Wednesday, February 18, 2026

A young bald eagle and a photographer on the hunt.

           


             A bald eagle came into my view that winter morning looking quite foolish.

He was chasing three mergansers through the air over the creek, which was a fool’s errand. The mergansers quickly out-paced him, and he did a U-turn to land on a bare branch on a winter morning.

He looked as though he didn’t quite know what to do.

He was a young adult, not fully feathered in grown-up foliage. He wasn’t simply acting the avian fool with the mergansers, for he perched in a tree just over the paved walking path on the causeway over the creek, exposing himself to an odd menagerie of humans. There were mothers with little children, runners and groups of friends, all of whom were too big to eat. And there was me, a photographer with his camera.



I positioned myself beneath him and snapped some photos of him through thick, obscuring branches. This was not a good situation for him or me, so he flew off to another branch down the creek where he could feel safer and I had a less obscured but more distant view.

As proven by his earlier pursuit of the mergansers, he was hungry. There were ducks and geese below him, but he appeared too disheartened to chase them after his failure to capture a meal during his earlier flight. He was still young, with his tail just beginning to turn white and his head with flecks of adolescent brown in it.



A mother with three toddlers was photographing her children on the rocks opposite where he perched. Suddenly, he jumped off his perch, flew across the creek and made a pass twenty feet over the youngsters’ heads. Nothing good to eat here.

He perched again on a tree opposite to where he had been, near the mother and her kids, and this is where my opportunity came in. He was close, unobscured by the branches and unworried.

I snapped away.


View the video version of this blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk5WXhnABzI




Tuesday, February 17, 2026

When this government falls

 When this government falls, I hope someone has a plan to recover, restore and secure democracy.

If not, chaos or a military dictatorship could ensue.

Congress and the senate should start slowly by impeaching and removing from office the obvious incompetents and criminals, like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, but nearly everyone at the top has to go.

The Supreme Court could help, but they have no integrity. They will be absent.

The process must be orderly and reasonable. We don't want a French Revolution devolving into chaos and a military dictatorship.

A trustworthy president is essential. Given the situation and the nature of politicians, he or she will be nearly impossible to find.

It's not time to pray. It's time to reason clearly and honestly to get the ship back on course. It will be nearly impossible.

A clear goal to return to democracy is essential.

We can only help ourselves.

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Breaking News: Trump to Resign -- The Pineville Press, February 12, 2026

 Guest Editorial

By Senator I.M. Korni

As one of two senators of the great state of Iowa, I join today with my colleague and fellow senator from Iowa, I.B. Horni, to announce to the American people that Donald J. Trump will resign tomorrow from his office as President of the United States.

It is with great remorse and regret that Senator Horni and I announce the president's decision. This announcement has nothing to do with the fact that I, Senator Korni, and he, Senator Horni, are mentioned in the Epstein files 467 times.

Senator Horni and I convinced the president that there is nothing like a good, old-fashioned sex scandal to bring down a powerful figure, and that this scandal could destroy the Republican Party if not dealt with immediately. President Trump agreed with us, after weeks of negotiation, that the Epstein files are a scandal that he can not recover from, and conceded that it would be best for the country if he no longer holds the office of president.

We noted to the president that he has been able to get away with any of his many criminal acts before this to console him, but we explained that the Farmers' Daughters Association of Iowa, a very powerful lobbying group, threatened to skin Senator Horni and I alive if we did not convince him to resign.

What sadness for a life of crime to end in such a manner.

"Even though I agree with you that I have to go, I still don't get it," the president said. "I'm mentioned in the Epstein files 38,000 times, at present count. Is that enough? How can anybody even count that high? I know I can't. I mean, I remember Bill Clinton was impeached for his one affair with Monica Lewinsky, but I did things 38,000 times worse than him, and that's just not enough to remove me, the greatest president ever, from office. It just doesn't seem fair."

The president will resign at noon tomorrow.

President Trump originally agreed to resign at 6 p.m. this evening but after checking his schedule pointed out to us that he has an "oral engagement" at The Petty School for Elementary School Children with the sixth grade class.

That engagement is scheduled for midnight tonight. Although he promised to recount to the public his engagement with the girls on Truth Social, he said he might be too tired afterward to resign beforehand at at 6 p.m. 

We concurred that it made perfect sense for him to delay his resignation until noon tomorrow because he might be tired from his appointment with the little girls after the originally scheduled time for leaving office. After all, he has spent his life committing crimes, he said, and what did it matter if he delayed resigning for one more day after engaging in several more?

"I'd hate to disappoint the girls about their date with the president, me," he said. "I'll explain to them that I'll be too tired after midnight to resign at 6 p.m. of the previous evening. I know they'll cry afterwards, but all those Epstein piggy pigs have been crying for years and I've never done anything about it. They can just grow up and get abortions. They have to learn when it's timely to withdraw. Until now, I never did." 

Senator Horni and I informed the president that it was with great regret that we urged him to take this action. We told him that 2 percent of the American people believed that he had never engaged in any wrongful activity, but they knew Jesus was on his side as he was engaged in his trifling crimes and therefore they were on his side, too, and will look the other way. After all, they were good Christians.

"This big, beautiful Epstein mess could go on for years," the president said. "Imagine what that would do to the county. They wouldn't be able anymore to see me play golf, or fart in public or tell everyone how I was making the country great by accepting bribes and stealing billions. Maybe the girls of Petty elementary can convince them, after I have a go at them, to let me stay. Or maybe they should just keep their mouths shut, except when I'm around."

Attorney General Pam Bondage strenuously disagreed with the president that he should resign, saying she would happily satisfy any need he had while in office and that should be enough to keep him there. She got down on her knees begging him to stay in office for her sake.

"Well, we'll always have Epstein," the president responded. "Pam, you and I can think back and laugh about all the good times we had redacting files and denying the obvious. Don't worry. The American people are so stupid they'll elect me a third time in 2028, and then we can find other elementary schools to visit once we're back in office again, just you and me."

That brightened the mood considerably for us in this grave matter.

Ms. Bondage and the president retired to his office for official business unrelated to his upcoming resignation.

#

Editorial Note: The information and opinions expressed in this guest editorial are those of the writer and do not reflect the opinions or facts developed or discovered by The Pineville Press. Remember, Pineville is not a place but an unstable state of mind. Here only opinions matter and facts be damned.


Tuesday, February 10, 2026

The Anti-Racist

 Human intelligence is not located in skin pigmentation but in the mind. Human goodness is not located in skin pigmentation but in the heart. Human worth is not located in skin pigmentation but in the soul.

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Trump to campaign in blackface in midterms: The Pineville Press

By Willings Lee  Duped

Pineville Press National Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3 -- President Donald J. Trump today announced he will campaign in blackface make-up during the 2026 midterm elections.

"I think campaigning in blackface will show me at my very best for those who still doubt I am the best president ever for minorities who have always stolen elections from me," the president said. "I usually wear orange make-up to show I am the best candidate for places like Florida, but I think if I campaign in blackface people all over the country will recognize me for what I am. I am the most authentic president of all time, and my blackface make-up will prove it. I also plan to dye my hair black and wear an Afro haircut, which will further prove my authenticity."

Asked if he thought real African-Americans might be offended by his new make-up, the president had a ready answer.

"What makes an African-American real?" he said. "Just because they were enslaved for hundreds of years in this country, does that make them real African-Americans? No, I am the most authentic African-American of all time. Once you see me in blackface and an Afro, you will realize that." 

The president also said he had to be free to change the color of his face to fit the circumstances of his presidency.

"For example," Mr. Trump went on, "I might paint my face green once we invade Greenland. All the people in Greenland have green faces. Did you know that? If I go in there with a green face, and all my beautiful Marines going in with me have green faces, we will confuse the Greenlanders and they might be fooled into not shooting us. Greenland people love their green faces, you know. So sometimes I'll be in blackface and sometimes I'll be in greenface. Like Christmas, green goes good with red."

"Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President," this correspondent called out, hoping our multi-colored chameleon of a leader would call on me.

"Yes, you. The one who smells like pine cones. What is your question?"

"Mr. President, I am from the Pineville Press. Sir, you have mentioned we might invade Iceland, too. Or is that a mistake? Did you mean Greenland when you said Iceland?"

"I love the smell of pine cones."

"What color will your face be when we invade Iceland?"

"We already have that color with our troops in Minnesota. It's clear. The troops in Minnesota have ICE faces, if you could see them when they remove their masks. I don't know yet if I will have them wear masks or not when we invade Iceland. Iceland people love clear icy faces, so when we invade them we will have clear, cold, icy faces so that they don't get confused why we're there. We're there for the ice, which I love in my ice tea."

The president went on to explain that when we invaded Venezuela to kidnap their leader Nicolaus Maduro we had our troops slaver themselves with crude oil so the Venezuelans would know why we were there.

"The Venezuelans are very greasy people," the leader of the free world said. "They eat, drink and sleep in oil. As soon as they saw we were greasy, too, they let us take their leader, who was sleeping without his oil on, without a shot being fired. We used a new weapon called the Discombobulater, which spews oil all over everyone to make them submit and not eat tacos. I was covered in oil that night we took Maduro. Even Melania got greasy that night, too. I had never seen her more beautiful."

Informed that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had immediately filed a lawsuit to prevent Mr. Trump from campaigning in blackface, the president grew angry. The NCAA said Mr. Trump wearing blackface was the height of hypocrisy, highly offensive and a civil rights violation.

"The NCAA is the most racist organization in the world, or even the solar system, which has the most terrible racists in the universe," Mr. Trump said, unknowingly glowing red. "I can be whatever color I want. It's called diversity. As you can see, I see now I have turned red, which means I will probably invade the Indian reservations. When I am red, they'll think I'm one of them and won't be offended when I steal what little land they have left for oil exploitation."

This correspondent asked if there was one color he would never become to make sure his desires for election glory, oil, and adolescents are met.

"Yes, I would never become blue," he answered. "Blue is the color of communist socialist fascists, so I would never stoop so low as to paint myself blue. In fact, I have instructed Attorney General Pam "Blondie" Bondi to remove the color blue from all rainbows in this country until that time I decide to invade the rainbows. Rainbows must never show their faces in our beautiful America again if they have any blue in them. America is a place of many colors, and I'll usurp all of them for my face if I need to, except for blue. Blue people are such stupid losers they sometimes tell the truth, and we can't have that in our wonderful country, so I'll paint my face black, just to be sure we never see free and fair and blue again in our elections."

#

Willings Lee Duped, an Alabama native, is The Pineville Press' new national correspondent. He covers Washington politics for this famous newspaper, especially the White House. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, where he learned to bake up a mean meat pie. This is his first job in journalism. He is 87 years young.


Sunday, February 1, 2026

The Rape of Minneapolis

 

you stole the sacred soul of my city

because you had none

take care what you do with this essence

how you feed it, how you house it

in your wretched castle

i know

it will not stay in any corrupt dwelling

there are cracks in your walls

there are holes in your floors

there are rats in your moat

there are ghosts in your attic

my soul will not tarry

in such a decrepit place

it will fly

you are nothing

i am all