Sundaz Theme Music
Sunday, January 18, 2026, commenced as an extension of Friday and Saturday’s weather in Ashland. Dry, air stagnation continues from an inversion layer, making air unhealthy by trapping particles. Although now in the 30s to 40s — 32 degrees F at my house — blue sky and sunshine promise another venture into the sixties today.
Meaning temperatures in the 60s, of course, not the famous years of demonstrations, civil unrest, hippies, and war in the United States, the 1960s. Wait; that 60s may be coming, too, the way I.C.E. violently attacks We the People and Trump escalates military power to bully other nations.
As a 1960s teen, I watched confrontations between protestors and the Federal government on the television nightly news. Now, in 2026, I’m watching the news from Minnesota.
Minnesota has become the focal point of ICE tension in 2026. Trump ordered U.S. military troops in Alaska to be ready for deployment to Minnesota. Minnesota has National Guard ready in response to the ongoing unrest tied to ICE enforcement in Minneapolis.
That’s an interesting inversion of the 1960s, when state governments used national guard units to enforce segregation. Presidents Eisenhower (Republican) and Kennedy (Democrat) responded by Federalizing the national guard or sending in military troops to enforce court rulings.
Back in the 1960s, the perception was that states were resisting change and wanted to continue treating Blacks as lessor individuals, with fewer rights.
Now, Trump is trying to treat anyone who doesn’t support him and his policies as lessor individuals, with fewer rights, and using ICE to bully people into submission. Then, as now, race and power were key issues.
It’s not overly surprising. Progress is uneven. A relatively young nation — just 250 years old — the United States is still adjusting to this whole idea of We the People, with freedom, justice, and equality for all.
It’s a classic situation. Who has the most rights, Federal government, state government, or We the People? Trump’s posture is usually, “The State is Me, and I have the power.” He also claims that We the People gave him the power when he won the support to be POTUS, completely warping the concept that he’s the people’s servant.
After the morning news scan, The Neurons offer Dropkick Murphys and “Citizen I.C.E.” in the morning mental music stream. Not my usual genre, so I wasn’t familiar with the song, learning of it through Crooks & Liars. Watching the Minneapolis crucible to see what happens today, “Citizen I.C.E.” emerges as a worthy theme song.
May your day satisfy your needs today and start an upward trend of good things happening for you. I’m going to address my needs with a little coffee now, if you don’t mind. Cheers
“Standing Beside Her: Confronting ICE in the Heartland”
Protests against ICE swept across the United States last weekend. Many citizens filled the streets and lined sidewalks to protest ICE’s policies and deployments.
Those ICE policies and deployments led to escalated violence. The most shocking violence occurred when ICE agent Ross killed Renee Nicole Good, unarmed and in her car, in Minneapolis a few days into 2026.
This week, another report emerges of ICE agents threatening U.S. citizens. This is the story of Pastor Kenny Callaghan of Minnesota.
White and gay, Pastor Callaghan was standing with protestors a few days ago when an ICE agent confronted him. Pastor Callaghan told his story to news reporters.
Rev. Kenny Callaghan is the senior pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis. He was driving to work on the morning of Jan. 7 when he saw a large crowd on Portland Avenue.
Callaghan said he parked his car and walked three blocks toward the crowd and saw several ICE agents. At the time, Callaghan didn’t know why agents were there, but saw agents approach a Hispanic woman, so he went to stand beside her.
He heard her tell agents she wasn’t afraid of them. Then, he said there was a wave of energy. It was the news of Renee Good’s death.
“I welled up in energy, even more energy than I had, and I said at that time toward those ICE agents approaching this young Hispanic woman, ‘take me, take me instead of her, I am not afraid of you either’,” he said.
Callaghan said an ICE agent approached him and asked him to repeat what he said.
“I said I am not afraid and then they pointed a gun in my face, and the crowd was chanting louder and louder, they were also chanting at this time, ‘we are not afraid, we are not afraid.’ ICE put handcuffs on my hands and put me in a black SUV,” Callaghan said.
He said while he was handcuffed in the car, ICE agents approached him a few times, asking if he was scared, and he repeatedly said no. Callaghan said ICE agents then asked him for his ID and cellphone. He asked if he was being arrested, and then he said ICE slammed the door and walked away.
“A few moments later, they came back and they said, ‘Are you afraid yet?’ and I said ‘no,’ and then they said it ‘Well, you’re White. You wouldn’t be fun anyway.’ And then I was shocked because if I hadn’t seen enough, it was then that I knew that this staging that these ICE raids are really about fear and intimidation,” he said.
Many observers agree that Pastor Callaghan is right. Trump’s ICE policies aren’t about making America great again, immigrants, whether they’re illegal or not. ICE’s tactics are about threatening Americans to do as they say, or else.
For many of us, Trump’s ICE policies aren’t a surprise. Reports from Defense Secretary Esper emerged that Trump asked about shooting protestors in Trump’s first term. During that same period, Trump also suggested invoking the Insurrection Act as justification to send tens of thousands of soldiers to deal with protestors.
Since taking office in 2025, Trump increased ICE’s budget and role. He sent ICE agents into cities on missions to round up illegal immigrants but also sent National Guard units into multiple U.S. cities. Established in 2003, ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Under Trump, the agency is now violently confronting U.S. citizens far from our borders. The people they’re stopping are not immigrants and ICE agents often do not identify themselves.
Tell me, are you afraid yet?
Mundaz Theme Music
Munda, January 12, 2026, arrived in Ashland with little fanfare but plenty of cold.
I’m suspicious again of technology and weather forecasts. My weather system told me it was 30 degrees F last night when Alexa shared, 41 degrees F, with a low of 36. I provided feedback. Today, she is closer to my system, which says it’s 25 F outside. Sunny, hard frost coats part of the ground white under a sprawling blue sky.
Circumstances shorten this morning’s post as it’s our morning to deliver Food & Friends. This program delivers prepared meals from state and local agencies to people in need.
Before racing off to deliver meals, I do want to note how heartened I was that so many people protested Trump and demonstrate against ICE. More de-ICEing is needed, given the wanton way they arbitrarily act as judge, jury, and executioner.
So, in honor of those standing against them, or those, like Renee Good — dying while exercising her rights and freedoms as a citizen — I present today’s theme music.
Neil Young first offered us “Rockin’ in the Free World” in 1989 in response to the politics of that era, which included the Cold War. I think what we’re seeing now is worse in the U.S. I hope more people stand up to keep us in a free world.
May peace and grace be with you today and every day as we move forward. Cheers
Thirstdaz Theme Music
I’m working through tendrils of a new day, a new month, and a new year. Not much of it taxes me yet, but we’re only nine hours into it in Ashland.
Winter continues its weather games. Today, Thirstda, January 1, 2026, brings rain and a leaden, swollen sky. Winds whisper, howl, and moan. Temperatures around town reportedly range of 46 degrees F to 53. My house says it’s 51. Today’s high will be…51.
I posted news of Dad’s passing on Facebook and heard from many, including military peers, corporation co-workers, fellow writers-in-struggling, and friends on other continents. Comfort and thankfulness rose in me for so many taking the time from their lives to comment.
I’ve accepted Dad’s death on at least the surface. Flashes of not being able to speak or visit with him slide like gentle waves through my thoughts. Some tears fell yesterday. Today, I’m remembering him with fondness, chuckling and laughing at memories of how he smiled, laughed, and spoke.
As for the new year and month, I’m uncertain of what to expect. Last year was a ride on a cantankerous bear. Too many Trump and GOP actions dismayed my core. That core holds beliefs that We the People are supposed to have a voice in our government; that laws will be followed and enforced; that everyone is equal and deserves freedom and respect. Actions such as Trump’s rants about hoaxes, fake news, Democratic scum, and ICE rounding up people without due process all undermine my hopes.
I’ll continue voting, protesting, and writing about how Trump is conducting business. And I’ll keep trying to nurture hope and optimism that we’ll see a shift toward my hopeful vision of progress and democracy.
Here’s today’s music: “God Gave Rock and Roll to You”. The 1973 song was written by Russ Ballard. Ballard was in Argent at the time, so Argent performed and released it.
I suspect The Neurons planted the song in the morning mental music stream because I was thinking about working hard on the novel-in-progress, and the need to keep editing it. The song reflects those sentiments on one stanza:
Lyrics (h/t to Genius.com)
If you wanna be a singer or play guitar
Man, you’ve gotta sweat, or you won’t get far
‘Cause it’s never too late to work nine to five
And if you’re young, then you’ll never be old
Music can make your dreams unfold
How good it feels to be alive
Coffee is served again. May peace and grace find you and guide you along a hopeful path in the new year. Cheers
Thirstaz Wandering Political Thoughts
I might come across as pessimistic and resigned in many of my posts when I address this era of politics.
Yep, I do feel it’s another bad time for the United States. We have been through stuff like this before. This period feels like it’s reaching a crises.
Trump, bankrupt of morals, ethics-challenged, ignorant of history, and an unrepentant, pathological liar and narcissist, occupies the Gold Room (formerly known as the Oval Office) in the building formerly known as the White House. Enabled, inspired, and goaded by boot lickers draping their tongues over his shoes and sticking their heads up his ass, Trump is on a Make America Trash campaign. He’s abetted by a covey of almost covert right-wingers who are frequently members of the Heritage Foundation. Those right-wing cretins created the horrendous plan called Project 2025. Basically, they’re trying to re-write history, dismantle the government except for the military and a national police force, and abort We the People’s rights and freedoms.
It does not help that some members of Congress on the right willingly abrogate their responsibilities as defined by the U.S. Constitution to act as a check on the office and activities of the President of the United States. Nor does it help that the Supreme Court is eagerly stepping up to advance a right-wing agenda. But that’s where we’re at.
The right-wing’s history rewrite is all about telling us how great whites are. Especially white men. Particularly white rich men. Especially if they call themselves ‘Christians’. Doesn’t matter to them if these are small ‘c’ christians. They’re okay with Christians who use Christ as their moral compass and then turn 180 degrees from what he preached. Divorce and remarry, lie and cheat on your family, business, and country, turn away from the sick and poor — and even attack them because they’re not white and wealthy — they’re good with all that, so long as you call yourself a Christian and vote for other such Christians.
The rest of us aren’t good with that, though. We, the rest, don’t really categorize ourselves as white, male, or Christian. We do believe in helping one another, basically doing so to alleviate others’ suffering and misfortune. We also like to pay attention to and learn from history so mistakes aren’t repeated. Most of us, I think, believe in the general principle that we’re healthier, stronger, and better people by helping one another. And having healthier, stronger, and better people is accomplished through education and cooperation, along with equal freedom and justice. To that end, if you’re a human, you’re a part of us. We believe we’re all in this together.
That also means we recognize that your culture matters. So does your history and your individual identity and all the traits and differences that make you and me unique as individuals. We’re going to treat you like us and want you to do the same.
The right-wing disparages this as ‘woke’. They label it as DEI.
DEI and woke are horrible, offensive ideas to the right-wing. They prefer wealthy, male, white, and Christian. They tell us by deed and action, “Just keep that ‘woke’ stuff about freedom and equality to yourselves, you damn libruls.”
And that’s one of the problems for the right-wing and grandiose plans to rule the world. They think they’re stronger as individuals than we are as a group. They think that we can be sufficiently distracted that we don’t see what they’re doing. They think that our principles can be bought via bribes, goods, and special rights and privileges.
This is a problem for the right.
These Heritage Foundation people, these Neocons and Teabaggers, these Project 2025 and PNAC folks all know and understand that when We the People reached out to others and they reached out to us, we became friends, admirers, and supporters. We found common problems and worked to find common solutions, things that work for all of us. Yes, compromises were sometimes required, and that can often be a challenge. But we learned that when all of us pull together, when we work together, when we stand together, we can make great things happen.
That was the promise of the ‘left’, which isn’t actually that left in the United States, for the last fifty years plus. We made progress. We advanced. We prospered. More or less.
No, it wasn’t a rising tide for all. It wasn’t without stumbles.
Stumbles are expected. You don’t give up when you stumble and fall. You ask yourself, WTF just happened? You figure out why you fell and then try again without falling. And when we see others falling, we reach out and try to catch them and keep them from falling.
That’s why I’m so disappointed in Trump and MAGA, and the right-wing in general. They’re trying to change all that we’ve learned, not just as United States citizens, but as humans. They’re trying to usurp and bury all the ways in which we advanced.
I really don’t think their approach will work. Humans have experienced thousands of years of warfare and strife. We’ve endured kings, queens, dictators, and autocrats. We’ve seen how all those things undermine our civilization. And we’ve seen what can happen when we work and play together and try to avoid war and keep kings, queens, dictators from taking over.
And guess what? We think it’s a better idea that we’re ruling ourselves and not at war.
That’s why we’ll keep resisting Trump, the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, Neocons, etc. Our vision of rights, freedom, education, prosperity, and good health for all of us regardless of who we and they are is more powerful than their vision of greed and privilege.
Even if they call themselves Christian.
Sundaz Wandering Political Thoughts
The Trump Regime announced its foreign policy during this past week, quietly dumping it .
Donald Trump’s bleak, incoherent foreign-policy strategy
Trump’s security strategy slams European allies and asserts U.S. power in the Americas
Anyone who has been paying attention notices that Trump is pretty okay with Russia and is eager to abandon established international protections and orders. The Trump Corollary pretty well spells that out.
Several things are made much clearer for me now.
- The Trump Regime, embraced and empowered by the Heritage Foundation and IAW Project 2025, has decided that the only elected political office that matters is the presidency.
- They’re pulling hard on the unitary executive theory. The POTUS can do whatever he wants so long as he declares it as a threat to the United States.
- Reinforced by the Roberts Court shadow docket, they are confident that this will advance with little challenge.
- Trump and his minions will employ the United States’ military power and reach to do whatever they want.
- This is along the lines of Russia’s thinking. It’s basically an imperial “we’re bigger than you” attitude, so go screw yourself.
- Bombing ships and killing the people onboard was their deliberate statement that the Trump Regime thinks it can and will get away with it.
- They believe the POTUS is bigger than history and law, whether it’s national or international.
- POTUS makes policy and executes wars as he sees fit, in the Trump Regime’s opinion.
- The boat bombings of 2025 were a test as well as a statement to see how everyone else reacted.
- That the attacks are illegal and horrid and counter to law doesn’t affect the Trump Regime at all.
- That they’re purportedly Venezuelan boats and citizens have everything to do with fossil fuels and Venezuela’s reserves, and nothing to do with whether drugs are onboard and destined for the United States.
- The target and efforts were perfect test scenarios for them after they first flexed military power by bombing Iran under the guise of protecting Israel.
- The Trump Regime is aware of blowback from previous efforts to bully other nations and/or conduct regime change.
- That’s one reason why they’re shutting down inroads and making the U.S. hostile to people coming to our nation.
- By aggressively doing so and making migrants, immigrants, tourists, and foreigners less prevalent among our population, they can more easily keep tabs and more heavily surveil them when they’re here, and more swiftly and ruthlessly come down on them. In their minds, that probably equates to being less susceptible to terrorist activities.
- They’re discounting what could happen to U.S. bases and corporations doing business outside of the United State, or what can happen to tourists beyond our borders. It’s another amazing example of how they think with blinders on. They think the threat of military retaliation will keep U.S. businesses and citizens safe in other nations.
- That’s part of their ‘obey or else’ doctrine as Trump has warned others several times.
- The Trump Regime is encouraged by how NATO and others responded to Russian aggression.
- Trump’s economic policies completely align with the Trump Corollary.
- Trump claims that he wants to return manufacturing to the United States. That’s clearly just another promise to satisfy his base.
- By breaking trade agreements and increasing tariffs, the Trump Regime has slowed the flow of goods to the United States.
- Via this slowdown and tariffs, the Trump Regime can now manipulate what materials enter the country, affecting food supplies, consumer goods, manufacturing, construction, and prices. This becomes another weapon for Trump to coerce cooperation from states, businesses, and people.
- Putting U.S. national guard units in ‘blue’ cities along with attacks on the media and the persecution of his political enemies is a deliberate and orchestrated Trump Regime three-pronged strategy.
- Their goals are clearly to mute criticism of Trump and his policies.
- The strategy permits the regime to control the flow of information and to have boots on the crowd to quell public protests and outcry.
- The Trump Regime knows that’s coming. Trump might not know of increasing unpopularity of him and his policies but his regime knows, are they’re expecting it to grow worse, and are planning against it.
- Dismantling the Department of Education and shifting focus from public education to private schools empowers the Trump Regime.
- The Trump Regime is basically following the old communist game plan. Teach them young, and teach only the ‘facts’ which the Regime wants the young to hear.
- This practice creates an easily malleable young population, perfect for expanding military forces.
- The icing on the strategy is ICE.
- By establishing and heavily funding a huge paramilitary organization, the Trump Regime has created a de facto national police force.
- They can then use that ICE force to curtail and restrict travel and enforce curfews in the name of ‘national emergencies’.
- Trump, as POTUS, can declare a national emergency at will. Given the nature of the GOP-dominated Congress, Congress would only make mewling noises about it.
- That would leave relief about Trump’s declared emergencies to the judicial system, where the Trump-friendly Roberts Court rules.
Can anyone say Iron Curtain? Through the ‘Trump Corollary’ and the Trump Regime’s already well-established practices, this administration is creating the Trump Wall. They, with ‘they’ defined as the primarily white fascist Christians of Trump’s base and the oligarchs courting Trump’s favor, believe that this policy will make the United States stronger and more successful by isolating it and using its military power to bully others. It completely discounts twentieth and twenty-first economic, cultural, political, and military history. It also belies the truth about how the United States advanced through education, opportunity, and international military, diplomatic, and economic cooperation. But remember that those successes and advances were often done when Democrats were in charge. This Trump Corollary is a reactionary throwback to a far different time, one well before computers and the vast technological communications systems that now exist.
The Trump Regime is on that, though. By developing relationships through business, profits, and grift with the techno brothers, they’re establishing the framework for shutting down and manipulating the social media information flow. AI will only enhance the Trump Regime’s ability to manipulate facts and the truth…just as foretold in 1984.
Bottom line, the Trump Corollary is a death knell for true freedom, democracy, and equality in the United States. Unless you have the money or power to procure them.
Good luck, people. Good luck.
Thirstdaz Theme Music
It’s a sunny but pale blue sky heavy with chilly hair outside my windows. Sunshine coats the rooms but the heating system works against the tilting, spinning, revolving Earth’s travel through space. It’s gettin’ colder here. Winter is on the way. 42 F today, 52 F is our high after a night of light rain.
Power outage struck at ten fifteen PM. It was to last three hours. Social media kept us informed. No, not the city, or emergency services, or the power company, or any official outlet. Those were mute. This was off hours, don’t you know? Nobody works on social media for any city org during night’s darkness. Nope, it was neighbors on FB and NextDoor sharing where power was out, the probable cause and the city’s estimate for when it would be back up. One had learned the last by calling the power company. Overall, we all refrained from calling the company because we knew it was a wide outage and we knew they were busy. But we hungered for information. Social media filled that gap.
The Neurons have “Breakdown Dead Ahead by Boz Skaggs going in the morning mental music stream. This is in direct response about 1) stories of Trump losing his grip (along with tangential questioning about who will run the GOP with Trump gone) and 2), the fucked-up place where We the People stand. Thanks to the Roberts Court, Project 2025, aided in some part by the super wealthy who own media chains and outlets, we’re drifting further and further from a nation of equality and freedom. A twisted form of ‘Christianity’ is being given a pass to the detriment of other religions. Prices are rising, affordability is falling, and the regulations which worked to give us fresh air and water and healthy food choices are being shoved aside.
Meanwhile, yes, since the Trump Epstein shutdown has ended, and the Trump files — sorry, it was a slip — the Epstein files are being released. CNN has pointed out the massive loophole to that. Basically, anything ‘under current investigation’ is exempted from being released. And who makes that call? The Trump AG and DOG. That loophole aligns with the suspicion many of us carry that the Trump Regime will not let the full truth out and will protect Dizzy Donny. As my wife summarizes in her succinct way, “Oh, we knew it was going to be dirty.”
I’ve checked the front and back entries. No peace and grace out there. Don’t know when they’ll show. They haven’t been answering my outreach. Tried emails, texts, phone calls, and there’s nothing. It’s like the Trump Regime has disappeared peace and grace. Meanwhile, I comfort myself with hot, black coffee. Okay, here we go, boiz and gurlz. Cheers
