Twosdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
A couple bits of political news seized my neurons last night and today. All are about Trump, one way or another.
First comes Trump’s announcement about Epstein. “Trump says he ended friendship with Epstein because he ‘stole people that worked for me'” Trump was not concerned about reports of predatory behavior, sex trafficking, rapes, and child abuse. No. Trump was upset that Epstein hired people away from Trump’s businesses. Real empathy on display there, isn’t there?
Along those lines, many of us were aghast about Trump’s word choice when talking to reporters about Epstein Island. Trump said that he never had the privilege of visiting Epstein Island. A place shrouded with horror stories, part of the fabric of the cases against Epstein and Maxwell, and Trump says he ‘never had the privilege’. He’s such a mindless, empty buffoon.
Comedians rightfully tore Trump apart on it.
“Trump was like, ‘I’m sorry, what I really meant was I never had the honor.” — JIMMY FALLON
“[imitating Epstein] ‘Hey, Donald, want go to the island this weekend?’ ‘[imitating Trump] Well, first of all, Jeffrey, thank you for thinking of me. Unfortunately, that’s the weekend that the teen pageant that I bought is installing the indoor security locker room cameras.’” — JON STEWART
“[imitating Trump] Sadly, I never had the honor of dining with Jeffrey Dahmer.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
Finally, Senator Durbin gave me some fleeting satisfaction. This was at a recent Senate Judiciary hearing where ‘esteemed’ Republican senators are eager to help give Trump cover. To do that, they want to investigate President Biden’s state of health. Durbin ably points out all the things going on which are way more critical which should be investigated, and ends with a montage of asinine Trump statements that really make you wonder about Trump’s mental health.
Senator Durbin points out that during a Trump meeting with UK personnel, Trump trumpeted that they have an agreement with the EU. UK has not been a part of the EU for five years. You’d think that the President should know that.
Trump also noted, “The kidney has a special place in the heart.”
Then there is the gem when discussing Hurricane Florence, “This is a tough hurricane, One of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.” I’m glad he clarified that. I thought he might be mentioning it from the standpoint of beer, coffee, or dirt.
The Grand Old Trump Party — GOTP, for short — will never take up investigations of the Dear Leader, of course. They instead try to deflect, attempting again and again to blame Democrats and Presidents Obama and Biden for the economy, Epstein affair, or whatever draws negative attention to this. You’d think that people would be waking up.
But, no. I read a disheartening interview with Latino Trump voters in the NY Times.
Joe, 69, Colo., Republican, retired
I am also very conservative. I have a deep faith. And I think our religious freedoms are being eroded away. But I am optimistic. I think things could change.
Moderator, Kristen Soltis Anderson
What makes you optimistic that things could change?
Joe, 69, Colo., Republican, retired
We have a good president. If Congress will just get behind him and back him up, I think there’s a lot of good he could do for us.
After reading that piece and these voters’ thoughts, I remember, many will not change until something affects them personally.
Time will tell if it’ll be too late for them, and too late for us.
Twosdaz Theme Music
Welcome friends, come in, come in, to Twosda, July 29, 2025. I suspect many of you are like my niece and l’il sister, plotting back-to skool strategies for buying gear and deciphering starting days, agendas, and schedules. We have a while yet here in Ashlandia. The first signs will be the changing of the signs at the schools, making their public announcements for their start dates. Then comes newspaper articles and the police staking out the school zones to remind everyone that those are school zones.
Weird thinking of BTS activities when we’re still in summer’s hot throes. 68 F now, we’re humping up to 93 F tomorrow. The dry conditions have caused red flag warnings about fire dangers. As we heard about this, my wife remarked, “I don’t even know what our evacuation zone is.”
I replied, “We’re Ashland Zone 4.” Her look back pleased and delighted me, as she was clearly impressed that I knew. I added, “There’s a sign on every road intersecting with Siskiyou on the south end of town, telling us what zone the road is in.” Siskiyou Boulevard is the main drag through town, becoming highway 99 as it leaves the northern end.
Her eyes widened. “There is?”
I’ve been enamored with the WSLS Sky Cam focused on some bobcats. Three bobcats were rescued from dire circumstances with deceased or missing mothers in southwest Virginia and are being raised to be released back into the wild. They’re not related bobs. Here’s their story at this link.
The young cats sleep during the day and are active and playful at night, and the camera isn’t at its best at night. But I like to look in when I can and wish them a good life, fingers crossed and all that. This is their live video feed: https://www.wsls.com/watchlive/ The page has several there so you need to look around for the enclosure and click on it.
Seeing those little ones prompted The Neurons to spin up “End of the Tiger” by Survivor from 1982. Most people know the song as one of the Sylvestor Stallone Rocky theme songs. It won some grammys and was nominated for an Oscar, and is often used in sports and politics, usually without permission. The vocalist, Jimi Jamison, based away from a brain stroke in 2014, 63 years old.
I have political thoughts but I’m not going in to them now. Lot of gun violence out there in the United States this week. More critically, we’re waiting for news about the economy. Even more urgently and critically, we’re searching for leadership and answers about the horror-show starvation in Gaza. The U.S. used to be humanitarian enough to try to assuage such situations. Under Trump and his right-wing United States centric thinking and desire to ‘cut fraud, waste, and abuse’ *cough cough cough*, Trump and the Grand Old Greedy Party are disinclined to help any but the wealthy, white, and right wing.
I’m gonna try to have the best Twosda that I can. Hope you do the same. Coffee has been drunk. Time to press to test one more time. Cheers
Mundaz Theme Music
Mundaz slipped in during the sleep session. Now we’re basking under July 28, 2025, and a full sun spotlight. 70 F now, we’ll push into the low 90s today. No wildfire smoke tasks my sinuses today, for which I am pleased. Fires still burn, mind you, and I have my fingers crossed for those protecting us and those directly afflicted.
Bit of a hurry today. We’re out delivering food for Food & Friends. We always do a Monday. The route usually isn’t long, typically about thirteen houses and fourteen individuals. Most live in pleasant middle class homes but one is in a motel, two are in apartments, two are usually in senior living, and there’s sometimes someone in a mobile home. The list and route varies a little every time.
The Neurons coughed up “Tumbling Dice” by The Rolling Stones into the morning mental music stream. I don’t think it’s dream related. Doesn’t seem cat related. Could be driven by reading the news. Trump is always rolling the dice on shit, and mostly getting away with however they come up. As another said, I don’t trust anything his regime puts out as news. He’s trashed the truth and manipulated the systems and conned us all too many times to be given any trust, and that includes any organization which he heads. Sadly, that is now the Federal government and all of its executive agencies. Sadly, due to complacent Republicans, it also includes most of the legislative branch, and thanks to those R-holes in Congress, the SCOTUS. No, I’m not bitter or angry about it. Why do you ask?
Have a great Munda, if you can. I’m shooting for the same. Rock ‘n roll, baby. Cheers
Sundaz Wandering Thoughts
We went out on a drive, purchasing a few needed items, dropping off recycled bottles and cans for the Soroptimists, paying bills. I was a little preoccupied with an article about Sears. Nationally, Sears once had 3500 stores and a thriving mail order business. Now, one Sears store remains in California, part of six nationwide.
Sears was a foundational brick for my childhood. Sears catalogues inspired dreams of Christmas gifts. We headed to the Sears on Business 22 to buy back to school clothes and winter coats. Need a tool? Go to Sears.
Now, like Montgomery Ward*, which employed my grandfather, Woolworth, Murphy’s, and K-Mart, it’s about to vanish from the shopping zones and soon from memories. I was thinking about all the places because we were driving by the Rite Aid in Ashland. It used to be a pretty good store, a familiar place to shop and find things we needed. Now it’s being disappearing, being replaced by a CVS, a store we don’t care for much.
The Sears Tower, Sears’ new corporate headquarters and the world’s tallest building at the time, opened in 1973. I wonder who thought it would be almost gone by 2025.
And then I think about Amazon.
*Yes, I know a second company named Montgomery Ward has been relaunched this century. Same name, different company,
Fridaz Wandering Thoughts
Mom participates in a sleep study once a month. An emphysema sufferer, she wears a mask at night with a machine that helps her breathe.
This study, though, I don’t know. Full disclosure: I’m not a sleep expert. Fuller disclosure: I’m not an expert in anything. But from a point of view that I have lived a bit, I question the quality of the sleep study. They have her turn up three hours before her normal bedtime. Then they require all the participants to sleep in their clothes. This idea is so they can get up and leave faster in the morning.
About the morning. They wake the sleep participants up at 5 AM to scoot them out the door. And, Mom complains that they keep the place freezing cold and don’t provide anyone with enough blankets. Not much sleeping is done, Mom says.
Again, I’m not an expert, but it sounds like this sleep study is in the deep throes of full-on enshittification.
Fridaz Theme Music
Frida, July 25, 2025, landed on Ashlandia with a gently familiar thud. Weather is a relaxed blue-sky & sunshine state of being. 70 F now, we’ll be clicking on the low 90s by daylight’s end, which is about our average. No smoke bothers me. The Cram Fire is the largest, 95K of acreage, 77 % contained, north of us. South, in California, is the 19,000 acres Butler Fire. Prevailing conditions are keeping us safe, knock on wood.
Being Frida, the news front is slow and lazy. A shooting at a college in New Mexico results in more gun violence death. Couple police officers were ambushed elsewhere, shot and killed during their lunch break. This will all generate more handwringing but no action. Another handwringing moment hangs in the air as it was revealed that under the guise of ‘shipping out criminals’ during the Venezuelan swap, the United States imported a convicted killer of three. Terrific. Yes, the Trump Regime is always sloppy about vetting the details. But hey, he’s white and male, so it’s okay, right? Beyond that, the story still smokes about how Trump lied to Jerome Powell at the Fed, was called on it, and just blew it off. Lying is what he does, along with posting and sharing fake information, and splashing the world with bellicose hatred. This is the current face of the United States.
Today’s song is an ode to the cat. When he was served up and chowed down, he purred and chirped like, this is just what I needed. Which, yes, compelled The Neurons to serve up the 1978 ditty, “Just What I Needed”. Whole thing gives me a happy smile. A new wave pop song, it was part of the regular FM radio cycle for a while. So easy to hear, easy to understand, non-offensive and easy to sing along to, the cat gets it.
A smoke smell pesters my nostrils. The windows are closed for the day, to be re-opened tonight. I don’t see any discoloration in the sky. Air quality remains good. It’s just me and my olfactory processes working overtime.
Time to advance into the fray. Hope your Frida meets your needs. I’m gonna do my best to fit it to my needs, starting with coffee, I think. Cheers
Thirstda’s Wandering Thoughts
When I publish a post, WordPress sometimes suggests tags. “Would you like to add these tags?” I look at them. Some suggestions baffle me. I don’t see a connection to the post. I believe I already have others included. I delete the one that seems unrelated and agree to add the rest. The system then tells me, no tags added.
So, the whole process undermines my confidence in WP. If the tags are already there, why doesn’t it recognize them and suggest that they get added? Also, how good is its ‘comprehension’ of what’s being posted if it’s suggesting tags which have nothing to do with the post?
I don’t know. It’s probably just me and my compulsive anal retention obsessions or something.
