Greeting fellow humans. Welcome to the last month of the tumultuous year of 2025.
It’s Munda, December 1, 2025. 33 F at my house, though out there in Ashlandia’s sunnier spots, it’s reported to be up to 40 F. Clear skies blue with promise and bright sunshine arch over us. They’re suggesting that we’ll see the mid to upper 50s today. Yesterday never felt warm and hissed with a chill that whispered, “Winter is standing right behind you.”
Today’s music comes from dressing again. Yesterday and the previous day, I wore jeans. I told my wife I was going old school. That came from the realization that I used to wear jeans regularly and I don’t often wear them these days. Anyway from that, I laughingly sang to Papi, “Forever in Blue Jeans.” The Neurons jumped right on that and fed the 1979 Neil Diamond song to the morning mental music stream.
Trump released another trant. A trant is a text-based social media scree filled with typos, capital letters, incorrect information, and exclamation points. It’s a neologism formed from combining Trump with rant. Trant.
Dizzy Donny’s latest trant was about his misconception of Senator Kelly’s suggestion to military members to disobey unlawful or illegal orders. After releasing and deleting an error-filled version, Donny T came up with one that satisfied his low standards.
Trant #1Trant #2
Dozy Donny finishes with a capitol letter scream, “DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE!!!” Whatever happened to “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”?
I wish the nation would do what needs to be done and remove him from office and get him therapy. But MAGAts and the GOP like this sort of *cough* leadership.
But Senator Kelly is not suggesting that military members be insubordinate or disloyal. He and the other Democrats are reminding them, as others often do, that their duty is to the U.S. Constitution and to perform legal orders.
Coffee is making its way down the esophagus to the proper places. Hope peace and grace show today but not holding my breath. Here we go, into the years final month. Cheers
Enlargement on a bit of history and a reminder of what civil disobedience can do, when it’s done right. It can be useful to apply this knowledge to what we’re now enduring under the Trump Regime and right-wing activists who want to turn back time in the U.S. and world. Cheers
Sometimes, good news seeps in through the cracks in the new authoritarian government Trump is attempting to establish.
We may have seen a few such cracks.
The Trump Regime has been attacking and destroying ships. These are purported to be Venezuelan. Purported to be drug dealers transporting drugs destined for the United States. Purported to be narco terrorists.
Trump, a royal ass, doesn’t believe that the Constitution, laws, precedence, or rules of engagement applies to him. This recipe is equal parts arrogance, ignorance, wealth, and enablement. The enablement and complicity to make Dizzy Donny think and do as he does rides in on the shoulders of Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation, the Roberts Court, and Congressional Republicans. That includes those Republicans such as Mitch McConnell, who didn’t think it necessary to do anything about Trump after Donny T was impeached. Twice. With this foundation, the Trump Regime doesn’t bother providing evidence about the truth of what they’re doing when they attack and kill non-combatants on the open seas using the military. So what if they kill innocents; Trump is worried about getting into heaven and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s so dense, he doesn’t understand how all his actions, every day, conspire to let either of those ever happen outside of the altered reality where he plots and gloats.
Now, though, some lawmakers are saying, hey, that shit that you’re doing is illegal. Using Seal Team 6 to kill civilians on your own sayso isn’t how it works, and we’re going to investigate.
Republicans and Democrats are saying these are potential crimes and need to be investigated. The problem, as we know from history, is that Republicans have twin habits of dropping their principles when Trump is involved, and stonewalling efforts to learn the truth. Adept at lying and twisting logic, the provide enough cover that they can hold out until a new distraction arises and the public and press drift their attention away. We can only hope that there were be truthful, honest, and principled investigations that result in legal action. I wouldn’t put any money on it, though.
Our second ray of feeble sunshine cracks in via the Pentagon. What, the Pentagon? Really? Home to the peace-loving Duplicitous Donny’s House of War and its drunken mouthpiece, Hegseth the angry inch?
That appeal spun the Trump regime up like a broken overwound top, especially that triumvirate of thickwitted tiny-brains, Trump, Miller, and Hegseth. Immediately seeking some way to counter this, they shouted, “Sedition!” Trump called the six Democrats “traitors” on social media, arguing “they should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” Never mind that whole freedom of speech thing. Or politics and political opposition. Etc.
Now a plethora of articles and experts are emerging suggesting that prosecuting Senator Kelly is probably going to fail, much in the same way that Trump’s attempts to prosecute Jame Comey and Letitia James resulted in a lot of egg on the faces of those executing Trump’s orders.
Won’t stop Trump and Hegseth from trying, of course. Their ignorance runs too deep.
Of course, what Senator Kelly and the other Democrats said is well understood by U.S. military members. A poll published in the Military Times several months ago reiterated their understanding.
With his Aug. 11, 2025, announcement that he was sending the National Guard — along with federal law enforcement — into Washington, D.C. to fight crime, President Donald Trump edged U.S. troops closer to the kind of military-civilian confrontations that can cross ethical and legal lines.
When a sitting commander in chief authorizes acts like these, which many assert are clear violations of the law, men and women in uniform face an ethical dilemma: How should they respond to an order they believe is illegal?
~snip~
Yes, it’s not much sunshine. We take what we can. We must remain patient, hopeful, but proactive, resist as we can, when we can.
This is it! November’s final day. Yep, it’s now Sunda, November 30, 2025. Like yesterday, it’s chilly. Up to F at my home. Fog took the day off though. We’ll break the fifties again, temp wise. Yesterday shifted in temperature and inclination sufficiently for me, out walking, to say, “Hey, it’s not bad out here.” Certainly is better than those places being buried in snow.
The ‘We Ain’t Buying It’ campaign rocks on as protest agin the corporations aiding and abetting the Trump Regime takedown of U.S. democracy. That right-wing campaign seems to be fumbling and flailing as Dizzy Donny hisself likewise stumbles, fumbles, and flails. Courts outside of the Roberts Court consistently rule against Trump decisions. Doesn’t matter. Enabled by Republicans in Congress, backed by a weaponized DOJ, supported by billionaires and the Heritage Foundation, Dozy Donny presses forward.
A stench floats from the TACO Regime. Look at what they’re doing. There was the Trump Epstein shutdown and the Epstein files. Constant grifting, whether it’s Trump phones, Donny T crypto, Melania schemes, the regime works hard to make money for the Trump mob. Meanwhile, they’re rewriting history to discount what anyone other than white men did. Overseeing the destruction of the actual White House building. Presenting a shambolic Russia-Ukraine ‘peace plan’. Flip-floppin’ over tariffs and wreckin’ the economy. Guttin’ of the Federal agencies and programs approved by previous Congresses and administrations. Wantonly, randomly disappearing people, including legal immigrants, including American citizens. That’s just a short, high-level list.
This is Trump’s vision in November, 2025, after eleven months. People are no longer overlookin’ this crap. Scales are droppin’ from people’s eyes. Polls are rolling in: they disapprove of Trump and what he’s doing. FAFO stories are spilling out as MAGAts, happy to do unto others but unhappy to have it done unto them, complain about what Trump is doing to them. All I can say is, ’bout fuckin’ time.
A bevy of dreams again last night. One was about me being a bear protecting other people. In another, I was flying some kind of ship, protecting people. I awoke, thought them over, began cleaning up and dressing. After considering the weather and picking out my clothes, I began singing a song about getting my blue jeans on. At first I thought it a song which I’d made up for myself once upon a time. Then instrumentation slipped into the song. By then, I thought it was a faintly remembered tune, dug up by The Neurons, slotted into the morning mental music stream. Using the little I remembered, I discovered “Jeans On” by David Dundas, from 1976.
Time to coffee up and head out. Hope peace and grace find us and does it soon. Till then, hang on. Cheers
The Sundowner-in-Chief is trying to assign blame for things going wrong to President Biden.
It’s all a distraction, of course, a classic page from the ‘It’s Everyone Else’s Fault!’ Donald Trump playbook. In this instance, Dizzy Donny thinks he can arbitrarily decide that President Biden’s autopen use was illegal. Therefore, everything signed by President Biden is null and void. Yep, Dozy Donny sez he’s cancelling it all.
After bragging that this year’s Thanksgiving meals were marginally cheaper than the year before, President Donald Trump is continuing to spread holiday cheer. On Friday, the president vowed to cancel all executive orders signed by President Joe Biden using an autopen.
On Truth Social, Trump claimed that “Sleepy Joe Biden” signed 92 percent of documents with the machine, which is used to automate signatures. “The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States,” he wrote. “The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him. I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
~snip~
Does this make sense? No. Totally illogical, par for Trump’s thinking. Is it legal? Absolutely not. Is it dumber than a bucket of golf balls? Yep, and that makes it sooo Trumpdiculous. Is it outrageously hypocritical, given how many times Sundowning Donny has used the autopen? Well, of course! This is Trump. With his popularity falling fast, he’s desperately lunging out at shadow monsters. The odds that the United States will attack another nation are probably going up, desperate as he’s getting. There’s been so much losing for Donny T, and there’s a lot more losing looming on the horizon.
Well, my jaw just fell open when I read that. Not.
Thieving Donny is funneling money. Again. Of course. His greed is only surpassed by his lying and cheating. Here it is, a three-fer-one. He’s funneled money for charities to himself to the past, so why would anyone expect anything else? He’s never been punished for all of his stealing and cheating and lying. People, the press, and governments all give him a pass, again and again. And this is their reward: he’s cheating them, he’s cheating the nation, and he’s cheating We the People. He’ll continue to until the breathing air is gone and the sun is just a bright star in the nighttime.
The House of Trump does seem to be wobbling more each day. Fer ‘xample, Melania’s ‘meme’ coin has lost some value. From the WSJ via Raw Story:
Supporters of Donald Trump, who believed everything he touches turns to gold, are finding out the hard way that investing in the president has turned into a bad bet.
According to a Saturday report from the Wall Street Journal, since Trump was inaugurated in January, shares in the parent company behind the president’s Truth Social platform have spiraled downward 75 percent and the numbers for Trump-branded “meme coins” have suffered a worse fate as of late.
Producing and starring in a buzzy documentary about her prominent yet under-the-radar life was just the beginning for Melania Trump, who has now launched her own production company.
The first lady announced the launch of “Muse Films” on social media with a brief video unveiling its official logo.
The company will make its debut with the upcoming film titled “Melania,” which is slated to release in theaters nationwide Jan. 30 and later on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
The documentary showcases the 20 days before the former model returned to the White House following President Donald Trump‘s inauguration on Jan. 20.
~snip~
So, from that and other articles, I’d say it’s not about Melania’s life, just a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny slice. She’s not going to reprise her nude modeling career in this film. I don’t think Jeffrey Epstein will be mentioned, even though he may have been the vehicle through which the doggishly-loyal Trump met his third wife.
Overboard and over the top. That’s Duplicitous Donny. An Afghan refugee was involved in a shooting in D.C. You probably read, heard, saw that news. The individual shot two West Virginia National Guard units in D.C. when they were shot by the Aghani.
Naturally, Trump responded with a thoughtful, nuance take – NOT! Instead, he vowed to permanently pause immigration from a number of nations and whipped out his autopen to make it so.
Because, yeah, that’s the root of the problem, right? Almost 48,000 gun murders were reported in the U.S. in 2023. How many of those does Trump think were done by immigrants? Oh, sorry, I wrote ‘Trump’ and ‘think’, which do not conjugate anywhere except Dopy Donny’s alter world. Trump doesn’t think. He makes crazy, baseless decrees which he believes demonstrates that he is strong, intelligent, and on top of everything. Instead, his solutions are often problematic, rife with flawed logic and fallacy, and often are dangerous and malicious.
Ashlandia had another foghold morning. Temps were in the 30s on the F scale. They’ve now punched up to 41. Most fog has done an Oregon goodbye. Sunshine, blue skies, and thin clouds have slipped in to serenade the weary autumn landscape. 55 F is the hoped-for high. This is Satyrda, November 29, 2025.
The Neurons have been busy with dreams when I sleep. So many, and many are very long and richly detailed, it takes a while to mentally review and catalogue them each morning. The dreams seem to be churning up other thinking and memories. A song I don’t recall hearing in a long time is in the morning mental music stream. The song is “Never Been Any Reason”. It’s straight outta the 1970s. I enjoy the song’s vocalizations and harmonies, and its changing tempo. But The Neurons couldn’t answer why they were playing it in the MMMS today or who the group behind it was. I could only remember something about a head. Had to look it up to learn it was Head East.
Juan Orlando Hernández was accused of receiving millions in bribes and partnering with cocaine traffickers. He was convicted in Manhattan in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
President Trump announced on Friday afternoon that he would grant “a Full and Complete Pardon” to a former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who, as the center of a sweeping drug case, was found guilty by an American jury last year of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.
The news came as a shock not only to Hondurans, but also to the authorities in the United States who had built a major case and won a conviction against Mr. Hernández. They had accused him of taking bribes during his campaign from Joaquín Guzmán, the notorious former leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico known as “El Chapo,” and of running his Central American country like a narco state.
The judge in his case, P. Kevin Castel, had called Mr. Hernández “a two-faced politician hungry for power” who masqueraded as an antidrug crusader while partnering with traffickers. And prosecutors had asked the judge to make sure Mr. Hernández would die behind bars, citing his abuse of power, connections to violent traffickers and “the unfathomable destruction” caused by cocaine.
~snip~
‘Shock and surprise.’ After Dizzy Donny pardoned all the J6 criminals, I’m not at all shocked and surprised by this one. Hernández was called “a two-faced politician hungry for power”who masqueraded as an antidrug crusader while partnering with traffickers. That description defines Donny T quite effectively. The proof is that he keeps saying he’s against drugs, attacking Venezuelan ships without providing any evidence that there are drugs or smugglers onboard, and then releases actual convicted drug dealers and criminals. That’s life through TACO’s looking glass. Claims he’s the law-and-order president who regularly breaks and law, claims he ‘backs the blue’, and then releases people who killed actual police officers.
Peace and grace haven’t shown up yet. Maybe they’re waiting for just the right moment. Till then, I’ll coffee up for one more sally into the world. Here we go. Cheers
Dizzy Donny Trump — Donny T, I called him — Donny T, he like that — Donny T and I used to golf together.Like, all the time. He was so impressed with my game. He told me many times, “Your swing is the best swing I’ve ever seen. Your swing is so beautiful. It’s the greatest swing I’ve ever seen and I’ve golfed many times with many many famous golfers, professional golfers, even. None of them swing as well as you.”
Beside my swing and my drive, my putting skills stunned into stupefied admiration. “My god,” he said after I sank a thirty-foot putt. “Do you ever miss?” That’s what stopped us from playing more. I was always beating him, and he finally told me, “You know what? I can’t take it any more. I’m not playing you anymore. That’s it. You’re just too good.”
I know what he means. I am that good. We used to talk about it a lot when we were flying around together. I used to fly him all over the place, lot of times cause he was meeting with his friend, Jeffrey. Dizzy T told me that I was the greatest pilot to ever fly him. I replied, “And can you believe it? I never even took a flying lesson. I signed up for them but once they started teaching, I kept correcting them because these experts didn’t know how nearly as much as I knew about flying. Once I showed them I could take off and land, they just gave me my pilot’s license.”
Trump was wide-eyed with envy. “I wish I was like that,” he said. “I would fly myself. I also am a remarkable pilot. I never took a lesson, either. I could just do it. Military pilots I fly with always tell me, you should have been a fighter pilot. You’re amazing. I know they’re right but I was too busy with other things, like winning the Nobel Peace Prize.”
I nodded. “I know. Same here.”
I haven’t seen Trump in years. He won’t even take my calls. Claims he doesn’t know me. Doesn’t remember me. That’s because his wife once told him that she wished that she’d married me instead of him. But that’s another story.
Don’t believe me? I don’t believe it. I don’t get it. Why not? I sound just like Trump. And as you know, he tells it like it is. He never lies. And neither do I.
This Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – let’s make our dollars count. We’re asking Americans to hit pause on shopping from major corporations.
JOIN US ON NOV. 27TH – DEC. 1ST, 2025
Target
Target has rolled back their DEI initiatives, which included ending programs that help Black employees advance, cutting financial support for Black-Owned businesses, and removing LGBTQ+ products from their stores.
Amazon
Amazon holds a monopolistic position in the market, contributes to dangerous working conditions for its employees and drivers, and CEO Jeff Bezos has donated over $1 million to this administration.
Home Depot
Home Depot is allowing ICE agents to illegally detain and kidnap laborers from their stores. The laborers in our communities are not able to look for work safely.
How to Participate
Full Black Out: Don’t buy anything from Target, Amazon or Home Depot stores during this week. Use the time and money to connect with those you love, and rediscover what matters.
Redirect Spending: Skip the companies undermining democracy. Shop small, local, or with businesses affirming our humanity.
Join the Movement: Pledge to be a conscious consumer.
Amplify: Spread the word. Share the message in conversation and online.
When black Frida comes, it’ll be chilly, with limited, diluted sunshine in Ashlandia. This is November 28, 2025. Just a few more daz and the eleventh month of 2025 will be in the books. Meanwhile, it’s 43 F and a high of 55 F is hoped. Rain? WTH knows?
A little tomfloofery for your day is in the link. Click and enjoy this interaction between two species.
Today’s music was derived from looking out the window. I was visiting the back scene with Papi, gathering some sunshine against my face and gazing on the leaves on the ground. Dead and dying leaves passed through my thoughts. Instantly Les Neurons began a song in my morning mental music stream about dying leaves and dirty ground. The words were there along with pieces of melody and fragments of sound. What was missing were the title, performer, and the rest of the song. As it didn’t come to me, I took to technology to recover the rest. The answers: “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” by The White Stripes. I thought it a bit cruel of The Neurons to do that to me, trying to me think and remember when I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. Sometimes, I swear, I don’t know what gets into The Neurons.
We had a delightful Friendsgiving, meeting a few new people and visiting with a dozen and a half friends. The food was its usual delicious, the standard for these outings. Standard and straightforward T Day offerings but with organic stuff, vegan offerings, and gluten-free choices.
We chatted briefly about politics. “We ain’t buying it,” was chatted up. We also discussed “A House of Dynamite”, a movie about potential nuclear way now playing on Netflix. One wonders how the Dizzy Donny Regime would respond to detection of an incoming ICBM, given that Donny cut the head off the senior military ranks, replacing them with people more politically reliable to Donny but less experienced. Some had even retired at lesser ranks and were returned to service to take up new positions. Not reassuring.
Hope you had a decent Thirstda. Now out and onward. Cheers
We’re again into the territory in the United States called ‘Thanksgiving’ or ‘Thanksgiving Day’. Shrouded with mythology, embedded in gluttony, wrapped with consumerism, T-day has become complicated for many in the U.S. My wife can’t stand the holiday but participates instead in an annual Friendsgiving. It’s just Thanksgiving with a different label. The essence of gathering and eating is unchanged. For the record, my spouse despises Thanksgiving for the cruelty to animals done in its name, and for the celebration of overeating done while so many go wanting. I respect her opinions. For me, Thanksgiving is filled with nostalgia. Mom loved cooking and feeding her family and having us all together. That’s when she was always at her best. So I have great memories of those times. Later, as I rose in rank, we always opened our door to younger military members and shared Thanksgiving with them. Plenty of good memories swirl around those days, too. So, it’s complicated. Let me put this to you: I’ve thankful for what I have and what I had. I’m hopeful that we can create a world where accumulating wealth and power will finally give way to keeping us all healthy and safe, regardless of holiday, nation, or any of the many qualifications too many people attach to who they’re willing to help.
For Thanksgiving in Ashlandia, the weather is complicated but typical. Sunny with blue skies and clouds. Rain might show up later. Temp hovering around 50 F may get up to 58 F. Average and complicated. This is Thirstda, November 27, 2025.
Thoughts of home and reflections about last night’s dreams prompted The Neurons to bring up “Can’t Find My Way Home”. This Blind Faith song came out well over fifty years ago. It still feels right. I went with a cover with Steve Winwood and Tom Petty. Hope you give it a listen.
A four-year-old social media post from now-Vice President J.D. Vance has resurfaced online, putting him under fresh scrutiny.
~snip~
In 2016, Vance was openly critical of Trump’s candidacy and at one point referred to him as “America’s Hitler,” a remark that has repeatedly resurfaced since he joined the ticket.
~snip~
Then comes another headline in the story:
A complicated history between Trump and Vance
Nothing complicated about it. Vance sold out for money, power, and position, and willingly and eagerly advanced Trump’s lies to advance himself. In short, Vance demonstrated he lacks principles. Simplest story in the world. Vance isn’t an exception. We’ve seen this with multiple Republicans. After disparaging Trump, they’ve united behind him and stand with him, except for a few outliers, as this 2016 WaPo story attests.
Hope your Thanksgiving provides something for you to be thankful for, and they you enjoy a good, a good month, a good coming year. May peace and grace find us today and every day. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 