Tag: gas prices

The Trump Descent

After bluffing and bullshitting and actively weaving chaos and doubt, Trump’s act has worn thin.

Evidence that the United States is no longer respected and feared is showing up everywhere. Most pointedly, we see it as Iran refuses to give in while our nation’s traditional allies turn down Trump’s requests for help. Instead, they’re forming new alliances and agreements, leaving the US in the cold.

MAGA has responded to Trump’s losses and failures with predictable childishness, “Your rules.” Obstinate to a fault, they just do not learn. As the world moves on from its dalliance with right-wing theater, they’re going to be left behind. Which, if you recall, is why some of them turned to Trump in the first place. They will continue to pursue their FAFO course.

The International Monetary Fund issued warnings that the United States under Trump could drag down the global economy. It’s the war. Mostly. Trump’s Iran War is supercharging the oil and gas prices and disrupting supply lines. That means modestly less growth, but as the war continues, the chances for a global recession increase.

Symptomatic of Trump’s wide-ranging, negative impact are World Cup tourism forecasts. This should have been a boon for the United States and the eleven US cities hosting World Cup events but — Trump.

The United States is already coping with reduced tourism. Rising prices, triggered by Trump’s Iran War, broken trade agreements, and Trump’s tariffs are one big reason. However, experts are pointing to Trump’s hostile immigration policies. Even when people are authorized to enter the United States, they’re sometimes being turned back. Some of the reasons cited is that they criticized Trump. Not taking chances, people are talking with their cash and staying away from the United States.

Trump has bankrupted six businesses. His corruption is becoming as legendary as his lying.

Yet, there are those who still follow him, even as he takes us down, down, down.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music — Dirty Deeds

Ashland, Oregon — Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

No rain today! Cloudy, blue sky is visible. 62 F is expected to be our high but it’s 46 F right now. Spring weather but more rain than we typically receive.

Trump’s body count continues to rise. As part of his project, Operation Look — Squirrel!, SOUTHCOM ordered more boaters killed. No court, no evidence, no trial; it’s the Trump Method.

I’m not surprised SOUTHCOM killed five more this week, bringing the total murders to 170. Trump Iran war, now seven weeks old, isn’t going well. Efforts to find peace and withdraw are going worse.

Then, his latest ploy in Operation Look — Squirrel!, to depict himself as Jesus while claiming it wasn’t a depiction and he was a doctor, went sideways fast, with the post quickly deleted.

This all comes on top of Melania Trump’s desperate efforts to project herself completely uninvolved with Ghislane or Epstein. Melania used the classic Trump defense, “Don’t believe the photographs and testimony, believe me, because I tell the truth.” While it works sometimes for Trump because he speaks the hate which MAGA and Evangelicals like, it didn’t work for Melania. She is experiencing historically low poll numbers for a first lady.

Instead of reassuring everyone, Melania also managed to remind everyone about the Epstein file. Dozy Donny has been trying to make it go away. After using it as a campaign tool by promising to release it all on day one, he’s complaining that people won’t forget it. Must have brought him a lot of joy *snark* when Melania held a conference to talk about it.

All that bad news was on top of rising gas prices in the US. High gas prices are not usually good for the economy, and the Trump economy was already not doing well, with the farmers and rural citizens who make up Trump’s base, doing especially poorly.

Well, things are blowing up for Trump, I thought this morning.

Boom *sorry*, The Neurons loaded the morning mental music stream with AC/DC and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. The 1976 rocker is all about a man willing to do dirty deeds for a price. That pretty well summarizes Trump’s minions and suck ups for me.

Hope your day is free of murders and travesties against humanity, sickness or illness. In other ways, hope it’s a good day for you and yours.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music – The Circus

Ashland, Oregon — Friday, April 10, 2026.

56 F right now, 62 is our projected high on a day when rain clouds have moved in and await their cue.

Had a big-ass thunderstorm here yesterday. Began with a heavy rain. Not monsoon level — I’ve experienced them in Southeast Asia — but heavier, harder, more intense than we typically experience. Thunder rolled in.

I went out on the porches to check the gutters. There are two places where the water was splashing out. They’re the usual suspects and need cleaned out again.

While I was out there, I saw lightning to the north. As I thought, lightning, boom, thunder cracked through the valley, violent and loud. That storm was right on top of us. We experienced several more sharp flashes of lightning and deep thunder and then it moved on.

I checked on Papi. My poor orange boi was retired to the master closet. No windows there. It’s his standard safe haven.

Stalemate with Mom continues. Won’t sell her house and asks my sister when the house is being put up for sale. Insists that she can live alone, and rejects anyone telling her otherwise. Doesn’t have a plan except to get out of the assisted living place. Which was basically her plan when she lived with my sister. It’s so frustrating.

Melania Trump stormed onto the national stage to insist that she doesn’t have anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein, and put in a demand about helping the victims.

Meanwhile, inflation was up in March to the highest level in two years, 3.3%. Gasoline prices in the US climbed over 21%. It all can all be traced to Trump’s war on Iran.

Trump responded by releasing a graphic, violent, racist video on ‘Truth Social’ and blaming President Biden.

Who is surprised by any of this? This is par for Trump, creating a distraction from bad news, especially inflation and Epstein, and blaming others. Trump has turned our lives into a three-ring circus.

Today’s song is “Hold On” by Alabama Shakes. This came about when I was doing something and my dream surged back to me. I said, “Hold on,” and spent a moment collecting and assembling dream pieces.

But The Neurons, being who they are, kicked “Hold On” into the morning mental music stream. It’s a solid choice. I heard it I think the year it came out. But when I first heard it on the radio, they never told the song’s title or performer. So I listened, memorizing lines, then went back in and did a net search. Glad I did.

It’s also a song I don’t ever hear being played on the radio these days. That’s a shame.

Hope you and yours are doing well, and peace and grace carry you through whatever the circus of life brings to town.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Ashland, Oregon — Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

54 F, clouds are parading across our valley’s blue sky. Forecasters tell us we have a high of 75 F and thunderstorms expected this afternoon.

Relief and tension feed my morning. Mom went to her PCP yesterday for blood in her urine. “What transpired of that?” I asked.

“Nothing,” is the answer.

I don’t know what nothing means in this context because it can mean so much.

Mom’s outing yesterday was a bit chaotic. They arrived at the doctor’s office only to be told that Mom had cancelled the appointment. Mom replied, “I thought it was a video appointment.”

That triggers an abundance of questions, like, hey Mom, where do you think sis was taking you? Why did you ask for a specific outfit to wear to the doctor?

Sis managed to talk the office into seeing Mom anyway. The doctor talked to Mom at length about living in the assisted living center vs living at home with the physician telling Mom, “You need 24 hours asistsance.” Mom was adamant; don’t want to live there. Can’t afford it. “Sell your house.” No!

Around and around and around it goes.

Likewise, there’s relief that a cease-fire was called in Iran. Just two weeks, leaving open the questions, will it be honored and what happens after that?

Not a surprise at all but both Iran and the United States claimed victory.

Oil prices plunged. Markets surged. Neither of those are a surprise, either. Reminders proliferate among economists and pundits, the price of gas won’t drop quickly because it’ll take time to restore the supply chain and start facilities that were sidelined.

We filled our gas tank yesterday. What amazed us was the vehicle ahead. He took eight minutes to fill his truck. What is going on, we wondered. And how much is his gas? Turned out, he filled a 31-gallon tank, which is over twice our tank’s size: $192. This was at Costco, which offers the lowest gas price locally.

I joked, it probably took so long to fill because he had to call for a loan.

Back to Trump, I wondered what he learned from this episode. He had been talking about using the military in other places. Hope that he pulls back from that.

Then I check the news: Iran is stopping traffic from going through the Strait of Hormuz because Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Not surprising but I ended up thinking about storms and shelter. The Neurons fed “Gimme Shelter” into the morning mental music stream. The song features some relevant lyrics.

Ooh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Ooh yeah I’m gonna fade away

War, children
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
War, children
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

The Rolling Stones came out with this rock classic way back in 1969. I enjoyed this version with Lady Gaga visiting to add vocals. She delivers. Her shoes, though…amazing how she moves on them. Wow.

Hope peace and grace shelter you from the storms.

Cheers

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Trump’s Vision: Unhinged, Untethered

I read the NYTimes review of the Trump Ballroom addition to the White House, the addition where Trump tore down the Easat Wing without public approval.

The Times article cited a grand staircase that leads to no entry. Pillars that block the view from inside the ballroom. A building that is too tall and too large for its planned purpose. It was also a building put up without previous engineering and architectural reviews.

A judge ordered construction stopped so reviews could be conducted. Trump responded to a hand-picked panel that unanimously grunted, “Approved” without thinking about any of the 19,000 objections raised.

In many ways, the ballroom is perfectly symbolic of Trump’s decisions.

  • Dismissing medical science, Trump appointed anti-vax people to important positions. With more people encouraged to dismiss childhood vaccinations, measles outbreaks in 2025 climbed to the highest levels seen in decades. 2026 is expected to surpass that mark.
  • Ignoring economic and political history, Trump instituted ’emergency’ tariffs which drove up costs and prices, and which now must be paid back.

All these are like his ballroom: with steps that go nowhere, a confused design that even now, he’s trying to change.

The problem with it all is Trump. He has a maligned vision of what peace, war, unity, and prosperity means, and it’s an unhinged, untethered vision.

The one clear thing we know about Trump from his actions is that he and Jeffrey Epstein were good friends and he’s scared of having details about his Epstein friendship revealed. To that end, he’ll do anything to hide the truth.

Hiding from the truth is what always drives Trump’s unhinged, untethered vision, whether it’s how badly he lost in 2020 or how his popularity is tanking in 2026.

Get ready for more.

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Thursday’s Theme Music — Trouble

Ashland, Oregon — Thursday, March 26, 2026.

It’s 35 degrees out with disorganized traces of thin fog and a bright blue sky. Today’s highs will carry the mercury into the sixties.

We have gnat trouble in our house. We’ve been slowly noticing the little critters. From what I’ve read, they may have started around the houseplants but have moved to the bathroom. My wife takes hot Epson salt baths and the skylight has a new ‘white film’ and a spider web up there is littered with gnat bodies. Now we need to address stopping these from spreading.

Adding to today’s troubles, my sisters are anxious about what’s going on with Mom. They’ve asked me to contact her about her plans. I was asked because I haven’t been publicly denounced as mean and hateful. My plan is just to ask her what her plans are and not to otherwise engage. I’m doing this by text as Mom has developed a confrontational communication style in the last year.

Mom’s activities are driving my sisters’ anxiety. Mom gave notice to the assisted living facility that she is moving out in April. She also informed them that she had contacted an elder abuse lawyer. She then changed all her prescriptions from the assisted living facility pharmacy back to Sam’s Club, where she used to get them.

It seems like Mom’s intention is to return to her house. That’s what she keeps saying she wants to do. But since she moved out last year, all the food has been removed, along with most of her belongings. The home was being readied for a sale in the spring, with Mom’s agreement. Everything now is topsy turvy.

My fingers are crossed that something useful will emerge from this attempt. I am not out to argue with her plans or try to make her see reason or anything. Just trying to see what she thinks is going on.

Political issues are troubling me on multiple levels. Locally, we’re working through what to do with the town hall. Plans are incubating to build a new complex, co-locating all local government facilities. The price attached to that is five million. But this is a town which already carries a heavy structural debt, has a large headcount and payroll, and has been cutting services while increasing service fees. Spending more money doesn’t seem prudent.

Nationally, I’m waiting to see what the jobs reports and inflation looks like next month. The Iran War has pushed up prices. We’re in a momentary lull with the war but Trump is issuing new threats, increasing tension again. This comes after he said that Iran gave him a very nice gift, and that Iran and the U.S. were negotiating, which Iran denies.

On a parallel course, the U.S. said it destroyed another four more ‘narco-terrorists’ when they destroyed another boat. No evidence has been presented to date that the people they’re killing are involved with drug smuggling, or that the drugs were destined for the U.S.

Different trouble-oriented songs were served up by The Neurons in the morning mental music stream. I ended up with a 957 recording of B.B. King of “Troubles, Troubles, Troubles”. It’s such a classic sound and just fits my mood.

I hope the best for you and yours, no matter where you are. May peace and grace carry you forward through all your troubles.

Cheers

6

Oops, She Did It Again

Jill Dennison has curated another magnificent collection of ‘humor’ to highlight the friggin’ insanity imperiling us. I posted my favorites. Go on to her page to find more gems.

Cheers

BONUS MATERIAL

Not necessarily toons but memes you may enjoy.

Cheers

5

Trump: It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas

The Trump Iran War is now in week four. Trump thought it could take “four to five weeks” but admitted it might go longer.

He is also talking about winding the war down while sending in ground troops.

As they used to sing on a children’s television program, “One of these things is not like the other.”

It ought to get very interesting. My wife and I put $30 worth of gas in our ‘compact’ Mazda CX-5 SUV yesterday: 7.44 gallons at $4.569 per gallon. This was at Costco, which has the lowest prices around here. We laughed till we cried, remembering how we used to almost fill our tank each week for the price of one gallon now.

A Dodge RAM 1500 and a Ford F150 pickup trucks were filling up. Those trucks have big tanks, take a lot of fuel, and get poor gas mileage. Know who drive pickup trucks? Trump supporters.

Know who likes Trump’s Iran War? Trump supporters.

Of course, Trump voters have a history of voting against the truth. They voted against Harris because Trump said Harris would take them to war. Trump said he wouldn’t start any wars.

They voted against Harris because Trump promised to lower food prices on day one. He didn’t.

They voted against Harris because they live in rural areas. Rural areas are the hardest hit by Trump’s policies in his second term.

They voted for Trump because he said he would come for the immigrants. They never thought he meant them.

They voted for Trump because he would release the Epstein files on day one. He didn’t.

Trump also said that Presidents Biden and Obama ‘made up’ the Epstein files. Neither were POTUS when the files were created.

Trump also promised to lower oil and gas prices, and then he attacked Iran.

Trump voters: they’re not deep thinkers.

Just like their leader, Donald J. Trump.

8

Trump: Round and Round

Round and round and round we go.

Where we’ll end up, nobody knows. Especially Trump.

I saw a comment the other day which summarizes Trump voters for me. I remember what they said but not who said it:

“Trump didn’t betray you. He showed us exactly who he is. You betrayed us.”

Look at these headlines.

Trump rules out ceasefire as US sends more troops to Middle East

Trump says US considers ‘winding down’ Iran military effort

US Sends Another 2,500 Marines to Iran as Ground Option Emerges in War

Same war, same Trump, intentions going everywhere in a lost haze of thought.

TSA lines are causing traffic delays as TSA agents don’t come to work. Why should they? Trump is not paying them because of his partial government shutdown.

Now, some small regional airports might shut down due to Trump’s partial government shutdown.

As oil prices go up, so do gas prices at the pump but analysts warn that oil prices will hit every sector because of shipping. Meanwhile, another set of analysts warn that we’ll probably start seeing food prices increasing because of Trump’s tariffs — from ‘liberation day’ of last year. Companies were spreading the costs out among multiple products and lines to spread increases and ease the pain. Now, forced to the wall, Food Navigator thinks the price increases will be more direct.

My wife and I are forever laughing about economists and their expectations. Earlier this month, the poor jobs growth surprised them. Now APNews reports it’s consumer wholesale prices.

U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected in February, driven partly by a sharp increase in food costs.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.7% from January, and 3.4% from February 2025. The year-over-year increase was the most since February 2025.

The price gains were bigger than economists had forecast, and they occurred before the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran pushed energy prices sharply higher.

It’s like, where do these economists live and shop that they don’t walk into a place and notice prices going on month by month? It’s surreal.

Now my wife and I are trying to figure out what a ‘K-shape economy recovery’ looks like. I’m telling you, if it’s not one thing…

Oh, BTW. Remember how Trump said he and one of his Republican lackeys had a great plan to send a hospital ship to Greenland? Surprised everyone because we all knew the Navy’s hospital ships weren’t available, but Trump’s ‘plan’ grabbed headlines and distracted everyone from the Epstein files for a few days. No ship was ever sent.

I mention it now because Trump signed an executive order to have the government work with the NCAA and whatever so that the Army-Navy football game is the only game being broadcast.

That smacks of classic Trump distraction. Polls for him are down, the economy is swirling around the toilet, and the Epstein files still haunt him. Now, what he thought would be a one and done in Iran is a growing disaster. Quick! Distraction: Army-Navy game.

Who still falls for his inanity these days?

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