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In international news, the situation in Gaza has improved but still is a cause for concern. President Trump has had some good influence there. There is no improvement in Ukraine with Russia continuing to cause destruction. Trump was going to end that on Day One. He spent the year humiliating Zelensky in the White House and greeting Putin in Alaska warmly.
Our allies in Europe have been insulted. Today Trump’s seizing of Maduro and his wife from Venezuela is being considered a war crime by the UN. He has bombed several fishing boats in the Caribbean because he says they are carrying drugs. Even survivors of the initial bombing have been shot and killed—again a crime against humanity. But our Department of Defense is renamed the Department of War and our President is looking for wars. He threatened Nigeria last week and Iran this week. I wonder if January 2027 will see these situations worsened or eased. I hope and pray our young men and women including my grandsons are not sent to fight his battles.
Immigrants to the USA are being welcomed only if they are white South Africans. Many businesses and health care facilities are having a hard time being staffed without immigrants, including highly skilled doctors. Universities are having to manage without international students who pay tuition. Those in the process of getting asylum are afraid. This process will probably only continue until enough of us object to the inhumanity of it all.
Trump was going to end inflation on Day One but it persists and he still tries to blame it on the previous administration. His tariffs have effects on businesses. A friend could not get a Christmas tree from his usual provider because of tariffs on trees imported from Canada. There was a tariff on our granddaughter’s bridal gown imported from Australia. I buy ground beef at $6.49 a pound and don’t even consider stew meat or roasts.
Then there is the self-serving narcissism of this man as he is renaming the Kennedy Center with his own name. He wants a coin with his name and face on it. He is looking for a huge Arch to be built in Washington DC probably with his name as well. He has torn down the East wing on the White House and is planning a huge ballroom. His own family is making money from cryptocurrency and real estate deals. Donations to his projects facilitate mergers.
Ordinary folk are going to pay huge amounts for health insurance next year as a result of his “big beautiful bill” that extends tax credits for the rich but cuts SNAP benefits for the needy. It’s a cruel world he is promoting.
There are some reasons to not despair. A few judges are ruling against his sending in federal troops to cities that are largely Democrat run. Some performers are boycotting the Kennedy Center. Heather Cox Richardson writes daily summarizing the reports of others. Pete Buttigieg is planning a 2026 campaign to speak and have town meetings objecting to the status quo. Gavin Newsom is so bold as to satirize Trump’s Truth Social posts. President Trump’s approval ratings have gone down considerably. Maybe the mid-term elections will show a defiant spirt against his regime.
Maybe all this belligerence is to detract from the so-called Epstein files which may implicate Trump is scandals involving young women. I think that if the Access Hollywood tapes didn’t cause his base to give up on him, I can’t imagine much else would do so. Unless it is clear that he was involved in Epstein’s suicide which was really a murder—now that would be news.
I don’t want to even post a photo of that man on my blog so this post will stand without a picture. I pray nightly that there will be peace and that President Trump will have a change of heart—a conversion from lying and cruelty and revenge seeking to one of compassion and justice. (I did add a photo of my most faithful blog reader—my husband!)
———January 4. Our sermon this morning from Nassau Church talked about the wisemen who had hope as they followed that star. It was a good reminder for me to have hope. I think it was Steven Colbert who said despair would be a big mistake. What can I do to avoid despair? Give money to Democratic PACs and to ACLU and other organizations that are trying to oppose this administration? Avoid too much doom-scrolling! Don’t read too many news sources—maybe Heather Cox Richardson is enough. I join Facebook groups that are promoting my beliefs but I do not share them lest I just make trouble with others.
