A summary of the Enshittifier-in-Chief and his dumbfuckery for the week.
Friends are suggesting that we have annual Trump Enshittification Awards to immortalize him. Who’s in?
And finally…
Friday Focus on Trump & his Minions
Friday’s Theme Music – Law & Order
Ashland, Oregon — Friday, April 23, 2025.
Rained earlier but a clear blue sky is above us now. Sunshine is warming us. We’re at 47 F but expect to hit the low to mid 70s today, spring weather at its finest.
Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! continues. Trump announced he’s ‘renovating’ the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a pool cover. Classy as ever. He says some suggested covering it with granite; I’m surprised Trump didn’t leap at that, which was basically what he did to the historic White House Rose Gardens.
Trump had to do something. His approval ratings are tanking, and the DOJ announced they ended the criminal probe of the Fed head, Jerome Powell, without any indictments. That’s another failure in Trump’s efforts to persecute political enemies. Some indictments were also tossed because Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed, which further tarnishes Trump’s reputation.
Your Trump quote of the day:
Trump fired Bondi nine months later as part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
Trump is right, the Trump administration is THE TALK OF THE WORLD.
They’re talking about how Trump has disrupted world trade and global markets. Many are talking about how Trump caused a 40% increase in gas prices in the US. They are talking about Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, now going into its 8th week. They’re talking about his spat with the Pope and how many people he’s ordered killed in his multiple military operations.
And they’re still talking about Trump and Epstein, and why Trump is so desperate to bury the Epstein files. In that regard, Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is backfiring.
The morning mental music stream was filled with “Lawyers, Guns and Money”. The song is by Warren Zevon, and it’s an angry tale about law, order, and things going wrong. This cover is by The Killers.
My hopes and wishes for you is that this is a happy, satisfying, and healthy Friday. Stack days like that, and you can have a good life.
Cheers
The Party Bathroom Dream
I was young again – LOL – but middle-aged, and part of this large celebration.
Held outside, in a large green park, the party was to celebrate the birthday of someone famous. I have no idea who. Tables the length of football fields, covered in white tablecloths, set with dishware, china, and silverware, lined the park’s perimeter. Terrific food, cakes, sandwiches, veggies.
There were also numerous river-rock buildings which looked like shelters. These turned out to be restrooms.
Strangely, that’s where most of the dream focused: the bathrooms. I needed to use the restroom and spent my time dashing around, looking for one that was available. As I did, the Bob Seger song, “Shame on the Moon”, would play off and on. I mostly heard, “Oh, blame it on midnight.”
My friends found this hilarious. No one was in a uniform but people I worked with in the military were present, sitting in chairs in one section.
What I found as I searched for a restroom was that all of them were in use, and there were lines of others waiting.
I raced around, stunned at this problem, thinking, there must be a restroom I can use.
Thinking I found one, to my relief, I went in and discovered that it was set up as little barbershop. While I wondered, “WTH,” one of my friends called out with laughter, “Don’t even think about going there, Seidel.”
I flipped him the bird.
An announcement was made. Everyone was asked to take their seats. Miss Shirley Bassey was going to sing for the guest of honor.
I made my way across the grass toward a table.
Dream end.
Thursday’s Theme Music – History
Ashland, Oregon — Thursday, April 22, 2026.
Strong sunshine spreads across the valley from the east this morning. There are few clouds. The temperature is 41, the forecast calls for sunny weather, and the high end will see 67 F.
The latest move in Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! came out today.
Donald Trump reclassified state-medicinal marijuana as “less dangerous”. News reporting calls it “historic”, making it a perfect component of OELS!
With this, people will stop talking about:
- High gas, fertilizer, and food prices
- How badly Trump’s war in Iran is going, which he declared over as soon as it began (among other things)
- The 1973 War Powers Act and the 60-day limit
- Upcoming 2026 midterm elections and a potential blue wave
- The Strait of Hormuz and whether it’s blockaded, who is doing it, and whether ships are paying tolls, and who’s collecting it
- Trump’s feud with Pope Leo XIV
- Rising disapproval numbers and bad polls
- The backlash to depicting himself as Jesus via AI
- Labor market weakness
- Exploding national debt
- Low consumer confidence
- Trump’s health, stumbling, and slurring
- The Epstein files, and Trump’s role in Epstein’s life and crimes.
If it’s not one thing, it’s the same damn thing, over and over.
Trump did his Bible verse reading. The right-wingers predictably gushed over Trump’s bold leadership. Many of the rest of us said, “Wow, that was terrible.”
Jokes arose about whether Trump would read from the Quentin Tarentino version. While others’ Bible reading was live-streamed, Trump’s was recorded and heavily edited.
Your Trump quote for the day:
Ah, Trump math. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”
Sure, we have. Many con artists make outlandish claims like this, such as George C. Parker, famous for selling people ownership in the Brooklyn Bridge.
Today’s music comes from my dream side. During the dream, I kept hearing the song, “Shame on the Moon” by Bob Seger.
But the dream was about this big birthday celebration for somebody. At its end, Shirley Bassey was introduced to sing.
As I remembered the dream, The Neurons introduced a different Shirley Bassey song, “History Repeating”. The one with her and the Propellerheads from 1997 took over the morning mental music stream.
Lyrics
The word is about, there’s something evolving
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving
They say the next big thing is here
That the revolution’s near
But to me it seems quite clear
That it’s all just a little bit of history repeating
The newspapers shout – a new style is growing
But it don’t know if it’s coming or going
There is fashion – there is fad
Some is good – some is bad
And the joke is rather sad
That it’s all just a little bit of history repeating
h/t to Genius.com
We heard from Mom. The social worker contacted her. Mom sent a chaotic text summarizing it. Basically, the social worker said that they would not be helping Mom move from the assisted living facility. Mom ended the text by asking my sister if she’ll help her move out at the end of the month.
Hope you have a great Thursday, wherever you are.
Cheers
Heterofloofsia
Heterofloofsia (floofinition) – A diversity of voices, styles, or points of view among animals, especially housepets sharing a home. Origins: 1998, floofwideweb.
In Use: “A deer entered the yard, immediately drawing Cidies’ yowls of protests. In seconds, Karmen added his loud meows, and the beagles started singing, a heterofloofsia that brought Barb in from the other room, where she was trying to read.”
One-Liner Wednesday: Decisions
My decision to decide later crumpled against a more urgent decision to get up and eat, which led me to a pause in front of the bathroom mirror where I decided, not today, and maybe not tomorrow.
The Encounter
Midnight.
I turn on the master bath lights and see a large spider in one of the porcelain sinks.
Finding a tube of cosmetics, I tried to give them a lift up and out.
The spider raced around in a slipping, sliding frenzy to escape the tube. “I’m trying to help you,” I reassured it.
Withdrawing, I found a small cloth and shaped a ramp in the sink. Recognizing the opening, the spider used it to climb up and out. Then it disappeared without even a backward glance or wave.
I wonder what she’ll tell others about her encounter with a human.
The Writing Moment
I’m progressing through another revising/editing pass on my latest manuscript. I’m on page 70 so it looks at first glance that it’s been slow progress. But I’ve cut sixty pages.
Makes me laugh that I’ve cut that much, but I had a lot of background/collateral stuff in the ms. Now that I fully understand the story, I’m slicing away.
Painful, though. Each time I open a chapter and begin reading, I follow with a wince. *smile* Then I pull out the scalpel. I hope it’ll all be worthwhile by the time I reach ‘the end’…
Again.
Michael Seidel, writer 