A Snow Dream
I dreamed I was in part of a square complex where the center was an open court. I was on the fourth or fifth level looking out. There was a balcony that looked over the inner courtyard. Heavy snow was falling. I discovered when I went out on the balcony, a small box existed. In it at one point were my keys. In another time, there was a folded note. I unfolded it and read it but don’t remember what it says. I remember complaining (I think to myself) that a mistake was being made, that those messages weren’t going to get through because of the snow, but also the location. You’d need to know to look there.
The snow itself amazed me. It was so thick, covering everything in layers. I don’t remember the snow actually falling, just building up, white and pure.
False, Exaggerated, Over the Top: Trump’s State of the Union
Donald Trump gave his State of the Union address last night. A political speech, much of it reminded me of one of his campaign rallies. He went on for a while, setting a new record for these things. While he applauded the hockey team, Trump ignored the Epstein victims in the gallery.
Walking away and thinking about Trump’s speech, it strikes me that the speech was heavily geared toward his base and low-information voters. He made sweeping claims and avoided talking about uncomfortable things like the Epstein files, the ICE killings, or the growing measles outbreaks. Trump insists everything is becoming more affordable and we’re in a ‘golden age’.
I don’t see that, and neither do many of my fellow citizens. Although a consumer confidence report showed a slight increase just before Trump’s speech, As AP points out, many components of the index reflect pessimism.
A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market rose four points to 72, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 13th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.
The NYT approached seven people about Trump’s speech. Two Trump supporters were happy. One said she was happy that he mentioned ending wars, housing costs and his “no tax on tips.”
Trump’s comments about housing costs were about both lowering mortgages to make housing more affordable while hoping housing prices keep going up. Neither actually address the problem of supply. In fact, if housing is more affordable, than with a limited supply, prices will keep climbing, making housing less affordable — especially if mortgages drop, bringing more people into the realm of being a homeowner.
That voter also didn’t specify what wars Trump ended. Trump has been making that claim for months, but facts don’t support his assertions.
Also, the “no tax on tips” is a broad claim. While the bill reduced taxes on tips, there’s a threshold, and the tax break doesn’t apply across the board. Nor does it exempt tips from other existing taxes.
Another voter claimed that Trump ‘brought the receipts’ and gave the speech ‘an A’. In fact, these were more Trump claims — not receipts.
The other five were not impressed. One said Trump sounded dictatorial because Trump said he’d do everything without Congress. Another respondent felt attacked. Others called it ‘one-sided’, ‘ridiculous’, and went into ‘both side-ism’.
Bottom line for Trump: five out of seven voters does not share his view that everything is going great.
Certainly, from my point of view as a child who endured polluted skies and water, everything is not great.
On Mom
If I come and visit
Will you know my face
Will you talk to me
Like your son
Or lace your words with hate
Will your texts ever change
From anger and demands
Will you stand and hug me
As you kiss my head
Can we sit and laugh
Remembering what we ate
Playing games of Tripoli
Hoping for a good hand
Or will you stare
Not speaking
Leaving me
In silence
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Ashland, Oregon — Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Rainy, 46 F, the day is calm, shiny wet, and gray with a forecast high of 55 F.
Family text messages were almost nonexistent, except for one from sis. Mom has signed the paperwork to remain in the assisted living center for March. Her money is running out, though, so this is another stage of development. Now we wait to see what will unfold.
After checking in on Mom and my sisters, I read Trump’s State of the Union. Trump went into sales mode, framing some facts as being historically great. Chances are, when checked against actual documentation, the claims won’t hold. In a way, this is like radio or television ads making great claims about their product or service but then adds some very fast speech and texts about warnings and exceptions. Trump left the warnings off, though.
I didn’t listen to Trump’s speech. Reading the transcript is draining. He makes such gross exaggerations, grabbing credit when he is due none. Like the Olympic games coming to the United States. Other people worked hard, long hours to make the games come to Los Angeles, and a committee selected LA. Trump glosses over their work as though those individuals did nothing, that it was all due to him.
In the end, it was a typical Trump speech of selling how great everything is, how wonderful he is, how terrible Democrats are. Inside his bubble, he probably thinks it’s all true. His base will respond and love it. Military force, USA, USA! And that Biden! But I’m sure more FAFO is on the way for them.
All this ended up with U2 singing “One” in the morning mental music stream. The Neurons began with the opening lyrics:
Lyrics
Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame?
[Bridge]
You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on to what you got
When all you got is hurt
Let’s hope that we come together to build something better for all of us, where we can co-exist with other views without thinking of them as an enemy. In other words, a place with peace and grace.
Michael Seidel, writer 