommend reading it. And if you read Spanish and would like to explore the connection between Cuba and Venezuela, here's another article. El régimen cubano en la encrucijada Tras los sucesos en Venezuela, el régimen cubano debe ponerse a hablar con Washington y emprender el camino de los cambios. No le queda otra salida. LA SEMANA EN DIARIO DE CUBA ene 15 That's all for now folks, adios, hasta pronto.