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Wednesday, July 15, 2026

I often wonder about people’s motivation to believe in god. I think it comes down to people want an answer to what they don’t understand. This is the same motivation to say aliens did something. If faced with some truth, such as – Why did my child die? or How could they have moved such a heavy stone?

When one can’t figure out what, how, or why then it is easy to say god or aliens. Not that it ends the discussion but it is an answer. One could say it is intellectually lazy, but if you don’t think beyond the simplistic it satisfies in some way.

I think about the huge stones in Tiwanaku in Bolivia. Here they sit on the ground. There is no way they could have gotten here say some. They must have been moved by forces we don’t know about. It had to be aliens, etc. No, Lake Titicaca was at a higher level years ago. They were floated to this point and then they’ll couldn’t figure out how to  move them further so here they sat.

Just because you can’t figure something out you don’t have to go looking for extraordinary explanations. But that isn’t as satisfying as having a handy god or alien to lift the weight.

Moving on – democracy. Remember when we had a two party system and both parties believed in democracy? They also believed in facts and science? Now only one party does. Will we recover? Will we get back to our roots of democracy and truth? It’s a toss up right now.

Speaking of toss up – France versus Spain, World Cup. I was surprised by how many times France just missed the goal, and how many times they tried and didn’t come close. For all the time and effort, this game of futbol comes down to inches, to concentration at the last moment. France was down by two goals but you could feel it. If they scored one with even a minute left there was the possibility that they could score another. We saw England do it. So it was possible. But it was not to be.

Sunday, July 12, 2026

I think we have to be very concerned. I have questions:

Who is going to carry Trump’s golf bag?

Who is going to laugh at Donald’s – misognisitic racist tasteless jokes?

Who’s going to grin at the Pres like a fool?

Lindsey is part of the wave of Republicans who called Trump all kinds of nasty things only to turn around a grovel and laugh with him. Ted Cruz, Rudy G, and all the other Republican candidates who ran for president against him

Michael Fanone, the police officer who battled the Jan 6th rioters said this of Lindsey:

That is all.

O-O

Saturday, July 11,2026

There are two distinct realities in this country, and at least several offshoots. One is the reality governed by facts. Another is the reality governed by “alternate facts,” that is to say by delusions that people tell each other. Eventually, the alternate reality bumps into the real reality and it whimpingly crumbles. Only to be reinvented with new and bizarre alternate facts. This is a dangerous world, the alternate reality, because it can ruin you, kill you, and make your life less than what it could have been. Same with religion. 

Facing the truth has been a hard thing for people to accept. It is easier to make up something and blame or worship that then it is to actually try to understand. Think of the people who run into an ocean bay when the water leaves the bay for seemingly no reason. What that should tell you is that a giant wave is coming and it has picked up any water nearby. At some point the waders who delightedly ran into the empty bay have to face the reality of a giant wall of water coming faster than they can out run it. The water leaving the bay should be a sign to run like hell in the opposite direction and find the highest ground you can as fast as possible. It’s, as they say, the canary in the coal mine.

For me, right now in today’s world, I don’t see a dead canary; I see a whole flock of them dead and lifeless. I can’t take a step without squishing one. 

Remember the book “Everything Donald Trump Touches Turns to Shit”? How true that title is. Have you seen the aerial view of The White House recently? The round circle of dirt where the fighting cage was. The hole beside it where the ballroom is supposed to go. The Ellipse beyond is mostly dead grass.

The Reflecting Pool is now a rectangle of green algae and scum. Now fenced off. The Kennedy Center is deserted. Trump’s name is removed but he can’t bring himself to show the real name. It’s still covered by a canvas tarp. Now he wants to build a 250 foot monument to himself. The legal limit is 130 feet, but his lawyers argue that’s a local law and should not apply to Federal stuff. What? Who are these lawyers. I’d like to see the media cover this stuff by saying “Trumps lawyers: J dingleberry and Joan Numbnuts …”

The State Fair he did on the Mall was terrible from every report I read. Yes it was very hot, and there was a dangerous thunderstorm, but you can’t blame the weather for the lack of anything to see or do once you got through the security line, which took hours, and confiscated your water and your sunscreen. The decorations were truly Trumpian – looked okay from a distance but once you got close you realized it was poorly stapled canvas on styrofoam. The mock up of the Trump Arc de Trump was popular because it threw some shade and was one of the only places to get out of the sun. Fortunately, the Smithsonian had the museums stay open late so people could go in and recuperate in the air conditioning. Who knows, maybe they even went to see something. I mean they saw nothing out on the Mall. Too bad the Smithsonian was not given the permits for the 250th celebrations, displays and performances they had been working on for years. Such things were practically automatic, but not anymore. Theft (“redirection of funds”), hijacking (creating new commissions at the last minute to bypass the ones appointed by Congress and had been planning for years, and extortion (“Give me what I want of I’ll withhold funds for, I dunno, hurricane relief?”) is now the norm.

I wonder how Mike Huckabee’s daughter, now Governor of Arkansas, and former news room queen under Trump I, is liking being turned down by her old boss for disaster relief funds? I guess she could ask that blond (bimbo? dipshit? clueless one?) who now has that job. I mean ya gotta love a press secretary who says things are better under Trump because his unemployment number is higher than Biden’s.

I think about “What has Trump done for the country?”

A new article has come out that says a government agency has estimated the cost of the Musk/Trump DOGE cuts to personnel has cost $22B – that Billion. Twenty two billion to pay people to not work. Yup. By cutting personnel it cost us more, and we didn’t get the benefit of them doing any work. In a stunning slap of reality the alternate facts world ran into some real world problems when they cut staff. As an example, they determined that maybe we should have people who take care of our nuclear stockpile, take care of our nuclear stockpile and not sit at home watching Murray on Fox. (What there is no show called Murray? Well there ought to be.)

And then there is the red card disaster. The one thing we had that was enjoyable and didn’t involve Trump and brought people from around the world together was The World Cup. But that wasn’t okay with The Donald. He had to stick his big fat body in the middle of it. A guy on team USA got red carded. That meant he could not play in the rest of that game and was suspended from the next game.

We can argue about whether it should be a red card. I certainly don’t understand the penalty rules in this league. I played for four years, coached for two, attended games of my children, my nieces and nephews games but I have never seen the hand to hand combat that goes on in these games. If I was reffing both teams would end up being red carded. 

But Donald who freely admitted he didn’t know what a red card was, all of a sudden decides this USA player’s red card was not a red card. He contacted his bud, Mr. FIFA President and creator and gifter of the FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump, and says, “Can’t we do something about that red card?” The rules are clear – no, there is nothing you can do. Unless you are the Art of the Deal Donald and Mr, Head-Up-Donald’s-Rectum then Yeah, no problem.

Now I have to put on my MAGA hat for a second (Ouch, so tight). You can look at this red carded guy and know he’s really from a shit-hole country. I’m mean he’s black. Really black. He’s not a ‘Merican. Well, actually you are partially right. He wasn’t supposed to be an American.,His mom was trying to fly to London and they wouldn’t’ let her on the plane because she was so pregnant. I don’t know why, if she pooped on the flight she’d get better medical care on the plane than here. But she had the kid in New York, so eh’s a New Yorker. It’s nice to see the President helping a kid that should have been from a shithole country. Wait, his mom was flying to London. He would have been a Brit. Would that make The United Kingdom a shithole country. Well, after Brexit it kind of is. Nick Farage was way out in front of this “let’s ruin our own country” movement long before Trump (that silver backed gorilla) got his hand on the steering wheel of government and drove the country into the ditch.

But I will say this – Trump is a great uniter. True it’s against him and whatever he is doing. But MAGA, progressive, Democrat, Republican, poor, and maybe even rich – it really doesn’t matter, people are angry. They are angry at what Trump is doing, and whatever he is doing it is making it worse, and what he is not doing which he should be doing, like ya-know – running the government, and running it in such a way as to help the country, the world and the people in it (the country, the world). Nah, screw that.

*Okay, not really. she is standing on a step that adds several inches. She was the group’s waitress on our last day in Palenque, Mexico. Whe I went to take the step down to get to our table she and a waiter both offered to help the old man take the step. I took their hands, pulled them up onto the step and I stepped down to show them now we were all about the same height. She laughed very hard at that. At the end of the meal I asked Eric to take our picture. Unfortunately the close quarters prevented the visual joke from being made clear. However, you can see her smiling. She alos has a classic Mayan nose, a very distinct feature on Mayan stela. She would have fit right in at Palenque when it was one of the Mayan super powers around 750 A.D.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

I have just come back from a trip to the Mayan area in Mexico. I got sick the week before when I went to see the grandkids so I wasn’t in the best shape for the trip. I made it back and was in a very nasty mood. I was tired of being sick. All of a sudden early this morning I think a cloud lifted and the cold has retreated. I’m not sure, but I’m hopeful because I have not been myself, which is frustrating and weird. I seem to almost ask myself “who is this person that is inhabiting my body?”

Being sick like this makes me reflective. I’ve been watching the World Cup (that’s soccer or Football depending on where you grew up.) It is so wonderful to see the teams compete from around the world. There is joy and hope. And heartbreak. I was in Mexico at an open air restaurant when Mexico played Korea. (Interestingly, they didn’t say “South Korea,” just Korea.) I got there a few minutes before Mexico scored the only goal of the game. Wow. 

When the Korean goalie leaped in the air, grabbed the ball and hit the ground with his body extended the ball came loose and one of the Mexican players nudged it in. It wasn’t a blast. More like a soft pass, but it was a goal. The restaurant, the street outside, everywhere exploded in joy and noise. A guy came out from the back wearing a big floppy sombrero. He was jumping up and down. The hat was flapping. People were shouting and cheering. Horns were honking. It was crazy fun.

On the flight into Mexico City there were a lot of people wearing Columbian jerseys. They had come from New York to see Columbia play Uzbekistan. When else are you going to see Uzbekistan people and Columbian people together? The flight attendants made a comment as we were about to land about Columbia and the plane erupted in cheers.

On the way home I watched a bit of a documentary about The Women’s World Cup 1971. I had not realized that women were forbidden to play soccer in many countries. It was thought to be too dangerous. An Englishman got the liquor manufacturer Martini & Rossi to sponsor the tournament. 

FIFA which is governed by men, all men, tried everything they could to stop it. They threatened clubs with fines and expulsion if they let women use their fields. In Mexico they banned them from using any of the club fields. The only stadiums they could use were the two largest, which they filled. But still to this day the prejudice exists. Megan Rapinoe wrote about how her women’s team would qualify when the men’s team didn’t. Yet, the women were given little money while the men flew in chartered jets, and the women were making the ticket sales! Not the men.

Yet in the world you see the joy and camaraderie that a sport brings. It’s huge. What I really like is that at the end of the game the players from either team congratulate each other. No fighting. Hugs.

When I arrived home I had run out of my medicine and was still sick and started to go downhill again. It was depressing, annoying, frustrating, and tiring. It did make for good lump sitting and watching the games.

I also got filled in on the latest outrages and opposition to our President. I read that there are cheers in stadiums denouncing Trump and linking him to Epstein. His staff is trying to find a “safe” game where he won’t be booed. So far, no luck.

I watched a clip of him trying to put a medal around a soldier’s neck. He couldn’t clip it and had to tie it on with a granny knot. It reminded me of what many believe was the fall of Egypt’s Old Kingdom when Pepy II got so old that he couldn’t pull the bowstring to shot the ceremonial arrow.

But that’s only the tip of the shitberg, there’s the disaster of the Reflecting Pool with its peeling liner and algae problem. People touching it are arrested and denounced as “radical left lunatics”, including an Olympic cyclist. Others come and cheer for the algae.

It’s been reported the Trump has taken to gluing gold stuff to the walls in the White House. The Ballroom has been stopped by court order. The Rose Garden has been paved over to look like a patio at a poolside cheap resort. The 250 foot monstrosity monument has been halted (I think). The Kennedy Center has its name restored, but they won’t take down the curtain hiding the fact the Trump’s name is off it. The Oval beyond the White House looks like a decimated lawn. ICE is giving up on six of its super detention centers. The effort by the administration to haul up the deep sea monitoring equipment and junk it has been halted. (Why on Earth did they want to stop that? And spend millions to do it?)

But the we get to Tulsi Gabbard. Why did she resign as head of our national security? Turns out she was taking direct orders from her cult leader. She is and was in a cult and she does exactly what this guy says. I mean the guy makes people eat his toe nail clippings? That’s weird.. And she was in charge of our national security. And it’s not like people didn’t know. But the Washington Post (that leftist rag owned by multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos “his worst investment”) published stuff showing memos sent to Gabbard telling her exactly what to say and she said it word for word. Not just what to say but as a legislator what to enact. She was shown what they were about topublish and resigned. I think she is vacationing with Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, learning new skills like puppy shooting.

This is crazy. You can’t make this up. It would never make it as a Hollywood script because it’s too off the wall.

Then we get to a piece by Paul Krugman. You know that hack Nobel winning economist. He pointed out that Timothy Snyder (that hack professor who wrote a thin book called “On Tyranny”) said of Hegseth and Trump that, I quote:

“The attack on Iran began with a longing — a subjective sense that violence is pleasurable and can bring a utopia in which desires become reality. In the statements of President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth, such a utopia of violence is palpable.”

And Krugman goes on to point out how Hegseth has  stalled or ruined the careers of women and people of color. The integration in our military of women and black people had been a source of pride and now this has been degrades as has our military preparedness. 

Trump’s war of whim with Iran has now been lost and he has to pay. So instead of having an agreement with Iran like we did under Obama we have a stronger more dangerous Iran. 

This list of incompetence is long. But it’s not just incompetence. It’s dishonesty. it’s deceit. It’s crime – done openly. I mean Martha Stewart went to jail for one insider trading tip. Trump? How many has he had? Well, they weren’t tip were they? He created them. I mean he invests in a company a day or so before he announces the Federal Government is buying a lot of that company’s stuff? I have to wonder how does he have time to do anything governmental? You know, like running the government? I mean if you are trading as many times as is alleged that means he’s trading all day every day.

Then there’s the nutty health care stuff. How about the breakout of disease at some, was it?, air force base? Because now vaccinations are up to the whim of the individual??? Yeah, raise your hand if you want to be cheek and jowl with someone in a foxhole that could have plague. (or mumps, or COVID, or measles, or any of the other diseases we have preventatives for). And don’t forget it you get bitten by a rodent or dog and want to find out if you have rabies they ain’t got people to do those tests anymore. Flu? Yeah. It won’t be as up to snuff as it used to be. I mean you gotta have people to do that work and who know what they are doing, but they’re gone. How about “the best and the brightest”? They aren’t coming here to study anymore.They are going to those shithole countries like Denmark. Oh sorry, you’re white. I mean you’re okay.

It’s sad. It’s dishonest. It’s criminal. It’s stupid. But that is where we are right now.

This is not the country I grew up in. When I was growing up a Republican was President. He played golf once in a while. He strengthened Social Security. He built The Interstate Highway System. He believed in science and he was wary of “the military industrial complex.” Those days are long gone. 

Day 532a – Reflecting Pool update

June 24, 2026

An addendum to the day:

If you were doing something and it was going to be a crucial piece to your legacy, agenda, whatever wouldn’t you want to get advice from the best people you could? I mean, the most knowledgeable?

That approach wound be called what? Common sense? 

The Park Service has reported on the damage to the Reflecting Pool. Seems there are two very long “cuts” along the edge of the pool. We’re talking about 177 feet for each or thereabouts. When I read that I immediately thought that’s a heck of a long cut. If someone was trying to do that with a knife that would be hard and take a lot of time and effort. Well, it could be “radical left lunatics,” but wouldn’t someone have seen a person crawling along the edge of the Reflecting Pool on their knees for 177 feet? Twice?

The newspaper I was reading (That disreputable rag The New York Times) did something really weird. They called up a person who knows something about pool liners and pool lining. His opinion? Well, he wouldn’t rule out a knife but more likely he thought it could be that not enough material was put down. That the application was too thin, and done too hastily. Now does that make sense to you? I mean if ya got sumptin’ and it’s real thin and it needs to contract, or expand, well gosh there just ain’t too much to work with and yeah it might just create a big long separation – oftentimes referred to as “a cut.”

Now this here expert didn’t say nuthin’ ‘bout the boys doin’ the job, but he did say that there are people in this bizness that know what they are doing.

Maybe giving a no bid contract to a buddy wasn’t such a good idea?

Put it another way: which is more like Trump? Hasty, thin, and cheap; or thoughtful, well researched, and knowledgeable?

If it has to be redone can we get some sparkles? You know like fireworks. Bombs bursting in air and all that? I hear the President has some glue left over from his tacky tack job in The White House.

I wonder if the guy got paid? I mean it is so Trump like to not pay.

Monday, June 15, 2026

According to a reporter (you know those people who dig up those things called facts) who looked at the public comments on Trump’s ballroom. There have been 35,000 comments. 97% were negative, 1% positive, and 2% couldn’t tell if they were for or against it. Pretty impressive.

Now to the cage match. Who fought? Usually, when there’s a fight the names of the fighters are prominent. Not this time. Also, the lights from the stage were such that pilots making their approach to National Airport were distracted and thrown off.

In other tangential news the Park Service funds from collection of fees is being diverted by the Trump administration. Not sure where to, maybe the ballroom? Staff was already cut by 25% so expect things to be not as good as before. Besides the budget has been underfunded for years. No worries.

SpaceX is up to almost $180.00 Gad zooks. Well, there ya go. Elon is a … not sure what to say.

Jimmy Kimmel pointed out that Elon could buy all the hockey, football, baseball, and basketball teams and still have $265 billion left over.

Prediction: The War in Iran will be over in two weeks or ten days. This has had to be updated about every two weeks since it started in February. So how many times is that? 2,4,6,8,10 times? At twice a month.

ICE is now threatening NYC. It will be interesting to see “how tough they are,” whoever they is.