Category: miscellaneous

The Protector Dream

Kind of a weird dream last night. I was youngish middle-aged but didn’t resemble me. That I could see myself was sort of fascinating, as the dream was being conducted from a close third person POV.

We were in a very dark place encircled with wet, gray rock, like an ancient castle. We were going down a slick, muddy path along the wall as night deepened. A moon was rising. Others were there, but I was defending them. First, I was using a sword. The sword kept changing, something I only noticed in hindsight. It was first a rapier, then a broadsword, finally a claymore.

The ones I was protecting were getting ready to leave. I was going to cover them so they could. My sword was now an automatic pistol.

I was trying to get agreement with them about when they’d go; what signal would they give? Another defender joined me. He and I joked about having three basic plans to defend them: B, N, E. Each letter meant a specific plan, but we weren’t sure what it meant. He and I ended up finding this hilariously funny. But as we joked, we kept looking out, watching for the enemy.

The people we were protecting were less amused from the way they were muttering and their sour expressions. My co-protector said, “Don’t worry. Give the word, and we’ll protect you.”

Dream end.

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Trump Is Doing Great!

Trump is doing so damn good, it’s incredible! Certainly the most amazing thing any of us have ever witness in the history of the entire world.

Yes, Trump is doing great — as long as you ignore a lot of the economy. Prices have gone up since he’s taken over, but inflation is dropping a little. So if you ignore those prices and focus on the declining inflation, Trump is doing great — and so are we!

Except, well — okay, you also need to ignore the July jobs report, and, um, the jobs reports for every month that Trump has been in the Oval Office since January of 2025. Those numbers are not good, but — here’s the good news which you need to focus on — unemployment is still down and a little lower than before. Of course, that’s because there are less people working — but if you just ignore that, the employment picture is rosier than ever!

Although, in order to conclude that Trump is doing great, we will need to forget that he promised no new wars. But those were just words, am I right?

We’ll need to pretend that Trump didn’t attack Iran, driving prices UP FOR EVERYTHING. We’ll also need to adjust our thinking so that it doesn’t look like Iran is dragging us over the coals, or that Trump said the war that isn’t a war which he started in February and claimed would last just a few weeks isn’t going on for over six months and burning through military resources.

Also, to support the reality that Trump is doing great, we’ll need to, ah, ignore the national debt, and how much we’re borrowing to pay that off. I mean, if we start thinking about that! Well — ha, ha — Trump isn’t really doing that great, but if we IGNORE that, then things are SUPER under Trump.

Also, proving how great everything is under Trump — except measles outbreaks — yikes! — which used to be almost eliminated but is now at some kind of high we haven’t seen in decades in the United States — but ignore that, please. Proving how great everything is under Trump, even Trump says it’s going great! He says his poll numbers are really terrific.

His poll numbers certainly are great — well, if you discount over half of the Independent voters, almost all Democrats, and a quarter of Republicans. Also, ignore young voters — three quarters of them disapprove of Trump — and Latino voters, as almost three quarters of them also disapprove of Trump.

Also, umm, over half of mothers with young children disapprove of Trump and the job he’s doing, so don’t talk to them, ha, ha! Along with Gen Z women, who disapprove of Trump more than any other age group! In fact, overall, over sixty percent of women don’t approve of Trump, so…you know…

Other than those small groups, Trump is doing great. And so are we!

I must say, Trump also looks so good — well, if you overlook his apparently obesity — and I wouldn’t want to body shame him — and his posture, skin, and hair — and that wig! — and the way he walks — but let’s not go there. If we overlook all of that, you gotta admit, he looks pretty…um…fair.

For an old, tired, rich white guy.

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There I Was Dream –

In the military again. Young. Off again on some special assignment.

First, I was trying to get there. Mom – the young woman of memory – gave a huge smile and a wave and told me, good luck, I’ll see you later. I was surprised and pleased that she was there to see me off.

A group of us were traveling together. We were each taking our own gear with us. Some of them had lost their gear.

I realized, they put it down in a marshy, muddy area, and their stuff sank. As they moaned and groaned, I told them, I know exactly where it sank, and showed them where to dig. They did and quickly recovered it.

We arrived where we were supposed to be. Outdoors, it was a strange setup: a large semi-circle of people seated at tables. Men and women. Seemed to be civilians, and older. It had been heavily raining and brooding clouds kept it dark.

Parallel and behind the semi-circle of people were our lockers where we were to stow our gear. We were being called out in units. I’d been fully prepared but now – damn it, I couldn’t find some of my gear. I also discovered, and then recalled, oh, yes, “I need to order a new phone.”

A little panicked, I was scrambling to get the right gear. Like, how the hell did that happen?

I noticed many others were in the same mode, alleviating some of my worries. I then managed to find the needed gear except –

Underwear. Where the hell was my underwear?

I knew I packed it but I couldn’t find it, and everything was getting muddy.

Dream end

0

Another Military Dream – Almost

I wasn’t in the military. Young again, I discovered that I’d volunteered to do something. Many others had volunteered. We were waiting for the results.

While doing that, we went into a chowhall. The place seemed chaotically organized. I decided to fix a burrito. I managed to get a plate, tortilla, beans, rice, but then could find nothing else. I was watching people select other foods but none of those foods were familiar. I eventually found some corn chips. Crunching them up, I added them to my burrito and ate it. It was not very satisfying.

An announcement was then made. I, along with others, had been chosen for a special project. We were being told that it was a great honor and we would do a wonderful job. I have no idea what that was about, although I seemed to understand it in the dream.

We were told that we had new quarters we’d be sharing. Find someplace and stake a claim.

I knew no one else there; in fact, that seemed common: no one knew anyone else. So I’d be bunking with strangers.

I entered what was indicated as available quarters. What I encountered wasn’t what I expected. The walls were painted in bright white. Furnished, it was strangely arranged and organized. Wide, tall, the floor sloped like a meadow. Different rooms were indicated via arched halls. Whole thing reminded me of a hobbit’s place.

I encountered one of the others. A tall, white guy, bald, he was in Air Force dress blues. I gawked at his medals and ribbons; they were a collection unlike any I’d ever seen.

I told him so. Abashed, he replied, “Oh, yes, they rewarded me for being part of some special projects, but they weren’t really anything.” He then explained two of them but I don’t recall those details. One was a huge, blue and white ribbon with a large gold B on it.

Needing to use a restroom, I spotted one ‘down the living room slope’. The bathroom was a small, well lit cave with a rounded entry and door. The bathroom itself was gold and pink. Strings of bright white and gold lights were attached to the arched door frame.

I went in and sat on the commode, then tried to close the door. It would not stay close. We have to fix this, I thought.

A tall, muscular black woman in green shorts and a green top pushed the door in. I told her the room was in use. Never saying anything, she left.

The door remained open. Going out, she called out to the man in the dress uniform, “I can give you three four eight for seven. That should get you there.”

Leaving the room, I did up my clothes and asked in general, “What’s that mean?”

Dream end.  

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The Garbage Can

I was in the living room, doing light exercises and watching the television.

It was 10 PM. The temperature had hit 101.5 F at our house. Now it had dropped to 80. I’d gone around, opening the windows to cool us off.

Strong skunk smells began coming in with the cool air. Cursing, I went around closing the windows I’d opened about ten minutes before.

As I was doing this, my wife came in. “I heard something knock over a garbage can.”

“Our garbage can?” I asked. It’s behind a fence so –

“I don’t know where it was. I think it was on the street.”

Confirming that Papi was safely inside, my wife went to the front door. Picking up a flashlight, I joined her, turning on the porch light and unlocking the door. She did a little start. As I went out, she took hold of my shirt and followed.

I shined the flashlight along the dark street. Sirens were rising. Emergency vehicles raced along the main road about a hundred feet below us.

“See any trashcans?” my wife asked.

“Just that one.” I shone the light on a bulky shape across the street.

“That trashcan has eyes,” my wife said.

“It does,” I agree.

At that point, we knew it was a bear. Black bears are common in our area. Down on all fours, the bear looked about four feet tall at its shoulders. It casually turned and took a few steps toward us.

My wife took a few steps backwards.

I laughed.

The bear disappeared behind some bushes lining the street. “Let’s go in the house,” I suggested.

“Okay.” As we went in, my wife said, “I was ready to give you a quick push and then shuffle backwards into the house.”

I chuckled. “I wasn’t worried. I know I’m faster than you.”

She laughed.

I looked back with the flashlight. The beer loped up the street.

My wife said, “I smell skunk.”

We went inside. I resumed closing the windows.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music — Runnin’ with the Devil

Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, August 4, 2026.

Supposed to get hellishly hot here today. 89 F now, the temperature is expected to go over 100 F. Heat index supposed to magnify the intensity.

Smoke from the fires has floated into our area. Air quality is slowly declining.

Back east, my sister reports that the closing on Mom’s house has slid back to August 14.

Reading the news, checking the weather, I again have “Running with the Devil” by Van Halen playing in the morning mental music stream. Trump is burning down the world. GOP is going along with it. MAGAts cheer him on.

Deteriorating quality of life, weather, rising inequality, increasing costs — who cares as long as Trump is getting his, right? That’s the Republican vision for the United States: protect Trump. Laugh at his ridiculous antics. Pretend that he’s not stealing them blind. Pretend that he’s making life better.

All they need to do is not think too hard about it. Stay in their Trump shells. Blame everyone else, everything else. And when he’s gone?

Well, first, will they accept that he’s dead? Will he become a second Jesus, where they spend their days waiting for him to come back? Will they pretend that he’s alive but being hidden by the deep state.

It’s all possible. GOP and MAGAts are good at pretending. Better at pretending than they are at thinking.

Hope you stay safe and comfortable, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.

Cheers

2

Never Trump

Hard to stomach reading today’s news. An opinion piece cited Trump’s tariffs as his biggest policy failure.

Opinion: Trump’s tariffs are his biggest policy failure

I disagree; I think the war with Iran is Trump’s biggest policy failure. It also completely undermines Trump’s whole philosophy.

Trump came in. Removed generals and military leadership. Then he hired sycophants such as Hegseth to shape military policy and develop strategy.

Screaming, “WOKE! DEI!, Hegseth bludgeoned the established military establishment. Took people who earned promotion off the list because of the color of their skin or their sex, or their political loyalties.

Trump did all of this while scoffing at the military. He declared himself smarter than generals and has repeatedly blasted them.

Trump blasted top military generals as ‘a bunch of dopes and babies’ according to new book

Yet, here we are, mired in a war that Trump started. Trump claimed to have won. Claimed it was already over. Claims it’s not a war.

Yet it’s draining us in multiple ways and exposing Trump and his arrogance. He and his chosen staff thought war was easy. Though it was just a matter of power: who has the biggest military and the most weapons.

And the war continues without a certain end in sight.

As in many other things, Trump was exposed as ignorant and wrong.

Both policies — tariffs and the Iran War — are policy failures, though.

Both are driving increased burdens to the economy and to our citizens. The war, though, also resulted in people being killed, maimed, and injured, and has devastating consequences on the people of another nation.

When I think of things that Trump boasts of as successes and triumphs, I realize that there is nothing that this administration has done that has impressed me. He’s exactly how terrible I thought he’d be, and then some. We as a nation stagger through increasing loops of disasters.

Take our healthcare issues. Rural hospitals are closing. Measles outbreaks are increasing. Healthcare premiums are rising. AI plants are being built, which will increase energy costs and use land, further driving up healthcare costs. Yet Trump pushes to build more AI centers, more data centers. Models say that will worsen the extreme heat problem as well as the water shortage. It’s like WTAF are people thinking?

Instead of real solutions, We the People are offered more political theater as another underqualified Trump nominee moves toward confirmation for a powerful Federal position.

We’re instead subjected to Trump crowing about himself winning a golf tournament. Venting at his staff about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool fiasco.

Distracting us with AI-generated photos of himself as Elvis Presley.

While our nation is at war. While wildfires burn. While extreme heat and drought sweep the nation. While healthcare and affordability problems worsen.

That seems to be okay with MAGAts and the greater GOP, even if the rest of us are angry and disapprove of Trump. As long as Trump and his family keeps getting wealthier and speaking out for them — whatever the fuck that now means to them — they remain happy.

As far as those things falling apart and policy failures, that’s because of other people. It’s not because of Trump.

Never, in their eyes.

Never.

As for me, it will always remain, “Never Trump.”

Never.

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