Nan has a post in which a letter writer reflects about who they are, which is an important component of what’s happening in the United States. It’s an important reminder. We are not terrorists; we are citizens exercising our freedom of speech and our freedom to assemble.
Donald Trump is against freedom of speech. He’s against us exercising our rights. He has explicitly said this.
As more “No Kings” protests are planned in the United States for October 18, 2025, to answer back to our servant, the POTUS known as Donald Trump, he and his people are busy slandering who we are, as noted in Annie’s post.
Donald Trump’s House surrogate, Speaker Mike Johnson, said:
“The Antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all going to gather on the [Washington] Mall [in a] Hate America rally.”
He’s deliberately and falsely conflating threats and groups in order to stir fear in others. That is not who I am. I am not a Marxist. I am not ‘pro-Hamas’. I am a registered Democrat, a United States citizen, and a United States military veteran who served my country, the United States, for more than twenty years.
I detest the lies and slander Speaker keeps making about who I am.
As United States citizens, we know that the President of the United States is not a king or ruler. We know the freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights established by the United States Constitution. Donald Trump, no matter what office he holds, does not have the power to take freedom of speech away.
Speaking at the same meeting, Donald Trump said members of the group “have been very threatening to people, but we’re going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us.”
“We’re going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us.”
Trumps displays his ignorance about our rights and his role as in our republic. He makes it clear that he has no interest in any peaceful resolutions. He’s going to use strongarm tactics and escalate the violence against anyone who opposes him.
That is why he must be opposed. This is why it’s important that we protest. And the best way to protest is to stand up together and raise our voices as part and exercise our rights and freedoms as United States citizens. Find a protest on October 18, 2025 and join us.
Sunda, October 12, 2025. Though we’re still weeks away from Halloween, winter feels like it has its claws into us. Trees still adorn trees but the air is 45 F and just feels friggin’ icy, with heavy clouds maliciously clotting the sunshine. 56 is the foreseen high but I’m dubious about clocking in anywhere close to that. Showers are expected.
The Epstein Shutdown of 2025 continues. I was reading about its impact on farmers in Iowa and Wisconsin. They’re preparing for next year’s activities. As a farmer related, one season ends and you immediately begin planning the next. With the shutdown, the agencies which usually assist them in that process are empty or unresponsive. So next year’s crops are being impacted. That’s Trump/Project 2025 foresight for you.
We’re listening and watching videos which protestors are putting together from Chicago and Portland. Videos show people peacefully protesting when ICE fires on them. ICE agents are often laughing. One protestor said that he overheard agents telling each other, “I don’t know why we’re here.” Yep. Another videographer said that ICE seemed disorganized and lacked leadership and guidance. Not a surprise, given the sloppy manner in which the Trump Regime functions.
Despite a bevy of dreams and some conversations with Papi about the weather, today’s song comes from a convo with the wife. Out shopping, light rain spit down on us. I said something about having an umbrella. She sang some of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” back to me. When the car was started, the song began playing on the radio, which had us laughing at the coincidence. The Neurons got hooked. As I checked the weather outside the window, they returned the song to the morning mental music stream.
My wife mentioned Tom Holland’s performance in a lip-sync battle in which he performed “Umbrella”, so I’ll include that for fun.
Coffee is visiting my body again, lifting me to get out and get stuff done. Like yard work. Cold, wet yardwork. Oh boy! Hope peace and grace are unearthed soon and spread into your life and mine. Here we go. Cheers
TL/DR: Trump lies a lot. So does Speaker Mike Johnson. And they’re wrecking the United States. Also, an explanation of the TLLs.
GOP duplicity and hypocrisy increases. Not surprising, really. Duplicity and hypocrisy are not finite. Tariffs don’t affect their availability. Duplicity and hypocrisy are as cheap and free as words. With the Epstein Shutdown of 2025 diving toward unpopularity reaching MAGA’s levels of hatred for diversity, Trump and the GOP are lying more about it.
BTW, this is Trump’s third government shutdown in less than five years of running the government. Spell that out, Trump has had a government shutdown in three out of five years of governing. Such a weak leader, isn’t he?
Except, we know the Epstein Shutdown isn’t like the others. This shutdown is to, one, distract people from the Epstein files and stop their release so that all the dirt that Trump did with Epstein is kept hidden from the light.
The Smirketeers. Donald Trump, left, with Jeffrey Epstein, second from the right, BFFs.
Perhaps as importantly, the Epstein Shutdown gives cover to the Project 2025 architects, enabling them to orchestrate the MAGA takeover of the Federal government. They want only GOP loyalists in there. Anyone critical of Trump or the anti-Christ known as Charlie Kirk must go! Third, and even more importantly, Trump can barrel through the Constitution and its checks and balances and broaden the cold war he’s conducting against Democrats through Federal funding of projects in blue states and blue cities. It’s all pretty cunning evil, certainly worthy of another Austin Powers movie.
Here’s where the hypocrisy, duplicity, and well, general lying kicks in.
Trump says it’s all the evil Democrats’ fault. Claims, they want funding to give trillions away to illegal immigrants. That’s a bonafide Trump Lie Level 5 lie, or in net shorthand, a TLL5. Trump lies so often and completely, we’ve been forced to develop a scale to discuss his lies.
Going along with Trump’s lie, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Hell) is now praising the Federal government that he so often maligned. From Carl Hulse in the NYTimes.
“You’re talking about women, infants and children who rely upon these supplemental nutrition programs that are now not being funded and being shut down,” Speaker Mike Johnson lamented on the Fox Business Network. “They are affecting FEMA services in the middle of the hurricane season.”
Never mind that Mr. Johnson led Republicans this year in pushing through legislation to slash nutrition assistance programs as part of the party’s marquee tax cut law, or that President Trump has taken an ax to FEMA grants during his first months in office.
In the upside-down political messaging surrounding the shutdown fight, conservative Republicans, usually eager to assail government largess, have transformed themselves into enthusiastic evangelists for federal spending and programs. It is part of a bid by the G.O.P. to maximize the pressure on Democrats, who routinely advocate for government workers and services, to relent in the spending battle.
Speaker Johnson pushes TLL5 lies out there, pretending he cares about people and how the government helps people. Johnson’s actions, as Carl Hulse pointed out, Speaker Johnson has consistently and cruelly demonstrated that he does not give a shit about anyone but Trump and whoever will help keep Trump and the GOP in power as they destroy the United States in all but name.
The truth is the Democrats want the CR being offered to include provisions to stop healthcare premiums from rising. The GOP under the Trump and Johnson tandem put those into effect in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier this year. Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is outraged about it.
We need to vote these liars out of office. Stand up and be heard. Wake up those who are sleeping through the Trump Destruction Machine and what it’s doing to the United States. The longer it takes to wake others up and stop the destruction, the longer it’ll take to rebuild and resume our effort to be a democracy with justice, freedom, and equality for all.
Today is Satyrda, October 11, 2025. Thin sunshine is cutting through the windows around the blinds but it’s 45 F and wet out there. High is pinned at 52 F, but I’ll note that we didn’t get within three degrees of the projected high for yesterday. It remained brrr-y all day. That was then, and this is now, where clouds mix it up with blue sky. The precipitation and cold air brought early snow to Mt. Ashland, a few miles from here, a few thousand feet higher in elevation. We’re also down to
Absolutely beautiful snow covered image of Mt. Ashland from the lodge webcam. This is stunning to see this early in the season. h/t to Ryanweather.com
You know this made me lose my appetite this morning:
I don’t know what Trump has done for Venezuela to help with their democracy. Up here in the United States, we’re chaffing under his military heel as he tries to make the press and everyone else bend the knee to him as the first Dictator of the United States.
Meanwhile, I guess I have to trust the physician, and not my own lying eyes. From Huffpost:
President Donald Trump is in “exceptional health,” his physician said Friday after he underwent a checkup that included lab tests and preventive health assessments at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump spent roughly three hours at the Bethesda, Maryland, hospital earlier Friday for what his doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, called a “scheduled follow-up evaluation” that was a “part of his ongoing health maintenance plan.” While there, Trump also got his yearly flu shot, as well as a COVID-19 booster vaccine.
One, surprised that they mentioned Trump getting a COVID-19 booster vaccine. The Trump Regime regularly rails against it as a Democrat hoax.
Two, Trump doesn’t look healthy. He appears obese, doesn’t move well, and often speaks like he’s half alive. Basically, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it’s an overweight, unhealthy person, and the proclamation that he’s in exceptional health is political theater. Then again, Trump and his minions are caught in lies every day. That is their well-established history. I’m conditioned not to believe a damn word any of them say.
It was an incomplete exam of Trump, though.
Today’s theme music is another dream product. Dream I was with others, worrying about the weather. People began running. I didn’t know why. We were on like a level paved area the size of an airfield, but it was paved in white. Huge mountains surrounded two sides. As I tried figuring out why others were running, an enormous green wave crested the mountains. After a “Holy fuck,” reaction, I scrambled to find somewhere safe. But I didn’t think anywhere would be safe. All that took too long. The wave crashed down. Water engulfed me but it was warm and soothing. I was surprised I was alive, then thought I was holding my breath but then grasped that I was breathing underwater, another WTF moment. Awakening from the dream and thinking about it, the “Iris” line, “You breathe just to know you’re alive,” came to me. The Neurons took note and flooded the morning mental music stream with the Goo Goo Dolls song.
Coffee is rocking the body so I guess it’s time to rock on. Hope peace and grace finds and embraces us, if not this year, than the next. Till then, keep calm and protest on. Cheers
Rain just kicked in here. Dark and gloomy. Feels lifted from a gothic novel. All the blinds are up but sunshine has vacated its post. The rain though, is a comforting background song. Fall is here, the scene outside proclaims. Get used to it.
We will. Then we’ll tire of it, and the great conveyor belt will carry winter to us. We’ll get used to that and tired of that and hit the holidays and a new year and then start looking for spring. It’s almost a tradition.
Papi is tres upset by this weather change. His downcast expression has WTF written large. I tell him, “Stay in, you’ll be happy.” After desultory outdoor expeditions, he agrees and find a space to sleep.
48 F now, we won’t see 60 today. This is Frida, October 20, 2025, in Ashland, Oregon. Ashlandia.
Trump didn’t win the Noble Peace Prize. I am so happy that the deranged bully didn’t win that honor. The prize went to María Corina Machado, from Venezuela, who worked to restore democracy to that nation. Can we get her up here? Trump’s head would explode. And congratulations to María Corina Machado for a well-deserved honor.
Back in ‘Murica, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Hell) spoke, refreshing the impression that he’s an idiot.
“We’re so angry about it,” he told Fox News. “I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I have had it with these people,” the Speaker said, emphatically, of Democrats. “They’re playing games with real people’s lives.”
Yeah, that jackass is angry that the Democrats are not caving and that more voters are realizing that the Epstein Shutdown of 2025 is a Trump GOP gift, a product of the Regime’s Misery Machine. Trump and the GOP control Congress and the Oval Office. The self-proclaimed ‘great negotiator’ can’t make a deal. As Donald J. loudly claimed back before he shut the government down three times, a government shutdown shows a weak president. He’s sitting on three. How weak does that prove him to be?
Personal news from home isn’t good. Mom’s BF, Frank, is in pretty bad shape. Hard to get details through the grapevine. Broken ribs, the hip that was replaced, heart issues, and dementia. What he’s enduring has him acting contrary to who he usually is, and he’s being violent, mean, loud, and angry. They have him restrained to a bed, someone watching him 24/7, and mitts on his hands so he can’t pull out tubes and try to escape. Little sister is pulling duty helping Mom. This is a sister who has two children. One of them lives with her. Her daughter’s BF also resides with them. She’s a grandmother who takes those duties seriously and spends time and money on her grands. She works, exercises, cooks for her family and Mom, and also keeps the books for her husband’s plumbing biz. She’s a dynamo and I’m pleased she’s there to help Mom. Other two sisters apparently have some medical problems of their own. They’re not discussing their issues but they’re not visiting Mom much.
Today’s music arises from a conversation with my orange floof, Papi. The weather has him restless. So I sang, “Lay down Papi,” to him to the tune of “Lay Down Sally” by Eric Clapton. “Lay down Papi. You don’t need go outside. I’m been trying all morning long just to pet you,” is what I sang to the boy. Natch, The Neurons were all over that, pumping “Lay Down Sally” into the morning mental music stream. And yep, that’s “Duck” Dunn on bass in this video.
Coffee is cruising through the alimentary system, delivering its needed cargo. Hope peace and grace pops out soon and visits for a prolonged period. Meanwhile, stay strong. I’ll try doing the same. And away we go. Cheers
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday found that Americans largely disapprove of troops being deployed to U.S. cities when there isn’t an external threat. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans, 58 percent, said the president should only deploy troops to areas of the country facing an external threat, while fewer than 3 in 10 Americans, 25 percent, disagreed with that sentiment.
A plurality of respondents, 48 percent, said they were opposed to a president sending troops to a state if the governor of that state disapproves of such an action. Only 37 percent said a president should be allowed to send troops to a state without the governor’s consent.
The Epstein Shutdown of 2025 continues. Speaker Johnson (R-Hell) continues his very Christian lying. He continues to lie and blame Democrats but he’s been exposed.
The Louisiana Republican looked visibly tense as caller after caller unloaded on him during the rare televised segment on the Washington Journal, the first time a House speaker had taken live questions from voters on the network in 24 years.
The most searing exchange came from “Samantha,” a self-described Republican military mother calling from Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Fighting back tears, she accused Johnson of failing troops and their families as a missed paycheck deadline loomed.
“I’m begging you to pass this legislation,” she said. “My kids could die.”
Samantha said her husband, a veteran with PTSD after two tours in Afghanistan, was struggling to keep their family afloat. “As a Republican, I’m very disappointed in my party, and I’m very disappointed in you,” she continued. “You could stop this. You could be the one to say, ‘Military is getting paid.’ The audacity of someone who makes six figures a year to do this to military families is insane.”
Johnson, maintaining a measured tone, told her he was “so sorry” and “so angry” about her situation—before blaming Senate Democrats for blocking troop funding. “Democrats are the ones preventing you from getting a check,” he said, calling any House vote on a standalone pay bill a “show vote.”
Guess the Trump Bible says nothing about lying.
I’m not surprised by Johnson’s lying. His hero and inspiration consistently lies. CNN has a fact check about the number of lies Trump told in a recent cabinet meeting.
President Donald Trump made numerous false claims during a Cabinet meeting Thursday at the White House – many of them about vaccines.
He wrongly asserted that babies are given 82 vaccines in a single shot (not even close to true). He wrongly asserted that babies are given vaccine doses the size of two glasses of water (a standard dose is a small fraction of a teaspoon). He wrongly asserted that Amish people don’t take vaccines or pills (many do) and don’t have any autism (they do). And he wrongly asserted that the measles vaccine is already given separately from other vaccines (no separate measles shot is available in the US).
Trump was also wildly inaccurate on other subjects.
He again claimed each alleged Venezuelan drug boat kills 25,000 Americans, a number that is plainly absurd. He again used mathematically impossible figures in promising that drug prices will fall by hundreds of percent. He again declared that he had settled seven wars even before the new ceasefire he brokered in Gaza, though his figure includes a war that hasn’t ended and two situations that were not wars during his presidency.
He revived his usual lie that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election he legitimately lost to Joe Biden. And he declared once more that the big domestic policy bill he signed earlier this year includes “no tax on Social Security,” though that’s not what the bill says.
As far as the Epstein Shutdown, we know that’s it first about protecting TACO from the Epstein files contents. Second, Project 2025 needs Trump chaos to distract and give TACO cover to further his ambition to be the first Dictator of the United States, DOTUS. We know stuff is probably in the Epstein file about Trump because TACO is working so hard to deny that he ever really knew his BFF, Jeffrey Epstein, and convince everyone that the Epstein files is a hoax, blaming Democrats, of course.
Trump and Epstein of the Smirketeers.
Meanwhile, the Trump Misery Machine continues to work destruction and misery on the population. Beef prices are at a record high. Trump is pretty mum on the subject. MAGAts will try to pin it on Democrats. But dwindling herds are a problem. Herds have been cut because drought is drying up pastures. Basic supply and demand. But wait, there’s more: Trump’s 76% tariffs on Brazilian beef have contributed to beef shortages and rising prices. NPR reports.
In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued to record a shrinking number of U.S. cattle and calves, forecasting that beef production would decline 4% over this year and another 2% in 2026.
Meanwhile, foreign imports are also down. Brazilian beef faces a 76% tariff. Fears about the screwworm parasite have led the USDA to block livestock from crossing from Mexico to the U.S. to safeguard the nation’s food supply.
It is time to change the channel on Trump and his enablers from Faux and Project 2025. Step out and make your voice heard.
It’s fallish out there in the autumn style. Clouds hug the sky for miles and miles. Bringing darkness and an offer of rain. There’s a chance tomorrow we might do it again.
52 F now, 62 F is the suggested high at almost every oracle. 80% chance of rain. Doesn’t stop Papi from going in and out and out and in. He’s looking for that sunshine’s warm embrace and refuses to believe it’s not there. Now he’s curled up in a chair.
This is Thirstda, October 9, 2025. Winter is coming. So are the holidays.
Read that Trump is to undergo a medical exam. This CBS headline tells it all.
Wouldn’t surprise me to read after the exam, “Why he’s the healthy person the world has ever seen. Such muscles! He’s so lean and fit and active and athletic, he could run a marathon, not just run it, but win.” Such is the Trump Regime that lies and bullshit are their expected output.
My wife and I were in conversation this morning. I finished my end by proclaiming with a laugh, “That’s just my style.”
The Neurons pounced like a kitten on a leaf. “She’s Just My Style” began filling the morning mental music stream. Familiar with it? It’s a 1965 hit in the U.S. by Gary Lewis & the Playboys. I would’ve been nine at its release. But AM radio was in its heyday and so was pop. I won’t hazard a guess how many times I heard that song back in the day. Haven’t heard it in yonks since.
Coffee has made its way through my mouth and esophagus and is engaging with Les Neurons. Hope peace and grace make its way to you and the rest of the world today. Now, hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to write I go. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 