So Far Over the Edge

First, Trump used his magic Sharpie to redraw an official U.S. Weather Service map and claim it was the new path of Hurricane Dorian. That was in 2019 when Trump's insanity and dementia weren't acknowledged by too many people.

And so, five years passed and Trump got reelected. But nature and health have a way of keeping up with the times.

As a result, on the day of his Inauguration for this term, in January, 2025, it was Trump next claiming that he was renaming the Gulf of Mexico to be the "Gulf of America."

And then only a few weeks ago, Trump ratcheted up his lunatic sense of false-empowerment and claimed he was renaming one of the Great Lakes -- thinking that Lake Ontario was named after the Canadian province, but it's the other way around (the lake being named in the 1600s from an Iroquois word, the province in 1867) -- and would magically make it "Lake America".

Just the other day, as his sanity faded more, Trump got attention for posting a map of the state of New Mexico, on which he crossed out the state's name (apparently with his magic Sharpie again) and wrote in "New America." Though very soon after he released a cleaned-up version of the state map, this one having no cross-outs so that it could glow in all of its neurotic "New America" glory.

But even at that subterranean bar, he's sunk lower, as only Trump can. And on Labor Day, Trump released a new map. No words are necessary to add -- other than, "This is not a joke, it's real."

I was going to say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But only one word is really necessary. Dementia.

By the way, lest anyone try to suggest otherwise, no, it's not a Trump joke. It's a pattern. And it's dangerous.

And as his pattern has confirmed over the years, dementia actually is degenerative.

I'm tempted to leave it at that, because the graphic from Trump really does say it all. But I think one important thing must be added, which I've noted before --

This is not about Trump, we know who he is (especially now that he only has a 32% approval), and know he can't help himself and has no one willing to say no and get him help. This is about the elected MAGOP in Congress who have long enabled him, protected him, supported him and passed the bills into law. And furthermore, they have long known psychologists are right about Trump having dementia and being a malignant narcissist because they've seen him in private. And still enabled him. And will enable and support him now, even after this delusional, infantile, megalomaniacal act. This is not normal. And MAGOPs are okay with it. This is about them. Also, the nation of Iceland is not part of Canada. Nor is Greenland, which is part of Denmark. Both islands of which Trump included in his fevered fantasy.

The only good thing here is that he didn't call his map Trumplandia.

Labor of Love: the finale

We end our honoring Labor Day with another little-known song about unions and labor, but one that is not from a musical.  And while it's little-known today (bordering on unknown...), it was very well known in its day.  Which in this case is 1981.  (There was an earlier version a few years before, in 1978.)

It's a TV commercial for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

"Quaint" and "endearing" may be the best way to describe it, but impactful, as well.  The fact that they actually made a second version is testament to that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7VUklDlQw

Oh, okay, we have to have an encore. Because it's this. Pete Seeger performing the famous song by Woody Guthrie, "Union Maid." And yes, you may not know that's its name, but you know it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt2BkSjRZmM

Labor of Love: the trilogy

We continue our Labor Day Fest, with another little-known song about labor from a musical.  This one, though, isn’t from a Broadway musical, but rather one on the West End, and isn’t just little-known here, but almost unknown.  However, its source material may not be.

It’s the 2014 musical, Made in Dagenham, which is based on the 2010 movie of the same name.  The film, which was a dramatic comedy, had a very impressive cast – Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike, Andrea Riseborough and Richard Schiff, among others. 

The stage musical adaptation had a notable cast, as well, in its own well, starring Gemma Arterton, known for her movie roles in such films as Quantum of Solace, The King’s Man, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and Clash of the Titans, as well as the recent BBC-PBS mini-series, Funny Woman, and on stage in Saint Joan for the National Theatre. 

The musical and film are based on the true story in 1968 of the first strike ever by women that started the British women’s labor movement.  It began when 187 women at the Ford auto plant of 55,000 men in Dagenham, England, learned that their work as sewing machinists making car seat covers had been downgraded to “unskilled,” and so their pay accordingly cut at the factory.  The women went on a small strike, but the strike gained support and grew, and further, without seats, the cars couldn’t be built, and the strike became a landmark moment in the labor relations.  In the end, it led to England’s Equal Pay Act of 1970. 

The musical got mixed, though generally positive reviews.  It didn't run long, but did play for six months.  The show has music by David Arnold, lyrics by Richard Thomas.  This is the number, “Everybody Out,” performed on a TV charity fundraising benefit for Children in Need.

(SIDE NOTE: One thing I like in the video is how at the end, when the hosts come on stage, they focus -- understandably -- on Gemma Arterton, but she keeps doing her best to draw in attention on the full company.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53xQ_eMwgc