Donald Trump is not a bright man.  He is totally ignorant of American history, world history, science, health, math, and most academic subjects.   He is, however, a master of manipulation and, I have to give it to him, self-enrichment.

 

There are not many times I find myself in agreement with the President, but renaming is one of them.

 

The historic name, The Gulf of Mexico, seems to imply a small body of water bordered by Mexico, when in fact it shares a shoreline with the United States, each country with approximately 1.700 miles of shoreline. So why call it the Gulf of Mexico?   I like the Gulf of America.

The Department of Defense; really?   The only attack on the homeland that had to be defended in the last hundred years was Pearl Harbor.  Yet, we have military all over the world fighting wars, declared and undeclared. We don’t fight defensively, we fight offensively – we fight wars, so why not the Department of War?   We can claim that we send our military out to defend this country's interests, but that's usually a hollow claim, driven by economic or political agendas.  The military and the military industrial complex is a war machine. 

 And while we are at it, let's name the new White House Ballroom the Donald J Trump Ballroom.   No one had a say in the destruction of the East Wing of the White House; that is on Trump.  Congress did not approve or finance the new Ballroom, and has no say in the construction or architecture.  This is truly the Donald J Trump Ballroom.   

And one more rename while we are at it.   This planet is covered by 70% ocean and 30% earth.  Why do we call it the Earth?   Let's rename it Ocean, or Oceana, which sounds better.  The third planet from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Oceana, Mars… 

It's all a game: the Name Game

the Ol'Buzzard

I LOVE MAINE

 I have lived in Maine on and off since 1962.  The demographics have changed with the influx of people from outside Maine.

I knew Maine when it was still rural.  The people were pragmatic, and the vast wilderness was still virgin.

Now the Maine wilderness is cut up with snowmobile trails, and roads into once-remote, pristine lakes and rivers.    The new scourge of ticks makes the woods less accessible. 

But this is the new world we live in.

Maine is still a beautiful state, and if you move away from the coast into the interior, there are still homes that are reasonably priced, and communities where people still care about their neighbors.

 

the Ol'Buzzard

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING ON LINE

 

AS much as I dislike the mania of Black Friday shoppers, there are some real bargains on line.

Chef's Choice knife sharpener

I recently bought this model of Chef's Choice knife sharpener.  I was tired of trying to sharpen my kitchen knives with a whetstone.  I paid $55 on sell.   Two weeks after I purchased this knife sharpener, I sliced the end of my thumb while cutting onions.  

It really works!

The Strand Magazine

Arthur Conan Doyle first published Sherlock Holmes stories in the Strand.  

Now this Strand Magazine celebrates Holmes and all things mystery, publishing short stories and interviews from some of the major mystery writers of the 20th century and today.   It is a high-quality magazine worthy of collecting. 

Food Saver Vacuum Packer.

Hamburger meat will last into next year

Especially now with the economy mercurial due to Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill that punishes ordinary people to give massive tax cuts to billionaires,  food security should be paramount in our thoughts.   

We have used a vacuum packer for years to buy meats and other items when on sale, and preserving them by vacuum packing to avoid freezer burn.  We have stored meats, fish, and even beans, berries, and nuts for six months or more with no deterioration in quality.

Bread Machines

We have been making our bread for over forty years with a bread machine.  We presently use a Cuisinart, which is expensive, but there are many decent machines available at a reasonable price.  During the hot summer months, we usually buy store bread (an old Newfoundlander I knew used to call store bread bakers' fog), but in the wintertime, we look forward to our own-baked bread.   

the Ol'Buzzard

GO TO THE MOVIES OR BUY DVDS?

 

In the age of Trump 24/7 365, I am trying to find something to post about that isn’t the destruction of Democracy that I feel we are witnessing.

 

I am an avid reader, and I would like to post, once a week or more, books or stories I find interesting. 

 

I have just completed reading, for the second time, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It is the story of a serial killer of children in Stalin’s Russia, at a time when the party line was that murders don’t exist in Russia, because murder can't exist in a pure Communist state. A security officer who has lived the party line is demoted, exiled, and faces execution of himself and his family when he pursues the killer of children.

This is one of the few books where the movie is as good, or perhaps better than the book itself. 

You can buy a used DVD for a fraction of the cost of going to a movie.  You can enjoy a DVD in your own home, watch it a second time, and share it with friends.

Child 44 is available in DVD for $10.10 from oldies.com, and the book is available for $5.00 from thriftbooks.com.

the Ol'Buzzard

GROWING OLD

 

You are short of breath, you have aches you never had before, your hair is greying, and you laugh about getting old.   Then one day you realize - you are old.

Growing old is an irreversible process.   The danger in this process is stagnation.   Your TV, your computer, becomes your life.  Your only exercise is shopping at the grocery store. You only do the things you are comfortable with.

  

When you keep referring to 'back in my day,' you have stagnated.

 

Neil deGrasse Tyson addresses growing old.   His perspective is a kind of awakening moment for me.   I am capable of continuing to grow, but over the past year, I have become distracted and settled into a routine that is unhealthy and stagnating.  

 

You’re getting old?

Food for thought

 

the Ol'Buzzard

DISOBEYING MILITARY ORDERS

 

 

There is a big hoorah going on in news reporting that some Democratic Senators posted that military men can disobey illegal military orders.

 

That sounds good, and looks good on paper, but the military has a two-tier system: Officers take an oath to the Constitution and the President of the United States, but there is an addendum for the enlisted: to “obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me”. 

Officers can resign their commission and quit, but enlisted personnel have committed to indentured servitude.   

If enlisted disobey an order - even if they believe it to be illegal - they can be court-martialed, lose their rank, and incarcerated in a federal prison for years; during wartime, they can be executed. 

It is extremely dangerous for an enlisted person to decide to disobey an order.   The military system is built on enforcing blind obedience.

Expose yourself to machinegun fire, Agent Orange... Killum all and let God sort it out…   That's an order.  You are expendable.

The Ol’Buzzard

U.S. military retired.

 

 

 

 

 "obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me,

THE AGE OF AI

 

 

People are not the only thing being replaced by AI.

 

On my bookshelf is a book called How To Find Out Anything by Don MacLeod.  It explains how to do advanced searches on Google.

 

That book is now headed for the used book store in town.  By all rights, I should just toss it; but I can’t stand to throw away a book.   

 

I wonder how many books are now irrelevant because of

Hey Google……………

the Ol'Buzzard

THE SOLUTION TO THE SHUTDOWN THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED

 

Shutting down the government was a mistake for the Democrats.  A government shutdown is a pox on both parties.   It would have been better to let the Republican bill take effect, cut health care, and bring chaos to the economy. The Republicans would have had to carry the blame into the next election.

As it is, Republicans can blame the Democrats for people not getting paid.

I marvel at the ineptitude of the Democrat Party to message that it is the party of the people, and the Republicans are the Party of the rich and powerful.

 

Two options could prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again.

 A bill needs to be passed in Congress that, when the government is shut down, Senators and Congress members lose their pay for the duration of the shutdown, and they do not receive back pay when the government is reopened.

Of course, it is unlikely that Congress will ever pass a bill to their personal detriment.

 

The second option is a third party.

This nation would benefit from a third party.  It would take compromise for any bill to be passed.  A single party could not gain enough power to hold the nation hostage.

Common sense.   but there is no common sense in Politics.

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

HOTEL CALIFORNIA

 

In your mind, you can never check out!

the Ol'Buzzard

GEORGE ORWELL 1984

 

 

THE EQUIVALENCE IS STARTLING

George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, portrayed a democracy taken over by an oligarchic government headed by a charismatic con man. 

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

 

“The enemy of the moment always represents absolute evil.”

 

If all others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became true.  Who controls the past, ran the party slogan, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

 

Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version.  A great deal of the time, you were supposed to make them up out of your head.

 

The aim of the high is to remain where they are. The aim of the middle is to change places with the high.

 

It was still true that men were not equal in their native talents and that functions had to be specialized in ways that favored some individuals against others.

 

Imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages, and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.

 

In the past, no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.”

 

Doublethink: (reality control)

Thou shall not kill, but glorification of war heroes.

New Speak: (propaganda)

designed to diminish the range of thought

 

“The essential act of the party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty.  To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any facts that have become inconvenient.

 

We know that no one ever seized power with the intention of relinquishing it.  Power is not a means; it is an end.”

 

Orwell warns that a totalitarian government can successfully manipulate the minds of a large population to the point where a person can think the opposite of what is true.  Trump and his Republican Ing Soc have accomplished this with MAGA.

We are nearly there

2+2 = 5

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO INVESTIGATING TRUMP'S RELATIONSHIP TO JEFFREY EPSTEIN?

 I am just wondering?

the Ol'Buzzard

PREVIEW OF 2026 MID-TERM ELECTION

 

 

ICE will be deployed to voting sites to arrest and harass Hispanic voters.

Military units will be deployed to cities to squelch protests.

If Democrats win either the House or the Senate, Trump will say the election was rigged, martial law will be declared, and voting machines will be confiscated. 

But, it couldn't happen here?   

Could it?

 

Welcome to America's 1984

the Ol’Buzzard

WHO WAS CHARLIE KIRK?

 

Multiple assassinations of political pundits occurred, and the only reaction from Republicans was Thoughts and Prayers.   

Kirk's assassination, though tragic, is now being used to construct a martyr to enrage the MAGA base and distract from Republican overreach.

Just saying

the Ol'Buzzard

SPY vs SPY

 

the Ol'Buzzard

HEARD IMMUNITY

 

You can’t make this stuff up: We have a man with a worm in his brain, who eats road kill, and has no medical or scientific background, determining the health policies for the nation. 

 

Sanity Alert:

Bigfoot doesn’t exist

The Earth is not flat

 The Moon landing was real

And vaccines create herd immunity to contagious diseases without half of your family having to die.

 

I was a child during the polio pandemic, and thank goodness Jonas Salk came up with a vaccine that eradicated polio. 

 

The major medical contributions of the twentieth century were the development of vaccines. 

 

The lunatics are now running the asylum.  There will be a cost to pay.

the Ol’Buzzard

 

THE US ANSWER TO THE WAR IN UKRAINE

 

 The US covert support of Russia

Yesterday, Russia launched 800 drones and 13 missiles into Ukraine.

 

The US response is to withhold shipments of military equipment that the Ukrainian forces need to defend their territory.

 

Without openly supporting Putin’s incursion into Ukraine, which would be unpopular, Trump is able to actually aid Russia by withholding vital military equipment shipments authorized by Congress.

 

Don’t let the smoke screen of overt support of Ukraine obstruct your understanding of what is actually happening: Trump is comfortable with Russia winning the war, or at the very least seizing some of Ukraine’s territory in a lopsided peace negotiation.

 

Trump is Putin’s friend.  

If it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk, it is Trump aiding Putin's ambitions of annexing Ukraine. 

the Ol'Buzzard

  

WHAT AI CAN DO!

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

the Ol'Buzzard

PRESIDENT FOR LIFE DONALD TRUMP

 

PRESIDENTE, GENERALISSIMO, DOCTOR DONALD TRUMP

 

P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said; You don’t have to be smart to be a con man – just smarter than the rubes you are conning.

Donald Trump is not a bright man, but he has a reptilian instinct for survival. 

Being President protects him from prosecution and props up his fragile ego; so, Donald has every intention of remaining President for Life.

 

The seeds have already been planted, and the plan is underway:

1.    The President will activate National Guard troops in blue states.   People will quickly become unconcerned when seeing military and ICE troops on their streets.

2.    The President has limited powers in his use of the military domestically, so he has invested billions in a private army (ICE) that answers only to him.

3.    States will be encouraged to modify their voting maps to advantage Republican candidates.

4.    The President will insist that states do away with mail-in voting.

5.    ICE will show up at all voting precincts to arrest and intimidate non-white voters.

6.    Donald Trump will have a sycophantic Congress that will not certify any election results that do not coronate him as President.

7.    If Trump loses, he will claim election fraud, declare martial law, and have troops seize voting machines.

8.    The country will erupt in violence.

9.    Trump will use ICE and the military to remain in office. 

Donald Trump posed a greater danger to the United States remaining a democratic Constitutional government than any adversary since the Revolutionary War.

It is what it is

the Ol’Buzzard

 

EPSTEIN FILES ARE NOW OLD NEWS

 

He has done it again.  Teflon Donald.   He has managed to steer the news outlets away from the Epstein files, to Ukraine and Putin. 

But anyway

This is a great group 

 

the Ol'Buzzard

ELECTRIC RICE COOKER

 

Cooking rice on top of a stove is like driving an old standard-shift automobile; it requires constant attention.

 

Electric rice cookers can do the job with no fuss.   If you eat rice, the electric rice cooker is the most obvious choice.

 

Cookers range from fifteen dollars to hundreds.  So, you need to ask yourself, how much rice do you need, and how often do you cook rice?

 

Our old rice cooker finally gave up the ghost

 

My wife and I eat rice occasionally, so spending the big bucks for a cooker didn’t make sense.

 

We recently bought an Aurora six-cup, fifteen-dollar rice cooker.   We have used it three times, and each time the rice scorched on the bottom.   

The beauty of buying it at Walmart is that we can return it with no hassle.

You buy cheap, it’s a crap shoot. 

the Ol’Buzzard

BEAR ATTACKS TRUMP IN ANCHORAGE ALASKA

 

TRUMP EATEN BY A BEAR IN ALASKA

NOT THIS BEAR

                       THIS ONE

the Ol'Buzzard

CREAPING FASCISM

 

Fuck the Epstein Files!

Democrats need to quit focusing on the short term.  Trump is not a bright man, but he has reptilian survival instincts.

 

On the pretense of rampant crime, Trump has deployed active-duty military to Washington, D.C.

 

He plans to systematically deploy active-duty troops to other cities on the premise of crime deterrence.

 

This is a smoke screen.  It is comparable to boiling a frog in cold water.

 

The public and the military will become accustomed to active-duty troops deployed in cities with large minority populations that lean toward the Democratic Party.

 

During the next Presidential election, Trump will claim voter fraud and task the military, which is already deployed, to seize voting machines in the states where he loses; declaring martial law, he will use the military to remain in office as President for Life. 

 

If Democrats lose the House and Senate during the midterms, future children in school will learn the Pledge of Allegiance to Donald J. Trump.

the Ol'Buzzard

 

REGARDLESS OF TRUMP, LIFE GOES ON

 

 

The Donald Trump Show.  Brought to us by President Joe Biden and Merrick Garland.

 

My wife and I watches the morning news.  The news is Trump, Trump, Trump. We watches the night news: Trump, Trump, Trump…

 

Yesterday it was Trump, Trump, Trump…  It will be Trump tomorrow, Trump next week, next year, the next, the next… 

 

Let’s not fool ourselves, Trump has no plan to leave after this term of office.

 

With that in mind, I will ignore Trump and offer some product reviews over the next few blogs.

 

 

SPECTRUM INTERNET

Our local internet provider has been bought out by Spectrum Internet.     The switch over was automatic.   Here in rural Maine, the switch didn’t leave us much choice.

 

Spectrum made an appointment with me two weeks ago for the installation; they were prompt, on time, courteous, and the representative helped me set up all of my streaming equipment.  There has been a delay in retrieving my original telephone number, but Spectrum reps have kept in contact with me and have been supportive and courteous.

 

 

I was leery of Spectrum.  My internet search uncovered hundreds of dissatisfied customer reviews.

 

So far, I have had a positive experience with Spectrum.   It is possible that the thousands of people who have positive experiences with a product don’t post reviews, so reviews are skewed by the people who have complaints.

 

The only thing I want from an internet provider is for them to be invisible.   I want to turn on my computer or my television and access the internet seamlessly.

 

So far, so good.

the Ol’Buzzard

I don't do paid advertisement for any product.  

Just sharing. 

 

YOU WON’T FIND THIS IN A HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY BOOK

 

NAGASAKI, JAPAN, AUGUST 9, 1945

Eighty years ago today, August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the civilian population of Nagasaki, Japan. 

Three days earlier, on August 6, the U.S. had bombed the civilian population of Hiroshima, instantly killing 70,000 of the civilian population of 255,000.

The second bomb was unnecessary, as the Japanese had already signaled their intention to surrender.  (Read American Prometheus Oppenheimer.) 

 

The bomb over Nagasaki detonated 1,600 feet above the city, with the force of 21,000 tons of TNT, instantly disintegrating or burning to death 40,000 of the 195,00 population. With 100,000 deaths estimated by the end of the year. 

The eventual death toll of the two bombs could range as high as one-quarter of a million men, women, children, and the elderly.

Birth defects in Japan as a result of radiation continued for generations. 

(Too disturbing to show.)

When you win a war, you can delete any history that is disturbing.

"Who controls the past, ran the party slogan, controls the future: Who controls the present controls the past." 

1984 by George Orwell

the Ol'Buzzard

ONE WEEK OF NINETY DEGREE DAYS IN MAINE !

 August 8, 2025

But in Maine

Winter is always coming.

the Ol'Buzzard

DESPITE TRUMP, LIFE GOES ON

 

Two years ago, during a winter nor'easter snowstorm, I had to drive at night from Portland, Maine, 100 miles to my home in the Western Maine mountains.  My headlight lenses were yellow from age.

 

In the dark, with visibility probably no more than fifteen yards, and headlights barely lit the highway, the trip was harrowing.

 

Headlight replacement on an older car is ridiculously expensive, so I decided to clean the lens myself.

 

After searching YouTube, I settled on a product that does not require a power drill for sanding and buffing.

 

I purchased Griot’s Ceramic headlight restorer.    I followed the simple instructions, which were easy even at my age.

 

One year later, the lenses are still clear.

 I don't advertise for any product company.   

 But there is no need for anyone to drive at night with yellow opaque headlights when products on the market can restore headlight lenses.    

 

 the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

I DON’T LIKE THAT NEWS. GIVE ME GOOD NEWS

 

 

Trump fired the Labor Statistics Chief because he did not like the job market data. 

If the doctor says you have cancer, don’t take the treatment – just fire the doctor. 

 

 

My lord, the labor statistics are not good.

That is fake news.  Fire the Chief of Labor Statistics. Bring me some other news.

My lore, labor statistics are good. 

Ah!  Good news.  My diplomacy triumphs.  

the Ol'Buzzard