When I planned my blog’s editorial calendar for 2025, I thought I would be writing today about the 233^rd anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the White House.

I thought I would write about the construction of the White House; how it survived the flames at the hands of the British on August 24, 1814; and its current transformation during the Trump Administration.

That’s what I thought until Friday. So much happened on Friday, I decided to ditch my earlier plans and focus today on more pressing concerns. I also want to catch you up on some of my writing projects.

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Ramifications of the federal government shutdown

More than 4,000 federal government employees were fired on Friday by the Trump Administration as the White House continues to blame the Democrats for the shutdown. President Trump announced that the “layoffs” would be “in Democrat programs” and the Democrats need “a dose of its own medicine.”

I’ve always thought that federal programs were for all Americans, regardless of their political leanings or voter registration. In 2025, though, it appears that the programs and services provided by the federal government are being labeled as “Democrat” and “Republican.”

The ones seen by President Trump as being “Democrat” are now fair game for being slashed and the employees who implement those services will be fired.

I thought it was against federal law for government employees to be fired based solely on the existence of a government shutdown, but I guess I was misinformed.

As the federal government shutdown continued and neither side showed the will to compromise, we entered the weekend anticipating something we usually don’t see during a government shutdown: 1.3 members of our military not getting a paycheck on the 15^th of the month. However, President Trump said on Saturday that he had found the money somewhere to pay the military.

Democrats in Congress attempted to bring a bill to a vote on Friday for the military to be paid, but Republicans blocked the vote. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said the Republicans voted three weeks ago on the budget, which would have provided pay for the military. Johnson’s paycheck not being affected by the shutdown, he seemed unable to consider the hardship his actions/inactions would cause most military families.

The weekly newsletter I received from my U.S. Representative on Saturday plainly illustrates the standoff between the two political parties in the U.S. Congress. I will share that newsletter with you in tomorrow’s blog post as we sink deeper into this shutdown and all the uncertainties and hardship it causes.

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The Nobel Prize for Peace

President Trump will whine about the Nobel Peace Prize for the rest of his life. He claims Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan woman who won it on Friday, called him that day and told him he “really deserved it.” He claims to have ended eight wars since January 20.

A detail that seemed to be missed by Trump was that nominations had to be submitted by January 31, 2025. That was just ten days into his second term. He has campaigned to receive the Nobel Prize all year. Most people who are awarded the prize don’t do that. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anyone else who has openly begged for it.

True to form, a few days ahead of the announcement of the award, Trump said that it was rigged and he probably not receive it. After the announcement on Friday, Trump said that the Nobel Committee “put politics above peace” in awarding it to Maria Corina Machado. He also once again claimed that President Barack Obama received it “for doing nothing but destroying our country.”

Has anyone ever seen a 79-year-old be such a sore loser?

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Qatari Air Force coming to Idaho

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a stunning announcement on Friday. He said that Qatar is going to build an air base at Mountain Home, Idaho. These was shocking, especially in light of the fact that in 2027 President Trump called  Qatar “a big funder of terrorism.”  

A few hours later, on Friday night, Hegseth had to clarify his announcement – which had been heard around the world. Actually, Qatar is NOT building an air base in Idaho or anywhere else in the United States. They will send fighter pilots to the U.S. Air Force Base in Idaho to train.

Whew! That’s a relief!

We knew there would have to be a payoff after Qatar gave Trump that $400 million plane that the U.S. taxpayers are paying $1 billion to rehabilitate so Trump can take it with him if he ever moves out of the White House. Perhaps this is the beginning of the payoff.

I don’t think Hegseth majored in communications in college.

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President Trump’s semi-annual annual physical

President Trump had his second “annual” physical exam on Friday and was once again pronounced to be “in excellent health” even though he doesn’t appear to be and he doesn’t speak like a person in “excellent health.”

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Additional tariffs on China

President Trump announced tariffs imposed on China amounting to 130%. Since most things American buy were manufactured in China, the coming months or years should be interesting.

I’m fortunate because I already have everything I need. I shouldn’t need to buy anything but food and medicine for the foreseeable future.

As an aside, I noticed last week that the cereal I often eat for breakfast came from Germany instead of Canada. It’s been coming from Canada for years. I’m still trying to figure out how it can be cost effective for a box of cereal to be shipped all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps it is grown in Germany and packaged in the United States. It is a wheat product. I don’t have anything against Germany, but I’d prefer to get my wheat from farmers in the United States or Canada. It just makes more sense.

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A Quote from Sunday

If I hadn’t heard it, I wouldn’t have believed it. The 4^th Congressional District of Ohio must be so proud of their U.S. Representative, Jim Jordan. Yesterday on TV, Representative Jordan said, “I think the ICE agents are doing the Lord’s work.”

What a horrible thing to say about Jesus Christ!

The Christ that I worship would never condone masked men going around snatching people on the street or out of their beds in the middle of the night, pepper spraying a Presbyterian pastor who was praying for them and their detainees, detaining people for months on end, then deporting them (or not – perhaps just detaining them indefinitely) to random countries where they don’t speak the language.

I think Mr. Jordan needs to read the New Testament. He has been misinformed if he thinks ICE agents are doing “the Lord’s work.”

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My writing projects

I continue to try to spread the word about my devotional book and the companion Journal and Diary on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary are available on Amazon and from your favorite bookstore. We need all the help we can get as we navigate the next six months.

I edited several of the historical short stories I have written for my upcoming book: Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. My sister and I are doing one more proofread. I created a bookmark for the book on Bookbrush.com. I also created an information sheet about it to distribute to independent bookstores and the public library system here in Cabarrus County.

Want to see what part of the cover looks like?

I hope to have the book ready to self-publish through IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing before the end of October, so stay tuned!

See – I don’t spend ALL my time tracking the political news. Each of us must find a way to put one foot in front of the other every single day as we navigate unchartered ground.

Janet