“Hey old man, how can you stand to think that way?”

It’s an old Bruce Hornsby lyric with staying power, written back in the mid-80s. It has stood the test of time and has come around again, since it currently applies to Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation and their To Do List (i.e. Project 2025) that includes discounting the value of science and scientific theory and research, along with reading, and education in general.

Paula Poundstone, who is to be commended for being a thorn in this administration’s side since at least January of 2025 and probably long before, reminded her viewers in a recent post that the whole antisemitic excuse Trump rolled out in his threats against Harvard and Columbia and other universities is really just a means to dumbing us down.

The method to the madness is that if the means of learning and critical thinking are curtailed or removed, what will develop is a population of brainless sheep who can be told anything—that war is good, that vaccines are horrible, that any person of color is a lazy, criminal lowlife, or that old crock of shit about Donald being the only one who can fix things.

The idea is that if the means of maturing one’s thought processes are taken away, then people will be reduced to uniformity and ignorance, looking to their fearless leader for everything– guidance, answers, even sustenance. How messed up is that?!

That’s just the way it is? Better not be. Ever.

Such a person is like a good mechanic, or a good doctor—they don’t exactly grow on trees and one hopes they’ll be around for a while.

I’m talking about someone who tells the truth, who’s capable and reasonable and trustworthy.

One minute, for example, AI is amazing and the wave of the future. But now it’s the villain, frightening, apparently out of control already. And the brains behind it are portrayed as self-interested ogres willing to sell their souls for a hook, line, and sinker buy-in and silk glove treatment from Congress.

Not long ago in our neck of the woods, several families realized an influx of life-changing cash because they sold their property for data center construction. I imagine it being a case of taking the money and running, but I wonder if they have any regrets or give any thought to the transaction at this point—what they’ve wrought by having a hand in facilitating what once was a godsend but is now more of a boondoggle.

Our Governor here in PA has even changed his tune– since earlier this year!

Who do we believe regarding these data centers? Are they all for AI, or are they also being built to handle existing and future demand for streaming services and YouTube and cloud storage and internet capacity in general?

Who do we believe?! The ones who are warning about Big Brother, the ones who have nothing good to say about the demands of these facilities in terms of water and electricity use and the effect they will have on our own electric bills and opportunities for employment? Or the ones who tell us to calm down, not to worry, that there’s a lot of misinformation out there?

It’s getting more difficult to tell the difference between good and bad information. And that’s a lousy place to be.

If there is indeed a blue wave in November, I hope Democrats don’t waste their mandate going after people. That would be a disservice to us all. There are way bigger fish to fry—righting the economic, cost-of-living ship, repairing relationships with allies, once again addressing climate and environmental concerns, shutting down the warehouse prisons and developing, somehow, workable immigration policy, among so much else.

Hearings and investigations and even another post-term impeachment trial would be unforgiveable wastes of time and effort. Someone has to put a stop to this endless cycle of tit-for-tat, retributive “justice.” Let it be the Democrats.

Well, except for a pursuit of Trump. He deserves to spend the rest of whatever time he has on this earth tied up in court until he expires, wondering the whole time if it’s all finally gonna catch up with him, and disturbed to his core about why he lived his life the way he did. He deserves no sympathy, no peace. And the same for the Heritage Foundation crew.

Not exactly Christ-like sentiments, but oh well…

Rahm Emanuel in 2028? That has a certain ring to it.

He’s pretty intense and comes across as a bit manic, but he’s smart, experienced, he actually loves America, and he’s brutally honest in a good way.

I suspect he’d be Republicans’ worst nightmare, and would probably have his share of detractors in his own party, but what’s new? Some might say he’s old guard, but he’s still young and fiery enough to make a difference. Again, in a good way.

I don’t know if it’s just a rumor, and I didn’t stay up long enough to watch Jen Psaki ask him about it, but I kinda hope it’s true. One could get the feeling that he would be way more than a “glad he isn’t Trump” placeholder.

Blatantly un-American. How can Republican members of Congress look around and not come to this conclusion?

Is it simply about riding the Trump train for as long as possible—no matter how detestable the man and the others who populate his inner circle? It regularly precipitates bewilderment and WTF moments of anger, because it makes so little sense.

We’ve all waited long enough for proof that there’s a method to the madness. There is no method, only madness. It’s whatever is self-serving and ego-boosting and somehow satisfying to Trump and the Heritage Foundation. The rest of us don’t matter.

All we get to do is raise our voices, register our disgust, but mostly watch as the country craters a bit every day. The depravity of hypocrites and liars has been left to run its course—slashing programs, firing knowledgeable people and replacing them with imbeciles and sycophants– often one in the same. And on purpose!

The intended decapitation is happening before our eyes, under the auspices of, among other things, fiscal belt-tightening and designer Christianity– a mindlessly skewed rendering of certain Old Testament passages in the Bible. For their purposes, the New Testament doesn’t exist. After all, who needs the specter of Jesus casting his watchful eye over the proceedings? Love doesn’t fit in the Project 2025 equation.

May the November elections go off without a hitch. It’s way past time to awaken and register our discontent, start the process of sending the whole misfit crew packing, in order that the salvage operation can begin.

The next name change, the next proposed monument, the next dumb thing out of his mouth—maybe we should be looking past these common occurrences to what’s really happening.

We know the MO, we’re aware that we’re dealing with a self-proclaimed deal maker par excellence who lies through his teeth and depends on misdirection to keep us off-balance and distracted.

We know a critical election is approaching and the Trump machinery is going to be whirring and humming and throwing every available wrench into the gears. So watch and listen for hints that the boom is in the process of being lowered—the USPS ruling on mail-in ballots, the prolonged war in Iran or some other event that might serve as some sort of excuse for postponing the elections altogether, a plan for placement of ICE agents or other goons at polling stations, and as yet unannounced road blocks that keep Democrats from voting.

These are the developments Trump and Miller and the rest want us to miss because we’re too busy chasing a squirrel up a tree and wasting our breath and broadcast time and newsprint on the next vanity project or air-headed sound bite from RFK, Jr. or Scott Bessent.

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