Tag: Nobel Peace Prize

Meanwhile, Trump continues to lower the bar

Every single time I think Trump can’t go any lower, he goes much lower. Today’s blog post hits a few of the highlight (or lowlights!) of the past week.

I tried to be a good blogger this week. I made an effort Monday through yesterday to not post about Trump, but I can only remain silent for so long. If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know that.

I cannot and will not sit idly by while I have this platform. I’m sorry this is long, but please stay with it to the end.

Death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller

We found out last weekend just how small and callous Donald Trump is.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller died at the age of 81. He was respected by people of both political parties. He was a lifelong servant of the people. He volunteered for military duty during the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart after being shot in the leg.

Upon hearing the news of Mueller’s death from Parkinson’s Disease, President Trump put on his Truth Social account: “Robert Mueller just died. Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”

It is sad that such a civil servant died of a devastating disease at the age of 81; however, it is tragic that the little man sitting in the Oval Office is so self-absorbed and evil-spirited that he wrote such an abhorrent thing.

It was that same Vietnam War Robert Mueller got wounded in that Donald Trump weaseled out of going to after he and his father got a doctor to claim he had bone spurs. He has been ridiculing the veterans of that war ever since.

When a person shows you what they are, believe them. If there is anyone out there who still thinks Trump was sent by God to save America… you might want to look in the mirror and ask yourself which god you and Trump believe in.

Speaking of religion… “Make it for Jesus!”

Has there ever been a U.S. President more devoid of knowledge of Christianity?

On Monday, Trump said he wants photo voter ID with proof of citizenship to be par to the Homeland Security bill. He addressed his remarks to the Republicans and said, “You don’t have to worry about going home for Easter break. Make this one for Jesus. Make it for Jesus. That’s what I tell ‘em. It would be a d_mn good thing.”

Jesus was all about loving your neighbor – and everyone is your neighbor. He was all about taking care of the sick, the poor, the lonely.

Trump is all about hating his neighbors – which is everyone who doesn’t lick his boots. He is all about taking healthcare away from the sick, making poor people pay higher prices for necessities, and ignoring the lonely.

Every single thing I can think of that Jesus demonstrated and asked us to do, Trump demonstrates the opposite and spouts out hate for everyone.

The irony of it all is that the movement is being led by a little orange man who would not know a Christian if he met one.

Can someone please tell Trump that Jesus is not concerned about voter ID or citizenship in the United States? My hunch is that Jesus is more concerned about the way Christians are treating people. For the Republicans to vote a requirement into law that in order to vote in the United States one must present a certified birth certificate would not be a gift for Jesus. Voting for photo voter ID or voter proof of citizenship will not get a single Republican into heaven. 

Yet again, the U.S. President is pushing for a solution to a problem that has been proven not to exist.

The United States of America is not a theocracy… yet.

The Inaugural America First Award

Knowing that we have the neediest U.S. President ever, the Republican Party invented a new award this week.

At the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner on March 25, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, with Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina proudly standing by his side, announced the creation of the America First Award to be bestowed upon Donald Trump.

It seems that the Republicans in Congress are so enamored with Donald Trump that they must go above and beyond supporting him through thick and thin, through peace time and war, through government shutdowns, and through the dismantling of our medical research, public education, museums, national parks, clean air, and the East Wing of the White House.

Their unflinching support of their puppet master is not enough. They couldn’t help themselves. They had to create a new award with Trump in mind, claiming it will be an annual award. It boggles the mind to think just how many years they will give Donald Trump the America First Award.

Of course, as everything Trumpian requires, the award comes complete with a gold trophy. It can be proudly displayed in the Oval Office next to the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize he was given in December to soothe his ego for not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Please remember that Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was the recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and, even though she literally gave him the physical part of that honor, the Nobel Committee was quick to assert that Ms. Machado is still the recipient and it in no way belongs to Donald Trump.

U.S. Department of the Treasury bowing to Trump

The U.S. Treasury Department “has considered” minting a new one-dollar coin with Trump’s image on both sides. Well, isn’t that special?

Fortunately, Americans don’t want to carry around heavy coins. Most Americans don’t even carry paper currency now. They sure don’t want a pocket full of big ugly coins bearing Trump’s likeness!

In another development yesterday afternoon, the Treasury Department announced the printing of a new $100 bill which will have the iconic Donald Trump signature on it. This goes against tradition, to say the least.

It will be the first time in 165 years that the signature of a sitting U.S. President will be printed on a piece of paper currency in the United States.

Since his signature resembles a toddler’s angry scrawling (my apologies to all toddlers), won’t that be a wondrous thing to behold?

Trump’s views on children and adults with dyslexia

Photo by Rob Hobson on Unsplash

Trump has belittled California Governor Gavin Newsome many times for admitting that he has dyslexia. Newsome compensates having dyslexia by memorizing speeches and speaking extemporaneously.

But Trump sees that as a weakness, and he always attacks a person where he sees a weakness. That’s just the great guy he is.

This week, Trump attacked Gov. Newsome at least twice for having dyslexia and, in so doing, he attacked every child in our country who struggles to compensate for having it.

Trump labels dyslexia as “a learning disability” and the insinuation is that having a learning disability is something to be ashamed of. To be hidden. To never be admitted to having.

Trump using the term “learning disability” and “dyslexia” as a cudgel. It is a label he can proclaim to try to ruin an opponent’s political aspirations.

Every time Trump talks about dyslexia he shows his ignorance.

Or perhaps he says it because he knows that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was thought to have had dyslexia, but Wilson went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

We all know how jealous Trump is of every recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

What the U.S. President Worries About

In case you wonder what the President of the United States worries about, I found out last Saturday.

One would think the U.S. President had pressing things to worry about like how to get out a war he started in Iran, but that was not the case last Friday.

On Friday, March 20, 2026, President Trump signed a two-page Executive Order dictating that no other NCAA football games can be scheduled during the time slot for the Army-Navy game.

Since they don’t have anything else to do, the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce are to make sure all colleges, universities, conferences, and broadcasters comply.

In a White House press released titled “Preserving America’s Game,” Trump said, “Such scheduling conflicts weaken the national focus on our Military Service Academies and detract from a morale-building event of vital interest to the Department of War. Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that no college football game, specifically college football’s CFP or other postseason games, be broadcast in a manner that directly conflicts with the Army-Navy Game.”

Besides being a ludicrous thing for the U.S. President to be thinking about, it is a nice gift to CBS Sports which is under contract to televise the Army-Navy game through 2038.

It looks like CBS is going to be in competition with FoxNews to be the official broadcaster for the Trump Administration. Every authoritarian regime needs one.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, the war continues in Iran and Trump is begging other countries to help get him out of it… even as he declares almost every day that we won the war in the first hour.

On Monday, Trump all but said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth started the war. Later in the week, Hegseth said, “We negotiate with bombs.”

Trump claims the peace negotiations with Iran are “going well,” while Iran says the US must be negotiating with itself because there are no such talks taking place with Iran.

Trump claims the peace negotiations with Iran are “going fairly well,” while Iran says the US must be negotiating with itself because there are no such talks taking place with Iran.

Sadly, no one on the planet can believe what either side says.

Trump continues the oil embargo against Venezuela, which is bringing Cuba to its knees… so he can take over … you guessed it: Cuba.

Yesterday, Trump announced in relation to the war in Iran that a “Trump day” is not 24 hours. “A Trump day is eternity.”

For those of us living under his regime, it certainly feels like it!

Looking toward the November Mid-Term Elections

If I were a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I would be more than a little worried about the mid-term elections coming up in November. Even though it appears that all the Republicans in the House want the United States to have a monarchy at the very least, they believe a dictator would serve them better. But that’s not what the American people want.

Deep down in their hearts, I don’t think the MAGA voters really want a dictator. They might think they do but, when push comes to shove, I don’t think they will be happy with the outcome after 34 more months of this firehose form of governance.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Are you tired of winning?

Donald Trump told us that if he was elected U.S. President, Americans would get tired of winning.

Trump wanted the Nobel Peace Prize so much that he invented “wars” around the world so he could claim he ended them. These were wars no one had heard of until he said he had ended them. Singlehandedly, of course. He was so desperate for a trophy that FIFA created a gold one just for him.

After ending all those wars and only receiving accolades from FIFA, I guess his patience ran out in February. The war in Iran has taken the glaring lights of public attention off the Epstein files. Great Britain is punishing British men who abused the girls in Epstein’s orbit, but the United States is tap dancing around the issue. The FBI has not even interviewed the hundreds of accusers, and one cannot help but conclude that is at the direction of Trump. I’m not saying he started a war to take our attention off the Epstein files, but I believe it is serving his purposes.

Americans are being told by Trump every day that we won the war in Iran in the first hour. He has been unable to give us a consistent answer for why he started this war.

In a speech this week, Trump bragged about how he got to name this war “Operation Epic Fury.” He claimed he was given 20 names to choose from and he really loved the way “Operation Epic Fury” sounded. He was telling it like he was leading a high school pep rally, egging on the audience to laugh and cheer at his excellent naming skills.

One day he calls it “a war.” The next day he calls it “an excursion. (I thought an excursion was a side trip you could take on land as part of your vacation cruise package.) The next day, he said it was “a war and an excursion.” How can anyone call what Trump ordered to be done in Iran since February 28 an excursion?

WAH! WAH! WAH! — like the teacher being ignored in a cartoon. It is getting more difficult by the day to keep paying attention, and that’s what Trump is counting on.

At a cost to Americans of nearly $1 billion per day just for the military price, that is staggering – especially from an administration that gutted money for cancer research and so many heretofore valued things we depended on the U.S. Government to support “for the good of all” not just for us but for the good of people around the world.

And what did Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency accomplish last year, if the Department of Defense could spend $2 million of Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tail, and more millions on rib-eye steaks in September alone? And the Department of Homeland Security could purchase more than 2,000 vehicles for Immigration and Customs Enforcement with “ICE” painted on the sides in huge letters… when everyone knows ICE vehicles display no identification?

The blood-thirsty rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration in the form of not just their words but the childish and extremely offensive way the White House has put out videos that make war look like a video game were a new low for Trump and his inner circle. Every time we think they can’t stoop lower… they hit a new low. There is no end to it.

Photo by Jeff Kingma on Unsplash

Trump said he will accept nothing short of an unconditional surrender by Iran, but when his press secretary was questioned about that she said that complete surrender will be whatever Trump decides to define it as. It has been hinted that Trump can just say Iran has surrendered, whether Iran has surrendered or not. That is no surprise, since Trump has never been bothered or worried over facts or the truth.

When questioned about the bombing of the girls’ school in Iran, Trump said Iran bombed it. He said Iran isn’t very accurate with its bombs. With all the evidence indicating that it was a Tomahawk missile, Trump’s explanation doesn’t hold water. If you are waiting for him to admit that the United States made a horrible mistake, don’t hold your breath. Several explanations have surfaced over why the school was bombed by mistake, but we do not have President who knows how to admit error or apologize for anything.

Can you seriously imagine any former U.S. President wearing a white “USA” baseball cap to Dover Air Force Base to accept the flag-draped coffins of Americans killed in war? I watched the “Dignified Transfer” live on television last Saturday. It is called the Dignified Transfer for a reason.

Trump showed his true colors by wearing a white USA baseball cap – part of his own brand’s merchandise – to the ceremony. Wearing the cap wasn’t bad enough. He did not remove the cap as the flag-draped coffins were presented in front of him. It was shocking to see but, since it was Donald Trump, it was not surprising.

Trump cannot tolerate criticism, so after being criticized for wearing a baseball cap to the Dignified Transfer on Saturday, he did not attend the Dignified Transfer on Monday night for Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington.

Trump wants us to think that he has already moved on.

Yesterday, in yet another ludicrous attempt to make Americans think our attack on Iran was a fantastic idea and overwhelming success, Trump said on social media that America is going to make “a lot of money” since the price of oil has skyrocketed this week because we are the largest oil producer in the world. He is an insult to our intelligence… or at least to those of us who never voted for him.

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan was attacked by a terrorist yesterday. A terrorist opened fire and killed the instructor in an ROTC classroom yesterday at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

There appears to have been a massive lack of foresight put into the decision to bomb Iran – and that just might be the biggest understatement of all time. Lack of foresight and lack of forethought are the hallmarks of the Trump Administration.

Who thinks you can poke a bear and not pay the consequences? Who thought we could poke the radical Islamists in the Middle East and not expect them to lash out at us and all their enemies?

Why didn’t Trump and his advisors consider that they might shut down the Strait of Hormuz?

Why didn’t Trump and his advisors consider that they had sleeper cells in the United States?

Why didn’t they take into account that the extremists who survive this war and the descendants of the extremists and innocent people killed in this war will dedicate themselves to terrorizing us?

The battle cry of Iran this week is “Death to America!” The battle cry of Iran has been “Death to America” for 47 years, so it is difficult to see what this war has accomplished.

Trump told us months ago that we had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear war capabilities, but some days this month we’re being told it was their nuclear war capabilities that necessitated the current war. And Trump doesn’t understand why we cannot believe a word he says?

If Trump thinks bombing Iran in 2026 will not result in Islamic extremists retaliating against the U.S. and Americans for the rest of time, he clearly knows nothing about ideological extremism.

Perhaps today he will stop bragging about defeating Iran and get back to talking about how easy it would be for him to take over Cuba and Greenland. We get up in the morning and brace ourselves for whatever he said or did overnight and what he will do or say next. He is exhausting.

Americans, are you tired of winning yet?

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

It was an interesting Friday

When I planned my blog’s editorial calendar for 2025, I thought I would be writing today about the 233rd 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.

Ramifications of the federal government shutdown

Photo of a sign that says, Sorry. We're closed."
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

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 15th 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.

The Nobel Prize for Peace

Photo of letters spelling PEACE on a quilted white fabric background
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

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?

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.

President Trump’s semi-annual annual physical

Photo of a white clinched fist coming out of a solid black background because Donald Trump often raises his fist deviantly.
Photo by shahreboye on Unsplash. (I tried to find a picture of an x-ray of a fist. That would have been more appropriate!)

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.”

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.

A Quote from Sunday

If I hadn’t heard it, I wouldn’t have believed it. The 4th 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.”

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.

Photo of the front cover of I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter by Janet Morrison
I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter, by Janet Morrison

Photo of the cover of I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary, by Janet Morrison. It features a clump of bare trees on a hilltop covered in snow. The sun is shining through the top tree limbs.
I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary, by Janet Morrison

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?

This is a partial image of Janet Morrison's upcoming book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories
Partial cover of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories

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