Wenzdaz Theme Music
Wenzda, January 14, 2026, settles onto Ashland like invisible fog. Alexa insists fog is out there but blue skies and sunshine meet my little eye. It’s in truth, very pleasant appearing outside the windows. But dress right; my system warns that it’s 35 degrees F. Alexa actually agrees with that part. We hope to see the low to mid-fifties today, but it depends on where you’re at in Ashland, I think.
Despite the sunshine, rising violence in the United States undermines my hope and optimism. Digby posted several excellent posts about Customs and Border Patrol’s confrontation guidelines, and Trump’s plans to add Greenland to the United States.
Trump keeps circling back to controlling Greenland, suggesting the United States should either buy or invade it. Trump declared the United States is safer against China and Russia with controlling Greenland.
I’m frankly surprised. The United States is about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s beginning without Russia or China invading us through Greenland. To be sure, it’d be a circuitous and challenging route to take to reach the United States.
Worries about a Russia/China attack also seems to undermine the U.S. Navy and Air Force’s power and global reach. Geography matters, yes, and firepower doesn’t erase its strategy, but it does limit it, especially when nuclear deterrence is considered.
Greenland is Denmark’s territory, and Denmark is a NATO member. U.S. Attacks on Greenland would probably trigger a NATO response, which is where Digby’s post helps. Digby shared information from Malcolm Nance, former naval intelligence officer, foreign policy analyst and pundit, about the consequences of a United States attack on Greenland.
My perception of Trump is that he thinks that attacking Greenland would be quick and easy for the United States. Despite Greenland’s statements that they would resist, Trump seems to think that Greenlanders want to be part of the United States. I don’t know how he arrives at that conclusion.
To me, Trump’s framing regarding control of Greenland reflects pre-nuclear, industrial-era thinking, and not modern reality. Regardless of a NATO military response, an attack on Greenland would severely damage the global economy, destabilize peace, and increase the threat of nuclear war.
It seems like Trump is omitting or downplaying the political, economic, and military cost of forecefully taking Greenland. As far as buying it, Denmark and Greenland have both declared that it’s not for sale. Unfortunately for them and us, Trump often doesn’t accept rejection.
All of this thinking led The Neurons to fill the morning mental music stream with a rock song about truth. “Tell the Truth” is a Derek and the Dominos original, included on their album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Like “Layla”, Eric Clapton’s love for George Harrison’s wife, Patty Boyd, inspired Clapton.
More importantly for me is the chorus about telling the truth.
Tell the truth, tell me who’s been fooling you?
Tell the truth, who’s been fooling you?
Who has been fooling Trump? Or is he trying to fool us? Probably both, right?
That’s where I really flail with Trump, his plans, and his support. Either some other reality guides their thinking and planning, or they’re lying. I wish they were more straightforward with the facts and truth, instead of making bellicose statements.
Anyway, on into the day and its invisible fog. No great plans for me other than writing, reading, and visiting with my wife and cat. My wife surprised me yesterday by asking if we could have Indian food tonight. So, we’re going out to a local restaurant, House of India. Truthfully, I’m looking forward to it.
Hope truth finds its way to you and carry you forward into the rest of this year, and peace and grace join. Cheers
Sunpudoze
Sunpudoze (floofinition) – An animal or group of animals, especially housepets, sleeping in a puddle of sunshine. Origins: 1909, Middle Floof floofmanteau, from sun +puddle +doze, initially appearing in Poor Fido’s Floofmanack.
In Use: “Eastern sunshine often poured into the pillowed space. Almost every morning, Soaps, Duds, and Laundry jumped up there, spending hours in a sunpudoze, where the dog and cats gently snored, making Suzanne smile in happiness and envy.”
The Writing Moment
Standing and stretching from my coffee-shop table, I said, “Hi, Kim.”
Hair red as a cardinal catching attention, Kim grinned. My coffee-house writing friend. Three novels out there and counting.
“Hey, Michael. You leaving?”
“Yes, the table is yours if you want. It served me well.”
We laughed. I was giving up the corner table, the best for writing, offering comfort, privacy, and stability. Certain tables rock when typing. Precious as we are, the rocking disrupts needed writing rhythm.
Kim went on, pointing over her shoulder, “I was over there but that table is just too low. It makes my back and neck hurt.”
A grin overtook my face. She was as particular as me. “I know! It really makes it hard when you’re hunkering down for a two to three hours.”
Packing up my gear, I vacated the space. She swept in. “Happy writing,” I offered, then went on with a smile.
It was a good writing day for me. Hope it’s a good one for her, too — though, with that table and her talents, it’s bound to be.
“Standing Beside Her: Confronting ICE in the Heartland”
Protests against ICE swept across the United States last weekend. Many citizens filled the streets and lined sidewalks to protest ICE’s policies and deployments.
Those ICE policies and deployments led to escalated violence. The most shocking violence occurred when ICE agent Ross killed Renee Nicole Good, unarmed and in her car, in Minneapolis a few days into 2026.
This week, another report emerges of ICE agents threatening U.S. citizens. This is the story of Pastor Kenny Callaghan of Minnesota.
White and gay, Pastor Callaghan was standing with protestors a few days ago when an ICE agent confronted him. Pastor Callaghan told his story to news reporters.
Rev. Kenny Callaghan is the senior pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis. He was driving to work on the morning of Jan. 7 when he saw a large crowd on Portland Avenue.
Callaghan said he parked his car and walked three blocks toward the crowd and saw several ICE agents. At the time, Callaghan didn’t know why agents were there, but saw agents approach a Hispanic woman, so he went to stand beside her.
He heard her tell agents she wasn’t afraid of them. Then, he said there was a wave of energy. It was the news of Renee Good’s death.
“I welled up in energy, even more energy than I had, and I said at that time toward those ICE agents approaching this young Hispanic woman, ‘take me, take me instead of her, I am not afraid of you either’,” he said.
Callaghan said an ICE agent approached him and asked him to repeat what he said.
“I said I am not afraid and then they pointed a gun in my face, and the crowd was chanting louder and louder, they were also chanting at this time, ‘we are not afraid, we are not afraid.’ ICE put handcuffs on my hands and put me in a black SUV,” Callaghan said.
He said while he was handcuffed in the car, ICE agents approached him a few times, asking if he was scared, and he repeatedly said no. Callaghan said ICE agents then asked him for his ID and cellphone. He asked if he was being arrested, and then he said ICE slammed the door and walked away.
“A few moments later, they came back and they said, ‘Are you afraid yet?’ and I said ‘no,’ and then they said it ‘Well, you’re White. You wouldn’t be fun anyway.’ And then I was shocked because if I hadn’t seen enough, it was then that I knew that this staging that these ICE raids are really about fear and intimidation,” he said.
Many observers agree that Pastor Callaghan is right. Trump’s ICE policies aren’t about making America great again, immigrants, whether they’re illegal or not. ICE’s tactics are about threatening Americans to do as they say, or else.
For many of us, Trump’s ICE policies aren’t a surprise. Reports from Defense Secretary Esper emerged that Trump asked about shooting protestors in Trump’s first term. During that same period, Trump also suggested invoking the Insurrection Act as justification to send tens of thousands of soldiers to deal with protestors.
Since taking office in 2025, Trump increased ICE’s budget and role. He sent ICE agents into cities on missions to round up illegal immigrants but also sent National Guard units into multiple U.S. cities. Established in 2003, ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Under Trump, the agency is now violently confronting U.S. citizens far from our borders. The people they’re stopping are not immigrants and ICE agents often do not identify themselves.
Tell me, are you afraid yet?
Breathe
sighing
reading
thinking
restless
my mind twists and seethes
trapped
with mindless energy
about how the world
has changed
worrying
speculating
drifting
I wonder
what will come to be
roaming through memories
of hopes
history
half-remembered
dreams
darkness
spreads
across the nation
troubles
rise
around
the world
I struggle
to find the shadows
or how
we
once were
now I find
I’m frankly
a little
out of breath
I need to go somewhere
quiet
and give my brain
a rest
Twozdaz Theme Music
It doesn’t feel like a Twozda. The computer calendar insists it’s Twozda, January 13, 2026. I just don’t feel it.
Alexa and the online weather stations claim it’s 46 F in Ashland. My system claims it’s 30 degrees F. The ground’s hard white frost agrees with me.
Invisible fogs surround us again, and invisible clouds keep the sky’s brilliant blue from glowing with sunshine. I don’t know where Alexa and online systems gather their Ashland weather observations but it’s nowhere near my home.
My weather obsession shifts into news obsessions. I floundered with efforts to reconcile Trump’s statements and activities with law, history, and his campaign promises.
Campaign promises are clearly out. Nikki Haley was once his political opponent. Trump said her foreign policy plans were, “Let’s kill people all over the place and let’s make a lot of money for those people that make the messes.”
Now Trump has ordered military attacks on locations in other nations. His body count is rising. He’s threatened to acquire Greenland, and warned Cuba and Mexico to ‘watch out’, rhetoric that underscores his policies’ growing reach and unpredictability.
And the nation’s wealthiest are getting wealthier. What I see happening from Trump’s policy is completely counter to his campaign promises.
In an Agenda 47 video Trump made and circulated in 2024, he complained about foreign intervention. Trump congratulated himself as “the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington’s Generals, bureaucrats, and the so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflict, but they don’t know how to get us out.”
Yet the beginning of 2026, before Trump’s first year was over, had Trump sending in military forces to capture President Maduro of Venezuela. And this week, Trump went further, changing a Wikipedia.org page to show he’s the acting president of Venezuela.
Many progressives like me frequently believe Trump projects when he accuses others. He said the same of golfing in his 2016 campaign. After mocking President Obama for golfing, Trump said he wouldn’t go golfing as President Obama did. “I’m going to be working for you — I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
Analysis of Trump’s first term activities shows he golfed about 30% of his term. He’s just under that level for his second term, running about 27%.
Really, Trump’s campaign promises are as reliable as many of the local weather observations. They just don’t align with the truth before my eyes.
The disconnects bring on my jaded side. The Neurons noted it all. They came up with a reminder about a Green Day song called “Holiday” for my morning mental stream.
Green Day made it a protest song against Trump during Trump’s first campaign. A video of one performance from that period begins, “Do you want to start a fucking war?” The song goes on from there.
Hear the sound of the fallin’ rain
Comin’ down like an Armageddon flame (Hey)
The shame, the ones who died without a name
Hear the dogs howlin’ out of key
To a hymn called “Faith and Misery” (Hey)
And bleed, the company lost the war today
My Neurons knew what they were about. Billy Joe’s angry cynicism fits my developing mood pretty well.
My hope today for you and me and the world is that we quickly find some peace and grace. Meanwhile, brace yourself and be strong. Things don’t seem very predictable for now. Cheers
Munda’s Wandering Thoughts
I was in the coffee shop on a writing mission, nursing a stiff neck. Falling asleep in a chair the other night, my head slipped out of position. I’ve been doing micro movements almost absent-mindedly to loosen it.
So, there I was, eyes closed, flexing my neck and head back and forth. A Steve Miller song, “Keep On Rockin’ Me, Baby”, floated out of the speakers. Without thinking about it, I was moving my head side to side in time with the music.
When I opened my eyes, a small pair of blue eyes were watching me—blonde hair, rosy cheeks, pink plastic boots. She began copying me. Eyebrows lifting, head tilting, she mirrored every little motion.
I grinned, and she laughed, and so did I. For a moment, it felt like we were performing a tiny, accidental duet—two strangers connected by rhythm, movement, and the music of another time.
Michael Seidel, writer 