My wife and I share it; she begins, getting bingo if available, and finding all the pangrams she can. Today there was only one.
Meanwhile, I like to keep adding words until we reach a ‘genius’ rating. Like, yeah, recalling or recognizing all those words from the seven letters available doesn’t make us a genius. Just a fun activity.
Today’s seven letters were R V O N E L P. V was in the center, which means it must be used. As I was going through the words, I put in PORVEL.
That wasn’t in the word list.
That surprised me; I’m sure PORVEL is a word. It means ‘poor novel’. Seriously.
I checked the net to verify the word, but the searches only came up with Porvel cheese.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
August is moving on slow as molasses for me. I’m okay with that.
The claim is that it’ll be 96 F today. Forecasts yesterday said we’d hit 95 but we were four short of that. It’s 68 outside with high clouds clotting across the blue sky.
Our fingers are crossed that Mom’s house will finally close today. The buyers are using a grant to buy. The involved realtors say that the grant review and approval process has significantly slowed this year. It’s a federal program. A large part of me wonders if the Trump administration with its personnel cutbacks is responsible.
I’m not going to go into news and politics much on this post today. Writing a separate post on them.
I’m dedicating this instead to ZZ Top and Frank Beard. ZZ Top is an American rock band which had a heavy blues influence in its early years. They were a trio: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. I started listening to them in high school. Saw them in concert a few times. Now only Billy Gibbons, lead vocalist, guitar, and song writer remains as Frank Beard, 77, joined Dusty Hill in that big gig in the otherworld.
I basically divide ZZ Top’s sound into two eras. In their early years was that blues sound. Multiple favorite songs hang with me from that period. For today, I’ll go with “La Grange” and “Jesus Left Chicago”.
The second period moved ZZ Top more into commercial mainstream pop. They became phenomenally successful. My preferred sound from that era was “Sharp Dressed Man”, which my wife and I liked to sing as ‘short, fat man’.
So here we go, into the morning mental music stream. May your day be blessed with happy memories of good music and good times, and optimism for our future.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
We’re back from the coast. Cool there — usually in the 60s. Yesterday made it to the 90s F after our return; we expect more of the same, with the temperature reaching the mid 90s today. Right now, still feels like the coast, minus that fresh air scent. 65 F but already feels like 71.
Mom’s house will close tomorrow. Maybe. I hope; the delays are ratcheting up everyone’s nerves. We’re on edge because if it doesn’t sell, here we go again. I also feel for the people waiting to buy. I imagine what they’re going through. Mom is sad about losing her home, and I understand that, but I’m looking at the flip side, of the people who thought, here is the answer we’ve been seeking.
Getting back into the normal groove. Making a list of things to do around the house. Must replace my wife’s lost phone. That’s job 1.
Meanwhile, though, get caught back up on the news. What is Trump up to now?
Having wrecked the White House east wing and paved over the historic Rose Garden, Trump is destroying the south lawn. Already looking bad due to his various ‘functions’ on it — which of course, he blames on vandals, now becoming one of his favorite old man words — he’s going to ‘fix it’.
I already cringe at the idea that Trump will try to fix something else. Look how he ‘fixed’ the Oval House, plastering gold all over. Recall how Trump fixed the economy: the number of the employed is falling, the national debt is rising, and the affordability crisis is spreading like an unchecked tumor.
Look how Trump ‘fixed’ Iran, by bombing it to the point that the US’s munitions were seriously depleted. Look how Trump fixed the navy (exhibit number 1: USS Abraham Lincoln, or the USS Benford) and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Someone captured Heather Cox Richardson’s conclusions about our current state in a graphic.
As with everything else Trump, there is no evidence to his delusional claims. It’s just more Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!, more squirming to avoid the truth and facts, and more scheming to gain and keep wealth and power for himself.
As an aside, what’s the latest on Mitch McConnell? Back from the dead yet? How ’bout the Epstein files? Trump fulfill that promise yet?
After that thinking, the morning mental music stream occupant is by Four Non-Blondes. I was talking about this song the other night. The Neurons made a note. When I said to myself, coffee in hand, “Okay, let’s see what’s up,” the song “What’s Up” began playing.
It’s a good song for the times.
Sample Lyrics
And I try, oh, my God, do I try? I try all the time, in this institution And I pray, oh, my God, do I pray? I pray every single day for revolution
And so I cry sometimes when I’m lying in bed Just to get it all out, what’s in my head And I, I am feeling a little peculiar And so, I wake in the morning and I step outside And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream from the top of my lungs, “What’s going on?”
And I say, hey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said, “Hey, what’s going on?” And I say, hey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said, “Hey, a-what’s going on?”
Now off to write.
I hope your day is complete with peace, grace, good foods, and good weather.
Bandon, southern Oregon coast. It’s overcast here, chilly, a mere 60 F. A sea breeze takes the feel of that down a few degrees. Whatever the temperature, I love the fresh sea smell here.
We’re heading back home to see if Papi missed us. A wary orange boi, he’s always reserved in his opinions.
Sickening and repugnant how Trump dismisses We the People’s concerns. While the scope of deprivation and problems are still being vetted on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the fact that they’ve been awake on an extended deployment is not contested.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Let’s imagine Trump out there, serving for months at sea. Imagine how he’d be whining about his sacrifice. Imagine him having to go without McDonald’s, without golfing. Oh, the humanity. How we would be hearing about his suffering.
Likewise, Trump gives a rat’s ass about the rising gas prices. Oh, it was so important to Trump and the MAGAts back when Trump wasn’t in charge. Oh, how Trump eviscerated President Biden about the price of things.
“For you to pay a TINY little bit more for your gasoline, you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a nuclear weapon. Remember that when you’re paying $4. I’ll never apologize.”
Trump is also threatening to ‘bomb the shit out of Oman‘. I file this under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Things are going badly for Trumpy and the MAGAts. They haven’t had a hit in months and there’s talk that the band is breaking up.
All of this is just more ordinary Trump posturing. Ordinary in the sense, Trump is always doing these things. But they’re deadly, with serious, long-lasting consequences.
Trump is never one to understand that, though. He’s absolutely shameless. For example, look how he used to talk about Epstein as a friend. Then Trump declared that he would release the Epstein files. Now Trump desperately wants us to forget the Epstein files.
Today’s music is “Ordinary World” by Duran Duran. The Neurons have it playing in my morning mental music stream in light of Trump’s recurring ‘ordinary’ reactions — ordinary in the sense that this is how he always does things. To the rest of us, Trump’s behavior is anything but ordinary. No, words like sick, mindless, and depraved is what usually comes to mind — at least to my mind.
Sample Lyrics
Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed Here today, forgot tomorrow Ooh, here besides the news of holy war and holy need Ours is just a little sorrowed talk
Have a great day of peace, grace, good health, and good fortune.
“Trump, according to Haberman and Swan, has not simply junked this process in its entirety — he has set up his White House to affirm his frequently arbitrary instincts above all other considerations. He has insulated himself from opposing views and made internal dissent verboten. At no point does Trump receive neutral information; just about everything is tailored to his whims, impulses and mercurial disposition. The result is that he is isolated from reality to the extent that he is practically living in a fairy tale.
“Haberman and Swan describe a Trump who cannot see beyond the first few steps of any given action and is constantly taken aback by political obstacles and backlash. Recent controversies, from the depletion of our military’s stock of sophisticated munitions to worsening conditions on some of our naval vessels, are easier to fathom when you consider the strong odds that Trump is told precious little about the actual conditions of his war. More likely, he is told what he wants to hear: that America is winning and Iran is on the verge of surrender.
“So far, much of the destruction of the second Trump administration is self-inflicted. It is Trump and his allies who have wrecked the administrative state, undercut science and mired the country in a new Middle East quagmire. There has not yet been an external crisis — the kind of catastrophic event that demands an active and effective leadership. Through their reporting, Haberman and Swan make clear that if and when this country faces such a crisis, both the president and his administration will be caught flat-footed.”
The worse for me remains that the GOP condones this policy by fantasy by not talking about it or taking action, while MAGAts pretty gleefully support it until FAFO smacks them in the face.
Till Trump is back out of office, we’re trapped in a box. The Neurons responded to that thought with “Trapped in A Box” by No Doubt in my morning mental music stream. Song came out 1992. The song came out of a poem the drummer wrote. Although it didn’t chart in the US, I sometimes heard the song on the alt adult stations I often listened to as I drove around the SF-SJ Bay Area. I always thought the song has a Squirrel Nuts Zipper vibe to it.
Sample Lyrics
Trapped in a box of tremendous size It distorts my vision, it closes my eyes Attracts filthy flies and pollutes in the skies Sucks up our lives and proliferates lies Trapped in a box
Trapped in a box, four walls as sky Got a screen for a window about two feet wide My mind rides and slides as my circuits are fried No room for thought, use the box as my guide Trapped in a box
Ooh, trapped in a box Watch the world as it flocks To life’s paradox We’re all trapped in a box
Hope you’re not trapped in a box, but enjoying a day of peace, grace, and good health.
Bandon, southern Oregon coast. Saturday, August 15, 2026.
We’re in Bandon to do the Circles in the Sand walk. Back then, it was about 60 F. Clouds played keep away with the sunshine. I dropped my wife off at the Face Rock Wayside at 8:15. Then I drove back to the hotel and walked back to do the walk with her. We finished the walk at 10 AM, then I walked back, got the car, and picked up my wife. So it was a refreshed, relaxing morning by the sea.
Back in the room, I spoke with the house sitter. She and Papi are old familiars so he’s comfortable with her presence.
After that cool morning, it’s a gorgeous afternoon — 61 but feels 71. Sunshine washes over the coast.
Now:
The labyrinth — well, a third of it, from the parking lot overlook:
A few news headlines attracted my afternoon attention.
These aren’t news headlines so much as they’re affirmations of who Trump is, and how his poor decision-making and aggressive power moves are backfiring on him.
Trump and his administration refuses to learn or change course, so we keep going in circles. Trump attempts the same policies; they’re taken to court and are often denied or overturned. Trump then tries another tack to see if it’ll stick.
Over and over again — round and round in circles.
Meanwhile, the United States economy is circling the drain, along with many political norms.
Not surprising that between Trump circling the drain and walking the circles in the sand, The Neurons put a song about circles in the morning mental music stream. “Circle in the Sand” was released by Belinda Carlisle in 1977 and was a global hit.
I signed my name at the beach. The tides will erase it by tomorrow, but I have the photograph and memory — as long as they don’t fade…
Friday, August 14, 2026. Ashland, southern Oregon.
Another cool day in which the high temperature is expected to crest in the mid 80s F again.
More stories are now coming out about the declining situation on the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln. The ship has been on an extended deployment to support Trump’s war with Iran. The ship has been deployed a record number of days without a port stop.
Trump has not said anything about it. That makes sense; he’s claiming to be rebuilding the military, and has asked for record amounts of more money for that purpose. To find out now that one of the nation’s frontline warships is suffering problems more suited to a *cough* ‘shithole country’ would be another terrible blemish on Trump’s already horrid record.
No, Trump won’t say anything about that. Brace yourself for a new spurt of distractions — texts making insane claims, bold — but faulty — proclamations about how great Trump thinks he is and how wonderful everything is going in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Trump is the overseer of another modern record that will infuriate him:
Regular unleaded is $4.071 per gallon, up from $3.15 at this time last year while diesel has jumped to $5.40 per gallon nationally.
Yowza. That does not play well against the reality that Trump keeps trying to foist onto We the People.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump wants an A+ on the economy, with gas prices establishing a new record for this time of year. To me, that’s a failing grade.
Your bonus Trump quote of the day:
Instead of bringing energy prices down, Trump instead brought the global supply chain down via DOGE’s cuts and his tariffs. Then Trump made everything worse by attacking Iran, who responded by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. That upended the global oil supply chain, which affected almost every other supply chain, driving up costs and prices.
That’s the MAGAts’ Trump: wholly unthinking — except when it comes to himself — irrational, and destructive, taking us all down while he improves his own situation.
What is the point of no return for them?
I have “Point of Know Return” by the prog rock band, Kansas, in the morning mental music stream. This is an energized 1977 song that often has people singing along with the refrain, “How long?” Easy to see how this emerged in my morning mental music stream, given My Neurons’ tendencies. Kind of interesting, but the song is actually about a sailor going off to sea. I think.
May peace and grace bless this and every day for you.
The Trump administration repeatedly claims that ICE agents were threatened or attacked — often saying that people ‘weaponized’ their vehicles or that agents feared for their lives. Yet in case after case, video, witnesses, and subsequent legal proceedings have contradicted or undermined those accounts.
So it was with some doubt that I read this DHS claim:
“Our officers are experiencing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats. When faced with dangerous circumstances, DHS law enforcement used their training to protect themselves, their fellow officers, and the public,” the DHS spokesperson said in the statement.
There’s not much context to assess their claim, such as a timeline. Additionally, ICE underwent a huge expansion since Trump came back into office. I want to know, what are the raw numbers, such as the number of assaults based on the number of agents? That would be a more meaningful number.
Secondly, I ponder, how is DHS categorizing and cataloguing ‘threats’. Do they change definitions to make the numbers seem worse, giving them cover to respond more aggressively because ‘their agents are being threatened’? That seems to be the conclusion of an older DHS Inspector General finding.
Third, for me, while ICE aggressively expanded, ICE slashed their training regime. Based on historic trends among military, law enforcement, and other professions, less training often ends up resulting in lower standards and more incidents.
Finally, I think that Trump’s more aggressive deployments to cities and
In short, has the danger to the typical ICE officer actually increased by anything remotely approaching the enormous percentages being cited?
Or is this like the Trump and his administration’s broader pattern of making outlandish claims:
Given Trump’s history of unsupported and misleading quantitative claims, I want to see the underlying data and methodology before accepting the interpretation DHS is placing on those numbers.
