Friday’s Theme Music
Ashland, Oregon – Friday, February 27, 2026. Fifty degrees F outside, the sun is burning away some final blue and gray tendrils, delivering a summer blue sky. Today’s highs are expected to be kicking the upper sixties. I appreciate that weather for today, and the chance it gives us to be outside, in sunshine and fresh air. Plants are blooming and blossoming out there. The march toward spring seems to have begun.
The Mom front continues to be quiet. It’s a question of is this ‘no news is good news’, or the calm before the storm?
Not binary, it could be both. We want Mom to be as safe and comfortable as possible as her days wind down, but she’s fought us. She wants her independence and the home where she lived for the last thirty years plus. We all have tried hard. There’s not blame to spread so much as understanding of the multiple variables and facets.
So many news stories to read today. The news overall continues to trigger worries and growls. One story ends with me shaking my head.
Melania Trump chairing a UN Security Council meeting. I don’t know how symbolic this is, or cynic that I am, just more White House distractions from other events.
The meeting is about “Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict.” But how many children have been detained by Homeland Security via ICE and the Border Patrol? Before we go off to tell others what need to be done, why hasn’t — or why isn’t — Melania Trump doing more for children being detained and held in detention centers in the United States? If she was really concerned about children, wouldn’t she be front and center for taking care of them, rather than making a documentary about moving into the White House?
It’s another one of those places for me where the administration expresses concerns but then takes actions which seem completely contrary to their stated concerns. It’s like how Trump tells us he’s for freedom but then attacks others for criticizing him or making fun of him and demands they’re fired. Or how he thinks he knows more than history and economic experts about tariffs being the best way forward. There’s a body of incoherency about Trump and his processes that make me doubt and question every damn thing he does or says.
The Neurons supplied the morning mental music stream with “Over the Hills and Far Away” by Led Zeppelin. They got suckered in my thinking about what I know. The song contains the lyrics, “Many times I’ve lied, and many times I’ve listened. Many times I’ve wondered, how much there is to know.”
I hope you weather, your day, and your life all go well for you and your family. I’m going to start with a cup of coffee and build from there, reading more news, going on.
Cheers
Lies, Plots, and Obfuscation: Another Year of Trump
The Trump trajectory is pretty much what many of us anticipated, based on his first administration and what he’s often said.
Aggressively going after immigrants, which Trump and his administration always call ‘illegals’ and categorize as criminals, he has swept up U.S. citizens and children. Right now, a 9-year-old child in a detention center wishes she was dead. She’s been locked up for eight months. That’s Trump’s soulless, uncaring nation for you, Evangelicals and all.
Under Trump, ICE killed eight people in 2025-2026.
Affordability remains a huge problem. While promising tax breaks, Trump has done little to address increasing the housing supply, which is the basis for the high housing costs. It’s simple supply and demand.
Not for Trump. Trump instead blames ‘illegals’ for high housing prices. Experts counter with a much more nuanced responses which don’t mention immigrants, no matter what their legal status is. His policies miss the mark because his policies have nothing to do with the issue.
Trump tariffs did not lead to the lower prices he promised for Day One. He did claim credit for doing it:
“Grocery prices, energy prices, airfares, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all coming down, and they’re coming down fast,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech, adding: “We’ve done a hell of a job in 12 months.”
As usual, Trump failed, then lied. Egg prices have dropped but chicken, beef, and coffee prices are up, along with housing, cars, beer, and insurance premiums. We the People know if, if you’re not a MAGA. We feel it.
Trump’s trademark lying continues, aided now by White House officials. One is Johnny MAGA. Johnny MAGA appears to be Wade Garrett, who works in the Trump Administration. When ICE agent Jonathon Ross killed Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota earlier this year, Johnny MAGA rushed fake news out showing the U.S. flag burning, pushing a fake narrative to justify Good’s murder.
We anticipated that Trump would gut the Department of Justice and use it to persecute political opponents. That’s exactly what he’s been doing, going after people who were responsible for investigating Trump and his crimes, including more FBI agents this week.
In 2024, Trump said, “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.”
Now many speculate that Trump is hatching a ‘national emergency’ to stop elections in 2028.
Given who Trump is and his history, there is every reason to worry about the future of our elections.
The Writing Moment
One of my recurring interests is NFL football. I appreciate the athleticism and intelligence required, along with the strategy and tactics. Many games are played out in every down.
I found an article on ESPN today about advice rookies provide to the next generation of players joining the NFL ranks. As I read the advice and suggestions, many struck as something that writers — and people in other endeavors — can use to help themselves as they try to advance.
These resonated with me the most.
Never lose your confidence
‘Comparison is the thief of joy’
Take everything one day at a time
Stay patient
‘Listen to the vets’
‘Take care of your body’
I hope you can take the time to read the article. Maybe you’ll find some which help you keep moving forward.
Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music
Thursday, February 26, 2026. Today is 02262026, February’s final Thursday. Two more days and February of 2026 will be history.
Ashland finds itself encased in fog with temperatures ranging from 39 F to 45 and a high in the mid-fifties called for once again.
Texts regarding Mom were non-existent today. Some suggest this is the quiet before the next storm. I agree, that’s probably true. I think Mom will again try to return home, insisting that she can live without anyone else there. All we can do is wait and see at this point.
Results for my comprehensive metabolic panel and tests for Hep B came back with no abnormal findings or Hep B indicators, a major change from the last CMP, done right before my gallbladder was removed last November.
I met with friends for beers last night. Someone turned to the conversation to Iran and the U.S. military buildup. Specifically, it was asked, what are the odds that Trump will order bombing to being in the next 30 days?
Four broad suggestions emerged from the conversation.
- Trump will not ordering bombing Iran until right before the midterms to generate the most political capital.
- The U.S. forces are there as financial leverage for Jared Kushner’s dealings and will withdraw without bombings once Jared has a better deal.
- Bombing will probably commence in less than 30 days because Trump is impatient.
- It depends now on what happens with Cuba.
That last was in response to the recent news that Cuba shot and killed four Americans in a speedboat in Cuba’s territorial waters. Cuba said that the Americans fired first. Trump’s response will be interesting, as he tends to strike to get revenge for American deaths, doing so with a heavy hand.
For music, The Neurons plugged King Crimson into the morning mental music stream. I’m hearing “21st Century Schizoid Man”, a real callback to my youth. The song was released when I was a teenager. Its intensity captivated me, and that intensity feels owned today. I had a terrific writing/editing day yesterday — best since my oral surgery weeks earlier this month.
I last used this song seven years ago. One commented that they’d never heard of it; two others cited the group and album as a favorite but mentioned that they didn’t like this song.
I hope you have safe and productive Thursday and can groove toward the weekend with new hope.
Cheers
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.
Michael Seidel, writer 