“The root of war is fear.”
~~~ Thomas Merton
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January and/or One-Liner Wednesday! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/07/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan26-the-7th-i-hate-when-that-happens/
While visiting the London contingent of our family, we often rode by a JFK Special School. For people from the United States, JFK commonly refers to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy but we assumed that these schools must refer to a different JFK.
Our daughter and son-in-law, though, told us that the school program is named after President Kennedy. The schools are for students with special needs and recognize the Kennedy family’s involvement in the development of education for those with special needs. While there are some stand-alone schools for those with the most complex needs, many of the JFK programs are now within schools where students are mainstreamed.
President Kennedy signed some of the first legislation to assist people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities. Many members of the Kennedy family across several generations have been involved in helping those with these conditions, most notably JFK’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who worked through the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation for many years and founded the Special Olympics. Rosemary Kennedy, another sister in their large family, had been born with an intellectual disability and is thought to have inspired Eunice in her work.
It’s great to know that so much good has come from the work of the Kennedy family, not just in the US but across the world.
This post is part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/05/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-5th-2026/
Vote for Democrary #51
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Not the post I expected to write this morning.
The Trump administration continued its assault on the Constitution and the rule of law yesterday by using our elite military forces to kidnap Venezulan leader Maduro and his spouse and bring them to the United States, ostensibly to be tried for drug trafficking charges. This follows months of bombing boats and killing crew members coming from Venezula and other Central/South American countries, also ostensibly tied to drug trafficking.
These actions appear to break both United States and international law.
What should happen is that warrants or charges should be issued and arrests made, not bringing in the military or killing people without trial.
In the case of Maduro and his family, charges should have been brought with an arrest taking place if he left his country. This is the usual protocol followed with national leaders, as we see with cases of war crimes. (One of the terrible things about Trump inviting Putin to Alaska last year is that Putin is under indictment for war crimes and should have been arrested upon entering the United States, but was not.)
I don’t know what the evidence is against Maduro and whether he will be convicted at trial. In the past, the United States Department of Justice did not indict on serious charges unless they felt sure they had enough evidence to convict but the Trump Department of Justice has hollowed out many of the veteran prosecutors and has had a number of high profile cases fall apart because they have not had proper evidence before filing charges.
It’s obvious, though, that Trump’s aggressive behavior against Venezula is not about drugs. If Trump was serious about jailing drug traffickers, he would not have pardoned former Honduran president Hernández, who was convicted on drug charges and serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US.
Instead, this seems to be about power and money. Trump plans to “run” Venezula for the immediate future and bring in his fossil fuel patrons to take Venezulan oil. You may recall that Trump asked for millions of dollars in campaign funding from the fossil fuel industry for his 2024 campaign and this move in Venezula would be the latest handout to benefit them.
The Trump administration is claiming this was a law enforcement action rather than a military incursion, trying to skirt the Constitution which states that only Congress can declare war. I don’t know what will happen with this because the Republican majority has been reluctant to insist on exercising their Constitutional duties.
I am worried that Trump has started a war with Venezuela that will further destabilize the country. Maduro was acting as president despite having lost the last election. The apparent winner, Edmundo González, was forced into exile because the military still backed Maduro. Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, should assume the presidency but will probably be considered illegitimate because she was elected along with Maduro. Most countries were already sanctioning Venezuela because Maduro was still acting as president despite having lost the election. I’m not sure how they will react to Trump saying he is going to “run” Venezuela. There may be action in the United Nations.
What I can say is that I think Trump’s action was unconstitutional, illegal, and unwise. I hope that he will be held to account, along with the Cabinet members and other people involved, but Congress does not inspire confidence in this regard.
It’s hard to predict what will happen, so I won’t try, but I wanted to be clear that I think this action against Venezuela was wrong.
This post is part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. To join in, please visit here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/04/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-4th-2026/ for more information.
I used to walk fast, partially due to having much shorter legs than spouse B so that even when he would slow down to walk with me, I’d still need to speed up.
Now, I am having a number of issues with my balance and need to slow down so I can concentrate on staying upright and walking relatively straight. Sometimes, I need B’s – or someone else’s – arm to help me stabilize. This is especially likely later in the day as fatigue also becomes a factor.
So, I’m slower these days but grateful to be able to be up and about, at least, on most days.
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “fast/slow.” For more information on how to join SoCS and/or Just Jot It January, please visit here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/02/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2026-daily-prompt-for-jan-3rd/
Vote for Democracy #50
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
I, along with millions of others in the United States, faced January 2025 with dread, knowing that Donald Trump would be inaugurated on January 20th. Many of us had read Project 2025 and feared what he would do once back in office.
The reality was worse than the fears had been.
The level of corruption, lawlessness, and unethical behavior has been staggering, as has the complicity, cooperation, and feigned ignorance of many big corporations, media, Republicans, and the majority of the Supreme Court.
Still, I am more hopeful in January 2026 than I was last year.
Many judges in the lower courts are ruling against the administration’s power grabs. A scattering of Congressional Republicans are joining with Democrats to oppose some of Trump’s wishes. Lawyers are stepping up to defend people harmed by Trump’s actions. Some in the media are standing firm for speaking the truth and investigating what Trump wants to hide. Some in academia, medicine, economics, law, and other fields are loudly spreading the truth.
What gives me the most hope, though, are the millions of Americans taking action in defense of our democratic values of equality, decency, and fairness. Many have attended protests, both large and small, in 2025 and plan to continue in 2026. We write and call our representatives with our views. We try to protect those being persecuted or marginalized. We feed the hungry. We look out for public health.
We speak the truth and demonstrate our love for our country.
It’s not that I expect 2026 to be any easier under this president, but I know that even more people will speak out and we will begin to reverse the damage Trump and his many minions are doing to our nation.
Deep breath.
Let’s go!
This post is part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/02/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-2nd-2026/
After a rough 2025 for many of us, I hope that the new year will bring an increase in peace, security, freedom, and safety for each person.
We began our new year’s celebration yesterday with a midday dinner with son-in-law L’s parents. So much delicious food!
We opted to return to our hotel early in the evening before things got rowdy. We figured we could watch the festivities in Central London on the television if we managed to stay awake. I’m sure at E and L’s new home in East London there will be a lot of banging on pots and pans at midnight, along with personal fireworks. Granddaughters ABC and JG napped in the afternoon so they could be awake for the arrival of 2026.
They followed the Filipino tradition of having a bowl of 12 different, round fruits to welcome the new year.
This marks the first post for Just Jot It January 2026, an initiative organized by Linda Hill of the “Life in progress” blog. You are welcome to join in the fun at any point and can find details on her blog. I’ll write a bit more about it as the month goes on.
Happy New Year, Everyone!
While the zebra left the creche, a Lego dragon has joined the scene, along with a mushroom at the baby Jesus’s feet and a mysterious magnifying glass.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/12/31/one-liner-wednesday-happy-2026/
(Photo by Chris Tweten on Unsplash)
While we are visiting in London, we are staying at a Hampton Inn. As in the US, breakfast buffet is included with the room, but the breakfast cuisine here is much more diverse. There are elements of the traditional English breakfast – eggs, sausages, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, baked beans – but lots of other options, too. Porridge and cold cereals. Sliced cheese and cold ham. Tomatoes and cucumbers. Assorted fruits and yogurts. Waffles that you make yourself. Mini croissants and other pastries and bread to toast or not. Coffees drinks and teas and juices and milks.
It’s particularly nice to have so many options when one is here for a longer stay. You don’t get bored with the breakfast buffet. Today I had fruit and fiber cold cereal with milk and a waffles with banana and honey with peppermint tea.
Ready for Boxing Day!
Spouse B, daughter T, and I are spending the holidays in London with daughter E, her spouse L, and granddaughters, 8-year-old ABC and 5-year-old JG. The photo above is of ABC and JG’s bedroom window decoration at dusk on Christmas Eve. Dusk comes early in London this time of year!
This is an exciting Christmas for our London contingent because they just moved into their first house of their own a couple of months ago.
Christmas Eve day was largely dedicated to finishing up gift preparation and baking cookies. B and E made lasagna for dinner, a nod to the Italian side of our family and the many years we made lasagna for Christmas dinner to accommodate E and T singing in the choir on Christmas morning because the lasagna could be assembled the day before and baked after church. For dessert, we had cookies and pandoro, an Italian sweet bread which is covered in powdered sugar and baked in a mold so that it can be cut in slices and arranged to look like a Christmas tree. This was not part of the Italian Christmas tradition that made it across the ocean to the US but it was so delicious that we will try to order it next year.
When E and T were young, every Christmas, my parents would give them Fonatanini creche figures. E’s figures were being stored in our basement but, now that she and L have their own home, we took the opportunity to bring them out to them. Here they are on the mantel, with a zebra addition courtesy of ABC and JG!
My parents, known here as Nana and Paco, have both passed away. They both got to know ABC, their first great-grandchild when she lived in the US for her first couple of years before moving permanently to London. Paco got to meet JG just once, when they were able to make the trip over from London a few weeks before he died. I love, though, that the creche figures they gave to E are part of their first Christmas in their new home. It feels as though they are blessing the house and their dear family.
I’m writing this early Christmas morning. Our plans include 8:30 Christmas mass, followed by gift exchange and an afternoon dinner at L’s parents with 20-some family gathering.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and wishes for peace and joy to all!
Joanne Corey 