I’m not a fan of these lists. I don’t think that the best place or the worst is the same for all of us. Too many variables are embedded in our experiences for such a monolithic list to be presented. This list addresses a specific situation; another list previously issued by CNBC had several of these states listed as one of the best places for business.
I still read these articles, though. I read this one somewhat gleefully because ‘red states’ in the Trump era are often espousing values that are opposite of mine.
Then, even more fun, I read the reactions.
‘Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called the ranking “nonsense” in a post on X.
‘“If Tennessee was really the worst state to live in people wouldn’t be moving there in large numbers, which they are,” DeSantis wrote.’
I researched and confirmed, Gen X and Millennials are moving to Tennessee in great numbers in 2026. The irony of it is that they’re going to Tennessee to work in the healthcare industry, but Tennessee is ranked very low for their healthcare system.
This is a fragile, short-term model for growth. Tennessee has an aging population. They need a lot of care; hence the growth in that industry.
But, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into bill by Donald Trump let ACA premium subsidies expire. That triggered an average premium increase of 32.6% for Tennessee Marketplace enrollees. That high increase is expected to drive up the number of uninsured people, placing a huge strain on Tennessee’s burgeoning healthcare industry.
We’re climbing through the 70s, on our way to 90 degrees F. Sunny. Blue sky. No clouds. Supposed to be different tomorrow, with a 55% chance of rain. We will see.
We took a moment at our house to talk about Sam Niell passing. We both enjoyed his work. I was just watching him in the television “Peaky Blinders” last night.
I’ve been following numerous stories in the press that analyze what Trump says and how much of it is a lie. It’s become like a hobby for me. It takes enormous time because Trump lies frequently.
Tax cuts and spending increases have pushed current spending. The nation is expected to borrow $2T to finance the debt in 2026.
Trump still believes in magic, though, claiming he will balance the budget without doing a thing. Your Trump Quote of the Day:
I file this Trump declaration with Trump’s many other declarations, lies, and broken promises, including the one about no new wars, releasing the Epstein files, and that other one about lowering inflation.
Today’s morning mental music stream is “Sweet Lies” by Fleetwood Mac. The Neurons inform that they are playing this song for me because Trump tells sweet little lies. MAGAts and Republicans faithfully nod, agreeing with his lies. Does that make them liars by proxy?
Hope your day comes free of lies and full of joy, peace, and security.
Wildfire smoke arrived last night. I couldn’t open us up to cool us down, so the house is warm and stuffy today.
The smoke is from a southern Oregon wildfire that’s a few miles away. The East Evans Creek Fire exploded on us two days ago. Rapidly expanded, it’s already caused some evacuations.
Meanwhile, down south, California has LA wildfires, and there are fires in Colorado and the Utah fires are still going. Besides the US, there are wildfires in Canada, Europe, Australia and South America burning.
Around here, it’s 71 and we’ll hit the low 90s F today. Cloudy but hot. Two days ago, they were telling us it we might get rain. That chance appears to have evaporated.
Big news, saving Trump from doing more under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is Lindsey Graham’s death.
A Trump supporter, Graham was all for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cut Medicare support, insisting that too much was going to insurance companies. But he never offered anything better, basically abandoning the need, letting everyone fend for themselves. With little surprise, Graham went along with Trump on the idea of health savings account, which disproportionately favor wealthy people. Results: we have more uninsured people in the US, part of the expanding problem of healthcare in the United States.
Trump also supported Trump’s Iran war, once saying that if the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t open, the US would ‘obliterate’ Iran.
Given his record, it would be a surprise if Graham was against Trump’s ballroom. He was not, and was one of the Senators willing to spend $400 million on the ballroom that Trump said would cost taxpayers nothing.
Other news is about Trump, of course. The Palm Beach International Airport has been renamed for Trump. It’s all ego for him. He likes to compare himself to the great Presidents. He is much like them in many ways, except he’s less intelligent, a liar, dishonest, thinned skin, not very educated, greedy and self-centered, and an egotist who thinks he’s a genius but struggles to speak in coherent sentences.
I feel sorry for those flying into Palm Beach International after the name change. In fact, I’d be worried; everything that gets Trump’s name attached to it begins failing and falling apart. Just look at his business and government record. As POTUS, Trump is a toddler running around breaking everything in reach.
Today’s song in the morning mental music stream is “Fire” by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Released in 1968, much of what people can hear is the repetition of “Fire!” But when you listen to the lyrics, they get pretty crazy:
Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, July 11, 2026.
65 and cloudy, it feels like a comfortable 72 outside. The temperature will rise into the high 80s today in our valley.
It seems to me like Trump has been losing mojo. Just IMO. Gas prices are rising — again, after a brief reprieve while a ceasefire was in effect — and the recession vibe remains strong. People keep talking about it and they’re not pleased.
Although Republicans ‘support’ the war with Iran, it’s not very popular. His objectives are all over the place, as is the timetable. Only the triple impacts of death, destruction, and costs are clear.
Hustling to keep power, Trump is trying distraction after distraction under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! This week, he rolled out the classic right-wing trope, ‘commies’.
Like many of Trump’s tactics, he’s going after emotional votes, and uses fear. Basic insights tell us that this shift is to attract anyone previously affected by communism, such as Cuban voters who escaped Castro. It’ll also speak directly to those cold war survivors who had the commie threat ingrained in them for decades.
Threat inflation, I believe it’s called, and it’s been used in politics forever, most recently when JD Vance and Trump made up stories about Haitians eating people’s pets.
Trump is hoping that the commie threat will distract us from the tangible and intangible expenses of his war with Iran. He also has his fingers crossed that it’ll be enough of a distraction to lower our concerns about the rising challenge of affordability in the US, extreme weather problems being fueled by climate change, his grifting, and the many other ways he’s broken promises and failed.
That emotional vibe is what keeps MAGAts riding the Trump bus.
Meanwhile, the rural hospital crises goes on. Measles outbreaks have already surpassed 2025’s total, and will get worse. Measles used to reflect the school-year cycle but now, as children attend summer camps, the spread of measles is no longer contained to the school systems as much as it was.
A new vision of Trumpland rises. The wealthy top five to ten percent enjoy life as poverty grows. People outside of the wealthy class increasingly struggle to keep up with needs — food, health, shelter, energy — or the house and health insurance to save them when things go wrong.
Emotional voters will vote for him because he says it like it is, because he speaks to their fears.Yes, that’s a little reductive; others will vote for him because ‘the Bible’ or ‘woke’. More will vote for him because ‘Merica, or ‘Republican’.
That’s what we face to bring sensible change back into the national conversation.
Today’s song came out in 1973. The ballad of the “Uneasy Rider” was by the Charlie Daniels Band — CDB. It tells the story of a long-haired person driving through the south back in the early 1970s when they have a flat tire.
While waiting for their tire to be fixed, the narrator takes refuge in a bar, where he hides his hair up under his hat. But circumstances arise when he must ‘tip his hat to a lady’. He does, revealing his long hippie hair.
Suddenly he’s nervous and in danger. In order to escape, he starts accusing one of the others of various things — playing on fears. Here’s the lyrics that tell the tale:
I bet you he’s even got a commie flag Tacked up on the wall inside of his garage” “He’s a snake in the grass, I tell you guys He may look dumb but that’s just a disguise He’s a mastermind in the ways of espionage”
It’s 70 F under bright sunshine this morning. A high of 90 is expected. Papi has already out to sleep through the heat in a comfortable space.
The Mitch McConnell pool remains open. Is he or isn’t he alive? He hasn’t been seen in public since June 14. People kept insisting they spoke with him but never offer proof. I suspect some mad scientist is probably trying to reanimate McConnell, or tech bros developing an AI version of him.
I can see the new Roberts Court ruling: “AI are people, too.”
Reminds me of an old nursery rhyme. “Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of a Republican. Be he live or be he dead, there’s not enough there to fit between my bread.”
My wife and I were talking last night about how things were before. It was mostly about our lives and bodies and their changes, but the conservation expanded in multiple directions.
One question that arose was, did we ever live in a golden age? Neither of us thought so. We used to work hard, budget money carefully, save. We were not extravagant people. Still aren’t. That kept us secure and safe. But we were young and healthy, with that glow that anything was possible.
We believed our society would keep moving forward and work closer together to solve what seems like insurmountable problems. Now, with Trump in the White House and most Republicans with their heads planted where the sun doesn’t shine, we have no faith that all the progress we thought had been made would continue.
She mimed gagging, choking, and puking in response. Her follow up was, “Only if you’re wealthy. But every era is a golden age if you have enough money.”
No matter how well some might be doing now, as Trump attacks programs that aid the impoverished and needy, I can’t ever think of this period as a golden age or golden years. Since Trump began his second term, overall prices have not fallen. Real wages have declined and economic growth has not accelerated. Manufacturing employment continues to decline and the national debt keeps growing.
To distract us from noticing this, Trump attacks others. Right now, Trump is attacking Iran — again — after declaring that conflict over.
I don’t see the evidence for a golden age. My wife and I are in a golden age in the sense that we don’t organize our lives around our employment schedules. That sort of freedom is golden, if you’re financially secure. That’s a big caveat in the US. As for the rest of life, this is not a golden age.
Which takes me to the music. Today we have David Bowie singing “Golden Years” in the morning mental music stream. Came out in 1975.
For me the lines which matter from this song are,
“Run for the shadows, run for the shadows
“Run for the shadows in these golden years.”
Yes, run for the shadows.
Golden years are supposed to be a time of prosperity, happiness, and satisfaction. We seem to have some distance to that goal right now.
My hope for you is you have a golden day — one of prosperity, happiness, and satisfaction.
I took a break from writing to walk around outside. As I went, I thought, gosh, I don’t see any deer. In the spring and winter, there’s often five to nine hanging around the cemetery. In the spring, I typically encounter three or four eating in a yard somewhere or crossing a street. Just the other day, when it was cooler, I found three young bucks in a yard, chilling in a plum tree’s shade. Today, nothing.
Then — across the street from the coffee shop is a house. And there, by the front steps, I saw my first deer of the day.
I offered a silent prayer to the world to help this little one have a good, healthy life while wondering where mama was, hoping she was near — which is what I suspect — and would soon return.
It’s a gentle reminder among the streets, politics, and technology, about how basic and beautiful life can be.
Trumpsanity continues to rage around the world. Trump orders attacks on Iran based on reasons he said before didn’t exist. Claims the war is not a war. It will be short — just as he said before. Just as he before said that the war was over when it started and has declared it over multiple times.
The aircraft was then heavily modified for royal use. That’s probably what Trump is talking about: all those luxury accoutrements.
Yet, luxury is not what the ultimate aircraft for We the People is all about. Air Force One was made to be safe and secure, not luxurious. Bowing to that, Trump ditched Qatari One, reverting to the old aircraft due to security. If Trump had the balls of steel he’s always making himself out to have, he would have said, “Damn the danger,” and stayed with Qatari One. He didn’t, because he remains a coward.
Struggling with declining popularity and growing problems, Trump wheeled out more distractions via Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
That doesn’t change anything. The Epstein files are still out there, waiting to be released and fully expose Trump. The economy is still groaning and flailing from the Trump tariffs and rising prices due to the Trump war.
Some excellent posts are out there to help cope with the Trumpsanity.
Annie Asks summarized our political mess and candor in politics in her post, Mitch McConnell, Graham Platner, and Candor in American Politics. Schroedinger’s McConnell — both alive and dead until we see his corporeal vessel — has been generating a lot of press, along with what’s happening with Graham Platner and others running for our nation’s highest offices. It’s a good read to help filter the noise.
Jill Dennison shares John Pavlovitz’s column about Graham Platner, reminding us as Democrats and Progressives in what we don’t want in our candidates in MISSING: Humanity | Filosofa’s Word
Pavlovitz finished his comments:
As the Democrats scramble to choose his replacement and try to salvage a victory in Maine, progressives, liberals, and moderates who are crestfallen today need to remember that in the loftier spaces that transcend politics, this is still a win.
Choosing not to align with indecency always is.
I agree with him. Likewise, choosing not to align with Trumpsanity is a step forward to a better world.
