A summary of the Enshittifier-in-Chief and his dumbfuckery for the week.
Friends are suggesting that we have annual Trump Enshittification Awards to immortalize him. Who’s in?


















And finally…

Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
A summary of the Enshittifier-in-Chief and his dumbfuckery for the week.
Friends are suggesting that we have annual Trump Enshittification Awards to immortalize him. Who’s in?


















And finally…

Round and round and round we go.
Where we’ll end up, nobody knows. Especially Trump.
I saw a comment the other day which summarizes Trump voters for me. I remember what they said but not who said it:
Look at these headlines.
Trump rules out ceasefire as US sends more troops to Middle East
Trump says US considers ‘winding down’ Iran military effort
US Sends Another 2,500 Marines to Iran as Ground Option Emerges in War
Same war, same Trump, intentions going everywhere in a lost haze of thought.
TSA lines are causing traffic delays as TSA agents don’t come to work. Why should they? Trump is not paying them because of his partial government shutdown.
Now, some small regional airports might shut down due to Trump’s partial government shutdown.
As oil prices go up, so do gas prices at the pump but analysts warn that oil prices will hit every sector because of shipping. Meanwhile, another set of analysts warn that we’ll probably start seeing food prices increasing because of Trump’s tariffs — from ‘liberation day’ of last year. Companies were spreading the costs out among multiple products and lines to spread increases and ease the pain. Now, forced to the wall, Food Navigator thinks the price increases will be more direct.
My wife and I are forever laughing about economists and their expectations. Earlier this month, the poor jobs growth surprised them. Now APNews reports it’s consumer wholesale prices.
U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected in February, driven partly by a sharp increase in food costs.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.7% from January, and 3.4% from February 2025. The year-over-year increase was the most since February 2025.
The price gains were bigger than economists had forecast, and they occurred before the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran pushed energy prices sharply higher.
It’s like, where do these economists live and shop that they don’t walk into a place and notice prices going on month by month? It’s surreal.
Now my wife and I are trying to figure out what a ‘K-shape economy recovery’ looks like. I’m telling you, if it’s not one thing…
Oh, BTW. Remember how Trump said he and one of his Republican lackeys had a great plan to send a hospital ship to Greenland? Surprised everyone because we all knew the Navy’s hospital ships weren’t available, but Trump’s ‘plan’ grabbed headlines and distracted everyone from the Epstein files for a few days. No ship was ever sent.
I mention it now because Trump signed an executive order to have the government work with the NCAA and whatever so that the Army-Navy football game is the only game being broadcast.
That smacks of classic Trump distraction. Polls for him are down, the economy is swirling around the toilet, and the Epstein files still haunt him. Now, what he thought would be a one and done in Iran is a growing disaster. Quick! Distraction: Army-Navy game.
Who still falls for his inanity these days?
Ashland, Oregon — Saturday, March 7, 2026.
51 F outside, curdling high white clouds clout a diluted blue sky. Today’s high might be 68. The snowbank level is at 39% of average, a worrying portends as we speed toward summer.
In some quick hits, I saw that Target’s new CEO vows to bring customers back to their stores and restore growth and profits. His idea is more fashion, failing to miss the point that Target rolled back DEI and was a quick and early supporter of Trump’s agenda and inauguration.
I don’t know about others but I’m not going to walk into their stores to shop until they restore DEI. Target said it was just a coincident that they were terminating their DEI programs, claiming that they’d already decided to end it before Trump declared his war on DEI.
Some coincidence.
Other quick hits have me musing about the economy. The news is days old that the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. January and December’s numbers were revised downward. January had net growth but lost some of that, while December, which had shown job growth, now showed a contraction of 17,000 jobs.
It doesn’t help that 2025 was the worst year for jobs growth since 2020. Trump was in the White House back in 2020, too. KIn fact, the U.S. had negative jobs ‘growth’ for the first time since 2010. Interestingly, 2025’s job growth total was well below President Biden’s economy, which added over 2,000,000 new jobs in 2024.
Prices continue high and are expected to rise more with the Trump Iran war as gas and oil prices go up. With uncertainty about Trump’s goals and how long the war will last, fears of stockpiling gas and oil might push prices up, as has happened in the past.
This is all ‘older news’ but I bring it up because it shows the continual haphazard way that Trump functions and its deleterious impacts. Many of us who aren’t drinking Trump’s magic potions and don’t agree with Project 2025’s plans and intentions aren’t surprised. We saw the effects that tariffs would have, and we understand the history of mid-east wars on gas and oil prices. We also understood what would happen when Trump broke trade agreements, and nullified or withdraw from alliances.
We also knew that when he claimed to be the peace president and that there would be no new wars, war and military action was inevitable. Trump is a liar and wanted to use the military in his first term but was restrained by seasoned individuals. With those people gone, Trump rushes to war as a salve and distraction against falling approval ratings, a terrible economy, and the Epstein files.
Note, too, that Trump crows about this showing how strong we are. However, true military experts have noted that the United States is running through its inventory of high-tech precision weapons. These are expensive and take time to make. As we’re not on a ‘war footing’, manufacturing has not ramped up to support the current demand levels. That increases our nation’s vulnerability and reduces our safety and security.
In the last quick bit, note that the growing costs of these military costs won’t do anything to help our budget deficit. It’s growing; we’re now projected to pay more in interest than we pay for defense. Staggering.
And again, many of us outside of Trump and the MAGA world saw this coming. They didn’t because they live in a make-believe existence — to our detriment.
Today’s music selection by The Neurons is “Young Lust” by Pink Floyd. Released in 1979 from The Wall album, the song is residing in my morning mental music stream because I got the words wrong when I first heard it.
The song is about Pink, the hero of the album, having sex while he’s touring. The lyrics say, “I need a dirty woman.” Somehow, I heard that as, “I need a magic woman.” So the song came up today because I was contemplating how wrong Trump’s magical thinking is and thought, “He needs a magic woman,” with a laugh. My cheeky Neurons just ran with the mondegreen.
Hope you enjoy the video. Look how young the Floyds look. *smile*
I hope your day is joyous and safe, wherever you roam and whatever you do.
Cheers
With another year under Trump completed, it’s time to take stock.
I was one of those who predicted that Trump would be aggressive in his immigration policies and against political opponents, and would be detrimental to our nation. I believed Trump’s social, economic, and trade policies would worsen life for people in poverty or needing assistance. And, while there may have been places where the Federal government could have been trimmed, DOGE’s cuts did not address needs or cause and effect.
So, here we sit.
Affordability remains an issue for many places and families, even if Trump and his cabinet claim otherwise.
Plans for more ICE facilities have community leaders across the nation pushing back, worrying about social and economic impacts.
Dealing with flattening revenue streams and running out of surplus funds, local and state taxes and fees are rising to compensate for Federal cutbacks.
Insurance rates and repair costs for personal vehicles are rising. So, too are healthcare premiums and healthcare costs, further eroding spending power for many families and individuals.
Housing prices are high, and Trump says he wants them to go higher.
New car sales dropped in 2025, surprising analysts who thought sales would rise.
Uncertainty among corporations is showing up in job reports. Corporate layoffs touched a level not seen since the 2008 recession. New employment is flat with companies backing off hiring plans. Minority unemployment rose, and disparities widened.
Tourism to the United States is down, affecting the hospitality and tourism industries. It’s uncertain now how proposed Trump policies to request people’s social media history might affect travelers to the United States.
Measles outbreaks continue to rise in the United States. 2025 saw 2,255 cases, the most since 2000. 2026 is expected to be worse.
These patterns culminated in falling consumer confidence in 2025.
None of this surprises me. History and science told me that this is where Donald Trump’s philosophy would lead. The results are catching up with his decisions.
And voters are awakening to the impact.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, finds Ashland reunited with sunshine. White and grey faintly marble a powerful blue sky with 44 degrees F on the thermometer.
All is not well, as Papi pointed out. Hustling in from outside, he turned and snapped a sharp meow at the wind. Winds are at the evilest of the evil, in the ginger wonder’s opinion. After cleaning the wind off him, he curled up, pacifying his sour mood with a nap.
Hard to think that we’re already ten days into February. 2026 has no speed governor and the days seem like they’re tearing along. It already feels like the month was a year with everything going on. Trump’s hold seems diminished, and that appears reflected in less violence, although his hate remains turned up.
We’re still awaiting many outcomes. The Trump Effect of transforming things to trash has hold of the crypto market and the US dollar is losing value. Part of the White House is literally demolished. The full revelations of Trump’s multiple appearances in the Epstein files is still snaking to the surface.
Yet, the Roberts Court somehow hasn’t announced an announcement about the Trump tariffs legality, even though arguments were heard months ago. It’s almost like they’re stalling.
In hilarious news, Senator Rick Scott, a strong Trump supporter, insisted that US Olympian daring to employ their freedom of speech to criticize the nation should be stripped of their uniform because the United States a ‘beacon of freedom and democracy’. Apparently, what he’s saying hasn’t sunk into the Florida senator’s brain.
And despite the speed of the month, we’re still awaiting the official jobs report, which was due last week.
With all that going on, Trump’s approval ratings are going down like the Titanic. It’s almost like a spell has broken.
And that transports me to today’s music.
The Neurons have “I Put A Spell On You” playing in my morning mental music stream. The song was originally called up in response to a dream about discovering someone had cursed me. As I thought about the day’s news headlines and Trump’s activities, I thought the song fit the need as Tuesday’s theme music. There are several wonderful covers of this song but I’m going with the one which surfaced in my head first, the CCR version.
Once more into the day. I hope that peace and grace bring you fair winds and good news.
Cheers
Recent Trump actions and behavior have me rolling my eyes.
First, congratulations to Trump for finally releasing a healthcare ‘plan’.
After ten years of promises, it underwhelms. Trump believes that giving money directly to taxpayers so they can ‘make their own decisions’ will make healthcare cheaper and more effective. The White House has declared this as a framework and urges Congress to take it up.
How much Trump’s healthcare idea will help is unknown, but —
As misdirection, Trump’s plan helps shift attention from unfavorable facts, like less than one percent of the Epstein files has been released, and ICE is increasingly unpopular with voters.
Trump’s second move is another emerging from the swollen perception he has of his intelligence, acumen, influence, and his abuse of what patriotism is.
A man who never served in the Army or Navy, who played football briefly as a teenager, Trump wants to dedicate one Saturday’s four-hour window to have only the Army-Navy college football game televised. To make that happen, Trump, professing he’s being patriotic, declares he’ll sign an executive order to make it happen.
I think if he wants to be patriotic, he’ll let Congress pass laws about things like that, according to what We the People want. Trump’s move is all about indulging his own whims as a barometer of what’s best. With all that’s wrong with the world, presidential oversight of college football television scheduling is completely unneeded.
Playing for the trifecta, Trump tied two favorites together, tariffs and Greenland, in one quick chop. Frustrated by other nations rallying around Greenland to stymy Trump’s plans, Trump declared tariffs on eight nations — all allies — to coerce them into ‘giving’ Greenland to the United States.
I can’t comprehend how taxing Americans and reducing product availability will force those nations to ‘give’ away Greenland. Never mind that Greenland belongs to one nation, Denmark. He wants other nations to do his dirty work and convince Denmark to give up Greenland, which Denmark and Greenland consistently reject.
Trump’s new tariffs fly against the trade agreements he’d just completed with these EU nations regarding tariffs, reducing their trust of the United States. Trump earned himself the nickname TACO — Trump Always Chickening Out — for the manner he rolled out and rescinded tariffs in 2026. Economists and CEOs often cited the resulting chaos from Trump’s practice for business uncertainty and confusion.
Trump still doesn’t get that We the People often end up paying the tariffs and rising prices result, directly impacting affordability.
Prices will likely increase, if Trump follows through with these new tariffs. Congress is talking about intervening, but the established pattern doesn’t bode well for any early or quick relief. The Trump Administration tends to actively resist rulings against their policies, push backs hard, and delays implementation.
With prices — like beef — already high, the stacking effect means other prices end up rising from demand. People who can’t buy beef buy chicken, for example, pushing up the demand on chicken, increasing prices.
While those EU prices might not directly drive up prices, pressures in the supply chain and indirect costs associated with them might be experienced.
Too early to say. Trump may chicken out from imposing the tariffs, or lower the tariff amounts — who knows?
I know the global markets didn’t like it, as many economists and investors worry about a trade war.
The only thing clear at this point is that 2026 is much like 2025: chaotic and uncertain.
With Trump still calling the shots, I expect it to get worse.
The Trump Regime announced its foreign policy during this past week, quietly dumping it .
Anyone who has been paying attention notices that Trump is pretty okay with Russia and is eager to abandon established international protections and orders. The Trump Corollary pretty well spells that out.
Several things are made much clearer for me now.
Can anyone say Iron Curtain? Through the ‘Trump Corollary’ and the Trump Regime’s already well-established practices, this administration is creating the Trump Wall. They, with ‘they’ defined as the primarily white fascist Christians of Trump’s base and the oligarchs courting Trump’s favor, believe that this policy will make the United States stronger and more successful by isolating it and using its military power to bully others. It completely discounts twentieth and twenty-first economic, cultural, political, and military history. It also belies the truth about how the United States advanced through education, opportunity, and international military, diplomatic, and economic cooperation. But remember that those successes and advances were often done when Democrats were in charge. This Trump Corollary is a reactionary throwback to a far different time, one well before computers and the vast technological communications systems that now exist.
The Trump Regime is on that, though. By developing relationships through business, profits, and grift with the techno brothers, they’re establishing the framework for shutting down and manipulating the social media information flow. AI will only enhance the Trump Regime’s ability to manipulate facts and the truth…just as foretold in 1984.
Bottom line, the Trump Corollary is a death knell for true freedom, democracy, and equality in the United States. Unless you have the money or power to procure them.
Good luck, people. Good luck.
MPS brings us the November price check.
These are the prices which had voters riled up by Trump in 2024. All graphics are from MPS. I suggest you go over there for the full view. Just click on the headline above.

Then there was the Walmart con job that got Trump excited.

Trump is pretty excited that you can buy 15 things of lesser quality for the same price you paid for 21 items of better-quality items in 2024. Such a friggin’ genniyus.
And now, those high prices that upset so many folks in 2024, like eggs, gas, meat…? They’re up, my friends. As most of us who were thinking about it expected.
| Date | Gas | Eggs | Beef | Milk | Butter | Bread | Canned Tomatoes* |
| Feb. 2025 | hi: 4.75 lo: 2.87 | hi: 10.00 lo: 5.39 | hi: 7.99 lo: 5.49 | hi: 6.00 lo: 2.79 | hi: 5.79 lo: 2.79 | hi: 5.29 lo: 2.99 | N/A |
| May 2025 | hi: 4.99 lo: 2.64 | hi: 10.79 lo: 4.49 | hi: 8.99 lo: 7.00 | hi: 5.25 lo: 3.56 | hi: 6.49 lo: 1.96 | hi: 6.29 lo: 2.79 | N/A |
| Aug. 2025 | hi: 4.99lo: 2.30 | hi: 8.99lo: 3.00 | hi: 9.99lo: 9.49 | hi: 3.89lo: | hi: 6.49lo: 4.59 | hi: 6.49lo: 3.49 | hi: 3.69lo: |
Just to add some turbidity to the issue, Consumer Confidence is down. Judging from the headlines and stories, there’s a lot of spin out there about how bad it is and what it portends. But all agree, it is down.
Just like Trump’s approval ratings.
Cool rain commences. It’s Satyrda, August 18, 2025. 72 F, we’re two degrees short of our expected high.
Papi loves this weather. The back door is open and the ginger floof makes it his territory. Lounging there, he can monitor us and the outside, grooming after breakfast.
We’re on final vacay prep. I take my ‘puter, so I’ll post but less often and more inconsistently. We’re there mainly for the ocean’s influence. That’d be the Pacific. Our rental place is a few hundred walkable yards from where the ocean beats the rocks and sprays mist the air. The floofsitter will be staying in our house, as her place has some repairs going on. She and Papi get along quite well. I trust the situation in her hands.
I see that Trump hit the trifecta with wholesale vegetable prices in July. Stories I’ve read say the veggie prices jumped over 39 percent.

What led to this? Well, a trio of issues, mainly. One, unpredictable weather, you know, like the increasingly erratic weather caused by climate change, which Trump claims is fake news because he and his supporters are either too dense to understand it, or they view it as a siphon on profits, and without money, life has little meaning for ’em, outside of hatred.
The second cause for the wholesale price jump was cited as labor shortages. That was predicted loudly and continually by anyone with a brain larger than a pea who has paid attention what goes on in the U.S. These labor shortages are directly attributed to Trump’s ICE disappearance policies and heavy-handed gestapo strategy.
The final nail in the almost 40 percent price increase was Trump’s tariffs. Again, very predictable except to the mango clown waddling around the Offal Office and his simpering minions.
Now, on the right, they like to claim that the labor shortage isn’t that bad. That ‘Murican will take over those migrant jobs. They love fables like that. They also bulk up their reasoning with claims that machinery now does most of the vegetable harvesting. While true that machines are used in many circumstances, hand-picking is needed for anything that’s going farm to table. Machines are used for harvesting veggies and fruits destined for canning and animal feed.
Read the whole article about the wholesale price jump at Wholesale Vegetable Prices Are Skyrocketing. What Does That Mean for Shoppers?
This news came from the BLS. Trump just fired that agency’s leader after the downward revision of labor for the previous two months, information which showed that the economy is going down the toilet. Trump hates info like that, so someone over at BLS is gonna get their head handed to them.
The bad economic news also comes on the heels of the Putin and Trump talks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s sucking up and lack of results make him look weak, and Putin ably handled him. Net result: Trump won nothing but praise from Putin for being a victim. Trump loves believing he’s a victim, one of the most unfairly treated people in the world, so he ate that shit up with a large spoon.
Shame, though. All this bad press has diminished the focus on the Epstein Files, and how deep Trump was in with Epstein. His lack of efforts to release the files and irritation whenever Epstein gets mentioned, coupled with his delicate handling of the felon named Maxwell, leads many to think that Trump is bigly mentioned in that file, and not in good ways.

Today’s music is brought to you by my sister. She mentioned yellow on a social media platform, sharing a post asking, “Who is your yellow?” A yellow is a person who brings joy into your life without trying. When I read that, The Neurons pumped up “Yellow” by Coldplay in the morning mental music stream. So here we are.
Coffee is making itself at home among my Neurons. Getting ready to pounce on another day. Hope peace and grace carry you on to the best days you can live. Cheers
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.