A Short Sports Dream
The dream was short. I think it was about sports but it might have been about business. It’s not that clear.
What is clear is that a large group of people went to a place. I was part of them. Arriving there, they spontaneously arranged themselves into two groups. I knew all of the people there although I can’t relate them to real-life individuals.
Arranged into groups, they all sit or squat down but I’m still standing. I’m irritated because none of them seem to know what to do. I begin speaking while walking from one group to the other. “We have three things we must do,” I tell them. I name the three things but I don’t remember them now. Then I ask, “Where do you want to start?”
I hear snickering from both groups. I know they think I’m taking charge, just as I ‘always do’. I don’t want to be that person. Exasperation growing, I tell them, “It’s up to guys to do something.” Then I walk off, alone.
Awesome Toons
Just in time to save my sanity, I clicked on Jill Dennison’s Saturday Afternoon ‘Toon Time! Quite a collection of humor, I encourage you to check them out. Meanwhile, here are my Saturday super-seven favorites.
Sorting the News
I’m on a tour of political headlines from this week.
Trump continues making news by making statements that are not true. Worse, he builds policies off those claims. Although the United States is not at war with any nation, Trump used the military to attack targets in another country again.
ICE to spend $38.3 billion on detention centers across US, document shows
Cutting Federal spending on social safety net programs, cancer research, and education while building more detention centers really shows ‘put your money where your mouth is.’ In Trump’s case, he’s putting his money on locking people up, not taking care of citizens.
Despite Federal budget cuts, Trump’s national guard deployments cost almost half a billion dollars.
We want names! Keeping with their ‘freedom is not free’ position, Trump’s DHS wants social media companies to provide them with the names of anyone who posts anything anti-ICE. They’re doing it quietly.
Now why would they want that information?
Trump drops brand-new election whopper in riff to troops — invents millions of votes he never got
Trump just goes on and on lying about election results. He keeps insisting he is more popular that he is. Yet, Trump says, “Democrats have gone crazy.”
That article talks about the partial government shutdown as Congress adjourns and elected officials leave D.C. Key in that story, though his how Trump continues to lie about ‘crime in blue cities’. Studies show that simplicity is misleading, that the truth has far more nuance.
Acting more like an absolute ruler than ever, Trump announced that voter IDs will be required for the mid-term elections. Although House Republicans are trying to get that requirement established, it’s not expected to pass in the Senate, meaning that it can’t be signed into law. Trump, though, just insists that it will happen, as if he has the magic right to make it so.
The truth is, a President can’t just make it so. Congress must be involved, and there are tricky obstacles in the Constitution and various amendments would need to be addressed.
Such trivialities as facts and truth don’t seem to hinder Trump. Even as the Reiners’ son was in custody for killing their parents, Trump created a fantasy motive for the double homicides. Trump claimed Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”
Measles cases are rising, food, electricity prices, and other prices like new cars are rising, and optimism is falling.
It’s still only the second month of Trump’s second year. More wine, please.
Saturday’s Theme Music
Ashland, Oregon. Winter is crashing the party with a little chilly rain. Further south, snow is finding the mountains. Chin, maybe the snowbanks will rebuild for the summer.
It’s Saturday, February 14, 2026, and 50 degrees F, which is also today’s forecasted highs.
Mixed results happening today happening today in my personal life. All quiet on the Mom front. Recovery from my dental surgery goes well. Wife is over her cold.
I, however, have picked up her cold and it’s slammed me right in the sinuses and eyes. Both flow like broken water pipes. Tissues and hankies are rendered sopping pieces within minutes. Violent series of sneezes interrupt activities. Sleep was fleeting and light last night. Amazing how something as simple as a cold can feel so bad.
So, here’s the music. The Neurons insist “The Show Must Go On.” So, here’s that music, by Queen.
Screw the Neurons. I’m back to bed.
Hope this day finds you safe and healthy and keeps you so.
Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 