Friday’s Theme Music – Big Time
Frida, October 9, 2026 — Ashland, southern Oregon.
Our hot, summerish streak is holding, with blue skies and sunshine. Clouds are sprinkled across the blue to keep it from being pristine, making the reds, golds, and oranges splash in bright, picturesque ways. Today’s high is 78 but the sun has a strong, sustained warmth.
I haven’t been doing the theme music for a few days. One, busy. Two, I had “Dirty White Boy” by Foreigner stuck in my head, yet, sans clear and apparent reason. The Neurons finally cleared the music out this morning, leaving me with an empty morning mental music stream.
Didn’t take long for reading the political news to fill it.
Don Jr. scrambles to calm furious MAGA voters
Then there was a Digby article which brought home our sense of things with me, my wife, and Donald Trump.
Are Americans Tired Of Being Suckers?
My wife and I received our $90 Trump bribes. Inspired by a friend’s response, we donated our bribes to blue candidates in tight races.
I also received a letter from the IRS. Something about they’ll match my IRA contribution this year. And, if I don’t have an IRA account, I can go to TrumpIRA to set up a high quality, low cost IRA.
My wife and I laughed. “I don’t trust anything with Trump’s name on it,” she said.
I agreed. “The promise of a high-quality, low-cost IRA with Trump’s name attached to it is as meaningful as Trump’s other promises and efforts. Like ‘no new wars’, ‘lower prices on day one’, the ‘Ukraine-Russia war ending immediately, Donald J Trump’s healthcare plans, which went from a plan coming in two weeks to a concept to…nothing.
Expect nothing but greed and broken promises from Trump — even though he claims otherwise.
As Trump likes to claim things, many say that Trump is spiraling. My wife and I think the same, with me adding, “Big time,” as we talked about it.
That invited The Neurons to bring in Peter Gabriel with his song, “Big Time”, from 1986.
Sample Lyrics
The big, big city
I’ll be a big noise
With all the big boys
(So much stuff I will own)
And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church
(Big time)
I’m on my way, I’m making it
(Big time)
Oh, yes!
(Big time)
I’ve got to make it show, yeah
(Big time)
(Big time)
It’s so much larger than life
(Big time)
I’m gonna watch it growing
(Big time)
My parties have all the big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life
Is one big adventure
And always they’re amazed
~snip~
And my heaven will be a big heaven
And I will walk through the front door
(Big time)
I’m on my way, I’m making it
(Big time)
(Big time)
I’ve got to make it show, yeah
(Big time)
(Big time)
It’s so much larger than life
(Big time)
I’m gonna watch it growing
(Big time)
(Big time)
My car is gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
My house gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
My eyes gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
And my mouth
(Big time)
My belly’s gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
And my bank account
(Big time)
Look at my circumstance
(Big time)
And the bulge in my
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big
Big!
This song has a quality that I can easily ascribe to Trump’s thinking.
Hope your day is not spiraling and that you ascend to places where you feel healthy, happy, and comfortable.
Cheers
Donald Trump’s Multi-Thread Approach
We’ve seen enough of Donald Trump to know his approach. He’s used them in business, interpersonal relations, and in politics. We know what to expect.
- Trump begins with lies, misinformation, and exaggeration to establish a position for himself. Facts, data, and history are all distorted or dismissed.
- After Trump repeats his position multiple times, Trump claims that only he can fix it, and talks about how great he is. He’ll often claim that he’s never wrong and that only he can see what’s going on. As part of this, he’ll frequently declare himself an expert, even often saying that he ‘probably knows more than anyone in the world’ about the subject. Anecdotes about others coming to him — often with tears in their eyes — will emerge. These thankful people shake his hand and tell him how great he is, that, “nobody else has ever done this before.”
- In the next stage, Trump makes dire predictions about how bad everything will be if he doesn’t get his way. Along the way, Trump now begins character assassination and name-calling of anyone who criticizes, questions, or opposes him. Others are dumb, stupid, horrible. They’re rapists, murderers, thugs. They come from shit-hole places.
- Trump will then stoke fears with angry tirades — commies, con jobs, hoaxes, woke! They’re taking advantage of you! They’re coming for you! They’re eating your pets, killing your babies, stealing your money, forcing their religion on you, taking your jobs!
- Distractions commence. Trump makes broad proclamations, announces a new project, a new trade agreement, new investments, new peace deals, new factories! He’s renaming something, he stopped another war, we’ve made so much money! Prices are going down, everyone is getting rich!
- Bribes, wheedling, and begging begin. Donald Trump offers money, often characterizing them as dividends. When the money can be found, the promise is fulfilled, such as the $1776 dividend to the military, where the funds were shifted from military housing. Or the more recent $90 Medicare dividend, where money was drawn from the Medicare improvement fund. More often than not, the money is never seen.
If you’ve been paying attention to US political news, you can see how Trump puts them together in his ‘weave’. Trump’s methodology creates a sort of chaos, like a toddler running through a dinner party.
Donald Trump doesn’t understand that many of We the People are as smart or smarter than him. Trump’s magical weave is nothing new to We the People who track what’s going on. His lies and broken promises were bound to catch up with him.
When his lies and cheating caught up with him in business, Donald Trump stiffed contractors and declared bankruptcy.
Trump can’t do those things in his current situation. Instead, he uses the Oval Office’s power to threaten, cajole, attack, and declare emergencies.
But more of We the People are onto his ‘weave’. They know that despite his claims, promises, and lies, prices are not going down, the war in Iran should never have been started and is not over, and that putting his name on more buildings does nothing to improve freedom, democracy, security, or affordability.
Trump’s weave is frayed and falling apart.
Vote Blue in November. It won’t ‘magically’ change things or automatically lower prices, as Trump likes to claim he will do, but it will help temper the whims and arrogance of the authoritarian now in office, Donald J Trump.
Quick Hits on Donald Trump & the 2026 Midterm Elections
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Monday’s Theme Music — Words
Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, October 5, 2026.
Another summery autumn day was upon us, high 80s, thin clouds, blue sky, sun.
Last night’s dream was a short, weird one. My wife has been blowing her nose a lot yesterday, complaining, “I have one nostril which seems like a leaky faucet.” I ended up dreaming that she was blowing her nose. Her snot was coming out like yellow mustard. I then blew my nose in the dream; my tissue ended up looking like a slice of white bread thickly slathered with yellow mustard. I went into the other room and showed her, saying, “I have what you have.”
Had my first BCG wash today. Wasn’t ‘quite’ like I expected in some ways but was otherwise exactly as I expected.
The BCG wash is why I’m late posting today. Had to be there at 1:40. Doing the math, I needed to leave at 1:10. Before leaving, I wanted a three-hour writing session so that needed to begin at 10:10 AM. Ergo, leave the house by ten, which means getting dressed, getting up, getting routines done, etc.
Other things happening threw off that timing. But I was finally there, preparing for the BCG. One thing I immediately noticed was how different it is in medical offices and dentist offices. At the dentist, they provide a picture for you to look at while things are being done to you. Music is playing.
Not so at the medical offices. It’s all medical function, like you, the patient, are barely considered.
I had a good tech and a good nurse, Nurse Chrissy C, who did my procedure. I was told to strip off my pants and underwear, then sat in a chair. A large paper, like a giant paper towel, was spread across me for modesty. A foot rest was raised and the back was leaned back, kind of like a barber’s chair. Then they pulled the paper back and began doing things to my wee willie winkle.
Hibiclense was employed to wash my genitals. Lidocaine was injected to numb my pecker. Brrrr, cold. The tech left and the nurse entered. She explained that they only get two vials of the almost dead tuberculosis bacilli a week and it must be immediately used once it’s mixed. Each vial can be used for three treatments, so three of us are done in parallel at the same time.
I surmised something like that was going on because two other people were called simultaneously at my appointment time. One of these people was a teenager, and the other was a heavy woman in a wheelchair with one foot in a walking boot.
My narrow urethra cropped up, of course. The foley catheter wasn’t going in. “Breath deep and cough for me,” the nurse ordered, which I did multiple times. I explained about my previous experiences with catheters, my narrow urethra, and the kink that vexes everything partway through it.
She got it in, though, pumped out my urine, and then filled it with the treatment. Then I was free to clean up, dress and leave. “Don’t urinate for one to three hours,” she said. Only problem was I was already ready to go — with a bowel movement. Yikes.
Here we go again with Donald Trump. After trying to change voting by mail and raging that it’s ‘inherently corrupt’, Trump has spun 180 degrees.
Trump urges supporters to vote by mail despite fraud claims
Donald J Trump added a bitter word salad to explain his new position:
“They can vote by mail if they want, because we seem to have no choice because a lot of people want to vote by mail, but a lot of very good people also want to vote in-person. You can do either.”
I had “Word Up” playing in my morning mental music stream after seeing some video about Donald Trump making a speech. After that speech, he did that smug, mind-smothering dance of his. That triggered The Neurons into making a connection with “Word Up”.
Sample Lyrics
Wave your hands in the air
Like you don’t care
Glide by the People as they start to look and stare
Do your dance, do your dance, do your dance quick
And that was the connection between what I saw Trump doing — dancing like he doesn’t care, making his MAGAts laugh because he’s one of them — and the 1986 song by Cameo.
Sunday’s Theme Song — Promises
Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, October 4, 2026.
Supposed to be bright, sunny, and hot today, but clouds swamped three fourths of the sky, and sunshine struggled to be seen and felt. Never reached close to the 90 which was forecast, but it’s now 83 F.
Dreamed last night that I was in basic training. When I awoke and saw the date, I realized it was the anniversary of my first enlistment. October 4, 1974, I took my first oath. Twenty years later, I declared done.
I remember that first day. Rainy and overcast. Went in oh dark thirty. Was given a meal voucher for breakfast at a nearby local diner. Then had lunch at the same place with another voucher. We didn’t take off until late that afternoon.
That was my first time in an airplane, too. Flew from West Virginia, where I then lived, to San Antonio, Texas, via some other city.
It was a Friday, too. When we arrived at Lackland AFB, Texas, to begin basic training, we were informed there weren’t enough to make a full flight. We wouldn’t begin training until the following Tuesday, and spent the extended weekend in silence in our civies, waiting to begin.
Yes, welcome to the military. That’s how it was during my entire career: hurry up, then wait, then GO!
I spoke with Mom today. She called so I ended up chatting with her for an hour, just talking about life in the assisted living facility, Heritage Grove, Penn Hills. While I was speaking with her, my wife took a call on the home line and we learned that our friend, Larry, passed away at 3 AM this morning.
Larry was 96, and a military veteran. Obtaining a degree from Purdue via the GI Bill, he ended up as an engineer and an executive in the aerospace industry. After college, he lived and worked most of his life in the Los Angeles, California, area, moving up here to Ashland after retiring. He was married and adopted and raised two children and had two grandchildren. Although staunchly conservative and Republican, he was intelligent, trustworthy, and fun. I’ll miss him.
I read the NYT’s coverage of a 2026 Trump rally. They’re heavy with promise and rituals: attack the Democrats, maybe throw in a commie scare. Lie about multiple things. Donald Trump will use profanity — his fans love it when he uses profanity, because he’s telling it like it is, isn’t he? Trump sometimes claims prices are way down, which probably surprises anyone who regularly shops.
At many stops this year, Trump is begging people to support AI and data center construction. It’s the primary commercial construction now underway. He might claim the US already won against Iran, or he might threaten Iran with more bombing.
What is so sad is that after the many lies Donald Trump has made, and after all the promises that Donald Trump has broken, his brand of chaos, hatred, and bigotry still serve a portion of the Republican party.
Today’s music is by Incubus. The 2011 song, “Promises, Promises” did not come from reading the news. It came instead while listening to my mother talk about the inherent promises made — work hard, save your money, buy a house, raise a familiar — all that American dream debris, will bring you happy closure when you pass away. Mom relates that she and her gang of assisted living friends refer to their new home as jail — three hots and a cot.
I hope you live up to the promises you make, and that others fulfill the promises they make to you.
I also hope that promise and swear to Vote Blue in November, 2026.
Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music — Don’t Look Back
Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, October 3, 2026.
A scorcher of a day is set up. Long stretches of thin white crossing the atmosphere’s bowl, but it’s mostly blue. Dropped to 80 now — a hot 80 — but it was over 90. More of the same is expected tomorrow.
Mom reports she’s feeling better. Played bingo at the assisted living facility and won five games. She seemed relaxed and — risking the chance of jinxing it — happier today.
Meanwhile, my WordPress still isn’t right, just a fly in my pinot noir. On the good news side, my next step in my cancer treatment, the BCG was moved up to this coming Monday. An impatient person, that pleases me. I’m a ‘let’s get this done’ sort of personality.
Reading political and other news, I told myself, don’t look back. Looking back causes me to grit my teeth with pain and anger over what’s happening with our nation, especially so as Donald Trump breaks promise after promises, rages about different things, and lies about almost everything. There’s a lot riding on the upcoming midterms.
Those thoughts encouraged The Neurons to introduce “Don’t Look Back in Anger” into the morning mental music stream. As I hummed the Oasis tune to myself this morning, I was surprised to see an article claiming that it was released 31 years ago. Why it seems like just yesterday!
Then again, it seems like just yesterday that I took my first driving test and got my license. It feels like just yesterday that I as going to the prom, and just yesterday that I was getting ready to play a football game.
Just yesterday seems so close and so far. Maybe I’m going on a long elliptical orbit around my existence. My memories will begin fading and the next thing I know — without knowing — is that I’m living my life all over again, following the orbit already established through agencies outside of my control.
Here’s the Oasis music. May your orbit take you into brighter, happier days and you smile often.
Cheers
A Trump Threefer
We were the beneficiaries of a Trump threefer in yesterday’s news spillage.
A twofer is when you get two for one; with a threefer, well, you can do the math.
Donald Trump is known for telling lies. It’s been hugely documented. This week alone brought evidence of lying a few more times.
‘Like he’s just lying’: Trump supporters in deep-red state have regrets
Trump claims South Korea will invest $50B in Alaska gas pipeline. Not so fast, Korean officials say
He’s also known for trying to bribe people to curry favor. That’s also historically demonstrated.
Finally, Donald Trump is a master of distraction. His attempts to change the narrative via have been ongoing but largely unsuccessful, thanks to modern technology. To Donald Trump’s surprise, modern technology is able to show videos and transcripts with the exact words, date, time, and context when he blustered or lied. I like to file these attempts under the umbrella, Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
As a sign of how desperate Donald Trump is, he gave us three for one yesterday — a lie, a bribe, and a distraction.
For background, the 2026 midterms are coming up in the United States. Democrats are expected to win, largely based on people disapproving of the job Donald Trump is doing and the direction the nation is going.
Donald Trump is desperately aware that’s he doing terrible. Claiming that he’s doing great, Trump grows angry and throws tantrums whenever someone asks about one of the many things not going well. That would include releasing the Epstein files, rising gas and food prices that Trump hasn’t been able to lower, the war in Iran Trump started, the many lies he’s been caught making, and his disastrous attempts to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The other things going terribly under Donald Trump was his attempt to add his name to the Kennedy Center, rising measles outbreaks and measles deaths in the United States, and the surging federal debt.
Besides those things, the other things going poorly for Donald Trump is the growing backlash to AI/data center backlash, multiple court rulings against his plans and tariffs, reported munitions shortages due to Trump’s Iran war, the debacle with the USS Abraham Lincoln, and his poorly attended midterm convention, Trumpapalooza.
Additionally, the things going bad for Donald Trump include anemic job growth, especially when compared to the success which Presidents Biden and Obama had with job growth. Donald Trump is increasingly shown injured, sleeping during meetings, or confused about what’s going on, a bad, bad image for Trump after he pummeled President Biden for being old and sleepy.
Aware of these things, Donald Trump presented his threefer.
Trump promises ‘nearly $100’ to 20M seniors in latest cash giveaway
Yes, another cash giveaway, or shall we call it a bribe?
Donald Trump promised cash giveways before.
- DOGE Dividend (Early 2025): Trump and Elon Musk floated sending 20% of federal budget cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency back to taxpayers as a $5,000 dividend. Never happened.
- Tariff Refund (Late 2025): Donald Trump proposed using incoming import tax revenue to fund direct payments or $2,000 checks for the public. Never happened.
- Repeated Tariff Dividend (2026): Trump again promoted sending cash directly to Americans using projected tariff revenues ahead of formal policy announcements. Never happened.
- The “Trump Dividend” (September 2026): Trump officially unveiled a $5,000 cash payment for adult citizens, conditioned on Republicans maintaining control of Congress in the midterms. Hasn’t happened, and has gained a lot of negative press.
Trump’s announcement about this $100 senior giveaway is another obvious bribe and distraction. But he also lied when he made the announcement. That gives us the threefer!
Donald Trump said the giveaway would, “…help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, which we have already reduced by significant amounts.”
And there’s the lie. Trump Medicare Part B premiums have not been reduced. They’ve gone up, up, up. Anyone paying Part B premiums know this. And it’s easily verifiable by using a search engine on the Internet.
As an aside, that $100 would pay less than half of one month’s Part B premiums.
And BTW, Donald Trump said ‘he’ would be sending ‘nearly $100’ but the White House Fact Sheet puts it at $90.
Donald Trump had Trump lied again.
Those who still believe Trump after this threefer remain the hateful, the ignorant, or the ones who just don’t care about what Donald Trump is doing to this nation.
I guess they share the same values as him.
Friday’s Theme Music — Gigantic
Ashland, southern Oregon — October 2, 2026.
It’s a summery fall day with a spring feel in our area. A thin, waning moon hides behind a screen of nebulous clouds in a bright blue sky. Sunshine splashes off the autumn foliage with eye-watering vividness. We’re at 68 F, on our way to 85.
October always means birthdays in my family. Too many of the people we’d fete have gone through the secret door. But I set up reminders to buy cards during the digital dawn. The reminders come up, reminding me that I need to take them down.
It amuses me that the reminders have survived a succession of computers, laptops, and software updates, yet my regular processes are often maligned or broken. As Laura put it in a comment on my current WordPress issues, “In order to serve us better… (worst phrase in the English language!) …”
Yes, when they tell us, they’re often putting icing on a turd.
No, my WordPress tags do not work today. Hearing that Laura was also a comfort in the ‘it’s-not-just-me’ sense.
As I went through the news headline progressions today, I thought, what a gigantic friggin’ mess the world is becoming. I modified my appraisal a few times. The world has always been a gigantic mess. Usually, though, if we found out we were making the world worse, we would try to fix things. With Donald Trump on the scene, our government actively works to make the gigantic mess an even larger mess.
Which led to my conclusion, Donald Trump is a gigantic jackass.
This headline helped cement that conclusion:
Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes
Most striking here are, well, so many thoughts. Like, it’s Trump weighing new strikes. Said he was a peacemaker. Unifier. Said the war was over. Said it wouldn’t last more than a few weeks. Yes, that Trump.
SMFH
Verifying Trump remains a gigantic liar and ignorant buffoon, I read the story following this headline:
When Trump boasts about donating his presidential salary, be sure to read the fine print
- Trump inflates is salary from $400K to $550K.
- Trump is not the first or only to donate is salary.
- All of this is easily found and verified via the Internet so, WTF is he making these claims?
- Donald Trump is a gigantic jackass.
Which brings us to Your Trump Quote of the Day:
It’s another Trump broken promise, as Trump reported making over $1B while being in office in 2025. That doesn’t include his golf and travel scams.
That brings me to a song by The Pixies, “Gigantic”. The Neurons plugged the song into my morning mental music stream but the song doesn’t really fit. It only connects with my thinking via that one word, gigantic.
Sample Lyrics
[Chorus: Kim Deal & Frank Black]
Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
A big, big love
Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
A big, big love
[Verse 2: Kim Deal]
Lovely legs, they’re a…
What a big black mess, what a hunk of love
He’d walk her every day into a shady place
He’s like the dark, but I’d want him
Nevertheless, I like the song — especially Kim’s voice.
May your day be full of gigantic good news and good times
Cheers
