Excerpts from last weeks’ political news

+ CNBC: Most Trump tariffs ruled illegal by appeals court, dealing major blow to trade policy

+ NBC News: Trump’s tariff push overstepped presidential powers, appeals court says – A panel of 11 judges ruled 7-to-4 that the president’s tariffs were illegal but said they could stay in place as the case proceeds.

+ CNBC: Core inflation rose to 2.9% in July, highest since February

+ CNBC: Trump administration cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects

+ The Mirror US: Psychologists reveal Trump showing ‘dead ringer’ symptom of horror disease getting ‘worse and worse’

+ MSNBC: Trump’s lies about his approval ratings are more pernicious than they seem – Trump fabricates a popular mandate to justify his subversion of democracy.

+ Veteran Life: VA moves to limit abortion access: What veterans and spouses need to know

+ NPR: Smithsonian artists and scholars respond to White House list of objectionable art

+ Fortune: A third of the U.S. economy is already in a recession or at high risk, and another third is stagnating, Zandi warns

+ MSN: Wall Street Journal Flags Donald Trump Risk ‘Turning Out To Be Worse Than We Imagined’

+ MSN: Bad things will happen’: Trump ramping up threats against anyone who disagrees with him

+ Washington Post: FEMA staff warn Trump officials’ actions risk a Katrina-level disaster

+ Truthout: FEMA Suspends Staff Who Warned Trump Cuts Risk Another Katrina-Level Disaster – The administration is illegally retaliating against federal employees for whistleblowing, one advocate said.

+ Washington Post: National Guard troops deployed in D.C. add sanitation, landscaping duties

+ Rep. Delia Ramirez: Trump has a plan to control my constituents. There’s just one thing he didn’t bargain for.

+ MSNBC: [Gov.] JB Pritzker gives an explicit warning to any troops Trump might send to Chicago

+ UPI via yahoo!news: Judge blocks expedited deportation of migrants without due process

+ Nextshark via yahoo!news: Former Japanese American WWII camp is now the country’s largest immigration detention center

+ Washington Post: U.S. Transportation Department plans to take over D.C.’s Union Station

+ BBC News: Greenland: Denmark summons top US diplomat over alleged influence operation

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+ Daily Kos: The Unraveling: Trump’s Health Scares and Mortality Panic Signal Dangerous Endgame
excerpt:

The Psychological Meltdown
More telling than the physical symptoms are Trump’s recent existential confessions. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well,” he told Fox News. This from a man who once bragged about being “the healthiest president that’s ever lived.”

The shift is stark. Trump’s suddenly fixated on legacy, mortality, and divine judgment—classic signs of what psychologists call “narcissistic mortification.” When malignant narcissists face their own fragility, they don’t fade quietly. They escalate exponentially.

The Science Behind the Breakdown
Research consistently shows Trump exhibits textbook narcissistic personality disorder traits: grandiosity, lack of empathy, exploitation of others, and desperate need for admiration. But when narcissists confront mortality—the one thing they can’t control, sue, or bribe their way out of—the psychological impact is devastating.

Over 200 mental health professionals have publicly stated Trump exhibits “malignant narcissism” and poses a danger to public safety. The pattern is clear: chest pain, burning sensations, panic, obsessive thoughts, and desperate attempts to project control.

Why This Makes Him More Dangerous
A collapsing narcissist doesn’t calm down—they become increasingly volatile, reckless, and destructive. Trump can’t escape death through litigation or manipulation, so he’s lashing out at everything else. The 2AM meltdowns, the dictator fantasies, the increasingly unhinged statements—these aren’t strategic moves. They’re symptoms of psychological disintegration.

His inner circle knows it. That’s why they’re sprinting to consolidate power before Trump’s decline makes it impossible. When desperate men feel humiliated and terrified, they don’t go quietly. They try to burn everything down.

+ Update September 5, 2025: The Olympian: Trader Joe’s confirms new Lacey store

Click here for details from Trader Joe’s.

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Is Trader Joe’s, which already has a store in west Olympia, coming to Lacey?

Excerpt from The Olympian:

It appears that it is, according to Washington state Department of Revenue data, which shows a business license for a new store on Sleater Kinney Road Southeast.

The location is a former Rite Aid — one of five stores in the county that recently closed because of two separate bankruptcy filings — at 691 Sleater Kinney Road SE.

The Olympian reached out to Trader Joe’s through its corporate website — media are asked to fill out a form and submit it — but did not receive a response.

However, this might be the worst kept secret in the area because for weeks social media, including the site Next Door, has been buzzing with rumors about the new store.

Pasedo’s Safe Haven animal sanctuary needs donations for care of 99 birds recused from Yelm cockfighting bust!

From Pasedo’s Safe Haven:

+ Joyce Vance on substack: Revisiting America’s Dark History of Internment

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‘Terrible place’: WA activist shares his story of 4 months in ICE detention

Excerpt from The Bellingham Herald via yahoo!news:

Editor’s note: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained farmworker and labor activist Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, 25, of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., on March 25 in Whatcom County. He was temporarily held at an ICE detention center at nearby Ferndale, Wash., before being transferred to the privately-operated Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

Juarez Zeferino moved with his family from Mexico to California as a child. He moved to northwest Washington at age 12, when he began working the fields in Whatcom and Skagit counties. The reason for Juarez Zeferino’s arrest appears to be based on his failure to appear in court in 2017 for an immigration-related hearing. Juarez Zeferino says he didn’t appear because he was never notified of the hearing.

Juarez Zeferino remained at the Tacoma facility for almost four months before ultimately deciding to request voluntary departure. A judge granted his request July 14, and he has since returned to Mexico.

Media access to Juarez Zeferino was extremely limited during his detention. The Bellingham Herald recently invited him to tell his story, and he agreed to an interview. He spoke with us for about 90 minutes via Zoom on Aug. 11. The following is a retelling of his account of the last five months. This article also is available in Spanish, and we’ve published transcripts of our full interview with Juarez Zeferino in English and Spanish.

Click here for the English transcript.

Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad Christmas tickets for sale September 1st

Update about the bridge fire:

Our main line between Elbe and Mineral, and Elbe to New Reliance, is unaffected. All planned excursions and rides are running as scheduled. This bridge was part of our future expansion—but its loss is a heavy blow to our plans for restoring freight service and extending to Morton.

Recent 5-day streak of 90+ degree days breaks two records

From Wunderground:

August 22: the 1st day of 90 degree weather reached 90 degrees, yet did not break the 91 degree record.

August 23: the 2nd day of 90 degree weather reached 92 degrees and broke the 90 degree record.

August 24: the 3rd day of 90 degree weather reached 95 degrees and broke the 94 degree record.

August 25: the 4th day of 90 degree weather reached 90 degrees, yet did not break the 91 degree record.

August 26: the 5th day of 90 degree weather reached 90 degrees, yet did not break the 95 degree record.

Olympia Harbor Days

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2025  5:00 PM – 9:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2025  10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2025 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

At the Budd Inlet waterfront in Olympia.

Click here for more information.

A south sound maritime heritage association event Winner of the Best South Puget Sound Event of 2022 by the Washington Festivals and Events Association, Winner of the Best Festival by South Sound Magazine 2023 Best Of Awards, and Winner of the Best Heritage Event by Showcase Magazine 2025.

The Olympia Harbor Days Festival, a free event offered every Labor Day Weekend, is an award winning free and family friendly event that showcases many of the vintage tugboats of the Puget Sound with a walk aboard show at the docks and races in the bay. Visitors to the event may also find tall ships, steamships, other historic vessels of twentieth century commerce, tribal canoes, and current recreational small watercraft. Harbor cruises on Budd Bay are also offered.

On land, festival attendees enjoy great food, great music, great artisans, plus nautical and marine themed attractions, and hands on activities, including Olympia’s tugboat heritage, tribal history and the working waterfront with Port of Olympia tours. All in all, here are over 300 things to do and see.

Bring your kids to this family-friendly maritime celebration and fuel their dreams of working on the water and sailing the world when they grow up. Olympia Harbor Days Festival also includes locally hand built small watercraft, tribal cultural sharings, sand carving, a LEGO Harbor Build, and dancing pirates just to name a few. The location at Percival Landing is a well-known Pacific Northwest maritime landmark located in downtown Olympia, the WA state Capitol, and is the southern-most tip of the Puget Sound, a destination for many who travel by boat. Hotels, shops, gallery’s, a children’s museum, restaurants, and bars featuring locally brewed beers, wines and distillery products are all within walking distance of the event.

• Editor’s note: The nation’s capital now has armed military troops doing domestic policing for which they have no training.
• Need a refresher on the Kent State Shootings? “The Kent State shootings were the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio, United States. The shootings took place on May 4, 1970, during a rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces, as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus and the draft, quoting Wikipedia.
• Joyce Vance substack: What You Need To Know About Trump’s Power To Deploy The National Guard

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The pistols and powerful rifles guard members carry are similar to those local police use across the country.

Troops have been told to use their weapons only as a last resort.

Excerpt from NBC News:

The majority of the more than 2,300 National Guard troops deployed in Washington to support law enforcement began carrying weapons this weekend. But as in other such National Guard deployments, the troops have been told to use their M17 pistols and powerful M4 rifles only for self-defense or as a last resort, two Defense Department officials told NBC News.

Under the rules of engagement, deadly force is authorized only “upon reasonable belief of an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm,” one of the defense officials said. And a bad actor must have the “ability and opportunity” to put a guard member in jeopardy or inflict serious bodily harm. The focus for the guard members, the official added, is to defend themselves or other people.

Armed guard members will carry the type of weapon they are normally issued and trained on, typically M17 handguns and M4 semiautomatic rifles, similar to assault-style rifles, the Defense Department officials said. Some guard members will carry M9 pistols.

The military weapons are similar to those used by local police departments across the United States. The M4 is a standard semiautomatic rifle and has roughly the same capabilities as semiautomatic rifles used by law enforcement agencies.

The M17 handgun is essentially the same as the Sig Sauer P320 pistol, the type of semiautomatic pistol that police across the country have used for years. Police in Washington use semiautomatic handguns and rifles, as well.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County Offers Before- and After-School Care Opportunities Filled With Fun

Chase away the back-to-school blues with fun youth programs

Excerpt from Thurston Talk:

Do you dread the start of school? Suddenly, you need to juggle getting the kids to school with your job and often the timing does not match up. You worry about your kid getting enough social time while not foregoing their studies. And when they need a place to hang out before or after school, you wonder if the right role models are there. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County (BGCTC) provides youth programs, before- and after-school, that will engage your child or teen and provide you peace of mind in the midst of your busy schedule.

“Coming to the Club gets me out of the house and I get to connect to other kids my age,” shares a 14-year-old Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County member.

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Get Your Child Signed up to be a Club Member

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County has nine locations in Tumwater, Lacey, Olympia, Rochester, Tenino and Yelm to serve youth! You can find the membership forms, program guides, parent handbook and more on the BGCTC website.

Accessibility is a key part of the BGCTC mission. “While we keep our fees as low as possible to give as many kids and teens access to the Clubs, there are families who need financial assistance to make Club participation a reality,” shares Shellica. Financial assistance comes in the way of fee waiver scholarships. Scholarships are awarded based on the HUD income guidelines.

“We also work with school districts to support youth who are experiencing housing insecurity. In these instances, full fee waivers are offered,” adds Shellica.

Call the location of the Club you would like to join for information and help with resources.

Explore the Northwest by Train This Fall

Excerpt from Amtrak: