Tag: trump lies

Friday’s Theme Music — All About Him

Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, May 8, 2026.

Friday, we wear purple.

Thin white clouds marble a bright blue sky. 56 now, a high of 78 F is expected. Sunshine washes the greenery with bright, warm light. Papi says, “This is perfect weather. Don’t change it.”

The jobs report for April came out. I wasn’t surprised that more jobs than expected were added.

It wasn’t much: 115,000. Jobless claims held steady, 4.3%. The jobs growth saw a surprise increase in “messengers and couriers” of 38,000 jobs.

Healthcare added nearly 54,000 jobs. Again, not a surprise, because healthcare laid off 108k in January. Hospitals are closing in rural areas, and rebalancing is underway as the healthcare industry copes with Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance changes.

May will be an interesting month for the jobs report, and travel, hospitality, and tourism industries. Gas prices are up over 50% since Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! initiated war in Iran in February 2024. The national average is now around $4.53 per gallon.

Trump may not care but Americans who aren’t wealthy are worried. “The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to a record low of 48.2 in early May 2026, missing market expectations of 49.5 and falling below April’s 49.8.”

Sure, Trump doesn’t care. Make a promise — “No new wars” — break a promise.

That’s him. Just like Trump’s Epstein ballroom. ‘Americans won’t pay anything for it.’ Sure. Now, we’ll just pay a $1,000,000,000. Or more.

We’re feeling the economy in my region. Southern Oregon University (SOU) is in a slow collapse; Assante is in decline, taking the regional healthcare system down; the City of Ashland is mired in financial struggles.

With SOU cutting back, music programs and activities are in danger of disappearing. Parks and Rec has been forced to cut back. Meanwhile, we’re holding our breath to see what happens with tourism, OSF, wildfires, and drought — along with rising gas, energy, and insurance prices.

What’s of more interest to me at this point: is how many other regions in the US are being affected in like ways?

Today’s music is brought to you by The Kinks. The song is “He’s Evil”. I first heard it when I was in high school.

It’s in the morning mental music stream today because, Trump.

Lyrics:

He comes on smooth, cool, and kind
But he wants your body, not your mind
He’s got style, personality
But he’s the devil in reality
He’ll make you laugh, make you smile
And make you feel good for a while
Wicked smile, decadent grin
He likes school girls, nuns, and virgins

His skin is soft but his mind is hard
He’ll lead you on and then he’ll tear you apart
He’ll treat you rough and he will make you cry
And you will kiss sweet innocence goodbye
And once you’re in, there’ll be no getting out
So look out, look out, look out
Look out, look out, look out

He’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil
He’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil, he’s evil

Hope you have an evil-free day, full of grace and peace.

Got my coffee. Time to rock.

Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music — Look! Roberts!

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, May 7, 2026.

Blue, blue sky. 67 F that we now feel would’ve been the high a few days again. Now it’s a measurement as the thermometer sings toward 83 F. Higher is possible, I think.

Mom is settling into acceptance that the nursing facility will be home for a while. Although she looks and seems happy in photos and videos, she doesn’t like paying the money and doesn’t like having her independence curtailed.

I hear her. I can see myself feeling and doing the same. I wish something better was available for her.

Meanwhile, my sister is moving forward on selling Mom’s house and getting powers of attorney. Sis has been patient and persistent and gets a lot of points for that.

My sisters and I shared health texts yesterday. We older beings laughed as we compared our health issues. My younger siblings were agog with dismay. My older sister responded, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.”

Big news front that I’m seeing is Justice Roberts is upset.

Chief Justice laments perception of ‘political’ Supreme Court

I read that to my wife. She laughed. “Gosh, I wonder why.”

No kidding. The shadow docket has surged under Roberts once Trump came into power. The Brennan Center summarized exactly why we think the Roberts Court is politicized and favoring Trump:

“The Court has sided with the administration 80 percent of the time when making “emergency” rulings, often without revealing its reasoning.“

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Despite Trump’s claim, made less than three months ago, Republicans are now asking for $1,000,000,000 for the ballroom. Trump also claims the Epstein ballroom is under budget, even though they’re now asking for five times the original amount to build it.

Trump can’t be trusted. Nor can the GOP. What’s your guess for how much the Epstein ballroom will end up costing?

Between the Epstein ballroom and Trump’s Iran War, Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is becoming one of most expensive fiascos in history.

Today’s theme music is “Under My Wheels” by Alice Cooper. The song came out in 1971. It entered my morning mental music stream today after reading Jill Dennison’s blog. It featured the ELO song, “Telephone Line”. That was enough to inspire The Neurons to lift “Under My Wheels” out of my dusty folds of memory. See, the song begins, “The telephone is ringing,” and the line is repeated throughout the song.

Hope you enjoy it. Still sounds good to me, fifty years plus later. However, I don’t often play Alice Cooper these days; he’s a right-wing individual who trashes trans ‘as a fad’.

I hope this day finds you doing well in all ways that matter. May peace and grace carry you on no matter what adversity life might deliver.

On to my coffee. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music –

Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, Mar 5, 2026.

Thunder is talking to us outside. It’s almost a three-D reproduction of yesterday: 56 F now, moving toward upper 70s. Cloudy, thin sunshine, thunderstorms.

Two headlines grabbed my attention today. One said that Delta airlines will stop serving food and beverages on flights under some mileage. I sort of shrugged at that, considering it, 1) part of the general enshittification trend of airline travel.

The other headline was about Trump’s Epstein Ballroom. Originally seized as an idea under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!, private donors were supposed to be paying for the ballroom. But NOTUS had this headline:

Senate Republicans Seek $1 Billion for White House Ballroom Security

Remember when the ballroom was going to cost $300 million? Ah, good times. Prices are going up so fast these days.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Trump made these statements when he accepted the GOP nomination. It was part of his ‘law and order’ speech. Now he puts his personal agenda before the national good, leads an incompetent government, and fails We the People all the time.

I’m not surprised. That’s what I fully expected from Trump: failing upward, as he did all his life, by covering his mistakes with different personal variations of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s song is by Steely Dan. I was thinking about pretzel logic. That happens to be the name of a Steely Dan album. I started thinking about that album, and Les Neurons brought “Any Major Dude” into the morning mental music stream.

Hope you find some peace and grace in your day.

Cheers

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What A Story!

Jill’s post, “Da ‘Toons Tell Da Story” sharply illustrate the foolhardiness of the Trump administration and his followers. I pulled a few favorites to share right here and now, but way more are on her page. Get thee over there to check ’em out!

Da ‘Toons Tell Da Story!

My Five Favorites:

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Sunday’s Theme Music – Going Down

Ashland, southern Oregon — Sunday, May 3, 2026.

It’s a springy 63 F in Ashland this morning. Clouds feather the sunshine effect. We’re expecting a high of 77 F and thunderstorms.

All is quiet on the Mom front. I’m privately mourning the changes and losses to her life. Don’t know what my sisters are thinking but their relationship with Mom was rockier than mine. Part of that is that I moved out early and was away for years at a time, inuring me to her chaos.

Unfortunately, we’re not inured to Trump’s chaos. Let’s call it Traos. No matter what I drink or how much, he’s still there, and the reality of what he’s doing to us gets worse with every viewing.

Now several months into Trump’s second year of his second term, certain trends have become cemented as part of his legacy.

  • Trump is a corrupt person, enriching himself at the expense of the country
  • Trump’s cabinet is inept and chaotic
  • Dizzy Donnie’s health is worsening and he’s hiding something
  • Whatever is in the Epstein files, Trump doesn’t want it found
  • Trump has no plan forward except to cut everything except Homeland Security and Defense, impose more tariffs, and isolate the nation
  • Between his lies, broken promises, failed policies, and delusions, Trump can’t be trusted

Some will say that I’m being harsh. I am. But I’m using standard benchmarks for my judgements.

  • Trump keeps playing ‘hide the Epstein file’
  • His personal wealth has grown while social services and education are being cut
  • The national debt is growing at a record rate and has overtaken the GNP
  • Prices are rising and he can only offer band aids like the $6000 tax credit for seniors that results in $720
  • Awakening to his grift, his approval ratings are falling, and his disapproval ratings are rising
  • He promised no new wars and started one
  • Declaring himself the unity president, he’s done more to polarize voters than any other in modern history

And as final proof of how delusional he is, he keeps ordering things renamed for himself, and planning monuments for himself, because he thinks everything is going great. The rest of the world knows, if he was worthy of monuments, we’d be proposing and building them on our own. Instead, brown nosers who like to kiss his ass are trying to find new ways of doing it.

Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! still goes. No doubt trying to regain some of his mojo, Trump announced some major gun safety changes. Makes the NRA happy. That’s what’s important. *snark*

We have months to go before it’s all over.

BTW, have you seen Iran’s humorous take on Trump?

The confluence of news, dreams, and mood inspired The Neurons to pull the trigger on “Sugar, We’re Goin Down”.

The Fall Out Boy chorus fills the morning mental music stream:

“We’re going down, down in an earlier round, and sugar we’re going down swinging. I’ll be your number one with a bullet.”

My hope for you today is that you weather it all and come out stronger, healthier, and happier.

Got my coffee. Time to rock on. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music — Stuck

Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, May 2, 2026.

Clouds rule our valley this morning. It’s an almost unbroken sea of white and gray but thin enough to let sporadic sunshine sneak in and out. 59 F now, we’re anticipating a high of 77 today. Again.

Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! has recommenced. After Trump successfully grifted Republicans in Congress into believing that Trump’s Iran War is over, Trump has turned his sights to Cuba.

To recap:

  • Eastern Pacific/Caribbean – killed 181 to 186 people while destroying 40 ‘drug boats’
  • Venezuela: abducted the nation’s president and first lady
  • Greenland: threatened to take it in the name of peace
  • Iran bombed it twice
    • October 2025, to ‘obliterate’ its nuclear capability
    • February 2025 to now, because of its nuclear threat
  • Now — CUBA!

Donald Trump says US will take over Cuba ‘almost immediately’

Yet, the Epstein files remain unreleased.

Trump’s approval ratings are dropping, and his disapproval ratings are falling.

High food, gas, and oil prices challenge US shoppers.

It’s all so Trump. He can’t solve problems, only create them, then lie about what they are, and insist that only he can fix it.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

“Mark my words.”

Yes, we marked your words, Trump.

“In a February 2016 interview with MSNBC, Trump said the wall would go “probably 35 or 40 feet up.” The height reduction was short-lived, however. Later in the same interview he said “And I heard [Mexican President Vicente Fox] said that we will not pay. Guess what? The wall just got higher.” At rallies in early 2016, Trump repeatedly said the wall gained 10 feet everytime Mexico rejected paying for it.

“At the Republican presidential debate in March he reverted to his earlier claim that “the wall’s 50 feet high.” Later that month at a MSNBC town hall he stated the wall would be “a good 35 feet. It’s getting higher all the time” and reiterated Mexico “will pay in one form or another.” At the same town hall the price of the wall jumped to $10 billion.”

Repeat after me: you can’t believe anything that Trump claims.

Now tell me, who is going to pay for the ballroom? And how much will it cost?

Today’s theme music came as I went about lazily doing things this morning. Papi had been fed and was outside, washing, being a cat. I was lost in thought about a dream and realized, damn, time! So I told myself, “Get it together. Let’s go. Move.”

Hearing that, The Neurons hooked up with a U2 song, and delivered it to my morning mental music stream: “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”.

Sample Lyrics

You’ve got to get yourself together
You’ve got stuck in a moment
And you can’t get out of it

The song came out in 2001 — before 9/11. Yet it feels like a perfect summary of our political situation in the US since then, with war, Trump, the Great Recession, etc.

It feels like a moment we’re stuck in, and can’t get out.

I hope the end of today finds you better off than the start of the day, and that you can stack good days upon good days.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music — Surrender

Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, May 1, 2026.

It’s 57 F outside and a high of 77 is predicted, despite clouds and haze obscuring the sun.

Good-bye April, hello May. As it’s May 1st, I’m staying home and not buying anything today.

The fifth month of 2026 begins with little change politically.

  • Trump remains in office
  • Prices are still rising, with gas in the US setting records for how fast they’re rising
  • Kash Patel is still running the FBI but that’s not expected to last
  • The Epstein files haven’t been released
  • Trump’s approval ratings are falling and his disapproval is climbing

May begins as the third month with the US Schrödinger’s War with Iran where we’re at war and not at war. Common sense says we attacked them, bombed them, killed people, all in pursuit of Trump’s fragile objectives — ego, approval, masculinity. Iran has fought back and we have warships stationed over there. Ergo, it’s war.

Legal semantics are being employed to argue the US is not at war because, law. “Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL” began on February 28, 2026. Trump formally notified Congress on March 2. Today is then the legal deadline to either stop the war or get a formal Authorization for Use of Military Force. All eyes still wearily blink at Congress to see who among them have grown a spine.

Republicans argue that sudden withdrawal would embolden Iran. I think Trump’s failed bombing campaign is already doing that.

Newsweek offered some classic clickbait:

Donald Trump’s odds of winning 2026 Nobel Peace Prize surge

The article says they gave him a 55% chance of winning last year, and now give him a 25% chance. Sounds like Trump math. He’s still in sixth place or lower as a potential winner. In my mind, if they gave the prize to Trump after all his bombing and threats, the prize would lose all credibility.

Trump has seemed very low key, low energy recently. It’s like he checked out. Never one to be on top of things, he’s always been bombastically out there, pretending like he is. I wonder, though, if it’s not a culmination of his war against the press merging with the press’s weariness over his lies and attacks resulting in less reporting of him. Could be, too, that he’s simply retreating into trusted safe places.

Whatever the cause, the optics of his absence as ‘commander in chief’ promote the impression that he’s overwhelmed and flailing. Stacked on top of ‘the bulge’ in his pants, his weary appearance, and fewer, more muted appearances, I’m getting a lame duck vibe.

I’m looking forward to his May 17th Rededicate 250 speech. At this point, anything he says and claims about Making America Great Again is going to remind us about how much worse the nation is now compared to two years ago.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

I have “Sweet Surrender” by Sarah McLachlan in my morning mental music stream. This actually came about when my ginger fur friend, Papi, did a roll at my feet on the patio as we tested the weather together. I chortled and gave him some skritches and rewarded him with extra treats. His move seemed like he was doing a sweet surrender, but so did my response.

I hope this day goes well for you, with good friends, good food and drink, and good news.

Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music – Fronts

Ashland, southern Oregon — April 30, 2026.

A new weather front has moved in. It’s 54 F under layers of clouds and sprinklings of sunshine, a typical Ashlandic spring day. Highs in the upper 70s are forecast for us. Right now, with all those clouds, it feels weirdly chilly.

Good news from the home front. Mom is electing to stay in assisted living and cooperating. She’s also agreed to sell her house and furniture. While it’s welcomed, it’s also so sad for her and our family. She wanted to be there; we wanted her to be there. Yet, practically, it could not work. Personally, I will miss go home, to her house, to hugging her in her living room, chatting with her in her kitchen, helping her with her laundry. And I will miss the many wonderful dishes she used to make. Her potato salad, spaghetti with meatballs, and chili all remain the best I ever had.

I will say, though, my sisters are a little annoying with their texting. They get up early, before six, and text. My first text from them came at 2:12 AM. I have my phone set up to notify me of texts from the family, in case there’s an emergency, but these were casual, informational texts. Okay, rant over.

No, I haven’t spoken to them about it. They’re doing so much to take care of Mom and help, etc. It would be really petty of me to complain to them about the time they send their texts. I’ll just whine here instead. *smile*

I’ve not seen much surface changes on the Trump front. The voting front is rapidly changing as the Roberts Court dish out their rulings and states respond. A situation as messy as first graders fingerpainting is going to get muddy and sloppy. That mud and slop favors the GOP and Trump. That’s why they’re pressing it. Not about democracy; it’s about staying in power.

Meanwhile, it’s been quiet on the Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! front and the Epstein front.

With the war in Iran at a stalemate, more conversations about the US military’s capabilities are emerging, such as this one. And they’re right; as often happens, the military fights the last war. We’re built for vast nuclear battles in the US with technologically sophisticated but expensive systems. Iran is countering us with different tactics and inexpensive weapons.

In a sense, what we’re seeing in this war echoes wars for the US back to the American revolution. The British were fighting an old war. The colonist changed tactics and won.

Changing policies and weapons in the US will be a challenge. As President Eisenhower warned, the military-industrial complex has a firm hand on procurement. Defense companies manage Congress through projects, manufacturing, and employment. We build systems as much for our economy as much as we do for our security. Meanwhile, the public nods agreeably because, ‘patriotism’.

Trump is responding by increasing the defense budget and calling for more expensive weapons systems. He’s pushing hard on a new class of Trump battleships. As with many things Trump, the battleships he envisions are outdated and bloated relics better fit for the past.

As the war stays stall, oil prices are slowly rising. A Gasbuddy AI analysis from March of 2026 is hilarious to read:

“GasBuddy’s latest projection paints a starkly different picture from the past. The company now forecasts the 2026 U.S. gasoline price average to fall to $2.97 per gallon, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline and the lowest average since 2020. This sets up a clear seasonal pattern, with prices expected to peak in May around $3.12 per gallon before declining steadily to a low in December of $2.83 per gallon.”

Mock Paper Scissors found a saner prediction from a Gasbuddy expert:

“GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan, a widely cited gas price expert, predicts the national average price at the pump will hit $4.50 a gallon within a week (currently $4.30).”

Never to shirk from taking advantage of a bad situation, British Petroleum is making some handsome profits from the war and the world energy situation.

Oil giant BP announces huge rise in profits in first results since Iran war

Your Trump quote of the day:

“Gas prices have risen 49% since the beginning of 2026, according to prices tracked by AAA. They dropped by an average of 7 cents a gallon after a two-week ceasefire was announced last week.”

And as any driver now knows, that drop is already gone.

The Neurons observed my thoughts on fronts and responded. They put Elton John and “All Quiet on the Western Front” from 1979 in my morning mental music stream. Lifted from a movie of the same name, it’s not a song that comes on the radio much. The song’s tempo’s and musical style reminds me of “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” from 1975.

I hope your front is calm and peaceful and that you progress to better and better places for you in all ways possible.

Cheers

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The Bottom Line for Trump

For Trump, 2026 mid-terms are coming fast. Reminders are coming, too: of what he promised, the promises he broke, and the failures littering his promises. Here’s one person’s reflections on Trump’s state of the mid-terms worth reading.

Election 2026 #2

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Sunday’s Theme Music — Memories

Ashland, Oregon — Sunday, April 26, 2026.

Hope your April is going well. We’re saying good-bye to it this week.

It’s a cloudy spring day here. 46 F, our afternoon forecast includes rain and a high of 62. It’s a pretty tableau outside, with shafts of sunlight highlighting green leaves and far off trees rising on the southern mountains.

Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! opened another line of distraction last night. Shots were reported at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Trump and his staff were hustled away. No one was hurt. Headlines were captured, though.

It seems so obviously planned or a deliberate lapse in security. First, Trump never goes to the dinner but decides to go this year. Second, the reactions afterward by Vance, Trump, etc., seemed false.

Bottom line: Trump really thinks we’re idiots.

The allegedly staged attempt is understandable, though. Trump is desperate. His approval ratings are falling, his war is going bad, prices are rising and everyone is reminding everyone else he said he’d lower prices day one. He said he’d end the Ukraine War before he took office but didn’t. He said, no new wars, and here we are, in another war.

We won’t rehash the Epstein files. He wants them buried. Forgotten. That’s not happening.

After the attempt, Trump then called for Americans to come together and resolve our differences peacefully.

Trump quotes of the day:

Trump has a history of using divisive rhetoric. Now he calls for unity.

I wonder how long it will be after this speech before he calls a political opponent, journalist, Democrat, or woman, a dog or scum?

All this focused The Neurons on Trump’s warped memories and views. “Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” entered the morning mental music stream. I found a Tenacious D cover of it that I enjoyed. Hope you do, too.

Let’s all have a Sunday of peace and unity, along with a little grace, and treat each other like humans.

Cheers

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