Bob Schwartz

June 2, 2026

Americans need to pay undistracted attention: Focus and flow

You are floating down a running river. The changing scenes along the banks are so interesting. You are lost in the views. But the river still demands attention and focus. As distracting as the scenery may be, there is the possibility of danger in the water.

The mass of new scenery in American life is staggering. It is possible that as this is written, a million Americans are generating videos, and eventually there will be a million media channels to show them. The government of America once proceeded with a limited number of news items, occasionally outrageous, often important, but mostly plain. Now we seem to be at one outrage a day, or even an hour. The river is running, dangerous rapids ahead, but the passing scenery, beautiful or horrifying, is so alluring.

Focus Americans. Be attracted or disgusted if you must by the constantly changing news and content. The flow. But keep diligent and vigilant focus on what matters. Some who do not mean you or most of us well are depending on distraction, hoping that like a child or pet, you will be fascinated by whatever shiny object is dangled in front of you. Please focus.

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June 1, 2026

No Photos of Donald Trump Standing with or Hugging Republican Women Governors, Senators and House Members (2016)

This was originally posted a month before the 2016 presidential election. The point then was that Republican women officials would have trouble hugging or standing with Trump. When I look back now, I see the photo above and read the final line from the Trump campaign website, “these are very form fitting shirts”, and it resonates even more loudly ten years later. Practically screams and shouts.

This was supposed to be a post containing photos of Donald Trump hugging, or just standing with, Republican women Governors, Senators and House Members. The point is that these women will have to hug, or just stand with, Donald Trump if he becomes President, because he will be the leader of their party.

I can’t, however, because I was unable to find almost any such photos. Why do you think that is?

Note: The photo above is from the Trump campaign website. The page for these Women for Trump shirts includes this:

Please refer to Fitting Guide when ordering; these are very form fitting shirts.

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June 1, 2026

Ambient music: Hiroshi Yoshimura

Ambient music is characterized by atmospheric, textural soundscapes. Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) is credited with starting and naming the genre. He described ambient music as being able to “accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one.” Definitions are fuzzy, so adjacent genres—ambient, neoclassical, minimalist, New Age—may seem to blend and merge. Erik Satie called his own works “furniture music”, which doesn’t seem very different than airport music.

Hiroshi Yoshimura (1940 – 2003) is my current favorite. A Japanese artist, musician, composer and sound designer, his first album, Music for Nine Postcards (1982), came just a few years after Brian Eno, and Yoshimura is sometimes called the Brian Eno of Japan.

Below are a couple of tracks, Clouds and Blink, from Music for Nine Postcards.

Even if you are familiar with ambient music, you may not have heard/heard of Yoshimura. If you are not familiar with ambient music, convinced it is just some more of that New Age “stuff”, give it a try. One of my experiences is to walk among the songbirds, one ear on Yoshimura, one ear on the birds. Nice.

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May 30, 2026

19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump (2016)

I don’t know whether rerunning this post from ten years ago, a month before the 2016 presidential election, is funny. I ran it then because the Trump phenomenon was newly astonishing and frightening, and maybe funny. We didn’t know exactly what the future would be, but we might have guessed. One thing we now know is that he is still better than anyone about anything, according to him. As for fun, it appears for the moment that the fun’s over. It will be back.

Normally, I would quote a little bit of an article, and provide a link to the whole thing.

19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump by Aaron Blake at the Washington Post today is simply too amazing for that. So the link is above, but here it is in its entirety:

I understand the tax laws better than almost anyone, which is why I’m the one who can truly fix them,” Donald Trump claimed Monday in Colorado.

It is one of many issues on which Trump is one of the world’s foremost experts, according to Trump. In fact, you might say he’s the best at being a self-proclaimed expert.

Below is a list of the many things about which Trump says he knows more than just about anybody. Even for a guy who’s fond of hyperbole, it’s a lot to take in.

1) Renewables

“I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth.” — April 2016

2) Social media

“I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right?” — November 2015

3) Debt

“Nobody knows more about debt. I’m like the king. I love debt.” — May 2016

4) Taxes, again

“I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world. Nobody knows more about taxes.” — May 2016

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes
7:22 AM – 2 Oct 2016
15,459 15,459 Retweets 41,208 41,208 likes

“Nobody knows more about taxes than I do — and income than I do.” — May 2016

5) Banking

“Nobody knows banking better than I do” — February 2016

6) Wall Street bankers

MATT LAUER: You’re a guy who said you know the Wall Street bankers better than anyone.

TRUMP: Better than anyone.

— April 2016 on NBC’s “Today” show

7) Money

“I understand money better than anybody. I understand it far better than Hillary, and I’m way up on the economy when it comes to questions on the economy.” — June 2016

8) The U.S. system of government

“I think nobody knows the system better than I do.” — August 2016

“I am a person that used to be establishment when I’d give them hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when I decided to run, I became very anti-establishment, because I understand the system than anybody else.” — July 2016

“Nobody knows the system better than I do.” — April 2016

9) Campaign contributions

“I used to be, George, the fair-haired boy — you know, when I was a contributor. I know more about contributions than anybody.” — November 2015

10) Politicians

“Nobody knows politicians better than Donald Trump.” — February 2016 rally

11) Sen. Cory Booker

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.
10:14 PM – 25 Jul 2016
10,079 10,079 Retweets 34,725 34,725 likes

(We’re putting this on the list assuming that nobody ELSE knows more about Booker than Booker, which would make Trump the world’s foremost non-Cory Booker expert on Cory Booker.)

12) Trade

“Nobody knows more about trade than me.” — March 2016

13) Jobs

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I hope all workers demand that their @Teamsters reps endorse Donald J. Trump. Nobody knows jobs like I do! Don’t let them sell you out!
5:03 PM – 8 Jan 2016
2,170 2,170 Retweets 5,972 5,972 likes

14) Infrastructure

“Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump.” — July 2016

15) The military

“There’s nobody bigger or better at the military than I am.” — June 2015 Fox News interview

16) ISIS

“I know more about ISIS [the Islamic State militant group] than the generals do. Believe me.” — November 2015

17) Defense — and offense

“So a general gets on, sent obviously by Obama, and he said, ‘Mr. Trump doesn’t understand. He knows nothing about defense.’ I know more about offense and defense than they will ever understand, believe me. Believe me. Than they will ever understand. Than they will ever understand.” — July 2016

18) The ‘horror of nuclear’

“There is nobody who understands the horror of nuclear more than me.” — June 2016

19) The visa system

“Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me.” — March 2016

Aaron Blake
The Washington Post
October 4, 2016

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May 29, 2026

Will Trump reactivate the $10,000 bill with his portrait on it? (May 9) No, he will try to issue a new $250 bill with his portrait on it. (Today)

Three weeks ago I published the image above and the post below. It was not meant as a joke.

Joke’s on us. Trump is asking the Treasury to issue a $250 bill with his portrait on it, to celebrate America 250. The law does not allow the portrait of a living person to appear on currency, so Congress is being asked to change the law. (Or alternatively, the Treasury will simply break the law, since the president controls federal law enforcement, so who is going to arrest them?)

The lesson here, one we should have learned, is that Trump is totally predictable. Trump supporters praise Trump’s leadership style, saying it works because he is unpredictable. No. Maybe I got the denomination wrong, but the idea was right. As I said recently about Trump’s war strategies, he is not playing three-dimensional chess, he is playing zero-dimensional chess. You can see his craziness coming from a mile away. The American dilemma is what to do about it.

The U.S. $10,000 bill was discontinued in 1969 and was last printed in 1945.

This may be the year it is printed again. Will Trump order the Treasury to resume printing the $10,000 bill, this time with his portrait instead of Salmon P. Chase? Chase was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.

Stranger things have happened and are still happening.

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May 28, 2026

A Palestinian legend for a Palestinian moment: Poet Mahmoud Darwish

We have on this earth what makes life worth living:
a tyrant’s fear of songs.
Mahmoud Darwish – On This Earth

Israeli minister confirms goal of large-scale expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza
Human rights groups and lawyers say ‘voluntary migration’ policy amounts to ethnic cleansing
The Guardian, May 29, 2026

The news this morning about “cleansing” Gaza brought me back to poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), featured here a year ago.

“Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. A legend in Palestine, his lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren.”

From the start of this Israeli war on Gaza and its people, I have focused not just on the depraved indifference to Palestinian lives but also on the cultural decimation. Not long ago Trump threatened to end a civilization in Iran. While he hasn’t followed through yet on the threat, Israel appears to have no such compunctions in Gaza.

Mahmoud Darwish is one of the Palestinian cultural treasures. Fortunately, he is out of reach of current events. Fortunately, his poems cannot be destroyed by the most deadly weapons.

Following is just one poem. Please consider Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems or any of his poems, some of which are online.

Please also consider the vital message that “a tyrant’s fear of songs” does make life worth living.

On This Earth
By Mahmoud Darwish
Translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: April’s hesitation, the aroma of bread
at dawn, a woman’s point of view about men, the works of Aeschylus, the beginning
of love, grass on a stone, mothers living on a flute’s sigh and the invaders’ fear of memories.

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: the final days of September, a woman
keeping her apricots ripe after forty, the hour of sunlight in prison, a cloud reflecting a swarm
of creatures, the peoples’ applause for those who face death with a smile,
a tyrant’s fear of songs.

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this earth, the Lady of Earth,
mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called Palestine. Her name later became
Palestine. My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.

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May 27, 2026

Alternatives to the official America 250

UFC Octagon being built in front of the White House for America 250

Most Americans remain outraged and demoralized daily by the administration of the nation. If you are one who has grappled with these and other emotions, please do try to be of good mind and spirit.

One other response is that those Americans are simply exhausted. As the expression goes, what fresh hell will today bring? Pictures of the UFC Octagon being built in front of the White House fit that thought.

More is to come, especially as we draw closer to July 4, planned as a peak moment to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. America 250 has already been and will become a distortion of the history and of the values it represents. Among other things, at that historic moment 250 years ago, enlightened and oppressed people believed they could do better than living under a tyrant who cared nothing about them and everything about power and enriching himself and his friends. Because that sounds so familiar today, too close to home, we won’t hear anything about it in the official America 250.

Which is why, late as it is (so many responses to Trump are late and ineffective), we need alternatives to the official America 250. For just one example, we are going to be asked to sing both The Star Spangled Banner (official national anthem) and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. (unofficial national anthem). I can think of many other songs we should be singing together that tell the American story, and you can too. That’s just one example of an alternative possibility.

Think and talk about how 2026 can be turned into an accurate and positive celebration of America’s admittedly imperfect history—then do it. America began as a somewhat enlightened, somewhat self-serving attempt to throw off the chains of unenlightened rule. For the rest of this year, and for the rest of this administration, we will be facing powerful attempts to rewrite history. We have the power to correct that and to transcend the unenlightened. We have the power to pursue and create alternatives. Starting with America 250.

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May 25, 2026

Veterans in Congress: Senator Tammy Duckworth

It is Memorial Day, not Veterans Day, but there are never enough days to celebrate the sacrifice of our veterans.

In July 2020, Senator Tammy Duckworth was asked whether George Washington’s owning slaves should lead to taking down his statues. She said this question deserved a national dialogue.

Trump’s campaign responded:

“After saying she was open to tearing down statues of George Washington, Tammy Duckworth is now using her military service to deflect from her support for the left-wing campaign to villainize America’s founding. If she can’t defend George Washington, our first Commander-in-Chief, those of us who still respect our Founding Fathers’ immense sacrifice and think America is worth fighting for will hold her accountable for cowering to the far-left fascists in the Democrat Party.”

Trump talking about “immense sacrifice”, especially with respect to Senator Duckworth or any others who have served and sacrificed, including the ultimate sacrifice, is beneath comment. For those not familiar with the military career and the public service of Senator Duckworth:

Senator Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs who was among the first handful of Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Duckworth served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2014. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms.

In 2004, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard. On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. Senator Duckworth spent the next year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she quickly became an advocate for her fellow Soldiers.

One doesn’t have to have served in the military to honor those who have. Officials pretending to be patriots while ignoring the plight of veterans is nothing new in America, though the current administration seems to have perfected the strategy.

Thanks to all those who served in the military and in war, whether currently in government, public service or civilian life. More than mere lip service, they deserve the best we as a people can provide, and also deserve our respect. Claiming that Senator Duckworth was “cowering to the far-left fascists in the Democrat Party”, or that Senator Mark Kelly, another combat veteran—and an astronaut!—should be tried for treason and hanged is not a sign of respect for veterans or for selfless sacrifice. From some quarters that don’t seem to understand sacrifice, such respect would be far too much to expect.

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May 23, 2026

Young Trump arrives…in a flying saucer!

We look for answers that account for the most evidence. If the questions regarding Trump are “Huh? Wha?”, the answer is not what you and others might think.

While watching the classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), I saw a sign in the movie.

The sign reads “Hemispheric Defense Command”. In the movie, reports of flying saucers were investigated by the Hemispheric Defense Command. My mind raced. Hemispheric Defense. The Trump Doctrine. Flying saucers.

It’s true that the Epstein story remains one of the continuing coverups in Trump’s life. But what if there is something else that is hidden, something bigger, something that explains…everything.

If you had arrived on a flying saucer, wouldn’t you be sure you were smarter and better than any mere earthlings? Wouldn’t you often sound a little—or a lot—crazy to those earthlings?

He arrives as a child by flying saucer in Queens. He is adopted by a local family, the Trumps, just as Kal-el was adopted by the Kents. Just as Kal-el’s earth identity is Clark Kent, the child from the saucer becomes Donald Trump. Just as Kal-el/Clark is actually a superman, so the young Donald is a superman too.

This explains everything!

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May 22, 2026

Political Parties: Big Corporate Landscaping Companies vs Caring Gardeners

People deal differently with the gardens and landscaping around their houses.

Sometimes people tend the garden themselves.

Sometimes people hire big corporate landscaping companies to care for the garden, who then send out service people to make sure it is okay. The company is primarily interested in keeping you as one of their thousands of customers, and if it’s okay with you, it’s okay with them, and there is no problem.

Sometimes people hire just a single caring gardener, a craftsmen who may have come with the property, who has tended the same garden for years, and treats it as his own. As yours and his. Because, really, it is.

We’ve entrusted our political garden to two very big parties. It appears that many have now looked out the window or stepped out on the front porch, seen the sorry shape the garden is in, and said: Oh. My. God.

Consider this in the current political climate. It may be that a big corporate landscaping company can do a good job. But maybe you should consider some caring gardeners, who really will treat the garden as their own. As yours and theirs. Because, really, it is.

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