In the military again. Young. Off again on some special assignment.
First, I was trying to get there. Mom – the young woman of memory – gave a huge smile and a wave and told me, good luck, I’ll see you later. I was surprised and pleased that she was there to see me off.
A group of us were traveling together. We were each taking our own gear with us. Some of them had lost their gear.
I realized, they put it down in a marshy, muddy area, and their stuff sank. As they moaned and groaned, I told them, I know exactly where it sank, and showed them where to dig. They did and quickly recovered it.
We arrived where we were supposed to be. Outdoors, it was a strange setup: a large semi-circle of people seated at tables. Men and women. Seemed to be civilians, and older. It had been heavily raining and brooding clouds kept it dark.
Parallel and behind the semi-circle of people were our lockers where we were to stow our gear. We were being called out in units. I’d been fully prepared but now – damn it, I couldn’t find some of my gear. I also discovered, and then recalled, oh, yes, “I need to order a new phone.”
A little panicked, I was scrambling to get the right gear. Like, how the hell did that happen?
I noticed many others were in the same mode, alleviating some of my worries. I then managed to find the needed gear except –
Underwear. Where the hell was my underwear?
I knew I packed it but I couldn’t find it, and everything was getting muddy.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, August 7, 2026.
Sunshine rules but smoke threatens. We’re still safe, knock on wood. Our hearts go out to the many, many, many others — animals, people, land — enduring fires and its impacts.
Hit 102.7 at our house yesterday. Project to hit the same today. It’s 80 F right now.
It’s my anniversary with my wife today. 51 years. Some were rocky but we’re still here, growing old together.
Meanwhile, Trump’s economy, now in its second year, continues flailing. The Jobs Report comes on the heels of the report that showed that the economy’s growth is anemic. What happened to all those manufacturing jobs Trump promised?
Paul Krugman again helped me understand what the July Jobs Report means.
“The surprise fall in employment — 23,000 jobs lost, when the consensus forecast was for around 80,000 gained — made headlines. As always, it’s important to realize that monthly jobs numbers are noisy, so you shouldn’t overreact to one report. However, this report also revised data for several earlier months down, so the broader picture of job growth in Trump’s “golden age” is significantly worse than it seemed.“
Krugman also shares this graph from Haver Analytics.
Krugman has often talked about a recession vibe. That comes about when everyone talks about how bad the economy ‘feels’ versus what the data shows. The intersection of gas prices what won’t come down, a terrible job market — as show in the Jobs Report and in jobseekers’ perceptions of what the job market is like — and slow growth is what gives us this vibe.
Trump will probably respond with claims of fake news, or attempt to blame Presidents Obama or Biden, or the Democrats. It’s always someone else’s fault when things go wrong, although he’s always hungry to try to claim glory and success.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
We need to keep repeating this:Trump doesn’t think about anybody except himself. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself. This economy, Trump’s growing wealth, and Trump’s war with Iran is what you get when you vote for Trump and the GOP that enables him.
“Beds Are Burning” are in my morning mental music stream again. This is a 1987 Midnight Oil song. The Australian group’s song is in there because there’s been so — much — fire — this year, around the world. Record disasters. With Trump’s reactive policies, this will get worse. A super El Nino is already forecast for this coming winter in the northern hemisphere. With fires burning so much of the woods and vegetation and a wet super El Nino in the works, the potential for devastating flooding is enormous.
The other reason that “Beds Are Burning” is today’s song is because of the Trump economy. It’s also burning; more money is being poured into the Defense budget and weapons. But Trump and Hegseth are burning through them. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to fund battleships and Arctic ships. It’s surreal as hell. The economy and world is burning, and he’s wasting money not on helping the people, but on building armies to attack others.
I hope you have a safe and healthy day, and it precedes a long string of such days for you.
Several interesting Trump developments caught my wandering eye this morning. He’s losing more and more, and getting angrier and more desperate about it. He’s also denying that it’s because He. Is. The. Problem.
The BBC’s attorneys note the result of Trump’s latest move:
“In fact, claiming $10 billion in harm while purporting to disclaim damage to Plaintiff’s business and professional interests renders it all the more implausible that Plaintiff will ever be able to show such damages.”
That’s pretty much Trump: wanting something for nothing.
Trump’s warning is funny is so many hilarious ways. Trump claims he’s so popular and this is a ‘golden age‘. Well, for who, then, if he’s worried about being ‘the last Republican president’.
BTW, given how terrible it’s been under Trump — and getting worse — Republicans deserve not to have another POTUS. Trump was the best they could do? Sure, he tricked many voters, as they found out. He lied and made promises. They’ve awakened to that.
But others, like Mike Johnson, JD Vance, Pompeo, Cruz, will march right in line behind Trump, singing this same warning. It’ll become part of the fear chorus — Commies! Red Menace! Iran! Woke! Woe is Trump!
Elevating his insults to the nursery school level, Trump dismisses Democrats as dumocrats. Yet Trump is worrying about losing to the Democrats. Well, if they’re dumb and they’re winning and he’s not, what does that make him?
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Yes, voters are mad at ‘Republicans’ but they’re not mad at Trump. *sure* Trump is confusing his base with We the People.
Trump’s base swallows almost every line and asks for more. Meanwhile, We the People are very pissed at Trump. He’s started a war with Iran, he’s blowing through the treasury coating things with gold and firing missiles, all while prices keep going up and the economy worsens.
Michael Seidel, writer 