Lately on social media, it’s hard to scroll very far without seeing a post detailing the latest outrageous thing president Donald J. Trump has said to tick people off. The core of the controversial Trump messages can be summed up as follows.
“I’m a great wonderful president and anybody who says anything against my presidency sucks and I will whine about it on Truth Social”.
I think it’s a possibility that each day he doesn’t hear his name being branded about in the news cycle he gets withdrawals from his addiction to being in the spotlight at every moment of the day and decides to say something to keep people talking.
“If I just insult the pope, people will talk about. If just post a pic of me of Jesus and say I didn’t know what I was doing people will talk about. Billy Grham Jr. will defend anything I do. If people trash me, I’ll just complain about it and keep it going.”
People love to defend or complain about Donald Trump as much as possible. They are worth addressing and talking about and can’t be ignored as he is the leader of our country. But there are plenty of other things happening around and above the world besides Trumps insane ramblings. I thought I would scan the net and find some of those stories.
Down in Antarctica
News that happens at the bottom of the world include a sad report on our beloved fine-feathered friends.
In 1902, British explorer Robert Falcon Scott spotted a large group of large black and white birds at Ross Island, Antarctica. This was among the many milestones of Scott’s famous Discovery expedition: the first breeding colony of emperor penguins.
Now, only 124 years since this penguin colony was discovered, emperor penguins have officially been listed as endangered, along with the Antarctic fur seal. As the world warms, Antarctic krill are shifting southwards and sea ice is shrinking at record levels. And these unprecedented changes are having a domino effect on these species.- The beloved emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal are now officially endangered. Here’s what can be done
Th 2005 French nature documentary film March of the Penguins directed and written by Luc Jacquet and narrated by Morgan Freeman brings these beloved birds world to life. To thing that one day these birds could go the way the dodo bird seems unreal.
Meanwhile Above the World
A spaceship of astronauts circled the moon recently and arrived back on earth safe and sound.
Artemis II was a crewed lunar flyby mission on April 1–11, 2026. It was the first crewed flight of the NASA-led Artemis program and the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was the second flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by the four-person crew.
Among the four crew members, Victor Glover is the first person of color, Christina Koch the first woman, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, and commander Reid Wiseman the oldest person to travel beyond low Earth orbit and around the Moon.
After launch, Artemis II gained widespread global attention for its achievements and inclusive crew, giving rise to the term Moon joy.
Then crew them completed a nine-day trip around the moon, during which they broke the record for the farthest that any humans have ever traveled from Earth. (They traveled 252,756 miles, surpassing the previous record of 248,655 miles set by the crew of Apollo 13). The Artemis II crew also captured never-before-seen images from the far side of the moon.-Artemis II crew on historic moon flyby: ‘Your awareness is heightened the whole time’
Speaking of Space
After 40 years the Sci-Fi spoof Spaceballs gets a sequel from over a century old Mel Brooks proving that work and art can continue way into your 100’s.
Meanwhile in Africa
Pope Leo XIV visited the children and staff of the Ngul Zamba Orphanage, on Tuesday, his first day in Cameroon. The Pope in his address emphasized the sense of family that could be felt within the orphanage, noting that the children share similar life experiences of hardship. Pope at orphanage in Cameroon: No one is ever forgotten – Vatican News
I am very happy to visit this orphanage, which has become your home. Here, above all, it is our Heavenly Father who welcomes you with love as his children. He wants to show you his tenderness and to draw you close to his heart. In his name, I too wish to do the same. Indeed, you form a true family here, with brothers and sisters who all share a similar history marked by suffering. In this family, your eldest brother is Jesus! It is living as brothers and sisters gathered around him that makes you strong, helps you to carry life’s burdens together and allows you to experience true joy.
In a world often marked by indifference and selfishness, this home reminds us that we are the ones who need to look after our brothers and sisters, and that, in God’s great family, no one is ever a stranger or forgotten, no matter how small he or she may be. Apostolic Journey to Camerun: Visit to the Ngul Zamba Orphanage (Yaoundé, 15 April 2026)
Meanwhile in Asia
Meanwhile Down Under
Two members of the Iran women’s football team say they are aiming to continue their sporting careers in Australia and thanked the country for providing a “safe haven” after being granted asylum.
Seven members of Iran’s Asian Cup travelling party had decided to claim humanitarian asylum in Australia after the team exited the competition in March. However, five changed their minds and returned to Iran, while Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh remained in Australia. Iran women footballers plan to continue careers in ‘safe haven’ Australia – The Athletic
In Other Sports News
Beloved Chicago White Sox anthem singer Gerald Chaney collapsed while singing the “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (sometimes referred to as the “Black national anthem”) and was rushed to a local hospital on Wednesday night (April 15).
Meanwhile in South America
You think we have problems in America? Well down in the lower part of the Americas…
ore than 30 years after narco leader Pablo Escobar was killed in a shootout with police, some of his famous hippos are now being culled. CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon reports from Colombia. –Colombia approves plan to cull roaming hippos linked to Escobar | CNN
Meanwhile Over in Europe
A man has won an original Pablo Picasso painting worth more than €1m (£870,000; $1.2m) in a charity raffle.
Ari Hodara, an engineer and art enthusiast, learned he was the winner on Tuesday when he answered a video call from Christie’s auction house in Paris.
“How do I know this isn’t a prank?” the 58-year-old asked when he was told he was the new owner of the 1941 work by the Spanish master.
Organisers said more than 120,000 tickets for the prize draw were sold at €100 (£87; $118) each, raising around €11m (£10m; $13m) for Alzheimer’s research.
The draw was the third edition of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” fundraising raffle, which was founded in 2013.
This year’s prize was Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman), a gouache-on-paper portrait rendered in Picasso’s signature style. It depicts his partner and muse, the French surrealist artist Dora Maar. –Man wins €1m Picasso painting in €100 charity raffle
In Other Artistic News
Thought Catalog – April 13 at 12:01 PM This is Anne Hathaway’s 6th announced project for 2026-2027. She has 5 films hitting theaters this year (Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey, The End of Oak Street, and Verity) and is starting production on Princess Diaries 3. She is producing and starring through her Somewhere Pictures banner.
Written by Caro Claire Burke, ‘Yesteryear’ takes the tradwife influencer trend and flips it into a dark thriller. The women who sell a curated 1800s aesthetic online, complete with homemade sourdough, raw milk, and linen aprons, suddenly have to live without running water, modern medicine, or the ability to post about it.
The rights were acquired before the book’s official release, meaning Hathaway’s team read an early draft and moved immediately. The media has compared it to how The Hunger Games was acquired before publication.
On the Tube
Kristin and I recently watched the Hallmark Time Traveling TV series on Netflix ‘The Way Home’ Seasons 1 – 3.
The series is a time travel drama about the lives of three generations of strong, willful and independent Landry women who embark on a journey to find their way back to each other while learning important lessons about their family’s past. -Wikipedia Description
They travel back and fourth through time by jumping in a pond in one era and popping up in another era. It is funny, suspenseful at times, reminds you somewhat of the BYU Channel show Ruby and the Well and has some Back to the Future themes of visiting family in different time periods.
And now the fourth season is here. It is truly a great show worth watching.
Hallmark Channel announces the premiere date for the fourth and final season 4 of The Way Home! Tune in Sunday, April 19 at 9/8c for the return of the family drama with episodes streaming next day on Hallmark+. Don’t miss the continuation of the Landry family’s saga with stars Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow. –The Way Home Season 4 News – The Way Home
Meanwhile on Mysterious World
Getting away from the ordinary world, you can expand your mind by listening to Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. His two latest podcasts delve into a famous exorcism.
In 1928, a woman known sometimes known as Emma Schmidt underwent a terrifying multi-week exorcism in a tiny Iowa convent — with phenomena recorded in both a public pamphlet and a secret manuscript never meant to be published. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace the full history of the Earling Exorcism: the priests, the possessed woman, the entities, and the dramatic 23-day ordeal that ended on December 23, 1928. Part 1 of 2.The Earling Exorcism – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World
A secret 1934 manuscript of the Anna Ecklund exorcism was never meant for public eyes. Written by Fr. J. Bunza based on Father Theophilus Reisinger’s own account, it reveals that Emma’s possessions continued long after 1928 — with claims about heavenly visitors, cosmic demon battles, Antichrist prophecies, and a specific timeline that never materialized.
So there you have it folks.
12 News stories of interest of what is going on in the world that don’t revolve around a certain celebrity leader who just wants attention. I’ll let Pope Leo have the last word.
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