It’s 71 F in our valley at the moment. Light, high white clouds. We expect a high in the upper 80s.
A new heat dome is moving into the region. But the jet stream shifted a few years ago. Now we’re often protected from those heat domes. It can change again at any moment, so I’ll take it for now and celebrate the small win.
It’s a new month but much hasn’t changed.
Eight-five fires are burning in Oregon.
They still haven’t closed on Mom’s house. She is aware that it’s being sold, though, asking me for updates every day.
Trump is still lying. Still squirming, trying to distract us from his failures.
The Epstein files haven’t been released. Trump’s war with Iran is still going on. Affordability remains a crisis. Healthcare costs are going up.
Like many people, I’m waiting for other things. Like the old story: waiting for the other shoe to drop.
So, it’s a new month, but the same mode of waiting.
Without much surprise, The Neurons caught onto my thinking. My Neurons can be slow and flaky, easily distracted by games and cats, but like a car, they can get fired up and pointed in the right direction once in a while.
Today’s song in the morning mental music stream is “Waiting for the End”. This is a Linkin Park song. Came out in 2010. I caught it on SNL and went looking for it to hear it again.
Sample Lyrics:
Waiting for the end to come Wishing I had strength to stand This is not what I had planned It’s out of my control
Yeah, yeah What was left when that fire was gone? I thought it felt right, but that right was wrong All caught up in the eye of the storm And trying to figure out what it’s like moving on And I don’t even know what kind of things I’ve said My mouth kept moving, and my mind went dead So, I’m picking up the pieces now, where to begin? The hardest part of ending is starting again
The song is about hope, paralysis, and frustration, IMO. Feels right for today. Here we are, waiting for the end, trying to figure out how we define the end.
I hope you have a strong day, whatever one it is, whatever your season, a day that comes with lasting peace and grace.
The United States economy slowed more than expected as an inflation surge took hold over the early months of the Iran war, a government report on Thursday showed.
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% over three months ending in June, marking a slight slowdown from 2.1% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The figure came in lower than economists’ expected.
Still, the latest data outperformed 0.5% annualized gross domestic product (GDP) recorded over final three months of 2025.
The period covered by the data release followed a historic global oil shock set off by the Middle East conflict.
Trump’s war with Iran makes more sense to me now. Trump attacked Iran because the economy was weak. He needed a distraction, cover for why inflation was not going down. Besides that, the Epstein files are still out there, waiting to be released. Also, polls were showing that Trump and his policies were becoming more and more unpopular, a trend that’s still going.
I wasn’t familiar with the song. Once I heard it, it struck me as a really weird song choice for visiting a factory. But that aligns with Trump and his Trumpions’ thinking. “American Cars” is the song title, and that’s all they needed.
I was pleased that Noah Kahan pushed back against Trump’s use of the song.
“Kahan wrote Tuesday, according to Variety, “Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration.””
His writing partner, Noah Levine, was more to the point: “You fat f–k, this song isn’t for you.”
Love you, Noah Levine!
Hope your day is wealthy with friendship, good health, and good times.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
July is trickling toward the end, but summer continues unabated. 68 F now, blue skies, etc., high of 91 F today here in our valley.
Mom’s house was supposed to close tomorrow. But we’re uncertain at this point if it will. We will know later today.
Was strangely lethargic yesterday, bereft of energy. Got up early, took the car in for routine maintenance. Came back and I felt like I was being deflated. Slept a great deal. Feel much better today.
The East Evans Creek Fire reached nearly 16,000 acres with more than 230 homes on Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation orders. Despite also threatening roads, bridges and other infrastructure, FEMA denied a firefighting grant application on July 22.
The Row Creek Fire Complex, meanwhile, was at one time the largest fire in the country, sprawling as of Tuesday over nearly 300,000 acres. It’s expected to merge soon with the nearby Brewer Fire. When the application was made, more than 400 people were on Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation orders.
According to the senators’ letter, FEMA denied the applications after a shift in terms — one seemingly small but radical in effect. FEMA’s policy manual states that an FMAG is warranted when a fire “threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster,” the senators said, but the agency seemingly determined that fires would only qualify for FMAGs if they might also receive a major disaster declaration, which is a specific designation used for other forms of FEMA assistance.
From what I’ve read of Trump voters, they’re probably (mostly) saying, “That’s okay. He’s doing it to punish the state of Oregon because of their policies. So we’re good with it.” Even if, in punishing the state, these voters are the ones who will take the brunt of the punishment. But they’re staying with him because, he’s Trump, and he tells it like it is and speaks up for them.
Rep. Cliff Bentz (Trump, OR) said nothing about those fires not getting any assistance. Instead, Bentz lavished praise on the Trump administration for providing approval to fight three smaller fires. spe
In Trump Double Standard news, Trump is now doing something that he blasted President Biden about.
Yes, that is classic Trump. Accused President Biden of being out of touch and tired; now that’s exactly how Trump is often perceived. Postured that President Obama played too much golf, while he, Trump, would NEVER golf because he would be too busy — yet, Trump golfs more than any other POTUS. Kept on bashing President Biden about inflation and affordability. Now he says, they don’t matter. Bashed President Biden about being corrupt as he, Trump, makes over $2B from serving We the People in his second term.
Now your Trump Quote of the Day:
This is fascinating. He already has torched the ‘I’m A Great Businessman’ meme. After that, Trump, married three times, convicted of crimes, a serial adulterer, came out about how religious he is. Then he pushed law and order while breaking laws. Alongside that, he preached against shithole countries and people of color. Then he rolled out terrorism, calling ANTIFA — which is not an organization — a terrorist group. Next: the red menace — communism — is back.
That does two things simultaneously. One, it’ll work with some weak minds, just as his other lies found purchase. Some will say, yes, Trump is better for me than my parents ever were!
Second, it’s a terrific new distraction from the rising affordability problem, the Epstein files, the ongoing, growing Iran war, the wretched ‘renovations’ Trump is doing, Trump’s inability to do the job, and his long list of broken promises and outlandish claims.
Most of us see it for what it is. We’ll shake our heads again and then wait, wondering what new distraction and effort will come about from Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
Today’s song is “Father of Mine” by Everclear. The Neurons loaded the 1998 song into the morning mental music stream after I read and digested Trump’s claim about doing more for me than my parents. I vehemently disagree with that claim.
The song is a bitter tirade about a man feeling abandoned by his father.
Sample Lyrics
Father of mine Tell me, where have you been? Yeah, I just closed my eyes And the world disappeared Father of mine Tell me, how do you sleep? With the children you abandoned And the wife I saw you beat
I will never be safe I will never be sane I will always be weird inside I will always be lame Now I’m a grown man With a child of my own And I swear, I’m not gonna let her know All the pain I have known
May you have a strong day — full of joy, good health, friends and family.
A brief history of Trump claims through the years.
How Epstein is a close friend. Trump will fix affordability; affordability is a hoax! He’ll balance the budget. Iran’s military has been destroyed.
I suspect that if someone confronted Trump with all of these claims, he would scream, “Fake news!” He’d claim, “That’s not what I said.” Then he would attack the one confronting him. Call them vile. Nasty.
That’s his MO. He cannot face the truth and can’t handle the facts.
For the record, affordability is a crisis for many Americans. Oil and gas prices are flirting with record highs.
His war with Iran is nearing its fifth month.
The Epstein files are still not released. The ballroom is still being built, and the US taxpayer is being billed.
It’s a hot, sunny day. 85 F now, 95 later. But the air is free from smoke.
Fasted last night so I could go get some blood tests done today. So then went off and ate breakfast after that was completed.
Then the morning got a little complicated. My wife lost her cell phone. Children found it and wouldn’t return it. Yes, rewards were offered. She didn’t have the phone locator turned on, a choice she made years ago but now regrets. She also didn’t set up phone security. Fortunately, she used it for nothing except texting, games, and phone calls.
BUT —
It was the primary number for receiving security texts for different accounts. So I’ve been going through the very painful process of changing that number with several companies. It isn’t just ‘log in and fix it’; it’s log in — or, call us. Give us your name, DOB, address, social, UserID. Now, take a photo of both sides of your driver’s license. And a selfie. Now hop on your right leg three times, turn in one complete circle, spit toward the sun, and declare, “New phone number” three times.
Classic first world blues.
It’s pretty apparent these days that Trump’s shallow thinking has exhausted its ability to come up with new ideas. Deeply into repeating himself, Trump is inflicting new tariffs on us (even though the US is projected to refund $85B in tariffs and our customs duties receipts are negative $26B in June) and trying to add his name to another building as part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
We’re becoming the land of the poor, sick, and broken under Trump. According to a Harris Poll, 95% of U.S. adults believe the country is facing a severe affordability crisis.
The other way that we can take this quote is that Trump made another Freudian slip. He’s actually acknowledging that he’s doing a shit job, and that anyone after him will look much better in comparison.
Given his declining physical appearance and the way he often babbles, I wonder if he’ll be alive to see the next Oval Office inhabitant.
Maybe Trump will pull a Mitch McConnell. That might be even why the GOP isn’t trying very hard to prove Mitch is still alive; they’re testing the waters to do the same with Trump.
Today’s song came to me as I was driving and thinking, returning home from my lab visit. I had the radio off, thinking about my dreams from last night. With my daily routine shifted, I thought, “Come up for air.” From that, “Miracle Mile” by Cold War Kids began playing in my morning mental music stream.
May the season’s winds carry you to a happy, healthy, and safe future.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, July 23, 2026.
Cooler today, although the sky is blue and the sun is brightly shining. 75 F now, we expect a high of 93 F.
The air was much better last night and today, as well. The East Evans Creek Fire is now 38% contained, and there were no flare ups despite yesterday’s strong winds and high heat.
Extraordinary how often things in the news are now measured in billions and trillions. They used to be eye-opening amounts. Now we see them daily in the news:
Trump made more than $2.2bn last year. Experts say this extraordinary haul is only part of the story
AMD to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic as part of computing power deal
Meanwhile, down here in the trenches, life is still measured in dollars and cents as we struggle with affordability.
Current U.S. Beef Prices (July 2026)
As of the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data (July 22, 2026), national average retail beef prices are up modestly from last month, with most cuts seeing gains of 0.6%–1.2%. National Average Retail Prices (per pound, USDA Choice cuts unless noted)
Sirloin Steak (USDA Choice): $14.45/lb — ▲1.2% vs. June, ▲6.6% vs. last year
“It’s a private thing, yeah, I’ll do it, and we’ll probably have some donors or whatever, but it’s about $200 million. So, we’ve been planning it for a long time. They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years. But there’s never been a president that was good at ballroom. I’m really good.”
Donald Trump, July, 2025
Back then, Trump was also bragging that the ballroom would cost $200M.
All that has The Neurons playing “Billion Dollar Babies” in the morning mental music stream. The Alice Cooper song (and album of the same name) came out while I was in high school. My friend, Bob, was instantly enamored with both and used to spit out parts of choruses as we went from class to class, a period which I think lasted a week or two.
Alice Cooper was a cross-dressing rock star for a long period. Yet he’s expressed views against transgenders and supports Donald Trump. “(America) got so ‘woke’ with the Biden people, even they thought it was crazy. If a guy says to a coworker, ‘I like your new dress,’ that means he now gets fired? That’s crazy. It got so over the top that whoever ran against the Democrats was going to win. America got sick of the stupidness and all I can say is, in a shooting war, you don’t want a poodle; you want a pitbull.” Wikipedia
Because of this, I don’t often listen to Alice Cooper much any longer.
Hope your day brings fresh air and some good weather, good friends, and good times.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
Blue sky, sunshine, and high temperatures have arrived. 86 F now, gonna hit 99 F with a heat index of 105.
The sky is clear of smoke today. Our major threat, the East Evans Creek Fire, now 12 days old, is 26% contained. That’s good news but it’s a tragedy for the land, vegetation, and animals.
Circle back. Knowing how MAGA Trump thinks, a gas station chain calling itself Freedom Fuel opened up gas stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Knowing how to get Trump’s attention, and some free publicity, the gas was priced at $3.47 a gallon, the 47 cent part being in honor of Trump, which makes total economic sense.
Trump publicly pumped the gas station and its price, even though the price went up to $3.57 after a few days. He then crowed about how he promised gas prices were going to come down fast.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
That was then. This is now. “The American Prospect” and others are shedding light on how that low gas price of $3.57 came about.
No evidence, of course, exists to support this election fraud fantasy, any more than his claims about the war ending back in March or that drug prices were coming down 1,000%, or that vandals damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He made fantastic claims about that, too, changing the damage from 250 feet to 300 yards.
How does anyone ever believer him about anything?
Today’s music circulating in the morning mental music stream is “Your Wildest Dreams” by The Moody Blues. Justin Hayward wrote the song while thinking back on a first love. But My Neurons, oblivious as they are, took ‘the wildest dreams’ aspect in reflection to Trump’s ongoing wild claims.
I hope your day is calm and fun, relaxing and healthy. Stay safe, wherever you are.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
Another hot day, but this one is cloudy. 83 F now, we’re destined for life in the 90s. The wind has changed, protecting us from the East Evans Creek Fire. The firefighters to whom we owe so much every year have it 18% contained. The fire has consumed over 16,000 acres, and mopping up is underway.
My younger sister, Gina, has been shepherding the project to move Mom’s things out of her home and sell the house. Part of the project is the collection and review of personal papers. I wrote Mom many letters from my assignments around the world. She kept them all, along with letters from her siblings and mother. My sisters are busy recalling the different eras of Mom’s life: the men she was with, where she lived, what was happening to them. A very chaotic period, it finally settled when Mom got her GED, went on to become a nurse, and bought her house. But for Mom and my sisters, its seems like an anguished period before that.
My two youngest sisters. Gina is on the left. The photo was taken in 2019.
Trump double standards — TDS — are in the news today. Trump has unleashed new retaliatory tariffs on Canada. Trump cites how Canada discriminates against the United States by importing fewer American cars and not selling American whiskey. Trump fails mentioning his history in this: that he began that trade war with Canada, that their ‘discrimination’ emerged because he attacked Canada with tariffs and suggested Canada should be the 51st US state.
Meanwhile, Trump is blasting Iran over human rights violations while he actively undermines human rights in the US. Ignoring due process and legal status — and even court’s decisions to not do things — Trump uses ICE to intimidate people, especially citizens of blue cities, run by Democrats, to coerce them to cooperate with them.
Classic Trump: do as I say, not as I do.
If you’ve been paying any attention, you ought to know this by now. You ought to know that Trump is only out for himself. You ought to know that Trump is vain and self-centered, and tone deaf. It’s all about him and how he can destroy our heritage to improve how he’s perceived.
That’s why Trump has done petty things with his predecessors portraits.
It’s why Trump paved over the historic Rose Garden and tore down the East Wing.
He had to change it all to make it about him.
That’s why he’s trying to rewrite history, enlarging his part while dismissing what women and people of color did. That’s why he’s trying to elevate himself to the same position as the founders.
That’s why he wants a place on Mount Rushmore.
That’s why Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize.
That is so, so, laughable. Trump has nowhere near intellect of the founders. He lacks backbone, principles, and moral courage. His current active role in trying to curtail freedom, democracy, and voting rights would infuriate the founders. It’s scandalous how he’s enriching himself through the Oval Office, something that the founders actively warned the nation about happening.
President Lincoln famously warned that the United States is more likely to be destroyed from within. Ironic that the one doing so — Trump — likes to compare himself to Lincoln.
Another example of his double standards come via the Epstein file, Algaegate — the Trump Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool cockup — and the Jan 6 insurrections.
Trump and his administration keep hiding the Epstein file, ignoring the victims.
For Algaegate, he had a person arrested and charged with vandalism. In classic Trumpyism, his DoJ has screwed the case up.
For Jan 6, after his supporters were responsible for the death and injury of law enforcement officers and the destruction of Congressional offices, Trump pardoned him.
There is the clear line of Trump Double Standards.
Today’s song in the morning mental music stream is “You Oughta Know”. Alanis Morrisette. 1995. A scathing rebuke of a former lover. Listen to that crowd singing with her:
Lyrics:
And I’m here to remind you Of the mess you left when you went away It’s not fair, to deny me Of the cross I bear that you gave to me You, you, you oughta know
Yep, when Trump goes away, he’ll leave a huge mess.
The story reminds us that Trump’s Iran war is affecting oil and gas prices. But they also note that much of the gas products refined in Trump’s America are going to other places.
US refineries processed their largest amount of crude in the second quarter since 2019.
But a record amount of American-produced fuel is heading overseas – in the form of jet fuel (for Europe) and diesel (for Asia and Australia) to help the world bridge the gap in fuel supplies.
That has sent US gasoline inventories to their lowest levels since 2012.
The CNN article then goes on to mention that US refineries are struggling to produce products due to extreme heat.
Trump denies climate change, deriding it as a hoax, as he does many things which he can’t comprehend or doesn’t want to address.
“This ‘climate change,’ it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Trump said. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
Your Trump Quote(s) of the Day:
Trump has chosen to treat our friends in Canada with more tariffs. That’s just the way he is. Instead of working with others to solve problems, he attacks, mocks, and derides.
Trump is so tone deaf. He claims that America “are a people like no other” and then goes to war with Americans, for example, referring to Democrats as “Dumbocrats”, significantly restricting, cutting, and altering healthcare benefits, and nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, with a heavy emphasis on transgender Americans.
This is how Trump ‘honors’ the people like no other.
That’s just the way he is.
No surprise for me, The Neurons have “The Way It Is” in the morning mental music stream. Bruce Hornsby wrote the song and he and his band, the Range, performed it. America’s civil rights movement of the 1960s inspired him when he wrote it.
Lyrics
They say, “Hey, little boy, you can’t go where the others go ‘Cause you don’t look like they do” Said, “Hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way? Did you really think about it before you made the rules?” He said, “Son
That’s just the way it is Some things will never change That’s just the way it is” Ha, but don’t you believe them Mmm, yeah
That’s just the way it is That’s just the way it is
Well, they passed a law in ’64 To give those who ain’t got a little more But it only goes so far ‘Cause the law don’t change another’s mind When all it sees at the hiring time Is the line on the color bar, ooh, no
“Narrow-minded attitudes prevailed in my small southern town,” he tells me. “But my mum, Lois, was from a more forward-thinking family of New Englanders who’d moved down to Richmond when her dad got a job there as a church organist. Liberal Lois, my mum, married a big old handsome country boy. Bob Hornsby was from a fishing village and he was cut from the local cloth. My parents’ votes cancelled each other out in elections from 1948 to 1976 when my mum persuaded my dad to vote for Jimmy Carter and he never looked back and he voted Democrat for the rest of his life.”
As Bruce’s mother, Liberal Lois, proves, it doesn’t have to be the way it is, if people are willing to keep trying to open narrow minds and change their values.
Not Trump, of course. From Epstein to corruption and dishonesty, that’s just the way he is.
I hope comes complete with safe times, good times, and happy memories.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, July 18, 2026.
It’s a sunny 68 F under blue skies in our valley. Hot again but not as, hitting only 86 F today.
The cooling effect comes from smoke. The East Evans Creek fire, north-northwest of Ashland, began on July 10, 2026 when a car hit a utility pole. It’s now 14,000 acres and about 8% contained. The air quality is unhealthy right now, better than yesterday, when we went purple. Smoke obscures the view to the west. Today’s wind forecast warns that we’re going to have a weekend of unhealthy air.
I read an interesting article this morning about an ICE traffic stop in Pennsylvania earlier this month. The article elaborates on 1) how poorly the ICE agents executed the stop and 2) how video evidence contradicts ICE’s public statements and claims.
ICE is always claiming vast criminal records for the people they stop. But ICE agents drive unmarked vehicles. They act aggressive, issue orders and make demands without properly identifying themselves, and are generally violently threatening. Reasonable people fearing for their lives try to get away. From the videos I’ve seen, I don’t blame the people. I blame ICE. They have a continuing pattern; without being punished or reprimanded for it, without accountability, they’ll just continue their ways. Now, after DHS said to suspend the traffic stops, Trump overruled them. So the continuing unreasonable violence against We the People will continue.
DHS is ordering that at least one agent on every stop will now wear a body cam. What good is to come of that? I believe that we’ll have a lot of incidents where agents ‘forgot’ to turn them on or the camera ‘failed to work properly’.
Let’s face a fact here: Trump lies. That’s well-documented.
Of course, here in ‘Merica, he’s broken marriage vows more than once, has multiple bankruptcies and failed businesses, and broken campaign promises. From lowering inflation to no new wars to attacking Iran — again and again — to releasing the Epstein files to a new healthcare program to the claim that the Epstein ballroom will be paid for by We the People, Trump lies and breaks promises.
