Tag: budget

Sunday’s Theme Music — Guns, Guns, Guns

Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, September 20, 2026.

We’re sitting on the cusp of autumn at 78 F, anticipating a rise to 90 F, so sunny and blue that you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s the middle of summer.

But the changing leaves on the trees defy that assessment. And the night temperatures have been coming down…cooler…cooler.

Sunset comes more quickly, and sunrise seems to lag.

It’s summer’s end, autumn’s beginning.

Seasons don’t slow Trump down! First, he tells us that he’s built the world’s greatest military, seizing all the credit, as though he conceived and built everything while selecting and training every soldier, marine, sailor, and airman.

Then, while building the White House ballroom on the site of the East Wing that he illegally tore down, he embellished his ballroom dream, declaring it would be ‘drone-proof’ with a drone port, a military installation with snipers.

Now Trump is saying the same thing about the new Arch he wants built.

Trump says new arch will also deploy drones, position snipers and store ammo

Who are all these invaders Trump is fearing that he’s obsessed with adding snipers to everything he builds?

Well, wiser heads suggest that Trump is pitching the security angle because the beautification scam isn’t working any longer.

More cynical people like me like me believe that it’s a three-prong attack on common sense and decency. The reasons include both of the previous reasons, but it’s also another distraction as part of Operation Epic LOOK SQUIRREL!

Trump using the security angle for the arch does make sense; when courts heard about ‘security concerns’ after the Epstein ballroom construction had been halted, they yielded to Trump.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

It’s classic, irritating Trump to me. On the one hand, Trump boasts of building the world’s most powerful military and proposes a huge military budget. On the other hand, he’s reducing the US military power as ‘rifles and pistols’. As if we don’t already have stealth fighters and bombers, ICBMs, space and other space, land, and sea-based weapon systems.

He is ridiculous. So are his supporters, especially those zealots, the MAGAzens.

All this Trump thinking about wars, guns, and shooting provoked Les Neurons to bring JoJo Gunne into the morning mental music stream. The band was named after a Chuck Berry song and the song came out in 1972. No much to the lyrics, to be honest, but it’s upbeat and easy to sing along with.

I hope this is a good day for you, using whatever metrics are meaningful to your life.

Cheers



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Here We Go Again — Your Trump Quotes of the Day

I laughed as soon as I read the headline today:

Trump pledges $5K ‘Trump dividend’ if Republicans hold onto Congress

Bribery: such a classic grifter move: I’ll pay you through the government if you vote to keep and put Republicans in office.

Gosh, has Trump ever made a promise like this before?

Trump Has Repeatedly Promised Payments That Have Yet to Materialize

I’m sure there are some voters out there nodding and saying, “Did you hear? Trump promised us money for our vote. I’m going to vote Republican.”

Meaning, they would need to pretend that Trump is going to follow through on this promise after all his other failed promises. It’s so much easier for Trump to promise more instead of fulfilling all the previous promises. Especially those promises Trump made such as, “I will not golf”, “I will deliver a new healthcare plan”, and “I will start no new wars.”

Or this classic Trump promise:

Over two years later, and we’re waiting for Trump to do what he promised.

Trump is calling this a ‘dividend’. He’s not really explaining how it’ll be paid for. It’s hard to believe that a ‘dividend’ is available when the national debt has surged past $40T, a level never seen before, and shows no signs of slowing.

In the past, Trump has cut programs and services which he didn’t like, labeling these fraud and waste. These were mostly from the regulatory side and the social safety net, like SNAP, healthcare premium subsidies, and childcare assistance. Since Trump has already cut those, what else can be cut? Defense?

I can see why people with little future and little hope, desperate just to make it to the next payday in order to buy gas and food might want to take Trump’s deal. But Trump is the one who create the 2026 affordability crisis. His DOGE cuts, tariffs, and bloated defense budget with its plan to build ‘Trump’ class battleships created this crisis. Trump’s Iran War fueled the crisis by disrupting the global supply chain and pushing gas prices to record levels.

Now, instead of addressing those things, he’s offering a bandage when surgery is needed.

I think Trump is falling back on an old favorite.

We’ll need to wait and see if Trump can buy his way out of another mess, as he tried to do when he paid off Stormy Daniels after Trump had an affair with her.

That worked out so well.

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Satyrdaz Wandering Political Thoughts

Senate Passes Key Funding Bills, Reasserting Power Over Spending

Trump administration targets thousands of programs in funding freeze

Leading the cheer is one of the finest gaslighters in Congress, Sen. Susan Collins.

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Wenzda’s Theme Music

Sunshine, gejer sunshine here. Another sprinter day had landed in Ashlandia. It held quite well yesterday, with the sun pushing us into the mid to upper 50s. 43 F now we’re expectin’ the same today. ‘They’ of the weather seer industry tell us tomorrow will push 70 F. To which I say, ahhhh…

Read the news but meh. The midweek firehose is fully open. Triggering many thoughts. We’re waiting on the budget news from the House and Senate reconciliation. Democrats are expecting the GOTP to attack Medicaid to fund the wealthy’s tax breaks. The GOTP is retorting with indignity, “Lies, lies.” Most claim they’re not going to touch Medicaid but a few of them have been eagerly eyeing it and salivating. PINO Trusk of course is claiming that the GOTP won’t touch it but he’s a known liar so his assurances don’t much matter. Besides, he’s busy golfing.

Flashback moment: Remember back when he first ran for POTUS last decade when Trump said he would be too busy to golf? He’s since gone on to golf more than any other POTUS. Meanwhile, prices rise and the U.S.’s world standing cracks and falls.

Today’s music is by Free. If you guessed it would be “Alright Now”, you’re damn clever. I don’t know why The Neurons parked the 1971 song in my morning mental music stream. Just arrived sans warning as I bubbled the kitchen doing morning bizness. If you’re of a certain age, watching the video of the boys performing will ring with nostalgia. This was rock.

Coffee has stolen into my body’s inner sanctum. Now I’m ready to rock. Hope you rock your day wherever you are and whatever you do. Here we go, in three…two…one…

Cheers

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The Acting Dream

This began as a budget dream.

I was sitting before a bank of computer monitors. Someone working for me said I was going over budget by a million dollars. I wasn’t bothered by that (and was actually amused) but it did need addressed. He told me that he noticed that I was using certain sequences of material in my budget and suggested alternative material available online at a Simpsons website.

Finding a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, I found the website. While we looked at it together, the worker told me that he was surprised that I didn’t know about it. Everybody knew about it. I agreed with him, the info on that website would work for me.

Then he told me that Oliver was looking for me. He said Oliver had an outline of something and he thought I’d be perfect for it. Oliver wanted me to sign up for it.

I went off in search of Oliver. Wandering outside, I crossed a broad, campus-like setting. I was dressed in very casual, loose gym clothes. Everyone else that I encountered were dressed in school uniforms. I suspected that I was going to be upbraided for being in these clothes, but I didn’t care. I was comfortable.

It was late afternoon. Most students were finished with classes and ended in the opposite direction, but some were still being lectured. As I made my way toward the main body, several told me that Oliver was looking for me.

Seeing some white tents, I headed for them, thinking that’s probably where Oliver is. As I encountered others, I stopped to talk. Oliver — who reminded me of Oliver Platt — came up. He told me that he had an outline for me, that I’d be perfect for it, and he needed me to sign up for it. I told him, okay, I’ll sign up. That made Oliver really happy.

I went off, heading back toward my office. I wandered a bit, visiting with other people. Someone came up and told me that Oliver was looking for me. They said that he had something new. I said that I’d already seen Oliver and had signed up for his outline, and that I was going to do it for him. They said, no, this is something else that Oliver is doing.

I went off to find Oliver again. More folks who said Oliver was looking for me because he had something for me were encountered. Oliver then came up. I told him that I’d already agreed to sign up for his outline. Yes, Oliver said, but I have a few other new things. One of these other things was something that I’d need to try out for, but I’d be perfect. I was confused about what Oliver wanted until I realized that he wanted me to act in something for him. He clarified and verified that’s what he wanted.

I was hesitant because I had his other project going on, and my own writing projects. Oliver talked me into agreeing, and after some thought, I decided that I could do his projects (which now, it seemed, were three), and that I could also write. This made Oliver extremely happy. He told others that I’d agreed, and that made others happen. Seeing how happy and excited he and the others were made me happy and existed.

The day was getting late. Oliver, me, and two others went home. Oliver told the other two that he wasn’t cooking dinner for them. He’d been doing all the cooking and was tired of doing that. One of the others said that he had a burrito that he could eat. The other said, okay, he’d find something.

I decided I wasn’t worried about eating. I had many more things to do and wanted to go write because I was going to be very busy and didn’t want to waste time.

The dream ended.

 

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Less Is More

Yes, get ready, friends and family who hate it when I go political. They would rather I don’t, and I try not to, but here we fucking go again – will this carousel ever end? 

The tRump WH Budget Chief, Mick Mulvaney, is singing about how great the tRump budget is. Why, they’re enabling and empowering people by taking money away from their greedy little hands.

Mulvaney added: “We don’t want to measure compassion by the number of programs we have and the number of people on them — true compassion is the number of people we want to try to get off of those programs and get back in charge of their own lives.”

Sure, those people who need the safety net aren’t working because of anything except their own damn weak wills and lazy nature. That’s why they’re poor, hungry and sick, or why they need aid from the rest of us. If they need more money, they should work two or three more jobs while going back to school and getting a better education. Taking away the social net will put them back on their feet!

Yea, verily, I was exposed to that hypocritical crap in the military and corporate life. “We must do more with less!” “We must give one hundred and ten percent!” Yes, tell me, how do you get one hundred and ten percent out of your mind and body? Can you drink one hundred and ten percent of a glass of water? How do you eat one hundred and ten percent of that bowl of soup? You can’t, can you? So, with your logic, tell me, where does that extra magic ten percent come from? Nowhere but your feeble, feeble brain.

Yet, strangely, of course, the wealthy must be given more. Why, giving them more will help them help others more! Funny, how their logic changes when it’s applied to their own class, isn’t it?

Ironically, too, when it comes to military spending, more is better. More military spending gives us greater protection. Why doesn’t the less is better logic work in that situation?

Mulvaney must be a good Christian. Seems like it’s always Christians in this modern era who claim that helping the poor is contrary to the Bible. When searching out more information on the Mick, I found out this about him:

As it turns out, Mulvaney has faced questions regarding his payment (or non-payment, as the case may be) of taxes before. In 2013, a blogger discovered that Mick Mulvaney had owed thousands of dollars in back taxes for as long as five years. The website wonkette.com picked up the story, but it barely made a ripple during the negotiations for raising the debt ceiling.

Mulvaney is nothing if not consistent, advocating for the country not to pay its bills while he neglects paying his own.

Sickening, sickening, sickening. Mulvaney, and the White House administration and the agenda he represents, has no morals, compassion or empathy.

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