Saturday’s Theme Music — Traitors
Ashland, southern Oregon. Saturday, September 12, 2026.
Sunny today, but also cloudy. Today’s high is expected to strike the low seventies. It’s 66 F now.
Rain is expected after five PM. That has me on a schedule. I cleaned half our gutters on Tuesday, then went for beers with friends Wednesday, blew off finishing the gutters on Thursday, and went shopping with my wife on Friday. So, I must finish dragging the ladder around today. Not difficult or challenging. I just prefer reading and writing.
I’m preparing for the next spinoff of “The Walking Dead” franchise: Mitch Returns. I’m certain there will be little action, lot of pathetic platitudes about greatness, and applause. They’ll continue to ignore the double standard that Mitch, working for We the People, took several months off work, something working Americans can rarely do.
Many believe that we saw a lot of evidence that Trump is falling apart. Trump has been a slow train wreck for the last twenty years, but those MAGAzens are wrecks themselves, falling apart. They happily follow a leader falling apart.
JD Vance has been stepping up, making more speeches, trying to stir confidence in him, positioning himself to be Trump’s successor. JD Vance might as well be a zombie, given his uninspiring demeanor and lackluster speaking skills. He’s not a thinker or orator, but he’s a damn good liar, willing to make things up as needed to gain power.
Today’s morning mental music stream inhabitant is “traitor”. Olivia Rodrigo wrote and sings the song, which came out in 2021. Her song is about dating a guy who insists he wasn’t cheating on her but after they broke up, he was dating the ‘other woman’ within two weeks.
Sample Lyrics
And ain’t it funny? All the twisted games
All the questions you used to avoid
And that’s what we have with Trump, the GOP, and MAGAzens, for me: “All the questions you avoid.”
They’re traitors to principles, truth, and facts. Ain’t it funny how they ignore the money that Trump is making, and how he ‘jokes’ about cheating, just like he joked about other things, which he then turned around and did.
May your day be one that finds you refreshed and satisfied when you look back.
Cheers
Trump — Narrow and Backward
Let’s begin with your Trump Quote of the Day:
This was from the Dallas 2026 midterm conventions. Trump insisted that the convention be made about him. That way, the midterm will be about Trump, because Trump thinks he’s the greatest.
And those of him applauding and pledging with him must agree. Why else put your hand up and say those things — unless they’re like Trump, willing to say anything?
Trump made many claims during his speech. A few had a basis in truth. Like, he did increase oil and gas production.
But that’s the problem. Trump’s focus is so narrow and backward. While he increased oil and gas production, that resulted in:
- Record high profits for the energy companies
- Diesel gas prices going over $6 per gallon for the first time in US history
- The highest average price per gallon for gas on Labor Day in the US — ever
- Increased costs for food and construction due to high construction costs
- A record national debt that is growing faster than our nation
- And an affordability crisis for Americans
Now for our second Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump has insisted that we’re not at war (although Trump also claimed we are at war and that’s why we can’t afford things). He always calls the war with Iran a conflict.
But here he is, verifying, yes, he thinks of it as a war. He used the word ‘war’ repeatedly this week.
Because it is a war.
“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said. “They’re desperate to affect the election, so that we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon. All they want is their nuclear weapon, and if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole world is in deep trouble.”
Which means that he has illegally taken our nation into war over six months ago. The Constitution states only Congress can declare war.
I know Trump apologists – Trumpologists – are hurriedly giving him cover. “He was just talking,” they’ll probably say. “That doesn’t mean that we’re at war.”
That’s what Trumpologists always say about Trump. Trump was just talking, whether it’s about why he ordered the attacks on Iran, when the Iran war will end, declaring he’ll balance the budget, reduce prices, start no new wars, be a unifier and a peacemaker, release the Epstein files, cheat, or lower drug prices by over 100%.
He was just talking.
Trump cannot be trusted to keep his word. And his attitude and policies are too backward and outdated for what’s needed in this century.
Instead of facing this, Trump lies, bullies, cheats, and exaggerates.
I believe we need people in our leadership positions who are willing to face the challenges and rise to them, instead of trying to drag us backwards.
Otherwise, we’ll forever be going backwards as the world goes forward.
Vote Blue in 2026. End the war, stop the lies, and restore trust.
Here We Go Again — Your Trump Quotes of the Day
I laughed as soon as I read the headline today:
Trump pledges $5K ‘Trump dividend’ if Republicans hold onto Congress
Bribery: such a classic grifter move: I’ll pay you through the government if you vote to keep and put Republicans in office.
Gosh, has Trump ever made a promise like this before?
Trump Has Repeatedly Promised Payments That Have Yet to Materialize
I’m sure there are some voters out there nodding and saying, “Did you hear? Trump promised us money for our vote. I’m going to vote Republican.”
Meaning, they would need to pretend that Trump is going to follow through on this promise after all his other failed promises. It’s so much easier for Trump to promise more instead of fulfilling all the previous promises. Especially those promises Trump made such as, “I will not golf”, “I will deliver a new healthcare plan”, and “I will start no new wars.”
Or this classic Trump promise:
Over two years later, and we’re waiting for Trump to do what he promised.
Trump is calling this a ‘dividend’. He’s not really explaining how it’ll be paid for. It’s hard to believe that a ‘dividend’ is available when the national debt has surged past $40T, a level never seen before, and shows no signs of slowing.
In the past, Trump has cut programs and services which he didn’t like, labeling these fraud and waste. These were mostly from the regulatory side and the social safety net, like SNAP, healthcare premium subsidies, and childcare assistance. Since Trump has already cut those, what else can be cut? Defense?
I can see why people with little future and little hope, desperate just to make it to the next payday in order to buy gas and food might want to take Trump’s deal. But Trump is the one who create the 2026 affordability crisis. His DOGE cuts, tariffs, and bloated defense budget with its plan to build ‘Trump’ class battleships created this crisis. Trump’s Iran War fueled the crisis by disrupting the global supply chain and pushing gas prices to record levels.
Now, instead of addressing those things, he’s offering a bandage when surgery is needed.
I think Trump is falling back on an old favorite.
We’ll need to wait and see if Trump can buy his way out of another mess, as he tried to do when he paid off Stormy Daniels after Trump had an affair with her.
That worked out so well.
Wednesday’s Theme Music – Rock Me
Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, September 9, 2026.
Sunny warmth has reclaimed the valley. 82 F now, today’s high will crest in the low to mid 90s.
News rocks me my wife every day. Especially these things which Trump claims.
Trump’s latest claims center around what a hero he was on 9/11, down there with a large construction crew, trying to help. Witnesses and reports from that time do not show a heroic Trump anywhere near the twin towers.
The question that hits me is, does Trump believe this fantasy that he’s created about what happened a quarter century again? If so, my concern about his mental state, already very high, given his control of our weapons and his habit of putting his supporters in subordinate positions, to much higher levels.
The other piece of that puzzle is, if Trump isn’t so delusional that he actually believes his fantasy and lies, what drives him to lie like this? And that’s equally scary, because he’s now deliberately trying to twist facts, truth, and history to pretend that he’s someone else.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
To what ends does Trump make these lines? To keep control and make himself look better, it seems. And to me, a person willing to do these things to maintain control and power is extremely unpredictable.
The other news rocking me was Germany’s right-wing party gaining strength and winning elections. We’ve already fought one destructive war which resulted in millions being killed.
It’s sobering that Donald Trump eagerly embraced AfD’s election win in Germany. The memory of World War II—where the United States and allied nations fought a devastating global war to defeat the Nazi regime after the far-right seized power in Germany in 1933—remains a cornerstone of the modern international order and the U.S.–Germany alliance. To me, this points to exactly where Trump is moving the nation.
Finally, wearying me today is the chaos around Missouri’s congressional map. Various court decisions about GOP efforts to keep Democrats out of office are out there across the land, so I think we’ll be seeing more of this midterm chaos.
My wife and I discussed these stories and others this morning. She concluded, “I struggle to feel balance. It seems like every other day brings some news that rocks me.” I agreed with her.
My Neurons pounced on ‘rock me’. I immediately had “Rock Me” in my morning mental music stream. This is a bluesy 1987 hard-rock offering from Great White. Maybe you’re familiar with it.
I hope your day brings you a sense of beauty, renewal, and good health.
Cheers
Your Trump Quotes of the Day – Prices
Let’s set the stage. You are here:
Trump pledged to lower prices in eight areas. Have they risen or fallen?
“Since Trump started his second term, prices have gone up in 5 of 8 areas he pledged to cut. Inflation spiked earlier this year as the Iran war drove up prices for gas and other essentials.”
Your Trump Quote of the Day 1:
Here’s a useful table for validating Trump’s claim.
The grocery items people actually buy
We can go one level more concrete using BLS’s average retail prices, rather than indexes:
| Item | January 2025 | July 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large eggs, dozen | $4.953 | $2.189 | −55.8% |
| Butter, stick | $4.912 | $3.922 | −20.2% |
| White bread, lb. | $1.925 | $1.820 | −5.5% |
| Whole milk, gallon | $4.025 | $4.313 | +7.2% |
| Ground beef, 100% beef, lb. | $5.545 | $6.885 | +24.2% |
| All uncooked ground beef, lb. | $5.820 | $7.116 | +22.3% |
| Regular gasoline, gallon | $3.211 | $4.094 | +27.5% |
This is based on the BLS’s information. I must point out that egg producers were later convicted of price gouging during President Biden’s term.
Headlines tell more about the worsening economic conditions we’re facing as we move toward the midterm elections in the United States.
Gas prices set a record for Labor Day. Trump’s energy secretary says they are ‘more likely to go down than go up.’
Inflation Odds Move Toward 100%
Funny how Trump interprets these to be much better with him in the Oval Office. Back when President Biden was leading the nation, Trump kept screaming about these prices.
Your Trump Quote of the Day 2:
Your Trump Quote of the Day 3
Your Trump Quote of the Day 4:
Your Trump Quote of the Day 6
As this sequence of Trump quotes reveal, Trump will absolutely lie and promise without regard to reality. Perhaps the only quote we can really trust from Trump is this, which Trump made earlier this year.
Your Trump Quote of the Day 7:
While Trump said that last quote in May of 2026 while talking about the war he started with Iran. But even that was part of Trump’s shifting explanations and claims about what’s going on. He says one thing about the Iran war — and denies it’s a war — while claiming to be lowering prices — when the prices are going up, and the war is contributing to them — while saying the war is necessary to stop Iran from having a nuclear capability after HE has said that he has destroyed that capability — while also claiming ‘we already won’ and the war wouldn’t last for more than four or five weeks. Those specific inconsistences trouble me.
The greater point is that prices are not coming down and the war is not over.
It all adds up to a credibility problem, a legacy of lies, corruption, and broken promises for me. Keeping Trump and his power will lead to higher prices, more war, and more violence, based on what I’ve seen under Trump in this term.
Vote blue in 2026.
Monday’s Theme Music — Moon Man
Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, September 7, 2026.
Our valley will warm back up today. It’s 52 F now but the high is supposed to be in the upper 70s. Sunshine and blue sky are all my vantage offers. Warmer tomorrow, in the low 80s, and low 90s by Wednesday.
It’s Labor Day in the US. Happy Labor Day! Labor Day used to mark the unofficial end of the summer and the start of the autumn and school year when I was growing up. As I moved to other areas, I discovered the school year starting in August as districts frontloaded the school calendar in anticipation of school closures for snow days.
This is one of those holidays Mom enjoyed as family. It usually meant a gathering and cookout. I feel fortunate to have such memories of enjoying life, delicious food, fun company.
For today, there is no cookout. We’re going to friends later for dinner and games. I go on with my normal routines.
Trump launched another part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! last weekend. He’s been making some outrageous claims by changing the names of places, generating AI images, and doing his pathetic little kicks dance. And Trump changed his hair style to some very ugly reviews. He’s even trying to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — again — crowing — again — how great it’ll be, which stirred a lot of mocking about him and his previous claims, and the amount of money Trump has spent trying to fix it.
With all that bad press happening, Trump went to the net and — quick. LOOK — SQUIRREL!
“THE MOON IS OURS”
Yes, that’s Donald Trump, current Oval Office occupant, highest elected position in the land, acting like a cartoon villain.
Just to prove how much of a fool he is, and keep us distracted, Trump also floated changing New Mexico’s name.
Trump Floats Renaming New Mexico as ‘New America,’ Prompting Pushback
I’m sure MAGAzens are chortling, “Look how Trump is owning the libs!” Meanwhile, they’re paying a lot more for food and gas. For example, gas prices on Labor Day 2024 were about $3.29 a gallon. Thanks to Trump, they’re at a record Labor Day high.
Fuel prices at record Labor Day high in US thanks to Iran War and refinery issues
The gas price per gallon US average is $4.14, 32 cents per gallon more than the previous record, set in 2012.
Affordability remains a crisis in the US, Trump’s war with Iran is dragging on — 191 days and counting — he hasn’t released the Epstein files…it’s a long list of failures and broken promises.
That’s the Trump legacy.
That’s the MAGA legacy.
In honor of Trump’s absurdity, my morning mental music stream is gushing with songs about the moon. So many are out there…”Dark Side of the Moon” punched in fast. But I ended up with “Man on the Moon” by R.E.M.
Sample Lyrics
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty-one checkers, and chess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in Heaven if you make the list
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
The 1992 song was a tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman. It’s also about questioning truth, history, and reality, and losing track of these things. It’s a suitable song to reflect what we seem to be seeing from Trump and his long, very public decline.
As always, I wish the best for you and yours on this day as well as every other day.
Cheers
Your Trump Quotes of the Day
Donald Trump continues pretending that he’s doing so well — and so are we!
After claiming that the US won the war in Iran which Trump started back in February, the US is now escalating it.
Iran is warning of more attacks on the US. It’s the tit for tat phase of the war, which Trump says isn’t a war. The GOP agreed it’s not a war. Beyond what it’s doing to Iran and the loss of life, the war is costing We the People. Estimates range from $37B to over $100B, with heavy hits to munition and equipment levels, such as Reaper drones.
Being a child of the sixties who joined the military in 1974, I can’t help but see parallels between Trump’s escalation with what happened in Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder was specifically designed to disrupt North Vietnam’s ability to supply the war in the South; impose costs on Hanoi until its leadership decided continuing the war was too expensive; demonstrate U.S. resolve; and eventually force political concessions.
Back then, North Vietnam adapted and shifted tactics. Despite Trump’s insistence that ‘we already won’ and the ‘US destroyed Iran militarily’, Iran shifted toward drone warfare and demonstrated impressive resilience — emulating the success which Ukraine is experiencing with Russia.
This is a war Trump said would happen if Vice President Kamala Harris won. Trump then did his weave — which the rest of us call lying — and said he never guaranteed a new war.
Like many, I believe that Trump started this war to distract everyone from the Epstein files and what the files revealed about Trump.
Especially when Trump campaigned on ‘no new wars’, complaining that Democrats were often starting wars. He also campaigned on stopping wars, like Ukraine – Russia — which is still ongoing, 18 months after Trump took office.
Once again, Trump’s history shows how much his words are worth.
Go forward with Trump at your own peril. But if he tells you that a bridge is safe to cross, I would definitely seek someone else’s opinion — someone not involved with Trump.
Saturday’s Theme Music — Disgust
Ashland, southern Oregon. Saturday, September 5, 2026.
Labor Day is just around the corner, but it feels like a gorgeous spring day. Warm sun, blue sky, scattered white clouds. Now 65 F, it feels warmer. Yet, as I walk, the wind carries yellow and red leaves past my head. Summer is ending; autumn is coming. Our high will be…70 today.
Today’s music comes from The Stooges. “Search and Destroy” is in my morning mental music stream after I read about Trump’s latest, and the nation’s latest with him in the Oval Office. Feels like Trump is out to destroy all evidence of anything good, all to glorify himself. So sickening.
The song came out in 1973; the title was derived from a newspaper or magazine article about the Vietnam War. The Trump era feels a lot like that period, when Nixon took over and dirty tricks became the new norm for a while, culminating in Nixon’s resignation. We can only hope that Trump will resign but he lacks the intelligence or grace to do so; resigning would require a self-awareness that Trump completely lacks.
May your day be filled with hope and optimism, as well as peace and grace. I think we’ll often need these things going forward in the coming months.
Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 