Tag: Donald Trump

Monday’s Theme Music — Moon Man

Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, September 7, 2026.

Our valley will warm back up today. It’s 52 F now but the high is supposed to be in the upper 70s. Sunshine and blue sky are all my vantage offers. Warmer tomorrow, in the low 80s, and low 90s by Wednesday.

It’s Labor Day in the US. Happy Labor Day! Labor Day used to mark the unofficial end of the summer and the start of the autumn and school year when I was growing up. As I moved to other areas, I discovered the school year starting in August as districts frontloaded the school calendar in anticipation of school closures for snow days.

This is one of those holidays Mom enjoyed as family. It usually meant a gathering and cookout. I feel fortunate to have such memories of enjoying life, delicious food, fun company.

For today, there is no cookout. We’re going to friends later for dinner and games. I go on with my normal routines.

Trump launched another part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! last weekend. He’s been making some outrageous claims by changing the names of places, generating AI images, and doing his pathetic little kicks dance. And Trump changed his hair style to some very ugly reviews. He’s even trying to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — again — crowing — again — how great it’ll be, which stirred a lot of mocking about him and his previous claims, and the amount of money Trump has spent trying to fix it.

With all that bad press happening, Trump went to the net and — quick. LOOK — SQUIRREL!

“THE MOON IS OURS”

Yes, that’s Donald Trump, current Oval Office occupant, highest elected position in the land, acting like a cartoon villain.

Just to prove how much of a fool he is, and keep us distracted, Trump also floated changing New Mexico’s name.

Trump Floats Renaming New Mexico as ‘New America,’ Prompting Pushback

I’m sure MAGAzens are chortling, “Look how Trump is owning the libs!” Meanwhile, they’re paying a lot more for food and gas. For example, gas prices on Labor Day 2024 were about $3.29 a gallon. Thanks to Trump, they’re at a record Labor Day high.

Fuel prices at record Labor Day high in US thanks to Iran War and refinery issues

The gas price per gallon US average is $4.14, 32 cents per gallon more than the previous record, set in 2012.

Affordability remains a crisis in the US, Trump’s war with Iran is dragging on — 191 days and counting — he hasn’t released the Epstein files…it’s a long list of failures and broken promises.

That’s the Trump legacy.

That’s the MAGA legacy.

In honor of Trump’s absurdity, my morning mental music stream is gushing with songs about the moon. So many are out there…”Dark Side of the Moon” punched in fast. But I ended up with “Man on the Moon” by R.E.M.

Sample Lyrics

Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Monopoly, twenty-one checkers, and chess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in Heaven if you make the list
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are we losing touch?

If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon

If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool

The 1992 song was a tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman. It’s also about questioning truth, history, and reality, and losing track of these things. It’s a suitable song to reflect what we seem to be seeing from Trump and his long, very public decline.

As always, I wish the best for you and yours on this day as well as every other day.

Cheers

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Your Trump Quote of the Day

Looks like Trump’s War on Iran is going to heat up more as the US attacked and destroyed three Iranian oil tankers.

Nothing like escalating a war to end it! Especially when Trump said the six-month war — or is it seven? — war was over months ago.

Well, I’m sure after all the attacks on Iran so far, Iran will now meekly submit — right? Sure. I have a Trump golf course to sell if you believe that. Based on previous responses, the Iranians will fight back. That’s what tends to happen when you kill and threaten to kill more. People get upset.

On other aspects of this escalation, sinking oil tankers is probably not good for the environment, and will be bad for oil, gas, and diesel prices. Might be bad for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, too, which might be bad for the global supply chain.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Of course, Trump did promise no new wars. Like everything else he does, he’s lying about what he said and meant. Just like when he told his first (and second) wife that he would love them forever and never cheat on them.

Just as he said he would never golf if he won the election because he would be too busy. Yet, We the People have spent over $100,000,000 on Trump’s golfing.

Just think of what We the People could have done to help the poor and sick. But no, Trump wanted to golf. Priorities, am I right?

Trump also claims that this is not a war. He’s just ordering the US Army, Navy, and Air Force to bomb things and kill people in Iran and on Iran ships.

Reading Trump’s quote shows the extent of his delusions. Trump claims ‘we had no equipment’ when he came into office. Sure. Search the net to find out how long it takes to build aircraft carriers like the USS Abraham Lincoln. Years, friends. Does Trump think he just snapped its fingers and ‘lo, there it was?

Likewise, the US military had huge numbers of personnel and armaments in place before Trump arrived. If anything, we’ve seen how Trump’s mismanagement and abuse of our military power is weakening the military.

As proven through the years, though, Trump is a lying idiot who fancies himself an expert on everything.

To the people like MAGAts who went to tear down everything, he’s perfect for the job.

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Friday’s Theme Music — Let’s Do It

Ashland, southern Oregon. Friday, September 4, 2026.

Another wet and cool, springlike late summer early autumn day. *smile* 58 F with light rain and a full load of clouds. Blue sky sometimes peeks out like a shy young kitten, darting back before we can see that’s it really there. Sunshine comes and goes with even greater speed.

Out in the world, it’s another day of sloppy bad news, mostly because Trump and his administration is still in office, along with those spineless enabling Republicans. Like, they’re crowing about how unexpectedly good the jobs report is when it’s well below what is needed. Then there’s the story about the damage done to the Grand Canyon parks in August — and the Trump administration’s stony silence about it.

More stuff happening on the Mom front, too.

There’s one thing after another. On the one hand, these can be written off as ‘that’s life’. Also, perspective is needed that others have it far, far worse.

Perhaps naively, I remain hopeful for all of us. Optimistic. Polls and commentary feed my hope and optimism. Science. Medicine. So I’m going with “I Got A Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas as today’s theme music.

As the song says, “Let’s do it, let’s do it, let’s do it.” Get rid of Trump and his sycophants, minions, and enablers. Let’s return our nation to a responsible course where most of us were at least trying to be tolerant of others unlike ourselves and realize that we are better when we respect and help one another. Let’s build something better, and work with the world to take on the challenges to lift us all into a more egalitarian and safer, freer future.

Cheers

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Your Trump Quote of the Day

The August Jobs Reports was released. More new jobs were unexpectedly added. It wasn’t levels like we saw under President Biden or President Obama, but it was above the norm for Trump’s second term — although still anemic.

Like many Trump watchers, I’m skeptical of these unexpectedly stronger numbers. Trump fired previous people for reporting the numbers as they were, hiring someone who fit his mold. That’s one.

Two, this is the same administration that had Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claim that data centers don’t use much water. Lutnick knows the US is facing water shortages. Data centers are shown to use water but Trump wants them built, as that’s most of the factory construction in the US in 2026.

Then there is Trump Math, where Trump declared that he and his administration were lowering prescription prices by hundreds and thousands of percents — which is not mathematically possible.

Finally, we have Trump’s shifting timeline on the Iran war and Trump on the White House ballroom cost and reasons for building it, Trump’s relationship with Epstein and releasing the Epstein files, Trump’s disastrous attempts to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Trump on how prices ‘are going down’ when they’re going up, Trump’s claims about tariffs not costing consumers — and then suspending some beef tariffs to lower prices — and Trump’s administration skirting laws, norms, and regulations since he entered office. Trump has woven a tapestry of lies, misinformation, fraud, and deception.

Now we’re just expected to accept what he or his administration says? Especially when Trump needs good news as we head into the midterms?

This quote perfectly captures my sentiment.

That quote is from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who works for the Trump government. He made that statement this week on a podcast.

Since Duffy works for Trump, he should know. If he doesn’t trust what the Trump administration is saying, should anyone else?

As Trump said before:

Trump is now the establishment. And hell do anything to hold his power and wealth at your expense.

And that’s what’s been happening.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music — Right

Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, September 2, 2026.

Autumn landed in Ashland. Temperatures dropped. The heat came in. Thunderstorms and rain dominated the afternoon.

It was a hard rain — big silver drops falling in rapid succession. Not Portland or Seattle hard, and certainly not monsoon levels, but hard for us. 56 F now, just short of our 60 degrees high. 99% chance of rain today. Moving the needle a little back toward summer tomorrow, the high will be up to the mid 60s. Meanwhile, I am enjoying this rain.

I surfed the Tangle email this morning. In covering the Roberts Court decision to let Trump keep building the Epstein ballroom, they included a section about what conservatives are saying regarding the decision. They include Matt Margolis in PJ Media. Margolis compared Trump’s White House changes to those done by previous presidents, trying to make it seem like the same thing.

Which it isn’t. In all the instances Margolis cited, Congress was involved in approving the funding and construction. Margolis cites FDR’S swimming pool — oh, look, nobody complained about it! They’re treating Trump unfairly!

But FDR’s pool was built with private donations. And the Congressional Record makes this point explicitly: FDR was willing to accept the gift provided Congress authorized acceptance of it. Congress then passed the resolution.

Did Trump do that with the ballroom? We know the answer to that.

Margolis also wanted to compare Obama move to change the tennis courts to basketball courts, conflating it with $375M being spent and two years of construction. Except the records show the money was appropriated for Congress for a project approved for the Bush administration. President Obama just continued the project. And the basketball court didn’t require two years and millions of dollars. Nor did he destroy part of the White House to have it made.

This is all about Trump Double Standards and how MAGAts and Republicans attempt to justify them. Trump makes a mess of things, cutting down trees, removing art, breaking treaties, disrupting alliances, tearing down the White House, screwing up the economy as well as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, fucking up the military, starting another war in the middle east, trying to rewrite American history, denying rights based on sex, orientation, and hiding Trump’s involvement in the huge Epstein mess. Much of this is happening while the GOP pantomimes see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and gives way to Trump.

Watch how it will turn if the Democrats take control of Congress. Republicans will all suddenly be crying about law and order and precedence. If a Democrat is elected POTUS, the GOP will eagerly clamor for checks and balances. Meanwhile, the Democrats will be the ones fixing the Trump mess. Reverting names to what they were, addressing the rocketing national debt, pushing to address the growing measles outbreaks, coping with inflation. The GOP will demand cuts for the social safety nets but not for the wealthy.

That is their MO.

Meanwhile, Trump is making it clear to Republicans that he only cares about them if he needs them. For the most part, he’s dismissive of them, not willing to spend any campaign funds on them while collecting more — for what?

Today’s song came from thinking “bloody right”, as in that damn irritating US right wing. I’m sure they say similar about the left, Democrats, and Progressives. *smile* Anyway, as I mumbled to myself about the bloody GOP — I watch a lot of Brit and Aussie television — The Neurons powered up “Bloody Well Right” in the morning mental music stream.

Supertramp came out with the song in the early 1970s. (Pause to think, wow, fifty years ago. Unpause.) The song has a sharp anti-authority tone to it.

Sample Lyrics

So you think your schooling is phoney
I guess it’s hard not to agree
You say, “It all depends on money
And who is in your family tree”

Right (right), you’re bloody well right
You got a bloody right to say
Right, you’re bloody well right
You know, you got a right to say

Write your problems down in detail
And take ’em to a higher place
You’ve had your cry, no, I shouldn’t say wail
In the meantime hush your face

Sounds suitable for now.

May purrs of joy fill your ears and good companionship carry you through whatever tribulations you’re enduring.

Cheers

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Trump’s Flawed Thinking

We’ve witness Trump’s flawed thinking and ignorance so many times. Was it when he claimed that one reason the United States won the Revolutionary War was because the colonies took the non-existent airports.

I don’t know. I think that gets edged out by his spurious grasp of how tariffs work, especially who pays for them.

Trump renamed Lake Ontario. In so doing, he cited Constitutional authority.

He does not cite anything in the Constitution for that authority. Basically, show me what statute gives the executive branch that power, and does that statute constitutionally authorize this particular action?

Trump — and the GOP — can’t, because nothing gives Trump that power.

A majority of Americans don’t like the name change, but that’s never stopped Trump; his guiding principle is that only he matters. Otherwise, Trump probably have an overall net disapproval rating in every major poll except those specifically done by Republicans or conservatives; none give Trump more than a +10 approval rating.

Trump employs spurious reasoning for changing the lake’s name in his press release about it:

“As I announced in Executive Order 14172 of January 20, 2025 (Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness), it is the policy of my Administration to recognize the extraordinary contributions of the American people and the rich heritage of our history by naming great natural landmarks for our shared achievements.”

Lake Ontario’s name predates the United States by more than a century. Europeans documented Lake Ontario in 1641; the Declaration of Independence was in 1776, and the United States Constitution wasn’t adopted until 1787. Additionally, the United States recognized and agreed to use the name Lake Ontario in three important documents: The Treaty of Paris (1783), The Treaty of Ghent (1814), and The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.

Things like this aren’t just summarily dismissed to satisfy one arrogant person’s inflated ego. And if you apply Trump’s reasoning, Canada — who owns 52% of Lake Ontario’s coastline — has as much right to change the lake’s name as Trump asserts. In fact, using Trump’s rationale, based on how important oceans are to their history, many nations can just change the name.

But they’re above that. Because they’re not Trump and recognize that rule and order have a place in this modern world.

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Monday’s Theme Music — Lake Ontario

Ashland, southern Oregon. This is it: Monday, August 31, 2026. August’s last day for almost another year.

Autumn is manifesting through leaves changing colors, shorter days, cooler temperatures, and the sun’s angles. We have a blue sky and sunshine right now. 64 F, the air feels fresh and clean. Papi indulged in a short zoom around the yard, clawed up a tree’s bark, and then rolled around in sunshine on the patio and bathed himself. He paused once to give me a look that said, “Are you still there?”

Supposed to hit 89 F today. Rain is presumably on the way later this week. As with many things, we’ll see.

All quiet on the Mom front.

We’re going to the movies this afternoon to see “Coyote vs Acme”. This seems like a fun and natural outcome of the old Roadrunner cartoons. Coyote was always trying to catch the bird, often by using Acme products. The products frequently failed. Now Coyote is suing Acme.

Well, this headline from The New Republic pretty much sums things up:

Trump is a liar. That’s bad. But he’s delusional—and that’s even worse

Trump is painting the Venezuela oil deal as a great thing for the United States and Venezuela. But as details emerge, the deal appears legally shaky because it violates Venezuela’s laws.

Not that laws ever matter to Trump. He forced the deal through to feed his ego and appease his base because he’s desperate. Right now, it’s more of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! to me, an effort to distract everyone from how crappy everything else is going — if you’re not wealthy. If you’re wealthy, well, this K-shaped economy is doing just fine, thank you.

As with everything else about Trump, it’s shady.

So is his ICE campaign to ‘deport’ immigrants. Trump isn’t employing due process in his ICE campaigns.

ICE Arrests Soar as People With No Criminal Record Are Increasingly Targeted

Trump campaigned by promising he would begin by deporting the most violent criminals. But he never claimed that’s where he would stop. Now, people who voted for Trump find themselves in anguish because Trump is deporting their loved ones. Included in the wider, more aggressive crackdown are military members who have their family members being deported.

Reading about it, Laura Berlin began researching and found who profits from this crackdown. She created a website to document this information. Responding to criticism as the Trump administration does, Berlin’s website was labeled ‘a tool for domestic terrorism’.

Facts, truth, history, journalism, free speech. Every day brings more aggressive tactics from Trump to shut them down.

Today’s music is by a Canadian group, Blue Rodeo. I was not familiar with them, but they have a song, “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet”, which they released in 1993. The song features the lyrics, “Watching the snow fall on this cold December night, and out in the middle of Lake Ontario, the same snow is falling on the deep silent water.”

Trump thinks he can magically change things. We the People disagree. So I’m playing this song for Trump.

May this day find you strong and healthy, and you continue to thrive as we move into September of 2026.

Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music — Promises

Ashland, southern Oregon. It’s the next to last day of August – Sunday, August 30, 2026.

Autumn has definitely inserted itself around her. Chilly last night, dropping into the forties. Trees are turning gold and red against a blue velvet sky. Sunshine is expected to lift us from our current temp of 53 degrees F to 86 degrees F.

Mom texted me several times yesterday but I couldn’t understand most of it. She didn’t respond to requests for clarification.

We seem to be on flat loop for political news. That’s not to dismiss or make light of all the news about murders, gun violence, fires, and death going on. I’m just keeping the focus narrow right now.

Trump keeps sending out texts, of course, and does some AI-generated photos of himself with truly famous and important people, trying to revitalize his tired image and poor record by leeching off of others.

Ironically, Trump once leeched off of Epstein’s popularity to boost himself. Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy”. Now he’s trying to hide his relationship with Epstein.

An expert said that Trump’s recent round of texting himself with famous people in AI generated images did real work to displace actual news.

Like, no kidding. We the People call them ‘distractions’. I refer to the entire body of distractions as Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Besides the texts and AI generated images, Trump torn down part of the White House to build a ballroom. Now it’s a mess.

Trump started a war with Iran. That was also to project how tough he was and how powerful the United States is. But Trump has the anti-Midas touch: all which he touches, organizes, or touts quickly diminishes in value. So the US military is now mired in another new Middle East war.

Way to go, Trump.

Besides starting that war, Trump did the Venezuela oil deal. Which…we won’t know what it means until all details are released and time has passed. Trump is talking about how great it is, but that’s what he always does.

Like this economy. Trump says it’s great. But the numbers aren’t great. Beyond rising prices, which are mostly fueled by Trump’s tariffs, his lingering war with Iran, and rising costs associated with climate change and extreme weather, personal bankruptcies are up. So are home foreclosures. Trump is killing the American dream. He’s not worried, though, because he’s enriched himself.

Overall, Trump’s second term legacy can be summed up as lies, delusions, and failures.

And now, a quote about Trump:

Today’s music comes out after thinking — again — about Trump’s many promises and delusions. I think too much about it, to be honest. I do so because he says these things, breaks his promises, and yet MAGAts and the GOP are all, it’s all gone.

Some of the MAGAts support Trump because he’s tearing everything down. That’s what they want: tear it down so we can rebuild. Unfortunately for us, ‘tearing it all down’ in this age will cause huge damage to the world. I guess they have Mad Max fantasies about leaving in a dystopian land…

Anyway, The Neurons ended up inserting a Simple Minds song in my morning mental music stream. “Promised You A Miracle” came out in 1982 and has that 80s techno rock vibe. The lyrics fit now:

Sample Lyrics:

I promised you a miracle
Belief is a beauty thing
Promises, promises
As golden days break wondering

Seems to fit with Trump and the MAGAts, doesn’t it. ‘Belief is a beauty thing’.

May love, peace, and abundance be with you on this and every day.

I’m off for coffee, writing, being. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music – Talking

Saturday, August 29, 2026. Ashland, southern Oregon.

A chilly, cloudy morning. Rumors of rain are trickling around conversations. The sky is mostly blue, hazing toward white and gray as clouds collect. 58 F now, today’s high is expected to top out in the mid 70s.

I’m off to a late posting start because I instead wrote in the novel. Had been thinking about a series of scenes last night. Today, they were just there, so I sat and wrote three thousand words before I did anything except feed the cat.

Mom has responded to my texts about her house and accomplishments by first, thanking me. Her texts then devolved into complaints about how I’m her only child who will talk to her. Then she demanded that I come and visit her. She finished with complaints about the assisted living facility and staff and wished she ‘woke up dead’.

On to news, where it’s here we go again, on the hideous Trump merry-go-round.

A Salon headline kicked things off.

Pete Hegseth’s press crackdown smells like a coverup

Possible cover-ups are in line with the Trump and his administration’s standard functioning. Exhibits offered as evidence:

  • The Epstein files
  • White House ballroom
  • The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
  • Hush money to Stormy Daniels
  • USS Abraham Lincoln

Trump and his cabinet insist that everything is great, but they go through acrobatic gyrations whenever they’re challenged. Threats escalate fast on their end. They blame others and insult whomever questions them. They pull credentials, threaten to sue, bluster on social media, and give hostile interviews in which they insist they’re right and everyone else is wrong.

Meanwhile, Trump’s ideas of democracy, freedom, is fully on display. He clearly doesn’t think much of serving We the People. Just wants the power of the office. Nor does he care much about history, treaties, and laws.

Trump has now announced that he secured ‘majority US control’ of much of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This comes after Trump removed Venezuela’s president by force. We the People who pay attention to history remember how regions around the world evolved into dangerous and unstable regions because nations went in, established themselves as the de facto rulers, and then began plundering their national resources.

The United States has long moved toward away from these policies, pushing for democracy. Success is erratic because it’s a messy process, involving wealthy, power, and people. Additionally, the US continued to secretly use the military or CIA to kill. Trump, though, has escalated it, and is doing so blatantly, oblivious to how these policies affect world opinion of the US.

History has shown, these kind of moves often bite us in the ass. For evidence, just look how things have played out in Iran with US intervention.

Today’s theme music is “You Talk Too Much”. This was a hit for Joe Jones in the early 1960s. I was about five years old when I first started hearing it, I think. A popular song, it achieved a lot of air play. It was also song which Mom sang while doing things around the house. She would also sing it to my sisters and I when we were trying to ask her for something. Frankly, that was very irritating.

Sample Lyrics

You talk too much
You worry me to death
You talk too much
You even worry my pet

You just talk…
Talk too much

You talk about people
That you don’t know
You talk about people
Wherever you go

You just talk…
Talk too much

You talk about people
That you’ve never seen
You talk about people
You can make me scream

The Neurons plugged it into the morning mental music stream in honor of Donald Trump. He talks and texts, often before engaging any brain cells. This week after thinking he can change the name of Lake Ontario with the stroke of a pen, he went on to talk about changing the names of other places in like ways.

What Ding Dong Donnie doesn’t understand, either, is that by having the US flex its powers and just do things on whims, he encourages other strong-armed nations to do the same.

What’s funny, though, is how Ding Dong Donnie doesn’t see what he’s done to the world order. He thinks other nations are jealous of us. He was angry — and probably still is, as he is one who likes to indulge in deep sulking — when other nations refused to participant in his Trumped-up war on Iran. He didn’t understand and doesn’t see that he’s burned so many bridges which were carefully build through years of diplomacy, negotiations, and practices.

I correct myself: more than not understanding, Trump doesn’t care.

Trump’s legacy of ego and failures is stacking into one of the world’s ugliest historic periods. Meanwhile, I wish he would shut up. He’s become like a dog barking all night long without reason.

I wish you the best of the best days in every way which you and I can think of.

Cheers

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