Tag: voting

Twozdaz Theme Music

Good morning to the world once again. This time, it’s Twozda, September 30, 2025. Blustery day for September’s final shout, chilly and wet in Ashlandia. 46 F outside. Summer has packed its bags. Autumn has slid in. 62 F will be Ashlandia’s high.

I hoped Trump doesn’t read about the Taliban’s move. 1440 tells me, “Taliban severs fiber optic connections across Afghanistan in its first nationwide internet shutdown amid morality crackdown”. That sort of morality move has a TACO vibe. I could see him making an announcement that he’s shutting down the Internet without understanding of the rippling effect across the nation and world, blaming the Democrats for making him do it or some shit.

I also couldn’t avoid the news that Bad Bunny is the next Superbowl halftime headliner. While congratulations to Bad Bunny are extended, I’m indifferent to the halftime show and typically just walk away. I’m not actually deep into watching the game unless my team is in it. I do casually tune in if my team is not. My wife, who is a social observer, does like to clock the commercials for the freshest and most interesting, an outgrowth of her time in the advertising industry over a quarter century ago.

One must wonder if the NFL knew that Bad Bunny would be a controversial choice.

Bad Bunny Being Chosen for Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks MAGA Fury

The Superbowl halftime show used to have a ‘theme’. The last theme listed in Wikipedia’s list of shows was in 2004, when the theme was Use or Lose, an MTV effort to encourage people in the United States to register and vote. I think it ironic, given Trump and the GOP’s efforts to curtail the vote by making it harder by doing things like challenging mail-in ballots and baselessly screaming about voter fraud and stolen elections. Trump understands, though, scream loud enough and often enough, and people will begin believing, contrary to the old adage about people crying wolf too many times.

Maybe this year’s Superbowl theme is, Screw You, Donald Trump. It’d be great if there was a Jumbotron display of Donald J. and his BFF, Jeffrey Epstein, and their mates during the show. Wouldn’t that be great?

Today’s theme music comes from a juxtaposition gumbo. Like Trump’s declining ratings, the arguments washing around the looming Federal gubmint shutdown, frustrations with a Pandora’s box of personal matters that aren’t about me, per se, and about generalizations about enshittification of modern U.S. first world life. Although yes, I read that Trump’s approval rating has mildly ticked up recently, an abomination of common sense and critical thinking, but that’s how he was elected to start. Overall, I hold to a sense of free fallin’, hence the Tom Petty song choice today from 1989, “Free Fallin'”.

Got my lucky shirt on so I have hopes for the day. But I’m not sure about the providence of my other garments, particularly my underwear. They’re newish, and unproven. Here’s hopes that grace and peace find their way out of the woods and into our lives once again. Till then, cheers.

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Fridaz Theme Music

Muted sunshine and faded skies greet Ashlandia. New chills float through. It’s Fridaz, September 9, 2025. 68 F, rain’s short shadow hovers the mountains. 86 F will be the high but a sense that it’ll be a cool 86 pervades.

Speaking personally, slumber and I were good friends last night. Residual abdominal pain haunts me. My gallbladder matter tracks in a worsening trend. Each cough and flex ushers in uncomfortable spasms. My gut makes noise like a pen full of feeding hogs. I look forward to my surgery in November. Until then, like others, all I can do is endure and work around the issues.

Political news casts no happy sunshine. Trump and his conservative army of dunces remain bent on Making America Poor and Stupid. Oh, the top 1% will be the richest in the world. On paper, we’ll compare pretty good. Into the trenches of life, most will live the lives of Les Miserables. Hate and stupidity is an ugly brew but it addicts many.

Reading on of Peter Sage’s post this week left me with more dispirited headshaking. Peter writes about politics, often addressing it from the southern Oregon point of view. Peter writes,

“Pence, along with Reagan, both Bush presidents, Dole, McCain, and Romney, are the old establishment, the America that isn’t great, the one that paid unnecessary respect to the wrong people. The old GOP leaders accepted laws and norms. That defined “conservatism.” Trump is different. Trump is a rebel. He smashes those laws and norms because they were tacitly part of the oppression. The old order didn’t protect and reward normal White guys and their wives, good Christians.

“Trump is stomping on the symbols and policies of the old order. Stop wind and solar projects. Erase monuments to civil rights. Fire Black leaders in government, the military, and the universities. Cancel medical research grants. Question vaccinations. Stop the slow-motion, checks-and-balances process-dominated government. The establishment respected the wrong people: foreigners and immigrants. It respected diversity, and “diversity” is just part of the groupthink that benefits everyone except people like my correspondent.”

Many of us understand that Trump has used people like Peter Sage’s correspondent as political pawns. They think he’s going to make life better for them. He won’t. We will instead all be interred in a dark existence of poverty and illness. All those regulations which kept the essentials safe for the Joe and Karen average citizen will be swept away in the name of trade and commerce. This will benefit the wealthiest, but not the commoners. And with Trump’s direction, the commoners will be largest, fastest growing segment.

Today’s music is by Hall & Oates. My wife and I went to have our eyes checked. We did this at Costco. Not wanting to be late, my wife guided us there twenty minutes early. Shopping was done in six minutes, leaving time to waste. We did this by drifting through the book, snack, and clothing regions. Quickly bored, I drifted, and when I turned back to my wife, she was gone. That prompted The Neurons to reboot the 1973 Hall & Oates ballad, “She’s Gone”. A short while later, I heard her call out, “Cah, cah.” That’s how we get one another’s attention. So she wasn’t gone. But The Neurons were so amused by this whole turn that they’ve kept the song going in my morning mental music stream.

Time to get up and get out. Hope peace and grace finds you and keeps you standing.

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Thirstdaz Theme Music

A gorgeous day of blue sky and blue ocean gave us a sunny good-morning today. 65 F that feels like 71. Skin-chilling sea breeze skips off the water and charges up over us. Today’s high is that 65. It was a short climb from the overnight low of 58 F. Narrow margins preside over this period of weather for the most part.

Thirstda morning, 10:30 AM, Yachats, Oregon, 8/21/2025

TACO revealed his cowardly side again. First, he’d demonstrated his authoritarian tendency by declaring that he was changing how we vote. Yeah, he’s smarter than the founders and everyone who has worked on the laws and mechanisms involved in the U.S. voting process since the nation was established. He also proved himself ignorant again of how the gubmint works — especially voting and states’ rights. Once again, all this has me shaking my head at all those voters who support him. Meanwhile, after pushback against his comments and ideas, TACO backed away fast from what he was saying. He realized he sounded like a fool. Trump no like looking like a fool, even though he does it so often, he’s become very adept at appearing the fool. Just another exasperating GRRRRRRR Trump Regime episode.

After reading that, it was out to walk to breakfast food. We were out there eating, having coffee, then walking. Food and drink were had at a place called The Green Salmon, one of our all-time favorite places. Delicious vegan food. I had plant-based sausage and Just Eggs sandwich on multigrain vegan bread with lettuce and tomato. Soooo gooood. Another had oat pancakes. No diary; no meats. All is plant-based, delicious, and amazing. Down where the rocky land holds on against the pounding waves, we watched one or more whales release flumes and show their backs. Funny how excited we get when we spot them.

Today’s song is “Renegades” by the X Ambassadors. This came about when one of our little vacationing tribe declared to a friendly coastal local that we were ambassadors from southern Oregon. Seizing the moment, The Neurons dialed up “Renegades” from 2015 into the morning mental music stream.

May the sun be your friend and peace and grace stay with you. Here I go again, on coffee wings. Cheers

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Twosda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Bit of good news on Oregon’s political front. The Trump et al hates the mail-in ballots. Although he has used them to vote, he claims that he doesn’t trust them. Thinks they’re vulnerable to cheating. Facts show it’s otherwise, that Oregon’s voting by mail system works well. Facts, along with loyalty, empathy, history, and intelligence, have never mattered to PINO Trump, so he HATES Oregon’s voting system. (Trump also hates mail-in voting because mail-in voters tend to vote Democrat. That makes Donald sad because he’s all GOTP.)

Well, that Trump hatred drove loyal trumpdog and Oregon Sen. David Brock Smith to introduce SB 210 2025 to change Oregon’s system. Smith wanted to force us to vote only on election day, only in person.

I am proud to say that Oregon voters responded. We sent in so many comments against changing our voting system, we swamped the legislature’s website, brothers and sisters and everyone else, and the matter is being dropped.

Well done. Very well done.

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Notice

If you’re an Oregonian…

Oregon’s Vote-by-Mail Needs You This Weekend!

A bill in the Oregon Legislature (SB 210) that would REPEAL our vote-by-mail system is getting a public hearing on Monday March 31. You’ve all read the news this week – Trump wants to ban mail voting nationwide, and his acolytes are trying to ban it here in Oregon. Submit written testimony OPPOSING this anti-democratic bill in Oregon by Monday morning here:

You can read the bill here:

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/…/Mea…/Overview/SB210

And you can watch the hearing on Monday at 1 PM here:

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/mediaplayer…

You can submit written testimony via this online form system:

Written Testimony Submission Form

Written testimony may be submitted for a bill or executive appointment scheduled for a public hearing or for a topic scheduled for public comment. Testimony must be received within 48 hours after the start time of the committee meeting. If you are not able to submit your testimony during this open record window, you may email your testimony directly to your legislator or to the committee members.

NOTICE: Written testimony is public information and will be posted on the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) website. Personal information in written testimony and in the submission form (except email addresses) is posted to OLIS and accessible to all major search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo. DO NOT include any personal information that you do not want made available to the public, such as your address, phone number, or health history.

Submit written testimony for a public hearing or public comment using the form below.

If you experience technical issues submitting your testimony using this form, please report the issue, via email to testimony.techissues@oregonlegislature.gov
Learn more about submitting testimony.

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I read Raw Story’s coverage of a Daily Beast piece. This was written by Carl Gibson, Alternet.

‘Hugely unpopular’: Columnist flags 5 ways Trump has already ‘failed spectacularly’

Even though he has Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Democrats are in the midst of an apparent leadership crisis, President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a massive failure, according to one columnist.

Even though he has Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Democrats are in the midst of an apparent leadership crisis, President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a massive failure, according to one columnist.

Gibson closed, Rothkopf stressed that while there is a lot of bad news for Democrats, Trump and Republicans have much more to worry about given their lack of success.

I snickered, sighed, and shook my head over this. To me, both pieces normalize what’s going on with PINO Trusk and his regime. Trump is in now. He’s dismantling the government. Stopping spending on anything he declares ‘woke’ or DEI. Terminating anyone and any program that doesn’t align with his prejudices. Dumping on the courts. Blowing up history. Destroying treaties and alliances and wrecking the economy.

He’s deliberately doing these things. He installed thirteen billionaires as cabinet members and has aligned his administration with Putin in Russia. The GOP is now the GOTP. Republican Senators and Representatives are having shouting matches with voters who protest what Trump and Musk are doing, or these Senators and Reps are running and hiding from their constituents. Republicans have shown they’re worried way less than about voters and elections; they’re worried more about falling from Trump’s grace.

In July 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump told a crowd, “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.”

With DOGE under Elon Reeve Musk gutting agencies and raiding the nation’s computer systems, accessing everyone’s personal information, do you really think the Trusk Regime is concerned what Trump promised voters? Do you think he’s worried about approval ratings?

No. Trump is in; he has control. Everyone must bow to him.

That’s all that matters to him.

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Tuesday’s Political Thoughts

A blogging friend had a post titled ‘(this)’.

And this is the post.

I have Trump-voting friends who despise him for his character. Educated and intellignt people, they can’t stomach his voice. How he treats others nauseate them. But as he’s promising to give them the one thing which they want, they will suck it in and vote for him.

For a small segment, their vote for him was over social matters. They are against the DEI agenda, which is touted by them as ‘anti-white’. And it’s any effort that recognizes genders or sexes than CIS male and female.

And those books they’re making children read! Like their precious might explode in a puff of pink fuzz if they’re introduced to *gasp* sex of any kind, or learn about unflattering revelations about history, civilization, culture, life. The horrors, the horrors!

Yes, I don’t think much of those who stand against enlightening our children.

Another group is against abortion because their god or their religion. To them, that trumps all others’ rights and freedoms because their god is the on god, the true god, the only god. The rest are just wrong.

They know.

Perhaps most fucking maddening for me are those voting for Trump because they want lower taxes. They have excellent incomes but it’s a struggle to keep up with new car leases, a manse, and those luxury trips. Lower taxes ring their greedy bells.

These people don’t contemplate our society or government beyond their narrow focus. Police state to capture, imprison, and deport people? We hear versions of, “Well, that’s pretty horrible, but it’s not my problem.”

Public education system? Not their problem.

Equal rights and democracy? They wave those concerns away as overblown.

As a friend said after hearing these responses, “If Trump wins, it’ll go to shit and take these people and this country down. When it does, I’m going to get some popcorn and watch. We tried warning them. They wouldn’t listen.”

No, they listen. They just don’t think beyond a tiny, tiny slice of the spectrum of their existence.

Vote blue.

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Just An Aside

Elon Musk, tech guy, doesn’t trust computers.

“I’m a technologist, I know a lot about computers,” Musk told the crowd during the event. “And I’m like, the last thing I would do is trust a computer program, because it’s just too easy to hack.”

This was during his ‘town hall’ meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

Of course, he was referring to debunked information. Didn’t matter to the sheeple he addressed.

Wonder what his company, Tesla thought about it? Aren’t they the ones pushing driverless cars which basically use computers and sensors to safely traverse road and highways? Hell, if the company’s CEO doesn’t trust a computer program, WTF should we?

There’s so much here to unpack about Musk’s state of mind, thinking skills, and choices, not to mention the sheeple out there applauding him. They’re all untethered from reality, as others were quick to note.

In a statement released following Musk’s comment this week, Dominion pointed out the inaccuracies in Musk’s comments, including the fact they don’t operate in Philadelphia and that most jurisdictions do use paper ballots.

“Fact: Dominion does not serve Philadelphia County. Fact: Dominion’s voting systems are already based on voter verified paper ballots. Fact: Hand counts and audits of such paper ballots have repeatedly proven that Dominion machines produce accurate results. These are not matters of opinion. They are verifiable facts,” a Dominion spokesperson said.

On the website of Maricopa County, officials also stated that voting machines in the 2020 election were accurate, writing that a hand count after the election “found zero variances between hand count results and the Dominion tabulation equipment.”

The increasing craziness on the right is deeply unsettling. I don’t think it’ll end with the next election, either. It’s going to take a long time for that lack of thinking to fade away, especially as people like the Heritage Foundation and much of the GOP are working hard to keep it going.

Vote blue in 2024. It’s a matter of sanity.

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Mail Concerns

URGENT! PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS…

I echo the concerns Annie brings up as Jessica Craven noted in her blog, Chop Wood Carry Water.

USPS performance has tumbled since DeJoy’s ascension as Postmaster General. Whether it’s incompetence, the tortured desire to run the USPS as a business and turn a profit, or actual maliciousness for reasons only known in his mind and private circles, deliveries are taking longer, more letters are being returned as undeliverable, and rural post offices and stations have been closed, raising the challenges of doing even the most mundane business at a post office.

It’s a concern going into the elections. Democrats use mail-in ballots more than Republicans. D.J. Trump actively rails against absentee and mail-in voting and is already establishing the foundation to challenge and throw out ballots received via mail.

Reach out to your senators and representatives. Add your voice to these concerns. And vote blue.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: weatherspeculative

We’re popping in on Saturday, August 17, 2024. Now remember, as a time-traveller, you won’t know anything about the future that you’re from while you’re on the selected travel date, but you will remember it all when you go back. Just want to ensure you understand the parameters.

It’s 66 F in Ashlandia, our destination for today, where the hills are brown and the beers are cold. Today’s high is said to be anywhere from 77 F to 84 F. Though clouds are sparse and small, they’re calling for rain this evening. Some say it’ll be heavy rain. There’s also an extreme fire warning out because thunderstorms with lightning are expected.

The air quality is good for now. No smells of smoke, no hazing of the sky. Super. Worrying that so many wildfires continue burning California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, etc.

Hurricane Ernesto is making landfall in Bermuda. Gonna be rainy with six to nine inches of rain predicted for them.

Colleges are wrestling with how to deal with protestors and free speech over the war in Gaza.

Of course Republicans are calling for probes of Gov. Walz’s China trips. The GOP are so laughably predictable and pathetic, screaming about tit for tat politics as a reason they shut down various measures to enforce ethics and then pursuing tit for tat actions. Funny how they didn’t give a shit about Gov. Walz’s trips until he became selected as Vice President Harris’s running mate. Yeah, they’re funny that way, especially Rep Comer, R-Jackass.

In more backward thinking, Georgia has misguided ideas that having ballots counted three times by hand is the best way forward.

We’re switching themes today, going from dance to colors. That excited The Neurons. Lot of songs with colors in their titles. They immediately fired up “Black Velvet” performed by Alannah Myles from 1989 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark trending). It’s a blues ballad about a young Elvis Presley. Whatever the subject, The Neurons love Myles’s voice and style. Hope you enjoy it.

Be strong and remain positive. Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has kicked in, so here’s the music. Cheers

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