The Week in Review…
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 Hegsethās 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 Venezuelaās 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
Wednesday’s Theme Music – Why
Ashland, Oregon — Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Rainy and 46, sunshine washes our house’s eastern side. Today’s high will be in the mid 50s and the low will drop to 32-35 F.
Mom and sis had a ‘good outing’ yesterday although in retrospect, my sister suspected Mom was trying to manipulate her. After the pharmacy run and Urgent care, Mom asked sis if they could drive by the house. Gina agreed but warned that they weren’t going in. Conversation ensued about how livable the house was but Gina told Mom that she didn’t think Mom could live there alone. Mom remarked that she needed some short-sleeved summer tops. Gina brushed it off but later thought that Mom was trying to get them into the house. We’re sure that if Mom had gotten in there, she would have refused to leave.
UTI was confirmed for Mom, along with blood in her urine. No word on further tests, yet.
I read good news yesterday on Diane Ravitch’s blog. A Federal judge ordered work on the Trump ballroom stopped. The judge questioned whether Trump had the authority to make the changes he was doing. Her second piece of reported good news from last week in that post, “A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that President Trumpās executive order barring the federal funding of NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment.”
Victories for We the People. We know that these decisions will be appealed to a higher court.
Over in the Supreme Court, we’re waiting to see if Trump’s executive order dicing up birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment is judged legal. Trump attended the proceedings for a bit but left. I’m surprised he stayed awake.
Trump is giving a speech today about the Trump Iran War and about the US leaving NATO. He continues to send my WTF meter spinning with his consistent inconsistency. I suspect this is another ruse to distract from the Epstein files. The war is unpopular, though, and Trump’s approval ratings are showing it.
I also appreciated Paul Krugman’s post about the psychology of military incompetence and Pete Hegseth. I gleefully agree with Krugman: Hegseth is in over his head. Unfortunately, that doesn’t bode well for the safety of our nation or the lives of our people swearing to defend it.
I had a swarm of microdreams last night. When I sat and scribbled what I remembered, The Neurons played “I Got You” in the morning mental music stream. The Split Enz song was a 1980 hit. Reminds me a bit of the Cars. I’m not sure how it related to my thinking, though.
I hope the day goes well for you, no matter what you face or what the news brings.
Cheers
Sundaz Theme Music
Happy solstice morning greetings from Ashlandia. It’s 41 F with moderately heavy rain today. The weather systems tell me that’s how it’ll be all day, with the high reaching for 47 F. A ‘white Christmas’ isn’t being dealt to us this year.
Yes, it’s Sunda, and it also happens to be winter solstice north of the equator, December 21, 2025. Down south of zero, they’re celebrating the summer’s arrival.
We’re doing our ‘traditional solstice’ dinner but it’s being winged. Our traditional celebration evolved from previous celebrations we’d cludged together from pagan practices regarding solstice. Building on those, we started having a simple dinner of soup, salad, and bread as part of solstice. It expanded for a while, with others invited in to celebrate with us. COVID broke the tradition. We observed alone for a bit but shifted from it. Partially contributing to that was a sense of weariness my wife and I both felt; just weren’t up to celebrating, given the world’s state and trajectory.
I proposed doing soup and bread for solstice dinner again. But instead of making it all ourselves, we’d visit the Food Co-op and Market of Choice and buy some fresh soup from them.
I read about “King Mida in Reverse” in blog comments the other day. I haven’t heard nor thought of the song in years. Think I heard it on Sirus XM while driving on a long trip back before BCP – Before COVID Pandemic.
The commenter was saying this song, by the Hollies, perfectly describes the Trump effect. He’s a destructive force masked as something else. Trump will advance, mostly through luck, lying, evading responsibility, and cheating, but whatever he touches is the worse for it. Look how he destroyed so many businesses and yet enriched himself. Now he’s doing it on a gigantic scale, destroying the moral fabric, government structure, and checks and balances of the United States. Meanwhile, he’s turning us, We the People, against each other based on race and politics, cratering the economy, and making us sicker via terrible health care decisions. Yes, PINO Trump is most definitely King Midas in reverse. That’s why he throws gold on everything in a desperate effort to change the optics on what he’s doing. But the results of dropping approval ratings, rising disapproval rating in all areas, increasing unemployment, decreasing employment, and diminishing affordability speaks for itself. Dizzy Donny is failing, flailing, and fading.
Unfortunately for the U.S.A., Trump has turned over governing to Russell Vought for domestic affairs, Stephen Miller for domestic security, and Pete Hegseth and Marcos Rubio for diplomacy and foreign policy. Except for Rubio, these are individuals We the People don’t trust with the keys to a car, let alone running the nation. But that’s where we are, thanks to PINO Trump.
Lyrics
~snip~
I’m not the guy to run with
’cause I’ll throw you off the line
I’ll break you and destroy you
Given time
He’s King Midas with a curse
He’s King Midas in reverse
He’s King Midas with a curse
He’s King Midas in reverse
It’s plain to see it’s hopeless
Going on the way we are
So even though I’d lose you
You’d be better off by far
He’s not the man to hold your trust
Everything he touches turns to dust
In his hands
Nothing he can do is right
He’d even like to sleep at night
But he can’t
All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust
~snip~
h/t to AZLyrics.com
Time to chug some coffee and crank the energy motor up. Hope peace and grace sneaks out of hiding to give you a hug. Here we go. Happy solstice. Cheers
Twozdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
There are many news stories out there to concern and anger me about the Trump Destruction Machine. One points to how the Trump Regime repeats failed ideas while expecting different outcomes. Racism and sexism comes to mind, as does reckless huge tariffs, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy. None have panned out, except for very short terms. They are not sustainable.
Another of these is the Trump Death Machine’s attack on Venezuela boats, killing people without war being declared, without due process, without evidence. Trump is following a dangerous and problematic policy that has historic precedence. Policies like his led to terrorist attacks on the United States that culminated in the disaster immortalized under another Republican POTUS, 9/11. Sooner or later, some relatives or political leaders will say, “Fuck him,” and counterattack. I don’t need to engage much imagination to conceive of multiple deadly ways in which the United States can be struck. This is simply a losing course. Trump is too ignorant, shallow, and arrogant to understand.
The same can be said for Trump’s tariffs. It’s hilarious to read his reaction to China’s moves when they mirror what Trump has done and continues to do. It’s like Trump had no idea that other nations would not just bend the knee to him and do as he says — and not as he does. Paul Krugman has more lovely details about it. As Krugman points out, ‘”Gosh. Aggressive unilateral trade action is a āmoral disgrace.ā Who knew?’
Courts and judges are pushing back against Trump’s one-story vision of ‘blue’ cities teetering with destruction and violence. Trump claims they’re on fire, burning down, etc. The evidence isn’t there, but that doesn’t stop him. Just as with Trump’s hugely fake ‘the 2020 election was stolen’ campaign, where courts consistently ruled against him and his surrogates because the evidence for his claims were not there, the same result is happening as people take Trump to court for sending the military into Portland, Chicago, etc. The evidence is not there, and the courts are telling him so. The danger here is that the Roberts Court will take it up, shrug, and overturn these rulings without explaining why. We know why, of course; the Roberts Court is deeply implicit in trying to establish Trump as the first Dictator of the United States.
Turns out that MAGA and I have something in common. When Pete Hegseth, Trump’s proxy in the War Department, announced that Qatar would build a military base on U.S. soil, I reacted with a furious, “WTAF?” Apparently, MAGA reacted in the same way. Didn’t know that at the time, but I saw the spin a few hours later as the Trump Regime pretended, “No, that was fake news, Qatar is not building a U.S. military base. They’ll be hosted on a U.S. base, just as we do with other allies.”
MAGA balked at Team Trump’s Qatari air force base. So now it’s a ‘fake story.’ | Opinion
Finally, just as seen and predicted, with school back in and the Trump Regime virulently rising up against vaccinations, cases of measles are rising again.
More than 150 unvaccinated students quarantined in South Carolina measles outbreak
Minnesota’s measles case count jumps to 20, with most unvaccinated children
Central Ohio declares new measles outbreak linked to New Albany school district
Measles cases in the US continue to rise after already reaching highest count in 30 years
Don’t you we’re on the eve of destruction?
Wenzdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
One must wonder…
Read articles about Trump’s speech to assembled Navy sailors to celebrate the Navy’s 250 years in existence. But first, damn, this person who used deferments five-times to avoid serving in the military loves to strut around in front of the military as political capital, doesn’t he?
Trump Gave a Partisan Speech to Navy Sailors, to Mixed Reactions
Here’s one reaction which I read that dismayed me.
Why is this young woman in the military? Maybe just to have a job, perhaps to see the world, or possibly to get an education. Is she aware that if Trump’s Dept. of War Secretary had his way, females’ roles would be severely curtailed in the military? Maybe she does know. Perhaps Josie Reyna agrees, women should not be in combat roles because they’re not as good as men, in Hegseth’s opinion.
Also, I wonder if she sincerely thinks sending military forces to U.S. cities, using military force on U.S. citizens is ‘doing what’s right’? Either way, she puts a low value on ‘great’.
Trump is quoted from the same event.
Reflecting on the strength of the U.S. Navy over its 250 years of service, TrumpĀ said, āThe instant a US carrier, cruiser, or destroyer breaks across the horizon, every tyrant and adversary on the planet knows their choice is very simple: itās leave America in peace, or be blown up in fire and fury never seen before.ā
Yet, he’s acting like an absolute dictator himself. So, every tyrant doesn’t know that they need to be leave America in peace. Trump is aggressively pursuing military action against U.S. citizens. Through his militant behavior against Democrats, he acts like he wants civil war. It’s quite fucking insane but aligns perfectly with the GOP’s broken policies and lack of principles.
Trump went on to disparage Democrats, of course, and lie some more.
Trump described Democrat leaders, who have refused to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government, as a ālittle gnat thatās on our shoulder.ā The president explained that while Democrats āwant to give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country,ā he has āpledged the largest ever investment in our militaryās history.ā
That’s not what Democrats want at all. And who is ‘our shoulder’? He’s supposed to be the President of the United States, not the POTUS of half or a third. This is how he sows and deepens the divisions afflicting our nation. Trump’s ‘leadership’ reminds me of a joke.
All the organs were deciding who should be the boss….
“I should be in charge,” said the brain. “I do all the thinking. Without me nothing would happen.”
“I should be in charge,” said the heart. “I circulate oxygen and nutrients all over.”
“No! I should be in charge,” said the stomach. “I process the food that gives us energy.”
“I should be in charge,” said the eyes, “I can where we’re going.”
“I should be in charge,” said the anus. “I am responsible for waste removal.”
All of the other body parts laughed at the anus and insulted him. So he shut down. Within a few days, the brain had a terrible headache, the stomach was bloated, the legs got wobbly, the eyes got watery, and the heart pumped toxic blood. They all decided that the anus should be the boss.
The moral of the story is that you don’t need brains, heart, guts, or vision to be a leader. Just be an asshole.
Twozdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
It’s one of those days when I read the news and let out slow air. First, the quake in Afghanistan. Only five miles deep, it killed over 800 at first count, and they’re still counting. Then the Sudan mudslide which was said to kill thousands. Sorry to read about all that pain and misfortune. I wish and hope for the best for the survivors. Will the U.S. send aid? Under previous administrations, that was almost a certainty. Under PINO TACO, it’s far less likely.
personnelente shared several links today. personnelente always offers links with interesting news and opinions. In this case, it was the Army Times taking up the issue of Trump deploying troops to cities.
The first read was The National Guard, DC landscaping and the great pursuit of lethality. In classic TACO Regime double standards, the Army Times points out what a big show Pete Hegseth made about the Army and ‘lethality’ back in December of 2024. First, the article points out that the national guard troops were authorized to be armed and use forceĀ āsolely in response to an imminent threat,ā according to a Guard statement. Then the article goes on to mock the use of these troops for landscaping duties, duties usually done by the National Parks Service but can’t be done because El TACO dismissed said NPS workers.
Great execution, Donnie boy!
Here’s the Times’ words to convey what’s going on:
Many guardsmen, however, were unaware the imminent threat posed would come in the form of unkempt flower beds and tree debris, their weapons akin to those wielded by an Anglo-Saxon fyrd under Alfred the Great.
But such is the reality for many of the 2,300 or so troops deployed to stem theĀ āmagnitude of the violent crimeāĀ in the nationās capital, where threats of high-priced coffee, spandex-clad cyclists and more salmon pants than a Ralph Lauren factory loom around every pothole-riddled corner.
Various critics, meanwhile, have suggested the beautification work runs counter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethās oft-repeated mission statement of bringing āa warfighting ethos back to the Pentagon.ā
āEverything else that distracts [from lethality] shouldnāt be happening,ā he toldĀ a reporter scrum back in December.
True warfighters instilled with the warfighting ethos, however, know that a warfighting ethos is only at its warfighting ethos-iest when warfighters are fighting a war on boredom.
The second Army Times article is Trumpās push for more troops in US cities at odds with crime stats. As many of us moored in facts and reality already noted, PINO TACO was sending in troops for a problem of violent crime that only exists in his brain and the MAGAheads who bow to him.
President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years.
Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S.
Trump, who has alreadyĀ taken federal control of policeĀ in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasnāt threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states.
John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said thereās no U.S. city where there āis really a crisis.ā
āWeāre at a remarkable moment in crime in the United States,ā he said.
But these are facts. Truth. Both are those are alien to Trumpworld, where his crazy vision distorts reality and maligns history. Of course, as many point out, much of what he says and does now and forever is to distract us from other things, things which really worry him. Things like Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and what the Epstein file might say about him.
Trump is also trying to distract We the People from things like Trump’s failing health, his flailing efforts to end wars or improve the economy, and his dim chances to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s going down fast.
I don’t think it’ll be fast enough for many.
Twosda’s Theme Music
At 4:07 AM, the cat announced, “Let’s go!” Yes, he batted and chatted me awake enough to sleep walk to the door and release him back into the wild. He didn’t stay in the wild long. Cold, wind, and hunger drove him back in. “Not that wild, are you?” I asked him. He meowed back.
Thus began Twosda, April 22, 2025, much as many other days begin. Twosda and Thirstdas are the worse for me in this regard. My wife gets up early on Mun-Wen-Fri to attend exercise class. She deals with the cat between 6:30 and 8 AM on those days. But today has Papi testing the limits, in and out. I suspect he has two twins and they’re taking turns at this.
It was 39 F at 4:30 AM. If you trust Alexa. I asked it the temperature after Papi came back in. I was curious because it felt cold to my half-naked body. Like Sun & Mun, today features a clear blue-sky sauce and a glaze of sunshine with a tincture of wind and mild temperatures that lose their punch in the mid to upper sixties.
Trump continues to pile instability on instability, crazy on crazy, losses on losses. Like all great leaders, he sets ridiculous goals using ideologically-driven data, fails to take many details and factors into account, and then pretends it’s going great as everyone else prepares to get out the toilet plunger because this shit is overwhelming the crapper. He is consistently terrible and proud of it. Living in a Teflon-coated bubble, he’ll probably never recognize his insanity and the disastrous, negative impact he delivered to millions of people.
Unless, of course, his secret goal is to completely undermine and destroy the United States. That’s also possible. He could well be in collusion with Russian and oil oligarchs and are busy setting the table up to establish a powerful global cabal. Makes as much sense as any other shit he spreads.
They say that the Roberts Court is finally getting a backbone. “They’ll reign Trump in.” Ha. I think Trump is already smirking at the Roberts Court as he says, “Hold my Big Mac.” Harvard and other universities are suing the Trusk Regime. He doesn’t care. He’s already destabilized and disrupted our education systems and research programs. A third of the national NOAA weather offices have lost their leases. We’ll see what that does to the ability to warn about weather disasters. Then, Trump and Noem have been dismantling FEMA, so when these disaster squat on communities and drop a load, the state and community will struggle to recover and rebuild. Meanwhile, DOGE is raiding personal data and will probably weaponize that on behalf of Russia. He’s truncated international alliances and friendships that effectively worked for over half a century, isolating our nation. Besides all that, he’s been running due process over with a golf court.
And Trump and his supporters think this is just great. Anyway…onward.
When I first heard this Led Zeppelin song when I was thirteen, I thought, holy fucking shit. That was a startling development because I’d never sworn before that. That’s when I took up coffee, too. It all seemed to go together.
The song — “How Many More Times” — is in my morning mental music stream for reasons which The Neurons have sealed. They have better security than Kristi Noem and keep secrets more effectively than Pet (Pete) Hegseth. Not saying much, given how terrible and sloppy the Trump Regime has demonstrated itself to be, outside of the Musk-driven DOGE dogs.
Here is the music. When I listened to it today, my inner thirteen-year-old sat up and said, “Holy fucking shit.” This is a recording of a live show. Anyone familiar with Zep knows it’s gonna be a jam and will vary a bit from what was on the album.
Coffee has again insinuated itself into my body’s systems. I’m prepared to rock another day, at least until nap time later today. Hope your day is as purpose-filled as you need it. Carpe diem. Cheers
Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts
The Trusk Regime elitests are at it again. They’ve already well-established multiple double standards.
Like, there is one set of law, justice, and order for everyone except the wealthy. There’s another for the wealthy. Now Trump and the Grand Ol’ Trump Party has established that they put themselves above the law, even the law enforcement standard meant for the wealthy. Look at Trump’s Oval Office crowing about how much money he made his cronies after his tariff pause. Tsk, tsk, tsk, the people bellowed. Isn’t that illegal insider trading? Not if you’re part of the Trusk Regime.
How ’bout that pesky law that established that the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff’s requirements. The law said the nominee must have been a vice Chief of Staff or a chief of staff, of the Air Force or Army, Commandant of the Marine Corps, or Chief, Naval Operations. Besides those rules, he the nominee was commander of unified or specified command, that was accepted.
All of those are four-star positions or higher. Trump wanted a loyalist in there, so that law and its requirements were dismissed. Yet, the compliant Congress installed the retired three-star who Trump wanted. Yeah, that’s good news.
In the latest example of do as I say, not as I do, the Trusk Regime is requiring scientists, biologists, etc., to clean restrooms. If you recall, the Trusk Regime fired 1,000 national park service employees. That was a ‘money-saving move’. That meant that there was no one around to man the gates and clean the parks and clean the restrooms. So that genius called Trump and his surrogates decreed, hey, let’s have the high-priced professionals hired for their research skills go clean the shitters.
See, I wouldn’t have a problem with this, but I haven’t seen the Trump administration doing the same. How many White House staff has been cut? Why isn’t JD Vance and Elon Reeve Musk cleaning the West Wing toilets once a month? Why doesn’t Trump order noted drinker and partier Pete Hegseth or his three-star pet, John Dan Caine, to clean the Pentagon latrines? Peter Navarro should be put to work cleaning Mar-a-Largo’s bathrooms for Trump. Kristi Noem has time to cosplay as a border patrol agent on government time; surely, she can take time to clean some toilets, too.
Or is the Trusk Regime and his minions just too elite to do such work?
Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts
Saw this posted on Facebook yesterday.
Pete Hegseth confirmed and our new defense secretary 
JD broke the tied vote (51-50). Pete deserves this appointment and Iām confident he will do great things for our beloved military members and veterans. These men and women deserve someone that has their back first and foremost.
The U.S. and citizens will be safer because of this man. 2025 will be a great year at this pace.
Sad to see the vote so partisan but not surprised one bit.
Pretty much what I think many MAGAts are thinking and saying. Fed by Fox and the right-wing media, they actually believe this tripe. Most bitter for me, the cited words were written by a nephew.
Here we go, America. FAFO on a huge magnitude. SMFH.
Michael Seidel, writer 