Trump’s War – A Generational War.

Trump’s War – A Generational War.

The Red Sea is now up for grabs. The war has expanded to the Red Sea, and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have seized control of the area!

Houthis seize entire Red Sea coast of Yemen

11/09/2026

By: FRANCE 24

Summary

• Trump declines Saudi crown prince's call for US strikes on Houthis
• Hamas says a top armed commander killed by Israel
• Houthis say shipping 'safe' except for Saudi vessels, vow further escalation
• Houthis seize entire Red Sea coast of Yemen, governtment official says
• Saudi foreign ministry says pipeline was attacked by drones launched from Iraq
• Saudi shuts East-West oil pipeline after attacks

[…]

15 hours ago

Houthis seize key Red Sea island, complete takeover of Bab al-Mandab area

Yemen's Houthis took over a key island in the Red Sea, completing their push to seize control of the Bab al-Mandab strait area, a local government official and eyewitnesses told AFP.

"Boats carrying armed Houthi fighters reached Mayyun Island after government forces withdrew from it yesterday," the official said, referring to an island also known as Perim that divides the strait into two shipping lanes.

An eyewitness said gunmen were "deploying along the Bab al-Mandab shore and are driving around in military vehicles".

So now the war has spilled over to other countries. It is not just the bombing of other countries by Iran, but now Iran’s allies have stepped in!

Trump’s “short, glorious war” has come back to bite him in the butt!

Saturday 9: Devil in the Bottle

Saturday 9: Devil in the Bottle (1974)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun… 

 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song begins with T. G. Sheppard taking off his shoes to slip into the house with disturbing his sleeping wife. Are you wearing shoes as you answer these questions?

Nope, I’m writing this in bed.

2) His wife hears him anyway. Are you a light sleeper?

Not really, it vary from time to time.

3) This is the first of 22 consecutive #1 hits for T. G. Sheppard. Not bad for a high school dropout. What's the last year of education that you completed?

Graduate.

4) He was born William Browder and chose the stage name T. G. Sheppard just because he liked the sound of it. He says "T. G." doesn't stand for anything, and he gets a kick out of fans who insist there's some secret meaning behind the initials. Since most of us didn't choose our names: Is there a story behind your name? Did your parents tell you why they chose it? (If you did choose your name, share what influenced your decision.)

Well I was originally named after the family doctor.

I chose my name from Greek mythology… in old books had about a god who got the other gods mad at him and the changed him into the goddess Diana. (Notice they thought that being a woman was a punishment.)

5) It was after hours at a Memphis roller rink when he first met Elvis and his entourage. As T. G. was leaving, Elvis was entering and asked if he wanted to stay and skate longer. T. G. was confused because he knew the place was closing for the night. "Not for me," Elvis replied and T. G. skated with Elvis and his buddies until dawn. Are you good on roller skates?

Yeah, when I skate I keep ambulance drivers in business.

Actually I think the last time I strapped roller skates on I was about ten.

6) T. G. loves NASCAR and was an associate sponsor of the Folgers Chevrolet. He enjoyed the collaboration with the coffee company and has performed the familiar jingle – "the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup" – in concert. Are you loyal to a particular coffee brand?

The only time I usually drink coffee is when at meetings they only have coffee. The other time I drink coffee is when I travel… one large Dunkin coffee is good for 200 miles.

7) T. G. understands the lifestyle of his fans. That's why he named his live country music venue Guitars and Cadillacs. If you were going to name a business after two of your favorite things, what would you call it?

Him... how can I merge two of my favorite things... photography and eating. Maybe "Eye Candy"

8) In 1974, when this week's song was on the country charts, Linda Ronstadt was getting a lot of radio airplay with "You're No Good." That song is about a real cad. Let's turn that around: Who is the nicest person you know?

Oh… I hate naming names.

They know who they are, they are the ones who care about others, they have a heart of gold.

 

9) Random question: Have you ever had your palm read?

Only when the doctor was pulling the inch splinter out of my palm. The doctor was impressed.

---

I’m back in Connecticut for a doctors and dentist appointment. Then head back up to the cottage until the end of October.

Me.

Today is solemn, and the speeches by the former presidents reflected the introspection of the day. However, the current president and his cabinet made it about the current political situation. Trump and Hegseth at the Pentagon both linked the war in Iran to their ongoing military actions.

In Trump's speech, he made references to "domestic terrorists," and that made my ears pick up, since in the past Trump has labeled trans activists as terrorists.

Formerly at remembrances at the Pentagon, the presidents didn't make it political.

When ask Gemini wrote...

Presidents who have spoken at the Pentagon memorial observances over the years include:

• Barack Obama: Spoke at the Pentagon ceremony on multiple anniversaries (such as the 11th anniversary in 2012), focusing on national resilience, community service, and honoring the victims and first responders.
• Donald Trump: Also delivered major addresses at the Pentagon during his first term (such as in 2017), as well as during subsequent anniversaries, using the platform to honor the fallen while emphasizing national strength and counterterrorism efforts. 
• George W. Bush: Regularly delivered addresses honoring the Pentagon victims in the years immediately following the 2001 attacks, given that the Department of Defense was one of the primary sites struck.
• Joe Biden: During his term, he also participated in Pentagon and Flight 93 observances, delivering remarks centered heavily on the endurance of American democracy and supporting military families.

Because the Pentagon is a federal military facility rather than a private memorial site like Ground Zero in New York, it has traditionally hosted a formal government-led ceremony featuring speeches from the sitting commander-in-chief and the secretary of defense.

 Trump always makes it about "Me."

Family Values... Whose?

[Essay]

Here we go again with "Family Values." How many times have you heard Republicans harp on "Family Values"? I don't know about you, but I don't like JD Vance's family values of hate.

Vance's speech at the Republican lovefest was an eye-opener!

USA Today reported...

Vance says Democrats are 'party of hatred'

Vance declared Democrats the "party of hatred" as he led the charge among Republican convention speakers to paint their midterm opposition as a dangerous threat to the country.

It was Vance’s debut at the convention, and it might have been one of the most pivotal speeches he will make ahead of a widely expected presidential bid in 2028. He arrived on stage to chants of "JD."

Whoa! The Republican party is a party of lies.

Fresh off a recent campaign visit to Michigan, Vance above all aimed at Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, who the vice president has attacked aggressively for invoking his wife, Usha Vance, on the campaign trail.

El-Sayed wrote in an Aug. 22 post on X: "So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…" To El-Sayed’s critics, his remarks seemed to imply Vance’s white grandfather would not accept Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage.

Now he just got finished saying that the Democrats are a "party of hate" but what does he say next?

Fresh off a recent campaign visit to Michigan, Vance above all aimed at Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, who the vice president has attacked aggressively for invoking his wife, Usha Vance, on the campaign trail.

El-Sayed wrote in an Aug. 22 post on X: "So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…" To El-Sayed’s critics, his remarks seemed to imply Vance’s white grandfather would not accept Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage.

To me, that seems xenophobic and racist!

Then we have JD's family values... which are not mine.

Vance positions himself as a fighter for family values and a ‘national birthright’

The vice president drew on the recent birth of his fourth child, a son, and the first anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death in his speech at the Republican midterm convention.

NBC News

Sept. 10, 2026

By Henry J. Gomez

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday offered his young family — in particular, his newborn son — as a model and a window to the future that the potential 2028 presidential contender envisions for America.

In a speech here at the Republicans’ midterm convention, Vance broadly criticized Democrats who he said do not share his values.

I will second that!

My family values are love and acceptance, not authoritarianism.

He added a moment later, “To the radicals who wish to abolish my family and the thousands and millions of other families all across our country, we have a simple message for them: Stay the hell away from our kids!”

Ah... but it is okay to force our kids into models of your family image? It is okay to force a trans child into a body image that is not theirs? It is okay to mold them into little images of "Dick and Jane" with Spot and their cat Puff?

And then... good grief! He says he might run in '28!

Vance reserved his vitriol for Democrats and the progressive left. He went on an extended riff against El-Sayed, who last month mockingly wondered whether Vance would take his Indian American wife, Usha Vance, back in time to meet his late grandfather. Vance also alluded to El-Sayed’s alliance with Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who previously said on a livestream that “America deserved 9/11.” Piker has since apologized for the remark, which has become a staple of Republican campaigning this year.

That is playing to a xenophobic and Islamophobic audience! I don't know about you, but those are not my family values!

My family values are about love and acceptance; it is about the Golden Rule and helping others.

My family values are not about seeking vengeance on those he thinks "wronged" him.

My family values do not involve seeing women as sex objects.

My family values are not about cheating your contractors.

My family values are not to cheat on your taxes.

I see the whole Republican convention as a "hate fest." It was not about "Family Values," but rather who to hate. Hate the immigrant. Hate the trans children. Hate those who worship differently.

No, those are not my family values.

[/Essay]

Ask Them How?

Just a simple question: How?

"I'm going to cut your utility bills."... How?

"I'm going to cut the price of drugs."... How?

"I'm going to lower grocery prices."... How?

"I'm going to make housing more affordable."... How?

The devil is in the details!

That’s something no politician tells you. Why? Because they can’t! They don’t know either. But they’ll tell you what you want to hear.

Republicans Float $2B Cuts In Taxes, Costs

CT News Junkie

by Donald Eng

September 9, 2026

Legislative Republicans made their plea for voters to elect more members of their party in November, offering reductions or outright elimination of about a half-dozen taxes or fees in return.

“Affordability has become a buzzword for the Democrats we serve alongside, and they’ve spent the summer pointing fingers at Washington instead of looking in the mirror,” said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford. “Connecticut didn’t become one of the most expensive states in the country the day President Trump took office. It got that way over years of decisions made in this building, by the people and party that have controlled it,”

[...]

Among the measures were an elimination on sales tax on meals sold in grocery stores, elimination of the public benefits charge on utility bills, a one-year gas tax holiday and an elimination of the highway use tax – a mileage-based tax on heavy commercial vehicles that helps fund road and bridge maintenance.

The centerpiece, though, is a scaled reduction in the state income tax for those earning $200,000 or less. That one proposal represents about half of what the group said was the $2 billion total.

So the question asks to be asked... HOW?

They are cutting taxes by 2 billion dollars... but where are they going to cut? All I hear is crickets.

What they did say is that they will take it from the budget surplus. However—and you know darn well that there is always a "however" or a "but" in politics—the budget surplus varies from year to year depending on the economy! The surplus is also used to pay down our long-term debt and the two major state pension obligations: the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the Teachers' Retirement System (STRS).

The Republicans haven't said anything about that! And if that isn't enough... what in the budget are they planning to cut? They Republicans want to treat the volatile surpluses as a bottomless piggy bank for sweeping tax cuts without explaining how they'll balance the math,

The Party's Over!

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

How many thousands of times have we said that?

Well, Trump has a new pledge of allegiance: “I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States..."

‘I’m on the ticket’: Trump implores Republicans to vote in November at unusual midterm convention

The president demonised Democrats in an attempt to wangle votes in midterms despite backlash over Iran war

The Guardian

David Smith in Dallas, Texas

Fri 11 Sep 2026

With his approval rating at a historic low, Donald Trump has brought down the curtain on the Republicans’ first ever midterm convention by pleading with supporters to do him “the biggest favour” and “pretend” they are voting for him in November’s US elections.

The president is facing a growing backlash over rising prices and the war in Iran. Sweeping losses for the Republican party could effectively turn Trump into a lame duck for his final two years in the White House.

[...]

The convention had been aimed at turning around Republicans’ fortunes. Opinion polls suggest they are on course to lose the US House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate.

In what was effectively an abridged version of his rambling keynote address on Wednesday, the president reiterated his promise of “Trump dividend” of $5,000 for every US adult if Republicans win both chambers of Congress. Democrats have dismissed the pledge as a bribe while economists have warned it would cost more than $1tn.

They are really nervous... their whole house of cards could come tumbling down on them. So they fall back on their game plan... blame the Democrats.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, delivered a fiery address setting Republican “common sense” against a “dystopian hellscape” of leftwing ideology.

“As we speak, Democrat candidates across the country are openly embracing the radical ideology of democratic socialism,” suggested Trump Jr. “They claim that their socialism is for the people, but that’s the exact same story we’ve heard from every communist in human history.”

To unpack his claims... what programs is the Trump adminstration are ending or being defunded?

Why it is Social Security, they are just letting it go bankrupt... oh sorry about that cheif.

SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, and other "social programs," those are the programs that the conservatives object to.

The Republicans favor oligarchism. What, I never heard of that? Well, a oligarchy is...

Key Characteristics of Oligarchy:

• Concentrated Power: Decisions are dominated by a select minority rather than the broader population or a single absolute ruler.
• Self-Serving Governance: Power is frequently exercised for corrupt, selfish, or dynastic purposes to maintain or grow the elite class's wealth. 
• Wealth as Influence: While ancient oligarchies were sometimes built on nobility or military dominance, modern oligarchism is heavily tied to plutocracy, where vast financial resources are converted into political influence

Does that sound like any political party that we know?

You Know What They Say About The Democrats?

[Essay}

They say it is a political tug-of-war caused by too much ideological diversity and that they are trying to please too many factions. But nothing is ever said about the Republicans being split apart by all of their factions.

The GOP’s Weed Crackdown Is Blowing Up in Its Face

Republicans revived reefer madness just as legal cannabis became popular with their own voters.

Slate

By Nitish Pahwa

Sept 02, 2026

Once again, government officials are trying to restrict marijuana products around the United States. And once again, Americans of all political stripes are pissed off—plausibly enough to shake up this fall’s midterms.

At the federal level, Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration are attempting to rectify a huge mistake they made last November, when they passed an ill-advised bill that, if allowed to go into effect, would all but smother the United States’ flowering hemp industry. In red states like Iowa, Kansas, and Ohio—where polls have shown Democratic momentum in the gubernatorial races—promising candidates are insisting on the need to finally, belatedly legalize it. A bid in blue Massachusetts to have voters approve a rollback of the state’s recreational industry faces overwhelming popular opposition. And the anger is especially boiling down in Texas, where even Joe Rogan is warning that GOP intransigence on weed could well cause the Lone Star State to vote Democratic in the upcoming midterms.

Both parties are fractured... the Democrats are fractured or liberal causes while the Republicans are just as fractured but over conservative causes. 

I am going to tell you a parable. Since all parables must have a title, it is called: "A Tale of Two Towns: To Bud or Not To Bud."

One little town thinks that marijuana is the evil weed. They stand up and proudly hail, “We will not allow that Satan’s weed here in our town!” While the other town thinks, "Well, it is here, we might as well make a profit off it!"

The first town is left wondering… how do we pay for a community center? While the other town says… "Hey, we can use the tax money from them selling pot to dredge the harbor!"

One town has a lot of sad faces, and the other town has a lot of smiley faces.

[/Essay]

To Me This Sounds An Awful Lot...

Like vote buying!

Trump promises $5,000 dividend to every adult American citizen if Republicans win the midterm elections

New York Post

By Victor Nava

Sept. 9, 2026

President Trump pledged to give every US citizen a $5,000 dividend Wednesday if Republicans keep the House and Senate after the midterm elections. 

“Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success …. I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas. 

The president said the so-called “Trump dividend” money must be spent in the US.

While everyone else calls it vote buying!

The Daily Beast wrote in the Desperate Trump Offers Brazen Cash Bribe in Bonkers Speech article;

However Trump’s promise would not only require congressional approval, it would likely spike inflation. With just under 270 million adults living in the U.S., Trump’s $5,000 handout would lead to a budget blowout of up to $1.3 trillion, blowing out America’s existing $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit.

The current U.S. debt is around $40 trillion.

Speaking on Fox News, host Bret Baier raised the $1.3 trillion cost with Vice President JD Vance.

Baier suggested “critics” would say “the president is bribing voters to vote for Republicans... and he is bankrupting the country because the debt is huge and inflation would come back if this comes to play.”

Now get a load of JD's reply, it is a doozy...

Vance called the $5,000 “fundamentally a dividend for American workers” and said it could be funded by revenues raised by U.S. tariffs.

So... who pays for the tariffs? We do.

So, in Republican logic... we get taxed so they can give us our money back... minus shipping and handling charges.

Besides the fuzzy logic, there is also the issue of vote buying!

The British Independent write...

Commentators accused the president of attempting to bribe voters to back Republicans, who are forecast to suffer heavy losses in November.

In a post on X, reporter Sam Stein accused the president of describing "openly bribing people to vote for Republicans."

We have the best government money can buy!

---

I noticed something in writing this... not one American mainstream news outlet used the word “bribe.”

NPR pussy-footed around it by calling it: “To incentivize voters to cast ballots for Republicans.”

online polls

He's An Art Critic Now

Trump's an art critic now. He hated Blue, the work by world-renowned sculptor Joel Shapiro. But Trump hated it with a passion!

NPR wrote,

A big blue presence has vanished from the landscape of Washington DC.

On Wednesday a crew removed a 24-foot-tall metal sculpture called Blue, by Joel Shapiro, from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Our family turned out to say goodbye.

Blue is a giant stick figure with what seems to be four limbs, standing on what might be one leg, while the other is lifted. To walk, to leap, to dance? The upper-most limbs, which look like arms, are extended. To welcome, twirl, swing or sway?

The work was installed on that part of the Kennedy Center's grounds called The REACH, which opened in 2019. I've always thought it seemed an artful fit in that place, which before the Center became a source of controversy during the Trump presidency, abounded just about every night with music, dance, and all kinds of shows — available to the public for free.

[...]

But Josef Palermo, who was let go this past March as curator of visual arts and special programming at the Kennedy Center, told the New York Times this week that Blue had been "targeted early on" for removal by the Trump administration, which might have seen something else in the sculpture. Well, isn't "seeing something else" art?

This reminds me of the communist countries of old... where only proletariat art was allowed. Maybe if it was red and not blue? The Atlantic magazine wrote,

Shapiro—one of the most important American sculptors of his generation—died last summer. He spent decades coaxing human gesture and emotion from the austere geometry of minimalism. His abstract shapes and forms have strong personalities. They lie in wait for their audience, then suddenly come alive.

But the Kommissar didn't like it.

Josef Palermo was the Kennedy Center's first-ever Curator of Visual Arts and was not replaced.

Mr. Palermo's background included:

A working artist and arts producer

Cofounder of VESTIBULE, an interdisciplinary artists' collective/collaborative

Service on the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities

The new Kennedy Center is being run by people whose professional backgrounds are not in the arts. Their qualifications are in politics, diplomacy, communications, facilities, construction, and operations. At the same time, Trump's allies have taken control of the board.

The contrast with the previous leadership is striking.

The old board was bipartisan, with substantial representation from the worlds of business, philanthropy, government, and the arts. The new board has a much stronger political connection to Trump.

Just look at some of the new board members:

Donald Trump — president of the United States and now board chair.

Susie Wiles — Trump's White House chief of staff.

Dan Scavino — Trump's deputy chief of staff.

Usha Vance — wife of Vice President JD Vance.

Allison Lutnick — wife of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

John Falconetti — businessman and Trump supporter.

Cheri Summerall — Trump appointee.

Trump filled the board with some real art aficionados!

A New Law To Protect The Voting Booth!

No, I am not talking about newer laws like the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 or the Insurrection Act of 1807. Those don't really address polling places. But even before those, there was:

The Act of February 25, 1865, commonly called the “Troops at the Polls” Act.

What the heck is that law? The website Uncensored Objection writes;

A polling place is the one room in America where the government has to wait outside.

Congress wrote this rule in the middle of the Civil War, and it has stayed on the books for 161 years because every generation since understood the danger. Federal law makes it a crime for any officer of the military, or any person in the civil service of the United States, to order, bring, keep, or control troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held. The only exception covers force needed to repel armed enemies of the United States. Break that law and you face up to five years in prison and a permanent ban from holding federal office.

Read those words again. Armed men in the civil service of the United States. That is ICE.

In 1909 Congress went back and removed a second exception that had allowed troops to “keep the peace at the polls.” Lawmakers deleted it because they understood that a president who wants soldiers at the ballot box will always find a disturbance to point at. They closed the loophole on purpose, and it has stayed closed for 117 years.

So, if the "Donald" sends troops, he will be breaking a 161-year-old law that was designed to prevent just that!

Trump Had No Idea

"NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren't good enough! If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a 'piggybank.'

CBS New reported that is what Trump wrote on Truth Social!

But in reality...

In a statement on Monday following Mr. Trump's post, Bombardier sought to underline its contributions to the American economy, saying it accounts for "tens of thousands of jobs across the United States."

Bombardier said it has workers in 20 U.S. states and plants in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, Texas and Washington, D.C. The company's supply chain also comprises 2,800 U.S. companies in 47 states, according to Bombardier.

"Bombardier values its great partnership with American companies and its U.S. employees. Our plan is to continue to invest in our people, our customers and the communities in which we operate across the country," the company said. 

A labor union representing machinists and aerospace workers said on Tuesday that it opposes any move to bar Bombardier from selling aircraft in the U.S.

"Anything that undermines the stability and continued growth of these jobs is counterproductive to protecting workers and strengthening the aerospace industry in both the United States and Canada," the IAM union said in a statement. "The war on workers in the United States, Canada and elsewhere must come to an end."

I think this is really scary that Trump is making policy without knowing the facts! And it's not just Trump, but his entire staff! Not one of them even thought to google it to see if they had any plants here.

I think that's a serious problem in policymaking when the White House staff doesn't appear to have questioned the policy. It means a sweeping economic threat may have been formulated around an incomplete understanding of the company being targeted. That doesn't bode well for the administration!