Tag: Donald Trump

Saturday’s Theme Music – Trump’s Failing Magic

Ashland, Oregon — Saturday, March 7, 2026.

51 F outside, curdling high white clouds clout a diluted blue sky. Today’s high might be 68. The snowbank level is at 39% of average, a worrying portends as we speed toward summer.

In some quick hits, I saw that Target’s new CEO vows to bring customers back to their stores and restore growth and profits. His idea is more fashion, failing to miss the point that Target rolled back DEI and was a quick and early supporter of Trump’s agenda and inauguration.

I don’t know about others but I’m not going to walk into their stores to shop until they restore DEI. Target said it was just a coincident that they were terminating their DEI programs, claiming that they’d already decided to end it before Trump declared his war on DEI.

Some coincidence.

Other quick hits have me musing about the economy. The news is days old that the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. January and December’s numbers were revised downward. January had net growth but lost some of that, while December, which had shown job growth, now showed a contraction of 17,000 jobs.

It doesn’t help that 2025 was the worst year for jobs growth since 2020. Trump was in the White House back in 2020, too. KIn fact, the U.S. had negative jobs ‘growth’ for the first time since 2010. Interestingly, 2025’s job growth total was well below President Biden’s economy, which added over 2,000,000 new jobs in 2024.

Prices continue high and are expected to rise more with the Trump Iran war as gas and oil prices go up. With uncertainty about Trump’s goals and how long the war will last, fears of stockpiling gas and oil might push prices up, as has happened in the past.

This is all ‘older news’ but I bring it up because it shows the continual haphazard way that Trump functions and its deleterious impacts. Many of us who aren’t drinking Trump’s magic potions and don’t agree with Project 2025’s plans and intentions aren’t surprised. We saw the effects that tariffs would have, and we understand the history of mid-east wars on gas and oil prices. We also understood what would happen when Trump broke trade agreements, and nullified or withdraw from alliances.

We also knew that when he claimed to be the peace president and that there would be no new wars, war and military action was inevitable. Trump is a liar and wanted to use the military in his first term but was restrained by seasoned individuals. With those people gone, Trump rushes to war as a salve and distraction against falling approval ratings, a terrible economy, and the Epstein files.

Note, too, that Trump crows about this showing how strong we are. However, true military experts have noted that the United States is running through its inventory of high-tech precision weapons. These are expensive and take time to make. As we’re not on a ‘war footing’, manufacturing has not ramped up to support the current demand levels. That increases our nation’s vulnerability and reduces our safety and security.

In the last quick bit, note that the growing costs of these military costs won’t do anything to help our budget deficit. It’s growing; we’re now projected to pay more in interest than we pay for defense. Staggering.

And again, many of us outside of Trump and the MAGA world saw this coming. They didn’t because they live in a make-believe existence — to our detriment.

Today’s music selection by The Neurons is “Young Lust” by Pink Floyd. Released in 1979 from The Wall album, the song is residing in my morning mental music stream because I got the words wrong when I first heard it.

The song is about Pink, the hero of the album, having sex while he’s touring. The lyrics say, “I need a dirty woman.” Somehow, I heard that as, “I need a magic woman.” So the song came up today because I was contemplating how wrong Trump’s magical thinking is and thought, “He needs a magic woman,” with a laugh. My cheeky Neurons just ran with the mondegreen.

Hope you enjoy the video. Look how young the Floyds look. *smile*

I hope your day is joyous and safe, wherever you roam and whatever you do.

Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Ashland, Oregon – Saturday, February 28, 2026. An uninspiring flat gray tam caps the valley. We’ve reached February’s end and we’re cruising toward spring with 60 F as our high, up from the present 46. Rain is expected.

Our snowbank is at 41% of normal as they label our winter a snow drought. Fingers crossed that nature isn’t finished with the area’s snow deliveries or it’ll be a dry summer — unless that season changes and becomes wet.

Sis reports Mom has a roommate and is not happy. Her new roomie ‘poops on the toilet seat’ and then uses Mom’s wipes to clean up. Apparently, Mom had been settling in and considered herself happy until the roomie arrived.

Sis’s car was rearended yesterday. Nobody was hurt, the damage was mild, and the other driver took full responsibility. But the accident dinged sis’s mood. However, a bouquet of flowers was delivered to her as a four-year anniversary thank you, lifting her spirits again.

My wife and I both seem over our colds at last. Just mild coughing, thin and unproductive, struck this morning. My respiratory system seems clear and my breathing is well.

Looking at the news, I was pleased that the Senate again denied the SAVE Act to pass. The law was aimed to burden voters to provide identification, making it harder to vote. Trump and his allies suggest that it’s to stop voter fraud. Studies have actually shown that there is little voter fraud in national U.S. elections.

Trump and Israel ordered more strikes against Iran, killing more than 80 people. These attacks were part of a campaign to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program. That’s interesting, as Trump claimed attacks he ordered last summer obliterated Iran’s nuclear program.

Last in the news arena, the hypocrisy levels of justice hit new highs this week. Hillary Clinton testified about her ‘relationship’ with Jeffrey Epstein: don’t know him, never met him. Nor is there evidence to the contrary. Melania Trump was photographed with Epstein. Her name appears in emails, an address-book entry, and a 2002 message to Ghislaine Maxwell, along with third-party claims and materials such as photographs and third‑party claims. She has yet to be called to testify.

As usual with these shows, little concerns were expressed about the Epstein files victims.

With this as my backdrop, The Neurons dropped “Thin Lizzy” into the morning mental music stream with “Don’t Believe A Word”. Offering a nice bluesy tone, the song plays with the idea of what’s said to produce results, suggesting, that’s why what’s said can’t be trusted.

Lyrics h/t AZLyrics.com

Don’t believe me if I tell you
That I wrote this song for you
There just might be
Some other silly pretty girl
I’m singing to

Don’t believe a word
For words are so easily spoken
And your heart is just like that promise
Made to be broken

I hope you believe me when I say, I wish you have a joyous and safe, comfortable day. I raise my coffee to you and your prospects.

Cheers

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Lies, Plots, and Obfuscation: Another Year of Trump

The Trump trajectory is pretty much what many of us anticipated, based on his first administration and what he’s often said.

Aggressively going after immigrants, which Trump and his administration always call ‘illegals’ and categorize as criminals, he has swept up U.S. citizens and children. Right now, a 9-year-old child in a detention center wishes she was dead. She’s been locked up for eight months. That’s Trump’s soulless, uncaring nation for you, Evangelicals and all.

Under Trump, ICE killed eight people in 2025-2026.

Affordability remains a huge problem. While promising tax breaks, Trump has done little to address increasing the housing supply, which is the basis for the high housing costs. It’s simple supply and demand.

Not for Trump. Trump instead blames ‘illegals’ for high housing prices. Experts counter with a much more nuanced responses which don’t mention immigrants, no matter what their legal status is. His policies miss the mark because his policies have nothing to do with the issue.

Trump tariffs did not lead to the lower prices he promised for Day One. He did claim credit for doing it:

“Grocery prices, energy prices, airfares, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all coming down, and they’re coming down fast,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech, adding: “We’ve done a hell of a job in 12 months.”

As usual, Trump failed, then lied. Egg prices have dropped but chicken, beef, and coffee prices are up, along with housing, cars, beer, and insurance premiums. We the People know if, if you’re not a MAGA. We feel it.

Trump’s trademark lying continues, aided now by White House officials. One is Johnny MAGA. Johnny MAGA appears to be Wade Garrett, who works in the Trump Administration. When ICE agent Jonathon Ross killed Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota earlier this year, Johnny MAGA rushed fake news out showing the U.S. flag burning, pushing a fake narrative to justify Good’s murder.

We anticipated that Trump would gut the Department of Justice and use it to persecute political opponents. That’s exactly what he’s been doing, going after people who were responsible for investigating Trump and his crimes, including more FBI agents this week.

In 2024, Trump said, “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.”

Now many speculate that Trump is hatching a ‘national emergency’ to stop elections in 2028.

Given who Trump is and his history, there is every reason to worry about the future of our elections.

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False, Exaggerated, Over the Top: Trump’s State of the Union

Donald Trump gave his State of the Union address last night. A political speech, much of it reminded me of one of his campaign rallies. He went on for a while, setting a new record for these things. While he applauded the hockey team, Trump ignored the Epstein victims in the gallery.

Walking away and thinking about Trump’s speech, it strikes me that the speech was heavily geared toward his base and low-information voters. He made sweeping claims and avoided talking about uncomfortable things like the Epstein files, the ICE killings, or the growing measles outbreaks. Trump insists everything is becoming more affordable and we’re in a ‘golden age’.

I don’t see that, and neither do many of my fellow citizens. Although a consumer confidence report showed a slight increase just before Trump’s speech, As AP points out, many components of the index reflect pessimism.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market rose four points to 72, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 13th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.

The NYT approached seven people about Trump’s speech. Two Trump supporters were happy. One said she was happy that he mentioned ending wars, housing costs and his “no tax on tips.”

Trump’s comments about housing costs were about both lowering mortgages to make housing more affordable while hoping housing prices keep going up. Neither actually address the problem of supply. In fact, if housing is more affordable, than with a limited supply, prices will keep climbing, making housing less affordable — especially if mortgages drop, bringing more people into the realm of being a homeowner.

That voter also didn’t specify what wars Trump ended. Trump has been making that claim for months, but facts don’t support his assertions.

Also, the “no tax on tips” is a broad claim. While the bill reduced taxes on tips, there’s a threshold, and the tax break doesn’t apply across the board. Nor does it exempt tips from other existing taxes.

Another voter claimed that Trump ‘brought the receipts’ and gave the speech ‘an A’. In fact, these were more Trump claims — not receipts.

The other five were not impressed. One said Trump sounded dictatorial because Trump said he’d do everything without Congress. Another respondent felt attacked. Others called it ‘one-sided’, ‘ridiculous’, and went into ‘both side-ism’.

Bottom line for Trump: five out of seven voters does not share his view that everything is going great.

Certainly, from my point of view as a child who endured polluted skies and water, everything is not great.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Ashland, Oregon — Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Rainy, 46 F, the day is calm, shiny wet, and gray with a forecast high of 55 F.

Family text messages were almost nonexistent, except for one from sis. Mom has signed the paperwork to remain in the assisted living center for March. Her money is running out, though, so this is another stage of development. Now we wait to see what will unfold.

After checking in on Mom and my sisters, I read Trump’s State of the Union. Trump went into sales mode, framing some facts as being historically great. Chances are, when checked against actual documentation, the claims won’t hold. In a way, this is like radio or television ads making great claims about their product or service but then adds some very fast speech and texts about warnings and exceptions. Trump left the warnings off, though.

I didn’t listen to Trump’s speech. Reading the transcript is draining. He makes such gross exaggerations, grabbing credit when he is due none. Like the Olympic games coming to the United States. Other people worked hard, long hours to make the games come to Los Angeles, and a committee selected LA. Trump glosses over their work as though those individuals did nothing, that it was all due to him.

In the end, it was a typical Trump speech of selling how great everything is, how wonderful he is, how terrible Democrats are. Inside his bubble, he probably thinks it’s all true. His base will respond and love it. Military force, USA, USA! And that Biden! But I’m sure more FAFO is on the way for them.

All this ended up with U2 singing “One” in the morning mental music stream. The Neurons began with the opening lyrics:

Lyrics

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame?

[Bridge]

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on to what you got
When all you got is hurt

Let’s hope that we come together to build something better for all of us, where we can co-exist with other views without thinking of them as an enemy. In other words, a place with peace and grace.

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Trump Fantasies

Donald Trump is scheduled to give a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress tonight. This is an opportunity for him to tout what he’s done and shape messaging ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

It comes at an interesting time. As trends now go, Trump’s popularity is falling. At least 31 Republicans in Congress announced that they’ll retire instead of vying for re-election.

I expect Trump to brag about wars he ended or stopped. I think he’ll talk about how great he thinks the economy is, perhaps even mention beating affordability — a Democratic hoax in his mind — and ‘ending inflation’.

Trump seems to fantasize about what he’s doing, dreaming up a result, then acting like it’s reality. To me, that’s exactly what the video he made of himself as a hockey player winning an Olympic gold medal is all about, along with the video he made before as a superhero.

This also explains why Trump is so terrified of the Epstein files being released that he keeps trying to stall, redact, and distract from it. Like his taxes, the Epstein file will reveal a truth that Trump hides, dashing his fantasies about who he is.

It’s funny, too, in a very sad way. The hockey team won a gold medal as a team. Trump sees himself as achieving success while being part of a team, but never actually acts as a team player.

What I would like to see from Trump’s State of the Union address is an announcement that he’s resigning. I’d him to say he’s retiring from the public eye and, paraphrasing Spiro Agnew, we won’t have Trump to kick around any more.

Since I’m fantasizing this, I think I’ll treat it as reality. It’s a done deal.

And as Trump might say, it’s the most beautiful thing ever.

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Sorting the News

I’m on a tour of political headlines from this week.

Trump continues making news by making statements that are not true. Worse, he builds policies off those claims. Although the United States is not at war with any nation, Trump used the military to attack targets in another country again.

ICE to spend $38.3 billion on detention centers across US, document shows

Cutting Federal spending on social safety net programs, cancer research, and education while building more detention centers really shows ‘put your money where your mouth is.’ In Trump’s case, he’s putting his money on locking people up, not taking care of citizens.

Despite Federal budget cuts, Trump’s national guard deployments cost almost half a billion dollars.

We want names! Keeping with their ‘freedom is not free’ position, Trump’s DHS wants social media companies to provide them with the names of anyone who posts anything anti-ICE. They’re doing it quietly.

Now why would they want that information?

Trump drops brand-new election whopper in riff to troops — invents millions of votes he never got

Trump just goes on and on lying about election results. He keeps insisting he is more popular that he is. Yet, Trump says, “Democrats have gone crazy.”

That article talks about the partial government shutdown as Congress adjourns and elected officials leave D.C. Key in that story, though his how Trump continues to lie about ‘crime in blue cities’. Studies show that simplicity is misleading, that the truth has far more nuance.

Acting more like an absolute ruler than ever, Trump announced that voter IDs will be required for the mid-term elections. Although House Republicans are trying to get that requirement established, it’s not expected to pass in the Senate, meaning that it can’t be signed into law. Trump, though, just insists that it will happen, as if he has the magic right to make it so.

The truth is, a President can’t just make it so. Congress must be involved, and there are tricky obstacles in the Constitution and various amendments would need to be addressed.

Such trivialities as facts and truth don’t seem to hinder Trump. Even as the Reiners’ son was in custody for killing their parents, Trump created a fantasy motive for the double homicides. Trump claimed Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”

Measles cases are rising, food, electricity prices, and other prices like new cars are rising, and optimism is falling.

It’s still only the second month of Trump’s second year. More wine, please.

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Taking Stock: Another Year of Trump

With another year under Trump completed, it’s time to take stock.

I was one of those who predicted that Trump would be aggressive in his immigration policies and against political opponents, and would be detrimental to our nation. I believed Trump’s social, economic, and trade policies would worsen life for people in poverty or needing assistance. And, while there may have been places where the Federal government could have been trimmed, DOGE’s cuts did not address needs or cause and effect.

So, here we sit.

Affordability remains an issue for many places and families, even if Trump and his cabinet claim otherwise.

Plans for more ICE facilities have community leaders across the nation pushing back, worrying about social and economic impacts.

Dealing with flattening revenue streams and running out of surplus funds, local and state taxes and fees are rising to compensate for Federal cutbacks.

Insurance rates and repair costs for personal vehicles are rising. So, too are healthcare premiums and healthcare costs, further eroding spending power for many families and individuals.

Housing prices are high, and Trump says he wants them to go higher.

New car sales dropped in 2025, surprising analysts who thought sales would rise.

Uncertainty among corporations is showing up in job reports. Corporate layoffs touched a level not seen since the 2008 recession. New employment is flat with companies backing off hiring plans. Minority unemployment rose, and disparities widened.

Tourism to the United States is down, affecting the hospitality and tourism industries. It’s uncertain now how proposed Trump policies to request people’s social media history might affect travelers to the United States.

Measles outbreaks continue to rise in the United States. 2025 saw 2,255 cases, the most since 2000. 2026 is expected to be worse.

These patterns culminated in falling consumer confidence in 2025.

None of this surprises me. History and science told me that this is where Donald Trump’s philosophy would lead. The results are catching up with his decisions.

And voters are awakening to the impact.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Tuesday, February 10, 2026, finds Ashland reunited with sunshine. White and grey faintly marble a powerful blue sky with 44 degrees F on the thermometer.

All is not well, as Papi pointed out. Hustling in from outside, he turned and snapped a sharp meow at the wind. Winds are at the evilest of the evil, in the ginger wonder’s opinion. After cleaning the wind off him, he curled up, pacifying his sour mood with a nap.

Hard to think that we’re already ten days into February. 2026 has no speed governor and the days seem like they’re tearing along. It already feels like the month was a year with everything going on. Trump’s hold seems diminished, and that appears reflected in less violence, although his hate remains turned up.

We’re still awaiting many outcomes. The Trump Effect of transforming things to trash has hold of the crypto market and the US dollar is losing value. Part of the White House is literally demolished. The full revelations of Trump’s multiple appearances in the Epstein files is still snaking to the surface.

Yet, the Roberts Court somehow hasn’t announced an announcement about the Trump tariffs legality, even though arguments were heard months ago. It’s almost like they’re stalling.

In hilarious news, Senator Rick Scott, a strong Trump supporter, insisted that US Olympian daring to employ their freedom of speech to criticize the nation should be stripped of their uniform because the United States a ‘beacon of freedom and democracy’. Apparently, what he’s saying hasn’t sunk into the Florida senator’s brain.

And despite the speed of the month, we’re still awaiting the official jobs report, which was due last week.

With all that going on, Trump’s approval ratings are going down like the Titanic. It’s almost like a spell has broken.

And that transports me to today’s music.

The Neurons have “I Put A Spell On You” playing in my morning mental music stream. The song was originally called up in response to a dream about discovering someone had cursed me. As I thought about the day’s news headlines and Trump’s activities, I thought the song fit the need as Tuesday’s theme music. There are several wonderful covers of this song but I’m going with the one which surfaced in my head first, the CCR version.

Once more into the day. I hope that peace and grace bring you fair winds and good news.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

It’s a day of conflicting signals. Friday, February 6, 2026. Ashland began at 37 F at my house. Yesterday was gorgeous, dry as summer, warm as spring. Today has the southern sky hazy with a little gray with blue commanding the remaining vista. Highs will escalate into the mid to upper 60s.

Papi and I enjoyed sunshine in the back. He rolled around in warm grass while I cheered, declining his invitation to join him rolling around. Returning inside, I offered him some of my morning coffee, which he declined with a mild golden-eyed gaze.

I perused the news with a little edge of worry about what might have happened overnight or in the early hours. Yes, there was more bad news.

Trump posted an immature video on his social media account depicting former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. After immediate and widespread criticism, the video was removed and a staffer was blamed.

Unfortunately, I think it undermines Trump’s assertions of being a unifier or peace president. Consistent, emerging patterns keep showing Trump as the opposite of peace and unity. His silence since matters as much as the initial posting, as a unifier would be out front, apologizing and taking responsibility.

Some probably theorize that Trump was trying to reinvigorate his base or that sharing the video was an effort to distract from the growing Epstein noise, or the less than impressive TrumpRx rollout. They may be correct, for all I know. Trump remains opaque and transparent.

The Neurons ended up feeding me “December” by Collective Soul in my morning mental music stream. I sang along, “Don’t scream aloud, don’t think aloud, turn your head, now baby, just spit me out.” A song written out of hope and frustration, it feels like a fitting song for today, after Trump disparaged the Obamas, who offered hope when they loved in the White House.

I hope Friday finds you safe and healthy. May peace and grace hold and carry you.

Cheers

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