Fridaz Wandering Poliical Thoughts
Huzzah! The Enshittification of the United States continues at a shitty pace in the United States under PINO TACO. In this story, we have TACO’s full fears on display. See, under the deal approved by the FCC under Trump for Skydance to acquire Paramount, ARSTechnica is reporting that TACO’s regime is permitted to influence editorials at CBS.
Are you ready for a laugh? Here’s what one of the Republican commissioners approving it said:
“Under the agreement, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr explained that Skydance has given assurances that all of the new company’s programming will embody “a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.” Carr claimed that the requirements were necessary to restore Americans’ trust in mainstream media, backing conservatives’ claims that media is biased against Trump and appointing an ombudsman for two years to ensure that CBS’s reporting “will be fair, unbiased, and fact-based.” Any complaints of bias that the ombudsman receives will be reviewed by the president of New Paramount, the FCC confirmed.“
*giggle giggle giggle* So fucking hilarious. They — the lyin’ right wing, led by the lyin’ Trump — are gonna ‘restore trust’ in the mainstream media.
Trump has been at war with the media, mainstream or not, whenever they criticize him. Screaming, “Fake news!”, TACO waddles hastily away from any confrontation with facts and reality. Want the truth of that? Hell, it’s all over our news for the last dozen years. Just harken back to when Trump kept insisting that President Obama prove that that he was born in the United States, a fact that had been proven and vetted again and again. Trump pushed that fake news all the way, while insisting it was the truth, and then tried to blame it all on Hillary Clinton.
Look at TACO’s dodging and weaving to prove he never had an affair with Stormy Daniels and never paid her off. Just ask Michael Cohen and Hope Hicks about that.
How ’bout that whopper he keeps telling about the 2020 election being stolen from him, a claim never proven and thrown out of court over 60 times?
Last year, while running for President, he pushed the lie that immigrants were eating pets.
Let us consider the current truth Trump is trying to bury, that he and Jeffrey Epstein were never a thing. The latest laughing about the truth of that is how fast Trump’s AG, Bondi, went from saying “the list is on my desk” to Trump and the DOJ claiming there is no list.
Epstein & Trump, BFFs
Trump buries his financial records because he fears the truth. He hides his school records because the truth about them is too much for him to handle. He’s lied and cheated throughout his entire adult life, cheating on wives, cheating on business partners, cheating students at Trump University, cheating investors cheating contractors, and lying about it all.
TACO and the GOTP. They can’t handle the truth. That’s why Trump is always chickening out.
Now it looks like Skydance, Paramount, and CBS can’t handle the truth, either.
What a pathetic bunch of losers.
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
Thirstdaz Theme Music
Another sunny summer day has been born in Ashlandia. We shall name this day Thirstda, July 24, 2025. Temps right now are moderate at 83 F but if you stand in that sunshine and let it beam down on you, the sweat comes fast. Today’s high will peak at about 92, 93 F, I think. Clouds, dust, or smoke hazes some of the sky’s blue, but I don’t smell smoke. The ol’ schnoz seems unafflicted by particulates today. Yea for me, I guess.
Hulk Hogan has passed away. I greet that with a shrug. Ozzy Osbourne passed a couple days ago. I mourn him more, but it’s remote mourning. I’ve been expecting him to pass. Thanks for the music and entertainment, Oz.
A net friend, Annette, posted a reflective post about family, wealth, and change. It melded well with my mood and thoughts after long exchanges with my sister about my mother, Mom’s health, and her living situation. Life, mortality, and death seem to be draping themselves all over me as I observe others’ situations and reflect upon my own. Make hay while the sun shines, right? Because storms can crash in and change everything in an eyeblink.
Over on the political spectrum of my existence, I grimace to more news about the enshittification of things. Yes, it makes me unhappy. Reading opposing opinions about things like cuts to NPR and public broadcasting, the celebration of their potential demise depresses me. Others are scornful and dismissive of any positive impact they may have on people, communities, and civilization. Some things seem to be strictly defined through a narrow scope of costs, profits, and losses, as if this is what life is about. The debt, the debt, some scream, we must do something about the debt! More tariffs! More tax cuts for the wealthy! More tax write-offs for the ultra wealthy. Less help for the states! Less help for the poor! And so it will go until they need help from other states, need help from the poor, say, in a war, for example, or to work. Yes, I’m disgusting by the right-wing tilt going on. I think it counterproductive to common goals and needs. The tilt benefits a few at the expense of the nation.
Today’s theme music is both homage to Ozzy’s memory, my own life, and how I view the current world situation. Yes, it’s “Crazy Train” from 1980. I told others while commenting on Ozzy last night that I’ve been on the crazy train. I’ve seen my family on the crazy train, and friends. A friend replied, “I think we’ve all spent some time on the crazy train.” Now I think the world is climbing on the crazy train.
Crazy, but that’s how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it’s not too late
To learn how to love and forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing
Life’s a bitter shame
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
(Let’s go)
I’ve listened to preachers, I’ve listened to fools
I’ve watched all the dropouts, who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words, yeah, yeah
Heirs of a cold war, that’s what we’ve become
Inheriting troubles, I’m mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I’m living with something that just isn’t fair
H/t to AZLyrics.com
Coffee has infiltrated me again. Time to rock another day, even if it’s only a gentle rock, just a little more than a nudge. Hope your day fulfills you in ways you need. Cheers
Wendaz Wandering Political Thoughts
You know, Rep. Mike Johnson and other GOTPers have been bubbling about Trump having a 90% approval rating. Most of the rest of us, tragically tethered to reality as we are, reacted by basically muttering darkly, “WTF are you talking about?”
Another sharp-thinker, Steve Benen, emerged with what they saw as the answer: Johnson, et al, were talking about Republicans only. The poll they referenced showed 90 percent of Republicans polled approved of Trump. As Benen wrote, “And therein lies the point: The House speaker pitched a seemingly ridiculous figure, not just to deceive the public, but also because from his perspective, Democrats literally don’t count.”
Talk about cherry picking information!
All that matters is their people. Republicans. White, wealthy, and male, if you want to be more exact. Everyone else is secondary, tertiary, or beyond their thinking, except for how they can be used. We’ve seen this demonstrated in Texas, where investment in a warning system for flash floods was rejected with tragic results. It’s been demonstrated again and again in GOTP abortion guidance where they proclaim themselves pro-life until the child is born, then they’re on their own. We’ve seen it in their attitude toward due justice, where they’re trying to carve that down from what the Constitution states. And it’s evident in places like Ohio, where gerrymandered districts give Republicans undeserved power, allowing them to mock democracy with impudence and aggressively work to undermine public education. We’ve seen it as well with the right-wing loaded Roberts Court, where Trump rulings are handed down that counter precdence and prevailing understanding of how the Constitutional system of checks and balances are supposed to work.
Selfishness, ignorance, and narrow-minded are core values of the GOTP, no matter where they’re located.
They get it from their leader: Donald J. Trump. And that’s what’s wrong with the United States.
Wenzdaz Theme Music
Ashlandia won the early hours with cool air and warm sunshine. My snout detects just a little congestion-inducing smoke. Wenda, July 23, 2025, will be 91 F at the top end, and thirty degrees less on the low side.
I find it hilarious how angry Trump gets when someone talks of him and Jeffrey Epstein. His rage increases and he snaps, “Fake news!” whenever someone talks about Epstein being at Trump’s second marriage. Add in talk of photographs of Trump and Epstein and the mango sloth goes indandescent. He doesn’t want his secret history with Epstein discussed. Nor does he want reminded about how he and Epstein were besties forever, BFFs.
Trump rages over newly surfaced photos of Epstein at president’s second wedding
That Trump can’t sanely discuss it and reflect upon his past with Epstein could be a manifestation of shame and guilt, or a painful reminder to himself and MAGAland that Trump isn’t the great person he’s trying to pretend he is. Just saying. Some folks think it’s all more evidence that Trump is in danger of becoming ‘undone’.
‘In danger of coming undone’: Analyst says Epstein crisis exposed 2 key problems for Trump
My problem with that is it makes the basic, flawed assumption that Trump hasn’t already come undone. Just look at how he’s talking and acting. Sure, it’s worsening but he’s been pretty undone for a while. Maybe we’re looking at the final undoing. Time will tell.
Thinking about Donald Trump and the secret history he has with Jeffrey Epstein and the photographs of the two BFFs hanging out and having a good time invited The Neurons to recall this 1973 Ringo Starr song, “Photograph”. A simple song, I think The Neurons made a fitting choice for Wenzdaz Theme Music.
Have the best Wenzda you can. I’m gonna try for the same. Coffee is juicing the system for me. Here we go. Cheers
Twosdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
Just a few tidbits of interest sucked in the grey thinking thingies in me today.
One that was sort of interesting in the course of conversations about inflation, the stock market, tariffs, unemployment, moving manufacturing the U.S., and the economy:
Ford CEO says rare earths shortage forced it to shut factory
This happened back in June. Ford CEO Jim Farley said the slowing critical minerals from China into the U.S. has presented a challenge.
“It’s day to day,” he told Bloomberg TV Friday. “We have had to shut down factories. It’s hand-to-mouth right now.”
Trump has responded by claiming that he’s convinced China to send the U.S. the rare earth minerals without mentioning that China responded as they did when he shoved huge tariffs down China’s throat and stopping visas Chinese students. Mines are supposed to be ramping up rare earth mineral production in the U.S. (Wyoming, Texas, and California) but how long until that gap is closed? ‘Ramping up’ normally takes a while.
Meanwhile, the heat is on in D.C. over the Epstein files. Many, like Trump, asks, why didn’t the Democrats release the files when President Biden was in the White House? Well, first, the records were sealed by a court, and President Biden respects due process. But also, Trump ran on a promise to release them. MAGALand wants that campaign promise fulfilled. It’s important to them because it’s supposed to be all about how terrible the Dems are. The reality may be much different.
As usual, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That doesn’t include Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans. When the going gets tough, they hurry away as fast as possible.
“We’re not going to play political games with this,” Johnson said in a news conference July 22.
Because Trump is a Republican, Johnson didn’t add, because we have mounds of evidence about how differently the Republicans respond to accusations about their bloated God. Instead, Johnson, ‘not playing political games’, called for an early recess.
Finally, one distraction the Trump Regime threw out in their “Squirrel!” distraction tactics was to accuse President Obama of criminal allegations. It’s a terribly pathetic and desperate move, but when you move against facts and truth, pathetic desperation is your MO. Fact checkers have taken to the Trump Regime claims and have come out with the results: ‘Simply doesn’t come close’: Fact-checker takes seconds to dismantle Trump’s Obama claim.
Fortunately for Trump and his Greedy Old Trump Party, often just called the GOTP, Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at 76. That will take some heat off them as the media and public turn their attention to Ozzy and his career.
Twosdaz Theme Music
We’re rejoicing and celebrating another coolish day in Ashlandia. 76 F, sunny with lurking peripheral clouds stretching arms over their heads, we expect 86 F today and 61 F tonight. Good stuff, IMO, though smoky particulates are noted in the air by my sensitive proboscis.
Household conversations this morning was about some decor changes, vacation plans, and, “Is Trump dying?” Well, as Sen. Joni Ernst likes pointing out, we’re all dying. With the mango sloth, we were talking about how bad he appears, the swollen ankle thing, the make up on his hand, and the aspirin he’s been talking regularly. Aspirin for cardiac prevention only works if you have a pre-existing condition. Our questions as concerned American citizens, voters, and tax-payers, is this man healthy enough to safely lead the nation? Did the physician lie to us about Trump’s state of health in April?
*gasp* Is the Trump Regime lying to us about Trump’s health? Is there a cover up going on?
Because, gosh, they are so darn concerned about the last POTUS and what was going on. Should we not be more or equally concerned about the current White House resident and his health? Good for the gander and all that.
And while my wife and I discussed the mango sloth’s health, I stumbled over a terrific Alternet opinion piece by D. Earl Stevens about Trump’s health, This White House lie shows they know Trump is in trouble | Opinion. I highly recommend it for more insightful thinking about Trump’s health than I can offer.
The Neurons offer Mark Knopfler in today morning mental music stream. Something being said in the kitchen during a conversation with my wife caused me to say, “Boom, just like that.” I don’t remember the precursor to those words being uttered, but The Music Neurons took that as an open door to introduce Mark Knopfler’s 2004 song about Ray Kroc into the morning mental music stream, “Boom, Like That”.
And with that, I’m in pursuit of coffee in my body and words in my novel. Hope your Twosda offers you the joy, comfort, and success which you deserve, along with some good stuff to eat. Here we go. Cheers
Mundaz Theme Music
Stealthy clouds crowd the sky over Ashlandia, dropping high and low temperatures by ten degrees plus. After an overnight low of 61 F, today’s high is expected to be just 78 F today. Air quality is good at 22, although wildfire smoke smells linger like a memory of a flirtatious kiss. This is Munda, July 21, 2025.
We had an active shooter incident the other day on I5 just outside of Ashland. The shooter was on an overpass and the Interstate was shut down for a few hours. A man was eventually arrested. No injuries were reported. We don’t know about his motivations yet.
Just finished reading The King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby. Terrific page turner with marvelous and fresh, inventive writing, tight plotting, and strong characters. On to The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. My wife just finished it. I’ve been eyeing it and she recommended it to me.
My morning reading included several Trump-voter FAFO tales. One, by Red Painter via Crooks & Liars, was about Arkansas farmers filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy. Painter writes, “Only 45 farms filed in the entirety of 2024, which seems about average. Well, 2025 has been exponentially worse for farmers – a shocking 88 had filed for bankrupcy by the end of Q1 2025!” Arkansas Senator John Boozman blames previous POTUS Biden, of course; that’s the GOP playbook answer, blame Democrats, avoid voters, or pretend it’s not happening. But never, never take responsibility for bad news.
The other FAFO tale was out of Nevada. Broadacres Market closed down in June after the national wave of prominent ICE raids where brown people were snatched up by masked individuals. A large open-market venue that serves about 15,000 people every weekend, Broadacres Marketplace vendors particularly cater to the Latino population. They don’t know when they’ll reopen. Read full story here.
“We don’t want any of our customers, vendors, or employees to be detained at our business or for us to be a beacon of shopping and entertainment while our federal government is raiding businesses and detaining its people,” the Broadacres Marketplace Management team wrote on social media. Read full story here.
Like Arkansas, Nevada went for Trump, partly supported by an increase in Latino support. Said one Latino voter back in 2024 after Trump’s victory: “Initially, I will say I did not agree with him,” said Mario Jr., 29. “Then I started seeing that he was not afraid to speak his mind and I noticed that he was not scared to say what he felt, regardless of what people would say. I think I respect that about him.” No word on what he thinks now. Read full story here.
Meanwhile, Trump, still operating that he’s under the King of All, is trying to force the Washington Commanders, NFL team, to revive the racial slur they’d previously used. Naturally, the bully’s tool of choice is to withhold funding for the team’s new D.C. stadium.
After that and other reading, The Neurons seeded “The King of Wishful Thinking” in the morning mental music stream. This is a 1990 song from Go West. Heard it a bunch on radio during the last century’s last decade. It’s an easy sing along. I think news about Epstein, Trump, and the MAGAts being upset about Epstein file’s handling by the Trump Regime inspired The Neurons with this song choice.
Got my coffee running its route through my systems. Hope this Munda and the week it commences finds you in good spirits and good health, and that you have the best week you can. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 