Yes, Donald Trump will veto and veto and complain about the Democrats as he does. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, the Democrats will be addressing the ills the voters identified. With Trump vetoing or threatening vetoes, progress will be stalled. However, with Republicans trying to gain ground for 2028, they’ll be forced to work with Dems to improve affordability and the economy or face the voters’ wrath one. More. Time.
Of course, led by Trump loyalists Thune and Jordan, Republicans might ‘stick to their guns’ and cause yet greater pain for people.
Down in the article was a statement which Trump has said before. It’s one of his regular talking points.
Your Donald Trump Quote of the Day:
Let’s look at the history of this.
There was no evidence at all that Iran was anywhere close to having a nuclear weapon it could use against the US. Nor did Donald Trump try to provide any.
While campaigning throughout 2024, Donald Trump constantly assailed high prices and inflation under President Biden, whipping up voter anger while repeatedly claiming that he would lower prices starting on day one.
To summarize all that, Trump made and broke promises and is then surprised that the very anger over high prices and wars which carried him to a win in 2024 still makes people angry in 2026.
A rainy day has followed a rainy night. Temperatures were at 58 F when I went to bed last night. I watched them drop from 54 to 50 in the day’s first few hours after dawn. Sunshine is as rare as Trump telling the truth.
We had a mild scare yesterday. When I went out to the store at about 4:30, the air was strange color and looked either foggy or smoky. It all came about very suddenly. Getting out of the car, I instantly knew that this was smoke. I consulted with the Internet. It informed me that the smoke was coming from fires east of the Cascades. The wind carried the smoke in and an inversion trapped it. All of the smoke dissipated within a few hours.
Reading the news and watching Trump and the GOP, I see that Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is likely to gain substantial use in the coming year.
Whenever news that disturbs or bothers Donald Trump, Trump responds by trying to distract us. In this week’s case, he’s trying to distract everyone from the terrible, horrible, historic ass-whipping the Republicans experienced in the 2026 midterm elections. Trump desperately wants to convince everyone that it has nothing to do with him or his policies.
Trump is going through quite the spin cycle. Acceptance; contrition; anger; accusations of fraud; lies; now he’s onto hypotheticals.
This comparison makes total sense in the fractured world where Trump resides. Trump is extremely jealous of former President Obama’s popularity. Obama is highly and openly regarded as a statesman and speaker while Trump is ridiculed for his word salads, twisted logic, fantasies, and delusions. Polls show President Obama is much more popular with the voters than Donald Trump.
In addition to all of that, people throw other things in Trump’s face: former President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Former President Obama was never impeached and was POTUS when the US finally ‘got’ Osama bin Laden.
Former President also never lost run for the presidency, and won both the Electoral College and popular vote. Donald Trump ran three times, lost once, and never won over fifty percent of the popular vote.
Former President Obama is slender, friendly, charming, intelligent, and often smiles and jokes, traits which Donald Trump clearly lack.
All Donald Trump can do in response to those being pointed out to him is smirk, brag about being rich and a convicted felon, and appearing in the Epstein files more.
Looking ahead to the end of the year and the beginning of next year, Donald Trump is going to have many, many, many reasons for him to invoke Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! and try to distract us from the truth.
Today’s theme music is by Bruce Springsteen. “Don’t Look Back” came out in 2001. I was thinking of a friend this morning and wondering what he’s up to. Been a long time since I’ve seen or heard anything of him.
As part of my recollections about him, I remember that he was a big Bruuuuccce fan. We were in Germany together and went to two Springsteen concerts in the late 1980s. Later on, in California, we connected a bit after we’d both left the service. Visiting him in 2001, he was listening to this song a lot.
So the song ended up in my morning mental music stream alongside what I remember about my friend. The lyrics are another interesting Springsteen composition, but the idea of looking forward and looking back suits my mood today.
Hope that you’re looking back with some satisfaction and looking forward with hope. Have the best day you can.
Salutations and greetings to all the military veterans. Here in the US, it’s Veteran’s Day.
It’s a fine fall day, wealthy with sunlight and enough blue sky to convince you that rain isn’t near. It was 61 F as we drove into Medford and fog and 61 fell to the mid fifties.
Yes, we went to Medford to visit a friend in the hospital and then ate breakfast at some restaurant that gave me a free meal as a Veteran’s Day gift.
It’s a challenging world for my friend and her children. Her husband (their father) died on October 17, 2026, after years of medical challenges. When she had her stroke, she told her son that she didn’t want to go to the hospital. What a moral challenge that was for him. He talked her into going to the hospital but now she’s barely responsive, enduring medical treatments with little chance for ‘recovering’. What will life now be like for her?
Day started though with a wealth of texts from my sisters about Mom. Mom is complaining that another resident gets more attention than her. The target of Mom’s ire is in hospice. Mom is like, well, I want to go into hospice, too, and get more attention and help. The sisters then texted at length about hospice, doctor visits, and medications.
After rushing home, I headed out to meet dear friends to have a beer and entertain one another with political commentary and life anecdotes.
Meanwhile, reflecting on the midterms and Trump’s subsequent behavior, we seem to be mesmerized with how the voting was done, who will lead the Dems, and what’s going on with Trump and the GOP. It’s sort of a dead space as Trump slides into a lame duck suit. He’ll resist being a lame duck but could also well predict that he’s the greatest lame duck ever.
I’m circling something here but I’m drifting to the edge. Part of me is mesmerized by how we cope and explain, seeking understanding and certainty even as doubt assails us.
Part of it is also that I had the song “Hypnotized” by Fleetwood Mac in my morning mental music stream. Jill Dennison wrote about the song shared a video, and The Neurons enjoyed it. The song reflects on reality and illusion, hopes and explanations. We’re always looking for a vehicle to take us somewhere.
Hope you had a solid day of humanating. I don’t think that’s a word but it kind of sort of maybe could be chiseled in to fit.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, November 10, 2026.
Today began with some clouds. Sunshine won for an hour and then fog rolled in. Fifteen minutes later, the fog passed on, leaving us with blue sky flavored patches of clouds. Our temperature scaled the mercury to 69 F before receding to its current 51.
It came through just a short time ago that the Republicans are relying on Jim Jordan and John Thune for ‘leadership’. Which means, they will support Trump and stay the same course that took them crashing through the blue waves.
Trump, as noted in another post, is still floating on clouds of lies, delusions, and faux machismo. After Donald Trump floated ideas about changing his immigration, his MAGA base threw a tantrum. Trump quickly shifted to TACO and reverted to form.
That tells us a lot about how the Republicans, MAGA, and Trump, are planning to play the next two years. They’ll continue their ways, trying hard to obstruct the Dems. Trump and the GOP aren’t going to do anything to improve affordability in the US — especially if the Democrats are sponsoring the legislation.
I’m just floating through days myself right now, hitting medical appointments, adjusting to news, going on with my writing endeavors, living my best life, even if it sometimes feels very mediocre. The Neurons inserted a Modest Mouse tune into my morning mental music stream, “Float On”. Song came out in 2004 and was written about the politics of the time as George W. Bush led the United States into wars with Iraq and Afghanistan based on rumors Dick Cheney floated about WMDs.
Trump is doing his dance once again, singing a weave of lies, blame, and misinformation mesmerized and fooled so many in 2016 and 2024.
That must be qualified. Some were fooled because they weren’t paying attention. They liked Trump’s sound bites about affordability, releasing the Epstein files, and no new wars.
Stalwart MAGAts were not fooled. They knew what Trump was, and they liked it. Trump talks about hating others, and they like that because they hate others, too. Trump also blames the ones he hates for what happens to him, and those stalwarts like that because they like to blame the ones they hate for what has happened to them.
White Evangelicals weren’t (mostly) fooled. They’re interested in a Christian nation, as long as they can re-define Christianity (and American history) in ways that make them feel righteous and justified in hating others and preaching hate.
The wealthy were not fooled, either. They see Trump as a wealthy but useful idiot, cutting regulation, encouraging greed and profiteering as long as they gave him a taste.
Nor were the rock-hard conservatives like the Heritage Foundation fooled. They also saw Donald Trump and his stalwart base as useful tools for breaking the norms and precedents established through 250 years of existence as a nation. They disliked the direction of the country because it was too liberal and progressive, and they really prefer kings and dictators.
Those are the groups who sit in Trump audiences, regurgitating “Lock her up” and “Let’s go, Brandon”, limited in scope about what they’re able or willing to see and accept. Despite the blue wave of the 2026 midterm elections, those are the groups Trump is trying to win over again.
Just watch Donald Trump’s 2026 song and dance.
First: Trump thinks himself very popular. Why, if he was on the ballot, the results would have been very different. Even though all the accepted and respected polls tell Trump that most of the nation dislikes and disapproves of him, he insists otherwise.
Third: Donald Trump is very contrite in an interview. Yes, I went through this yesterday, and some media, as they so frequently did with Trump, tried to humanize and normalize him.
How long did that last? Why, within a few days, Trump was doing his regular dance moves.
Fourth: The midterm elections were stolen!
Gasp! How is that possible! It’s never been claimed before — except, of course, by Trump and MAGAts, people who can’t believe they lost and refuse to accept the evidence right before their eyes.
Donald Trump has declared the Iran war he started as over, effectively over, or won before, and told the world that it would be over in a few weeks when he started the war over eight months ago.
Donald Trump also said he would not start wars, that he would stop war.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Donald Trump also said he never promised he would never start a war.
The next step will be Trump declaring that the economy is doing great! Prices are already coming down! They’re coming down fast! We’re in a golden age. A gaggle of distractions will be released, like this one, trying to change the subject.
Next, we can expect Trump to blame former Presidents Obama and Biden. Why, it’s their fault.
It’s the same ol’ song and dance that Trump was doing in 2015 – lie and blame others. Accept no responsibility. As the blue wave demonstrated in November of 2026, Trump’s song and dance is so yesterday.
A change is needed. The blue wave was the beginning, but a lot of work remains to be done.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Monday, November 9, 2026.
Autumn is clicking in the valley. Changing leaves and falling leaves: we have both! Rain and sunshine, chilly nights and sluggishly warm days? Yes!
It rained this morning. 53 F now, sunshine and dark clouds fence. Rain skirts in and drifts out.
We did our Food & Friends deliveries today, so I’m late posting things. Adding to my tardiness was breakfast out at a local favorite, Brothers.
We’re moving toward winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Came to me this morning as I crossed rooms and noticed how dark everything seemed because clouds were blocking whatever sun managed to clear the mountains.
Thoughts about being in the dark multiplied. As it happens with life, we’re often in the dark, waiting for decisions or see how someone else acts or responds, to health issues to…well, it’s a big list, isn’t it?
We know the Dems are taking over in January. But who will be leading the Dems? We’re in the dark at the moment.
What will happen with the Iran war? In the dark, aren’t we?
And what will Trump do between now and the end of his term? Lot of expectations and predictions based on his past but we’re in the dark. We wait in the dark to see what Trump’s next distraction.
Will prices go down? Will AI take over and build giant robots which become our overlords? In the dark.
And, thanks to Trump and his DOJ, we remain in the dark about exactly what the Epstein files hold.
The Neurons ran with being in the dark, producing “In the Dark” in the morning mental music stream. Billy Squier wrote and performed the song, releasing it in 1981. The lyrics are all about how you might feel in the dark.
The other part of this how woefully Trump is in the dark, deliberately so, about how unpopular he is. His policies are failures for We the People unless you’re among the wealthiest of the people. Then Trump’s policies are just peachy. If you’re wealthy enough that you live off the profits of your stock investments and don’t worry about the costs of things like food, housing, gas, energy, and healthcare, then Trump’s world fully fits your needs.
I hope you find comfort, love, and peace whether you’re in the dark or in the light.
Gotta love that Donald Trump, don’t you? So very, very predictable, always wanting credit for how great he thinks himself, while shedding responsibility like a rattler shedding its skin.
Appearing on CBS’s revamped “60 Minutes”, Trump was contrite about the ICE raids and his anti-immigration policy. “It was too tough. I think it might be too tough,” Donald Trump said.
Before his contrite admission was even aired, Trump promoted Stephen Miller to be his White House Chief of Staff. Miller, who was the primary architect of the immigration policy which might have been ‘too tough’.
Trump makes it sound like, well, gosh, he had little control over it. Because anyone in charge of something can change it, right? Especially if they don’t like how it’s going. And the way that Trump kept framing it, repeatedly insisting that the midterms were lost due to “bad messaging”, doesn’t show that he didn’t like policy; it was the public’s response which bothered him.
And then, Donald Trump promoted the person in charge of it — Stephen Miller — and gave him more power.
How very contrite.
CNN wrote it up as a ‘striking acknowledgement’. Please, Donald Trump acknowledged nothing. Trump merely gave cover to himself, trying to lull people and get them to lower their guard.
A truly contrite person would have said something like, “We’ve already made changes.” Trump didn’t say that, and won’t, because this is just a PR stunt.
Trump also declared that he has no idea that he’s making money or how much he’s making. He doesn’t know what stocks he has…
Yet, Trump was upset with his lawyer’s husband when he made a chunk of millions, mentioning
Just in, more consistently than the sun’s rising and setting, Trump has spun back. Donald Trump originally said that he accepted the elections results. Less than a week later, he’s gone back on what he said.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Donald Trump’s new weave is just like his old weave — misinformation, lies, and fantasies. Diehard MAGAts will eat it up.
The rest of We the People have had our fill. We have learned from watching and listening that Trump makes promises, breaks promises, and goes on, pretending like everything is great as it all falls apart.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Sunday, November 8, 2026.
Drizzly and chilly outside, a beaten gray sky hangs low over Ashland. 54 degrees, it rains off and on, a pattern expected to carry through the high of 60 F. A few remaining shimmering maples are ablaze in red against the misty gray.
Gina (sister) took Mom by the house Friday. The house is Mom’s house. Given the upcoming holiday season, my mind flashes back to past travels and its associated planning. Ten years ago — 2016 — my wife and I would be talking about going back East to see Mom and my sisters in Pittsburgh, then visiting my wife’s mother and sister in West Virginia. We usually flew into Pittsburgh, rented a car, visited a day or two in Pittsburgh, drove down, visited there for several days, and then drove back up to Pittsburgh and spent several more days.
Plans slowly changed. My wife’s mother moved into an assisted living place as her Parkinson’s advanced. Our visits were quiet times sitting with her, waiting for her to speak. We would take her favorite food to her a few times, dinner from Bob Evans. Then she passed and the visits were only to Pittsburgh.
Reflecting on this year’s travel plans, I’m working around my medical issues, and my wife’s RA issues would make cross-country travel a daunting challenge.
Part of these thoughts emerged from a friend’s medical crisis. She lost her husband on October 17, 2026. Thursday, she had a stroke and went to the hospital for a carotid artery stent. Her surgery was Friday morning. She’s been unresponsive since then.
Sorry. I didn’t plan to write a somber post. That’s just what emerged. It’s not unique; millions of people have similar stories about life, family, and change. Experiencing these things in parallel to me, my wife says little about it, but I know she deeply feels the changes and losses. Ultimately, as with almost everything else, we process differently. Neither way is right or wrong, just different.
On the very, very positive side, I have wonderful memories of journeys ‘home’ to visit with Mom and my sisters and their families and will keep feasting on them.
Also emerging were more reflections about the 2026 blue tide. Republicans staying home instead of voting was a significant reason why Democrats strongly prevailed. That’s nothing to count on for future elections, but it certainly repudiates Trump and the GOP’s direction for the company: Republicans couldn’t even hold their noses to vote to keep Republicans in office under Trump.
It seems like Trump is subdued since then. I imagine that a sane person in Donald Trump’s situation would be digging into the post-mortem to discover what went wrong. But Trump always buries his head. Right until he election, he insisted that his approval ratings were great. Since then, he blamed the losses on the candidates, continuing his standard of ignoring truth and reality.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Donald Trump refuses to accept that he was on the ballot, and that’s why Republicans lost. Trump thinks “everyone is profiting” because the stock market is up, completely ignoring the affordability issues caused by rising gas, diesel, oil, food, and healthcare prices.
Just like their leader, Donald Trump, MAGAts are blaming everything rather than looking squarely at the truth and Steve Bannon wants to double down on the failed policies.
With my thoughts of going ‘home’ in the past and Republicans staying home, Les Neurons predictably responded with…a song about home.
The Neurons actually played multiple songs about home in my morning mental music stream. We had Ozzy, Bruce, John Denver, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motley Crue, Simon and Garfunkel all offering songs about being home, hometowns, and going home. It was Home-a-palooza in the head.
I eventually landed on a favorite song by Blind Faith, a 1969 gem called “Can’t Find My Way Home”. I came across this version by Rachel Price and enjoyed it, so I offer it to you.
I ended up on this song because I wondered how the GOP was going to find their way home. Under Trump, they’ve been promoting election deniers and candidates running on hate and deception. The voters rejected so where — or how — will the GOP turn now?
Meanwhile, the Democrats have found a cadre of strong, principled, young candidates, and many won. I’m not going to celebrate too much because holding office change people, as do events. Despite my age, I still can’t see the future.
May you and your family enjoy a wonderful day at home or traveling, whatever works for you, as long as you find solace and joy in what you do.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, November 7, 2026.
Wow, it was a bright and sunny morning this, um, morning. Sunshine blazed across the surviving leaves, giving a gift of beautiful colors. Temperature was in the high 30s but has already jumped to 63 F.
Since those early hours, clouds have hazed the sky’s clarity. Rain might come after sunset.
My sister, Gina, provided an interesting Mom report yesterday. Gina took Mom to another doctor appointment. Hearing of Mom’s constant UTI issues, he asked, “Why do they keep giving her antibiotics that don’t work?” Good question, doc. Put it to your colleagues.
Gina took Mom to McDonald’s afterward for a Big Mac. Mom loves McDonald’s and KFC. Always startled me when she’d inform me, eyes glowing with delight, that we were having KFC for dinner. Regardless of my opinion of it, Gina knew Mom loves it and treated her, which made Mom happy, which is a win.
Thinking about McDonald’s does trigger memories of our first McDonald’s visit. Sometime in the 1960s, Mom took my sisters and I to McDonald’s. We were all a little mystified and skeptical about this new, unusual eatery. But we enjoyed ourselves and the food seemed tasty.
Later, though, returning to the US from some overseas location in the 1980s, I ate at McDonald’s and disliked it. I tried again but either it had changed or my taste buds were changed. I only ate at McDonald’s two more times since then that I remember. Each time, I grimaced and swore never again.
Mom is also finally getting the private room she’s been after since moving into Heritage Grove earlier this year. The price is higher than she was quoted back then. My sisters all weighed in about the costs and the pros and cons of being in a private room, such as socializing. Gina’s contention, and I agree with it, is that we think Mom wants it so Mom will be happier in it. Fingers crossed.
Two songs competed for attention in my morning mental music stream today. One came about after the blue wave emerging from the midterm elections told Trump exactly what We the People think of him and his agenda. The second song came from a news article I read the other day.
The first song is “I’d Love to Change the World” by Ten Years After. Yes, Republicans lost on Tuesday in the US in a large way, but on reflection, we need to consider the rest of the world. Right-wing hate and agendas have emerged in multiple nations. It’s not surprising that in this turbulent period, a song about changing the world would pull The Neuron’s focus. Alvin Lee and Ten Years After came out with the bluesy rock song back in 1971. I was fifteen at the time and invested in social change and hope for a peaceful future, which is probably a weird thing for someone who joined the US Air Force to claim.
“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” is the other song, two really, a medley released by The Fifth Dimension in 1969. The songs emerged from the musical, “Hair”. Their entry into the morning mental music stream was triggered first by that amazing early morning sunshine but its foothold was cemented by an article about “The Age of Aquarius”. From what I read, “The Age of Aquarius” is an astrological concept referring to a cosmic era defined by a shift in global consciousness, technological advancement, and humanitarian focus. It began in 2022 and has to do with where Pluto is and the alignment of planets. It happens about every 250 years and when it last happened, we saw the American and French revolutions.
We’ll see what happens, of course. May you enjoy felicitous weather for whatever you’re trying to accomplish today, along with a little harmony and understanding.
