Tag: Trump

Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: freshThursnergy

It’s fresh today. Thursday morning finds the thermometer informing us that it’s 62 F. The high will be 79 F, a surprisingly low number for August 15, 2024. Clouds layer part of the sky. Airnow.gov says our air quality is 18, so it’s good air. Nice to see the numbers, to validate what my eyes are seeing and my schnoozer is telling me.

Skimming through the news. Here’s a small sampling.

Earthquakes in Texas — Scurry County. Seems oil related as they encounter saltwater that must be injected deeper into the Earth. The Railroad Commission is investigating, so we know they’ll get to the bottom of it.

Hurricane Ernesto is storming toward Bermuda.

Two astronauts remain stuck at the space station after the new Boeing Starliner failed them. In a way it’s like an old sitcom called Gilligan’s Island. Those folks were trapped on an island for years after a shipwreck when it was supposed to be a ‘three-hour tour’. The astronauts were only expected to be up there two weeks. Unfortunately, the astronauts don’t have the professor there to help them out. He was always coming up with intriguing ideas.

Trump was called out for lying about what the economy was like at the end of his term, trying to make out that it was the greatest in history when it was not.

Ukraine made an incursion into Russia as that conflict keeps going.

Montana’s Supreme Court struck down a 2013 law that required minors to get parental permission before getting an abortion. The Reuters article says the court unanimous opinion was written by Justice Laurie McKinnon. She wrote that “a minor’s right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses” and that Montana had not shown that the law was justified to protect minors. Sweet.

The turnout for the Wisconsin primary was an impressively high 26 percent — highest in 60 years. Geez. It depresses me that 26 percent is an impressive turnout. It’s for the primary, though.

And Bobcat kittens were stealing golf balls.

Dance week continues. I asked The Neurons what song I should include today, and they shoved “The Safety Dance” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark dancing). The 1982 new wave tune was performed by Men Without Hats, a Canadian group. I was overseas when it started charting, living on Okinawa, and they loved the song in dance clubs over there.

Stay positive. Be strong. Lean forward. Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the dance music. I’m off to freshen my coffee. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: wednesdayhyped

Wednesday slides into place with a click. Snuggles up to August 14, 2024.

Cool summer morning. Hints of spring in that mountain air feel. It’s 62 F under smoke-free blues skies. Another less-than-hot day is expected, with a high of just 85 F. Comes with an asterisk: rain is forecasted for the evening, with thunderstorms. The thunderstorms aspect causes a thoughtful hitch to mental processes. Thunderstorms mean lightning. Lightning means fires. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, we won’t get hit. We’ve been fortunate so far this year.

I kept the windows open all day yesterday, along with the back blinds. It reached 83 F at our house outside, but inside was a comfy 78.

Weird, though, it smells like rain right now. I see that clouds have cantered in. Maybe they’re just getting an early start on setting up.

The housefloofs are digging on this chill weather. Sauntering into sunny places after breakfast, they assumed the grooming position. A jay karens over to tell them they’re grooming wrong. Those jays are such know-it-alls.

Just finished reading of Ernesto. It’s a Cat 1 hurricane now. Already been troubling Puerto Rico, which really doesn’t need it. Puerto Rico and a hurricane of course triggers images of then President Trump tosses out paper towels.

Paper towels are not really effective hurricane assistance. What are you going to do, Bounty up the flooding with ten zillion paper towels? Think of how many trash cans that would fill.

BTW, in a bizarre mental twist, calling the storm a ‘Cat 1’ has me imagining a huge cat swatting things around as the hurricane’s energy source. I think I need more coffee.

Shout it from the deep state’s secret location rooftops: inflation is below 3%. All those deeply concerned handwringers on the right whining about inflation should shut it now — if they’re aware. That’s the bigger problem: they’re not sharp about history, a little fuzzy on words and their meanings, and often stumble over what’s in and not in the Constitution. Of course, their news diet contributes. The right wing news feed will make you sick.

We got the dance theme continuing for today. The Neurons brought up a friend’s favorite. We were working together back when the musical Mamma Mia! hit the scene in 1999. She was sooo excited about it. I was sort of, meh, so I asked, why does it have her so up? Well, high school, the prom, “Dancing Queen” was the rage then.

Right then, our age differences were momentarily magnified. But hang on, I said; that came out in the seventies. Right, she agreed, but there had been some kind of revival of it when she was in high school. I’d not heard about that, but then, I’d been out the country in the military. Anyway, to belabor the point, The Neurons have “Dancing Queen” by Abba circulating in the morning mental music stream (Trademark bebopping).

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee is at hand, so here is the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: twistingfresh

Oh, what a beautiful morning. I slept fantastically well last night. Only six windows were partially open. We were able to open them on every side of the house because the wild fire smoke had cleared out. It stayed clear all night. I awoke without gritty eyes, a stopped up nose, or sinus congestion, and did not wake up coughing all night long.

The house’s inside temperature dropped all the way to 70 F as the outside air temp plummeted to 52 F. Now it’s up to 60 F outside and will only roll up to 80 F. Yes! Our air quality is good, at 26. Best, I can look across and see the mountains standing tall under deep blue skies.

Ah, read about Musk ‘interviewing’ Trump. That pressed my snark button. There’s an old expression, “I’ll lie, and you agree.” ‘Bout seems up their interactions.

Trump made that old joke that climate change will mean more ocean front property. Yes, how will that develop, fool? He and his supporters can’t see how bereft they are of critical thinking when they say things like that. Each time he says such things and his supporters cheer, I respect them less.

Still going with the dance theme for the week. My Neurons rolled several dance tunes through the morning mental music stream (Trademark line). Like David Bowie’s “Lets Dance”. Or “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”. Then I had some coffee and they got more lively. Energized, they dipped into the childhood memory storage facilities (CMSF), and brought up “The Twist” by Chubby Checkers.

Well, that doesn’t technically meet the theme of songs with dance or dancing in the title which I’d passed down to The Neurons. But I make the rules, and “The Twist” is about doing a dance called ‘the twist’. Good enough for me.

The song came out when I was two. Mom introduced me to the Chubby Checkers version and taught us how to twist. What child doesn’t like an energetic dance like the twist? It’s fun. I also liked Chubby Checkers’ voice and his name. Chubby Checkers. I always thought that a cool name. With all that going for it, I had to accept its nomination as Tuesday’s Theme Music.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has been dancing through my system for a while now. Here’s the music. Come on, baby, let’s do the twist.

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Cleanairhappy

It’s come to this at last: Monday, August 12, 2024.

82 F here. It’s going to be a cool day, with temperatures pegging the mid 80s on their high point. Air quality is good. Lower elevations are in the green, with higher elevations creeping yellow and rising into the sixties. Another air quality warning has been issued but it’s blue skies and sunshine for now.

We were out delivering food this morning through Food & Friends. We then unironically went out for a late breakfast. Hence, the day’s late posting beginnings.

Just finished reading about the huge rally crowds greeting Harris – Walz. With photos and videos, and all manner of real-world evidence. You know how much this hurts Trump’s ego. He actually said, “I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me.” Trump’s poor ego is stampeding around his skull, shrieking, “I’m the greatest! I’m the greatest! They can’t have bigger crowds. I may have taken deferments to avoid military service, but I took a bullet for America!” Imagine the anger building behind his sullen face as he witnesses how much better attended his opponent’s rallies are. Wouldn’t be surprised if we read later that his head ‘literally’ exploded, given his history of lying about crowd size and the paucity of attendees at his events this season.

We also have Trump — again — he’s not one for new ideas, is he? — trying to portray himself as ‘America’s hero’, returning to X to pull this one off. It’s bizarre what his fever mind conjures. He’s vowing to “obliterate the deep state.” That deep state only exists in his mind, along with his paranoid base. It is not out there.

I feel for them, honestly, because they’ve so deeply detached themselves from reality. The tragicomedy in this, though, is how the GOP sees this as their best option. This 78-year-old white man, the oldest official nominee in the nation’s history, is their idea of a leader. A convicted felon who repeatedly tells well-documented lies and fantasizes about a reality that doesn’t exist.

That is a GOP theme, though: pretend that it isn’t real and all will be good! Just wish away climate change, police murders, mass shootings, and social progress, and all will be well. Thoughts and prayers, that’s the ticket! Just pretend more of the nation isn’t on fire each year; that more frequent and stronger hurricanes and tornadoes aren’t taking place. Just fake it until we’re wiped out. It’ll be good.

Continuing with the dance theme today. Once I sipped coffee and thought, dance songs, The Neurons supplied the morning mental music streamed (Trademark spinning) with Fall Out Boy and “Dance, Dance”. The 2005 pop-punk-rock (popur(?)) song offers their frenetic take on high school dances and ego. It’s a fun, fast, busy song.

Stay positive, remain fresh and energized, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has been guzzled. Time for the music video. Dance, dance! Cheers

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Reminders and Insights

Harris Campaign: Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Normal Press Conference

Both sides are not the same. Don’t let the press convince you otherwise. They’re just tryin’ to make money. Vote Blue in 2024.

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Political Winds

Look out! The GOP has gone full Playground Mode.

Donald Trump calls Vice President Harris ‘Kamabla’. The GOP denigrates Gov. Walz as Tampon Tim.

It’s like they don’t have any policies to address. Sure, they scream about the border but it’s well-known outside of the MAGA world that Donald Trump and the GOP torpedoed the GOP-approved border plan. Yes, Trump screams about inflation but economists are pushing back and explaining, no, it’s not historic inflation.

As anyone paying attention realizes, Trump is using recycled ideas. These are the ideas that took him to the White House in 2016 and hasn’t gotten him anywhere else since then. Worse, as he attempts to deliver his insults and besmirch others, he sounds inept, incompetent, and incoherent. He appears befuddled. Old. Out of touch.

In comparison, Kamala Harris is vigorous, alert, sharp, awake. So is her chosen running mate, Tim Walz. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, comes across as sneering and misogynistic.

The change from Biden to Harris brought a powerful pivot from how the Harris-Walz campaign responds to Trump. Whereas Joe Biden was from a different era and tried to remain above Trump’s insults, Harris and Walz boldly clap back. Trump and the GOP flail to find smart responses that reverberate with anyone. Hence, he calls her Kamabla.

Weak.

The differences between the two parties and their political candidates now are striking. That difference is galvanizing the Democratic Party while the GOP sinks like an old man trying to settle onto a lumpy sofa. There’s anecdotal evidence that Trump signs are disappearing from Trump country. They’re just not out there as much. It’s like Trump supporters realize that he’s a tired act, vaudeville in an era of Marvel movies. He’s peaked, and now he’s falling. My wife even theorizes that Evangelicals are quietly moving away from Trump. They achieved what they wanted from him for now: with Mitch McConnell’s help, Trump delivered a right-wing Supreme Court and they overturned established precedence, Roe v. Wade. She thinks they got what they want from Trump and now recognize him for the filth he is and are washing their hands of him.

What the right-wing SCOTUS delivered was a fundamental change that is disastrous. Conservative states dominated by men are running amok with anti-abortion laws that have fast lost appeal for the majority of the political body. Instead of attracting new voters, the GOP overreach is repelling voters. Further, after Kamala Harris was put forward by Joe Biden as the next POTUS, young voter registration surged.

I don’t have numbers and hard facts for all of this; it’s just a gut feeling. But my sense is that Harris-Walz is moving toward victory, and the GOP is in retreat. I mean, look how they have reacted to Project 2025 criticisms by trying to hide under rocks in parallel to Trump trying to deny he knows anything about it.

The MAGA GOP’s brand has been revealed to be reactionary, racist, and sexist. All their new ideas are old ideas. They offer leadership that wants to do the same things that failed before. Frankly, much of what they’re suggesting now, such as doing away with separation of church and state, or providing immunity to the POTUS, putting them above the rule of law, and curtailing voters’ rights and the opportunities to vote, is un-American. It might have been part of a past America, but we are now a modern America. Or we’re trying to be. Young voters at least are awakening to this, and it will show in November.

At least, this is what I hope.

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Asking For A Friend

OK, Trump in Fox interview.  “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”  Can anyone tell me what is “sooner” than immediately?

Yep, that MAGAt is a deeep thinker.

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A Good Piece

Project 2025 in Two (2) Minutes …

It’s hard to convey the breadth of Project 2025 and its reactionary intentions.

I guess a rewind is in order. What is Project 2025 and why am I worried about it? Here is Wikipedia’s opening take on it:

Project 2025, also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project,[3] is an initiative coordinated by the Heritage Foundation that aims to promote conservative and right-wing policies to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election.

That’s a basic summary. Further reading of the Wikipedia entry expands on the document and its purpose. However, the video which Scottie shared, that I’m now sharing, includes a two minute chapter by chapter summary of what each chapter outlines as the project’s intention. Easier than reading the entire 940 page document.

This is just one of several reasons why I’m against the election of the lying convicted felon known as Don Old Trump. Kamala Harris for President. Vote Blue in 2024.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Opticoffeetized

It’s warm in the house. Windows were closed all night against smoke’s rising presence in our valley. I’m up early to see if the air has improved enough that windows and doors can be opened.

I clean the grit from my eyes. When the air quality gets bad, eye grittiness increases. Then, I tilt my head back. Saline nasal spray is applied to my nostrils. I blow the gunk out. Better.

The view outside is bad. Can’t see the mountains for the smoke. Higher elevations have worse smoke and terrible air quality. Down here, closer to the valley floor, the air is a health risk with the quality index hovering in the 150-160 range. The windows are cautiously opened. It’s already 70 outside but it’s 78 F in the house.

Today is Thursday, August 1, 2024. Our high temp will be 104’s neighborhood. 40 degrees C.

There are 96 days left until the 2024 elections. Turmoil has seized the GOP. Trump feels his advantages falling, so he’s twisting, attempting to change positions that are more amenable to voters. His twisting is disconcerting his party and straining loyalties.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are working more solidly together. The DNC is coming up and they’re moving smoothing toward it as glowing endorsemnts from prominent Democrats are given to Kamala Harris. I’m certan that they’re going to emerge with a solid and progressive platform, unlike the GOP, which is trying to distant itself from the Project 2025 playbook while simultaneously embracing it.

I read a NYTimes piece by former Governor Christopher Sununnu (R-NH) about what the GOP needs to do. Focus on policies and don’t depend on just attacking. Well, that’s basic, simplistic advice that Don Old Trump can’t follow. Attacking is what he does, especially when pressure on him increases. It’s his mojo, in is mind. Witness his attacks and hostility during his trial last May. More recently, look how angry and belligrent he became at the NABJ meeting, where he ended up questioning Kamala Harris’s race. Insane.

Today has The Neurons playing “Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister from 1985 filling the morning mental music stream (Trademark roasted). I think the song came from triple points of view in my morning cogitations. One was about me and some DIY I’m doing, along with novel writing. I was thinking about things I need to fix. Then the thinking shifted into politics and the things which needed fixed. That was all just an invitation for The Neurons to bring up the “Broken Wings” line, “We can take what is wrong and make it right.” The rest just followed.

Smoke is flavoring the breeze. My nostils are stinging and dribbling. A headache has taken up residence and I cough and sneeze. Time to close the windows.

Stay positive, lean forward, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I are doing the dance. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Wandering Thoughts

The area’s electric power went down. It was a valley-wide outage affecting all of our little city, along with several other small cities. Turned out to be a major transmission line failure. A crew went out and found and fixed it.

Electricity ceased about 11:24 AM. I was at my writing haunt, which is a locally known coffee shop. It was suddenly so quiet, and a little darker. “The power is out,” a barista exclaimed.

Only three customers were in the shop. One barista looked over at me and asked, “What did you do, Michael?”

I was innocent, of course. We were all told to leave. Turned out it wasn’t just that little corner of existence.

I drove home. All the traffic lights were out. People were handling it with courtesy and awareness in my part of town, but others later said they witnessed some flagrant driver idiocy. Takes all kinds, we agreed.

It’s weird how something like this can affect the day. Like, okay, power is out. I drove home. Clicked on the garage door opener to verify it didn’t work and parked in the driveway. Went in with a key to the side door. I was thinking what will I do with this time? Well, I can still write on the computer. I just won’t be on the net. Battery will last a while. Or I can dust furniture or cut the lawn.

A smoke detector was announcing that its battery was on low. So I located it, got out the small metal step ladder and took care of that. I remember my wife not wanting me to purchase those little steps. “Just use a chair,” she urged. But I figured we were adults and should have the proper tool for the job, so I paid the $40 for the stairs.

My wife then arrived home. She didn’t have any house keys, and I saw her trying to ring the doorbell. After I let her in, we wondered, what does work for us? Can we get texts and make phone calls? She had one text from the county telling about the outage. I called her. Her phone rang but we couldn’t connect.

So we sat and talked. Not like we don’t sit and talk every day but something new is always coming up. Then I get a text from my sister saying, “I see trump just screwed up again.”

I texted back, “what happened? We don’t have power.” But my text wouldn’t go. How could I receive a text but not send one?

Fifteen minutes later, the power was back on. It too much longer than the outage lasted to return to the rhythm of the day.

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